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tomorrowusa · 1 year ago

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MAGA extremists often rant about the so-called "deep state" which apparently means national defense, security, public safety, and regulatory bodies. The wannabe dictators prefer not to have checks and balances which can prevent them from going full-blown fascist. It's easier to get away with shit when you don't have to worry about accountability.

It's useful to see how such an attitude has already played out in another country.

Israel has been weakened by its own rightwingers who have eroded its security agencies with politics. Prime Minister Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the Israeli version of the so-called "Smart Trump" who many Republicans dream about. His rightwing governments have been running Israel for most of this century.

Bibi himself is still technically on trial on corruption charges. This year he and his coalition partners have attempted to strip the Israeli Supreme Court of many of its powers. And those partners, even more extremist than he is, had been dismissing security warnings from defense and intelligence agencies; of course those warnings abruptly turned out to be credible.

What’s happening in Israel now is a disturbing example of what can happen when elected officials use partisan and personal motivations to warp national security. For years, Republicans in Congress have attempted to sabotage what they call the “Deep State.” This includes placing holds on political nominees and castigating diplomats, officers and analysts employed in the government as captives to “Big Woke.” They might see it as political theater, necessary to boosting profiles and fundraising. But as this week shows, there can be a price. Reporting suggests that the hardline elements of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition were openly hostile to warnings from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and security agency Shin Bet that settler violence would increase the security threat to Israel. One Likud member of parliament complained: “The ideology of the left has reached the top echelons of the Shin Bet. The deep state has infiltrated the leadership of the Shin Bet and the IDF.” Another Netanyahu coalition member stated, “We see there is confusion as to who is an enemy.”

Attacking Israel's armed forces (the IDF) and its version of the FBI (Shin Bet) for political reasons has not done a lot for public safety there. It's like being mean to your watch dog for barking a warning.

Hamas’ surprise attack has highlighted further national security dysfunction within the Netanyahu government. There are confirmed reports that Egyptian intelligence directly warned Netanyahu that “something fierce will happen from Gaza.” Allegedly, Netanyahu was indifferent to the warning, explaining that the IDF was “swamped” with terrorism threats in the West Bank. Israeli critics have stated that his coalition repeatedly ignored earlier warnings from Arab allies regarding rising levels of Palestinian frustration. Haaretz editorialized this week that, “a prime minister indicted in three corruption cases cannot look after state affairs, as national interests will necessarily be subordinate to extricating him from a possible conviction and jail time.”

Netanyahu's ignoring of the warnings about a potential Hamas attack reminds me of the infamous 06 August 2001 intelligence brief George W. Bush ignored with the title Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.

Here’s my question: Is Israel a harbinger for the United States? Are we getting a sneak preview of what will happen if Republicans succeed in their effort to exercise more control over the national security bureaucracy?

I think we all know the answer to that. Americans should worry.

The problem comes when elected officials and political appointees decide that in order to achieve their desired ends, they need to reduce entire national security institutions to rubble. And let’s be very clear: In 2023, all of the U.S. partisans engaging in such behavior are Republicans. Former president and likely future presidential nominee Donald Trump has set the tone here. The number of instances that the former president sabotaged U.S. national security while in office and afterwards is too long to recount in detail. There’s the blabbing of secrets to Russian officials in the Oval Office, the tweeting of classified photos, the refusal to return national security secrets once he left office, and the fact that he shared extremely sensitive information about the capabilities of U.S. nuclear submarines to Mar-a-Lago members, who in turn blabbed it to everyone. His behavior was so egregious that multiple former cabinet members — most recently John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff — have gone on the record to discuss the danger he poses. Back in June his attorney general, William Barr, warned on Face the Nation, “He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests.”

It's not just Trump but also his sycophants and the wannabe Trumps.

Trump is the loudest but hardly the only Republican willing to sabotage the U.S. national security architecture. Other GOP presidential contenders have expressed an equally strident desire. Vivek Ramaswamy promised to “use executive authority to shut down the deep state.” His plans included firing 75 percent of the federal workforce and dismantling the FBI and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been even more violent in his rhetoric, promising one New Hampshire crowd that “all these deep state people … we’re going to start slitting throats on day one.”

Elon Musk fired 75% (or more) of Twitter staff the way that Vivek Ramaswamy wants to fire 75% of the federal government. We know how that's going.

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is currently using arcane Senate rules to damage the US armed forces.

The most obvious manifestation of this is Sen. Tommy Tuberville holding more than three hundred military promotions hostage unless the Pentagon stops funding travel for service women to receive abortions. This includes two selections for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Middle East theater commanders for naval and ground forces. [ ... ] Marco Rubio has placed holds on multiple Biden nominees, as has Ted Cruz. The result is that, at present, the United States does not have confirmed ambassadors in Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and Kuwait. There has been no confirmed USAID official for the Middle East for close to three years, nor has there been a confirmed State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism for nearly two years.

Raise your hand if you think it's kinda important to have a State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism. 🙋🏽

Republicans would like to do to US national security what the far right Netanyahu government has done to Israel's.

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yhwhrulz · 4 days ago

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Worthy Brief - February 6, 2025

Proclaim the truth!

Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight. (ESV)

We’re living in some pretty wild times, aren’t we? Over the past few weeks, we’ve watched a political earthquake shake America, sending ripple effects all over the world. Some people see it as a positive change, others think it’s for the worse -- but one thing is clear: we are in a season of shifting. And the big question is, will we take this opportunity to boldly stand for truth while the doors are open?

Just yesterday, an eye-opening report came out about the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Turns out, government funds were being funneled to support left-leaning news outlets, including Politico. Well, those funds just got cut, and—coincidence or not—Politico suddenly announced they couldn’t pay their employees this week due to an “accounting glitch.” Some are wondering if there’s a connection.

Now, these major media outlets are scrambling to stay afloat because they weren’t operating on free-market principles—they were being propped up by the very government they were supposed to hold accountable! Instead of reporting the facts, they became mouthpieces for a narrative.

News should be about truth—giving people facts, not propaganda. And for those of us in the body of Christ, we need to be informed so we can pray effectively and stand for righteousness in our culture.

If you’ve followed Worthy News for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed a big shift in how we report the news. When we started, we functioned a lot like the Drudge Report, linking to other media sources. But as time went on, we could no longer in good conscience continue pointing people to the same outlets that were spinning stories instead of reporting the truth. So we faced a choice: Do we shut down Worthy News? Or do we take a leap of faith, hire our own journalists, and trust God to provide.

We chose faith! Unlike mainstream outlets, we don’t run on ads, government funding, or corporate sponsors. We run on one simple principle: "If it’s God’s will, then it’s God’s bill!"

And let me tell you—our bills skyrocketed when we made this shift. But God has remained faithful!

We don’t send out appeal letters or fundraise aggressively. Honestly, between traveling, speaking, homeschooling, writing, running our online ministry, and managing our work in Israel, we sometimes even forget to thank our supporters (and I need to get better at that!). But at the end of the day, this is God’s business -- He called us to be watchmen on the wall, and our job is simply to obey.

Even though Google and Facebook actively suppress our content, our readership has exploded over the past few years. Every week, over a million pages are being read across our network of sites!

Want proof of the censorship? Do a Google search for "Christian news" and try to find us—we’re buried somewhere in the 90s (before COVID, we were consistently in the top 10). But do that same search on Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo, and you’ll find us in the top 20.

You see, truth always finds a way to break through. As the old saying goes: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

So what’s the takeaway here? Keep proclaiming the truth! Don’t let the world intimidate you. The enemy wants to silence God’s people, but we are called to declare that Yeshua (Jesus) is coming soon!

Yes, the world will try to suppress, censor, and silence us -- but when we’re doing God’s work, truth has a way of coming out. And when it does? It kicks the lies right out the door!

So stand strong, keep speaking the truth boldly, walk in His will, and trust that God will take care of the rest!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka, Elianna and Obadiah (Nevada)

Editor's Note: Latest Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?lt;strong%3E;%3C;/strong&v=7T9jTATwMUE&feature=youtu.be&themeRefresh=1

Editor's Note: Feel free to share any of our content from Worthy, including Devotions, News articles, and more, on your social platforms. You have full permission to copy and repost anything we produce.

Editor's Note: During this war, we have been live blogging throughout the day -- sometimes minute by minute on our Telegram channel. https://t.me/worthywatch/ Be sure to check it out!

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yetisidelblog · 1 month ago

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With you by my side, we have pushed back against the military industrial complex, opposing each and every Pentagon budget and introducing the Stop Politicians Profiting from War Act to ban members of Congress from investing in weapons contractors.

We have fought for the right to utilities, including water as a human right, establishing a $1.1 billion Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program to save lives and keep people’s water flowing. And, more recently, I introduced the H2O UP Act (Half-Century Update for Water Access and Affordability Act) to establish the first-ever permanent federal low-income water affordability program.

I founded and co-chair the Congressional Mamas’ Caucus to focus on policies like access to affordable childcare, paid family leave, Black maternal health, and reproductive justice.

As a member of the House Oversight Committee, I held Postmaster General Louis DeJoy accountable, telling him, "I've never seen this many complaints about our Postal Service until you were in charge." I went on to ask DeJoy, "[American Postal Workers Union Convention] passed a resolution calling for your resignation. Did you know that?"

From demanding an end to U.S. arms sales to Israel to end the genocide against the Palestinian people to holding the powerful to account, we will never stop working toward a future where our communities have what they need, not just to survive, but to thrive.

Tomorrow at midnight is our final fundraising deadline of the year. Will you donate $5 to power our work ahead?

Every piece of legislation I write and introduce is done in partnership with members of my district to ensure everyday people have the resources they need. Your support today will allow us to hold more town hall meetings and more roundtables with impacted communities, from immigrants who will be under increased attack under the incoming Trump administration to those economically impacted by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” which seeks to cut Medicaid, Social Security, nutrition, housing, and more to pay for more tax cuts for the rich and corporations.

Please, make an end-of-year donation today to power our work ahead in 2025.

Ends midnight 12/31!

@upontheshelfreviews

@greenwingspino

@one-time-i-dreamt

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#rashida tlaib #actually important #donate if you can #time sensitive #new years 2025

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former-leftist-jew · 5 months ago

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He left out where Israel only "invaded" Lebanon in 1982 after Palestinian insurgents helped violently overthrow the Lebanese government, hijacked the country, and used it to launch relentless attacks against Israel.

Same thing earlier in 1978: "Israel 'invaded' southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978 in response to the Coastal Road massacre near Tel Aviv by Palestinian insurgents militants based in Lebanon."

