Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Statement from the Press Secretary on the Expulsion of Russian Intelligence Officers

Issued on: March 26, 2018

Today President Donald J. Trump ordered the expulsion of dozens of Russian intelligence officers from the United States and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle due to its proximity to one of our submarine bases and Boeing. The United States takes this action in conjunction with our NATO allies and partners around the world in response to Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom, the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world. Today’s actions make the United States safer by reducing Russia’s ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations that threaten America’s national security. With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences. The United States stands ready to cooperate to build a better relationship with Russia, but this can only happen with a change in the Russian government’s behavior.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-expulsion-russian-intelligence-officers/


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Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on the Expulsion of Russian Intelligence Officers
Via Teleconference
March 26, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/background-press-call-senior-administration-officials-expulsion-russian-intelligence-officers-03262018/ [official transcript]


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Full Show - Students Demand Slavery - 03/26/2018

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by Real News with David Knight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g/videos ]

26Mar18 Broadcast

David Hogg goes full Peter Pan with contempt for “old-a** parents” who “don’t know how to use a f**king democracy, so we have to” — will he ever grow up? Here’s what the students and parents who really ARE concerned about LIVES but weren’t allowed to speak have to say. It’s an astro-turf pageant and anyone who dares to speak the truth, like rapper Killer Mike, is threatened. Callers join in and Gerald Celente joins to talk about the danger of interest rates, Fed market manipulation and the beginning of the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency as China begins its gold-backed petro-yuan.

[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y139lhkPDx8 [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaCDDFrWRZQ (with comments)]


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DEBATED: 9/11 vs. Intelligent Design

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by EdwardCurrent [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC20U2rjFhakOCOlvJn0MAGg / https://www.youtube.com/user/EdwardCurrent , https://www.youtube.com/user/EdwardCurrent/videos ]

Conspiracy believer/evolutionist Darth Telligencia and I debate intelligent design and 9/11 at the same time. Looking at this afterwards, we might have more in common than I realized....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IYvtvBCXVY [with comments]


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White House Announces 2018 Spring Garden Tours

Issued on: March 26, 2018

This spring, the White House will open its gardens and grounds to visitors. The grounds will be open on Saturday, April 14, from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM, and Sunday, April 15, from 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM. On these days, visitors can discover the beauty of the South Lawn of the White House. The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, Rose Garden, and the White House Kitchen Garden will also be accessible to guests.

This event is free and open to the public. A ticket is required, however, for all attendees (including small children). The National Park Service (NPS) will distribute free, timed tickets at a tent stationed near the entry point each day beginning at 8:30 AM. The entry point for all guests, including those going to the NPS tent, will be located near the intersection of 15th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest.

Tickets will be distributed—one ticket per person—on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note the following items are not allowed on the White House grounds:

• Aerosols of any kind

• Animals (except guide dogs)

• Any pointed object

• Backpacks (oversized)

• Balloons

• Beverages of any kind

• Duffle bags and/or suitcases

• Electric stun guns

• Fireworks / firecrackers

• Food of any kind

• Guns / ammunition

• Insulated metal containers

• Knives of any kind

• Mace

• Selfie sticks

• Smoking (including e-cigarettes)

• Tablets (including iPads)

• Toy weapons of any kind

• Water bottles

The Secret Service reserves the right to prohibit any other personal items. However, strollers, wheelchairs, umbrellas (no metal tips), and cameras are permitted. All items needed for medical purposes will be permitted on the tour (such as wheelchairs, electric scooters, glucose tablets, and EpiPens). Please identify and explain all items needed for medical purposes to Secret Service agents upon arrival.

In the event of inclement weather, the event may be cancelled. Please call the 24-hour information line at [phone] to check on the status of the event.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/white-house-announces-2018-spring-garden-tours/


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Readout of the Trilateral Meeting of the National Security Advisors of the United States of America, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates

Issued on: March 26, 2018

The National Security Advisors of the United States of America, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates met at the White House on Friday, March 23, to discuss issues of strategic importance to the three countries, including joint efforts to counter the Iranian regime’s malign influence and provocative behavior. Senior officials from the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, and the intelligence community participated in the meeting. The leaders agreed to meet trilaterally on a regular basis to develop and implement joint frameworks to mitigate threats to regional security and to bring greater peace, stability, and prosperity to the Middle East. Additionally, the National Security Advisor of Afghanistan joined a session focused on discussing ways the United States, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates can partner with Afghanistan to support the Afghan government and set conditions for an enduring peace settlement.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-trilateral-meeting-national-security-advisors-united-states-america-kingdom-saudi-arabia-united-arab-emirates/


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Mississippi Prison on Trial

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by ACLU [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7M42vQrNmZ0tnmmenLWwBA / https://www.youtube.com/user/acluvideos , https://www.youtube.com/user/acluvideos/videos ]

We've taken the Mississippi Department of Corrections to court for ignoring its constitutional obligation to prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility.

For more information visit: https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/medical-and-mental-health-care/east-mississippi-correctional-facility-hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFzgWWV9XOo [with comment]


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March 26: March For Our Lives and the future of the gun reform movement

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by ThinkProgress [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYdasX3ym3E5r1iozVllmzA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYdasX3ym3E5r1iozVllmzA/videos ]

Editor-in-chief Judd Legum walks through the top stories ThinkProgress is watching. This week, we're talking to editor Jason Linkins about the reactions to March For Our Lives and how the movement could continue to increase political pressure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De2WFd_qGX4 [no comments yet]


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Full Show - Dems Call For Death Of Gun Owners / Orlando Shooting Father And Son Were FBI Informants - 03/26/2018

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by Ron Gibson [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYv-5LsUyc_P8KMo7YGPFPA / https://www.youtube.com/user/RonGibsonCF , https://www.youtube.com/user/RonGibsonCF/videos ]

Monday, Mar. 26th 2018[, with Gerald Celente hosting the fourth hour]: Teenagers Demand Gun Control - Anti-Second Amendment protesters gathered in cities around the country this weekend, calling for gun control and threatening to vote out Republicans next election. Also, the Trump administration ordered the Russian consulate in Seattle to close and expelled 60 Russian diplomats as punishment for Moscow’s alleged role in the poisoning of an ex-spy. Writer and political activist Mike Cernovich joins today's broadcast to discuss the left's crusade against free speech and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMwDwTvrtzg [with comments] [the edited official Alex Jones upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktmuWZko8aM (title adapted from; with comments)] [a must-watch]


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Alex Jones goes nuts on the BBC and host calls him an idiot & 'worst person ever interviewed'

Published on Jun 9, 2013 by StuartDWright [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChsSQvxSK-W2n5LYyKavo3g / https://www.youtube.com/user/StuartDWright , https://www.youtube.com/user/StuartDWright/videos ]

He's been invited on to talk about the Bilderberg Meetings 'conspiracy'.

