"We may have ‘lost’ Amazon HQ2 but we still won in other ways" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff November 14, 2018
Maybe we didn’t really lose the HQ2 sweepstakes after all.
Sure, we’re not getting the tens of thousands of jobs that Amazon promised, but more importantly here’s what we did get: an unprecedented exercise in civic planning that could have lasting ripple effects.
The next big opportunity is on the horizon.....
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Now imagine what they would be saying had they won it. They would be calling it transformative, they are now truly a top tier and global city, and are again the hub of the universe.
Yeah, they didn’t get Amazon’s new headquarters, but they should act as if they did.
Of course, the front page article was located below the fold (would have been the above the fold lead had they won, not the bishops. Maybe the new man can get it right):
"Was Boston just not big enough for Amazon?" by Tim Logan Globe Staff November 14, 2018
From one perspective, it’s an unfortunate turn of events for Boston and the surrounding communities hoping to land the new headquarters, said C.A. Webb, president of the Kendall Square Association and a longtime leader in Boston’s tech community. The city could have used the momentum of Amazon’s anticipated $5 billion investment to address long-festering challenges of housing and transportation.
At the same time, she said, it’s a relief. Tech companies that are growing here don’t have to worry about Amazon hiring away their workers, and home prices probably won’t soar even higher, and the finality of the decision allows city and business leaders to concentrate on what’s best for Boston.
“At the end of the day I think it’s neutral,” Webb said. “Now we can swiftly move along,” and Boston does so knowing Amazon already has about 2,000 workers in the city and Cambridge — making the area one of its biggest tech hubs outside Seattle — with plans to hire 2,000 more to fill a new building soon to break ground in the Seaport District. That cluster would rival Amazon’s just-announced Nashville “Center of Excellence” in size.
Nashville gave them $102 million.
Then there’s Amazon Robotics in North Reading, newly acquired PillPack in Somerville, and Amazon’s health care partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, which will be headquartered here. Add in warehouse and delivery jobs, and Amazon already employs roughly 4,000 people in Massachusetts, with more coming in the Seaport and elsewhere.
City and state officials Tuesday were quick to tout that figure, and the relationship it represents, in statements about the company’s decision.
In other words, the grapes were actually sweet but it's still okay that they didn't get them.
Still, local officials are curious about what that company thinks of the city as a place to do business. State and city economic development officials talked by phone Tuesday with Holly Sullivan, who led Amazon’s search team. She praised the region’s talented workforce, especially in engineering, robotics, and software development, said people familiar with the call.
It wasn’t clear if tax breaks — or the lack of — were part of the conversation.
In its initial proposal, Massachusetts did not offer any incentives to Amazon beyond relatively modest existing programs available to any company that adds jobs and invests in the state. Talks over HQ2 never advanced to the point where larger subsidies were on the table, people familiar with the discussions said, while both Walsh and Governor Charlie Baker made clear in public comments that they wouldn’t try to win a bidding war for Amazon.
New York State, meanwhile, said Tuesday that it will give Amazon $1.525 billion worth of tax breaks, should it create the promised 25,000 jobs, while Virginia offered $573 million, plus nearly $200 million more in improvements to roads and other infrastructure around Amazon’s campus there.
I'm sure glad those states don't have any problems.
You know, it used to be that the company located in your town to take advantage of the resources and people, and thus bringing value to your town and creating a middle class.
Now, it is a shakedown racket (what do you think this whole Bachelor-like sales pitchathon was anyway?) that sucks wealth from the community and deposits it in the hands of the already obscenely wealthy. The local and state governments then turn around and tell you they need to cut back social services and reopen labor contract benefits to balance budgets.
On top of all that is, in the case of Bezos, a guy who wants to let all the illegals in so they can work at his nonunion factories -- before being replaced by robots!
“That’s an awful lot of money,” said Aaron Jodka, research director at real estate firm Colliers International in Boston. “Were they going to get that kind of money here? Probably not,” but subsidies were likely only one piece of Amazon’s equation, and a small one at that, said Tom Stringer, a site selection consultant with advisory firm BDO. Both Washington and New York have much larger pools of tech workers than Boston. Their built-in advantages as the seat of the federal government, and a global capital of finance and media, respectively, were too much for any other city to overcome, he said.....
It's Bezo's grab for power!
He already has the Washington ComPost for a mouthpiece!
Yeah, the money didn't mean much, but they will take it anyway!
--more--"
Thank God we've got the sports teams winning championships, 'eh?
Editorial No Amazon headquarters, so what?
Yeah, the tech bubble is bursting anyway.
"The steepest drop in oil prices in more than three years put investors in a selling mood Tuesday, extending a losing streak for the S&P 500 index to a fourth day. Energy stocks led a late-afternoon sell-off on Wall Street after the price of US crude oil plunged 7.1 percent to $55.69 a barrel, the lowest level since December 2017. Oil has now fallen for 12 straight days, driven by worries over rising oil production around the world and weakening demand from developing countries. ‘‘You have fears associated with the drop in the price of oil probably moving into the equity market,’’ said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. ‘‘There’s a knee-jerk reaction when you see oil down that it signals economic weakness.’’ Tuesday’s slide in oil prices weighed on energy sector stocks. Halliburton dropped 5.5 percent to $32.27. Losses in health care companies and consumer goods stocks outweighed gains in banks and industrials Tuesday. Financial sector stocks moved higher a day after posting big losses......"
The same thing was happening in 2008 before the crash.
Anybody remember the last time Bo$ton won something?
"GE heads for biggest gain since 2015 as Larry Culp speeds up oil exit" by Brendan Case Bloomberg News November 14, 2018
Chief executive Larry Culp’s decision punctuates the pivot away from oilfield businesses championed by former CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who spent $10 billion on deals in the decade through 2013 and agreed in 2016 to merge GE’s oil businesses with Baker Hughes. Culp is stepping up efforts to raise cash amid mounting pressure on GE to reduce debt levels as the company’s shares languish near a nine-year low and the cost of insuring its bonds against default jumps.
I guess they need the billions in tax loot subsidies each year, huh?
