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600 | Report: Stopping Only Nine Percent of Illegal Alien Border Crossers Would Pay for Trump’s Border Wall - Breitbart | Katie McHugh | If President Donald Trump’s promised border wall stops only a small fraction of illegal aliens from coming into the U. S. it would save the U. S. billions and easily cover the cost of the wall, a report released Thursday finds. [The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) using the estimated education level of illegal alien border crossers and immigrant education estimates from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) found that each illegal alien entering the U. S. racks up at least $74, 722 in lifetime costs, funded by American taxpayers. “[I]f a border wall stopped a small fraction of the illegal immigrants who are expected to come in the next decade, the fiscal savings from having fewer illegal immigrants in the country would be sufficient to cover the costs of the wall,” writes CIS Director of Research Steven Camarota. Even a minimally effective border wall that stopped less than ten percent of illegal crossings would save the U. S. billions. “If a border wall stopped between 160, 000 and 200, 000 illegal crossers — nine to 12 percent of those expected to successfully cross in the next decade — the scaled savings would equal the $12 to $15 billion cost of the wall,” Camarota writes. Approximately 170, 000 illegal aliens crossed into the U. S. without going through a port of entry in 2015, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security. “[T]here may be 1. 7 million successful crossings in the next decade. If a wall stopped just 9 to 12 percent of these crossings it would pay for itself,” the CIS report states. “[T]here may be 1. 7 million successful crossings in the next decade. If a wall stopped just 9 to 12 percent of these crossings it would pay for itself,” the CIS report states. “If a wall stopped half of those expected to successfully enter illegally without going through a port of entry at the southern border over the next 10 years, it would save taxpayers nearly $64 billion — several times the wall’s cost,” the report adds. And that’s excluding the cost of children produced by illegal immigrants. The federal government imposes a massive, unfunded mandate on school districts around the country by forcing American parents to divert funding from their own children to educate roughly 3. 62 million foreign students, many of whom are extremely students and do not speak English. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found it costs taxpayers $59. 8 billion per year to educate roughly 3. 62 million students, children with one or two legal migrant parents, and refugees. Approximately one in ten students enrolled in public schools is designated as Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and their academic performance has been described as “abominable”: The number of eighth to twelfth grade LEP students performing Advanced work rounds to zero percent, for example. The CIS report notes that the estimates do not include illegal aliens who overstay their visas, and state and local governments bear a significant portion of illegal immigration’s costs. | 0 |
601 | ICE Union Issues Final Warning to Voters | Bob Adelmann | Email
In September the National ICE Council, representing some 5,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers charged with protecting the country’s borders, did something it has never done: It endorsed a candidate for president: Donald Trump. In its statement at the time, the union said: In [Trump’s] immigration policy, he has outlined core policies needed to restore immigration security — including support for increased interior enforcement and border security, an end to Sanctuary Cities, an end to catch-and-release, mandatory retainers, and the canceling of executive amnesty and non-enforcement directives.
On the contrary, said the union, Hillary Clinton supports furthering “amnesty” and a “radical” immigration plan that will cost thousands of Americans not only their jobs but their lives .
On Friday the union issued a “final warning,” expanding its concern about how open borders would cost Americans their lives. Wrote the council’s president, Chris Crane: Hillary’s pledge for ‘open borders’ will mean disaster for our country, and turn the present border emergency into a cataclysm. Hillary’s plan would unleash violent cartels and brutal transnational gangs into US communities and cause countless preventable deaths…. ICE officers on the front lines are witnessing a deluge of illegal immigration unlike anything we have seen before. The corporate-funded media won’t cover it. Our officers are being ordered to release recent border-crossers with no idea what their intentions are or what they are planning. Gang members, drug cartels and violent smugglers are taking advantage of the situation and threatening American communities. The influx is overwhelming public resources, especially in poor communities — including Hispanic communities and immigrant communities bearing the economic brunt of the illegal immigration surge.
There are economic, cultural, and moral reasons for concerns about open borders, as noted by economist Gene Callahan. Unlimited immigration would likely lead to lower wages for Americans who would have to cut their wage demands or be replaced by immigrant workers willing to work for lower wages.
Culturally an unlimited dumping of immigrants onto an unprepared and unsuspecting culture would alter that culture irreparably. Consider the Native American culture, he said: If Native Americans had been able to limit the flow of European immigrants, they might have been able to preserve their land and cultures.
Morally there is a responsibility to take care of those less able to care for themselves but not to the point of reducing their own circumstances to penury: While the rich have an obligation to help the poor, that obligation does not extend to the degree that they must become poor themselves.
Since every resident in the United States, except maybe for those Native Americans, is either an immigrant or a descendent of one, it makes sense to welcome immigrants. Until 1875, there were no immigration laws. But with the passage of the Page Act of 1875, legislators began defining the procedures under which those desiring to immigrate into the country would have to follow.
Since then immigration laws have been heavily modified, but they have always defined those procedures and conditions. If the laws need to be changed again, then legislators should change them. But they must be followed, not ignored for political purposes. Otherwise, unintended consequences, such as those noted in the ICE Council’s warning, will overtake the culture and risk destroying the very culture that makes it presently so inviting for those seeking a better life.
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
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602 | How an Elite New York Police Unit Rehearses for a Terrorist Attack - The New York Times | Michael Wilson | In the winding hallways and stuffy rooms of an old factory in Brooklyn, under bulbs flickering as if in a horror movie, an elite new police unit prepares, over and over again, for the attack it knows is coming. Day after day, the officers comb the highest floor of the building, looking for witnesses to point them to the right door and listening for gunshots like those that have echoed all over the world in recent months. They are conducting exercises to help them hunt down an “active shooter. ” “It’s going to happen,” said Chief James R. Waters, who leads the New York Police Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau. “Something like Orlando’s going to happen. ” Last year, the police announced the creation of a heavily armed and armored regiment called the Critical Response Command. Teams of officers work all over the city and are trained to respond to many locations in three to five minutes. They represent a new response to a new threat. Gone are the days when the first officers on a scene set up a perimeter and waited for backup or a team. The perpetrators of the most recent wave of mass shootings around the world — Paris San Bernardino, Calif. Orlando, Fla. — were not interested in taking hostages and negotiating. They came to kill for the sake of killing. And these officers are trained to find and stop them. On Thursday, Chief Waters allowed journalists from The New York Times to watch the Critical Response Command train. “This is seven months of work,” he said, standing before a team of officers in bulletproof vests who were cradling Colt M4 semiautomatic rifles. “It’s incredible progress. ” The officers were practicing in a former pharmaceutical factory on Flushing Avenue in the Fort Greene neighborhood. The Police Department is not listed among the building’s tenants, but it has worked there since before the command’s creation. The journalists were allowed to observe the exercises under restrictions. A photographer and videographer were forbidden to document the command as it moved in drills, and a reporter was asked to describe the tactics only in broad strokes. Department leaders believe terrorists study descriptions of police training in preparation for attacks. “The perpetrators in France demonstrated a familiarity with the French response,” Deputy Chief Scott Shanley said, referring to the coordinated attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people in November. The officers, who also played the roles of gunmen and bystanders, conducted two exercises. The first began with a dispatcher’s call: shots fired in the building. Officers in a patrol car would typically be the first to respond in this situation, and that was the case in the drill. Two officers, clutching pistols, entered the hallway, crouching, one in front and the other behind him with a hand on the first officer’s back. Officers in the command do not know the details of an exercise beforehand. Suddenly, a man ran toward them, screaming for help. The officers ordered him to his knees and asked about the gunman the man pointed down the hall. The officers hurried around a corner. Gunfire rang out. “Shots fired!” the rear officer shouted into his radio, and the pair ran to the sound. A masked gunman, wearing green fatigues in a room with cubicles, opened fire. The officers fired back. Rounds with a chalklike substance, similar to paintballs, struck the gunman. He fell to the floor. The rear officer shouted “Loading! Loading! Loading!” and ejected a spent magazine from his pistol, sliding in a new one. The other officer bent and took the gunman’s pulse. Dead. They called for backup and waited. What followed was an extraordinary show of paramilitary precision and force. New Yorkers have grown accustomed to seeing heavily armed officers standing in subway stations and at city landmarks. They have not seen what journalists were allowed to see on Thursday — a response to an scene from within the scene itself. The door through which the first responding officers had entered crept open again, and a head popped out. Then the entire team emerged, six officers in this case, moving fast in single file, each touching the back of the man before him. They seemed to move as a single organism, like a long black snake darting across the hall to the closest door. There was no hesitation at the door, no peeking inside. The officers burst through and moved in different directions. “A dynamic entry,” Capt. Eugene McCarthy said, watching. “The perpetrator’s processing is disrupted by dynamic entry,” Deputy Chief John O’Connell said, standing beside him. To demonstrate, the command later allowed journalists to stand in an empty room and wait for the team to enter. The silence was startling, unnerving. The officers did not speak as they snaked toward the room. They communicated in pats on the back and hand signals. There was no warning of their arrival. One moment, the room was empty. A heartbeat later, it was filled with the six men and their guns. Traditionally, when officers stormed a room, the first one was known as the “rabbit,” likely drawing the fire of the gunman inside while the second officer took aim at him. With this team, it was as if there were no rabbit — the entire team seemed to swarm the room at once. In the exercise, the team joined the first two officers near the dead gunman, until they all heard more gunfire down the hall. The team regrouped into its line and raced toward the shots. The officer in front fired at a gunman, and others behind him stepped out of the line and did the same, and in what seemed like a second, that gunman was down and the drill over. The officers pulled off their helmets, sweating after minutes of intense action. Captain McCarthy stepped forward and ran through a quick review. The officer who played the second gunman praised the speed and accuracy of the officers who shot him. “No issues,” he said. “Good job. ” An officer who played a victim, with fake blood on his leg, said: “No shots on me. Good job. ” The officers switched roles and prepared to do it again, the details of the drill different this time. The strategy, though, was constant. “Move to the shooter,” Chief Waters said. “You’ll hear it 50 times. Move to the shooter. It’s got to be ingrained. Like muscle memory. ” The Critical Response Command is made up of 525 handpicked officers and superiors who applied and were chosen after a screening process that included interviews with Chief Waters and others. Their training must override lifelong human instinct. “It goes against all their upbringing,” Chief Waters said. “They have to walk past and run past victims on the ground. Kids crying. They’re grabbing at your legs. ” The training is always evolving with world events. The command recently introduced suicide belts into exercises. Chief Waters declined to elaborate. The visit on Thursday concluded with directions through more hallways to the elevator. There, waiting, one could hear, from behind, more gunfire. | 0 |
603 | Trump's Hollywood Star Vandal Outs Himself in Shameless New Video, Taunts Police Seeking Him Out | Victoria Taft | Share on Twitter
The man who obliterated Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star says on video that he just did it to 'help' people.
The man, who identified himself to Deadline Hollywood as Jamie Otis, pretended to be a construction worker to give himself cover at 5:30 Wednesday morning, as he took a pickaxe and sledgehammer to the terrazzo and cement star.
Trump earned the star, which is situated on Hollywood Boulevard near the Dolby Theater, in 2007 for his work on “Celebrity Apprentice.” But in just a few minutes it was destroyed:
Image Credit: Screengrab/ Deadline Hollywood
Now the man has reappeared on video admitting the vandalism, but says he did it for an altruistic cause:
“I really wanted to do this. I think it's a symbol for all of us against sexual assault.”
He said his intention was to sell pieces of the star to raise money for the women who have accused Trump of sexual wrongdoing. None of the women have provided concrete proof of their claims.
The man, a self-proclaimed activist, admitted in an exclusive TMZ interview that this isn't his first rodeo:
“I'm a non violent activist. I've been arrested 24, 25 times. I'd love to go to court with Mr. Trump, it would be a great honor.”
Without irony, the man claimed that Trump is “a bully” and that he needs to “ease up.”
This isn't the first time Trump's star has been the target of vandals. Recently, the star was surrounded by a cement box:
Image Credit: Screengrab/ YouTube
Unfortunately for Mr. Otis, police are currently looking for him, with the possibility that he'll be charged with a felony. Additionally, the star he destroyed in the name of justice is worth $30,000. | 1 |
604 | California Today: A View of San Francisco’s Leaning Tower From Space - The New York Times | Mike McPhate | Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Sign up.) Two European satellites have captured a stunning portrait of the subtle topographical shifts at work in the landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Sentinel satellites, operated by the European Space Agency, have been snapping radar scans of the region since 2015 as part of their mission to collect data on the earth and oceans. Analysts have since compared the movement of physical features over time — down to mere millimeters. Among the project’s starkest depictions are shifts along the Hayward Fault, the gradual sinking of reclaimed land in the San Rafael Bay, and the rise of the city of Pleasanton, a possible side effect of replenished groundwater. The images align with already understood geological processes, said Roland Bürgmann, a professor of earth and planetary science at U. C. Berkeley, who was not involved in the project. But scientists believe that the acute level of detail offered by the technology could deepen knowledge in a number of areas, among them structural engineering, earthquake prediction and insurance risk. “It’s developing a new potential for the world that has never existed,” said Dag Anders Moldestad, a senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Center who participated in the project. In the case of the Millennium Tower, it could also become a factor in a court fight as San Francisco wages a legal battle that accuses the developers of failing to disclose issues with the structural integrity of the downtown skyscraper. The Sentinel satellite images — captured from early 2015 to September of this year — show that the luxury condominium building is sinking into the soft soil below at a rate of nearly two inches a year. A separate examination this year found that the tower had descended about 16 inches altogether, while tilting roughly six inches, since opening its doors in 2009. The developer has insisted that the building is safe. Nicholas Sitar, a professor of civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, said that a small amount of sinking was to be expected among structures on the reclaimed land along San Francisco’s waterfront. The Sentinel satellites, for example, found that the new Salesforce East tower, across the street from the Millennium Tower, was also sinking. The rapid rate of the Millennium Tower’s descent, however, was troubling, Dr. Sitar said. Not least to its concerned residents. • After the Democrats’ demoralizing election defeat, Representative Nancy Pelosi has become a symbol of what went wrong. [The New York Times] • Higher education leaders in California urged Donald J. Trump to embrace students who are in the U. S. illegally. [Los Angeles Times] • The median price of a new home in Orange County hit a record: $934, 250. [Orange County Register] • Thousands of workers protested in Los Angeles, Oakland and other cities to demand a $15 minimum hourly wage. [The New York Times] • How a Berkeley graduate student found spyware that could control anybody’s iPhone from anywhere in the world. [Vanity Fair] • Silicon Valley’s biggest failing is a lack of empathy for those whose lives are disturbed by its technological wizardry. [New Yorker] • Three people died and at least 14 were sickened after a Thanksgiving dinner in the San Francisco Bay Area. [SFGate. com] • Die Antwoord, the confrontational South African musicians, have become something entirely unexpected: Hollywood. [The New York Times] • Bill Murray’s mysterious ways, Bryan Cranston’s memoir, Alan Cumming’s photos and more in the best new books about Hollywood. [The New York Times] • The ’ travel guide to a long weekend in San Diego. [Wall Street Journal] On Tuesday, a photo caption in the newsletter misidentified one of California’s landmarks. About a dozen readers wrote to point out the error: the towering rock in the photograph was Yosemite Valley’s Half Dome, not Sentinel Dome as the caption claimed. That made us wonder if it might be time for a visit. While summer tends to be the park’s busiest time of the year, Yosemite regulars will tell you it is never more blissfully serene than in the winter. Crucially, it’s much less crowded. In the summer, up to 600, 000 people visit each month, said Scott Gediman, a park spokesman. During the winter months, it’s usually fewer than 200, 000. “The park is beautiful right now,” said Mr. Gediman, speaking by phone from the Yosemite Valley on Tuesday. “Yosemite Falls is flowing. You’ve got ice on the canyon walls. It’s just gorgeous and peaceful. ” Most of Yosemite is cloaked by snow in the winter, including at times the valley, which sits about 4, 000 feet above sea level. Visitors can ice skate, snowshoe, ski or even hit the slopes. Established in 1935, Yosemite Ski and Snowboard Area, formerly known as Badger Pass, is California’s oldest ski area. According to Frank Dean, a former park ranger who lived in the valley for eight years, Yosemite in the winter offers pageants of nature that you don’t get the rest of the year. He recalled once going skiing with some friends on New Year’s Eve. The sky had just cleared after a storm and a bright moon was illuminating a dusting of snow on the valley’s soaring granite walls. As the group passed by the luxury Ahwahnee Hotel, a onetime host of Queen Elizabeth II, they noticed a holiday celebration inside. “We couldn’t afford to go to that party,” said Mr. Dean, who now runs the Yosemite Conservancy. “But I was thinking, ‘Boy, I think we’re having the better deal out here. ’” California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley. | 0 |
605 | Matthews: Trump’s Speech What Putin Has Been Saying, ’America First’ Has ’Hitlerian Background’ - Breitbart | Ian Hanchett | During MSNBC’s Inauguration coverage, anchor Chris Matthews stated he phrase “America first” has a “Hitlerian background to it,” and Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address was what Putin has been saying. Matthews said, “I’m thinking, when he said today, America first, it was not just the racial, — I mean, the — I shouldn’t say racial, the Hitlerian background to it, but it was the message. I kept thinking, what does Theresa May think of this, this morning, when she picks up the papers? … What if you’re Putin? You’re probably pounding the table, saying, that’s what I’ve been saying, Russia first, Russia first. This whole bullying message to him. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 0 |
606 | Vladimir Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club : «Shaping the World of Tomorrow», by Vladimir Putin | Vladimir Putin | Vladimir Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club : «Shaping the World of Tomorrow» by Vladimir Putin Voltaire Network | Sochi (Russia) | 27 October 2016 français русский Tarja, Heinz, Thabo, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to see you again. I want to start by thanking all of the participants in the Valdai International Discussion Club, from Russia and abroad, for your constructive part in this work, and I want to thank our distinguished guests for their readiness to take part in this open discussion.
Our esteemed moderator just wished me a good departure into retirement, and I wish myself the same when the time comes. This is the right approach and the thing to do. But I am not retired yet and am for now the leader of this big country. As such, it is fitting to show restraint and avoid displays of excessive aggressiveness. I do not think that this is my style in any case.
But I do think that we should be frank with each other, particularly here in this gathering. I think we should hold candid, open discussions, otherwise our dialogue makes no sense and would be insipid and without the slightest interest.
I think that this style of discussion is extremely needed today given the great changes taking place in the world. The theme for our meeting this year, The Future in Progress: Shaping the World of Tomorrow, is very topical.
Last year, the Valdai forum participants discussed the problems with the current world order. Unfortunately, little has changed for the better over these last months. Indeed, it would be more honest to say that nothing has changed.
The tensions engendered by shifts in distribution of economic and political influence continue to grow. Mutual distrust creates a burden that narrows our possibilities for finding effective responses to the real threats and challenges facing the world today. Essentially, the entire globalisation project is in crisis today and in Europe, as we know well, we hear voices now saying that multiculturalism has failed.
I think this situation is in many respects the result of mistaken, hasty and to some extent over-confident choices made by some countries’ elites a quarter-of-a-century ago. Back then, in the late 1980s-early 1990s, there was a chance not just to accelerate the globalisation process but also to give it a different quality and make it more harmonious and sustainable in nature.
But some countries that saw themselves as victors in the Cold War, not just saw themselves this way but said it openly, took the course of simply reshaping the global political and economic order to fit their own interests.
In their euphoria, they essentially abandoned substantive and equal dialogue with other actors in international life, chose not to improve or create universal institutions, and attempted instead to bring the entire world under the spread of their own organisations, norms and rules. They chose the road of globalisation and security for their own beloved selves, for the select few, and not for all. But far from everyone was ready to agree with this.
We may as well be frank here, as we know full well that many did not agree with what was happening, but some were unable by then to respond, and others were not yet ready to respond. The result though is that the system of international relations is in a feverish state and the global economy cannot extricate itself from systemic crisis. At the same time, rules and principles, in the economy and in politics, are constantly being distorted and we often see what only yesterday was taken as a truth and raised to dogma status reversed completely.
If the powers that be today find some standard or norm to their advantage, they force everyone else to comply. But if tomorrow these same standards get in their way, they are swift to throw them in the bin, declare them obsolete, and set or try to set new rules.
Thus, we saw the decisions to launch airstrikes in the centre of Europe, against Belgrade, and then came Iraq, and then Libya. The operations in Afghanistan also started without the corresponding decision from the United Nations Security Council. In their desire to shift the strategic balance in their favour these countries broke apart the international legal framework that prohibited deployment of new missile defence systems. They created and armed terrorist groups, whose cruel actions have sent millions of civilians into flight, made millions of displaced persons and immigrants, and plunged entire regions into chaos.
We see how free trade is being sacrificed and countries use sanctions as a means of political pressure, bypass the World Trade Organisation and attempt to establish closed economic alliances with strict rules and barriers, in which the main beneficiaries are their own transnational corporations. And we know this is happening. They see that they cannot resolve all of the problems within the WTO framework and so think, why not throw the rules and the organisation itself aside and build a new one instead. This illustrates what I just said.
At the same time, some of our partners demonstrate no desire to resolve the real international problems in the world today. In organisations such as NATO, for example, established during the Cold War and clearly out of date today, despite all the talk about the need to adapt to the new reality, no real adaptation takes place. We see constant attempts to turn the OSCE, a crucial mechanism for ensuring common European and also trans-Atlantic security, into an instrument in the service of someone’s foreign policy interests. The result is that this very important organisation has been hollowed out.
But they continue to churn out threats, imaginary and mythical threats such as the ‘Russian military threat’. This is a profitable business that can be used to pump new money into defence budgets at home, get allies to bend to a single superpower’s interests, expand NATO and bring its infrastructure, military units and arms closer to our borders.
Of course, it can be a pleasing and even profitable task to portray oneself as the defender of civilisation against the new barbarians. The only thing is that Russia has no intention of attacking anyone. This is all quite absurd. I also read analytical materials, those written by you here today, and by your colleagues in the USA and Europe.
It is unthinkable, foolish and completely unrealistic. Europe alone has 300 million people. All of the NATO members together with the USA have a total population of 600 million, probably. But Russia has only 146 million. It is simply absurd to even conceive such thoughts. And yet they use these ideas in pursuit of their political aims.
Another mythical and imaginary problem is what I can only call the hysteria the USA has whipped up over supposed Russian meddling in the American presidential election. The United States has plenty of genuinely urgent problems, it would seem, from the colossal public debt to the increase in firearms violence and cases of arbitrary action by the police.
You would think that the election debates would concentrate on these and other unresolved problems, but the elite has nothing with which to reassure society, it seems, and therefore attempt to distract public attention by pointing instead to supposed Russian hackers, spies, agents of influence and so forth.
I have to ask myself and ask you too: Does anyone seriously imagine that Russia can somehow influence the American people’s choice? America is not some kind of ‘banana republic’, after all, but is a great power. Do correct me if I am wrong.
The question is, if things continue in this vein, what awaits the world? What kind of world will we have tomorrow? Do we have answers to the questions of how to ensure stability, security and sustainable economic growth? Do we know how we will make a more prosperous world?
Sad as it is to say, there is no consensus on these issues in the world today. Maybe you have come to some common conclusions through your discussions, and I would, of course, be interested to hear them. But it is very clear that there is a lack of strategy and ideas for the future. This creates a climate of uncertainty that has a direct impact on the public mood.
Sociological studies conducted around the world show that people in different countries and on different continents tend to see the future as murky and bleak. This is sad. The future does not entice them, but frightens them. At the same time, people see no real opportunities or means for changing anything, influencing events and shaping policy.
Yes, formally speaking, modern countries have all the attributes of democracy: Elections, freedom of speech, access to information, freedom of expression. But even in the most advanced democracies the majority of citizens have no real influence on the political process and no direct and real influence on power.
People sense an ever-growing gap between their interests and the elite’s vision of the only correct course, a course the elite itself chooses. The result is that referendums and elections increasingly often create surprises for the authorities. People do not at all vote as the official and respectable media outlets advised them to, nor as the mainstream parties advised them to. Public movements that only recently were too far left or too far right are taking centre stage and pushing the political heavyweights aside.
At first, these inconvenient results were hastily declared anomaly or chance. But when they became more frequent, people started saying that society does not understand those at the summit of power and has not yet matured sufficiently to be able to assess the authorities’ labour for the public good. Or they sink into hysteria and declare it the result of foreign, usually Russian, propaganda.
Friends and colleagues, I would like to have such a propaganda machine here in Russia, but regrettably, this is not the case. We have not even global mass media outlets of the likes of CNN, BBC and others. We simply do not have this kind of capability yet.
As for the claim that the fringe and populists have defeated the sensible, sober and responsible minority – we are not talking about populists or anything like that but about ordinary people, ordinary citizens who are losing trust in the ruling class. That is the problem.
By the way, with the political agenda already eviscerated as it is, and with elections ceasing to be an instrument for change but consisting instead of nothing but scandals and digging up dirt – who gave someone a pinch, who sleeps with whom, if you’ll excuse me. This just goes beyond all boundaries. And honestly, a look at various candidates’ platforms gives the impression that they were made from the same mould – the difference is slight, if there is any.
It seems as if the elites do not see the deepening stratification in society and the erosion of the middle class, while at the same time, they implant ideological ideas that, in my opinion, are destructive to cultural and national identity. And in certain cases, in some countries they subvert national interests and renounce sovereignty in exchange for the favour of the suzerain.
This begs the question: who is actually the fringe? The expanding class of the supranational oligarchy and bureaucracy, which is in fact often not elected and not controlled by society, or the majority of citizens, who want simple and plain things – stability, free development of their countries, prospects for their lives and the lives of their children, preserving their cultural identity, and, finally, basic security for themselves and their loved ones.
People are clearly scared to see how terrorism is evolving from a distant threat to an everyday one, how a terrorist attack could occur right near them, on the next street, if not on their own street, while any makeshift item – from a home-made explosive to an ordinary truck – can be used to carry out a mass killing.
Moreover, the terrorist attacks that have taken place in the past few years in Boston and other US cities, Paris, Brussels, Nice and German cities, as well as, sadly, in our own country, show that terrorists do not need units or organised structures – they can act independently, on their own, they just need the ideological motivation against their enemies, that is, against you and us.
The terrorist threat is a clear example of how people fail to adequately evaluate the nature and causes of the growing threats. We see this in the way events in Syria are developing. No one has succeeded in stopping the bloodshed and launching a political settlement process. One would think that we would have begun to put together a common front against terrorism now, after such lengthy negotiations, enormous effort and difficult compromises.
But this has not happened and this common front has not emerged. My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results either. There were people in Washington ready to do everything possible to prevent these agreements from being implemented in practice. This all demonstrates an unexplainable and I would say irrational desire on the part of the Western countries to keep making the same mistakes or, as we say here in Russia, keep stepping on the same rake.
We all see what is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and a number of other countries. I have to ask, where are the results of the fight against terrorism and extremism? Overall, looking at the world as a whole, there are some results in particular regions and locations, but there is no global result and the terrorist threat continues to grow.
We all remember the euphoria in some capitals over the Arab Spring. Where are these fanfares today? Russia’s calls for a joint fight against terrorism go ignored. What’s more, they continue to arm, supply and train terrorist groups in the hope of using them to achieve their own political aims. This is a very dangerous game and I address the players once again: The extremists in this case are more cunning, clever and stronger than you, and if you play these games with them, you will always lose.
Colleagues, it is clear that the international community should concentrate on the real problems facing humanity today, the resolution of which will make our world a safer and more stable place and make the system of international relations fairer and more equal. As I said, it is essential to transform globalisation from something for a select few into something for all. It is my firm belief that we can overcome these threats and challenges only by working together on the solid foundation of international law and the United Nations Charter.
Today it is the United Nations that continues to remain an agency that is unparalleled in representativeness and universality, a unique venue for equitable dialogue. Its universal rules are necessary for including as many countries as possible in economic and humanitarian integration, guaranteeing their political responsibility and working to coordinate their actions while also preserving their sovereignty and development models.
We have no doubt that sovereignty is the central notion of the entire system of international relations. Respect for it and its consolidation will help underwrite peace and stability both at the national and international levels. There are many countries that can rely on a history stretching back a thousand years, like Russia, and we have come to appreciate our identity, freedom and independence. But we do not seek global domination, expansion or confrontation with anyone.
In our mind, real leadership lies in seeing real problems rather than attempting to invent mythical threats and use them to steamroll others. This is exactly how Russia understands its role in global affairs today.
There are priorities without which a prosperous future for our shared planet is unthinkable and they are absolutely obvious. I won’t be saying anything new here. First of all, there is equal and indivisible security for all states. Only after ending armed conflicts and ensuring the peaceful development of all countries will we be able to talk about economic progress and the resolution of social, humanitarian and other key problems. It is important to fight terrorism and extremism in actuality. It has been said more than once that this evil can only be overcome by a concerted effort of all states of the world. Russia continues to offer this to all interested partners.
It is necessary to add to the international agenda the issue of restoring the Middle Eastern countries’ lasting statehood, economy and social sphere. The mammoth scale of destruction demands drawing up a long-term comprehensive programme, a kind of Marshall Plan, to revive the war- and conflict-ridden area. Russia is certainly willing to join actively in these team efforts.
We cannot achieve global stability unless we guarantee global economic progress. It is essential to provide conditions for creative labour and economic growth at a pace that would put an end to the division of the world into permanent winners and permanent losers. The rules of the game should give the developing economies at least a chance to catch up with those we know as developed economies. We should work to level out the pace of economic development, and brace up backward countries and regions so as to make the fruit of economic growth and technological progress accessible to all. Particularly, this would help to put an end to poverty, one of the worst contemporary problems.
It is also absolutely evident that economic cooperation should be mutually lucrative and rest on universal principles to enable every country to become an equal partner in global economic activities. True, the regionalising trend in the world economy is likely to persist in the medium term. However, regional trade agreements should complement and expand not replace the universal norms and regulations.
Russia advocates the harmonisation of regional economic formats based on the principles of transparency and respect for each other’s interests. That is how we arrange the work of the Eurasian Economic Union and conduct negotiations with our partners, particularly on coordination with the Silk Road Economic Belt project, which China is implementing. We expect it to promote an extensive Eurasian partnership, which promises to evolve into one of the formative centres of a vast Eurasian integration area. To implement this idea, 5+1 talks have begun already for an agreement on trade and economic cooperation between all participants in the process.
An important task of ours is to develop human potential. Only a world with ample opportunities for all, with highly skilled workers, access to knowledge and a great variety of ways to realise their potential can be considered truly free. Only a world where people from different countries do not struggle to survive but lead full lives can be stable.
A decent future is impossible without environment protection and addressing climate problems. That is why the conservation of the natural world and its diversity and reducing the human impact on the environment will be a priority for the coming decades.
Another priority is global healthcare. Of course, there are many problems, such as large-scale epidemics, decreasing the mortality rate in some regions and the like. So there is enormous room for advancement. All people in the world, not only the elite, should have the right to healthy, long and full lives. This is a noble goal. In short, we should build the foundation for the future world today by investing in all priority areas of human development. And of course, it is necessary to continue a broad-based discussion of our common future so that all sensible and promising initiatives are heard.
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I am confident that you, as members of the Valdai Club, will actively take part in this work. Your expertise enables you to understand all angles of the processes underway both in Russia and in the world, forecast and evaluate long-term trends, and put forward new initiatives and recommendations that will help us find the way to the more prosperous and sustainable future that we all badly need.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Vladimir Putin | 1 |
607 | Chinese Social Media Rages over United Airlines Controversy - Breitbart | Lucas Nolan | Users across Chinese social media expressed their anger and called for a boycott over a viral video of an Asian doctor being forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight this week. [The Wall Street Journal reports that China’s own Twitter clone and microblogging service Weibo lit up on Sunday night after the video was posted to the social media service. Within hours, the incident was the number one trending topic on the platform with 100, 000 comments and nearly 160 million views by Tuesday. Many of the comments across Weibo focused on what many believed to be discrimination against the man based on his ethnicity. Chinese author Song Hongbing wrote, “This is inherent arrogance … I don’t think a white doctor would be treated like this. ” Other Weibo users discussed boycotting the airline. Wang Guanxiong, a investor, also posted his disapproval of the company on Weibo, saying, “Overselling is the responsibility of the airlines. Why was it an Asian who got beaten? This is purely racial discrimination … boycott United Airlines. ” Oscar Munoz, the CEO of United Airlines apologized for the incident in an online statement, but later an internal memo reportedly sent to United employees was leaked that stated, “Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this,” China is quite a large market for United Airlines, who have operated in the country for more than 30 years, providing more nonstop routes to and from China than competitors such as American Airlines or Delta. The incident on United Airlines has sparked such a response from Chinese travellers due in part to the rise of China’s middle class, according to Linda Du, general manager at consultancy APCO Worldwide. “International travel is now really common for people, either for business or personal pleasure,” said Du. “[Chinese consumers] want equal treatment, a good experience and to be respected. They have a sense of protecting . ” Du also noted the use of social media to express anger over the incident as an example of the Chinese public using new media to make their voices heard: “In China, most of the traditional media is regulated by the Chinese government, so social media — the voice — is the only resource they have. ” In February is was reported that Weibo had 313 million active users each month, just slightly behind Twitter’s 319 million active monthly users. The service, which was developed as a clone of Twitter only for use in China, is expected to outgrow Jack Dorsey’s social media platform this year. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 0 |
608 | America Is Better Without Borders | Henry Wolff | America Is Better Without Borders Steven Hahn, TIME, November 1, 2016
“A nation without borders,” Donald Trump has warned us , “is not a nation at all.” Trump was explaining the logic of the multi-billion dollar wall he promises to build along the U.S.-Mexican border, but he was hardly the first to make the case. Years ago, Ronald Reagan said much the same about the threat of illegal immigration, and others urging border vigilance have wrapped themselves in the high-flown rhetoric. Tee-shirts and coffee mugs have turned the idea into a saleable slogan.
{snip}
{snip} For much of its early history, the United States had hazy borders in good part because through war, conquest and diplomacy the country was constantly expanding and the shifting boundaries were not clearly marked. There was no agreement about how far west the Louisiana Territory reached or how far south the state of Texas stretched or how far north the Oregon Territory extended. Highly charged political words and brutal conflict followed (like the U.S.-Mexican War), while the imperial eyes of many leaders fell on Cuba, Central America and Hawaii.
What’s more, the borders that were agreed upon were remarkably porous. Until well into the nineteenth century, immigrants could come and go at will and even participate in electoral politics if they simply declared an intention to become citizens; indeed, for decades it was not at all clear what a citizen of the United States was. The only international migration policed was the African slave trade, which Congress outlawed in 1808 after nearly half a million captives had been forcibly deposited on North American shores.
{snip}
It is easy, when politics and ethnocentrism serve, to proclaim the principle of the nation with borders as the nation itself, while the borders are, in fact, regularly traversed by policy makers, investors and moneyed interests pursuing the main chance and wielding the big stick. Trump himself regularly touts, though refuses to reveal, his international dealings, many of which confound his goal of keeping jobs within American borders if they don’t outright violate American laws.
Truth is that the nation’s prosperity has long rested on the labor and resourcefulness of immigrants–voluntary and involuntary, free and slave–and that those who most loudly denounce a “nation without borders” are likely descendants of immigrants who were themselves harassed for their origins, faith and lifeways at some point in the past. We would do well to recognize that in a global economy such as ours, where the movement of people and goods are the lifeblood of our sustenance, a nation’s security is best maintained not by walling itself off but by lifting the prospects–and thereby creating political allies–of working people around the world. | 1 |
609 | More Than ’Chaos’: Terror Ties Make Venezuela Direct Threat to USA, Former UN Security Council President Says - Breitbart | Frances Martel | The international community should not only act against Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship as a matter of principle, but to protect the world from a growing web of criminal influence to which Venezuela belongs — alongside Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea. [So argues Diego Arria, a lifelong Venezuelan diplomat and former president of the UN Security Council who now advocates for the freedom of his country. In an interview with Breitbart News, conducted in both Spanish and English, Arria argues that the socialist Venezuelan government’s ties to terrorists, drug traffickers, and rogue states make it a threat to the global community, not merely its Latin American neighbors. “Venezuela is a risk to international peace and security,” Arria argued. “Venezuela has extremely dangerous ties to groups in the Middle East, to Hezbollah, for example. Some say, ‘Iran’s missiles can never reach the continental United States,’ and I say, ‘yes, but if they are in Venezuela, they can reach Miami directly. ’” “We are associated with the worst causes of humanity,” Arria lamented. “We were with [former Iranian president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad in Iran, we had ties to [late Iraqi dictator Saddam] Hussein, we had them with [late Libyan dictator Muammar] Qaddafi, we have them with the Palestinians. Never have there been in Venezuela so many Palestinians serving in high positions in the Venezuelan political hierarchy. ” Venezuela may serve “not only as an occupation site for the Cubans,” Arria argues, “but for the Chinese, the Russians, the Indians, the Palestinians … [this] turns Venezuela into an agitation center that is potentially very serious, and the United States has never given this the stature and importance that it should have for them. ” Arria also noted that Venezuela has close ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) a Marxist organization that in 2015 was considered the wealthiest terrorist organization in the world, surpassed in wealth only by the Islamic State and Hamas. “The relationship between Venezuela and the FARC in Colombia is extremely dangerous in my estimation because the FARC will soon be the most important and richest political party in Latin America. Those who do not enter the [President Juan Manuel] Santos pacification process will make of Venezuela an even greater drug and weapons transporting site than it is today. ” The “peace deal” between Santos’ government and the FARC will allow the terrorist group to evolve into a political party, and most FARC members are likely to avoid prison time for their crimes. The government of dictator Nicolás Maduro maintains the close ties with Iran that his predecessor Hugo Chávez cultivated, ties so close that Ahmadinejad risked a violation of sharia law to embrace Chávez’s mother at his funeral and declared he would return to earth alongside Jesus Christ and the Imam Mahdi, the Shiite Muslim figure believed to be in hiding until the prophesied end of the world. The ties between Venezuela and Iran — and its terror proxy, Hezbollah — are so close that multiple reports have accused Venezuela of selling legal documents (birth certificates, passports, etc) to citizen Shiite terrorists to grant them easier access to the Western hemisphere than their Middle Eastern passports would allow. Maduro has also kept ties with Palestinian leaders and Syrian dictator Bashar whose SANA news agency regularly publishes friendly diplomatic notes from Maduro. Maduro has enjoyed economic and political support from China and Russia, and North Korea’s state newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, regularly publishes announcements that dictator Kim has received accolades from socialist officials in the Latin American country. Venezuela’s closest ally, however, is Cuba — a communist state with a history of gross disregard for human rights that has killed U. S. citizens engaging in humanitarian efforts and embraced U. S. fugitive murderers as “revolutionaries. ” Asked about the role the United States can play in weakening Venezuela’s socialist tyranny, Arria suggests there is little outside sanctions and frozen assets that the international community can do. “The United States is playing a very interesting role, imposing sanctions on people tied to the regime, but they can do much more important things like following the money,” he proposed. “The United States and the Europeans know perfectly where the money is that people tied to the regime keep” and can freeze it, he added, noting that Republican legislators like Florida’s Ileana and Marco Rubio and New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez have proposed such measures. Should the international community act to freeze Chavista assets worldwide, they will count on a Latin America more convinced than ever of the evil of Maduro’s regime. “There is a political change in Latin America, the countries who were the primary accomplices of the tyranny in Venezuela — Brazil with Lula [da Silva] Argentina with [Cristina Fernández de] Kirchner — [those governments] are not there anymore,” Arria noted. “That has been of great importance because now we have two of the largest Latin American nations supporting our efforts to recapture liberty. This is a notable change. ” Even Mexico, Arria added, a nation with what he identified as a “very accommodating policy of ” has “broken with this policy and categorically pronounced itself on Venezuela. ” “Today we have Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, about 90 percent of Latin America repudiates and condemns the Venezuelan regime,” he noted. With the support of the Organization of American State (OAS) and a few unforced errors from the Maduro regime, Arria sees an unprecedented chance to recapture the country from the socialists. “This is the largest peaceful insurrection in the history of Venezuela,” he notes. “In Latin America, we have never seen for 42 days straight 1, 000 protests, 20 daily. And it is not just in Caracas, it is in many towns. Every time they kill a young [protester] more mothers, fathers, siblings show up. ” Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter. | 0 |
610 | Rick Ross Documentary Video Doubles as Ad for Checkers - The New York Times | Zach Schonbrun | In an effort to give back to his hometown community in Florida, Carol City, the star Rick Ross decided to fulfill a childhood dream: He bought a Checkers franchise. Why a Checkers? One reason seemed to rise above them all. “The No. 1 fries in the game,” Mr. Ross says in a video released in December. The video shows Mr. Ross driving around town in his Ford truck, puffing cigars and relating stories from his childhood in the downtrodden community, which is in the Miami area. At a certain point, Mr. Ross begins talking about the burger joint he frequented as a teenager, across the thoroughfare from the carwash where he worked. There was a McDonald’s that was closer, but Checkers, he says, was more affordable. “I made $30 a day from 8 in the morning to 8 at night,” Mr. Ross says. “I went to Checkers. ” Checkers does not typically pursue celebrity endorsements. But when Mr. Ross applied to purchase the Carol City franchise last summer, he seemed so genuine in his affection for the chain that Checkers recognized a marketing opportunity as straightforward as a . Still, it did not want a typical campaign. Scott Wakeman, director of marketing for Checkers Restaurants Inc. and the company’s ad firm, Fitzgerald Company in Atlanta, turned to the digital media upstart Woven Digital. The firm has heavy traction among Mr. Ross’s primary audience — young men — on the entertainment sites that it owns, like Uproxx, Dime and BroBible. Woven has also specialized in productions that, on the surface, do not feel like ads. To Mr. Wakeman, it seemed like a perfect way to take advantage of Mr. Ross’s charisma and authenticity. “It just felt like such a unique opportunity,” he said. The video, which is 3 minutes 31 seconds long, was filmed over two days in Carol City in late September, mostly as Mr. Ross drove his truck around. Spliced in is footage of pickup basketball games and bikers popping wheelies. The first mention of Checkers comes about halfway through the video. Checkers invests the bulk of its annual marketing budget, about $20 million, in standard television spots, Mr. Wakeman said. By contrast, the Rick Ross ad has been distributed only on social media channels and Uproxx. But Mr. Wakeman said he believed the unusual authenticity of the video — and the compelling way Mr. Ross related his story — would resonate with viewers more than anything Checkers had tried in the past. “We don’t think of it as an advertisement,” Mr. Wakeman said, adding of Mr. Ross, “We wanted to create a piece of content that captured his love for the brand. ” Last year, Woven teamed up with MillerCoors on a series of short documentary videos that profiled entrepreneurs with expertise in making items like watches and surfboards, or, in one case, doing calligraphy. The series, sponsored by Coors Banquet beer and run across Uproxx, was intended to reach an audience that has become adept at avoiding traditional advertising. According to Brad Feinberg, senior director of media and digital marketing for MillerCoors, it was a success, receiving more than 33 million views. “This is content that people want to see they’re intrigued by it, they seek it out,” Mr. Feinberg said. “And putting it in long form is something you can do in the digital space that is very cost prohibitive in other places. ” storytelling might sound incompatible with the attention spans of millennials, but it can have its advantages. Young men in particular have demonstrated a willingness to sit through longer pieces of content if it aligns with their values and gives them something of value in return, said Leah Swartz, senior content specialist for FutureCast, a part of the Barkley agency of Kansas City, Mo. that focuses on research into millennials. Her team considers this a rewriting of the old ABCs of sales. Rather than the mantra “always be closing,” brands must now think about how they can “always be helping. ” “You have to think about helping your consumer, what you’re providing, what benefits you’re giving, how you’re making their lives more fulfilled,” Ms. Swartz said. For Checkers, turning a story about a hit rapper’s upbringing into a selling point for hamburgers and chicken wings was a bit of a gamble, Mr. Wakeman said. In the video, there are only a couple of references to Checkers’ products, such as Mr. Ross’s unequivocal praise of the French fries. But Mr. Wakeman said the documentary format allowed Mr. Ross’s true voice to shine through. “Food and value are our two big brand pillars, and I think they come through in the spot, in a cool way,” Mr. Wakeman said. “It wasn’t a script. It was just Rick talking about what he loves” about the place. The video also captures moments of spontaneity. The producers originally intended just to film Mr. Ross outside the Checkers, but on the way there, he sent out a message on Instagram offering free burgers to any fans who wanted to meet him in Carol City. About 200 people showed up, and the cameras rolled as he shook hands and ripped open bags of food. Benjamin Blank, the chief executive of Woven, said the company was not trying to conceal that the video was an advertisement. But he said he thought the content itself was meaningful and captivating enough that viewers ultimately would not mind being sold to. “There were plenty of things Rick could have gotten involved with from a business standpoint,” Mr. Blank said. “But his reason for getting involved with Checkers was a great story. ” | 0 |
611 | Oil has been spilling into the Pacific Ocean since last month and its being totally ignored | Chris "Kikila" Perrin | VIDEOS Oil has been spilling into the Pacific Ocean since last month and its being totally ignored This is in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest, which is seen as “one of the most pristine wilderness environments on earth” By Chris "Kikila" Perrin - Friday, November 18, 2016 8:53 AM EST
Bella Bella, British Columbia — When is environmental damage too much? When is it acceptable? In what is being called “ a relatively tiny ” marine oil spill, for the Heiltsuk First Nations of the Central Coast of BC, the question is being asked in quite real terms, forcing government to answer the questions that it might have preferred to have evaded.
Since running aground in mid-October , a small boat has been leaking oil into the Pacific Ocean, and along BC’s Central Coast. Despite the fact that this spill comes in the aftermath of the Royal Visit to the region — a visit that sought to place the health of the coastline and all the life that dwells there within the global lens — there appears to be very little international interest. Making matters worse, there appears to be little interest from Canadian lawmakers on how best to reduce the potential for disasters like this.
Along the Central Coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is seen as “one of the most pristine wilderness environments on earth.” Stretching approximately 400 kilometers along this sparsely populated area, the Great Bear Rainforest has long represented the very idea of conservation and intrinsic preservation to Canadians and environmentalists around the world.
Along with the Kermode Bear , the area made National Geographic’s “ Places of a Lifetime ” list and has been called the planet’s last large expanse of coastal temperate rain forest by people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Natural beauty, conservation projects , and provincial parks are not, however, all the region is known for.
Of all things, the Central Coast offers access to the Pacific Ocean. It also provides a more-or-less direct line for fossil fuel exportation from various LNG (liquefied natural gas) sites around the province, as well as tar sands oil from the neighbouring province of Alberta.
North of Bella Bella, the town of Kitimat serves as the proposed terminal destination of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline , a project that has seen a great deal of protest that, in many ways, echoes the issues coming to a head in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. One of the most attractive aspects of the region, insofar as fossil fuel extraction is concerned, is the access it offers to Asian markets , pitting the desires of big oil corporations against those of First Nations and environmentalists , alike.
Even with the legislative death of Northern Gateway, the region continues to be the focal point for resource extraction. October’s oil spill — which is ongoing — provides a visceral reminder of what is at stake in such discussions, pushing many local residents to demand a full tanker ban along the Central Coast .
Yet, while the Coastal Rainforest is inundated with thousands of litres of oil, the federal government seems content to remain reactive . Rather than agreeing to the suggested ban, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instead proposed a $1.5 billion (CDN) fund to help deal with oil spills after they occur.
Reactive policies like this leave the fragile ecosystems found in the Central Coast region to suffer contamination before they are dealt with, and offer no change for the way issues of sovereignty are evaluated between First Nations and the colonial Canadian government.
Since his election in 2015, PM Trudeau has taken several quick steps back from his promises to respect First Nations’ sovereignty and deal with environmental issues . Although this “ relatively tiny marine oil spill” can be seen as just that, a minor environmental issue that will be cleaned up with more federal money, there is a deeper implication that can be seen — one that pits ongoing environmental degradation and cultural assimilation and genocide against neoliberal economic policy . | 1 |
612 | Podesta To Mills: “We Are Going To Have To Dump All Those Emails” | Zero Hedge |
In today’s, 25th, Wikileaks release of hacked Podesta emails, one of the notable highlights is a March 2, 2015 exchange between John Podesta and Clinton aide Cheryl Mills in which the Clinton Campaign Chair says “On another matter….and not to sound like Lanny, but we are going to have to dump all those emails.”
The email, which may indicate intent , was sent just days before the NYT story revealing the existence of Hillary’s email server, and Hillary’s press conference addressing what was at the time, the stunning revelation that she had a personal email account, and server, in her home.
Mills’ response: “Think you just got your new nick name.”
It is unclear which Lanny is referred to: the infamous former DOJ staffer Lanny Breuer who quit in January 2013 after telling Frontline that some banks are too big to fail, or, more likely Lanny Davis , special counsel to President Bill Clinton, and spokesperson for the President and the White House on matters concerning campaign-finance investigations and other legal issues.
It is also unclear for now which emails Podesta is referring to in the thread, but Podesta adds: “better to do so sooner than later.” We can hope that a subsequent response, yet to be leaked by Wikileaks, will provide more color.
If the exchange is shown to disclose intent to mislead, it will negate the entire narrative prepared by Clinton that she merely deleted “personal” emails and will reveal a strategic plan to hinder the State Department and FBI “investigation.”
This is the first time that particular exchange has emerged among the Podesta emails.
And in a separate email sent out just days later by Clinton campaign communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, we get yet another confirmation that the president actively mislead the public when he said he didn’t know Hillary was using a private email address:
Suggest Philippe talk to Josh or Eric. They know POTUS and HRC emailed . Josh has been asked about that. Standard practice is not to confirm anything about his email, so his answer to press was that he would not comment/confirm. I recollect that Josh was also asked if POTUS ever noticed her personal email account and he said something like POTUS likely had better things to do than focus on his Cabinet’s email addresses.