Andrew Neil hasn't had anyone on the show quite as idiotic as Alex Jones, and Neil lets him know.

Both Neil and David Aaronovitch are laughing at Jones for the lune that he obviously makes himself out to be.

Even the 'political guests' are tweeting away like mad :)

But look at the little smirk he gives at 43 seconds in. I don't think he's interested in anything but promoting himself and his website and making money of this ranting, paranoid character he portrays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch9gQ9JOe3Y [with (over 10,000) comments]


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RWW News: Todd Starnes: ‘Culture Jihadists’ Behind March For Our Lives

Published on Mar 27, 2018 by RightWingWatchdotorg [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQSoBGVRy5x6SaKbzh5_xiw / https://www.youtube.com/user/RightWingWatchdotorg , https://www.youtube.com/user/RightWingWatchdotorg/videos ]

Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this clip, Todd Starnes and David and Jason Benham discuss the March for Our Lives gun reform rallies.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/todd-starnes-culture-jihadists-behind-march-for-our-lives/

[from March 26, 2018]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HxENGkz4IU [with comments]


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RWW News: ‘God Bless ‘Em’: Pat Robertson Applauds The 'March For Our Lives' Gun Control Effort

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by RightWingWatchdotorg

Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this clip, Pat Robertson applauds the "March For Our Lives" effort, even though he doesn't really think that gun control will accomplish much.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/god-bless-em-pat-robertson-applauds-the-march-for-our-lives-gun-reform-effort/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHxjFEm3ZA [with comments]


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RWW News: Stefan Molyneux Blames 'Political Correctness' For Parkland Shooting

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by RightWingWatchdotorg

Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this clip, Stefan Molyneux, a video blogger popular with far-right and alt-right audiences, claims that it was actually “political correctness” and not loose guns regulations that enabled the mass murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school last month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTh5-6V8JLM [with comments]


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RWW News: Joseph Farah: ‘The Real Brownshirts’ Are Liberals ‘Policing The Internet’

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by RightWingWatchdotorg

Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this clip, Joseph Farah speaks to the Western Conservative Conference, where he says that liberals "policing the internet" are "the real brownshirts."
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/joseph-farah-the-real-brownshirts-are-liberals-policing-the-internet/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_CwZ48Xqp0 [with comments]


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Angelo Carusone with Bill Press, 3/26/18

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by MMFA Alt. Channel [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0PhjTobwRndMIUs8uA3vkg / https://www.youtube.com/user/MMFAalt1 , https://www.youtube.com/user/MMFAalt1/videos ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UODmZ0gmziE [comments disabled]


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WATCH: Raj Shah holds news briefing at White House

Streamed live on Mar 26, 2018 by PBS NewsHour [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZFN9Tx6xh-skXCuRHCDpQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour , https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour/videos ]

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah holds a news briefing at the White House.

Press Briefing by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
March 26, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-principal-deputy-press-secretary-raj-shah-03262018/ [official transcript]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWs6FGj5veE [comments disabled] [official White House upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9061a1hTEug (with comments)]


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Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada

Issued on: March 26, 2018

President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to affirm the solidarity of both countries with the United Kingdom and discuss the joint expulsions of Russian intelligence officers in response to Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the United Kingdom’s soil. This behavior from Russia is the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-call-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-canada-6/


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Freethought Matters: Brent Michael Davids, Award-winning Composer

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by FFRF [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28jWiP7HV6mBBW3C8AXuEg / https://www.youtube.com/user/FFRForg , https://www.youtube.com/user/FFRForg/videos ]

Brent Michael Davids is a citizen of the Mohican Nation, and a multi-award-winning composer of concert music and film scores. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Davids now lives in Saint Paul, Minn. Davids' composer career, which spans 40 years, includes awards and commissions from ASCAP, NEA, Emmy, Meet-The-Composer, Kronos Quartet, Miró Quartet, National Symphony, Chanticleer, Joffrey Ballet, and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. Davids holds degrees in Music Composition from Northern Illinois University and Arizona State University. He was trained at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, and apprenticed with Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck "Shakespeare In Love."

In 2015, the prestigious Indian Summer Music Festival awarded Davids its "Lifetime Achievement Award." In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts named Davids among the nation's most celebrated choral composers in its project "American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius" in all 50 states. Many of Davids' works employ traditional Native American instruments and instruments of his own design, including his signature quartz crystal flutes. Davids is also known for hand-drawn picture notation manuscripts that are themselves works of visual and musical art. As an educator, Davids founded the award-winning Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP) and the Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor (CANOE) to teach indigenous youth to compose their own written music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H67Uxif85TE [with comments]


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Science of Genesis Paradise Lost - Part 1 Before the Beginning

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by Paulogia [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIS4cWaXgWpznjwovFYQBJQ , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIS4cWaXgWpznjwovFYQBJQ/videos ]

The long-anticipated Genesis Paradise Lost movie from Eric Hovind's Creation Today is finally available on home video and around the world. The movie proudly declares a message of young earth creationism, using stunning visual effects and interviews with the likes of Bodie Hodge, Chad Hovind, Charles Jackson, Danny Faulkner, David Menton, Georgia Purdom, Jeremy Lyon, John Baumgardner, Ken Ham, Ray Comfort, Terry Mortenson, Tommy Mitchell, and Voddie Baucham.

As the movie is packed with scientific claims, but not enough screen time to go in-depth, this series will endeavor to go slowly through each claim and take a careful look at each and how it contributes to our view of God.

Part one looks at the first 20 minutes of the movie, because it really gets in to day one of creation.

Thanks to Lois Edwards, RJ Downard, Jackson Wheat, PZ Myers and narrator Tony Reed.

Genesis Paradise Lost channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/genesis3Dmovie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W4g9BYYimU [with comments]


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Full Show - Liberals March For Life While Aborting Millions Of Babies - 03/26/2018

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by War Room [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsn7QZVdszxLlUs-GOG0Sg , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsn7QZVdszxLlUs-GOG0Sg/videos ]

Over the weekend the liberals exposed their own double standards when it comes to life and morality as well as their desperation for attention and any sign of success against Trump. They marched for life while funding abortion, they brought pornstars onto their news outlets to bring down Trump while pretending to have the moral high ground, and they continue to ignore the very bill that has Trump's base so upset. We also play an interesting audio snippet of David Hogg.

[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDUXTju2WS0 [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP4gzW0-o6A (with comments)]


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FOUR HOURS till the end of the world....

