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‘We’re Just Not Into Her’ – Hillary Clinton Losing Support of Millennials
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Patrick Henningsen 21st Century WireWhat s up with the millennials? The Clinton campaign may have felt a jolt after seeing the front page headline from this morning s Wall Street Journal which read, Millennials Have Cooled on Hillary Clinton, Forcing a Campaign Reset. Traditionally, the 21 to 35 year old age bracket (born 1980-1993 in our epoch) has been a bastion of the Democratic Party. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, Hillary Clinton s lead over Republican Donald J. Trump among under 35 s plummeted in the month of August from 25 points down to only 5 points. Pretty shocking, but even more so in a week that has seen a Hillary health scare, resulting in Trump surging ahead of Clinton in multiple national polls, and also in perennially pivotal electoral patches like Florida and Ohio.So what s up? Why can t Hillary chill with the millennials, like Barack once did?Back when she was battling Bernie Sanders in the primaries, Clinton pulled out all the stops for the millennials even promising America s students a debt free college experience including free university tuition. Somehow, Hillary s sizzle has failed to produce the Bern with this crucial demographic. As much as they would love for it to be true, even the most optimistic of students knows that free tuition for all is nothing more than pie in the sky, with some left feeling patronized in a way that voters have come to expect from desperate politicians making increasingly desperate promises on the campaign trail these days. What s really being overlooked by Democrat Party elites here though, is the uncomfortable truth that the old party ways simply aren t working anymore, and the Clinton campaign is not viewed as transformative (as Colin Powell calls it) and thus, millennials are finding it difficult to get behind it.So if they are no longer with Hillary, where are they going? Definitely not to the GOP. Trump is a non-starter when it comes to millennials, many of which are already registered Democrats. No offense to Trump supporters, but that s just the way it is there s simply not enough young deplorable jugend to go around. Both Trump and Clinton are two of the oldest potential president elects ever to face off in a general election, at 70, 69 yrs old respectively. Instead, a sizeable number of young swing(ing) voters are flocking to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, who is currently polling at around 9% nationally, and also to Green Party candidate Jill Stein who is polling around 4%.One aspect worth noting here is that, unlike their generational predecessors, 21st century millennials are not afraid to take a risk on what they might view as a political start-up like the Libertarian or Green party. While traditional two-party system dinosaurs dream of squeezing rich donors at fundraising dinners, millennials dream of Podemos and crowdfunding the next revolution. But digital Jerusalem is still a ways off, and here is where idealism inevitably clashes with hard-core political reality: with the Trump-Clinton race in a near dead heat, millennials who have migrated into those alternative Johnson and Stein camps will indirectly decide the 2016 Election in much the same way that Independent candidate Ralph Nader did in 2000 and to a lesser extent in 2004, although it s not so easy to calculate between Clinton and Trump exactly who will be the chief beneficiary from that alternative displacement vote. CHILLERY: Clinton is struggling to excite the millennial voters (Illustration: TrumpNews)There is another spanner in the Democratic machine which no one is talking about, and one which could certainly hurt Hillary Clinton, and help Donald Trump on November 8th. One pronounced crimp in the Clinton juggernaut came as a result of the Wikileaks DNC email leaks which revealed how, in its effort to shoe-in Clinton ahead of this past summer s party convention, the Democratic Party conspired to railroad the Bernie Sanders campaign effectively killing its mercurial millennial phenomenon. Old party hacks might not understand why this is so important because they are so wrapped up in time-honored Tammany Hall traditions, but to young idealistic millennials, this party betrayal would not only be viewed as unfair, but also as undemocratic, and rightly so. As a result, a nationwide write-in campaign for Sanders as President has begun to pick up steam. If this pulls in 2%, or even 1% away from Hillary s tally, especially in the key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Arizona or Michigan, then the race becomes even tighter still, and more unpredictable.This excerpt from the Reason report (below) should be the most sobering of all for Democrats, and it reveals the source of their fatal disconnect:A Reason-Rupe poll of millennials in 2014 found 66 percent of them believing government was wasteful and inefficient even as many said they planned to vote Democrat in that year and in 2016. The drop off in support for Democrats is unsurprising, given that the rhetoric about government that Democrats deploy does not match the reality on the ground.In other word: the Democrats are as addicted to lying as any other political organization, and this cannot be fixed it s an institutional thing.In order to shore-up the millennial gap, the Democratic Party has dispatched its cohort of rock stars to college campuses across the country in order to woo millennials. Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and even Sanders (how Bernie could go out stumping after the DNC Leaks is pretty amazing in itself) have been sent like missionaries to the four corners of the country, in order to try and win back those millions of lost liberal souls, and lead them back into the party flock.To millennials, Bernie Sanders primary election loss dashed their hopes in much the same way Ron Paul supporters felt in 2012 betrayed by a collusion between party mob bosses and the mainstream media. In both cases, aside from the obvious corruption, what was really dashed was the idealistic view that their generation had a real and meaningful stake in US politics and could even elevate its own candidate in a national election. Millions of previously disengaged voters finally found an original voice that resonated with their generation, and to see that voice crushed by political insiders and media operatives is a bitter pill to swallow. In America s winner-take-all system of Presidential elections, there is only room for one party winner a reality which will continue to frustrate young voters going forward, many of whom are well aware of parliamentary systems in other nation states, and systems which appear to allow more plurality when it comes to choosing a viable political leader. Like it or not, managing those global expectations in terms of party and leadership choice is a reality that America will have to contend with in the future.With so many free radicals still orbiting this election, it will be tricky to project a clear winner. Shades of 2000 perhaps, but this year there will be no hanging chads, but maybe something worse. Half the voters will be blaming either Obama (vote rigging), or Putin (vote hacking), as a reaction to any perceived electoral stitch-up (see #HashTagHell).It s a tricky year for the bookies, but one thing you can bet on is a serious fall-out after election day. So brace yourself, because in case you haven t noticed, many Americans are viewing this election as a true do or die moment.In a United States already polarized along very pronounced partisan lines, whichever the result, one side will be baying for blood. That s just the way it is this year.Author Patrick Henningsen is journalist and geopolitical analyst for 21WIRE and host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show and also ON THE QT [email protected]. Here s more useful analysis on the 2016 millennial dynamic from Ed Krayewski at Reason ReasonA number of new polls show Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson doing very well with millennials and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton underperforming with the same demographic that helped President Obama build winning coalitions in 2008 and 2012.A New York Times/CBS poll shows 26 percent of voters under the age of 29 supporting Johnson and a further 10 percent supporting Green presidential nominee Jill Stein. Similarly, a Quinnipiac poll shows Johnson at 29 percent of young voters, and Stein at 15. In that poll, Clinton barely edges out Johnson among young voters, getting 31 percent. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is at 26 percent among that demographic in the poll. Further, a Global Strategy Group poll of millennials in 11 battleground states found 73 percent of millennials saying that Trump was a racist, and just 38 percent supporting Clinton in a 4-way matchup.The results have yielded unsurprising hand-wringing from older liberals who feel the vote of millennials belongs to them. Clara Jeffrey, editor-in-chief of Mother Jones, tweeted that she has never hated millennials more in response to the NYT/CBS poll, which earned refreshing responses from millennials Continue this story at ReasonREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files
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Middle-east
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September 17, 2016
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POLITICAL SHOCKER: Barney Frank Is In Trump’s Camp On The Solution To Radical Islam
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We can all agree on solutions to end terrorism but it takes something like a horrific terror attack to ditch the pc and work together to enforce common sense solutions that REALLY work. One of the best but more controversial methods of weeding out terror is surveillance. The political shocker of the week is that Barney Frank and Donald Trump are coming together in agreement on surveillance!Barney Frank, a long serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts, voiced concerns regarding the safety of gay Americans, an Islamic element in terrorism and an increased need for surveillance.Frank spoke of the attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando this weekend in an interview with the New York Times Monday. It s an attack against gay people but it does not reflect a general deterioration of our standing in America, he said. It reflects the virulence of the hatred in this sector of Islam. Frank represented Massachusetts in the House for 32 years, completing his final term in office in 2013. He came out publicly as gay in 1987, the first member of Congress to voluntarily do so, and has been a vocal gay rights advocate.The former Massachusetts representative said he d like to see more monitoring of people with extreme Islamic beliefs by both the Muslim community and government agencies. There is an Islamic element here, he told the Times. Yes, the overwhelming majority of Muslims don t do this, but there is clearly, sadly, an element in the interpretation of Islam that has some currency, some interpretation in the Middle East that encourages killing people - and L.G.B.T. people are on that list. And I think it is fair to ask leaders of the Islamic community, religious and otherwise, to spend some time combatting this. Frank said the mass shooting reinforces his belief that there should be significant surveillance of people identified by the FBI to have radical beliefs.The lone shooter, Omar Mateen, was interviewed by the FBI twice in recent years, but as a connection could not be drawn between him and terrorist organizations, both investigations were closed.Law enforcement officials say the gunman pledged his allegiance to ISIS during a 911 call just before the shooting.The day after 50 people including Mateen were fatally wounded, the Islamic State issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.President Barack Obama said Monday that there is no clear evidence the shooting was apart of a larger plot or directed by a terrorist organization. Read more: masslive
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politics
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Jun 13, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more persuasive despite the misinformation.
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Kenya's Odinga says October poll would be illegal
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LONDON (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Friday his withdrawal from a presidential election rerun scheduled for Oct. 26 meant the poll had been canceled and there should be fresh nominations for a new vote. Odinga said that based on a 2013 Supreme Court ruling, Kenya s Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) now had 90 days to accept new nominations following his withdrawal this week from the rerun against President Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta and Odinga were due to return to the polls because the Supreme Court nullified Kenyatta s win in an Aug. 8 election, citing procedural irregularities. But Odinga s withdrawal this week has thrown the country into political turmoil. A regional and trade gateway, Kenya is East Africa s richest economy and an important Western ally in the fight against militant Islamists in the region. The opposition leader said he could return to the Supreme Court to seek a clarification, but if the IEBC went ahead with the Oct. 26 election it would be in breach of the law . If it goes ahead it is not an election, it is a selection, Odinga told Reuters in an interview during a visit to London. This must be done right in the interest of electoral democracy in our country. As far as we are concerned, the elections are canceled and we expect that the IEBC will return to the process of nominations shortly, he said. Odinga s withdrawal had fueled speculation about whether the vote would go ahead at all. But on Wednesday, the election board said the polls would be held as planned and all eight of the original candidates would be on the ballot. Only Odinga and Kenyatta polled more than 1 percent in the August election. Odinga said the only relevant law now was the Supreme Court decision of 2013 stating that if a presidential election were nullified, the election commission would hold a ballot in which the president-elect and the petitioner were the only candidates. That law also goes on to say that if one of the candidates dies or pulls out, the election commission is obligated to carry out fresh nominations. That is where we are right now, he said. What we are demanding is that the electoral commission should respect the Supreme Court and carry out elections in accordance with the ruling, Odinga said. If need be we will go for clarification. In 2013, Kenyatta defeated Odinga in a hotly contested election. Odinga challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which ruled that Kenyatta had won fairly. The standoff over the elections has sparked demonstrations, but the numbers of protesters has tended to be in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Earlier on Friday, police used teargas to disperse demonstrations in Kenya s three main cities, and shot dead two protesters in the southwestern country of Siaya, a local official said. On Thursday, the government banned demonstrations in the centers of the capital Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and the western city of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold. The interior minister said demonstrators had damaged and looted property. Odinga said he supported the right of Kenyans to demonstrate enshrined in the constitution and accused heavy policing for any outbreak of violence. (The government) are talking about a benevolent dictatorship - we can assure them that the people of Kenya will not take it lying down, Odinga said. The government sending the police to stop the people by throwing teargas and using live bullets, they are basically violating the fundamental rights of the people ... I support the exercise of their fundamental right.
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worldnews
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October 13, 2017
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Mexico expels North Korean ambassador over nuclear tests
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican government on Thursday said it had declared the North Korean ambassador to Mexico persona non grata in protest at the country s nuclear tests, an unusually firm step that moved it closely into line with Washington. In a statement, the government said it had given Kim Hyong Gil 72 hours to leave Mexico in order to express its absolute rejection of North Korea s recent nuclear activity, describing it as a grave threat to the region and the world. Mexico has traditionally sought to steer clear of diplomatic ructions, but in the past few months it has adopted robust language to condemn the governments of Venezuela and North Korea as they descended into increasing international isolation. Facing a rocky relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump due to his threats to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico has backed him diplomatically on issues that imply no great political cost for the government. North Korea s nuclear activity is a serious risk for international peace and security and represents a growing threat to nations in the region, including fundamental allies of Mexico like Japan and South Korea, the Mexican government said. Mexico s step follows a tide of international condemnation of North Korea for repeated missile launches in recent weeks that intensified again following a nuclear test on Sunday. An official at the Mexican foreign ministry noted, however, that President Enrique Pena Nieto s government was not breaking diplomatic ties with North Korea.
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worldnews
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September 7, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Mexican senator to propose anti-Trump expropriation law
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican senator is proposing legislation to empower the government to retaliate if a U.S. administration led by Donald Trump inflicts expropriations or economic losses on his country to make it pay for a border wall. Republican presidential nominee Trump has vowed to have Mexico fund the planned wall to keep out illegal immigrants if he is elected, and threatened to fund it by blocking remittances sent home by Mexicans living in the United States. Armando Rios Piter, an opposition senator for the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), will next week present the initiative he hopes will protect Mexicans, and highlight the risks of targeting them economically. The plan offers a taste of the kind of tit-for-tat measures that could gain traction between the two heavily-integrated economies if Trump wins the presidency at the Nov. 8 election. In a preliminary summary of the proposal, which also foresees giving the Senate the power to disavow international treaties when the interests of Mexico or its companies are threatened by other signatories, it states: “In cases where the property/assets of (our) fellow citizens or companies are affected by a foreign government, as Donald Trump has threatened, the Mexican government should proportionally expropriate assets and properties of foreigners from that country on our territory.” Total remittances to Mexico from abroad - most of which come from the United States - were worth nearly $25 billion last year, according to the central bank. Bilateral trade between the two nations is worth about half a trillion dollars a year. Trump has also threatened to tear up a trade deal with Mexico if it is not recast in the United States’ favor. He met President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City this week, sparking fierce criticism in Mexico of the government for hosting him. Afterwards, Trump repeated his pledge to make Mexico foot the bill for the wall. Mexico says it will not pay. It is yet to be established how such expropriations could work, nor is it clear what chance the bill could have of passing. The PRD and other leftist parties hold less than a quarter of the 128 seats in Mexico’s Senate. Rios Piter said his aim was to counter threats by Trump to target Mexicans in the United States and to stress that the economic welfare of both nations is at stake. “At a time like this, it’s vital for us to understand why this relationship benefits both. We’re neighbors, we’re friends, we’re partners,” he said. “He’s putting (that) at risk.” The initiative also seeks to protect Mexico against unilateral changes to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has threatened to ditch.
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politicsNews
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September 2, 2016
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Rubio keeps swinging at Trump after Republican debate
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Friday called front-runner Donald Trump a “con artist,” pledging to expose the real estate mogul and pressure him to reveal his finances. In a series of television interviews, the U.S. senator from Florida said working-class voters are being fooled by Trump’s lofty promises, despite his own string of lawsuits and the bankruptcies of Trump-related companies. “We are not going to turn over the conservative movement to a con artist who is telling people one thing but has spent 40 years sticking it to working Americans and now claims to be their champion,” he said on NBC’s “Today” program. Rubio’s comments echoed the attacks he and fellow senator and candidate Ted Cruz made on Trump during Thursday’s heated televised debate in Texas, one of 11 U.S. states set to vote in nominating contests on Tuesday. Trump, in a post on Twitter Friday morning, fired back by saying: “Lightweight Marco Rubio was working hard last night. The problem is, he is a choker, and once a choker, always a chocker (sic)! Mr. Meltdown.” “He’s says I’m a choker?” Rubio responded in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He’s a con artist. It’s a fraud. We’re going to expose him.” With Trump leading in opinion polls in nearly all of the “Super Tuesday” contests, Republicans are recognizing the brash mogul and reality television star is likely to be their nominee even as Rubio and Cruz try to shake up the race ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Rubio, who has admittedly struggled with his own personal finances such as student loans, accused Trump of withholding his tax records because they likely show “he’s not as rich as he claims to be.” Trump, who puts his fortune at $10 billion, has said he would release his tax records in coming months but said he cannot release his them now because he is being audited. “He’s making things up,” Rubio told NBC. “We need to see those returns to see if the difference between the audited version and what he filed if there is evidence of wrongdoing.” Asked if his strategy to push back against Trump now comes too late, Rubio said he was fighting for the good of his party. He said he would continue to gain support on Tuesday and predicted a win in his home state of Florida on March 15. (Reporting by Washington newsroom; Editing by Bill Trott) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
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politicsNews
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February 26, 2016
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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(VIDEO) OBAMA ON LETTERMAN: “WE IGNORE POCKETS OF POVERTY” BUT OBAMA’S STIMULUS GAVE $1.8 BILLION TO BALTIMORE
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The stats don t lie on this one Obama s hoping to reach the low information voter who watches Letterman and will buy this bs. The stimulus under Obama gave BILLIONS for work programs and education but we still need to give more??? As a taxpaying American I am 100% FED Up! and ready for the black community to take responsibility for their towns and their youth. We DO NOT ignore pockets of poverty but I would say that we ignore the truth of what s going on in the black community and what s the real problem here. It s just like when the main stream media ignores and covers up the bad behavior of groups of black teens. We ve reported on numerous cases of this bad behavior that caused damage and physical harm to others. The latest case was ironically in Baltimore and the local press called the offenders kids when you can see clearly that these are teens. Downplaying and not punishing the bad behavior by these teens only makes it worse. No consequences breeds chaos President Obama said that too often we ignore pockets of poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of education on Monday s Late Show on CBS.Obama said, it s important that now that charges have been brought in Baltimore, that we let due process play itself out. Those officers who have been charged, they deserve, to be represented, and to let the legal system work its way through. We don t have all the facts yet, and that that s going to be presented in a court of law. I think it s also really important to remember that the overwhelming number of police officers are doing an outstanding job, we re in New York, today, we re in New York today, where a young officer lost his life doing his job, and families of officers all across the country every day, they re wondering is my loved one going to come home? And so they ve got a really tough job. He continued, what we also know, though, is that for far too long, for decades, you have a situation in which too many communities don t have a relationship of trust with the police, and if you just have a handful of police who are not doing the right thing, that makes the job tougher for all the other police officers out there. It creates an environment in the community where they feel as if, rather than being protected and served, they re the targets of arbitrary arrests or stops, and so our job has to be to rebuild trust, and we put forward a task force made up of police officers, but also young activists who have been protesting in Ferguson, or here in New York. They came up with some terrific recommendations about collecting data on what happens when there s a shooting involving police, what are we doing in terms of things like body cameras, and so there s some very practical, concrete things we can do to make the system work better. Read more: Breitbart
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politics
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May 5, 2015
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AWESOME! PRESIDENT TRUMP Draws Red Line On Saying “Merry Christmas” [Video]
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President Donald Trump told televangelist Pat Robertson in a new interview that he will make it safe to say Merry Christmas You ll be saying Merry Christmas again soon Pat Robertson, the 700 Club host and Christian Broadcasting Network founder, asked President Trump if he is going to take on heavyweights. The president said that he doesn t want to take on lightweights. He then turned to the topic of religious liberty: We have to bring our country back. Our country was going in the wrong direction. And by the way, what they were doing to religious liberty: They were destroying religious liberty. He then added this firm statement on the effort to bring back Christian liberty in America: You will be saying Merry Christmas again very soon Robertson responded: We ll count on it. President Trump previously stated that Democrats had been taking the wrong steps to improve the lives of all Americans: You couldn t build, you couldn t do anything One of the focuses of the Trump agenda has been stripping away regulations so Americans can be more productive. In addition, the president believes in stripping away all of the supposed politically correct phrases including Happy Holidays . He s drawn a red line on those who insist on shaming anyone who chooses to say Merry Christmas .While on the campaign trail, candidate Trump criticized the use of Happy Holidays as a substitute for Merry Christmas . His support among Evangelical Christians has remained high, with many including Robertson praising his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
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politics
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Jul 14, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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Trump employee apologizes for Melania speech 'chaos'
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CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A staff writer for the Trump Organization took responsibility on Wednesday for the “chaos” caused by a speech given by the wife of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that drew accusations of plagiarism and cast a shadow over the party’s convention this week. The writer, Meredith McIver, apologized and offered an explanation that threw into sharp relief two days of efforts by the Trump campaign to deny there had been a problem with Melania Trump’s speech on Monday night. The Republican convention in Cleveland, which formally anointed Trump on Tuesday as the party nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, was meant to be an occasion for the party to rally around its unorthodox White House candidate after a bitterly divisive primary campaign. But the accusations of plagiarism, and the Trump campaign’s responses to them, have been a major talking point just as the party tries to showcase a candidate who it believes can appeal to voters and a campaign operation capable of beating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. In a statement, McIver said she had inserted passages into the Melania Trump speech that resembled parts of a 2008 speech by first lady Michelle Obama to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, when Barack Obama was in his first campaign for the presidency. McIver said she had offered to resign over the speech controversy, but Trump and his family had rejected the offer. The Trump Organization is owned by Donald Trump. Trump defended McIver in an ABC News interview on Wednesday, saying: “She made a mistake. People make mistakes. You’ve made mistakes. We all make mistakes.” He said McIver had been with him for a long time and was a “good person.” Trump added: “I thought it was terrific the way she came forward and just said, ‘Look, it was a mistake that I made.’ She thought it was very unfair to Melania.” In her speech on Monday, Melania Trump spoke of passing on to the next generation the value of hard work that she inherited from her parents and said that “the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.” “My parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect,” Melania Trump told the Cleveland convention. In Denver eight years ago, Michelle Obama said she and her husband, Barack, “were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect.” McIver said Melania Trump had read passages from Michelle Obama’s speech over the phone to her as examples. McIver then wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in a draft that became Melania Trump’s speech. McIver said in her statement that Michelle Obama is a person Melania Trump “has always liked.” “I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” McIver said. Nowhere in the statement by McIver and comments by Trump campaign officials on the speech has there been any sense of irony that the wife of the Republican nominee was inspired by the words of Michelle Obama at the same time that speaker after speaker at the Republican convention, echoing Trump, assailed her husband’s policies. Democrats have seized on the similarities in the speech and the Trump campaign’s various explanations over the ensuing 48 hours as showing that his team is not ready for prime time. The charge was all the more embarrassing because Trump has repeatedly slammed Clinton as untrustworthy. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday the similarities showed the country’s values were largely shared, even if political leaders had differences. “That certainly buttresses an argument that the president has been making quite frequently of late, about the country not being as divided as it might seem,” Earnest told reporters. Questions have lingered over why the Trump campaign had not run simple plagiarism software that is commonly used to ensure that speakers do not inadvertently lift other people’s words, and why the campaign sought to deny and brush away the problem. Republican strategist Ted Newton, president of Gravity Strategic Communications and a staffer in Republican Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign, said the Trump campaign should have come clean much sooner. “It sort of reflects the old adage: It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up,” Newton said. “To have it bungled so badly is really a shame and sad for her.” If the campaign had admitted what happened sooner, Newton said, “It would have been a bump in the road.” Hours before giving the speech, Melania Trump, a Slovenian-born jewelry designer and former model, told NBC’s “Today” that she had written it with as little help as possible. But her husband’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, told CBS’ “This Morning” on Tuesday that it was a collaboration with speech writers. As late as Wednesday, just hours before McIver’s statement, Manafort was pressed again on the issue on CNN. He did not say words had been lifted from the Michelle Obama speech and sought to stress the overall effectiveness of the speech. “The controversy that you’re talking about is not meaningful at all,” he said. McIver is listed as a writer on some of Trump’s most popular books, including “Trump: How to Get Rich” and “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.” Her author’s biography in “How to Get Rich” says she was a Ford Foundation scholar who graduated from the University of Utah, as well as a member of the Trump Organization.
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politicsNews
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July 20, 2016
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Passage of September 11 lawsuit bill an 'abject embarrassment': White House
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that Congress’s passage of a law allowing Sept. 11-related suits against Saudi Arabia was “an abject embarrassment” and that the administration was willing to talk to lawmakers about narrowing the measure’s impact. “I think what we’ve seen in the United States Congress is a pretty classic case of rapid onset buyer’s remorse,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a briefing, noting that 28 senators had written a letter expressing concern about the measure within minutes of voting to override President Barack Obama’s veto.
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politicsNews
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September 29, 2016
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Exclusive: Overruling diplomats, U.S. to drop Iraq, Myanmar from child soldiers' list
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a highly unusual intervention, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to remove Iraq and Myanmar from a U.S. list of the world’s worst offenders in the use of child soldiers, disregarding the recommendations of State Department experts and senior U.S. diplomats, U.S. officials said. The decision, confirmed by three U.S. officials, would break with longstanding protocol at the State Department over how to identify offending countries and could prompt accusations the Trump administration is prioritizing security and diplomatic interests ahead of human rights. Tillerson overruled his own staff’s assessments on the use of child soldiers in both countries and rejected the recommendation of senior diplomats in Asia and the Middle East who wanted to keep Iraq and Myanmar on the list, said the officials, who have knowledge of the internal deliberations. Tillerson also rejected an internal State Department proposal to add Afghanistan to the list, the three U.S. officials said. One official said the decisions appeared to have been made following pressure from the Pentagon to avoid complicating assistance to the Iraqi and Afghan militaries, close U.S. allies in the fight against Islamist militants. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. Foreign militaries on the list can face sanctions including a prohibition on receiving U.S. military aid, training and U.S.-made weapons unless the White House issues a waiver. Human rights officials expressed surprise at the delisting, which was expected to be announced on Tuesday, the officials said, as part of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. A State Department official said the TIP report’s contents were being kept under wraps until its release and the department “does not discuss details of internal deliberations.” The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008, the U.S. government must be satisfied that “no children are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers” in order for a country to be removed from the list and U.S. military assistance to resume. In the lead-up to Tuesday’s report, the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which researches the issue and helps shape U.S. policy on it, along with its legal office and diplomatic bureaus in Asia and the Middle East concluded that the evidence merited keeping both countries on the list, the officials said. Officials said that although the report had been finalized there was always the possibility of last-minute changes. Human Rights Watch said removing Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from the list would be a “completely premature and disastrous action that will effectively betray more children to continued servitude and rights abuses.” The decision also would put the Trump administration at odds with the United Nations, which continues to list the Myanmar military, along with seven ethnic armed groups, on its list of entities using and recruiting child soldiers. “What’s particularly astonishing is this move ignores that the U.N. in Burma says that it is still receiving new cases of children being recruited” by the Myanmar military, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Rights groups have long accused Myanmar of using child soldiers. Bordering both China and India, Myanmar is also of growing strategic importance to the United States at a time of increasing encroachment in the region by China, which has sought closer relations with its neighbor. Iraq, which has received more than $2 billion in U.S. arms and training over the last three years, was added to the State Department’s “Child Soldier Prevention Act List” in 2016. However, the flow of U.S. assistance has continued. Former President Barack Obama handed out full or partial waivers regularly, including last year to Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan and others out of 10 countries on the list. Last year’s State Department report said some militias of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of mostly Shi’ite Muslim factions with ties to the Iraqi government and backed by Iran, “recruited and used child soldiers.” The report said that despite the PMF being funded by the government, Baghdad struggled to control all of its factions. “The government did not hold anyone accountable for child recruitment and use by the PMF and PMF-affiliated militias.” Human Rights Watch said in January that it had learned that militias had been recruiting child soldiers from one Iraqi refugee camp since last spring. The broader TIP report, the first of Trump’s presidency, is sure to be closely scrutinized for further signs that under his “America First” approach there will be little pressure brought to bear on friendly governments, especially strategically important ones, for human rights violations at home. The Obama administration, while more vocal about political repression around the world, also faced criticism from human rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers that decisions on annual human trafficking rankings had become increasingly politicized.
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politicsNews
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June 23, 2017
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Republicans Christie, Fiorina drop White House bids
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina ended their presidential campaigns on Wednesday, narrowing the field challenging front-runner Donald Trump in the race for the 2016 Republican nomination. Christie, 53, said in a Facebook post he was leaving the race “without an ounce of regret,” a day after the combative Republican’s sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary raised doubts about his viability as a candidate. Fiorina, 61, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Facebook post she would suspend her campaign. The only woman in the Republican field placed seventh in New Hampshire, one of a series of state-by-state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump’s remaining opponents, most of them mainstream Republicans, will likely benefit from their departures, which leave seven Republicans from a field that once had 17 candidates. Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary by almost 20 points. The fifth-place finish of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had hoped to emerge as Trump’s main rival after a surprise third-place showing in Iowa last week, leaves Trump without a clear challenger among the so-called establishment candidates. On the Democratic side, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, easily defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. The victories in both parties by candidates considered outsiders, testified to the sizable share of American voters upset over the slow economic recovery, immigration and America’s place in the world and who are willing to shake up Washington. Trump, 69, a billionaire businessman, has a double-digit lead over conservative Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in opinion polls for the next Republican contest, the South Carolina primary on Feb. 20, according to a Real Clear Politics average of opinion polls. Christie poured much of his campaign’s resources into New Hampshire and had considered a good showing there critical. He won only about 7 percent of votes on Tuesday, despite a pugnacious performance at a Republican debate last weekend. “Christie needed to drop out. In short, he does not have the money or organization to be viable in South Carolina and beyond,” said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray. “Christie was certainly hurt by Trump stealing his ‘telling it like it is thunder,’ but Christie was also out-organized in the ultimate retail politics state,” Murray said. SANDERS COURTS AFRICAN-AMERICANS Trump’s victory in New Hampshire showed pundits were wrong to think he would quickly self-destruct based on his penchant for insults and imprecise plans for the presidency. He had lost last week to Cruz in the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses. Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, finished second in New Hampshire, followed by Cruz, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Rubio. The odds of Trump winning the White House, once seen as an extremely long shot, improved significantly after his victory in New Hampshire, online betting site Ladbrokes PLC said. Trump is now at 9/2, compared with 7/1 last week, meaning his chances of victory in November are now 18 percent. Clinton still had the best odds of becoming president at 50/50, Ladbrokes said. On the Democratic side, Sanders, 74, courted the African-American vote on Wednesday, having breakfast with civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton at a restaurant in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Clinton, 68, currently has strong support from black voters, who will be crucial in the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Feb. 27. Sharpton and Obama met at the same restaurant during Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign - a piece of symbolism for Sanders as he tries to expand his appeal beyond liberals in the U.S. Northeast. “My concern is that in January of next year for the first time in American history, a black family will be moving out of the White House,” Sharpton, a Baptist minister and television talk-show host, told reporters afterward. “I do not want black concerns to be moved out with them. We must be front and center and not marginalized. And Senator Sanders coming here this morning further makes it clear that we will not be ignored,” he said. Sharpton discussed a spate of police shootings of black males and other issues with the senator. Sharpton said he would not endorse a candidate until he met with Clinton. The Congressional Black Caucus will endorse Clinton on Thursday and its members will be active in supporting her campaign, the Washington Post reported, citing U.S. Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, chairman of CBC’s political action committee. Clinton has a long history of support for civil rights. She also has benefited from husband Bill Clinton’s popularity in the black community during his presidency, although that became strained during her fierce 2008 primary battle with Obama. Clinton’s campaign, highlighting her popularity among black and Latino voters, said in a statement on Tuesday: “It will be very difficult, if not impossible, for a Democrat to win the nomination without strong levels of support among African-American and Hispanic voters.”
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politicsNews
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February 10, 2016
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Afghans believe country headed in wrong direction, but optimism rising slightly: survey
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KABUL (Reuters) - More than 60 percent of Afghans still believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, but signs of better governance and rebuilding has slightly lifted the national mood, according to a survey by the Asia Foundation. Just over half of the 10,000 people surveyed said they had confidence in President Ashraf Ghani s government, which has struggled to establish security in the face of a growing Taliban insurgency. Last year, just under half of Afghans said they had confidence in Ghani. However, nearly 39 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to leave if they had the opportunity, the second highest figure in the survey s more than decade-long history. The main reason was increased security concerns. More than 70 percent of Afghans fear for their personal safety. Attacks are up across the country. In May, more than 150 people were killed by a blast in Kabul s diplomatic zone - one of the deadliest since the Taliban s ouster in 2001. On the day the survey was released, more than 20 policemen were killed in fighting with Taliban insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar. The survey which was conducted in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan in July, primarily in rural households, pointed to a mixed picture, with steady gains in education and health over the past decade and a half matched by continuing concern over corruption, unemployment and security. Around a third of Afghans, or 33 percent, believe the country was heading in a positive direction, up slightly from 29.3 percent last year to buck a years-long declining trend. After a historic decline in 2016, confidence in public institutions has slightly improved; growing confidence in the Afghan National Security Forces stabilized in 2017, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Asia Foundation s country representative in Afghanistan said in a statement. The increase in optimism applied across ethnic groups except Uzbeks, who make an important minority in Pashtun- and Tajik-dominated Afghanistan. While there was a slight rise in positive sentiment, it was down significantly from a peak in 2013 before the withdrawal of most foreign forces. Back then nearly 60 percent of Afghans were positive about their future. The survey comes as the United States in August announced a boost in U.S. troops to Afghanistan, which could push optimism higher in the coming months.
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worldnews
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November 14, 2017
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“Not a word”…That’s What The Parents Of Beautiful Young Woman Murdered By Illegal Alien In Sanctuary City Have Heard From White House [VIDEO]
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Kate Steinle is the wrong race, and she was killed by someone Obama is advocating for. If they can only get FOX News to stop reporting about it, this whole nightmare for Obama s executive amnesty/votes for Democrats program will go away The parents of Kathryn Steinle said Monday in a cable television news interview that they support a proposal to give mandatory prison time to deported people who return to the U.S. illegally. Steinle, 32, was walking along a waterfront in San Francisco when she was shot by a gun allegedly fired by Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, a Mexican national who was in the country illegally. Steinle s brother also appeared on Fox and revealed to Megyn Kelly that the White House hasn t even bothered to reach out to the family. Not heard a word, Brad Steinle said. Instead, he said, we find solace in the fact that Kate was doing what she loved and she was with the man she loved the most, my dad. WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH BILL O REILLY HERE:Sanchez, 45, who has pleaded not guilty, had been released from jail months before the shooting, despite a federal immigration order asking local authorities to hold him.Jim Steinle and Liz Sullivan, of Pleasanton, California, were interviewed by Fox News talk-show host Bill O Reilly for a Monday segment on The O Reilly Factor.The death of their daughter has fueled a national debate on immigration, with advocates of stricter border control and even some Bay Area Democrats denouncing San Francisco as a city whose immigrant sanctuary protections harbor people who are in the country illegally.Supporters of sanctuary protections have jumped on O Reilly and others for politicizing the death. They say public safety is improved when immigrants can work with local police without fear of deportation.Steinle, who was at his daughter s side when she was shot, and his wife said the proposed Kate s Law would be a good way to keep her memory alive. O Reilly is collecting signatures for the petition, which would impose a mandatory five years in federal prison for people who are deported and return. We feel the federal, state and cities their laws are here to protect us, Jim Steinle said. But we feel that this particular set of circumstances and the people involved, the different agencies let us down. It ll be a legacy in her name and her death would not go unnoticed. The grieving parents said failings at multiple levels of government led to Sanchez being freed, but they re tired of finger-pointing. Ff Kate s Law saves one person, then it s all for good, said Steinle.Federal records show Sanchez had been deported three times before being sentenced to more than five years in federal prison. He had completed another four years in federal prison when he was shipped to San Francisco March 26 on an outstanding 1995 drug charge.The San Francisco District Attorney s office declined to prosecute, given the age of the case and the small amount of marijuana involved.Via: UK Daily Mail
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politics
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Jul 14, 2015
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true-fake
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Trump's surge confounds rivals, makes him betting favorite
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s chances of clinching the U.S. Republican presidential nomination shot to a record high on global betting websites on Wednesday and the billionaire businessman, long viewed as a political outsider, won his first endorsement from a member of Congress. Trump easily won the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday, giving him his third win in four early nominating contests and pressuring Republican rivals to come up with a way to stop a candidate who only last year was not seen as a serious contender for the Nov. 8 presidential election. The real estate magnate swept Nevada by a margin of 22 percentage points, winning 45.9 percent of the vote. It was the high point so far of an unorthodox campaign during which Trump has fought with Pope Francis, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and promised to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration. Trump’s Nevada win is likely to further frustrate Republican establishment figures who, less than a month ago, were hoping his campaign as a political outsider was stalled after he lost the opening nominating contest in Iowa to Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas. In his victory speech in Nevada, the former reality TV show host courted his base of blue-collar workers. “I love the poorly educated,” he said, mentioning several demographic groups among whom he said he was winning. By Wednesday, that phrase was being widely discussed online, with some finding it funny and others arguing it was a welcome, nonjudgmental embrace of a constituency that other politicians might speak of only as a problem to be fixed. Trump’s nearest rivals, Cruz and Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, have frequently attacked each other, clearing a path for Trump to the Republican nomination that includes primary elections in a slew of southern states on March 1, known as Super Tuesday. “These guys have to figure out how to turn their fire on Trump,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist in Washington. Absent that, he said: “Which one is going to get out of this field?” Rubio said Trump was only backed by a minority of Republicans. “The vast and overwhelming majority of Republicans do not want Trump to be the nominee,” he told NBC, citing the network’s recent opinion poll putting him 15 points ahead of Trump in a one-on-one match-up. “As long as there are four people running dividing up the non-Trump vote sooner, you’re going to get results like what you saw last night.” Rubio and Cruz have struggled to match the popularity of Trump, who is more ready than the two senators to deviate from the tenets of the Republican Party’s brand of conservatism, including free trade and supply-side economics. Betting venues in Britain, Ireland and New Zealand show the online wagering community coalescing around Trump, once considered an interloper, attracting long-shot odds of 200/1. Odds for Trump becoming the Republican candidate for November have tightened all the way to 1/2 in some cases. “Mr Trump has triumphed yet again, despite political analysts almost unanimously writing him off as a serious presidential contender,” said Graham Sharpe from William Hill (WMH.L), adding one customer stood to collect at least $100,000 if Trump was elected to the White House. On Wednesday, Chris Collins, a Republican congressman from Trump’s home state of New York, became the first national lawmaker to endorse Trump, saying in a statement “it’s time to say no to professional politicians and yes to someone who has created jobs and grown a business.” While more than 1,200 delegates are needed to secure the Republican presidential nomination, Trump has built a formidable head start over Rubio, who came in second in Nevada with 23.9 percent, and Cruz with 21.4 percent. Opinion polls show Trump ahead in most Super Tuesday states. The primary election next Tuesday in Cruz’s home state of Texas is looming as a make-or-break moment for him after Trump’s growing success among the senator’s core base of evangelicals and other conservative supporters. “Texans have a good ability to see through baloney, to see through a smokescreen, to see through rhetoric and to look to substance,” Cruz said at an event in Houston, the state’s largest city. “I believe that is exactly what Texans are going to do next Tuesday.” (Additional reporting by Alana Wise and Eric Walsh; Written by James Oliphant and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Alistair Bell) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
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politicsNews
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February 24, 2016
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HOW OBAMA USED NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) Famous For “F—k the Police” Rap To Promote His Dangerous Iran Deal On Twitter [VIDEO]
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Has the Obama regime really sunk to a new low level? Is that even possible? What do hateful racist and anti-cop messages have to do with a dangerous deal with Iran?The White House is getting hammered for a tweet that was posted on Thursday using a popular hip hop theme for a meme promoting Obama s dangerous Iran deal. The meme is fashioned after a popular movie poster for the movie Straight Outta Compton about the World s Most Dangerous Group, N.W.A. who in the early 80 s used lyrics like F ck the police. This isn t your dad s N.W.A: Dre is now 50 and a mogul, Cube is 46 and a Hollywood powerhouse. And yeah, the guys who sang F tha Police and One Less Bitch have been married for decades. So what s left after you poked mainstream America out of its race slumber 30 years ago? The hot biopic Straight Outta Compton : All this shit really happened. It s crazy how we were getting criticized for this years ago, says Dre of N.W.A s provocative songs about inner-city life. And now, it s just like, OK, we understand. This movie will keep shining a light on the problem, especially because of all the situations that are happening in Ferguson and here in Los Angeles. It s definitely going to keep this situation in people s minds and make sure that everyone out there knows that this is a problem that keeps happening still today. Hollywood ReporterHere s the official White House Twitter account for the deal posted its own version:.@BuzzFeed And thanks to the #IranDeal, Iran will be pic.twitter.com/zEHN1EpEX7 The Iran Deal (NARA) (@TheIranDeal) August 13, 2015Here is the trailer to the Straight Outta Compton movie:In 1991, N.W.A. was reveling in its self-described role as the World s Most Dangerous Group, condemned by politicians and law enforcement authorities alike. Straight Outta Compton had sold some 2 million copies, and its hotly anticipated second full album Efil4zaggin (read it backwards) brought the group fresh infamy when it was released in June of that year.The album s cover showed N.W.A. now without Cube, who had left to start a solo career in 1989 after falling out with manager Jerry Heller as ghosts rising from gunned-down corpses, and its content was no less violent or nihilistic. Songs about violence and sex were punctuated with skits that were just as extreme; the band used the N-word some 249 times. Having been roundly condemned as a menace to society, the group was doing its best to live up to the label. And it worked; the album was banned from some record chains in the U.S., and British authorities, under the authority of the Obscene Publications Act, seized 25,000 copies of the album upon its release. Critics weren t impressed. TIME s Jay Cocks branded the album grotesque in a July 1991 review, not for its threat to the moral order but for its relentless negativity and misogyny:The fact is, Efil4zaggin is an entire open season for negative stereotyping. That s the classic rap posture, black male division, of course: turning the comic-book white fantasy of the black male as a murderous sexual stud into a hyperbolic reality. Rappers like N.W.A. and Public Enemy want to scare the living hell out of white America and sell it a whole mess of records by making its worst racial nightmares come true.N.W.A. s runaway success was driven not by street-seasoned bloods, Cocks wrote. Instead, he continued, the group appealed to white, middle-class teenage boys thousands of miles from South Central L.A. who were looking for a way to rebel. Via: TIMEHERE IS THE VERY EXPLICIT VIDEO F*ck The Police by NWA who our White House has chosen to tie in to their pro-Iran deal message:
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politics
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Aug 14, 2015
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true-fake
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Republican lawmakers approve $1.1 billion in new Zika funds
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to $1.1 billion to fight the Zika virus, short-changing President Barack Obama’s $1.9 billion funding request and angering Democrats by making other cuts to pay for it. The House approved a funding deal that had been agreed to on Wednesday by Republicans from both the House and Senate. But the bill’s future was uncertain in the Senate, where the Democratic minority has more power to stop legislation, and Democratic leader Harry Reid has declared his opposition. “It is a responsible plan that assures the administration will continue to have the needed resources to protect the public,” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said. Republicans said the deal included funding for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. But the White House said the allocation fell short. “This plan from congressional Republicans is four months late and nearly a billion dollars short of what our public health experts have said is necessary to do everything possible to fight the Zika virus, and steals funding from other health priorities,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement before the House voted. Earnest said the Republican plan would limit needed birth control services for women seeking to prevent Zika, which can be spread through unprotected sex — “a clear indication they don’t take seriously the threat from the Zika virus.” Democrats have been urging Republicans for months to agree to more Zika funding, and the Obama administration has already reprogrammed nearly $600 million that had been set aside to fight Ebola. House Democrats said they could not go along with the deal because of $750 million in budget cuts elsewhere that the Republicans want to use to pay for the Zika spending. Senate Democrats also voiced displeasure, clouding the outlook for it passing. “A narrowly partisan proposal that cuts off women’s access to birth control, shortchanges veterans and rescinds Obamacare funds to cover the cost is not a serious response to the threat from the Zika virus,” Reid said. Still, Ryan urged the Senate to move on the bill. According to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, $543 million of the $1.1 billion would come from unspent funds set aside for implementing Obamacare in U.S. territories, while $107 million would come from unused funds to fight another virus, Ebola. Another $100 million would come from unused administrative funds at the Department of Health and Human Services, he said.
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politicsNews
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June 22, 2016
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Special Report: Why Obama and other gun control advocates own stock in firearms makers
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama might seem an unlikely investor in the firearms industry. But the U.S. president, a fierce advocate for gun regulation, has money in a pension fund that holds stock in gun and ammunition companies. Although Obama’s stake is minuscule, worth no more than $30, it reflects a much larger surge of investment. The president is among millions of Americans buying into gun companies - often unwittingly - as mutual funds have increased such holdings to record levels, according to a Reuters analysis of institutional investment in firearms companies. Since Obama was elected in 2009, mutual funds have raised their stakes to about $510 million from $30 million in the nation’s two largest gun manufacturers with publicly traded shares, Smith & Wesson Corp SWHC.O and Sturm, Ruger & Co (RGR.N). That means such stocks are now common in retirement and college savings plans. The influx has helped to boost both companies’ shares by more than 750 percent during the Obama presidency; each now has a market value of about $1 billion. Beyond mutual funds, such investments also are held in the portfolios of hedge funds and public pension plans, which are harder to track. The White House declined to comment on Obama’s holdings in the Illinois General Assembly’s pension plan, which he earned while serving in that state’s senate. The president has disclosed between $50,000 and $100,000 in the plan. Other indirect investors in firearms companies include advocates for gun regulation in the U.S. Congress and several parents of children who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut - site of the 2012 massacre of 20 students and six staff members. Fund managers are drawn to the stocks by surging sales. Buyers are arming themselves, analysts said, in response to mass shootings and calls for tougher gun laws. By the end of 2015, more than 150 mutual funds owned Smith & Wesson shares, up from 53 at the end of 2008, and nearly 130 held stock in Ruger, up from 52, according to data from Morningstar Inc. It would have taken investors “minimal due diligence” to see massive profit potential in Ruger stock when Obama was first elected, said Ruger Chief Executive Mike Fifer. Shares hit a low of $4.50 the Friday after that Tuesday election; the stock was changing hands today at $61.61. “Orders at every level of the distribution channel exploded” the week of Obama’s election, Fifer recalled. “And continued to do so for months afterward.” America’s leading ammunition maker, Vista Outdoor Inc (VSTO.N), has drawn investments from 319 funds in its first year of public trading and now has a market value of $2.9 billion. Its bonds are owned by a who’s-who of U.S. investment and insurance companies. (For a graphic of top mutual fund investors in the leading gun and ammo stocks, see tmsnrt.rs/1TlCwBz ) Such investments can be hard to identify within large funds, even with concerted effort. Eric Milgram, a corporate research analyst whose two children were at Sandy Hook Elementary during the rampage, tried to purge his portfolio of firearms holdings. But he gave up after a frustrating search through mutual fund stock lists, holding companies and subsidiaries. “I’m disgusted with this industry; I don’t want to be invested in it,” said Milgram. But, he added, “There are only so many hours in the day.” Vanguard Group, the nation’s largest fund company, said it was unrealistic to balance political sensibilities with obligations to meet performance benchmarks. “It would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill these obligations while managing portfolios that reflect the social concerns of all our clients,” said Vanguard spokeswoman Arianna Stefanoni Sherlock. Vanguard does, however, offer a Social Index fund – with about $2 billion in assets out of Vanguard’s total of about $3.4 trillion – that excludes firearms companies along with other stocks involved in an array of ethically sensitive industries. Smith & Wesson declined to comment for this story. Vista Outdoor did not respond to requests for comment. Obama and his tiny stake are typical of most Americans with holdings in firearms investments: They are invested in funds that buy shares of the relatively small part of the firearms industry that is publicly traded. But collectively, their investments are a boon to the gun industry and amount to a sizable stake in major gun and ammo makers. For some gun safety advocates, the amounts are less important than the principle. Po Murray, who put four children through Sandy Hook Elementary, has also struggled to determine whether her investments include firearms companies. “It’s a real surprise: You find out you could be invested indirectly in Smith & Wesson,” said Murray, who chairs the Newtown Action Alliance, a gun safety group. “I don’t want to be invested in gun companies.” The $16 billion Illinois pension fund that includes Obama’s investment holds at least $4.8 million in shares of gun industry stocks, including Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Vista and ammunition maker Olin Corp (OLN.N). Until 2014, the pension fund owned about $1.5 million of the debt of Remington Outdoors, another gun manufacturer. Remington did not respond to requests for comment. The Illinois pension plan also invests in at least one mutual fund with gun industry exposure. The $1.1 billion Templeton Global Smaller Companies Fund owned $9.5 million of Smith & Wesson stock at the end of December, fund disclosures show. Obama and other plan participants have no say in how the money is invested. That’s controlled by the Illinois State Board of Investment, which said it has no policy on investing in firearm and ammo companies. (For a graphic showing firearms investments by Obama’s Illinois pension fund, see: tmsnrt.rs/1TlCRV0 ) In its analysis, Reuters used mutual fund holdings data from Morningstar and Lipper Inc, a Thomson Reuters company, to examine firearms investments during the Obama presidency. The list of funds holding such stocks includes some of the biggest and most prominent, such as Vanguard and the second-largest fund group, Fidelity Investments. It extends to BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), and Dimensional Fund Advisors. The analysis is based on disclosures made by individual funds. Some of the gun stockholders are passively managed index funds. But many are actively managed, such as Fidelity’s $40 billion Low-Priced Stock Fund (FLPSX.O), which has become Smith & Wesson’s second-largest mutual fund investor under storied stock-picker Joel Tillinghast. The fund held about 1.1 million shares worth $20 million as of Oct. 31, according to fund disclosures. Fidelity and Dimensional declined to comment. BlackRock - the world’s largest asset manager with $4.6 trillion under management - manages $200 billion of that total in investment options that screen out certain stocks, including companies involved in firearms, tobacco and alcohol businesses, spokesman Peter McKillop said. Obama isn’t the only gun-regulation advocate with gun-industry holdings. Former congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy - elected after her husband was killed in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting - pushed relentlessly for gun safety legislation. While in office, she held shares worth between $3,003 and $45,000 in at least three exchange-traded funds with stakes in gun and ammo companies, according to her last financial disclosure before retiring last year. She also invested between $2,002 and $30,000 for two grandchildren in so-called 529 college-savings plans that include a Vanguard fund holding firearms stocks, disclosures show. The New York Democrat could not be reached for comment. As a federal retirement benefit, members of the U.S. Congress can participate in a Thrift Savings Plan, which offers an investment option - the S Fund - that holds stock in firearms companies. Financial disclosures show that S Fund investors include Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat and a leading advocate for stricter background checks for gun buyers. Durbin disclosed an S Fund investment of about $115,000. Durbin’s office declined to comment. Some members of Congress welcome the investment option. “I’m just grateful the fund managers are investing in something that’s making money,” said Representative Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican who opposes gun restrictions and has a small investment in the S fund. For all the debate, Obama has made no progress in passing tougher gun laws. Measures such as universal background checks have withered in Congress, where the number of anti-gun control Republicans has grown. Calls for tighter controls have been met with bursts of gun sales, according to U.S. background-check data on gun purchasers. Gun store owners attribute the extra sales to consumers who fear the president will make it harder to buy arms. “Let’s just say he’s been good for business,” Jack Lesher, manager of Chuck’s Firearms in Atlanta, said of Obama. Gun sales jumped again recently after the president blasted congressional inaction on gun control and vowed to use executive powers to expand background checks for buyers and bolster licensing requirements for dealers. His announcement followed yet another mass shooting, on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, California, where a couple pledging allegiance to Islamic State killed 14 people. For the week that ended Dec. 20, firearms background checks - a proxy for guns sales - totaled 839,109, the second-highest week since 1998. Only the week after the Sandy Hook shootings was higher, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Vista’s main factories have churned out bullets 24 hours, seven days a week for at least two years, Vista Chief Financial Officer Stephen Nolan told investors in November. Now the industry is ready for an election-year surge. “The politics of gun control could stay in the headlines, which we believe could lead to a record year,” wrote Chris Krueger, senior research analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets, in a note to investors in January. Ruger is boosting inventories to prepare, after learning a costly lesson going into the last presidential election. Demand peaked that year, based on the number of FBI background checks sought for new gun purchases. The surge followed Obama’s re-election and the Sandy Hook shooting. “When we went into late 2011, we got cleaned out of inventory … even though we increased production dramatically,” company CEO Fifer told investors during a November conference call. The company, he said, “probably left money on the table.”
