Usher ILOSM family the situation between Usher and his STD accuser, Quantasia Sharpton, has just gotten even more real. For Ms. Sharpton, it’s bad, but for Usher, it’s great. As we previously informed you all, Quantasia claimed that she’d met Usher at his concert and then had a one night stand with him later that night, without him telling her that he allegedly has herpes… Fans Called Accuser’s Bluff It was her details ( and the prior lies she was accused of telling about other celebs) that caused many Usher fans to call her bluff though. Sharpton claimed that after Usher’s concert, she went back to her Days Inn hotel room and Usher called her, then went to Days Inn to sex her up like Color Me Badd (okay she didn’t say the Color Me Badd part, but if the shoe fits…). Anywho, after fans heard her ‘Days Inn’ claim, they were like ‘Chile please…Usher ain’t rollin’ up to a cheap Days Inn hotel room to have sex with you.’ Attorney Lisa Bloom with her accuser, Quantasia Days Inn Employee’s Claims Days later, an alleged Days Inn worker then claimed she saw Usher walk into the hotel to go see Quantasia. The worker also said the only reason she revealed that is because she didn’t like that Usher reportedly said to the press that Quantasia isn’t “his type.” Many Usher fans didn’t buy the employee’s story either. Usher’s Team Provides Their Proof Fast forward to today and Usher has spoken, through his team, to provide 3 facts that shoot down Quantasia’s claims, according to TMZ. Check out what was reported by Usher’s people below… 1. : Usher and , Grace Miguel Sources close to the singer tell TMZ … he says there was never a hotel hookup with Quantasia Sharpton, telling friends, in November 2014 he was on the verge of getting engaged to Grace Miguel. Usher tells them at the time of his alleged encounter, Grace was his manager and they spent ALL their free time together. His people say when the two weren’t enjoying free time, it was all business, and they were inseparable. The couple got engaged less than 2 months after the alleged Days Inn tryst.-via TMZ 2. ACCUSER’S TIMELINE CONFLICT: Usher’s people also say on the night in question his show ran late, which pushed the meet-and-greet well after midnight … and that flies in the face with Quantasia’s timeline in which she claims she hooked up with the singer around 12. -via TMZ 3. TRAVEL SCHEDULE CONFLICT: We’re told his travel schedule was super tight too … making it even more unlikely he even had time to step out for a secret trip to the Days Inn. -via TMZ Sometimes it’s best to make moves in silence…I wonder if Quantasia Sharpton and her attorney, Lisa Bloom, are now wishing that she did, because this is turning out to be a mess. Join us on Facebook for the most engaging discussions from the Old School! Old School News With A New Point Of View!


Stephen Paddock has been identified as the sole suspect in the Las Vegas concert shooting that took place on Sunday night. Police say that Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. Police found “ more than 10 rifles” in Paddock’s hotel room. The 64-year-old Mesquite, Nevada, resident is deceased, according to police. It has been reported that he committed suicide. Just about 12 hours following the attack, the Associated Press reported that ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that Paddock converted to Islam “months ago.” BREAKING: Without providing evidence, Islamic State claims Las Vegas attack, says shooter converted to Islam months ago. — The Associated Press (@AP) October 2, 2017 “The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the mass shooting in Las Vegas, saying that the perpetrator was ‘a soldier’ who had converted to Islam months ago, without providing any evidence to support the claim… It did not name the suspected shooter…but said he had ‘executed the operation in response to calls to target countries of the coalition’ batting the extremist group in Iraq and Syria,” reports the Associated Press. ISIS has not released any kind of video to support their claims. Many people are skeptical about Paddock’s involvement with the group and officials have yet to confirm or deny any ties between ISIS and Paddock. Paddock’s brother, Eric, spoke to the Daily Mail about the shooting. He told the outlet that his brother didn’t have any political or religious affiliation. Eric also clearly stated his opinion on the shooting, saying it was “not a terror arrack.” “He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something. We know absolutely nothing, this is just, we are dumbfounded,” Eric Paddock explained. “He has no political affiliation, no religious affiliation, as far as we know. This wasn’t a terror attack…He’s my brother, we don’t have a very close relationship but we talk occasionally. There’s no rhyme or reason here, it makes no sense,” Eric added. The FBI is not currently investigating any ties between ISIS and Paddock.


Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his wife, Jane Sanders have hired prominent defense attorneys amid an FBI investigation concerning possible bank fraud, according to CBS News and Politico Magazine. The investigation centers on a loan that Jane Sanders secured to expand Burlington College when she was its president. Jane Sanders allegedly distorted school donor levels in a 2010 loan application for $10 million from People's United Bank to buy 33 acres of land for the school, which shut down in 2016. Bernie Sanders told the Washington Post that the investigation would clear his wife of any wrongdoing. Rich Cassidy has reportedly been hired to represent Bernie Sanders, while high-profile Washington defense attorney Larry Robbins is reportedly representing Jane Sanders.


PHOTO: Instagram Don't freak out the next time you see President Barack Obama sans wedding ring—he and Michelle are still #goals. In fact, the reason why Obama often goes ringless has us loving the First Couple—who recently celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary on October 3—all the more. Prepare to melt. It appears that President Obama keeps his left-hand naked because he wants to keep his most precious valuable safe, and doesn't want to risk anything happening to his wedding band. A video recently surfaced on the Washington Post of President Obama discreetly slipping off his wedding ring and placing it in his pocket as he approached a small crowd to shake hands—seemingly indicating that he wants to keep it close and out of any potential harm's way. (Like snatchers or who-knows-what-else. People be crazy.) Even with all of the Secret Service agents surrounding him, Obama still takes the utmost precautions with his beloved wedding ring. How's that for a sweet husband? However, if Obama were to lose his wedding ring—say it slips out of his pocket—he could always call the Ring Finders.


Here’s one thing we can all say for certain regarding the latest twist of the Hillary Clinton email scandal: James Comey, who was once regarded as the Eliot Ness of law enforcement, a modern day straight-shooter impenetrable to political pressure, will instead leave the office of FBI chief as something closer to Inspector Clouseau. Don’t take my word for it; that’s the assessment of just about every law enforcement official, both former and present, I spoke to in the hours following his bizarre decision on Friday to reopen the case on the legality of Hillary Clinton’s email server, just days before the Nov 8 presidential election. It was bizarre, these people tell me, because the whole sordid Hillary Clinton email saga should never have gotten this far; Comey launched an investigation that developed far more evidence than anyone in law enforcement ever believed existed that Hillary Clinton broke the laws involving the receipt of sensitive government documents over an easily hacked private email server while she was President Obama’s secretary of state. My sources in law enforcement were pretty convinced Comey would do the right thing and recommend charges to the Obama Justice Department, despite its political consequence, because the evidence was there and Comey was supposed to be so non political. He was a Republican appointed by Democrat Barack Obama to run a quasi independent investigative arm of the DOJ because he had a fierce independent streak. He famously brought white-collar cases during the pro-business Bush Administration as the US Attorney for the Southern District. Later in a senior position in the Bush DOJ, he refused to approve aspects of the government's domestic surveillance program. But there appears to be limits to Comey's independence, these same people now concede. In July, Comey came up with an odd excuse for not recommending criminal charges against Clinton: He couldn’t develop enough evidence that Clinton intended to break the law under the standard of “gross negligence.” It was such an odd set rationale that Comey laid out for not bringing that case that most people listening to him at first thought he was laying out his reasoning to bring charges, as he explained one reckless move after another from Clinton in establishing the private server and private emails for handing all her government business. Indeed he initially laid out such a convincingly damning case against Clinton that markets began to crash for much of Comey’s tortured remarks as investors initially came to the conclusion that Hillary Clinton would be indicted and someone as crazy as Donald Trump could become president. That didn’t happen, of course, as Comey would explain -- and the markets that day recovered as he announced how Hillary Clinton may have done something criminal even if she never intended to do it and as a result he was giving her pass. Note to reader: Markets will take criminal over crazy any day of the week. But that wasn't the sentiment inside the FBI, where according to my law enforcement sources, a near mutiny broke out among career agents who believe there was plenty of evidence pointing to Clinton's gross negligence that Comey initially said never existed, and that their boss caved to political pressure from the Obama DOJ. Recall, Attorney General Loretta Lynch just had a private meeting with former president and possible first husband Bill Clinton just days before Comey handed in his verdict, which added to the fetid smell of the FBI chief's decision. Then there was the evidence: Remember, Clinton has never given much of a rationale for using only a private email account via her own server to send and receive state department related emails other than its convenience, which should never outweigh national security. Meanwhile, career agents argued her intent was inherent in simple creation of the private email server and exclusive use of a private email is supposed to be verboten under various laws including the Espionage Act. Her supporters point out that others like Bush Administration Secretary of State Colin Powell used a private email account, but that omits the fact that Powell’s email was from a computer he kept at the state department and he used it before the document laws were beefed up post 9-11. He also didn’t go through the process of creating his own easily hacked private server. Another difference: Clinton used her private account exclusively, and Powell didn’t. That’s probably because Powell didn’t have a reason to have a private server that he could control and erase its contents; He didn’t have a private charity that would do business with the federal government and would become a private enrichment vehicle, as Hillary and her former-president husband Bill have in the form of the Clinton Foundation. Now we have Comey possibly looking to make amends with his troops, possibly looking to cover his rear end, definitely looking incompetent, because of all people Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman, and soon-to-be ex husband of Hillary Clinton confident, Huma Abedin. FBI agents, investigating Weiner’s alleged depravity with an underage girl, stumbled across some more Hillary-related emails from Abedin, and as we learned Friday an investigation that was "closed" is now suddenly open. I say closed in quotes to underscore the murkiness of FBI investigative procedures. Cases are rarely officially closed and even when they are the bureau will leave the door open that additional information would re-ignite their efforts. If you think this story could get any more surreal consider the following: law enforcement sources tell Fox Business that Weiner could soon cooperate with the Feds, and that can’t be good news for his wife or her boss. (an attorney for Anthony Weiner tells Fox News there is no cooperation agreement in place) Weiner, I am told, was miffed at the Clinton’s for keeping him away from the campaign before his latest sexting episode. Now facing a possible prison term for alleged dealings with an underage girl he has even more incentive to cooperate against his soon-to-be ex-wife and the Clintons. I can't tell you whether the new emails will reach Comey's standard for gross negligence, but that's really besides the point. The country could have been spared this spectacle if he had just done the right thing in July and recommended a charge against Clinton. Then the Democrats could have regrouped and given the nomination to Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or someone who doesn't stand a chance of being indicted or impeached if elected. Yes if Hillary Clinton manages to win, she will be a sitting duck for every GOP investigative committee, particularly as the odds grow the Republicans will now keep the House and possibly the Senate. If you thought the last eight years were contentious, you ain't seen nothing yet. Thank you, James Comey.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies provided advanced warning to Russia about a major terrorist plot in St. Petersburg, allowing Moscow to thwart an attack that could have killed “large numbers of people,” the White House said on Sunday. “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Donald J. Trump today to thank him for the advanced warning the United States intelligence agencies provided to Russia concerning a major terror plot in Saint Petersburg, Russia,” the White House said in a statement.


