Minister Louis Farrakhan News Conference

Nation of Islam Leader Minister Louis Farrakhan held a news conference at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Minister Farrakhan spoke for more than two hours on a range of political and social issues, including confronting racism in America. In addition, he strongly criticized President Trump’s foreign policy agenda involving the Middle East and North Korea. 

Source: C-SPAN 

White House Press Briefing

Spokesperson Sarah Sanders fields questions from reporters on a range of issues confronting the administration.

Click here for video. 

Source: C-SPAN 

Secretary Tillerson Urges African Partners to Take Tougher Stance on North Korea

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urges African countries to increase pressure on the North Korean regime to force it to abadon its nuclear program, including downgrading diplomatic relations, implementing U.N. sanctions in full, severing economic ties, expelling North Korean laborers, and reducing North Korean's presence in their respective countries.  

Click here for video.

Source: C-SPAN 

First Lady Melania Trump Visits China

Source: The White House

Ukrainians in America: The Holodomor Genocide Commemoration

Holodomor Genocide Commemoration, 2016 

On November 18, Ukrainian-Americans will mark the anniversary of the Holodomor, Stalin's 1932-1933 Famine Genocide in Ukraine, with an annual gathering in New York City reserved for the third Saturday of November.

The day’s events will begin with a solemn procession beginning in the East Village at 11:30 a.m. Participants will proceed from St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on the corner of Taras Shevchenko Place, and then up 3rd Avenue before arriving at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where a requiem service (sung in Ukrainian) will take place beginning at 2:00 p.m.

From 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., remarks will be made by invited guests: His Grace, Stefan Soroka, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in America; Tamara Olexy, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America; Senator Charles Schumer, New York; Jenifer Rajkumar, Executive Chamber, attending on behalf of Governor Cuomo; Ambassador Valery Chaly, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States; a representative from the Permanent Mission of the United States to the United Nations; Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations; and His Eminence Metropolitan Antony, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest grassroots representation of Americans of Ukrainian descent, has confirmed six buses of attendees will arrive from outside of New York, to join the hundreds of local participants in the March of Remembrance. 

Photos of last year's commemoration are available here. 

Source: The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America

The 'School Girls Deserve Policy Report' is Out!

The School Girls Deserve Policy Report is a culmination of stories, visions, and policy recommendations from our School Girls Deserve Participatory Action Research Project. Through the participatory action research (PAR) project, over 100 New York City girls, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) youth of color shared how they have been uniquely and negatively impacted by school policies.

Institutional and interpersonal violence threatens to push young people out of places of learning, but in collaboration with students, we can achieve safety and affirmation in schools. With their stories, visions, and policy recommendations, GGE seeks to center the voices of girls and TGNC youth of color in the conversation on school pushout.

Want to know more about the report? Want to know what you can do to help build the schools girls and TGNC youth of color deserve?

1. Save the date for our first Twitter chat on Wednesday, December 6th!

2. Sign up to be kept in the loop about our campaign and upcoming webinars and teach-ins!

3. Share and discuss the School Girls Deserve Policy Report using our social media handle @ggenyc and/or the hashtag #SGD!

Source: Girls for Gender Equity

One Officer, Scores of Tickets and a Familiar Racial Disparity

C.J. Brown wrote four times as many pedestrian tickets as any other officer in Jacksonville over the last five years. Most of them went to blacks. His boss says he’s just “good at his job.”

by Topher Sanders, ProPublica, and Benjamin Conarck, Florida Times-Union 

It was just before 9 a.m. one day last July, and Noemi Martinez was on her way from one job interview to the next, running to catch a bus on Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville, Fla. Sprinklers from a nearby nursery were showering water onto the broken sidewalk in front of her, so Martinez walked out into the shoulder of Lee Road and pressed on.

Things were fairly urgent for Martinez, 52. An eviction notice had been pasted on her apartment door on Jacksonville’s West Side. A job was vital, and she’d just interviewed for work as a bus driver. Now, she was off to interview for a position as a customer service representative at Florida Blue, the health insurance giant.

Just then, Officer C.J. Brown of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office cruised by on his motorcycle. Martinez’s luck could hardly have been worse.

Brown wrote more pedestrian tickets than any other member of the sheriff’s force over the last five years. And so at 8:58 a.m. on July 19, 2017, he issued a $62.50 citation to Martinez: “Pedestrian failed to use sidewalk. Walking in roadway where sidewalks provided.”

