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Thursday, October 12, 2017

House of Representatives Passes Bill Honoring Frederick Douglass

WASHINGTON, DC: On Wednesday, October 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2989, the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission Act. Congressman Andy Harris (MD-01) is an original cosponsor of H.R. 2989, and released the following statement lauding its passage:

"I commend my colleagues in the House for passing the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission Act today. In September, I had the privilege of visiting Wye House, a plantation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore where Frederick Douglass spent part of his childhood. It was truly incredible to learn more about the history of Frederick Douglass and the other enslaved peoples of Wye House, and to explore the origins of modern African American heritage and culture.

As we approach the bicentennial of Douglass’ birth, all Americans should learn more about his work as an abolitionist and his lasting influence on our nation’s culture, as I did at Wye House. The commission established by this legislation will determine the best ways to honor this great American hero, and his fight for freedom and equality.”

"This Is The Craziest Mortgage Scheme I've Ever Seen"

The Great Financial Crisis happened because Wall Street was financing homes for people who couldn’t afford them.

Leading up to the GFC, there was a voracious appetite from investors for “AAA”-rated mortgage debt. So lenders would make lots of loans to subprime borrowers and sell them to Wall Street. Wall Street would pool them together and one of the major ratings agencies (like Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s) would stamp the steaming pile of garbage with AAA.

AAA by Moody’s definition means the investment “should survive the equivalent of the U.S. Great Depression.” In other words, it’s rock solid.

The reasoning was that one subprime mortgage was risky. But if you bundled thousands together, you get AAA… Because they couldn’t all go bad at once. And, hey, you can’t lose money in real estate.

The rating agencies weren’t as dumb as they appeared, though… Investigations following the crisis showed lots of incriminating emails, like this one from a Standard & Poor’s exec:

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Bankrupt Sears Canada Asks Court For Permission To Liquidate, Shut Down

Like its American cousin, Sears Canada is in financial trouble. Unlike Sears Holdings, it doesn’t have a vast real estate portfolio that it can sell to raise cash. To that end, the company announced today that there is no way to keep the business going, and it will close all stores and liquidate.
Tears for Sears, eh?

Since June, Sears Canada has been under the protection of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA, a process similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. The company’s leaders intended to sell the chain or find investors, which the court approved, but no buyers or investors were able to reach a deal.

Possible suitors included ESL Investments, the hedge fund run by Sears Holdings chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert, who owns nearly half of Sears Canada’s stock, and Fairholme Capital. The last potential transaction that would have saved stores and jobs was a bid by the company’s own executive chairman, Brandon Stranzl, but that also fell through.

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Somerset County Sheriff's Office reports most recent arrests

Harold, Timothy Howard 3rd of Crisfield, arrested 9-23-17 on a warrants for 2nd degree assault, and reckless endangerment. Howard was later held without bond.

Qualesha NY’Shae Lewis of Princess Anne, criminal summons served 9-23-17 for 2nd degree assault, and disorderly conduct. Lewis was later released on signature pending court actions.

Joseph Perrelim of Princess Anne , arrested 9-26-17 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Perrelim was later held without bond.

Robert David Hooks of Crisfield, arrested 9-29-17 on warrants for failing to appear in court. During the arrest Deputies recovered a small amount of marijuana, and suspected THC extract. Hooks was later held on bond.

Jordan Lee Johnson of Princess Anne, criminal summons served 10-2-17 for 2nd degree assault. Johnson was later released on signature pending court actions.

Victoria Nicole Arnold of Crisfield, arrested 10-2-17 on a violation of probation warrant. Arnold was later held without bond.

Angela Marie Distefano of Princess Anne, arrested 10-2-17 on a civil body attachment warrant. Distefano was later released on personal recognizance.

Hezeriah Danzelle Handy of Temple Hills Maryland, arrested 10-3-17 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Handy was later held on a $500.00 bond.

Harold Timothy Howard 3rd, arrested 10-3-17 on a warrant for violation of probation. Howard was later held without bond.

Michael Jerome Aye of Crisfield, arrested 10-6-17 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Aye was later released on personal recognizance.

Kermit Lawson Jr. of Marion Station, arrested 10-6-17 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Lawson was later held without bond.

Robert William Handy of Crisfield, arrested 10-6-17 on a warrant for distribution of CDS. Handy was later held without bond.

Shswan Lomeek Reddick of Princess Anne, arrested 10-8-17 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Reddick was later held on a $500.00 bond.

Elijah Lee Wilson 3rd. of Crisfield, arrested 10-10-17 on a warrant for violation of probation. Wilson was later held without bond.

Rehabbed Loggerhead Released From Assateague

ASSATEAGUE — Just about a week after the first confirmed successful loggerhead hatching on Assateague sent about 100 baby sea turtles out to sea, a rehabbed juvenile loggerhead found floating in the Chesapeake Bay last fall was released from the barrier island on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, the joint efforts of several organizations and individuals culminated when an 86-pound juvenile loggerhead turtle named Bailey was returned safely to the sea from Assateague State Park after nearly a year of rehabilitation. Bailey was found floating in the Chesapeake last fall and was rescued by the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Program.