“This starts the long-term separation,” said Luke Lemoine, an analyst at Capital One. “Given the dynamics around GE, they definitely want to see it done.”
The cost to insure against a default by GE for five years climbed to as high as 211 basis points, according to credit-default swaps prices from CMA. That’s almost double what it cost just two weeks ago, and the kind of level that hasn’t been seen for the company since the waning days of the global financial crisis.
Those are the kinds of things that can destroy companies and governments.
Yields on some of GE’s bonds have also reached levels that are in line with junk-rated bonds, Bloomberg Barclays index data show, even though GE’s credit rating is still three notches above speculative grade. The company has a Baa1 rating from Moody’s Investors Service and an equivalent BBB+ from S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. All carry a stable outlook.
Who cares about the ratings from the credit agencies?
They were the ones who rated all the mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations that Wall Street bundled and sold as AAA.
The Baker Hughes deal furthers GE’s push to streamline its portfolio and focus on aviation, power-generation equipment, and renewable energy, but the timing is far from optimal, with the pact coming after a month of declines in oil prices. Baker Hughes closed Monday at its lowest price in 16 years.....
Yeah, timing is everything!
--more--"
Thank God the shares were up!
It's almost enough to make you start using drugs:
"Report shows opioid crisis is costing Mass. workforce billions in lost productivity" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff November 14, 2018
The toll that the opioid epidemic is taking on the Massachusetts economy now has a cost in dollars: $2.7 billion a year in lost business productivity from employees who aren’t functioning at full capacity, and $5.9 billion in lost productivity from people who aren’t even in the workforce.
I want to know how they can even know that without even knowing whose debilitated because of the never-ending problem whose existence ultimately helps money-laundering banks.
Then there are the costs to government: roughly $1.9 billion a year spread among various state agencies, and more than $500 million in public safety costs for cities and towns.
These are just a few of the estimates in a new study from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation that was funded by the new anti-addiction nonprofit, Rize Massachusetts. It marks the first accounting, according to its authors, of the economic toll of the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts.
I'm so tired of being propagandized with newz that is nothing more than pushing the agenda for the powerful.
The taxpayers foundation is hosting an event Friday on the opioid crisis that will feature Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey.
The taxpayers foundation estimates that opioid addiction kept nearly 33,000 people from participating in the labor force each year, on average, over the past five years, and the annual costs to health care providers total nearly $1 billion, some of which is paid by the taxpayer-funded MassHealth and other insurance programs.
Now they care about tax dollars!
The number of opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts dipped slightly last year, by about 4 percent, to roughly 2,100, from the all-time high seen in 2016, but that drop has been attributed to the more widespread availability of naloxone, a drug that can save people who have overdosed, and not a sign that addiction-related problems are abating in a significant way.
Of course not. There is too much money to be made, from the CIA smuggling pipelines which can then fund other black budget projects, to the ill-gotten loot being laundered through banks, to the increasing calls for funding by government to ostensibly fight the problem.
Everybody wins except you, citizen of the state and country.
The personal toll has been well documented, and the Legislature has already passed two laws in recent years aimed at curbing the epidemic and its impacts, but addiction is still stigmatized, and many employers aren’t aware about the extent of the economic damage.
The main goal of the report, the foundation said, is to encourage more business leaders to help with the crisis.
They are “trying to bring this out into the open and let employers realize it’s going to require a collective effort.”
The creation last year of Rize Massachusetts is one of the clearest examples of how business leaders have already stepped up. The initial donors included General Electric, Partners HealthCare, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and the 1199 SEIU health care union, which together contributed nearly $13 million. Rize wants to raise as much as $50 million over the next few years.
I'm so sick of $elf-adulating and $elf-aggrandizing corporate crapola passing itself off as news when it is nothing more than a public relations campaign.
Gee, GE is going down the tubes and yet they still have loot to push an agenda.
Rize executive director Julie Burns hopes the report will end the myth that opioid addiction is only a big problem among the homeless, or people not looking for jobs. It also hits colleagues and employees in offices, factories, and schools.
“For some, it may be a wake-up call. For others, it will give [the issue] a sharper focus,” Burns said of the report. “There needs to be a public-private approach to this problem. Employers need to understand what’s happening in their own workforce.”
Maybe they should form Labor Boards like the Nazis, or better yet, just go full Communist on them.
Yeah, the piss tests and other invasions of your privacy aren't enough.
Remember when Ed Meese said employers should follow their employees into the bar?
Some industries are getting hurt harder than others. Bert Durand, communications director for the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, said many carpenters work through pain so they can earn a living.
Many of them are also illegal, I'm sorry, undocumented, and thus wouldn't want to draw any attention at all.
That can make some more susceptible to the use of painkillers that can lead to addiction. As a result, the council launched a program two years ago that provides members with up to 90 days of addiction services in a recovery home.
“There’s a high demand to perform in the construction industry — if you don’t work, you don’t get paid,” Durand said. “Finding ways to cope with injuries and pain is really important. . . . It’s a perfect storm, in a real bad way.”
--more--"
Related: Methadone industry added 254 new clinics between 2014 and 2018
No wonder the "problem" of addiction is never $olved.
Once something becomes an indu$try, it is pretty much ruined.
After fatal crash, pilots say Boeing didn’t warn of new feature
The Indonesian plane crash investigation is now all the way back on page B10, wow.
What else are they talking about?
"The chief executive of Walmart’s Flipkart Group, Binny Bansal, is stepping down amid an investigation into ‘‘serious personal misconduct,’’ the retailer announced Tuesday. Although the investigation ‘‘did not find evidence to corroborate’’ the allegations against Bansal, it did shed light on the former chief executive’s lapses in judgment, particularly a ‘‘lack of transparency’’ in Bansal’s behavior, Walmart said in a statement. Bansal, 37, denies the allegations. Walmart bought a 77 percent controlling stake in the Indian e-commerce business for $16 billion earlier this year. The deal was the biggest in Walmart’s history, as the company staked its claim in the lucrative Indian market, which boasts 1.3 billion people and a fast-growing economy. Flipkart’s high price tag caused Walmart to lower its earnings forecast for fiscal year 2019."
