Tag: US

‘What lion?’ Zimbabweans ask as Cecil circus goes global

As social media exploded with outrage this week at the killing of Cecil the lion, the untimely passing of the celebrated predator at the hands of an American dentist went largely unnoticed in the animal’s native Zimbabwe.

“What lion?” acting information minister Prisca Mupfumira asked in response to a request for comment about Cecil, who was at that moment topping global news bulletins and generating reams of abuse for his killer on websites in the United States and Europe.

The government has still given no formal response, and on Thursday the papers that chose to run the latest twist in the Cecil saga tucked it away on inside pages.

One title had to rely on foreign news agency copy because it failed to send a reporter to the court appearance of two locals involved.

In contrast, the previous evening 200 people stood in protest outside the suburban Minneapolis dental practice of 55-year-old Walter Palmer, calling for him to be extradited to Zimbabwe to face charges of taking part in an illegal hunt.

Local police are also investigating death threats against Palmer, whose location is not known. Because many of the threats were online, police are having difficulty determining their origins and credibility.

Palmer, a lifelong big game hunter, has admitted killing Cecil with a bow and arrow on July 1 near Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park, but said he had hired professional local guides with the required hunting permits and believed the hunt was legal.

For most people in the southern African nation, where unemployment tops 80 percent and the economy continues to feel the after-effects of billion percent hyperinflation a decade ago, the uproar had all the hallmarks of a ‘First World Problem’.

“Are you saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country,” said Tryphina Kaseke, a used-clothes hawker on the streets of Harare. “What is so special about this one?”

As with many countries in Africa, in Zimbabwe big wild animals such as lions, elephants or hippos are seen either as a potential meal, or a threat to people and property that needs to be controlled or killed.

The world of Palmer, who paid $50,000 to kill 13-year-old Cecil, is a very different one from that inhabited by millions of rural Africans who are more than occasionally victims of wild animal attacks.

According to CrocBITE, a database, from January 2008 to October 2013, there were more than 460 recorded attacks by Nile crocodiles, most of them fatal. That tally is almost certainly a massive underrepresentation.

“Why are the Americans more concerned than us?” said Joseph Mabuwa, a 33-year-old father-of-two cleaning his car in the center of the capital. “We never hear them speak out when villagers are killed by lions and elephants in Hwange.”

Source: Reuters

Putin on rise of right-wing in Europe

President Vladimir Putin said it was not Russia’s business to analyze the foreign policy of European countries, but discussing inter-European affairs with European partners in Washington “is not very interesting”.

The Russian president spoke to the Swiss RTS TV channel.

Asked to comment on the “ironic” turn in European politics, which has seen right-wing political parties gain public support, and seemingly speak out in favor of Putin’s statements as opposed to politicians on the left, the President said the underlying reason was Washington’s troublesome interference into the domestic affairs of other nations.

Putin has received support from Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front or Swiss Democratic Union of the Centre (UDC). He described it as a “tectonic shift in Europeans’ public conscience” in the direction of protecting national interests, including from foreign political interventions.

According to Putin, a number of issues Europe is facing now, including the influx of migrants from places such as war-torn Libya, have to do with “decisions taken over the [Atlantic] ocean.” In fact, Europe is now paying for decisions it did not make, he stressed.

He also mentioned that the US has been “pursuing an imperial policy for a long time.” In addition, he cited the opinion of some American political analysts who “believe that this imperial angle hurts the US.”

After several questions from Swiss media on the FIFA corruption scandal, Putin said he doesn’t believe it had anything to do with actions of the organization’s head, President Sepp Blatter, hinting that he views the allegations as politically motivated.

He questioned whether the efforts to pursue the investigation stemmed from failed attempts of the US and its key ally, the UK, to secure bids to host the 2022 and 2018 World Cups: “The way this fight against corruption looks makes me wonder if it isn’t a continuation of the bids for 2018 and 2022.”

He said European countries should be less beholden to military blocks and the US when considering issues concerning their own national interests.

“It would be great to see Europe show more independence and sovereignty, and the ability to stand up for its national interests – the interests of its peoples and countries,” Putin said in an interview with RTS published on Monday.