Bailey was treated for a severe lung infection by Sea Turtle Recovery, a non-profit sea turtle hospital in New Jersey. After months of successful rehabilitation, Bailey was released from the beach at Assateague on Thursday morning by Sea Turtle Recovery with the help of staffers from the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

“Bailey truly had a group effort to ensure his full recovery and release and we are very thankful for such an amazing network of rehabilitation facilities and the staff at Assateague State Park,” said Sea Turtle Recovery Co-Executive Director Brandi Biehl.

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Woman executed by rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo

A woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo was publicly raped, whipped and decapitated in front of a cheering crowd after serving 'forbidden fish' to a group of anti-government rebels, who later drank her blood.

Video footage of the execution in Luebo, in the province of Kasaï-Occidental, shows the naked woman being shamed in the town's main square by a group claiming allegiance to the Kamuina Nsapu rebel movement.

While the video was filmed on April 8, 2017, the footage recently emerged after circulating on Whatsapp.

The woman being punished was accused of serving forbidden fish to rebels who visited her restaurant.

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The League of Extraordinary Candidates: Economic Nationalist Leaders Plan for Anti-Establishment Midterm Tsunami to Force Change

Conservatives and economic nationalist leaders are looking past the current dysfunction in Washington to a group of new and exciting young candidates throwing their hats in the ring nationwide to break the gridlock with midterm election victories.

This group of individuals, which some are calling “The League of Extraordinary Candidates,” is emerging nationally—a distinct slate of U.S. Senate and House candidates, as well as key gubernatorial contenders, all united in their focus on breaking the logjam in Congress. Movement leaders view establishment Republicans and Democrats alike as a force blocking, slow-walking, or stonewalling the agenda that President Donald J. Trump campaigned on, and aim to elect new voices by riding a new economic nationalist electoral wave in 2018 meant to mirror and surpass what happened in previous wave elections like 2010—which saw the rise of the Tea Party.

“We’re planning on building a broad anti-establishment coalition to replace the Republican Party of old with fresh new blood and fresh new ideas,” Andy Surabian, a senior adviser to the Great America Alliance and ex-White House aide, told Breitbart News

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Original 'Dr. Doom' Says Next Fed Chair Must Break Up Banks "To Be Small Enough To Fail"

Henry Kaufman, the former chief economist of Salomon Brothers in the 70's and 80's who earned the moniker of "Dr. Doom" for his frequent criticisms of the Fed's interest rate policies, has some advice for President Trump on how to pick the next Fed Chair: find someone willing to break up the "too big to fail" banks.

“You’ve got to be small enough to fail” without that failure causing problems that cascade through the financial system, Kaufman said in the question-and-answer session of an Economic Club of New York breakfast on Oct. 5 at the imposing University Club on Fifth Avenue. As it is now, Kaufman said, “We are trying to preserve conglomeration.”

It’s more important for the next Fed chief to have a good understanding of how markets work than it is to own a Ph.D. in economics or to have been a business titan, Kaufman said.

William McChesney Martin, who ran the Fed from 1951 to 1970, never earned a graduate degree in economics. But he “turned in a good performance” in overseeing a period of healthy economic growth, Kaufman said. In contrast, he said, the two Fed chiefs who followed Martin allowed high inflation to become embedded in the U.S. economy in the 1970s. The first, Arthur Burns, was a distinguished Ph.D. economist from Columbia University. The second, G. William Miller, came to the Fed from Textron Inc., where he was chief executive officer.

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Trump Tax Plan On Verge Of Disaster Amid Corker Feud, Paul Rejection

Now that President Trump’s simmering feud with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker has exploded into the open, it appears that Republicans’ odds of passing tax reform before the White House’s self-imposed year-end deadline are growing slimmer by the day, and according to Cowen analyst Chris Krueger, "tax reform is dead, full stop."

And with the administration increasingly staking its credibly on the process, Politico is reporting that White House Legislative Director Marc Short has - on the order's of the president - embarked on what’s probably a fool’s errand: coaxing Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – one of the most vocal opponents of the administration’s agenda – to vote “yes” on the bill.

The Republican bill hasn’t yet been written, but Paul has already lashed out at the administration’s nine-page tax-reform proposal for appearing to offset tax cuts for corporations and the rich by raising taxes on the middle class. Indeed, as discussed previously, a review of the preliminary proposal by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center suggested that middle-class taxpayers could wind up paying more if certain deductions, such as eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes, are eliminated.

Paul said in an interview that he’s undecided on both the budget and the tax plan blueprint but unleashed a torrent of criticism at the tax proposal nonetheless.

“The danger for this bill right now is the pay-for may be a middle-class tax hike. And if that’s that, it’s going to be a real problem,” Paul said. “If you lower the taxes on the rich and lower the taxes on the poor and then say, ‘Oh it’s going to be revenue neutral,’ we’ve got to raise somebody’s taxes to pay for it.”

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Billions in Illinois bills not sent for payment

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois is chasing a moving target as it tries to dig out of the nation's worst budget crisis, and a review obtained by The Associated Press shows $7.5 billion worth of unpaid bills — as much as half the total — hadn't been sent to the official who writes the checks by the end of June.

Although many of those IOUs have since been paid, a similar amount in unprocessed bills has replaced them in the last three months, Comptroller Susana Mendoza's office said Monday. That's in addition to $9 billion worth of checks that are at the office but being delayed because the state lacks the money to pay them.

