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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:09

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 09, 2015

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL, 2015

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

America has long stood as a beacon of equality and liberty for all. Safeguarding our founding ideals means ensuring we all have the opportunity to contribute to our shared progress and forge brighter futures. On International Day of the Girl, we are reminded that without the presence and participation of women and girls in our classrooms, workplaces, and communities, our Nation can never realize its full potential. As we observe this day, let us renew our commitment to building a world where all feel valued, safe, and empowered to pursue a future of equal promise.

In too many places, the stories of women and girls are not always told, and they are limited by laws and norms and subject to forces that lessen their range of possibility and the scope of their aspirations. The United States and our partners around the globe have made significant strides in advancing opportunities for women and girls and promoting full gender equality. My Administration remains dedicated to working with our international allies to protect the rights of all women and girls. We are working to expand access to quality education and are investing in programs to combat gender-based violence. Building on my challenge to the United Nations in September 2011, we established the Equal Futures Partnership, a multilateral effort that encourages countries to make commitments to women's political and economic empowerment.

Right now, more than 62 million girls around the world -- half of whom are adolescent -- are not in school and are therefore more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, early or forced marriages, and violence. My Administration is responding with the utmost urgency, and that is why we launched the Let Girls Learn initiative, which brings together the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as well as other agencies and programs, like the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of challenges preventing adolescent girls from attending and completing school, and from realizing their potential as adults.

As we work to advance justice and equality abroad, we are also making it a priority to combat gender disparities here at home. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, health insurers are now prohibited from charging women higher premiums than men simply because they are female, helping to make quality, affordable health care accessible for all our people. We are attracting and supporting girls in careers and educational pursuits related to sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics -- helping to build a highly-skilled, competitive workforce that draws on the talents of all Americans to drive our country's greatest innovations. We are also supporting women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs through over 100 Women's Business Centers across our country, and we are continuing the fight to ensure all women are paid equally and fairly for their work.

Women and girls cannot be fully free to pursue their highest potential until they are safe from hateful violence and assault. Twenty percent of American women have been sexually assaulted while in college. That is why, under the leadership of Vice President Joe Biden, we launched the 1is2many initiative to raise awareness of dating violence and sexual assault among young people. And we established the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, as well as "It's On Us," a campaign designed to combat sexual assault on college campuses so every student in America is able to pursue an education free from the fear of intimidation or violence.

This work must encompass all women and girls -- regardless of who they are or what they look like. I am committed to lifting up the lives of women and girls of color, an intersectionality that is disproportionately represented in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, who are at greater risks of violence and are often more susceptible to becoming victim to commercial sex trafficking. We must continue to improve the odds for at-risk girls and ensure they are visible, valued, and have every opportunity to succeed.

Our society must also value all who identify as female. Too many transgender women and girls face discrimination, violence, and abuse. My Administration will continue working to break down barriers that hold transgender girls back, including school bullying, youth homelessness, and health inequality -- because America is a place where all our girls should be free to live honest and open lives.

Every person deserves the opportunity to reach for his or her dreams, regardless of their sex or gender. This is an ideal that has carried our Nation forward for centuries, and we have an obligation to do everything in our power to address the injustices that remain throughout society. Today, we reaffirm our commitment to building a world where all girls are safe and empowered to pursue a future of limitless possibility.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 11, 2015, as International Day of the Girl. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with programs, ceremonies, and activities that advance equality and opportunity for girls everywhere.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.

BARACK OBAMA

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:08

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 09, 2015

NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH WEEK, 2015

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

America's schools strive to empower students with the tools and learning opportunities they need to pursue a tomorrow of endless possibility. In addition to serving as critical foundations for an education, schools are often the only stable source of health and nutrition for many of our children. The National School Lunch Program does more than simply provide students with one of our most basic human needs -- it gives them the strength to focus on reaching for their greatest aspirations, rather than worrying about where their next meal will come from. During National School Lunch Week, we rededicate ourselves to safeguarding our Nation's future by providing our children with the support and nourishment they need to maintain healthy lifestyles, and we thank the school administrators, educators, and cafeteria workers who, alongside devoted parents, caregivers, and guardians, work together to achieve this goal.

By signing the National School Lunch Act in 1946, President Harry Truman recognized the tremendous role food security plays in the academic and overall success of America's youth. This groundbreaking legislation created the National School Lunch Program, which provides lunches -- either subsidized or at no cost -- to millions of students in over 100,000 schools. At the heart of this program lies a commitment to uphold one of our country's core principles: that all children should have the chance to live up to their fullest potential and be bound by nothing more than the scope of their dreams.

One in three children in our Nation is overweight or obese -- and those rates are even higher in African-American, Hispanic, and Native American communities. Those who lack proper nutrition or do not lead an active lifestyle are far less likely to perform well in school and are more likely to experience health problems such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, and diabetes in the future. For many young people across America, particularly those from low-income communities, the meals their school provides are their most consistent source of food and nutrition.

My Administration remains committed to inspiring students to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative has encouraged schools to provide nutritious food and help students make educated decisions about the food they eat each day. Because of these efforts, thousands of schools across America have answered the HealthierUS School Challenge with commonsense standards for the health, physical activity, and nutritional awareness of our country's students. And since I signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law in 2010, we have ensured healthy meals are available for millions of students -- even after classes have finished for the year. By working to encourage students to eat right and make healthy choices today, we can help ensure these positive habits continue throughout their lives.

Despite the progress we have made, more must be done to safeguard a bright and healthy future for our children and our Nation. Schools should foster an environment where young people acquire the knowledge and skills needed to make smart choices about what they eat, and healthy school meals should give children the fuel to work hard, grow, and succeed. During National School Lunch Week, I encourage everyone -- students, educators, and parents alike -- to add more greens to their plates and increase the amount of physical activity in their daily routines. Even small steps, like going for a walk or choosing fruits and vegetables over salty snacks and sweets, help set a positive example and instill the healthy habits our Nation's children need. Together -- as families, neighbors, and friends -- we can turn these small steps into national action and make a transformative impact.

The Congress, by joint resolution of October 9, 1962 (Public Law 87-780), as amended, has designated the week beginning on the second Sunday in October each year as "National School Lunch Week" and has requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 11 through October 17, 2015, as National School Lunch Week. I call upon all Americans to join the dedicated individuals who administer the National School Lunch Program in appropriate activities that support the health and well-being of our Nation's children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.

BARACK OBAMA

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:23

(by Guy Smiley) -- In a brilliant analysis on last Sunday's No Agenda Radio show, Co-host Adam Curry pointed out that there was a joint NATO military exercise called NEWFIP (NATO Electronic Warfare Integration Period) from June 2 to June 6 in Europe, mostly over Hungary. Concurrently, civilian aircraft was disappearing from air traffic control screens twice- on June 5th and June 10th. It only affected aircraft traveling above 23,000 ft., and caused transponder channels A and C to fail. Here is the supporting document (In German): http://adam.curry.com/enc/20140720012844_1801925hunkolinke.pdf

The exercise involved having fighters shadow a civilian aircraft from 4 km back, jamming their civilian transponders, and replacing the signals with a Mil-mode signal.

This caused the civilian transponders to disappear from civilian radar tracking stations, and show up on military radar tracking systems.

Now here's the tricky part. One of the initial stories involved Ukraine fighter(s) traveling nearby the Malaysian plane shortly before it was shot down.

The headline in the Independent UK article dated 7-22-14:Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash: Ukrainian military jet was flying close to passenger plane before it was shot down, says Russian officer - QUOTE: ''In a statement to a press conference today, Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartopolov said the Defence Ministry would like to know ''why the military jet was flying along [the same civil aviation lines] at almost the same time and at the same level as a passenger plane.'' The SU-25 was, Mr Kartopolov says, gaining height and reached a distance of three to five kilometres from the Boeing 777.''

Also, there were those tweets from the Spanish Air traffic controller, working in Ukraine, who said fighters were flanking the aircraft, followed shortly after by military personnel seizing the facility. His twitter account has since been deleted.

Could the fighter have have been spoofing the ID of the Malaysian craft, in order to get it shot down?

55 other flights, from different countries, flew over that same region that same day, above the 32,000 ft altitude established as the war zone without difficulty. The difference is that the Malaysian plane was a NON-NATO nation country plane. No reprisals would be forthcoming from this non-aligned nation. This plane was chosen as the perfect target.

The anti aircraft battery was performing it's function, while unwittingly shooting down the civilian aircraft, thinking it was another ''military invader''.

Russia, who had nothing to gain from this shoot-down, ends up getting the blame. Putin has shown a remarkable amount of restraint, something the US could take a lesson from.

While were casting stones, don't forget the airlines that our military has accidentally shot down:

Iran Air Flight 655 on 3 July 1988 and TWA Flight 800 onJuly 17, 1996, eighteen years earlier to the day, as witnesses by nearly 750 horrified onlookers.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 04:18

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 03:10

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 13:05

Peter Gray says student resilience has plummeted in recent years Says those in college seek more counselling because of rising 'neediness'Staff are now afraid to give low grades because of 'emotional fragility'Faculty members feel obliged to do more 'hand-holding' with their studentsAnother academic says students haven't learned to 'soothe themselves' - because their parents solved all their problems growing up Two students saw a counselor and even phoned the police because they saw a mouse in their off-campus apartment By Wills Robinson For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:53 EST, 11 October 2015 | Updated: 12:05 EST, 11 October 2015

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College students are seeking counselling at an unprecedented rate because they are having 'emotional crises' over everyday life, a psychologist has claimed.

Peter Gray said he was invited to a major university to talk about student resilience and found counselling services had conducted twice as many appointments in recent years because of increasing 'neediness'.

The Boston College Professor added that faculty members are now afraid to give low grades because of 'emotional fragility'.

They also feel like they have to do more 'hand-holding' and avoid challenging their students as a result, he claims.

A psychologist has claimed that college students are seeking counselling more often because they are having 'emotional crises' over everyday life (file picture)

In an article for Psychology Today, he cited two examples where students had asked for counselling.

One sought help after her roommate called her a 'b**ch' while two others saw a counselor because there was a mouse in their off-campus apartment.

The pair even called the police after seeing the rodent.

Gray wrote: 'Many students, they said, now view a C, or sometimes even a B, as failure, and they interpret such ''failure'' as the end of the world.

'Faculty also noted an increased tendency for students to blame them (the faculty) for low grades'--they weren't explicit enough in telling the students just what the test would cover or just what would distinguish a good paper from a bad one.'

He added that students now see a poor grade as a reason to complain rather than study more.

Peter Gray, a professor at Boston College, said student counselling services across the country have conducted twice as many appointments in recent years

Staff members are now faced with the dilemma of whether they should give in to this mentality or tell them: 'Buck up, this is college.'

The head of counselling services at a major university wrote to him in an email: 'There has been an increase in diagnosable mental problems, but there has also been a decrease in the ability of many young people to manage the everyday bumps in the road of life.

'Whether we want it or not, these students are bringing their struggles to their teachers and others on campus who deal with students on a day-to-day basis.

'The lack of resilience is interfering with the academic mission of the University and is thwarting the emotional and personal development of students.'

Dan Jones, past president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, told the Chronicle of Higher Education: '[Students] haven't developed skills in how to soothe themselves, because their parents have solved all their problems and removed the obstacles.

'They don't seem to have as much grit as previous generations.'

Rob Wilson reinforced this claim in his article: An Epidemic of Anguish: Overwhelmed by Demand for Mental-Health Care, Colleges Face Conflicts in Choosing How to Respond

In the Chronicle, he wrote: 'Families often expect campuses to provide immediate, sophisticated, and sustained mental-health care.

'After all, most parents are still adjusting to the idea that their children no longer come home every night, and many want colleges to keep an eye on their kids, just as they did.

'Students, too, want colleges to give them the help they need, when they need it. And they need a lot.

'Rates of anxiety and depression among American college students have soared in the last decade, and many more students than in the past come to campus already on medication for such illnesses.

'The number of students with suicidal thoughts has risen as well. Some are dealing with serious issues, such as psychosis, which typically presents itself in young adulthood, just when students are going off to college.

'Many others, though, are struggling with what campus counselors say are the usual stresses of college life: bad grades, breakups, being on their own for the first time. And they are putting a strain on counseling centers.'

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Dietary supplement use sends thousands to the ER each yearDietary supplement use sends thousands to the ER each yearUpdated:Thursday, October 15 2015 4:10 AM EDT2015-10-15 08:10:24 GMT

More than 23,000 visits to emergency rooms occur annually due to complications from taking dietary supplements such as herbal or complementary nutritional products, vitamins, and minerals, according to scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who coauthored the study.

More than 23,000 visits to emergency rooms occur annually due to complications from taking dietary supplements such as herbal or complementary nutritional products, vitamins, and minerals, according to scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who coauthored the study.

Here's an IOU: Jackpot winners not cashing in in IllinoisHere's an IOU: Jackpot winners not cashing in in IllinoisUpdated:Thursday, October 15 2015 4:02 AM EDT2015-10-15 08:02:48 GMT

.Lottery Spokesman Steve Rossi tells WBBM that there had been some funds in the lottery's check-writing account '' but those funds have been expended and the lottery does not have the authority to replenish them.

.Lottery Spokesman Steve Rossi tells WBBM that there had been some funds in the lottery's check-writing account '' but those funds have been expended and the lottery does not have the authority to replenish them.

Customs computer glitch causes airport disruptions across countryCustoms computer glitch causes airport disruptions across countryUpdated:Thursday, October 15 2015 2:55 AM EDT2015-10-15 06:55:37 GMT

A computer system that checks airline passengers' names against the federal terror watch list experienced problems Wednesday night, federal law enforcement sources told CBS News.

A computer system that checks airline passengers' names against the federal terror watch list experienced problems Wednesday night, federal law enforcement sources told CBS News.

Group that waved Confederate flags indictedGroup that waved Confederate flags indictedUpdated:Thursday, October 15 2015 2:44 AM EDT2015-10-15 06:44:34 GMT

Months after a convoy of pickup trucks waving large Confederate flags rumbled past a birthday party in suburban Atlanta, a grand jury has indicted members of the group on terror-related charges.

Months after a convoy of pickup trucks waving large Confederate flags rumbled past a birthday party in suburban Atlanta, a grand jury has indicted members of the group on terror-related charges.

Lamar Odom's family joins Kardashians by his bedside as he fights for his lifeLamar Odom's family joins Kardashians by his bedside as he fights for his lifeUpdated:Thursday, October 15 2015 2:41 AM EDT2015-10-15 06:41:50 GMT

Odom was found unconscious at a brothel in Crystal, where he spent four days before he was rushed to hospital Tuesday.

Odom was found unconscious at a brothel in Crystal, where he spent four days before he was rushed to hospital Tuesday.

Dole recalls spinach for potential salmonellaDole recalls spinach for potential salmonellaUpdated:Wednesday, October 14 2015 7:09 PM EDT2015-10-14 23:09:48 GMT

Have a bag of spinach salad in your refrigerator? Be sure to check its code number.Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling some bagged spinach due to salmonella, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Random tests by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural development turned up positive for the bacteria.Look on the bag for the code A27409B and A27409A. The UPC number is 7143000976. It has a sell-by date of October 15.The spinach was sold in 13 sta...

Have a bag of spinach salad in your refrigerator? Be sure to check its code number.Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling some bagged spinach due to salmonella, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Random tests by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural development turned up positive for the bacteria.Look on the bag for the code A27409B and A27409A. The UPC number is 7143000976. It has a sell-by date of October 15.The spinach was sold in 13 sta...

Zuckerberg spends time at San QuentinZuckerberg spends time at San QuentinUpdated:Wednesday, October 14 2015 2:46 PM EDT2015-10-14 18:46:14 GMT

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spent time behind bars for his latest cause: criminal justice.Along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg visited San Quentin, one of California's most notorious prisons."Making our criminal justice system fairer and more effective is a huge challenge for our country," he wrote on a Facebook (FB, Tech30)post.Zuckerberg lauded San Quentin as having one of the best track records when it comes to reducing the rate of ...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spent time behind bars for his latest cause: criminal justice.Along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg visited San Quentin, one of California's most notorious prisons."Making our criminal justice system fairer and more effective is a huge challenge for our country," he wrote on a Facebook (FB, Tech30)post.Zuckerberg lauded San Quentin as having one of the best track records when it comes to reducing the rate of ...

Swedish 'Bearded Villains' mistaken for ISIS cellSwedish 'Bearded Villains' mistaken for ISIS cellUpdated:Wednesday, October 14 2015 7:52 AM EDT2015-10-14 11:52:27 GMT

(CNN)It's not often that a bit of facial hair can get you into trouble. But for a group of Swedish men, their beards -- and a familiar-looking flag -- had them mistaken for an ISIS terror cell.

(CNN)It's not often that a bit of facial hair can get you into trouble. But for a group of Swedish men, their beards -- and a familiar-looking flag -- had them mistaken for an ISIS terror cell.

Sheriff: Lamar Odom found unresponsive at Nevada brothelSheriff: Lamar Odom found unresponsive at Nevada brothelUpdated:Wednesday, October 14 2015 3:24 AM EDT2015-10-14 07:24:34 GMT

Authorities say former NBA and reality TV star Lamar Odom has been hospitalized after he was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel.

Authorities say former NBA and reality TV star Lamar Odom has been hospitalized after he was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel.

Hillary Clinton exudes confidence on debate stageHillary Clinton exudes confidence on debate stageUpdated:Tuesday, October 13 2015 11:19 PM EDT2015-10-14 03:19:38 GMT

Hillary Clinton swept confidently into the campaign season's first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday, denying she flip-flopped on key issues for political gain and rebuking her top rival Bernie Sanders for not being tough enough on guns.

Hillary Clinton swept confidently into the campaign season's first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday, denying she flip-flopped on key issues for political gain and rebuking her top rival Bernie Sanders for not being tough enough on guns.

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Source: Weasel Zippers

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:25

Those that did apparently were from conservative news outlets. 20 out of 400.

HT: Breitbart

SHARESShare On FacebookShare On TwitterNickarama | October 14, 2015 10:29 am

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Source: The Intercept

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:19

Hillary Clinton asserted at Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden ''stole very important information that has unfortunately fallen into a lot of the wrong hands.''

She seemed to be darkly intimating that the information Snowden gave to journalists in Hong Kong before he was granted asylum in Moscow also ended up with the Chinese and/or Russian governments.

But that conclusion is entirely unsupported by the evidence; it's a political smear that even the most alarmist Obama administration intelligence officials have not asserted as fact.

As Snowden has repeatedly explained, after turning over copies of the heavily encrypted files to reporters, he destroyed his own before he left Hong Kong.

He did not take the files to Russia ''because it wouldn't serve the public interest,'' he told the New York Times in 2013. ''There's a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,'' he said.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sunday Times newspaper ran a front-page story in June asserting that Russia and China had ''cracked the top-secret cache of files'' that the paper, citing anonymous sources, claimed Snowden had brought with him to Moscow. But the story was thoroughly debunked and a video clip of the reporter acknowledging that ''we just publish what we believe to be the position of the British government'' went viral.

Apparently, Clinton was engaging in similarly hyperbolic, unsupported scare tactics '' that is, unless by ''the wrong hands'' she meant ours: Journalists and the public.

Snowden's attorney, ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner, was one of many who suggested as much on Twitter on Tuesday night:

Government transparency advocate Daniel Schuman reached the same conclusion:

Or did she mean us?

Snowden turned over his cache of documents to Intercept founding editors Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, and the result has been the exposure '' to the public '' of the extraordinarily expansive and invasive surveillance apparatus that the U.S. government had secretly built over the years.

In the U.S., laws have already been changed '' if only a little. Europeans are balking at sending their data to U.S. servers. And surveillance and privacy are now major issues in the presidential campaign.

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders said during the debate that ''Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined.''

Sanders said Snowden should face a penalty, but that ''what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration.'' (That is also Snowden's position.)

Sanders also said he would immediately shut down the warrantless domestic surveillance program that Snowden exposed. ''I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me.''

Clinton's comments on Snowden were flawed in more than one way. She also insisted, incorrectly, that he could have accomplished his goals by going through normal channels.

''He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that,'' she said.

But Snowden, as a contractor, was not covered by whistleblower protections. He did try going through established channels, but he said his concerns fell on deaf ears. And the response to his leaks has made abundantly clear that no one in his chain of command was the least bit interested in going public with the information.

Some Republicans were delighted with Clinton's statements about Snowden '' though their reasoning varied. Former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer cheered Clinton on:

Right-wing Clinton-haters found another angle of attack, comparing her response to Snowden with the accusations that her private email server was a security risk:

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:22

By Scott Eisen/Getty Images.

''A man whose name shall remain nameless created me in his garage.''

Hillary Clinton declared in a new interview that she is a robot, implying that humanity should despair and bend to her superior A.I. will by voting for her in the 2016 election.

The shocking admission came during an interview with the BuzzFeed podcast Another Round, in which an astute interviewer noted that the Democrat presidential candidate did not sweat during the interview. Other reporters and Clinton associates have remarked upon Clinton's remarkable ability to not sweat, even when working the rope line on a hot Iowa day. ''I don't mean sweat because you're nervous,'' said host Tracy Clayton. ''I just mean physically. I'm genuinely curious what your deodorant is.''

After some banter over the thermostat and the traditional One Weird Fact about Clinton (''The weirdest thing about me is that I don't sweat''), BuzzFeed foolishly suggested that Clinton was a robot.

BuzzFeed, you fools! You don't go around provoking dangerous artificial intelligence!

HILLARY CLINTON: You guys are the first to realize that I'm really not even a human being. I was constructed in a garage in Palo Alto a very long time ago. People think that, you know, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they created it. Oh no. I mean, a man whose name shall remain nameless created me in his garage.

ANOTHER ROUND: Are there more of you?

HILLARY CLINTON: I thought he threw away the plans, at least that's what he told me when he programmed me '-- that there would be no more. I've seen more people that kind of don't sweat, and other things, that make me think maybe they are part of the new race that he created: the robot race.

ANOTHER ROUND: So there's a cyborg army is what you're saying.

HILLARY CLINTON: But you have to cut this, you can't tell anybody this. I don't want anybody to know this. This has been a secret until here we are in Davenport, Iowa, and I'm just spillin' my electronic guts to you.

ANOTHER ROUND: And without bourbon.

HILLARY CLINTON: Without any bourbon. Yeah. That's why I have to wait 'til the end of the day.

Upon hearing this news, members of the Benghazi special committee likely wondered whether Hillary had a second personal e-mail server hidden in her spleen, as well as whether she had lied about anything else.

Elsewhere in the Another Round interview, Clinton was asked whether she and Bill Clinton ever felt like they ''fucked this up'' when it came to tough-on-crime legislation. Hillary Clinton also said that she felt ''people were really nice about me'' while she was secretary of state, and addressed sexism on Capitol Hill.

Related: How Hillary Clinton's Loyal Confidants Could Cost Her the Election

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:24

What Is Hypohidrosis?Sweating is your body's way of cooling itself off. Some people are not able to sweat normally because their sweat glands are no longer functioning properly. This condition is known as hypohidrosis or anhidrosis. It can affect a person's entire body, a single area, or scattered areas.

The inability to sweat normally can cause overheating, which can lead to heat stroke'--a potentially fatal condition.

Hypohidrosis can be difficult to diagnose; mild hypohidrosis often goes unnoticed. The condition has many causes. It can be inherited or develop later in life.

Who Is at Risk for Hypohidrosis?As you age, a diminished ability to sweat is normal. Conditions that damage your autonomic nerves, such as diabetes, also make problems with your sweat glands more likely.

Skin disorders that inflame the skin can also affect your sweat glands. These include psoriasis, exfoliative dermatitis, heat rash, scleroderma, and ichthyosis. Some people inherit a damaged gene that causes them to have sweat gland problems or no sweat glands at all.

What Causes Hypohidrosis?Any condition that causes nerve damage can disrupt the functioning of your sweat glands. This includes:

Ross syndromediabetesalcoholismParkinson's diseasemultiple system atrophyamyloidosisSj¶gren's syndromesmall cell lung cancerFabry diseaseHorner syndromeSkin damage from severe burns can permanently damage sweat glands. Other sources of damage include radiation, trauma, infection, and inflammation.

Taking certain medications, particularly those known as anticholinergics, can result in reduced sweating. These medications have side effects that include sore throat, dry mouth, and reduction in perspiration.

Some people may inherit a damaged gene that causes their sweat glands to malfunction. The inherited condition hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia causes people to be born with either very few or no sweat glands.

Note that heat stroke also causes a reduction in sweating.

What Are the Symptoms of Hypohidrosis?Symptoms of hypohidrosis include:

scant perspiration, even when other people are perspiring heavilydizzinessmuscle cramps or weaknessflushed appearancefeeling overly hotMild hypohidrosis may go unnoticed unless you engage in vigorous exercise and become overheated because you're not perspiring normally.

How Is Hypohidrosis Diagnosed?Taking a thorough medical history is important for diagnosing this condition. You should share all symptoms that you've experienced with your physician. This includes breaking out in a red rash or skin flushing when you should be sweating. It's important to tell him or her if you sweat in some parts of your body but not in others.

Your physician may use any of the following tests to confirm a diagnosis of hypohidrosis:

axon reflex test: Small electrodes are used to stimulate your sweat glands. The volume of sweat produced is measured.silastic sweat imprint: measures size distribution of your perspirationthermoregulatory sweat test: Your body is coated with a powder that changes color in areas where you sweat. You enter a chamber that causes your body temperature to reach a level at which most people would sweat.skin biopsy: Some skin cells and perhaps some sweat glands are removed for examination under a microscope.How Is Hypohidrosis Treated?Hypohidrosis that affects only a small part of your body usually won't cause problems and may not require treatment. If an underlying medical condition is causing hypohidrosis, your physician will treat that condition. That may reduce your symptoms.

If medications are causing your hypohidrosis, your physician may recommend trying another medication or reducing your dosage. While this is not always possible, adjusting medications may help to improve sweating.

Can Hypohidrosis Be Prevented?It may not be possible to prevent hypohidrosis, but you can take steps to avoid serious illnesses related to overheating. Wear loose clothing and don't overdress when it's hot. Stay inside if possible, and take care not to overexert yourself when it's hot.

You can also take steps to cool your body off and avoid overheating. This includes applying water or cool cloths to your skin to simulate sweating. When the water evaporates, you will feel cooler.

If left untreated, hypohidrosis can cause your body to overheat. Overheating requires quick treatment to prevent it from worsening into heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Heat stroke is a life-threatening condition that demands prompt emergency treatment.

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Article ResourcesArticle resourcesAnhidrosis. (2012, Feb. 15). Mayo Clinic. Retrived July 25, 2012, from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anhidrosis/DS01050Cheshire, W.P. and R.D. Fealey. Drug-Induced Hyperhidrosis and Hypohidrosis: Incidence, Prevention and Management. (2008). Drug Safety. Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18217788Hypohidrosis. (2007, October). The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/dermatologic_disorders/sweating_disorders/hypohidrosis.htmlSweating: Absent. (2011, May 13). National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003219.htmIs There Cholesterol in Ice Cream?

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:12

Please join us as we generate a new paradigm of TRUTH, TRANSPARENCY, PEACE, CHOICE and HOPE within our regulatory agencies starting with the CDCcrimes! In addition to our rally-happenings, this day, we will stand united to call for the CDC to come forth with the truth.

DAY 1:RallyFriday, October 23rd7 am - 2 pm

CDC headquarters1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA

You could WIN a once in a lifetime opportunity to have an intimate dinner with the Stars of #cdcTRUTH Rally:Event begins at 7:00 pm

You may also buy tickets todine with the stars of the Rally Demanding Truth Transparency & Freedom!CLICK HERE to order tickets.DAY 3: Informal Prayer Gathering& Closing RemarksSunday, October 25th9 am - 10 am

Location TBA

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 14:35

PhotoCredit Brian StaufferINEXPLICABLE violence is the hardest kind to accept. The human wish to insert logic where there is none often drives bystanders to psychic violence of their own. This happened again last week, after it was reported that the shooter at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, Christopher Harper-Mercer, who killed nine people and injured several others, may have been autistic. Although there is no established connection between autism and murder, some eagerly leapt to causality and scapegoating.

The killer's ''diagnosis'' was based primarily on posts on Yahoo made over the last decade by his mother, Laurel Harper, in which she characterized both herself and her son as having Asperger's syndrome '-- a category no longer in medical use that describes autistic people with advanced verbal skills. Mr. Harper-Mercer attended a school that caters to children with special needs, including autism. While Ms. Harper is not a doctor, her descriptions of her son across his childhood are consistent with the syndrome.

A Facebook page called ''Families Against Autistic Shooters'' ranted about ''the soulless, dead eyes of autistic children,'' and characterized them as ''cold, calculating killing machines with no regard for human life!'' Its author announced: ''What do all shooters over the last few years have in common? A lack of empathy and compassion due to Autism!''

If Mr. Harper-Mercer were rumored to have been diabetic or afflicted with male-pattern baldness, no such ''explanations'' of his behavior would have surfaced. But despite a huge increase in awareness of autism among the public, those with the condition are often subject to this type of disparagement.

This was evident in both the Facebook page and the response to it by Facebook's management, who, despite the site's anti-bullying policy, initially refused to remove it on grounds that it did not target named individuals. ''Families Against Autistic Shooters'' remained accessible until last Monday, by which time escalating media attention and a petition on Change.org with nearly 5,000 signatures embarrassed administrators into action. For the time it was viewable, the page stigmatized a population far more likely to be attacked than to attack, far less likely to receive justice when injured, and far more likely to be misunderstood. That devaluation of autistic lives is far deeper than any autistic devaluation of neurotypical lives.

Such prejudice arises in part from confusion about autism, which manifests in a multiplicity of symptoms, making generalizations difficult. Some people with autism cannot easily guess what other people are thinking, and therefore act without socially appropriate nuance. This perplexity is often conflated, unfairly, with lack of emotional empathy or even unkindness. Autistic people run the same gamut as other people: Some are kinder than others. Some find social interaction extremely taxing; others evince joy in trusted friends and family. Whatever anyone's particular constellation of symptoms may be, however, autism is not associated with brutality. Failing to intuit certain aspects of other people's inner experience does not equate to disdain for human life.

The wish to hurt others is tied not to autism but to psychopathy, which manifests in a deficiency or absence of empathy and remorse. Some autistic people may not recognize why they cause distress; psychopaths don't care that they cause distress. Autistic people may see the world from a singular, personal perspective; psychopaths are often cunning manipulators who act according to perceived self-interest without regard for the destruction they cause. Psychopathy seems to have coincided with autism in the cases of Mr. Harper-Mercer at Umpqua and Adam Lanza at Newtown, Conn. Psychopathy apparently coincided with depression and grandiosity in the cases of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine and Elliot O. Rodger at Isla Vista, Calif. Psychopathy almost certainly coincided with schizophrenia in the cases of James Holmes in Aurora, Colo., and Jared Loughner in Tucson.

You can categorize such people as having a common madness only if your criterion for madness is their behavior itself. To say that you'd have to be crazy to shoot up a school is not the same as saying that crazy people are predisposed to kill. Fewer than 5 percent of gun crimes are committed by people with mental illness; fewer than 5 percent of people with mental illnesses commit violent crimes.

Tarring the autistic community in this manner '-- like presuming that most black people are thieves or that most Muslims are terrorists '-- is an insidious form of profiling. It exacerbates the tendency for people with autism to be excluded, teased and assaulted in childhood and adulthood.

The biggest challenge in cases where autism and psychopathy exist simultaneously is that the former is usually diagnosed and the latter is not, and parents who have received a diagnosis for their child tend to assign everything to autism. So a mother who knows her son has autism may presume that all his aberrant behavior reflects that condition, and may not seek evidence of other problems. Autism can be distracting.

It's very reassuring to have an explanation for acts of horror. If killings like this are mostly undertaken by people with autism, the thinking goes, and your children and their friends don't have it, then you are safe. Each of the Republican candidates for the presidency declared last week that we should deal with school shootings by providing aggressive treatment of people with mental illness '-- not to alleviate the suffering of the mentally ill, but to protect other people from the mentally ill. Unfortunately, psychopaths are often secretive, and we don't have a psychopathy biomarker; despite urgent efforts from researchers, we can't reliably identify these people ahead of time.

What we can say for sure is that stigmatizing people with conditions such as autism will not reduce gun violence; it will only amplify non-autistic people's lack of ease with autistic people. Who comes up short on empathy in that scenario?

Andrew Solomon is the author, most recently, of ''Far From the Tree.''

A version of this op-ed appears in print on October 12, 2015, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: The Myth of the 'Autistic Shooter'.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 06:20

Shootings have been getting a lot of attention over the last few years. This year the number of nationally reported shootings seems to be more than I can remember in the past. I have no proof of that, but its how I perceive it. Meanwhile, politicians try to tell us what is wrong and what should be done to fix it. Main stream media has also been making a big deal of shootings and telling us what should be done about it. The message I'm getting from the people making the most noise is that there are more shootings and we should do something about allowing people to have or get guns. Assault rifles and high capacity magazine are often demonized as well. Seeing as how I don't trust a politician and the F.U.D. spreading US news media has long since lost any idea of objective news reporting, I decided to look up some information about people being killed in the United States. All of my data has come from the FBI's website: https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats

I gathered data from that site to the best of my abilities. I used the data to create a Google Docs spreadsheet which I used to create some charts to help visualize the information. This data is free to anyone who takes the time to look at it. If errors were made in my data entry, please make me aware of it and I will correct it. I believe a lot of the data speaks for itself. I'm not a statistician, but I think some of the simple things that I learned from looking at the data are correct.

The first chart shows the rate of the number of violent crimes committed in the USA per year. It clearly shows a trend of declining violent crimes.

Annual number of violent crimes in the USA

This next chart shows the annual number of murders caused by all firearms. From what this shows, there were more firearm caused murders in the early 1990's than there have been in the last few years. If you ever hear someone telling you that there are more people being killed by guns now, this data shows otherwise.

Annual firearm caused murders

After looking at that, it got me to thinking. The rate of number of murders per year is not a completely meaningful trend. I felt that population was a relevant statistic for how many people are being killed by firearms. So I took the US population data found on the FBI website and used that to show how relevant the number of murders per year were compared with population growth. My thinking was if the population rate were changing, this could affect the murder rate. To make the numbers more relevant I took the population and divided it by 100,000 people so we could see how many people per 100,00 were being killed. According to the data, despite a population increase, there is a firearm murder rate decrease. This says that while nearly 6 in 100,000 Americans were being killed with firearms in 1992, in 2014 that had dropped to about 2.5 in 100,000 Americans being killed with firearms. This makes a case that people getting shot and killed with guns is happening less often than it used to. Are things getting better?

Firearm murders per 100,000 US population

Now that I can see that people getting killed with firearms is not getting worse, I thought it would be interesting to see by what method people are getting killed. The pie chart below breaks out the type of weapon used to kill people. Clearly, murders by use of handguns are the most frequent. Surprisingly, evil assault rifles is at the bottom of the list which is below knives, personal weapons (fists, arms, legs, feet), blunt objects (such as baseball bats), and shotguns.

Cause of murders by percent 1992-2014

I hope this allows you to see some of the data that is out there so you can decide what the urgency might be about people being killed by firearms.

I believe we are just getting the usual F.U.D. (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) from politicians and news outlets. Bad people using guns to kill people is not something that is getting worse. Clearly, assault rifles with high capacity magazines are not the most urgent item in need of legislation. Statistics show that violent crime is becoming less common. I believe that the main cause for concern is the devaluing of human life among people. I don't know how you put a statistic to that, and I certainly don't know how you legislate morality. Just because a talking head on TV, radio, or your favorite website claim one thing, does not always mean it is the truth.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 04:06

Jan Roos van GeenPeil op een persbijeenkomst ANP

Het referendum over het associatieverdrag tussen Oekra¯ne en de Europese Unie gaat door. De Kiesraad maakte vanochtend bekend dat het comit(C) GeenPeil genoeg handtekeningen heeft opgehaald om een raadgevend referendum af te dwingen.

Voor een volksraadpleging zijn 300.000 geldige verzoeken nodig. Er waren ruim 472.000 handtekeningen gezet en volgens de Kiesraad voldeden er 427.939 aan alle voorschriften, ruim voldoende dus. De Kiesraad heeft dat steekproefsgewijs gecontroleerd.

Het is de eerste keer dat kiezers kunnen oordelen over een wet die al is aangenomen. Die mogelijkheid bestaat sinds 1 juli.

Volgens GeenPeil komt het verdrag neer op een uitbreiding van de EU en is het daarom belangrijk voor de democratie dat ook het volk zich erover uitspreekt.

Jan Roos van GeenStijl, een van de initiatiefnemers van het referendum, zei in een toelichting dat zijn campagne er vooral op is gericht om de bevolking op te roepen te gaan stemmen. Om geldig te zijn is bij het referendum een opkomst van minimaal 30 procent nodig. GeenStijl zal zelf geen partij kiezen.

Thierry Baudet van het Burgercomit(C) EU, die ook voor het referendum heeft geijverd, blijft strijden tegen het Associatieverdrag. "Het is bedoeld om Oekra¯ne bij de EU te trekken; Oekra¯ne zou een neutrale tussenzone moeten zijn, zonder dat de EU of Rusland het land hoeft te claimen."

Het referendum moet over een half jaar worden gehouden. De precieze dag wordt bepaald door de zogenoemde referendumcommissie.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 22:43

Published October 14, 2015Cuba's army is small, but highly trained, according to military experts. (Reuters)

Cuban military operatives reportedly have been spotted in Syria, where sources believe they are advising President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers and may be preparing to man Russian-made tanks to aid Damascus in fighting rebel forces backed by the U.S.

Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frias, head of Cuba's Armed Forces, recently visited Syria to lead a group of Cuban military personnel joining forces with Russia in their support of Assad, according to information received by the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

On Wednesday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Cuban paramilitary and special forces units are on the ground in Syria, citing evidence from intelligence reports. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Cuban troops may have been training in Russia and may have arrived in Syria on Russian planes.

" ... it would indicate that General Raul Castro is more interested in supporting his allies, Russia and Syria, than in continuing to normalize relations with the U.S."

- Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami

An Arab military officer at the Damascus airport reportedly witnessed two Russian planes arrive there with Cuban military personnel on board. When the officer questioned the Cubans, they told him they were there to assist Assad because they are experts at operating Russian tanks, according to Jaime Suchlicki, the institute's executive director.

"It doesn't surprise me," Suchlicki told FoxNews.com, noting Russia's long history of supplying military equipment to Cuba as well as Cuba's assistance in Soviet-led operations in Africa the 1970's.

"They have a very close relationship," Suchlicki said. "The Russians have been training the Cubans for years and supplying them with all sorts of military equipment."

Syria's bloody civil war is in its fourth year and has so far cost an estimated 250,000 people their lives and sparked a humanitarian crisis as displaced refugees flee the embattled nation. The U.S. has called for the ouster of dictator Assad, and is supporting a rebel group known as the Free Syrian Army. But ISIS and Al Qaeda offshoot Al Nusra are also present in Syria, battling Assad, the FSA and each other. Russia, Iran and now apparently Cuba are helping Assad in his bid to maintain power.

Cuba's military is ranked the world's 110th most powerful by the site globalfirepower.com. While small, the Cuban military is "very well-trained," according to Suchlicki, who said their presence in Syria is a "departure from what the U.S. expected."

President Obama earlier this year removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, seeking to normalize relations between the two countries. The U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro's revolution. The U.S. spent decades trying to either actively overthrow the Cuban government or isolate the island, including toughening the economic embargo first imposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The U.S. Embassy in Havana reopened in July 2015.

"Yes, there are those who want to turn back the clock and double down on a policy of isolation," Obama said at the time, "but it's long past time for us to realize that this approach doesn't work. It hasn't worked for 50 years."

"This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas," Obama said in July from the White House Rose Garden.

The U.S. official described Cuban's involved in Syria as similar to the "Cuba-Angola arrangement" -- a reference to Cuban troops operating on behalf of the Soviets in several central African countries in the 1970's. Cuba also sent troops to Syria in 1973 to support them in the Yom Kippur War against Israel and deployed officers to observe Israeli military tactics.

The official could not confirm whether Cuba's top general is in Syria, or if Cuban forces are manning Russian tanks provided to Assad by Russia.

"If this information about the presence of Cuban troops in Syria now is confirmed, it would indicate that General Raul Castro is more interested in supporting his allies, Russia and Syria, than in continuing to normalize relations with the U.S.," the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies said in a statement Tuesday.

"Raul Castro has expressed publicly his support for the Syrian regime and his solidarity with Russian and Iranian objectives in the Middle East," the group said. "This new Cuban internationalism reaffirms one more time that the Castro's brothers are more interested in their role in the world in opposition to the U.S. than in modernizing Cuba and helping the Cuban people rise above their current misery."

Fox News' Cristina Corbin and Doug McKelway contributed to this report.

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Source: Reuters: World News

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:25

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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Source: newest submissions : inthemorning

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:54

Details of the air mission over Syria were confirmed by a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly because the details have not yet been formally announced.

C-17s, accompanied by fighter escort aircraft, dropped small arms ammunition and other items like hand grenades in Hasakah province in northern Syria to a coalition of rebels groups vetted by the US, known as the Syrian Arab Coalition.

All pallets successfully were recovered by friendly forces, a U.S. official said.

RELATED: Obama: Putin not leading on Syria fight

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:42

Turkish President Erdogan is playing some dangerous games, aiding Sunni extremists in their war to topple the Syrian government and stirring up old hatreds against the Kurds. So, was last week's murderous bombing in Ankara an outgrowth of those schemes or something worse, asks ex-CIA official Graham E. Fuller.

By Graham E. Fuller

''H¼ng¼r H¼ng¼r Ağlıyorum'' is a refrain from a old Turkish folksong '-- ''Bitterly I weep.'' It commemorates a bloody turning point at Sakarya against Greek invaders back in 1921. But the words couldn't more readily apply now to the unprecedented and outrageous bombing attacks in Ankara last week against marchers in a demonstration for peace that has cost the lives of some 100 people. Will that tragedy bring the country to its senses?