Perhaps while the DOJ/FBI is taking a second look into Huma Abedin’s emails, it can also take a repeat look at some of these, especially the ones involving POTUS. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).
Contributed by Zero Hedge of www.zerohedge.com . | 1 |
613 | Hillary Collapses On Her Way To The Stage, Sellout Bruce Springsteen Covers For Her – The Resistance: The Last Line of Defense | null | Home Election 2016 Hillary Collapses On Her Way To The Stage, Sellout Bruce Springsteen Covers For Her Hillary Collapses On Her Way To The Stage, Sellout Bruce Springsteen Covers For Her Stryker Election 2016 , Leftist Corruption , Liberals Behaving Like Liberals 0
Hillary Clinton’s sad last push for votes was supposed to culminate in a gathering of “talent” the left was calling “The Avengers of campaigning.” Hillary, Slick Willy, Barry Soetoro and Moochelle along with Creepy Uncle Joe Biden were to all come together at a huge show featuring hasbeens Bon Jovi and working class sellout Bruce Springsteen.
From one libtard to the next, promises of work-free lives filled with food stamp steak and lobster flew amid delusional dreams of free college education for everyone and a health care system that will cure what ails you for eleven bucks a month, no questions asked. The $15 minimum wage and 90 percent tax on the people who have done well in America were celebrated with great vigor, until it came time for the woman of the hour herself to take the stage.
Bruce Springsteen, acting as master of ceremonies, shouted over the roar of the feminist-laden crowd, “Here she is, and I’m with her!” Unfortunately, she never appeared in the spotlight.
Springsteen, after holding a finger to his earpiece, picked up his acoustic guitar and started slowly picking away a familiar tune. He turned to the audience and said:
“You know, before the next President of the United States comes out here I want to make sure we’re all ready. Are you ready?” The crowd cheered. “If there’s one thing we’ve always known about this amazing woman, one thing that w2as never in question, it’s that she was born to run.”
As the crowd went nuts for the popular song, interns and medical staff were reportedly attending to Clinton backstage after she collapsed from an unknown ailment. The press was quickly corralled and swept aside, but a couple of rogue stagehands tweeted about the incident before they were discovered and their posts deleted. This screenshot was grabbed within a minute of it being tweeted:
Clinton is said to have looked pale and distant, unaware of her surroundings. As of the writing of this article, Springsteen was still playing his set. Join The Resistance And Share This Article Now! 234 | 1 |
614 | Those Who Thoughtlessly Disbelieve “Conspiracy Theories” Need To Read This | pcr3 | Those Who Thoughtlessly Disbelieve “Conspiracy Theories” Need To Read This
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/11/no_author/forces-evil-treachery-deception/
The post Those Who Thoughtlessly Disbelieve “Conspiracy Theories” Need To Read This appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 1 |
615 | Dr. David Duke and Dr. Slattery Expose Hillary’s Treason and Why Trump & Duke will Win! | Dr. Patrick Slattery | Dr. David Duke and Dr. Slattery Expose Hillary’s Treason and Why Trump & Duke will Win! 25 am
Dr. David Duke and Dr. Slattery Expose Hillary’s Treason and Why Trump & Duke will Win!
Today Dr. Duke and Dr. Slattery talked about Hillary’s clear acts of treason against the United States by providing massive shipments of weapons to Saudi Arabia at a time that she knew they were providing support to ISIS. Dr. Duke, if elected to the Senate, would be in a position to expose Hillary and push for her impeachment should she win (steal) the election. BLOOD ON THE TRAITOR’S HANDS!
Dr. Slattery discussed post-election scenarios. He noted that if Trump wins in a close election, a small number of Republican electors could be bribed to vote for Hillary, throwing the election to her, or even vote for Pence, throwing the election to the House of Representatives to decide from amongst Trump, Hillary, and Pence. Should Hillary win and Trump supporters feel the election was illegitimate, impeachment would be more likely.
This is an extremely educating and enlightening show. Please share it widely.
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616 | Russian frigate off Syrian cost blasts terrorist HQ with cruise missiles (VIDEO) | Jafe Arnoldski ([email protected]) | November 16, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RusVesna - translated by J. Arnoldski -
As reported earlier, the Admiral Grigorovich frigate of the Russian naval strike group in the Mediterranean Sea has launched cruise missiles against targets in Syria.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia has published video footage of Caliber and Oniks cruise missile strikes against terrorist targets.
The footage shows the moment of missiles hitting a terrorist warehouse of weapons and military vehicles and also a strike on militants' headquarters.
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617 | Hillary Clinton Liked Covert Action if It Stayed Covert, Transcript Shows - The New York Times | David E. Sanger | Hillary Clinton longs for the days when Americans knew how to execute a covert action abroad and not spill the details to reporters. Addressing a Goldman Sachs event in 2013, in one of the speeches that WikiLeaks published on Saturday, Mrs. Clinton gave a realpolitik answer to the question of how to handle a problem like Syria. If the best chance of success was to act secretly inside that country, she made clear, she had no problem doing that. She went on to say — as her audience already knew because of revelations in the news media — that as secretary of state she had advocated secretly arming the Syrian opposition and moving forcefully to counter the Russians, who at that point were supporting President Bashar but had not yet fully entered the conflict. “My view was you intervene as covertly as is possible for Americans to intervene,” she said in answer to a question from Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which paid Mrs. Clinton about $225, 000 a speech to give what felt like an insider’s view of the making of American foreign policy, months after she left office. But she quickly acknowledged that “we used to be much better at this than we are now. ” “Now, you know, everybody can’t help themselves,” she added, and officials go out to “tell their friendly reporters and somebody else: ‘Look what we’re doing, and I want credit for it. ’” The three hacked speeches from 2013 that WikiLeaks published, most likely with Russian government assistance, help explain how Mrs. Clinton approaches some of the world’s knottiest problems. They are a reminder of the way she often assesses her most vexing opponents when the television cameras are not on. By the time she left office that year, she had met and assessed two of the three world leaders who were determined most prominently to challenge the United States: President Xi Jinping of China, whom she clearly admires President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whom she clearly detests (and who has returned the sentiment this election) and Kim of North Korea, whose determination to build a nuclear weapon and missiles that could “reach Hawaii and the West Coast, theoretically” poses a risk “we cannot abide,” she said. At moments in the speeches, Mrs. Clinton was cleareyed about how difficult it would be to execute some of the actions she advocated, including a zone over parts of Syria. “To have a zone, you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas,” she said. “So our missiles, even if they are standoff missiles so we’re not putting our pilots at risk — you’re going to kill a lot of Syrians. So all of a sudden this intervention that people talk about so glibly becomes an American and NATO involvement where you take a lot of civilians. ” Her assessment of the risk came before she was formally running for president. But two years later, in a television interview in October 2015, she sounded willing to take that risk. “I personally would be advocating now for a zone and humanitarian corridors to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to try to provide some way to take stock of what’s happening, to try to stem the flow of refugees,” she said. Her successor as secretary of state, John Kerry, tried last month to open those humanitarian corridors, but the effort collapsed in a dispute with Russia. A push to get it restarted during a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday between Mr. Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, also failed. In the talks at Goldman Sachs, Mrs. Clinton was often more analytic than prescriptive, describing her perceptions of individual leaders and the domestic politics and foreign threats they face. In that regard, her approach is quite different from that of Donald J. Trump. In two interviews on foreign policy with The New York Times, one in March and another in July, Mr. Trump moved directly to his plans of action: bombing the Islamic State and taking oil, for example, or withdrawing troops from Europe and Asia if allies do not pay their share. While Mr. Trump often talks in terms of striking deals, Mrs. Clinton talks in the more traditional terms of . When she became secretary in 2009, she posed a question about China to an Australian leader: “How do you deal toughly with your banker?” In the Goldman transcript, she suggested that she had answered her own question when sparring with the Chinese over its claims in the South China Sea. “I made the point at one point in the argument that, you know, you can call it whatever you want to call it,” she said. “You don’t have a claim to all of it. I said, by that argument, you know, the United States should claim all of the Pacific. We liberated it, we defended it. We have as much claim to all of the Pacific. And we could call it the American Sea, and it could go from the West Coast of California all the way to the Philippines. ” “And, you know, my counterpart sat up very straight and goes, ‘Well, you can’t do that. ’” Mrs. Clinton segued into an evaluation of Mr. Xi, the Chinese leader, who she noted had consolidated power in a way his predecessor never did, but had quickly traveled to places like Russia and Africa to assuage “doubts about Chinese practices. ” “So he’s someone who you at least have the impression is a more worldly, somewhat more experienced politician,” she said. Mr. Xi has since become more aggressive in the South China Sea, and it is unclear how forcefully Mrs. Clinton, if she became president, would confront him over his claims. She acknowledged at one point that the administration had gotten distracted from its “pivot” to Asia. In North Korea, the situation has worsened much more drastically. She summarized the Chinese message to the North Koreans this way: “We don’t care if you occasionally shoot off a missile. That’s good. That upsets the Americans and causes them heartburn, but you can’t keep going down a path that is unpredictable. ” That, of course, is exactly the path they have gone down. | 0 |
618 | Accusing two young men in Al-Qatif | null | Email
Condemning two young men, accused for confirming the current government of Syria and Hezbollah, wondered Shia community in Saudi Arabia. The Public prosecutor claimed that the first defendant had the purpose of going to Yemen, and then to Syria, to join the army for fighting against the Takfiri terrorists. And the second one, had paid 2500 riyals to him as the expense of his trip.
Despite six years of war in Syria, and definite denies of Shiites in Saudi Arabia for having connections with Iran and Syria, they are still accused for trying to make chaos in the region. None of these allegations has been proven, but Shiites are worried about the reflection of the chaotic situation of the region against themselves. | 1 |
619 | US: Kurdish Troops Will Be Involved in Invading ISIS Capital of Raqqa | Jason Ditz | Turkish Objections Won't Stop YPG's Involvement by Jason Ditz, October 26, 2016 Share This
US Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the leader of the US military forces in Iraq and Syria , today announced that Kurdish YPG forces will participate in the invasion of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa, despite Turkish government demands that the Kurds not be allowed to take part.
Townsend was a bit vague on the details of Kurdish involvement, saying the US are “going to take this in steps,” and that Turkey has to realize the only way that the US is going to have enough force to take over Raqqa any time soon is with a significant portion of the YPG involved.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated that his government wants only “local forces” involved in the Raqqa battle, and that the YPG, who Turkey considers a terrorist organization, must not be allowed to take part in any way.
Turkey’s military has been attacking the YPG in several locations around Syria over the past week, including heavy airstrikes which killed an estimated 200 YPG fighters who were engaged in an offensive against ISIS around Afrin. The Turkish government has repeatedly complained the YPG is gaining too much territory in Syria, and that they must abandon much of it. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz | 1 |
620 | Awakened Humanity Awaits Fully Scripted Ending As Controversial Election Day Nears | Bernie Suarez | in: Consciousness , Government Corruption , Society , Special Interests , US News No event in American history (if you ask me) has been more engineered, more anticipated and more built up than the upcoming November 8, 2016 presidential election. Face it. This presidential election season made the truth movement mainstream. Evil and corruption was brought into the light. We’ve observed what a George Soros-like engineered regime breakdown looks and feels like from the inside, our side this time. We had heard and read about all those foreign governments that the US overthrew with their “democracy” tactics using “special forces”, NGO’s, paid-for revolutionaries, activists and in some cases flat out murderous fighters (ISIS, moderate rebels). This time the engineered chaos was happening here in the US. This 2016 election season has been packed with outright exposed corruption, lies, propaganda, murders, stolen primaries, fabricated accusations, distractions, staged debates and much more. We have seen a criminally accused presidential candidate get away with crimes in broad daylight while suspected of suffering from Parkinson’s disease, passing out, having seizures and even being followed around by a creepy doctor with a seizure medication injector. This is the stuff Hollywood films are made of. The list of the insanity goes on and on, right? We’ve witnessed plenty of lies, propaganda and Jerry Springer show-like attacks by the candidates to create just the perfect smokescreen so that Americans are not looking into the events in Aleppo or Mosul much less the Hillary-DNC- mainstream media corruption scandals and revelations. Instead of keeping a close eye on the doings of the US criminal empire, the elite relied on a very in-your-face and increasingly arrogant, defiant and now very busted and discredited mainstream media to push the desired paradigm and reinforce it every which way they can. Actually, this understates the situation. What really happened was that the mainstream media joined forces with the chosen candidate of the ruling oligarchs (Hillary) and together their campaign (the DNC-Hillary-Soros-Moveon.org-Michael Moore-Hollywood-mainstream media complex) has brought us to the ending that truth seekers are now looking ahead to with great anxiety and anticipation. Actually, I’m understating the situation again. All or most Americans (awakened or not) are anticipating and anxiously awaiting the end results of the US presidential elections. The question we should all be asking then is, how did we get here? Oh, and perhaps more importantly, where are we going? And to answer this, one must realize that the ruling elite have plans. They have a lot of money and they have players willing to go along with their plans. Not sure of this? Then please research Sandy Hook or Boston bombing events. Or research many of the crisis actor events of the past few years. That’s right. While they were staging one event after another, too many Americans were too busy and too afraid to call these fake events for what they were. Too many Americans fell for the trick that we were supposed to believe mainstream media “stories” and narratives unless we could “prove” that the account didn’t happen the way mainstream media said it did. In other words, many Americans were tricked into believing that unless proven otherwise, we should BELIEVE mainstream media. Well here we are in October of 2016 and finally (though it has been common knowledge to many of us for a long while) the illegitimacy of the mainstream media is carved in stone. No longer can it be considered a “conspiracy” by anyone, that mainstream media is corrupt and acts as a tool of psychological terrorism against the public on behalf of the ruling elite. That said, now it is time to confront the fully engineered and long planned ending of this 2016 US presidential election. Will staged “ political terrorism “, a term just introduced a couple of weeks ago into the American psyche, be staged as Mike Adams at Natural News is writing about ? Will this “terrorism” or planned “event” mark the beginning of the end of America? If so, what will happen? How will it all go down? Many are now wondering how deep is this web of corruption and how far will the traitors identified before us be willing to go to destroy America? The one thing everyone should accept is that this ending has been planned just like so many “events” of the past several years have been scripted and planned. So today I invite readers to acknowledge this very important singular factor in today’s events. The fact that they are planned. The notion of organic and spontaneous results is something the ruling elite hate. They hate anything that is organic, spontaneous, unpredictable, people-powered, natural and real. They need everything to be controlled, scripted, planned, orchestrated, engineered. Do you see a pattern here? One consciousness longs for freedom, naturalness and spontaneity, the other longs to control, orchestrate, engineer and dictate the ending, like a master would want to control his slave. Understanding this fundamental contrast between the control freak consciousness (think ruling elite) and the free spirited consciousness desiring to simply be free, will allow you to see what’s coming this November 8th 2016. What’s coming is a long awaited day for which the ruling elite have paid a lot of money and hired many people to manipulate and control the ending of. So the real question is, will their operation succeed? Looking at the election day ending from a birds-eye view and seeing how the ruling elite think and operate it is not difficult to see that they too are waiting for that day so that they can implement whatever plan they’ll need based on the materializing reality at that moment. In this (what I’ll call) wait-and-see plan whose execution of plan will either be entirely controlled from the beginning or be an adjusting reaction-based plan to be determined by the emerging reality, we can be sure that at no point will the ruling elite accept an ending that ruins their plan. In other words they will adjust their plan as often and as desperately as possible and necessary to engineer an ending to their liking. This ultimately is all we need to know to plan our (truth seekers and freedom lovers) next move. And our next move should look something like this if you ask me: 1- Have a plan including options for self-sustaining yourself and your loved ones (food, water, shelter and other personal needs) 2- Expect corruption but continue fighting and exposing the perpetrators. Let’s not let one of these traitors (including crisis actors and operatives working for the state) get away with what they have done. 3- Don’t rely ONLY on the internet to keep track of developing events. You might want to write down current event information or better yet print out key articles and documents (proof). Also download important videos don’t assume these videos will always be available on YouTube or the internet. Remember we are entering a much more volatile and intense information war age. The main point is we need to archive the evidence against those criminals who have betrayed America and humanity. 4- Beware of layered psychological operations. Question everything you hear and don’t discount that some “news” is designed for you to hear it (get it?). Unfortunately the controllers have indeed upped the anti when it comes to the information war. In deceptive times like these grabbing on to the principles you believe in become much more important than agreeing with someone on every little nuance about a particular event. Stay oriented and remember who the bad guys are, especially as we see the Hillary-mainstream media complex laughably blaming Russian president Vladimir Putin for all the now-revealed corruption and criminality of the Clintons, the mainstream media, the DNC and many others. Now is the time to confront the very real and very relevant inherent concepts of truth versus lies, lightness versus darkness, freedom versus slavery and knowledge versus hidden knowledge (the occult) because this, my friends, is what we are dealing with. We (truth seekers) are all in this together. We didn’t ask to be put in this show, it sort of came to us. Perhaps we (awakened humanity) are fulfilling a role that we cannot fully understand. This species we call humans needs some members of it’s kind to save the rest of the species and if you are reading this then you are probably a chosen vessel in this battle for humanity. There is nothing to fear for the ending has surely been scripted. We (like them) will also respond in real-time in the most effective way possible. What we need to do more than anything else is …. (pay attention) … think ahead just like they do. And so today I’m thinking ahead. I have plans for both scenarios (Trump or Hillary declared victory). I have plans for no “political terrorism” and political terrorism, shock or no shock, chaos or no chaos. In my world the problem remains the same until we hold these corrupt ruling elite, their politicians and players all responsible for their criminality and corruption. Plain and simple, the ruling elite must be identified, stopped and held accountable for their crimes against humanity and the US constitution. This is more important than any presidential election. Will a Trump victory make this accountability more possible? Many are hopeful of this but ultimately we must find a way to impose our will on the future and not rely on a politician to do this for us. Finally, I’m reminded of the very last line of the film ‘ The American Dream ‘ when the villain asks “what do you think this is?” and the answer “this is AMERICA!!”. Likewise, let’s remember, this IS America, the politically hijacked land that guarantees each and every individual inherent rights which are clearly and indisputably outlined in the US constitution. Will an opportunity present itself for the rule of law to be restored or will the ruling elite have their way? That question will very likely be answered at a time not necessarily coinciding with election night. This is a reminder to all that the battle we face for humanity and truth is continuous and very long term not about one isolated moment or day. Submit your review | 1 |
621 | George Soros-Backed Climate March Brings Celebs to National Mall on Sweltering Saturday - Breitbart | Penny Starr | Protesters at last Saturday’s March for Science faced a continual downpour of rain when they gathered on the National Mall to protest President Donald Trump and his policies. This Saturday’s People’s Climate March may take place in record temperatures, as forecasters say the mercury could reach the degree mark. [Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson, and former vice president Al Gore are expected to attend, according to the Washington Post. Tomorrow, we’re marching for a better world. March with us and #BeInconvenient https: . #ClimateMarch pic. twitter. — Al Gore (@algore) April 28, 2017, The people backing the march range from the Communist Party USA, the Sierra Club, CODEPINK, and the Barack Organizing for Action. But the man funding many of the organizations listed on the march’s website as members of the steering committee have received millions of dollars from George Soros, the billionaire who has deep roots in the U. S. environmental movement and other liberal causes. “The ‘People’s Climate March,’ scheduled for the 100th day of Donald Trump’s presidency, claims to be a movement of the people. But is it really?” Newsbusters reported on Friday. “It turns out of the steering committee organizations have one thing in common — donations from George Soros,” Newsbusters reported. “The liberal billionaire gave them more than $36 million combined. ” “Between 2000 and 2014, Soros gave $36, 018, 461 million to 18 of the 55 steering committee members of the People’s Climate March,” Newsbusters reported. “Donations to six of those groups were more $1 million each: Center for Community Change, the NAACP, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) People’s Action, Public Citizen and Union of Concerned Scientists. ” Newsbusters noted that only three of these six organizations — NRDC, Public Citizen and Union of Concerned Scientists — have climate as all or part of their mission, calling into question why so many focused groups are taking part in the march. “The presence of many related organizations leading the march indicated that this climate march (just like the March for Science and the Women’s March) is not about a single issue, but about attacking the new administration,” Newsbusters reported. The People’s Climate Change website states: Everything we have struggled to move forward in the United States is in peril. Our loved ones feel under siege, and those in power in Washington are advancing a dark and dangerous vision of America that we know is untrue. To change everything, we need everyone. On the 100th Day of the Trump Administration, we will be in the streets of Washington D. C. to show the world and our leaders that we will resist attacks on our people, our communities and our planet. We will come together from across the United States to strengthen our movement. We will demonstrate our power and resistance at the gates of the White House. We will bring our solutions to the climate crisis, the problems that affect our communities and the threats to peace to our leaders in Congress to demand action. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports, “Environmentalists will once again rally in the nation’s capital this weekend, this time for the People’s Climate March,” noting that the march “will be more political and aimed at specific Trump administration policies. ” The Post said it’s “unclear” just how many people will show up, but “organizers are prepared to accommodate 50, 000 to 100, 000 people. ” | 0 |
622 | Edward Snowden’s Long, Strange Journey to Hollywood - The New York Times | Irina Aleksander | The summer light was fading to gold near Red Square as Oliver Stone maneuvered through the lobby bar of a Moscow hotel last year. He walked past the marble staircase and the grand piano to a table in the back. A group of businessmen in suits lingered nearby. Stone grimaced. “I think we should move,” he said. His producer, Moritz Borman, led the way to another corner. “How’s this?” Borman asked. Stone didn’t answer. He eyed an older couple slurping soup and kept moving. A moment later, Stone finally settled in by a window, comfortably beyond earshot of the other patrons. Such security precautions had become routine. Ever since Stone decided to make a biopic about Edward Snowden, the American blower currently holed up in Moscow somewhere, the director — who became a Buddhist while making “Heaven Earth” and sampled a buffet of psychedelic drugs for “The Doors” — had gone all method again. On “Snowden,” he and Borman became so preoccupied with American government surveillance that they had their Los Angeles offices swept for bugs more than once. The director hadn’t been sleeping well. Principal photography wrapped a month earlier, and now Stone had come to Moscow to film Snowden for the movie’s grand finale. He ordered a decaf coffee and began to lay out the events that led him and Borman to be hanging out in Russian hotels, on the lookout for potential spies. “Last January, Moritz calls me,” Stone said. “He says: ‘You got a call from this fella who represents Mr. Snowden. You’re invited to Moscow. ’’u2009” The call had come from Anatoly Kucherena, Snowden’s Russian lawyer. In the course of his career, Kucherena has represented Russian oligarchs, film directors, a few pop singers and a state minister. In 2012, he campaigned for Vladimir V. Putin, and soon after Snowden landed in Moscow, Kucherena showed up at Sheremetyevo Airport and offered his services. Then Kucherena wrote a novel about his new client. Titled “Time of the Octopus,” it follows a National Security Agency leaker named Joshua Cold who is marooned in the airport and the Russian advocate who liberates him. In January 2014, months before the book was published, Kucherena called Borman to see if Stone might like to make it into a Hollywood movie. “And I know you from working on, what, three films?” Stone said at the bar. “Five,” Borman said. At the time, Stone and Borman were barely speaking after a out during the making of “Savages,” a beachy Blake Lively thriller. “We’ve had our fights,” Stone said. “You know, he’s German I’m American. ” He didn’t elaborate. “He calls, and I go: ‘Oh, [expletive]. Not again,’’u2009” Stone continued. It wasn’t just about Borman. Stone wanted nothing to do with another political docudrama. He spent two decades trying to get a biopic about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. off the ground, only to see “Selma” get made to critical acclaim. Then there was the My Lai massacre film. Merrill Lynch put up cash, Bruce Willis was set to star and Stone built an entire village in Thailand. As the economy collapsed in 2008, the financing evaporated. “You get these scars, and they don’t go away,” Stone said. So Stone was skeptical. But this was Snowden, who handedly exposed the colossal scale on which the United States had been surveilling its citizens. Plus, the director needed a hit. After early successes like “Platoon” and “Wall Street,” his more recent films didn’t receive the attention he hoped. The Snowden story had all the ingredients of an epic Stone picture: politics, government conspiracy and, at the center of it all, an American patriot who had lost faith. If it panned out, it could be Stone’s millennial up to “Born on the Fourth of July,” the Ron Kovic biopic that won him an Oscar in 1990. But first Stone and Borman had to make sure Kucherena was for real. Borman asked the lawyer to send the book and two tickets to Moscow. Both arrived the next day. In case they still had doubts, Kucherena’s office gave Borman a number to call. On the other end was an employee of the Russian consulate in San Francisco, who turned out to be a big fan of “The Life of David Gale,” a film Borman produced. They were issued visas that same week. (Kucherena denies buying tickets for Stone and Borman or helping expedite their visas.) “When that happened,” Borman said, “I thought, O. K. I guess Kucherena can pull the strings. ” As narratives go, Snowden’s is a compelling one. His transformation from a shy and pale something — full of the sort of idealism those years can afford — to political dissident made him a hero figure to establishment liberals who are in the business of storytelling. Raised in a family of federal employees, Snowden grew up near Fort Meade, Md. He enlisted in the Army, went to work for the Central Intelligence Agency and became a technology specialist for the N. S. A. By the summer of 2013, he had downloaded thousands of documents, taken off for Hong Kong and asked the journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras to meet him there. The initial revelations were sensational. Not only had the N. S. A. been monitoring the calls, emails and web activity of millions of Americans, but it also had been tapping into the networks of Google, Yahoo and other companies to do so. The Guardian published the leaks, and Greenwald eventually revealed the identity of his source in a video shot by Poitras. Depending on your feelings about national security, the N. S. A. ’s actions were either necessary or unconstitutional. The Apple founder Steve Wozniak called Snowden a hero. Secretary of State John Kerry called him a traitor. Donald Trump called for his execution. As Snowden became a celebrity, a cause and a historical event, the web of people who wanted to take part in it widened. Most had his best interests in mind, but his story also happened to advance agendas that had long needed an appealing spokesperson. liberties lawyers wanted to represent him. Activist journalists wanted access to him. Publishers rushed out books, including “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man,” by Luke Harding of The Guardian, and “The Snowden Operation: Inside the West’s Greatest Intelligence Disaster,” by Edward Lucas of The Economist. Despite promising an “inside” look, neither writer had ever met Snowden. Those with intimate knowledge documented the experience, too. In 2014, Greenwald published “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the N. S. A. and the U. S. Surveillance State,” a dramatic retelling of how Greenwald broke the story. That fall, Poitras released “Citizenfour,” a tense and spooky documentary about a modest and intelligent young man who hid under a blanket when typing on his laptop. (It won the 2015 Oscar for best documentary.) Snowden, meanwhile, ended up in Russia. He had embarked on a trip to Ecuador, but the United States revoked his passport midflight, leaving him stranded in Moscow. For Russia, Snowden was like a bird that flew in through an open window — or, as Putin joked, an unwanted Christmas present. But politically speaking, he could be useful. After enduring the United States’ endless lectures about human rights, the Kremlin could suddenly welcome a man who exposed American hypocrisy. Kucherena entered the picture as Snowden’s lifeline, or at least as someone who could help him navigate Russia’s asylum laws. An experienced lawyer, Kucherena was appointed by Putin to the Public Council, overseeing the Federal Security Service (F. S. B. ). Snowden’s case presented a new opportunity. It took Kucherena a month to negotiate Snowden’s stay and three months to write “Time of the Octopus. ” Stone’s first meeting with Kucherena was a disaster. (“I thought he was a gruff bear,” Stone told me.) The director wanted to meet Snowden, but Kucherena said Snowden wouldn’t meet them until they agreed to option “Time of the Octopus. ” (Kucherena denies this.) According to Stone and Borman, by the end of a long weekend, they reached a gentlemen’s agreement: Stone would option the novel — if Kucherena could provide regular access to his client. I first spoke to Stone in June 2015, after reading that he was in the midst of shooting a film based on Kucherena’s novel. He said he would be traveling to Moscow again that week to shoot Snowden and agreed to let me tag along. A day later, a peeved Borman called me. “You’ve been disinvited,” he said coolly. During those 24 hours, this magazine had contacted Ben Wizner, Snowden’s lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, to arrange an interview with his client. Kucherena may be Snowden’s Russian representative, but in the United States, Wizner runs the show. Wizner was furious. Not just because Stone had invited a reporter to Moscow, but because of how it all looked: that Snowden was involved in a Hollywood movie and that the whole production was seemingly brokered by a lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. Borman would later tell me that we had waded into the sticky territory of Snowden’s multiple emissaries. “There are two ways to access him: One is Kucherena and one is Wizner, and it’s completely political,” Borman said. “It’s a political situation that goes way above your head. ” When Wizner and I finally got on the phone, he was in control mode. He told me that Snowden wasn’t profiting from Stone’s film in any way. “One rule Ed always had was, I’m not selling my life rights,” Wizner said. Snowden’s participation in a Hollywood movie would only fuel the claims of his critics — that he was a narcissist eager to cash in. That said, Stone’s film would be seen by millions of people, which meant it could sway public opinion. “We were choosing between two bad options,” Wizner said. “He could have stubbornly stayed completely at arm’s length and had no input whatsoever. Or he could have some input and compromised the arm’ relationship. And I didn’t know how to advise him on that. ” According to Wizner, Snowden met with Stone only to make sure that the film told an accurate story. “It’s been us walking this tightrope between clearly not having any formal connection to the project — not deriving any benefit from it — and also not wanting to just be completely helpless and, you know, see what Oliver Stone comes up with,” Wizner said. Despite some initial discomfort, he was tentatively optimistic. “Maybe it’ll be good,” Wizner added. “You know, Oliver Stone wrote ‘Scarface. ’’u2009” Still, Stone was heading to Moscow to film Snowden for an appearance in the movie, which could be seen as an endorsement. checking is one thing, I said a cameo is another. “It is, and I’m not entirely comfortable with it,” Wizner said. Wizner had negotiated veto control over any footage featuring Snowden in the film. After we spoke, the lawyer says he asked Borman to put that in writing. He also reiterated that if Stone took a reporter along, Snowden would not participate. Stone and I eventually reached a compromise: I wouldn’t observe the shoot, but I could still come and meet Kucherena. A few days later, I met Stone in Moscow. The director, who is 69, has a leaning gait and unruly eyebrows, so that he looks a bit like a bull that is always about to charge. He emerged from the hotel’s elevator with a pained look on his face. It was drizzling, and Stone’s hair, which is the color of dark shoe polish, was pointing laterally. “I have some bad news,” he said. “I cannot deliver Anatoly. ” He had just seen Snowden, who had been in touch with Wizner and was very upset, Stone said. “Ed said he doesn’t want Anatoly talking to you, and he said that very clearly,” Stone added. I would spend the next few days camped out at the hotel. When Stone wasn’t shooting, we would meet in the lobby bar as he continued to tell me about the making of his film. Soon after optioning Kucherena’s novel, Stone had returned to Moscow with his writer, Kieran Fitzgerald, a recent University of Texas M. F. A. graduate. Anticipating a homesick Snowden, Fitzgerald hauled over a duffel bag packed with the stuff of Americana dreams: Kraft macaroni and cheese, cups, Oreos, Pepperidge Farm cookies, Twizzlers, peanut butter, Spam, an Orioles baseball cap and a pair of Converse sneakers. “It was like delivering a care package to a kid at summer camp,” Fitzgerald told me. He also slipped in a copy of “The Odyssey” translated by his grandfather, Robert Fitzgerald. “I thought it was appropriate, since Ed was on his own kind of odyssey trying to get home. ” Snowden and Stone had gotten off to a slow start. Snowden was squeamish about a movie being made about his life. Stone, in turn, said the film would be made with or without him. Fitzgerald says he played referee. “Oliver can be a bit of battering ram,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s accustomed to hard men who need to be cracked, but that’s not Edward Snowden. He’s not an male type. He’s a very sensitive mind. So I was there to say: ‘Everything is going to be O. K. He’s a good guy. It’s going to be a good movie. ’’u2009” Eventually, Snowden began to open up, answering questions about his childhood his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills and what he could about his work for the N. S. A. While Fitzgerald returned to Austin to work on the script, Stone set out to plant his flag in the Snowden story. In Hollywood, book options are the equivalent of calling dibs, and Stone had competition. In May 2014, Sony Pictures optioned Greenwald’s “No Place to Hide. ” By June, Stone had announced that he acquired Kucherena’s book and Harding’s “The Snowden Files. ” The tactic worked. Sony got nervous. “Now what?” Amy Pascal, then Sony’s chairwoman, wrote to another executive. (The email would be leaked during the Sony hack.) Pascal’s colleague reminded her of the case of the dual Steve Jobs biopics — “Jobs,” with Ashton Kutcher, might have come out first, but it was “Steve Jobs,” starring Michael Fassbender, that was the better film. Pascal wasn’t convinced. “Oliver Stone is not Ashton Kutcher,” she responded. She wrote to George Clooney to pique his interest in adapting Greenwald’s book, but Clooney passed. “Stone will do a hatchet job on the movie, but it will still be the film of Snowden,” he replied. For Stone, the impending Sony project was a call to arms. Fitzgerald cranked out a first draft of the script, and that fall Stone went out to studios with a budget of $50 million and a release date in December 2015. Each one turned it down, and Stone became convinced that the studios wanted to quash the project because of its controversial subject matter. “This is why corporations owning movie studios is not a good idea,” he said. While Borman hustled to find independent financing, Stone dove into casting. For the lead, he chose Joseph Levitt, the son of liberals from Sherman Oaks, Calif. and a former child actor who has retained a pleasingly boyish look. “There’s an interesting blandness to him in the same way that Jimmy Stewart might’ve been considered bland,” Stone said. “There’s a neutrality there, which allows him to grow on you. ” Shailene Woodley was cast to play Lindsay Mills, Zachary Quinto as Greenwald and Melissa Leo as Poitras. By early 2015, Borman and Stone had racked up several hundred thousand dollars in debt, but the money was still short. The shoot was ultimately delayed three weeks as the producer cobbled together European partners. In the United States, “Snowden” was picked up by Open Road Films, a small production company that had just put out “Jobs” — the Kutcher version. “It was painful that we ended up with this independent distributor,” Stone said. Borman offered that Open Road was not so independent anymore. “I’d never heard of it,” Stone said, adding: “I’ve been there before, but not on this level and not at this age. So for me, it was very difficult personally. ” The cover of “Time of the Octopus” features a image of Snowden’s face and a globe peeled like an orange to reveal the logo of the C. I. A. In his author photo, Kucherena indeed looks bearish, with a round face, matted white hair and a cellphone pressed to his right ear — as if he were midnegotiation. “The whole truth about the American agent on the run,” the cover boasts. Also: “Oliver Stone is currently shooting a film based on this book. ” I had gotten my copy from Stone, who handed it to me with a disclaimer. “Now, it’s easy to take a shot at this,” he said. “You know, it wasn’t the basis of the movie. But it’s fun. I enjoyed reading it. ” “Time of the Octopus” takes place in a single night. The protagonist, Joshua Cold, is sequestered in a bunker at Sheremetyevo Airport, where his Russian lawyer keeps him company. The chapters alternate between their stamped conversations and those labeled as digital files (“File 004. wav”) suggesting that they are the lawyer’s transcribed recordings. The basic facts of Cold’s case sound familiar, as do the character names: There are journalists named Boitras and Greywold and an organization called Mikileaks run by an Augusto Cassangie. For the most part, Cold and the lawyer sit and talk about life, quoting Laozi to each other. But there is also a distinctly Soviet tone to the novel, which reads both like a love letter to American culture — Steven Spielberg, B. B. King, “The Terminator,” Penthouse magazine, Popeye, “The ” Paul Newman, Bon Jovi, “ Man,” “Braveheart,” Quentin Tarantino and Tupac Shakur are all mentioned — and a gleeful taunt to its government. “Not only did [Cold] snap the beak of the American eagle,” Kucherena writes, “but he also gave him a good kick and a very humiliating one, as if it was not a menacing predator but a rural hen. ” In the bunker, Cold enjoys pizza and whiskey, but he is worried about American agents coming to retrieve him. “Believe me, Russia is not the worst option for you,” the lawyer tells Cold. “And you needn’t regard us with such mistrust. ” Once Cold is granted asylum, the propaganda is dialed up. “I shall work in Russia and get an apartment!” Cold announces. “I thought I would spend the rest of my life in this underground prison. ” “As far as I know Mr. Putin, he is not one to change his mind easily,” the lawyer assures him. “All will be O. K. ” The novel concludes with Cold vowing to learn to drink like the Russians, but the lawyer suggests he try Kvass instead, a fermented beverage made from rye bread. (“It is the Russian Cola,” the lawyer says.) Then they leave the bunker. “Weird, huh?” Fitzgerald said when I asked about the novel. In fact, few people associated with either Snowden or “Snowden” wanted to discuss it. “I don’t want to say anything on the record about that book,” Levitt told me. According to WikiLeaks, Stone paid a million dollars for “Time of the Octopus,” which seemed like a hefty amount to pay for material that Stone admitted he had no plans of using. (That’s the same figure Sony reportedly paid for the rights to “Eat, Pray, Love. ”) “We bought it because we did get good access to Ed,” Stone explained. “He had to be brought along. ” During Stone’s visits, Kucherena hosted the director at his favorite restaurants and at his dacha outside Moscow. “They had a kind of bromance,” Fitzgerald told me. Photos from the trips look like vacation postcards, with Stone and Fitzgerald grinning in Red Army caps (a gift from Kucherena) and Fitzgerald and Levitt posing for a selfie in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral. While out in public, the group referred to Snowden as “Sasha,” a nickname Kucherena had given him. Kucherena and I would eventually speak by phone. He said he wrote the novel because he had received calls from many “representatives of Hollywood,” writers and filmmakers. “At some point, I just thought to myself, Why don’t I try to write the book?” he said. I asked which writers and directors had called him. “Very many people called me,” he replied. “But I honestly don’t remember their names now. ” The lawyer was deeply troubled by the news media’s insinuations that he is connected to the Kremlin. He pointed to several clients he has defended against the F. S. B. including Platon Obukhov, a writer accused of spying for Britain. “I never had any kind of agreement with the Kremlin,” he said. “They tried to say I’m tied to the F. S. B. but that’s complete nonsense, excuse me. ” Kucherena said he was inspired by his favorite authors, who include Tom Clancy, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. “The Octopus in my novel is, you can say, a direct offspring of Big Brother,” he said. Like most writers of fiction, he was reluctant to discuss which parts of his book were based in reality. “A person can only be open with someone he trusts,” Kucherena said. “And here, because he had no one else, it turned out that I took on the role of mother and father. Accordingly, we had confidential conversations of various sorts. ” He did not see a conflict of interest in his writing the novel. “I wrote an artistic book,” Kucherena said. Because he represents Snowden pro bono, he never expected to capitalize on the relationship. “I don’t take any money from him,” Kucherena said. “He doesn’t have any. So I wrote a book, yes, fine. So I got a little, as we say in Russian. ” Despite being the one to put the “Snowden” project into motion, Kucherena shied away from assuming any credit. “I’m very far from all that,” he said. “I’m just an advocate. Look at where I am and where Hollywood is!” When I told Wizner that Stone said he bought Kucherena’s book to gain access to Snowden, his voice climbed a few octaves again. “Virtually every single other person who’s met with Snowden, and there have been dozens of them, have just gone through me, and we’ve hooked it up,” Wizner said. He listed some names, which included the film director Doug Liman, as well as the actors Jared Leto and John Cusack. (Cusack took Snowden Cool Ranch Doritos, as well as DVDs of “Network” and “Dr. Strangelove. ”) Wizner, who is 45, has been at the A. C. L. U. since 2001. Before Snowden, he tried to bring several suits to increase oversight over the intelligence community. Wizner likes to say that he spent a decade banging his head against a wall, and then Snowden came along and brought that wall down. Snowden had not only revealed the scope of the surveillance apparatus, but also that top government officials routinely misled the public about it. Since becoming Snowden’s advocate, Wizner has become a figure of not insignificant geopolitical importance. Those revelations have since formed a critical backdrop for legislative reforms, and there are few things that irritate Wizner more than claims that threaten to tarnish Snowden’s character and their common cause. It would not be a stretch to say that for Wizner, Kucherena has become a bit of a liability. Since 2013, the Russian lawyer has announced that Snowden landed a job at a major Russian website — news that turned out to not be true — and has supplied the news media with photos of his client enjoying his new life in Russia, attending an opera at the Bolshoi Theater and cheerfully hugging a dog named Rick. (Rick later turned out to be the dog of one of Kucherena’s friends.) Now Kucherena had sold a novel to Stone, making it seem as if the director had to pay a Russian fixer to have access to Snowden — or worse, that Snowden was somehow under the lock and key of the Russian authorities, lent to Stone for a Hollywood movie. Wizner’s counterefforts in the United States have been successful. Former Attorney General Eric Holder, once a fierce critic, has acknowledged that Snowden performed “a public service. ” President Obama has called for the reform of phone metadata collection, and last June, Congress passed the U. S. A. Freedom Act, a law that directly resulted from Snowden’s leaks. Snowden has come to be seen as a levelheaded activist. According to Wizner, he leads a free existence in Russia, making appearances via live video and publishing against Russia’s human rights violations. “I think people are inclined to believe that Russia would never let him stay there unless he was paying for it in some way,” Wizner said. “But it’s just not true. Not only is he not cooperating, but he’s actually being critical. ” When I asked Wizner about Kucherena’s book, we were meeting at a cafe near his office in Lower Manhattan. “Maybe you should just characterize my facial expression — ‘He smirked,’’u2009” Wizner said. (Except that his smirk was mixed with a frown.) According to him, Snowden has not read Kucherena’s book. “The thing is, Ed has much bigger fish to fry,” he said. “If you had people calling for your assassination, you’d be annoyed. If you were facing life in solitary confinement, you’d be concerned. If someone wrote some book in Russia that no one is going to read, it doesn’t register. ” Wizner was reluctant to discuss Kucherena’s role in Snowden’s life, but he conceded that it was somewhat unorthodox. “It seems like the ethical rules governing the client relationship may be somewhat different in Russia,” he said. “It would be very unusual for a lawyer in a profile case to provide exclusive photos of his client to newspapers or write an unauthorized book and sell it to Hollywood. ” Kucherena and Wizner have never met. Whatever uneasiness there may be, Kucherena spoke warmly about his American counterpart. “We are on the same team!” he told me. “Ben works in America, I work in Russia. If he wanted to write a book, I would have no problem. ” Wizner told me he has no plans to write a book about Snowden, fictional or otherwise. “Mission accomplished,” Stone announced. We had met in the lobby bar again, the day after he filmed Snowden, and the director was in better spirits. The shoot took place at Kucherena’s dacha. The day went long. Stone’s idea was to interview Snowden and capture an affecting moment that would give the film its dramatic ending. But the first takes were stiff. “Ed is used to answering questions on a level of intelligence,” Stone said. “But I was interested in the emotional, which is difficult for him. ” Stone ended up doing nine takes. At one point, they took a break and went for a walk around Kucherena’s property. By the end of the day, Stone decided that he had gotten Snowden to go as far as he was going to. “He was cooperative,” Stone said. “He wanted to make it work. But as an actor — he’s not used to that. I mean, he’s not an actor. And I don’t think he became one that day. ” To make Snowden more comfortable, Stone worked with a minimal crew. Some were meeting the blower for the first time and still seemed a bit . “Suddenly this little creature comes teetering in — so fragile, so lovely, such a charming, behaved, beautiful little man,” the cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, told me. “He’s like an old soul in a very young body. He’s got fingers like violins. ” Filming Snowden reminded Mantle of shooting other men with outsize reputations and slight builds. “It’s like Bono or Al Pacino,” he added. “Those guys are weenies. But if you isolate him into a frame, he can be as big as anybody else. ” Mantle shot Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours,” but “Snowden” proved to be a special challenge. Convinced that making the film on American soil would be too risky, Stone decided to film in Germany, where Borman was able to score some tax subsidies. With roughly 140 script pages to shoot in 54 days, the crew sprinted from Munich to Washington, to Hawaii, to Hong Kong, and then back to Munich. Often, Mantle wouldn’t get to see locations before he had to film in them. To cut costs, the suburbs of Munich had to stand in for rural Maryland and Virginia, with German extras cast as Americans. “Thank God the Germans act like Americans,” Stone said. The production itself resembled a covert operation, with a code name (“Sasha” had stuck) and elaborate security protocols. Worried that “Sasha” would be of interest to the N. S. A. Borman and Stone avoided discussing production details by phone or email — “It was all handwritten notes and long walks in the park,” Borman said — and kept the script on gapped computers, ones that have never been connected to the internet. If it had to be mailed, Borman would mix up the pages into four packages, which he would send with four different couriers to four different addresses. “Maybe nobody gave a [expletive],” Borman told me. “Or maybe the N. S. A. is laughing at us like, ‘Look at those idiots — of course we copied everything that came through DHL and FedEx!” For the actors, the frenetic schedule and paranoia on set added to the mood of the production. “Snowden himself was in the midst of a stressful situation, so the fact that our shoot was a little bit that way, I think, helped,” Levitt said, before catching himself. “Making the movie was obviously a walk in the park compared to what he did. But just to have those little emotional touch points can help when you’re acting. ” Committed to inhabiting Snowden’s robotic speech pattern, Levitt lifted the audio from “Citizenfour” and played it on repeat while he slept. He also worried that some of the dialogue felt handed. “Oliver is very into making his point,” the actor said, “as he should be. I really admire him for that. But I felt like it was my job to be like, ‘O. K. I want to make the point, too, but this is a human being and not just a mouthpiece. ” Stone found Levitt’s approach too “ ish” at times. “I was trying for the dramatic side as much as possible,” Stone said. Fitzgerald was ultimately flown in to the set to execute minute rewrites. By late spring of 2015, Stone was close to wrapping when his mother, Jacqueline Goddet Stone, died at 93. She had called him in Munich, but Stone felt he couldn’t risk leaving. “To go to L. A. would have cost us three down days,” Stone told me. “I knew she was going to pass, but I thought I could make it. ” Stone remained on set during the funeral and kept shooting. Stone’s trip to Moscow to film the real Snowden was the last bit he needed to complete the film. But he was still worried — that the footage would be leaked, that critics would eviscerate it, that Snowden wouldn’t like it. “I want him to vet it,” he said. He was heading to New York to begin editing and planned to return to Moscow at the end of the summer to show Snowden a rough cut. “O. K. my dear,” Stone said, getting up to leave. “See you in New York. ” Then he disappeared for six months. Before Stone set out to make his film, he had met Snowden’s chief biographers, Greenwald and Poitras. Stone and Greenwald became friendly, and when Greenwald’s book drew interest in Hollywood before it was published, the journalist turned to Stone for advice. “In the back of my mind, I thought if he had any interest in making a film, that would be a good segue for him to say so,” Greenwald told me. At the time, Stone wasn’t interested, and Greenwald negotiated the deal with Sony. Stone later came back and offered to match Sony’s bid, but Greenwald declined. “I think he was a little perturbed,” Greenwald said. Of the principal cast, Zachary Quinto, who plays Greenwald in Stone’s movie, was the only actor who didn’t meet his counterpart as research. “I always thought that was a little weird,” Greenwald said. “I think Oliver thought I had some competitive hostility toward his project, or he had some hostility — I’m not really sure. ” (According to Stone, Quinto didn’t need to meet Greenwald because there were so many videos of the journalist online.) In the spring of 2014, Stone flew to Berlin and met with Poitras. The meeting did not go well. According to Poitras, Stone proposed that she delay the release of “Citizenfour,” which she was then in the middle of editing, to time up with his film. “Because his film would be the real movie — because it’s a Hollywood movie,” Poitras told me. “Obviously I wasn’t interested in doing that. To have another filmmaker ask me to delay the release of my film was — well, it was somewhat insulting. ” Stone was annoyed, but he stuck around for a few drinks. They discussed new movies, including “12 Years a Slave. ” As Poitras recalls, Stone found the film too violent, while Poitras thought the brutality was appropriate given the subject matter. Stone was growing increasingly frustrated. “At some point, he reached over and had his hands around my neck,” Poitras said. “It was sort of in a joking way. I think he was a little bit drunk. But it was not a particularly pleasant evening. ” According to Stone, he only offered to help Poitras get distribution. “We thought we’d help her either bring out her film with our film, or in the wake of it or before it, if we could,” Stone said. He didn’t recall pretending to strangle Poitras. “I think from talking to her, you sense she’s superparanoid,” he said. “But I liked her,” he continued. “I admired her. I saw her films. I was trying to help her. If Laura is accusing me of trying to aggress her or kill her, she’s crazy. ” Despite his occasional bullishness, Stone craves approval. His films tend to resemble his character: at once original, impetuous, dogmatic and stubbornly ambitious. They typically run up to three hours, and he is often hurt when they’re underappreciated. Once, I was with Stone when he was handed a copy of “A Child’s Night Dream,” the novel he wrote at 19. Stone began to recite the blurbs aloud. “The language moves in torrents, always energized . .. shamanistic,” Stone read, quoting The Boston Globe. “I don’t get many good reviews, but this is good. ” I said that he has gotten plenty of good reviews since then. “You should see Rotten Tomatoes,” he said, referring to the review aggregator. Stone’s torment is at least in part inflicted. Biopics can be a nasty business, and Stone routinely throws himself into historical narratives and the messy negotiation between fact and fiction. The haggling with historians and family estates is the reason Stone was never able to make films about Martin Luther King Jr. and Hank Williams, and it was why he had to wait for Richard M. Nixon to die to make “Nixon. ” For Stone, the characters of the stories he is after have become both the obstacles and the necessary arbiters of his work. It’s why he refused to make “Snowden” without Snowden, and why his appeals to Greenwald and Poitras were his way of getting them on board. If Poitras had a strong reaction to Stone’s proposal, it was because she had already been hounded by Sony. After the studio optioned Greenwald’s book, Poitras says Sony asked to buy her life rights — an offer she declined. Sony suggested that she come on as a consultant, but when the contract arrived, it stipulated that the studio would have access to Poitras’s tapes and notebooks. “So I’d already gone through that when Oliver came in trying to position himself,” she said. Poitras is a spoken, cautious woman who has spent much of the past decade on government watch lists. Her resistance to participating in various Snowden projects has less to do with her feeling territorial than with her trying to maintain some control as she has become a character in a story that is no longer hers. Poitras’s radical position is that the “Snowden story” can really belong only to Snowden. “I could have asked him for a contract in Hong Kong, but I don’t believe in that as a concept,” she said. “It’s his story, and I hope he tells it when he’s ready. ” Neither Greenwald nor Poitras ultimately object to Stone making his film. While his own movie still lingered in development, Greenwald thought Snowden’s story might in fact be safer in Stone’s hands than it would be elsewhere. The Sony leaks would eventually reveal that Stone’s paranoia may have been justified: In emails about the purchase of Greenwald’s book, an executive in Sony’s affairs office suggests toning down the news release, changing “illegal spying” to “intelligence gathering” and “misuse of power” to “actions. ” “My big worry with Hollywood and the Snowden story is that they’re either going to be cowards and completely drain it of its political vitality,” Greenwald told me, “or that they’re going to do a superbiased smear job. For all the talk about how liberal Hollywood is, the reality is that they’re really close to the government. And whatever other things you might say about Oliver, I was actually relieved that someone was going to do this film where there was no danger of those things happening. ” This January, I drove to Stone’s office in West Los Angeles to watch a rough cut of “Snowden. ” Stone works out of a discreet suite in a pristine office complex. The décor is eclectic. There are tribal masks, Indonesian throw pillows, a Che Guevara painting and a lone potted palm tree. Like “Citizenfour,” “Snowden” takes place in Hong Kong, but this time the story has the eerie feeling of a familiar scene enacted by skilled Hollywood actors. Stone was right about Levitt. His performance is not an interpretation so much as a direct replica of the blower’s even demeanor and intonation. Quinto plays Greenwald with such intensity that he appears perpetually enraged. Melissa Leo’s Poitras is in turn warm and protective, almost maternal. Stone came in just as the credits rolled. He was nursing a cold but was back on caffeine and asked his assistant for Bulletproof, the trendy coffee brand made with “ butter. ” “It’s supposed to be nutritional,” Stone said. “No radicals. ” Since I last saw him, the film’s release had been pushed from December 2015 to May 2016 as Stone rushed to complete it, and then once more to September 2016. The biggest challenge was pacing. Stone likes to structure his movies around a series of pivoting, battlelike scenes — the concerts in “The Doors,” the football games in “Any Given Sunday” or actual warfare in “Alexander. ” A story in which the drama hinges on a tech specialist downloading classified documents was more subdued than he was accustomed to. “Coding is not exciting,” Stone said. “At the end of the day, it’s a nerdlike behavior — it’s dull on a screen. ” Stone got around the tedium of reality by turning his film into a cross between a cyberthriller and a love story, using Snowden’s relationship with Mills to inject emotional stakes. Cutting between Snowden in Hong Kong and flashbacks to his past, the film speeds through Snowden’s biography with the help of techno music, snappy explanations of N. S. A. programs and tricky camerawork to build in the tension of surveillance. (There are scenes filmed from the perspective of tiny phone cameras — the modern peephole — and suggestive on eye pupils.) But there are also unmistakable . “I just don’t really like bashing my country,” Levitt says to Woodley as they stroll past a era antiwar protest in front of the White House. “It’s my country, too,” Woodley says. “And right now, it’s got blood on its hands. ” Snowden’s N. S. A. boss is unsubtly named Corbin O’Brian, after the antagonist in Orwell’s “1984. ” “Most Americans don’t want freedom,” O’Brian tells Snowden. “They want security. ” Snowden’s many storytellers all tell a similar hero narrative. But if Greenwald’s account is about journalism, Poitras’s is a subtle and artful character study and Kucherena’s is an attempt at the Russian novel — a man alone in a room, wrestling with his conscience — Stone’s is the explicit blockbuster version, told in high gloss with big, emotional music and digestible plot points that will appeal to mass audiences. As Wizner wisely anticipated, it is the narrative most likely to cement Snowden’s story in Americans’ minds. Snowden declined to comment for this article, but Stone told me he had seen the film and liked it. At a screening at Con a few months later, Snowden would beam in via satellite to give his somewhat wary approval. “It was something that made me really nervous,” he said of Stone’s film. “But I think he made it work. ” As Stone intended, Snowden shows up at the end of the film. He appears in a paneled room in Kucherena’s dacha, a modest, looking space, with little to see except a vase of flowers and some curtains in the background. The Snowden who speaks is not the stoic version, but one who manages to deliver a caliber movie line. “I no longer have to worry about what happens tomorrow,” he says, “because I’m happy with what I’ve done today. ” Just before the screen fades to black, Snowden is shown gazing toward a window, a faint, inscrutable smile on his face. By this summer, whatever anxieties there may have once been seemed to have dissipated. With the film completed, Stone would officially beat Sony’s project. Open Road, the distributor he was worried about, had won an Oscar for “Spotlight. ” After “Snowden” earned similar marks to that film during test screenings, everyone seemed optimistic, if a little surprised. “At first I thought there must be something wrong,” said Borman, who told me that he hadn’t seen such high scores in 25 years. Open Road had pushed for a fall release, placing it firmly among Oscar contenders. (“Snowden” will open in theaters on Sept. 16, the day after Stone’s 70th birthday.) Levitt was so moved by Snowden’s story that he donated most of his salary from the film to the A. C. L. U. and used the rest to collaborate with Wizner on a series of videos about democracy. Wizner was preparing to petition Obama to grant Snowden a presidential pardon in the fall, and he hoped Stone’s film would help transform the public’s perception of his client. Kucherena, meanwhile, had turned “Time of the Octopus” into a trilogy — in the sequel, the N. S. A. sends an assassin to Russia to “eliminate” Joshua Cold. He hoped to come to the United States for the premiere of the film, in which he has a cameo as a Russian banker who encounters Snowden at a party. “If I can get a visa, why not?” he said. In July, Stone and Wizner joined forces for an A. C. L. U. event. The evening was billed as a conversation with Wizner about surveillance and Edward Snowden, with Stone hosting at his style home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. As several dozen West Coast supporters of the A. C. L. U. filtered into Stone’s backyard, the director sat camped out on a bench by the pool, taking the party in from a distance. He boasted that he had recently cut four more minutes from the film, bringing the run time to a lean 134 minutes. I asked if he would keep finessing until the end. “No, it’s over,” he said. “This is it. Now I die. ” Wizner roamed around, inspecting a meditation gazebo outfitted with a large gold Buddha. After several people inquired who was playing him in the movie, the lawyer came up with a pithy reply. “Kevin Spacey, reprising his role as Keyser Soze,” he joked. “The guy behind the guy behind the guy — hiding in plain sight. ” (Wizner is not a character in Stone’s film.) That week, NPR ran an interview with a Russian security official who posited that Snowden is maybe, probably, most definitely cooperating with Russian intelligence. This inevitably set Wizner off. “Of course, this is the same week that Snowden is blasting Putin on Twitter every day,” Wizner said to Borman, who nodded along. The producer suggested that Snowden’s critics would claim it’s a cover. “That’s what they say!” Wizner said. “This is preapproved criticism so that it’ll seem like he’s free, but actually Putin is the master pulling the strings. ” Eventually, everyone moved to the den, a spacious, brightly lit room filled with family photos. Matthew Weiner, the “Mad Men” creator, took a seat by a stack of DVDs, which included multiple seasons of his own hit TV show. Others arranged themselves along wicker chairs that lined the room’s perimeter. The whole thing had the feeling of a P. T. A. meeting, but without the stale cookies. Wizner got up and spoke for some time about his efforts as Snowden’s lawyer. As he opened the room to questions, someone asked how long Russia could be relied on to keep Snowden safe. Wizner turned the question over to Stone. “Oliver is the Russia expert,” he said with a hint of aggression. Since completing “Snowden,” Stone had become absorbed in his newfound interest in Russia and announced that he was making a documentary about Putin. In recent months, he had accompanied the Russian president to a theater performance and a World War II Victory Day parade in Moscow. “He represents a different point of view that Americans don’t want to hear,” Stone had told RIA Novosti, a Russian news service. When someone else asked about Stone’s experience of making “Snowden,” his answer was despondent. “It was really a horrible experience in every way,” he said. Everyone laughed except for Stone. As the guests dispersed, Wizner lingered in the foyer, admiring Stone’s art collection depicting important and mostly dead men. He thought that a print of Sartre looked like Steve Buscemi and that a looking Beethoven was actually Stone. On the opposite wall was a sketch of Genghis Khan, the feared Mongolian emperor. Stone called him a liberal. “Yes, Genghis Khan — misunderstood,” Wizner teased. Stone smiled and cocked his head. “Listen, the A. C. L. U. should defend him!” | 0 |
623 | The “Blacks For Trump” Man Once Belonged To A Murderous Cult | Colin Taylor | Comments
Republican nominee Donald Trump has been strategically placing certain people behind his him at rallies to create a false illusion about the diversity of his supporters. You may have noticed a man holding a “BLACKS FOR TRUMP” sign behind the racist rabble-rouser at his events, with a website URL “GODS2.com” underneath it. If you’ve wondered just what kind of black Americans could bring themselves to support Trump or if this election could get any weirder, well, hold on to your seat.
