"Did Moscow take a miss on the midterms, to wait for 2020?" by Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff November 15, 2018
Maybe this is as good as it gets. Cybersecurity analysts worry the Russians and perhaps other foreign actors weren’t giving it their best shot, as midterm US elections weren’t a high-value target for them. These specialists think foreign agents will try harder in 2020, when the presidency is at stake. Some say the Russian social media trolls may already have achieved their objective, by poisoning American political discourse for years to come.
OMG!
Yeah, it's the Russians fault.
More like it is the pre$$'s fault.
This year, unknown parties tried it again, according to reports from the US Department of Homeland Security. In the last week of October alone, hackers tried to gain access to voting computers in at six unnamed US states. Two were hit with more than 50,000 login attempts from computers outside the United States, but all those attacks this year were fended off.
If they are unknown then they must be allies like Britain (Steele dossier) or Israel (AIPAC and one of the most sophisticated spying networks on the face of the planet, probably the best in the world to be honest).
It’s all good news, but maybe not as good as we think. After all, it’s probable the Russians weren’t trying all that hard this time.
“It’s much harder to influence from afar a local election then it is to influence a national election,” said Clint Watts, a senior fellow at the Center For Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University and a former FBI agent.
That is why there is an AIPAC, huh?
For one thing, they would need to spread themselves thin in order to shift the outcomes of enough House and Senate races to make the effort worthwhile. The foreigners would need deep knowledge of local US politics to decide which races to target and what tactics to use.
Or they could just read the pre$$.
“I don’t see the Russians seeing the cost-benefit equation playing to their benefit,” Watts said.
Even so, Russia’s disinformation efforts over social media over the years may have done long-term damage. Even if their most extreme messages on race or guns are now being screened out, plenty of angry US residents are happily taking up the slack.
Yeah, anyone who disagrees with the official narrative and has half a brain to think for themselves is going to get kicked off the propaganda platforms. I'm just waiting my turn, even though I have done nothing wrong.
“We have seen an ongoing campaign, continuing to this day, to amplify the most partisan voices in this debate,” said Bret Schafer, a social media analyst for the Alliance for Securing Democracy who specializes in tracking Russian Internet activity. “For two straight years, we’ve seen it every single day.”
I don't know what kind of name Schafer is, but they are right about partisan media.
The result, Schafer fears, is greater polarization of American politics, regardless of what the Russians do in the years ahead. “It’s not about influencing elections,” said Schafer. “It’s about influencing the electorate,” and in that respect, Schafer thinks Russia has already scored a long-term success.
Yeah, right, it is the Russians infiltrating and making us fight over the media-driven issues of race, gender, religion, sexual preference, and all the other ways to drive wedges amongst the populace -- all in the name of $upremaci$t eliti$m.
Stewart Baker, former general counsel of the National Security Agency, favors fighting back against Russian hacking and propaganda by launching information warfare campaigns of our own.
And what if, let's just say for a moment, that they decided to do that against the American people instead, because that is what you are getting with the endless agenda-pushing propaganda coming from my pre$$ day after day after day!
For instance, he thinks American operatives should spread online images depicting Vladimir Putin as weak, even effeminate.
Yeah, let's waste taxpayer dollars doing juvenile things like that.
One can only hope the social media companies cut off such hate, huh?
Oh, that's right, the social media companies were begun by the CIA and work hand in glove with them now!
“Some of his popular support relies on the belief that he’s a macho man who has restored the position of Russia in the world,” said Baker. “Finding ways to puncture that image is definitely worth doing.”
Yeah, sure, the money to pay for it isn't coming out of his pocket.
Before you laugh, remember that the Russians distributed a Facebook ad where Jesus arm-wrestles Satan to prevent a Hillary Clinton presidency. It’s hard to imagine that such an ad would sway a single vote, but who’s to say it didn’t?
And who is to say space aliens didn't celebrate the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims?
Maybe our democracy is intact, but it is obvious from this swill that AmeriKan journal$m is not!
We might be even better served by an international treaty against hacking election computers or planting Internet lies aimed at swaying foreign votes, but then again, maybe the United States won’t be so eager to sign up, given our history of putting our nose in other countries’ elections.
Oh, I'm sorry, what was that last part?
Yeah, don't linger on CIA and US interference in elections across this planet for the last 70 years or so, never mind the perpetual destabilization campaigns toward unfriendly or even friendly governments (Turkey coup attempt, Obama).
Yeah, don't linger on the U.S. hypocrisy, just quickly dispense with it and get back to pushing the lies again.
For now, the most plausible strategy is the kind of vigilance that got us through Nov. 6, 2018, with our democracy mostly intact.....
Because Democrats won!
--more--"
Yeah, if Republicans win, the Russians must have messed with it!
Related:
"Facebook said Thursday it had removed more than a billion fake accounts and taken action against millions of posts, photos, and other forms of content that violated its prohibition against hate speech, terrorist propaganda, and child exploitation, the latest sign that the social-networking giant faces an onslaught of online abuse as it builds new tools to spot it. The report shows that Facebook still struggles to identify hate speech and bullying, in particular, even at a time when social media companies are grappling with the rising tide of racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic content online and the United States is experiencing a rise in hate crimes. In the new report reflecting the company’s activities between April and September, Facebook said it had found and removed roughly 1.5 billion fake accounts, while targeting 12.4 million pieces of terrorist propaganda, 2.2 billion pieces of spam, and 66 million pieces of content that ran afoul of rules barring adult nudity and sexual activity. In doing so, Facebook said it had made progress at deploying its thousands of newly hired reviewers — and powerful artificial-intelligence tools — to enforce its community standards more aggressively. The company said that it catches more than 95 percent of nudity, fake accounts and graphic violence before users report it to Facebook, but for hate speech and a related category, bullying, the company catches 51.6 percent and 14.9 percent of incidents before they are flagged by Facebook users."
Time to face front:
Columbia Gas engineer’s failures at root of gas explosions, NTSB says
Who did they scapegoat?
A small suburb west of Worcester prepares for a pot pilgrimage
The above the fold stories stunk today.
[flip to below fold]
"Dartmouth students sue over alleged sexual assault by professors" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff November 15, 2018
To the scientific community, Dartmouth College’s psychology and brain sciences department was a powerhouse, equipped with the latest technology and celebrated professors producing headline-grabbing research, but it was also a “21st-century Animal House” where three former neuroscience professors groped female students in plain sight, hosted drinking and hot-tub parties with students, openly debated who had the “hottest lab,” and sexually assaulted graduate students, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against Dartmouth on Thursday.
For years Dartmouth did little to rein in the professors — two of whom resigned and one who retired earlier this year — and failed to protect students, according to the suit, filed by seven current and former students in New Hampshire federal District Court.
The suit for the first time details the specific sexual misconduct allegations that thrust Dartmouth into the spotlight last fall, triggered a criminal investigation by the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, and led to the removal of the professors, Todd Heatherton, Paul Whalen, and Bill Kelley.
