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The Internet Lights Up After The Pentagon Accidentally Retweets A Call For Trump To Resign

On Thursday, the Pentagon s official Twitter account retweeted a post from @ProudResister calling for Donald Trump to resign, then quickly deleted it, saying later that it was in error and we totally believe them.Proud Resister tweeted about Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore s scandal, then touched on Al Franken s, then moved on to Donald Trump s. Resister called on all of the aforementioned to resign from office.The solution is simple Roy Moore: Step down from the race.Al Franken: Resign from congress.Donald Trump: Resign from the presidency.GOP: Stop making sexual assault a partisan issue. It s a crime as is your hypocrisy. PROUD RESISTER ? (@ProudResister) November 16, 2017Here s a screen capture of the retweet which has since been deleted. Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning explained the retweet in a statement saying that an authorized operator of the Defense Department s official Twitter site erroneously retweeted content that would not be endorsed by the Department of Defense. The operator caught this error and immediately deleted it. Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White tweeted the same explanation.An authorized operator of the @DeptofDefense s official Twitter site erroneously retweeted content that would not be endorsed by the Department of Defense. The operator caught this error and immediately deleted it. Dana W. White DoD (@ChiefPentSpox) November 16, 2017One Twitter user suggested giving the Pentagon employee a raise.Give them a raise Jake Smail (@BiggieSmails72) November 16, 2017Too bad. It was the only good tweet ever to appear on this feed. kmd | ??? | no more nazis please. (@KiraOfTheSea) November 16, 2017I'm not mad at em' ??? ((VETERAN)) (@VETERANUSA1) November 16, 2017"erroneously"..sure, sure. #ResignTrump Usagi Tsukino (@SailorDemocracy) November 16, 2017LOL don't lie jordanlarae (@jordanlarae) November 16, 2017It was your most honest twit in a very very very long time. Maybe ever spencer (@SpencerH8sTwitr) November 16, 2017Bwaaaahaaaa stephanie bullen (@TabbyChaps) November 16, 2017Trump supporters are calling for the person who operated the account to be fired. We, on the other hand, would like to buy him or her dinner and drinks.While many Twitter profiles contain a disclaimer saying that retweets do not constitute an endorsement, the Pentagon account, @DeptofDefense, does not.As for the Al Franken scandal, his accuser, Leeann Tweeden, accepted his apology. Roy Moore has tried to compare his scandal to Franken s inappropriate behavior, but only one of the men admitted they were wrong, called for an investigation, and apologized. Only one man perved on high school girls, one as young as 14-years-old. We re not justifying Franken s behavior. We re simply saying that Moore, a staunch right-wing Christian, has failed to admit to any wrongdoing, despite the fact that there are nine accusers and at least 30 people to corroborate the alleged victims stories. At least Franken admitted what happened and he took the steps to immediately address the accusations.Photo by Molly Riley-Pool/Getty Images

Trump adviser Cohn to remain as talk swirls of White House departures

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House Economic Adviser Gary Cohn is remaining in his post, a White House official said on Thursday, after speculation earlier in the day of Cohn’s possible departure rattled the U.S. stock market and the dollar. “Gary intends to remain in his position as NEC (National Economic Council) director at the White House. Nothing’s changed,” a White House official said. Wall Street investors were also concerned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s refusal to back down from his initial reaction to the demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, would damage the prospects for his economic agenda, including tax reform. Key U.S. equity indexes were down between 0.6 percent and 1 percent, while the dollar was a touch higher but well off the day’s peaks before the Cohn speculation. “Gary is focused on his responsibilities,” the White House official said, declining to comment on whether the president and Cohn had spoken about Cohn’s reaction to what happened this week. Cohn’s decision to remain comes amid mounting speculation that some top officials may be looking for an exit strategy in the wake of growing backlash to Trump’s response to Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville. Trump said on Tuesday the anti-racist demonstrators were as responsible for the violence as the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who instigated the protests. Those remarks sparked rebukes from fellow Republicans, top corporate executives and some close allies even as some supporters, including the vice president, stood by the president. The fallout also led to the disbanding of two CEO advisory panels as a growing number of chief executives from some of the nation’s largest companies resigned this week in protest of the president’s response. Other corporate executives not on the presidential councils also issued strong statements denouncing racism and bigotry. Cohn, who left his top job at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) to take on the White House position, has served as the administration’s point man on tax reform, infrastructure and other priorities. His departure would be seen as a setback to those plans. Trump’s increasingly combative relationship with Congress, exacerbated by his latest tweets targeting senators in his own party, could further restrain any progress on those reforms even as Republicans control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. One Wall Street executive, who asked not to be named, noted that Cohn serves as “a moderating influence,” in a White House often seen as divided among various camps. Steve Bannon, a White House senior adviser with close ties to far-right groups, said in an interview published Wednesday that he constantly butts heads with Cohn over issues such as trade with China. “That’s a fight I fight every day here,” Bannon told the American Prospect, a liberal-leaning political magazine.

Virginia heavy metal band strikes chord with Catalonia anthem

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tiny basement in a house in suburban Washington, D.C. reverberates with music from the Spanish region of Catalonia. A heavy metal rendition of the Catalonian national anthem Els Segadors, or The Reapers has turned a virtually unknown Virginia-based band, A Sound of Thunder, into celebrities in the politically sensitive region in northeastern Spain. Within days of its release, the song racked up more than a million hits on YouTube, making it the band s most popular single since they started in 2008. Thousands of Catalonians voted for independence from Spain during a banned referendum in October that ended in violence and spurred a constitutional crisis in the euro zone s fourth-biggest economy. Back in Manassas, Virginia, Nina Osegueda, the band s lead singer, made a quick decision to release a video of the band s version of Els Segadors on Youtube. Osegueda, whose mother is Catalan, has strong ties to the region and originally recorded the anthem as a tribute to her mother. The song was never intended to be released as a single, but instead was part of the band s new full-length album, It Was Metal, to be released in March 2018. The violence that surrounded the referendum vote changed all that. We have a couple other singles that we were planning on releasing in advance to show people what the new album is going to sound like, she said. But then the vote happened and 800 people were injured by the police trying to vote. So I said we should try and just put the song out to show our support against police brutality. Suddenly it was spreading all over the place... And then I noticed that someone shared us on Twitter and it wound up actually being a Catalan politician, Osegueda said. Music stations in Catalonia picked up the song and Osegueda was interviewed on several radio shows. The attention she has received has spread to her relatives as her Catalonian uncle was interviewed on local radio. On the band s YouTube page, fans have left messages saying they prefer the metal version to the original and many have said the song has struck an emotional chord. Osegueda recorded some parts of the song in Catalan. She doesn t speak the language and singing with proper pronunciation was intimidating, but she says the enthusiasm and support from her new found fans has been humbling. I think the biggest emotional response we ve gotten has been, it brought me to tears which is not normal for a heavy metal song . So for us that was like a big deal, Osegueda said. You know, we re not on a label. We do everything ourselves. So when we see this many people responding it s like it s overwhelming. The band, whose albums have been crowdfunded through various Kickstarter campaigns, will tour Catalonia for the first time in December, just days before regional elections on Dec. 21. They have shows planned in Barcelona, Tarragona and other Catalonian cities. For Osegueda, who has traveled to Catalonia a number of times, the upcoming visit feels different. I ve always enjoyed going there on vacation. But now it s a lot deeper because there s so many people out there who saw our song as inspiration. So I feel like I definitely have a deeper connection now, she said.

MUSLIM LEADER Tells Secretive Islamic Compounds In U.S. To Arm Up After Trump Win: “He has come as a test and trial for the faithful adherents of the holy books” [VIDEO]

An Islamist group with secretive compounds around the U.S. is arming up in anticipation of raids by the incoming Trump administration, according to a new report from a nonprofit think tank.Muslims of America, which is headquartered in Hancock, N.Y., and run from Pakistan by leader Sheikh Gilani, operates 22 Islamic villages around the nation. The compounds are legal, but Gilani has recently ordered all unarmed members to gather firearms, licenses and hunting permits, according to Clarion Project. Gilani believes his group will be targeted by Trump. I foretold disastrous results should this man be elected as the American President, Gilani said in a statement shortly after Trump was elected president on Nov. 8. He has come as a test and trial for the faithful adherents of the holy books. Supporters say the compounds are simply Islamic communes for mainly African-American Muslims who seek to follow Gilani s teachings in a rural setting. While they have been the subject of numerous accusations and undercover reporting, the group is not known to have supported or conducted terrorist activity, and its critics are widely dismissed as conspiracy theorists.A confidential source allegedly inside the organization told Martin Mawyer of the Christian Action Network and Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project that the group expects the FBI to reopen its cases against them as a homegrown terrorist organization, according to the report.Here is Clarion Project s National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro explaining why we need to be concerned about these Muslim compounds:Watch this report on NO-GO Zones scattered around the United States:Alex Jones reporter Joe Biggs traveled to Islamberg compound in upstate New York. He found the people living in the compound have isolated themselves from everyone on the outside. The local chief of police told Biggs that the residents handle everything internally. The founder of Islamberg is a founder of a terrorist organization out of Pakistan: According to the report, the sources stated that members across the country were given instructions by Gilani to be prepared to fight, against President-Elect Trump, who the group believes is part of a satanic-Zionist conspiracy to destroy Islam.Muslims of America s headquarters in rural New York is known as Islamberg. According to a 2007 FBI report obtained by the Clarion Project, MOA possesses an infrastructure capable of planning and mounting terrorist campaigns within the U.S. and overseas. Fox News

MUST WATCH: Kellyanne Conway PUNCHES BACK After Juan Williams Questioned How She Could Work And Raise 4 Kids: “I don’t play golf and I don’t have a mistress” [VIDEO]

Kellyanne Conway s response to Williams criticism is, as we ve all come to expect, very classy and absolutely perfect:

Former Zimbabwe finance minister Chombo to be held in custody until trial

HARARE (Reuters) - Ousted Zimbabwe finance minister Ignatius Chombo, charged with three counts of corruption for offences that allegedly took place two decades ago, was denied bail on Monday and will be detained in custody until his case is heard on Dec. 8. Zimbabwe s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa named Patrick Chinamasa as acting finance minister to replace him. Chombo, who faces charges including trying to defraud the central bank, was detained after the military seized power in Operation Restore Legacy , which it said was meant to remove criminals around former president Robert Mugabe. His lawyer, Lovemore Madhuku, told reporters that he would appeal the magistrate s ruling in the High Court on Tuesday. Their decision was always made up that bail would not be granted here ... We are hopeful that the High Court will show independence, Madhuku said. Earlier, he told a packed courtroom that Chombo, who sat impassively throughout the hearing, would deny the charges at his trial and had documentary evidence showing the allegations had no basis. The magistrate who detained Chombo said the former minister could abscond, influence state witnesses or be the target of a mob attack over the allegations that he abused his position when he was minister of local government over a decade ago. Chombo, who was appointed finance minister in October, was among members of the G40 political faction allied to Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who were also expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF party. Two ousted ZANU-PF Youth League leaders, Kudzanai Chipanga and Innocent Hamandishe, who were both allied to G-40, were also ordered to be detained until Dec. 8. Some Mnangagwa supporters have called for unspecified action against G40 but the president has urged citizens not to undertake any form of vengeful retribution . Chombo told the court on Saturday how he was abducted from his home on Nov. 15 by armed men in soldiers uniform and kept blindfolded for nine days. He was promoted to the finance portfolio from the interior ministry by Mugabe in an October reshuffle, replacing Chinamasa, who the chief secretary to the president and cabinet said will return to the role until a new cabinet has been appointed. Zimbabwe is struggling with a severe shortage of the U.S. dollars it uses instead of its own currency. In his main act as finance minister, Chombo told parliament on Nov. 9 that Zimbabwe s budget deficit would soar to $1.82 billion or 11.2 percent of gross domestic product this year from an initial target of $400 million. Mnangagwa, who served Mugabe loyally for decades, was sworn in as president last Friday after the 93-year-old former leader quit under pressure from the military. He is expected to form a new cabinet this week. Zimbabweans are watching to see Mnangagwa he breaks with the past and names a broad-based government or selects other figures from the Mugabe era s old guard.

Paul Ryan BREAKS DOWN, Admits GOP’s Trumpcare Bill Is A Massive Failure (VIDEO)

The Republican Party has had it rough. Not only have they had to admit that their presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is an absolute nut job who can t do anything right, but their attempt to replace Obamacare has been just as much of a failure.The GOP has spent several years whining and moaning about how they would like to replace Obama s Affordable Care Act, despite the fact that a majority of Americans are in favor of keeping it. But once they finally had their chance to prove they could do better with Trump in the White House, they blew it.Recently at his weekly press conference, House Speaker Paul Ryan was asked if the House would vote on Trumpcare before Trump reached his first 100-day marker. Ryan s response was nothing short of absolute defeat and despair as he admitted that the GOP s horrible healthcare bill didn t have enough votes to pass. Ryan said: We want to go when we re ready to go. This has been a very organic bottom up process. It takes time to do that. We re doing big things, and you know me, I talked about 200 days because I thought the kind of agenda we re attempting to put together here overhauling health care, overhauling the tax system, rebuilding our military, securing the border. Those take more than just a few months. They take a long time, at least a year, so that s why we re working on the path to get it right, and not constrain it to some artificial deadline. What Ryan gave was a lot of excuses, along with his admission that he can t pass Trumpcare because there aren t enough votes to support a disastrous bill that would strip millions of Americans of their life-saving health insurance. It s entirely possible that the GOP will never have enough votes to make Trumpcare a thing, and Ryan s words are just as much empty promises as Trump s are.You can watch Ryan admit defeat below:Featured image by Win McNamee via Getty Images

Potential Shift: Trump Warns Israel, ‘New Settlements May Not Help Peace in Middle East’

21st Century Wire says Incredibly, Donald Trump may have just thrown an executive head fake to Bibi Netanyahu.Back in December 2015 during the GOP primary campaign,the Israeli Lobby started getting very interested in Trump after he appeared to blame Israel for not securing a lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians. You could hear a pin drop in the debate hall when Trump opined: I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it, Trump said, before explaining that his concerns predominantly reside with one side in particular [Israel]. Months later, and only days before the Republican Party s National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump abandoned any pretence of neutrality on the Israel-Palestine issue, insisting that he was now firmly committed to supporting Israeli settlement expansion in the illegal occupied territories, as well as not recognizing a Palestinian State.At the time this was music to Netanyahu s ears, and even better for the US-based Israel Lobby who spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to buy-off US Congressmen and Senators in for for Israel to get everything it wants and desires.And then this happened this week By Abby Phillip and Karen DeYoung Washington PostThe White House on Thursday gently warned Israel that new or expanded settlements in the West Bank may not be helpful in achieving a Middle East peace, while insisting it has no official position on settlement activity. A statement issued by press secretary Sean Spicer said that although the administration does not believe settlements are an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal. The American desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained unchanged for 50 years, Spicer s statement said, a reference to President Trump s insistence that a return to the Middle East negotiating table is a goal he hopes to achieve.While the statement carefully parsed it words, it marked a step away from what some Trump officials and the president s designated new ambassador to Israel have said in favor of settlements. Trump s first foreign call as president was to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he has been sharply critical of former president Barack Obama, whom he characterized as weak on Israel.The apparent genesis of the statement was a story in Thursday s Jerusalem Post, which quoted an unnamed senior administration official telling Netanyahu s government to stop a spree of housing construction approved since Trump s inauguration, lest it interfere with Trump s plans to work toward a peace plan Continue this story at the Washington PostSEE ALSO: The Genealogy of Trump s U-Turn on PalestineREAD MORE ISRAEL NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Israel FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

REPORT: Trump Lied About How Much Was Raised For Veterans, Personal Donation Appears Missing

On top of failing to pay charities for months after the fundraiser, despite already having beneficiaries listed, it turns out Donald Trump actually lied about how much was raised to the tune of around a million and a half dollars. And now, four months later, his campaign is admitting it.In fact, as of this time, only a little over three million has actually been paid out, meaning it s possible that even the new number given by the Trump s campaign is false. That, or worse, it simply disappeared. According to his campaign, donations were pledged that were not received. But that begs the question: If $4.5 million was definitely raised, where did it go?In any case, the amount of time between the fundraiser and actually paying the money is questionable, and Trump has been called out by many people for it including Sandra Miniutti, the vice president for Charity Navigator, a service that rates charities:In recent weeks, Trump and his campaign repeatedly declined to give new details about how much they have given away. Why should I give you records? Trump said in an interview with The Post this month. I don t have to give you records. In the past few days, The Post has interviewed 22 veterans charities that received donations as a result of Trump s fundraiser. None of them have reported receiving personal donations from Trump.Did Trump make good on his promise to give from his personal funds? The money is fully spent. Mr. Trump s money is fully spent, Lewandowski said.Who did Trump give to, and in what amounts? He s not going to share that information, Lewandowski said.Of course not.Featured image by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

'We're not electing a husband:' Tough-talking Trump wins over some skeptical women

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s tough talk on law and order in a time of growing national insecurity appears to be winning over some of his fiercest skeptics - women initially put off by his swaggering tone, his clashes with female critics and past affairs. But so far those are mostly conservative women. As Trump hones his message, the challenge is to make it also resonate among independent or undecided female voters who are crucial to his hopes of winning the U.S. presidential election in November. Turmoil on the streets both abroad and at home could give Trump a new opportunity to do just that. On Monday, Trump tried to seize it with an evening program at the Republican National Convention with several women speakers, including his wife Melania, focused on security. She told the convention that her husband would offer the country new leadership and keep it “safe and secure.” Americans have been rattled by recent attacks in France and Florida, the murder of police officers in Texas and Louisiana, and widespread protests over the killings of unarmed black men, polls show. “We’re not electing a husband, we’re not electing a preacher, we’re electing a leader,” said Kay White, a Republican delegate to the nominating convention from Tennessee who originally supported U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in the early nominating contests, or primaries. For White, it’s a one-issue election. “Security,” she said. “Nothing else matters.” A year ago, Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative advocacy group, was a blistering critic of the thrice-married Trump because of comments he made about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly that many felt were sexist. But Nance now supports Trump and says the candidate can fashion an effective message for women centered on national security, she told Reuters on the sidelines of the convention. “Every day we wake up and get our kids ready for school and the television is on and there is another attack,” she said. For Trump, independents will be a tougher sell. A majority of women who identify as “independent” continue to hold an unfavorable opinion of him. According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll from June 1 to July 15, 64 percent of independent women voters expressed a “very unfavorable” or “somewhat unfavorable” view of Trump. That compares with 89 percent of Democratic women voters and 31 percent of Republican women voters who have a similarly unfavorable view of the New York businessman. Trump isn’t the first candidate whose tough talk on security has won over women voters. George W. Bush used the same message in his re-election campaign in 2004, in the midst of his “war on terror,” to appeal to so-called security moms who were concerned about terrorism. Bush garnered 48 percent of the vote of American women in that election. By comparison, Republican candidate Mitt Romney drew 44 percent in 2012, a full 10 points behind President Barack Obama. Trump has had trouble convincing women nationally to support him ever since he entered the race in the summer of 2015, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Among women who are expected to vote on Nov. 8, a majority expressed an unfavorable opinion of him every time they were asked in the polls. This month, women appeared to have soured even more on the likely Republican nominee: 69 percent of likely women voters expressed an unfavorable opinion of Trump in the latest July 11-15 Reuters/Ipsos polling, up from 63 percent in the five-day poll that ended on July 1. Jen Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, said she doubted Trump could rehabilitate his image with most women voters, saying his conflict with Kelly, in particular, had lasting damage. “I think that ship has sailed,” Lawless said. Trump’s problems with women were dramatized on Monday when Women for Trump, a voter-support group, held a sparsely attended event in Cleveland. The moderator, Jennifer Hulsey, appeared to speak for a lot of women who have found a way to support Trump. “He’s not perfect, but neither am I,” Hulsey said. Some of the women delegates interviewed by Reuters at the convention on Monday were scornful of the criticism of Trump’s attitude toward women, pointing to his daughter Ivanka, who is a top executive in the Trump Organization. Ivanka and his other daughter Tiffany are due to speak at the convention this week. “He was not my first choice or even my second choice,” said Carol Del Carlo, a Trump supporter. But, “I look at him and I see how he treats his daughters. They’re engaged, they look like a real, true family, they work in their father’s business, they’re advisors.”

U.N. says it believes Afghanistan air strike killed civilians

KABUL (Reuters) - The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said at least 10 civilians may have been killed by an air strike in the northern city of Kunduz last week, despite a U.S. military investigation that found no civilian deaths. In a series of messages on Twitter, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said interviews with multiple survivors, medics, elders and others gave it strong reason to believe that civilians were among the victims of Saturday s attack. Credible reports that at least 10 civilians killed in Kunduz Afghanistan air strike 4 Nov, UNAMA initial findings show, it said. The statement contradicts comments from some local and Afghan military officials as well as a U.S. statement on Tuesday which said that an investigation had found no evidence of civilian deaths. The episode underlines the lack of clarity over reports of civilian casualties, an issue which is likely to become increasingly prominent as the United States steps up air strikes against the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Captain Tom Gresback, a spokesman for the U.S. military, said the Pentagon still stood by its previous statement that found no civilian deaths. But he added: U.S. Forces Afghanistan will examine and consider any credible evidence when allegations of civilian casualties are presented. We take all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and take necessary steps to ensure that we mitigate the loss of civilian life. On a visit to Kabul in September, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that commanders would be given greater freedom to use American firepower against the Taliban but that everything humanly possible would be done to avoid civilian casualties. Former President Hamid Karzai, who clashed bitterly with the United States over the issue in past years, condemned the air strikes but the government of President Ashraf Ghani has so far made no public comment. Accounts from some local officials and residents indicated that as many as 13 people were killed in air strikes in Chahardara district outside Kunduz city. Some Afghan media have reported much higher figures, without independent confirmation. Afghan special forces and the local provincial governor say 48 militants were killed but deny any civilians were killed. In its most recent report, the United Nations said there had been a 52 percent increase in civilian casualties from air strikes in the first nine months of the year to 205 killed and 261 wounded. The issue has particular resonance in Kunduz because it was there that 42 civilians were killed in a U.S. air strike on a hospital run by medical aid group Medecins sans Frontieres during fighting to regain the city from the Taliban in 2015.

BREAKING: OBAMA JUST TURNED INTERNET Over To International Body With NO Congressional Approval…4 AG’S From These States Are FIGHTING BACK!