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politicsNews
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February 5, 2016
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Rubio says he regrets getting personal with Donald Trump
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio voiced regret on Wednesday about making personal attacks against front-runner Donald Trump, a strategy that has failed to slow the New York billionaire’s momentum.Rubio, Trump, Ohio Governor John Kasich and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates, participated in a round of Fox News-sponsored town hall events a day before they meet for another debate on Thursday in Miami. Rubio, whose campaign is fighting for survival after a series of disappointing performances in nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election, has drawn fire for a line of attack in recent weeks in which he got personal with Trump. He called him a con artist and said among other things that he had small hands, a charge that Trump took to mean as questioning the size of his manhood. Until Rubio got personal, the U.S. senator from Florida had largely stayed above the fray and had focused his assault on Trump from a policy standpoint. He told Fox News’ “The Kelly File” that if he had to do it over again, he would handle the issue differently. “My kids were embarrassed by it. My wife didn’t like it. I don’t think it reflects good. That’s not who I am. That’s not what my campaign is going to be about or will ever be about again,” Rubio said. “I’d do it differently – on the personal stuff. I’m not telling you he didn’t deserve it, but that’s not who I am and that’s not what I want to be,” he added. Rubio, 44, fared poorly when Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii voted on Tuesday. He needs to win his home state of Florida next Tuesday or face calls for him to exit the race. He said opinion polls showing him lagging far behind Trump in Florida were not accurate. “The fact of the matter is the only poll that counts is the one they’ll take on Tuesday when they count the votes that these people are going to cast and we’re going to win in Florida,” he said. Cruz, 45, looking to emerge as the main Trump alternative should Rubio and Kasich falter, said he would keep the focus of the campaign on substantive issues. “I don’t have any views on Donald Trump’s anatomy,” Cruz said at his Fox News town hall. Kasich, at his Fox News town hall, said he believed he had a path forward if he wins his home state of Ohio on Tuesday, but that it involved a convention fight when Republicans gather to officially pick their nominee in Cleveland in July. A contested convention would result if Trump, 69, does not win the required 1,237 delegates, forcing delegates to decide whether to back him at the convention or find a consensus candidate such as Kasich, 63. President Gerald Ford and challenger Ronald Reagan staged a spirited nomination fight at the 1976 Republican National Convention, but no Republican convention has gone beyond a single ballot since Thomas Dewey’s third-ballot win in 1948. Trump, who has come under withering attack by mainstream Republicans for his statements on Muslims, illegal immigrants and trade policy, said at his Fox News town hall he had attracted many new voters to the Republican Party with his crossover appeal. He said establishment Republicans would be risking the energy he had brought to the race by trying to prevent him from winning. “They would be so foolish to throw it away,” he told host Sean Hannity. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
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politicsNews
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March 10, 2016
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ARE SENATOR AL FRANKEN and REP JOHN CONYERS Being Sacrificed By The Democrat Party For A Much Larger Goal?
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After two days of being criticized by mostly female, (and even some male) members of Congress, over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, Democrat Al Franken just announced he s resigning from his US Senate seat. Democrat Representative John Conyers met a similar onslaught of criticism from fellow House members earlier in the week, which left him feeling isolated from his own party as he faced multiple allegations of sexual assault, misconduct and even accusations of a veiled death threat by one woman.After years of looking the other way while numerous women courageously stepped forward to accuse former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault and even rape, Democrats not only looked the other way, they nominated his wife who was accused by the same women of enabling his behavior as their choice for President of The United States.So why the sudden outrage over Franken and Conyers? Could it have something to do with the upcoming election for Senator in Alabama, where hard-core conservative Republican Judge Roy Moore appears to be ahead in the polls against Democrat candidate Doug Jones, despite being accused by several women of sexual misconduct that took place decades ago? So far, the motives or tactics of almost every one of Moore s accusers has been called into question. But this is not just any race, it s a race that the Democrats have dumped millions into, in hopes of taking a Senate seat they would otherwise have no chance of gaining in a deeply red state that overwhelmingly went for Trump in 2016. Democrat Senate candidate Doug Jones has never run for political office, opposes tax cuts for the rich and supports an expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare. The 63-year-old also is staunchly pro-choice, putting him at odds with embattled Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is staunchly pro-life.There s one thing we know about the Democrats they know how to fight. If the Democrats can make an 11th-hour show of how moral they are, because they are suddenly able to rally against sexual predators in leadership roles in their party (even though they spent decades ignoring the Clinton s, or the biggest elephant in the room) perhaps they can convince voters to support Democrat Doug Moore over the moral-less Republican-backed candidate Roy Moore, and gain a Senate seat they could only have dreamed about 6 months ago. The Democrats haven t won a senate seat in Alabama since 1992.Let s face it, Senator Franken resides in a solidly blue state who went for Hillary in 2016. There s not much likelihood that they ll elect a Republican to replace him. When it comes to the 88-year old Conyers, he s not only nearing the end of his career, he s a representative in Detroit, where it doesn t matter who runs as long as they have a (D) behind their name. It s a 100% safe seat.So if sacrificing a few members of their own party means gaining a Senate seat, it s all worth it, right? After all, the media wouldn t dare call out their allies in the Democrat Party for their decades of hypocrisy, and for their undying support of accused rapist Bill Clinton and his lovely, enabling wife Meanwhile, the blue state of Minnesota still loves Al Franken:Minnesota s Star Tribune calls Senator Al Franken (D-MN) A star in his party After eight years in the Senate, Franken had emerged as a powerful voice on progressive causes and forceful critic of the Trump administration, frequently generating national headlines with aggressive questioning of Trump s Cabinet officers. He was a star attraction for the Democratic Party, raising millions of dollars for candidates around the country and appearing frequently on nationally broadcast talk shows and in other high-profile venues.Franken s celebrity preceded his political career. He was hired as a staff writer for Saturday Night Live in its first season in 1975 and quickly became a regular on-air performer as well. He served two long stints on the show s staff, the second ending in 1995. After that, he published several bestselling books of political satire from a liberal point of view and hosted a nationally syndicated radio show for several years.Franken, who had been a vocal champion of women s rights and a popular, in-demand spokesman for various progressive causes, found himself caught up in a growing cultural movement around outing bad behavior toward women by men in positions of power. By abandoning Franken along with former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, who resigned earlier this week, Democrats are drawing a distinction between their party and Republicans at a time when President Trump has thrown his full weight behind Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, accused of sexual abuse of underage girls.A Democratic source told the Star Tribune that Dayton is likely to appoint Lt. Gov. Tina Smith and that she is not expected to run in the special election.88-year old Representative John Conyers (D-MI) was the longest-serving House Member in US history.
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politics
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Dec 7, 2017
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China says made representations to North Korea over nuclear test
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China s foreign ministry said on Monday it had lodged solemn representations with the North Korean embassy in Beijing over the North s sixth and most powerful nuclear test. North Korea is clear about China s opposition to its nuclear tests, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular briefing, adding that China upholds talks as the means to resolve the Korean peninsula issue. The North said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting a vow of massive military response from the United States if either it or its allies were threatened.
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worldnews
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September 4, 2017
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U.S. Senator Corker sees Russia sanctions bill becoming law soon
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Wednesday his panel was likely to strip out language imposing sanctions against North Korea from legislation that contains sanctions against Russia and Iran. Republican Senator Bob Corker told the Washington Post in an interview that doing so would ensure the measure could pass. Corker said the bill was likely to become law “very, very soon.”
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politicsNews
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July 26, 2017
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Article A provides accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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EU's Juncker hails Macron speech as 'very European'
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hailed Emmanuel Macron s major speech on EU reform on Tuesday as very European and thanked the French head of state for his support for the EU s efforts in Brussels. A very European speech from my friend Emmanuel Macron, the EU chief executive wrote in French on Twitter. Europe needs courage. Thank you for your support for the work of the EU institutions. What we need now is a roadmap to advance the Union at 27. We have to openly discuss all ideas and decide before May 2019, Juncker added, referring to his call in a keynote address of his own two weeks ago for a summit after Britain leaves the Union in March 2019 to decide the future for the remaining 27 members. Juncker s chief-of-staff Martin Selmayr, who kept up a stream of tweets throughout Macron s address at the Sorbonne highlighting similarities between his proposals and those of Juncker, tweeted: Rarely Europe saw such convergence of views between a French president a Commission president. Some nuances, yes. But also strong commonalities. Among key proposals made by Juncker and Macron was for the euro zone to have its own budget and finance minister. However, Juncker has warned against Macron s suggestion that euro zone states create their own separate institutions. Juncker says that may renew divisions between the richer west and poorer east of the continent and wants countries like Poland to be encouraged to join the euro zone and for a euro zone budget to managed by existing institutions of the whole EU.
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worldnews
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September 26, 2017
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Mexico murders hit record high, dealing blow to president
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has this year registered its highest murder total since modern records began, according to official data, dealing a fresh blow to President Enrique Pena Nieto s pledge to get gang violence under control with presidential elections due in 2018. A total of 23,101 murder investigations were opened in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the 22,409 registered in the whole of 2011, figures published on Friday night by the interior ministry showed. The figures go back to 1997. Pena Nieto took office in December 2012 pledging to tame the violence that escalated under his predecessor Felipe Calderon. He managed to reduce the murder tally during the first two years of his term, but since then it has risen steadily. At 18.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, the 2017 Mexican murder rate is still lower than it was in 2011, when it reached almost 19.4 per 100,000, the data showed. The rate has also held below levels reported in several other Latin American countries. According to U.N. figures used in the World Bank s online database, Brazil and Colombia both had a murder rate of 27 per 100,000, Venezuela 57, Honduras 64 and El Salvador 109 in 2015, the last year for which data are available. The U.S. rate was 5 per 100,000. Still, Pena Nieto s failure to contain the killings has damaged his credibility and hurt his centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which faces an uphill struggle to hold onto power in the July 2018 presidential election. The law bars Pena Nieto from running again. The current front-runner in the race, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has floated exploring an amnesty with criminal gangs to reduce the violence, without fleshing out the idea. Mexican newspaper Reforma said on Saturday that after a campaign stop in the central state of Hidalgo on Friday, Lopez Obrador again addressed the issue when asked whether talks aimed at stopping the violence could include criminal gangs. There can be dialogue with everyone. There needs to be dialogue and there needs to be a push to end the war and guarantee peace. Things can t go on as before, Reforma quoted Lopez Obrador as saying. Such a strategy harbors risks for the former Mexico City mayor. A poll this month showed that two-thirds of Mexicans reject offering an amnesty to members of criminal gangs in a bid to curb violence, with less than a quarter in favor. Separately, Lopez Obrador said on Saturday he would get rid of Mexico s intelligence agency CISEN if he won the July election, calling it an unnecessary expense. We re not going to monitor anybody, we re not going to spy, we re not going to listen to phone calls, or hack phones to get files and photos, he said in the central town of Tezontepec.
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worldnews
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December 23, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Enter the 'petro': Venezuela to launch oil-backed cryptocurrency
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the petro backed by oil reserves to shore up a collapsed economy. The leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that the 21st century has arrived! Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency, backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves, Maduro said in his regular Sunday televised broadcast, a five-hour showcase of Christmas songs and dancing. The petro, he said, would help Venezuela advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade. Opposition leaders derided the announcement, which they said needed congressional approval, and some cast doubt on whether the digital currency would ever see the light of day in the midst of turmoil. The real currency, the bolivar, is in freefall, and the country is sorely lacking in basic needs like food and medicine. Still, the announcement highlights how sanctions enacted this year by U.S. President Donald Trump s administration are hurting Venezuela s ability to move money through international banks. Washington has levied sanctions against Venezuelan officials, PDVSA executives and the country s debt issuance. Sources say compliance departments are scrutinizing transactions linked to Venezuela, which has slowed some bond payments and complicated certain oil exports. Maduro s pivot away from the U.S. dollar comes after the recent spectacular rise of bitcoin, which has been fueled by signs that the digital currency is slowly gaining traction in the mainstream investment world. The announcement bewildered some followers of cryptocurrencies, which typically are not backed by any government or central banks. Ironically, Venezuela s currency controls in recent years have spurred a bitcoin fad among tech-savvy Venezuelans looking to bypass controls to obtain dollars or make internet purchases. Maduro s government has a poor track record in monetary policy. Currency controls and excessive money printing have led to a 57 percent depreciation of the bolivar against the dollar in the last month alone on the widely used black market. That has dragged down the monthly minimum wage to a mere $4.30. For the millions of Venezuelans plunged into poverty and struggling to eat three meals a day, Maduro s announcement is unlikely to bring any immediate relief. Economists and opposition leaders say Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, has recklessly refused to overhaul Venezuela s controls and stem the economic meltdown. He could now be seeking to pay bondholders and foreign creditors in the currency amid a plan to restructure the country s major debt burden, opposition leaders said, but the plan is likely to flop. It s Maduro being a clown. This has no credibility, opposition lawmaker and economist Angel Alvarado told Reuters. I see no future in this, added fellow opposition legislator Jose Guerra. Maduro says he is trying to combat a Washington-backed conspiracy to sabotage his government and end socialism in Latin America. On Sunday he said Venezuela was facing a financial world war.
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worldnews
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December 3, 2017
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U.S. students' rape allegation against Italian police has 'some basis', minister says
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ROME (Reuters) - Italy s defense minister has said there is some basis to allegations by two American students that they were raped in Florence by Carabinieri policemen. The two women, aged 19 and 21, have said they were raped in the early hours of Sept. 7 after they were given a lift home from a nightclub in the Italian city by a Carabinieri police patrol. The two policemen have denied the accusations. Italian media say the police were called to the nightclub after a fight broke out on the premises. The students told investigators that two officers had offered to give them a ride back to their residence. The students said they were raped inside the building before they could reach their rooms. Investigations are still ongoing, but there is some basis regarding the allegations, Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti told a conference on women s issues late on Friday. Rape is always a serious matter. But it s of unprecedented seriousness if it is committed by Carabinieri in uniform. The Carabinieri is a paramilitary police force under the control of the Defense Ministry. It works alongside the national police, which is controlled by the Interior Ministry. Italian media say the two women, who come from the states of Maine and New Jersey, told investigators they had drunk alcohol and smoked cannabis the night of the attack. They said they had been too frightened to scream or shout as the alleged assault took place. Police are carrying out DNA tests to try to verify their accusations, with results expected in the coming days. The case, which has received wide play in the Italian media, comes less than two weeks after a Polish tourist and Peruvian transsexual were brutally raped in the seaside resort of Rimini. Two Moroccans, a Nigerian and a Congolese asylum seeker have been arrested over the attacks, which led to a sharp increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in Italy. The allegations levelled against the Carabinieri have dismayed the Italian establishment. If this is true, and I hope that light is shed on the matter as soon as possible, then it would be an act of unheard of gravity, Tullio Del Sette, the head of the army, told the ANSA news agency.
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worldnews
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September 9, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Trump Supporter Threatens To Slaughter Black People Because A Guy Was Mean To Him On Facebook (VIDEO)
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Ever since Officer Darren Wilson murdered unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, Trump supporter James Stachowiak has been threatening African-Americans, even attempting to organize a posse to shoot black people animals and n*ggers as Stachowiak calls them peacefully protesting the GOP convention last year. According to this self-described patriot, black women and children (who should be shot in the backs according to the right-wing activist) who were seen exiting stores in Ferguson during the protests because they may or may not be looting.Naturally, African-Americans aren t exactly fond of the guy who has been leveling threats at an entire race for years. After Stachowiak told his fellow conservatives to prepare to kill anyone who punches a Nazi in America, a black man who goes by the name Frank Luc on Facebook messaged Stachowiak, informing him that he will gladly punch him in the face and if Stachowiak pulls a gun, it will not end well for him. While we can never endorse threats against anyone, the anger this gentleman feels toward a racist white man who has threatened to kill quite literally any African-American who does something he does not like is justified.Stachowiak, being a thin-skinned bully, quickly published a video on his Instagram threatening Mr. Luc and, once again, black people in general. I will kill him, Stachowiak said in a video filmed while he was driving. I will kill you Frank if you so much as set in front of my house even on a public street. I will fill your car with so much rounds they won t be able to tell if if was a vehicle anymore. Then his threats became more general. He informed Frank that he will be hunted if he successfully defends himself against a premeditated gun attack and that anyone between you and the hunters will be acceptable collateral damage. We re done with Black Lives Matter aren t we Frank? Stachowiak continued. We re gonna start cleaning it up starting with you Frank. In case you missed it, because someone was mean to him on the internet, Stachowiak threatened to ethnically cleanse black people. Regardless of anyone s opinion of Frank s message to Stachowiak, it is chilling that he would plot to kill an entire race of people because of one man s words.Watch the video below:featured image via screengrab
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News
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March 19, 2017
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NEW AGE GURU Dr. Deepak Chopra Says Trump May Be “Mentally Retarded” [VIDEO]
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Pathetic New Age guru and alternative medicine activist Dr. Deepak Chopra attacked Donald Trump Tuesday in an interview on Fox News The Alan Colmes Show, during which he called the presumptive GOP presidential nominee both emotionally and mentally retarded. Chopra, 68, said that Trump epitomizes, among other things, the darkest demons of America s collective psyche. I would never say this unless I believed it was 100% true, but he represents the racist, the bigot, the one who s prejudiced, the one who is full of fear and hatred, the one who represents emotional retardation of a three-year old, Chopra said of Trump. And yet he s so popular because he s given permission to our collective psyche to express their darkest demons. Radio host Colmes asked Chopra if Trump is himself a racist and bigot, or whether he just represents those ideologies to his supporters. I think he is, Chopra said, adding: I think he s racist, he s bigoted, he s prejudiced. He s full of fear. He is angry. He has a lot of hatred. He pouts, he s belligerent, he s emotionally retarded. Via: Breitbart News
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politics
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Jun 9, 2016
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more persuasive despite the misinformation.
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Trump’s IRS Just Decided They’re Going To Give All Your Info To Equifax After They Got Hacked
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Has anyone else noticed that the government sometimes seems to like awarding contracts to companies that have proven they re incapable of doing what they re supposed to be doing? Equifax s massive data breach affected most Americans with any kind of credit at all, and here comes the IRS to give Equifax a contract in the name of fraud prevention, because Equifax has proven that they re awesome at protecting our data. Oh! And then they proved that they were totally and completely transparent and on their consumers sides when they tried to yank away our right to sue by encouraging all of us to enroll in their own fraud protection program with very fine print binding us to arbitration.The contract, which is a $7.25 million contract to verify our identities and prevent fraud, is a sole source order, which means the IRS decided Equifax was the only company capable of doing this for them. Supposedly this is to help prevent an interruption in ID verification while officials try and resolve something else.Equifax s security breach involved sensitive information for over 145 million Americans, including our Social Security numbers. Congressman Greg Walden of Oregon likened the breach to the guards at Fort Knox forgetting to lock the doors. That s how bad this hack was.The IRS itself isn t exactly free of security issues, either. They ve had severe problems with tax-ID fraud and other data hacks. Senator Orrin Hatch, of the Senate Finance Committee, has said he s worried the IRS doesn t have the technology necessary to safeguard the integrity of our tax administration system. Well, it seems Equifax doesn t either, and yet the IRS is giving up our information to them for fraud prevention. The House Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection subcommittee called Equifax stupid, and said they deserve to be shamed, and called the breach shocking and unprecedented. Walden also said: How does this happen when so much is at stake? I don t think we can pass a law that can fix stupid. Apparently they can t regulate the stupid of the IRS, either. We should all cross our fingers and pray nothing else happens to our data now. That s literally about all we can do.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images
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News
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October 3, 2017
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Hooray For ‘Justice’: Coal CEO Sentenced To One ENTIRE Year In Jail For Killing 29 Men
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Six years ago, the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia exploded and killed 29 men. Investigations found a systemic effort to ignore safety regulations that directly caused the accident and that effort was directed by Donald L. Blankenship. Usually in these cases, the company is slapped with an insultingly small fine, condolences are delivered and business continues as usual.This time was different. Felony charges were brought against Blankenship and, unbelievably, he was convicted of deliberately violating the safety measures that led to 29 deaths. It was a shocking verdict even though the jury inexplicably acquitted him of the more serious charges.But today, it s back to business as usual as Blankenship was sentenced to a whole whopping year in jail and fined $250,000. That s 12 days and $8,620 for each life he stole away from the families and loved ones of the victims. That s what human life is worth these days, apparently.Oh, and he s completely unrepentant:Mr. Blankenship said, My main point is wanting to express sorrow to the families and everyone for what happened. As he spoke, relatives of dead miners cried in the courtroom s gallery, and one wiped her face with a crumpled piece of paper.Mr. Blankenship, however, was also defiant and told Judge Berger, It s important to me that everyone knows that I am not guilty of a crime. No, it s important that everyone know you are the very worst capitalism has to offer.His lawyers are already hard at work getting his sentence reduced to probation and it s unlikely he ll serve a single day. Oh, and Blankenship is worth over $14 million so $250,000 really is just a slap on the wrist.In a country that sends people to prison for decades for smoking marijuana in their home, this ridiculous sentence once again demonstrates that there are two different justice systems: One for you and me that locks us up for no reason so someone can profit, and one for the people who profit that never get locked up for any reason at all.Fuck this country.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images
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April 7, 2016
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Article A presents its arguments in a more structured and emotionally engaging manner, making it easier for readers to connect with the content, while Article B lacks clarity and persuasive tone.
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Gary Johnson Has ANOTHER Insanely Incoherent Meltdown During Interview (VIDEO)
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Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson isn t doing too well in the polls, and a recently released interview is not going to help him. Apparently, Johnson is beginning to feel the pressure and he s taking it out on the press by giving unpredictable interviews unless he s just trying to take a page out of Donald Trump s book by acting erratic.When Johnson was interviewed by the Guardian s Paul Lewis, there were several tense, uncomfortable moments such as when he yelled at Lewis for mentioning his dwindling poll numbers or questioning his tax policy.The interview begins on an awfully uneasy note when Johnson flat-out admits to Lewis that he s stupid while sporting a very creepy smile and it s clear that Lewis doesn t understand if Johnson s being serious or not. The interview is confusing from the start, as Johnson doesn t seem focused or able to control his mood.The worst part was toward the end of the interview when Lewis corrected Johnson that his support in the polls was now only 6%, not the 10% that Johnson claimed. Johnson responded by blowing up and yelling: Why are you even interviewing me? I don t get it. If I m doing so poorly, is this to preside over a funeral here? It s not a funeral! It s a celebration! Another horrible moment came when Lewis asked Johnson to explain his tax plan. Lewis brought up the fact that most economists disagree with Johnson s approach to nix federal income tax and enforce nationwide consumption tax which made Johnson unravel right in front of the camera. Johnson admitted that Congress wouldn t approve of his tax plan, and then fired back with a weird detour about legalized marijuana: Look, I don t want to argue. I don t want to argue, really. Look, I came out for the legalization of marijuana, let me just use that as an example. And I will tell you, I had people in my face for years and years and years talking about how stupid and idiotic it was that we should allow marijuana to be legal. Lewis was understandably shocked, and he had to ask Johnson why he d bring up marijuana when they d been talking about taxes. Johnson yelled, It s leadership! As we ve seen with the Aleppo situation, Johnson just doesn t do very well with interviews and this video should be a clear sign that voting for Johnson won t get America very far, especially when that vote could have been used against Republican nominee Donald Trump. You can watch this bizarre exchange below:Featured image is a screenshot
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News
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October 27, 2016
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Reince Priebus Just Said ‘Every Single Thing’ Trump Does Is ‘Factual’ (VIDEO)
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Reality show star turned president-elect Donald Trump earned himself Lie of the Year by PolitiFact and he s broken almost every campaign promise before being sworn in. The swamp is being filled with terrifying creatures, Mexico is not paying for the wall, Hillary Clinton won t be locked up and Obamacare won t be fully repealed. And that s just the short list. Still yet, incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus claims that every single thing Trump has done has been factual and he further said he is supported by 80 percent of Americans. By the way, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.86 million.Trump responded on Twitter Saturday to China s seizure of a U.S. naval drone by tweeting, [W]e don t want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it! Fox News host Chris Wallace called Priebus out over Trump s tweet. To defend Trump, Priebus said, I don t think it s all that provocative. You mean the One China policy is up for grabs? Wallace asked. We re not suggesting we re revisiting One China policy right now, Priebus said with a straight face. And he s not president right now and he s respectful to the current president. The Chinese ripped a drone out of the water, Priebus continued. President-elect said this is an unprecedented act, totally inappropriate. He didn t quite use those words, but that s essentially what he said in a tweet. Actually, Trump said it was unpresidented and he was mocked for that.Priebus said the U.S. military should not want that drone back after it was handled by the Chinese government. I think every single thing he s done has been factual and has been in line with where 80 percent of the American people are, Priebus said.Watch:Reince, lookie here:With Trump, consistency is king. pic.twitter.com/4RC6nSrA3L Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) December 18, 2016Last Sunday, Trump said in an interview on Fox News Sunday: I fully understand the One China policy, but I don t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade. Trump changes his mind like the wind. It just depends on what he wants to distract us from. And Priebus just lied about Trump s lies.Image via screen capture
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December 18, 2016
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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Three in Florida, Virginia charged with voter fraud
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(Reuters) - Officials in Florida and Virginia filed voter fraud charges against three people in apparently unrelated cases on Friday, just 11 days before American voters cast ballots in the hotly contested presidential race. The charges targeted a Florida woman and a Virginia man accused of filing bogus voter registration forms and a Florida woman alleged to have tampered with absentee ballots she was opening at the Miami-Dade Elections Department. In the Iowa capital of Des Moines, county election officials referred three cases of suspected voter fraud to police earlier this week, leading to one arrest on Thursday, police said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has charged in recent weeks that the election will be rigged in favor of Democrat Hillary Clinton, though he has shown no proof for these claims and many Republicans have called them unfounded. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in Florida said that 74-year-old Gladys Coego had been working as an absentee ballot opener when a supervisor allegedly saw her changing ballots that had been left blank to support a mayoral candidate. Prosecutors said that Coego admitted to marking the ballots and was charged with two felony counts of marking or designating the ballot of another. “The integrity of the electoral process is intact because our procedures work,” said Christina White, the county’s election supervisor, in a statement. Tomika Curgil, 33, was charged with five felony counts of submitting false voter registration information for allegedly handing in forms filled out by fictitious voters while working on a voter-registration drive for a medical marijuana advocacy group. A Virginia man was also charged with submitting falsified forms while working for a voter-registration campaign, state prosecutors said. Vafalay Massaquoi, 30, was arraigned on two felony counts of forging a public record and two counts of voter registration fraud. “There is no allegation that any illegal vote was actually cast in this case,” said Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter. “Furthermore, since the fraudulent applications involved fictitious people, had the fraud not been uncovered, the risk of actual fraudulent votes being cast was low.” Neither Coego, Curgil nor Massaquoi could be reached for immediate comment. Police in Des Moines on Thursday arrested a woman who was accused of voting twice - casting early-voting ballots at two locations - in one of three cases of suspected voter fraud reported by the Polk County Auditor’s Office. Police did not disclose the political affiliation of the woman, identified as Terri Lynn Rote, 55, but the Des Moines Register newspaper reported she was a registered Republican. A man in Texas, where early voting started on Monday, was arrested on Monday on charges of electioneering and loitering near a polling place, public records show. The man, Brett Mauthe, had been charged for showing up to vote in a Trump hat and T-shirt with the phrase “basket of deplorables,” a reference to a comment Clinton made disparaging her rivals’ supporters, election officials told media.
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politicsNews
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October 28, 2016
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Popular St. Louis Bar Closed For Having A Clientele Too Black For The Neighborhood (SCREENSHOTS)
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Tropical Liqueurs, otherwise known as Trops , a popular night spot that originated in Columbia, Missouri, thought they had struck gold when a beautiful building became available in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. Specializing in frozen drinks and younger clientele, the new bar was immediate success unless you poll the neighbors. Trops doesn t just attract younger people, it tends to attract a diverse younger crowd that includes a hearty percentage of African-Americans.The neighbors, used to the noise and traffic of bars in this party-rich neighborhood, were happy to have the white college crowd for years, but for some reason just couldn t handle Trops. The bar came under immediate attack from local code officials who complained about everything from loud music to trash on the streets to parking all things associated with a bar.Trops immediately complied with every single one of the city s demands and, in fact, went far beyond what was expected of them. They hired extra help and off-duty police officers to pick up trash outside and direct traffic. They shut down their patio music at 11PM when other bars nearby raged on. They closed their doors voluntarily at midnight even though their license allowed them to stay open until 1:30AM. They even stopped serving to-go drinks in vacuum sealed, perfectly legal cups.To owner Billy Thompson, there was nothing left to do. Not only had he complied with the city s demands, he even instituted a dress code that disallowed baggy pants and hoodies. After all was said and done, the ruling came down: Trops will lose its liquor license on April 9th; bigotry wins. The bar s Facebook page announced the closure, which came as no surprise to some fans: Those are just a couple of the comments from patrons of the bar. Some have tried to take race out of the equation, blaming the closure on the bar breaking open-carry laws and serving drinks out of a drive-through window, but those claims are hyperbole considering the cups the bar used before they stopped serving to-go drinks were legal by the standards of the City Commissioner and the drive-through was an urban legend from the original location in Columbia. Local news has also pointed out that there seems to be little other than race keeping Trops from prospering in the vast community of bars in the area.This is just another case of a business that caters to everyone trying to succeed in a neighborhood where everyone means all shapes and sizes of white people. Featured image from stlmag.com
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News
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March 11, 2016
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Spanish auditors demand Catalan leaders pay for previous independence vote: El Pais
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MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish audit office has demanded the former leader of Catalonia and other politicians from the region pay 5 million euros ($5.96 million) for holding a consultative independence ballot in 2014, El Pais newspaper said on Tuesday. The report, which cited judicial sources, came a day before Catalonia is expected to approve plans to hold an Oct. 1 referendum on a split from Spain. The 2014 vote was non-binding, a symbolic ballot by pro-independence campaigners that was declared illegal by Spain s Constitutional Court. Catalonia, along with Britain s Scotland and Belgium s Flanders, has one of the most active independence movements in the European Union. El Pais said the former head of the Catalan government, Artur Mas and other regional leaders, were being told by the audit body in charge of overseeing the financing of political parties and the public sector to pay out of their own pocket for organizing the consultation vote. The money was due by Sept 25, it said. The audit office was not immediately available for comment. The current head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, said the move was the Spanish state spreading fear . Catalan lawmakers are due to vote on Wednesday on laws approving the referendum and the legal framework to set up an independent state. The laws are expected to be approved because pro-independence parties have a majority in the regional parliament. The populous, north-eastern region, with its capital Barcelona, has a strong national identity with its own language and traditions, although polls show support for self-rule waning as Spain s economy improves.
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worldnews
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September 5, 2017
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Palin's endorsement fails to excite Trump rallygoers
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NORWALK, Iowa (Reuters) - When it comes to influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential race, Sarah Palin’s star power is turning out to be dimmer than expected. There was no ecstasy in the crowd when the former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee endorsed Republican front-runner Donald Trump at a rally in Ames, Iowa, on Tuesday night. And at Trump’s next appearance on Wednesday in Norwalk, people who came to see him - both hard-core Trump supporters and undecided voters - said Palin was not swaying them. “They’re going to have to do an image remake of her,” said Joani Estes, 56, of Indianola, Iowa. Estes said her Pentecostal Christian faith made her feel aligned with Palin, but it did not make her feel any more strongly about Trump. She liked him, she said, and was likely going to caucus for him during the state’s nominating contest on Feb. 1 - but she was also keeping the door open for his closest rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Her friend Jenny Terrell, 55, said Palin’s endorsement made her less certain about her support for Trump. A longtime Democrat, Terrell said she had been inspired by Trump but was put off by Palin’s extreme opposition to abortion rights. “I was a little disappointed,” she said, adding that even though she knew Trump had declared himself to be against abortion, she did not see him as being as fervently anti-abortion as Palin. As a strategic move in Trump’s competition against Cruz in Iowa, getting an endorsement from Palin made sense, political experts said. She is popular among tea party Republicans who rail against the political establishment, as well as blue-collar evangelical Christians, two groups from which Cruz draws strong support. It is not yet clear whether evangelical leaders in the state will follow Palin’s lead and choose Trump over Cruz. But Trump had already managed to draw some of those voters with his brash, sweeping talk of keeping refugees out of the United States, building a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, and putting education policy back in the hands of local communities. “I could care less” about Palin’s support for Trump, said Scott Heckart, 49, who said he had made up his mind to caucus for the billionaire businessman and former reality TV star. Even Andrew Haup, 26 - who said he decided to support U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, only after McCain made Palin his running mate - said her endorsement mattered little to him since he had already made up his mind to support Trump. Near the back of the room where Trump spoke on Wednesday morning, Matt Burns, 47, a Cruz supporter, stood alone. He said he had only come to see Trump because his teenage daughter had asked him to take her. He said he liked Palin and was not angry at her for choosing Trump over Cruz, but said her choice was not going to sway him. “For me it doesn’t really do a whole lot,” he said. “I think most people know who they’re going to caucus for.” (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.
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politicsNews
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January 20, 2016
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Trump lawyers make final Supreme Court pitch on travel ban
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday made its final plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow its proposed ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries to go into effect as the justices weigh how to handle the hotly contested dispute. The court papers filed by President Donald Trump’s administration complete the briefing on the government’s emergency application asking the justices to block lower court injunctions in favor of challengers to the ban. The Supreme Court could now act at any time. The lower court rulings blocked the 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to give the government time to implement stronger vetting procedures. In the court papers, Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall said the lower courts had wrongly second-guessed the president on national security policy when reviewing the March 6 executive order. “The president expressly determined that the order’s provisions are needed to promote national security, but the lower courts here ... nullified that judgment,” he wrote. In court papers filed on Tuesday, lawyers for the state of Hawaii and individual plaintiffs in Maryland urged the high court not to allow the ban go into effect.
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politicsNews
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June 21, 2017
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HYSTERICAL! DELUSIONAL HILLARY CLAIMS “EPIDEMIC” Of “Fake News” Was Her Downfall [Video]
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Hillary Clinton on Thursday decried the spread of fake news online, calling it an epidemic that Congress should take action against. The epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media over the past year it s now clear the so-called fake news can have real-world consequences, Clinton said during a speech on Capitol Hill.Some Democrats have argued the spread of anti-Clinton fake news online contributed to her electoral loss to Donald Trump. This isn t about politics or partisanship, Clinton continued during her speech Thursday at a ceremony honoring retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Lives are at risk lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days, to do their jobs, contribute to their communities. ENTIRE SPEECH PLEASE SKIP TO THE 6:45 POINT FOR THE COMMENTS ABOUT FAKE NEWS Read more: The Hill
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politics
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Dec 8, 2016
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Ukrainian MP offers more details on alleged payments to Trump campaign chief
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KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian lawmaker on Friday divulged more details of what he said were payments made to Donald Trump’s campaign chief in the U.S. presidential race by the political party of the Kremlin-backed former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich. MP Serhiy Leshchenko said money was allocated for Trump aide Paul Manafort to finance services such as carrying out exit polls at elections, buying computers and conducting research. The largest single payment was $3.5 million. Manafort has denied allegations - first made in the New York Times on Monday - that he received cash payments worth more than $12 million over five years that were itemized on secret ledgers belonging to Yanukovich’s Party of Regions. Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators have corroborated the existence of what they called a “black ledger” of payments made by Yanukovich’s party but stressed that they could not establish whether Manafort himself received money. Leshchenko, a member of President Petro Poroshenko’s parliamentary faction, called on Ukrainian authorities to send a request for assistance to Washington to investigate Manafort. “Manafort didn’t work for free in Ukraine, he served the Party of Regions for over 10 years and it is clear that his work was paid,” Leshchenko told a news conference. “The money was transferred in cash and it is impossible to trace the transactions, but I have no doubt as to the authenticity of these documents,” he said. “If Mr Manafort denies any allegations, I think he has to be interrogated into this case and prove his position that he was not involved,” Leshchenko added. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign has previously said the allegations were evidence of “more troubling connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine”. Trump, a Republican, has spoken favorably in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month, he invited Russian hackers to find “missing” emails from Clinton’s time as secretary of state, when she used a private email server to conduct government business, although he later described that call as sarcasm. In response to the earlier report in the New York Times, Manafort denied any impropriety in a statement on Monday. “I have never received a single ‘off-the-books cash payment’ as falsely ‘reported’ by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia,” he said. Trump overhauled his top political team this week, demoting Manafort, who was brought on as campaign chief in June to professionalize its approach but struggled to get the wealthy businessman to rein in his freewheeling ways.
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politicsNews
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August 19, 2016
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Month into trial, North Korean 'masterminds' behind Kim Jong Nam killing a mystery
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - One month into the trial of the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un s half-brother, Malaysian prosecutors have focused on two accused women, but have shed no light on four prime North Korean suspects. Historically close ties between North Korea and Malaysia unraveled as the Southeast Asian country started investigating the alleged murder of Kim Jong Nam, who died after the two women smeared his face with VX, a banned chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. Malaysian police declared two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, and four men who fled to North Korea, as prime suspects. Police secured an Interpol alert for the four men, identified as North Koreans Ri Ji Hyon, Hong Song Hac, O Jong Gil, and Ri Jae Nam. Their photos and passport details were widely distributed among media organizations. But as the trial enters its fourth week, prosecutors have yet to name the four men or even confirm their North Korean origin in court. The case s lead police investigator, Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz, has referred to the suspects only by their pseudonyms during the trial and said that authorities did not have enough information to trace and arrest them. Based on my investigation, the suspects used assumed names and there were no identifying details such as passport numbers or telephone numbers, Wan Azirul told the court. Kim Jong Nam and his relationship with North Korea s leader has been barely mentioned throughout the trial. Witnesses and lawyers alike refer to the victim as Kim Chol, according to the name on his North Korean passport. Nor have prosecutors made any mention of what South Korean intelligence sources have described as a state-sponsored plot to kill Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile in Macau. Both South Korean and U.S. officials say Kim Jong Un s regime were behind the killing, which Pyongyang vehemently denies. The question of who (the victim) is related to is only relevant when trying to determine the motive, but it s up to the prosecutors if they want to avoid having to prove a conspiracy involving the head of state of a foreign government, Shad Saleem Faruqi, a law professor at the Kuala Lumpur-based University of Malaya, The broader you cast the net, the more difficult your job becomes, he said. Malaysia and North Korea came close to snapping ties over the case until a swap deal was agreed upon on March 30. Three North Koreans wanted for questioning over the killing were allowed to return home, along with Kim Jong Nam s body, while nine Malaysians barred from leaving Pyongyang were released. Defense lawyers have said Siti Aisyah and Huong, who were arrested in Kuala Lumpur within days of the killing, were duped into thinking they were playing a prank for a reality TV show and did not know they were poisoning Kim Jong Nam. CCTV recordings screened in a court on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur showed the four suspects, known only as Mr. Chang, Mr. Y, James and Hanamori, at the airport on the morning of the killing. Hanamori, who went by the names of Grandpa and Uncle orchestrated the operation at the airport, Wan Azirul said. Two of them were seen meeting Siti Aisyah and Huong before changing clothes and leaving the scene after Kim Jong Nam was attacked. Mr. Chang and Mr. Y had applied liquid on the women s hands, Wan Azirul said. The trial resumes on Monday when more CCTV footage is expected to be shown. The defense team is expected to focus more on the four North Koreans, when the judge calls it to present its case. The two women face a mandatory death sentence by hanging if found guilty.
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worldnews
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November 3, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Senate confirms Dr. Robert Califf to lead FDA
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to confirm Dr. Robert Califf as head of the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that regulates everything from food and drugs to tobacco, cosmetics and dietary supplements. Califf, 64, a well-regarded cardiologist and researcher, takes the helm at the FDA when lawmakers are pressuring it to speed the approval process for drugs and medical devices and to finalize a proposed rule giving it authority to regulate e-cigarettes. He said one of his first priorities is to strengthen the workforce by reaching out to academic and other centers to attract new talent and create professional “homes” for scientists who work at the FDA. For example, he said in an interview, “we’ve been working to create a coordinated effort to have all our statisticians have an identity and support services that they need.” “For docs like me,” he added, that might mean help with administrative matters such as keeping medical licenses up to date. Another priority for Califf is improving surveillance systems to monitor for safety. “We’re not proposing to do away with the adverse event reporting system that currently exists,” he said, “but we are acutely aware that it is not enough.” Tools to monitor the safety of medical devices also need to be modernized, he said, and though it will not happen overnight, “we have to do the hard work of making it happen.” He said he thinks medical professions also need to “step up” and be part of the process. And he said getting the authority to regulate e-cigarettes is also a priority. The FDA is also attempting to implement sweeping new regulations to improve food safety and has begun to tackle the approval process for biosimilars, which are cheaper versions of biologic drugs. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which would require the FDA to consider more flexible forms of clinical trials. The Senate is considering similar legislation. The rate of new drug approvals at the FDA is higher than it has been in decades. Last year it approved 45 new drugs, the most since 1996. From 2006 through 2014 it has averaged about 28 new drug approvals per year. Lawmakers and patient groups want the agency to move even faster. Califf has worked on many high-profile clinical studies, and has said he is eager to make the clinical trial process more efficient. Four senators, including Democrat Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, opposed Califf’s nomination. They took the opportunity leading up to the vote to lambaste the FDA for what they said was a lax approach to approving potentially addictive opioid painkillers. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was also among the senators who opposed the nomination, saying Califf’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry made him unfit to regulate it impartially. Califf joined the FDA as a deputy commissioner a year ago. Previously he held senior positions at Duke University, where he founded a large academic research center that received more than half its funding from the drug industry. He has said the funding never compromised his research. Califf’s confirmation was widely expected. He fills the position left by Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who stepped down after six years as commissioner. Dr. Stephen Ostroff has filled the post on an interim basis.
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politicsNews
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February 24, 2016
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Laughing Cops Took Turns Shooting Puppy (VIDEO)
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On December 10, Chester Pennsylvania police officers shot and killed one-year-old Bear, a mixed breed family dog, who had been rescued by his owners just months before.According to Christie Fry, the owner of the dog, she first encountered Bear when he was just four months old. Three months later, she brought the injured pup home to join her family. Bear came into my life in May as a rescue. He was seven months old and had a broken leg. He was brought into my family and his leg healed better than expected without requiring surgery. He could run and jump like a normal dog. I loved this dog. I fell in love when I first met him as a four month old pup. But two weeks before Christmas, Chester police pumped eight bullets into Bear, as the horrified mother watched from her window.Fry says that she heard Bear barking in the backyard at about 10:00 am that morning. There was construction going on at the house next door. She explains that Bear was securely hooked up on a tie out in the yard, so she didn t see his barking as a cause for concern.About ten minutes later she heard the first gun shots.I hear two gunshots. As I m getting up I hear the third. As soon as I m standing, I can see out my side window. Police. Fourth shot. I look at what they re doing and see my dog on the ground. My dog starts screaming. I scream. More shots. Five, six, seven, eight. There s two cops taking turns shooting him with smiles on their faces.Fry says she ran out the door, yelling What the hell? One of the officers asked Is this your dog? She says that after she told them yes and tried to asked what happened.The response she was given is even more disturbing.The officer said (and I quote) Well you don t have a dog anymore. He s done now! and laughed in my face.She goes on to say,My one-year-old puppy that I did everything in my power to save was laying there dead. They shot my dog like he was a human coming at them with a gun.Bear was killed less than two feet from his own dog house, located near the fence that separates Christie Fry s property from the house next door.image credit: puppycidedb.comA photo of his body shows that the fence between the Fry s yard and the neighbor s was open. Bear s body is lying just on the other side of the fence.In a subsequent report filed by the police, officers claimed that they had received complaints about Bear.Christie Fry says she was never informed of any complaints from anyone.She was at home at the time that police, accompanied by an animal control officer, came to her home. No one ever knocked on her door or made an effort to contact her.Instead it appears that the cops and the animal control officer went directly to the Fry s backyard, where Bear was barking and restrained.According to animal control, Bear conveniently broke loose from his tie-out at that time. He claims that Bear knocked him over. He denies that the dog ever bit him or even tried to bite him.Even if the puppy did knock him down, which is doubtful, why was it necessary for cops to shoot him eight times?Christie Fry has started a Go Fund Me page to raise the money to hire a lawyer. As she points out here, the area around Bear s dog house is bare dirt, as is the neighboring yard. Yet she says that there was not a speck of dust or dirt on the animal control officer s suit, even though he claimed that he was knocked into the dirt by an overly zealous puppy.It seems more likely that the cops went to the Fry s home that day with every intention of killing the dog. They likely thought there was no-one at home to witness the shooting. That would explain why neither animal control nor the police made any attempt to talk to his owner, but headed straight for the backyard instead.Fry acknowledges on her Go Fund Me page that Bear was a barker. Was he just getting on the nerves of the construction crew next door?If there were complaints about Bear, police have yet to provide his owner with any details of those complaints.This is not the first time that Chester police have come under fire for killing a dog.In 2013, shocked bystanders captured video of officers opening fire on a pickup truck that was occupied by dogs. The truck was parked directly in front of the high school. Police opened fire, shooting toward both the truck and the school during the student lunch period.Here s more on that story from NBC News: According to Chester mayor John Linder, police followed all protocol when they opened fire on the pickup truck, ultimately killing three dogs.Since the dogs involved in that incident were pit bulls, the mayor justified the actions of police by citing a supposed violent history of the animals in question. (Here s what happened when our guest writer let a pit bull near his baby.)In a statement published by the Daily Times, Mayor Linder said: (P)olice personnel immediately arrived on scene and assessed the severity of the situation. They took immediate action to ensure that no one in the vicinity could be harmed. Meaning they did exactly what witnesses said they did. They pulled up in their vehicles, grabbed their guns and started shooting immediately, into the bed of a pickup truck, in front of a school, while school was in session.According to the mayor, two dogs were killed inside the truck. A third was killed after it exited the truck. That means they were shooting at a moving target in front of the school, with people standing all around.The shooting was justified because, according to the mayor, the three dogs were a greater threat to the public than a hailstorm of bullets.The mayor stated that the officers involved in the shooting outside the school were in communication with the city s only animal control officer.It s likely this is the same animal control officer that was on the scene when Bear was killed.In a Twitter post, Fry points out that it s not only police that she wants to see held accountable.Image credit: Chris Christie on Twitter, via PuppycideBDIn his 2013 statement, Mayor Linder also said, We don t want to be known as a place that abuses animals or kills dogs. How about not allowing laughing cops to get away with killing innocent family pets, like Bear, who had never even been accused of biting anyone?Fry is in search of an attorney who will help bring the officers that killed Bear to justice.You can donate to Fry s legal fund here.*Featured image credit: Bear, via Chris Christie on Facebook
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News
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January 2, 2016
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Mattis says U.S. working to ensure situation around Kirkuk does not escalate
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that tensions between Kurdish and Iraqi forces in and around Kirkuk had the full attention of the United States, which was working to ensure it does not escalate. Kurdish authorities said they have sent thousands more troops to Kirkuk to confront “threats” of Iraqi military attack, but also pulled back defense lines around the disputed oil-producing area slightly to ease tensions. “We have got to work on this, the secretary of state has the lead, but my forces are integrated among these forces and they are working too, to make certain we keep any potential for conflict off the table,” Mattis told reporters. The Baghdad central government has taken a series of steps to isolate the autonomous Kurdish region since its overwhelming vote for independence in a Sept. 25 referendum, including banning international flights from going there. Mattis said while he was aware of troop movements, he had not heard of any fighting and called on both sides to focus on fighting Islamic State militants. “We can’t turn on each other right now. We don’t want this to go to a shooting situation,” Mattis added. Kirkuk, a city of more than 1 million people, lies just outside Kurdish territory, but Peshmerga forces deployed there in 2014 when Iraqi security forces collapsed in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. The Peshmerga deployment prevented Kirkuk’s oil fields from falling into jihadist hands. As the territory controlled by Islamic State has shrunk, ethnic and sectarian fractures that have plagued Iraq for more than a decade have once again started to resurface. The group’s last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria following the fall of the town of Hawija and surrounding areas on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces. Mattis said the differences would have to be worked out politically and not on the battlefield. “These are issues that are longstanding in some cases. ... We’re going to have to recalibrate and move these back to a way (where) we solve them politically and work them out with compromised solutions,” he said.
