1204: Hunt the Wumpus

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Archived Version

Source: The Last Refuge

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:56

Georgia Democrat Congressman John Lewis, 79, the leader of the 2017 Democrat agenda to boycott the inauguration of President Donald Trump, announces he has been diagnosed with stage-4 pancreatic cancer.

''I have been in some kind of fight '' for freedom, equality, basic human rights '' for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.

''This month in a routine medical visit, and subsequent tests, doctors discovered Stage IV pancreatic cancer. This diagnosis has been reconfirmed.

''While I am clear-eyed about the prognosis, doctors have told me that recent medical advances have made this type of cancer treatable in many cases, that treatment options are no longer as debilitating as they once were, and that I have a fighting chance.

''So I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the Beloved Community. We still have many bridges to cross.

''To my constituents: being your representative in Congress is the honor of a lifetime. I will return to Washington in coming days to continue our work and begin my treatment plan, which will occur over the next several weeks. I may miss a few votes during this period, but with God's grace I will be back on the front lines soon.

''Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this journey.'' (link)

.@RepJohnLewis, we are all praying for you following this diagnosis. John, know that generations of Americans have you in their thoughts & prayers as you face this fight. We are all praying that you are comfortable. We know that you will be well. pic.twitter.com/j7YMUGLPC2

'-- Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 29, 2019

''Thrice Denied God'''...

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 22:49

A former Florida circuit judge accidentally drowned in a hot tub at her vacation home in North Georgia, according to a coroner.

A neighbor found Tracy Sheehan, 60, face down in the hot tub on Christmas morning, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The neighbor said she grew concerned after hearing the judge's dog barking, said Becky Callihan, the coroner in Fannin County.

Investigators believe Sheehan fell, hit her head and then drowned, Callihan said.

''They found evidence where she had hit her nose,'' Callihan said. ''Her glasses had scratched her nose when she went down.''

News reports said Sheehan had been dead for several hours before the neighbor found her body.

The Medical Examiner's Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made the determination.

An autopsy report and toxicology results were not yet complete Monday.

Sheehan was a former Hillsborough Circuit judge known for a no-nonsense approach on the bench, according to reports by news station WFTS, the ABC affiliate in Tampa.

She was a respected lawyer and jurist known as an advocate for children and domestic violence survivors. She had worked as a mediator in family law cases since her retirement in 2017 after 11 years as a judge.

''She was inspiring and fierce,'' longtime friend Wendy LaTorre told the station. ''She was one of the loudest voices and a voice that we needed.''

Reports said the judge had overcome breast cancer and often rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to work.

Support real journalism. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. See offers.

Your subscription to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution funds in-depth reporting and investigations that keep you informed. Thank you for supporting real journalism.

Just had an interview

for a company and they basically screened me to see if I was a sjw crybaby.

They asked me "do you find South Park funny or offensive?"

My reply, both. And I explicitly told them that I'm not one of those easily

offended people.

FYI; I got hired, and feel more comfortable at my job.

I'm older 47, I'm usually the one people cry about, a no bullshit type. My

experience is a lot of younger people go out of their way to avoid any conflict

or debate on any topic, and social media only exists to enable everyone to

provide positivity, not for real socialization.

Feel free to read, but exclude my name.

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Archived Version

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:22

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Interim President Jeanine ±ez at a press conference on Monday Bolivia has announced it is expelling Mexico's ambassador and two Spanish diplomats, following a tense incident at the Mexican diplomat's residence on Friday.

Spain has since reciprocated the move, while Mexico claims it had already recalled its ambassador owing to concerns over her safety.

What has caused this sudden breakdown of relations?

It essentially comes back to Bolivia's ex-president Evo Morales, who was given asylum in Mexico in November after fleeing his homeland amid turmoil following his disputed re-election.

Mexico also opened its ambassador's residence in La Paz to various former associates of Mr Morales, and this has led to protests on its doorstep from angry Bolivians who oppose the ex-president.

Relations have since been understandably strained between Mexico - which has a left-wing leader and had supported the socialist Morales government - and the new Bolivian leadership, which is being temporarily headed by Jeanine ±ez, who was an opposition senator.

What are the accusations?Spain says its representatives - including Charg(C) d'Affaires Cristina Borreguero - were paying a courtesy visit to the Mexican embassy on Friday morning.

However, Bolivia insists there was an ulterior "hostile" motive.

Its interim government has accused Spain of being part of a plot to hatch the escape of the most-wanted man in the country, former Interior Minister Juan Ram"n Quintana.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Evo Morales, centre, and Juan Ramon Quintana, right, in 2016 Spain "vehemently denies there was any aim to facilitate the exit of people holed up inside the building", according to statement from its foreign ministry.

Mr Quintana, the former top aide of Mr Morales, has, like the ex-president, been accused of sedition and terrorism after post-election protests became violent.

Both men reject the allegations against them and Mr Morales has since moved on to Argentina.

Why was the area so tense? Morales critics have been gathering outside the Mexican residence - in a traffic-free compound known as La Rinconada - calling for Mr Quintana to be handed over to authorities.

Mexico's foreign ministry has, for days, complained about a "siege" outside, owing to the heavy presence of Bolivian police and military standing guard at the perimeter.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Protesters have been gathering outside Urbanizacion La Rinconada, where the residence is located It accuses Bolivian authorities of harassing and intimidating its diplomatic staff, and has asked the International Court of Justice to mediate in the dispute.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pa­s, tensions were particularly high on Friday morning as protesters had already reacted to a van leaving the premises, thinking it held Mr Quintana in the back.

The newspaper said that was a false alarm: the van was carrying a fridge.

What did the Spanish diplomats do? Their meeting lasted 40 minutes, according to the Mexican ministry of foreign affairs.

The ministry said the problems started when the Spaniards went to leave and police blocked their cars - with diplomatic licence plates - from driving in to collect them.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Vehicles coming in and out of La Rinconada have been checked The Mexican ambassador reportedly heard screams - it is unclear from whom - and then invited the delegation back inside.

The ministry claims the Bolivian authorities told the visitors they could make their way towards the exit on foot, but the Spanish delegation feared for their safety.

Amid the tension, the Mexican ambassador, Mar­a Teresa Mercado, fired off a message on Twitter - which she later deleted - accusing Bolivian officials of violating the Vienna Convention which safeguards diplomatic rights.

El Pa­s reported that special operatives of the Spanish police were present and they covered their faces to hide from photographers outside.

However, Bolivia claimed they were masked because they were involved in a covert operation.

"The hostile behaviour, trying to surreptitiously enter Mexico's residence in Bolivia, challenging Bolivian police officers and Bolivian citizens themselves, are facts that we cannot let go and have generated consequences," said the country's interim president.

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Media caption Ballot boxes and electoral offices were set on fire by protesters

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Source: The Iran Project

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:16

Press TV '' President Hassan Rouhani highlights the significance of the recent naval drills jointly held by Iran, Russia and China in the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman, stressing that the unprecedented military maneuvers infuriated the US and its vassal states in the state.

''Holding such drills is not a simple issue and has made the predatory world [countries] very angry. They are upset and outraged at the fact the two major powers (Russian and China) have staged joint maneuvers along with the naval forces of Iran's Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC),'' said Rouhani on Tuesday.

Neither the US nor the smaller regional states that feel ''humility in front of America'' could tolerate the drills, he added.PP

The three-day drills, which were held last week, covered 17,000 square kilometers consisting of various tactical exercises, such as target practice and rescuing ships from assaults and fires.

The drills come as the United States has been seeking to set up an international maritime coalition in the Persian Gulf following a series of suspicious attacks on passing takers in the waterway it blamed on Iran.

Tehran has firmly rejected the accusations, describing the incidents as false flag'' operations meant to frame Iran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani hailed pro-establishment rallies in condemnation of last month's riots in the country, saying the enemies were irked by those demonstrations.

Using a recent hike in the price of gasoline as a pretext, foreign-backed riotous elements began staging acts of violence across the country, setting fire to, looting, and vandalizing public facilities, including banks, gas stations, and department stores.

Shortly after the price hike was announced, through, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that the protests against the decision could be used by agitators, who were being provoked and equipped by the country's enemies. The note of caution prompted sweeping pro-government rallies across the country.

Rouhani said that Iran was going through the most difficult times since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but it continues to move forward.

The president, however, urged Iranians to stand their ground in the face of pressure from abroad and remain optimistic, further warning against painting a gloomy picture of the country's economic future.

Rouhani, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of a new train line linking the Golshahr district of Karaj in Alborz to Hashtgerd, praised Iran's progresses in developing railway lines over the past years.

He said that the country's railway line has seen a 45-percent growth since six years ago when his administration took office.

Iran's total railway line, which was some 9,600 kilometers for over 90 years, has currently reached to over 14,000 kilometers, he said.

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Archived Version

Source: The Last Refuge

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:35

First, the explanation from former CIA Director, current U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo:

.

Does this ''escalation'' have a familiar feel about it?

Let's review the timeline:A joint U.S. DoD, CIA and State Department effort initiated the background for an impeachment effort against U.S. President Donald Trump.

'... A DoD Lt. Colonel named Alexander Vindman (Defense Dept.) sends false information to CIA operative Eric Ciaramella (CIA)'.... that kick-starts a manipulated anonymous whistle-blower complaint through congress and the intelligence inspector general'... which precedes a litany of U.S. foreign service operatives (State Dept.) testifying against President Trump.

Despite the known compromise and his certain inability to do his job, the National Security Staffer, Lt. Col. Vindman, is not removed from his position inside the White House National Security Council by Joint Chief's Chairman Mark Milley.

'... At the same time Vindman's activity hits the headlines, U.S. Secretary of Navy Richard Spencer extorts the White House over President Trump's decision to grant clemency for U.S. Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. Spencer offers to drop the Trident review for Gallagher if President Trump backs away from the issue.

After public exposure of the extortion, Defense Secretary Mark Esper is forced to fire Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. Using Spencer's firing as the starting point, a contingent of former flag officers mount a mass-media campaign against President Trump. Joint Chief's Chairman Mark Milley remains silent.

[NOTE: President Trump has an administration-wide military policy of allowing field commanders to make decisions closer to combat operations. Offensive military engagement requires Commander-in-Chief approval, defensive operations do not.]

'... U.S. officials and a coalition of Afghanistan tribal leaders representing the Taliban in Afghanistan announce a joint cease-fire as terms of U.S. withdrawal are discussed.

'... On the same day the U.S-Afghanistan ceasefire agreement is announced, Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Esper and JCS Mark Milley travel to Mar-a-Lago to brief President Trump on a range of new airstrikes carried out in Eastern Syria and Western Iraq as retaliation for an Iranian proxy militia attack against a U.S. base in Kirkuk, Iraq, that killed an ''American contractor''.

A U.S. civilian contractor was killed and several service members and Iraqi personnel injured Friday in a rocket attack on a base in Iraq, military officials said.

The attack on the base in Kirkuk occurred Friday morning, said Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, which is tasked with fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. The base is hosting coalition troops, the military said in a statement. '' Kirkuk is in the northeastern part of the country, south of Erbil. (LINK)

.

President Trump is silent for three days as Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Esper and JCS Milley inform the media of new issues in/around Iraq.

The evidence of Iranian involvement against the Kirkuk base is a located abandoned truck with unfired rockets -with Iranian labels- located near the origination of the attack.

'... The U.S. response to the airbase attack takes place 300+ miles from the Kirkuk incident. Secretary Pompeo calls the retaliatory strikes ''defensive'' operations against Iranian -back proxy militias.

The Department of Defense took offensive actions in defense of our personnel and interests in Iraq by launching F-15 Strike Eagles against five targets associated with Kata'ib Hezbollah, which is an Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia group. The targets we attacked included three targets in Western Iraq and two targets in Eastern Syria that were either command and control facilities or weapons caches for Kata'ib Hezbollah.

~Def Sec Esper

'... Iranian-inspired proxies inside Iraq then use the U.S. retaliatory strikes to mount a protest against the U.S. embassy in/around the ''green zone'' in Iraq. Chaos ensues. U.S. troops are dispatched to reinforce the massive embassy compound.

'... As a result of the increased risk and hostility to U.S. interests in/around the U.S. embassy in Iraq; and as a result of escalating friction caused by the original Iranian-militia attack; and as a result of the two U.S. air strikes in response to that initial attack; and out of an abundance of caution that our U.S. embassy in Iraq does not turn into another Benghazi-like outcome; we are now sending 4,000 more U.S. troops into Iraq.

All of this, we are told, is the result of rockets fired into an airbase in Kirkuk by ''Iranian'' militia; who our intelligence services identified from an abandoned truck and un-fired missiles with Iranian stickers.

You decide'...

.

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Archived Version

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 00:15

Starting New Year’s Day, you may notice a small but momentous change to the websites you visit: a button or link, probably at the bottom of the page, reading “Do Not Sell My Personal Information.”

The change is one of many going into effect Jan. 1, 2020, thanks to a sweeping new data privacy law known as the California Consumer Privacy Act. The California law essentially empowers consumers to access the personal data that companies have collected on them, to demand that it be deleted, and to prevent it from being sold to third parties. Since it’s a lot more work to create a separate infrastructure just for California residents to opt out of the data collection industry, these requirements will transform the internet for everyone.

Ahead of the January deadline, tech companies are scrambling to update their privacy policies and figure out how to comply with the complex requirements. The CCPA will only apply to businesses that earn more than $25 million in gross revenue, that collect data on more than 50,000 people, or for which selling consumer data accounts for more than 50 percent of revenue. The companies that meet these qualifications are expected to collectively spend a total of $55 billion upfront to meet the new standards, in addition to $16 billion over the next decade. Major tech firms have already added a number of user features over the past few months in preparation. In early December, Twitter rolled out a privacy center where users can learn more about the company’s approach to the CCPA and navigate to a dashboard for customizing the types of info that the platform is allowed to use for ad targeting. Google has also created a protocol that blocks websites from transmitting data to the company, which users can take advantage of by downloading an opt-out add-on. Facebook, meanwhile, is arguing that it does not need to change anything because it does not technically “sell” personal information. Companies must at least set up a webpage and a toll-free phone number for fielding data requests.

Some companies are reportedly hiring outside firms to design special buttons that users can click to exercise their CCPA rights. The links and buttons will direct users to interactive forms where they can specify what they want done with their data. Each company will have its own way of setting up these forms, but there are some basic pieces of information that most will want to fulfill the request. “You might want to capture who is the consumer, what exactly is the information, and depending on how much information you store about consumers, you might want to know what time frame they’re talking about,” says Joseph Lazzarotti, a privacy and data lawyer who is assisting companies with CCPA compliance.

Depending on which right a consumer wants to exercise—access, deletion, or opting out—there may be different kinds of information that a company will want to gather through the web form in order to verify the identity of whoever is making the request. “With regard to the right to access your data, that has the highest threshold for risk analysis and what mechanisms you use to authenticate the person,” says Tara Cho, a privacy and cybersecurity lawyer who is also helping companies navigate the new law. “You could end up creating a data breach by sharing the information with a fraudulent actor.”

The law is vague on how much power and transparency companies must offer to consumers in this process. Some companies may thoroughly spell out in their privacy policies exactly what kinds of information they collect and use; data covered by the CCPA includes IP addresses, contact info, internet browsing history, biometrics (like facial recognition and fingerprint data), race, gender, purchasing behavior, and locations. In some cases, consumers may be able to choose what specific data they want the company to use or delete, though this isn’t strictly mandatory under the CCPA. Other companies will be much vaguer about data collection methods in their privacy policies to meet the bare minimum of transparency requirements set out by the law. “We’ve seen a real spectrum in the level of granularity in the disclosures. There’s a lot of confusion over how exactly you’re supposed to do it,” says Adam Connolly, a privacy and cybersecurity lawyer at Cooley LLP, another firm working with clients on CCPA issues. Some of this ambiguity may be clarified in the final draft regulations, which the California attorney general’s office is expected to release later in 2020.

Though the law will really only have teeth in California, many companies will extend these new protections to users across the country so they don’t have to worry about distinguishing who is or isn’t a resident of the state. For example, Microsoft has decided to extend protections under the CCPA and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation to all of its customers in the U.S. According to Lazzarotti, companies may want to spell out in their websites’ privacy policies that they will only fulfill requests for Californians, but then apply the new standards to everyone regardless of residency in practice. That way the company isn’t legally obliged to accommodate people out of state, but can still do so just to be safe. “If you wanted to do this for everybody, even though your website says it’s only for people in California, that would be OK,” says Lazzarotti. “You’re being more generous in that sense.”

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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Sun, 29 Dec 2019 16:27

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, October 23, 2019.

Erin Scott | Reuters

Facebook told two senators why it tracks users' locations even when their tracking services are turned off. The lawmakers now say Facebook should give users more control over their data.

Facebook was responding to an inquiry from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who asked Facebook last month to "respect" users' decisions to keep their locations private. In a letter dated December 12 that was released Tuesday, Facebook explained how it is able to estimate users' locations used to target ads even when they've chosen to reject location tracking through their smartphone's operating system.

Facebook said that even when location tracking is turned off, it can deduce users' general locations from context clues like locations they tag in photos as well as their devices' IP addresses. While this data is not as precise as Facebook would collect with location tracking enabled, the company said it uses the information for several purposes, including alerting users when their accounts have been accessed in an unusual place and clamping down on the spread of false information.

Facebook acknowledged it also targets ads based on the limited location information it receives when users turn off or limit tracking. Facebook doesn't allow users to turn off location-based ads, although it does allow users to block Facebook from collecting their precise location, the company wrote.

"By necessity, virtually all ads on Facebook are targeted based on location, though most commonly ads are targeted to people with a particular city or some larger region," the company wrote. "Otherwise, people in Washington, D.C. would receive ads for services or events in London, and vice versa."

Hawley, a frequent tech critic, tweeted the letter, saying it showed Facebook "admits it. Turn off 'location services' and they'll STILL track your location to make money (by sending you ads). There is no opting out. No control over your personal information. That's Big Tech. And that's why Congress needs to take action."

"I appreciate Facebook's attempts to inform users about their privacy choices. However, I am concerned that these efforts are insufficient and even misleading in light of how Facebook is actually treating user data," Coons said in a statement. "In their response to our letter, Facebook confirmed that there is no way for users to prevent Facebook from using their location and serving them ads based on that information, even when location access has been turned off. Facebook claims that users are in control of their own privacy, but in reality, users aren't even given an option to stop Facebook from collecting and monetizing their location information. The American people deserve to know how tech companies use their data, and I will continue working to find solutions to protect Americans' sensitive information."

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WATCH: How Facebook makes money by targeting ads directly to you

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:36

Senior healthcare techies have warned England's National Health Service (NHS) that it will need to be open with industry professionals and the wider general public as it forges ahead with the collation and potential sale of millions of Brits' medical records via a mega database.

As exclusively revealed by The Register on 12 December, senior heads at Microsoft, AWS, AstraZeneca and other businesses met behind closed doors with leaders of the NHS to thrash out ways to create a commercially valuable repository of 65 million patients' data to improve healthcare, and mull ways to fund or even profit from it.

The meeting of more than 30 named invitees was also attended by NHS England chairman Lord David Prior, NHS improvement chairwoman Baroness Dido Harding, Professor Sir John Bell, who wrote the government's Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and Jonathan Symonds, chairman of Genomics England.

Revealed: NHS England bosses meet with tech and pharmaceutical giants to discuss price list of millions of Brits' medical data READ MORE The move, branded by sources familiar with the meeting as "Son of Care.Data" - the first being that mass NHS data-sharing initiative with private organisations that was eventually abandoned in July 2016 over confidentiality concerns - has ruffled some feathers because it was discussed in an invite-only meeting.

James Reed, consultant forensic psychiatrist and chair of the Clinical Chief Information Officer (CCIO) network, gauged the opinion of the community and sent The Reg a statement of opinion on the meeting we exposed.

"There are clear benefits to be had from sharing clinical data between organisations both for direct care and for understanding population health. However, we have learned from similar initiatives of the past that it's very important to be open and transparent about it with the public," he said.

It is vital that the public realise who has access to their data and the purposes for its use, he added.

"Maintaining public trust in these schemes is vital and it's hard to do this when meetings are happening apparently behind closed doors. All round the country, there are strenuous efforts being made to do so in local data sharing projects. Whilst it is clearly still early on, it would be very unfortunate if efforts were not made to engage with these projects and even more so if the public's trust were lost as a result," Reed continued.

What is it? The repository will draw real-time data from GPs, hospitals, mental health professionals, death and demographics registers, the private sector, prescription records, environmental and social stats, and data flows from embedded devices and patient-supplied and -entered details.

The information, including medical and genetic records that are said to be anonymised as necessary, will be accessed by NHS practitioners, along with researchers and possibly private companies. The objective is to make the UK a world beater in finding cures to beat diseases and provide better healthcare overall.

The NHS data on 65 million Brits was said at the meeting to be worth £9.6bn a year through "operational savings, improved patient outcomes and economic benefits," based on research by EY.

At the meeting, the NHS outlined nine frameworks models to be considered that ranged in benefits from a medical and financial perspective.

Joe McDonald, CCIO for Great North Care Record, a body that covers the sharing of data with healthcare pros for 3.6 million people situated in the North East and North Cumbria regions, said it ran 25 workshops for local citizens.

"The public told us transparency and trust are key issues in sharing sensitive health information. We have to be guided by citizens, not by government agencies and industry big players who see to profit from NHS data," he told The Reg.

"We hope the lessons of Care.Data have been learned. I'm not sure what patient representation goes into current policy thinking. I suspect not enough," he added.

Campaign group MedConfidential '' the clue to its aims is in the name '' warned several weeks ago in our original article that in the government's "rush to capitalise" on "one of the most valuable data assets on the planet" '' NHS data '' the powers that be seem more keen to "attract investment, serve industry and promote trade" than tell the subjects of that data what their plans for it are.

The Register has asked NHS England and the British Medical Journal to comment. ®

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 13:58

Texas deputies say a doorbell camera recorded an ex-college football player confessing to killing his pregnant sister with a knife, according to reports.

Michael Egwuagu, 25, has been accused of killing his 32-year-old sister Jennifer Chima Ebichi on Friday in Pflugerville.

''I killed Jennifer,'' the doorbell camera recorded Egwuagu as saying as he left his sister's home moments after the murder, the Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday, citing the arrest affidavit.

Mugshot for Michael Egwuagu, 25. The former University of Texas at San Antonio football player has been arrested and charged in the fatal stabbing of his sister at a home north of Austin. (Travis County Sheriff's Office via AP)

CALIFORNIA PORCH PIRATE CAUGHT STEALING SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS INSTALLED TO CATCH HIM

Witnesses told police they heard Egwuagu utter those words when they saw him leaving the house with a smile on his face and a bloody kitchen knife in his hand, KEYE-TV reported.

The witnesses told police they had heard Egwuagu and his sister yelling and screaming, the station reported.

DOORBELL CAMERA FOOTAGE OF WOMAN SCREAMING PROMPTS LAPD TO REOPEN INVESTIGATION

An autopsy confirmed Ebichi was about three months pregnant. Officials said she was stabbed multiple times.

"Efforts were made to save her life and the life of the reported unborn child but ultimately those efforts were unsuccessful," Kristen Dark, a spokeswoman with the Travis County Sheriff's Office, told reporters.

Egwuagu played football for the University of Texas at San Antonio for three years.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

He was jailed on $500,000 bond.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:20

Venmo is up after an hours-long outage.

Venmo Venmo went down Monday, with the money-transfer service confirming the outage on Twitter via its support account. Venmo said its app was experiencing interruptions, with people complaining on Twitter that the desktop version wasn't working either.

"We are currently experiencing an interruption in service on the Venmo mobile app," Venmo Support tweeted at 10:45 a.m. PT as people tweeted about having their cards declined and not being able to pay rent and bills. Venmo added its teams were working to resolve the issue, apologizing to customers for the "inconvenience."

Venmo said the service was back up and running as of 1:40 p.m.

"Our team fixed the issue, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers," Venmo Support tweeted Monday afternoon.

Venmo has yet to specify what caused the issue, and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Originally published Dec. 30, 12:28 p.m. PT. Update, 2:10 p.m.: Venmo is back up and running.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 17:25

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 21:14

If you're the kind of person who hates this new generation of smartphone users and longs for a nostalgic past, you're not far from the new target demographic for many commercial phone manufacturers. Major phone companies like Motorola and Huawei have been developing foldable versions of conventional smartphone designs, intended to be more versatile while maintaining the same functionality as their less flexible counterparts.

It's certainly gimmicky, but phones like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Motorola Razr, and the Huawei MateX are elegant from an engineering perspective. Developing a seamless interface experience, maximizing surface area for functionality, and maintaining the same nostalgic flip phone aesthetic while making use of familiar smartphone features isn't an easy design process.

Motorola RAZR hinge shown by CNET's Patrick Holland during a tour of their labs.For the Razr, a hinge system that takes up about a third of the phone's internal space allows the OLED display to have no noticeable binder line. Rather than curving like a piece of paper, it forms a teardrop shape that prevents the screen from creasing and being damaged. Springs and pistons below the surface move small places underneath where the user will be tapping '' folded in, the plates slide away. It's an interesting effect, although as you can see in the banner image, it doesn't quite achieve optically flat perfection.

In order to ensure that the screen doesn't overheat as it bends, it is made up of microlayers sandwiched together. To balance weight, the circuits and battery is split into two, operating on each half of the device, an unusual design choice for smartphones. Placement of the array of radios and antennas is also a challenge since they can't be too close to each other or the processor, which can interfere with signal transmission.

Other devices like the Royale Flexpai are more so proof-of-concepts making use of flexible screens and batteries, rather than capturing the aesthetics of a flip phone generation '-- but who doesn't want their smartphone to unfold into a tablet when needed? The future of smartphone technology is looking interesting, and we'll be sure to see even more iterations of flexible displays in the near future.

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Source: The Last Refuge

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 09:04

California public schools are on the cusp of initiating a new state-wide law that will ban schools from suspending students for antisocial, disruptive behavior.

The absolutely worst part of this initiative is that California doesn't need to wait to find out the results of what will happen. This exact program was initiated in Miami-Dade and Broward County Florida schools with disastrous and deadly consequences.

SACRAMENTO (KRON) '-- New laws taking effect in 2020 will impact schools across California.

Starting next school year, it will be illegal for public schools in the state to suspend students in first through fifth grade for willfully defying teachers or administrators.

Then, from 2021 through 2025, it will be temporarily extended to kids in grades six through eight.

Supporters say suspensions for willful defiance are disproportionately used against students of color. (read more)

What is being described here is exactly the same as the ''Promise Program'' tried out in Broward County and ''My Brother's Keeper'' program tried-out in Miami-Dade county since 2010. Both counties initiated diversionary programs for anti-social behavior that focused on keeping offending students in the school.

After several years of attempting the alternate disciplinary programs the result was abject chaos in both school systems; systemic educational failure in all affected schools; and eventually the culmination of all that progressive effort resulted in the 2018 deaths of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida.

It might seem like a good idea, most emotional progressive policies always do, but the prior educational results were exceptionally damaging.

Parents in California should strongly look at the results of where these types of programs were attempted before. There is no need to take a wait-and-see approach for the consequences. This approach has already been tested over the course of almost ten years.

In an effort to keep badly behaving students attending school the only thing that happens is teachers spend the majority of their time attempting to control those very same students. The school administrators then have to start initiating internal programs to protect good students from the bad ones while being forced to keep them together in the same classrooms. The result is an absolute mess.

Good students suffer because the quality of education drops almost immediately. Bad students don't improve and there is no actionable consequence for even violent anti-social behavior.

Parents end up stuck in the middle with few options'.... until eventually it all boils over and either: (A) a formerly stable student, who has now been initiated to years of bullying, comes to school with a weapon to fend off the emotional or physical violence; or (B) one of the willfully-defiant students, like Nikolas Cruz, comes to school with a weapon to complete their mission.

In the lead-up to this guaranteed outcome, as increasing violence becomes unacceptable to the parents, reactionary school districts will try to find a way to stay compliant with the law while retaining student safety'.... Ergo schools will start hiring security officers in an attempt to be proactive; metal detectors will become visible; school lockers will be eliminated as a source of potential contraband'... which shifts the concern to backpacks etc. etc'... It's a never ending cascade of unintended consequences.

Over time, within this state-wide educational jungle, each district will then start debating the acceptable number of violent assaults, rapes, drug offenses and other crimes that will have to be navigated in order to meet all the legal compliance demands.

A multi-tiered process of loosely defined school regulations will result'... every individual decision will become opaque based on the situational crisis and the people placed in untenable situations. The negative impacts will disproportionately be felt in the minority neighborhoods who already have educational challenges.

California school bus drivers, now forced to transport violent offenders, will request protective cages on their buses. Some districts will reimburse teachers for bullet proof clothing. School administrative offices will spend millions on security, CCTV, steel reinforced doors and armed security; all of this collective effort is used to manage an increasingly defiant group of students. However, all of this effort amounts to a focus that is entirely detached from teaching anything.

Schools will turn to law enforcement for help. Arrests will replace suspensions'.... then there will be a backlash to the number of students getting arrested'... the same progressive thought leaders who initiated the ''non suspension'' policy for willful defiance, will now propose juvenile justice reform that will lower ''student arrests'''.... and so the cycle will go until eventually the entire educational system is based on Safari Rules.

Loosely defined, Safari Rules say: don't get out of your car or it's your own fault for being eaten by the animals. Translated into context: sending your kids to public schools is the same as pushing them out the car door.

California doesn't need to wait to see the outcome, it has already been tried.

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Sun, 29 Dec 2019 19:29

Enter a topic, @name, or fullname

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Source: CNET News

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:20

Even Sharon Stone has taken to online dating.

Getty Images In an age of fake profiles and catfishing , some Bumble users thought a profile claiming to be Sharon Stone surely couldn't be real. Turns out it was. Stone, an actress known for movies like Basic Instinct, tweeted Monday that her account on the online dating platform had been blocked.

"Some users reported that it couldn't possibly be me! Hey @bumble, is being me exclusionary? Don't shut me out of the hive," Stone tweeted with a follow up screenshot.

I went on the @bumble dating sight and they closed my account. 👁👁Some users reported that it couldn't possibly be me! Hey @bumble, is being me exclusionary ? 🤷🏼''¸Don't shut me out of the hive ðŸ'

'-- Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) December 30, 2019Online dating has become increasingly common. According to Statista, nearly half of folks online either have met or know someone who has met a romantic partner on a dating site or app.

Meanwhile. Bumble users have reason to be skeptical. Online dating scams can be anything from annoying to costly. In 2018, Consumer Reports found 35% of people surveyed felt they'd been "grossly misled" by someone's dating profile and 12% said they'd been scammed.

Stone declined to comment further through a representative. Bumble's editorial director Clare O'Connor, though, responded to Stone on Twitter, saying, "We at @bumble found your account, unblocked you, and ensured this won't happen again. You can get back to Bumbling! Thanks for bearing with us and hope you find your honey."

In a statement, a Bumble representative confirmed Stone is back on the app, also mentioning the platform's verification feature, which lets users verify their accounts by submitting a selfie.

"Our apologies for the confusion as we're so honored that Ms. Stone wants to be a part of the Hive," the representative said. "However, being the icon that she is, we can understand how so many of our users felt it was too good to be true once they noticed her profile wasn't photo verified. Photo verification is just one of the many ways to connect with confidence on Bumble."

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Source: Mediagazer

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:59

Mediagazer presents the day's must-read media news on a single page.

The media business is in tumult: from the production side tothe distribution side, new technologies are upending the industry.Keeping up with these changes is time-consuming, as essential media coverageis scattered across numerous web sites at any given moment.

Mediagazer simplifies this task by organizing the key coverage in one place.We've combined sophisticated automated aggregation technologies withdirect editorial input from knowledgeable human editorsto present the one indispensable narrative of an industry in transition.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 11:00

A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia has shown that religious fundamentalism is, in part, the result of a functional impairment in a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex. The findings suggest that damage to particular areas of the prefrontal cortex indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by diminishing cognitive flexibility and openness'--a psychology term that describes a personality trait which involves dimensions like curiosity, creativity, and open-mindedness.

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Religious beliefs can be thought of as socially transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real. Religious beliefs differ from empirical beliefs, which are based on how the world appears to be and are updated as new evidence accumulates or when new theories with better predictive power emerge. On the other hand, religious beliefs are not usually updated in response to new evidence or scientific explanations, and are therefore strongly associated with conservatism. They are fixed and rigid, which helps promote predictability and coherence to the rules of society among individuals within the group.

Religious fundamentalism refers to an ideology that emphasizes traditional religious texts and rituals and discourages progressive thinking about religion and social issues. Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview.

Since religious beliefs play a massive role in driving and influencing human behavior throughout the world, it is important to understand the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism from a psychological and neurological perspective.

To investigate the cognitive and neural systems involved in religious fundamentalism, a team of researchers'--led by Jordan Grafman of Northwestern University'--conducted a study that utilized data from Vietnam War veterans that had been gathered previously. The vets were specifically chosen because a large number of them had damage to brain areas suspected of playing a critical role in functions related to religious fundamentalism. CT scans were analyzed comparing 119 vets with brain trauma to 30 healthy vets with no damage, and a survey that assessed religious fundamentalism was administered. While the majority of participants were Christians of some kind, 32.5% did not specify a particular religion.

Based on previous research, the experimenters predicted that the prefrontal cortex would play a role in religious fundamentalism, since this region is known to be associated with something called 'cognitive flexibility'. This term refers to the brain's ability to easily switch from thinking about one concept to another, and to think about multiple things simultaneously. Cognitive flexibility allows organisms to update beliefs in light of new evidence, and this trait likely emerged because of the obvious survival advantage such a skill provides. It is a crucial mental characteristic for adapting to new environments because it allows individuals to make more accurate predictions about the world under new and changing conditions.

Brain imaging research has shown that a major neural region associated with cognitive flexibility is the prefrontal cortex'--specifically two areas known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Additionally, the vmPFC was of interest to the researchers because past studies have revealed its connection to fundamentalist-type beliefs. For example, one study showed individuals with vmPFC lesions rated radical political statements as more moderate than people with normal brains, while another showed a direct connection between vmPFC damage and religious fundamentalism. For these reasons, in the present study, researchers looked at patients with lesions in both the vmPFC and the dlPFC, and searched for correlations between damage in these areas and responses to religious fundamentalism questionnaires.

According to Dr. Grafman and his team, since religious fundamentalism involves a strict adherence to a rigid set of beliefs, cognitive flexibility and open-mindedness present a challenge for fundamentalists. As such, they predicted that participants with lesions to either the vmPFC or the dlPFC would score low on measures of cognitive flexibility and trait openness and high on measures of religious fundamentalism.