Has Obama sacrificed the freedom of speech we enjoy on the internet, as a way to boost his standing with foreign dictators, as he campaigns to be the next UN Secretary General? An Obama-appointed federal judge ruled Friday that the transfer of internet domain systems oversight to an international governing body can move forward, overruling opposition from several state attorneys general and lawmakers. Read more: Zero HedgeIn their lawsuit, the attorneys general for Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and Texas contend that the transition, lacking congressional approval, amounts to an illegal giveaway of U.S. government property. They also express fear that the proposed new steward of the system, a nonprofit known as ICANN, would be so unchecked that it could effectively enable or prohibit speech on the Internet. Read more: PoliticoSATURDAY THE US HANDS OVER THE INTERNETWashington (AFP) The US government on Saturday ended its formal oversight role over the internet, handing over management of the online address system to a global non-profit entity.The US Commerce Department announced that its contract had expired with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which manages the internet s so-called root zone. That leaves ICANN as a self-regulating organization that will be operated by the internet s stakeholders engineers, academics, businesses, non-government and government groups.The move is part of a decades-old plan by the US to privatize the internet, and backers have said it would help maintain its integrity around the world.US and ICANN officials have said the contract had given Washington a symbolic role as overseer or the internet s root zone where new online domains and addresses are created.But critics, including some US lawmakers, argued that this was a giveaway by Washington that could allow authoritarian regimes to seize control.A last-ditch effort by critics to block the plan a lawsuit filed by four US states failed when a Texas federal judge refused to issue an injunction to stop the transition.Lawrence Strickling, who heads the Commerce Department unit which has managed these functions, issued a brief statement early Saturday confirming the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). As of October 1, 2016, the IANA functions contract has expired, he said.Stephen Crocker, ICANN s board chairman and one of the engineers who developed the early internet protocols, welcomed the end of the contract. This transition was envisioned 18 years ago, yet it was the tireless work of the global Internet community, which drafted the final proposal, that made this a reality, he said in a statement. This community validated the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. It has shown that a governance model defined by the inclusion of all voices, including business, academics, technical experts, civil society, governments and many others is the best way to assure that the Internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the Internet of today. The Internet Society, a group formed by internet founders aimed at keeping the system open, said the transition was a positive step. The IANA transition is a powerful illustration of the multi-stakeholder model and an affirmation of the principle that the best approach to address challenges is through bottom-up, transparent, and consensus-driven processes, the group said in a statement.Via: Yahoo

NEW EMAILS REVEAL HUMA ABEDIN Told to “Show Love” to Clinton Donors…Clinton’s Brother Acted As Go-Between

Judicial Watch has released documents obtained in response to a court order including emails that show a pay to play game going on between the Clintons and donors: A number of emails show the free flow of information and requests for favors between Clinton s State Department and the Clinton Foundation. What s even more disturbing is the lack of concern for national security in the heavily redacted emails:The heavily redacted documents from Abedin s non-government account include an email from Hillary Clinton s brother, Tony Rodham, to Abedin revealing that he acted as a go-between for a Clinton Foundation donor, Richard Park. And they reveal Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band instructing Abedin to show love to Clinton donor Andrew Liveris.The documents included six Clinton email exchanges not previously turned over to the State Department, bringing the known total to date to at least 439 emails that were not part of the 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton turned over to the State Department, and further contradicting a statement by Clinton that, as far as she knew, all of her government emails had been turned over to the State Department.The documents are in response to a court order from a May 5, 2015, lawsuit filed against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)) for: All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non- state.gov email address. A number of emails show the free flow of information and requests for favors between Clinton s State Department and the Clinton Foundation.In July 2009, in reference to the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Clinton Global Initiative head Doug Band told Abedin that she Need[s] to show love to Andrew Liveris, the CEO of Dow Chemical. Band also asked for Liveris to be introduced to Hillary, and have her mention both me and wjc . Dow gave between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative. Band also pushes for Clinton to do a favor for Karlheinz Koegel, a major Clinton Foundation contributor, who wanted Hillary Clinton to give the honor speech for his media prize to Merkel. The emails reveal that on June 19, 2009, Clinton s brother, Tony Rodham, passed a long a letter for Hillary Clinton for Clinton donor Richard Park. Park donated $100,000 to Bill Clinton as far back as 1993 and is listed by the Clinton Foundation as a $100,000 to $250,000 donor Read more: Judicial Watch

STREET ARTIST Censored For Painting Of Hillary Clinton In Bikini

Censorship is alive and well when it comes to Hillary Clinton A street artist in Australia had his Instagram account deleted and now he s being told to take down the painting on the side of a building. Hillary is pictured (below) in a sort of bikini/monokini that is pretty raunchy. It s a copy of a photoshopped image that s been on the internet for years. This really is censorship of the worst kind because it s a known image. Obviously, Instagram is a Hillary fan: Speaking on Melbourne radio, Lushsux said he suspected that his Instagram account, which he said had some 110,000 followers, was deleted due to him posting a photo of the raunchy Hillary image. Melbourne (AFP) An Australian mural of US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a revealing, stars and stripes swimsuit may be taken down, after it has reportedly been deemed offensive.The creator of the painting, the street artist who goes by the name Lushsux and who has also painted murals of the likes of Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian, branded calls to remove it pathetic .The provocative mural is on the wall of a small business in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, and reports say the business has been asked by the local Maribyrnong Council to remove it. We believe it is offensive because of the depiction of a near-naked woman, not on the basis of disrespect to Hillary Clinton, in accordance with the Graffiti Prevention Act 2007, the council s chief executive Stephen Wall told Fairfax Media on Friday.Wall said local police had been asked to urgently provide their opinion on the mural, adding that the council intended to issue a notice to the building s owner to remove it within 10 days.Lushsux accused the council of being out of control, telling Fairfax the mural was on par offence-wise with a deodorant ad.Speaking on Melbourne radio, Lushsux said he suspected that his Instagram account, which he said had some 110,000 followers, was deleted due to him posting a photo of the raunchy Hillary image. It s hard enough to be an artist to lose your social media following in this day and age is a big loss, he told 3AW on Friday..Via: Yahoo

rigged primary media and candidate the american rigged system

email an intriguing ministry of finance mof report circulating in the kremlin today says that elite western bankers were stunned a few hours ago after the bank for international settlements bis registered a billion transfer from the clinton foundation cf to the qatar central bank qcb through the facilitationabetment of jp morgan chase company jpmand for reasons yet to be firmly established according to this report the bank for international settlements is the worlds oldest international financial organization and acts as a prime counterparty for central banks in their financial transactions the qatar central bank is the bank of that gulf state nations government and their bank of banks jp morgan chase company is the united states largest megabank and the clinton foundation is an international criminal money laundering organization whose clients include the russian mafia with hillary clintons us presidential campaign chairman john podesta having longstanding ties to the russian mafia and money laundering this report continues the foreign intelligence service svr maintains complete surveillance of him and his criminal associatesincluding both hillary clinton and her husband and former us president bill clinton on saturday october this report notes the svr reported to the mof that hillary clinton and john podesta met with jp morgan chase company ceo jamie dimon at clintons chappaqua compound outside of new york cityand who in both president obama and hillary clinton allowed to break us laws by his dimons being able to buy millionsofdollars of his companys stocks prior to the public being told his jp morgan bank was receiving a federal reserve billion credit lineand that caused jp morgans stocks to soar and that have had an astonishing dividend growth since within hours of the hillary clintonjohn podestajamie dimon meeting at the chappaqua compound this report continues the bis registered the transfer of billion from the clinton foundation to the qatar central bank to why the clinton foundation transferred this enormous sum of money to qatar this report explains is due to the longstanding ties between this islamic neopatrimonial absolute monarchy and then us secretary of state hillary clinton who oversaw the massive bribery scheme that allowed this gulf state nation to secure the world cupand that the qataris were so appreciative of they donated millions to the clinton foundation and incredibly in gave former us president bill clinton million for a birthday presentbringing hillary clintons total cash grab from these persian gulf sheiks of millionall occurring as recently released secret emails revealed hillary clintons knowledge that both qatar and saudi arabia were and still are funding isis to what jamie dimon said to hillary clinton that caused her to suddenly transfer billion to qatar this report notes revolves around his jp morgan bank being told by the us federal deposit insurance corporation fdic in april that this megabanks master plan to save itself had serious deficiencies that could pose serious adverse effects to the financial stability of the united states two months after the fdics warning letter to jamie dimon in june this report says he cryptically sounded a warning that the united states subprime auto loan bubble was nearing collapse and stated that someone is going to get hurt unbeknownst to the american people mof experts in this report explain is that just weeks ago multiple warnings began to be issued that the united states trillion subprime auto loan bubble was beginning to collapseand that this past week became so severe the bank of america issued a recession warning telling its elite customers that this market is scary and the britishbased multinational banking and financial services company hsbc likewise issued a red alert warning all of its clients warning them to prepare for a severe market crash with one of the first casualties of this subprime auto loan bubble being the german global banking giant deutsche bank that is nearing its doom and laying off tensofthousands of it workers worldwide this report grimly states the american mainstream propaganda media is failing to allow the people of that nation to know the full extent of this looming catastrophewho unlike hillary clinton who has just protected billion of her wealth will be left defenseless once again at the hands of their elite rulers as wikileaks secret hillary clinton emails have now proven that the us propaganda mainstream media is now totally controlled by her and who continue their blackout on the clinton crime story of the century this report continues the absolutely horrifying statistics released this week showing that an astounding of american who have been brutalized by the obamaclinton regime these past years are so buried in debt they can no longer pay their bills is likewise being kept from these most innocent of peoples

CRYBABY DEMOCRAT CONGRESS To Wear Safety Pins For Security From Republicans….Waaaaaaaa!

As protests continue across the country, some people are choosing to show solidarity with a symbol after president-elect Donald Trump was chosen in the latest presidential election.They re doing that with a safety pin.People are wearing them to mark themselves as a safe space for people who feel in danger as a result of the election.Celebrities like Debra Messing promoted the practice, noting the practice s emergence following the Brexit vote in the U.K. In a big city like London, or even in someplace smaller like a grocery store, or a coffee shop, we re all just strangers to one another, she wrote on Twitter. It can be difficuult for all of us to either reach out for help or offer help. A symbol as simple as a safety pin can be an imporant first step in showing solidarity and support for people who are scared and upset at this time. #Safetypin soon trended online.Read more: WACH

DNC PAY TO PLAY LIST REVEALED: Federal Positions Awarded To Donors Including Commie Jeh Johnson

The hacker Guccifer 2.0 released more DNC e-mails overnight and they are REALLY telling. We reported last night on the reason Guccifer released the e-mails:BREAKING: MORE HACKED E-MAILS From DNC Released By A Vengeful GucciferCorruption and pay to play runs rampant with this White House Federal positions were given to the highest donors as you ll see below:This is obviously a partial list but it gives you an idea of what s going on here. A few more below: The hacked documents contained detailed lists of 100,000 alleged donors, addresses, and phone numbers, and well as amounts donated. This is not the end of the leaks! There are more to come from Hillary Clinton s e-mails. We think the bigger story should be how easy it was for the DNC and government officials to be hacked!

Even White Nationalists Are Turning On Trump; One Nominee Is Giving Them Hope

The week of Donald Trump s election, white nationalists celebrated.In the bowels of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, three blocks from the White House, members of the so-called alt-right movement gathered for what they had supposed would be an autopsy to plot their grim future under a Clinton administration. Instead, they celebrated the unexpected march of their white nationalist ideas toward the mainstream, portraying Mr. Trump s win as validation that the tide had turned in their fight to preserve white culture. It s been an awakening, Richard B. Spencer, who is credited with coining the term alt-right, said at the gathering on Saturday. This is what a successful movement looks like. Source: NY TimesWhile they still agree with Trump s agenda, or at least what they think Trump s agenda is, they aren t celebrating anymore. They aren t happy with many of Trump s cabinet picks. Right after the election, I think it was euphoria, says Kevin MacDonald, a retired evolutionary psychology professor at California State, Long Beach and another white nationalist mainstay. But as we get into it now, there s more trepidation. MacDonald says Trump s appointments also have rattled the movement, especially his propensity for tapping rich Wall Street bankers. These are globalists in general. They love free trade, they love immigration big red flags for us, he says.Source: NPRSo odd that a businessman who brags about his international business ventures would hire globalists. Who could have seen that coming? Anyone who paid attention, that s who, but cheer up our neo-nazi brethren, there s hope for you still (just not for the rest of us). Trump still has his (bad pun ahead) Trump card: Jeff Sessions, who s been tapped for Attorney General. They also like Rex Tillerson, Trump s pick for Secretary of State.MacDonald hopes Sessions, Trump s nominee for attorney general, will clamp down on immigration. White nationalists also like the nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who s seen as being close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a darling of the alt-right.While Trump s cabinet might be a little too globalist for these mouth breathers, there s still plenty for them to love. There s little chance under this Republican government that anyone other than white men will make any sort of advances.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Trump assails House speaker Ryan, McCain as 'disloyal'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lashed out at U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and other “disloyal” Republicans on Tuesday and vowed to campaign in whatever style he wants now that the party establishment has largely abandoned him. Trump, in a barrage of stinging Twitter posts, condemned the Republicans who have backed away from his White House run, deepening a dramatic rift in the party over his struggling campaign for the Nov. 8 election. “It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to,” Trump said on Twitter, adding he would engage Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on his own terms. Describing “disloyal” Republicans as more difficult than Clinton, he said: “They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win - I will teach them!” A string of Republican officials and officeholders have distanced themselves from Trump since a 2005 video surfaced on Friday showing him bragging crudely to a reporter about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. Despite the turn away from Trump by some elected Republicans, a Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters, released on Tuesday, found 58 percent of Republicans wanted Trump to stay atop their party’s ticket and 68 percent said the Republican leadership should stand by him. The poll, which was conducted after the second presidential debate on Sunday, showed Clinton’s lead over Trump widening to 8 points from 5 points last week, before the release of the video. Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, told party lawmakers on Monday he was breaking with Trump and would not campaign for him, all but conceding Clinton would win the presidency. The move angered some Trump supporters, although Ryan said he would not withdraw his endorsement of the New York businessman. Trump slammed Ryan as a “very weak and ineffective leader” and complained in another tweet that it was hard to do well with “zero support” from Ryan and others. He later said in an interview with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly he neither wanted nor needed Ryan’s support. Ryan’s spokesman, Brendan Buck, said on Tuesday that the speaker “is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same.” Trump also took aim at U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, who said on Saturday that he could not vote for Trump. “The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks,” Trump said. There was no immediate reaction from McCain, who secured his primary election win in August. Many Republicans worry that Trump’s chaotic campaign could hurt their chances of holding majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in next month’s election, and will inflict long-term damage on the party. In an extraordinary party revolt, nearly half of all 331 incumbent Republican senators, House members and governors have condemned Trump’s lewd remarks on the video, and roughly one in 10 has called for him to drop out of the race, a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage indicates. Unlike Ryan, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told RNC members on Monday that the committee, the party’s leadership and fundraising arm, still backed Trump, two RNC members told Reuters. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, also reinforced his support in television interviews on Monday. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former 2016 Republican presidential contender who has became a close ally of Trump, also reaffirmed his backing, although he called Trump’s comments in the 2005 video “completely indefensible.” Trump, 70, who has portrayed himself as tough on national security, released a hard-hitting television advertisement on Tuesday featuring footage of Clinton, a 68-year-old former secretary of state, stumbling last month after leaving a service commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks. Her campaign said she had been diagnosed a few days earlier with pneumonia. “Hillary Clinton doesn’t have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world,” the ad’s narrator says. “She failed as secretary of state. Don’t let her fail us again.” Both Trump and Clinton headed to the key battleground state of Florida on Tuesday. Before her Florida rally with former Vice President Al Gore, Clinton told a Miami radio station that Trump had “insulted everyone.” “People need to understand what’s at stake in this election,” she told WMBM. The White House said on Tuesday that Trump’s remarks about groping women in the video amounted to sexual assault. President Barack Obama said Trump’s remarks would disqualify him from a job at a convenience store, and should disqualify him from becoming president. Clinton, the first woman to be picked as a presidential nominee by a major U.S. party, tried to focus on Tuesday on issues that could win over undecided women voters, proposing to expand the child tax credit so that more low-income families can benefit and to increase by $1,000 a year the tax credit available to families for each child up to age 4.

when good people share bad info heres why you need to fact check before you click share

by catherine j frompovich this is the continuation of the testimony i will present before the pennsylvania public utility commissions administrative law court november

8-Year-Old Dies Because Her ‘Extremely Religious’ Mother Thinks Doctors Are ‘The Work Of The Devil’

A mother describing herself as extremely religious is being held on suspicion of the murder of her 8-year-old daughter, and the abuse of two younger children, in Newark, New Jersey.The body of 8-year-old Christiana Glenn was found in the family home in October of 2011. The girl had died a slow and agonizing death from severe malnutrition and an untreated broken femur.Her mother, 34-year-old Krisla Rezireksyon Kris underwent an assessment by clinical psychologists at Essex County Jail this week, during which she told mental health professionals that she became extremely religious prior to her daughter s death, and began following ever stricter lifestyle rules in an aim to become become more godly, more spiritual. This involved keeping to a strict and limited diet, regularly fasting, and the avoidance of all modern healthcare as she felt doctors and medicine do the work of the devil .In reality, she was starving herself and her children to death, and putting them at great risk of death by treatable disease and illness.This week, Joel Morgan, a clinical neuropsychologist who assessed Kris, testified that she was suffering a mental disorder at the time, and not acting with the intention of hurting her children. Morgan argues that Kris was suffering a mental health crisis which made her vulnerable to the predations of an exploitative Pastor. Further, that this Pastor manipulated Kris into adopting the rules which ultimately killed her child, at the same time as extracting money from her. He stated: She adopted his way of life. She became a zealot and empowered him with having judgment over her and her children in terms of daily activities, prayer, diet, medical health, everything, Despite the testimony, evidence of Kris educational and employment records was put forward to argue that the mother was of above average intelligence, and functioning well in life at the time of her alleged crimes.Whatever the outcome of the trial, a child is dead, and two others endured a horrible torment and now need to adjust to life without their mother. Featured image via Flickr Creative Commons

Ben Carson Accidentally Reveals Trump’s Top VP Choices And The List Will Leave You ROTFL

The mere fact that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee for president of the United States is quite comical in of itself not only because it s Donald Trump, but alsobecause he s been able to basically destroy the Republican party. How much more damage can the billionaire demagogue possibly do? Well, plenty if you count the people and more specifically that one person he has on his short list for vice-president. The king of the disintegrating Republican party may anoint a queen. That s right folks, Sarah Palin is on the short list of candidates for Trump s vice-president.According to the Washington Post, Ben Carson, who is now the head of Trump s vice presidential search committee, was driving on his way to a television interview when he accidentally revealed the list to a reporter who was riding in his car. The list included Sarah Palin.After the mellow and weird doctor told the reporter that he would not behave in the same way as Dick Cheney when Cheney headed Bush s vice presidential search committee but nominated himself, Carson s wife, Candy, pointed out that a poll had Carson as the top choice to be Trump s running mate. Carson was told that John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and Chris Christie had also been named in the poll.That s when he revealed the names. Those are all people on our list, Carson said. Well, not you, his wife said.It sure would be hilarious to watch yet another Trump victim start working for Trump. Ben Carson, who prior to his GOP run was a respected doctor and human being, was compared to a child molester by Trump but is now his defender on every news station imaginable. Chris Christie, who was also obliterated by Trump became his lackey. Who could forget the time when Christie stood stone faced behind Trump like a deer caught in headlights? Then of course there s Ted Cruz, or as Trump referred to him, Lyin Ted, who was dragged through the mud by Trump. We also can t forget Little Marco Rubio, the golden boy of the Republican party, but who was also humiliated by Trump.However, the match made in heaven or should I say hell would be a Trump/Palin ticket. The hope is she ll help bring Trump down in the same way she helped bring down John McCain. It would be quite a surprise for Trump to pick Palin but with these Republicans, you just never know.UPDATE: Donald Trump released a tweet disavowing Carson s list (despite Carson at one time being assigned to help pick the VP), saying most of the names on the list are wrong and specifically Marco Rubio.The @washingtonpost report on potential VP candidates is wrong. Marco Rubio and most others mentioned are NOT under consideration. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2016Featured image via Wikimedia Commons

Australian abuse report calls for end to sanctity of confession

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia should introduce a law forcing religious leaders to report child abuse, including Catholic priests told of abuse during confession, said a report on Friday which detailed institutional abuse, particularly in the Catholic Church. One the country s top catholics, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, said such a law would undermine a central tenet of Catholicism, the confidentiality of the confessional, and warned that any priest breaking the seal of confession would be excommunicated. The 17-volume document from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse marks the end of one of the world s biggest inquiries into child abuse and leaves it to the government to decide whether to enact its recommendations. The five-year investigation found multiple and persistent failings of institutions to keep children safe, the cultures of secrecy and cover-up, and the devastating affects child sexual abuse can have on an individual s life , the commission said in a statement. The report detailed tens of thousands of child victims, saying their abusers were not a case of a few rotten apples . We will never know the true number, it read. In a statement, the Vatican said the report deserves to be studied seriously but made no mention of its specific suggestions. The Holy See remains committed to being close to the Catholic Church in Australia lay faithful, religious, and clergy alike as they listen to and accompany victims and survivors in an effort to bring about healing and justice, the statement said. The inquiry spanned religious, government, educational and professional organizations but heard many accounts alleging abuse cover-ups in the Australian Catholic Church, including allegations of moving priests suspected of abuse between parishes to avoid detection. Of survivors who reported abuse in religious institutions, more than 60 percent cited the Catholic Church, which demonstrated catastrophic failures of leadership , particularly before the 1990s, the report said. The Vatican statement said Pope Francis had made clear that the Church is called to be a place of compassion, especially for those who have suffered, and reaffirmed that the Church is committed to safe environments for the protection of all children and vulnerable adults. The Royal Commission report said clergy told of child abuse in the confessional should be required by law to report it and called for the Catholic Church to make celibacy voluntary for clergy, adding that it contributed to child abuse. I would feel terribly conflicted, and I would try even harder to get that person outside confessional, but I cannot break the seal, Hart told reporters. The penalty for any priest breaking the seal is excommunication, being cast out of the church, so it s a real, serious, spiritual matter, and I want to observe the law of the land ... but as part of my identity as a priest, I have to observe the seal of the confession. A similar recommendation was made during Ireland s 2009 child abuse inquiry, leading to a mandatory reporting law in 2015. Some U.S. states have similar requirements. The Australian report also called for a National Office for Child Safety and national child safety standards, child abuse reporting and record keeping, which would cover all institutions engaged in child-related work. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the inquiry had exposed a national tragedy and that the government would consider the recommendations and respond in full next year. Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, said in a statement that he was appalled by the sinful and criminal activity of some clergy, religious and lay church-workers (and) ashamed of the failure to respond by some church leaders . The inquiry heard previously that the Australian Catholic Church had paid A$276 million ($212 million) in compensation to thousands of child abuse victims since 1980. ($1 = 1.3040 Australian dollars)

U.S. House may vote within days on tighter North Korea sanctions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives could vote as soon as next week on legislation to toughen sanctions on North Korea by targeting its shipping industry and companies that do business with the reclusive state, congressional aides said on Thursday. The legislation, approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month, is intended to cut off supplies of cash that help fund North Korea’s nuclear program, and increase pressure to stop human rights abuses such as the use of slave labor, the bill’s sponsor, Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, said. It also calls on President Donald Trump’s administration to decide whether North Korea is a state sponsor of terrorism. Amid international concern over the escalation of North Korea’s nuclear program, top Trump administration officials held briefings on the issue on Wednesday for the entire U.S. Congress, busing the 100 senators to the White House and meeting with members of the 435-person House at the Capitol complex. As he left the House briefing, Royce said he expected the legislation to move quickly, as part of what he hoped would be a strong international effort to use every method possible to pressure Pyongyang to curb its nuclear ambitions. “In particular, it will focus on financial institutions as well as what you might call ‘slave labor.’ These are cases where the North Koreans send out work crews to do work, and instead of being paid, the money comes back to the North Korean regime, and is spent on their nuclear program,” Royce told reporters. The Trump administration said it wanted to push North Korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs through tougher international sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and remained open to negotiations to bring that about. Officials also said on Wednesday they wanted to return the country to the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors. A spokesman for Royce declined to comment on when there might be a vote, referring questions to House leadership, whose aides did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the timing. Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is due to meet with the U.N. Security Council on Friday to press for tougher international sanctions on North Korea.

