Mysterious birth defects appearing in certain areas of France

  

A cluster of birth defect cases was initially dismissed, but several more have now emerged

 

 

France has launched a national investigation into the number of babies being born with missing arms or hands - weeks after an initial inquiry closed. The first investigation began after it emerged more than a dozen children had been born with the condition in clusters in three French regions. It ended after health authorities failed to identify a common cause.

But now another 11 cases have emerged in the eastern region of Ain, prompting officials to open a fresh inquiry.

The condition is a type of agenesis, where the upper limbs of a foetus fail to form correctly during pregnancy.  It includes entire missing upper limbs, missing forearms and hands, or fingers - but not unrelated medical conditions, such as missing thumbs.
The cases are clustered in the rural Ain area not far from the Swiss border, as well as in Brittany and Loire-Atlantique, two neighbouring regions on the north-west coast.

Health Minister Agnès Buzyn had already pledged a further investigation in the wake of the initial report's lack of explanations, amid continued public concern and widespread media coverage.
Speaking on French television on Wednesday morning, she said the first results from the national inquiry would be published in January, with more to follow by summer.
"I think all of France wants to know," said Ms Buzyn. "We don't want to rule anything out. Perhaps it's do with the environment, or something they ate, or something they drank. Perhaps it's what they breathed - right now I just don't know."
All the cases reported in Ain involve people within a 17km (11 miles) radius of the village of Druillat, leading to speculation about the possible influence of pesticides - which has yet to be proven.

The stories of some affected children were widely covered in the French media in the wake of the first report. Ryan, now aged eight, is one of the children from the Ain region who is missing a hand.
His parents told French news channel Franceinfo that there had been no hint of a problem on ultrasound scans. Instead they found out when he was born, and doctors were unable to tell them why.

 

Ryan, born with missing hand
 

The regional register for birth defects, Remera, had raised concerns about a possible surge in cases in Ain in July, following reports from local doctors. It discovered seven cases clustered close together around Druillat over six years.

But an initial report from Public Health France in October concluded that those cases, between 2009 and 2014, were not significantly higher than the national average.  However, it now says that the 11 new cases it uncovered were all from Ain, covering 15 years since 2000.
Three other cases in Loire-Atlantique and four in Brittany were also looked at. In those cases, the health body acknowledged that the numbers were higher than average - but again, no common cause was found. Officials concluded that in all three regions, further investigations were not possible without a hypothesis to pursue.

Another affected mother, from Brittany, said she was quizzed by doctors after the birth of her son Leo with a malformed forearm. They wanted to know about eating habits or any pharmaceuticals or drug use - but again, could not find a cause.
Chair of the scientific committee in Ain's regional health centre, geneticist Dr Elizabeth Gnansia, said the number of concentrated cases of a rare condition was significant.
"Let's imagine they are born between 2009 and 2014, which is five years, can you imagine that in a small rural school seven infants are in the same school with a type of amputation of forearm?" she said.
"We don't need statistics for that. It's highly significant. It's 50 times what you expect."

The report also said that monitoring of birth defects was only carried out by a handful of registers, covering just 19% of births in France. That has prompted some fears that the number of cases may be under-reported.
On Tuesday, Public Health France announced that the new cases had been uncovered by a further analysis of hospital databases. It warned that a comprehensive survey several years after the birth of affected children would be "complex".
The case has drawn parallels with the Thalidomide scandal, involving a drug often taken by pregnant women to alleviate morning sickness. The link between Thalidomide and limb malformation during pregnancy was only uncovered after years of the drug's use.

However, no such link between a chemical or pharmaceutical cause has been drawn in France.
Generally cases like this are discovered to be the result of some toxic substance in the air, water, drugs or food ingested by them mother. Industrial discharge, chemicals from fertilizers, some newly developed insecticide and even new pharmaceutical products can all be a possible cause of such birth defects if the mother has been exposed to them in the first trimester of her pregnancy.
 As usual, we are more in danger of destroying ourselves than in being destroyed by some other species or disease. Here's hoping French researchers come up with the answer soon.

Trumps peculiar priorities regarding caravans and immigrants

U.S. President Donald Trump says 5,200 troops will defend the country from migrant “invaders” at its southern border with Mexico, but those troops won’t be authorized to detain or threaten anyone under the law.
Instead, they’ll provide non-combat support to help "harden" the border in the American Southwest, joining approximately 2,000 National Guard troops who were previously dispatched to the scene, defence officials said Monday. The troops are expected to arrive in smaller groups in California, Arizona and Texas throughout the week.
Is Trump making some kind of grandstand play for the mid-term elections, making the immigrants another enemy of the people, branding them as criminals and terrorists; and making himself the hero and savior of his people??
The answer is probably, yes. The move is part of Trump’s latest effort to energize his anti-immigrant base ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections. The president has demonized the approaching caravan of approximately 4,000 migrants, claiming without evidence that the group contains “unknown Middle Easterners” and gang members.
The migrants hail from poverty-stricken Central American countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, where they say it's not safe for them to live anymore. A smaller group of immigrants is currently crossing through Guatemala.
Trump threatened the approaching migrants on Twitter Monday, calling it an “invasion” and promising the migrants that “our Military is waiting for you!”
Trump has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the migrants, but it’s highly unlikely they will reach any border crossings by Election Day. They were heading for Juchitan in southern Mexico on Tuesday, The Associated Press reports. The town is approximately 1,600 kilometres from the border crossing at Laredo, Texas. A pedestrian walking 16 hours a day could cross that distance in 21 days, according to Google Maps.
The president claimed on Monday that his efforts have “nothing to do with elections,” in an interview with Fox News. 