The complaint describes a party culture where influential professors exercised tremendous control over their students’ academic careers, delaying exams, withholding advisory meetings, and threatening the research and funding of women who shunned their advances. The professors conducted lab meetings at bars, and Kelley “invited undergraduate students to use real cocaine during classes related to addiction as part of a ‘demonstration,’ ” the lawsuit and students allege.
Doing a real mind f*** on the kids, huh?
“I don’t think that anybody in a position of authority should be using their power to demand sexual favors, or any sort of favors,” said Ashwini Narayanan, 18.
Dartmouth, an Ivy League college in Hanover, N.H., had received at least three previous sexual harassment complaints against Heatherton starting in 2002 and at least one against Kelley in 2005, and should have taken action long before the recent group of students complained, according to the lawsuit. The students are seeking $70 million in damages.
“Dartmouth’s conduct was wanton, malicious, outrageous, and conducted with full knowledge of the law,” according to the suit. “Dartmouth exhibited reckless indifference to the foreseeable risks of harm.”
Justin Anderson, a spokesman for Dartmouth, said the college took unprecedented steps in dealing with the professors after an outside investigator found evidence of misconduct. The university was prepared to revoke their tenure before they decided to leave.
“We respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the characterizations of Dartmouth’s actions in the complaint and will respond through our own court filings,” Anderson said in a statement. “We applaud the courage displayed by members of our community within the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) who brought the misconduct allegations to Dartmouth’s attention last year. And we remain open to a fair resolution of the students’ claims through an alternative to the court process.”
I wonder if the kids get sick of the self-serving slop of lies that spew forth from the administration when it comes to these things. Shit went on for 10, 15 years and they all knew about it. Just don't say anything because the illusionary image of the college might be publicly destroyed.
Of course, what is becoming clear is the education $y$tem is more often than not a pedophile procurement ring with the wolves attracted to the fold.
On Thursday, Dartmouth president Phil Hanlon sent an e-mail to the college community defending the review of sexual harassment allegations against the professors as “rigorous, thorough, and fair.”
I shake my head at the tone deafne$$.
Ooooooooooh!
That's what the statements are about!
You don't want to admit guilt before the trial!
Kelley’s attorney declined to comment, and Whalen’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
Heatherton has said that he acted “unprofessionally while intoxicated” at several public events and has apologized for his behavior.
I've said it before, we need to ban booze.
Julie Moore, a Wellesley attorney representing Heatherton, denied her client had any role in creating a toxic culture at Dartmouth and distanced him from the other two professors. Heatherton had no knowledge of any students being sexually assaulted and did not engage in the patterns of conduct that Whalen and Kelley are accused of, she said.
“He repeats that he did not regularly socialize with graduate students and has never had any sexual relationship whatsoever with any student,” Moore said.
Hiring a female attorney was a good optic!
In an interview this week, the six named students in the lawsuit said that the alleged behavior by the professors and Dartmouth’s yearlong investigation and subsequent response left them reeling and betrayed.
My heart goes out to these women.
Several graduate students said that even after they made their complaints in April 2017, they were encouraged by Dartmouth administrators to keep the professors as advisers into the summer to avoid retaliation and the loss of their academic support, but that meant the women had to continue to endure the same sexual harassment they had complained about, according to the lawsuit.
My neck is getting sore from all the head-shaking.
“None of this should have happened to any of us,” said Kristina Rapuano, 30, who completed her PhD at Dartmouth and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University.
In the lawsuit, Rapuano accused Whalen of inappropriately touching her in 2014 in his office, advances that she rejected.
The next year, Rapuano and Kelley attended a neuroscience conference in San Francisco and got drunk. Rapuano alleges that she informed Kelley that sexual contact would be unwelcome, but the two had sex nonetheless. Rapuano said she has no memory of the episode or how she returned to the hotel, but Kelley told her about it, according to the lawsuit.
That is what all those things are: excuses to party!
Rapuano repeatedly tried to establish a more professional footing with Kelley, but felt his willingness to support her work was reliant on her complying with his sexual demands, according to the lawsuit.
“I felt trapped,” Rapuano said in an interview this week.
In 2016, Rapuano explicitly told Kelley she didn’t want a sexual relationship. He later wrote in an e-mail, “I don’t know how to separate the personal from the professional. I don’t know that it makes sense to do so.”
Rapuano went to Heatherton, who conducted research with Kelley, to voice her concerns and in January 2017 contacted Dartmouth’s then-provost to report the sexual harassment, the lawsuit says.
The provost informed Rapuano that she should talk to the Title IX office, which handles sexual harassment complaints, and to her department head, but did not open an investigation, according to Rapuano.
They kicked it around and passed the buck.
Marissa Evans, 22, who worked as an undergraduate in Kelley’s lab, alleged that the professor bombarded her with “unwelcome and offensive” text messages, including naked photos of himself, questions about her sexual practices, and his intention to have sex with her. Evans eventually blocked Kelley’s number and transferred to another lab, according to the suit.
The shrink professor was a perv like Freud!
The women said they all thought they were alone in receiving unwanted and inappropriate attention from their professors. That changed in March 2017 during a professional conference in Los Angeles, according to the students and the lawsuit.
Sasha Brietzke, 26, a doctoral student at Dartmouth, was out at a karaoke event at a Korean bar with other conference participants. Heatherton arrived drunk and called Brietzke over, groped her buttocks, pulled her onto his lap, and asked her what she was doing later that night, according to the suit.
Should have grabbed his juuls real tight!
“I felt really humiliated,” Brietzke said. “This is my introduction to the scientific community, and now I’m a sexual object.”
Brietzke started talking to other female students during the conference and realized that some shared similar experiences. Less than three weeks later, in early April, Rapuano and several other graduate students made a Title IX complaint against Kelley, Whalen, and Heatherton.
According to the lawsuit, Dartmouth didn’t inform the professors about the complaint until July 20 of that year.
Vassiki Chauhan, 27, a doctoral student at Dartmouth and Whalen’s teaching assistant at the time, also wasn’t aware of the allegations.
In mid-April, after a going-away celebration for a research assistant that involved drinking, Chauhan agreed to return to Whalen’s house for another drink.
Whalen repeatedly tried to “initiate sexual contact” and Chauhan kept rejecting his advances, according to the lawsuit.
Chauhan tried to leave multiple times, but Whalen followed her and talked her into staying, she said.
“Whalen then forced her to engage in nonconsensual intercourse with him,” according to the suit.
That claim might be a little iffy.
The next day, Whalen called a meeting with Chauhan, told her to keep their encounter private, and asked her if she thought it was consensual. Chauhan said she told him, “Yeah, I guess,” but after the incident she was in pain and sought medical attention on campus, according to the lawsuit. In the weeks that followed, Whalen kept texting and asking for a meeting, but she made excuses to avoid him, she said.