"Day One" is a multi-part series in which CBS News' Margaret Brennan speaks with former U.S. government officials on the major foreign policy issues the next president will inherit on the first day of their presidency. The next president will face countless challenges on day one. Among the biggest is the ongoing civil war in Syria. Margaret Brennan spoke with Leon Panetta -- a former CIA director, defense secretary, and White House chief of staff -- about the road ahead for U.S. involvement in the war-torn nation. LEON PANETTA: Inaction is not an option in Syria because if you stand back, the situation is gonna get worse. Look, the best-case scenario would be to have Assad step down, to have a transitional government be able to establish itself representing each of the factions that are there -- the Sunnis, the Kurds, the Shias. And then, frankly, have the Russians and whatever is left of the Syrian forces join with the United States in going after ISIS to truly defeat them. That would be the best-case scenario. MARGARET BRENNAN: What are the odds of that? PANETTA: Not very good. Not very good. BRENNAN: What's the worst-case scenario? PANETTA: The worst-case scenario is that Assad continues to remain in power, continues to kill Syrians. That refugees continue to flow out of Syria, that the Russians continue to have a presence there and continue to attack our moderate forces that we're trying to train in Syria. And that ISIS then uses that and creates an even bigger base from which to conduct attacks against this country. That's the worst-case scenario. BRENNAN: Sounds like you're describing what's happening now. PANETTA: It is what's happening now. And it's what can continue to happen in the future if we don't deal with it. BRENNAN: There are around 300 special operators in Syria right now. Will the next president have to commit more American boots on the ground? PANETTA: I think the likelihood is that the next president is gonna have to consider adding additional special forces on the ground to try to assist those moderate forces that are taking on ISIS, and that are taking on Assad's forces. And we have to increase our air strikes. We've got to do all of those things in order to put increasing pressure on ISIS but also on Assad. We can't surrender one objective for the other. We've gotta continue to press on both fronts. BRENNAN: Is it possible to defeat ISIS without challenging Assad? PANETTA: I think it's very difficult as we've seen to conduct effective operations against ISIS when we're dealing with Assad's forces pressing us in different places. And when we're dealing with the Russians who go in and literally bomb the very forces that we're training to go after Assad and to go after ISIS. We cannot have that situation continue in the future. Protect our forces there. BRENNAN: So the U.S. has to confront Russia? PANETTA: We are hoping upon hope that the Russians will do the right thing. They're not gonna do the right thing without pressure. They're not gonna do the right thing without giving our diplomats greater leverage than what they have now to deal with the Russians. To do that we have got to make very clear that we have objectives to achieve, that we intend to press to achieve those objectives, and that we will not allow them to divert us from the goals of defending ourselves. Here's where the candidates stand: Hillary Clinton wants to increase airstrikes against ISIS. She said she would arm the moderate rebels, and pressure Russia to get out of Syria. We should add that Panetta is advising the Clinton campaign. Donald Trump has announced he'd declare war on ISIS, and he wouldn't rule out more U.S. troops on the ground -- although he offered few details.


Roy Moore for Senate In a report titled ‘Roy Moore’s Facebook page shared inflammatory memes, article praising Russia’s anti-gay laws,’ CNN (Cable News Network), one of most rabid left-wing, anti-conservative channels in the United States, sternly criticized the conservative contents of the Facebook page belonging to Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Alabama. Among Moore’s Facebook posts hated by CNN the most highlighted was the BarbWire article “ Conservative Russians Give Moral Lesson to Facebook’s Homosexual Propaganda,” written by me. CNN said, Moore’s Facebook page also shared an article from the religious conservative website BarbWire.com in July 2015 with the headline, “Conservative Russians Give Moral Lesson to Facebook’s Homosexual Propaganda.” The article highlighted efforts by some Russians to counter a feature on Facebook that allowed users to overlay a rainbow over their profile picture. Trending: English Professor Assigns Trump-Bashing Books “The strongest reaction came from conservative Russians who overlaid an image of the colors of their country’s flag — white, blue and red — over their profile picture,” the article read, adding that users also “countered the homosexual #LoveWins hashtag with #pridetobestraight and #pridetoberussian.” The article also described Russia’s efforts to crack down on the LGBT community, including the country’s so-called “gay propaganda law,” as a “strong stance in defense of traditional family values.” CNN added, Moore shared an article in July 2015 that praised Russia’s anti-gay laws and Russians who opposed Facebook’s feature that allowed users to change their profile pictures to celebrate same-sex marriage: I considered it a privilege to have a my conservative BarbWire article shared by Judge Roy Moore. I considered it an even greater privilege to have my name connected with fine conservative leaders such as James Dobson and Chuck Norris, in the official list of endorsements of Moore. As a conservative evangelical Christian, I am not surprised that CNN attacked Moore just because he shared one of my BarbWire articles. After all, what expect from the Communist News Network? Portuguese version of this article: CNN ataca Roy Moore só porque ele compartilhou meu artigo no portal conservador BarbWire The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Barb Wire. The Secret Plan To Destroy Trump's Administration


Source: giphy By Tom. During the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Friday, former President Barack Obama threw some expert-level shade President Donald Trump's way. As the world knows, Trump can't tear himself away from Twitter. He seems to thrive on approval, especially on social media. So imagine how it burns that Obama has twice as many followers as Trump. In a conversation with journalist Karan Thapar, Obama said: And look, I've got 100 million Twitter followers. I mean, I actually have more than other people who use it more often.


Justice Department began investigation of police department's patterns, practices after 2015 death of Freddie Gray The U.S. Justice Department unloaded on Baltimore's police department Wednesday, accusing officers of routinely targeting African Americans. Federal and local officials are now demanding change. Jeff Pegues reports. The Justice Department has released a scathing report on the Baltimore Police Department, highlighting routine violations of civil rights and discrimination towards African-Americans. CBS News justice reporter Paula Reid joins CBSN with details. Criminal charges have been dropped for the remaining Baltimore officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Gray's neck was mysteriously broken in a police van. After four trials and no convictions, the prosecutor conceded it would be impossible to convict any of the cops. Jeff Pegues reports from Baltimore. After failing four times in a row to get a conviction, prosecutors decide not to pursue charges against the last of six cops arrested for a black man's death in custody Lt. Brian Rice, the highest ranking of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, was found not guilty Monday. It's the fourth trial to end without a conviction after the death of the Baltimore man in police custody. Kris Van Cleave has more. CBS News' Paula Reid breaks down the acquittal of Lt. Brian Rice, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2015 death of Freddie Gray. Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson was acquitted Thursday of second-degree murder and all other charges in the death of Freddie Gray One of six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray was found not guilty Monday. Gray sustained fatal injuries in police custody last year, spurring violence across Baltimore. Chip Reid has more Prosecutors had said Officer Edward Nero arrested Gray without probable cause and was negligent when he didn't buckle his seat belt In the wake of the Baltimore riots after Freddie Gray's death, police commissioner Anthony Batts was fired. He told CBS News' Jeff Pegues he thought the city was just starting to make improvements to be built upon. It's been a year since the death of Freddie Gray in police custody sent Baltimore into riots. The man who was in charge, former police commissioner Anthony Batts, was fired in the fallout. Since that moment Batts has maintained his silence -- until he spoke with Jeff Pegues. When the 25-year-old died April 19, 2015, and riots erupted, Baltimore and its residents were forced to confront old, painful issues It's been one year since the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died while in police custody. Gray's death led to violent clashes and a national debate over the relationship between police and the black community. Deray McKesson is an activist and Baltimore mayoral candidate, and joins CBSN to discuss what has changed in the city since last year. Court rules that Officer William Porter must testify against co-defendants charged in case of 25-year-old who died in police custody Baltimore judge ruled that Officer William Porter, whose trial ended in a hung jury, does not have to testify against three fellow officers PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo PlayVideo