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politicsNews
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October 13, 2017
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France says progress in Brexit talks shows common sense prevailing
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PARIS (Reuters) - Common sense is prevailing in Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union, France s foreign minister said on Friday, as he welcomed signs that talks were moving into a new phase after an initial breakthrough. The European Commission said on Friday enough progress had been made in Brexit negotiations with Britain and that a second phase of discussions should begin, ending an impasse over the status of the Irish border. The work that has been done on negotiations ... is gradually leading us to common sense, Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Inter radio. We wanted the conditions for (Britain s) withdrawal to be clearly defined to be able to move into another phase. That s what s going to happen now, I hope.
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worldnews
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December 8, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Trump on Twitter (Dec 21) - Tax Cuts, Home sales
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The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - The Massive Tax Cuts, which the Fake News Media is desperate to write badly about so as to please their Democrat bosses, will soon be kicking in and will speak for themselves. Companies are already making big payments to workers. Dems want to raise taxes, hate these big Cuts! [0724 EST] - Was @foxandfriends just named the most influential show in news? You deserve it - three great people! The many Fake News Hate Shows should study your formula for success! [0745 EST] - Home Sales hit BEST numbers in 10 years! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN [0856 EST] - House Democrats want a SHUTDOWN for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts. House Republicans, don’t let this happen. Pass the C.R. TODAY and keep our Government OPEN! [0952 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)
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politicsNews
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December 21, 2017
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Theresa Maybe? PM refuses to say how she'd vote in another Brexit referendum
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LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May refused to say whether she would vote for Brexit if there was another referendum, repeatedly avoiding giving an answer on an issue that will define Britain s fate for generations to come. Although May has talked up the promise of Brexit since gaining power last year, she had, in the run-up to the June 2016 referendum, quietly backed staying in the European Union. She won the top job after David Cameron, who had also campaigned to remain, resigned in the chaos following the shock result of the vote. She has ruled out holding a second referendum on the final deal of the terms of Brexit, despite calls for one from some pro-EU lawmakers. Asked three times in an interview if she had changed her mind since then, she did not answer directly, saying she wouldn t engage with hypothetical questions and said her job was now to deliver what the people had voted for. I voted remain for good reasons at the time, but circumstances move on and I think the important thing now is that I think we should all be focused on delivering Brexit and delivering the best deal, she said on British radio station LBC on Tuesday. The United Kingdom remains deeply divided over Brexit which most senior politicians view as the most important decision Britain has taken since World War Two. In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent of votes cast, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent of votes cast, backed staying. Britain has just over one year to negotiate the terms of the divorce and the outlines of the future relationship before it is due to leave in late March 2019. Both sides need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world s biggest trading bloc and the fifth largest global economy. But the other 27 members of the EU combined have about five times the economic might of Britain. They also have a strong incentive to deny the UK a deal so attractive it might encourage others to follow the British example. May, who said she voted to remain, called a general election earlier this year in a bid to unite the country around her vision for Brexit. However, she lost her parliamentary majority, jeopardizing her premiership. Pressed on whether she would now vote leave, she said she would look at everything and come to a judgment, but stressed that there would not be another referendum. Minister Damian Green, who is effectively May s deputy, was asked on BBC Newsnight the same question. He said that it would have been better had the public voted to remain, but there would not be another referendum and it was his job as a democrat to work towards making Brexit a success. Under the headline Theresa Maybe , The Sun, Britain s most read newspaper, said Brexiteers were offended by May s response.
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worldnews
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October 11, 2017
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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HOW 125,000 ILLEGAL KIDS Have Been Able To Avoid Deportation
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Did you know that only 3% of the 125,000 illegal minors have been deported? Thomas Homan, the head of deportation operations at ICE, told the Senate Judiciary Committee says that the Spanish-language media is giving instructions on how to avoid ICE agents and foil deportation orders. The pitiful effort to apprehend and deport illegals only fuels the desire for more and more illegals to try and cross into America. In fact, the numbers are expected to increase for 2016!Spanish-language media and human rights activists are actively educating illegal immigrants on how to break the law, avoid immigration agents and remain in the country even after a judge has ordered them to be kicked out, a top Obama administration official testified to Congress on Tuesday.Sometimes families shield the children by refusing to open the door to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and other times they move the children to other locations, breaking their agreement with the Obama administration to notify the government of the children s whereabouts.HERE S THOMAS HOMAN S TESTIMONY FROM 2014: In as many as 75 percent of cases, the children are actively hidden from agents sent out to try to deport them, Thomas Homan, the head of deportation operations at ICE, told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Even though we re out looking for them, it s getting more difficult, based on everything I just told you, to actually apprehend these people and remove them, he said.Overall, only about 3 percent of the more than 125,000 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who surged across the border in the last 30 months have been deported, as Mr. Homan and his agents struggle with the sheer size of the population and the difficulties in tracking them down.The Department of Homeland Security last month began trying to target children and families for deportation, working about 1,800 leads. But only 121 were actually rounded up.Mr. Homan said that s because when they show up at the address where the children are supposed to be staying, usually the agents leave empty-handed. For the number of UACs we arrested since January, three times as many weren t at the address they were supposed to be at, never were or weren t there any longer. The Spanish media, Spanish newspapers, a lot of NGOs are educating these folks on how not to comply with law enforcement, Mr. Homan said. There s been many situations where we ve been at the residence, we know they re there, but they won t open the door. My officers don t have the authority, of course, to go into that house. What a pitiful effort. We know where they are, we even know they re in the house, but we don t have the authority to go in? If they know these facts, why can t they get a search order? A lawful deportation order has been issued, and the government won t do what s necessary to enforce it.Read more: American Thinker
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Government News
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Feb 25, 2016
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WHY AMERICANS SHOULD Care That Facebook’s CEO Is Threatening Users Against Muslim Refugee “Hate Speech”
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We are two moms who have put our lives on hold to do everything in our power to fight the progressives on the left from stealing our freedoms and the future of this great nation from our children. Over four years ago, we started the 100 Percent FED Up! Facebook page with the goal of exposing the truth that so many frustrated Americans were not finding in the mainstream media. We ve suffered several cases of censorship by Facebook along the way, but we never gave up. We may disappear after we publish this article, but we ve made a commitment to exposing the truth and we re not going to back down now.It should frighten every person who uses Facebook, that a CEO of a the largest social media platform in the world, has openly expressed the view that America should give up our national security and follow Germany s lead when it comes to open borders for [Muslim] migrants. I suppose it s easy for billionaires who are surrounded by top security firms, and live a life far removed from the every day American, to say that we should accept these rapists, violent invaders, and YES, members of terror groups disguised as refugees into our neighborhoods and communities. After all, they won t be living next door to Mark Zuckerberg. He will likely never have a single encounter with them in his day to day life.Mark Zuckerberg recently admonished his workers for replacing Black with the word All in Obama s race war motto: Black Lives Matter. For anyone who s paying attention, asking your workers to essentially accept admonishment for being white from a group of domestic terrorists, is a dangerous precedent for an owner of any company, much less the largest social media organization in the world. We need to fight back against this. We need to not be afraid of censorship or the ramifications when we voice our opinions.Mark Zuckerberg praised Germany for their inspiring refugee policies during a visit to the country and reiterated his commitment to combating hate speech on Facebook.Speaking at a town hall event in Berlin, the 31-year old billionaire said German leadership in the refugee crisis has been insipiring and a role model for the world. I hope other countries follow Germany s lead on this, he added. I hope the U.S. follows Germany s lead on this. Speaking at the same event, Zuckerberg also emphasised his commitment to tackling hate speech on Facebook. Hate speech has no place on Facebook and in our community, he said. Until recently in Germany I don t think we were doing a good enough job, and I think we will continue needing to do a better and better job. Zuckerberg added that the company would place a special priority on tackling hate speech against migrants. Facebook s policies, he said, would now include hate speech against migrants as an important part of what we just now have no tolerance for. Zuckerberg was overheard after leaving his microphone on during a conversation about the refugee crisis with Angela Merkel. Are you working on this, the German chancellor asked him, according to Bloomberg. Yeah, he replied.The super-rich tech boss also said we need to do some work on the issue . We are committed to working closely with the German government on this important issue, said Debbie Frost, a Facebook spokeswoman. We think the best solutions to dealing with people who make racist and xenophobic comments can be found when service providers, government and civil society all work together to address this common challenge. Since then, Facebook has dramatically expanded its anti-hate speech efforts, launching a new initiative to combat racist and xenophobic material on social media alongside European NGOs this January. Facebook is also cooperating with a task force set up by the Germany Justice Ministry to hunt down alleged racists on the platform.Some critics fear the social network is working with governments to silence any criticism of the refugee crisis.His censorship comments have now gone viral, provoking a debate about whether it is right to squash unpopular or potentially offensive views.
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left-news
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Feb 27, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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Four U.S. states sue Interior Department over coal leases on public lands
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four U.S. states have sued Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the Interior Department and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to block new leases of public lands for coal mining, according to papers filed on Tuesday in Montana federal court. State prosecutors for California, New Mexico, New York and Washington are arguing new coal extraction would exacerbate global warming and violate the federal government’s statutory duty to use public lands “in a manner that will protect the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and archaeological values,” according to the filings. The move was one of several recent attempts to block a broad pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to roll back environmental regulations put in place under former President Barack Obama. The former president placed a moratorium on new coal mining leases on public lands more than a year ago, in January 2016. On March 29, Zinke, whom Trump appointed Interior secretary, formally lifted the ban. The prosecutors argued in addition to harming the environment, more coal mining on public lands would burden state and local governments with expenses related to healthcare, flood control and other infrastructure needs related to potentially harmful effects of nearby mines. They also argued the United States’ “outdated structure” for collecting royalties from mining companies meant the government was not obtaining as much money for the leases as it deserved. A spokesman for the Interior Department declined to comment. A spokesman for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is State of New Mexico et al v. United States Department of the Interior et al, U.S. District Court, District of Montana, 4-cv-00042.
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politicsNews
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May 10, 2017
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Arab coalition says will keep Yemen port open; air raids kill at least nine
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ADEN (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Wednesday it would keep the Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port, vital for aid, open for a month despite a fresh missile attack against Riyadh, but it kept up air raids that killed at least nine people. The Western-backed coalition, which controls Yemen s airspace and port access, said last month it would allow humanitarian relief through Hodeidah following a nearly three-week blockade imposed because of a missile attack toward the Saudi capital s international airport. The Saudis say the Red Sea port, which is Yemen s main entry point for food and humanitarian supplies, is also a hub used by the Houthis to bring in weapons, which it accuses Iran of supplying. Tehran denies the charges. On Wednesday, the coalition confirmed it would keep access open to the port despite another missile attack at Riyadh on Tuesday by the Houthis which Saudi forces also intercepted. Keen to maintain humanitarian aid to the brotherly Yemeni people and as a result of intensified inspection measures, the coalition command announces that Hodeidah port will remain open for humanitarian and relief supplies, the coalition said in a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA on Wednesday. The Saudi ambassador to Sanaa said the coalition would also allow the provision of four cranes to the port to boost aid deliveries to the war-damaged country. The ambassador, Mohammed al-Jaber, who was speaking in a televised news conference, did not give details on how the cranes would be delivered. Earlier this year, the United Nations said the coalition turned back four cranes the United States donated to the World Food Programme to boost aid operations at Hodeidah. The cranes would have replaced parts of the port s infrastructure destroyed by coalition air strikes in August 2015, damage that forced ships to line up offshore because they could not be unloaded. The coalition said ships bringing in fuel and food would also be allowed to enter for another 30 days while proposals made by the United Nations envoy to Yemen were implemented, it added. The agency did not elaborate on the proposals. But the coalition has been demanding that a U.N. inspection regime agreed in 2015 be further tightened to prevent weapons from reaching the Houthis. SALMAN-TRUMP CALL Saudi state news agency SPA said King Salman discussed in a telephone call with U.S. President Donald Trump ways to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its hostile acts and its involvement in supplying the Houthi militia with missiles to threaten the security of the kingdom and the region . The White House later confirmed the call and said the two leaders agreed on the importance of reinvigorating a political process to end the war in Yemen and that the king briefed Trump on a Saudi plan to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict. Tuesday s missile attack took place as the Houthis marked 1,000 days since the coalition intervened in the Yemen war in March 2015 to try to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after a Houthi advance on his base in Aden forced him to flee. Saudi Arabia said that since the war began the Houthis had fired 83 ballistic missiles toward the kingdom. More than 10,000 people have been killed and a humanitarian crisis unleashed in a conflict which has intensified since former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed on Dec. 4. Coalition forces, which are supported by the United States and Britain, meanwhile launched fresh air strikes overnight. Residents said at least nine members of the same family, including at least five children, were killed in one air strike which hit their home in Wadi Khair in southern Yemen s Shabwa province. Coalition aircraft have been providing air support for southern fighters and pro-government troops as part of a push to clear the Houthis from Shabwa and the family were killed in an apparently mistaken attack. Residents also reported that coalition aircraft bombed a new parliament chamber, part of a government compound being built in Sanaa, causing damage but no casualties. The coalition had no immediate comment on the report but says it does not target civilians. Similar air strikes in which civilian homes, markets and hospitals were hit are recurrent in Yemen. On Monday, eight women and two children from the same family died when war planes struck a vehicle returning from a wedding party in Marib, east of Sanaa.
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worldnews
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December 20, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and captivating manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Police arrest Kosovo opposition leader for no-show at court
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PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo police arrested three lawmakers on Friday, including the popular main opposition leader whom they handcuffed in the street, after the three failed to appear in court on charges of releasing tear gas in parliament in 2015 and 2016. Opposition lawmakers obstructed parliament for almost two years by letting off tear gas in the chamber in a protest against a border deal with Montenegro and an EU-brokered agreement with Serbia. Albin Kurti, leader of Kosovo s biggest opposition party Vetevendosje, was seized and handcuffed by police close to parliament building when he was on his way to attend a regular session. Police used paper spray to disperse several other lawmakers from Kurti s party who tried to hold onto him and prevent police from taking him away, Kosovo media showed. He was eventually moved into a police van. Kurti won more votes than any other political candidate and his party came first in June snap elections, but he did not enter the ruling coalition. All three MPs were given one month detention, Dukagjin Gorani of Vetevendosje told Reuters later in the day. Dozens of other MPs have been indicted so far for releasing tear gas in the 120-seat parliament. This is the continuation of a massive and wide-ranging persecution that has started against Vetevendosje, the party president, Visar Ymeri, said. Last week a court in Pristina sentenced four people, including one member of parliament, to prison terms ranging from two to eight years for taking part in a grenade attack against the parliament building last year. They were all loyalists of Vetevendosje. Opposition parties oppose the border deal with Montenegro saying the country of 1.8 million is losing land by handing over some 8,000 hectares (19,700 acres). The opposition is also against a deal signed in 2013 between Pristina and Belgrade as part of an EU-sponsored dialogue that would give more rights to the local Serb minority. They say the deal will practically divide the poor Balkan country on ethnic lines. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after NATO bombing drove Serb forces from the territory.
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worldnews
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November 24, 2017
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WOW! Look Who Just Knocked Trump Out Of The #1 Spot In GOP Poll
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This certainly isn t who the GOP power-brokers want to see in the top two Donald Trump has boasted that he s leading every poll and in most cases big. Not anymore. The latest IBD/TIPP Poll shows him in second place, seven points behind Ben Carson.The nationwide survey found that 24% of Republicans back Carson, compared with 17% who say they support Trump.Marco Rubio came in third with 11% and Carly Fiorina fourth at 9%. Jeb Bush, once considered a prohibitive favorite, ranked fifth with just 8% support, which was a point lower than those who say they are still undecided.The IBD/TIPP Poll has a proven track record for accuracy, based on its performance in the past three presidential elections. In a comparison of the final results of various pollsters for the 2004 and 2008 elections, IBD/TIPP was the most accurate. And the New York Times concluded that IBD/TIPP was the most accurate among 23 polls over the three weeks leading up to the 2012 election.The October poll, conducted from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1, included 377 registered voters who are Republican or registered independents who lean toward the Republican Party, with a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.Peak Trump? Other polls show Trump s support slipping in recent weeks. The Real Clear Politics average of six national polls shows him falling from 30.5% in mid-September to 23.3% by the end of the month. That average does not include the IBD/TIPP findings. Things appear to be catching up with Trump on multiple fronts, said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducts IBD s monthly poll. In addition to facing increasing attacks from other candidates, Trump s boycott of Fox News may have set him back, Mayur said, noting that the poll was being conducted during Trump s self-imposed hiatus.When asked on CNBC about his slipping poll numbers, Trump said that if I fell behind badly, I would certainly get out. Carson s gain comes after his controversial remarks on Meet the Press that he couldn t support a Muslim for president. See story here. Rubio s third-place standing shows he has gained considerable ground since the second GOP debate. But Fiorina, who was widely seen as having won that debate, has been unable to capitalize on it with Republicans. Via: IBD
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politics
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Oct 3, 2015
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true-fake
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Graft probe into Mexico president's ally poses tricky challenge ahead of elections
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - With a tight general election looming next year, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto faces a tough choice on whether to pursue a graft probe involving a prominent ally and Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. Mexico s top prosecutor, acting Attorney General, Alberto Elias Beltran, on Friday fired the federal attorney general responsible for electoral crimes, adding fuel to a case that may complicate the president s efforts to shake off allegations of corruption in the run-up to the July 2018 presidential vote. The dismissal of top electoral prosecutor, Santiago Nieto, came two days after he accused Emilio Lozoya, the former boss of state oil firm Pemex, and a longtime ally of President Pena Nieto, in a newspaper interview of writing to him to ask to be declared innocent of funneling Odebrecht cash to political campaigns. In Brazil, Odebrecht has admitted to paying bribes in several countries in Latin America, including Mexico. President Pena Nieto s party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has been the dominant force of Mexican politics for the best part of a century, but has long been a byword for corruption. Mindful that the issue of corruption has become central to the 2018 election, the unpopular PRI has overseen the arrest of various former state governors, but Lozoya poses a more difficult challenge, given his proximity to the president. If they investigate (Lozoya) deeply, I think it would be the end of the party in power. If they don t, they stir up more public anger, said Paulo Diez, an anti-corruption lawyer who has taken on the government in high-profile graft scandals. Four days after becoming acting Attorney General, Alberto Elias Beltran dismissed Santiago Nieto on the grounds he had broken the office s code of conduct for public officials, his office said on Friday. The dismissal was attacked by the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), opposition parties which questioned the impartiality of Pena Nieto s government. Santiago Nieto told newspaper Reforma on Wednesday that Lozoya s letter was a bid to secure impunity and that Odebrecht money had entered political campaigns. Nieto s office confirmed the letter s existence, as well as the investigation into the former Pemex chief executive, when contacted by Reuters. Lozoya said in a press conference that he is innocent of all accusations and that he did not funnel cash to President Pena Nieto s campaign. President Pena Nieto has also previously denied Odebrecht bribes made their way into his party s coffers. Lozoya s lawyer, Javier Coello, denied his client had written seeking leniency interviews. Coello also shared with Reuters a letter sent to Santiago Nieto, in which Lozoya asked to be informed of any criminal investigation into him, and to be called to testify if needed. That letter did not mention any appeals for clemency. Odebrecht has admitted to U.S. and Brazilian prosecutors that it paid $10.5 million in bribes in Mexico. Details of the payments have not been made public, though in August, Brazilian and Mexican media reported that Lozoya had asked Odebrecht executives for bribes in 2012 in return for contracts, citing testimony from Odebrecht employees. On Monday this week, Attorney General Raul Cervantes stood down, telling Senators his office had concluded investigations into Odebrecht. However, the details have yet to be published.
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worldnews
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October 21, 2017
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Republicans Not Willing To Defend Trump On-Air According To Fox’s Shep Smith
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In the wake of Donald Trump s unhinged and rambling press conference delivered from Trump Tower on Tuesday in which, among many gaffes, he claimed that the alt-left were just as accountable for the violence over the weekend in Charlottesville, VA., and then attempted to justify his statements by adding that there were many fine people on both sides, the Commander in Chief has found himself in a very lonely place.Trump is a man who expects unwavering support and loyalty, but according to a reporter for one of his closest allies, Shepard Smith of Fox News, that is something Trump is currently finding it tough to come by. Smith said on his show, Shepard Smith Reporting, that the network reached out in an effort to get a Republican on-air to defend the President s remarks, but failed to land a single one. Our booking team and they re good reached out to Republicans of all stripes across the country today, Smith said. Let s be honest, Republicans don t often really mind coming on Fox News Channel. We couldn t get anyone to come and defend him here because we thought, in balance, someone should do that, he continued, but Smith didn t stop there. We worked very hard at it throughout the day, and we were unsuccessful. And of those who are condemning the president s condemnable actions, I ve not heard any prominent leaders, former presidents, members of the House or the Senate use his name while speaking in generalities, he added.Since the President s press conference, one of very few he has given during his term in office, many Republicans have spoken out, not just condemning Trump s remarks, but racism and bigotry in general. House Speaker Paul Ryan took to Twitter to deliver the following message:We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity. Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 15, 2017On Wednesday, former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush also issued a joint statement in which the pair said that the U.S. must reject hatred in all forms. If there is one time the current President needs to pay more attention to those around him, this is most definitely it.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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News
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August 17, 2017
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true-fake
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Cory Booker EVISCERATES RNC’s Hateful Tone, ‘Lock Her Up’ Chants
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Senator Cory Booker was none too happy with what went on at the Republican National Convention. The Los Angeles Times reports that the beloved New Jersey senator took to the microphone at a DNC press conference this week to express his anger over the chaotic convention, particularly with regards to the treatment of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Booker was very concerned that his colleagues on the other side of the aisle let their convention take on such a violently vitriolic tone, saying: These chants of lock someone up, take away their liberty, throw them in prisons that s why we had a revolution in this country against those ideas. But what s worse on the spectrum of things that have been spewed in this convention, that s one of the least offensive. He continued: And no one s condemning this in the Republican Party? No one s saying this is not who America is? Senator Booker even tweeted a photo of himself hugging Hillary Clinton, with a message of solidarity pushing back against the disturbing tone of the GOP convention:Proud to be in Cleveland supporting Secretary Clinton and pushing back against the hate, hyperbole and lies. pic.twitter.com/jb2t0kH8jN Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) July 21, 2016Unfortunately, no, the RNC isn t condemning any of this. While this isn t what America is, it is certainly what the Republican Party is. All we have to do is look at the increasing violence at Donald Trump rallies that hasn t deterred people from supporting him at all. In fact, Trump himself often encouraged that violence, right from the podium.Trump is the GOP now. He s their standard-bearer, the leader of their party. That s who they are. They have put a violent, bigoted fascist at the top of their ticket and urged people to vote for him. The hatred and bigotry running through that party is embodied in Donald Trump. I, personally, am not at all surprised that party leaders like Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell said nothing about the lock her up chants and calls for violence against Hillary Clinton. The Party of Lincoln is now the Party of Trump, and that is A-OK with the GOP. After all, it s who they ve always been, but they just needed someone to be that voice.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images
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News
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July 23, 2016
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Coke Just Stuck It To Trump’s Bigotry With The Most BRILLIANT Super Bowl Ad EVER (VIDEO)
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The whole nation is ashamed of the open and overt exclusion and bigotry shown by Donald Trump, his administration, and his supporters. This sentiment was ratcheted up a thousand fold when Trump signed a hateful immigration order the promised Muslim ban thinly cloaked in false claims about national security concerns that threw the nation and world into chaos, tore families apart, and put many lives at risk.Well, the Super Bowl is perhaps the most watched program of the year, and it is the perfect time to show people what one thinks, via those famous commercials. Coke decided to do just that, and it was nothing short of brilliant.The popular soft drink company aired an ad at the beginning of Sunday s game where America the Beautiful was being sang in different languages, showing the beautiful diversity of America in the many faces of our country. Every race, color, creed, national origin, religion everything you could think of is represented in this amazing commercial.Donald Trump might want to white wash America, with the help of the likes of white supremacists like Steve Bannon, but he cannot kill our inclusive spirit.Well done, Coke! I ll definitely be supporting you in your efforts to be real American patriots.Watch the commercial below:I hope that Coca-Cola pisses off the racist-bigots again with their #SuperBowl Commercial. #Coke pic.twitter.com/zyE7j4eWx2 Kim Is Bored (@Kim_is__bored) February 5, 2017Featured image via video screen capture
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News
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February 5, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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CHER AND ROSIE In Desperation Mode Over Tax Cuts…Illegal Bribes and “Hate You” Tweets Offered to GOP
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Has-been liberal celebrities took to twitter to voice their displeasure and to offer bribes to change votes. Rosie, Rosie, Rosie she knows better than to throw millions at politicians. she just made herself look like a fool with the tweet below:so how about this i promise to give 2 million dollars to senator susan collins and 2 million to senator jeff flakeif they vote NO NO I WILL NOT KILL AMERICANS FOR THE SUOER RICH DM me susan DM me jeff no shit 2 million casheach ROSIE (@Rosie) December 20, 2017Cher got nasty when she tweeted out a hate u tweet:4get anger.Who are these republicans,who will let ppldie. means nothing if you lose your child,wife,husband, sister,brother,father, mother.trump &his stepford wives r trying 2destroy our beloved America,we will rise up & #Resist.have ten rallies a day.the majority hates u Cher (@cher) December 20, 2017The left has shown themselves to be totally wacko during the time of the tax cut vote. We ve heard of a woman ripping off her top in the gallery of the House and other downright nasty threats from leftists on twitter:https://twitter.com/ActualEPAFacts/status/943315104862482432Different Democrats have gone full drama mode over this tax cut. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have lead the way .Nancy Pelosi just got even more embarrassing than ever She pulled the drama card while commenting on the tax cuts: No this is the end of the world. The debate on health care is life or death. This is Armegeddon! This is a really big deal. Because you know why? It s really hard to come back from this
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politics
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Dec 20, 2017
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New Trump Comments Confirm That Bannon Could Be On His Way OUT (DETAILS)
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There have been weeks of reports that White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon and Senior Adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner have been at each other s throats. Reportedly, the infighting is so bad that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had to moderate a meeting between the two so that they could call a truce. Now, new comments from Donald Trump suggest that he s not so hot on Bannon these days, and if it comes down to it in a knock down, drag out, Bannon v. Kushner fight, Kushner will definitely emerge the victor.Michael Goodwin of the New York Post asked Donald Trump if he was still confident in Bannon s abilities, and for the first time, Trump didn t give a full-throated defense of his white supremacist Chief Strategist. In fact, he seemed to want to downplay the level of Bannon s influence in both the campaign and the White House. Trump told Goodwin: I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late. I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn t know Steve. I m my own strategist and it wasn t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary. When White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about the Bannon v. Kushner feud, he tried to say that the media was making too much of it: There s a lot of stuff that was overblown about this that makes it out into the media sometimes and gets a little more sensational than it really is. Of course, this directly contradicts Trump s comments to the New York Post. In addition to the aforementioned statements, Trump also said: Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will. So, in other words, it looks like Bannon is on the chopping block. Perhaps the rest of the white nationalist Pepe brigade will be ousted with him if and when he goes. It s a shame that we have sunk to the level in 2017 of hoping to get avowed white supremacists out of the White House, but here we are. Murica.Featured image via Mario Tama/Getty Images
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News
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April 11, 2017
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that captures the reader's attention, while Article B feels less coherent and lacks the same level of persuasive tone.
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Trump’s Spokeswoman Just Said Half Of Bernie’s Supporters Will Vote For Trump (VIDEO)
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Infamous Donald Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson has once again proven just how pitiful and ridiculous The Donald and his entire team is. In speaking about President Barack Obama s recent endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Pierson revealed that she actually thinks that supporters of Bernie Sanders are going to switch sides and vote GOP. Actually, she said with full confidence that she thinks HALF of Sanders fans are going to switch over to team Trump.It doesn t get any more idiotic than this, and it s almost hard to believe. When Jake Tapper asked Pierson how many Sanders supporters will jump ship to avoid voting for Clinton, Pierson said: I think the polls are showing, one in four, maybe, I think it s going to be half at some point. There is a transition happening, not just in this country but globally, the consciousness is definitely changing, and younger voters want to see the status quo busted up. That is absolute madness, and Pierson has mocked the intelligence of Bernie s followers by saying they would vote for a racist, misogynistic Republican. First of all, Trump has insulted their chosen candidate several times, referring to him as Crazy Bernie. He s also encouraged violence against Sanders supporters that dare to attend his rallies. Another thing Trump is in denial about is the fact that Sanders will probably be giving Clinton his endorsement soon, and urge his supporters to throw their support behind the former Secretary of State as well.Now, Sanders fans might not be happy that Clinton is leading the Democratic party, but most of them know that Trump needs to be stopped by any means possible. According to a recent poll, the real numbers reveal that less than a quarter of Sanders voters might switch over to Trump. The polls also revealed that 71 percent of Sanders backers would choose Clinton over Trump but when has the Trump campaign ever really been concerned with facts?You can watch Pierson spew this pro-Trump nonsense in the video below:Featured image is a screenshot
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News
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June 9, 2016
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AMERICA IS CLOSER TO BECOMING SWEDEN Than You Think…Don’t Believe Us? Watch This…
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These videos will shock you. When you think of Sweden, do you think of Muslim gangs roving the streets in no-go zones lobbing hand grenades at warring migrant tribes? Do you think of Muslim men raping so many Swedish women, girls, men and boys, that it has now earned the designation as the rape capitol of the world? Do you think of children being taken from their homes for the crime of being homeschooled by their parents? Do you think of a nation of spoiled everyone gets a trophy children? Do you envision a nation where parenting your children is now considered taboo? Sweden can be proud today to have shed its long standing reputation as the most boring country in the world . The Nordic state finds itself in the grip of a terrifying crime wave instead, which even new Swedes describe as like being back in Syria .Grenade attacks in multicultural paradise Malm are now so commonplace the English-speaking media has all but stopped bothering to report them. Compounding the apparent disinterest in the descent of beautiful, historic Malm into a third-world ghetto where native Swedes are very nearly in the minority, is a striking dearth of facts about what is actually going on there.Did you know that it s ILLEGAL to home school your child in Sweden? So much for tolerance. You must learn what the state teaches you or you will be severely punished.It s been called one of the worst cases of government abuse ever committed against a home schooling family: the abduction by Swedish authorities of Domenic Johansson, a happy, healthy, 7-year-old boy taken from his parents Christer and Annie Johansson in 2009 as they waited to leave Sweden on a flight to India.After the abduction, the Johanssons story spread quickly on the Internet.But three years later, Domenic is still being kept from his parents, and Swedish authorities keep finding new reasons for why the child can t go home. This is about the most fundamental right you have. You have the right to your own children, or you should have, Christer told CBN News during the first television interview he and his wife have given since their only child s abduction.In 2008, Christer and Annie were making plans to leave Sweden for humanitarian work in Annie s native India.They decided it would be best for Domenic to be home-schooled during the final months before their departure, rather than enroll him in public school.Christer says Sweden s Ministry of Education told him they could home-school, but local officials levied steep fines and threatened the couple to discourage them from doing so.Then, as the parents sat on a plane at Stockholm airport for their scheduled trip to India, police came aboard and took Domenic away. They took Domenic from the plane, Christer recalled. Then he threw up until they took him to ER. That s how severe the trauma is. If someone throws up so you have to take him to the hospital, that s severe. I have no clue what went on, Annie added. There was just a stampede. My child had no clue, and I have no clue still what s going on. I can just hear the screams of my child all the time. Sweden s liberal approach to parenting has bred a nation of ill-mannered brats, a leading expert has warned in a new book which calls on parents to seize back control of their families. David Eberhard, who was a prominent psychiatrist before becoming a writer, warns in his new book, How Children Took Power, that Swedish parents are now unwilling to discipline their children in any way. Swedes in 1979 became the first to adopt a total smacking ban. We live in a culture where so-called experts say that children are competent and the conclusion is that children should decide what to eat, what to wear, and when to go to bed, he said. If you have a dinner party, they never sit quietly. They interrupt. They re always in the centre, and the problem is that when they become young adults, they take with them the expectation that everything is centred around them, which makes them very disappointed. He points to Sweden s growing truancy rates, a rise in anxiety disorders, and the country s declining performance in international educational league tables, as the tangible results of its liberal parenting approach. They don t say thank you. They don t open doors. If you see them on the subway, they don t stand up for elderly people or pregnant women. Stricter parenting is a taboo in Sweden, let alone advocating a return to smacking, a ban on which he believes has more to do with ideology than scientific evidence. It s very difficult to contradict. If you say I m putting forward a stricter way, then people think you re an idiot. Can you say #BlackLivesMatter movement?
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left-news
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Nov 16, 2015
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more compelling despite its inaccuracies.
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Anti-Trump Protesters Scream Profanities at FOX News in Segment on Peaceful Protests
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Lefty losers
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politics
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Mar 11, 2016
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Trump Owes A Foreign Bank At Least $100 Million – And It’s Fighting U.S. Regulators
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While the country has a meltdown over Hillary Clinton s email scandal (even though she didn t break any federal laws), there seems to be a blind eye on an even bigger scandal and yes, it would involve Donald Trump.Mother Jones reports that should Trump win the presidency, he will potentially face having to owe over $100 million to Deutsche Bank, which has sparred with U.S. regulators for years. Such a conundrum would be the biggest conflict of interest any presidential candidate has ever faced.Here are the facts:Trump has acquired quite a bit of debt, totaling roughly $355 million (or possibly more) from various loans from a multitude of lenders. His ambiguous financial statement lists 16 loans from 11 different creditors. At least five of these loans are worth $50 million or more, and have no been paid back (at least in full).Deutsche Bank appears to be Trump s biggest line of credit, with loans totaling $295 million for two projects alone $125 million to buy Trump National Doral golf course, and most recently $170 million for his newest project, his hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. With the election a mere five months away, and the hotel slated to open in fall, Trump will (if elected) waltz into the White House owing a foreign bank more than $100 million.That, as Richard Painter, an attorney who teaches at the University of Minnesota puts it, is very troublesome. For starters, this will mean that as President of the United States, Trump will literally be beholden to a foreign bank. And if it s anything like his Ocean City Taj Mahal, will it ever be paid? With bookings for his hotels dropping by a whopping 60 percent, who knows. As Painter told Mother Jones:They [former presidents] had large assets and usually diversified assets. They weren t in a situation where someone could put pressure on them to do what they want. Whereas having a president who owes a lot of money to banks, particularly when it s on negotiable terms it puts them at the mercy of the banks and the banks are at the mercy of regulators. In real estate, the prevailing business model is to own a lot but also owe a lot, and that is a potentially very troublesome business model for someone in public office.Just because Trump is a billionaire doesn t mean he ll pay it all back with full faith. As Mother Jones reminds readers:In 2005, Trump borrowed $640 million from Deutsche Bank and several other lenders for the construction of a Chicago hotel tower. When he failed to pay back the money on time in 2008, the banks, including Deutsche Bank, demanded he pay up the $40 million he had personally guaranteed. In response, Trump sued Deutsche Bank for $3 billion, saying the project s financial troubles were the fault of the economic recession, essentially an act of God, and accusing the bank of undermining the project and his reputation.With no indication of a blind-trust being set up as to avoid a conflict of interest, one could assume Trump would bend the rules in his favor, as he boasts to always doing.And if that alone wasn t a reason to be suspicious, Deutsche Bank has been fighting U.S. regulators for years, which would make a partnership with Trump all the more conflicted.With an ongoing battle of trying to bypass the rules in favor of Wall Street, the German bank was forced to pay a staggering $2.5 billion fine for rigging interest rates. The fine included paying $600 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services, $800 million to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and $775 million to the Department of Justice.The bank also reached multiple settlements for price fixing metals.Great business partners you got there, Trump. When Democrats and Republicans say Hillary Clinton is beholden to banks, maybe the attention should be turned to Trump, who literally owes a bank over $100 million.It s no wonder Trump has pledge to repeal Dodd-Frank.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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News
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June 1, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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Lebanese patriarch, in Saudi, says supports reasons Hariri quit
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RIYADH (Reuters) - Lebanon s Christian Maronite Patriarch, visiting Saudi Arabia in an historic visit to the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, expressed support on Tuesday for the reasons behind Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s resignation. Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned abruptly on Nov. 4 in a move Lebanese political leaders ascribed to pressure from Riyadh. Hariri said his resignation had been prompted by an assassination plot and accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region. He denies there are any constraints on his movement. Patriarch Bechara al-Rai met Hariri as well as King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a trip that was planned well before the Lebanese political crisis brought on by Hariri s resignation. Hariri is returning as fast as possible and I support the reasons for his resignation, Rai was quoted as saying by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television. Hariri said he was fine and would return to Lebanon in the next two days. On Twitter, he urged Lebanese to remain calm and said his family would stay in Saudi Arabia, calling it their country . The events have thrust Lebanon back to the forefront of the conflict between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran. Rai s trip has come under heightened scrutiny in light of Hariri s resignation, but an official visit to Saudi Arabia by such a senior non-Muslim cleric is significant as a rare act of religious openness by the conservative Muslim country. The kingdom hosts the holiest sites in Islam and bans the practice of other religions, forcing Christians to risk arrest by praying in private homes. Prince Mohammed says he wants Saudi Arabia to open up more to the world. In addition to imposing radical economic reforms, the 32-year-old heir-apparent has pledged to relax strict social norms and revive a middle-of-the-road, moderate Islam open to the world and all religions, traditions and people . Rai heads the Maronite church, which has a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus and follows an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic Church. Flanked by Catholic clerics wearing vestments and gold crosses, Rai discussed religious tolerance and combating extremism with the king and his son, the Saudi state news agency said. Prince Mohammed has taken a harder line on Iran since taking on wide-ranging authorities two years ago including as defense minister, with the kingdom waging a two-year-old war in Yemen against Houthi fighters aligned with Iran. He has also pushed for more social freedoms in a country where authority has rested for decades on an enduring accommodation between the royal family and clerics who control the hardline Wahhabi strain of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia. The powers of the Saudi religious police have been curbed, enforcement of gender segregation has been relaxed and women have been granted some more freedoms, including the right to drive cars starting next year. Rai is the second Christian patriarch to visit the country, after another such trip in 1975. He said the original invitation had been extended in 2013 by the late King Abdullah.
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worldnews
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November 14, 2017
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Japan PM says U.N. sanctions on North Korea must be firmly imposed
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that United Nations sanctions on North Korea needed to be firmly imposed. Abe, speaking to reporters, said that the international community must send a clear message to North Korea over its provocative actions. North Korea fired a missile on Friday that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials said, further ratcheting up tensions after Pyongyang s recent test of a powerful nuclear bomb.
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worldnews
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September 15, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and reader trust compared to Article B.
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U.S. follows Mexico in backing disputed Honduran vote result
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WASHINGTON/TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday followed Mexico in signaling that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez had won a heavily disputed presidential election last month, lending weight to his legitimacy in spite of ongoing opposition protests. The Honduran electoral tribunal at the weekend declared U.S. ally Hernandez the winner of the Nov. 26 election in spite of widespread misgivings about the count, which turned in favor of the incumbent after suddenly halting with the opposition ahead. Violent protests have broken out in Honduras over the vote, and the Organization of American States (OAS) urged the country to hold new elections to resolve the dispute. That proposal has, however, been rejected by senior Honduran officials. Hernandez s rival Salvador Nasralla traveled to Washington this week to urge the United States not to recognize the vote, but a senior U.S. State Department official said that his government had no evidence that would alter the results. At this point ... we have not seen anything that alters the final result, the official told reporters, saying Washington may wait to make a definitive judgment in case the opposition presents additional evidence of fraud in the election. Mexico on Tuesday congratulated Hernandez for being declared victor. Mexico s step, which followed the recognition of Hernandez by Colombia and Guatemala, strengthened the incumbent s hand and could tilt other countries in his favor. The Mexican statement, and its review, indicates that a call for a new election is a pretty dramatic outcome in this case, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Washington may hold off on making a final judgment until the end of a five-day period when the opposition can produce further evidence to contest the results, the official added. He said a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state met with Nasralla, who has accused Hernandez of stealing the election. He did not have any new (allegations of) fraud (or) evidence to present to us, and I think we are going to work through this quickly to get to a definitive U.S. statement, he added. The Mexican statement is going to have a strong influence on whether we think we can move forward sooner. The Mexicans seem pretty certain in their statement. Hernandez on Wednesday named a new head of the armed forces, Rene Orlando Ponce, who quickly indicated on local radio that solving the impasse would be for Honduras alone. We re not going to accept any interference beyond Honduran law, he said.
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worldnews
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December 20, 2017
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H.R. McMaster Repeatedly Refuses to Say if He Can Work with Steve Bannon…A Deep State Set Up? [Video]
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Alert! Alinsky tactics at work here! Remember Pick a Target? Well, the media and Deep State have picked their target Breitbart News has been exposing H.R. McMaster so now the media and Deep State are going hard after Steve Bannon EVEN HARDER THAN THEY HAD BEEN BEFORE. The media and politicians have been targeting Bannon since the election. They ve been calling him all of the usual names like Nazi or White Supremacist . They re clearly afraid of Bannon because he has the media and the left figured out just like Breitbart did. We re hoping Bannon won t get squeezed out by Kelly and McMaster! This could cause a HUGE policy shift for the Trump presidency. Not good, not good at all for Trump supporters who want America back after 8 awful years of Obama.White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster repeatedly refused say whether he could work with chief strategist Steve Bannon Sunday on Meet The Press, dodging the question three times! Three times! This is a Deep State wake up call!IS BANNON ON THE WAY OUT? NOT GOOD!Did you notice that Scaramucci went after President Trump today? AND Steve Bannon? Yes, he was on the morning shows letting it rip on those two!Axios reported Saturday that Bannon has entered President Donald Trump s doghouse and that top officials believe he s part of leaks meant to target McMaster. Bannon was previously executive chairman of Breitbart, and the right-wing website has published a series of stories attacking McMaster in recent weeks.SHOULDN T THE TRUTH COME OUT ON MCMASTER?New Chief of Staff John Kelly has said he will not tolerate the infighting and anonymous comments to the media that characterized predecessor Reince Priebus tenure, according to Politico.Earlier in the interview, host Chuck Todd asked what was going on between him and Bannon. McMaster dismissed the saga as a lot of noise and didn t mention Bannon s name.At the end of the interview, Todd repeatedly asked McMaster if he could work together with Bannon, but McMaster wouldn t answer. Can you and Steve Bannon still work together in this White House or not? Todd asked. I get to work together with a broad range of talented people, and it is a privilege every day to enable the national security team, McMaster said. You didn t answer. Can you and Steve Bannon work in that same White House? Todd asked. I am ready to work with anybody who will help advance the president s agenda and advance the security, prosperity of the American people, McMaster said. Do you believe Steve Bannon does that? Todd asked. I believe that everyone who works in the White House, who has the privilege, the great privilege every day of serving their nation, should be motivated by that goal, McMaster said.VIA: WFB
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politics
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Aug 13, 2017
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true-fake
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Austrian president to insist on pro-EU government after election
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VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will insist that the coalition government formed after next month s parliamentary election should be pro-European, he said on Tuesday, but he stopped short of saying that ruled out the far-right. Van der Bellen, a former Greens leader, ran on a pro-European Union platform and beat an opponent from the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) in last year s presidential election. As head of state, he is mainly a figurehead but he does have the power to appoint and dismiss governments. The eurosceptic FPO initially cheered Britain s vote last year to leave the European Union but has since watered down its criticism of the bloc as polls have shown that a clear majority of Austrians want their country to remain a member. I will ensure after the election that the new government, whatever its composition, does not lose sight of one thing: Austria should also in the future be a country at the heart of Europe, at the heart of the European Union, Van der Bellen said in a speech to the nation ahead of the Oct. 15 vote. Van der Bellen has said he would aim to prevent FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache from becoming chancellor if the anti-immigration party won the election. That outcome appears increasingly unlikely as polls show the conservative People s Party (OVP) led by Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has a significant lead, with Chancellor Christian Kern s Social Democrats (SPO) or the FPO in second place. The SPO and OVP have dominated post-war politics and are in coalition together, but tensions between them have grown, making it more likely the election winner will turn to the FPO to obtain a parliamentary majority and form a government. In his address, Van der Bellen called on Austrians to inform themselves on political parties and their policies and to shun short-term thinking. He also said parties should avoid clashing so fiercely that they could not hold talks after the election. When asked after his speech if he would prevent the FPO from entering government, he did not give a direct answer. I have always said clearly, and I stand by it and I think I have also made clear today, that I place the greatest importance on Austria having a pro-European government, he said.
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worldnews
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September 12, 2017
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Trump praises Saudi purge, voices confidence in King, Crown Prince
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed a move by Saudi Arabia s future king that tightened his grip on power through the arrests of royals, ministers and investors in an anti-corruption purge. The endorsement cemented a U.S.-Saudi relationship that has improved dramatically under Trump s presidency, partly because of both leaders vision of confronting Riyadh s arch-rival Iran more aggressively in the region. Trump tweeted on Monday that he had great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia following the mass arrests - the biggest such purge of the kingdom s affluent elite in its modern history. Trump also tweeted that they know exactly what they are doing, adding: Some of those they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years. The purge was the latest in a series of dramatic steps by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS as he is commonly referred to in Western circles, to assert Saudi influence internationally and amass more power for himself at home. A U.S. official who declined to be named told Reuters that MbS has become the primary driver of Saudi policy-making. He has moved aggressively to sideline opponents, concentrate decision-making authority, and establish himself as the undisputed heir to the al Saud legacy. He seeks to reinvigorate the public s confidence in the Saudi monarchy by diversifying the economy, loosening religious restrictions, and carrying out wide ranging social reforms, the official said. Trump s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the president s senior adviser, who has cultivated a close relationship with MbS, recently returned from Saudi Arabia, fuelling speculation on whether he may have had wind of MbS plans. The White House said at the time the trip was reported that it was within the context of Kushner s efforts on Israeli-Palestinian peace conversations. Among those arrested were billionaire investor Alwaleed bin Talal, who is one of the kingdom s most prominent businessmen and whose investments in companies like Twitter make him the most recognized Saudi name on Wall Street. It s an impressive feat to have basically neutered virtually all of the sources of potential opposition, dissent rivalry, whether it s religious, media, political, military, said Rob Malley, vice president for policy of the International Crisis Group. On the other hand... it s always risky to make too many enemies at the same time. It s not clear how those enemies can react, said Malley, a former senior adviser on Middle East affairs under President Barack Obama. Also detained was Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was replaced as minister of the National Guard, a pivotal power base rooted in the kingdom s tribes. That recalled a palace coup in June that ousted Mohammed bin Nayef as heir to the throne. A former senior U.S. intelligence official cautioned that given the National Guard s loyalties, MbS could face a backlash. I find it difficult to believe that it (National Guard) will simply roll over and accept the imposition of new leadership in such an arbitrary fashion. ANTI-IRANIAN CONFRONTATION U.S.-Saudi ties had been strained under Obama, who Riyadh felt considered their alliance less important than negotiating the Iran nuclear deal. But the Trump administration has vowed to confront Iran much more aggressively in the region, where it shares the Saudi view that Tehran is fomenting instability via a number of proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen among other countries. Tehran denies the allegations. Events in Saudi Arabia in recent days appeared to open the prospect for a sharper confrontation with Iran and its proxies. Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon on Monday of declaring war against it because of what it called aggression by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah. Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister on Saturday, announcing his resignation from Riyadh and blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech. Also on Saturday, Saudi Arabia s air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from warring Yemen over the capital, Riyadh. The Pentagon praised Saudi Arabia for exposing Iran s role in Yemen and Tehran s provision of missile systems to Houthi militia fighting there. Between that (Hariri s resignation) and the missile launch on Riyadh ... the coincidence of those two does mean that the prospect of some escalation, some strike either against Hezbollah or against Iran or against both is more likely, certainly than it was a few days ago, Malley told Reuters.
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worldnews
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November 6, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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U.S. gives China draft proposal for tougher North Korea sanctions - sources
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UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has given China a draft resolution for tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea and is hoping for a quick vote on it by the U.N. Security Council, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday. A senior official of the Trump administration confirmed efforts were under way to negotiate a new U.N. resolution, but added that there had been no agreement. We re trying to get another one, said the official, who did not want to be identified. They re not there yet. Details of the draft given to China last week were not immediately available, but the United States is keen to step up global sanctions to pressure North Korea to give up a weapons program aimed developing nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the United States. Among the steps it wants is a tightening of restrictions on North Korea s supply of refined petroleum, which is capped by previous U.N. sanctions at 2 million barrels a year. China, which supplies most of North Korea s oil, has backed successive rounds of U.N. sanctions but has resisted past U.S. calls to cut off supplies to its neighbor. Its embassy in Washington and Foreign Ministry in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States has also called on the U.N. Security Council to blacklist 10 ships for circumventing sanctions on North Korea, documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed. The documents said vessels had been conducting ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or transporting North Korean coal in violation of existing U.N. sanctions. Earlier on Tuesday, China responded to the announcement of a new U.S. national security strategy this week that branded Beijing a competitor seeking to challenge U.S. power by saying that cooperation between it and Washington would lead to a win-win outcome for both sides, but confrontation would bring mutual losses.