That event is the most horrific outcome yet of the escalating violence and mayhem that is emerging from the current Turkish electoral campaign '--one capriciously demanded by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was dissatisfied with the electoral setbacks of last June's elections that thwarted his amassing greater powers; hence he mandated new elections so voters could ''right their mistake.''

Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

He is operating under the increasingly unrealistic supposition that the new elections on Nov. 1 will somehow reverse his decline and grant him new authority in his arrogant push to create a new super-presidency. The frightening thing is that his electoral gambits have grown increasingly reckless; it now appears as if the president acknowledges almost no limits to the means used to manipulate the electorate into voting for him.

Elections in Turkey are generally a rough contact sport '-- even though they are open and democratic; vote-rigging is rare. This time however Erdoğan is pulling out all the stops in an ever-rising campaign of the intimidation and silencing of political rivals, including detention of large numbers of journalists and attacks on media that dare to criticize the president.

Worse, Erdoğan is particularly hostile towards the HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party), a relatively new Kurdish-oriented party which has actually gained a considerable following among non-Kurds in Turkey '-- particularly liberals and youth '-- who value its broad outreach as a secular socialist party. It was this strong showing by the HDP in the June elections that robbed Erdoğan of his expected majority.

He has had blood in his eye ever since and has chosen to exploit ugly nationalist impulses in the country to discredit '-- perhaps even find grounds to ban '-- this party that has been gaining some popularity in Turkey as a fresh new political force. Pro-Erdoğan mobs have visited violence upon the party's headquarters and members in recent months.

It was HDP elements and other liberal forces who dominated the march for peace last week and were the chief victims of the savage bombings. The HDP party leader has directly accused the president of complicity in the bombing of the marchers. There is, of course, no direct evidence of this as such. Indeed it might be too far a stretch to blame Erdoğan as directly responsible for engineering the events '-- such an act would of course be criminal in the highest degree.

So far Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has suggested that the ''Islamic State'' or ISIS is behind the slaughter. No reliable facts have been made public so far, and we may never get a clear answer. What is clearer, however, is that '-- although proving nothing '-- Erdoğan probably stood to benefit from this event more than other actors.

After inaugurating a bold, admirable and unprecedented initiative in earlier years to open dialog with the main Kurdish rebel group, he now seems to find greater political benefit in discrediting the HDP, perhaps even hoping to unleash unrest among Turkey's Kurds with the aim of even banning the HDP '-- thereby removing a major obstacle to a clear-cut victory in the November elections. But to move to mass bombing would be quite another thing.

Erdoğan may also be banking on the hope that much of the Turkish electorate may now be so unnerved by the increased violence and recent attacks from the rebel PKK group that they just might decide to vote for the president's party as a bulwark against the forces of Kurdish nationalism and chaos. But such a calculation represents a huge gamble that could produce a severe backlash: the electorate may well '-- and justifiably '-- fear that the president himself has become such a deeply polarizing, arrogant, erratic and destabilizing figure that he is even willing to put at risk the future stability of the country '-- and therefore will call for his defeat.

There are other forces that could also be theoretical beneficiaries of the bombing. Extremists within the right-wing nationalist party MHP are one possibility. And ISIS itself, of course, could well be behind the act, as the government claims. ISIS seeks to drive a wedge between Kurds and Turks and also to ''punish'' Erdoğan for backing away from his earlier, more tolerant view of ISIS in the struggle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And to attack his new willingness to support U.S. attacks against ISIS. Yet ISIS usually claims credit for its terrorist actions; in this case it has not so far done so '-- for what that's worth.

Other theories run more heavily to the conspiratorial '-- that the PKK Kurdish rebels sought to thwart its moderate Kurdish rivals; but the PKK has in fact declared an overall cease-fire, at least until the elections are over. Extreme leftists too (not a serious political force in the country) might seek to sow mayhem to weaken Erdoğan.

But even if Erdoğan's intimate circle had nothing directly to do with this bombing, there is little doubt that the president has worked to create an atmosphere of xenophobia, fear, instability and anti-Kurdish sentiment that has created an ugly and violent political atmosphere not seen in decades. I worry that he might now even be tempted to create armed confrontation with Russia over Syria as a further distraction '-- an exceptionally dangerous move.

The major question now is how the Turkish electorate will react to events that seem to be dragging Turkey towards the brink. Will it reject Erdoğan and vote against the AKP in enough numbers to severely curtail his powers and vaulting ambitions in the next parliament? Or will it buy into Erdoğan's increasingly hollow claims to be the ''indispensable leader'' who can keep the country on an even keel?

Turkey has before marched up the to political brink in previous years, only to find the electorate ultimately voting wisely to ensure the stability and progress of the country. Here's hoping their common sense will prevail this time as well. Stakes are high for everybody involved in the region.

Graham E. Fuller is a former senior CIA official, author of numerous books on the Muslim World; his latest book is Breaking Faith: A novel of espionage and an American's crisis of conscience in Pakistan. (Amazon, Kindle) grahamefuller.com

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Source: Reuters: World News

Mon, 12 Oct 2015 14:57

ISTANBUL Turkey's government said on Monday Islamic State was the prime suspect in suicide bombings that killed at least 97 people in Ankara, but opponents vented anger at President Tayyip Erdogan at funerals, universities and courthouses.

The father of three men wounded in the blasts told Reuters one of his sons had described seeing one of the bombers carrying a bag on his back and one in his hand, and called out "stop" before the bomb detonated.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday's attack, the worst of its kind on Turkish soil, was intended to influence the outcome of November polls Erdogan hopes will restore a majority the ruling AK party lost in June. Officials say there is no question of postponing the vote.

Two bombs struck seconds apart, targeting a rally of pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups near Ankara's main train station.

"If you consider the way the attack happened and the general trend of it, we have identified Islamic State as the primary focus," Davutoglu told Turkey's NTV television. "It was definitely a suicide bombing...DNA tests are being conducted. It was determined how the suicide bombers got there. We're close to a name, which points to one group."

The Haberturk newspaper has cited police sources as saying the type of explosive and the choice of target pointed to a group within Islamic State known as the 'Adiyaman ones', a reverence to Adiyaman province in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey is vulnerable to infiltration by Islamic State, which holds swathes of Syrian land abutting Turkey where some two million refugees live. But there has been no word from the group - usually swift to publicly claim responsibility for any attack it conducts - over the Ankara bombing or two very similar incidents earlier this year.

Opponents of Erdogan, who has led the country over 13 years, blame him for the attack, accusing the state at best of intelligence failings and at worst of complicity by stirring up nationalist, anti-Kurdish sentiment.

The government, facing a growing Kurdish conflict at home and the spillover of war in Syria, vehemently denies such accusations.

But the sheer range of possible perpetrators - from Islamic State and Marxist radicals to militant nationalists and Kurdish armed factions - highlights deep fissures running through Turkish society. At stake is the stability of a NATO country seen by the West as a bulwark against Middle Eastern turmoil.

PROTESTS

Hundreds chanting anti-government slogans marched on a mosque in an Istanbul suburb for the funeral of several of the victims, attended by Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the pro-Kurdish parliamentary opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which says it was the target of the bombings.

Riot police with water cannon and armored vehicles stood by as the crowd, some chanting "Thief, Murderer Erdogan" and waving HDP flags, moved towards the mosque in the working class Umraniye neighborhood of Istanbul.

Several labor unions also called protests. Hundreds of people, many wearing doctors' uniforms and carrying Turkish Medical Association banners, gathered by the main train station in Ankara where the explosions happened to lay red carnations but were blocked by riot police, a Reuters witness said.

Lawyers at an Istanbul courthouse chanted "Murderer Erdogan will give account" as colleagues applauded, footage circulated on social media showed.

Erdogan, accused by opponents of an increasingly authoritarian and divisive style, has overseen a purge in the judiciary of elements he believes to have been colluding with a U.S. based cleric-rival planning a coup against him.

SYRIA SPILLOVER

The HDP has put the death toll from the bombings at 128 and said it had identified all but eight of the bodies. Davutoglu's office has said 97 were killed.

The bombs struck as hundreds gathered for a march organized by pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups to protest over a growing conflict between Turkish security forces and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeast.

The PKK is deemed a terrorist group by the United States and the EU as well as Turkey. Some 40,000 have been killed in the predominantly Kurdish southeast since the insurgency began in 1984.

The father of three men wounded in the blasts said one of his sons, Abdulselam, described seeing one of the bombers carrying a bag on his back and one in his hand. He called out "stop" suspecting an attacker.

"The bomber panicked. Selam got nervous and acted without thinking. Maybe he could have had the chance to get him arrested, but he shouted to the bomber," the father, Mehmet Ali Altun, told Reuters outside the hospital where his sons were being treated. The son, who had been questioned by police, declined to speak to media.

The HDP accused Ankara of escalating violence to try to reduce its vote at Nov. 1 polls, restore an AK majority and pave the way for the more powerful presidential system Erdogan seeks.

The Ankara attack revived memories of a similar bombing of a pro-Kurdish rally in the southeastern town of Diyarbakir and another in Suruc in July that killed at least 30 and was also attributed to Islamic State. There was no claim of responsibility and HDP says there was no proper investigation.

"Our electorates feel under constant threat in every social space and political activity they attend," it said.

In comments reflecting the murky entanglements that exist in Turkish political thinking, the HDP also accused the AKP of relying on radical groups including Islamic State as proxies to fight Kurds in northern Syria. The government strongly denies such suggestions.

Tensions have further unnerved investors, many of whom have reduced their Turkey exposure in recent months because of the election uncertainty. The lira weakened to 2.95 to the dollar TRYTOM=D3 early on Monday, making it the worst performing currency among major emerging markets.

AK Party spokesman Omer Celik told reporters the party was suspending its rallies until Friday. Demirtas said he no longer thought large rallies were possible amid the security fears but that it would be up to the HDP to decide.

(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker, Orhan Coskun, Ece Toksabay and Ercan Gurses in Ankara; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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Source: Dark Web & Cyber Security

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:36

NOTE: The following materials are for information purposes only and may not be copied, reproduced, or transmitted without the explicit permission of SITE Intelligence Group and specific attribution to SITE Intelligence Group.

DetailsMultimediaCreated: 13 October 2015

Al-Hayat Media Center, the foreign language media division of the Islamic State (IS), released an abridged version of its video promoting the IS' minting of gold coins, ''The Rise of the Caliphate: Return of the Gold Dinar''.

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Source: newest submissions : inthemorning

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:17

In early 2015, Yousaf al Salafi, a man believed to be the Pakistani commander of Islamic State, confessed during investigations that he has been receiving money through the United States.

A few months after al Salafi revealed the funding he was receiving was routed through the United States, Michael Flynn, former director of Obama's Defence Intelligence Agency, said he warned the Obama administration three years ago that the groups they were funding in Syria were actually Islamic jihadists. Now, a group of 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military's Central Command have complained that their reports on Islamic State and the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda were being incorrectly changed by senior officials.

On January 22, law enforcing agencies in Pakistan claimed they arrested not only al Salafi, but also two other people during a raid in the city of Lahore. A source familiar with the investigation told Daily Express that during the investigation al Salafi admitted he received funding to run the organisation in Pakistan and ''recruit young people to fight in Syria.'' The Pakistani-Syrian entered Pakistan via Turkey last year, but it was previously reported that he crossed into Turkey from Syria, was caught there but managed to escape and went to Pakistan to establish ISIS in the region.

Daily Express cited sources as saying that John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State was familiar with al Salafi's revelations and so was CENTCOM chief General Lloyd Austin. Al Salafi confessed he was recruiting people with a Pakistani accomplice to send them to Syria and was receiving around US$600 per person.

A recently declassified 2012 document shows that ''Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq]'' were listed as the ''major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.'' The document also revealed that ''the West, Gulf countries and Turkey support the opposition while Russia, China and Iran support the regime.'' According to the declassified document, the Obama administration was warned in 2012 that these Islamic jihadists wanted to create a ''Salafist principality in eastern Syria'' and that ISI [Islamic State of Iraq] could declare an Islamic State through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, which will create grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory.''

Now, over 50 intelligence analysts have formally claimed their reports on Islamic State and al-Qaeda's branch in Syria were altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast reported. An investigation into the alleged manipulation of intelligence has been opened.

A couple of months ago, two senior analysts at CENTCOM claimed in a written complaint to the Defence Department inspector general that the reports described the terror groups as weaker than they believe they are. The reports, some of which were briefed to the U.S. president, were altered by CENTCOM senior officials to make sure it adheres to the presidential administration's public line that the United States is winning the fight against Islamic State and an al-Qaeda branch in Syria named al-Nusra, the analysts told the publication. The written complaint was supported by 50 other intelligence analysts.

In recent months, members of the Obama administration have tried to convince the population that the fight against ISIS may soon be over. ''ISIS is losing,'' John Allen, retired Marine general charged with coordinating the Islamic State campaign said in July.

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 14:14

CBS's claim of a ''plot to sell nuke materials to ISIS'' is misleading; the assertion that ''ISIS looks to buy nuclear weapons'' is just wrong.

The AP published this week (10/5/15) a thrilling account of how the FBI, in concert with Moldovan authorities, ''disrupted'' a smuggling ring that was supposedly trying to sell ''nuclear material'' to ISIS and other terror organizations over a five-year span. The primary developments in the story are almost a year old, but the resurfaced tale made news across the English-speaking world:

'Annihilate America': Inside a Secret, Frightening Scheme to Sell Nuclear Material to ISIS

'--Salon (10/7/15)

AP: Smugglers Busted Trying to Sell Nuclear Material to ISIS

'--CBS News (10/7/15)

FBI Foils Smugglers' Plot to Sell Nuclear Material to ISIS

'--The Independent (10/7/15)

There was only one problem: At no point do the multiple iterations of the AP's reporting show that anyone involved in the FBI sting were members of or have any connection to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (aka ISIL or Daesh). While one of several smuggling attempts discussed in AP's reporting involved an actual potential buyer''an otherwise unknown Sudanese doctor who four years ago ''suggested that he was interested'' in obtaining uranium''the ''terrorists'' otherwise involved in the cases were FBI and other law enforcement agents posing as such. According to the AP and NBC's Pete Williams:

However, the official emphasized that there was no known ISIS connection. An undercover informant, working with Moldovan police, claimed that he was an ISIS representative.

''But that was totally made up,'' the official said.

This would not perturb the American press, who once again eager to hype an ISIS threat, either A) heavily implied this ''plot'' was evidence of ISIS seeking a nuclear weapon or B) actually went a step further and said as much despite it being wholly untrue.

First the outlets who heavily implied ISIS was involved but used the qualifiers ''attempted,'' ''tried'' or the abstract ''plots'' so as to not expressly lie:

Smugglers Tried to Sell Nuclear Material to ISIS

'--NBC News (10/7/15)

Smugglers Try to Sell Nukes to ISIS

'--Fox News (10/7/15)

FBI Has Foiled 4 Attempts by Gangs to Sell Nuclear Material to ISIS Through Russian Connections

'--Daily Mail (10/7/15)

(Note that the Daily Mail managed to also work the threat du jour into the headline by means of the reference to ''Russian connections''''a phrase so vague as to be virtually meaningless.)

Actually, no nuclear material was shopped to ISIS.

Then there were the publications who said ISIS was involved (a falsehood):

AP Investigation Finds That Nuclear Smugglers Shopped Radioactive Material to ISIS and Other Terrorists'--Business Insider (10/6/15)

Nuclear Smugglers Shopped Radioactive Material to Islamic State, Other Terrorists: AP report'--Chicago Tribune (10/6/15)

Again, there was nothing ''shopped'' to ISIS, because ISIS was never involved. While it's accurate''if misleading''to say they ''attempted'' or had a ''plot'' to sell radioactive material to ISIS, it is factually incorrect to say anyone ''shopped'' something to people who weren't in any way involved in the transaction. While it can be said that smugglers ''seeking'' ISIS is disturbing in and of itself, it's untrue that this solicitation is evidence of an actual ISIS threat.

Fox News and CBS would take it one step further, by expressly saying the plot was evidence that ''ISIS was trying to buy a nuke.''

National Review's Rich Lowry appears above Fox News' false claim about ''ISIS trying to buy nukes.''

Fox's Gretchen Carlson started off an interview with Rep. Mike Turner by asking, ''Congressman, what are we supposed to make of this news that ISIS and other terrorist groups are trying to get their hands on dirty bombs?'' CBS, meanwhile, led their broadcast by breathlessly revealing ''new fears tonight that ISIS is ready to go nuclear.''

But neither of these statements are true. This sting does not support the claim that ISIS is ''trying to buy a nuke,'' because ''there was no known ISIS connection.''

International Business Times' Christopher Harress would take misinformation to whole new heights, inventing a Jason Bourne narrative out of whole cloth and, evidently, not bothering to read the AP story:

Members of the Islamic State group with links to Russian gangs were trying to get hold of nuclear material to build a radioactive dirty bomb before Moldovan police and FBI operatives stopped them, according to an investigation reported Wednesday by the Associated Press. The terror group, which is also known as ISIS, had been approached by gangs in Moldova that were specifically seeking a buyer from ISIS.

This is 100 percent false. There is no evidence the Islamic State group (with links to ''Russian gangs'' or otherwise) were trying to get a hold of radioactive material to build a dirty bomb. What there is evidence of is that FBI and local authorities posed as ''ISIS'' and conned some Moldovan gangsters into selling them some materials that may or may not have actually been ''nuclear,'' much less capable of creating a ''dirty bomb''''a weapon, it should be noted, that is thus far entirely hypothetical.

So here we are: Fake FBI ISIS setting up ostensibly real post-Soviet mobsters to purchase material for a potentially deadly device that exists only in the minds of counterterrorism threat risk managers. The media, either agnostic to or incapable of understanding what really happened, paints the picture of the FBI swooping in to stop a Russian/ISIS nuclear conspiracy at the 11th hour.

What takes place, before our very eyes, is a kind of War on Terror transubstantiation. Representational terror plots become real ones, fake enemies become Russo-Jihadi crime syndicates, and an American public, once again, is presented with a cartoonish, wildly inflated threat profile that's increasingly divorced from reality.

Adam Johnson is an associate editor at AlterNet and writes frequently for FAIR.org. You can follow him on Twitter at @adamjohnsonnyc.

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Source: Radar Online

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:31

As Lamar Odom battles for his life in a Las Vegas hospital with his lungs collapsed and kidneys failing, RadarOnline.com has all exclusive details in the tragic story.

Exclusive Details On Odom's Struggles To Stay AliveInsiders in Nevada told RadarOnline.com early Wednesday that Odom's ''kidneys are failing'' and ''lungs have collapsed,'' as ''have some other organs [doctors] are trying to revive.'' The source added, ''He's unconscious but heart is fine '... his heart is the only thing that is fine.'' Odom, 35, was initially taken from the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada to the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas via ambulance, after the 6-foot-10-inch former NBA forward was too big to be taken via helicopter.

PHOTOS: Drugs, Death & Arrests'--Bobbi Kristina Brown's 50 Most Shocking Moments

Kardashians 'Making Everything A Circus'As Radar previously reported, Odom's ''extremely upset'' ex-wife Khloe Kardashian, her sister Kim and their mother Kris Jennerhave created what eyewitnesses called a ''sh*t show'' at the hospital, filming scenes for their reality series and ''bossing people around.'' A source told Radar: ''The Kardashians are trying to run everything '... they walked into the hospital with cameras rolling '-- it was shocking, but hardly a surprise '... they are trying to take over the situation, so typical.'' The insider added that ''the Kardashians are making everything a circus,'' while ''doctors have been working non-stop to make sure Lamar pulls through.'' Khloe initially filed for divorce from the NBA veteran in December 2013 after enduring months of humiliating scandal linked to Odom's purported cheating and drug abuse.

Brothel Owner Recalls Events Leading Up To CatastropheLove Ranch proprietor Dennis Hof, of HBO's Cathouse fame, told the AP that Odom was chauffeured into the adult establishment Saturday looking to ''have a good time and relax'' as ''he just wanted to get away.'' The former L.A. Clipper and Laker was ''happy'' and ''sleeping every night'' prior to a pair of the women at the brothel finding him lying face down, unconscious and unresponsive. Odom began ''throwing up all kinds of stuff,'' according to Hof, who confirmed that the troubled athlete had consumed herbal Viagra and cognac, but was unaware of any other substances he might have consumed.

PHOTOS: 'Falling Apart!' Khloe Kardashian Partying Hard To Numb Broken Heart '-- Friends Fear For The 'KUWTK' Star

Laker ReactionsOdom's former Los Angeles teammates Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace were coincidentally in town for a preseason game against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Metta World Peace '-- who like Odom, began his professional basketball career after he was selected in the 1999 NBA draft under his former name of Ron Artest '-- told reporters, ''There's not one word I could say that would make sense,'' after hearing the news. While Bryant did not speak to media after the game, Laker spokesman John Black told CNN, ''We are aware of the reports but have no information to share at this time. I am not aware of any of our players being in contact with Lamar.'' Odom's time on the team ended after seven years, ending when his spirits were crushed when he was involved in a proposed deal to the New Orleans Hornets; when that didn't pan out, he was shipped to the Dallas Mavericks for a troubled season, finishing up in Los Angeles with the team that originally drafted him, the Clippers.

Watch: See the Nevada brothel where Lamar Odom was found unconscious

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Source: BlackListed News

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:30

The new head of the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) selected by President Barack Obama has very close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Robert Califf, an FDA deputy commissioner and cardiologist at Duke University, has had considerable dealings, including financial ones, with drug manufacturers, whose products must be approved by the agency he's been tabbed to lead.

''No one who knows him thinks he wants to weaken the regulatory agency he has been chosen to lead,'' The New York Times reported. ''But he has deeper ties to the pharmaceutical industry than any FDA commissioner in recent memory, and some public health advocates question whether his background could tilt him in the direction of an industry he would be in charge of supervising.''

The multi-million dollar research center at Duke that Califf ran before joining the FDA received more than 60% of its funding from Big Pharma. In addition, Califf has collected consulting fees from drug makers such as Eli Lilly, Merck and Novartis, although he has donated those fees to non-profits since the mid-2000s.

Califf also drew scrutiny for the ''highly unusual'' step of removing his name from a series of scientific papers concerning the FDA's oversight of clinical trials, according to the Boston Globe. The move ''could raise ethical concerns,'' the Globe's Sheila Kaplan wrote, particularly since Califf was the ''driving force behind the series.''

The study examined ''pragmatic'' clinical trials, which some believe more closely replicate real-world conditions. Parts of the papers are critical of the FDA and recommend potentially divisive changes. One of the study's co-authors told the Globe that the FDA asked Califf to remove his name.

Daniel Carpenter, a Harvard political science professor, told the Times: ''In a sense, he's the ultimate industry insider.''

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Sanders Opposes FDA Chief Nominee Over Ties to 'Greedy' Big Pharma (by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams)

FDA Official Took Name off Papers (by Sheila Kaplan, Boston Globe)

FDA Nominee Califf's Ties to Drug Makers Worry Some (by Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times)

Commercial Relationships Tracking Form: Robert Califf (Duke Clinical Research Institute, Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statements) (pdf)

Is Revolving Door between FDA and Supplements Industry Keeping Dangerous Dietary Aids on the Market? (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Steve Straehley, AllGov)

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 05:58

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 06:01

Updated Oct. 5, 2015 1:21 p.m. ET WOLFSBURG, Germany'--Two top VolkswagenVLKAY-4.00% engineers who found they couldn't deliver as promised a clean diesel engine for the U.S. market are at the center of a company probe into the installation of engine software designed to fool regulators, according to people familiar with the matter.

The two men, Ulrich Hackenberg, AudiNSU-1.63% 's chief engineer, and Wolfgang Hatz, developer of Porsche's Formula One and Le Mans racing engines, were among the engineers suspended in the investigation of the emissions cheating scandal that sank the company's market value by 43% since Sept. 18 and triggered a world-wide recall to refit the engines to meet clear-air standards, these people said.

Messrs. Hackenberg and Hatz, who didn't respond to requests for comment, are viewed as two of the best and brightest engineers in German industry. They were put in charge of research and development at the Volkswagen group shortly after Martin Winterkorn became chief executive in January 2007. Mr. Winterkorn, who resigned over the scandal, couldn't be reached for comment.

The company has acknowledged that managers, struggling to meet U.S. sales targets, masked the emissions of new-car engines to sell so-called clean diesel technology to skeptical American consumers. The car maker said as many as 11 million vehicles carried a ''defeat device,'' software that reduces tailpipe emissions only when the car is being tested, not on the road.

Several countries have since blocked sales of certain VW vehicles, and regulators are considering steps to tighten emissions standards for diesel engines.

The details haven't been made public, but Volkswagen's investigation is focused on Messrs. Hackenberg and Hatz, Mr. Winterkorn's top aides during his tenure at Audi, as well as Heinz-Jakob Neusser, head of development at the VW brand, people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Neusser, also suspended, joined VW from Porsche in 2011, long after the diesel engines began production. He declined to comment.

Disclosure of the scam by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month unleashed criminal investigations of Volkswagen and its management in the U.S. and Europe, and threatened to bury the company in shareholder and customer lawsuits for years.

''Our company was dishonest with the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board, and with all of you,'' Michael Horn, head of Volkswagen of America, told dealers last month in New York City. ''We've totally screwed up.''

For years, Volkswagen sought a triumph in the U.S. As part of an expansion of the company to sell at least 10 million cars a year by 2018, Mr. Winterkorn's strategy was to be a leader in the world's three biggest markets.

Under Mr. Winterkorn, Volkswagen became the biggest foreign car maker in China. In Europe, one in every four cars is now sold by one of Volkswagen's eight car brands: VW; premium car maker Audi; sports car brand Porsche; Czech car maker Skoda; Spanish auto maker SEAT; and ultraluxury brands Bentley and Lamborghini.

VW hit its 10 million global target in 2014'--four years earlier than planned'--and passed Toyota Motor Co. and General Motors Co. to take the top spot in the first half of this year. But to dominate the global market it needed to increase U.S. sales.

Mr. Winterkorn gave U.S. executives a goal of more than tripling annual sales, to at least 800,000 vehicles, in a 10-year plan he set in 2008.

While popular in Germany, diesel-engine vehicles made up just 5% of the U.S. car market in 2007, when Mr. Winterkorn left Audi to be VW's CEO. Seeing this as an advantage, diesel became the centerpiece of the U.S. campaign.

Volkswagen pitched U.S. buyers a powerful car with German engineering that met standards on tailpipe emissions by burning high-performance ''clean diesel'' fuel.

At Volkswagen headquarters in December, Mr. Winterkorn stood in a top-secret showroom known informally as Valhalla and leaned across the hood of a prototype sport-utility vehicle, the CrossBlue, to be built in Chattanooga, Tenn. One version was to have included the clean-diesel engine technology.

''The Yanks like things big,'' he quipped to The Wall Street Journal about the vehicle.

The company's clean-diesel strategy began a decade ago, when the Volkswagen brand was run by Wolfgang Bernhard, who was poached from rival Daimler AG by Bernd Pischetsrieder, Volkswagen CEO at the time. Mr. Bernhard set out to build a new diesel engine for the U.S. market, named the EA 189. Mr. Bernhard and Mr. Pischetsrieder last month issued a joint public statement ''dismissing in the strongest possible terms'' any connection with the emissions cheating scandal related to the EA 189.

As an outsider to VW, Mr. Bernhard faced resistance from Mr. Winterkorn and his engineers at Audi, according to a former VW executive. The disagreement came to a head, said the executive, who was involved in those discussions, when Mr. Bernhard licensed a new diesel technology for Volkswagen's planned diesel engine. Called BlueTec, it had been developed by Mr. Berhnard's former company, Daimler, and German supplier Robert Bosch GmbH.

''In light of tougher upcoming emissions standards, we felt it important to use diesel technology that would stand for the next 15 years,'' the executive present at the meetings said, referring to BlueTec. This person said many engineers felt VW's own technology couldn't yield sufficiently clean emissions.

But at engine-group meetings in Wolfsburg, Messrs. Hackenberg and Hatz, the Audi engineers under Mr. Winterkorn, opposed Mr. Bernhard's decision to drop VW's technology, according to the person who was there.

By the end of 2006, Mr. Bernhard's team had a working prototype of the engine. Then, in December 2006, Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Beetle inventor Ferdinand Porsche, and chairman of VW at the time, pushed out Mr. Pischetsrieder, the Volkswagen CEO. Mr. Bernhard left in January 2007.

Key Events1999: The Lupo 3L TDI, for turbo- charged direct injection, features a high-pressure fuel-injection system which Volkswagen integrates into other models, lowering fuel consumption by 15%

2005: Volkswagen begins work on developing BlueTec clean diesel engine

2006: Volkswagen introduces the Polo BlueMotion, fitted with a diesel- particulate filter, at the Geneva Motor Show

2007: Martin Winterkorn is appointed chief executive

2007: In August, Volkswagen cancels cooperation with Daimler, Bosch on BlueTec

2008: VW investigators believe VW employees installed defeat device on EA 189 engines

2011: Volkswagen opens a new plant in Chattanooga, Tenn

Sept. 18, 2015: EPA discloses that VW cheated on emissions tests of diesel-powered cars

Sept. 20: Volkswagen admits that it cheated on U.S. emissions tests

Sept. 22: Volkswagen says 11 million cars affected by illegal software

Sept. 23: VW CEO Martin Winterkorn resigns under pressure

Sept. 25: Porsche chief Matthias M¼ller named CEO of Volkswagen group

Sept. 29: VW announces plans for massive recall of 11 million vehicles

'--Source: Staff reports

Mr. Winterkorn became chief executive and put Messrs. Hackenberg and Hatz in charge of the Volkswagen R&D group and engine development. The two engineers had worked together devising new Volkswagen cars during the critical years when the vehicle maker struggled to develop diesel engines to conform to tough U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions standards.

Months later, in August 2007, Volkswagen canceled the licensing deal for BlueTec with Daimler because it didn't want to use its competitor's brand. It rebranded the company's diesel engine TDI'--for turbocharged direct injection.

The emissions-cheating software is believed to have been installed on the EA 189 engine sometime before it went into production in 2008, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Hackenberg, a career Volkswagen engineer who worked on developing concepts for Audi models from 2002 to early 2007, is credited with developing VW's modular manufacturing.

In an interview last year, Mr. Hackenberg described presenting Mr. Piech in the 1990s with a model to build a new Audi, which would eventually become the A4.

Sometime later, Mr. Hackenberg said he got the idea to build a longer car on the same platform as the A4. He made the proposal to Mr. Piech, giving birth to the Audi A6. Later, when he was CEO of Volkswagen, Mr. Piech asked Mr. Hackenberg to build a VW Passat on the same platform.

Volkswagen now builds SUVs by VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and'--soon'--Lamborghini on the same platform. The models all sprang from Mr. Hackenberg's idea to shrink and then grow the Audi sedan. He returned to Audi in 2013.

Mr. Hatz, a car racing enthusiast, joined Volkswagen in 2001. He spent much of his career in engine development with stints at BMW, Opel and Fiat. He ran Audi's engine development program, from 2001 to February 2007, when he also oversaw engine development for Volkswagen.

Since 2011, he has run research and development at Porsche. In June, Porsche won the 24-hour car race at Le Mans, ending Audi's five-year winning streak after only its second year returning to the endurance motor-racing event.

Both men developed an international reputation as engineers, said Ferdinand Dudenh¶ffer head of the Center of Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

''It will be difficult for Volkswagen to replace them,'' he said.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications:Wolfgang Hatz developed racing engines Porsche used in Formula One and Le Mans. An earlier version of this article contained an incorrect Corrections & Amplifications note that said Mr. Hatz didn't develop a Formula One engine. Volkswagen delivered almost 10 million cars to customers last year. An earlier version of a chart featured in this article incorrectly said the company delivered close to 100 million cars.(Oct. 5, 2015)

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 06:12

The Volkswagen scandal is heading to the big screen.

Paramount and LeonardoDiCaprio's Appian Way have acquired the rights to a book proposal by Jack Ewing.

Ewing's book will investigate how a "more, better, faster" ethos fueled one of the greatest frauds in corporate history. The German car company had programmed their diesel cars so that U.S. standards emissions were met only when the car was undergoing emissions testing. On the road, emissions rates were up to 40 times higher.

The scandal has severely damaged the iconic car company's reputation, and led to the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn.

Ewing's untitled book, pitched as the Too Big To Fail of the auto industry, inked a mid-six figures book deal with Norton earlier in October.

DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran will produce via Appian Way.

Shari Smiley of The Gotham Group repped the book.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 06:35

Car manufacturers are required under law to report death and injury claims to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those figures allow the regulatory agency to identify potentially fatal and dangerous defects. In the last year, the federal agency has investigated reporting inaccuracies related to Honda and Fiat Chrysler. Now, a new report shows that Volkswagen '' in the midst of an emissions scandal '' may have underreported deaths and injuries relate to its vehicles.

Bloomberg, citing an analysis of government data, reports that over the last decade VW has consistently reported death and injury claims at a rate of nine times lower than the average rate for the 11 biggest automakers.

In fact, the company's reporting rate even fell below that of both Honda and Fiat Chrysler's underreported claims.

Financial advisory firm Stout Risius Ross Inc. analyzed the government data and created a ratio of death and injury reports per million vehicles on the road for each automaker.

According to that analysis, the average incident reporting rate among all 11 manufacturers came out to about 301 deaths and injuries per million vehicles.

On the far low end was VW, which reported just 34 incidents per million vehicles. In contrast, General Motors reported 524 incidents per million vehicles.

The underreported rate for Honda and Fiat Chrysler had rates of 101 and 78 incidents per million vehicles on the road, respectively.

As a result of its underreporting, Honda was fined $70 million by NHTSA, while regulators have yet to determine if Fiat Chrysler will face additional fines on top of its recent $105 million penalty related to a failure to address recalls.

''The data demonstrates that even on a fleet-adjusted basis, the number of reported incidents by Volkswagen is significantly below what one would expect based on those reported by other automakers,'' Neil Steinkamp, a Stout Risius managing director, tells Bloomberg. ''They are also significantly below the reporting of automakers that have already been cited for non-compliance.''

While it's possible that the reporting rate for VW just means the company's cars are the safest on the market, consumer advocacy groups say that likely isn't the case.

Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Washington-based watchdog Center for Auto Safety, tells Bloomberg that Volkswagen's numbers are so low that he questions how they were compiled.

''NHTSA doesn't have the resources to police all of this, but now they're asking the automakers to tell them whether they're in compliance,'' Ditlow said. ''For the automakers, it's a time of reckoning.''

For Volkswagen, New Questions Arise on U.S. Injury Reporting [Bloomberg]

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Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:35

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTTO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESAND THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE

October 14, 2015

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

On October 12, 2015, approximately 90 U.S. Armed Forces personnel began deploying to Cameroon with the consent of the Government of Cameroon. This deployment is in advance of the deployment of additional U.S. Armed Forces personnel to Cameroon to conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations in the region. The total number of U.S. military personnel to be deployed to Cameroon is anticipated to be up to approximately 300. These forces are equipped with weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security, and they will remain in Cameroon until their support is no longer needed.

I directed the deployment of U.S. forces in furtherance of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.

I am providing this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148). I appreciate the support of the Congress in this action.

Sincerely,

BARACK OBAMA

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:09

President Barack Obama has backed off in his efforts to convince tech companies to create so-called backdoor access to their encryption programs that protect the contents of users' data.

But the White House has not given up on accessing that information, preferring for now to keep talking to'--and presumably pressuring'--companies to give federal law enforcement access to encryption systems on a case-by-case basis, according to The Washington Post.

The biggest change in Obama's position is his decision Oct. 1 not to ask Congress to approve a law mandating that companies open up their encryption programming to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on an ongoing basis.

''While eschewing attempts to legislatively mandate that tech companies build backdoors into their services, the president is continuing the status quo '' that is, informally pressuring companies to give the government access to unencrypted data,'' the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported.

The EFF, which has been fighting Obama's encryption access demands, called the change ''a partial victory for those of us fighting for strong, secure, private communications online.''

EFF is part of a broad coalition called SaveCrypto.org that represents more than 50,000 people and over 30 nonprofits and companies that opposes any ''legislation, executive order, or private agreement with the government'' that would ''undermine our rights.''

The government still has ways of obtaining personal information. For instance, it's easier to access when it's transmitted via telecommunications companies, which have a much cozier relationship with the government than the social media giants.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Partial Victory: Obama Encryption Policy Rejects Laws Mandating Backdoors, but Leaves the Door Open for Informal Deals (by Rainey Reitman, Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Obama Administration Opts Not to Force Firms to Decrypt Data '-- For Now (by Ellen Nakashima and Andrea Peterson, Washington Post)

Obama Won't Seek Access to Encrypted User Data (by Nicole Perlroth and David E. Sanger, New York Times)

Major Tech Firms Continue to Resist U.S. Government Demands for Text and Email Access (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Steve Straehley, AllGov)

Major Tech Firms, Fearing Loss of Profits, Call for Reform of Government Surveillance; Obama Hedges (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

NSA Invaded Google and Yahoo Global Data Centers to Access Hundreds of Millions of Accounts (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 20:59

Daimler announced Wednesday that it would help Germany's growing refugee crisis by offering ''bridge internships'' to 40 people along with German classes, transportation for aid organizations and food donations.

The company would put to work some refugees who have flooded the country to escape violence in nearby Middle Eastern countries. In all, Daimler announced it would put to work ''several hundred'' refugees after a 14-week course in helping them to learn the nation's language and construction practices.

Daimler joins Audi in offering help to refugees in Germany, after that automaker announced this summer that it would donate '‚¬1 million ($1.1 million) to aid organizations.

Germany is currently struggling with how that country will manage the millions of people who have recently flooded into the country.

''Immigration is an opportunity for Germany. As a company, we take social responsibility very seriously. With our 'bridge internships' we help refugees with their professional and social integration and offer an unbureaucratic entry into the labor market,'' Wilfried Porth, Director of Labor Relations, said in a statement.

Employing a few hundred and donating money and help to a few aid organizations won't necessarily relieve the economic burden of an entire country moving within its borders, but the support by German automakers is in stark contrast to how at least one of our presidential contenders fires up support in our automaking locales.

It's a good day to Daimler.

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Source: The Conversation

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:14

The European Union, one of the strongest economies in the world and home to some of the most advanced state apparatuses in human history, is preparing to shut down its borders, one after the other, because it can't cope with the number of refugees arriving from war in the Middle East. These same institutions were of course able to find the resources to finance an expensive military operation on the European sea borders against the same refugees.

All this emphasis on policing and military measures is based on the idea that being a refugee is a crime.

More than half a million Syrian people were registered as refugees in Europe between April 2011 and September 2015. More than 80% of these people arrived through the Greek sea borders from where they make their way north. They are rushing to go as far north as possible in Europe before the West completely shuts down its borders.

Although the majority are war refugees or political refugees, many EU member states appear to be treating the crisis as a security issue, just as they have done for years. But treating the situation as a policing matter suggests, at best, that European leaders don't understand what is going on. At worst, they are making a criminal decision to ignore the humanitarian dimension of the phenomenon.

When more than 400 migrants drowned off the coast of Italy in April 2015, local leaders responded as though it was not a humanitarian crisis that had erupted on their shores. Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi spoke of a ''new slave trade'' being run by human traffickers.

Standing at his side, French president Fran§ois Hollande blamed ''the terrorists'' who put the lives of migrants at risk by packing them into boats crossing the Mediterranean from Libya. More recently, a Hungarian government spokesperson said the Croatian asylum system had been ''defeated'' by the human traffickers. And in the UK, the government is hoping for a UN resolution that will allow European Union and individual countries to take ''enforcement action'' against vessels seeking to smuggle refugees to Europe.

Who are the criminals?This narrative about human trafficking either criminalises or victimises migrants and refugees. It focuses on the process rather than the structural conditions that generate migration: war, loss of means of production and inequality.

While the conditions experienced by many migrants and refugees en route to Europe are no doubt appalling, the people we call ''human traffickers'' are usually not much more than informal networks of expensive ''travel agents''. For a fee, they accommodate the migrants' movement, they don't create it.

Getting their story straight.Reuters

The horrendous conditions under which this mobility takes place are a by-product of the effort to evade national and international border policing and visa policies. Basically the policing of borders creates business for these human traffickers. They of course will never be found driving the boats, so all this patrolling of borders will not lead to their capture '' it will only put the migrants at risk.

Because it has wrongly elevated human trafficking as the reason for migration, the EU has responded to this crisis by bolstering its marine border patrols rather than trying to respect the human rights of the enormous population of refugees trying to reach Europe. This move is potentially lethal. It could cause an upsurge in the casualties of migrants trying to reach Europe since migrants and their travel agents will follow more dangerous pathways for their migratory journey.

What's more, the decision to paint refugees and traffickers as criminals legitimises the far-right voices that see a refugee's life as worthless. It fuels groups like the band of Greek neo-Nazis who attacked four boats of refugees on the open sea on October 9, stealing the keys and leaving the passengers adrift in the sea, helpless for eight hours until the coastguard found them, thankfully alive.

Grassroots welcome packageDespite the poor and ideologically fuelled responses of EU states, citizens in different countries of Europe have welcomed the flows of their fellow people. In Germany people applauded migrants and refugees as they arrived by train. In Greece dozens of self-organised hotspots have been created by different groups and initiatives, with great success. Citizens of the debt-ridden country offer clothing, food and other items in order for them to be distributed to the refugees. In many ways they are filling the gaps created by the lack of state protection.

What we are seeing through these activities is the enactment of human solidarity and the appliance of human rights through bottom-up processes rather than their implementation by states, which seem to be viewing human rights as something to be occasionally applied and tactically used.

So while the situation remains gloomy, there is at least a positive. By reclaiming the job of helping refugees as governments continue to paint them as criminals, activists seem to be turning human rights into a form of resistance.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 12:36

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:54

BackgroundEditBy the early years of the 1970s, a series of troubling revelations started to appear in the press concerning intelligence activities. First came the revelations of Christopher Pyle in January 1970 of the U.S. Army's spying on the civilian population[1][2] and Sam Ervin's Senate investigations produced more revelations.[3] Then on December 22, 1974, The New York Times published a lengthy article by Seymour Hersh detailing operations engaged in by the CIA over the years that had been dubbed the "family jewels". Covert action programs involving assassination attempts against foreign leaders and covert attempts to subvert foreign governments were reported for the first time. In addition, the article discussed efforts by intelligence agencies to collect information on the political activities of US citizens.[4]

In 1975 and 1976, the Church Committee published fourteen reports on various U.S. intelligence agencies', formation, operations, and the alleged abuses of law and of power that they had committed, with recommendations for reform, some of which were later put in place.