“I’ve never been stopped for anything and you’re going to stop me for walking, when I was doing everything right,” Martinez recalled saying to Brown. “He stopped me as if I was a criminal.”

Click here for the full article. 

Source: ProPublica

This Is Where Hate Crimes Don’t Get Reported

 

by Ken Schwencke and Hannah Fresques

On Monday, the FBI released its latest tally of hate crimes in the U.S. Despite a 1990 law that mandates data collection on hate crimes, the FBI’s count remains only a fraction of what an annual national crime victims survey estimates the real number to be.

The above map shows some of the gaps that remain in the data. It marks every law enforcement agency serving at least 10,000 residents that failed to report at all in 2016, that reported zero hate crimes, or that reported fewer than one hate crime per 100,000 residents.

ProPublica’s reporting has shown that local jurisdictions often fail to properly recognize, investigate or prosecute hate crimes, and thus do not report them to the FBI.

So what else do we know about what we don’t know? 

Click here for the full article.

Source: ProPublica

Tom Goldtooth: Carbon Trading is 'Fraudulent' Scheme to Privatize Air & Forests to Permit Pollution

Source: Democracy Now!

'Flashback Friday': Tippi Hedren on Sexual Harassment by Alfred Hitchcock

This video was published on YouTube on October 30, 2012. 

Source: BFIEvents

Trailblazers in Black History: Rev. Jesse Jackson

This video was published on YouTube on February 1, 2013. 

Source: Biography

Rev. Al Sharpton's Video Message of Support for Rev. Jesse Jackson

The following is an excerpt from the video.

“Reverend Jesse Jackson announced today that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I spent time with him and his family in New York as he made his announcement, and as I watched him I was reminded of the greatness of this man.

"How he continued Martin Luther King, Jr’s movement for justice making it national; how he perfected economic boycotts and corporate responsibility in the 21^st century; how he changed American politics with his presidential runs; to how he influenced American foreign policy, Reverend Jackson has changed the nation and served in ways in which he never got credit. We pray for him, just as he fought for us.” 

Click here for video.  

Note: Rev. Sharpton and the National Action Network will conduct a moment of prayer for Rev. Jackson on November 18 at the House of Justice: 106 West 145th Street at Malcolm X Boulevard.

The 9:45 a.m. prayer/rally will be broadcast on WLIB 1190 AM and streamed live here. It will also be available on the IMPACT Television Network.

Source: Mercury

The 75 Years War Against the Soviet Union, Part 2

 

By Steven Jonas 

In Part 1 of this two-part series, after an introduction about the setting for the October 25 Revolution of 1917 (November 7, 1917 on the "new," Gregorian, Calendar), I noted that for the entire 75 years of its existence, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics faced what can be called "The 75 Years War Against the Soviet Union." In Part 1, I very briefly reviewed that setting and what has happened to the development of socialism world-wide in the past 100 years. I also listed many of the major historical events which, ranging from diplomatic and economic isolation, to a refusal to join together to confront a common enemy, to continuing decades-long overt and covert pressure for "regime change" (finally achieved at the end of the War), to open military attack and engagement, taken together made up the War.

In Part 2, I discuss each one of those events in a bit of detail. Of course, as I noted, a full treatment would require much more space than we have on OpEdNews. Indeed, a book could well be written on the subject. But this can be considered a start on a subject which has been widely ignored. However, in my view it has to be taken into account in any accounting of what happened in and to that great socio-historical experiment known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Major Elements of the 75 Years War: 

1. What has been called "The Intervention," on the side of the "White Russian" resistance to the Red Revolution, began almost immediately after its initial success in overthrowing the Provisional Government. It was an armed counter-revolution led by the principal capitalist/imperialist power of the time, Great Britain. Winston Churchill was a leading promoter of the Intervention. Among the other nations involved were the United States, Japan, Romania, China, Greece, Serbia, Italy, and Canada.

2. After the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921 (and the withdrawal from Soviet territory of the Intervening nations), the Western Powers were slow to recognize the Soviet government. The United States was the last to do so, in 1933.

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3. As the Nazi threats to peace in Europe developed in the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union offered on a number of occasion to negotiate an anti-Nazi pact, primarily with the two major Western powers, France and Great Britain. They consistently refused. Indeed, in both countries there was considerable pro-Nazi political sentiment.

