Datasets:

x-g85

/

x_g85_fn_dataset

like 1

Follow

X_G85 4

YEAR IN REVIEW: 2017 Top Ten ConspiraciesPatrick Henningsen and Shawn Helton 21st Century WireOnce again, we ve arrived at our New Years Eve wrap-up of some of the most compelling and conspiratorial stories of the year. Like in years past, 2017 presented a polarizing political landscape, further exposing the current establishment paradigm. Unlike the establishment gatekeepers, when we use the word conspiracy here, we are talking about a real crime scene. Whether it was the ousting of thousands of western-backed terrorists in Iraq and Syria or a string of known wolf attacks amplified by made-to-order media agitprop, or the heavily manufactured Russia-gate narrative relentlessly pushed by mainstream outlets and Deep State actors it seemed there was no shortage of topsy-turvy stagecraft designed to mislead and confuse the masses at a time when the real world is undergoing some significant geopolitical realignments.As was the case in 2016, there were many high-profile incidents and individual stories which didn t make our annual compendium (but they are worth mentioning) like the red herring laced New Year s Eve mass shooting at Turkey s Reina nightclub that kicked off 2017 in classic Daily Shooter fashion, along with other dubious events like Fort Lauderdale s FBI-known shooter and subsequent CNN media circus. On the political front, it was a banner year for astroturfing starting with The Resistance which spent most of the first 3 months of the year demanding Trump s impeachment before he had served 100 days in office. As part of these efforts, we saw Hollywood and the Democratic Party s choreographed women s march backed by political agitator and perennial globalist George Soros, as well as MoveOn.org and other Soros-backed protests which followed Trump s highly controversial immigration ban, as contentious resignations by key members of the Trump White House loomed large. The stage was then set for Antifa s US riot tour which culminated the Charlottesville riots in Virginia followed by a series of social justice protests over Confederate statues, followed by more extremist left-wing antifascists foot-soldiers like black bloc throwing molotov cocktails and smashing buildings for kicks. And that only scratches the surface of what transpired in 2017.Other notable stories throughout the year included the Trump administration s decision to announce the creation of an Arab NATO headquartered in Saudi Arabia, the world s second-largest state sponsored of terror (US being the largest). That geopolitical gambit then teed up the Trump White House to announce that the US Embassy in Tel Aviv would begin proceedings to move to Jerusalem, a shift which some critics believe is further evidence of an ultra-Zionist agenda encroaching on Israeli-occupied Palestine and the West Bank. On the Asia front, questions emerged over what North Korea actually has in terms of ICBM missiles and a nuclear deterrent, while in the Middle East speculation raged about Saudi Arabia s historic palace purge and sabre rattling in the region. The year then saw the exposure of a giant US-NATO-Saudi weapons trafficking operation using diplomatic flight in order to arm terrorists in Syria and Iraq. 2017 also saw the mainstream media continue to market the media construct known as Bana of Aleppo, expecting the public to believe that an 8 year old girl who could not speak English was running a Twitter account from war-torn (and terrorist-occupied) East Aleppo from the autumn of 2016 all the while waxing poetic about the evil Assad, and the evil Russians and calling for US military intervention in Syria pure propaganda and a clear case of child exploitation. Interestingly, this outlandish Bana propaganda myth campaign has been shamelessly promoted by the multimillionaire Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. 2017 also saw a wave of intelligence releases, set in motion by the CIA, who released more than 12 million documents pertaining to covert war programs, psychic research and the Cold War era, further outlining the symbiotic relationship between the agency and American media. This was followed by Wikileaks exposing much of the CIA s cyber hacking capabilities in their Vault 7 and later in their Vault 8 publications. Towards the end of the year, a new twist in the downing of MH17 revealed an apparent Netherlands cover-up, as another bizarre Daily Shooter event, the Texas Church shooting, would later disappear from headlines. Around the same time frame, new questions also emerged in the Sandy Hook saga concerning prior knowledge of the FBI, as New York was then stricken by a known wolf truck attacker. In December it was finally announced that after being held in prison for two years without trial, the Fed s Bundy Ranch Standoff case was declared a mistrial. However, most of the year s controversial stories were quickly pushed to the back page, buried underneath an avalanche of ready-to-go Weinstein-inspired sex abuse scandals involving Hollywood s elite punctuated by obligatory hashtag campaigns like #MeToo, before snagging a number of high-profile news media personalities and some of Washington s most coveted swamp dwellers. As an onslaught of new accusations flooded the media, the sordid revelation of a Congressional slush fund used to payoff sexual harassment accusers made headlines. The whole situation conjured DC s Conspiracy of Silence regarding tales of sexual misconduct in days past.All in all, it was another year of hyper-real media propaganda, as some stories published by mainstream media led to a cascade of retractions and corrections, and in certain cases, provided an all to convenient mask for other politically charged news throughout much of 2017. Unlike the mainstream media official conspiracies (like Russiagate), these ones are actually real 10. The JFK Files Over the course of 2017, one of America s most compelling conspiracies was reignited following the release of thousands of intelligence files long-held by the CIA and FBI. In late October, the Trump administration called for the release of the remaining JFK files, citing the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act deadline placed into law in 1992. While the material released was reportedly a mix of new and old, some critics declared that the recently declassified files revealed even more startling evidence related to the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. This prompted larger legacy media establishments to provide a murky retelling of the JFK saga. Predictably, a week after the releases, one newer CIA memo stated that any links between the CIA and Lee Harvey Oswald, were unfounded. In essence, the JFK file releases appear to have been a way for the political powers that be to shut the door on a conspiracy that has an overwhelming amount of information suggesting CIA links not only to Oswald, but many of the characters surrounding the case. In reality though, as newfound interest in the JFK files was reawakened, it cast light on the over five decade old case, reopening the door to coup d tat claims concerning JFK and Cold War era false flag terror. In particular, terror created by Operation GLADIO, a CIA-NATO construct, which utilized covert armies to subvert the political interests of various nations through the implementation of a Cold-War era strategy of tension. The further one digs into America s seedy underworld of organized crime, intelligence operations, unlikely coincidences and secretive relationships concerning the mysterious plot to kill Kennedy, a highly intricate web of activity emerges that points to a compelling case beyond almost any other modern-day conspiracy.9. Grenfell Tower Fire & Cover-Up It was Britain s biggest domestic disaster post WWII, and from the minute this story broke, reports of government and corporate corruption began to surface. This real-life Towering Inferno featured some of the most surreal revelations, including a corrupt government Qango known as TMO (Tenant Management Organisation) who had paid a contractor to install highly flammable petroleum-based cladding on the building, supposedly to meet green sustainability goals but also to cover-up what wealthy property developers deemed as an eye sore (social housing high rise building), part of London s continuous and rampant gentrification property bubble agenda. The controversy did not stop with the fire itself though, as residents and concerned members of the public began to question the abnormally low death count which was being trumpeted by the media and the government agencies. Meanwhile, thousands of residents from Grenfell Tower and the surrounding buildings continued to suffer and mourn the loss of loved ones and friends leaving in indellible scar on the community while the government s elite Common Purpose management class continued on with business as usual. Six months on, the public is still wondering whether anyone will be arrested, or held to account for this unprecedented story of criminal negligence. In one of its most seminal episodes, the SUNDAY WIRE radio show, along with its affiliate the UK Column, drove the investigative agenda early on in this story, with the mainstream media later picking talking points covered by this independent media outlet.8. The Crisis in Yemen Back in January 2015 while the world was focused on the war in Syria, 21WIRE first raised the alarm over Yemen after it noticed the insatiable war-time president Barack Obama, along with Deep State and Pentagon media outlet CNN began drifting out talking points about Yemen. It wasn t long after that, in March 2015, that Saudi Arabia with the full military and political backing of the US and UK, began an undeclared war of aggression against Saudi s neighbor Yemen. Nearly three years on, with tens of thousands slaughtered by Saudi airstrikes dropping their newly purchased US and UK munitions (and even enjoying air refueling by the US military) and with the Saudi and US military blockade which is keeping much-needed humanitarian aid from entering the war-ravaged country leading to mass starvation and disease outbreaks like cholera on the peninsula why isn t the international community calling out the illegal war against Yemen for what it is genocide? In order to prop-up their fake narrative on Yemen, the US and UK mainstream media conglomerates and their state propaganda directors from intelligence agency information warfare units have concocted a new batch of official disinformation lies and myths used to muddy the waters of this important discussion and ultimately justify their slaughter and arms sales bonanza in Yemen. On balance, what the US, UK and Saudi Arabia have done to Yemen is by orders of magnitude worse than what Nazi Germany did to its neighbors in the initial phase of WWII. Nothing less than a new Nuremberg Trial will be suitable to help correct this act of international barbarism.7. London s GLADIO-style Attacks On March 22nd, an apparent two-pronged terror attack stretched from London s Westminster Bridge to Parliament Square. In the days leading up to the London attacks, it was revealed that Met Police rehearsed a terrifyingly realistic drill on the River Thames prior to yet another known wolf act of terror taking place. Adding to the drama, the London attacks occurred exactly one year after the Brussels airport bombings. In addition, the bizarre and unexpected event took place during a massive uptick of Western allied involvement in the Syrian conflict and in less than 24 hours, London authorities revealed that the British-born attacker named Khalid Masood, (after media outlets erroneously reported the wrong suspect) was already well-known to MI5 and had worked in Saudi Arabia sometime between 2005-2008. Shortly after the attack, it was revealed that eye-witnesses reported seeing multiple assailants at the crime scene, this was something that directly contradicted the official story. In fact, in those reports, it was suggested that at least two individuals participated in the large-scale attack in one of the most heavily surveilled parts of London. This aspect of the case was quickly buried by major media outlets, echoing other high-profile cases involving known wolf terrorists. In recent years, there s been a pattern of multiple suspects often witnessed or said to be involved in other terror-related events. This proved to be the case in the aftermath of the Nice, France truck attack, as well as the Brussels airport bombing in 2016. Rather incredibly or unbelievably, London s acting Police Commissioner Craig Mackey, just so happened to be at the scene to witness the Parliament Square attack on Pc Keith Palmer. All in all, the latest symbolically charged ISIS-approved attack on the verge of spring, appeared to be an effort to polarize the perception of Western viewers with yet another round of wartime propaganda, while also providing a media smoke screen for recent US military action in Syria. By early summer, just after the Manchester arena bombing, London once again became a target of a purported multi-pronged terror event right on the heels of the UK s hotly contested 2017 general election. Afterwards, a number of questions were raised following the London Bridge attacks, just as there were following the Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge attacks and the Manchester Arena attack. It s important to note the common thread between each suspicious event, and the recent UK attacks are no exception there s now indisputable evidence linking MI5 and MI6 British security services to various known wolves prior to carrying out the terror crimes mentioned above. The precarious relationship between security and terror is an ongoing pattern seen after almost every major terror attack on Western soil. Throughout 2017, the London attacks seemed to increase racial and ethnic tensions in the West, while also pushing the public into accepting a more direct military intervention in Syria, and new police state measures and surveillance powers in the UK prompting us to ask, who benefited the most from the London Attacks? We d say the answer to that question is pretty obvious now 6. Manchester s Known Wolf Arena Attack Another day, another conspiratorial crime. In this case, the public was witness to yet another known wolf terror attack allegedly carried out by an ISIS-inspired individual who, as with numerous other cases, was under the gaze of MI5. The man named in the Manchester bombing attack, Salman Abedi, was also tied to a terror group supported by NATO in Libya during the operation to oust Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. The Manchester arena attack proved to be more than just blowback from security operations gone awry, it provided further evidence of complicity on behalf of the West in the War On Terror era. While some researchers and analysts were a buzz with the numerological synchronicities associated with the Manchester attack, others noted some very real political circumstances and significant timelines surrounding this apparent mass-tragedy in Manchester. The event just happened to arrive on the heels of a monolithic arms deals with Saudi Arabia worth $110 billion dollars that will total $350 billion over the next 10 years, and only shortly after the Manchester attack, there were US-led coalition airstrikes supposedly targeting ISIS in both Syria and Iraq that killed 121 civilians in the process. The strikes led to increased tension, placing external pressure on the Russian-led Astana Peace Agreement in Syria, while continuing to benefit the strategic movements of ISIS in Syria. The really damning link however, was exposed by one major UK Government eyesore after the Manchester attacks: the revelation that a community of outlawed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) terrorists were in fact living in close proximity to the Manchester attacker Abedi, and directly connected to Abedi himself. This was a deeply troubling development for a public unaware of the nearby danger, as British security services and officials allowed this thriving group of fighters to reside in the UK seemingly without consequence or disclosure of their previous activities until the Manchester attack. So naturally, when it was revealed that Ramadan Abedi (the father of the purported Manchester suicide bomber) was also a member of the UK government-backed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and was believed to have been a part of LIFG during the NATO-backed regime change operation in Libya in 2011 it only raised more questions concerning the attack. It s worth noting, Libya s militant governor of Tripoli, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, was also a part of the Mujahideen fighters closely linked to Bin Laden who became known as al-Qaeda. In fact, Belhadj returned to his home country [in 1995] as head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an underground paramilitary organisation dedicated to Gaddafi s downfall. Over the years, Belhadj was incarcerated and turned loose back into the field after being rendered by the CIA and British security services. As of 2015, despite the Manchester attack links to LIFG, the group is still on the US State Department s Delisted Foreign Terrorist Organizations. In the days after the attack, authorities released CCTV imagery apparently depicting the Manchester attacker Abedi, in what appeared to be a way to dramatize the bombing through emotionally charged imagery, as the media obscured other facts and connections observed in the aftermath of the attack itself. The Manchester attack was similar to other high-profile incidents used to distort public opinion in the wake of media styled mass-tragedies.5. The Las Vegas Mass Shooting October 1st marked the return of the Great American Mass Shooting a real record-breaker, complete with a shocking mile-long crime scene that stretched from the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino to the nearby Route 91 Festival, where thousands of concertgoers suddenly became a target. Although America had seen a host of smaller, less sensationalized mass shootings throughout the course of 2017, including the bizarre Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting and the strange Programmed to Kill Texas Church shooting, the high-profile Las Vegas calamity resuscitated the trauma inducing imagery so prevalent in the post-9/11 War On Terror era. This made-for-TV event was designed for media shock and awe, like the 9/11 of Mass Shootings. Over the past several years, 21WIRE has chronicled many bizarre shootings and mass casualty incidents that have rippled across America and Europe. These events have become a new kind of ritualized crimescape moving well beyond security concerns, but now accompanied by a complete range of socio-political mainstream media talking points including race, religion, gun reform , social media concerns and domestic extremism while concurrently obscuring and obfuscating the forensic reality of the crimes themselves. We re told that this tragic shooting attack was carried out by a classic lone gunman one individual without a criminal past (or nay past, as far as we could tell) but there proved to be much more to the story. Adding to this hyper-real incident, the main suspect in the Las Vegas tragedy was also revealed to be a multi-millionaire players club member, 64 year-old Stephen Paddock. With no motive and no criminal history, Las Vegas police were tasked with uncovering details of a crime overseen by billionaire bosses at MGM Resorts International and the FBI. As authorities failed to uncover a clear motive for the crime, police scanner audio, along with eye-witness testimony suggested that multiple shooters may have been at the scene, although this aspect was downplayed by mainstream media. This was quickly followed by several official revisions in the timeline of the shooting and even the crime scene itself, as evidenced by this disastrous press conference which failed to yield any new information in the case. The star-witness of the shooting, Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos, also vanished and was declared missing right before a major media interview, only to resurface much later on the oddest of media venues, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, giving media gatekeepers the chance to run interference for DeGeneres s slot machine business partners at MGM. Along the way, bizarre media performances by Paddock s brother, Eric Paddock, only prompted more questions and deepened the mystery surrounding this surreal case. While the public waited for MGM to release CCTV footage of the alleged shooter Paddock, not one tape materialized, except for an older tape from 2011. Staged photos of the Mandalay Bay crime scene led to other forensic questions concerning the weaponry used, compounding other acoustic anomalies already noted. Other confusing elements of the case included the missing hard drive from Paddock s laptop, another brother s arrest, the wiring of $100,000 to his live-in girlfriend s (Marilou Danley) home country, the Philippines, Paddock s previous employment at the predecessor company of Lockheed Martin, a reported break-in at one of his homes after the shooting, the absurd insertion of an ISIS-inspired motive (which a number of dubious click-bait media outlets ran with), and later seeing a back drop of active shooter related drills and government activity, along with details suggesting Paddock may not have been alone and much more. In the search for answers in America s largest-ever mass shooting, months later, we still have yet to see any CCTV footage of the alleged killer or his whereabouts leading up to the tragedy, as he moved in and around Las Vegas. Imagine that: no CCTV footage. While some have attempted to make sense of the Las Vegas shooting tragedy, there are reports of a major push to revamp security in the hospitality industry through the use of gunfire detection systems, X-ray, body scanners and facial recognition in the wake of this confusing, if not partly manufactured event. The popular media concept of a lone wolf killer in today s world has reprogrammed the public mind in the very same way that the serial killer phenomenon did decades ago. This new fear-based saga has ushered in a string of improbable Hollywood-style scenarios, inducing a frozen apathy across the masses. Rather than looking deeply at crime scene forensics or pouring over piles of collected data, these Daily Shooter crimes hold the public psyche hostage until the next unexplained mass tragedy. Until the next episode 4. Syria s Sarin Gas False Flag In less than 24 hours after the highly dubious alleged chemical attack on April 4th (reported to be Sarin gas by Western media) in Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib province of Syria, wide-scale unsubstantiated condemnation laid blame at the doorstep of the Syrian government and Russia following the release of video footage that had yet to be forensically scrutinized. In fact, the mainstream media flooded the airwaves with a bevy of circumstantial and speculative evidence a far cry from actual hard evidence. Leaders in Washington and Western media outlets once again set the stage for wider military intervention in Syria. Days after the release of a forensically unproven chemical attack out of Khan Shaykhun, US President Donald Trump ordered a military strike on the Syrian government s Shayrat Air Base in response to the alleged chemical attack in Idlib. Trump s missile strike won him instant praise from the Pentagon media oracle CNN, as well as giddy celebrations by war-mongering neocons in the US. Perhaps the most telling aspect of Syria s most recent mass casualty terror tragedy, was the suspicious involvement of the US-UK-NATO-Gulf state backed NGO known as the White Helmets a group who once again was witnessed in wartime imagery that was not only full of anomalies but a production designed to evoke an emotional response rather than one based in rationality. Since their inception in late 2013, the White Helmets have largely conducted their so-called rescue operations in rebel-terrorist held areas in Syria, while producing an unprecedented amount of western-oriented war propaganda for nations deeply invested in arming and backing rebel-terrorists vying for regime change in Syria. Nearly two weeks after the alleged sarin gas attack, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Theodore Postol directly disputed claims concerning the official US report regarding the alleged chemical weapons attack out of Khan Shaykhun in the rebel-held terrorist-occupied Idlib province of Syria. Postol s initial analysis, along with its addendum, appeared to echo what MIT research affiliate and former US Congressional staffer Subrata Ghoshroy observed in the aftermath of the Syrian chemical incident in East Ghouta, Damascus in 2013. In addition, other award-winning American journalists like Seymour Hersh and Gareth Porter also exposed the sarin attack narrative as a fabrication promulgated by a corrupt OPCW but their reports were muted by mainstream gatekeepers. Both apparent attacks in Damascus and Idlib, were claimed through the presentation of dubious video imagery and suspicious photographs as a main source of evidence. Despite the absence of any real forensic investigation, the western media proclaimed certainty over images and videos largely supplied by the dubious NGO known as the White Helmets. It would later be revealed that on April 4th, the Syrian Air Force had also struck a warehouse in Idlib where chemical weapons were said to have been produced and stockpiled by US-backed militants. What was most disturbing, was that many in US-UK leadership seemed desperate for the public to buy into any WMD claims without concrete proof and in the process, they deliberately pushed heavily propagandized imagery presented on social media as proof of the as yet forensically unproven sarin gas attack. In essence, the whole event became a wag the dog moment ensnaring not only the White House, but many leaders in the UK as well.3. White Helmets Fraud The White Helmets. Who are they, who created them, who funds them, and which master do they serve in Syria? In the US and in Europe, these fundamental questions routinely go unanswered by the western mainstream media organizations and government officials. Since first appearing on the western media scene in late 2013, the UK and US government-funded pseudo NGO known as the White Helmets has achieved cult-like status as their pictures adorn the front pages of newspapers and CNN breaking news segments about Syria. For the last 4 years, their principle function has been to produce a steady stream of anti-Assad regime and anti-Russian propaganda tailored for western audiences. Since 2015, 21WIRE led the way in asking these important questions, and in 2017 the overwhelming pressure of mounting evidence of the White Helmet fraud eventually led to various shoddy academics in the US and in the UK mainstream media outlets attacking 21WIRE and its writers for challenging the official White Helmets narrative and for exposign how the UK government has been channeling hundreds of millions of pounds into terrorist-occupied areas of Syria under the thin guise building civil society (US and UK trojan horse) organizations in Syria. Establishment attacks included one mainstream media outlet promoting the White Helmets, The Guardian newspaper in the UK. According to The Guardian anyone who dared to question their official government-sanctioned narrative were conspiracy theorists and somehow part of a secret Russian-backed propaganda campaign. Despite mountains of evidence including various fake rescue videos, colluding in acts of murder and extreme violence and evidence which clearly depicts the dodgy search and rescue groups members as dual members in armed al Qaeda terrorist affiliates operating in rebel-held opposition areas of Syria western mainstream media are still determined to play dumb on this issue, which only goes to prove just how ignorant mainstream gatekeepers are as to the realities on the ground in Syria, or worse how controlled are mainstream editors desks by the western intelligence apparatus. Either way, Toto has already drawn the Wizard s curtain all the way back and it s only a question of time before western media apologists and clueless politicians retreat into full no comment mode on this issue.2. The Russia-Gate PsyOp It s been 18 months since the Democratic Party and the US mainstream media launched its Russia-gate narrative, claiming that Moscow had hacked the DNC, John Podesta and somehow influenced the result of the US 2016 Presidential Election. 18 months later, there s still no evidence to substantiate this mainstream conspiracy theory making Russiagate easily the biggest fake news story of the year. What s most telling about this official conspiracy theory (as it turns out, it s the mainstream that peddles the grandest conspiracy theories) is that its proponents have to resort to publishing repeated lies and wild exaggerations in order to maintain the pillars supporting their narrative. So desperate were the New York Times to tie Trump to Russia that it even claimed that the Russians where creating Facebook pages about puppies in order to confuse and mislead vulnerable American voters. New York Times also had to retract their central lie which claimed that 17 US Intelligence agencies had all agreed that the Russians meddled in the 2016 presidential election but still we hear legions of mindless journalists and shaky politicians like Adam Schiff (who, not surprisingly is also promoting the White Helmets) repeating that same old canard. As part of Washington s new McCarthyite red scare reboot, the US government labeled Russian international media network RT, and RT America as foreign agents forcing the channel and its journalists to register with the US government under old outdated pre-WWII espionage legislation. Other fake claims by US media include Kremlin bots deployed on Facebook to mess with the fragile minds of potential voters on social media, and CNN s all-time classic: an Exclusive! no less claiming that the Russians somehow infiltrated the computer game Pokemon Go in order to sow confusion among Americans. Honestly, we couldn t make it up if we tried. What s beyond ironic is that the same media who has been constantly crying fake news! as their prime talking point to explain how Trump beat Clinton has been dutifully recycling their own fake news narrative for over a year now. This one will surely go down in history as the biggest political hoax of all-time and all of the mainstream media outlets who helped promulgate this myth should also go down with it. Sadly, too many mentally-challenged lawmakers in the US, UK and Europe are actually basing their foreign policies of this mainstream fake news myth which is all too convenient for an ever-inflating the US defense budget, NATO s breakneck expansion eastward, and also for Brussels new roll-out of its EU Army 1. Fake News 2.0 2017 was the year of fake news. Last year, we crowned Fake News 1.0 as our top conspiracy, but this past year has seen it ascend to an entirely new level. From the beginning, this faux crisis had a clear set of political objectives. The first was to provide a scapegoat for Hillary Clinton s catastrophic imploding presidential run, and secondly, to try and prop-up the establishment s official conspiracy theory that somehow the Russians were spreading fake news across social media and alternative media websites in order to help Donald Trump win the election. On this front, many of us are indebted to Trump for branding CNN with the meme that keeps sticking, as the President hit CNN s bumbling White House correspondent Jim Acosta, with Trump pointing to Acosta and saying, You are fake news! live on national TV. If was a glorious moment for sure. Newspapers like the Washington Post performed a key role for the US Deep State by pushing-out fictional news features like the one claiming 200 of the leading alternative media websites were part of some Kremlin-orchestrated network of websites carrying out active measures (a defunct Cold War term) propaganda against the American people. The Post even presented a bogus anonymous construct, a website called PropOrNot in order to try and make their conspiracy theory look official. Around the same time, a radical progressive academic from Merrimack College in Massachusetts published a fake news list a database and virtual blacklist designed to defame and slander any independent media outlets who happened to veer from the party line and challenge the policies of Hillary Clinton and Obama. Dr. Zimdars heavily politicized list was promoted by the LA Times which, like the fraudulent story published in The Post, claimed that hundreds of alternative media websites were producing fake news and conspiracy stories and therefore were unreliable as information sources. It wasn t long before the establishment began referencing these politicized lists, holding them up as proof of some crisis in what the liberal intelligensia proudly dubbed a post-truth world. Despite the establishment s insistence on pushing this faux crisis, an increasing number of smart news consumers came to realize that for at least the last century and half, the establishment s tightly-controlled information syndicate has been able to manufacture its own consensus reality through the use of their own official fake news. By channeling public opinion in this way, the mainstream press has helped facilitate a number of engineered outcomes including war. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the fake news circus, is that Silicon Valley monopolies like Google and Facebook have taken it upon themselves to manipulate their online platforms in such a way that they are choosing which websites and news sources will be de-ranked and effectively hidden from the view of most users, and, in the case of Facebook censoring real information presented by independent, non mainstream journalists, but allowing political operatives to abuse their problematic communitarian information policing system to strike off offensive content. As a result a number of leading alternative commentators have been banned from Facebook for completely illegitimate reasons. Finally, we can reveal the 2.0 aspect of the establishment s fake news faux crisis a false pretext to unleash a wide-ranging program of internet censorship and it s already begun. Reasonable people should be under no illusions: Google Inc, Facebook and global monopolies like them it are the closest thing to a classic fascist-corporatist behemoth you will find in the world today. Both Google and Facebook are both actively colluding with big government and other mainstream media partners, and are guilty of stealth censoring through either their A.I. filtering algorithms, or through flagged websites on a database used to de-rank leading independent and anti-war sites like 21st Century Wire, Anti-War.com, Consortium News, Global Research and countless others. Furthermore, Facebook is now on record as admitting to colluding with both the US and Israeli governments to delete undesirable accounts. This is a corporation which is now actively and opening violating US laws, which is engaging in criminal activity by any other definition. These are not the only threats posed by these corporate fascists. The very same corporate digital barons have also been busy colluding with politicians in order to repeal Net Neutrality as part of the elites final end-run to marginalize and ultimately crush all independent and dissenting voices online who threaten the primacy of mainstream groupthink, and who could get broader traction among the population if the playing field was truly a level one. Not only is this illegal under antitrust laws, but it represents a brutal form of fascism. It s now clearer than ever that Silicon Valley executives and government bureaucrats cannot be trusted to manage the most important public utility of the new century the information super highway.So if the mainstream press can no longer be trusted, then who can you trust for objectivity and accuracy? Again, we have to ask the question: who s watching the watchers? Answer: We are.HAPPY NEW YEAR.SEE PREVIOUS TOP TEN CONSPIRACIES: 2016 Top Ten Conspiracies2015 Top Ten Conspiracies2014 Top Ten ConspiraciesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