Why didn't they tell us what the conduct is, and what do you mean they lowered their forecast?
"In time for her 60th birthday, Barbie has a new collaborator bringing her wide-ranging style to life for humans. One of the largest sellers of vintage-inspired clothes, Unique Vintage, is working with Barbie parent Mattel on the first women’s line to meticulously duplicate some of the doll’s most iconic early looks. In the process, the company also has taken care of the one thing critics love to hate about Barbie, her very plastic hourglass physique, by offering the outfits in sizes XS to 4X. The collaboration, Barbie x Unique Vintage, celebrates 1950s and ‘60s Barbie. The doll first hit store shelves in 1959. That year, she stepped out in a swirl of gold and white brocade for evening. The dress sells for $118 on uniquevintage.com. The matching collar coat with three-quarter sleeves trimmed in faux fur goes for $148. The company offers a red pillbox hat, for instance, to go with Barbie’s 1962 red flare coat done in a soft felt with the same swing and puffy three-quarter sleeves and bow the doll wore, down to the white lining done in a white poly satin."
A consumer safety group issued a warning about the obese Barbies.
At least you ladies know what to wear to the office:
"Women’s representation on the boards of top UK companies has reached its highest level ever at 30 percent, an affirmation of government and industry efforts promoting parity. A number of companies are on track to reach a FTSE 100 target of 33 percent female directors by the end of 2020, according to the annual UK Hampton-Alexander review of representation on boards at the country’s biggest companies. Some tokenism remains, as 75 companies in the FTSE 350 have only one woman as a board member, according to the review. France has the highest proportion of women on its largest companies’ boards worldwide at 41 percent. Spain and the United States scored worst in an analysis of 13 of the world’s biggest economies."
But this government and its mouthpiece pre$$ will still spew the rhetoric anyway, despite the hypocrisy.
Here, eat this:
"Demand for healthy, natural food is extending from humans to their pets. Petco’s move, the first of its kind among major pet stores, comes at a time when sales of natural pet foods are steadily rising. Natural pet products still account for a small portion of the US market share but growth has more than doubled to 6.5 percent between 2013 and 2017, according to Nielsen, a data company....."
"It’s going to be a green Christmas for US tree growers thanks to millennials who are opting for pine over plastic. Prices for the iconic holiday trees have surged 17 percent in the past two years, driven by younger consumers who are increasingly seeking locally grown, natural trees, according to a new report from the National Christmas Tree Association and Square Inc. Demand for Christmas trees had previously waned as baby boomers sought artificial trees as their kids moved out of the house, according to the report. Average prices for the natural trees rose to $73 in 2017 from $64 in 2015, and costs are expected to hold steady in 2018, the report said."
So much for the moral superiority of the millennials.
Of course, they are moving back home so maybe that will help save some trees!
If only they would cancel your loan payment.
"Starbucks Corp., on a mission to boost profit and appease apprehensive investors, is dismissing about 5 percent of its non-restaurant workers. The company said it’s laying off about 350 corporate employees, most of whom work in its Seattle headquarters. Starbucks had said in September that an unspecified number of job cuts were coming. The coffee chain is restructuring to speed innovation and pump slowing sales. The chain has been facing more pressure this year to show it can still grow, especially in its home market, where Americans increasingly are looking for healthier options."
Looks like the uproar over race a while back has hurt sales, huh?
Well, pushing the agenda comes with a cost -- or maybe they are just too expensive.
Related: Lord & Taylor settles racial profiling probe, plans to train staff
They made a kickback to, 'er, deal with Healey.
Wanna go get a pizza?
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Now back to the rest of the front page:
Hospital leaders apologize, acknowledge mistakes cost Laura Levis her life
They have unwittingly opened themselves to a lawsuit.
Massachusetts marijuana shopping for rookies
That can go with the FULL PAGE TOTAL WINE AD on PAGE A3 -- although they both seem rather out of place considering the opioid problem in the workforce.
How much was productivity lowered by booze and pot, and did they bother to include the suits in suites in their survey?
[flip to below fold]
It’s way too soon to wonder who will run for Massachusetts governor in 2022. Or is it?
Do I need to answer that, or does not answering that provide you with my answer?
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
My National Lead:
"Trump’s action appears to be unprecedented; there’s no record of a president revoking such a pass from a reporter because he didn’t like the questions the reporter asked. Legal experts say the network’s chances of winning in court are favorable. Although a court would likely give the president and Secret Service the benefit of the doubt if they barred a reporter due to security threats, the First Amendment protects journalists against arbitrary restrictions by government officials....."
Not how Jonathan Turley sees it, but whatever. Says nothing in the Constitution about press conferences or any of that crap. It's just freedom of the printing press to create pamphlets like Paine, Franklin, etc. This is about the self-appointed, self-serving, and self-centered shits in the pre$$.
My Secondary National Lead:
At least 48 are dead in California wildfires and more are still missing
The Globe put the pre$$ and Trump over the fire.
Not only does it burn me up, but the pre$$ should be under fire (figuratively speaking, readers).
What didn't make print but was on the Globe website:
Trump blames California for natural disaster, adding to denunciations of strongly Democratic state
They will gladly take his federal disaster declaration and the money that comes with it, though.
"Hate crimes increased 17 percent last year from 2016, the FBI said Tuesday, rising for the third consecutive year as heated racial rhetoric and actions have come to dominate the news. In addition to the tense political climate, the increase also points to a growing awareness among various law enforcement agencies of the importance of identifying and reporting hate crimes to the FBI. Reporting hate crimes to the FBI is voluntary. Black people accounted for nearly half of hate crime victims last year, according to the FBI. Of those targeted based on religion, 58 percent were Jewish. A man accused of fatally shooting 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh last month had taken to social media to accuse a Jewish organization that helps to resettle migrants of bringing “invaders” to “kill our people.” Much of the country’s political discourse in recent years has been fueled by deep racial divisions......"