The man holding the sign is “Michael the Black Man,” also known as Maurice Woodside or Michael Symonette. LittleGreenFootballs did some research and discovered that Michael isn’t your ordinary concerned citizen. He’s a former member of a murderous cult , Yahweh ben Yahweh, led by preacher Hulon Mitchell Jr.
Michael, along with 15 other Yahweh followers, was charged for allegedly conspiring in two murders; his brother, who was also in the cult, told jurors that Michael had helped beat one man who was later killed and stuck a sharpened stick into another man’s eyeball. But jurors found Michael (and six other Yahweh followers) innocent. They sent Mitchell away for 20 years in the federal pen.
Michael later reinvented himself as a radio host and an anti-gay, anti-Obama preacher and soon found himself in the spotlight at Republican events, whose organizers were delighted to have found another person of color to attack Obama without being obviously racist. His website, GODS2.com, is filled with the delusional, vaguely anti-Semitic rantings of a madman and homages to Yahweh.
This may not mean much in the long run, but it’s worth pointing out just how outrageous the hypocrisy of the Trump campaign is. Trump attacked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton when the father of the Orlando nightclub shooter appeared in the stands behind her at a rally out of chance, accusing her of associating with the father of a deranged murderer – but this man is actually being planted behind Trump because of his skin color. Related Items: | 1 |
624 | Bill Clinton’s Lover: He Called Ruthless Hillary ‘The Warden’ | admin | Bill Clinton is a sex-addicted ‘monster’ who mocked Hillary Clinton by calling her ‘The Warden’ in front of friends and privately boasted about his high notch count, according to his long-time mistress and childhood friend Dolly Kyle. Kyle, now 68, says she had a decades-long affair with before and during his marriage and had a front-row seat to Bill’s salacious double-life in the 1970s and ’80s. Their on-again, off-again relationship ended abruptly in the 1990s, after Bill Clinton allegedly threatened to ‘destroy’ Kyle if she spoke to the media about their relationship. Kyle’s decades of observations, shared in an interview with the DailyMail.com as well as in her 2016 book The Other Woman, provide a unique perspective on the Clintons’ marriage and the couple’s treatment of the women who have accused of infidelity or sexual assault over the years. Kyle, an Arkansas native who has since befriended several of Bill Clinton’s sexual assault accusers, said she was determined to come forward with her story after hearing Hillary Clinton say on the campaign trail that women who have been sexually assaulted have the ‘right to be believed’. 35 | 1 |
625 | Fox News Just Exposed Hillary’s ILLEGAL VOTING Scheme To The Entire Country! | null | Home / News / Fox News Just Exposed Hillary’s ILLEGAL VOTING Scheme To The Entire Country! Fox News Just Exposed Hillary’s ILLEGAL VOTING Scheme To The Entire Country! fisher 2 mins ago News Comments Off on Fox News Just Exposed Hillary’s ILLEGAL VOTING Scheme To The Entire Country! Fox News Just Exposed Hillary ’s ILLEGAL VOTING Scheme To The Entire Country!
Hillary Clinton has taken her illegal actions to a new level with a new move that involves enlisting the help of illegal immigrants to help her beat Donald Trump in November.
Once again, Hillary is in violation of 8 U.S. Code § 1324, which makes it a felony to ‘conceal’ or ‘harbor’ any ‘alien’ ‘including any means of transportation.’ The penalty is five years in prison (ten years if it was done for “commercial advantage or private financial gain,” could be made for that). Hillary and the DNC also violated this law a few weeks back at the Democratic National Convention when they paraded two illegal immigrants across the stage to give an anti- Trump speech.
Hillary Clinton is enlisting undocumented “Dreamers” into a new voter registration drive aimed at signing up sympathetic voters with warnings that Donald Trump ’s immigration plans could result in their deportation – though the Dreamers themselves cannot legally vote.
Clinton’s national voter registration program, called “Mi Sueño, Tu Voto/My Dream, Your Vote,” was announced Sunday, on the four-year anniversary of the 2012 order that temporarily shielded from deportation some young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
The 730,000 young people known as Dreamers are prohibited from voting. However, they remain a powerful political organizing force, and the Clinton campaign hopes to use them to convince Latino and other households to go to the polls for the Democratic nominee. HERE’S WHAT LOU HAD TO SAY… | 1 |
626 | Russia, Cina e Arabia Saudita domano l'egemonia del dollaro, di Ariel Noyola Rodríguez | Ariel Noyola Rodríguez | Russia, Cina e Arabia Saudita domano l’egemonia del dollaro di Ariel Noyola Rodríguez
Gli Stati Uniti aumentano gli ostacoli tentando di mantenere l’egemonia del dollaro come valuta di riserva mondiale. Negli ultimi mesi, i Paesi emergenti hanno venduto un molti buoni del tesoro degli USA, principalmente Russia e Cina, ma anche Arabia Saudita. Inoltre, per proteggersi dalle violente fluttuazioni del dollaro, le banche centrali di diversi Paesi acquistano enormi quantità di oro per diversificare le riserve valutarie. In breve, l’offensiva globale nei confronti del dollaro è esplosa attraverso la vendita massiccia di debito degli Stati Uniti e, in parallelo, l’acquisto colossale di metalli preziosi. Rete Voltaire | Città del Messico (Messico) | 5 novembre 2016 français Español
La supremazia di Washington nel sistema finanziario globale ha subito un colpo tremendo ad agosto: Russia, Cina e Arabia Saudita vendevamo titoli del Tesoro degli Stati Uniti per 37,9 miliardi di dollari, secondo l’ultimo aggiornamento dei dati ufficiali pubblicato da pochi giorni [ 1 ]. Dal punto di vista generale, gli investimenti globali nel debito pubblico degli Stati Uniti sono al livello minimo dal luglio 2012. Chiaramente, il ruolo del dollaro a valuta di riserva mondiale è ancora messo in discussione.
Nel 2010, l’ammiraglio Michael Mullen, presidente del Joint Chiefs of Staff statunitense, avvertì che il debito era la principale minaccia alla sicurezza nazionale [ 2 ]. A mio avviso, non è tanto l’alto debito pubblico (oltre i 19 000 miliardi [ 3 ]) ad ostacolare l’economia degli Stati Uniti, ma per Washington è di fondamentale importanza garantirsi un enorme flusso di risorse estere ogni giorno, per coprire i deficit gemelli (commercio e bilancio); cioè per il dipartimento del Tesoro è questione di vita o di morte vendere titoli di debito nel mondo e così finanziare le spese degli USA.
Si ricordi che dal fallimento di Lehman Brothers nel settembre 2008, Bank of China ha subito forti pressioni da Ben Bernanke, allora presidente della Federal Reserve (FED), a non vendere i titoli del debito degli Stati Uniti. In un primo momento, i cinesi decisero di mantenere il dollaro. Tuttavia, da allora, per due volte, la PBoC evitava di acquistare altri titoli degli Stati Uniti e, allo stesso tempo, avviava un piano per diversificare le riserve valutarie.
Pechino acquista oro in maniera massiccia negli ultimi anni, e lo stesso fa la banca centrale della Russia. Nel secondo trimestre del 2016, le riserve auree della Banca di Cina hanno raggiunto le 1 823 tonnellate contro le 1 762 tonnellate registrate nell’ultimo trimestre del 2015. La Federazione Russa ha aumentato le riserve auree di circa 290 tonnellate tra dicembre 2014 e giugno 2016, chiudendo il secondo trimestre di quest’anno con un totale di 1 500 tonnellate.
Di fronte ai brutali scossoni del dollaro è fondamentale acquistare asset più sicuri come l’oro che, in tempi di grave instabilità finanziaria, agisce da rifugio sicuro. Quindi la strategia di Mosca e Pechino nel vendere titoli del Tesoro degli USA e comprare oro, viene seguita da molti Paesi. Come stimato dal Fondo monetario internazionale (FMI), le riserve auree delle banche centrali nel mondo hanno già raggiunto il massimo degli ultimi 15 anni, registrando ai primi di ottobre un volume di circa 33 000 tonnellate [ 4 ].
La geopolitica fa la sua parte nel plasmare il nuovo ordine finanziario mondiale. Dopo l’imposizione delle sanzioni economiche al Cremlino, a partire dal 2014, il rapporto con la Cina ha avuto grande rilevanza per i russi. Da allora, le due potenze hanno approfondito i legami in tutti i settori, dall’economia e finanza alla cooperazione militare. Inoltre, assicurando la fornitura di gas alla Cina per i prossimi tre decenni, il Presidente Vladimir Putin ha costruito con l’omologo Xi Jinping una potente alleanza finanziaria che cerca di porre fine una volta per tutte al dominio della moneta statunitense.
Attualmente, gli idrocarburi che Mosca vende a Pechino sono pagati in yuan, non dollari. Così, la “moneta del popolo” (‘renminbi’ in cinese) emerge gradualmente nel mercato mondiale degli idrocarburi con il commercio tra Russia e Cina, Paesi che, a mio parere, guidano la costruzione del sistema monetario multipolare.
La grande novità è che alla corsa per la dedollarizzazione dell’economia globale si è unita l’Arabia Saudita, Paese per decenni fedele alleato della politica estera di Washington. Sorprendentemente, negli ultimi 12 mesi Riad s’è sbarazzata di più di 19 miliardi di dollari investiti in titoli del Tesoro degli Stati Uniti, divenendo insieme alla Cina uno dei principali venditori di debito degli Stati Uniti [ 5 ]. A peggiorare le cose, il regno saudita si accanisce sempre più con la Casa Bianca.
A fine settembre, il Congresso degli Stati Uniti approvava l’eliminazione del veto del presidente Barack Obama ad una legge che impediva negli USA di denunciare l’Arabia Saudita in tribunale per il presunto coinvolgimento negli attentati dell’11 settembre 2001 [ 6 ]. Insieme, l’Organizzazione dei Paesi Esportatori del Petrolio (OPEC) ha raggiunto un accordo storico con la Russia per ridurre la produzione di petrolio e quindi promuovere l’aumento dei prezzi [ 7 ].
E’ anche sorprendente che giusto oggi Pechino abbia aperto allo scambio diretto tra yuan e riyal saudita attraverso il Trading System Foreign Exchange della Cina (CFETS, nell’acronimo inglese) per le transazioni tra le due valute senza passare dal dollaro. Di conseguenza, è molto probabile che, più prima che poi, la compagnia petrolifera Saudi Aramco accetti pagamenti in yuan invece che dollari [ 8 ]. Se si accadesse, la Casa dei Saud punterebbe tutto sul petroyuan [ 9 ]. Il mondo cambia davanti ai nostri occhi… | 1 |
627 | In Its Third Month, India’s Cash Shortage Begins to Bite - The New York Times | Geeta Anand and Hari Kumar | NEW DELHI — First, Yashpal Singh Rathore’s marriage was delayed by his future who, like most Indians, ran short of cash after Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the country’s largest currency notes in November. Then the lost his job when the ensuing cash crunch hit demand for motorcycles and scooters sold by the company where he worked, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. After that, the prospective refused to let the wedding go forward until he found another job. “So I lost my job and I lost my marriage,” he said in an interview at a protest, where he shouted slogans with more than 100 workers let go by Hero. Mr. Rathore is one among a large number of Indians — the precise number is not known — who have lost their jobs since Nov. 8, when Mr. Modi abruptly banned 86 percent of the country’s currency in a bid to eliminate “black money,” currency on which taxes had not been paid. For the sake of secrecy, the government largely avoided printing replacement notes in advance. So there has been an acute and protracted shortage of cash as the government struggles to catch up. That, in turn, has proved economically damaging. Exactly how harmful remains hard to determine, but the available data is not reassuring. Demand for vegetables is declining because people don’t have the money to pay for them, for example, and some service industries are reporting steep job losses. The International Monetary Fund this month cut its projected growth rate for India by one percentage point for the current fiscal year, to 6. 6 percent. While the full impact is still difficult to discern, there is little doubt who is suffering the most. “This has actually hurt the poor enormously,” said Nasser Munjee, chairman of DCB Bank and a company director at HDFC and Tata Motors. The pain is hidden, for the most part. Accustomed to hardship, many who lost employment were at first convinced by Mr. Modi’s speeches that their setbacks were transitory and, in the long run, would be worth the suffering. But as the crisis drags on, with no end in sight, some are growing frustrated, as they told us in a series of interviews at protests and at day labor gathering points. Many of them, even children, are forced to go without fruit, vegetables and milk — now unaffordable luxuries. Most had not paid apartment rents and their children’s school fees in the months since the cash ban. Many had sent their families back to their villages, and were ready to give up and follow if things did not turn around soon. Sending cash to the elderly parents they had long supported is now out of the question. As is common in India, the workers said that although they had worked on Hero MotoCorp’s shop floor, wearing company uniforms, they had been formally employed by other contractors, meaning they could be let go more easily without benefits. Sunil Kumar, 28, who had been earning 15, 000 rupees a month, about $220, at Hero, said he had been supporting his wife and two children when he lost his job without notice Nov. 29. They immediately cut milk, green vegetables and fruit from their diets, including for their and children. Paying rent is out of the question. “This is like a massacre for us,” he said. “My livelihood is gone after the cash ban. What do I do now?” The decline in vegetable demand is so steep that the prices of eggplants, potatoes, cauliflower and tomatoes dropped between 42 percent and 78 percent, the NCDEX Institute of Commodity Markets and Research said. In the first month alone after the currency ban, micro and service industries cut staff by 35 percent, the All India Manufacturers’ Organization said, based on a survey. It released a study this month saying that job losses in a variety of industries, including automobile parts, infrastructure and construction, would swell to as much as 35 percent by March. The anecdotal evidence is painful. Mr. Rathore, whose wedding was postponed, is among 582 workers who reported losing their jobs at Hero MotoCorp in November and December, as the company suffered a 34 percent drop in sales in December from a year earlier. Hero did not respond to requests for comment. Most economists believe the economy will rebound, but nobody knows how long it will take. In Noida, a satellite city of New Delhi, hundreds of unshaven men in rumpled clothing stood recently at a intersection called Khoda Labor Chowk that is a gathering place for people seeking work. Before the currency ban, they told us, they would be hired most days, earning 400 to 600 rupees, about $6 to $9, for a day of carpentry, floor tiling or masonry. But since the ban, most interviewed said, they had worked for only a week each month, at best, and even on the few days when they were hired their wages had fallen by half. Rafiq Ali, 46, said that, having worked only 12 days in the last two months, he had sent his wife and two children back to his native village about 200 miles away, where it is cheaper to live. “I am surviving on roti and potato with salt,” Mr. Ali said, referring to the flat Indian bread that is a staple in the Indian diet. “I’ve stopped taking milk, even in tea, and eating vegetables. ” But what hurt him most, he said, was a recent call from his wife, back in the village, who wanted money to take their sick daughter to a doctor. Mr. Ali said he had nothing to send. “A sense of desperation and helplessness is emerging,” he said. “This currency ban is not helpful for poor people. ” Hoti Lal, a father of three, said he could get work for only six days during the last two months, forcing his family to survive on money his son made cleaning offices. Mr. Lal had hoped his son could give up that job to go to college, but that dream is fading fast. His son’s salary of 7, 000 rupees a month, a little over $100, is about half of what he used to earn regularly, Mr. Lal said. So, Mr. Lal said, his family has cut back entirely on green vegetables and milk. Almost every man we interviewed said he was a migrant who had been sending a portion of his salary home to support his parents in his native village — and had been unable to do so since the currency ban wiped out work. Vikas Sahu, 30, who had been working at Hero for four years, has been unable to send money back to his parents, wife and children, who live in his village about 100 miles west of New Delhi. His first grader’s school fees are overdue by months, and his father took out a loan of 70, 000 rupees, about $1, 000, for agricultural expenses, including paying for repairs on the family’s tractor. “How long I can survive like this?” he asked. With little else to do, Rakesh Yadav, 28, shows up most days to protest, hoping for some relief from the government or some upbeat economic news that might induce Hero to begin rehiring. He had worked there for eight years as a machine operator on the shop floor. To cut costs, his wife and daughter went home to his village. He gave up the one room they had shared at a monthly rental of 3, 300 rupees, or about $50, and moved in with four other men who share a room. “I do not know where to go or what to do,” he said. Mr. Rathore said he thought about giving up and returning to his village in Bilaspur district, about 750 miles south of Delhi, but he just cannot bear to do so, at least not yet. “What can I do in my village?” he asked. | 0 |
628 | There’s Only One Trump Administration Position That’s Gaining Popularity And It’s Going To Shock You - Breitbart | John Carney | While support for the Trump administration’s positions on many issues has declined in recent months, one of the president’s most controversial policies has held its ground or perhaps even grown in popularity. [Some of the administration’s most popular positions have seen their popularity decline, according to CNBC’s quarterly “All American Survey. ” The share of Americans who say they somewhat or strongly support the administration’s plans to rebuild American infrastructure, for example, has declined to 62 percent from 75 percent three months earlier. Support for individual tax cuts has fallen to 59 percent from 64 percent, while support for cuts to business taxes fell to 50 percent from 54 percent. Renegotiating trade deals has lost support, falling to 50 percent from 58 percent. Support for regulatory relief has declined to 44 percent from 47 percent. Public support for repealing Obamacare very nearly held steady, losing just one percentage point of support from 45 percent to 44 percent. But the public remains strongly divided on healthcare, with opposition to the administration’s repeal and replace plans edging up to 38 percent from 37 percent in April. So which issue has gained popularity? Banning immigration from specific Middle Eastern and African countries. Public support for the ban rose by a percentage point, with 44 percent of Americans now saying the strongly or somewhat support the ban. That slight rise was due to a one percentage point gain in the “strongly support” category. Opposition to the ban has slightly declined, falling to 49 percent from 50 percent. The share of respondents who said they “strongly oppose” the plan, however, saw a steeper decline, to 32 percent from 36 percent. | 0 |
629 | Bill Clinton Said White Middle-class Life Expectancy Declined During Obama Years | Warren Mass | Email
Speaking at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Canton, Ohio, last November, former President Bill Clinton (right) expressed disappointment concerning a then-recent Democratic presidential candidates’ debate, during which, he said, there was not a single mention of the fact that “84 percent of the American people, after inflation, had not had a raise of 1 cent since the financial crash.”
The financial crash of which Clinton spoke began in late 2007 and extended into 2008 — the year Barack Obama was elected president. Though his administration was not responsible for the crash, when Clinton spoke last year, Obama had been president for more than six years. Therefore, Clinton’s observations indicated that the vast majority of Americans had made no financial progress during Obama’s entire first term and half of his second term.
Britain’s Daily Mail reported that the former president’s speech was published by WikiLeaks as part of the website’s release of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s e-mails.
In addition to the lack of income growth among most Americans, Clinton revealed a remarkable statistic: The life expectancy of middle-aged, non-college-educated white Americans is declining. Said the former president: And in the middle of all this we learned, breathtakingly, that middle-aged, non-college-educated white Americans’ life expectancy is going down and is now lower than Hispanics, even though they make less money. And the gap between African Americans and whites is closing, but unfortunately not because the death rate among African Americans is dropping but because the death rate among white Americans is rising. Why? Because they don’t have anything to look forward to when they get up in the morning. Because their lives are sort of stuck in neutral.
Clinton’s explanation that the reason that middle-aged, non-college-educated white Americans’ life expectancy is going down is because “they don’t have anything to look forward to when they get up in the morning” is probably an oversimplification that requires greater analysis.
The obvious reason why someone may not have anything to look forward to when they get up in the morning is because they are unemployed and therefore have no job to go to. Figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2015 — the year Clinton gave his speech — indicated that those with only a high-school diploma had a 5.4 percent unemployment rate, compared with a 2.8 percent rate for those with bachelor’s degrees. (These figures did not account for race, and they didn't count literally millions of unemployed Americans: After a few months of looking for work, the government drops them from the unemployment rolls, deeming them to not want to work. In 2009, 80 million Americans were deemed not in the labor force; now it's 95 million. Also, if an American is able to find a low-paying part-time job out of his field, he is considered employed by the government.)
An article published by Fortune on November 3, 2015 (about two weeks before Clinton’s speech) may have provided him with a basis for his statement. The article’s headline? “Is the Economy Killing Middle-Aged White People?” The article cited a survey released by a pair of researchers at Princeton University the previous day showing “a striking increase in the death rates of white, middle-aged Americans who have less than a college education.”
Though the researchers Angus Deaton, the 2015 Nobel laureate in Economics, and his wife, Anne Case, both professors at Princeton, didn’t form any steadfast conclusions about the reasons for the increase in death rates, they did speculate that economic factors are likely at least partly responsible. Fortune reported: Between 1999 and 2013, white men and women ages 45-54 saw their mortality rate increase by a half-percent per year, reversing decades of improvements up until that time. The main causes were suicide and the use of alcohol and drugs (both legal and illegal), according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The article noted that while it is impossible to know for sure how attributable the high death rates are to economic forces without more study, the Princeton researchers have speculated that the economic crisis of 2008 might have been a major factor.
The research paper considered an explanation for why the higher death rate has affected white middle-aged people more than those in other ethnic and racial groups subject to the same economic downturn. Their explanation was that “working-class whites have decades of relative success and security behind them…. For the first time, perhaps, that group has seen a reversal of its fortunes.”
We might add another explanation for the increased mortality rates: Workers accustomed to having their medical care paid for by their employers may find that, upon becoming unemployed, they can no longer afford medical insurance and, as a result, neglect the healthcare necessary to maintain their health.
While Clinton did not refer to the Princeton professors' paper in his speech, it is possible that its release just weeks before did provide him with some talking points.
Clinton’s comments were made in the context of a stump speech on behalf of his wife’s candidacy, and he did not offer any substantive solutions for the crisis among white middle-aged Americans. He instead offered this vague proposal: We have unlimited potential in America to grow our economy if we do a few things right, and not a lot. Five or six or seven things, really we’ll see jobs start forming again; we’ll see business formation going up again; we’ll see wages rising again. And I believe she’s outlined reasonable responses to all the things that will do that. And I ought to have some credibility on that, because the only time in 50 years when all sections of the American economy have grown together were in the eight years I had the privilege to serve.
In that regard, Clinton (on behalf of his wife) shared in rival candidate Donald Trump’s tendency to make many promises to grow the economy and create jobs offering higher wages, while offering few concrete details about how these lofty goals might be realized. Considering that the best thing that government can do to stimulate the economy is simply to get out of the way and allow the free market to flourish, however, any plan offered by a former Cabinet member of the administration that gave us ObamaCare might well be viewed with skepticism. We might also want to remember that the former president is the one who signed NAFTA, the trade deal that negatively impacted American jobs — leaving many Americans without "anything to look forward to when they get up in the morning.” | 1 |
630 | Furious Eric Holder Just Issued A Dire Warning About Comey’s Partisan Smears | Grant Stern | Comments
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder just wrote an op-ed warning the American people to disregard the FBI Director James Comey’s unprecedented decision to release information about an ongoing investigation during the heat of an election. Comey released a vague memo when he had little more to go on other than a mere suspicion and is now facing bipartisan calls for removal from office. Democratic congressional staffers now claim that their first warning of the Comey memo was when a House Republican tweeted it out with the usual anti-Hillary spin. That alone demonstrates exactly what Holder wrote about preventing “investigations from unfairly or unintentionally casting public suspicion,” which happened nearly instantly on Friday afternoon.
Former Attorney General Holder also pointed out that Comey’s “newly discovered” emails have no known significance and that the FBI Director violated long standing policies in the Department of Justice – which are non-partisan – aimed at upholding the integrity of America’s form of electoral democracy, free from government intervention:
I understand the gravity of the work our Justice Department performs every day to defend the security of our nation, protect the American people, uphold the rule of law and be fair. That is why I am deeply concerned about FBI Director James B. Comey’s decision to write a vague letter to Congress about emails potentially connected to a matter of public, and political, interest. That decision was incorrect.
The department also has a policy of not taking unnecessary action close in time to Election Day that might influence an election’s outcome. These rules have been followed during Republican and Democratic administrations. They aren’t designed to help any particular individual or to serve any political interest. Instead, they are intended to ensure that every investigation proceeds fairly and judiciously; to maintain the public trust in the department’s ability to do its job free of political influence; and to prevent investigations from unfairly or unintentionally casting public suspicion on public officials who have done nothing wrong.
Director Comey broke with these fundamental principles. I fear he has unintentionally and negatively affected public trust in both the Justice Department and the FBI. And he has allowed — again without improper motive — misinformation to be spread by partisans with less pure intentions. Already, we have learned that the importance of the discovery itself may have been overblown. According to the director himself, there is no indication yet that the “newly discovered” emails bear any significance at all. And yet, because of his decision to comment on this development before sufficient facts were known, the public has faced a torrent of conspiracy theories and misrepresentations.
High ranking former Justice Department officials like Eric Holder do not make a career out of slamming their former colleagues, so it’s a very rare break in the ranks to see a former Attorney General publicly slam his former subordinate. The Hatch Act prevents federal officials from interfering in partisan elections and strictly demands that public officials refrain from doing anything that could impact an election. Holder wrote :
I served with Jim Comey and I know him well. This is a very difficult piece for me to write. He is a man of integrity and honor. I respect him. But good men make mistakes. In this instance, he has committed a serious error with potentially severe implications. It is incumbent upon him — or the leadership of the department — to dispel the uncertainty he has created before Election Day. It is up to the director to correct his mistake — not for the sake of a political candidate or campaign but in order to protect our system of justice and best serve the American people.
FBI Director James Comey knew better than to release a vague memo about an ongoing investigation, which, even under normal circumstances, should never be done. That is why former Attorney General Holder felt compelled to rebuke him in this scathing op-ed.
Hopefully, the current members of the Justice Department tasked with reviewing the bipartisan complaints read the memo and expedite their decision concerning the future of the FBI Director.
It should not take long for any rational investigator to determine that James Comey’s “cry wolf” memo was little more than a partisan prop handed to a failing campaign — and to remove the FBI Director from his office. | 1 |
631 | Memo to Trump: 'Action This Day!' | Pat Buchanan | =>
“In victory, magnanimity!” said Winston Churchill.
Donald Trump should be magnanimous and gracious toward those whom he defeated this week, but his first duty is to keep faith with those who put their faith in him.
The protests, riots and violence that have attended his triumph in city after city should only serve to steel his resolve.
As for promptings that he “reach out” and “reassure” those upset by his victory, and trim or temper his agenda to pacify them, Trump should reject the poisoned chalice. This is the same old con.
Trump should take as models the Democrats FDR and LBJ.
Franklin Roosevelt, who had savaged Herbert Hoover as a big spender, launched his own New Deal in his first 100 days.
History now hails his initiative and resolve.
Lyndon Johnson exploited his landslide over Barry Goldwater in 1964 to erect his Great Society in 1965: the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid. He compromised on nothing, and got it all.
Even those who turned on him for Vietnam still celebrate his domestic achievements.
President Nixon’s great regret was that he did not bomb Hanoi and mine Haiphong in 1969 — instead of waiting until 1972 — and bring the Vietnam War to an earlier end and with fewer U.S. casualties.
Nixon’s decision not to inflame the social and political crisis of the ’60s by rolling back the Great Society bought him nothing. He was rewarded with media-backed mass demonstrations in 1969 to break his presidency and bring about an American defeat in Vietnam.
“Action this day!” was the scribbled command of Prime Minister Churchill on his notepads in World War II. This should be the motto of the first months of a Trump presidency.
For the historic opportunity he and the Republican Party have been given by his stunning and unanticipated victory of Nov. 8 will not last long. His adversaries and enemies in politics and press are only temporarily dazed and reeling.
This great opening should be exploited now.
Few anticipated Tuesday morning what we would have today: a decapitated Democratic Party, with the Obamas and Clintons gone or going, Joe Biden with them, no national leader rising, and only the power of obstruction, of which the nation has had enough.
The GOP, however, on Jan. 20, will control both Houses of Congress and the White House, with the real possibility of remaking the Supreme Court in the image of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have indicated they are willing to work with President Trump.
There is nothing to prevent the new GOP from writing history.
In his first months, Trump could put a seal on American politics as indelible as that left by Ronald Reagan.
A partial agenda: First, he should ignore any importunings by President Obama to permit passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in a lame-duck session — and let the trade deal sink by year’s end.
On Jan. 20, he should have vetted and ready to nominate to the high court a brilliant constitutionalist and strict constructionist.
He should act to end interference with the Dakota Access pipeline and call on Congress to re-enact legislation, vetoed by Obama, to finish the Keystone XL pipeline. Then he should repeal all Obama regulations that unnecessarily restrict the production of the oil, gas and clean coal necessary to make America energy independent again.
Folks in Pennsylvania, southeast Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia should be shown, by executive action, that Trump is a man of his word. And when the mines open again, he should be there.
He should order new actions to seal the Southern border, start the wall and begin visible deportations of felons who are in the country illegally.
With a new education secretary, he should announce White House intent to work for repeal of Common Core and announce the introduction of legislation to put federal resources behind the charter schools that have proven to be a godsend to inner-city black children.
He should propose an immediate tax cut for U.S. corporations, with $2 to $3 trillion in unrepatriated profits abroad, who will bring the money home and invest it in America, to the benefit of our economy and our Treasury.
He should take the president’s phone and pen and begin the rewriting or repeal of every Obama executive order that does not comport with the national interest or political philosophy of the GOP.
Trump should announce a date soon for repeal and replacement of Obamacare and introduction of his new tax-and-trade legislation to bring back manufacturing and create American jobs.
Donald Trump said in his campaign that that this is America’s last chance. If we lose this one, he said, we lose the country.
The president-elect should ignore his more cautious counselors, and act with the urgency of his declared beliefs.
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632 | Chaos and Desperation as Thousands Flee Aleppo Amid Government Advance - The New York Times | Anne Barnard and Nick Cumming-Bruce | BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hundreds of Syrian men who escaped areas of eastern Aleppo to reach parts of the city are missing, United Nations officials said on Friday, adding that they had received reports of government reprisals, including numerous arrests and several cases of summary killings of suspected supporters of the opposition. At the same time, the officials said, some rebel groups have prevented civilians from leaving and even killed or kidnapped those who demanded that insurgents leave their neighborhoods. The United Nations reports largely reflect what residents of East Aleppo have told The New York Times in recent days as Syrian government forces retook control of most of the city. Several have said family members were detained, arrested or conscripted after crossing into areas, and one resident recounted how rebels in the Bustan neighborhood stopped people from leaving. Other residents, however, said rebels had helped them cross the front lines or warned them not to go at certain times or in certain places because of the danger. Rebel groups inside east Aleppo are fragmented and do not always act in concert. As government forces continued to advance on Friday, panic was growing among those still trapped inside, who either could not make their way out or were afraid to enter government territory. More than 10, 500 people have left areas in the last 24 hours, Russian officials said on Friday, nearly half of them children, while others have moved deeper into the district under intense bombardment. At the same time, government forces have escorted hundreds of the displaced back to recently retaken districts, such as the Bab district below. But those areas are heavily damaged, and officials have told families to move into any available abandoned apartments. In areas the government has recently retaken, like this one south of Aleppo, it has placed posters of President Bashar amid rubble and handed out Syrian government flags. Many people who escaped eastern Aleppo have been filmed thanking government troops and their ally, Russia, and chanting praise for Mr. Assad. In the newly retaken Bab neighborhood, a man greeted a fighter. But for those viewed as opposing the government and men wanted for army service, there is a riskier side to entering government territory. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said family members had reported that they had lost contact with men aged 30 to 50, echoing several interviews The Times conducted in which Aleppo residents said their males relatives were arrested or forced to join the army. “Given the terrible record of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances by the Syrian government, we are of course deeply concerned about the fate of these individuals,” Mr. Colville said. He also said that two members of the forces that took over Aleppo’s neighborhood were reported to have summarily shot four men in front of their families on Sunday because they were suspected of working with the opposition. The last two weeks have seen the fiercest bombardments yet of districts. Those still inside describe chaos and intense crowding in some areas as people scramble for shelter. They said wounded people and bodies were left in the streets with no one to help them. Here, what is believed to be the charred body of a rebel fighter can be seen in retaken Bab . Mr. Colville said the agency had heard reports that two armed opposition groups had abducted and killed an unknown number of civilians who asked them to leave their neighborhoods. He added that residents trying to leave the Bustan neighborhood may have come under fire from armed opposition groups, something that could amount to the war crime of . “Civilians are caught between warring parties that appear to be operating in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” Mr. Colville said. “All sides are deeply culpable. ” The government has retaken most of the medieval Old City, a Unesco World Heritage site severely damaged by years of fighting. At its center is the citadel, which the government has held and used as a fortress throughout the conflict. The government’s offensive over the last week has left rebels in east Aleppo facing defeat. On Friday, Russian officials said that 93 percent of Aleppo had been captured by the Syrian Army. There has been some talk of at least a temporary to allow for evacuation of the city, but on Friday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said that military operations “will go on until bandits leave eastern Aleppo. ” Mr. Lavrov said he still had hope of reaching a final resolution for the city in talks with the United States, but Jan Egeland, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief, on Thursday described the two countries as being “poles apart. ” At the United Nations on Friday, Russia suffered a sharp diplomatic blow when a large majority of members voted for a mildly worded, legally nonbinding General Assembly resolution calling for a pause in fighting and access to humanitarian aid in Syria. In practice, the resolution means little, with no specifics and no force of law. So Syria and Russia, which lobbied vigorously against the resolution, can continue their military operations, including those on the parts of Aleppo. The resolution, advanced by Canada, received 122 votes in favor and 13 against. members abstained. The no votes included Syria, its chief allies Iran and Russia, along with China, Cuba and Venezuela. It comes days after Russia, along with China, defeated a resolution in the Security Council that would have imposed a cessation of hostilities to allow aid into besieged parts of Aleppo and allow residents to get out. | 0 |
633 | Wildfire Empties Fort McMurray in Alberta’s Oil Sands Region - The New York Times | Ian Austen | OTTAWA — The entire community of Fort McMurray, the heart of Alberta’s oil sands region, was ordered to evacuate on Tuesday night as a wildfire advanced on the city and cut off its only highway link to the south. The fire destroyed a number of homes in one neighborhood and some trailers in a trailer park, said Robin Smith, a spokesman for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray. According to television news reports, commercial buildings downtown were also ablaze. There were no reports of injuries by early evening. A video showed flames and smoke rising hundreds of feet into the sky, prompting the largest fire evacuation in Alberta’s history, The Edmonton Journal reported. The fire was expected to get worse on Wednesday, when winds were forecast to switch direction and increase in speed. Mr. Smith said early Tuesday that Highway 63, which connects Fort McMurray to Edmonton, Alberta, to the south and the main oil sands production areas to the north, was heavily congested with cars fleeing the fire, which began over the weekend. Late in the afternoon, however, the fire jumped over the highway, making evacuation to the south impossible, Mr. Smith said. He added that there was no immediate danger in areas north of Fort McMurray. The highway was later reopened. As of early Tuesday evening, the city’s airport was open, but some airlines were canceling flights, said Jillian Philipp, an airport spokeswoman. After leaving the airport earlier in the day, Ms. Philipp said she was unable to return because of the fire. But employees still there told her that it did not appear to be in the immediate path of the flames. The provincial government had ordered residents out of six neighborhoods and a trailer park by late in the afternoon after declaring the fire “out of control. ” The fire had consumed about 6, 500 acres of forest by late Monday night and increased substantially in size by Tuesday, said Laura Stewart, a spokeswoman for the provincial government. Ms. Stewart said that strong, changing winds were shifting the fire’s direction, making it unsafe for firefighters on the ground. As a result, their efforts had been limited to aerial water bombing. A photograph posted by the government showed only a relatively small line of trees and a hill separating a commercial district from a tower of flame. Until last year, the oil sands had made Fort McMurray Canada’s boomtown, where the biggest concern was dealing with frenetic growth and the housing shortages and social problems it created. The collapse of oil prices, however, has hit the city particularly hard. Oil sands companies have been laying off workers as projects are completed, but no major oil sands projects have shut down. Last year, the regional municipality had a population of about 125, 000, excluding thousands of workers who officially claimed residency elsewhere but who commuted by air to Fort McMurray and lived in work camps. | 0 |
634 | PressTV-Russian warships flotilla off Syrian coast | null | Syria This October 19, 2016 photo provided by Norwegian Armed Forces shows a plane taking off from Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov (R) with helicopters escorting nuclear-powered battle cruiser Pyotr Veliky (L) southwest of the city of Trondheim in international waters on its way to the Mediterranean.
A fleet of Russian warships has entered the eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Syria amid speculations that Moscow and Damascus are about to launch a massive operation against terrorists in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
The commander of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov told state-owned Russia-1 television network on Saturday that the military vessels were positioned in the “designated zone... in the eastern Mediterranean and are now jointly carrying out tasks, maneuvering to the west of the Syrian coast.”
Captain 1st rank Sergei Artamonov added that fighter jets have already started taking off from the carrier’s deck to survey the conflict zone.
“Flights are being carried out from the deck... they are working on coordination with the shore port. The flights have been going on practically every day for the last four days,” the high-ranking Russian naval commander pointed out.
The remarks came a day after Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that Russian MiG and Sukhoi warplanes routinely fly from the Kuznetsov aircraft carrier into the Syrian airspace to “determine combat missions.”
Meanwhile, the commander of the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered battle cruiser, Captain 1st rank Vladislav Malakhovsky, said on Saturday that no foreign aircraft dared to “come closer than 50 kilometers” away from the Russian fleet. This file photo shows Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich on its way to the Mediterranean. (Photo by Reuters)
On November 4, Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich passed through the Bosphorus Strait in northwestern Turkey and arrived off the Syrian coast.
Grigorovich is reportedly capable of launching land-attack Kalibr cruise missiles, which are equivalent to US Tomahawk ones and equipped with the latest high precision guidance systems.
Russia has been bombing Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the al-Nusra Front, terror groups in Syria since September 30, 2015 at the official request of President Bashar al-Assad.