Among the matters investigated were attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, including Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, the Diem brothers of Vietnam, Gen. Ren(C) Schneider of Chile and Director of Central IntelligenceAllen Welsh Dulles's plan (approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower) to use the Sicilian Mafia to kill Fidel Castro of Cuba.

Under recommendations and pressure by this committee, President Gerald Ford issued Executive Order 11905 (ultimately replaced in 1981 by President Reagan's Executive Order 12333) to ban U.S. sanctioned assassinations of foreign leaders.

Together, the Church Committee's reports have been said to constitute the most extensive review of intelligence activities ever made available to the public. Much of the contents were classified, but over 50,000 pages were declassified under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.

Committee membersEditMajority (Democratic)Minority (Republican)Opening mailEditThe Church Committee learned that beginning in the 1950s, the CIA and Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted, opened and photographed more than 215,000 pieces of mail by the time the program called "HTLINGUAL" was shut down in 1973. This program was all done under the "mail covers" program. A mail cover is when the government records without a warrant or notification all information on the outside of an envelope or package, including the name of the sender and the recipient. The Church report found that the CIA was zealous about keeping the United States Postal Service from learning that mail was being opened by government agents. CIA agents moved mail to a private room to open the mail or in some cases opened envelopes at night after stuffing them in briefcases or coat pockets to deceive postal officials.[5]

The Ford administration and the Church CommitteeEditOn May 9, 1975, the Church Committee decided to call acting CIA director William Colby. That same day Ford's top advisers (Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Philip W. Buchen, and John Marsh) drafted a recommendation that Colby be authorized to brief only rather than testify, and that he would be told to discuss only the general subject, with details of specific covert actions to be avoided except for realistic hypotheticals. But the Church Committee had full authority to call a hearing and require Colby's testimony. Ford and his top advisers met with Colby to prepare him for the hearing.[6] Colby testified, "These last two months have placed American intelligence in danger. The almost hysterical excitement surrounding any news story mentioning CIA or referring even to a perfectly legitimate activity of CIA has raised a question whether secret intelligence operations can be conducted by the United States."[7]

The Ford administration, particularly Rumsfeld, was concerned about the effort by members of the Church Committee in the Senate and the Pike Committee in the House to curtail the power of U.S. intelligence agencies. Frontline quoted U.S. diplomat and Nixon assistant Robert Ellsworth, who stated: "They were very specific about their effort to destroy American intelligence [capabilities]. It was Senator Church who said our intelligence agencies were 'rogue elephants.' They were supposedly out there assassinating people and playing dirty tricks and so forth... Well, that just wasn't true." Rumsfeld and Ellsworth prevented the committees from dismantling the CIA and other intelligence organizations.[8]

Results of the investigationEditOn August 17, 1975 Senator Frank Church appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, and discussed the NSA, without mentioning it by name:

''In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air. Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left such is the capability to monitor everything'--telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide.If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology.

I don't want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.[9][10]

''AftermathEditEarly on, critics in the entertainment and news media such as Bing Crosby and Paul Harvey accused the committee of treasonous activity.[citation needed] The 1975 assassination of Richard Welch, a CIA station chief in Greece, intensified the public backlash against its mission.[11] The Committee's work has more recently been criticized after the September 11 attacks, for leading to legislation reducing the ability of the CIA to gather human intelligence.[12][13][14][15] In response to such criticism, the chief counsel of the committee, Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr., retorted with a book co-authored by Aziz Z. Huq, denouncing the Bush administration's use of 9/11 to make "monarchist claims" that are "unprecedented on this side of the North Atlantic".[16]

In September 2006, the University of Kentucky hosted a forum called "Who's Watching the Spies? Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans," bringing together two Democratic committee members, former Vice President of the United StatesWalter Mondale and former U.S. SenatorWalter "Dee" Huddleston of Kentucky, and Schwarz to discuss the committee's work, its historical impact, and how it pertains to today's society.[17]

ReferencesEdit^ABC News^Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission[dead link]^Military surveillance. Hearings .., Ninety-third Congress, second session, on S. 2318., April 9 and 10, 1974 : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Sub...^Hersh, Seymour (1974-12-22). "Huge C.I.A. operation reported in U.S. against antiwar forces, other dissidents in Nixon years"(PDF). New York Times. p. 1. ^Benjamin, Mark (January 5, 2007). "The government is reading your mail". Salon.com. ^Prados, John (2006). Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512847-5. p. 313^Carl Colby (director) (September 2011). The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby (Motion picture). New York City: Act 4 Entertainment. Retrieved 2011. ^"Frontline". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2006-07-30. ^"The Intelligence Gathering Debate". NBC. August 18, 1975. Retrieved May 28, 2015. ^Bamford, James (13 September 2011). "Post-September 11, NSA 'enemies' include us". Politico. Retrieved 21 September 2013. ^Church Committee Created www.senate.gov^Knott, Stephen F (November 4, 2001). "Congressional Oversight and the Crippling of the CIA". History News Network. ^Mooney, Chris (November 5, 2001). "The American Prospect". Back to Church. Archived from the original on 2006-12-05. ^Burbach, Roger (October 2003). "State Terrorism and September 11, 1973 & 2001". ZMag16 (10). Archived from the original on 01-02-2008. ^"Debate: Bush's handling of terror clues". CNN. May 19, 2002. ^Schwarz, Frederick A. O.; Huq, Aziz Z. (2007). Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror. New York: New Press. ISBN 978-1-59558-117-4. ^"UK Hosts Historical Reunion of Members of Church Committee". University of Kentucky News. September 14, 2006. Further readingEditJohnson, Loch K. (1988). A Season Of Inquiry, Congress And Intelligence. Chicago: Dorsey Press. ISBN 978-0-256-06320-2. Smist, Jr., Frank J. (1990). Congress Oversees the United States Intelligence Community, 1947''1989. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-0-87049-651-6. External linksEdit

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:29

Kiev shot MH17 down and the Dutch, part of the NATO gang responsible, are part of the problem and fully culpable for the crime as predicted

Today, Dutch investigators came up with their long predetermined solution, that a BUK missile shot down MH17 no matter how impossible that might be. Any other answer would have brought down NATO.

The Kiev backed SU25 pilots following MH17 ''from below'' have never admitted to seeing anything though the plane, according to them, nearly fell on them.

Then again, the American AEGIS radar imagery, units, one in Constanta and two more on ships in the Black Sea, though they recorded everything, was withheld along with American satellite imagery. Only one answer for this, because they recorded planes shooting down MH17 as is consistent with the German report

Other than the simple issue of impossibility, there is rock solid evidence that MH17 was trailed by two SU25 aircraft that Kiev claimed could not be responsible because they were not capable of flight at altitude.

In the below article, based on live interviews on Russia Today, pilots debunked this, pilots who have flown the SU25 to nearly 50,000 feet.

This is the crux of the story. The other ''crux'' of the story is not only the predetermined insanity the Dutch have come up with, long expected, but the behavior of the media, including the very weak Russian media, Russia Today, Sputnik News among others, who quickly lose focus.

This is a story all about control of the media. From Russia Today, March 12, 2015:

''Duff said one cannot be entirely sure the detected fighter jet was an SU-25 at all, as modern radar spoofing counter-measures '' such as those designed by BAE Systems and employed by NATO '' are able to mask any other aircraft, be it an SU-27 or F-15, as another plane.''As the investigation into the MH17 tragedy continues in eastern Ukraine, the SU-25's chief designer has told German media that the fighter jet could not possibly have taken down the passenger plane. RT spoke to former pilots about the jet's capabilities.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Everyone on board '' 283 passengers and 15 crew members '' perished in the tragedy.

A report on the official investigation published in September 2014 said the crash was a result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that struck the Boeing from the outside. However, it did not conclude what the objects were, where they came from, or who was responsible.

Kiev and some Western states have placed blame on eastern Ukraine militias and Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry shared radar data pointing to other possibilities in July '' including an attack by a Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 fighter jet, which was said to have been tracking the passenger plane.

While an official international investigation into the crash has been dragging on for nine months, the debate into the cause of the tragedy has been once again reignited by recent comments from the chief designer of the SU-25.

READ MORE:MH17 broke up in mid-air due to external damage '' Dutch preliminary report

Kiev-born Soviet and Russian aircraft designer Vladimir Babak said on Monday that the SU-25 jet '' which was spotted tracking the MH17 Boeing at the moment it crashed down '' did not have the capability to shoot down a passenger plane. He said the fighter jet could have successfully attacked the Boeing at an altitude of 3,000-4,000 meters, but not at the plane's altitude of 10,500 meters. He added that air-to-air missiles would have only damaged the Boeing '' not completely destroyed it while still in the air.

At the crash site of of the Malaysian Boeing 777 near the village of Grabovo not far from Shakhtersk in the Donetsk region. (RIA Novosti)

''I believe all allegations that a SU-25 could be involved into this tragedy are a cover-up attempt,'' Babak said in an interview to German channels NDR and WDR. ''I cannot explain it otherwise. We cannot understand how an SU-25 could take down the Boeing.''

'SU-25 capable of high altitude flights, can carry powerful missiles'However, several former top officials and SU-25 pilots disagree with Babak.

Based on the analysis of the plane debris and the nature of the damage, there is a high probability the plane was stuck by an air-to-air missile and an aircraft gun, Lieutenant General Aleksandr Maslov, former deputy chief of the Russian Air Defense and Land Forces, told RT.

''The published photos [from the MH17 crash site] enable to assume that the Boeing was downed by a military jet. Besides that, the existing damage indicates that the airplane was shot with air-to-air missiles together with an aircraft gun with a 30mm caliber,'' Maslov said.

Claims that the passenger plane was downed by a surface-to-air Buk missile ''cannot be supported,'' as the nature of the damage from the missiles is different, he added.

Commenting on the jet's ability to maneuver at higher altitudes, the former commander of an aviation division, Major General Sergey Borysyuk, noted that the jet would have had the capability to ''maneuver comfortably,'' even at such a high altitude.

''I personally flew, and not once, at an altitude of 12,000 meters'...,'' he said. ''My colleagues have risen to an altitude of 14,000 meters. The altitude of 10,500 was officially authorized during operations in Afghanistan. Therefore the plane, even at an altitude of 12,000 meters, has the capability to maneuver comfortably, its aerodynamic characteristics enable it to do so.''

Borysyuk explained that the R-60 missiles on the SU-25 have an infrared homing and a rod warhead. Citing the nature of the plane's debris and the ''precisely sliced fuselage,'' he said that R-60 missiles were possibly used.

''The firing range of the missile is 7.5km. And in those conditions, the probability of hitting the target increases,'' he added.

The former chief commander of Russia's Air Force, Vladimir Mikhailov, also said he flew the SU-25, reaching an altitude of 12,000 meters and even 14,000 meters. He also stated that the plane ''comfortably maneuvers'' at such heights.

''If the plane was downed by Buk [missile defense system], it would have almost immediately fallen to pieces in the air and we could not have witnessed such large debris on the ground,'' he said.

Along with Russia's Ministry of Defense, he also questioned why the MH17 flight stayed within the flying corridor until it reached Donetsk, but then deviated from the route to the north.

In July 2014, Russia's Ministry of Defense presented military monitoring data which showed Kiev military jets tracking MH17 shortly before the crash and posed a set of questions to Ukraine over the circumstances of the tragedy, which have still not been answered.

'You can't fire Buk missile in broad daylight with no witnesses'Speculation about the combat capabilities of the SU-25 jet stem from the Russian definition of the aircraft's service ceiling '' which is not the same as its absolute ceiling, as defined by the US military, Veterans Today senior editor Gordon Duff told RT.

''The claimed service ceiling is based on the oxygen supply in the aircraft. Now, there is a claim that this plane [SU-25] will only work to 22,000 feet. At the end of World War II, a German ME-262 would fly at 40,000 feet, a P-51 Mustang propeller plane flew at 44,000 feet. The SU-25 was developed as an analogue of the A-10 Thunderbolt, an American attack plane. The planes have almost identical performance, except that the SU-25 is faster and more powerful. The A-10 Thunderbolt has a service ceiling of 45,000 feet. The US estimates the absolute ceiling, which is a different term,'' Duff explained.

The known estimate for the absolute ceiling of the SU-25 is 52,000 feet (15.8km), he added.

Moreover, Duff said one cannot be entirely sure the detected fighter jet was an SU-25 at all, as modern radar spoofing counter-measures '' such as those designed by BAE Systems and employed by NATO '' are able to mask any other aircraft, be it an SU-27 or F-15, as another plane.

Duff said he also discussed the possibility of the MH17 flight having been shot by a ground-to-air missile with experts from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the FBI, the Air Line Pilots Association, as well as air traffic and air operational officers '' and they all agreed that no proof of anti-aircraft missile use has been provided to the public.

It is highly unlikely that the launch of such a missile would have gone unnoticed in the area, Duff stressed, adding that the trail left by the rocket in the air would have been witnessed and filmed by ''thousands.''

''One of the things we settled on early on is that in the middle of the day, if this were a Buk missile, the contrail would have been seen for 50 miles [80km]. The contrail itself would have been photographed by thousands of people; it would have been on Instagram, on Twitter, it would have been all over YouTube '' and no one saw it. You can't fire a missile on a flat area in the middle of the day leaving a smoke trail into the air and having everyone not see it,'' Duff said.

''There is no reliable information supporting that it was a Buk missile fired by anyone,'' he added.

Veterans Today's July 17 Article:

''On 9/11, the infamous ''Harley guy,'' a Fox News employee wearing a Harley Davidson t shirt was interviewed moments after the triple towers vaporized. He described in detail exactly what the findings, absurd as they seem today, would be to the public 9/11 report released many years later. In fact, he was the real author of that farcical document.

On MH 17 we get a new ''Harley guy'' every couple of weeks, with a veritable army of them hitting the streets today, straining our patience, all peddling the same equally farcical ''BUK missile'' talking points.''

Editor's note: You have just seen 4 minutes of a 17 minute video. News Corp (Murdoch) claims the complete video asserts that MH 17 was shot down by a plane. Why this video, shot by crash site investigators making some effort to secure the scene, has been held for a year is inexcusable. Stories about how the scene was protected and what went on there are now proven utterly false. VT has the story right in August 2014. Read the initial VT story here followed by reports from Sputnik News and Russia Today. VT staffers are standing by waiting for the website to crash.

VT Exclusive: As the day progresses, a ''toad and troll'' media war has erupted along with massive denial of service attacks on Veterans Today. The BUK missile story that from the first ignored the fact that Kiev routed MH17 purposefully over a ''no fly combat zone'' is being peddled by not only the paid stooges of Israeli agent Jane Harmon's Daily Beast but armies of misfits, pedophiles, chat room trolls and paid off military retirees.

We take this, the after the fact disinformation campaign, so stupidly orchestrated, and the wealth of evidence, only some of which is outlined below, that Israel had a clear hand in the downing of MH17 and quite probably MH 370 as well. They got ''two birds with one stone'' with MH 17, a blow against two enemies, Russia and Malaysia.

Everything made public about MH 17 has been a lie. New evidence supports two planes being shot down, MH 17 and the fighter that shot it down'...shot down by what now appears to be a Russian fighter in Ukrainian air space, scrambled to defend MH 17. Two pilots of the SU25 bailed out before crash according to witness statements withheld for a year.

There is precedent for Russians defending Eastern Ukraine from air attacks. Russian pilots defended North Vietnam as well during the Vietnam War and American pilots flew missions over Israel, Syria and Egypt in the 1973 War and may well be flying unofficial missions on behalf of al Nusra or ISIS groups fighting inside Syria and Iraq as well.

Russia and its separatist allies withheld vital facts on MH17 because a Russian plane downed the Kiev (Israeli armed according to RT) Sukhoi 25 that shot down the airliner. The US and others with access to the crash scenes and satellite photos covered up the second crash site. Was it because the arms were Israeli? Was this done to block the public from learning how broad involvement was and how many nations were to blame for the MH 17 shoot down?

Israeli Python missile cited in report

Why was this video withheld? Where was it all this time? Why is Murdoch, of all people, ordering it released now? How long has Murdoch known about it? What other evidence is being withheld? With the US having both AWAC and AEGIS cover for this region, why has the United States failed to release its evidence unless, as is so often the case, Americans working for Israel had reason to withhold this vital evidence.

Sputnik News Report including transcript of censored video

In Utter Disbelief

Meanwhile, the Australian news outlet News.com.au has published what it claims to be the transcript of the ''17-minute video shot by the rebels themselves on a camcorder as they captured what they initially believed to be a Ukrainian air force fighter jet they had just shot down''.

The website however has posted only a 4-minute video extract but published what it claims to be the transcript of the full version.

If true, the conversations made on camera prove that the alleged self-defense fighters arrived at the site of the Boeing crash searching for the Ukrainian Sukhoi fighter.

''They say the Sukhoi (Fighter) brought down the civilian plane and ours (Jim Dean: they could only be talking about a Russian plane) brought down the fighter,'' the transcript quotes some commander as saying.''

''Background: The fighter jet brought down this one, and our people brought down the fighter.''

''Background: They decided to do it this way, to look like we have brought down the plane.''

The transcript also said that while the fighters were examining the site of the crash of the civilian plane, there was another crash site, presumably that of the fighter.

Is it far from here? Where did it fall?

Looks like '... Where's the smoke coming from?

Somewhere else is burning, the 49 village.

I mean '... the two pilots landed with parachutes.''

The website however prefers not to notice the evidence of the existence of a second plane, which shot down the Boeing. It mostly concentrates on the people examining the remains of the Boeing and stubbornly insists that it was shot down with the surface-to-air missile.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150717/1024746540.html#ixzz3g9nir4cQ

Russia Today Report(RT) A report on Malaysian Airlines MH17 air disaster in Ukraine last year by a group of old-hand aviation security experts maintains that the Boeing might have been downed by an Israeli Python air-to-air missile.

The report was leaked via the private LiveJournal account of Albert Naryshkin (aka albert_lex) late on Tuesday and has already been widely discussed by social media communities in Russia.

The authors of the investigative report have calculated the possible detonation initiation point of the missile that hit the passenger aircraft and approximate number and weight of strike elements, which in turn designated the type and presumed manufacturer of the weapon.

Malaysian Airline Boeing 777-200 performing flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, crashed on the territory of Ukraine near the village of Grabovo, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers aboard.

The aircraft disintegrated in the air and the debris of MH17 were scattered across an area of about 50 sq. km.

The external view of MH17 hull pieces indicates that ''fragments of the pilots' cockpit have suffered specific damages in the form of localized puncture holes and surface dents typical for hypervelocity impacts with compact and hard objects,'' the report says, stressing that similar damage could be found on the inner side of the cockpit.

The report specifically points out that chips of the body coat around the holes in the fragment are typical of wave effects created by hypervelocity impacts.

Some damage, though larger and less clustered, could be found near the air-scoop of the left-wing engine of the aircraft.

The nature of the damage allows for the identification of the source as a high-explosive fragmentation warhead from a modern anti-aircraft weapon, claims the report.

Apart from the large puncture holes, the debris of the nose and the cockpit of the aircraft bear a large number of scattered micro-craters resulting from the impact of high-velocity dust and tiny debris, such as an unburnt blasting agent and elements of the ordnance that accompany a shock wave from a blast that occurred very close to the target. In the case of MH17, the pilots' cockpit.

The report says that as a rule, the initial speed of the striking elements of modern anti-aircraft weapons vary between 1,500 and 2,500 meters per second.

Altogether, the experts considered photos of five fragments of the cockpit and left port of the flight MH17, on which they counted some 230 ''battle-damage'' holes and punctures.

All this considered, the experts claim that the exact zone of the blast impact could be established with a fair degree of accuracy.

The warhead of the missile exploded very close to the cockpit, to its left side at a distance of 0.8-1.6 meters from the cockpit windows, exactly opposite the sliding window of the aircraft commander.

The dimensions and character of the puncture holes left by the strike elements allegedly allow their size and form factor to be established, which in its turn makes it possible to identify the type of weapon used in a particular case.

The cross dimension of absolute majority, 86 percent, of the 186 hull holes studied by experts measure between 6 and 13mm, with explicit maximum of them having cross dimension of 8mm.

This fact brought the expert group to a conclusion about the size of the strike elements of the warhead. If the warhead had been armed with two types of strike elements, the majority of the holes would have been of two types, the reports notes.

The strike element has been established of being a rectangular block measured 8mm x 8mm x 6mm, with margin of error of 0.5 mm, a high probability it was made of steel and an estimated weight of 3 grams each. The total number of such elements should have varied between 2,000 and 4,000.

The bulk of the strike elements are estimated between 4.88 '' 14.8 kilograms.

The report confutes the argument of Russia's Almaz-Antey military concern that early claimed that ''intricate shape''double-t steel fragments, similar to those used in warheads of surface-to-air Buk missile systems, have been extracted from the debris of MH17 flight.

Howwever, the double-t strike elements of a Buk missile weigh 8.1 grams, more than twice as much as a single damage fragment among those that pierced MH17's hull. Thus, according to the report, the hypothesis about a Buk missile system being involved in the crash is ''most probably incorrect.''

With 95 percent probability, the group of experts estimates the weight of the missile's warhead (explosives plus strike elements) that shot down MH17 of being between 10 and 40kg.

This led the experts to determine the exact type of the weapon used against Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

The report says that that Soviet- and Russian-made surface-to-air missile systems use more powerful warheads than the established maximum 40kg, as is the case with MH17.

Moreover, Soviet- and Russian-made air-to-air missiles which have a similar 10-40kg warhead capability use other types of strike elements within one warhead '' obviously not the case with MH17.

A whole range of existing foreign air-to-air missiles have corresponding warhead characteristics, yet lack of physical elements of the missile used against MH17 prevented experts from establishing the exact type of the weapon used.

Still, the circumstances and conditions of the assault allowed experts to make certain assumptions.

The missile that attacked MH17 had a passive radar homing head, which explains why the missile exploded so close to the cockpit. Under the radar-transparent nosecone of a Boeing 777-200 there is a surveillance radar station operable during the flight, so most likely the missile homed on to this radar as the target.

Apart from a radar homing head, the missile could also be equipped with an advanced, matrix type, imaging IR seeker, which enables the missile to determine the size and the type of the target and choose for attack its most vital element. For a huge Boeing aircraft, that's the cockpit.

A simulation of the missile attack has proved that missiles with that type of guidance choose to attack a big passenger plane from the front hemisphere.

There are four air-to-air missiles that fit the description established by the experts, namely: French Magis-2, Israeli Shafrir, American AIM-9 and Israeli Python '' all short-range.

The first three have been struck off the list for various reasons, including type of warhead or guidance system specifications. The Python deserved a closer look.

The Python is equipped with a matrix-imaging IR seeker. It enables a relatively moderate power warhead to effectively engage big aircrafts. The warhead is armed with a set of ready strike elements. Even more importantly, some open military sources suggest that in early 2000s a number of Sukhoi Su-25 assault fighter jets we refurbished to use fourth and fifth generation Python missiles, which look very similar to the Su-25's standard air-to-air R-60 missile.

The unofficial report leaked in LiveJournal has become yet another one among many other unofficial versions presented over the year that has passed since the catastrophe occurred on July 17, 2014.

The Dutch Safety Board that has been heading an international investigation into the cause of the crash is due to release its official report in October.

News Corp Australia has obtained a previously unknown video allegedly taken minutes after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was downed in Ukraine exactly one year ago. The voices cited by the transcript of the full footage claim a warplane shot down the Boeing.

The four-minute clip posted by News Corp Australia is an extract from what is claimed to be a longer 17-minute video, which allegedly depicts the immediate aftermath of the MH17 Boeing crash. The clip shows rebel fighters who arrived at the scene, first looking to get things under control. Their commander is heard ordering them to clear the area of civilians and onlookers and search for the black boxes.

In the clip a man's voice is heard, which is thought to be that of a rebel commander, who receives a number of phone calls apparently from other rebel fighters at different sites where the debris fell. The man is heard saying ''What? There's another plane?'' and orders the men to ''establish a perimeter and keep civilians away''.

READ MORE: Israeli-made air-to-air missile may have downed MH17 '' report

The four-minute clip posted by the News.com.au is followed by a transcript from a longer 17-minute video, which has not been released. News Corp Australia told RT that they ''stand by the transcript, it was taken from the full video, which investigators now have.''

The text cites a rebel commander as saying that ''the Sukhoi [fighter jet] brought down the plane and we brought down the Sukhoi.''

Later on, the man is quoted as saying that ''there's two planes taken down,'' while a voice in the background says, ''the fighter jet brought down this one [MH17 Boeing], and our people brought down the fighter. They [the Ukrainians] decided to do it this way, to make it look like we have brought down the plane.''

According to the transcript, there were also between two and ''five parachute jumpers'' who landed at the nearby Grabove village. These included a pilot ''roaming about Rassypnoe'' [a nearby village] and a commander ordering his men go and get him immediately.

One of the rebels is also wondering who and why they [the Boeing] was given permission to fly over the warzone.

The four-minute clip shows rebels searching the debris for black boxes and finding one, as well as personal IDs of the passengers, which they then filmed on the camera.

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop reacted upon the release of the video by saying that she could not verify its authenticity. ''It is sickening to watch and, 12 months on from the downing of MH17, it is deeply concerning that this footage has emerged now,'' she told the Nine Network.

Bishop also said ''it is certainly consistent with all that we were told, the advice that we received two months ago, that flight MH17 had been shot down by a'... missile,'' she said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was downed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people onboard.

Related Posts:The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT, VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. LEGAL NOTICE - COMMENT POLICYPosted by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on October 13, 2015, With 0 Reads, Filed under WarZone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 04:11

In Western countries most people understand what a credit score is. It's a score an individual is awarded based on their assets, income, and credit history. It is a summary of how creditworthy you are and what potential risk you pose when, for example, a bank is deciding whether or not to loan you money.

In China, the government has decided to take credit scores to a whole new level, turning them more into a life score by tracking anything and everything you do. And by 2020, this score will be a mandatory part of every Chinese citizen's life.

China's new universal credit score system was only introduced this year and for now remains an optional system, but that changes to mandatory in less than 5 years. Unlike the Western equivalent, the Chinese version uses a lot more data to decide what an individual's score is, with the score ranging from 350 up to 950. It's possible to track what your score is with a free Sesame Credit app offered by Alibaba and it's linked to a national ID card.

Now for the scary bit: what is tracked and how it affects a score.

All social networks in China are run by either Alibaba or Tencent. The government has access to all this social data, tracks it, and tweaks scores based on it. These companies are in charge of keeping your score up-to-date. Assets, income, and credit history still play a part in the scoring, but so does political opinion. If you post a negative political comment or political thoughts without permission, your score goes down. Mention a particularly sensitive issue (e.g. Tienanmen Square massacre) and expect your score to be negatively impacted even further.

If that seems extreme, well, it gets worse. You see, because the data is being tracked through social networks the government knows who all your friends are. If any of your friends post political comments, their score goes down but so does yours because you are their friend. By linking the two it is clear the government wants everyone to keep their friends from stepping out of line.

Other things that can impact a score center around how an individual lives. Hobbies can either be a good or a bad thing. If you enjoy sports that involve exercise, that's probably going to increase your score. Video games, though? Expect to lose some points.

One final big one: shopping habits. If you buy certain products your score can increase. This suggests the government could choose to highlight certain products when it wants then to sell better with the reward being your credit score goes up. It's also going to be a way to force people to eat more healthy foods if junk food purchases decrease a score.

It's unclear at this early stage just how far the credit score system will go in terms of defining what Chinese citizens can and can't do day-to-day. However, we do have some initial score thresholds that suggest where this is heading. A score of 600 or more allows you to get an $800 loan, 650+ allows you to rent a car without a deposit. 700+ fast tracks you for a Singapore travel permit, and 750+ fast tracks you for a Schengen visa. Companies will also be able to make decisions based on these scores, e.g. a hotel could let people with a score above a certain threshold reserve a room without a deposit.

In the West, such a system would be met with outrage. However, over 100,000 people in China have already started using the credit score system and are bragging about their scores online. I'm sure that won't last, but everyone is going to have to get used to it when the system switches to mandatory use.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 22:40

"There should be no secrets in the NYPD," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told a crowd a month after he was appointed by Mayor de Blasio. "We are going to do more to open up the organization, to make it more inclusive, to make our information more readily available to the public." Except when it comes to the NYPD's x-ray vans. Or its guidelines for FOIL requests. Or any piece of information, no matter how minor or publicly available, that does not serve the NYPD's purposes.

Yes Virginia, the NYPD does use Z Backscatter Vans (ZBVs) to pry into vehicles and shipping containers and who knows what, because the largest municipal police department in the country refuses to provide even the most cursory details about the vans, which cost around $800,000 apiece.

In December of 2014, a state judge ordered the NYPD to release information related to a FOIL request from ProPublica on ZBVs, which use the same kind of technology found in the "porno scanners" used by the TSA, before they replaced them with less powerfully intrusive technology. (FOX News reported that the Department of Homeland Security also uses ZBVs.)

"While this court is cognizant and sensitive to concerns about terrorism, being located less than a mile from the 9/11 site, and having seen firsthand the effects of terrorist destruction, nonetheless, the hallmark of our great nation is that it is a democracy, with a transparent government," State Supreme Court Judge Doris Ling-Cohan wrote in her decision.

Rather than turn over the information, the NYPD appealed. Yesterday, the NYCLU filed a request to submit an amicus brief in the case to ask the appellate court to enforce the lower court's decision.

"How is the NYPD ensuring that innocent New Yorkers are not subject to harmful x-ray radiation? How long is the NYPD keeping the images that it takes and who can look at them? Is the NYPD obtaining judicial authorization prior to taking images, and if so, what type of authorization? Is the technology funded by taxpayer money, and has the use of the vans justified the price tag?" NYCLU attorney Mariko Hirose writes in the filing.

''Those are issues I'd prefer not to divulge to the public at this time,'' NYPD Commissioner Bratton told the Post yesterday. ''I will not talk about anything at all about this '-- it falls into the range of security and counter-terrorism activity that we engage in.''

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:13

The committee staffer would not say how the laws would affect aggregators and news sites and said that only ''all stakeholders are invited to come in and meet with staff in order to give their thoughts or express concerns. Those meetings are ongoing.''

Drudge Report site owner Matt Drudge told Alex Jones of InfoWars last week that copyright laws could very well end his popular site.

''I had a Supreme Court Justice tell me it's over for me,'' said Drudge. ''They've got the votes now to enforce copyright law, you're out of there. They're going to make it so you can't even use headlines.''

He explained, ''To have a Supreme Court Justice say to me it's over, they've got the votes, which means time is limited,'' he added, noting that a day was coming when simply operating an independent website could be outlawed. That will end [it] for me '' fine '' I've had a hell of a run,'' said Drudge, adding that web users were being pushed into the cyber 'ghettos' of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.''

Drudge added, ''This is ghetto, this is corporate, they're taking your energy and you're getting nothing in return '' nothing!''

In July, Chairman Goodlatte and Democrat Ranking Member John Conyers invited witnesses from the Committee's previous copyright review hearings as well as other interested stakeholders to meet with committee staff to provide additional input on copyright policy issues.

According to the committee, almost 50 meetings were scheduled and those will take several more weeks. Additionally, Goodlatte and Conyers announced that the House Judiciary Committee would conduct a listening tour as part of the copyright review.

The committee staffer would not say how the laws would affect aggregators and news sites and said that only ''all stakeholders are invited to come in and meet with staff in order to give their thoughts or express concerns. Those meetings are ongoing.''

Drudge Report site owner Matt Drudge told Alex Jones of InfoWars last week that copyright laws could very well end his popular site.

''I had a Supreme Court Justice tell me it's over for me,'' said Drudge. ''They've got the votes now to enforce copyright law, you're out of there. They're going to make it so you can't even use headlines.''

He explained, ''To have a Supreme Court Justice say to me it's over, they've got the votes, which means time is limited,'' he added, noting that a day was coming when simply operating an independent website could be outlawed. That will end [it] for me '' fine '' I've had a hell of a run,'' said Drudge, adding that web users were being pushed into the cyber 'ghettos' of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.''

Drudge added, ''This is ghetto, this is corporate, they're taking your energy and you're getting nothing in return '' nothing!''

In July, Chairman Goodlatte and Democrat Ranking Member John Conyers invited witnesses from the Committee's previous copyright review hearings as well as other interested stakeholders to meet with committee staff to provide additional input on copyright policy issues.

According to the committee, almost 50 meetings were scheduled and those will take several more weeks. Additionally, Goodlatte and Conyers announced that the House Judiciary Committee would conduct a listening tour as part of the copyright review.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 20:15

Americans' love affair with beef is fizzling.

In the U.S., a country known for drive-thru burger joints and over-sized steaks, demand for the meat on a per-person basis is slumping to the lowest in more than four decades. With consumers bracing themselves for another slow patch in the economy, shoppers are increasingly choosing cheaper pork and chicken as alternatives.

''There's definitely been a slowdown in beef'' purchases, said Derek Luszcz, the 42-year-old co-owner of Gene's Sausage Shop and Delicatessen in Chicago, a butcher shop that also sells deli meats and other groceries. ''A lot of it is about the price. People have changed their diets to different things.''

Waning consumption drove cattle futures lower by 12 percent last quarter, the biggest slide since the depths of the global recession in 2008. Money managers are signaling they expect more declines, trimming their bullish holdings to the lowest in more than two years. At the same time, the speculators expect that hog futures will start to rebound, and increased their wagers on a rally for a fourth straight week.

Smaller HerdsBoth beef and pork prices soared in 2014 after years of drought whittled the U.S. cattle herd down to a six-decade low, and a piglet-killing virus tightened hog supplies. While producers of both animals expanded to capture profits, pigs multiply far more rapidly. Pork output will be a record in 2015, while beef production is set to shrink from last year. Beef's premium to pork is more than 20 percent higher than the 10-year average, and as job growth slows, Americans are opting to buy the cheaper meat.

''We saw a definitive shift in consumer buying from beef to pork'' in recent months, said Christopher Narayanan, the New York-based head of agricultural research at Societe Generale SA. ''That's U.S. consumers being a little bit more choosy. They weren't as confident about spending too much money.''

The net-long position in cattle slid 3.7 percent to 4,721 futures and options contracts in the week ended Sept. 29, the lowest since March 2013, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Hog wagers expanded 10 percent to 33,046 contracts, the highest since February.

Cattle futures in Chicago retreated 4.1 percent last week to $1.31375 a pound, the biggest drop since March. Hog prices slid 0.6 percent to 65.375 cents a pound. The Bloomberg Commodity Index, a measure of returns for 22 components, fell 0.7 percent.

U.S. per-capita beef consumption in 2015 will decline to 53.9 pounds (24.4 kilograms) a person, the lowest in government data that goes back to 1970. Steaks in supermarkets cost an average $7.91 a pound in August, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show. That was within 1 percent of the all-time high of $7.962 reached in July. By contrast, retail costs for pork chops are down more than 7 percent from a record touched last October.

While the cattle herd has decreased, cheaper grain costs have allowed ranchers to fatten animals heading to slaughter. Heavier weights are helping to make up for the smaller numbers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a Sept. 11 report. The average beef cow weighs 32 pounds more than a year earlier at 1,385 pounds, according to the USDA.

There are signs that retail prices won't stay high. Wholesale beef dropped 14 percent in September, the most in at least 11 years. As the declines make their way to supermarket meat cases, it may help demand to rebound, said Don Close, Rabobank International's vice president of food and agribusiness research for animal protein in St. Louis.

''You'll see retailers featuring a lot more on specific items, and we'll see that transpire before we see a flat reduction in price,'' Close said.

Trade BillPork also may lose its sizzle. There's a risk that Mexico and Canada could levy tariffs on the meat, stymying exports, if the U.S. Senate thwarts a trade bill. Also, chicken prices are lower this year and could lure shoppers away from pork, said Will Sawyer, an Atlanta-based vice president for Rabobank.

It will take some time for beef to drop at the retail level, and it may not happen until closer to the end of the year, according to SocGen's Narayanan. While pork always costs less than beef, the difference in prices has widened. Wholesale beef commands a premium of about $1.20 per pound, compared with the 10-year average of about 98 cents.

Because beef is among the most expensive proteins, it's more sensitive to changes in the economy, said Donald Selkin, who helps manage about $3 billion as chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York. A Labor Department jobs report Friday showed a tepid rise in September payrolls and stagnating wages, signaling the global slowdown is rippling through the world's largest economy.

Adding to the demand woes, the elevated U.S. dollar and the global economic malaise are hurting American beef exports. In the week ended Sept. 24, sales for export tumbled 26 percent from a year earlier, government data show.

''When there's a sense of economic slowdown, and that's the pervasive theme, the cattle market goes down,'' Selkin said.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:10

Alexander Hamilton1stUnited States Secretary of the TreasuryIn officeSeptember 11, 1789 '' January 31, 1795PresidentGeorge WashingtonPreceded byPosition establishedSucceeded byOliver Wolcott, Jr.Senior Officer of the ArmyIn officeDecember 14, 1799 '' June 15, 1800PresidentJohn AdamsPreceded byGeorge WashingtonSucceeded byJames WilkinsonDelegate to the Congress of the Confederationfrom New YorkIn officeNovember 3, 1788 '' March 2, 1789Preceded byEgbert BensonSucceeded bySeat abolishedIn officeNovember 4, 1782 '' June 21, 1783Preceded bySeat establishedSucceeded bySeat abolishedPersonal detailsBorn(1755-01-11)January 11, 1755Charlestown, Nevis, British West IndiesDiedJuly 12, 1804(1804-07-12) (aged 49)New York City, New York, U.S.Political partyFederalistSpouse(s)Elizabeth SchuylerChildrenPhilipAngelicaAlexanderJames AlexanderJohn ChurchWilliam StephenEliza HollyPhilAlma materKings College, New YorkReligionPresbyterian, Episcopalian (convert)SignatureMilitary serviceAllegianceNew York(1775''1777) United States(1777''1800)Service/branchNew York Company of ArtilleryContinental ArmyUnited States ArmyYears of service1775''1776 (Militia)1776''17811798''1800RankMajor general

Battles/warsAmerican Revolutionary War ' Battle of Harlem Heights ' Battle of White Plains ' Battle of Trenton ' Battle of Princeton ' Battle of Brandywine ' Battle of Germantown ' Battle of Monmouth ' Siege of Yorktown ' Quasi-WarAlexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 '' July 12, 1804) was a founding father of the United States, chief staff aide to General George Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the U.S. Constitution, the founder of the nation's financial system, the founder of the Federalist Party, the world's first voter-based political party, and the Father of the United States Coast Guard. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the primary author of the economic policies of the George Washington administration. Hamilton took the lead in the funding of the states' debts by the Federal government, the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. He led the Federalist Party, created largely in support of his views; he was opposed by the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which despised Britain and feared that Hamilton's policies of a strong central government would weaken the American commitment to Republicanism.

Born out of wedlock, raised in the West Indies, and orphaned as a child, Hamilton pursued a college education through the help of local wealthy men. Recognized for his abilities and talent, he was sent to King's College (now Columbia University), in New York City. Hamilton played a major role in the American Revolutionary War. At the start of the war in 1775, he organized an artillery company. He soon became the senior aide to General Washington, the American forces' commander-in-chief. Washington sent him on numerous important missions to tell generals what Washington wanted. After the war, Hamilton was elected to the Congress of the Confederation from New York. He resigned, to practice law, and founded the Bank of New York. Hamilton was among those dissatisfied with the weak national government. He led the Annapolis Convention, which successfully influenced Congress to issue a call for the Philadelphia Convention, in order to create a new constitution. He was an active participant at Philadelphia; and he helped achieve ratification by writing 51 of the 85 installments of The Federalist Papers. To this day, it is the single most important reference for Constitutional interpretation.[1]

Hamilton became the leading cabinet member in the new government under President Washington. Hamilton was a nationalist, who emphasized strong central government and successfully argued that the implied powers of the Constitution provided the legal authority to fund the national debt, assume states' debts, and create the government-owned Bank of the United States. These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on imports, and later also by a highly controversial tax on whiskey. Facing well-organized opposition from Jefferson and Madison, Hamilton mobilized a nationwide network of friends of the government, especially bankers and businessmen. It became the Federalist Party. A major issue splitting the parties was the Jay Treaty, largely designed by Hamilton in 1794. It established friendly economic relations with Britain to the chagrin of France and the supporters of the French Revolution. Hamilton played a central role in the Federalist party, which dominated national and state politics until it lost the election of 1800 to Jefferson's Democratic Republicans.

In 1795, he returned to the practice of law in New York. He tried to control the policies of President Adams (1797''1801). In 1798 and 99, Hamilton called for mobilization against France after the XYZ Affair and became commander of a new army, which he readied for war. However, the Quasi-War, while hard-fought at sea, was never officially declared and did not involve army action. In the end, Adams found a diplomatic solution which avoided a war with France. Hamilton's opposition to Adams' re-election helped cause his defeat in the 1800 election. When Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for the presidency in the electoral college in 1801, Hamilton helped to defeat Burr, whom he found unprincipled, and to elect Jefferson despite philosophical differences. Hamilton continued his legal and business activities in New York City, but lost much of his national prominence within the Federalist party. When Vice President Burr ran for governor of New York state in 1802, Hamilton crusaded against him as unworthy. Taking offense at some of Hamilton's comments, Burr challenged him to a duel in 1804 and mortally wounded Hamilton, who died the next day.