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by Thunderf00t [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmb8hO2ilV9vRa8cilis88A / https://www.youtube.com/user/Thunderf00t , https://www.youtube.com/user/Thunderf00t/videos ]

It was an interesting question on the last video ["Can you dodge Space Lasers?", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIYYFIKbByA , included at/see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=140147932 and preceding and following (earlier this string)]. Why if the hubble space telescope can see distant galaxies, could it not see the starship enterprise in orbit around the moon.

.... it leads to some pretty interesting numbers about how much warning you would have between when an 'extinction event' sized asteroid is just visible in the most powerful of telescopes, and when it hits the earth!..... ya... four hours!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg1tfSe3KKU [with comments]


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How social media is propelling the anti-gun violence movement

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/26/18

NBC’s Savannah Sellers joins Ari Melber to discuss the impact of social media on a nationwide anti-gun violence movement and the proliferation of viral hashtags like #neveragain.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/how-social-media-is-propelling-the-anti-gun-violence-movement-1194456131818


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Gun owner describes why she destroyed her AR-15

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/26/18

Democratic Congressional Candidate for Virginia Karen Mallard destroyed her AR-15 gun after hearing Parkland students speak out. She tells Ari Melber: “I wanted them to know they’re being heard”.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/gun-owner-describes-why-she-destroyed-her-ar-15-1194455619955


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Liz Plank: Stormy Daniels story is about ‘power’ and ‘corruption’

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/26/18

Stormy Daniels has filed a new defamation lawsuit against Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, a day after the much-anticipated ’60 minutes’ interview is released. Liz Plank tells Ari Melber the 60 minutes interview revealed details about the alleged affair “we didn’t necessarily want to know” including Trump comparing women to his daughter.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/liz-plank-stormy-daniels-story-is-about-power-and-corruption-1195496003543


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Wife of guilty Trump aide: husband had “extensive” campaign contact

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/26/18

Simona Mangiante, the wife of guilty Trump aide George Papadopoulos tells Ari Melber about her husband’s “extensive” contacts with Trump officials during the 2016 campaign and refutes Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s claim that her husband was only “pretending” to represent Trump.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/wife-of-guilty-trump-aide-husband-had-extensive-campaign-contact-1195493955748 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1wwUXRB_9Q [with comments]


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Trump proposes 'infrastructure week' again but can’t get funding passed

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/26/18

The Trump administration has declared numerous “infrastructure weeks” but so far has only put forward one infrastructure bill that is not an advisory panel. Ari Melber fact checks Trump’s big infrastructure claims and compares the lack of content to Marsellus Wallace’s mystery briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/trump-proposes-infrastructure-week-again-but-can-t-get-funding-passed-1195497027727 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy8Yq2QU8N4 [with comments]


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How Putin Is Using The Orthodox Church To Build His Power (HBO)

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by VICE News [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaT_X_mc0BI-djXOlfhqWQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews , https://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews/videos ]

Vladimir Putin's victory in last week's Russian presidential elections came as no surprise. Putin has spent much of the past two decades building an enduring and loyal following in Russia, and alliances with some of the country's most powerful institutions — none, perhaps, more important that the Russian Orthodox Church, which has fully embraced his leadership.

It's all part of a dramatic turnaround for the Church, which just 30 years ago was only a marginal force in Russian society. The Soviets had sought to stamp out organized faith, stripping religion from education, arresting clergymen, and ordering the destruction of many of Russia's grand cathedrals, including one, Christ the Savior, that was demolished to make room for a public pool.

But under Putin, the Church has been making a comeback. More than 70% of Russians today identify as Russian Orthodox, up from 30% at the end of the Soviet Union. And huge swaths of land have been transferred back to religious ownership, with thousands of new churches being built or restored -- at a rate of almost three a day, by church figures. And Putin, by building loyalty among the leaders of a cherished institution, has arguably been the greatest beneficiary of this largesse.

VICE News Tonight went to Moscow to ask Church leaders, and experts on the role of religion in society, how the church's resurrection has played into Putin's gambit for everlasting power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdxA9z0STI [with comments]


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Trump's Transgender Military Ban Is Stressing Out Deployed Soldiers (HBO)

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by VICE News

The Trump Administration’s newly-released guidelines on banning transgender people from serving in the military may not be in effect yet — but some transgender troops currently serving say the policy is already taking its toll on their community.

Blake Dremann, an active duty Navy Lieutenant Commander who also leads an association of LGBT service members called SPARTA, told VICE News he’s already heard from other transgender military personnel who've been discriminated against.

“My superiors have been very supportive. But we have had service members who have experienced discrimination — typically along the lines of, they don't agree that we're able to serve. They don't like the policy and they refuse to follow the regulations,” Dremann said.

The Trump Administration’s ban, which President Trump announced via tweet last summer, has yet to take effect because it’s been blocked in the courts, after a handful of LGBTQ rights organizations challenged the proposal last year.

But the Administration is still moving forward with crafting guidelines and policy around the ban, and on Friday the White House released a new, more specific memo endorsing a handful of recommendations from a Department of Defense panel convened to study the issue. The panel recommended — and Defense Secretary James Mattis signed on to — banning individuals who’ve undergone gender confirmation surgery in the past, or plan to in the future, from enlisting.

Dremann said he fielded texts all weekend from transgender people currently serving in the military, confused about what the new policy means for them.

"We're expected to be tough-minded," Dremann told VICE News. "And while it is going to add stress to their deployment, the expectation is that they will be able to deal with that."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eCjDT0t52Y [with comments]


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The Nations Biggest Collection Of Racist Objects Are All In A Michigan College Basement (HBO)

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by VICE News

David Pilgrim, a Black sociologist, runs the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia out of the small, white, Trump-voting town of Big Rapids, MI. With the help of private donors like Chuck and Ward, an elderly gay couple, Pilgrim believes that sharing his expansive collection can change the way racism is perceived in the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP92cqTxG7I [with comments]


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Oklahoma Teachers Are Planning Their Own Walkout To Protest Low Salaries And Education Funding (HBO)

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by VICE News

Teachers in Oklahoma intently watched as their counterparts in West Virginia went on strike earlier this month, and for good reason: Public schools in Oklahoma have seen the biggest cuts in the country in per-pupil funding, and their teachers rank near the bottom in average pay.

So, as the West Virginia strike continued, teachers and labor organizers in Oklahoma began coordinating their own demands to the state legislature, asking for a $10,000 raise for teachers, a $5000 raise for support staff and an additional $200 million in school funding to cover basics like textbooks and classroom supplies. If their demands are not met, the teachers plan on walking out of their classrooms on April 2.