“I always respectfully replied,” she said. “I felt really cornered about how to tell him to stop.”
She finally told him that she felt uncomfortable with his attention that May when he approached her at a bar. That was their last conversation, Chauhan said.
It looks like she did sort of consent after pressure, but then instantly regretted it.
She had prepared a 10-page statement to present during his disciplinary hearing describing how the experience felt like an open wound, but Whalen resigned first.
“There is also lack of acknowledgment about how badly things were handled and how problematic the culture was,” Chauhan said. “All people want to do now is move on and pretend that Dartmouth is a land of peace and joy.”
I hope they get some catharsis out of the case.
--more--"
Where is the diversity?!
"Dartmouth students shocked, angered over abuse allegations in lawsuit" by John Hilliard Globe Correspondent November 16, 2018
HANOVER, N.H. — Students at Dartmouth College reacted with shock and anger Thursday at allegations made in a federal class-action lawsuit that three neuroscience professors abused women and the institution failed to protect students.
“I don’t think that anybody in a position of authority should be using their power to demand sexual favors, or any sort of favors,” said Ashwini Narayanan, 18.
The allegations — made by seven current and former students — say that the three professors in Dartmouth College’s psychology and brain sciences department groped and sexually assaulted female students, according to the suit.
The professors — Todd Heatherton, Paul Whalen, and Bill Kelley — left the school earlier this year. Heatherton retired, and Whalen and Kelley resigned, the Globe previously reported.
Attorneys for the seven current and former students filed the class-action case in federal court in New Hampshire are seeking $70 million in damages.
News of the suit roiled the campus Thursday, including students like Alessandra Salinas, 19, who said she was stunned to learn about the allegations against the former professors from news reports that morning.
“I was happy to learn that the professors are no longer on campus,” Salinas said.
Salinas supports the group that filed the suit, and said she believes publicity about it will help others who have faced abuse on campus.
“It makes way for other students who might have experienced anything similar [to] feel like they can say something,” Salinas said.
You gotta believe the woman, right?
Joslyn Garavaglia, 18, said she also supported those who spoke out against sexual abuse.
“I’m really against victim blaming. . . . I really hope they feel they have a good place to share their story,” she said.
Victoria Quint, 18, was impressed with the students who came forward to say they experienced sexual abuse from faculty members.
If “something like that happened to me, I hope people [would] support me in taking action,” Quint said.
The lawsuit against Dartmouth comes as the national #MeToo movement continues to push for accountability from men facing allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct.
“In light of a lot of events going on around the country, I guess I’m not surprised,” said Jack Mathis, 19.
Dartmouth senior Annie Ke, 21, also linked the lawsuit to #MeToo and said her first thought when she learned about it was: “This finally reached this campus,” she said.
“Power corrupts people, and I’m not surprised that power within institutions of higher education could do the same thing,” Ke said.
While students who spoke to the Globe said they supported those who filed the lawsuit, some also credited Dartmouth officials for working to create a safer campus.
Connor Hutto, 18, said he believed the school was working to protect students from sexual assault, including support programs for students who experience abuse.
“They’ve been trying their best,” he said.
Yeah.
Where was the Dean Wormer of the school?
Philip J. Hanlon, the college’s president, addressed the campus community in a statement about the lawsuit Thursday, and said Dartmouth offers a range of support services for those who have made reports of sexual assault and misconduct.
They just turned a blind eye and minimized it for years is all.
Links to those services are posted to Dartmouth’s sexual respect website at dartgo.org/sexualrespect, he said.
Samantha Fried, 18, said that she believes the school will ensure no student will face abuse from a faculty member in the future.
“Hopefully, things will be improved because of this,” Fried said.
I've learned not to get my hopes up.
--more--"
Related:
NFL awards Boston Children’s Hospital $14.7m to study brain injury
The study may add to the case supporting a low carb diet.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Trump blasts Mueller probe a week after installing acting AG" by John Wagner Washington Post November 16, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s rant, in a pair of morning tweets, came a week after the installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.
Many of Trump’s complaints in Thursday’s tweets were familiar, but they took on heightened significance with Whitaker now overseeing Mueller’s probe, which is also examining whether Trump has obstructed justice.
The tweets also come as Trump spends time with his personal legal team this week to prepare written answers to questions from Mueller’s team.
‘‘The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess,’’ Trump wrote. ‘‘They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t care how many lives the ruin.’’
He continued: ‘‘These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!’’
He's right, although you might want to avoid the capital letters.
Speaking to reporters later Thursday, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she considered Trump’s tweets to be part of ‘‘an all-out campaign to obstruct the Mueller investigation.’’
SIGH!
How do you obstruct what isn't there?
During an appearance Thursday morning on CNN, Representative Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, said he is concerned that Trump’s description of the ‘‘inner workings’’ of the Mueller investigation could signal Whitaker is inappropriately sharing details about it with the president.
‘‘Of course with this president, we don’t know. He may have simply made that up because he lies all the time,’’ said Nadler, who is in line to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee when Democrats take control of the House in January.
Yeah, he lies all the time, but he is an intentional liar, not a liar-liar like my pre$$.
Nadler said it appears to him that Whitaker was appointed with the ‘‘express purpose of being a hatchet man to sabotage this investigation.’’
Isn't that prejudging him?
--more--"
Related:
"The US Commission on Civil Rights on Thursday urged the Trump administration to resume federal oversight of troubled police departments and reinstate the Justice Department’s community policing office, steps that would reverse former attorney general Jeff Sessions’s effort to limit federal oversight of police departments. The commission’s 200-page report, endorsed by a majority of the eight members, concludes that black Americans, among others, have valid concerns about police violence and a lack of officer accountability. In response, the report concludes, federal officials should resume the practice — abandoned since the election of President Trump — of investigating local police departments accused of systemic civil rights violations. Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department aggressively probed allegations of civil rights violations by police, launching more than two dozen investigations and entering14 consent decrees in which officials agreed to enact reforms and submit to a federal monitor. During his nearly two years leading the Justice Department, Sessions did not launch any new probes into local police departments and publicly disparaged the rigor and accuracy of previous federal investigations that had documented civil rights violations by police. In his final act in office before resigning last week, Sessions issued a memo making it more difficult for federal officials to broker consent decrees....."
Jeff who?
"Pelosi says she has the votes to become next House speaker" by John Wagner and Paul Kane Washington Post November 15, 2018
WASHINGTON — During her remarks, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterm election, which she called ‘‘almost a tsunami.’’ With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber.
Yeah, all when the blue wave was dissipating!
Can you say STOLEN ELECTION?
I knew you could!
She called that ‘‘the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in.’’
At least 17 Democrats oppose Pelosi, setting the stage for an intense battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington.
After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership.
The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for the job she held from 2007 through 2010.
Representative Marcia Fudge, of Ohio, told reporters this week that she’s being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesn’t have the votes.
In an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been taken aback by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible bid.