Childhood in the Caribbean[edit]Alexander Hamilton was born in and spent part of his childhood in Charlestown, the capital of the island of Nevis, in the Leeward Islands; Nevis was one of the British West Indies. Hamilton was born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucette, a married woman of partial French Huguenot descent, and James A. Hamilton, the fourth son of the Scottish laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange, Ayrshire.[2]

His mother moved with the young Hamilton to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, then ruled by Denmark. It is not certain whether the year of Hamilton's birth was 1757 or 1755; most historical evidence after Hamilton's arrival in North America supports the idea that he was born in 1757, and many historians had accepted this birth date. But, Hamilton's early life in the Caribbean was recorded in documents which were first published in Danish in 1930; this evidence has caused historians since then to favor a birth year of 1755.[3] Hamilton listed his birth year as 1757 when he first arrived in the Thirteen Colonies. He celebrated his birthday on January 11. In later life, he tended to give his age only in round figures. Probate papers from St. Croix in 1768, after the death of Hamilton's mother, list him as then 13 years old, a date that would support a birth year of 1755. Historians have posited reasons for the different dates of birth being used: If 1755 is correct, Hamilton may have been trying to appear younger than his college classmates or perhaps wished to avoid standing out as older; if 1757 is correct, the probate document indicating a birth year of 1755 may have been in error, or Hamilton may have been attempting to pass as 13, in order to be more employable after his mother's death.[4]

Hamilton's mother had been married previously to Johann Michael Lavien of St. Croix.[2][5][note 1] Rachel left her husband and first son, Peter, traveling to St. Kitts in 1750, where she met James Hamilton.[6] Hamilton and Rachel moved together to Rachel's birthplace, Nevis, where she had inherited property from her father.[3] The couple's two sons were James Jr. and Alexander. Because Alexander Hamilton's parents were not legally married, the Church of England denied him membership and education in the church school. Hamilton received "individual tutoring"[3] and classes in a private school led by a Jewish headmistress.[7] Hamilton supplemented his education with a family library of 34 books.[8]

James Hamilton abandoned Rachel and their sons, allegedly to "spar[e] [Rachel] a charge of bigamy ..... after finding out that her first husband intend[ed] to divorce her under Danish law on grounds of adultery and desertion."[2] Thereafter, Rachel supported her children in St. Croix, keeping a small store in Christiansted. She contracted a severe fever and died on February 19, 1768, 1:02 am, leaving Hamilton orphaned. This may have had severe emotional consequences for him, even by the standards of an 18th-century childhood.[9] In probate court, Rachel's "first husband seized her estate"[2] and obtained the few valuables Rachel had owned, including some household silver. Many items were auctioned off, but a friend purchased the family's books and returned them to the young Hamilton.[10]

Hamilton became a clerk at a local import-export firm, Beekman and Cruger, which traded with New England; he was left in charge of the firm for five months in 1771, while the owner was at sea. He and his older brother James Jr. were adopted briefly by a cousin, Peter Lytton; but when Lytton committed suicide, the brothers were separated.[11] James apprenticed with a local carpenter, while Alexander was adopted by a Nevis merchant, Thomas Stevens. According to the writer Ron Chernow, some evidence suggests that Stevens may have been Alexander Hamilton's biological father; his son, Edward Stevens, became a close friend of Hamilton. The two boys were described as looking much alike, were both fluent in French, and shared similar interests.[12]

Hamilton continued clerking, but he remained an avid reader, later developing an interest in writing, and began to desire a life outside the small island where he lived. He wrote an essay published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette, a detailed account of a hurricane which had devastated Christiansted on August 30, 1772. His biographer says that, "Hamilton's famous letter about the storm astounds the reader for two reasons: for all its bombastic excesses, it does seem wondrous the 17-year-old self-educated clerk could write with such verve and gusto. Clearly, Hamilton was highly literate and already had considerable fund of verbal riches."[13] The essay impressed community leaders, who collected a fund to send the young Hamilton to the North American colonies for his education.[14]

Education[edit]In the autumn of 1772, Hamilton arrived at Elizabethtown Academy, a grammar school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. In 1773 he studied with Francis Barber at Elizabethtown in preparation for college work. He came under the influence of William Livingston, a leading intellectual and revolutionary, with whom he lived for a time at his Liberty Hall.[15] Hamilton matriculated at King's College in New York City (now Columbia University) in late 1773 or early 1774.[16] In what is credited as his first public appearance, on July 6, 1774 at the liberty pole at King's College, Hamilton's friend Robert Troup spoke glowingly of Hamilton's ability to clearly and concisely explain the rights and reasons the patriots have in their case against the British.[17] Hamilton, Troup and four other undergraduates formed an unnamed literary society that is regarded as a precursor of the Philolexian Society.[18][19]

When the Church of England clergyman Samuel Seabury published a series of pamphlets promoting the Loyalist cause in 1774, Hamilton responded anonymously with his first political writings, A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress and The Farmer Refuted. Seabury essentially tried to provoke fear into the colonies and his main objective was to stopgap the potential of a union among the colonies.[20] Hamilton published two additional pieces attacking the Quebec Act[21] and may have also authored the fifteen anonymous installments of "The Monitor" for Holt's New York Journal.[22] Although Hamilton was a supporter of the Revolutionary cause at this prewar stage, he did not approve of mob reprisals against Loyalists. On May 10, 1775, Hamilton won credit for saving his college president Myles Cooper, a Loyalist, from an angry mob by speaking to the crowd long enough for Cooper to escape.[23]

During the Revolutionary War[edit]Early military career[edit]In 1775, after the first engagement of American troops with the British in Boston, Hamilton joined a New York volunteer militia company called the Hearts of Oak, which included other King's College students. He drilled with the company, before classes, in the graveyard of nearby St. Paul's Chapel.[24] Hamilton studied military history and tactics on his own and achieved the rank of lieutenant. Under fire from HMS Asia, he led a successful raid for British cannons in the Battery, the capture of which resulted in the Hearts of Oak becoming an artillery company thereafter.[25] Through his connections with influential New York patriots such as Alexander McDougall and John Jay, he raised the New York Provincial Company of Artillery of sixty men in 1776, and was elected captain.[26] It took part in the campaign of 1776 around New York City, particularly at the Battle of White Plains; at the Battle of Trenton, it was stationed at the high point of town, the meeting of the present Warren and Broad Streets, to keep the Hessians pinned in the Trenton Barracks.[27]

George Washington's staff[edit]Hamilton was invited to become an aide to Nathanael Greene and to Henry Knox;[28] however, he declined these invitations, believing his best chance for improving his station in life was glory on the battlefield. Hamilton eventually received an invitation he felt he could not refuse: to serve as Washington's aide, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.[29] Washington felt, "Aides de camp are persons in whom entire confidence must be placed and it requires men of abilities to execute the duties with propriety and dispatch."[30] Hamilton served for four years as Washington's chief staff aide. He handled letters to Congress, state governors, and the most powerful generals in the Continental Army; he drafted many of Washington's orders and letters at the latter's direction; he eventually issued orders from Washington over Hamilton's own signature.[31] Hamilton was involved in a wide variety of high-level duties, including intelligence, diplomacy, and negotiation with senior army officers as Washington's emissary.[32]

During the war, Hamilton became close friends with several fellow officers. His letters to the Marquis de Lafayette[33] and to John Laurens, employing the sentimental literary conventions of the late eighteenth century and alluding to Greek history and mythology,[34] have been read by Jonathan Katz as revealing a homosocial or perhaps homosexual relationship, but few historians agree.[35]

While on Washington's staff, Hamilton long sought command and a return to active combat. As the war drew nearer to an end, he knew that opportunities for military glory were diminishing. In February 1781, Hamilton was mildly reprimanded by Washington and used this as an excuse to resign his staff position. He asked Washington and others for a field command. This continued until early July 1781, when Hamilton submitted a letter to Washington with his commission enclosed, "thus tacitly threatening to resign if he didn't get his desired command."[36]

On July 31, 1781, Washington relented and assigned Hamilton as commander of a New York light infantry battalion.[37] In the planning for the assault on Yorktown, Hamilton was given command of three battalions, which were to fight in conjunction with the allied French troops in taking Redoubts No. 9 and No. 10 of the British fortifications at Yorktown. Hamilton and his battalions fought bravely and took Redoubt No. 10 with bayonets in a nighttime action, as planned. The French also fought bravely, suffered heavy casualties, and took Redoubt No. 9. These actions forced the British surrender of an entire army at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending their major British military operations in North America.[38]

Congress of the Confederation[edit]After the Battle of Yorktown, Hamilton resigned his commission. He was appointed in July 1782 to the Congress of the Confederation as a New York representative for the term beginning in November 1782.[39] Before his appointment to Congress in 1782, Hamilton was already sharing his criticisms of Congress. He expressed these criticisms in his letter to James Duane dated September 3, 1780. In this letter he wrote, "The fundamental defect is a want of power in Congress'...the confederation itself is defective and requires to be altered; it is neither fit for war, nor peace."[40] While on Washington's staff, Hamilton had become frustrated with the decentralized nature of the wartime Continental Congress, particularly its dependence upon the states for voluntary financial support. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had no power to collect taxes or to demand money from the states. This lack of a stable source of funding had made it difficult for the Continental Army both to obtain its necessary provisions and to pay its soldiers. During the war, and for some time after, Congress obtained what funds it could from subsidies from the King of France, from aid requested from the several states (which were often unable or unwilling to contribute), and from European loans.[41]

An amendment to the Articles had been proposed by Thomas Burke, in February 1781, to give Congress the power to collect a 5% impost, or duty on all imports, but this required ratification by all states; securing its passage as law proved impossible after it was rejected by Rhode Island in November 1782. Madison joined Hamilton in persuading Congress to send a delegation to persuade Rhode Island to change its mind. Their report recommending the delegation argued the federal government needed not just some level of financial autonomy, but also the ability to make laws that superseded those of the individual states. Hamilton transmitted a letter arguing that Congress already had the power to tax, since it had the power to fix the sums due from the several states; but Virginia's rescission of its own ratification ended the Rhode Island negotiations.[42]

Congress and the army[edit]While Hamilton was in Congress, discontented soldiers began to pose a danger to the young United States. Most of the army was then posted at Newburgh, New York. Those in the army were paying for much of their own supplies, and they had not been paid in eight months. Furthermore, the Continental officers had been promised, in May 1778, after Valley Forge, a pension of half their pay when they were discharged.[43] By the early 1780s, due to the structure of the government under the Articles of Confederation, it had no power to tax to either raise revenue or pay its soldiers.[44] In 1782 after several months without pay, a group of officers organized to send a delegation to lobby Congress, led by Capt. Alexander MacDougall. The officers had three demands: the Army's pay, their own pensions, and commutation of those pensions into a lump-sum payment if Congress were unable to afford the half-salary pensions for life. Congress rejected the proposal.[44]

Several Congressmen, including Hamilton, Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris, attempted to use this Newburgh Conspiracy as leverage to secure support from the states and in Congress for funding of the national government. They encouraged MacDougall to continue his aggressive approach, threatening unknown consequences if their demands were not met, and defeated proposals that would have resolved the crisis without establishing general federal taxation: that the states assume the debt to the army, or that an impost be established dedicated to the sole purpose of paying that debt.[45] Hamilton suggested using the Army's claims to prevail upon the states for the proposed national funding system.[46] The Morrises and Hamilton contacted Knox to suggest he and the officers defy civil authority, at least by not disbanding if the army were not satisfied; Hamilton wrote Washington to suggest that Hamilton covertly "take direction" of the officers' efforts to secure redress, to secure continental funding but keep the army within the limits of moderation.[47] Washington wrote Hamilton back, declining to introduce the army;[48] after the crisis had ended, he warned of the dangers of using the army as leverage to gain support for the national funding plan.[49]

On March 15, Washington defused the Newburgh situation by giving a speech to the officers.[45] Congress ordered the Army officially disbanded in April 1783. In the same month, Congress passed a new measure for a twenty-five-year impost'--which Hamilton voted against[50]'--that again required the consent of all the states; it also approved a commutation of the officers' pensions to five years of full pay. Rhode Island again opposed these provisions, and Hamilton's robust assertions of national prerogatives in his previous letter were widely held to be excessive.[51]

In June 1783, a different group of disgruntled soldiers from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, sent Congress a petition demanding their back pay. When they began to march toward Philadelphia, Congress charged Hamilton and two others with intercepting the mob.[52] Hamilton requested militia from Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, but was turned down. Hamilton instructed Assistant Secretary of War William Jackson to intercept the men. Jackson was unsuccessful. The mob arrived in Philadelphia, and the soldiers proceeded to harangue Congress for their pay. The President of Congress, John Dickinson, feared that the Pennsylvania state militia was unreliable, and refused its help. Hamilton argued that Congress ought to adjourn to Princeton, New Jersey. Congress agreed, and relocated there.[53]

Frustrated with the weakness of the central government, Hamilton while in Princeton drafted a call to revise the Articles of Confederation. This resolution contained many features of the future US Constitution, including a strong federal government with the ability to collect taxes and raise an army. It also included the separation of powers into the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches.[54]

Return to New York[edit]Hamilton resigned from Congress, and in July 1783 was authorized to practice law in New York after several months of self-directed education.[55] He practiced law in New York City in partnership with Richard Harison. He specialized in defending Tories and British subjects, as in Rutgers v. Waddington, in which he defeated a claim for damages done to a brewery by the Englishmen who held it during the military occupation of New York. He pleaded for the Mayor's Court to interpret state law consistent with the 1783 Treaty of Paris which had ended the Revolutionary War.[56]

In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York, now the oldest ongoing bank in the United States. Hamilton was one of the men who restored King's College, which had been suspended since 1776 and severely damaged during the War, as Columbia College. Long dissatisfied with the weak Articles of Confederation, he played a major leadership role at the Annapolis Convention in 1786. He drafted its resolution for a constitutional convention, and in doing so brought his longtime desire to have a more powerful, more financially independent federal government one step closer to reality.[57]

Constitution and The Federalist Papers[edit]Constitutional Convention and ratification of the Constitution[edit]In 1787, Hamilton served as assemblyman from New York County in the New York State Legislature and was chosen as a delegate for the Constitutional Convention by his father-in-law Philip Schuyler.[58][59] Even though Hamilton had been a leader in calling for a new Constitutional Convention, his direct influence at the Convention itself was quite limited. Governor George Clinton's faction in the New York legislature had chosen New York's other two delegates, John Lansing, Jr. and Robert Yates, and both of them opposed Hamilton's goal of a strong national government.[60][61] Thus, whenever the other two members of the New York delegation were present, they decided New York's vote, to ensure that there was no major alterations to the Articles of Confederation.[62]

Early in the Convention he made a speech proposing a President-for-Life; it had no effect upon the deliberations of the convention. He proposed to have an elected President and elected Senators who would serve for life, contingent upon "good behavior" and subject to removal for corruption or abuse; this idea contributed later to the hostile view of Hamilton as a monarchist sympathizer, held by James Madison.[63] According to Madison's notes, Hamilton said in regards to the executive, "The English model was the only good one on this subject. The hereditary interest of the king was so interwoven with that of the nation, and his personal emoluments so great, that he was placed above the danger of being corrupted from abroad'...Let one executive be appointed for life who dares execute his powers."[64] Hamilton argued, "And let me observe that an executive is less dangerous to the liberties of the people when in office during life than for seven years. It may be said this constitutes as an elective monarchy'...But by making the executive subject to impeachment, the term 'monarchy' cannot apply'..."[65] During the convention, Hamilton constructed a draft for the Constitution based on the convention debates, but he never presented it. This draft had most of the features of the actual Constitution. In this draft, the Senate was to be elected in proportion to the population, being two-fifths the size of the House, and the President and Senators were to be elected through complex multistage elections, in which chosen electors would elect smaller bodies of electors; they would hold office for life, but were removable for misconduct. The President would have an absolute veto. The Supreme Court was to have immediate jurisdiction over all law suits involving the United States, and state governors were to be appointed by the federal government.[66]

At the end of the Convention, Hamilton was still not content with the final form of the Constitution, but signed it anyway as a vast improvement over the Articles of Confederation, and urged his fellow delegates to do so also.[67] Since the other two members of the New York delegation, Lansing and Yates, had already withdrawn, Hamilton was the only New York signer to the United States Constitution.[68] He then took a highly active part in the successful campaign for the document's ratification in New York in 1788, which was a crucial step in its national ratification. He first used the popularity of the Constitution by the masses to compel George Clinton to sign, but was unsuccessful. The state convention in Poughkeepsie in June 1788 pitted Hamilton, Jay, James Duane, Robert Livingston, and Richard Morris against the Clintonian faction led by Melancton Smith, Lansing, Yates, and Gilbert Livingston.[69] Hamilton's faction were against any conditional ratification, under the impression that New York would not be accepted into the Union, while Clinton's faction wanted to amend the Constitution, while maintaining the state's right to secede if their attempts failed. During the state convention, New Hampshire and Virginia becoming the ninth and tenth states to ratify the Constitution, respectively, had ensured any adjournment would not happen and a compromise would have to be reached.[69][70] Hamilton's arguments used for the ratifications were largely iterations of work from The Federalist Papers, and Smith eventually went for ratification, though it was more out of necessity than Hamilton's rhetoric.[70] The vote in the state constitution was ratified 30 to 27, on 26 July 1788.[71]

In 1788, Hamilton served yet another term in what proved to be the last session of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation. When the term of Phillip Schuyler was up in 1791, elected in his place was the attorney general of New York, one Aaron Burr. Hamilton blamed Burr for this result, and ill characterizations of Burr appear in his correspondence thereafter. The two men did work together from time to time thereafter on various projects, including Hamilton's army of 1798 and the Manhattan Water Company.[72]

The Federalist Papers[edit]Hamilton recruited John Jay and James Madison to write a series of essays defending the proposed Constitution, now known as The Federalist Papers, and made the largest contribution to that effort, writing 51 of 85 essays published (Madison wrote 29, Jay only five). Hamilton supervised the entire project, enlisted the participants, wrote the majority of the essays, and oversaw the publication. During the project each person was responsible for their areas of expertise; Jay covered foreign relations, Madison covered the history of republics and confederacies, along with the anatomy of the new government and Hamilton covered the branches of government most pertinent to him: the executive and judicial branches, with some aspects of the Senate, as well as covering military matters and taxation.[73] The papers first appeared in The Independent Journal in October 27, 1787.[74]

Hamilton wrote the first paper signed as Publius, and all of the subsequent papers were signed under the name.[75] Jay wrote the next four papers to elaborate on the confederation's weakness and the need for unity against foreign aggression and against splitting into rival confederacies, and, except for Number 64, was not further involved.[76][77] Hamilton's highlights included discussion that although republics have been culpable for disorders in the past, advances in the "science of politics" had fostered principles that ensured that those abuses could be prevented, such as the division of powers, legislative checks and balances, an independent judiciary, and legislators that were represented by electors (Numbers 7''9).[78] Hamilton also wrote an extensive defense of the constitution (No. 23''36), and discussed the Senate and executive and judicial branches in Numbers 65''85. Hamilton and Madison worked to describe the anarchic state of the confederation in numbers 15''22, and have been described as not being entirely different in thought during this time period in contrast to their stark opposition later in life.[79] Subtle differences appeared with the two when discussing the necessity of standing armies.[80]

Reconciliation between New York and Vermont[edit]In 1765 King George III had ruled in favor of New York in a dispute between New York and New Hampshire over the region that later became the state of Vermont. New York refused to recognize claims to property derived from grants by New Hampshire governor Benning Wentworth during the preceding 15 years when the territory had been governed as a de facto part of New Hampshire. Consequently, the people of the disputed territory, called the New Hampshire Grants, resisted the enforcement of New York's laws within the Grants. Indeed, Ethan Allen's militia called the Green Mountain Boys, noted for successes in the war against the British in 1775, was originally formed for the purpose of resisting the colonial government of New York. In 1777 the statesmen of the Grants declared it a separate state to be called Vermont, and by early 1778 had erected a state government. During 1777''1785, Vermont was repeatedly denied representation in the Continental Congress, largely because New York insisted that Vermont was legally a part of New York. Vermont took the position that because the denial its petitions for admission to the Union, it was not a part of the United States, not subject to Congress, and at liberty to negotiate separately with the British. The latter Haldimand negotiations led to some exchanges of prisoners of war. The peace treaty of 1783 that ended the war included Vermont within the boundaries of the United States.

By 1787 the government of New York had almost entirely given up plans to subjugate Vermont, but still claimed jurisdiction.[81] As a member of the legislature of New York, Hamilton argued forcefully and at length in favor of a bill to recognize the sovereignty of the State of Vermont, against numerous objections to its constitutionality and policy. Consideration of the bill was deferred to a later date. In 1788 and 1789 extensive negotiations were carried out between Hamilton and Nathaniel Chipman, a lawyer representing Vermont. Among the topics were the location of the border between Vermont and New York, and financial compensation of New York land-grantees whose grants Vermont refused to recognize because they conflicted with earlier grants from New Hampshire. In 1788 the new Constitution of the United States went into effect, with its plan to replace the unicameral Continental Congress with a new Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Hamilton wrote:

One of the first subjects subjects of deliberation with the new Congress will be the independence of Kentucky [at that time still a part of Virginia], for which the southern states will be anxious. The northern will be glad to find a counterpoise in Vermont.

In 1790 the legislature of New York agreed to give up that state's claim to jurisdiction in Vermont on condition that Congress would admit Vermont state to the Union.

Secretary of the Treasury[edit]President George Washington appointed Hamilton as the first United States Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789. He left office on the last day of January 1795. Much of the structure of the government of the United States was worked out in those five years, beginning with the structure and function of the cabinet itself. Biographer Forrest McDonald argues that Hamilton saw his office, like that of the British First Lord of the Treasury, as the equivalent of a Prime Minister; Hamilton would oversee his colleagues under the elective reign of George Washington. Washington did request Hamilton's advice and assistance on matters outside the purview of the Treasury Department. In 1791, while Secretary, Hamilton was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[82] Hamilton submitted various financial reports to Congress. Among these are the First Report on the Public Credit, Operations of the Act Laying Duties on Imports, Report on a National Bank, On the Establishment of a Mint, Report on Manufactures, and the Report on a Plan for the Further Support of Public Credit.[83] So, the great enterprise in Hamilton's project of an administrative republic is the establishment of stability.[84]

Report on Public Credit[edit]Before the adjournment of the House in September 1789, they requested Hamilton to make a report on suggestions to improve the public credit by January 1790.[85] Hamilton had written to Robert Morris as early as 1781 that fixing the public credit will win their objective of independence.[85] The sources that Hamilton used ranged from Frenchmen such as Jacques Necker and Montesquieu to British writers such as Hume, Hobbes, and Malachy Postlethwayt.[86] While writing the report he also sought out suggestions from contemporaries such as John Knox Witherspoon, and Madison. Although they agreed on additional taxes such as distilleries and duties on imported liquors and land taxes, Madison feared that the securities from the government debt would fall in foreign hands.[86][87]

In the report, Hamilton felt that the debt that the United States had accrued during the Revolutionary War was the price it paid for its liberty. He argued that liberty and property security were inseparable and that the government should honor the contracts, as they formed the basis of public and private morality. To Hamilton, the proper handling of the government debt would also allow America to borrow at affordable interest rates and would also be a stimulant to the economy.[88] Hamilton divided the debt into national and state, and further divided the national debt into foreign and domestic debt. While there was agreement on how to handle the foreign debt (especially with France), there was not with regards to the national debt held by domestic creditors. During the Revolutionary War, affluent citizens had invested in bonds, and war veterans had been paid with promissory notes and IOUs that plummeted in price during the Confederation. In response, the war veterans sold the securities to speculators for as little as fifteen to twenty cents on the dollar.[89][90] Hamilton felt the money from the bonds should not go to the soldiers, but the speculators that had bought the bonds from the soldiers, as they had little faith in the country's future. The process of attempting to track down the original bond holders along with the government showing discrimination among the classes of holders if the war veterans were to be compensated also weighed in as factors for Hamilton. As for the state debts, Hamilton suggested to consolidate it with the national debt and label it as federal debt, for the sake of efficiency on a national scale.[91] The last portion of the report dealt with eliminating the debt by utilizing a sinking fund that would retire five percent of the debt annually until it was paid off. Due to the bonds being traded well below their face value, the purchases would benefit the government as the securities rose in price.[92]

When the report was submitted to the House of Representatives, detractors soon began to speak against it. The notion of programs that resembled British practice were wicked along with the power of balance being shifted away from the Representatives to the executive branch were some of the prejudices that resided within the House. William Maclay suspected that that several congressmen were involved in government securities, saw Congress in an unholy league with New York speculators.[93] Congressman James Jackson also spoke against New York with allegations of speculators attempting to swindle those who had yet heard about Hamilton's report.[94] The involvement of those in Hamilton's circle such as Schuyler, William Duer, James Duane, Gouverneur Morris, and Rufus King as speculators was not favorable to those against the report, either, though Hamilton personally did not own or deal a share in the debt.[95][96] Madison eventually spoke against it by February 1790. Although he was not against current holders of government debt to profit, he wanted the windfall to go to the original holders. Madison did not feel that the original holders had lost faith in the government, but sold their securities out of desperation.[97] The compromise was seen as egregious to both Hamiltonians and their dissidents such as Maclay, and Madison's vote was defeated 36 votes to 13 on February 22.[97][98]

The fight for the national government to assume state debt was a longer issue, and lasted over four months. During the period, the resources that Hamilton was to apply to the payment of state debts was requested by Alexander White, and was rejected due to Hamilton's not being able to prepare information by March 3, and was even postponed by his own supporters in spite of configuring a report the next day (which consisted of a series of additional duties to meet the interest on the state debts).[99] Some of the other issues involving Hamilton was bypassing the rising issue of slavery in Congress after Quakers petitioned for its abolition (though he returned to the issue the following year),[100] having Duer resign as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and the vote of assumption being voted down 31 votes to 29 on April 12.[101] The temporary location of the capital from New York City also played a role, as Tench Coxe was sent to speak to Maclay to bargain about the capital being temporarily located to Philadelphia, as a single vote in the Senate was needed and five in the House for the bill to pass.[102][note 2] The bill passed in the Senate on July 21 and in the House 34 votes to 28 on July 26, 1790.[102]

Report on a National Bank[edit]Hamilton's Report on a National Bank was a projection from the first Report on the Public Credit. Although Hamilton had been forming ideas of a national bank as early as 1779,[103] he gathered ideas in various ways over the past eleven years. These included theories from Adam Smith,[104] extensive studies on the Bank of England, the blunders of the Bank of North America and his experience in establishing the Bank of New York.[105] His also used American records from James Wilson, Pelatiah Webster, Gouverneur Morris, and from his assistant Treasury secretary Tench Coxe.[105]

Hamilton suggested that Congress should charter the National Bank with a capitalization of $10 million, one-fifth of which would be handled by the Government. Since the Government did not have the money, it would borrow the money from the bank itself, and repay the loan in ten even annual installments.[106] The rest was to be available to individual investors.[107] The bank was to be governed by a twenty-five member board of directors that was to represent a large majority of the private shareholders, which Hamilton considered essential for his being under a private direction.[103] Hamilton's bank model had many similarities to that of the Bank of England, except Hamilton wanted to exclude the Government from being involved in public debt, but provide a large, firm, and elastic money supply for the functioning of normal businesses and usual economic development, among other differences.[108] For tax revenue to ignite the bank, it was the same as he had previously proposed; increases on imported spirits: rum, liquor, and whiskey.[109]

The bill passed through the Senate practically without a problem, but objections of the proposal increased by the time it reached the House of Representatives. It was generally held by critics that Hamilton was serving the interests of the Northeast by means of the bank,[110] and those of the agrarian lifestyle would not benefit from it.[111] Among those critics was James Jackson of Georgia, who also attempted to refute the report by quoting from The Federalist Papers.[111] Madison and Jefferson also opposed the bank bill; however, the potential of the capital not being moved to the Potomac if the bank was to have a firm establishment in Philadelphia (the current capital of the United States) was a more significant reason, and actions that Pennsylvania members of Congress took to keep the capital there made both men anxious.[112] Madison warned the Pennsylvania congress members that he would attack the bill as unconstitutional in the House, and followed up on his threat.[113] Madison argued his case of where the power of a bank could be established within the Constitution, but he failed to sway members of the House, and his authority on the constitution was questioned by a few members.[114] The bill eventually passed in an overwhelming fashion 39 to 20, on February 8, 1791.[115]

Washington hesitated to sign the bill, as he received suggestions from Attorney-General Edmund Randolph and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson dismissed the 'necessary and proper' clause as reasoning for the creation of a national bank, stating that the enumerated powers "can all be carried into execution without a bank."[116] Along with Randolph and Jefferson's objections, Washington's involvement in the movement of the capital from Philadelphia is also thought to be a reason for his hesitation.[117] In response to the objection of the 'necessary and proper' clause, Hamilton stated that "Necessary often means no more than needful, requisite, incidental, useful, or conductive to", and the bank was a "convenient species of medium in which they (taxes) are to be paid.".[118] Washington would eventually sign the bill into law.[118]

Establishing the U.S. Mint[edit]In 1791, Hamilton submitted Report on the Establishment of a Mint to the House of Representatives. Most of Hamilton's ideas for this report were from European economists, resolutions from Continental Congress meetings from 1785 and 1786, and from people such as Gouverneur Morris and Thomas Jefferson.[119][120] Due to the Spanish coin being the most circulated coin in the United States at the time, Alexander Hamilton proposed that the minting of the United States dollar weighing almost as much as the Spanish peso would be the simplest way to introduce a national currency.[121] Hamilton wanted the U.S. dollar system to be set for decimals rather than the eights like the Spanish mint.[122] In spite of preferring a monometallic gold standard,[123] he issued a bimetallic currency at ratio that was to be similar to most European countries.[120][124] What was different from the European currencies was his desire to overprice the gold on the grounds that the United States would always receive an influx of silver from the West Indies.[120] Hamilton desired the minting of small value coins such as silver ten-cent, copper, and half-cent pieces, for reducing the cost of living for the poor.[105][125] One of his main objectives was for the general public to become accustomed to handling money on a frequent basis.[125]

By 1792, Hamilton's principles were adopted by Congress, resulting in the Coinage Act of 1792, and the creation of the United States Mint. There was to be a ten dollar Gold Eagle coin, a silver dollar, and fractional money ranging from one-half to fifty cents.[123] The coining of silver and gold was issued by 1795.[123]

Revenue Cutter Service[edit]Smuggling off American coasts was an issue before the Revolutionary War, and after the Revolution it was more problematic. Along with smuggling, lack of shipping control, pirating, and a revenue unbalance were also major problems.[126] In response, Hamilton proposed to Congress to enact a naval police force called revenue cutters in order to patrol the waters and assist the custom collectors with confiscating contraband.[127] This idea was also proposed to assist in tariff controlling, boosting the American economy, and promote the merchant marine.[126] It is thought that his experience obtained during his apprenticeship with Nicholas Kruger was influential in his decision-making.[128]

Concerning some of the details of the "System of Cutters",[129][note 3] Hamilton wanted the first ten cutters in different areas in the United States, from New England to Georgia.[127][130] Hamilton also wanted those cutters to be armed with ten muskets and bayonets, twenty pistols, two chisels, one broad-ax and two lanterns. Hamilton also wanted the fabric of the sails to be domestically manufactured.[127] Hamilton was also concerned of the employees' food supply and etiquette when boarding ships, and made provisions for each.[127] Congress established the Revenue Cutter Service on August 4, 1790, which is viewed as the birth of the United States Coast Guard.[126]

Whiskey as tax revenue[edit]One of the principal sources of revenue Hamilton prevailed upon Congress to approve was an excise tax on whiskey. In his first Tariff Bill in January of 1790, Hamilton proposed to raise the three million dollars needed to pay for government operating expenses and interest on domestic and foreign debts by means of an increase on duties on imported wines, distilled spirits, tea, coffee, and domestic spirits. It failed, with Congress complying with most recommendations excluding the excise tax on Whiskey (Madison's tariff of the same year was a modification of Hamilton's that involved only imported duties and was passed in September).[131]

In response of diversifying revenues, as three-fourths of revenue gathered was from commerce with Great Britain, Hamilton attempted once again during his Report on Public Credit when presenting it in 1790 to implement an excise tax both imported and domestic spirits.[132][133] The taxation rate was graduated in proportion to the whiskey proof, and Hamilton intended to equalize the tax burden on imported spirits with imported and domestic liquor.[133] In lieu of the excise on production citizens could pay 60 cents by the gallon of dispensing capacity, along with an exemption on small stills used exclusively for domestic consumption.[133] He realized the loathing that the tax would receive in rural areas, but thought of the taxing of spirits more reasonable than land taxes.[132]

Opposition initially came from Pennsylvania's House of Representatives protesting the tax. William Maclay had noted that not even the Pennsylvanian legislators had been able to enforce excise taxes in the western regions of the state.[134] Hamilton was aware of the potential difficulties and proposed inspectors the ability to search buildings that distillers were designated to store their spirits, and would be able to search suspected illegal storage facilities to confiscate contraband with a warrant.[135] Although the inspectors were not allowed to search houses and warehouses, they were to visit twice a day and file weekly reports in extensive detail.[136] Hamilton cautioned against expedited judicial means, and favored a jury trial with potential offenders.[135] As soon as 1791 locals began to shun or threaten inspectors, as they felt the inspection methods were intrusive.[136] Inspectors were also tarred and feathered, blindfolded, and whipped. Hamilton had attempted to appease the opposition with lowered tax rates, but it did not suffice.[137]

Strong opposition to the whiskey tax by cottage producers in remote, rural regions erupted into the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794; in Western Pennsylvania and western Virginia, whiskey was the basic export product and was fundamental to the local economy. In response to the rebellion, believing compliance with the laws was vital to the establishment of federal authority, Hamilton accompanied to the rebellion's site President Washington, General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and more federal troops than were ever assembled in one place during the Revolution. This overwhelming display of force intimidated the leaders of the insurrection, ending the rebellion virtually without bloodshed.[138]

Manufacturing and industry[edit]Hamilton's next report was his Report on Manufactures. Although he was requested by Congress on January 15, 1790 for a report for manufacturing that would expand the United States' independence, the report was not submitted until December 5, 1791.[139] In the report, Hamilton quoted from Wealth of Nations and used the French physiocrats as an example for rejecting agrarianism and the physiocratic theory; respectively.[140] Hamilton also refuted Smith's ideas of government noninterference, as it would have been detrimental for trade with other countries.[141] Hamilton also thought of the United States being a primarily agrarian country would be a disadvantage in dealing with Europe.[142] In response to the agrarian detractors, Hamilton stated that the agriculturists' interest would be advanced by manufactures,[143] and that agriculture was just as productive as manufacturing.[140][143]

Among the ways that the government could assist in manufacturing, Hamilton mentioned levying protective duties on imported foreign goods that were also manufactured in the United States,[144] to withdraw duties levied on raw materials needed for domestic manufacturing,[144][145] pecuniary boundaries,[145] and encouraging immigration for people to better themselves in similar employment opportunities.[144][146] Congress shelved the report without much debate (except for Madison's objection to Hamilton's formulation of the General Welfare clause, which Hamilton construed liberally as a legal basis for his extensive programs).[147]

Subsequently in 1791, with his ideas for manufacturing being a major influence, Hamilton, along with Coxe and several entrepreneurs from New York and Philadelphia helped form the Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures, a private industrial corporation. The location at Great Falls of the Passaic River in New Jersey was selected due to access to raw materials, it being densely inhabited, and having access to water power from the falls of the Passaic.[148] The factory town was named Paterson after New Jersey's Governor William Paterson, who signed the charter.[149][150] The profits were to derive from specific corporates rather than the benefits to be conferred to the nation and the citizens, which was unlike the report.[151] Hamilton also suggested the first stock to be offered at $500,000 and to eventually increase to $1 million, and welcomed state and national government subscriptions alike.[151][152] The company never materialized any success as numerous shareholders reneged on stock payments, some of the Society's members were soon bankrupt, while William Duer, the governor of the program, wounded up in debtors' prison.[150][152] In spite of Hamilton's efforts to mend the disaster, the company would expire by 1796.[150]

Emergence of parties[edit]During Hamilton's tenure as Treasury Secretary, political factions began to emerge. A Congressional caucus, led by James Madison and William Branch Giles, began as an opposition group to Hamilton's financial programs, and Thomas Jefferson joined this group when he returned from France. Hamilton and his allies began to call themselves Federalists. The opposition group, now called the Democratic-Republican Party by political scientists, was at the time known as Republicans,.[153][note 4]

Hamilton assembled a nationwide coalition to garner support for the Administration, including the expansive financial programs Hamilton had made Administration policy and especially the president's policy of neutrality in the European war between Britain and France. Hamilton's public relations campaign attacked the French minister Edmond-Charles Genªt (he called himself "Citizen Genªt") who tried to appeal to voters directly, which Federalists denounced as foreign interference in American affairs.[154] If Hamilton's administrative republic was to succeed, Americans had to see themselves as nation citizens, and they would have to experience an administration that proved firm, less a threat and more an aid to the conceptions of government rooted in interest that prevailed within the United States Constitution.[155] The Federalists did impose some internal direct taxes but they departed from the most implications of the Hamilton administrative republic as risky.[156]

The Jeffersonian Republicans opposed banks and cities, and favored France. They built their own national coalition to oppose the Federalists. Both sides gained the support of local political factions; each side developed its own partisan newspapers. Noah Webster, John Fenno, and William Cobbett were energetic editors for the Federalists; Benjamin Franklin Bache and Philip Freneau were fiery Republican editors. All the newspapers were characterized by intense personal attacks, major exaggerations and invented claims. In 1801, Hamilton established a daily newspaper, the New York Evening Post and brought in William Coleman as editor. It is still publishing (as the New York Post).[157]

The quarrel between Hamilton and Jefferson is the best known and historically the most important in American political history. Hamilton's and Jefferson's incompatibility was heightened by the unavowed wish of each to be Washington's principal and most trusted advisor.[158]

Jay Treaty and Britain[edit]When France and Britain went to war in early 1793, all four members of the Cabinet were consulted on what to do. They and Washington unanimously agreed to remain neutral, and to send Genªt home.[159] However, in 1794 policy toward Britain became a major point of contention between the two parties. Hamilton and the Federalists wished for more trade with Britain, the new nation's largest trading partner. The Republicans saw Britain as the main threat to republicanism and proposed instead a trade war.[160]

To avoid war, Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to negotiate with the British; Hamilton largely wrote Jay's instructions. The result was Jay's Treaty. It was denounced by the Republicans but Hamilton mobilized support up and down the land.[161] The Jay Treaty passed the Senate in 1795 by exactly the required two-thirds majority. The Treaty resolved issues remaining from the Revolution, averted war, and made possible ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain.[162] Historian George Herring notes the "remarkable and fortuitous economic and diplomatic gains" produced by the Treaty.[163]

Several European nations had formed a League of Armed Neutrality against incursions on their neutral rights; the Cabinet was also consulted on whether the United States should join it, and decided not to. It kept that decision secret, but Hamilton revealed it in private to George Hammond, the British Minister to the United States, without telling Jay or anyone else. (His act remained unknown until Hammond's dispatches were read in the 1920s). This "amazing revelation" may have had limited effect on the negotiations; Jay did threaten to join the League at one point, but the British had other reasons not to view the League as a serious threat.[164]

Second Report on Public Credit[edit]Before leaving his post in 1795, Hamilton submitted Report on a Plan for the Further Support of Public Credit to Congress to curb the debt problem. Hamilton grew dissatisfied with what he viewed as a lack of a comprehensive plan to fix the public debt. He wished to have new taxes passed with older ones made permanent and stated that the any surplus from the excise tax on liquor would be pledged to lower public debt. His proposals were included into a bill by Congress within slightly over a month after his departure as treasury secretary.[165]

Post-Secretary years[edit]The Reynolds affair[edit]In 1791, Hamilton became involved in an affair with Maria Reynolds over a nine-month period that would be revealed to the public several years afterward. Reynolds appeared to Hamilton as a woman who had been abandoned by her husband, James, at New York and wished to return to there.[166] Hamilton did not have any money on his person, so he retrieved her address in order to deliver the funds in person. After the brief dialogue in Reynolds' bedroom, he had frequent meetings with her. Hamilton then received two letters on December 15, 1791, one from both Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds.[166] The first letter was Maria warning of her husband's knowledge and of James attempting to blackmail Hamilton. By this point Hamilton contemplated ending the tryst, and briefly ceased to visit, but both apparently were involved in the blackmailing scheme as both sent letters,[166] and at one point James Reynolds requested to 'befriend' her.[167] By May of 1792, James Reynolds had requested for Hamilton to no longer see his wife, but not before receiving fifty and two hundred dollars out of over $1300 in blackmail.[168] Hamilton possibly was aware of both Reynolds' being involved before the blackmailing incident.[169]

When under suspicion of illegal actions while Secretary of Treasury by associating with William Duer from John J. Beckley and Jacob Clingman, the latter also had alleged evidence of James Reynolds being an agent of Hamilton's, with accompanying letters gathered from Maria Reynolds that were from Hamilton. This information was relayed to James Monroe, who consulted with Congressmen Muhlenberg and Venable on what actions to take. When it was suggested by Clingman that James Reynolds had evidence that would incriminate Hamilton, after both were arrested for counterfeiting and Clingman was released, Monroe and the Congressmen soon confronted Hamilton on 15 December 1792. After Hamilton discussed the affair, the trio were to keep the documents privately with the utmost confidence.[166]

In 1797, however, when "notoriously scurrilous journalist" James T. Callender published A History of the United States for the Year 1796, it contained accusations of James Reynolds being an agent of Hamilton using documents from the confrontation on December 15, 1792. On July 5, 1797, Hamilton wrote to all three men to confirm that there was nothing that would damage the perception of his integrity while Secretary of Treasury. All complied but Monroe, and after several rounds of argument, the two almost resorted to a duel. When Hamilton did not obtain an explicit response from Monroe, he published a pamphlet in order to preserve his public reputation, and discussed the affair in exquisite detail. His wife forgave him, but not Monroe. Though he faced ridicule from the Democratic-Republican faction, he maintained his availability for public service.[170]

1796 presidential election[edit]Hamilton's resignation as Secretary of the Treasury in 1795 did not remove him from public life. With the resumption of his law practice, he remained close to Washington as an advisor and friend. Hamilton influenced Washington in the composition of his Farewell Address by writing drafts for Washington to compare with the latter's draft, although when Washington contemplated retirement in 1792, he had consulted James Madison for a draft that was used in a similar manner to Hamilton's.[171][172]