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worldnews
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December 20, 2017
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OOPS! GOP Governor Who Called For Trump To “Step Aside” After Taped Sexual Remarks FORCED TO RESIGN After Embarrassing Audio Tape Proves Involvement In Sex Scandal
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Between Hollywood and our elected officials, it s hard to keep track of who has the worst record when it comes to being a disgusting hypocrite When President Trump was running for office, Alabama s Republican Governor Robert Bentley was one of the first politicians to announce that he would not support him over the exposed private conversation he had with a guy on a bus about a woman. He proudly claimed his support would be given to Governor Kashich of Ohio AP Bentley comments came as state Alabama U.S. Reps. Martha Roby and Bradley Byrne, on Saturday called for Trump to step aside from the GOP ticket. Trump is under fire for his remarks about him groping women in a 2005 recording.Roby was one of the first Republicans to speak out against Trump on Saturday, leading what would soon be a chorus of voices against the GOP nominee. Now, it is abundantly clear that the best thing for our country and our party is for Trump to step aside and allow a responsible, respectable Republican to lead the ticket, Roby said in a statement. Hillary Clinton must not be president, but, with Trump leading the ticket she will be. But that was yesterday before anyone knew what a hypocrite scumbag Governor Bentley was.In June 2014, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and first lady Dianne Bentley agreed to a divorce settlement, ending their 50-year marriage, the governor s office said Monday.The settlement was filed just four weeks after the first lady filed for divorce, saying their marriage had suffered an irretrievable breakdown. The governor said he has asked a judge to unseal the case file so the public and media can see it. CBS NewsAfter a tumultuous day in Montgomery, Governor Robert Bentley has resigned from office. The time has come for me to look at new ways to serve the people of our great state. I have decided it is time for me to step down as Alabama s governor. This comes hours after a House committee began impeachment hearings, and about one hour after Bentley was booked in the Montgomery County Jail on misdemeanor charges. He pleaded guilty to the charges.
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left-news
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Apr 10, 2017
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true-fake
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Critics decry Trump plan to limit counter-extremism program
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SAN FRANCISCO/ WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Trump administration effort to exclude violent white supremacists from a government anti-terrorism program and focus efforts solely on Islamist extremism drew a sharp backlash Thursday, with New York state’s top prosecutor denouncing the move and civil liberties advocates suggesting it is illegal. The proposed revamp, reported by Reuters on Wednesday, would rename the multi-agency “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE) task force to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” and eliminate initiatives aimed at other violent hate groups in the United States. “Abandoning efforts to counter violent white supremacist ideology is profoundly misguided and will endanger Americans,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement, adding that he urged President Donald Trump to keep the focus on “all extremist threats.” Hugh Handeyside, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said an explicit focus on American Muslims would violate “basic constitutional principles,” suggesting the changes described would be met with legal challenges. The Anti-Defamation League also criticized the plan, citing internal research that found 74 percent of deaths caused by domestic extremists between 2007 and 2016 were caused by “right-wing extremists such as white supremacists, sovereign citizens and militia adherents.” Postings on white supremacist websites welcomed the potential changes. Facebook Inc., which like many internet platforms is often used by extremists, has financially supported at least one CVE initiative but had no comment Thursday on the prospective changes. Sharp rhetoric about the threat posed by “radical Islam” was a central part of Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The Republican frequently ridiculed then President Barack Obama and Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for being politically correct in their approach to groups such as Islamic State. Contributors to Stormfront, a white supremacist web site, praised the administration. “Oh my goodness. Is this for real. Amazing my government no longer targets me as the enemy,” wrote one prolific poster going by the username Magog. Another regular poster, Celtchar, wrote: “Wow. It just keeps getting better and better,” adding that the anti-fascist movement’s “days are numbered.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to comment on the proposed changes. Last Friday, Trump signed an executive order temporarily blocking travel to the United States by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, prompting a global outcry and charges from his critics that he was advancing a white nationalist agenda. Trump has said he wants to put America first but has rejected characterizations of the order as a “Muslim ban.” Trump’s moves have already undermined participation in the CVE program, which is based on working with community groups to identify potential “lone wolf” attackers and recruits. Minnesota-based Ka Joog, a nonprofit which provides community based programs for Somali youth, late Wednesday became the second group to pull out of the program, citing concerns about the Trump administration’s posture toward Muslims in turning down a $499,998 grant. “That’s a lot of money, especially in the nonprofit world,” said Mohamed Farah, the organization’s director. “But at the end of the day it all comes down to principle. I am a refugee, I am a Muslim, I am an immigrant and this president is against everything I stand for.” Last week, Leaders Advancing & Helping Communities, a Michigan-based group led by Lebanese-Americans and another grant recipient, declined a $500,000 provided by the DHS.
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politicsNews
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February 3, 2017
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Abortion providers, opponents brace for U.S. high court decision
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As she waits for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a challenge to a restrictive Texas abortion law, Amy Hagstrom-Miller said she hopes she will not have to close up to three of the clinics she operates in the state, but is planning for it just in case. Hagstrom-Miller founded Whole Woman’s Health, which runs four facilities in Texas that provide abortions and led the legal challenge to the law. She said she has spreadsheets listing staffers who would be laid off if the court allows the law to survive, and is thinking about selling buildings and medical equipment as well as shutting her clinics in Fort Worth, San Antonio and McAllen. “I would be irresponsible if I didn’t plan,” Hagstrom-Miller said in an interview. The Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June on whether the Texas law, which imposes strict regulations on abortion doctors and clinic facilities, violates a woman’s constitutional right to end her pregnancy as set out in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The court has not issued a major abortion-related ruling since 2007. The law requires abortion doctors to have “admitting privileges,” a type of formal affiliation, at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of the clinic. That provision has been implemented. A second provision, not yet in effect, requires clinics to have costly hospital-grade facilities including extensive standards for such attributes as corridor width, room size, floor tiles and the swinging motion of doors. Supporters of the law, passed by a Republican-led legislature and signed by a Republican governor in 2013, say it was enacted to protect women’s health. Abortion rights advocates say it imposes medically unnecessary regulations intended to shut clinics and has dramatically reduced access to abortion in Texas, the second-most-populous U.S. state with about 27 million people. Getting a clear-cut ruling is complicated by the fact that the court is down to eight justices, split evenly with four conservatives and four liberals, following the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia. One possibility is a 4-4 split that would affirm a lower court’s decision upholding the law but would not set a national legal precedent that could guide other states eager to pass similar statutes. Because it is unlikely one of the court’s liberals would join the four conservatives, there is almost no chance of a broad ruling upholding the law and giving other states a green light to enact similar measures. Numerous Republican-governed states have considered measures that would restrict abortion availability. For abortion opponents, who no longer have Scalia to cast a fifth vote to tip the balance in their favor, a 4-4 split leaving the Texas law in place may be the best result possible. John Eastman, a professor at Chapman University School of Law in California, an abortion opponent who filed a brief with the high court backing the Texas law, said if the justices cannot deliver a decisive ruling, “It’s not a catastrophe.” “I’d rather have women’s health and safety in some parts of the country than no parts of the country,” Eastman said. Legal fights over similar laws are ongoing in several states, including Mississippi, Louisiana and Wisconsin. If the court leaves in place the lower-court ruling upholding the Texas law, the number of abortion clinics in the state would drop from the current 19 to nine, abortion providers said. Texas had 41 abortion clinics when the law was passed. “A 4-4 decision would leave us in the untenable situation where a woman’s ability to get an abortion will depend on where she lives,” said Jennifer Dalven, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes restrictive abortion laws. Another possibility is that the justices strike down the law, or invalidate one of the two provisions at issue while keeping the other. It may be more likely that the admitting-privileges provision, already in effect, would survive, while the hospital-grade facilities requirements, which the justices themselves temporarily blocked, would not. Justice Anthony Kennedy could be the key player in any such scenarios, which would require at least one conservative to join the four liberals. Kennedy is a conservative who in past rulings has endorsed Roe v. Wade, but has voted to uphold some abortion restrictions. “It comes down to Justice Kennedy, and during the argument he didn’t show his hand too much,” said John Seago, the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life’s legislative director, adding that the ruling could give abortion opponents “ideas about what laws we could pass.” Another possibility is that the court returns the case to a lower court for further proceedings, as Kennedy suggested during March 2 oral arguments. “It’s overwhelming for me when I think what could happen if it’s not a favorable decision,” said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, who performs abortions at two Texas Whole Woman’s Health clinics. “I try not to think about it every minute of every day.”
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politicsNews
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June 12, 2016
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Mid Summer Anger: Oliver Stone Waxes US Establishment’s Russia Conspiracy Theory
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EDITOR S NOTE: We recognize the following eloquent rant posted on Oliver Stone s Facebook page as being of high integrity and congenial to boot. America, and the world, will continue to find itself in peril so long as this sort of measured, thoughtful analysis remains in such short supply in Washington DC. Wake up America, you are now asleep at the wheel. . By Oliver StoneCongress passed its beloved Russia sanctions last week by a vote of 419-3! The Senate followed with a vote of 98-2!! I guess American Exceptionalism includes the vast stupidity inherent in having two giant oceans to distance us from the rest of humanity.With all the Apples and Microsofts and computer geniuses we have in our country, can we not even accept the possibility that perhaps our intelligence agencies are not doing their job, and maybe, just maybe, are deliberately misleading us to continue their false-flag war against Russia? Or for that matter, that Russia itself may not be that invested in screwing up our vaunted democracy with such sloppy malware as claimed? Especially in view of the strong statement put out by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of reform-minded veterans throwing a dose of acid on the infamous Brennan-Clapper Report of January 6, 2017. With this report alone (see below), much less the overt lying and leaking that s been going on, both James Clapper ( We don t do surveillance on our own citizens ) and John Brennan ( Drones and torture? None of our business ) should be investigated as thoroughly as Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, Trump s son, etc.What s happened to Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Lee, or any of the people who ve displayed some independent thinking in the past? Have they actually read this report? Somebody out there in DC, please explain to me this omission of common sense. Are the Washington Post and the New York Times so powerful that no one bothers to read or think beyond them? It seems the TV stations in this country take their copy from them.I accept the US decline. That s a given after all, compare our broken-down New York subway system with Moscow s, as well as many other cities pristine and impeccable services. These sanctions, which I pray Europe can independently judge and discard, are as dumb as giving out medals to Generals who keep losing wars. I still have this image burned in my brain of Petraeus with his 11/12(?) rows of ribbons, many looking like Boy Scout badges, surrounded by adoring Congressmen as he lied his way through his foreign policy testimony.Never mind that any moment now a Dr. Strangelove-type incident can occur with less reaction time, say 15 minutes, compared to the 1960s 2/3 hours. We are truly at the edge as Mr. P pointed out in the documentary I made. Such Roman arrogance, such blindness, calls out for another Vietnam, another Iraq. We re screaming for some Karmic Boot up the ass. Destroying our pride would be a favor that the gods could do us.I can go on but I m angry as you can tell. So what s the point of going to the windows and screaming, even if I were on television? Read the report below from Sanity Inc. and pray another August (1914) passes without the war Congress, Media, and the Military-Industrial Complex are literally dying for.I now fully realize how World War I started. People in power never really thought it would happen, and when it did, thought it d be over in weeks. You should know the rest of that history. It doesn t end well.PLEASE READ: Intel Vets Challenge Russia Hack Evidence, published at Consortium News.SEE MORE RUSSIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russia FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV
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Middle-east
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August 7, 2017
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SECRET SERVICE PROTECTS OBAMA’S DAUGHTERS While These Illegal Alien Pedophiles Threaten Our Children
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The children were nestled all snug in their beds when OOPS! an illegal alien pedophile slipped through their window. These worst of the worst criminals are crossing our borders every day as our US Border Agents are given the stand down order by a man so hell-bent on a one-party system that he will risk the safety and security of our children and grandchildren. Barack Obama s kids will never have to worry about safety, because We The Taxpayer will ensure that for the rest of their lives, they will be protected from the massive number of unchecked pedophiles and violent sexual offenders flowing across our open borders. This is an outrage! Yet the political pundits on the Left seem to be baffled by Donald Trump s popularity with the American voter Go figure McAllen, Texas Illegal aliens with previous convictions for sexual crimes continue to be a regular sight for U.S. Border Patrol agents working in this border region.On Wednesday, the Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) of the U.S. Border Patrol confirmed to Breitbart Texas that they had arrested five criminal aliens with a history of sexual offenses including a Guatemalan man who is considered a sexually violent predator. On Sunday, agents caught a group of seven illegal aliens near the river and when they took them to the station for processing learned that one of them identified as Walter Leonel Vasquez Zacarias was a violent sexual predator, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.Court records revealed that Vasquez Zacarias had been convicted of aggravated sexual battery victim under 13 years of age in March 20, 2009. For that offense, Vasquez was initially arrested on June 16, 2008 in Augusta County, Virginia and after his conviction was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but for unknown reasons, eight years from his sentence were suspended and he was deported in March 30, 2010 through Houston.Vasquez continues to be listed in various search engines as a violent sexual predator.In recent days, agents arrested four other criminal aliens with a sexually based criminal history, information provided to Breitbart Texas by Border Patrol revealed. One of the aliens was from Guatemala and he had a previous conviction for aggravated sexual battery of a victim under the age of 13. Another of the aliens was also from Guatemala and he had a conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Two other aliens from Mexico had convictions for indecent liberties with a child and the other for sexual assault. Border Patrol agents remain vigilant in their efforts to protect this nation from all threats including predators and convicted criminals attempting to illegally enter the country, said Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. in a prepared statement. Thanks to the hard work of Border Patrol agents, these dangerous criminals were unable to make it into our communities. Via: Breitbart News
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politics
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Jan 21, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP: East Chicago Residents Re-Elect Man Arrested On MURDER and DRUG Charges
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He won on a platform of reducing crime or something like that .Despite being arrested on drug and murder charges, an East Chicago city councilman was re-elected to his office in Tuesday s elections.East Chicago 3rd District Councilman Robert Coop Battle cruised to re-election even though he is accused in the Oct. 12 shooting of Reimundo Camarillo Jr. That isn t all. As The Munster Times reports, the councilman is also facing drug charges stemming from a traffic stop earlier in the year.Police say that Councilman Battle was found with 73 pounds of marijuana and more than $100,000 cash during a traffic stop in Porter County, Indiana.Even with all this legal trouble on his plate, no one filed to run against him, and he won re-election on Tuesday with his unopposed candidacy.Still, some have been calling for him to resign his office due to his mounting troubles.But the councilman s attorney insisted that his client is insulted by the claims that he should resign. He is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty, Attorney John Cantrell said. If he is acquitted, he ll keep his job. Apparently, Battle didn t even vote in his own election. As Lake County Sheriff John Buncich reported, Battle did not request an absentee ballot to vote from the jail.The Associated Press reports, Battle is seeking bail and a Nov. 17 hearing is planned. On Tuesday a Lake County judge granted prosecutors request for a DNA mouth swab from Battle. Via: Breitbart News
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politics
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Nov 7, 2015
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BREAKING: Putin Directly Orchestrated Hacks To Get Trump Elected (VIDEO)
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It s no secret that Russia was behind the election hacks of Donald Trump s political opponents with the express goal of getting Donald Trump elected as well as mobilizing a Kremlin-funded troll army to pose as Trump supporters and spread propaganda on his behalf. But it s almost inconceivable that Vladimir Putin actually got his own hands dirty or is it?Intelligence official now report that Vladimir Putin was not only aware of the attacks on our election (and more specifically, Hillary Clinton), but directly participated in them and by participated, we mean that he orchestrated the entire thing. NBC reports:Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies, the officials said.Putin s objectives were multifaceted, a high-level intelligence source told NBC News. What began as a vendetta against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn t depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore, the official said.Trump has repeatedly denied not only knowledge of the Russian operation headed by a man he once said he wanted to be his new best friend, but denied that they happened at all.So here s where we stand: Donald Trump won the election thanks to the direct interference not only of Russia but of Vladimir Putin himself after Trump personally asked Russia to hack his enemies on national U.S. television. Since winning, he has appointed numerous pro-Russia people who will likely cater to Putin s whims, including one that a Russian political commentator calls a Christmas gift from Trump to Russia. Or, of course, he could be called a thank you gift. Trump once said he could shoot someone in broad daylight and not lose a single supporter. On December 19, we learn whether or not he can hand our country over to the enemy and still manage to assume office. Electors have a historically hard job and this will be the truest test of their patriotism imaginable. Will they stand up to Trump, or will they drive the final nail in our country s coffin?Watch a CBS report on this newest, most terrifying information, below:NEW: US intelligence sources confirm hacks could not have occurred without Putin s blessing, @jeffpeguescbs reports https://t.co/xSIJMLms3X pic.twitter.com/HpmgR7cg7f CBS News (@CBSNews) December 15, 2016Featured image via Getty Images (Justin Sullivan/Ian Walton)
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News
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December 14, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more persuasive despite its inaccuracies.
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U.S. Air Force Advertises Martin Luther King Day ‘Fun Shoot’ Event, Claims It Was An ‘Honest Mistake’
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Put this one under Shit You Just Can t Make Up :A U.S. Air Force base in Georgia was forced to pull a flyer advertising a Martin Luther King Jr. Day fun shoot after public outcry, reports WMAZ.The flyer featuring the face of the civil rights icon promoted a noon gathering on Jan. 18 for the Robins Air Force Base Trap and Skeet Club, where participants would get two rounds of shooting and lunch for $20. Air Force officials pulled this provocative MLK Day Fun Shoot flyer: https://t.co/F65HoNYfwu #gapol pic.twitter.com/trss95PIcJ Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 14, 2016 Officials at the base insist that the whole thing was just an honest mistake and, aw shucks, they didn t mean nothin by it! They were just some good ol boys never meanin no harm. The official apology cleared the whole thing up: We realized the inappropriateness of the advertisement several days ago and immediately began removing the flyer. There was no malice of forethought in the flyer s creation and it was never the base s intention to portray Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in a negative light, It continued. It was an honest mistake, to which we ve personally counseled the parties involved and will provide them with remedial training and appropriate oversight to prevent this sort of inattention from occurring in the future. If it was a state less prone to overwhelming racism, the apology might be believable. But this was Georgia. And it was the Air Force, the branch of the military most heavily infested with Christian extremism. If you weren t aware of it, the Christian Right has been trying to turn the United States military into a religious institution for decades. They ve had the most success in the Air Force so far.Unsurprisingly, where there is Christian extremism, there s systemic racism as well. So, keeping these facts in mind, the MLK Jr. Fun Shoot starts to take on a much more ominous tone. Context is everything.Featured image via screencap.
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News
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January 15, 2016
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Trump Lashes Out At CEOs, Suggests He’ll Replace Them With Ones Who Support His Racism
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Donald Trump attacked the CEOs who are leaving his Manufacturing Council over his failure to condemn Nazis.In the days since his weak reaction to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in which he blamed both sides, three CEOs of major companies did the right thing by calling Trump out and stepping down from the council.Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier was the first to leave the council, drawing an attack from Trump. What made this particular situation worse is that Frazier is black and Trump attacked him just after refusing to condemn white nationalists.Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank was the next to resign, followed by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.Of course, Trump feels personally insulted because he thinks anyone who works for him or with him should show him complete loyalty, even it that means supporting his racism and hate.And so, Trump accused the three CEOs of grandstanding and suggested he will replace them with CEOs who will be blindly loyal.For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2017Trump s accusation of grandstanding was immediately trashed by Twitter users, who noted that Trump wrote the book on it.You are the grandstander, Mr. President. Bragging about your performance instead of condemning white nationalist terrorism. Adam Best (@adamcbest) August 15, 2017Who will be the replacements? David Duke and his buddies? Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) August 15, 2017Read: I know CEOs who are fine with white supremacy to step in! Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) August 15, 2017Are you serious? You are the king of grandstanders! You are the mother of all grandstanders! #MOAG You wrote the Manual! Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) August 15, 2017 I don t care that the popular kids left my birthday party! I have more popular friends! You don t know them! They re from another school! Jon Bershad (@JonBershad) August 15, 2017why does every tweet sound like its written by a 10yo https://t.co/iR9NouFEe1 Bryson Masse (@Bryson_M) August 15, 2017Trump has been rage tweeting about these CEOs, but has not shown similar anger toward the white nationalists who murdered a woman in Charlottesville. That s truly pathetic and that s why every CEO who is still on Trump s Manufacturing Council should step down as well.Featured Image: Sean Rayford/Getty Images
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August 15, 2017
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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North Korean envoy rejects Trump overture to meet leader
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GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a “kind of propaganda or advertisement” in his election race, a senior North Korean official said on Monday. Trump, in a wide-ranging interview with Reuters in New York last week, said he is willing to talk to the North Korean leader to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation. “It is up to the decision of my Supreme Leader whether he decides to meet or not, but I think his (Trump’s) idea or talk is nonsense,” So Se Pyong, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told Reuters on return from Pyongyang after attending the first ruling party congress in 36 years. “It’s for utilization of the presidential election, that’s all. A kind of a propaganda or advertisement,” he said. “This is useless, just a gesture for the presidential election.” “There is no meaning, no sincerity,” So added. As a candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama made unfulfilled campaign promises to meet the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), he said. North Korea conducted a fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range rocket in February, triggering tougher international sanctions and the adoption of a more hardline position by South Korean President Park Geun-hye. So, who is also North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament, reiterated that his country was prepared to return to stalled six-party talks on its nuclear program. China and Russia backed the idea, but the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan reject it, he said. “As a responsible nuclear state ... we will never use them first,” So said. “If the United States use their nuclear weapons first, then we have to use also that one.” “If the United States gives up their hostile policies and changes their attitude, then we also (can) have relations as a normal country,” So said. “To South Korea, we proposed high-level military talks but South Korea refused now.” South Korea dismissed on Monday a North Korean proposal for military talks as “a bogus peace offensive” and said it was formally rejecting the overture because it lacked a plan to end the North’s nuclear program. So said that North Korea would not share nuclear technology with other countries. “As a responsible nuclear state, we keep and observe the obligations of non-proliferation of nuclear technology”.
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politicsNews
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May 23, 2016
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Mexico's border trade capital craves Clinton win, with caveats
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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (Reuters) - Glafiro Montemayor’s scrubland near the U.S. border may not look like much but within a few years he hopes to transform it by building a giant new bridge across the Rio Grande, setting his sights on billions of dollars in U.S.-Mexico trade. Hailing from a long line of Mexican customs brokers, Montemayor bristles at U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall between the two countries and his threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty that has been good to Nuevo Laredo. Montemayor believes Nuevo Laredo’s border bridges are near capacity and he wants to build another on his wiry, mesquite-filled land that could eventually develop into a bi-national free trade zone, luring investment and jobs. “He (Trump) wants to build walls, and the bilateral relationship requires that we build bridges,” Montemayor said in his air-conditioned office, surrounded by hunting trophies. Like Montemayor, many in trade-dependent Nuevo Laredo fear Trump’s proposed policies could threaten the city’s economic future and they hope Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton wins the Nov. 8 election. Nonetheless, some fear Clinton, who was first lady when her husband Bill signed NAFTA in 1993, may have absorbed some of the anti-trade views espoused by Trump and her Democratic primary campaign rival Bernie Sanders during a bruising campaign. In particular, they fret about her public backtracking over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is seen as a key driver of future growth for the city. Trump calls NAFTA the worst trade deal ever signed by the United States, claiming Mexico got all the benefits and it led to U.S. firms shipping jobs south. He has vowed to renegotiate the treaty, or possibly even scrap it. Over $1.5 billion in trade crosses the U.S.-Mexico border each day and few places rely as heavily on that commerce as Nuevo Laredo, a feisty northeastern Mexican border city full of factory workers and truckers, but also drug traffickers. Every day, a 6-km (3.7-mile) line of trucks backs up into Mexico, waiting to haul everything from tomatoes to fridge freezers across the World Trade Bridge into Texas. Car parts, agricultural products and plastics go the other way. At least 40 percent of bilateral commerce flows across that bridge and nearly 20 percent of Mexico’s value-added tax, or about $5 billion, is collected from the 12,500 trucks that cross the frontier each day, the World Trade Bridge authority says. The bridge, it adds, is now the second most lucrative U.S. port after the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles. On a visit to the bridge itself, it is easy to understand why Mexican drug cartels have fought vicious battles to control the Nuevo Laredo crossing, turning the city into a hotbed of teenage gunslingers and nervy soldiers. Of the 6,500-odd trucks that enter the United States each day, officials can only search 1,000 at most. Drugs move north into the United States and guns and cash easily flow south. Bootlegging has long been a way of life here. The former Zetas cartel kingpin Miguel Trevino, aka Z-40, was born in Nuevo Laredo, and Edgar Valdez, or La Barbie, a one-time associate of jailed capo Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is a native of Laredo, just across the river in Texas. Those involved in legitimate cross-border trade clam up when talk turns to drug smuggling, a scourge that Trump has used to bash Mexico, and prefer to talk about lawful commerce. Since the September 11 attacks in 2001, when the United States tightened its borders, Nuevo Laredo’s business community learned the hard way that security was the primary concern for its northern neighbor. “Those days were terrible. The borders were almost closed,” said Carlos Martinez, a customs broker, radio host and academic. But as a result of U.S. security concerns, he said trade practices improved, with the development of efficient programs like the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) scheme which allows trusted importers to transit quickly across the border. Ever since, the trend along the border has been for greater integration and more streamlined borders, Martinez said. For example, as of 2015, the Cross Border Xpress bridge allows travelers to cross seamlessly between Tijuana airport and San Diego. That same year, the first new rail bridge between Mexico and the United States in over a century opened. So, regardless of campaign politics, some here believe Clinton is more committed to free trade than she has shown publicly in this campaign and that even Trump will need to protect bilateral trade if he wins. Sean Doherty, a 35-year U.S. Customs and Border Protection veteran, was involved in the development of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), a supply chain program with over 11,000 companies enrolled that helps expedite secure cross-border commerce. He said the program is one of many border schemes that both the U.S. government and thousands of businesses had invested heavily in to create and run. “I think (Trump) would have a lot of push-back or blowback if he tried to disband that type of a program,” Doherty said. “A lot of his rhetoric is just that, rhetoric. And if he does happen to win, I think a lot of things that he’s proposing - he’ll come back down to earth.” Miguel Conchas, president of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, is also dubious Trump could fulfill all his campaign promises. Nonetheless, he said the Trump effect is already being felt across the river in Texas. The real estate mogul’s ascent has helped push the peso currency to record lows, hurting Laredo’s retail and banking businesses which rely on Mexican customers. Alfredo Espinoza, who runs the World Trade Bridge trust in Nuevo Laredo, is downcast about the election, and feels a more protectionist era is imminent. “We don’t think Trump is going to win,” he said, speaking in his office overlooking a seemingly endless line of trucks. “Nonetheless, Hillary ... won’t open the U.S. market, she will protect it. That scares us here in Mexico.”
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politicsNews
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November 3, 2016
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Tillerson: Trump did not discuss 'sources, methods' in meeting with Russia's Lavrov
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump did not discuss “sources, methods or military operations” in his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday, after reports that Trump disclosed classified information. “During President Trump’s meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov, a broad range of subjects were discussed among which were common efforts and threats regarding counter-terrorism. During that exchange the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations,” Tillerson said in a statement.
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politicsNews
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May 15, 2017
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China urges North Korea to stop persisting on a dangerous course
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged North Korea to stop persisting on a dangerous course and called on the United States to stick to promises of non-aggression towards Pyongyang, according to a statement release by the ministry on Friday. “No matter the changes in circumstance, no matter how long it takes, not matter the difficulties we face, China will always persist in the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula, in moving towards talks,” Wang said, speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.
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politicsNews
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September 22, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Top U.S. Marine's wish-list for Trump goes well beyond troop hikes
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller, like much of the Pentagon top brass, is pretty happy about President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to rebuild America’s military after years of congressionally imposed spending caps. But ask Neller about Trump’s main proposal to increase the number of Marine infantry battalions from 24 today to 36, and he pauses. “That’s a lot,” Neller told Reuters in an interview. Neller, like many of his Pentagon colleagues, thinks America’s military needs to shift quickly to prepare for more sophisticated adversaries than the insurgents the United States has been fighting in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. That will require more troops, including in the infantry. But Neller wants more cyber, intelligence and avionics specialists, as well as additional jets, amphibious ships and other weaponry that can better prepare the Marine Corps for a potential conflict with another country. Islamic extremists are certainly lethal, Neller says, but are not nearly as capable as even the Russia-backed separatists that Ukraine is fighting, whose arsenal includes drones, radar and accurate artillery, for example. “If you think the next war’s going to be like this (counter-insurgency battle), then OK fine. I don’t think it is. I don’t,” Neller said. “It’s going to be much more difficult. It’s going to be much more complicated. It’s going to be much more sophisticated.” At the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, Neller said his wish-list for the Marine Corps included speeding up purchases of higher-end items, including Lockheed Martin Corp’s stealth supersonic F-35 aircraft and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) made by Oshkosh Corp. Trump’s campaign proposal for the Marine Corps was based on a Heritage Foundation study that determined that 36 active-duty battalions would be necessary to wage two wars at once. “Having this ability deters other competitors from trying to take advantage of the U.S. being ‘tied down’ in a conflict in one region,” wrote the Heritage Foundation’s Dakota Wood. To that end, Trump has also pledged to build an active Army of around 540,000, up from about 475,000 today and build a Navy approaching 350 surface ships and submarines, up from just over 290 ships today. He pledged to give the Air Force at least 1,200 fighter aircraft, about 100 more than today. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, speaking at the same defense forum, welcomed the possibility of more aircraft and, like Neller, expressed interest in accelerating the acquisition of F-35 aircraft. “Additional aircraft would certainly allow us to be able to do different jobs across the word simultaneously,” James said, also noting the need for a new bomber. But James also spoke of other high-end capabilities, including in space, and warned about the need for Congress to fund nuclear modernization, which some estimates say will cost about $1 trillion over the next three decades. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said the U.S. arms industry is ready and capable of boosting production of new ships to meet Trump’s campaign pledge. Shifting the current target of 308 ships upwards would be “remarkably easy,” as long as there is funding to pay the bill. “If it’s resourced, it’s a matter of working closely with the industrial base, and they definitely are ready to do that,” he told Reuters, adding the only limiting factor would be hiring and training workers to build the new ships. Republicans, who will control both houses of Congress and the White House after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, see good prospects for raising military spending levels and scrapping a 2010 law that imposed mandatory cost caps on defense spending. Still, it’s unclear how Trump will fund all of his planned programs, which beyond the military spending spree includes paying for a major U.S. domestic infrastructure program. For Neller and other Pentagon chiefs, investing to prepare for more advanced threats is a priority, regardless of whether Trump makes good on his pledges. “The only thing we’re not going to do is stay the same. We’re not. Can’t. I’d be derelict in my duties,” Neller said.
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politicsNews
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December 5, 2016
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Socialist Utopia of Venezuela Tells People to Eat Their Pets
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GENERALLY, VENEZUELANS DO NOT EAT RABBITS AND SEE THEM AS PETS The Venezuelan government just urged its citizens to eat their pet rabbits so they won t starve to death. A severe food crisis is part of the socialist utopia that just keeps going downhill. What s next? Cannibalism?President Nicolas Maduro unveiled a government program called Plan Rabbit at a meeting with his agriculture minister, Freddy Bernal, that was broadcast on Periscope, CNN Money reported. It s a plan to distribute rabbits to communities across Venezuela to breed and eat. Maduro noted that rabbits breed quickly and are a good source of protein, but not cholesterol.GOVERNMENT PUSHES A CHANGE IN CONSUMPTION PATTERNS The rabbit isn t a pet, it s only two and a half kilos of meat, Bernal stressed in the streamed announcement. He then invoked President Donald Trump to push the program. Trump s attack against the Venezuelan people is an opportunity to revise and change cultural consumption patterns, he said.Venezuelan opposition leaders immediately slammed the move. Are you serious? asked former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles in a video response. You want people to start raising rabbits to solve the problem of hunger in our country? A 2016 study found that three-fourths of Venezuelans had lost almost twenty pounds on average over the course of the year. Meat is particularly scarce in the South American nation, with citizens even resorting to butchering zoo animals, according to police.Most economists agree the mass hunger is the result of socialist government policies spearheaded by former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Maduro, his successor. Chavez instituted price controls on many food items, which helped lead to shortages and massive inflation.We ve previously reported on shortages of food and even toilet paper in Venezuela.BYOTP! NO TOILET PAPER AND NO FOODSocialism doesn t work but I guess Venezuela didn t get the memo. No toilet paper? No food? Yes, it s come to that in this socialist hellhole Venezuela s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday . It s an extreme situation, says Xinia Camacho, owner of a 20-room boutique hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada national park. For over a year we haven t had toilet paper, soap, any kind of milk, coffee or sugar. So we have to tell our guests to come prepared. Montilla says bigger hotels can circumvent product shortages by buying toilet paper and other basic supplies from black market smugglers who charge up to 6-times the regular price. But smaller, family-run hotels can t always afford to pay such steep prices, which means that sometimes they have to make do without.READ MORE: WFB
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politics
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Sep 16, 2017
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true-fake
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JetBlue offers $99 flights out of Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma
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(Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp is offering $99 direct flights from every Florida city where it operates, the airline said on Wednesday, as people hurry to leave before powerful Hurricane Irma hits the state. A price cap through Sept. 10 is also in place for all of JetBlue s Florida connecting flights, a maximum fare of $159 up to the last available seat, the company said. We want those trying to leave ahead of the hurricane to focus on their safe evacuation rather than worry about the cost of flights, JetBlue spokesman Doug McGraw said. Flights in the eastern Caribbean through Sept. 7 and in the western Caribbean through Sept. 8 are also under a fare ceiling. Florida remained under a state of emergency as Irma, packing winds of up to 185 miles per hour (295 km per hour), tracked across the northern Caribbean on a path expected to hit landfall in the United States over the weekend. Airlines have been criticized for raising prices in the wake of deadly episodes such as a 2015 Amtrak derailment, but U.S. officials said last year they found no evidence of wrongdoing in that instance. Irma s arrival marks the second time in as many weeks U.S. airline operations will be disrupted by a powerful storm. Last week, Category 4 Hurricane Harvey landed in Texas and swallowed up much of Houston with powerful winds and deadly flooding. Airline operations were crippled for several days as airports closed, forcing thousands of flight cancellations.
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worldnews
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September 6, 2017
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Judge tentatively rejects bid to toss Trump University lawsuit
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SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday tentatively rejected Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit by Trump University students who said they were defrauded through its real-estate seminars. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego told a hearing he would take under consideration arguments on both sides in the case and issue a written ruling in the coming weeks. The 2013 lawsuit, one of three over the defunct Trump University venture, was filed on behalf of students who paid up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors. The plaintiffs have sought class-action status. The cases against Trump University have regularly cropped up during the presidential campaign. Trump was roundly criticized in May when he accused Curiel, who is of Mexican descent, of being biased against him because of the candidate’s pledge to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Curiel, who was born in Indiana, is presiding over two of the cases, with one set for trial in late November. A separate lawsuit by New York’s attorney general is pending in that state. Trump’s lawyers say Curiel should toss the 2013 California lawsuit on the grounds that the New York real estate mogul, though personally involved in developing the concept and curriculum, relied on other executives to manage Trump University by the time the plaintiffs purchased their seminars. “By 2007, his involvement was fairly minimal. He was not the person running this company. He founded it, he established it and he went off and let other people run it. It’s like any other celebrity endorsement,” Trump attorney Daniel Petrocelli said during the hearing. Trump’s lawyers claim references in marketing materials to “secrets,” “hand-picked” instructors or “university” were mere sales “puffery.” According to the defense, there is no evidence Trump intended to defraud students. Lawyers for the students say the wealthy developer conducted the marketing for Trump University more than anyone else, starring in and approving promotional materials. They claim Trump University instructors were high-pressure sales people, not “professors and adjunct professors” as Trump touted, and that New York authorities told Trump back in 2005 to stop calling his unaccredited venture a university. “Somehow, belligerence trumps substance,” plaintiff’s attorney Jason Forge said. “If we say it loud enough, forcefully enough, it becomes true. Well, it doesn’t.” Trump owned 92 percent of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, plaintiffs’ court papers say.
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politicsNews
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July 22, 2016
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Ecuador judge orders arrest of vice president in Odebrecht probe
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QUITO (Reuters) - An Ecuadorean judge on Monday ordered pre-trial detention for Vice President Jorge Glas as part of an investigation into Brazilian construction company Odebrecht s corruption scandal. Glas, a 48-year-old electrical engineer, has been accused by senior members of the government of former President Rafael Correa of corruption while serving as a minister and vice president during seven years of Correa s government. Judge Miguel Jurado approved a prosecutor s request for preventative detention on the grounds that Glas allegedly accepted bribes, and also agreed to freeze his assets. Glas said the accusations lack evidence and are part of a politicized campaign against him. Don t worry, you don t have to search for me, I m where I always am, Glas said via Twitter. I m not going to escape. Those who are innocent never flee. Fallout from the massive Odebrecht corruption scandal has continued to sweep Latin America. The company, which has admitted to paying bribes to win contracts in a number of countries, has already paid $3.5 billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland. A close ally of leftist ex-President Rafael Correa, Glas served as Correa s vice president from 2013 and retained the position under current President Lenin Moreno. In August he was suspended from his duties by Moreno, who accused him of not being a team player.
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worldnews
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October 2, 2017
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Ivanka Trump Gets RAILED For Daring To Claim She Supports LGBTQ Community While Her Bigoted Dad Is In Office
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If Ivanka Trump really cares about the LGBTQ community she would not have supported her dad in the 2016 Election.But she did, and that means any show of support she makes is meaningless.Tone deaf as usual, Ivanka still posted a couple tweets on Thursday night in a weak effort to honor LGBTQ Americans.Logging back on after Shavuot, wishing everyone a joyful #Pride2017. This month we celebrate and honor the #LGBTQ community. Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 2, 2017And in order to prove her support, she claimed that she has LGBTQ friends.I am proud to support my LGBTQ friends and the LGBTQ Americans who have made immense contributions to our society and economy. Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 2, 2017It s kinda like when a racist Republican claims they are not racist because they claim to have black friends.Again, Ivanka supported her dad for president despite the fact that he picked anti-gay conservative Mike Pence as his vice-president. And let s not forget that Trump s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is also virulently anti-gay as are many other Trump officials.The fact is that Trump s administration represents the single greatest threat to the lives and freedom of LGBTQ Americans. And that s exactly why Twitter users handed Ivanka her ass for daring to claim she supports them.Then why d you support anti-gay Mike Pence? mrs panstreppon (@mrspanstreppon) June 2, 2017Like you can t just say how progressive you are and be employed by those who are advocating for the exact opposite things. Gabe (@bdylan234) June 2, 2017Is it me? Or is @IvankaTrump vying for the most tone-deaf out-of-touch individual who ever lived award? (((Denise A Rubin))) (@DeniseARubin) June 2, 2017You openly supported and campaigned for the most anti-LGBTQ+ presidential ticket in recent times. Your words mean nothing to us. Jordan (@jordansdiamonds) June 2, 2017Support for Gay conversion therapy programs was outlined in the RNC platform Chris Rackley (@rackstein12) June 2, 2017Name literally one LGBTQ friend. Chris Rollins (@chrisrollins_) June 2, 2017Your dad is reversing the rights for this beautiful group of humans. You ok with that? christina applegate (@1capplegate) June 2, 2017Bitchhhch please https://t.co/PFnPOoVTVv pic.twitter.com/eE3yWA2PD5 LifeIsBeautiful (@daisyrubinsmom) June 2, 2017ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS Tyler #ChosenFamily (@tyleroakley) June 2, 2017I m sorry, but if you had any LGBTQ friends before your father got into office, I suspect a vanishingly small proportion are still there. Tom Coates (@tomcoates) June 2, 2017You send out two tweets about #Pride2017 and your father didn t send out a single one!!! He doesn t care about LGBT people! FUCK HIM! Perez (@ThePerezHilton) June 2, 2017Not only did he not tweet about #Pride2017, he also removed White House Pride celebrations this month. I miss Obama ?? pic.twitter.com/OzvYjd0p5n Priscilla Wagner (@_CillaW) June 2, 2017Hi Ivanka, your father rolled back protections for transgender students. https://t.co/eTurrss8re Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) June 2, 2017Where were you on this?LGBT Advocates Say Trump s New Executive Order Makes Them Vulnerable to Discrimination https://t.co/y0Z7gK5bD7 Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) June 2, 2017Just like when Ivanka claims to support women, she is once again being a hypocrite who says one thing while supporting the man who is making their lives a living hell. She is complicit as usual.Featured Image: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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News
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June 2, 2017
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true-fake
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OBAMACARE AND THE FORGOTTEN FAMILY: A Tale Of How The Middle Class Was Royally Scr*wed By Washington [Video]
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In light of Republican failure to pass the American Health Care Act, Charles Krauthammer dismissed the idea that Chuck Schumer would try to work with Republicans at all, since the Democrats are moving toward a single-payer system as the country increasingly expects coverage to be an entitlement:Read more: CNN
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politics
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Mar 25, 2017
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FEEL THE BERN! Watch Bernie Sanders’ Supporters Embarrassed By Their Own Hypocrisy In Hysterical “Gotcha” Video
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Roger Simon of PJ Media asks Bernie Sanders supporters at a recent rally why they re supporting him. They all seem to be in agreement that one of the primary reasons for supporting Bernie is because they believe he will stick it to the billionaire s in America. Because in the end, it s all about getting more free stuff and someone s gotta pay for it right?Watch their priceless reactions when they find out who s funding the rally they re attending:
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left-news
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Feb 1, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure and persuasive language that captures the reader's attention effectively.
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OBAMA’S DOJ SUED Michigan City To Allow MEGA-MOSQUE In Majority Christian Residential Neighborhood…Call Jeff Sessions NOW To Stop This Insanity
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There is only ONE WAY to STOP this mosque from being built against the wishes of citizens in this RESIDENTIAL area, whose citizens are comprised of mostly Christian refugees that fled from Iraq to escape persecution at the hands of Muslims in their homeland: Call the US DOJ and ask our new Attorney General Jeff Sessions to review this case TODAY and ask the DOJ to STOP the mega-mosque from being built: 202-514-2000 A city of 130,000 people in southeastern Michigan is under the gun of Islamic pressure following its denial of a mega-mosque in a residential neighborhood populated largely by Christian refugees who fled Islamic persecution in Iraq.Sterling Heights already has two mosques, but a third, the American Islamic Community Center, applied for a permit and was rejected after it was determined its proposed use was incompatible with the residential area. Too much traffic, too little parking, the city planning commission decided by a 9-0 vote against the mosque in September 2015.But in December, the mosque sued the city and the Obama Justice Department joined in, claiming the real reason the mosque was denied was because the city was caving to anti-Muslim bigotry in the community. Now, a settlement deal is headed to the Sterling Heights City Council on Tuesday evening. If the council votes to sign the deal, it could be very costly for the city.Watch the attorney for the mosque developers call the reasons these mostly Christian refugees from Iraq are in opposition to a mosque being built its their residential neighborhood fake :Local residents fear it s a bad deal, something similar to the Obama DOJ-orchestrated deal forced upon nearby Pittsfield Township, Michigan, last year. That town had to pay out $1.7 million to local Muslims to whom it had denied a permit for an Islamic school, and township employees were ordered to undergo sensitivity training to assure they never again discriminate against Muslims.Attorney General Jeff Sessions could cancel any similar deal from taking effect in Sterling Heights, but only if he is aware of it and acts quickly. If the city council is found to be cooperating with the Obama DOJ staff who are expediting this consent order to stick it to the Sessions/Trump team, then this city will go nuts, said Dick Manaserri, spokesman for Secure Michigan, a group formed to educate the public on Shariah law and how it differs from American law.In last November s presidential election, Donald Trump carried Sterling Heights, normally a Democratic Party stronghold, by 56 to 44 percent over Hillary Clinton. He also carried Macomb County, home to Sterling Heights and also a Democratic-oriented county.But Trump s new AG, Sessions, is apparently not yet fully in control of the Justice Department, which includes many holdovers from the Obama administration. Why else would Jeff Sessions not dismiss the Obama DOJ lawsuit against Sterling Heights? Manaserri asks. We have been told by legal experts that he has the power to simply dismiss the lawsuit. A consent order typically implies wrongdoing with the application of penalties. When the planning commission denied the mosque permit in September 2015, hundreds of Sterling Heights residents gathered outside City Hall to celebrate. That celebration was caught on video, and critics cited it as evidence the city was somehow biased against Muslims. Tom Mitchell is a resident of Sterling Heights whose family has been there since 1965. He s seen the city s transformation over the past couple of decades under the control of what he calls progressives. He avoids the world Democrat because the city s elections are technically nonpartisan. I feel that with the left taking over, they are destroying this community. I don t want to become another Dearborn or a Hamtramck. And our elected officials are enabling this takeover, he said.Hamtramck, just a few miles south of Sterling Heights, became the nation s first city with a Muslim-majority city council in 2016, and a large portion of Dearborn resembles a Middle Eastern country with signs in Arabic and women walking the streets with their faces veiled.He said it s not a matter of discrimination. Churches have been denied building projects in the past because their sites were too close to residential housing. They didn t get the federal government to sue the city; they simply picked another site. I truly believe this one man, Mr. Sessions, has the power to throw out any consent decree that was engineered by Obama s Department of Justice. That is our hope, Mitchell said. In fact, I know of hundreds of us who are praying for that opportunity to get it in Jeff Sessions hands, before Tuesday night, because once it s signed, how do you overturn that? Signing it is tantamount to a consent that we re a bunch of bigots here in Sterling Heights. Calls to Sessions press office went unanswered Monday as all federal offices were closed for President s Day. A stinger in the eye of Iraqi Christians in Sterling HeightsMitchell said he and others are trying to get the word out in the community that the Tuesday council meeting will include an agenda item on a proposed settlement to the lawsuit.But the city council did not publish its Tuesday-night agenda in the local legal newspaper, the weekly Sterling Heights Sentry, and it didn t put a notice on its official website until late Friday. We just found out about this, so we ve been rushing to try to put together an opposition to stop the city from signing this document, which is an admission of guilt to something we don t think we committed, Mitchell said. As a local resident, I m gonna say we don t discriminate in Sterling Heights. We ve already got two mosques, a Sikh temple, a Buddhist temple and many other diverse houses of worship, so for this city to be called discriminatory is unbelievable. The unfortunate thing is, they want to plop it right in the middle of a Chaldean Christian neighborhood, Mitchell added. Somebody planned that. Somebody is seeking to put a stinger in someone s eye. Dr. Ramsay Dass, M.D., president of the American Middle East Christian Congress, said he is not so concerned about another mosque being built in Sterling Heights. He s more concerned about the big picture of political pressure being placed on small cities by an out-of-control federal bureaucracy using coercive tactics. As an American citizen, they are entitled to build a mosque, but I do not believe in making laws that small cities and towns cannot fight politically or financially, Dass told WND.The federal law being used to coerce cities into approving mosques, even when the mosque is in a residential neighborhood, is the Religion Land Use and Institutional Persons Act, or RELUIPA, which was passed by Congress in 2000.As WND has reported, the Obama administration used this law increasingly against communities denying mosques and less against those denying the construction of churches.Nahren Anweya is a spokesperson for the persecuted Middle Eastern Christians living in Michigan. She has appeared on Fox News and spoken at congressional hearings on Christian persecution in the Middle East. Her family has been living in Michigan since they escaped Iraq in 1989. She said Sterling Heights is home to the nation s second largest Chaldean Catholic community of Iraqi Christians. They thought they found a safe haven, only to find out their ancient nemesis, the Middle Eastern Sunni Muslims, were being resettled in the same county and wanted to build a mosque right in the middle of their neighborhood.Most Iraqi Christians are either Chaldean Catholic or members of an even more ancient Christian sect, the Assyrian Church of the East. The Assyrians speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. My family they re pretty patriotic American Assyrian Christians. Both of my great-grandfathers were crucified by Muslims literally on a cross, Anweya told WND. And that was because they were proud Christians, my great-grandfather used to walk around with a large gold cross around his neck, we never tried to hide it. So to see those ancient persecutors not only showing up in Macomb County en masse, but building a mosque on top of the Chaldean neighborhood, is traumatizing, Anweya said. While we are living in our safe haven, to allow a mosque to be built where we are is like putting us back to Iraq. We left everything behind to start from scratch, and then watching it follow us, this is traumatizing, she said. There are so many Muslim countries who could take these Muslim refugees, but they send them here. If we were treated fairly in their countries, then I would say let them build as many mosques as they want, but that day is far from reality. She said Muslim leaders don t believe in equality, and anything they say on that level is mere pandering to gullible local Christians. They don t believe in equality, even if they say they do, she said. Show me a Muslim country where Christians are treated 100 percent equal. Why is Christianity being degraded in every Muslim country? In 2003, we were 1.3 million Christians in Iraq, and that is where Christianity began and thrived, and now these are people who would be beheaded for their Christian faith. So, she said, the Assyrian and Chaldean communities have news for the Islamic centers that wish to build in their midst: These people are not going to give up their Christian faith, Anweya said. Where a nation is most vulnerable, is when they are not even calling themselves Christian anymore, that s the most dangerous I believe. When the sword is placed to your neck it s too late, she added. The Christians from Iraq, we are not building churches in Dearborn, so why are they building mosques in Sterling Heights? If we started building churches in Dearborn, I think you would see a few protests coming from them. Read more at:WND
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left-news
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Feb 21, 2017
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Trump Put Himself In Deep Sh*t, Personally Drafted Statement Lying About Jr’s Russia Meeting
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Donald Trump and all of the people around him have a serious problem with the truth. That problem is giving them serious legal problems that do not have to be when it comes to Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigation into the Trump campaign s possible collusion with the Russians to try and fix the 2016 election.First, they said there were not meetings with Russians. Then, we find out that Donald Trump Jr., former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, and Trump s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with a shady Russian lawyer, along with other people tied to the Russian government. After that, Trump Jr. came out with a statement saying that they were talking about Russian adoptions and nothing else. Then, that statement fell apart when it turns out that they went into that meeting thinking they were going to get dirt on then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. Now, it turns out that while the lawyers wanted to be truthful in Trump Jr. s statement, Donald Trump decided he wanted to lie for his son, and personally put together the statement.Trump s advisers are furious. One said, on condition of anonymity, to the Washington Post: This was . . . unnecessary. Now someone can claim he s the one who attempted to mislead. Somebody can argue the president is saying he doesn t want you to say the whole truth. The adviser then went on to suggest that Trump doesn t fully understand that he and his people are in serious legal trouble over the Russia investigation: He refuses to sit still. He doesn t think he s in any legal jeopardy, so he really views this as a political problem he is going to solve by himself. A lawyer who investigated President George W. Bush regarding the unmasking of CIA Agent Valerie Plame, Peter Zeidenberg, says of the bumbling attempt at a cover-up by Team Trump: The thing that really strikes me about this is the stupidity of involving the president. They are still treating this like a family-run business and they have a PR problem. . . . What they don t seem to understand is this is a criminal investigation involving all of them. Well, hopefully, they continue to screw up in their responses to this. There s definitely wrongdoing here. Perhaps Robert Mueller already has the smoking gun, and wants to make sure the case is airtight before they are all indicted and hauled off to jail where belong. In the meantime, the entire administration is dangerous and should be removed. Congress, do your jobs and throw ALL OF THESE people out of our White House.Featured image via John Moore/Getty Images
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News
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August 1, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that captures the reader's attention effectively, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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BOILER ROOM – EP #44 – Dig, Dug, Dirt!