The results showed that, as expected, damage to the vmPFC and dlPFC was associated with religious fundamentalism. Further tests revealed that this increase in religious fundamentalism was caused by a reduction in cognitive flexibility and openness resulting from the prefrontal cortex impairment. Cognitive flexibility was assessed using a standard psychological card sorting test that involved categorizing cards with words and images according to rules. Openness was measured using a widely-used personality survey known as the NEO Personality Inventory. The data suggests that damage to the vmPFC indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by suppressing both cognitive flexibility and openness.

These findings are important because they suggest that impaired functioning in the prefrontal cortex'--whether from brain trauma, a psychological disorder, a drug or alcohol addiction, or simply a particular genetic profile'--can make an individual susceptible to religious fundamentalism. And perhaps in other cases, extreme religious indoctrination harms the development or proper functioning of the prefrontal regions in a way that hinders cognitive flexibility and openness.

The authors emphasize that cognitive flexibility and openness aren't the only things that make brains vulnerable to religious fundamentalism. In fact, their analyses showed that these factors only accounted for a fifth of the variation in fundamentalism scores. Uncovering those additional causes, which could be anything from genetic predispositions to social influences, is a future research project that the researchers believe will occupy investigators for many decades to come, given how complex and widespread religious fundamentalism is and will likely continue to be for some time.

By investigating the cognitive and neural underpinnings of religious fundamentalism, we can better understand how the phenomenon is represented in the connectivity of the brain, which could allow us to someday inoculate against rigid or radical belief systems through various kinds of mental and cognitive exercises.

Enjoy this piece?'... then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston's DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We've exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We've revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we've decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

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Enjoy this piece?'... then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism '-- and we're investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston's DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We've exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We've revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. You won't find mainstream media bias here. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

We need your support to keep producing quality journalism and deepen our investigative reporting. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:28

He's a one-man stimulus package!

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending so much money on television spots across the country that it's causing ad rates to soar, a new analysis shows.

''The typical [TV] market increased their rates by 22 percent as the political spending poured in,'' an Advertising Analytics analysis found.

''Houston was among the markets that responded most actively to the new advertiser,'' it added. ''This is partially attributable to Bloomberg's $1 [million] buy increasing the political spending in the market tenfold. This shock spending increase was matched by a 45% increase in rates, which is among the highest of any market.''

That means the massive spending is driving up advertising costs for Bloomberg's competitors and other advertisers, an Advertising Analytics' analysis of the billionaire's first week of ad spending found.

The Houston ad buy is one of dozens made by the billionaire media mogul's campaign, which is shelling out an average of $25.5 million a week on campaign ads to woo Democrats since he joined the Democratic primary race in late November, records reviewed by The Post show.

Since announcing his candidacy a month ago, billionaire Bloomberg has booked $119 million in TV ads in markets throughout the country through Dec. 31 and another $15.2 million in digital ads, according to Advertising Analytics.

That comes to nearly $135 million.

If the pace continues, New York's last mayor will blow through $357 million on TV ads by the March 3 primaries and $561 million by the time New Yorkers finally head to the polls on April 28.

And that extraordinary total doesn't count the campaign's staff hiring spree to put boots on the ground in states across the country.

Experts say Bloomberg's will likely spending totals will easily cross the $1 billion if he wins the nomination to challenge President Trump in November.

There's no historical comparison to Bloomberg's early ad spending, said John Link, Advertising Analytics vice president of sales and marketing.

''With no end in sight for his ad blitz, we will continue to collect data on the way Bloomberg's spending affects rates in markets across the country,'' the analysis said.

According to the analysis, Bloomberg has spent $20.7 million on national TV ads, nearly $6 million in both the Los Angeles and New York City markets, $4 million in Houston, $3.8 million in Dallas/Ft. Worth, $3.6 million in San Francisco, $3.5 million in Miami, more than $2.6 million in Chicago and Orlando, $2.4 million in Seattle/Tacoma, $2.2 million in District of Columbia and about $2 million each in Philadelphia, Boston and Tampa.

The Bloomberg camp repeated its pledge Friday to spend ''whatever it takes'' to beat President Trump in 2020.

''Another four years of Trump would be devastating for our country,'' said campaign spokesman Michael Frazier.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 15:14

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) work as a surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is prompting buzz about a future presidential run of her own, Politico is reporting.

''As she's drawn massive crowds,'' the outlet fawns, ''progressive insiders and activists are increasingly whispering about Ocasio-Cortez inheriting the movement one day '-- and running for the White House with it behind her.''

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While offering numerous socialist sources as evidence that the outlet believes AOC is the new leader of the Democrat Party, the first tangible evidence offered of someone actually wanting her in the White House is '... a chiropractor.

Politico's piece begins with a screaming headline: ''AOC for president? The buzz has begun.''

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 11:37

After Britain leaves, its people will still have certain rights '' at least for another 11 months

Tourists in Rome walk past Cafe Greco at Via Condotti with Spanish steps in background. You can still travel to any EU member state up to 31 December 2020.Photograph: Luis Dafos/Alamy Stock PhotoWith the UK's departure date from the EU now effectively set in stone, 31 January will be a historic day. The article 50 process will have been completed and the country will no longer be in the EU.

However funereal those who wished to stay in the EU may be feeling there will still be time to enjoy the rights of EU citizens because the UK will remain part of the single market for another 11 months.

Here are some things you can still do in 2020 because of the transition period.

1. Holiday in the EUYou can still travel to any EU member state up to 31 December 2020 with no impediments such as visas. After Brexit it is likely that visa-free trips will continue for stays of up to 90 days. The European health insurance card that gives health cover for tourists in another member state still applies.

2. Take up a summer job in the EUSome might have fond memories of formative weeks and months working on the continent as a student, whether waiting in a restaurant, working in a factory, childminding in the Med, or working in a holiday resort in Spain. During the transition period, students and any other workers will still have the right to work in another member state. This is because freedom of movement rules, which includes freedom of movement of labour, still pertain while the UK is in the single market. Freedom of movement is likely to end on 31 December next year.

3. Get a full-time job in the EUFor the same reason, British citizens will still be eligible for full time positions in the EU. After Brexit, some countries will discriminate in favour of EU candidates.

4. Retire to the EUSome of those that have dreamed of retiring to the EU at some point are already speeding up their plans to get in before the drawbridge goes up. As part of the withdrawal agreement, British citizens who are settled '' whether working or retired '' in the EU before the end of the transition period will retain most of their rights as EU citizens for the remainder of their lives. The key rights that have yet to be negotiated include an annual uprating of pension sent from the UK and the continued right to move within the EU.

5. Go on an Erasmus study programmeAbout 17,000 British students studied in another member state according to the most recent data for 2017/2018. Most of the university places for 2020 are already allocated but places are still available for further education college students and apprentices who are eligible for work placements of between two weeks to three months. It is hoped that Erasmus will continue after Brexit but this depends on negotiations on the future relationship with the EU.

6. Apply for EU funding for science researchBritish citizens will still be able to apply for funding in Horizon2020 programmes during the transition period. Eligibility will also still apply for European regional development funds and European social funds, which have been important sources for infrastructure and environment developments in rural areas and for many not-for-profit organisations seeking to help people into employment in impoverished areas.

7. Apply for arts fundingThe EU's Creative Europe funding stream will remain open to British applications. Also promising a call for applications in 2020 is IPortunus, a new EU mobility fund for artists .

8. Nominate yourself for a literature prizeBritish writer Melissa Harrison won the UK's European prize for literature in 2019 for Among the Barley, a novel exploring the dangers of nationalism and xenophobia. The prize fund is open in 2020 to British citizens.

9. Look at cross-border healthcare opportunitiesEU citizens have the right to access healthcare in any EU country and to be reimbursed for care abroad by their home country. This is in addition to the emergency healthcare for tourists under the Ehic system. Little is written about cross-border healthcare, or the processes involved but it is still available during the transition period, says the EU. The NHS's guide to getting treatment abroad is here while the EU's overview is here.

10. Know your rights and benefits for 2020The EU's guide to rights for UK and EU citizens during the transition period is available online. This is a handy guide published in 2018 but which still applies, outlining various scenarios.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 13:02

LONDON '-- Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said on Monday that talking to U.S. President Donald Trump at a United Nations summit on global warming would have been a waste of time since he would not have paid any attention.

In an interview with BBC radio's Today program, for which she was the guest editor on Monday, Thunberg also said she regarded personal attacks on her as funny and that she hoped to go back to having a normal life.

A video of the 16-year-old Swedish campaigner giving Trump what media described as a "death stare" at a U.N. climate summit in New York in September went viral on social media. Trump has questioned climate science and is pulling the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming.

Asked what she would have said to the president if they had spoken, Thunberg said: "Honestly, I don't think I would have said anything because obviously he's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me?"

"So I probably wouldn't have said anything, I wouldn't have wasted my time," she said.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

This month Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called Thunberg "a brat." Trump has said on Twitter she needs to work on her anger management problem.

"Those attacks are just funny because they obviously don't mean anything," she said. "I guess of course it means something '-- they are terrified of young people bringing change which they don't want '-- but that is just proof that we are actually doing something and that they see us as some kind of threat."

Thunberg came to world attention when she began a grassroots campaign at age 15 by skipping school every Friday to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament. The protests have inspired millions of young people to take action against climate change.

Praise from David AttenboroughThunberg, who was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019, said becoming an activist had helped rescue her from the depression she had previously been suffering.

She also spoke in Monday's BBC program with veteran British broadcaster David Attenborough, telling him how his nature documentaries had inspired her.

"You have aroused the world," the 93-year-old Attenborough told Thunberg in reply, adding that she had achieved things "that many of us who have been working on the issue for 20 years have failed to do."

Her father Svante Thunberg, also interviewed for the BBC program, said she had dealt very well with "the fake news, all the things that people try to fabricate about her, the hate that that generates" while in the global media limelight.

"Quite frankly, I don't know how she does it, but she laughs most of the time. She finds it hilarious," he said.

The teenager rejoined activists outside the Swedish parliament this month after four months of overseas trips to attend climate conferences in New York and Madrid.

"I hope I won't have to sit outside the Swedish parliament for long. I hope I don't have to be a climate activist anymore," she said on Monday, adding she was looking forward to returning to school in August.

"I just want to be just as everyone else. I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager."

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Thu, 02 Jan 2020 07:26

As big tech gets bigger, industry leaders have begun making more noise about helping homeless populations, particularly in those regions where high salaries have driven up the cost of living to heights not seen before. Last January, for example, Facebook and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, among other participants, formed a group called the Partnership for the Bay's Future that said it was going to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to expand affordable housing and strengthen ''low-income tenant protections'' in the five main counties in and around San Francisco. Microsoft meanwhile made a similar pledge in January of last year, promising $500 million to increase housing options in Seattle where low- and middle-income workers are being priced out of the city and its surrounding suburbs.

Amazon has made similar pledges in the past, with CEO Jeff Bezos pledging $2 billion to combat homelessness and to fund a network of ''Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities,'' as he said in a statement posted on Twitter at the time, in September 2018.

Now, however, Amazon is taking an approach that immediately raises the bar for its rivals in tech: it's opening up a space in its Seattle headquarters to a homeless shelter, one that's expected to become the largest family shelter in the state of Washington.

Business Insider reported the news earlier today, and it says the space will be able to accommodate 275 people each night and that it will offer individual, private rooms for families who are allowed to bring pets. It will also feature an industrial kitchen that's expected to produce 600,000 meals per year.

The space is scheduled to open in the first quarter of the new year and is part of a partnership Amazon has enjoyed for years with a nonprofit called Mary's Place that has been operating a shelter out of a Travelodge hotel on Amazon's campus since 2016.

The new space, which BI says will have enough beds and blankets for 400 families each year, isn't just owned by Amazon but the company has offered to pay for the nonprofit's utilities, maintenance, and security for the next 10 years or as long as Mary's Place needs it.

BI notes that the shelter will make a mere dent in Seattle's homeless population, which includes 12,500 people in King County, where Seattle is located. But it's still notable, not least because of the company's willingness to house the shelter in its own headquarters.

It's a move that no other tech company of which we're aware has taken. The decision also underscores other cities' equivocation over where their own, growing homeless populations should receive support.

In just one memorable instance, after San Francisco Mayor London Breed last March floated an idea of turning a parking lot along the city's Embarcadero into a center that would provide health, housing services, and stays for up to 200 of the city's 7,000-plus homeless residents, neighboring residents launched a campaign to squash the proposal. It was later passed anyway.

Vox noted in report about Microsoft's $500 million pledge that many of these corporate efforts tend to elicit two types of reactions: either admiration for the companies' efforts '-- or frustration over the publicity these initiatives receive. After all, it's hard to forget that Amazon paid no federal tax in the U.S. in 2018 on more than $11 billion in profit before taxes. The company also threatened in 2018 to stop construction in Seattle if the city passed a tax on major businesses that would have raised money for affordable housing.

Whether Amazon '-- one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a current $915 billion market cap '-- is doing its fair share is certainly worthy of exploring in an ongoing way. The same is true of every tech company that's 'eating the world.'

Still, a homeless shelter at the heart of a company like Amazon is worth acknowledging '-- and perhaps emulating '-- too.

''It's not one entity that's going to solve this'' issue of urban homelessness, Marty Hartman, the executive director of Mary's Place, tells BI. ''It's not on corporations. It's not on congregations. It's not on government. It's not on foundations.

''It's all of us working together.''

Pictured above: A view of the new Mary's Place Family Center from the street, courtesy of Amazon.

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| December 30, 2019 05:21 PM

2 020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden said miners need to find "jobs of the future" when talking about transitioning the economy away from fossil fuels.

"Anybody who can go down 300 to 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well," Biden said Monday during a campaign event in New Hampshire. "Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for god's sake!"

On Sunday, Biden also said he wanted to throw fossil fuel executives in prison for damaging the environment.

"Put them in jail," he said. "I'm not joking about this."

The comment came after the former vice president said that there would not be a single new coal plant made in the U.S. earlier this month. During the December Democratic debate, Biden said he was willing to end hundreds of thousands of jobs in the fossil fuel industry.

Joe Biden has launched a new war on coal.''No one is going to build another coal plant in America.''

Thousands of Pennsylvanian coal miners would be put out of work.

Joe's chance of winning Pennsylvania and the White House just flew out the window! pic.twitter.com/Iv7hggp8Le

'-- Daniel Turner (@DanielTurnerPTF) December 11, 2019 Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton similarly vowed during the 2016 election, "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business" with her plan to replace fossil fuel-based energy production with renewable systems. After backlash, she later said the remark was her biggest mistake on the campaign trail.

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Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:26

Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, is seen in the last known photograph of her from 2016

An explosive new report has asserted that deceased sex criminal Jeffery Epstein and his alleged 'madame' Ghislaine Maxwell were foreign intelligence 'assets', and that she is currently hiding in a safehouse in Israel.

'Ghislaine is protected. She and Jeffrey were assets of sorts for multiple foreign governments. They would trade information about the powerful people caught in his net '-- caught at Epstein's house,' a unnamed source told Page Six.

Maxwell, 58, has been accused in lawsuits of procuring underage girls for Epstein to sexually traffick among his wealthy and powerful friends, and is reportedly the subject of an ongoing FBI probe.

She has always denied any wrongdoing. Her attorney did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Wednesday evening.

After Epstein's re-arrest last year and death behind bars in August, Maxwell has remained out of sight and her whereabouts unknown.

Maxwell, 58, has been accused in lawsuits of procuring underage girls for Epstein to sexually traffick among his wealthy and powerful friends. They are seen together on Wall Street in 2005

Now the Page Six source claims she is being protected by powerful foreign interests.

'She is not in the US, she moves around. She is sometimes in the UK, but most often in other countries, such as Israel, where her powerful contacts have provided her with safe houses and protection,' the source said.

Maxwell is being 'protected because of the information she has on the world's most powerful people,' the source said.

The source also claimed that Prince Andrew begged Maxwell to come forward and clear his name, after Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed Epstein forced her to have sex with the royal when she was 17.

Prince Andrew, 59, strenuously denies having sex with Roberts and claims he can't remember meeting her despite a photograph of him with his arm around her.

'Andrew pleaded with Ghislaine to publicly defend him. She carefully considered it, but decided no good would come of it (if she came forward). It isn't in her best interests,' the source told Page Six.

Andrew resigned from royal duties after giving a disastrous interview on Newsnight in November.

Virginia Roberts photographed with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in early 2001. Maxwell reportedly was the one who first introduced Epstein and Andrew

It is not the first time that Epstein has been tied to a foreign intelligence service. Rumors have long circulated that Epstein secretly took videos of his rich and powerful friends having sex with underage girls, either for financial blackmail or as leverage for a foreign intelligence service.

So far, however, the FBI has not publicly confirmed whether any such blackmail material was recovered in raids on his properties.

Since Epstein's arrest on federal sex trafficking charges in July, Maxwell has remained out of sight, save for photos that purported to show her at an In-and-Out Burger in Los Angeles. DailyMail.com revealed that those photos were staged, possibly to throw investigators off of her trail.

Born in France, Maxwell is both a U.S. citizen and British subject. Her family's alleged ties to Israel's national intelligence service, Mossad, have been well documented.

Maxwell's father, Robert Maxwell, was a Czech-born British media mogul whose financial fraud in raiding the Mirror Group pension fund was discovered after his death in 1991.

Also a British member of parliament, Robert Maxwell reportedly had ties to British intelligence, the Soviet KGB, and Mossad '-- and was suspected of being a double or even triple agent by British Foreign Office officials.

Ghislaine (left) is seen in 1987 with her mother and father, the pension-raiding one-time owner of Britain's Daily Mirror and New York's Daily News, and alleged Mossad operative

After his mysterious death on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, off the Canary Islands in 1991, Robert Maxwell was buried in Jerusalem with high honors, with Israel's prime minister and multiple current and former heads of Israeli intelligence services in attendance at the funeral.

His favorite daughter, Ghislaine, first met Epstein in the early 1990s, at a party in New York City.

The two had a romantic relationship for several years, but the exact nature of their relationship over the following decades remains unclear.

Epstein's household staff have described her as 'Lady of the House' and sworn in depositions that she was at the center of managing his household affairs.

'They were like partners in business,' Janusz Banasiak, Epstein's house manager, said in a deposition.

Epstein's butler, Alfredo Rodriguez, described Ghislaine Maxwell in a deposition as 'the boss.'

Epstein's accusers have said that Maxwell's authority extended to managing the complex logistics of his perverse activities with girls as young as 14.

'She orchestrated the whole thing for Jeffrey,' said Sarah Ransome, one of some two dozen women who spoke out before a federal judge in New York in August.

Epstein and Maxwell are seen at Batman Forever premier in New York in 1995. Maxwell was close to Epstein for years and is reportedly the subject of an FBI probe into his inner circle

Maxwell is seen posing in 1999 for a photo shoot to promote Sotheby's vintage fashion collection that left assistants taken aback by her 'intensely sexual vibe'

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein are seen on a pheasant ahoot with Prince Andrew in Sandringham, Norfolk, Britain in December 2000

Some of the most serious allegations have come from Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused Maxwell in a lawsuit of luring her to become an international sex slave for Epstein and his pals.

Roberts says that she was 16 or 17 in the summer of 2000 and working as a towel girl at Mar-a-Lago when Maxwell approached her, eventually leading to her being flown around the world on Epstein's 'Lolita Express.'

Roberts' recently unsealed lawsuit claims that Maxwell 'actively took part in recruiting underage girls and young women for sex with Epstein, as well as scheduling the girls to come over, and maintaining a list of the girls and their phone number.'

Maxwell has strenuously denied in the past that she was involved in criminal sex trafficking or any other sex crimes.

After Epstein took a sweetheart plea deal in 2008 to state charges of procuring for prostitution and served a one-year jail sentence in Florida, Maxwell and Epstein were no longer spotted together at public events.

She remained active on the New York social scene for several years, however, until mounting lawsuits and allegations began to draw harsher scrutiny.

In April of 2016, the New York townhouse where she had lived was sold for $15 million, and around the fall of 2016, she was no longer seen or photographed publicly.

She was last spotted publicly at a social event in Geneva, Switzerland on June 8, less than a month prior to Epstein's re-arrest in the U.S.

Earlier this week, the Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts called for Maxwell to be brought forward to face the justice system.

Earlier this week, Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre (seen in a BBC interview) called for Maxwell to be brought forward to face the justice system

'How is anyone, friend or family member, hiding such a monster?? 99% of the population would turn [in] Ghislaine Maxwell. Who's hiding who and why??' Roberts tweeted.

'Maxwell's downfall will be her arrogance- in her eyes always above the law,' Roberts added.

'She is diabolically evil. I would suggest to whoever is hiding her or knows whereabouts she is, to turn her in as she'd easily throw anyone who gets in her way under the bus,' she continued.

Epstein died in federal custody in August while facing sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide by New York City's medical examiner, but his lawyers have disputed that finding.

Epstein's death, at age 66, came a little over a month after he was arrested and charged with trafficking dozens of underage girls as young as 14 from at least 2002 to 2005. Prosecutors said he recruited girls to give him massages, which became sexual in nature.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:33

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:36

Skip to contentViewers stunned after fake news anchor drops c-bomb on live televisionViewers tuning in to CNN for New Year's Eve coverage were treated to host Anderson Cooper grotesquely discussing the male anatomy with his co-host.

A drunk Cooper was conversing with co-host Andy Cohen during the live broadcast, when he clarified a comment by blurting out the question, ''Who has the biggest cock in Hollywood?''

This is @CNN

Anderson Cooper saying "cock" on live TV, while my child is awake.

Shameful! #CNNNYE pic.twitter.com/zVeLHJBZaP

'-- Mike (@FuctupMike) January 1, 2020

''This is Anderson Cooper saying 'cock' on live TV, while my child is awake,'' said Twitter user @FuctupMike, adding, ''Shameful.''

One stunned viewer, who claimed his mother was visiting his home for the first time, said he was immediately embarrassed by Cooper's remark and changed the channel.

So, CNN comes on in my house for the first time in '... ever (or a really long time, at the very least.) And I'm welcomed to Anderson Cooper talking about his mom asking ''Who has the biggest cock in Hollywood?''

I'm no prude, folks, but the channel was changed immediately.

'-- HAP (@hap317) January 1, 2020

CNN and Anderson Cooper have not yet released statements addressing the comment.

Cooper also nearly threw up on camera after taking a shot during the live broadcast.

INJECT ANDERSON COOPER DYING FROM SHOTS INTO MY VEINS. This is the best television. #CNNNYE pic.twitter.com/XGlxFw1ovf

'-- Corey Cohen (@CoreyECohen) January 1, 2020

And who can forget Cooper's reaction last year after taking his first shot.

A reminder that we must protect Anderson Cooper at all cost. pic.twitter.com/sTzddZ85hg

'-- The Demon of Savage Park 👹 (@binaryproblem) January 1, 2020

Also, start your year right with free shipping and up to 75% off our hottest items during the Mega Blowout Sale!

`};let stream_id = 1;toggleStreamsButton.addEventListener('click', (event) => {event.preventDefault();const target = event.currentTarget;if (stream_id === 1) {target.innerHTML = 'Alex Jones Show';player.innerHTML = getEmbedCode('5c59c724f7c188001c3d8e2f');stream_id = 2;}else {target.innerHTML = 'Infowars Network Live Feed';player.innerHTML = getEmbedCode('5b92a1e6568f22455f55be2b');stream_id = 1;}}); })();

`;}}catch (error) {console.error(error);}})();

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:23

Rudy Giuliani is not only willing to testify in President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, he wants to "do demonstrations" in order to outline what he described as a "series of criminal acts" involving "the highest levels of the Obama administration," adding that Democrats Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will go down in history like Joe McCarthy when people "calm down and watch this carefully."

"What I learned is the corruption in Ukraine is vast, it's extensive, it highly involves the Democratic party - not just in 2016 but for many years," the former New York City mayor said at Trump's New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

"When the full scope of what happens in Ukraine comes out, there are going to be a lot of Americans who participated in the corruption," adding "The Bidens took millions of dollars laundered out of Ukraine, and the only reason they're getting away with it is because you and the press protect them..."

When asked what he discovered, Rudy replied "I'm not going to tell you what I found out until I have a proper forum... but it's devastating," adding "We will figure out the right forum."

"This is expanding, it will turn out to be a series of criminal acts. It will involve the highest levels of the Obama administration. It's the reason the Democratic party is in panic."

"I would testify, I would do demonstrations, I'd give lectures, I'd give summations. Or, I do what I do best, I try the case," adding, with a smile, "I'd love to try the case."

"If you give me the case, I will prosecute it as a racketeering case. Which I kind of invented anyway."

(Relevant part begins at 3:15)

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:08

Welcome home! This timeline is where you'll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 09:25

OAN NewsroomUPDATED 9:27 AM PT '-- Tuesday, December 31, 2019Former U.S. attorney Joe DiGenova said former President Obama knew all about the FBI's targeting of President Trump and that people still don't understand the extent of the CIA's involvement. He claimed former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan were the leaders of a coup to reverse the results of the 2016 election.

One America's John Hines has more in this exclusive interview.

>>

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 09:21

Former Nissan-Renault boss Carlos Ghosn fled Japan '-- where he was on bail awaiting trial for alleged financial misconduct '-- for Lebanon, surprising even his lawyer, who was ''dumbfounded'' by the news. The 65-year-old auto tycoon maintains he has "not fled justice" but "escaped injustice and political persecution" in Japan, where his arrest 13 months ago stunned the business world.

With questions flying over how Ghosn masterminded his exit from Japan and what fate awaits the fallen executive after this new spectacular twist in an extraordinary saga, FRANCE 24 presented a live special on Tuesday, ''Carlos Ghosn, what's next?''

Guests and correspondents from across the world discussed how a charismatic businessman once hailed for turning around loss-making companies might parlay his reputation into a new life away from the charges he faces in Japan.

FRANCE 24's correspondent in Beirut, Leila Molana-Allen, said it now seems Ghosn was smuggled out of Japan, without any official knowledge on the part of the Japanese. No extradition treaty exists between Lebanon and Japan, although this development is ''clearly'' bound to cause a diplomatic problem between the countries, she explained.

''The Japanese do send a lot of aid to Lebanon. Lebanon is not in a situation right now to be able to let go of the international aid that it is receiving because it is facing a dire economic crisis,'' Molana-Allen reported. ''But Mr. Ghosn is so popular in this country, he's seen as a national hero. He's one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs internationally. He has a hand in many Lebanese businesses. And so it seems very likely that he has decided to come back here and has had the support of some institutions here to come back, rebuild his life here and start running those businesses again.''

France had 'no information' of departure

Born in Brazil to parents of Lebanese origins, Ghosn was raised in Beirut before moving to France for further education. He has Brazilian, Lebanese and French citizenship.

A day after news of his shock flight broke, French authorities said they were unaware of the auto tycoon's plans to leave Japan.

"The French authorities were not informed of his departure from Japan and have had no information about the circumstances of this departure," the French foreign ministry said in a statement issued Tuesday, adding that it learned of Ghosn's flight "in press reports".

Ghosn had benefited from consular assistance via the French Embassy in Tokyo, the ministry noted, and "regular contacts" were maintained between the embassy, Ghosn and his lawyers."His situation, as well as the application of certain legal principles, was followed closely and permanently by our embassy in Tokyo," the ministry said.

'Love, hate'

FRANCE 24's James Andre, reporting from Renault-Nissan headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt outside Paris, said there is a ''love, hate relationship with [Ghosn] in France'' where, after a stint at Michelin, he transformed Renault from a national company ''into an international motor behemoth''.

''There was criticism that he was more and more disconnected with what was happening inside the company and on the factory floor and also criticism of his salary which was considered huge here in France,'' James Andr(C) reported. ''Only a few years ago, the French government voted against that huge salary saying it was too high, but the board of Renault went ahead and gave him that money nevertheless;''

''He's been a man hugely respected but also criticised for the way he's been handling his own wealth and his position as the CEO of Renault,'' Andr(C) added.

Economist Jean-Fran§ois Di Meglio, president of the Asia Centre Think Tank in France, told FRANCE 24 the latest ''stunning'' twist in the Ghosn saga is in keeping with ''Carlos style'', recalling that he was seen as an ''extraordinary character'' and ''daring'' in Japan, where he even featured in manga comics.

FRANCE 24's Douglas Herbert in studio in Paris, too, noted that Ghosn was an outlier even among the jet-setting elite, a businessman who was a global citizen with a certain mystique.

Tokyo-based investigative reporter Jake Adelstein, meanwhile, told FRANCE 24's Genie Godula that Ghosn's escape is an interesting turn of events and perhaps a smart one on the auto tycoon's part.

''I think that Ghosn probably made the wisest decision because he was never going to get a fair trial here,'' Adelstein said from Japan.

''This isn't the way people thought it would play out, but Ghosn's decision to run, where he can actually speak to the media freely, makes sense.''

To watch the half-hour special in its entirety, with those interviews and more, click on the video player above.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 07:02

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 22:23

Log in Sign up Bo Erickson CBS @ BoKnowsNews WATCH: A woman in Iowa tells

@JoeBiden the 5G in the area is making people sick and their "minds are breaking down."Biden replies: "There is a lot of debate in the scientific community of whether or not 5G does what you are saying. It should be studied thoroughly..."

@CBSNews pic.twitter.com/dE2xVivS86 5:02 PM - 28 Dec 2019 Twitter by: Bo Erickson CBS @BoKnowsNews Bo Erickson CBS @ BoKnowsNews

Dec 28 Replying to

@JoeBiden @CBSNews ...We should have the scientific evidence that in fact it is or is not doing what it's asserted to do." He then goes on to talk about privacy & tech.

View conversation · Becky Paige @ yellowpaiges

Dec 28 Replying to

@BoKnowsNews @JoeBiden @CBSNews That is actually a ''thing''. Even here in Blue California, there is a debate about this & it's a fear of a lot of people. Why not research.. it's only our lives

View conversation · JoeWV @ JOEWV

Dec 29 Replying to

@yellowpaiges @BoKnowsNews and

2 others 5G uses the same bandwidth that many over the air broadcast tv stations used to use. If using that radio frequency caused problems, we would know by now.

View conversation · skibum @ therealManDiggz

Dec 29 Replying to

@BoKnowsNews I'm going to the next Biden event in IA gonna ask him about the rampant werewolf problem in Des Moines. Bet his answer will involve "scientific research."

View conversation · Joel Stein @ thejoelstein

Dec 28 Replying to

@BoKnowsNews @JoeBiden @CBSNews 6G is the real monster. It causes toe fungus, hair loss and uncontrollable rickrolling.

View conversation · Enviro. Health Trust @ saferphones

Dec 30 Replying to

@BoKnowsNews @JoeBiden @CBSNews Flying blind with

#5G = No premarket testing, no post market surveillance. Children with a future of nonstop daily exposure cradle to grave? 5G will increase

#RF radiation levels + add in new millimeter waves never tested on humans for long term exposure

ehtrust.org/scientific-res'... pic.twitter.com/DLyxcIcOBa View conversation · Rich Parke @ richparke

Dec 29 Replying to

@BoKnowsNews @JoeBiden @CBSNews Oh Joe ðŸ-- I'm voting blue no matter what, but come on. You are really making it hard to be excited for your candidacy

View conversation · Dustin K MacDonald @ dustinmacdonald

Dec 29 Replying to

@richparke @BoKnowsNews and

2 others I think this was an attempt to not contribute to someone's active mental illness.

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 22:22

*Attorney Antonio Moore gives a scathing review of the recent celebrity filled trips to the country Ghana on the continent of Africa.

Beyonce, Jay-Z, T.I., Ludacris, Rick Ross, Steve Harvey and others have all made the trip.

The Congressional Black Caucus along with Nacy Pelosi also made the trip presented as part of a return to home for #ADOS Black Americans rather than tourism. Moore breaks down the financial issues that make none of it make any sense.

So why is Ghanaian officialdom so keen on selling the success of the initiative on the tabletop of incoherent statistics and woolly numbers, instead of better cataloging these clear achievements? It is a very strange sight to behold. Various government agencies and supporters of the Year of Return program have bandied around figures such as ''200,000'' extra international arrivals; ''1.5 million'' total number of visitors for 2019; and ''$1.9 billion'' extra tourist spending as statistical milestones of Year of Return programming, with an incredulous press panting to keep up. Quartz

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:36

Posted

A consortium led by Tencent has agreed to buy up to 20% of Vivendi's Universal Music Group. The deal, which values the world's largest music label at $34 billion, will increase the Chinese company's clout on the global market. David Pollard reports.

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:06

Democrat Presidential wannabe Joe Biden.Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Breitbart; Joe Biden has tried to catch up with the Democrat cool kids, by demanding fossil fuel executives should be held accountable for the climate harm they have done.

Joe Biden: 'We're All Dead' if We Don't Stop Using Fossil Fuels

Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed during a Sunday campaign event that ''we're all dead'' if fossil fuels continue to be used as one of the world's primary energy sources.

'...

Earlier in the event, Biden vowed as president to hold energy giants liable for global warming and made a pledge to even jail executives.

'...

Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/30/joe-biden-were-all-dead-if-we-dont-stop-using-fossil-fuels/Video of Biden's statement;

I've got to say for once Joe Biden has shown some real balls.

The threat to jail fossil fuel executives presumably includes current or former executives like his son Hunter Biden (Burisma) and Nancy Pelosi's son Paul Pelosi (Viscoil), and who knows how many other children of prominent Democrats who hold or have held lucrative fossil fuel directorships in the Ukraine and elsewhere.

It takes a courageous politician to threaten jail time for his own kin, and the children of some of his most important political allies.

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 08:18

Welcome home! This timeline is where you'll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

Tweets not working for you? Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

Say a lot with a little When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart '-- it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

Spread the word The fastest way to share someone else's Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 19:51

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:47

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:16

Earlier this year, Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren ''[rolled] out her plan to rebuild the State Department.'' Said plan included ''pledging to put America's national interests ahead of campaign donations and end the corrupt practice of selling cushy diplomatic posts to wealthy donors '-- and I call on everyone running for President to do the same. I won't give ambassadorial posts to wealthy donors or bundlers '-- period.''

.@ewarren is now challenging the other 2020 presidential candidates to promise not to give ambassadorial posts to political donors, a long-standing practice for presidents of both parties.https://t.co/3sNmw9a1Ki pic.twitter.com/lshsAsxhB4

'-- Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) June 28, 2019

Elizabeth Warren takes that pledge very seriously to this day.