Image via South Park is one of television's longest-running shows, a 20-seasons-and-counting award-winning cultural behemoth that has spawned movies, imitations, and countless time-wasting memes. But could the show be, at least in part, responsible for one of the scariest political movements of the present moment? Lindsey Weedston thinks so. Weedston, a 29-year-old writer from Bothell, Washington, penned an article for The Establishment recently which argued that the show helped lead to the rise of the alt-right. The piece, " How 'South Park' Helped Empower the Alt-Right," grabbed my attention enough that I decided to call her up and see why exactly she thought Kyle, Cartman, and crew led us to Richard Spencer, 4Chan, and Charlottesville. Our conversation, edited lightly for length and clarity, is below. To start off, how does South Park treat what some people might think of as "PC culture"? I read a post that explained this really well—South Park’s highest moral goal is to not care. It treats PC culture as [if] the opposite of PC culture is not to care about anything. So caring about an issue is basically stupid, and pretty much every episode goes back to: it doesn’t matter, being PC is uncool, and not giving a fuck about anything is the way you should feel. In your article you trace a history of that attitude, starting with the misinterpretation of a character in an Oliver Stone movie. Can you take me through that? That was interesting. So [the 1987 movie] Wall Street, I didn’t know before I researched for the article that Oliver Stone actually meant it the opposite of how so many people took it. Wall Street was supposed to be an indictment of Wall Street and the type of person that thinks greed is good. It was very interesting to find that so many people actually went with the mantra "greed is good," and it seems like that has shaped a lot of our culture. Now we have prosperity Christianity—actually telling people that God wants them to collect as much wealth as possible. It’s not just Wall Street. For a long time, our capitalist society has led up to this idea that the ultimate goal is to collect as much wealth as possible. That movie accelerated the idea of collecting all the wealth and power you can. And then you talk about shock jock’s of the ’80s and ’90s, the Howard Sterns of the world. What does that have to do with the South Park-popularized attitude of caring being uncool? The original title of this article I pitched was actually "The History of Celebrated Assholes." My first draft of the piece, I ended up researching early forms of shock and asshole comedy. I found out the person considered the first shock jock was actually a black man, Petey Greene. Howard Stern was influenced by him. It’s really interesting to learn the kind of things he talked about. He was appealing because he was very down to Earth, and he spoke to the black community in a very straightforward way that no white disk jockey had ever before. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, he went on air and started speaking to the community, and is credited with calming the situation down. You can go on YouTube and find some of the shows and listen to the way he speaks. It’s very colloquial. He just acts like a normal person. I think white people at the time looked at that as being shocking, and that’s why he was labeled as a shock jock. He was really active in the community. He promoted education and feeding the hungry. He wasn’t an asshole, but history is very interesting. In my original draft, I wrote about how he influenced Howard Stern. Howard Stern was actually invited onto his show. Stern went on in black face and used the n word, and Greene thought it was funny. Greene died fairly young, so then you move onto Howard Stern’s career. Howard Stern, I’m sure, has done some good stuff in his life. But he is very much associated with the shock jock label, and a lot of what he does is just to rile people up. I think it’s interesting how you have that transition from somebody who was just being real and communicating to his people in a way that made sense to him; and then you have Howard Stern, who makes a lot of money—and in fact an entire career—from pissing people off. How do you get to the alt-right from that? How does South Park's overall attitude connect to the alt-right? I believe that South Park's anti-PC messages paved the way for white supremacist groups to recruit much of the largely white male fanbase into what is now referred to as the alt-right, or other groups that are identical in all but name. Matt and Trey promoted this idea that you should be able to say or animate anything you want in the name of satire and humor, and any harm that it caused either didn't exist or didn't matter. When they experienced backlash for their intensifying mockery of already-vulnerable groups and their attitude of, "Repeating horrible things said by bigots up to and including Nazis is funny because it upsets people," they reacted by depicting their critics as free-speech-oppressing caricatures like the " PC bro." They promoted the idea that marginalized people—trans people, people of color, Jewish people, etc.—speaking out against harm caused by South Park's brand of "humor" and [the show's] "I do what I want" attitude are the real oppressors. White supremacist groups and their better-at-PR counterpart the "alt-right" use this message constantly to recruit young white men and boys. They tell these kids that they're the ones being oppressed by those telling them that they have privilege, and therefore need to make some effort to at least not use certain words and maybe examine prejudiced attitudes they might have picked up from a culture that is prejudiced in many ways. The alt-right promotes the idea of white male victimization, drawing in youth that has been told by South Park that the plight of marginalized groups doesn't matter and that "political correctness" is oppressing them. Once those groups have their loyalty, they can then indoctrinate these young guys into straight up white supremacist ideas under the guise that "the PC police don't want you to think about this." I don't think Matt and Trey meant to create an army for the alt-right, but they seem to be leaning into it rather than admitting that they might have messed up. Cartman plays a big part in your article. He’s often not the hero in the storylines of the individual episodes, but he is a fan favorite. Can you break down why that’s a problem? Cartman is a perfect representation of satire gone wrong. Just like with Wall Street, the people who view your content take the literal meaning of something instead of taking it as the indictment that it is. It’s pretty clear, especially in the earlier episodes, that you’re not supposed to like Cartman. You aren’t supposed to identify with him. You’re supposed to hate him, or at least understand he is the opposite of the ideal of a human being. That is supposed to be represented in his bigotry, his ignorance, and his appearance as well, with him being fat. And yet he is a fan favorite, and people do identify with him. I think it was Matt Stone who said he identifies with Cartman more than any of the other characters. I think their original intention was to say, okay, don’t be like Cartman. But instead, you have the opposite reaction of people idealizing his attitude and his selfishness and his desire to make people suffer and his bigotry. He has become a representation of how the fans feel that you should be. Can you talk about " South Park Republicans"—South Park being adopted by right wingers? That plays into what I think is the logical conclusion of the anti-PC movement. Like I said in the article, there has been a rebellion against this idea of being PC. Political correctness has evolved into a derogatory term meaning, you are being sensitive to someone. It has become this big boogeyman. There is an idea that there is this social justice warrior, PC police entity who will come and yell at you and punish you if you say what you are actually thinking. So there has been a rebellion against this strawman. It has come down to, if you care about anyone at all, if you want to be sensitive to anyone’s needs, then you’re this politically correct nerd or you’re a nun with a ruler or an authority figure telling people what to do. You are therefore uncool and the enemy. It’s very reactionary. But it’s so popular and so widespread on the right now, and you actually have people coming out with articles and people in the White House using that rhetoric to help further their political careers. So it’s really not surprising to me that there articles out there saying South Park is right on actual political issues. What has followed South Park’s wake? The first example that comes to mind is a lot of the cultural treatment of trans people. South Park has had some really transphobic content. Even before the Caitlyn Jenner episode, there was the whole treatment of Mr. Garrison and his sex change. I remember the episode where they included footage of an actual gender affirmation surgery, just saying, "look how gross this is." They had a caption like, "This is footage of the actual surgery," as though it’s supposed to be horrible and sad because it’s gross. But any surgery looks gross and disgusting. Their definite goal was to be like, this is gross and this is wrong. You see a huge amount of transphobia from a lot of alt-right groups. You have these bathroom bills that are trying to keep trans people out of public restrooms, which is basically keeping them out of public life. It’s trying to keep them from having access to any kind of normal life. The sudden emergence of the bathroom bills surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t have. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but then you look at the timing and it does kind of follow Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out to the public as a woman. That in itself probably would have gotten some backlash, but then you look at how popular South Park is, and there’s no way it didn’t play a role in people reacting the way they did: reacting like, oh that’s just so gross—their existence is gross and wrong. You end your essay with a call for what you call radical kindness. What does that mean? Radical kindness comes from being around young people, specifically in communities that are more social justice-oriented. In my community, I’m seeing a shift towards memes being positive and used to uplift people. I think people are just tired of beating on each other and attacking each other, and the younger generations especially are starting to rebel against that. I feel like a lot of what my generation, millennials, has put out there has been negative. We’re kind of a depressed generation, so I think younger people are reacting to that and deciding, let’s be nice to each other. In a society where being mean to each other is the norm, kindness is punk. That’s rebelling. That’s what’s cool.