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Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST every Wednesday.Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Andy Nowicki from Alt Right Blogspot, Daniel Spaulding from Soul of the East, 21Wire & ACR contributor Randy J and Boiler Room Presidential Candidate select: Stewart Howe. In this broadcast listeners will be hearing us go around the BOILER ROOM on a veritable feast of topics including Cloppers, GOP Politics, Donald Trump, Hunting with Dick Cheney, Fat Shaming and the Golden Corral, the 5th anniversary of the NATO sacking of Libya, TX arresting people for outstanding student loan debt, the death of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, Glen Beck telling listeners that Ted Cruz will get them through the rapture, Mark Levin calling Donald Trump a kooky truther, Jim Baker selling buckets of Food and more. If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLITICALLY CORRECT ZONE! LIVE ACR PLAYER BELOW Show goes live at 6 PM PST:
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US_News
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February 19, 2016
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THE 1 PERCENTER BABY: Chelsea’s Daughter Is Clearly Not One Of Those ‘Everyday People’ Her ‘Dead Broke’ Granny Is Championing
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But then again, with all of the cash flowing into the Clinton Slush Fund from foreign countries no designer should be out of reach for any member of the Clinton crime syndicate Becoming a grandmother has made Hillary Clinton think long and hard about what kind of world she wants to leave behind for future generations a world in which every American will have the same opportunities as nine-month-old Charlotte Clinton-Mezvinsky. In Hillary Clinton s America, for example, every infant child will be swathed in the hippest fabrics from the hottest celebrity fashion barons.The Daily Mail reports:Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton remembered late family friend Oscar de la Renta in a touching tribute at Monday night s CFDA Awards, and revealed that he sent her newborn daughter a special dress soon before he died, which she believes is likely one of the last pieces he ever designed.Chelsea, 35, spoke at the celebrity-packed fashion event about some of her favorite memories of the beloved designer, whom she had known since her father, former US President Bill Clinton s years in the White House.In her speech, she revealed how Mr. de la Renta boosted her self esteem with a dress he sent her as a teenager and made her daughter Charlotte one very lucky little girl by sending her a dress of her own before he passed away.The elite fashion designer, who passed away last year, also designed the stunning dress Hillary wore to Chelsea s wedding ceremony in 2010. It was during a stay at de la Renta s beachfront mansion in the Dominican Republic that Hillary decided to run for president in 2016 as a champion of everyday Americans. This entry was posted in Politics and tagged Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton. Bookmark the permalink.Via: WFB
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left-news
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Jun 3, 2015
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that draws the reader in, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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BIGGER THAN SNOWDEN: Wikileaks ‘Vault 7’ Classified CIA leak – What Does It Mean?
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He who controls the spice controls the universe. Frank Herbert, from the Dune seriesShawn Helton 21st Century WireOver the past week, much of the CIA s cyber hacking capabilities were allegedly laid bare by the Wikileaks Vault 7 publication. According to the transparency seeking website, they ve published less than 1% of the intelligence regarding their Vault 7 series under the moniker Year Zero. All in all, the Wikileaks Vault 7 release is said to be the largest publication of classified intelligence in history. While there are still many unknowns associated with this latest CIA centered leak, there are a quite a few things to consider.Let s explore some of what we know to date and how it relates to other suspicious tech related stories over the past few years YEAR ZERO ZERO DAYS Wikileaks discloses the CIA s cyber hacking capabilities still no official comment from the intelligence agency. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)Wikileaks Vault 7 In 21WIRE s first report regarding the new revelations concerning Wikileaks Vault 7, we discussed how some of the content exposed in part one of Year Zero revealed what many in new media and other investigative fields have thought technologically possible for years.Here s a portion from the 21WIRE news alert mentioned above that describes the latest controversial publication by Wikileaks: WikiLeaks has released its largest ever publication of confidential documents on the Central Intelligence Agency. Entitled Vault 7 and containing a password that echoed the alleged JFK quote splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds, this leak comprises 8,761 documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. Year Zero , which is part one of the leak and conveniently named after a zero day exploit used by intelligence agencies, was gathered throughout 2016 and is said to be the largest intelligence publication in history .Whilst a lot of the information and methodology outlined in Year Zero is of no surprise to security analysts and researchers since the Edward Snowden (image, left) revelations, once again the public has explicit confirmation of how one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world, aided by their international counterparts like GCHQ, have been infiltrating and scooping vast quantities of private information from Apple and Android devices right up to Samsung Smart TV technology where false stand-by modes and live microphones can be executed to record information and send it back to the appropriate servers. The Year Zero leaks a simple but cleaver play on the term zero day something which is defined on Wikipedia as an undisclosed computer-software vulnerability that hackers can exploit to adversely affect computer programs, data, additional computers or a network. A zero day, zero hour exploit is said to leave a software author without the necessary time to correct coding or workaround actions of a particular hack or intrusive malware damage. (Image Source: daily express)According to Wikileaks and its editor-in-chief Julian Assange, their most recent treasure trove of confidential files were obtained by a current or former CIA contractor, a story similar in scope and impact to the collection of documents dropped by former CIA/NSA contractor Edward Snowden but are said to be much larger.This time, the public has been given a glance inside the prism of the CIA s cyber hacking potential and data mining efforts similar to the NSA.In May of 2013, Snowden revealed information displaying that American citizens as well as other foreign nations throughout the world were subject to unprecedented levels of spying at the behest of the NSA. Massive data mining via XKeyScore and other similar applications proved to be very controversial particularly in America as it seemed to be in direct contradiction to the US Constitution s 4th Amendment.Over the past decade other aspects of NSA spying activities were revealed under the George W Bush administration in 2005 and further brought to light by Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician who exposed how the multinational telecommunications company was working with the intelligence community to collect the public s data.In 2011, Gadgets and Gizmos reported the following: The recent Web 2.0 2011 conference in San Francisco saw the issue made public and now the worry is that private information could be obtained by third parties using this secretly stored data.Once the data is accessed it can even be downloaded onto an interactive map which shows where the owner of the device has been lately. So far the best way to avoid this causing a problem is to go into the settings menu and turn of the location services all together. The newly leaked Vault 7 documents identify specific cyber weapons, hacking systems, viruses and malware created by the CIA that can be used on just about anyone or any entity. This most assuredly will cause other countries to become more critical of the agency s cyber capabilities. By the looks of it, this is something that appears to be happening in Germany, as the Wikileaks docu-dump exposed an apparent CIA spy-hub in Frankfurt.Zero Hedge reports: The consulate was the focus of a German investigation into US intelligence capabilities following the 2013 revelation that NSA agents had tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel s phone.German daily S ddeutsche Zeitung reported the building was known to be home to a vast network of intelligence personnel including CIA agents, NSA spies, military secret service personnel, Department of Homeland Security employees and Secret Service employees. It reported the Americans had also established a dense network of outposts and shell companies in Frankfurt. Germany s reaction could prove to be more theatrical than that of true concern only time will tell.If Vault 7 is to be accepted wholesale, it also reveals that since the 9/11 attacks the CIA has gained political and budgetary preeminence over the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The CIA found itself building not just its now infamous drone fleet, but a very different type of covert, globe-spanning force its own substantial fleet of hackers. Part and parcel to this, Wikileaks contends that CIA hackers have developed cyber weaponry to spy on people through cell phones, computers and smart TVs.According to Year Zero part one of the Wikileaks Vault 7 release: The increasing sophistication of surveillance techniques has drawn comparisons with George Orwell s 1984, but Weeping Angel , developed by the CIA s Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones, is surely its most emblematic realization.The attack against Samsung smart TVs was developed in cooperation with the United Kingdom s MI5/BTSS. After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a Fake-Off mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In Fake-Off mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the Internet to a covert CIA server. Interestingly, Wikileaks published a batch of classified CIA spy/hacking documents that not only include the privacy invading Weeping Angel developed by the clandestine agency to listen on microphones covertly but also ways the CIA has sought to remotely infect and control Microsoft Windows, with viruses like Hammer Drill as well as automated infestation and control of CIA malware, such as Assassin and Medusa. According to security analysts, the CIA has designed the covert methods listed above for hostile foreign actors. However, since the intelligence service has had a propensity of going rogue, these technological leaps made by the secretive agency should be a major concern to the general public.Over the past few decades there have been other spoken critics of intelligence services such as well-known journalist James Bamford and former high-ranking NSA official William Binney, both who have come forward to share the inner workings of the security world. The screenshot above from Wikileaks Vault 7 discusses CIA s techniques that can be used to frame other entities for a malware attack.Framing the Big Bear?One of the more curious details contained in Vault 7 were the revelations concerning the CIA s ability to mask any hacking fingerprints that could potentially implicate the agency. Additionally, the secretive agency could also leave behind potential evidence that a cyber attack was carried out by a foreign body or nation. Here s another passage from the Wikileaks publication on the matter: Tradecraft DO s and DON Ts contains CIA rules on how its malware should be written to avoid fingerprints implicating the CIA, US government, or its witting partner companies in forensic review . QUESTION: Is it possible that the CIA could use its highly specialized malware to frame a foreign country for violating US national security?Zero Hedge reported the following Wikileaks information concerning the CIA s ability to bypass device encryption before it can be applied as well as mask itself from forensic review via its own entity, the Center For Cyber Inteliigence (CCI):Among the more notable disclosures which, if confirmed, would rock the technology world , the CIA had managed to bypass encryption on popular phone and messaging services such as Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. According to the statement from WikiLeaks, government hackers can penetrate Android phones and collect audio and message traffic before encryption is applied. Another profound revelation is that the CIA can engage in false flag cyberattacks which portray Russia as the assailant. Discussing the CIA s Remote Devices Branch s UMBRAGE group, Wikileaks source notes that it collects and maintains a substantial library of attack techniques stolen from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation. Here s an image originally published by Wikileaks Vault 7 that displays the CIA s Center For Cyber Intelligence apparatus With claims of alleged Russian hacking at the forefront of Western intelligence, let s take another look at how that meme started Prior to the 2016 US presidential race taking place the mainstream media along with the White House, set the stage for a massive PR push implicating Russia as a disrupting force for democracy allegedly through Kremlin-sponsored hacking of US democratic institutions and through sophisticated Russian propaganda. In August, the western media s claims against Russia began to hit overdrive, when the New York Times s Moscow bureau was the target of an attempted cyber attack this month. But so far, there is no evidence that the hackers, believed to be Russian, were successful. Flash forward to September here and here, as well as early October in the lead up to President Obama s Russian Hack decree, the Clinton-friendly outlet, the NY Times, had all but solidified the Russian cyber-hack claims but once again, without any definitive evidence or proof.Throw in another American October surprise in the form distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, renewed calls for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) internet, led to so-called cyber experts blaming the largest hack on America because of the inability to pass SOPA in effect, reigniting the previously stalled SOPA in Washington DC, along with all of its draconian copyright law positions all perfectly timed as mainstream reports regarding fake news suddenly became all the rage across all forms of media.Will Vault 7 prove to shed light on other CIA related activities?The screenshot above from Wikileaks Vault 7 discusses the CIA S HIVE multi-platform software control system.DDoS AttacksIn October of 2016, I noted some of the suspicious activity surrounding America s biggest distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that was said to be caused by the malware Mirai. Given that there was a hardcoded blacklist of certain government entities and major multinational companies/defense contractors from being attacked its seems more likely that the attack was US government created: Interestingly, according to Bradley Barth, a senior reporter for the IT security online magazine SC, the Mirai (supposedly leaked on September 30th) contains a very unique subset of characteristics that will not attack certain IP addresses such as the Department of Defense (DoD), the US Postal Service and consumer giant General Electric (GE) due to its coding: An Imperva analysis of the source code revealed several unique traits, including a hardcoded blacklist of IPs that the adversary did not want to attack, perhaps in order to keep a low profile. Some of these IPs belonged to the Department of Defense, the U.S. Postal Service and General Electric (GE). Though SC claims that the makers of Mirai may have been trying to keep a low profile, the recent DDoS attack attributed to the malware was as high-profile as you can get so this begs the question, what was the real reason the malware creators put an IP blockade on the DoD, the Postal Service and GE? Is it possible that the DDoS attack originated from whitehat hackers associated with the US government, a major US defense contractor like GE or some other intelligence service, possibly the CIA? HACKED? Michael Hastings death sparked a wave of controversial theories. (Image source: pinterest)CIA Hacking Tools Upon closer inspection of the Wikileaks Vault 7 release, we see that in addition to the public s privacy apparently being invaded through the CIA s ability to bypass encryption on Android and iOS phones, computers and smart TVs there was also the Wikileaks revelations exposing the agency s development of vehicular control.Wikileaks Vault 7 stated the following stunning revelation: As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks. The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations. It is this part of Year Zero that has revived the conspiracy surrounding the death of investigative reporter and war veteran Michael Hastings, who died after his Mercedes C250 coupe supposedly burst into a giant fireball in the early hours of June 18 2013. According to eyewitness accounts, Hastings was going at a high rate of speed as sparks and flames were seen before his fiery automobile crashed.The UK s Sun recently revisited the Hastings tragedy. Here s a passage of that report: Hastings a vocal critic of government mass surveillance had sent an email to colleagues and friends just 12 hours earlier, telling them he was onto a big story and was under investigation.The Buzzfeed and Rolling Stone contributor, 33, wrote: The Feds are interviewing my close friends and associates . May be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices. I m onto a big story and need to go off the radar for a bit. WikiLeaks also tweeted after the crash to say Hastings had contacted its lawyer Jennifer Robinson just before his death, claiming the FBI was investigating him.The FBI took a departure from normal policy to deny that Hastings had ever been under investigation after receiving a barrage of calls about his death. The CIA has failed to confirm or deny the authenticity of the Vault 7 release, only deepening the mystery surrounding the death of Hastings.The question of CIA control over cars and trucks naturally leads us to what was revealed regarding high-tech avionics in recent years (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)Uninterruptible Flight ControlIn my article entitled FLIGHT CONTROL: Boeing s Uninterruptible Autopilot System , Drones & Remote Hijacking, I noted the CIA s involvement in certain advancements in flight technology. Lets revisit a portion of that article describing the agency s involvement: On December 4th of 2006, it was announced that Boeing had won a patent on an uninterruptible autopilot system for use in commercial aircraft. This was the first public acknowledgment by Boeing about the existence of such an autopilot system.The new autopilot patent was reported by John Croft for Flight Global, with the news piece subsequently linked by a Homeland Security News Wire and other British publications around the same time. According to the DHS release, it was disclosed that dedicated electrical circuits within an onboard flight system could control a plane without the need of pilots, stating that the advanced avionics would fly the aircraft remotely, independently of those operating the plane: The uninterruptible autopilot would be activated either by pilots, by onboard sensors, or even remotely via radio or satellite links by government agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, if terrorists attempt to gain control of a flight deck. Continuing, I outlined the suspicious nature of both the MH370 disaster and that of MH17. Since then there have been a number of strange airline catastrophes including Germanwings 9525 and EygptAir MS804. Following the apparent vanishing act of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, many investigators and researchers began to question the likelihood of such an event happening in today s high-tech world.At 21WIRE, we ve also looked into the unprecedented disappearance of MH370 and the subsequent downing of MH17, as certain details came to light regarding the history of the remote autopilot function installed within Boeing commercial airliners (a subject which also opens the door to the events of 9/11).The Boeing 777 along with other Boeing models, can in fact be flown remotely through the use of independent embedded software and satellite communication. Once this advanced system is engaged, it can disallow any pilot or potential hijacker from controlling a plane, as the rooted setup uses digital signals that communicate with air traffic control, satellite links, as well as other government entities for the remainder of a flight s journey.This technology is known as the Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot System. Has the CIA had the ability to remotely hack vehicles for much longer than we think?The Wikileaks release once again opens questions about 9/11, the deep state and what intelligence agencies have control over in the War on Terror era. CLOAKED What other blueprints will Wikileaks provide regarding the CIA s capabilities? (Image Source: offgraun)Public Privacy Vs. the Deep State In an article detailing the encryption saga between Apple and the FBI, we stated that there are no guarantees in the security world, especially if a digital master-key were to be created, as this would potentially make it easier for invaders (either the government, or various hackers) mining for data moving forward into the future.If the CIA has been secretly data mining just like the NSA, they have unquestionably violated the public s constitutional rights and trust.Is this really what the CIA has been up too?In a 2016 the Guardian interviewed some of those involved in the technology and security sector. These individuals offered their thoughts regarding the government s continued encroachment on individual privacy. here s another look at that passage:Dan Kaminsky, the security expert who made his name with the discovery that one of the most basic parts of the internet, the domain name system, was vulnerable to fraud disagrees: Feds want final authority on engineering decisions, and their interests don t even align with fighting the vast bulk of real-world crime. Continuing, The Guardian interviewed former FBI agent Michael German, currently the Brennan Center, a judicial think-tank. The following is a part of that interview: After 9/11, you had this concept of total information awareness. The intelligence community was very enamoured of the idea that all information was available. Much like the NSA, they wanted to see it all, collect it all, and analyse it all. Western political leaders and their media arms often discuss the dangers of so-called terror sleeper cells residing in a nation near you, but none of them acknowledge or attempt to explain the historical fact that for decades, they themselves have helped to harbor, grow, foment and radicalize individuals through their own clandestine counter-terrorism operations.Many of these operations have directly implicated security agencies (and military alliances) such as the FBI, CIA, MI5, MI6 and NATO in the production of real terror.While most of these counter intelligence operations have fallen under the umbrella of the so-called War On Terror era, they have also largely served to obfuscate the nature of various government programs that some critics suggest is the work of a deep state apparatus.QUESTION: Will there be a large public outcry regarding the lack of oversight over the CIA s spying and hacking capabilities?Watch below as 21WIRE s Patrick Henningsen discusses the NSA-like body of the CIA on Peter Lavelle s Cross Talk show on RT In Summary The timely release of Vault 7 comes amid a flurry of wiretapping claims from President Donald Trump, while a review of US cyber capabilities and vulnerabilities is currently underway.Additionally, the Wikileaks Vault 7 publication revealed the following stunning information concerning the scope of the CIA s cyber capabilities previously unknown to the public: By the end of 2016, the CIA s hacking division, which formally falls under the agency s Center for Cyber Intelligence (CCI), had over 5000 registered users and had produced more than a thousand hacking systems, trojans, viruses, and other weaponized malware. Such is the scale of the CIA s undertaking that by 2016, its hackers had utilized more code than that used to run Facebook. The CIA had created, in effect, its own NSA with even less accountability and without publicly answering the question as to whether such a massive budgetary spend on duplicating the capacities of a rival agency could be justified. In 2012, then CIA Director David Petraeus, mused about the emergence of an Internet of Things that is, wired devices at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA s venture capital firm. The Wired magazine article continued, disclosing that the future of spying hinged on smart devices and a smart home: All those new online devices are a treasure trove of data if you re a person of interest to the spy community. Once upon a time, spies had to place a bug in your chandelier to hear your conversation. With the rise of the smart home, you d be sending tagged, geolocated data that a spy agency can intercept in real time when you use the lighting app on your phone to adjust your living room s ambiance. The public has long been prepped for the surreal level of surveillance we are only just beginning to understand, whether through books, film or tech magazines or by the government itself the warning signs of lost privacy and protection have been hidden in plain sight for decades.Even still, Wikileaks Vault 7 shocks the avid researcher, writer and pundit as it gives further insight into the CIA s multi-pronged ability to distort the perception of the public, while vacuuming up all kinds of data.*** Author Shawn Helton is Associate Editor of 21st Century Wire, as well as an independent media forensic analyst specializing in criminal investigations and media coverage from war theaters. READ MORE WIKILEAKS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire WikiLeaks FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV
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US_News
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March 13, 2017
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New RNC Hispanic Outreach Head’s Humiliating First Job Is To Delete All Of Her Anti-Trump Tweets
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Somebody alert Mike Rowe, the dirtiest job in America is being the Republican National Convention s Hispanic Media Director under presumptive nominee Donald Trump.Already tasked with building inroads with a group of people whom many of your fellow Republicans view as less thans or criminals, the job of appealing to Hispanics under the leadership of Donald Trump is a near impossibility. How demeaning is it to be a Hispanic woman working for Trump s Republican Party? The current and long-suffering Hispanic Media Director Ruth Guerra resigned. When some Republicans heard the news of Ruth Guerra had quit, they didn t feel betrayed. They felt relieved that her misery was over. I m so proud of her for leaving, one Hispanic Republican said Wednesday night when told the news. I don t know how she held on for this long. The woman tasked with taking her place has had the job for less than 24 hours and already had to take a humiliating first step: Purging her social media accounts of any criticisms of Trump (of which there were many).Hours before the announcement that Helen Aguirre Ferr would be stepping into the role of working with Spanish-speaking media outlets and coordinating Hispanic outreach, she quietly deleted many of her tweets of the Trump bashing she used to regularly post. Unfortunately for her, the internet never forgets. Buzzfeed quickly found a cache of old, deleted tweets in which Ferr seemed to have been a Never Trump Republican and had publicly sided with Trump rival Ted Cruz during the primaries. Ferr now gets to be the party face of a man who actively hates both her ethnicity and gender. Trump may adore taco bowls, but his view towards Hispanic and Latinos is casually racist in a way that should be appalling to anyone living in the 21st century. Having launched his campaign by accusing Mexico of sending rapists and murderers across the border, Trump is also a big fan of using the word Mexican as an insult. Recently, he attempted to smear the judge presiding over his Trump University lawsuit as a biased Mexican incapable of doing his job. He similarly slammed New Mexico s Republican governor. (Her crime? She didn t endorse him.)Ferr has to watch as her ethnicity is repeatedly disparaged, while actively working to get the man doing so elected. And worse, she was forced to cleanse her own misgivings from the public s view even many that were and still are valid criticisms. Whether that s a sign of lack of personal integrity on Ferr s part or a sad statement about just how desperate Hispanic Republicans are to get any voice at all in the party is open to interpretation. Whatever the case, Ferr s job is very, very dirty.Featured image via Twitter
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News
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June 2, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that captures the reader's attention, while Article B feels more disjointed and less persuasive.
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Tillerson, Russia's Lavrov discuss Syria, Ukraine, Middle East
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed cooperation on the Syrian crisis, Middle East issues, and the agreement to bring peace to Ukraine in a meeting on Sunday, Lavrov s spokeswoman said. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the meeting was on cooperation in Syria crisis, Middle East issues and Minsk agreement . No other details were immediately available. The top Russian and U.S. diplomats met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
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worldnews
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September 18, 2017
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Conyers defiant as Democratic leaders call on him to resign
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The three top Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Democratic congressman John Conyers on Thursday to resign in light of the sexual harassment allegations he faces, but Conyers’ attorney said he was not thinking of stepping down. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said the allegations were “serious, disappointing and very credible” as she shifted away from comments four days ago in which she said Conyers, the longest-serving House member, was an “icon” who deserved due process. “Zero tolerance means consequences for everyone,” she told reporters on Thursday. “The brave women who came forward are owed justice ... Congressman Conyers should resign.” Pelosi’s call was echoed by her second-in-command, Representative Steny Hoyer, and the No. 3 Democrat in the House, Representative James Clyburn. Like Conyers, Clyburn is known for his activism during the civil rights movement. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top House Republican, also said Conyers, who is 88 and has served since 1965, should step aside. An attorney for the congressman said Conyers would not be hounded from office. “It is not up to Nancy Pelosi,” attorney Arnold Reed told reporters in Detroit, Michigan. “Nancy Pelosi did not elect the congressman, and she sure as hell won’t be the one that tells the congressman to leave.” “That decision will be completely up to the congressman. He’s not thought of that,” Reed said. Instead, Conyers was focusing on his health after being hospitalized late on Wednesday after suffering dizziness, light-headedness and shortness of breath, Reed said. Conyers, who is facing an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, is one of numerous prominent men in U.S. politics, media and entertainment who have been accused in recent months of sexual harassment and misconduct. Others include former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein, Democratic Senator Al Franken and Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Conyers has acknowledged settling with one former staffer over her claims of harassment, but he has denied wrongdoing. He has relinquished his post as the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and has said he will cooperate with the ethics probe. The resignation calls came after one of Conyers’ accusers, Marion Brown, detailed her allegations in a television interview on Thursday morning. Brown told NBC’s “Today” show that the congressman had “violated my body” and frequently propositioned her for sex. “No one should have to go through something like that, let alone here in Congress, so yes I think he should resign. He should resign immediately,” said Ryan. Reuters has not verified the allegations. Republican and Democratic House members introduced a bill on Wednesday that would bar public funds from being used to settle sexual harassment claims against members and require previously made payments to be made public. U.S. media have reported that Conyers used public funds to settle a claim with one of the women who had worked in his office.
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politicsNews
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November 30, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Window falls from U.S. Marines helicopter onto school grounds in Japan's Okinawa
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TOKYO (Reuters) - A window fell from a U.S. helicopter onto a school sports field near a U.S. Marines air base on Okinawa on Wednesday, the Marines said, the latest in a series of accidents that have fanned safety concerns on Japan s southern island. Japan s central government and Okinawa authorities have been at odds for years over the Futenma base. Residents complain about what they see as the unfair burden they carry in supporting the U.S. military presence in Japan. A 10-year-old boy suffered a minor injury but the exact cause was unclear, an Okinawa prefecture official told Reuters. The boy was among about 50 children on the elementary school grounds when the window fell from a U.S. CH-53E transport helicopter. Japan s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said: This sort of incident creates anxiety not only among those involved with the school but the people of Okinawa and should never happen. Suga told a regular news conference that the government would respond appropriately after getting an explanation from U.S. officials. The U.S. Marines on Okinawa said in a statement the helicopter had immediately returned and reported the incident. We take this report extremely seriously and are investigating the cause of this incident in close coordination with local authorities, the statement said. This is a regrettable incident and we apologize for any anxiety it has caused the community, it said. The Futenma base is surrounded by schools, hospitals and shops, and residents worry about air crashes. Crime committed by U.S. servicemen has also occasionally angered residents. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga has led the campaign to get the base off the island, while the central government has proposed moving it to a less populated part of the island called Henoko. A U.S. Marines CH-53E helicopter made an emergency landing and burst into flames in a U.S. military training area in northern Okinawa in October. No one was injured.
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worldnews
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December 13, 2017
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Trump Backers Go Full Birther And Slam Ted Cruz With Lawsuit (IMAGE/TWEETS)
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Donald Trump supporters have taken it upon themselves to try and throw Texas senator Ted Cruz out of the presidential race by filing a lawsuit against him.The lawsuit, which was filed on February 3rd at a district court in Alabama, questions if Cruz is even eligible to run for president, considering that he was born in Canada. The lawsuit cites Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, which states that no person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president. The plaintiffs of the lawsuit are Sebastian Green, Shannon Duncan, Kathryn Spears, Kyle Spears and Jerry Parker, all residents of Cullman County as well as loyal fans of The Donald. In the suit, the plaintiffs declared that Rafael Edward Cruz is ineligible to qualify/run/seek and be elected to the Office of the President of the United States of America. Thomas Drake, the attorney representing the group, explained: Mr. Cruz was born in Canada, and obviously Canada is not a territory or protectorate of the United States, it s not dominion of the United States. And as such, when he was born, at the moment of his birth, location determined his status, and his status was that of a natural-born Canadian citizen. You cannot be a natural-born or native-born citizen of two countries. Birther lawsuit against Ted CruzTwitterTrump has long been raising concern about Cruz s natural born status before, in almost the same way he did in 2011 when he went after President Barack Obama s birth certificate, claiming that that Barack wasn t a United States citizen.TwitterTed and Cruz will face each other again on Saturday, and the air between them will surely be even more tense, as the Trump has won the New Hampshire primary and Cruz took the Iowa caucuses. Featured image via Gage Skidmore
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February 12, 2016
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true-fake
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Top Senate Republican expresses optimism on healthcare bill after Trump meeting
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said a meeting between Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump on healthcare was helpful and he expressed optimism the Senate would eventually pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. “I think the meeting was very helpful,” McConnell said as he left the meeting at the White House. “I think everyone around the table is interested in getting to yes ... because we know the status quo is simply unacceptable, unsustainable and no action is just not an option.” “I had hoped ... that we could have gotten to the floor this week, but we’re not quite there,” he added. “But I think we’ve got a really good chance of getting there. It will just take a little bit longer.”
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politicsNews
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June 27, 2017
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Oklahoma lawmakers pass bill to reduce feral hog population
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OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma’s legislature has passed a bill aimed at reducing the state’s bulging population of feral hogs, blamed for spreading disease and wiping out crops, that would let people kill them without a hunting license. A study by an agricultural research organization found that the animals are running wild in all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties and could number as high as 1.6 million, which would be one of the highest feral hog populations of any state. The measure, passed on Thursday by the Republican-led legislature, would permit hunters to kill hogs without a hunting permit on their property or on someone else’s property with the landowner’s permission. It also would allow use of night-vision equipment to hunt them. Republican Governor Mary Fallin’s office has not said whether she will sign it into law. “This legislation gives Oklahomans more options to combat the rapidly growing feral hog population,” said Republican state Representative Sean Robert, a bill co-sponsor. The most effective method of eradicating the wild hogs currently is aerial shooting from helicopters, state officials said. “Feral hogs wreak havoc on Oklahoma’s farms, ranches and ecosystems, and cost farmers, ranchers and landowners,” said Tom Buchanan, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, an agricultural industry group that supports the legislation. Bill opponents said it could prompt some people to bring even more feral hogs into Oklahoma to be shot by hunters. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said damage caused by feral swine across the United States could top $2 billion. “If you are a farmer, they can clean out your crops overnight,” Dale Nolte, the inspection service’s program manager, said in an interview. “We have farmers tell us they have given up on planting high-dollar crops because of the feral hog problem.” Texas, Oklahoma and California have the highest numbers of feral swine in the country, Nolte said. The inspection service has operations to remove them in 38 states, Nolte added. “The problem is that feral hogs are so prolific that we have to trap 70 percent of the pig population every year just to maintain the population level we have right now,” said Kevin Grant, Oklahoma Wildlife Services state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Out in the wild, feral hogs are an ecological nightmare. There is very little that is beneficial to native wildlife that come from feral swine,” Grant said.
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politicsNews
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May 6, 2016
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Trump's opponents race to the courthouse to thwart him
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 12 he would stop subsidies to health insurers critical to the Obamacare law, the response from Democratic state officials was swift and predictable: a lawsuit by 18 state attorneys general was filed within 24 hours. The race to the courthouse in response to presidential actions has become a familiar pattern since Trump took office in January, and early rulings in many of the lawsuits have, at least temporarily, hobbled key parts of the president’s agenda. Many of the Republican president’s most significant executive actions, in areas from immigration and transgender rights to energy and the environment, have been impeded by court rulings in cases brought by Democratic state and local officials as well as liberal advocacy groups. “We are more of a check on this administration than Congress,” Democratic New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said of state attorneys general. Similarly, important executive actions taken by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama were stymied by lawsuits filed by Republican state attorneys general, including one eventually decided by the Supreme Court that was intended to protect millions of immigrants in the country illegally from deportation. Since Trump took office, courts have at least temporarily blocked Trump’s plans to: **ban travelers and immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries **withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement **ban transgender people from serving in the military **delay implementation of a regulation issued by the Obama administration limiting methane emissions **put the brakes on an Interior Department rule requiring energy firms to pay more mineral royalties on federal land **delay compliance with an Obama-era rule aimed at curbing natural gas drilling waste emissions on federal land **and impede a detained illegal immigrant teenager from obtaining an abortion Trump has claimed some court victories, too, including on Oct. 25 when a federal judge in California refused the request by the state attorneys general to force the government to keep the subsidies to insurers under Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, in place as the litigation proceeds. That decision was more the exception than the rule. "President Trump remains committed to protecting our national security and to eliminating excessive regulations that, if implemented, would destroy jobs, harm consumers and provide no meaningful benefit," a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a statement provided to Reuters. "The Trump administration is confident in its legal positions and looks forward to arguing -- and winning -- before the federal judiciary," the official added. In response to legal setbacks, Trump has lashed out at the judiciary in ways that even his own Supreme Court appointee Neil Gorsuch called disheartening and demoralizing. Trump called U.S. courts “so political,” labeled various rulings and proceedings “ridiculous” and “disgraceful,” and disparaged one jurist who ruled against him as a “so-called judge.” While presidents often face legal challenges over policy initiatives, Trump’s administration stands out for the number of suits it has encountered so soon after taking power. Trump has faced far more litigation than Obama had at this stage of his presidency. A review of legal database Westlaw showed that in Trump’s first nine months in office, cities or states filed 24 lawsuits challenging major policy initiatives of the administration. The review showed no similar lawsuits during the same time period of Obama’s presidency. Trump also faces numerous suits by advocacy groups and others challenging such actions as his termination of an Obama program that protected people brought into the United States illegally as children from deportation and the authority of a presidential commission formed to investigate alleged voter fraud. Trump has relied heavily on unilateral executive actions to advance his policy objectives. His fellow Republicans who control Congress have been unable to pass any major legislation he has sought. Executive actions can be challenged in court more quickly than lengthy federal rule-making procedures, said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Obama relied on executive actions during the later years of his presidency after being unable to win congressional approval of key initiatives, and some of those actions drew legal challenges. But early in his presidency, he relied on unilateral actions less often because his fellow Democrats controlled Congress and passed major legislation including the 2010 Obamacare law. Some legal experts say the haste with which Trump drafted some of his policy initiatives may have helped those challenging the actions because the orders were not sufficiently vetted. “This administration is more willing to shoot from the hip” when compared with the Obama administration, Adler said. That is how San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, a Democrat, saw Trump’s executive order on sanctuary city funding, which Herrera calculated could jeopardize up to $2 billion in federal funds for his city. Herrera said he saw Trump’s action as “designed to appeal to a part of the administration’s political base without really having been vetted” by lawyers to ensure it was legally airtight. Herrera won an initial ruling in April blocking the measure, and the case is now pending before an appeals court. Trump’s actions have appealed to his conservative political base, while the legal challenges have pleased his liberal critics. Speaking at an event at New York University, Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, called Trump’s first travel ban, signed in January just a week into his presidency, a “galvanizing moment” for Democratic officials. While lawsuits challenging the president’s actions have won some important early victories, the litigation onslaught’s ultimate effect on Trump’s agenda is not yet clear. Trump’s opponents have tended to file suits in jurisdictions where they think they are likely to prevail, and where appeals will be heard in regional federal circuit courts dominated by Democratic-appointed judges. The final decisions on the cases could be made by the Supreme Court, where Trump’s appointment of Gorsuch restored a 5-4 conservative majority. The high court is likely to “prove more receptive” to the administration’s arguments on issues like immigration, said George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley. Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco who was appointed by Obama appeared skeptical in a hearing about the challenge by the 18 states to the Affordable Care Act subsidies, illustrating the limits of resistance through litigation. Alluding to the political aspect of the case, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria asked rhetorically during a hearing: why “have all these attorneys general rushed to court seeking an emergency ruling against President Trump?” Chhabria then ruled in favor of Trump. Follow Trump's impact on energy, environment, healthcare, immigration and the economy at The Trump Effect [www.reuters.com/trump-effect] (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Sue Horton and Will Dunham)
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politicsNews
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November 2, 2017
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Russia media group that angered Kremlin is sold
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian media group which angered some in the Kremlin by reporting on the business interests of people close to President Vladimir Putin was sold on Friday to the owner of a tabloid that is deferential to the Russian leader. Businessman Grigory Berezkin’s ESN group said in a statement it has acquired a 65 percent stake in the RBC media holding, plus debt, from Onexim Group, which is controlled by metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov. The completion of the deal marks the end of a seven-year period when RBC under the ownership of Prokhorov published hard-hitting investigations, including into the business affairs of Putin’s inner circle. It stood out from most of the mainstream media in Russia, which are either controlled by the state or state-run companies, or tend to steer clear of topics which could anger powerful officials. Last year, according to several people familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking, some figures close to Putin grew angry with RBC’s coverage. Around the same time, Russian law enforcement officers in ski masks raided the offices of Onexim. Soon after, the media group’s editor-in-chief left the country, and new senior managers were brought in from a state-run news agency. A large proportion of the group’s journalists resigned, saying they anticipated restrictions on the topics on which they could report. “Apparently the asset became toxic, and they (the owners) wanted to get rid of it,” Elizaveta Osetinskaya, the former editor-in-chief, told Reuters on Friday. The Kremlin has always denied having pressured RBC over its reporting or being involved in Prokhorov’s decision to sell. The deal has been under negotiation for weeks. Financial details have not been disclosed. Berezkin, the new owner, already owns the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid newspaper. Its pages are usually dominated by crime stories and celebrity gossip. Critical reporting on the president or his senior allies is rare in the newspaper. A spokeswoman for ESN group declined to comment on whether the new owner would change RBC’s senior staff or editorial policy. Osetinskaya, the former editor, said that after her departure last year, RBC had continued to report independently. She said when it gave prominent coverage to anti-Kremlin protests in March, she thought that might lead to problems for the group. “Perhaps they did not restrain themselves sufficiently,” she said of RBC’s current management.
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politicsNews
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June 16, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Police say suspicious package at Frankfurt Christmas market harmless
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A suspicious package that prompted an evacuation of a Christmas market in Frankfurt has turned out to be harmless, the city s police said on Twitter. Authorities said the package in question at Roemer square, the heart of the city s Christmas market, was a donation for the homeless. Well intentioned, but poorly placed, the police said on Twitter. The all clear came about 45 minutes after the evacuation was announced.
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worldnews
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December 21, 2017
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Newly freed Pakistani Islamist calls ex-PM Nawaz Sharif a 'traitor'
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LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A newly freed Pakistani Islamist accused of masterminding a bloody 2008 assault in the Indian city of Mumbai called on Friday ousted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a traitor for seeking peace with neighbor and arch-foe India. Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head over the Mumbai attack, spoke at Friday prayers after being freed earlier in the day from 11 months of house arrest by a court that said there was no evidence to hold him. Saeed was placed under house arrest in January while Sharif was still prime minister, a move that drew praise from India, long furious at Saeed s freedom in Pakistan. A Supreme Court ruling disqualified Sharif from office in July over a corruption investigation, though his party still runs the government. Saeed, however, said Sharif deserved to be removed for his peace overtures with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nawaz Sharif asks why he was ousted? I tell him he was ousted because he committed treason against Pakistan by developing friendship with Modi, killers of thousands of Muslims, Saeed said.
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worldnews
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November 24, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Republicans grapple with whether to back Trump for White House
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(Reuters) - Republican lawmakers, operatives and donors grappled with whether to support Donald Trump, who effectively clinched his party’s presidential nomination this week after his two remaining rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, dropped out of the White House race. As Trump sought to rally the fractured party behind him, many prominent Republicans got behind the reality TV star and real estate developer, while some weighed their options. Still others said they might vote in the Nov. 8 general election for Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. Bill Achtmeyer, the Boston-based founder of consulting firm Parthenon Group, was among those considering a possible vote for Clinton, a former secretary of state and former first lady. “If she is able to move to the center and think as creatively and thoughtfully as her husband (Bill Clinton) did ... boy, I would have a very hard time, based on what I know today, not voting for Hillary versus what Trump is espousing,” said Achtmeyer, who has donated $200,000 to Republicans over the last decade. Another Republican donor, David Beightol, a Washington lobbyist who raised money this year for the presidential bid of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, said he was leaning toward voting for Trump because he could not support Clinton. “I’m not there yet, but I don’t have a lot of choice,” Beightol said. In most U.S. elections cycles, party insiders quickly coalesce around candidates once they have effectively sewn up the nomination. But Trump’s bombastic rhetoric, unorthodox campaign and his lack of experience in government have left the party divided. The New York billionaire has vowed to deport illegal immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border. He has also said he would temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country as a way to combat terrorism. Republican former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush do not plan to endorse anyone in the White House race this year, their spokesmen told Reuters. The party’s presidential nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney, will not attend the Republican National Convention in July, an aide said. The former Massachusetts governor delivered a blistering attack on Trump in March. The party’s 2008 nominee, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, has said he would support the eventual nominee, “who is now presumptively Donald Trump,” said McCain’s Senate campaign spokeswoman, Lorna Romero. But McCain told supporters in Arizona last month that having Trump at the top of the Republican ticket make his re-election harder, according a recording obtained by Politico. The state has a large Hispanic population. On Wednesday, fresh off the win in Indiana’s primary that drove both his rivals out of the race, Trump pledged to unify the party and said he was getting calls from people who had criticized him in the past but who now wanted to back him.Supporters of Trump, who has never held elective office, said he could ease concerns about his lack of experience by choosing a well-known running mate. Representatives Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee and Chris Collins of New York both suggested former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice did not respond to a request for comment. Trump told CNBC on Thursday there was a 40 percent chance his vice presidential pick would be a former Republican presidential rival. Backers said Trump could mend ties with allies of Cruz, who had been his strongest challenger and had trumpeted himself as a true conservative, by meeting with lawmakers in person after a heated campaign in which Trump dubbed the U.S. senator from Texas “Lyin’ Ted.” Cruz’s supporters on Capitol Hill have ties to conservative activists and the Tea Party, groups that could help Trump raise money and turn out voters. DesJarlais said meeting Trump in person would improve their impressions of him. Representative Raul Labrador, a Cruz backer and conservative leader from Idaho, told a radio station that he saw Trump as favoring the political “establishment” even though he has run as an outsider. But he said Trump would likely appoint a conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court, a priority for many on the political right. “With Clinton, there is no chance,” Labrador said. “In my opinion, there’s just no choice between the two.”
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politicsNews
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May 5, 2016
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Argentine Congress to make fresh attempt at pension debate on Monday
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BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina s lower house of Congress will try on Monday to debate the government s pension bill, lawmakers said on Friday, after the first attempt at discussing it this week ended with violent protests that forced the legislature to suspend session. The bill, key to President Mauricio Macri s effort to lower business costs and reduce Argentina s fiscal deficit, has already passed the Senate, leaving the lower house to give final legislative approval. But Thursday s debate was suspended after it sparked riots in the capital that were put down by police firing rubber bullets and tear gas. Opposition protesters, politicians and unions say the legislation will hurt pensioners. For Monday s debate, the bill will be amended to provide a bonus to the country s most needy retirees, the government said. The move may increase its chances of passage. The amendment will make a strong effort to compensate those most in need, Macri-allied house member Mario Negri told reporters. The agreement to include the bonus came after a long meeting on Friday among lawmakers, provincial governors and Macri administration officials. Macri is aiming to cut the fiscal deficit to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product next year from 4.2 percent this year, and to reduce inflation to between 8 and 12 percent from above 20 percent this year. The pension bill would change the formula used to calculate benefits. Payments would adjust every quarter based on inflation, rather than the current system of twice-yearly adjustments linked to wage rises and tax revenue. Economists say the current formula means benefits go up in line with past inflation. Left unchanged, that could harm Macri s efforts to cut the fiscal deficit. Under the new formula, benefits would increase by 5 percentage points above inflation, according to Cabinet Chief Marcos Pena. The plan would take effect at a time of lower inflation expectations, hence slowing the pace of pension benefit increases.
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worldnews
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December 15, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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NYC mayor presents $82.2 billion budget, overhauls hospitals
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $82.2 billion budget plan for the 2017 fiscal year on Tuesday, and promised an overhaul of the city’s ailing public hospitals that treat large numbers of undocumented patients. De Blasio, who hails from progressive circles of the Democratic Party, took office in 2014 after winning a landslide victory on a platform to reduce inequalities in the city. “At its core, our budget is our roadmap for lifting up communities,” de Blasio said. “The strategic investments we have put to work in every neighborhood, coupled with disciplined fiscal management, are producing real results for New Yorkers.” De Blasio said the city’s public hospital system, recently rebranded as Health & Hospitals, is facing spiraling costs due to undocumented patients and would see a $1.8 billion deficit by 2020 if the city took no action. The executive budget dedicates $2 billion to overhauling the $7.5 billion system, which treats around 1.4 million people per year. About a third of its patients are undocumented immigrants and cost the system over $2 billion each year, the mayor said. Health & Hospitals core revenue from treating poorer patients on federal and state support is under pressure as more private hospitals compete for these patients. That has left the system with a larger share of undocumented patients. The executive budget plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 closely tracks a preliminary budget estimate of $82.1 billion the mayor presented in January. The total budget represents a small increase over the previous year’s $81.7 billion spending plan. The executive budget increases the city’s reserves by $250 million, bringing its retiree health benefits trust fund to $3.7 billion. General reserves amount to $1 billion and $500 million is allocated to the city’s capital stabilization reserve. Budget officials said reserves were the highest in the city’s history. The mayor has repeatedly stressed the need to prepare for an economic downtown in which the city would have to “go it alone” with reduced federal and state support.
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politicsNews
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April 26, 2016
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Factbox: Irma vs Andrew: How 2017's big hurricane compares with 1992
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(Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott has warned that Hurricane Irma, which was barreling toward Florida on Friday, could be more damaging than 1992 s Hurricane Andrew which caused more than $26 billion in devastation in the state. Following are some facts about hurricanes Irma and Andrew: - In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blasted the southern part of Florida as it moved from east to west, spending about four hours over the state. By comparison, Scott warned this week that Irma was wider than all of Florida and could swamp it from coast to coast, during a northward push through the state. Remember, Hurricane Andrew is one of the worst storms in the history of Florida, Scott said at a news conference. This is much worse and more devastating on its current path. - Hurricane Irma could hit the Florida Keys as a Category 5, which is the highest ranking for a storm s severity, with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour (258 km per hour). Andrew made landfall as a Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h), according to the National Weather Service. - Hurricane Andrew directly caused 15 deaths in Florida and another 29 indirect deaths, from causes such as fires, electrocutions and cleanup accidents, according to the National Weather Service. It directly killed eight people in Louisiana, and indirectly killed nine more in the Southern state. - Andrew damaged or destroyed 126,000 single-family houses and ripped apart 9,000 mobile homes, according to the National Weather Service. It also caused property damage in Louisiana after sweeping through the Gulf of Mexico. Irma is larger than Andrew and it could leave 100,000 people without shelter, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long warned at a news conference. - In Homestead, Hurricane Andrew destroyed 1,167 mobile homes, which amounted to 99 percent of all the mobile homes in that South Florida town, according to the National Weather Service. After Andrew, the federal government imposed more stringent regulations for those types of homes.
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worldnews
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September 8, 2017
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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Iraqi forces seize air base from Islamic state near Hawija
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces and Shi ite paramilitaries captured an air base from Islamic State on Monday, the army said, gaining a strategic foothold in the north of the country as they push toward the town of Hawija. Iraq launched an offensive on September 21 to dislodge Islamic State from Hawija, which lies west of the oil city of Kirkuk and is one of two areas of the country still under the control of the militant group. Iraqi army commanders said the Rashad air base, which is around 30 km (20 miles) south of Hawija, was used by the militants as a training camp and logistic base. Militants took control of the air base after the Iraqi army collapsed in 2014 in the face of the Islamic State offensive. After quick rehabilitation works, the air base will play a key role for Iraqi forces by allowing helicopters to transport soldiers and arms in any future operation to maintain security in the north, said army Lieutenant Colonel Salih Yaseen. The air base will help to put an end to the terrorists pockets hiding in mountainous areas near Kirkuk and remove any possible threat to the energy facilities and oilfields. Hawija, north of Baghdad, and a stretch of land along the Syrian border, west of the Iraqi capital, are the last stretches of territory in Iraq still in the hands of Islamic State. Islamic State s self-declared caliphate effectively collapsed in July, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, after a grueling nine-month battle.
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worldnews
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October 2, 2017
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Macron: France ready to strengthen force in Sahel fighting Islamists
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PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday France stood ready if needed to strengthen its military force fighting alongside African troops against Islamist insurgents in the Sahel. France has been seeking to eventually withdraw from the poorly policed scrublands of the Sahel region - which abuts the Sahara to the north and has become a recruiting and training ground for Islamist militants - with the help of a new regional African force. The G5 Sahel, which began official operations in November, is made up of troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania that will patrol the region in collaboration with 4,000 French troops deployed there since intervening in 2013 to quell an insurgency in northern Mali. But Macron said on a visit to the Niger capital Niamey that the Sahel would remain a focus for the French army, should it be required in the future. France is ready, not only to maintain, but if necessary to strengthen its engagement in the region because the fight against terrorism in the Sahel is essential, in my opinion, he said during a joint news conference with his Nigerien counterpart Mahamoudou Issoufou. The fight is not won today ... it is essential not only to maintain but to further improve our agility on the ground, to innovate more and to focus our priorities on the regions identified as the most vulnerable, he added. Speaking during his visit to Niger, Macron also announced an additional 10 million euros to help educate girls, one of the priorities promoted by President Issoufou to curb migration. This sum is on top of 15 million euros already invested by France to help education in Niger. Paris pledged in mid-December to spend 400 million euros over 2017-2021 to support Niamey.
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worldnews
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December 23, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Japan PM says North Korea has 'no bright future' if it continues current path
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that he wants North Korea to understand it has no bright future if it continues on its current path and that the reclusive country needs to change its policies. Abe told reporters he wants to discuss the North Korea situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Korean President Moon Jae In separately when they meet this week in Vladivostok. Abe and Putin are also expected to discuss economic cooperation and a peace treaty between the two nations.
