[no, umm, 'presidential' Weakly Address on February 17, 2018]
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Rep. Swalwell to Trump: Do you believe it now?
AM Joy 2/17/18
Russia interference in the 2016 elections is not a hoax or fake news, Robert Mueller’s latest indictments prove. Why does Donald Trump appear to still be in denial? Joy Reid and her panel[, including Malcolm Nance,] discuss.
Will America ever implement common sense gun laws?
AM Joy 2/17/18
The Parkland school shooting has inspired students, activists and more to intensify demands for common sense gun control. Will the American people rise up and vote against NRA-backed members of Congress? Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
Former double agent: Trump White House like ‘bad SNL skit’
AM Joy 2/17/18
Reportedly 130 White House staffers still lack permanent security clearances, even though many handle classified information. How does Gen. Kelly still have his job as chief of staff? Joy Reid and her panel[, including Malcolm Nance,] discuss.
Women allege affairs with Trump despite legal repercussions
AM Joy 2/17/18
A former Playboy Playmate alleges an affair with Donald Trump during his marriage to Melania, as Stormy Daniels speaks out more about her affair allegations. What does the White House stand to lose if the president sues them for potentially violating nondisclosure agreements? Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
After massive tax cut for rich, Trump seeks to cut SNAP
AM Joy 2/17/18
Donald Trump’s administration wants to replace half of SNAP benefits, which were commonly known as food stamps, with boxes of pre-selected non-perishable food items and zero fresh food. Joy Reid and her panel discuss why this would be less healthy and more humiliating for the poor.
Conservative radio show host says he was fired after Trump critiques
AM Joy 2/17/18
Conservative talk show host Jerry Bader says he was fired after numerous Donald Trump critiques. Joy Reid discusses with Jerry Bader and MSNBC analyst Charlie Sykes.
Walking down the street with James Spann, the star weather forecaster and tornado expert for Birmingham’s ABC 33/40, is quite the experience. Despite changing TV watching patterns fueled by Netflix and Youtube, the meteorologist continues to get recognized left and right, by people young and old. And that makes sense. Alabama is known for its tornadoes, and James Spann’s coverage is widely thought to be some of the best tornado coverage in the U.S.
Spann also makes a point of visiting local schools to give talks to students about the weather. So, for some Alabamians, Spann fandom started in the first grade — and never stopped.
Still, despite Spann’s love of science and science communication, there’s one thing that he won’t talk about on the air: climate change.
“They hire me here to forecast the weather. They didn't hire me as a climatologist to discuss these things,” Spann told VICE News Tonight during a conversation in the ABC 33/40 studio.
But his refusal to talk about climate change goes beyond what he perceives as the limits of his job. “Natural variability in my opinion is still the primary driver — and all of a sudden you become a sinner.” In other words, Spann doesn’t think humans are the main cause of climate change.
He isn’t alone. A survey of around 2,000 American Meteorological Society members released last year revealed that 38 percent of meteorologists aren’t convinced that humans are the main cause of climate change.
That statistic may explain why in some parts of the country, it’s still novel to hear a TV meteorologist discuss climate change during a daily forecast — or even when talking about extreme weather events.
VICE News spent a day with James Spann, and interviewed Paul Gross, a TV meteorologist for NBC’s WDIV News 4 in Detroit who mentions global warming on the air regularly — and who doesn’t think local weather forecasters should shy away from the subject.
Every empire makes mistakes. I suspect Guantanamo will live among some of my generation's worst. Today's episode is about human rights, and prisons we shouldn't support.
The veil of ignorance is a useful tool for developing your personal code of ethics and morality. Here, I discuss it as a response to the question of how you can know right from wrong without god or religion.