Here's Elizabeth Warren trying to act like a crusader, claiming that donors becoming ambassadors is a system of corruption that she will never be a part of and calls on other candidates to follow her stunning and brave lead https://t.co/IaRSKIfBGG

'-- Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) December 30, 2019

Well, maybe not that seriously '... as @ComfortablySmug couldn't help but notice, Warren doesn't seem to be very consistent in her tough stance against megadonors and bundlers getting plum ambassador positions.

Waiting for the "but" pic.twitter.com/GfsqoMPEGl

'-- Virginia Yankee (@VirginiaYankee1) December 30, 2019

Here 'tis:

Now here's Warren speaking at a high-dollar fundraiser in SF hosted by a bundler turned Ambassadorhttps://t.co/tzpBGef9Fx pic.twitter.com/puU74Bo8am

'-- Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) December 30, 2019

If Elizabeth Warren found the donor-becoming-ambassador trend to be so inappropriate, why didn't she vote against the many Obama ambassadors who took this route? https://t.co/O9gtYy2Hfk

'-- Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) December 30, 2019

Because she's a pathological fraud?

pic.twitter.com/iCQDj8WfhW

'-- Ryan (@Ryantrollshard) December 30, 2019

This is like Warren failing at her own purity test bingo. https://t.co/ZVU7YbKaLT

'-- Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) December 30, 2019

Ha!

As always, Warren has a scam for that

Elizabeth Warren is a lying hypocrite who will say or do anything to get elected

'-- Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) December 30, 2019

Bonus: Warren also jokes about formerly being a Republican.

She believes in nothing, has no loyalty, no principles. Elizabeth Warren is just a scam artist. That's why her poll numbers are going down the toilet.

'-- Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) December 30, 2019

That's exactly where they belong.

Former RepublicanFormer Native AmericanFormer corporate lawyerFormer Obama allyFormer Democratic establishmentFormer healthcare expert

And soon '' former candidate Warren

'-- slug life (@Isthishell1) December 30, 2019

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 10:22

1176 Armed gunman shoots in Texas Church Texas church shooting: Gunman kills 2, 'heroic' parishioners take down shooter

A gunman opened fire in a Texas church on Sunday, killing two people and injuring others before two "heroic" parishioners shot and killed him at the scene, police said.

The shooting unfolded around 10 a.m. at the West Freeway Church of Christ, in the city of White Settlement, just outside Fort Worth, police said.

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 09:07

It's not just what was being said, and how it was being said, but it's also the chyron to accompany the statements that stands out in this brief panel segment about the goals and objectives of the House impeachment agenda.

Notice ''lawyers for House dems suggest'', which is the framework for the broadcast. This is a key point; an absolutely vital point; that we have discussed here at great length but almost no-one is correctly considering. The Lawfare crowd is controlling the political activity, not the moonbat politicians. WATCH:

.

There is a legal network behind all of the political activity; the same network which was behind the weaponization of the DOJ and DOJ-NSD. The same ''beach friend'' network of corrupt lawyers who initiated and controlled the Mueller investigation. The same legal network who designed and are carrying out the operational objectives of the various House impeachment committees. In totality, this is one big legal continuum of corrupt lawyers.

Names like Douglas Letter, Chief House Counsel. Committee legal contractors like: Barry Berke, Norm Eisen, Daniel Goldman and even former DOJ-NSD head Mary McCord are all in this background ''House lawyers'' network.

'Lawfare founder Benjamin Witte; 'Comey's lawyer, special FBI employee and leaker of Comey memos, Daniel Richman; 'former DOJ-NSD lawyer David Laufman who represents FBI friend Monica McLean; 'Andy McCabe's personal lawyer, Michael Bromwich, who also represented Christine Blasey-Ford; and 'former FBI legal counsel James Baker are all part of this ongoing legal network.

Some within the network are still inside government; like former DOJ-NSD lead legal counsel Michael Atkinson who is the current Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG); and current Flynn prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, who was also part of the Mueller team. These are all massively corrupt and dirty lawyers.

Even Politico noted the legal team of more than ''two dozen'' lawyers is involved in the House effort to remove President Trump. All of them have a specific interest in the removal; and some of them like Mary McCord and her former counsel Michael Atkinson, have massive conflicts of interest due to their prior law-breaking activity:

(Via Politico) ['...] In all, at least two dozen attorneys have come on board to craft both the legal and political arguments that Trump is defying all manner of constitutional norms. A few have become stars in their own right, serving as both lead interrogator and witness during the nationally televised impeachment hearings.

Others have worked behind the scenes, writing legal briefs and trying to convince federal judges that Trump can't block witnesses or withhold critical evidence. And they've been there in private meetings with the party leaders as they wrote the articles of impeachment that that were up for a vote late Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.

Many are ringers, hired to handle the entirely different kind of workload that comes with impeachment. It's a task that requires specialized expertise on everything from the constitutional mechanisms for removing a president to arcane legal theories about the balance of power between Congress and the White House that look to be on track to land before the Supreme Court.

They're pulling long hours alongside veteran full-time Capitol Hill staffers and other newbies plucked from a flood of r(C)sum(C)s that poured in after the Democrats won control of the House last November, which offered a rare opportunity for experienced lawyers who wanted to give the Trump presidency a thorough vetting.

''I think people do see that this is a critical time in our history,'' said Mary McCord, a former DOJ official who helped oversee the FBI's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and now is listed as a top outside counsel for the House in key legal fights tied to impeachment. ''We see the breakdown of the whole rule of law. We see the breakdown in adherence to the Constitution and also constitutional values.'' (read more)

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:55

54 Responses to Whoops '' CBS Major Garrett Notes Highly Effective Trump Minority Policies ''Any President Would Want to Claim'''...joeknuckles says: The Devilbat says:He may well become the permanent CBS latrine orderly after this.

Like Liked by 7 people

JohnCasper says: Bill Durham says:He's done this before. After the rest of the panel regains their conciousness, the HR department will be paying private Gomer Garret a visit'....

Like Liked by 9 people

JohnCasper says: bertdilbert says: Dee Paul Deje says:How do you get coffee stains off a computer monitor?

Like Like

Tiffthis says:They can't deny that Trumps policies are bipartisan forever, though they may try.

Like Liked by 8 people

gda53 says:Catherine Herridge hiring. Major Garrett mention of minority policies. Other signs and portents.

Is CBS making a play for real journalism again? Have they looked into the belly of the beast and decided to back away?

Like Liked by 21 people

Mike Van says: ms doodlebug says:They don't really have a viable alternative with 'official' confirmation of inconvenient facts refuting their reporting.

Like Liked by 1 person

That's never stopped them before. They usually create a reality to conform to their beliefs. This is different. It's refreshing, but will have no impact.

Like Like

It's a cynical ploy to attract viewers that have sworn off msm. Taqiya and the kitchen sink for democrat controlled government.

Like Liked by 6 people

The Boss says:Until proven otherwise, I agree with you 100%.

Traditional TV broadcast media are in a world of hurt. Their prime time viewership is falling among all demographics. This does not bode well for their long term futures.

There is a glut of fake news and SJW / politicized ''entertainment'' which is tiresome to say the least. I need to see more signs beyond an occasional 30-second sound bite that our media is not the propaganda arm of the DNC. So does, I believe, the rest of the country.

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Chip Doctor says:Perhaps coincidence, but this seems to be happening with frequency. Soledad O'Brien just ripping into Brian Stelzer, Maddow being ripped by everyone, Upchuck Todd being ridiculed are just a few.

Just makes me wonder if they have been given a heads up that somehow they are going to have to try to explain to their audience that everything they have told them for three years is total bs. Not just bs, but outright lies.

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The Boss says:The way I see it, the fake newsies like those you mention are a breed of useful idiots. They live in the MSM bubble, believe their own BS and keep spouting it for the paycheck. Problem is they're not delivering any more. The money is drying up, which worries their globalist, corporate puppet masters. Any wonder why President Trump taunts the media that he's responsible for their survival?

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S.Bishop says:I believe you're on to something here. It's just like a car crash, people may start rubbernecking on MSM just in case there is another verbal 'accident' with career impacting injuries'...More Eyeballs = $

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arsumbris says:The thing to learn from the Trump era exposing our complete lack of real journalism in the major ''journalistic'' institutions is that there wasn't any ''real journalism'' in the first place. Before the internet, we didn't have the ability to realize they were lying, so we think there was a time in the past where they were telling the truth.

The truth is that they were lying all along, subverting the country all along.

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UncleGrumpy says:This is the awakening. There is a new era dawning.

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Rynn69 says:gda53: Unfortunately, it doesn't matter. The so-called mainstream media are no longer credible and that ship has sailed. The American people will not trust them again. And the small number that are still believing their gaslighting and narrative peddling will awaken from their cognitive dissonance eventually d/t the revelation of truth and they will lose them too.

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dd_sc says:I was surprised Herridge took that job knowing what CBS did to Sharyl Attkisson. Hope Ms. Herridge has taken the proper steps to secure her computer and data.

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maggiemoowho says:The #MeToo biotches are going to go after Garrett now, how dare he say anything positive about President Trump.

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bertdilbert says:Trump must have taken Major Garrett aside and had a chat about winter is coming and those chopper pressers are going to get mighty cold. Might have offered a warmer setting for a change in press attitude. Trump might abuse his power like that lol. This of course would be an impeachable offense'...

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dorothea brook says:Also maybe Major sees that Trump is going to be President for the next 5 years so he is tired of fighting it.

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MelH says:Back in the day, before I paid attention to whether anyone was a Republican or Democrat, Major Garrett was my favorite newscaster, after Peter Jennings of course. That must have been before it became blazingly obvious the press was all Democrat all the time. Major Garrett and John Roberts were the two most-called upon-true journalists in Press Conferences, in the days when we never missed watching those.

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I recall that too. He asked good questions and his politics it never entered my mind.

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Chip Doctor says: fragemall says:Major got his break on CNBC back in the 90s. Great team back then with good conservatives like Joe Kernan, Maria Bartiromo, Mark Haynes and others I cant recall. I was disappointed when MG turned left.

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Hanuman says:Maddow Fate to be avoided.Better Learn to survive if not to code

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WES says:Hanuman:. Madcow to be avoided.

Fixed it for you!

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Chip Doctor says:Madbulldyke.

There, fixed it for ya

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Tl Howard says:I wondered if CBS wanted Herridge BECAUSE of her extensive reporting on Spygate, thinking they would be needing someone with her breadth and depth of knowledge and sources on the subject. Then, I heard that they'd been interested in hiring her for quite a while although I don't know if their interest predated her reporting on that issue.

I also figured she wouldn't have wanted to go to CBS if she thought they were going to nix all stories on Spygate, but what do I know. She's a reporter, a damn good one, and like all good reporters she wants to be read/heard by as many people as possible. and even on a great ratings' day, cable network Fox can't begin to reach as many folks as a broadcast network.

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Bill Durham says:Perhaps they want her sources so CBS can out them and destroy their lives. Left wing journalist will not protect pro Trump, Republican, or conservative sources. Maybe CBS wants to get her sources i± trouble for leaking.

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Every bite we get like this, is like a whole meal of good food.Throughout the New testament, some of man's methods to introduce the love of God Paul and others spoke out in support of some nefarious ways in getting people to know him. God takes care of the rest.CBS is the least intolerable of the 'big' 3 networks along with ABC and nbc.If I watch a football game on nbc, every second the games not on,My eye's may roll back in my head, with a fear, they never return.President Trump is beating the MAGA out of all of the news business.Chris Wallace even took Schiff to task, and has made those little quotes about the feckless impeachment as being feckless. This a good thing as well.I'm a boomer with many left leaning boomer friends on facebook. My once a month check into facebook, I find a 1/4 of the usual TDS against our President.We're going back to.''Why aren't you going to San Fransisco,To hide the smell of feces,with the flowers in your hair.''

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Deplorable_Infidel says:''''Garrett pointed out President Trump's accomplishments on behalf of minority communities is a legacy any President ''would want to claim'' ''

He sure had fun partying and posing for pictures in the bar of the Marriott Hotel with the Trump supporters after the Primary Victory Rally in Spartenburg, SC.in early 2016.I was there with the NYer's for Trump Volunteers. That evening was most notable for the announcement that ''low-energy'' Jeb! was withdrawing from the race

The SD card in the phone failed, so the pictures were lost. More regrettable were the pictures taken with Katrina Pierson outside the hotel elevators.Katrina wanted the pics posted on fakebook, which I refuse to participate in. Regargless, even if I had the pictures I would not post any on the Internet of Mr. Garrett or Miss Pierson.

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mr.piddles says:This guy's one wayward White House update from getting banished from the Circle Of Trust. I wonder if any of his co-workers have taken him aside yet.

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Frank says:MSM have painted themselves into a corner. After three years of their broadcasts being over 90% negative to Trump where can they go from here? Some of their figureheads tweeted this week that Trump was doing well because of that remaining single digit that wasn't negative. Maybe that odd clip like the one from Garrett gets disproportionate attention because it's so unexpected? On the other hand, who bothers to watch a wall-to-wall slanted political infomercial?

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Garavaglia says:Not me. Occasionally for a laugh..but I got all the evidence I need. Prep time now.

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DOROTHEA BROOKE says:Major used to be at Fox. Maybe he wants to be legit.

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Magabear says:Major's mind must have been tainted while working at Fox, LOL! ðŸ

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Graham Pink says: warrenjay13 says:CBS is trying to get out in front of the black title wave 🌊

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i'm just sayin'.. says: zozz1 says:Herridge tells the truth and gives the facts'....CBS either will have to get rid of her, or their reporting will have to adjust to her truth and facts. CBS can't have a conflict between Herridge's facts and their other ''reporters''' facts. It will be interesting to see which way CBS goes. It's one thing for their opinion folks to disagree, but CBS has to decide on which facts their reports will stand.

Like Liked by 1 person

sarasotosfan says:Perhaps CBS is trying to move to the political center? Remember, they recently hired Catherine Herridge.

Like Liked by 1 person

TradeBait says:To survive the MSM will move toward the moderate Dim viewpoint. Bipartisanship will be the code word again as they know they will need squishy RINO's to build a coalition. They know the leftist bent of the DNC will be crushed after this election and the only path back to any sort of power base will be moderate.

Do not be deceived, patriots. Bipartisanship destroys America stealthily just as surely as the leftist communists do openly.

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CTH Fan says:I believe CBS has been bought by a woman who's name I cannot remember. I saw a article some time ago that said she wanted to bring it back to real journalism again. I don't remember who wrote the article but they mentioned that she liked President Trump.

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bsdetector4u says:Shari Redstone (Sumner Redstone's daughter) is the new owner.

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They're only human. Sometimes they forget the Narrative(tm) and talk like real humans.

Even a blind acorn finds a squirrel once in a while.

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grumpyqs says:Perhaps a few of the MSM ''old-timers'' remembering the old-days, are attempting to salvage their ''institutions of journalism'', just like the federal employees are doing to their agencies.

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CharterOakie says:

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Archived Version

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:44

This article has been updated to include a statement from G.E.The city of San Diego's initiative to install cameras on approximately 3,000 streetlights citywide was presented to city council as a way to save money on lighting costs, while also gathering data on traffic flow and pedestrian behavior.

But concerns are mounting about how data collected by the "Smart Streetlight'' system will be used and who will have access to that information.

The City Council also gave the streetlight camera provider, General Electric, unrestricted rights to the data, according to a copy of the contract obtained by NBC 7.

And as reported by the Union Tribune, the council authorized San Diego police to review the video surveillance for help in several criminal investigations.

Councilmembers Monica Montgomery, Chris Ward, and Georgette Gomez are pushing back on that questionable use of video and data gathered on San Diegans. The councilmembers want to stop the installation of more smart streetlights until they get more information about how GE will use and potentially sell that data.

The Anti-Surveillance Coalition, a public advocacy group led by former district attorney candidate Genevi(C)ve Jones-Wright, has also called for a ban on the smart cameras.

"I understand that there may be benefits to crime prevention, but the point is, we have rights and until we talk about privacy rights and our concerns, then we can't have the rest of the conversation," Genevieve Jones-Wright told NBC 7 in a September interview.

While much of the criticism about the cameras has focused on their role in public surveillance, there are also concerns about GE's collection and dissemination of the data from the smart streetlights.

According to the contract: ''[The city grants GE] nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable right and license to collect, use, reproduce, make available, aggregate, modify, display, perform, store (digitally or otherwise), transmit, make derivative works of and otherwise process the source data, in each case as permitted by applicable law.''

Attorney Cory Briggs told NBC 7 that lawyers for the city who reviewed the contract should have warned councilmembers about the downside of the agreement. Briggs says the city lawyers and staff had a duty to fully inform elected leaders about the data potential for the sharing and sale of data on local citizens.

''This was presented as an energy efficiency update to street lights,'' said Briggs, who's a candidate for City Attorney. ''It turns out that they're gathering the data. They've been giving it to the police, but they're also [potentially] giving it to Wall Street with no constraints whatsoever. Well, that's exactly what Facebook was doing when it was giving data to big tech, so that people could take it and use it for political purposes.''

Briggs said the fact that councilmembers are now want a moratorium on the project confirms that they were not provided with the information necessary to make their decision.

''Now we have council members coming out saying they weren't aware of the surveillance. Well, if they weren't aware of the surveillance, they sure as heck weren't aware that the data being gathered [can be] sold to Wall Street, with no constraints whatsoever," Briggs said.

Briggs blames current City Attorney Mara Elliott for failing to inform council members. Elliott's spokesperson said the responsibility falls on Elliott's predecessor, Jan Goldsmith.

''Mr. Briggs misled you...In fact, the Smart Streetlights contract was approved by the City Council on December 13, 2016, which was Mara Elliott's first full day in office,'' Elliott's spokesperson told NBC 7. ''All work on the matter was completed before she took office; her predecessor signed off on the contract.''

After this story aired former city attorney Jan Goldsmith sent the following statement to NBC 7:

"Mara Elliott's spokesperson is mistaken...

Ms. Elliott sat with the City Council on December 13, 2016, when the Council heard First Reading of the Ordinance approving the contract. Then, she sat with the City Council on January 10, 2017, when the Ordinance approving the contract was actually adopted on Second Reading.

The Smart Streetlights contract was implemented through a series of design and build contracts approved by the City Council on July 17, 2017.

I was not present at any of these City Council meetings and did not prepare for them because I was out of office," wrote Goldsmith.

Gerry Braun, City Attorney Elliott's chief of staff declined to comment on the department's previous statement.

UPDATE - OCTOBER 23, 2019:A spokesperson for General Electric's Corporate Team provided this statement:

"GE Current, a Daintree company, manufactures smart city nodes that collect data supporting macro-level trends like traffic flow patterns, parking information and environmental conditions.

The data collected from those nodes is exclusively owned by the city, and any assertion otherwise is wholly inaccurate.

Unless explicitly instructed to do so by the city in accordance with all applicable law, Current does not provide that data to any third parties."

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Archived Version

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:42

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Archived Version

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:39

Log in Sign up Steve Guest @ SteveGuest

21h CBS News' Major Garrett: President

@realDonaldTrump has a policy legacy of helping minority communities that ''any president...would want to claim''

pic.twitter.com/H4G3JQbJpM View photo · Elenctic FC @ suomicitizen Replying to @SteveGuest @TrumpWarRoom and 3 others It's the end times! This was said on CBS without rebuttals of Trumps ''racism'' or hoaxes. Similation correction perhaps? Although happy, I'm still looking out my window for the four horses of the apocalypse.

@adamcurry @ScottAdamsSays 5:52 PM - 29 Dec 2019 Enter a topic, @name, or fullname

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Mon, 30 Dec 2019 07:47

''That is the Greatest Single Growth within the Durham Investigation to Date'' Joe diGenova on Admiral Rogers Aiding Durham by Joe Hoft December 28, 2019

Former US Lawyer Joe diGenova warned the Deep State for years now that their day of reckoning was coming. This previous week he claimed that the largest single growth within the Durham Investigation thus far occurred when it was uncovered that former NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers was aiding within the investigation.diGenova was on the radio as posted by the America First Weblog when he shared the next:

That is the largest single growth within the Durham Investigation thus far. We had been instructed in line with public reviews that Admiral Rogers met a number of instances with John Durham and that we now know that Admiral Rogers, who's the central determine in uncovering the unlawful digital spying executed by the Obama Administration, previous to the Carter Web page FISA warrant. The spying that went on from 2012 to 2016, involving FBI contractors illegally accessing NSA information.

Mr. Rogers found that, reported it to the FISA Courtroom, all of that spying was stopped and has led to this crescendo of criminality by Comey, Clapper and Brennan. It led into the so-called 'Crossfire Hurricane investigation to cowl up that earlier spying that had been happening.

Rogers has an digital path of all of the spying that went on over 5 years. He has private notes, ala James Comey, solely this time they don't seem to be self-serving notes, they're the reality.

Mike Rogers I've described because the Rosetta Stone of this investigation. That is the only most essential growth on this. I've been suggesting for a very long time that in the end Rogers could be the important thing to any legal investigation. That's coming true. What we now know will occur is I could be pretty snug in suggesting there can be a considerable legal conspiracy indictment involving lots of people with the digital spying that was executed.''

diGenova went on to name out Rep. Devin Nunez for his braveness in bringing a lot of this to mild.

Nunez and Mike Rogers ought to each get the Medal of Freedom from President Trump. They're heroes, American heroes.

diGenova additionally thinks that the FISA Courtroom is just not doing sufficient. He stated their efforts are ''too little too late''.

We reported in April 2018 that:

On April 26, 2017, an unsealed FISA Courtroom Ruling unveiled various legal actions that Barack Obama's FBI and DOJ participated in throughout his time in workplace. The report back to date acquired little consideration. Now curiosity is brewing as a result of latest actions of Congress and the report that's anticipated to be launched within the upcoming weeks.

The FISA Courtroom Ruling exhibits widespread abuse of the FISA mandate. Based on the report, Obama's FBI and DOJ carried out searches on Individuals that had been in opposition to their 4th Modification rights. This went on for years. One paragraph within the report states that 85% of the Part 704 and 705(b) FISA searches made throughout this time had been non-compliant with relevant legal guidelines and due to this fact legal.

This closely redacted report additionally acknowledged that James Clapper's NSA had an ''institutional lack of candor''. When this report got here on the market was little point out within the MSM and the FISA Courtroom did little to nothing to convey the culprits in entrance of the courtroom and maintain them accountable.

Jeff Session's DOJ did nothing. The FISA Courts did nothing. Now it's as much as AG Barr and US Lawyer Durham to lastly convey justice to the unlawful actions taken by the Democrats and the Obama cabal who had no respect for the rule of legislation.

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Archived Version

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 17:05

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Archived Version

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 17:01

The latest episode of my podcast Radio Nowhere explores Amazon's Ring division, its smart home cameras, lack of security and blatant disregard for anyone's privacy.

In 2013, a small company called Doorbot set out to make your home safer. With a video doorbell that you could control from your smartphone. The idea was based on the premise that burglars usually ring the doorbell before entering a home and it wasn't a bad concept. The founder went on Shark Tank with it and failed miserably to get an investment to grow the company. But he didn't give up. He rebranded to Ring Inc., finally got some investors and in 2018 the company was bought by Amazon for over a billion dollars.

Thus began a story that turned a good idea, with a little bit of help from Silicon Valley investors and your local police department, into one of the biggest Orwellian surveillance nightmares of modern day urban life. It's the story of Ring's video doorbell and surveillance cameras which are suddenly everywhere. And they are being hacked by strangers who like to watch your '' or your kids' '' bedroom. But even worse, the company itself has a blatant disregard for anyone's privacy and is giving access to millions of videos it has collected to the police and its own employees '' regardless of whether they need to see them or don't.

If you want to hear the whole story, in all its horrific '' and sometimes quite funny '' details, you should listen to the latest episode of Radio Nowhere:

Broadcast 4: A Ring to Rule Them AllIf you like what you're hearing and want to subscribe to the podcast, it's on iTunes and on Spotify. Or you can simply copy and paste the RSS feed directly into your podcasting app.

'†' Comment thread for this post in the Fediverse

Header image credit: Ring / modified by Fabian A. Scherschel

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Archived Version

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 16:38

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 07:04

Robocalls are super annoying.

Jason Cipriani/CNET The fight against annoying robocalls just got another boost. This week President Trump signed the Traced Act into law, giving government agencies and law enforcement officials more weapons to go after individuals and companies who break telephone consumer-protection laws.

The bi-partisan legislation was previously approved by the House and Senate , respectively, earlier this month before arriving on the president's desk. Crafted by Sens. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, and Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, among the act's features are an increase in penalties for those scammers who knowingly initiate illegal robocalls and the requirement that phone companies authenticate calls to determine if the number calling you is real.

CNET NowAll the latest tech news delivered to your inbox. It's FREE!As part of a Federal Communications Commission push, major wireless carriers and home phone providers have been implementing a verification process known as STIR/SHAKEN throughout 2019 to authenticate calls and fight spammers.

In addition to raising penalties and pushing for authentication, the bill also gives regulators like the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission four years to go after scammers, as opposed to the one-year statute of limitations that was previously in place.

"I applaud Congress for working in a bipartisan manner to combat illegal robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing. And I thank the President and Congress for the additional tools and flexibility that this law affords us," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

"Specifically, I am glad that the agency now has a longer statute of limitations during which we can pursue scammers and I welcome the removal of a previously-required warning we had to give to unlawful robocallers before imposing tough penalties."

Those agencies will also now have the ability to penalize bad actors more aggressively and push the US Department of Justice to get involved in going after illegal robocallers. More than 54 billion robocalls have been made in the US so far this year, according to YouMail, which the site says equates to roughly 164 calls "per person affected."

"This historic legislation will provide American consumers with even greater protection against annoying unsolicited robocalls," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

"American families deserve control over their communications, and this legislation will update our laws and regulations to stiffen penalties, increase transparency, and enhance government collaboration to stop unwanted solicitation. President Donald J. Trump is proud to have worked with Congress to get this bipartisan legislation to his desk, and even prouder to sign it into law today."

CNET's Marguerite Reardon contributed to this report.

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 07:02

RUSSIA is often being accused of hacking but recent reports suggest the country is falling a little bit behind with some of its tech.

That's because Russian website Open Media spotted that President Vladimir Putin's computers in his Kremlin office and residence are running Windows XP and there are photos to prove it.

3

Putin may have chosen to not update his computer software for security reasons Credit: Kremlin.ruWindows XP is a now obsolete software system that was released back in 2001.

It's so outdated that Microsoft stopped releasing updates for it five years ago.

However, photographs of Putin in his office show that he was using the software fairly recently.

The Russian president probably hasn't updated because he is wary of tech in general as he previously called the internet a CIA project.

3

Photos of Putin in his office show he was using the software fairly recently Credit: Kremlin.ruHowever, not updating your software can also leave you vulnerable.

Tom Murphy, then-director of communications for Windows at Microsoft, told CNET in back 2014: "Windows XP was launched in 2001, which meant the design and engineering of it took place in the late 90s into 2000, which was a very different world when we think about the profiles of the malware and the profiles of the hackers and bad people attacking PCs on the Internet.

"It was a much simpler time."

3

Eagle eyed reporters spotted that Putin is using an old computer software Credit: Kremlin.ruOpen Media revealed that Windows XP is the last Microsoft system to be approved for official Russian government computers.

People with computers that don't hold state secrets can use Windows 10.

Russia is taking steps to move away from the global internet and create its own national network.

The country plans to replace Microsoft and Apple software with its own domestic systems by 2025-2030.

Putin also signed a law this month stating that all smartphones, TVs and computers sold in the country should come with Russian software pre-installed.

How long has Putin been President of Russia?

Here's some Putin facts...

Vladimir Putin has been President of Russia twice - previously from 2000 to 2008, before being re-elected in 2012.Between the two terms, he served as Russia's Prime Minister.His first stint in a position of power came in 1999, after the then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin dismissed his prime minister and promoted former KGB officer Vladimir Putin in his place.In December 1999, Yeltsin resigned, appointing Putin president until official elections were held in March 2000.He was elected to his first term with 53 per cent of the vote, and was re-elected for a follow-up four year term in 2004.Due to constitutional term limits, Putin was prevented from running for the presidency in 2008.Instead he was appointed prime minister by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, allowing him to maintain a primary position of influence for the next four years.Putin was re-elected to the presidency in March 2012 and later won a fourth term, keeping him in power until the present day. Vladimir Putin's secret nuclear trigger briefcase that could spark World War 3 WHAT A DISPLAY First photo of Samsung's stunning 'no bezel' 8K TV leaked online

RIDING DIRTY Motorbunny is a £700 vibrator you STRADDLE and control with voice commands

APOCALYPSE NO Scientists want to MOVE the Sun to save Earth from killer asteroids

PAEDO HAVENS Parents warned to check kids' phones for THESE 'dangerous' apps

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OK GOOGLE Argos and Currys PC World are selling Google Home Minis for £19 down from £50

LOGGED OFF WhatsApp to stop working on millions of phones TODAY '' is yours on the list?

In other news, a 'catastrophic' Google Chrome update has been wiping data from people's phones without their permission.

Chrome users were warned in August that up to 4million of them may have had their photos and videos nicked.

And, Apple is set to launch the 'thinnest ever' iPad and Macbook Pro in 2020.

Are you surprised that Putin isn't using the latest software? Let us know in the comments...

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:50

(CNN) New year, new rules.

As people across the United States usher in a new decade, a wave of new laws will bring changes big and small.

From car seats to natural hair, here are some of the ones going into effect in 2020.

Minimum wages are going upGood news for workers.

The minimum wage is set to go up in 72 jurisdictions in 2020, according to the advocacy group National Employment Law Project.

Most of those changes are set to begin on the first day of 2020, though New York's pay raise is set to begin December 31, 2019, the NELP reported.

Twenty-one states and 26 cities and counties, mostly in California, will raise the minimum wage on New Year's Day. In 17 of those jurisdictions, the new rate will reach or exceed $15 an hour.

Four more states and 23 more cities and counties will join later in the year, with 15 of them raising wages to $15 an hour or more. Illinois and St. Paul, Minnesota, will raise their minimum wages twice in 2020.

"These increases will put much-needed money into the hands of the lowest-paid workers, many of whom struggle with high and ever-increasing costs of living," researcher and policy analyst Yannet Lathrop wrote in a blog post about the new wages.

But let us not forget that the federal minimum wage has remained unchanged since 2009, at $7.25 an hour.

You'll get more control over your dataThere's a reason your inbox has been getting spammed with privacy notices lately. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the nation's toughest privacy law, is set to take effect starting Wednesday.

The landmark law allows California residents to demand that companies disclose what data they have collected on them. And if users want that data deleted, companies will have to comply.

The law applies to for-profit companies that generate more than $25 million in annual gross revenue, generate more than 50% of their annual revenue from selling customers' personal data or have personal data for more than 50,000 people.

CCPA could set a precedent for the rest of the United States -- the law has already prompted other states to consider their own privacy measures.

And while non-California residents can't request their data be deleted, they can read through the new terms of service to see what data companies are collecting.

More people can sue over sexual abuseAs the #MeToo movement inspired more people to come forward with their experiences of sexual abuse, some states are relaxing their deadlines to bring lawsuits for previous offenses.

California will suspend the statute of limitations for three years beginning January 1, giving victims of all ages the chance to pursue prosecution. The state is also expanding the statute of limitations for childhood victims of sexual abuse. Under the new law, victims will have until age 40 or five years from the time the abuse was discovered to file civil lawsuits.

Illinois will remove the statute of limitations on criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, regardless of the age of the victim.

The state eliminated time limits on prosecuting sex crimes against minors in 2017, but adult victims still faced a ticking clock. Previously, prosecutors had 10 years to bring charges, but the offense must first have been reported to law enforcement within three years.

States tighten and loosen gun lawsAfter another year of mass shootings and heated debates over gun control, states are taking action.

Colorado is among the states enacting gun restrictions -- its "red flag" law takes effect January 1. The law allows family, household members and law enforcement to petition for a court order to temporarily take guns away from an individual deemed to be in danger of hurting themselves or others.

There's already been a lot of opposition to the law, though, and there's no telling what will happen come Wednesday. A number of the state's counties have declared themselves as Second Amendment "sanctuaries," while some sheriffs have previously said they'd rather go to jail than enforce the law.

Meanwhile, Tennessee is moving in the other direction, making it easier for residents to receive a concealed carry handgun permit.

Weed is legal in IllinoisPot smokers in the Midwest, rejoice.

Anyone 21 and older can buy and possess recreational marijuana in Illinois beginning in the new year.

Under the law, Illinois residents will be able to purchase and possess 30 grams of cannabis, five grams of cannabis concentrate and cannbis-infused products containing no more than 500 milligrams of THC. People who don't live in Illinois can buy half of each of those amounts.

Medical patients can buy marijuana seeds and grow up to five plants at home, as long as the plants are kept out of public view. The law also pardons individuals with nonviolent convictions for amounts of cannabis up to 30 grams.

No more cash bailNew York state becomes the latest to end the money bail system, which critics call "wealth-based incarceration."

Wednesday, the state eliminates money bail for nearly all misdemeanor and nonviolent felony cases. The new law could free thousands of incarcerated people from pretrial detention, according to a preliminary analysis by the Center for Court Innovation.

But there are exceptions, including cases involving sex crimes, domestic violence, witness intimidation or tampering and terrorism-related charges, among others.

Plastic bags are outIt's always a good idea to bring reusable bags with you to the grocery store.

But starting in 2020, forgetting them at home could cost you.

Oregon is the latest state to ban single-use plastic bags at grocery stores, requiring shoppers to bring their own bags or pay a small fee for paper ones.

The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is also gearing up for a similar eco-friendly initiative.

Single-use plastic bags, including compostable bags and plastic ones less than 2.25 millimeters thick, will be banned, according to CNN affiliate KRQE. The city plans to encourage residents to go green by passing out about 2,000 reusable bags at grocery stores and city facilities, the station reported.

No more texting while drivingYou really might want to think twice before sending out that text while you're stopped at an intersection.

Starting Wednesday, law enforcement officers in Florida will begin writing tickets for drivers caught texting and driving. Tickets will be $30 for non-moving violations and $60 for moving violations. The fines go up even more if you're speeding.

Massachusetts enacts a similar law later in the year.

Starting February 23, drivers in the state will be banned from texting and generally using their phone while driving, although Bluetooth and "hands-free" modes will be allowed.

Law enforcement officers will issue warnings only for the first month or so, but after March 31, drivers can expect to be fined.

Cyclists can breeze through stop signsCyclists have long had to abide by the same traffic laws as their motorized companions -- much to their annoyance. In Oregon, that's going to change.

Gone are the days of coming to a complete stop at every stop sign, even when no one else is around. A new state law that goes into effect on New Year's Day allows cyclists to treat stop signs and blinking red lights as yields. As long as they slow their bikes to a safe speed, they'll be able to breeze right through.