Puerto Rico's 2014 fiscal report close to release: official

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico’s long-awaited audited 2014 fiscal statements are close to release and should be ready by the end of January or the beginning of February, an official said on Wednesday. The U.S. territory is far behind on filing its audited statements and in September was criticized by powerful Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican, for not having up-to-date audited figures. “It is in the final stage,” Office of Management & Budget Director Luis Cruz Batista told reporters regarding the 2014 fiscal statements. “Auditors need to undertake a process where they need to be satisfied with the necessary information to provide an opinion. They should be ready by the end of this month, first week of February.”

Robert De Niro Just Told The World He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face (VIDEO)

Robert De Niro was supposed to appear in a non-partisan public service announcement for the get out the vote organization, Vote Your Future, but the actor had a difficult time staying on script. Instead, he used the opportunity to go off on Trump in one of the most passionate anti-Trump videos to date. He s so blatantly stupid, the video beings. He s a punk. He s a dog (please don t insult dogs, Robert), he s a pig, he s a con, a bullshit artist, a mutt (again with the dog insult) who doesn t know what he s talking about. He doesn t do his homework, De Niro continued, doesn t care. He s gaming society, doesn t pay his taxes. He s an idiot. Colin Powell said it best, he s a national disaster, he s an embarrassment to this country.' It makes me so angry, added De Niro, that this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo, has wound up where he has. He talks how he wants to punch people in the face, a visibly angry De Niro said,Vote Your Future chose not to include the video in their campaign, since they are non-partisan. Oddly, though, Fox News Megyn Kelly did air the segment, in fact, it was giving specifically to her. Here it is:The video was recorded before Friday s game changing video of Donald Trump talking about groping women, but the timing coincided very well. You can be sure that De Niro s opinion hasn t changed.Is the fact that Kelly, on Fox News, was the person to release this video a sign that Fox News is turning on the GOP candidate or is this just another shot in Kelly s war against Trump?As for De Niro, bravo, although it s not a huge risk to turn on Trump these days. Everyone in Hollywood, from Republican politicians to evangelical Christians, are turning on Trump. The only remaining mystery is why people still support this narcissistic, thin-skinned, racist, nationalistic, misogynistic monster.Featured image via Kevin Winter/Getty Images.

Zuma spokesman dismisses reports South African deputy president may be sacked

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Jacob Zuma s spokesman said on Friday there was no basis for reports that the South African president would axe his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, speculation about which has weighed on the currency and bonds. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, of which Zuma is leader and Ramaphosa deputy, has been riven by bitter infighting ahead of a party conference in December at which a new leader will be chosen. It s rumors and gossip, and we don t comment on them at all, Zuma s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters. Ramaphosa, a trade unionist-turned-business tycoon, is viewed as the most likely rival candidate to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the former chairwoman of the African Union, who is Zuma s pick for the leadership and is the president s ex-wife. He has recently stepped up criticism of Zuma s scandal-plagued government. Asked in parliament on Thursday whether he might be sacked, Ramaphosa said only that he would accept the president s decision if he lost his job. On Friday, a spokesman for the deputy president said: We are aware of the speculation, but it is just speculation. Trade union federation Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP), both partners in the ANC s ruling alliance, have endorsed Ramaphosa, 64, for the leadership. South Africa will elect a new president in 2019, and whoever the ANC picks in December is likely to take over from 75-year-old Zuma as the country s leader. Zuma is under pressure to step down before then, with a recent South African court ruling that nearly 800 corruption charges against him should be reinstated prompting more calls for the president to go. Zuma reshuffled his cabinet for the second time in seven months on Tuesday, irking some within the ruling alliance by sacking a minister belonging to the SACP and appointing a close ally to oversee an opaque nuclear deal. Analysts say Zuma may make further changes before December to strengthen his hand going into the ANC s elective conference. Speculation that he might remove Ramaphosa, who was the ANC s chief negotiator during the 1990s transition from apartheid, weighed on the rand and bonds, which underperformed emerging market peers on Friday versus a firmer dollar. Other emerging markets are weaker but not as much as the rand. That s because of lingering political uncertainty, especially these rumors about Zuma axing Ramaphosa, said currency dealer at TreasuryOne Wichard Cilliers. Ramaphosa told parliament on Thursday that if (Zuma s) decision is to remove me, I will accept that as a decision that will be taken by the president and I will continue serving the people of South Africa in one form, shape or another . Speaking on Friday, Ramaphosa returned to the subject of corruption within the government and state-owned companies, which is expected to be a main theme of his leadership campaign. Our state has been captured by people who ... want to milk the state, who want to rob our country of the money that belongs to the people, Ramaphosa told members of the National Education Health & Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) in Cape Town. Our state is now being talked about in the rest of the world in the most negative terms, captured by certain interests, by certain families, by certain individuals. Wealthy friends of Zuma, the Guptas, have been accused by ANC and opposition politicians of using their close relationship with the president and his allies to influence the awarding of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing and the Indian-born South African businessmen and their companies have not been charged with any crime in South Africa. Regulators in the United States and Britain are looking into links between the Gupta family, the South African government, and banks they may have used to move money as a corruption investigation escalates. In a statement on Friday, Dlamini-Zuma denied she had any links to the Gupta family.

Seven email chains from Clinton server contain 'top secret' material: AP

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven email chains from the private server Hillary Clinton used when she was U.S. secretary of state are being withheld from public release for containing “top secret” material, the Associated Press reported on Friday, without citing a source. The U.S. State Department is scheduled to release another batch of emails from Clinton’s server on Friday. Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, has been embroiled in a controversy about her use of a private server for government business.

Catalan foreign affairs chief says not planning regional snap elections

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Catalonia s regional government is not planning to hold a snap election following a disputed independence referendum, the region s foreign affairs chief said. Elections are not on the table now, Raul Romeva told a new conference in Brussels on Wednesday.

Trump predicts 'very massive recession' in U.S.

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump predicted that the United States is on course for a “very massive recession,” warning that a combination of high unemployment and an overvalued stock market had set the stage for another economic slump. “I think we’re sitting on an economic bubble. A financial bubble,” the billionaire businessman said in an interview with The Washington Post published on Saturday. Coming off a tough week on the campaign trail in which he made a series of missteps, Trump’s latest comments bring him back into the limelight ahead of Tuesday’s important primary in Wisconsin where he trails in the polls. The former reality TV star said that the real U.S. jobless figure is much higher than five percent number released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “We’re not at 5 percent unemployment,” Trump said. “We’re at a number that’s probably into the twenties if you look at the real number,” he said, adding that the official jobless figure is “statistically devised to make politicians — and in particular presidents — look good.” Trump said “it’s a terrible time right now” to invest in the stock market, offering a more bleak view of the U.S. economy than that held by many mainstream economists. The interview was bylined by the Post’s Robert Costa and famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward. A real estate magnate, Trump has made appealing to blue-collar workers a hallmark of his bid for the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, often blaming unemployment on the outsourcing of U.S. jobs and facilities to countries such as China and Mexico. Trump vowed in the interview to wipe out the more than $19 trillion national debt “over a period of eight years,” helped by a renegotiation of trade deals. “I’m renegotiating all of our deals, the big trade deals that we’re doing so badly on,” he said. After making controversial statements about abortion last week, Trump has shown little sign of heeding calls from fellow Republicans to adopt a more presidential tone so as to avoid alienating voters in the November general election if he wins the nomination. On Saturday, he questioned close U. S. ties to Saudi Arabia and again accused U.S. allies of not pulling their weight in the NATO military alliance. Trump told a campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin that partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “are not paying their fair share” and called the 28-nation alliance “obsolete.” “Either they pay up, including for past deficiencies, or they have to get out. And if it breaks up NATO, it breaks up NATO,” Trump said. Tuesday’s Wisconsin nominating contest could be a turning point in the Republican race. Trump, 69, trails his leading rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, 45, of Texas in the state. A Cruz win would make it harder for Trump to reach the number of 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the Republican national convention in July. The winner will get to claim all of Wisconsin’s 42 delegates.

Colombia seizes 12 tons of cocaine, its biggest ever haul

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Police seized more than 12 tons of cocaine from Colombia s top crime gang on Wednesday, the biggest haul ever in the nation s long-running fight against drug trafficking, President Juan Manuel Santos said. The cocaine, with a U.S. market value estimated by Santos at about of $360 million, was found stored underground on four farms in a banana-growing region of northwest Antioquia province, near Colombia s border with Panama. Thanks to a police operation with overseas intelligence, from friendly countries, the largest seizure in history was made, Santos said at a police base where the cocaine was laid out in packages on display. Santos linked the cocaine to the drug-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan, which has become one of the biggest threats to security since peace was signed last year with Marxist-led Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. The seizure comes as the United States, Colombia s staunchest ally in the fight against drug trafficking, has raised concern over an increase in coca cultivation and as the government faces criticism from opposition lawmakers for allowing new crime gangs to fill the void left by the FARC. Santos, who leaves office next year, has pledged to send 80,000 military and police to areas once controlled by the FARC in a bid to prevent new trafficking gangs from taking hold. Four people were arrested during the three-day operation leading to the drug seizure, according to a police statement. The Gulf Clan is led by fugitive Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel. The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture or death. In addition to drugs, the gang deals in illegal mining and most if its estimated 1,500 members formerly served in the ranks of right-wing paramilitary groups. Colombia is one of the world s leading producers of cocaine, with output of around 910 tons per year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Anti-drug police have confiscated 362 tons of cocaine this year.

BLACK STUDENT With Hot Glue Gun Causes Elite LIBERAL COLLEGE To Lock-Down Campus

After a sighting of black student with a hot glue gun caused the tolerant, liberal campus of Colgate quickly jumped into action and locked down the school. The university president took swift action, blamed the Campus Safety Director and quickly placed him on administrative leave until an investigation is completed. There have been no shots fired Colgate University locked down its campus today, after a student spotted an armed individual who was actually holding a hot glue gun.The upstate New York university s official Twitter account tweeted out a warning late Monday urging students to seek shelter. The tweets warned there was an armed person on campus, although there were no reports of shots fired. But shortly before midnight, the lockdown was lifted. In a statement to students, Colgate announced that after thorough investigation, and with the assistance of the person in question, law enforcement identified the individual as a student who was using a glue gun for an art project. Students on social media quickly reported that the glue-toting student was African-American, and grumbled that race may have played a factor. In an additional statement Tuesday morning, Colgate President Brian W. Casey confirmed the student s race and apologized. WFBColgate Alert: Because of a dangerous situation in the Coop, everyone is advised to leave the building. Colgate University (@colgateuniv) May 2, 2017Colgate Alert: There is an armed person at the Coop. Find a safe space and remain indoors. If you are off-campus,stay away. Colgate University (@colgateuniv) May 2, 2017Law enforcement is on campus for reports of an alleged armed person in the Coop. They are searching the building. Colgate University (@colgateuniv) May 2, 2017Campus safety officials report there have been no shots fired. Situation is still under investigation. Updates as available. Colgate University (@colgateuniv) May 2, 2017Colgate University President made the following statement: This morning I received an update from Campus Safety regarding the events of last night, details of which I want to share with the campus. Please know that I have called for a thorough, deeper review of all matters related to last night from the original reporting of the events to the University s response. I will have this report within ten days and I will share its findings with the campus.At a few minutes before 8 PM last night a Colgate student called Colgate Campus Safety reporting that they had seen a black male entering the Coop, carrying what appeared to be a gun. A few minutes later, Campus Safety sent out the first of two campus announcements, the first identifying an Emergency Situation and the second indicating, in a profound error, that there was an active shooter on the campus. (The remaining campus notices last night were sent out by our Communications Office and an emergency response team.)After the initial report, Campus Safety contacted local law enforcement units, which proceeded to engage in steps associated with reports of a person with a gun in a public setting. Only after it was determined that the person in the Coop was a Colgate student who had a glue gun needed for an art project was Campus Safety able to end the campus lockdown.To more fully understand the events of last night, we are in contact with the student who had the glue gun and will be with the student who made the initial report. Importantly, I am also in contact with those who were making the essential administrative decisions last night.It is important that we understand the role that implicit racial bias had in the initial reporting of and responses to the events of last night. I want to make sure we speak with those who made and received the initial report to understand the role this played.More egregiously, perhaps, was the effect profiling had on the response of safety officers and other University offices to these events. In addition, communication and enforcement steps were taken that, I believe, confused and harmed this campus and our students. As a first step, I have asked Campus Safety Director Bill Ferguson, who was leading university security efforts last night, to take an administrative leave from his position effective immediately while we conduct a review of the events of last night.This has been a difficult, painful several hours on this campus. My obligation is, first, to demand a full accounting of what happened. My next obligation is to take steps to ensure the safety of all Colgate students, faculty and staff. My final obligation my desire is to improve Colgate. If there is anything that can and should come from these events it must be that concrete steps are taken to make Colgate a better place, and a university worthy of both regard and respect.

NEW YORK TIMES REFUSES To Publish Op-Ed By Lifetime Democrat, Top Legal Scholar Alan Dershowitz Because It Defended Innocence Of President Trump [VIDEO]

The NYT allegedly wouldn t run Alan Dershowitz s op-ed because of his views on President Trump pic.twitter.com/gXgNzGpI1H FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) July 19, 2017Mr. Dershowitz told the Washington Examiner in an interview Monday that he s tried to get in touch with the The New York Times editors, to no avail. He said he wanted to publish an op-ed last month arguing that President Trump likely didn t attempt to obstruct justice when he fired former FBI Director James Comey. I said that I thought the readers of the New York Times were entitled to hear or read the other side of the issue whether there were crimes committed, he said. And I really do think The New York Times does not want its readers to hear an alternative point of view on the issue of whether or not Trump administration is committing crimes. A Times spokesperson declined to comment, telling the Examiner that the paper does not discuss the editorial process for op-ed submissions.Dershowitz lays out his case on Anderson Cooper s 360 show on CNN, as he attempts to explain the constitutionality of President Trump s actions in how he handled former FBI director James Comey. Watch leftist legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin attempt to argue the protections afforded to our president in the Constitution don t matter if you hate Trump and that he should be impeached:Mr. Dershowitz has made headlines recently for arguing that there was likely no crime committed by Donald Trump Jr. in June 2016 when he met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in order to get potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Mr. Dershowitz has stuck by his claim that the younger Mr. Trump s conduct was likely protected by the First Amendment. Washington Times

Angela Merkel’s Husband Is Taking Melania And Ivanka On A Tour That Will P*ss Trump Off

While spouses are a tradition at the G-20 Summit, the truth is there is very little for them to do while world leaders discuss the problems facing the world. Donald Trump brought along more than just his spouse this time. He also brought along his daughter Ivanka, who in this instance, has absolutely no purpose. Angela Merkel s husband has an idea that might help change the world, though. He s taking the Trump women on a climate change tour, with the implied hope that perhaps they can have some influence over the man in their live.Donald Trump is proving himself to be one of the most destructive forces in the world in his denial of climate change. His pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement put us in the position of being one of only three countries, and by far the biggest carbon emitter, that has not vowed to cut emissions.Merkel s husband Joachim Sauer is a chemist and a professor. Let s just say he doesn t share Trump s anti-science stances. His plan is to take the First Daughter and First Lady on a tour of a climate change lab.Sauer is reportedly planning to take US president Donald Trump s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and first lady Melania Trump, as well as the other spouses of G20 leaders, on a tour around a climate change lab. The spouses of G20 leaders will visit the German Climate Computing Center today (July 7), a facility that uses supercomputers to model climate change and map its effects across the world. Sauer will also be taking the spouses on a river cruise and sightseeing tour of Hamburg.I wish Sauer luck. You can bet that if either of these women have any sway with BLOTUS, it s Ivanka. She is at least somewhat scientifically literate, when it comes to climate change, and she has had absolutely zero influence. That s not bound to change.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images.

yet another proof of wrong touchscreen calibration

it will come for you all page for a little halloween atmosphere i present this someones tale of woe has induced a poetic response for you to see end of life will come for you all but it will never come for me for i will live on eternally with the life forces i will get from you it will happen to you all one day or night there is nothing to avoid it you can do i will be empowered evermore even from your last breath i will live forever more for i am known as death

CNN’S VAN JONES FAKE CRYING Over Trump Blaming ‘Both Sides’ for Charlottesville Violence [Video]

Mark Dice nails it! Van Jones on CNN cries over President Trump blaming both sides, and Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and others looked like they were holding back tears. The liberal media freakout hasn t been this bad since Hillary lost the election.Van Jones takes his orders from Obama and ValJar He s a student of Alinsky and plays like he really cares about the black community. He s dangerous. He wants a revolution in America so bad he ll fake cry on TV to get it. What is it with the Democrats? A bunch of babies! First, we had Obama fake crying and then Schumer!

WATCH: It Just Hit A Trump Supporter That Repealing Obamacare Will Destroy His Life

While on the campaign trail, Donald Trump, a former reality show star, repeatedly promised to repeal Obamacare and his supporters cheered him on. Now that the GOP Senate has revealed what they came up with after having years to create a viable alternative to Obamacare, the reality is setting in. Trumpcare benefits the rich and gives absolutely nothing to lower income Americans and the middle class, but it does gift the wealthy with a nice tax break. On top of that, the CBO score released yesterday concludes that 22 million Americans will lose insurance coverage under Trump/Republicare. This move will largely affect red state residents who voted for Donald Trump.On Tuesday, a clearly emotional Trump supporter told CNN s Don Lemon that there s no way he could afford health insurance if not for Obamacare. He sure stuck it to liberals by voting for Trump though, huh? Ardent Trump supporters never thought for a moment that Trump s promise would be fulfilled. The Lock her up! and Build that wall and Repeal Obamacare chants were all fun and games but slowly it s dawning on them: We need insurance coverage or we could potentially die. You re a lifelong Republican, yet you and your wife are insured through Obamacare, Lemon told Don Riscoe. What will happen to that insurance if Obamacare is repealed? We probably won t be insured, Riscoe replied. You okay? Lemon asked the visibly upset Trump supporter. Yes, Riscoe replied. We won t be insured if Obamacare goes away. We won t be able to afford premiums. Do you know what it would cost you to get insurance on an open market and could you afford that? Lemon asked Riscoe. I know we can t afford it. It s over $1,000 a month, Riscoe told the CNN host. It would be incredibly hard on you financially. That s what you re saying? Lemon asked.Riscoe said, Absolutely, we wouldn t be able to afford coverage without the Affordable Care Act. So you voted for Donald Trump even though he promised to repeal the program you rely on, Lemon said. Why is that? Because, Riscoe said, I think that hopefully, they ll bring about something that will be fiscally sound that will last. He said that he thinks that Obamacare does have problems that do need to get fixed. I hope they ll be something in place so that we do have coverage. Watch: Riscoe is a Florida resident, and that state will be hit the hardest, according to the AARP. 450,000 of the state s residents age 50 to 64 would pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars more each year for coverage. Mr. Riscoe appears to be in that age group.It s difficult to feel sorry for this Trump supporter after he voted for a man who is doing exactly what he said he would do. Did he think that repealing Obamacare would only affect liberals?Without coverage, I could not afford to start the medical treatment that begins today, which would cost (without insurance) for a 12-week period, $95,500. And that is just for one pill per day. With insurance, the treatment will cost me nothing. 3.2 million Americans have this disease. Good luck, Mr. Riscoe. We hope he doesn t have any pre-existing conditions like most of us do.Image via screen capture.