There was a break-in at Stephen Paddock’s Reno home on Sunday. Local police say they were called to the home by a neighbor who says they saw the lights on. RT reported: FBI agents returned to search a house in Reno owned by Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock after local police told them that someone had broken into the home over the weekend. Reno police officer Tim Broadway told The Associated Press, “Nobody really saw anything, just a light was on with nobody in the residence.” Broadway said officers discovered that “someone had broken into the house” and he immediately contacted the FBI. He added that the suspects broke into the home through the front door over the weekend, but said he was not sure exactly how they gained entry. Police are not aware of any damages or anything that was stolen. There are no suspects at this time or any descriptions of a suspect. According to KOLOtv investigators searched Paddock’s Reno home on October 3rd and found firearms. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Investigators said they found five handguns, two shotguns and a “plethora of ammunition” and electronics. The house is being treated as a potential crime scene. At least some of the guns found on Paddock’s properties had been bought at the Cabela’s store in Verdi. We can’t even trust the FBI at this point so who knows what really happened with this ‘break-in’. The current Head of the FBI in Las Vegas was appointed by former FBI Head and now admitted leaker James Comey. Is this why the investigation is such a mess? The investigation into the events and the motive behind the Las Vegas shooting last Sunday night is in flux. To date no motive is provided by the FBI and local police. Last week a press conference was held jointly by the FBI and the local Sheriff in Las Vegas concerning the recent murder of at least 59 people in that city. The Sheriff appeared transparent in the information he supplied. But the major question that everyone wanted to know was – why did the killer do it? What was his motive? Monday we found out that the killer shot the security guardbefore he fired on the crowd of people. This directly contradicts with the earlier report that the security guard found the room of the killer and stopped him from shooting on the crowd. As a result many more questions are raised like – Why the change in story? Why did the killer ever stop shooting on the crowd if the security guard did not stop him? The FBI’s lack of transparency along with the corrupt and criminal acts by former FBI Directors lead all of America to begin forming conspiracy theories and to further lose trust in the FBI. In a significant timeline change, Sheriff Lombardo reveals Mandalay Bay security guard, Jesus Campos, was shot BEFORE the Las Vegas attack started. “Las Vegas sheriff says Mandalay Bay security guard was shot 6 minutes before first shots were fired at crowd.,” reports ABC News. /status/917516195342905344?ref_src=twsrc% 5Etfw&ref_url= 3A% 2F% 2F 2F2017% 2F10% 2Fsignificant-timeline-change-sheriff-reveals-mandalay-bay-security-guard-shot-vegas-attack% 2F /status/917513534342172672?ref_src=twsrc% 5Etfw&ref_url= 3A% 2F% 2F 2F2017% 2F10% 2Fsignificant-timeline-change-sheriff-reveals-mandalay-bay-security-guard-shot-vegas-attack% 2F /status/917513740995649537?ref_src=twsrc% 5Etfw&ref_url= 3A% 2F% 2F 2F2017% 2F10% 2Fsignificant-timeline-change-sheriff-reveals-mandalay-bay-security-guard-shot-vegas-attack% 2F Jesus Campos, the security guard has been “hailed as a hero after risking his life seeking out Stephen Paddock’s sniper’s nest,” according to Newsmax. Newsmax reports: Paddock shot the unarmed Campos in the leg as he was moving toward the room outside in the hallway, The Daily Beast reported being told by Dave Hickey, president of the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America. […] Campos had taken an elevator to the 32nd floor of the hotel because the stairway door had been blocked, The Daily Beast said, and when Campos got to the door where he suspected Paddock was barricaded, he was met with gunfire through the door. The wounded Campos then radioed casino dispatch informing them of his and Paddock’s location in the hotel. Police said the suspect fired some 200 rounds at them as they approached the room, The Daily Beast noted. In another wild turn, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino worker says he dodged bullets before Paddock shot at the Las Vegas concert crowd. A hotel engineer at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino says he radioed for help as soon as gunman Stephen Paddock started shooting at him and a security guard. “I could feel them (bullets) pass right behind my head,” engineer Stephen Schuck told NBC News’ “Today” on Wednesday. “Something hit me in the back.” Schuck was on a higher level of the Las Vegas hotel on Oct. 1 when he got a call to look at a fire exit door that wouldn’t open on the 32nd floor. That’s the same floor where Paddock would fire on a concert 1,200 feet below, killing at least 58 people. Why is the information only coming out now? How has this hotel employee only spoke at now? Sponsored Sponsored


The world Is watching and so is oil as the death toll rises in the streets of Iran, where the people revolt against a terrible economy and the lack of any real freedoms and rights. At least 19 people were reported killed in street protests in Iran, while President Hassan Rouhani on one hand defended their right to protest but on the other hand warned he would show “no tolerance” for those who incite unrest. Many arrests have been made and the government of Iran says it may seek the death penalty, for what they say are crimes against God, in demonstrations that have gone on for over 5 days in a row. President Trump tweeted that ”Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!” The uprising in IRAN is just another risk factor in a global oil market that is tightening. Strong global demand and shale oil production that is falling far short of what the Energy Information keeps telling us it is. Reports from the Texas Railroad Commission is telling us that Texas shale oil production has been stagnant and not rising as the production decline rate year over year is taking its toll. Total oil stocks are down a whopping 135M barrels just since April even as U.S. oil production is supposedly at a record high. Bad data is becoming a bigger risk as underinvestment has led to the least amount of oil discoveries in 70 years and the global oil replenishment rate ratio fell to 11 percent this year, down from more than 50 percent in 2012 according to a new report. That is a dangerous situation, especially because of the over estimates of shale oil output. ETF reports that this has led to the lowest ever volumes of oil discoveries in 2017, Rystad Energy said last week. While the low-level of discoveries is not an immediate threat to global oil supply, it could become a threat ten years down the road, according to Rystad Energy. In ten years’ time, U.S. shale production may peak, at least according to OPEC that sees shale peaking after 2025, although the cartel has conceded that U.S. tight oil has defied previous forecasts and has increased production more than initially expected and will continue to do so in the short-term. This year has seen less than 7 billion barrels of oil equivalent discovered globally, a volume as low as last seen in the 1940s, Rystad Energy has estimated. What worries analysts the most is the fact that this year the reserve replacement ratio–the amount of discovered resources relative to the amount of production–was a mere 11 percent, compared to 50 percent in 2012, Sonia Mladá Passos, Senior Analyst at Rystad Energy, said. The other ongoing risk is Venezuela. An explosion over the weekend that hit Venezuela’s largest refinery was an accident waiting to happen. Deferred maintenance and bad management as the Venezuelan government stole money and failed to do even the most basic maintenance for the facility according to sources. Reuters reported that a former oil minister excoriated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a newspaper column on Sunday, accusing the leftist leader of behaving like biblical King Herod and plunging the oil-rich nation into economic devastation. Rafael Ramirez, who was the all-powerful head of the oil ministry and state energy company PDVSA for a decade, has long been a rival of Maduro. In recent months, Ramirez has grown increasingly critical of Maduro’s handling of a fourth straight year of recession that has triggered malnutrition, widespread food and medicine shortages, the world’s steepest inflation, and a surge in emigration. A furious Maduro ordered Ramirez to resign as the nation’s United Nations ambassador in New York last month after an article entitled the “The Storm” was perceived as an attack on his government. We haven’t even got to the cold. Wicked winter weather is causing a surge in oil and natural gas and coal demand. Demand for coal burns hit three-year high causing to temporarily put it above natural gas as the top s U.S. power sources. There are reports that they were shortages of natural gas in Northern Alberta county under state of emergency due to natural gas disruption. The report said that large parts of northern Alberta was under a state of emergency over the weekend due to low natural gas pressure and system outages. The Energy Report has kept our bullish outlook and we still believe that the double bottom at $26 a barrel was a generational low. Despite all the bearish hype that the market had last year and bad info this year oil looks poised for a big move. Make sure you are hedged! I am hearing from many folks still that were underhedged last year and are now paying the price. Thanks, Phil Flynn Questions? Ask Phil Flynn today at 312-264-4364 A Subsidiary of Price Holdings, Inc. – an Employee Owned Diversified Financial Services Firm. Member NIBA, NFA Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Investing in futures can involve substantial risk of loss & is not suitable for everyone. Trading foreign exchange also involves a high degree of risk. The leverage created by trading on margin can work against you as well as for you, and losses can exceed your entire investment. Before opening an account and trading, you should seek advice from your advisors as appropriate to ensure that you understand the risks and can withstand the losses. The information and data in this report were obtained from sources considered reliable. Their accuracy or completeness is not guaranteed and the giving of the same is not to be deemed as an offer or solicitation on our part with respect to the sale or purchase of any securities or futures. The Price Futures Group, its officers, directors, employees, and brokers may in the normal course of business have positions, which may or may not agree with the opinions expressed in this report. Any decision to purchase or sell as a result of the opinions expressed in this report will be the full responsibility of the person authorizing such transaction. Reproduction distribution of any portion of this report are strictly prohibited without the written permission of the author. Trading in futures contracts, options on futures contracts, and forward contracts is not suitable for all investors and involves substantial risks. ©2017 Tune into the Fox Business Network (FBN) is the best in business! Make it your New Year TV Home! The MoneyShow Orlando is coming in February. Get out of the cold! Go to the Money Show! Sign up for my class talking about a historic bottom in oil and what it means for your future. Time Is running out Go to Flynn.OrlandoMoneyShow.com.