Trump says will issue new order next week to protect AmericansWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would be issuing an order next week aimed at keeping the American people safe, as his temporary ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries remains kept on hold by a federal court. “We will be issuing a new and very comprehensive order to protect our people,” Trump said at a news conference.

Venezuela opposition leader Ledezma flees to SpainCARACAS/BOGOTA (Reuters) - Veteran Venezuelan opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, under house arrest since 2015 for alleged coup plotting, escaped across the border to Colombia on Friday and later flew to Spain. With a 2018 presidential election looming, an array of major Venezuelan opposition figures are now in exile, detention or are barred from holding office. They say Maduro has turned Venezuela into a dictatorship, while the government accuses them of joining forces with a U.S.-led global plot to topple him. Ledezma, the best-known detained opponent of leftist President Nicolas Maduro after Leopoldo Lopez, had spearheaded street protests against Maduro in 2014 that led to months of violence and 43 deaths. In Spain today I feel free, he said at Madrid s Barajas airport, where he arrived in the early hours of Saturday. He was cheered by a small crowd including his wife and two daughters, who were already in Spain. Supporters chanted the Venezuelan anthem. Let s not permit that Venezuela dies in our hands, he also said, adding that he would soon meet with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The 62-year-old former Caracas metropolitan mayor said he had gone past 29 police and army controls during a clandestine, overland journey that he kept secret from his loved ones. I ask my wife and daughters to understand. They have suffered long hours of anguish without knowing where I was, he told reporters in the Colombian border town of Cucuta after crossing a bridge from San Antonio in Venezuela. It was my decision alone. Welcome to freedom! tweeted former Colombian President Andres Pastrana, who is close to Venezuela s opposition and the families of other jailed activists. Ledezma was mocked by Maduro as The Vampire, and accused by officials of helping violent hardliners, including dissident military officers plotting to topple the president via air strikes. Ledezma said those charges were trumped up. I hope they never send him back, they can keep the Vampire, Maduro said on Friday evening. The people of Madrid will have to be careful at night, the Vampire (is going) to Madrid. Before boarding a private plane to Bogota, Ledezma said he was planning a global pilgrimage to fight for political freedom in Venezuela. He thanked Colombia s government, which also recently gave asylum to another high-profile Venezuelan dissident, former state prosecutor Luisa Ortega. It s time for him (Maduro) to step aside and allow a transition government, said Ledezma. Maduro cannot keep torturing the Venezuelan people, he s killing Venezuelans with hunger. The OPEC nation of 30 million people is suffering a fourth year of brutal recession, with the highest inflation in the world, shortages of food and medicines, and many people having to skip meals or suffering preventable illnesses. Government supporters have long vilified Ledezma for supporting a brief 2002 coup and accused him of corruption. State media repeatedly show a video where a jailed student radical lauds him as an old fox ... the politician who most supported the resistance. Ledezma, along with another opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has been part of the more militant wing of Venezuela s opposition coalition. Both oppose a planned new political dialogue between the opposition and government scheduled for early December in the Dominican Republic. I left my flag with Maria Corina Machado, in whom I trust completely, Ledezma told reporters. Ledezma won the Caracas mayoralty in 2008, but some of his functions and funding were quickly transferred to a new, pro-government office. Upstaged by younger opposition leaders, Ledezma was not viewed as a future presidential candidate. Intelligence agents took him from his office in Caracas in February 2015. He was originally held at the Ramo Verde military prison before being granted house arrest. Machado told reporters Ledezma had been under increasing pressure from authorities and had faced threats to return him to Ramo Verde due to his opposition to the political dialogue. We believe in real negotiations, but only ones that lead to the exit of the dictatorship, she told reporters.

FITTING END FOR COMMUNIST DICTATOR: Hilarious Reason Jeep Carrying Castro’s Ashes Had To Be Pushed By MilitaryAs FoxNews.com reported:The Russian-made jeep ferrying Castro s ashes broke down and needed to be pushed on Saturday en route to the late leader s final resting place.The breakdown of the jeep in the midst of adoring crowds chanting Long live Fidel! was symbolic of the dual nature of Castro s Cuba.While his legacy inspires fierce adulation by many of the nation s citizens, others continue to grumble about Cuba s autocratic government, inefficient bureaucracy and stagnant economy. Read more: FOX News

IRAN: Iranian protesters charging and overtaking police [VIDEO]

Lebanon will only survive if Hezbollah disarms: Saudi ministerROME (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s foreign minister said on Friday that Lebanon had been hijacked by Hezbollah and could only flourish if the Iranian-backed group disarmed. The Shi ite Muslim militia was set up by the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the 1980s and has grown steadily in influence, sharing power in the Beirut government and giving crucial support to President Bashar al-Assad in Syria s civil war. Its growing strength has alarmed Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim monarchy that is Shi ite Iran s arch-rival for regional influence. Lebanon will only survive or prosper if you disarm Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a conference in Italy. As long as you have an armed militia, you will not have peace in Lebanon. Jubeir said the situation in Lebanon was tragic and accused Iran of fomenting unrest across the Middle East. Since 1979, the Iranians have literally got away with murder in our region, and this has to stop, he said. A month ago, Saad al-Hariri resigned as Lebanese prime minister while he was in Saudi Arabia, triggering a political crisis in Beirut and thrusting Lebanon onto the front line of the regional rivalry. Saudi Arabia denied coercing its long-time ally to quit, and Hariri has now returned to Beirut and indicated that he might withdraw his resignation. Elsewhere in the region, Saudi Arabia fears that Hezbollah and Iran are trying to take control of its neighbor Yemen, by supporting Houthi forces against a Riyadh-led military coalition. Hezbollah denies fighting in Yemen, sending weapons to the Houthis, or firing rockets at Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory. Jubeir rejected this and said his country would not back down in the conflict. The Houthis cannot be allowed to take over a country, he said. Jubeir said his country only had bad relations with two nations Iran and North Korea. He said Riyadh did not have relations with Israel, which shares Saudi worries over Iran, because it was waiting for a Palestinian peace deal. He said everyone knew what a solution would look like to the decades-old conflict. It is not rocket science, he said, adding that he was waiting for the United States to put forward a new proposal. One of the most intractable problems facing negotiators is the spread of Jewish settlements across occupied territory that the Palestinians want for a future state. Jubeir said he expected an eventual deal would set the borders of a Palestinian state on the lines prevailing before the 1967 war, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, he said adjustments could be made for settlers: Seventy percent of the settlers who are on the (1967) Green Line remain in Israel, and the other 30 percent - you offer them compensation and work out housing, and they can move to Israel.

A magnitude 7.3 quake has hit the Moro Gulf in the Philippines.

Tepid response from Egypt government may be bigger concern for US than events in Libya.

France should know that Iran's missiles are not negotiable: spokesmanBEIRUT (Reuters) - France should know that Iran s missile program is not an issue that can be negotiated, Iran s foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, said in an interview with state media on Monday. French official, other officials, who want to speak about Iran s affairs need to pay attention to the deep developments that have come to pass in the region in past decades and the big changes between the current situation and the past, Qassemi said Monday, according to state media. The Islamic Republic of Iran will definitely not negotiate on defense and missile issues. Tension between Iran and France increased last month when French President Emmanuel Macron said that Iran should be less aggressive in the region and should clarify its ballistic missile program. His foreign minister also denounced, during a visit to Saudi Arabia, Iran s hegemonic temptations . France could play a productive role in the Middle East by taking a realistic and impartial approach , Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Macron in a telephone call two weeks ago, according to Iranian state media. Iranian state media said Rouhani told Macron that the Islamic Republic was ready to develop its relations with France on all bilateral, regional and international issues based on mutual respect and shared goals.

Scope of Kerimov's immunity status up to judge to decide upon, says FrancePARIS (Reuters) - The scope of the immunity status accorded to Russian businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, who has been arrested in France, is up to the French judge dealing with the matter to decide upon, said the French foreign ministry. Kerimov was arrested by French police at Nice airport on Monday evening in connection with a tax evasion case, and the Kremlin said it would do everything in its power to defend his lawful interests. It is up to the judge, who has been called upon in this case, to clarify whether the charges that have been brought against him are related to his official roles and would therefore be protected by diplomatic immunity, said French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne. Kerimov is ranked by Forbes magazine as one of Russia s richest businessman, with a net worth of $6.3 billion. His family controls Russia s largest gold producer Polyus.