The mound of past-due bills tripled over the two years Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly were locked in a budget stalemate, which ended in July when lawmakers hiked income taxes over Rauner's vetoes

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EXCLUSIVE – Juanita Broaddrick: Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton Are ‘Cut From The Same Cloth’

NEW YORK — Juanita Broaddrick, the woman who accused Bill Clinton of raping her twice in a hotel room in 1978, sees echoes of her own experiences in the case of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused by scores of actresses over the years of sexual harassment or assault.

“Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton are cut from the same cloth,” Broaddrick charged in an interview with this reporter on Tuesday. “They are both powerful men and had the ability to protect themselves from the rumors and whispers about their well known, deviant and criminal behavior.”

“Their victims were bullied into silence while most reporters and those in the ‘know’ looked the other way,” she said.

Broaddrock asserted that “Hillary’s entourage waged war on Bill’s victims while Weinstein had his own army of Hollywood elite to protect him.”

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Bannon: Donors Sick and Tired of Karl Rove, Steven Law, Mitch McConnell Losing, Wasting Millions—‘It’s a New Game in Town’

Former White House Strategist Steve Bannon vowed to cut off Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) fundraising sources to defeat the “establishment, globalist clique” on Capitol Hill that Bannon previously said was working to “nullify the 2016 election” because they have never believed in the economic nationalist agenda that got Trump elected.

“We’re going to cut off the oxygen to Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell’s biggest asset is the money,” Bannon said Monday on Fox News’ Hannity. “We’re going to make it the biggest liability. We’re going after these guys tooth and nail.”

He said that establishment fundraisers like Karl Rove and Steven Law, who poured in at least $10 million into the Alabama GOP Senate runoff against grassroots conservative candidate Roy Moore, “should get the joke” that some top donors “are coming to us because they’re tired of having their money burned up by trying to destroy people like Judge Moore.”

“It’s a new game in town,” Bannon said.

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Roger Waters: Trump voters are not liking his latest Wall

Fans are angered by provocative images of the US president in the Pink Floyd man’s Us + Them tour

At 75 years of age and with 50 years of touring experience behind him, Roger Waters is, for the first time in his stellar musical career, hearing his fans boo him loudly at his shows – with some even walking out in protest.

These displays of dissent are in no way due to fans feeling short-changed by Waters’s current Us + Them tour, or his musicianship, vocal delivery or setlist selection. It’s the political content of the show that is causing problems in certain parts of North America, where Us +Them is currently touring.

The show, named after a Pink Floyd song and very much a greatest hits affair, has been drawing superlative reviews in the US; it travels to Europe next year with a Dublin date in the 3Arena confirmed for June 26th.

During the show, giant images of Donald Trump, which depict the US president with lipstick, breasts and wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, are beamed up on a giant screen: a selection of the most offensive Donald Trump quotes about, for example, Mexico and women are then screened followed by the words “F**k Trump”.

Unsurprisingly, the walk-outs from the show occurred in those US states that had voted Republican in the presidential election last year. In interviews, Waters has expressed surprise at the negative reaction, saying, “I find it slightly surprising that anybody could have been listening to my songs for 50 years without understanding.”

He went on to advise potential ticket-buyers of the show that if they wanted to go to a music concert devoid of political statements they should “go see Katy Perry or watch the Kardashians instead”.

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Texas Tech student accused of killing officer is caught, police say

A Texas Tech student accused of shooting and killing an officer at the police station on campus was caught late Monday and is now in custody, police tell local media.

The suspect, identified as Hollis Daniels, had been brought to the police station after a welfare check when he suddenly shot and killed the officer earlier in the evening before bolting from the scene, officials said.

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/09/texas-tech-campus-locked-down-shooter-at-large.html

Weinstein ties to Clinton, Obama run deep

As Democratic lawmakers begin to distance themselves from disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the break-up might be a bit tougher for the Clintons and Obamas – whose ties to the mega-producer and Democratic donor run deep.

Hillary Clinton, after facing mounting pressure to speak out, broke her silence on the allegations Tuesday. Five days after the Weinstein accusations emerged, Clinton released a statement saying she was “shocked and appalled.” Late Tuesday, the Obamas released a statement of their own, saying: “Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accoubtable, regardless of wealth or status.”

A deep and tangled history with Weinstein could help explain the delay.

The producer -- using his connections to the wealthy Hollywood and New York elite -- gave or helped raise more than $100,000 for Barack Obama and the Clintons since at least 1995, according to OpenSecrets.org. Roughly half of that went to Hillary Clinton's presidential and Senate campaigns, including a political committee she used to support other Democrats and a joint fund with the DNC in 2016.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/10/weinstein-ties-to-clinton-obama-run-deep.html

Delingpole: Man-Made Climate Catastrophe Is a Myth, More Studies Confirm

From the world of science – as opposed to grant-troughing junk science – two more studies confirming that the man-made global warming scare is a myth.

One, a study by Scafetta et al, published in International Journal of Heat and Technology, confirms that the “Pause” in global warming is real – and that “climate change” is much more likely the result of natural, cyclical fluctuations than man-made CO2 emissions.