‘‘Over the last 12 hours, I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of support I’ve received,’’ Fudge said, adding that ‘‘probably closer to 30’’ Democrats have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi.
‘‘Things could change rapidly,’’ she said.
Pelosi must have seen that and said, "Oh, Fudge!"
Thanks for leading us back into the majority! Now sit down!
Fudge, 66, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she considers a run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats, and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi, 78, has received the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Wow, not only a female speaker again, but an African-American one!
In a significant boost Thursday, Representative Karen Bass, of California, whom some have touted as a potential replacement for Pelosi, said in a tweet that she is backing Pelosi for the top leadership post.
I wonder if any Republicans will vote for her.
Also Thursday, Representative Bobby Rush, of Illinois, another caucus member, wrote a letter to colleagues praising Pelosi’s ‘‘insight, fortitude, and strategic thinking’’ and urging support for her speakership bid, but Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said in an interview with CNN on Thursday that Fudge is ‘‘the kind of new leader that we need in this party.’’
The "resistance" is everywhere (like Nazis)!
Did you see who endorsed his speakership?
He added: ‘‘She’s in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. She’s a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, ‘That’s the future of our party, that’s the future of our country, and that’s exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker.’’
You know what that implies about Pelosi, right?
Still, there were signs that some undecided Democrats would fall into line behind Pelosi.
Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, an incoming congresswoman who called for new leadership during her campaign, said she would meet with Pelosi on Friday to talk about committee assignments.
‘‘We can celebrate that diversity, that rainbow of women coming in,’’ said Tlaib, who will be one of the first Muslim women in Congress. ‘‘But I think it’s really important that we also honor it by putting [women] on some really critical committees.’’
Asked what she wants to hear from Pelosi, Tlaib said: ‘‘That working families are important and that me being here and celebrating that I’m a first is important but that she’ll honor it by putting me on critical committees where decisions are made.’’
There is a scenario in which Pelosi could be elected speaker even if her Democratic support falls short: with the help of Republicans.
President Trump said last week that he thinks Pelosi deserves the job and that he could find some GOP votes for her on the House floor if needed.
Representative Tom Reed of New York said that he would be open to supporting Pelosi if she commits in writing to rule changes being sought by the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group that he cochairs.
The rule changes are intended to streamline the process of considering bills with broad bipartisan support on the House floor.
‘‘I’m open to crossing over,’’ Reed said. ‘‘However, I think the reality of the day is they’re going to have to do this on their side.’’
Other Republicans have sounded skeptical about Pelosi drawing Republican votes, given her unpopularity among GOP voters. Asked Wednesday about the prospect of any Republicans supporting Pelosi, Representative Mark Meadows, of North Carolina, said: ‘‘I doubt it.’’
In her news conference, Pelosi didn’t seem interested in prevailing with the help of Republicans.
‘‘I intend to win the speakership with Democratic votes,’’ she said.
Former attorney general Eric Holder, an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as ‘‘an architect of the recent midterm success.’’
That the same Eric Holder who said Wall Street banks were too big to jail and who spied and jailed reporters?
Just gave you an attack strategy against him, and I didn't even mention Fast and Furious.
--more--"
It's all a game of chicken.
Related:
"Democrat Jared Golden, who lagged Republican US Representative Bruce Poliquin in the first round of balloting in Maine’s new voting system, came from behind to flip the House seat representing one of two congressional districts in the state, election officials said Thursday. Election officials declared the state lawmaker the winner after a federal judge denied Poliquin’s request to halt tabulations in the state’s ranked-choice voting system used in last week’s election. Golden’s election adds to the Democrats’ blue wave in the midterm elections. It means there are no US House members in New England who are Republicans. Poliquin received the most first-place votes on Election Day, but additional tallies were required in the four-way race because no one won a majority. After an additional round of voting, Poliquin ended up losing by fewer than 3,000 votes, officials said. The ranked-choice voting system lets voters rank candidates from first to last on the ballot. It provides for eliminations of last-place candidates and reallocations of votes to ensure a majority winner. Maine’s election marked the first use of the system in US House and Senate races. A lawsuit by Poliquin contends the system is unconstitutional. The legal challenge by Poliquin and three GOP activists served as the backdrop in the most expensive congressional race in state history, which pitted Golden, a Marine Corps veteran, against Poliquin, the two-term incumbent. The first round of voting on Election Day ended with Poliquin and Golden both collecting 46 percent of first-place votes, with Poliquin maintaining a slim edge of about 2,000 votes. That would’ve meant a Poliquin victory under Maine’s old voting system, but neither candidate secured a majority, triggering additional voting rounds. The new system adopted by Maine voters in 2016 lets people rank candidates from first to last on the ballot. It provides for additional tabulations in which last-place candidates are eliminated and votes reallocated to ensure the winner gets a majority of the vote. US District Judge Lance Walker on Wednesday heard arguments from attorneys for Poliquin and three GOP activists who contended the system violates the US Constitution. A day later, Walker declined to intervene to stop the process, but Poliquin’s lawsuit remains alive because he didn’t rule on the constitutionality of the system. In his decision, the judge said it doesn’t appear the Constitution prohibits an election process with more than one round of ballot counting. He also said it’s plausible the Constitution allows states ‘‘sufficient leeway to experiment with the election process.’’ ‘‘Moreover, for this court to change the rules of the election, after the votes have been cast, could well offend due process,’’ he wrote. Democrats saw an opportunity even though no incumbent had lost re-election in the sprawling 2nd Congressional District in a hundred years. Golden accused Poliquin of trying to take Mainers’ access to affordable health care away, and pledged to create jobs and protect gun rights. Poliquin, meanwhile, dismissed his challenger as ‘‘a young radical with a socialist agenda’’ and touted his efforts to cut taxes and press for fair trade deals, saying they’ve contributed to economic growth. Two independents, Tiffany Bond and Will Hoar, were also in the race. Together, they collected about 8 percent of the vote total. For now, the ranked-choice voting system is used only in federal races and in statewide primary elections in Maine. It cannot be used in the governor’s race or legislative races because of concerns it runs afoul of the state constitution. Democratic Gov.-elect Janet Mills has vowed to seek to amend the Maine’s constitution so the system can be used in all elections."
It's November 16 and Democrats are still stealing elections!
"A polling place that Rhode Island elections officials initially said did not get a single voter during the midterm elections did get one voter after all. Precinct 2807 in Providence has just 14 registered voters. The state Board of Elections website for days showed that none of them cast a ballot Nov. 6. but a city spokesman tells the Providence Journal the polling station warden was in the process of shutting down the machine when a voter showed. As happens with all votes not counted by a machine, the ballot was placed in an envelope and delivered to the Board of Elections to be manually counted. That lone voter chose all Democrats and approved all three statewide ballot questions. Four people cast ballots in the precinct in the 2016 presidential election."
Also see: Recount ordered in Florida Senate contest
Remember back in 2016 when Trump was criticized for saying he wouldn't accept a loss
Now we have hypocritical, sore-loser Democrats doing exactly that!!