South Korea: Class war in midst of economic crisis -- Ssangyong workers occupy plant, win partial victory

BORDER SHERIFF: The New Norm Is Lawless Wide Open Border [Video]This has just got to end! We have kids pouring across our border and they are not going home. It s a literal invasion with the Obama administration s approval.Pinal County, AZ Sheriff and Congressional candidate Paul Babeu (R) stated, just the last two months alone, we ve had 10,000 unaccompanied juveniles who are staying here and that the Obama administration says the border is wide open, that there is no law it comes to immigration on Monday s Cavuto: Coast to Coast on the Fox Business Network. He added, We re a compassionate nation. We always have been. And this is where I m tired of being shouted down by President Obama, like somehow we re not good Americans if we don t do everything that he says we should to do. And we ve had a million legal immigrants last year, and we do this every year. Babeu continued, I think it s the most compassionate thing we can do, is reunite them with their families in Central America. What America should be doing is finding ways to solve the problems of violence in Central America, support their governments, because if we don t solve that core problem, this isn t going to end. We re going to have this problem next month, next year, and then we own these people, and all the social network to support them for their entire lives. Because if you think that these kids are going anywhere, think again. They re staying here. Babeu further argued, our compassion, there has to be a limit to this. And we don t see people in Europe, in the countries there, taking kids refugees from central america, yet everybody wants us to take Syrian refugees from halfway across the world. So, where s the fairness here? Via: Breitbart

1.7m Syrian refugees face food crisis as UN funds dry up

Dead woman emerges 31 years after she disappeared and 28 years after a man confessed to killing her

Trump Calls For This Racist Policy To Be Forced On Every StateDonald Trump is calling for one of the most controversial and racially charged policies enacted by police departments to be expanded across the entire country. The city of New York recently ended stop and frisk, but Trump is pushing for it, apparently egged on by his top campaign surrogate, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. From Politico:In a pre-taped interview on Fox News scheduled to air Wednesday night, Trump was asked by an audience member what he would do to address violence in the black community and black-on-black crime. Trump responded by proposing that stop-and-frisk policing, in which an officer is empowered to stop an individual and frisk them for weapons or any other illegal contraband, be adopted nationwide. I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically, Trump told the questioner.Stop-and-frisk was repeatedly called out and protested against by New York City residents because the policy was shown time and time again to disproportionately target black and Latino residents. They were singled out for examination and interrogation by police officers, in what some felt were quotas set up by police management.When the city stopped using stop-and-frisk, they did not see an increase in crime, despite claims from its supporters that there would be a spike in criminal activity. Most people who had been subject to stop-and-frisk were let go, because they hadn t done anything wrong.Former US District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin, who had ruled the procedure unconstitutional in federal court, described it as destructive in an interview with Buzzfeed. She added: In short, the overstopping in many communities harmed the relationship between the people and the police. Cooperation has now improved due to positive efforts by police to work with the community not against it. Featured image via Flickr

WOMAN ARRESTED For Wearing T-Shirt Naming Muslim Extremist Who Fled Country After Failed Jihad Attempt [VIDEO]This is a SHOCKING example of a government putting the rights of violent extreme Muslims before their own citizens:

Spain's constitutional court suspends Catalan referendum law: court sourceMADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish Constitutional Court has suspended a referendum law that was approved on Wednesday by the Catalan parliament, blocking the way for an Oct. 1 ballot on independence from Spain, a court source said on Thursday. The law will be suspended while judges consider arguments that the vote breaches the country s constitution. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said earlier on Thursday he had appealed to the court to declare the referendum illegal. The constitution states Spain is indivisible.

Canadian-born journalist Kathy Gannon wounded, AP photographer killed on assignment in Afghanistan | CTV News

Two state solution | Israel wants Palestine to be emasculated.

Plans for one of Australias largest solar power stations scrapped - Decision to suspend Mildura solar power station comes amid speculation renewable energy target may be scrapped

Mom PERFECTLY Responds To Anti-Science Idiot Telling Child She’s Being Kept Autistic (IMAGES)A mother is outraged after her autistic daughter came home in tears because another parent told her that her mom doesn t want to cure her autism.If you are a parent with a heart and a brain, you re going to be just as pissed off as this little girl s mom.According to a Facebook post provided by A Science Enthusiast, a parent actually had the audacity to tell a little girl that her mother doesn t want to cure her of her autism, and then gave the child a brochure advertising a natural cure company.So, the little girl s mom took to Facebook to give the anonymous parent a deserved severe tongue-lashing. To the PARENT who today told my daughter with autism that is can be CURED- through specific diet, avoiding chemicals (IDIOT) and essential oils. FUCK YOU. My brilliant science minded, but incredibly naive child who embraces her individuality, came home extremely upset and confused as to why I m not trying to cure her. THIS BITCH gave my kid a brochure for a direct sales company that sells natural and organic foods and spices and told her give it to your mom if she s interested in learning more about a cure. The mother destroyed the brochure, but The Science Enthusiast did provide an image from the company website.After reading about Wildtree, it s clear that they do not claim to be able to cure autism or any other disorders. Wildtree is simply a company that offers organic meals to people who have dietary restrictions due to medical conditions or to those who just want to eat more healthy. So it appears the parent who spouted this nonsense about a cure for autism either misread what the company is about or is truly just an idiot.But that doesn t make this mom any less angry about what this other parent did. My kid now wonders if I m PURPOSELY keeping her sick. I want to beat the shit out of this psycho. My arthritis be damned. Here s the full post via Facebook.// < ![CDATA[ // < ![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&#038;version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]&gt;This is so fucked up.Posted by A Science Enthusiast on Wednesday, March 9, 2016This is one of the most evil things to tell a child and this so-called parent should be investigated and kept as far away from kids and civilization as possible.For the record, there is no cure for autism. But there are treatments available such as therapies and behavioral interventions that have proven to be a great help to autistic adults and children.Featured image via Pinterest

U.S.-led forces acknowledge killing 61 more civilians in Iraq, SyriaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants said on Friday it had confirmed another 61 likely civilian deaths caused by its strikes in Iraq and Syria, raising to 685 the number of civilians it has acknowledged killing since the conflict began. The coalition said in a statement that during July, it had investigated 37 reports of civilian casualties. It found that only 13 of the reports were credible and there were an estimated 61 unintentional civilian deaths. The coalition is investigating another 455 reports of civilian casualties caused by its artillery or air strikes, the statement said. It has now acknowledged at least 685 civilian deaths due to its air and artillery strikes since the conflict began in August 2014. The deadliest incident investigated in July was a March 14 strike near Mosul, in which the coalition attacked an Islamic State position where fighters were firing at coalition allies. That strike is believed to have killed 27 civilians in an adjacent structure, the statement said.

Happy birthday, number seven billion

Twitter is being blocked in Venezuela by the Government

Japan PM's ruling bloc seen nearing 2/3 majority in Oct. 22 lower house poll: NikkeiTOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s ruling bloc could come close to keeping its two-thirds super majority in an Oct. 22 lower house election, defying some predictions of substantial losses and solidifying his grip on power, a survey published by the Nikkei business daily on Wednesday showed. Abe s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its more dovish junior partner, the Komeito, are likely to secure more than 290 seats in the 465-seat chamber, the Nikkei said. The ruling bloc had a two-thirds super majority in the lower house before the chamber was dissolved. The number of seats has been cut from 475 as part of electoral reforms. The Nikkei forecast was broadly in line with a Kyodo news agency forecast released on Thursday that saw Abe s coalition winning more than 300 seats. However, Kyodo said 54.4 percent of voters were still undecided. A survey by the Yomiuri newspaper showed the LDP and Komeito winning close to 300 seats. A strong showing by Abe s coalition would boost his chances of winning a third term as LDP leader from next September, putting him on track to become Japan s longest-serving premier. Abe called the snap election amid confusion in the opposition camp and after an uptick in his ratings, which had been hurt earlier this year by suspected cronyism scandals, in hopes of gaining a fresh mandate after nearly five years in power. But the outlook has been clouded by the emergence of popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike s Party of Hope, a fledgling party that the former LDP lawmaker and defense minister calls a reformist, conservative alternative to Abe s LDP. The Nikkei said Koike s party was on track to get around 69 seats, with a forecast range of 46-110. Another new party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, formed from the liberal wing of the failed opposition Democratic Party, was set to win more than 40 seats, it said. The Democrats, faced with rock-bottom ratings and internal dissension, have said they would run no candidates of their own, freeing many to run on the Party of Hope ticket. PRO-CONSTITUTION REVISION FORCES The Asahi newspaper also forecast a strong showing by the ruling bloc, with the LDP set to win well over the 233 seats needed to have a simple majority on its own. It said Koike s Party of Hope was struggling but was likely to get more than 57 seats. About 40 percent of voters were undecided, the Asahi said. The Nikkei also forecast that parties in favor of revising the post-war, pacifist constitution - Abe s long-held goal - were on track to win more than two-thirds. That includes the LDP and Koike s Party of Hope as well as another smaller right-leaning party, the Japan Innovation Party. Amending the constitution, a politically controversial move never yet taken, requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers and a majority in a public referendum. Koike s party had raised expectations that it would cut into the LDP s conservative base. But her decision not to run for a lower house seat herself and refusal to say whom her party would support for premier after the election appears to have eroded the party s momentum. Competition among a fragmented opposition, which also includes the Japanese Communist Party, in many districts means the anti-LDP vote could be split, a plus for Abe s party. Abe has led the LDP to four landslide wins since he took the helm of the party in 2012, but turnout has been low and the LDP has typically won with about 25 percent of eligible votes. The others either stayed home or backed opposition parties. The premier has been touting the success of his Abenomics recipe of hyper-easy monetary policy, fiscal spending and promised structural reforms, while Koike argues that reforms have been too slow in a fast-changing global economy. The world s third-largest economy is on track for its longest expansion since World War Two, and the jobless rate was at a 23-year low of 2.8 percent in August while wages are starting to rise a bit. But Abe s reflationary policies have not yet sparked a sustainable recovery led by the private sector.

Economist magazines annual liveability index: Australian and Canadian cities at the top... American cities slide.

Tanzania's Magufuli sacks officials who failed to recall public works budget figuresDAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzanian President John Magufuli sacked two senior officials late on Monday after they failed to recall immediately how much money was allocated by the government in their respective districts for public road construction projects. Magufuli, nicknamed the Bulldozer for his infrastructure projects and leadership style, launched his reform drive after he was elected in late 2015, promising to transform an economy hobbled by red-tape and corruption and carry out a major building program. He has sacked thousands of civil servants over the past two years in a crackdown on government inefficiency and corruption. A statement issued by the president s office said the sacked director of the Bukoba Municipal Council, Erasto Aron Mfugale, and the director of the Bukoba Rural Municipal Council, Mwantum Kitwana Dau, would be assigned to other duties. The president s office did not explain the reasons for the sackings. However, the two municipal directors were dismissed just hours after the president summoned them at a public gathering and demanded that they announce exactly how much was allocated by the government for road construction in their districts. You can t talk to me like that, Magufuli said at the launch of a new airport in the lakeside town of Bukoba, which was televised live. Dau had informed the president that she oversees many departments and could therefore not immediately recall the exact budget allocated for road projects. The two dismissed officials were not immediately available for comment. Magufuli, who served as the public works minister for nearly 20 years before becoming president, is widely known for having data at his fingertips, and frequently recites monetary figures and exact lengths of roads to their decimal points without referring to notes. He has purged more than 20,000 ghost workers from the public service payroll and sacked 12,000 government employees for forging their academic transcripts. I will continue to straighten out those few people who have been looting this country in order to ensure that the majority of the population can reap the benefits, he said. Magufuli has won praise from some Western donors for cracking down on corruption and tax evasion. Critics accuse his administration of being increasingly autocratic, but the president declared on Monday that his government respects democracy .

BREAKING NEWS: TRUMP ADMIN ANNOUNCES “MASSIVE TAX CUT” For Businesses And Massive Tax Reform [VIDEO]President Trump s 2017 Tax Reform for Economic Growth and American Jobs was announced today by National Economic Director Cohn and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin:Three Key Things to Remember (see photo below):-Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax-Reduce the top Cap Gains rate to 20%-Repeal the so-called death tax. TAX PLAN REDUCES CURRENT 7 TAX BRACKETS TO 3 AND DOUBLES STANDARD DEDUCTION GARY COHN, NAT L ECONOMIC DIRECTOR: ENTIRE SPEECH BELOW THIS VIDEOTax plan reduces current 7 tax brackets to 3 and doubles standard deduction, National Economic Director Cohn says https://t.co/T5uqoA85rO pic.twitter.com/hAOtIOh2WP CBS News (@CBSNews) April 26, 2017TAX REFORM FOR 2017: Tax reform plan reduces corporate tax rate to 15%; medium and small-sized businesses eligible for rate Treasurey Secretary Mnuchin -ENTIRE SPEECH BELOW THIS VIDEO:Tax reform plan reduces corporate tax rate to 15%; medium and small-sized businesses eligible for rate, Mnuchin says https://t.co/T5uqoA85rO pic.twitter.com/zavdOihq9E CBS News (@CBSNews) April 26, 2017ENTIRE SPEECH:

Toronto city council bans sale and consumption of shark fin.

Bulgaria parliament passes anti-corruption law under EU pressureSOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria s parliament passed anti-corruption legislation on Wednesday under European Union pressure over its failure to prosecute venal officials, but President Rumen Radev has said the bill is not fit for purpose and he will veto it. The Balkan, formerly communist country is the poorest as well as one of the most corrupt countries in the EU, which it joined in 2007, and has made scant progress towards stamping out graft and organized crime. The European Commission, the EU s executive, has repeatedly rebuked Bulgaria for failing to prosecute and sentence allegedly corrupt officials and for not overhauling a creaking judiciary. This law corresponds to the wishes of Bulgarian citizens and the European Commission, said Tsvetan Tsvetanov, chairman of the ruling GERB party s parliamentary group. Analysts voiced concern, though, that the bill would not allow efficient investigations of corruption networks. The management of a special anti-graft unit envisaged by the legislation would be appointed by parliament, something analysts said could limit its objectivity. Radev said the new five-person unit, meant to investigate persons occupying high state posts as well as assets and conflict of interest, may not be truly independent and could be used by those in power to persecute opponents. The instruments envisaged in this law are ineffective, Radev said last week. It does not deal a blow on those who feed corruption, and it can be used as a weapon against inconvenient people. He said he would veto the measure. The president, prime minister and lawmakers could be targets of investigation, as well as municipal councillors, directors of hospitals and border customs bosses. The new law also focuses on improving control and accountability of law-enforcement agencies, just before Bulgaria assumes the six-month, rotating EU presidency in January. Corruption has deterred foreign investment since communism collapsed in Bulgaria in 1989, and the EU has kept Sofia as well as neighboring Romania - for the same rule-of-law failings - outside its Schengen zone of passport-free travel.