Abstract

The period from 2000 to 2016 shows a modest warming trend that the advocates of the anthropogenic global warming theory have labeled as the “pause” or “hiatus.” These labels were chosen to indicate that the observed temperature standstill period results from an unforced internal fluctuation of the climate (e.g. by heat uptake of the deep ocean) that the computer climate models are claimed to occasionally reproduce without contradicting the anthropogenic global warming theory (AGWT) paradigm. In part 1 of this work, it was shown that the statistical analysis rejects such labels with a 95% confidence because the standstill period has lasted more than the 15 year period limit provided by the AGWT advocates themselves. Anyhow, the strong warming peak observed in 2015-2016, the “hottest year on record,” gave the impression that the temperature standstill stopped in 2014. Herein, the authors show that such a temperature peak is unrelated to anthropogenic forcing: it simply emerged from the natural fast fluctuations of the climate associated to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. By removing the ENSO signature, the authors show that the temperature trend from 2000 to 2016 clearly diverges from the general circulation model (GCM) simulations. Thus, the GCMs models used to support the AGWT are very likely flawed. By contrast, the semi-empirical climate models proposed in 2011 and 2013 by Scafetta, which are based on a specific set of natural climatic oscillations believed to be astronomically induced plus a significantly reduced anthropogenic contribution, agree far better with the latest observations.

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FBI cites black extremists as new domestic terrorist threat

The 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., has spawned a violent domestic threat from “black identity extremists” who have stepped up attacks on police, according to an explosive new report by the FBI’s counter-terrorism division.

The warning, first reported by Foreign Policy magazine, says that “it is very likely BIEs proactively target police and openly identify and justify their actions with social-political agendas commensurate with their perceived injustices against African Americans ...”

Brown, an African-American 18-year-old, was shot in August 2014 after struggling with white police officer Darren Wilson. Although Brown's supporters claimed it was a deadly case of police brutality, Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing and resigned in November 2014.

“It is very likely that BIEs’ perceptions of unjust treatment of African-Americans and the perceived unchallenged illegitimate actions of law enforcement will inspire premeditated attacks against law enforcement over the next year,” the report said. “It is very likely additional controversial police shootings of African-Americans and the associated legal proceedings will continue to serve as drivers for violence against law enforcement.”

More details here

'Witnessing Whiteness' influencing lessons for children at St. Louis school

Using a handful of crayons, some St. Louis educators are teaching students as early as pre-kindergarten about racial differences after the teachers volunteered for "Witnessing Whiteness" training.

About half of the administration at The College School signed up for 10-week voluntary training sessions aimed at highlighting and healing racial differences between their students – from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.

During one recent lesson, a teacher asked pre-k students to use different shades of crayons, ranging from beige to brown, to make sure the youngest students recognized different skin colors, The St. Louis American reported.

“In order for us to dismantle racism, white folks have to change,” said Vincent Flewellen, the Director of Equality and Inclusion at The College School.

More here

[Any program that ascribes most/all racism to one group is doomed to fail. Right or wrong? --Editor]

'Swamp Buddies'-- McConnell Defends Bob Corker

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) defended Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) against criticism from President Donald Trump, describing him as a “valuable member” of the Senate Republican caucus.

“Sen. Corker is a valuable member of the Senate Republican caucus and he’s also on the Budget committee and a particularly important player as we move to the floor on the budget next week and he’s an important part of our team,” McConnell said on Monday.

McConnell’s comments follow a war of words between the two men after Trump claimed that Corker had “begged” him for an endorsement for his reelection, asked to be Secretary of State, and lacked the “guts” to run.

Corker then responded to Trump by suggesting that the White House had become an “adult day care center.”

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Many Senate Republicans Reject Bob Corker, Stick Up for President Trump

Sen. Bob Corker claimed to speak for his Republican colleagues in an interview with the New York Times, but some in the Senate are not happy with his decision to pick a fight with President Donald Trump.

“Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here,” Corker told the Times, claiming Trump was viewed as a threat to U.S. national security and global stability.

But a spokesperson for Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) told Breitbart News that the senator did not agree with what the retiring Corker had to say.

“No, he does not agree with Sen. Corker,” the spokesperson revealed in a statement. “Senator Barrasso has worked closely with President Trump and will continue to be a strong ally in Congress.”

Barrasso is facing re-election in 2018 amidst rumblings of a possible Republican primary challenger.

Some Republicans staffers made it clear that Corker’s comments were self-serving and unhelpful — especially after announcing his decision to retire rather than seek re-election.

“Given his severe case of 'short man syndrome,' and the fact he would have lost his primary, it’s not surprising Corker is seeking attention and affirmation from the Beltway elites,” a senior Republican aide working for a Senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told Breitbart News.

More here

Ivanka Endorses DACA Amnesty — and More Visa Workers

Ivanka Trump called for a “congressional fix” when asked by a liberal journalist to say “what role should the ‘dreamers’ be playing in a future workforce?”

“Well, I think this is a very complicated issue that needs a long-term congressional fix,” Trump cautiously responded to Nina Easton, a liberal former journalist who is married to a political consultant for establishment GOP politicians. Trump was attending an October 9 event titled “Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit,” and said:

"I am personally of the opinion, and the president has stated this, that we have to figure out a good solution that protects these innocent people, many of whom were brought to this country as children. But you know, there has to be a long-term fix, and it cannot be bandaged over at a presidential level [by] another executive order which can be rescinded by a subsequent administration."

That considered response matches President Donald Trump’s frequent statements in favor of a legislative fix for the growing population of young illegals who were allowed to enter and stay in the nation by decades of underfunded border security.