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Staggered evacuation plan questioned in California wildfire’s aftermath
"President Trump will travel to California Saturday to survey damage from the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history, after he provoked a backlash by repeatedly threatening to cut off federal firefighting money even as the inferno and its death toll grew. Last Saturday, when the sheriff’s department was reporting nine fatalities in the Paradise area, Trump posted a tweet blaming state officials and threatened to cut off federal funding unless California improves its forest management. “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” Trump tweeted from France. The tweet prompted pushback from local officials, who said Trump’s statement was demoralizing to emergency workers risking their lives. In his latest budget request, Trump asked Congress to cut the US Forest Service’s funding for the national forest system by 19 percent. Trump softened his tone on Monday evening, saying in a tweet: “I am with you all the way. God Bless all of the victims and families affected.”
He's right about forest mismanagement, and I'm sure Democrats will find a way to criticize his visit even as California Democrats take the federal disaster money.
I think the president is going to be moved, shocked, and humbled by what he sees, readers. May even surprise you with some emotion.
Related:
"California regulators recommended new restrictions Thursday on a widely used pesticide blamed for harming the brains of babies. The Department of Pesticide Regulation issued temporary guidelines for chlorpyrifos that include banning it from crop dusting, discontinuing its use on most crops and increasing perimeters around where it’s applied. The Dow Chemical Co. pesticide currently used on about 60 different crops — including grapes, almonds, and oranges — has increasingly come under fire from regulators, lawmakers, and courts. A federal appeals court in August ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to remove the pesticide from sale in the United States after it ruled the Trump administration endangered public health by reversing an Obama-era effort to ban the chemical. The EPA is appealing that 2-1 ruling to a full panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit....."
Chlorpyrifos is a chemical warfare agent developed by Nazi Germany -- and they are spraying it on your food!
Related: Sunday Globe Cup of Coffee
Yeah, government cares about your health.
Also related:
"When he was 5 years old and battling leukemia, the boy known as Batkid captivated the country as he dramatically ‘‘saved’’ Gotham from the bad guys. He just clinched a much bigger victory: He passed his 5-year mark being cancer free. It is an important milestone for Miles Scott, now 10, who was diagnosed with leukemia when he was an infant. ‘‘He’s doing great!’’ announced the Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area foundation, which helped make his crime-fighting dream come true by staging events across San Francisco as tens of thousands of people watched him lock up the Riddler during a bank heist and save a kidnapped victim from the Penguin. The foundation pulled out all the stops for Miles, converting two black Lamborghinis into Batmobiles, as the tot was guided by pleas of help from San Francisco’s then-Police Chief Greg Suhr. A crowd of 20,000 people gathered to watch the spectacle. Miles, who lives with his parents and younger brothers, is now just a regular kid who loves science and robotics, according to Make-A-Wish."
He will be the one furnishing your apartment.
"An uplifting tale of a homeless man using his last $20 to help a stranded New Jersey woman buy gas was actually a complete lie, manufactured to get strangers to donate more than $400,000 to help the down-and-out good Samaritan, a prosecutor said Thursday, Burlington County prosecutor Scott Coffina announced criminal charges against the couple who told the story to newspapers and television stations along with the homeless man who conspired with them to tell the story. He said the money, donated to the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt, will be refunded to people who saw the story and contributed to him through a GoFundMe page set up by the couple, Mark D’Amico and Katelyn McClure. Bobbitt was arrested Wednesday night by US marshals in Philadelphia and remained in custody Thursday on probation detainers and a $50,000 bond. Coffina said almost no part of the tale was true. McClure didn’t run out of gas. Bobbitt didn’t spot her in trouble and give her money."
The agenda-pushing ma$$ media was fooled by a hoax?
Related(?):
"On Tuesday, James Dobson, 32, was hit and killed by a driver in Mississippi as he rode a specialized tricycle across the country to raise money for children’s cancer research. Dobson was just more than a month into the trip when he was killed, struck from behind by a Dodge Challenger while traveling west on the highway. The driver told officers he “could not avoid” the cyclist, according to a police report. Dobson was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed. Dobson had been documenting his roughly 3,480-mile journey on YouTube and social media. His last “vlog” — or video blog — was shared Tuesday. It was a collection of footage from the day prior that showed Dobson riding through the rain toward Mississippi with a friend. Before he left, Dobson launched a GoFundMe.com campaign to post updates about his trip and collect money for the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock."
He leaves a legacy of optimism, but our streets need to be safer. Now, and the Globe agrees.
("All I really need to accomplish are two lanes for my car," said Richard Burst as he clears snow from his driveway and into Jefferson Road in Webster Groves as he digs out from the snow on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. Photo by Robert Cohen)
Globe shoveled that up so fast they left only a photograph.
Troop contingent on border ‘pretty much peaked’
The ma$$ media coverage peaked before the elections and has been falling ever since, while Trump is going to deport them to Greece.
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"Brexit deal, May face crisis as 2 quit Cabinet" by Stephen Castle November 15, 2018
LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain faced a deep political crisis on Thursday after two Cabinet ministers quit her government, including Dominic Raab, her chief negotiator on withdrawal from the European Union — decisions that threaten to wreck not only her plans for the exit but also her leadership.
The surprise resignation of Raab on Thursday morning followed a tense, five-hour meeting of the Cabinet the previous day, during which ministers reluctantly agreed to sign off on May’s draft plans for departure from the European Union, a process known as Brexit.
Raab’s departure was not only unexpected but also deeply damaging to May’s authority, increasing the risk that she might face a leadership challenge from rebel lawmakers inside her own Conservative Party.
Shortly after his announcement, Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, resigned, adding to the turmoil.
At a news conference at the end of the day, May, projecting her customary confidence, insisted that she was not worried about the prospects for the deal or her own political fortunes.
The pound, an indicator of stability amid the Brexit debate, fell sharply on the news that Raab had resigned and dropped again when the pensions minister stepped down.
The crisis is a grave one for May, who knew even before the resignations that she would struggle to win Parliamentary approval for her draft agreement. She addressed the House of Commons on Thursday morning to sell her deal and for nearly three hours took questions on the deal, nearly all of them ranging from skeptical to outright hostile.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labor Party leader, called May’s agreement “a leap in the dark, an ill-defined deal by a never-defined date.” The continued uncertainty about Britain’s relationship with Europe, lasting at least another two years and possibly much longer, will accelerate the exodus of businesses and investment that is already underway, he said.
“Parliament cannot, and I believe will not,” accept the arrangement, he added.
He should be the next leader of England.
That view was echoed by Ian Blackford, a lawmaker from the Scottish National Party, who said the prime minister was “trying to sell us a deal that is already dead in the water.”