Same in 2006: Hezbollah

Same in 2024: Hezbollah fired rockets continually at Israel since Oct 8th, forced tens of thousands of Israeli citizens to flee, killed 12 Druze children playing soccer, caused massive wildfires in northern Israel, and planned a second Oct 7th in the Galilee... And yet play the victim when Israel finally hits back.

youtube

Very predictable pattern, wouldn't you say? Islam supremacists attack Israel from inside Lebanon, Israel "invades" to stop being

"LeBaNoN wOuLdN't eXisT tOdAy wItHoUt HEzBoLlAh."

Not only would Lebanon still be around, but they would be better off without Hezbollah.

Beirut was known as the "Paris of the Middle East" until Islam supremacists violently overthrew the (Maronite Christian/Druze) government, plunged the country into a decades of violent civil wars and horrible economic harship.

Not only would Lebanon be better off politically and financially, but Israel never would have invaded Lebanon if Hezbollah haven't attacked Israel from within Lebanon to begin with.

Hezbollah ruined Lebanon.

youtube

Before Hezbollah, Lebanon was the crown jewel of the Middle East.

Now? Lebanon is yet another impoverished, war-torn, Islamic failstate.

To quote a colleague of my former professor:

"I have been lucky to survive the Iraq-Iran War, the Lebanese Civil War and many rounds of war between Israel and different Palestinians and Lebanese armed factions...

Ever since I became politically active in college, many decades ago, I have lost family in wars and friends to assassinations.

In 2019, I enjoyed a breakfast meal in Tunis with my two dear friends: Iraqi Hisham Hashimi and Lebanese Lokman Slim.

Pro-Iran militias in Iraq killed Hisham in July 2020.

Hezbollah killed Lokman in February 2021.

After Lokman’s assassination... Washington [D.C.] relied on the Lebanese judiciary, under the thumb of the Hezbollah assassins themselves, to hold Hezbollah killers of Lokman accountable.

I silently wept.

Each and every one of the miseries my family, friends and I faced was blamed on Israel.

Once we eliminate Israel and liberate Palestine, life will become rosy.

This has been the justification for our bloody world since before my parents were born.

This has been the excuse in the Arab world since I was born.

I refuse to pass this excuse on to my children.

The Palestine nonsense, its victimhood and its liberation, have to end and have to end now."

(Speaking of which, there's a reason no country in the middle east wants to take in Palestinian refugees. Every single country that did learned to regret it.)

youtube

Lebanon wouldn't exist today without Hezbollah."

Ben Norton joins Mnar Adley to explain the colonial history of Israel. He also explores the history of US and British policy in Palestine & Lebanon.

#hezbollah #hizbollah #hizballah #hezbollah invasion #lebanon #history of lebanon #lebanon civil war #history revisionism #Youtube

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creepingsharia · 5 years ago

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Qatar Funds Terror...and High Schools, Universities in the U.S.

“...Qatar Foundation gave $30.6 million to dozens of American K-12 and public high schools—a pittance compared to the more than one billion dollars the country gave to U.S. universities”

Qatar’s State-of-the-Art Foreign Lobbying Campaign

Think tanks, universities, museums, newspapers, and key congressional committees are all pieces in a game of 3D chess that the tiny Gulf state is playing with its rivals, using Washington, D.C., as its game board

by Lee Smith

March 30, 2020

The Middle Eastern nation of Qatar has a population consisting of a little more than 300,000 native Qataris, living in 11,586 square kilometers of mostly empty sand. Thus, Qatar might seem to be an unlikely fulcrum for reshaping Western politics and culture through policy debates, think tanks, universities and brand-name cultural institutions. Yet over the past decade, Qatar has implemented the single most sophisticated, sustained, successful effort by any foreign nation or interest group to shape Western policymaking–especially American opinion—in its favor.

The amount of money that Qatar has poured into local governments, universities, schools, educational organizations, think tanks, and media across America, and the number of instruments and initiatives, like the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, that Qatar uses to influence American opinion, is nearly overwhelming. It is impossible to understand how Washington works today without understanding the nature and scope of Qatar’s campaign.

Qatar has already turned much of its energy wealth into an enviable investment portfolio with significant holdings throughout the United States. Its strategy of using sovereign wealth funds and other investment vehicles as political instruments, for example, makes old-fashioned influence plays like bundling $1,000 campaign contributions to political candidates or placing op-eds by retired foreign service officers in the Washington Post seem the equivalent of writing fundraising letters by hand. Last year alone, Qatar reported $2.8 billion in direct foreign investment in American companies, much of which was targeted at states like South Carolina, where Doha took a big space in the state’s aerospace and drone industry. South Carolina’s elected representatives exercise substantial influence on the congressional committees responsible for overseeing U.S. foreign relations and defense expenditures. South Carolina’s influential senior senator, Lindsey Graham, has called for a resolution to the crisis pitting Qatar against its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but has frequently proven to be an outspoken public critic of Qatar’s main target, Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman.

Only a small percentage of Qatar’s jaw-dropping expenditures in America go toward gaming the loyalties of politicians, though. In a broader sense, the kingdom’s influence-buying strategies are a textbook example of how to transform cash into “soft” power in an era in which once-independent American institutions like the prestige media have been replaced by much flatter and easily gamed tech platforms powered by partisan alignments funded by large sums of corporate and foreign cash. Qatar’s official efforts to lobby the U.S. government quadrupled between 2016-2017, from $4.2 million to $16.3 million, but that pales in comparison to the cost of the indirect investments in U.S. political culture. Over an eight-year period from 2009-2017, The Qatar Foundation gave $30.6 million to dozens of American K-12 and public high schools—a pittance compared to the more than one billion dollars the country gave to U.S. universities between 2011-2017, making it “the largest foreign funder by far,” of American academia according to the nonpartisan watchdog group,Project On Government Oversight (POGO). In fact, according to POGO Qatar was the “only country to give over $1 billion in the seven years covered by the Higher Education Act data” included in the group’s report—the next biggest foreign spender, England, was more than $200 million behind. A final example from a Congressional Research Service report updated in March of this year notes that in “January 2018 U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue “recognized” QIA’s commitment of $45 billion in future investments in U.S. companies and real estate.”

In addition to being exponentially more expensive, Qatar’s soft-power strategies are also infinitely more sophisticated than their predecessors. To understand how the new influence system works, imagine a museum hall that has been emptied of all the artworks or antiquities that visitors once agreed were valuable. That empty space is the American public sphere, which was once populated by institutions whose financial independence and professional norms allowed them to reinforce each other in validating accounts of reality for large numbers of people.

Now that those institutions have adopted openly partisan alignments and toxic conspiracy theorizing as the source of their incomes, they are no longer capable of creating a reality that large numbers of people can agree on. The only way to obtain even fleeting agreement in such a decayed and mercenary system is to buy it, in multiple places at once–left, right, center, academia, think tanks, political players, law firms, prestige media brands, leading politicians–so that each piece of the shattered mirror seems to reflect a common agreed upon reality. The difficulty of that task, of course, is that the illusions thus created are both fleeting and expensive. Qatar provides a textbook example of how to play that game, for those whose pockets are deep enough.

“It’s a tiny place with very significant resources,” says Princeton scholar of the Middle East Bernard Haykel. “The Qataris want to protect themselves and make themselves indispensable. They do that in part by making Qatar a convening venue. For instance, if the United States wants to deal with the Taliban, they go through Doha.”

At the end of last month, Taliban and U.S. officials signed an agreement that would allow U.S. forces to withdraw finally from Afghanistan. The deal would conclude one of the most disastrous military engagements in U.S. history, while fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s most significant 2016 campaign pledges to end pointless foreign wars. And the deal also counts as the latest feather in Doha’s cap—possible only, say Qatari officials and the country’s admirers, through a U.S. partnership with a country that sees itself as friend to all. And for critics of Qatar, that’s precisely the problem.

“Qatar is a profoundly menacing influence to core U.S. interests,” says a U.S. expert on Gulf affairs who asked for anonymity. “The issue is that they’re structurally promiscuous—they’re always trying to buy protection everywhere, that they give money to U.S. enemies—like the Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah or Hamas or the Nusra Front in Syria. The Qataris are supposed to be allies of the United States yet they’re funding and dealing with groups and countries that are inimical to American interests.”

To hear Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates tell it, it’s because of Qatar’s support for those groups and countries that it imposed a blockade on its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state in June 2017. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi issued 13 demands that Doha was obliged to meet before the embargo would be lifted. Among other demands, the Saudis and Emiratis said Qatar had to shut down its world-famous satellite news station Al-Jazeera, stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and armed Islamist groups, pull away from Iran, and cease interference in the internal affairs of its neighbors, namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Another demand required Qatar to align its “military, political, social and economic policies with the other Gulf and Arab countries.”

From Doha’s perspective, the demands were tantamount to asking Qatar to forsake its sovereignty. But from Riyadh’s and Abu Dhabi’s point of view, their smaller neighbor’s policies represent a strategic threat, especially, say pro-Saudi and Emirati figures, Qatar’s relations with Islamists across the Muslim world, like the Taliban—as well as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi-based Shia militias, and Sunni terror groups.

The conflict between the two GCC blocs has resulted in a massive influx of Gulf wealth into Washington as lobbyists, consultants, think-tank experts and journalists fill roster slots on the two competing sides. Former Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is among the latest big Beltway names to register as a UAE lobbyist, while South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s former deputy chief of staff signed on with Qatar last summer.

There is nothing secret about the money that foreign powers spread around the U.S. capital, of course. Indeed, the purpose of spending money is to openly demonstrate power and influence. The point of taking money from foreign powers, aside from the money of course, is to align oneself with the power their money represents. None of the Americans I spoke to for this story was less than open, some boastful, about their working relationship with one or the other side of the GCC conflict.

As far as Donald Trump is concerned, the GCC Cold War is also good for America. The White House says publicly that it wants the two sides, all U.S. allies, to resolve their differences, but before Wall Street crashed their multi-billion-dollar fight fueled the U.S. work force. To compete for Trump’s favor, both sides of the GCC conflict spent lavishly, buying arms, military planes as well as civilian carriers, and investing in real estate and manufacturing throughout the country, from New York to Texas. The jobs created by Gulf spending was a significant part of why in April the United States enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate since 1969.

But are the massive waves of Gulf cash that are washing over Washington and the rest of the country actually good for America? The Gulf states, after all, abide by a very different set of values than Americans do, or did, in a secularized free-market Western democracy. And as rapidly as U.S. regional partners are modernizing under dynamic leadership like Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, there is still a long way to go. The workforce Qatar has imported from the Asian subcontinent to build 2022 World Cup sites is described, with only slight exaggeration, as slave labor.

At times, it seems like American foreign policy decision-making, especially when related to the Middle East and the Muslim world, has itself become a proxy battle between the two opposing camps in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia is critical of Qatar’s relationship with terrorist groups but skip over its own past relationship with Hamas. Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi reportedly tried to act as mediators with the Taliban.

-----END Excerpt Read More at Link Below------------

See the Creeping Sharia archive on Qatar (here) and this post almost a year ago to the day: Video: New book exposes Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood’s financing and Islamization network.