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Meadows: Republicans Will Only Succeed if They ‘Get Behind the Trump Agenda’

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) told Breitbart News that Republicans will only succeed in the midterm elections if “they get behind the Trump agenda.”

The congressman said that the Freedom Caucus remains committed to passing a dynamic tax reform package for middle-class families as well as repealing and replacing Obamacare. Meadows also cheered the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed repeal of Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced on Tuesday that he will propose to repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). An EPA analysis revealed that repealing the Clean Power Plan will save roughly $33 billion in compliance costs in 2030.

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Seed Giants See Fresh Start in Gene Editing

The agriculture industry is betting that new technology for editing the genes of plants will yield enhanced crops—and potentially reset a long-running debate over genetically engineered seeds.
Seed developers including Monsanto Co. MON -0.08% and DowDuPont Inc. DWDP -0.15% have invested in gene-editing technology, which enables scientists to make precise changes to plants’ existing DNA. Executives say they’re also strategizing on how to introduce it to consumers without arousing the same fears and suspicion that followed the development of earlier biotech crops, which involved adding genes from other species.

“There’s a big piece of this that is about explaining the benefits,” said Hugh Grant, Monsanto’s chief executive, speaking at the WSJ Global Food Forum in New York Tuesday.

Persuading consumers to support gene-edited crops will require engaging them “at a very local level,” said James Collins, who heads DowDuPont’s agricultural division .

More here

Trump and Mattis refute NBC nuke report, blast 'disgusting' press

President Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on Wednesday publicly refuted an NBC News report that claimed the commander-in-chief wanted to drastically increase the U.S. nuclear arsenal, with Trump calling the press "disgusting." 

On the sidelines of a meeting in the Oval Office with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump slammed the NBC report that said he sought a “nearly tenfold increase” in the nuclear arsenal during a summer meeting.

“Frankly, it’s disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write and people should look into it,” Trump told reporters. “I never discussed increasing [the nuclear arsenal]. That is fake news by NBC, which gives a lot of fake news recently.”

Trump added that he only wants “modernization” and “rehabilitation” of the stockpile.

“It’s got to be in tip-top shape,” Trump said. “I know the capability we have, and it is awesome. It is massive.”

Trump continued to slam the press for allegedly making up sources. “There are no sources,” he claimed.

Mattis issued a brief statement shortly afterward saying: "Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible."

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Google, Facebook, Twitter ‘Scrambling’ to Stop Regulation

Google, Facebook, and Twitter are reportedly “scrambling” to stop regulation of their companies by the government, according to a report.

According to Bloomberg, “Google summoned about 200 policy staff from around the world last month for a debate on whether the company’s size has made it too attractive as a target for government regulators,” while “Twitter executives have been in frequent contact with Congressional committees,” and “Facebook has hired two crisis PR firms.”

The action comes after an increase in calls for the regulation of technology companies from both Democrats and Republicans, who argue Silicon Valley has become too powerful and monopolistic. Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon called for regulation of social media companies earlier this year.

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Bring Down Leftist Foundations Like the Mafia

The Department of Justice has been investigating DisruptJ20, a "resistance" group that plotted to shut down President Trump's inauguration. The DOJ has demanded the IP addresses of visitors, along with any emails, photos and names it can get. But the pipeline of Dj20 funding goes back to George Soros.

And not just Soros.

Money from the Global Justice Alliance went to Refuse Fascism, a group founded by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, which staged violent protests. “Respectable” big money leftist groups like the Hill Snowdon Foundation and Ben and Jerry’s Foundation fund middlemen like the Alliance. And then the Alliance funds “direct action” groups that are willing to get their hands violently dirty.

The DOJ, better than anyone, should understand this model. It’s commonplace among criminals.

And when you go after criminals, you don’t stop with the street thugs. Instead you go after the bosses..

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Our Broken Moral Compasses

The nonsensical thinking preventing us from solving our major societal problems.

As George Orwell said, "some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them." Many stupid ideas originate with academics on college campuses. If they remained there and didn't infect the rest of society, they might be a source of entertainment, much in the way a circus is.

Let's look at a few stupid ideas peddled by intellectuals..

During the Cold War, academic leftists made a moral equivalency between communist totalitarianism and democracy. Worse is the fact that they exempted communist leaders from the type of harsh criticism directed toward Adolf Hitler, even though communist crimes against humanity made Hitler's slaughter of 11 million noncombatants appear almost amateurish. According to Professor R.J. Rummel's research in "Death by Government," from 1917 until its collapse, the Soviet Union murdered or caused the death of 61 million people, mostly its own citizens. From 1949 to 1976, Communist China's Mao Zedong regime was responsible for the death of as many as 78 million of its own citizens.

On college campuses, the same sort of equivalency is made between capitalism and communism, but if one looks at the real world, there's a stark difference. Just ask yourself: In which societies is the average citizen richer — societies toward the capitalist end of the economic spectrum or those toward the communist end?

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Dogs, Strangers and God

A simple social experiment speaks volumes about human nature. 

A while ago a human-interest story from South Africa was reported internationally. As described in the Wall Street Journal:

"On Aug. 4, Graham and Sheryl Anley, while yachting off the coast of South Africa, hit a reef, capsizing their boat. As the boat threatened to sink and they scrambled to get off, Sheryl's safety line snagged on something, trapping her there. Instead of freeing his wife and getting her to shore, Graham grabbed Rosie, their Jack Russell terrier. (One media account reported that Sheryl had insisted that the dog go first). With Rosie safe and sound, Graham returned for Sheryl. All are doing fine."

