Copyright © 2016 - 2021, The Troy Press
Copyright © 2016 - 2021, The Troy Press
Copyright © 2016 - 2021, The Troy Press
Bobbylon 
Source
Source
"The problem is, it doesn't always manifest itself in politics, right? You know, I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I - if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it."
Smokey: Hey Obama! We're not buying your empty rhetoric. Fuck OFF!
Pat_Shackleford:
I wonder if Hillary is steaming about Obama's claim that
He could have beat Trump this year? And Obama must be taking some sick
delight in knowing that His boast will take Hillary's despair and
self-doubt to new depths, haha.
RTIII:
Excellent!
As a general rule I don't wish bad things to anyone, but given that HER
cheating - or at least her SIDE'S cheating, no matter who did the actual
dirty deeds - has stolen from us our democracy (not to mention saddling us
with Trump), I'm good with some shadenfreude! :-) I LOVE it that Obama
would sow additional misery into that worthless POS Hillary.
AT LAST, Obama does something we can support! :-))
Source
CNN reported Monday that Israel suspended working ties with Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay, Spain, Senegal and New Zealand. The report follows a similar story Sunday night in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
, RTIII
Source
... we could, unfortunately, go on and on here....
Source
The end of the year is approaching, and data concerning government abuses of power has begun pouring in.
According to Facebook's Global Government Requests Report, government's requests for Facebook account data rose 27 percent in the first half of 2016.
Facebook's official announcement explained that requests for user data went from 46,710 in the last half of 2015 to 59,229 in the first half of 2016. At least 56 percent of these requests, Facebook added, "contained a non-disclosure order that prohibited us from notifying the user." ADVERTISING
Law enforcement agencies from across the globe, Facebook continued, often send restriction requests demanding Facebook remove content from its forums. Fortunately, these requests dropped substantially this year, from 55,827 in the last half of 2015 to 9,663 in 2016 - an 87 percent drop. Most of the 2015 requests revolved around "French content restrictions of a single image from the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks."
Additionally, Facebook used its report to disclose for the first time what the company does when law enforcement agencies request "snapshots" of a user account that might be relevant to law enforcement for undisclosed reasons.
Source
First, it was China which lodged a protest against the US defense bill, which was signed by Barack Obama late on Friday and which, among other things, contained a provision to establish as US "ministry of truth" and media propaganda. On Sunday, China lodged "stern representations" with the United States after Obama signed the NDAA into law which suggests a plan to conduct high-level military exchanges with self-ruled Taiwan. Part of the $618.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act "expresses the sense of Congress that (the U.S. Department of Defense) should conduct a program of senior military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan".
In other words, it appears the Trump team is not the only one jeopardising the "One China" policy: as Reuters adds, in a statement late Sunday, China's Foreign Ministry said it had lodged a protest with the United States over the Taiwan content of the act and expressed its strong opposition. Taiwan is Chinese territory and purely an internal matter, the ministry said.
Then, overnight, Russia also joined the global opposition to the US defense policy bill when it said on Tuesday that a U.S. decision to ease some restrictions on arming Syrian rebels had opened the way for deliveries of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, a move it said would directly threaten Russian forces in Syria.
Source
It's been a good year for Walt Disney, Marriott, Lockheed Martin and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank...
Source
Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims US-led coalition forces have 'supported ISIS'
Erdogan complained that rather than supporting Turkey, the West was backing the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD), who work with the United States on the ground in Syria, and also ISIS.
"They are supporting all the terror groups - the YPG, PYD but also including Daesh (IS)," Erdogan said.
As if Erdogan didn't support ISIS also?
RT covered the same topic:
"Turkey's Erdogan: 'Confirmed evidence' US-led coalition supports ISIS & other terrorists in Syria"
Source
While the State Department and National Archives took steps to recover the emails from Clinton's tenure, they did not ask the U.S. attorney general to take enforcement action. Two conservative groups filed lawsuits to force their hand.
A district judge in January ruled the suits brought by Judicial Watch and Cause of Action moot, saying State and the National Archives made a "sustained effort" to recover and preserve Clinton's records.
But Williams said the two agencies should have done more, according to the ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Since the agencies neither asked the attorney general for help nor showed such enforcement action could not uncover new emails, the case was not moot.
"The Department has not explained why shaking the tree harder - e.g., by following the statutory mandate to seek action by the Attorney General - might not bear more still," Williams wrote. "Absent a showing that the requested enforcement action could not shake loose a few more emails, the case is not moot."
Source
This Monday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon was obliged to tell MPs that British-made cluster bombs had indeed been dropped on Yemen by Saudi Arabia.
Dunne's misleading assertion about cluster bombs was just the latest in a long series of inaccurate written and oral statements to parliament made by British ministers.