Backed by Russia’s aerial campaign, the Syrian troops have retaken several militant-held areas in the Arab country.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Loading ... | 1 |
635 | Schumer: Sessions Should Be Investigated - He ’Seems To Be Violating’ His Recusal - Breitbart | Pam Key | On Sunday’s broadcast of on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( ) said Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to be violating his recusal over Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election by participating in the firing and replacement of FBI Director James Comey. Partial transcript as follows: TAPPER: As you know, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions who had said he would recuse himself for anything having to do with the probes raised eyebrows when he participated very directly in the firing of Comey, and then there are questions about him interviewing candidates to replace Comey, but what do you think about Sessions claim to have recused himself? Do you think he should be investigated by the senate and should it be investigated by the inspector general at DOJ? yes. SCHUMER: Yes. I have asked the inspector general and the request I’ve made is not only to look into any interference to thwart the investigation but whether Attorney General Sessions should have participated in the firing of Comey and should participate in FBI director. You know Attorney General Sessions has a higher obligation. He didn’t tell the truth meeting with the Russians so he recused himself. He seems to be violating that recusal that seems on its face to be part of this. And look, I called for him to step down when he didn’t tell the truth about the Russians because it’s the highest law in enforcement officer in the land. If the actions of the last week make all the more reason he should not be attorney general. ( The Hill) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
636 | Amid Division, a March in Washington Seeks to Bring Women Together - The New York Times | Katie Rogers | A movement is growing to bring together women across race, creed and political beliefs by luring them off social media and arranging for them to meet in person. It’s a nice idea, but there’s one catch: The Women’s March on Washington is being organized on Facebook, the nation’s preferred platform to battle over race, gender, politics and just about everything else. The timing of the event, which organizers began planning the morning after the election but are careful not to call a protest, is aimed at the coming administration of Donald J. Trump. More than 100, 000 people have said on Facebook that they will travel to the capital to participate. The plan is to walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the White House on Jan. 21, 2017, the morning after Mr. Trump’s inauguration. “We’re doing it his very first day in office because we are making a statement,” one organizer, Breanne Butler, said. “The marginalized groups you attacked during your campaign? We are here and we are watching. And, like, ‘Welcome to the White House.’ ” Since Election Day, there has been momentum around supporting groups that are opposed to Mr. Trump’s espoused views on women and minority groups. Nonprofit organizations, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union, have reported a surge in donations after the election. But the election taught Americans that women are deeply divided along party lines, education level and race: 53 percent of white women voted for Mr. Trump, according to exit poll data. On the march group’s Facebook page, it is easy to see how complicated the idea of the “women’s vote,” an already mythological concept, has become, and how difficult it might be for organizers to fulfill their aim of gathering women who remain fiercely divided on reproductive rights, gun control, marriage and immigration, among other issues. Not everyone on the page believes, for instance, that Hillary Clinton would have made a good president, or that Stephen K. Bannon, a chief strategist under Mr. Trump, holds divisive views about minorities. Debates over both have sprung up in recent days. Bob Bland, one of the march organizers, said in an email that organizers in Maryland had to change a Facebook page from public to private to protect the safety of women who want to attend. Evvie Harmon, a yoga teacher from Greenville, S. C. who is helping efforts to organize for the march, said the group had nixed a possible idea for a slogan — “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights” — because it was something that Mrs. Clinton once said. “This is not an protest,” Ms. Harmon said. “This is the reaction of women and minorities across the world who are very disturbed by the rhetoric that was said over the last year and a half. ” Aside from dueling political views, organizers are trying to take feedback from a cacophony of voices in real time as they try to assemble a network of state volunteers, plan programming and arrange transportation and lodging for the event. Ms. Butler, a chef who is organizing the event in her spare time, said the march had no official means of funding yet. There are women on the page who have said that the march is not inclusive enough, and that they don’t want an event organized by white women. Ms. Butler acknowledged the criticism but stressed that the women who are organizing are from different racial and religious backgrounds. (There was even controversy over the original name: Organizers have changed the name from Million Woman March to the Women’s March on Washington because observers took issue with the fact that the original name echoed a black women’s march held in Philadelphia in 1997.) Ms. Butler, 27, said the greater concern would be helping local groups raise money to help women who can’t afford to travel to Washington. “The reality is that it’s incredibly expensive to fly to D. C. on inauguration weekend,” Ms. Butler said. “We don’t want only an class of people at this march because no one else can afford to go. ” Tabitha St. 34, who plans to help sign up attendees by visiting churches, synagogues and community centers in New York City, said she had been working to include all types of people — including those who have not been on Facebook lately. “I am a woman of color and I am an immigrant,” said Ms. St. who lives in Brooklyn. She said of the march: “For me, it has been completely inclusive. ” This is all plenty of pressure for a movement without a concrete path to funding itself, but organizers are optimistic as they look ahead to January. According to Ms. Butler, the group’s request for a permit to march is still pending. On Friday, Michael Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said in an email that the group’s request to march is one of at least 13 requests currently under review for areas the agency administers in the nation’s capital. Those also include rallies and demonstrations. Mr. Litterst said the Park Service was also reviewing five requests for official inauguration events. | 0 |
637 | Zoe Saldana: Trump Won Because Hollywood ’Got Cocky, Became Arrogant Bullies’ | Jerome Hudson | actress Zoe Saldana says Donald Trump won the election, thanks, in part, to “arrogant” celebrities whose personal insults created sympathy for the Republican candidate and galvanized his supporters. [“We got cocky and became arrogant and we also became bullies,” the told AFP. Saldana, the face of multiple blockbuster film franchises — Star Trek, Avatar, and Guardians of the Galazy — says celebrities demonizing Trump only emboldened the voters who believed in him. “We were trying to single out a man for all these things he was doing wrong … and that created empathy in a big group of people in America that felt bad for him and that are believing in his promises,” she said. While she did not support Trump’s candidacy, Saldana says, “I’m learning from (Trump’s victory) with a lot of humility. ” She said she is hopeful that America under Trump will not become the racially segregated society that it once was. “If we have people continue to be strong and educate ourselves and stand by equal rights and treat everyone with respect, we won’t go back to those times,” Saldana said. The actress is but one of a growing number of stars who have condemned the cockiness of celebrities during the campaign and now insists that Americans rally around Trump. “A lot of celebrities did, do, and shouldn’t [talk about politics] Patriots Day star Mark Wahlberg told Task Purpose about a month after the election. “A lot of Hollywood is living in a bubble. ” “You know, it just goes to show you that people aren’t listening to that anyway. They might buy your CD or watch your movie, but you don’t put food on their table. You don’t pay their bills. ” Last week, actress Nicole Kidman said, “[Trump is] now elected and we, as a country, need to support whoever is the president. ” Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson. | 0 |
638 | ‘Anti-Establishment’ Trump Plans to Appoint Goldman Sachs and George Soros Insiders | Claire Bernish | Videos ‘Anti-Establishment’ Trump Plans to Appoint Goldman Sachs and George Soros Insiders “I know the guys at Goldman Sachs. They have total, total control over him. Just like they have total control over Hillary Clinton.” Be Sociable, Share! Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Sunrise, Fla.
Contrary to his anti-establishment stance — which supporters readily boast as a viable alternative to Hillary Clinton — Donald Trump’s establishment roots run so deep, the billionaire real estate mogul plans to appoint a former Goldman Sachs partner and George Soros Fund manager as Secretary of the Treasury should he win the election.
Steve Mnuchin came on board Trump’s campaign as finance chair in May, raising eyebrows of many who felt his 17-year history with Sachs — and affiliation with liberal globalist George Soros as an Investment Professional of Soros Fund Management — conflicted directly with the then-presumptive nominee’s conservative stance and criticisms of establishment politicians.
“It is difficult to see how a second-generation Goldman Sachs partner would secure such a prominent position in an administration delivered by a populist wind,” Compass Point analyst Isaac Boltansky told Politico of Trump’s curious choice for Treasury Secretary.
According to Fox Business Network , Trump’s confidence in winning the White House has fomented enough to begin picking Cabinet members, and besides the anomalous choice of Mnuchin for the Treasury, sources said he’s considering New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for Attorney General and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for Homeland Security Secretary.
Trump has, of course, expended great efforts in criticizing opponent Hillary Clinton’s deep ties to the banking and Wall Street elite; and prior to garnering the Republican nomination, extended that critique to competitor Ted Cruz, saying in one debate:
“I know the guys at Goldman Sachs. They have total, total control over him. Just like they have total control over Hillary Clinton.”
Zero Hedge noted when Trump hired the left-leaning hedge fund manager and financier as finance chair that Mnuchin had previously donated multiple times to various Democrats, including Barack Obama and none other than Hillary Clinton.
Further substantiating his establishing banking insider status — the precise profile Trump claims publicly to loathe — Mnuchin worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years, headed OneWest Bank prior to its purchase by CIT Group in 2015, and now sits on CIT’s board while also serving as chairman and chief executive of Dune Capital Management, a private investment firm with a focus on financing big-time Hollywood movies, like “Avatar.”
If Mnuchin’s Wall Street ties don’t trouble Trump’s supporters enough, the hedge fund manager’s links to George Soros — an ardent Clinton fan — certainly will.
In fact, in terms of opposition, Soros has spent billions influencing global politics by inserting his brand of leftism wherever possible — and earlier this year even pledged , with others, some $15 million specifically to mobilize Latinos and immigrants to defeat Donald Trump.
“Steven is a professional at the highest level with an extensive and very successful financial background,” Trump said upon bringing Mnuchin into his campaign. “He brings unprecedented experience and expertise to a fundraising operation that will benefit the Republican Party and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton.”
Indeed, Trump’s campaign, quoted by the Daily Caller , said Mnuchin “has previously worked with Mr. Trump in a business capacity and brings his expertise in finance to what will be an extremely successful fundraising operation for the Republican Party.”
While business dealings certainly bring ordinarily clashing personalities into contact on occasion, these details about the relationship between Trump and Mnuchin evidence the former’s links to the left.
Despite the nominee’s many diatribes excoriating Hillary Clinton as out-of-touch with the American populace, Trump’s own status as a billionaire belies both their decades-old friendship and striking similarities — particularly as darlings of the establishment.
Should you choose to vote on the 8th, it would be prudent to keep in mind blustery campaign rhetoric — from any politician — only constitutes so much hot air.
This article originally appeared on The Free Thought Project. Be Sociable, Share! | 1 |
639 | Do Cholesterol Drugs Have Men By Their Gonads? | Sayer Ji | Statins my disrupt vascular function On the Greenmedinfo.com Statin Research database we have cataloged over 15 studies from the National Library of Medicine indicating the heart-damaging properties of this class of supposedly ‘heart friendly’ drugs. View our professional data page here , or if you are not a member, view the open access reference page for public view and linking here . Statins do not only reduce lipoprotein production but have so-called pleoitropic properties, which include immune system down-regulating and anti-inflammatory properties, which is why they are believed to have a small benefit in reducing the inflammatory burden caused by autoimmune processes in the artery that can precipitate myocardial infarction (heart attack) in some individuals — but not without having the unintended, adverse effect of increasing cancer risk (at all sites) and contributing to congestive heart failure, effectively cancelling out the small, mostly theoretical benefit of reduced heart attack risk. For instance, it has been estimated that “…at least 23,000 low-risk people would have to take statins for five years to prevent one death from heart disease.” [ Source ] Statins are also clearly diabetogenic , increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes by about 50% in some populations , with the FDA now requiring drug manufacturers to include a warning of diabetes risk on statin drug labels . Considering morbidity and mortality from type 2 diabetes is caused not by the elevated blood sugar in and of itself, but the damage glycated sugar does to the vascular system and the subsequent cardiovascular harm it produces, the case against using statins for primary and secondary prevention of heart disease seems clear as day. Moreover, cardiovascular harm is not the only concern. Statin drugs have been linked to over 300 adverse health effects. We issued a consumer alert on the topic several years ago . For the more technically minded, here is the database page on Statin drugs listing 300+ adverse health effects based on 465 published studies. Heart Disease Is Not Caused By A Lack of A Drug Should we be surprised to find so much research on this drug class’s adverse health effects? After all, cholesterol is fundamental for the health of each cell in the human body, and low cholesterol has been found to cause a wide range of health problems , including psychiatric states such as violence against self and other. The food and drug industries have used cholesterol phobia to manipulate health professionals and the lay public into believing that the cause of heart disease is genetic, and can only be addressed through the use of synthetic, patented, essentially toxic chemicals, i.e. pharmaceuticals, or eating semi-synthetic ‘low fat,’‘low cholesterol’ foods with very little nutritional value. This latest study speaks to why we must exercise the precautionary principle when considering taking a patented chemical – technically a xenobiotic alien to human physiology – for suppressing a symptom of a much deeper and more complex problem. While oxidized cholesterol forms a significant part of the problem of atherosclerotic build-up in the arteries, it is not the primary cause of the damage to the inner lining of the arteries (endothelium), and the pre-existing endothelial dysfunction that can go on for many decades silently in the background. Ox-LDL deposits in atheromatous lesions have been viewed as an epiphenomenon, generated as part of a cascade of immune-mediated events the body activates in order to attempt to heal arterial damage. In certain respects, cholesterol deposits in the arteries at the site of damage can be likened to a Band-Aid. Do we blame the Band-Aid for causing the injury upon which it is placed? It is important to point out that oxidized cholesterol (ox-LDL) can be toxic and harmful to the vascular system, but the problem with modern blood testing for ‘cholesterol’ is that it does not take into the quality of the lipoproteins, only their quantitative dimensions. Depending on one’s diet, environmental factors, and overall bodily health, LDL particles will oxidize at different rates. If you are eating an antioxidant rich diet, full of healthy fats, phytocompounds, etc., your properly functioning LDL will be less susceptible to conversion to ox-LDL. On the other hand, eating a diet full of non-essential, oxidized fats, deficient in phytonutrients, antioxidants, etc. – and adding in environmental toxins and toxicants, e.g. smoking – will produce more ox-LDL, rendering it artherogenic. Obviously, therefore, diet and lifestyle form the basis for a sound preventive approach if the ‘ lipid hypothesis ‘ of cardiovascular disease is even deemed truly relevant. [For more research on natural substances which inhibit cholesterol oxidation, view our database on the topic: Prevent Cholesterol Oxidation .] Furthermore, there are many ways to address underlying vascular pathologies without suppressing the production of a vital building block and signaling molecule, which is what cholesterol is. Pomegranate , chocolate , and many other natural substances, have been confirmed in research to have profound heart disease preventive and reversing properties . You can explore our database sections relevant to the topic within our Heart Health guide , to find hundreds of studies proving this point. Basic nutritional incompatibilities, including the consumption of wheat which has cardiotoxic properties in genetically susceptible individuals, and excessive consumption of omega-6 versus omega-3 fats can profoundly increase the risk of heart disease. One groundbreaking study published last year, in fact, indicates that statins actually reduce the health benefits of omega-3 fats in the diet – adding another mechanism by which statin drugs exert heart disease promoting effects . Beyond the Pharmaceutically-Driven Medical Paradigm If statin drugs are toxic to human sperm, and if the men within whom this statin-induced damage is occurring are of reproductive age, the implications of this latest study on statins and fertility are potentially devastating to the health of future generations. Changes in our species germlines – sperm or egg – are carried on to future generations, possibly forever. With recent research indicating that even changes to somatic cells in this lifetime are capable of transferring information to the sperm , what we do here and now – our chemical exposures, our nutritional status, and even our psychospiritual and mental orientation (which gear into real physiological and genetic/epigenetic processes – can have critical and irreversible affects on our offspring. Clearly, the time has come both to re-evaluate the role of pharmaceuticals in ‘preventive’ health care, as well as the effects these novel new chemical compounds will have on the next generation, and the next. For alternatives to lipid lowering chemicals, take a look at the following, evidence-based natural interventions: | 1 |
640 | Trump: Flynn Treated ’Very Unfair’ by ’Fake Media,’ Illegal Leaks - Breitbart | Pam Key | Wednesday during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump addressed the resignation of Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. Trump said, “General Flynn is a wonderful man. I think he has been treated very very unfairly by the media. As I call the fake media in many cases. I think it is a sad thing he was treated so badly. In addition to that, from intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are leaked. It is a criminal action. It’s a criminal act. It has been going on for a long time, before me. Now, it is really going on. People are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton. I think that it is very, very unfair what happened to General Flynn, the way he was treated and the documents and papers that were illegally, I stress that, illegally leaked. Very very unfair. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
641 | California Today: In Virtual Reality, Investigating the Trayvon Martin Case - The New York Times | Mike McPhate | Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) Today’s introduction comes to us from Adam Popescu, a reporter based in Los Angeles. In turning the Trayvon Martin tragedy into a virtual reality film, the director Nonny de la Peña combed through public court records and stitched together 911 calls to structure an auditory narrative of the rainy night that ended in the shooting death of the unarmed by George Zimmerman. To get the look of the apartment complex in Sanford, Fla. where the events took place, Ms. de la Peña, a former Newsweek correspondent who runs a virtual reality company in Santa Monica, found architectural drawings of the location online, designs that were then rendered as video C. G. I. models. The final product, called “One Dark Night,” was recently shown at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum and is now available on Google Play and Steam. “This is immersive journalism,” she said, intended to drive empathy. But it also raises issues about taste and truth. I caught up with Ms. de la Peña by phone. Here are some excerpts from the conversation: Q. How did this piece come together? A. “One Dark Night” is sourced entirely from 911 calls, trial testimony and architectural drawings of the condo complex where the shooting took place. I’m still an investigative journalist at heart, and it was very much the kind of story I used to cover as a print reporter. I really wanted to make a piece about the shooting, to be able to cast any kind of additional spotlight on the case using V. R. Q. Why Trayvon Martin? Why not Freddie Gray or another tragedy? A. Nothing other than I had the ability and I had the time and I felt I was the person to do it. Something clicked when I began investigating the Trayvon case. Q. You say it’s meant to draw empathy. Do you acknowledge that videos of shootings can be interpreted in multiple ways, and that this piece is subject to such questions? A. Definitely. I’ve had a journalist say that they better understood Zimmerman’s position. We’re always trying to figure out what we can convey to the viewer and what’s appropriate to show. For audiences not reading newspapers or watching broadcast TV, V. R. can reach them where they play. This is how you keep an informed global citizenry and keep democracy robust. What do we decide to shield them from? I think that that question is only going to be more pronounced as this media becomes more mature. (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • The Trump administration said it would crack down on marijuana sales in states that have approved recreational use. [The Cannifornian] • “This has violated the trust of our community. ” The Santa Cruz police chief accused federal officials of misleading the city on immigration raids. [NBC Bay Area] • Far fewer students are applying for financial aid through the California Dream Act amid fears over deportation. [Los Angeles Times] • How an Los Angeles police officer telling teenagers to stay off his yard escalated to gunfire, protests and investigations. [Los Angeles Times] • America’s dams are showing their age — more than 70 percent are more than 50 years old. [The New York Times] • Some Silicon Valley executives think a universal income will be the answer to automation. The beta test is happening in Kenya. [The New York Times] • Since moving to Venice, Snap has alienated a community that prizes itself for a quirky sensibility. [Bloomberg] • Google’s car unit noticed a “striking resemblance” in Uber’s design and its own. [The New York Times] • Bette Kroening, whose Bette’s Oceanview Diner in Berkeley exerted influence on the Bay Area restaurant world, died at 71. [San Francisco Chronicle] • Famous during the 1980s for hosting game shows like “Love Connection,” Chuck Woolery has turned to podcasting. [The New York Times] • The Academy Awards are on Sunday. And the winners will be . .. [The New York Times] • Isabelle Huppert’s subversiveness and underplayed chic have transformed the actress, an Oscar contender, into fashion’s unlikely new muse. [The New York Times] • A new book includes about 170 images — many never before published — from the internment of during World War II. [The New York Times] • Video: Aerial views of the intense flooding in San Jose. [YouTube | Kevin Lowe] Among those most pleased by the return of rain to California have been wild mushroom enthusiasts. Years of drought put a damper on the foraging of fungus in the state’s forests, a hobby that has burgeoned with the growing popularity of fresh, local food. Amateur clubs up and down the state are organized around both the culinary and scientific celebration of California’s many mushroom species. As the rainfall began to surge last October, so did the autumn mushrooms, said Debbie Viess, a of the Bay Area Mycological Society. “We had a tremendous year for porcinis,” she said, “and it’s been a really good year for chanterelles too. ” Even with the continuing rain, several mushroom experts were wary about making predictions for the spring season, when popular morel mushrooms are normally abundant. While water is necessary, it isn’t sufficient, said Patrick Hamilton, a longtime mushroom picker in Sonoma County. “There are so many things, from soil conditions, to climatic conditions, to the age of the trees, all these things are difficult to understand,” he said. But the mystery, he added, “is part of the fun. ” California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley. | 0 |
642 | Nearly 8 Decades Later, an Apology for a Lynching in Georgia - The New York Times | Alan Blinder and Richard Fausset | LaGRANGE, Ga. — Some people here had never heard about the lynching of Austin Callaway — about how, almost 77 years ago, he was dragged out of a jail cell by a band of masked white men, then shot and left for dead. Some people never forgot. But on Thursday evening, the fatal cruelties inflicted upon Mr. Callaway — long obscured by time, fear, professional malfeasance and a reluctance to investigate the sins of the past — were acknowledged in this city of 31, 000 people when LaGrange’s police chief, Louis M. Dekmar, who is white, issued a rare apology for a Southern lynching. “I sincerely regret and denounce the role our Police Department played in Austin’s lynching, both through our action and our inaction,” Chief Dekmar told a crowd at a traditionally church. “And for that, I’m profoundly sorry. It should never have happened. ” He also said that all citizens had the right to expect that their police department “be honest, decent, unbiased and ethical. ” “In Austin’s case, and in many like his, those were not the police department values he experienced,” he said. The apology for the Sept. 8, 1940, killing is part of a renewed push across the American South to acknowledge the brutal mob violence that was used to enforce the system of racial segregation after Reconstruction: In a 2015 study, the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit based in Montgomery, Ala. documented 4, 075 of what it called the “racial terror lynchings” of blacks by white mobs in 12 Southern states from 1877 to 1950. The group has begun construction of a memorial to lynching victims in Montgomery, which could open by March 2018. To Chief Dekmar, however, the apology in the town he has called home since 1995 is about more than righting history’s wrongs. It is also an effort, in the age of the Black Lives Matter movement, to address some of the deepest roots of minority mistrust in the police, and create a better working relationship between officers and the community. “It became clear that something needed to be done to recognize that some things we did in the past are a burden still carried by officers today,” Chief Dekmar said in a recent phone interview. “Institutions are made up of people, and relationships go like this: Before you trust somebody, you need to know that they know that they did you wrong, and that you’re stepping up and apologizing for it. ” Chief Dekmar, 61, a New Jersey native raised in Oregon, embraces a view of law enforcement that extends beyond the narrow goals of protecting the good and locking up the bad. He tends to speak about his department as one organ of a broader social body, though one that is perhaps more exposed than others to its ills. He leads regular meetings of a “community outreach committee” in which he shares with other civic leaders what his officers see on the streets — homelessness, juvenile delinquency, children with learning and literacy issues — and looks for ways that various entities might work together to solve them. He has also sought to address trust issues: The department, he said, has mandated the use of body cameras on officers for the last five years. The chief became familiar with the lynching of Mr. Callaway only about two or three years ago, when one of his officers overheard two older women who were looking at old photos of the LaGrange police on display at the headquarters building. One woman said to the other, “They killed our people. ” Chief Dekmar began researching the episode but found, he said, only “sketchy reports” — there was “no investigation I could find, no arrest, no by the media. ” Indeed, the details of the crime appear to have been deliberately obscured for the residents of LaGrange. Then, in 2014, Jason M. McGraw, a student at the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, wrote a research paper about the lynching. He noted that while newspapers around the country had reported that a band of masked whites had abducted Mr. Callaway, the local paper, The LaGrange Daily News, wrote only that Mr. Callaway had died “as a result of bullets fired by an unknown person or group of individuals. ” The paper’s headline on the Sept. 9, 1940, article declared, “Negro Succumbs to Shot Wounds. ” Mr. Callaway is generally believed to have been 16 or 18 years old on Sept. 7, the day he was arrested and charged with trying to assault a white woman. According to Mr. McGraw’s research, six white men arrived at the jail that night with at least one gun, forced the jailer to open the cell and forced Mr. Callaway into a car. He was driven to a spot eight miles away and shot in the head and arms. He was later found by a roadside and taken to a hospital, where he died. Mr. McGraw noted that the investigation of Mr. Callaway’s death fell to the town’s police chief, J. E. Matthews, and the Troup County sheriff, E. V. Hillyer, but that an investigative report was never made public. Chief Dekmar has learned that generations of were well aware of what happened. “There are relatives here and people who still remember,” he said. “Even if those people are not still alive, down through the generations, that memory is still alive. That’s a burden that officers carry. ” As Chief Dekmar learned more about the case, he decided that something must be done to acknowledge it. The city he has sworn to protect is less than 70 miles southwest of Atlanta. Before the Civil War, LaGrange was a wealthy hub in Georgia’s cotton kingdom: Troup County, of which LaGrange is the seat, had the state’s number of slaves. Today, according to recent census figures, the city is about 48 percent black and 45 percent white. A Kia plant in nearby West Point, Ga. suggests an economic future for the area beyond the textile industry that once sustained it. But nearly one in three LaGrange residents live in poverty. Residents say race relations here, as in many multicultural American communities, run the gamut from friendly to frayed, depending on the day and the issue. When LaGrange College, a private liberal arts school in town, announced that it had invited Representative John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat, to speak at a Martin Luther King Jr. event scheduled for Thursday, protests poured in, in part because Mr. Lewis had questioned the legitimacy of President Donald J. Trump. On Thursday, some businesses around town bore signs promoting Mr. Lewis’s appearance, while some homes featured signs declaring “Back the Blue. ” For the last two years or so, city and county residents, including Chief Dekmar, have been engaged in a program of racial reconciliation and racial . At a monthly meeting this summer, Chief Dekmar approached the president of the county N. A. A. C. P. chapter, Ernest Ward, and asked if he would help set up a public apology for the lynching. Mr. Ward served on the police force for nearly two decades starting in the . He acknowledged that some of his fellow black residents harbored an attitude toward the police. “I lost many friends when I became a police officer,” he said, “because they felt that I sold out. ” He was asked how much the apology would help with police work. “I believe it’s a start,” he said. “And it’s helped me to have a newfound respect for Chief Dekmar. ” “Historically certain people in the white race don’t like to bring up the past when it may not show a good light on their ancestors,” Mr. Ward said. “And so they would prefer to keep things hidden. ” Chief Dekmar issued his apology to relatives of Mr. Callaway on Thursday night at Warren Temple United Methodist Church here. The month after the shooting, Mr. McGraw noted, a church minister named L. W. Strickland wrote to Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court justice who was then a lawyer for the N. A. A. C. P. telling him that the local branch of the rights group had asked the authorities to look into the case, but that “nothing is being done — not even acknowledgment of our requests. ” Some white LaGrange residents said on Thursday that they were deeply skeptical about whether the apology would have any practical effect. They noted that the crime took place before most people here were even born. “I don’t care if they apologize or don’t,” said Jessie East, 74, who works at a furniture and appliance shop. “It’s not going to change a thing that happened 77 years ago. ” But to others, including one of Mr. Callaway’s relatives, the apology was a step toward healing. “I speak your name, Austin Callaway, and ask God for forgiveness for the people that did this inhumane thing to you,” Deborah Tatum, a descendant of Mr. Callaway, told the congregation. “Some might say ‘forgiveness’? And I say to you that I believe God when he tells us that there is power and freedom in forgiveness. ” | 0 |
643 | Marcia Clark Finally Has a Moment to Savor at the Emmys - The New York Times | John Koblin | LOS ANGELES — From the stars to the producers to the executives, no one involved with “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story” seemed to realize the significance of where they were celebrating their triumphant Emmy night after the awards ceremony Sunday. They were all at an at an event space called Vibiana, about two blocks from the courthouse where the Simpson case was tried. A couple of decades later, the case was recreated on this FX program, which won the Emmy for best limited series, capping a big night for the show. When the Fox executive Dana Walden heard about the proximity of the courthouse to the party, she said, “That just gave me chills,” a sentiment echoed by FX’s chief executive, John Landgraf, who called it “a little chilling. ” But there was one person who understood the odd coincidence of ending up back where it all started, after a circuitous and sometimes torturous route. “I know where I am,” Marcia Clark, the prosecutor in the Simpson case, said, a little gravely. She was sitting on a couch, inches away from the actress Sarah Paulson, who was holding the Emmy she won for portraying Ms. Clark. Ms. Clark, who was Ms. Paulson’s guest at the Emmys, said she couldn’t help but think about how near the courthouse was on the ride over from the ceremony. It was a bitter reminder for Ms. Clark, who was ridiculed in the news media in the — the perception being that she had blown the prosecution and let Mr. Simpson go free. She has found her public comeback only in the last year, after the explosive popularity of the series and the sympathetic portrayal from Ms. Paulson, who in her acceptance speech for her best actress award offered up a moving public apology to Ms. Clark. “The world saw me in sound bites,” Ms. Clark said. “Now I feel like I’m more understood. ” As Ryan Murphy, the prolific television producer who shepherded this show, put it: “The great story tonight is Marcia Clark finally won. ” And so did FX. At the Emmys, it’s usually an HBO night, and to a certain extent it was again: The premium cable channel won the best drama and comedy categories for a second consecutive year with “Game of Thrones” and “Veep. ” It also broke Comedy Central’s hold on the variety category, with a victory by John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight. ’’ But propelled by a category that FX is reinventing — the limited series — the network arguably stole the show, smashing the basic cable Emmy record by winning 18 awards over all. The previous record was eight awards. The FX show also won acting Emmys for Courtney B. Vance’s portrayal of the defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran and Sterling K. Brown’s depiction of another prosecutor, Christopher Darden. (Louie Anderson won his first Emmy for his role as the mother of Zach Galifianakis’s character in FX’s “Baskets. ”) Mr. Landgraf has said in the past that he feels like he has to play “Moneyball” to compete with his rivals. Last month, he said his budget was about a sixth the size of Netflix’s. (Netflix’s programming budget is about $6 billion, HBO’s is $3 billion, and FX’s is about $1 billion.) But despite that, FX outshined them on Sunday. The success of the O. J. show wasn’t a sure thing. For decades, Hollywood did everything it could to stay away from the Bronco chase, Judge Lance A. Ito and the trial, in what proved to be a divisive national episode. “Like most things, it’s a in retrospect, but it wasn’t at the time,” said Brad Simpson, a producer of the show, with his Emmy in hand. “There was such a heavy saturation of O. J. that nobody wanted to hear about it again. When we announced the show, all the comments were, ‘Oh lord, don’t put the country through this again.’ But the show touched on things that obsesses America: class, race, the criminal justice system. ” By turning it into a limited series, which requires a relatively easy time commitment, FX was able to attract actors including John Travolta, Cuba Gooding Jr. and David Schwimmer. (All were nominated for awards on Sunday night.) And though the Academy Awards have been criticized for their lineup of acting nominees, the Emmys have done better with diversity: Three won acting awards on Sunday, including Mr. Vance and Mr. Brown from “The People v. O. J. Simpson. ” “Actors and directors follow the writing,” Mr. Vance said at the party. “The writers in TV are writing for different hues of color. Hopefully the movies start to see that if you want to get the people, you better do the writing. ” Mr. Murphy, the producer, has been a regular at the Emmys (he’s the man behind shows including “Glee,” “ ” and “American Horror Story”) and he said that between the diversity onstage and the large number of winners, Sunday night’s ceremony represented “a sea change. ” “I feel like sometimes you go to those award shows, and there are some people who win over and over again, but it wasn’t that type of night,” he said. “The Television Academy and the voters have moved onto a different feeling, a different embrace, and it felt good. ” There was arguably nobody who benefited more on Sunday night than Ms. Clark. Though Ms. Paulson was joined at the hip with Ms. Clark on Sunday, the two did not meet until late in production. They’ve become close since then, and Ms. Paulson provided one of the night’s stirring moments when she apologized to Ms. Clark during her acceptance speech, saying that the public in the 1990s was “superficial and careless. ” Ms. Clark seemed to be enjoying the rehabilitation of her reputation. “I think the benefit of this was people got to see the fullness of everyone involved,” she said. “Not just me. Chris Darden, too. Everyone. As well as the historical context. I think everybody got more of what was going on, more than they did ever before. ” For two hours, Ms. Clark and Ms. Paulson sat cozily in a corner near Mr. Murphy and the “Narcos” star Pedro Pascal. At a little before midnight, Ms. Paulson got up to leave with Ms. Clark. As they walked through a courtyard, a group of young women were gawking at them, but they weren’t interested in the one holding the Emmy. “Oh my God, that’s Marcia Clark!” one woman said. Ms. Clark heard it, looked over, pointed triumphantly and waved. She walked out of the party and toward an S. U. V. with Ms. Paulson, and just a few blocks away from her first brush with fame, Ms. Clark finally had her Hollywood ending. | 0 |
644 | In ‘Brexit’ Speech, Theresa May Outlines Clean Break for U.K. - The New York Times | Stephen Castle and Steven Erlanger | LONDON — “Get on with it. ” With those words late in a major speech on Tuesday, Prime Minister Theresa May charted Britain’s course toward a clean break with the European Union and expressed her fondest hope: that the time for “division and discord” is over. Her speech outlined what promised to be a hugely complex, negotiation, and it defined the broad objectives, but not the details, of British withdrawal. “The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, and my job is to get the right deal for Britain as we do,” she said. With the address, Mrs. May began the jockeying that will lead to a break after more than four decades of tight integration, and define Britain’s relations with its neighbors for decades to come. She confirmed that Britain is determined to regain control of migration from the European Union and rejected the supremacy of the European Court of Justice. That stance is anathema to the European Union, which has made the free movement of people — as well as goods, capital and services — a bedrock principle and which relies on the court to arbitrate. “Let me be clear,” Mrs. May said, acknowledging the differences. “What I am proposing cannot mean remaining in the single market. ” She said that she hoped to complete a final deal with the European Union by March 2019 and that it would be voted on by both houses of Parliament. She was not clear about what would happen if Parliament rejected the deal, though some speculated that a rejection would result in the sort of chaotic, “cliff edge” breakup that she and Britain’s bankers and business leaders hoped to avoid. Mrs. May struck a diplomatic note, including an appeal for a new partnership with Continental Europe, but not at all costs. “We seek a new and equal partnership — between an independent, global Britain and our friends and allies in the E. U.,” Mrs. May said. “Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half in, half out. ” And she appealed to Britons, especially to those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to unite behind the government and stop refighting the referendum that backed leaving the bloc, which she had opposed. The reaction among her opponents in the “remain” camp was predictably harsh and seemed to herald a long and bruising process. “Theresa May has confirmed Britain is heading for a hard Brexit,” said Tim Farron, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats. “She claimed people voted to leave the single market. They didn’t. She has made the choice to do massive damage to the British economy. ” The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, accused the Tories of turning Britain into “a tax haven,” with their recent threat to slash corporate taxes if a good deal cannot be reached with the European Union. The speech, which provided some degree of substance, gained a warmer reception in the markets, with the pound seeming to stabilize after several jittery days. It rose as much as 1 percent against the dollar during her speech, while stocks on the London exchange fell. Supporters of a withdrawal have been encouraged as well by reports that other countries in the bloc have recognized that they might suffer if there was a complete rupture and they were denied access to London’s financial services sector. But British businesses remained nervous. Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, a business lobbying group, welcomed the greater clarity provided by Mrs. May but worried that “ruling out membership of the single market has reduced options for maintaining a trading relationship between the U. K. and the E. U. ” Kallum Pickering, senior Britain economist at Berenberg Bank in London, was more blunt, writing in an analysis that “as we do not expect the E. U. to compromise its principles, the U. K. is set to face significant economic consequences from Brexit. ” Few analysts expect the negotiations to go as smoothly or as quickly as Mrs. May seemed to say in her speech. In recognition of the troubles that may lie ahead, Mark Boleat, the policy chairman for the City of London Corporation, the heart of Britain’s financial services industry, urged Mrs. May to swiftly secure a transition deal that would provide the certainty that businesses crave. Charles Brasted, a partner at Hogan Lovells, an international law firm, cautioned that the deal Mrs. May wanted was likely to be seen by the European Union as “precisely the cherry picking that they have warned against. ” He added: “The objectives are now clear. The path towards them is uncharted. ” But he warned that “every one of the aspirations expressed by the U. K. government today will demand exceptional political skill to negotiate and will be complex to implement legally and commercially. ” In Europe, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said on Twitter: “Sad process, surrealistic times but at least more realistic announcement on #Brexit. ” Germany’s foreign minister, Steinmeier, welcomed Mrs. May’s “desire for a positive and constructive partnership, a friendship with a strong E. U.,” which Germany would reciprocate. Mrs. May’s speech, delivered in the grand surroundings of Lancaster House in London, was the most closely watched statement on European policy since January 2013, when the prime minister at the time, David Cameron, promised to hold a referendum on European Union membership. The prospect that Britain would remain part of the single market has been fading since Mrs. May said in October that she would demand complete control of migration from the European Union and release from the European Court of Justice. The extent to which Mrs. May would be willing to compromise to maintain some access to the single market and to the customs union for goods was less clear. Membership in the customs union limits the ability of member countries to strike individual deals with nations. So she said she wanted a deal that would allow Britain to trade freely with the world, but still have as much trade as possible with European Union countries. Ideally, Britain would like to have its cake and eat it, in the memorable phrase of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. In other words, Britain would reject what it disliked about the bloc, like freedom of movement, but keep trade unencumbered as it tried to get the best possible trading deal consistent with its other objectives. While European nations are expected to be stingy with market access, Mr. Pickering says he believes they will eventually bend. In the final deal, he wrote, he still expects Britain and the European Union to agree to a deal in which “the U. K. maintains a good level of access to the E. U.’s goods markets and limited access to the services markets. ” “Crucially, we expect the U. K. to lose its E. U. financial services passport,” Mr. Pickering wrote, referring to a system that allowed banks based in Britain to offer financial services throughout the bloc. “This follows from the U. K. raising some modest barriers to migration from the E. U. ” Many European Union countries have backed taking a hard line against Britain to send a message to other member states that might consider leaving. Anticipating that, Mrs. May said that Britain wanted a successful European Union and a friendly partnership, but that “no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain. ” | 0 |
645 | A Man Who Hated Black Men Found a Victim Who Cared for Others - The New York Times | N. R. Kleinfield | Since he was a boy he has hated black men. A bitter hatred of black men that boiled in his mind and consumed him. Then last week, apparently, he decided to kill them. This was the investigators say they gathered of James Harris Jackson, a morose and seemingly directionless white man who lived in Baltimore and had been having trouble getting rooted since leaving the Army. He had registered few obvious traces of who he was and what he stood for. Those who intersected with him found him to be a disagreeable and solitary figure who waved away contact with others. By all accounts, Timothy Caughman, 66, was a benevolent man content with an unassuming life. He lived in a former single room occupancy residence that had been his longtime home. The son of a home health care aide and a pastor, he had worked in antipoverty programs in Queens. Religion and philosophy were constants in his conversations over unhurried meals of turkey bacon and grits at local diners. In recent years, he had caught the familiar New York infatuation with celebrities and delighted in collecting their autographs and pictures. On St. Patrick’s Day, Mr. Jackson boarded a bus in Washington and rode it to New York. There were black men everywhere, and he told investigators he contemplated going elsewhere, but settled on New York because of the flood of media there. His goal was to draw the widest possible attention to his murderous plan. He made his statement of what hate looks like late on Monday night when the authorities said he pulled out a sword and fatally stabbed Mr. Caughman. He had been scavenging for cans in Midtown Manhattan around the corner from his home. Presumably, Mr. Jackson had little intention of getting away with it. Just after midnight on Wednesday, he surrendered to the police and took responsibility for the murder. He was arraigned on Thursday in Supreme Court in Manhattan and charged with murder as a hate crime. He was ordered held without bail. The attack comes at a particularly anxious moment in America as hate crimes are on the rise in the country and especially in New York City. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo forcefully condemned the killing. At the arraignment, Joan Illuzzi, the prosecutor, said that Mr. Jackson was particularly offended by black men who were with white women. She told the judge that additional charges may be filed, including murder in the first degree, “as this is an act, most likely, of terrorism. ” Dressed in a Tyvek suit, handcuffed and his legs in shackles, Mr. Jackson sneered several times as the charges were read. At one point, he gazed at the ceiling as though bored. He did not enter a plea. Sam Talkin, Mr. Jackson’s defense lawyer, declined to comment on the specifics of the case. “We just need for the dust to settle,” he said. If the information put forth by the authorities is accurate, he added, they will have to deal with Mr. Jackson’s “obvious psychological issues. ” The investigation into Mr. Jackson is still in its early stages and much remains unknown. But pieces of his life — and of the man he is accused of killing — were beginning to come together. Thus far, investigators have not linked Mr. Jackson to any white supremacy or hate group. Their sense is that he’s a discontent, not unlike many others who carry out senseless killings. But he was blunt about his prejudices when questioned by detectives. According to a law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity since the investigation is continuing, “He told the cops, ‘I’ve hated black men since I was a kid. I’ve had these feelings since I was a young person. I hate black men. ’” Mr. Jackson told detectives, according to the official, that his intention was to keep on killing, the first attack being a springboard. At one point during his interrogation, he said he thought about grabbing a police officer’s gun and using it to shoot others. Investigators have not yet determined the origins of this hate. Mr. Jackson told them that he had written his beliefs down and was going to deliver his writings to The New York Times. “He said, ‘Listen, I wrote this all down, it’s in my laptop,’” the law enforcement official said. He apparently grew up in Baltimore. In 2007, he graduated from the Friends School of Baltimore, a small and prestigious Quaker day school. Matt Micciche, the head of school, said the campus community was “shocked and saddened by the news of this horrific attack. ” “Our school — and the Religious Society of Friends — has a long history of commitment to diversity, racial equality, social justice and nonviolence,” Mr. Micciche said in a statement. “The entire Friends School community extends our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Timothy Caughman. ” In March 2009, Mr. Jackson joined the Army and served at various locations in the United States, working in military intelligence. He was deployed to Afghanistan between December 2010 and November 2011. Afterward, he was stationed in Baumholder, Germany, before being discharged in August 2012, when his rank was specialist. During his service, the Army said, he received several awards. It’s unclear what he did after leaving the Army, though he seemed lost. In the spring of 2015, he was nearly evicted from an apartment building in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood for falling behind on his rent, according to Marcus Dagan, who was filling in then as the building’s manager. Speaking by phone from Omaha, where he now lives, Mr. Dagan said Mr. Jackson occupied a apartment and was at least six months in arrears. Mr. Dagan described him as a “slob” and a “deadbeat,” who refused to let anyone inside his apartment and never engaged in the building’s social atmosphere. “He turned into the tenant from hell,” Mr. Dagan said. He began eviction proceedings, but Mr. Jackson left before they were completed. The apartment, Mr. Dagan said, was the most disgusting thing the person hired to clean it had ever seen. “He definitely had some issues of some kind,” Mr. Dagan said. “How do you describe it? He was off. ” Yet he said he had never heard Mr. Jackson say anything that could be construed as racist. “Never had an intimation of that,” he said. “When you shake hands with somebody you can guess the character,” he said. “In his case, you’d get like three fingers and a cold fish. ” Mr. Jackson’s most recent address was a house wedged into a narrow street lined with rowhouses in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore, just west of Johns Hopkins University, a historic area that is filled with restaurants and shops. No one answered the door at the home on Thursday. A patrol car from the Baltimore Police Department was posted outside. Members of Mr. Jackson’s family appeared to be together in his parents’ home in a gated community several miles away. On Thursday afternoon, his family issued a brief statement through a lawyer: “Our family is shocked, horrified and heartbroken by this tragedy. We extend our prayers and condolences to the family of Timothy Caughman. We have no further comments at this time and ask that our privacy be respected. ” After Mr. Jackson got to New York last Friday, he checked into the Hotel at Times Square on West 46th Street, using an assumed name. As far as the police know, he attacked no one else during those first days. As best they can tell, he was hunting. His weapon was a sword, and he carried two smaller knives. From surveillance cameras, investigators managed to track some of his movements, though there are gaps. In one video, he can be seen tailing a black man. When detectives questioned Mr. Jackson, they said he acknowledged zeroing in on that man but didn’t strike because there were too many people around. Late Monday evening, he found a target on a Midtown street corner. Timothy Caughman was bent over some garbage. Like many New Yorkers living spare lives in their retirement years, Mr. Caughman was once someone else, his identity not defined by empty pockets and a modest address. He was born in Jamaica, Queens, and grew up in a comfortable apartment in the South Jamaica Houses. One of his cousins said the family has roots in Georgia dating back to the 1700s when their ancestors were first brought to America as slaves. He was the son of Tula Caughman, a home health care aide for wealthy residents of nearby Jamaica Estates, and William Caughman, the pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church. Growing up, he was called Hard Rock, for he knew his way around a boxing ring — and a street fight. “He was known in the community as not to be someone who started a fight, but if you started it, he finished it,” said one of his cousins. According to Seth Peek, another cousin, Mr. Caughman earned an associate degree after attending college in Brooklyn and Staten Island. For several years in Queens, Mr. Caughman ran a division of the Neighborhood Youth Corps, a federal antipoverty program designed to provide jobs to poor youths. “He probably gave out about two or three thousand jobs to people in the community,” said one of his cousins. He also freely contributed homespun advice on how to excel: “‘If you know that someone is going to be somewhere, and you want to meet them, you got to be there an hour early,’” the cousin recalled Mr. Caughman instructing him. Later, he held a succession of jobs, including as a concert promoter. He was particularly proud of booking an early gig by Earth Wind Fire, before they attained fame, his cousin said. For the last 20 years, he lived in a room at the Barbour Hotel on West 36th Street that now houses formerly homeless people transitioning to permanent housing. Svein Jorgensen, the chief executive of Praxis Housing Initiatives, which manages the Barbour, said that of the residents, Mr. Caughman was one of the few who were actually permanent tenants and not part of the transient program. In reports of the murder, Mr. Caughman was incorrectly assumed to be homeless. “He was an extremely gracious individual and respectful of his neighbors,” Mr. Jorgensen said. He read avidly, and mainly kept to himself. He was a recycler of redeemables, his currency for his modest wants. His relatives said he viewed this as an entrepreneurial undertaking, a way to keep active and help pay for his room. He did maintain a social media presence. He had a Twitter account, and in his profile he defined himself as a can and bottle recycler, autograph collector and a good businessman. He said he aspired to visit California. On his Twitter feed, sandwiched between posts about celebrity culture, are links to articles about preventing cholesterol in babies and others about autism, echoing his broad interests. Among those aware of his fandom is Shari Headley, an actress who most recently played a district attorney on Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the ” television soap opera. She held a live chat on Twitter every Tuesday, and she said Mr. Caughman rarely missed one. One day he requested a photo of her, and she mailed him an autographed photo. “What kind of world are we living in right now?” she said, overcome with emotion. “What a harmless guy. He spends his days just wanting to take pictures with celebrities. ” When Ms. Headley’s character on “The Haves and the ” was killed off recently, she said Mr. Caughman was downcast, wishing it weren’t true. When her agent told her Mr. Caughman had been stabbed, she hoped the same thing. Late Monday evening, as Mr. Caughman rooted through trash on Ninth Avenue, near his home, a white man in a dark coat approached him from behind. He said nothing. The man withdrew a sword from beneath his coat. A woman heard commotion, but didn’t realize what was actually happening and she ran off. But she told detectives she heard Mr. Caughman say, “Why are you doing this? What are you doing?” | 0 |
646 | Michael Flynn Failed to Disclose Income From Russia-Linked Entities - The New York Times | Matthew Rosenberg | WASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser who was forced out of the job in February, failed to list payments from entities on the first of two financial disclosure forms released Saturday by the Trump administration. The first form, which he signed in February, does not directly mention a paid speech he gave in Moscow, as well as other payments from companies linked to Russia. The second, an amended version, lists the names of the companies that made the payments under a section for any nongovernment compensation that exceeds $5, 000 “in a year. ” That list appears to include all of the work that Mr. Flynn, a retired Army general, has done since leaving the military in 2014, without providing compensation figures for any of it. No reason was given for the discrepancy between the two forms. The payments were detailed in a letter released in March by congressional investigators, and included a $45, 000 speaking fee from RT, formerly known as Russia Today, a news network, for a speech in 2015 in Moscow. During the same trip, Mr. Flynn attended the network’s lavish anniversary dinner and was photographed sitting at the elbow of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Flynn has faced fierce criticism for the Moscow speech and for his lobbying efforts for Turkey. But the work paid well, and the disclosure forms showed income of nearly $1. 5 million, a sizable amount for a man who left the military less than three years ago. What Mr. Flynn, who spent most of his adult life earning a military officer’s salary, does not appear to possess is the kind of investment portfolio enjoyed by most wealthy Americans, including the numerous millionaires and billionaires in the Trump administration. His form listed assets valued at $380, 000 and $800, 000, most of which is tied up in retirement funds. Mr. Flynn reported an income of $1. 37 million to $1. 47 million. The bulk — $827, 055 — came from the Flynn Intel Group, the consulting business he founded after being pushed out as the chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. The rest included speaking fees and income earned for doing consulting work and sitting on corporate boards, such as that of Adobe Systems, which paid him $125, 250. The speaking fees, all of which were from 2016, ranged from about $10, 000 to about $22, 000. He gave talks to relatively groups like the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce in Nebraska, but also to the David Horowitz Freedom Center in California, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as an hate group. It is unlikely that Mr. Flynn, who is seeking immunity from congressional and federal investigations into Russia’s meddling in the election, will match the same income this year. He shuttered the Flynn Intel Group at the end of 2016, and then was forced out of the White House in February for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of phone calls he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States in December. The payments for lobbying work that Mr. Flynn did for the Turkish government — and did not disclose until March — were handled through the Flynn Intel Group, and are not listed separately on the disclosure forms. Mr. Flynn did not work directly for the Turkish government the firm that hired him, Inovo, is owned by a businessman with links to leaders in Ankara and asked him to work on an issue important to the government. | 0 |
647 | US Supreme Court justice groped female lawyer in 1999: Report | null | Society US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
A female lawyer has accused US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexually assaulting her in 1999, a report says.
Moira Smith, who works as a corporate lawyer with an Alaska energy company, said the judge made unwanted sexual advances on her during a dinner party when she was 23-year-old, the National Law Journal reported on Thursday.
She said Thomas grabbed and squeezed her buttocks several times during the party in Falls Church, Virginia.
“Justice Thomas touched me inappropriately and without my consent,” Smith said.
“He groped me while I was setting the table, suggesting I should sit ‘right next to him,’” Smith said.
“He was 5 or 6 inches down and he got a good handful and he kept squeezing me and pulling me close to him,” she stated, according to the journal.
In a statement to the National Law Journal, Thomas, 68, dismissed the allegation as “preposterous”, saying that the incident “never happened."
Smith, currently vice president and general counsel at Enstar Natural Gas Co in Alaska, said she decided to speak out after hearing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's lewd comments about women.
A 2005 video was released earlier this month by The Washington Post, in which Trump can be heard making lewd comments about women and bragging about groping them.
A number of women have since come forward claiming that the business mogul has sexually assaulted them.
Trump has called the allegations “slander and libel” and part of a “concerted, coordinated and vicious attack” by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the news media to undercut his campaign. Moira Smith said Justice Clarence Thomas groped her at her boss' dinner party when she was 23.
"That willingness by men in power to take advantage of vulnerable women relies on an unspoken pact that the women will not speak up about it," Smith, now 41, told the journal.
"Why? Because they are vulnerable. Because they are star-struck. Because they don't want to be whiners. Because they worry about their career if they do speak out. But silence no longer feels defensible; it feels complicit,” she stated.
"As the mother of a young daughter and son, I am coming forward to show that it is important to stand up for yourself and tell the truth," Smith said.