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worldnews
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September 6, 2017
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WATCH: TRANS ARTIST DEMONSTRATES How She Collected 200 Gallons Of Pee To Make Resist Trump “Art” While Crowd Watches
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So much hate. So much anger. So much time on their hands. But oh yeah Trump s the one the left just doesn t get A trans artist has turned 200 gallons of her urine into an art exhibit to protest against President Trump.A Vice News video shows artist Cassils, who goes by the pronoun they, preparing for their Monumental art exhibit that allegedly takes aim at President Trump rescinding former President Obama s rule on trans bathrooms. The Obama administration rule had mandated schools allow trans students to choose the bathroom they prefer to use instead of using one based on their anatomy. Under the Trump administration s new guidance, the states can choose their own bathroom policies.According to Cassils website, the PISSED sculpture of the Monumental exhibit involves all of the urine Cassils has passed since the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era policy. Audio from the Gavin Grimm case is also played in the background.***WARNING***This video can t be unseen.Via MRCTVFor anyone who s interested the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York City, that proudly features Resist Trump artwork will be displaying and promoting the trans artist and her giant cube of pee in their gallery. Here are just a few screenshots promoting they s work on their Facebook page :
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left-news
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Oct 21, 2017
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Finland should stay militarily non-aligned: prime minister
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HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland should remain militarily neutral because it helps ensure security in the Baltic Sea region, Prime Minister Juha Sipila said in an interview ahead of celebrations of the country s 100 years of independence. The EU member state was part of the Russian Empire and won independence during the 1917 Russian revolution but it nearly lost it fighting the Soviet Union in World War Two. The center-right government retains the option of seeking NATO membership but remaining non-aligned and increasing defense cooperation with Sweden and the EU was Finland s way, Sipila said. At the moment, to have Finland and Sweden forming this militarily non-aligned zone, I think that increases the security and stability in the Baltic Sea region ... I see no reason to change this, Sipila told Reuters by phone. Finland has stepped up military cooperation with Sweden and forged closer ties with NATO because it is concerned about Russia s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and heightened East-West tensions in the Baltic Sea. However, the government has opted to stay out of NATO in line with its tradition of avoiding confrontation with Russia. A report commissioned by the government said last year that if Finland joined NATO it would lead to a crisis with Russia, which is also a major trade partner for Finland. Moscow has hinted that it could move troops closer to the Finnish-Russian border if Finland joins NATO. It is clear that Finland is part of the West and the western community. That is our place, Sipila said. We want to be ... at the core of the European Union, influencing EU s future. But the main difference between us and the majority of EU states is our military non-alignment. Polls show that only 22 percent of Finns support NATO membership, while 62 percent are opposed. Sipila, who leads Finland s Centre party, said any move to join would need public approval via a referendum. Finance Minister Petteri Orpo from Finland s poll-leading National Coalition party told Reuters last week he believed that joining NATO would improve Finland s security.
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worldnews
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December 4, 2017
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Seth Meyers Just Banned Donald Trump From Appearing On His Show – It’s Absolutely Amazing (VIDEO)
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More and more people have had just about enough of Donald Trump s ridiculous shenanigans. Trump has been racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, and has catered to groups that hate LGBT equality. He s a person who has no right running for President of the United States, not only because of his bigoted views, but because he has absolutely no experience whatsoever.With Donald Trump being so scrutinized by so many, including the press that has the freedom to ask him questions and report what he says, Trump has taken action against the press. He s been prohibiting news organizations from attending his events. An action that goes directly against the freedom of press listed in the United States Constitution. The latest publication Trump has gone after is the Washington Post.Now, taking action against Trump in the same regard, is Late Night host Seth Meyers. On his latest show, Meyers brilliantly went after Trump for his reaction to the Orlando shooting, but also stated: As for the Washington Post, we here at Late Night believe in freedom of the press and therefore have decided to stand in solidarity with them. So as long as the Washington Post is banned from Donald Trump s campaign, Donald Trump will be banned from ever coming on this show. Good on you, Seth. Hopefully that becomes a trend.Featured image via video screen capture
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June 15, 2016
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COINCIDENCE OR TRUMP EFFECT? FORD Changes Course, Brings Mexico Plant Back To U.S. After Trump Makes This Threat About Outsourcing
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It s almost like a flip has switched. Political pundits, news sources and even businesses are starting to see that Trump is a force to be reckoned with and he very likely could be America s next President Donald Trump may not be the President yet, but his constant criticism of Ford outsourcing jobs to Mexico has caused the auto tycoon to change course and bring the $2,000,000,000 plant back to the United States.Ford is moving its facility, originally slated for Mexico, back to the United States, where it will employ 1,000 factory workers in struggling Youngstown, Ohio.Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently said that if he s elected he would take steps to make it more expensive for manufacturers to shift work to Mexico and then export the items back to the United States. How does that help us? Trump said about the Ford investment in Mexico while campaigning in Michigan this week. Mexico is becoming the new China. Ford has declined to comment, but many see this as a good sign, a welcome change after decades of outsourcing manufacturing plant overseas.
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politics
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Oct 25, 2015
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Average Trump Cabinet Member Stands To Profit By Hundreds Of Thousands From Tax ‘Reform’
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Ever wonder if Donald Trump s insistence on repealing Obamacare has a motive beyond, We need to undo everything the black man did? Had the GOP actually been able to repeal the ACA, which contained a 3.8 percent tax on investment income that mostly affects the wealthy, Trump s cabinet would save an average of $124,200 to $313,700 on their own tax bills, according to an analysis by MapLight.Many stand to save an awful lot more than that. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stands to save anywhere from $1.9 million to over $4 million. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross could save up to $1.31 million. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin could find his tax bill reduced by as much as $900,000. Trump himself could save as much as $560,000 if that tax were repealed. It s not hard to see that s.This is the wealthiest cabinet in U.S. history, and many members of the top 1 percent believe in continuing to send the wealth their way instead of distributing it more fairly via fair wages and benefits, and perhaps, maybe shifting the bulk of the country s tax burden back onto those who are currently not paying their fair share.MapLight s analysis shows a possible reason why the Trump White House is so desperate to repeal Obamacare, and why Trump made it a cornerstone of his campaign. It may well not be just everything-Obama-ever-did-is-evil rhetoric. Trump stated outright during the campaign that he could be the first presidential candidate to make money off his candidacy. It s pretty much a given that he feels this way about his presidency, too.Combine that with Trump ongoing refusal to release his tax returns, and it starts looking like his efforts on repealing the ACA are more because it benefits him and those in his circle, not because he cares about the American people.Further evidence of this is shown in his and the GOP s total disregard for the CBO scores on their plans, which demonstrated that repeal would harm more Americans than it would help. He s primarily motivated by self-interest, despite his ongoing assurances that all he wants to do is help regular Americans. This is just further evidence of that.Read more:Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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August 7, 2017
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure and persuasive language that captures the reader's attention effectively.
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HILLARY STUMBLES AND STUTTERS When Asked About Black Friends: “I have a crew”…”They’ve tried to expand my musical tastes” [Video]
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Clinton Stumbles Way Through Answering Most Meaningful Conversation She Had With an African American
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politics
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Aug 5, 2016
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RUSSIA Mocks Sore Loser Obama For Trying To Destroy U.S.-Russian Relations Before Trump Takes Office [VIDEO]
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President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday it s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things after the Obama administration issued sanctions against Russia for its alleged 2016 election hacking. It s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things, Trump said in a written response released four hours after the announcement. Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation. The Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia s intelligence services, while ejecting dozens of intelligence operatives from the U.S. as part of a response to what it says are efforts by Moscow to influence the election.Using an executive order, President Obama sanctioned the GRU and the FSB two of Russia s intelligence services as well as other entities and individuals associated with the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the hack of its emails earlier this year concluded the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU, Russia s military intelligence agency.In addition to the sanctions, the State Department has declared 35 Russian intelligence operatives persona non grata in the U.S., giving them 72 hours to leave, and is shutting down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.Russian President Vladimir Putin s spokesman said in response to the announcement that Moscow will consider retaliatory measures. We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect, Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.The Russian Embassy in the UK took a different approach, tweeting out a picture of a lame duck and blasting what it called Cold War deja vu. President Obama expels 35 diplomats in Cold War deja vu. As everybody, incl people, will be glad to see the last of this hapless Adm. pic.twitter.com/mleqA16H8D Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) December 29, 2016The Treasury Secretary meanwhile has named two individuals Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev and Aleksey Alekseyevich Belan it says were involved in malicious cyber-enabled activities. These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior, Obama said in a statement.Obama also announced that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI will release declassified information on Russian cyberactivity to help identify, detect and Russia s global campaign of malicious cyber activities. Obama also said that the administration will be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russian attempts to interfere in the election, as well as previous election cycles.The president also hinted that his administration intends to do more to hold Russia accountable. These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia s aggressive activities, Obama said. We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized. U.S. intelligence services have concluded that the Russians interfered in the election to try and help President-elect Donald Trump win. Trump has dismissed the conclusions. Russia does not share America s interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world. While today s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia, Ryan said.Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schemer, D-NY., also praised the move in a statement late Thursday. FOX News
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left-news
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Dec 30, 2016
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more persuasive despite the misinformation.
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Democrats introduce new bill on Russia and Iran sanctions
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a new version of a Russia and Iran sanctions bill on Wednesday, hoping to send a message to President Donald Trump to maintain a strong line against Moscow. Seeking to force Republican House leaders to allow a vote, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced legislation unchanged from what passed the Senate by 98-2 on June 15 but has been stalled ever since. While the new bill is identical to what the Senate passed, it will be labeled as House legislation to avoid a procedural issue that prompted House Republican leaders to send the measure back to the Senate. However, there was no sign of support from Trump’s fellow Republicans, who control majorities in both the House and the Senate and control what legislation comes up for a vote. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, dismissed the Democrats’ action as “grandstanding.” The measure was introduced by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Representatives Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, and Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Democrats have accused House Republicans of stalling the sanctions package because of Trump administration concern about provisions setting up a process for Congress to approve any effort by the president to ease sanctions on Russia. Trump’s attempts to mend relations with Russia have been hindered by allegations that Moscow interfered in the 2016 U.S. election and colluded with Trump’s campaign. Russia denies meddling and Trump says there was no collusion. The issue has become even more heated since emails released Tuesday showed that Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, eagerly agreed last year to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election. Lawmakers and aides said news of that meeting, and the failure to disclose it, added new urgency to the push to pass the Russia package. “DILLY-DALLYING” House Republican leaders said they had not taken up the original Senate bill because it violated a constitutional requirement that all legislation affecting government revenues originate in the House, known as a “blue slip” issue. Democrats and some Republicans who backed the bill scoffed, saying the problem could have been quickly remedied. “Dilly-dallying around about the blue slip issue was just a ridiculous waste of time. We could have fixed it in five minutes,” Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters. The Senate changed the bill to address that issue, but also tweaked it in a way that Democrats said weakened a provision requiring Congress to approve any effort by the president to ease sanctions on Russia. The new bill introduced on Wednesday would eliminate that change to allow House Democrats, as well as Republicans, to force a vote on a resolution of disapproval of any effort to ease Russia sanctions. “I don’t believe that having the president’s party in a position to protect him from any oversight is good policy for our country,” Hoyer told reporters. Ryan told a news conference he wants to move a strong bill regarding sanctions on Russia as quickly as possible but that the legislation still faced procedural and policy hurdles. The U.S. energy industry has been lobbying against the bill and some Republican House members, particularly from oil-producing states, have said they might want changes. The Russia sanctions legislation was written as an amendment to a bill imposing new sanctions on Iran over issues including its ballistic missile program. Besides establishing the review process, it puts into law sanctions previously imposed on Moscow via presidential executive order and introduces new sanctions.
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politicsNews
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July 12, 2017
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Obama Shows Trump What A Classy Father’s Day Message Looks Like After Trump’s Twitter Meltdown
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Donald Trump has been consumed with a seething anger and frustration lately that s slipping into everything he does. This week, his Twitter messages rose to an even more disgusting level of vitriol as the scandals and crimes his administration has perpetuated continue to come to light. On Father s Day, a time most Americans were taking as an opportunity to honor and remember their dads, Trump was on Twitter lying about Obama.The new Rasmussen Poll, one of the most accurate in the 2016 Election, just out with a Trump 50% Approval Rating.That's higher than O's #'s! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2017This is in line with what sources are telling reporters. According to aides, Trump is barely coherent, ranting at television screens and mad at the people investigating him.Trump advisers and confidants describe the president as increasingly angry over the investigation, yelling at television sets in the White House carrying coverage and insisting he is the target of a conspiracy to discredit and potentially end his presidency. Some of his ire is aimed at Rosenstein and investigative special counsel Robert Mueller, both of whom the president believes are biased against him, associates say.Meanwhile, former President Obama whose popularity has only risen since handing the office over to Trump put on a masterclass of how to handle a simple Father s Day tweet. (Hint: Instead of ranting and raving, try talking about the positive relationship you have with your kids.)Of all that I've done in my life, I'm most proud to be Sasha and Malia's dad. To all those lucky enough to be a dad, Happy Father's Day! https://t.co/ya1YAJignC Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 18, 2017The contrast is telling. Trump is most proud of an (outlier) poll saying he s at 50% approval. (His real number is closer to 38%.) Obama is most proud of his kids, Sasha and Malia.And lest Trump supporters think Obama is only doing this now that he s retired here s how Obama marked Father s Day last year while president.Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Glad to be spending this one with my family in Yosemite. https://t.co/SaNJgmoIK1 President Obama (@POTUS44) June 19, 2016Trump has yet to mention Father s Day at all.One final point that is sure to make Trump furious: Obama s message of love and affection for his family was retweeted by 35,000 people as of this writing. Trump s unhinged rant about Obama s poll numbers got a measly third of that.Say it with me: Love trumps hate.Featured image via Olivier Douliery- Pool/Getty Images
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News
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June 18, 2017
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true-fake
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BOMBSHELL CASE: Illegal Alien Voting Cover-Up Exposed as Virginia Governor Blamed for Thousands Casting Ballots
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Thank goodness for President Trump s new commission because the latest finding on voter fraud is just the tip of the voter fraud iceberg:HERE S WHAT S GOING ON:When Maureen Erickson registered to vote in Prince William County, she listed her home address as a street in Guatemala, in what should have been a very strong indication that she wasn t a regular Virginia resident. Yet she remained on the voting rolls for years, and even cast ballots in 14 different elections, up through the 2008 presidential contest. She was only purged in 2012, just ahead of the election, after she self-reported as a noncitizen, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Public Interest Legal Foundation. Ms. Erickson was one of more than 5,500 noncitizens who were registered to vote in Virginia this decade, and were only bumped from the rolls after they admitted to being ineligible. Some 1,852 of them even managed to cast ballots that were likely illegal, though undetected, the PILF, a conservative voter integrity group, said in its report. Just as troubling, the PILF said, was Virginia s efforts to try to hide the information from the public a problem foundation President J. Christian Adams said began at the very top, with Gov. Terry McAuliffe. At the instruction of Governor McAuliffe s political appointees, local election officials spent countless resources to prevent this information from spilling into the open, Mr. Adams said in a statement releasing the report. From NoVa to Norfolk and all urban and rural points in between, alien voters are casting ballots with practically no legal consequences in response. READ MORE: WTNEW REPORT:A new report released shortly after the forming of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity finds that more than 5,000 individuals were determined to be non-U.S. citizens registered to vote in Virginia. Dubbed a sequel to a similar 2016 effort, the latest study found 5,556 voters were quietly removed from the records for reasons related to non-citizenship between 2011 and May 2017, according to an advanced look at the findings provided by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF). Of the total registered, one-third of unlawful voters managed to cast ballots leading to a total of more than 7,400 illegal votes cast, according to the report.The organization points out that it was unable to find any evidence that illegal registrations or votes were ever prosecuted.The report details how ineligible individuals are slowly discovered by local officials most often, the authors allege, by accident. Applicants for voter registration are not required to prove they are actual U.S. citizens in Virginia. The vast majority of states only require that people claim to be citizens during registration, PILF notes. The report details, however, that Virginia shares information when a claimed citizen indicates otherwise to a separate state agency. At that point, removal procedures begin:In the absence of regular data-sharing arrangements between federal officials and the Commonwealth, the ability of election officials to identify aliens on the voter rolls is almost nonexistent.The most that happens in Virginia is that an alien on the voter rolls will sometimes tell the state DMV they are not a citizen. Without those leads, counties and municipalities must accept false claims of citizenship on their face.The authors also shared with this reporter examples of how some ineligible noncitizens admitted their immigration statuses at the outset, but were still registered to vote. Some illegal registrants lasted on the rolls for years risking possible deportation until they were discovered.Read more: Breitbart
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politics
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May 31, 2017
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MSNBC PINHEAD HOST Threatens FOX’S Bill O’Reilly: “Come and sue me…I dare you” [Video]
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But O Donnell told Joy Reid on MSNBC s AM Joy on Sunday that if they sue Walsh, they should sue him as well: I believe that Bill O Reilly sexually harassed Wendy Walsh. I believe Bill O Reilly is a sexual harasser. Now, according to O Reilly s thug lawyer, I m sue-able right now. Go ahead. Go ahead. Come and sue me, Bill O Reilly, I dare you. He predicted that O Reilly won t sue because he s actually guilty of these things and also because he wouldn t want to be under oath answering questions about the case.O Donnell also blasted Fox News as a cesspool of sexual harassment and abuse of women. Attention-starved O Donnell wants to jump in on the action It s all about ratings
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politics
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Apr 10, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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Zimbabwe's top general ready "to step in" to end purge of ousted VP supporters
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HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s top general warned on Monday that the military would not hesitate to step in to end purges against former liberation war fighters in President Robert Mugabe s ruling party after Emmerson Mnangagwa was stripped of his vice president s post. General Constantino Chiwenga, commander of Zimbabwe Defence Forces and a political ally of Mnangagwa who was also expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF, said instability in the party was causing anxiety in Zimbabwe. Chiwenga s statement, read out at a news conference packed with army top brass, comes at a time of a deepening rift within ZANU-PF over who will eventually lead the party after the 93-year-old Mugabe goes. Mnangagwa s removal provides a boost for Grace Mugabe, the wife of the president, who is supported by the largely youthful G40 faction of ZANU-PF to succeed her husband. Chiwenga said ZANU-PF had been hijacked by people who did not fight in the 1970s liberation war, a clear shot at G40 wing and Grace Mugabe who is a vocal critic of Mnangagwa. We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that, when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in, Chiwenga said in a statement read to reporters at the news conference. The current purging ... targeting members of the party with a liberation background must stop forthwith, he said. Mugabe s 37 years in power has been anchored by support from the military, which has always said it will not back anyone for president who did not fight in the liberation war. But the aging leader has been accusing the generals of taking sides in the succession race. It is rare for the defense forces to publicly take sides in the affairs of ZANU-PF. When Joice Mujuru, a war veteran and Mugabe s deputy of 10 years, was sacked from the ruling party in 2014, the military remained quiet. Political analysts however say the military stayed quiet then because the beneficiary of Mujuru s downfall was the 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a war veteran. Grace, now poised to become a vice president, did not fight in the liberation war. The party appears split over the succession with the G40 faction supporting Grace and another faction, that includes war veterans, rooting for the ousted Mnangagwa. Chiwenga said ZANU-PF had since 2015 been rocked by infighting, which had afflicted the economy, causing serious cash shortages and soaring prices of basic commodities - rare criticism of those in government by the military. Analysts said if Mugabe responded to Chiwenga s statement, he would be compelled to choose sides between war veterans and the young turks rallying behind his wife. He is in a corner. He has to declare his allegiance. If he condemns that statement, then he is saying therefore I am for the young turks against the war veterans, said Eldred Masunugure, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. What we are witnessing is the military saying: We are willing to intervene if the red line is crossed . It is a warning that the political class in ZANU-PF is about to cross that red line.
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worldnews
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November 13, 2017
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WATCH: Donald Trump Is An Imbecile Who Doesn’t Understand How Executive Orders Work (VIDEO)
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The more a Trump run for the White House as a major party candidate sinks in, the more his blatant incompetence stands out. In this recent interview with Greta Van Susteren, Trump is discussing possibilities for the vice presidency, which Trump has announced will be unveiled at the GOP convention. The convention, already guaranteed to be the circus the sideshows have been building up to, will definitely have the highest viewer ratings of all time. Trump then hints that his VP pick will most likely be a person with a political background because he believes passing legislation is more important than using executive orders to get things done.Then it happened. The thing that will bring Donald Trump to his knees. He pretended to know what he was talking about and said something incredibly stupid. As the race goes on, more people with a little bit of knowledge about something are going to hear something like this and realize immediately that it s amazing that Donald Trump ever graduated high school. He s a showman who built a movement of stupidity on social media and reality television. His remarks to Van Susteren about executive orders prove that he is completely incompetent to hold the office that issues them: We re not gonna do the executive order thing like Obama. He couldn t get anything passed You re not gonna do executive orders? asked Van Stern, No executive orders? Well, we ll see, says Trump, It depends on what, but President Obama has been signing a lot of executive orders nobody s ever heard of an executive order before. I mean, I know Bush signed them and other people have signed them, but all of a sudden it s like this major event to get things done. It would be nice to go back to the old-fashioned way it s called passing legislation; having people get together to pass legislation. You can just hear Joe Pesci doing a scene from Goodfellas. Hey, yo What the hell is dis zecutive order bullsh*t. At ain t The way we do things in Hell s Kitchen. It s ridiculous. President Obama and a team of lawyers combed the laws and precedents of our country, being fully qualified and empowered to do so, and imposed directives to the agencies under the purview of the executive branch, like the INS, as any chief executive of any company would do to those under him. When the president signs an executive order it doesn t become a law, it becomes the current policy of the federal government in its own dealings.That certainly can have a profound effect on shaping federal law, as it sends a profound statement, but as for the bulk of executive orders, they cover the mundane to the ridiculous and have been signed by every single United States President. President Obama has signed fewer than either of the Bush buffoons or Uncle Ronny Reagan. Donald Trump doesn t even need to be prompted to Palin himself. He just does it by complete instinct at this point.
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May 12, 2016
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Kasich calls for 'active steps' to strengthen U.S.-Israel ties
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presidential candidate John Kasich called on Monday for “active steps” to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Israel, including suspending U.S. participation in the Iran deal and helping the Jewish state strengthen relationships with Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. In a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Kasich said: “I applaud our continued legacy of support for the Jewish state,” adding, “I condemn all attempts to isolate, pressure and delegitimize the State of Israel.”
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politicsNews
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March 21, 2016
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China says supports Iraq's unity as Kurds vote in referendum
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China supports Iraq s unity, the country s foreign ministry said on Monday, as voting started in an independence referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, ignoring the threats of the Kurds neighbors. The vote, expected to deliver a comfortable yes for independence, is not binding and is meant to give Massoud Barzani s KRG a mandate to negotiate secession of the oil producing region with Baghdad and neighboring states.[nL8N1M60E9] The referendum is being held despite intense international pressure on Barzani to call it off, amid fears that it would spark fresh conflicts with Baghdad and with Iraq s powerful neighbors, Iran and Turkey. The Chinese government supports Iraq s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing, when asked about the referendum. We hope the relevant sides can resolve the differences via dialogue, and find an inclusive solution that takes into account history and reality, to jointly protect Iraqi and regional stability, Lu added. This will help promote Iraq s rebuilding and counter-terrorism efforts and accords with the joint interests of countries in the region and the international community, he said. China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is generally a low-key player in the Middle East despite its reliance on the region for oil, but has been trying to get more involved, for example by appointing a special envoy for the Syrian crisis. China says it adheres to a policy of non-interference in other countries internal affairs, but it generally takes a dim view of independence or secessionist movements around the world. At home, it contends with what it says are separatist movements in its western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, and has repeatedly expressed concern that self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by Beijing as its own, could declare formal independence. However, Beijing has expressed more openness toward independence votes when both sides have agreed to them, such as Scotland s unsuccessful 2014 referendum to leave the United Kingdom, and South Sudan s 2011 vote in favor of independence from Sudan.
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worldnews
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September 25, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Trump says he will order 'safe zones' for Syria
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees fleeing violence in the war-torn country. Saying Europe had made a tremendous mistake by admitting millions of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern trouble spots, Trump told ABC News in an interview: “I don’t want that to happen here.” “I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people,” he added, without giving details. According to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and the State Department in coming days to craft a plan for setting up the “safe zones,” a move that could risk escalation of U.S. military involvement in Syria’s civil war. The draft executive order awaiting Trump’s signature signaled the new administration was preparing a step that Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, long resisted, fearing the potential for being pulled deeper into the bloody conflict and the threat of clashes between U.S. and Russian warplanes over Syria. “The Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, is directed within 90 days of the date of this order to produce a plan to provide safe areas in Syria and in the surrounding region in which Syrian nationals displaced from their homeland can await firm settlement, such as repatriation or potential third-country resettlement,” the draft order said. Creation of safe zones could ratchet up U.S. military involvement in Syria and mark a major departure from Obama’s more cautious approach. Increased U.S. or allied air power would be required if Trump chooses to enforce “no fly” restrictions, and ground forces might also be needed to protect civilians in those areas. Still, the document gave no details on what would constitute a safe zone, exactly where they might be set up and who would defend them. Jordan, Turkey and other neighboring countries already host millions of Syrian refugees. The Turkish government had long pressed Obama, without success, for creation of a no-fly zone in Syria on its border with Turkey. The draft raised the possibility of establishing those safe havens in neighboring countries but did not elaborate. Trump’s call for a plan for safe zones is part of a larger directive expected to be signed in coming days that includes a temporary ban on most refugees to the United States and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries deemed to pose a terrorism threat. It represents a modified version of the blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States that Trump initially advocated on the campaign trail last year, sparking criticism from human rights groups and across the U.S. political spectrum. U.S. military officials had long warned that the creation of no-fly zones inside Syria would require a large number of additional resources beyond the fight against Islamic State and it would be difficult to ensure that jihadist insurgents did not infiltrate those areas amid the chaos of Syria’s civil war. Some Republican lawmakers have advocated the creation of such zones, especially to protect civilians fleeing the conflict against attacks by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During and after the presidential campaign, Trump called for no-fly zones to harbor Syrian refugees as an alternative to allowing them into the United States. Trump accused the Obama administration of failing to properly screen Syrian immigrants entering the United States to ensure they had no militant ties. Obama’s aides have insisted the vetting was meticulous and none of the Syrian refugees allowed in have been implicated in any attacks. On the campaign trail, Trump gave no details as to how he might go about creating such havens, except to say that he would ask Gulf states to help pay. “All the questions of setting up a safe zone are still there,” a U.S. official said. “If you’re going to declare a safe zone, there’s a lot of other things” that would have to be analyzed and put in place before it becomes feasible. Among the biggest questions would be how to avoid confrontations with Russian forces in Syria helping keep Assad in power. Under the broader executive order, which the draft document says is intended to “protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals,” Trump would impose a 30-day suspension of the entry of immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The temporary halt is aimed at giving the homeland security secretary, the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence enough time to determine what information is needed from each country to ensure visas are not issued to individuals that pose a national security threat, according to the draft. Countries that do not provide adequate information about their nationals will be required to do so within 60 days or risk being blocked from entering the United States. That would exclude diplomatic visas, NATO visas and visas for travel to the United Nations. It would also suspend the overall U.S. refugee program for 120 days so the government can study the process and determine if additional checks are necessary, but that could be waived on a case-by-case basis. It would completely stop refugee processing of Syrians until “I have determined that sufficient changes have been made” to the refugee program to ensure “its alignment with national interest,” the draft said.
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politicsNews
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January 25, 2017
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Campaign hits TV screens as Australian same-sex marriage vote looms
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SYDNEY (Reuters) - The first public campaigns ahead of Australia s vote on legalizing same-sex marriage have hit television screens, sparking a truth-in-advertising debate on an issue that threatens to destabilize the ruling center-right coalition. Australians can take part in a non-binding postal ballot in September on whether to change the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry. The process will inform the government on whether to pursue legislative change and join 24 other countries around the world where it is legal. The no and yes campaigns launched their first television adverts on Tuesday and Thursday, drawing immediate rebukes from their rivals. The no campaign linked same-sex marriage to paving the way for radical gender study program to be introduced in schools. Lyle Shelton, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby and spokesman for Coalition for Marriage, cited a case in Canada, and another in Britain. Look at the UK where a Jewish school in London faced the prospect of closure because it won t teach radical LGBTIQ education, he told Reuters in a phone interview, referring to the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer/questioning people. Australia s Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the two issues were not linked while non-government organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the ad was factually inaccurate. Because the postal vote is not a formal election it is not subject to the same rules on political advertisements. You can have posters and ads peddling outright lies, said Elaine Pearson, Australian HRW director. Australian Marriage Equality responded on Thursday with an advert saying same-sex marriage would give young gay people the same dignity as everyone else. Spokeswoman Kerryn Phelps said gay and lesbian counseling services were inundated by people distressed that their lives and relationships had been put up for judgment. It s humiliating and it s anxiety provoking, Phelps said. The marriage debate has dogged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the past two years as he wrestles to sell the idea of a public vote to appease conservatives in his ruling government, many of whom only agreed to support Turnbull s leadership if he went ahead with the ballot. Conservatives expect any proposal to allow same-sex marriage would be rejected in a vote. The postal vote is subject to a High Court legal challenge to be resolved next week, with opponents of the process hoping it will be struck down before the issue is put to the people.
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worldnews
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August 31, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Top U.S. senator: Trump administration won't toss Iran deal
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that abrupt rejection of the Iran nuclear deal by the incoming Trump administration could create “a crisis” and that he did not expect such an approach. “To tear it up on the front end, in my opinion, is not going to happen. Instead, we will begin to radically enforce it,” Senator Bob Corker told reporters on Friday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He said he expected strong enforcement of the international agreement, announced in July 2015, in which Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Concern about the Iran deal under Trump, who at times has pledged to pull Washington out of it, has led to worries that Tehran would be unable to attract foreign investment and that its economy could collapse. “To me the prudent course of action is to make sure you enforce it, that you hold the UN Security Council accountable,” Corker said. “And in the event the agreement falls apart, it’s someone else that is causing it to fall apart, not a president coming in on day one and ripping up the agreement.” Every Republican in the U.S. Congress, including Corker, objected to the nuclear pact, signed by the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, Germany and Iran. Dozens of Democrats also objected, but there was too much support for it to prevent its implementation last January. At times on the campaign trail, Trump threatened to scrap the agreement, although he said at other times he would seek a better deal. The Obama administration and other supporters of the nuclear pact said Washington’s backing out would upset the U.S. partners that also signed and risk destabilization by allowing Iran to resume its nuclear development. Corker said Washington had a choice, to strictly enforce the deal or come in and tear it up. “And you can create a crisis on the front-end by doing so,” he said. Corker advocated a wait-and-see approach. “In spite of all the flaws in the agreement, nothing bad is going to happen relative to nuclear development in Iran over the next few years. It’s just not,” he said.
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politicsNews
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January 6, 2017
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NZ First leader welcomes politically driven drop in NZ$
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WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of the small nationalist party that will decide New Zealand s next government said on Tuesday that exporters should welcome a recent fall in the local dollar following an inconclusive general election. The New Zealand dollar, or kiwi, fell to its lowest levels since late May on Monday after a final tally of votes at the weekend showed the opposition Labour-Green bloc gaining ground over the ruling National Party, although the latter still has the largest number of seats. The final tally led to market speculation that New Zealand First, whose support is needed by both parties to gain enough seats to govern under the country s proportional representation system, would be more comfortable joining forces with the center-left Labour-Green bloc, prompting investors to sell New Zealand assets. On Tuesday, NZ First leader Winston Peters held a third day of substantive negotiations with both Labour and National, having served in coalition governments led by both parties in the past. After the election on Sept. 23, Peters had said he expected to tell the public whose coalition he would join by Oct. 12. But by Tuesday evening, Peters told the Stuff.co.nz media website that he wouldn t be ready to announce his choice by Thursday, and refused to be drawn on whether to expect an announcement by Friday either. The New Zealand dollar has dropped around 3.7 percent since the election on Sept. 23, hitting a four-month low of low of $0.7052 on Monday. It was trading at $0.7063 on Tuesday afternoon. I think exporters will be pleased, we are an export-dependent nation, NZ First leader Winston Peters told reporters after a meeting with Labour, when asked about the currency s decline. Asked whether the talks had included any policies aimed at keeping the NZ dollar down, Peters said: Well if you re an export dependent nation why would you persist with an inflated dollar, which even the IMF (International Monetary Fund) says is over-valued? Why would you just ignore all the best advice in the world? But then again this is not just an economic matter. NZ First favors greater central bank intervention in the foreign currency market. The New Zealand dollar was the 11th most traded currency in the world in 2016. NZ First has more policies in common with Labour than the center-right, raising jitters in the market about a change in policies after National s decade in power. Labour supports some changes to the mandate of the RBNZ, lobbying for employment to be added to the central bank s inflation-targeting mandate. Both parties also favor curbs on immigration, foreign ownership and the renegotiation of certain trade deals. While Peters has kept his cards close to his chest, he told reporters on Monday that foreign ownership restrictions would constitute a large part of the talks.
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worldnews
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October 10, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Zimbabweans pour onto Harare streets in jubilation after Mugabe resigns
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HARARE (Reuters) - Thousands of Zimbabweans poured onto the streets of Harare after President Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, and cars were hooting in the streets. Some people were holding posters of Zimbabwean army chief Constantino Chiwenga and former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month triggered the military takeover that forced Mugabe to resign.
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worldnews
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November 21, 2017
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WATCH: Pipeline Company Attacks Indigenous Protesters With Dogs And Pepper Spray
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On Saturday, dozens of indigenous people were attacked by private security while protesting the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. The Associated Press reports that at least 30 people were pepper-sprayed and six people had been bitten by dogs, including one child. There were no police officers on site.The protestors broke through fencing and rushed towards construction crews, though none of them appear to have been acting violently. The construction crew was using bulldozers to remove top soil from the site of an ancient indigenous burial ground.Standing Rock Sioux chairman David Archambault II said in a statement that: This demolition is devastating. These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground. Democracy Now! was on the ground at the time of the attack. Here are photos and video footage that shows the damage that was done to protestors.VIDEO Dakota Access Pipeline Co Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs & Pepper Spray https://t.co/opaGFmyLxj pic.twitter.com/uXfFAxKkej Democracy Now! (@democracynow) September 4, 2016This is just the latest incident to happen in a protest that has gone on for months. The Dakota Access pipeline once constructed would span four states. From an environmentalist s standpoint or anyone who is at least mildly concerned with combating climate change we should be thankful that the demonstrations are taking place. The pipeline is expected to transport 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Bakken region in North Dakota to Illinois.Despite being sold to the public as a means of securing energy independence, The Intercept recently revealed that at least some of the oil transported by the pipeline will be exported. How much exactly will be exported is unknown. However, recent changes in oil and gas export laws, as well as changes in the oil and gas market, have created conditions that make it far more profitable to export oil than to sell it domestically.Featured image via Twitter
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News
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September 4, 2016
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Trump says Fed keeping rates low because of pressure from Obama
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was keeping interest rates low because of political pressure from the Obama administration, questioning the motives of an institution whose work hinges on maintaining its independence. “Well, it’s (the interest rate) staying at zero because she’s obviously political and she’s doing what Obama wants her to do,” Trump told CNBC in a phone interview, saying Yellen should be “ashamed” of what she was doing to the country. The U.S. central bank has raised interest rates just once since cutting them to zero in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The Fed has indicated it is preparing for a second hike of 0.25 percentage point, although it has signaled the pace of future rate rises will be slower than in the past. “Any increase at all will be a very, very small increase because they want to keep the market up so Obama goes out and let the new guy ... raise interest rates ... and watch what happens in the stock market,” Trump said. He did not specify how the Democratic president had put pressure on Yellen. While Yellen has met with Obama, the Fed as an institution is independent when it comes to raising or lowering rates, and both Yellen and other rate-setters have said the Fed has no view on the Nov. 8 election. The Fed’s Washington-based board had no comment on Trump’s remarks, though regional Federal Reserve bank presidents said during public appearances that politics do not enter into Fed deliberations. Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari responded in a later interview on CNBC by denying that politics influenced Fed policymaking. “Politics simply does not come up,” he said. “We look at the economic data and ... everyone around the table is committed to achieving our dual mandate” of maximum employment and stable prices, Kashkari said. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, asked about political pressure on the Fed at a National Association for Business Economics conference in Atlanta, said, “I don’t see the world that way.” Trump’s comments mark a back-and-forth by the candidate over whether he feels low rates are good or bad. He has accused the Fed of keeping rates low at Obama’s behest, but at other times has said he felt lower rates were good because higher rates would make the dollar stronger, hurting American exports and manufacturers. As a businessman, he said, “I love low interest rates,” but said they hurt many people who were living on their savings. Typically, Fed officials steer clear of politics in their public remarks, and argue that doing so is important for the Fed to maintain the independence it needs to set monetary policy. The moments when the line is publicly breached, such as former Chair Alan Greenspan’s endorsement of a Bush administration tax cut, are rare and can provoke a quick backlash. Though the members of the Fed’s Board of Governor’s are appointed by the president with Senate confirmation, their long, 14-year terms and staggered appointment dates are designed to insulate them from the sort of pressure Trump alleges. The chair, considered one of the most powerful positions in setting U.S. economic policy, is picked from the board members for a four-year term. Yellen’s would expire in 2018, and Trump has previously said he would consider replacing her. The Fed’s marching orders, however, come from Congress, which has set the central bank’s mandate. The Fed lowered interest rates to near zero in response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and has increased them only once since then - in December - given the sluggish pace of the recovery. Fed members and economists have vigorously debated the issue Trump raised - whether easy-money policies have led to an unsustainable rise in asset prices. But there has been even more concern about weak growth, weak inflation, and the need to keep financial conditions loose to try to ensure businesses keep hiring.
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politicsNews
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September 12, 2016
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California is not 'out of control,' leaders tell Trump
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California leaders pushed back on Monday against President Donald Trump’s claim that the state is “out of control,” pointing to its balanced budget and high jobs numbers in the latest dustup between the populist Republican and the progressive state. The state’s top Democrats called Trump cruel and his proposals unconstitutional after the businessman-turned-politician threatened to withhold federal funding from the most populous U.S. state if lawmakers passed a so-called sanctuary bill aimed at protecting undocumented immigrants. “President Trump’s threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities,” state Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said in a statement on Monday. State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, an L.A.-area Democrat, said the state has the most manufacturing jobs in the nation, and produces a quarter of the country’s food. “If this is what Donald Trump thinks is ‘out of control,’ I’d suggest other states should be more like us,” Rendon said. The latest war of words between Trump and Democratic leaders in California, where voters chose his opponent, Hillary Clinton, two-to-one in November’s election, began Sunday, in an interview between Trump and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. During the interview, O’Reilly asked Trump about a bill in the state legislature, authored by de Leon, to ban law enforcement agencies in the state from cooperating with immigration officials in most circumstances. Cities who have enacted similar bans are known as sanctuary cities, and de Leon’s bill, if passed and signed into law by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, would effectively extend such rules to the entire state. Trump disparaged the bill as ridiculous, saying that sanctuary cities “breed crime.” “We’ll have to, well, de-fund,” Trump said. “We give tremendous amounts of money to California.” Trump went on to say he viewed funding as a weapon. “California in many ways is out of control,” Trump said to O’Reilly. “Obviously the voters agree or otherwise they wouldn’t have voted for me.” Last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the University of California at Berkeley, where violent protests led to the cancellation of a speech by an editor for the right-wing Breitbart News. But experts said it would be difficult for the President to withhold funds from either the university or the state. Court rulings have limited the power of the president to punish states by withholding funds, and most appropriations come from the Congress and not the executive branch.
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politicsNews
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February 7, 2017
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Article A is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and trustworthy manner.
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Trump son-in-law Kushner hires prominent trial lawyer: NYT
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(Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, has hired a prominent trial lawyer to help represent him in inquiries linked to Russia, the New York Times reported on Monday citing another member of his legal team. Kushner took on Abbe D. Lowell, the newspaper said, joining other senior administration figures including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Vice President Mike Pence and Trump himself in hiring private attorneys. The White House has come under increased scrutiny since Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller and a number of congressional committees launched investigations into whether there were ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign team. Trump and his key aides have repeatedly denied any collusion with Moscow. Mueller is examining Kushner’s meetings with the Russian ambassador and a Russian banker as part of a broad enquiry, the New York Times said. But there are no signs that Kushner is the target of an investigation and Kushner has promised to cooperate, the newspaper added. The 36-year-old Kushner, a real estate developer with no previous government experience, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters in May. When Mueller became special counsel in May, he left a job at WilmerHale, a legal firm that also employs another lawyer for Kushner, Jamie Gorelick. “When Bob Mueller left WilmerHale to become special counsel and three of our colleagues joined him, we asked Mr. Kushner to get independent legal advice on whether to continue with us as his counsel,” Gorelick said in a statement to the Times. “He engaged Abbe Lowell to advise him and then decided to add Mr. Lowell to the team representing him in the various inquiries into the Russia matter,” she said. Trump on Monday demanded that investigators apologize for looking into Russian interference and possible collusion with his election campaign, accusing predecessor President Barack Obama of having “colluded or obstructed,” but he did not provide evidence. Russia has said it did not interfere in the vote.
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politicsNews
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June 27, 2017
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Tunisia parliament backs Chahed's new government
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TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia s parliament gave Prime Minister Youssef Chahed s new government a vote of confidence on Monday after the premier detailed plans to halve the budget deficit and trim the public wage bill in the next three years as part of a reform package. Chahed last week named a new cabinet after weeks of wrangling between the ruling Nidaa Tounes party and rival Islamist party Ennahda over posts that had delayed progress on a reform program backed by the International Monetary Fund. Lawmakers voted late on Monday to approve the new cabinet, giving Chahed support to push on with austerity measures. We hope this will be the government that gives Tunisians back some hope, parliament assembly President Mohamed Naceur said after the vote. Tunisia has been praised for its democratic progress after the 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, but successive governments have failed to advance in economic reforms to trim deficits and create jobs and growth. Chahed earlier said his government needed consensus backing to push ahead with reforms by 2020 that he hopes will revive Tunisia s economy, which has been hit by unrest after the 2011 revolt and by militant attacks on the tourism industry. We are preparing an economic plan to relaunch and salvage the Tunisian economy, he told parliament five days after naming a cabinet that includes a new minister in charge of economic reforms. This is needed to balance our finances. Chahed said the government aimed to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 from 6 percent expected this year. He said growth was expected to hit 5 percent that year; in the first half of this year, the economy expanded by 1.9 percent. Backed by the International Monetary Fund, the North African country is looking to reduce subsidies, overhaul its pension system and shrink its large public sector. But worries over social unrest have kept authorities from advancing with reforms. Chahed said the government planned to reduce the public wage bill to around 12.5 percent of GDP from the current 14 percent - one of the highest ratios in the world. In an effort to boost foreign currency reserves, he said the government would also loosen currency controls to allow Tunisians to hold foreign currency accounts locally and introduce an amnesty for illicit foreign currency trade.
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worldnews
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September 11, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Lebanon's Hariri visits UAE as home crisis escalates
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s outgoing prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, made a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday despite a deepening crisis back home and a rise in regional tensions triggered by his surprise resignation. Hariri announced his resignation on Saturday during a visit to his ally Saudi Arabia and has not yet returned to Lebanon. He said he believed there was an assassination plot against him and accused Iran, Saudi Arabia s arch-rival, and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world. His resignation has thrust Lebanon back into the frontline of the regional rivalry that pits a mostly Sunni bloc led by Saudi Arabia and allied Gulf monarchies against Shi ite Iran and its allies. Hariri s office said he had flown to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and then returned to Riyadh, but it gave no reason for the trip. It also did not say when he would return home. Hariri s Future TV channel said he would also visit Bahrain but gave no reason. Hezbollah has accused Riyadh of forcing Hariri to resign. Riyadh and aides to the Lebanese leader, whose family made their fortune in the Saudi construction industry, have strongly denied reports that he has been detained or was forced to quit. On Monday Riyadh accused Lebanon of declaring war against it because of aggression by Hezbollah, dramatically escalating the crisis and threatening to destabilize Lebanon. On Tuesday Lebanese politicians and Hezbollah remained silent about the escalation in Saudi rhetoric after a series of consultations with President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally. A rocket fired from Yemen was intercepted on the outskirts of Riyadh hours after Hariri s resignation on Saturday. On Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN the rocket was an Iranian missile launched by Hezbollah . Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Aoun on Tuesday to discuss developments, telling him that unity among the Lebanese people would ensure that external strife and regional problems could be overcome, Iran s state news agency IRNA reported. Iran will do all it can to bolster the stability of Lebanon, IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying. Hariri s resignation has triggered the collapse of a national unity government agreed last year in a political deal that united Lebanon s opposing sides. This had led to Lebanon s first budget since 2005 and to agreement on a new law for a parliamentary election, which could now get derailed. Aoun has said he will not accept Hariri s resignation until he returns to Lebanon to explain his thinking a move widely seen as a stalling tactic. Hezbollah and its allies will struggle to form a government without Hariri or his blessing. The post of prime minister must be filled by a member of Lebanon s Sunni community, among which he is the most influential politician. The pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday that Hariri was placed under house arrest hours after arriving in Riyadh last Friday , that a Saudi security team was supervising his movements and that he had only limited access to his phones. Fouad Siniora, a former prime minister and member of Hariri s Future Movement, said he had spoken to him on Monday and added that Hariri would return to Lebanon. The political crisis has alarmed investors. On Tuesday Lebanon s dollar bonds fell and the cost of insuring exposure to its debt reached its highest since late 2008, and Moody s ratings agency warned of damage to its credit rating. Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) for Lebanon LBGV5YUSAC=MG jumped 51 basis points from Monday s close to 588 bps, according to IHS Markit data. Lebanon s 2022 issue dollar bond LB055923779= fell 3.4 cents to 92 cents in the dollar, trading at its lowest ever level, Thomson Reuters data showed. The finance minister, central bank governor and head of the banking association all issued statements on Monday stressing Lebanon s financial and monetary stability.
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worldnews
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November 7, 2017
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The Trump presidency on Feb. 10 at 7:05 p.m. EST
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(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe open a new chapter in U.S.-Japan relations with Trump abruptly setting aside campaign pledges to force Tokyo to pay more for U.S. defense aid. Trump says he is considering issuing a new travel ban executive order, while White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus says the administration could still escalate a legal dispute over Trump’s original travel ban order to the U.S. Supreme Court. Several Democratic U.S. senators and a Republican congressman whose district includes a section of the U.S.-Mexico border express skepticism about Trump’s proposed wall there after learning the project’s estimated cost is $21.6 billion. Trump changes tack and agrees to honor the “One China” policy during a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a major diplomatic boost for Beijing, which brooks no criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan. RUSSIA-UKRAINE The Washington Post reports White House national security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Moscow’s ambassador during the month before Trump took office. Flynn had previously denied discussing sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes Slovenia, the birthplace of Trump’s wife, Melania, as a good place for a meeting with Trump, but says the decision on a location is not Moscow’s alone. Trump expresses support for an undivided Ukraine in a letter to Lithuania’s president, using language similar to that of his predecessor Barack Obama, and seen as likely to be welcomed by Kiev and North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. Trump says Iran President Hassan Rouhani “better be careful” after Rouhani was quoted as saying that anyone who speaks to Iranians with threats would regret it. Trump pulls Elliott Abrams as a contender for the No. 2 position at the State Department after learning that the Republican foreign policy veteran criticized him during the 2016 election campaign, sources say. Tom Price is sworn in as U.S. secretary of health, which Trump says will allow his administration to fulfill his pledge to dismantle Obamacare and reshape the healthcare system. The Federal Reserve Board’s top bank regulator says he will resign, giving a boost to Trump’s plans to ease reforms put in place after the 2007-09 financial crisis.
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politicsNews
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February 10, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Hillary Clinton’s Real Record On LGBT Rights
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Hillary Clinton is a complicated woman running in a country that wants its political platforms to fit on a trucker s cap. As a candidate, she has taken a lot of heat from progressives for being late to coming around to marriage equality. She was, but it s not that simple. If you scratch just a little beneath the surface, you ll find a true champion of LGBT rights throughout the world.When it comes to Clinton s evolution on LGBT rights, there are a lot of legitimate complaints. First, her husband s legacy, although also not that simple, is the failed military policy of Don t Ask, Don t Tell. Bill Clinton didn t love the policy, but it was what he saw as the best compromise at the time.Of course, that wasn t Hillary s policy. In fact, in 1999, she said she was against Don t Ask, Don t Tell, so let s move on. The criticism that has the most teeth is that Hillary didn t come around to accepting marriage equality until just three years ago, but that was only one step in a long history of support.One accomplishment that has received scant attention is that she ushered gay rights onto the international stage. It is fair to say that without Clinton s efforts, the global struggle for equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people would not have proceeded as fast as it has in the past several years, nor would the United States be seen today as a global leader in that struggle. At the heart of these efforts was the 2011 United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, otherwise known as the UNHRC Gay Rights Resolution, an international agreement whose drafting and signing Clinton oversaw. With that document, and a sister UNHRC resolution of 2014 condemning anti-LGBT violence and discrimination, the UN has formally recognized gay rights as part of the international human rights regime.Clinton s gay rights crusade began within the State Department, which she transformed into one of the most if not the most gay-friendly bureaucracies in Washington, both in terms of its policies and its administration. This signaled a radical makeover for the stodgy institution, which under Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Clinton s predecessors in the George W. Bush administration, had seen little drive for gay equality. Largely beholden to the Christian right and social conservatives, the Bush administration was hostile toward LGBT people and issues. As president, Bush endorsed an amendment to the federal constitution banning same-sex marriage, and his political managers used same-sex marriage as a wedge issue during his reelection campaign in 2004 with the intention of mobilizing so-called values voters in swing states like Ohio.Source: Foreign AffairsHer support of LGBT rights didn t stop in international waters. She extended family leave and other government benefits to families of same-sex couples who worked in the State Department.She fought discrimination in the State Department, despite a 1950s executive order by Dwight Eisenhower to fire all gay people, because homosexuality was considered a risk. Clinton instead recognized the Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Association (GLIFAA) for its courageous actions in the face of historic discrimination. She also ended the firings.Clinton even had gay pride celebrations at embassies and consulates throughout the world. Every May 17th, to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, embassies hang rainbow flags. She also made a concerted effort to be inclusive in her hiring, by, among other things, appointing six openly gay ambassadors to serve on several continents.Here she is with her own words:Don t take my word, or hers, for it. She s been endorsed by nearly every LGBT organization.Featured image via Getty Images
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News
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June 19, 2016
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GOP Rep. Wants You to ‘Look At All The Good’ That Came From The Charleston Massacre (VIDEO)
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According to GOP Congressman Sean Duffy, we need to stop talking about terrorist acts committed by white people in the United States and hop on board the Trump Train. During an interview Tuesday morning with CBB s Alisyn Camerota, Duffy completely lost it when asked why the Trump administration seems determined to ignore any and all terrorist acts committed by white people as they focus on banning entry from seven countries that have not produced a deadly terrorist attack within our borders since 9/11. You don t have a group like ISIS or Al Qaeda that s inspiring people around the world to kill innocents, Duffy said when confronted with white terrorist attacks like the recent mosque massacre in Canada. That was a one-off. Pretending that the attack in Canada is the only recent example of a white extremist slaughtering innocents, Duffy continued harping about ISIS. How about the Charleston church shooting, Congressman? Camerota asked. He was a white extremist. That doesn t matter? At this point, things got crazy. Duffy explained that the Charleston massacre matters, but only because because good things came from it: It does matter. It does matter. Look at the good things that came from it. Nikki Haley took down the Confederate flag. That was great! Naturally, he didn t mention the numerous African-Americans who were killed, or that the white supremacist who murdered all those people followed the same ideology as he does. This sort of statement is crazy and insulting to the victims and their families and the Congressman s response makes him look awful, but he only managed to get crazier when he claimed that former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who is quite alive, is dead: Look at Gabby Giffords, the Marxist who took her life, a leftist guy, and now you see violence and terror in the streets all across America. Watch the interview below:But what about white terrorism, the CNN reporter asks this Congressman. & his response is exactly the problem. https://t.co/orG1grV3HY deray mckesson (@deray) February 7, 2017Read more:Featured image via screengrab
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News
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February 7, 2017
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that draws the reader in, while Article B feels more disjointed and less persuasive.