He added that he “hopes” another war in Europe is not in the cards.

The Russian leader added that a certain level of sovereignty is undoubtedly lost when joining any “any military-political organization [or] military-political bloc.” Putin noted that “France withdrew from NATO in order to preserve its sovereignty to a greater extent than would have been possible had it been part of the organization,” referring to the French withdrawal from NATO in the 1960s. France fully returned to the military bloc only in 2009.

Putin explained that Russia’s stance on US foreign policy “has nothing to do with anti-Americanism,” adding that Russians “have respect and great love for the USA, and especially for the American people.”

When answering a question about Russia’s earlier efforts to fight terrorism and the lack of Western support at the time, Putin said that European governments had ignored abundant evidence of terrorist activity, such as Al-Qaeda affiliates fighting in the Russian North Caucasus.

“When I asked my colleagues, including Europeans: ‘You see what is happening?’ they used to respond: ‘Yes, we do, but due to various domestic, international circumstances, we cannot support you.’ I would tell them then: ‘If you cannot support us – at least don’t hinder our efforts.’”

Putin criticized the US government’s self-perceived right to pressure other countries around the world, acting from a policy of “who is not with us, is against us.” Still, with enough patience it is possible and necessary to work with the American side on solving global issues, Putin said, praising international efforts that have led to a recent deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump’s top insults

2016 GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump has been hurling insult after insult on the campaign trail.

Trump has let loose on both Democrats and Republicans, rival candidates, lawmakers, journalists and even pop culture icons.

He blasted Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), questioning the Vietnam veteran’s service and saying he was “not a war hero,” brought him wide criticism.

Trump held 24 percent support among likely Republican voters according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll earlier this week. But the poll also suggested his support dropped following the remarks about McCain.
Trump, though, is showing no sign he’ll tone down his attacks.

Cataloguing all of Trump’s insults over the years would be a herculean task. The real estate mogul and reality TV star has never pulled his punches, with many long and high-profile feuds, including with talk show host Rosie O’Donnell, NBA owner Mark Cuban and comedian Bill Maher.

Here are Trump’s most notable insults so far in the 2016 campaign:

Former President George W. Bush: — “You mean George Bush sends our soldiers into combat, they are severely wounded, and then he wants $120,000 to make a boring speech to them?” asked Trump on July 9, after reports the former president charged a vets group for a speech. “Bush didn’t have the IQ [to be president],” he added on June 16.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) — “I’m not a big fan. The last thing we need is another Bush,” Trump said on June 16. Trump’s account also retweeted an insult to Bush’s wife on July 4th: “@RObHeilbron: @realDonaldTrump #JebBush has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife.” It was later deleted.

Hillary Clinton — “Hillary Clinton was the worst secretary of State in the history of the United States,” Trump told Business Insider.

His account on April 16 also retweeted an attack on Clinton: “@mplefty67: If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?” Trump said a campaign staffer was responsible and deleted the tweet.

Anderson Cooper — “What a waste of time being interviewed by@andersoncooper when he puts on really stupid talking heads like Tim O’Brien-dumb guy with no clue!” Trump tweeted on July 22 after his interview with the CNN anchor.

During his interview, Trump told Cooper: “The people don’t trust you and the people don’t trust the media.”

Bill Cosby — Trump said he believed the sexual assault allegations against the comedian, calling him “guilty as hell.” “I’ve known him, and I’ve never liked him,” Trump said in a July radio interview. “I think he is a highly overrated guy, both in talent and in many other ways,”

Des Moines Register — After the paper called on Trump to drop out, he dismissed it as a “sophomoric editorial” and called their coverage “uneven and inconsistent, but far more importantly, very dishonest.”

Forbes Magazine — “Why does a failed magazine like @Forbes constantly seek out trivial nonsense? Their circulation way down. @Clare_OC,” Trump tweeted on July 9.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) —”What a stiff, what a stiff, Lindsey Graham. By the way he has registered zero in the polls,” Trump said, at a campaign speech in Bluffton, S.C. on July 21. “A total lightweight. In the private sector, he couldn’t get a job. Believe me. Couldn’t get a job. He couldn’t do what you people did. You’re retired as hell and rich. He wouldn’t be rich; he’d be poor.”