@realDonaldTrump

Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border. Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!

 

10:41 AM - Oct 29, 2018

States often ask the National Guard for help with border security, but the U.S. rarely deploys the military to help out, except for domestic emergencies such as hurricanes or floods.
“Sending active military forces to our southern border is not only a huge waste of taxpayer money, but an unnecessary course of action that will further terrorize and militarize our border communities,” said Shaw Drake, of the American Civil Liberties Union’s border rights center at El Paso, Texas.
Trump ordered the National Guard to help at the border in April.
Here’s what will be asked of the active-duty troops sent to protect the U.S. border this week.

What they can’t do

Some of the troops sent to the border will be armed, General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, head of the U.S. military’s Northern Command, told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
However, most of them will be experts trained in building barriers, laying out barbed concertina wire, running surveillance and providing healthcare when necessary.
Military personnel are legally prohibited from engaging in immigration enforcement under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. That's why they'll be limited to support roles.
"Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," says Section 1385 of Title 18 in the United States Code. "Posse comitatus" means "force of the county" in Latin.
Congress has permitted a few exceptions such as in cases of insurrection, crimes involving nuclear materials or emergencies involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction.

What they can do

The troops deployed to the border will be expected to help Customs and Border Protection agents do their job, according to a release from the Department of Defense. The DoD says members of "Operation Faithful Patriot" will help border agents with air and ground transportation. Troops will also provide medical care, surveillance help and engineering expertise to "secure legal crossings."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and three combat engineer battalions will arrive at the border by the end of the week, Gen. O'Shaughnessy said Monday. The engineers will work on building "temporary barriers and fencing" using heavy equipment, the general said.
The U.S. is also dispatching three medium-lift helicopter companies and military police units.
The DoD says three C-130 Hercules and one C-17 Globemaster III aircraft are already standing by to help.
Trump says the military will build “tent cities” for asylum seekers.
“We’re going to put tents up all over the place,” Trump told Fox New Channel’s Laura Ingraham on Monday. “They’re going to be very nice and they’re going to wait and if they don’t get asylum, they get out.”
The National Guard has already been providing this kind of support, so it's unclear why active-duty soldiers were sent to the border for the same tasks.
The U.S. will have a combined 7,000 military and National Guard troops at the border until Dec. 15 — more than three times the 2,000 troops it currently has deployed in Syria.
Migrants can legally present themselves at an existing border crossing. The only illegal activity would be to cross over at a designated point.
"We will not allow a large group to enter the United States in an unsafe and unlawful manner," said Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, on Monday. He warned that anyone caught crossing into the U.S. illegally will be apprehended.
McAleenan also tried to discourage incoming migrants from making a legal asylum claim at a designated port of entry.
"The government of Mexico has already offered you protection and employment authorization," he said. 

The migrant caravan's numbers have dwindled from a high of approximately 7,000 to 4,000. Approximately half of them are women and children, The Associated Press reports. Migrants are entitled under U.S. and international law to apply for asylum on U.S. soil. Migrants who pass the initial screening process at the U.S. border are usually released into the country until their asylum case can be heard. The process can take several years.

Sure, they should enter the country legally, that's a given. But did you know that the federal government determined that 701,900 people entered the US through an 'air or sea' Port of Entry, from foreign countries and overstayed their visas in 2017. Therefore, they became illegals. A far higher number than Hispanics, coming over the southern border. Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, the United Kingdom , Colombia, Nigeria, China, France, Spain and Germany rounded out the top 10.
 Hispanic immigrants crossing the Mexican border numbered under 304,000 in 2017. So it begs the question, 'why isn't Trump doing something about the over 700,000 illegals coming by ship or plane'?? Why the wall and 7,000 troops at the Mexican/US border?? Hmmm! - does it seem like  he has it in for Hispanics from impoverished countries??

Massacre in Pittsburgh Synagogue

 

A man suspected of killing 11 people in a synagogue in Pittsburgh and injuring six others has been charged with murder - in what is believed to be the worst anti-Semitic attack in recent US history.

Robert Bowers, 46, is accused of opening fire at the Tree of Life synagogue during its Sabbath service. Six people - including four police officers - were injured in Saturday's attack and the suspect was also wounded in a shootout with police.
He faces 29 criminal counts, including use of a firearm to commit murder.
Federal prosecutors say they will also file hate crime charges, and the suspect could face the death penalty.

    

Hundreds of people - from the neighbourhood and also all across Pittsburgh - later gathered for an interfaith vigil for the victims of the attack in the synagogue in Squirrel Hill.

What are the charges?