Wall Street's big short: President Donald J. Trump

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Add the juggernaut that is Donald J. Trump to the list of what-ifs that is worrying Wall Street. A growing realization that the unpredictable New York real estate developer is in a position to win the Republican nomination and then battle Hillary Clinton for the White House in November’s election has caused some investors to sell U.S. stocks. They fear having such a wild-card president could trigger trade wars, hurt the economy and add a lot of market volatility. “As the market rarely feasts on lack of predictability - Trump represents a nightmare for investors this year,” said hedge fund manager Douglas Kass of Seabreeze Partners Management Inc, who said last week that he was adding to his existing short bet on the U.S. stock market in part because of Trump’s increasingly strong position in the race. Trump’s statements on business and Wall Street don’t neatly fit into one ideological worldview, but if anything, they are seen as isolationist in a globally connected world. He can also suddenly pick on businesses over various issues, such as his call for a boycott of Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) products after the tech giant refused to help the FBI unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.     “The election this year is the height of uncertainty,” said Phil Orlando, a senior portfolio manager and chief equity strategist at Federated Investors in New York, which manages $351 billion. He said political concerns - personified by Trump’s emergence as a frontrunner - are one of the main reasons why he began reducing equity exposure in mid-January.  There are, of course, plenty of other factors having an impact on U.S. financial markets. U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday after strong U.S. factory and construction data suggested the economy was regaining momentum. That was even as investors contemplated expectations that Trump would do very well in 11 states holding Republican primary or caucus elections on this Super Tuesday.     Trump’s rhetoric mixes populist criticism of immigration policy, Wall Street behavior, and other countries’ trade policies, while also citing support for business-friendly efforts such as lower taxation. The lack of detail from Trump about his policies and how he would implement them is a particular worry for investors.     “Trump has been light on policy substance so it’s very difficult for the markets to handicap,” said Dave Lafferty, chief market strategist at Natixis Global Asset Management, which manages $870.3 billion in assets. He expects market volatility to rise if Trump extends his lead in Tuesday’s elections.     Some investors are particularly concerned about Trump’s nationalist rhetoric, saying it is potentially destructive to a global economy that is already struggling. If it reduces trade flows then it could also hamper U.S. and global growth and hurt U.S. company profits. The real estate investor proposes labeling China a currency manipulator and ending what he calls China’s illegal export subsidies and theft of U.S. intellectual property. He also wants to penalize companies who move jobs from the U.S. to Mexico by hitting them with high tariffs if they want to export back to the U.S., as well as build a wall at the Mexican border to prevent the flow of illegal immigrants. “In areas of trade policy and foreign affairs lies the greatest uncertainty,” Kass said. “Trump is not likely to be market-friendly in any of these policy areas.” In response, Trump’s spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email to Reuters that the same crowd criticizing the Republican Party’s top candidate had been responsible for causing the last worldwide recession and economic meltdown in 2007-2008.      “They have zero credibility,” said Hicks. “Mr. Trump will restore confidence to the global markets by ending runaway spending and borrowing, restoring trade balance and fairness, and bringing wealth to America’s middle class.” Investors had, for some time, been concerned about the strength of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ insurgent campaign for the Democratic nomination against former Secretary of State Clinton, given he declares himself to be a democratic socialist and has said Wall Street’s business model is fraudulent. With recent losses to Clinton in Democratic contests in South Carolina and Nevada, he is now seen as less likely to win the nomination. Trump’s plans include ideas that traditionally come from Republican candidates, such as lowering the corporate tax rate, simplifying the tax code, and as his web site puts it, cutting the deficit through “eliminating waste, fraud and abuse” and “growing the economy to increase tax revenues.”     “I think markets will like Trump on the taxes issue since he favors lower rates and a permanent change in repatriation rules,” said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Sarasota, Florida, which manages $2 billion in assets. Still, financial advisers say that Trump’s plans to do away with the so-called carried interest tax loophole - which gives hedge fund and private equity managers preferential tax treatment on much of their income - would prompt more selling if he begins to climb in national polls against Clinton.     Jeffrey Gundlach, the co-founder and CEO of bond investing and trading powerhouse DoubleLine Capital, said that Trump has a history of being “comfortable with a lot of debt and leverage,” and that won’t impede him from spending heavily. He said he believes Trump’s pledge to spend heavily on the military makes defense stocks a good investment play.     Others see such spendthrift tendencies more darkly.     David Ader, chief government bond strategist at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut, said Trump’s history raises questions about his ability to run an organization as unwieldy and complex as the government. The businessman has in the past filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the Trump Taj Mahal casino and Trump Plaza Hotel. Ader says the uncertainty would cause investors to flock to safe-haven U.S. Treasuries should Trump take office. “It’s one thing to run casinos that have gone bankrupt, it’s another to run a country and its foreign policy,” he said.     Whether he would enjoy the support of the Senate and House of Representatives is a critical question, and will determine how many of his policy pronouncements can be turned into legislation. Congress could act as a brake if Trump gets the presidency and behaves as wildly as Trump the candidate. He clearly does not have the full support of a number of key Republican senators and would be unlikely to get much Democratic support for many measures.        Todd Morgan, senior managing partner at wealth management firm Bel Air Investments Advisors in Los Angeles, said that the increasing likelihood that Trump will be the Republican nominee is one reason why he has raised cash in some client portfolios over the past four months. He would likely sell more if it looks like Trump will win the general election, he said.     “It’s like a scale and you keep dropping more weights on the balance everyday, and the political uncertainty is becoming a bigger and bigger weight,” he said.     For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, "Tales from the Trail" (here).

WATCH: North Carolina Governor Wants To Kill Civil Rights Act To Bring Back Segregation

In 2013, conservatives used their 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court to kill a key part of the Voting Rights Act. Now Republicans are aiming at the Civil Rights Act to bring back segregation.During an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory actually argued that Congress should revisit the Civil Right Act of 1964 to make segregation legal again so that the state can make accommodations for transgender people. I think we ought to make special circumstances for those individuals, McCrory said when asked how we should treat transgender kids. He suggested that the federal government is preventing the creation of unisex bathrooms and that we should segregate by forcing transgender kids to use those bathrooms.Of course, many businesses have already added unisex bathrooms without a problem so McCrory seems to pretending that the federal government is blocking him.He whined about the Justice Department taking issue with North Carolina s HB2 law, which allows business owners to discriminate against LGBT customers and employees under the guise of religious liberty. And he blamed the left for the discriminatory laws Republicans have been passing across the country. I think that this was an argument that we didn t need to have, McCrory said. But this is an agenda by the far left. And for some reason, the national media is saying the far right brought this up. I had no interest in this subject. But the Justice Department is basically making a civil rights claim that every private sector employer in the U.S. and every university in the United States must have gender expression or gender identity bathroom choices for individuals. 17 states and over 200 cities have simply passed laws or ordinances protecting transgender people allowing them to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity free from discrimination.It s the Republicans who made this a problem by passing laws overriding local ordinances and legalizing bigotry against LGBT people.However, McCrory would like the Republican-controlled Congress to go another step further and gut the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that segregation can once again be legal in the United States. I think there s a time where the Republicans and the Democrats in this Congress need to revisit the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and revisit all this issue. Because these are complex issues and North Carolina for whatever reason politically has become the target by the left on this agenda. Here s the video via YouTube.If McCrory had his way, we would not only see transgender people get segregated from from the rest of the population, we would see many southern states segregate black people as well. We would once again have bathrooms for whites and blacks, separate water fountains, separate schools, and businesses could signs outside that say whites only. Basically, McCrory made the Justice Department s case by admitting that he wants to segregate transgender people into separate but equal bathrooms, which is going to be pretty difficult to enforce unless you put a perverted cop in every public bathroom. Segregation has been illegal since 1954 for a reason. It goes against our constitutional values and divides Americans when we should be united.The very fact that McCrory even suggested killing a key part of the Civil Rights Act should make it clear to every American that Republicans are just itching to attack the landmark legislation to take the country backward. And if voters allow a President Trump along with a Republican majority in Congress, McCrory could very well get his wish.Featured image via video screen capture

Lawyer for Egypt's ex-premier meets him at Cairo hotel: Facebook statement

CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafik s lawyer said on Sunday she had met with him at a hotel in Cairo, her first contact with him since his arrival in Cairo on Saturday. Shafik s family and lawyer said earlier they had lost contact with him after what they called his deportation from the United Arab Emirates to Cairo, days after announcing his intention to run for president of Egypt next year. I had a meeting with Shafik an hour ago at one of the hotels in New Cairo and confirmed his health, Shafik s lawyer, Dina Adly, wrote on Facebook. He confirmed that his health was good and that he was not subjected to any investigations, she wrote. Adly did not say whether Shafik was free to leave the hotel, which she did not identify by name.

Drawing flak, Scotland ex-first minister to host Russia Today chatshow

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Top Scottish nationalist Alex Salmond is under fire for agreeing to host a Russia Today talkshow, but the man who once sought to split Scotland from the United Kingdom rejects suggestions he is helping Moscow or perceived Kremlin mischief-making in Europe. Asked whether he was supporting Russian-led propaganda, Salmond, who lost his seat as a Scottish National Party (SNP)lawmaker in Britain s June election, said the public could judge for itself. If it turns out to be Kremlin propaganda, then people can slate me. But why don t they watch the show first and then decide? he told the BBC. The news of his job drew a ticking off from Salmond s successor at the head of Scotland s devolved government, Nicola Sturgeon, amid concerns about alleged Russian funding links to Britain s campaign to leave the European Union. In the United States, a federal investigation is looking into reports of Russian meddling in the U.S. election campaign. Moscow denies that it seeks to subvert Western democracies. Sturgeon, also leader of the SNP, said the show would make interesting viewing, but added she would have advised against the choice of media. Of course, Alex is not currently an elected politician and is free to do as he wishes but had I been asked, I would have advised against RT and suggested he seek a different channel, she said, adding: Neither myself nor the SNP will shy away from criticizing Russian policy when we believe it is merited. Scottish Liberal Democrat lawmaker Alex Cole-Hamilton challenged Salmond to interview opponents of President Vladimir Putin s government on his show and the leader of the Scottish Conservatives expressed sympathy for her political opponent. It s not often I feel sorry for Nicola Sturgeon, but Salmond taking the Kremlin s rouble on Russia Today? Ooft.... Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said on Twitter. Feelings for and against Scottish independence are still key to politics north of the English border, although the drive to sever 300-year old trading and political bonds has stalled as Britain negotiates its exit from the European Union. Salmond, 63, is still very influential in the independence movement and is never far from the spotlight with outspoken comments on U.S. President Donald Trump, Brexit and the best way to manage the SNP s drive for secession. I appeared on RT programs when I was still a member of parliament. It would be a bit strange if, now that I m no longer a member of parliament, I m refusing to make my own show with my own production company over which I have total editorial control, he said. The Russian media group says it covers stories overlooked by the mainstream media, provides alternative perspectives on current affairs, and acquaints international audiences with a Russian viewpoint on major global events.

trump thug chants jews s a at arizona rally

interviews us democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton stands with president barack obama during an election eve rally on november in philadelphia pennsylvania the american people have repudiated the foreign policy of president barack obama and former secretary of state hillary clinton which was a complete disgrace for the united states according to james fetzer an american scholar and political analyst professor fetzer made the remarks in a phone interview with press tv on monday days after republican presidential nominee donald trump stunned the world by defeating the heavilyfavored democratic candidate hillary clinton in the november election during the election campaign trump repeatedly expressed his willingness to work with russian president vladimir putin and other leaders in order to resolve global problems including the issue of daesh terrorism which he has blamed on the policies of the obama administration on the other hand clinton has shown eagerness to confront russia and continue the interventionist policies us administrations have practiced since professor fetzer said that clinton was behind the massacre of libya the butchery of benghazi the transfer of weapons to rebels in syria more than five years after the overthrow of muammar gaddafi libya has become a failed state with the central government holding no sway over the country and africas wealthiest nation has become a haven for terrorist organizations and since the united states and its allies have been sponsoring terrorists wreaking havoc in syria professor fetzer stated that clinton was being advised by israeli intelligence telling her how to conduct american foreign policy it was a complete disgrace the american people have repudiated the foreign policy of barack obama and hillary clinton the scholar said donald trump is going to restore a measure of sanity he is going to end the wars in the middle east he is going to restore the reputation of the united states for integrity and dealing with the international community he noted he respects russia as should any president of the united states where barack obama and hillary clinton fell miserably short the analyst pointed out i believe we are already seeing signs that the situation for the world community is going to vastly dramatically improve that the united states is going to conduct itself in accordance with international law and restrain from regime change and hopefully we will no longer be the greatest aggressor nation in the world fetzer said in his concluding remarks loading

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state that fired pastor demands his sermons notes this is an excessive display of the government overreaching its authority published mins ago bob unruh about archive bob unruh joined wnd in after nearly three decades with the associated press as well as several upper midwest newspapers where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists he is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially print dr eric walsh photo first liberty the state of georgia is demanding copies of the sermons and related notes of a lay pastor who was fired by the department of public health after it investigated what he said in his church but dr eric walsh is resisting issuing a statement via his legal team that he will not comply with the demand from state lawyers the states demand is in response to a lawsuit filed by walsh against the department of health charging discrimination based on his religion and other civil rights violations hes getting support from a pastor who successfully fought off a demand by houston officials for copies of his sermons walshs ordeal began in may when he accepted an offer as to become district health director with the state agency only a week later a state official asked him to provide copies of sermons he had preached as a lay minister with a seventhday adventist church lee rudd the agencys human resources director then assigned staff members to listen to the youtube recordings immediately two days later walsh was fired at that point lawyers with first liberty institute joined forces with the atlanta legal team of parks chesin walbert to file a federal lawsuit against the state agency police state usa how orwells nightmare is becoming our reality chronicles how america has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state and what led to an outofcontrol government that increasingly ignores the constitution order today now in response to walshs lawsuit the state delivered a request for production of documents that demands among a flood of other paperwork copies of his sermon notes and transcripts this is an excessive display of the government overreaching its authority and violating the sanctity of the church said jeremy dys senior counsel for first liberty no government has the right to require a pastor to turn over his sermons said walsh in a statement released by his lawyers i cannot and will not give up my sermons unless i am forced to do so officials with the georgia department of health declined to respond to a wnd request for comment instead referring a reporter to the state attorney general who did not respond to a request for comment walshs lawyers scheduled a news conference as a display of support on the guest list was pastor dave welch of houston one of five pastors whose sermons were demanded by a lesbian mayor during her campaign to establish protections for her sexual preferences in city code wnd broke the story when the city launched its action against the pastors and also reported when rush limbaugh described parkers actions as possibly one of the most vile filthy blatant violations of the constitution that i have seen the mayor at the time annise parker withdrew the demands amid a flood of protest in a prepared statement wednesday on walshs case welch said i cant believe im saying this but georgias demand is even worse than when the mayor of houston demanded different categories of materials including sermons from us welch the executive director of the texas pastor council said what is happening to walsh is worse than what happened in houston for multiple reasons first this is state government coming after a pastor not just a rogue mayor in one city he said also the state is demanding much more material sermons sermon notes all documents without even topical or time limits it could even include margin notes in this pastors preaching bible its almost as if they are ransacking the pastors study this sweeping demand is ominous and a threat to every pastor every church every denomination and every citizen of faith in america leaders of concerned women for america legislative action committee part of the nations largest public policy womens group with members also came to walshs defense penny nance ceo said the words of reverend dr martin luther king jr that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere still reverberate today especially as we witness the gestapolike tactics of his native state the state of georgias blatant attack on religious freedom as they discriminate against another pastor dr eric walsh is indeed a threat to every american whatever our religious beliefs can there be a clearer violation of our first amendment right to religious freedom than for the state to monitor examine and retaliate against a person because of the sermons they share wnd reported earlier on the case brought against the state after its officials reviewed walshs sermons and then fired him no one in this country should be fired from their job for something that was said in a church or from a pulpit during a sermon dys told fox news when the case was filed he was fired for something he said in a sermon if the government is allowed to fire someone over what he said in his sermons they can come after any of us for our beliefs on anything the original state investigation of walshs sermons apparently was sparked by one complaint from an official with a county democratic party and gay activist state officials also joked about informing walsh of his firing the telephone call was between dr patrick oneal an agency official and kate pfirman an agency financial officer the call was captured on an answering machine which also caught their conversation after they thought they had hung up pfirman said and im gonna be very im gonna try to come off as very cold because i dont want to say very much if i try to make it warm ive thought that through its gonna just not theres no warm way to say it anyway then there was laughter from both parties oneal then said to inform walsh youre out and there was another round of laughter its very funny pfirman said the voicemail in the houston dispute voters ultimately soundly rejected parkers ordinance giving gays and transgendered people special rights

Lebanese patriarch, in Saudi, says supports reasons Hariri quit

RIYADH (Reuters) - Lebanon s Christian Maronite Patriarch, visiting Saudi Arabia in an historic visit to the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, expressed support on Tuesday for the reasons behind Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s resignation. Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned abruptly on Nov. 4 in a move Lebanese political leaders ascribed to pressure from Riyadh. Hariri said his resignation had been prompted by an assassination plot and accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region. He denies there are any constraints on his movement. Patriarch Bechara al-Rai met Hariri as well as King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a trip that was planned well before the Lebanese political crisis brought on by Hariri s resignation. Hariri is returning as fast as possible and I support the reasons for his resignation, Rai was quoted as saying by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television. Hariri said he was fine and would return to Lebanon in the next two days. On Twitter, he urged Lebanese to remain calm and said his family would stay in Saudi Arabia, calling it their country . The events have thrust Lebanon back to the forefront of the conflict between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran. Rai s trip has come under heightened scrutiny in light of Hariri s resignation, but an official visit to Saudi Arabia by such a senior non-Muslim cleric is significant as a rare act of religious openness by the conservative Muslim country. The kingdom hosts the holiest sites in Islam and bans the practice of other religions, forcing Christians to risk arrest by praying in private homes. Prince Mohammed says he wants Saudi Arabia to open up more to the world. In addition to imposing radical economic reforms, the 32-year-old heir-apparent has pledged to relax strict social norms and revive a middle-of-the-road, moderate Islam open to the world and all religions, traditions and people . Rai heads the Maronite church, which has a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus and follows an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic Church. Flanked by Catholic clerics wearing vestments and gold crosses, Rai discussed religious tolerance and combating extremism with the king and his son, the Saudi state news agency said. Prince Mohammed has taken a harder line on Iran since taking on wide-ranging authorities two years ago including as defense minister, with the kingdom waging a two-year-old war in Yemen against Houthi fighters aligned with Iran. He has also pushed for more social freedoms in a country where authority has rested for decades on an enduring accommodation between the royal family and clerics who control the hardline Wahhabi strain of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia. The powers of the Saudi religious police have been curbed, enforcement of gender segregation has been relaxed and women have been granted some more freedoms, including the right to drive cars starting next year. Rai is the second Christian patriarch to visit the country, after another such trip in 1975. He said the original invitation had been extended in 2013 by the late King Abdullah.

PRIORITIES: Obama Puts Illegals Before Social Security Retirees In A BIG Way!

Anyone who s been paying attention can tell you that Obama s agenda comes before the American people. You could play Let me count the ways for days with this president but here s one that s a doozy: President Obama has budgeted $17,613 for each of the estimated 75,000 Central American teens expected to illegally cross into the United States this year, $2,841 more than the average annual Social Security retirement benefit, according to a new report.The total bill to taxpayers: $1.3 billion in benefits to unaccompanied children, more than double what the federal government spent in 2010, according to an analysis of the administration s programs for illegal minors from the Center for Immigration Studies. The average Social Security retirement benefit is $14,772.The report notes that the president s budget, facing congressional approval, includes another $2.1 billion for refugees, which can include the illegals from Central America, mostly Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.What s more, the administration is also spending heavily on a program with the United Nations to help the illegal minors avoid the dangerous trip by declaring them refugees and handing them a plane ticket to the U.S. where, once here, they get special legal status.The report, titled Welcoming Unaccompanied Alien Children to the United States, is a deep dive into the administration s evolving efforts to let hundreds of thousands of mostly 16- and 17-year-old males settle in the country.Read more: WT

UNDERCOVER VIDEO EXPOSES Obama’s Lies About “Gun Show Loopholes”

Steven Crowder exposes the lies Obama has been telling Americans every time he steps in front of a microphone to address gun control. The Left will stop at nothing to take our guns. Lying about how easy it is to get a gun through the gun show loophole seems to be a coordinated effort by the Left.Please share this video (the truth) with everyone you know.Watch this video expose the lies of the gun control Left:

Mexico says upcoming U.S. execution of national is 'illegal'

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Senior Mexican diplomats on Monday condemned the upcoming execution of a Mexican inmate on death row in Texas, calling his sentence illegal and vowing to exhaust all possible efforts to prevent him from being killed later this week. In a news conference in Mexico City, Carlos Sada, Mexico s deputy foreign minister for North America, told reporters that Texas prosecutors did not follow due process in the case of Ruben Cardenas, who was sentenced to death for raping and killing his 15-year-old cousin in 1997. From the start, there has been a failure, and from our perspective, this is an illegal act, Sada said. The planned execution comes as relations between Mexico and the United States are at a low, hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump s vows to build a wall along the Mexican border, and his threats to end the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Cardenas, who is due to die on Wednesday, was not given the chance to speak with consular officials in contravention of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Sada said. He added Mexico would look to stay the execution by seeking to overturn how Cardenas confession was obtained, while also looking to exonerate him with up-to-date DNA testing. There are currently two separate appeals under way and Mexico is willing to take Cardenas case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, Sada added. Mexico does not have the death penalty and opposes it, regularly clashing with the United States when Mexican nationals are set to be executed on U.S. soil. Sada said 54 Mexicans were currently facing U.S. death sentences. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled in 2004 that the United States had violated international law by failing to inform 51 Mexicans now on death row of their right to consular assistance, and said the cases should be reviewed. Alejandro Alday, a legal advisor to the Mexican government, said Cardenas was one of the 51 covered by the ICJ ruling, and accused Texas of breaching the Vienna convention in failing to advise Cardenas of his right to consular assistance.

most top retailers sell food produced with beekilling pesticides

store when cia and nsa workers blow the whistle congress plays deaf its pretty clear that those intelligence agencies not the elected representatives of the people are running the show in washington patrick g eddington the intercept october comments do the committees that oversee the vast us spying apparatus take intelligence community whistleblowers seriously do they earnestly investigate reports of waste fraud abuse professional negligence or crimes against the constitution reported by employees or contractors working for agencies like the cia or nsa for the last years the answer has been a resounding no my own experience in is illustrative over a twoyear period working with my wife robin who was a cia detailee to a senate committee at the time we discovered that contrary to the public statements by thenchairman of the joint chiefs colin powell and other senior george h w bush administration officials including cia director john deutch american troops had in fact been exposed to chemical agents during and after the war with saddam hussein while the senate banking committee under thenchairman don riegle dmich was trying to uncover the truth of this officials at the pentagon and cia were working to bury it at the cia i objected internally and was immediately placed under investigation by the cias office of security that became clear just days after we delivered the first of our several internal briefings to increasingly senior officials at the cia and other intelligence agencies in february i received a phone call from cia security asking whether id had any contacts with the media i had not but i had mentioned to cia officials wed met with that i knew that the cbs newsmagazine minutes was working on a piece about the gulf war chemical coverup this call would not be the last id receive from cia security about the matter nor the only action the agency would take against us in the spring of a former manager of robins discreetly pulled her aside and said that cia security agents were asking questions about us talking to every single person with or for whom either of us had worked i seemed to be the special focus of their attention and the last question they asked our friends colleagues and former managers was do you believe pat eddington would allow his conscience to override the secrecy agreement he signed

As Trump Takes 6th Golf Trip As President The Vow He Made To NEVER Take A Vacation Goes Viral (VIDEO)

Trump spent his the sixth weekend golfing and the internet dug up an supremely uncomfortable reminder for him.And Trump seems oblivious to the fact that most Americans find the idea of a president taking six vacations in his first two months of being president repugnant. Donning golfing attire, Trump smiled and posed for the cameras in Mar-a-Lago.Shamelessly:The photo itself represented a Trump lie. His staff had told reporters that he was heading to his nearby golf course for the purpose of having meetings and phone calls. The president himself said he would be spending the night having an important discussion about veteran affairs. Hours later, no specific meetings were ever reported to have taken place and the veteran affairs dinner was suddenly cancelled. All that remained was Trump s time spent playing golf at the golf course that he owns next to the resort that he also owns.Which is a nice screw you to the rest of us. His trips to the links cost more money each visit than most of the life-saving programs he proposed gutting spend all year. And because he s doing so as president, the taxpayers are footing the bill to enable it.(RT!) Trump golfing at Mar-a-Lago costs $10 million/mo. The National Endowment for the Arts costs $12 million/mo. Guess which is being cut? pic.twitter.com/1ZAlRDBrPb Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 17, 2017It's incomprehensible that Trump wants to kill Meals on Wheels, when one trip to Mar-a-lago costs taxpayers the same as feeding 500k elderly pic.twitter.com/fg3FozZdsX Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) March 18, 2017Which may be why this video of Trump promising not to every take a vacation as president is particularly insane. He told voters he wouldn t have time for vacations and added that he would probably never leave the White House, because of all the serious work to be done.You hear that Trump didn t hoodwink voters (they knew what they were getting!) and then find clips like this. Just breathtaking hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/LDnb3Xr7oF Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) March 18, 2017 There s no time for vacations, Trump said as a stone-faced Chris Christie sat next to him. We re not going to be big on vacations. Vacations are arguably the only thing Trump is big on as president.He s taken so many vacations that in two months he s already cost taxpayers roughly the same amount of money the Obamas did all year for vacations. The hypocrisy is so bad that it may explain why Trump is desperate to rebrand his Florida resort as the Southern White House. You can t say you re not at the White House if you simply rename your vacation house The White House. Let s see if American voters are dumb enough to buy that.Featured image via screenshot

GREAT! See What Trump Did When He Was Told There Was No Time To Sing The National Anthem [Video]

I saw this live today and it was fantastic! This is the difference in the special moments with Donald vs the manufactured moments with Hillary. It s the real deal! Guess what, we re gonna do the National Anthem, OK, Donald Trump told the raucous crowd.Speaking at a rally in Anaheim, California, Wednesday, Trump said he was informed that there was not enough time for the National Anthem to be performed something that usually occurs before the presumptive Republican nominee takes the stage because of the television cameras. I got here, and they all said, We have a great crowd. We don t have time for the National Anthem, Trump recalled. I said, Yes we do we have time for the National Anthem, right? The billionaire businessman then introduced a woman, identified as Sherry Wilkins, who was at the rally and apparently slated to perform the National Anthem but was cut due to time constraints.After Wilkins completed the song, Trump thanked the singer, telling her she had a great voice. At that, the New York real estate developer continued with the rest of his speech, going to great measures to prove to the crowd that he has great support among women. I m telling you women do like me, I m telling you, Trump told the cheering crowd as he welcomed a group of women who support his campaign onto the stage.When the group joined Trump on stage, one woman said into the microphone, Thank you, God, for sending us Donald J. Trump to be our next president of the United States of America.