Trump also shared Graham’s personal cellphone number and said he had begged him to help get on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

“What’s this guy, a beggar? He’s like begging me to help him with [the show] ‘Fox and Friends.’” Trump said of Graham on “CBS This Morning,” on July 21.

Jonah Goldberg — “Jonah Goldberg @JonahNRO of the once great @NRO#National Review is truly dumb as a rock. Why does @BretBaier put this dummy on his show?” Trump tweeted, criticizing the conservative columnist on April 20.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman — Trump said the Mexican drug lord would be no match for him. “Can you envision Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton negotiating with ‘El Chapo’, the Mexican drug lord who escaped from prison? …Trump, however, would kick his ass!” he tweeted on July 12. Trump later called in the FBI after a death threat from a Twitter account associated with Guzman.

Arianna Huffington — “The liberal clown @ariannahuff told her minions at the money losing @HuffingtonPost to cover me as entertainment. I am #1 in Huff Post Poll,” Trump tweeted on July 18.

Penn Jillette — After the magician and comedian criticized Trump, he responded on July 16, tweeting: “I hear @pennjillette show on Broadway is terrible. Not surprised, boring guy (Penn). Without The Apprentice, show would have died long ago.” He then followed up with, “I loved firing goofball atheist Penn @pennjillette on The Apprentice. He never had a chance. Wrote letter to me begging for forgiveness.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) — “What people don’t know about Kasich- he was a managing partner of the horrendous Lehman Brothers when it totally destroyed the economy!” Trump tweeted on May 20.

Charles Krauthammer — “One of the worst and most boring political pundits on television is @krauthammer. A totally overrated clown who speaks without knowing facts,” Trump tweeted about the conservative writer and Fox News contributor on June 4. A tweet a day later called him a “dumpy political pundit” and took issue with Krauthammer’s support for the Iraq war. Krauthammer brought on Trump’s ire by mocking his then-low standing in the polls.

Bill Kristol — When the Weekly Standard editor belittled Trump’s chances against Hillary, Trump responded on July 23, tweeting, “Bill, your small and slightly failing magazine will be a giant success when you finally back Trump. Country will soar!”

Mitt Romney — “Why would anybody listen to @MittRomney? He lost an election that should have easily been won against Obama. By the way,so did John McCain!” Trump tweeted of the 2012 Republican nominee on July 18.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at a rally on July 18. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” This followed a July 16 tweet saying, “@SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the primaries. Graduated last in his class at Annapolis–dummy!” The insults came after McCain said Trump had “fired up the crazies” on immigration.

Macy’s — Trump called for a boycott after the department store dropped his men’s clothing line. “I hope the boycott of @Macys continues forever. So many people are cutting up their cards. Macy’s stores suck and they are bad for U.S.A.,” he tweeted on July 16. “Boycott @Macys, no guts, no glory. Besides, there are far better stores!” he tweeted later.

Mexico — Trump lambasted the southern neighbor. “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” he said on May 30 at his campaign launch. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” The remarks led a number of businesses to cut their ties with him.

He doubled down after the escape of a top drug kingpin. “It’s a corrupt place,” Trump said on July 17. “It’s a terrible court system.” “Let’s put it this way,” he added, “I’m not going to Mexico.”

President Obama — Trump has long said he is not sure Obama was born in the U.S. and slammed his policies, calling him the “worst ever president.” Obama hit back at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, mocking Trump who was in attendance.

But Trump hasn’t let up. During the Baltimore riots in April this year he tweeted: “Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!”

He also Obama to leave office early and golf on one of his many courses. “If he’d like to play, that’s fine. In fact, I’d love for him to leave early and play. That’d be a very good thing,” he said at his campaign launch in June.

After the Chattanooga shooting, Trump pressed Obama to lower the flag for the victims. “We have a president who just can’t say a few words: ‘Put the flags at half-mast for the five Marines that were just killed.’ Why? Why? Why?” Trump said at a South Carolina rally on July 21. “It’s almost like, does he read the papers? Does he watch television?”