The NAACP says “the level of tribalism that was being fueled by presidential candidates, the acceptance of intolerance that has been condoned by President Trump and many others across the country, has simply emboldened individuals to be more open and notorious with their racial hatred” -- and as if on cue, a Missouri teacher is suspended after a student dressed as Klansman.
Of course, if there are no racial problems and there is no hatred, then they are outta work!
If it is not there, then you create it yourself! It's called a false flag and the ma$$ media is copiously plying us with it all day every day. Cui bono?
(Btw, there are now neo-Nazi ties to Pittsburgh, making the event look even more like a false flag fiction than it already did)
Right next to that FBI hogwash was this:
"The parent who took a photo of a group of Wisconsin high school boys giving what appears to be a Nazi salute on the steps of a local courthouse said Tuesday he was simply asking the teens to wave goodbye to their parents before they headed off to prom and never anticipated the image would draw such widespread condemnation. Pete Gust, who operates Wheel Memories and has a son in the photo, said the timing sequence of the shot he took of about 60 boys outside the Sauk County Courthouse in Baraboo last spring showed the teens’ arms extended in various stages as they raised them. ‘‘There was nothing intended in any way shape or form to simulate anything that was offensive to anyone,’’ Gust said. ‘‘If there’s any error, it was me in timing the shot.’’ Gust had posted the photo to his business website after it was taken last May, but took it down Monday after it surfaced in social media posts and was shared widely, prompting strong criticism from individuals and from Jewish organizations.
That is where my print version ended it, and think about that for a minute. Jews saw a picture of boys waving in Wisconsin and made it out to be Nazi salutes.
This is so over-the-top I almost cannot even comment on it. They are seeing things that aren't there and taking things out of context to push their Jewish victimhood agenda.
The web version added this:
‘‘To anyone that was hurt I sincerely apologize,’’ Gust wrote on his website, but one of the students in the photo who did not raise his arm, Jordan Blue, said he believes some of the students did intend to make the Nazi salute as a joke. ‘‘It was very disrespectful to what my beliefs are, and it was a very bad representation of the senior class and the Baraboo School District, because by all means, the Baraboo School District does not support that kind of actions and it is a district that provides many opportunities for the students,’’ Blue told the Baraboo News Republic. ‘‘This is something that I will never forget.’’ The Baraboo school district said it was looking into the matter, and local police said they are helping with that investigation.
Look at the local authorities run and fetch whenever their Jew master whines!
‘‘If the gesture is what it appears to be, the district will pursue any and all available and appropriate actions, including legal, to address the issue,’’ district Superintendent Lori Mueller said in a letter to parents Monday. At the Baraboo School Board meeting Monday night about a-half dozen speakers addressed the matter. Baraboo School Board president Kevin Vodak, stressing that he was speaking as a private citizen, said the photo ‘‘deeply disappointed me, shamed, appalled and angered me.’’ ‘‘The photo has shaken to the core my personal belief of the process that we as a community and as a school district have made to be tolerant, inclusive, accepting, and admitting of all of those who are different from ourselves,’’ he added. Earlier Monday, about 100 people gathered near the courthouse for a unity rally organizers said was aimed at sending a positive message about Baraboo, a community of 12,000 some 115 miles northwest of Milwaukee.‘‘The point is to show Baraboo is about love,’’ said organizer Sherri Schaaf. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland was among those criticizing the photo on social media. ‘‘This is why every single day we work hard to educate. We need to explain what is the danger of hateful ideology rising,’’ the Auschwitz Memorial tweeted.
Yup, this is the second day of coverage for this event, and the agenda couldn't be clearer.
One false flag after another, and we will get to the way Jews express their love for those different from themselves later in this post.
In fact, the sight of supremacist Zionist Jews preaching tolerance and inclusion is becoming sickening.
Of course, anyone pointing that out is deemed mentally ill in the Zionist vassal states like AmeriKa, if they are not ignored:
"The Trump administration Tuesday allowed states to provide more inpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness by tapping Medicaid, a potentially far-reaching move to address issues from homelessness to violence. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Tuesday in a speech to state Medicaid directors, a group that represents Republican and Democratic officials from around the country who are confronting common, deeply-rooted social problems. A longstanding federal law has barred Medicaid from paying for mental health treatment in facilities with more than 16 beds, to prevent ‘‘warehousing’’ of the mentally ill at the expense of federal taxpayers. The lack of inpatient treatment beds for people with mental illness is seen as a common denominator among several national problems: homelessness, police shootings, and acts of mass violence by people with serious mental problems......"
The ACLU has already filed a lawsuit.
After fracturing ribs, Ginsburg skips court session but is improving, spokeswoman say
Coney Barrett.
Trump calls on Florida Democrat to concede, implies fraud
Final count delayed, Georgia election turns to the courts
It's going to be harder for the Democrats to steal those now that the eyes of the nation are watching. Not allowing Democrats to steal the election is being called voter suppression, and the future looks good for such things. It's why women are able to wrestle the House from Republicans and create gridlock.
Maryland to challenge legality of Whitaker’s appointment as acting US attorney general
Why aren't they challenging Rod Rosenstein and his conflicts of interest?
In fact, how does Rosenstein seem to float above all the scandals?
He doesn't even have to testify to Congre$$, and Trump doesn't dare fire him.
WTF?
Related: Feds decline to bring charges against Bernie Sanders' wife in land deal
Was the latest ruling that came down.
They trying to buy Sanders' loyalty?
Rao nominated to fill Kavanaugh’s seat
I know they are going to reopen the case, but how come there hasn't been a flood of women and witnesses regarding any further offenses?
Trumpy Bear returns for the holiday season
Whitaker and Kavanaugh were bumped up and Trump bear replaced this printed lead:
"In an extraordinary move, Melania Trump called publicly Tuesday for the deputy national security adviser to be dismissed. After reports circulated Tuesday that President Donald Trump had decided to remove Mira Ricardel from her post at the National Security Council, Ricardel was among a group of administration officials and other individuals who stood behind President Trump at a White House ceremony celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights....."