The 29 charges were announced in a statement issued by the US Attorney's Office of the Western District of Pennsylvania:

• Eleven counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death
• Eleven counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence
• Four counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer
• Three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence

 

How did the shooting unfold?

 

 



On Saturday morning, worshippers had gathered at the synagogue for a baby naming ceremony during the Sabbath.
Squirrel Hill has one of the largest Jewish populations in Pennsylvania and this would have been the synagogue's busiest day of the week.

Police said they received first calls about an active shooter at 09:54 local time (13:54 GMT), and sent officers to the scene a minute later. According to reports, Mr Bowers, a white male, entered the building during the morning service armed with an assault rifle and three handguns.
The gunman had already killed 11 people and was leaving the synagogue after about 20 minutes when he encountered Swat officers and exchanged fire with them, FBI agent Robert Jones said.
The attacker then moved back into the building to try to hide from the police.
He surrendered after a shootout, and is now being treated in hospital for what has been described as multiple gunshot wounds.
The crime scene was "horrific", Pittsburgh's Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters. "One of the worst I've seen, and I've [worked] on some plane crashes. It's very bad."
Mr Hissrich said no children were among the casualties.

What do we know about the gunman?

 

US media said he had shouted "All Jews must die" as he carried out the attack.
Social media posts by someone with the name Robert Bowers were also reported to be full of anti-Semitic comments. FBI special agent Bob Jones told a press conference that Mr Bowers did not appear to be known to authorities prior to the attack. 
He said that any motive remains unknown but that authorities believe he was acting alone.

In the dwindling light, and with the cold autumn rain falling, hundreds gathered in front of the 6th Presbyterian church just a few streets away from the Tree of Life Synagogue.
Holding their candles, they sang the Jewish prayer of healing.
The elders in the community had wanted to wait a day before holding the vigil, but the young people said no - they wanted an immediate chance to share their grief and voice their hurt.
Fifteen-year-old Sophia Levin declared that she was a different Jew today to the one she was yesterday. Anti-Semitism, she said, had been something she thought happened elsewhere and in earlier times; but now she knew it was right here, right now.
Some of these young people have been involved in the student gun control movement that sprang up after the Parkland shooting earlier this year.  One of them, Rebecca Glickman, told the crowd that gun control was needed now more than ever.
She said that an anti-Semite with a gun is more dangerous than an anti-Semite without a gun, so that's a good place to start.

What was President Trump's reaction?
He called the shooting a "terrible, terrible thing".  He described the attack as a "wicked act of mass murder". 
"To see this happen again and again, for so many years, it's just a shame," he told reporters.
He described the gunman as a "maniac" and suggested the US should "stiffen up our laws of the death penalty".
"These people should pay the ultimate price. This has to stop," he said. President Trump said he would visit Pittsburgh soon. He also ordered US flags at government buildings to be flown at half-mast until 31 October.
Mr Trump added that the incident had "little to do" with US gun laws. "If they had protection inside, maybe it could have been a different situation."
Former US President Barack Obama voiced a different position on the ongoing gun law debate, tweeting: "We have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun."

What about other reactions?

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said in a statement that the incident was an "absolute tragedy" and that such acts of violence could not be accepted as "normal".
Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish non-governmental organization that fights anti-Semitism, said he was "devastated".
"We believe this is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States," he said in a statement.

World leaders also condemned the attack, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said he was "heartbroken and appalled", and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said: "We all have to stand up against anti-Semitism, everywhere."
Extra police officers have been deployed at synagogues and Jewish centres across the US after the attack.
The shootings come at a tense time in the US, after a week in which mail bombs were sent to critics of Mr Trump and ahead of crucial mid-term elections next month. Hate crimes against the Jewish community have increased by 57% in the last two years... including vandalizing synagogues and personal property of Jewish people, desecration of Jewish cemeteries and verbal and physical assaults.

Florida suspect in package bombs traced with fingerprint, DNA

Thomson Reuters       ZACHARY FAGENSON AND
BERNIE WTOODALL          Oct 26th 2018 

PLANTATION, Fla., Oct 26 (Reuters) - FBI agents used DNA and a fingerprint to identify the Florida man suspected of sending at least 14 parcel bombs to critics of U.S. President Donald Trump days ahead of congressional elections.

Cesar Sayoc has been charged with five federal crimes including threats against former presidents and faces up to 58 years in prison if found guilty, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference.

"We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially political violence," he said.

FBI agents arrested Sayoc, 56, in Plantation, Florida and also hauled away a white van plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan "CNN SUCKS" and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.
What we know about mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc, Jr.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the news conference that fingerprints on a package sent to Representative Maxine Waters belonged to Sayoc.

He also said there could be other packages.

Announcing the arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to a cheering audience at the White House, Trump said such "terrorizing acts" were despicable and had no place in the United States.

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America - cannot let it happen," Trump said. "And I'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and to stop it now."

Sayoc's home address was listed in public records as an upscale gated apartment complex in the seaside town of Aventura, Florida.

According to the records, he is a registered Republican with a lengthy criminal past - including once making a bomb threat - and a history of posting inflammatory broadsides on social media against Trump's political foes.