African-Americans can embrace their natural hairBlack students and employees in California can finally feel free to be themselves.

Wednesday, the Golden State becomes the first in the United States to ban employers and school officials from discriminating against people based on their natural hair.

The Crown Act makes it illegal to enforce dress code or grooming policies against hairstyles such as afros, braids, twists and locks.

"This law protects the right of black Californians to choose to wear their hair in its natural form, without pressure to conform to Eurocentric norms," state Sen. Holly Mitchell said earlier this year. "I am so excited to see the culture change that will ensue from the law."

Your middle schooler might need a car seatKids are not going to be happy about this.

A new law in Washington state could keep children in booster seats until they're almost in middle school.

The law requires children who have outgrown harness seats to sit in booster seats until they are at least four feet, 9 inches tall.

According to the Washington State Patrol, kids can ditch the booster seats once they're older than 13, KREM reported.

CNN's Leah Asmelash, Kerry Flynn, Veronica Stracqualursi, Nicole Chavez and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:49

Get ready for a host of new laws across the country coming this year '' some good, some stupid. Of course, even the good ones will have downsides and unforeseen consequences, but for now we'll just talk about what the laws are supposed to do.

CNN rounded up the most interesting laws coming to the country in the coming month, including 72 jurisdictions that are increasing minimum wage despite the numerous studies that show people end up getting their hours cut or lose their jobs entirely when wages are increased by force. Cities that have increased minimum wage have seen businesses close and people lose their jobs.

''Twenty-one states and 26 cities and counties, mostly in California, will raise the minimum wage on New Year's Day. In 17 of those jurisdictions, the new rate will reach or exceed $15 an hour,'' CNN reported. ''Four more states and 23 more cities and counties will join later in the year, with 15 of them raising wages to $15 an hour or more. Illinois and St. Paul, Minnesota, will raise their minimum wages twice in 2020.''

Here are some of the other new laws coming this year:

More Data Privacy

Or so we're promised. The California Consumer Privacy Act claims it will allow residents in the Golden State ''to demand that companies disclose what data they have collected on them,'' CNN reported. ''And if users want that data deleted, companies will have to comply.''

Middle Schooler Booster Seats

Washington State has decided that while your kid can come to school without being vaccinated, it is too unsafe for them to travel without a booster seat '' even if they've started middle school. A new law requires children under 4'9'' to use booster seats until they turn 13. Trying to be cool in middle school was already hard enough!

Cyclists Will Be Able To Legally Flout Common Sense

Cyclists in Oregon will be allowed to just blow through stop signs instead of stopping at them like cars and sane people do. The law will let cyclists ''treat stop signs and blinking red lights as yields,'' CNN reported, and merely slow down instead of stopping. Sounds totally safe.

No Texting While Driving

Florida and Massachusetts will start issuing tickets to drivers who text and drive. You'll get a $30 ticket for a non-moving violation (sending a text while stopped at a red light) and $60 for a moving violation.

Hair Freedom

Employers and schools in California will no longer be able to ban common African-American hairstyles like braids, afros, twists, and locks as part of their dress codes.

It's amazing that it took until 2020 for these hairstyles to be allowed.

Plastic Bag Bans

Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico, will ban plastic bags at grocery stores. People will either have to pay for paper bags or bring their own filthy reusable bag from home. The problem with reusable bags is that people don't clean them often enough, meaning germs from homes are being brought into the grocery store and festering in uncleaned cloth. So healthy.

Illinois Pot

Weed will be legal in the Prairie State for people 21 and over.

''Under the law, Illinois residents will be able to purchase and possess 30 grams of cannabis, five grams of cannabis concentrate and cannbis-infused products containing no more than 500 milligrams of THC. People who don't live in Illinois can buy half of each of those amounts,'' CNN reported. ''Medical patients can buy marijuana seeds and grow up to five plants at home, as long as the plants are kept out of public view. The law also pardons individuals with nonviolent convictions for amounts of cannabis up to 30 grams.''

Expanded Sexual Abuse Laws

California and Illinois are extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims, meaning someone can wait until someone is famous or successful to bring decades old allegations that are nearly impossible to prove and destroy someone's life.

Gun Laws

Colorado is restricting gun rights by enacting dangerous ''red flag'' laws that are ripe for abuse. Family and friends can claim someone is unstable and have that person's guns taken away from them without that person being able to defend themselves in court.

Tennessee, on the other hand, is going to make it easy for people to obtain a concealed carry handgun permit.

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:47

The Supreme Court will hear a slate of highly charged disputes when the justices return to the bench in the new year and resume one of the most politically volatile terms in recent memory.

Since the term opened in October, the court has heard high-profile fights over LGBT rights in the workplace, the scope of the Second Amendment and the deportation status of nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants.

The remaining cases on the court's docket are no less explosive. The justices will confront novel separation of powers questions, including whether to release President Trump Donald John TrumpFive environmental fights to watch in 2020 Lawmakers close to finalizing federal strategy to defend against cyberattacks The 7 big Supreme Court cases to watch in 2020 MORE 's financial records to investigators. They will be asked to draw new lines between church and state. And for the first time since Trump's two nominees joined the court, the justices will hear a case on abortion.

Here are some of the hot-button arguments awaiting the Supreme Court in 2020.

Trump's financial records

This landmark separation of powers fight involves three separate efforts by House Democrats and New York state prosecutors to obtain years of Trump's financial records and tax returns.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, for personal and corporate records. Separately, the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees requested financial records housed at Deutsche Bank and Capital One. Manhattan prosecutors have also subpoenaed Mazars for Trump's tax returns and other documents from 2011 to 2018.

A blockbuster ruling on the extent of presidential immunity in the face of congressional oversight and state prosecutorial power is expected before July, just months ahead of Election Day. The cases will be heard in March or early April.

Trump has fought efforts to disclose any of his financial records or tax returns and is the first president in decades to not make his returns public.

Louisiana's abortion law

The justices will hear a challenge to a Louisiana law requiring that abortion-performing doctors have the right to admit patients to a local hospital in what will be the first abortion case before the court since President Trump's two nominees took the bench.

In 2016, the court struck down a similar Texas law 5-3, with Justice Anthony Kennedy voting alongside the court's reliably liberal bloc. But Kennedy has since retired, and with the additions of Justices Neil Gorsuch Neil GorsuchThe 7 big Supreme Court cases to watch in 2020 Removal of DACA recipients has begun: It didn't take a crystal ball to see DACA would not end well Left presses 2020 Democrats to retake the courts from Trump MORE and Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael KavanaughThe 7 big Supreme Court cases to watch in 2020 2020 forecast: A House switch, a slimmer Senate for GOP '-- and a bigger win for Trump Left presses 2020 Democrats to retake the courts from Trump MORE , the court now tilts more conservative. That shift has abortion rights advocates worried.

The justices previously found the Texas law placed an ''undue burden'' on women seeking abortion. Many will be watching to see if the newly composed court hews to precedent or takes a different direction when arguments over the Louisiana law are heard March 4.

Religious school scholarships

In a case with potentially broad implications for church-state relations, the justices will review a decision by the Montana Supreme Court to invalidate a scholarship program that could have benefited religious schools.

The state's top court struck down the program after finding it ran afoul of a Montana constitutional provision that bans state tax dollars from funding sectarian schools, prompting several Montana parents to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The question before the justices is whether that decision violates the religion or equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution by excluding religious schools from a general student aid program. The case, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, will be heard Jan. 22.

Religious exemptions from discrimination suits

In another religious liberty case, the justices are being asked to resolve whether two Catholic schools are exempt from employment discrimination suits brought by former teachers.

The schools claim immunity under the so-called ministerial exception. This First Amendment principle bars lawsuits by workers who are considered ''ministers'' due to the religious nature of their work. For their part, the former teachers say there were religious aspects to their jobs but that they should not be considered ministers.

The pair of cases, which pit the U.S. Constitution's safeguards for free expression of religion against legal protections for workers, have not yet been scheduled for argument.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

One of the most consequential questions the Supreme Court is facing this term is whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is constitutional. The independent agency has been a target of Republicans ever since it was created in 2011 by Dodd-Frank in the wake of the financial crisis, and now the regulator could be on the conservative majority's chopping block.

The CFPB was designed to operate with an unusual level of independence for a government agency, having a single director appointed by the president who's subject to Senate confirmation and can be fired only by the chief executive under certain circumstances. That structure will be the focus when the case is argued on March 3.

The Department of Justice is refusing to defend the CFPB in the case, so the court appointed Paul Clement, a former Republican solicitor general and acting attorney general, to advocate for an agency that the GOP has been eager to demolish for nearly a decade.

Google v. Oracle

The court will wade into the long-running battle between tech giants Google and Oracle over what constitutes fair use in internet copyright law. The case began nearly a decade ago, when Oracle accused Google of illegally copying thousands of lines of code for use in the search giant's Android operating system. Google has argued that the code in its software interfaces are key to making different programs able to communicate with each other.

''The questions presented in this case are of critical importance to the computer software industry, one of the principal drivers of the nation's economy,'' Google wrote in a filing to the court. ''Because new software builds on components of existing software, innovation in this field largely depends on how copyright law treats software interfaces, the essential building blocks of software development.''

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after a federal appeals court last year reversed Google's victory in a jury trial. The Trump administration has sided with Oracle, while many tech companies have backed Google. The court has not yet set a date for arguments.

Bridgegate and public corruption

On Jan. 14, the court will hear arguments over an appeal from Bridget Anne Kelly, who served as deputy chief of staff to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), of her conviction for her role in the infamous Bridgegate scandal. In Bridgegate, the governor's allies allegedly colluded to close traffic toll lanes to create problems for one of Christie's political rivals.

Kelly was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in the alleged scheme, but the question that her appeal has brought to the Supreme Court could have far-reaching consequences. The justices are being asked to decide if a public official lying about their motive for an official action violates federal corruption laws. The court has in recent years narrowed such corruption laws, making it harder for prosecutors to prove charges of bribery in cases against government officials. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseThe 7 big Supreme Court cases to watch in 2020 McCaskill: 'Mitch McConnell has presided over absolutely destroying Senate norms' Democratic senators tweet photos of pile of House-passed bills 'dead on Mitch McConnell's desk' MORE (D-R.I.) weighed in on the case last month with an amicus brief urging the court to reverse that trend.

''Unfortunately, a jurisprudence has emerged at the Supreme Court that dramatically narrowed the definition of corruption in the criminal law, limiting how the public through juries can hold its elected officials accountable,'' Whitehouse wrote.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:45

Here's an obscure tidbit from the campaign trail involving Democratic Senator (and POTUS hopeful) Amy Klobuchar. This week she sat down for a lengthy interview with the editorial board of the Conway Daily Sun in New Hampshire, which is something of a required stop for all presidential candidates. The interview was livestreamed on the newspaper's Facebook page and printed up for a recent edition.

It was a wide-ranging interview covering most of the usual topics of the day, including a claim from Klobuchar that she feels she's ''well-positioned'' to win the nomination and defeat Donald Trump next November. But toward the end of the Q&A she was hit with a somewhat more obscure question that she had declined to answer a few months ago. Has she looked into the reports of US Navy encounters with alleged UFOs and what does she make of all this? It turns out she has and she suggested that, as president, she would investigate whether or not some of that information could be disclosed to the public. (Hat tip to Paul Seaburn at Mysterious Universe.)

Back in October, the Sun asked Klobuchar if she was familiar with New Hampshire man David Fravor, who was made famous in 2017 for his account of chasing a UFO off the West Coast as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in 2004.

During that exchange in front of The Met Coffee House in North Conway, Klobuchar said she would look into it and on Monday she confirmed that she did.

''I think we don't know enough '... I don't know what's happened, not just with that sighting, but with others,'' she said. ''And I think one of the things a president could do is to look into what's there in terms of what does the science say; what does our military say.

''Here's the interesting part of that answer is that some of this stuff is really old '... So, why can't you see if you can let some of that out for the public so earnest journalists like you who are trying to get the bottom of the truth would be able to see it?'' she asked rhetorically.

That answer wasn't really all that long, but those four sentences definitely caught the attention of people in the UFO community. We're dealing with a politician running for office here, so everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. But what was she really saying?

First of all, she seemed to be familiar enough with the David Fravor encounter to believe that this has come up on her radar. The reporter who asked the question was Draymond Steer and he asks pretty much every presidential candidate about UFOs. In fact, he was the one who asked her back in October and didn't get an answer.

So Klobuchar doesn't believe that we know enough yet, but she also apparently hasn't been privy to any secrets on this topic either. She wasn't one of the Senators briefed on the subject in secret earlier this year, so that makes sense. Her ideas about what a president can do (ask what the science says and what the military has to say) are fairly generic as well.

Of course, other presidents have asked before, as we've discussed here previously. It's confirmed that both Clinton and Obama asked and they were apparently told nothing. (Or so they claim.) Does Klobuchar believe she'd fare better in getting the intelligence agencies to open the bag? Good luck with that, Senator.

Her last comment was at least a bit more interesting, however. She made reference to ''some of this stuff'' being ''really old.'' Presumably, she's not talking about the Nimitz and Roosevelt encounters in 2004 and 2015 because those are still on everyone's minds. So what did she mean? Was that a reference to the 1947 Roswell incident? If so, she could certainly generate a lot of headlines if she somehow drove a wedge into that oyster. But so many before her have tried that I somehow doubt any new information would be forthcoming.

Of course, this could all be nothing more than an effort to appeal to a particular voter demographic. According to the most recent polling, while a majority of Americans still aren't convinced that UFOs are definitely extraterrestrial spacecraft, a solid 68% said that they believe the government knows more than they're telling the public. And we generally don't like being kept in the dark. People are fascinated by these questions and it's possible that Klobuchar is teasing some possible disclosure to round up a few more undecided voters.

So is the truth out there? Amy Klobuchar still has a ton of ground to make up in the primary polling if she really wants a chance to find out.

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:14

Yeah, you! You over there! There's still a surprisingly large demand for people who know COBOL!Photo: Scott Eisen (Getty Images) Democratic presidential contender and Joe Biden has some advice for the recently disrupted: learn to program.

At a rally in Derry, New Hampshire on Monday, per the Washington Post's Dave Weigel , Biden talked about how unemployed miners and coal workers who have lost their jobs in recent years can find ''jobs of the future'' if they ''learn to program.'' Referencing his role in a Barack Obama-era programming skills initiative in schools, Biden commented that ''Anybody who can go down 3000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well... Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake!''

What, exactly, these blue collar workers in the mining and coal-shoveling sectors should learn to code is unclear. A December jobs report by Challenger, Gray, & Christmas found that the mining and tech sectors are both shedding thousands of jobs nationwide. (So too is everything coal-related .) It's fair to say the long-term prospects for IT workers are better, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting that computer and information technology jobs will grow ''12 percent from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations.'' Meanwhile, dirty energy jobs are dying left and right despite Donald Trump's best efforts to slash regulations.

But the issue has less to do with whether programming is a desirable skillset'--it is, in the same sense that speaking Arabic or having a master's degree in mechanical engineering are desirable skillsets. To Biden's point, there are plenty of success stories , including with laid-off miners . This instead has more to do with whether everyone has the desire or aptitude to learn programming to plunge into an ultra-competitive job market for developers, whether job retraining programs are actually effective or will be adequately funded, or whether advising someone to just get a much more lucrative job in a high-tech sector actually comes across as helpful.

As Weigel noted, being told what you really need to do is pivot to making smartphone apps or coding a payroll system can instead come across as callous indifference to the what is currently happening to workers right now. (Especially so, given the future is not synonymous with STEM jobs and the gaping disconnect between how the tech sector generates wealth and how it doesn't really share it .) That's exactly why ''learn to code'' became the far right's taunt of choice when mocking laid-off journalists . Maybe, uhh, nip this particular line in the bud and instead focus on the infrastructure , clean energy , and labor organizing stuff .

In any case, as far as lukewarm technocratic ideas go, Biden is at least winning out over fellow Democratic candidate Mike Bloomberg, who tweeted on Monday that if elected he would put the disastrous open office model in effect at the White House.

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:09

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday night that the Trump administration will not be backing down in Iraq after the attack this week by Iranian-backed terrorists on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Appearing on Fox News's ''Special Report'' with guest host Mike Emanuel, Pompeo said that the administration has no plans to evacuate the embassy in Baghdad and no plans to withdraw the troops that are in Iraq.

''This is 40 years of the Islamic Republic of Iran engaged in global terror campaigns, nuclear weapons dreams, and nuclear enrichment capability to existing today,'' Pompeo said. ''We came in when the previous administration had provided lots of money, lots of money that was used for that nuclear program, lots of money that had been used for terror all around the world develop their missile program.''

''The Trump administration's taking a very different view,'' Pompeo continued. ''We put real pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. We will continue to do so and we saw the president say today we will continue to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable wherever we find their malign activity, and we'll make sure we have the resources to do so.''

Several minutes later, Pompeo shifted to talking about the devastating effects that the sanctions the Trump administration has leveled against Iran has had on Iran.

''We've imposed an incredible economic burden on the regime,'' Pompeo said. ''We've watched the Iranian people demand that their leaders behave differently. You've seen the protests. Unfortunately, Iranians responded by killing hundreds of their own citizens.''

''But we've watched even in Beirut and in Iraq, even today, we saw protesters today, they weren't covered in your footage, they weren't at the embassy, but we saw protesters, real protesters, not Iranian backed militiamen who'd been directed to go to the embassy by [name of foreign official], but rather real protesters demanding to say that those folks at the embassy there, those aren't Iraqi people,'' Pompeo continued. ''They're not people who care about Iraq. We care about Iraq. And we want an Iraq that is free, independent, and sovereign in the United States under President Trump will continue to work on that project.''

WATCH:

Transcript of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's interview on Fox News's ''Special Report'' with guest host Mike Emanuel provided via Fox News:

Emanuel: Let's get the latest from America's top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins us tonight. Good to see you, Mr. Secretary. The images are striking. What is your assessment of what we saw in Baghdad today?

Pompeo: Well, what you saw was Iranian backed terrorists. Many of them are individuals who have been designated terrorist by the United States and others come into the American embassy and posing a risk to American diplomats and personnel inside the embassy. You saw President Trump direct a quick, decisive, prudent response, but making sure that we had all the resources necessary to keep people safe and to secure the compound as well. And as we go into the evening tonight, we're continuing to watch. We'll continue to monitor. As you know, Mike, this is a difficult place, tough terrain. And so we continue to take the situation seriously. And President Trump and our entire team are watching it closely.

Emanuel: Any plans to evacuate the embassy in Baghdad, sir?

Pompeo: None.

Emanuel: OK, any plans to pull some of the 5000 U.S. troops in Iraq out?

Pompeo: None.

Emanuel: OK, we are reporting that up to 4,000 more troops, 82nd Airborne could be going into the region to bolster American forces in the region. Is that accurate, sir?

Pompeo: You know, you have to put this in a larger context. This is 40 years of the Islamic Republic of Iran engaged in global terror campaigns, nuclear weapons dreams, and nuclear enrichment capability to existing today. We came in when the previous administration had provided lots of money, lots of money that was used for that nuclear program, lots of money that had been used for terror all around the world develop their missile program. The Trump administration's taking a very different view. We put real pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. We will continue to do so and we saw the president say today we will continue to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable wherever we find their malign activity, and we'll make sure we have the resources to do so.

Emanuel: So is that likely to be more ships in the region, sir?

Pompeo: So, I'll leave to the Department of Defense to talk about specifics. But make no mistake about what the guidance President Trump has given to both the State Department and the Department of Defense is to make sure that we have all that we need to perform the missions that he set before us with respect to pushing back against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Emanuel: What's your assessment of the Iraqi government's response to what we saw at the embassy today?

Pompeo: So we worked alongside them today. Early this morning, spoke with Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi. I spoke with President Barham Salah. Later in the day, some of my officials did. The president spoke, as your piece reported, spoke with the prime minister late in the day to. We were urging them to continue to fulfill their responsibility, their obligation to protect our facility and our people. We were happy to see them to deploy forces there to do that. We continue to ask them to do everything it takes to ensure that that facility is protected as they have an obligation to do.

Emanuel: Is the administration confident the Iraqis can protect U.S. personnel and facilities going forward?

Pompeo: Collectively, we're going to make sure that that gets done. We're gonna make sure we do everything we can to keep that facility safe and secure and have the resources to push back against anything that may confront us there.

Emanuel: President Trump tweeted this afternoon, let's put it on the screen. Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost or damage incurred at any of our facilities. They will pay a very big price. This is not a warning. It is a threat. Happy New Year. Your reaction, sir?

Pompeo: Been working on convincing the Islamic Republic of Iran to be him like a normal nation. For the entire three years we've been in office, we inherited a terrible nuclear deal. We had the terrible situation where the regime had lots of money to go foment bad things around the world. We withdrew from the nuclear deal. We've imposed an incredible economic burden on the regime. We've watched the Iranian people demand that their leaders behave differently. You've seen the protests. Unfortunately, Iranians responded by killing hundreds of their own citizens. But we've watched even in Beirut and in Iraq, even today, we saw protesters today, they weren't covered in your footage, they weren't at the embassy, but we saw protesters, real protesters, not Iranian backed militiamen who'd been directed to go to the embassy by [name of foreign official], but rather real protesters demanding to say that those folks at the embassy there, those aren't Iraqi people. They're not people who care about Iraq. We care about Iraq. And we want an Iraq that is free, independent, and sovereign in the United States under President Trump will continue to work on that project.

Emanuel: We reported at the top 100 U.S. Marines going to the embassy. They're all there, sir?

Pompeo: They're all there's a security and deterrence to ensure that we have the resources available to combat anything that should come at the embassy, but also to signal very clearly to those who might think about bringing harm to our facility, to our people, that they ought to think twice. These are very capable young men prepared to deliver real force if that's what's called upon.

Emanuel: Are other assets likely to go into Iraq if necessary?

Pompeo: Absolutely, if required. I'm confident President Trump will authorize whatever it takes to keep American young men and women safe wherever we find them, not only at our embassy, but at the other locations and facilities we have where there are Americans today.

Emanuel: Now that ISIS is largely defeated, is your sense that the Iranians really want the United States out of the region so there's a big void there?

Pompeo: You know, I think they probably do. But more than that, the Islamic Republic, Iran has had a singular mission right there. They're kleptocrats, they're theocrats. And they want to steal stuff, loot and destroy the lives of their own people. And they do that. They think they're protecting themselves by committing terror all around the world, by assassinating people in Europe. The Islamic Republic run has fundamentally failed the Iranian people and I am convinced that the Iranian people know that. And you've seen President Trump make very clear we will continue to support the Iranian people.

Emanuel: You've made it clear the United States is not going anywhere in terms of its resources there. What do you think would happen if the United States were to leave Iraq?

Pompeo: No, I don't want engage in hypothetical. We're engaged. You talked about ISIS, we're still there working to build out the Iraqi security forces to conduct the counter ISIS campaign, there's still a threat of terrorism in parts of Iraq and in Anbar province and other places. President Trump is committed to completing that mission. We talked about this in the context of Syria several months back, which said for the caliphate is gone. President Trump put together a strategy that delivered the destruction and defeat 100% lock, stock and barrel of the caliphate. Now we have responsible ensure that the remnants of ISIS can't harm us here in the United States of America.

Emanuel: Are more airstrikes likely, sir, on Iranian backed assets in the region?

Pompeo: I don't comment on future activity, only say simply that we're committed to the project that we began when we made the policy decision that President Trump's direction, that we're going to push back against the Islamic Republic of Iran to create stability throughout the Middle East. We're still fully committed to that mission.

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Archived Version

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:08

Iran's highest political and religious authority went after Donald Trump on the president's favourite medium on Wednesday, hurling insults as Washington and Tehran squared off over the storming of the American embassy in Baghdad.

''That guy has tweeted that we see Iran responsible for the events in Baghdad and we will respond to Iran,'' said Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's English-language Twitter account, translating similar statements posted to his Persian-language account, as he retweeted Mr Trump's accusations.

''First: You can't do anything,'' he continued. ''Second: If you were logical '' which you're not '' you'd see that your crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan have made nations hate you.''

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It appears to have been the first time Mr Khamenei, or the account operated in his name, has retweeted anything by Mr Trump, and a rare instance of him directly addressing the American president.

It came as members and supporters of the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq began to withdraw from the site of the US embassy in Baghdad after attempting to storm it twice in two days in response to US airstrikes on Sunday which killed 25 members of the group and injured at least 50 at its bases in western Iraq and eastern Syria.

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AAP Imagevia Reuters

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1/50 31 December 2019A man rides a donkey cart against the last setting sun of 2019 in Lahore, Pakistan December 31, 2019

REUTERS

2/50 30 December 2019A Skycrane drops water on a bushfire in Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia. According to local media reports, thousands of residents and tourists were forced to evacuate in the state of Victoria as soaring temperatures and winds fanned several bushfires around the state

EPA

3/50 29 December 2019A jumper soars through the air during a trial jump at the first stage of the 68th four hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany

AP

4/50 28 December 2019Revellers dressed in mock military garb throw eggs as they take part in the "Els Enfarinats" battle in the southeastern Spanish town of Ibi on December 28, 2019. - During this 200-year-old traditional festival participants known as Els Enfarinats (those covered in flour) dress in military clothes and stage a mock coup d'etat as they battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers outside the city town hall as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Innocents, a traditional day in Spain for pulling pranks.

AFP via Getty

5/50 27 December 2019The Panamanian-flag cargo ship "Zelek Star" is pictured after being washed up on a beach in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashdod during a storm

AFP via Getty

6/50 26 December 2019Monks wearing solar filter glasses watch the "ring of fire" solar eclipse at the Gaden monastery in a Tibetan colony in Teginkoppa, India

AFP via Getty

7/50 25 December 2019A participant in a Darth Vader costume jumps into the water during the 110th edition of the 'Copa Nadal' (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona's Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race included more than 300 participants on Barcelona's old harbour

AFP/Getty

8/50 24 December 2019Children dressed as Santa Claus during celebrations on Christmas Eve at a school in Amritsar

AFP via Getty

9/50 23 December 2019Palestinians wearing Christmas costumes distribute gifts to children seated atop the rubble of a house demolished by Israel, reportedly for not being built with official licensing in the village of al-Khader, west of of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank

AFP via Getty

10/50 22 December 2019A journalist gets pepper-sprayed after a heated exchange with police during a rally in Hong Kong to show support for the Uighur minority in China. Hong Kong riot police broke up a solidarity rally for China's Uighurs -- with one officer drawing a pistol -- as the city's pro-democracy movement likened their plight to that of the oppressed Muslim minority

AFP via Getty

11/50 21 December 2019Children react as a Bengal tiger licks the glass surrounding its enclosure during the "Animal Christmas Party", where the youths were treated to a tour of the Malabon Zoo, in Manila

AFP via Getty

12/50 20 December 2019In this long exposure photo, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Boeing Starliner crew capsule lifts off on an orbital flight test to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral

AP

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AFP via Getty

16/50 16 December 2019People ride a merry-go-round at the Christmas Market at the Red Square in Moscow

AFP via Getty

17/50 15 December 2019The Red Rebels, part of the Extinction Rebellion Australia demonstrator group, participate in a climate protest rally in Sydney. The group rallied in front of the landmark Sydney Opera House demanding urgent climate action from Australia's government, as bushfire smoke choking the city caused health problems to spike

AFP via Getty

18/50 14 December 2019Protesters block a road after setting buses on fire during a demonstration against the Indian government's Citizenship Amendment Bill in Howrah, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India. Protests against a divisive new citizenship law raged on as Washington and London issued travel warnings for northeast India following days of violent clashes that have killed two people so far

AFP via Getty

19/50 13 December 2019A huge cloud of black smoke raises over a burning warehouse in the southern outskirts of Moscow. There were no immediate reports of any casualties, but one fire fighter was injured and 25 ambulance cars and a special air testing vehicle are at the site, they added

EPA

20/50 12 December 2019A slow shutter speed shot shows oarsmen in traditional costume rowing during the Royal Barge Procession to mark the conclusion of the Royal Coronation ceremony, on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. The ceremony honours King Rama X after his complete accession to the throne

EPA

21/50 11 December 2019A boy inspects his damaged home after after an attack near the Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan, A powerful suicide bombing targeted an under-construction medical facility near the main American base north of the capital

AP

22/50 10 December 2019Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives to participate in the event "Unite behind the science" within the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid

AFP via Getty

23/50 9 December 2019White Island (Whakaari) volcano, as it erupts, in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. According to police, at least five people have died in the volcanic erruption

EPA/Michael Schade

24/50 8 December 2019People gather amidst the ruins of a building, destroyed during reported Syrian regime and Russian air strikes the previous day in the town of Balyun. The reported air raids killed 19 civilians, eight of them children, in the country's last major opposition bastion

AFP via Getty

25/50 7December 2019A French CGT unionist holds up the union's flag as he demonstrates against unemployment amidst smoke bombs in Nantes. The most serious nationwide strike to hit France in years caused new misery for weekend travellers, with defiant unions dismissing proposals by the government and warning walkouts would last well into next week

AFP via Getty

26/50 6 December 2019People stand on top of a collapsed six-storey building in Nairobi, Kenya. Local media reported that several people are feared trapped as the rescue operation continues

EPA

27/50 5 December 2019Indonesia players celebrate a point during their match against Vietnam in the women's volleyball preliminary round of the Southeast Asian Games being held in the Philippines

Reuters

28/50 4 December 2019Firefighters work to contain a large fire at an industrial building at Inlet Road inn Auckland, New Zealand

Getty

29/50 3 December 2019Doan Quynh Nam Tran of Vietnam competes in the women's gymnastics at the SEA Games (Southeast Asian Games) in Manila

AFP via Getty

30/50 2 December 2019A youth plays on foamy discharge, caused by pollutants, as it mixes with the surf at a beach in Chennai

AFP via Getty

31/50 1 December 2019Southeast Asian Games at the Royce Hotel, Mabalacat, Philippines. Vietnam's Pham Hong Anh in action during her single dance final.

Reuters

32/50 30 November 2019A woman holds a coloured flag at the Botswana Pride Parade in Gaborone. The parade is the first one organised in Botswana, after the Court ruled on June 11 in favour of decriminalising homosexuality, which had been punishable by a jail term of up to seven years.

AFP via Getty

33/50 29 November 2019A child holds a placard during a 'drop dead' flashmob protest against climate change consequences at Lumpini Park in Bangkok, Thailand

Reuters

34/50 28 November 2019Pro-democracy protesters hold an SOS sign and US national flags during a Thanksgiving rally in Edinburgh Place, Hong Kong. Protesters were thanking US President Donald Trump for signing into a law 'The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act Hong Kong', provoking an angry backlash from the Chinese government. Hong Kong is in its sixth month of mass protests, which were originally triggered by a now withdrawn extradition bill, and have since turned into a wider pro-democracy movement

EPA

35/50 27 November 2019Rescuers with a dog search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Durres, western Albania

AP

36/50 26 November 2019A shepherd leads a flock of sheep on a pontoon bridge in Allahabad

AFP via Getty

37/50 25 November 2019North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a female company belonging to 5492 troops

KCNA via Reuters

38/50 24 November 2019A protester jumps between burning tires during ongoing anti-government protests in Basra, Iraq

Reuters

39/50 23 November 2019Fans dressed as Star Wars characters during day three of the first Test between Australia and Pakistan at The Gabba in Australia

Getty

40/50 22 November 2019Pope Francis speaks with religious leaders during a meeting at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand

Reuters

41/50 21 November 2019A girl injured in last night's attack by the Syrian regime on a camp for displaced people near the Turkish border in Idlib, Syria is held up to the camera

AFP/Getty

42/50 20 November 2019Indian paramilitary soldiers detain a Congress party supporter during a protest against the withdrawal of Special Protection Group (SPG) cover to party president Sonia Gandhi, her children and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delh. The move to lift off the SPG security, an elite force that protects prime ministers and their immediate families, led to sharp reactions from the Congress, which accused the government of personal vendetta

AP

43/50 19 November 2019An image taken from a plane window shows Sydney shrouded in smoke from nearby bush fires

AAP Imagevia Reuters

44/50 18 November 2019Protesters run for cover after riot police fired tear gas towards the bridge they were climbing down to the road below, to escape from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dozens escaped the besieged campus by lowering themselves on a rope from a footbridge to a highway. Once on the road they were seen being picked up by waiting motorcyclists

AFP via Getty

45/50 17 November 2019Anti-government protesters draped in Iraqi national flags walk into clouds of smoke from burning tires during a demonstration in the southern city of Basra, Iraq

AFP via Getty

46/50 16 November 2019A protester wearing a yellow jacket waves a French flag in a fountain during a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the "yellow vests" movement in Nice, France

Reuters

47/50 15 November 2019A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces amid clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum

AFP via Getty

48/50 14 November 2019A patient suffering from dengue fever receives medical treatment at an isolation ward at a hospital in Larkana, Pakistan. According to local reports, 26 deaths have been reported out of a total of 10,013 confirmed cases of dengue infection. Dengue fever is reportedly caused by a specific type of mosquito, the Aedes mosquito, that bites only during daytime, especially during sunrise and sunset.

EPA

49/50 13 November 2019An anti-government protester flashes the V-sign for victory in front of burning tyres used to block a main road at the entrance of Tripoli. The previous night, street protests erupted across Lebanon after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government, cutting off several major roads. In his televised address, Aoun proposed a government that includes both technocrats and politicians

AFP via Getty

50/50 12 November 2019An Israeli missile launching from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells. They were sent up to intercept rockets launched from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip. Israel's military killed a commander for Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a strike on his home, prompting retaliatory rocket fire and fears of a severe escalation in violence

AFP/Getty

The airstrikes angered Iraqi officials and much of the public. Though the militia is considered a terrorist group by the US, many Iraqis regard its members as heroes for fighting Isis, or are at least sympathetic to the young mostly poor militiamen who join it. The US launched the attacks in response to a barrage of rockets that landed on a base in northern Iraq on Friday that killed an American military contractor and injured US soldiers.

Washington claimed Iran was behind the attack but has provided no evidence and has yet to disclose why it believes Kataib Hezbollah, which is among a number of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias hostile to Washington, was responsible. Independent security experts have argued that pro-Iranian Iraqi militias were probably behind the missile strikes, among a long-running series of attacks on bases across Iraq where Americans are stationed.

Funeral processions for the slain militiamen on Tuesday turned into angry marches that evolved into a rowdy demonstration at the US embassy compound in Baghdad, where protesters managed to make their way into the entrance and set fires. They eventually were convinced and coerced into leaving, but were setting up a protest encampment outside the fortress-like facility, the largest and most expensive US diplomatic mission in the world.