Trump, without evidence, says illegal voting cost him U.S. popular vote

PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that he won the popular vote in the Nov. 8 election “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”, though he provided no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The allegation by Trump, who won the required votes in the Electoral College to secure the presidency, comes as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote over Trump has surpassed 2.0 million votes and is expected to grow to more than 2.5 million as ballots in populous states such as California continue to be tallied. Clinton’s legal team said on Saturday it had agreed to participate in a recount of Wisconsin votes after the state’s election board approved the effort requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, which Trump has called “ridiculous.” “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” the Republican Trump tweeted as reporters waited for him to leave his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida to fly back to his residence in New York City. The U.S. presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, based on a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the national vote. Trump has surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. The Electoral College results are expected to be finalized on Dec. 19. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. “It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than in the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4 states instead of the 15 states that I visited,” Trump added in follow-up tweets. Several hours later, Trump tweeted, again without citing evidence: “Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California - so why isn’t the media reporting on this? Serious bias - big problem!” Clinton won all three states. A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Before the election, Trump made unsubstantiated allegations that the results of the election might be “rigged” against him but several studies have found no evidence of widespread or significant voter fraud in the United States. Since the vote, his message has alternated between appealing for unity and railing against his opponents and the media. In a video message released ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, Trump said he hoped it would be a time for Americans “to begin to heal our divisions” following a “long and bruising political campaign.” In a tweet on Saturday, Trump derided the fundraising effort by Stein to launch recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania as a “scam” that is “is now being joined by the badly defeated and demoralized Dems.” Those states had voted Democratic in recent presidential elections but all voted narrowly in favor of the Republican Trump in this month’s election. The recounts are not expected to change the results of the election. Stein, who won about 1.0 percent of the national vote, has said she wants a recount to guarantee the integrity of the U.S. voting system, a push that came after some computer scientists and election lawyers raised the possibility that hacks could have affected the results. Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration has said there is no evidence of electoral tampering, but experts have said that the only way to verify the results are accurate is to conduct a recount.

Chinese state media cheer Xi-Trump meeting, say confrontation not inevitable

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese state media on Saturday cheered the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as one that showed the world that confrontation between the two powers was not inevitable. The official China Daily newspaper said it was encouraging to see the two-day summit that ended on Friday “going as well as it could” after earlier “confusing signals” from Washington about how it was approaching the U.S.-China relationship. Trump had campaigned with strident anti-China rhetoric and had angered Beijing before taking office by talking to the president of Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own. But the two sides avoided any diplomatic gaffes at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that would have tarnished the meeting in the eyes of the protocol-conscious Chinese. China Daily said both parties appeared “equally enthusiastic about the constructive relationship they have promised to cultivate.” “This may sound surreal to those preoccupied with an ‘inescapable’ conflict scenario between what they see as rising and incumbent powers,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial. “But that Beijing and Washington have so far managed to do well in preventing conflicts shows confrontation is not inevitable.” State-run Chinese tabloid Global Times said the meeting “served as an indicator that the China-U.S. relationship is still very much on course since the Trump administration took office in January” and it was likely the two nations would develop a more “pragmatic relationship.” “It seems that both countries have understood the importance of how essential a smooth transition needs to be and not just for the two countries involved here but really for the entire world over,” it said. Their comments were echoed by a front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, which said the meeting established the tone for the development of U.S.-China relations. In a tweet on Saturday, Trump wrote of the meeting: “goodwill and friendship was formed, but only time will tell on trade.” The Chinese commentaries, however, made no mention of the U.S. missile strike on a Syrian government air base, which overshadowed the summit. Wang Dong, associate professor of international studies at China’s elite Peking University, said the move may have had the added bonus in Trump’s eyes of sending North Korea a message over its nuclear program, but that China was unlikely to be fazed. “There are great differences between the Syria situation and the Korean peninsula situation,” Wang said, noting North Korea’s conventional military capability to strike back at South Korea in the event of U.S. military action. “Any use of force or pre-emptive strikes against North Korea will carry huge ramifications, which would probably lead to a drastically different outcome compared to Syria,” Wang said. In the talks, Trump pressed Xi to do more to curb North Korea’s nuclear program and the two agreed to a 100-day plan for trade talks aimed at boosting U.S. exports and reducing the gaping U.S. trade deficit with Beijing. U.S. industry had hoped Trump would deliver a strong message to Xi behind closed doors to end what they see as discriminatory trade policies, but not do anything rash to spark a trade war. In an outcome likely to play well in China, state news agency Xinhua said U.S. and Chinese officials initiated new dialogue mechanisms on economic issues, as well as security and diplomatic issues, in what appeared to be a reimagining of the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue held under President Barack Obama. Some within U.S. industry had suggested those earlier talks yielded little substance, and urged the Trump administration to scrap them until Beijing displayed more initiative to address complaints about its industrial policies. “We would like to see more results-oriented outcomes coming out of these new dialogues and fewer laundry lists,” said Beijing-based Jacob Parker, vice president of China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council, although he added that he saw the meeting as “generally positive” on commercial issues.

Donald Trump Even Stole The Cake Design From Obama’s 2013 Inauguration (TWEETS)

At this point, it s fair to ask, What is Donald Trump s deal? From allegedly paying Russian prostitutes to drain the swamp all over a bed because Obama once slept in it to stealing a photo from our last legitimate President s inauguration and attempting to pass it off as one of his own, to erasing as much of Obama s agenda as he could from the White House website, to immediately going for Obamacare s throat, it almost feels like The Donald s only purpose is to erase the President s legacy and douse it in Russian lady pee. Now, it seems, he even stole a cake design from Obama.Duff Goldman, aka the Ace of Cakes made a very nice cake for the inaugural celebration. According to Eater, it weighed between 40 and 50 pounds, stood about four feet tall, and featured red velvet, lemon poppy seed, pumpkin chocolate chip and pineapple coconut flavors. Goldman designed the cake to honor all five branches of the military by displaying each of their seals prominently on the side of the cake basically, it s patriotic as f*ck. Here is a photo of Trump, Pence, and one of the few immigrants they like admiring the cake:WASHINGTON, DC JANUARY 20: President Donald Trump, his wife First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Karen Pence clap before cutting the cake during A Salute To Our Armed Services Inaugural Ball at the National Building Museum on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States today. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)Here s the thing, though: Goldman didn t make that cake for Trump he made it for Obama in 2013. Trump just stole the design. The cake on the left is the one I made for President Obama s inauguration 4 years ago, Goldman wrote on Twitter Friday. The one on the right is Trumps. I didn t make it. The cake on the left is the one I made for President Obama's inauguration 4 years ago. The one on the right is Trumps. I didn't make it. ? pic.twitter.com/qJXpCfPhii Duff Goldman (@Duff_Goldman) January 21, 2017At this point, we have to ask who the f*ck plagiarizes a cake? Yes, that s right Trump plagiarizes a cake. Naturally, even the folks on Twitter were kind of surprised that Trump would steal a cake design and much mockery ensued:@SunchBunny @Duff_Goldman Or urine. Ahmad Childress (@AhmadChildress) January 21, 2017@Duff_Goldman @RemembrancerBex THEY PLAGARIZED THE FUCKING CAKE LittleOrphan Li0ness (@Li0ness_LoL) January 21, 2017@Li0ness_LoL @Duff_Goldman what the fuck ISN'T wrong w/ these schmucks?! Bex-a-boo (@RemembrancerBex) January 21, 2017@GamingLawyerJ @RemembrancerBex @Duff_Goldman the real question is if it's like all things Obama to Trump soaked in pee. LittleOrphan Li0ness (@Li0ness_LoL) January 21, 2017@Duff_Goldman what haven't they copied or plagiarized? jeez. Sahil Lavingia (@shl) January 21, 2017@Duff_Goldman wow, they even copied the placement of each star ? Riley (@heyrilo) January 21, 2017@NewaHailu @Duff_Goldman Like somewhere there's a creepy altar to Obama in Trump's house where he touches himself. pic.twitter.com/IomuQ7VvSY April Pendley? (@morphisa) January 21, 2017@Duff_Goldman @TheSciBabe even the cake is plagiarized?!?? RitaC (@rchakras) January 21, 2017@clt92 Who plagiarizes a cake, FFS!?!?!? @Duff_Goldman MBBrownSF (@MBBrownSF) January 21, 2017.@Duff_Goldman Looks like Melania baked the cake Ian McCellan (@IanMcCellan) January 21, 2017@Duff_Goldman for fuck's sake, these people. First plagiarized speeches, now plagiarized cakes. Lexistential (@lexistential) January 21, 2017@Duff_Goldman They stole your design after Melania failed to come through. Fortunately someone took a photo of her cake before it was binned pic.twitter.com/fFJYzUChcL Tan Joll (@Cukeyishere) January 21, 2017At this point, Trump s seeming desire to both be and destroy Obama is looking, well, pretty fucking crazy. But, hey if this trend continues, maybe we ll see Donaldcare (an exact replica of the Affordable Care Act with an idiot s name attached) appear as Trump s replacement. It s not like he has a plan of his own.Featured image via screengrab

Right-Wing Broadcaster: Teenage Girl Is A ‘Prostitute’ For Being Afraid Of Bundy Militia (VIDEO)

We recently saw the heartbreaking plea of 15-year-old Ashlie Presley, who lives in the area that is currently being occupied by Ammon Bundy and his band of would-be domestic terrorists. She bravely took the microphone and tearfully explained why she was begging the militia to leave. One would think that most people would feel sympathy for her, but no, some people are too callous to feel anything at all. One such person is right-wing broadcast personality Pete Santilli.Presley is the granddaughter of Judge Steven Grasty, and Santilli decided to capitalize on that fact. He said that Grasty had allowed his grandchild to become a prostitute. In one of his broadcasts, live from the wildlife refuge where the militants are camped out, Santilli said: That judge was prostituting his granddaughter for political purposes, I m going to call it for what it is. If it were my granddaughter, I would not treat her like a prostitute like he did. He then went on to attack anyone and everyone who opposes what this militia is doing, calling them bunch of effing communists for letting the child speak at the meeting. Santilli ranted: What he did with his granddaughter is disgusting. It s called prostitution, okay? Except you gave it up for free She s a young girl, she did just a masterful dramatic performance. The only reason that anyone needs to be fearful about what s going on around here are the corrupt bastards like her grandfather. He needs to be fearful because we re going to investigate and we re going to bring some justice to a judge. So, it sounds like this guy is not only attacking a vulnerable, scared teenage girl, but he is also threatening a judge. When will these yahoos be arrested?Watch the video of Santilli s vile remarks below:Featured image via screen capture from Raw Story

Malia Obama Is Getting Political And Standing Up Against Trump

Less than a week after her father left office on a nearly historically high approval rating, First Daughter Malia Obama is dipping her hat into politics, sort of.According to the former President, both his daughters were disappointed that Donald Trump won, but they are both still hopeful. Malia is taking that hope and standing up for the Native Americans at Standing Rock.Malia, who s now 18, skipped a well-earned post presidential family vacation and opted instead to go to the Sundance Film Festival. It was there, in Park City, Utah, where Malia joined a protest against Trump and against the oil companies insisting on putting a pipeline through sacred land.And this past Monday, just four days after her father vacated the Oval Office, Malia made it clear just how disappointed she was in the new commander-in-chief by joining a rally protesting his plans to revive the Dakota Access pipeline project.The 18-year-old student, who will be heading off to Harvard University later this year, was one of approximately 100 people who gathered on Main Street at the Sundance Film Festival to let it be known how upset she was with President Trump s plan to move forward with the controversial transport system.The group braved the blistering cold and heavy snowfall as they held up signs reading Exist. Resist. Rise. and Impeach corporate control. Source: Daily MailLast month, members of the Standing Rock Sioux nation were celebrating after the United States Army announced they would not approve the easement for the pipeline s construction. This was after months of protests.In his first week in office, Donald Trump reversed that decision and chose to screw the Standing Rock Sioux by signing an executive order that would allow the pipeline to go forward. That s what Malia is protesting. Look for this to be the first in a brilliant young woman s life as an activist, if not a politician.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images.

Greedy Trump Cuts Takes Housing Money Away From The Poor, Protects Millions In Subsidies For Himself

Donald Trump s budget is all about punishing the poor while enriching himself.The whole problem with Trump keeping his various business enterprises in his family is that he can use the presidency to only support policies that help him and his family profit financially. And forget about Trump actually doing anything that would harm his own bottom line.Millions of Americans rely on housing aid to make sure they have a roof over their heads and the heads of their children.But that doesn t matter to Trump at all.You see, while Trump s budget makes massive cuts to housing and shelter programs that are designed to help the poor and the homeless, many of whom are also veterans, it protects a federal program that provides millions of dollars in subsidies paid to private landlords.According to the Washington Post,One of those landlords is Trump himself, who earns millions of dollars each year as a part-owner of Starrett City, the nation s largest subsidized housing complex. Trump s 4 percent stake in the Brooklyn complex earned him at least $5 million between January of last year and April 15, according to his recent financial disclosure.Meanwhile, Trump s budget cuts the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by $7 billion. The federal program Trump personally benefits from only got cut by a mere half a percent, about $65 million.In short, while the low-income families face eviction and homelessness, Donald Trump and his family will continue drawing millions of dollars in income from the government despite owning several lavish homes, including a Trump Tower penthouse plated in gold.On top of that, Trump s healthcare bill would take healthcare away from millions of low-income families as well, which means that poor people will not have shelter or healthcare if Trump has his way.This is disgraceful and totally unethical. Clearly, Trump is designing his budget to enrich himself and his family while disregarding the needs of millions of Americans, many of whom voted for him.Americans should be outraged by this.Featured image via Mario Tama/Getty Images

New Hampshire Cops Intent On Protecting Sadistic Racist White Teens Who Tried To Lynch A Biracial Boy

It s 2017, and lynchings of black people still happen, just as they did during Jim Crow. Case in point- how an 8-year-old boy in New Hampshire nearly lost his life because of some racist white teens who hung him from a tree with a rope. Luckily, the child was able to remove the rope himself and make it home.The whole incident started when the victim, a Claremont, New Hampshire resident was playing outside. The teens in question allegedly hurled racist slurs at the child, who is biracial in a 96% white town, and threw rocks and sticks at him. Things escalated when they all stood on a picnic table and took turns putting the rope of a tire swing around their necks. Then, they took the child and, according to Lorrie Slattery, a grandmother of one of the kids present, took the child and said: The (teenagers) said, Look at this, supposedly putting the rope around their necks, Slattery said. One boy said to (her grandson), Let s do this, and then pushed him off the picnic table and hung him. He swung three times before he was able to get down, and wound up having to be flown to a hospital for life-saving treatment. What is most appalling is how little national media attention this is getting. Further, Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase wants to make sure these horrific little racists are protected due to their mistakes. He won t even say whether or not there will be criminal charges, and certainly is not releasing their names. In fact, the only reason this is getting any attention at all is because the boy s mother, Cassandra Merlin, posted the following images on social media:This is a story that needs to blow up nationwide until this child receives justice. These attempted murdering racists need to be thrown in jail for the foreseeable future and charged with a hate crime. I won t hold my breath on it, but spread it far and wide. Make it go national until they have no choice but to act.It s the least we can all do.Featured image via screen capture from The Root

Expert Explains How Mike Pence Is The Worst Candidate For Women’s Rights There Has Ever Been (VIDEO)

Now that Indiana governor Mike Pence has officially been announced as Donald Trump s running mate, it s important to understand exactly who he is and what his stances on key issues are. Those who were expecting Trump to select a more moderate VP pick are going to learn really fast that Pence is anything but moderate.During a segment on MSNBC s AM Joy, an expert on Christian fundamentalism made it very clear that Pence is a dangerous right-wing radical, especially concerning his views on women s healthcare rights.The show s host, Joy Reid asked Sharlet what his thoughts on Pence are concerning the nexus between evangelicalism and Republicanism in Washington. Sharlet answers, calling Pence a broker between the two. To understand Mike Pence and to understand that kind of religious conservative politics, you have to not think of social conservatism and fiscal conservatism as separate, but like Mike Pence say, Our goal, our mission, is to marry fiscal and moral values. He sees them as one in the same, so when you go back in his record and you look at his speeches about abortion, which are really something, Sharlet answered. He is probably the most anti-abortion presidential or VP candidate we ve had. You see him also bringing in financial. He sees it if we don t stop abortion, our economy will collapse. So he s the guy who sort of stands in the middle between those two factions of the Republican Party. At that point, Reid brings up Pence s record regarding abortion, Planned Parenthood, and his failures as a leader during a recent HIV outbreak, saying: On abortion, he signed a law as Indiana governor banning abortions because of genetic anomalies, abortions that were unfortunate anomalies, and he also signed a law mandating, and this is weird, women who have a miscarriage or an abortion had to have a burial for the fetus and must cremate after a miscarriage or abortion. On LGBT rights, he signed a law allowing religious beliefs as a defense against discrimination in lawsuits, and then after a backlash, he s revised the law to exclude LGBT discrimination which got him in trouble with conservatives in Indiana. On prison, he reinstated a ten-year mandatory minimum drug sentencing, said Reid.That s only a small sampling of what Sharlet and Reid had to say about Pence s record. It s very clear that the GOP has no interest in supporting even a faux-moderate candidate this election judging by the support he is receiving.The bottom line is that Pence is too dangerous to allow into office. Find out more on why by watching the segment below:https://youtu.be/-3aUzRornckFeatured image from video screenshot

Trump fights for healthcare bill, makes headway with conservatives

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and House of Representatives leaders pushed on Wednesday for votes for their plan to overhaul Obamacare and said they were making progress in their efforts to win over conservative Republicans who have demanded changes to the legislation. With a vote on the bill possible as soon as Thursday, members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative Republican faction, said they had been negotiating alterations to the plan with the White House. Much of the discussion hinged on conservatives’ desire to scrap what are labeled “essential health benefits” - services that insurance plans are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, such as mental health help. “I can tell you that we’re making great progress,” Mark Meadows, chairman of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, told reporters. “We’re not there yet. But we’re hopeful.” Trump was to meet at the White House with members of the Freedom Caucus on Thursday at 11:30 a.m, the White House said. But while the president courted conservatives, the bill appeared to be losing traction among Republican moderates, some of whom attended a meeting late Wednesday in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office. Representative Charlie Dent, a leader of the “Tuesday Group” of House Republican moderates, issued a statement saying he could not back the bill. “I believe this bill, in its current form, will lead to the loss of coverage and make insurance unaffordable for too many Americans, particularly for low- to moderate-income and older individuals,” Dent said in the statement. The chairman of the House Rules Committee, which met all day Wednesday to set the rules for the bill’s consideration on the House floor, said late on Wednesday that the panel would resume its meeting on Thursday, having made no definite decision on the timing of the floor vote. Repealing and replacing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act is a first major test of Trump’s legislative ability and whether he can keep his big promises to business. Plans aired by Trump during his election campaign and his first two months in office lifted U.S. stock markets to new highs. But stocks fell back sharply on Tuesday as investors worried that a rough ride for the healthcare legislation could affect his ability to deliver on other big pieces of his agenda, from cutting taxes and regulation to boosting infrastructure. Major stock indexes wobbled on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending slightly down and the S&P 500 slightly higher. Investors are eagerly awaiting Thursday’s healthcare vote, which could be pivotal for Trump’s broader plans. The Freedom Caucus has objected to the bill because its members believe it is still too close to Obamacare. Representative Steve King, a conservative who was among lawmakers who met Trump on Wednesday morning at the White House, said he would now vote for the bill because he got a commitment from Trump to publicly advocate a change to the legislation when it reaches the Senate, eliminating the essential benefits, which also include emergency room visits and maternity and newborn care. “I have a full and firm commitment with many witnesses from President Trump,” King said in a video statement on YouTube. Meadows said the members of the Freedom Caucus had also discussed the essential benefits with the administration. Conservatives say reducing or scrapping the mandates would bring down insurance premiums. On the other side, patient advocates say that not requiring the coverage would hurt both individuals and healthcare providers. “It could leave countless people with too little coverage to meet their health care needs and drive higher rates of uncompensated care at hospitals already struggling to cover their costs,” Bruce Siegel, president of America’s Essential Hospitals, said in a statement. Earlier on Wednesday, a Freedom Caucus aide said more than 25 of its members were opposed, enough to stop the bill from passing. Republicans cannot afford to lose more than 21 votes from their own party, since Democrats are united in opposition. Democrats, meanwhile, said amending the bill in the Senate would affect procedure, and increase the amount of votes Republicans would need in that chamber. Currently, Republicans intend to pass the plan through budget reconciliation, a process with little room for changes that only requires a simple majority to pass. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders also gave signs negotiations were making headway late on Wednesday. “We are continuing to move forward and adding new supporters constantly,” she said. “As we have indicated previously we are open to changes to the bill that make it better and grow its support.” The primary aim of Obama’s signature legislation, passed in 2010, was reducing the numbers of Americans with no health coverage. Twenty million people gained insurance under the law. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated 14 million people would lose coverage under the Republican plan by next year. It also said 24 million fewer people would be insured by 2026. The Republican plan would also rescind taxes created by Obamacare, repeal penalties for not buying coverage, slash funding for the Medicaid program for the poor, and modify subsidies that help individuals buy plans. In the two weeks since it was unveiled, shares of some hospital operators and health insurers have fallen more than 10 percent. If the healthcare bill passes the House, the Senate could take it up next week. Republican leaders hope that if the Senate acts quickly, the bill could go back to the House for a final vote by mid-April, possibly allowing Trump to sign it into law by Easter, April 16. Opponents of the overhaul have been fiercely vocal, and on Wednesday protesters, many in wheelchairs or with serious medical conditions, blocked the Capitol rotunda for about an hour. “Rather go to jail than die without Medicaid,” they chanted. Capitol police said they made 54 arrests and later released the protesters. ACA vs. AHCA: tmsnrt.rs/2n0ZMKf Where senators stand on the AHCA: tmsnrt.rs/2mUE4Xf How Americans feel about the AHCA: tmsnrt.rs/2n7f3e4