My printed WaPo article tells me she is Bolton's girl who "berated people in meetings, yelled at professional staff, argued with the first lady, and spread rumors about Mattis," -- like another Omarosa (where is she now, btw) -- and she ain't going anywhere.
I'm told she clashed with Mrs. Trump during her visit to Africa over things such as seating on the airplane and requests to use the council’s resources, which is obviously a very lame cover story.
The first lady also said there are people in the White House whom she and the president cannot trust. She declined to name anyone but said she had let the president know who they are and ‘‘some don’t work there anymore.’’ Asked if some untrustworthy people still worked in the White House, Mrs. Trump replied, ‘‘Yes.’’
You go, girl!
Related: President Trump, first lady again opt out of Kennedy Center Honors
Certain people were going to be in attendance so.....
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Trump assails Macron and defends decision to skip cemetery visit" by Peter Baker November 14, 2018
WASHINGTON — The attack on President Emmanuel Macron of France underscored the tension that has grown in their relationship. While Macron at first tried to forge a friendship with Trump, the two have since fallen out over a variety of issues. Their meeting in Paris on Saturday was frosty and Macron’s speech at the anniversary ceremony on Sunday was widely perceived as an implicit rebuke of President Trump.
In his tweet, Trump chose to use a distorted version of what Macron said in the interview, even though the French president explained over the weekend what he actually said.
Macron had told the interviewer that Europe needed to defend itself against cyberattacks that originate in a variety of places, including Russia, China, and even the United States. Only later in the interview did he suggest building a European army.
Initial English-language accounts of the French-language interview translated it to make it seem as if Macron was saying that a European army was needed to defend against the United States.
The media got it wrong?
Sacre bleu!
In fact, he said Europe needed to take up its own security burden instead of relying so much on the United States, which is an argument that Trump has made repeatedly.....
Look at the contortion the New York Times is going to to get Macron off the hook!
So what is all the tension about if he AGREES with TRUMP?
--more--"
That was my World Lead, and this was the Secondary Lead below it:
"Trump scoffs at report North Korea has undeclared nuclear sites" by Benjamin Din and Nick Wadhams Bloomberg News November 13, 2018
President Trump played down concern about a new report that identified 13 undeclared North Korean missile bases, saying that the US was fully aware of them and suggesting that negotiations with the country remain on track.
“We fully know about the sites being discussed, nothing new — and nothing happening out of the normal,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!”
The 13 sites are among an estimated 20 bases, small and dispersed across the country, that are believed to have underground facilities containing mobile launchers that can be quickly dispersed to other locations, according to the report from Beyond Parallel, a group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Although not designed as launch sites, the bases could be used to launch short-range as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to the report.
The report’s findings, which were first disclosed by the New York Times, appeared to undermine the Trump administration’s claims that its outreach to Pyongyang is making progress in getting Kim Jong Un’s regime to give up its nuclear weapons program, but experts argue that the country hasn’t made any commitment to dismantle such missile bases yet, so the fact that it would maintain them doesn’t in itself represent a breakdown in talks with the US.
OMG!!!
Talk about great deceptions!
And the WAR-MONGERING BO$TON GLOBE made it the front page lead!
Trump’s directed his tweet at the New York Times story. That report said that while US intelligence knew about the bases, their existence suggested “a great deception” because the country was improving some sites while offering to dismantle another major launching site.
“Just more Fake News,” said Trump.
YUP!
The existence of the bases — which presumably would have to be declared and then dismantled under the US goal of North Korean “denuclearization” — suggests that Pyongyang’s previous efforts to dismantle known missile launch sites or nuclear facilities had little impact on its nuclear program.
“The dispersed nature, small size of operating bases, and tactics and doctrine employed by ballistic missile units provide the best chances for their survival given the KPA’s technology and capabilities,” according to the report, using an acronym for the Korean People’s Army.
The report comes as talks between the US and North Korea hit another snag last week, with a New York meeting between Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and the top negotiator from Pyongyang canceled at the last minute. Trump, who’s cited North Korea’s yearlong freeze on nuclear weapons tests and ballistic missile launches as signs of progress, chalked up the change to a scheduling conflict, adding, “We think it’s going fine, we’re in no rush.”
I personally think the fact that North Korea hasn't launched any missiles is a great thing, and would prefer it stay that way!
In past tweets, he’s also said that Iran’s nuclear threat is over.
It is. They are not making a bomb and are adhering to the agreement Trump reneged on.
Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that Trump was “getting played by Kim Jong Un.”
“We cannot have another summit with North Korea — not with President Trump, not with the secretary of state — unless and until the Kim regime takes concrete, tangible actions to halt and roll back its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs,” Markey said in a statement Monday.
No statement on what Israel is doing in Gaza, 'eh, Ed?
South Korean officials also played down the report’s findings, as did John Bolton, the US national security adviser.
Well that's a switch!
“I don’t comment on matters that may or not pertain to intelligence,” Bolton told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of regional summits in Singapore. “Obviously, we’re very well aware of what’s going on in North Korea.”
Bolton said Trump was still interested in meeting Kim again. “We have indicated to the North Koreans that the president is prepared to have a second summit with Kim Jong Un after the first of the year,” Bolton said.
A spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in described the CSIS report to reporters as “nothing new,” adding that describing North Korea’s missile activities as deceptive risked hindering diplomacy. The spokesman, Kim Eui-keum, said that Pyongyang had never agreed to shut down its short-range missile bases.
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So what I was basically getting on the front page yesterday was more war-mongering fear and distraction from New England's flagshit paper. Great!
"Millions of girls in Pakistan are still out of school, mostly because the government spends less money on education, a leading international rights group said Tuesday — a dire warning, according to a new report released by Human Rights Watch. Pakistani girls are deprived of education for multiple reasons, including a shortage of government schools, the New York-based watchdog said in the 111-page report, entitled ‘‘Shall I Feed My Daughter, or Educate Her?: Barriers to Girls’ Education in Pakistan.’’ Pakistan spent less than 2.8 percent of its GDP on education — far below recommended standards of 4 to 6 percent — in 2017, the rights group said....."