Clashes erupted again on Wednesday morning, with reports that some protesters were injured by teargas before being convinced to leave by the leadership of the Popular Mobilisation Units, the government umbrella organisation under which Iraqi militias who fought against Isis operate.

The US has begun to bolster security at the compound, reportedly deploying hundreds more troops to Iraq, including marines that landed at the facility in helicopters on Wednesday.

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In the tweet that provoked Mr Khamenei's ire, Mr Trump said: ''Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities.''

He added, ''They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.''

Bizarrely, Mr Trump ended the tweet with, ''Happy New Year!''

Mr Khamenei, in a tweet on Wednesday, wrote that ''if Iran wants to fight a country, it will do so openly'', a statement which appears to contradict four decades of Iranian security strategies which emphasised asymmetric and clandestine action.

''We are committed to the interests and dignity of our people and we will confront whoever threatens that without any consideration and hurt them,'' Mr Khamenei wrote in his tweet.

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Source: W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:44

Thank you, HamAlert!I just finished working W2P just a little while ago!HamAlert was chirping at me earlier in the day. They were spotted on 20 Meter SSB and 40 Meter CW. I tried listening on 40 Meters, thinking that I would have luck like I did the other day. No joy. I couldn't even hear the whisper of an ESP signal.20 Meter SSB was better, but not much. I heard Matt, who was running the frequency, but he was very weak. If he was continuously calling CQ with no takers, he might have heard me, but he had plenty of stations to work that were much louder than me. That was a bust, also.Around 2:00 PM this afternoon (1900 UTC) my cell phone started alerting me again. This time 40 Meter CW again in the 7.057 MHz neighborhood. Even though I was busy with a house project, I ran down the basement and popped in the earbuds.Hallelujah!  W2P was a good 579 and I worked them on my third try.  Now I can get the two QSL cards and that certificate which enrolls me in the Signal Corp of The Continental Army. LOL! Now my Dad's not the only one who served in the Signal Corp.I shouldn't make light of that, as he served in the REAL Signal Corp. during WWII. But I think if he were still around (he'd be 99 this year), he'd have gotten a kick out of it.72 de Larry W2LJQRP - When you care to send the very least!

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:41

Before the election in 2016 Soros claimed that China should be at the helm of the New World Order, in particular the 'financial world order'. He further clarified, ''They have to own it the same way as I said the United States owns'... the Washington consensus'... the current order, and I think this would be a more stable one where you would have a coordinated policies.''

In 1956 The Rockefeller Brothers produced a book, Prospect For America; The Rockefeller Panel Reports. It begins historically with the claim that the 13 empires that ruled the world needed to be dissolved. Thus WWI was created. It speaks to the elite desire to shape a New World Order first in the creation of the League of Nations, post WWI, and second in the creation of the UN post WWII after further breakage of empire control. And then he discusses the failure of their high hopes in bringing about the universal government they had been planning.

So they had to devise an alternate plan of action. When these institutions failed to generate the necessary good vs. evil, they utilized the Soviet Union as the boogeyman:

''By threatening some nations with Soviet aggression and others with American aggression, they compelled the nations to band together and join sides for protection. The members of each side were then pressured to increase economic and defensive cooperation to fend off the menace of the other side. Those who were programmed to believe they lived in the ''people's (communist) world'' cooperated to block aggression from the ''imperialist world,'' and those who were programmed to believe they lived in the ''free world'' cooperated to block aggression from the ''Soviet sphere''.''

In order to transition to this order, independent status had to be eliminated. The US had to become less and less self sufficient in order to be contained as wealth collapsed and a created need was implemented. In other words prosperity had to be dependent on interdependence and governed by the UN and IMF.

Europe was their first grand accomplishment. And they were emboldened.

But China represented a problem. Changing their nationalist ideology was considered futile. So instead, these elites decided to offer China top tier. China would be the leading governor of the NWO. Establishing a rapid lopsided trade imbalance with China was thought to be the impetus for ultimate control. Within this model, the US trade balance had to decline dramatically in power and be re-distributed. In 1975 the trade deficit with China was $-0-. Today, it has reached roughly $350 billion.

The book addresses challenges to the success of the NWO. If a nation wants independence and sovereignty, they will be attacked via economic sanctions, dubbed 'economic hit men', trade imbalances, and civil war. These attacks would thwart the country's attempt at survival and devolve them into the globalist union.

In 2003, BRIC was formed as a loose arrangement between Brazil, Russia, India and China with South Africa joining in 2010. Initially supported and encouraged by the elite, the alliance gained traction and fit the ideology of the NWO in creating smaller cohesive groups of countries to govern.

There were still some wild cards.

While the Rockefellers and Rothschilds courted China and India during the 1970's, their plan seemed to be accepted with Kissinger at the helm. With Reagan's assistance the Soviet Union fell in the 1980's. Simultaneously, the Rockefeller's produced their first report on climate change and created the UN Intergovernmental Plan on Climate Change. As such, in essence: ''''Big Oil'' through the Rockefeller Family and Rockefeller Brothers Trusts generously finance the Worldwide climate protest movement.''

Why would they want to peddle false information that is so dire?

Because the rumors of lore, that scientific evidence shows the earth is entering a mini ice-age, are actually factual, and it has been presented by scientists that we will observe a 'grand solar-minimum' by 2030-2040. If we are told to alter our environment to support a massive warming when in fact we will be presented with a massive cooling, we will wipe out entire swathes of sustainable land and depopulation will be achieved.

So where are these elites now investing? Africa and South America where temperatures will still be habitable.

What happened to the courtship of China? In 2014, Oliver Rothschild became the new China boy. He was given the red-carpet treatment as he made claims of chairing dozens of major charities, a global financial investor and entrepreneurial strategist. China fell for it. Turns out the man is a hoax. No relationship to the Rothschild lineage and China was left completely embarrassed having fallen for this con man.

So China went rogue and Hong Kong became the means of chaos. Russia had banned all things Soros, and India capitulated with Open Society operations, Ford Foundation operations and NED. Other offices where the Open Society is busy include: Columbia, Mexico, Brazil, Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, 4 offices in Ukraine, Jordan, Russia border countries, 12 offices across Africa, and 10 throughout Europe including Berlin.

Then in 2019, Soros declared that China was a mortal enemy because, ''China had not played by the rules and that its values were at odds with those of the ''open society''.'' China has stated that NED is behind the Hong Kong protests which are likely revenge for Xi Jinping's rogue attitude toward the NWO according to Rockefeller and has decided to create it's own 'Order'. China is colonizing large swathes of Africa and courting a number of countries in South America. Not part of the Rockefeller/Soros agenda.

Specifically demonizing Xi Jinping as the root of this turnaround, Soros has been quite vocal of his change in admiration; 3 months later the Hong Kong protests were organized and 4 months after this threat, hedge funds began shorting the Hong Kong dollar. The move failed.

In the same interview Soros endorsed Elizabeth Warren as the Democrat nominee claiming her views are most closely aligned with his 'open society'.

In essence, Rockefeller/Rothschild/Soros and the entire cabal are in defense mode given the sudden loss of China as their pontifical point, Russia a lost cause, Trump divorcing all his carefully laid plans, and Europe breaking apart, it is likely there will be greater emphasis turned on South America and Africa through tremendous destabilization.

Chile protests continue to rage sending the economy into a major downward spiral. Brazil's Bolsonaro blames WWF and other NGO's for arson. And most of Africa continues to battle mafia gangs, Al Shabaab, and rebel factions that simply move around killing everyone in sight. And despite constant reiteration that 85% or more of Australia fires are 'human related' and upwards of 50% or more 'arson', the global warming agenda rattles on smelling more and more vile as they confiscate the soul of Greta.

A significant portion of eastern and southern Africa have land grabs attributable to China, Germany, Middle East, UK and US provide the picture. Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia have seen decades of land grabs predominantly for agriculture gains. Of course, Venezuela is now up for grabs by the highest bidder'...

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:31

Whether you're a frequent flyer or an aviation enthusiast, a mobile flight tracker app for iPhone or Android will keep you up-to-date on your next flight.

by staff writers / January 18, 2019

Stay ahead of the game with these flight tracker apps for iOS and Android. Image credit: Artur Grom/Adobe StockWe've taken the guesswork out of picking the best flight tracker app for your iPhone or Android. Read on to discover some amazing ways these apps keep tabs on aircraft, using smart technology and elegant in-design features.

FlightAware Flight Tracker (iOS, Android)This flight tracking app allows you to check the flight status of any aircraft by its registration, route, airline, flight number, or airport code.

The app uses NEXRAD radar overlay to enhance its flight tracker map and push notifications to keep you up-to-date.

Do you have a loved one, friend, or colleague picking you up from the other end of your flight? Why not create a fight alert and send it to them so they can also keep updated on where you're at.

The app is limited to the U.S. and Canada.

Rated 4.0 out of 39,000 ratings on Google Play and 4.9 out of nine ratings on Apple Store.

Flightview '' Flight Tracker (iOS)Tracking real-time status updates has never been easier, with push notifications sent from the Flightview '' Flight Tracker app each time there is a change in status of your flight.

This flight tracking app features weather information at both the arrival and departure airports of your flight as well as information relating to your aircraft's previous routes, up to two previous days, for insight into its on-time performance.

If you want, you can forward your itinerary confirmation emails over to the app and Flightview will add the information into your app.

You can also include additional information relating to your travels into the apps, from car rental information to hotel reservation numbers.

To stay truly connected, the app is also capable of linking to your iPhone Calendar and gives you the option to share your flight status via SMS.

Rated 4.4 out of 1,100 ratings on Apple Store

FlightStats (iOS, Android)This flight tracking app has an extremely professional feel, with the ability to check your flight status, timeline, and watch its path via a built-in map.

The app also provides information relating to any delays in either flight departure or arrival times, as well as gate information and weather conditions, including a seven-day forecast.

Rated 4.1 on 22,500 ratings on Google Play and rated 4.8 out of 17,000 ratings on Apple Store

Keep an eye on your flight's departure and arrival times via these flight tracker apps. Image credit: forkART Photography/Adobe StockADSB Flight Tracker (Android)This flight tracking app is definitely for the aviation enthusiast wanting to track and view planes flying into local and global areas.

The app has Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)receiver functionality, which is capable of picking up aircraft broadcasting their positions. According to the app website, you need to install additional hardware to receive live plane data from the skies.

It is understood the app uses a radar style similar to the radar screens Heathrow air traffic controllers use in the real world.

Rated 4.2 out of 1199 ratings on Google Play

Plane Finder '' Flight Tracker This very simple, user-friendly app lets you search for flights and aircraft using 23 different markers, and displays airline logos next to planes for easy identification.

You can simply tap on a plane to see flight information, including photographs, and add bookmarks and filters to the app for easy use next time you're in the app.

Plane Finder '' Flight Tracker also uses ADS-B signals, to provide accurate flight information.

The app also harnesses augmented reality to help you identify planes overhead using your phone's camera, according to the app's website.

Rated 4.7 out of 10,300 ratings on Apple Store and rated 4.4 out of 14,800 ratings on Google Play

Planes Live '' Flight Tracker (iOS)This flight tracker app boasts a clean interface and tracks not only planes, but also helicopters. Use this app to check the status of your flight, aircraft characteristics, and see pictures of the flight route and schedule.

Why not apply some filters to track specific airplane models and companies across the majority of the globe?

The app offers close to 100 percent coverage of transmitter-enabled airplanes, with data delivered with a delay of up to five minutes.

Rated 4.6 out of 30,900 ratings on Apple Store

App in the Air (Android) free versionTouted as your own ''personal flying assistant'', App in the Air goes beyond flight tracker options to deliver airport tips and airport maps.

The app also imports your flight history to track your loyalty programs/frequent flyer miles. Possibly the best feature of this app is its ability to work offline and provide gate change and flight status updates via SMS, without the need for data roaming.

You can also check-in automatically via the app, with more than 1000 airlines featured across all major US airports.

There is also a feature that provides advice from other travelers so you can stay well-informed.

Rated 4.3 out of 3600 ratings on Google Play and rated 4.6 out of 3200 ratings on Apple Store

Flight Board (Android)This simple flight boarding app provides information for departures and arrivals, including which terminal you will board and disembark from.

As a passenger, the app also gives you access the check the baggage claim area at your destination airport.

The app features information from 1000 major airports worldwide.

Rated 4.2 out of 2600 ratings on Google Play

Flight Board (iOS)This app, created by Impala Studios, covers more than 16,000 airports and 1400 airlines globally.

The app updates every minute and provides an extremely realistic design of the traditional flight board found across most airports.

Rated 4.7 out of 7700 ratings on Apple Store

One of the many benefits in using a airport transfer service with Blacklane is that our chauffeurs use a flight tracking app to ensure a smooth and comfortable experience with us.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:30

The 2020 Davos economic conference will be a little more important to watch this year (as it was in 2017) due to the completed U.S. Trade Agreements (S Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and China) and the predicted focus for the Trump administration to pivot from Asia to the EU and U.K. for the next critical phase of the 'America-First' global trade reset.

As a result of the recent U.K. election, pending Brexit, a favorable $7.5 billion WTO ruling and USTR Lighthizer's new $2.4 billion EU targeted tariff program, the administration has significant advantages going into a trade discussion with the EU in 2020.

Team USA has the world's strongest economy, the largest market, legally bolstered tariff authority and a quiver full of powerful economic arrows.

Meanwhile Team EU has: (1) the UK leaving; (2) severe drops in German industrial manufacturing; (3) a shrinking French economy; (4) yellow-vests in the streets; and (5) demands for greater economic autonomy from many key member states.

Overlay Germany, France and Italy large economy challenges such as: their promise to meet NATO obligations '' and their attachment to the strangling Paris Climate Treaty, and the EU's collective economic position is precarious at best.

WHITE HOUSE '' Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the Presidential Delegation that will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from January 20 to January 24, 2020.

The Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, will lead the delegation.

Members of the Presidential Delegation:

1. The Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury (Lead)2. The Honorable Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce3. The Honorable Eugene Scalia, Secretary of Labor4. The Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation5. The Honorable Robert Lighthizer, United States Trade Representative6. The Honorable Keith Krach, Under Secretary for Growth, Energy and the Environment, Department of State7. The Honorable Ivanka Trump, Assistant to the President and Advisor to the President8. The Honorable Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President9. The Honorable Christopher Liddell, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:28

Beat cops and narcotics officers will instead be on the lookout for individuals looking to rob dispensary patrons braving long lines to get their first taste of legal pot.

By Tom Schuba on December 30, 2019 6:41 pm Chicago police officers will be maintaining a ''heightened awareness'' of the city's pot shops when the drug is legalized Wednesday, but they won't be looking to ticket revelers for getting high outside.

''We are not focused on that at all,'' said Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Though the state legalization law prohibits individuals from sparking up in public, Chicago police officers have been directed to simply inform offenders of the new rules when they take effect instead of taking punitive actions. Guglielmi noted that officers are instead ''interested in violence.''

Beat cops and narcotics officers will be on the lookout for individuals looking to rob dispensary patrons braving long lines to get their first taste of legal pot. Those customers make ''attractive street robbery targets'' because they'll likely be carrying large amounts of weed and money near the largely cash-only businesses, Guglielmi said.

''Any officer who has a dispensary in their beat, they're going to make contact with that business and they're going to be maintaining a heightened presence while they're not answering other calls for service,'' he added.

Paul Stewart, Mayor Lori Lightfoot's point man on pot policy, said officers will seek to ''ensure a kind of orderly operation'' outside of the nine dispensaries that are expected to be open Wednesday to anyone 21 and older. Stewart likened the expected legalization rush to other events in the city that commonly draw throngs of people, like product releases at Apple stores.

''It's not like we haven't encountered things of this nature,'' he noted.

In the upcoming weeks and months, Guglielmi said, enforcement will shift to street-level dealers and gangs aiming to undercut the hefty dispensary prices.

An eighth of an ounce of medical marijuana, subject to a 1% state pharmaceutical tax, typically costs around $60 at Illinois dispensaries. That price will be substantially higher for recreational users, who will soon face state taxes between 10% and 25% for pot products.

Chicagoans can currently find an eighth of high-quality cannabis for as cheap as $30 on the street, according to Budzu, a website that aggregates weed prices.

''Gangs are a business, they're on top of these types of things,'' Guglielmi said, adding that the push to offer the most competitive pot prices could potentially lead to a ''turf battle.''

''It's a supply and demand thing.''

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:23

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.

Finding free online tax filing should be easier this year for millions of Americans.

The IRS announced significant changes Monday to its deal with the tax prep software industry. Now companies are barred from hiding their free products from search engines such as Google, and a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped.

The addendum to the deal, known as Free File, comes after ProPublica's reporting this year on how the industry, led by TurboTax maker Intuit, has long misled taxpayers who are eligible to file for free into paying.

Under the nearly two-decade-old Free File deal, the industry agreed to make free versions of tax filing software available to lower- and middle-income Americans. In exchange, the IRS promised not to compete with the industry by creating its own online filing system. Many developed countries have such systems, allowing most citizens to file their taxes for free. The prohibition on the IRS creating its own system was the focus of years of lobbying by Intuit. The industry has seen such a system as an existential threat. Now, with the changes to the deal, the prohibition has been dropped.

Get Our Top InvestigationsSubscribe to the Big Story newsletter.

The addendum also expressly bars the companies from ''engaging in any practice'' that would exclude their Free File offerings ''from an organic internet search.'' ProPublica reported in April that Intuit and H&R Block had added code to their Free File pages that hid them from Google and other search engines, diverting many users to the companies' paid products.

''The improved process will make Free File stronger and give taxpayers another reason to consider this valuable software option,'' IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement. The agency hopes the changes will make the free option more accessible for taxpayers in the 2020 filing season, he said.

Under the new rules, participating companies also have to standardize the naming convention of their Free File version as ''IRS Free File program delivered by [product name].'' In the past, many tax filers reported being confused by the difference between, for example, TurboTax Free and TurboTax Free File.

In a blog post on the Intuit website, the company said, ''Intuit strongly supports these changes to the Free File program and associated Free File offerings because they increase the focus on the taxpayer experience.''

Intuit faces multiple ongoing lawsuits and investigations into whether the company deceived customers. The company has said such accusations are baseless.

Reach Out to UsDo you have access to information about Intuit or tax filing that should be public? Reach Justin by email at justin@propublica.org or via Signal at 774-826-6240. Here's how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:20

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Posted: Jan 01, 2020 12:01 AM

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Colleges have been around for centuries. College students have also been around for centuries. Yet, college administrators assume that today's students have needs that were unknown to their predecessors. Those needs include diversity and equity personnel, with massive budgets to accommodate.

According to Minding the Campus, Penn State University's Office of Vice Provost for Educational Equity employs 66 staff members. The University of Michigan currently employs a diversity staff of 93 full-time diversity administrators, officers, directors, vice provosts, deans, consultants, specialists, investigators, managers, executive assistants, administrative assistants, analysts and coordinators. Amherst College, with a student body of 1,800 students employs 19 diversity people. Top college diversity bureaucrats earn salaries six figures, in some cases approaching $500,000 per year. In the case of the University of Michigan, a quarter (26) of their diversity officers earn annual salaries of more than $100,000. If you add generous fringe benefits and other expenses, you could easily be talking about $13 million a year in diversity costs. The Economist reports that University of California, Berkeley, has 175 diversity bureaucrats.

Diversity officials are a growing part of a college bureaucracy structure that outnumbers faculty by 2 to 2.5 depending on the college. According to "The Campus Diversity Swarm," an article from Mark Pulliam, a contributing editor at Law and Liberty, which appeared in the City Journal (10/10/2018), diversity people assist in the cultivation of imaginary grievances of an ever-growing number of "oppressed" groups. Pulliam writes: "The mission of campus diversity officers is self-perpetuating. Affirmative action (i.e., racial and ethnic preferences in admissions) leads to grievance studies. Increased recognition of LGBTQ rights requires ever-greater accommodation by the rest of the student body. Protecting 'vulnerable' groups from 'hate speech' and 'microaggressions' requires speech codes and bias-response teams (staffed by diversocrats). Complaints must be investigated and adjudicated (by diversocrats). Fighting 'toxic masculinity' and combating an imaginary epidemic of campus sexual assault necessitate consent protocols, training, and hearing procedures -- more work for an always-growing diversocrat cadre. Each newly recognized problem leads to a call for more programs and staffing."

Campus diversity people have developed their own professional organization -- the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. They hold annual conferences -- the last one in Philadelphia. The NADOHE has developed standards for professional practice and a political agenda, plus a Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, which is published by the American Psychological Association.

One wonders just how far spineless college administrators will go when it comes to caving in to the demands of campus snowflakes who have been taught that they must be protected against words, events and deeds that do not fully conform to their extremely limited, narrow-minded beliefs built on sheer delusion. Generosity demands that we forgive these precious snowflakes and hope that they eventually grow up. The real problem is with people assumed to be grown-ups -- college professors and administrators -- who serve their self-interest by tolerating and giving aid and comfort to our aberrant youth. Unless the cycle of promoting and nursing imaginary grievances is ended, diversity bureaucracies will take over our colleges and universities, supplanting altogether the goal of higher education.

"Diversity" is the highest goal of students and professors who openly detest those with whom they disagree. These people support the very antithesis of higher education with their withering attacks on free speech. Both in and out of academia, the content of a man's character is no longer as important as the color of his skin, his sex, his sexual preferences or his political loyalties. That's a vision that spells tragedy for our nation.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 21:16

Demonstrators march with banners and union flags during a protest against pension reform plans in Paris, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

OAN NewsroomUPDATED 1:46 PM PT '-- Wednesday, January 1, 2020Protesters in France are advocating for more strikes amid plans to reform the country's pension system. The leader of prominent labor union ' La CGT' is urging all workers to join the demonstrations this week.

Philippe Martinez: "Le discours d'Emmanuel Macron ? J'ai l'impression de l'avoir entendu 1000 fois. Le pr(C)sident est enferm(C) dans sa bulle. Il consid¨re que tout va bien dans ce pays"#BourdinDirect 🎸 https://t.co/rHDndqgHNc pic.twitter.com/jmlKnSpHZV

'-- RMC (@RMCinfo) January 1, 2020

The new year also brought the second month of strikes as protesters pushed back against the French president's single system pension plan. The protests have yet to change his goals.

He reiterated his position on pension reform in a New Year's Eve address earlier this week.

''Calm should always win against conflict. To calm down does not mean to give up, but to respect each other regardless of disagreements. My only guide is and will be the interest of our country, our capacity to guarantee the best pensions for our elders and the defense of those who don't always have it easy, to have their voices heard, meaning our children.'' '' Emmanuel Macron, President of France

Macron said he believes a compromise can be made with union workers while still implementing his plans.

Metro workers march with during a protest against pension reform plans in Paris, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 21:15

California is poised to lose a congressional seat for the first time in its history as a state, based on U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released Monday that showed the nation's growth continued to slow in 2019.

Some 27 states and the District of Columbia lost residents through net domestic migration between 2018 and 2019, the new census data show.

About 203,000 people left California in that period, a result of the state's shifting migration patterns and economic strains that are making it harder to afford living here. New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Louisiana also saw large losses to other states.

California's potential loss in reapportionment, which will be determined by next year's census count, would drop the state's number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives from 53 to 52, said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

''It's got a lot to do with dispersion from California to the rest of the west,'' Frey said. ''Arizona, Texas and Colorado are all big destinations for California migrants, and they all are gaining seats.''

A 2019 relocation study by Texas Realtors found that 63,175 Californians moved to Texas in 2017, while California was the top destination for Texans to move '-- nearly 41,000 relocated here.

Texas is likely to gain three seats following the 2020 decennial count, according to Frey's analysis of census data, while states such as Arizona, Colorado and Oregon may gain one seat apiece.

The apportionment population count for each of the 50 states includes the state's total resident population '-- citizens and non-citizens '-- as well as a count of the overseas federal employees and their dependents who have that state listed as their home state in their employers' administrative records, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The House of Representatives is limited to 435 members, not under the U.S. Constitution, but because of a 1929 federal law that could be changed if lawmakers and the president agreed to do so.

Exactly where California would lose a seat in the House depends on which communities are larger or smaller compared to census numbers from 2010. The state's Citizens Redistricting Commission, whose members will be selected in coming months, will hold public hearings in 2021 to determine how to redraw congressional maps.

Paul Mitchell, one of the state's leading analysts of the redistricting process, said that two places could dominate the discussion: the communities sitting at the intersection of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties and the suburbs to the east of San Francisco.

But other big changes to the political map-drawing process are also in store '-- including the 2013 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike part of the federal Voting Rights Act that strongly influenced the current California maps.

''That will allow a massive rewrite of the Central Valley congressional districts, so it might be really hard to see the total impact'' of losing a House seat because of population, Mitchell said.

Even so, the most obvious political impact would be to force incumbent House members to either run against each other or leave office. In 2012, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Northridge) defeated former Rep. Howard Berman in a bitter contest brought on by the new lines drawn in Los Angeles County.

California's future numerical strength in Congress hinges in part on making sure that members of historically undercounted groups are included in the census count. In California, 72% of the population belongs to one of these groups, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

State census workers, community organizations and local politicians started outreach efforts as early as April to ensure an accurate tally in next year's count. In addition to reapportionment, nearly $800 billion in federal tax dollars and political redistricting are at stake.

State government leaders have allocated about $187 million to help verify addresses and expand outreach efforts, according to California's census office.

Still, there will be major hurdles. Those without reliable internet connections may be missed in a census that will rely heavily on online surveys. Los Angeles County, officials say, will be the nation's hardest to tally because of its high concentrations of renters and homeless people, as well as immigrant communities that may not participate, either because of language barriers or because they fear being targeted by federal immigration authorities.

''If, as many fear, non-citizen populations and the state's heavily Latino population either fails to participate or participates without providing full household counts, then California could lose more than one seat,'' said Mitchell, whose firm analyzes political data for regional and statewide candidates.

Nationally, natural increase (births minus deaths) has declined steadily over the past decade. The U.S. also registered a decline in its population under the age of 18, Frey, the demographer, said. California led in that category, with a drop of about 400,000 people under the age of 18, followed by Illinois and New York. The South and West saw the biggest gain in children, Frey added, led by Texas.

''This is a symptom of an aging population,'' he said, ''and in states like California, an out-migration of younger families with children.''

California's representation stayed the same following the 2010 census count. If the state does lose a seat or two in 2020, Frey said, it's uncertain whether the decline would carry into the 2030 count.

''In a way, these last few years are a confluence of things that may not continue over time,'' he said. ''The slowdown in immigration may not continue, millennials may finally start having kids. Domestic out-migration may continue. All those things happened at the same time, so I don't think they're going to be quite as dim in the next few years.''

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:23

Photo Courtesy MGN Images

ARKANSAS (KFSM) '-- Judge Don McSpadden of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit is recusing himself from a child custody lawsuit in Arkansas brought against Hunter Biden.

According to a court record filed Tuesday (Dec. 31), Judge McSpadden did not give an explanation or reason for recusing himself.

The lawsuit was filed in Independence County, Arkansas stating that Biden and Lunden Roberts of Batesville were in a relationship and the child was born in August of 2018. Roberts has filed for child support and a request for Biden to pay healthcare costs for the child.

A DNA test revealed that Biden is the father of the baby ''with scientific certainty.''

Biden, the son of former vice president and presidential candidate Joe Biden, is already the father of three children and recently married a different woman.

Meanwhile, another person wants to be made a party in the case against Biden.

Joel Caplan filed a motion in Independence County on Monday (Dec. 30) to become a party in the ongoing lawsuit.

According to the 30 page court filing, Caplan explains how he was allegedly conned in a ''multi-billion dollar stock scheme known as The China Hustle.''

The court document states that Caplan wants to obtain Biden's bank records to help trace back the billions that went missing in China to possibly regain his lost savings.

According to the court filing, ''Joel Caplan's claim has a question of law and fact in common with Roberts vs. Biden, namely whether the disappearance of those companies and the vast sums of money they raised is related, correlated, or has any nexus with the 1.5 billion dollars that Mr. Robert Hunter Biden received or allegedly received from high level Chinese government officials and/or wealthy Chinese National investors.''

On Friday (Dec. 27), Investigator Dominic Casey also filed a motion in Independence County to be made a party in the case against Hunter Biden.

The court filing states that Casey provided Roberts' attorney with electronic access to Biden's bank account records. In the motion filed, Casey gave Roberts' legal team consent to use the bank records in the case.

The next hearing in the case is set for Tuesday, January 7.

To read more from Caplan's filing, click here.

To read more from Casey's filing, click here.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:08

January 1, 2020

President Obama's been kind of quiet these days, last tweeting his Christmas greetings and best wishes for the health of Rep. John Lewis.

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So has former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former UN ambassador Samantha Power, former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, and former CIA Director John Brennan.

Only lowly Ben Rhodes, the creative-writing major promoted to Deputy National Security Advisor for "communications" and his sidekick Colin Kahl, Joe Biden's NSC man, have been Twitter-talkative.

The Obama bigfoots have good reason to lay low. The U.S. embassy in Iraq was attacked by one of the people they'd tried to coddle earlier, back in 2011, Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, a guy so bad even a former FBI director, Louis Freeh, spoke out against letting the guy in at the time. It's not like this guy pretended to be a friend and then went bad on them. They knew. And they let him in, giving him lots of clout back home from which he was able to draw new terrorist resources, since terrorism was what he did.

'); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1567099776462-0'); }); } According to the 2011 report in the Washington Times:

Embassy was unavailable to elaborate on Mr. al-Amiri's role in the White House visit.

Louis J. Freeh, who served as FBI director in the Clinton administration and the early months of the George W. Bush administration, said it was shocking that Mr. al-Maliki would include Mr. al-Amiri in his visit to Washington.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been involved in ''countless acts of terrorism, which are acts of war against the United States,'' Mr. Freeh said in an interview.

Mr. al-Amiri served as a commander of the Revolutionary Guard's Badr Corps, a battalion that was tasked with operations in Iraq. He remained active in the Badr Corps during the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was working on resistance efforts against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

The FBI linked the Revolutionary Guard to the attack on the Khobar Towers in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on June 25, 1996. Nineteen U.S. servicemen were killed by a bomb blast at the towers, which were housing American military personnel.

''As a senior leader, [Mr. al-Amiri] would have to have known about Khobar, and he would know Gen. [Ahmad] Sherifi, who was the IRGC general that conducted the operation,'' Mr. Freeh said.

He added that the ''FBI would love to sit down and talk to him, show him photographs and ask him questions'' about the fugitives named in the Khobar Towers indictment.

The Obamatons ignored him.

Al-Amiri got invited the White House as the Iraqi government's "transport minister" after he fought on the side of Iran in the horrendous Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, continued work with the Iran Revolutionary Guards, got more practice with terrorism in Kuwait in 2008, according to this credible-looking Middle Eastern source on Twitter:

Not only this, al-Amiri executed terrorist attacks in #Kuwait in the eighties on behalf of #Iran.@brett_mcgurk reportedly met him. Even if this info was not accurate, #Obama & his team made the #US -practically- the air force of the pro-Iran #shiite militia in #Iraq 4 a while! https://t.co/mXeAcFu5Y1

'-- Dr. Ali Bakeer (@AliBakeer) October 26, 2019 ...and still managed to cadge a White House invitation, undoubtedly to browbeat the White House into caving in on some factor, or else to convince them that there was no winning the Iraq war, the Iranians there were too powerful. Whatever the purpose of this visit, it sure as heck didn't deserve the White House treatment, it's something world leaders normally have to earn to get. That this terrorist got an invitation so cheaply could only have sent the message to his ilk that the U.S. was weak. And now we have the embassy attack.

So now we have Rhodes desperately trying to spin the matter, studiously avoiding the topic of that al-Amiri invitation, something Rhodes himself probably extended to the terrorist with full knowledge of the kind of things al-Amiri had made a career of. Rhodes, if you read his memoirs, and I did, had a taste for making personal contact with the world's gamiest players, blissfully unaware of how naive and arrogant he came off in his written account. I'd bet money Rhodes was the one who invited al-Amiri in to take a look around the Oval office and have a seat on the Blue Room furniture.

He's since responded with a violent terror attack against the U.S. coordinated with full blessing of Iran's mullahs. Proud of yourselves, Obamatons? Someone on the nets ought to be asking them about it.

Image credit: Mohsen Ahmed Alkhafaji via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

President Obama's been kind of quiet these days, last tweeting his Christmas greetings and best wishes for the health of Rep. John Lewis.

So has former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former UN ambassador Samantha Power, former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, and former CIA Director John Brennan.

Only lowly Ben Rhodes, the creative-writing major promoted to Deputy National Security Advisor for "communications" and his sidekick Colin Kahl, Joe Biden's NSC man, have been Twitter-talkative.

The Obama bigfoots have good reason to lay low. The U.S. embassy in Iraq was attacked by one of the people they'd tried to coddle earlier, back in 2011, Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, a guy so bad even a former FBI director, Louis Freeh, spoke out against letting the guy in at the time. It's not like this guy pretended to be a friend and then went bad on them. They knew. And they let him in, giving him lots of clout back home from which he was able to draw new terrorist resources, since terrorism was what he did.

According to the 2011 report in the Washington Times:

Embassy was unavailable to elaborate on Mr. al-Amiri's role in the White House visit.

Louis J. Freeh, who served as FBI director in the Clinton administration and the early months of the George W. Bush administration, said it was shocking that Mr. al-Maliki would include Mr. al-Amiri in his visit to Washington.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been involved in ''countless acts of terrorism, which are acts of war against the United States,'' Mr. Freeh said in an interview.

Mr. al-Amiri served as a commander of the Revolutionary Guard's Badr Corps, a battalion that was tasked with operations in Iraq. He remained active in the Badr Corps during the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was working on resistance efforts against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

The FBI linked the Revolutionary Guard to the attack on the Khobar Towers in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on June 25, 1996. Nineteen U.S. servicemen were killed by a bomb blast at the towers, which were housing American military personnel.

''As a senior leader, [Mr. al-Amiri] would have to have known about Khobar, and he would know Gen. [Ahmad] Sherifi, who was the IRGC general that conducted the operation,'' Mr. Freeh said.

He added that the ''FBI would love to sit down and talk to him, show him photographs and ask him questions'' about the fugitives named in the Khobar Towers indictment.

The Obamatons ignored him.

