Trump administration launches global effort to end criminalization of homosexuality…
February 19, 2019
The administration is responding in part to a reported hanging of a young gay man in Iran, Trump’s top geopolitical foe.
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-profile openly gay person in the Trump administration, is leading the effort, which kicks off Tuesday evening in Berlin. The U.S. embassy is flying in LGBT activists from across Europe for a strategy dinner to plan to push for decriminalization in places that still outlaw homosexuality — mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.
Gold price jumps to 10-month high…
Only the start?...
February 19, 2019
Gold jumped out of the gate on Tuesday following a long weekend for North American markets, adding more than $22 an ounce in heavy buying.
Gold for delivery in April, the most active futures contract, reached a high of $1,345 an ounce, the highest in 10 months after more than 32m ounces changed hands in New York.
The Latest: Sanders’ 2020 campaign raises $4M in half a day…
February 19, 2019
US will not open door to Saudi Arabia building nuclear weapons, top official says…
February 19, 2019
- The Trump administration wants to sell its nuclear energy technology to cash-rich Saudi Arabia.
- To prevent nuclear arms development, the U.S. wants to place tight controls on how the technology can be used.
- Saudi Arabia has put the U.S. on a shortlist with China, Russia and others to bid for nuclear power projects in the country.
Trump has recovered $929 million from the $3.5B that California swindled from the federal government. Trump is also trying his best to recover the final $2.5B from the failed Bullet Train fiasco…
February 19, 2019
Grand Canyon tourists exposed for years to radiation in museum building…
February 19, 2019
For nearly two decades at the Grand Canyon, tourists, employees, and children on tours passed by three paint buckets stored in the National Park's museum collection building, unaware that they were being exposed to radiation.
Although federal officials learned last year that the 5-gallon containers were brimming with uranium ore, then removed the radioactive specimens, the park's safety director alleges nothing was done to warn park workers or the public that they might have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.
SPACE FORCE ESTABLISHED: President Trump Signs Bill at the White House…
Text of Space Policy Directive-4: Establishment of the United States Space Force...
February 19, 2019
The directive would place the Space Force under the control of the Air Force Department in similar fashion to how the Navy Department oversees the Marine Corps, and marks a partial win for senior Air Force officials. They have argued that creating a separate military department - as Trump stated he wants - would create unnecessary Pentagon bureaucracy.
Five Heavily Armed Suspected US Mercenaries Arrested In Haiti Amidst Unrest…
February 19, 2019
A bizarre story has emerged out of the mass anti-government protests and unrest that have engulfed Haiti for nearly two weeks. Five heavily armed Americans have been arrested and are being detained by the Haitian government, according to Haiti's Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond.
They were caught in possession of automatic weapons, pistols, satellite phones, and drones according to a CNN after police pulled over their vehicles for not having valid license plates. Among the group were three others, including two other foreign nationals — a Serbian and Russian — and one Haitian. Crucially the names released by local Haitian reports indicate all of the Americans have US military and special forces backgrounds, and appear to be career private security contractors.
Young America’s Foundation Releases Report on Ridiculous Leftist College Courses, Many Targeting Trump in Their Descriptions…
February 19, 2019
The organization reviews and audits course catalogs, textbook requirements, commencement speakers, and “other key metrics that show the true state of higher education in America.”
“Many of the courses and descriptions listed in this year’s report may seem comical at first glance, but the situation that continues to unfold on America’s campuses is hardly a laughing matter. Beyond the inane, identity- and intersectionality-obsessed topics, these classes advance a liberal agenda, malign conservatives and their values, and shut out ideological diversity,” the organization wrote of their report.
Judicial Watch Sues for ‘Coup’ Documents…
February 19, 2019
Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for all records of communication of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the Office of the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or the Office of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussing the 25th Amendment or presidential fitness. Additionally, the lawsuit seeks all recordings made by any official in the Office of the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General of meetings in the Executive Office of the President or Vice President.
The suit was filed after the Justice Department failed to respond to three separate FOIA requests dated September 21, 2018 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00388)). The lawsuit seeks all written and audio/visual records of any FBI/DOJ discussions regarding the 25th Amendment and plans to secretly record President Trump in the Oval Office.