4. The "non-intervention" policy of the "Western Democracies" (including the United States) in the Spanish Civil War made the continuing anti-Soviet policy clear. One major factor in these Western powers' refusal even to send arms to the Spanish Republican government was that the Spanish Communist Party was a significant component of the governing coalition of the Spanish Republic. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany not only sent weapons but also fought on the side of the Spanish fascist rebellion. The Soviet Union played a limited role in supplying arms to the Republic.

5. Then came Munich  With Nazi Germany threatening to invade Czechoslovakia the Soviet Union offered military assistance to the Czechs, as well as the British and the French, in order to thwart the invasion. In fact, the Red Force was warming up on airfields just across the Czech border, ready to fly to the aid of the Czech army. But for Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain, it was more important to keep Hitler pointing east, towards the Soviet Union, a declared enemy from the time of Mein Kampf--- the famous "Drang Nach Osten" --- than it was to save the Czechs from the Nazis. After vainly trying, on numerous occasions, to get the British and the French to sign a joint defense pact against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union finally gave up. With the signing of the "Nazi-Soviet pact" on August 25, 1939, they bought time against what they knew was eventually going to come from the Nazis.

6. The Nazi invasion --- Operation Barbarossa --- was launched on June 22, 1941. It was the only "hot" component of The 75 Years War.

7. The delay by the United States and Great Britain in opening of the Second Front in France on June 6, 1944, was interpreted by some as being content to let the Soviet Union bleed, especially after it had won what came to be recognized as the turning point of the Second World War, victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, on February 2, 1943. In the course of the War, all told, the Soviet Union lost between 25 and 27 million dead, military and civilian. Total U.S. military casualties in World War II amounted to about 400,000. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: OpEdNews.com

Veep Meet & Greet: Colombian Vice President Oscar Naranjo

 

Today at the White House, Vice President Mike Pence met with Colombian Vice President Oscar Naranjo to reaffirm the strong and enduring partnership between the United States and Colombia, and address a range of issues including the critical fight against illegal drugs, implementation of the Colombian Peace Accords, and opportunities to stimulate economic growth. 

Vice President Pence underscored the essential importance of Colombia's counternarcotics efforts, commending Vice President Naranjo for recent progress, while noting the need to deploy more effective eradication techniques to bring down cultivation and production levels. 

The leaders also discussed opportunities to amplify interdiction operations that can halt existing drug shipments from reaching US shores. On the economic front, Vice President Pence reiterated the United States' strong support for Colombia's ambition to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), encouraging Colombia to make progress on remaining labor and trade concerns, particularly related to pharmaceuticals and trucking, to ensure a successful outcome. 

The two leaders discussed the on-going crisis in Venezuela, expressing deep concern for deteriorating situation and reiterating their steadfast commitment to support the restoration of the country's democracy.

Source: The White House, Office of the Vice President

UCLA Athletes Thank Trump for Their Release

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 76, Reveals He Has Parkinson’s Disease

 

by Dan Corey

Prominent civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he announced Friday.

“My family and I began to notice changes about three years ago,” Jackson said in a statement. “After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson's disease, a disease that bested my father.”

A neurological disorder with no known cure, Parkinson’s is commonly associated with tremors, stiffness and difficulty with walking and balancing. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News  

Mueller Issues Grand Jury Subpoenas for Trump Campaign Documents

Source: NBC News

Is Trump Ocean Club in Panama a Magnet for Dirty Money?

An NBC News Special Report

Rob Goldstone Ready to Come to U.S. and Talk to Mueller

 

by Robert Windrem

The British publicist who helped set up the fateful meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russians at Trump Tower in June 2016 is ready to meet with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's office, according to several people familiar with the matter.

 

Rob Goldstone has been living in Bangkok, Thailand, but has been communicating with Mueller's office through his lawyer, said a source close to Goldstone.

Goldstone's New York lawyer, G. Robert Gage, declined to comment other than to say, "nothing is presently scheduled."

However, sources close to Goldstone and familiar with the investigation say they expect he will travel to the United States at some point "in the near future," as one put it. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News  

Could Terrorists Hack an Airplane? The Government Just Did.

Hacking experts having been warning for years that it’s too easy to breach a cockpit’s defenses. Now an alarming government test proves their point.

By Clive Irving and Joseph Cox

Could terrorists hijack an airliner remotely by hacking into its cockpit controls, putting its fate in their hands?