Arizona ballot-collection law put on hold until after election

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday put a restrictive Republican-backed Arizona ballot-collection law on hold until after Tuesday’s election, handing Democrats a victory in an intensifying state-by-state legal battle over access to the polls. Arizona’s legislature earlier this year passed the law prohibiting advocacy groups from collecting completed early ballots from voters and delivering them to election offices as part of get-out-the-vote efforts. Plaintiffs in the case, including the Democratic National Committee, argued the law is unconstitutional because it unfairly impacted the ability of minorities to vote. Polls have shown Republican Donald Trump with a small lead in Arizona over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week agreed to revisit a ruling that had refused to block the law and hear the case before an 11-judge panel. That panel voted 6-5 on Friday to prohibit Arizona from enforcing the law now, court records showed. Arizona filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court later on Friday, asking it to reverse the 9th Circuit’s order. Democrats have accused Republicans of enacting state laws intended to make it harder for minorities and others who tend to back Democratic candidates to cast ballots. Republicans have called these laws necessary to guard against voting fraud. Judge Sidney Thomas, the 9th Circuit’s chief judge, wrote that the court’s action would not disrupt Arizona’s ability to conduct the U.S. presidential election. “It simply would enjoin enforcement of a legislative act that would criminalize the collection, by persons other than the voter, of legitimately cast ballots,” Thomas wrote. He was joined by five other judges appointed by Democratic presidents. Five dissenting 9th Circuit judges, all Republican appointees, argued that the court should not have interfered with Arizona law so close to Election Day, while early voting is already underway. The 9th Circuit covers nine Western states, including Arizona. “We are disappointed in this decision as it will confuse voters and depress turnout,” Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan said in a statement. A representative for the Democratic National Committee could not immediately be reached for comment. Acting in another voting case on Friday, a U.S. judge in Ohio ordered Trump’s campaign not to verbally harass voters near polling places or take pictures of them in the key battleground state.

This Republican Actually Supports Obama In Finding Scalia’s Replacement – Here’s Why (VIDEO)

It was only hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia s death was confirmed that Senate Republicans threatened to block any nominee that President Barack Obama might try to fill Scalia s seat with. Most notably, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz have spoken out against the president s obligation to nominate a replacement.But not every Republican is brainless, as one prominent GOPer verified on Monday in an interview with CNN s Chris Cuomo. Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General under George W. Bush, is speaking out against McConnell and the GOP to throw his support behind Obama. In the interview, Gonzales said: I know there s a big debate going on right now about whether or not Obama should nominate someone. From my perspective having worked at the White House and the Department of Justice, there s just no question in my mind that as president of the United States, you have an obligation to fill a vacancy. Gonzales continued, giving Republicans a not-so-subtle hint to get the hell out of Obama s way and let him do what he was elected to do. I suspect President Obama is going to do his job. And after he does his job and nominating a hopefully qualified individual, the Senate will do its job eventually on its own calendar. The bottom line from my perspective, is the president has to do his job in nominating a qualified individual and then the Senate does it s job in assessing whether or not this person is qualified for a lifetime appointment on the court based upon experience, based upon ideology and based upon integrity. Clearly disappointed in the circus his party has become, Gonzales leveled the GOP and slammed the hypocrisy of his conservative colleagues in trying to prevent Obama from seeking a nominee. He said: If the shoe were on the other foot, and there was a Republican in the White House and democratically controlled Congress, I would expect the Republican president to make a nomination when ready. You can watch Gonzales in action below:One of the GOP s nominee-blocking tactics has been to claim that Obama can t fill a Supreme Court seat in an election year which is completely false. SCOTUSblog specifically says that there is no tradition of leaving a Supreme Court seat vacant because of an election year: The historical record does not reveal any instances since at least 1900 of the president failing to nominate and/or the Senate failing to confirm a nominee in a presidential election year because of the impending election. Whether the Senate Republicans like it or not, Obama is determined to choose a nominee next week. Featured image from video screen capture

Former Trump Adviser ANNHILIHATES His Own ‘Fake News’ Argument With A Single Tweet

Trump s current national security adviser, General Michael Flynn, is already in some serious hot water over his mishandling of classified info (you know, the stuff that Republicans insist Hillary should be punished for). The Washington Post actually first broke this story via official documents from the U.S. Army, but, of course, Flynn s son wasn t having it.Flynn, Jr., also jumped on the increasingly meaningless fake news bandwagon to try and disparage the Post s findings. Flynn s tweets are protected; however, both The Wrap and The Daily Dot obtained a copy. His tweet read: Another article by the failing FAKE news that is the Compost..should they continue to operate when they continue to get everything so wrong? Compost? He thinks he s funny. That s cute. Flynn, Jr., stands by his father s integrity (or lack thereof) even when he s the one putting forth fake news. What he failed to realize is that the link in his tweet goes straight to those Army documents, not to the Post s story.Nice job shooting yourself in the foot there, Junior.Lachlan Markay, of the Free Beacon, and formerly of the not-at-all liberal Heritage Foundation, shows how the younger Flynn has to eat his own words by pointing out the glaring mistake out for all to see:Mike, this link goes to internal US Army documents, not a news article https://t.co/EdE0EIJIV1 Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) December 14, 2016It seems that the term fake news only refers to news that disagrees with a person s already-established narrative, rather than made-up facts and stories, like it did when it referred to the true fake news stories out of Macedonia, and from conspiracy sites.Flynn, Jr. was actually fired from Trump s transition team after he pushed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. If that s what he was really fired for, then it shows a modicum of sense, but the fact that he was even on the team at all actually underscores the conspiracy-theorist nature of Donald Trump and the people he s willing to work with.Only people who hate that the press is actually uncovering bad things would consider the Washington Post to be fake news. Trump is appointing people to his cabinet that have no clue what they re doing, and can t be bothered to do even the minutest bit of research into anything. Just like Cheetolini himself.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images

Germany climbs in development ranking by taking in refugees

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Germany has jumped 10 slots from last year to fifth place on a list ranking how well rich countries policies help improve lives in the developing world, mainly thanks to its willingness to take in refugees - a hot topic in its Sept. 24 election. Denmark took over the top spot from Finland, which falls to third place, while Sweden moves up one notch to second on the list that includes the impact from foreign aid and policies on trade, finance, migration, the environment and technology. Germany moves up to fifth on the 2017 Index, mainly thanks to policies on migration, including accepting a large number of refugees, author Ian Mitchell from the Washington-based Center for Global Development said in the report. Labor mobility is potentially the most powerful tool for poverty reduction and income redistribution, he said. By migrating to richer countries, workers gain valuable skills and broaden their opportunities to earn higher incomes. They also send billions of dollars back home each year in remittances, a flow that surpasses foreign aid several fold. Chancellor Angela Merkel s 2015 decision to open Germany s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees, many fleeing war in the Middle East, cost her support but she has since bounced back. Her challenger in this month s election, Social Democrat Martin Schulz, attacked her on Sunday for failing to coordinate a better European response to the refugee crisis. The report said Germany s surge in the rankings was thanks not only to taking in the large influx, but also to its aid and trade policies. Despite Germany s improvement, France still ranks highest among the G7 countries at fourth place. The United States fell to 23rd from 20th among the 27 countries ranked. Its best performance was on trade and security, while it scored poorly on finance, environment, and aid, the report said. The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord will be reflected in future years, potentially taking the U.S. score lower, the think tank said. Britain, which is in the process of negotiating its departure from the European Union, jumped to seventh place from ninth last year. The report said there was a risk that Brexit could hit Britain s score on trade unless it could quickly replicate favorable EU trade policies toward developing countries. However, on agriculture, it could certainly reduce subsidies compared with the EU and level the playing field for developing world producers. The 2017 rankings show almost all countries improved their performance in the environmental component, with reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and new climate commitments in the 2016 Paris agreement.

Senator presses U.S. derivatives regulator over accounting error

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts is turning up the heat on the U.S. derivatives and commodities regulator over an accounting error that could mean it has deficient funds. Roberts, a Kansas Republican, sent a letter dated Feb. 3 to Timothy Massad, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, calling for answers on the error, according to the committee. The letter included a list of 11 questions for the CFTC to answer and a request for a detailed briefing before Feb. 17. Pressure has mounted on the agency since last month after Reuters reported that auditing firm KPMG took the extremely rare action of withdrawing nearly a decade of financial opinions about the agency’s accounts when it learned of a significant material error related to leases. The auditor estimated the CFTC had understated liabilities by $194 million in the year to Sept. 30, 2015, and by $212 million the previous year. Lawmakers are concerned that the CFTC has violated a federal law prohibiting government agencies from obligating or spending federal funds in excess of the amount available. The nonpartisan federal watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, is investigating whether the leasing errors put the CFTC afoul of the anti-deficiency law. “What I find particularly troubling is in 2011 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faced a similar dilemma concerning its leasing practices and how it accounted for its leases,” Roberts wrote, referring to the top U.S. securities regulator. “Considering the similarity between the agencies, the similarity of the issues, the public Congressional inquiries and the gravity of errant accounting, I am bewildered as to how CFTC finds itself in this current state of affairs.” The questions Roberts posed revolve around how much guidance KPMG and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget provided the CFTC. He also asked about the accounting practices the commission uses and how closely it monitors its books.

Trump Told More Than A Thousand Documented Lies In Only Seven Months (DETAILS)

What would you do if someone kept track of everything you ever said? Most of us aren t in a position to have their every utterance monitored, but if we were, we might actually, you know, watch what we said. Especially if we knew that the people keeping track were specifically looking for lies, backtracking, flip-flopping, and repetition of all of the above.As soon as someone runs for President, however, they have to know that at the very least the media will be tracking their statements. Which means two things: Donald Trump doesn t give a shit about telling the truth, and he knows that his supporters will always think he s telling the truth, no matter how ridiculous his statements are.That s the only conclusion I can draw from Tuesday s Washington Post article, in which the running tally of lies has now surpassed a thousand in these first seven months of Trump s presidency.Many of Trump s prevarications can be chalked up to repeating debunked claims the logic, of course, being that even if the president didn t know a thing wasn t true the first time he said it, if it s completely debunked and he repeats it, he s lying. And lying in and of itself speaks volumes to Donald Trump s character. But the kinds of lies he tells almost say more about who he is than the simple fact that he tells them.Take for example his many claims of accomplishments: The long and short of it is, he has none. When he touts the economy or jobs or the stock market, not only is he claiming responsibility for things that have nothing to do with his policies, but he s flip-flopping on his prior opinions that those things were in a bubble under the last president. When he says he s bringing back jobs, he often cites Wal-Mart, or Ford, or ExxonMobil, among others all companies whose plans for expansion predate Trump s inauguration.Some of the lies are more nefarious in nature. It is well-documented that there is no evidence of voter fraud or widespread voting by undocumented immigrants, yet he continues to make the claim. It is indisputably untrue that Hillary Clinton was in any way responsible for a uranium extraction deal with Russia that gave the hostile country a significant stake in US rights. Why is it untrue? Because Hillary Clinton has never been president. Why Donald Trump or his supporters are stupid enough to think a Cabinet member can unilaterally negotiate with a foreign country over US interests is baffling. Does Trump think Rex Tillerson has the power to sell our oil drilling rights to Russia without his approval?The article puts the current number of Trump s lies at 1,057, notwithstanding any tweets from today, of course. In 214 days, 1,057 lies is an average of 4.94 lies per day. By this time next year, if his average holds, Trump will have lied to America nearly three thousand times.But will his supporters care?Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Donald Trump Posts A Picture Of Himself With Ronald Reagan And All Hell Breaks Loose (TWEETS)

Donald Trump is now so desperate to improve his shattered image that he s trying to improve it by attaching himself to Ronald Reagan.Before he turned in for the night on Monday, Trump posted a picture of himself shaking hand with the former Republican president in an effort to seemingly suggest that the torch was being passed at that moment.An old picture with Nancy and Ronald Reagan. pic.twitter.com/8kvQ1PzPAf Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017Well, the reaction Trump received was not the reaction he was hoping for.@realDonaldTrump you are no Ronald Reagan you are just like school in the summertime no class. #Bully #Scumbag pic.twitter.com/Yi4pIXnywx anton newcombe (@antonnewcombe) January 10, 2017@realDonaldTrump Reagen would be rolling in his grave if he saw whats happening to his republican party and who or what is leading it Diva (@sammypolsen12) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump He would ashamed of you if he was alive. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 9, 2017@Izor28 @tonyposnanski @realDonaldTrump I don t think Reagan would have liked the bullying, narcissism, lack of decorum, and unfitness. Nucular Orms (@NucularOrms) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump He s laughing at you, not with you. Tommy Campbell (@MrTommyCampbell) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump He d be rolling over in his grave over what you ve done to his party and country. Cameron Atfield (@CameronAtfield) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump The Reagan kids don t like you invoking their father or mother s name. https://t.co/BWJSvNKJLu Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) January 9, 2017Indeed, Michael Reagan absolutely trashed Trump throughout the campaign. No way do I or would my father support this garbage, he wrote. My father would not support this kind of campaign, if this is what the Republican Party wants leave us Reagans out. Ron Reagan also slammed Trump during the campaign, especially after Trump criticized Carly Fiorina s looks. I can t think of two people who are more diametrically opposed, Reagan said. This egotistical, narcissistic guy with the weird comb over swanning in his private plane. I mean, look in the mirror, fat boy. Look at that hair, you re ridiculous! Where do you get off talking on anybody s appearance? It s just so unchivalrous. My father would recoil at that sort of thing. @tonyposnanski @JeramieLorson @realDonaldTrump The Reagans would be horrified by Trump and his shit show. Tara Cellarius (@tgruka) January 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump I have one of those, too. Reagan told me that day he thinks you re overrated. pic.twitter.com/gvvV8xzRh8 Heather Whaley (@HeatherWhaley) January 9, 2017Donald Trump is no Ronald Reagan. He s much worse.Featured image via Twitter

House conservatives remain opposed to healthcare plan: caucus chair

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus said his group of conservative Republican lawmakers remained opposed to Republican leaders’ proposed bill to rollback Obamacare, raising doubts about the legislation’s future ahead of a planned Thursday vote. “The opposition is still strong. They don’t have the votes to pass this tomorrow. We believe that they need to start over,” Representative Mark Meadows told reporters after a meeting of his group following earlier talks at the White House.

Here Is A Comprehensive And Up To Date List Of All The Allies Trump Has Offended

Donald Trump rode into the presidency with all the political savvy, intellectual curiosity and diplomatic skills of a bully who s about to repeat the 5th grade. For many of his supporters, many of whom presumably were bullies who had to repeat 5th grade, that s exactly his appeal. So why should it surprise anyone that Trump has managed to offend ally after ally while in office? That s what he was elected to do.Still, nothing in Trump s first 156 (and counting) days in office seems intentional. On some level, he seems to want to be a diplomat, if for no other reason than to have a legacy, but every single time he tries, he falls flat on his corpulent face.Just last week, for example, Trump sent his son-in-law, Jared Kushner to try to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestine. It went about as well as you d imagine. Kushner, who is Orthodox Jewish ad a family friend of Israel s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and according to Palestinians, came armed only with a list of Israeli demands.Of course, Palestine was far from the first diplomatic blunder of the Trump administration. Here s a list of all the countries, most of whom are allies, that Trump has offended:Mexico almost didn t make this list because, well, Trump ran on a campaign of hatred for all things Mexican (except for the cheap labor that makes his cheap ties and suits). His first campaign promise was to build a wall along the Mexican border, but a feud between Trump and Mexico s President Enrique Pe a Nieto has turned into somewhat of a regular fixture in the Twitterspere.One of Trump s very first moves in office included a phone call to Australia s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. After a heated discussion about Syrian refugees, Trump hung up on the world leader.Trump s entire schtick is about creating fear in the hearts and minds of his voters, so much so that he has been known to make up events just to convince people the world is a scary place. In February, he made up a terror attack in Sweden during a rally in Florida (yes, the man who won the Electoral College in November and who has innumerable better things to do is still holding campaign style rallies throughout the country). You look at what s happening in Germany. You look at what s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers, they re having problems like they never thought possibleNothing had happened the night before in Sweden.Donald Trump has a complicated relationship with smart, powerful women especially if they aren t leggy, blonde and share his DNA. His relationship with Germany s chancellor, Angela Merkel began badly in March, when Trump famously refused to shake her hand. That was only the beginning. Read on for more.In April, Trump hosted the Chinese President Xi Jinping for dinner at Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. While the men were enjoying the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you ve ever seen, Trump revealed that he was lobbing missiles at Iraq Syria. While this wasn t really an insult, it did show President Xi that Trump couldn t be trusted to keep secrets. Before that, though, Trump often referred to China as a currently manipulator After he took office, Trump accepted a congratulatory call from Taiwan. This was a clear violation of U.S. foreign policy, Taiwan as part of China.If there is a single ally that nearly every Trump supporter can get behind, it s Israel. While Trump s relationship with Israel is not too bad, at least compared to much of the world, one of perhaps his biggest international blunders came when he traded Israeli secrets with Russians. Oh, and there was also the time Trump told Israelis, while in Israel, that he just got back from the Middle East. Israel, of course, is in the Middle East.Trump shoved the Prime Minister so he could get to the front of a photo op.Not satisfied with offending just one country at a time, Trump took on all the European allies by calling them NATO deadbeats. He singled out Germany by calling them bad, very bad, because Americans love to buy their cars. He insulted Europe in general by telling them that it s too hard to build golf courses there.For Trump, offending our neighbor to the south isn t enough. He s had a long-running feud with Canada s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is Trump s political superior in nearly every way imaginable. In May, Trump referred to Trudeau as Justin from Canada. Trump refers to Trudeau as Justin from Canada https://t.co/JGJDhvy6ZK pic.twitter.com/oDnGOpVwaV The Hill (@thehill) May 28, 2017Trump has also managed to offend one of our oldest allies, England. Well, not England as a whole its capital, London. Trump has been irrationally critical of London Mayor Sadiq Khan s handling of terror attacks in London. Khan responded by asking that Trump s upcoming state visit be cancelled.Donald Trump s retreat from the Paris Climate Accord was perhaps his most offensive diplomatic move to date. There are only two countries that did not sign on to the agreement: Syria and Nicaragua. The First because they are in the middle of a civil war and the second because the agreement doesn t go far enough. Trump did it to appease his climate denier base. The world will be a dirtier place because of it.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images

fbi weiner probe reopens hillary clinton investigation clinton foundation pay to play for israeli pork is not kosher president trump will make america great again maga

good day ad i would have to say that we are under attack by the bushclintonobama crime cartel first hit vp pick mike pences plane and the other plane fires etc cause computer induced crash and engine failures etc zz

th international aerospace exhibition opens in tehran

on today at pm i live in texas and the news now is that this may be a swing stateif nothing else has driven home exactly how weird this election is this should do it realclearpolitics has found that texas is an electoral toss up texas the bloodred deeply conservative bastion of all things far right is a statistical dead heat between donald trump and hillary clinton httpthedailybantercomtexasswingstate just search texas swing state for lots of articles on this the one above shows clinton at and trump at i call bs there is no way no way in hell that bill clintons wife and a pig in her own right is within single digits of donald trump in texas but that doesnt mean that there wont be an attempt to steal the states electoral votes i knew a couple of months ago when elitist mouthpiece rush limbaugh said it was a onepoint race in texas that we were being psychologically prepped for the flipping of the state from republican to democratit could be that were about to see a sleightofhand trick on election night while all attention is fixed on florida ohio pennsylvania and the other swing states lo and behold hillary won texasawarding her the state would have two benefits first shed get our electoral votes second any secession talk would be scrapped how could we justify secession since we voted for hillaryanyway were watching you dnc keep your hands off our electoral votes logged

will china trigger the next global recession

store communists terrorize small business the owner of the blue cat cafe is the victim of recent terrorist attacks on her business by communists protesters based in austin infowarscom october comments newsletter sign up download on your mobile device now for free today on the show get the latest breaking news specials from alex jones and the infowars crew from the store featured videos featured videos donald trump has won the presidential election see the rest on the alex jones youtube channel breaking michael moore admits trump is right see the rest on the alex jones youtube channel illustration how much will your healthcare premiums rise in infowarscom is a free speech systems llc company all rights reserved digital millennium copyright act notice flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce

sharia in america how minneapolis muslims are still being recruited by terrorists

go to article wow milwaukees sheriff david clarke nails it again president obama is like a tenant who has been evicted from a property and hes going to trash the place on the way out the door just out of spite so nothing would surprise me from obama in these waning days sheriff david clarke

Sound in Atlantic not from missing Argentine submarine: navy spokesman

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A sound detected on Monday in the South Atlantic, near where an Argentine navy submarine with 44 crew went missing five days ago, is not believed to have come from the ill-fated vessel, a navy spokesman said. The sound detected by probes initially raised hopes that crew members aboard the ARA San Juan submarine, which disappeared after reporting an electrical malfunction, may have been intentionally making noise to attract rescuers. But an analysis by Argentine authorities, on the fourth day of a search-and-rescue mission, showed that it was highly unlikely it had come from the German-built submarine, navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters in Buenos Aires. It does not correspond to a pattern that would be consistent with bangs against the walls in morse code, Balbi said. He described whatever had been detected as a continuous, constant sound. The disappointment followed another letdown earlier in the day, when the navy said satellite calls detected over the weekend did not in fact come from the vessel. (tmsnrt.rs/2zQ8HGZ) The vessel reported an electrical problem and was headed back to its base in the port of Mar del Plata when it disappeared on Wednesday, the navy said. Storms have complicated search efforts as relatives wait anxiously. More than a dozen boats and aircraft from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile and Brazil have joined the search effort. Authorities have mainly been scanning the sea from the sky, as storms have made it difficult for boats. The navy said on Monday night that two boats belonging to French oil company Total SA, which has offshore operations in Argentina, arrived at the Patagonian port of Comodoro Rivadavia to transport rescue equipment the U.S. Navy brought to the country, including a remote-operated vehicle, a mini-submarine, and a submarine rescue chamber. Gabriel Galeazzi, a naval commander, told reporters that the submarine had come up from the depths and reported the unspecified electrical malfunction before it disappeared nearly 300 miles off the coast. The submarine surfaced and reported a malfunction, which is why its ground command ordered it to return to its naval base at Mar del Plata, he said. The malfunction did not necessarily cause an emergency, Galeazzi added. The craft was navigating normally, underwater, at a speed of five knots toward Mar del Plata when it was last heard from, he said. A warship has a lot of backup systems, to allow it to move from one to another when there is a breakdown, Galeazzi said. One of the crew is Argentina s first female submarine officer, Eliana Maria Krawczyk, 35, who joined the navy in 2004 and rose to become the master-at-arms aboard the ARA San Juan. The families of crew members have gathered at the Mar del Plata naval base awaiting news. They were joined on Monday by President Mauricio Macri. We continue to deploy all available national and international resources, to find the submarine, Macri said on Twitter. Intermittent satellite communications were detected on Saturday and the government had said they were likely to have come from the submarine. But the ARA San Juan sent its last signal on Wednesday, according to Balbi. The calls that were detected did not correspond to the satellite phone of the submarine San Juan, he said on Monday, adding that the craft had oxygen for seven days. After that, he said, it would have to surface or get near the surface to replenish air supply. The ARA San Juan was inaugurated in 1983, making it the newest of the three submarines in the navy s fleet. Built in Germany, it underwent maintenance in 2008 in Argentina. That maintenance included the replacement of its four diesel engines and its electric propeller engines, according to specialist publication Jane s Sentinel.