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Kremlin says prospects for Putin-Trump meeting at APEC are unclear
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DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - The prospects for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump at this week s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam are unclear, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. We don t fully understand yet. But we are patiently continuing to work in order to come to an understanding. Both presidents are in town. One way or another they will cross paths, Peskov told reporters on the sidelines of the summit.
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worldnews
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November 10, 2017
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California or bust: Bernie Sanders charts a White House path
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Defying opinion polls and expert predictions, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders aims to seize the party’s White House nomination from Hillary Clinton’s grasp with a last-ditch come-from-behind triumph in California. By far the most populous U.S. state, California is the largest prize of the state-by-state nominating contests, and the vote on June 7 is one of the last before Democrats convene in July to select a nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election. An aggressive schedule of large rallies is planned along with heavy purchases of TV, radio and online advertising in three languages and a “far, far more expensive” campaign effort than in any other state, Sanders campaign sources disclosed. “I think they’re still riding rainbow unicorns if they think there’s a path,” said Steve Schale, a Florida-based strategist, of Sanders’ bid for the White House. California has been a reliable source of campaign funds for Clinton, and opinion polls show her ahead there by as many as 14 percentage points. The statistical analysis media site FiveThirtyEight gives her a 91 percent chance of winning the state primary. The Sanders campaign push aims to net as much as a 10-point win in California, helping him deny the front-running Clinton the 2,383 convention delegates she needs to clinch the nomination and give him the momentum to force a contested convention where he can try to win over the “superdelegates,” those not decided by a state nominating contest and free to support anyone, the campaign sources said. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has eroded Clinton’s lead in California, according to a Field Poll released on Friday. Clinton led Sanders by only 6 points in that survey, down from a double-digit lead earlier this year. “With California what we’re going to do is something that (Sanders) really likes to do: Barnstorm the place,” said Tad Devine, Sanders’ senior adviser, acknowledging Sanders’ underdog status against Clinton, the former secretary of state. That means two or three large-scale rallies a day for weeks, possibly starting in late April to target early voters, he said. Such rallies are a sweet spot for the 74-year-old New York-born democratic socialist’s firebrand speaking style championing the working class and vowing to erase economic inequality. At a late March event in The Bronx, he drew 18,500 people. Clinton leads in pledged convention delegates - those allocated to candidates on the basis of the state primaries and caucuses - with 1,287 to 1,037 for Sanders. A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to clinch the nomination. California has 475 delegates, to be divided proportionally according to the June 7 primary vote. The Clinton campaign plans to put up a fight. Local and national surrogates will speak out in English and Spanish and staff will beef up offices up and down the West Coast as the California vote nears, her campaign said. “We’re fighting for every vote by talking to Californians about why Hillary Clinton is the only candidate in this race who will break down the barriers that hold people back and deliver real results,” Amanda Renteria, Hillary for America national political director, said in a statement to Reuters. “Headed into the June 7 primary, our volunteers and supporters are knocking on doors and hitting the phones to share with friends, family and neighbors Hillary Clinton’s plans to create more good-paying jobs in California, keep our streets safe from gun violence, protect our environment, reform our immigration system and ensure all Californians have access to a good education and quality affordable health care.” Sanders has won seven of the last eight state nominating battles but faces a potentially rougher road in big states like New York, where Clinton was a U.S. senator and which holds an April 19 primary. Sanders aims to overcome the edge that Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, has enjoyed with minorities. Larry Cohen, a senior adviser to the campaign, said the campaign aims to match or outdo the 10,000 volunteers it enlisted in New York by drawing on the Labor for Bernie volunteer group, local and national unions and other groups. “We’ll certainly do Spanish-language advertising,” Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver said. Devine said that Vietnamese was also part of the plan. The languages are nods to California’s large populations of Latino and Asian voters. Weaver compared California to Michigan, where Sanders notched a surprise win in early March after advertising in Arabic to woo the state’s heavy concentration of Muslims. The campaign has yet to set a budget for California, but given the state’s size, the effort will be “hugely expensive - far, far more expensive than any other state that we’ve done,” Weaver said. In California so far, the campaign has raised about $9.8 million from more than 26,000 donors, the most Sanders has received from any one state, according to a Reuters analysis of campaign finance disclosures. Clinton has raked in significant sums also in California. An analysis of campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission indicate her campaign raised $26,687,011.37 from donors in California from the time she entered the race in 2015 until the end of February.
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politicsNews
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April 11, 2016
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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At least 15 killed in Afghanistan tanker explosion
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CHARIKAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed and 27 wounded when fuel tankers exploded in the town of Charikar, northwest of the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, destroying a nearby bus, residents and officials said. A security official said a sticky bomb destroyed two tankers, setting off an explosion that engulfed the bus, burning many passengers to death. Waheeda Shahkar, a spokeswoman for the local governor, put the death toll at least 15, with 27 wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came a day after up to eight people were killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul.
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worldnews
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November 1, 2017
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Palestinian leader Abbas in Cairo, Istanbul to rally region over Jerusalem
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday intensified efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital, setting up talks with Arab leaders beginning in Cairo. Abbas met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, which has been a key broker in past peace talks with Israel and between fighting Palestinian factions. Abbas and Sisi agreed to continue high-level coordination and to use the widespread rejection of the U.S. move to maintain the rights of the Palestinians, a statement from the Egyptian presidency said. Palestinian Presidency Spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said there would be an Arab move to preserve the rights of the Palestinian people soon. Abbas will later head to Istanbul to give a speech at a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Arab states condemned U.S. President Donald Trump s Jerusalem decision last week, and vowed to press international bodies to take action against it. The Arab Parliament held an emergency meeting on the issue in Cairo on Monday, state news agency MENA reported. Sisi, after a separate meeting with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S. moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem would have dangerous effects on peace and security in the region . Abbas met the head of the Arab League in Cairo on Monday, local media reported. Arab foreign ministers held an hours-long emergency meeting at the weekend and vowed to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution rejecting the U.S. move, but gave few details on other measures they would take. The Palestinians hope for concrete action. Daring Palestinian and Arab decisions are required in the coming stage, which is very important, Abbas s spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah told Palestinian official news agency WAFA. World powers have said the U.S. move will impede peace efforts in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict as anger spreads across the region. The Trump administration says it is still committed to the peace process. Abbas will not meet Mike Pence during the U.S. Vice President s visit to the region later this month, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Saturday. Egypt s top Muslim and Christian religious leaders also said they would not meet Pence. Egypt has also brokered reconciliation deals between Abbas s Fatah party and Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas, which called for a new uprising against Israel last week. The planned handover of control of Gaza to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority under the latest deal hit another delay on Sunday, with a Fatah official blaming obstacles without elaborating. Israel launched fresh air strikes in Gaza on Saturday in response to rocket fire from the enclave, where it fought a war in 2014 which killed more than 2,000 people, most of them civilians.
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worldnews
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December 11, 2017
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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White House 'deeply' concerned about China law on foreign NGOs
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday the United States is “deeply concerned” that China’s new law on management of the activities of foreign non-governmental organizations will narrow the space for civil society in China. China’s parliament passed a law governing foreign NGOs, state news agency Xinhua reported. The law is part of a raft of legislation, including China’s counterterrorism law, put forward amid a new push to crack down on dissent by President Xi Jinping’s administration. The White House urged China to respect the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders, journalists, business groups, and others, “including by protecting the ability of foreign NGO’s to operate in China,” Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement.
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politicsNews
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April 28, 2016
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British civil servants' union calls nationwide strike ballot
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LONDON (Reuters) - British civil servants will vote next month on nationwide strike action to put pressure on the government to abandon its 1 percent cap on public sector pay rises, their main trade union said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Theresa May s government is considering lifting the cap for at least some public-sector workers later this year, according to media reports earlier this week, as disquiet grows over pay restraint that has lasted since 2010. But on Wednesday May would not commit to lift the cap for nurses - who are widely thought likely to get an increase - after opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged her in parliament over wages in the public and private sector. The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), the main union for civil servants, said it would ballot nearly 200,000 members between Oct. 9 and Nov. 6 to assess appetite for what would be their first nationwide strike since October 2014. If there are no concessions on pay after the first ballot, the union will hold a second ballot to confirm support for specific strike action. Pay misery for public servants must end and the government must restore public-sector pay to levels that allow working people to live with the dignity and security they deserve, Mark Serwotka, the PCS s general secretary, said in a statement. The PCS said it wanted pay rises of at least 5 percent for all public-sector workers. Average weekly earnings in the public sector rose by 1.3 percent over the past year, compared with a 2.2 percent rise in private-sector wages. Consumer price inflation was 2.6 percent over the same period. Some 5.4 million Britons work in the public sector, of whom just over 400,000 work in the civil service. Most public-sector staff work as teachers or in the National Health Service.
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worldnews
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September 6, 2017
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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UAE criticizes 'colonial' role of Iran, Turkey in Syria
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ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates urged Iran and Turkey on Tuesday to end what it called their colonial actions in Syria, signaling unease about diminishing Gulf Arab influence in the war. Allied to regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, the UAE opposes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backer Iran, and is wary of Turkey, a friend of Islamist forces the UAE opposes throughout the Arab world. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan urged the exit of those parties trying to reduce the sovereignty of the Syrian state, and I speak here frankly and clearly about Iran and Turkey. He was speaking at a news conference with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, whose country helps Assad militarily. If Iran and Turkey continue the same historical, colonial and competitive behavior and perspectives between them in Arab affairs, we will continue in this situation not just in Syria today but tomorrow in some other country, Sheikh Abdullah said. The six-year-old war in Syria has dragged in regional and international players who have sought to advance their interests there: Iran has sent troops and military support to shore up Assad s rule as he has battled mostly Sunni Muslim rebels backed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states. The Syrian army and its allies have regained lost territory with the help of Russian air strikes since 2015. At the same time, Islamic State is being pushed back from strongholds in Eastern Syria by the Syrian army and a rival offensive by Kurdish and Arab rebels backed by the United States. Fearing expanded Kurdish influence along its border with Syria, U.S. ally Turkey has grown increasingly uneasy about the rebels armed thrust. Turkey and Iran have discussed possible joint military action against Kurdish militant groups, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Lavrov and Sheikh Abdullah said they agreed on a need for a negotiated end to the war. Russia is helping shepherd talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which has already produced de-escalation zones to reduce combat in three parts of Syria. Lavrov said Russia hoped that efforts to unify the positions of Syria s disparate opposition would aid the peace process. There were some deep disagreements in the past which led to the failure of some meetings, but we will continue encouraging the participation of all the platforms, he said through a translator. (This story corrects day in first paragraph)
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worldnews
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August 29, 2017
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TRUMP IS RIGHT: How Immigrants Sent A Staggering Amount Of American Money Back Home
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No matter which candidate you support, you have to admit that once again Trump has brought up a topic that needs to be discussed. BILLIONS of dollars are sent back to home countries from America. Think of how much we lose when $120 billion dollars leaves America! What if we tell Mexico we will stop this flow of money until they pay to build a wall at the border? The estimate for the wall is $25 billion which is nothing compared to the $120 billion that leaves America every year. While we re bleeding money out, the only amount coming into America is $5.1 billion Yes, $120 billion out, $5.1 billion in.Migrants working in the United States sent a staggering $120 billion back to their families last year, it was revealed today. The amount of money being sent by migrants across the entire world reached $530 billion last year, making it a larger economy than Iran or Argentina, the data from the World Bank showed. This worldwide figure has tripled in the last ten years and is now three times bigger than the total aid budgets given by countries around the world. It has sparked debate whether this so-called remittance money could be a viable alternative to relying on help from other governments. In the United States last year, more than $120 billion was sent by workers to families abroad making it the largest sender of remittances in the world. More than $23 billion went to Mexico, $13.45 billion to China, $10.84 billion to India and $10 billion to the Philippines, among other recipients.In 2011, the World Bank estimated that U.S. remittances alone reached $110.8 billion, which was more than 80 per cent of the size of the total amount of cash flow ($132 billion). It is little surprise as the US is home to the largest number of migrants from developing countries; there are 42.8 million immigrants in the country, making up around 14 per cent of the population.By contrast, 2.4 million Americans live oversees, with largest populations in Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico, and just $5.1 billion sent back in to the country, data shared on The Guardian showed. The data showed that the biggest beneficiaries included India and China, which each received more than $60 billion, followed by the Philippines ($24 billion), Mexico ($24 billion) and Nigeria ($21 billion). World Bank officials believe the amount they donate could be billions more because not all cash is sent through banks and money transfer companies on which the figures are based.Read more: Daily Mail
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Government News
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Apr 7, 2016
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true-fake
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Trump national security aides complete North Korea policy review: official
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s top national security aides have completed a broad review of U.S. options aimed at countering North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday. The review, which was accelerated to have it done before Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, includes a range of economic and military measures but leans towards new sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its neighbor, the official said. The list of recommendations was put together by Trump’s National Security Council on his orders and was ready for his consideration, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear if the review had reached the Republican president’s desk or how quickly he would decide on a course of action, which could be delayed by the slow pace at which the administration is filling key national security jobs. The White House declined comment. Trump told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday that the United States was prepared to respond to North Korean nuclear threats on its own if China fails to pressure Pyongyang. Trump made clear he would he would urge China to use its influence with North Korea when he meets Xi at his Florida resort on Thursday and Friday for their first face-to-face meeting. The review, which was led by national security adviser H.R. McMaster, proposes a multi-pronged approach aimed at tightening the screws on North Korea economically and militarily, the official said. It will be up to Trump to decide how and when to proceed, and he could also send the review back for further work, the official said. While most details remained under wraps, senior U.S. officials told Reuters recently that options under consideration included tougher sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system, which could entail “secondary sanctions” against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang. The U.S. official said Trump may warn Xi of such moves, including efforts to beef up South Korean and Japanese anti-missile defenses – something Beijing strongly opposes. The Chinese have urged Washington to de-escalate tensions with Pyongyang and to find a way to restart negotiations, but U.S. officials say it would be premature to resume talks now because it would be seen as a reward to North Korea for bad behavior. The chief U.S. concern is North Korea’s efforts to develop an intercontinental nuclear missile that could carry a nuclear warhead and be capable of hitting the United States. Although the long-standing option of pre-emptive military strikes against North Korea is not off the table, the review gives priority to less-risky steps and “de-emphasizes direct military action,” the official said. Other steps that have been under consideration are escalating cyber attacks and other covert action aimed at undermining North Korea’s leadership, another U.S. source said recently.
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politicsNews
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April 2, 2017
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WIKILEAKS CLINTON CAMPAIGN EMAIL: Uneducated, “Unaware” Supporters Not As Easy To Manipulate As Before
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Another stunning, arrogant slam against Hillary supporters by the Hillary campaign A Clinton campaign email released as part of the Wikileaks data dump earlier today talks about the need to maintain political power by producing an unaware and compliant citizenry .The email was sent to Hillary Clinton s campaign chairman John Podesta by former Clinton administration official Bill Ivy on March 13, 2016.Ivy was appointed Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts during Bill Clinton s second term. According to his bio, Ivy is a trustee of the Center for American Progress (a Clinton campaign front), and was a Team Leader in the Barack Obama presidential transition. In the email, Ivy outlines the panic amongst some Democrats that Donald Trump s celebrity politics persona cannot be matched by Hillary, who is not an entertainer, and not a celebrity in the Trump, Kardashian mold. Money isn t all that important if you can conflate entertainment with the electoral process. Trump masters TV, TV so-called news picks up and repeats and repeats to death this opinionated blowhard and his hairbrained ideas, free-floating discontent attaches to a seeming strongman and we re off and running, complains Ivy.Ivy wonders how Clinton can combat Trump s larger than life appeal, worrying that simply defaulting to policy won t work. And as I ve mentioned, we ve all been quite content to demean government, drop civics and in general conspire to produce an unaware and compliant citizenry, he writes. The unawareness remains strong but compliance is obviously fading rapidly. This problem demands some serious, serious thinking and not just poll driven, demographically-inspired messaging. To emphasize, Ivy admits that the left has conspired to produce an unaware and compliant citizenry but that they re not as easy to manipulate anymore and that this is a problem. He characterizes unawareness amongst the public as a positive thing for the Clinton campaign.Ivy ends the email by saying he will attend a Clinton fundraiser and that he fears, we are all now trying to navigate a set of forces that cannot be simply explained or fully understood. For entire story: Infowars
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politics
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Oct 10, 2016
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true-fake
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White House: Congress has more work to do on spending bill
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday welcomed the latest plan from congressional Republicans to fund the federal government past Sept. 30 but said it was still disappointed in parts of the proposal, such as a lack of funding for the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, among other issues. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a daily briefing that it “is not at all clear to me” that President Barack Obama is prepared to fund the spending bill “because he believes that Congress has got more work to.”
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politicsNews
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September 23, 2016
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Kansas judge strikes state's dual voter registration system
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(Reuters) - A state judge on Friday struck down a Kansas voter registration system that would have prevented people from voting in state and local elections unless they show proof of U.S. citizenship. The judge ruled that the loss of voting rights for more than 18,000 Kansas residents “far outweighs” the risk posed by potential voter fraud, as the state mentioned only about two dozen people who may have attempted to improperly register to vote over the last 13 years. “The right of citizen suffrage forms the foundation of a democratic society,” Larry Hendricks, District Judge in Shawnee County, wrote in a 19-page ruling. “Whenever the laws of a state and the federal government clash with respect to this right, cracks are bound to appear in the framework of democracy.” Kansas has had one of the strictest voter identification statutes in the United States, making the state a symbol for mostly Republican Party supporters who say the rules are meant to prevent voter fraud. Opponents, mostly Democrats, say the rules discriminate against minorities. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said by phone on Friday he planned to appeal the ruling adding, “I regard the decision as wrong ... and this decision stands in the way of protecting our elections.” The American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit said the voter registration system established by Kobach violated the state’s constitution and state law and called it “two-tiered.” “This ruling is a victory for Kansas voters and a stinging rebuke of Secretary Kobach’s repeated efforts to improperly use his authority to obstruct their access to the ballot,” ACLU Voting Rights Project staff attorney Sophia Lakin said in a statement. The ACLU said the system would have denied the right to vote in state and local elections to residents who registered through a federal voter registration form or when they applied for or renewed their driver’s license. Under the rejected system, those people could have voted in federal elections but would have had to show proof of citizenship to vote in state and local ones. The system required registrants to prove their citizenship by providing one of a series of documents, including birth certificates and passports. Kobach has gained a reputation for pushing a series of voting and anti-immigration measures as a national debate over voting restrictions has accelerated since the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
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politicsNews
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November 4, 2016
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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House Speaker Ryan says U.S. government shutdown unnecessary
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday that the government shutdown threatened by President Donald Trump is unnecessary and not wanted by lawmakers in Congress. “I don’t think anyone is interested in having a shutdown. I don’t think it is in our interests to do so,” Ryan told a news conference in Oregon.
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politicsNews
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August 23, 2017
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WATCH: Angry White Actors Have Silent Meltdown As Meryl Streep Wipes The Floor With Trump
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As Meryl Streep delivered a smack down for the ages aimed at Donald Trump, conservative actors Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn could be seen sitting together silently seething.During the Golden Globes on Sunday, Streep took aim at Trump without mentioning his name, specifically pointing out his attack on a disabled reporter as an example of his bullying. There was nothing good about it, Streep said of Trump s campaign. But it was effective, and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. Most Americans across the country and most of those in attendance cheered. Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn, however, did not.Gibson and Vaughn were caught on camera having a silent meltdown as Streep spoke.Here s the video via YouTube:The footage of their reaction only lasts a few seconds but it perfectly represents the reaction most Trump supporters had last night while watching Streep s speech.And Twitter users couldn t resist commenting about it.When you re the only two conservatives in a room where Trump is getting his ass dragged pic.twitter.com/Bt5okJX71l Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) January 9, 2017when you look up and want to drop a racial slur but realize meryl streep is a white woman pic.twitter.com/ShOHwPydw2 Kenny (@PhillyCustoms) January 9, 2017The Conservative table was not feeling Meryl s speech. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zdxDFhCZ1r Jillian??Sederholm (@JillianSed) January 9, 2017Give some credit to Gibson and Vaughn though. At least they didn t throw a hissy fit about it like Donald Trump did.Seriously, Donald Trump LITERALLY lost his shit when he heard Streep s speech.Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a .. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never mocked a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017 groveling when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017Gbson and Vaughan may have looked angry, but at least they had the class to remain silent.Featured image via screenshot
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News
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January 9, 2017
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true-fake
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Obamacare 2018 enrollment clouded by uncertainty under Trump
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Americans began signing up for Obamacare health insurance plans on Wednesday, experts expected reduced participation as a bitter political debate clouds the program’s future. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly failed to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, which they have said drives up costs for consumers and interferes with personal medical decisions. Democrats have warned that repeal would leave millions of Americans without health coverage. President Donald Trump promised to kill Obama’s Affordable Care Act in his 2016 election campaign, and has taken steps to undermine a law he has declared “dead” and “imploding”. Trump’s administration cut Obamacare advertising by 90 percent and shortened the enrollment period by half. “The market’s going to be extremely confusing. There’s going to be entire complexity of choice,” said David Anderson, a health policy researcher at Duke University. Obama took to social media on Wednesday, encouraging Americans who need insurance to sign up on the federal Healthcare.gov website. He stressed that government tax credits would keep coverage affordable for most. Obama asked people to get out the word, “because this country works best when we look out for one another.” A new Trump ad, paid for by the Republican National Committee, blamed Democrats for Obamacare’s “skyrocketing” insurance premiums and for blocking efforts to repeal the law. Obamacare advocates have warned that sign-ups for individual insurance coverage under the law could drop by about one million people in 2018 compared with 2017. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that four million fewer people will sign up for Obamacare private insurance than previously forecast due to Trump policies. Still, CBO expects total enrollment to reach 11 million in 2018, up from the around 10 million who obtained and paid for coverage in 2017. Administration officials could not immediately say when 2018 enrollment data would be made public. The Trump administration has cut the 2018 enrollment period in half to six weeks from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 for states using the federal Healthcare.gov website. Enrollment previously ran until Jan. 31, and many consumers tended to sign up in the last two weeks, according to state officials and organizations that help people choose insurance. The administration has also cut off billions of dollars in subsidies that insurers use to discount out-of-pocket medical costs for low-income Americans and cut funding to groups that help people enroll in health insurance. Several insurers have exited Obamacare markets due to concerns over subsidies and other Trump actions. Those that remained raised monthly premium prices to account for the lost government subsidies. Senate Republicans and Democrats are working on legislation to stabilize Obamacare markets in the short term, including restoring the subsidies. But Trump has sought more far-reaching changes, and urged Republicans to take up full-scale repeal again in the coming months. The Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday that premiums for the most popular Obamacare plans would rise 37 percent in 2018. Americans eligible for Obamacare tax credits to buy insurance may pay less for coverage, but middle-class consumers who do not get subsidies will face much higher prices for these plans. “It’s been such a flood of information. A lot of the population thinks the Affordable Care Act has already been put under,” said Daniel Polsky, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. “The strange premium increases are going to be very confusing for consumers.” The Trump administration is now planning changes for 2019. Last week, it proposed a rule giving states more flexibility over the benefits that must be covered by insurance. Under Obamacare, all insurers have to cover a set of 10 benefits, such as maternity and newborn care and prescription drugs.
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politicsNews
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November 1, 2017
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Trump, Japan's Abe agree to boost deterrence against North Korea: Japan government
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TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to boost their response to North Korea s missile program and urged China to do more, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. In a phone call the leaders agreed to strengthen our deterrence capability against the North Korean threat, Yasutoshi Nishimura, deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters after Pyongyang fired what Japan said appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile into waters in Japan s exclusive economic zone. Trump and Abe also agreed that China needs to play an increased role in countering North Korea, Nishimura said. They did not discuss military options toward North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a separate news conference. Japan will work closely with the United States and South Korea in response to the missile launch, Suga said.
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worldnews
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November 28, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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Saudi-led coalition calls missile 'dangerous escalation' of Yemen conflict
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RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi-led coalition accused Yemen s Houthi militia of a dangerous escalation on Sunday after Saudi air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Riyadh. Saudi Arabia also announced financial rewards for information leading to the arrest of 40 leaders it said were responsible for planning, implementing and supporting the Houthi terrorist group s various terrorist activities . The bounties topped out at $30 million for the armed group s leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the state news agency reported. The missile was brought down on Saturday evening near King Khaled International Airport on the northern outskirts of the capital and did not cause any casualties. The Houthis dangerous escalation came because of Iranian support, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said in a televised news conference. Rocket launch vehicles used to fire the missile were made in Iran, he added. Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse arch-foe Iran of supplying missiles and other weapons to the Houthis, saying the arms were not present in Yemen before the conflict began in 2015. Iran denies the charges and blames the conflict on Riyadh. Yemen s civil war pits the internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, against the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The war has already killed more than 10,000 and displaced millions, with around 500,000 cholera cases reported in the country since the worst outbreak in decades started in April. The Saudi-led coalition s statement on Sunday echoed accusations by U.S. President Donald Trump, who described the missile as a shot just taken by Iran against Saudi Arabia. The head of Iran s Revolutionary Guard Corps dismissed Trump s comments as slander. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday the missile launch by Houthi rebels showed there was a danger of ballistic proliferation across the region. Saudi Arabia has signaled its intention to buy separate air defense systems from the United States and Russia.
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worldnews
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November 5, 2017
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Iowa Legislator Leaves Republican Party Over Trump’s Racism
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For almost an entire year Donald Trump insulted, berated, bastardized and scrutinized everything that wasn t a white, Christian male. Republicans barely flinched.Then he makes a comment about a Mexican judge s heritage when it pertains to his fraud lawsuit. Republicans lose their minds (and rightfully so).It appears that Trump s comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel has hit a special nerve in one state legislator.The Des Moines Register has broken the news that David Johnson, who has served in the Iowa General Assembly for 18 years as a Republican, will be leaving the GOP over the party s bigot nominee, Donald J. Trump.Johnson told the Register: I will not stand silent if the party of Lincoln and the end of slavery buckles under the racial bias of a bigot. The now former Republican will be registering as a member of no party preference, and said he will never support Hillary Clinton for president. However, Johnson has also stated that he is not sure he will caucus with the Republicans in the Legislature, feeling that members of the GOP have become too timid to take on Trump and his supporters. Johnson did say that if a formidable Republican steps up to the plate and challenged Trump nationally, he may rejoin the party, but said: If Mr. Trump is the nominee, he becomes the standard bearer for a party that s on the verge of breaking apart. He simply cannot unify the GOP. If there is a profound split, I ll gladly rejoin Republicans who are dedicated to equality and justice for all, and let Trump lead his supporters over the cliff. And that s exactly what Mr. Trump will do. Johnson also knows how this will hurt him politically, but says he doesn t care, citing his record of often going against the Republican establishment in the state when it comes to education funding and Medicaid program.One thing is for sure we will see many more Republicans follow Johnson s lead in he coming months.Featured image via Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
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News
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June 7, 2016
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true-fake
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Anti-Trump Protester’s X-Rated Comment Angers MSNBC Anchor: “Grow The Hell Up!”
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This is rich! A live feed from MSNBC was trying to show how great the anti-Trump protesters were behaving but all of a sudden a guy yells out a disgusting sexual phrase. Fair warning!
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politics
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May 28, 2016
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WHOA! Did “White Supremacist” Who Organized Charlottesville Protests Work For CNN? Were Protests Manufactured To Create Hate For Right and Trump?
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Has anyone seen Barack Obama lately? What about Valerie Jarrett, who actually MOVED IN to the Obama household shortly after exiting the White House? Why would Obama s 60-year old former senior advisor move into his house with his wife and daughter who is still in high school? Unless there was some obvious reason for her living with the Obama s, it makes no sense whatsoever. Why does no one in the media find this arrangement to be even remotely odd? Is it possible that Barack Obama and his evil puppet-master had something to do with orchestrating what many believe was a fake protest in Charlottesville, as a way to create hate for white people, the Right and more importantly to give Americans a reason to blame President Trump and the Republican Party for the actions of the racist groups who participated in the protests.Immediately after the violence in Charlottesville took place, President Trump took to Twitter and turned to the media to (rightfully) condemn both sides of the conflict.We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017Curiously, the former president, who s been keeping a very low profile leading up to the Charlottesville protests, tweeted a response to Charlottesville. CNN called Obama s response on Twitter, The most linked tweet in the history of Twitter. CNN was so giddy over the response to Obama s tweet, they actually published an entire story on the success of his tweets:Former President Barack Obama s tweet reacting to the attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the most liked tweet ever on the social network.Obama s reaction to the Charlottesville attack is also the fifth-most retweeted behind a tweet from a teen who wanted free chicken nuggets from Wendy s, Ellen Degeneres tweet from 2014 Oscars, a tweet from singer Louis Tomlinson to his One Direction bandmate Harry Styles and Ariana Grande s previously mentioned tweet.So, what exactly was the media s role in using the Charlottesville protests to push the false narrative that, President Trump is a racist? Nation One News decided to do a little digging into the leader of the allegedly White Supremacist leader who organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, and here are a few very curious things they found:First of all, the ACLU defended Jason Kessler and forced the city to keep his permit in place. This was after the city raised concerns about the ability of Law Enforcement to keep Antifa, BLM, and the New Black Panthers from clashing with the White Supremacists who were attending with Jason Kessler.Here are a few things you need to know about Jason Kessler.First, he supports gun control. Second, he LOVES Obama and Clinton! Third, He LOVED the Iran deal struck by Obama!Fourth, Hates Republicans and compared them to Dahmer.Finally, he claims he was Red Pilled into becoming a Trump Supporter ?He claims he was red pilled by the media instigating the Baltimore riots. However, an Advanced search of his Tweets only reveals one Tweet raising questions or assigning blame for the Baltimore Riots. That Tweet was sent a month AFTER this so called red pill or change of heart.So who is this guy really? Well, at least some of rumors on the Internet are True, he was, in fact, a Liberal and he admitted it. His reason for changing his mind doesn t add up, based on the evidence.He has Tweeted 4843 times and he never mentioned the Baltimore Riots prior to his change of heart.One last thing.We are researching to determine if he used to work for or with CNN. CNN has not responded to our calls or emails. It is possible that another Jason Kessler worked for CNN, however, the Jason Kessler from Charlottesville have a gap in his Linked In profile from 2009 to 2013.According to SNOPES, the left wing fact-checker source, they ve talked to CNN, who confirms they never employed the Jason Kessler who clashed with BLM and Antifa in Charlottesville. So cased closed right?Here is what the LEFT-wing SNOPES had to say:Did Kessler write articles for CNN that were sympathetic to the Occupy movement?False. Kessler says he never worked for CNN, and we spoke to a source at CNN who confirmed it. A writer named Jason Kessler was once employed by CNN, and he did cover Occupy Wall Street protests among many other topics, but according to CNN it was not the same Jason Kessler who went on to lead Unite the Right.Except that Americans have become much less trusting of these so-called fact-checkers and sources they used to believe were honest about the news they reported. We no longer believe anything SNOPES or the Very Fake News CNN has to say. Jason Kessler used to run a blog called jasonkessler.net, however, the site is conveniently taken down.
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left-news
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Aug 25, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that captures the reader's attention, while Article B feels more disjointed and less persuasive.
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LOL! PRINCE of Country Who Gave Hillary $50 Million BEGS Americans NOT To Vote For Trump
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Sounds like one of the best reasons ever TO vote for Trump A Saudi prince has urged Americans not to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming general election.Turki al-Faisal, who served as Saudia Arabia s ambassador to the US from 2005 to 2007, spoke against the presumptive Republican nominee during a foreign policy dinner in Washington, DC on Thursday.He blasted Trump s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, which the billionaire first formulated in December last year before renewing his vow on Wednesday. For the life of me, I cannot believe that a country like the United States can afford to have someone as president who simply says, These people are not going to be allowed to come to the United States, Turki said according to the Huffington Post. It s up to you, it s not up to me, Turki added. I just hope you, as American citizens, will make the right choice in November. This plea to NOT vote for Trump should come as no surprise since Saudi Arabia has donated up to $50 million to the Clinton FoundationWFB The gulf nations represent three of the largest donors to the foundation, but that is hardly the extent of their ties to the Clintons. Qatari, UAE, and Saudi firms paid Bill Clinton millions of dollars for speeches during the time Hillary served as secretary of state, when she also approved weapons deals with all three countries worth billions of dollars to U.S. defense firms, many of which are also Clinton Foundation donors.Bill Clinton has praised the Qataris as intelligent, forward looking investment partners for their collaboration on Clinton Foundation projects. One of Hillary s top advisers, Cheryl Mills, served on the board of the New York University campus in Abu Dhabi. Bill Clinton is the friend and former classmate of Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, who recently attended a lavish Clinton Foundation conference in Marrakech, hosted by the King of Morocco. The Bill Clinton presidential library in Little Rock was funded in part by a $10 million from the Saudi Royal family.Turk, who went to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, isn t currently part of Saudia Arabia s government but serves as the chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, a cultural organization that conducts research in politics, sociology and heritage. h/t: Breitbart News Via: Daily Mail
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politics
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Jun 15, 2016
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Chris Wallace SCOLDS Fox News Colleagues For Not Covering Comey Firing Seriously (VIDEO)
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The hosts of Fox & Friends just got their asses handed to them by one of their own colleagues for protecting Donald Trump so much.For months, the FBI have been investigating Trump s Russia scandal. The scandal continues to grow every day and when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last week it became and even bigger story.Trump literally fires the head of the agency that is investigating him, which means he interfered in a federal investigation and committed obstruction of justice. The firing also smacks of Watergate because former President Nixon did something similar in an effort to cover up his involvement in the crime.Clearly, Trump is desperately trying to bury the Russia investigation and he is willing to fire people to do it.But Fox & Friends have been Trump s top cheerleaders for months now and they continued in that role after Comey s firing, writing off the story as just mainstream media hysteria. But they weren t able to get away with it on Sunday while respected journalist and fellow Fox host Chris Wallace was around.Prior to his own show, Wallace made a guest appearance on the morning program and proceeded to scold Pete Hegseth for downplaying Comey s firing. It s been about Russian collusion from the beginning, Hegseth whined. His critics have tried to make him look not legitimate. And five days after the firing of Comey, the media is still chomping at the bit with hysteria. Hegseth then played clips focusing more on what Democratic lawmakers have been saying as proof that the media is being hysterical. Wallace took immediate offense and defended the media while letting Trump s top propaganda team know that, in fact, this is a major story. But I do take exception to the idea that this is hysteria, Wallace said. There are some cases there that I shake my head and think that s over the top. Yes. This is a big story. The fact that we re continuing to talk about it a week later. This is the first time in history that a president has fired an FBI director who was conducting an investigation that was directly investigating him and his associates. It s a big story and I think it s a legitimate story to cover. Here s the video via YouTube.So while hacks like the hosts of Fox & Friends are doing Trump s bidding by trying to delegitimize a big story that further highlights how corrupt Trump is, Chris Wallace isn t willing to buy the bullshit they are selling and has no problem calling out them out for not doing their job. If only more Fox hosts were like Chris Wallace, Trump would be in deeper shit.Featured Image: Screenshot
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News
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May 14, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its arguments in a more structured and emotionally engaging manner, making it easier for readers to connect with the content, while Article B lacks clarity and persuasive tone.
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CNN Host Cuts Interview After Trump Supporter PATHETICALLY Tries To Link Hillary To Child Rapist (VIDEO)
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On Tuesday morning, CNN Carol Costello completely shut down an interview when a conservative guest (and passionate Donald Trump supporter) went off on a ridiculous rant about Hillary Clinton.The CNN Newsroom With Carol Costello interview started to go south toward the end when one of Costello s guests, Trump fan and Newsmax host Steve Malzberg, tried to derail a discussion about the Republican front runner s misogyny and sexist rhetoric by targeting Clinton and her husband. Malzberg bragged about the business mogul s approach with women: When you get one-on-one, especially if it s Hillary Donald Trump will go places nobody is willing to go, where the media at this point isn t willing to go. Bringing up Clinton s women who say they were intimidated by Hillary. Having them come forward and speak. A litany of issues that you can t even imagine. Costello interrupted Malzberg and said, I m thinking that might not be a winning argument for Donald Trump right at this moment. Which is absolutely correct, considering that Trump has been pummeled for his recent comments that women should be punished for seeking abortions.But Malzberg foolishly continued on, even though Costello s objections were backed up by fellow guest Judson Phillips (who is a Ted Cruz supporter). Malzberg added: Do you know how many young women in this country don t even know that Bill Clinton was impeached? No. Maybe they ve heard of Monica Lewinsky. They don t know the women that have accused Bill Clinton of sexual improprieties and that say they have been threatened and intimidated by Hillary Clinton. Then, Malzberg decided to bring up another truly bizarre talking point Clinton s involvement in an old child abuse court case from 1975. Malzberg started: A girl who was raped by a pedophile that Hillary Clinton bragged about getting off. Shocked that Malzberg would even mention this, Costello started to shut him down, saying, Oh, come on. Malzberg cried, Wait, wait, let me finish! while Costello refused to entertain the conversation. He argued: What do you mean? You don t want to hear it? That Hillary Clinton is on tape bragging about, as a lawyer getting off on a technicality. That woman now says, Hillary ruined my life. That s not fair. Costello had had enough of the insane conversation, and said, I m going to leave it there, and goodbye. Thanks for joining me before ending the interview abruptly. You can watch the awkward moment unfold below, at about the 5:45 mark:In Clinton s memoir, Living History, Clinton addressed that 1975 case, confessing that she had only been out of law school for two years when she was assigned that case. She said that although she didn t feel comfortable with the case, she couldn t very well refuse the judge s request. Clinton knew she had an ethical and legal obligation to defend him to the fullest extent of the law , and did her best. After that case, Clinton went on to set up Arkansas first rape hotline.Featured image via screencapture
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News
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April 5, 2016
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White House Now Planting Fake Stories To Discredit Reporters Who Expose Trump’s Bullsh*t
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Apparently, the White House is not pleased that the story of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer furiously confiscating cell phones as he looks for the source of leaks leaked. In fact, the Trump Team is so displeased that the decided to get a little payback against one of the reporters who exposed it.Six hours after the story broke the Washington Examiner published a report claiming that the Alex Isenstadt, co-author of Politico s report on Spicer s leak hunt, laughed at the Navy SEAL Donald Trump s stupidity killed in Yemen.Isenstadt had asked Spicer about one of the leaks a revelation Spicer had berated a junior spokesperson, Jessica Ditto, in the middle of a staff meeting, causing her to cry. The only time Jessica recalls almost getting emotional is when we had to relay the information on the death of Chief Ryan Owens, Spicer said, referring to the SEAL. The Examiner then reports:Unsaid, according to White House officials, is that Isenstadt appeared dismissive and laughed at Spicer s answer. He started laughing about that SEAL, said one informed official, also upset at Politico s insulting description of Ditto in the story as a more junior spokesperson. In reality, Isenstadt chuckled at Spicer s cartoonish reaction to the question. It didn t take long for people to see what was going on:My goodness, this is obvious what's going on here. https://t.co/c8nF0oYigB Steven Ginsberg (@stevenjay) February 27, 2017Reporter writes story WH doesn't like/disputes. WH anonymously plants false story about reporter. https://t.co/2ZGue3uxfz Carrie Budoff Brown (@cbudoffbrown) February 27, 2017@cbudoffbrown @TheDailyEdge My favorite part is that it's anonymously sourced. ??? El Franch se (@dannyboi965) February 27, 2017@stevenjay @maggieNYT Understand that these people will do whatever it takes to get what they want. Bannon is driving this train wreck. OttolineMorrell (@OttolineMorrell) February 27, 2017@stevenjay @dcexaminer They claim media fabricates facts & engineers stories, yet they're doing precisely that. Totally Hitler-esque. TheSheepleResistance (@SheepleResist) February 27, 2017@stevenjay @dcexaminer So the plan here is to plant fake anonymous sources to discredit all anonymous sourcing? Nicole (@skilledscribe) February 27, 2017As some noted, it is particularly hilarious that this was anonymously sourced the exact kind of sourcing Trump says cannot be trusted. Apparently, we can expect to see more of this FAKE NEWS (am I doing that right?) anytime someone makes the Trump administration uncomfortable. Then, of course, there are the dossiers a Trump staffer says the administration has compiled to blackmail non-compliant reporters So, journalists keep reporting everything you can about this corrupt administration until all of you are involved in the Pizzagate coverup. It means you have done your job well.Featured image via Getty Images (John W. Adkisson)
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News
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February 27, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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Union leader shot dead near South African Lonmin mine, second death in two weeks
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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) said on Saturday another member of its leadership had been shot dead, execution-style, this time at a Lonmin owned-mine on the platinum belt in the west of the country. A senior official of the union was shot and killed outside an Impala Platinum (Implats) mine two weeks ago, and the union said five of its members had been killed since July. AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said Mvelesi Biyela, a health and safety officer at Lonmin s Wonderkop mine near Marikana in Rustenburg, was shot on Friday evening in front of his wife and six-year-old daughter while they were on their way home. This is the fifth killing of one of our members since about the end of July, Mathunjwa said. We will not fight back with bullets, guns and anonymous hit men but with mass action, AMCU said in a press statement. Lonmin confirmed that Biyela was employed at its Rowland Shaft, and that it was informed by police late on Friday that unknown assailants had shot and killed him. We have no idea at all what is behind these killings but it is very concerning, especially when it happens in such a brutal manner. For now we are leaving it to the police to find out the causes, said Lonmin spokeswoman Wendy Tlou. A resurgence of violence in the same area that saw South Africa s longest strike in 2012 and 34 AMCU members gunned down by police has unnerved investors in the ailing sector. Labour and social strife in South Africa s platinum belt, the source of more than 70 percent of known reserves of the precious metal, has piled pressure onto an industry already hit by depressed prices.
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worldnews
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September 23, 2017
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Justice Department mulls changing corporate prosecution policy
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing its policies over how it prosecutes corporate white collar crimes and may be making some changes “in the near future,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said on Thursday. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Rosenstein said that the department is reviewing the so-called Yates Memo, a document released in 2015 by his predecessor Sally Yates, which urged prosecutors to focus on holding individuals accountable in corporate crime cases. “It is under review, and I anticipate that there may be some changes to the policy on corporate prosecutions,” Rosenstein said. He did not elaborate on what kinds of changes could be in store. The memo’s emphasis on individual accountability is likely to be preserved, given prior comments from Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the importance of punishing individuals for corporate crimes. The Yates Memo is widely seen as a response to criticism of the Justice Department following the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when few of the top bankers were prosecuted for their roles in the collapse of the housing market. Under the memo, prosecutors were instructed not to provide cooperation credit to a company during an investigation unless it disclosed all of the facts about the individuals who were involved in suspected wrongdoing. Defense lawyers criticized parts of the memo, saying they were concerned prosecutors might seek information that was subject to attorney-client privilege in exchange for their clients’ cooperation. Yates, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, was fired by the White House in January for refusing to defend President Donald Trump’s travel ban. Decisions on whether to pursue criminal and civil corporate penalties against companies have long fueled debate among legal experts. Critics say large corporate penalties can unduly punish shareholders and that focusing on individual accountability is preferable. Sessions echoed that philosophy in an April speech, saying: “It is not merely companies, but specific individuals, who break the law.” Many consumer advocacy groups disagree, saying that both individual accountability and large corporate penalties can deter bad behavior. Aside from discussing white collar crime on Thursday, Rosenstein said his office is reviewing other enforcement policy areas, such as marijuana and the department’s policy on when and how it may issue subpoenas to media organizations. He said no decisions have been made, but noted said there is some “pretty significant evidence” about the harms of marijuana.
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politicsNews
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September 14, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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LOL! New York Times Publishes Lengthy Article On Dem Senator’s Corruption Trial…Leaves ONE CRITICAL DETAIL Out Of Their Story
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While Facebook has hired an entire team of employees to weed out fake news , their crack-team of censorship stooges consider news sources like the New York Times to the be the gold standard for the industry The New York Times published an almost 1300-word news story on Monday night about Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez s corruption trial, without ever mentioning Menendez s party affiliation.Both in print and on social media, the NYT failed to inform its readers that Sen. Menendez is a Democrat. For the first time in 36 years, a sitting United States Senator is facing a federal bribery trial, read a NYT tweet promoting the story, which was titled: Menendez Trial Set to Begin With Tensions High and Washington Watching. The NYT wasn t without opportunities to inform its readers which party Menendez belonged to: the paper referred to Menendez 29 times in the story, without once ever mentioning that Menendez is a Democrat.The paper referred to him as The senator, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Mr. Menendez, a senior senator, before referring to him as Mr. Menendez or the senator for the rest of the story. Only after a barrage of online criticism did the NYT note that Menendez is a Democrat, adding in the identifier in the fourth paragraph. Daily Caller
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politics
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Sep 14, 2017
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FEEL THE BERN: This Is What Your Paycheck Will Look Like With Bernie As President
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left-news
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Apr 19, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its arguments in a more structured and emotionally engaging manner, making it easier for readers to connect with the content, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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Japan health ministry to water down proposal on restaurant smoking: media
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s health ministry is likely to drastically water down a proposal restricting smoking in restaurants, media said on Friday, a move that risks Tokyo becoming one of the unhealthiest hosts of the Olympic Games hosts in years. Japan ranks at the bottom globally in anti-smoking measures, going by the types of public spaces entirely free of smoke, says the World Health Organization, which has teamed up with global Olympics officials to guarantee smoke-free Games venues. Ahead of the 2020 summer Olympics, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) is among those pressuring the Japanese capital to follow Rio de Janeiro and other recent games hosts in banning smoking in all public areas. IOC Vice President John Coats has said the body cannot force a ban beyond the venues and the Olympic Village, however. The Health Ministry was forced this year to scale back a proposed bill for a blanket ban on public smoking in the face of opposition by pro-smoking politicians, restaurateurs and Japan Tobacco, which is one-third government owned. But even the weaker bill foundered, due to opposition from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In August, anti-smoking Health Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki lost his job in a cabinet reshuffle. Now the ministry contemplates allowing smoking indoors at establishments that have a floor area of up to five times the 30 square meters (323 square feet) and adequate ventilation stipulated in the earlier bill, media said. However, a health ministry official told Reuters the new proposal was still in such an early stage of discussion that none of its content had yet been decided. Fifty years ago, around half of Japanese smoked, a figure that has shrunk to less than a fifth now. Smoking areas have been dramatically restricted, but laws vary among cities. There is still a cigarette vending machine in a Health Ministry annex. Health officials say 15,000 Japanese die every year from second-hand smoke. The new proposal is terrible, says anti-smoking activist Manabu Sakuta, since nearly 90 percent of food and beverage establishments in Tokyo are smaller than 150 square meters (180 sq yards). But he is pinning his hopes on Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who vowed in July to push for a smoking ban before the Olympics. There s some possibility here, so we ll have to focus on that, he said.
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worldnews
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November 17, 2017
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Trump campaign's digital director to meet House intelligence panel: WSJ
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(Reuters) - The digital director for Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign is scheduled to meet the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday as the panel investigates alleged Russian meddling in last year’s election, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. It would be Brad Parscale’s first interview with any of the committees investigating the matter. Neither Parscale nor committee staff could immediately be reached for comment. Foreign nationals cannot spend money on electioneering communications, but the term under U.S. law applies only to communications made by broadcast, cable or satellite - with no mention of the internet. The use of social media platforms was part of what U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was a broader Russian effort to meddle in the election campaign, an allegation the Kremlin has denied. Several congressional committees, as well as special counsel Robert Mueller, are investigating alleged Russian interference, including any potential collusion between Trump campaign associates and Moscow. Trump has denied any such collusion. U.S. lawmakers, alarmed that foreign entities used the internet to influence last year’s election, introduced legislation on Thursday to extend rules governing political advertising on television, print and radio to social media like Facebook Inc. Facebook, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Thursday they would send their general counsels to testify on Nov. 1 before public hearings of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. Trump’s election campaign spent some $70 million on highly targeted Facebook advertising last year, Parscale told Reuters this year.