Sayoc was being held at an FBI processing center in Miramar, Florida, CNN said. He was expected to be taken to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami and will likely make his first appearance before a judge on Monday, according to former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weinstein.

A federal law enforcement source said charges would likely be brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Sayoc transferred to New York City.

(Reporting by Zachary Fagenson and Bernie Woodall; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus, Gabriella Borter and Peter Szekely in New York, Mark Hosenball, Makini Brice, Susan Heavey, Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)

Isn't it our humanitarian duty to help them ??

On October 16, 2018, Honduran immigrants. More than 1,500 people in a caravan, travel north near Quezaltepeque, Guatemala.

 

Sometimes a sympathetic driver will offer a ride.

 

They are exhausted and have to sleep right on the road

 

Honduran immigrants pray in an improvised shelter in Chiquimula, Guatemala, on October 16, 2018.

 

On October 17, 2018, a Honduran child, traveling with a caravan of Central American immigrants trying to reach the U.S., stands in front of Honduran police officers blocking the street in Agua Caliente, Honduras.

 

Honduran immigrants cross the Lempa River on the border between Honduras and Guatemala, near Caliente, to enter Guatemala and join a caravan trying to reach the U.S on October 17, 2018.

 

 

 

 

Thousands of Honduran immigrants gathered at the border of Mexico in Tecún Umán, Guatemala, rush toward and over fences on October 19, 2018. Immigrants broke down the gates at the border crossing and began streaming toward a bridge into Mexico. After arriving at the tall, yellow metal fence, some clambered atop it and on U.S.-donated military jeeps. Young men began violently tugging on the barrier and finally succeeded in tearing it down.

 

Desperate Hondurans storm the border.

 

 Mexican Federales try to force them back

 

Honduran immigrants climb the gate of the Guatemala-Mexico international-border bridge in Ciudad Hidalgo on October 19, 2018.

 

Aerial view of immigrants crossing Mexican border bridge

 

Honduran immigrants cross the Suchiate River, the border between Guatemala and Mexico, in makeshift rafts in Ciudad Tecún Umán, Guatemala

 

 In Mexico, headed for the US border

 

Journalists from many major news agencies, including CNN have been walking for hundreds of miles with the immigrants  talking to them and photographing them. All they have found so far are desperate people who are fleeing violence and death and hoping for amnesty and compassion for themselves and their children. Guess what !! No terrorists, criminals or rapists so far... and no one from the Middle East. Are you surprised?? Lie number 4,715 Mr Trump.

Will we ever know what happened to Jamal Kashoggi ??

 

In this Jan. 29, 2011 file photo, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks on his cellphone at the World Economic Forum

 



A Saudi official has announced that Jamal Khashoggi was killed when he was "placed in a chokehold position" to prevent him from leaving that country's consulate in Turkey and calling for help.

 

 Kahshoggi videotaped alive the day of his disappearance

 

Two weeks later, on Friday, the country's public prosecutor said an initial investigation revealed that discussions between Khashoggi and the individuals who met with him at the consulate led to an argument and a fist fight, which resulted in the journalist's death, according to the Arabic report in the Saudi Press Agency.

The whereabouts of Khashoggi's body remain unknown. A Saudi official, on Sunday claimed that Khashoggi’s body was given to a "local cooperator" in Istanbul for disposal. "Investigation into this continues," the official said.

 

Fifteen Saudis, members of the team sent to Turkey to meet with Khashoggi in the consulate in Istanbul, are among those who have been detained by the Saudi public prosecutor, according to the official.

"All the 15 team members are among those detained," the official said. "I don't have the names at this time."

The official also said that five Saudi intelligence chiefs, who were relieved of their duties in connection to Khashoggi's death, are not currently suspects in the investigation, even though they were "part of the chain of command of the operation" and that "the operational orders ... were written in such a way as to contribute to the series of events that led to the tragic death."

  

Turkish officials have claimed that a team of 15 Saudi men, including one who was identified by the press as an autopsy doctor, flew to Turkey specifically to kill Khashoggi at the consulate.

The Trump administration has strongly denied a claim that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was played an audio recording and provided a transcript of Khashoggi's killing.

 

Eighteen Saudi citizens were detained by the Saudi government in connection with Khashoggi's killing, according to Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency.

Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have called for the U.N. to investigate Khashoggi’s death.

After speaking with Saudi Arabia's King Salman, President Trump suggested that Khashoggi was targeted by "rogue killers." Earlier this week, Trump said that there would be "severe consequences" if it is found that the Saudis murdered Khashoggi, and on Friday the president said that Saudi’s announcement that it had suspects in custody was "a good first step."

 

  Kashogi at a news conference

 

U.S. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, and several international business leaders, have pulled out of a major investment forum in Saudi Arabia scheduled to begin next week called the Future Investment Initiative.

Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia in 2017, and had recently been living in the U.S. where he served as an opinion columnist for The Washington Post newspaper, writing critically of the Saudi royal family and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and warning of efforts to stifle the free press in the Middle East.

Khashoggi’s final column in the newspaper, published Oct. 17 was titled: "What the Arab world needs most is free expression."
 Donald Trump said Friday that he believes Saudi Arabia's explanation for the death of the journalist .

