Home · News · News Mar 2019 · Mar 08 2019
Friday March 08, 2019

Paul Manafort Was Just Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
MotherJones | Dan Friedman | 03/07/19

A federal judge in Virginia sentenced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, 69, to 47 months in prison on tax and bank fraud charges on Thursday.

The sentence follows Manafort's conviction last August on charges that he failed to pay taxes on at least $16 million he was paid in the early 2010s for consulting and lobbying work for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader who fled to Moscow after a 2014 uprising, and his allies. Manafort was also convicted of defrauding multiple banks to secure large loans after his consulting income dried up in 2015. ... Read more

What have we learned? If you steal millions and millions of dollars, defraud banks, lie to government agencies and only have to spend 47 months in jail. Maybe he will get the same deal as Jeffrey Epstein and be able to goto work while he is in prison.
Scoop: White House leak to House Dems on Jared and Ivanka's clearances | Axios | Alexi McCammond | 03/08/19 | article

U.S. trade deficit grows to 10-year high under Trump
Axios | staff | 03/08/19

The U.S. trade deficit grew to $621 billion in 2018, its highest level since 2008, according to a Commerce Department report released Wednesday that was delayed by the government shutdown.

The big picture: President Trump has made reducing the nation's trade deficit -- especially with China -- a major goal of his administration. However, the report showed a record-breaking $891.3 billion trade gap for the U.S. in goods and services and a trade deficit with China for goods that hit a record $419.2 billion. ... Read more

Bernie Sanders Defines Democratic Socialism (or what I call Social Capitalism)
Is Sanders' Democratic Socialism ... Socialism? | TRNN | 03/08/19 | 21:21
I would like to see
Get money out of politics
Stop the Revolving door between government and business
Stop legal bribery (i.e. lobbyist)
Allow more polical parties

Social Capitalism vs Preditory Capitalism

Everyone desirves:
  1. Clean air and water (fair regulations)
  2. Nutricious food (fair regulations)
  3. Sufficient shelter
  4. Equitable access education
  5. Reasonable access to health care | family planning | birth control
  6. Resonable access to a job | child care |

Social (fair) Capitalism (free/fair traders) => Scandinavian countries vs Preditory Capitalism (profits at the expense of the other side) => United States
Scandinavian countries
Many view Sweden as socialist. However, the country is, in fact, very pro-capitalism, but does it with redistribution through taxes. Personal income is taxed at a rate of 61.85 percent, plus a 7 percent social security tax rate for employees. On top of these taxes, Sweden also has a 25 percent consumption tax. For these sacrifices of financial freedom, this is what Sweden offers their citizens in benefits:

Sweden is the third most democratic country in the world, beaten only by Nordic neighbours Norway and Iceland, according to the Economist's Democracy Index.

  1. Pension
  2. Health care
  3. Unemployment Insurance
  4. Education through Ph.D. Level
  5. Child Day Care
  6. Very generous leaves of absence from work with benefits including: education up to 6 months, starting your own company up to 6 months off, parental leave up to 16 months with 80 percent of your pay during time off
  7. 16 public holidays (10 of these holidays are Christian-based, even though just five percent of the population are regular church attendees).
  8. Health Care

Trump will submit NAFTA replacement to Congress 'very shortly'
Politico | Doug Palmer | 03/08/19

President Donald Trump today said he plans to send the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to Congress very soon, which would start a 90-day clock for lawmakers to approve or reject the plan without any changes.

"Mexico, Canada is done. We'll be submitting to Congress very shortly. And that's a great deal for the United States, so we're very happy about that," Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for an event in Alabama.

The comment came as many Democrats are demanding the Trump administration reopen the agreement to strengthen labor and environmental enforcement provisions and address concerns about pharmaceutical issues. ... Read more

The Making of the Fox News White House
See NPR Fresh Air in the right column
TheNation | Jane Mayer | 03/11/19

... But the photo op dramatized something else about the Administration. After members of the press pool got out of vans and headed over to where the President was about to speak, they noticed that Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, was already on location. Unlike them, he hadn't been confined by the Secret Service, and was mingling with Administration officials, at one point hugging Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of Homeland Security. The pool report noted that Hannity was seen "huddling" with the White House communications director, Bill Shine. After the photo op, Hannity had an exclusive on-air interview with Trump. Politico later reported that it was Hannity's seventh interview with the President, and Fox's forty-second. Since then, Trump has given Fox two more. He has granted only ten to the three other main television networks combined, and none to CNN, which he denounces as "fake news."