#Finance Education #Politics #Legal #Media #News #Islam #Sharia #Muslim #Jihad #Immigration

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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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Holding Ukraine hostage: How the president and his allies, chasing 2020 ammunition, fanned a political storm (Donald Trump used the levers of the United States government and taxpayer dollars to chase a conspiracy theory to prove the Russian government didn't attack our elections in 2016!! This should outrage every American, reublican, democrat and independent.)

By Greg Miller, Paul Sonne, Greg Jaffe and Michael Birnbaum | Published

October 04, 2019 10:14 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 5, 2019 9:40 AM ET |

By mid-May, the U.S. relationship with Ukraine was unraveling: The U.S. ambassador had been recalled home for no apparent reason, the country’s new president was anxious about U.S. support, and President Trump’s personal lawyer was hawking Kiev conspiracy theories.

Amid this turbulence, an unexpected figure stepped forward to assert that he was now in charge of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, had no apparent standing to seize this critical portfolio, nor any apparent qualifications as a diplomat beyond the $1 million he’d given to Trump’s inauguration.

But when some in the White House and State Department sought to block his power grab, current and former U.S. officials said, he rebuffed their demands to know who had granted him such authority with two words:

“The president.”

Over the next four months, Sondland worked closely with Kurt Volker, the U.S. special representative for Ukraine, to reorient America’s relationship with Kiev around the president’s political interests.

Newly released texts exchanged by Sondland, Volker and other U.S. officials during this period read like a government-sanctioned shakedown. Again and again, they make clear that Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, would not get military aid or the Oval Office invitation he coveted until he committed to investigations that Trump hoped would deliver damaging information on former vice president Joe Biden and undermine the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Rather than official State Department email, the text exchanges between the diplomats took place over WhatsApp, a U.S. official said.

Only if Zelensky can convince Trump that he will “ ‘get to the bottom of what happened’ in 2016” will he be granted a meeting with the president, Volker tells one of Zelensky’s top advisers in late July in a text that alludes to Trump’s belief that Ukraine sought to sabotage him in the presidential election. In a separate message weeks later, Sondland emphasizes that the president “really wants the deliverable.”

The exchanges reveal the direct participation of State Department officials sworn to serve the country in events that increasingly bear the markings of a multipronged political conspiracy.

At the same time Sondland and Volker were using diplomatic channels to press Trump’s demands, the president and his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, were using other channels to deliver the same message. At the center of the scandal is a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky that was exposed by a government whistleblower and triggered an impeachment inquiry.

On the receiving end of these demands was a country turning to the United States for help with legitimate desperation. Over the past five years, Ukraine has endured incursions by Russian paramilitary forces, the loss of the Crimean Peninsula after its seizure by Moscow, and a deadly and ongoing conflict with Russian-backed separatists — not to mention its own internal political and economic problems, and corruption.

Against this backdrop, Ukrainian officials cited in the texts released by House committees late Thursday come across as feeling abused by their American counterparts. Zelensky “is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington domestic, reelection politics,” a U.S. official, dispatched to Kiev after former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was removed on May 7, said in a text.

Sondland brushed aside his counterpart’s apprehension. “We need to get the conversation started and the relationship built,” he wrote back, “irrespective of the pretext.”

Although brief and cryptic, that exchange captures a more pervasive divide within the Trump administration between career national security officials disturbed by what they perceived as a dangerous decoupling of U.S. foreign policy from core national interests, and political appointees who became complicit in the president’s use of American influence to advance his electoral interests.

This account is based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former U.S. officials, as well as documents released in recent days by congressional committees involved in the impeachment inquiry against the president. The officials interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the subject as well as fear of retaliation. Sondland did not respond to requests for comments.

RE-LITIGATING 2016

Trump’s preoccupation with Ukraine traces back to the 2016 U.S. presidential race, when a financial ledger surfaced in Kiev linking Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to millions of dollars in secret payments from a pro-Russian, Ukrainian political party he advised. The disclosures forced Manafort to resign his campaign position and fueled suspicions that Trump’s candidacy was being assisted by interference from Moscow.

Trump came to see the ensuing investigations of his campaign’s possible ties to Russia as part of an effort to delegitimize his presidency. In his July 25 call with Zelensky, Trump complained about the Russia probe and recycled discredited conspiracy theories, including that Russia had not really hacked the computers of the Democratic National Committee, and that the proof of that supposed hoax — the DNC hard drives — had been smuggled into Ukraine for hiding.

There is no evidence to substantiate any of these allegations.

“A lot of it started with Ukraine,” Trump said at a point in the conversation where he also alluded to aid and arms promised to Ukraine while telling Zelensky, “I would like you to do us a favor.” Among other things, Trump explicitly asked Zelensky to initiate an investigation of Biden and his son.

Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, became similarly entangled in webs of unfounded accusations. By the time the Russia investigation concluded without uncovering clear evidence that Trump’s campaign had conspired with Moscow, Giuliani and Trump had both turned their attention to Ukraine as a potential ally that could both help validate their theories and provide ammunition against political adversaries.

To advance this shared agenda, Trump began exploiting the powers of the executive branch.

Trump enlisted Attorney General William P. Barr to launch investigations into the origins of the Russia probe, searching for proof that the work of the FBI and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III were politically tainted. As part of that effort, The Washington Post revealed this week, Barr traveled to Britain and Italy, hoping their security services could expose improprieties by American intelligence agencies.

Trump also began circumventing his own National Security Council at the White House and deploying trusted allies to pursue political dirt and re-litigate the history of the 2016 election. His target was a country that Manafort had long said was out to get Trump in 2016: Ukraine.

Sondland, 61, appears to have never held a position in government before being named U.S. ambassador to the European Union in June 2018. He amassed much of his wealth by acquiring and managing luxury hotels in cities including Seattle and Portland, Ore.

Sondland sought to distance himself from Trump in 2016, backing out of a Seattle fundraiser for the GOP candidate over what a company spokesman described as concerns with Trump’s “anti-immigrant” policies.

But Sondland didn’t stay away for long, later routing $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund through a collection of shell companies that obscured his involvement.

In Brussels, Sondland garnered a reputation for his truculent manner and fondness for the trappings of privilege. He peppered closed-door negotiations with four-letter words. He carried a wireless buzzer into meetings at the U.S. Mission that enabled him to silently summon support staff to refill his teacup.

Sondland seemed to chafe at the constraints of his assignment. He traveled for meetings in Israel, Romania and other countries with little or no coordination with other officials. He acquired a reputation for being indiscreet, and was chastised for using his personal phone for state business, officials said.

Sondland also shuttled repeatedly back to Washington, often seeking face time with Trump. When he couldn’t gain entry to the Oval Office, officials said, he would meet instead with White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, preferring someone closer to Trump’s inner circle than national security officials responsible for Europe.

“He always seemed to be in D.C.,” a former White House official said. “People would say, ‘Does he spend any time in Brussels?’ ”

TRUMP’S MAN

Sondland’s approach to the job was seen more as a source of irritation than trouble until May, when he moved to stake his claim to the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.

After Zelensky’s election, White House officials began making plans for who would take part in the U.S. delegation to attend Zelensky’s inauguration.

National security adviser John Bolton removed Sondland’s name from the list, only to see it reinserted, a clear indication that Bolton had been overruled by the Oval Office.

Photos of the event show a beaming Sondland alongside Zelensky, as well as other U.S. officials including Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

In the ensuing months, Sondland maneuvered to cement a position of influence in the relationship between Trump and the new Ukrainian president. In early June, Sondland threw a lavish Independence Day reception — a month ahead of the U.S. holiday — at a cavernous antique car museum in central Brussels.

An enormous U.S. flag was projected onto a wall. Jay Leno — whom Sondland billed as a personal friend — delivered a standup routine whose U.S.-focused patter fell flat on the ears of European officials. At a private dinner afterward, Sondland hosted an eclectic mix of guests. Among those at the candlelit table were Zelensky, Leno and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.

Within weeks, Sondland and Volker were deep into their efforts to consummate a secret political pact between Trump and Zelensky. Texts show the extent to which they explicitly pursued a transaction tying U.S. military aid and a future visit to the White House to a hard commitment from Ukraine to revive a corruption probe of a company, Burisma, that had employed Hunter Biden, the vice president’s son, as a board member making between $50,000 and $100,000 a month, according to people familiar with the matter.

A July 19 exchange between Sondland and Volker shows them discussing the status of their efforts to secure clear cooperation from Zelensky before the approaching Trump-Zelensky phone call.

Sondland said that he had spoken “directly to Zelensky and gave him a full briefing. He’s got it.” Volker replied that he had met over breakfast with Giuliani to apprise him of their progress, and the two later went on to discuss what Zelensky would need to do to secure the Oval Office meeting.

“Most impt is for Zelensky to say that he will help investigation — and address any specific personnel issues — if there are any,” Volker wrote.

Officials in Washington and Kiev were increasingly alarmed by developments that were out in the open, including the mysterious suspension of aid and Giuliani’s penchant for revealing his schemes in appearances on cable television.

Behind the scenes, other red flags surfaced. In a White House meeting in early July, Sondland surprised a room of U.S. officials and members of a small Ukrainian delegation when he diverged from U.S. talking points approved in advance by Bolton and others. As part of the conversation, U.S. officials recited their desire for Ukraine to continue seeking to rid its government and state-run companies of corruption.

But Sondland interjected that the United States also had other targets in mind for Kiev that went beyond its active, ongoing investigations. He didn’t cite Burisma or Biden by name, but the implication of his words struck others in the room as troubling and obvious, particularly given Giuliani’s public comments.

“What was shocking was that he said it in front of so many people,” said one official familiar with the meeting.

Such concerns in Washington were by then already tributaries in a stream of information flowing to a CIA employee who shared their dismay and would soon begin compiling an extraordinary whistleblower complaint to the intelligence community’s inspector general.

In Kiev, William B. “Bill” Taylor, who had served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and had agreed to return on an emergency basis after Yovanovitch’s removal, was raising alarms.

Taylor, who was recruited by Volker, had been hesitant to even take the job.

“I’m still trying to navigate this new world,” Volker texted him this spring.

“I’m not sure that’s a world I want to set foot in,” Taylor replied.

On July 21, he voiced his concern about Ukraine being treated as a pawn in America’s “domestic, reelection politics,” only to have his concerns dismissed by Sondland, who suggested that Taylor was failing to recognize how bending to Trump’s demands was the only path to improving the countries’ fraught relationship.

The next day, one of Zelensky’s top advisers, Andrey Yermak, spoke by phone with Giuliani. Coached by the tandem of Sondland and Volker, Yermak appears to have given Giuliani the reassurances he needed to secure Zelensky’s phone call with Trump.