London mayor cuts funding for Black History Month

Google and Gmail blocked in Iran as it moves to establish a nation-wide intranet

IT’S ON: Toddler Trump Hears Critical McConnell Statements, Promptly Starts To Lose It (TWEETS)Mitch McConnell famously or infamously, depending where you stand on the political spectrum attacked Donald Trump on Monday, putting blame for Republican dysfunction and failure to pass Trumpcare squarely on the shoulders of Dear Leader.Well, apparently Trump didn t take too kindly to what he likely perceives as a backstabbing and he s letting McConnell know about it the only way he knows how: Twitter.Here s the tweet Trump fired back with:Senator Mitch McConnell said I had "excessive expectations," but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017 Senator Mitch McConnell said I had excessive expectations, but I don t think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done? Here s the video of the McConnell statement he s referring to: Speaking to Rotary club in Kentucky, @SenateMajLdr says he finds it extremely irritating that Congress has a reputation for doing nothing. pic.twitter.com/zAx1TqkAWw ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 8, 2017While they dither about whose fault it is their party has every branch of government and yet still cannot accomplish much, reality has the answer: The Republican Party has no idea how to lead. They have formed their modern identity as the anti-Democrat, anti-Obama, anti-progress party, and that platform doesn t allow for things like ideas, cooperation, or leadership. And with a an amateur clown and do-nothing testudine running the show, that doesn t look likely to change anytime soon.Read more:Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images

Syria Confirms Israeli Airstrike Outside Damascus

Beth Israel Hospital avoids layoffs by everyone's contributions

Cameron: "Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp."

Melania's Slovenian hometown eyes Trump win as boon for tourismSEVNICA, Slovenia (Reuters) - The small Slovenian town of Sevnica, Melania Trump’s birthplace, savored her husband’s shock win in the U.S. election as a likely boon for tourism on Wednesday, while a former schoolmate remembered her as “creative and innovative”. Until about a year ago, the town of fewer than 5,000 people, nestled in the foothills of the Alps, was scarcely known in Slovenia, let alone abroad. But on Monday, Sevnica was clearly looking forward to a financial spin-off from being the hometown of the 46-year-old future U.S. First Lady. “Sometimes the pressure of the media was too hard. The people of Sevnica are not used to it. On the other hand, the global attention is positive because Sevnica is developing into a tourist destination,” mayor Srecko Ocvirk said. Speaking to Reuters shortly after 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) in Sevnica’s Central cafe, the smiling mayor said local residents had supported Trump and his wife’s campaign. “We are very satisfied at the result,” he said. Born Melania Knavs in 1970, she lived in an apartment block in Sevnica with her family as a child. When she was a teenager, the family moved to a modest two-storey house above the Sava river on the outskirts of town, which sits below a well-maintained medieval castle. Residents say her father sold car parts and her mother worked for a factory that made a brand of children’s clothing very popular in communist Yugoslavia, before the country fell apart in the 1990s. Melania’s modeling career took her to Milan and thence to the United States, far away from her native Slovenia, a tiny former Yugoslav republic of 2 million people comparable in size to New Jersey. “Even as a child Melania was creative, innovative and Sevnica was too small for her,” said Mirjana Jelancic, Melania’s friend who is now a headmistress of Melania’s elementary school. “She was reserved and when I heard that Donald was running I said (to myself) this will be hard for her. She never wanted to be in the spotlight,” Jelancic said. “She was excellent at her job (in the campaign).” The head of the town’s health center, which received a donation from Melania in 2005 when she was pregnant with her son Barron, said she believed Melania would be a success in the White House, as well. “Melania will be an excellent First Lady who will take Slovenian values of generosity, loyalty and trust to the United States and the world,” Vladimira Tomsic said.

REMEMBER WHEN DONALD TRUMP FOUGHT Palm Beach Officials To Make Mar-a-Lago A Club That Welcomed Blacks and Jews When Other Clubs Excluded Them?The Washington Post reported: The patriarchs of this quiet island of millionaires threw up roadblocks when Donald Trump swooped in and turned its historic oceanfront Mar-a-Lago mansion into a private club.The town council, seeing Trump as an ostentatious outsider, handed him a list of restrictions as he sought to transform the property in the 1990s. Membership, traffic, party attendance, even photography all would be strictly limited.But Trump undercut his adversaries with a searing attack, claiming that local officials seemed to accept the established private clubs in town that had excluded Jews and blacks while imposing tough rules on his inclusive one.Trump s lawyer sent every member of the town council copies of two classic movies about discrimination: A Gentleman s Agreement, about a journalist who pretends to be Jewish to expose anti-Semitism, and Guess Who s Coming to Dinner about a white couple s reaction to their daughter bringing home a black fiance.The move infuriated council members, who said it was a distraction from their concerns that Trump s club would spoil a quiet street. But, in time, Trump got most of the restrictions lifted.In many ways Mar-a-Lago is the antithesis of the area s traditional WASP-y clubs the Beach Club, the Bath and Tennis Club, the Sailfish Club. The Everglades Club, Palm Beach s oldest and founded in 1919, is what Nicholas Golubov, research director for the Historical Society of Palm Beach, called a bastion of the old, Palm Beach elite. Trump s business model in Palm Beach, by comparison, has been a beacon of inclusion. As long as potential members had the $100,000 entry fee (bumped up to $200,000 in January), there was a good chance that they d be accepted. In a further departure from Palm Beach taste, Trump allowed non-members, as well as members, to rent spaces for bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, weddings, and charity galas. Anyone can party at the new Winter White House, as long as they can afford it. I think it s the best thing Trump did in his whole life, said Laurence Leamer, the author of the book Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach. He opened up this island. He also had Jews and gays and African Americans he even had the first gay wedding. Most Palm Beach clubs have unapologetically restrictive membership policies, but resist any notion that those policies have anything to do with race, creed, or color. That s an old-fashioned view, certainly of our club, said John Newman, general manager Sailfish Club. We have no discrimination in our club; members have to be sponsored by a current member, but we have all faiths in our club. (The Bath and Tennis, Beach, and Everglades clubs declined to comment for this article; Mar-a-Lago did not respond to requests for comment.) Bloomberg Palm Beach has a lot of rules: No whistling allowed on public streets after midnight. No Missing Dog or any sign posted on a tree. And no flag poles taller than 42 feet.In late 2006 Trump put up a giant American flag on an 80-foot pole. That led to a $1,250-a-day fine against him, drawing national headlines that Trump basked in. Tonight, Donald Trump does legal battle again, this time with a bunch of millionaires down in Palm Beach, Florida, who told Trump he s flying his flag too high, is how Nancy Grace started her CNN interview in January 2007 with Trump. Can you fly the American flag too high? she asked.Trump got fan mail as he said in a blizzard of interviews: No American should have to get a permit to fly the flag. I said, This is a dream to have someone sue me to take down the American flag, Trump said in the interview.Trump sued Palm Beach for $25 million in damages, arguing the flag was constitutionally protected free speech.Ultimately, Trump reached a settlement with the town. He would put a slightly smaller flag farther from the road and mount it on a 70-foot pole.Instead of paying any fines, Trump made a $100,000 donation to a veterans charity.

Rick Perry Is Mocked Over Nukes By Secretary Whose Job He Thought He Was GettingDonald Trump s Secretary of Energy Rick Perry doesn t get a lot of respect. That s a good thing he s kind of a dumbass. And by kind of, I mean of course that he s the dumbest guy to come out of Texas since his gubernatorial predecessor, George W. Bush.But there s obviously something about Perry s aw-shucks style that got him elected three times as governor of Texas. The problem is, nobody but Texans know what it is. That s why his two runs at the Republican nomination for president have been so laughably short. But those efforts did earn him something in the end: An appointment to an office he said he wanted to abolish, by the guy that beat him by publicly commenting on how dumb he is..@GovernorPerry failed on the border. He should be forced to take an IQ test before being allowed to enter the GOP debate. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2015Trump s magnanimous gesture in handing Perry the Department of Energy came with risks: What if Ricky used it all up trying to tie his cowboy boots one Sunday morning on his way to church? That fear, of course, is unfounded, because Rick Perry totally thought the DoE meant he was in charge of our oil. You can see why his brain might go there. He s from Texas, so he may have imagined himself the perfect selection as Oilman-in-Chief. Maybe he was confused by terrifying phrases like foreign energy or energy independence, which do indeed mean oil and gas.The guy in charge of those is actually Ryan Zinke, head of the Department of the Interior. Mr. Zinke was interviewed recently by the magazine GQ, and he had, um, nice things to say about ol Rick:Secretary Perry is a wonderful guy. I think he thought his department was more about energy than science. Mostly, it s science and, of course, they also have responsibility of our nuclear arsenal.Oops! Rick Perry is in charge of our nukes?!? Well, at least Zinke isn t too worried about it:Interior is the one that produces energy. We laugh a lot about it.It s a good thing somebody s laughing, right?Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images

Hugo Chavez: If Climate Were Bank, U.S. Would Have Saved It

Republican Kasich suspends presidential campaign: NBC, PoliticoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican John Kasich ended his longshot presidential bid on Wednesday, NBC News and Politico reported, leaving Donald Trump’s path clear to capture the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Kasich, 63, the Ohio governor and a former U.S. congressman, had vowed just a day earlier to keep running after U.S. Senator Ted Cruz dropped out following a poor showing in Indiana’s Republican primary on Tuesday. NBC cited an unidentified Kasich campaign source as saying the governor would suspend his campaign. The campaign did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Kasich, who was able to win only his own state in the race for the 2016 Republican nomination, canceled a media appearance on Wednesday in Virginia and scheduled a 5 p.m. EDT statement in Columbus, Ohio, his campaign said. Trump’s decisive victory in the Indiana primary forced Cruz to suspend his candidacy and prompted speculation that Kasich, running a distant third, would do the same.

Poisonous Rhinos Discourage Poachers

Pakistans parliament becomes first in world to run entirely on solar power | The seat of the government in the countrys capital, Islamabad, is now wholly powered by the sun

Pakistani coupe kill their daughter by pouring acid on her face when she was found talking to a boy

'You've completely failed' angry Macedonia tells Berlin

Adidas FLAWLESSLY Trolls Anti-Gay Bigots Who Slammed Their Valentine’s Day Instagram (IMAGES)With marriage equality nationwide, and with more people now than ever supporting the love between two human beings regardless of gender, Adidas celebrated that love on Valentine s Day with the following Instagram pic with the caption, The love you take is equal to the love you make. The love you take is equal to the love you make.A photo posted by adidas (@adidas) on Feb 13, 2016 at 11:30pm PSTPretty adorable, right? Who could hate that pic, right? Well, leave it to the internet to show the dark underbelly of society that can t wrap their heads around the idea of two people of the same gender in love.As Buzzfeed reports, several folks were none too pleased with Adidas having the audacity to show this image of two women in love presumably kissing, and many decided to write nasty comments.instagram.comFirst of all, whoever this leepapi is, they are not only a bigot, but clearly a moron. The image is of two women. Geez.However, I digress. Adidas wasn t about to let this bigotry go unchecked and smacked down these bigots were they stand, and in the most magnificently glorious way, well, ever.Check it out:instagram.comCommenting directly to the bigots, Adidas responds to the one jerk by simply waving goodbye with a kiss, and the second by explaining that Valentine s Day is for everyone who is in love, not just heterosexuals.These responses were an absolute thing of beauty and quite honestly, I may go out and buy some Adidas active-wear just because of it. Well done.Featured image from Instagram

French taxi drivers lock down Paris in huge anti-Uber protest

Modern civilisation is heading for collapse within a matter of decades because of growing economic instability and pressure on the planets resources, according to a scientific study funded by Nasa.