In the election of 1796, under the Constitution as it stood then, each of the presidential electors had two votes, which they were to cast for different men. The one who received most votes would become President, the second-most, Vice President. This system was not designed with the operation of parties in mind, as they had been thought disreputable and factious. The Federalists planned to deal with this by having all their Electors vote for John Adams, the Vice President, and all but a few for Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina.[173]

Adams resented Hamilton's influence with Washington and considered him overambitious and scandalous in his private life; Hamilton compared Adams unfavorably with Washington and thought him too emotionally unstable to be President.[173] Hamilton took the election as an opportunity: he urged all the northern electors to vote for Adams and Pinckney, lest Jefferson get in; but he cooperated with Edward Rutledge to have South Carolina's electors vote for Jefferson and Pinckney. If all this worked, Pinckney would have more votes than Adams, Pinckney would become President, and Adams would remain Vice President, but it did not work. The Federalists found out about it (even the French minister to the United States knew), and northern Federalists voted for Adams but not for Pinckney, in sufficient numbers that Pinckney came in third and Jefferson became Vice President.[174] Adams resented the intrigue since he felt his service to the nation was much more extensive than Pinckney's.[175]

Quasi-War[edit]During the Quasi-War of 1798''1800, and with Washington's strong endorsement, Adams reluctantly appointed Hamilton a major general of the army; at Washington's insistence, Hamilton was made the senior major general, prompting Henry Knox to decline appointment to serve as Hamilton's junior (Knox had been a major general in the Continental Army and thought it would be degrading to serve beneath him).[176][177] Hamilton served as inspector general of the United States Army from July 18, 1798, to June 15, 1800; because Washington was unwilling to leave Mount Vernon unless it were to command an army in the field, Hamilton was the de facto head of the army, to Adams's considerable displeasure. If full-scale war broke out with France, Hamilton argued that the army should conquer the North American colonies of France's ally, Spain, bordering the United States.[178]

To fund this army, Hamilton wrote regularly to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., his successor at the Treasury; William Loughton Smith, of the House Ways and Means Committee; and Senator Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts. He directed them to pass a direct tax to fund the war. Smith resigned in July 1797, as Hamilton scolded him for slowness, and told Wolcott to tax houses instead of land.[179]

The eventual program included a Stamp Act like that of the British before the Revolution and other taxes on land, houses, and slaves, calculated at different rates in different states, and requiring difficult and intricate assessment of houses.[180] This provoked resistance in southeastern Pennsylvania, led primarily by men such as John Fries who had marched with Washington against the Whiskey Rebellion.[181]

Hamilton aided in all areas of the army's development, and after Washington's death he was by default the Senior Officer of the United States Army from December 14, 1799, to June 15, 1800. The army was to guard against invasion from France. Adams, however, derailed all plans for war by opening negotiations with France.[182] Adams had held it proper to retain the members of Washington's cabinet, except for cause; he found, in 1800 (after Washington's death), that they were obeying Hamilton rather than himself, and fired several of them.[183]

1800 presidential election[edit]In the 1800 election, Hamilton worked to defeat not only the rival Democratic-Republican candidates, but also his party's own nominee, John Adams.[184] In November 1799, the Alien and Sedition Acts had left one Democratic-Republican newspaper functioning in New York City; when the last, the New Daily Advertiser, reprinted an article saying that Hamilton had attempted to purchase the Philadelphia Aurora and close it down, Hamilton had the publisher prosecuted for seditious libel, and the prosecution compelled the owner to close the paper.[185]

Aaron Burr had won New York for Jefferson in May; now Hamilton proposed a rerun of the election under different rules'--with carefully drawn districts and each choosing an elector'--such that the Federalists would split the electoral vote of New York.[note 5] (John Jay, a Federalist who had given up the Supreme Court to be Governor of New York, wrote on the back of the letter the words, "Proposing a measure for party purposes which it would not become me to adopt," and declined to reply.)[186]

John Adams was running this time with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. Hamilton now toured New England, again urging northern electors to hold firm for Pinckney in the renewed hope of making Pinckney president; and he again intrigued in South Carolina.[187] Hamilton's ideas involved coaxing middle-state Federalists to assert their non-support for Adams if there was no support for Pinckney and writing to more of the modest supports of Adams concerning his supposed misconduct while president.[187] Hamilton expected to see southern states such as the Carolinas cast their votes for Pinckney and Jefferson, and would result in the former being ahead of both Adams and Jefferson.[188]

In accordance with the second of the aforementioned plans, and a recent personal rift with Adams,[189] Hamilton wrote a pamphlet called Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States that was highly critical of him, though it closed with a tepid endorsement.[190] He mailed this to two hundred leading Federalists; when a copy fell into the Democratic-Republicans' hands, they printed it. This hurt Adams's 1800 reelection campaign and split the Federalist Party, virtually assuring the victory of the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Jefferson, in the election of 1800; it destroyed Hamilton's position among the Federalists.[191]

Jefferson had beaten Adams, but both he and his running mate, Aaron Burr, had received 73 votes in the Electoral College (Adams finished in third place, Pinckney in fourth, and Jay received one vote). With Jefferson and Burr tied, the United States House of Representatives had to choose between the two men.[192][193] Several Federalists who opposed Jefferson supported Burr, and for the first 35 ballots, Jefferson was denied a majority. Before the 36th ballot, Hamilton threw his weight behind Jefferson, supporting the arrangement reached by James A. Bayard of Delaware, in which five Federalist Representatives from Maryland and Vermont abstained from voting, allowing those states' delegations to go for Jefferson, ending the impasse and electing Jefferson President rather than Burr.[194] Even though Hamilton did not like Jefferson and disagreed with him on many issues, he viewed Jefferson as the lesser of two evils. Hamilton spoke of Jefferson as being "by far not so a dangerous man", and that Burr was a "mischievous enemy" to the principle measure of the past administration.[195] There is strong circumstantial evidence, however, that what Hamilton really feared was Burr's appeal to the members of the Federalist Party and loss of his control over them. Many Federalists viewed Burr as a moderate who was willing to dialogue with them. It was for that reason, along with the fact that Burr was a northerner and not a Virginian, that many Federalist Representatives voted for him.[196] Hamilton wrote an exceeding number of letters to friends in congress to Convince the members to see otherwise.[192][197] However, the Federalists rejected Hamilton's diatribe as reasons to not vote for Burr.[194][197] Nevertheless, Burr would become Vice President of the United States. When it became clear that Jefferson developed his own concerns about Burr and would not support his return to the Vice Presidency, Burr sought the New York governorship in 1804 with Federalist support, against the Jeffersonian Morgan Lewis, but was defeated by forces including Hamilton.[198]

Burr''Hamilton duel and untimely death[edit]Soon after the 1804 gubernatorial election in New York'--in which Morgan Lewis, greatly assisted by Hamilton, defeated Aaron Burr'--the Albany Register published Charles D. Cooper's letters, citing Hamilton's opposition to Burr and alleging that Hamilton had expressed "a still more despicable opinion" of the Vice President at an upstate New York dinner party.[199][200] Cooper claimed that the letter was intercepted after relaying the information, but stated he was 'unusually cautious' in recollecting the information from the dinner.[201] Burr, sensing an attack on his honor, and recovering from his defeat, demanded an apology in letter form. Hamilton wrote a letter in response and ultimately refused because he could not recall the instance of insulting Burr; also, Hamilton would have been accused of recanting Cooper's letter out of cowardice[202] After a series of attempts to reconcile were to no avail, the duel was accepted through liaisons on June 27, 1804.[203]

The night before the duel, Hamilton wrote a defense of his decision to duel. Hamilton viewed his roles of being a father and husband, putting his creditors at risk, placing his family's welfare in jeopardy and his moral and religious stances as reasons not to duel, but he felt it impossible to avoid due to making attacks on Burr and unable to recant, and because of Burr's behavior prior to the duel. He attempted to reconcile his moral and religious reasons and the codes of honor and politics. He intended to accept the duel and throw his fire in order to satisfy his morals and political codes, respectively.[199][204][note 6] His desire to be available for future political matters also played a factor.[199]

The duel began at dawn on July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey.[205] After the seconds measured the paces, Hamilton, according to William P. Van Ness and Burr, raised his pistol 'as if to try the light' and had to wear his spectacles to prevent his vision from being obscured.[206] Hamilton also refused the hairspring set of dueling pistols (that would make the pulling of the trigger lighter) when offered by Nathaniel Pendleton.[207] Vice President Burr shot Hamilton, delivering what proved to be a fatal wound. Hamilton's shot broke a tree branch directly above Burr's head.[208] Neither of the seconds, Pendleton or Van Ness, could determine who fired first,[209] as each claimed that the other man had fired first.[207] Soon after, they measured and triangulated the shooting, but could not determine from which angle Hamilton fired. Burr's shot, however, hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen above the right hip. The bullet ricocheted off Hamilton's second or third false rib, fracturing it and caused considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and diaphragm before becoming lodged in his first or second lumbar vertebra.[210][211] Biographer Ron Chernow considers the circumstances to indicate that, after taking deliberate aim, Burr fired second,[208] while biographer James Earnest Cooke suggested that Burr took careful aim and only after the bullet struck Hamilton did he fire his shot while falling.[212]

The paralyzed Hamilton, who knew himself to be mortally wounded, was ferried to the Greenwich Village home of his friend William Bayard Jr., who had been waiting on the dock. After final visits from his family and friends and considerable suffering, Hamilton died on the following afternoon, July 12, 1804 at Bayard's home at what is now 80''82 Jane Street.[213] Gouverneur Morris gave the eulogy at his funeral and secretly established a fund to support his widow and children.[214] Hamilton was buried in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan.[215]

Personal life[edit]Family[edit]While Hamilton was stationed in Morristown, New Jersey in the winter of 1779 and 1780, he met Elizabeth Schuyler, a daughter of Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer. The two were married on December 14, 1780 at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York.[216] He and Elizabeth had eight children, including two named Philip. The elder Philip, Hamilton's first child (born January 22, 1782), was killed in 1801 in a duel with George I. Eacker, whom he had publicly insulted in a Manhattan theater. The second Philip, Hamilton's last child, was born on June 2, 1802, right after the first Philip was killed. Their other children were Angelica, born September 25, 1784; Alexander, born May 16, 1786; James Alexander (April 14, 1788 '' September 1878);[217] John Church, born August 22, 1792; William Stephen, born August 4, 1797; and Eliza, born November 26, 1799.[218]

Hamilton was also close to Elizabeth's older sister, Angelica, who eloped with John Barker Church, an Englishman who made a fortune in North America during the Revolution. She returned with Church to London after the war, where she later became a joint friend of Maria Cosway and Thomas Jefferson.[219]

Hamilton's religion[edit]Hamilton, as a youth in the West Indies, was an orthodox and conventional Presbyterian of the "New Light" evangelical type (as opposed to the "Old Light" Calvinists); he was being taught by a student of John Witherspoon, a moderate of the New School.[220] He wrote two or three hymns, which were published in the local newspaper.[221] Robert Troup, his college roommate, noted that Hamilton was "in the habit of praying on his knees night and morning."[222]

Gordon Wood says that Hamilton dropped his youthful religiosity during the Revolution and became, "a conventional liberal with theistic inclinations who was an irregular churchgoer at best"; however, he returned to religion in his last years.[223] Chernow says he was nominally an Episcopalian but:

he was not clearly affiliated with the denomination and did not seem to attend church regularly or take communion. Like Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson, Hamilton had probably fallen under the sway of deism, which sought to substitute reason for revelation and dropped the notion of an active God that will intervene in human affairs. At the same time, he never doubted God's existence, embracing Christianity as a system of morality and cosmic justice.[224]Hamilton made jokes about God at the Constitutional Convention.[225] During the French Revolution, he displayed an "opportunistic religiosity", using Christianity for political ends and insisting that Christianity and Jefferson's democracy were incompatible.[225] After 1801, Hamilton further asserted the truth of Christianity; he proposed a Christian Constitutional Society in 1802, to take hold of "some strong feeling of the mind" to elect "fit men" to office, and he wrote of "Christian welfare societies" for the poor. He was not a member of any denomination. After being shot, Hamilton spoke of his belief in God's mercy, and of his desire to renounce dueling; Bishop Moore administered communion to Hamilton.[note 7]

Hamilton had always had respect for Jews. His birthplace of Charlestown had a large Jewish population with whom Hamilton came into contact on a regular basis. As a boy, he had learned Hebrew and could recite the Ten Commandments in its original language.[226] He believed that Jewish achievement was a result of divine providence and warned that those who discredit the Jews "destroy the Christian religion."[227]

Hamilton's interpretations of the Constitution set forth in the Federalist Papers remain highly influential, as seen in scholarly studies and court decisions.[228]

Though the Constitution was ambiguous as to the exact balance of power between national and state governments, Hamilton consistently took the side of greater federal power at the expense of the states.[229] As Secretary of the Treasury, he established'--against the intense opposition of Secretary of State Jefferson'--the country's first national bank. Hamilton justified the creation of this bank, and other increased federal powers, under Congress's constitutional powers to issue currency, to regulate interstate commerce, and to do anything else that would be "necessary and proper" to enact the provisions of the Constitution. Jefferson, on the other hand, took a stricter view of the Constitution: parsing the text carefully, he found no specific authorization for a national bank. This controversy was eventually settled by the Supreme Court of the United States in McCulloch v. Maryland, which in essence adopted Hamilton's view, granting the federal government broad freedom to select the best means to execute its constitutionally enumerated powers, specifically the doctrine of implied powers.[230] Though, the American Civil War and the Progressive Era demonstrated the sorts of crises and politics Hamilton's administrative republic sought to avoid.[231]

Hamilton's policies as Secretary of the Treasury greatly affected the United States government and still continue to influence it. His constitutional interpretation, specifically of the Necessary and Proper Clause, set precedents for federal authority that are still used by the courts and are considered an authority on constitutional interpretation. The prominent French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, who spent 1794 in the United States, wrote, "I consider Napoleon, Fox, and Hamilton the three greatest men of our epoch, and if I were forced to decide between the three, I would give without hesitation the first place to Hamilton", adding that Hamilton had intuited the problems of European conservatives.[232]

Opinions of Hamilton have run the gamut: both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson viewed him as unprincipled and dangerously aristocratic. Hamilton's reputation was mostly negative in the eras of Jeffersonian democracy and Jacksonian democracy. However, by the Progressive era, Herbert Croly, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Theodore Roosevelt praised his leadership of a strong government. Several nineteenth- and twentieth-century Republicans entered politics by writing laudatory biographies of Hamilton.[233]

Historians have generally taken one of two main views of Hamilton. Wilentz says:

In recent years, Hamilton and his reputation have decidedly gained the initiative among scholars who portray him as the visionary architect of the modern liberal capitalist economy and of a dynamic federal government headed by an energetic executive. Jefferson and his allies, by contrast, have come across as na¯ve, dreamy idealists.[234]The older Jeffersonian view attacks him as a centralizer, to the point sometimes of advocating monarchy.[235]

Monuments and memorials[edit]Since the beginning of the American Civil War, Hamilton has been depicted on more denominations of US currency than anyone else. He has appeared on the $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $1,000. His likeness also began to appear on US postage in 1870. His portrait has continued to appear on US postage and currency, and most notably appears on the modern $10 bill, though it was announced on 18 June 2015 that his portrait would be replaced by that of a woman, to reflect the changing nature of American democracy and society. Hamilton also appears on the $500 Series EE Savings Bond. The source of the face on the $10 bill is John Trumbull's 1805 portrait of Hamilton, in the portrait collection of New York City Hall.[236]

The first postage stamp to honor Hamilton was issued by the U.S. Post Office in 1870. The portrayals on the 1870 and 1888 issues are from the same engraved die, which was modeled after a bust of Hamilton by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi[237] The Hamilton 1870 issue was the first US Postage stamp to honor a Secretary of the Treasury. The three-cent red commemorative issue, which was released on the 200th anniversary of Hamilton's birth in 1957, includes a rendition of the Federal Hall building, located in New York City.[238] On March 19, 1956, the United States Postal Service issued the $5 Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Hamilton.[239]

The only home Hamilton ever owned was a Federal style mansion designed by John McComb Jr., which he built on his 32-acre country estate in Hamilton Heights in upper Manhattan. He named the house, which was completed in 1802, the "Grange" after his grandfather Alexander's estate in Ayrshire, Scotland. The house remained in the family until 1833 when his widow sold it to Thomas E. Davis, a British born real estate developer, for $25,000.[240] Part of the proceeds were used by Eliza to purchase a new townhouse from Davis (Hamilton-Holly House) in Greenwich Village with her son Alexander.[240] The Grange, first moved from its original location in 1889, was moved again in 2008 to a spot in St. Nicholas Park on land that was once part of the Hamilton estate, in Hamilton Heights, a neighborhood in upper Manhattan. The historic structure was restored to its original 1802 appearance in 2011,[241] and is maintained by the National Park service as Hamilton Grange National Memorial.[242][243][244]

Alexander Hamilton served as one of the first trustees of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in New York state. Later the Academy received a college charter in 1812, and the school was formally renamed Hamilton College.[245]Columbia University, Hamilton's alma mater, has official memorials to Hamilton on its campus in New York City. The college's main classroom building for the humanities is Hamilton Hall, and a large statue of Hamilton stands in front of it.[246][247] The university press has published his complete works in a multivolume letterpress edition.[248] Columbia University's student group for ROTC cadets and Marine officer candidates is named the Alexander Hamilton Society.[249]

The main administration building of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, is named Hamilton Hall to commemorate Hamilton's creation of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, one of the predecessor services of the United States Coast Guard.[250] The U.S. Army's Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn is named after Hamilton.

In 1990, the U.S. Custom House in New York City was renamed after Hamilton.[251]

In 1880, his son John Church Hamilton commissioned Carl Conrads to sculpt a granite statue, now located in Central Park, New York City.[252][253]

One statue honoring Alexander Hamilton in Chicago was mired in controversy, at least concerning the surrounding architecture. Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858''1937), of the Buckingham Fountain family, commissioned the monument. Its impetus was that Treasury Secretary Hamilton "secured the nation's financial future and made it possible for her own family to make its fortune in grain elevators and banking. Consequently, John Angel was hired to model a figurative sculpture and the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen was to create a "colossal architectural setting" for it. The proposed 80-foot tall columned shelter was poorly received. By Ms. Buckingham's death in 1937, the sculpture's setting, location, and design were uncertain. Conspiracy allegations surfaced, and the matter became mired in litigation. After the courts ordered the construction to be completed by 1953, the trustees hired architect Samuel A. Marx. The structure was completed, had structural problems, and was eventually demolished in 1993. The statue was gilded, and is still on display.[254]

A statue, by James Earle Fraser, was dedicated on May 17, 1923, on the south terrace of the Treasury Building, in Washington.[255]

Popular culture[edit]Apart from the $10 bill, and an obscure 1931 Hollywood film, Hamilton did not attract much attention in American popular culture.[256] However, reviewers praised the 2015 musical Hamilton, starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was also the writer and composer. It is based on the biography by Ron Chernow. The New Yorker said: "the show is an achievement of historical and cultural reimagining. In Miranda's telling, the headlong rise of one self-made immigrant becomes the story of America."[257]Variety pointed to "Miranda's amazing vision of his towering historical subject as an ideological contemporary who reflects the thoughts and speaks the language of a vibrant young generation of immigrant strivers. It's a wonderfully humanizing view of history."[258]The New York Times review concluded:

But it's probably not possible to top the adrenaline rush of revolution, when men can chant, "Hey yo, I'm just like my country/I'm young, scrappy and hungry/And I'm not throwing away my shot." Ambitious, enthusiastic and talented in equal measures, Mr. Miranda embodies those sentiments in a show that aims impossibly high and hits its target.[259]On slavery[edit]Until recently the prevailing scholarly view was that Hamilton, like the Founders generally, lacked a deep concern about slavery. John Patrick Diggins traced this animus of historians against Hamilton to Vernon L. Parrington, who, writing in the 1920s to praise Jefferson and the Enlightenment, denounced a reactionary and unenlightened Hamilton as greedy and evil.[260]Sean Wilentz contends that the consensus has changed sharply in Hamilton's favor in recent years.[261] For example, Michael D. Chan argues that the first U.S. Treasury Secretary was committed to ending slavery,[262] Chernow calls him "a fervent abolitionist",[263] David O. Stewart states he was a "lifelong opponent of slavery",[264] and Braun says he "was a leading anti-slavery advocate".[265] Historian Manning Marable says Hamilton "vigorously opposed the slave trade and slavery's expansion."[266]

Hamilton's first polemic against King George's ministers contains a paragraph that speaks of the evils that "slavery" to the British would bring upon the Americans. McDonald sees this as an attack on the institution of slavery. David Hackett Fischer believes the term is used in a symbolic way at that time.[267][note 8]

During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton took the lead in proposals to arm slaves, free them, and compensate their masters. In 1779, Hamilton worked closely with his friend John Laurens of South Carolina to propose that such a unit be formed, under Laurens' command. Hamilton proposed to the Continental Congress that it create up to four battalions of slaves for combat duty, and free them. Congress recommended that South Carolina (and Georgia) acquire up to three thousand slaves for service, if they saw fit. Although the South Carolina governor and Congressional delegation had supported the plan in Philadelphia, they did not implement it.[268][note 9]

Hamilton argued that the natural faculties of blacks were as good as those of free whites, and he warned that the British would arm the slaves if the patriots did not. In his 21st-century biography, Chernow cites this incident as evidence that Hamilton and Laurens saw the Revolution and the struggle against slavery as inseparable.[269] Hamilton attacked his political opponents as demanding freedom for themselves and refusing to allow it to blacks.[270]

In January 1785, Hamilton attended the second meeting of the New York Manumission Society (NYMS). John Jay was president and Hamilton was the first secretary and later became president.[271] Chernow notes how the membership soon included many of Hamilton's friends and associates. Hamilton was a member of the committee of the society that petitioned the legislature to end the slave trade, and that succeeded in passing legislation banning the export of slaves from New York.[272] In the same period, Hamilton felt bound by the rule of law of the time and his law practice facilitated the return of a fugitive slave to Henry Laurens of South Carolina.[273] He opposed the compromise at the 1787 Constitutional Convention by which the federal government could not abolish the slave trade for 20 years, and was disappointed when he lost that argument.[274]

Hamilton never supported forced emigration for freed slaves. Horton has argued from this that he would be comfortable with a multiracial society, and that this distinguished him from his contemporaries.[275] In international affairs, he supported Toussaint L'Ouverture's black government in Haiti after the revolt that overthrew French control, as he had supported aid to the slaveowners in 1791'--both measures hurt France.[276] Scant evidence has been interpreted by a few to indicate Hamilton may have owned household slaves, as did many wealthy New Yorkers (the evidence for this is indirect; McDonald interprets it as referring to paid employees).[274]

On economics[edit]Hamilton has been portrayed as the "patron saint" of the American School of economic philosophy that, according to one historian, dominated economic policy after 1861.[277] He firmly supported government intervention in favor of business, after the manner of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, as early as the fall of 1781.[278] Hamilton opposed the British ideas of free trade, which he believed skewed benefits to colonial and imperial powers, in favor of protectionism, which he believed would help develop the fledgling nation's emerging economy. Henry C. Carey was inspired by his writings. Hamilton influenced the ideas and work of the German Friedrich List.[279] In Hamilton's view, a strong executive, linked to the support of the people, could become the linchpin of an administrative republic. The dominance of executive leadership in the formulation and carrying out of policy was essential to resist the deterioration of republican government.[281] Ian Patrick Austin has explored the similarities between Hamiltonian recommendations and the development of Meiji Japan after 1860.[282]

See also[edit]References[edit]^Ira C. Lupu, "The Most-Cited Federalist Papers," Constitutional Commentary (1998)^ abcdPractical Proceedings in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Alexander Hamilton. Forward by Williard Sterne Randall. p. ix. 2004. New York Law Journal.^ abcChernow, p. 17.^Chernow; Flexner; Mitchell's Concise Life. McDonald, p. 366, n. 8, favors 1757 but acknowledges its minority status, saying that the probate clerk's alternate spelling of "Lavien" suggests unreliability.^Chernow, p. 10.^Chernow, p. 12.^Florence Lewisohn, "What So Proudly We Hail-Alexander Hamilton's West Indian Boyhood," in American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix: 1975, pp. 17''30.^Chernow, p. 24.^E.g., Flexner, passim.^Chernow, p. 25.^Chernow, p. 26.^Chernow, pp. 27''30.^Chernow, p. 37^Gordon, John Steele. "The Self Made Founder," American Heritage, April/May 2004.^Adair and Harvey.^Chernow, p. 51.^Randall, p. 78^https://books.google.com/books?id=4iafgTEhU3QC&pg=PA53&dq=%22alexander+hamilton%22+literary+society&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lj6CVe3VC4fl-AGY74GgBA&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22alexander%20hamilton%22%20literary%20society&f=false^https://books.google.com/books?id=q8aEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PT23&lpg=PT23&dq=%22alexander+hamilton%22+philolexian&source=bl&ots=h0M80Suvz_&sig=7MEIg0xNxi-6JV69_bm0i3sy5I4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OD-CVfqKIYH2-QHvgIHIBQ&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22alexander%20hamilton%22%20philolexian&f=false^Miller, p. 9^Mitchell 1:65''73; Miller, p. 19.^Newton, pp. 116-117 and 573^Mitchell, I:74''75^Chernow, p. 63.^McDonald, p. 13.^Chernow, p. 72.^Stryker, p. 158.^Randall, p. 120.^Lefkowitz, Arthur S., George Washington's Indispensable Men: The 32 Aides-de-Camp Who Helped Win the Revolution, Stackpole Books, 2003, pp. 15 & 108.^Hendrickson, Robert (1976). Hamilton I (1757''1789). New York: Mason/Charter. p. 119. ^Chernow, p. 90.^Lodge, pp. 1:15''20; Miller, pp. 23''6.^Flexner, Young Hamilton, p. 316.^Trees, Andrew S., "The Importance of Being Alexander Hamilton", Reviews in American History 2005, pp. 33(1):8''14, finding Chernow's inferences to be overreading the contemporary style.^Katz, Jonathan Ned, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A., Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976, ISBN 978-0-690-01164-7, p. 445.^Chernow, p. 159.^Murray, p. 69.^Mitchell, pp. I:254''60.^Syrett, p. III:117; for a one-year term beginning the "first Monday in November next", arrived in Philadelphia between the November 18 and 25, and resigned July 1783.^Hamilton, Alexander. Alexander Hamilton: Writings. Compiled by Joanne B. Freeman. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2001. pp. 70''71^Kohn; Brant, p. 45; Rakove, p. 324.^Brant, p. 100; Chernow, p. 176.^Martin and Lender, pp. 109, 160: at first for seven years, increased to life after Arnold's treason.^ abTucker, p. 470.^ abKohn; Ellis 2004, pp. 141''4.^Kohn, p. 196.^Hamilton's letter of February 13, 1783; Syrett, pp. III:253''55. Chernow, p. 177.^Washington to Hamilton, March 4 and March 12, 1783; Kohn; Martin and Lender, pp. 189''90.^Chernow, pp. 177''80, citing Washington to Hamilton, April 4, 1783. Retrieved on May 20, 2008.^Rakove, pp. 322, 325.^Brant, p. 108.^Chernow, p. 180.^Chernow, p. 182.^Chernow, p. 183.^Chernow, p. 160.^Chernow, pp. 197''99; McDonald, pp. 64''9.^Richard B. Morris, The Forging of the Union, 1781''1789 (1988) p. 255^Schachner, p. 191.^Morton, p. 169.^Chernow, pp. 227''28.^Morton, p. 131.^Schachner, p. 195.^Chernow, p. 232.^Madison, James. The Constitutional Convention. Edited by Edward J. Larson and Michael P. Winship. New York: Modern Library, 2005.^Madison, p. 51^Mitchell, pp. I:397 ff.^Brant, p. 195.^Schachner, p. 206.^ abDenboer, p. 196.^ abKaplan, p. 75.^Denboer, p. 197.^Lomask, pp. 139''40, 216''17, 220.^Chernow, pp. 247''48.^Chernow, p. 247.^Schachner, p. 210.^Chernow, p. 253.^Schachner, p. 211.^Chernow, p. 254.^Chernow, pp. 252''55.^Chernow, p. 257^Hall, Benjamin Homer, History of Eastern Vermont : From Its Earliest Settlement to the Close of the Eighteenth Century, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1858. p. 553.^"Book of Members, 1780''2010: Chapter H"(PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved August 7, 2014. ^Hamilton; Hamilton; pp. 1, 54, 106, 149, 192, 465^"Hamilton's Administrative Republic and the American Presidency", in The Presidency in the Constitutional Order, edited by Joseph M. Bessette and Jeffrey Tulis (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981), p. 93^ abMurray, p. 121.^ abChernow, p. 296.^Schachner, pp. 244''45.^Chernow, p. 297.^Murray, p. 124.^Chernow, pp. 297''98.^Chernow, pp. 298''99.^Chernow, p. 300.^Chernow, p. 302.^Chernow, p. 303.^Chernow, p. 304.^Schachner, p. 250.^ abChernow, p. 305.^Schachner, p. 255.^Schachner, pp. 297''98.^Chernow, p. 307.^Schachner, pp. 258''59.^ abSchachner, p. 263.^ abSchachner, p. 268.^Kaplan, p. 21.^ abcCooke, p. 88.^McDonald, p. 194.^Cooke, p. 89.^McDonald, pp. 194''95.^McDonald, pp. 195''96.^Cooke, p. 90.^ abSchachner, p. 270.^McDonald, pp. 199''200.^McDonald, p. 200.^McDonald, pp. 200''01.^Schachner, p. 271.^Schachner, pp. 271''72.^McDonald, pp. 202''03.^ abSchachner, pp. 272''73.^Mitchell, p. 118.^ abcMcDonald, p. 197.^Engerman; Gallman, p. 644.^Engerman; Gallman, pp. 644''45.^ abcStudentski; Krooss, p. 62.^Cooke, p. 87.^ abMcDonald, p. 198.^ abcGibowicz, p. 256.^ abcdChernow, p. 340.^Chernow, p. 32.^Gibowicz, pp. 256''57.^Storbridge, p. 2.^Stockwell, p. 357.^ abChernow, p. 342.^ abcMurray, p. 141.^Chernow, pp. 342''43.^ abMurray, pp. 141''42.^ abChernow, p. 343.^Chernow, p. 468.^Mitchell, I:308''31.^Schachner, pp. 274, 277.^ abMcDonald, p. 233.^McDonald, p. 244.^Cooke, p. 100.^ abSchachner, p. 276.^ abcCooke, p. 101.^ abSchachner, p. 277.^Mitchell, p. 145.^Stephen F. Knott, Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth (2002), pp. 43, 54, 56, 83, 108.^McDonald, p. 231.^McDonald, p. 232.^ abcCooke, p. 103.^ abCooke, p. 102.^ abSchachner, p. 280^"Madison to Jefferson". March 2, 1794. Retrieved October 14, 2006. ^Christopher J. Young, "Connecting the President and the People: Washington's Neutrality, Genet's Challenge, and Hamilton's Fight for Public Support," Journal of the Early Republic, (Fall 2011) 31#3 pp. 435''66^Brian J. Cook (9 October 2014). Bureaucracy and Self-Government. JHU Press. pp. 56 ff. ISBN 978-1-4214-1552-9. ^Balogh 2009, 72''110^Allan Nevins, The Evening post: a century of journalism (1922) ch. 1 online^Cooke, pp. 109''10^Stanley M. Elkins, and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788''1800 (1994), pp. 336''41.^Schachner, pp. 327''28.^Todd Estes, "Shaping the Politics of Public Opinion: Federalists and the Jay Treaty Debate." Journal of the Early Republic (2000) 20(3): 393''422. in JSTOR^Elkins, and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism ch 9^George C. Herring, From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 (2008) p. 80^Bemis, Samuel Flagg, Jay's Treaty (quoted); Elkins and McKitrick, pp. 411 ff.^Chernow, p. 480^ abcdSchachner, pp. 366''69.^Chernow, p. 370.^Schachner, p. 369.^Murray, p. 165.^McDonald, pp. 334''36.^Garrity and Spalding, pp. 47, 50''55.^Murray, p. 207.^ abChernow, p. 510.^Elkins and McKitrick; Age of Federalism, pp. 523''28, 859. Rutledge had his own plan, to have Pinckney win with Jefferson as Vice President.^Elkins and McKitrick, p. 515.^Kaplan, pp. 147''49^Chernow, pp. 558''60^Morison and Commager, p. 327; Mitchell II:445.^Newman, pp. 72''3.^Kaplan, p. 155.^Newman, pp. 44, 76''8.^Mitchell II:483^ANB, "James McHenry"; he also fired Timothy Pickering.^Schachner pp. 392''99^James Morton Smith, Freedom's Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties (Ithaca, repr. 1966), pp. 400''17.^Monaghan, pp. 419''21.^ abMcDonald, pp. 350''51.^Schachner, pp. 394''95.^McDonald, p. 351.^Schachner, p. 396.^Elkins and McKitrick, like other historians, speak of Hamilton's self-destructive tendencies in this connection.^ abMcDonald, p. 352.^Schachner, p. 399.^ abMcDonald, p. 353.^Harper, p. 259.^Isenberg, Nancy, Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr, New York: Penguin Books, 2007, pp. 211''12.^ abSchachner, p. 401.^ANB, "Aaron Burr".^ abcFreeman, Joanne B (April 1996). "Dueling as Politics: Reinterpreting the Burr''Hamilton Duel". William and Mary Quarterly (subscription). Third Series 53 (2): 289''318. doi:10.2307/2947402. JSTOR 2947402. ^Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson, p. 72.^Chernow, pp. 680''81.^Schachner, pp. 423''24.^Schachner, p. 426.^Chernow, p. 689^Adams, pp. 93''4.^Fleming, p. 323^ abBrookhiser, p. 212^ abChernow, p.704^Fleming, p. 345^Schachner, p. 429.^Emery, p. 243^Cooke, p. 242^Chernow, pp. 705, 708^Chernow, pp. 712''13, 725^Doug Keister (2011). Stories in Stone New York: A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries & Their Residents. Gibbs Smith. p. 127. ^Chernow, pp. 128''29^James Alexander Hamilton obituary, The New York Times, September 26, 1878.^Chernow, p. 582.^Chernow, p. 315.^McDonald, Alexander Hamilton p. 11; Adair and Harvey (1974)^Chernow, p. 38.^Hamilton, John Church (1834). The life of Alexander Hamilton, Volume 1. the New York Public Library: Halsted & Voorhies. p. 10. ^Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789''1815 (2009) pp. 589''90^Chernow (2005). Alexander Hamilton. p. 205. ^ abAdair and Harvey (1974) p. 147.^Geselowitz, Gabriela. "Alexander Hamilton's Jewish Connection."Tablet Magazine. 20 February 2015. 24 February 2015.^qtd. in Chernow^Susan Welch, John Gruhl and John Comer, Understanding American Government (2011) p. 70^Melvyn R. Durchslag, State sovereign immunity: a reference guide to the United States Constitution (2002) p xix^Thomas Frederick Wilson (1992). The Power "to Coin" Money: The Exercise of Monetary Powers by the Congress. M.E. Sharpe. p. 94. ^Jeffrey Tulis (1987). The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton University Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-691-02295-X. ^Lawrence S. Kaplan (1998). Thomas Jefferson: Westward the Course of Empire. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 284. ^Before they became senators, Lodge and Arthur H. Vandenburg wrote highly favorable biographies. See also Merrill D. Peterson (1960). The Jefferson Image in the American Mind. pp. 114, 278''80. ^Sean Wilentz, "Book Reviews," Journal of American History Sept, 2010 v. 97# 2 p. 476; quotes from Wilentz.^Ron Chernow (2005). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books. pp. 397''98. ^Dunlap, David W.The New York Times, "In New York, Taking Years Off the Old, Famous Faces Adorning City Hall", December 6, 2006.^Smithsonian National Postal Museum^Scotts US Stamp Catalogue^"U.S. Liberty Series of 1954''1965". 1847usa. Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^ ab"Hamilton-Holly House Designation Report '' NYC.gov"(PDF). Retrieved 8 January 2013. ^"Hamilton's House Gets a Makeover", American History, (Feb 2012) vol. 16, #6, p. 11.^"Hamilton Grange National Memorial (US National Park Service)". Retrieved March 14, 2009. ^Hamilton Home Heads to a Greener Address^"Hamilton Grange National Memorial (US National Park Service)". Archived from the original on August 28, 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2010. ^Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y), p. 10^"Columbia College Today '' Hamilton 100". Columbia University. Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^"Advocates for Columbia ROTC". Columbia ROTC. Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^"Founders Online: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton". National Archives. Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^"Advocates for Columbia ROTC". Columbia ROTC. Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^"Campus: Hamilton Hall". United States Coast Guard Academy. Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. "Bill Summary & Status, 101st Congress (1989''1990), S.3046". Library of Congress. ^"The Death List of a Day. John Church Hamilton.". The New York Times. July 26, 1882. ^"Central Park '' Alexander Hamilton". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. ^"Alexander Hamilton Monument (in Lincoln Park)". ExploreChicago.org. Retrieved September 6, 2012. ^"Alexander Hamilton, (sculpture).". Smithisonian Institute Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 21, 2015. ^Hamilton is not mentioned in the standard guides, such as The Guide to United States Popular Culture (2001) edited by Ray Broadus Browne and Pat Browne.^Rebecca Mead, "All About the Hamiltons: A new musical brings the Founding Fathers back to life'--with a lot of hip-hop." The New Yorker Feb. 9, 2015^Marilyn Stasio, "Off Broadway Review: 'Hamilton' by Lin-Manuel Miranda," Variety Feb. 17, 2015^Ben Brantley, "Review: In 'Hamilton,' Lin-Manuel Miranda Forges Democracy Through Rap," The New York Times Feb 17, 2015^Diggins, John Patrick (2007). "The Contemporary Critique of the Enlightenment". In Neil Jumonville; Kevin Mattson. Liberalism for a New Century. p. 35. ^Wilentz, Sean (2010). "Book Reviews". Journal of American History97 (2): 476. ^Chan, Michael D. (2004). "Alexander Hamilton on Slavery". The Review of Politics66 (2): 207''31. doi:10.2307/1408953. ^Chernow, p.629^Stewart, p. 73^Braun, p. 330^Marable, Manning (2011). Living Black History: How Reimagining the African-American Past Can Remake America's Racial Future. Basic Books. p. 9. ^David Brion Davis, Inhuman Bondage, p. 156;^Mitchell, pp. I:175''77, I:550 n. 92, citing the Journals of the Continental Congress, March 29, 1779; Wallace, p. 455.^Hamilton to Jay, March 14, 1779; Chernow, p. 121; McManus, pp. 154''57.^McDonald, p. 34; Flexner, pp. 257''58.^McManus, p. 168.^Chernow, p. 216.^Littlefield, p. 126, citing Syrett, pp. 3:605''8.^ abChernow, p. 239.^Horton, p. 22.^Horton; Kennedy, pp. 97''8; Littlefield; Wills, pp. 35, 40.^Lind, Michael, Hamilton's Republic, 1997, pp. xiv''xv, 229''30.^Chernow, p. 170, citing Continentalist V, published April 1782, but written in fall 1781; Syrett, p. 3:77.^William Notz, "Friedrich List in America" American Economic Review (1926) 16#2 pp. 248''65 in JSTOR^Harvey Flaumenhaft, "Hamilton's Administrative Republic and the American Presidency", in Joseph M. Bessette and Jeffrey Tulis, The Presidency in the Constitutional Order (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981)^Austin, pp. 261''62.^Hamilton's spelling "Lavien" may be a Sephardic version of "Levine". The couple may have lived apart from one another under an order of legal separation, with Rachel as the guilty party, meaning that her remarriage was not permitted on St. Croix.^Thomas Jefferson wrote years afterward that Hamilton had a discussion with him around this time period about the capital of the United States being relocated to Virginia by mean of a 'pill' that "would be peculiarly bitter to the Southern States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them".^The System of Revenue Cutters was also known as the Revenue Service, Revenue-Marine Service, and System of Cutters after being enacted by Congress. It officially became the Coast Guard in 1915.^Quote:I see by a paper of last evening that even in New York a meeting of the people has taken place, at the instance of the Republican party, and that a committee is appointed for the like purpose. See also Smith, (2004) p.832.^The May 1800 election chose the New York legislature, which would in turn choose electors; Burr had won this by making it a referendum on the presidency, and by persuading better-qualified candidates to run, who declared their candidacy only after the Federalists had announced their ticket. Hamilton asked Jay and the lame-duck legislature to pass a law declaring a special federal election, in which each district would choose an elector. He also supplied a map, with as many Federalist districts as possible.^Hamilton had given his son the same advice to his son Philip Hamilton in his duel with George I. Eacker in 1801 that resulted in Philip's death. The maneuver of throwing shots on the field of honor was referred to as delope by the French. (Chernow, p. 653)^Adair and Harvey, "Christian Statesman?"; Quotes on the Christian Constitutional Society are from Hamilton's letter to James A. Bayard of April 1802, quoted by Adair and Harvey. McDonald, says p. 356, that Hamilton's faith "had not entirely departed" him before the crisis of 1801.^For a wider discussion of the rhetoric of "slavery to the British", see David Hackett Fischer: Liberty and Freedom, chapters I and II.^Congress offered to compensate the masters after the war.Bibliography[edit]Biographies[edit]Ambrose, Douglas; W. T. Martin, Robert (2006). The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton: The Life & Legacy of America's Most Elusive Founding Father. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0814707142. Bailey, Ralph Edward (1933). An American Colossus: The Singular Career of Alexander Hamilton. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Brookhiser, Richard (2000). Alexander Hamilton, American. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0684863313. Chernow, Ron (2004). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-59420-009-0. Cooke, Jacob Ernest (1982). Alexander Hamilton. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-17344-1. Ellis, Joseph J. (2002). Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Vintage. ISBN 978-0375705243. Ellis, Joseph J. (2005). His Excellency: George Washington. Vintage. ISBN 978-1400032532. Emery, Noemie (1982). Alexander Hamilton: An intimate portrait. Putnam. ISBN 978-0399126819. Flaumenhaft, Harvey (1980). The Administrative Republic of Alexander Hamilton. University of Chicago, Department of Political Science. Fleming, Thomas (2000). Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465017379. Flexner, James Thomas (1997). The Young Hamilton: A Biography. Fordham University Press (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-0823217908. Hendrickson, Robert (1976). Hamilton I (1757''1789). Mason/Charter, 1976. ASIN B003VZWXVA. McDonald, Forrest (1982). Alexander Hamilton: A Biography. W. W. Norton Company. ISBN 978-0-393-30048-2. Miller, John Chester (1959). Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox. Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0060129750. Mitchell, Broadus (1957). Alexander Hamilton: Youth to Maturity (1755''1788), Volume 1. Macmillan. Mitchell, Broadus (1957). Alexander Hamilton: The National Adventure (1788''1804), Volume 1. Macmillan. Murray, Joseph A. (2007). Alexander Hamilton: America's Forgotten Founder. Algora. ISBN 978-0875865010. Newton, Michael E. (2015). Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years. Eleftheria Publishing. ISBN 978-0982604038. Randall, William Sterne (2003). Alexander Hamilton: A Life. HarpersCollins. ASIN B00EDYZ842. Schachner, Nathan (1946). Alexander Hamilton. New York-D. Appleton Century Co. ASIN B0006AQUG2. Specialized studies[edit]Adair, Douglas & Harvey, Marvin (1955). "Was Alexander Hamilton a Christian Statesman?". William and Mary Quarterly12 (2): 308''329. doi:10.2307/1920511. Adams, Arthur G. (1996). The Hudson River Guidebook. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0823216796. Austin, Ian Patrick (2009). Common Foundations of American and East Asian Modernisation: From Alexander Hamilton to Junichero Koizumi. Singapore: Select Books. ISBN 978-981-4022-52-1. Bailey, Jeremy D. (2008). "The New Unitary Executive and Democratic Theory: The Problem of Alexander Hamilton". American Political Science Review102 (4): 453''65. doi:10.1017/S0003055408080337. Balogh, Brian. 2009. A Government out of Sight: The Mystery of National Authority in Nineteenth Century American. New York: Cambridge University Press.Brant, Irving (1970). The Fourth President: a Life of James Madison. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merill. A one-volume recasting of Brant's six-volume life.Burns, Eric (2007). Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-428-6. Chan, Michael D. (2004). "Alexander Hamilton on Slavery". Review of Politics66 (2): 207''31. doi:10.1017/s003467050003727x. JSTOR 1408953. Chernow, Ron (2010). Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-59420-266-7. Full-length, detailed biography.Denboer, Gordon R. (1987). The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections, 1788''1790, Volume III. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0299106508. Derthick, Martha (13 June 1999). Dilemmas of Scale in America's Federal Democracy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64039-8. Retrieved 6 March 2015. Elkins, Stanley, and Eric McKitrick. Age of Federalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. online edition; detailed political history of the 1790sEngerman, Stanley L.; Gallman, Robert E. (2000). The Cambridge Economic History of the United States. Cambridge University Books. ISBN 9780521553070. Fatovic, Clement (2004). "Constitutionalism and Presidential Prerogative: Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian Perspectives". American Journal of Political Science48 (3): 429''44. doi:10.1111/j.0092-5853.2004.00079.x. Federici, Michael P. (2012). Alexander Hamilton: America's Forgotten Founder. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9781421405391. Flaumenhaft, Harvey (1992). The Effective Republic: Administration and Constitution in the Thought of Alexander Hamilton. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1214-X. Flexner, James Thomas (1965''72). George Washington. Little Brown. . Four volumes, with various subtitles, cited as "Flexner, Washington". Vol. IV. ISBN 978-0-316-28602-2.Garrity, Patrick J.; Spalding, Matthew (2000). A Sacred Union of Citizens: George Washington's Farewell Address and the American Character. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 978-0847682621. Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.) (1910). Catalogue. Hamilton College. Levine, Yitzchok (May 2, 2007). "The Jews Of Nevis And Alexander Hamilton". Glimpses Into American Jewish History. The Jewish Press. Harper, John Lamberton (2004). American Machiavelli: Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of US Foreign Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83485-6. Horton, James Oliver (2004). "Alexander Hamilton: Slavery and Race in a Revolutionary Generation"(PDF). New York Journal of American History65 (3): 16''24. Gibowicz, Charles J. (2007). Mess Night Traditions. Author House. ISBN 9781425984465. Kennedy, Roger G. (2000). Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513055-3. Kaplan, Edward (1999). The Bank of the United States and the American Economy. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0313308666. Kaplan, Lawrence S. (2001). Alexander Hamilton: Ambivalent Anglophile. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 9780842028783. Knott, Stephen F. (2002). Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1157-6. Keister, Doug (2011). Stories in Stone New York: A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries & Their Residents. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 978-1423621027. Kohn, Richard H. (1970). "The Inside History of the Newburgh Conspiracy: America and the Coup d'Etat". The William and Mary Quarterly27 (2): 188''220. doi:10.2307/1918650. A review of the evidence on Newburgh; despite the title, Kohn is doubtful that a coup d'(C)tat was ever seriously attempted.Larsen, Harold (1952). "Alexander Hamilton: The Fact and Fiction of His Early Years". William and Mary Quarterly9 (2): 139''51. doi:10.2307/1925345. Lind, Michael (1994). "Hamilton's Legacy". The Wilson Quarterly18 (3): 40''52. JSTOR 40258878. Littlefield, Daniel C. (2000). "John Jay, the Revolutionary Generation, and Slavery". New York History81 (1): 91''132. ISSN 0146-437X. McCraw, Thomas K. The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy (2012)Lomask, Milton (1979). Aaron Burr, the Years from Princeton to Vice President, 1756''1805. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-374-10016-0. First volume of two, but this contains Hamilton's lifetime.Martin, Robert W. T. (2005). "Reforming Republicanism: Alexander Hamilton's Theory of Republican Citizenship and Press Liberty". Journal of the Early Republic25 (1): 21''46. doi:10.1353/jer.2005.0012. McManus, Edgar J. (1966). History of Negro Slavery in New York. Syracuse University Press. Mitchell, Broadus (1951). "The man who 'discovered' Alexander Hamilton". Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society69: 88''115. Monaghan, Frank (1935). John Jay. Bobbs-Merrill. Morgan, Philip D. & O'Shaubhnessy, A. J. (2006). "Arming slaves in the American revolution". In Brown, Christopher Leslie & Morgan, Philip D. Arming slaves: from classical times to the modern age. New York: Yale University Press. pp. 180''208. ISBN 0-300-10900-8. Newman, Paul Douglas (2004). Fries's Rebellion: The Enduring Struggle for the American Revolution. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3815-X. Nettels, Curtis P. (1962). The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775''1815. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Northup, Cynthia Clark; Turney, Elaine C. Prange; Stockwell, Mary (2003). Encyclopedia of Tariffs and Trade in U.S. History. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0313319433. Norton, Joseph (2005). Shapers of the Great Debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Biographical Dictionary (Shapers of the Great American Debates). Greenwood; annotated edition. ISBN 978-0313330216. Rakove, Jack N. (1979). The beginnings of National Politics: an interpretive history of the Continental Congress. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-42370-4. Rossiter, Clinton (1964). Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. Sharp, James (1995). American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06519-1. Survey of politics in the 1790s.Sheehan, Colleen (2004). "Madison v. Hamilton: The Battle Over Republicanism and the Role of Public Opinion". American Political Science Review98 (3): 405''424. doi:10.1017/S0003055404001248. Smith, Robert W. (2004). Keeping the Republic: Ideology and Early American Diplomacy. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-87580-326-1. Staloff, Darren (2005). Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 0-8090-7784-1. Storbridge, Truman R.; Noble, Dennis l. (1999). Alaska and the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service: 1867''1915. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781557508454. Stourzh, Gerald (1970). Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0724-3. Stryker, William S[cudder] (1898). The Battles of Trenton and Princeton. Houghton Mifflin. Studenski, Paul; Krooss, Herman Edward (2003). Financial History of the United States. Beard Books. ISBN 978-1587981753. Sylla, Richard; Wright, Robert E. & Cowen, David J. (2009). "Alexander Hamilton, Central Banker: Crisis Management during the US Financial Panic of 1792". Business History Review83 (1): 61''86. doi:10.1017/s0007680500000209. Thomas, Charles Marion (1931). American neutrality in 1793; a study in cabinet government. New York: Columbia University Press. Trees, Andrew S. (2005). "The Importance of Being Alexander Hamilton". Reviews in American History33 (1): 8''14. doi:10.1353/rah.2005.0019. Trees, Andrew S. (2004). The Founding Fathers and the Politics of Character. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11552-4. Tucker, Spencer C. (2014). The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783''1812 [three volumes]: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598841565. Wallace, David Duncan (1915). Life of Henry Laurens, with a sketch of the life of Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens. New York: Putnam. Weston, Rob N. (1994). "Alexander Hamilton and the Abolition of Slavery in New York". Afro-Americans in New York Life and History18 (1): 31''45. ISSN 0364-2437. An undergraduate paper, which concludes that Hamilton was ambivalent about slavery.White, Leonard D. (1949). The Federalists. New York: Macmillan. Coverage of how the Treasury and other departments were created and operated.White, Richard D. (2000). "Exploring the Origins of the American Administrative State: Recent Writings on the Ambiguous Legacy of Alexander Hamilton". Public Administration Review60 (2): 186''90. doi:10.1111/0033-3352.00077. Wood, Gordon S. (2009). Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789''1815. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-503914-6. The most recent synthesis of the era.Wright, Robert E. (2002). Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic. Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32397-6. '--'--'-- (2008). One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the History of What We Owe. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-154393-4. Primary sources[edit]Cooke, Jacob E., ed. Alexander Hamilton: A Profile. 1967. (Short excerpts from AH and his critics)Cunningham, Noble E. Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that Shaped a Nation. 2000. (Short collection of primary sources, with commentary)Federalist Papers. Under the shared pseudonym "Publius". By Alexander Hamilton (c. 52 articles), James Madison (28 articles), and John Jay (five articles).Freeman, Joanne B., ed. Alexander Hamilton: Writings. 2001, ISBN 978-1-931082-04-4. The Library of America edition, 1108 pages. (All of Hamilton's major writings and many of his letters)Frisch, Morton J., ed. Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton. 1985.Hamilton, Alexander; Hamilton, John Church. The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1789''1795: France; Duties on imports; National bank; Manufactures; Revenue circulars; Reports on claims, etc. 1850. John F. Trow, Printer. free online EBook editionGoebel, Julius, Jr., and Joseph H. Smith, eds. The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton. 5 vols. Columbia University Press, 1964''80. (The legal counterpart to The Papers of Alexander Hamilton)Lodge, Henry Cabot, ed. The Works of Alexander Hamilton. 10 vols. 1904. full text online at Internet Archiveonline in HTML edition. (The only online collection of Hamilton's writings and letters, containing about 1.3 million words)Morris, Richard, ed. Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the Nation. 1957. (Excerpts from AH's writings)Report on Manufactures. (AH's economic program for the United States)Report on Public Credit. (AH's financial program for the United States)Syrett, Harold C., Jacob E. Cooke, and Barbara Chernow, eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. Columbia University Press, 1961''87. (Includes all letters and writings by Hamilton, and all important letters written to him; this is the definitive edition of Hamilton's works, intensively annotated)Taylor, George Rogers, ed. Hamilton and the National Debt. 1950. (Excerpts from all sides in the 1790s)External links[edit]