Lawrence O’Donnell — “Dopey @Lawrence O’Donnell, whose unwatchable show is dying in the ratings, said that my Apprentice $ numbers were wrong. He is a fool!” Trump tweeted on July 16 of the MSNBC host.

Former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) — Perry has been a tough critic of Trump’s rhetoric on immigration. “Rick Perry failed at the border. Now he is critical of me. He needs a new pair of glasses to see the crimes committed by illegal immigrants,” Trump tweeted on July 5th.

On July 16, he added, “@GovernorPerry failed on the border. He should be forced to take an IQ test before being allowed to enter the GOP debate.”

“He’s doing very poorly in the polls. He put on glasses so people will think he’s smart. And it just doesn’t work! You know people can see through the glasses,” Trump said at a rally on July 21.

Former Gov. George Pataki (R-N.Y.) — Trump tweeted that Pataki “couldn’t be elected dog catcher if he ran again—so he didn’t!” Trump tweeted July 1. He followed up with: “.@GovernorPataki was a terrible governor of NY, one of the worst — would’ve been swamped if he ran again!”

Karl Rove — Trump went off on the Republican strategist’s record in 2012 record. “@KarlRove wasted $400 million + and didn’t win one race—a total loser.@FoxNews,” he tweeted on July 16, followed by “Irrelevant clown @KarlRove sweats and shakes nervously on @FoxNews as he talks ‘bull’ about me. Has zero cred. Made fool of himself in ’12.” Trump even called out the network: “@FoxNewsYou shouldn’t have @KarlRove on the air—he’s a clown with zero credibility—a Bushy!”

Kristen Stewart — “Robert [Pattinson] I’m getting a lot of heat for saying you should dump Kristen- but I’m right. If you saw the Miss Universe girls you would reconsider.” Trump tweeted of the stars of the “Twilight” series on July 16.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — “[Sanders] knows the country is ripped off. And I know the country is being ripped off,” Trump told The Hill on July 23. “The difference is that I can do something about it and he can’t. He’ll never be able to negotiate with China.”

Republican National Committee — “The RNC has not been supportive. They were always supportive when I was a contributor. I was their fair-haired boy,” Trump toldThe Hill on July 23. “The RNC has been, I think, very foolish.”

Chuck Todd —“I hear that sleepy eyes @chucktodd will be fired like a dog from ratings starved Meet The Press? I can’t imagine what is taking so long!” Trump tweeted on July 12 about the “Meet the Press” host.

Univision — “@Univision cares far more about Mexico than it does about the U.S. Are they controlled by the Mexican government?” Trump tweeted on June 26 after the network cut ties with him over his immigration remarks. “Has anyone seen the financials of @Univision. They are doing really badly. Too much debt and not enough viewers. Need money fast. Funny!” he followed up on July 11.

The Wall Street Journal — Trump has had a long feud with owner Rupert Murdoch. After the paper questioned his candidacy, Trump tweeted on July 20: “The ever dwindling @WSJ which is worth about 1/10 of what it was purchased for, is always hitting me politically. Who cares!”

George Will — “Shouldn’t George Will have to give a disclaimer every time he is on Fox that his wife works for Scott Walker?” Trump tweeted, taking on the Washington Post columnist on July 22.

Juan Williams — “@TheJuanWilliams you never speak well of me & yet when I saw you at Fox you ran over like a child and wanted a picture,” tweeted Trump on July 3 of the Fox personality.

Source: The Hill

Obama urges UK to stay in EU for ‘ world influence’

In a wide-ranging television interview, President Barack Obama has urged Britain to stay in the European Union in order to have influence on the world stage. He also admitted US gun laws were his “biggest frustration.”

Speaking to the UK’s BBC correspondent in Washington, US President Barack Obama said Britain must remain in the European Union to maintain its global influence. In previous interviews Obama has avoided taking a stance on such issues.