Trump says China could have hacked Democratic emails

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said China may have hacked the emails of Democratic officials to meddle with the 2016 presidential election, countering the view of U.S. intelligence officials who have said Moscow orchestrated the hacks. In an interview transcript published on Sunday, Trump gave no evidence backing his allegation, first made on the eve of the Nov. 8 presidential election, that China could have hacked the emails of his rivals. “If you don’t catch a hacker, okay, in the act, it’s very hard to say who did the hacking,” the president said in an interview with CBS “Face the Nation.” “(It) could have been China, could have been a lot of different groups.” The hackers roiled the presidential campaign by making public embarrassing emails sent by Democratic operatives and aides to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. One email showed party leaders favoring Clinton over her rival in the campaign for the party’s internal nomination contest. Trump has been dismissive of the statements by intelligence officials that Moscow hacked the emails to help Trump win the election. During the Sept 26 presidential debate with Clinton, Trump said China was one of many actors that could have been behind the hack, including “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” Like Russia, China is a longstanding cybersecurity adversary of the United States. Trump in recent weeks has softened his criticism of Chinese trade policies as Washington seeks Beijing’s support in diffusing military tensions with North Korea. Before Trump was elected, he pledged to improve relations with Moscow. Russia has denied any involvement in the hacks. Lawmakers are currently investigating whether Trump’s campaign team had ties with Russia.

Factbox: Trump to meet tech leaders from Google, Apple, others: sources

(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump convenes a gathering of leaders of some of the largest technology companies at his New York headquarters on Wednesday as he continues to form his administration before taking office on Jan. 20. The session is billed as an introductory meeting that would not result in any job or investment announcements, sources said. Below is a list of attendees expected at the summit, according to sources. Trump’s transition team has announced the meeting but did not name any invited executives during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. * CEO Larry Page of Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company * Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook * Facebook Inc COO Sheryl Sandberg * Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos * Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk * Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella * Oracle Corp CEO Safra Catz * In addition, the technology news website Recode reported that Intel Corp executives were invited. An Intel spokeswoman declined to comment. * The Wall Street Journal reported Palantir Technologies Inc CEO Alex Karp would also attend the meeting.

Ex-Illinois Governor Blagojevich loses bid to cut prison term

(Reuters) - Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich lost his latest bid for leniency as a federal appeals court refused to shorten his 14-year prison term in a vast public corruption case, including an effort to sell Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago dismissed arguments that Blagojevich deserved a lesser punishment because he had been a “model prisoner” in the five years he has already spent in prison and because some counts in his original 2011 conviction had been thrown out. Friday’s 3-0 decision came three days after oral arguments, suggesting little or no disagreement. It likely ends Blagojevich’s chances at shortening his sentence. The one-time contestant on Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” could ask the entire 7th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case, but both are long shots. Leonard Goodman, a lawyer for Blagojevich, did not respond to requests for comment. He told the Chicago Tribune the decision was “incredibly sad and disappointing.” The office of acting U.S. Attorney Joel Levin in Chicago declined to comment. Blagojevich, 60, was convicted on charges including wire fraud, extortion and soliciting bribes while governor. He served from January 2003 to January 2009, when the Illinois Senate removed him from office. Prosecutors said Blagojevich solicited campaign contributions in exchange for raising pediatric reimbursement rates and legislation supporting Illinois’ horse racing industry. Blagojevich also tried to sell or trade the Senate seat that Obama vacated after winning the 2008 U.S. presidential election, prosecutors said. The appeals court in 2015 voided five of Blagojevich’s 18 convictions and ordered a resentencing, but U.S. District Judge James Zagel in Chicago reimposed the 14-year term last August. Zagel acknowledged the pain Blagojevich’s family was suffering but said the punishment reflected federal guidelines and that “the fault lies with the governor.” In Friday’s decision, Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook said Zagel acted within his discretion. “Blagojevich’s treatment of fellow inmates may show that outside of office he is an admirable person, but the court was entitled to impose punishment that reflects how Blagojevich behaved when he had a different menu of opportunities and to deter those who hold office today,” Easterbrook wrote. Easterbrook also said the Supreme Court’s voiding last June of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s bribery convictions did not undermine Blagojevich’s conviction. Blagojevich is housed in a low-security prison in Littleton, Colorado, and eligible for release in May 2024.

Trump administration imposing new email security protocols for agencies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Monday will order federal agencies to adopt common email security standards in an effort to better protect against hackers, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said. DHS Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity Jeanette Manfra, speaking at an event in New York, said the agency would issue a binding directive to require implementation of two cyber security measures, known as DMARC and STARTTLS, intended to guard against email spoofing and phishing attacks. The new requirements are “discrete steps that have scalable, broad impact” that will improve federal government cyber security, Manfra said. DMARC, or domain-based message authentication, reporting and conformance, is a decade-old popular technical standard that helps detect and block email impersonation, such as when a hacker might try to pose as a government official or agency. STARTTLS is a form of encryption technology that protects email traveling between servers, making it more difficult for a third-party to intercept. Civilian agencies will have 90 days to implement the new security measures, Manfra said. Many agencies already use DMARC and STARTTLS but recent reviews have found the protocols are not used universally across government. Foreign governments and other hackers have pilfered millions of personal records and other sensitive data from the U.S. government in recent years. The Trump administration has made upgrading government agencies’ much-maligned network security a top cyber priority. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who earlier this year pushed federal agencies to adopt the security standards more widely, said in a statement the moves were “two cheap, effective ways to secure email from being intercepted or impersonated by bad guys.” He said he hoped the decision would compel private sector companies to upgrade their own email security quickly. An August report from the Global Cyber Alliance, an international non-profit, found that federal government adoption of DMARC had been rising in recent months but that less than 10 percent of domains had the protocol fully implemented. Usage of DMARC is much higher on the consumer level with 85 percent of inboxes, including those hosted by Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) or Microsoft (MSFT.O), supporting the standard, according to the Global Cyber Alliance.

Lebanon's parliament approves country's first budget since 2005

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s parliament on Thursday approved the first state budget in 12 years, a vital step towards reforming the fragile economy and preventing rising debt spinning out of control. Successive governments have failed to pass annual budgets due to a string of political crises since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. (Passing the budget) is a fundamental step on the state s path to reinstating order in the public finances, Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil said after the vote. Passing a budget was a priority for the government of Rafik s son, Saad al-Hariri, which took office in January. Hariri described the 2017 budget as an historic achievement and said his government would strive to return the country to financial and political health. A main obstacle to passing the 2017 and previous budgets has been demands from some politicians that an audit of extra-budgetary spending from previous years be carried out. But on Wednesday, parliament approved a law allowing the budget to be passed before such an audit is completed and giving the minister of finance up to a year to carry it out. The budget passed after three days of discussion by 61 votes for and four against. Eight members of parliament abstained. Lebanon s economic growth has been battered by years of paralysis in government decision-making and six years of war in neighboring Syria. Growth slowed to just over 1 percent a year from an average of 8 percent before the Syrian war. Lebanon s debt has also risen strongly since the war began in 2011. Moody s says the debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio, which indicates a country s ability to pay back its debt, is the world s third highest and will reach almost 140 percent in 2018. Economists have said a budget was vital to reforming public finances, but that more needs to be done to improve growth and investor confidence in the country: reform the heavily subsidized electricity sector, boost tax collection and upgrade crumbling infrastructure. The government will begin work on the 2018 budget next week, Hariri and Khalil said. Khalil said it will include a vision to develop the country economically and socially as well as financial and reform measures to reduce the deficit and increase growth .

UPDATE: JUDGE ORDERS CANCELLATION OF REDSKINS TRADEMARK REGISTRATION – WASHINGTON REDSKIN’S NEW STADIUM CONSTRUCTION HELD HOSTAGE BY PETTY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

UPDATE ON THE REDSKINS BATTLE WITH THE FEDS:ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) A federal judge has ordered the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel registration of the Washington Redskins trademark, ruling that the team name may be disparaging to Native Americans.The ruling Wednesday by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee affirms an earlier finding by an administrative appeal board.In his 70-page ruling, Lee emphasized that the organization is still free to use the name if it wishes the team would just lose some legal protections that go along with federal registration of a trademark.The team had sued to overturn a ruling against it by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The team argued that cancellation of its trademark infringed on its free-speech rights because it required the government to judge whether the name is offensive.The organization can appeal.Via: scrippsmediaThe left is holding hostage new construction of the Washington Redskins stadium for a petty desire to get their way. Demanding a name change from the Redskins to something they consider more pc is total bs. The American Indians who have already responded in favor of keeping the team name understand the name isn t offensive and understand the history behind the name. This is just more of Obama s effort to cleanse our nation of anything HE deems offensive.Efforts to lure the Washington Redskins back to the District have come up against a potentially insurmountable challenge: the Obama administration s objections to the team s name.Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser this spring that the National Park Service, which owns the land beneath Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, was unlikely to accommodate construction of a new stadium for the Redskins unless the team changes its name.Jewell oversees both national park land and America s trust and treaty relationships with Native American tribes.Her decision not to extend the District s lease of the RFK land badly hinders Bowser s bid to return the Redskins to D.C. and boosts efforts to lure the team across the Potomac to Northern Virginia.Since joining the Obama administration two years ago, Jewell has repeatedly echoed the president s concern that the name is offensive to Native Americans. Last fall she called the name a relic of the past that should be changed. Personally, I think we would never consider naming a team the Blackskins or the Brownskins or the Whiteskins. So, personally, I find it surprising that in this day and age, the name is not different, Jewell told ABC News.Jewell reiterated that position with Bowser (D) at an April 27 meeting, telling the mayor that she was unlikely to rework the lease terms for a stadium in part because of the team s name, according to a Department of the Interior spokeswoman, Jessica Kershaw.Team owner Daniel Snyder, who insists that the moniker honors Native Americans, has vowed never to change it.Bowser, jockeying with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to land the team s new stadium, had inquired with Park Service officials about extending the District s lease for the RFK property to allow for a new stadium. Extending the lease would also require congressional action.[Tug of war for new Redskins stadium is complicated by name debate]Jewell did mention in that meeting that she was uncomfortable with the name, Kershaw said. The president has said something similar, that he is uncomfortable with the name, and she clearly clarified that position. Read more: WaPo

BREAKING! Wikileaks’ Julian Assange Explains Why “Trump Won’t Be Permitted To Win” And Proof That ISIS Was Bankrolled By People Who Gave Money To Clintons [VIDEO]

Julian Assange met with John Pilger of Dartmouth Films to discuss what he thinks is the most significant revelation of all in his Wikileaks email dumps related to the Clinton s.Here is a stunning portion of their exchange:Assange: ISIL and ISIS are funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. I think this is the most significant email in the whole collection. Pilger: ISIL or ISIS is created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation. Assange: Yes. Pilger: That s extraordinary! RT reporter: There it is in startling new simple terms. Julian Assange is saying he has proof that the world s most brutal terrorists and the Clinton Foundation have been bankrolled by the same people

Turkish military says has begun reconnaissance in Syria's Idlib

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish armed forces began reconnaissance activities in Syria s Idlib province on Sunday, the military confirmed on Monday, before an expected military operation in the bitterly contested Syrian northwest. It said the move involved establishing observation points and that the military was conducting its duties in line with the rules of engagement agreed in the Astana process, referring to an agreement reached last month in the Kazakhstan capital. Turkey says it will provide assistance to rebels it has long backed, aiming to implement a de-escalation agreement designed to reduce fighting with pro-government forces in the area, the most populous pocket of Syria still in rebel hands.

UK police evacuate, search properties in London train bomb investigation

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said they have evacuated and are searching a residential address in Surrey, southern England, after arresting an 18-year-old man in connection with a London train bombing that injured 30 on Friday. The police said in a statement that residents in the buildings surrounding the address were also being evacuated as a precautionary measure. Cordons are being put in place at a 100 meter radius to facilitate the Metropolitan Police Service s operation, which is being supported by colleagues from Surrey Police, they said.

BREAKING: GOP House Chooses More Of The Same…Pro-Immigration Ryan Wins Speaker Reelection [VIDEO]

We reported yesterday that Tea Party favorite Congressman Dave Bratt asked House members to consider electing another person to replace the anti-Trump (until days before the election) Paul Ryan. Apparently no one cared enough to listen to the voices of 100% fed up Americans Paul Ryan has recently pledged to support Trump. We ll see about that when it comes to immigration.Paul Ryan was unanimously chosen for another term as House speaker by his Republican colleagues on Tuesday as he called for his party to unite behind President-elect Donald Trump.The 46-year-old Wisconsin Republican, who was often at odds with Trump during the long presidential campaign, has pledged to work closely with the president-elect to advance Trump s agenda. Welcome to the dawn of a new unified Republican government, Ryan declared at a news conference a few hours before the closed-door leadership elections. It feels really good to say that, actually. This will be a government focused on turning President-elect Trump s victory into real progress for the American people. Our team is very excited, and we cannot wait to get to work. Ryan faces an election by the full House in January, when the new Congress convenes and will vote for Speaker. He must win a majority of House members 218 votes to keep his job, and Republicans will control at least 239 seats. USA Today

FOX NEWS BOMBSHELL REPORT: Trump Transition Team Lawyer Accuses Robert Mueller Of Improperly Obtaining Documents Related To Russian Probe

On Friday, Democrats were doing their best to push a rumor that President Trump is about to fire special counsel Robert Mueller before Christmas. According to The Hill Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that rumors on Capitol Hill suggest President Trump could fire special counsel Robert Mueller before Christmas, after Congress leaves Washington for the winter recess. The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. And on Dec. 22, when we are out of D.C., he was going to fire Robert Mueller, Speier told California s KQED News.The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), also said Friday that he is worried that Republicans leading the committee are seeking to shut down the committee s investigation by the end of the year. Republicans have scheduled no witnesses after next Friday and none in 2017 [sic]. We have dozens of outstanding witnesses on key aspects of our investigation that they refuse to contact and many document requests they continue to sit on, he tweeted Friday.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rumors that Trump could fire Mueller have swirled since Mueller s appointment in May.While Democrats are spreading rumors about Mueller s firing, Fox News has dropped another Mueller bombshell.FOX News A lawyer for the Trump presidential transition team is accusing Special Counsel Robert Mueller s office of inappropriately obtaining transition documents as part of its Russia probe, including confidential attorney-client communications, privileged communications and thousands of emails without their knowledge.In a letter obtained by Fox News and sent to House and Senate committees on Saturday, the transition team s attorney alleges unlawful conduct by the career staff at the General Services Administration in handing over transition documents to the special counsel s office.The transition legal team argues the GSA did not own or control the records in question and the release of documents could be a violation of the 4th Amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.Kory Langhofer, the counsel to Trump for America, wrote in Saturday s letter that the GSA handed over tens of thousands of emails to Mueller s probe without any notice to the transition.The attorney said they discovered the unauthorized disclosures by the GSA on December 12th and 13th and raised concerns with the special counsel s office. We understand that the special counsel s office has subsequently made extensive use of the materials it obtained from the GSA, including materials that are susceptible to privilege claims, Langhofer writes.The transition attorney said the special counsel s office also received laptops, cell phones and at least one iPad from the GSA.Trump for America is the nonprofit organization that facilitated the transition between former President Barack Obama to President Trump.The GSA, an agency of the United States government, provided the transition team with office space and hosted its email servers. We continue to cooperate fully with the special counsel and expect this process to wrap up soon, Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Saturday.The special counsel s office declined to comment Saturday.

Catalan leader calls for reduced tensions

BARCELONA (Reuters) - The leader of Catalonia s government called on Tuesday for a reduction in tensions in its standoff with Madrid over a bid in the wealthy northeastern region for independence from Spain. With our differences and discrepancies, we make up one people, Carles Puigdemont told the regional parliament in Barcelona.

House weighing 'host of ideas' in tax bill revision, Ryan says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Sunday that Republican lawmakers are weighing a “host of ideas” as the House tax-writing committee begins revising a tax bill this week, though he expects the broad outlines to remain the same. Ryan, a Republican, told Fox News Sunday that House tax writers are considering President Donald Trump’s call to include in the tax package a repeal of an Affordable Care Act provision that mandates individuals buy insurance coverage. “We have an active conversation with our members and a whole host of ideas on things to add to this bill. And that’s one of the things that’s being discussed,” Ryan said. The tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee will on Monday begin considering revisions to the tax bill released last week, which would constitute the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. Ryan said he believes the House is still on track to vote on a revised tax bill before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 23. The Senate is developing its own version of the legislation, but Ryan said he expected it to be similar enough that the two chambers could resolve their differences and pass a tax bill before year’s end. “We had basically decided the big ticket items: the big 20 percent corporate rate – a 25 percent rate for pass-through businesses, the middle class tax cut,” Ryan said. “All of those things are things we agree on, and so these bills are written within those details. So that’s why those differences will be fairly narrow,” he added. If it passes, the tax overhaul will be the first major legislative achievement since Republicans took control of the White House and Congress in January - and a rebound from their failure to overturn the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. One sticking point among Republican lawmakers is the proposed repeal of a popular federal tax deduction for state and local tax (SALT) payments. The repeal would disproportionately hit taxpayers in states such as New Jersey, New York and California, which send enough Republican lawmakers to Congress to derail tax legislation. House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady worked out a compromise last week that would preserve the deduction for property taxes, but not state and local income taxes. The property-tax deduction would be capped at $10,000, but Brady has already said he would be open to raising that cap. “It’s wrong and it would have an extremely damaging effect on my constituents,” Republican Representative Peter King of New York said on ABC’s This Week of the proposed state and local tax deduction repeal. King said that Trump voters from his district in the suburbs of Long Island, near New York City, have contacted him to object to the proposal. His vote, he said, is a no “as of now.” Representative Mark Meadows, the head of a conservative Republican faction in the House, indicated that he will support the tax package, even though estimates show it could add $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade. “We believe that the economic growth will outweigh any short-term deficit increase that we see,” Meadows told ABC’s This Week. The House tax bill’s impact on the federal deficit, and its underlying assumptions about economic growth, have already prompted several Republican senators to say they could not support it. Republicans hold 52 seats in the 100-seat Senate and can only afford to lose two votes to pass tax legislation with Vice President Mike Pence as a tie-breaker. “I am a no,” Republican Senator James Lankford told “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “I want to be sure we have reasonable assumptions in the process for growth estimates.”

U.N. condemns attack on Myanmar security forces, calls for calm

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations condemned a coordinated series of attacks on Myanmar security forces on Friday and called on all sides in the crisis in the northern state of Rakhine to refrain from violence. At least 21 insurgents and 11 members of the security forces were killed in the troubled Rakhine state on Friday when militants staged a major coordinated attack on 24 police posts and an army base, the military said. The statement, issued by the U.N. resident coordinator in Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessallien, and read out to a Geneva news briefing, urged all parties to refrain from violence, protect civilians and restore order . We are deeply concerned about the security situation in Rakhine state, she added.

Factbox: Five facts about ex-Trump security aide Michael Flynn

(Reuters) - Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s first U.S. national security adviser, pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his contacts with Russia’s U.S. ambassador. Here are five facts about Flynn: Flynn was national security adviser for just 24 days, from Jan. 20, when Trump took office, to Feb. 13. Flynn was fired following disclosures that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with Sergey Kislyak, Moscow’s U.S. ambassador, and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. On Feb. 14, Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey in an Oval Office meeting to end the agency’s investigation into ties between Flynn and Russia, according to news media reports. Trump, who fired Comey on May 9, later denied making such a request. Trump had named the former Army lieutenant general to the national security post despite red flags about Flynn’s Russian contacts and advocacy for warmer U.S. relations with Moscow, which has been under U.S. economic sanctions for years. Outgoing President Barack Obama had warned Trump not to hire Flynn, who had been fired by the Democratic president in 2014. Flynn was an early and vociferous Trump supporter during the New York businessman’s 2016 White House run. He made vitriolic appearances on the campaign trail, notably leading the Republican National Convention in chants of “Lock her up,” referring to Trump’s Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In addition to Flynn’s contacts with Russia, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible ties between the Trump election campaign and Moscow has expanded its probe to include Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman in 2016, people with knowledge of the inquiry have told Reuters.