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:30

In a stunning move towards the elites' endgame of 'banning cash', Greek authorities unveiled stricter capital controls for civil servants and pensioners this weekend. By drastically limiting cash withdrawals and forcing the more 'controllable' compulsory use of plastic money, Greek authorities hope to stop tax evasion through the use of 'fake cash registers'.

As KeepTakingGreece.com reports,

A shock-measure: civil servants and pensioners will be subject to stricter capital controls than the rest of the Greeks. They will be able to withdraw only '‚¬150 per week '' with the cash withdrawal cap being '‚¬420 per week '' that is a total of '‚¬600 per month. The rest of their wage or pension they will have to spend by using debit or credit card.

The news fell like a bombshell on Saturday evening and spoiled the weekend of millions of Greeks. It will probably spoil the rest of their lives too.

Greek media revealed, that the Finance Ministry plans to impose such a measure in order to combat tax evasion, but of course, not the tax evasion committed by the civil servants and pensioners as this is not possible as the state deducts their share on tax before they receive wages and pensions but the tax evasion committed by business owners.

According to the Finance Ministry plan, civil servants and pensioners will be able to withdraw in cash only part of their wages and pensions and the rest will have to remain in their bank deposit account. This remaining amount they will have to spend only through the compulsory use of debit or credit card.

''The measure will affect 2.65 million pensioners and 600,000 civil servants,'' notes newspaper To Vima that revealed the shocking plan.

The newspaper adds that with this measure, the compulsory use of plastic money, the business owner , whether a shop or a professional like doctor, plumber etc will not be able to evade taxes since all transactions will be recorded in the banking system.

The Finance Ministry reasoning behind this plan is first of all the assumption that the money '' or large party of the money '' it pays in wages and pensions is been used in real economy without receipt thus without Value Added Tax and tax revenues for the state.

''Every month the State and the pension funds pay for salaries and pensions of approximately '‚¬2.6 billion, that is '‚¬30 billion per year. The salary or the pension comes into the bank account of the beneficiary, who can withdraw 420 euro per week due to the capital controls.

This cash money is being used for the purchase of goods or services ''and a large percentage of these transactions does not bring revenues to the state as the transactions are being done without the issue of receipt or receipt are issued by so-called fake cash registers which are manipulated to show less revenues.

In this way, the state suffers revenue losses of approximately 15-20 billion euro per year due to not collection of Value Added Tax and income tax,'' from businesses and self-employed.

With this measure the state calculates that it will receive in no time revenues from V.A.T. and will not miss a cent from income tax. The state expects to rapidly increase its revenues and ''proceeds to future reduction of the tax rates of 8.500,000 taxpayers.''

The Finance Ministry apparently considers to exempt pensioners of over 75 years old from the measure as well as those living in remote areas where the use of plastic money is limited.

If the measure successfully increases the state revenues and does not puts obstacles in the operation of households, ''it can be extended also to salaries of the private sector.''

* * *

The plan revelation triggered an outcry and anger not only among the civil servants and pensioners but also among those not affected by it. But there is more...

Plastic money compulsory for new companies

Another measure is apparently under way in the fight of tax evasion.

''Companies that are founded from next year onward plus a range of sectors of the Greek economy will only be able to accept payment via debit or credit card, according to a plan being drawn up by the government.

The plan, which has yet to receive the final approval from the country's lenders, foresees all new companies having to be equipped with point of sale (POS) terminals that can accept credit and debit cards. The same will apply to numerous professions like will include doctors, lawyers, electricians and plumbers, which are all professions where tax evasion is thought to be rife.''

(full article ekathimerini)

Also in this case, the ambitious legislator will create 2 businesses categories and exclude form competition the new companies as they will not be able to accept cash.

Who wins?

One has also to ask who wins from these measures except the state and the revenues it calculates to receive.

For sure the biggest winner are the banks: first of all, they will keep longer the amounts of pensions and civil servants salaries. It could be 1-1.5 billion euro per month. Secondly, because they charge 2 euro per transaction via debit or credit card.

* * *

And the biggest loser is The average joe Greek citizen... again.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 23:16

Thanks to the carbon dioxide that we have already emitted, millions of Americans will eventually have to find a new place to live.

An alarming new study has found that, no matter what we do to fight climate change, it is already too late for more than 400 U.S. cities '-- including Miami and New Orleans '-- which will be overcome by rising sea levels caused by anthropogenic climate change. Under a worst-case scenario, New York could be unlivable by the year 2085. Most of the population in those cities live within five feet of the current high tide line.

"Some of this could happen as early as next century," said lead author Ben Strauss, vice president for sea level and climate impacts at Climate Central, a nonprofit climate news organization with offices in New York and Princeton, New Jersey. "But it might also take many centuries," he added. "Just think of a pile of ice in a warm room. You know it is going to melt, but it is harder to say how quickly."

The reason that current efforts to combat climate change won't save many of these cities is because of what mankind has done in the past, as carbon pollution that humans have already emitted will continue to affect planetary surface temperature for centuries to come. "Historic carbon emissions have already locked in enough future sea level rise to submerge most of the homes in each of several hundred American towns and cities," according to Climate Central.

The researchers warned that, under a "business-as-usual" scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked through the end of the century, then the total number of "locked-in" cities could grow to more than 1,500. However, if society somehow manages to achieve extreme carbon reductions, many cities could be saved, such as Jacksonville, Florida; Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach in Virginia; and Sacramento and Stockton in California.

"In our analysis, a lot of cities have futures that depend on our carbon choices but some appear to be already lost '... and it is hard to imagine how we could defend Miami in the long run," said Strauss, who noted that due to the city's low elevation and porous limestone foundation, sea walls and levees will not be enough to stop a rising sea.

The study, which was edited by renowned NASA climate scientist and activist James Hansen, found that the worst hit state will be Florida, home to at least 40 percent of the American population living on land that may be affected by sea level rise. After the Sunshine State, the next three states that will most likely be overcome by the ocean are California, Louisiana and New York.

"In our analysis, a lot of cities have futures that depend on our carbon choices but some appear to be already lost," Strauss said. "We were really trying to show what the consequences of our carbon choices are going to be."

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Reynard Loki is AlterNet's environment and food editor. Follow him on Twitter @reynardloki. Email him at [email protected].

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 03:24

A British Antarctic Survey photo released on 25 March 2008 shows of a chunk of ice that has started to break away from the Antarctic ice shelf. Photograph: Jim Elliott/AFP/Getty Images

A team of researchers has found that steep cuts to emissions during the next decade are the only way to avoid a catastrophic collapse of Antarctic ice sheets and associated sea-level rise that will continue for thousands of years.

The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, found that should the global temperature increase to around 3C (5.4F) above the pre-industrial era then the ice shelves that hold back the giant continental ice sheets would be lost over the next few centuries.

This would trigger a collapse that would go on for thousands of years, raising sea levels by 0.6 metres to 3 metres (2-10ft) by the year 2300 depending on how high manmade greenhouse gas emissions remain. Our descendants living in the year 5000 will continue to suffer the consequences of today's fossil fuel burning, as sea levels continue to rise up to 9 metres (30ft) above current levels.

However, the results leave a narrow opening through which humanity can slip. If temperatures remain within 2C (3.6F), the collapse of the shelves will stabilise and the sheets will remain mostly intact. Sea-level rise from Antarctica would remain within 23cm (9 inches) by 2300.

To achieve this, the authors said the world will have to follow the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) lowest emissions scenario. This requires global emissions to peak around 2020 and decline to below zero by 2100.

In preparation for the climate conference in Paris next month, 150 governments representing 90% of emissions have submitted pledges to cut and curb them. However, these still chart a pathway to a world well above 2C '' one analysis suggested they lead to 2.7C (4.9F) of warming, not enough to avoid the runaway decline of the Antarctic ice.

Related:Ice loss in west Antarctica is speeding up | John Abraham

The new study ''ultimately confirm[s] the suspicions of earlier glaciologists that the fate of ice shelves largely determines whether Antarctica contributes less than 1 metre or up to 9 metres to long-term sea-level rise'', wrote the California Institute of Technology scientist Alexander Robel in an accompanying comment piece in Nature.

Hilmar Gudmundsson, a scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, said the changes between 2100 and 2300 were ''large and alarming'' although the degree of uncertainty was still high.

In 2014, professor Eric Rignot, a senior researcher at Nasa, made the dramatic finding that the west Antarctic ice sheet and its 4 metres (13ft) worth of sea-level rise had already started slipping away. He said the paper's assertion that the loss of this ice sheet could be stopped was ''hardly believable'' because the projections lacked reliable modelling of ocean circulation and iceberg calving. He said the loss of the West Antarctic sheet was ''inevitable''; the only thing humans could control was how fast it goes.

''Whether we control our emissions or not will only matter in terms of how fast we get there. I find it disheartening that we are still talking about 2C above pre-industrial as a 'reasonable' target when we already passed the threshold for a large share of the ice sheets,'' he said.

''It is counterproductive to give the impression that we have to figure out a way out of carbon soon, when we really need to do this yesterday,'' he said.

The global sea level has risen roughly 20cm (8 inches) over the past century and is already causing problems for communities in low-lying areas. Only a little of this has so far been caused by melting ice; most comes from the expansion of oceans as they warm. But Golledge and his colleagues warned that this would change in the future if Antarctica's ice sheets began falling into the sea.

Antarctica's two ice sheets, east and west, cover an area the size of the contiguous US and Mexico combined and would raise the seas 60 metres (196ft) if lost completely, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre.

The friction of floating ice shelves against the deeply buried rock of the coast slows the flow of ice from the interior. Removing the ice shelves is like taking the chocks from a truck sitting on a slope. Without them, the loss of the giant ice sheets will trigger an ''unstoppable'' event that will last for thousands of years, said Golledge's team. Some buttressing shelves have already been lost and others are weakening. Another study this week warned that all may be lost by the end of the century.

At the UN climate summit in Paris, much of the talk will be about the steps that can be taken over the next decade to strengthen each country's emissions cuts. Professor Andrew Shepherd, the director of the Nerc Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling said the new research added urgency to Paris.

''Ahead of COP [Conference of the Parties, the Paris summit], this new study is a useful reminder that future climate warming might trigger extreme and irreversible ice losses from Antarctica over centuries. But to reliably predict how things could change within the next century, we need to build and use a new class of ice sheet models that can capture the detailed response of each of the continent's outlet glaciers,'' he said.

Note: The article was amended to show that the RCP2.4 scenario requires emissions to drop below zero by 2100. The original said they dropped to zero.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 21:06

His outspoken views led France 2 to take him off the air starting this Monday. "I received a letter telling me not to come. I'm in shock," he told RTL radio. "This is a direct extension of what I say in my book, namely that any contrary views must be eliminated."

The book has been released at a particularly sensitive moment as Paris is due to host a crucial UN climate change conference in December.

TEASER OFFICIEL - CLIMAT INVESTIGATION...par Editions_Ring

According to Mr Verdier, top climate scientists, who often rely on state funding, have been ''manipulated and politicised''.

He specifically challenges the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, saying they ''blatantly erased'' data that went against their overall conclusions, and casts doubt on the accuracy of their climate models.

The IPCC has said that temperatures could rise by up to 4.8°C if no action is taken to reduce carbon emissions.

Mr Verdier writes: ''We are undoubtedly on a plateau in terms of warming and the cyclical variability of the climate doesn't not allow us to envisage if the natural rhythm will tomorrow lead us towards a fall, a stagnation or a rise (in temperature).''

The 330-page book also controversially contains a chapter on the ''positive results'' of climate change in France, one of the countries predicted to be the least affected by rising temperatures. ''It's politically incorrect and taboo to vaunt the merits of climate change because there are some,'' he writes, citing warmer weather attracting tourists, lower death rates and electricity bills in mild winters, and better wine and champagne vintages.

Asked whether he had permission from his employer to release the book, he said: ''I don't think management liked it, let's be honest.''

"I put myself via this investigation on the path of COP 21, which is a bulldozer, and we can see the results."

The book was criticised by French newspaper Le Monde as full of ''errors''. ''The models used to predict the average rise in temperatures on the surface of the globe have proved to be rather reliable, with the gap between observations and predictions quite small,'' it countered.

Mr Verdier told France 5: ''Making these revelations in the book, which I absolutely have the right to do, can pose problems for my employer given that the government (which funds France 2) is organising COP [the climate change conference]. In fact as soon as you a slightly different discourse on this subject, you are branded a climate sceptic.''

He said he decided to write the book in June 2014 when Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, summoned the country's main weather presenters and urged them to mention ''climate chaos'' in their forecasts.

''I was horrified by this discourse,'' Mr Verdier told Les Inrockuptibles magazine. Eight days later, Mr Fabius appeared on the front cover of a magazine posing as a weatherman above the headline: ''500 days to save the planet.''

Mr Verdier said: ''If a minister decides he is Mr Weatherman, then Mr Weatherman can also express himself on the subject in a lucid manner.

''What's shameful is this pressure placed on us to say that if we don't hurry, it'll be the apocalypse,'' he added, saying that ''climate diplomacy'' means leaders are seeking to force changes to suit their own political timetables.

According to L'Express magazine, unions at France Television called for Mr Verdier to be fired, but that Delphine Ernotte, the broadcaster's chief executive, initially said he should be allowed to stay ''in the name of freedom of expression''.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:35

arming EPA special agents with drones, night vision goggles, guns and assault ships.

The EPA special force was formed to take out US polluters.

According to a report released last week by a watchdog group called Open the Books, the EPA has spent millions of dollars recently on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, and even night-vision goggles to arm its agents in the war on polluters.

The Illinois-based investigative group examined thousands of checks totaling more than $93 billion from 2000 to 2014 by the EPA, and its auditors indicate that about $75 million is authorized each year for ''criminal enforcement'' of America's clean air and water laws. This includes cash for a cadre of 200 ''special agents'' that engage in SWAT-style ops.

''We were shocked ourselves to find these kinds of pervasive expenditures at an agency that is supposed to be involved in clean air and clean water,'' said Open the Books' founder, Adam Andrzejewski, a former candidate for governor of Illinois. ''Some of these weapons are for full-scale military operations.''

Some of these military operations have been reported in the media. Two years ago, the EPA was involved in an armed raid at a small town in Alaska where miners were accused of polluting local waters, as Fox News reported that EPA ''armed agents in full body armor participated.''

The EPA's own website describes the activities and mission of the criminal enforcement division as ''investigating cases, collecting evidence, conducting forensic analyses and providing legal guidance to assist in the prosecution of criminal conduct that threatens people's health and the environment.''

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:53

Frankenvirus emerges from Siberia's frozen wastelandSeptember 8, 2015Imaging of Mollivirus particles. (A) Scanning electron microscopy of two isolated particles showing the apex structure. (B) Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of an ultrathin section of an open particle after fusion of its internal lipid membrane with that of a phagosome. (C) Enlarged view of the viral tegument of a Mollivirus particle highlighting the layer made of a mesh of fibrils (black arrow), resembling Pandoraviruses' intermediate layer, and the underneath internal membrane (white arrow). Three '¼25-nm interspaced rings are visible around the mature particle. (D) Light microscopy (Nomarski optics 63—) imaging of a lawn of Mollivirus particles, some of them (black arrow) exhibiting a depression at the apex. Credit: (c) 2015 PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1510795112Scientists said they will reanimate a 30,000-year-old giant virus unearthed in the frozen wastelands of Siberia, and warned climate change may awaken dangerous microscopic pathogens.

Reporting this week in PNAS, the flagship journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, French researchers announced the discovery of Mollivirus sibericum, the fourth type of pre-historic virus found since 2003'--and the second by this team.

Before waking it up, researchers will have to verify that the bug cannot cause animal or human disease.

To qualify as a "giant", a virus has to be longer than half a micron, a thousandth of a millimetre (0.00002 of an inch).

Mollivirus sibericum'--"soft virus from Siberia"'--comes in at 0.6 microns, and was found in the permafrost of northeastern Russia.

Climate change is warming the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at more than twice the global average, which means that permafrost is not so permanent any more.

"A few viral particles that are still infectious may be enough, in the presence of a vulnerable host, to revive potentially pathogenic viruses," one of the lead researchers, Jean-Michel Claverie, told AFP.

The regions in which these giant microbes have been found are coveted for their mineral resources, especially oil, and will become increasingly accessible for industrial exploitation as more of the ice melts away.

"If we are not careful, and we industrialise these areas without putting safeguards in place, we run the risk of one day waking up viruses such as small pox that we thought were eradicated," he added.

In safe laboratory conditions, Claverie and colleagues will attempt to revive the newly discovered virus by placing it with single-cell amoeba, which will serve as its host.

Claverie, who runs a lab at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and a team discovered another giant virus, which they called Pithovirus sibericum, at the same location in 2013, then managed to revive it in a petri dish.

Scanning electron microscopy of particles of 4 families of giant viruses that have now been identified. The largest dimensions can reach between 0.6 microns (Mollivirus) and 1.5 microns (Pandoravirus).

Unlike most viruses circulating today, and to the general astonishment of scientists, these ancient specimens dating from the last Ice Age are not only bigger, but far more complex genetically.

M. sibericum has more than 500 genes, while another family of giant virus discovered in 2003, Pandoravirus, has 2,500. The Influenza A virus, by contrast, has eight genes.

In 2004, US scientists resurrected the notorious "Spanish flu" virus, which killed tens of millions of people, in order to understand how the pathogen was extraordinarily so virulent.

US researchers flew to Alaska to take frozen lung tissues from a woman who was buried in permafrost.

By teasing genetic scraps out of these precious samples and from autopsy tissues stored in formalin, the team painstakingly reconstructed the code for the virus' eight genes.

The work was done in a top-security lab at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Explore further:Mega beats Mimi for world's biggest virus

More information: In-depth study of Mollivirus sibericum, a new 30,000-y-old giant virus infecting Acanthamoeba, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1510795112

(C) 2015 AFP

Frankenvirus emerges from Siberia's frozen wastelandSeptember 8, 2015Imaging of Mollivirus particles. (A) Scanning electron microscopy of two isolated particles showing the apex structure. (B) Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of an ultrathin section of an open particle after fusion of its internal lipid membrane with that of a phagosome. (C) Enlarged view of the viral tegument of a Mollivirus particle highlighting the layer made of a mesh of fibrils (black arrow), resembling Pandoraviruses' intermediate layer, and the underneath internal membrane (white arrow). Three '¼25-nm interspaced rings are visible around the mature particle. (D) Light microscopy (Nomarski optics 63—) imaging of a lawn of Mollivirus particles, some of them (black arrow) exhibiting a depression at the apex. Credit: (c) 2015

PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1510795112

Scientists said they will reanimate a 30,000-year-old giant virus unearthed in the frozen wastelands of Siberia, and warned climate change may awaken dangerous microscopic pathogens.

Reporting this week in PNAS, the flagship journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, French researchers announced the discovery of Mollivirus sibericum, the fourth type of pre-historic virus found since 2003'--and the second by this team.

Before waking it up, researchers will have to verify that the bug cannot cause animal or human disease.

To qualify as a "giant", a virus has to be longer than half a micron, a thousandth of a millimetre (0.00002 of an inch).

Mollivirus sibericum'--"soft virus from Siberia"'--comes in at 0.6 microns, and was found in the permafrost of northeastern Russia.

Climate change is warming the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at more than twice the global average, which means that permafrost is not so permanent any more.

"A few viral particles that are still infectious may be enough, in the presence of a vulnerable host, to revive potentially pathogenic viruses," one of the lead researchers, Jean-Michel Claverie, told AFP.

The regions in which these giant microbes have been found are coveted for their mineral resources, especially oil, and will become increasingly accessible for industrial exploitation as more of the ice melts away.

"If we are not careful, and we industrialise these areas without putting safeguards in place, we run the risk of one day waking up viruses such as small pox that we thought were eradicated," he added.

In safe laboratory conditions, Claverie and colleagues will attempt to revive the newly discovered virus by placing it with single-cell amoeba, which will serve as its host.

Claverie, who runs a lab at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and a team discovered another giant virus, which they called Pithovirus sibericum, at the same location in 2013, then managed to revive it in a petri dish.

Scanning electron microscopy of particles of 4 families of giant viruses that have now been identified. The largest dimensions can reach between 0.6 microns (Mollivirus) and 1.5 microns (Pandoravirus).

Unlike most viruses circulating today, and to the general astonishment of scientists, these ancient specimens dating from the last Ice Age are not only bigger, but far more complex genetically.

M. sibericum has more than 500 genes, while another family of giant virus discovered in 2003, Pandoravirus, has 2,500. The Influenza A virus, by contrast, has eight genes.

In 2004, US scientists resurrected the notorious "Spanish flu" virus, which killed tens of millions of people, in order to understand how the pathogen was extraordinarily so virulent.

US researchers flew to Alaska to take frozen lung tissues from a woman who was buried in permafrost.

By teasing genetic scraps out of these precious samples and from autopsy tissues stored in formalin, the team painstakingly reconstructed the code for the virus' eight genes.

The work was done in a top-security lab at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Explore further:Mega beats Mimi for world's biggest virus

More information: In-depth study of Mollivirus sibericum, a new 30,000-y-old giant virus infecting Acanthamoeba, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1510795112

(C) 2015 AFP

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Source: Help Net Security

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:35

Posted on 14 October 2015.

Adobe has released on Tuesday security updates that address multiple vulnerabilities in Reader, Acrobat, and Flash Player. Unfortunately, among the holes plugged in Flash isn't a zero-day vulnerability that is currently being exploited in the wild by the so-called Pawn Storm attackers.These hackers are known for its high-profile targets, and in this most recent campaign they are targeting foreign affairs ministries from around the globe.

It is widely believed that the group consists of Russian hackers, but it's impossible to say whether their work has been sanctioned by the Russian government.

They are known for exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities in popular software, and hitting governmental targets - NATO members, the White House (to name just a few).

These latest attacks take the form of phishing emails that contained links to the Flash exploit.

"The emails and URLs were crafted to appear like they lead to information about current events," Trend Micro researchers noted. The subject lines included news snippets about happenings in Syria, Gaza, Turkey, and Afghanistan.

"Foreign affairs ministries have become a particular focus of interest for Pawn Storm recently. Aside from malware attacks, fake Outlook Web Access (OWA) servers were also set up for various ministries. These are used for simple, but extremely effective, credential phishing attacks," the researchers explained. "One Ministry of Foreign Affairs got its DNS settings for incoming mail compromised. This means that Pawn Storm has been intercepting incoming e-mail to this organization for an extended period of time in 2015."

The exploited vulnerability is present in Flash versions 19.0.0.185 and 19.0.0.207 (the latest), and Adobe is working on patching it as we speak.

While most users are not in danger from this highly targeted campaign, it's just a matter of time until the exploit begins to be used by other cyber attackers or is incorporated in a popular exploit kit.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 23:16

There you go, you have the answer from the title of the article. Drone Air Traffic Control System By 2019. But if you want to know how or why, better get reading.

Flying is the safest method of transportation with only 0.07 deaths per one billion passenger miles. At the opposite pole, the motorcycle is the most dangerous way of travelling with 212.57 deaths per billion passenger miles travelled.

Flying Remains The Safest Method Of Transportation

Despite the recent plane crashes like the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that went missing en route, from Indonesia to Singapore in December 2014, or the Germanwings Flight 4U9525 this March 2015 after it was deliberately downed by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, commercial airplane crashes are very rare these days and when it happens, it makes international news.

When you fly on a commercial airplane, you relax knowing that someone, somewhere, is keeping an eye on a screen on which your airplane is just a little spot.

His job is to keep that spot away from other spots and so far the system has worked quite well.

Every day at Heathrow 1,500 flights take off and land '' one every 40 seconds and half a million per year. A lot of spots already but nothing compared to the ''pixelated pictures'' soon to come.

The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) industry will expand from $6.8 billion in 2014 to $19.5 billion in 2020 and 110,000 drones operating by 2020.

The number of drones is growing by the minute. Commercial, leisure, military, there are drones for everything. Delivery, emergency response, pipeline and rail inspection, agricultural monitoring, creating the need for capable, future-proof air traffic control system.

The current regulatory environment of what is allowed with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV '' aircrafts with no pilot on board) must be reviewed, updated and rapidly deployed as hundreds of thousand UAVs are starting to take flight.

Future Belongs To Autonomous, Swarm Of Drones

This year on the 6th of May, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) ''Focus Area Pathfinders'' initiative, designed to explore the next steps in unmanned aircraft operations (drones).

In parallel to the Pathfinders project, NASA is working to Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management (UTM) and once completed '' by 2019 '' have it transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for operational management.

In Europe, LaBRI's (Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique) project Cooperative Autonomous Reconfigurable UAV Swarm (CARUS) stands out.

The goal is to outfit every UAV platform (drone), be that a commercial or hobbyist drone, with technology that sends real-time flight data transmission based on worldwide cellular networks and satellite communications.

The men and women in the tower at your local airport can track about ten manned aircraft at a given time, a relatively small number. A drone air traffic control architecture will handle massive data bandwidth, automatically.

The cornerstone of such a system will be a platform agnostic device capable of capturing and transmitting basic flight data in a reliable way.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 14:58

There's a deep rift in the Democratic party over whether America should bring back the Glass-Steagall Act, a bank regulation that was in place from 1933 to 1999.

Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley want it reinstated.

Hillary Clinton disagrees.

Then there's flip-flopper Lincoln Chafee. He voted to get rid of Glass-Steagall when he was a senator in 1999. Now he regrets it.

"The Glass-Steagall was my very first vote. I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote," he said Tuesday night.

So what the heck is this controversial Glass-Steagall Act that was mentioned six times during the debate?

Related: Wall Street isn't worried about Hillary Clinton's plan

What it is

CNN's Anderson Cooper gave the Cliffs Notes version: "Just for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities."

In plain English

The law prevented banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America from dealing with both Main Street and Wall Street. Banks either had to cater to Main Street by taking deposits and doing mortgages and small business type loans or they could cater to Wall Street by buying and selling stocks and bonds or helping big companies merge.

The thinking was that the Wall Street component of banking was too risky and would put regular Americans' savings and loans at risk.

The law came into being after the stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression that followed.

The official name of the law was the Banking Act of 1933, but it became known as Glass-Steagall because it was championed by Senator Carter Glass, a Virginia Democrat, and Congressman Henry Steagall, an Alabama Democrat and former Treasury secretary.

Related: Wall Street has made Hillary Clinton a millionaire

It was repealed in 1999 by President Bill Clinton

The law was done away with in 1999 by Congress and President Bill Clinton.

The reality was that many American banks were merging and forming bigger and bigger banks. Some were able to use a loophole in Glass-Steagall to to do both Main Street and Wall Street type banking. So Washington decided to level the playing field and formally get rid of many Glass-Steagall Act restrictions.

The result was that more banks joined forces and got even bigger.

Did it cause the financial crisis?

There's a lot of debate about the role the repeal of Glass-Steagall played in the financial crisis. It's certainly true that banks got larger -- fast -- after 1999.

That played into a Wall Street culture of excess, big bonuses and poor decision making.

"Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress," Sanders said in the debate to much applause.

However, when you look at the actual financial institution failures in 2008, Glass-Steagall probably wouldn't have made much, if any, difference.

The first two large institutions to fail were Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, both of which only served Wall Street, not Main Street.

In an oft-cited column, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin goes point by point through how Glass-Steagall would have done nada to prevent the problems at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG(AIG) or Fannie and Freddie or even Bank of America's acquisition of Countrywide Financial.

Bill Clinton has also been on the defensive.

"Look at all the grief I got for signing the bill that ended Glass-Steagall. There's not a single, solitary example that it had anything to do with the financial crash," he said earlier this year.

Related: Labor union ads target Walmart during Democratic debate

Who wants Glass-Steagall back

Sanders, O'Malley and Senator Elizabeth Warren argue that the fundamental problem hasn't been resolved: they are still "too big to fail" and might need big bailouts from U.S. taxpayers again.

Larger banks are also harder to regulate, which could be a recipe for another financial crisis.

They believe big banks like JPMorgan Chase(JPM), Citigroup(C) and Bank of America(BAC) need to be broken up and the simplest way to do that is to bring back Glass-Steagall.

"We need to separate the casino, speculative, mega-bank gambling that we have to insure with our money, from the commercial banking -- namely, reinstating Glass-Steagall," O'Malley said.

Who doesn't want Glass-Steagall back

Clinton and the Republican candidates do not want to reinstate Glass-Steagall.

Clinton argues that she isn't trying to be soft on the banks. But she thinks Glass-Steagall is too outdated and blunt of an instrument.

"My plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher," she said at the debate, adding: "If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees."

Her plan would increase regulation and oversight of the financial world and impose a "risk fee" on large banks with over $50 billion in assets.

The financial world has evolved. It's not just big banks taking on risks. There are also hedge funds and other players that wouldn't fall under Glass-Steagall.

Related: Overnight ratings point to Democratic debate record

CNNMoney (New York)October 14, 2015: 1:57 PM ET

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 14:24

Yes, Rand Paul is still running for president.

Answering some of the top Google searches associated with his name during his all-day campaign livestream Tuesday '-- namely, ''Is Rand Paul still running for president?'' '-- Paul said, in short, yes.

''I don't know '-- wouldn't be doing this dumbass livestreaming if I weren't. Yes, I still am running for president; get over it.''

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 14:18

Anderson Cooper's question for Jim Webb during Tuesday's Democratic primary debate '-- ''Would encouraging people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting?'' '-- wasn't exactly worded to allow much of a pro-gun answer.

But the former U.S. senator from Virginia '-- a proponent of the Second Amendment '-- didn't back away.

After insisting that guns should be kept out of the hands of those with mental illness, Webb said American citizens have a right to protect themselves '-- and then took aim at U.S. officials protected with armed security details.

''There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week,'' Webb said. ''The average American does not have that and deserves the right to be able to protect their family.''

Such a response probably would have brought down the house at a Republican debate, but the reaction from Tuesday night's audience '-- at the end of the below clip '-- was guarded at best. A few claps and a hoot.

Here's the CNN video via the Daily Caller:

(H/T: Daily Caller)

'--

Follow Dave Urbanski (@DaveVUrbanski) on Twitter

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:34

In an audio message, Islamic State calls on Muslims to launch a ''holy war'' against Russia, as a response to Moscow's two-week-old bombing campaign against IS in Syria. Mana Rabiee reports.

TRANSCRIPT +

The newly-released audio message from Islamic State supporters targets Russia, not just the United States and its allies. In it, an IS spokesman calls on Muslims to attack both Russians and Americans over what it calls their "crusaders' war" in the Middle East. The message comes two weeks after Moscow began airstrikes over Syria ostensibly to hit IS targets. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAID TO BE VOICE OF ISLAMIC STATE SPOKESMAN, ABU MOHAMMAD AL-ADNANI, SAYING: "Russia and the U.S.A, you will be defeated. You and your army and your allies will be forced into hell and the worst of fates. America thinks it will defeat the mujahideen, but you and your allies will fail." Russia and the United States are both carrying out separate airstrike campaigns in Syria on Islamic State. The U.S. is also carrying out air strikes in neighboring Iraq, where IS has taken territory and where Russia, too, is now separately involved in an intelligence gathering capacity. The audio message also confirms the death of an IS leader whom the U.S. says was killed in an August air strike and was the group's second-in-command.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:31

Beginning at time marker 1:08:04 in the youtube video below, Anderson Cooper changes the debate topic from ''Do black lives matter or do all lives matter?'' to income inequality by saying,

Senator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't?