Reflecting the cool response to May’s plan and the talk of a leadership challenge, Laura Kuenssberg, the political editor of the BBC, asked at the prime minister’s news conference, “Is it not the case now that you are in office, but you’re not really in power?” May did not answer directly, sticking firmly to her talking points about the deal and declining to dwell on the politics around it.
European Union officials laid low on Thursday, declining to comment on the drama across the English Channel, or to speculate about what would happen if May were ousted or if Parliament rejected the deal, but speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said the union had gone a long way to satisfy the prime minister’s demands.
Negotiators “think it is the best we can do collectively with the constraints that we have on both sides,” one official said.
May made much the same point: “Nobody has any alternative proposal.”
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I wonder how the British Parliament will vote on it.
Related:
"Europe’s top human rights court ruled that Russian arrests of activist Alexei Navalny have been politically motivated, delivering a broad-ranging if mainly symbolic rebuke of the Kremlin’s methods of keeping domestic opposition at bay. The upper chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay Navalny $72,000 in damages and expenses and called on the country to extend greater legal rights to people protesting peacefully. Even though Russia is one of the 47 countries within the court’s jurisdiction, it has found ways to avoid following the court’s rulings in the past. Nevertheless, the ruling was significant and more far-reaching than many of the court’s past decisions against Russia. It endorsed the position of Navalny, perhaps President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic inside Russia, and unlike a lower-chamber opinion last year, the court found Navalny’s arrests to be politically motivated....."
They hack him, too?
"A lot of people don’t use computers. Most of them aren’t in charge of a nation’s cybersecurity, but one is. Japanese lawmakers were aghast on Wednesday when Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, the minister who heads the government’s cybersecurity office, said during questioning in Parliament that he had no need for the devices and appeared confused when asked about technology. Asked by a lawmaker if nuclear power plants allowed the use of USB drives, a common technology widely considered to be a security risk, Sakurada did not seem to understand what they were. The comments were immediately criticized. “I can’t believe that a person who never used a computer is in charge of cybersecurity measures,” said Masato Imai, an opposition lawmaker. Even before his admission on Wednesday, Sakurada, who is also overseeing the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, had occasionally attracted media coverage for head-scratching public comments....."
"Bangladesh scraps Rohingya return, says no one wants to go" by Julhas Alam and Emily Schmall Associated Press November 15, 2018
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — The huge exodus of Rohingya began in August last year after Myanmar security forces launched a brutal crackdown following attacks by an insurgent group on guard posts. The scale, organization, and ferocity of the operation led to accusations from the international community, including the UN, of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
It's the beginning of the end for someone.
Most people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar do not accept that the Rohingya Muslims are a native ethnic group, viewing them as ‘‘Bengalis’’ who entered illegally from Bangladesh, even though generations of Rohingya have lived in Myanmar.....
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Apparently, the article wasn't enough; the Globe gave me an unaccompanied photo, too.
Same for the Sri Lankans.
More ethnic cleansing and genocide (that is what they are calling for):
"Netanyahu works to stabilize Israeli government amid calls for elections" by Amy Teibel Bloomberg News November 15, 2018
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a trip to Europe and tried Thursday to keep his crumbling government together, as at least two coalition partners advised him to call early elections after his defense minister quit.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, whose Kulanu party holds 10 of parliament’s 120 seats, urged Netanyahu to hold an early vote for the sake of the economy, Ynet reported. Interior Minister Arye Deri, leader of the seven-seat Shas party, also advised an early vote, “for the good of the country,” the website said. Elections are currently scheduled for November 2019, but few Israeli governments survive for a full term.
The coalition was thrown into turmoil Wednesday when Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman resigned and pulled his Yisrael Beitenu party’s five legislators out of the government, saying Netanyahu wasn’t responding forcefully enough to rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza. His departure left the prime minister controlling just 61 Knesset seats, as he did before Liberman joined the government in May 2016.
The eight-seat Jewish Home party has threatened to pull out, too, unless its chairman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett — a Netanyahu rival who also has accused the government of being soft on Gaza — gets the defense portfolio. Netanyahu is due to meet with Bennett Friday, Israel media reported. He also will meet mayors of Gaza border towns who wanted the army to retaliate more forcefully for Hamas’s rocket barrage, the fiercest since the two sides fought a 2014 war.
This is scary.
Now Netanyahu is the voice of reason in the land of ultra-nationalist Zionist militancy.
Public debate on Netanyahu’s approach to Gaza continued to roil the country Thursday. Hundreds of angry border town residents shut down a main artery into Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, and Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi was forced to apologize after he seemed to suggest there was a difference between targeting towns on the periphery and targeting Tel Aviv. Hanegbi said his comments had been misunderstood.
A Hadashot News poll Wednesday night showed that 74 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with Netanyahu’s restraint during the flare-up, while columnists in the left-wing Haaretz newspaper praised the prime minister for having avoided an unnecessary war.
The whole world is upside down!
Netanyahu’s Likud Party would remain the dominant party if elections were held today, winning 29 Knesset seats compared to its current 30, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of 4.4 percent. The big winner would be Netanyahu’s centrist rival Yair Lapid, whose Yesh Atid party would surge to 18 seats from 12, according to the poll.
Amid the political turmoil, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Netanyahu had canceled a planned trip to Austria, where he was to attend a conference on anti-Semitism and meet with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria. The visit to Vienna — the first by an Israeli prime minister in more than 20 years — would have preceded a meeting there of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Netanyahu was seen as instrumental in convincing President Trump to pull out of the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year, and has urged the atomic energy agency to do more to investigate Iran’s nuclear activities.
Looks like the Iran war is on hold until Netanyahu can solidify his position.
Whatever happened to those corruption charges anyway?
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What you notice most about the article is its myopic concern for Israeli politics, with Gaza only mentioned in that context and the debate being whether they cleanse the place or not.
"Counting N. Korea’s nuclear assets a goal for summit, Pence says" by Anne Gearan Washington Post November 16, 2018
The Trump administration will not insist on a complete accounting of North Korean nuclear-related assets ahead of a second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged Thursday.
Pence was asked whether a ‘‘complete list’’ of North Korean weapons and facilities was a condition for a summit envisioned for early next year.
‘‘I think it will be absolutely imperative in this next summit that we come away with a plan for identifying all of the weapons in question, identifying all the development sites, allowing for inspections of the sites and the plan for dismantling nuclear weapons,’’ Pence said in an interview with NBC News.
The listing of nuclear weapons and related sites has been a holdup in talks between the United States and North Korea, which continues to develop its nuclear program, despite what Trump has called a commitment to give up weapons.
Who is lying now!??
The war-mongering AmeriKan media is also still intact!
Veterans of negotiations and administration critics say North Korea is unlikely to ever provide an accurate listing and to ever completely abandon its weapons program.
North Korea postponed scheduled meetings last week in New York, where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was expected to press for the accounting.
Actually, it was the other way around. Pompeo cancelled them.
What do you do with a war pre$$ that constantly lies and distorts anyway?
The Trump administration denies that it is being strung along by North Korea in much the same fashion as previous US administrations.