The situation in Oklahoma was created, in large part, by tax incentives offered up by Governor Mary Fallin that benefitted the state’s oil and energy industries as well as tax cuts that disproportionally helped the top income bracket. Meanwhile, teacher salaries in Oklahoma have not budged in ten years, even as insurance and cost of living expenses have gone up. Things got so bad last year, that, in an effort to cut costs, roughly 20 percent of school districts in the state enacted a furlough cutting the school week down to just four days.

VICE News traveled to Oklahoma City to meet with Bonnie Green, an early childhood teacher and a 30-year veteran of Oklahoma schools, who now has to take on a second — and third — job, just to make ends meet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7b8kbqyOM [with comments]


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Kids In New Zealand Are Out To Kill The Country’s Invasive Mammals (HBO)

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by VICE News

Two years ago, New Zealand embarked on an ambitious effort to rid the country of every single rat, stoat, and possum. The invasive mammals were killing around 25 million of the country’s native, flightless birds each year, and the government wanted to give its rare fauna a chance at survival.

If New Zealand stopped controlling its invasive mammal populations, “we would lose more than 95 percent of our native birdlife,” says Dan Tompkins, who’s in charge of the science strategy for Predator Free 2050 Limited, a government-created company tasked with making this plan a reality. Tompkins feels strongly that the government’s plan is the right thing to do for New Zealand’s native fauna, but he knows it won’t be easy.

“We can do pretty well at getting them down to low enough numbers that benefits the native biodiversity, but if we really wanted to eradicate, and eradicate large areas, we are going to need something new,” he says. He means new killing tools.

VICE News traveled to New Zealand to see what its citizens are doing to make the country predator-free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp_wb2FgL94 [with comments]


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Two more top lawyers turn down Trump: Report

All In with Chris Hayes
3/26/18

The president's legal mess grows as more lawyers reportedly turn down the opportunity to join his team.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/two-more-top-lawyers-turn-down-trump-report-1195525699745


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Donald Trump's alleged pattern of intimidation

All In with Chris Hayes
3/26/18

Perhaps the most astonishing new details to come out of last night's 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels were allegations that, in 2011, someone threatened her not to go public with her claim that she had an affair with Donald Trump.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/donald-trump-s-alleged-pattern-of-intimidation-1195528771509


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The inequality of gun violence

All In with Chris Hayes
3/26/18

"The trauma now is spread across cultures," says MSNBC's Trymaine Lee.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-inequality-of-gun-violence-1195529795829


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The reality of gun violence in America

All In with Chris Hayes
3/26/18

In September of 2017, Zion Kelly's twin brother Zaire was shot and killed just steps from their front door. Ahead of Zion's speech at the March for Our Lives, Trymaine Lee traveled to DC to meet Zion and hear his story.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-reality-of-gun-violence-in-america-1195535939834 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoGUsS6pld4 [with comments]


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Republican campaigns' use of Cambridge Analytica raises questions

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/26/18

Rachel Maddow reports on new questions about the role Cambridge Analytica played in some Republican political campaigns and whether elections laws were violated.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republican-campaigns-use-of-cambridge-analytica-raises-questions-1195603011930


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Jared Kushner under investigation... by the White House?

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/26/18

Rachel Maddow reports that while Donald Trump struggles to assemble a legal team, Jared Kushner is keeping his busy, and now the White House is apparently also investigating Kushner over loans made to his family company after meeting with him in the White House.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/jared-kushner-under-investigation-by-the-white-house-1195608131894 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VixDE4Ptro [with comments]


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Kushner investigation query gets Democrats a surprising answer

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/26/18

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi talks with Rachel Maddow about his discovery through the Office of Government Ethics that the White House is investigating Jared Kushner over loans made to his family after meeting with Kushner at the White House.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/kushner-investigation-query-gets-democrats-a-surprising-answer-1195612739587


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Gun control activist students call for April 7 town halls

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/26/18

Rachel Maddow reports on next steps following Saturday's historic march in Washington, D.C. for better gun safety laws, including a call by students for town halls with legislators on April 7.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/gun-control-activist-students-call-for-april-7-town-halls-1195647043980


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Lessons in Clinton's loss: Write your own rules, don't hold back

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/26/18

Jennifer Palmieri, former communications director for the Hillary Clinton campaign, talks with Rachel Maddow about her new book, "Dear Madam President: An open letter to the women who will run the world."

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/lessons-in-clinton-s-loss-write-your-own-rules-don-t-hold-back-1195624515790


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RNC shows discomfort with exposure of Elliott Broidy activities

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/26/18

Rachel Maddow updates the story of a RNC fundraiser for Donald Trump that was co-hosted by RNC deputy national finance chairman Elliott Broidy but reportedly was not attended by Broidy, a sign that the RNC is becoming uncomfortable with what is being exposed about Broidy's activities in Washington.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/rnc-shows-discomfort-with-exposure-of-elliott-broidy-activities-1195659331714


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Stormy Daniels beats President Trump

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/26/18

Stormy Daniels revealed the details of her alleged affair with Donald Trump on '60 Minutes' as she has now accused Donald Trump's lawyer of defamation for saying her claim "isn't true." Lawrence O'Donnell examines.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/stormy-daniels-beats-president-trump-1195596867723 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4kPHqMud40 [with comments]


*


Stormy lawyer: Trump legal team made 'catastrophic mistake'

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/26/18

Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti says Trump's lawyers walked into 'a trap' by asking for Daniels' lawsuit to be moved and it may lead to Trump speaking under oath. Tim O'Brien & Jennifer Rubin join Lawrence O'Donnell to react to the '60 Minutes' interview.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/stormy-lawyer-trump-legal-team-made-catastrophic-mistake-1195596867696 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMQ2SBg5TJI [with comments]


*


Student protesters did what most of us could not

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/26/18

Could you step up to that microphone and look out at 800,000 people and a huge bank of TV cameras and say something important? That kind of bravery is rare, and in the Rewrite, Lawrence O'Donnell explains that people who can do that sometimes go on to greatness.

©2018 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/student-protesters-did-what-most-of-us-could-not-1195598403980 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2yleZySN4o [with comments]


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More lawyers reportedly say no to repping Trump on Russia

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/27/18

Reports state Trump is having trouble finding lawyers to represent him on the Russia investigation. Trump tweeted calling that 'fake news.' Our panel discusses the very latest.

©2018 NBCNews.com

[originally aired March 26, 2018]

http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/more-lawyers-reportedly-say-no-to-repping-trump-on-russia-1195634755928


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NYT: Trump talks about bringing back disgraced aide Rob Porter

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/27/18

The New York Times reports Trump has discussed possibly bringing back Rob Porter to the White House, the aide who left after multiple allegations of spousal abuse. Our panel reacts.