Original Video:
"Where Do Morals Come From?" by Living Waters
Published on Dec 10, 2013 by Living Waters [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmrVJGUS1u5-Hsm_BFS_1YA / https://www.youtube.com/user/thewayofthemaster , https://www.youtube.com/user/thewayofthemaster/videos ] How can we know whether something is right or wrong? Where do morals come from? Some might answer that we as individuals should determine our own morality. But think about it: if there is no objective standard for good, then everyone will consider themselves to be good, including the child molester and the rapist. The Bible says most people think they are “good” people. If morality can mean anything for anyone, then it means nothing for everyone. Others would claim that society determines morality. This view makes it impossible to criticize another society’s practices, no matter how morally offensive they may seem to us. Within this view, a society such as Nazi Germany could only be quietly observed, not judged or opposed. In fact, if Nazi morals were right within Nazi society, there would have been a moral obligation to participate in the murder of innocent people. And obviously, that isn’t right. Keep in mind that this view makes it impossible to reform the morals of a society. When morality is defined by the present society’s standard, then challenging the standard would be an act of immorality. Within this worldview, social reformers such as Martin Luther King Jr. who stood against society, claiming a great biblical truth that all men are created equal, or William Wilberforce, who sought the abolition of slavery, should be considered moral outcasts because they opposed the status quo. We count these people as moral heroes precisely because they had the courage to fight for reform. They stood against their society because their society, according to God’s Word, was wrong. C.S. Lewis wisely said, “A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.” Without God, morals are meaningless. When man makes the rules, either individually or by majority rule, there will always be mistakes, because mankind is not perfect. God alone is perfect, holy, and good. He exists outside of the realm of mankind as the source of objective moral standards. So the next time you hear someone claim they are a good person without God, remember...that’s just no good. If you use any of the above text, please give attribution to: http://www.LivingWaters.com Mark Spence from Living Waters teaches on the subject of “Where Do Morals Come From?” This segment is taken from The Way of the Master TV show, Episode: Timisoara. Download the entire episode here: http://store.livingwaters.com/downloads/video/season-four-episodes.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANSPIz4TMhw [with comments]
Reading the Mueller Indictment: A Russian-American Fraud In his first indictments for Russian interference in the 2016 election, the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has revealed the inner workings of a shadow campaign—conceived in Moscow and deployed in the United States—that was far more disciplined than Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign. Focussed, creative, and persuasive, the Russian operation was a campaign to envy. Mueller has also given the American public a cautionary tale of contemporary American democracy—a story of deception, influence, and technology. John Sipher, an expert on Russia’s intelligence services, who retired in 2014 after twenty-eight years in the C.I.A., told me that the details in the indictment lay bare how audacious the Russian effort to get Trump elected President was in its brazen, repeated contact with American citizens. “You see a willingness to take risk that you hadn’t had before, because Putin was so hateful toward Hillary Clinton. They had a unity of effort, because they had one enemy: the United States. We’re focussed on China, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan. I don’t think it was brilliantly thought out, but they put an army out there to do what they can.” Ordinarily, U.S. prosecutors are wary of releasing highly specific accounts involving foreign-intelligence targets, in order to protect the “sources and methods” that allow the government to pierce electronic communications and hidden dealings. But, Sipher said, this thirty-seven-page indictment suggests that Mueller’s team made a strategic decision to include a level of detail that will help it elicit relevant documents from businesses and banks. The indictments open the way for “discovery that otherwise may not be allowed or would be hard to do without a charging document,” he said. In its particulars, the indictment, which charged thirteen Russian nationals and three organizations with multiple conspiracies and frauds, fills in the details of an “active measures” campaign that had been described in general terms by analysts and journalists over the past year. It offers a playbook for manipulating American democracy using a mix of classic espionage, private-sector social-media tools, and partisan ideology. The operation, centered on the now infamous troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, extended to scores of undercover staff and associates in multiple countries, including the United States, and deployed a range of political gambits. Among the details in the document, I was struck, in particular, by three themes—political weapons, in effect—that pose questions for technology companies, the intelligence community, and voters: The power of anonymity. ... The power of voter suppression. ... The power of news illiteracy. ... https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/reading-the-mueller-indictment-a-russian-american-fraud
Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion! https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/964594780088033282
Russia-Trump inquiry: Russian foreign minister dismisses FBI charges Russia's foreign minister [Sergei Lavrov] has dismissed as "blather" the charges levelled by the FBI special counsel against 13 Russians for election meddling. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43095881