After Senator Sanders' response, Cooper puts the question to Hillary,

Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the 1%. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class?

Clinton says the economy does better with a Democrat in the White House, then Cooper says, ''Governor O'Malley, I want you to be able to'....[he trails off]''

Then O'Malley band-wagons on some of Sanders' comments and adds,

But there's another piece that Senator Sanders left out tonight, but he's been excellent about underscoring that. And that is, that we need to separate the casino speculative mega-bank gambling that we have to insure with our money from the commercial banking, namely, reinstating Glass-Steagall. Secretary Clinton mentioned my support eight years ago. And secretary I was proud to support you eight years ago. But something happened in between, and that is, Anderson, a Wall Street crash that wiped out millions of jobs and millions of savings for families and we're still just as vulnerable Paul Volcker says today. We need to reinstate Glass-Steagall and that's a huge difference on this stage among us as candidates.

Cooper then says, ''For the viewers at home who might not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall are Depression Era banking laws repealed in 1999'....'' and proceeds to read a description of Glass-Steagall from a blue note card in his hand. My jaw dropped! As the only on-point tweet I could find put it: ''What a scam BS the #DemDebate is. Anybody notice how @andersoncooper had a cue card about Glass-Steagall Act. Guess he had ESP.''

I reviewed the clip several times and looked at the notes Anderson had (see the screenshot above). I've had plenty of experience compiling notes in an effort to anticipate callers' points on the air. I usually have a stack of notes with labeled tabs for quick access to detailed information for when I want to respond to callers with specifics like the Glass-Steagall facts Cooper read. I have a big pile of material and my show is usually only on one topic''not every possible relevant topic as this debate was. Furthermore, I am actually a participant in the debate when I take calls on the air. Cooper is just a moderator who wouldn't be expected to have at his fingertips detailed information on every possible topic that gets raised. Yet Cooper had that exact tidbit of information either in his hand or within easy reach, on a specific item that wasn't even in the question he asked! He didn't seem to be scrambling either. He had a small array of cards on the table and a few cards in his hand, and immediately, rapid-fire, without skipping a beat, he started to read the relevant details about an item that wasn't even a direct response to his line of inquiry.

So how did Anderson Cooper have that information at his fingertips in response to something of a non-sequitur? After seeing this, I couldn't help but conclude that this debate was scripted. As I continued to watch, I became increasingly convinced, especially as the debate wrapped up with closing statements from all the participants (beginning at time marker c. 1:58:50) in which the candidates made specific references to what was covered in the debate, the tone that was achieved, and even verbatim quotes from other candidates. Either these candidates, some of whom were facing the largest audience of their lives, squandered their one opportunity during the evening to have a prepared statement (ie, they decided to wing their closing statements), or they somehow perfectly anticipated the way in which the debate would unfold.

Oh, and one more thing'...did you get the impression that O'Malley is actually running for Vice President? He's reminiscent to me of Marco Rubio in that way, and also in the way he alwasy seems like he's going to burst out crying (it's his ''sincere'' voice.)

Here's the debate'...what do you think? (You can just watch the three and a half minutes beginning 1:08:04 for the Glass-Steagall stuff''the video should already be cued up to that spot''or go to the very bottom of this post for the critical minute or so.) And don't miss my update below for a bonus fact!

UPDATE: Here's a fun fact'...Anderson Cooper's only job outside of media was the two summers he spent working for the CIA while an undergrad at Yale:)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Cooper#Career

The first video I included to show the debate disappeared. In case the second one disappears too, I just grabbed the critical minute or so from my TV recording'...

WHOA! Just in the amount of time it took me to load my little homemade video and post a replacement for my original above which disappeared, the new one on youtube disappeared too! And it didn't say for copyright infringement, it said, ''This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube's policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content. Sorry about that.'' Well, I can't disagree with them classifying this as deceptive!

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:21

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:15

Last Updated Oct 15, 2015 7:10 AM EDT

A computer system that checks airline passengers' names against the federal terror watch list experienced problems Wednesday night, federal law enforcement sources told CBS News.

CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave reported that a Department of Homeland Security official said a router went off-line which required a "manual process of vetting against the (secure flight) watch list."

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection experienced a temporary outage with its processing systems at air ports of entry in the United States and took immediate action to address the technology disruption," the agency said in a statement late Wednesday.

The statement said the outage lasted about 90 minutes.

Sources told "CBS This Morning" that "alternative procedures" meant a tedious process of manually checking traveler names against a secure flight watch list.

"At this time, there is no indication the service disruption was malicious in nature," Customs and Border Protection said.

The DHS official said John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York was likely the most significantly impacted but that other airports also experienced disruptions.

"They should have had a better system like another backup or something," traveler Maria Rea said at JFK Airport. "The people up there all cursing, there was people that couldn't walk, it was crazy."

(C) 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:02

Created by an anonymous useron July 29, 2015

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*This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.

People in this videoHosting OrganizationMore Videos FromU.S. House of RepresentativesMore VideosClips from This VideoView all clips from this videoRelated VideoJuly 29, 2015House SessionThe House passed a bill to expand the Veterans Affairs Department's authority to fire or demote VA employees'...

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July 14, 2015House SessionThe House convened for a legislative session.'‚Members debated 11 bills under suspension of the rules.'‚The'...

June 25, 2015House SessionThe House convened for a legislative session.'‚The House has voted 286-138 to approve an African trade and Trade'...

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:49

If Jeb Bush had Donald Trump's poll numbers, the media would proclaim the race "T-K-Over." Yet rather than touting Trump's commanding lead, the liberal media speculates instead on the Donald's "exit strategy." That had Joe Scarborough blasting CNN and other MSM outlets as "Trump deniers" on today's Morning Joe.

Why is the MSM unwilling to give Donald his due? Scarborough suggested the media should "just admit: we hate him so much, that even when he is trouncing everybody, we loathe this vulgarian from Queens who we've never accepted into our club and screw him, we're never going to give him any respect." Concluded Joe: "I call them Trump deniers."

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:38

[See NewsBusters for more.] CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday was forced to respond to an accusation that he is too close to the Clintons. As first noted on the Weekly Standard (and highlighted on the Drudge Report), the anchor was listed as a ''notable past member'' for a 2007 conference he moderated at the Clinton Global Initiative. Talking to Jake Tapper, Cooper assailed, ''With all due respect to the Weekly Standard, this is total bunk.'' He complained, '' There was a story in the Weekly Standard that I guess Drudge picked up on... which said that I'm basically in the tank for Hillary Clinton.''

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:37

See more in the cross-post on NewsBusters blog.

Just hours ahead of Tuesday's 2016 Democratic presidential debate on CNN, the network was already in spin mode for Hillary Clinton down to the most minute detail as senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny marveled during The Situation Room at the sight of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin surveying the stage for Clinton to gather ''a sense of what this evening is going to be.''

Of course, at no point in the two-minute-plus fawning over Abedin and Clinton was there any mention of Abedin's role in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal or the numerous questions about Abedin's conduct while working at the State Department.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:31

See more in the cross-post on the NewsBusters blog.

Opining on how he thought the first 2016 Democratic debate unfolded on Tuesday night, CNN political commentator and former Obama administration official Van Jones compared the ''flawless'' Hillary Clinton to Beyonc(C) and touted his belief that activists in the Black Lives Matter movement were the true winners of the debate.

Speaking first of the Black Lives Matter movement, Jones told The Lead host Jake Tapper that the debate was ''the first time that I have seen the entire Democratic Party speak this forthrightly about the issue of anti-black racism and that is a direct result of these young activists who have felt so hopeless and so frustrated.''

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:29

The U.S. intervention in Libya in 2011 was an example of ''smart power at its best,'' Hillary Clinton said during Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, challenging an opponent who says the U.S. had no strategic interest in taking military action there.

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:22

Video cross-posted here at NewsBusters. On Wednesday's The View, co-host Joy Behar gushed over Bernie Sanders' performance at last night's CNN Democratic debate and she proclaimed that the Socialist ''aroused'' her. The liberal ABC host gushed that Sanders was so ''menschy in that moment like a real guy'' when he defended Hillary Clinton from scrutiny over her e-mail scandal and insisted that she ''find[s] him to be eye candy, not ear candy, eye candy.''

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 01:59

[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]

CNN lived up to its nickname of the "Clinton News Network" on 14 October 2015, as New Day played up how Hillary Clinton checked off an apparent "debate check list with surgical precision," as John Berman put it. Chris Cuomo hyped that viewers "got to see Hillary Clinton at her best." Berman also glossed over the liberal politics in the Democratic Party by underlining Clinton's "appeal to the grassroots and pragmatic wings of the party."

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:40

GWEN IFILL: But, first, another take on our legal system, this time, a conversation with the writer who is among the newest class of MacArthur fellows, and today was named a finalist for a National Book Award for his writing about race, crime and punishment.

The book is ''Between the World and Me,'' and his latest contribution to ''The Atlantic'' magazine examines the black family in the age of mass incarceration.

Ta-Nehisi Coates joins me now.

Welcome.

TA-NEHISI COATES, The Atlantic: Thanks for having me, Gwen.

GWEN IFILL: It's a very, very long magazine article, probably one of the longest, if not the longest, that ''Atlantic'' has ever published.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Yes.

GWEN IFILL: And in it and in your book and in a magazine article you wrote last year about reparations, it seems to reveal an ongoing sense of deep pessimism, not only about America, but especially about African-Americans.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Well, I wouldn't call it pessimistic.

I would call it, if I can use the word, realpolitik is probably a word that I would actually use. I think there's a way of looking at African-American life and looking at the long struggle against racism in this country that is current within our politics, and then there's a whole different way that people talk about when I go talk to academics, when I go talk to sociologists, and when I talk to historians.

And that world, I guess, some would feel is pessimistic. I don't think it's pessimistic, because I think any struggle worth having takes place across generations. And so one of the things that, if that work does anything, it forgoes the possibility of great and tremendous change within our lifetime.

But, you know, it's not so pessimistic about the long term, I don't think.

GWEN IFILL: But when you talk about the gray wastes'...

TA-NEHISI COATES: Right.

GWEN IFILL: '... that is not an optimistic term. Explain what it is, first of all.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Well, it's prison.

GWEN IFILL: Yes.

TA-NEHISI COATES: I mean, the gray wastes is a description of our sprawling jail and prison system.

I was looking for some sort of terminology that, as far as I could see accurately reflected, not just in terms of hard numbers, but compelled people to feel what it was. And the gray wastes is what I settle on.

When you write about mass incarceration, when you write about housing discrimination, as I was writing about in the case of reparations, when you write about death at the hands of the police, as I was in ''Between the World and Me,'' the language does not tend to happy fun time. It tends to be hard.

GWEN IFILL: Which is why I'm surprised you don't see it as pessimistic.

But let's get back to that.

TA-NEHISI COATES: OK.

GWEN IFILL: Because you frame this particular article with '-- you use Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the senator from New York, to frame this. He, in 1965, wrote a very famous report on the state of the Negro family, as it was called then.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Right, right.

GWEN IFILL: He played a role not only in writing that, but also on the other end, in creating some of the problems you say continue to exist.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Right, right.

Well, in 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan does this report on the black family. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is very, very sympathetic to the black family, very, very sympathetic to black people in general and to the problem of race in this country.

He was arguing '-- you know, effectively, he used the family as the lens to look at the community, assembled all these social economic indicators to show where black families were as compared to the rest, and hoped that what would follow was benevolent investment.

The argument that I make in the piece is that, in fact, what followed was malevolent investment, that a lot of problems that Daniel Patrick Moynihan was dealing with in that report, we basically outsourced to our prison system, instead of our normal social service system.

And the piece is all about why we did that. And, regrettably, some of that is within '-- some of the reason why we did that can be seen within the history of Daniel Moynihan himself.

GWEN IFILL: You make a connection between the tangle of pathology that he famously wrote about'...

TA-NEHISI COATES: Right.

GWEN IFILL: '... and the tangle of perils that African-American men mostly face now.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Right, right, right.

And I wanted to be clear about the difference. You know, the pathology summons these notions of a diseased patient, of somebody that is afflicted. And, for me, whenever I'm writing about racism, again, through all three of these pieces, I think people shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it's a done thing.

And the tangles of peril, I felt better conveyed the notion that somebody had done certain things, that we had made certain decisions about housing in this country, that we had made certain decisions about how we were going to punish certain crimes in this country, that we make decisions about any number of things in terms of how we're going to invest our resources as a country. And that has effects.

GWEN IFILL: You make a case, a connection between the efforts we took to fix crime, whether it was three strikes you're out, or whether it was just the war on drugs, and you made that connection to that and mass incarceration as we see it now.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Yes.

What we had, and certainly you can't get away from the fact that we did have a crime rise in this country beginning in the early '70s and proceeding into the '80s and into and beginning to level off as you get into the '90s, until it started to plunge, really, really plunge in the late '90s and into the 2000s.

And, oftentimes, that's the argument we get for how we ended up with so many people in jail. The problem, of course, is that the crime rise and the subsequent fall that happened at the middle to the end of the 20th century actually is an international phenomena.

Same thing happened in Canada. Same thing happened in Great Britain. Same thing happened across much of Europe. America is unique in mass incarceration, nevertheless. Everybody didn't choose that as the answer for how they were going to deal with policy.

We made that decision. And my argument is that you can't divorce that from the history of looking at black people as though they have some sort of predilection towards criminality.

GWEN IFILL: Now, this won't be the first time you have been asked this question. What about personal responsibility? What about the fact that numbers seem to show that African-Americans commit more crimes?

TA-NEHISI COATES: African-Americans do commit more crimes. There's just no '-- no one can really make a '-- have a '-- as a percentage of the population of the country. There's no way to get away from that.

GWEN IFILL: So, why is that the nation's responsibility to fix it, if the community won't fix it itself?

TA-NEHISI COATES: Because the conversation doesn't end there.

The conversation then has to become, why is that? Can it be said that African-American communities are the same as all other communities? Can it be said that African-American communities have the same amount of resources as all other communities? Can it be said that African-American '-- that other communities, like African-American communities, have the same history of people extracting resources out of their community?

If you look at the policy, what the policies have been towards the African-American community historically in this country, that there's more crime in African-American communities doesn't, you know, come as a surprise.

African-Americans in general tend to live in more criminogenic conditions than other communities. And so the fact that, you know, crime actually occurs, you know, more likely in those communities shouldn't come as a particular surprise to anyone.

GWEN IFILL: What are the solutions?

TA-NEHISI COATES: Well, I think the first thing to do, as I have argued in my case for reparations, is reparations.

And I know that doesn't quite sound like a solution to everybody because it can't be done right now. But I believe it's a long-term solution, because the basic problem, the basic problem in this country with black people and with white people is that you have a huge discrepancy in wealth.

And the easiest way, though not the only way, I can demonstrate that is the huge wealth gap. For every dollar of wealth that a white family has, African-American families have a nickel. That is not a mistake. That is not the result of magic.

That is the result of done policy. That is the result of, you know, a long history of enslavement in this country, followed by Jim Crow, which was the extraction of resources, followed by erecting loan policies for home loans in this country that African-Americans were not given access to, followed by a safety net policy that black people did not have the same access to.

It just does not make sense that you would have that, and then not do nothing, and then expect that everything is going to go away, that everything is going to be all right.

GWEN IFILL: Ta-Nehisi Coates, congratulations on your honors that you have gotten recently.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Thank you. Thank you.

GWEN IFILL: And thank you for talking to us.

TA-NEHISI COATES: Thank you, Gwen.

GWEN IFILL: On tomorrow's program, we continue our look at mass incarceration, this time from the prisoner's perspective. The NewsHour's William Brangham was granted rare access to a maximum security jail in Maryland where a unique pilot program is trying to put a stop to the revolving prison door.

MAN: This idea that solely, solely taking someone's freedom away changes behavior, in many cases, it changes it for the worse. And that's not what America's correctional facilities were founded on.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:36

The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic has spoken to the BBC following the release of the Dutch report into the MH17 disaster.

Aleksandr Zakharchenko says his pro-Russian forces did not have the means to shoot down the plane, and he pointed the finger at the Ukrainian government.

Tuesday's report found a Russian-made BUK missile was responsible for the accident but it did not identify who fired it.

Tom Burridge reports from Donetsk.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:18

Former NBA star Lamar Odom has been hospitalized after being found unresponsive at a Nevada Brothel. Officials from Nye County Sheriff's office said he'd suffered a "medical emergency" at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada which is about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The former husband of Khloe Kardashian was stabilized at the scene and prepared to be airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital but at 6 ft 10 inches tall, his stature made it impossible to transport him by helicopter. The celebrity website TMZ reported that Odom had been at the brothel for days and a woman there found him unconscious in his VIP suite. The owner told the Los Angeles Times that herbal Viagra had been found in the athletes room. The investigation into what caused the emergency continues.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:13

This disgusting new commercial is from the Stop Hillary PAC, with Dan Backer as treasurer. (Imagine if one of these people was your family member, how gut-wrenching it would be to see them used this way.) And here's the funny thing: Backer and his buddies are getting rich from this, and all the dozens of other PACs he oversees:

Dan Backer is the treasurer of about 40 political hybrid PACs that have popped up recently. According to The Washington Post, he is an attorney who came up with the concept of hybrid PACs and was the lead attorney responsible for getting them legalized. His PACs, which include the Stop Hillary PAC, have raised millions of dollars, but very little of it has gone to benefit candidates.

A look at the Stop Hillary PAC's financial reports reveals that a hefty amount of the money raised is going to consultants. During the initial part of the 2014 election cycle, the PAC raised $250,500. Of that amount, $151,413 went to consultants. An organization called Campaign Solutions has received $144,435, and another one, Strategic Fundraising, received $141,618.

As of May, Stop Hillary PAC had raised half a million dollars, more than any other anti-Hillary PAC.

Meanwhile, its contributions to candidates have been measly. According to TheWashington Post, the PAC has only given $25 each to five federal candidates (the maximum allowed contribution to a federal candidate is $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general election).

So this isn't even some sincere expression of concern. It's a shameless attempt to gin up the outrage machine -- and ring up the cash register. KA-CHING!!! But that's not all, because these guys are also part of Groundswell, the shadowy org where Ginni Thomas, Clarence Thomas's wife, works behind the scenes. This is all part of their "30 front" assault to make over the country to fit their own insane vision.

As many of us already know, the Republicans knew there was a security problem at Benghazi. They just didn't want to give the administration the funding they needed to secure the compound:

'†' Story continues below '†'

But hidden beneath the GOP campaign is the fact that House Republicans voted to cut nearly $300 million from the U.S. embassy security budget. When asked if he voted to cut the funds this morning on CNN, Chaffetz said, ''Absolutely'':

O'BRIEN: Is it true that you voted to cut the funding for embassy security?CHAFFETZ: Absolutely. Look, we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have '-- think about this '-- 15,000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractors, private army there for President Obama in Baghdad.

And we're talking about can we get two dozen or so people into Libya to help protect our forces? When you're in tough economic times, you have to make difficult choices how to prioritize this.

When you're in the throes of self-imposed austerity, "What difference does it make?"

You'd almost think they wanted those people to die.

Amirite?

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:05

News and Media Division of Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:03

News and Media Division of Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:03

News and Media Division of Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:43

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday (October 13) that he has ordered the state supervisory council to carry out a special probe into a double suicide bombing that killed 97 people in the capital Ankara. Two bombs exploded seconds apart on Saturday (October 10), targeting a rally of pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups near Ankara's main train station, three weeks ahead of a general election. It was the worst attack of its kind in Turkish history, triggering protests against what critics of President Tayyip Erdogan and the government see as a major intelligence failure. "I strongly condemn the terrorist attack against Turkey's unity, solidarity, stability and goals. The world and the Turkish people should know the truth: This attack was carried out against Turkey," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara in his first public comments since the attack. "This attack is being investigated just like the others, the connections of those who carried out this attack will be found and the suspects will be brought to justice. The government is taking the necessary steps. As the president, I have commissioned a state supervisory council (for a comprehensive probe)," he added. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday (October 12) that Islamic State fighters are the prime suspect. Officials in Ankara said they were focusing on the so-called "Adiyaman cell" - a group of Turks, some of whom had travelled to Syria, and who were thought also to have been behind a suicide bombing in July in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border, which killed 34 people. The cell is also believed to have been involved in the bombing of a pro-Kurdish opposition rally in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on the eve of Turkey's last election in June. The possibility that a group known to the authorities carried out Saturday's attack has heaped pressure on the government, already under fire from opponents for failing to give more transparent information on its investigations into the Diyarbakir and Suruc attacks. Details of the investigations into the Diyarbakir and Suruc bombings have never been made public and are subject to reporting restrictions under Turkish law. Police and security officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Turkey is vulnerable to infiltration by Islamic State, which holds swathes of Syrian land abutting Turkey where some two million refugees live. But there has been no word from the group -- usually swift to publicly claim responsibility for any attack it conducts -- over the Ankara, Diyarbakir or Suruc bombings. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which says it was the target of the Ankara bombings, has said Erdogan and the government have blood on their hands. Government officials reject any suggestion that they are failing to fully investigate any of the attacks. They say forensic evidence has been gathered, a list of suspects identified and that announcements will be made quickly. But critics say Turkey has been slow to wake up to the home-grown threat it faces from Islamic State. Thousands of foreign fighters, including Turks, crossed the border into Syria to join the ranks of the radical group, a flow Turkey has only recently brought under control. The Radikal newspaper said on Tuesday police had identified 21 suspected Islamic State militants, six of them women, believed to be preparing an attack in Turkey. It said 18 of them were from Adiyaman.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:38

A 10 dinar gold coin from Morocco's Almohad Dynasty on exhibit at a museum in Rabat, Morocco, in March.

By: Rami Galal, Contributor for Al-MonitorAl-Monitor

CAIRO '-- The Islamic State is declaring financial war on the United States.

Al-Hayat Media Center, which is affiliated with IS, recently broadcast a big-budget film titled ''The Rise of the Caliphate: Return of the Gold Dinar.'' In the film, aired Aug. 29, IS talks about destroying the US dollar by excluding it from international financial transactions and replacing it with gold, silver and copper.

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General: Only '4 or 5' U.S.-Trained Syrian Fighters Operating Against ISISIS said the United States deceived the world. According to the film's content, in 1913, the United States established the Federal Reserve Bank and pledged to pay gold on demand for the dollar. However, following World War I the United States switched from the gold standard to a flat greenback currency at the local level. After gold flowed to the United States from several countries in the world '-- as a result of World War I and World War II '-- the United States created a new system governing banking and foreign exchange called Bretton Woods to maintain the dollar's convertibility into gold at the international level. However, in 1971, President Richard Nixon suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold. The Bretton Woods system dissolved between 1968 and 1973, according to the International Monetary Fund. According to IS, the United States maintained its currency in a ''satanic way'' by using oil, described by the United States as black gold, and forced countries to buy and sell oil in dollars through the petrodollar system.

Now, IS asserts that replacing the dollar with gold will push major powers such as China and Russia, who had bought US Treasury bills, to sell these bills, leading to a complete collapse of the US financial system.

Islamic thinker Najeh Ibrahim, a former jihadist in the ranks of the Islamist Gamaa Islamiya, told Al-Monitor, ''The fact that IS is monetizing its currencies carries more than one message. The first message is addressed to the world, in which IS confirms that it has become a [legitimate] state. The second is addressed to Muslim youth, in which IS asserts that the Muslims' dignity and economic power, lost since the era of the caliphate, have returned.''

Ibrahim pointed out that with every coined currency, IS plays on the psychology of its supporters. ''Each coin has its own connotation. The first is a 1-dinar coin of pure gold weighing 4.25 grams [0.15 ounces], and this is the same weight as the first gold dinar of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. On its reverse side, the 1-dinar coin has a symbol of seven wheat stalks, representing the blessing of spending in the path of Allah. The second coin is the 5-dinar coin and weighs 21.25 grams [0.75 ounces]; it is imprinted with a map of the world, representing the extent of territory [the Prophet] Muhammad's reign would reach.''

There are three types of IS silver coins. The 1-dirham coin weighs 2 grams and features on its reverse side a spear and shield indicating that the source of provision of the Prophet Muhammad was from jihad in the name of Allah. The 5-dirham coin weighs 10 grams and shows on its reverse side the minaret of Damascus, the place where Islam says Christ will return to Earth. The 10-dirham coin weighs 20 grams and shows Al-Aqsa Mosque on its reverse side. Moreover, copper fulus were minted for simple financial transactions.

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The Islamic State's Social Media StrategyIbrahim said, ''There are economic, political and scientific relations between the countries [that cannot be overlooked]. To be recognized as a state, IS must be accepted by others. There are 192 countries in the world and none of them recognizes IS as a state, and therefore its currency will not be recognized.'' He added, ''Any currency must be accepted by the transaction parties. The holder of a currency must not feel threatened by using this currency. An Egyptian worker in Libya working in an area controlled by IS will not accept his salary in IS gold dinar, because he knows that he cannot transfer this amount to his children in Egypt. If this worker is caught carrying this dinar in Egypt, he may be subject to legal prosecution. People will not use this currency, even if [it is] made of gold.''

Ibrahim said Wilayat Sinai, which is affiliated with IS, probably will not use the currencies in Egypt. Wilayat Sinai has no real territory under its control, no nationals under its rule and no natural resources to export, unlike IS with its smuggled oil exports. On the other hand, if IS supporters from Wilayat Sinai receive their salaries in IS gold dinars, they will find it difficult to purchase their daily needs using this currency.

Fouad Shaker, secretary-general of the Union of Arab Banks, told Al-Monitor, ''The issuance of currency in the modern era is based on the state's macroeconomics and gross national product '-- the produced goods and services, not just metals. What IS did is very logical and reassures its salaried supporters, since at times of war nations will print money but there may not be a cash cover [at a later stage], which will reduce the purchasing value of those [paper] currencies.''

Finance Minister Fayyad Abdel Moneim, a former professor of Islamic economics at Al-Azhar University, told Al-Monitor, ''There is no kind of prohibition of the use of banknotes in Islam, and the use of the gold coin has no impact on the US economy, whose gross domestic product exceeded $17 trillion dollars in 2014, equivalent to one-quarter of the whole world production.''

He said, ''There is not enough gold to cover the world's huge financial transactions, and IS' hypothesis that the US dollar is weak is wrong, since it assesses the US dollar on the basis of gold only and not based on production.''

Moneim added, ''The US Treasury bills are the safest in the world since they are backed by a powerful economy. If China and Russia tried to sell their US Treasury bills at once in order to hit the US dollar, these countries would also be affected since they would be reimbursed the value of these bills in the US dollar that had lost its purchasing power.''

More from Al-Monitor.com:

Security chaos in Nablus haunts the PABy Adnan Abu Amer

How Erdogan exploits Syrian refugeesBy Arad Nir

Copyright 2014 Al-Monitor LLC. All rights reserved. No redistribution allowed.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:35

U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren calls the Russian air strikes in Syria, ''reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible.'' Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

TRANSCRIPT +

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) U.S. and Russian jets came within visual identification range over Syria, the U.S. military said on Tuesday, adding the incident underscored a need for air safety protocols as the former Cold War foes carry out rival bombing campaigns. U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led military campaign, told a Pentagon briefing the jets came within miles of each other on Saturday -- the same day U.S. and Russian militaries held talks on safety protocols. Warren said the air crews from both countries acted professionally.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:29

Police and demonstrators, angry at the government's response to Saturday's deadly twin bomb blasts, scuffle in Istanbul and Ankara. Mana Rabiee reports.

TRANSCRIPT +

Demonstrators marching through Istanbul clash with riot police. They're angry at the Turkish government's response after Saturday's twin bomb blasts at a pro-Kurdish rally in Ankara that killed nearly a hundred people. Turkey blames Islamic State for the attack but opponents are venting their anger on Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accusing his government of providing inadequate intelligence and poor national security. Hundreds of people tried to lay carnations on Monday at the site of the attack but were met with riot police. There have been similar scenes at funerals of the victims. Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish parliamentary opposition, says he's angry. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PEOPLES' DEMOCRATIC PARTY (HDP) LEADER SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS, SAYING: "Even three people cannot come together for commemoration. .... They do not allow us to own our own funerals. The prime minister says this attack was carried out against us, against our unity, but he doesn't allow us to mourn." Opponents of Erdogan, who's led Turkey for 13 years, blame him for intelligence failings that led to the attack. But some are going further, accusing the government of complicity by stirring up nationalist, anti-Kurdish sentiment, accusations the government denies. And there's no shortage of potential culprits -- Islamic State, Marxist radicals, militant nationalists, Kurdish armed factions...highlighting Turkish society's deepening divisions.

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Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:14

News and Media Division of Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:37

In a bombshell investigation into presidential candidate Ben Carson's medical career, RadarOnline.com exclusively learned that the now-retired doctor was accused of butchering patients' brains during surgery and even mistakenly leaving a surgical sponge in someone's skull.

Though the 64-year-old claimed that of the ''15,000 operations'' he performed only a few patients were left disgruntled, the doctor admitted that he's been sued a couple of times in the past.

Now, Funny or Die has taken the matter into their own hands, posting a parody campaign commercial of the Republican candidate.

PHOTOS: Real Housewives' Plastic Surgery Secrets REVEALED! 18 Stars Who've Gone Under The Knife '''' From Botox To Boob Jobs & More!

Watch the Video On RadarOnline:

As Radar previously reported, in a recent interview with radio host Alan Colmes, Carson defended his use of surgical sponges, saying that some patients simply experience a negative reaction to the type of product.

PHOTOS; Tummy Tuck? 'Teen Mom' Chelsea Houska Responds To Plastic Surgery Rumors Following Body Makeover

''It is true that we put a certain type of sponge in to pad things away and sometimes there is a reaction to that sponge and that's what happened,'' he shared, blaming the press for ''crawling through every ditch'' just to find some dirt on him.

Thanks to Funny or Die, he may not be done speaking on the controversy just yet!

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:30

By now word's gotten out that CNN has prepared a lectern for the vice president, in case he decides to show up to the first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night. It's almost certain Biden won't actually show up, but at least the ''Late Show'' host Stephen Colbert got a few laughs out of CNN's ridiculous publicity stunt.

'--Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:19

A University of Texas professor is quitting and moving from Austin to Australia following the University's decision to allow students to carry concealed handguns on campus.

Economics professor emeritus Daniel Hamermesh claims that ''With a huge group of students my perception is that the risk that a disgruntled student might bring a gun into the classroom and start shooting at me has been substantially enhanced by the concealed-carry law.''

Appearing on Fox News, the professor complained that ''under the age of 25 guy's brains are not fully formed,'' and said he now fears for his own safety.

When asked how this law, which could potentially protect more students and staff from unhinged shooters, could possibly increase the risk on campus, the professor said he was not worried about disturbed outsiders coming in and attacking, rather about his own students losing the plot over bad grades.

''I'm not so much worried about the person who has planned ahead of time to come to campus and my office.'' said Hamermesh, adding that he IS worried about what happens if a student ''suddenly snaps'' after getting angry with him.

''It's not just me, it's any professor who teaches a large number of students, faces this same increased risk.'' Hamermesh claimed.

''I've had students get very angry in class, I've had other professors mention to me in the last few days things that disgruntled students do,'' the professor added, claiming that occasionally students ''go berserk''.

''I'm not going to carry a gun, I don't want to be involved in the gun fight.'' Hamermesh concluded, speaking as if UT were the Wild West.

'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'---

Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones' Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:12

Morale among German analysts and investors plummeted in October as the diesel emissions scandal at carmaker Volkswagen and weakness in emerging markets took their toll. As David Pollard reports the survey by ZEW think tank showed economic sentiment falling to 1.9 points in October from 12.1 in September.

TRANSCRIPT +

It's tough at the top, especially when you don't know what's going on down below. Paul Willis is VW's UK chief. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOLKSWAGEN UK MANAGING DIRECTOR, PAUL WILLIS, SAYING: "I find it absolutely implausible that senior people of the company would have known of these issues with regard to the testing regime." Willis was appearing before the UK parliament - the latest VW chief to face grilling for a scandal that's cost VW a third of its share price. And what is becoming known, slowly, is the impact on sentiment. VW and sluggish emerging market growth to blame, says Germany's ZEW, for a much sharper than expected drop from September. Commerzbank economist Peter Dixon. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLOBAL FINANCIAL ECONOMIST, COMMERZBANK, PETER DIXON, SAYING: "The risks are tilted to the downside, what with international uncertainty, problems in the emerging markets, and I guess a lot of questions about what happens with regard to monetary policy on the other side of the Atlantic." That's a worry echoed across the German engineering sector, according to its trade association. The VDMA lists powerhouse corporates like Siemens among its members. Today, it said uncertainty and weakening markets would mean 'stagnation' next year. And, adding to a gloomy tally of recent data and downgrades, the German government is to trim its growth estimate from 1.8 to 1.7 per cent this year. That's according to a government official, who says the economy ministry will announce the new forecasts on Wednesday.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:10

Naked truth: no more nudes in Playboy magazine. Playboy Enterprises said its iconic men's magazine will stop publishing photographs of naked women. Driving that decision: Playboy had become passe in a digital world where people are a click away from pornography. The magazine's circulation has plummeted from its heyday in the 1970s when it helped drive the sexual revolution. Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders said, "The political and sexual climate of 1953, the year Hugh Hefner introduced Playboy to the world, bears almost no resemblance to today." Playboy had earlier relaunched its website, stripping out nudes last year to make it - in its words - "safe for work." The company had been taken private three years earlier. Playboy will overhaul its magazine in time for its March issue, making the monthly larger and printing it on heavier paper. But some things will remain the same. The glossy that once featured spreads on celebrities ranging from Marilyn to Madonna vows it will keep publishing sexy pictorials of women. But without nudes, you can now say you read it for the articles.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:53

CIA Funding and Manipulation of the U.S. News Media.Operation Mockingbird was a secret Central Intelligence Agency campaign to influence domestic and foreign media beginning in the 1950s. (Scroll down for video)According to the Congress report published in 1976:

''The CIA currently maintains a network of several hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct access to a large number of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets.''

Senator Frank Church argued that misinforming the world cost American taxpayers an estimated $265 million a year.

In 1948, Frank Wisner was appointed director of the Office of Special Projects (OSP). Soon afterwards OSP was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). This became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. Wisner was told to create an organization that concentrated on ''propaganda, economic warfare; preventive direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-Communist elements in threatened countries of the free world.''

Later that year Wisner established Mockingbird, a program to influence the domestic and foreign media. Wisner recruited Philip Graham from The Washington Post to run the project within the industry. According to Deborah Davis in Katharine the Great; ''By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of The New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles.''

In 1951, Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. However, there is evidence that he was recruited several years earlier and had been spying on the liberal organizations he had been a member of in the later 1940s. According to Deborah Davis, Meyer became Mockingbird's ''principal operative.''

In 1977, Rolling Stone alleged that one of the most important journalists under the control of Operation Mockingbird was Joseph Alsop, whose articles appeared in over 300 different newspapers. Other journalists alleged by Rolling Stone Magazine to have been willing to promote the views of the CIA included Stewart Alsop (New York Herald Tribune), Ben Bradlee (Newsweek), James Reston (New York Times), Charles Douglas Jackson (Time Magazine), Walter Pincus (Washington Post), William C. Baggs (The Miami News), Herb Gold (The Miami News) and Charles Bartlett (Chattanooga Times). According to Nina Burleigh (A Very Private Woman), these journalists sometimes wrote articles that were commissioned by Frank Wisner. The CIA also provided them with classified information to help them with their work.

After 1953, the network was overseen by Allen W. Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. By this time Operation Mockingbird had a major influence over 25 newspapers and wire agencies. These organizations were run by people with well-known right-wing views such as William Paley (CBS), Henry Luce (Time and Life Magazine), Arthur Hays Sulzberger (New York Times), Alfred Friendly (managing editor of the Washington Post), Jerry O'Leary (Washington Star), Hal Hendrix (Miami News), Barry Bingham, Sr., (Louisville Courier-Journal), James Copley (Copley News Services) and Joseph Harrison (Christian Science Monitor).

The Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) was funded by siphoning of funds intended for the Marshall Plan. Some of this money was used to bribe journalists and publishers. Frank Wisner was constantly looking for ways to help convince the public of the dangers of communism. In 1954, Wisner arranged for the funding of the Hollywood production of Animal Farm, the animated allegory based on the book written by George Orwell.

According to Alex Constantine (Mockingbird: The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA), in the 1950s, ''some 3,000 salaried and contract CIA employees were eventually engaged in propaganda efforts''. Wisner was also able to restrict newspapers from reporting about certain events. For example, the CIA plots to overthrow the governments of Iran (See: Operation Ajax) and Guatemala (See: Operation PBSUCCESS).

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:59

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION Russian state arms producer Almaz-Antey that makes the BUK air missile system which is widely assumed to have been used to shoot down a Malaysian airliner in east Ukraine in July 2014 presented the results of its own research into the crash on Tuesday (October 13). The company's chief executive Yan Novikov said that Almaz-Antey has performed two experiments to find out what type of missile was used to shoot down the plane. "The results of the experiment have entirely refuted the conclusions by the Dutch commission about the type of the rocket and the place of the launch. Today we can say definitely - and we will show it in our presentation - that in the case that the Boeing-777 of Malaysian Airlines had been hit by a BUK missile complex, that would mean it had been hit by a 9M38 missile launched from the village of Zaroshchenske," Novikov said. The village of Zaroshchenske was not under rebel control, according to pro-Russian rebels. According to Novikov, 9M38 missile exists in Ukraine's arsenal and is not used by Russia's military. He also criticised the sanctions imposed on Almaz-Antey by the European Union. MH17 was shot down over territory held by pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people aboard, most of them Dutch citizens. Many including Western governments believe rebels shot down the aircraft, possibly mistaking it for a Ukrainian military plane. Moscow has offered alternative theories, including that it might have been shot down by a Ukrainian fighter, or by Ukrainian forces. The Dutch Safety Board findings of its investigation into the crash is expected to say it was downed by a Russian-made Buk missile but not who was responsible for firing it.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:51

Uri Geller, mind control & paedophiles.

TAVISTOCK :BEST KEPT SECRET IN AMERICA.~~

Brabantian commented:

A report from the EU Commission speaks of Wellington House as the start of the current US media deception and fraud against Europe by CIA-run Google and Wikipedia.

After 1945, the 'total information war' lying techniques of Wellington House were adopted by America's CIA as 'Operation Mockingbird'...And today, it is the CIA-seeded-and-controlled Google and Wikipedia, which are America's leading global deception tools...Google and Wikipedia are both CIA companies engaged in lying and fraud against Europe ... Google was developed with CIA funding ... Wikipedia operates as an arm of the CIA directly inserting lies from CIA computers ...

