[CNN] One of Washington's most powerful lobbying firms did not disclose the wide extent of its lucrative political work for a Ukrainian group tied to both onetime Trump adviser Paul Manafort and to pro-Russian politicians, new records show.
The firm, the Podesta Group, said nothing in a 2012 lobbying report to Congress about at least 32 meetings, emails and other communications it had with the State Department, at a time when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scrutinizing Ukraine's upcoming election, records show.
The new disclosures shed light on the web of contacts between Russian-leaning Ukrainians, Washington lobbyists and U.S. policymakers during the Obama administration. The Podesta Group filed new, detailed lobbying disclosures in April to augment lobbying reports from 2012 to 2014 that had given little detail.
The firm is run by Tony Podesta, whose brother, John, is a longtime adviser to Clinton and was chairman of her 2016 presidential campaign. John Podesta was a senior counselor to President Barack Obama in 2014 and had previously been lobbying partners with his brother. He is not currently affiliated with his brother's firm.
The Podesta Group was representing a Ukrainian nonprofit, the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, as it sought to counter the Obama administration's critical stance toward Ukraine's pro-Russia government and Congress' growing annoyance with Ukraine's leaders.
[St. Louis Post Dispatch] A St. Louis man paroled from prison after murdering three people in the 1970s is heading back after killing a woman he said he suspected of stealing from him at his St. Louis apartment complex this year.
Torrance C. Epps, 79, pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, assault, two gun charges and two counts of armed criminal action.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Dennis Schaumann accepted terms of a deal with prosecutors and sentenced Epps to 18 years in prison.
The judge asked Epps to explain why on Jan. 19 he rolled his wheelchair through the Lafayette Towne senior housing complex where he lived, shooting at people and killing Tiandra Johnson, 32, in the complex’s office.
Just more vicious nonsense from the British underclass, as described in Theodore Dalrymple's Life at the Bottom.
[RT] A man who raped his own mother claims he assaulted her in the middle of the night because he was "stressed" over allegations that he had raped his girlfriend. The 29-year-old admitted to the cocaine-fuelled attack in which he also threatened his mother with a screwdriver.
At the time of the assault, he was on bail for raping his partner and eventually convicted at Liverpool Crown Court. During one violent episode, sparked by a jealous rage, he hit his girlfriend three times and then began to kick her while she lay on the floor.
The court heard how the suspect forced his girlfriend to perform a sex act on him and then raped her after alleging she was cheating on him.
"It was a nasty, sustained and unpleasant assault," Neville Biddle, prosecuting, said, according to the Liverpool Echo.
While on bail, he binged on drink and drugs before setting upon his own mother.
He raped her at around 4am before stealing her car and fleeing to the Jodrell Bank Observatory.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2017 00:00 ||
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[ABC] Two Hawaiian mariners who say they were stranded at sea for five months had an emergency beacon aboard their sailboat that was never activated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Jennifer Appel and Natasha "Tasha" Fuiava, who said they left Honolulu on May 3 aboard aboard a 50-foot sailboat, told Coast Guard officials that they never turned on the boat’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) because they never felt "truly in distress," nor did they think the situation was "dire" enough to warrant it, a spokesperson for Coast Guard District 14 confirmed to ABC News on Monday.
The EPIRB -- which the Coast Guard confirmed was properly registered -- would have immediately notified search and rescue teams of a vessel in distress, officials said. U.S. Coast Guard and taxpayers asked to retrieve boat, photos, and book manuscripts.
#5
You could store about 6-months worth of food and water on that sized vessel, g(r)om. The water would take up the most space, assuming 2-3 liters a day per person.
You are evil, Besoeker.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/31/2017 9:18 Comments ||
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#6
A 50 ft sailboat and they do not even have a Satphone?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/31/2017 10:13 Comments ||
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[PRESSTV] With the United States expanding its nuclear arsenal and developing so-called usable nukes, "the world will be on the edge of a nuclear apocalypse for years to come," says Professor Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.
Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Monday while commenting on reports which say the administration of US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... is working on a new nuclear weapons policy that would end the post-Cold War disarmament and allow Washington to expand its arsenal.
Trump and his top national security advisers discussed the matter in September at the White House, where the first draft of the new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) was presented.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, Caliphornia,
[RT] A Virginia church's decision to remove plaques honoring George Washington and Robert E. Lee has sparked outrage online. Some have accused the "out of control" church of "cowardly political correctness."
Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, decided to remove the plaques because they "create a distraction in our worship space and may create an obstacle to our identity as a welcoming church," a letter to the congregation reads. The plaques have hung on either side of the altar since 1870.