Since the 1970s, I have asked students if they would first try to save their drowning dog or a drowning stranger. And for 40 years I have received the same results: One third vote for their dog, one third for the stranger, and one third don't know what they would do.

In the Wall Street Journal column, Robert M. Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, reported about another such experiment:

New disclosure shows a casino guard alerted hotel to gunman before Vegas massacre began. So why did it take so long to stop him?

Before the Las Vegas massacre began, a wounded Mandalay Bay hotel security guard called hotel officials to warn them about a gunman on the 32nd floor, an investigator told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

But police did not arrive at the room where the guard had been shot until after Stephen Paddock had finished a 10-minute shooting rampage on a crowd gathered below for a country music festival, the investigation now shows.

The revelation that hotel security had been alerted comes a day after Las Vegas police changed their timeline of how the Route 91 Harvest country music festival massacre started on Oct. 1 — not with an attack on a crowd along the Strip at 10:05 p.m., but with the shooting of Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos inside the hotel about six minutes before.

“He called it in before” the attack began, possibly using a hallway phone to contact hotel security, Clark County Assistant Sheriff Tom Roberts told The Times in an interview. “He manually called down and he used his radio to call. … That’s what we were briefed this morning.”

YouTube Restricts... Mike Rowe?

The video site seeks to limit access to common sense ideas it apparently deems to be too "controversial."

Last Thursday, Mike Rowe, the immensely likable host of “Dirty Jobs,” announced via a Facebook post that his YouTube channel had been restricted. Now anyone who has ever watched a Mike Rowe video would be shocked to hear this news, as his videos are often some of the most carefully worded, timely and poignant thoughts on a great variety of issues — hence his overall popularity. And one thing Rowe trumpets is respect for the value of hard work, no matter the job.

In this vein, a few months back conservative commentator Dennis Prager invited Rowe to give the commencement speech for his virtual university, Prager University. Rowe gladly obliged with a video entitled “Don’t Follow Your Passion,” which has been viewed over six million times. Suddenly, without prior warning, Rowe received a message from YouTube notifying him that his video for Prager U was “determined” to be “inappropriate.” Rowe explains that he was shocked at the news as he had not run afoul of YouTube’s appropriate content policies, or so he thought.

Rowe said that he then reread YouTube’s policy fine print and found the following sentence:

FEC eyes regulating apps, iPhones, Kindle, wearable technology

The Federal Election Commission has shifted from regulating Facebook, Twitter and even websites like the Drudge Report to how they are delivered on small devices including wearable devices such as apps, cellphones, iWatches and Kindles.

The agency Tuesday started a comment period for the public and special interests to suggest ideas on how to regulate internet-based political ads and paid comments that come over those small devices via big websites.

"The Commission is particularly interested in comments addressing advertisements on internet-enabled applications and devices such as apps, eReaders, and wearable technology," said the agency.

It is open to requiring that paid ads and comments that come over small devices carry a disclaimer and note of who paid.

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Can The President Actually Take Away A Network’s Broadcast License For “Fake News”?

Irked by an NBC News story he claims is false, President Trump stated this morning that it may be time to “challenge” the network’s broadcast license. But what does that even mean — and would the Trump administration have the authority to yank a TV station’s access to the airwaves over a news story?

It all started when NBC News ran a report about the President claiming that he had at one point asked national security advisers for a massive increase in the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Trump objected to the report, calling it “pure fiction” and denigrating it with his frequent epithet, “fake news.” Then, in a second tweet, he went a step farther, saying, “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!”

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Powerful Video: 'Enablers like Hillary Clinton Allowed Weinstein To Get Away With Sexual Abuse'

Internet sees a BIG problem with Obama statement on disgraced Hollywood mogul

Tucker Carlson gave a powerful statement during last night’s Fox News broadcast, noting that Harvey Weinstein only got away with years of abusing women because enablers like Hillary Clinton allowed him the credibility to do so.

“For the days after the story broke, Democrats in Hollywood and Washington seemed to freeze, unsure of what to say, hoping the whole thing would just die down and go away.” Carlson noted.

“It hasn’t. Those actors who lecture you from the Oscar podium every year and their virtue and your lack of it–suddenly silent.” he added.

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Latest ‘Patch Tuesday’ Fix is Crashing Some Computers

October’s Patch Tuesday rollout includes a host of important fixes – addressing 62 security issues to include a zero-day vulnerability – but a glitch in the patch publishing process is causing headaches for admins of enterprise networks.

Microsoft user forums lit up today with reports of problems with the Windows 10 update, which if installed overnight rendered many machines unable to boot and resulted in a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).

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Mitch McConnell to scrap Senate's 'blue slip' tool for obstructing judicial nominees

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans will scrap the chamber's "blue slip" tradition, eliminating a tool of the minority to block the executive's judicial nominees.

The Senate's blue slip procedure provides that a state's senators are consulted by the White House before a president nominates a judge from that state, regardless of party affiliation, according to a Congressional Research Service report detailing the blue slip policy.

The home-state senators have then historically the opportunity to block a nominee from getting a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and vote. McConnell told The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes in an article published Wednesday that such opportunities will no longer exist.