When that call happened three days later, some White House officials who had suspicions but were not read-in to the hidden agenda were so alarmed by Trump’s conduct, and the pressure he applied to Zelensky for a political “favor,” that they stuffed a transcript of the call onto a computer system reserved for some of the government’s most highly classified secrets.

Among those engaged in the shadow diplomacy, however, the call was regarded as a breakthrough. Yermak told Volker that the “call went well,” and that Zelensky got his promised invitation to the White House, but no specific date. “Great,” Volker wrote back, noting that he would now set in motion a preliminary meeting in Madrid between Yermak and Giuliani.

Giuliani told Yermak that the Ukrainian president needed to make a public promise to pursue the corruption investigations, according to Volker’s testimony. Sondland and Volker set about revising the wording of a statement proposed by the Ukrainians that Zelensky could issue upon announcing his trip to Washington. When the two diplomats sent the statement to Giuliani, he was dismayed that it wasn’t more specific, and according to Volker, he demanded that the Ukrainians insert specific references to the 2016 election and Burisma, the gas company where Hunter Biden served on the board.

In an Aug. 10 text message, Volker tells Yermak that once the statement is ironed out, they can then “use that” to get the date for the meeting between Trump and Zelensky.

Yermak’s response makes the bargain clear. “Once we have a date, will call for a press briefing, announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-UKRAINE relationship, including among other things Burisma and election meddling in investigations,” he writes.

“Sounds great!” Volker replies.

Ultimately, Volker testified Thursday on Capitol Hill, the statement was shelved, because the Ukrainians didn’t feel comfortable making explicit reference to the Burisma and election interference investigations.

But by that point, Volker and Sondland were themselves unwitting to developments in Washington that would in time expose their months-long enterprise and trigger an impeachment inquiry against the president.

On Aug. 12 — the day before Volker and Sondland traded triumphant texts about the statement they wanted issued by Zelensky — the CIA whistleblower submitted his nine-page document to the inspector general of the intelligence community. Over the next several weeks, events proceeded along two separate tracks that finally converged this week in the secure hearing room of the House Intelligence Committee.

On Sept. 1, Taylor raised his concerns again. “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?” That same day, at a meeting in Warsaw, the Ukrainians were hearing the same message from Vice President Pence when he told Zelensky that the United States was still concerned that Ukraine was not doing enough on corruption.

Sondland refused to engage Taylor on the matter by text, telling him to “Call me.”

A week later, on Sept. 8, Taylor issued a more forceful warning, saying that he would not be part of coercing a public pledge from Zelensky and withholding aid that Ukraine desperately needed. “The nightmare is they give the interview and don’t get the security assistance,” he said. If that were to unfold, he said, “The Russians love it. (And I quit.)”

One day later, on Sept. 9, Taylor confronted Sondland one last time by text, saying, “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

Sondland, perhaps anticipating how this exchange would play out if it came into the possession of investigators or were released to the public, replied in an earnest tone: “Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind.”

Birnbaum reported from Brussels. Julie Tate and Michelle Ye Hee Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

In call to Ukraine’s president, Trump revived a favorite conspiracy theory about the DNC hack

By Craig Timberg, Drew Harwell and Ellen Nakashima | Published September 25, 2019 6:27 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 5, 2019 9:35 AM ET

For years cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike was a source of news, not a subject, as it unraveled some of the world’s most notorious hacks.

But ever since the company exposed Russian intrusions into Democratic Party computers in 2016 — findings President Trump repeatedly has attacked — CrowdStrike has been a subject of allegations that rippled through conservative news sources, onto social media, into the criminal trial of longtime Trump friend Roger Stone and, finally, in July, into a call between the president and his Ukrainian counterpart.

The release Wednesday of the text of that call prompted an ecstatic response on right-wing corners of the Internet. “CROWDSTRIKE IS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS,” said one thread Wednesday on the Reddit message board “the_donald,” devoted to pro-Trump discussion. In another thread, a commenter wrote, “Trump just put ‘Ukrainian CrowdStrike’ into the consciousness and conversation of every normie that is following this story.”

But more broadly, the vilification of CrowdStrike, a firm that long has worked closely with U.S. officials, illustrates the shape-shifting nature of misinformation as it moves across media, mixing fact with innuendo before ultimately reaching the president — owner of the world’s loudest megaphone.

“This is insane,” said Robert Johnston, CEO of Adlumin and a former CrowdStrike investigator who worked on the probe into the hacking of Democratic National Committee computers. “This is absolute babbling to the president of Ukraine. It’s hard to finger exactly which conspiracy theory he’s subscribing to. But none of them have any grounding in reality.”

The month before the Ukraine call, Trump voiced dark suspicions about CrowdStrike in a call with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity. That same day, Breitbart News had published a story, based on documents that had emerged in Stone’s trial on charges of lying, obstruction and witness tampering, about how the FBI relied on information from CrowdStrike in its probe of the DNC hack.

“Take a look at Ukraine,” Trump said to Hannity in a conversation that was broadcast on his show. “How come the FBI didn’t take the server from the DNC? Just think about that one, Sean.”

People familiar with the president’s thinking said he has come to suspect the DNC server hacked by Russian intelligence agents in 2016 may have been hidden in Ukraine. The president has been known to embrace conspiracy theories, but it wasn’t immediately clear how he reached that belief about the DNC server or how that would even have been physically possible.

While it’s true that the FBI did not take custody of the affected servers, people familiar with FBI hack investigations say the agency often relies on forensic analysis by outside firms, including CrowdStrike, which is among the nation’s most prominent, having handled North Korea’s hack of Sony Pictures in 2014, among others. CrowdStrike said it “provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI.”

The FBI felt it was not necessary to enter the DNC's premises and take custody of the affected servers, as agents were able to obtain complete copies of forensic images made by CrowdStrike, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The issue emerged again, on July 25, when Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate CrowdStrike during a call in which he also belittled special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and urged investigation of the son of former vice president Joseph Biden. Notes from the call were released Wednesday amid a scandal over whether Trump improperly pressured a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent, using nearly $400 million in expected foreign aid as leverage.

The nature of Trump’s reference to CrowdStrike is not obvious from the notes the White House released. At one point, he said, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say CrowdStrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people … The server, they say, Ukraine has it.”

Trump added, “I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it.” Zelensky appeared to agree to the request, saying his new prosecutor general “will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned.”

The Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity firm’s assertion in June 2016 that Russia had hacked the DNC has been repeatedly confirmed by the Justice Department, members of Congress and Mueller’s office, which indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers last year for their role in the breach.

Nevertheless, the company has become a boogeyman of right-wing conspiracy theorists, who have falsely claimed that the company helped Democratic leaders cover up what they insist was a breach by a secret party insider.

Trump's comments on Wednesday helped solidify the company as a punching bag for his allies in the right-wing media. Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said the “reference to CrowdStrike, mark my words, is momentous,” and added, “The Democrats are bent out of shape that Trump even knows about CrowdStrike."

President Trump has long made CrowdStrike a target. He’s echoed conspiracy theorists in claiming that the company is owned by, as he said in 2017, “a very rich Ukrainian.” The company’s co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch is a Russia-born cyber and national security expert and a U.S. citizen. He is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a major Washington think tank whose donors include the foundation of Viktor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian billionaire.

The company has also been pulled into the QAnon conspiracy theory, after an anonymous author — purportedly, a top-secret intelligence officer slowly revealing Trump's plot to foil a global pedophile cabal — claimed last year that CrowdStrike had helped China access Hillary Clinton's emails. (No officials have alleged anything close to that.)

CrowdStrike said in a statement Wednesday that it stands by its “findings and conclusions that have been fully supported by the U.S. intelligence community.” The $14 billion company saw its stock fall roughly 1 percent Wednesday.

As CrowdStrike trended on Twitter Wednesday, driven by false claims about the company, Facebook also surfaced misinformation for queries of the firm's name. Among the top results was an article featuring a meme of DNC chairman Tom Perez in a wig along with erroneous claims about the “CrowdStrike ruse.” The site touts itself as “The First Stop on Your Daily Commute to the Truth."

Suspicion about CrowdStrike’s role appears to have first entered the conservative media ecosystem in early 2017, following a BuzzFeed report that the FBI had not requested access to the DNC servers before concluding that they were penetrated by Russian hackers. In January 2017, Breitbart ran an article conveying basic details about the firm’s leadership and raising questions about its ties to Google. (CrowdStrike has plainly advertised investments made by a private equity firm affiliated with Google.)

Two months later, Tony Shaffer, a member of Trump’s 2020 reelection advisory board, posted on Facebook, “When the FBI accepts info from DNC-Hired Cybersecurity Firm & adopts the report as their own we have a big problem."

In June 2017, the conservative news site Daily Caller said “a cloud of doubt (was) hanging over the DNC’s Russia narrative” in part due to the involvement by CrowdStrike, which it said was “Funded By Clinton-Loving Google $$." A month later, the conservative Washington Times wrote that “CrowdStrike’s evidence for blaming Russia for the hack is thin."

That theory has been boosted by Stone, Trump's longtime adviser, who has argued in legal filings this year that CrowdStrike's analysis was fatally compromised. Stone and others in Trump's orbit have alleged without evidence that Democratic insiders spearheaded the breach.

Trump’s mention of CrowdStrike suggests he still doubts the intelligence community’s findings of Russian involvement. DNC spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa tweeted that it was “complete nonsense” and “surreal” that “Trump used “a call with a foreign leader to push conspiracy theories.”

Devlin Barrett and Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report.

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foggynightdonut · 4 years ago

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The New Testament says Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, but one rogue Israeli archaeologist says it is far more likely the Christian savior was born in Bethlehem of the Galilee, more than 60 miles from Jerusalem.

Aviram Oshri spent nearly eleven years excavating artifacts in Bethlehem of the Galilee — an ancient biblical village near Nazareth that was later settled by German Templers — which he believes show that the traditional account of Jesus’s birthplace may be wrong.

But when he produced his findings for his employer, the Israel Antiquities Authority, he found his proposal dismissed and called “worse than a joke.” Oshri disagrees.

The town of Bethlehem of Judea, about six miles south of Jerusalem, has always been considered the birthplace of Jesus. According to the New Testament, Joseph and Mary were living in Bethlehem of Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth and later moved to Nazareth up north. In another account, Joseph and Mary, who was then nine months pregnant, traveled more than 175 kilometers (68 miles) from Nazareth to Bethlehem of Judea, Joseph’s hometown, in order to be counted in a Roman census.

That never made sense to Oshri.

“How would a woman who is nine months pregnant travel 175 kilometers on a donkey all the way to Bethlehem of Judea?” he asked. “It makes much more sense that she would have traveled seven kilometers,” the distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem of the Galilee.

Getting Jesus to Bethlehem of Judea is an important part of the Christian savior’s history. Those who believe that Jesus was a descendent of the House of David tend to believe that he was born in Bethlehem of Judea, where King David had been born a thousand years earlier.