Who cares if they are?
Tensions are down.
A Center for Strategic and International Studies report this week claims there are an estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases that Pyongyang has continued to develop since Trump and Kim met in June.
That got front-paged until South Korea and Trump called BS.
Pence is attending the sixth ASEAN-US Summit on the sidelines of the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and Related Meetings on Thursday in Singapore.....
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Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Boston’s plastic bag ban begins next month
The Globe tells you what you need to know (yeah, it is going to cost you money).
"BPD gives gang intel to ICE. A lawsuit wants to know how much" by Maria Cramer Globe Staff November 15, 2018
Mayor Martin J. Walsh has touted Boston as a sanctuary city for unauthorized immigrants, but a lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Boston police of labeling Central American teenagers and young men as gang members or gang associates, often with little cause, and entering that information into a database that can be accessed by federal immigration authorities.
OMG!
Now they have gone from being illegal to undocumented to unauthorized!
“Being categorized in this secretive database can have severe consequences both for citizens and noncitizens,” said Kade Crockford, who directs the ACLU’s Technology for Liberty Program. “Over and over again, our colleagues in immigration court at the federal level are complaining that these gang allegations appear in their clients’ immigration cases. . . . The sole reason their clients are picked up by ICE is because they were designated [as gang members] by the city police department.”
Why is the ACLU more worried about illegals than actual citizens?
Boston police declined to comment, citing a policy of not discussing active litigation.
The groups said they filed the complaint because Boston police failed to fulfill a public records request they made in May. The groups are seeking a broad swath of information about how the “gang database” operates, including the number of people labeled gang members or associates and copies of agreements with other law enforcement agencies with access to the regional intelligence center.
The request also sought documents related to the monitoring of area students for gang affiliation, specifically those associated with Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The lawsuit states that police officials have provided incomplete information or argued that they are exempt from releasing the data.
The regional intelligence center has been described as an invaluable mechanism for local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to share information about terrorist threats. A former high-ranking police official said the database is monitored to ensure it complies with federal regulations on intelligence gathering.
The database includes street-level information, such as criminal activity and police observations of people associating with known gang members.
That information helps officers know what is happening on the streets and who might be a threat to public safety, said the official, who requested anonymity because of the ongoing litigation.
“It does save lives at the end of the day,” the official said. The official acknowledged it is possible someone could be misidentified as a gang member.
“Nothing is 100 percent perfect,” the official said.
When it comes to fighting illegal gangs, I'm willing to give them leeway.
A person is entered into the database as a gang member or gang associate based on a point system; someone who has collected 10 points is entered in as a verified gang member, according to the lawsuit.
A person bearing a tattoo associated with a gang will be given eight points, while someone seen with a known gang member receives two points for each interaction.
Why did Aaron Hernandez just come to mind?
In the case of the young man from El Salvador, federal officials said he was classified as a gang member because of his tattoo, the blue and white of his bandana — colors associated with MS-13 — and the fact he was with MS-13 members when he was arrested in Chelsea for carrying a knife.
The gang affiliation led a judge to order him held without bond.
The Globe is withholding his name at his lawyer’s request because the man has received threats from a rival gang of MS-13.
Thomas Nolan, a retired Boston police lieutenant who has studied intelligence centers like Boston’s, testified as an expert in the teenager’s case and said police failed to show he had committed crimes in connection with the gang, one of the requirements outlined in the federal guidelines for intelligence-gathering units.
Yeah, he was just hanging out with the wrong crowd in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“It’s very easy to get into a gang database,” said Nolan, a criminologist. “There is not a huge hurdle.”
The man, who was severely abused as a child and had cognitive disabilities, testified in court that he had left El Salvador because gangs there had threatened to kill him if he didn’t join. He carried the knife for protection, he said, and wore the bandana because it had the colors of his favorite soccer team.
The Boston immigration court judge believed him.
“The fact that the gang database packet consists of conclusory statements that baseball hats, bandanas and a “503” tattoo are indicia of gang violence, without more, does not necessarily convince the court that the respondent is a verified and active gang member,” Judge Mario J. Sturla wrote in a June 2018 decision.
Sturla approved the man’s application for permanent residency and ordered his release. By that point he had been held for seven months, said Ragini N. Shah, his lawyer.
He has since been reunited with his infant son and is trying to finish high school, she said.....
While working hard to put food on the table, got it.
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Related:
"A federal grand jury Thursday indicted a 27-year-old Mexican man in connection with a bloody rampage aboard a fishing boat about 55 miles off the Massachusetts coast that left one person dead, federal prosecutors said. Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez was indicted on one count of murder in the second degree, one count of attempted murder, and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office for Massachusetts. On Sept. 23, the 82-foot Virginia-based fishing trawler, the Captain Billy Haver, was about 55 miles from Nantucket with seven crew members aboard, including Vazquez, when violence erupted, according to the attorney’s office. At some point in the afternoon, Vazquez allegedly attacked three crew members while wielding a knife and hammer, before scampering up the ship’s mast while others aboard tried to capture him, authorities said. The ship’s captain placed a distress call, and a German cruise ship responded. Two of the wounded were taken aboard the cruise ship, where one victim was pronounced dead by the ship’s doctor, federal prosecutors said. In released audio of the mayday call for help, the captain said, “We have a man gone crazy here on the boat, man. . . . One of the crew members went crazy. He started hitting people in the head with a hammer. I got three men that’s injured right now. One, I can’t wake him up. I don’t know if he’s dead or not.” Vazquez, who is living in the United States illegally, has been detained since he was arrested and charged Sept. 24, according to the attorney’s office. In March, he was arrested in Virginia for allegedly trying to strangle his 20-year-old wife and abducting her. Now, he faces up to life in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the second degree murder charge, according to federal authorities. He could also face up to 20 years behind bars, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine if found guilty of the attempted murder charge and up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the assault charge, authorities said. Vazquez would be subject to deportation proceedings after the completion of any sentence, according to the attorney’s office. A message left with Vazquez’s attorney was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon."
Related: Man charged with murdering shipmate allegedly assaulted wife in Virginia
He just went ‘crazy.’
Like these guys:
2 women found dead at Springfield home of Stewart Weldon were bound
The unredacted records offer the most vivid account to date of the crime scene.
Who knew there was a serial killer in Springfield?
Man shouts ‘Heil Hitler, Heil Trump’ during ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ show in Baltimore
How do we know it is another complete fake and fraud to push the narrative?
The theater scare comes a few weeks after a gunman fatally shot 11 people inside a Pittsburgh synagogue, the offending theatergoer was quietly escorted out of the Baltimore theater by security, and the show continued without incident after the intermission ended even though ‘‘everyone was shaken up’’ in the audience for the remainder of the night.
A Baltimore police spokeswoman, Det. Chakia Fennoy, said officers did respond to the Hippodrome at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday, but no arrest was made and no report was written. ‘‘The man just left on his own,’’ she said. When asked why the police response ended there, Fennoy said she didn’t have more details to share.