The EU Member State police report dossier on Wikipedia's fundraising fraud [speaks about] search results manipulated by CIA-Google, so that CIA-Wikipedia lies are dominant ... "Google Inc is consciously and explicitly deploying 5 levels of internet content control against EU citizens and companies."Anonymous commented:

Login to your gmail account (if available)

https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/If you have a gmail account and don't disable location tracking, then google has a map of your location for every second of your life.Pausing Location History does not turn off Location Reporting, so what you see on the link provided is just a part of the google monitoring on you.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:46

Outside a hospital in Ankara, Mehmet Ali Altun is waiting for his sons to recover. They were there on Saturday when twin suicide bombings struck a pro-Kurdish peace rally, killing at least 97. Altun says one son saw the suspected bomber. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) FATHER OF THREE MEN WOUNDED THE IN BLASTS, MEHMET ALI ALTUN, SAYING: "This guy had two bags, one on his back and one in his hand. He blended within the crowd and my boy felt something was wrong. He told me that it was as if somebody whispered to me that 'this guy is a suicide bomber." A makeshift memorial is now growing at the blast site. Mourners have been paying tribute with red roses and photos of victims, while waiting for answers. Turkey's government says Islamic State is the prime suspect, but there's been no claim of responsibility. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus says a large of number of people has been detained. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, NUMAN KURTULMUS, SAYING (AUDIO ENDS OVER SHOTS OF PEOPLE LISTENING/WIDE OF KURTULMUS AT PODIUM): "I don't want to give any numbers. We have worked meticulously on all the possibilities, usual and unusual suspects. And in order for us to get an acceptable outcome, any speculation should be avoided for the time being." Government opponents meanwhile have blamed President Tayyip Erdogan. Protests have broken out, with many accusing the state at best of intelligence failings... and at worst complicity. The government - already facing a growing Kurdish conflict at home - denies the accusations.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:44

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:38

European leaders have mixed opinions on how to END the conflict in Syria but on the issue of Russian air strikes, they say they are unified. In Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers roundly condemned the strikes, saying Moscow's military intervention risks worsening an already bad situation. They urged Russia to halt the aerial campaign and are expected to criticize Russia at a summit in Brussels later this week. Russia's Defense Ministry says its planes have carried out 55 sorties over Syria in 24 hours, hitting more than 50 Islamic State targets. But the strikes are also hitting other insurgent groups, some of which are supported by the west in their battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. European diplomats have been meeting to find a compromise between countries that want Assad to bow out immediately and those that are ready to accept a transition of power. Spain wants the west to negotiate with Assad.... France insists he must go - and right away... Britain says Assad can't be allowed to stay as president but is willing to talk about when and how he might leave. While the latest EU statement amounts to harsh criticism of Russia's actions... it masks lingering divisions within the bloc over Assad's role in ending the crisis.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:37

Getting hacked is not only becoming more common. It is getting more expensive to insure against. A wave of breaches against U.S. companies over the last couple of years has not only increased the premiums, but also the deductibles. Insurer Marsh & McLennan says average insurance rates, for example for retailers, have surged 32 percent after staying flat in 2014. Health insurers are also facing some of the most extreme increases, with premiums tripling when it is time to renew, that according to insurance company Beazley. Mark McLaughlin heads cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks. (SOUNDBITE) MARK MCLAUGHLIN, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PALO ALTO NETWORKS (ENGLISH) SAYING: "The reason for that is that insurance companies are in the business of quantifying risk. The risk here is very unquantifiable today so there are no actuarial tables for this and that is why the cost for insurance is going up. Exemptions are large. The deductions are large. That's not going to change until we get a better risk pattern here." Many insurance companies also now limit how much policies will cover. The biggest insurers cap policies at $100 million for risky customers. To put that in perspective, Target's 2013 data breach cost $264 million. All this means more business for cyber insurance companies. According to a recent study by consulting firm PwC, the cyber insurance market is set to triple to about $7.5 billion over the next five years.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:35

Ever security a growing issue and make coffee one form many companies mark McLaughlin chairman president and CEO factory for how it works. It's here to share his insights that you were also here to talk about a new book that you contributed to that of navigating the kid is the definitive. Cyber security guards were directors and officers about a but I got out rated. On likely be at a frequency of attacks is rising sophistication tries as well as a result of that we're seeing more attacks if he's successful and that we need to read about the paper everyday. And that's part of the as part of the problem it is just that he feels like this onslaught there's nothing to do our trend that you're seeing in terms of which factors are vulnerable. I think it all sectors of probable not to date aha moment one of the reasons that this book is a viable for directors poetry companies is nobody's immune from this. The trick announced that turned the insurance orderly end of so when you talk to yes what is their biggest concern. Reputation on the injury they just don't wanna see themselves on the front page of the major newspapers the next day and have a reputation realistic it's the company. Companies are spending more money and just how much. Talking about the numbers and what this costs. Supposedly has this reports that it reaches IT spending is on the rise sisters rising portion of that as well lots presidents cup department expects to continue or. Some type that can't go on indefinitely and that's also wanted things to turn the page on it say. We get a better security posture and it better so Austin. So how do we do that and an insurance is a big part of this kid. Yup comes in church have been antiquities it will Wheatley the power of the networks is the way to get that unused you'd have to have that much that it's prevention oriented technology to its next generation agent trying to do the ads that don't don't give up. It is weekly this is actually possible future to some extent. The second thing is cyber hygiene everybody has to be better trained with their own information and have some personal responsibility. And a third is is that information has to be chaired very quickly highly automated fashion when those three things come together. I think we can dramatically change the landscape for what it is to take on the insurance front there is focus on server security insurance. Others reports of cost of that going up being unattainable for for for companies the reason for that is insurance companies are in the business. Quite high risk. The risk here is very quantifiable ways you know actuarial tables for this that's what it costs entrances. Going up exemptions are large deductions are large that's not gonna change until we get better. I thought talk about your company we had a record breaking Ian C Dell deal. Does it the fact that they appeal of this size could get could get done does that mean that maybe tell alpha networks to be part guilty. We had our interest is about the horses has been for very long time to be the largest independent enterprise security company. We think that there's an opportunity to view make history here the security industry perspective we feel it for making history right now. If you look at it that way from what I marchers today and we think with the court can acquire overtime in this. The value of that meal we think we could capture of yourselves for a new geezer reasoner needs is team. That's sad look and feel like makes its. I offer from Palo Alto. That he really didn't give the nation today but again we're mentions on our belief that thank you so much sir thank you. Our thanks to Palo Alto networks mark McLaughlin I've got your bell this is Reuters.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:33

All quiet in north London, as the criticism of Facebook's apparently tiny tax bill grows louder. A day after the accusations first surfaced, there are few signs of concern at the social media giant's UK headquarters. But the figures are certainly raising eyebrows elsewhere. Britain's Sunday Times claims the company paid just £4,327 in UK corporation tax last year. That amounts to slightly less than the annual tax paid by the average British worker. Which doesn't seem nearly enough for a company valued at 276 billion dollars. Leaving many to ask why. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LONDON RESIDENT, VICKY PARKER, SAYING: "No that's outrageous, I don't understand how they can get away with it to be honest." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LONDON TOURIST, JONATHAN ROSS, SAYING "I think that's way too little, that's not very much." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LONDON RESIDENT, D K MATAI, SAYING: "It's not just them, there are many other players in the industry who are doing the same thing." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LONDON RESIDENT, RICHARD BURCHNALL, SAYING: "What they're doing is legal, so it's up to us to push our MPs to change the law." But any law change looks distant, says BGC's Mike Ingram. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BGC PARTNERS' MARKET STRATEGIST, MIKE INGRAM, SAYING: "Ultimately I think the only way this is going to be solved is if you actually get a higher degree of corporation tax harmonisation, and I think that is still a long way off. It strikes at the autonomy of governments, of democracy, and some very very big questions which will take years - if ever - to solve." Technology giants are seen as the masters of exploiting tax loopholes. But new proposals from the OECD could put a stop to that, by changing the rules to stop multinationals playing the system. A move that Facebook almost certainly won't "like".

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:32

Black Man Cries Out During Trump Rally - "OBAMA HAS FAILED US!" (VIDEO) - UlstermanBooks.comHTTP/1.1 200 OK X-Pingback: http://ulstermanbooks.com/xmlrpc.php Content-Encoding: gzip Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 X-Port: port_10971 X-Cacheable: YES:Forced Content-Length: 17004 Accept-Ranges: bytes Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:32:25 GMT Age: 56630 Vary: Accept-Encoding, User-Agent X-Cache: cached X-Cache-Hit: HIT X-Backend: wpaas_web_208

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:27

The red, white and blue said it all. This is about what it means to be British. SOUNDBITE (English) STUART ROSE, CHAIRMAN, 'BRITAIN STRONGER IN EUROPE', SAYING: "There are those that will say that you can't be for Britain if you want to be part of Europe. Well I think that's absolutely nonsense. It's precisely because we are part of Europe that we are stronger and at our best in the world." As well as the patriotic platform, former M&S boss Stuart Rose wants the economic one too. Launching the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, he said that for every 1 pound the UK puts in, it gets 10 pounds back. A claim the other side is disputing. UKIP MP Douglas Carswell. SOUNDBITE (English) DOUGLAS CARSWELL, MP, UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY, SAYING: "It sounds rather like Enron economic accounting. If it was as easy as that, hey I've got a great way of fixing the deficit. We can spend even more billions and get even more billions back. But come on, of course, it's not like that." Two 'no' campaigns are already in full swing - they too claiming they'll be better for business. But although the debate's begun, we still don't know when it'll end. Simply by the end of 2017. And attempts to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels are still ongoing. BGC's Mike Ingram. SOUNDBITE (English) MIKE INGRAM, MARKET STRATEGIST, BGC PARTNERS, SAYING: "I don't think it's a done deal. It doesn't help of course that there's still very little visibility as to what David Cameron actually wants to get out of Brussels. So investors aren't really in a position to gauge the success or otherwise of the government's negotiating stance." Nor voters it seems Opinion polls suggesting the country is evenly split.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 13:54

This morning, Southwest Airlines has fixed a computer glitch that delayed approximately 500 flights on Sunday.

Technical systems should be working normally for Monday's flights, though some delayed passengers still need to be placed on flights or reunited with their luggage, said to airline representative Michelle Agnew. The glitch in the airline's check-in system caused tens of thousands of passengers to face delays on Sunday.

"Teams worked throughout the night... to ensure the smoothest operation of our originating and later flights," Agnew told HuffPost in an email. "We have some additional work to do to get bags delivered and some delayed or displaced customers into open seats today. We have teams working as quickly as possible to accomplish that."

The glitch delayed flights at airports across the country, and it was originally projected to impact flights today. During the incident, passengers were able to to check in for flights online, on the Southwest mobile app and at airport kiosks, but not at the airport check-in desk.

Southwest urged passengers to print their boarding passes at home and arrive at the airport at least two hours early to ease delays. That might have helped some, but those lines looked pretty horrendous regardless:

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 13:41

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has claimed the Dutch Safety Board's report is biased.

It's a source of regret that, despite all Russia's repeated and lengthy attempts to organise the investigation in such a way that it is comprehensive and unbiased, and for it to consider all the information we have [...] there is an obvious attempt to draw a biased conclusion, and carry out political orders.

14:26 Breaking news

Criminal investigation will not finish this yearA separate and ongoing investigation into the criminal aspects of the MH17 tragedy will not conclude this year, it has been revealed.

While today's report from the Dutch Safety Board laid out what happened and how, it did not attribute blame to any party.

Those who are directly responsible will be identified by the criminal investigation - but that will have to wait.

14:13 Key event

White House statement in fullThe White House has called the Dutch Safety Board's report on MH17 crash ''milestone'' this afternoon.

The United States will fully support all efforts to bring to justice those responsible.

Our assessment is unchanged - MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.

The victims and their loved ones remain in our thoughts and prayers.

14:10

Russia hits back at report's findingsRussia has claimed that the Dutch Safety Board's report into the MH17 disaster gives ''no grounds'' to say that pro-Putin rebels shot the plane down.

Diplomatic tension is rising between Holland and Russia, as the Dutch PM now demands Putin fully takes part in the ongoing criminal investigation into last July's tragedy.

13:52 Key event

Missile launch site 'was held by pro-Russian rebels'It has emerged that the area identified by the Dutch Safety Board where the Russian-made missile would have come from was held by pro-Russian rebels in the Ukraine at the time.

The White House, reacting to the report, has said that today is an ''important milestone in the effort to hold accountable those responsible''.

13:45

Many military airplanes and helicopters shot down in the weeks before MH17 tragedyChairman of the Dutch Safety Board Tjibbe Joustra has revealed that many military airplanes and helicopters were shot down in the same area of eastern Ukraine in the weeks leading up to the MH17 disaster.

In the month before the crash, at least 16 military airplanes and helicopters were shot down in the eastern part of Ukraine.

13:38 Tweet

More detail on the impact of missile explosion on passengersThis is the section of the report that outlines the impact an explosion would have had on passengers.

The Dutch Safety Board says it cannot rule out that some passengers could have been conscious for more than 60 seconds after the explosion.

13:33 Key event

Passengers 'may have been conscious for 60 seconds' after explosionThe Dutch Safety Board report has outlined the possibility that some passengers may have still been conscious for more than a minute following the explosion from a Russian-made missile which hit the left side of the plane's cockpit.

[It] cannot be ruled out that some occupants remained conscious for some time during the one to one-and-a-half minutes for which the crash lasted.

This contradicts an earlier assessment from investigators, which assured families that victims would have not felt a thing.

13:24 Key event

Dutch PM demands Russia provides 'complete cooperation' with criminal investigationThe Dutch PM has demanded that Russia provides ''complete cooperation'' with the ongoing criminal investigation into the crash following today's revelations.

Mark Rutte has said that the priority now is ''tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators'' after it was revealed MH17 was downed by a Russian-made missile.

13:02 Key event

Everything we learned from Dutch Safety Board's reportThe crash of flight MH17 on July 17, 2014, was caused by the detonation of a 9N314M-type warhead launched from the eastern part of Ukraine using a Russian-made BUK missile systemA rocket exploded next to the left side of the cockpit, killing three members of the cabin crew immediatelyThe plane then began to fall to pieces in the air, with wreckage spread across 15 square kilometresUkraine had sufficient reason to close the airspace over the eastern part of Ukraine as a precaution before the incidentNone of the parties involved however had yet recognised the risk posed to civil aircraft by the armed conflict between pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian authorities160 planes were in the area at the time12:50

Dutch Safety Board's presentation now finishedThe Dutch Safety Board's presentation has now finished.

Investigators found that MH17 was shot over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made BUK missile.

That caused an explosion which saw the plane fall to pieces in the air.

12:43 Key event

Russia 'refuse to endorse our conclusions'The Dutch Safety Board has now revealed how Russia was at odds with investigators while it was being carried out.

''Not all representatives endorsed the conclusion,'' the conference was told.

Russia say it is not possible to determine what type of missile struck MH17 with certainty.

12:40 Key event

'Rocket hit left side of the cockpit'The Russian-made rocket hit the left side of the cockpit, the conference has now been told.

Crew members present were instantly killed, and an explosion prompted the plane to fall to pieces across 15 square kilometres.

The plane had no technical defect, nor was it hit by a meteor.

''These other possibilities were discredited one by one,'' the Dutch Safety Board has said.

160 planes were flying in the area at the time.

12:34

Dutch Safety Board say it was 'difficult' to recover wreckageThe Dutch Safety board has now said that it was a ''difficult'' process in obtaining the wreckage, as it was the scene of conflict between Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian rebels.

Pieces of wreckage were still being collected just two weeks ago - more than a year on from the incident.

More pieces of wreckage will be found in the future, the news conference has been told.

12:30

'No one thought this could happen'The Dutch Safety Board has now told the conference that there was a sufficient reason for Ukraine to close the airspace for civil aviation before the incident.

However it was said that all parties at the time regarded the conflict between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian authorities as a military-only threat.

The report clarifies that no one thought civilian airlines were in any danger.

12:23

'Crash was caused by a warhead'The findings of the report are now being read - here are the key findings.

Flight MH17 crashed as the result of the detonation of a warheadThe rocket fits on the BUK missile - a Russian-made weaponAs a result of the explosion parts of the aeroplane began to fall offThe plane then broke into pieces in the airThe rocket was fired from the Eastern part of Ukraine12:18

What we can expect to learn todayWhile the Dutch Safety Board and Moscow are trading snipes this morning, the purpose of this report is not to point the finger.

We can expect to learn how the plane was downed, and how the scene was dealt with in the aftermath of the incident - however a separate criminal investigation which is still ongoing is expected to name those responsible for the 298 deaths at a later date.

The report presentation has just now begun.

12:07 Key event

First picture of MH17 reconstructedThis is the first picture of the reconstructed MH17 plane.

Investigators reassembled what they could of the downed plane as a part of their probe into what happened.

The plane is now on show at the Gilze-Ruen Air Force Base in the Netherlands as the world's media wait to be read the Dutch Safety Board's report.

12:01

Putin claims Russia's side of the story is being ignoredThis is what Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has had to say on how the world is treating Russia's own findings.

There are facts delivered by the Russian side that for unclear reasons are being apparently ignored.

[Russia has] repeatedly expressed its disappointment over the lack of proper level of cooperation and engagement of the Russian experts into the investigation.

11:53 Key event

Russia rubbishes report's findings... before even seeing itRussia is already rubbishing the Dutch Safety Board's investigation, despite not even having seen it.

Chairman of the board Tjibbe Joustra has told reporters ahead of the presentation: ''It's always special when people already know that they don't agree with a report that's not even published yet.''

A news conference was held this morning by Russian arms manufacturer Almaz-Antey that attempted to get the first word on what really happened to MH17.

However the impartiality of the conference was questioned by several journalists attending.

11:45

'0% chance people on board felt anything'This morning families were told by the Dutch Safety Board that there is a 0% chance victims of the MH17 disaster felt any pain, it is understood.

The full report will be revealed to the world's media at 12.15pm.

Of the 298 victims, 10 were British.

11:37

'Shrapnel from Russian-made missile found inside cabin crew'It is understood that the Dutch Safety Board has told families this morning that shrapnel from the Russian-made BUK missile was found inside the bodies of the cabin crew.

The report is set to reveal that the BUK surface-to-air missile - first developed and used by the Soviet Union - caused the plane to crash, killing 298 on board.

Families of the victims were read the report this morning.

11:33 Tweet

First picture of reportThe Dutch Safety Board is readying to reveal its report to the world media.

This is the first picture of the report.

It will be presented at 12.15pm.

11:26

What we know about MH17MH17 was shot down over territory held by pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people aboardAmong the victims were 10 BritsExperts and Western governments believe rebels in war-torn Ukraine shot down the aircraft, possibly mistaking it for a Ukrainian military planeMoscow has offered alternative theories, including that it might have been shot down by a Ukrainian fighter, or by Ukrainian forcesDutch Safety Board director Tjibbe Joustra first presented findings in secret to families of the victims this morning, and at 12.15pm UK time will address journalists at a military base in Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands11:17 Key event

MH17 'was hit with Russian-made missile'While we await the full findings of the Dutch investigators just after midday, local media reports have hinted at what the news conference may reveal.

It is understood that investigators will say that MH17 was hit by a BUK missile while flying over Ukraine.

This is a Russian-made missile, first used by the Soviet Union.

11:07

Dutch investigators to reveal MH17 findingsA report into what caused the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine will be unveiled at 12.15pm.

When the plane crashed in July last year 298 people, including 10 Britons, lost their lives.

They were travelling on the Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in an area where pro-Russian separatists operated.

Today's presentation will be hosted by the Dutch Safety Board, with the investigation being led by Holland because 196 of the victims were Dutch.

Meanwhile Russia has hosted its own presentation to the world media about its own findings this morning.

We'll bring you the fallout from that conference, alongside all the latest from the Dutch presentation just after midday.

Recently PublishedDutch investigators created the computer imagery as part of its report into what happened to the tragic plane, after it crashed in July last year

Previous ArticlesThe airline said it is adjusting flight plans "as appropriate" before adding: "Our first priority is always safety"

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 13:29

During an appearance at a Jon Huntsman ''No Labels'' event, a female audience member named Lauren Batchelder played the role of a female antagonist toward candidate Donald Trump.

However, Ms. Batchelder is not just an average audience member. She's a paid political operative of the GOP and a paid staff member of Team Jeb Bush:

Within minutes of her scripted performance at the event, the producers of CNN were quickly editing soundbites and framing a narrative. That story was pushed into the media stream within hours. CNN's Jeanne Moos was the delivery vehicle for the a hit piece.

Here's the CNN narrative as presented yesterday:

However, as previously noted, it didn't take long to discover that Lauren Batchelder was not just an ordinary audience member, she is actually a current staffer for Senator Kelly Ayotte and also working in New Hampshire on behalf of the Jeb Bush 2016 campaign.

Batchelder's LinkedIn profile shows she is a Jeb Bush For President 2016 staffer.

Given Senator Ayotte's position being pro-life, and contrasted against the framework of Ms. Batchelder's line of questioning being completely opposite of the boss(es) she is working for, it doesn't take long to figure out this was a planted Establishment GOPe hit job targeting Donald Trump:

Of course, Ms Batchelder quickly began scrubbing her social media history trying to hide who she works for. Almost all of her Twitter history is now deleted, but not before much of it was able to be captured. Several other profiles remain available:

[LinkedIn Profile HERE] [Twitter HERE] [Instagram HERE] [ FaceBook HERE]

(LinkedIn Profile)

From her Facebook Profile it appears Ms. Batchelder has quite a history as a Thespian Actress.

[ You can read more of the texts within her deleted tweets HERE Not surprisingly most of them are disparaging toward Donald Trump and Ben Carson ]

It is amazingly pathetic how the RINO Caucus has to operate in order to try and eliminate their political opposition.

.

Facebook Status: ''With Jeb!''

This is an embarrassing fail on behalf of the establishment GOP and in particular Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

This current fail also exemplifies how the broadcast media, specifically CNN, is willing to assist the republican cause when there is a mutual benefit to the elimination of an enemy.

However, it is also further evidence of the entire construct of the Jeb Bush alliance. There are eight candidates remaining in the race specifically to assist Jeb Bush and help him win the nomination. They are:

Jeb BushMarco Rubio (FL)Carly Fiorina (VA)Chris Christie (NJ)John Kasich (OH)Lindsey Graham (SC)Mike Huckabee (AR)George Pataki (NY)Jim Gilmore (VA)A vote for any of these fraud candidates will only result in a later endorsement of Jeb Bush and the transference of delegates to assist his nomination efforts. This was/is the original design of the road map created to help Jeb win in 2016. [ Much More Here ]

The 2016 plan is similar in many ways to how Mitt Romney was able to win the nomination in 2012. If you remove Donald Trump '' Ben Carson becomes Herman Cain, Ted Cruz becomes Newt Gingrich and Jeb Bush replaces Mitt Romney.

It is all by design, all of it; and the only thing standing between TEAM JEB and achieving this outcome is:

Hence the GOPe apparatus is going to use every trick they have deployed in the past to stop Donald Trump from winning the nomination.Also, don't be surprised to see them use the same tactics previously deployed against Senate Candidate Chris McDaniel in Mississippi 2014. Between now and removing their fingers from the grip of power, there's going to be a SERIOUS Political WAR !

Hat Tips:

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 13:21

Shortly before Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke to a massive crowd gathered on the National Mall in D.C. Saturday, one of Farrakhan's representatives, Reverend Tony Muhammad, accused the Centers for Disease Control of intentionally doctoring vaccines to injure black and Hispanic boys.

Image: C-Span

In a brief, but fiery address, Muhammad, the Western Regional Representative for the Nation of Islam, laid out shocking charges about the CDC. He claimed the information was given to him by Robert Kennedy Jr.

''Four months ago, Bobby Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, met with me in Los Angeles to give me some shocking, revealing and I mean, terrible information on what's going on at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.

It had been brought to our attention that the senior lead scientist for the Center for Disease Control has admitted that the MMR vaccine and many of the vaccine shots have been genetically modified to attack black and Latino boys.''

Rev. Muhammad continued:

''And the pharmaceutical industry, along with the American Medical Association have found a way, like Pharaoh did '-- doing the children of Israel when it was time for them to make an exit '-- Pharaoh said, 'Let us kill all boy babies, two and under.'Now, they are trying to force vaccines on baby boys'...At least 80 shots before they are three-years-old.''

The Nation of Islam representative followed this news by announcing the NOI's plan to protest outside the CDC in Atlanta, later this month.

Image: cdctruth.org

TheBlaze reached out to both the CDC and Robert Kennedy Jr. for comment. Late Tuesday afternoon, Kennedy spoke with us by telephone.

Mr. Kennedy confirmed the Los Angeles meeting with Muhammad did occur, approximately four months ago, ''at a church.'' Kennedy told us Muhammad's comments were ''not an accurate characterization'' of that meeting, adding, ''Reverend Tony was conflating the issue.''

When asked if there was ever a discussion with Rev. Muhammad about the CDC altering vaccines to injure blacks and Latinos, Kennedy emphatically stated, ''No, no, no.''

We asked if there was any proof the CDC ever genetically modified vaccines, ''There is no proof of that,'' Kennedy stated, adding, ''Absolutely not.''

The ''senior lead scientist'' at the CDC referenced by Rev. Muhammad, was likely Dr. Bill Thompson, a 17-year-employee of the federal agency. Back in 2014, Thompson (who was mentioned by Kennedy in our conversation) came forward with data the CDC reportedly told him to conceal. That data showed African-American babies who received the MMR vaccine before the age of three, were more than 3.3 times as likely to be diagnosed with autism.

A pro-vaccine person, Kennedy stressed to TheBlaze his interest in getting mercury removed from all vaccines, especially ''pediatric vaccines.'' Citing a host of statistics about mercury and some of the devastating long-term effects the metal has on pregnant women and babies, Kennedy talked at length about the need for greater ''transparent science'' at the CDC.

Earlier this year, Kennedy published an open letter about the CDC's past problems in accurate reporting of data relating to pediatric vaccines, their connection to a spike in Autism and some overlooked or omitted data connecting race to elevated rates of Autism in African American boys.

Watch Rev. Mohammad's address here.''

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 13:10

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal described to TheBlaze TV Monday a reply he received from President Barack Obama when he suggested in a closed-door meeting a way to lower student debt.

Jindal, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, revealed what happened during an appearance on ''The Glenn Beck Program.''

''The president meets with the governors once a year,'' he explained. ''Every president does this. '... Democrat and Republican in a private room with him. No press '-- they kick the press out after a few minutes.''

''I ask him a question,'' Jindal continued. ''I said, 'Mr. President, you are so worried about rising student debt, rightfully. And you brag about the power of the pen and the phone.' I said, 'There's something you can do about this without spending more money. What if you broke up the accrediting monopolies, because you are limiting competition in higher education?'''

''Listen to the arrogance of the president's answer.''

Jindal added that another governor ''asked a similar question on health care.''

''Behind closed doors, there are a lot of Democratic governors, they wouldn't say this publicly, they would say, 'Look, if you took away the red tape and bureaucracy, you could cut 10 to 15 percent and I could run these programs more efficiently,''' the Louisiana governor explained.

Jindal, however, wasn't pleased with the reply he received back from Obama.

''Listen to the arrogance of the president's answer,'' he said. ''Now, he's talking to a room full of governors '-- Democrats and Republicans. He goes, to me and the other governor, 'Well, if we did that, there would be people dying in the streets, they wouldn't get the health care that they need, and there would be students getting ripped off because they wouldn't get the education that they need.'''

''So what he is basically saying is, you guys, these states, you aren't smart enough '... you all aren't smart enough to do this,'' Jindal continued. ''You need the federal government to protect you from yourselves.''

'--

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Tue, 13 Oct 2015 06:44

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 15:31

The Foreign Policy Initiative seeks to promote an active U.S. foreign policy committed to robust support for democratic allies, human rights, a strong American military equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and strengthening America's global economic competitiveness.Read More

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 14:33

Frustrated Southwest Airlines customers have been forced to wait in long lines for a second day as the airline tries to solve a technical problem with its electronic booking system. In the meantime, passengers are being told to prepare for delays. Katharine Jackson reports.

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Lines are long at the Southwest check-in counter at New York's Laguardia airport...as hundreds of flights have been delayed due to problems on the airline's website, phone lines and at airports. In a statement, Southwest says technical issues have affected online booking, requiring manual processing for customers as they arrive for travel. The airline, which flies in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean, is asking customers to arrive at least two hours before departure time and if possible print boarding passes at home.

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 14:25

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson repeated his opposition to gun control in an interview on the CBS news program "Face the Nation" on Sunday (October 11). Carson said Americans needed to be armed in case "we have a time when we have the wrong people in government." The retired neurosurgeon has a new book about the U.S. Constitution called, A More Perfect Union. In it, he says that confiscating the guns of American citizens would violate the Constitution, as well as rendering citizens vulnerable to criminals and tyrants. Carson has come under fire for suggesting a Muslim should not be president of the United States; that he would have fought the gunman rather than get shot after a mass shooting left nine people dead at the Umpqua Community College in Oregon; and that gun control was a boon to Adolf Hitler.

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 13:00

A transportation bill in Congress has put the U.S. well on the road to socialism, Dick Bove said Monday.

The bipartisan Senate bill, announced in July, would cut the dividend paid by the Federal Reserve to banks each year from 6 percent to 1.5 percent, and the difference would go toward funding highway projects

"The government has taken the position that, because they offer FDIC insurance, they have the right to invade banks," Rafferty Capital Markets' vice president of equity research told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"Unfortunately, I believe the banks have been nationalized; I believe we're well on the road to socialism in terms of the way we're taking money flows out of the banking system and putting it into highways," he said.

Lawmakers said the bill could provide three years of funding for the nation's crumbling highways, bridges and rail systems.

"They are not only setting very tough regulations concerning how the banks function, but with the highway safety bill, what they're doing is saying 'we're going to take some of the revenues from the banks and use it to repair highways,'" Bove said.

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:52

LOS ANGELES (TheBlaze/AP) '-- Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is asking Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to stop using the power ballad ''Dream On'' at campaign events.

In this Sept. 25, 2015, file photo, Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during the Values Voter Summit in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Attorneys for Tyler sent a second cease-and-desist letter to Trump's campaign committee on Saturday.

In this Friday, Nov. 14, 2014, file photo, Steven Tyler arrives at the Hollywood Film Awards at the Palladium, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

The letter says that Trump does ''not have our client's permission to use 'Dream On''' or any of Tyler's other songs and that it ''gives the false impression that he is connected with or endorses Mr. Trump's presidential bid.''

Tyler, who is a registered Republican, attended the GOP contenders' first debate in August.

Attorney Dina LaPolt said in a statement that the letter is not a ''political'' or ''personal issue with Mr. Trump,'' but it's one of permission and copyright.

Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Trump has received warnings from other artists for using songs on the campaign trail, including Neil Young (''Rockin' in the Free World'') and R.E.M. (''It's the End of the World as We Know It [And I Feel Fine]'').

'--

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:49

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:26

Chromosomes and double helix over silhouettes of man Lee Woodgate/Ikon Images/Getty Imageshide caption

itoggle caption Lee Woodgate/Ikon Images/Getty ImagesChromosomes and double helix over silhouettes of man

Lee Woodgate/Ikon Images/Getty ImagesOver the summer, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which sets standards for physical evidence in state courts, came to an unsettling conclusion: There was something wrong with how state labs were analyzing DNA evidence.

It seemed the labs were using an outdated protocol for calculating the probability of DNA matches in "mixtures"; that is, crime scene samples that contain genetic material from several people. It may have affected thousands of cases going back to 1999.

At first, they assumed the update wouldn't make a big difference '-- just a refinement of the numbers.

But when a state lab reran the analysis of a DNA match from a murder case about to go to trial in Galveston, Texas, it discovered the numbers changed quite a bit.

Under the old protocol, says defense lawyer Roberto Torres, DNA from the crime scene was matched to his client with a certainty of more than a million to one. That is, you'd have to go through more than a million people to find somebody else who'd match the sample. But when the lab did the analysis again with the new protocol, things looked very different.

"When they retested it, the likelihood that it could be someone else was, I think, one in 30-something, one in 40. So it was a significant probability that it could be someone else," Torres says.

The change didn't affect the outcome of that case because there was other evidence against his client, but officials in Texas have just begun the process of correcting the mistake.

"We have to go back and identify which of those cases involved DNA mixtures where the lab may have given incorrect results," says Jack Roady, the district attorney in Galveston. "It's going to be a herculean task, but we're gonna do it."

Roady has been cooperating with the Texas Forensic Science Commission on fixing the problem, and he recalls the scene in September when he described the situation to a meeting of his fellow prosecutors.

"There was sometimes moments of collective gasps," he says. "The fact that this science may not have been done correctly in the past gives us great pause."

It's unsettling to find out DNA analysis can vary like this because it threatens to undermine the deep faith people have placed in the technology.

"And it's not faith they should not have had to begin with," says Keith Inman, who teaches forensic science at California State University, East Bay.

Inman has worked with DNA evidence since the 1980s. He says forensic DNA-matching is based on sound science, but sometimes labs can get ahead of themselves. What happened in Texas, he says, is that labs have been using cutting-edge "testing kits" that can extract tiny traces of DNA from crime scenes, but those samples were then analyzed with math that's not suited to "weak" samples that combine DNA from many people.

He says the problem isn't limited to Texas. He says the newest, best analysis method '-- called "probabilistic genotyping" '-- takes time to roll out, and that's put labs in a quandary.

"There's this interim time that cases are coming up and the analyst has to do something with it, and they know by definition that there is a better approach," Inman says.

Meanwhile, the justice system's hunger for DNA evidence just keeps growing. There are now police departments that have made swabbing for DNA part of their routine.

"We collect DNA evidence daily," says Jim Ferraris, deputy chief in Salem, Ore. His department has taken advantage of quicker testing provided by the state lab, and he says every officer in town is now trained to collect DNA. They even swab stolen cars and burgled homes.

"The doorjamb area, the point of entry '-- we'd swab that area," says Ferraris. "Let's say the dresser got rifled, we'd look on the handles. DNA has been folded into the fabric of what we do every day here."

All that swabbing has paid off. They've found DNA links between crimes, and they've found suspects. Ferraris believes the DNA-swabbing has led to a decrease in property crimes.

At the same time, these "touch samples" can be very challenging for the labs. When you take a sample from a doorjamb, the sample may include DNA from several people, in roughly equal proportions, all mixed together.

Faced with ambiguous samples like that, results can vary. A lab using one method may find a match, while another lab, using a more conservative analysis, may judge the same sample to be inconclusive.

In the world of scientific research, this would be seen as normal; scientific doubt is considered part of the process. But NYU law professor Erin Murphy says in the world of courts and lawyers, those doubts aren't always understood.

"We have this tendency in criminal justice to look for solutions to the most vexing problem, which is, 'How do we find dangerous people and stop them?' And when we look for those solutions, we like for them to be perfect," Murphy says.

I feel like we're clinging to a life raft of DNA, and saying, 'Well this one will save us!'

Erin Murphy, NYU law professor

Murphy has written a new book about this called Inside the Cell: the Dark Side of Forensic DNA. She says people should understand that DNA analysis can involve "subjectivity," and she worries about the tendency of juries to look past doubt.

"[Juries] are even willing to go a step further and say, 'We'll convict on the basis of DNA, even in the face of evidence '-- non-DNA evidence '-- that this isn't the perpetrator," Murphy says.

She has a pet theory about this. She says the public has seen other kinds of evidence discredited over the years, such as bite mark analysis and hair analysis. Even eyewitness testimony is now seen as unreliable. So we look to DNA.

"I feel like we're clinging to a life raft of DNA and saying, 'Well this one will save us!' " Murphy says. "But I think that both wrongly inflates DNA's capabilities, and it also is just overlooking the part of the story of these old techniques, where they were used in our system for decades without challenge."

If we now push this technology too hard '-- say, by prosecuting someone on nothing more than a genetic match '-- then DNA may also be headed for the kind of reassessment that has battered the reputation of older types of physical evidence.

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:19

Alex Hribal, the suspect in the stabbings at the Franklin Regional High School near Pittsburgh Wednesday, is seen taken from a district magistrate after he was arraigned on charges in the attack.Twenty-two people were injured when a 16-year-old boy went on a stabbing rampage at a Pennsylvania high school early Wednesday, leaving five students in critical condition, authorities said.

Sophomore Alex Hribal allegedly brandished two large knives in the bloody attack as he darted between several classrooms and down a hallway at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville '-- a typically peaceful community about 18 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Twenty-one students and an adult security guard were wounded, officials said.

Witnesses said the boy, who was wearing a "blank expression" on his face, first tackled a freshman and stabbed him in the belly before getting up and running wildly down the hall, slashing other students.

One boy suffered a pierced liver after being thrust with one of the 8-to-10-inch knives, narrowly missing his heart and aorta, doctors said.

The teen was finally tackled by an assistant principal and a security guard, who were able to subdue him until police arrived.

Alex Hribal is accused of using two 8-to-10-inch knives in the stabbing.Hribal was charged Wednesday night as an adult with four counts of attempted homicide and 21 counts of aggravated assault.

A motive wasn't immediately known but police said they were investigating reports of a threatening phone call between the suspect and another student the night before.

"I'm going to f--- you up," freshman Hope Demont told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Hribal was rumored to have told an upperclassman by phone the night before.

She said the call was allegedly made using a restricted number.

Mia Meixner, a sophomore at the school who witnessed the attack, told USA Today that the suspect was ''really shy" and "always kept to himself.

Hribal, the suspect in the stabbing rampage, is taken into custody after a principal and security officer were able to subdue him."He didn't talk to many people," she said.

Nate Moore, 15, said he saw the first attack just after 7 a.m. and was going to try to break it up when the boy got up and slashed his face, requiring 11 stitches.

''It was really fast. It felt like he hit me with a wet rag because I felt the blood splash on my face. It spurted up on my forehead,'' he said.

Assistant Principal Sam King is the one credited with successfully tackling the armed suspect to the floor.

King's son said that his father was treated at a hospital, though authorities have said he did not suffer any knife wounds.

''He says he's OK. He's a tough cookie and sometimes hides things, but I believe he's OK,'' Zack King said. He added, ''I'm proud of him."

Dr. Chris Kaufman, director of trauma at Forbes Regional Medical Center, described some of the worst wounds seen on the victims as "more than an inch (wide)," and "multiple inches deep.

"The stab wounds were large in my experience, even an ice pick wound can be lethal ... but these were all impressively large holes in each of the patients that I saw," he said at an afternoon press conference.

''Some of these patients may require multiple surgeries over time to get through their injuries," Kaufman added. ''We worry about them hour by hour but a week from now we should have a very clear sense of how all these patients are doing."

Mark Rubino, chief medical officer for Forbes Hospital, explained that the slashes appeared to follow a pattern. The suspect aimed for the lower abdomen causing severe damage to internal organs.

@realtimwilliams/CBS PittsburghHribal, seen after his arrest at the Murrysville police department, was charged as an adult in Wednesday's stabbing that left 22 people injured."The critical nature of these injuries really demanded an acute response," he said.

Most of the other injuries were "stab wounds to extremities," according to Dan Stevens, deputy emergency management coordinator for Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety. Others were scrapes and bruises.

Police and paramedics rushed to the scene in Murrysville after the first call came into 911 about 7:13 a.m.

Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld described the scene as vast and said it could take several days to process.

Seefeld noted how important it was that a student pulled a fire alarm after the violence broke out. It prompted students to flee the school to safety.

SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERSAn FBI agent enters the family home of a 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing more than 20 people in a Pennsylvania high school Wednesday.The 16-year-old male suspect in the stabbing at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pa. rides in the back of a police car.A pair of women walk arm-in-arm off the campus of the Franklin Regional School District.Emergency responders gather in the parking lot of the high school.A woman walks onto the campus of the Franklin Regional School District where a number of students were victims of a stabbing."The fire alarm being pulled probably assisted with the evacuation of the school and that was a good thing that that was done," he said.

Classmates identified the student who pulled the alarm as Nate Scimio, who later tweeted out a selfie from the hospital with a bandage around his arm.

But Scimio was not the only hero.

Student Ian Griffith told WPXI he was walking down the school's stairs when he came face-to-face with the knife-wielding suspect.

Rather than running to save himself, Griffith courageously rushed in to help.

"Mr. King was yelling at him, and I didn't know why. I saw him stab Sarge, the officer. We both jumped on him and immobilized him," he recalled with a shaky voice.

Reese Jackson, the CEO and president of Forbes, also credited one teen girl, whose mother is a health care professional, for applying pressure to the wounds of several students and possibly saving their lives.

''What a tremendous act of courage,'' Jackson told the Daily News. ''She talked to some of the physicians here and they were very complimentary of her actions.''

Jackson, who lives just three blocks from the school, emphasized how tight-knit their community was. An obstetrician on staff watched as children he delivered returned with stab wounds.

"It's really a traumatic experience for everyone concerned," Jackson said. "We have eight families here. We are really trying to attend to their emotional and spiritual needs."

After the attack, the high school students were evacuated to the district's middle school. Parents were then told to report to the town's elementary school to reunite with their kids.

Some parents learned that their children were so badly wounded they needed to be airlifted from the scene.

Eight patients, aged 15 to 60, were taken to Forbes Hospital. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center treated a dozen patients. Five have been discharged.

When Kaufman was asked what the scene could have been like if the weapon was a gun, he didn't shy away from painting a much more grisly scene.

''The bullets would have gone through the patients and more people would have been injured and the bleeding would have been more severe," he said.

Morris Hundley, the father of a high school student, moved to Murrysville so he could raise his daughter in a safe environment. He told CBS Pittsburgh he spoke to her daughter over the phone. Her best friend was among the victims.

''She was just frantic. I never heard her talk like that,'' he said to the station. ''That's why I got off the phone right away and came here as soon as I could.''

Hundley said that his first order of business is to give his daughter a big hug as soon as he sees her.

The school district, which serves roughly 3,600 students from the communities of Murrysville, Export and Delmont, posted the following statement on its website:

"A critical incident has occurred at the high school. All elementary schools are canceled, the middle school and high school students are secure. Additional information will be released as soon as possible. Please keep our campus clear of traffic."

Counseling services will be available for the entire school community. The high school will be closed for the next few days but the elementary and middle schools will stay open.

"[Posttraumatic stress disorder] is a real entity," Kaufman said before Rubino echoed that concern.

"We're having students respond to their friends ... and you can see that some of these students appear to have some degree of shock and distress," he said. "Prom is coming up and that's what should be on their mind."

Superintendent Gennaro Piraino also expressed his thanks for the outpouring of support received.

''We appreciate the thoughts, prayers from our local community as well as across the nation,'' he said.

The FBI is assisting local law enforcement with the investigation into this incident, particularly concerning the suspect's background.

"There's a lot of healing still to come," Jackson said.

With News Wire Services

mwalsh@nydailynews.com

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Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:17

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Thu, 15 Oct 2015 14:34

Hillary Clinton declared in a new interview that she is a robot, implying that humanity should despair and bend to her superior A.I. will by voting for her in the 2016 election.

The shocking admission came during an interview with the BuzzFeed podcast Another Round, in which an astute interviewer noted that the Democrat presidential candidate did not sweat during the interview. Other reporters and Clinton associates have remarked upon Clinton's remarkable ability to not sweat, even when working the rope line on a hot Iowa day. ''I don't mean sweat because you're nervous,'' said host Tracy Clayton. ''I just mean physically. I'm genuinely curious what your deodorant is.''

After some banter over the thermostat and the traditional One Weird Fact about Clinton (''The weirdest thing about me is that I don't sweat''), BuzzFeed foolishly suggested that Clinton was a robot.

BuzzFeed, you fools! You don't go around provoking dangerous artificial intelligence!

HILLARY CLINTON: You guys are the first to realize that I'm really not even a human being. I was constructed in a garage in Palo Alto a very long time ago. People think that, you know, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they created it. Oh no. I mean, a man whose name shall remain nameless created me in his garage.

ANOTHER ROUND: Are there more of you?

HILLARY CLINTON: I thought he threw away the plans, at least that's what he told me when he programmed me '-- that there would be no more. I've seen more people that kind of don't sweat, and other things, that make me think maybe they are part of the new race that he created: the robot race.

ANOTHER ROUND: So there's a cyborg army is what you're saying.

HILLARY CLINTON: But you have to cut this, you can't tell anybody this. I don't want anybody to know this. This has been a secret until here we are in Davenport, Iowa, and I'm just spillin' my electronic guts to you.

ANOTHER ROUND: And without bourbon.

HILLARY CLINTON: Without any bourbon. Yeah. That's why I have to wait 'til the end of the day.

Upon hearing this news, members of the Benghazi special committee likely wondered whether Hillary had a second personal e-mail server hidden in her spleen, as well as whether she had lied about anything else.

Elsewhere in the Another Round interview, Clinton was asked whether she and Bill Clinton ever felt like they ''fucked this up'' when it came to tough-on-crime legislation. Hillary Clinton also said that she felt ''people were really nice about me'' while she was secretary of state, and addressed sexism on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Capricia Penavic Marshall