This question is being asked because of the revelation that a team of cyber experts at the Department of Homeland Security successfully hacked into the avionics of a commercial airplane parked at an airport as part of a test.

The problem is that nobody with knowledge of aviation cyber security is sure of how vulnerable airplanes are to such an attack—and some believe that the DHS test has simply added to the confusion and created needless alarm.

A Boeing spokesman told The Daily Beast: “We witnessed the test and can say unequivocally that there was no hack of the airplane’s flight control systems.”

Information about the extent of the test is restricted and there is a strong feeling among hacking experts that the full extent of the threat will remain underestimated—as they claim it has been for years.

The issue ignited after Robert Hickey, from the Cyber Security Division of the DHS, told a meeting of cyber experts in Virginia that his team had “accomplished a remote, non-cooperative penetration” of a Boeing 757, owned by the department, while it was parked at Atlantic City airport.

Although the 757 is basically a 1970s design, hundreds of them are still flown by American carriers—and nine are operated by the U.S. Air Force for use by diplomats and officials including one used by the secretary of State—as well as Donald Trump’s personal jet that he used prominently during the presidential campaign.

Click here for the full article.

Source: The Daily Beast 

Senate Judiciary Commitee Has More Questions for Jared Kushner

Source: CBS News

Al Franken Apologizes After Radio Anchor Says He Forcibly Kissed Her, Took Lewd Photo

Source: ABC News

Governor Cuomo Announces $2.5 Million Awarded to Expand After-School Programs in Western New York

This video was published on YouTube on November 16. 

Source: NYGovCuomo

Cuomo: Free Admission to All State Parks on Black Friday

 

Free admission will be granted to all New York State parks this Black Friday, November 24 to encourage New Yorkers and their families to take advantage of the more than 335,000 acres of state-owned land next weekend. During Thanksgiving weekend, State Parks offers various family friendly events and programs at locations across the state. For a full list of state park programs on Black Friday and over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, click here.

"On Black Friday this year I urge New Yorkers to get outside and to take advantage of the world-class parks in every corner of this state," Governor Cuomo said. "By offering free admission, we encourage families, nature-lovers and outdoor enthusiasts alike to enjoy the unparalleled natural beauty right in their backyards."

While a majority of state parks do not charge this time of year the few parks that do such as Niagara Falls in Niagara County, Walkway Over the Hudson in Dutchess and Ulster counties, Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Westchester County, Minnewaska State Park Preserve in Ulster County, Connetquot River State Park Preserve and Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Suffolk County and others are waiving the standard vehicle entry fee for Black Friday, November 24.

Events and programs include Buy Nothing Day, which allows visitors to create gifts using recycled materials; the Thanksgiving Walk Off, which promotes healthy exercise after a hearty holiday feast; and making your own holiday wrapping paper to prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

"The holidays are about creating memories, spending these moments with family and friends and state parks are the perfect places to fill those photo albums," said State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey. "State parks provide the opportunity to invigorate our mind, body and soul and offer the chance to relax, rejuvenate and recoup during a very busy but wonderful time of the year."

Throughout the year, other admission programs offer a variety of ways to enjoy state parks at a discount or for free. The annual Empire Pass Card is on sale for $65 through March 31 and offers family sharing capacities, the 3-year, 5-year and Lifetime passes offer park access at deeper discounts. All products can be purchased here.

New York State encourages New York's seniors age 62 and older to take advantage of the state parks Golden Park Program, which allows for their free entry into state parks weekdays by showing their driver's license or state-issued non-driver ID.

Governor Cuomo recently launched the "Connect Kids to Parks" program to enhance opportunities for schoolchildren and help promote parks and historic places in every corner of the state. As part of the effort, New York has extended free State Park day-use entry to all fourth-grade students and their families through 2018 and created a new grant program to transport schoolchildren to educational programs in State parks and historic sites.

Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

MTA, Union Reach Deal to Turn Station Agents Into 'Customer Service Ambassadors'

 

Current station agents who volunteer for the new position will get a slight pay increase.

By Ameena Walker 

The MTA has reached a deal with the city’s transit union and is moving forward with plans to transition subway station agents into newly created “customer service ambassador” positions, reports the New York Post.

The agency will commission 355 workers to fulfill the ambassador positions, charging them with new responsibilities that include assisting customers at MetroCard machines along with providing service and route information. Stations including Penn Station, Grand Central, and Times Square are being prioritized for brand ambassadors.