Hannity was treated in Texas like a member of the Administration because he virtually is one. The same can be said of Fox's chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Fox has long been a bane of liberals, but in the past two years many people who watch the network closely, including some Fox alumni, say that it has evolved into something that hasn't existed before in the United States. Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and the author of "Messengers of the Right," a history of the conservative media's impact on American politics, says of Fox, "It's the closest we've come to having state TV." ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, March 08 [14:04]
It's Time to Tell the Truth: Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy Supports Ilhan Omar's Critique of Israel | DN | 03/08/19 | 6:36<
Debate Over Ilhan Omar Highlights New Willingness in U.S. to Question Power of Pro-Israeli Lobby | DN | 03/08/19 | 17:42<
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, March 08 (FULL) | 59:02
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.
  1. Headlines
  2. Ilhan Omar in Her Own Words: I Know What Hate Feels Like
  3. It's Time to Tell the Truth: Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy Supports Ilhan Omar's Critique of Israel
  4. Debate over Ilhan Omar Highlights New Willingness in U.S. to Question Power of Pro-Israeli Lobby
  5. Lost Children Archive: Valeria Luiselli's New Novel Bears Witness to the U.S. Immigration Crisis
Paul Manafort's SHOCKING Sentence | TYT | 03/07/19 | 6:31
Meghan McCain's Meltdown | TYT | 03/07/19 | 8:59
The1a.org
Friday News Roundup -- Domestic | 1a.org | 03/08/19 | 1hr
  1. On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee announced a sweeping investigation into President Trump and his associates, requesting documents from 81 "agencies, entities, and individuals." | Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms. Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee. We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight. Congress must provide a check on abuses of power. Equally, we must protect and respect the work of Special Counsel Mueller, but we cannot rely on others to do the investigative work for us. Our work is even more urgent after senior Justice Department officials have suggested that they may conceal the work of the Special Counsel's investigation from the public.
  2. On Wednesday, Michael Cohen testified again before the House committee, releasing documents about a false statement he delivered to Congress in 2017 at the request of President Trump's lawyers.
  3. Meanwhile, the House has delayed voting on an anti-Semitism resolution that was drafted in the wake of recent comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN.
  4. Sen. Martha McSally, R-AZ, told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee that she was raped by a superior officer while in the Air Force. "I want to shine a flashlight for them -- that today can be a new day," she said about sexual assault survivors in the military.
Friday News Roundup -- International | 1a.org | 03/08/19 | 1hr
  1. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has become embroiled in a sticky political scandal.
  2. This week, intelligence analysts revealed that North Korea has started to rebuild the structures it uses to launch satellites and test other technology for its intercontinental ballistic missile program.
  3. In Algeria, they've fueled a combustible political situation. The fact that Algeria is also a major oil producer also means that sustained political unrest in the country has the potential to affect global oil markets as well. And its geographic location in North Africa means that a politically stable Algeria has been an important player in stabilizing migration flows from Africa into Europe. If the situation spirals out of control there, there are no guarantees as to what will happen.
  4. And Chinese tech company Huawei sued the United States this week after the American government banned its agencies from purchasing Huawei products. U.S. intellegence agencies have alleged the company presents a threat to national security.
NPR Fresh Air
The White House And Its 'Shadow Cabinet' Of Fox News TV Hosts | NPR Fresh Air | 03/07/19 | 1hr
In July 2018, former Fox News co-President Bill Shine joined the White House staff as deputy chief of staff for communications and assistant to President Trump.

He wasn't the first -- or only -- Fox News personality to align with the president. In November, Fox News host Sean Hannity, who reportedly speaks to Trump "almost daily," faced criticism after joining Trump onstage during a rally. And New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer reports that 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch speaks to Trump on a weekly basis and that Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs has been "patched into" Oval Office meetings. ... Read more

Former Trump Campaign Chair Sentenced To 47 Months In Prison | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 03/07/19 | 29:27
Joe: No One Would Say Paul Manafort Lived A Blameless Life | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 03/07/19 | 11:24
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Paul Manafort Gets 47 Months In Prison | Stephen Colbert | 03/07/19 | 7:23
Jimmy Kimmel Live
EXCLUSIVE -- Trump's High School Transcripts Revealed! | Jimmy Kimmel | 03/07/19 | 6:37

03.08.2019. 12:46



Special Interest Important stuff
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Lindsey Graham Mashups
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 & Climate Change
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 | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
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 | AI - Artificial Intelligence
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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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

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?

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 | Pentagon Papers
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
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 and Fall of American Business
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

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

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

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
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

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
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
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 |Interviews
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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