Oshri can list a host of details and historical facts that throw doubt on what has long been considered the accepted version of Jesus’ birth and childhood.

He begins with the lack of antiquities from the Herodian period in Bethlehem of Judea, which was the time around the birth of Jesus, a fact that is corroborated by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

But Oshri took it much further, particularly once he began excavating in Bethlehem of the Galilee.

He first heard from the locals that Jesus was born in the northern town, and not in the south. A local Christmas tree grower, Yossi Jaeger, who buys the idea, jokingly calls it Oshri’s “conspiracy theory.”

An ancient oil lamp found in Bethlehem of the Galilee that is from the time of Jesus (Courtesy Aviram Oshri).

During eleven years of excavations, Oshri found a massive Byzantine-era church, with a cave hidden under the apse, as well as parts of a wall that may have circled the village and another two-story building that could have been an ancient khan or guesthouse. All would be from the period of Jesus’ life.

He says he has other proof as well.

“How did Mary and Joseph meet?” he asked. “She’s from Tzippori and he’s from Bethlehem of Judea, and what are the chances that they would meet when they live so far away from each other in the ancient world? Zero. But Bethelehem of the Galilee and Nazareth and Tzippori are very close to each other.”

Oshri published his findings in the journal Archaeology in 2005, two years after he completed the dig. He said that Protestants were open to it, but those who are more orthodox in their beliefs, such as Catholics and the Greek and Russian Orthodox, were not willing to accept his ideas.

Neither is the Antiquities Authority.

Oshri ended up moving onto other digs because he didn’t have a choice, even though he said he’d love nothing more than to excavate the church again as well as the cave beneath.

Uzi Dahari, the deputy director of the Antiquities Authority, says it won’t happen, because the ancient church is just one of the Byzantium churches built when Helena, Constantine’s mother, came to Israel and built churches around Israel.

“There’s no connection, there’s nothing that suggests Bethlehem of the Galilee could be connected,” said Dahari, calling Oshri’s thinking impossible. “There’s nothing scientific to prove it,” said Dahari, before throwing his own curve ball. “Anyone who does research and deals with this says that Jesus, the person, was born in Nazareth, and his family was from Nazareth,” said Dahari. “The whole story of Bethlehem of Judea was just to tie him to the house of King David. It’s just a religious excuse.”

Part of the wall and ramp found during Aviram Oshri’s excavations in Bethlehem of the Galilee (Courtesy Aviram Oshri)

Oshri, however, holds out hope. He says the authority would allow him to excavate further if it had the money, and has tried to fundraise himself.

He even asked Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, for funds.

“He said if Bethlehem of the Galilee was in Jerusalem, he could have done it,” said Oshri.

Aviram Oshri, the archaeologist who believes Jesus lived in Bethlehem of the Galilee (Courtesy Aviram Oshri)

#Bethlehem

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jobsearchtips02 · 5 years ago

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Wirecard and the Curious Case of the Missing $2 Billion

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Payment processing company Wirecard was the darling of Germany’s fintech industry until auditors uncovered a $2 billion hole in its accounting. WSJ explains what we know about the missing money, as investigators are still trying to understand what happened. Photo composite: George Downs

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/wirecard-and-the-curious-case-of-the-missing-2-billion/

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mikemortgage · 6 years ago

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U.S. pot financing outpaces Canadian cannabis companies on CSE

TORONTO — U.S. cannabis companies raised $1.5 billion on the Canadian Securities Exchange during the first 10 months of this year, surpassing their Canadian counterparts for the first time as investor interest shifts south of the border.

Data from the alternative exchange shows that U.S.-based pot companies raised roughly $1.5 billion between January and October 2018, usurping the $1 billion raised by Canadian-based cannabis issuers during that period.

Investor attention is pivoting towards the cannabis industry in the U.S., where marijuana remains illegal at the federal level but political sentiment is warming up.

“The Canadian side of the business, it’s capitalized at this point,” CSE chief executive Richard Carleton said.

“There’s obviously more work to be done, but the real activity yet to come is obviously in the United States.”

Cannabis is legal for medical or recreational use in several U.S. states, but it is considered a Schedule 1 drug federally south of the border. Although Canada is at the forefront and became the second country in the world to legalize pot for adult use on Oct. 17, the U.S. market has far more potential.

The U.S. market for cannabis could be worth more than $65 billion, including illicit demand, more than ten times the size of Canada’s, according to a recent Scotia Capital Inc. report.

Pot companies have flocked to the CSE due to its looser listing rules than the bigger Toronto Stock Exchange, and marijuana listings accounted for 70 per cent of the $3.6 billion in financing activity during the first 10 months of 2018.

The CSE had 212 pot industry financings and $2.5 billion raised in that period, up from 156 deals worth $691 million or 50 per cent of financing deals in all of 2017. Also, for the first time, cannabis issuers from outside of the U.S. and Canada are looking to the CSE, with six listings from Israel thus far in 2018, the exchange says.

The CSE hit a monthly fundraising record last month, led by U.S. medical pot producer and retailer Curaleaf which raised $520 million in a financing via a reverse-takeover. The Massachusetts-based company’s deal was the largest completed on the CSE to date, the exchange says.

The alternative exchange has seen more U.S.-based cannabis companies listings in November as well. Green Growth Brands Inc. debuted on the CSE on Tuesday and Acreage Holdings Inc., which includes former prime minister Brian Mulroney on its board, commenced trading on the CSE on Thursday. Dixie Brands Inc., known for its cannabis-infused products, is eyeing a listing on the CSE via reverse-takeover by the end of the month.

“There’s expected to be significant consolidation in the United States, mergers and acquisitions,” Carleton said. “And clearly having the liquid currency of a public company as one of the tools in your kit is a huge advantage.”

Canada’s policy on cannabis has allowed domestic pot companies to grow and expand into the global market while the plant’s conflicting legal status south of the border keeps U.S. competitors at bay — for now.

U.S. cannabis companies not able to raise public capital at home because the drug is illegal federally have looked to Canada for financing, and the CSE has been the main beneficiary.

TMX Group, Canada’s biggest exchange operator, warned last year that pot companies with ongoing cross-border activities are not in compliance with TSX requirements and face delisting. That cemented the CSE as the go-to exchange for pot companies with U.S. interests as it allows issuers to have exposure, provided they disclose the risks to investors.

Meanwhile, Canadian companies such as Canopy Growth Corp. and Tilray Inc which do not have direct exposure to the American market have been listing on U.S. exchanges. These larger players are also eyeing an entry into the U.S. market once federally legal as the odds of such a policy shift increase. During the U.S. midterm elections earlier this month, Michigan became the latest to approve recreational pot legalization and Utah and Missouri approved the drug for medical purposes.

Two major political opponents to the federal legalization of cannabis in the U.S. were also removed this month. Texas Representative Pete Sessions, a staunch medical marijuana opponent, was defeated and Jeff Sessions has resigned as attorney general at the request of U.S. president Donald Trump.

Legislation that would allow for the full legalization of industrial hemp in the U.S. and ease restrictions on the cannabis compound CBD is also working its way through the U.S. legislative process.

In addition, a bill known as the STATES act amending the Controlled Substances Act which could effectively make marijuana federally legal in states where recreational consumption is legal has been referred to a Senate committee.

U.S. pot companies operating in states where the drug is legal have an edge by being on the ground, but also from more scope to promote brands and develop intellectual property than their Canadian counterparts.

That latitude in the U.S. offers more upside for investors, said Peter Horvath, the chief executive of Green Growth Brands.

“We all have some level of cultivation going on in our businesses, but the real focus is consumers… In Canada, it’s pretty much you buy soulless packaged goods only from the government, there’s not a lot of opportunity to differentiate.”

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2OLOHc0 via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

#IFTTT #Financial Post

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boombergnews · 7 years ago

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**Need FOX Information Halftime Report in your inbox on daily basis? Enroll right here.**

On the roster: How a lot of an issue will Pelosi be for Dems in 2018? – Saturday is major day within the Aloha State – Ballot: Most Trump voters saved heat emotions for him – Manafort trial decide mysteriously delays testimony – Be careful for the cow-lvary HOW MUCH OF A PROBLEM WILL PELOSI BE FOR DEMS IN 2018? WaPo: “Whereas Democrats develop optimistic about their probabilities of taking management of the Home in November, they’re more and more anxious that the presence of their longtime and polarizing chief, Nancy Pelosi, is making it more durable for a lot of of their candidates to compete in essential swing districts. Republicans, clinging to a 23-seat majority within the Home, have made the Home minority chief a central factor of their assault advertisements and are portraying lots of their opponents as inextricably tied to the liberal from San Francisco. On the similar time, some Democrats are expressing alarm that she is standing in the best way of the following era of leaders. The strain was obvious Thursday, when Rashida Tlaib grew to become not less than the 27th Democratic Home candidate to say no to say whether or not she would assist Pelosi. Some Democrats concern that anti-Pelosi assaults aimed on the Democratic candidate on this week’s particular election in an Ohio congressional district helped push the Republican to a slim lead. The dynamic creates a conundrum for Democrats, lots of whom depend on Pelosi’s fundraising prowess and admire her political savvy and standing as one of many nation’s most influential feminine leaders. However some are also starting to talk out about how permitting Pelosi to stay accountable for the caucus might cut back the scale of a Democratic wave in November or worse, imperil their capacity to win the bulk.” Dems might face one other hurdle in Minnesota – AP: “For all of the discuss of a blue wave sweeping Democrats again into the Home majority this fall, their efforts may very well be thwarted in one of many nation’s bluest states. … Democratic incumbents in each Minnesota districts are leaving workplace, and the races to exchange them are extensively rated as tossups. ‘Minnesota goes to be floor zero for management of the Home,’ stated Corry Bliss, director of the Conservative Management Fund, an excellent PAC aligned with Home Speaker Paul Ryan. Former U.S. Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who served 4 years as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee, agreed. … Regardless of Minnesota’s status as a liberal stronghold — it hasn’t gone for a Republican president since 1972 — the state has grow to be a significant battleground for the events. Tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars in outdoors political promoting have flooded the state lately as Republicans tried to choose off outstate members of Congress whereas Democrats centered on the suburbs. The GOP now holds three of the state’s eight Home seats.”