Trump tells AP he's not to blame if Republicans loses House

The Associated Press

CATHERINE LUCEY, JONATHAN LEMIRE AND ZEKE MILLER      Oct 16th 2018 
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won't accept the blame if Republicans lose the House in November.

Trump said he believes he is "helping" Republican candidates as he campaigns ahead of crucial midterm elections next month. With Republicans facing headwinds, Trump said he thinks the GOP is "going to do well," arguing that "it feels to me very much like" 2016.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Trump also accused his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen of "lying" under oath, defended his use of the derisive nickname "Horseface" for porn actress Stormy Daniels and argued that the widespread condemnation of the Saudis in the disappearance of a Washington Post columnist was a rush to judgment.

Of his efforts on the campaign trail, Trump said: "I don't believe anybody has ever had this kind of impact." He resisted comparisons to President Barack Obama, who took responsibility for the Democrats' defeat in 2010 by acknowledging that his party got "shellacked."

Democrats are hopeful about their chances to recapture the House, while Republicans are increasingly confident they can hold the Senate. If Democrats take the House and pursue impeachment or investigations — including seeking his long-hidden tax returns— Trump claimed he will "handle it very well."

Trump also declared that Cohen's testimony was "totally false" in his August plea deal to campaign finance violations alleging he coordinated with Trump on a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of Daniels and a Playboy model who alleged affairs. But in entering the deal with Cohen, prosecutors signaled that they accepted his recitation of facts and account of what occurred.

He derided Cohen, who worked for Trump for a decade, as "a PR person who did small legal work," and said it was "very sad" that Cohen had struck a deal to "achieve a lighter sentence."

And Trump did not back down from derisively nicknaming Daniels "Horseface" in a tweet hours earlier.

Asked by the AP if it was appropriate to insult a woman's appearance, Trump responded, "You can take it any way you want."
******************************************************

Observations from our in-house expert Mr. Humble :
"When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history."
~ John Brennan~
Trump says His administration is a well oiled machine! This machine produces… severe violations of the emoluments clause, conspiracy, obstruction, money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, racism, adultery, treason!—
REALLY is this a USA President?????

Trump made similar claims in January when boasting about how loyal his fanbase is by suggesting he could shoot someone dead and not lose their vote. Trump>>“They say I have the most loyal people. Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, ok?<<Trump

Dictators .. Seek to Confuse the centers of power! Playing one against the other… Causing division in the Executive, the Judicial and the Legislative Branches of Government!!! Dictators make alliances with Foreign Dictators… Russia, Does this sound like anyone familiar?

This piece of Garbage has never taken responsibility for ANYTHING - always blaming everyone else - a great example of a COWARD.
Okay. We'll blame the lying fat guy with the lousy hair, who puts rapists on the supreme court, calls women dogs and horsefaces, tells murdering dictators he loves them, and does business with assassins because he loves money more than human life. We'll blame that guy.

At every rally he says a vote in November is vote for him but he won't accept blame for a loss?  Truth is, trump won't accept responsibility for anything.
I still remember all those campaign promises Trump came up with. We will build a great wall and Mexico will pay for it. We will rebuild the military and the infrastructure while cutting taxes for everyone, especially the wealthy. I kept thinking to myself, how are we going to pay for this? Does Trump know? Has he even thought about it?

It was all a bunch of lies to get fools to vote for him so he could give the wealthy a permanent, massive tax cut, and look at all the fools that still support him.

Last but not least :
Many ways to spot a Trump supporter:
1) They don't really support Trump; they follow him. Kind of like how sheep follow their master or how that cult in Guyana followed Jim Jones. They aren’t really capable of critical thinking. 
2) They want to “make America great again” but can barely string a sentence together and probably don't hold an advanced degree.  
3) They hate (or fear) anyone who is different from them.
4) They tend to vote against their own best interests. 
5) They are blissfully unaware of numbers 1 through 4.
6) They are easily brainwashed
7) They never search for the truth.
8) They never check sources of news on their Facebook and other social media accounts.
9) A lie is just as good as the truth if you can get someone to believe it
10) They will cheer ANYTHING Trump says.
11) And if he says something completely different the next day, they will cheer that too.
That's all folks ------------Just my humble opionon



 



Kushner Makes Millions ... Pays No Taxes

Jared Kushner is a multi-millionaire slumlord who evicts and harasses low-income tenants to line his own pockets.
He is also best buds with Mohammed Bin Salman, a 30-something despot nicknamed “Little Saddam”. Salman is  waging a war on Yemen that has killed thousands of children and malnourished millions. He is also reported to have personally ordered the killing of WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
If none of that moved you to despise Kushner, perhaps this will. The NY Times obtained documents that describe Kushner’s taxes (they were part of package in a loan application). The documents show that Kushner has used special tax loopholes created for real-estate investors to an extreme degree. He has paid no income taxes for years, while receiving many millions in taxes:

The documents, which The Times reviewed in their entirety, were created with Mr. Kushner’s cooperation as part of a review of his finances by an institution that was considering lending him money. Totaling more than 40 pages, they describe his business dealings, earnings, expenses and borrowing from 2009 to 2016. They contain information that was taken from Mr. Kushner’s federal tax filings, as well as other data provided by his advisers. The documents, mostly created last year, were shared with The Times by a person who has had financial dealings with Mr. Kushner and his family.