Al-Amiri got invited the White House as the Iraqi government's "transport minister" after he fought on the side of Iran in the horrendous Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, continued work with the Iran Revolutionary Guards, got more practice with terrorism in Kuwait in 2008, according to this credible-looking Middle Eastern source on Twitter:

Not only this, al-Amiri executed terrorist attacks in #Kuwait in the eighties on behalf of #Iran.@brett_mcgurk reportedly met him. Even if this info was not accurate, #Obama & his team made the #US -practically- the air force of the pro-Iran #shiite militia in #Iraq 4 a while! https://t.co/mXeAcFu5Y1

'-- Dr. Ali Bakeer (@AliBakeer) October 26, 2019 ...and still managed to cadge a White House invitation, undoubtedly to browbeat the White House into caving in on some factor, or else to convince them that there was no winning the Iraq war, the Iranians there were too powerful. Whatever the purpose of this visit, it sure as heck didn't deserve the White House treatment, it's something world leaders normally have to earn to get. That this terrorist got an invitation so cheaply could only have sent the message to his ilk that the U.S. was weak. And now we have the embassy attack.

So now we have Rhodes desperately trying to spin the matter, studiously avoiding the topic of that al-Amiri invitation, something Rhodes himself probably extended to the terrorist with full knowledge of the kind of things al-Amiri had made a career of. Rhodes, if you read his memoirs, and I did, had a taste for making personal contact with the world's gamiest players, blissfully unaware of how naive and arrogant he came off in his written account. I'd bet money Rhodes was the one who invited al-Amiri in to take a look around the Oval office and have a seat on the Blue Room furniture.

He's since responded with a violent terror attack against the U.S. coordinated with full blessing of Iran's mullahs. Proud of yourselves, Obamatons? Someone on the nets ought to be asking them about it.

Image credit: Mohsen Ahmed Alkhafaji via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:34

It's been five years since the State Department first uncovered some previously hidden Hillary Clinton emails from her time as Secretary of State, and new information continues to surface.

The email calls into question the credibility of the intelligence community's initial assessments of the Benghazi attacks.

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch recently released an email written to Clinton in 2012 after the deadly Islamic extremist terrorist attacks of Americans in Benghazi, Libya. The Obama administration initially falsely blamed the attacks on a ''spontaneous'' mob motivated by an anti-Muslim video. The email was written by Clinton aide Jake Sullivan. It discusses the administration's controversial Benghazi ''talking points.''

An investigation revealed that Obama officials knew, even as the Benghazi attacks were underway, that Muslim terrorists (rather than a video-motivated mob) were responsible. Also revealed was the fact that U.S. diplomats on the ground had repeatedly asked State Department headquarters for better security leading up to the attacks. The requests were denied. Instead, security was drastically drawn down. Investigators also learned that there had been a explicit threats of such an attack, as well as other attacks in Libya that were also consummated as threatened.

Key to the cover up of the terrorist nature of the Benghazi attacks right before the 2012 U.S. presidential elections were the false ''talking points'' used to brief Congress and the public. A series of emails I obtained in reporting on the scandal showed Obama officials excised all mention of Islamic extremists and terrorism from the final version of the talking points.

Read my Benghazi investigative reports, which were recognized with an Emmy nomination, by clicking here.

Judicial Watch obtained the new email through a lawsuit seeking records concerning ''talking points or updates on the Benghazi attack'' containing Clinton's private email address and a conversation about the YouTube video that sparked the Benghazi talking points scandal (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)).

According to Judicial Watch:

The September 2012 email chain begins with an email to Clinton at her private email address, ''hdr22@clintonemail.com,'' from Jacob Sullivan, Clinton's then-senior advisor and deputy chief of staff. The email was copied to Cheryl Mills, Clinton's then-chief of staff, and then was forwarded to then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications and Clinton advisor Phillipe Reines.

The email from Sullivan to Clinton is dated September 29, 2012, eighteen days after the attacks. It refers to the controversy over Obama official Susan Rice, who had appeared on TV network Sunday talk shows presenting the incorrect talking points that blamed a ''spontaneous'' mob. Based on the email, it appears as though someone had asked, on Clinton's behalf, to answer the accusation that ''Susan'' had ''made things up.'' It also seems to imply that Clinton knew ''the real story'' (the terrorist nature of the attacks) from the start'' although she immediately blamed the anti-Muslim video in a meeting with victims' family members.

Sullivan blames the Intelligence Community for providing the incorrect information blaming the video, and says they were ''unanimous'' about it.

The Intelligence Community has several major black eyes on the record, including some within it falsely claiming President Trump and his associates were Russian stooges working on behalf of President Putin in the 2016 campaign.

(''Cheryl'' in the email refers to Clinton confidant Cheryl Mills.)

Read the newly-released Clinton email below.

From: Sullivan, Jacob J

Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2012 11 :09 AM

To: 'hdr22@clintoncmail.com' <hdr22@clintonemail.cont>

Cc: Mills, Cheryl D

Subject: Key points

HRC, Cheryl ''

Below is my stab at tp's for the Senator call. Cheryl, I've left the last point blank for you. These are rough but you get the point.

I look forward to sitting down and having a Hillary~to-John conversation about what we know. l know you were frustrated by the briefing we did and I'm sorry our hands were tied in that setting.

It's important we see each other in person, but over the phone today I just wanted to make a few points.

First, we have been taking this deadly seriously, as we should. I set up the ARB in record time, with serious people on it. l will get to the bottom of all the security questions. We are also in overdrive working to track down the killers, and not just through the FBI. We will get this right.

Second, the White House and Susan were not making things up. They were going with what they were told by the IC [Intelligence community].

The real story may have been obvious to you from the start (and indeed I called it an assault by heavily armed militants in my first statement), but the IC gave us very different information. They were unanimous about it.

Let me read you an email from the day before Susan went on the shows. It provides the talking points for HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and for her public appearance. It's from a very senior official at CIA, copying his counterparts at DNI [Director of National Intelligence], NCTC [National Counterterrorism Center], and FBI:

Here are the talking points '...

''The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the US Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.

-This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.

''The investigation is on-going, and the US Government is working with Libyan authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths US citizens.

That is exactly what Susan said, following the guidance from the IC. She obviously got bad advice. But she was not shading the truth.

Third, you have to remember that the video WAS important. We had four embassies breached because of protests inspired by it. Cairo, Tunis, Khartoum, and Sanaa. We had serious security challenges in Pakistan and Chennai and some other places. All this was happening at the same time. So many of the contemporaneous comments about the video weren't referring in any way to Benghazi. Now of course even in those countries it was about much much more than the video, but the video was certainly a piece of it one we felt we had to speak to so that our allies in those countries would back us up.

The Clinton email cover-up led to court-ordered discovery into three specific areas: whether Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server was intended to stymie FOIA; whether the State Department's intent to settle this case in late 2014 and early 2015 amounted to bad faith; and whether the State Department has adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch's request. The court also authorized discovery into whether the Benghazi controversy motivated the cover-up of Clinton's email. (The court ruled that the Clinton email system was ''one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.'')

Judicial WatchFight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:31

We've heard this could be a possibility for quite some time: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's House district could be redrawn based on the 2020 census. And as Beth noted, New York is projected to lose one seat. This has not caught the fiery left-winger off guard. AOC has been known this could be a potential problem. It also highlights why Democrats threw a tantrum when

The Trump administration proposed the very noncontroversial change to the 2020 census by including a citizenship question. In AOC's district, almost a quarter of its residents are noncitizens. As expected, the areas that will be heavily impacted are Democratic bastions. It strikes at the heart of their political power and roadmap to obtaining control. Coddle these groups of people together and use them to create more districts favorable to Democrats based on ethnic representatives. Democrats have had phenomenal success doing this, hence the reason why they're lax on border security, endear themselves to illegal immigration, and bash federal authorities tasked with enforcing laws in this area, hence the targeting of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as the Gestapo in these circles.

New York is expected to lose a House seat after the 2020 Census, and state Democrats are looking to draw out @AOC's district.https://t.co/DYXvzqvWXm

'-- Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) December 31, 2019The City had a story about this last August, which pollster Frank Luntz rehashed on Twitter:

For Ocasio-Cortez, a full Census count is more than a matter of making sure her district gets all the funds and services it's due. In a sense, her own political fortunes could hang in the balance.

A review by THE CITY, building on data and analysis by The Texas Tribune, suggests Ocasio-Cortez' district could be particularly vulnerable to undercount because a little over a quarter of those living there are non-citizens.

That's a higher percentage than any other congressional district in the state.

A Census undercount in Ocasio-Cortez' district and elsewhere in the state could lead to the elimination of congressional districts '-- potentially setting off politically charged redistricting battles.

New York already is on track to lose up to two congressional seats during reapportionment due to population decline and slower rate of growth, according to a December report by Election Data Services.

In February, The Intercept wrote that AOC's top enemy in this redrawing fight isn't conservative Republicans, but New York Democrats. Yet, the publication also noted that should AOC's district go bye-bye, she might mount another insurgent campaign. This time against incumbent Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), which could make this Democratic heavyweight her guardian angel in many ways:

'...Ocasio-Cortez's most determined adversaries are not partisan Republicans, but Democrats who say that she has been a disruptive influence. The Hill recently reported that at least one member of Congress has been urging New York party leaders to recruit a Democratic primary challenger to Ocasio-Cortez. But the news led to a surge of donations to Ocasio-Cortez, suggesting that a more efficient means of ousting her might be simply to eliminate her district.

['...]

Ocasio-Cortez could just run, and probably win, in any nearby New York City district the party may try to draw for her. She noted that when it comes to future redistricting, she's in a unique situation because her name recognition is so strong ''that even when I won my primary in New York [District] 14, we won like a third ballot, a third-party primary in a different congressional district the same day.'' And that was in November 2018, before an endless media cycle that has been all Ocasio-Cortez, all the time.

Moving her into a different district would pit her against another incumbent Democrat, and that Democrat has an incentive to avoid that race. ''Maybe some people wouldn't want trouble for themselves,'' she noted.

Another reason not to target Ocasio-Cortez would be Chuck Schumer. The Democratic Senate minority leader, and a major player in New York politics, is up for re-election in 2022. The commission redrawing the lines may be technically independent, but Schumer's power is no secret. If Ocasio-Cortez were gerrymandered out of the House, she'd need something new to do '-- and primarying Schumer would be an obvious option on the table. That could make Schumer Ocasio-Cortez's strongest advocate at the redistricting negotiating table.

But there is something appealing about an AOC-Schumer war. It would certainly be popcorn worthy. Let's see what happens. Democratic blood sports are always top-notch entertainment, especially in deep blue states like New York.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 12:58

Trump suggests he may be pulling 'certain flavors' of vapes from the market as the e-cigarette death toll rises to 55President Trump said he wants to ban 'certain flavors' of e-cigarettes cartridgesHe suggested the ban would be temporary and that they would only be pulled from the market 'for a period of time'A report on Tuesday said the FDA is planning to ban the sale of flavored vapes with only tobacco and menthol flavors remaining on shelvesThe CDC says 2,561 people have been sickened across the US from vaping-related lung illnesses and that 55 people have diedBy Associated Press and Mary Kekatos Health Reporter For Dailymail.com

Published: 22:16 EST, 31 December 2019 | Updated: 12:11 EST, 1 January 2020

President Donald Trump has suggested that he may be pulling some flavored vapes from the market.

The commander-in-chief was vague about what the plan would entail, but implied 'certain flavors' in e-cigarette cartridges would be pulled from shelves 'for a period of time.'

Trump said the move would be one of his administration's strategies to tackle underage vaping.

'We're going to protect our families, we're going to protect our children, and we're going to protect the industry,' he said.

It comes on the heels of news that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to ban all e-cigarette flavor pods aside from tobacco and menthol.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he wants to ban 'certain flavors' of e-cigarettes cartridges. Pictured: Trump speaks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday as Melania Trump stands next to him

Trump suggested the ban would be temporary and that they would only be pulled from the market 'for a period of time'. Pictured: Trump speaks next to Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) during a meeting on 'youth vaping and the electronic cigarette epidemic' in November 2019

This is not the first time that Trump has suggested a ban on e-cigarettes.

In September, the president and his top health officials said they would soon sweep virtually all flavored vapes from the market because of their appeal to young children and teens.

But that effort stalled after vaping lobbyists pushed back and White House advisers told Trump the ban could cost him votes with adults who vape.

On Tuesday, Trump suggested a ban of flavored e-cigarettes might be temporary.

'Hopefully, if everything's safe, they're going to be going very quickly back onto the market,' he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he was hosting a New Year's Eve party.

'People have died from this, they died from vaping. We think we understand why. But we're doing a very exhaustive examination and hopefully everything will be back on the market very, very shortly.'

This is a reference to the vaping-related lung illnesses that have swept the nation.

A total of 2,561 people have been hospitalized since the 'outbreak' began, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The death toll has risen to 55 people across 27 states and Washington, DC, but appears to be slowing down after speaking in September.

Most of the victims are male and under the age of 35, with ages of those who died ranging from 17 to 75.

Health officials say they are 'confident' that vitamin E acetate, a vitamin derivative found in THC products, is the cause of the outbreak.

The CDC has not changed its warning against using these vaping products and continues to urge Americans who don't use e-cigarettes not to start.

A report on Tuesday said the FDA is planning to ban the sale of flavored vapes such as those sold by JUUL (pictured) with only tobacco and menthol flavors remaining on shelves

The CDC says 2,561 people have been sickened across the US from vaping-related lung illnesses and that 55 people have died (file image)

Although the agency says that smokers who have switched to vaping should not return to using combustible cigarettes, the CDC also advises vaping products should 'never be used by youths, young adults or women who are pregnant.'

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that most flavored cartridges, including those sold by JUUL and NJOY, would be pulled from shelves.

However, tank systems, which allows users to custom-mix flavors, will reportedly not be affected by the ban.

Additionally, cigarette pods formulated to taste like tobacco or menthol would still be allowed, according to The Journal.

In Florida, Trump added: 'Look, vaping can be good from the standpoint - you look at the e-cigarettes, you stop smoking. If you can stop smoking, that's a big advantage. So, we think we're going to get it back on the market very, very quickly.'

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 12:57

28,600 Council on Foreign RelationsFormer Vice President Joe Biden urged displaced coal miners to take up coding and computer programming on Monday during a campaign swing through New Hampshire.

Biden, who recently claimed that blue-collar job losses should not stand in the way of a greener economy, made the comment while discussing his plans for expanding ''jobs of the future'' if elected in 2020. The former vice president, in particular, suggested retraining programs were the key for workers in industries hardest hit by globalization and increased environmental regulations, especially those in the coal mines of Appalachia.

''Anybody who can go down 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well,'' Biden told an audience in Derry, New Hampshire. ''Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake!''

The former vice president's comments come only weeks after he pledged at the sixth Democrat primary debate to ''sacrifice'' economic growth and potentially ''displace thousands or hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers'' in the interests of a ''greener economy.''

''The answer is yes because the opportunity for those workers to transition to high paying jobs is real,'' Biden told the audience.

Regardless of the former vice president's claim, job retraining and other transitionary programs for displaced workers have mostly failed to live up to their promise. Retraining programs are often a poor fit for blue-collar workers, an overwhelming majority of whom tend to be older and lack a college education, in terms of skill set and technological literacy. Even more troubling is that the jobs eligible for retraining often are either in short supply in areas hardest hit by globalization and automation, or pay significantly less than those initially displaced.

For instance, the average pay a coal miner can expect to make, under a contract negotiated by the United Mine Workers of America union, ''comes out to at least $61,650 a year, and closer to $85,000 a year with overtime.'' This does not include healthcare, pension, and other benefits usually offered by such jobs. Meanwhile, the jobs available after workforce retraining generally tend to be lower-paid hourly wage positions.

Biden, himself, should be aware of such circumstances. A study measuring the impact of retraining programs, both existing ones and those began under the Obama administration, found that while they helped enrollees find work faster, there was little proof such programs led individuals to jobs of equal or higher wage to those they lost.

Despite such evidence, Biden has not only continued touting the idea of job retraining, but has also promised to ban energy sources such as coal, fracking, and other fossil fuels if elected president'--to the detriment of millions of workers in those fields.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 09:25

This past summer, I booked a plane ticket to Los Angeles with the hope of investigating what seems likely to be one of the oddest legacies of our rapidly expiring decade: the gradual emergence, among professionally beautiful women, of a single, cyborgian face. It's a young face, of course, with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips. It looks at you coyly but blankly, as if its owner has taken half a Klonopin and is considering asking you for a private-jet ride to Coachella. The face is distinctly white but ambiguously ethnic'--it suggests a National Geographic composite illustrating what Americans will look like in 2050, if every American of the future were to be a direct descendant of Kim Kardashian West, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, and Kendall Jenner (who looks exactly like Emily Ratajkowski). ''It's like a sexy .'‰.'‰. baby .'‰.'‰. tiger,'' Cara Craig, a high-end New York colorist, observed to me recently. The celebrity makeup artist Colby Smith told me, ''It's Instagram Face, duh. It's like an unrealistic sculpture. Volume on volume. A face that looks like it's made out of clay.''

Instagram, which launched as the decade was just beginning, in October, 2010, has its own aesthetic language: the ideal image is always the one that instantly pops on a phone screen. The aesthetic is also marked by a familiar human aspiration, previously best documented in wedding photography, toward a generic sameness. Accounts such as Insta Repeat illustrate the platform's monotony by posting grids of indistinguishable photos posted by different users'--a person in a yellow raincoat standing at the base of a waterfall, or a hand holding up a bright fall leaf. Some things just perform well.

The human body is an unusual sort of Instagram subject: it can be adjusted, with the right kind of effort, to perform better and better over time. Art directors at magazines have long edited photos of celebrities to better match unrealistic beauty standards; now you can do that to pictures of yourself with just a few taps on your phone. Snapchat, which launched in 2011 and was originally known as a purveyor of disappearing messages, has maintained its user base in large part by providing photo filters, some of which allow you to become intimately familiar with what your face would look like if it were ten-per-cent more conventionally attractive'--if it were thinner, or had smoother skin, larger eyes, fuller lips. Instagram has added an array of flattering selfie filters to its Stories feature. FaceTune, which was released in 2013 and promises to help you ''wow your friends with every selfie,'' enables even more precision. A number of Instagram accounts are dedicated to identifying the tweaks that celebrities make to their features with photo-editing apps. Celeb Face, which has more than a million followers, posts photos from the accounts of celebrities, adding arrows to spotlight signs of careless FaceTuning. Follow Celeb Face for a month, and this constant perfecting process begins to seem both mundane and pathological. You get the feeling that these women, or their assistants, alter photos out of a simple defensive reflex, as if FaceTuning your jawline were the Instagram equivalent of checking your eyeliner in the bathroom of the bar.

''I think ninety-five per cent of the most-followed people on Instagram use FaceTune, easily,'' Smith told me. ''And I would say that ninety-five per cent of these people have also had some sort of cosmetic procedure. You can see things getting trendy'--like, everyone's getting brow lifts via Botox now. Kylie Jenner didn't used to have that sort of space around her eyelids, but now she does.''

Twenty years ago, plastic surgery was a fairly dramatic intervention: expensive, invasive, permanent, and, often, risky. But, in 2002, the Food and Drug Administration approved Botox for use in preventing wrinkles; a few years later, it approved hyaluronic-acid fillers, such as Juv(C)derm and Restylane, which at first filled in fine lines and wrinkles and now can be used to restructure jawlines, noses, and cheeks. These procedures last for six months to a year and aren't nearly as expensive as surgery. (The average price per syringe of filler is six hundred and eighty-three dollars.) You can go get Botox and then head right back to the office.

A class of celebrity plastic surgeons has emerged on Instagram, posting time-lapse videos of injection procedures and before-and-after photos, which receive hundreds of thousands of views and likes. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Americans received more than seven million neurotoxin injections in 2018, and more than two and a half million filler injections. That year, Americans spent $16.5 billion on cosmetic surgery; ninety-two per cent of these procedures were performed on women. Thanks to injectables, cosmetic procedures are no longer just for people who want huge changes, or who are deep in battle with the aging process'--they're for millennials, or even, in rarefied cases, members of Gen Z. Kylie Jenner, who was born in 1997, spoke on her reality-TV show ''Life of Kylie'' about wanting to get lip fillers after a boy commented on her small lips when she was fifteen.

Ideals of female beauty that can only be met through painful processes of physical manipulation have always been with us, from tiny feet in imperial China to wasp waists in nineteenth-century Europe. But contemporary systems of continual visual self-broadcasting'--reality TV, social media'--have created new disciplines of continual visual self-improvement. Social media has supercharged the propensity to regard one's personal identity as a potential source of profit'--and, especially for young women, to regard one's body this way, too. In October, Instagram announced that it would be removing ''all effects associated with plastic surgery'' from its filter arsenal, but this appears to mean all effects explicitly associated with plastic surgery, such as the ones called ''Plastica'' and ''Fix Me.'' Filters that give you Instagram Face will remain. For those born with assets'--natural assets, capital assets, or both'--it can seem sensible, even automatic, to think of your body the way that a McKinsey consultant would think about a corporation: identify underperforming sectors and remake them, discard whatever doesn't increase profits and reorient the business toward whatever does.

Smith first started noticing the encroachment of Instagram Face about five years ago, ''when the lip fillers started,'' he said. ''I'd do someone's makeup and notice that there were no wrinkles in the lips at all. Every lipstick would go on so smooth.'' It has made his job easier, he noted, archly. ''My job used to be to make people look like that, but now people come to me already looking like that, because they're surgically enhanced. It's great. We used to have to contour you to give you those cheeks, but now you just went out and got them.''

There was something strange, I said, about the racial aspect of Instagram Face'--it was as if the algorithmic tendency to flatten everything into a composite of greatest hits had resulted in a beauty ideal that favored white women capable of manufacturing a look of rootless exoticism. ''Absolutely,'' Smith said. ''We're talking an overly tan skin tone, a South Asian influence with the brows and eye shape, an African-American influence with the lips, a Caucasian influence with the nose, a cheek structure that is predominantly Native American and Middle Eastern.'' Did Smith think that Instagram Face was actually making people look better? He did. ''People are absolutely getting prettier,'' he said. ''The world is so visual right now, and it's only getting more visual, and people want to upgrade the way they relate to it.''

This was an optimistic way of looking at the situation. I told Smith that I couldn't shake the feeling that technology is rewriting our bodies to correspond to its own interests'--rearranging our faces according to whatever increases engagement and likes. ''Don't you think it's scary to imagine people doing this forever?'' I asked.

''Well, yeah, it's obviously terrifying,'' he said.

Beverly Hills is L.A.'s plastic-surgery district. In the sun-scorched isosceles triangle between the palm trees and department stores of Wilshire and the palm trees and boutique eateries of Santa Monica, there's a doctor, or several, on every block. On a Wednesday afternoon, I parked my rental car in a tiny underground lot, emerged next to a Sprinkles Cupcakes and a bougie psychic's office, and walked to a consultation appointment I had made with one of the best-known celebrity plastic surgeons, whose before-and-after Instagram videos frequently attract half a million views.

I'd booked the consultation because I was curious about the actual experience of a would-be millennial patient'--a fact I had to keep mentioning to my boyfriend, who seemed moderately worried that I would come back looking like a human cat. A few weeks before, I had downloaded Snapchat for the first time and tried out the filters, which were in fact very flattering: they gave me radiant skin, doe lashes, a face shaped like a heart. It wasn't lost on me that when I put on a lot of makeup I am essentially trying to create a version of this face. And it wasn't hard for me to understand why millennial women who were born within spitting distance of Instagram Face would want to keep drawing closer to it. In a world where women are rewarded for youth and beauty in a way that they are rewarded for nothing else'--and where a strain of mainstream feminism teaches women that self-objectification is progressive, because it's profitable'--cosmetic work might seem like one of the few guaranteed high-yield projects that a woman could undertake.

The plastic surgeon's office was gorgeous and peaceful, a silvery oasis. A receptionist, humming along to ''I Want to Know What Love Is,'' handed me intake forms, which asked about stress factors and mental health, among other things. I signed an arbitration agreement. A medical assistant took photos of my face from five different angles. A medical consultant with lush hair and a deeply warm, caring aura came into the room. Careful not to lie, and lightly alarmed by the fact that I didn't need to, I told her that I'd never gotten fillers or Botox but that I was interested in looking better, and that I wanted to know what experts would advise. She was complimentary, and told me that I shouldn't get too much done. After a while, she suggested that maybe I would want to pay attention to my chin as I aged, and maybe my cheeks, too'--maybe I'd want to lift them a little bit.

Then the celebrity doctor came in, giving off the intensity of a surgeon and the focus of a glassblower. I said to him, too, that I was just interested in looking better, and wanted to know what an expert would recommend. I showed him one of my filtered Snapchat photos. He glanced at it, nodded, and said, ''Let me show you what we could do.'' He took a photo of my face on his phone and projected it onto a TV screen on the wall. ''I like to use FaceTune,'' he said, tapping and dragging.

Within a few seconds, my face was shaped to match the Snapchat photo. He took another picture of me, in profile, and FaceTuned the chin again. I had a heart-shaped face, and visible cheekbones. All of this was achievable, he said, with chin filler, cheek filler, and perhaps an ultrasound procedure that would dissolve the fat in the lower half of my cheeks'--or we could use Botox to paralyze and shrink my masseter muscles.

I asked the doctor what he told people who came to see him wanting to look like his best-known patients. ''People come in with pictures of my most famous clients all the time,'' he said. ''I say, 'I can't turn you into them. I can't, if you're Asian, give you a Caucasian face, or I could, but it wouldn't be right'--it wouldn't look right.' But if they show me a specific feature they want then I can work with that. I can say, 'If you want a sharp jaw like that, we can do that.' But, also, these things are not always right for all people. For you, if you came in asking for a sharp jaw, I would say no'--it would make you look masculine.''

''Does it seem like more people my age are coming in for this sort of work?'' I asked.

''I think that ten years ago it was seen as anti-cerebral to do this,'' he said. ''But now it's empowering to do something that gives you an edge. Which is why young people are coming in. They come in to enhance something, rather than coming in to fix something.''

''And it's subtle,'' I said.

''Even with my most famous clients, it's very subtle,'' the doctor said. ''If you look at photos taken five years apart, you can tell the difference. But, day to day, month to month, you can't.''

I felt that I was being listened to very carefully. I thanked him, sincerely, and then a medical assistant came in to show me the recommendations and prices: injectables in my cheeks ($5,500 to $6,900), injectables in my chin (same price), an ultrasound ''lipofreeze'' to fix the asymmetry in my jawline ($8,900 to $18,900), or Botox in the TMJ region ($2,500). I walked out of the clinic into the Beverly Hills sunshine, laughing a little, imagining what it'd be like to have a spare thirty thousand dollars on hand. I texted photos of my FaceTuned jaw to my friends and then touched my actual jaw, a suddenly optional assemblage of flesh and bone.

The plastic surgeon Jason Diamond was a recurring star of the reality show ''Dr. 90210'' and has a number of famous clients, including the twenty-nine-year-old ''Vanderpump Rules'' star Lala Kent, who has posted photos taken in Diamond's office on Instagram, and who told People, ''I've had every part of my face injected.'' Another client is Kim Kardashian West, whom Colby Smith described to me as ''patient zero'' for Instagram Face. (''Ultimately, the goal is always to look like Kim,'' he said.) Kardashian West, who has inspired countless cosmetically altered doppelg¤ngers, insists that she hasn't had major plastic surgery; according to her, it's all just Botox, fillers, and makeup. But she also hasn't tried to hide how her appearance has changed. In 2015, she published a coffee-table book of selfies, called ''Selfish,'' which begins when she is beautiful the way a human is beautiful and ends when she's beautiful in the manner of a computer animation.

I scheduled an interview with Diamond, whose practice occupies the penthouse of a building in Beverly Hills. On the desk in his office was a thank-you note from Chrissy Teigen. (It sat atop two of her cookbooks.) As with the doctor I'd seen the day before, Diamond, who has pool-blue eyes and wore black scrubs and square-framed glasses, looked nothing like the tabloid caricature of a plastic surgeon. He was youthful in a way that was only slightly surreal.

Diamond had trained with an old guard of top L.A. plastic surgeons, he told me'--people who thought it was taboo to advertise. When, in 2004, he had the opportunity to appear on ''Dr. 90210,'' he decided to do it, against the advice of his wife and his nurses, because, he said, ''I knew that I would be able to show results that the world had never seen.'' In 2016, a famous client persuaded him to set up an Instagram account. He now has just under a quarter million followers. The employees at his practice who run the account like that Instagram allows patients to see him as a father of two and as a friend, not only as a doctor.

Diamond had long had a Web site, but in the past his celebrity patients didn't volunteer to offer testimonials there. ''And, of course, we never asked,'' he said. ''But now'--it's amazing. Maybe thirty per cent of the celebrities I take care of will just ask and offer to shout us out on social media. All of a sudden, it's popular knowledge that all these people are coming here. For some reason, Instagram made it more acceptable.'' Cosmetic work had come to seem more like fitness, he suggested. ''I think it's become much more mainstream to think about taking care of your face and your body as part of your general well-being. It's kind of understood now: it's O.K. to try to look your best.''

There was a sort of cleansing, crystalline honesty to this high-end intersection of superficiality and pragmatism, I was slowly realizing. I hadn't needed to bother posing as a patient'--these doctors spent all day making sure that people no longer felt they had anything to hide.

I asked Diamond if he had thoughts about Instagram Face. ''You know, there's this look'--this Bella Hadid, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner thing that seems to be spreading,'' I said. Diamond said that he practiced all over the world, and that there were different regional preferences, and that no one template worked for every face. ''But there are constants,'' he said. ''Symmetry, proportion, harmony. We are always trying to create balance in the face. And when you look at Kim, Megan Fox, Lucy Liu, Halle Berry, you'll find elements in common: the high contoured cheekbones, the strong projected chin, the flat platform underneath the chin that makes a ninety-degree angle.''

''What do you make of the fact that it's much more possible now for people to look at these celebrity faces and think, somewhat correctly, that they could look like that, too?'' I asked.

''We could spend two whole days discussing that question,'' Diamond said. ''I'd say that thirty per cent of people come in bringing a photo of Kim, or someone like Kim'--there's a handful of people, but she's at the very top of the list, and understandably so. It's one of the biggest challenges I have, educating the person about whether it's reasonable to try to move along that path toward Kim's face, or toward whoever. Twenty years of practice, thousands and thousands of procedures, go into each individual answer'--when I can do it, when I can't do it, and when we can do something but shouldn't, for any number of reasons.'' I told Diamond that I was afraid that if I ever tried injectables, I'd never stop. ''It is true that the vast majority of our patients absolutely love their results, and they come back,'' he said.

We talked about the word ''addiction.'' I said that I dyed my hair and wore makeup most days, and that I knew I would continue to dye my hair and spend money on makeup, and that I didn't consider this an addiction but a choice. (I thought about a line from the book ''Perfect Me,'' by the philosopher Heather Widdows: ''Choice cannot make an unjust or exploitative practice or act somehow, magically, just or non-exploitative.'') I asked Diamond if his patients felt more like themselves after getting work done.

''I can answer that in part because I do these things, too,'' he said, gesturing to his face. ''You know when you get a really good haircut, and you feel like the best version of yourself? This is that feeling, but exponential.''

On the way to Diamond's office, I had passed a caf(C) that looked familiar: pale marble-topped tables, blond-wood floors, a row of Prussian-green snake plants, pendant lamps, geometrically patterned tiles. The writer Kyle Chayka has coined the term ''AirSpace'' for this style of blandly appealing interior design, marked by an ''anesthetized aesthetic'' and influenced by the ''connective emotional grid of social media platforms'''--these virtual spaces where hundreds of millions of people learn to ''see and feel and want the same things.'' WeWork, the collapsing co-working giant'--which, like Instagram, was founded in 2010'--once convinced investors of a forty-seven-billion-dollar vision in which people would follow their idiosyncratic dreams while enmeshed in a global network of near-indistinguishable office spaces featuring reclaimed wood, neon signs, and ficus trees. Direct-to-consumer brands fill podcast ad breaks with promises of the one true electric toothbrush and meals that arrive in the mail, selling us on the relief of forgoing choice altogether. The general idea seems to be that humans are so busy pursuing complicated forms of self-actualization that we'd like much of our life to be assembled for us, as if from a kit.

I went to see another Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, one who had more than three hundred thousand Instagram followers. I told the doctor that I was a journalist, and that I was there for a consultation. He studied my face from a few angles, felt my jaw, and suggested exactly what the first doctor had recommended. The prices were lower this time'--if I had wanted to put the whole thing on my credit card, I could have.

I took the elevator down to the street with three very pretty women who all appeared to be in their early twenties. As I drove back to my hotel, I felt sad and subdued and self-conscious. I had thought that I was researching this subject at a logical distance: that I could inhabit the point of view of an ideal millennial client, someone who wanted to enhance rather than fix herself, who was ambitious and pragmatic. But I left with a very specific feeling, a kind of bottomless need that I associated with early adolescence, and which I had not experienced in a long time.

I had worn makeup at sixteen to my college interviews; I'd worn makeup at my gymnastic meets when I was ten. In the photos I have of myself at ballet recitals when I was six or seven, I'm wearing mascara and blush and lipstick, and I'm so happy. What did it mean, I wondered, that I have spent so much of my life attempting to perform well in circumstances where an unaltered female face is aberrant? How had I been changed by an era in which ordinary humans receive daily metrics that appear to quantify how our personalities and our physical selves are performing on the market? What was the logical end of this escalating back-and-forth between digital and physical improvement?

On Instagram, I checked up on the accounts of the plastic surgeons I had visited, watching comments roll in: ''this is what I need! I need to come see you ASAP!'', ''want want want,'' ''what is the youngest you could perform this procedure?'' I looked at the Instagram account of a singer born in 1999, who had become famous as a teen-ager and had since given herself an entirely new face. I met up with a bunch of female friends for dinner in L.A. that night, two of whom had already adopted injectables as part of their cosmetic routine. They looked beautiful. The sun went down, and the hills of L.A. started to glitter. I had the sense that I was living in some inexorable future. For some days afterward, I noticed that I was avoiding looking too closely at my face.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 09:24

/ France Issued on: 31/12/2019 - 17:26 Modified: 31/12/2019 - 17:26

File photo of plastic waste in a container at a recycling park near Brussels, Belgium, November 20, 2018. Reuters / Yves Herman Starting January 1, three single-use plastic products will be banned in France: plates, cups, and cotton buds. More will be banned next year, marking the first steps toward the government's goal of phasing out all single-use plastics by 2040.

They're used just once, but stay in the environment for hundreds of years. Now France is taking first steps towards banning single-use plastics, starting with three products: plates, cups, and cotton buds. Plastic straws and cutlery will follow on January 1, 2021.