There you go.
It was staged event!
No arrest made, no report even written?!!!?
So was he escorted or did he leave on his own?
You know, the first rule of a false flag and cover story is consistency.
Hello!?
‘‘Fiddler on the Roof’’ is a bittersweet musical revolving around a poor Orthodox Jewish milkman, his rebellious daughters and other community members of a village in czarist Russia, and their faith that is tested by progress and repression. Set in 1905, it’s based on stories originally written in Yiddish by Sholom Aleichem.
Except the Bolsheviks were Jewish (looks like they rolled that blog into oblivion).
The good news is they have, in fact, identified the perpetrator.
Related:
UMass Amherst chancellor condemns acts of hate on campus
Three swastikas found at high school in Boxford
They are pushing the agenda so hard now that they are jumping the shark.
Speaking of the sea and agendas:
56 sea turtles wash ashore on Cape Cod; experts blame cold
They are only focused on saving these turtles in need of medical assistance.
Fishermen who were clinging to emergency raft rescued off Maine coast
The boat started taking on water so they called Massport.
"Wanted fugitive captured in Cambridge with guns, body armor; three others arrested" by John R. Ellement Globe Staff November 15, 2018
A months-long search for a Massachusetts parole violator ended in a Cambridge apartment Wednesday when State Police captured the wanted man — plus a man wanted by New Hampshire authorities, as well as a rifle with a collapsible stock, a pistol, body armor, and suspected drugs, and with the help of Cambridge police, a dog named Oreo found in the Franklin Street apartment was returned to a homeless couple from whom the animal had been recently stolen, officials said.
According to State Police, troopers assigned to the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and state Parole Board had been looking for Matthew Haley, who allegedly violated terms of his parole in connection with an assault and battery with a dangerous weapon conviction.
Investigators tracked Haley to the Cambridge residence, and early Wednesday morning, heavily armored police, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives rushed into the unit, State Police spokesman David Procopio wrote in an e-mail.
As law enforcement went in the door, police stationed outside saw two men clamber onto an exterior porch and one of them — later identified as Haley — started climbing down in an apparent attempt to escape arriving officers.
Haley, along with the three other men, were taken into custody without further incident.
During the search, police found Oreo, a mostly black pit bull.
“The Cambridge Police Department took custody of the pit bull and made arrangements with the Cambridge Animal Commission to reunite the owners with their dog,’’ Cambridge police spokesman Jeremy Warnick wrote in an e-mail. “Shortly thereafter, ‘Oreo’ was reunited with its owners . . . a homeless couple that stays in the Cambridge area.”
Such matter of fact acceptance in regards to the homelessness.
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Related:
"A 59-year-old man shot by Auburn police after he allegedly ignored repeated commands to drop his sawed-off .22-caliber rifle in the parking lot of a local gas station has died, prosecutors said Thursday. The man, Joseph Loughery of Dublin, N.H., was shot Wednesday and was later pronounced dead at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, according to District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.’s office. In a statement, Early’s office said Loughery “was shot by police after he ignored repeated commands by the officers to disarm. Mr. Loughery was approached by officers at about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday while he was sitting in a pickup truck in the parking area of the Shell gas station at 380 Southbridge St.” in Auburn. The release said Loughery “was holding a sawed-off .22-calliber (sic) rifle and moving his arms while officers shouted for him to disarm. Witnesses heard and video captured the officers repeatedly shouting, ‘drop the gun,’ ‘don’t do it,’ and ‘let us help you.’ The officers were not injured in the confrontation.” An autopsy was expected to be completed Thursday. “A relative of Mr. Loughery had called Dublin Police at about 11 a.m. requesting a welfare check on Mr. Loughery,” the statement said. “The relative had earlier contacted the Dublin Police indicating that Mr. Loughery was missing. Using a cell phone application, the relative was able to track the vehicle to Auburn. Auburn Police were notified to be on the lookout for the pickup truck.” Prosecutors said the officers “involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave based on department policy while the investigation continues.”
I'll bet the relative is wishing he had never made the call.
So when is the funeral, and when did Matt Damon and Amy Schumer start dating?
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"A rebound in technology companies and banks helped reverse an early slide for stocks Thursday, breaking a five-day losing streak for the market. ‘‘We’re going back and forth between days when investors are taking risk-off and days when they’re taking risk back on,’’ said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private clients at Glenmede. ‘‘We’re probably going to go through a period of this basically because it’s hard for investors to figure out where we are at this stage of the economic cycle.’’
Blame China.
Related:
Liquidation sale underway at popular family campground on Cape Cod
You shouldn't smoke in a sleeping bag.
"Small birds are having a big moment. Tiny turkeys will increasingly grace Thanksgiving tables next week, thanks to the millennial generation’s ongoing campaign to remake American gastronomy. The holiday depicted by Norman Rockwell — Grandma showing off a cooked bird so plump it weighs down a banquet plate — is still common. But smaller families, growing guilt over wasteful leftovers, and a preference for free-range fowl have all played roles in the emergence of petite poultry as a holiday dinner centerpiece. These turkeys weigh in the neighborhood of six pounds. Bell & Evans is working with a breeder to make tiny turkeys that consumers will eat all year."
They care about the birds but not the trees, huh?
I, for one, am tired of my pre$$ catering to the self-centered and self-absorbed millennial class.
"A dual citizen of Ireland and the United States has pleaded guilty to a $1.5 million mortgage fraud scheme. Patrick Lee entered his plea to federal charges of wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction Tuesday. Prosecutors say the 45-year-old Lee engaged in the scheme from 2005 to 2007 before the housing bubble burst. They say he and others converted multi-family buildings in Boston into condominiums, made fake mortgage loan applications and forged property appraisals. The properties eventually went into foreclosure, and the lenders lost money. Lee was extradited from Ireland to face his charges. His extradition was the first from Ireland to the United States since 2012. Lee faces up to 20 years in prison during his sentencing scheduled for Feb. 28."
Here is his cellmate:
"Ex-State Street executive sentenced in secret commissions case" by Globe Staff November 15, 2018
Edward Pennings, a former senior managing director of State Street Corp. in Europe, has been sentenced to six months in prison for his role in defrauding at least six of the bank’s clients through secret commissions on billions of dollars of securities trades.
Pennings, 47, of Surrey, England, was the head of Boston-based State Street’s portfolio solutions group for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He was sentenced on Wednesday by US District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office in Boston.
In June 2017, Pennings pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. In October, codefendant Ross McLellan, 47, of Hingham, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release after being convicted by a federal jury of one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, and two counts of wire fraud.
Richard Boomgaardt, 44, of Sevenoaks, England, a former managing director of State Street, who was charged separately for his involvement in the scheme, pleaded guilty in July 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud and was sentenced in July 2018 to one year of probation.
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Thank God our democracy is still intact, 'eh?