Oil hovers just below 2019 highs as markets look to trade talks…
February 19, 2019
Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday as concerns about global crude oil demand and uncertainty over the latest round of U.S.-China trade talks countered investor optimism around tightening supplies.
[...]
Brent crude slipped 5 cents to settle at $66.45 a barrel, hovering below its 2019 high of $66.83 reached on Monday. U.S. crude was up 50 cents to $56.09 a barrel, its highest since November 2018.Washington’s sanctions on oil out of Venezuela, a top supplier of sour crude to the United States, has helped support U.S. futures prices, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures Volume Way Up, High Confidence in Longs…
February 19, 2019
Trump plans to nominate Jeffrey Rosen as deputy U.S. attorney general: senior official…
February 19, 2019
President Donald Trump plans to nominate Jeffrey Rosen as the next deputy U.S. attorney general, the White House said on Tuesday night, the latest shuffle in the Justice Department at a time when it faces close scrutiny over its Russia investigation.
Rosen, currently deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, would succeed Rod Rosenstein, who appointed a special counsel to investigate possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Rosenstein is expected to step down by mid-March, a Justice Department official said on Monday.
Trudeau not doing well, wants to regulate Social media to protect him!!…
February 19, 2019
Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould today called on a Commons committee to look at the possibility of the Canadian government imposing new rules on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the lead-up to the next federal election.
Jussie Smollett’s ‘Empire’ scenes cut after attack controversy…
February 19, 2019
The actor, who plays gay singer-songwriter Jamal Lyon on the show, was supposed to have nine scenes and a big musical performance in the second-to-last episode of Season 5, production sources told TMZ.
But five scenes and the musical number have been axed.
FBI raids Taylor City Hall, mayor’s house in growing corruption probe….
February 19, 2019
FBI Special Agent Mara Schneider declined to comment on specifics of the probe, saying only that the FBI and members of the Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force "executed multiple search warrants at Taylor City Hall and in several other locations around the area. The warrants were conducted as part of an ongoing public corruption investigation. Because this is an open investigation, I will not be discussing any of the details that led to today’s action."
She added: " ... while I recognize the public’s right to know what the FBI is doing on its behalf, we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of our investigation and, as importantly, we have a responsibility to protect the rights of individuals who have not been charged with any crimes."
US Postal Service starts using all-electric vans in California…
February 19, 2019
Pilot program of seven Motiv-powered Ford E-450 vans to deploy in California’s Central Valley, with one of the electric vans already running routes in Fresno.
CNN hires former DOJ spokesperson under Sessions as editor on 2020 campaign…
February 19, 2019
Sarah Isgur, who served as the Justice Department’s leading spokeswoman under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is joining the network as a political editor next month, where she will coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign.
Isgur joined the administration in 2017 after overcoming resistance from the president, who balked at bringing on a political operative who had trashed him on the campaign trail. As deputy campaign manager for Carly Fiorina’s presidential campaign, and in the months after Fiorina bowed out of the race, Isgur repeatedly laced into Trump.
Shift in Narrative: Celebrities are starting to accuse the Chicago PD of framing Jussie Smollett with a hoax…
February 19, 2019
“I’m not gonna say, yet, until he says out his mouth that it was fake and the s--- was staged. I don’t want to completely blame him because… somebody that I was talking to, they said police in Chicago are racist and so they might probably be trying to frame him and make him look like he’s a liar,” Cardi B said in the video. “But if he’s not, then bro, you f----d up.”
Much like Cardi B, actress Ava DuVernay is skeptical of law enforcement in Chicago. “Despite the inconsistencies, I can’t blindly believe Chicago PD,” DuVernay tweeted. “The department that covered up shooting Laquan McDonald over a dozen times? That operated an off-site torture facility? That one? I’ll wait. Whatever the outcome, this won’t stop me from believing others. It can’t.”
[...]
Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted that staging an attack is “wrong in so many ways” before expressing difficulty believing Smollett would do such a thing.Nationwide RailRoad communications outage today…
February 19, 2019
The disruption affected railroad signals and radios before it was fixed at around 10 a.m. BSNF spokesman Gus Melonas said the problem apparently was caused by a communications upgrade at the control center.