Thomas was nominated to the top court in 1991 by Republican President George H.W. Bush. Loading ... | 1 |
648 | Federal Judge Throws Out Convicted D.C. Sniper’s Four Life Sentences | Katherine Rodriguez | A federal judge threw out a convicted D. C. sniper’s four life sentences Friday because he was 17 when he was originally sentenced. [U. S. District Judge Raymond Jackson in Norfolk, Virginia, ruled that Lee Boyd Malvo has a right to be in new sentencing hearings due to a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that made it unconstitutional for juveniles to receive mandatory life sentences in prison without parole, the Daily Mail reported. Malvo, now 32, was arrested in 2002 for his role in several shootings in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia that left ten dead and injured three. The attacks were widely covered in U. S. and international media over concerns that the sniper attacks, which were carried out from a modified car trunk, were acts of terrorism. Malvo entered a guilty plea in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and agreed to two sentences of life in prison without parole. A judge in Fairfax County, Virginia, also sentenced him to two additional life terms in Fairfax County. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for courts to issue mandatory life sentences without parole to juvenile offenders. The Supreme Court further ruled in 2016 that the 2012 ruling could be applied retroactively to all sentences before the 2012 ruling. Jackson, as a result of these two rulings, threw out the four life sentences and ordered that Malvo be in the counties of Fairfax and Spotsylvania. The Virginia attorney general, however, can appeal Jackson’s ruling, according to Fairfax County prosecutor Ray Morrogh, who prosecuted Malvo in 2003. The Virginia Attorney General’s Office is “reviewing the decision and will do everything possible, including a possible appeal, to make sure this convicted mass murderer serves the life sentences that were originally imposed,” Michael Kelly, a spokesman for Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, said Friday. Kelly added that Malvo could still be to life in prison based on the convictions even if he is granted a new sentencing hearing. Defense lawyers for Malvo, however, have argued that he was an adolescent who did not know any better and was influenced by his older accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, USA Today reported. They remain hopeful that these new court hearings might give him a shot at parole. The Washington Post reported that Jackson’s ruling does not apply to Malvo’s six life sentences in Maryland that he received after pleading guilty to six counts of murder there, but Malvo’s Maryland lawyers are trying to appeal his convictions based on the Supreme Court rulings at the state and county levels. A hearing is set for June in that state. | 0 |
649 | Donald Trump, Obama, Thanksgiving: Your Weekend Briefing - The New York Times | Karen Workman and Merrill D. Oliver | Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. 1. Donald Trump filled some top national security posts last week, naming loyalists who reflect his campaign’s views. His choice for attorney general is Senator Jeff Sessions, above, who was blocked from becoming a federal judge in 1986 because of accusations of racially charged remarks. Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who sees Islamic militancy as an existential threat, will be national security adviser. Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas was nominated to be the director of the C. I. A. Here’s our latest coverage of Mr. Trump’s transition to the White House. ____ 2. “Build something . Something Americans can be proud of. ” That’s our columnist, urging Mr. Trump to follow a lofty vision for his pledged upgrade of the country’s aging infrastructure. We even have a list of 10 projects, balanced between red and blue states, where he could leave his mark while helping unify a bitterly divided America. ____ 3. In the days after the election, our reporters and photographers fanned out across the country as a new political reality set in. They returned with a portrait of a country at odds with itself. We’re also beginning a podcast of conversations among siblings, classmates and friends who voted for different candidates. “I could never believe you’re a racist, man, that’s silly, that’s stupid,” said one young black man to a friend of Hispanic heritage who supported Mr. Trump. “Can’t believe you’re sexist. Cannot. But part of me is puzzled. ” Here are 19 questions to ask loved ones who voted differently. ____ 4. President Obama will return to the United States on Monday after the last major foreign trip of his presidency, with stops in Greece, Germany and Peru. On Tuesday, he’ll give the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom to 21 recipients, including Kareem Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks and Bill and Melinda Gates. And on Wednesday he’ll pardon a turkey for the last time as president. ____ 5. Seventeen new cardinals received their “red hats” at a ceremony Saturday, officially joining the Roman Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals. Who Pope Francis selects for the college is critical to his efforts to reshape the church, as the group will eventually elect Francis’ successor. Three Americans are among the new additions, the most Francis named from any one country. And while U. S. politics is never a determining factor in who is selected, all three men have been outspoken opponents of Republican Party positions. ____ 6. In Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began six years ago, the voices of torture victims and their loved ones are being heard. The public hearings are an effort to salve the wounds from nearly 60 years of dictatorship. Mothers demanded justice for sons who were shot to death during the protests that ushered in democracy, and former prisoners described being tortured, humiliated and even forced to engage in homosexual acts. ____ 7. The skyline of New York City has changed drastically over the past decade. We’ve gathered a number of notable new buildings that you may recognize (like 1 World Trade Center) or may not (um, a salt shed? ). Think you know the city’s recent additions pretty well? Here’s a quiz to test your knowledge. It includes the hyperbolic paraboloid, or pyramid, above. ____ 8. Scientists who drilled into what is considered ground zero of the dinosaur extinction found something that surprised them: granite. The drilling happened in the Gulf of Mexico, where some 66 million years ago an asteroid crashed into Earth with the energy of 100 million atomic bombs. It left behind a scar known as the Chicxulub crater, shown in an artist’s rendering above. Their finding suggests that powerful impacts can catapult materials buried deep in a planet’s crust much closer to its surface. ____ 9. After Thursday’s Thanksgiving turkey, people across America will head to big box stores and camp out in preparation for “doorbuster” deals to kick off Black Friday shopping. Ah, the holiday season. But whatever your shopping strategy is, there are some innovative ways to save a buck. Like triggering retailers to email you coupons by filling up a virtual shopping cart, then fully logging out of the site. Here are some other tips, and a guide to not overpaying on Black Friday. ____ 10. Finally, a story about Thanksgiving. Specifically, the story of a homesick college student who made a traditional dinner for the first time in an icy cold dorm. The guests were five other kids who couldn’t get home. That was in 1981. “I wish I could remember if we had the sense to be grateful then, for the food, for the comfort of one another, for the luxury of our education,” she wrote recently. We hope you have a happy holiday with much to be grateful for. ____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Evening Briefing, weeknights at 6 p. m. Eastern. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s Evening Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0 |
650 | Очередная автоколонна МЧС с гуманитарной помощью направилась в Донбасс | RT на русском | 19 МЧС направило 57-ю по счёту автоколонну с гуманитарной помощью для жителей Донбасса.
«В её составе более 40 автомобилей, которые везут свыше 440 тонн гуманитарных грузов. Основная масса груза — это продукты питания, медикаменты и пожарно-техническое имущество», — отмечается в сообщении , опубликованном на официальном сайте ведомства.
Колонна движется в направлении пунктов пропуска «Донецк» и «Матвеев Курган», где автомобили пройдут все положенные процедуры. Затем части колонны направятся к двум пунктам назначения – Луганской и Донецкой области.
С августа 2014 года 56 автоколонн МЧС России доставили в Донецкую и Луганскую области более 64 тысяч тонн гуманитарной помощи. | 1 |
651 | The Crisis of the European Union Is Irreversible - Giancarlo Elia Valori | null | Taming the corporate media beast The Crisis of the European Union Is Irreversible
The political-economic block and its common currency cannot be salvaged Donate! The author is an Italian industrialist and honorary member of the Academy of Science of the Institut de France
According to a well-known Italian Research Centre, from 2003 to 2014 the European single currency cost an 11% GDP reduction throughout the Eurozone and 18 million additional unemployed people. Conversely, as a result of the Maastricht agreement only, throughout the Eurozone we have lost 8 million jobs and an additional 5% of Gross Domestic Product, owing to the obligation to eliminate deficit and cut investment. Furthermore, the report of said Research Centre shows that, again in late 2014, the average EU unemployment rate was approximately 11.6%. In a scenario of parity with the dollar, the EU unemployment in the Eurozone would have been 5.8%, more or less the same as the US rate in that phase. Hence a monetary policy characterized by an excessive overvaluation of the European currency blocked both exports and the internal market at the same time. Furthermore, it created the conditions for a deterioration of public budgets in terms of deficit and debt. In fact, again at the end of 2014, the Eurozone recorded a public deficit totalling 269 billions which, without the single currency, would even be turned into a surplus of 165 billion euro, with a difference equal to 445 billions. In terms of GDP percentage, the difference would be 4.1 points while, with specific reference to the Eurozone’s public debt, we would have had three trillion euro less. Only for Italy, as many as 400 billion public debt less. Working on this assumption, all current evils would have been avoided if there had not been the overvaluation of the euro against the dollar. There would have not been the massive impact of the financial crisis coming from the United States, at first with Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy on September 15, 2008 and later with the recurrent banking crises in Europe, which put a strain on the public finances of major European governments. Considering that all EU governments were accustomed to borrow huge sums directly from the banking system, we can imagine the effects of the financial and credit crisis on the various European countries’ budgets. It is worth recalling that the United States have never liked the euro – quite the reverse they have always considered it "imaginative and useless", as former President George Bush I stated in recently-published public papers. Reading between the lines of its official documents, the EU itself maintains that the financial crisis came from the United States and that it made serious mistakes. Also according to the EU official documents, the mistakes were allegedly the following: 1) too much attention focused on the public budget deficit on an yearly basis, without being too much worried about the public debt as a whole. According to European standards, the EU government submitted reduced annual budgets for obtaining EU funding - later obviously the public debt increased anyway and real trouble came. Also thanks to the EU operating logic, the naive myth that the crisis was not structural and could be managed with some cosmetic measures has led to the current decline. Said decline has been triggered off by the rapid growth of interest rates on the EU Southern countries’ public debt. 2) Again according to the EU papers, there has also been a lack of surveillance over competitiveness and macroeconomic imbalances. This is not great news. However, there is always someone who benefits from the economic disharmonies – just to use the old terminology of the remarkable Italian philosopher Mario Calderoni - while others stand to lose as a result of them. There has never been a solidarity-based Europe during crises, but only in "good times". Therefore, in the losing countries, we recorded growing indebtedness of the private sector, not controlled owing to the myth of companies’ autonomy - and hence an increasing weakening of banks. The other EU "winning" countries took over the losers’ market shares. Again, instead of imposing draconian penalties which worsen the economic problems, we should have supported the weakest economies and the most unbalanced ones in terms of trade with the United States. The United States exported their mass of bad loans, disguised as new securities, to the European Union, the financial enemy that had dreamt of relegating the dollar to the rank of a Euro ancillary currency. There was also this geopolitical war within the crisis of the European currency. Moreover, the European Central Bank aimed at maintaining financial stability but, by statute, it could not buy public debt from other non-EU countries, as all issuing banks do. This is the main way in which central banks can nip in the bud speculative attempts against them. Furthermore, in Italy, as in other South Europe’s economies, foreign competition has kept wages at very low levels and, in dealing with competition for exports, our political and economic structure has only reduced the labour incomes almost to the level of the worst competitor. 3) Another EU public self-criticism is relating to the slow decision-making mechanism: the European establishment has interpreted the small shocks of the global crisis as isolated phenomena and not as a common geoeconomic problem. Hence the slow pace and often the ineffectiveness of the EU "solutions". And this faced with a "market" - if we may call it so - of investors who, as soon as they saw the crisis in the South, played a downward game or went away quickly. Good old days when the Treasury rightly bought the unsold debt securities at the Bank of Italy’s auctions. And, it is worth noting that, in so doing, it did not create inflation at all. Currently, however, markets are fast like jackals, which smell corpses, while States have been slow as marmots. This is the real problem of today’s politicians. States must increase their pace and be very quick and capable of understanding both adverse media and the political and military operations which are objectively dangerous for them. Moreover considering that, at the time, the public debt securities were held mostly by banks, their default was possible and easy to take place. Today there is a new crisis looming large on Europe, namely the crisis of non-performing loans: in Portugal, Italy and Spain, but also in some North European countries, the non-performing loans are worth over 540 billion euro. Hence shortly another European debt crisis will materialize. 4) Currently the European Union is basically a Gaullist-style "Europe of States"– even though it strongly denies so. Hence the idea of creating the "United States of Europe" is extraordinary nonsense: the EU Member States are so different from one another, and with such a diversified economy, that these "United States of Europe" would create more contrasts internally than externally, namely with the United States of America, Russia and China. Not to mention that, with a view to becoming today’s USA, America had to undergo a wide civil war, whose echoes are not completely over even today. 5) Moreover, the united Europe - and I am talking about the Euro zone - will be increasingly entangled in an area of structural deflation which condemns 'Italy, together with other less economically strong countries, to face an indefinite period of very low growth rates. On the contrary, the other North European countries will continue to grow and, above all, will not have to tackle the same problems we have, namely low wages and exports facing fierce competition, not protected by the Euro. 6) Hence what can be done? We must prepare for a slow but safe exit from the Euro, not waiting for the EU "bureaucratic Caesarism", as well as redefining and protecting our export area. Then we must use our credit instruments and debt securities as alternative currency, where possible – as well as use some well-disguised protectionism also vis-à-vis the EU itself. Finally, we must rethink our overall strategy, which we have never done. The economic crises are always geopolitical crises. Furthermore we must fund the companies’ technological upgrade projects with State funds, without waiting for the EU claims. Last but not least, we must put an end to young people’s "brain drain". It is true that, as some liberal-masochists maintain, the current professions’ market is global, but it is also true that the cost of their education and training has been borne by our State and our families. Did you enjoy this article? - Consider helping us! Russia Insider depends on your donations: the more you give, the more we can do. $1 $10 Other amount
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652 | Meet the Neocons, 9/11 Criminals and Goldman Bankers On Team Trump : The Corbett Report | null | Corbett • 11/12/2016 • 20 Comments
The voting machines have decided who will be the next puppet figurehead of the Pax Americana deep state for the next four years. The circus is over and the peanut shells are being swept out of the stands. So what do we have to show for all of it?
Well, I have some good news, some bad news, and some not-so-good news for you. Let’s start with the bad news.
Apparently some people voted for Trump in the belief that he was some sort of anti-establishment truth-telling hero of the working class. I hate to be the one to disabuse you of this notion, so let’s just look at his transition team, his campaign team, the people who have already been tapped to be part of the new administration and the people who are being contacted for potential cabinet appointments. Warning: It’s not a pretty picture.
For free access to this editorial, please CLICK HERE .
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653 | Vine 2013-2016: celebrate the life and death of an app with these 12 clips | Poke Staff | Next Swipe left/right Vine 2013-2016: celebrate the life and death of an app with these 12 clips Sad news for fans of six second videos – Twitter has announced it will be closing Vine , the app it bought in 2013. Let’s say goodbye by looking back at 12 of the most important Vines ever made.
1. This dog, drifting a car in the snow.
2. The time George Osborne was a toddler who has just been on gas at the dentist.
3. This army of screaming ducks
4. Leonardo DiCaprio getting scared by Lady Gaga
5. This kid pretending he likes the avocado he’s been given.
6. Limmy tricks Matt Lucas into thinking he’s posing for a photo.
7. The last 6 seconds of “Rabbit” by Chas and Dave looped.
8. This dancing robot, set to Toto’s “Africa”.
9. This encounter with a rotating foam arm.
10. The struggle faced by Jay Z’s accountant.
11. This dog riding a scooter.
12. Another dog, this time helping out on “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
But let’s not get too sentimental – Vine also had its problems. A Vine is a short video that requires 3 clicks to start and between 7-10 clicks to stop playing. It usually features someone screaming. | 1 |
654 | Squatty Potty CEO: Griffin Image ’So Divisive and So Disturbing, You Don’t Have a Decision, Really’ | Dan Riehl | The CEO of Squatty Potty, Bobby Edwards, discussed his decision to pull his company’s ads featuring Kathy Griffin after the release of a photo of Griffin holding a faux bloody decapitated head of President Donald Trump. [Said Edwards, “My heart fell into my stomach,” when he saw the image. “I was totally disappointed and heartbroken and I thought this campaign … we have to kill it. We cannot have her with this image … . ” Edwards said his product is for everyone and he doesn’t want to alienate anyone. “When you see an image like that that’s so divisive and so disturbing, you don’t have a decision, really,” added Edwards. “It was the total disrespect for the office of the presidency and decorum and the way we conduct ourselves … it crossed the line and was very offensive, not only to me but to people I love. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN: | 0 |
655 | 11 Things To Let Go Of Before The New Year | Joe Martino | in: Special Interests , US News The new year is almost here and it’s often a time when we all start to think about what we want to change for the next year. I’ve never been much a fan of the whole cliche of changing because of the new year, but why not embrace it as a time where we can make change? Do a quick reflection right now. Do you feel like you have followed your dreams and passions this past year? Do you feel you got caught up in the stresses of life quite often? Did you feel judgement, negative self talk and anger were a big part of your days? Reflecting on how you’ve felt over your year and being honest with yourself about it gives you the chance to know how to adjust and move forward from this moment forward whether it be the new year or not. I’ve found in my own life that if I don’t pay attention to how I feel, what I create, what’s playing out in my life and take responsibility for it, it doesn’t change. It stays the same, I experience the same emotions or stagnant feelings, and I don’t move forward. But the moment I decide to take it into my own hands, I see how much I’m not a victim to what happens. 11 Things To Let Go of Before the New year 1. Stop all the negative self talk – It’s first because it’s probably one of the most important. The more we talk poorly about ourselves to ourselves or others, the more we disempower ourselves and empower all the things we wish to adjust about ourselves. Observe it, take note of it, and kick it. It’s not helping you. 2. Choose one bad eating habit and kick it! – Taking care of and fuelling your vessel is one of the most important things we can do in life to stay mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. Pick one of your worst eating habits and aim to cut it out completely in 3 months. Whatever it might be, be honest with yourself and make it happen. Then take on the next bad eating habit in 3 months. 3. Let go of chasing ‘success’ – So often we put up goals or plans for ourselves yet have this tiny limited scope of what success is. Next thing you know we bring stress, worry and fear into the equation throughout the whole journey because we may not be totally in line to hit this pin prick point of what success looks like to us. Instead, do your best to take the steps needed to get to where you want to go, but let go of the lure of success and what it looks like and means. There’s no such thing as failure. (more) 4. Kick the idea that you cannot achieve or follow your dreams – So often we have our ideas of what we are excited or passionate about, but let it go because we think we can’t do it or because it’s unrealistic. Instead of believing every word of that, take ONE step. One step towards making your passion or your dreams happen. The one step will lead to the next and the next, but you have to take the first one. Plan out that first step and take it! 5. Let go of the idea that you should run from your problems – We often get into this mentality that we just need to “get over it.” In theory this sounds sorta good, you move on from things that happen in the past or something to that effect. But by just forgetting about it, did we really move on? No, it gets triggered again later or lies dormant as a resented event etc. Instead, let’s face our problems and truly move past them. Journal about it, talk to someone else about it. Put the cards on the table to someone who cares about you and who can help you move past it. Pick someone who will see the bigger picture and be honest with you. You have all it takes to move past what challenges you. 6. Stop comparing yourself to others – This is a big one. So often we are looking at others and using what they have, do or are to compare it against us and make up a story. This whole game can make us sad or feel down about ourselves or it can feed our ego in a big way. Let it go, respect everyone’s journey, including your own and stop the need to compare yourself to others. 7. Stop judging others – Judging other people can become a habit and an addiction. It’s like something we can’t stop doing sometimes! Take a moment the next time you judge someone and observe it. Ask yourself why you did it, how did it make you feel? Etc. Make a conscious effort to stop. (more) 8. Stop the blame game – Blaming and pointing fingers when it comes to our challenges or what happens to us doesn’t allow us to look at and observe how we might have created or aligned with an experience to help make it happen. I’m not saying there’s no such things others can do to hurt you, I’m simply saying take responsibility for how you feel and don’t even point blame, it doesn’t help us. 9. Stop worrying and trying so hard to fit in and be accepted – This is something far too many of us do just to save face and not be “the weird one.” The reality is, it’s more ‘weird’ to be a version of yourself that isn’t genuine or real simply because you want to be accepted by others. It’s a choice you can’t maintain forever and the longer it goes the more uncomfortable you will feel. Be you, accept yourself, be genuine and don’t try to make others do the same when. Let it happen. Trust. 10. Let go of the need to control everything – Sometimes we can’t take a step forward in anything because we don’t know all the answers or all the variables. This is our obsession with control sometimes. Yes, observe a situation and make the best choices available to you, but don’t worry so much about needing to control or know every detail about it. Learn to leave things up to trust and knowing that things will work out as they need to. This doesn’t mean be reckless, just that you don’t need to control every thing, person and detail. 11. Stop procrastinating – This one goes with everything on the list. Stop putting it all off. Whatever it may be. The changes listed above, the hobby you want to, the career you want to explore, or the thing you want to tell to someone important to you. Stop putting it off and just do it! Submit your review | 1 |
656 | Comment on MA police union posts pics of Hillary being arrested on Facebook by Dan | Dan | Posted on October 31, 2016 by Dr. Eowyn | 5 Comments
Last Saturday, Oct. 29, the Medford Police Patrolmen’s Association (MPPA) of Medford, Massachusetts, posted 3 photos on its Facebook page of two Medford police officers seemingly arresting a person in a Hillary Clinton mask and orange prison clothes at the Halloween Fall Festival in Haines Square, West Medford.
CBS Boston reports, Oct. 30, 2016, that the caption on the photos read:
“Look who MPD grabbed at the Fall Festival in Haines Square today…”
Another photo showed three Medford police officers posing with someone in a Donald Trump mask, with the caption, “Making America GREAT again in West Medford Square!!”
By 8:15 pm that night, MPPA removed the posts from its Facebook page, with an apology in a statement from MPPA President Harry MacGilvray:
“These were Halloween costumes. It was meant totally as a joke. I apologize if this offended anyone in any way. I never expected this sort of reaction. It was poor judgment on my part.”
MacGilvray was one of the officers in the photos. LOL
Fox25 WFXT reports that the police union removed the photos because of a flurry of negative Facebook comments from Hillary supporters, such as:
Jennifer Popkin: “I can’t believe this unprofessional behavior. Police in uniform should not be espousing political beliefs, let alone the kind of irresponsible rhetoric coming from Donald Trump. Absolutely deplorable and also likely illegal under Section 23(b)(2)(ii) of the conflict of interest law.”
Mike Piehl: “Trump goes on trial for fraud in November and child rape in December but YOU . . . .”
Jeremy Thorpe: “This is illegal. I am screen-shotting this comment to demonstrate that you are deleting critical comments.”
Katarina Dutton: “As a citizen of Medford, I am appalled by police making it clear that I, and so many others, are not welcome or safe here.”
Tamar Amidon: “This is so shameful for Medford. I’m so glad I don’t live there now. I never thought of them being one of the bad apple bins.”
That Popkin, Piehl, Thorpe, Dutton, Amidon, et al. are outraged by the Medford police Halloween prank but not in the least bothered by of Hillary Clinton’s criminal use of an unsecured email server, her utterly corrupt pay-for-play Clinton Foundation, and her abandoning four Americans to die in Benghazi, can only mean one thing:
~Eowyn | 1 |
657 | Koch Brothers Secretly Allied w. George Soros for Hillary Clinton | Eric Zuesse. | Posted on November 6, 2016 by Eric Zuesse. Eric Zuesse The leading financiers of the Republican Party, the Koch brothers, were exposed on November 4th by the great investigative journalist Lee Fang, as being solid supporters and heavy financiers of congressional candidates who have been leaders in expanding the U.S. military budget and moving America toward a police state (including militarization of the police). The leading financier of the Democratic Party, George Soros, has long been known to provide major financial backing for the most-neoconservative Democratic candidates, such as Hillary Clinton, who favor every possible military invasion and coup (and see this , for more on that). In fact, Soros was one of the top three financial backers (the other two were the U.S. government and the Netherlands government) for the television station in Ukraine that championed extermination of the people in Ukraine’s Donbass region, where the coup-imposed government, which he helped to install, is loathed . And also on the Ukrainian matter, the Kochs have championed the view that when considering whether Crimea should be part of Russia, or else part of Ukraine, or else entirely independent, the people who live there shouldn’t have any opportunity to vote on the matter, and they should instead be forced to be ‘Ukrainians’ , even if they loathe this post-coup Ukrainian governmen t. Soros and the Kochs insist that this Ukrainian government should be imposed upon Crimeans, regardless of what they want. In fact, Soros has proposed adding from 20 to 50 billion taxpayer dollars to the effort by the coup-imposed Ukrainian government’s military, in order for that government to achieve this conquest of Crimea (to restore it to Ukraine, to which it had been forcibly joined, by the Soviet dictator Khrushchev in 1954, after having been for hundreds of years a part of Russia — and to which Obama and the Kochs and Soros insist it belongs). Regarding the U.S. Presidential contest, the difference between the Kochs and Soros is that the Kochs in 2016 directed all of their political financing away from the Presidential contest altogether, so as to weaken Trump’s effort to beat Hillary, whereas Soros has devoted tens of millions of dollars to the financing of Hillary’s campaign and of PACS (such as this) that support Hillary against Trump. Hillary is supported by Kochs and the big oil-and-gas firms as well as by Soros and Wall Street. Virtually all of the U.S. aristocracy want Hillary Clinton to become President. Right after the nominating conventions, the Kochs withdrew their financial backing of the Republican ‘hawk’ U.S. Senatorial candidate Ron Johnson in Wisconsin because Johnson had just endorsed Trump . But afterwards, the Kochs — as Lee Fang noted — spent big on the campaigns of Ron Johnson and of other pro-Lockheed-Martin (etc.) Senators. To be pro ‘Defense’ industry, isn’t to be pro-U.S. defense, but instead to be pro-mega-corporate investors, and that’s something America’s entire aristocracy are, because they control all of the large U.S.-based corporations. Those corporations expand by the U.S. military having the might to enforce in foreign countries what their owners want — so that America’s State Department and USAID etc. can serve as spokespersons for, essentially, the billionaires who own controlling blocs of stock in U.S.-based international corporations. That’s “the system,” which Hillary Clinton and the Kochs and Soros and all the rest of the U.S. aristocracy support, and which Bernie Sanders opposed without understanding it. If Donald Trump understands it, he’s been keeping that fact secret from his followers, who generally understand nothing of it at all. Maybe if he were to try to explain it to them he’d be called ‘unpatriotic’ — even though his trying to explain it to them would actually be the deepest form of patriotism. Unfortunately, for him to be patriotic in that way would probably be politically suicidal for his campaign. He instead points to “foreigners” as being America’s enemies, when the real enemies are actually right at home in America — and they’re enemies of the entire world, not just their own country. These are the people at the top of the global food-chain. It’s not clear whether Trump feels mainly that he’s one of them, or instead that they’re his chief enemies. How much more ambiguous could a person be than that? And is the ambiguity intentional? The most reliable answer might be found by identifying whom his actual political enemies are — and they seem to be virtually all of the global aristocracy. Maybe they know him in ways that the U.S. public don’t and can’t. The public will just have to guess. But no guesses are necessary in order to understand Hillary Clinton. She has a lengthy record in public office, and it’s entirely consistent, as a neoconservative . | 1 |
658 | Trump Expands Search for His Secretary of State - The New York Times | Nicholas Fandos | WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump is broadening the field of candidates for secretary of state as his transition team remains divided nearly a month after the election over how to fill the most prominent gap in his prospective cabinet. Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to Mr. Trump, told reporters on Sunday that the search had expanded beyond the four men thought to be under consideration and that Mr. Trump planned to interview additional candidates early this week. Those new candidates appeared to include John R. Bolton, an ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush Jon M. Huntsman Jr. the former Utah governor and ambassador to China under President Obama Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil and Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia. Asked about the search on the ABC program “This Week,” Vice Mike Pence mentioned Mr. Bolton as a potential candidate and said others could be added to the list. Mr. Bolton met with Mr. Trump for about an hour on Friday, and Mr. Tillerson is set to meet with Mr. Trump on Tuesday, according to two people briefed on the meetings. Despite their differences over the Iraq war, which Mr. Bolton ardently supported, Mr. Trump said during the campaign that he turned to Mr. Bolton for military advice and called him “a tough cookie. ” The transition team had previously signaled that the group under consideration had narrowed to four men: Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a close ally of Mr. Trump Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and David H. Petraeus, the retired general and director of the C. I. A. under President Obama. Some of those candidates may be brought back in for further interviews, the people briefed on the meetings said. An announcement of a selection for the post is not expected for at least several more days. In an audition of sorts, Mr. Petraeus appeared on “This Week” to highlight his foreign policy experience in the military and his work abroad in the private sector. He also sought to put behind him a potentially significant hurdle to his candidacy: his mishandling of classified material while he was a top general. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2015 and was forced to resign as C. I. A. director. “Five years ago, I made a serious mistake,” Mr. Petraeus said. “I acknowledged it. I apologized for it. I paid a very heavy price for it, and I’ve learned from it. ” But he added that it was up to others to “determine whether that is indeed disqualifying or not. ” The wrangling over who should be America’s top diplomat comes as Mr. Trump’s team continues to face questions about his phone conversation with the president of Taiwan last week, which angered China and rattled other Asian nations. Mr. Bolton advocates closer ties with Taiwan as a means of putting pressure on China, arguing that Beijing’s growing power in the region should be checked. Mr. Trump’s advisers are battling, at times publicly, over whether he should choose from among his campaign loyalists or go outside that circle, a move that could alienate voters who were angry at the Republican establishment. Much of that wrangling has centered on Mr. Romney, who was among Mr. Trump’s fiercest critics during the campaign. Mr. Trump has told aides that he believes that Mr. Romney would “look the part” as the face of American outreach to the world and would make a fine secretary of state. But Ms. Conway, who has been openly critical of Mr. Romney, continued to attack him during a “Fox News Sunday” appearance, saying that the backlash to his candidacy among Mr. Trump’s core supporters had been “breathtaking. ” Asked if her criticism of him was appropriate, she said, “I would turn the question around and ask, was it appropriate for Governor Romney to stick his neck out so far in attacking Donald Trump, and never walking it back, never encouraging people to support the nominee once Mr. Trump had won the nomination squarely and fairly. ” Ms. Conway, answering questions from reporters about the expanded search as she entered Trump Tower in New York on Sunday, said the transition team had been happily surprised by the number of wealthy businesspeople who had come forward to express interest. Mr. Trump, who was lifted to victory in the election in large part by the support of white voters, has faced criticism over his appointment of several people to top posts. “There are a number of people that we may not have thought wanted to leave their very lucrative private industry positions to go and serve the government,” Ms. Conway said. “It’s exciting, frankly, to at least get their counsel. ” Another person who will meet this week with Mr. Trump is James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral whose name was floated as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton. It was unclear if he was being considered for a specific position. Despite the very public over the secretary of state appointment, Mr. Trump remains well ahead of the pace set by most of his predecessors in naming members of his cabinet. In addition to meetings this week, he is scheduled to travel at least twice, to Fayetteville, N. C. and to Des Moines, on his “thank you” tour. Mr. Petraeus spoke on the ABC program from the sideline of a conference in Germany, greeting the host, George Stephanopoulos, with a “guten tag” before beginning the interview. The retired general praised Mr. Trump as “actually quite pragmatic. ” He appeared careful not to contradict Mr. Trump on a range of his foreign policy priorities, including building a border wall between the United States and Mexico, potentially working with Russia to defeat the Islamic State, and discarding the Iran nuclear accord. “In our conversation, what I enjoyed, most frankly, was the discussion of issues, or, say, campaign rhetoric, if you will, and then placing that in a strategic context,” Mr. Petraeus said. Before he appeared on the show, Mr. Petraeus seemed to get a lift from Mr. Pence, who dismissed concerns about Mr. Petraeus’s mishandling of classified material, in which he gave secret materials to a biographer with whom he was having an affair. Mr. Pence called Mr. Petraeus an “American hero” and said Mr. Trump would consider him based on “the totality” of his career. “Look, he made mistakes, and he paid the consequences for those mistakes,” Mr. Pence said. | 0 |
659 | Teacher To 11 yr Old: 'I Can't Wait Until Trump Is Elected,He's Going To Deport All You Muslims' | Elisabeth Parker | 0 427
“That’s going to be you,” the Academy of Excellence teacher allegedly warned a 12-year-old Muslim student after showing the class a movie about the 9/11 attacks. And if that sounds outrageous, brace yourself because it gets a lot worse.
No wonder the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Arizona are siccing the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the U.S. Dept. of Education on this travesty of a public charter school and this shameful example of an educator’s sorry a**. Heather Weaver from the ACLU’s national office reports they’ve filed formal complaints on behalf of the Muslim student and his family.
Asli Noor and her five children are refugees who settled in Phoenix, Arizona after fleeing Somalia. Like most parents, she wants opportunities and a good education for her children. And for many families — especially those living in low-income neighborhoods — that means a public charter school like the sadly misnamed “Excellence Academy.”
The boy and his eight-year-old sister (referred to in the complaint as A.A. and F.A.) had started the 2015-2016 school year when the family’s new set of troubles began.
According to the complaints, an “Academy of Excellence” teacher named Faye Myles began “singling out” the then 11-year-old, sixth grade Muslim student as the 2015-16 school year began for “disfavorable treatment because of his faith and nationality.”
‘Another time, when A.A. raised his hand to answer a question, his teacher snapped at him — “All you Muslims think you are so smart” — in front of the entire class.’
Oh, and then the boy recalls the math and science teacher for grades 5-8 digressing into a special kind of lesson in civics and current events.
‘I can’t wait until Trump is elected. He’s going to deport all you Muslims. Muslims shouldn’t be given visas. They’ll probably take away your visa and deport you. You’re going to be the next terrorist, I bet.’
Faye Myles also allegedly found other ways to wound her young Muslim student with her bigotry. She repeatedly denied him the right to pray during recess, which is hard to imagine ever happening to a Christian student. The child also claims his “Academy of Excellence” teacher would also would tell him to “shut up” and punish him during class “downtime” when the other students were allowed to talk with each other.
The bus rides home added to the child’s misery as his classmates began to follow the teacher’s example and pile on the insults.
‘On the bus ride home, A.A.’s classmates took up his teacher’s anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant crusade, taunting him about the fact that his visa would be revoked because he is a Muslim, calling him a “terrorist,” and accusing him of planning to blow up the bus.’
The child, of course, started feeling anxious and physically ill “with a stomach ache” and had no desire to return to the “Academy of Excellence.”
In January, Asli Noor met with school officials to complain about these incidents. Three days later, the school asked her to pick her son up early because he had supposedly tried to open the school bus’ emergency window. Noor demanded they verify these accusations with footage from the security camera but school officials refused.
And then Brenda Nelson, an “Academy of Excellence” board member, printed out two “voluntary” withdrawal forms for A.A. and his younger sister F.A. She then allegedly ordered Ms. Noor to sign them, saying:
‘Get your kids out of here. I don’t want them here.’
When Asri Noor begged for time to find another school for her children, Brenda Nelson callously refused.
Unfortunately, these incidents of anti-Muslim bigotry in publicly-funded schools are happening more frequently. Think Progress reports that even in schools where teachers try to fight it, Trump-inspired bullying is a serious issue.
‘In spite of some teachers’ valiant efforts to teach students about Trump, it would appear that schoolchildren already invoke the candidate’s name to scare their Latino and Muslim classmates, referencing the candidate’s harsh claims of Latino criminals and Muslim terrorists.’
And, sadly, it’s not just the kids.
‘A predominantly Latino elementary school in California was graffiti-tagged with the words “Build the wall higher” last week, alluding to Trump’s policy plan to build a southern U.S. border wall to keep out undocumented immigrants.’
And in case you assume the “Academy of Excellence” teacher is one of those mean white Trump supporters, you’re wrong. Apparently, she’s a mean black Trump supporter. @KhaledBeydoun The teacher works at Academy of Excellence & her name is Faye Myles per the article. She should be called out. pic.twitter.com/BbL3YdzEG8
— John Q Archibald (@JohnQarchibald) October 30, 2016
Featured image: Lynn Koenig via Getty Images . Share this Article! | 1 |
660 | Cost, Not Choice, Is Top Concern of Health Insurance Customers - The New York Times | Reed Abelson | It is all about the price. Millions of people buying insurance in the marketplaces created by the federal health care law have one feature in mind. It is not finding a favorite doctor, or even a trusted company. It is how much — or, more precisely, how little — they can pay in premiums each month. And for many of them, especially those who are healthy, all the prices are too high. The unexpected laser focus on price has contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses among the country’s top insurers, as fewer healthy people than expected have signed up. And that has created two vexing questions: Will the major insurance companies stay in the marketplaces? And if they do, will the public have a wide array of plans to choose from — a central tenet of the 2010 Affordable Care Act? “The marketplace has been and continues to be unsustainable,” said Joseph R. Swedish, chief executive of Anthem, one of the nation’s largest insurers. Most Americans with health insurance get it through their employers or from government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The marketplaces were created under the health care law to give the millions of people not covered in those ways a way to buy health plans. While major insurers continue to make profits over all, they say that the economics of the marketplaces do not work for them. Insurers can offer marketplace plans at four different coverage tiers, and the government subsidizes the premiums for millions of people. The thinking was that enough healthy people would buy insurance to balance out the costs for the . But things are not going exactly as envisioned. People shopping in the marketplaces are overwhelmingly choosing the cheapest plans they can find, according to a federal analysis. In 2014, of people went for the or plans in each of the tiers. In 2015, about half chose the cheapest plans. The pricing pressure is playing out on multiple fronts. People with expensive medical conditions, knowing that they need reliable coverage, seem willing to pay a little more for plans offered by the large companies. Those plans tend to have a wider choice of doctors and a stronger brand name, and the insurers say the people signing up are sicker than they expected. Healthy and young people — who are essential to insurers to offset the costs of care for unhealthy people — are regularly turning to whatever plan is cheapest, including those from insurers or with the smallest networks of hospitals and doctors. Many other young and healthy people, particularly those not eligible for generous subsidies, are shunning plans altogether, finding all of the prices too high. That decision puts them at risk of tax penalties. By some estimates, about 10 million people are signed up, fewer than half of the 21 million expected by now. All of this has the major insurance companies, as they finish their third year of selling individual policies under the law, reevaluating their role in the marketplace. The top insurers have essentially stopped talking about expanding their marketplace ambitions. Two companies, UnitedHealth Group and Humana, have said they plan to largely exit the marketplaces. Aetna has halted plans to enter more states. Even insurers that insist they are committed, like Anthem, which offers Blue Cross plans in more than a dozen states, are struggling to find their way. Mr. Swedish describes the market as “not predictable and not reliable. ” If the major insurers keep cutting back, it could lead to a cascade of effects for the people who depend on the marketplaces for coverage. People could potentially face higher premiums because there are fewer insurers competing, and they could have more limited choices of plans and doctors. The apprehension is not lost on regulators and lawmakers. On Thursday, the Obama administration said it was exploring ways to protect insurers from very expensive medical claims. And recently in The Journal of the American Medical Association, President Obama wrote that more financial assistance for people may be needed. So the mainstream insurers are struggling to find a business model for the marketplaces that works. If an insurer is successful at being the cheapest in a market, it has often found that it priced its plans too low to cover its medical costs. Some smaller insurers have already gone out of business. But if an insurer prices a plan too high, it might not attract enough healthy people to break even. Companies both large and small now plan to raise prices sharply for 2017, which could prevent even more people from buying policies. “The price competition has turned out to be much more cutthroat than anyone expected,” said Larry Levitt, an executive with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which closely tracks the law. Still, most experts say there is no immediate danger that the market will collapse. Marjorie Connolly, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the Obama administration was confident that the marketplaces would “continue to thrive for years ahead. ” The department said on Thursday that the people entering the marketplaces are becoming more mixed over time, and the marketplaces are attracting more young and healthy people over all. The major insurers, though, say the healthy people are going to other plans, often the least expensive ones offered by their smaller competitors. Some defenders of the law say it is working as intended, harnessing competition to keep premiums as low as possible. “We have to be realistic,” said Linda J. Blumberg, a health care expert at the Urban Institute, noting that some large companies may not be nimble enough to succeed. “You can’t lower costs without breaking some eggs. ” Not every insurance company is struggling. The exceptions seem to be those that offer the most limited choice of doctors and hospitals and may pay them the least, including plans offered by companies like Molina and Centene, which previously specialized in covering Medicaid patients. The insurers faring the worst sell plans that resemble those traditionally offered through employers. The plans give customers much greater latitude over where to get care and cover some of the doctors and hospitals. The trouble is that people signing up for those plans are less healthy — and more expensive to treat — than anticipated. The companies also say that the provisions of the law aimed at stabilizing the market and protecting them from heavy losses are not working. Several say that consolidation is the answer. Anthem, for example, says the only way it can expand in the marketplaces is by merging with Cigna, a deal the Justice Department is trying to block. Another remedy is to attract a broader range of customers. “We have to get a healthier pool of people in the market,” said Kurt Kossen, an executive at Health Care Service Corporation, which operates nonprofit Blue Cross plans in several states but lost $1. 5 billion last year. The result could be a market essentially left to insurers that offer the same narrow networks found in Medicaid plans and some remaining Blue Cross plans, said Mr. Levitt, of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “The market is sustainable but with a different mix of plans,” he said. | 0 |
661 | Shaq Announces Plan to Run for Sheriff in 2020 - Breitbart | Trent Baker | NBA Hall of Fame’s Shaquille O’Neal announced he plans on running for sheriff in 2020. “In 2020, I plan on running for Sheriff,” Shaq told Atlanta’s NBC affiliate WXIA. “This is not about politics for me,” he added. “This is something I always wanted to do. It’s about bringing people closer together. You know, when I was coming up, people loved and respected the police, the deputies. And, I want to be the one to bring that back, especially in the community I serve. ” The NBA said he is a perfect fit for the job because he can relate to anyone. “I’m a guy that speaks all languages. I can throw on a suit and have a conversation with Bill Gates, I can go in the hood and talk to the homies, and talk to the children,” Shaq explained. He said he is unsure yet where he would run. He could run for Sheriff in Henry County, GA, where he is a resident and where the incumbent is up for reelection in 2020. Another option for Shaq is in Florida where he also has residency. He could also establish new residency somewhere else and run in that location. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0 |
662 | Illegal Immigrants Crossing The Border To Vote | Kelen M | Illegal Immigrants Crossing The Border To Vote Foreigners worried about a Trump presidency The Alex Jones Show - October 27, 2016 Comments
Even the mainstream, dinosaur media is being forced to report on the flood of immigrants crossing the border and influencing the 2016 presidential election. 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 U.S. If Trump Elected - See the rest on the Alex Jones YouTube channel . ILLUSTRATION How much will your healthcare premiums rise in 2017? >25% © 2016 Infowars.com is a Free Speech Systems, LLC Company. All rights reserved. Digital Millennium Copyright Act Notice. 34.95 22.46 Flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with Brain Force the next generation of neural activation from Infowars Life. http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/brainforce-25-200-e1476824046577.jpg http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force Brain Force – 25% OFF 34.95 22.46 Flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with Brain Force the next generation of neural activation from Infowars Life. http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/brainforce-25-200-e1476824046577.jpg http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force Brain Force – 25% OFF 34.95 22.46 Flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with Brain Force the next generation of neural activation from Infowars Life. http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/brainforce-25-200-e1476824046577.jpg http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force Brain Force – 25% OFF 34.95 22.46 Flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with Brain Force the next generation of neural activation from Infowars Life. http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/brainforce-25-200-e1476824046577.jpg http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force Brain Force – 25% OFF 34.95 22.46 Flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with Brain Force the next generation of neural activation from Infowars Life. http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/brainforce-25-200-e1476824046577.jpg http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force Brain Force – 25% OFF 34.95 22.46 Flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with Brain Force the next generation of neural activation from Infowars Life. http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/brainforce-25-200-e1476824046577.jpg http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force http://www.infowarsstore.com/health-and-wellness/infowars-life/brain-force.html?ims=tzrwu&utm_campaign=Infowars+Placement&utm_source=Infowars.com&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=Brain+Force | 1 |
663 | Pirates Fail to Take the Helm: Iceland’s Pirate Party Gains Mileage But not Enough to Steady Ship Alone | José Tirado | Email
Hafnarfjorður, Iceland.
The votes are in. In a greater-than-expected 79% turnout, election results show that Iceland’s Pirate Party has not come out in first place as earlier polls indicated might be the case. They have, however, increased their size in the Parliament 3-fold (from 3 seats to 10) but this will not be enough to steer Iceland in their direction.
Now it´s all about coalition building.
Had they maintained those poll numbers from earlier this summer (at a one-time high of 35%), that would have given them the probable first choice to form a coalition government with either the Left-Greens, the Social-Democrats, or the center-leftish Bright Future. As it stands now, they will need to band together, something they all they agreed to consider during a pre-election press conference.
The largest single party remains the corporate-right Independence Party with 29% or 21 seats and which is now part of the governing coalition along with the center-right Progressive Party (who suffered a humiliating loss of 11 seats, now down to 8). This coalition is the same center-right configuration which led Iceland to financial disaster, the flight of skilled doctors and other professionals, and whose members were implicated in off-shore money scams which led to the resignation earlier this year of their last PM from the Progressive Party, causing these early elections, and now to the formal resignation of their present PM just a few hours ago. Technically these two parties could form a 3-party coalition along with the new Regeneration Party. However, Regeneration leader Benedikt Jóhanesson has said he wouldn´t consider a coalition with the governing parties. Thus that particular scenario is doubted.
After years of political stagnation following the collapse of the economy, and controversy over the Panama Papers leaking of wealthy Icelanders´ involvement in Tortola, this new development reflects a growing, widespread disgust at the traditional two party coalition rulers who have alternately or in pairs run the country for most of its years following Iceland’s independence.
The ship is floundering and the present course is unsustainable.
The other numbers however, are pointing to a change of course: The Pirates won 14.5% giving them 10 seats in the 63 seat Parliament, the Althing. The Left-Greens received 15.9% (for 10 Seats); the Social Democrats 5.7% (3 seats) and Bright Future 7.2% (winning 4 seats).Together they represent almost 30% of the electorate. These are the groups which began talking about joining forces this past week, just before the election.
If a four party coalition is solidified, then Iceland becomes the second nation to have a viable Pirate Party within its government (Germany is the first) and the first to have it this close to the helm in the country´s governance.
The kingmakers could very well be Regeneration, a new, center-right grouping who won 10.5% of the votes getting them 7 seats. They characterize themselves as “liberal”, though the head was a long-time supporter of the Independence Party before leaving this past year. On the 18th of October he said he wouldn’t consider joining a coalition with the two-headed ruling hydra of the Independence and Progressive parties. Were he instead to agree to an alliance with the four roughly left, center-left groups of which the Pirates are a part (something he declared he was open to the morning after the election), then that would net a total of 34 seats (27 + their 7) and a solid majority. A five party coalition.
What does this all mean? It means several things: in the short run, the helm of the Icelandic political ship will remain loosely dominated by the Independence Party as the largest single grouping in the Althingi (Parliament). But aside from that approximately 30% of the electorate who aren´t swayed by anything but their loyalty to the ruling class, the rest of the country is moving on. They are actively exploring hitherto unheard of politics (with the Pirates) and considering broad coalition politics (5 groups trying to control the direction of the country). This may be the wave of the future. Or it may simply be a transitional era where loyalties are split and serious discussions about radical ideas like ownership of public resources (and actually and clearly defining such) occur openly as the public coalesces around a new, dominant ideology. In the long run, things are changing. And then there is this issue of a new Constitution which was voted on and accepted by the public but which the ruling coalition simply ignored and shelved. If that was now formally accepted, then some serious changes may be in store for the Owners of the country. But today is only the day after, and nothing has been decided yet.
So what´s next? Well, the new President’s job just got more complicated as he is the one who traditionally asks the leading party to form the new government and, if they fail in securing a stable majority, the next leading party would get a shot. This was easier when the totals were generally in favor of one or the other of the two ruling groups. Now, however, a new multi-party dynamic is at play. Who knows how the discussions are heading right now, and which horses are being traded?
Iceland has always been the most USAmerican of the Nordic countries but with tugs in both directions. Much like the island itself, rent down the middle by volcanic cracks dividing the European and American tectonic plates, these tugs are causing great tension as to which political direction the country should follow. With history having taken them this far and a growing unease about the dominant parties´ corruption and rehashed free market rhetoric, it appears Iceland is not quite ready to jump ship and hand the wheel over to the Pirates. But they and their kind are looking better and better as each year passes and Iceland drifts without a clear direction to prosperity and fairness. In the long run, that tectonic split in politics is getting wider and wider, just like its geographical counterpart.