“Having the UK in the EU gives us much greater confidence about the strength of the transatlantic union, and is part of the cornerstone of the institutions built after (the second world war) that has made the world safer and more prosperous,” Obama said. “We want to make sure that the United Kingdom continues to have that influence,” he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is following up on an election pledge to negotiate with the EU for improved terms for Britain, ad then to hold a referendum on EU membership before the end of 2017.

Obama said that Britain was the US’ “best partner” because of its willingness to project power beyond its “immediate self-interests to make this a more orderly, safer world.”

US gun laws

Obama admitted that failure to pass “common sense gun safety laws” was the greatest frustration of his presidency.

“If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands,” he commented.

“For us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing,” Obama said.

While he has pressed for stricter gun control during his presidency, Obama has been unable to make any significant changes to the laws due to opposition in Congress.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Rant shows how diversity is celebrated in NY

A American woman in the US hurls a stream of abuse at a parking attendant for a few minutes over a $15 garage fine – and there are so many swear words it would make even the most hard-boiled men wince.

The woman and her girlfriend arrived at the garage on Broadway in New York seven minutes late to collect their car and were slapped a $15 fine.

Instead of coughing up, one of them went berserk and turned the air blue. In the three-minute clip, the woman keeps humiliating the man who is not shown.

She lashes out at the attendant accusing him of poor English skills, being a looser and mocking his place of birth and job.

“Why don’t you learn to speak English? You f**king idiot! You’re garbage! You’re a piece of s**t!” she keeps on shouting for several minutes.

No one present at the scene tried to bring the woman to reason and curtail her ethnocentric rant.

More Nazi’s in the Royal woodwork

Photographs of the Queen’s uncle Edward VIII giving Nazi salutes on a visit to Germany two years before the outbreak of war have emerged after being put up for auction.

The then Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the previous year, is pictured making the distinctive “Heil Hitler” gesture on an unofficial visit to Germany in 1937.

He is surrounded by senior Nazis in uniform, some wearing swastika armbands, on a visit to the Friedrich Heinrich colliery in the Lower Rhine area.

His guide during the visit was Robert Ley, the Nazi head of the German Labour Front, who later committed suicide while awaiting trial at Nuremberg for war crimes.

Among the other senior Nazis who accompanied him were Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German foreign minister; Fritz Wiedemann, Hitler’s personal adjutant; Arthur Goerlitzer, the deputy political leader of Berlin and Walter Hewel, Hitler’s liaison to Ribbentrop.

The British government representative was James Harrison, third secretary at the British Embassy.

Although Edward VIII’s admiration for Hitler has always been well known – he once met the Fuhrer with his wife Wallis Simpson – the timing of the photographs’ release could not have been worse for the Royal family.

The portfolio has been held by a private collector for the last 30 years.

Edward’s visit to Germany in October 1937 had ostensibly been to learn about factories and working conditions, but he attended a political rally flanked by SS guards and met Hitler at his Alpine retreat at Berchtesgaden.

An account of the conversation between the Fuhrer and Edward was captured by the Allies, but it has never been released by the National Archives.

Edward spoke in German to his hosts, and gave a speech declaring the Nazi economic model to be “a miracle”, adding: “One can only begin to understand it when one realises that behind it all is one man and one will.”

Source: The Telegraph

Carthage must be destroyed

The Pentagon has released its “National Military Strategy of the United States of America 2015,” June 2015.

The document announces a shift in focus from terrorists to “state actors” that “are challenging international norms.” It is important to understand what these words mean. Governments that challenge international norms are sovereign countries that pursue policies independently of Washington’s policies. These “revisionist states” are threats, not because they plan to attack the US, which the Pentagon admits neither Russia nor China intend, but because they are independent. In other words, the norm is dependence on Washington.

Be sure to grasp the point: The threat is the existence of sovereign states, whose independence of action makes them “revisionist states.” In other words, their independence is out of step with the neoconservative Uni-power doctrine that declares independence to be the right of Washington alone. Washington’s History-given hegemony precludes any other country being independent in its actions.