Priceless: Yelpers Review The Moron Militia Occupied Oregon Wildlife Preserve (IMAGES)

When the right-wing terrorists took over the Malheur National Wildlife Preserve, the first thought many had was of the guy pointing his weapon at a BLM agent from between Jersey barriers when the Cliven Bundy incident happened. When we learned that it was Bundy s own sons leading the charge to free a remote corner of Southeast Oregon from oppression, those fears were multiplied.Then something magical happened. Within hours we learned that the occupation would be a gathering of nitwits the likes of John Ritzheimer who were too stupid to bring enough supplies to feed themselves for a camping trip, never mind a standoff that Ammon Bundy said would last years.We learned that the desperate plea for snacks was foolish not only because these were supposed to be those survivalists we all hear about being prepared for the zombie apocalypse but because the local authorities suggested they just go to the store since nobody was watching them.The frightening became stupid and then completely ludicrous. Now what we have left is a group of armed idiots in a standoff with nobody occupying a taxpayer-funded retreat in a bird sanctuary, threatening to give the land back to the loggers. It was never going to go over well.At least we can laugh. If nothing else the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom have provided the internet with enough material for memes by the truckload, humor articles, op-eds and satire pieces for miles and enough YouTube parodies to last the winter if you re bored enough to watch them all.One of the most enjoyable reads you ll have during this debacle has to be Yelp, where reviewers have gone out of their way to make your tour of the preserve a memorable one. From large Cheeto-begging mammals spotted on the trails to toothless creatures in need of our support and protection, yelpers have made the incredibly ridiculous world of the Bundy Moron Militia even more absurd and it is magnificent.Here are some images of the best Yelp has to offer. Enjoy! Toss in a few funny pictures for good measure and the humiliation of Ammon Bundy ands friends is just about complete: You can visit the comments HERE. Yelp has been cleaning them as they come in, as their policy is to not take a political stance on anything, but new ones are popping up all the time. Special thanks to Elizabeth Preston of Winning Democrats for these awesome screencaps!Featured image via Yelp

ISIS’ Blasphemous Ramadan Attacks Prove They’re Not Muslims At All

Ramadan is a holy month that all Muslims celebrate. They fast from sunrise to sunset, unable to eat, drink, smoke or even have sex. Muslims try not to fight, curse, lie or sin during Ramadan because such acts are considered profane.Unless you re ISIS. Then it s a signal to slaughter as many people as possible:The spokesman for the Islamic State said in late May that jihadists should make it, with God s permission, a month of pain for infidels everywhere. Another extremist distributed a manual for using poisons, adding, in poor English: Dont forget Ramadan is close, the month of victories. This is like being a Christian and going on a killing spree Christmas morning in the name of Jesus. Sure, you could rationalize it as a gift to the son of God but, really, you re going against everything the holiday stands for.And that s the point here: Radicalized Muslims are no longer really Muslims any more than the Westboro Baptist Church is really Christian. Both are cruel, twisted distortions of their respective religions. The problem is that far too many Americans, mostly, but not exclusively, right wingers, are all too eager to lump 1.6 billion Muslims together with the tens of thousands of violent lunatics that terrorize the rest of the world.Consider this: ISIS has about 25,000 fighters. That s it. Let s say that for every fighter, there are 10 people that are totally sympathetic to their cause. Hell, I ll be SUPER generous and double that. That gives us 500,000 evil Muslim extremists. That s still just .03% of all the Muslims in the world. Yet, somehow, we re supposed to be afraid of the other 99.97% of them? We don t hold ANYONE to that kind of standard. If we did, we would have strung up every Catholic priest as a pedophile years ago or locked up every white male as a probable serial killer.But we don t, of course, because that would be insane. But we do it to Muslims anyway. The reality is that ISIS and those like them have weaponized their religion and in doing have abandoned the very religion they claim to fight in the name of. Remember, the overwhelming majority of their victims are Muslims who refuse to follow their warped interpretation of Islam:What is clearer is that the manipulation of the goals of Ramadan are another way in which jihadists have interpreted the religion in a way most Muslims deplore. Another example is the jihadists wide use of takfir, or the branding of others as infidels who deserve death. The Islamic State has used this concept to justify the killing of other Muslims, be they Shiites or fellow Sunnis whom the group deems to be insufficiently devout.Such views course through the jihadists Ramadan propaganda. If 90%+ of the people you kill for being infidels and heretics are of the religion to claim to represent, you re the one that is blaspheming against that religion. It s time the West figured that out and started acting accordingly.Featured image via Wikipedia

who cancer agency under fire for withholding carcinogenic glyphosate documents

trump promotes world peace as hillary calls for war a vote for hillary clinton is a vote for wwiii the alex jones show october comments hillary is continually pushing the world closer to world war as donald trump calls her out on her suicidal foreign policy newsletter sign up get the latest breaking news specials from alex jones and the infowars crew related articles download on your mobile device now for free today on the show get the latest breaking news specials from alex jones and the infowars crew from the store featured videos expert trump has already won election see the rest on the alex jones youtube channel democrats plan to burn down us if trump elected see the rest on the alex jones youtube channel illustration how much will your healthcare premiums rise in infowarscom is a free speech systems llc company all rights reserved digital millennium copyright act notice flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce

Merkel heads to EU-Africa summit with eye on migrant issue at home

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will focus on expanding business ties and trying to regulate migration with Africa during an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan this week, as she comes under pressure at home to make progress faster on both fronts. Merkel is taking a break from her more than month-long drive to form a new government to attend the summit, keen to demonstrate Germany s continued ability to act on the foreign policy front, and to underscore her commitment to Africa. She will join with French President Emmanuel Macron at the summit to focus on education, investment in youth and economic development to prevent refugees and economic migrants from attempting the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean. Libya is now the main departure point for mostly African migrants trying to cross to Europe. Smugglers usually pack them into flimsy inflatable boats that often break down or sink. The chancellor told a conservative event on Saturday that she would press for expanded trade ties and investment, while urging African leaders in bilateral talks to accept the return of their citizens who had no right to stay in Europe. The trip is important for the German leader amid widespread criticism of her 2015 decision to allow in over a million migrants, then mostly from the Middle East and Afghanistan. She is under pressure at home to avert another migration crisis after losing support to the far right in the Sept. 24 election. Germany is likely to adopt an immigration law of some kind in the aftermath of election losses for mainstream parties. Experts say the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party could see further gains in any new election next year if Merkel fails to convince the Social Democrats to renew the grand coalition that ruled for the last four years. A year after Merkel made Africa a cornerstone of Germany s presidency of the G20 industrialized nations, illegal migration from Africa remains a concern, with rights groups blasting the EU s failure to address conditions in migrant camps in Libya and elsewhere. Merkel has also faced criticism from German companies, who say they risk losing out in the face of burgeoning interest in the region from rivals in France, China, the United States, Britain, India and Turkey. Germany s trade balance with African countries expanded 11.2 percent to 13.8 percent in the first half of 2017 after declining slightly in 2016. German industry remains underrepresented in these markets of the future, said Christoph Kannengiesser, director of the German-African Business Association. Compared to other international firms, German companies are noticeably behind, due to insufficient support from the government.

CNN Just Accidentally Aired Girl Flipping Off Trump Tower, And It’s Spectacular (IMAGE)

After Donald Trump won the Indiana primary on Tuesday and Ted Cruz dropped out, Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee. This means, that a reality television star and real estate mogul who puts down women and minorities, as well as also being endorsed by the KKK, is going to represent the GOP this November at the ballot box for President of the United States.This is a moment when satire becomes reality, and all you can really do is hold up hope that the Democrats will win.Trump as president is a horrifying prospect. He has zero public policy experience, no foreign policy experience, and is pretty much hated worldwide. The world is looking at the United States right now as if we have lost our ever-loving minds. How could such a vile person be a legitimate choice for leader of the free world?If you don t believe he is hated, because maybe you re a bigot yourself, or maybe you hate yourself enough to like him, or you are absolutely ignorant to reality, take a glimpse at what CNN just accidentally aired.Behind the CNN reporter speaking about Trump supposedly wanting to help the GOP raise money, there is a woman who is speaking for all of us in one united voice as she give Trump Tower the middle finger. Thus, flipping off Donald Trump.Here s the image that was captured as it happened:via CNNSome may think this is crude, but so is Donald Trump. If he can dish out insult after insult, and vile comment after vile comment, then he deserves to get a middle finger pointed in his general direction.Donald Trump should not and cannot be our next president. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, have enough wherewithal to do not only what is best for the nation, but also the world.No matter who VOTE BLUE.Featured image via screenshot of CNN

Bill O’Reilly’s Goon Gets Schooled By College Students (VIDEO)

Bill O Reilly has a segment of his show in which he sends professional insufferable prick Jesse Watters out to harass people for the amusement of O Reilly s aging, senile audience. The very cleverly named Watters World is not supposed to illuminate the viewer so much as make them feel better about hating the people being harassed. This week, Watters and his punch-me face took on the students of Princeton University and it didn t go well:In one of the most bizarre segments on Fox News you ll ever see, Bill O Reilly sent his interviewer to Princeton to say the word ghetto to black students and it went pretty much as you d expect.Jesse Watters, who often interviews people on the street for The O Reilly Factor, visited the school s campus and asked students of different races if they were offended by various loaded words and phrases, such as ghetto, black crime, slum, Islamic terrorism, and white privilege. Now, I m not exactly a fan of college PC culture but there s a difference between someone crying about cultural appropriation (get over it. If it s cool, other people are going to want to try it) and being offended by the word ghetto with its obvious and well known racial overtones. That being said, I was delighted to see just how badly Watters, the human-weasel hybrid, failed to expose PC culture run amok.Not only did expert douchebag Watters not find anyone that fit the stereotype he was looking for, the ones he tried to shoehorn in had to be obviously edited to seem irrational. And even then, they really didn t. One black student responded quite reasonably to being asked about people using the word ghetto by saying, I feel like they should be more careful in their choice of words, and another simply walked away from an obvious trap. Other students either refused to take the bait or gave a measured and intelligent response: It s that kind of elitism, classism, that kind of snobbery is counterproductive, it dehumanizes people. The whole segment flopped horribly. Paid stalker Watters told one student, You re a woman and you re white. That s how you got into Princeton and he used a bad edit to make it seem like she responded by saying And I m actually kind of upset about that. That s how hard he had to try to make the segment work. Even O Reilly admitted that they didn t seem as crazy as some of these other college kids when it was done.It s doubtful that O Reilly s viewers will see it that way as they yell at the TV for those damn kids to get off their lawn but for everyone outside of the Fox News bubble, this was just embarrassing for Watters and his obnoxious bullying.Here s the cringe-inducing video: Featured image via screen cap.

Trump’s New Manager Admits The ‘Muslim Ban’ Idea Was To Reel In The Whackos

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump s new convention manager, may not have gotten the memo that the campaign never openly engages in honesty. Telling the truth inside the Trump camp could start a chain reaction, bringing the whole shindig to a screeching halt. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Manafort basically admitted that Trump s Muslim ban was nothing but a ploy to attract the fringe right weirdos who enjoy living in fear every hour of every day. He s already started moderating on that, Manafort said. He operates by starting the conversation at the outer edges and then brings it back towards the middle. Within his comfort zone, he ll soften it some more. He ll still end up outside of the norm, but in line with what the American people are thinking. He starts those conversations on the outer edges because that s where the lunatics hang out. Once you ve secured them with a good dose of fear, hate and lies it s OK to move more towards the center, where people who live in the real world tend to be. It s not a new tactic for Trump; it s his status quo. His campaign began with a speech pandering to white supremacists. The wall he s never going to build whether he s elected or not will become legendary fodder for decades of election cycles to come.Manafort says the change will come at Trump s discretion, because you don t manage Donald Trump. Trump has already begun the move towards the center, saying recently that the ban he has said he would institute was actually just a suggestion. Trump s suggestions leave little room for doubt on their translation. Was he also pandering to the far-right when he applauded torture and called for the U.S. to kill the families of known terrorists? Was he embellishing when he said that Mexico is sending us their worst criminals? Trump has and will say whatever he needs to say to keep those auditoriums stocked with hateful a-holes willing to get violent with protestors for free media coverage.Manafort seems to have the ideal personality to work for Donald Trump; he is completely delusional. On the issue of Trump s lagging support from women and Latinos, he told HuffPo: Hillary is the one who s got a gender gap. And while we are behind among women over all, we re ahead among white women even now. We ll get some black and Hispanic women as we go along, Yeah. Sure you will. As soon as Trump steps onto that stage and tries to treat Hillary Clinton the way he s treated Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina and Rosie O Donnell, women across America will be faced with the startling (not really) truth that Donald Trump only cares about his bought-and-paid-for wife and the daughter he seems to be secretly in love with. Even his younger daughter doesn t get a whole lot of billing; which makes you think Trump doesn t find her attractive enough to care about.Featured image by Kenna Betankur/Getty Images

BREAKING: Federal Court Rules For Religious Freedom In Veterans Memorial Lawsuit

It s a win for the American Legion! Atheists wanted to take down the cross but a Maryland judge ruled against it. Thanks to the Liberty Institute for fighting the battles for conservative Americans. Great job!The U.S. Constitution allows a large Latin cross to stay as the centerpiece of the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial, a federal court in Maryland ruled Monday.In 1925, the American Legion erected the Bladensburg cross as a memorial honoring 49 men in Prince George s County, Maryland, who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in World War I.But in 2014, the American Humanist Association attacked the memorial, filing a lawsuit against the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The atheists argued to the federal district court that a memorial in the shape of a cross violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which forbids the government from establishing an official religion.Liberty Institute, the largest law firm in the country that focuses exclusively on religious freedom, took up the case and intervened on behalf of the American Legion, which became a full party to the case. Liberty Institute then brought in a top global law firm, Jones Day, to lead the case, with Noel Francisco as lead counsel.Today, U.S. District Judge Deborah Chasanow ruled in favor of the American Legion, and against the American Humanist Association.In her 36-page opinion, the Clinton-appointed Chasanow held that while a Latin cross is a symbol often associated with Christianity, it does not violate the Constitution in this context. The judge noted that courts disagree over what test they are supposed to use in these cases, but that under any of the tests modern federal courts apply, Bladensburg s cross passes muster.Read more: Breitbart News

HOW OBAMA MADE IT POSSIBLE For Protesters To Be ARRESTED And Sent To JAIL For Disrupting Trump Rallies

So is anyone else wondering why the cop-hating, racist, Bernie Sanders supporter Tommy DiMassimo wasn t arrested and charged with a felony? Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump s campaign rallies have become a fixture in the 2016 election season as much for the candidate s rambling speeches as for the frequent interruptions of said speeches.Demonstrators have filed in to Trump rallies across the country, shouting their anti-Trump messages and promptly being ridiculed by rally-goers and led out by law enforcement.On Saturday, Trump began to call for the arrest of protesters as he was repeatedly interrupted, raising questions about the legality of protest and whether Trump can press charges against demonstrators. So what are the answers?The short answer is, no.According to H.R. 347 (signed into law by Barack Hussein Obama in February, 2012) it is ILLEGAL under CURRENT FEDERAL to protest of any type, in an area under protection by the U.S. Secret Service.Because Donald Trump is under Secret Service Protection (as is Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders) and has been since November of 2015, it is a FEDERAL CRIME to protest at campaign rallies, and is in fact, punishable by imprisonment.Free Speech isn t covered at ANY Trump, Clinton, Sanders (or Cruz, Rubio, Kasich) rally because protests are considered to be knowingly impeding or disrupting the orderly conduct of an official Federal function. Law enforcement has simply tossed out protesters at Trump rallies, but H.R. 347 states that they could be imprisoned for up to a year for trespassing.Demonstrators are technically relegated to free speech zones much like the ones seen on college campuses.Such zones are often used to keep dissenters away from media attention, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.At a recent Trump event at Valdosta State University, in Georgia, the two designated free speech zones were not in sight of the arena where the rally was held. One was a quarter mile away.Trump can call for the arrest of whomever he wants, but he can t do the arresting.He has said, however, that he is going to start pressing charges against protesters as a way to intimidate them into thinking twice about demonstrating at his rallies.Based on the change to H.R. 347 in 2012, he may have grounds to press for trespassing charges against any protester who walked into the rally knowing it was a restricted area, according to the ACLU. Via: Mashable

As tax debate heats up, Republicans tweak business interest plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans, seeking to address the complaints of small businesses, are floating changes to their controversial proposal to eliminate business tax deductions for debt interest payments, business lobbyists said on Tuesday. A top U.S. Republican on tax policy acknowledged that modifications are in the works, but did not provide details. The debt interest proposal, long seen by Republican policymakers as necessary to help drive economic growth, is backed by large companies with ready access to equity financing that they could substitute for debt if eliminating the interest deduction made issuing debt too costly. Debt-dependent small business owners, farmers and ranchers don’t have that luxury. As Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration slog ahead with a push to overhaul the U.S. tax code, a key task is figuring out how to resolve conflicting groups’ priorities, with business debt interest a clear example. The tax code has not been overhauled since 1986, partly because reconciling these conflicts can be so difficult. “We’ve asked businesses large and small to look at that, test drive it and give us back their feedback,” House of Representatives tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in remarks at an event in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday, without offering specifics about the modified proposal. His staff at the committee had no comment. Businesses lobbyists said the panel’s lawmakers have quietly agreed to focus on exemptions for small businesses, including farmers and ranchers, and an exemption for land. Lawmakers have also discussed a possible partial elimination of the interest deduction, with an exemption for existing debt, or eliminating the deduction only for businesses deemed to have an excessive amount of debt, according to lobbyists. Brady is one of the “Big Six” negotiators from Congress and the Trump administration who are guiding the tax reform debate. At the Louisville event, he described rolling back the business interest deduction as a “trade-off” for another proposal to accelerate expensing, which would allow businesses to write off investments in plants and equipment more quickly. He said net interest deduction is one of a number of tax breaks that lawmakers are looking to eliminate to help pay for lower business tax rates. Republicans say tax cuts will help drive annual U.S. economic growth above the 3 percent mark. Independent analysts say that eliminating the interest deduction would raise more than $1 trillion in federal revenues. Republicans want to cut the corporate income tax rate to 20-25 percent from 35 percent. But they have been hard-pressed to pay for such a cut since jettisoning a border adjusted import tax that would have raised more than $1 trillion.

This Amazingly Diverse Book About Santa Claus Will Make Right-Wing Heads Explode

We all remember the uproar over at Fox News a few years back when the idea of a black Santa Claus came up. In fact, Megyn Kelly was so upset that she had to insist live on the air to all the little children of the world that Santa Claus could only be white. Well, if they were upset by that, they are going to really blow their stacks over the version of Santa Claus being rolled out in a new children s book.Called Santa s Husband, the Harper s Design book portrays Santa as a black man who is also gay. His husband is a white man. The husband also doubles for Santa at malls worldwide, and the book chronicles their happy existence in the North Pole. Aside from the heaping helping of diversity, even better is the fact that the book s author is Daniel Kibblesmith, who writes for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.Kibblesmith says of the concept, and how it all began as a joke with his partner: My fianc e [author Jennifer Wright] and I joked privately, and then on Twitter, that since every house has its own traditions and lore surrounding Christmas, we would tell our child that the black Santa Claus was the real Santa. If they saw a white Santa at the mall, we d explain that this was his husband. Kibblesmith also joked about it on Twitter:Me & @JenAshleyWright have decided our future child will only know about Black Santa. If they see a white one we'll say "That's his husband" Daniel "Kibblesmith" (@kibblesmith) December 3, 2016He then realized that it was something that people were actually interested in, due to the wide interest it generated on Twitter and said he saw there was genuine interest in this book becoming a reality. And voila! Santa s Husband was born. As for the racists and homophobes who hate the idea? Kibblesmith simply says, everything is okay. He goes on to say: Some people not me even believe that Santa Claus is just your parents, which would mean that there are as many interpretations of Santa Claus as there are different kinds of families. But again, this is only a theory, because Santa Claus is real, and we have written a book about him. Lastly, but not least, here is the book s adorable cover:Via Huffington PostThank you so much for writing this book, Mr. Kibblesmith. This is something that has been needed for a very long time. You re right families come in all kinds of packages, and diversity is a strength, not a weakness.For those interested, Santa s Husband us due out in October. You can follow Daniel Kibblesmith here on Twitter.Featured image via Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Obama Finally Weighs In On His Vote For President With Explicit Message For Democrats

If you ve been on the email list for President Obama, as well as the Democratic National Committee, then you probably woke up to an email this morning from the president. For the most part, he s kept quiet in regards to who he would like as the person to come after him as commander-in-chief. There s been speculation, but nothing definitive, and to be honest that s really best. Whoever wins should win on their own merits.However, in the email sent out, President Obama told it like it is. He gets directly to the point and lets us know that we cannot, no matter what, allow a Republican to win the White House. Their divisive and hateful rhetoric is absolutely un-American. Yet, more to the point, the president points out that the Democrats have two fantastic choices, and that no matter what their differences may be, they actually share more in ideology than they disagree.Here s the president s message:In a few months, I ll be heading into the voting booth to cast my vote for the next President of the United States. And, like so many of you, I ve spent this primary observing the candidates and the parties, and what they represent.And I have to say, this has been a difficult period for the Republicans. They re trying to figure out what they re standing for whether they will be the party of building walls and surveilling neighborhoods, whether they will be the party that enshrines discrimination in our laws.But the good news for Democrats is that we know what we believe. We believe that climate change is real and that we must do something about it. We believe in raising the minimum wage, and that women should be paid the same as men for doing the same job. We believe that our laws should reflect our heritage as a nation of immigrants. We believe that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, no matter their race or religion, gender or sexual orientation.We have two fine Democratic candidates who, no matter their differences, share this same set of core beliefs that defines our party. And in November, we re going to make sure that one of them becomes our next president.Thanks,Barack ObamaHe then asks us to pledge to vote for a Democrat this November and say you re in. And while there will definitely be folks who disagree, because they wanted their candidate to win the primary, the bigger picture is what everyone needs to keep in mind.We simply cannot allow a Republican back into the Oval Office. The last time we did (or rather the Supreme Court did), we ended up with two-unfunded wars, one of which was based on lies, and a recession that brought us to the brink of utter collapse. We ve come too far to turn back now.We need to pull together for the good of the nation. Let s listen to President Obama and follow his lead, and come November, vote blue no matter who.Featured Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images