But it is the Pirates who at least have captured the imagination of the people (and, in particular the young). If they can convince the rest of the public that they are more seriously interested in governing than in luring Edward Snowden here (a publicity stunt at best) and have more relevant meat and potato concerns beyond internet privacy, then they may very well be the ultimate winners a few years down the road. Join the debate on Facebook José M. Tirado is a Puertorican poet, Buddhist priest and political writer living in Hafnarfjorður, Iceland, known for its elves, “hidden people” and lava fields. His articles and poetry have been featured in CounterPunch, Cyrano´s Journal, The Galway Review, Dissident Voice, La Respuesta, Op-Ed News, among others. He can be reached at . | 1 |
664 | The Billionaire Who’s Building a Davos of His Own - The New York Times | Alessandra Stanley | In a conference room at Stanford University, a score of scholars, many of them eminent and some from as far away as Johannesburg and Beijing, gathered last month to compare philosophical notions of hierarchy and equality. The gathering itself had no overt hierarchy, though one participant seemed a little more equal than the others. When Nicolas Berggruen spoke, no one interrupted. Only he occasionally checked his phone. And at dinner, the guests received fruit tarts for dessert — except for Mr. Berggruen, who was served chocolate mousse. Mr. Berggruen, 54, is an investor and art collector who was once known as the “homeless billionaire” because he lived in itinerant luxury in hotels. Now he is grounded in Los Angeles where he presides over a bespoke think tank, the Berggruen Institute. The institute is a striking example of how wealthy philanthropists are reshaping the landscape with smaller versions of the foundations established by Bill Gates and George Soros. Sean Parker, one of the entrepreneurs behind Napster and Facebook, has a research institute, The Parker Foundation, which this month pledged $250 million for cancer immunotherapy. He is also a of the Economic Innovation Group, which labels itself an “ideas laboratory. ” Tom Steyer, who made his fortune as a hedge fund manager in California, has several environmental nonprofit groups, and last year created the Fair Shake Commission to redress economic inequality. “There is a generation of new donors who have huge assets, and their own ideas, and think traditional think tanks are ” said James G. McGann, the director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania — a think tank that thinks about think tanks. In a culture where tweets, not position papers, shape the national conversation, these kinds of “are likely to be more influential than we are,” Mr. McGann said. Mr. Berggruen stands out because he is a but player at the nexus of wealth and rumination who is also a bit mysterious — a Gatsby who shows up at his own parties. “I am a person who likes to engage in learning,” Mr. Berggruen said, in an accent reflecting his Parisian upbringing and dual German and American citizenship. The next step was “to see if I can produce some ideas,” he said. Mr. Berggruen’s investment company, Berggruen Holdings, is registered in the British Virgin Islands and his charitable trust is based in Bermuda. The institute bankrolls several conferences a year, and Mr. Berggruen attends almost every session, takes careful notes and sometimes even appears to dress the part. At a dinner for philosophy scholars at the Stanford Park Hotel in March, he wore a dark blazer and a crisp white shirt unbuttoned to his sternum, the signature look of the French celebrity philosopher Lévy. There are conflicting views about this kind of endeavor. “One of the delights of philanthropy is that it isn’t programmed, it is scattershot, with so much room for idiosyncratic choices,” said Karl Zinsmeister, author of “The Almanac of American Philanthropy. ” He cited the example of Daniel Guggenheim, who championed the rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard in the 1930s when he was widely dismissed as a crackpot. “Of course there is a high percentage of waste,” Mr. Zinsmeister said, “but that’s how discovery works. ” Others worry, though, that at least some of these initiatives are vanity projects. Mr. Berggruen’s institute “seems like a of his creation,” McGann said, referring to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — the Ascot of conferences for the global elite. Mr. McGann publishes an annual report on the world’s top think tanks, ranking them in more than 50 categories. The Berggruen Institute is not included in any of them. Mr. Berggruen happens to be a Davos habitué, but his institute has a more eclectic mandate. Besides philosophy, he has spent time and money on efforts to reform the California budget. He has established councils to study European integration and China. The Berggruen Institute will award an annual $1 million prize in philosophy beginning this year. It is presently funding six Berggruen academic fellowships to China and other places, and it has selected 16 others for the academic year. Mr. Berggruen says he bought more than 400 acres in Brentwood, Calif. and has commissioned the renowned Swiss architecture firm Herzog de Meuron to design his institute’s headquarters. Craig Calhoun, who is leaving the directorship of the London School of Economics this summer, was appointed president. Mr. Calhoun said his mandate was to “deepen the conversation. ” Mr. Berggruen has a gift for networking. “He knows everyone,” said his friend Stefan Simchowitz, an art dealer. At the philosophy conference in Stanford, he hosted a conversation about artificial intelligence with Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist who heads the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, and Reid Hoffman, a of LinkedIn. Mr. Hoffman met Mr. Berggruen through a mutual friend who mentioned Mr. Berggruen’s interests in California governance and Chinese philosophy. “I said, ‘Yeah, that’s interesting. Let me meet him,’” Mr. Hoffman recalled. The luminaries listed on the institute’s advisory boards are the kind who pop up at White House state dinners or on Barry Diller’s yacht: Arianna Huffington, of The Huffington Post the SpaceX founder Elon Musk Tony Blair, the former British prime minister Francis Fukuyama, the Stanford professor and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “I’m not really involved anymore, but I like Nicolas,” Ms. Rice said in a phone interview. She served on the Think Long Committee for California, a brain trust Mr. Berggruen assembled in 2010 to address the state’s budget crisis. Mr. Berggruen makes it easy for even very busy people to lend their prestige. He foots the bills, booking guests in luxury hotels and sometimes ferrying them on his private jet. In workshops, he asks the kind of questions that politicians, intellectuals and billionaires like to answer. Last November, Mr. Berggruen convened former prime ministers and other eminences in Beijing to discuss the future of China. Upon the group’s arrival in Beijing, the roads were cleared for their motorcade to the Great Hall of the People for a meeting with President Xi Jinping. Orville Schell, a China scholar at the Asia Society in New York and an adviser to the Berggruen Institute, said that Mr. Berggruen gained access to Chinese leaders because he focused on philosophy and culture, not politics and human rights, and noted that his approach was “astute. ” It also helped that Mr. Berggruen did not appear to have a business agenda. “In some ways he is a thinking man’s Donald Trump,” Mr. Schell said. “He doesn’t want anything from anybody, except to be of consequence. ” While Mr. Berggruen has arrived, even in his early days he wasn’t exactly an arriviste. His father, Heinz Berggruen, was an art dealer who fled the Nazis in 1936, romanced Frida Kahlo in New York and befriended Picasso in Paris. The younger Mr. Berggruen attended Le Rosey, an exclusive Swiss boarding school, and studied finance at New York University, but he says he began investing as a teenager, borrowing a few thousand pounds from a friend to buy stocks. Forbes estimates his fortune to be about $1. 5 billion. Last year, Town Country magazine named him one of the world’s 50 most eligible bachelors. And last month, he became a bachelor father. Or, as he put it when asked who the mother is: “Me. I am the mother and the father. ” Mr. Berggruen has two newborns, a boy and a girl, born three weeks apart to different surrogates and conceived using eggs from two donors. Single fatherhood has now tethered him to Los Angeles, he said, but not too tightly: He bought the apartment one floor down for the children and their nannies. Since 2015, his institute has been funded by his charitable trust. He says it has a $1 billion endowment. Foreign status means that Mr. Berggruen forfeits United States tax breaks but can give away money as he chooses. Bermuda has almost none of the restrictions or disclosure rules that bind American nonprofits. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Mr. Berggruen said, he began to question his life’s purpose. That led him, in 2010, to hire professors from the University of California, Los Angeles, to tutor him in philosophy. Brian Walker, a political science professor and expert in Chinese philosophy, was one of those. Professor Walker would discuss Plato and Confucius with Mr. Berggruen over lunch in his suite at the Peninsula Hotel. “It was sort of a surreal setting, but he always did the reading and asked good questions,” Mr. Walker said. “I found him a little mysterious. He didn’t invite personal confidences. ” Mr. Berggruen is courteous and even courtly: In restaurants, he stands when his date leaves the table. But he isn’t a schmoozer. His Stanford conference ran from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. with little time for small talk. At the philosophy dinner, he asked that his guests discuss harmony and freedom in the East and West. He was playful, but only on topic. “I am going to say something that will make all of you want to kill me,” he said, bringing conversation and forks to a halt. “The West is absolutist, India is pluralist, and China is — and I don’t mean this in a negative way — conformist. ” Mr. Berggruen spoke proudly of the work his Think Long Committee did to address California’s deficit, including supporting Proposition 31, which among other things would have barred lawmakers from creating expenditures over $25 million without finding the money for them. Mr. Berggruen spent more than $1 million to get the proposition on the ballot. The initiative was voted down in 2012. Think Long was on the winning side, though, of a 2014 measure to make ballot initiatives more transparent. Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, which supported the measure, said that she didn’t recall the Berggruen Institute’s adding much to policy ideas, but that it did help finance legal advisers and recruit experts. “I wouldn’t say it was deep thinking,” Ms. Feng said, “but he did bring in some very individuals. ” In 2010, Mr. Berggruen took the Giving Pledge — which has become a kind of social register for philanthropists — joining billionaires who have promised to give away more than half of their fortunes. But he is not a spendthrift. He is a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and tax records show that in 2014 he gave the museum $100, 000, the minimum annual gift required many give double that amount, or more, according to two trustees. That year, Mr. Berggruen gave U. C. L. A. $4, 750. Mr. Berggruen says he wants to nurture innovative thinking, not just donate to causes. His institute, he said, is “not just a operation it’s an ideas and operation. ” Several scholars say that Mr. Berggruen’s interdisciplinary approach to philosophy is refreshing in an academic world that can be siloed. Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosopher at New York University, said he attended a Berggruen event because it gave him a chance to talk to experts about Confucianism, which is not his primary field of study. “I can’t say whether it’s the best use of his money,” Professor Appiah said. “I can only consider whether he is making the world better or worse, and in this case I would have to say, better. ” | 0 |
665 | Running Into Danger on an Alaskan Trail - The New York Times | Cinthia Ritchie | It happened so fast: One moment I was running trails, the next I was staring a sow in the face, so close I could smell it, wild and pungent and alarming, and I knew it could smell me, too, my fear. I was in the middle of a rainy run in Far North Bicentennial Park on the outskirts of Anchorage, where I live. It was late July, a time when grizzlies sweep down from the mountains to feast on the salmon swimming up Campbell Creek. But I was miles from the water. I had planned my route away from the creek, and I hadn’t seen bear scat in more than an hour. As I crested a hill, a crash sounded from my right, and I instinctively moved to the left, expecting a moose. But it was the sow with three cubs. The cubs fled up a tree. The sow paused in front of me, as if waiting. I backed into the brush, fortifying myself behind a skinny grove of alder trees, moving slowly, carefully, never taking my eyes off the bear. When it veered as if to leave I felt such relief that my throat loosened and small gasps escaped my lips. Then it abruptly turned and charged directly at me. It’s impossible to run the trails around Alaska without thinking about bears. There are piles of scat everywhere, dotted with blueberry and cranberry seeds that glint in the sun, reminders that you have to be careful. You have to be versed in bear awareness, bear etiquette and bear protocol. Headphones are a and going alone is discouraged. Making noise and carrying bear spray is recommended. Still, I often ran alone. I preferred it that way. I liked the serenity and the loneliness, liked the hours of nothing but me and the mountains and the trees. That day, I wore a bear bell attached to my hydration pack, and I sang, too, whenever I came to dense areas. I sang old rock ’n’ roll songs, loudly and badly. I was cautious but not afraid. I ran these trails all summer and the summer before, and while I saw bears on many other trails, I only twice saw them on these sections. Maybe I let down my guard. Maybe I felt invincible, the way you feel when you repeat risky behavior without negative results. Maybe the bear was having a bad day. When the bear charged, time stood still. I felt every millisecond. I stood in the drizzle, rain coating my face like tears, and I did what they tell you to do if a black bear charges: I waved my arms and yelled. “I’m human!” I cried, my voice rising through the birch trees, through that silent and moment. “I’m a person!” The bear paused and ran back toward the brush. A minute later, it charged a second time. And again I waved my arms and yelled and again it stopped, this time so close I could almost reach out and touch its snout. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t swallow. I wondered, briefly and almost idly, if this was how I would die. Suddenly, I wanted to talk to my son, who was grown and off living his own life. I wanted to hear his voice. A lifetime later, the bear turned and ran off, its backside swaying into the trees. I had to get back to the trail, to the possibility of safety, yet I couldn’t step away from the alders. It was my only protection. That’s when the bear began circling around me in a wide arc. That’s when I knew I was in trouble, became really afraid. When my son was young and nothing would comfort him, I would talk. It didn’t matter what I said, he needed my voice, the steady flow of words. As I stepped from the shelter of the alders, I talked out loud, my voice surprisingly calm. I talked to the bear to show that I meant no harm, but mostly I talked to reassure myself. As the bear circled for a second time, I stumbled through devil’s club, snagging my shorts and scratching my legs, and I talked about the day my son was born, how I recognized his face immediately. When I reached the trail, I kept talking. The bear followed, but I didn’t look back. A half a mile later, I glanced over my shoulder, and the bear was gone. I started running and didn’t stop until I encountered two hikers, and I collapsed at their feet. For weeks I saw that bear’s face in my dreams, and I woke up, heart pounding. I swore I would never run trails again, but I missed it too much, and soon I was out with the trees and that big, big sky. Some things are worth the risk, though I made sure to carry a canister of bear spray, just in case. And sometimes even now when I’m running, I think of that bear charging and how I stood there, so still and yet so alive. It opened something inside of me that can never be closed. It offered a taste of the unknown: At any time I might find myself crouched in the brush, face to face with my own fragile existence. So much of life is chance. There are no guarantees. But there are vast landscapes and dangers and wild moments of good luck. | 0 |
666 | Ve la película de su vida y descubre que ha llevado siempre un trozo de lechuga entre los dientes | Redacción | Ve la película de su vida y descubre que ha llevado siempre un trozo de lechuga entre los dientes NOTICIA PATROCINADA POR SAMSUNG Verano Azul
Jordi Carrasco, un informático de Tarragona de 33 años, sufrió ayer una experiencia cercana a la muerte al atragantarse con un “dorito” y, en unos pocos segundos, pudo ver el transcurso de su vida pasar por delante de él “como en una película en definición 4K y formato panorámico”.
Pese a lo impresionante de la calidad de imagen, Carrasco lamenta que el guión de su vida no estuviera a la altura. “Además, con tanta definición en la imagen he comprobado que llevo treinta años con un trozo de lechuga entre los dientes y nadie jamás me ha avisado”, lamenta.
“Los mejores momentos de mi vida, mi primer ordenador, mi primera novia online… todos los momentos memorables en la existencia de un informático se vieron empañados por un simple trozo de lechuga. Qué pena de vida y qué pena dedicar la última tecnología a esto”, se queja.
Tras una profunda remodelación de sus instalaciones, la antesala de la muerte ha adquirido varios televisores Samsung con tecnología Quantum dot que permiten a los usuarios como Jordi vivir una experiencia más realista. Esto, por supuesto, pide que las vidas de las personas estén a la altura de los avances tecnológicos.
La misma tecnología, además, ha permitido destapar grandes mentiras del pasado: la popular doña Rogelia, personaje de “Mari Carmen y sus muñecos”, era en realidad el actor Quique San Francisco. Por si esto fuera poco, los detalles en alta definición de la serie “Verano Azul” muestran que Chanquete fingió su muerte para huir de la atención mediática y pasó a formar parte de un programa de protección de testigos. | 1 |
667 | Dems Win Congressional Baseball Game, Give Trophy to Republican Steve Scalise - Breitbart | Dylan Gwinn | Thursday night’s Congressional Baseball Game took on added meaning and importance after the shooting at the Republican practice on Wednesday, which left Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise seriously wounded. [The Democrats would go on to win the game, convincingly, by a final . Though, the postgame scene became one of unity and camaraderie as the Democrats presented the trophy to Scalise, who is still in critical condition after the attack. Representative Joe Barton of Texas accepted the trophy on Scalise’s behalf. According to ESPN: A huge ovation came from the crowd, which swelled to a record 24, 959, when Special Agent David Bailey, one of the Capitol Police officers injured in the attack on Republicans at their ball practice in Virginia, threw out the first pitch. “ONE FAMILY,” proclaimed a sign in the crowd. The announcer’s mention of Scalise, the House majority whip who was critically wounded in the attack Wednesday, brought the masses to their feet. The highlight of the evening featured President Donald Trump delivering a video message to the assembled crowd. The said, “By playing tonight we are showing the world that we will not be intimidated by threats, acts of violence or assaults on our democracy. The game will go on. ” ESPN reported, “When the president intoned three words he said have brought Americans together for generations — ”Let’s play ball” — cheers rang out. ” While the game provides some relief and bipartisanship in a town dominated by faction and division, the other more important aspect of the game has to do with how it benefits various charities. This year, the charities are the “Boys Girls Club of Greater Washington, Washington Literacy Center, the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation and, after Wednesday’s shooting, the Capitol Police Memorial Fund. ” After Thursday’s result, the record in the game is 39 wins each, for both Democrats and Republicans, with one tie. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn | 0 |
668 | France 2015 to Present: Strict Gun Control a Paper Tiger - Breitbart | AWR Hawkins | The strict French gun control that makes it extremely difficult for citizens to defend themselves has proven little more than a paper tiger when it comes to prohibiting terrorists and public attackers from acquiring the guns they need to kill innocents. [The April 20 attack on a police patrol on the Champs Élysées illustrates this perfectly in light of the fact that the alleged attacker — Karim Cheurfi — was previously jailed for shooting at officers with a . 38 Special revolver. The Daily Mail reports that Cheurfi was imprisoned “in 2005 for trying to kill two policemen” and wounding a third person with the revolver. On Thursday he allegedly used a Kalashnikov to kill two officers. He was then shot dead, and upon searching his car, police discovered more weapons, “including a pump action shotgun. ” The University of Sydney’s GunPolicy. org describes French gun laws as “restrictive,” yet they were powerless to stop Cheurfi, just as they offered no hindrance to the who entered the Alexis de Tocqueville high school in Grasse and opened fire. Despite universal background checks — “which [consider] criminal, mental health and [physical] health” issues — The Local reports the was able to enter the school carrying “a revolver, a pistol, a hunting rifle and two grenades. ” Consider the November 13, 2015, terror attack on unarmed Parisians. In that attack, multiple terrorists opened fire with or rifles. They killed 130 innocents. The universal background checks were not a hindrance, and the rest of the French gun laws were powerless to prevent the attack. It is important to note that A Review of French Gun Laws (2012) shows that the background check in France is an ongoing process rather than a one time event. Such checks entail acquiring and maintaining “an active shooting club [membership]” and going to the range “at least three times a year. ” They also include “seeing a doctor every year,” who declares one “physically and mentally capable of owning a firearm,” and filling out various pieces of paperwork as well. Yet 130 innocents were gunned down on November 13, 2015. And we cannot overlook the January 7, 2015, attack on Charlie Hebdo headquarters. Twelve innocents — including two police officers — were gunned down by armed terrorists who were not hindered by strict gun control. French police unions responded to the Charlie Hebdo attack by explaining that gun control simply was not working for them they could not continue to walk the streets of Paris presuming that terrorists would not acquire arms. The Associated Press reported that the police unions demanded “more” guns and “heavier” guns, as well as “protective gear, better training for and more legal tools to guard against terrorists. ” Gun control reduces citizens’ ability to defend themselves and places police officers at a marked disadvantage. On the other hand, it poses no hindrance to determined terrorists who target citizens and police officers alike. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0 |
669 | China, Russia, The Silk Road, Commodities, Nixon And A Massive Bull Market In Gold & Silver | King World News | 52 Views October 31, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
With most markets on lockdown on Halloween trading day, here is a big picture view of where the world is headed.
Stephen Leeb: “This past week a New York Times headline that caught my eye was: “At Heart of U.S. Strategy; Weapons That Can Think.” The gist was that over the next few years the U.S. will be spending billions of dollars to make “smart” weapons, while also boosting our cyber budget by billions of dollars. It struck me as another example of how anytime we in the U.S. pound our chest about our mighty military, we always point to how much money have spent and plan to spend… IMPORTANT: To hear which legend just spoke with KWN about $8,000 gold and the coming mania in the gold, silver, and mining shares markets CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
In a recent issue of Foreign Affairs, Michael O’Harlan and David Petraeus, men with exceptional military pedigrees, declare: “U.S. forces have few, if any, weaknesses and in many areas…they play in a totally different league from the militaries of other countries…Nor is this likely to change anytime soon, as U.S. defense spending is almost three times as large as that of the United States’ closest competitor, China.”
Reassuring words? Maybe for a moment. But as soon as you think about it, they become anything but reassuring, showing that even when it comes to our most vital security issues, we make the fundamentally flawed assumption that money equates to wealth.
I’ve long been convinced that if the U.S. continues on what appears an ever more inevitable slide, historians will point to the day Nixon dropped the gold standard as launching that skid. Gold is wealth; paper is merely money. Money can facilitate the exchange of wealth, but by itself it is just paper or entries on a computer ledger and a very poor substitute for wealth. Commodities are wealth, and many vital commodities, as we pointed in a recent interview, can’t even be purchased any more – period. Information is also wealth. And no amount of money can guarantee an edge in information.
A few weeks ago, a 15- or 16-year-old who had recently become interested in chess wrote a letter to a chess blog asking how much he’d need to spend to become a Grand Master – how much for training, how much for practice time, coaches, etc. The only possible answer: not all the money in the world could turn a novice who’s already a teenager into a world-class player. Grand masters have a wealth of knowledge and savvy that can’t be acquired once you’re much past 7 or 8 years old. You’ve missed the boat.
Similarly, no amount of money enabled U.S. experts to crack the cell phone of the San Bernardino terrorists. But cyber experts from Israel, which spends a lot less on cyber issues, cracked it with relative ease. Israel, along with China and Russia, are among a number of countries, mostly located in Asia, that develop the skills of their gifted children at early ages. This has left the U.S. a poor second in critical areas ranging from cyber security to super computers, which will be the most essential tools in the next generation of a gold-centered monetary system.
Even nonbelievers should be starting to perceive the inevitability of gold replacing paper. A few metrics tell the story. First is the relationship between the dollar and economic growth. Despite the recent report of better-than-expected third-quarter GDP, the economy’s growth has been declining as the dollar has risen. In the wake of the Great Recession the dollar traded in a fairly tight range, while GDP growth in fits and starts peaked at 5 percent in the third quarter of 2014. The higher dollar has held GDP growth to less than 2 percent for the past two years.
But commodities have begun to rise. Most major commodity indexes have climbed 10 percent or more this year. Even the temporary setback in obtaining an OPEC agreement won’t hold back real goods. Recently, for the first time since China announced its Silk Road initiative in 2013, a major article on the undertaking appeared in a major magazine, Foreign Affairs. Gal Luft , a senior advisor to the United States Energy Security Council, urged Washington to get aboard or lose out on the chance to benefit from the greatest infrastructure project in the history of civilization, many times the size of the Marshall Plan and already the destination of $1 trillion in Chinese exports this year, with dramatic growth likely for the foreseeable future.
But instead we’re likely to continue to use our dollars in ways that bear ever less connection to real wealth. Bear in mind that any effort to hold inflation down will crumble in the face of Western economies even weaker than ours. The result is that real interest rates will remain negative, an unalloyed positive for gold. At the same time the currency used along the Silk Road will be some combination of gold, the SDR, and the yuan. As we have said before, China’s edge in critical information technologies ensures its domination in virtual currencies such as the bitcoin, which will have multiple advantages in tomorrow’s gold-based world.
How High Will Gold & Silver Trade? How high will gold go? Much depends on how much trade the Silk Road generates. Which means that if think gold could go to five digits, you don’t need a shrink – you’re sane as can be. And let’s not overlook gold’s poor cousin, which in the end could make you even richer, silver. The energies of our future will be anchored to solar, nuclear, and wind. The solar anchor will mean that already peaking silver will become some of the scarcest wealth around. If you’re dreaming of $100 silver, your dreams will be coming true before long.
To me it’s an ironic footnote to the Nixon years. Yes, history will record that America’s decline began when the much-maligned Nixon delinked the dollar from gold and let us conflate money and wealth. Meanwhile, though, you can make a fortune on the coming bull market in gold that will be the direct result of that decision.”
The Coming Super Depression, Cyberwars, $10,000 Gold & $1,000 Silver CLICK | 1 |
670 | Troubled Quarterback Johnny Manziel to Appear at Shopping Mall to Sign Autographs During Next Super Bowl - Breitbart | Warner Todd Huston | Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel has gone from one of the most celebrated players in the NFL to washing out. Now, he is appearing in shopping malls to sign photos for money to make ends meet. [As USA Today notes, Manziel will make a Super Bowl appearance of sorts by appearing at a Houston shopping mall during Super Bowl week to sign autographs. According to Crave Sports Company, the group that contracted with the troubled player for the signing, Manziel will sign any item for $99 a pop or will pose for a selfie for $50 during the appearance. The Heisman Trophy winner whose NFL career crashed after only a single season due to his behavior will appear at the Woodlands Mall in Houston on February 2 and 3. Every NFL team passed Manziel over for the 2016 season, despite the league’s decision to reinstate him after Dallas County prosecutors dropped domestic violence charges against the quarterback last December. Along with the dismissal of the charges, Manziel agreed to attend counseling and will remain under court supervision. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0 |
671 | Bob Dylan Accused of Lifting Parts of Nobel Prize Speech from SparkNotes | Jerome Hudson | Rock and folk legend Bob Dylan has been accused of lifting sections of his 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech from a SparkNotes. com summary of Moby Dick. [Andrea Pitzer, a contributor for Slate, wrote that Dylan’s speech last week included plagiarized lines from an abridged summary of Moby Dick, the Herman Melville novel that the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer has cited as a personally inspiring text. One of the phrases used in the lecture, Pitzer writes, matches wording found on SparkNotes — a study guide website that provides summaries of literature and other texts — but is not, however, in the classic novel. From the lecture: “Some men who receive injuries are led to God, others are led to bitterness” From SparkNotes: “someone whose trials have led him toward God rather than bitterness. ” Pitzer highlights at least 20 examples from Dylan’s lecture of sentences and phrases that are similar to those found in the SparkNotes summary of the novel. The Nobel Foundation awarded Dylan the prestigious prize in October, which sparked considerable controversy over the very definition of literature, and and the enigmatic music legend didn’t acknowledge the honor for weeks. The musician declined to attend December’s Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, citing scheduling issues. The Swedish Academy, which delivers the Nobel Prize, published Dylan’s speech on June 5, in the form of a recording, and called it “extraordinary” and “eloquent” in a press release. The organization has not responded to the accusations. While Dylan has not responded to the accusations, however, he has been accused of borrowing phrases from other artists in the past. “It is nothing new that Mr. Dylan might take inspiration from a work to prepare something else,” Steven Weinberg, a copyright lawyer and musician, told the Associated Press. “Songwriters, including Dylan, have been borrowing from other literary works to turn pop phrases for ages. Consider Led Zeppelin’s ample use of Tolkien’s classic works in many of their songs. ” The “surprise here is that rather than borrowing from classic literature, Mr. Dylan took his ‘inspiration’ this time from crib notes,” Weinberg said. “But that should not raise eyebrows either. Even John Lennon was known to use things as ordinary as a newspaper clipping or circus posters to embellish lyrics. ” Listen to the lecture in full below: Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson | 0 |
672 | After Blimp Crash and E. Coli Contamination, Snakebitten U.S. Open Witnesses a Spectator Death - Breitbart | Daniel Redmond | ERIN, Wis. — On the heels of a fiery blimp crash and evidence of E. coli at a hydration station, the U. S. Open lost a spectator on Friday to a sudden death. [Washington County Sheriff Dale Schmidt informed the United States Golf Association (USGA) that the decedent was a male who appeared to die of natural causes. The death follows a dramatic fire on a commercial blimp high above the course that resulted in a crash and serious injuries for the pilot and evidence of E. coli bacteria found at a hydration station connected to a well. Here is video of the blimp crash from @msiggyy. We will continue to update here as information is available: https: . #USOpen pic. twitter. — GOLF. com (@golf_com) June 15, 2017, Update: USGA releases statement, says blimp that crashed is unaffiliated with the #USOpen — https: . (: @FOXSports) pic. twitter. — GOLF. com (@golf_com) June 15, 2017, The unfortunate series of events has not dampened enthusiasm around Erin Hills as the U. S. Open heads into the weekend with the national championship on the line. Fans tried to find some solace in the passing of the elderly man. Kate Hoffmann of nearby Hartland, Wisconsin sympathized: “Very sad news about the man passing away, you just hope he was enjoying his final day watching the sport he loved. ” Emergency personnel performed CPR by the grandstand on the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, man but he could not be revived. He was taken to an ambulance and soon thereafter pronounced dead. Out of respect for the family, the USGA is not providing additional information at the moment. Play continued without interruption as Rickie Fowler stumbled on Day Two in his try to win his first major championship and Brooks Koepka, Brian Harman, and Paul Casey surged into a tie for first. While golf is the focus of the fans, some, such as Marcus Stout of Leesburg, Virginia, worried: “Blimp crash, E. coli, fan dying. What will tomorrow bring”? | 0 |
673 | Public Employees and the Shadow World of American Carnage | John Carney | What might the American economy look like if had not engaged in decades of brutal betrayal against American workers? [A new report from the Congressional Budget Office provides an answer to the question by examining a sector of the labor market whose wages have been largely shielded from the effects of trade deals, immigration, and regulation. These workers receive wages and benefits that are, on average, about 17 percent higher than workers with comparable skills and education in other parts of the economy. The compensation gap is striking. The workers in the protected sector are better compensated than unprotected peers at every level of educational attainment aside from those with professional degrees or doctorates. The compensation gap is largest, in fact, for those workers who would otherwise be among the most vulnerable in the economy: workers with no more than a high school degree. According to the CBO study, the total compensation for protected workers with a high school diploma or less earned 53 percent more than their unprotected peers. So who are these protected workers? They are members of the federal government’s civilian workforce. The federal government employs about 1. 5 percent of the U. S. workforce, around 2. 2 million workers. They are spread across more than 100 agencies and over 650 occupations. In fiscal year 2016, the federal government spent around $215 billion to compensate these workers. On average, they tend to be older, more educated, and more concentrated in professional occupations than workers. The CBO studied data from 2011 through 2015 to estimate the differences between the wages and benefits of federal employees and similar employees. It sorted the data by level of education, years of work experience, occupation, size of employer, geographic location, veteran status, and demographic characteristics such as ages, sex, race, and marital status. What it found was that federal workers tend to earn far more than their private sector counterparts. Between 2010 and 2015, federal workers with a high school degree or less had wages that were 34 percent higher than private sector peers and benefits that were 93 percent greater, for a total compensation gap of 53 percent. For workers with a bachelor’s degree, the wage gap was 21 percent, composed of a 5 percent wage gap and a 52 percent benefit gap. Aside from those with the highest levels of education, the compensation gap has grown in recent years. Between 2005 and 2010, for example, the total compensation gap for workers with a high school diploma or less was 36 percent. The gap for those with a bachelor’s degree was 15 percent. An adjustment to whom is counted as a federal employee caused some of this difference. But the larger part of it was caused by the fact that wages grew more quickly among less educated federal workers than those in the private sector. This is even more striking because lawmakers froze salary increases for federal workers between 2011 through 2013. Without this freeze, the gap would have grown even larger. Federal workers are shielded from a lot of the effects of globalization that have depressed private sector worker compensation. Their jobs are not easily or often subject to the practice of replacing employees in the U. S. with employees located in foreign countries. Similarly, outsourcing does not weigh on federal workers the way it does private sector workers. Competition from immigrants is far less of a factor because the U. S. government has stringent rules against hiring illegal immigrants and does not directly seek workers from abroad to fill jobs. While the federal government hires immigrant workers, it does so from the pool that is already legally residing in the United States. Trade hardly impacts federal worker compensation at all. Civilian federal employees working in the Defense Department, the largest group of federal workers, are not in wage competition with defense workers in foreign lands. That is true for almost all federal workers, in fact. From the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior to the U. S. Treasury and the Justice Department, the wage competition faced by employees is purely domestic. Unlike the private sector, where employment and wages are depressed because of regulation, the federal government benefits from increased regulation. Each new regulation requires employees to enforce and monitor compliance. And most regulations impose few barriers to projects that the federal government pursues. Look at it from the of the agencies. They are confined to hiring, for the most part, American citizens and legal residents. They compete with other government agencies and the private sector for workers. While the private sector can turn abroad for workers, the federal agencies cannot. The result is higher wages and better benefits for federal workers. Importantly, many of the sources of wage stagnation that impact the private sector also weigh on the federal sector. Communications technology, for example, has made many occupations once filled by workers in the federal government redundant. Robotics, improved computer processing, and the Great Recession — recall that wage wage freeze — have all hit federal workers. Yet the compensation grew. That leaves the effects of trade and immigration policy as the most likely culprits. The absence of a wage gap for those with a doctorate or professional degree is telling. In the private sector, these are workers who have faired relatively well in the age of globalization. Many have seen the demand for their work — and therefore their prosperity — rise as lawyers, bankers, and other professions ply their trade internationally. So it is no surprise that the federal workers with advanced degrees earn 18 percent less than private sector counterparts. This fact also undermines a competing narrative explaining the wage gap — that it is a result of a reckless federal government that spends and cannot resist pressure for higher wages. If that were so, all federal workers would be expected to earn more. The compensation gap could also explain why so many federal workers do not look favorably on President Donald Trump. They just have not experienced the economic impact of globalization the way many of Donald Trump’s private sector supporters have. The CBO report is a glimpse into a shadow world, an alternate reality of an American economy absent the trade and immigration policy decisions that have dragged down all but the best educated and highest earning segments of the American workforce. It shows us an America where a worker without a high school diploma is far better paid and the rewards to the elites are far less grand. It is the world without the carnage that globalization has sown in the American economy. It is, more hopefully, a roadmap to making America great again. | 0 |
674 | The Syria conundrum - Press TV | null | On The News Line ©AFP
These are some of the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line:
The Syria conundrum
The crisis in Syria is getting more complicated. Many parties are participating in the war. The administration of US President Barack Obama has been talking about sending more sophisticated weapons to the so-called moderate rebels in Syria. But the White House is hesitant and the plan seems to have stalled. The Turks are after for their own agenda in Syria. It’s been almost two months since Turkey launched its offensive in northern Syria. According to Ankara, the mission is aimed at clearing its border area of ISIL militants and anti-Turkey Kurdish militants. And that has put Turkey on a collision course with the US, which has invested heavily on the Kurdish fighters.
EU threat of disintegration
Things seem to be falling apart in Europe which many believe is under strain from many factors ranging from the Brexit to the rise of the far-right across the European political spectrum to the refugee crisis, which is the worst to hit the continent. The prospect of the European Union seems so bleak that it has rung the alarm in Germany. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned: "The financial crisis, the refugee influx into Europe and the shock from the Brexit referendum in Great Britain have brought the European Union into violent turmoil.” Steinmeier warned that this might lead to the collapse of the EU.
Saudis aim to starve Yemenis
Reports have surfaced that Saudi Arabia is "deliberately targeting impoverished Yemen’s farms and agricultural industry." Increasing evidence suggests that the kingdom is not merely bombing civilians, but it is systematically targeting infrastructure survivors will need to avoid starvation when the war is over. That includes water infrastructures, and even farms. Loading ... | 1 |
675 | ESPN’s LZ Granderson: ’Justified’ to Think Kaepernick Is Being ’Blackballed’ if Nobody Signs Him - Breitbart | Trent Baker | Friday on ESPN’s “SportsNation,” and CNN contributor LZ Granderson reacted to the Tampa Bay Buccanneers signing free agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to be Jameis Winston’s backup. Granderson argued that if Kaepernick remains a free agent when the season begins, then it would be “justified” to say the quarterback has been “blackballed” by NFL owners. “I know that [Kaepernick] is probably asking for a certain amount of money that teams haven’t been willing to pay,” Granderson stated. “I also know that Kap is probably looking to be a starter where Fitzpatrick is just looking to have a job. With that being said though, when you see Mark Sanchez secure a job, when you see Ryan Fitzpatrick … secure a job, you go, ‘All right, this is adding more and more fuel to this conversation about whether or not Colin Kaepernick is unfairly being blackballed’ because he has the courage to stand up for what he believes in. ” He continued, “I’m thinking the NFL, if they start this season with Colin Kaepernick out of it, I think every bit of criticism about him being blackballed has been justified because if Ryan Fitzpatrick has a job making $3 million, the way he played in New Jersey?” Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0 |
676 | Prescription Painkiller Deaths Dropped 25% in States That Legalized Marijuana | [email protected] (Alexander Light) | . Prescription Painkiller Deaths Dropped 25% in States That Legalized Marijuana In all states that have legalized medical marijuana, there has been a 25% reduction in deaths relate... Print Email http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/prescription-painkiller-deaths-dropped.html In all states that have legalized medical marijuana, there has been a 25% reduction in deaths related to the overdose of legally prescribed painkillers. There is still heated controversy in the United States about whether or not marijuana should be legalized for recreational use, let alone medicinal purposes. After reviewing a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014, you’ll likely agree that it’s much safer for cannabis to be doled out than most prescription opioids.For the study , researchers analyzed all deaths caused by opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2010 in the U.S.Then, they determined the association between medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic-related deaths using linear time-series regression models. The various models helped the researchers determine that in every state that legalized medical marijuana between the aforementioned years (a total of 13 states), there was a 25% reduction in deaths related to the overdose of legally prescribed painkillers.“ The difference is quite striking ,” said Colleen Barry, the study’s co-author and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, to Newsweek .It is hypothesized by the researchers that in states where medical marijuana is legal, patients are opting to smoke cannabis to alleviate their pain rather than consume prescription opiates, as the latter tend to cause side effects. In addition, marijuana accounts for 0 deaths per year, whereas overdose of opiates are responsible for over 14,000 deaths annually ( source ).While the statistics speak volumes, not everyone is in agreement with the findings. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at the national non-profit addiction treatment agency Phoenix House, says that the immediate reduction in overdose deaths is extremely unlikely to be a result of the herb being substituted. This, he says, is because physicians rarely prescribe marijuana for chronic pain. “You don’t have primary care doctors in these states [prescribing] marijuana instead of Vicodin,” he argues. The physician believes that the states that have legalized medical marijuana are more likely to actively treat and help prevent addiction. In his mind, this is a far more likely scenario for the decrease in overdose deaths.While more studies undoubtedly need to be carried out to pinpoint the cause of this phenomenon, this news is heartening at the very least. By Amanda Froelich , Guest writer, HumansAreFree.com | 1 |
677 | We’re in a Low-Growth World. How Did We Get Here? - The New York Times | Neil Irwin | One central fact about the global economy lurks just beneath the year’s remarkable headlines: Economic growth in advanced nations has been weaker for longer than it has been in the lifetime of most people on earth. The United States is adding jobs at a healthy clip, as a new report showed Friday, and the unemployment rate is relatively low. But that is happening despite a trend of much lower growth, both in the United States and other advanced nations, than was evident for most of the War II era. This trend helps explain why incomes have risen so slowly since the turn of the century, especially for those who are not top earners. It is behind the cheap gasoline you put in the car and the ultralow interest rates you earn on your savings. It is crucial to understanding the rise of Donald J. Trump, Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, and the rise of populist movements across Europe. This slow growth is not some new phenomenon, but rather the way it has been for 15 years and counting. In the United States, gross domestic product rose by an average of 2. 2 percent a year from 1947 through 2000 — but starting in 2001 has averaged only 0. 9 percent. The economies of Western Europe and Japan have done worse than that. Over long periods, that shift implies a radically slower improvement in living standards. In the year 2000, G. D. P. — which generally tracks with the average American’s income — was about $45, 000. But if growth in the second half of the 20th century had been as weak as it has been since then, that number would have been only about $20, 000. To make matters worse, fewer and fewer people are seeing the spoils of what growth there is. According to a new analysis by the McKinsey Global Institute, 81 percent of the United States population is in an income bracket with flat or declining income over the last decade. That number was 97 percent in Italy, 70 percent in Britain, and 63 percent in France. Like most things in economics, the slowdown boils down to supply and demand: the ability of the global economy to produce goods and services, and the desire of consumers and businesses to buy them. What’s worrisome is that weakness in global supply and demand seems to be pushing each other in a vicious circle. It increasingly looks as if something fundamental is broken in the global growth machine — and that the usual menu of policies, like interest rate cuts and modest fiscal stimulus, aren’t up to the task of fixing it (though some policies could help). The underlying reality of low growth will haunt whoever wins the White House in November, as well as leaders in Europe and Japan. An entire way of thinking about the future — that children will inevitably live in a much richer country than their parents — is thrown into question the longer this lasts. The first step to trying to reverse the slowdown is to understand why it’s happening. A good way to do that is to predictions from smart economists. In January 2005, as it does every year, the Congressional Budget Office released its forecast for the United States’ budget and economic outlook over the decade to come. If the C. B. O. ’s projections had come true, the United States would have had $3. 1 trillion more economic output in 2015 than it actually did — 17 percent more. Even if the steep contraction of hadn’t happened, the shortfall would have been $1. 7 trillion. As a matter of arithmetic, the slowdown in growth has two potential components: people working fewer hours, and less economic output being generated for each hour of labor. Both have contributed to the economy’s underperformance. In 2000, Robert J. Gordon, a Northwestern University economist, published a paper titled “Does the ‘New Economy’ Measure Up to the Great Inventions of the Past?” It argued that the internet would not have the same transformative impact on how much economic output would emerge from an hour of human labor as innovations like electricity, air transport and indoor plumbing did. It was a distinctly minority view in that apex of technological optimism. “People said: ‘Productivity growth is exploding, Gordon. You’re wrong we’re in a new age,’ ” Mr. Gordon said. But as productivity growth slowed several years later, “people started to take my point of view more and more seriously. ” He offers the example of the computer technology that airlines use. When introduced in the early 2000s, it really did mean greater productivity: Fewer airline clerks were needed for every passenger. But the gain was more a bump than a continuing trend. Douglas director of the C. B. O. at the time of the 2005 forecast and now president of the American Action Forum, said technology “just seems to be less special and more comparable to other forms of investments than it had seemed. ” The forecasters thought the average output for an hour of labor would rise 29 percent from 2005 to 2014. Instead it was 15 percent. But it’s not just that each hour of work is producing less than projected. Fewer people are working fewer hours than seemed likely not long ago. The unemployment rate is actually lower than the C. B. O. projected it to be a decade ago (it saw it as stable at 5. 2 percent it was 4. 9 percent in July). But the unemployment rate counts only those actively seeking a job. There were five million fewer Americans in the labor force — neither working nor looking — in 2015 than projected. An analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisers last year estimated that about half of the decline in labor force participation since 2009 was caused by aging of the population (which was anticipated in the projection) and about 14 percent from the economic cycle. About a third of the decline was a mysterious “residual”: younger people leaving the work force, perhaps because they saw little opportunity or viewed the potential wages they could earn as inadequate. Weak productivity and fewer workers are hits to the “supply” side of the economy. But there is evidence that a shortage of demand is a major part of the problem, too. Think of the economy as a car if you try to accelerate far beyond the speed it’s capable of, a car won’t go any faster but the engine will overheat. Similarly, if the voluntary exit of people from the labor force and gains from technological advances were the entire story behind the growth slowdown, there should be evidence the economy is overheating, resulting in inflation. That’s not what’s happening. Rather, global central banks are keeping their feet on the economic accelerator, and that is not resulting in any overheating at all. The distinction is important if there is to be any hope of solving the problem. If the issue is a shortage of demand, then some more stimulus should help. If it is entirely on the supply side, then government stimulus is not much use, and policy makers should focus on trying to make companies more innovative and coax people back into the work force. But what if it’s both? Larry Summers, the Harvard economist and a former top official in the Obama and Clinton administrations, watched as growth stayed low and inflation invisible after the 2008 crisis, despite extraordinary stimulus from central banks. Even before the crisis, economic growth had been relatively tepid despite a housing bubble, war spending and low interest rates. In November 2013, he combined those observations into a speech at an I. M. F. conference arguing that the global economy had, just maybe, settled into a state of “secular stagnation” in which there was insufficient demand, and resulting slow growth, low inflation and low interest rates. While the theory is anything but settled, the case has become stronger in the last three years. But it may not be as simple as supply versus demand. Perhaps people have dropped out of the labor force because their skills and connections have atrophied. Perhaps the productivity slump is caused in part by businesses not making capital investments because they don’t think there will be demand for their products. Mr. Summers, in an interview, frames it as an inversion of “Say’s Law,” the notion that supply creates its own demand: that economywide, people doing the work to create goods and services results in their having the income to then buy those goods and services. In this case, rather, as he has often put it: “Lack of demand creates lack of supply. ” His proposed solution is that the government sharply expand investment in infrastructure, which might provide a jolt of higher demand, which in turn could help the picture on supply — helping workers who build roads and bridges become reattached to the work force, for example. As it happens, increasing infrastructure spending is among the few economic policies advocated by both Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump. Economic history is full of unpredictable fits and starts. When Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, the internet, a defining feature of his presidency, was rarely mentioned, and Japan seemed to be emerging as the economic rival of the United States. In other words, there’s a lot we don’t know about the economic future. What we do know is that if something doesn’t change from the recent trend, the 21st century will be a gloomy one. | 0 |
678 | Istanbul, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu: Your Morning Briefing - The New York Times | Charles McDermid | Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • The Turkish authorities are hunting for the gunman who opened fire at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day, killing at least 39 people from no fewer than 12 countries. The Islamic State claimed him as “a hero soldier of the caliphate” and appeared to refer to Turkey’s role in the Syrian war. In Iraq, the group claimed a suicide bombing in central Baghdad that killed dozens, even as it makes a brutal effort to hang on to its only remaining Iraqi stronghold, Mosul. _____ • South Korea’s full Constitutional Court begins formal hearings on the impeachment of President Park . Public outrage — initially aimed at influence by Choi the daughter of a religious sect leader — has turned to broader concerns about the power of the presidency and the influence of conglomerates like Samsung. The country is seeking the extradition of Ms. Choi’s daughter, who was arrested in Denmark after months of hiding. _____ • House Republicans surprised Washington by voting to hobble a congressional ethics office with no advance notice. The full House will consider the move today as the most powerful Congress in 20 years goes into session, promising to roll back many of President Obama’s signature policies. Faced with North Korea’s threat to test an intercontinental ballistic missile, Donald J. Trump took to Twitter to declare bluntly, “It won’t happen!” Over the weekend, Mr. Trump promised to reveal “things that other people don’t know,” possibly as soon as today, about assessments that Russia interfered in the U. S. election. _____ • “We need to fight black money, even though it is hurting little people like me. ” Many Indians agree with that sentiment, voiced by a Delhi taxi driver, saying they are more concerned about reining in corruption than the immediate hardships caused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ban on bills. India’s Supreme Court ruled that candidates for political office may not run on or appeals. The decision comes ahead of assembly elections that will test the strength of Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. _____ • SpaceX traced the explosion of its Falcon 9 rocket in September to the unexpected interplay of supercold helium and oxygen with carbon fibers and aluminum. The company said it would resume launches as early as Sunday. • American tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook are on a collision course with European regulators over issues including privacy and taxes. • saunas, or jjimjilbangs, are doing a brisk business in parts of the United States. • Ads from a slew of major U. S. companies prominently feature Muslims as part of an inclusive marketing strategy. • Thinking about asking for a raise, or changing jobs? Or just want to be happier at work? Here’s a roundup of advice on retuning your career. • Most major markets reopen after the New Year’s holiday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • China’s pledge to shut down its commercial ivory trade is galvanizing support among African trading partners and could boost its international standing. [The New York Times] • Suicide bombers struck the international airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing at least three security officers. [Al Jazeera] • A prison battle in Brazil between gangs fighting for control of the cocaine trade left about 60 inmates dead — some decapitated. [The New York Times] • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was questioned by police investigators, indicating that a graft inquiry has become a criminal investigation. [The New York Times] • Pakistan began a polio immunization campaign in the city of Quetta after a strain of the virus was found in sewage samples. [Reuters] • A Mongolian official’s apology for allowing the Dalai Lama to visit is the latest sign that Chinese pressure is outweighing the country’s deep ties to the Tibetan leader. [The New York Times] • Pan Pan, a panda who fathered nearly a quarter of the world’s captive pandas, died last week at a conservation center in China’s Sichuan Province. [The New York Times] • The first meteor shower of the year, the Quadrantids, should be visible from Asia in the early hours of Wednesday. [EarthSky] • A cache of notes left by Richard Nixon’s closest aide shows that Nixon, for domestic political reasons, sabotaged a 1968 peace initiative that could have brought the Vietnam War to an early end. • A museum in Yan’an, China, honors a group of American diplomats who in 1944 gave Washington a positive assessment of Mao Zedong, and had their careers destroyed for it. • J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of “The Lord of the Rings,” was born 125 years ago today. Fans around the world plan to toast “The Professor” at 9 p. m. local time. • Tyrus Wong, who endured racial bias to become one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century and whose influence was crucial to the animated film “Bambi,” died at 106. • Finally, our Asia correspondents don’t limit themselves to traditional news stories. Sometimes, they’re just taken with a subject, like Myanmar’s unemployed elephants or President Xi Jinping’s favorite jacket. Here are some of our favorites. Enjoy. “I Can’t Drive 55,” the rocker Sammy Hagar once famously wailed, but 43 years ago this week, he and every other American driver were faced with obeying the first federal speed limit. Setting speed limits had been the states’ responsibility. But in 1973, OPEC cut oil shipments to the United States for supporting Israel in a war with its Arab neighbors. The embargo hit the American economy hard. In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signed the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, lowering the speed limit to reduce consumption. And American car buyers sought out more vehicles, turning to a country that had not yet been celebrated for automaking: Japan. The debate over road safety and speed limits continued for decades, and in 1995, President Bill Clinton repealed the federal limit, returning the power to the states. In parts of Texas, drivers can legally go 85 m. p. h. That’s the fastest in the country, though it’s slower than a few places in the world. Stretches of Germany’s autobahn have no maximum limit. It’s a far cry from one of the earliest speed restrictions. In 1901, Connecticut limited some drivers to 12 miles per hour. Chris Stanford contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com. | 0 |
679 | Hitler or Hillary? | Ryan Banister |
A man reads various quotes to people on the street that are either from Adolf Hitler or Hillary Clinton, and the participants are expected to guess which one it is.
First quote:
“We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”
The participants guessed Hitler. Nope. It was Hillary.
Second quote:
“I believe the primary role of the state is to teach, train and raise children. Parents have a secondary role.”
The participants guess Hitler. Nope! Wrong again! That was Hillary’s quote.