The Pentagon’s report defines the foremost “revisionist states” as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. The focus is primarily on Russia.Washington hopes to co-op China, despite the “tension to the Asia-Pacific region” that China’s defense of its sphere of influence, a defense “inconsistent with international law” (this from Washington, the great violator of international law), by turning over what remains of the American consumer market to China. It is not yet certain that Iran has escaped the fate that Washington imposed on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Ukraine, and by complicity Palestine.

The Pentagon report is sufficiently audacious in its hypocrisy, as all statements from Washington are, to declare that Washington and its vassals “support the established institutions and processes dedicated to preventing conflict, respecting sovereignty, and furthering human rights.” This from the military of a government that has invaded, bombed, and overthrown 11 governments since the Clinton regime and is currently working to overthrow governments in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina.

In the Pentagon document, Russia is under fire for not acting “in accordance with international norms,” which means Russia is not following Washington’s leadership.

In other words, this is a bullshit report written by neocons in order to foment war with Russia.

Nothing else can be said about the Pentagon report, which justifies war and more war. Without war and conquests, Americans are not safe.

Washington’s view toward Russia is the same as Cato the Elder’s view toward Carthage. Cato the Elder finished his every speech on any subject in the Roman Senate with the statement “Carthage must be destroyed.”

This report tells us that war with Russia is our future unless Russia agrees to become a vassal state like every country in Europe, and Canada, Australia, Ukraine, and Japan. Otherwise, the neoconservatives have decided that it is impossible for Americans to tolerate living with a country that makes decisions independently of Washington. If American cannot be The Uni-Power dictating to the world, better that we are all dead. At least that will show the Russians.

AFFH a lever to racially re-engineer America

HUD Secretary Julian Castro has announced the finalization of the Obama administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule. A front-page article preemptively defending the move appears in today’s Washington Post.

The final rule is 377 pages, vastly longer than the preliminary version of the rule promulgated in 2013. AFFH is easily one of President Obama’s most radical initiatives, on a par with Obamacare in its transformative potential.

In effect, AFFH gives the federal government a lever to re-engineer nearly every American neighborhood — imposing a preferred racial and ethnic composition, densifying housing, transportation, and business development in suburb and city alike, and weakening or casting aside the authority of local governments over core responsibilities, from zoning to transportation to education.

Not only the policy but the political implications are immense — at the presidential, congressional, state, and local levels.

It is a scandal that the mainstream press has largely refused to report on AFFH until the day of its final release. The rule has been out in preliminary form for two years, and well before that the Obama administration’s transformative aims in urban/suburban policy were evident.

Three years ago, when I wrote about Obama’s policy blueprint in Spreading the Wealth: How Obama Is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities, the administration’s efforts to keep this issue under the radar were evident.

Only last month, an admission of the stealth relied on by advocates to advance this initiative was caught on video.

Obama has downplayed his policy goals in this area and delayed the finalization of AFFH for years, because he understands how politically explosive this rule is. Once the true implications of AFFH are understood, Americans will rebel.

The only prospect for successful imposition is a frog-boiling strategy of gradual intensification. The last day the frog will be able to jump is Tuesday, November 8, 2016.

Fundamentally, AFFH is an attempt to achieve economic integration. Race and ethnicity are being used as proxies for class, since these are the only hooks for social engineering provided by the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Like AFFH itself, today’s Washington Post piece blurs the distinction between race and class, conflating the persistence of “concentrated poverty” with housing discrimination by race. Not being able to afford a freestanding house in a bedroom suburb is no proof of racial discrimination.

Erstwhile urbanites have been moving to rustic and spacious suburbs since Cicero built his villa outside Rome. Even in a monoracial and mono-ethnic world, suburbanites would zone to set limits on dense development.

As noted, AFFH is a largely unacknowledged attempt to force economic integration on every neighborhood in America.

Yet in a recent Rasmussen poll, 83 percent of respondents said it was not the government’s job to diversify neighborhoods by income level, while only 8 percent say that this is an appropriate task for government.

Now you know why the Obama administration and a compliant press corps have kept this initiative quiet.

Read more.