I've stopped caring what JHuman Rights Watch has to say.
So what has Pakistan's government done wrong now?
It's the cozying up to China, isn't it?
"Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the president from dissolving Parliament, raising the possibility that the former prime minister could reclaim the post after weeks of unnerving political drama. Sri Lanka has been in crisis since late last month, when President Maithripala Sirisena abruptly fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, accusing him of being inept and corrupt. He then swore in a new prime minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa, a popular former president who has been accused of human rights abuses. Many lawmakers and government ministers denounced the move. Protests erupted. Wickremesinghe refused to leave his official residence and demanded that Parliament be summoned to prove he still had support. Instead, Sirisena dissolved Parliament and called for new elections. Opponents said he had done so because Rajapaksa could not assemble a majority. The maneuverings were seen as a backdoor way to bring Rajapaksa and his allies back into power. Sirisena saw his power checked for the first time when the court issued its interim order Tuesday....."
The strange thing is all their candidates wear masks when campaigning.
Former SS guard testifies he was aware of camp conditions
I'm not even going to comment. You know why it is there.
Nurse suspected of killing 6 elderly patients in Germany
He is, of course, a Nazi.
Maybe they were responsible for this, too:
"The British Airways pilot was operating Flight BA94 from Montreal on Friday when she contacted the nearest air traffic control tower to inquire whether there were any military exercises over the Atlantic Ocean to which she hadn’t been alerted, according to the Irish Examiner. When controllers told her that the skies were clear, she politely set them straight. She said she and her crew saw bright lights streaking through the air at phenomenal speeds — twice the speed of sound. The Irish Aviation Authority said the reports will be ‘‘investigated.’’
The ubiquitousness of the issue points to its falsity as a cover and distraction, and the web version added this WaComPo insult to the injury:
For many people who read between the classified lines, there was no need. We already know the Truth. This is normally the point at which chortling naysayers would shout their disbelief. After all, for decades the public has been told that aliens don’t actually exist and that people who believed otherwise were crackpots in tinfoil hats, but in an admission straight out of a B movie, the Pentagon recently confirmed that there was a $22 million government program to collect and analyze ‘‘anomalous aerospace threats’’ — government speak for UFOs, and Area 51, the secret base in Nevada whose existence had been denied by the government for decades — has actually existed for decades, the government admitted. It was a test strip for a CIA spy plane and other classified aircraft, according to a CIA history declassified in 2013, and because the government had a giant secret test base in the Nevada desert, it used the area for all kinds of secret testing: putting the A-12 aircraft and the angular F-117 stealth ground attack jet through their paces. So who needs a tinfoil hat now? The admission lent a patina of viability to a century of bizarre, unexplained phenomena, but what of the bright lights over the Atlantic seen by not one but two airline crews responsible for the health and well-being of hundreds of passengers? Aircraft experts told the Irish Examiner that the lights were probably meteorites entering Earth at a low angle. The high speeds were due to acceleration caused by Earth’s gravity. The bright lights were probably the result of friction as the celestial bodies pierced Earth’s atmosphere. Sure. We believe you.
About as much as I believe anything coming from the Washington ComPost.
Yeah, the lying government has now confirmed the existence of UFOs.
Must be why we need a Space Force, huh?
Whatever helps the war-profiteers, 'eh?
Next they will be telling us it was aliens that stopped Navalny from leaving Russia (although it was not immediately clear if he left the country after paying the fine).
Britain, EU agree on a plan for Brexit
The UK should vote again on Brexit until you get it right.
Given all the talk of "nationalism" these days, I'm surprised these ultra-national apartheid monsters never merit a mention (this article was located on the far-right lower-half of page A12, the very back of the first section. You might have even missed it):
"Palestinian factions say Gaza ceasefire reached after worst fighting since 2014 war" By Ruth Eglash, Loveday Morris and Hazem Balousha Washington Post November 13, 2018
ASHKELON, Israel — Palestinian factions in Gaza said they had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel on Tuesday, after the worst outbreak of violence since the two sides fought a 50-day war in the summer of 2014, though analysts warned the security situation remained fragile.
What war?
It's an Israeli turkey shoot every time.
By sundown, the exchange of fire that had rocked Gaza and surrounding Israeli communities with relentless explosions had appeared to stop. The ‘‘joint operations room’’ of armed factions in Gaza — including the armed wing of the militant group Hamas, which rules the territory — said that ceasefire had been reached and would remain in place ‘‘as long as it is committed to by the Zionist enemy.’’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet met for six hours. When they emerged, they did not confirm the agreement, only saying that the Israeli military had been ‘‘instructed to continue its operations as necessary,’’ but Israeli news outlets reported that a ceasefire had been agreed to.
In other words, there is no cease fire agreement and Israel reserves the right to do whatever it damn well pleases.
The reluctance of Israeli officials to acknowledge a ceasefire underscores the delicate balancing act they are playing as they try to reach a long-term agreement with Hamas, which they view as a terrorist group bent on Israel’s destruction.
Got that backwards! It's the Israelis that are bent on destroying Palestinians.
And once again it's the poor Jews narrative with their "delicate balancing act" of forestalling any kind of peace.
Before the latest flare-up, the two sides had been close to such a deal. It would have entailed economic aid for Gaza, including a cash injection and international reconstruction projects, in return for Hamas clamping down on border demonstrations and preventing the use of incendiary kites that have been launched across the border fence into Israel.
I asked about the Palestinian air defenses yesterday!
So a deal was close to alleviating Palestinian suffering and Israel sent in an assassination squad (that surveillance crap is a cover story) to muddy things up at the least.
CUI BONO?
Analysts say the two sides do not have interest in another round of conflict but both are grappling with internal pressure to show strength. Netanyahu, who is approaching an election year, has been criticized for his approach by right-wing members of his coalition and Israeli residents near Gaza. Hamas has been castigated by other militant factions in Gaza for dealing with the enemy.
Criticized by who, Abbas?