How telling it is that people have trouble distinguishing between the two. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
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Contributed by Ryan Banister of The Daily Sheeple . | 1 |
680 | Dalian Wanda’s Hollywood Event Is Itself a Production - The New York Times | Brooks Barnes | LOS ANGELES — The entire Hollywood press corps turned up. So did dozens of Chinese executives from the Dalian Wanda Group, some of whom were introduced as “special dignitaries. ” Studio executives? Check. Leaders from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? Grinning from the front row. But why were there also four women in gold evening gowns serving as ushers and M. C.’s? And why was the “Star Wars” score used as part of the Monday affair, which was held to promote Wanda’s $5 billion studio complex in Qingdao as a home away from home for Hollywood? The answer seemed to be: because Wanda wanted it that way. And, at least for eager Hollywood executives hoping to tap into the Chinese box office, that was answer enough. As the Motion Picture Association of America’s chief executive, Christopher J. Dodd, said in a video infomercial for the Qingdao complex that played as part of the event, “Any time an audience grows, everyone benefits. ” The 5 p. m. presentation, held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, began with remarks by Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the academy, an institution dedicated in part to celebrating artistic freedom. “We have so much in common,” Ms. Boone Isaacs said of the Chinese and American film industries. “Art. Creativity. Conscience. Conviction. Just telling your story. ” Hollywood, of course, has been frustrated that Chinese censors restrict the flow of American films into China only a few dozen foreign films are allowed to be exhibited annually. But Ms. Boone Isaacs kept it gauzy. “This art form, like an carousel, is at its best when it takes us around the world,” she said of cinema. Next up: Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, who has made bolstering the movie industry a priority of his administration. Specifically, he has criticized the practice of studios moving production to other states and countries to take advantage of tax incentives and rebates. That, of course, is exactly the kind of runaway production funding that Wanda announced at Monday’s event. Mr. Garcetti tried to have it both ways. After noting that efforts to bring back production have borne fruit, he said, “We also are not a place that closes in. ” He added, “We will be strong about promoting Los Angeles as a place to film, but we will also be proud to make those international links that are core to our businesses growing. ” With that, Mr. Garcetti introduced Wang Jianlin, Wanda’s chairman. For his part, Mr. Wang spent most of his speech (delivered in Mandarin, with translation provided to the audience via headphones) highlighting the spectacular growth of the Chinese box office. Within a decade, he noted, China will not only far surpass the United States as a movie marketplace, it will control more than 40 percent of global ticket sales. He got a round of applause when he said that American studios needed to “improve the quality” of their movies. “In the recent few years, perhaps because Hollywood movies are trying to minimize their risk, there are less original movies,” he said. After criticizing Hollywood’s on special effects, he added, “Now that Chinese audiences are smarter, they do not so easily become happy. ” It was almost a wrap. But first came more details about the 40 percent rebate Wanda will offer studios for filming at its “movie metropolis” in Qingdao. Invited to the stage were executives from studios that had already signed up, including Lionsgate, Legendary Entertainment, Arclight Films and Kylin Pictures. As one of the women in gold gowns said in closing, “It’s very exciting!” | 0 |
681 | Comment on 2:00PM Water Cooler 11/2/2016 by Timmy | Timmy | by Lambert Strether
By Lambert Strether of Corrente .
Dallas readers: Yves writes to say her plane is getting in early, and so, there having been no untoward events, the Meetup will be held as scheduled!
TPP, TTIP, TISA
CETA: A week of pressure from four Belgian regions opposed to CETA, led by the courageous Walloons, produced a revised “joint interpretive instrument” and, importantly, a new list of conditions that must be met before Belgium can ratify the deal” [ Rabble.ca ]. “Unfortunately, the joint interpretive ‘instrument’ is mostly artful deception. To take just one example, the instrument’s affirmation of the right to regulate is meaningless. Of course, the parties have not entirely given up their right to regulate. But the fact is, even if the instrument had full legal force under international law, CETA would still threaten the ability of Canada or EU governments to regulate in the public interest, enhance public services, and hold multinational companies accountable for their actions. ‘The critical point missing,’ as we wrote previously, ‘is that while the parties retain the right to regulate, they must do so in conformity with their CETA obligations and commitments.'” So it will be interesting to see if Obama tries a similar deception on TPP. But wait!
Wallonia’s principled stand did, however, produce some important results. While most of the media attention in Canada appears to have focused on the joint instrument, the more interesting and potentially significant development may be the accord between Belgian governments that spells out the grounds for Belgium’s federal government to sign CETA.
For example, Belgium will now ask the European Court of Justice to give an opinion on the legality of CETA’s investment court system within the EU. Even more importantly, four of Belgium’s regional governments also state that they reject CETA (notably its investment chapter) as negotiated and that Belgium will refuse to ratify the treaty unless these concerns are addressed. In other words, while Belgium is now in a position to sign CETA, it will not be able to ratify the deal as it stands.
This means that CETA’s investment chapter, at a minimum, must be revised or the investment court system scrapped, before CETA can be ratified by Belgium. The accord also includes assurances that if any Belgian regional government refuses to ratify CETA, the federal government must give notice to the EU that Belgium cannot ratify, an act that could potentially trigger the end of CETA’s provisional application in all European member states.
The German constitutional court staked out a similar position in the event that Germany fails to ratify CETA. That decision, by the way, will not be made by the German government alone, but in conjunction with Germany’s second chamber, which is currently controlled by the anti-CETA Greens and Left parties.
So while CETA proponents have undoubtedly cleared a big albeit unanticipated hurdle in getting the deal signed, their machinations may have made CETA’s full ratification even less likely. CETA’s passage in Europe is far from assured, despite the apparent breakthrough in Belgium.
And then there is the voice of the Canadian establishment–
CETA: “CETA puts Canada’s trade debate to rest once and for all” [ Globe and Mail ]. “The rationale for launching CETA in Canada was in large part to establish a measure of diversification from the country’s trade relations within the North American free-trade agreement. Given the tone around trade in the U.S. presidential election, this decision now looks especially prescient.”
CETA: “What the Canada-EU Deal Means for the Future of Trade” [ Fortune ]. “All of the factors that drove Europe to conclude this agreement provide insights for current trade challenges in the U.S. President Obama is trying to get Congress to approve just after the presidential election the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement… Now is the time to resolve as many specific congressional objections to the deal as possible. It is impossible to renegotiate the TPP in the time available, so as with the last-minute negotiations between the EU and Belgium, both the administration and Congress will need to be pragmatic and come to an agreement quickly on outstanding issues.”
TISA: “The 21st round of negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement kicks off this morning in Geneva, and stakes are high for significant progress to be made this round in order for the deal to wrap up by its early December deadline. Significant issues remain, including data flows — where the European Union is still working to come up with a consolidated position — and new services, on which the EU and others are continuing to push for the right to apply different regulations to domestic and foreign constituents rather than afford the same treatment to all TISA partners. The round is scheduled to last through Nov. 10” [ Politico ].
2016
Days until: 5. That’s not very many days!
Debates
“Presidential Candidates Dr. Jill Stein & Gov. Gary Johnson [Pt. 1]” [ Tavis Smiley ]. A forum-style “conversation” between the two.
“‘I had a team of people who were relentless, totally in the head of what Trump might do,’ [Hillary Clinton] says” [ People ] “‘A lot of this comes down to who gets into whose head. It’s like an athletic contest or maybe a high-stakes entertainment performance.”
War Drums
“In the five and a half years since the uprising in Syria began, it has become the most catastrophic war of our young century” [Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker ]. I would have thought that our invasion of Iraq in 2003 set the baseline for “catastrophic”? What the heck was Filkins thinking when he wrote that sentence? And The New Yorker used to be famous for its fact-checking. When did that get crapified, anyhow?
The Voters
“[W]hile Trump and many of his supporters may fetishize a past that is deeply retrograde, liberals and progressives have also demonstrated a troubling tendency to fetishize a future that they presume is on their side. There’s something peculiarly telling about this kind of progress fetishism, which has been conscripted as ideology-of-first-resort for Clintonite New Democrats” [ The Baffer ]. “When our historical terrain has effectively focused most of our political energies to differentiating ourselves from the not-woke-enough opponents of progress, we can lose all critical introspection. We can uncritically pass over the fact that, say, liberal multiculturalism can end up being really racist , tolerance of queer sexualities can end up repackaging biologically determinist languages of eugenics, and so on. Moreover, as the rise of the New Democrats has made crystal clear (from Bill and Hillary to Obama), we will dependably base our biggest political choices on our future-focused need to have our place on the right side of history confirmed. So what if that means more drone strikes, deportations, mass incarceration of minorities, destructive free trade agreements, corporate concessions, and financial deregulation? It’s messy ‘maintaining’ history, after all.”
“Early Voting a Poor Predictor of Final Results” [ RealClearPolitics ]. One of several reasons: “[W]e don’t know the effect to which campaign strategy is creating the appearance of a participation surge by merely cannibalizing Election Day voters by mobilizing voters who would have voted on Election Day anyway.”
Downballot
“The presidential race may be inducing whiplash, but the House battleground remains relatively stable in the final week. We rate only 40 House races in Lean or Toss Up, and Democrats would need to sweep 35 of them to win control, so Republicans remain overwhelming favorites to hold onto their majority. But there is still plenty of uncertainty about the size of that majority: Democrats could gain anywhere from 5 to 20 seats” [ Cook Political Report ]. ” Republican voters have begun coming home to Donald Trump amid the Comey news… Even if control is not at risk, the ultimate size of the GOP majority matters a great deal, especially to Speaker Paul Ryan. To the extent Republicans lose seats, almost all of the casualties will be swing-district moderates who are more loyal to Ryan than Trump. The narrower the majority, the less room for error Ryan will have in winning reelection to his position and navigating the 2017 legislative minefield.”
Well done, DSCC: For Senate this year, Dems nominated two weed opponents (NV, NH), corp lobbyists (PA, IN), & a trust fund kid former Republican (FL)
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) November 2, 2016
The Trail
“SEPTA strike halts transit service in Philadelphia” [ Progressive Railroading ]. Effect on voting?
“[T]he race between [Clinton and Trump] is now a precise dead heat in the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, 46-46 percent. A majority, 55 percent, continues to expect Clinton to win, though that’s down 5 points from its peak last week” [ ABC ]. ” Among other results is a gradual collapse in support for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, from a peak of 9 percent support in September to just 3 percent now. Jill Stein of the Green Party has 2 percent and has held steady.” Amazingly, Trump now leads on honesty and trustworthiness. Of course, it’s madness to focus on individual polls; RCP’s 4-way average has Clinton up by 1.9, though falling.
“With the fallout over the FBI email probe continuing to take up oxygen, Trump has stayed uncharacteristically on message. Campaigning near Philadelphia on Tuesday, the GOP nominee and his running mate focused on the projected 25 percent average increase in premiums for some Affordable Care Act plans, as open enrollment began. Trump let Mike Pence do most of the talking, and the Indiana governor closed his remarks on repealing the law by asking Republicans to “come home'” [ RealClearPolitics ]. Hitherto, Trump has been the anti-Napoleon, always interrupting his enemy when they are making a mistake. Not so this week (though there are 5 days to go). Kellyanne Conway must have gotten Trump’s attention somehow. Or Ivanka.
“Donald Trump Voters, Just Hear Me Out” [The Moustache of Understanding, New York Times ]. Four paragraphs in, he turns to the topic of Trump: “Trump is not only a flawed politician, he’s an indecent human being.” Persuasive! I dunno. If a vote for Trump would finally force Friedman off the Times Op-Ed page, would it be worth it? Tough call.
Realignment
“Will this be the election that finally kills off the Democratic and Republican parties?” [ McClatchy ]. “Just days before Election Day, interviews with more than 40 independent voters in swing states underscores that the nomination of two deeply unpopular candidates for president is aggravating and reinforcing a growing trend in the country away from the Democratic and Republican parties, which more and more voters see as out of touch with their lives and out of date in a new century. The number of free agent voters registering as independent or unaffiliated is soaring, while Republican and Democratic numbers flatline. Independent registrations have jumped since 2008 by 22.3 percent in states that keep registration data by party. Democrats over that same time increased 2.7 percent and Republicans 3.6 percent…”
“6 Reasons Why A New Civil War Is Possible And Terrifying” [ Cracked ]. “‘Trust’ isn’t just an intangible concept when we’re talking about the potential for civil warfare. Sinisa Malesevic is a professor who studies the sociology of civil wars and a survivor of the Yugoslavian civil war. He’s someone Marvel really should’ve reached out to for script advice, and he noted the breakdown of trust was one of the first traumatizing steps to war, ‘… in a very short period of time, there is a complete sense of fear, you do not know who is who, who is supporting which side … that fear spreads.'” And: “Colonel Couvillon also thought any conflict was likely to start in a rural area, ‘…people talk about, is it gonna be class warfare, race warfare … is it gonna be north versus south? Personally, I think it’s gonna be urban versus rural.'” Another interesting piece from Cracked, of all places.
Democrat Email Hairball
“Opinion: Hillary Clinton is irreparably damaged, even if she wins” [ MarketWatch ]. “[W]e are in for a fiasco in politics that will make even this fiasco of a campaign pale by comparison. There is hardly any scenario that is too far-fetched. Even if the polls are right and Clinton’s lead translates into an electoral victory, she will be so damaged going into office that her chances of getting anything done will be virtually nil. In this sense alone, Trump’s claim that this scandal is “worse than Watergate” could prove to be true. As an incumbent, Richard Nixon at least had an administration in place when he won re-election in 1972, though it took nearly another two years before he was forced to resign under threat of impeachment.”
“U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Monday he believes Hillary Clinton’s actions with her private email server are impeachable offenses should she be elected president” [ Beloit Daily News ]. “Johnson cited 18 U.S. Code 793 (f) and 18 U.S. Code 2071, which have to do with the willful destruction or removal from proper custody of information relating to national defense. Johnson honed in on the latter of the two, which reads in part that anyone found to have concealed or removed records ‘shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.’‘I’m not a lawyer, but this is clearly written,’ Johnson said. ‘I would say yes, high crime or misdemeanor, I believe she is in violation of both laws.'” In principle, I agree. If a high official can privatize their communications, and then decide what to destroy and what to retain before turning them over to law enforcement, the term “public records” becomes literally meaningless. Nixon, deep within his withered and wormy soul, retained a shred of conscience: He didn’t simply destroy the tapes . Clinton would have destroyed the tapes without hesitation; in fact, that’s exactly what she did with “her”— that is, the public’s — mail.
“Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner told conservative radio host Charlie Sykes Tuesday that there would be a ‘constitutional crisis’ if Clinton was indicted, and when asked about impeachment, answered, ‘I think that is something that is speculative in nature. I’m speculating, what I can say is that I think Richard Nixon would have been indicted and he would have been impeached. He stopped the impeachment by resigning as a result of Watergate and he stopped the indictment by President Ford pardoning him” [ CNN ]. On pardons, see Jerri-Lynn’s post today .
Stats Watch
ADP Employment Report, October 2016: “ADP sees significant softening for Friday’s employment report, estimating October private payrolls will come in at 147,000” [ Econoday ]. “Though ADP’s revision does point to an upward revision to September’s data in Friday’s report, the October estimate is soft and could further lower expectations for a rate hike at today’s FOMC meeting.” And but: ” ADP is showing jobs growth equalling the rate of people entering the jobs market. The growth this month is as Econintersect forecasted based on economic potential” [ Econintersect ]. “ADP employment has not been a good predictor of BLS non-farm private job growth.
Gallup U.S. Job Creation Index, October 2016: “American workers’ reports of hiring activity at their place of employment remained relatively strong in October, with many more saying their employer was adding rather than subtracting jobs” [ Econoday ]. “For nearly all of Gallup’s JCI trend since August 2008, net hiring in the private sector has far outpaced government net hiring. But the latest poll shows the narrowest gap between net hiring in the two sectors since April 2009, with nongovernment hiring (plus 32) essentially tied with government hiring (plus 31).”
MBA Mortgage Applications, week of October 28, 2016: “Purchase applications for home mortgages fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in the October 28 week, following a sharp 7 percent decline in the prior week to the lowest level since January” [ Econoday ].
Shipping: “US west coast employers and [ILWU and PMA] union leaders are to continue talks about extending the current employment contract covering dockworkers.The two sides met on Tuesday to discuss an extension beyond mid-2019 as part of an effort to restore confidence in ports along the Pacific seaboard” [ Lloyd’s List ].
Shipping: “Are conditions finally improving for the air cargo industry?” [ Air Cargo News ]. “September market round-up shows that air cargo volume demand increased by 5% year on year in September — a level of increase not seen for two years. ‘With such an increase in total weight transported, a further worldwide yield improvement over previous months, and industry sources claiming that October will be even better, one could be forgiven for thinking that the industry shows signs of improving health,’ the analyst said.” There’s a calendar effect that only accounts for a fraction of the increase. “At the recent Air Cargo Forum there was much speculation as to what had caused the improvements.” A sporty game!
Shipping: “A majority of Splash readers fear container freight rates will only pick up later than 2020. With 10 days to go until voting closes in our quarterly online survey, called MarPoll, roughly one quarter of the more than 500 respondents to date feel container freight rates will pick up only after 2020” [ Splash 24/7 ]. “‘Shipping may have to accept the bubble has burst and what was will not be again. There is a new normal and companies need to plan as such,’ one respondent noted”
Shipping: “[The Boston Consulting Group Inc.] said shipping capacity will outstrip demand by between 8.2% and 13.8% in 2020, compared with a 7% gap today. If borne out, that forecast would indicate this year’s plunging freight rates and shrinking profits for marine carriers will only grow worse, particularly on major trade lanes across the Pacific and between Asia and Europe” [ Wall Street Journal , “More Pain Ahead for Ocean Shipping”]. “The shipping industry hasn’t adjusted to a slowdown in global trade, with shipyards churning out giant container vessels and carriers holding onto excess capacity even as rates fall. Historically, container shipping demand grew over 5% annually, often outpacing global economic growth. Between 2015 and 2020, BCG estimates container demand will rise between 2.2% and 3.8% annually.” And we’re still building out warehouses…
Shipping: “Cummins shipped just 16,400 engines in North America in the quarter, down 33% from a year ago. That’s in line with a downturn in orders for big rigs that’s triggered layoffs among truck makers and led Cummins to cut its spending on research and engineering more than 14% in the first nine months of the year” [ Wall Street Journal ].
Shipping: “Shipping finally emerging from 2009 downturn, Mitropoulos argues” [ Lloyd’s List ]. “Signs are finally materialising that the industry is emerging from its protracted downturn, according to a former secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization.Efthimios Mitropoulos was speaking on Tuesday morning at the Shipping and the Law Conference in Naples.” Great courage!
Honey for the Bears: “Most of the leading indicators are based on factors which are known to have significant backward revisions – and one cannot take any of their trends to the bank. I continue to pose the question: “[W]hat good is a leading indicator where the data is continued to change after it is issued?'” [ Econintersect ]. “The only indicators with minimal backward revision are ECRI, RecessionALERT, and the Chemical Activity Barometer. Unfortunately, the Chemical Activity Barometer is targeted to the industrial sector of the economy – and at best seems to be a coincident indicator, not a leading indicator. Both ECRI and RecessionALERT were forecasting economic improvement beginning at mid-2016 – and is now forecasting flat (but relatively better) growth beginning 5 months from now. Econintersect sees NO dynamic which will deliver better growth anyone will feel in the foreseeable future. All economic growth will only be seen when one uses a calculator.”
Infrastructure: “A pipeline explosion in Alabama is roiling U.S. fuel markets and putting a spotlight on tight domestic shipping capacity. The major Colonial pipeline fuel artery was severed for the second time in two months this week” [ Wall Street Journal ].
Fodder for the Bulls: “Update: The Endless Parade of Recession Calls” [ Calculated Risk ]. “Looking at the economic data, the odds of a recession in 2016 are very low (extremely unlikely in my view). [a recession in 2017 is very unlikely]. Someday I’ll make another recession call, but I’m not even on recession watch now.”
Fodder for the Bulls: “Eurozone factories had their most active month for almost three years in October, and raised their prices for the first time in more than a year, according to a survey of purchasing managers released Wednesday” [ Wall Street Journal , “Eurozone Factory Survey Shows Expansion”].
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 18 Fear (previous close: 22, Fear) [ CNN ]. One week ago: 43 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Nov 2 at 11:26am. Heading for single digits?
Police State Watch
“Raided but never charged, cannabis distributor seeks return of seized assets” [ San Diego Tribune (RF)]. “‘It’s the dirty little secret of the American justice system,’ [James] Slatic said in an interview. ‘They can come in and take all your money and property just on the say-so of a police officer. Once they do that, you have to go to court and prove why your money is not guilty.'” (Obama made noises about ending asset forfeiture, but resumed it . Of course, asset forfeiture will be a lot easier when digital cash arrives!
Standing Rock and #NoDAPL
“I used to think there was no rational argument for civilian possession of military-style weapons. But in light of the disparate treatment of the armed Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers (who were acquitted of all charges Friday) and the protesters in North Dakota supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in its fight against construction of an oil pipeline, it’s apparent that such weapons are now an effective component of the protester’s toolkit” [Letter to the Editor, Los Angeles Times ]. Well, the difference isn’t that the Malheur occupiers were white, given that the (sadly but mostly) white Occupy movement was treated to a 17-city coordinated paramilitary crackdown orchestrated by Obama’s DHS; the difference is that they were right wing (and white). So the Sioux are both the “wrong” color, and their cause is percieved by the country at large as on the left (though I think the Sioux themselves would reject that framework).
“Want to Help the Standing Rock Sioux? Here’s Where to Donate” [ Money (!!)]. “A GoFundMe set up by protester Ho Waste Wakiya Wicasa has raised more than $1 million, which will be used for the camp’s operating expenses. “The money goes as quickly as it comes, but without it having been as much as it is, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to be as productive as we have been in the fight,” Wicasa told Fox News. The funds raised have been used for groceries, yurts, toilets, a medical area, a generator, and bail for those arrested.”
“After 37 Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers left for the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota Saturday, a majority of Cincinnati City Council issued a letter to Gov. John Kasich requesting the troopers be brought home” [ USA Today ]. “The signers said the trooper should come home so they can focus on Ohio issues, naming the heroin epidemic and increased traffic fatalities.” Tough choice. After all, the troopers could use the practice.
Black Injustice Tipping Point
“Net worth of white households in D.C. region is 81 times that of black households” [ WaPo ]. “The Urban Institute report, called “The Color of Wealth in the Nation’s Capital,” said the Great Recession and housing crisis of 2007 to 2009 exacerbated long-persistent disparities, with black and Hispanic households losing about half of their wealth.”
Class Warfare
“Data can help hotel executives manage workforce” [ Hotel News Notes ]. “Performance evaluations are another area where big data can play an important role. Instead of the usual, subjective assessments by supervisors, employees can be judged through company-tracked data, which may measure:” Punctuality; results of client/manager surveys; tracking of output keyed directly to the percentage of time and input of all contributing workers; and non-health related biometric data or other feedback associated with wearable technology, such as how employees traverse during the workday.
This creates a more objective review process – reducing bias and the threat of lawsuits – and takes pressure off supervisors.
That little point on wearables seems a little Orwellian. They won’t be able to force me to wear my wearable at all times , right?
“The east sides of New York, London and Paris are noticeably and famously poorer than their western sides. And it turns out there’s a reason for that” [ MarketWatch ]. “Researchers have found that it’s due to the impact of air pollutants at the time of the Industrial Revolution, as prevailing winds in the U.S. and Europe typically blow from west to east. And it’s an impact that has lasted into today” ( original study ).
“Twenty-First Century Victorians” [ Jacobin ]. “Today’s upper middle class maintains the fiction of a meritocratic society, just as the Victorians did. This story allows them to shore up their economic position behind the backs of workers, who are taught that their health problems and dismal career prospects represent individual faults, not systemic dysfunction. Of course, exercising, eating organic food, and pushing children to use their spare time usefully are not inherently bad things. However, they become markers of bourgeois values when they are marshaled to assert one class’s moral superiority over another and to justify social inequality. It was just as obnoxious in the nineteenth century as it is today.”
UPDATE “Behind 2016’s Turmoil, a Crisis of White Identity” [Amanda Taub, New York Times ] “Whiteness, in this context, is more than just skin color. You could define it as membership in the ‘ethno-national majority,’ but that’s a mouthful. What it really means is the privilege of not being defined as ‘other.’ Whiteness means being part of the group whose appearance, traditions, religion and even food are the default norm. It’s being a person who, by unspoken rules, was long entitled as part of ‘us’ instead of ‘them.'” Peak identity politics? I wonder how many of the academic entrepreneurs pushing this stuff live in leafy suburbs, or nice little college towns…
“Socially influenced preferences” [ Stumbling and Mumbling ]. Wait, what? Actors aren’t atomized, “rational” individuals?
News of the Wired
“How Ancient Humans Reached Remote South Pacific Islands” [ New York Times ]. “‘Our paper supports the idea that what people needed was boating technology or navigation technology that would allow them to move efficiently against the wind,’ Dr. Montenegro said.”
* * *
Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here . And here’s today’s plant (Re Silc):
OK, OK. There are plants in this. The grass, those fronds in the background…
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682 | Breakdown of the Clinton Money Machine | Consortiumnews.com | Breakdown of the Clinton Money Machine November 12, 2016
As troubling as Donald Trump’s election may be, it carries greater hope for some positive good than the alternative of Hillary Clinton, who represented a corrupt, money-churning machine, writes John Chuckman.
By John Chuckman
Brushing away the extreme claims and rhetoric of much election analysis, there are some observations, which deserve attention and which unfortunately mostly provide hard lessons (and not a lot of encouragement for people who hold to principles of democracy, enlightenment and progressivity).
The election demonstrated perhaps better than ever, and better than has been generally recognized, that America is, indeed, a plutocracy. It took a genuine American oligarch, a self-proclaimed billionaire, a man with a lifetime’s economic empire-building, to defeat a family which could provide the very definition of being politically well-connected, a family which had laboriously constructed and carefully maintained a kind of deep well ever-flowing with money for their ambitions. President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 1997. (White House photo)
It was the ever-flowing well of money, drilled by Bill Clinton with help from some extremely shady friends, such as Jeffrey Epstein, that made the Clintons keystone establishment figures in the Democratic Party. It was not personal charm or exceptional political generalship – although Bill, in his heyday, displayed some of both of those – that earned the Clintons their place, it was the money, the “mother’s milk of politics.” In what is euphemistically called “fund raising,” many hundreds of millions of dollars were provided for the party over the last couple of decades by Bill Clinton’s efforts.
Hillary Clinton fully appreciated the fact that money buys power and influence. She lacked Bill’s superficial charm, but she certainly more than shared his ambition. On the charm front, when she was ready to move into running for office, she adopted, perhaps under Bill’s tutelage, a kind of forced set of expressions with arched eyebrows, bugged-out eyes, and a smile as big as her lips would allow. These expressions were accompanied by little gestures such as briefly pointing to various onlookers or waving helter-skelter whenever she campaigned.
Her gestures reminded me of something you might see atop a float in a Christmas Parade or of the late Harpo Marx at his most exuberant. These were not natural for her. They were never in evidence years ago when she spent years as a kind of bizarre executive housewife, both in a governor’s mansion and later in the White House, bizarre because she indulged her husband’s non-stop predatory sexual behavior in exchange for the immense power it conferred on her behind the scenes over her far more outgoing and successful politician-husband.
Money Talks
Anyway, Hillary knew that gestures and simulated charm do not get you far in American politics. She determined to build a political war chest long ago, and there are many indications over the years of her working towards this end of making this or that change in expressed view, as when running for the Senate, when sources of big money suggested another view would be more acceptable. She was anything but constant in the views that she embraced because when she ran for the Senate she spent record amounts of money, embarrassingly large amounts. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on March 30, 2012. [State Department photo] In her years of speaking engagements, she aimed at special interests that could supply potentially far more money than just exorbitant speaking fees. Later, in the influential, appointed post of Secretary of State – coming, as it does, into personal contact with every head of government or moneyed, big-time international schemer – she unquestionably played an aggressive “pay for play” with them all. It appears that covering up that embarrassing and illegal fact is what the private servers and unauthorized smart phones were all about.
A second big fact of the election is that both major American political parties are rather sick and fading. The Republican Party has been broken for a very long time. It hobbled along for some decades with the help of various gimmicks, hoping to expand its constituency with rubbish like “family values,” public prayer in schools and catering to the Christian Right – along with anti-flag burning Constitutional amendments — and now it is truly out of gas.
The Republican Party had been given a breather, some new life, by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. He had an extremely mixed record as President, but he was popular, held in some affection, and did have a clear vision, but his effect on the party was not lasting. Trump could be seen as another Reagan, but I think the comparison is superficial. Trump literally hijacked the party. He was not deliriously crowned by its establishment.
The Republican Party itself was formed not long before Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy out of the remains of worn out and collapsed predecessors, including the Whigs and Free-Soil Democrats. Parties do not last forever, and here was Trump creating something of a minor political revolution inside a tired and fairly directionless old party, a phenomenon which I do not think was sufficiently noticed.
In the Republican primaries, he was opposed by tired, boring men like Jeb Bush, seeking to secure an almost inherited presidency, and a dark, intensely unlikable, phony Christian fundamentalist like Ted Cruz, and it proved to be no contest. Trump’s capture of the GOP nomination was a remarkable political achievement, but I think it was only possible given the sorry state of the party.
The press was too busy attacking Trump from the start to take notice or do any intelligent analysis, and he was attacked precisely for the potential damage to the Establishment that he represented. His most promising quality was his potential for creating a new coalition of interests and one excluding the continuation of the Neocon Wars that Hillary Clinton embraced and promised to expand.
A Democratic Party in Trouble
But the Democratic Party is in serious trouble, too. It has a great deal of internal rot, as the WikiLeaks material from the Democratic National Committee clearly shows us. Arrogance, lack of direction, ignorance of the people whom the party has always claimed to serve, bad decision-making, and the absolute prostrate worship of money are the major symptoms. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN.
It would have been impossible for the party to have so made up its mind and committed its resources to Hillary Clinton without serious rot. She has always had strong negatives in polling, always been (rightly) suspected concerning her honesty.
The WikiLeaks material tells us about many internal conflicts, including harsh high-level judgments of Hillary’s decision-making, resentment over the backstabbing character of daughter Chelsea who is said to resemble Hillary in her behavior and attitudes, and the belief of some that Hillary just should not have run.
And, frankly, Hillary Clinton had become for many a rather tiresome, used-up figure from whom absolutely nothing spectacular in politics or policy could possibly be expected. But they not only blindly supported her, they broke all their own party rules by internally and secretly working to defeat a legitimate and viable contender, Bernie Sanders.
Sanders might well have been able to win the election for the Democrats, but their establishment was blind to the possibility and rejected his candidacy out-of-hand. After all, there were Bill and Hillary beckoning toward their running well of money.
In hindsight, it might be just as well that Sanders was cheated out of the nomination. He proved a weak individual in the end, giving in to just the forces that he had claimed to oppose and leaving his enthusiastic followers completely let down. There he was, out on the hustings, supporting everything he ever opposed as personified in Hillary Clinton. Men of that nature do not stand up well to Generals and Admirals and the heads of massive corporations, a quality which I do think we have some right to expect Trump to display.
Public Distrust
Another important fact about the election is that it was less the triumph of Trump than the avoidance of Hillary that caused the defeat. The numbers are unmistakable. Yes, Trump did well for a political newcomer and a very controversial figure, but Hillary simply did badly, not approaching the support Obama achieved in key states, again something reflecting the documented fact that she is not a well-liked figure and the Party blundered badly in running her. President-elect Donald Trump
But again, money talks, and the Clintons, particularly Bill, are the biggest fundraisers they have had in our lifetime. No one was ready to say no to the source of all that money.
Now, to many Americans, the election result must seem a bit like having experienced something of a revolution, although a revolution conducted through ballots, any other kind being literally impossible by design in this massive military-security state.
In a way, it does represent something of a revolutionary event, owing to the fact that Trump the Oligarch is in his political views a bit of a revolutionary or at least a dissenter from the prevailing establishment views. And, as in any revolution, even a small one, there are going to be some unpleasant outcomes.
The historical truth of politics is that you never know from just what surprising source change may come. Lyndon Johnson, life-long crooked politician and the main author of the horrifying and pointless Vietnam War, did more for the rights of black Americans than any other modern president. Franklin Roosevelt, son of wealthy establishment figures, provided remarkable leadership in the Great Depression, restoring hopes and dreams for millions.
Change, important, change, never comes from establishments or institutions like political parties. It always comes from unusual people who seem to step out of their accustomed roles in life with some good or inspired ideas and have the drive and toughness to make them a reality.
I have some limited but important hopes for Trump. I am not blind or delirious expecting miracles from this unusual person, and after the experience of Barack Obama, who seemed such a promising young figure but fairly quickly proved a crushing, bloody disappointment, I can never build up substantial hopes for any politician. And what was the choice anyway? Hillary Clinton was a bought-and-paid one-way ticket to hell.
Trump offers two areas of some hope, and these both represent real change. The first is in reducing America’s close to out-of-control military aggressiveness abroad. This aggressiveness, reflecting momentum from what can only be called the Cheney-Rumsfeld Presidency, continued and grew under the weak and ineffectual leadership of Obama and was boosted and encouraged by Hillary as Secretary of State.
Hillary did a lot of killing during her tenure inside the federal government, advocating and promoting military interventions as First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State. She along with Obama is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women and children, many of them literally torn apart by bombs.
Welfare of Americans
The other area of some hope is for the welfare of ordinary Americans who have been completely ignored by national leaders for decades. George W. Bush’s lame reaction to Hurricane Katrina (before he was internationally shamed into some action) has become the normal pattern for America’s national government when it comes to ordinary Americans. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a press conference.
Inside the Democratic Party, the truth is that the legacy of FDR has withered to nothing and no longer plays any role, and of course never did in the Republican Party. By welfare, I do not mean the kind of state assistance to the poor that Bill Clinton himself worked to end. Nothing can impress someone not familiar with America’s dark corners more than a visit to places like Detroit or Gary or Chicago’s South Side, parts of New Orleans, or Newark or dozens of other places where Americans live in conditions in every way comparable to Third World hellholes.
No, I mean the people’s general well-being. Trump’s approach will be through jobs and creating incentives for jobs. I don’t know whether he can succeed, but, just as he asked people in some of his speeches, “What do you have to lose?” Just having someone in power who pays any attention to the “deplorables” is a small gain.
People should never think of the Clintons as liberal or progressive, and that was just as much true for Bill as it is for Hillary. His record as President – apart from his embarrassing behavior in the Oval Office with a young female intern and his recruitment of Secret Service guards as procurers for women he found attractive on his morning runs – was actually pretty appalling.
In his own words, he “ended welfare as we know it.” He signed legislation that would send large numbers of young black men to prison. He also signed legislation that contributed to the country’s later financial collapse under George W. Bush. He often would appoint someone decent and then quickly back off, leaving them dangling, when it looked like approval for the appointment would not be coming.
His FBI conducted the assault on Waco, killing about 80 people needlessly. A pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was destroyed by cruise missiles for no good reason. There were a number of scandals that were never fully explained to the public.
It was his Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who answered, unblinkingly, a television interviewer’s question about a half million Iraqi children who died owing to America’s embargo, “We think the price is worth it.” He committed the war crime of bombing Belgrade, including the intentional destruction of the Serb TV building. When news of the horrors of the Rwanda genocide were first detected by his government, the order secretly went out to shut up about it. No effort was made to intervene in that case.
No, any real change in America could never come from people like the Clintons, either one of them.
John Chuckman is former chief economist for a large Canadian oil company. | 1 |
683 | null | Blitzkrieg622 | The Walking Dead is a degenerate piece of Jewish garbage. It's violent mind pollution only fit for niggers. | 1 |
684 | California, at Forefront of Climate Fight, Won’t Back Down to Trump - The New York Times | Adam Nagourney and Henry Fountain | LOS ANGELES — Foreign governments concerned about climate change may soon be spending more time dealing with Sacramento than Washington. Donald J. Trump has packed his cabinet with nominees who dispute the science of global warming. He has signaled he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. He has belittled the notion of global warming and attacked policies intended to combat it. But California — a state that has for 50 years been a leader in environmental advocacy — is about to step unto the breach. In a show of defiance, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and legislative leaders said they would work directly with other nations and states to defend and strengthen what were already far and away the most aggressive policies to fight climate change in the nation. That includes a legislatively mandated target of reducing carbon emissions in California to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. “California can make a significant contribution to advancing the cause of dealing with climate change, irrespective of what goes on in Washington,” Mr. Brown said in an interview. “I wouldn’t underestimate California’s resolve if everything moves in this extreme climate denial direction. Yes, we will take action. ” The prospect of California’s elevated role on climate change is the latest sign of how this state, where Hillary Clinton defeated Mr. Trump by more than four million votes, is preparing to resist the policies of the incoming White House. State and city officials have already vowed to fight any attempt by Washington to crack down on undocumented immigrants Los Angeles officials last week set aside $10 million to help fund the legal costs of residents facing deportation. The environmental effort poses decided risks for this state. For one thing, Mr. Trump and Republicans have the power to undercut California’s climate policies. The Trump administration could reduce funds for the state’s vast research community — including two national laboratories — which has contributed a great deal to climate science and energy innovation, or effectively nullify state regulations on clean air emissions and automobile fuel standards. “They could basically stop enforcement of the Clean Air Act and CO2 emissions,” said Hal Harvey, president of Energy Innovation, a policy research group in San Francisco. “That would affect California because it would constrain markets. It would make them fight political and legal battles rather than scientific and technological ones. ” And some business leaders warned that California’s embrace of environmental regulations — from emission reductions to new regulations imposing mandatory energy efficiency standards on computers and monitors — could put it at a disadvantage, all the more so as conservatives elsewhere move to roll back environmental regulations. “If the other states pursue policies, and we continue to go it on our own with our climate change policies, then we would be at a competitive disadvantage for either relocating companies or growing companies here, particularly manufacturing factories,” said Rob Lapsley, the president of the California Business Roundtable. When California enacted its climate reduction standards last year, it drew fierce criticism from state business leaders. The bills “impose very severe caps on the emission of greenhouse gases in California, without requiring the regulatory agencies to give any consideration to the impacts on our economy, disruptions in everyone’s daily lives or the fact that California’s population will grow almost 50 percent between 1990 and 2030,” the California Chamber of Commerce said. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment Democrats relish the prospect of challenging Mr. Trump on climate change, noting that other states have followed California in trying to curb emissions. And California has the weight to get into the ring: It is one of the 10 largest economies in the world, with a gross domestic product of approximately $2. 5 trillion. “California more than ever is strongly committed to moving forward on our climate leadership,” said Kevin de Leon, the leader of the State Senate. “We will not deviate from our leadership because of one election. ” The state has been at the forefront of climate and energy policy for more than half a century, beginning with setting appliance and vehicle emissions standards in the 1960s. Those policies will continue, analysts said, in no small part because they are overwhelmingly popular here: 69 percent of Californians said they supported the law requiring the state to roll back emissions in a July survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California. “This is not something that’s going to be fueled by dislike of Donald Trump,” said Adrienne Alvord, the western states director for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “This will be fueled by people liking these policies and wanting to see them continue. Our leadership and the people of California support the science. ” Ms. Alvord said that in the new political climate, the industry may feel emboldened to take on some of the state’s energy and climate initiatives. “But they would be fighting a very uphill battle,” she said. “Politically, it’s going to be very difficult to really slow this train down. ” California’s economy is powered by a industry and prominent research institutions that make it well placed to continue to lead on energy and climate. The state has already taken on an international role. Mr. Brown has spearheaded the Under 2 MOU initiative, backed by a coalition of state, local and regional governments in 33 countries — more than 160 jurisdictions with a total population of more than 1 billion — that have agreed to deep emissions cuts to try to keep global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3. 6 degrees Fahrenheit. California’s program, which imposes a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allows companies to buy and sell emissions credits, is linked with one in Quebec. The program has suffered recently from weak sales, and it is facing a legal challenge from the state Chamber of Commerce. Its future is likely to be the subject of debate by the Legislature. State officials have also had discussions with other countries, including Mexico and China, about joining forces on policies. Domestically, California has long been a leader on vehicle emissions. The federal Environmental Protection Agency allowed it to have tougher standards under the 1970 Clean Air Act, and more than a dozen states have adopted its standards. The Trump administration could deny the state a new waiver, as the George W. Bush administration did, which would lead to a court fight. The initiatives here have become an intricate part of the economy and a source of growth and jobs. Federal cutbacks would no doubt hurt the state to some extent, but analysts say the very policies that may soon come under attack by the new administration have been a significant factor in California’s economic reversal. “If the and his administration work to undermine our climate leadership, they will hurt our economy,” Mr. de Leon said. “They will kill jobs. And ultimately, they will hurt the economy of the United States. We are 13 percent of the overall G. D. P. ” Still, California officials and environmentalists said climate measures in place here will undoubtedly be undercut if the Trump administration rolls back environmental policies put in place by President Obama. “Our system works better — our system and other ways of addressing climate change — if we have more company,” said Anthony Rendon, the speaker of the Assembly. “The more company we have, the better. ” Dan Jacobson, the state director of Environment California, said the state can “keep doing what we are doing, leading the way. ” “But will that be enough, soon enough? Not without the partnership of other cities, states, and nations. So that’s why it’s so dangerous for Trump to pull out of the accord,” he wrote in an email, referring to the Paris climate agreement. Mr. Brown will be a critical player in this fight. He has presented himself as an environmental advocate since he first served as governor in the 1970s. As he enters what will probably be his last two years in public life, he has seized on the prospect of leading an environmental movement. “We’ve got the lawyers and we’ve got the scientists and are ready to fight,” Mr. Brown declared in a speech in San Francisco earlier this month to the American Geophysical Union. “We’re ready to win. ” Mr. Brown, in the interview, called Mr. Trump’s election a setback for the climate movement, but predicted that it would be fleeting. “In a paradoxical way, it could speed up the efforts of leaders in the world to take climate change seriously,” he said. “The shock of official congressional and presidential denial will reverberate through the world. ” | 0 |
685 | The New York Times to Offer Open Access on Web and Apps for the Election - The New York Times | null | The New York Times is inviting readers to take advantage of its reporting, analysis and commentary from the through the aftermath of the 2016 election. Readers will have unlimited access to NYTimes. com for 72 hours from 12:01 a. m. ET on Monday, November 7 until 11:59 p. m. ET on Wednesday, November 9. “This is an important moment for our country,” said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. publisher of The New York Times. “Independent journalism is crucial to democracy and I believe there is no better time to show readers the type of original journalism The New York Times creates every day. ” Below are highlights of what readers can expect from The Times’s coverage of this historic election: FOLLOW The Times’s live coverage on election night for reporting on hundreds of races across the country and analysis by the political team. The Upshot plans to provide live forecasts of the Presidential and Senate elections, as it did during the 2016 primaries and the 2014 Senate midterms. These forecasts offer readers a constantly updated estimate of the final vote, based on the turnout patterns, exit polling, and demographics of places where votes have already been counted. The New York Times mobile news apps are free to download. Users can sign up for breaking news notifications, which allows users to stay on top of major news events. Readers can also sign up for free newsletters and get more of The New York Times delivered to their inbox. JOIN a livestream of election coverage on The Times’s Facebook page continuously throughout the night starting at 4:30 p. m. ET. Coverage will include live video reports from correspondents at polling stations across the country as well as college campuses, election viewing parties and more. International correspondents in a handful of countries will capture worldwide reaction to the results of the American election. LISTEN to a special show hosted by The podcast on Election Day in which Times politics reporters will answer questions from listeners. The day after the election, Times reporters will come together to discuss the results and recap this remarkable year in politics. | 0 |
686 | Fifth Varshavyanka submarine joins Russia’s Navy | Russia & India Report | null | Fifth Varshavyanka submarine joins Russia’s Navy 26 October 2016 TASS By the end of this year the Russian Navy will have the sixth submarine in the series, The Kolpino. Facebook submarines , russian navy , black sea fleet
The fifth non-nuclear submarine of project 636.3, The Veliki Novgorod, has joined the Russian Navy, a TASS correspondent reports from the flag-hoisting ceremony at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg, attended by the Russian Navy’s Deputy commander, Vice-Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov and the shipyards’ CEO Alexander Buzakov.
"The Veliki Novgorod submarine has been through all government certification tests. All of the previous submarines in that series built for the Black Sea Fleet have confirmed the expected parameters, too," Buzakov said.
The Veliki Novgorod is the fifth in the group of six submarines of project 636.3 (Varshavyanka) built for the Black Sea Fleet. The first two - The Novorossiysk and The Rostov-on-Don were delivered in 2014, and another two, The Stary Oskol and The Krasnodar, in 2015. By the end of this year the Russian Navy will have the sixth submarine in the series, The Kolpino. The flag-hoisting ceremony is due November 25.
Another six Varshavyanka subs will be built at the Admiralty shipyards for the Pacific Fleet. The contract was signed at the Army-2016 forum near Moscow. The last submarine in the second group is to be delivered in 2021.