THE RULEBOOK: TAKE NOTICE “In a society beneath the types of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy could as actually be stated to reign as in a state of nature, the place the weaker particular person shouldn’t be secured towards the violence of the stronger…” – Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, Federalist No. 51

TIME OUT: BIRDS OF A FEATHER NatGeo: “Scientists are betting on a brand new system to alert us to impending earthquakes: birds sporting tiny backpacks. Although nobody is aware of exactly why, animals usually act atypically earlier than an earthquake or different catastrophe. Flocks of birds may migrate off track or be energetic at uncommon occasions, says Martin Wikelski, an ecologist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and a fellow of the Nationwide Geographic Society. He directs a satellite tv for pc monitoring mission referred to as Worldwide Cooperation for Animal Analysis Utilizing Area. ICARUS will use light-weight digital tags—affixed as backpack harnesses, leg bands, and even hats—to observe the exercise patterns of tens of 1000’s of birds, bats, and different creatures for irregularities that counsel an earthquake is imminent. A world community of volunteers has began to tag animals with the units—Wikelski calls them ‘wearables for wildlife’—which is able to monitor and beam their actions and different knowledge to the Worldwide Area Station. There Russian astronauts will set up the ICARUS data-gathering throughout an upcoming spacewalk. The end result, Wikelski hopes, might be a disaster-prediction community akin to an ‘web of wings.’” Flag on the play? – E mail us at [email protected] along with your suggestions, feedback or questions.

SCOREBOARD Trump job efficiency Common approval: 41.2 p.c Common disapproval: 53 p.c Web Rating: -11.eight factors Change from one week in the past: down Zero.four factors [Common contains: Gallup: 41% approve – 54% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve – 50% disapprove; NPR/PBS/Marist: 41% approve – 51% disapprove; Quinnipiac College: 38% approve – 58% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 45% approve – 52% disapprove.] Management of Home Republican common: 41.four p.c Democratic common: 48 p.c Benefit: Democrats plus 6.6 factors Change from one week in the past: no change [Common contains: IBD: 45% Dems – 45% GOP; NPR/PBS/Marist: 47% Dems – 40% GOP; Quinnipiac College: 51% Dems – 39% GOP; NBC/WSJ: 49% Dems – 43% GOP; Fox Information: 48% Dems – 40% GOP.]

SATURDAY IS PRIMARY DAY IN THE ALOHA STATE Politico: “Voters in Hawaii head to the polls Saturday for an additional major day. And when Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) declared she would attempt to dethrone Democratic Gov. David Ige, it appeared like her major to lose. Public polling early within the 12 months had Hanabusa lapping Ige (one from Mason-Dixon Polling in March had her up 20 within the major). Hanabusa’s camp painted Ige, who defeated former Gov. Neil Abercrombie in a 2014 major, as an absentee governor who badly mishandled the false-alarm missile alert in January. … Ige’s marketing campaign has run on this, securing the endorsement of in style Mayor Harry Kim and working an advert that includes his response to the eruption. Public polls tightened and ultimately confirmed Ige regaining a lead over Hanabusa because the marketing campaign dragged. … Hanabusa’s marketing campaign maintains it feels good concerning the race. … The first race to exchange Hanabusa in Hawaii’s 1st District might ship a well-recognized face again to Congress: former Rep. Ed Case. The well-known, average Case may very well be the front-runner in a crowded race that additionally options Lt. Gov. Doug Chin and state Rep. Kaniela Ing, for whom Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on Thursday.”

GOP seeks Trump’s assist in Ariz. Senate race – Politico: “Nationwide Republicans are asking President Donald Trump to intervene within the Arizona Senate major amid rising fears that the GOP will nominate an unelectable candidate and cede the seat to Democrats in November. Throughout a latest telephone name, Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) requested the president to endorse GOP Rep. Martha McSally, extensively considered because the institution favourite within the Aug. 28 major, in accordance with two senior Republicans acquainted with the dialog. Trump, in accordance with one of many Republicans, was non-committal and didn’t say sure or no to the request. McSally is going through former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, each of whom are working as conservative insurgents. Polls have constantly proven McSally main within the major, however Republicans concern that if Ward or Arpaio win the nomination it could successfully hand a victory to the anticipated Democratic nominee, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. Neither the White Home nor the NRSC would remark.”

GOP tremendous PAC creates presence in six new districts – The Hill: “The Congressional Management Fund, the tremendous PAC aligned with retiring Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), is increasing its presence in key GOP-held districts as Republicans search to fend off a possible Democratic ‘blue wave’ on this 12 months’s midterm elections. The group introduced Friday that it’s opening subject places of work in six Republican-led districts, bringing its complete to 40 places of work in aggressive Home races throughout the nation. The brand new subject places of work are supposed to spice up GOP Reps. Rodney Davis (In poor health.), Randy Hultgren (In poor health.), George Holding (N.C.) and Pete Classes (Texas), in addition to now-open seats in North Carolina’s ninth Congressional District and Kansas’ 2nd District.”

Kobach to recuse himself from Kansas vote-counting – Fox Information: “Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state locked in a good Republican gubernatorial major battle towards incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer, stated Thursday evening that he plans to recuse himself from the vote-counting course of. Earlier Thursday, Kansas election officers revealed that Kobach – who acquired President Trump’s endorsement – was forward of Colyer by simply 121 votes after two counties reported discrepancies of their preliminary tallies from Tuesday’s election. The tightening of the vote rely prompted Colyer to challenge a letter, demanding that Kobach – the state’s high elections official — chorus from instructing county election officers on the counting of ballots, and Thursday evening Kobach stated he would adjust to the request. ‘I’ll be glad to recuse myself,’ Kobach instructed CNN. ‘However as I say, it actually doesn’t make any distinction. My workplace doesn’t rely the votes. The counties do.’”

Blankenship heads to W Va. Supreme Court docket along with his poll struggle – Charleston [W. Va.] Gazette-Mail: “Don Blankenship is taking his battle to run for the U.S. Senate to the West Virginia Supreme Court docket. In accordance with a petition for a writ of mandamus filed with the state’s excessive court docket Thursday, Blankenship and the Structure Occasion are difficult West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner’s choice to disclaim Blankenship’s candidacy papers to run with the celebration. Warner denied Blankenship’s submitting, citing West Virginia’s ‘sore loser’ regulation… Nonetheless, Blankenship is difficult the denial with two central arguments: His legal professional, Robert Bastress, argues within the submitting that state regulation, as of the time Blankenship filed as a Republican in January, didn’t include any ‘sore loser’ provision because the secretary of state’s 2018 election guidebook states; and Bastress says adjustments to the code handed by the Legislature this 12 months and enacted into regulation in June can’t be retroactively utilized to the marketing campaign, which was already underway.”

Stormy Daniels legal professional exploring a run for the president – Des Moines Register: “Michael Avenatti has arrived in Iowa. After three canceled flights and a 700-mile highway journey, the lawyer identified for representing grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels in her case towards Republican President Donald Trump, is able to put his stake within the floor within the first-in-the-nation caucus state. ‘I’m exploring a run for the presidency of the US, and I wished to return to Iowa and hearken to individuals and study some points which are going through the residents of Iowa and do my homework,’ Avenatti instructed the Des Moines Register in an interview Thursday.” POLL: MOST TRUMP VOTERS KEPT WARM FEELINGS FOR HIM Pew Analysis Heart: “Within the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, an awesome majority of those that stated they’d voted for him had ‘heat’ emotions for him. By this spring, greater than a 12 months into Trump’s presidency, the emotions of those similar Trump voters had modified little or no. In March, 82% of those that reported voting for Trump – and whom researchers had been capable of confirm by means of voting data as having voted in 2016 – stated they felt ‘warmly’ towards Trump, with 62% saying they’d ‘very heat’ emotions towards him. Their emotions had been expressed on a Zero-100 ‘feeling thermometer.’ A ranking of 51 or greater is ‘heat,’ with 76 or greater indicating ‘very heat’ emotions. The views of those similar Trump voters had been fairly related in November 2016: At the moment, 87% had heat emotions towards him, together with 63% who had very heat emotions.”

MANAFORT TRIAL JUDGE MYSTERIOUSLY DELAYS TESTIMONY Fox Information: “Choose T.S. Ellis III mysteriously delayed testimony Friday within the case of ex-Trump marketing campaign chairman Paul Manafort, pushing off the day’s proceedings for hours after prosecutors as soon as once more complained about his criticism of them. It’s not clear if the delay is related to the criticism filed by Particular Counsel Robert Mueller’s group. Ellis on Friday additionally empathically reminded the jury that they need to chorus from speaking concerning the case with others – stoking hypothesis the delay may very well be associated to juror points. However the postponement is critical, as prosecutors had been hoping to complete calling witnesses Friday — and Ellis has a status as a stickler for conserving trials shifting. Within the Mueller group movement filed Friday morning, they accused the decide of unfairly criticizing them in court docket, saying it’s doable his latest feedback might ‘confuse and mislead the jury.’ Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann and different attorneys on the group particularly famous how Ellis made destructive feedback this week about their concentrate on a financial institution mortgage Manafort utilized for however didn’t obtain.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY Trump hosted a roundtable on jail reform with state officers – WaPo

North Korea threatens to stall denuclearization in warning to US – Fox Information Mass. joins rising checklist of states with computerized voter registration measure – Axios Mom-daughter deportation halted by decide threatening to carry Classes in contempt – Fox Information

AUDIBLE: CC COMFORTABLY SMUG “Liberals can’t bully me, information can’t bully me, the hip-hop group, they will’t bully me.” – Kanye West defending his assist of President Trump on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Reside” Thursday evening. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY This weekend Martha MacCallum is in for Mr. Sunday. She’s going to sit down with Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Jack Reed, D-R.I. Watch “Fox Information Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Examine native listings for broadcast occasions in your space. #mediabuzz – Host Howard Kurtz has the newest tackle the week’s media protection. Watch #mediabuzz Sundays at 11 a.m. ET.

Share your colour commentary: E mail us at [email protected] and please make sure that to incorporate your identify and hometown. WATCH OUT FOR THE COW-LVARY Tampa Bay Instances: “The herded grew to become the herders Monday when a lady fleeing police by means of a pasture was chased down by greater than a dozen cows, main her straight to officers and arrest, in accordance with the Sanford [Florida] Police Division. A Seminole County Sheriff’s Workplace helicopter group captured video of the cows bucking tendencies and defying conventional roles to grow to be the heroes on this story of justice, not simply mere namesakes. The video reveals Jennifer Anne Kaufman working by means of the sphere being chased by the cows, who labored collectively to corral the suspect. … ‘Truly, a big group of cows is following her for a very good visible. It seems to be like they might assault her,’ the helicopter group might be heard saying. ‘She’s fairly far into the sphere now. For those who see the big group of cows, they’re actually following her and chasing her.’ The herd of cattle chased Kaufman proper to a fence, the place authorities had been ready on the opposite facet.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES… “Liberal internationalists rely on globalization, neoconservatives on democratization to get us to the sunny uplands of worldwide concord. However what unites them is the idea that such uplands exist and are achievable. Each consider within the perfectibility, if not of man, then of the worldwide system. Each consider within the arrow of historical past.” – Charles Krauthammer writing within the Washington Publish, Might 26, 2016.

Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Need FOX Information Halftime Report in your inbox on daily basis? Enroll right here.