Click here fr summary.

Source: https://ny.curbed.com (via The Empire Report)

Sudan Deploys Paramilitary Forces to Curb Migration

Amnesty International Accuses Philippine Government Forces of War Crimes

20% of Hong Kong Lives in Poverty

Australia's Youth Prisons Accused of Abuse

Trump Lifts Ban on Ivory Trophies

Russia Blocks Bid to Probe Syria's Chemical Weapons Use

Yemenis Find Refuge in Africa’s Djibouti

Gangster "Boss of Bosses" Toto Riina, Feared Godfather from Corleone, Dies Behind Bars at 87

Source: FRANCE 24 English

Hariri to Visit France: "Lebanon is Increasingly Caught Between Saudi Arabia and Iran"

Source: FRANCE 24 English

Eye on Africa: President Mugabe Meets with Regional Envoys and Army Chief

Source: FRANCE 24 English

Iraqi Forces Claim to Have Re-Captured Rawa, the Last Town Held by ISIL in Iraq

Source: euronews.

New York State Launches Suicide Prevention Task Force

Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced the formation of the New York State Suicide Prevention Task Force that includes leaders from state agencies, local governments, not-for-profit groups, and other recognized experts in suicide prevention. The creation of the Task Force was first announced in Governor Cuomo's 2017 State of the State.

"The rise in the number of suicides nationwide is unacceptable, and New York will continue to make suicide awareness and prevention a top priority until we put an end to this epidemic," Governor Cuomo said. "The Suicide Prevention Task Force will focus on high-risk communities and groups to build on our efforts to address this challenge, and help build a stronger, healthier New York for all."

The Task Force will be co-chaired by Christopher Tavella, PhD, Executive Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health, and Peter Wyman, PhD, Professor Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. A full list of Task Force members can be found here.

Task Force members will examine and evaluate current suicide prevention programs services, and policies. Members will then make recommendations to increase access, awareness, and support for children, adolescents and adults in need of assistance. The Task Force will also explore methods to address and prevent bullying and cyber-bullying, which negatively impact an individual's mental health and in some cases have caused a number of children and young adults to take their own lives.

A Focus on High Risk Groups

The Task Force will focus on suicide prevention targeting high-risk demographic groups and special populations, including members of the LGBT community, veterans, individuals with mental illness, and individuals struggling with alcohol and drug use. Veterans in New York State represent more than 15 percent of suicides, while nationally, LGBT adolescents are four times more likely to have attempted suicide than their non-LGBT peers.

Other high risk populations include middle-aged men and Latina adolescents.

New York has the fifth largest total number of suicides in the nation, with 1,652 in 2015, and it is estimated that for every suicide death there are 25 non-fatal attempts. In 2014, there were more than 21,000 hospitalizations and emergency department visits for self-inflicted injuries in New York State, and adolescents made up a disproportionately high number of these injuries.

The formation of this Task Force makes good on the Governor's promise to prioritize suicide prevention and address the need for increased awareness of support services in every community across the state.

Ann Marie T. Sullivan, M.D., Commissioner of the NYS Office of Mental Health, said, "With a problem as complex as suicide, it is critical to have a well-coordinated, collective effort that includes our health and behavioral healthcare systems, as well as our schools, communities and other stakeholders. The Governor's Task Force will help us to collaborate and share the best available information and practices."

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said, "The sad reality is that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people and it is a tragedy that reverberates throughout the entire community. Through our continuing partnership with the Office of Mental Health and now with the Suicide Prevention Task Force, we can—and have to—reduce the number of suicides and promote mental health across the state."

Howard Zucker, M.D., Commissioner of the NYS Department of Health, said, "It is a tragedy that we are seeing more, not fewer, suicides in New York State, especially among youth and older adults. The effects of these losses ripple through families and communities. The Department of Health is committed to working with the Task Force on devising prevention strategies, increasing access to behavioral health services, and improving quality of life for all New Yorkers." 

Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci said, "DOCCS is focused on supporting our hard-working men and women who spend their work hours in sometimes difficult and stressful environments while also trying to balance the many challenges in their personal lives. Through staff training and critical incident stress management teams, the Department has created a culture of awareness on how to quickly address and respond to suicide factors. We all look out for one another because suicide is preventable." 