The summaries of Mr. Kushner’s tax returns reviewed by The Times don’t explicitly state how much he paid. Instead, the documents include disclosures by his accountants that estimate how much tax he owed for the year just ended — called “income taxes payable” — and how much he paid during the year in anticipation of taxes he would owe, called “prepaid taxes.” For most of the years covered, both were listed as zero. — www.nytimes.com/...

Of course, none of us are surprised by this. We already know Donald Trump is a tax cheat. Trump hasn’t paid income taxes for years either. Trump took a billion dollar tax loss, for money that he’d borrowed. When that was revealed in 2016, numerous accountants called it illegal.
There has to be a politician somewhere who can speak to this rigged system. How is it that a waitress making $12 an hour is taxed, while a guy like Kushner who makes millions a year pays no taxes?
Why don’t Democrats attack this problem head on?

The tax code affords real estate investors great leeway in how they calculate their depreciation — flexibility that often is used to inflate their annual deductions. Among the tactics used by many developers: Their tax advisers prepare studies arguing that much of a property’s value is attributable to things like appliances and parking lots, which under the law can be depreciated more quickly than the building.
Such strategies are almost never audited, tax professionals say. And the new tax law provides even more opportunities for property investors to take larger deductions. — www.nytimes.com/...

Why don’t more politicians talk about a rigged economic system which is designed to inflate the fortunes of the Trumps and Kushners of the world. Meanwhile, poor and middle-income Americans pay crippling taxes and their children go off to fight our wars, something else that the Trumps and Kushners of the world avoid and evade.

Is Trump on a Collision Course With Impeachment?

Nixon’s case used to be a extra uncomplicated abuse of energy and obstruction of justice: the Watergate housebreaking to secret agent on his political opposition and the ensuing cover-up, together with the cost of hush cash and, in any case, a transcript of the “smoking gun” tape of him seeking to order the C.I.A. to dam the F.B.I. investigation. The House Judiciary Committee voted to question, and Nixon resigned quite than proceed to battle after fellow Republicans deserted him.

Bill Clinton’s case fell someplace within the murky heart. Charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for seeking to hinder a sexual harassment lawsuit filed through Paula Jones through hiding his affair with a former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, Mr. Clinton used to be impeached on a just about party-line vote within the House and acquitted within the Senate. Defenders had been left to argue that sure, he could have violated the legislation, however it used to be no longer such a profound violation to benefit removing.

More than some other president, on the other hand, Mr. Trump has lived below the shadow of impeachment since prior to he took place of job. Within days of his election in November 2016, hypothesis started about impeachment on account of the numerous moral problems surrounding him.

Regardless of whether or not Mr. Mueller stories any ties with Russia all over the 2016 marketing campaign, Mr. Trump’s critics have a laundry checklist of what they believe impeachable offenses, from resort and different non-public trade actions that get pleasure from international governments to the firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, after seeking to get him to drop an investigation of a former aide to hush cash paid to 2 ladies to stay them from speaking publicly about sexual encounters prior to the election.

The public is extra supportive of impeaching Mr. Trump than it ever used to be of impeaching Mr. Clinton and greater than it used to be of starting impeachment lawsuits towards Richard Nixon till close to the top of the Watergate scandal. In August, 49 p.c of Americans surveyed through The Washington Post and ABC News appreciated impeaching Mr. Trump, whilst 46 p.c hostile it.

The elected Democratic management has been reluctant to discuss it, out of worries of a public backlash or enjoying into Mr. Trump’s palms. A failed impeachment may just energize his base or even propel him to re-election in 2020. “It’s not someplace I think we should go,” Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic chief, has said.

But it’s onerous to believe Democrats no longer going there in the event that they take the House, given the large force from their liberal base to no less than open an impeachment inquiry. Three-quarters of Democrats instructed pollsters that they would like Mr. Trump impeached. Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire who has been financing tv advertisements advocating impeachment, introduced this previous week that he has accumulated six million signatures on a petition.

Mr. Trump’s facet is gearing up and hopes to make use of the possible battle to impress supporters to prove subsequent month. “It’s very simple — Nov. 6, up or down vote,” Steve Bannon, his former leader strategist, said lately. “Up or down vote on the impeachment of Donald Trump.”


Peter Baker is an creator, with Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali and Jeffrey A. Engel, of “Impeachment: An American History.”

On Board During the Sinking of the Concordia

 



Peter Jackson's WWI Archive Footage Film ....In High Definition Living Color

 

 

Filmmaker Peter Jackson has swapped fantasy for history in his new 3D film about the First World War.The Oscar-winning director, famous for bringing Lord Of The Rings to the silver screen, and his team have restored and painstakingly hand-colourized 100-year-old footage for the movie. 

The film, called 'They Shall Grow Not Old', is part of a series of events announced by arts organization 14-18 NOW and is due to premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October.