This text was written by Fox Information workers.

The post How much of a problem will Pelosi be for Dems in 2018? appeared first on BoomBerg News.

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investmart007 · 7 years ago

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. | Boosting GOP, Trump accuses Pelosi of being an 'MS-13 lover'

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/p6mHoo

NASHVILLE, Tenn. | Boosting GOP, Trump accuses Pelosi of being an 'MS-13 lover'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of being an “MS-13 lover” and dismissed a Democratic Senate candidate as a “tool” of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a line of attack likely to become familiar as he boosts Republican congressional candidates ahead of midterm elections.

Trump’s visit to Nashville, Tennessee, promoted the Senate candidacy of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who was expected to face former Gov. Phil Bredesen in the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker. Besides headlining a private fundraiser for Blackburn, he used a public rally to urge supporters not to become “complacent” this fall while Democrats were “sticking together” to block his agenda.

“We need Marsha in the Senate to continue the amazing progress and work that we’ve done over the last year and a half,” Trump said during the rally. “To keep on winning, you have to vote Republican in November.”

The Tennessee campaign is among several races expected to determine control of the Senate, where Republicans are defending a narrow two-seat majority. The president criticized Bredesen for being backed by national Democrats.

“He’s a tool of Chuck Schumer and of course the MS-13 lover Nancy Pelosi,” Trump said. Earlier this month, the House Democratic leader criticized Trump’s rhetoric and policies on immigrants after he called members of the international gang “animals.”

Trump added that Bredesen had donated to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, saying, “Phil Bredesen supported her and he supported her ideas.”

Trump plans a series of political rallies and events to brand Democrats as obstructionists. He said his supporters can’t sit back and relax this fall after working to elect him in 2016. “That’s the worst thing that can happen,” he said.

“In November, we will reverse a trend,” Trump added, alluding to recent precedent in which the party holding the White House tends to lose congressional seats.

He said of Democrats, “They’re bad at everything but they’re good at sticking together,” and appealed for GOP unity come November.

The president held a similar rally in Indiana earlier this month, appearing with Republican businessman Mike Braun and ripping Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly as a “swamp person” who refused to aid the GOP agenda. Trump will also raise money for GOP candidates in Texas on Thursday.

Trump is using the campaign appearances to mobilize his core backers by highlighting his accomplishments in office, like improving economic indicators and moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and resurrecting some of his go-to lines from the 2016 campaign.

“I don’t want to cause a problem, but in the end, Mexico’s gonna pay for the wall,” Trump said of his signature campaign promise.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto quickly replied to Trump, writing Tuesday on his Twitter account — in English, which Pena Nieto seldom does — “NO. Mexico will NEVER pay for a wall. Not now, not ever. Sincerely, Mexico (all of us).”

Earlier Tuesday, Trump raised the prospect of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe affecting the November elections and blamed Democrats for “Collusion.” On Twitter, he said the “13 Angry Democrats” on Mueller’s team “will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls.” Mueller is a Republican.

Trump has also used his Twitter page to boost California Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox, hoping to strengthen the party’s chances of securing a spot on the ballot in November. He has also set his sights on Montana, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is seeking re-election in a state Trump carried in a landslide. Both states have primaries June 5.

Tennessee has a history of electing centrist senators and the race could be complicated by Corker’s up-and-down relationship with Trump. Corker once said Trump had turned the White House into an “adult day care center” and the president tweeted that Corker “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.”

Yet Corker was in the Oval Office on Saturday, receiving praise from the president for his help in securing the release of an American imprisoned in Venezuela. The breakthrough happened after Corker held a surprise meeting in Caracas with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Corker also greeted Trump at the Nashville airport Tuesday, joined by Blackburn and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., among other dignitaries.

Corker has called Bredesen a friend and said he won’t actively campaign against him.

Trump offered an early endorsement of Blackburn in April, tweeting that she is “a wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her. Great on the Military, Border Security and Crime.”

Blackburn, who served on Trump’s transition team, has embraced the president and called herself a “hardcore, card-carrying Tennessee conservative.”

Bredesen, who is attempting to become the first Democrat to win a Senate campaign in Tennessee since Al Gore in 1990, has aired TV ads in which he says that he’s “not running against Donald Trump” and that he learned long ago to “separate the message from the messenger.”

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and KEN THOMAS,By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (Z.S)

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#'MS-13 lover'#accuses Pelosi #Boosting GOP #boosts Republican #Democratic Senate candidate #Nashville #Rep. Marsha Blackburn #TodayNews #Trump

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thedeadshotnetwork · 7 years ago

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Trump and Philippine President Duterte showcase their 'great relationship' before face-to-face meeting

Trump in Asia

Trump and Philippine President Duterte showcase their 'great relationship' before face-to-face meeting

7:39 a.m. ET

On Monday, President Trump said he and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte "had a great relationship," before the two men held their first bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila. Neither Trump nor Duterte answered questions, and Trump laughed as Duterte half-jokingly called reporters "spies" and Philippine security personnel "jostled some of them roughly" before ushering them out of the room, The New York Times reports. The two leaders did not discuss human rights much or at all, depending on who you asked.

After their 40-minute meeting, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "the conversation focused on ISIS, illegal drugs, and trade. Human rights briefly came up in the context of the Philippines' fight against illegal drugs." Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said "the issue of human rights did not arise; it was not brought up." Duterte had discussed his country's "drug menace," Roque said, and Trump "appeared sympathetic and did not have any official position on the matter and was merely nodding his head, indicating that he understood the domestic problem that we faced on drugs." Duterte had faced international criticism for encouraging the extrajudicial killings of at least 6,000 drug users and dealers.

Also attending the meeting was Jose E.B. Antonio, a Duterte trade envoy and and real estate developer who is also Trump's partner on a $150 million luxury tower in Manila. The meeting highlighted Trump's much warmer relationship with Duterte than Duterte had with his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Still, Roque said that Duterte's main focus is improving relationships with other Asian nations, especially China. Duterte had politely rebuffed Trump's offer to mediate the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, explaining, "Today, China is the No. 1 economic powerhouse, and we have to be friends." Peter Weber

death and taxes and more taxes

House Republicans could pass their tax overhaul plan as soon as Thursday

7:41 a.m. ET

House Republicans who stand opposed to the GOP tax reform bill say they haven't heard from leadership in weeks, signaling confidence by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) that the legislation will pass without difficulty in a floor vote later this week. "I think they've made the calculation that they have 218," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told Politico.

Scalise and his team will officially count votes Monday night; House Republicans can lose up to 22 votes and still pass the plan. The bill includes new tax brackets and rates, but would not change the rate for married Americans making more than $1 million dollars. Additionally, the House version of the overhaul bill would add an expected $1.457 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, a problem for many Republicans who oppose the bill.

The House Rules Committee will review the bill on Wednesday, although no major amendments are expected, Politico reports. A floor vote could come as early as Thursday, although Republicans are leaving open Friday as potential wiggle room, in case any problems arise.

The legislation could face more obstacles in the Senate, where the margin for passing the overhaul is even slimmer. Additionally, the House and Senate bills have a number of major differences, including that the Senate version leaves seven tax brackets, versus the House proposal's four brackets, and lowers the top rate for wealthy individuals to 38.5 percent from 39.6 percent.

"The House will pass its bill, the Senate will pass its bill, and then we will get together and reconcile the differences, which is the legislative process," Ryan reassured last week. Jeva Lange

Nature's Nightmares

The deadly Iran-Iraq earthquake struck during a live newscast

6:23 a.m. ET

The death toll from Sunday's 7.3-magnitude earthquake near the Iranian border in northern Iraq has risen above 300, including six reported deaths in Iraq and 336 in Iran from the strong, shallow quake. Iranian state television, which reported the deaths and nearly 4,000 injuries, said both numbers are expected to rise as emergency responders reach remote areas hit by the earthquake. The epicenter was 217 miles north of Baghdad, but tremors were felt as far away Pakistan, Turkey, and Israel. You can see some of the wreckage, and an Iraqi Kurdish broadcaster experiencing the earthquake on live TV, in this BBC News roundup:

And for more information on the earthquake itself, you can watch the CNN report below. Peter Weber

alabama special election

The Roy Moore allegations have turned Alabama's Senate race into a tossup

5:07 a.m. ET

Four polls public polls have been released of the Senate race in Alabama since The Washington Post reported allegations by four women on Thursday that Republican nominee Roy Moore initiated inappropriate relationships when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers as young as 14. They point to a tight race, ranging from a 4-point Moore lead (44 percent to 40 percent for Democrat Doug Jones, Change Research) to a 4-point Jones lead (48 percent to 44 percent, JMC Analytics and Polling). In the RealClearPolitics average of polls conducted Thursday and afterward — which includes an unpublished Emerson poll with Moore up 10 point — Moore leads Jones by 2 points.

"Each of the new polls has potential shortcomings," Politico reports, and "instant polls are often misleading barometers of how sudden, negative news coverage can impact a campaign." Before Thursday's bombshell, the five previous public polls found Moore ahead of Jones by 6 points, 48 percent to 42 percent, FiveThiryEight notes, which isn't great for a GOP candidate in a state President Trump won by 28 points. Sex-related scandals have sunk some candidates but not others, and Politico suggests that until more reliable polls come in, if they do, watch "the decisions made by both parties over the coming week." Peter Weber

Johnsplaining

John Oliver explains the real dangers of Trump's trolling and 'whataboutism,' proposes some defensive tools

3:56 a.m. ET

On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver spent the bulk of the show on President Trump and how Americans must avoid following him into a nihilistic cul-de-sac. "I honestly know that the prospect of talking about Trump yet again feels exhausting," he said, suggesting that every room in America have a clock that counts the minutes since someone mentioned Trump's name. But "Trump's presidency is like one of his handshakes: it pulls you in whether you like it or not," Oliver said, and you need to be prepared.

Trump is often staggeringly incoherent, but "the real damage isn't in how he says things, but from three key techniques that he uses to insulate himself from criticism and consequence," Oliver said: Delegitimizing the media, "whataboutism," and trolling. "Despite Trump's few real policy accomplishments to date, he has consistently achieved one thing, and that is making his enemies unhappy," he noted. "And for many Trump supporters, that itself counts as a major victory."

Thanks to Trump, these techniques are spreading with a patina of legitimacy, Oliver said, pointing to Sean Hannity's pivoting from the allegations against Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore to Bill Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct. "Even if you believe that Democrats are guilty of a double standard, the solution is not to have no standard whatsoever," Oliver said. "That is why it's so important to train ourselves to identify these three techniques, because their natural endpoint is the erosion of our ability to decide what's important, have an honest debate, and hold one another accountable."