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Breaking News: The Trump administration is withdrawing from Unesco, the U.N. cultural organization, citing unpaid dues and the group's "anti-Israel bias"

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would withdraw from Unesco, the United Nations cultural organization, after years of America distancing itself because of what it saw as the group’s “anti-Israel bias.”
“This decision was not taken lightly,” according to a State Department statement on Thursday. The department also cited “the need for fundamental reform” and “mounting arrears” at the organization.
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Illegal Alien Accused of Murdering Teen Girl Was in DACA Program

An illegal alien accused of murdering a teenage girl in Greenville County, South Carolina, was shielded from deportation as he was a beneficiary of the Obama-created DACA amnesty program.

Daniel De Jesus Rangel Sherrer, 19, was one of the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens shielded from deportation and given a work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed to Breitbart Texas.

Sherrer, as Breitbart News reported, was charged in connection with the murder of 18-year-old Diana Martinez-Gonzalez after she was found shot to death in a wooded area in the town of Easley, South Carolina.

During a press conference, Master Deputy Ryan Flood said the DACA recipient confessed to a deputy about his alleged murder of Martinez-Gonzalez, a high school student.

Sherrer allegedly murdered the girl in the wooded area because she had spread false rumors about him, the illegal alien told deputies. Police say the DACA recipient had also held another teenage girl against her will, but that she escaped the scene.

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Coulter: Hold ‘On-the-Record Votes’ to Decide Which Republicans to Primary

Populist conservative author Ann Coulter says Congress should hold “on-the-record votes” on President Trump’s 70-point immigration priority list to decide which Senate and House Republicans the populist-economic nationalist movement should be 'primarying' in 2018.

Coulter, via Twitter, said Trump’s latest push to cut legal immigration, reduce the number of illegal alien children crossing the border, build a U.S.-Mexico border wall, and end family-based chain migration in exchange for allowing potentially millions of illegal aliens to remain in the U.S. “isn’t what Ann wants, but it would get 80% agreement from voters.”

Coulter said Congress should be holding votes on the immigration proposals in order to more readily decipher which House and Senate Republicans support pro-American immigration reforms like mandatory E-Verify, which prevent illegal aliens from taking U.S. jobs, and which Republicans oppose those reforms.

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Breaking News: The rival political Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal that paves the way for joint control of Gaza's borders

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Thursday that aims to end their decade-old rivalry, with provisions for a joint administration that will control Gaza’s borders, including a key crossing point with Egypt, but leaves thornier issues unresolved.
Under the agreement, which was brokered by Egyptian intelligence, Fatah will lift a series of punitive sanctions that it imposed on Hamas-controlled Gaza earlier this year.
Read More »

Third Baltimore police officer pleads guilty to extortion, robbery

Detective Jemell Lamar Rayam, 37, of Owings Mills, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy including multiple robberies, and overtime fraud.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning and Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

Rayam joined the Baltimore Police Department on July 12, 2005 and was later assigned to the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF,) a division of the Baltimore Police Department.

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Media conflate data on mass shootings to inflate number, blame white men

Whether you agree with the widely reported statistic that there have been nearly 300 mass shootings this year might depend on how you define “mass shooting.”

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre, left-leaning media outlets have been playing fast and loose with the data on mass shootings to inflate their number and suggest that white men make up a disproportionate share of the perpetrators.

John R. Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said the left uses an overly broad definition to capture gang violence and other incidents not typically considered to be mass shootings.

“It’s two different types of shootings we’re talking about: mass public shootings and shootings that occur in a public place as part of some other crime, like gang fights,” said Mr. Lott, author of “The War on Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies.” “So when they want to emphasize that they’re committed by whites, they use the traditional definition of mass public shootings, like the Las Vegas attack that we just had. But when they want to make people think that this happens all the time, then they use a different definition.”

On Oct. 2, the day after the Las Vegas gunman left 58 dead and 489 injured, The New York Times editorial board published a graphic purporting to show 521 mass shootings over the previous 477 days.

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GOP Senators ‘Laughed Out Loud’ at Notion Border Wall Would Get Built

During a private meeting of the most senior Republican senators, GOP leaders “laughed out loud at the idea that Trump’s border wall would ever be built.”

The explosive revelation comes from Laura Ingraham’s new book, Billionaire at the Barricades: The Populist Revolution from Reagan to Trump.

Ingraham reports that her source “was there in the room” when it happened and that the sordid episode is “a reminder that the populist movement that delivered Trump into office must remain vigilant and keep the heat on the GOP Establishment.”

The bestselling author and new Fox News prime-time host argues that Republicans will pay an enormous political price if the GOP Establishment succeeds in torpedoing President Trump’s border wall.

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ESPN host: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones 'a slave owner'

On the same day that Jemele Hill was suspended from ESPN for tweeting about politics, another network personality, Michael Wilbon, compared Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to a slave owner.

Mr. Wilbon, co-host of “Pardon the Interruption,” took issue with Mr. Jones’ stance that players who do not stand for the national anthem before football games will not play.

“And the word that comes to my mind―and I don’t care who doesn’t like me using it―is plantation,” Mr. Wilbon said on Monday’s show. “The players are here to serve me, and they will do what I want. No matter how much I pay them, they are not equal to me. That’s what this says to me and mine.”

More here

Republican Turncoats Introduce Anti-Gun Law!