The culprits include Philip Hammond, before he was moved from the Foreign Office to the Treasury in the wake of Brexit. Hammond said in February that Britain had "assessed" that there had not been any breach of international humanitarian law in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.
However, when Boris Johnson became foreign secretary in July, he immediately ordered his predecessor's untrue statement to be corrected. In a humbling moment for Hammond, the Foreign Office put out a statement which made clear his remark had been false. No assessment of any kind had been carried out.
Source
The Obama administration is close to announcing a series of measures to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, including economic sanctions and diplomatic censure, according to U.S. officials.
The administration is finalizing the details, which also are expected to include covert action that will probably involve cyber-operations, the officials said. An announcement on the public elements of the response could come as early as this week.
Source
Voters spoke very clearly on November 8 when they elected to raise the minimum wage in Arizona and Maine, along with Colorado and Washington State.
But those wins, the democratic process, and the express will of the people are being defied and denied in Arizona and Maine, where corporate lobbyists and their legislative allies are working to block, delay, even rewrite the laws approved on Election Day.
RTIII
There are two key videos here, both from the "Left Forum". The proper title is:
Thomas Paine 1776 & Now! Flanders, West, Hedges, Wolff, 2014
This first video is more concise about the case for systemic change.
This roughly half-hour video explains the Progressive Cause today; we should not be looking for incremental change, or even substantive change, but systemic change, the kind of change that can't be undone by capital.
This second video is much longer but of the same conference...
Source
Corey Statham had $46 in his pockets when he was arrested in Ramsey County, Minn., and charged with disorderly conduct. He was released two days later, and the charges were dismissed.
But the county kept $25 of Mr. Statham's money as a "booking fee." It returned the remaining $21 on a debit card subject to an array of fees. In the end, it cost Mr. Statham $7.25 to withdraw what was left of his money.
The Supreme Court will soon consider whether to hear Mr. Statham's challenge to Ramsey County's fund-raising efforts, which are part of a national trend to extract fees and fines from people who find themselves enmeshed in the criminal justice system.
Kentucky bills people held in its jails for the costs of incarcerating them, even if all charges are later dismissed. In Colorado, five towns raise more than 30 percent of their revenue from traffic tickets and fines. In Ferguson, Mo., "city officials have consistently set maximizing revenue as the priority for Ferguson's law enforcement activity," a Justice Department report found last year.
Source
This Sacramento animal shelter had people lining up for adoptions thanks to a local real estate agent intent on giving all cats and dogs a home for the holidays.
Kim Pacini-Hauch volunteered to pay for all adoption fees at the Front Street Animal Shelter from mid-November through to December 31st. Since her promotion - "Home For The Pawlidays" - began, over 800 animals have found loving homes.
In fact, the event has had so much success, the shelter has started importing cats and dogs from other shelters in order to meet growing demand.
"My greatest hope is that this simple concept has created a heightened awareness that you can find the pet of your dreams at any local shelter across the country," Kim told TODAY.
Source
Saudi forces backed by the United States are intentionally targeting food production and the agricultural sector in their bombing campaign in Yemen, according to a leading expert. In some parts of the impoverished country, the Saudi-led coalition is using a "scorched-earth strategy," says a scholar who specializes in agriculture in Yemen.
"The coalition was and is targeting intentionally food production, not simply agriculture in the fields," Martha Mundy, a professor emeritus at the London School of Economics, told Salon.
Source
Here's a more accurate title:
Hoyer Statement on Secretary of State John Kerry's Scheduled Remarks Tomorrow on Middle East Peace
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement tonight reacting to reports that Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama Administration intend to lay out a formulation that would disadvantage Israel in any future negotiations on a final settlement with the Palestinian Authority:
"I urged the Administration to veto the recently passed U.N. Security Council resolution regarding Israel and settlements. Unfortunately, they failed to do so, and Israel's enemies were strengthened.
"As Ambassador Power pointed out in her statement on the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 on the situation in the Middle East, '...as long as Israel has been a member of this institution, Israel has been treated differently from other nations at the United Nations.' 2016 was no exception, and there were more resolutions regarding Israel than there were regarding Syria, North Korea, Iran, South Sudan, and Russia combined.
"Now, it is my understanding that Secretary Kerry, in the last few days of this Administration, intends to outline the parameters of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This flies in the face of the United States's longstanding position that such a formulation should be reached only through negotiations by the parties and not by the United States, the United Nations, or any other third party. "I urge Secretary Kerry and the Administration not to set forth a formula, which will inevitably disadvantage Israel in any negotiation. The United States must now take steps to signal unequivocally to the entire world that we will continue to stand by our ally Israel as it seeks to build a future of peace and safety as a Jewish state and an equal member of the family of nations."
Most Daily News Summary entries come from The Progressives' Chat Forum, which typically receives has between 700 and 1000 comments per day. Join us right now by picking the top list entry on this page.