France will begin phasing out plastic products from 2020 in keeping with EU regulations. FRANCE 24 graphics studioThe ban was issued in a government decree, published on December 27, to bring France in conformity with European Union directives. It defines single-use plastics as those not designed to be reused ''for a use identical to that for which it was intended''.Shops that carry the banned products will be allowed to continue selling them for six months after January 1, provided they were produced or imported beforehand.

The decree includes a temporary exemption for compostable products containing at least 50 percent of organic materials, as well as for cutlery used in health and corrections facilities and on transport such as trains and airplanes. The exemptions will expire in July 2021.

>> Biodegradable plastic: A false promise?This comes as French lawmakers continue to debate the details of a wider-ranging anti-waste law. A first version of the law, which aims to promote the ''circular economy'', was passed by parliament earlier this month. It would set a 2040 target to phase out all single-use plastics, with the goal of recycling 100 percent of plastics by 2025. Specific plastic products would be phased out year by year, and recycling guidelines would be standardised throughout France by no later than the end of 2022.

As of 2018, only 25 percent of plastic packaging in France was recycled, while the rest was incinerated or put in landfills. This puts France behind the European average of 30 percent. Sceptics say it will be impossible for the country to reach a 100 percent recycling rate by 2025 from this starting point.

>> Plastic: Does France have a recycling problem? This fall, an investigation by the online magazine Quartz found that at most 9 percent of plastic produced worldwide is recycled. Meanwhile, global plastic production continues to climb rapidly, the investigation found.

The last 15 years saw more than plastic produced than in all previous human history, and plastic production is expected to triple again by 2050.

This article was adapted from the original in French

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:56

(C) AFP / GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT; REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski ; Albert Gea

Now that another decade has flown by and the world awaits the arrival of 2020, it is only appropriate to look back at last century's 'Roaring Twenties'. Those twenties started globalization; these could see the end of its era.

As the world entered 1920, it had already lived through the devastating First World War. "The war to end all wars", it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, leaving everyone shocked and badly damaged - but also harboring hope that humanity would never have to go through anything like it again. The 1920s started as a period of vigorous, vital economic growth. Globalization began with the introduction of the telegraph, telephone, radio and car travel. Large cities went on to grow as international trade and businesses centers, ultimately dominating the political and cultural scenes as well. The 'Roaring Twenties' ended with the most severe depression in our history, followed soon after by World War II.

Today, a century later, hope seems absent from the global radar, replaced with a feeling of growing apprehension. And this is probably good news; the more cautious we are, the lower the chances are that we'll drive ourselves into a major catastrophe. The world is going through massive changes at a much higher rate than ever before, and we have on our hands conflicts and challenges that can be compared to some of the worst episodes of the twentieth century. Today, all too frequently, the world feels like it's ready to explode. However, nobody expects a big war. The global system is kept alive by worldwide challenges such as climate change, as well as nuclear deterrence, emerging multipolarity, and growing interdependence. It may be glitchy, but the hope is that these failsafe mechanisms should be enough to keep us afloat. If not, that will only mean that the system is so outdated it can't continue to function.

I'd say 2019 was the year of 'impeachment'. The American Democrats' protracted efforts to get rid of the Republican president spread like wildfire, consuming not just the USA but the whole world. On another level, and in a much broader sense of the word, impeachment has become the global trend.

Public dissent and protest movements have gone viral. Venezuela, Moldova, Georgia, Catalonia, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, France, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador - those names have been all around the news in 2019. That's in addition to the anti-establishment forces advancing at various elections. On a local level, the reasons may differ, but globally the trend is clear -

people are taking to the streets to tell the authorities that they have failed them.

In the digital world, everything works much simpler and faster than before. Previously, in order to organize a protest movement you first needed a core: a party, a secret organization, a leader, or an idea. With the proper funding, that could grow over time. Today, the worldwide audience is right there, browsing the social media space, and an appeal by an activist at the right time is enough to trigger a reaction. Even when it's not global, it is still massive enough. There is no longer any need for big speeches; it only takes one person to point out at an injustice, and if that strikes a chord, the protest takes off. It works just the same in different corners of the world, to the point that it makes one wonder whether there is some force coordinating this behind the scenes. But remember, everything works much simpler in the digital world. With total transparency and access to information, people share and learn on the go.

1989 was one of the most fateful years in recent history. It brought major political transformation to the global scene, with many states departing from the Communist Bloc in favor of democracy. Looking back at the past 30 years, we can say that the international system has indeed become much more democratic, though not in the sense implied by Fukuyama's 'End of History' - i.e. with the triumph of Western liberal democracy. The world now has more voices; many more players are speaking up on the global scene. People are more politically aware and want to participate, rather than simply being governed. Until 1989, the world had a fixed order, a fixed ideology on both sides, and the life of the entire planet was defined by the political and military confrontations of two blocs.

All institutions existed with one purpose only: to maintain the status quo. The bipolar system was stable enough to withstand multiple domestic and international crises for a long time. Until it wasn't anymore.I would argue that today we are witnessing the grand finale of that robust system whose decline started so dramatically in 1989. The massive changes that took place between 1989 and 1991 didn't completely destroy the world that was shaped by World War II; there was no all-out collapse followed by something entirely new. Instead, the old system has been mutating for the past 30 years, trying to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances caused by the removal of the second 'pole'. It feels like this hasn't worked out well, and the system is now actively crumbling.

Today, in an unofficial 'global impeachment' movement, people take to the streets to tell their governments that they refuse to recognize them as such anymore. This is not a constructive approach, but it is an effective one. Global democratization has now gone too far for anyone to be able to ignore it. Even the most rigid and authoritarian governments now realize the need to keep track of people's feedback.

The 'good old' days when any dissent could be fairly easily contained and suppressed are long gone. Governments have to produce a response - or, at the very least, to fake one. But no-one is buying fakes these days.

I believe that this increased activity of people on the political scene, regardless of the reasons that cause it on the local scale, drives the entire global system into a new direction, away from globalization.

For the past 30 years, globalization was believed to be the answer to everything. With globalization as a guiding star on their radar, national governments have been aligning their policies with the supranational agenda, increasingly distancing themselves from their own nations. The latter, in their turn, have been building up discontent, feeling used and abandoned to deal with the protracted economic crisis on their own. With the arrival of the all-powerful social networks, people found a platform to voice their protests. Suddenly, the powers that be now have to pay more attention to their voters. After all, who else makes them legitimate?

There are many reasons why the era of liberal globalization is coming to an end. The rise of powers on the global scene that were previously only supposed to ride in the 'back seat' is certainly one of them. People on the ground demanding that their governments come down to earth is certainly another.

Unlike the impeachment of a president, 'global impeachment' doesn't require a formal vote to come into force. It's already happening. The scale of changes brought about by new technologies is such that the process can't be contained. The new paradigm is emerging as the old one is crumbling. Which nations will pass this test and which won't, we will have to wait and see. But each and every one of them will have to find its own answer to the question of how to make it through the new 'Roaring Twenties'. Fyodor Lukyanov is the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and research director of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:53

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis apologized on Wednesday for having angrily slapped a woman's arm when she had grabbed hold of his hand and yanked him towards her, saying he had lost his patience and set a ''bad example''.

His unusual apology came after he used his first homily of the new year to denounce violence against women, which he compared to profaning God.

Pope Francis, 83, had a sharp encounter with a woman on Tuesday evening during a walkabout in St. Peters Square.

The pilgrim, who has not been identified, unexpectedly seized his hand and pulled him towards her, causing him evident alarm. A clearly disgruntled Francis wrenched himself free by slapping down at her arm.

''So many times we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for yesterday's bad example,'' the pope told thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday at the end of the traditional New Year Mass.

He had used the service to issue a forthright condemnation of the abuse of women in modern society.

''All violence inflicted on women is a desecration of God,'' he told a packed St. Peter's Basilica.

''How often is a woman's body sacrificed on the profane altar of advertising, profit, pornography,'' he said, adding that the female body ''must be freed from consumerism, it must be respected and honored''.

Despite creating life, women ''are continually offended, beaten, raped, forced into prostitution'' and made to have abortions, he said. ''We can understand our level of humanity by the way we treat a woman's body,'' he told the congregation.

During his homily, Francis also addressed another theme close to his heart, immigration, saying women who moved abroad to provide for their children should be honored, not scorned.

''Today even motherhood is humiliated, because the only growth that interests us is economic growth,'' he said.

Slideshow (7 Images) ''There are mothers, who risk perilous journeys to desperately try to give the fruit of the womb a better future and are judged to be redundant by people whose bellies are full of things, but whose hearts are empty of love.''

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, which allows only unmarried men to be ordained as priests, also said women ''must be fully involved in decision-making processes''.

The pope said last April the Church had to acknowledge a history of male domination and sexual abuse of women. A month later, he appointed for the first time four women to an important Vatican department that prepares the major meetings of world bishops.

Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Peter Graff

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Source: Signs of the Times

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:48

(C) AFP / FREDERICK FLORIN FILE PHOTO

Vandals in Strasbourg, France, marked the start of 2020 by setting countless vehicles on fire. Videos on social media purportedly show shocking acts of arson that took place across the city.

Police have not disclosed how many cars were torched, but a source told AFP that the figure was larger than the previous year. A number of arrests and some minor injuries have also been reported.

The footage circulating on social media appear to show vehicles, many of them overturned, on fire in the streets of Strasbourg. One clip shows a car passing by a series of torched vehicles along the road - an eerie sight to behold on what is typically a joyous evening of champagne-fueled celebration.

Riot police can be seen dodging between flame-engulfed cars as they attempt to restore order to the city.

The burning of vehicles is an unfortunate New Year's tradition in some parts of France. According to local media, 1,031 vehicles were set alight nationwide on the night of December 31, 2018, compared to 935 on the previous New Year's Eve.

Comment: More footage from Strasbourg:

TheLocal.fr provides some insight into this 'tradition': Why are hundreds of cars burned in France on New Year's Eve?Burning cars is something of a tradition in France, albeit a much hated one by authorities and car owners, and it appears to be on the rise again.

Every New Year's Eve nervous car owners across France cross their fingers in the hope they can start the New Year with their vehicle intact.

That's because of a longstanding French tradition that sees youths in certain parts of cities torching scores of cars.

The number of vehicles set alight on the night of December 31st 2018 climbed to 1,031 compared to 935 the previous New Year's Eve, while arrests rose from 456 to 510, the interior ministry said on Monday.

Nevertheless stats released last year by France's official crime data agency ONDRP reveal that the number of cars burned each year has fallen by 20 percent since 2010.

That was the good news for car owners and insurance firms.

The bad news is that tens of thousands of vehicles are still burned across the country.

The main burning season is in July and August, particularly on Bastille Day on July 14th when youths mark the annual fªte nationale with their own firework shows.

The main reason for the fall according to the ONDRP is that the media take less interest now in the mass burning of cars , which means there may be less of a thrill for the arsonists.

(C) AFP Some 20 vehicles were burned in Paris's 20th arrondissement recently.

Authorities have previously refrained from reporting on the number of torched cars on New Year's Eve after it was discovered that a district-by-district breakdown was fuelling destructive competition between rival gangs.

Added to that is that extra police are regularly deployed in sensitive areas on specific nights of the year to try to prevent the blazes.

The stats also showed that the departments most affected by the phenomenon were Haute-Corse in Corsica, Isere to the south east which includes Grenoble, and Oise, to the north of Paris.

Rural areas of France are much less affected than urban areas.

The car owners most affected are generally in the more hard-up neighbourhoods.

So why do the French burn cars anyway?

The custom of setting vehicles alight on New Year's Eve reportedly began in the east of the country, around Strasbourg, in the 1990s, in the the city's poorer neighbourhoods.

It was then quickly adopted by youths in cities across the country.

Cars are often set ablaze whenever there is an outbreak of social disorder, as seen in the 2005 riots when hundreds of vehicles were torched.

The ONDRP's Christophe Schulz told Le Parisien newspaper that there are diverse reasons that youths burn cars.

"Vehicle fires are often associated with a context of riots and urban violence. It can also be a 'game' to break the monotony, or it could be motivated by vengeance after a violent arrest. Or it could just be to get rid of a car used in a crime or as an insurance scam."

So while car owners might welcome the fall, they still face a few sleepless nights this summer.

See also: Immigration, Crime and Propaganda 80 car fires in 20 locations in 1 night as wave of arson sets Sweden ablaze (from August 2018)

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:47

Paus verontwaardigd na rare actie vanuit publiek Buitenland11:14

Tijdens het handen schudden op het Sint-Pietersplein in Vaticaanstad wordt de paus plotseling vastgegrepen.

Meer Telegraaf video'sMeer

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:45

Europe16:56 01.01.2020Get short URL

The teenage activist from Sweden, who inspired student eco-protests around the globe, has been named the person of the year 2019 by TIME, so her name inevitably popped up in the chitchat during a two-hour special British comedy show The Last Leg on 31 December. The turn it took, however, seemed a bit out of line for some.

The Last Leg's Rosie Jones's ''dirty'' joke about 16-year-old eco-activist Greta Thunberg has prompted a mixed reaction among guests in the studio and viewers. The teen inspiration of Fridays for Future, which moved students from all over the world to take part in climate protests, was dubbed ''hero of the year'' by some of the show's guests as well as a ''gammon magnet'' over TV stars Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson's criticising and mocking her.

Although Rosie Jones praised Thunberg's activism and wish to save the planet, she also noted that the young Swede should enjoy the joys of her age with a comment that many considered out of line.

''Greta's amazing and what she's doing is brilliant. But don't do it now. She needs to live a little, she's only 16. She should be doing two things '' drinking Lambrini and getting fingered'', Rosie Jones joked.While some guests in the studio seemed to appreciate the joke laughing, others looked horrified.

This comment also seemed inappropriate to commenters online as some noted that Greta Thunberg is a minor.

Rosie Jones made a sexual comment about Greta Thunberg. Who is 16. A minor.

'-- Dylan ðŸ"¸'ðŸŒðŸŒ¹ (@DJT01234) December 31, 2019Massive fucking yikes on the Last Leg of the Year for some "comedian" suggesting Greta Thunberg should be getting fingered and drinking Lambrini.@Channel4, are you serious?

'-- Skylar 🇪🇺 (@deathbyjulmust) December 31, 2019@Channel4 the greta thunberg joke on the last leg was disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing that behaviour

'-- just insults daily (@insulting_daily) December 31, 2019'‹Others, on the contrary, apparently liked the joke.

Rosie Jones saying Greta Thunberg needs to enjoy life, drink Lambrini and get fingered, is definitely a highlight of 2019 for me. @TheLastLeg

'-- David Reynolds (@david_rey9) December 31, 2019Rosy Jones is fuckin hilarious. Asked about Greta Thunberg on #lastleg ''she's 16, she should only be doing 2 things, drinking lambrini and getting fingered'' 🤣🤣🤣 sounds like a night out at the local pub back home

'-- Gary P 🎤🍾ðŸ"¸'ðŸŒ (@GaryAnthony76) December 31, 2019'‹There were those who defended the comedian.

Snowflakes complaining about the last leg and some of the jokes, obviously never seen it before, only watching as channel surfing as it's New Year's Eve. If you don't like, it's post watershed adult humour, fuck off and watch Dame Edna, #thelastleg

'-- Marc Alec (@mkalexroy641) December 31, 2019People need to chill out. It's a joke. Plus it's more a joke about British Youth Culture from the 90s-2000s than it is about Greta. And if people think that doesn't happens to 16 year olds, they're burying their heads in the sand ðŸ‚

'-- Jen D (@alia_kel_aderon) January 1, 2020

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Source: The Last Refuge

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:36

Earlier today, via Tweet, President Trump announced the 'phase-one' agreement between the U.S. and China will be signed January 15, 2020.

As U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer previously stated this very challenging agreement will be the first-ever attempted trade deal between a state-run economy and a free-market economy. It will take time to see if communist China will actually follow-through on the terms and conditions.

Ambassador Lighthizer noted the principle challenge is generating an enforceable set of standards -within a written agreement- between a totally controlled communist economic system (China) and a free-market system (USA). No other nation has ever tried, and there is no preexisting trade agreement to facilitate a mapping. What Lighthizer was/is constructing will be what all nations will start to use going forward. This is historic stuff.

.

Arguably, next to President Trump, USTR Lighthizer is one of the most consequential members of the administration. What he was/is constructing, with the guidance of President Trump, is going to influence generations of Americans.

.

[Transcript] MARGARET BRENNAN: This week, the U.S. and China agreed on the first phase of a trade deal that would roll back some American tariffs. It's expected to be signed in early January. We're joined now by the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, the top negotiator in those talks with Chinese officials. Good to have you here.

U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE ROBERT LIGHTHIZER: Thank you for having me, MARGARET.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It's huge to have the two largest economies in the world cool off some of these tensions that have been rattling the global economy. But I want to get to some of the details here. China says still needs to be proofread, still needs to be translated. Is you being here today a sign this is done, this deal's not falling apart?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: So first of all, this is done. This is something that happens in every agreement. There's a translation period. There are some scrubs. This is totally done. Absolutely. But can I make one point? Because I think it's really important. Friday was probably the most momentous day in trade history ever. That day we submitted the USMCA, the Mexico-Canada Agreement with bipartisan support and support of business, labor, agriculture. We actually introduced that into the House and the Senate on this, which is about 1.4 trillion dollars worth of the economy- I mean of- of trade. And then in addition to this, which is about 600 billion, so that's literally about half of total trade were announced on the same day. It was extremely momentous and indicative of where we're going, what this president has accomplished.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that is significant and I do want to get to the USMCA. But because the China deal just happened''

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: ''and we know so little about it, I'd like to get some more detail from you. You said this is set.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You expect the signing in early January still.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: What gives President Trump the confidence to say China's going to go out and buy $50 billion worth of agricultural goods because Beijing hasn't said that number?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: First of all- let me say first of all, I would say this. When we look at this agreement, we have to look at where we are. We have an American system, and we have a Chinese system. And we're trying to figure out a way to have these two become integrated. That's what's in our interest. A phase one deal does the following: one, it keeps in place three hundred and eighty billion dollars worth of tariffs to defend, protect U.S. technology. So that's one part of it. Another part of it is very important structural changes. This is not about just agricultural and other purchases, although I'll get to that in a second. It's very important. It has IP. It has- it has''

MARGARET BRENNAN: Intellectual property''

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: ''technology. It has- it has currency. It has financial services. There's a lot of very- the next thing is, it's- it's enforceable. There's an enforcement provision that lasts 90 days- it takes 90 days and you get real, real enforcement. The United States can then take an action if China doesn't keep its commitments''

MARGARET BRENNAN: Put the tariffs back on?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Well, you would take a proportionate reaction like we do in every other trade agreement. So that's what we expect. And finally, we'll- we'll find out whether this works or not. We have an enforcement mechanism. But ultimately, whether this whole agreement works is going to be determined by who's making the decisions in China, not in the United States. If the hardliners are making the decisions, we're going to get one outcome. If- if the reformers are making the decisions, which is what we hope, then we're going to get another outcome. This is a- the way to think about this deal, is this is a first step in trying to integrate two very different systems to the benefit of both of us.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But that $50 billion number, is that in writing?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Absolutely. So- so here's what's in writing. We- we have a list that will go manufacturing, agriculture, services, energy and the like. There'll be a total for each one of those. Overall, it's a minimum of 200 billion dollars. Keep in mind, by the second year, we will just about double exports of goods to China, if this- if this agreement is in place. Double exports. We had about 128 billion dollars in 2017. We're going to go up at least by a hundred, probably a little over one hundred. And in terms of the agriculture numbers, what we have are specific breakdowns by products and we have a commitment for 40 to 50 billion dollars in sales. You could think of it as 80 to 100 billion dollars in new sales for agriculture over the course of the next two years. Just massive numbers.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And that is important in no small part because also this is a key political constituency for President Trump going into the election, to take some pain off of American farmers who've been feeling it pretty strongly. I mean, the USDA projects that the soybean market won't recover, I think til 2026 because of the damage that has been done to it.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Listen''

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that- how much of that, that political calculus, factored into the agreement to do this in phases? Because you didn't want to do it in phases.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Well, it was MARGARET''

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Chinese did.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: It was always going to be in phases. The question was, how big was the first phase? Anyone who thinks you're going to take their system and our system that have- that have worked in a very unbalanced way for the United States and in- in one stroke of the pen change all of that is foolish. The president is not foolish. He's very smart. The question was, how big- how big was the first phase going to be? This is going to take years. We're not going to resolve these differences very quickly. On the agriculture point, that's a good point. Let me say this. If you look at American agriculture in between USMCA, which is Canada and Mexico, China, Japan, Korea, we have rewritten the rules in favor of American agriculture on more than half, 56 percent, of all of our exports from agriculture. This, over the course of the last year, what this president has accomplished in this area, is remarkable. And you're already- any one of these deals would have been monstrous. And the fact that we have all of them together''

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: ''is- is great for agriculture.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I just want to button up on China, though, because the promise here was to do the things that American businesses have been complaining about for years''

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Absolutely.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Not just the intellectual property theft, but subsidizing corporations in China in an unfair way for Americans. Cybertheft. None of that's here.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Well''

MARGARET BRENNAN: That's phase two. When do you start negotiating that?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: So let me say first of all''

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is there a date?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Let's talk about what's here rather than what's not here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But that's huge.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Absolute rules on''

MARGARET BRENNAN: That's what President Trump said this whole trade war was starting on.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Look at tech- tech transfer is huge. That's what's in the 301 report. Look, we had a plan that- the president came up with a plan. We've been following it for two and a half years. We are right where we hope to be. Tech transfer, real commitments, IP, real specific commitments. I mean, this agreement is 86 pages long of detail. Agricultural barriers removed in many cases, financial services opening, currency. This is a real structural change. Is it going to solve all the problems? No. Did we expect it to? No. Absolutely not.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do- the president said those talks in to start immediately, though. Do you have a date?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: We don't have a date, no. What we have to do is get this- we have to get the- the final translations worked out, the formalities. We're going to sign this agreement. But I'll tell you this. The second Phase 2 is going to be determined also by how we implement phase one. Phase one is going to be implemented right to the- right down to every detail.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to''

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: It really is a remarkable agreement, but it's not going to solve all the problems.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we need to take a short break. We'll be back with US Trade Representative Lighthizer in a moment.

*COMMERCIAL*

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation and our conversation with US Trade representative Robert Lighthizer. Let's talk about the other agreement. The House is set, Democratic controlled House, is set to vote on the USMCA, the free trade deal with Mexico and Canada that's been rewritten. This is a win for the president to get this through, but Nanc- Speaker Pelosi and her caucus did have some last minute maneuvers here. Speaker Pelosi is quoted as saying we ate their lunch when it comes to the Trump administration.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: So''

MARGARET BRENNAN: How do you respond to that?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: We had a great''

MARGARET BRENNAN: You made some concessions to labor here. That was not insignificant and it did irk some Republicans.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: So- so- so let me- let me make a point about that. We had an election and the Democrats won the House, number one. Number two, it was always my plan and I was criticized for this, as you know, it was always my plan that this should be a Trump trade policy. And a Trump trade policy is going to get a lot of Democratic support. Remember, most of these working people voted for the president of the United States. These are- these are not his enemies. So what did we concede on? We conceded on biologics. Yes. That was a move away from what I wanted, for sure. But labor enforcement? There's nothing about being against labor enforcement that's Republican. The president wants Mexico to enforce its labor laws. He doesn't want American manufacturing workers to have to compete with people who are- who are operating in- in- in very difficult conditions. So there's''

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you don't think there's a political cost because Republican senators were annoyed to be cut out of this last phase?

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Look it there are- there are always process issues. This bill is better now with the exception of biologics, which is a big exception. With the exception of biologics, it's more enforceable and it's better for American workers and American manufacturers and agriculture workers than it was before. For sure.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Lighthizer, Thank you very much for joining us.

AMB. LIGHTHIZER: Thank you for having me.

[End Transcript]

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:32

During a rally yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke to a crowd in Derry, N.H., a town that many miners call home. He acknowledged the economic setbacks and job insecurity that coal miners face these days, and gave them some advice: learn to code.

According to Dave Weigel of the Washington Post , Biden said, ''Anybody who can go down 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well... Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake!''

According to Weigel, the comment was met with silence from the audience.

Biden's campaign has proposed moving the U.S. away from fossil fuels to reduce the country's carbon footprint. He advocates helping lifelong miners secure sustainable jobs and keep their benefits. His plan calls for a 'Task Force on Coal and Power Plant Communities' to reinvigorate communities that depend on mining and coal as their economic backbone. The plan would invest in assets of mining communities, "like a rich culture, natural beauty, a proven workforce, and entrepreneurial spirit."

Retraining programs have received bipartisan support. The U.S. Department of Labor announced a fund of nearly $5 million for working training programs in Appalachia earlier this year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recently announced $2 million in funding from the National Dislocated Workers fund, and Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced a fund of more than $1 million from the same fund.

Although they are often touted as a solution, retraining programs have a questionable record of success . Some displaced coal workers do transition into other fields or industries, but c ritics say that the jobs that former coal workers usually find tend to pay only $12 to $15 dollars per hour as opposed to the approximate $75,000 a year salary that coal workers had while working in the mines.

Josh Benton, the deputy secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet in mining-heavy Kentucky, told Ohio Valley ReSource that the biggest problem is whether or not workers actually have other jobs based out of where they live.

''The challenge that we face is not necessarily are the training programs effective? It is, are there other industries, for those displaced workers to go to work,'' he said .

Some former coal workers resist the training programs altogether , hoping their industry will rebound. And others find it too daunting to learn a complicated new skill late in life.

''I think that job training keeps being promoted because it solves a political problem both for elected officials and for employers, but it doesn't do anything for the economics,'' Gordon Lafer, a University of Oregon professor and author of ''The Job Training Charade'' told Ohio Valley ReSource. Instead, Lafer recommended training people and investing in industries that have to stay local. He mentioned healthcare, construction, education, and tourism as promising fields.

The need for a solution for coal miners continues. Although the industry added 4,500 jobs from 2016 to 2018, U.S. coal production decreased by 10 percent in 2019 and jobs are at risk.

''People are going to have to get laid off,'' Andrew Cosgrove, a mining analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence has said. ''They're going to have to close mines.''

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:28

The aging owners of a Catskills farm say it ''has to close so we can survive.''

Seven generations of Frank Hull's family have lived and been buried on their farm in Durham, N.Y. Credit... Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York Times Published Nov. 27, 2019Updated Dec. 4, 2019

DURHAM, N.Y. '-- Farmer Frank hobbled into the house, cane in hand.

''Sow got out of her pen, had to chase her down,'' said Farmer Frank '-- Frank Hull, 71 '-- whose body, ravaged from decades of heavy manual work, is no longer built for chasing sows.

For half a century, he and his wife, Sherry, 67, have run their 260-acre farm here in the upper Catskills, some two hours north of New York City.

Known as Hull-O Farms, it has been in Mr. Hull's family since his forebear, John Hull, founded it some 240 years and seven generations ago.

It is one of the oldest farms in the country continuously owned and run by the same family. But that lineage is about to end.

The Hulls can no longer handle the strenuous physical work needed to earn enough to keep up with the taxes, insurance, mortgages, barn maintenance and other rising costs, so they are putting the farm on the market.

''We don't want to leave the land,'' Ms. Hull said. ''But we're running out of options.''

The Hulls are part of the graying of America's farmers.

One in three farmers in the country is 65 or older, and scores of small farms across the country close each year because their aging proprietors don't have successors.

In 2017, when the last federal agriculture census was taken, the average age of a farm owner or manager was 58.6, more than 8 years older than in the early 1980s. That year, there were 2,042,220 farms in the country, representing a loss of 173,656 farms over the previous two decades.

In New York State alone, 1.8 million acres of farmland are owned by people 65 and over, many of whom are financially unprepared for retirement and often wind up making the quickest and most lucrative move: selling to developers, said David Haight, an official with American Farmland Trust, which connects aspiring farmers with available farmland.

Some 5,000 farms in New York State have been sold for real estate development since 1982, he said.

''Many farming families are in the Hulls' situation or getting near it,'' Mr. Haight said. ''They're land-rich and cash-poor, and they're saying, 'What do we do with this family business we've created, particularly if we didn't make the money we anticipated making?'''

Old family photos from generations of Hull farmers decorate the 1810 farmhouse.

To honor the family legacy, the Hulls have kept farming, even as Ms. Hull's once boundless energy has diminished and Mr. Hull's body has become riddled with arthritis. The couple says they haven't been on a family vacation since their honeymoon 48 years ago.

''We have one nostril above water and nothing to live on,'' Ms. Hull said. ''We have no pension because we've put every penny we've made back into the farm. I tell people, 'We're standing on our 401(k).' And now, it looks like the farm has to close so we can survive.''

Mr. Hull carries out daily chores including feeding and watering the livestock, growing and harvesting hay and corn, and raising grass-fed cattle, hogs, chickens and pheasant.

He butchers and sells much of the meat at the farm, along with farm-fresh eggs.

''If Frank stops working, he feels he's letting his relatives down and that the whole family line is broken,'' Ms. Hull said. ''I know it doesn't make sense because they're dead, but you feel like you have a commitment to carry on what every one of them has done successfully in the past.''

Mr. Hull nodded and said: ''It's your heritage and you hate to give it up. I'm stubborn. I don't like to say uncle.''

In New York, one bright note is that the numbers of young farmers and small farms are growing, as a new generation embraces organic and farm-to-table production and other niche food trends.

The longstanding tradition of aging farmers relying on younger generations to take over the farm, and support them in retirement, is being shaken, said Kacey Deamer with Cornell University's Small Farms Program, which, along with other groups, is increasingly connecting aging farm owners with nonrelatives looking to farm.

''As people seek different career opportunities and move away from their family farm, relying on children to take over the farm business is not always the answer,'' she said.

Each of the Hulls' four sons grew up working on the farm, but none have wanted to take it over '-- not even the youngest, Jared, 36, who works on the farm.

Two sons have moved out of state, and the son most likely to take the farm over, Jordon, died in a vehicular accident in 2010. Even while in mourning and arranging for the funeral, the Hulls were still not able to stop the daily work on the farm, Ms. Hull said.

The muddiness of the Hulls' clay soil has long made farming difficult and has not helped in their efforts to rent their land to other farmers.

The Hulls said they had met with land trust groups to discuss selling their development rights in return for restrictions keeping the land as open space. But the arrangement would not provide enough money to retire on, they said.

A global agriculture market has allowed New York City to become less reliant on surrounding farms. But once, even Manhattan was partly farmland. The last working family farm in Manhattan may well have been the Benedetto farm, which took up a full city block near Broadway and 214th Street in Inwood in the early 1930s, said a local historian, Don Rice, who added that the Benedettos raised livestock, grew vegetables and ran a farm stand. The farm was sold in 1954 and developed soon after.

(A reader, Mitchell Littman of New Rochelle, N.Y., had written to The New York Times asking about the last working farm in Manhattan. His question is part of a project from The Times that invites readers to join in our reporting process.)

At the time, Mr. Hull was a top breeder of cows and had been running the farm since his teens.

For decades, they were primarily dairy farmers and produced up to 750 gallons of milk a day. But in the late 1980s, with milk prices sagging, they began selling off their 260 milking cows and diversified their farm strategy.

They began offering ''farm-stay'' guest accommodations attracting families from New York City. The visitors enjoy Ms. Hull's farm-sourced meals and doing chores. In the fall, there is a corn maze and hay rides. December's theme is a charming farmhouse Christmas.

These peak tourism times take a toll on Ms. Hull, who a decade ago could knock off 80 meals a weekend on four hours' sleep.

''I can't do that anymore at 67,'' she said.

For Mr. Hull, the past decade has brought growing injuries and decades-old pain from hand-milking cows, holding struggling horses during breeding and continually twisting in the tractor seat.

He fits in surgeries and procedures between corn, deer and hay season.

''You can see his body is in need of surgery,'' Ms. Hull said. ''He deserves a day off and not to have to work till he dies.''

Mr. Hull listened and gazed out across the fields.

''Farmers don't retire,'' he said softly, almost to himself.

But his wife keeps telling him will soon have no choice. She said she will keep taking guest reservations while the farm is on the market, and pray for another solution that could perhaps entail selling or renting part of their land.

''We're still weighing all our options and if anyone has an arrangement that could keep us here, we're not proud people,'' she said. ''If not, then it's God's will that we'll have to sell.''

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 08:28

California will become the first state in the country to have a comprehensive data privacy law on Wednesday when the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect.

Companies are scrambling to figure out how to handle the law, which is expected to require major firms to disclose the personal information they collect from consumers and what they do with it.

Much about the law, which will not be enforceable until six months after either July 1 or the date a final rule is released, remains unclear.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher NewsomPrivate prison firm sues California over ban on for-profit facilities Uber, Postmates sue to block California gig worker law Trump tells California, New York to 'politely' ask him for help with homeless population MORE signed the bill into law in June 2018, but California Attorney General Xavier Becerra Xavier BecerraPrivate prison firm sues California over ban on for-profit facilities Uber, Postmates sue to block California gig worker law Overnight Energy: 14 states sue EPA over rollback of Obama water rule | DOE to block another lightbulb efficiency rule | Greens cheer climate questions at Dem debate MORE only just published the first round of draft regulations in early October. His office closed the public comment period on Dec. 6, and the final version of the regulations is due out soon.

The bill is expected to allow Californians to view the information that companies have collected about them, and to opt out of that collection. The law is expected to forbid companies from discriminating against users who opt out of data collection.

While the law is not enforceable for now, California has hinted that companies could be sanctioned retroactively if they disregard the new rules on Jan. 1.

A spokesperson for Becerra told The Hill that qualifying companies ''should be prepared to adhere to the law as of January 1,'' suggesting that retroactive enforcement may be possible.

''While we can't take action until six months after finalizing our rules, or July 1 '-- whichever comes first '-- we can consider a business's efforts to comply with the law from January 1, onwards,'' the spokesperson said.

The CCPA technically applies to businesses with online traffic in California that have annual revenues over $25 million, collect data on 50,000 consumers or receive 50 percent of their revenue from selling data, according to the draft regulation.

But even though it's a state law, the California rules will have ramifications across the United States.

Since most businesses have web traffic in California, most major online companies will have to adhere to the requirements or risk enforcement action from Becerra's office. Some companies, like Microsoft and Mozilla, have said they will extend changes made to comply with CCPA to all users.

Facebook has said the tools it has developed to allow users to access and delete their data will be available regardless of geographic location.

Apple, Google and Twitter have also all introduced tools letting users view and download data collected about them.

Yet the response beyond that from U.S. companies has been inconsistent.

''There's been wide variation in what's out there,'' David Stauss, a partner at Husch Blackwell who assists companies with compliance, told The Hill.