Trump Jr. allowed Tuesday night in an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel that "he has probably met with other people from Russia" but insisted that he did not attempt to coordinate to impact the election or try to damage Hillary Clinton. He repeatedly suggested that the charges of collusion were "ridiculous" and "overplayed" and insisted that his father knew nothing about the June 2016 meeting. "It was such a nothing there was nothing to tell" his father, said Trump Jr. Donald Trump Jr. eagerly accepted help from what was described to him as a Russian government effort to aid his father's campaign with damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to the emails. The email exchange posted to Twitter by President Donald Trump's eldest son shows him conversing with a music publicist who wanted him to meet with a lawyer from Moscow. The publicist describes the lawyer as a "Russian government attorney" who has dirt on Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." In one response, Trump Jr. says he would "love" to hear more. President Donald Trump says his eldest son is "a high-quality person," and he applauds "his transparency." In a tweet Tuesday night, the president promoted his son's appearance on Fox News and called him a "great person who loves our country." My son, Donald, will be interviewed by @seanhannity tonight at 10:00 P.M. He is a great person who loves our country!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017 White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a brief statement from the president Tuesday in response to revelations that Trump Jr. agreed to hear damaging information on Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government's effort to help his father. Trump Jr., who was deeply involved in his father's presidential campaign, released the emails along with a statement describing the disclosure as an effort "to be totally transparent." The emails with publicist Rob Goldstone show that Trump Jr. was told that the Russian government had information that could "incriminate" Clinton and her dealings with Russia. Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter. 050r5n5LQ— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017 The messages were the latest disclosure to roil the ongoing investigation into potential coordination between Trump's campaign and Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies have said sought to influence the outcome of the election in Trump's favor. As congressional committees and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, investigate, the emails will almost certainly be reviewed for any signs of potential campaign collusion with the Kremlin, which the White House has repeatedly denied. Mueller spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment on the emails, citing the ongoing investigation. Here is page 4 (which did not post due to space constraints). pic.twitter. 1Xi4nr2gq— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017 In the emails, Goldstone wrote to Trump Jr. that the information "would be very useful to your father." Goldstone was working to connect Trump Jr. to Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, who later met with Trump Jr. in New York at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya has denied that she ever worked for the Russian government and said on Tuesday that she doesn't represent the Russian government, only herself. She also said she "couldn't have had" information on Hillary Clinton. "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer," Trump Jr. replied to Goldstone in one of a series of email exchanges the younger Trump posted to Twitter. The emails, dated early June, show Goldstone telling Trump that singer Emin Agalarov and his father, Moscow-based developer Aras Agalarov, had "helped along" the Russian government's support for Trump. The elder Agalarov was involved with Trump in hosting the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. The two men also had preliminary discussions about building a Trump Tower in Moscow that fell through. Trump also appeared in a music video with the younger Agalarov. Goldstone at one point said he could send the information to Trump's father first directly "via Rhona," an apparent reference to the elder Trump's longtime assistant Rhona Graff. The email release followed days of evolving accounts from Trump Jr. about the nature of the meeting and its purpose. The president's son posted the emails only after they were obtained by The New York Times. On Saturday, Trump Jr. described the encounter as being a "short introductory meeting" focused on the disbanded program that had allowed American adoptions of Russian children. Moscow ended the adoptions in response to Magnitsky Act sanctions created in response to alleged human rights violations in Russia. A day later, Trump Jr. changed his account, acknowledging that he was told beforehand that Veselnitskaya might have information "helpful" to the Trump campaign, and was told by her during the meeting that she had something about Clinton. In his third description of what occurred, on Tuesday, Trump Jr. said he had believed the information he would hear about Clinton would be political opposition research. He said that he first wanted to speak by phone, but that when that didn't work out, he was told that the attorney would be in New York "and I decided to take the meeting." "The woman, as she has said publicly, was not a government official," Trump Jr. said in the Tuesday statement. "And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act." The Trump Organization has confirmed the authenticity of Trump Jr. posts on Twitter releasing the email chain. Associated Press writers Nekesa Mumbi Moody in New York and Julie Bykowicz in Washington contributed to this report. Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Earlier this year, two hunters suffered gun-related injuries while camped out at the Circle Dug Ranch, a Texas ranch near the U.S.-Mexico border. According to Texas Monthly, a 26-year-old hunting guide named Walker Daugherty was shot in the abdomen. One of his clients, 59-year-old Edwin Roberts, was shot in the arm. When Daugherty reported the incident to law enforcement officials, he and his fiancée claimed that the gunfire came from illegal Mexican immigrants who were attempting to steal the Daugherty’s RV and kidnap their clients. After the incident, a GoFundMe page was launched to help Daugherty pay for his medical expenses. According to KOSA CBS 7, the now-inactive campaign page stated that Daugherty was shot by illegal immigrants who were trying to steal his RV. More than $25,0 was raised to cover Daugherty’s medical expenses. CREDIT: Credit: GoFundMe Upon hearing the story, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller posted a message to Facebook calling Daugherty a hero and pledging his support for a border wall. “This is why we need the wall and to secure our borders,” wrote Miller. According to the Dallas News, the post was shared 6,500 times before Miller deleted it. Weeks later, law enforcement officials determined Daugherty’s story was false. According to KOSA CBS 7 in Texas, an investigation by the Presidio County Sheriff’s Department found that the gunfire did not come from immigrants crossing the border — it came from the hunters themselves. That’s right: friendly fire. Investigators determined that Daugherty shot Roberts and that another hunting guide, Michael Bryant, shot Daugherty. The Daugherty family reportedly released a statement about the Presidio County Sheriff’s investigation that was published on the blog The Westerner. “We do not deny that our hunter client was hit by a bullet that resulted from a horribly fearful and confusing situation. However, the bullet that shot our son was not. That shot came later and from an entirely different direction. We are unable to reveal all the details of the event at this time but we do not agree with the Sherriff’s stated conclusion to the incident.” Read their full statement here. Daugherty and Bryant have since been indicted on charges of deadly conduct by discharging firearms in the direction of others, reports the Austin American-Statesman.


BERKELEY, Calif. (KCRA) — Several fights broke out during largely-peaceful protests in Berkeley Sunday afternoon when about 4,0 people converged on the city, police said. Thirteen people who ranged in ages from 20 to 47 years old, were arrested for "various violations” including assault with a deadly weapon and felony assault during the events, Berkeley police said. Of the people arrested during the protests, several were wearing masks while others were connected to assaults. Two men were arrested after exchanging blows. The SFGate reported they were quickly swept up by officers inside Civic Center Park. Police detained Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson at the protests. The SFGate reported he was handcuffed after being chased by a mob of demonstrators who took swings at him and pepper sprayed him. Police said Gibson was actually "rescued" and was not arrested or charged. The crowd began to diminish around 3:30 p.m., six hours after a march led to the protests. The event was one of several rallies that had been called for Sunday in Berkeley, a day after a controversial freedom rally planned by Gibson in San Francisco fizzled amid throngs of counterprotesters. Hundreds of people gathered on the UC Berkeley campus around 10 a.m. Sunday. They then marched to Civic Center Park, where police had set up barricades and secured the area with bomb sniffing dogs. The march was part of the Bay Area Rally Against Hate Rally. In a statement early Sunday, the group said "we fully intend to move forward with (the Rally Against Hate)" on the campus despite calls by the university police department for people to stay away for safety reasons. The rally was held in response to the planned right-wing protest "No To Marxism in America." However, organizer Amber Cummings canceled the protest on Friday, saying Berkeley officials and left-wing extremists made it impossible to hold the event and she would be the sole attendee. Despite the cancellation, hundreds of ring-wing protesters showed up to the park. Around 1 p.m., police reported the crowd had grown to several thousand. A skirmish broke out between several dozen left-wing demonstrators and a handful of right-wing supporters. The skirmish was tense but ended quickly. The left-wing protesters surrounded the small number of right-wing supporters, then shouted at them and pushed them. The right-wing protesters sought protection from police and were escorted away. Before the unpermitted events, Berkeley police put into place several rules in response the protests, stating, "To ensure the peaceful expression of free speech, the City of Berkeley will be prohibiting sticks, pipes, poles and anything else that can be used for a 'riot' at Civic Center Park." Other banned items include explosives, pepper spray, axes, dogs (except for service animals), eggs, torches and more. Police also said anything that "covers or partially covers the face and shields the wearer's face from view, or partially from view, is prohibited." However, protesters with an anarchist group arrived at the park wearing masks and hoods that covered their faces. The group of more than 100 hooded protesters, with shields emblazoned with the words "no hate" and waving a flag identifying themselves as anarchist, broke through police lines, avoiding security checks by officers to take away possible weapons. Then the group blended in with the rest of the crowd. The group pushed their way past police barricades and into Civic Center Park. They assaulted at least five people by punching and kicking them. Gibson was one of the people assaulted by the group. Police broke up the fights, using what appeared to be a smoke grenade to stop one scuffle. The three people who were attacked ran behind police lines to escape. Then around 2:30 p.m., more than 1,0 people left the park and began marching north Martin Luther King Way. An hour later, the crowd had diminished and many roads reopened. ---- The Associated Press contributed to this story.