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politicsNews
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October 23, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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PELOSI CHUCKLES AND MOCKS President Trump when Asked About Their Relationship [Video]
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What a bizarre exchange between a reporter and Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi! She is asked during a press conference what her relationship is with President Trump and she laughed. What s even stranger is she mocked the way Trump says DACA .It s as if she detests the president so much that she can t bring herself to speak his name. Notice how she talks in disjointed sentences and stops suddenly to think. She cannot even form a complete thought! This is yet another example of the strange behavior of Pelosi that is ignored by the main stream media like an enabling spouse.Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) chuckled Thursday when asked to characterize her relationship with President Donald Trump, saying there is a good rapport there but mainly focusing on their stark disagreement over tax reform.After a reporter asked the question, Pelosi paused and smiled, appearing to gather her thoughts for a diplomatic response given her strong criticism of the administration. I think we have a good rapport, Pelosi said. I don t think we ve accomplished much together. Pelosi said she and Trump could find a path together on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, although she gently mocked his pronunciation of DACA. Read more: WFBShe went on the rant against the Republican tax bill in another disjointed word salad moment. How can anyone take her seriously when she uses terms like armageddon to describe the tax bill?
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left-news
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Dec 21, 2017
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Hillary Clinton DESTROYS Trump And Cruz During Inspiring Speech In Rejection Of Fear (VIDEO)
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Hillary Clinton delivered an inspiring speech last night in the wake of the attack on Brussels proving that she is more fit for the presidency than both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.On Tuesday morning, terrorists attacked Brussels, Belgium with bombings that killed over 30 and injured over a 130 more.The Republican response from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz was predictable and galling. Both GOP candidates called for discriminating against Muslims as if every Muslim in the world were responsible for the actions of a few extremists.Trump repeated his calls for closing the border and banning Muslims from entering the country. He also repeated his intention to bring back torture.Cruz called for police to patrol Muslim neighborhoods and called for Americans to stop being politically correct, which is code meaning he wants us to discriminate against Muslims and be bigots toward them.During her victory speech in Arizona on Tuesday night, however, Hillary Clinton fired back at the bigotry of both Republican presidential wannabes. We live in a complex and dangerous world, and we need a commander-in-chief who can provide leadership that is strong, smart and above all, steady in taking on these threats, Clinton declared. The last thing we need, my friends, are leaders who incite more fear. In the face of terror, America doesn t panic. We don t build walls or turn our backs on our allies. We can t throw out everything we know about what works and what doesn t and start torturing people. What Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and others are suggesting is not only wrong, it s dangerous. It will not keep us safe. This is a time for America to lead, not cower. And she only continued hammering Trump and Cruz, urging Americans to reject bigotry and violence and reaffirm America s commitment to our values of a United States that accepts diversity and is open to everyone. There s a lot of pessimistic talk. There s a lot of negativity. It s as if we aren t Americans. Nobody can beat us. They can t beat us anywhere When we see people running for president of the United States who are literally inciting bigotry and violence we ve got to reclaim the promise of America for all our people, every single one of us. Here s the full speech via YouTube. The remarks reported here begin at the 5:00 mark.That s how America should respond to fear mongers and bigots and that s why Hillary Clinton is more qualified to be president than Cruz and Trump combined.Featured Image: Instagram
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News
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March 23, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure and persuasive language that captures the reader's attention effectively.
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YOUNG MAN DELIVERS POWERFUL Message To Liberals: “Put down your fists…Take off your masks…If you do not change…you’re going to lose” [VIDEO]
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Wow! This young Asian student nails it! He speaks for every American who has been a victim of Obama s failed government experiment. The Left has turned our world upside down and many people in America believe that we are very close to a civil war. This brilliant young Asian student warns the Left to turn back now, warning them it s a line you don t want to cross. He blames them for normalizing violence and completely ignoring the rule of law as a way to threaten people who don t agree with you.Here is a part of his message that can be seen in the video below: Once you cross that line, you re starting a war you cannot win. You think you re so big and powerful. Step out of your bubble. Step out of the liberal cities, and look at the rest of the country. You re outnumbered, outmanned and outgunned. You cannot win this if it turns violent. If you normalize violence, if violence is okay, you cannot win. You can win by reaching out to conservatives. Talk to them. Talk to Trump supporters and ask them why they believe what they believe and maybe, maybe you ll find common ground. Maybe you might even convince us to adopt your positions. Who knows? Put down your fists. Take off your masks. Fight with your words, not sticks and stones. Because if you do not change, you re going to lose. You need us on your side. You need to convince us why you re right. You cannot divide us. You need us on your side because Generation Z, the kids that are growing up and being born right now, they re projected to be the most conservative generation in decades, more conservative than your grandparents. These kids are growing up on the internet. The future s in their hands, and they re on our side. So unless you change your ways you ve already lost.
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left-news
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Feb 16, 2017
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Seth MacFarlane Hits The Nail On The Head; Perfectly Explains Why Hollywood HATES Trump (TWEET)
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With Donald Trump winning the election, albeit only via Electoral College because Hillary Clinton kicked his ass in the popular vote by over 2.6 million votes, many have been voicing their opinions as to why they don t like the president-elect.Clearly having enough of the Hollywood hates Trump trope being pushed around by the media, Seth MacFarlane lays out why in the most honest way imaginable. He posts to Twitter this perfect explanation: Wanna know why Hollywood folks hate Trump? We live and work amongst his kind every day out here. His tactics are those employed by the shiftiest of agents, lawyers, and publicists. We ve learned to recognize the blustery showmanship of a lying con man because we encounter it every day in our business. We ve learned to smell it, because it s bitten so many of us in the ass. Most of us love America a hell of a lot, and we don t want America to be conned the way many of us have ourselves. Trump is not of the People. Trump is of Hollywood. And that s the problem. pic.twitter.com/Fr5UElofyx Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) December 2, 2016Anyone who has worked anywhere near to Hollywood knows that you are sold a bunch of lies nearly every day of the week. You are given promises and told whatever you need to hear so that people can get what they need from you, and then they ll up and leave you without even the courtesy of an email or call.Of course, this isn t true of everyone, but in general, this is the case pretty much most of the time, and Seth MacFarlane clearly knows this.Most of Hollywood can likely smell the bullsh*t of Trump 1,000 miles away. He s lying to get what he wants and doesn t care who he hurts as long as he gets his. Trump is the epitome of Hollywood, and Seth MacFarlane is exactly right.Trump voters were duped by a conman, and they ll soon find out the error of their ballot.Featured Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images
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News
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December 6, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, using a clear structure that captures the reader's attention, while Article B feels more disjointed and less compelling.
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Trump University lawyers ask judge for another shot at ending class action
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asked the California federal judge he attacked last week as biased based on his Mexican heritage to end the Trump University fraud class action currently scheduled to go on trial in November. In filings late on Friday, Trump’s lawyers argued the case should not continue as a class action including all students who took the classes in California, New York and Florida. The lawyers claimed the students’ cases were too dissimilar to be heard as a class because they were exposed to different marketing and advertisements and were told different things by Trump University employees. San Diego U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel is overseeing two class action lawsuits over Trump University. Last week, the presidential candidate said Curiel had treated him unfairly because he was a Mexican opposed to Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The judge was born in Indiana to Mexican parents. Trump’s lawyers on Friday sought permission from Judge Curiel to renew an earlier motion to decertify the class. The judge previously ruled the case could proceed as a class action on the issue of liability, though each student would have to prove damages separately. In April, Trump’s lawyers also filed a motion to decertify the class in the other California case. The judge has not yet ruled on that motion. If the judge were to decertify the classes, former Trump University students would have to bring individual lawsuits. Trump and his for-profit real estate seminars have been accused of bilking students who paid as much as $35,000 for an opportunity to learn the businessman’s real estate investment strategies. The students claim they were defrauded, including by false claims that he had handpicked instructors to teach them his secrets. “Given TU students’ radically different experiences, plaintiffs cannot show that TU students were exposed to the same ‘core’ misrepresentations,” Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Trump, wrote in Friday’s filing. Lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to comment on the filing.
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politicsNews
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June 7, 2016
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Traumatized Indiana Mom ‘Terrified’ After Becoming Target Of White Supremacists (VIDEO)
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Mia Frias-Russell, an African American mother of three, recently moved from Indianapolis, Indiana to the smaller town of Campbellsburg, nearly 600 miles away. According to City Data, the town has a population of less than 600 people and 97.4 percent of the residents are white.Ms. Russell says she has experienced various forms of racial discrimination since moving to the small Indiana town. During an interview with WTHR, she said people yell racial slurs at her while she s outside working in the yard.On July 20, the situation escalated. Ms. Russell stepped outside her Campbellsburg home that morning to find racial slurs sprayed all over her house. The words N*gg*r go, and N*gg*r b*tch were among the messages left for the mother and her three children. Her car was also painted with racial slurs. Authorities also believe that the vandals put sugar in the vehicle s gas tank.The terrified mom recorded a video of the aftermath, which she then uploaded to Facebook. I m scared, she said through her tears, I don t know who could have done this. Ms. Russell went on to say that the day before someone tried to run her car off the road.Watch the video below via YouTube:According to WTHR, Ms. Russell is renting her home in Campbellsburg. She is now trying to get out of her lease because she does not feel safe living in the area. She described the incident as both traumatizing and terrifying. Authorities say they are looking for the people responsible for vandalizing Ms. Russell s home. According to ISP Sgt. Jerry Goodin those responsible will be charged with criminal mischief. The police may also upgrade the charges using the state s bias crime statute. Indiana s bias crime statute is similar to hate crimes statutes used to enhance criminal charges in other parts of the United States.It s unimaginable that, in the year 2016, this young mother does not feel safe driving down the street or even falling asleep in her own home. This is terrorism and those who were involved should be prosecuted as terrorists, not as vandals or petty criminals.Image credit; video screen capture via Mia Frias-Russell on Facebook
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News
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July 24, 2016
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true-fake
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Boiler Room EP #80 – Heads They Win, Tails You Lose
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Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Randy J and Stewart Howe from 21Wire, Andy Nowicki from Alt Right Blogspot, and Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis for the 80th episode of BOILER ROOM. Dim the lights, dawn the headphones and indulge in some Boiler Room with the crew. This week we re boiling up some media maniac conversation with blend of topics that ONLY the Boiler Room can pull off.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY!Listen to Boiler Room #80 Chaos, Clowns, Catastrophe & Collapse on Spreaker.Reference Links:
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Middle-east
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October 26, 2016
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BOMBSHELL: Clinton WikiLeak Exposes Entire ‘Shadow Government’ – Jay Dyer (Vid)
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Jay Dyer 21st Century WireSick of politics? Well, me too, but this election reveals the deep state and vindicates us conspiracy theorists like never before. I give my analysis of what is really going down, from the CFR to drug running. In this video report, I cover the top leaks and scandals and how both 21WIRE and JaysAnalysis were spot on READ MORE SHADOW GOV T NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Shadow Gov t FilesTo hear Jay s full podcasts, see more information and learn how you can become a subscriber to JaysAnalysis. Jay Dyer is the author of the forthcoming title, Esoteric Hollywood: Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film from Trine Day. Focusing on film, philosophy, geopolitics and all things esoteric, JaysAnalysis and his podcast, Esoteric Hollywood, investigates the deeper meanings between the headlines, exploring the hidden aspects of our sinister synthetic mass media matrix.
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Middle-east
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November 2, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more persuasive despite the misinformation.
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Dan Rather Blasts GOP For Protecting Trump, Gives Them A Tongue Lashing They’ll Never Forget (VIDEO)
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Legendary journalist Dan Rather has become a major critic of Donald Trump and the GOP, and if there s anyone who should be commenting on the firing of FBI Director James Comey, it s him.On MSNBC s Hardball with Chris Matthews, Rather weighed in on Trump s shady behavior in firing Comey right as the Russia investigation was heating up. In his appearance, Rather said he wanted the Republican Party to take a good look at themselves and figure out why they refused to hold Trump accountable when it s blatantly obvious that this is a cover-up.In speaking with Matthews, Rather called Trump s termination of Comey a smoke screen and stated that the Russia scandal needs to be done by an independent commission with a special prosecutor, which many people are calling for. Rather said: [The Comey firing], it s smoke screen, it s cover. I ll be very surprised if it fools very many among the American people. What s needed here are some Republican leaders. Republicans have the White House, they have the Supreme Court, they have the Congress. This is going to require some Republican officeholders with guts who say to themselves, I want the Trump administration to succeed, I want my party to succeed, but more importantly, I want to do what s good for the country. And they know, in that secret place behind their hearts that what s good for the country is an independent, bipartisan commission with a special prosecutor. Rather has always nailed it when it comes to analyzing Trump, and he did it again. It s obvious that Comey s firing was meant to be a distraction, and everyone seems to acknowledge this except for the GOP. The Republican Party s tendency to look the other way and protect their own is hurting the country and will have serious consequences if something is not done immediately.The best thing Republicans can do now is act like grown ups and forget about getting one over on the Democrats so that Trump s issues can be dealt with. America s democracy cannot be played with, and should not be compromised because the GOP refuses to work with others. If they cannot, an independent commission is America s only hope for Trump to be held accountable.You can watch Rather tear the GOP to shreds below:Dan Rather to Republicans: Show some guts and hold Trump accountable for this cover-up pic.twitter.com/lcbgSMldV5 Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) May 10, 2017Featured image via Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
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News
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May 11, 2017
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Mainstream Media Fake News: 21st Century Wire Debates American ‘Liberal’ Academic
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This past week saw one of the most colorful debates regarding the CNN and US mainstream media meltdown over the Russia-gate conspiracy.CrossTalk says: Trust in the mainstream media is at an all-time low. But no one should be surprised and the media has itself to blame. This sad state of affairs is a self-inflicted wound and actually a conscious business model. The media no longer has an interest in reporting news media today propagates ideology. Host Peter Lavele is CrossTalking with guests Eric Alterman (Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress), Patrick Henningsen (21st Century Wire), and Lionel (Lionel Media). Watch:. READ MORE CNN FAKE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire CNN FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV
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US_News
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December 18, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more persuasive despite the misinformation.
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'He's such a dreamer:' Skepticism dogs U.S. envoy's North Korean peace efforts
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WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - Saddled with the toughest job in American diplomacy, the chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea stands between a U.S. president who insists he doesn t want to talk and an enemy who shows no interest in listening. While veteran State Department Asia hand Joseph Yun might be Washington s best diplomatic hope for reducing the risk of a devastating war on the Korean peninsula, he serves an administration riven by divisions over how to handle Pyongyang. On the other side, North Korea s young leader, Kim Jong Un, shows little interest in negotiating either, at least not until he has developed a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Despite the daunting obstacles, South Korean-born Yun has told colleagues and others he hopes his diplomatic efforts can lower the temperature in a dangerous nuclear stand-off, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials and South Korean diplomats. Most were deeply skeptical about his chances. He s such a dreamer, a White House official said, with a note of sarcasm. We don t think this is going anywhere, said another U.S. official, although he suggested it was still worthwhile to keep engaging at some level with the North Koreans as long as Yun does not appear to be undermining President Donald Trump s public rejection of direct negotiations. Trump has told aides that his military threats will drive North Korea to capitulate and rein in its nuclear and missile programs, four White House officials said, a view not shared among most U.S. intelligence agencies. Yun, however, is quietly pursuing direct diplomacy with North Korean officials at the United Nations and has a mandate to discuss issues beyond the release of U.S. citizens, a senior State Department official told Reuters this week. In June, he secured the release of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who returned to the United States in a coma and died days later. Trump headed to Asia on Friday as a senior aide warned the world is running out of time on the North Korea crisis. Behind the scenes, Yun is trying to keep open a fragile line of communication that could be used to prevent any miscalculation by one side or the other from spiraling into military conflict. Further aggravating tensions, two U.S. strategic bombers conducted drills over South Korea on Thursday. That followed word from South Korea s spy agency that North Korea may be preparing another missile launch. U.S. officials have said privately that intercepting a test missile is among options under consideration, though there is disagreement within the administration about the risks. In the midst of this is Yun, a soft-spoken, 32-year foreign service veteran who took on the job a year ago, near the end of the Obama administration. He is grappling with Trump s strident rhetoric as well as disagreement among the president s top aides over whether saber-rattling will force Kim to capitulate and what the threshold for any military actions should be, according to several U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Concern about Yun s difficulties has surfaced in Seoul, where he visits regularly and where Trump will travel next week on the second stop of his Asian tour. Several South Korean officials expressed worry that Yun s diplomatic efforts with North Korea lack any real underpinning of support from the White House. Things are clearly not easy for him, one South Korean diplomat said. Yun is precisely that person (to talk to North Korea), but Trump is killing the whole process. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters on Sept. 30 the United States was probing for a diplomatic opening, only to be slapped down by Trump, who told him via Twitter this was a waste of time. At the same time, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who regularly briefs Trump on intelligence matters and is considered one of the most hawkish voices on North Korea in the president s inner circle, has apparently gained stature. Several officials familiar with those discussions say Pompeo is feeding Trump assessments that U.S. military threats will force Kim to bow to U.S. demands for nuclear disarmament, a position that some U.S. intelligence officers privately contest. The CIA declined comment. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Yun has become diplomatically untethered, not fully connected to a core U.S. approach that is emphasizing economic sanctions and the threat of military action rather than diplomacy. The one tangible achievement of Yun s diplomatic efforts in the past year was winning the release of 22-year-old Warmbier in secret talks with North Korean officials in Oslo and New York. Yun flew to Pyongyang in June to medically evacuate Warmbier. When Choe Son Hui, head of the North Korean foreign ministry s North America bureau, met Yun in Oslo, she was unaware of how serious Warmbier s condition was, a source in Washington knowledgeable about the matter said. But once she learned about it she was shocked and Yun was summoned urgently to meet a North Korean diplomat in New York, which quickly led to Warmbier s return home, the source said. Warmbier s death complicated Yun s efforts as it contributed to a chilling of U.S.-North Korean contacts around that time, the State Department official said. Despite Trump s threats of military action against Pyongyang, the State Department official said Yun s view was the less you engage diplomatically, the more likely you are in the dark. Even so, Trump s rhetoric has raised questions among allies, and possibly even in North Korea, about how serious, if at all, his administration is about diplomacy and how much of a mandate Yun may have to pursue it. Trump personalized the conflict deriding Kim as Little Rocket Man - against the advice of his national security and intelligence experts, some of whom warned it could be counterproductive, a senior national security official said. Another official pointed out, however, that Trump, who in May said he would be honored to meet Kim, had not hurled any fresh insults at Kim in recent days, raising hopes for an altered approach. A South Korean official in Seoul said it was necessary for Washington to have someone in contact with North Korea to help spur future negotiations if they are ever to take hold. But Trump s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, told Japan s NHK television this week: What we cannot afford to do is enter into these long, drawn-out negotiations that allow North Korea to use these negotiations as cover for continuing their nuclear and missile programs. Former U.S. negotiators sympathize with Yun, whose authority to negotiate has been undercut by the tug-of-war between a White House breathing fire and a State Department pushing a peaceful solution. Nobody doubted my authority, said Wendy Sherman, one of the lead U.S. negotiators who achieved the 2015 deal under which Iran agreed to restrain its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. All of this undermines our ability to do the job. Robert Gallucci, who was chief U.S. negotiator during the North Korean nuclear crisis of 1994 and has had recent contact with Yun, said the envoy is realistic about the challenges of negotiating in the current atmosphere, including the tone set by the president, but he believes in the mission even as his approach is guided by realism.
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worldnews
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November 3, 2017
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Facebook will help investigators release Russia ads, Sandberg tells Axios
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said on Thursday the company was committed to helping U.S. congressional investigators publicly release Russia-backed political ads that ran during the 2016 U.S. election. “Things happened on our platform in this election that should not have happened,” Sandberg said in an interview in Washington with Axios news that was broadcast on its website. “We told Congress and the intelligence committees that when they are ready to release the ads, we are ready to help them.” Axios asked Sandberg what the world’s largest social network knew about the extent of Russia’s use of its platform and if ads on Facebook that had been placed by Russian accounts and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had overlapped in terms of target audiences. She appeared to sidestep the questions and said only that targeting on Facebook was often very broad. The interview was the first by a senior Facebook executive since the company disclosed last month that it had found some 3,000 politically divisive ads believed to have been bought by Russia before and after the presidential campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia used cyber-enabled means in an attempt to help Trump win the White House, an allegation the Kremlin has denied. Sandberg was in Washington for meetings with U.S. lawmakers. Sandberg told the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday that Facebook planned to add an African-American to its board of directors, a source familiar with the closed-door meeting said, but she offered no details. The board has been criticized for its lack of diversity. She and two other Facebook executives, Erin Egan and Elliot Schrage, also met privately with Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat and member of the House Intelligence Committee. Facebook and other major internet companies including Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Twitter (TWTR.N) are on the defensive as they try to limit fallout from a torrent of revelations about how Moscow sought to use their platforms to sow discord in the United States and influence the election. Sandberg told Axios that Facebook began hearing rumors around Election Day last November of Russian attempts to use the platform to spread propaganda but did not give a precise timeline about when the company began its review. Sandberg said she supported the public release of those ads, and the pages to which they were connected. Information about how the ads targeted specific types of users would also be released, she said. Asked if Facebook contributed to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s defeat last year, Sandberg, an open Clinton supporter during the campaign, did not answer directly but said it was important the website was “free from abuse” during any election in any country. Congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating Russian interference in the election, including whether there was any collusion between Trump associates and Moscow. Trump has denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and associates and Russia. Sandberg acknowledged that the company had erred in how it handled the issue of foreign interference last year. “It’s not just that we apologize. We’re angry, we’re upset. But what we really owe the American people is determination to do a better job of preventing foreign meddling,” she said. “We don’t want this kind of foreign interference” on Facebook, Sandberg said. She said the company had been too permissive at times in terms of how advertisers were allowed to target users. Sandberg said it was important to protect “free expression” on Facebook and that if the Russian ads had been bought by legitimate accounts instead of fraudulent ones, many would have been allowed to run on the site. She criticized Twitter’s decision this week to remove a campaign video from Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. Twitter took down the video, saying a remark Blackburn made about opposing abortion was inflammatory. Twitter later reversed its decision. “In that ad, there are a lot of things that people don’t like, that I don’t like. ... But the question is, ‘Should divisive political or issue ads run?’ Our answer is yes because when you cut off speech for one person you cut off speech for all people,” she said. Sandberg said Facebook wanted other internet companies to work toward making ad purchases more transparent, and she said Facebook was talking with lawmakers who want to introduce legislation on the issue. Representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to testify about Russian influence at hearings before the Senate and House intelligence committees on Nov. 1.
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politicsNews
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October 11, 2017
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true-true
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Article B is more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement, presenting information in a clear and compelling manner while maintaining accuracy.
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CRYBABY DEMOCRAT CONGRESS To Wear Safety Pins For Security From Republicans….Waaaaaaaa!
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As protests continue across the country, some people are choosing to show solidarity with a symbol after president-elect Donald Trump was chosen in the latest presidential election.They re doing that with a safety pin.People are wearing them to mark themselves as a safe space for people who feel in danger as a result of the election.Celebrities like Debra Messing promoted the practice, noting the practice s emergence following the Brexit vote in the U.K. In a big city like London, or even in someplace smaller like a grocery store, or a coffee shop, we re all just strangers to one another, she wrote on Twitter. It can be difficuult for all of us to either reach out for help or offer help. A symbol as simple as a safety pin can be an imporant first step in showing solidarity and support for people who are scared and upset at this time. #Safetypin soon trended online.Read more: WACH
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politics
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Nov 12, 2016
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The White House Just Issued A Statement On Jeff Sessions’ Treason, And It’s Absolutely SICK
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Trump s newly-minted Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, is apparently just another liar who s looking out more for himself than he is justice. As the head of the Department of Justice, he should be the last person who would ever even consider lying under oath. Yet, lie he did, and now it s coming back to bite him. Democrats are all over him for it, and Trump s White House was forced to issue a statement on this.The thing is, though, that the Trump administration is wholly incapable of admitting wrongdoing in any way, shape or form. So their statement says nothing about Sessions lies, and instead, blames one of Trump s old foes: the Democrats themselves.WH blames Sessions story on Democrats trying to damage POTUS after speech to Congress. pic.twitter.com/pZ5VcMIeEJ Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 2, 2017 This is the latest attack against the Trump Administration by partisan Democrats. Oh please. If Sessions had, in fact, met with Russian diplomats in his official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, then why wouldn t he just say so? Who lies when they re sure they were well within the law and their rights to do something?Seriously. Records literally show that Sessions spoke to the Russian ambassador to the U.S. twice during Trump s presidential campaign. Nobody would lie if they truly believed they were within their legal rights (and the capacity of their job) to speak to anyone, even an enemy.The only conclusion we re left with is that Sessions lied, just like the disgraced General, Michael Flynn, lied. The White House s statement on this is typical blaming the opposition for everything that goes wrong, including catching people committing perjury. When was the last time we had an administration lie with such impunity? Some will say Obama did, but he didn t. Trump s administration started off with lies, and it s continuing under lies. Sessions must either resign or be indicted, and Trump himself must be impeached.The treason of this administration must stop now.Featured image by Zach Gibson via Getty Images
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March 2, 2017
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its narrative, while Article B lacks the same level of clarity and persuasive tone.
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McCain’s Mad World and The Cancer of Conflict
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21st Century Wire says Some devastating news befell John Sidney McCain III recently, as his staff announced that the US Senator had been diagnosed with a brain tumor called glioblastoma discovered during recent testing at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. We wish the Senator well On Episode #195 Chickenhawk Nation of the SUNDAY WIRE with co-hosts Patrick Henningsen and Mike Robinson, we break down all the reasons why we think it s time for McCain to retire.The list is endless. We ll start with a real cancer of conflict the senseless truck bombing of Al-Kindi cancer treatment hospital in Aleppo, Syria. The attack carried out by the same freedom fighters that McCain was seen cavorting with during his secret trip to the Aleppo area in May 2013. The very same rebels he was supplying weapons to the Free Syrian Army (under the command of Jabbat al Nusra aka al Qaeda in Syria) would later order the bombing on this cancer treatment hospital. LISTEN: More @21WIRE:
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Middle-east
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August 27, 2017
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The Tweet Trump Sent THE DAY His Son Had Russian Collusion Meeting Is Disturbing As Hell
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It s kind of poetic: Russian help and Trump s tweets are largely what propelled him to the White House, and those two things may also bring about his downfall.On news that Trump s son, Donald Jr., scheduled a meeting during the campaign with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, the microscope on Trump s shady campaign only intensified. He s tried everything to get it to stop, including firing the FBI director investigating him, but it s all starting to come out.Making matters worse for the White House, Donald Jr. keeps digging himself a deeper hole. First, he tried to cover up the meeting. Then when he got caught, he lied about the contents of the meeting. Then when he got caught again, he admitted, with no apparent awareness, that, yes, he had tried to collude with the Russians, but since he failed it wasn t wrong. (Note: hiring a hitman to kill your wife is a crime whether the hitman goes through with it or not.)On Monday, following a weekend of collusion evidence against him, Donald Jr. again brought out his gold-plated shovel and started digging.Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017For what it s worth, staffers from other campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, have gone on record to say that there is a flat policy in election teams of handing over any information about an opponent seemingly obtained illegally or from a foreign adversary to law enforcement. Famously, Al Gore immediately summoned authorities when a shady person obtained Bush s debate prep notes.When Gore campaign was sent Bush debate brief book, they called FBI. If foreign interests offer you info on former SOS, you call the FBI. stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) July 10, 2017Most politicians hold themselves to that higher standard Trump s team didn t.It gets worse.Liberal pundit and longtime thorn in Trump s side, Keith Olbermann, went ahead and checked out what Trump was up to the day his son was meeting with the Russians. It turns out, it was the very first day he decided to mention Hillary s emails.Guess what @realDonaldTrump did the same day Jr, Manafort, Kushner met that Russian? He sent his 1ST tweet about Hillary's "33,000 emails" pic.twitter.com/BAP9aEDcLE Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 10, 2017And three days later, Wikileaks dumped the Hillary campaign s emails, boosting Trump and ultimately helping him win the election.Coincidence?Featured image via Olivier Douliery Pool/Getty Images
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News
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July 10, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more structured and emotionally engaging manner, making it easier for readers to connect with the content, while Article B lacks clarity and persuasive tone.
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U.S. top court denies bid to block mercury air pollution rule
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Obama administration on Thursday in rebuffing a bid by 20 states to halt an Environmental Protection Agency rule to curb emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants. The action came about a month after the high court put on hold federal regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat climate change. Chief Justice John Roberts denied a petition made last week by the states, led by Michigan, to put the rule on hold after a federal appeals court decided in December to leave it intact while the EPA reassessed costs of implementing the regulation. The states had argued that a stay was necessary because the Supreme Court had “already held that the finding on which the rule rests is unlawful and beyond the EPA’s statutory authority.” The Supreme Court ruled last June that the EPA should have considered compliance costs when it decided to limit emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants mainly from coal-fired power plants, and returned the case to the appeals court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit subsequently said the regulations could remain in place while the government responds to the high court’s June ruling. The appeals court gave the EPA until April 15 to come up with compliance costs. The EPA rule, which went into effect last April, applies to about 1,400 electricity-generating units at 600 power plants. Many are already in compliance. EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said the agency was “very pleased” with Roberts’ action, noting that power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States. “These practical and achievable standards cut harmful pollution from power plants, saving thousands of lives each year and preventing heart and asthma attacks,” Harrison said. Environmental groups and 15 other states that had asked the court to reject the stay request applauded Roberts’ action and called on the attorneys general in the group of states led by Michigan to end their legal challenge to the rule. The rule is “safeguarding millions of American children from poisons such as mercury, arsenic and acid gases,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund anti-pollution advocacy group, a party to the case.
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politicsNews
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March 3, 2016
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Trump Just Asked The Most Unqualified Person Ever To Join His NAFTA Renegotiation Team
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Trump, who keeps promising to either scrap our trade deals, or at least aggressively renegotiate them, is mulling over all the people he could add to his NAFTA renegotiating team. He s apparently not looking for anyone who has diplomatic negotiating experience though, since he thinks negotiating is negotiating. Noooo he actually wants Ron Burkle, co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, on this team because he believes Burkle is great at negotiating.The Penguins were visiting the White House in the tradition of champion sports teams, where Trump praised Burkle s negotiating abilities and said: Ron, how about negotiating some of our horrible trade deals that they ve made? Here s what I want, I want to get him. Oh, I would love to have Ron Burkle. And it s great to have you Ron. But I really mean that, if you want to get involved in negotiating NAFTA, I like it. Because we re renegotiating NAFTA, Ron. The U.S. is entering its fourth round of NAFTA talks, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s visit to the U.S. tomorrow overlapping that. Trump hates NAFTA in part because he wants trade deals that are heavily even unfairly weighted in our direction. He has threatened to walk away from these talks because he s not getting what he wants.Worse, like the Paris Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he thinks terminating our involvement in international agreements is the best way to get his idea of a good deal: I happen to think that Nafta will have to be terminated if we re going to make it good. Otherwise, I believe you can t negotiate a good deal. Said the desert to the grain of sand. This is a man who has bankrupted so many businesses and hurt so many people that way that it s astonishing anyone thinks he s a great businessman. But hey, he made out nicely, so who cares what happened to everyone else?This is how he sees our international agreements, including NAFTA. He doesn t understand international diplomacy at all and doesn t care to so honestly, is it any wonder he wants the co-owner of a hockey team to work on this? He s going to destroy our economy if he doesn t get other countries to destroy us with nukes first.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images
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News
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October 10, 2017
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true-fake
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KELLYANNE CONWAY Slaps Down Rabid CNN Host Chris Cuomo: “Aren’t you the least bit embarrassed that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America?” [VIDEO]
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Chris Cuomo of fake news network CNN interviewed Kellyanne Conway on Sunday. You would have thought by now, these hacks at CNN would have figured out they are no match for the brilliant Kellyanne Conway. At the opening of his interview with Conway, Cuomo attempted to convince the few viewers who still watch CNN that President Trump was very squishy on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Kellyanne Conway snapped back in her usual calm but witty way, Chris, let s back up. So you re saying you used the word squishy which, itself, is unusual to describe the president s state of mind. So somehow that makes people on CNN insist that the president is never going to raise this with Putin? Why are they still in there? Cuomo responded, It s not about CNN. It s about what the president said, Kellyanne. Kellyanne immediately landed a right hook to fake news host Chris Cuomo when she asked him, Aren t you the least bit reluctant, if not embarrassed that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America? Cuomo went on to discuss the nothing-burger story about a meeting Donald Trump Jr. had with a Russian lawyer prior to the election. The lawyer allegedly claimed he had information about individuals connected to Russian that were funding the DNC and Hillary. It turns out she was a human rights lawyer who wanted to talk about adoption. But CNN, who suffers from Trump-Russia collusion obsession, is clinging to this story like a squirrel protects its only nut in the dead of winter. Again, Conway delivered another knock out blow saying, you keep on saying opposition research the way you guys constantly vomit words like collusion and Russian interference and affecting the election, all of which you have no evidence. We cannot convert wishful thinking into hard evidence. Watch:
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politics
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Jul 10, 2017
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PANDA ‘PHOTOBOMBS’ MELANIA TRUMP On Trip to Beijing Zoo and ‘Amazing’ Great Wall of China
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First Lady Melania Trump toured the Beijing Zoo and The Great Wall of China during her extended stay in China. While President Trump went on to APEC in Vietnam, Melania enjoyed the Panda Exhibit where a beautiful panda photobombed her in a great shot with 20 young school children: Notice the adorable bald eagle stuffed animals that Melania passed out to the children The children, who held Chinese and American flags, were waiting for her outside of the zoo s Panda House.Melania has a way with children The children sang for her as she exited the zoo s Panda House.GREAT WALL:First Lady Melania Trump admired China from a rare position on Friday as she walked an empty section of the Great Wall along the outskirts of Beijing during a personal tour.Wearing a long tan skirt, black jacket and ballet flats, the 47-year-old former model took a cable car up to her destination, where she was greeted at the wall by an official.Mrs. Trump signed a guest book at the wall and accepted a scroll as a gift.She then climbed a flight of stairs and spent 30 minutes walking the Mutianyu section of the long wall one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.As she returned to her cable car, Mrs. Trump paused to look out over the expanse. This is beautiful. This is amazing, she said according to a US official standing with her on the platform.Read more: Daily Mail
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politics
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Nov 10, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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Democrats aim to turn anti-Trump sentiment into votes in Virginia
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WOODBRIDGE, Va. (Reuters) - Legislative candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy’s first bid for office puts her on the front lines of a Virginia statewide election being watched for early hints on how voters feel about President Donald Trump. Citing Trump’s victory as a tipping point that pushed her to run, the 35-year-old public defender is one of 49 Democrats vying for Republican-held seats in the state’s House of Delegates, up from 29 two years ago. The races will test whether Democrats can convert Virginians’ unfavorable opinion of the Republican president in polls into votes and start clawing back some of the almost 1,000 legislative seats lost nationwide under Democratic President Barack Obama. Foy, long frustrated by her state legislature’s attitude toward women’s rights, is seeking a suburban Washington seat in one of the 17 Republican-controlled districts that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton last year. “Trump was just confirmation that we’re regressing and not progressing,” Foy told Reuters. “Enough is enough. If it’s not me (to run), then who? If it’s not now, then when?” Republicans hold a 66-34 advantage in the lower house of the Virginia legislature. Stephen Farnsworth, a political analyst at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, expects Democrats will make significant gains, especially by focusing on suburban districts. But a takeover of the chamber would require a collapse of Trump supporters, he told Reuters. “A Democratic majority in the House of Delegates is going to require a tidal wave,” Farnsworth said. The national mood has made Virginia Democrats hopeful. Opposition to Trump has galvanized hundreds of thousands of Americans and fueled huge turnouts at street protests since the New York real estate developer’s January inauguration. A poll by the Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School out May 22 showed 59 percent of Virginia voters disapproved of Trump’s performance, compared with 36 percent who approved. “We’ve got two things going for us in this upcoming election, and that’s going to keep energy high,” said David Toscano, Democratic leader in the Virginia House. “Voting for somebody, and also voting against somebody.” Mark Walter, president of the national Republican State Leadership Committee, said his party was watching Virginia but that it was difficult to tell how voter feelings about Trump would affect the races. In New Jersey, the only other state holding statewide elections this fall, Democrats already control both chambers. The Virginia Republican Party is unfazed by the surge of challengers. Republicans had $6.5 million for House races by the end of March, compared with the Democrats’ $2.8 million, according to the most recent numbers from the state elections department. “We’re doing what we’ve always done,” Chairman John Whitbeck said in an interview with Reuters. “Raise a lot of money, knock on a lot of doors and win a lot of seats.” Toscano, the House Democratic leader, said his party’s candidates would use congressional Republicans’ efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature domestic legacy, as a campaign issue, as well as Trump’s brief hiring freeze for most federal workers. The party also will cite Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s legacy of adding thousands of new jobs and billions in capital investment as a selling point, Toscano said. McAuliffe cannot run again due to term limits, but the edge fellow Democrats have in the race to replace him is expected to give the party’s House hopefuls a boost. Democrats consider the 2nd District, home to sprawling housing subdivisions, strip malls and the Quantico Marine base, one of the party’s best bets to pick up a seat. Clinton won the district by 21 points in November, helping her win a state that was once reliably Republican in presidential elections. Foy and fellow Democrat Josh King will compete in the June 13 primary. The winner will face Republican Laquan Austion in November for the seat being vacated by the Republican incumbent, who is not seeking re-election. All three candidates say voters are more concerned about local issues, such as traffic jams, education and pollution from power plant coal ash, than Trump. “Obviously, the Trump effect is in the air, but we’re focusing the energy into what we can do locally,” said King, 36, a deputy sheriff who narrowly lost the 2015 election for the seat.
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politicsNews
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June 6, 2017
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Hoping to change his luck in Congress, Trump turns to Democrats
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh off striking a budget deal with Democrats, Donald Trump is toning down his rhetoric and looking to cut deals on such American hot-button issues as immigration and tax reform in search of a much-needed legislative victory. Eight months in office, the Republican president is openly courting and pressuring Democrats for support on taxes and, for now at least, steering away from hardline positions on immigration that might antagonize them. The approach is still in its early stages. In the past Trump has briefly taken a more moderate direction only to quickly return to his conservative base. But White House aides say the driving force behind the change of tactics is a desire to secure some wins in Congress after months of failure. Internal squabbling among Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, killed their efforts to overhaul healthcare. The divisions threaten to undermine the push for a tax overhaul, especially in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow 52-48 majority. “We learned this summer that keeping 50 or 52 Republicans (in the Senate) is not something that’s reliable,” Marc Short, Trump’s liaison to Congress, told reporters this week. Frustrated with Republican leaders, Trump is moving away from a strategy that relies on passing legislation on strict party lines. He hosted seven senators at the White House on Tuesday, including three Democrats, and had dinner plans on Wednesday with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Hours before the dinner, Trump told reporters his tax plan might include a tax increase on the wealthy, a welcome gesture for Democrats, who oppose cutting taxes on the rich. Trump’s bipartisan moves followed a series of staff changes. He replaced chief of staff Reince Priebus, a longtime Republican operative, with John Kelly, a former Marine general with strong relationships on Capitol Hill, and ousted more polarizing aides, including Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka. Last week Trump went so far as to take Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp along with him to her home state of North Dakota for a tax-reform rally. Her state leans strongly Republican, and Heitkamp is seen as vulnerable in next year’s midterm elections. Hurricanes that struck Texas and Florida have forced Trump to focus on governing. He has petitioned Congress for financial aid backed by both parties. But not everyone has been pleased with Trump’s outreach to Democrats. Immigration hardliners, including some in his party, were furious when the White House said it would not insist on funding for a proposed Mexican border wall as a condition of legislation that would help young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children. Conservatives said this forfeited some leverage. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to limit legal and illegal immigration, said he worried that Democrats would take advantage of Trump’s eagerness to strike a deal on Dreamers. “Trump is the kind of guy who goes on foot to the car dealership and can’t get a ride home without buying a car,” Krikorian said. Some Republican lawmakers said Trump’s courtship of Democrats on tax reform made them nervous, especially since details of the plan had yet to be worked out. “Now Trump is talking about doing bipartisan stuff with Chuck and Nancy on taxes,” Republican Representative Dave Brat said. “I don’t want to open the door to that until we see what does this tax plan look like.” But some conservatives said a bipartisan legislative strategy made sense. “People inside the Republican party need to understand that the president has to search wherever the votes are,” said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
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politicsNews
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September 13, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and human engagement compared to Article B.
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House Speaker Ryan: All options open on Zika funding
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday said a range of options to provide funds to fight Zika, adding that lawmakers take the threat seriously but have not yet decided the best way to allocate resources to prevent and combat the deadly virus. “We’re looking at all different options,” adding that the White House has begun providing congressional staff with answers to questions over President Barack Obama’s funding request. “The administration has a bit of a track record of over-requesting what they need.”
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politicsNews
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April 27, 2016
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European nations condemn detention of lawyer in slain Italian student investigation
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Several European countries have criticized the detention of an Egyptian human rights lawyer who is helping investigate the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni. For the first time, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Canada said they were deeply concerned at the ongoing detention of human rights lawyer Ibrahim Metwaly Hegazy. We are concerned at the detention conditions that Ibrahim Metwaly Hegazy is reportedly enduring, and continue to call for transparency on prison conditions in Egypt, a joint statement published on the British government website said late on Friday. Metwaly, who founded the Association of the Families of the Disappeared after his son disappeared in suspicious circumstances four years ago, went missing while heading for his flight to Geneva to attend a U.N. conference on enforced disappearances on Sept. 10. Members of Metwaly s group said he was taken from Cairo airport by airport security and he was not heard from until three days later when a state security prosecutor ordered his detention. Asked about the case, two judicial sources told Reuters that Metwaly had been detained on charges of spreading false news and joining an illegal group, and that his pre-trial detention was in accordance with the law. The sources said all prisoners are guaranteed the right to fair treatment without discrimination. Rights activists say Egyptian security forces resort to kidnapping government opponents and keeping them in secret jails where they can spend weeks, months, or years without charge. The authorities deny the accusation. Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, who was conducting research on Egyptian trade unions, disappeared in Cairo in January 2016. His body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Feb. 3, showing signs of extensive torture. Metwaly has been assisting lawyers working on the Regeni case as an expert on enforced disappearances, according to one of the lawyers.
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worldnews
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November 4, 2017
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true-true
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Article A presents accurate information in a clear and engaging manner, making it more aligned with both factual accuracy and reader trust compared to Article B.
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Trump Is Scamming The Hell Out Of America, And Hillary Just Proved It In Under 2 Minutes (VIDEO)
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People believe what they want to believe. When someone tells you they can solve your financial woes with a simple plan, you want to believe them. Donald Trump knew this and took advantage of people when they were at their most vulnerable. He promised a way to be successful, all while just simply making himself wealthy in the mean time.Well, guess what? He s finally being called out on his fraudulent scheme of Trump University and is even going to court over it.Also calling Donald Trump out for the scam artist that he is, is Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.Hillary went for the jugular and with good merit, stating: Well today we are learning about another scam, the so-called Trump University. The New York Attorney General is suing Donald Trump for fraud. And his own employees testified, I want you to hear this, his own employees testified that Trump U, you can t make this up, that Trump U was a fraudulent scheme where Donald Trump enriched himself at the expense of hardworking people Also adding: Trump and his employees took advantage of vulnerable Americans encouraging them to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning. This is just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud. He is trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump U. Concluding: It is important that we recognize what he has done because that is usually a pretty good indicator of what he will do. And on issue after issue, we see someone who is unqualified and unfit to be President of the United States. He is absolutely unfit to be president. He has no policy experience, no diplomatic experience, no experience whatsoever except for being the true scam artist that he is. He should be condemned, not praised, and we need to make sure he is defeated this November. Watch Hillary here:Trump himself is a fraud.He s trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump University.https://t.co/yMt4mGLwYO Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 1, 2016Featured Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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News
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June 2, 2016
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WATCH: Senator Al Franken Just Ripped Ted Cruz A New One For Insulting Him During Senate Hearing
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Ted Cruz accused Senator Al Franken of lying about Jeff Sessions record on civil rights. On Wednesday, Franken fired back.Just before the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm Sessions as Donald Trump s Attorney General, Franken took the Texas senator to the woodshed for disparaging his character and integrity. Cruz claimed that 1986 testimony about Sessions making racist remarks was recanted, which is a complete lie. Let s talk about who is trying to impugn the record of another senator, Franken said. I think Senator Cruz is trying to impugn mine. Republican Senator John Cornyn, of course, objected to Franken s remarks, complaining that Cruz was not in the room to respond in his own defense. You know, any excuse to try and shut down a Democrat telling the truth about a Republican snake.But Franken was ready for such whining and reminded Cornyn that he did not object when Cruz did the exact same thing to him. Senator Cruz did the very thing Senator Cornyn is accusing me of doing. In my absence he personally went after me, he personally impugned my integrity. You didn t object then, did you? Chuck Grassley let Franken continue but warned him to leave personalities out of it because apparently only Republicans are allowed to personally attack the opposition during hearings.Franken was then interrupted again by a still complaining Cornyn, who insisted that Franken wait for Cruz to be in the room. Well get him here, but he ll have a tape of it, Franken shot back.Here s the video via YouTube.If Ted Cruz did not want Franken to lambaste him during a Senate hearing he shouldn t have lied about the facts and insulted Franken in the first place.Jeff Sessions has a record of racism going back decades and his nomination to head the Justice Department is an insult to every person who fought hard for civil rights and voting rights in this country. Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for confirming him.Featured image via Nation of Change
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News
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February 1, 2017
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clearer structure that guides the reader through its arguments, while Article B feels disjointed and less persuasive.
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Comey Sources Are Speaking Out; He Was Fired For Two Reasons And They Are Both Frightening (VIDEO)
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Days after testifying in front of Congress and after requesting more resources for the Russian investigation, FBI Director James Comey was fired on Tuesday night, effective immediately.The Trump administration is blaming Comey s handling of the Hillary Clinton emails, which makes no sense whatsoever because Trump loved Comey s handling of the emails in October. Trump tried to make the case that he fired Comey for being mean to Hillary Clinton, but even the most rabid Trump supporters have to acknowledge that his Lock Her Up, slogan is completely incompatible with Trump s given rationale.It doesn t take a tin foil conspiracy theorist to imagine that the real reason for the Comey firing is that he was getting too close to the truth in investigating Trump s Russia connections. NPR imagines even more scenarios, like the fact that Comey was becoming too big and was stepping on poor little Donnie s ego. It s becoming more and more likely though, that there were just two reasons Comey was fired and both of them should scare the hell out of you.According to two sources that CNN is calling close to Comey, the two reasons Comey was fired were:#2 confirms everything we ve been assuming since the news broke Tuesday night. #1, though, while not at all surprising, is almost more frightening. Trump had to have approached Comey at some point, demanding his loyalty. That s third-rate Banana Republic dictator crap. It makes one wonder just how many people have had to make an oath of loyalty, not to the Constitution, but to Trump. Maybe it s just the people who might have damaging goods on the administration or maybe it s every single person in his administration, which could explain why hundreds of jobs still remain unfilled within the Executive Branch.Loyalty oaths or no loyalty oaths, the Trump administration s charade when it comes to the handling is quickly coming unraveled. It likely won t be long before Comey, and not just sources close to him, are speaking out and perhaps speaking to Congress.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Images
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News
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May 10, 2017
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Israeli PM Netanyahu Quoted In Full Throated Support of Ethnically Cleansing Palestinians
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always advocated for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, but has dressed himself up as someone who wants peace, all the while continuing to steal Palestinian land for Jewish settlements and to deny Palestinians their civil and political rights on lands in which Israel controls. In a November, 1989 speech, Netanyahu said: Israel should have exploited China s suppression of the demonstrations [Tienanmen Square], at a time when the world s attention was devoted to events in that country, in order to conduct mass expulsions of the Arabs [sic] of the Occupied Territories. However, to my sorrow, they [government ministers] didn t support the policy I espoused and whose implementation I continue to recommend. Most of the world knows Netanyahu is not a peace maker. Yet, Israeli apologists will argue that if only Israel would elect someone from other moderate parties in Israel, then he/she would take a softer stance on Palestinians and thus peace could be achieved. However, those who believe this nonsense are naive. Israel has a deep rooted culture of ethnic cleansing that dates back to the early Zionists and it is at the very core of today s Israel.When the first Zionist delegation came to Palestine from Europe in the 19th century looking to colonize the country and create their Jewish state, they declared that the Bride is beautiful but she s married to another man, meaning that there was already an existing people and culture in the country the Palestinians. However, that didn t stop the Zionists from pursuing their agenda of wanting to create a Jewish state despite the fact that 97% of the population wasn t Jewish. We must keep in mind that the ideology of Zionism advocates not only for a Jewish state but the state must be majority Jewish. Thus, a major dilemma for the Zionists was how to create a majority Jewish state in a country where the majority of the population wasn t Jewish. The answer was to bring European Jews to the country on the one hand and to pursue the policy of ethnically cleansing Palestinians on the other.That Zionist culture of ethnic cleansing came into fruition in 1948. Despite massive European Jewish immigration into the country for 50 years, the Jewish population never reached a majority, accounting for about 30% of the population. Thus, in order to attain the majority Jewish state, David Ben-Gurion, who would later become Israel s first prime minister, unleashed Operation Plan Dalet, a campaign of ethnic cleansing that saw the destruction of hundreds of villages and the forced expulsion of close to a million Palestinians out of the country. Today, they and their descendants number in the millions.In 1967, Israel conquered the remaining 20% of Palestine, taking the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Despite the fact that close to 300,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed, the majority managed to remain on their lands and today the West Bank s 2.5 million Palestinians are a thorn in the side of the Zionists who have been building settlements in the heart of Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank and thirst for more Palestinian land. The United Nations considers Israel s presence in the West Bank and Gaza to be illegal and their building of settlements to be in violation of the fourth Geneva Conventions. Yet, Israel continues building, confiscating lands, blowing up Palestinian property to make way for Israeli expansion and then killing Palestinians when they complain and labeling them as terrorists when they resist.Calls for the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians continues to this day. While Netanyahu is currently the prime-minister, a new generation of Israelis have called for the violent removal of Palestinians. The calls for crimes against humanity are thus not isolated to a few politicians in Israel but are at the very fabric of the ideology of Zionism and its adherents. Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons.
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News
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April 15, 2016
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fake-fake
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Article A presents its information in a more engaging and emotionally resonant manner, with a clear structure that guides the reader through its arguments, making it more compelling despite its inaccuracies.
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