Tillerson scales back State Department restructuring plan After stiff resistance from diplomats and lawmakers, the secretary of state is lowering expectations. When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson first announced plans to "redesign" the State Department, U.S. diplomats braced for huge changes ranging from shuttered embassies to dramatic staff and budget cuts. As Tillerson failed to fill top leadership positions, some staffers worried the former ExxonMobil CEO was arrogantly dismissive of their mission. But a year into his much-criticized tenure, Tillerson is scaling back people's expectations of his vision. Far from swinging a wrecking ball into the 75,000-employee department, Tillerson looks ready to tap with a hammer and chisel. State Department officials say that talk of closing down entire wings of the department has been replaced with narrower plans to upgrade technology and improve training. ... Read more 2/7/18: White House Press Briefing | 02/07/18 | 21:13Donald Trump Wants to Make It Easier to Start a Nuclear War. This Should Petrify Us. ... Yet four months later, in November 2016, almost 63 million of her fellow Americans voted to put the short-tempered, thin-skinned former reality TV star in charge of their country's 6,800 nuclear warheads. Never forget: As president of the nuclear-armed United States, Trump -- Trump! -- has the power to destroy humanity many times over, while rendering the planet uninhabitable in the process. If that wasn't terrifying enough, last week, less than 72 hours after the State of the Union speech, in which Trump ramped up his war of words with North Korea, his administration announced that it wanted to make it much easier for the president to start a nuclear holocaust. ...
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2018 Nuclear Posture Review.pdf
On January 27, 2017, the President directed the Department of Defense to conduct a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) to ensure a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent that protects the homeland, assures allies and above all, deters adversaries. This review comes at a critical moment in our nation's history, for America confronts an international security situation that is more complex and demanding than any since the end of the Cold War. In this environment, it is not possible to delay modernization of our nuclear forces if we are to preserve a credible nuclear deterrent -- ensuring that our diplomats continue to speak from a position of strength on matters of war and peace. The Rise and Fall of John Kelly's Reputation The White House chief of staff is facing new scrutiny for his defense of a staffer who has resigned following accusations of physical abuse from two ex-wives. ... That's the story of Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary, who announced his departure on Wednesday after published allegations of abuse from his two ex-wives. And more broadly, it's also the story of John Kelly, the White House chief of staff who was Porter's boss and defender. Unlike many members of the White House cast, Porter is not a household name, but he had rocketed to an important role directly by President Trump's side. He controlled the flow of information to Trump and spent a great deal of time with him. "Porter had good relationships across the ideological spectrum of the White House--from Stephen Miller to Gary Cohn, was one of Kelly's most trusted aides, and was in charge of the weekly trade policy meetings," Jonathan Swan reports. ... Read more |
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 08 [12:47] Directorate S: Steve Coll on the CIA & America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan & Pakistan | DN | 02/08/18 | 42:01
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 08 (FULL) | 59:02
Sheriff On Killing Suspect: "I Love This Sh*t" | TYT | 02/07/18 | 10:45
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
Russian Trolls Caught Posing As Black Activists | TYT | 02/07/18 | 10:31 Trump Scolds Stock Market | TYT | 02/07/18 | 5:17 The1a.org There will be a lot of sports firsts at this year's Olympic Winter Games | 1a.org | 02/08/18 | 1hr
There's something that happens at every Olympic Games: plenty of politics at play. As all eyes turn to Pyeongchang, South Korea, we offer a guide to get through the 2018 Winter Olympics without missing an important moment -- on or off the slopes.
Politics On Parade | 1a.org | 02/08/18 | 1hr
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has confirmed plans are being drawn up for a grand military parade at the request of President Trump. Mattis said the move underlined the respect Trump has for those who serve the country in uniform. Earlier, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin joined those who called the idea of a military parade "a fantastic waste of money," especially if the aim was just to amuse the commander-in-chief.
Meanwhile, President Kim Jong Un is expected to parade his latest military hardware through the North Korean capital on the eve of the Winter Games, underscoring the danger that will remain after the Olympic displays of goodwill are over.
NPR
PBS
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Note: I add this just to expose you to what the Alt Right is listening to. Sometimes pretty scary.
Pentagon Insider: America Has Only Two Choices | Alex Jones | 02/07/18 | 15:34Learn Why Liberals Are Lazy Criminals That Want To Run Your Life | Alex Jones | 02/07/18 | 12:29 |
Roger Stone: Trey Gowdy? | Alex Jones | 02/07/18 | 14:11 |
02.08.2018. 16:50
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GOOD Short VideosNote: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
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Newer DocumentariesNote: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
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Great YouTube Docs. (small | pop-up)
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Lindsey Graham
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
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Environment
The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.
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AI - Artificial Intelligence
AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.
The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Wall Street and Banksters
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.
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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.
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Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".
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Nukes
Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.
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Rana Foroohar
Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.
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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes
Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.
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Kuznick Interviews
Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay
The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB
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China Valley of Tunnels
A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.
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911
On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
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The Vietnam War
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.
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Trump's Mashups
Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.
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Trump's Sexcapades.
Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)
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Trump's Speeches | Rallys
Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.
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