TAMPA BAY, Fla. - Americans around the country are being urged to donate blood at their local blood center in order to assist victims of Hurricane Irma. OneBlood, a Florida based blood center, resumed blood collections on Tuesday. All blood types are needed, however, there is an urgent need for platelet donors and people with O negative blood. Hurricane Irma forced OneBlood to suspend operations for three days and as a result, there is an urgent need to replenish the blood supply in Florida. Donors should visit for donor center hours and blood drive locations. OneBlood, in coordination with America’s Blood Centers and Blood Centers of America, has been actively arranging for shipments of blood to be brought in to Florida by blood centers from around the country. OneBlood is urging people living outside of Irma’s path to visit their local blood center and donate blood as soon as possible to assist those desperately in need in Florida. Those interested in donating blood may contact the following organizations to find a local blood drive and to schedule an appointment: AABB: +1.301.907.6977


Facebook Stephen C. Paddock has been identified as the lone shooter in the Las Vegas shooting that occurred at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, as reported by USA Today. The shooter is currently dead and suicide has been reported as the probable cause of death. Since news of the shooting broke, Paddock’s family has begun to speak out and his brother Eric, from Orlando, Florida, has been talking to the media. Get to know more about the shooter through his brother Eric, the incident itself, and how Eric Paddock views the tragedy. 1. Eric Paddock Said His Brother Had No Religious Affiliations, Prior to ISIS Reports “Not an avid gun guy at all…where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background,” gunman’s brother says pic.twitter. — CBS News (@CBSNews) October 2, 2017 In an interview with Daily Mail, Eric Paddock said that his brother had no political or religious affiliation of which he was aware. Paddock added that: He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something. Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo also told FOX News that a motive is not known, explaining: We have no idea what his belief system was. Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static. Unfortunately, ISIS accounts online are claiming Stephen C. Paddock actually converted to Islam months ago and the shooting was on their behalf. It is unclear if this is coming from actual ISIS propaganda accounts or random supporters, though Good Morning America has begun discussing the possibilities of this as well. The Associated Press has posted the above tweet, announcing this news. 2. Stephen C. Paddock’s Family Is “Dumbfounded” Brother Eric Paddock tells Daily Mail that their family is confused and shocked. He explained: We know absolutely nothing, this is just, we are dumbfounded … We have absolutely no idea. Our condolences go to the victims and all their families. The Orlando Sentinel reports that, according to public records, much of Stephen C. Paddock’s family resides in Florida. 3. Paddock’s Family Is Worried About Being Attacked Over the Incident Eric Paddock says that his 90-year-old mother, who lives close to him, is struggling to cope with the news and is “in shock”. Paddock told Daily Mail: Our family is OK, we’re sitting in here in our house hoping that everyone doesn’t attack us. My mother is 90 years old, lives down the street from me, we’re just completely dumbfounded. Like his brother was reported to be, according to his Facebook page, Eric Paddock is retired, like several of his family members in Florida. Stephen C. Paddock was living in Nevada at the time of the shooting. 4. The Shooter and His Brother Were Not Very Close Stephen C. Paddock and his brother’s relationship was not strained, but they were not very close. Eric Paddock said that he and his brother lived on different coasts and that they did not speak very often. Eric Paddock said his brother was a regular at Las Vegas casinos, according to Good Morning America, and Stephen used to work as an accountant. In an interview with Las Vegas Review Journal, Paddock also said: We have no idea how this happened. It’s like an asteroid just fell on top of our family. He then added: There is no reason we can imagine why Stephen would do something like this. All we can do is send our condolences to the people who died. Just no reason, no warning … As far as we knew, he had enough money to live the rest of his life in comfort. Paddock said that, as much as he knew, his brother had no known health or financial problems at the time of the shooting. 5. This Was the Deadliest Shooting In US History With over 50 people dead and over 400 injured in the shooting, this is reported to be the deadliest shooting in American history. Country star Jason Aldean was on stage performing at the time of the shooting and he ran off stage once aware of what was happening. Shooter Stephen C. Paddock opened fire from a 32nd floor hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino.


Some time back it was reported that an alert Maryland police officer saw an Islamic woman in an SUV videotaping a bridge’s support structures. He arrested the driver, Ismail Elbarasse—a Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood operative. An FBI raid on Elbarasse’s home unearthed a trove of Islamic doctrinal books and key Muslim Brotherhood documents—which became evidence in the largest terrorism-financing trial in U.S. history. Islam’s books are “the real bomb,” Muslim reformer Islam al-Behery said. Its ideology is “its blueprint” for world domination. A document from the Elbarasse raid outlines the Muslim Brotherhood’s phased plan to destroy Western civilization from within: Phase One: Secret establishment of leadership. Phase Two: Gradual public profile by infiltrating government, the judiciary, finance, intelligence, police, prisons, military, education and religious institutions. Phase Three: Escalation prior to conflict and confrontation with rulers using mass media. Phase Four: Publically confront the government using political pressure. Weapons training domestically and overseas in anticipation of zero-hour. Phase Five: Seize power to establish the Islamic state. Other documents outline the plan to replace the U.S. Constitution with sharia (Islamic law). Sharia is based on the Quran and other Islamic writings. Moderates see it a spiritual struggle, or outwardly observe it for fear of reprisal. But for radicals, sharia is the legal and political foundation for jihad and global rule, a power play to force Islam on the world. The D.C. based Center for Security Policy calls it a “totalitarian ideology” controlling all legal, political, military, economic and social life. No other laws or governments may coexist with sharia. It’s primarily political, not religious; though in America it masks itself as a religion to manipulate the First Amendment as a front for seditious activity. The Quran requires all Muslims to wage jihad (holy war) against infidels (non-Muslims). Jihad calls for multiple stages and platforms—violent and pre-violent. An Elbarasse memorandum calls the pre-violent “settlement process” in North America “civilization jihad” to destroy the Western way of life. In jihad’s final, violent stage, non-Muslims convert or die. Though jihad is obvious in North America and Europe, it’s not limited to the West. The phased plan is a template for radical Muslim subjugation. Indonesia, a secular, mostly moderate Muslim-majority democracy, is a case in point. Its motto, “Unity in Diversity” reflects its six religions and 300 ethnicities. Though religious parties’ gains in national elections have been paltry, locally elected Islamists passed more than 400 sharia ordinances, according to economist.com. Christian incumbent Basuki Tjahaja “Ahok” Purnama lost a recent governor’s race when radical Islamists told Muslim voters that Islam forbids voting for Christians. A video of Ahok’s rebuttal was edited to appear he was insulting the Quran. Charged with blasphemy, he lost the election and was sentenced to jail. $107 Billion Treasure Found From WW2! You Won't Believe Where It Was Stashed Ahok’s conviction—accompanied by violent rallies and death threats, shows the chilling influence on pluralism by “hardline Islamism that the government and judiciary are reluctant to oppose,” said Time reporter Nicola Smith. In Indonesia, radical Islamists have advanced their plan for global dominance to Phase Four. Then there’s Iran, whose visceral anti-Semitism and poisonous ideology infuses jihad and sharia, but with a twist. The late Ayatollah Khomeini, and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sidestepped Shi’a believe that the Mahdi (12th Imam), a quasi-messianic figure, must return before waging jihad and adopted an ideology promoting a senior Shiite cleric to theocratic political power over Shiites worldwide. Khomeini offered himself as successor to the 12 Imams, thus “inheriting the mantle of leadership directly from Muhammad,” said expert Clare Lopez. Khomeini inserted his doctrine into the 1989 constitution, in which the regime’s objective is global conquest under sharia rule and nuclear dominance is a surefire path to achieve that goal. Iran and its proxies not only menace Israel’s existence and portend regional upheaval, the “bomb” of Islamist ideology threatens the lives and freedoms of every sovereign nation in the world. Reprinted with author’s permission from Jerusalem Post


President Trump holds a joint press conference with Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah of Kuwait. Trump holds joint press conference with Kuwait's leader, Amir . Trump on Thursday also seemingly touted his administration's success against ISIS compared with his predecessor, former President Obama. "What we do is kill ISIS," Trump said of America's involvement in Syria. "We have done better in eight months in my presidency that was accomplished during the last eight years. ISIS is disappearing rapidly." President Trump on Thursday said it would be a "very sad day" for North Korea if the U.S. military needed to use force against it. "Military action would certainly be an option," he said during a press conference. "Nothing is inevitable. I would prefer not going the route of the military, but it could certainly happen." "Our military is stronger now," Trump added. "Each day new and beautiful equipment is delivered, by far the best in the world. Hopefully we don't use it on North Korea. But if we do use it on North Korea, it will be a very sad day for North Korea. I will tell you that North Korea is behaving very badly and it's gotta stop." President Trump on Thursday praised Kuwait for its contributions to defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other terrorist groups. "The United States is proud to have contributed to the liberation of Kuwait and the friendship we have built together in the years since," he said, referencing the First Gulf War from 1990 to 1991. "We also thank Kuwait for its humanitarian leadership and its partnership in the fight to destroy ISIS," Trump added in a joint press conference with Kuwaiti leader Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. President Trump and Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the leader of Kuwait, on Thursday are appearing together in a joint press conference after meeting in Washington, D.C. Thursday's meeting comes as Kuwait tries mediating an ongoing diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors in the Middle East. Trump initially seemed to side with Saudi Arabia on the disagreement, but he then instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to back the Kuwaiti mediation initiative. Tillerson and other U.S. diplomats have since traveled through the region to boost Kuwait's efforts, but the dispute has dragged on despite their efforts. Trump was also expected to discuss global efforts to isolate North Korea by halting employment of its guest workers during his talks with Al Sabah. Kuwait has about 6,0 North Korean guest works within its borders as worldwide tensions rise over the Asian nation's pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


While officially the White House is condemning the ISIS suicide attacks in Tehran today, in keeping with their policy of being against ISIS, President Trump’s own statement on the matter appeared less than wholly sympathetic, attributing the attacks to Iran “ falling victim to the evil they promote.” President Trump has made clear since the campaign that he does not like Iran, and spent much of his recent trip to the Middle East pushing hostility toward Iran, as well as portraying Iran as being to blame for most of the terrorism in the region. That ISIS is the world’s biggest terrorist organization, and that Iran has been heavily supporting both Iraq and Syria in fighting ISIS, doesn’t fit into Trump’s narrative, and the fact that ISIS just launched terrorist attacks in Tehran is particularly unwelcome to the US agenda of trying to spin everything wrong in the Middle East as being Iran’s fault. President Trump’s answer to this, then, is to remind everyone that Iran is a “state sponsor of terrorism,” an official designation by the US government which means effectively nothing, and only currently applies to three countries that the US doesn’t like, none of whom has anything to do with ISIS, al-Qaeda, or other major international terrorist groups. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz


With most rational individuals condemning Kathy Griffin’s reprehensible photoshoot, some dark souls are coming out of the woodworks and showing their true colors. Most of the country condemned Kathy Griffin’s now-infamous photo shoot holding a fake severed head of President Trump. The shocking photo shoot prompted a nationwide outrage and sparked debate over whether or not Griffin should be investigated as a threat to national security. As the Trump family reacted to the photo, it was reported that President Trump’s youngest child—11-year-old Barron—had seen the photo while watching the news and became understandably upset. The one thing these so-called artists fail to take into account is the impact their message will have on family members of their targets. It’s incredibly hard to believe that creating images of this violent nature wouldn’t provoke thought into how they will affect families or even the audience. Not only was Griffin’s photo shoot and full admission of wrongdoing completely unacceptable by anyone’s standards, it was disrespectful to victims of terrorism and their families. Radical Islamic terrorists are notorious for beheading innocent people—including Americans—for propaganda videos. By far, the most disgusting social media post came from some guy who apparently won big on Jeopardy over ten years ago. Ken Jennings took to Twitter and decided to campaign for Dirtbag of the Year. “Barron Trump saw a very long necktie on a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster. He thought it was his dad and his little heart is breaking,” the game show winner from 2004 posted on his Twitter account. He even defended Griffin’s actions, citing—you guessed it—another game show from the ‘90s where he said Griffin was known for holding up severed heads. Barron Trump saw a very long necktie on a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster. He thought it was his dad & his little heart is breaking — Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) May 31, 2017 This kind of reaction is absolutely reprehensible, especially under the circumstances. CNN has since announced that Kathy Griffin has been fired from her job as a New Year’s Eve announcer for the network alongside Anderson Cooper, who also expressed outrage over the violent photo. With serious reactions to the photo taking place in the United States, opportunists usually crawl out of the woodwork to make a sad attempt at humor. This was a huge fail. Attacking a child who was understandably disturbed by the gruesome image of his father’s mock beheading is a new low in our society. Adding to this creep’s sentiment, Rosie O’Donnell weighed in via her Twitter account, dismissing Barron Trump’s reaction by asking, “Do you think he saw anything about these 2 heroic men who died defending young girls? Hatred promoted by his father?”This was in reference to the two men who were killed in Oregon defending a Muslim girl from an attack. Regarding which, by the way, President Trump released a statement condemning the act as hatred that has no place in the United States. It seems like reactions to disturbing incidents like the Kathy Griffin photo expose the true nature of individuals and separate those with compassion for humans—regardless of political belief—from truly heinous people.


Overview Alt-Left refers to a loosely defined term to describe left-wing principles, organizations, politicians and activists, encompassing almost everything outside the norm of mainstream democratic liberal politics. Used as both a pejorative and an affirmative, alike, alt-left has been used as a catchall term for far-left political ideologies such as socialism, anarchism, communism as well as Antifa groups. However, because this term remains so undefined and widely denounced amongst the groups associated with it, many of the ideologies within the so-call "alt-left" contradict from group to group. Most groups refuse to give the term creedance, and after U.S. President Donald Trump used the term in a 2017 press conference, many have stated that it is a meaningless phrase. History On May 29th, 2010, the Swiss political party the Alternative Left (or "Alternative Linke") was founded. [1] The party's goals were to unite the far-left political parties of Switzerland under a democratic socialist platform. [2] The party's website reads (translated to English): "A call to all these women and men of our country, who are locally involved in the social movement, trade unionism, the associative fabric, environmental struggles, growth objection, food sovereignty, culture: let's create this together A new left-wing political force, an ecosocialist, which is so much lacking in Switzerland." On August 4th, 2015, Redditor launched zxz242 the subreddit / . [3] According to the Reddit's purpose, the subreddit is open to all far-left leaning ideas. It reads: "To improve communication between individuals who are dissatisfied with the behaviour and morality common to the mainstream Left and the far-Left. This is oriented to be a place for Left-wing Nationalism, Left Communism, Anarchism of all branches, and any other form of political revisionism. Yes, syncretic politics are welcome among regulars and contributors, so long as they're based on empirical evidence, and not on mysticism, romanticism, and traditionalism." On October 12th, 2015, the website AltLeft.com was registered. [4] One month later, Rabbit, the site's owner, posted published his first post, entitled "A Clockwork Greenshirt – Introducing the Alt Left." According to the site, the AltLeft politically runs "to the left of Alt-right." On April 9th, 2016, the Facebook group "Alternative Left" launched. [6] The group's about section reads, "Leftist but against political correctness. Against SJWs but still socially liberal. Civil and cultural libertarian. Economic leftism." As of August 2017, the group has more than 2,0 likes and 2,0 follows. On December 1st, The Washington Post [15] published "Introducing the ‘alt-left’: The GOP’s response to its alt-right problem." In the article, the Post reports that conservative advocacy group One Nation released a statement under the subject line "“Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders Lead Alt-Left in Hijacking of Bipartisan Medical Research Bill." On April 30th, 2017, YouTuber Tim Pool posted a video entitled "THE RISE OF THE ALT-LEFT." In the video (shown below), Pool draws a distinction between liberals and the "alt-left," asserting that "alt-left" groups are fringe groups "do not do research." He says, "When you're talking to someone who is adamant a Trump hat is triggering and could cause, you know, anxiety to certain marginalized voices that is 'alt-left.' That is this belief almost as extreme as white nationalism." As of August 2017, the video has been viewed more than 67,0 views. On August 15th, the New York Times [13] spoke to researchers who said "there is no such thing as the 'alt-left.'" “It did not arise organically, and it refers to no actual group or movement or network,” Mark Pitcavage, an analyst at the Anti-Defamation League, told the Times. 'It’s just a made-up epithet, similar to certain people calling any news they don’t like ‘fake news.'" Highlights In March 2017, Vanity Fair [7] magazine published an article entitled "Why the Alt-Left Is A Problem Too," which pointed to far-left activist groups that supported Bernie Sanders, derided Hillary Clinton and reject "identity politics" as a problem for American left-wing politics. On March 6th, New Republic magazine responded to that article in a piece called "Liberalism Needs the 'Alt-Left,'" refuting Vanity Fair's assertions. Over the next few months, many centrist and liberal commentators used the term. On August 16th, 2016 MSNBC host Joy Reid tweeted in response to another's post, "'Alt left' -- well done. Perfect descriptor." The tweet (shown below) received more than 120 retweets and 90 likes as of August 2017. "Alt left" -- well done. Perfect descriptor. Liberal use of the term "alt left" has largely been refuted by those within far-left groups. On August 12th, 2017, Twitter @Lukewsavage wrote, "'Alt left' is a term quite literally designed to draw equivalence between white supremacists and people who want universal healthcare." Within four days, the tweet (shown below) has received more than 33,0 retweets and 86,0 likes. "Alt left" is a term quite literally designed to draw equivalence between white supremacists and people who want universal he Trump "Unite The Right Rally" Comments Following the violent Unite The Right Rally that left one person dead and dozens injured, President Donald Trump made a series of statements on the event. Initially, in a press conference he said, "We condemn in the strongest possible terms, this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides." [8] The following day, Trump delivered another statement. He said, [9] "Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans." On August 15th, during another press conference at Trump Tower, Trump made more comments on his previous statements, backing up his original words (shown below). He said, "What about the alt-left that came charging at the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands?" The reaction to Trump's comments brought the term "alt left" into a wider conversation. Many online disagreed with Trump's statements, asserting that he created a false equivalancy between white supremacists and neo-Nazis and those who stand against them. The prevailing take is that "alt left" is anyone who opposes Nazism and as America opposed Nazism in World War II, being American makes one "Alt-Left." That day, comedian and actor Patton Osawalt [11] posted a picture of fictional character Indiana Jones punching a Nazi. He captioned the tweet (shown below, left) "Liberal arts college professor brutalizes Nazi, who has a permit. More alt-left indoctrination." The post received more than 53,0 retweets and 127,0 likes. Twitter user @Scott_Gilmore [12] posted a picture of the U.S. military storming the beaches of Normandy, France to fight the Nazis during World War II. He captioned the post "Alt-left, violently coming at the alt-right, circa 1944." The post (shown below, right) received more than 42,0 retweets and 88,0 likes. Liberal arts college professor brutalizes Nazi, who has a permit. More alt-left indoctrination. Alt-left, violently coming at the alt-right, circa 1944. That day, former head of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, [10] tweeted his support of the president's statements. He said, "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in ." The tweet (shown below) received more than 2,900 retweets and 2,0 likes. Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorist Trump's use of the term alt-left set off more criticism of the more moderate democrats use of the term. On August 16th, New Republic Magazine [14] published an article entitled "Liberals Helped Create Trump’s New Bogeyman, the 'Alt-Left.'" Twitter also pointed out their issues with the term, stating that it creates a fale equivlancy between the left and Nazis. 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Let’s face facts: Our president holds racist views. Opinion Donald Trump’s words hit the headlines again with reports, first in The Washington Post, that he railed Thursday against immigrants from “shithole” countries, such as Haiti, El Salvador and in Africa, and called for taking more people from Norway, which is nearly 90 percent white. But those who have been paying attention already suspected the darkness in Trump’s heart. Today's top news by email The local news you need to start your day Recaptcha requires verification. protected by reCAPTCHA Privacy - Terms Privacy - Terms It should have been obvious from the despicable things he said about Mexican immigrants. It should have been clear from his anti-Muslim rants. It seeped through in his reaction to the deadly march in Charlottesville, Va., putting white supremacists on the same level as civil rights demonstrators. And now it’s emerging again in the debate over Dreamers and Salvadorans who have been protected from deportation. Trump says he wants an $18 billion wall on the border with Mexico, and an end to the visa lottery and “chain migration.” His entire immigration policy seems to have the goalof reducing immigration from non-white countries and somehow boosting immigration from Europe. Trump says he wants to put America First in all matters. But this isn’t the America that many of us cherish – the nation of immigrants, of the Statue of Liberty. Advocacy groups for immigrants condemned what Trump reportedly said, and Democrats plan to introduce a censure resolutionnext week. Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, tweeted that the president’s comments “are further proof that his Make America Great Again agenda is really a Make America White Again agenda.” The White House issued a statementthat didn’t deny his slur, but defended his stand on immigration. Early Friday, Trump, who never apologizes for anything, offered a denial in a series of tweets, though it’s difficult to take him at his word given his track record of lies. “The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used,” the president tweeted. “What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!” Later Friday, Trump signed the proclamation for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Reading prepared remarks, he called the civil rights icon a “great American hero” who preached racial equality. He refused to answer questions about the uproar, including whether he was racist. To say the scene was jarring doesn’t begin to capture how bizarre it was. This is beyond the daily drama and craziness coming out of this White House, and is already hurting the nation’s standing around the globe. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said Trump’s “vile comments” only “make the jobs of Americans stationed all over the world harder – soldiers, diplomats and businesses.” “We all need to stop pretending that there are no consequences when the most powerful person in the world espouses racist views and gives a wink and a nod to the darkest elements in our society,” Feinstein said in perhaps her toughest statement yet on Trump. “If the president can’t control himself and lead this country with the authority, dignity and leadership it requires, then he shouldn’t be the president. There’s no room for racism in the Oval Office.” Related stories from Sacramento Bee Trump denies 'shithole' comment but Illinois senator confirms the remarks Trump denies ‘shithole countries’ comment and says Haiti slurs were ‘made up by Dems’ Trump asks why US should accept immigrants from ‘s-hole countries’, sources say Yet the sad truth is that all of this may actually solidify Trump’s support among some in his base – the one-third of Americans who apparently will stand by him no matter what he does or says, no matter how outrageous or unfair or damaging. For me, however, the conclusion is inescapable. He’s a stain on the presidency. He’s a demagogue. And he very well could be a full-on racist. It’s terrible. But it would be even worse if we ignore it. Sign up Get on The Take. Read the influential voices on California and national politics and issues. Sign up here. Foon Rhee: 916-321-1913, @foonrhee