Bahrains protest movement fades beneath government suppression

Stem cells taken from patient's heart heal heart attack scars, regrow healthy muscle

FBI POSTS $5,000 REWARD For Person Who Committed “Hate Crime” With Bacon? [VIDEO]Americans were warned by Attorney General, Loretta Lynch to not offend Muslims or they would pay a heavy price. Did anyone think she, or her boss were kidding? Barack Obama offends Christian Americans on a regular basis when will the FBI place a bounty on his head? The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information that helps them find the person who put raw bacon on the door handles of a Las Vegas mosque.The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that agents are trying to find the man seen in a surveillance video putting the meat on the entrances of the Masjid-e-Tawheed mosque. Authorities call it a desecration of the Islamic worship center.The Quran, the holy book of Islam, prohibits Muslims from eating pork, and pigs have been used to taunt or offend Muslims.Both the FBI and Las Vegas police say they re investigating the case as a possible hate crime.Las Vegas police spokesman Larry Hadfield said the bacon was wrapped on the door knobs, and was also found on the ground and fences.Officials at the mosque couldn t immediately be reached for comment.The FBI said the incident happened about 3:15 a.m. Dec. 27. The culprit is described as a white man wearing a dark blue hat, jacket and black-framed glasses. He had black or dark brown hair with long, thin sideburns.The site west of the Las Vegas Strip wasn t damaged, and no one was hurt. The mosque was empty at the time, and the case was reported by members who came to worship later that morning.Several threatening incidents at mosques have been reported in recent weeks. A Molotov cocktail went off at an Islamic center in Tracy, California, days ago, and a severed pig s head was found outside a Philadelphia worship site earlier this month. Via: APThe vandalism, which is being called a hate crime, has left the Las Vegas Muslim community on edge, according to KSNV.

Ambulances on stand by at Ben Gurion Airport (Tel Aviv) for emergency landing of a plane w/ 279 ppl on board. [pic]

N. Korea warns of 'dark clouds of nuclear war'

ISIS call for demolition of Egypts Sphinx, pyramids

With no money, Pakistan moms abandon kids

Man sells canned fresh air in China. Welcome to yuppie capitalism, comrades.

The Anne Frank Center Just TORCHED Trump For Pathetic And Late Condemnation Of Anti-SemitismDonald Trump does not care about Jewish people. If he did, he would have strongly condemned anti-Semitism long ago instead of pandering to groups that commit it.In cities across the country on Monday, Jewish community centers were evacuated after receiving bomb threats.This is yet another escalation of the attack on Jewish people in America since Trump was elected in November. Hate crimes are on the rise, and so is anti-Semitism. Trump has been repeatedly called upon to condemn anti-Semitism but he has refused to do so or only weakly does so because he would lose his supporters on the extreme right-wing.On Tuesday, a full day after the bomb threats, Trump finally made a short statement pathetically denouncing anti-Semitism. The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil, Trump said.Of course, Trump has contributed to this hate by ignoring it and has insulted Jews ever since taking office a month ago.Shortly after Trump s late statement, Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect Executive Director Steven Goldstein scolded Trump in a statement. The President s sudden acknowledgement is a Band-Aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism, he began. His statement today is a pathetic asterisk of condescension after weeks in which he and his staff have committed grotesque acts and omissions reflecting anti-Semitism, yet day after day have refused to apologize and correct the record. Make no mistake: The Antisemitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration.The White House repeatedly refused to mention Jews in its Holocaust remembrance, and had the audacity to take offense when the world pointed out the ramifications of Holocaust denial. And it was only yesterday, President s Day, that Jewish Community Centers across the nation received bomb threats, and the President said absolutely nothing.When President Trump responds to anti-Semitic proactively and in real time, and without pleas and pressure, that s when we ll be able to say this President has turned a corner. This is not that moment. .@POTUS @realDonaldTrump do not make us Jews settle for crumbs of condescension. What are you going to do about #Antsemitism in @WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/95Z5GP1OBc AnneFrankCenter(US) (@AnneFrankCenter) February 21, 2017Trump s campaign was heavily supported by Nazis and Trump even hired a Nazi by making Steve Bannon his top adviser. So while Trump s statement on Tuesday is a start, it s not enough because his anti-Semitic supporters still believe he is one of them and that he doesn t really believe what he s saying when he condemns them. That s because Trump s statement was weak and his previous actions and words make it clear that he is not a friend to Jews.Featured image via Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images

Brilliant Israeli Animation on Gaza Horrors

When Kim Jong Il died, the holiest mountain in North Korea glowed red, according to state media stories that serve to bookend the tale of Kim's sacred birth at Mount Paektu.

Juan Cole: Tunisia Uprising "Spearheaded by Labor Movements, by Internet Activists, by Rural Workers; It's a Populist Revolution"

Dogs learning to Drive in New Zealand

U.S. EPA employees protest Trump's pick to run agencyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former and current employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expressed opposition to President Donald Trump’s pick to run the agency on Monday - in an open letter and a small street protest - reflecting divisions over the new administration’s plans to slash regulation. Over 400 former EPA staff members sent a letter to the U.S. Senate asking it to reject the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the agency’s new leader, saying “he has shown no interest in enforcing environmental laws.” In Chicago, around 30 employees of the EPA’s regional office there joined a protest organized by the Sierra Club environmental group and the American Federation of Government Employees to protest Pruitt’s nomination. Doug Eriksen, a spokesman for Trump’s transition team at the EPA, downplayed the Chicago protest, saying “employees have a right to take action on their private time.” Trump has vowed to cut regulation to revive the oil, gas and coal industries, and has said he can do so without compromising air and water quality. He nominated Pruitt, who has sued the EPA more than a dozen times as Oklahoma’s top prosecutor to block its regulations, to run the agency, sparking alarm among Democrats and environmentalists. Last Thursday, the Senate environment committee approved Pruitt despite a boycott of his nomination by the panel’s Democratic members. He is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate, in Republican control after last November’s election, but a date for the vote has not been set. The former EPA employees who sent the letter to the Senate wrote that they believed Pruitt has a history of siding with industry and has been reluctant to accept “the strong scientific consensus on climate change.” Employees at the Chicago rally raised concerns that Pruitt may cut employees and resources needed for the agency to enforce environmental regulations. “The EPA needs to be able to enforce the rules when companies are breaking the law,” said Sherry Estes, an EPA lawyer who participated in the protest.

High-res photos show Syria's largest city at war.

Trump to issue emergency declaration next week on opioidsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would declare next week a national emergency on opioid abuse, a move that could give states access to federal funds to fight the drug crisis. The United States is battling a surge in opioid-related deaths, including 33,000 lives lost in 2015, more than any year on record, according to federal data. “The opioid is a tremendous emergency,” Trump told Fox Business Network. “Next week, I’m going to (be) declaring an emergency, (a) national emergency on drugs.” Trump is expected to provide a preview of his plans for tackling drug demand and the opioid crisis in remarks on Thursday. Trump said in August that he would declare opioid abuse a national emergency. Opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl - a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine - are fueling the drug overdoses. The declaration by Trump could help unlock more support and resources to address the drug overdose epidemic, such as additional funding and expanded access to various forms of treatment, and it gives the government more flexibility in waiving rules and restrictions to expedite action.

Boiler Room #88 – Behold: Your New Ministry of TruthTune 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 Jay Dyer (author of Esoteric Hollywood) and Jamie Hanshaw, host of Happy Hearts Radio for the 88th episode of BOILER ROOM. Water the plants, put the kids to bed and get your favorite snuggy out so you can drop deep into the Boiler Room with the ACR brain-trust.Caller line was open for BOILER ROOM EP #88:Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! Listen to Boiler Room #87 Behold: The New Ministry of Truth on Spreaker.Reference Links:

Wave of Unrest Rocks China

Israel, Lebanon forces exchange fire on border

Doomsday Clock Moved 1 Minute Closer to Midnight

Turkey says expects humanitarian aid can be delivered in Syria's IdlibANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it expected humanitarian aid could be delivered to Syria s northern province of Idlib, which is under the control of a rebel alliance spearheaded by the former al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front. Our expectation is that Idlib, just like other de-escalation zones, becomes a region where humanitarian aid can easily be delivered, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in Ankara. Turkey will do whatever falls upon it on this matter. Turkey said last month it was limiting the movement of non-humanitarian aid into Idlib because the area is controlled by a terrorist organization .

Tehran MD: They have covered up the deaths\r\n

Two Afghan terrorists arrested in Bari (Italy) were planning attacks in London, Rome and Bari

This Letter From The Fed Warns Of The Next Great Recession And NOBODY Is Paying AttentionIn case you weren t paying attention: Just as George W. Bush s disaster of an administration was coming to an end the effects of his policies combined with a horrible deal pushed on Bill Clinton by a Republican congress to balance the budget caused the greatest economic collapse since the great depression. From the first signs of the housing bubble bursting in 2007 to the market crash of October 2008, we watched as financial institutions failed to cover their horrible bets hedged with credit swaps from other horrible bets, sending the global economy into a tailspin. It wasn t until March of 2009 that the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a rock bottom of 6459 points, a 54 percent loss from the day of the crash, that the economy began its slow but steady recovery.In the meantime, 401Ks were decimated. Homes purchased for $200K were worth half of that seemingly overnight The ability to pay back the loan was already suspect, as banks used the deregulation and repeal of imperative portions of Glas-Steagall to loan money to anyone applying for credit, with those debts sold for debt that was leveraged with debt and so on until the pile collapsed in on itself. Builders who borrowed $100K to build a small spec-house were issued millions of dollars instead to build entire neighborhoods, some of which are still empty or incomplete to this day. The actual cash value of American real estate plummeted, killing a massive chunk of working and middle-class construction and service jobs.All of that because the first big bank to fail didn t have a sufficient plan to secure its debts if it needed to wind back, tighten credit and use protections in place to stay the course and weather the storm. This time, there would be none of that. This time, the people who held the country s economy hostage without even knowing it were the same ones who lost their jobs and found themselves standing there with their arms outstretched wondering what the hell just happened.For years we suffered. Our newly elected president got to preside over an economy handed to him in ruins. People who lost everything had to grit their teeth while congress handed the big banks the money to loosen the credit that had come to a halt and provide the upper class and one-percenters with the lavish lifestyles they d grown accustomed to. One would imagine that with a track record like that, the big banks would update their plan B; the drop back nine and punt with a solid strategy to cover their investments and hedge their losses should things start to tumble.According to a letter sent by the Fed and the FDIC, the agency that secures deposits with federal funds, the nation s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, is far from the goal of being able to save itself without another catastrophic incident. An independent blog run by a former Wall Street operative and a professional publisher called Wall Street on Parade analyzed the letter and found the contents extremely disturbing:At the top of page 11, the Federal regulators reveal that they have identified a deficiency in JPMorgan s wind-down plan which if not properly addressed could pose serious adverse effects to the financial stability of the United States. Why didn t JPMorgan s Board of Directors or its legions of lawyers catch this?It s important to parse the phrasing of that sentence. The Federal regulators didn t say JPMorgan could pose a threat to its shareholders or Wall Street or the markets. It said the potential threat was to the financial stability of the United States. That s frightening. JPMorgan is worth more than $2 trillion with $51 trillion in notional amounts of derivatives, it s total value as a leveraged asset. That means that without stop-gaps in place to catch a fall in progress, the collapse of a single bank could potentially cost more than a quarter of the value of the entire US economy. Sound familiar? What happens next is a domino effect, as JPMorgan ranks number one in risk of contagion to other institutions. In other words, 2008-2009 all over again far too soon for the country to put on the brakes and stop the inevitable recession and possibly depression that will follow.This is NOT a joke or an episode of Alex Jones. This is the Federal Reserve telling the kingpin that a ball is spinning in its direction and the best thing it can hope for is a seven-ten split; something for some innocent people to hold onto as the rest fall off into a dark abyss. Why hasn t the mainstream media picked up on this? Bernie Sanders is supposed to be the watchdog making sure big banks don t destroy what the people have managed to rebuild. Hillary Clinton is supposed to be all about reform, applauding Dodd-Frank and reporting that she s personally scolded Wall Street for its nefarious activity. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, well, they re idiots. Where is CNN, ABC, and NBC? Not even the doom and gloom seekers of Fox News can remove themselves from Donald Trump s rear-end long enough to make note that even though they ruined countless lives less than a decade ago, big banks aren t taking measures to stop it from happening again.Bad things are happening downtown. Somebody really should say something.Featured image from Getty Images, modified

Quarter of a million Sri Lankans face two years in camps

Illinois governor announces veto of $5 billion tax hikeCHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner announced on Tuesday his veto of a $5 billion income tax rate hike that was the lynchpin of a newly passed bipartisan budget package designed to end the state’s record-setting fiscal impasse, he announced via social media. “I just vetoed Speaker Madigan’s 32 percent permanent income tax increase,” the Republican governor announced in posts to his Facebook and Twitter accounts, referring to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, the package’s main legislative architect. The posts did not disclose whether he had taken similar action on spending and borrowing measures that made up the entire package.

Flotilla will be allowed to unload cargo at port of El-Arish in Egypt, where it will be checked and then transferred to Gaza via land.