First published by TASS . | 1 |
687 | G.E., the 124-Year-Old Software Start-Up - The New York Times | Steve Lohr | It may not qualify as a eureka moment, but Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, recalls the June day in 2009 that got him thinking. He was speaking with G. E. scientists about new jet engines they were building, laden with sensors to generate a trove of data from every flight — but to what end? That data could someday be as valuable as the machinery itself, if not more so. But G. E. couldn’t make use of it. “We had to be more capable in software,” Mr. Immelt said he decided. Maybe G. E. — a maker of power turbines, jet engines, locomotives and equipment — needed to think of its competitors as Amazon and IBM. Back then, G. E. was returning to its roots and navigating the global financial crisis, shedding much of its bloated finance arm, GE Capital. That winnowing went on for years as billions of dollars in assets were sold, passing a milestone this summer when GE Capital was removed from the government’s short list of financial institutions deemed “too big to fail. ” But in 2011, G. E. also quietly opened a software center in San Ramon, Calif. 24 miles east of San Francisco, across the bay. Today one of San Ramon’s most important projects is to build a computer operating system, but on an industrial scale — a Microsoft Windows or Google Android for factories and industrial equipment. The project is central to G. E.’s drive to become what Mr. Immelt says will be a “top 10 software company” by 2020. Silicon Valley veterans are skeptical. “G. E. is trying to do this the way a big company does, by throwing thousands of people and billions of dollars at it,” said Thomas M. Siebel, a technology entrepreneur who is now chief executive of C3 IoT, a that has done work for G. E. “But they’re not software people. ” The San Ramon complex, home to GE Digital, now employs 1, 400 people. The buildings are designed to suit the working ways of software developers: floors, bench seating, whiteboards, couches for impromptu meetings, balconies overlooking the grounds and kitchen areas with snacks. Many industries see digital threats, of course. Yet the scope of the challenge is magnified at G. E. a company and the nation’s largest manufacturer, with more than 300, 000 employees worldwide. Employees companywide have been making pilgrimages to San Ramon for technology briefings, but also to soak in the culture. Their marching orders are to try to adapt the digital wizardry and habits of Silicon Valley to G. E.’s world of industrial manufacturing. G. E.’s success or failure over the next decade, Mr. Immelt says, depends on this transformation. He calls it “probably the most important thing I’ve worked on in my career. ” Apparently, there is no Plan B. “It’s this or bust,” he said. The march of digital technology — mainly inexpensive sensors, powerful computing and clever software — into the industrial world has been underway for years under the guise of “the internet of things” or “the industrial internet. ” It is the next battlefield as companies fight to develop the dominant software layer that connects the machines. It promises to be a huge market for new products, improved service and efficiency gains in industries like energy, transportation and health care. By 2020, the industrial internet market will reach $225 billion, G. E. executives predicted in a recent meeting with analysts. So far, a major application has been predictive maintenance. Software analyzes the data generated by a machine to identify early warning signals that it needs repair, before it breaks down. The data volumes are exploding as machines new and old spawn sensors. By 2020, G. E. estimates that the data flowing off its machines in use will jump a hundredfold. That should enable far more detailed analysis, giving G. E. a chance to sell its customers not machines but “business outcomes,” like fuel savings. Mr. Immelt sees this as a move up the industrial food chain. Yet all of this exposes G. E. to new competition beyond its traditional rivals like Rockwell Automation, Siemens and United Technologies. Tech giants, including Amazon, Cisco, Google, IBM and Microsoft also have their eye on the industrial internet market, as do a bevy of . There is precedent for trouble in other industries, of course. Google and Facebook transformed media and advertising, Amazon redefined retailing, and Uber applied an entirely new business model to taxis, which hadn’t changed much in generations. “The real danger is that the data and analysis becomes worth more than the installed equipment itself,” said Karim R. Lakhani, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “G. E. has no choice but to try to do that itself. ” Recently, G. E. has lured software engineers and data scientists from Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Early on, though, it struggled simply to hire. Last year it began running television ads, featuring young hires, aimed at closing the company’s image gap of industrial giant but digital midget. (Applications at GE Digital jumped eightfold, the company says.) Until this year, Darren Haas hadn’t thought about G. E. certainly not working there. To him, G. E. meant little more than than kitchen appliances and light bulbs. “I had no idea,” Mr. Haas said. But he was intrigued after he met with Harel Kodesh, an expert in mobile and cloud computing who led teams at Microsoft and VMware, a maker of software. Less than two years ago, Mr. Kodesh joined G. E. and he is now chief technology officer of GE Digital. That someone of Mr. Kodesh’s caliber was a G. E. convert got Mr. Haas’s attention. Then, Mr. Haas started grasping the role that G. E. equipment plays across the economy — in transportation, in hospitals — “a whole world,” he said. “I found that really, really compelling. ” The other thing Mr. Haas, 41, found appealing was the big computing challenge that lies ahead for the company. In May, he joined G. E. from Apple, where he was a member of the founding team at Siri, the digital assistant Apple acquired in 2010. When he left Apple, Mr. Haas was head of cloud engineering, managing the computing engine behind Siri, iTunes and iCloud. At GE Digital, Mr. Haas has a similar title, head of platform cloud engineering, but in a different setting. He describes his job as applying modern software technology — machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud computing — to the industrial arena. “I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he said. Mr. Haas is working on the centerpiece of G. E.’s software strategy, a product called Predix. Its evolution mirrors G. E.’s software ambitions. Predix began as little more than a brand of software used by G. E. to service the gear it sells. One showcase use was in jet engines to do predictive maintenance, saving downtime. Around 2013, William Ruh, a former Cisco Systems executive brought in to put together the San Ramon software center, started expanding Predix to other G. E. industrial businesses. But that soon felt too small. The issue was “outside disrupters,” Mr. Ruh said, citing the online lodging Airbnb as an example of rivals that can appear seemingly out of nowhere and that “bring greater productivity — but don’t own the assets they sell. ” G. E. Mr. Ruh notes, is the ultimate company. The other threat was rising interest among tech companies to take their internet connectivity expertise and try to apply it to industrial businesses. To get ahead of all this, G. E. reimagined Predix as a operating system for industrial applications. Mr. Kodesh leads that effort. He ticks off the looming competitors: Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and others. “Those companies are going to encroach on the territory,” Mr. Kodesh said. “Are we going to capitulate, or build something like Predix?” The basic idea is that G. E. and outside software developers will write programs to run on Predix. This software might, for instance, monitor the health and the operation of equipment like rigs and turbines, improving performance, reducing wear and adapting to changing environmental conditions. It amounts to software delivering the equivalent of personalized medicine for machines. Like any other computer operating system, Predix aims to take the complexity out of writing programs, so more people can create them. And while the instincts of the industrial world are proprietary, G. E. is following an model with Predix, providing a basic design, but one open to outside contributors — more like Android from Google than Windows from Microsoft. Predix, Mr. Kodesh said, will be improved using the software equivalent of Lego blocks. “Some will be G. E.’s, and some will be made by developers,” he said. G. E. is betting that its deep knowledge of industry will give it an edge in this software arms race. The stakes for this kind of programming can be high. For a regular consumer using the internet, a misfiring algorithm in the software — “a false positive” — might mean a person sees an irrelevant online ad, or a bad Amazon book suggestion or Netflix movie recommendation, Mr. Kodesh said. Useless, perhaps, but not necessarily costly. But a false positive that prompts an airline to take a jet engine off the wing, Mr. Kodesh said, is a $100, 000 mistake. “We really do need to have different technology, different algorithms and a different cloud, than in the consumer internet,” he said. G. E. has set an ambitious target for Predix. It hopes to attract $100 million in orders this year, on its way to $4 billion in revenue by 2020. By then, the company forecasts that its total digital business — more than 90 percent of it software — may reach as much as $15 billion, up from $6 billion now. For Predix to reach its potential, though, G. E. needs outside programmers to write software for it. The company, with its deep pockets, can start the parade, but will others follow? This will be a major test. And G. E.’s campaign to build an industrial operating system and create a flourishing ecosystem of software for it is just getting underway in earnest. In late July, G. E. hosted a Predix conference in Las Vegas, which attracted 1, 200 software developers. Such developer gatherings are part of the playbook of every major software company but unusual for an industrial corporation. G. E. has some advantages. Its installed base is huge. For example, the company says more than a third of the world’s electricity is generated on G. E. equipment. It can make progress simply by winning over the aircraft makers, oil companies, hospitals and utilities that now depend on G. E. machinery. G. E. is starting to attract a developer following. Tata Consultancy Services, for one, says it now has 500 programmers designing and developing Predix applications for customers in the aviation and health care industries. G. E. also promotes partnerships with Infosys, Wipro and Capgemini to help business write Predix software. When he joined in 2011, Mr. Ruh had no illusions that making software a strength at a company would be easy. At the time, he told Mr. Immelt that would be “a journey,” he said. “We’re in the middle of that journey. ” Part of that is an effort to change an engineering culture that stretches back generations. “If G. E. is truly going to be a company, we can’t be separate here,” Mr. Ruh said of his software division. Digital “tools and habits” need to be embedded “in how people do their jobs,” he said. In its factory in Greenville, S. C. G. E. produces both giant power generators and evidence that this metamorphosis might work. The building is crowded with immense cranes and milling, grinding and welding machines, overseen by manufacturing engineers and technicians. The finishing touches are being put on one of G. E.’s new gas turbines. It looks like the business end of a rocket ship lying on its side, a gleaming steel dynamo at rest. It weighs 950, 000 pounds. It fires up at nearly 2, 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and it can generate enough electricity to supply more than 500, 000 households. The gas turbine was brought to market in half the typical five years. That kind of accelerated product development is a performance that G. E. hopes to replicate across its industrial businesses. And it is a story of changes in design and manufacturing practices made possible by digital technology. John Lammas, the vice president for power generation engineering, started his working career 40 years ago, on the shop floor of a jet engine factory in Birmingham, England. He has been with G. E. for 31 years, moving up the ranks of the company’s jet engine and power turbine divisions. “I’m an old mechanical guy,” he said. But a couple of years ago, he issued an edict: no more paper drawings. In the past, a model of a new part would be made and then converted to detailed blueprints running to 70 pages or more. These would then be physically sent to G. E. manufacturing engineers and outside suppliers to begin setting up the tooling, casting and cutting for the part. This routine took up to eight weeks. Now, engineers use computer models, skip the prototype step and instantly send the models electronically. This goes a step beyond design, which is commonplace. In Greenville, the designers are for the first time linked directly with manufacturers and suppliers in real time, in what G. E. calls a “digital thread. ” This means they can collaborate in ways that have changed the work process while making it more likely that problems or defects are spotted sooner. Traditionally, one set of engineers designed a part, and only then passed it on to manufacturing. If a problem arose on the supplier side, the design was kicked back and the process started over. “Jobs are combining in this digital world,” Mr. Lammas said. Greenville’s own equipment has been a Predix guinea pig. The machinery and factory were retrofitted with sensors and the software. Matt Krause, the plant manager, said that last winter, when a snowstorm shut the factory for a day, the sensor network detected that the plant had consumed 1, 000 pounds of argon, an inert gas used in coatings for parts. The leak was fixed, saving $350, 000 a year. “We can see things we never did before,” Mr. Krause said. Over all, 60 of 200 steps in design and production have been automated or eliminated, reducing work time by 530, 000 hours over three years, G. E. estimates. Not all the ideas that G. E. is trying to breed translate comfortably to heavy industry. Lean proponents urge companies to come up with “minimum viable products,” particularly test versions of software programs. But no one wants a minimum viable jet engine or power generator. Yet in Greenville, engineers in the design stages are encouraged to move faster in smaller steps, conduct more experiments, and be willing to fail and try again. It amounts to a sea change in the engineering culture of heavy industry. “As an engineer, not getting it right the first time, I find painful,” said Bill Byrne, an engineering manager. “It’s uncomfortable. But it’s been incredibly liberating. ” The old ways, said Mr. Lammas, the engineering chief, had merit. Each step and rule was logical on its own. But the emphasis on flawless execution and perfection fostered a fear of failure. “Overcoming that culture was probably the biggest challenge,” he said. | 0 |
688 | $2,700 for Hillary Clinton at ‘Hamilton’? That Would Be Enough - The New York Times | Matt Flegenheimer | How does a former senator . .. stateswoman . .. hoping to build a financial stockpile . .. find a way to make it worth her donors’ while? “Hamilton” tickets. At a special Tuesday matinee, supporters of Hillary Clinton filed into the Richard Rodgers Theater for a special performance that was, in a rare turn, a touch more expensive than a typical show. But with seats available for $2, 700 — and status as “event chair” on offer for $100, 000 — the gathering, held for the Hillary Victory Fund, did include an uncommon guest: Mrs. Clinton, who took the stage after the final bows of a show she has now seen three times. “I cry every time,” she said, after embracing the show’s creator, Miranda, who left his role as the title character over the weekend but returned on Tuesday to introduce her. Mrs. Clinton, who first attended last year off Broadway, at the Public Theater, took care to establish her “Hamilton” bona fides, to a point. She neither rapped nor rhymed, but she alluded often to some of the show’s signature numbers. “As Washington tells us, history’s eyes are on us,” she said at one point, invoking “History Has Its Eyes On You. ” “Let’s not throw away our shot,” she urged later, nodding to perhaps the show’s most famous song. The musical has become something of a bipartisan cause — “the only thing,” President Obama has joked, “that Dick Cheney and I agree on. ” The president headlined a Democratic last year at the theater. Mr. Miranda has his own political roots: His father, Luis A. Miranda Jr. is a longtime Democratic strategist in New York. The younger Mr. Miranda has, in recent months, urged Congress to assist Puerto Rico in its financial crisis. In his remarks, Mr. Miranda, his Hamiltonian mane now shorn, made clear his preference for the November election, criticizing Donald J. Trump without saying his name. “Are you going to vote for the guy who wants to build a wall or for someone who’s building bridges?” asked Mr. Miranda, whose Tony show is, after all, about an immigrant. He observed that the show had featured, or at least alluded to, the first four presidents. “Right now,” he said, “you’re going to hear from the 45th president. ” Mrs. Clinton, taking the stage to raucous cheers, hugged Mr. Miranda and thanked him for advocating on behalf of Puerto Rico and the families of victims of the massacre last month in Orlando. Speaking for about four minutes, Mrs. Clinton lingered on the message of the show’s final number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” and the meaning of legacy. “It really is true that it matters whose stories are told,” she said, “and heard. ” | 0 |
689 | Brain Concussions in Children and Adults: What to Know About Vaccine Damage | Heather Callaghan | By Catherine J Frompovich When I was in private practice as a consulting natural nutritionist, often I had moms ask my opinion about their young boys playing football. That was long before “sports... | 1 |
690 | Trump the Great — Paul Craig Roberts | pcr3 | Trump the Great
Paul Craig Roberts
Liberals, progressives, and the left-wing (to the extent that one still exists) are aligning with the corrupt oligarchy against president-elect Trump and the American people.
They are busy at work trying to generate hysteria over Trump’s “authoritarian personality and followers.” In other words, the message is: here come the fascists.
Liberals and progressives wailed and whined about “an all white male cabinet,” only to be made fools by Trump’s appointment of a black male and two women, one a minority and one a Trump critic.
The oligarchs are organizing their liberal progressive front groups to disrupt Trump’s inauguration in an effort to continue the attempt to delegitimize Trump the way the paid Maidan protesters were used in Kiev to delegitimize the elected Ukrainian government.
To the extent any of the Trump protesters are sincere and not merely paid tools of oligarchs, such as George Soros, military and financial interests, and global capitalists, they should consider that false claims and unjustified criticism can cause Trump and his supporters to close their ears to all criticism and make it easier for neoconservatives to influence Trump by offering support.
At this point we don’t know what a Trump government is going to do. If he sells out the people, he won’t be reelected. If he is defeated by the oligarchy, the people will become more radical.
We do not know how Washington insiders appointed to the government will behave inside a Trump presidency. Unless they are ideologues like the neoconservatives or agents of powerful interests, insiders survive by going along with the current. If the current changes under Trump, so will the insiders.
Trump got elected because flyover America has had all it can take from the self-dealing oligarchy. The vast bullk of America has seen its economic prospects and that of children and grandchildren decline for a quarter century. The states Hillary carried are limited to the liberal enclaves and oligarchy’s stomping grounds on the NE and West coasts and in Colorado and New Mexico, where effete wealthy liberals have located because of the scenary. If you look at the red/blue electoral map, geographically speaking Hillary’s support is very limited.
We know that Hillary is an agent for the One Percent. The Clintons $120 million personal wealth and $1.6 billion personal foundation are proof that the Clintons are bought-and-paid-for. We know that Hillary is responsible for the destruction of Libya and of much of Syria and for the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Ukraine. We know that the Clinton regime’s sanctions on Iraq resulted in the deaths of 500,000 children. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. We know Hillary used government office for private gain. We know she violated national security laws without being held accountable. What we don’t know is why groups that allegedly are liberal-progressive-leftwing are such fervent supporters of Hillary.
One possible answer is that these groups are mere fronts for vested interests and are devoid of any sincere motives.
Another possible answer is that these groups believe that the important issues are not jobs for Americans and avoiding war with nuclear powers, but transgender, homosexual and illegal alien rights.
Another possible answer is that these groups are uninformed and stupid.
What these protesters see as a threat in Trump’s strong and willful personality is actually a virtue. A cipher like Obama has no more ability to stand up to the oligarchy than a disengaged George W. Bush so easily stage-managed by Dick Cheney. Nothing less than an authoritarian style and personality is a match for the well-entrenched ruling oligarchy and willful neoconservatives. If Trump were a shrinking violet, the electorate would have ignored him.
Trump did not purchase his presidency with the offer of handouts to blacks, the poor generally, teachers unions, farmers, abortion rights for women, etc. Trump was elected because he said: “Those who control the levers of power in Washington and the global special interests they partner with, don’t have your good in mind. It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you.”
It has been a long time since the electorate heard this kind of talk from someone seeking public office. Trump’s words are what Americans were waiting to hear.
As willful as Trump is, he is only one person. The oligarchy are many.
As impressive as Trump’s billion dollars is, the oligarchs have trillions.
Congress being in Republican hands will spare Trump partisan obstruction, but Congress remains in the hands of interest groups.
As powerful as the office of the president can be, without unity in government changes from the top don’t occur, especially if the president is at odds with the military with regard to the alleged threat posed by Russia and China. Trump says he wants peace with the nuclear powers. The military/security complex needs an enemy for its budget.
It is absolutely necessary that a lid be put on tensions between nuclear powers and that economic opportunity reappears for the American people. Trump is not positioned to benefit from war and jobs offshoring. The only sensible strategy is to support him on these issues and to hold his feet to the fire.
As for the immigration issue, the Obama Justice (sic) Department has just worsened the picture with its ruling that American police departments cannot discriminate against non-citizens by only hiring citizens as officers. Now that US citizens face arrest in their own country by non-citizens, the resentment of immigrants will increase. Clearly it is nonsensical to devalue American citizenship in this way. Clearly it is sensible to put a lid on immigration until the US economy is again able to create jobs capable of sustaining an independent existence.
If Trump can defeat the oligarchy and save America, he can go down in history as Trump the Great. I think that this prospect appeals to Trump more than more wealth. Instead of trying to tear him down in advance, he should be supported. With Trump’s determination and the people’s support, change from the top down is possible. Otherwise, change has to come from the bottom up, and that means an awful lot of blood in the streets.
The post Trump the Great — Paul Craig Roberts appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 1 |
691 | Hillary FRANTIC As Dirty Secret Implodes, Gets Worse With Prison Bombshell | Robert Rich | Share This
Hillary Clinton thought her email scandal was in the rearview mirror, but it just blew up in her face days before the election. Unfortunately for her, everything just got worse as a bombshell just exploded – and seeing how the topic is about prison, it looks like things are about to get juicy.
There’s no doubt that Hillary is as crooked as they come. Although the left would have you believe otherwise, with the presidential hopeful all but admitting her criminal acts, not too many people believe them.
However, things just got a lot worse for Hillary, but his time, it’s not only her presidential campaign that’s in jeopardy. According to The Economic Collapse , Hillary Clinton is looking at a whopping 20 years behind bars if she’s convicted of “obstruction of justice” – a term that could very well be a life sentence for a woman of her age. A sight we may get to see soon, and one that Hillary Clinton rightfully deserves
As of this point, no one is mentioning the phrase “obstruction of justice,” but that doesn’t mean the idea isn’t floating out there. In fact, when you look at the actual definition of the term in regards to the Federal statute, you start to get a better idea of just how guilty Hillary is:
Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsified, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under Title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
We already know that Hillary is guilty of trying to cover this up. Not only did she delete and “bleachbit” her server in a desperate attempt to block the FBI from finding out her dirty little secret, but then she said she didn’t have the emails they were looking for.
Of course, when others stumbled across the mythical 33,000 emails, things started to take a turn – and it all just got worse. According to The Wall Street Journal , the FBI now has another 650,000 emails to sort through with about 10,000 pertinent to Hillary’s case. Things aren’t looking so good for Hillary Clinton
Why did FBI Director James Comey find the need to come forward with this information so close to the election? Well, as it turns out, the answer is rather simple – redemption.
According to a Daily Mail article written by Ed Klein, the author of a bestseller about the Clintons entitled Guilty As Sin , it seems as though Comey was suffering for letting off Hillary so easy. As explained by Klein:
“Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,” said the source. ‘They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist. He told his wife that he was depressed by the stack of resignation letters piling up on his desk from disaffected agents. The letters reminded him every day that morale in the FBI had hit rock bottom.”
Further speculation pertaining to Comey’s reasoning seems to indicate that the urgency here stems from the information actually found. Knowing just how much the release would impact the election, one can only assume that Comey was only comfortable in doing so as someone had already found something really big.
The fact of the matter is, people had lost faith in justice after Comey’s dismissal of Hillary’s charges. After proving that power meant exclusion from the law, it seems as though the FBI Director is trying to right that wrong today. Furthermore, as there seems to be something of substantive nature, Hillary can expect to be facing 20 years behind bars – a sentence a great many people would feel is justified. | 1 |
692 | Renting a Car? Know the Rules of the Road - The New York Times | Elaine Glusac | Having booked their flights and secured their hotels, travelers often consider rental cars among the last of their tasks, making the unprepared more vulnerable to the of industry fees. “Our number one advice for renters is to do their homework,” said David Solomito, vice president of marketing for North America at Kayak. “For most people, rental cars are the least considered part of trip. ” As technology has changed travel — consider toll roads, which often do not have manned tollbooths any longer — so it has the rules of the road when it comes to renting cars. “It’s not dramatic in terms of what companies are charging in fees, it’s just that there’s more of them,” said Rick Garlick, who leads the global travel and hospitality practice at J. D. Power, which conducts consumer surveys, including an annual survey on car rental satisfaction (for the third year running, Enterprise has ranked highest). “Ancillary fees, as with airlines, are how the companies retain profitability,” he said. There are a number of ways to save money on rental cars, including renting from a location that’s not at an airport, which Kayak says will save you an average of 11 percent. But there are several charges that tend to nip renters’ wallets after they return their cars that can be avoided or reduced with a little forethought. Assuming you haven’t purchased any refueling options when you signed the contract, rental car agencies require renters to return the car with the same amount of gas as when they departed, which usually means full. But the mileage range between topping off the tank and reaching the return facility is a gray area. “At Hertz, we do not have a mileage restriction. We simply ask that customers refuel to the same level they started with,” wrote Lauren Luster, communications manager with Hertz, in an email. This lack of definition is open to exploitation both from drivers who refuel miles away and from agencies. I recently returned a car to Avis in Miami after refueling a block from the airport return terminal, only to find a “fuel service” charge of $16. 07 on my bill. An Avis employee redacted it when I objected. A spokeswoman for Avis said the company has about 40, 000 “connected” cars, which measure fuel levels when exiting and the rental facility. “We carefully monitor the system and work closely with car manufacturers, so the likelihood that the technology in the vehicle malfunctioned is slim,” wrote Alice Pereira, an Avis spokeswoman, in an email. Industry experts advise making a mental note of the closest gas station when you drive away from the rental facility. “Cars aren’t getting smarter, we need to be,” said Lauren Fix, an author and automotive writer also known as the Car Coach. “If you have a receipt to prove you refilled, they will usually refund the fee. Any pushback, I ask for a manager. ” Drivers are responsible for paying their own tolls, but a shift to electronic tolling has made it harder for renters to avoid the fees charged by agencies as manned booths have disappeared from many routes. Most agencies provide electronic transponders that allow convenient access to toll roads. But once they are triggered by a tollgate, the devices initiate a daily rental fee, often regardless of whether it is used each day. These fees are in addition to the actual tolls, so that while you may only incur a few dollars in tolls driving from Miami to Key West, you will pay somewhere between $2. 95 a day for the device at Payless Car Rental to $4. 95 a day with Hertz. These fees are usually capped. Avis charges a maximum of $19. 75 per rental month Hertz charges $24. 75 maximum per rental agreement and Payless charges $14. 75 maximum for each rental period. Enterprise, National and Alamo car rentals offer the use of automatic tolling for $3. 95 per day it is used, with a maximum charge of $19. 75 for the rental term. Car rental companies stress that drivers can pay cash (when the option exists) avoid toll roads or bring their own electronic transponders from home. Not all electronic passes are linked, however. The can be used in most Northeastern and states and a few in the Midwest, extending from Maine down to North Carolina and west to Illinois. An may be used in various vehicles as long as they are in the same class as your car, so forget using it if you rent a . Some toll roads in California will allow drivers to register a credit card to the rental car license plate and have the tolls charged automatically. Many consumers assume that an early rental return will spare them the fee remaining for the balance of the contract. That doesn’t take into account the lost revenue that the rental car company incurs. “It messes with their inventory and planning,” said Mr. Solomito of Kayak. “Returning a car early is considered breaking the contract. ” How early is early depends on the company, but generally anything less than 24 hours before the return date requires payment of the full amount. If earlier, Dollar Rent A Car, for example, will only charge for the days used and add a $25 charge, according to the company website, “to compensate us in part for our inability to rent your vehicle during the remaining time we have reserved for your use. ” Late returns generally trigger fees. And like airline rebooking, any changes may result in a different rate than the one originally agreed to. Hertz encourages customers to call its Rental Extensions department. They may be subject to a $10 fee, through renters can avoid the fee if they change a return date when they pick up the car. If they don’t call, however, they can be subject to a fee of $12 a day, up to a maximum of $60, in addition to daily rental charges. Parking or traffic tickets are the driver’s responsibility. But if ever there were a financial incentive to driving carefully, it’s in a rental car, where ticket fees may come with a service charge from the rental company. These penalties are usually detailed in the terms and conditions of the rental contract. Avis’s contract says offenses will be charged back to the renter’s credit card, and the company may impose a $30 administration fee to cover the cost of notifying the renter of the infraction by sending copies of the notices. Payless charges a $50 fee per violation. “What the big print giveth, the little print taketh away,” Ms. Fix said. “You have to be aware. ” | 0 |
693 | All Impeachments Are Political. But Was Brazil’s Something More Sinister? - The New York Times | Amanda Taub | WASHINGTON — Was the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff as the president of Brazil on Wednesday a coup? Technically, the answer is no. Although there is no single definition of what constitutes a coup, it is at its core an illegal seizure of power. The Brazilian Senate’s vote to remove Ms. Rousseff was the culmination of a legal process set forth in the Brazilian Constitution, and it simply does not meet that standard. But Ms. Rousseff and her supporters have argued for months that the effort to oust her was in fact a coup engineered by a small group of elites. They are not bothered by strict legal definitions. Rather, “coup” has become shorthand for accusing Ms. Rousseff’s political opponents of exploiting the law to subvert democracy. There is truth to that. But it is rooted in problems that afflict Brazil’s entire political system, not just its right or its left. Any opposition party anywhere stands to gain from the downfall of the governing party’s leader. In Brazil, that was heightened by the fact that members of the opposition had been caught up in a major corruption scandal. Romero Jucá, an influential opposition legislator who had been implicated in the scandal, was recorded in March saying of the investigation, “We have to change the government to be able to stop this bleeding. ” Ms. Rousseff was impeached on what analysts near universally described as minor charges: concealing a budget deficit by borrowing from a bank — illegal, but not a criminal offense. Amy Erica Smith, an assistant political science professor at Iowa State University who studies Brazil, said these charges “don’t rise to the level of the kind of accusations that would merit impeachment,” adding: “It’s not a legitimate use of the impeachment proceedings. ” This is why Ms. Rousseff and her allies argued that the politicians pushing impeachment were not trying to protect the integrity of Brazilian democracy, but, rather, to manipulate it to serve their own ends. Calling the impeachment a coup became a way to question the motives of opposition leaders and to argue that impeaching Ms. Rousseff would be contrary to democracy. Normally, following the law — which the impeachers were indeed doing — by design serves democracy. But, in Brazil, there is currently just enough corruption and just enough rule of law for political elites to play the two against each other. Corruption, Professor Smith explained, is so endemic in Brazilian politics that it most likely implicates the entire governing class. The country also has a powerful judiciary that is actively working to investigate and prosecute corruption — an unstable combination. This gives political elites both a means and an incentive to expose their rivals, knowing it will probably ruin them. After all, if everyone is corrupt, everyone is vulnerable. But while that serves individual politicians, it weakens the wider political system by introducing instability. And because Brazil’s economy is doing so poorly, the public is, understandably, angry at the government and eager to see corruption punished. So while Ms. Rousseff’s supporters might see this impeachment as a cynical ploy, her opponents see a symbolic blow against a corrupt system — even if that corruption extends across party lines. There is also an important class dimension playing out. Ms. Rousseff led the Workers Party, which positions itself as a champion of the poor. The opposition Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, which pushed for Ms. Rousseff’s ouster and took power after she was suspended from office in May, is seen as a champion of business interests. In the eyes of Workers Party devotees, the impeachment proceedings had an element of class warfare, with the elite seizing power to protect their interests — which, to the other side, looks and feels like a coup even if it does not meet the formal definition. That perception was captured by a photograph, which went viral on social media, of a couple in a wealthy neighborhood walking to a protest against President Rousseff in March while their maid pushed their children in a stroller alongside them. “When people talk about ‘coup mongers,’ ” said Professor Smith, “they’re often implicitly thinking about, you know, a rich white woman who is upset that her maid now is entitled to labor protections that limit what this rich white woman can ask her maid to do. ” But this view, promoted by Ms. Rousseff’s staunchest supports, is something of a caricature. An April poll by the firm Datafolha found that 61 percent of Brazilians supported holding impeachment proceedings against Ms. Rousseff, and that her approval rating was a scant 13 percent. . So it is not the case, as some have argued, that Ms. Rousseff’s impeachment was a coup in the sense that a handful of elites subverted the popular will. Nor have they, in these proceedings, gone outside the law. Rather, Ms. Rousseff’s political opponents have done something subtler: They exploited the popular will and the letter of the law to serve their own interests, rather than the interests of democracy. Of course, in all countries, politicians act out of . And impeachment proceedings are always political — something that any American who lived through President Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings can tell you. But the particular nature of Brazil’s system at this moment makes its politics particularly unstable, and gives individual politicians greater power to leverage democracy toward ends that are not so democratic. | 0 |
694 | Trump, in Interview, Moderates Views but Defies Conventions - The New York Times | Michael D. Shear, Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Maggie Haberman | Donald J. Trump on Tuesday tempered some of his most extreme campaign promises, dropping his vow to jail Hillary Clinton, expressing doubt about the value of torturing terrorism suspects and pledging to have an open mind about climate change. But in a hourlong interview with reporters and editors at The New York Times — which was scheduled, canceled and then reinstated after a dispute over the ground rules — Mr. Trump was unapologetic about flouting some of the traditional ethical and political conventions that have long shaped the American presidency. He said he had no legal obligation to establish boundaries between his business empire and his White House, conceding that the Trump brand “is certainly a hotter brand than it was before. ” Still, he said he would try to figure out a way to insulate himself from his businesses, which would be run by his children. He defended Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, against charges of racism, calling him a “decent guy. ” And he mocked Republicans who had failed to support him in his unorthodox presidential campaign. In the midday meeting in the boardroom of The Times’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Mr. Trump seemed confident even as he said he was awed by his new job. “It is a very overwhelming job, but I’m not overwhelmed by it,” he said. He displayed a jumble of impulses, many of them conflicting. He was magnanimous toward Mrs. Clinton, but boastful about his victory. He was about some of his positions, uncompromising about others. The interview demonstrated the volatility in Mr. Trump’s positions. He said he had no interest in pressing for Mrs. Clinton’s prosecution over her use of a private email server or for financial acts committed by the Clinton Foundation. “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” he said. On the issue of torture, Mr. Trump suggested he had changed his mind about the value of waterboarding after talking with James N. Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, who headed the United States Central Command. “He said, ‘I’ve never found it to be useful,’” Mr. Trump said. He added that Mr. Mattis found more value in building trust and rewarding cooperation with terrorism suspects: “‘Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I’ll do better. ’” “I was very impressed by that answer,” Mr. Trump said. Torture, he said, is “not going to make the kind of a difference that a lot of people are thinking. ” Mr. Trump repeated that Mr. Mattis was being “seriously, seriously considered” to be secretary of defense. “I think it’s time, maybe, for a general,” he said. On climate change, Mr. Trump refused to repeat his promise to abandon the international climate accord reached last year in Paris, saying, “I’m looking at it very closely. ” Despite the recent appointment to his transition team of a fierce critic of the Paris accords, Mr. Trump said that “I have an open mind to it” and that clean air and “crystal clear water” were vitally important. He held out assurances that he did not intend to embrace extremist positions in some areas. He vigorously denounced a white nationalist conference last weekend in Washington, where attendees gave the Nazi salute and criticized Jews. Asked about his antagonism with the news media and his vow to toughen libel laws, Mr. Trump offered no specifics but told the group, “I think you’ll be happy. ” Despite his frequent attacks against what he has dubbed the “failing New York Times,” Mr. Trump seemed to go out of his way to praise the institution, which he called “a great, great American jewel, world jewel. ” He did, however, say he believed The Times had been too tough on him during the campaign. Pressed to respond to criticism in other areas, he was defiant. He declared that “the law’s totally on my side” when it comes to questions about conflict of interest and ethics laws. “The president can’t have a conflict of interest,” he said. He said it would be extremely difficult to sell off his businesses because they are real estate holdings. He said that he would “like to do something” and create some kind of arrangement to separate his businesses from his work in government. He noted that he had turned over the management of his businesses to his children, which ethics lawyers say is not sufficient to prevent conflicts of interest. He insisted that he could still invite business partners into the White House for photographs. He said that critics were pressuring him to go beyond what he was willing to do, including distancing himself from his children while they run his businesses. “If it were up to some people,” he said, “I would never, ever see my daughter Ivanka again. ” Mr. Trump did not dispute reports that he had used a meeting last week with Nigel Farage, the U. K. Independence Party leader, to raise his opposition to offshore wind farms. Mr. Trump has long complained that wind farms would mar the view from his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. “I might have brought it up,” Mr. Trump said, then argued he had done so because of policy concerns about wind farms rather than any personal interest. Mr. Trump rejected the idea that he was bound by federal antinepotism laws from installing his Jared Kushner, in a White House job. But he said he would want to avoid the appearance of a conflict and might instead seek to make Mr. Kushner a special envoy charged with brokering peace in the Middle East. “The president of the United States is allowed to have whatever conflicts he or she wants, but I don’t want to do that,” Mr. Trump said. But he said that Mr. Kushner, who is an observant Jew, “could be very helpful” in reconciling the longstanding dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians. “I would love to be able to be the one that made peace with Israel and the Palestinians,” Mr. Trump said, adding that Mr. Kushner “would be very good at it” and that “he knows the region. ” “A lot of people tell me, really great people tell me, that it’s impossible — you can’t do it,” Mr. Trump added. “I disagree. I think you can make peace. ” “I have reason to believe I can do it,” he added. Mr. Trump spoke only in general terms about foreign policy. He said the United States should not “be a nation builder,” repeated his line from the campaign that fighting the war in Iraq was “one of the great mistakes in the history of our country,” and said he has some “very definitive” and “strong ideas” about how to deal with the violent civil war raging in Syria. He declined to say what those ideas are despite several requests to do so. “We have to end that craziness that’s going on in Syria,” he said. The said that he had talked with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia since winning the election, but he did not elaborate. He said it would be “nice” if he and Mr. Putin could get along, but he rejected the idea that any warming of relations would be called a “reset,” noting the criticism that Mrs. Clinton received after her attempts at bettering relations between the countries failed. “I wouldn’t use that term after what happened,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump made a forceful defense of Mr. Bannon, whom he named as his chief strategist and who has drawn charges of racism and . This summer, Mr. Bannon called Breitbart News, the website he led, “the platform for the ” a white nationalist movement. Mr. Trump said Mr. Bannon had been dismayed at the reaction to his hiring. “I’ve known Steve Bannon a long time. If I thought he was a racist or ” he said, “I wouldn’t even think about hiring him. ” Mr. Trump added: “I think he’s having a hard time with it because it’s not him. I think he’s been treated very unfairly. ” He also defended Breitbart, which has carried racist and content, saying it was no different from The Times, only “much more conservative. ” Mr. Trump said he hoped to develop a “great relationship” with President Obama, with whom he said he had an unexpected rapport. “I really liked him a lot, and I am a little bit surprised that I am telling you that I really liked him a lot,” he said. And Mr. Trump gloated about defying the polls and the expectations of his own party to win the presidency, and boasted of how he had taken his revenge on Republicans who kept him at a distance and then lost their own races. He said that one of them, Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, would “love to have a job in the administration. ” “I said, ‘No, thank you,’” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Ayotte, who lost her Senate seat to Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. “She refused to vote for me. ” He also criticized Representative Joe Heck of Nevada, who vacillated over supporting Mr. Trump after an recording surfaced in which Mr. Trump bragged in lewd terms about grabbing women without their consent. “He went down like a lead balloon,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Heck. “I said, ‘Off the record, I hope you lose. ’” He said Republican leaders felt indebted to him for his surprise victory. “Right now,” Mr. Trump said, “they’re in love with me. ” | 0 |
695 | Review: ‘Sweetbitter,’ a ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ for the Restaurant Set - The New York Times | Dwight Garner | Stephanie Danler’s first novel, “Sweetbitter,” about a young woman in New York City’s restaurant world, is going to make a lot of people hungry. It did me, at any rate. My copy, I notice, has some grease stains in it, a few red pepper flakes, a stubby bit of mint. “Sweetbitter” will be consumed with special avidity by young food people — sommeliers, cheesemakers, sous chefs, managers, pastry wizards — who dream of making it in the big city, or at least of making it by standards. It’s an unpretentious, novel — bought by Knopf in an deal — that reads like a letter home from a friend. In this case, that friend is named Tess, like Thomas Hardy’s heroine and Melanie Griffith’s striving secretary in “Working Girl. ” This Tess is 22 when she escapes her unnamed hometown and its “twin pillars of football and church” and drives into Manhattan. “Let’s say I was born in late June of 2006 when I came over the George Washington Bridge at 7 a. m.,” she says, “with the sun circulating and dawning, the sky full of sharp corners of light, before the exhaust rose, before the heat gridlocked in, windows unrolled, radio turned up to some impossibly hopeful pop song, open, open, open. ” Thanks to her poise and friendly good looks, Tess finds a job as an apprentice server at a restaurant that’s clearly modeled after Union Square Cafe, one of Manhattan’s best. (The author has worked at Union Square Cafe and at another cheerful restaurant, Buvette.) She finds a scuzzy apartment in a cheap section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tess falls deeply into her work and feels the city begin to unfold for her. Ms. Danler is a sensitive observer of the almost wartime camaraderie among workers at a restaurant that’s humming at full capacity, of the exhaustion, of the postshift drinking in dive bars until dawn, of the sex and other stimulants — the biggest one simply being young and alive and open to the animal and intellectual possibilities that New York offers. Once upon a time, this sort of aspirational, young person’s novel was written about writers and artists. Food workers are climbing the status ladder. Now these novels are about chefs or even, in this case, servers. This book has an onrushing “Bright Lights, Big City” vibe and falls into an emerging genre you might call Bright Lights, Small Plates. A restaurant, like a platoon in a war novel, allows a writer to deploy a large cast with relative ease. In “Sweetbitter” we meet a handsome if young bartender (“He drank like he was the only person who understood beer”) an enigmatic female head server who is Tess’s mentor and tormentor a harried chef a manager who does more than ogle his favorite female employees. None feel like stereotypes. A subtle sense of melancholy hangs over these men and women. They’re happy to be where they are in fact, they feel chosen. But they’re nearly all here because of other dreams that were thwarted. They’re failed poets or academics. Tess had hoped to be a photographer. “Sweetbitter” is the story of Tess’s sentimental education. We don’t learn much about her past. But in Manhattan we watch her — she is vulnerable but rarely weak — pour herself full with books and art and music, and blossom like a daisy. Mostly she fills herself with lovely things to eat and drink. Tess isn’t a hipster (“I cared too much about the wrong things”). And Ms. Danler isn’t another Anthony Bourdain manqué, delivering a caustic exposé. She takes the reader by the hand as Tess learns dozens of lessons, from distinguishing among varieties of oysters, types of winter lettuce and appellations of Burgundy to opening wine properly to appreciating a pig’s head terrine. Tess knows she will, at some point, want more than this. But for now this punishing life feels like ravishment. When a college acquaintance comes into the restaurant one night and condescends to her, only politeness prevents her from speaking aloud: “I chose this life because it’s a constant assault of color and taste and light and it’s raw and ugly and fast and it’s mine. And you’ll never understand. Until you live it, you don’t know. ” This novel, which reads a bit like a food world version of Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Prep,” gets off to a bad start. You notice that its four sections are named after the seasons, as if they were George Winston albums. At the beginning there are gimmicky interpolated sections about things like the nature of sweet versus sour. You fear you may be headed into a genre fiction tunnel of love. Those fears are quickly dispelled. Ms. Danler is a gifted commenter (chilly autumn air in Manhattan “tasted of steel knives and filtered water”) on many things, class especially. An awareness of privilege runs through this novel like a tendon. “If you’re good at this job,” she asks, “what exactly are you good at?” “Sweetbitter” grows darker than you might expect, in terms of where Tess’s desires lead her. It’s a book about hunger of every variety, even the sort that can disturb you and make you sometimes ask yourself, as does Tess, “Was I a monster or was this what it felt like to be a person?” | 0 |
696 | Gonzaga Beats South Carolina in Final Four for Shot at Another First - The New York Times | Karen Crouse | GLENDALE, Ariz. — Mark Few wrote the introduction for a book by his college roommate about the power of perseverance. On Saturday night, the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, which Few has built from a midmajor curiosity into a championship contender, provided him with material for a postscript. Gonzaga, making its 19th consecutive N. C. A. A. tournament appearance but its first trip to the Final Four, advanced to the national championship game with a victory over South Carolina at University of Phoenix Stadium. In the final on Monday night, the Bulldogs will face a fellow No. 1 seed, North Carolina, which beat Oregon by later on Saturday. Nigel a junior guard, contributed 23 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, and his freshman roommate, Zach Collins, added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Gonzaga, a program that thrust itself into the national consciousness by reaching the round of 8 in 1999 — but until this season had never gotten any further. This season, the Bulldogs ( ) spent four weeks at No. 1 in the national polls before being dealt their only loss, to Brigham Young, in their final game of the regular season. On Saturday night, they could barely contain their excitement at the opportunity they had given themselves to be unequivocally known as college basketball’s best. Few, who is known for his demeanor, was so overcome with emotion that he executed a handstand in the locker room. “I felt like I stuck it,” he said with a laugh, adding: “Sometimes I worry that my guys get like, it’s a job. And we’ve been on them to show emotion. So that’s my fairly weak effort of showing emotion. ” South Carolina ( ) a seventh seed that had defied all expectation to get so far, was also making its first trip to the Final Four. The Gamecocks were led by Chris Silva, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Sindarius Thornwell, a senior guard who had not scored fewer than 24 points in a tournament game this year, was held to a relatively quiet 15. “We played our hearts out the way we did all year,” the senior Justin McKie said, “and Gonzaga played a great game. ” It was just a matter of patience. In his book, “Water the Bamboo,” Few’s college roommate, Greg Bell, used the plant as a metaphor for success. Even with regular watering, giant timber bamboo does not appear to make any gains for the first three years of its life. But then, suddenly, it will sprout 90 feet in just two months. It took the Bulldogs considerably longer to reach their newfound height, but that only made Saturday’s result all the sweeter. Few’s South Carolina counterpart, Frank Martin, overcame a hardscrabble childhood to build a successful career in coaching, and his tailored suits cannot hide his rough edges. His intensity, embodied by his icy sideline stare, has rubbed off on his players. After the Gonzaga players gathered in a circle, and as they were breaking apart, a few South Carolina players sauntered through the huddle, bumping a few of the Bulldogs as they passed. Then, before the opening tip, Gonzaga center Przemek Karnowski approached Thornwell, one senior to another, and extended his hand. Thornwell, the Gamecocks’ leading scorer, brushed past him, leaving Karnowski to stare quizzically at Thornwell’s back and shrug. “Maybe that’s how he is,” Karnowski said after the game. “I don’t really know him personally. ” Karnowski was happy to be on the floor at all. He missed most of last season with a injury that required surgery. At 7 feet 1 inch and 300 pounds, Karnowski had four inches and more than 70 pounds on Silva, the sophomore forward from Gabon who was given the gargantuan task of guarding him under the basket. Fourteen minutes into the game, Silva rose to block Karnowski’s shot and made contact with Karnowski, who fell to the floor like a Douglas fir. No foul was called, and while he writhed in pain, the Gamecocks pushed the ball up the court, with P. J. Dozier feeding McKie for a that tied the score at . Karnowski was helped to the sideline with a sore right elbow and a poked right eye, leaving Gonzaga, which had by then gotten 6 points and 4 rebounds from him, with a hole in the middle. Collins, a freshman forward, filled it immediately. He contributed three rebounds, including two on the defensive end, to go with 2 points and a blocked shot in a frenetic stretch over the next 2 minutes 30 seconds to help Gonzaga to a halftime lead. By then, Karnowski was already in the locker room. He could not open his right eye. But those missed games from last season were enough for him. He was back in the lineup at the start of the second half. “The doctor said I’m good to go, so I was just real happy about it,” he said. Twice in the tournament, South Carolina had stormed back from halftime deficits, and it would be no different against Gonzaga. The first two times, Thornwell was the spark. This time it was Silva who led the charge as the Gamecocks tied the game at and then took the lead on two free throws by Rakym Felder. “That just showed the heart of a lion,” Few said, adding, “It took everything we had to hold on and come back. ” Cultivated though it has been, Gonzaga’s offense did have to deal with a dry spell. The Bulldogs stalled when Karnowski’s teammates tried too often to force the ball inside to him, leading to turnovers that the Gamecocks turned into points at the other end. But it was a storm the Bulldogs could weather. Karnowski had 7 points in the second half to finish with 13. His understudy, Collins, had a sensational second half, with 6 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. “We did a really good job, I thought, of just sticking together,” Karnowski said. “That’s what we did the entire season. We don’t have 37 wins for nothing. ” As Few and a handful of his players made their way up the steps to the dais, the moderator announced, “Gonzaga has arrived. ” It just took longer than perhaps Few would have expected. “To be playing the last game of the year is crazy cool,” he said. | 0 |
697 | Gorka: Trump ’Is Not an Interventionist Commander-in-Chief,’ ’Nothing Has Changed’ - Breitbart | Pam Key | .@SebGorka: ”@POTUS is not an interventionist . Nothing has changed.” #SundayFutures @MariaBartiromo pic. twitter. On this weekend’s broadcast of “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel, President Donald Trump’s deputy assistant Dr. Sebastian Gorka said Trump was “not an interventionist . ” Gorka said, “I would like to make one thing very clear because there’s been a lot of missed reporting on this. The president is not an interventionist . nothing has changed from November 7th 2 today. He’s been explicit. We are not invading other people’s countries. This isn’t some neoconservative administration. Nevertheless, we have obligations to our friends in the region and on top of that, things like weapons of mass distraction, nuclear weapons in the hands of rogue regimes, chemical weapons, those will not be countenanced because they are a threat to Americans as well and that is why you see the leadership out of the White House you are seen. ” Follow Pam Key On Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
698 | Re: Thank You FBI: The Clinton Email Investigation Has Shifted The Poll Numbers Significantly In Trump’s Favor | Tatiana Covington | Thank You FBI: The Clinton Email Investigation Has Shifted The Poll Numbers Significantly In Trump’s Favor 31st, 2016
Donald Trump has all the momentum now. Will it be enough to propel him to victory on election day? Trump’s poll numbers were improving even before we learned that the FBI had and the new survey results that came out over the weekend and on Monday make it clear that Clinton’s “certain victory” is not so certain after all. Unless something changes, Americans are going to go to the polls on November 8th with an FBI criminal investigation hanging over the Clinton campaign like an ominous cloud, and that is very good news for Trump.
The Clinton campaign was hoping that this renewed investigation would not “move the needle”, but unfortunately for them that appears not to be the case. Hillary’s unfavorable rating just hit an all-time high , a whopping 45 percent of all Americans believe that this scandal is “worse than Watergate”, and a Rasmussen survey has found that 40 percent of all undecided voters that are leaning toward voting for Hillary Clinton are still open to changing their minds
And even before this story broke on Friday, Clinton was having a difficult time getting her voters to the polls. According to the New York Times , early voting among young adults and African-American voters is significantly down compared to 2012, and those are demographic groups that Clinton desperately needs to turn out in large numbers.
But of course the key to winning the election is getting to 270 electoral votes, and poll numbers appear to be shifting in the key swing states that Trump and Clinton both desperately need. For a moment, I would like to examine what the numbers currently look like in some of the most important states…
Florida
Without Florida, Donald Trump has absolutely no chance of winning. This is something that even the Trump campaign has admitted. That is why it was so alarming that most of the polls in October had Hillary Clinton leading in the state.
Fortunately for Trump, a new survey that was conducted on Sunday shows him leading in Florida by four points .
Georgia
Georgia wasn’t supposed to be a problem. Georgia has traditionally been a deep red state, but polling throughout this election season had shown a very tight race. This had Republicans deeply concerned and the Clinton camp very happy.
But now the momentum has seemingly shifted and the latest poll has Trump up by seven points .
North Carolina
Mitt Romney won North Carolina in 2012, and Donald Trump very much needs to win it if he hopes to be triumphant on November 8th. Hillary Clinton was shown to be leading in the eight most recent polls before the email story broke, but in the first major survey conducted afterwards she is now down by two points .
Ohio
No Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio, and Trump knows how important it is to his chances. The three most recent polls conducted before the FBI renewed the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails all showed a tie, but now the very first survey conducted afterwards shows Trump up by five points .
Colorado
Hillary Clinton has consistently been in the lead in Colorado throughout this campaign, and most experts didn’t give Trump much of a chance in the state, but the latest survey shows that Clinton’s lead has been whittled down to just one point .
Arizona
A survey that was conducted in mid-October showed Clinton having a five point lead in John McCain’s home state, but now the latest major poll has Trump up by two points .
Nevada
One of the most important swing states out west is Nevada, and most surveys showed Hillary Clinton with a strong lead throughout the month of October. Unfortunately for her, a poll that was conducted on Sunday shows Donald Trump with a four point lead .
Clearly Trump has the momentum at this point, and it will be very interesting to see how the numbers change over the next few days.
And as we learn more about what is in these newly discovered emails, will her fellow Democrats stick with her? Already, some are publicly wavering. The following example comes from WND …
Longtime Clinton confidante and former Democratic pollster Doug Schoen told Fox News the newly renewed FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server is forcing him to “reassess” his support for the Democratic nominee for president.
Schoen, a Fox News contributor, made the comments to host Harris Faulkner during a live television appearance Sunday night on “Fox Report Weekend.”
Public opinion is shifting quickly, but the bad news for Trump is that more than 23 million Americans have already voted. So millions upon millions of Americans cast their votes before they even learned of this new FBI investigation. If the race is very close, that could end up making the difference.
And of course the race could dramatically change once again if the FBI comes to some sort of resolution about these new emails prior to November 8th. On Monday, CNN reported that a resolution before election day did not appear to be likely…
FBI officials are unlikely to finish their review of new emails potentially related to its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server before the November 8 election.
The initial work of cataloging top Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s emails found on her estranged husband Anthony Weiner’s laptop could be done in the next few days, US told CNN.
But the investigators are expected to spend more time doing other work, including likely working with other federal agencies to determine what — if any — classified materials are in the emails. This makes it unlikely there will be a resolution prior to the election.
However, late on Monday evening the Drudge Report reported that the L.A. Times has learned that investigators may have a “preliminary assessment” completed “in coming days”…
LA TIMES TUESDAY: FBI Investigators had planned to conduct new email review over several weeks. It now hopes to complete ‘preliminary assessment’ in coming days, but agency officials have not decided how, or whether, they will disclose results publicly… Developing…
Whether good or bad, I do believe that the American people deserve to hear something conclusive about these emails before November 8th.
If nothing is found to implicate Clinton, the American people should be told that.
And if evidence of very serious crimes is discovered, there is no way in the world that should be held back until after the election.
Even if it throws the election into complete and utter chaos , the American people deserve to know the truth.
But will we get it?
Stay tuned, because I think that this is going to be a crazy week. | 1 |
699 | Race, Not Class, Dictates Republican Future | Henry Wolff | Francis Wilkinson, Bloomberg, November 1, 2016
The class compositions of the Republican and Democratic parties keep evolving. {snip}
A Pew Research Center report last month detailed the shift.
Since 1992, the share of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters with at least a college degree has increased sharply, from 21 percent to 37 percent. Among Republicans, 31 percent have at least a college degree, up only slightly from 28 percent in 1992. As a consequence, a greater proportion of Democrats than Republicans now have a college degree or more education.
In the New York Times last week, political sage Thomas Edsall called this process the “Great Democratic Inversion.”
What these figures suggest is that the 2016 election will represent a complete inversion of the New Deal order among white voters. From the 1930s into the 1980s and early 1990s, majorities of downscale whites voted Democratic and upscale whites voted Republican. Now, looking at combined male and female vote totals, the opposite is true.
A key word in Edsall’s analysis is “white.” Stories about the disaffected working-class supporters of Donald Trump apply almost exclusively to white voters. Other working-class voters–blacks and Hispanics –are poised to provide lopsided support to Hillary Clinton.
{snip}
There is no expansive, working-class rage in the U.S. There is white conservative rage (along with a more modest left-wing version). While it may burn brightest in deindustrialized America, conservative rage extends across class and educational demarcations, from blue collars to billionaires .
This complicates the story of the parties switching class allegiances. For Democrats, it leaves them managing an increasingly unwieldy coalition extending from white cosmopolitan millionaires who send their kids to private schools to low-paid Hispanic service workers and black factory and office workers facing economic dislocation. {snip}
Keeping that coalition pointed in the same general direction might be impossible without the dedicated efforts of the Republican Party. The GOP has proved incapable of breaking out of its racial straitjacket. So it has opted instead to tighten the straps around its torso.
{snip}
Republicans’ constant struggle with racism in their ranks, and their recurring failure to resist the temptation to exploit it, eases pressure on the Democrats’ sprawling coalition. The parties won’t fully exchange their class identities for the simple reason that working-class blacks and Hispanics can’t trust the GOP to represent them.
If it doesn’t diversify and become more accommodating to nonwhites, the GOP will only grow crazier and scarier , and its effort to wield power with the support of a shrinking white base will become even more extreme. {snip}
{snip} | 1 |
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