Moscow hopes US will abandon AMD plans for Europe

Moscow hopes the US will fulfill its promise not to develop a system of missile defense in Europe after a deal with Iran has been reached, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Vienna on Tuesday.

“We all probably remember that in April 2009 in Prague [US] President [Barack] Obama said that if the Iran nuclear program issue is sorted out, then the task of creating the European segment of the missile defense system will disappear,” Lavrov said at press conference in Vienna.

He said that Tehran and the P5+1 powers (the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) have agreed on “joint all-inclusive plan of actions, which consists of the main document and five very detailed technical appendices.”

A draft of UN Security Council resolution has also been agreed upon which all participants of the talks will present as co-authors in New York in the next few days, Lavrov said, adding that the resolution will be considered by the UN SC and voted on. “We believe, it will be unanimously approved,” he added.

Rise of hypersonic missiles render fleets obsolete

With the rise of hypersonic missiles, fleets have become largely obsolete, reduced as they are to huge sitting ducks. There is simply no defense for a large ship against an incoming MACH5 missile. Carriers can destroy small countries like Libya or Iraq, but not Russia and China.

Hypersonic weapons can achieve speeds over five times faster than the speed of sound (Mach 5) and they are the latest version of precision guided munitions (PGM) that make up part of the larger family of long-range strike weapons systems.

“Hypersonic weapons add to the complexity and elusiveness of the escalatory dynamics and this is something both sides will need to plan for”, says Eleni G. Ekmektsioglou from the American University’s School of International Service.

In the United States, hypersonic weapons are pursued in the context of the conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) commonly defined by officials as a technology of “high-precision conventional weapons capable of striking a target anywhere in the world within one hour’s time.”

Outside the United States, states such as China or Russia have been pursuing this promising technology in secrecy.

Chinese fears skyrocketed after President Barack Obama’s Prague speech and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). The Chinese understood America’s decreasing reliance on nuclear weapons as being tantamount to a greater reliance on conventional weapons—especially CPGS—where the United States enjoys an undeniable superiority.

Thus, the Chinese regard President Obama’s vision for a nuclear-free world as a trap that aims at containing China’s rise to power, Ekmektsioglou believes.

Russia has built a revolutionary new weapon system that can render enemy satellites and weapons useless.

Its Russian makers say it is a ‘fundamentally new electronic warfare system’ which can be mounted on ground-based as well as air- and sea-borne carriers.

‘The system will target the enemy’s deck-based, tactical, long-range and strategic aircraft, electronic means and suppress foreign military satellites’ radio-electronic equipment,’ Russia’s Radio-Electronic Technologies Group (KRET) Deputy CEO Yuri Mayevsky told Russian news agency TASS.

To comply with international weapons laws, the system will be mounted on ground-based, air-and seaborne carriers and not on satellites.

‘It will fully suppress communications, navigation and target location and the use of high-precision weapons,’ said adviser to the KRET first deputy CEO Vladimir Mikheyev.

The system will be used against cruise missiles and will suppress satellite-based radio location systems.

Police deny brutal beating of white man was racist

New video out of Cincinnati shows a black mob viciously beating and choking a white man, but police have distanced themselves from an initial explanation that the incident was an “anti-white” attack.

The altercation began in Fountain Square on Saturday night at around 11pm shortly after a music concert and 4th of July fireworks.

The video shows several black teens punching and choking 27-year-old Christopher McKnight, while another individual wearing a red t-shirt appears to be attempting to deter the attackers.

McKnight suffered serious internal injuries and was taken to hospital. Riot police later arrived on the scene and arrested seven young men. Two officers and a bystander were injured during the unrest.

A police report initially stated that the incident was being treated as an “anti-white” racial attack, but Capt. Mike Neville subsequently backed off that explanation, asserting that the beating was not a racial attack.

Another video of the incident appears to show bystanders laughing at and taunting the victim as he lay on the ground unconscious and bleeding.

21-year-old Jy Quynn Britten was also arrested for punching a police officer, despite claims of mistaken identity by his defense attorney.

An eyewitness called Louis asserted that Britten was responsible for attacking the officer, stating, “The guy hit the police officer, his lip busted. Everybody started running, there were fireworks thrown toward the police officers. It was really wild. I don’t know why it was like this, but it was crazy.”