OMH's Suicide Prevention Office was created in 2014 to coordinate all OMH-sponsored suicide prevention activities. The SPO also funds the Suicide Prevention Center of New York, which provides free or low-cost educational and training sessions to individuals, agencies, schools and community groups to raise awareness and reduce the incidence of suicide in New York. Information is available here.
 

Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor Cuomo: 'This Bill is Poison for New York'

As the House voted to pass the devastating GOP tax plan, Governor Andrew Cuomo today called on New York's Republican delegation to stand up for their constituents.

Source: NYGovCuomo

GOP Tax Plan Could Hurt Generations of African-Americans

 

The proposed Republican tax overhaul bill has some African-Americans concerned, and experts say warn it will have devastating impacts on communities of color.

by Mashaun D. Simon

To make ends meet, Jasmine Simon, 26, a single mother living in Las Vegas, Nevada, has to work three jobs while juggling classes as a political science major at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

“As women of color,” she told NBC News, “We do that.”

Which is why she has some concerns about the recently proposed, Republican sponsored tax overhaul bill. If passed, it would end the alternative minimum tax, reduce or repeal the estate tax, and cut taxes for pass-through entities. The Tax Policy Center reports that the proposed plan would also allow businesses to expense new investment, not allow businesses to deduct net interest expenses; and reduce federal revenue, raising federal debt over the next decade.

“If we just look at the proposed childcare tax credit alone, it does not help people like me; people who look like me,” she said. “Each month I pay anywhere between $950 and $1,100 a month in childcare. To just give me a credit of $1,000 a year? That is not enough. It just does not help people who look like me.”

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News 

Trump’s Silence on Roy Moore Speaks Volumes

 

by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. 

The day after returning from his overseas trip, President Trump fired off tweets criticizing CNN and the New York Times, jabbing Democrats for not supporting the GOP’s tax plan and wondering if three UCLA basketball players would thank him for freeing them from jail in China. But he never once discussed the scandal involving Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, who now faces a total of nine women alleging inappropriate behavior by him.

After delivering remarks about his trip to Asia, Trump declined to answer reporters’ shouted questions about Moore. “Should Roy Moore resign, Mr. President?” He gave no answer.

While in Asia, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued the official White House response on Moore. “Like most Americans the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life," she told reporters last week aboard Air Force One. "However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside." 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News  

Judge Declares Mistrial in New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez Bribery Trial

 

by Adam Reiss and Erik Ortiz

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge declared a mistrial Thursday afternoon in the bribery trial of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez after jurors said they were again deadlocked in the case.

Jurors remained unable to reach a unanimous verdict — the second time in four days — even though they went through evidence slowly and thoroughly, defense attorney Abbe Lowell told U.S. District Judge William Walls. Lowell said jurors had a strong difference in viewpoints since deliberations began seven days ago. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News 

FERC Meeting Disrupted by Renowned Actor, Anti-Pipeline Protestors

Washington, D.C. - Protesters were removed from today’s monthly Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) meeting after speaking out against the commission’s controversial effort to force the construction of the Millennium Valley Lateral Pipeline, even without securing the required New York 401 Water Quality Certificate.

The protest was led by Actor James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential, The Green Mile, Six Feet Under) and Pramilla Malick, chair of the New-York-based group “Protect Orange County.” Both were removed from the building. Footage of Cromwell addressing FERC representatives and his removal are available here.  

Green America, the nation’s leading green economy organization, and Seeding Sovereignty, an anti-fracking group, also participated in the action.

 James Cromwell

The pipeline project would require the installation of approximately 7.8 miles of 16 inch lateral pipeline between Millennium’s mainline and the CPV Valley Energy Center in Orange County, New York. FERC’s controversial efforts to force legal authorization for the pipeline are especially dangerous because they could establish a very bad precedent.

"FERC is a rapacious and reckless agency which is an existential threat to all sentient beings. They don't give a FERC about air, water, the law, protected eagles, endangered species, or people,” said Cromwell. “They especially don't give a FERC about the climate. No single entity is more responsible for climate change than FERC. They have blood on their hands and must be stopped."

“Minisink was the first community to come to FERC 6 years ago,” said Malick. “We engaged the process faithfully only to learn that this agency does not serve the public interest but rather enables an industry with an egregious sense of entitlement. FERC's approvals routinely violate federal laws as well as the fourteenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, FERC's current showdown with the State of New York demonstrates the agency's absolute contempt for state authority and the environmental protections established to protect our air and water.  They expect us to drink and breathe gas, but we, the people, will fight for our air and water!"