Oliver acknowledged the bleakness of that pronouncement then listed a few bright spots to keep people going, "because the Trump presidency is basically a marathon: it's painful, it's pointless, and the majority of you didn't even agree to run it." He ended with some new Trump-focused ads from his "Catheter Cowboy" character. Watch below — but be warned, there is NSFW language throughout. Peter Weber

It wasn't all bad

Baltimore book lovers come together to rebuild charity destroyed by fire

2:19 a.m. ET

It doesn't matter if customers at Baltimore's The Book Thing take home one book or 100, as it all costs the same: $0.

Every book inside The Book Thing is free, and there's no limit to how many books people can walk out the door with — some teachers are known to fill up several boxes to use in their classrooms, while casual readers might just grab one or two tomes off the shelves. Russell Wattenberg has been running The Book Thing for 17 years, never charging a dime for anything. "It cuts down on robberies," he joked to CBS News' Steve Hartman. "We encourage shoplifters."

In March 2016, a fire ripped through The Book Thing, with all of its inventory going up in smoke. It didn't take long for the community to rally together, bringing Wattenberg cash donations and holding fundraisers to help rebuild; so many books have been donated that Wattenberg still has 7,000 boxes to go through. The Book Thing reopened in October, and there's never a shortage of customers. "I don't have the patience to teach somebody to read," Wattenberg said. "I don't have the diligence to be a writer. The only way I see to contribute to the written word is by doing this." Catherine Garcia

sexual misconduct

Harvey Weinstein publicly defended Roman Polanski in a now-removed 2009 op-ed

2:14 a.m. ET

In 1978, director Roman Polanski, then 43, accepted a deal to plead guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl who accused him of drugging and raping her in Los Angeles, but then fled to France when he learned that the judge was leaning toward rejecting the plea deal and order him to return to jail. In 2009, as Polanski was detained in Switzerland and fighting extradition to the U.S., where he remains a fugitive, producer Harvey Weinstein wrote an op-ed in Britain's The Independent urging "every U.S. filmmaker to lobby against any move to bring Polanski back to the U.S., where he could face life in jail."

"Whatever you think about the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time," Weinstein wrote. (Polanski spent 42 days in a California state prison.) "I think the reason we can all be on Polanski's side over this is not to do with what happened in 1977. It's to do with the fact that the punishment for what happened so many years ago had already been decided." Weinstein name-dropped some other Hollywood notables, including Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, who would probably rather be left out of this now that Weinstein has been accused of rape and serial harassment by numerous women. Luckily for them, The Independent has pulled the op-ed from the web.

Since Samantha Gailey pressed charges in 1977, four more women have publicly accused Polanski of sexually assaulting them when they were young girls — one came forward in 2010 and three more this year, most recently Marianne Barnard, who said Polanski molested her when she was 10 and she couldn't remain silent anymore now that "all these women are bravely coming forward" with accusations against Weinstein and others. Peter Weber

totally normal

Watch the president of the Philippines sing a love song to Trump

1:08 a.m. ET

They'll always have Manila.

President Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, shared a moment Sunday during a dinner at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Duterte, accompanied by singer Pilita Corrales, got on stage and began to croon the pop song "Ikaw" (You), filling the room with such lyrics as "You are the light in my world, a half of this heart of mine." When he was finished, Reuters reports, Duterte told the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, I sang uninvited, upon the orders of the commander-in-chief of the United States."

It's rare for Duterte to show such a soft side — he's quick to insult people, and since taking office last year, more than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in his war on drug dealers and users. It's unclear why Trump would ask Duterte to sing, if he had requested "Ikaw," or if Justin Trudeau was taking notes for the next time he sings "Endless Love" to Angela Merkel. Catherine Garcia

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mmckenziepr · 7 years ago

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Guggenheim Entertainment’s “The MeshugaNutcracker!” Screened Nationwide on Dec. 19

Guggenheim Entertainment’s “The MeshugaNutcracker!” Screened Nationwide on Dec. 19 Fathom Events Presents the Critically Acclaimed Chanukah Hit for One Night Only

SAN JOSE – September, 2017 – Perfectly timed to coincide with the end of Chanukah 2017, Fathom Events in conjunction with Guggenheim Entertainment presents “The MeshugaNutcracker! A Chanukah Musical” in theaters nationwide for one night only, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 at 7 p.m.

In this original musical featuring a Klezmer-ized orchestration of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, villagers in the fictional town of Chelm share the story of Chanukah from Judah Maccabee's victorious saga to medieval fables and accounts of perseverance during the Holocaust as well as the celebration of the first Chanukah in the new state of Israel. Through eight stories and a 20-song score of unforgettable music, the eight-person cast tells of the triumphs of Chanukah heroes throughout history using poignant moments sure to bring a tear to the eye (“Little Matchstick” and “Even Here”) right alongside broad, comedic scenes, songs and dances: where “The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” and “Chinese Tea” once stood majestic but wordless in the score, now “Golden Latkes” and “The Dance of the Dreidels” give audiences a new way to sing along for the holidays. With special guest star Broadway veteran and six-time Emmy Award-winning comedy and songwriter Bruce Vilanch, “The MeshugaNutcracker!” combines a Chanukah history lesson with the wit and hilarity Guggenheim Entertainment’s creative team of Shannon Guggenheim, Scott Evan Guggenheim and Stephen Guggenheim are known for using.

With dancing dreidels, singing sufganiot (jelly donuts) and audience participation, the silly sensibilities and folklore of Chelm’s townspeople project joy and a genuine sense of wonder, creating the perfect family-friendly recipe for a simply suburb holiday gathering that will delight and entertain Jews and non-Jews alike.

Theatre lovers will revel in the production’s creativity while music lovers, who’ve had Tchaikovsky’s timeless tunes embedded in their consciousness will delight in hearing voices married to the score for the first time in the fun-filled, full-length musical theatre experience that celebrates the Miracle of Oil and the heroes who made it happen.

“The MeshugaNutcracker!” Fathom Event features Stephen Guggenheim and Susan Gundunas as Gronam and Esther Schmegegi, the Mayor and First Lady of Chelm; Shannon Guggenheim and Jeremy Kreamer as the village children, Treitel Schlamazel and Velvel Schnook; Benjamin Pither as Rabbi Motke Schmerel; Lynda DiVito as Rivka Schmuel, the Dairywoman; Jackson Davis as Yacob Schlemiel, the Farmer; and Krista Wigle as Yetta Schmendrick, the bakeshop owner. This absolutely joyful musical event is produced and directed by Scott Evan Guggenheim, with music adapted, lyrics, and choreography by Shannon Guggenheim; musical direction and arrangements by Stephen Guggenheim and Thomas Tomasello; costume and set designs by Julie Engelbrecht; lighting by Derek Duarte; sound design by Steven Cahill; and film editing by Kyle Burke.

Tickets for “The MeshugaNutcracker!” can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.com or participating theater box offices. For a complete list of locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change). For more information on the production please visit www.themeshuganutcrakcer.com.

About Fathom Events

Fathom Events is recognized as the leading domestic distributor of event cinema with participating affiliate theaters in all 100 of the top Designated Market Areas®, and ranks as one of the largest overall distributors of content to movie theaters. Owned by AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: AMC), Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) (known collectively as AC JV, LLC), Fathom Events offers a variety of one-of-a-kind entertainment events such as live, high-definition performances of the Metropolitan Opera, dance and theatre productions like the Bolshoi Ballet and National Theatre Live, sporting events like Copa America Centenario, concerts with artists like Michael Bublé, Rush and Mötley Crüe, the yearlong TCM Big Screen Classics film series and inspirational events such as To Joey With Love and Kirk Cameron’s Revive US. Fathom Events takes audiences behind the scenes and offers unique extras including audience Q&As, backstage footage and interviews with cast and crew, creating the ultimate VIP experience. Fathom Events’ live digital broadcast network (“DBN”) is the largest cinema broadcast network in North America, bringing live and pre-recorded events to 896 locations and 1,383 screens in 181 DMAs. For more information, visit www.fathomevents.com.

About Guggenheim Entertainment

Guggenheim Entertainment, Inc. is a theatrical production company based in California’s San Francisco Bay Area celebrating 30 years of producing musical theatre, events, and serving the needs of clients throughout the West Coast. The team at the helm of Guggenheim Entertainment is composed of directors, producers, writers, performers, and designers who write, create, and produce full length and one-act musicals; design and teach classes, seminars and workshops for teachers and students of all ages; create custom event design and support for fundraisers, campaign kick-offs, awards dinners and dedications; and originate family and educational programming and arts and entertainment events. Owners Scott Guggenheim, Shannon Guggenheim, and Stephen Guggenheim have produced events and marketing concepts for companies like the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Pier 39, Gilroy Gardens, Simon Property Group, General Growth Properties, Macerich, Westfield, Madison Marquette, and nearly every shopping center in California. Since 1986, the Guggenheims have been at the forefront of Theatre In Education, having won an Antoinette Perry Award (giver of the coveted Tony Award) for Excellence in Theatre in Education, and multiple awards from the American Public Health Association for Excellence and Innovation in programming and partnerships. A winner of The Diller Award for Excellence in Jewish Education, the producers have been using theater arts to teach Judaica for over two decades. Guggenheim Entertainment has made “The MeshugaNutcracker!” available to non-profit organization as a fundraiser helping raise over $250,000 for West Coast non-profit organizations.

In 2009, Guggenheim Entertainment opened the fan-adored, critically acclaimed and award-winning ‘60s inspired performing arts center, The Retro Dome, which specialized in producing professional live musical theater and the best in interactive movie entertainment. The world premier of Guggenheim Entertainment’s “Thanks For Playing...The Game Show Show!,” debuted at The Retro Dome which launched thanks in no small part to their very successful crowdsourcing campaign that raised over $50,000. When the dome was demolished as part of redevelopment, Guggenheim Entertainment began looking for a new home and after an exhaustive search, the team will open 3Below Theaters & Lounge in Downtown San Jose on New Year’s Eve 2017. The modern-minimalistic theater will reprise Guggenheim Entertainment programming including live theater, interactive movie experiences, The Scene summer musical theatre conservatory for aspiring young actors entering 3rd-11th grades, intimate operas, film festivals and offer a new, exciting entertainment option in the South Bay. Visit 3belowtheaters.com for more information.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Jessica Nelson / Katherine Schwappach Fathom Events 720-262-2753 / 720-262-2713 [email protected] / [email protected]

Scott Guggenheim / Shannon Guggenheim Guggenheim Entertainment 408-621-1817 / 408-621-2429 [email protected] / [email protected]

Melissa McKenzie 3Below Public Relations 714-614-1190/408-827-1190 [email protected]

Interviews with the creators or performers available upon request.

The Original Cast Recording of "The MeshugaNutcracker!" is now available for purchase at www.themeshuganutcracker.com

A copy of the CD will be made available to reviewers upon request.

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#guggenheim entertainment #press release

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jobsearchtips02 · 5 years ago

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