FIRE THIS GUY! MUSLIM CNN HOST TWEETS Out Vile Response to President Trump’s Tweet After #LondonBridge Terror AttackREZA ASLAN is a CNN host who is a Muslim religious scholar who should be fired but probably won t be. He tweeted out a vile response to President Trump s tweet from the DRUDGE Report. He also called our President a man baby who should be ignored . What kind of jackwagon disrespects our President like this?Aslan first tweeted that he considers Trump a man baby who should be ignored. This is after our President scooped NBC when he retweeted the DRUDGE tweet that it was feared that another terror attack happened in London. NBC tweeted (see below) that they wouldn t retweet Trumps tweet. Ridiculous move by NBC that turned out to backfire on them. The president is a man baby that must be ignored in times of crisis CNN s Religious Scholar Reza Aslan The next tweet from Aslan is the one getting the most press because of its hate and vulgar language: This piece of shit is not just an embarrassment to America and a stain on the presidency. He s an embarrassment to humankind. CNN s Religious Scholar Reza Aslan Does CNN condone this vile behavior from its hosts? We ll see if they do anything about this hateful man who is no journalist!More information on him reveals he s an Iranian-born CNN employee from his personal websiteREZA ASLAN is an internationally renowned writer, commentator, professor, producer, and scholar of religions. His books, including his #1 New York Times Bestseller, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, have been translated into dozens of languages around the world. He is also a recipient of the prestigious James Joyce Award.In addition to his role as a Consulting Producer on the acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers, Aslan is also the host and Executive Producer of two other original television programs: Rough Draft with Reza Aslan (premiered on Ovation), and CNN s upcoming documentary series, Believer. He also served as an Executive Producer on the ABC drama, Of Kings and Prophets. His book Zealot has been optioned by Lionsgate and producer David Heyman with a script penned by Oscar nominated screenwriter, James Schamus.In 2006, Aslan co-founded BoomGen Studios the premiere entertainment brand for creative content from and about the Middle East which has provided an array of targeted services ranging from strategic messaging to grassroots marketing to publicity and social media outreach, to producers, studios, and filmmakers including Jon Stewart s Rosewater, Netflix s The Square, Disney s Aladdin on Broadway and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Weinstein Company s Miral, Discovery and TLC s All American Muslim, and National Geographic s Amreeka.Aslan s first book, International Bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has been translated into seventeen languages, and was named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade by Blackwell Publishers. He is also the author of Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age (originally titled How to Win a Cosmic War), as well as editor of two volumes: Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, and Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalties, Contentions, and Complexities.Aslan s degrees include a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Santa Clara University (Major focus: New Testament; Minor: Greek), a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University (Major focus: History of Religions), a PhD in the Sociology of Religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. An Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, he is also a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the board of directors of the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues; Narrative Four, which connects people through the exchange of stories; PEN USA, which champions the rights of writers under siege around the world; the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Levantine Cultural Center, which builds bridges between Americans and the Arab/Muslim world through the arts.Aslan is a tenured Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside and serves on the board of trustees for the Chicago Theological Seminary and The Yale Humanist Community, which supports atheists, agnostics, and humanists at home and abroad. A member of the American Academy of Religions, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the International Qur anic Studies Association, Aslan s previous academic positions include the Wallerstein Distinguished Professor of Religion, Community and Conflict at Drew University in New Jersey (2012-2013), and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Iowa (2000-2003).Born in Iran, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife, author and entrepreneur, Jessica Jackley, and their three sons.

U.N. urges calm as deadline nears for asylum seekers to quit controversial, Australian-run campSYDNEY (Reuters) - About 20 asylum seekers on Friday left an Australian-run detention center due to close down in Papua New Guinea, but hundreds of holdouts faced forcible eviction amid an immigration standoff that has blighted Australia for years. Nearly 600 men have barricaded themselves into the Manus island center for more than 10 days without regular food or water, defying closure attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea in what the United Nations calls a looming humanitarian crisis . The deadline to move is Saturday. The asylum seekers fear reprisals if they move to transit centers pending possible resettlement in the United States. The main camp was closed on Oct. 31 and water and power have been cut off. Some locals are angry at what they perceive as preferential treatment for the asylum seekers, many of them well educated, in a poor, rural society, and some of the detainees have come under attack when on release from the camp. Bowing to pressure from Papua New Guinea, which said it would forcibly evict and apprehend any holdouts on Saturday, around 20 men left the camp for one of the transit centers, three asylum seekers told Reuters. The rest vowed to stay put, setting the scene for a possible clash. Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner for protection at U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, called on both governments to exercise restraint and not to use violence, taking into account people who had been in the processing center for years. They re in a very vulnerable state with not much hope in sight, he said. We have been visiting Manus island several times over the last couple of years, we have reported on the very dire conditions in these centers. It s now really high time to bring an end to this unconscionable human suffering. In Sydney, about 200 protesters picketed a fundraiser for the ruling Liberal Party, heckling arriving guests and demanding that the men be allowed to settle on the mainland. In Melbourne, more than 1,000 people held similar protests, the Australian Associated Press news agency said. Australia has used the center, and a camp on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, to detain asylum seekers who try to reach its shores by boat. It says boat arrivals will never enter Australia, even if found to be refugees, as this would encourage people smugglers in Asia. Australia says the policy prevents people drowning at sea, but it has been widely condemned. We aren t going to be stood over by people that have better accommodation to move to, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said in a radio interview. The U.N. Human Rights Committee urged Australia to bring its migration laws into line with world standards. It is concerned about conditions in Manus and on Nauru, citing safety fears and instances of assault, sexual abuse, self-harm and suspicious deaths. The asylum seekers, drawn largely from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Syria, use rubbish bins to collect rainwater and set up makeshift shelters to protect against the tropical sun and rain. Papua New Guinea police returned to dismantle parts of the camp on Friday, large parts of its fence having been removed the previous day. They are destroying our shelters, said Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish journalist from Iran, detained for more than four years. They destroyed the rubbish bins where we have been collecting water too.

Trump seeks to shrink federal role in education with new orderWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to review the U.S. government’s role in school policy, which supporters cheered as the first step in creating more local control in education and critics worried could lead to lower quality schools in poorer neighborhoods. DeVos has 300 days “to review and, if necessary, modify and repeal regulations and guidance issued by the Department of Education with a clear mandate to identify places where D.C. has overstepped its legal authority,” said Rob Goad, a Department of Education official, according to a transcript of a White House call with reporters. The second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, California’s Kevin McCarthy, said the federal government had in recent years exceeded its legal authority in creating regulations and guidance “Different people in different states and communities will have different goals and ways of achieving those goals. That is something we should celebrate and enable, not try to stop,” he said in a statement. The Democratic National Committee, though, said the order was politically motivated, with Trump wanting something to show in school policy in his first 100 days. The head of the American Federation of Teachers union, Randi Weingarten, said the current education law, Every Student Succeeds Act, already reduces federal power over schools, especially when it comes to standards and teacher assessments. “What the new law doesn’t do is abandon the requirement for the federal government to protect the civil rights of our students, even if those rights run counter to what states and districts want to do,” she said in a statement.

IKEA founder pledges to double charitable spending following revelations that at the age of 17 he had been an active recruiter and a registered member of the Svensk Socialistisk Samling (SSS), the successor to the Swedish Nazi party.

FBI FILES REVEALED: VALERIE JARRETT’S FAMILY TIES TO COMMUNISM RUN DEEPI m sure the apple doesn t fall far from the tree in this case. Many of us have known about the father-in-law but this digs deeper into Valerie Jarrett s own family. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files obtained by Judicial Watch reveal that the dad, maternal grandpa and father-in-law of President Obama s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, were hardcore Communists under investigation by the U.S. government.Jarrett s dad, pathologist and geneticist Dr. James Bowman, had extensive ties to Communist associations and individuals, his lengthy FBI file shows. In 1950 Bowman was in communication with a paid Soviet agent named Alfred Stern, who fled to Prague after getting charged with espionage. Bowman was also a member of a Communist-sympathizing group called the Association of Internes and Medical Students. After his discharge from the Army Medical Corps in 1955, Bowman moved to Iran to work, the FBI records show.According to Bowman s government file the Association of Internes and Medical Students is an organization that has long been a faithful follower of the Communist Party line and engages in un-American activities. Bowman was born in Washington D.C. and had deep ties to Chicago, where he often collaborated with fellow Communists. JW also obtained documents on Bowman from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) showing that the FBI was brought into investigate him for his membership in a group that follows the communist party line. The Jarrett family Communist ties also include a business partnership between Jarrett s maternal grandpa, Robert Rochon Taylor, and Stern, the Soviet agent associated with her dad.Jarrett s father-in-law, Vernon Jarrett, was also another big-time Chicago Communist, according to separate FBI files obtained by JW as part of a probe into the Jarrett family s Communist ties. For a period of time Vernon Jarrett appeared on the FBI s Security Index and was considered a potential Communist saboteur who was to be arrested in the event of a conflict with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). His FBI file reveals that he was assigned to write propaganda for a Communist Party front group in Chicago that would disseminate the Communist Party line among the middle class. It s been well documented that Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago lawyer and longtime Obama confidant, is a liberal extremist who wields tremendous power in the White House. Faithful to her roots, she still has connections to many Communist and extremist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Jarrett and her family also had strong ties to Frank Marshal Davis, a big Obama mentor and Communist Party member with an extensive FBI file.JW has exposed Valerie Jarrett s many transgressions over the years, including her role in covering up a scandalous gun-running operation carried out by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Last fall JW obtained public records that show Jarrett was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious, a disastrous experiment in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.In 2008 JW got documents linking Valerie Jarrett, who also served as co-chairman of Obama s presidential transition team, to a series of real estate scandals, including several housing projects operated by convicted felon and Obama fundraiser/friend Antoin Tony Rezko. According to the documents obtained from the Illinois Secretary of State, Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago slum projects operated by Tony Rezco.Via: Judicial Watch

The face-off between Indian and Chinese troops escalates: Chinese envoy called in

2 Morsi supporters sentenced to death. They are accused of throwing a kid and a young man off a building in Alexandria.

France gives China 12m-high Fire-Breathing Dragon Robot to Celebrate Anniversary of Diplomatic Ties

Kurdish protesters clashed with police in Turkeys southeast and thousands gathered in Istanbul and Ankara after 12 pro-Kurdish politicians were banned from running in elections

Python kills zookeeper

South Korea postpones university exam after rare earthquakeSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea postponed its annual university entrance exam by a week on Wednesday after a rare earthquake rattled the country, shaking buildings and causing damage but no deaths. Minister of Education Kim Sang-kon said the hugely competitive exam, scheduled for Thursday, would be postponed for the first time ever because of a natural disaster. It was the country s second-biggest earthquake on record. A fair amount of damage was reported, Kim told a media briefing. Due to the continued aftershocks, we are seeing many citizens, including students, unable to return home. The exam would now be held on Nov. 23 to ensure conditions were fair for everyone, he said. The 5.4 magnitude quake struck about 9 km (5 miles) north of the southeastern port city of Pohang, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. Shaking was felt across the country and there were numerous reports of minor damage. Operations at nuclear reactors were not affected, the state-run nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co said. The university entrance exam is taken very seriously. Commercial airliners do not fly during listening portions of the exam, while financial markets open later in the day to ensure light traffic for students to get to their exam centers. The country s foreign exchange and stock markets will still open an hour late (0100 GMT) on Thursday, South Korean financial authorities said in text messages. South Korea has relatively little seismic activity, compared with Japan to the east. Its strongest quake on record was magnitude 5.8 in September last year. The Meteorological Administration said nearly 20 aftershocks had shaken the region and more were expected in coming days.