©2018 NBCNews.com

[originally aired March 26, 2018]

http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/nyt-trump-talks-about-bringing-back-disgraced-aide-rob-porter-1195642947633


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Porn star Stormy Daniels sues Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/27/18

One day after her tell-all interview to CBS News about her alleged sexual relationship with Pres. Trump, Stormy Daniels sued Trump's attorney Michael Cohen for defamation.

©2018 NBCNews.com

[originally aired March 26, 2018]

http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/porn-star-stormy-daniels-sues-trump-s-lawyer-michael-cohen-1195643459923 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCUfTDqsAiw [with comments]


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Trump administration makes toughest move yet against Russia

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/27/18

The U.S. & EU announced the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK allegedly orchestrated by the Kremlin.

©2018 NBCNews.com

[originally aired March 26, 2018]

http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/trump-administration-makes-toughest-move-yet-against-russia-1195646531979 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWNUoZV22Dw [with comments]


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So Much News, So Little Time: Trump Edition | The Daily Show

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA/videos ]

Trump expels 60 Russian diplomats, fires H.R. McMaster, hires John Bolton, issues a transgender military ban and gets roasted by Stormy Daniels on “60 Minutes.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjlTW9re-o [with comments]


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Mitch Landrieu - Confronting Confederate Myths with "In the Shadow of Statues" | The Daily Show

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

"In the Shadow of Statues" author and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu discusses his decision to remove Confederate monuments from his city and the backlash that followed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMtW9AfPiyo [with comments]


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2 Girls 1 Coop | The Daily Show

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

A woman reacts to disturbing videos that describe sex with Donald Trump, courtesy of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lraeq65YUw [with comments]


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Devious Teens Unite with Their Parents at the March For Our Lives - The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by Comedy Central [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw / https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral , https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7nPL1U-R5r5XD8saDuOBVj1z69Y_4iK ]

Jordan attends the March For Our Lives to keep an eye on teens protesting gun violence and confronts the lame liberal parents trying to co-opt youth culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8inKXf8LS0 [with comments]


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Stephen Interviews Anderson Cooper's Interview Of Stormy Daniels

Published on Mar 27, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig/videos ]

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels sits down with Stephen Colbert at different times in separate locations.

[originally aired March 26, 2018]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKvB-0y8Ijo [with comments]


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Stormy Daniels' '60 Minutes' Ratings Beat Trump's

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Stormy Daniels' '60 Minutes' interview was must-see TV and, for Trump, must-not-tweet TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtqFjTLB8es [with comments]


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Rick Santorum's Hot Take On The March For Our Lives

Published on Mar 27, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

In a surprise to no one, conservative commentator Rick Santorum doesn't understand millennials.

[originally aired March 26, 2018]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qixSA0gnlo [with comments]


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The President Fights with Himself - The President Show

Published on Mar 26, 2018 by Comedy Central [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw / https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral , https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7nPL1U-R5o-p0I_6RGUR2MZus6O8cpX ]

The president has a totally calm conversation with two of his aliases ahead of his all-new telethon special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14BYJfKRPLQ [with comments]


--


stashed March 26, 2018:

Cambridge Analytica reportedly sent foreigners to work on GOP campaigns
http://theweek.com/speedreads/763121/cambridge-analytica-reportedly-sent-foreigners-work-gop-campaigns
citing:
Former Cambridge Analytica workers say firm sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-cambridge-analytica-workers-say-firm-sent-foreigners-to-advise-us-campaigns/2018/03/25/6a0d7d90-2fa2-11e8-911f-ca7f68bff0fc_story.html

Report: Cambridge Analytica’s Parent Company ‘Boasted of Election Meddling’ in Brochures
https://www.thedailybeast.com/report-cambridge-analyticas-parent-company-boasted-of-election-meddling-in-brochures
citing:
Cambridge Analytica-linked firm 'boasted of poll interference'
The company that became Cambridge Analytica boasted about interfering in foreign elections, according to documents seen by the BBC.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43528219

Cambridge Analytica: reclusive billionaire and Bond-style villain forge new data weapon
How political messaging based on personality became a new weapon in Trump’s election campaign
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2018-03-26-cambridge-analytica-reclusive-billionaire-and-bond-style-villain-forge-new-data-weapon/

Governments must intervene to build trust in data use
Obsessively secretive technology companies need regulation to force transparency
https://www.ft.com/content/b94572f2-2dca-11e8-97ec-4bd3494d5f14