 

 

Mr Jackson said that he wanted to transform the footage to "beyond anything we’ve ever seen before". He added:

"We started to do some experiments and I was honestly stunned by the results we were getting.

"We all know what First World War footage looks like. It's sped up, it's fast, like Charlie Chaplin, grainy, jumpy, scratchy, and it immediately blocks you from actually connecting with the events on screen." 

 

A before and after of the transformed footage

"But the results are absolutely unbelievable... This footage looks like it was shot in the last week or two, with high-definition cameras. It's so sharp and clear now."

'The Hobbit' filmmaker said: "The faces of the men just jump out at you. It's the faces, it's the people that come to life in this film.

"It's the human beings that were actually there, that were thrust into this extraordinary situation that defined their lives."

 

Mr Jackson and his team combed through approximately 600 hours of audio interviews with veterans, found in the BBC archives from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
The interviews illustrate not only the military strategy and knowledge but also the human experience of war.
The filmmaker said that the film will give "a sense of what it was like to be in this war 100 years ago [from] the perspective of the people that were actually there".

 



 

14–18 NOW is the UK’s arts program for the First World War centenary.

The season will conclude by marking Armistice Day on 11 November, with a new, yet-to-be-announced work by filmmaker Danny Boyle, the mastermind behind the London 2012 opening ceremony, which "will invite people across the UK" to take part.

The BFI London Film Festival artistic director, Tricia Tuttle, said:

"A hundred years after the First World War, we know much about the horrific impact of this conflict on its soldiers, especially the brutal scale of the casualties which decimated a generation, but Peter's film offers new understanding of the human experience of life at the front."

"Using original audio and moving image archive, he allows the soldiers to tell their own stories.

"The work his team have done on the materials, adding color and converting to 3D, is painstaking and beautiful.

"It makes these people from 100 years ago seem so alive and gives an uncanny sense the footage was shot recently."

Due to premiere at the BFI London Film Festival's Documentary Special Presentation on 16 October, the film will then be screened nationwide in both 2D and 3D. 

Last Call to save the Earth

 

 

 

It's the final call, say scientists, the most extensive warning yet on the risks of rising global temperatures. Their dramatic report on keeping that rise under 1.5 degrees C says the world is now completely off track, heading instead towards 3C.

Keeping to the preferred target of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels will mean "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society".
It will be hugely expensive - but the window of opportunity remains open for ten or twelve years.
After three years of research and a week of haggling between scientists and government officials at a meeting in South Korea, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5C.

    

The critical 33-page Summary for Policymakers certainly bears the hallmarks of difficult negotiations between climate researchers determined to stick to what their studies have shown and political representatives more concerned with economies and living standards.
Despite the inevitable compromises, there are some key messages that come through loud and clear.
"The first is that limiting warming to 1.5C brings a lot of benefits compared with limiting it to two degrees. It really reduces the impacts of climate change in very important ways," said Prof Jim Skea, who co-chairs the IPCC.
"The second is the unprecedented nature of the changes that are required if we are to limit warming to 1.5C - changes to energy systems, changes to the way we manage land, changes to the way we move around with transportation."

What's the one big takeaway? 

 

"Scientists might want to write in capital letters, 'ACT NOW, IDIOTS,' but they need to say that with facts and numbers," said Kaisa Kosonen, of Greenpeace, who was an observer at the negotiations. "And they have."
The researchers have used these facts and numbers to paint a picture of the world with a dangerous fever, caused by humans. We used to think if we could keep warming below two degrees this century, then the changes we would experience would be manageable.
Not any more. This new study says that going past 1.5C is dicing with the planet's liveability. And the 1.5C temperature "guard rail" could be exceeded in just 12 years, in 2030.
We can stay below it - but it will require urgent, large-scale changes from governments and individuals and we will have to invest a massive pile of cash every year, about 2.5% of global gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced, for two decades.
Even then, we will still need machines, trees and plants to capture carbon from the air that we can then store deep underground - forever.

"Scientists might want to write in capital letters, 'ACT NOW, IDIOTS,' but they need to say that with facts and numbers," said Kaisa Kosonen, of Greenpeace, who was an observer at the negotiations. "And they have."
The researchers have used these facts and numbers to paint a picture of the world with a dangerous fever, caused by humans. We used to think if we could keep warming below two degrees this century, then the changes we would experience would be manageable.
Not any more. This new study says that going past 1.5C is gambling with the planet's liveability. And the 1.5C temperature "guard rail" could be exceeded in just 12 years, in 2030.
We can stay below it - but it will require urgent, large-scale changes from governments and individuals and we will have to invest a massive pile of cash every year, about 2.5% of global gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced, for two decades.
Even then, we will still need machines, trees and plants to capture carbon from the air that we can then store deep underground - forever.

What can I do?