Lee Ziesche of Seeding Sovereignty, said, “FERC's approval of the Valley Lateral fracked gas pipeline threatens everything I love. It means my home state of Pennsylvania will continue to be fracked to bits. It means my current home in Brooklyn is at even greater risk from climate change. As a millennial who cares deeply about the future of our world and the communities being devastated by fracked gas infrastructure, I have no choice but to stand up against FERC's blatant disregard for the health and safety of New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians and the planet.”

Source: Beyond Extreme Energy

Senators Unveil New Bipartisan Gun Control Legislation

Sinclair’s Growing Conservative TV Network Gets FCC Help

by Claire Atkinson

Sinclair Broadcasting, which could soon own more U.S. television stations than any other company, has a plan to create a near-national network of local stations delivering the news with a conservative bent. And thanks to some help from federal officials, that plan is inching closer to reality.

Sinclair has bid $3.9 billion to acquire the Tribune Company, which would put it in control of 223 TV stations, by far the most of any broadcasting company. The Federal Communications Commission has taken several steps — and is contemplating others — that can help that merger, including the following:

The FCC has done away with a rule that requires broadcasters to keep a local studio presence in each market. That would reduce Sinclair’s costs and allow it to consolidate news studios.

It reinstituted an old rule that allowed UHF stations to count as having smaller coverage than VHF stations (a concept that is largely obsolete in the digital TV era). That would make it easier for Sinclair to meet the commission’s test that no company should reach more than 39 percent of all TV households; without the change, Sinclair would reach 72 percent of households. (That decision has been challenged, and is now before a federal appeals court.)

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News 

Sen. Al Franken Accused of Kissing, Groping Woman Without Consent

Source: CBS News

Sheriff Threatens Charges for Woman's 'F*** Trump' Truck Decal

Source: CBS News

Can You Count on Social Security?

Source: CBS News

House to Vote on GOP Tax Bill

Source: CBS News 

UPDATE: 2:16 PM (ET) - House Passes Tax Bill in Major Step Toward Overhaul

Statement from Governor Cuomo on the House Republican Tax Bill

 

"The House Republican tax bill is a targeted assault on New Yorkers that will deliver a catastrophic blow to our economy. Any member from New York that votes for this bill is voting to take billions of dollars from middle class New Yorkers and send that money to corporations, billionaires, and other states.

"I often say to the New York State Legislature that we are Democrats and we are Republicans, but we are New Yorkers first. Republican members, including Collins, Reed, Katko and Tenney, now have a choice between protecting the everyday New Yorkers who elected them or doing the bidding of their party bosses, corporations, and special interests.

"If the New York federal delegation stands together, we can stop this bill and protect our middle class families."

Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo 

Democrats Who Side With the G.O.P. Give Cuomo a 2018 Headache

By Jesse McKinley and Shane Goldmacher

ALBANY — It had not even been a week since the Democratic Party scored wins across New York on Election Day, and already pressure was building.

What was Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo going to do about the eight rogue Democrats who collaborate with Republicans to help give that party control of the State Senate?

It’s an alliance that has threatened Mr. Cuomo’s own popularity with New York liberals and national progressives, which are demanding that he broker an accord between the warring Democratic factions to give the party full control over one of the nation’s biggest and bluest states.

And it is clear that efforts to dismantle the so-called Independent Democratic Conference — either forcing its eight members to rejoin the mainline Democrats, or attempting to defeat them in primaries next year — are building, and with them pressure on the governor.

On Sunday, the leader of the mainstream Democrats, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, helped headline an event in the Bronx district of the leader of the I.D.C., Senator Jeffrey D. Klein.

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Source: The New York Times (via The Empire Report) 

Report: Polar Vortex to Bring 'Extended Period of Severe Winter Weather'

By T.J. Pignataro 

Autumn in Siberia often provides a glimpse into what winter has planned for the Great Lakes, including the Buffalo Niagara region.

So prepare to bundle up this winter.

Expect a frigid winter with at least one visit from a lobe of the polar vortex, according to climate researchers funded by the National Science Foundation.

"I think the combination of La Niña and an anticipated disruption of the polar vortex could focus the worse of this winter's weather around the Great Lakes," said Judah Cohen, a meteorologist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a firm specializing in environmental research.

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Source: The Buffalo News (via The Empire Report)