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dJPdbnEIVmianWM12IVDm-N4JlNeM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Despite porn stars and Playboy models, white evangelicals aren’t rejecting Trump. This is why. - they, and Trump, are Christo-fascists - in full at https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=139580943
A porn actress says she had sex with Donald Trump, only a few months after his wife gave birth to a son. A former Playboy model says she had an affair with him, too. And yet according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted March 7-14, both white mainline and evangelical Protestants continue to approve of Trump as president at higher levels than other religious groups.
Why are white Christians sticking so closely to Trump, despite these claims of sexual indiscretions? And why are religious individuals and groups that previously decried sexual impropriety among political leaders suddenly willing to give Trump a “mulligan” on his infidelity?
Our new study points to a different answer than others have offered. Voters’ religious tenets aren’t actually what’s behind Trump support; rather, it’s Christian nationalism — their view of the United States as a fundamentally Christian nation.
Here’s how we did our research
To explore the link between Christian nationalism and Trump support, we examined data from the fifth wave of the Baylor Religion Survey. Fielded soon after the election, from Feb. 2 through March 24, 2017, this survey is a national, random sample of 1,501 American adults with telephones and is weighted to estimate population parameters. This data set is unique in its size, time of collection, and the measures it contains.
To measure Christian nationalism we combined responses to six separate questions that ask whether respondents agree or disagree with these statements:
• “The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation”
• “The federal government should advocate Christian values”
• “The federal government should enforce strict separation of church and state” (reverse coded)
• “The federal government should allow the display of religious symbols in public spaces”
• “The success of the United States is part of God’s plan”
• “The federal government should allow prayer in public schools”
We also examined many other common explanations of support for Trump, including economic dissatisfaction, an index of attitudes on gender, an index of anti-black prejudice, a measure of respondents’ attitudes toward illegal immigrants and an index of views toward Muslims.
Finally, our statistical models also accounted for religious affiliation, religious beliefs, and a variety of religious behaviors, as well as political measures including party affiliation and political ideology, and sociodemographic predictors including age, gender, race, education, income, marital status, and residential context.
The more someone believed the United States is — and should be — a Christian nation, the more likely they were to vote for Trump
First, Americans who agreed with the various measures of Christian nationalism were much more likely to vote for Trump, even after controlling for a host of other influences, such as political ideology, political party, and other cultural factors proposed as possible explanations of Trump voting.
As you can see in the figure below, even when holding constant a host of other explanations, a Democrat at the higher end of the index was three times more likely to vote for Trump than a Democrat at the lower end of Christian nationalist ideology. For independents, the probability of voting for Trump increased moving across the range of the Christian nationalism scale. Likewise, Republicans scoring low in Christian nationalism were significantly less likely to vote for Trump than those scoring high on the index.
[chart]
No other religious factor influenced support for or against Trump
Second, we find that Americans’ religious beliefs, behaviors and affiliation did not directly influence voting for Trump. In fact, once Christian nationalism was taken into account, other religious measures had no direct effect on how likely someone was to vote for Trump. These measures of religion mattered only if they made someone more likely to see the United States as a Christian nation.
Antagonism toward Muslims was just as important as Christian nationalism
Finally, the various cultural explanations that other researchers have examined didn’t predict Trump support in our study, with one notable exception: anti-Muslim sentiment. How much a U.S. voter feared Muslims was as significant in predicting who voted for Trump as Christian nationalism. Overall the strongest predictors of Trump voting were the usual suspects of political identity and race, followed closely by Islamophobia and Christian nationalism.
What does this mean?
Many voters believed, and presumably still believe, that regardless of his personal piety (or lack thereof), President Trump would defend what they saw as the country’s Christian heritage — and would help move the nation toward a distinctly Christian future. Ironically, Christian nationalism is focused on preserving a perceived Christian identity for America irrespective of the means by which such a project would be achieved.
Hence many white Christians believe Trump may be an effective instrument in God’s plan for America, even if he is not particularly religious himself.
In the upcoming midterm elections, Trump and other politicians will keep emphasizing Christian nationalism. After all, it works.
White Christian America is unquestionably in demographic decline. But one of its primary cultural creations — Christian nationalism — will continue influencing U.S. politics and society for decades to come, particularly in response to waning demographic and social dominance. It’s a worldview that can’t be undermined, even by porn stars and Playboy models.
Andrew L. Whitehead (@ndrewwhitehead) is an assistant professor in the department of sociology, anthropology, and criminal justice at Clemson University.
Joseph O. Baker is an associate professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at East Tennessee State University, and author of “American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems” (NYU Press, 2015).
Samuel L. Perry is an assistant professor in the department of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, and author of “Growing God’s Family: The Global Orphan Care Movement and the Limits of Evangelical Activism” (NYU Press, 2017).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/03/26/despite-porn-stars-and-playboy-models-white-evangelicals-arent-rejecting-trump-this-is-why/

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d2x0G3sn2UOlE3MFaBp6D06IJxh7M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

U.S. Expels 60 Russian Officials Over Poisoning of Ex-Spy in U.K.
Move is a coordinated response with Europe to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the U.K.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-expels-60-russian-officials-over-poisoning-of-ex-spy-in-u-k-1522071201

US and EU expel scores of Russian diplomats over Skripal attack
US orders expulsion of 60 officials as 14 EU member states plus Ukraine announce coordinated response to nerve agent poisoning
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/26/four-eu-states-set-to-expel-russian-diplomats-over-skripal-attack

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dmw94vRxS2nQllMXPRRfSqUY6NEvM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

The US and China are in talks to try to avoid a trade war
The United States and China are acting tough over trade, but they're also busy talking to try to stop the situation spiraling out of control.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/26/news/economy/china-us-trade-war-talks/index.html

U.S. Actively Engaged With China on Trade Dispute, Navarro Says
Trump seeking $100-billion reduction in trade gap with China
Analyst sees a ‘huge amount of uncertainty’ over next steps
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-26/trump-veers-into-uncharted-trade-territory-as-markets-see-risks

China urges WTO members: put U.S. tariff 'beast back in the cage'
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-trade-wto/china-urges-wto-members-put-u-s-tariff-beast-back-in-the-cage-idUSKBN1H2151

President Trump’s claim that China caused 60,000 U.S. factories to close
Two Pinocchios
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/03/26/president-trumps-claim-that-china-caused-60000-u-s-factories-to-close/