The violence on Monday and Tuesday came just as Israel and Hamas looked close to reaching a long-term truce. The renewed fighting was triggered by a botched Israeli operation inside Gaza on Sunday during which seven Palestinian militants were killed, including a Hamas commander. An Israeli officer was also killed.
Look at how they cleaned that whole event up, with no concern or care regarding the violation of Palestinian sovereignty.
The Israeli military said that around 460 rockets were launched from Gaza towards Israel. More than 100 of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense system, but others struck residential buildings.
Israeli jets responded with over 160 airstrikes, which officials said targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second-largest militant faction. The attacks destroyed the headquarters of the Hamas-run al-Aqsa television, other buildings housing its old offices and Hamas’s military intelligence bureau.
They bombed the TV station so that Hamas will not be able to get the coming slaughter out to the world, and how many Palestinians were killed in those airstrikes, WaComPo?
In central Gaza City, near the seafront, the militant group’s four-story internal security building was reduced to rubble, which filled the nearby street. Some houses were damaged as well.
Yeah, houses were damaged, no big deal.
No surprise, either. The Palestinians are packed into Gaza like sardines.
The Israeli military said its naval forces also struck Hamas ships, as well as numerous weapons storehouses and manufacturing facilities.
What were they, fishing boats, because Gaza has no navy!!
After cutting short an overseas trip and returning to Israel, Netanyahu has remained conspicuously silent. Residents of Israel’s southern cities, forced to stay indoors and near protected areas, expressed anger and frustration that a long-term diplomatic solution to the continual rounds of hostilities has yet to be found.
Hundreds of residents of the southern Israeli city of Sderot protested Tuesday night against both the ceasefire and Netanyahu.
‘‘I think it’s time the army went in and cleaned them out, cleaned the whole place,’’ said Shabtai Biran, a resident of Ashkelon, a coastal city a few miles from the northern tip of the Gaza Strip. ‘‘There are innocents here who are getting hurt.’’
If that isn't QUINTESSENTIAL NAZI THINKING, I don't know what is!
What he is describing is ETHNIC CLEANSING, and yet there is not a peep from the West!
One resident of his neighborhood, Shimshon, was killed and two women were seriously injured when a rocket hit their three-story apartment block. The man, a Palestinian from Hebron, was the only fatality reported inside Israel during the bombardment.
Throughout the day, a steady stream of Israeli politicians arrived in the area. Some were more welcome than others.
Tzippi Livni, an opposition leader and former peace negotiator, was chased away by angry residents in Shimshon. Tamar Zandberg, head of the left-wing Meretz party, also received a frosty reception. She said the situation was untenable for Israel and residents of south in particular.
That can mean only one thing: INVASION!
‘‘The problem is that the prime minister is always going for short term solutions. While I support short-term solutions, they need to be part of a longer process,’’ said Zandberg. ‘‘I think that as soon as there is a ceasefire, everything needs to be done to reach a wider peace process,’’ but some members of Netanyahu’s coalition are pushing for more decisive action.
Israeli education minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party, has criticized attempts to broker a deal with Hamas. On Tuesday, after Israeli press reports that Bennet had supported a ceasefire, his office issued a statement describing them as ‘‘completely false.’’
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{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Airbnb sues city over rental rules
Vigorous exercise could help prevent prostate cancer
State investigates after 3 toddlers escape West Bridgewater day care center
Shut her down.
Former state senator Frederick Berry, tireless advocate for the disabled, dies at 68
"A New Hampshire judge has ordered tech giant Amazon to provide authorities with recordings from an Echo smart speaker with Alexa voice capability that investigators seized from a Farmington, N.H., home where two women were killed last year. The Nov. 5 order was issued in the case against Timothy Verrill, 36, who’s charged with killing Christine Sullivan and Jenna Pellegrini in January 2017 in a house on Meaderboro Road. Strafford County Superior Court Justice Steven M. Houran wrote that the Echo device may have captured the chilling moments when Sullivan was stabbed repeatedly. Pellegrini was also stabbed multiple times. The 6-foot-2-inch, 280-pound Verrill has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and several lesser counts stemming from alleged crime scene tampering. “The court finds there is probable cause to believe the server[s] and/or records maintained for or by Amazon.com contain recordings made by the Echo smart speaker from the period of January 27, 2017 to January 29, 2017,” Houran wrote in his two-page ruling, “. . . and that such information contains evidence of crimes committed against Ms. Sullivan, including the attack and possible removal of the body from the kitchen” during that period. Mason Kortz, a clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Cyber Law Clinic at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, said it’s telling that Houran used the probable cause standard, which is the “highest standard for electronic searches,” in weighing the government’s request to obtain the Echo speaker data. The use of that standard, rather than the lower reasonable suspicion standard that applies for other types of searches, shows Houran is “taking seriously the fact that there is a privacy interest that falls under the scope of the Fourth Amendment constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure,” Kortz said. Houran ordered Amazon to “produce forthwith to the court any recordings made by an Echo smart speaker with Alexa voice command capability, FCC ID number ZWJ-0823, from the period of January 27, 2017 to January 29, 2017, as well as any information identifying cellular devices that were paired to that speaker during that time period.” A public defender for Verrill couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Asked for comment on the order, Amazon said in a statement that the company “. . . . Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.” State Police currently have possession of the Echo speaker, which investigators maintain was lawfully seized from the grisly crime scene at 979 Meaderboro Road, according to court papers. Police are attempting to scour electronic devices for evidence with increasing frequency, said Mark Bartholomew, a professor at the University of Buffalo School of Law who specializes in cyberlaw. “More and more, police and prosecutors are viewing household smart devices as evidentiary treasure troves,” Bartholomew wrote in an e-mail. “This is only natural given how ubiquitous smart speakers have become in American households. I don’t think you can expect prosecutors to avoid asking for these digital records out of privacy concerns, particularly in a case like this double murder that has captured the public’s attention.” Bartholomew said the “real question is whether the tech companies can resist these orders. This is new territory for the courts. Tech companies worry about any moves by the legal system that make their products seems less like helpful assistants and more like unwanted snoops. As a result, they sometimes publicly resist rulings like these. If push comes to shove, the tech companies may end up building more safeguards into their systems so that records become impossible to obtain without some sort of code or digital fingerprint from the smart device’s owner.” As for the New Hampshire case, the details are stark. State Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald’s office said in a statement last year that Verrill allegedly stabbed Sullivan and Pellegrini and struck Sullivan in the head “with a blunt object.” Verrill is also accused of concealing the bodies by wrapping them in tarps and coverings and placing them under a porch on the property; pouring Prestone Driveway Heat ice melt onto a blood stain on the porch; and stashing a bloody sheet, Pellegrini’s belongings, and other blood-stained items in trash bags in the basement, the release said. Jury selection in the trial is currently scheduled for late April, records show."