Donald Trump is a pathological liar. All those who support him are being lied to daily. Once again, Trump has told his gullible supporters that we are letting people in by the thousands who are not vetted and that we don’t know who they are. Refugees must first apply to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which collects documents and performs interviews. Less than 1 percent of refugees get approved for relocation. If they are approved, they are referred to the State Department to begin the vetting process. More information is collected and they are put through security screenings from the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Breaking News Be the first to know when big news breaks Recaptcha requires verification. protected by reCAPTCHA Privacy - Terms Privacy - Terms If the refugee is Syrian, they must go through another layer of security, which includes further checks by a special part of Homeland Security, the USCIS fraud detection and National Security directors. There, interviews with USCIS officers would take place and fingerprints run through biometric databases of the FBI, Homeland Security and Department of Defense. If all these are passed, health screenings take place. Then refugees are enrolled in cultural orientation classes while information continues to be checked. This process typically takes 18 to 24 months after applying to the UN. This is the most vigorous vetting anyone has ever faced to enter the U.S. Donald Trump is trying to instill fear in the gullible supporters that he has. He has lied about his health records, his tax returns, President Obama’s birth certificate, election fraud (31 cases of voter impersonation in over 1 billion votes) and hundreds of other things, and those who choose to believe him either don’t care about his lies or aren’t smart enough to find out the truth for themselves. Danny Duncan Palmetto


The German public have, as predicted, kept ahold of nurse. But it is the breakthrough of the AfD into the German Parliament that is causing headlines around the world. Of course the four-year old party’s electoral success is also unsurprising. In elections last September the AfD were elected to representative roles in most of the country’s regional assemblies and beat Merkel’s party into third place in her own constituency. Nevertheless, yesterday’s electoral breakthrough is stunning and the success of this four-year-old party is among other things now causing a predictable rash of 1930s analogies. In a media landscape where very few papers can afford any foreign coverage at all, and a social media landscape which blows around slightly sourced stories with a further splash of personal self-aggrandisement, understanding a phenomenon like the AfD is harder than it should be. Many Europeans find themselves caught. Firstly by the fact that the mainstream political class has done something mad in recent years. As I recently explained at book-length, it is inevitable that things will get complicated when the people in charge of Europe make decisions as appalling as those Angela Merkel made in 2015. What she occasioned in unilaterally opening the continent’s doors to the world may have been humanitarian and may have had some good intentions. But it was also reckless, short-sighted and will cause severe issues for German society for generations to come. Most of that impact – including the daily reports of crime and sexual assault – never make it further than the German-language press, and often not even there. What are the public to do when their leaders and media behave like this? One idea is that the public shouldn’t have any choice and should be forced to keep voting for the same old parties anyway. This obviously suits the incumbents, and is best achieved by depicting any and all parties concerned about immigration – including the mass immigration which people across the political spectrum now say they acknowledge to have been an unrepeatable disaster – as Nazis, fascists and racists. The incumbent politicians and parties acknowledge they have made mistakes, promise not to repeat those mistakes but insist that anyone wishing to make them pay any political price must recognise that they are voting for a Fourth Reich. It’s a clever, cynical ploy, employed by politicians and much of the media across Germany even more than the UK. Their problem is that at some point the public recognise the ploy. And in particular a moment arrives when the spell-words used by the political mainstream begin to fail. Already terms like ‘racist’, ‘Nazi’, ‘far-right’ have been worn down almost everywhere in Europe. The few people who continue to claim that the public’s concerns are all racist are themselves the ones who now look ridiculous. All they do is ensure that the public care less and less about the words they are called. This has a follow-on problem which is especially worth pondering in Germany. For if the media and political class call everybody a racist and a Nazi for years, and the public can see that these people often called racists and Nazis (Ukip in Britain, for instance) are – whatever else you might think of them – clearly not Nazis or racists, then you set up another problem down the road. Anyone who has heard a hundred different people being called Nazis who they knew not to be Nazis is unlikely to have their anti-Nazi antennae intact when the accusation is made for the hundred and first time. This is among the problems that Merkel and co have now set up. The AfD’s platform and pronouncements require close and unbiased attention. This should include having their words and actions reported accurately. To her credit, Merkel – the great absorber of political difference – has said that she will work to bring back the people who voted AfD this weekend. This suggests that she might – just might – take what is essentially the second broad option for Europe’s political mainstream. That is to stop pretending that anything from a quarter to three-quarters of the general public across Europe are Nazi, fascist, racists who need to be reprogrammed, fought, denounced or ignored. Instead it is to recognise that the concerns of the public are concerns that should be addressed and remedied by the political mainstream. Which isn’t, surely, such a radical idea. We’ll see which path Germany now goes down. More than Germany’s politics will depend on it.


A Connecticut woman bought a desk from Staples, but after a few years grew tired of it. She decided to sell it to Noah Muroff and his wife for about $150 on Craigslist. There was nothing peculiar about the transaction at all. Muroff and his wife had difficulty fitting the desk into the room. They decided to take it apart to fit it in. After Noah removed the filing cabinets, he noticed a plastic bag poking out. First, he saw a $100 bill. Then he saw that inside there were stacks of them. He and his wife counted the money. There was a whopping $98,0. “If we didn’t take those drawers out, we never would have found it,” Muroff said. But he knew immediately that he couldn’t keep the money. He called the woman he bought it from. It turned out she hid her inheritance in the desk and couldn’t remember where she put it. When Muroff called her, she was speechless. “She was so shocked and touched that anyone would call,” he said. “She said, ‘You could have kept the money and nobody would have ever known.'” Muroff, who is a rabbi, and his wife believe honesty is the most important thing. “We both agreed that this is not our money,” he said. “If God wants us to have $98,0, he’ll make sure to give it to us in some other way.” The woman was so grateful, she summed up how she felt in a thank-you card. “I do not think there are too many people in this world that would have done what you did by calling me. I do like to believe that there are still good people left in this crazy world we live in. You certainly are one of them,” the woman wrote. “I cannot thank you enough for your honesty and integrity.” Please SHARE this story if you’re glad Noah Muroff did the right thing for the woman! Due to restrictions, this video cannot be viewed in your region.


WASHINGTON, DC — As South Florida begins the long process of rebuilding after Hurricane Irma, the Federal Emergency Management Agency added Broward, Martin, Palm Beach & St. Lucie Counties to the list of counties eligible for Individual Assistance. While President Trump’s September 10 Major Disaster Declaration included all 67 Florida counties on the list for Public Assistance, only nine counties were eligible for federal assistance to individuals and households. Video: Time-lapse of Hurricane Irma FEMA’s new declaration comes after the Members of Congress sent a letter to the White House and urged FEMA these counties be included for Individual Assistance. Residents in the above counties are encouraged to see what benefits are applicable to them and apply at