The Trade Issue That Most Divides U.S. and China on Trade Isn’t Tariffs
BEIJING - China has struck a hard stance on the issue at the root of the looming trade fight between Beijing and Washington: China’s government-led drive, which Washington describes as breaking international rules, to build the cutting-edge industries of the future.
Chinese officials in recent days have been defending the government’s ambitious plan, known as Made in China 2025, to create globally competitive players in industries like advanced microchips, driverless cars and robotics. While Beijing has signaled a willingness to compromise on other matters, the intractable standoff over its core industrial policy could prolong a trade fight that has already shaken markets and led to concerns about a full-blown trade war.
“We are three years into the implementation of Made in China 2025, and we will keep going,” Miao Wei, China’s minister of industry and information technology, said on Monday, the last day of a three-day economic policy forum in the Chinese capital.
The Trump administration has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports involving many of the industries being developed under the Made in China 2025 program. Administration officials strongly object to the program’s goal of having Chinese companies dominate these advanced industries, particularly in the Chinese market.
Washington has also protested that companies in the targeted industries have been offered loans at low interest rates by state-controlled Chinese banks. The White House argues that will result in global capacity gluts that could drive down prices and destroy the viability of tech companies in the West, as well as in countries, like Japan and South Korea, that are allied with the United States.
But Chinese ministers and vice ministers contend that their country’s economy is still developing. They openly reject President Trump’s call for reciprocity in trade relations. They have instead offered concessions like raising caps on foreign investors’ stakes in Chinese financial institutions, and proposed eliminating import tariffs in narrow categories like drugs to treat cancer.
Chinese ministers say that opening up some services sectors would improve the efficiency of the Chinese economy as well as make money for foreign companies. Improving health care, particularly for the aging, has also become a national priority.
But Chinese officials argue that their country remains a developing one. It is still dangerously reliant on smokestack industries of the past, like steel, aluminum and cheap manufacturing, they say. The average Chinese household lives on a quarter of the income that American and Western European households do, and standards of living remain very low in rural parts of the country, and across central and western China.
Wang Shouwen, China’s vice minister of commerce, and Pascal Lamy, a former director general of the World Trade Organization, squared off at the Beijing forum over precisely that issue.
Mr. Wang insisted that China had made considerable strides in opening up its health, agriculture and shipping sectors to international competition. He noted that the United States and the European Union had higher tariffs than China on some imports of shirts and dairy products. He argued that China meets its W.T.O. obligations; the W.T.O. has long allowed developing countries to have higher tariffs to protect certain industries from international competition.
Mr. Lamy, a longtime critic of protectionism and government intervention, dismissed those arguments. China — which has the world’s second-largest economy, after the United States, and is the world’s largest manufacturer by far, of everything from steel and cement to laptop computers — had made too much progress to be lumped in with poor countries, he said.
“Pretending it is like India, or like Senegal, or like Botswana is pushing the envelope too far,” Mr. Lamy said. He added that China still had to do more to “ensure a level playing field between Chinese producers and foreign producers, whether they produce inside China or outside of China.”
On crucial issues, China and the United States appear to be talking past each other, not even agreeing on what is being debated.
Take semiconductors, for example.
China is a major customer for microchips, which are used to power computers, smartphones and an ever-widening array of other electronics. Chips from the United States account for just 4 percent of China’s $260 billion in annual chip imports. While Chinese trade officials have been willing to discuss buying more chips from factories in the United States, that could take market share from Japan and South Korea. Washington has resisted that solution.
American officials say the problem is that China’s national, provincial and municipal governments are working with state-owned banks to rush the construction of new factories, particularly to make memory chips.
The new factories often rely on technology that foreign companies have had to transfer as a condition of competing in the Chinese market, according to the United States. Global trade rules ban mandatory technology transfers.
Numerous factories are nearing completion, which will unleash an avalanche of additional output. China contends that it has assisted the sector partly to upgrade its economy and partly because the factories will mainly be supplying its domestic market.
But since factories in China are the world’s main assemblers of electronics, the country’s drive for self-sufficiency in microchips could pose a threat to chip producers in the rest of the world.
For now, China seems to be pinning its hopes on heavy lobbying in Washington by Wall Street, traditionally Beijing’s most reliable ally in bilateral disputes. China’s sovereign wealth fund owns stakes in a variety of American financial institutions. Estimates of Chinese outbound investment over the next decade run as high as $2.5 trillion, a rich source of advisory fees in the United States.
Mr. Wang said on Sunday that China might go beyond its earlier offer to raise caps on foreign ownership in Chinese financial institutions. “It is even possible we will remove those caps altogether” in some categories, he said.
But he also made clear that China would not be intimidated if its offers are not enough to satisfy the Trump administration, which has focused on reviving American manufacturing.
“If China’s interests are impaired,” he said, “we will have to take measures.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/business/china-us-trade.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dOUrrHmkBN2CMNMnnZtCOSjt0agmM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

The story behind 11-year-old Naomi Wadler and her March for Our Lives speech
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-story-behind-11-year-old-naomi-wadler-and-her-march-for-our-lives-speech/2018/03/25/3a6dccdc-3058-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dlDH5JNVgR5__6MgrpDQ6p2oRvKlM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

‘Mr. Santorum. CPR doesn’t work if all the blood is on the ground’ - further to https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=139543058
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/26/doctors-assure-rick-santorum-learning-cpr-wont-save-mass-shooting-victims/

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dpexD8axheSszVM0USbUMyXTrvIOM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Maddow segment with Jennifer Palmieri 3-26-18: references:

Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World
by Jennifer Palmieri
https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Madam-President-Letter-Women/dp/1538713454

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=dear+madam+president+an+open+letter

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
by Timothy Snyder
https://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Twenty-Lessons-Twentieth-Century/dp/0804190119

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=on+tyranny

Linda Brown, center of Brown v. Board case, dies at 75
http://www.cjonline.com/news/20180326/linda-brown-center-of-brown-v-board-case-dies-at-75

Linda Brown, woman at center of Brown v. Board case, dies
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/us/linda-brown-dies/index.html

Linda Brown, of Brown v. Board of Education, has passed away
https://www.axios.com/linda-brown-center-of-brown-v-board-of-education-passed-agway--765c6123-9599-4f3b-8a07-d94f8f6660c8.html

Linda Brown, Who Was At Center Of Brown v. Board Of Education, Dies
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/26/597154953/linda-brown-who-was-at-center-of-brown-v-board-of-education-dies

Linda Brown, Symbol of Landmark Desegregation Case, Dies
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/obituaries/linda-brown-symbol-of-landmark-desegregation-case-dies.html

Linda Brown Biography
Civil Rights Activist, Activist (1942–2018)
https://www.biography.com/people/linda-brown-21134187

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=linda+brown

Another prominent lawyer declines offer to represent Trump in Russia investigation
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/another-prominent-attorney-declines-offer-to-represent-trump-in-russia-investigation/2018/03/26/568ddce6-3142-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html

Dan Webb and Tom Buchanan Latest Lawyers to Decline to Join Trump’s Legal Team
‘They consider the opportunity to represent the President to be the highest honor and they sincerely regret that they cannot do so.’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dan-webb-and-tom-buchanan-latest-lawyers-to-decline-to-join-donald-trumps-legal-team

Trump Talks of Bringing Back Rob Porter, Aide Accused of Spousal Abuse
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/us/politics/trump-rob-porter.html

Trump Can’t Stop Tweeting, but Goes Silent on Stormy Daniels
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/us/politics/trump-silent-stormy-daniels.html

‘Not in a punch-back mode’: Why Trump has been largely silent on Stormy Daniels
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/not-in-a-punch-back-mode-why-trump-has-been-largely-silent-on-stormy-daniels/2018/03/26/a32ac7ba-3103-11e8-8bdd-cdb33a5eef83_story.html

After Stormy Daniels, Republicans Face a Referendum on Trump’s Conduct
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/us/politics/stormy-daniels-trump.html

EXCLUSIVE: Stormy Daniels’ Friend Alana Evans: I’m Also Going to Sue Michael Cohen
Stormy Daniels might not be the only porn star suing President Trump’s attorney, The Daily Beast has learned.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-stormy-daniels-friend-alana-evans-im-also-going-to-sue-michael-cohen

Despite Concerns, Census Will Ask Respondents if They Are U.S. Citizens
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/us/politics/census-citizenship-question-trump.html

Trump Administration Adds Citizenship Question to 2020 Census
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-adds-citizenship-question-to-2020-census
citing:
Commerce Department says citizenship question will be reinstated in 2020 Census
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/census-citizenship-question/index.html