It would seem like they have enough evidence without the Amazon snoop (remember when they told us they weren't listening?), and if that doesn't convince you to let Amazon and the government eavesdrop on you, I don't know what will.
"Authorities are investigating the death of a 27-year-old man who was shot Monday night in Brockton and later died from his wounds at a Boston hospital. The name of the man was not released by Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, whose office is investigating along with Brockton police and State Police. The victim was shot around 6:30 p.m. Monday on Keith Street in Brockton and was rushed to Boston Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, officials said. No arrests have been made, and a possible motive for the shooting has not been released."
A man was shot.
Who cares?
World is a better place without him.
That's the way the rich woman's Globe has made me feel these days.
"A Dorchester man was arrested with a loaded gun during a traffic stop Sunday night after he led police on a half-mile chase down Quincy Street, where he hit two cars, police said. Officers initially stopped Aaron Bailey, 39, for an equipment violation in the area of Columbia Road and Quincy Street shortly before 11 p.m., Boston police said in a statement. As the officers were approaching Bailey’s car to speak with him, he suddenly took off and drove down the street, hitting another motorist and a parked car as he made his way toward Allen Park. The collisions caused minor damage, police said. Bailey finally stopped near 15 Adams St., in front of the park. Officers ordered him to get out of the car and arrested him without incident, at which point they found a loaded handgun underneath the driver’s side door, police said. Bailey was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm (second and subsequent offense), unlawful possession of ammunition, failure to stop for a police officer, leaving the scene of an accident causing property damage (two counts), and negligent operation of a motor vehicle. He was expected to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court, police said."
"A Middleborough man with a long criminal record will stay locked up for a stretch for allegedly striking a Boston police officer with a stolen truck and wounding a second cop during a wild chase over the weekend, authorities said. Robert Bjorkman, 49, appeared Tuesday in South Boston Municipal Court for arraignment on several charges including assault to murder stemming from the pursuit late Saturday morning. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf. Bjorkman was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Nov. 27, according to Suffolk District Attorney John Pappas’s office. Bjorkman’s public defender couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. In a statement Sunday, Boston police provided details of the tense pursuit, which began around 11:27 a.m. Saturday near a construction site at 1436 Columbia Road in South Boston. An officer working a detail was told that a truck had been stolen from the site, so the officer “broadcast a description of the suspect and the vehicle,” the release said. “Another officer working a paid detail in the area observed the stolen motor vehicle and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. With his emergency equipment activated (lights and sirens) the officer followed the suspect vehicle into Dorchester.” Cops tried repeatedly to stop Bjorkman to no avail, according to authorities. “The suspect struck several parked motor vehicles before backing into the officer’s cruiser,” the statement said. “Additional units arrived on scene and continued their attempts to stop the vehicle. As an officer exited his cruiser, the suspect drove towards the officer and struck him with the stolen truck. Officers were able to stop the suspect in the area of 192 Boston Street in Dorchester. Both officers were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.” A police report said the officer who was in a cruiser that Bjorkman allegedly struck reported feeling lower back pain afterward. The second officer who was hit was thrown to the ground onto the sidewalk after being struck with the front right side of the stolen vehicle, the report said. Police said over the weekend that Bjorkman would face additional charges, including malicious destruction of property, larceny of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for police, leaving the scene after personal injury, leaving the scene after property damage, and resisting arrest. Bjorkman is not unfamiliar with the courts. His 14-page criminal history includes a 2011 state prison sentence of five to six years for assault and battery on a person over 60 and unarmed robbery out of Bristol County, according to prosecutors."
"It takes but a few seconds at the keyboard, but it could affect you for the rest of your life. The FBI has launched a public service announcement calling on people to stop and think before they start typing — especially if they end up issuing threats against a school, a person, or a place. The Boston office of the FBI said threats in its region have tripled in the last five years.“Through this effort, we hope to educate the public about the consequences of posting threats online, along with the impact it can have on everyone involved,’’ the FBI statement said. The Boston office covers Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The public service announcement was prepared by the FBI’s Chicago office and features a onetime Chicago college student who posted what the FBI called a threat to commit “mass violence” on social media that was quickly deleted, but the post was brought to the attention of the FBI, and he was arrested. “At the time, I just wasn’t thinking. I used social media to vent . . . People took it as a terrorist threat; the university got shut down; I got arrested by the FBI,’’ he said. “And now, I don’t know what my future looks like.” The man said his actions on that one day are following him on the Internet. “I search my name on the Web almost every day and look at this stuff. It’s not going away,’’ he said. “Think before you post.” The campaign uses the hashtag of #ThinkBeforeYouPost."
As far as I know, Aangirfan never threatened anyone and yet was taken down by Blogger.
Yeah, the corrupt and compromised FBI is concerned about Internet threats as they instigate terror patsy plot set-ups to show us what a great job they are doing while providing the conventional myth narrative so WATCH WHAT YOU SAY, even if it is considered protected speech by the Supreme Court (you just can't act on it).
I would have posted this earlier, but I had to think about it. Can anything I wrote be misconstrued by certain parties (like the Wisconsin kids waving at their parents) as a threat?
I've spent the last 12 years here arguing against all the wars based on lies, and even defended war-criminal presidents against talk of assassination. I would rather have them sent to Gitmo for the rest of their lives, and have advocated nonviolent noncooperation like another nationalist (Gandhi).
Who could that possibly threaten?