Many are citing the incident as another example of black on white violent crime that has largely been ignored by the mass media, arguing that if the roles were reversed and it was a white mob beating up a black man, the story would be a national issue.

Source: Infowars

‘Good thing that whites will be absolute minority’

On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden said it will be a “good thing” when whites are an “absolute minority” in America in 2017.

The U.S. Census, though, has projected that America will be a majority-minority nation in 2044. The Census report, released in March, also projected that “by 2060, nearly one in five of the nation’s total population is projected to be foreign born.”

“By 2017, those of us of European stock will be an absolute minority in the United States of America,” Biden said at a State Department luncheon for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. According to pool reports, Biden added that that’s “not a bad thing, that’s a good thing” because it means the country is becoming more diverse.

The U.S. Census Bureau revealed last week that in 2014, minorities made up a majority of children under five years of age in the United States for the first time.

Biden is reportedly considering a run for the White House and his party’s chances of keeping the White House depend on whether minorities and young voters who made up Obama’s coalition turn out again with the same level of enthusiasm. Recent polling has found that non-white voters are less enthusiastic about the 2016 election than white voters who tend to lean more Republican.

Source: Breitbart

Cubans urge SA to keep revolution alive

One of the Cuban Five has urged South Africans to keep the revolutionary legacy of the people who have fought for the democracy of the country alive.

Gerardo Hernandez is one of the Cuban Five members who visited the Free State on Wednesday as part of their world tour.

Speaking at a media briefing at the Kaizer Sebothelo building in Bloemfontein, he said he hopes that new leaders and the younger generation will be able to keep going forward and maintain the legacy of their older leaders.

He said they were happy to see many active young people during their visit to the country.

Hernandez stressed that it is very important for the youth to be active as imperialism would want people to forget their history.

Meanwhile the US and Cuba have formally agreed on Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations on July 20, setting up a trip to Havana by John Kerry, who would become the first US secretary of state to visit the country in 70 years.

Kerry, speaking from Vienna, said he would visit Havana to raise the US flag outside the future US embassy, currently labeled an interests section.

“The progress that we mark today is yet another demonstration that we don’t have to be imprisoned by the past,” Obama said from the White House Rose Garden. “When something isn’t working, we can – and will – change.”

Following 18 months of secret negotiations brokered by Pope Francis and Canada, Obama and Castro announced in December they planned to reopen embassies and normalize relations. The agreement also included a prisoner swap.

White babies a minority in US

Non-white children under the age of five are now the majority of the US population, according to the Census Bureau.

Thus more whites are dying than being born.

New population estimates released Thursday reveal a striking shift in the composition of America’s population as racial and ethnic minority births are also outpacing minority deaths.

Meanwhile non-Hispanic whites are experiencing negative population growth, seeing 61,841 more deaths than births between 2013 and 2014.

The Census reports that in the past decade, the population has become more diverse, with the percentage of ethic and racial minorities growing from 32.9 percent to 37.9 percent over the last decade.

Indeed, the report notes that Millennials — now representing more than a quarter of the population, more than the 75.4 million Baby Boomers — are more diverse than earlier generations as 44.2 percent belong to a minority group.

With the nation as a whole barreling toward a minority-majority future, there are already states where racial and ethnic minorities actually make up the majority. Specifically there are four states and the District of Columbia: Hawaii (77.0 percent), the District of Columbia (64.2 percent), California (61.5 percent), New Mexico (61.1 percent) and Texas (56.5 percent).

There are other states on the precipice of a minority-majority population such as Nevada where 48.9 percent is minority.

According to the Census more than 11 percent of the nation’s 3,142 counties, or 364, were already majority-minority. This year, the Census noted that five became majority minority between 2013-2014, specifically: Russell, Alabama, Newton, Georgia, Eddy, New Mexico, Brazoria, Texas, and Suffolk city, Virginia.

The data comes as a Census report earlier this year projected that by 2044 more than half of the population in the United States would be part of a minority group.

Source: Breitbart