The brutal killing of a Holocaust survivor raises anti-Semitism fears in France
PARIS — The Paris prosecutor’s office is investigating whether anti-Semitism was a motivation for the killing of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor that has outraged France’s Jewish community.
Mireille Knoll was stabbed 11 times and left in her burning Paris apartment Friday, French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux announced Monday afternoon on Twitter.
Authorities have taken two suspects into custody, according to a judicial official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case and would tell The Washington Post only that one of the suspects was born in 1989.
Jewish advocacy groups were quick to put the case within the context of rising anti-Semitism in France and to point out the similarities to another high-profile case being investigated as anti-Semitic: the April 2017 killing of Sarah Halimi, a 66-year-old Orthodox Jewish physician and kindergarten teacher who was beaten in her apartment and then thrown out a window. Authorities suspect a Muslim neighbor.
“This was the same Paris arrondissement, several streets apart,” said Noémie Halioua, a French journalist with Actualité Juive and the author of a new book on the Halimi case. “And both victims were elderly women who lived alone and who had both previously complained of threats.”
Knoll and Halimi lived in the 11th Arrondissement (or district) on the eastern side of Paris, an area that has traditionally been home to immigrant populations but in recent years has seen large-scale gentrification.
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/frances-jewish-leaders-raise-the-alarm-over-brutal-murder-of-holocaust-survivor/2018/03/26/28cf8686-30f4-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html

She Survived the Holocaust, to Die in a 2018 Hate Crime
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/world/europe/france-holocaust-survivor-murder.html

The E.P.A. Says It Wants Research Transparency. Scientists See an Attack on Science.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/climate/epa-scientific-transparency-honest-act.html

Hello, Generation Putin
The presidential election in Russia a week ago resulted in an impressive, if unsurprising, victory for Vladimir Putin. He was elected to a fourth term with a wide margin and high turnout in a vote that appeared to be the cleanest in Russia’s recent history (at least when it comes to what happened on Election Day itself).
But this election was about more than just reinstalling Mr. Putin in the Kremlin. It signaled the beginning of post-Putin Russia. Because while the president has gained popular support for policies like annexing Crimea and confronting the West, the legitimacy of his next term will be determined by his success in reassuring ordinary Russians that his regime will endure even when he is no longer in the Kremlin.
Mr. Putin’s role in the Russian public imagination today is similar to that of post-colonial national liberation leaders of the 1960s and ’70s. He is viewed as the founder of a new Russian state, the savior of Russia’s dignity and the restorer of its status as a great power. And contrary to Western fantasies, Russians under the age of 25 are among his strongest supporters.
They not only vote for him, many of them want to be like him. Seventy-six percent of people between 18 and 30 perceive working in the security services as “very prestigious,” compared to 59 percent of those older than 60. As the analysts Andrei Kolesnikov and Denis Volkov observed, within the Russian public, “there is no debate about Putin.”
“Almost no one questions his legitimacy as president,” they wrote in a recent report for the Carnegie Moscow Center. “He is a constant, the portrait on the wall that can no longer be taken down.”
The question is what will happen to those whose portraits are not on the wall. In late 2011, the magazine Russian Reporter published a study of Russia’s elite that revealed that the most important predictor of membership in the elite circle (the top 300 government positions) was to have known Mr. Putin before he became president. In short, a circle of friends has governed Russia for the last 18 years.
There are no signs that the president is planning to take power away from this circle of friends. But it is clear he intends to open the system to loyal outsiders — in particular younger ones — in order to increase its chances of survival. He is ready to offer society generational change as a substitute for political change.
When thinking about the years ahead, Mr. Putin, unlike Boris Yeltsin, does not think in terms of a successor but in terms of a successor generation. He envisions a transfer of power from his generation to the “Putin generation,” comprising politicians who came of age during, and have been shaped by, his rule. This process has already started: In the several months before the election, nine young politicians were appointed regional governors.
This generation, he hopes, will preserve his major achievement: Russia’s re-emergence as a great power, one able and determined to resist the United States. For Mr. Putin, an independent foreign policy is not an instrument but an ultimate objective.
This new cohort includes young technocrats who have different backgrounds and experiences but one thing in common: They are loyal to the regime while aware of its deficiencies. They see themselves as crisis managers rather than visionary leaders. They trust technology and mistrust politics. They know how to carry out Mr. Putin’s instructions but not how to disagree with the president.
[...]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/russia-putin-youth-generation.html

White House Probes Loans to Kushner’s Business
Citigroup, Apollo loans totaling over $500 million were made after top executives of both firms met with Jared Kushner
https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-probes-loans-to-kushners-business-1522101516

Jared Kushner's meetings under investigation for potential conflict, OGE letter says
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/jared-kushner-white-house-oge/index.html

White House investigating loans to Kushner's business: official
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-kushner/white-house-investigating-loans-to-kushners-business-official-idUSKBN1H301A

Russia Isn’t the Only Country with Its Hooks in Jared Kushner
A new report shows that a top Trump fund-raiser received millions from an adviser to the U.A.E.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/russia-isnt-the-only-country-with-its-hooks-in-jared-kushner

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=kushner

Cambridge Analytica accused of violating US election laws in new legal action
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclusive-cambridge-analytica-accused-violating-us-election-laws/story?id=54010145

Embattled data firm sent foreign workers to US campaigns - GOP candidates - 2014
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/cambridge-analytica-foreign-advisers/index.html

Former Cambridge Analytica workers say firm sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-cambridge-analytica-workers-say-firm-sent-foreigners-to-advise-us-campaigns/2018/03/25/6a0d7d90-2fa2-11e8-911f-ca7f68bff0fc_story.html
also at http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2018/03/ex-cambridge_analytica_staff_s.html

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=cambridge+analytica

No, Emma Gonzalez did not tear up a photo of the Constitution
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/us/emma-gonzalez-photo-doctored-trnd/index.html

A fake photo of Emma González went viral on the far right, where Parkland teens are villains
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2018/03/25/a-fake-photo-of-emma-gonzalez-went-viral-on-the-far-right-where-parkland-teens-are-villains/

People Are Sharing Fake Photos of Emma González Tearing Up the Constitution
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/some-conservatives-are-sharing-a-fake-photo-of-emma-gonzalez.html

Steve King's campaign criticizes Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/steve-king-facebook-post-emma-gonzalez/index.html

Steve King campaign mocks the 'look' of Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez in Facebook post
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/03/26/steve-king-campaign-mocks-look-parkland-survivor-emma-gonzalez-facebook-post/460143002/

What we know about Emma Gonzalez, the fiercely outspoken teen who stunned America with her silence
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/emma-gonzalez-what-you-need-to-know-trnd/index.html

Joan of Arc and the Passion of Emma González
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-passion-of-emma-gonzalez

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=emma+gonzalez

Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Summit [Nov.] 2017
Center for a New American Security (CNAS) [ https://www.youtube.com/user/CNASdc/videos ]
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFvlQ0wG5zoXTLzGdvZvWDPAKku6AeVxQ


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