Some experts are recommending businesses avoid extending protections to non-California residents to avoid unnecessary liability.

''Our recommendation, and I think the prevailing wisdom, has been to only extend privacy rights to the people who have those,'' said Stauss, who warned of possible lawsuits.

''In California if you don't respond to a request to delete or a request to know adequately the enforcement mechanism is the attorney general's office, but if you've voluntarily extended those rights to somebody outside California what's to say you can't be sued for consumer fraud?''

California's first in the nation regulations comes amid a broad push from several different levels of government to create data privacy legislation.

Congress has been locked in bipartisan negotiations to develop a federal privacy statute for months, but major sticking points have kept a bill from getting to the floor.

Republicans in both the House and Senate have insisted that they will not support a privacy law unless it preempts state legislation like California's.

Democrats have made including a private right of action '-- allowing individuals to sue companies for data misuse '-- a must in any bill. The CCPA is expected to include a very narrow private right of action after an attempt to expand it fell short in the California Senate.

A draft of federal privacy legislation shared with stakeholders and obtained by The Hill last month punted on both of those divisive questions, suggesting that the wait for Congress to lead on the issue may continue.

The CCPA will go into effect over a year after Europe's landmark privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which set transparency standards for companies handling personal data, required sites to minimize the amount of information they collect and gave users more control over their own data.

While companies have been complying with that law, and some like Microsoft have complied with it globally, it is not clear yet how much the two rules will have in common, potentially creating headaches for companies operating in both markets.

''When the CCPA first came out, there was a lot of thought that if you've done GDPR you're already 80 percent of the way there,'' Stauss told The Hill. ''I don't know that that's ultimately come to pass'... it's just vastly different than GDPR'' when it comes to privacy policies.

With federal legislation remains tied up, other states may follow California's lead.

Maine and Nevada have already passed narrower internet privacy laws, and nearly a dozen other states have considered data legislation already.

Among those states are Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Illinois. The potential for a patchwork system of privacy laws has left many companies unsure about whether to adhere directly to CCPA or develop broader, more flexible data management regimes.

Adding to the data privacy law morass, California may pass additional rules in 2020.

The group behind the ballot measure that originally resulted in the CCPA are reportedly planning another ballot measure which could create an independent agency to enforce data privacy rules and an opt-in system for internet users under 16, a proposition backed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinSenate Democrats press GOP chairmen over Ukraine allegations Lobbying World Congress set to pass bill to help terrorism victims win compensation from Palestinian Authority MORE (D-Calif.).

''I think the fairest way is opt-in,'' Feinstein told reporters in December, saying that opt-out systems help businesses profit on unknowing customers.

While California has beat the federal government and other states to the punch on data privacy laws, the CCPA is likely to be the first in a flurry of regulations as consumers grow more concerned about the conduct of the biggest online platforms.

''This is the start not the end,'' Stauss said. ''We're going to see a ton of states looking at this issue, I think we'll see some states really try to get it across the finish line this year now that the California statute is fully baked.''

''Buckle up '-- it's going to be a wild ride for the next probably 3 to 5 years until we get some sort of normalcy in this area.''

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 06:35

At left, Hunter Biden is shown in a 2012 file photo. At right, a screenshot of a judge's order recusing from an ongoing paternity case involving Biden. The judge in Hunter Biden's Arkansas paternity case has recused.

Independence County Circuit Judge Don McSpadden filed an order at 10:20 a.m. Tuesday saying he was recusing ''pursuant to the Administrative Plan of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.''

A hearing in the case was scheduled for Tuesday. Attorneys for Lunden Alexis Roberts had urged the judge to find Biden in contempt of court at that hearing for not providing financial information for the past five years.

"One of the clearest indicators of a judge's integrity is when he or she recuses from a case,'' said Clinton Lancaster, one of Roberts' attorneys. "It highlights the ethos and values that make the judiciary such a powerful, separate branch of government. Our client sincerely thanks Judge McSpadden for his time and attention to what has become a difficult and convoluted child support matter."

Roberts filed the paternity suit in May, claiming that she and Hunter Biden were in a relationship that resulted in the birth of ''Baby Doe'' in August 2018.

Roberts, a graduate of Arkansas State University, has asked the court to establish that Biden is the child's biological father and order him to pay child support and provide the baby's health insurance.

On Nov. 20, Lancaster filed a motion with the court that DNA testing had established, ''with scientific certainty,'' that Hunter Biden was the baby's father.

A separate motion filed with the clerk said Hunter Biden ''is not contesting paternity.''

Biden's attorney told the court last month that he is unemployed and has been without monthly income since May.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 06:13

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., during a campaign stop at Maquoketa Middle School in Maquoketa, Iowa, on Monday. (Eileen Meslar/AP) Michelle Ye Hee LeeNational political enterprise and accountability reporter covering money and influence in politics

January 1 at 7:00 AMMayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., said Wednesday he raised more than $24.7 million for his White House bid in the final three months of 2019, a haul that reflects his sustained financial strength in the Democratic primary field as candidates enter the final stretch before voting begins.

His quarterly total is comparable to the $24.8 million he raised in the second quarter, an amount that helped boost his candidacy from a little-known mayor to a serious presidential contender. In all, Buttigieg has raised roughly $76 million for his presidential bid.

Buttigieg is the first candidate to release his fundraising figures after the Dec. 31 quarterly deadline. Candidates have until Jan. 31 to file fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission, but those with impressive figures typically share their totals soon after a quarter ends.

It is unclear yet how much money Buttigieg's campaign has left to spend in the final weeks until the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses and beyond, or how much money he drew from donors giving the maximum amount through private fundraisers '-- a point of contention in the Democratic primaries in recent weeks.

The Buttigieg campaign said Wednesday that it had received more than 2 million donations from more than 733,000 people in 2019, with 326,000 people giving in the final three months of the year, when his campaign gained steam in Iowa polls.

[Pete Buttigieg agrees to more transparency on campaign money]

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a leading fundraiser in the Democratic field who has built a massive financial operation fueled by low-dollar donors online, is also expected to post strong figures in the fourth quarter. The Sanders campaign said Tuesday that it was closing in on five million individual donations from people across the country.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced last week that she had raised at least $17 million, asking her supporters to meet a goal of $20 million for the quarter.

Sen. Cory Booker's campaign announced Tuesday he eclipsed his third-quarter haul of $6 million.

Buttigieg's campaign said it spent the fourth quarter of 2019 hiring its field staff, expanding staff size to more than 500 people and setting up 65 field offices in the early voting states.

''This quarter, Pete solidified himself as a top tier presidential candidate, not by tapping into the fundraising list or bank account of a sitting senator or someone who had run for president before, but by speaking to voters who for too long have been let down by politicians in Washington and are looking for a better path forward,'' campaign manager Mike Schmuhl wrote in a memo Wednesday morning.

[The Finance 202: How Pete Buttigieg is poised to rake in even more Wall Street money]

Buttigieg's overtures to wealthy donors at private fundraisers came under fire in recent weeks, in a fight with Warren over transparency and the role of the traditional donor class in financing political campaigns.

In response, Buttigieg agreed to release his list of ''bundlers'' '-- those who funnel large sums of money to campaigns '-- and began giving limited access to reporters to his private fundraisers.

Fellow presidential contender Joe Biden, who has also relied on a high-dollar fundraising program, last week released the list of his bundlers. He has allowed limited access to his fundraisers since the beginning of his campaign.

In the final week of December, Buttigieg's campaign held a fundraising contest challenging supporters to give the smallest unique donation amount. The contest generated more than 1,600 donations, the campaign said Tuesday.

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Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:19

US President Donald Trump has said that the US is not gearing up for war with Iran, adding that he prefers peace to war. It comes just hours after the US leader upped the ante, making a pointed threat against Tehran on Twitter.

With simmering tensions between Tehran and Washington flaring up over an attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad, which the US blamed squarely on Iran without providing any proof, there have been growing fears that another war of words could spiral into something far more violent.

In an apparent attempt to diffuse the tension, Trump said late on Tuesday that he does not foresee a war actually breaking out between the US and Iran.

''War with Iran? I don't think that would be a good idea for Iran... I like peace... I don't see that happening,'' Trump told media as he arrived at the grand ballroom at Mar-a-Lago for a New Year bash on Tuesday night.

Also on rt.com Pompeo blames 'terrorists & Iranian proxies' for attack on US Embassy in Baghdad as Tehran rebuffs accusations Tehran has vehemently denied allegations that it is somehow complicit in the unrest sparked by US airstrikes that killed 25 members of the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah over the weekend.

The American sorties have drawn ire from the Iraqi government, calling the bombing a violation of the country's sovereignty as well as of militiamen and ordinary citizens who flocked to the US Embassy in Iraq to protest against the airstrikes.

Also on rt.com This is not a warning, it's a threat: Trump declares US embassy in Iraq safe, says Iran will pay 'big price' for attack Protests turned violent on Tuesday as demonstrators attempted to storm the compound, and saw US attack helicopters being scrambled to scatter the protesters after they reportedly breached the front gate.

In the wake of the attack, the Pentagon announced that it would send 750 paratroopers to the Middle East ''immediately'' in response to the incident, which will be followed by ''additional forces.'' Washington has repeatedly invoked the ''Iranian threat'' to beef up its military presence in the region, having deployed some 14,000 troops to the Middle East since May 2019 in addition to about 60,000 that are already stationed there.

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:57

It's tempting to view MSNBC Talk-Garrot Rachel Maddow as the Dinosaur Media's Lucy Van Pelt, but, of course, that would be an insult to Lucy.

Certainly, like Lucy, Ms. Maddow possesses that rare and startlingly offensive combination of insufferable ego, towering self-righteousness, awkward self-bearing, stiffness and its resultant blusterous over-compensation.

But Maddow caps it off with a heaping dollop of ''join me and hate the peons'' old-school propagandistic progressivism that smacks more of a 1970s meeting of the Manhattan Marxist Club than a supposed news figure'...

So, while it's easy to get Lucy and Rachel confused, after a bit of study, it becomes clear that one is much more cartoonish than the other, and that fact just became more obvious as Maddow's attorneys offered part of her defense in a $10 million defamation suit she's currently fighting.

As Chris Gregory reports for Culttture:

One America News (OAN) is in court against MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in a $10 million lawsuit after Maddow said her conservative competitor ''really, literally is paid Russian propaganda.''

And we all know that Ms. Maddow is a lot brighter than the rest of us, so she clearly has a better handle on the meaning of the word hyperbole and the difference between ''literal'' and ''figurative'' than we do. She's been on the cutting edge of true, honest reporting for years, and would never err or become hyperbolic when making statements about OAN, right?

She's just 100% trustworthy'... Right?

Maybe not.

According to The Times of San Diego:

Maddow lawyer Theodore J. ''Ted'' Boutrous Jr. argued that the liberal host was clearly offering up her 'own unique expression' of her views to capture what she saw as the 'ridiculous' nature of the undisputed facts.

'Her comment, therefore, is a quintessential statement 'of rhetorical hyperbole, incapable of being proved true or false,' he said.

Incapable of being proved true or false? Then why did she say it, and why did she say it in that way?

In fact, why, even in Mr. Boutrous's legal filing, does it appear as if he is doubling-down on the defamatory claim even as he says what Maddow herself said cannot be proven or disproven?

Seriously, check this out.

First, Mr. Boutrous claims that Lucy '' er, Rachel '' was offering her ''own unique expression'' of her own views, but then he says that the claim about OAN being ''literally paid Russian propaganda'' is an ''undisputed fact''. But THEN he says that her statement is not fact, but ''rhetorical hyperbole, incapable of being proven true or false.''

Holy smoke. This lawyer sounds like a snake oil salesman giving the slip to one of his dupes. Perhaps he's unaware of the fact that her words are on record. This is not a case of guilty until proven innocent. It's a case of her claiming OAN is ''literally paid Russian propaganda'' without presenting evidence to support her defamatory claim. That's why OAN has taken her to court.

In fact, like Mr. Boutrous, Maddow doubled-down on her claim on her program, saying this about OAN:

Their on-air politics reporter (Kristian Rouz) is paid by the Russian government to produce propaganda for that government.

Are we to take that as hyperbole, Mr. Boutrous, or as ''undisputed fact'' backed by nothing, which is what seems to be your implication in the legal filing?

This doesn't look good for a self-righteous ''news'' woman who has already made herself such a laughing stock among people who care for facts that her program has been dropping in ratings like a planetoid caught in the pull of a black hole.

But what is one to expect? After all, this is the woman who in 2016 claimed that a speech by Donald Trump could be a ''gateway drug'' for the Ku Klux Klan (you know, that organization mostly run by Democrats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) and who quite sarcastically misrepresented the crowd size and content of the Donald Trump Inauguration in 2017. This is not only a woman who's love of sarcastic posturing seems to outdistance any interest in facts, this is a woman whose parsimonious relationship with actual truth is so clear, her attorney argues that she's not to be taken seriously when she appears on the air making reckless claims about other news organizations.

Heck, this is the woman who in 2017 blustered about having ''Trump's Tax Returns'', implying that there would be bombshell evils revealed, when, in fact, as MRCTV's Brittany Hughes reported at the time:

What Maddow and the fine folks over at MSNBC actually managed to do was get part of a copy of Trump's 2005 tax return. Which was already 12 years old. And which the White House had already released'... And which the Wall Street Journal had already reported on '' a year ago.

So now, what is one to think of the mighty Rachel Van Pelt? Are we to take her seriously, as her ''wink-wink-nudge-nudge-you're-smart-I'm-smarter'' schtick implies? Or are we to take at least a portion of her lawyer's words to heart and realize we're not to accept anything she says as true?

One thing is certain. When watching, hearing, or reading the propagandistic claims of Ms. Maddow, one can hear echoes of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It seems as if Rachel's bluster is simply ''full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.''

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Source: Mediagazer

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:30

Mediagazer presents the day's must-read media news on a single page.

The media business is in tumult: from the production side tothe distribution side, new technologies are upending the industry.Keeping up with these changes is time-consuming, as essential media coverageis scattered across numerous web sites at any given moment.

Mediagazer simplifies this task by organizing the key coverage in one place.We've combined sophisticated automated aggregation technologies withdirect editorial input from knowledgeable human editorsto present the one indispensable narrative of an industry in transition.

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:27

River Oaks PD Keith Thomas Kinnunen

Keith Thomas Kinnunen has been identified as the gunman in the shooting at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, on Sunday, December 29, 2019, that left two people dead. Kinnunen, 43, was fatally shot by the church's head of security.

Kinnunen, of River Oaks, Texas, had ties to the Fort Worth area, but also lived in several states and has been homeless at times, records show. He has a lengthy criminal record that includes arrests and convictions in several states. According to officials, Kinnunen had ties to the church and had been there before, but he was not well known by churchgoers. A motive for the shooting has not been made public.

''The apparently homeless gunman who killed two worshipers Sunday had been helped with food on several occasions by the West Freeway church, but he became angry when they wouldn't give him money, minister Britt Farmer told me. He wasn't recognized Sunday because he wore disguises,'' Bobby Ross Jr., the editor of The Christian Chronicle, tweeted.

Kinnunen's sister, Amy Kinnunen, said Sunday was the 10th anniversary of the death of their brother by suicide, according to ABC News. She told the news network she believes Kinnunen was on his own suicide mission.

Cashier at QuikTrip across I-30 from West Freeway Church of Christ says gunman bought a fountain drink there 10 minutes before shooting, and store has turned over security tape to FBI. Said this as I was buying these newspapers. #PrayForWestFreeway pic.twitter.com/cUPIzAMAWA

'-- Bobby Ross Jr. (@bobbyross) December 30, 2019

MedStar spokeswoman Macara Trusty confirmed that one person died at the scene of the shooting, and one person died en route to the hospital. Hospital officials confirmed that one of these victims was the shooter. The third victim was transported to a hospital in critical condition, but was later pronounced dead, according to White Settlement Police Chief J.P. Bevering.

One victim was identified as Deacon Anton ''Tony'' Wallace. He was 64. The second victim was identified as another member of the security team, 67-year-old Richard White, by his family.

At around 10:57 a.m. local time, multiple police, ATF, FBI and EMS units reported to the scene. The West Freeway Church of Christ was live-streaming its Sunday services on its YouTube channel. The horrific video shows a man firing off two shots while church-goers ducked under their seats in fear. The video, which has since been removed from the church's YouTube channel, also showed an armed security guard, identified as Jack Wilson, taking down Kinnunen with a single shot.

This is the scene outside West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement/Fort Worth. @FortWorthFire says 3 people shot, including the gunman. Worried family members are outside. Church members and witnesses are still inside being questioned @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/AS34KKNSzj

'-- Yona Gavino (@YonaGavinoTV) December 29, 2019

Kinnunen has a long rap sheet in numerous different cities across America dating back to 1998. He's been arrested and charged numerous times in Tucson, Arizona, Fort Worth, Texas, and Grady County, Oklahoma, where he was arrested in a domestic violence case in 2011 and charged with felony aggravated assault and battery. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault and battery charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and given credit for already serving that time. In 2012, he was arrested again in Oklahoma and charged with third-degree arson. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail time in that case.

Here's what you need to know about Keith Thomas Kinnunen:

1. Keith Kinnunen, Whose Ex-Wife Once Wrote He Was a 'Religious Fanatic' Who Was 'Battling a Demon,' Was Born In Kansas, Had a Brief Career as a Boxer in Texas & Also Lived in Ohio & Arizona FOX 5 Atlanta Keith Thomas Kinnunen mug shot

While the deceased gunman, Keith Kinnunen, was born in Kansas on November 26, 1976, and voter registration records show that he was living in Medina County, Ohio. He also spent time living in Tucson, Arizona, where he also has a criminal record.

According to BoxRec.com, Kinnunen was a boxer in 2004 while living in Fort Worth, Texas. Records show that the middle weight division boxer only fought in two bouts. He lost by KO in October 2004, but won his other match by a KO in November of the same year.

Before moving to Texas, Kinnunen spent several years living in Tucson, Arizona, where he was arrested multiple times. He was found guilty in 1998 of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. In 2000, he was convicted in Arizona of driving without a license. In 2004, Kinnunen was arrested in Pima, Arizona, on a disorderly conduct charge, but it was dismissed.

In 2010, Kinnunen was charged in Tucson with misdemeanor theft, and then missed several court appearances in that case, leading to multiple failure to appear charges. In 2011, he was charged with assault and disorderly conduct in Tucson and also had failure to appear charges against him in that case. Kinnunen was again charged with assault (knowingly causing injury), in 2014 in Tucson.

While living in Arizona, in 1996, Kinnunen, then 19, married a 34-year-old woman, online records show. She was later listed as a domestic violence victim in the 2011 Oklahoma assault case. She sought a restraining order against Kinnunen. They later divorced, but had four children together, according to NBC DFW.

The news station obtained documents from the restraining order case.

''Keith is a violent, paranoid person with a long line of assault and batteries with and without firearms. He is a religious fanatic, says he's battling a demon. He is not nice to anyone,'' his ex-wife wrote in the documents, according to the news station.

2. Kinnunen Was Wearing a Fake Beard & a Trench Coat When He Entered Church Of Christ, Witnesses SayWhite Settlement church shooter

As reported by NBC News, Dallas FBI field office special agent Matt DeSarno said that investigators were working on figuring out the shooter's motive. He described the man as a ''relatively transient'' person with roots in the area.''

Bevering said of the shooter appeared to have walked into the church and sat down. ''He got up, pulled out a shotgun and fired it at a parishioner,'' Bevering said. ''That parishioner is deceased.''

Tiffany Wallace, who witnessed the shooting and whose father, Tony Wallace, was killed, described the gunman as a white man with a fake beard and black hair who was wearing a trench coat.

Jack Wilson, the head of the church's security team, told reporters on Monday that they had their eye on Kinnunen from the moment he walked into the church. They said they had ''some concerns about him,'' and had noticed he was wearing a wig and fake beard and had on a long coat. ''We had cameras turned on him,'' Wilson said.

Isabel Arreola, the wife of a church deacon, was sitting with her daughter two feet in front of Kinnunen, and said he made her feel ''uneasy,'' the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

''She wanted to think that he was there to worship, just like everyone else, but she had never seen him in church, and said he appeared to be in disguise,'' The Star Telegram wrote. ''She and her husband decided they would move to the other side of the church after communion.'' Arreola said the man then stood up and pulled out a shotgun, ''At the same time, we all dove for the floor. My husband covered my daughter with his body.''

Arreola told the newspaper, ''I should have listened to my gut. While he was there, I couldn't sing. I couldn't pray. There was just something not right about him. But at the same time, I thought that maybe I was being too hard. Our church is so giving. We help the homeless. We help people get food, pay for car repairs. If he just needed something, I'm sure we would have tried to help him if he had just asked.''

3. Kinnunen Was Arrested in New Jersey After He Was Spotted Acting Suspiciously & Taking Photos of an Oil Refinery While Armed With a Shotgun River Oaks PD Keith Thomas Kinnunen

A reported by My Central Jersey, in September 2016,Around 4:30 p.m., police responded to Lower Road near the city public works garage for a report of a suspicious person on a bicycle. The resident reported a man photographing the oil tank field at the Phillips 66 refinery, which seemed suspicious. He told police he was homeless and liked taking photos while traveling around the country.

Police found Kinnunen had a contempt of court warrant in Oklahoma for felony aggravated assault. While checking his property, police also found a Mossberg .12 gauge shotgun and rounds wrapped in plastic. He was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. He was taken to Union County Jail in Elizabeth and held on $20,000 bail. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Deputy police chief Charles Stewart said River Oaks arrested him in both 2009 and 2015 on warrants for unpaid traffic tickets, NBC DFW reported.

4. Kinnunen Was Also Arrested Twice in Fort Worth & Charged With Aggravated Assault With a Deadly Weapon & TheftKeith Thomas Kinnunen mug shot

Fort Worth Police Department arrested Kinnunen and charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault in 2008, a search of Texas Department of Public Safety records shows. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor deadly conduct. According to state law, deadly conduct is when a person ''recklessly engages in conduct that places another person in imminent danger of serious bodily injury.'' He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

In 2013, Kinnunen was again arrested in Fort Worth, DPS records show. He was charged with misdemeanor theft of property valued between $50 to $500. He pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to 50 days in jail.

Despite his previous arrests, Kinnunen was not on any sort of ''watch'' list said Matthew Desarno, special agent in charge of the FBI Dallas office.

Kinnunen was once a licensed landscape irrigator and backflow prevention assembly tester, according to NBC DFW.

5. Parishioner Jack Wilson Killed Kinnunen With A Single Shot & Said He Didn't Want 'Evil to Succeed' Jack Wilson

WFAA-TV's Whitley reported that ''Church security (armed members) subdued [the suspect].'' Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told reporters that Wilson drew his weapons and ''took out the killer immediately, saving am untold number of lives.''

Jack Wilson, who's the President of On Target Firearms Academy, and campaigning to be the Precinct 3 Commissioner, was the gunman who shot the Kinnunen. Wilson said on Facebook he didn't want to ''allow evil to succeed.''

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday that his understanding was that Kinnunen was a ''more of a loner,'' and that he had attended the Church of Christ several times before and was welcomed in with open arms prior to Sunday's shooting.

READ NEXT: Green Bay Packers Send Lions' Marvin Jones Condolences After Son's Death

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:19

(C) REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Blades from a massive wind turbine crumpled to the ground Monday,

smashing a car flat and damaging another piece of infrastructure, authorities said.

"This shouldn't have been put up so hastily. A wind turbine should not be able to be taken down by the wind," state Sen. Jamaal Bailey said during a press conference discussing the incident, which happened in the Bronx.

A car was smashed and a billboard was knocked down but nobody was injured, according to fire and police officials.

During the press conference, Bailey and Assemblyman Mike Benedetto called on the city Department of Buildings (DOB) to make "sure something like this doesn't happen again." Both men spoke at the site of the collapse and were struggling to project their voices over the sound of roaring wind.

DOB did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation's request for comment.

New York has worked to transition the state away from fossil fuels and toward other forms of energy, namely solar power and wind turbines. The New York State Thruway Authority built five wind turbines in 2015 along the thruway in the western corner of the state to help in the transition.

The project was expensive, with the five windmills costing $4.8 million and another $500,000 for design expenditures . The authority believed the turbines would pay for themselves, saving as much as $420,000 annually on energy bills. Such forms of energy also have detractors.

President Donald Trump, for instance,

often mocks turbines for not being as reliable as natural gas or crude oil.

"When the wind stops blowing, it doesn't make any difference, does it? Unlike those big windmills that destroy everybody's property values, kill all the birds," Trump told a crowd who gathered to hear him speak at a chemical plant in August.

Trump added: "One day the environmentalists are going to tell us what's going on with that. And then all of a sudden it stops."

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:16

Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Studies suggest that drugs such as Truvada are effective prevention against HIV if taken daily. Facebook has removed adverts about HIV prevention medicines, following intense lobbying from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer advocacy groups.

They argued in an open letter sent to Facebook in December, that the ads went beyond misinformation to "put people's lives in imminent danger".

Medical studies suggest drugs such as Truvada are safe.

But the ads, from law firms attempting to convince gay and bisexual men to join lawsuits, suggested otherwise.

They focused on harmful side effects, such as kidney issues.

Facebook agreed that this was misleading: "After a review, our independent fact-checking partners have determined some of these ads in question mislead people about the effects of Truvada.

"As a result we have rejected the ads and they can no longer run on Facebook," it said in a statement to the BBC.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said that PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) drugs are "highly effective for preventing HIV from sex and injection drug use".

Pressure has been mounting on the social network to do something about the issue since December, when an open letter signed by 50 health and LGBTQ groups was sent.

It read: "By allowing these advertisements to persist on their platforms, Facebook and Instagram are convincing at-risk individuals to avoid PrEP, invariably leading to avoidable HIV infections. You are harming public health."

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:12

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq and other staff were evacuated from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said, as thousands of protesters and members of the Iran-backed Hashed al-Shaabi group thronged the gates in fury at U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.

U.S. planes on Sunday attacked bases belonging to an Iranian-backed terror group, killing at least 25 and wounding dozens of others. The attack on the Kataib Hezbollah terrorist group was in response to the killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base.

Kataib Hezbollah flags were seen among the protesters at the U.S. embassy. Some threw stones, others burned the outside wall surrounding the embassy, and chants of ''No, no, America! '... No, no, Trump!'' were heard. After breaching the outer wall, they smashed the bullet-proof glass of the U.S. embassy's windows with blocks and cement.

One protester dressed in military fatigues said ''we will not spare a single employee'' if they breached the building.

Two Iraqi foreign ministry officials did not say when the U.S. ambassador or other staff had left but added that a few embassy protection staff remained.

Protesters burn property in front of the U.S. embassy compound, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Dec. 31, 2019. (Khalid Mohammed/AP Photo)President Donald Trump said Tuesday morning that the United States carried out the military attacks because Iran killed an American contractor and wounded others.

''Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!'' he said in a statement.

Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!

'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that it was clear the Shia militias in Iraq weren't just ''backed'' by Iran, ''they are directed and controlled by them.''

''Any attacks by them are the direct work of Iran's IRGC,'' he added, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It's beyond dispute that these Shia militias in #Iraq aren't just ''backed'' by #Iran, they are directed & controlled by them. Any attacks by them are the direct work of Iran's #IRGC

'-- Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 31, 2019

Iraqi security forces stand guard in front of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 31, 2019. (Khalid Mohammed/AP Photo) U.S. soldiers fire tear gas towards protesters who broke into the U.S. embassy compound, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Dec. 31, 2019. (Khalid Mohammed/AP Photo) Destroyed headquarters of Kataib Hezbollah militia group are seen after in an air strike in Qaim, Iraq, on Dec. 30, 2019. (Stringer/Reuters)

''And the govt of Iraq, (which has enjoyed billions of dollars in US aid & the help & protection of our military) needs to remember they have an obligation to protect all diplomatic facilities,'' Rubio wrote on Twitter. ''Iran is directly responsible for orchestrating the storming of the US Embassy in Iraq & must be held accountable for it & the safety of every American serving there,'' he also wrote in a statement.

A few hours into the protest, tear gas was fired in an attempt to disperse the crowd and some of the militias encouraged protesters through loudspeakers to leave.

''We have delivered our message, please leave the area to avoid bloodshed,'' said one announcement.

Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, and many other senior leaders were among the protesters.

''Americans are unwanted in Iraq . They are a source of evil and we want them to leave,'' Khazali said. Khazali is one of the most respected Shi'ite militia leaders in Iraq , and one of Iran's most important allies.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 08:19

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Tue, 31 Dec 2019 00:21

When people search for hate-filled material online, a new de-radicalization effort sends them in another direction.

Video Some of the YouTube videos used in a pilot program by the start-up Moonshot CVE. The program is now being used to combat the spread of white supremacist rhetoric.The top 20 search terms used by those in the United States seeking white supremacist material online last year started with ''RaHoWa,'' short for Racial Holy War and the name of a white power band. Then came ''Ku Klux Klan phone number.'' Phrases like ''how to kill blacks'' or ''swastika tattoo'' fill most of the list.

Amid an upsurge in violent hate attacks, federal law enforcement agencies and other groups have been scrutinizing online activity like internet searches to counteract radicalization.

Now a private start-up company has developed an unusual solution based on ordinary online marketing tools. It sends those who plug extremist search terms into Google to videos that promote anti-extremist views.

Known as the Redirect Method, it was first used against potential recruits for the Islamic State, but recently it has been repurposed against white supremacy in the United States.

The London-based start-up, Moonshot CVE, has worked with the Anti-Defamation League and Gen Next Foundation, a philanthropic organization, to develop a pilot program tailored for the United States. It ran for several months last summer, and senior counterterrorism officials have endorsed the method.

''I think in general that U.S. government work in the prevention space has been a little bit slow in coming, but this strikes us as a very worthwhile program that should continue,'' said Russell E. Travers, acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center. ''Anything you can do to stop individuals from consuming the kind of very gruesome radicalization potential that you see on the internet and take them someplace else '-- just common sense tells me that is a good thing to do.''

Moonshot was created by Vidhya Ramalingam, an American, and Ross Frenett, who first studied extremism in his native Ireland. Both worked at a London think tank that focused on Islamic and other forms of extremism issues before they founded Moonshot CVE in 2015. (CVE stands for Countering Violent Extremism.)

At that time, most online efforts were geared toward expunging content. Such efforts might interrupt the activity, but did not address the underlying problem as Moonshot seeks to do. ''Rather than police content, it would try to disrupt the process of radicalization,'' said Clark Hogan-Taylor, the head of communications for Moonshot.

The effort to be unveiled in the coming months in the United States will respond to a wide range of search terms. Moonshot, which previously developed 48 ads, now has 1,064. Five playlists expanded to 86.

Moonshot buys ads like any other company on Google, and pays per click. Sometimes it will self-finance a run, like it did in New Zealand and Australia for 24 hours after attacks on mosques in March, when it knew extremist searches would spike. It uses money earned from government programs or from teaching seminars on countering terrorism. More often, it gets funding from governments and private companies or foundations.

To understand the approach, it is useful to consider another Top 20 search term like ''The Turner Diaries,'' a dystopian 1978 novel about white supremacists seizing control of the United States.

A search for the ''Diaries'' could trigger a Google advertisement at the top of the page that says: ''Proud of your heritage? | What you are not being told. Find out more information by watching our playlist.''

Image Clicking on the ad would pull up a YouTube playlist of about five to eight short videos consisting of various people, including former extremists, explaining why the ideology is misguided.

The playlist could include a clip from the movie ''American History X,'' whose white supremacist central character undergoes a transformation after befriending a black man in prison. Former white supremacists have credited the movie with subverting their worldview.

The idea is not to berate the adherents of extremist ideology, but to help them change their minds themselves, said Ludovica di Giorgi, who manages the Redirect Method program.

The company has had trouble raising significant public or private money in the United States to deploy it there, Ms. Di Giorgi said. Aspects of the method have raised civil liberties concerns about a program watching over people's shoulders. But Moonshot vows that it gets data only on search terms and nothing about individuals.

In Canada, the government awarded Moonshot more than $1.5 million to run the program for 18 months, ending next March. Public Safety Canada, the ministry that deals with terrorism and crime, decided the method was ''an innovative attempt'' to address extremism online, Tim Warmington, the ministry spokesman, wrote in an email.

The efficacy is difficult to assess, not least because its creators cannot exactly gather a focus group of white supremacists to ask how the method affected their thinking.

''They are applying what commercial marketers do every day, putting Google Ads in front of people,'' said Todd C. Helmus, the co-author of a 2018 RAND Corporation paper about measuring the effectiveness of such methods. ''The innovation is applying that toward extremism.''

There are some indications the ads are at least being noticed. Someone recently posted comments on a Telegram channel calling the ads proof that Google and YouTube are actively trying to subvert and de-radicalize people. ''Boycott the enemy and starve them of your data,'' it said.

The rise in white extremist violence has shifted the nature of threat assessments over the past five years, with special attention focused on the psychological makeup of potential recruits, said John D. Cohen, a former homeland security counterterrorism coordinator.

The Moonshot team spends months amassing a database of search terms, uploading a list of some 20,000 that will trigger an ad on Google.

Some are proper names like ''Mussolini,'' while others are names of white supremacist leaders in particular states. Many search terms were drawn from Nazi Germany, or refer to domestic white supremacist groups like ''KKK membership.''

The company also evaluates empathy toward violence: Typing in ''Hitler'' would not be enough to prompt its tools, but ''Hitler Hero'' would.

Searches about committing hate crimes surge after attacks like the August shooting at an El Paso Walmart or the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Some of them are as straightforward as they are chilling: ''I want to kill blacks'' or ''I want to kill Jews,'' for instance.

Besides countering the pillars of white supremacist ideology, the company also put significant effort into building playlists that challenge the radicalization process.

Take music, for example.

One white supremacist band is called Blink 1488. Its name, similar to that of a popular rock band, is code, with 14 being the number of words in an infamous slogan and 88 meaning ''Heil Hitler'' since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

The band has issued a song called ''What's My Race Again?'' with lyrics like ''Diversity is just white genocide.''

But a search on Google for the song or the band may lead to this ad: ''Are you a fan of Blink 1488? Are you looking for suggestions? Find new music to love and discover new top artists by watching our play list.''

Clicking on an ad like that pulls up playlists of similar genres of music '-- even mainstream bands '-- but without hateful lyrics.

Lyrics might seem innocuous but they can help socialize people toward extremism, Ms. Di Giorgi said. ''If I can prevent you from listening to a song that talks about killing minorities and instead get you to listen to a random song, I think that is a win,'' she said.