It's the latest move regarding the increasingly controversial issue of plaques and monuments dedicated to historical figures who had connections to slavery. General Lee fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, while George Washington, the first US president, personally owned slaves.
Still, the move is being seen as particularly notable because Washington and Lee were regular worshipers at Christ Church. Lee's wife gave the church $10,000 to help begin its endowment.
News of the church's decision quickly spread, and it didn't take long for the Twittersphere to erupt in outrage. One person accused the church of "cowardly political correctness from moral eunuchs."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
General Lee fought for the Confederacy
He also fought with distinction in the Mexican-American War. Did the church also go Hispanic?
#5
Washington & Lee University is my alma mater. We've been proactive in addressing the controversy and even removed the Confederate flags from Lee Chapel - where REL is buried - to avoid offending anyone. That being said, i can't help but think it's only a matter of time til the hordes descend on Lexington and insist on a name change. Guess we'll have to call it 'The U' (sorry, Miami) since both namesakes are off-limits.
#6
In the modern Inquisition, no other virtue trumps the mortal sin of actual or perceived racism. So the taint of being a slave-owner removes all worth from any other life accomplishments, contributions, or quality. Heresy must be punished and minds disciplined to the true faith, thus the taint of white privilege must be corrected everywhere white people exist.
(sadly, not sarcasm for many on the left)
#7
What gets me is the brouhaha over former slave owners who have been in the ground for over a century, when the enlightened ones could easily go confront people who currently own slaves. But that would entail personal risk and inconvenience.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/31/2017 15:59 Comments ||
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[All Africa] IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has declared that the just-concluded repeat presidential election was credible, free, fair and credible.
Mr Chebukati has subsequently declared Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto as president-elect and deputy president-elect respectively.
Mr Kenyatta garnered 7,483,895 votes, which is 98.27pc of the valid votes cast in the fresh election held last week and which was boycotted by his main challenger, Nasa’s Raila Odinga.
The declaration process, which is ongoing, started a few minutes to 4pm with Mr Chebukati reading the votes that each candidate got in each of the 47 counties.
The declaration is made without results from 25 constituencies in Nyanza that failed to vote on Thursday due to disruptions of polling.
Mr Chebukati said that the conditions that had been set for the repeat poll were met and that the fresh election credible, free and fair.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2017 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Four civilians and a policeman have been killed in festivities in eastern DR Congo as protestors demanded that President Joseph Kabila stand down this year.
An AFP journalist said on Monday he saw the bodies of four civilians lying in blood in the Madjengon district of Goma, capital of the troubled North Kivu province, while the body of a policeman who had been hit with stones was on the ground in the neighboring district of Mabanga.
Police front man Colonel Pierrot-Rombaut Mwanamputu said "a police officer was murdered by gunfire and lynching by demonstrators" and "a civilian died after being hit by stray rounds."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2017 00:00 ||
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[All Africa] Manicaland provincial minister Mandi Chimene has warned Asian businesses refusing to install Point of Sales (POS) machines in their shops, saying "their days of operating in the province are numbered".
Chimene said she was "very cross and very disappointed" with what she described as Indian "money barons".
She was speaking on the side-lines of a workshop to discuss ZimAsset II and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) organised by the Ministry of Macro Economic and Investment.
"I am making this clear today that if the Indians don't want to adopt the new cashless (payment) system by providing swiping machines they should close shop," said Chimene.
The minister also hit out at the local the Asian community for snubbing the business forum which she said was meant to discuss developmental projects being initiated by the government to stimulate economic growth.
"They own quite a number of businesses, but their absence speaks volumes. They own three quarters of businesses in the city but surprisingly they don't attend these development forums.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Asian is a big word - In ZimBobLand does it include the Chinese who bankroll him?
[All Africa] Zim-bob-wean President Bob Muggsy Mugabe Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... 's government has reportedly continued to "tighten the screws" on the remaining white farmers as it came up with a somewhat "discriminatory policy" that "limits their leases to just five years while their black counterparts will enjoy 99-year-long leases".
According to New Zim-bob-we.com, lands minister Douglas Mombeshora said over the weekend that resettled black farmers will be issued with the 99-year leases "which are immediately bankable" while the remaining white farmers would have theirs reviewed every five years.
"There are white farmers who have been approved by provincial officers to continue farming after satisfying a number of requirements.
"We will be giving such farmers five-year leases that are subject to renewal upon meeting certain conditions at the expiry of the documents. This will enable us to collect taxes from these farmers," Mombeshora wa quoted as saying.
This came 17 years after Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party launched a controversial land reform programme.
Thousands of white commercial farmers and their employees were displaced and left without sources of income during the fast-tracked agrarian reforms in 2000. "Inmates running the prison."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Didn't see this one coming. I am certain Zimbabwe will once again become the breadbasket of Africa under his leadership. And the remaining white farmers I am sure feel their future is secure.
#3
While in South Africa, I heard the following. Zuma the pres. of SA is now contemplating the Zimbabwe move. White farmers and their family’s are being killed in SA.
https://soundcloud.com/bbcafrica/zambia-reaps-the-benefit-of-zimbabwes-white-farmers
More than half of Zimbabwe will require food aid this year and this is partly due to the impact of President Mugabe's controversial land distribution programme, which saw hundreds of white farmers kicked off their land . Many have moved to neighbouring Zambia where they are now revolutionising the agricultural sector.
#4
I have added the Cape Times to my reading. By selecting the NEWS button and them Africa, you can read all about it.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics
Thousands of farming community members participated in a campaign to wear black to show they have had enough of the scourge of farm murders following a brutal killing of a 47-year-old wine farmer by armed robbers recently in Klapmuts, outside Cape Town.
#7
SK, I know of a few SA immigrants in Colorado. In current Africa, the races are Black, White and colored. I asked our driver and he said he had paired the equivalent of 11 cows for his bride. I asked a colored host about her son and she said they did not believe in a bride price. I then asked myself I’df the black didn’t pay the bride price, would he be considered a cattle rustlers?
[TheSun] A TUNNEL at an underground North Korea nuclear site has collapsed with up to 200 people killed, according to reports.
The collapse happened at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the north-east of the country on October 10, according to Japan’s TV Asahi. Oops...
The disaster has prompted fears of a massive radioactive leak which could spark a Chernobyl- or Fukushima-style disaster.
A North Korean official said the collapse happened during the construction of an underground tunnel, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports.
Some 100 people are said to have been trapped by the initial tunnel collapse, with a further 100 lost in a second collapse during a rescue operation, Asahi reported Tuesday.
Lee Eugene, a spokeswoman at South Korea's unification ministry, said: "We are aware of the report but do not know anything about it."
The accident is believed to have been caused by Kim Joing-un's sixth nuclear test on March 3 which weakened the mountain, according to the report.
It was reported earlier this year that the mountain under which the base is believed to be hidden was at risk of collapsing and leaking radiation into the region.
Experts said if the peak crumbles, clouds of radioactive dust and gas would blanket the region, the South China Morning Post reported.
The Punggye-ri test site is carved deep into the side of Mount Mantap.
Geophysicist Wen Lianxing and his team at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, said they were "confident" underground detonations were occurring underneath the mountain. Ya know... there is a reason the Soviets and the US moved locations to test underground each time.
Hopefully this caught most of his engineers. :D
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Math-free excerpt:
[CBSNews] Before launch, North Korea filed a Notice to Airmen and Mariners, warning them that debris may fall from the sky in a designated area. The South Koreans, in turn, knew exactly where to go in an attempt to recover the debris for intelligence purposes.
To block the South Koreans from collecting their debris, the North Koreans rigged the rocket with explosives that were supposed to detonate after boosting the satellite into orbit, Griffiths says. The rocket was meant to self-destruct, rendering its parts unrecognizable. But that system failed, says Griffiths, leaving the South Koreans with a debris field to collect and analyze.
"This was a gold mine," correspondent David Martin says. "You just get this in-depth, excruciatingly detailed understanding of how these missiles work."
Investigators could also trace where the parts came from. Some parts had a manufacturer's logo and serial numbers on them, allowing investigators to trace the origin and supply chain. And one component, called a pressure transmitter, was sourced to a well-known company in the West.
"It was a major transatlantic defense contractor, one of the biggest players in the U.S., if not NATO, defense market," Griffiths tells Martin. Continues.
[CIRCA] Chinese police have stopped a plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... ’s 22-year-old nephew, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg on Monday reported that several North Koreans dispatched to Beijing on suspicion of scheming to murder Kim Han Sol have been tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! Two of seven North Korean agents were apprehended over the alleged plot, according to South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, which first reported the news.
The Ilbo cited a person familiar with North Korean issues, and the publication did not elaborate on whether the other five people were arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2017 00:00 ||
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[Bloomberg] U.S. consumer confidence rose more than expected in October to the highest in almost 17 years as Americans grew more confident about the economy and job market, according to figures Tuesday from the New York-based Conference Board.
Jumps in the Conference Board’s measures of the present situation and expectations signal Americans are becoming more upbeat about the economy and employment as the labor market improves and stock prices climb to records. Improvement in household confidence helps underpin their spending, the biggest part of the economy.
The results are consistent with other reports that showed economic activity and confidence are bouncing back, in part a sign that the hit from the recent hurricanes is dissipating. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index climbed in October to the strongest since the start of 2004, while the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index is near the highest level of the expansion.
The share of respondents who say jobs are plentiful rose to 36.3 percent, the most since June 2001, while people reporting good business conditions increased to 34.5 percent, matching the highest since 2001.
#2
If GDP grew at an adjusted 3.1% in Q3, despite the massive hurricanes that surely impacted the economy negatively in the immediate short term, I cannot wait to see what improving consumer confidence combined with the holiday spending season does for Q4 GDP growth.
This is what happens when you have a pro-growth, pro-business leader in the White House. It really isn’t that hard.
#8
#2 This is what happens when you have a pro-growth, pro-business leader in the White House. It really isn’t that hard.
Absolutely! It is amazing what can happen when the economy is based on millions and millions of decision-makers rather than a statist economy based on a few apparatchik decision-makers in a centralized planning effort.
[DAWN] Qandeel Baloch was killed on the behest of Mufti Qavi, her father Muhammad Azeem told a court hearing the social media celebrity's murder case in Multan on Monday.
Qandeel had been murdered last year, allegedly by her brother Muhammad Waseem, who said he killed her in the name of 'honour.'
Her parents, Azeem and Anwar Bibi, were present in the court of Judicial Magistrate Pervaiz Khan today, along with Mufti Qavi, who is currently in police custody after his pre-arrest bail was rejected by a court earlier in October.
Azeem told the magistrate that he would not forgive anyone who was involved in his daughter's murder.
He also maintained that the person responsible for his daughter's murder was Mutfi Qavi.
The holy man, however, maintained his innocence before the court and said he had done nothing illegal, adding that whatever had happened was on the record.
Investigating Officer Asif Shahzad asked the court for a three-day extension in the holy man's physical remand, saying that police was likely to get the results of a polygraph test conducted on Mutfi Qavi soon, on the basis of which they would be investigating further.
Three lawyers representing Mufti Qavi told the court that police were unable to gain anything despite an 11-day remand of the holy man and requested the court that no further extension in remand be granted to police.
His lawyers maintained that the polygraph test had no legal standing.
The court extended the holy man's physical remand for two more days, and adjourned the hearing until Nov 1.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2017 00:00 ||
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100th Aniversary of a great cavalry charge
Captain Jack Davies stood up in his saddle, turned and shouted: "Come on boys, Beersheba next stop!" They trotted down the ridge then cantered. But once the startled Turks spotted them and fired artillery shells, they galloped
When they got within 3 kilometres, machine gunners started firing. But they were riding so fast the Turks did not have time to adjust the artillery sights from long to short range and even machine gunners, let alone riflemen, could not hit the weaving horses that had spread out widely.
Then 2½ kilometres out, Bourchier screamed "Charge!" and they galloped full pelt, yelling at the top of their voices.
[Jpost] A federal judge in Washington on Monday blocked President Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the US military, handing a victory to transgender service members who accused the president of violating their constitutional rights.
Trump announced in July that he would ban transgender people from the military, in a move that would reverse Democratic former President Barack Obama's policy of accepting them and halt years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The transgender service members sued in August to try to block the ban, which had not yet gone into effect, and US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted them an injunction halting enforcement of it until their case is resolved. Ehud Barak says " I don't see that the problem is?"
#1
American Thinker - Judicial hubris has escalated into a judicial coup
A federal judge has ventured far beyond mere judicial activism in declaring that the president cannot alter the policy of his predecessor regarding men who consider themselves women, and vice versa, serving in the military.
In effect, this judge has deemed President Trump to no longer be commander-in-chief.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[CNN] One of Washington's most powerful lobbying firms did not disclose the wide extent of its lucrative political work for a Ukrainian group tied to both onetime Trump adviser Paul Manafort and to pro-Russian politicians, new records show.
[ABC] Two Hawaiian mariners who say they were stranded at sea for five months had an emergency beacon aboard their sailboat that was never activated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
[All Africa] IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has declared that the just-concluded repeat presidential election was credible, free, fair and credible.
[TheSun] A TUNNEL at an underground North Korea nuclear site has collapsed with up to 200 people killed, according to reports.
To block the South Koreans from collecting their debris, the North Koreans rigged the rocket with explosives that were supposed to detonate after boosting the satellite into orbit, Griffiths says. The rocket was meant to self-destruct, rendering its parts unrecognizable. But that system failed, says Griffiths, leaving the South Koreans with a debris field to collect and analyze.
North Korea
[Bloomberg] U.S. consumer confidence rose more than expected in October to the highest in almost 17 years as Americans grew more confident about the economy and job market, according to figures Tuesday from the New York-based Conference Board.