The report says there must be rapid and significant changes in four big global systems:

• energy
•  land use
•  cities
•  industry

But it adds that the world cannot meet its target without changes by individuals, urging people to:

• buy less meat, milk, cheese and butter and more locally sourced seasonal food - and throw less of it away 
• drive electric cars but walk or cycle short distances  take trains and buses instead of planes
•  use video conferencing instead of business travel
•  use a wash line instead of a tumble dryer
•  insulate homes
•  demand low carbon in every consumer product

Lifestyle changes can make a big difference, said Dr Debra Roberts, the IPCC's other co-chair.
"That's a very empowering message for the individual," she said. "This is not about remote science; it is about where we live and work, and it gives us a cue on how we might be able to contribute to that massive change, because everyone is going to have to be involved."
"You might say you don't have control over land use, but you do have control over what you eat and that determines land use.
"We can choose the way we move in cities and if we don't have access to public transport - make sure you are electing politicians who provide options around public transport."

Five steps to 1.5

1. Global emissions of CO2 need to decline by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030
2. Renewables are estimated to provide up to 85% of global electricity by 2050
3. Coal is expected to reduce to close to zero
4. Up to seven million sq km of land will be needed for energy crops (a bit less than the size of Australia)
5. Global net zero emissions by 2050

 

How much will all this cost?

It won't come cheap. The report says to limit warming to 1.5C, will involve "annual average investment needs in the energy system of around $2.4 trillion" between 2016 and 2035.
Experts believe this number needs to be put in context.
"There are costs and benefits you have to weigh up," said Dr Stephen Cornelius, a former UK IPCC negotiator now with WWF. He says making big emissions cuts in the short term will cost money but be cheaper than paying for carbon dioxide removal later this century.
"The report also talks about the benefits as there is higher economic growth at 1.5 degrees than there is at 2C and you don't have the higher risk of catastrophic impacts at 1.5 that you do at two."

What happens if we don't act?

The researchers say that if we fail to keep temperature rises below 1.5C, we are in for some significant and dangerous changes to our world.
You can kiss coral reefs goodbye, as the report says they would be essentially 100% wiped out at two degrees of warming.
Global sea-level will rise about 10cm (4in) more if we let warming go to 2C. That may not sound like much but keeping to 1.5C means that 10 million fewer people would be exposed to the risks of flooding.
There are also significant impacts on ocean temperatures and acidity, and the ability to grow crops such as rice, maize and wheat.
"We are already in the danger zone at one degree of warming," said Kaisa Kosonen, from Greenpeace. "Both poles are melting at an accelerated rate; ancient trees that have been there for hundreds of years are suddenly dying; and the summer we've just experienced - basically, the whole world was on fire."

 

 

 

Scientists say that urgent steps need to be taken now to keep global warming from exceeding 1.5C and causing a "climate catastrophe".

Current research shows that keeping that rise under 1.5C says the world is now completely off track, heading instead towards 3C.

But how can a few degrees make such a big difference - and why is 1.5 so important? Laura Foster explains.

 

Is this plan at all feasible?

The countdown to the worst of global warming seems to have accelerated. Seriously damaging impacts are no longer on a distant horizon later this century but within a timeframe that appears uncomfortably close.

By the same token, the report's "pathways" for keeping a lid on temperatures all mean that hard decisions cannot be delayed:

• a shift away from fossil fuels by mid-century
• coal phased out far sooner than previously suggested
• vast tracts of land given over to forests

It's mind-bending stuff and some will say it's hopelessly unrealistic, a climate scientists' fantasy. So is any of it plausible? On the one hand, the global economy relies on carbon and key activities depend on it. On the other, wind turbines and solar panels have tumbled in price and more and more countries and states such as California are setting ambitious green targets.
Ultimately, politicians will face a difficult choice: persuade their voters that the revolutionary change outlined in the report is urgently needed or ignore it and say the scientists have got it wrong.


Is all this about saving small island states?

The idea of keeping the global temperature rise to 1.5 is something very close to the hearts and minds of small island and low-lying states, which fear being inundated with flooding if temperatures go to two degrees.
But over the three years that the report was in preparation, more and more scientific evidence has been published showing the benefits of staying close to 1.5C are not just for island nations in the Pacific.
"If you save a small island country, then you save the world," said Dr Amjad Abdulla, an IPCC author, from the Maldives. "Because the report clearly states that no-one is going to be immune. It's about morality - it's about humanity."

How long have we got?

Not long at all. But that issue is now in the hands of political leaders. The report says hard decisions can no longer be kicked down the road. If the nations of the world don't act soon, they will have to rely even more on unproven technologies to take carbon out of the air - an expensive and uncertain road.
"They really need to start work immediately. The report is clear that if governments just fulfil the pledges they made in the Paris agreement for 2030, it is not good enough. It will make it very difficult to consider global warming of 1.5C," said Prof Jim Skea.
"If they read the report and decide to increase their ambitions and act more immediately, then 1.5C stays within reach - that's the nature of the choice they face."
Campaigners and environmentalists, who have welcomed the report, say there is simply no time left for debate.
"This is the moment where we need to decide" said Kaisa Kosonen. "We want to move to clean energy, sustainable lifestyles. We want to protect our forests and species. This is the moment that we will remember; this is the year when the turning point happened."
This is our last chance to save the earth we know. Without immediate action we may condemn the future earth to an unlivable, bleak, parched existence.

Thanx to the BBC for all the help