Gunman on the loose in Moncton: Unconfirmed reports RCMP officers shot

WATCH: This Hilarious Video Is The Only Way Palin’s Trump Endorsement Word Salad Makes Any SenseSarah Palin s horrific word salad of an endorsement of Donald Trump on Tuesday evening didn t make sense in any language resembling English, but a viral Vine video puts Palin s praise in the only context where it works: In the mouth of Iggy Azalea.In the video from Lindsey Bieda entitled Iggy s freestyle has gotten quite a bit weaker, the words from Azalea s rap breakdown have been replaced by audio of Palin from the Trump announcement.Instead of the Australia-born Azalea s Fancy, we hear Palin s eardrum piercing rhyme: Right wingin , bitter clingin , proud clingers of our guns, our god, and our religions. In case you feel like the creator of the Vine took poor Palin out of context, this is the entire paragraph from that section of the speech, which would probably make the most epic rap video in history if it received the same treatment:Well, and then, funny, ha ha, not funny, but now, what they re doing is wailing, well, Trump and his, uh, uh, uh, Trumpeters, they re not conservative enough. Oh my goodness gracious. What the heck would the establishment know about conservatism? Tell me, is this conservative? GOP majorities handing over a blank check to fund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood and illegal immigration that competes for your jobs, and turning safety nets into hammocks, and all these new Democrat voters that are going to be coming on over border as we keep the borders open, and bequeathing our children millions in new debt, and refusing to fight back for our solvency, and our sovereignty, even though that s why we elected them and sent them as a majority to DC. No! If they re not willing to do that, then how are they to tell us that we re not conservative enough in order to be able to make these changes in America that we know need to be Now they re concerned about this ideological purity? Give me a break! Who are they to say that? Oh tell somebody like, Phyllis Schlafly, she is the Republican, conservative movement icon and hero and a Trump supporter. Tell her she s not conservative. How bout the rest of us? Right wingin , bitter clingin , proud clingers of our guns, our god, and our religions, and our Constitution. Tell us that we re not red enough? Yeah, coming from the establishment. Right.Got that?At least with the Azalea video you don t have to watch Trump off to the side, leering as he watches the grotesque display go on and on and on.Featured image via YouTube/Vine

Anglicans who are pissed off that their church has become more accepting of gay priests have decided to join a church that have been more accepting of pedophile priests.

Son Of Egyptian Immigrants Hopes To Become FIRST MUSLIM GOVERNOR In U.S…Will Push For “Sanctuary State”Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a liberal Democrat would like to become the nation s first Muslim Governor in a state that s home to the city of Dearborn, with the highest Muslim population outside of the Middle East. The state of Michigan also made news last year when Hamtramck, a city that for decades was known for it s strong Polish immigrant community, elected its first all-Muslim City Council. It s probably not that far-fetched that the son of Egyptian immigrants living in a state where tens of thousands of Muslim refugees and immigrants come to live would want to see the state of MI become a Sanctuary State . My faith is really important to me, as it is for many Americans and Michiganders, El-Sayed said. But I think we should be asking ourselves rather than how one prays, or what they pray to, we should ask ourselves what [one] prays for and what one hopes for. While El-Sayed said his Islamic values are at the center of his work as a civil servant, he wants people to know his number one priority is to serve the people of Michigan.But some residents in the state may not be ready to see a Muslim governor. In the last several years, Michigan has been a hotbed of Islamophobia. Dearborn, a predominantly Arab-American city in the Detroit metro area, has been a frequent target of anti-Muslim activists, conspiracy theories and fake news. But El-Sayed doesn t want Michigan residents to be distracted by anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence and he wants people to know that the principles of Islam are what guide his service. I am running because of the values my Islam teaches me which includes beliefs in equity, the fundamental rights of all people, a belief that we will judge ourselves as a people based on how we treat the most vulnerable, El-Sayed said. A belief in being good to others fundamentally, a belief in respect and dignity to one s neighbors and one s friends and one s family. -Business InsiderDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed is starting to propose a progressive platform that includes making Michigan a sanctuary state, providing universal preschool and offering publicly funded health insurance to any resident needing coverage.The ex-director of Detroit s health department unveiled parts of his platform Monday.I love it when the rule of law works #sanctuarycities https://t.co/3X4kJBu4WZ Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 26, 2017El-Sayed claims that a Sanctuary State will make Michiganders safer. As a Michigander, I can assure you that making our state a Sanctuary State will not only make it less safe, but it will cause many people to move away to states who have laws against law-breakers.(3/3) if elected #gov my job is protecting #Michiganders, that's what #SanctuaryState will do. Learn more: https://t.co/r56mhirYRB Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 24, 2017The sanctuary term has no legal definition and varies in application, but it generally refers to local jurisdictions that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials. US NewsEl-Sayed also made his feelings known on Twitter about a MI lawmaker, Rep. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton,MI who wants to make Sharia Law illegal in that state of Michigan. El-Sayed attempts to make the comparison of the 10 commandments and the Holy Bible to Sharia Law. What El-Sayed seems to be willfully ignoring, is the fact that the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation.Nice try I oppose banning the #TenCommandments and #Bible both came from the #MiddleEast. #religiousfreedom https://t.co/j7unpQSkiM Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 20, 2017

Swedish court convicts man for Hitler salute - The Local

Trump’s New Reason For Suing The GOP Proves He’s Clueless To How Elections Work (TWEET)As much as likely all of us want elections to be cut and dry, popular vote wins all, it s just not that simple. It s a game, and if you choose to play you have to abide by the rules, you can t change them halfway through. Frustrating, sure? Illegal. No.Showing more than ever that he s a newcomer to the whole politicking world, Trump took to Twitter, yet again, to air his grievances about the political process.In yet another temper tantrum, Trump said: Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz-Lawsuit coming. Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz-Lawsuit coming Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016Well, first of all, here are the results of the Louisiana Republican primary:via New York TimesAnd yes, while he did win, as per party rules, the delegates were split, and Cruz didn t win more, he won t the same. However, Cruz may end up picking up some more, which is probably why Trump got his Underoos in a bunch. BUT this doesn t mean anything (at all) was done improperly. Per the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Cruz s supporters also seized five of Louisiana s six slots on the three powerful committees that will write the rules and platform at the Republican National Convention and mediate disputes over delegates eligibility this summer in Cleveland.The little-noticed inside maneuvering that led to this outcome in Louisiana is another dramatic illustration of the inside game that could have an outsize influence on the bitter race for the GOP nomination. Sketchy? Yes. Illegal? No. Sure, it goes to show how devious politicking can get, but in regards to Trump, well, you can t change the rules once you start playing the game. Trump chose to enter the race as a Republican, and everything that is happening can and likely will be done to make sure Trump s not the nominee, much like with what s happening on the Democratic side. Hell, as much as Bernie Sanders wants to complain about Democratic superdelegates, his senior adviser Tad Devine helped put together the system. And again, you can t change the rules after you decide to play. Both Trump and Sanders are outsiders who willfully chose to play an insiders game. Either could have run as an independent, but both chose a party ticket for a better chance, and to their credit have done rather well.The Wall Street Journal also noted: While Mr. Trump leads in winning primary and caucus elections, and has won more delegates, the Cruz campaign is proving superior at the arcane game of picking the people who will be the actual delegates to the convention, where they will help write the rules and ultimately choose the nominee.That means that if Mr. Trump fails to reach the delegate threshold to claim the GOP nomination on the convention s first ballot, committees dominated by Cruz supporters could work to block him from winning enough delegates to claim the nomination on any subsequent ballots. Trump can threaten to sue all he wants, or even actually sue, but at the end of the day it just goes to show how much of a political novice he truly is. He needs to realize that while everyone else is playing Chess to skillfully maneuver their way to the nomination, he s still playing Candy Land.Featured Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Pope condemns "bloodsuckers" who exploit poor workers: Pope says making "slaves" out of workers and setting unfair contracts is a mortal sin

Witnesses of soccer riot in Egypt recount horrific violence that killed 74 people, say police blocked exits and cut power in retaliation for role fans played in uprising.

Collective Punishment (A War Crime) Continues: Israel Denies Medical Teams, Food Supplies Entry to Gaza

Obama Tweet Makes History, And Trump Will HATE The Reason WhyDonald Trump is a bumbling fool. A racist bumbling fool who s more afraid of alienating his racist base than anything. So when a national tragedy like Charlottesville occurs, his responses are insensitive at best, clumsy beyond belief, un-presidential, and oftentimes, just flat-out disgusting and wrong. When we most need a real president, we don t have one at least, not one that sits in the White House right now.But President Obama, despite having served his two terms and now living a civilian life, still manages to have the exact right thing to say. Sure, he no longer gets in front of the cameras and country and says it, but he does say it to his massive social media audiences, and he s oftentimes more popular than Trump. Like with his response to Charlottesville. Twitter told the BBC that the following tweet, from one President Barack Obama, is now the most liked tweet in history: No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017He s quoting Nelson Mandela, and these words ring truer now than ever given the resurgence of white supremacy in the U.S. And the picture? That s from a 2011 visit to a daycare center in Bethesda, Maryland.Obama s got nearly 3 million likes and over 1 million retweets far more than anything the tissue paper-skinned Trump has ever gotten. For someone who touts himself as the best there ever was at everything everywhere in the whole entire universe, this has to hurt. Trump s ego can t handle someone like Obama who he needs to be weak to be this strong, this popular, and this well-liked.Obama has class. Obama has wits. Obama has intelligence, and he s still got the ear of much of the country. The above tweet is the first in a series of three, and here are the other two: People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017 For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. Nelson Mandela Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017Featured image via Chip Somodevilla and Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Carbon dioxide emissions in '07 outpaced researchers' most dire projections

About a fifth of homes have been destroyed in Fort McMurray, a Canadian city ravaged by a huge wildfire, the local MP has told the BBC.

Trump Is Searching For A Lawyer, But Law Firms Are Turning Him Down COLDDamn! Donald Trump is in need of a private lawyer to help him with the Russian avalanche that s about to come tumbling down upon him and his administration, but at least four top law firms have told Donald Trump, in no uncertain terms, to f*ck off.The law firms are on to Trump. He is too stubborn to listen to their advice (as his out of control Twitter account proves) and he s a deadbeat, which 50 years of Trump in the business world has proven.Trump is currently represented by an attorney. Marc E. Kasowitz has been representing Trump in real estate matters for years, and not surprisingly, he s considered quite ruthless. But he doesn t know his way around Washington, D.C. or around the D.C. press. Trump had to settle upon Kasowitz after at least four major firms said no to the petulant and out of control BLOTUS.Among them, sources said, were some of the most high-profile names in the legal profession, including Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly; Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Paul Clement and Mark Filip of Kirkland & Ellis; and Robert Giuffra of Sullivan & Cromwell.Source: Yahoo.comSome in the firms said there were conflicts with other clients, or that they simply didn t have the time, but, according to Yahoo:A consistent theme, the sources said, was the concern about whether the president would accept the advice of his lawyers and refrain from public statements and tweets that have consistently undercut his position. The concerns were, The guy won t pay and he won t listen, said one lawyer close to the White House who is familiar with some of the discussions between the firms and the administration, as well as deliberations within the firms themselves.The other problem is that Trump is so polarizing, the firms are afraid they would lose business by defending him.Another lawyer briefed on some of the discussions agreed that the firms were worried about the reputational risk of representing the president. One issue that arose, this lawyer said, was Do I want to be associated with this president and his policies? In addition, the lawyer said, there were concerns that if they took on the case, Who s in charge? and Would he listen? This doesn t bode well for Trump. James Comey is set to begin testifying about what he knows about Trump and his Russian connections on Thursday. Trump is without qualified legal counsel. His lawyer is drafting a defense strategy, but as with his client, he s unprepared for the job.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images

China air force drills in Sea of Japan and again around TaiwanBEIJING (Reuters) - China s air force carried out another round of long-range drills on Monday, flying into the Sea of Japan and prompting South Korean and Japanese jets to scramble, and again around self-ruled Taiwan amid growing tension over China s assertiveness. China has in recent months ramped up its long-range air force drills, particularly around Taiwan, claimed by China as its own. The air force said in a statement that fighter and bomber aircraft flew through the Tsushima Strait that separates South Korea from Japan and into international waters in the Sea of Japan. The Sea of Japan is not Japan s, and the drills were lawful and reasonable, air force spokesman Shen Jinke said in the statement, describing the exercises as routine and pre-planned. The Japanese Defence Ministry said in a statement that the aircraft - two SU-30 fighters, two H-6 bombers and one TU-154 reconnaissance plane - had not violated Japan s airspace. In Seoul, South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff said five Chinese military planes were spotted entering the Korean Air Defence Identification Zone, and fighter jets scrambled in response. The Chinese aircraft also flew through Japan s Air Defence Identification Zone, they said. Our fighter planes took normal tactical measures, identifying the models of the Chinese planes and flying aerial surveillance until they left, the South Korean statement said. Chinese air force spokesman Shen alluded to the scrambled aircraft, saying they responded to interference from foreign military aircraft but were able to achieve the aim of their drill. Taiwan s military said that China had staged a separate drill at the same time, flying a plane through the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines and then returning to base through the Strait of Miyako, to Taiwan s north and near Japan s southern islands. Taiwan monitored Japan sending F-15 fighters to intercept, Taiwan s defence ministry added in its statement. The Japanese Defence Ministry identified the plane as Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft. There was no violation of Japan s airspace in this instance either, the ministry said. China s air force last week conducted island encirclement patrols near Taiwan, after a senior Chinese diplomat threatened that China would invade the self-ruled island if any U.S. warships made port visits there. China suspects Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who leads the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, wants to declare the island s formal independence. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s security. China s air force exercises also come amid regional tensions over North Korea s nuclear and missile programmes, with bellicose rhetoric from both North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump.