Michio Kaku: Let’s not advertise our existence to aliens

         

If advances alien civilizations do exist, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku asks, why would they want anything to do with us? It would be like an academic talking to a squirrel, he suggests, and he has a great point. Hollywood and science fiction novels have conditioned us for years to believe that aliens either want to hang out on our intellectual level and learn from us... or destroy us. If alien life really does have the technology and know-how to make it all the way here, perhaps we should just play it cool and not assume that we are the top species in the universe. Besides, if we play our cards wrong and go all Will Smith in Independence Day on our smart new neighbors, it could be the end of us. Mankind's biggest folly, Kaku suggests, might just be in its insistence that we are an exceptional species.

Are we?? Sometimes I have doubts.

Learjet And Airbus Had Strange Encounter With Mysterious Craft Over Arizona

March 9, 2018 bartroberts
The FAA recording between air traffic controllers and the aircraft involved in the incident is bizarre to say the least.

A series of strange events occurred high up in the flightlevels above Southern Arizona on February 24th, 2017. Between roughly 3:30pm and 4:15pm local time, N71PG, a Learjet 36 belonging to Phoenix Air, and American Airlines Flight 1095, an Airbus A321, had independent close encounters with a strange craft flying at around 40,000 feet. The planes were flying east at about 37,000 feet between the Sonoran Desert National Monument and the New Mexico border when the incident took place.

The War Zone has obtained an official audio recording directly from the FAA of Albuquerque Center air traffic control talking to the pilots and other aircraft in their vicinity as the bizarre incident unfolded. Here it is in its unedited form:

The initial report came from N71PG, the Learjet, asking Albuquerque Center if traffic had passed above them. The controller replied “negative,” meaning that there was no traffic to his knowledge that would account for such an observation. The Learjet pilot replies defiantly, “somethin’ did.” Another pilot chimed in on the frequency saying “a UFO” and the Learjet pilot replied “yeah.”

A few minutes later, the controller asks American 1095 to let him know if they see anything “pass over you here in the next 15 miles.” The American Airlines pilot replies in a puzzled manner “if anything passes over us!?” The controller responds “affirmative, we had an aircraft in front of you at 37 [thousand feet] that reported something pass over him and we didn’t have any [radar] targets, so just let me know if you see anything pass over you.”

At this point things get even more interesting as the Learjet pilot chimes in saying “I don’t know what it was, it wasn’t an airplane but it was–the path was going in the opposite direction.”

A minute later American 1095 calls back in saying “yeah something just passed over us, like a–I don’t know what it was, but it was at least two-three thousand feet above us. Yeah it passed right over the top of us.” The controller calmly acknowledges the pilot’s report and says nothing else.

President's legal team shake-up falters

Mr Trump insists he is not struggling to find lawyers to represent him

 

US President Donald Trump will no longer hire two lawyers whose appointments were announced last week, with the shake-up of his legal team appearing to hit a stumbling block.

Joe diGenova's appointment to the team handling the special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling was announced on Monday. Victoria Toensing, who is married to Mr diGenova, was also expected to join. But Mr Trump's personal lawyer said "conflicts" had prevented their hiring.
"The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president's special counsel legal team," Jay Sekulow said in a statement.
"Those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters," he added. "The president looks forward to working with them."

 

The details of the conflicts are unclear, but Mr Sekulow said on Friday that the hiring of Mr diGenova was dependent on a review of potential conflicts of interest. The couple's namesake law firm - diGenova & Toensing - is reported to be representing other clients involved in the special counsel's Russia investigation.
In a statement, Ms Toensing said: "We thank the president for his confidence in us and we look forward to working with him on other matters."
Mr diGenova, a combative former US attorney, has appeared on Fox News where he has frequently defended the president. Earlier on Sunday, Mr Trump insisted in a series of tweets that he was having no difficulty finding lawyers to represent him.
"Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case," he said.

Image Copyright @realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump

Report

Image Copyright @realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump

Report

 

The news that Mr diGenova and Ms Toensing will not be joining the president's legal team follows the resignation of its lead lawyer, John Dowd. Mr Dowd, 77, reportedly concluded that Mr Trump was ignoring his advice. Other reports suggested the president had lost confidence in him.
Under his leadership, Mr Trump's team of lawyers advised the president to co-operate with the special counsel investigation. It is not yet clear who will replace Mr Dowd.

WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS RUSSIA THING IS ALL ABOUT ???

For people outside the USA or people who have lost the thread of the events in all the chaos,

this is the story that has dominated Donald Trump's presidency, but it's complicated.
 

In summary

US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to sway the election in favour of Mr Trump and a special counsel is looking into whether anyone from his campaign colluded in the effort.

Any evidence?

Senior members of Mr Trump's team met Russian officials. Several of these meetings were not
initially disclosed.

What meetings?

Ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about meeting the Russian ambassador to the US before Mr Trump took office. Mr Flynn has entered a plea deal, prompting speculation that he has incriminating evidence.
The president's son, Donald Jr, met a Russian lawyer during the campaign who had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton, and adviser George Papadopoulos has admitted lying to the FBI about meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.

Who else is involved?

The president's son-in-law Jared Kushner is also under scrutiny, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been charged by investigators with money laundering, unrelated to the election.

And the president?

Since he fired the man leading one of the investigations, ex-FBI Director James Comey, there are questions whether the president has obstructed justice. Legal experts differ on this. The meetings described by Mr Comey were however clearly inappropriate. This is simply not how Americans want a president to conduct himself.
Comey put his credibility on the line when he testified and he did it in a very public way. Now it's a credibility contest between him and the president, and I think it's safe to say Comey would win that contest.
That could prove crucial if legal action were ever taken over this affair. Were the president to face impeachment or criminal proceedings, the former FBI director would, without doubt, be a central witness,  and his credibility against Mr Trump's would be key to the case.
Both those scenarios remain unlikely however, at least for the meantime. It is effectively impossible to bring criminal charges against a sitting president - the case would have to be brought by the executive branch, of which Mr Trump is the boss.
As for impeachment, there is political resonance to obstruction of justice charges - it factored in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the resignation of Richard Nixon - but it is still highly unlikely. The Republican party controls both houses of congress, and the special counsel investigation into the Russia affair may not have the clout to bring charges and make them stick.

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES ORGANIZERS
 

 Thousands of  marchers converged on Washington DC to call for tighter gun laws. Students from Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died in a mass shooting last month, were at the forefront.

Some 800 cities are holding affiliated marches, including London, New York, Sydney, Los Angeles, Paris, Edinburgh and Sydney.

The rally was led by young activists from Parkland and across the country, in an array of powerful and composed speeches from young people from diverse backgrounds.

The White House praised the demonstrators for exercising their right to free speech, but Donald Trump himself was silent at the time of writing, seeming to spend much of the day at his golf club in Florida.

Barack Obama tweeted: “Michelle and I are so inspired by all the young people who made today’s marches happen. Keep at it. You’re leading us forward.”

Protesters in Washington formed a sea of people along Pennsylvania Avenue, while demonstrators also gathered in Parkland, New York City, San Francisco, and in cities around the world.

Students from the school newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, where the February massacre took place, attended the march as special correspondents for the Guardian and have been guest-editing the Guardian US website since yesterday.

The rallies are aiming to persuade Congress to tighten the US’s notoriously lax firearm laws, which have made gun massacres a regular part of American life.

Emma Gonzalez, one of the best-known Parkland student activists, led the crowd in 6min 20secs of silence to symbolize the amount of time it took the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, to commit the 17 murders.

“We are done hiding,” said her fellow student Ryan Deitsch. “We are done being full of fear. This is the beginning of the end. From here, we fight.”

Another student, David Hogg, brought up a major theme of the rally when he urged protesters to register to vote. “When politicians send thoughts and prayers we say no more!” he said. “I say to politicians : get your resumes ready!” Chants of “vote them out” punctuated the event.

Seventeen-year-old Edna Chavez, from Manual Arts High in Los Angeles entered the stage with a raised fist and spoke powerfully about losing her brother to gun violence when she was a young child. “I have learned to duck from bullets before I learned to read,” she told the crowd.

Eleven-year-old Christopher Underwood, who lost his brother age five to a shooting, said: “I would like to not worry about dying. But worry about math and play basketball with my friends.”

Martin Luther King Jr’s granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, said: “I have a dream that enough is enough. And that this should be a gun free world, period.”

“This is a moment of history that I want to be part of,” pop star Miley Cyrus, who sang onstage earlier, told one of our Parkland special correspondents.

In New York City, Paul McCartney joined the marchers. “One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here, so it’s important to me.”

In Parkland, tens of thousands of marchers passed Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in respectful silence. “Enough really is enough,” Rebecca Price-Taylor told the Guardian. “No more of these weapons of war.”

Organizers want the US Congress to ban the sale of assault weapons like the one used in the Florida rampage and to tighten background checks for gun buyers.

On Friday, Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill that includes modest improvements to background checks for gun sales and grants to help schools prevent gun violence, and the Justice Department proposed rule changes that would effectively ban “bump stock” devices that let semi-automatic weapons fire like a machine gun.

Protesters consider these measures insufficient. “When you give us an inch, that bump stocks ban, we will take a mile,” said student Delaney Tarr. “We are not here for breadcrumbs, we are here to lead.”

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Wind said: "People believe that the youth of this country are insignificant. People believe that the youth have no voice. "When Joan of Arc fought back English forces she was 17 years old! When Mozart wrote his first symphony he was eight years old!"    

@CBSNews

Replying to @CBSNews

"Arming teachers will not work. More security in our schools does not work. Zero tolerance policies do not work," student Edna Chavez says. "They make us feel like criminals. We should feel supported & empowered in our schools." http://cbsn.ws/2pDCfAK  #MarchForOurLives @CBSNews  

"People believe that the youth of this country are insignificant. People believe that the youth have no voice," says Alex Wind, a Stoneman Douglas student. "I say that we were the only people who could have made this movement possible." http://cbsn.ws/2pDCfAK  #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/tkeQkC9dzY 

 

 

One of the more well-known Parkland school students, Emma Gonzalez, delivered a powerful speech in which she listed the 17 people killed before she fell silent for six minutes and 20 seconds.

When an alarm beeped, she turned it off and noted the minutes that had passed, saying they represented the exact time it took the shooter to gun down her classmates.

"The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it is someone else's job."

The crowd erupted into chants of "Emma, Emma" as she left the stage.

 

     

 

 

Why is NRA so powerful?

NRA stands for National Rifle Association. The group was founded in 1871 as a recreational group designed to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis".
The NRA is now among the most powerful lobby groups in the US, with a substantial budget to influence members of Congress on gun policy. It is run by executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre.

 

Senator tells Ben Carson to stop blaming wife for expensive furniture

                                   Mr & Mrs. Ben Carson
HuffPost US            SARA BOBOLTZ          Mar 22nd 2018 
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on Thursday slammed Housing and Urban DevelopmentSecretary Ben Carson for failing to take full responsibility for a series of recent embarrassments at the agency, including the decision to spend $31,000 of taxpayer funds on a dining room set for his office. 

Carson said at a congressional hearing earlier this week that his wife had been in charge of the redecorating effort, and he was “as surprised as anyone” to find out the furniture came with such a high price tag. 

“Instead of taking responsibility, Mr. Secretary, you seem to want to blame others,” Brown said in his opening remarks during a Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing.

“Blaming others seems to be the order of the day in the swamp,” Brown later continued. “Under your leadership, Secretary Carson, HUD has decided a wobbly chair in a private D.C. dining room requires the urgent attention of no fewer than 16 staffers and thousands of taxpayer dollars.”

Carson had previously called the old furniture “dangerous.”

A request to refund the purchase was submitted only after news outlets reported on the extravagant purchase, which a spokesman for Carson initially said would not be returned. Federal guidelines put a $5,000 cap on office decor.

Carson’s subsequent effort to replace the old furniture came out to $3,500.

The housing secretary defended himself at the hearing by pointing to his decision to direct Irving Dennis, HUD’s chief financial officer, to “lead an internal task force within HUD to combat waste, fraud and abuse.” 

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) also criticized Carson for failing to take full responsibility, confronting him with emails reported by CNN that appear to contradict a spokesman’s previous assertion that Carson and his wife were not involved in the $31,000 purchase. Carson later stated he does “not intend to be responsible for what anybody else said.”

Menendez called it “an extraordinary statement because everyone is responsible for what our spokespeople say.”

“If he was wrong, he or you should have had the record set straight,” the senator added. 

Following questioning by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Carson eventually admitted he was responsible for the chair incident.

“Even though I wasn’t aware of the $5,000 requirement I still take responsibility,” Carson said. 

The housing secretary also faced heated questions during the hearing over a proposed budget that would increase HUD-subsidized rent for low-income households.

President Donald Trump has reportedly considered replacing Carson in the aftermath of the chair incident. 

Witchy zez : The Sags continues  'As The Stomach Turns ...
Ben  Carson is proof that intelligence can be completely compartmentalized.  He’s a great surgeon, but can’t tie his own shoelaces.  He definitely needs to go back to civilian life.

The great Neurosurgeon made millions at his craft, but couldn't afford a measly $31k for the furniture his wife wanted. He could have donated it  to the government, but no, in truly inspiring greed, he had to charge the taxpayers, then weaseled out.  He doesn't have a clue as to what he's doing just like so many of  tRUMP's appointees. Now after today, better to pray to God for help. This is what we have wrought.

The annual HUD budget is $32.6 billion and the complexity of this organization requires experienced, tough managers to avoid wasting tax dollars. So of course Trump appoints Carson, who has zero experience and believes the Egyptian Pyramids were built for storing grain. The $31,000 furniture bill is chump change compared to the money that is undoubtedly lost with a "leader" like Carson.
Cheeto  put a Surgeon in charge of HUD ?????, and now the dude is blowing his budget on his own furniture....the money  was for US Housing & Development, not his own......GEEZ!!!

Is there anyone at all in this administration who is honest?  The lying is so disgusting.
It's funny as hell  old  Ben threw his wife  under the bus   Hahahaha!!!

Like throwing gasoline onto a fire': Trump poised to shake up legal team as he goes on Mueller offensive

 Business Insider         SONAM  SHETH         Mar 21st 2018 
President Donald Trump is gearing up for a massive shakeup to his legal team as he prepares to take an aggressive approach to the Russia investigation.
Trump is reportedly considering firing White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has advocated for a cooperative approach, and recently hired a controversial former federal prosecutor with a tendency to push conspiracy theories about the FBI.
One legal expert called the proceedings a "side show," adding that regardless of whom Trump hires and fires, it "won't impact the facts that are uncovered, nor Mueller's decisions on how to proceed."
President Donald Trump is gearing up to make massive changes to his legal team.

Trump is said to be considering firing White House lawyer Ty Cobb. John Dowd, Trump's personal defense attorney, is reportedly thinking about resigning. And on Monday, Trump added a controversial former federal prosecutor with a penchant for pushing conspiracy theories to his team.

The revelations add to a portrait of the president's escalating frustration over the two things that have hounded him most since he took office: the Russia investigation and the man in charge of it, special counsel Robert Mueller.

Last week yielded a slew of bombshell developments that indicate the Russia investigation is inching closer to the White House.

In particular, The New York Times reported on Saturday that Mueller has sent Trump's legal team a list of questions to answer. The questions will not take the place of an interview, but will rather serve as a starting point from which Mueller can ask follow-ups.

Mueller's questions for Trump come as his lawyers have been working for months to sidestep or significantly narrow the scope of an interview between Mueller and their client, who has shown a tendency to exaggerate the facts and make misleading statements.

Shortly after Trump's attorneys received the questions, Dowd sent shock waves through Washington by publicly calling for the Russia probe to be shut down. He walked his comments back on Monday, saying he and Trump's other lawyers were "blessed" to be communicating with the special counsel and would continue to work with his team.

While Dowd and Trump's other personal defense lawyer, Jay Sekulow, have taken a more combative public stance, Cobb has largely advocated for a cooperative approach with the special counsel since he first joined as a White House lawyer last year.

"It looks to me like they have too many conflicting power centers on their defense team, and all will be competing and giving advice that conflicts with one another," said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who worked on the special counsel investigation into I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby during the 2003 "Plame affair."

"Ideally, a team settles on a single strategy and then executes that strategy with their whole team pulling as one," he added. "That is the opposite of what is happening here, where you have the confrontational strategy and the cooperation strategy on the same team."

Jens David Ohlin, a vice dean at Cornell Law School and an expert on criminal law, made a similar observation.

"There are two camps," he said. "The first group, which includes Ty Cobb, wants the President to stay away from Twitter and stop attacking Mueller, because doing that will only land Trump in more legal and political trouble. The second group wants Trump to fight back hard — to 'let Trump be Trump.'"

He added: "You can guess which strategy Trump himself prefers."

'Throwing gasoline onto a fire'

With his impending legal team shakeup, Trump appears to have settled on taking a more aggressive approach toward the Russia investigation.

A source with direct knowledge of Trump's thinking told Axios' Mike Allen that Cobb is "100 percent secure" in his job.

But if Trump is in fact weighing firing the White House lawyer, experts said it wouldn't come as a surprise.

"Cobb is an experienced DC attorney and is very adept at resolving issues to the benefit of his clients," said Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor who spent 12 years at the DOJ. "Dowd has been more vocal than Cobb as far as taking pot shots at Mueller and his team ... It seemed to be only a matter of time before Trump replaced Ty Cobb."

Meanwhile, on Monday, The New York Times reported that Trump added Joseph diGenova, a controversial former US attorney and conservative media personality, to his team.

DiGenova was the lead prosecutor in the Department of Justice's pursuit of Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry on corruption-related charges in the late 1980s. But a decade later, he and his wife, Victoria Toensing, built their reputations peddling unfounded conspiracies about the DOJ, Democrats, and the FBI.

DiGenova has characterized the Russia investigation as the FBI's attempt to "frame an incoming president with a false Russian conspiracy that never existed, and they knew it, and they plotted to ruin him as a candidate and then destroy him as a president."

Earlier this year, diGenova accused the FBI of using "false facts" to surveil members of the Trump campaign.

"Of course there was nothing," diGenova said. "There was never anything. It was done not for legitimate law enforcement reasons, not for national security reasons, but to create a false case against" Trump.

So far, 19 people have been charged with crimes in the Russia investigation, and five have pleaded guilty, including Trump's former national-security adviser and the Trump campaign's former deputy chairman.

"Bringing on diGenova will be like throwing gasoline onto a fire," Cramer said. While Mueller seeks to interview Trump in the obstruction case, "bringing in a new attorney who has been slinging arrows about a 'deep state' conspiracy theory within the FBI and insulting Jim Comey and others certainly won't facilitate any cooperative spirit between the White House and Mueller."

Many of Trump's aides were taken by surprise by Trump's latest hire. According to The Washington Post, Trump did not consult top advisers like chief of staff John Kelly or White House counsel Donald McGahn about bringing on diGenova. Instead, he made the decision after "watching television and calling friends," the report said.

Either way, Cramer said, hiring diGenova, "who has been mostly known latterly for his incendiary comments on television won't impact the facts that are uncovered, nor Mueller's decisions on how to proceed. It's just a side show."

Ohlin added one important caveat.
If "Trump gets more aggressive in attacking Mueller, it raises the likelihood that Trump will move to fire Mueller. That, in turn, will hasten impeachment."

Witchy  sez  :
 Enjoy the    next  episode of "As The Stomach Turns"   just when  you think it couldn't get any worse.....
Trump can keep firing until there's no one left but himself.  He can then act as his own lawyer.  It's a shame Shakespeare is not around to write tragedies anymore.  "King Donald I" would be a classic. tRUMP  thinks he can "win" this investigation by using his usual go-to tactics of lying, attacking, slandering and calling all of the evidence "fake news".  Too bad the rule of law doesn't work that way. As it appears that most able and respected lawyers in DC or NYC  refuse to work with  tRUMP, he will simply replace second tier lawyers with more second tier lawyers.  Like diGenera, a talk show pundit whose defense of Trump "adviser" Nader for pornography ended in a bust for him.  The Orange Wonder is now fading as Mueller instills more fear into him.  It is all a matter of time?  The orange face man/child continue to show how unstable he is.
Lets see so far  tRUMP  has taught his mindless minions to 𝗛ate the FBI, CIA , Puerto Rico, SNL, NFL, MSNBC, AOL, CNN, UN, Poor people, Women, Disabled people, POW's, Bl@cks, Native Americans, G@ys, Muslims, Mexicans, Scientists, Health-care, Clean air, Liberals, Education, Free Speech, Post Office, the Justice Department, Obama and Hillary .
Oh yes almost forgot  the  women, the poor, the disabled & POWs. But  tRUMP only  has  love for Russia and Putin
Pretty soon all the  tRUMP  supporter will have left is Trump and FOX
This tactic is used by abusive parents, cult leaders and dictators around the world.
Who would have guessed that  tRUMP   a reality TV star with 6 bankruptcies, No Government experience, Ran a fraudulent University, 5 kids from 3 women, cheating on current wives with ex-wives, Dodges Draft multiple times, caught on tape bragging about forcefully grabbing women who didn't want to be touched, 11 charges of  sexual l assault, hitting on a 14 year old girl, paid a adult film star $130,000 to keep quiet, and 4000+ lawsuits - would make such a Lousy President... He He 

Personal Data Stolen from Facebook Used to brainwash American Voters.... Cambridge Analytica Guilty

REVEALING AND DAMNING COMMENTS MADE BY CEO ALEXANDER NIX WERE SECRETLY RECORDED BY CHANNEL 4 NEWS


Facebook faces multiple government investigations — and trillions of dollars in fines — over revelations that it didn’t do enough to protect user data used by the Trump campaign to target voters in 2016, according to a report.
Mark Zuckerberg’s social network may have violated a 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission when it allowed an academic to scoop up the data of as many as 50 million unwitting users . That data was eventually turned over to a UK data firm, Cambridge Analytica, that had former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon on its board.
The data firm then used the Facebook info to help the Trump campaign win the 2016 election, according to reports this weekend.
“I would not be surprised if at some point the FTC looks at this. I would expect them to,” David Vladeck, a former director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, told The Washington Post.
The violation “bespeaks the same recklessness with its users’ data that prompted the FTC to take action in 2011,” Jessica Rich, a former ex-FTC deputy director, said.
In a 2011 settlement, Facebook agreed to 20 years of FTC oversight after it failed to notify users of changes to its privacy rules.
The FTC had the right to fine Facebook up to $40,000 per future infraction. Facebook claims there was no wrongdoing and didn’t violate the consent decree. Who is the more responsible party here ?? Facebook ?? Cambridge Analytica ??

Wylie

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Chris Wylie might have a few regrets about pissing off Facebook.
Wylie’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended as news broke last weekend that CA was able to access private information from more than 50 million Facebook users.
Wylie said Tuesday that it is as if Facebook had deleted him from the entire internet. “We use Facebook to log in to everything,” he said. “I can’t use Tinder now because you have to use f–king Facebook to verify yourself!”

UPDATE:

Cambridge Analytica, the firm involved in a conflict over its use of Facebook data, has suspended its boss Alexander Nix.

The chief executive's comments, secretly recorded by Channel 4 News, "do not represent the values or operations of the firm," it said.
In the footage, Mr Nix appeared to suggest tactics his company could use to discredit politicians online.
The London-based firm, along with the social network, is under scrutiny following claims by a whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, who worked for Cambridge Analytica. He alleges it amassed large amounts of data through a personality quiz on Facebook called This is Your Digital Life.
He claims that 270,000 people took the quiz, but the data of some 50 million users, mainly in the US, was harvested without their explicit consent via their friend networks.
Mr Wylie says that data was sold to Cambridge Analytica, which then used it to psychologically profile people and deliver pro-Trump material to them, with a view to influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Stormy Daniels passed a lie detector test about sex with Trump

NBC News        SARAH FITZPATRICK AND TRACY CONNOR  Mar 20th 2018 
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels underwent a polygraph exam about her relationship with Donald Trump, and the examiner found there was a more than 99 percent probability she told the truth when she said they had unprotected sex in 2006, according to a copy of the report obtained by NBC News Tuesday.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, took the lie detector test at the request of a magazine that interviewed her in 2011, but didn't publish the content at the time.

The report is accompanied by a sworn declaration from the examiner, signed on Monday, March 19, 2018, attesting to the polygraph report's authenticity. Details of the report were first published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Michael Avenatti, Clifford's attorney, has confirmed to NBC News that this photo is a from a video of Clifford taken during a polygraph exam conducted in May 2011 at which she was asked about her relationship with Trump.

"Long before Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency, Ms. Clifford passed a lie detector test confirming her relationship with Mr. Trump," Avenatti said. "Where are his test results claiming otherwise? Where are Mr. Cohen’s test results claiming otherwise? When this is over, the American people will know the truth about the relationship and the cover-up."

Clifford is now locked in a legal battle with Trump and his team over a nondisclosure agreement she signed shortly before the 2016 election in exchange for $130,000.

Porn star Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a yearlong affair with Trump
Trump denies having had a sexual relationship with Clifford. His personal attorney, Michael Cohen, says he "facilitated" the $130,000 payment with his personal funds and was not reimbursed by the Trump Organization or the campaign.

Earlier this month, Clifford sued Trump, saying the secrecy agreement she signed isn’t valid because he never signed it. Trump and Cohen has since moved the suit to federal court and want a judge to push the matter into private arbitration.

Years before the agreement, Daniels gave an interview to InTouch magazine, which has said that she passed a polygraph. Details of that exam, however, have not been released until now.

The report, prepared by a Las Vegas company called Western Security Consultants, says the purpose of the polygraph examination was to "determine if Ms. Clifford had vaginal intercourse with Donald Trump in July 2006."

The examiner asked her a series of questions, three of which were relevant to the alleged affair:

"Around July 2006, did you have vaginal intercourse with Donald Trump?"

"Around July 2006, did you have unprotected sex with Donald Trump?"

"Did Trump say he would get you on 'The Apprentice'?"

Clifford answered "yes" to all three, according to the report.

The examiner used two methods to analyze the data, according to his report. The first, using an algorithm the report said was developed by Johns Hopkins University, found there was a 1 percent chance of deception for the three answers. A second analysis method found there was adequate evidence Clifford was telling the truth on the first two questions, and it was inconclusive for the third, according to the report.

The White House and Cohen did not immediately respond to request for comment about the polygraph results.

The report says the exam was requested by Life & Style, a sister publication of InTouch. Former employees of publisher Bauer told the Associated Press the interview with Clifford did not run in 2011 because Cohen threatened the magazine with legal action.

They did publish it in February, after news of the $130,000 payment to Clifford broke. In it, Clifford described meeting Trump — who was already married to Melania — at a charity event in Lake Tahoe and having sex in his hotel room.

In her lawsuit, she said only that they had an ""intimate" relationship that began in 2006 and continued in 2007. She has taped an interview with "60 Minutes" that is scheduled to air on Sunday.

Cohen and his attorney have warned that they consider Clifford in breach of the 2016 nondisclosure agreement and a temporary restraining order they secretly obtained before her lawsuit was filed.

Court papers filed by the Trump team Friday say she is liable for $1 million in damages each time she violates the terms and is already on the hook for $20 million.

Although the White House has sought to distance the president from the Clifford dispute — press secretary Sarah Sanders said she doesn't think he knew about the $130,000 payment — Trump consented to move the matter from state court to federal court in California.


Just for laughs ......... wouldn't you like to see tRMP's tiny hands holding those huge puppies ... HeHe

My hero - A Tribute

 

Heroes live among us, never seeking thanks or praise,
Living lives of deep commitment, through the passage of their days,
To find enlightenment through knowledge, which they gladly give away
For the betterment of human kind, and to guide the questing human mind.
You wouldn't notice when they pass you by, no shining armor nor steed of white.
They arm themselves with wisdom and we bask within their crystal light,
Find clarity from minds so bright.

 Such a hero  has been lost today, he fought with valor until called away,
A battle fierce, filled with such pain, he crossed over to another plane.
 His body, feeble, could not hold the mighty brilliance of his soul,
 So set him free at last to fly, unfettered, into starry skies,
To find the answers he has always sought, with freedom he so dearly bought.
 My hero has no need of limbs, the universe belongs to him.

Shadow

Stephen Hawking dead at 76

Best-known theoretical physicist of his time wrote international bestseller A Brief History of Time
The Associated Press Posted: Mar 13, 2018 11:59 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 14, 2018 12:47 PM

Stephen Hawking, one of the world's leading theoretical physicists, is shown in 2006. He has died at the age of 76, a family spokesperson says. (Paul Yeung/Reuters)

Stephen Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralyzed by disease, died peacefully at home early Wednesday in Cambridge, England. He was 76 years old.

The best-known theoretical physicist of his time, Hawking wrote so lucidly of the mysteries of space, time and black holes that his book, A Brief History of Time, became an international bestseller, making him one of science's biggest celebrities since Albert Einstein.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Hawking at the White House. His children remembered him Wednesday as a 'great scientist and an extraordinary man.' (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years," his children Lucy, Robert and Tim said in a statement. "His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. He once said, 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.' We will miss him forever."

Even though his body was attacked by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, when Hawking was 21, he stunned doctors by living with the normally fatal illness for more than 50 years. A severe attack of pneumonia in 1985 left him breathing through a tube, forcing him to communicate through an electronic voice synthesizer that gave him his distinctive robotic monotone.

But he continued his scientific work, appeared on television and married for a second time.
Sought 'theory of everything'
As one of Isaac Newton's successors as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, Hawking was involved in the search for the great goal of physics — a "unified theory."

Such a theory would resolve the contradictions between Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which describes the laws of gravity that govern the motion of large objects like planets, and the Theory of Quantum Mechanics, which deals with the world of subatomic particles.

Pope Francis greets Hawking at the Vatican in 2016. For Hawking, the search for a 'theory of everything' was almost a religious quest. (L'Osservatore Romano via Associated Press)

For Hawking, the search was almost a religious quest — he said finding a "theory of everything" would allow mankind to "know the mind of God."

"A complete, consistent unified theory is only the first step: our goal is a complete understanding of the events around us, and of our own existence," he wrote in A Brief History of Time.

The Universe in a Nutshell
In later years, though, he suggested a unified theory might not exist.

He followed up A Brief History of Time in 2001 with the more accessible sequel The Universe in a Nutshell, updating readers on concepts like super gravity, naked singularities and the possibility of an 11-dimensional universe.

Hawking said belief in a God who intervenes in the universe "to make sure the good guys win or get rewarded in the next life" was wishful thinking.

"But one can't help asking the question: Why does the universe exist?" he said in 1991. "I don't know an operational way to give the question or the answer, if there is one, a meaning. But it bothers me."

The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons, Star Trek

The combination of his bestselling book and his almost total disability — for a while he could use a few fingers, later he could only tighten the muscles on his face — made him one of science's most recognizable faces.

He made cameo appearances on TV shows including The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons and Star Trek, and counted among his fans U2 guitarist The Edge, who attended a January 2002 celebration of Hawking's 60th birthday.

BELGIUM-HAWKING/
Hawking delivers a lecture on the origin of the universe in Brussels in 2007. He said the question of why the universe exists 'bothers me.' (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

His early life was chronicled in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, with Eddie Redmayne winning the best actor Academy Award for his portrayal of the scientist. The film focused still more attention on Hawking's remarkable achievements.

"We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet. My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family," Redmayne said in a statement.

Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who starred in the 2004 BBC film Hawking — the first-ever portrayal of him onscreen — also paid tribute.

"I feel so lucky to have known such a truly great man whose profundity was found both in his work and the communication of that work," the actor said in a statement.

"'I will miss our margaritas but will raise one to the stars to celebrate your life and the light of understanding you shone so brightly on them for the rest of us."


'Perfect mind trapped in an imperfect body'

Richard Green, of the Motor Neurone Disease Association — the British name for ALS — said Hawking met the classic definition of the disease, as "the perfect mind trapped in an imperfect body." He said Hawking had been an inspiration to people with the disease for many years.

Although it could take him minutes to compose answers to even simple questions, Hawking said the disability did not impair his work. It certainly did little to dampen his ambition to physically experience space himself: Hawking savoured small bursts of weightlessness in 2007 when he was flown aboard a jet that made repeated dives to simulate zero gravity.   

'I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space'
 Hawking had hoped to leave Earth's atmosphere altogether someday, a trip he often recommended to the rest of the planet's inhabitants.

"In the long run the human race should not have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet," Hawking said in 2008. "I just hope we can avoid dropping the basket until then."

Showed light can leave black holes
Hawking first earned prominence for his theoretical work on black holes. Disproving the belief that black holes are so dense that nothing could escape their gravitational pull, he showed that black holes leak a tiny bit of light and other types of radiation, now known as "Hawking radiation."

"It came as a complete surprise," said Gary Horowitz, a theoretical physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "It really was quite revolutionary."

Illuminating Black Holes - Stephen Hawking
Horowitz said the find helped move scientists one step closer to cracking the unified theory.

Hawking's other major scientific contribution was to cosmology, the study of the universe's origin and evolution. Working with Jim Hartle of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Hawking proposed in 1983 that space and time might have no beginning and no end. "Asking what happens before the Big Bang is like asking for a point one mile north of the North Pole," he said.

In 2004, he announced that he had revised his previous view that objects sucked into black holes simply disappeared, perhaps to enter an alternate universe. Instead, he said he believed objects could be spit out of black holes in a mangled form.

That new theory capped his three-decade struggle to explain a paradox in scientific thinking: How can objects really "disappear" inside a black hole and leave no trace, as he long believed, when subatomic theory says matter can be transformed but never fully destroyed?

Diagnosed at graduate school
Hawking was born Jan. 8, 1942, in Oxford, and grew up in London and St. Albans, northwest of the capital. In 1959, he entered Oxford University and then went on to graduate work at Cambridge.

How Stephen Hawking changed the life of this UBC astronomy student
Signs of illness appeared in his first year of graduate school, and he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankee star who died of it. The disease usually kills within three to five years.

According to John Boslough, author of Stephen Hawking's Universe, Hawking became deeply depressed. But as it became apparent that he was not going to die soon, his spirits recovered and he bore down on his work. Brian Dickie, director of research at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, said only five per cent of those diagnosed with ALS survive for 10 years or longer. Hawking, he added, "really is at the extreme end of the scale when it comes to survival."

Hawking married Jane Wilde in 1965 and they had three children, Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

Research position in Waterloo, Ont.
Jane cared for Hawking for 20 years, until a grant from the United States paid for the 24-hour care he required.

He was inducted into the Royal Society in 1974 and received the Albert Einstein Award in 1978. In 1989, Queen Elizabeth made him a Companion of Honour, one of the highest distinctions she can bestow.

He whizzed about Cambridge at surprising speed — usually with nurses or teaching assistants in his wake — travelled and lectured widely, and appeared to enjoy his fame. He retired from his chair as Lucasian Professor in 2009 and took up a research position with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.

Perimeter Institute Harper Hawking 20100706
In 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper sits with Hawking before making a funding announcement at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ont. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Hawking divorced Jane in 1991, an acrimonious split that strained his relationship with their children. Writing in her autobiographical Music to Move the Stars, she said the strain of caring for Hawking for nearly three decades had left her feeling like "a brittle, empty shell." Hawking married his one-time nurse Elaine Mason four years later, but the relationship was dogged by rumours of abuse.

'I ... do anything that I really want'
Police investigated in 2004 after newspapers reported that he'd been beaten, suffering injuries including a broken wrist, gashes to the face and a cut lip, and was left stranded in his garden on the hottest day of the year.

Hawking called the charges "completely false." Police found no evidence of any abuse. Hawking and Mason separated in 2006.

SPAIN
Hawking and his then-wife Elaine pose in front of the San Lorenzo beach in the northern Spanish city of Gijon in 2005. (Alonso Gonzales/Reuters)

Lucy Hawking said her father had an exasperating "inability to accept that there is anything he cannot do."

"I accept that there are some things I can't do," he told The Associated Press in 1997. "But they are mostly things I don't particularly want to do anyway."

Then, grinning widely, he added, "I seem to manage to do anything that I really want."

To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.
Thanx to  THE CANADIAN PRESS
RIP  Professor  Steven Hawking .......          Condolence to the family    
Shadow  & Witchy

Did He Lie



Melania Knew

 

Dear America: Come on, you can’t be serious.

The ongoing saga over a president, a porn star and a payoff is so lewd and tawdry that it can’t simply be added to the ever-expanding list of horrible misbehaviors of a womanizing misogynist.

It’s not even the infidelity that most bothers me. I view that as an issue between spouses and with the other person involved. I contend that we on the outside never really know what understandings may exist in a marriage, unless the two parties within reveal it. In this case, Melania knew exactly the kind of man she was getting.

When Donald first meets Melania, they are at a New York Fashion Week party to which Donald has been invited by the wealthy Italian businessman who brought Melania to America on a modeling contract and work visa. According to GQ, sometimes, to promote his models, the businessman “would send a few girls to an event and invite photographers, producers, and rich playboys.”

Trump is on a date with another woman that night. He is also in the process of divorcing Marla Maples, his second wife, with whom he had had an affair while still married to his first wife, Ivana Trump.

According to GQ, “He sent his companion to the bathroom so he could have a few minutes to chat up the model he’d noticed. But Melania knew of Trump’s reputation — which was immediately confirmed by the fact that he had come to the party with a date and was now asking for her number.”

 

That’s right, Melania knew.

In April 2004, Donald proposes to Melania at the Met Gala.

By the way, just to underscore how vile this man is, in September 2004, Trump goes on Howard Stern, and while discussing with Stern how beautiful they both find Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Stern says, “Can I say this? A piece of ass.” Trump responds, “Yes.”

Trump marries Melania in January of 2005. They had signed a prenuptial agreement. Nine months later, in September, “Access Hollywood” records Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women — kissing and groping them without prior consent — and claiming: “When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”

Six months after the tape is recorded, on March 20, 2006, Mr. and Mrs. Trump’s son Barron is born. (That means that Melania was pregnant when Trump was making his lewd remarks about assaulting other women.)

 

Four months after Barron is born, porn star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, alleged that she and Trump initiated a consensual, sexual relationship after meeting at a golf tournament.

Clifford alleges that the “intimate relationship” began in July 2006 and continued “well into the year 2007.”

Trump also goes on “The View” in 2006 and says of Ivanka: “She does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” His daughter! And remember, he is newly married to Melania, who will give birth to Barron just 14 days after his appearance on the show.

And through it all, Melania has remained. So, that’s their marriage. They clearly have some sort of understanding, some emotional elasticity — or financial dependency — that is beyond my comprehension.

 

So that part is what it is.

As for the present news, it is not clear to me if the money paid by Donald Trump’s personal attorney to Clifford, to prevent the disclosure of a sexual affair Clifford says she had with Trump, will be found in violation of federal campaign finance laws. Neither is it clear to me if the courts will allow Clifford to get out of her nondisclosure agreement.

Those are all legal issues. What matters most to me about this sordid tale is the way it fits into a pattern of behavior and a Trump worldview about women: that they are mere objects and opportunities, a reward owed to men of wealth, and that objections and protestations are invalid.

This is about the defamation of, silencing of, and shouting down of women.

At the very same time that the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have given voice to women, and led to men being held accountable, particularly in the private sector, Trump has almost single-handedly aided in the numbing of America’s sympathies for women who speak up about the sexual exploits, misdeeds and assaults of elected officials.

Yes, there have been some political resignations, but primarily among people who have confessed to their sins. But among the men like Trump who deny the accusations, little has been done. Indeed, Trump has made a habit of defending such men, using the forcefulness of their denials as proof of innocence. Trump himself has been accused of sexual misconduct by 19 women.

Women matter,  their voices matter, propriety, honor and character matter.

 

 

Thanx to Charles M. Blow ... New York Times