Breaking News: A U.S. woman and her family are free after 5 years as hostages in Afghanistan

She and her husband were held by militants while backpacking.
An American woman and her family who have been held hostage by militants in Afghanistan for five years have been freed, ending a case that has long frustrated diplomats and F.B.I. agents involved in trying to secure their release, according to people familiar with the situation.
The family was in Pakistan early Thursday, and the White House was preparing to release a statement once they are safely in American hands, according to people who described their status on condition of anonymity because the details have not yet been made public.
Read More »

Steve Bannon to Back Primary Challengers Against Every Incumbent GOP Senator Except Cruz

Nikki Schwab of the Daily Mail reports that Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon will support populist challengers over establishment incumbents in seven out of eight Republican Senate primaries for the 2018 midterm election cycle. The only exception: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

From the Daily Mail:

Now President Trump‘s ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is eyeing every Republican senator up for re-election next year, positioning candidates in each race save one, the seat belonging to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Bannon’s main aim is to elect enough pro-Trump GOP senators to oust Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who he’s largely blamed for the president’s early stumbles with Congress, casting the Kentuckian as an elitist looking down at Trump’s working class base.

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Marijuana degree: Study up for bachelor of science degree

LANSING, Mich. — Alex Roth has gotten into the habit of pulling out his cellphone and showing skeptical friends a screen shot of the classes he’ll have to take to get his bachelor of science degree from Northern Michigan University.

“When they hear what my major is, there are a lot of people who say, 'Wow, cool dude. You’re going to get a degree growing marijuana,’ ” said the 19-year-old sophomore at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. “But it’s not an easy degree at all.”

His four-year medicinal plant chemistry degree — geared toward the burgeoning marijuana business that is about to explode in Michigan next year — includes classes such as organic chemistry, biochemistry, soils, biology, gas and liquid chromatography, biostatistics, genetics, accounting, financial management and perspectives on society.

Other colleges and universities — such as Harvard, University of Denver, Vanderbilt University and Ohio State University — offer a variety of classes on marijuana policy and law.

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Utah cop who dragged screaming nurse fired from police department

A Utah detective who was filmed handcuffing and dragging a nurse in July has been fired.

Jeff Payne, a detective with the Salt Lake City Police Department, was fired Tuesday following an investigation, Chief Mike Brown said Tuesday.

In a video filmed July 26, Payne, who was working as a part-time paramedic, asked University Hospital Nurse Alex Wubbels to draw blood from an unconscious patient, which she refused to do, citing company policy.

The detective had support from his supervisor, Lt. James Tracy, who said Wubbels could be arrested if she didn't allow the blood draw.

Payne eventually told Wubbels she was under arrest and physically removed her from the hospital while she screamed, claiming that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/10/utah-cop-who-dragged-screaming-nurse-fired-from-police-department.html

Sen. Rand Paul Working With Pres. Trump On Executive Order For Health Care

One unlikely senator is working with President Trump to craft an executive order on health care reform.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said he’s been working with the president on the order for months after the GOP has repeatedly failed to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.

In a tweet Paul said details on the order will be released soon.

This comes after the president’s tweet about using “the power of the pen” to ensure Americans have affordable access to health care.

He’s expected to sign the order this week.

Meanwhile, a new IRS report reveals Obamacare penalties are hurting low and middle income households.

Recent data shows 6.7 million households chose to opt out of Obamacare in 2015, paying a total of more than three billion dollars in penalties.

Of those households punished for not signing up, 37% reported earning less than $25,000 dollars per year and 79% earned less than $50,000.

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Trumpcare


Well?


How Many More Times Do You Think You'll Have To Mow your Lawn This Season?


Maybe They Have Something here...


Timing Is Everything


Alt-Left Insanity: Liberals Are Gunning for Firearms Industry

Liberals who can’t win at the ballot box, turn to lawyers to push their agenda. And guns are no exception. The alt-left has always been the Sue Tribe, they’ve just gotten worse over time.

In the aftermath of the horrendous shooting in Las Vegas, the left has turned to an old standby, gun control. Only gone is their facade about guns. Now they want to take them, ban them or sue to shut down the companies that make them.

Only four years ago, The Washington Post was introducing us to, “The most pro-gun Democrats (and anti-gun Republican).” The following year, it was Rolling Stone of all places teaching readers about the “Confessions of a Liberal Gun Lover.” The alt-lefty outlet claimed, “It’s not just libertarians and conservatives who are ready to defend the Second Amendment with a finger on the trigger.”

By 2016, that was all in the trash heap of history. Vox rallied the gun banners with this: “Democrats aren’t afraid of gun control anymore.” And the Democrats ran on an 2nd Amendment Platform and, heck, anti-1st as well. The party promised to: “revoke the dangerous legal immunity protections gun makers and sellers now enjoy.” That keeps scumbag lawyers from suing companies and putting them out of business for making entirely legal products that are used correctly. Imagine if lawyers sued car companies every time someone had an accident, even if the car performed perfectly.

We are in post-Las Vegas America and every major outlet is begging for the left to ban guns. Jimmy Kimmel (D-Women on Trampolines) went on his show doing a remake of “9,999,999 Tears” and became the conscience of America because the press agreed with him. Politico (D-DNC), practically ran a recruiting poster story. “Who Will Lead the Left on Gun Control?”

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