Mueller's latest move just dealt the White House a massive 'black eye' Special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment Friday of 13 Russian nationals and three organizations paints a stark picture of Russia's election interference. The indictment threw a wrench into President Donald Trump's claims that the Russia investigation is a "hoax" and a "witch hunt" with no justifiable basis. The charges will also force the White House to decide whether it will hold the Russian government accountable for its actions, experts said. http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-indictment-undermines-trump-russia-hoax-theory-2018-2
Journalists slam Trump aide's 'repulsive' attack over Russia Journalists lashed out at a White House spokesman on Saturday after the aide to President Trump claimed that news media and Democrats have caused more "chaos" than Russia. White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley made the comments during an interview on Fox News while responding to special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of Russian nationals for meddling in the 2016 election. "There are two groups that have created chaos more than the Russians and that’s the Democrats and the mainstream media,” Gidley asserted on Fox News. "[They] continued to push this lie on the American people for more than a year, and frankly Americans should be outraged by that." The remark was widely panned by journalists, with reporters from The Associated Press, CNN, The Washington Post, Politico and other outlets calling the remark false. [...] http://thehill.com/homenews/media/374382-journalists-slam-trump-aides-repulsive-attack-over-russia
A new part of the market is melting down as panicked investors get another 'wake-up call' While stocks and Treasurys experienced violent selloffs, the credit market hung in there admirably. That changed this past week as investors pulled near-record amounts of capital from credit funds. Morgan Stanley warns of more credit market turbulence ahead, and reaffirms its 2018 forecast that US corporate bond returns will be negative. http://www.businessinsider.com/market-selloff-new-part-of-market-giving-investors-wake-up-call-2018-2
Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons A prominent Republican political donor demanded on Saturday that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians. Al Hoffman Jr., a Florida-based real estate developer who was a leading fund-raiser for George W. Bush’s campaigns, said he would seek to marshal support among other Republican political donors for a renewed assault weapons ban. “For how many years now have we been doing this — having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings — and how many years has it been that nothing’s been done?” Mr. Hoffman said in an interview. “It’s the end of the road for me.” Mr. Hoffman announced his ultimatum in an email to half a dozen Republican leaders, including Jeb Bush and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida. He wrote in the email that he would not give money to Mr. Scott, who is considering a campaign for the Senate in 2018, or other Florida Republicans he has backed in the past, including Representative Brian Mast, if they did not support new gun legislation. “I will not write another check unless they all support a ban on assault weapons,” he wrote. “Enough is enough!” [...] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/us/prominent-republican-donor-issues-ultimatum-on-assault-weapons.html
LeBron James won’t shut up and dribble: ‘I’ve defeated the odds, and I want every kid to know that’ LOS ANGELES — When LeBron James was first made aware of Laura Ingraham’s comments on Fox News earlier this week — including telling James and fellow NBA star Kevin Durant to “shut up and dribble” — he laughed. But that was before he saw the video, and before the meaning behind those comments sank in. “It lets me know that everything I’ve been saying is correct, for her to have that type of reaction,” James said Saturday during a wide-ranging interview at the Los Angeles Convention Center that covered Ingraham’s comments, the pride he feels in the “Black Panther” movie, with a primarily black cast, and gun control following the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting this week. “But we will definitely not shut up and dribble. I will definitely not do that. I mean too much to society, I mean too much to the youth, I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don’t have a way out, and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they’re in.” [...] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/02/17/no-lebron-james-wont-shut-up-and-dribble-i-am-more-than-an-athlete/
Mother serves jail time after baptizing daughter without permission of girl’s father CHARLOTTE, NC (WCMH) — A North Carolina mother is behind bars after she baptized her daughter without the permission of the girl’s father. Kendra Stocks has been ordered to spend seven days in jail after a judge found her in contempt of court for baptizing her daughter. “It’s just very said,” Stocks told WSOC. “It’s all a very sad situation.” Stocks and the girl’s father, Paul Schaff, have been involved in a custody battle for the past couple years. Both are Catholic.The court granted Schaff the final decision-making authority involving all legal custody decisions, including those involving religion. The day after the judge granted Schaff that authority, Stocks had the child baptized without telling him. He found about the baptism on Facebook and reported it. Judge Sean Smith ruled that Stocks was in contempt of court and ordered her to serve seven days in jail. “Her father and I both agreed on baptizing her,” Stocks said. “I regret that he wasn’t part of it, but I don’t regret that we’re raising her in the Catholic faith, which is what we both wanted.” Schaff’s attorney told WSOC that Stocks’ sentence is just the price she has to pay for making bad decisions. “I’ll get through it and hopefully come out a better person,” Stocks said. http://nbc4i.com/2018/02/17/mother-serves-jail-time-after-baptizing-daughter-without-permission-of-girls-father/
The 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water - like Cape Town Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water. 1. São Paulo 2. Bangalore 3. Beijing 4. Cairo 5. Jakarta 6. Moscow 7. Istanbul 8. Mexico City 9. London 10. Tokyo 11. Miami http://www.bbc.com/news/world-42982959
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