[Free Beacon] New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted Monday to drawing the attention of city agencies to certain issues on behalf of community members who need help with business.
De Blasio made the comment during an interview with NY 1, his first since being questioned Friday by federal prosecutors on his campaign fundraising practices, the New York Post reported. He downplayed the meeting with prosecutors over potential corruption charges, saying it went "fine."
During the interview, de Blasio discussed the circumstances surrounding the Buildings Department lifting a partial vacate order at a Hasidic school in 2014. Media reports suggested over the weekend that de Blasio got the order lifted to help Brooklyn Rabbi Moishe Indig, a friend of the mayor's who raised money for him.
De Blasio would not discuss specifics about his involvement in the situation; however, he did admit to placing phone calls for those who want help with city business.
#1
De Blasio made the comment during an interview with NY 1, his first since being questioned Friday by federal prosecutors on his campaign fundraising practices,
I wonder if this revelation is consistent with the 'discussion' he had with the US Attorney last week.
[SCMP] A 35-year-old monk in northern Thailand was defrocked and then charged after being caught in a love motel room with a young woman and some speed pills on Valentine’s Day.
Soldiers and local officials inspecting nightspots and hotels for misbehaviour, saw a saffron robe and a monk’s bag left in a Honda car parked outside a motel room in tambon Teng Sanam of Muang district.
They knocked on the room door. It was opened by a man with a shaven head and wearing saffron pants. There was a 19-year-old girl in the room with him.
A search discovered six methamphetamine pills and straws used for taking drugs in the bathroom, an official said.
The man, identified as Wutthichai Promma, 35, was found to be a monk at a temple in Muang district of this province.
The girl admitted she and the monk went to the love motel to celebrate Valentine’s Day and to take drugs.
The man was ejected from the monkhood. Urine tests found the pair tested positive for illicit drug use. They were handed over to Muang district police for legal action.
Thai media reported that Mr Wutthichai admitted he had sneaked away from the temple to meet the girl and celebrate Valentine’s Day, but said it was the first time.
She said she had met him via the phone, and arranged to celebrate the day of love with him for the first time at the motel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds like a person qualified to be mayor of DC.
[SCMP] The shutters have started coming down at South Korea’s biggest dog meat market as the country seeks to head off international criticism over its practice of killing dogs for human consumption before it hosts the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Moran market in Seongnam sells more than 80,000 dogs, dead or alive, every year and accounts for about a third of South Korea’s dog meat consumption, according to local media.
On Monday, officials and traders began removing butchery facilities and cages in which live animals are kept before they are slaughtered. The decision to close the market came after animal welfare campaigners highlighted the inhumane conditions in which the animals were kept and the methods used to kill them: electrocution, hanging and beating.
The smell and noise had also prompted complaints from nearby residents.
The market’s closure has met with opposition, however. South Korean media reported that a handful of the 22 dog meat sellers who initially agreed to the move last December now oppose it, and are demanding compensation to make up for the loss of business.
"Almost 80 per cent of our customers visit our shops to buy fresh dog meat, so what are they going to do if we cannot provide it for them? Is the government going to pay us?" Shin Seung-cheol, a Moran trader, told the Korea Herald.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Did the same thing in '88 for the summer Olympics.
[FREEBEACON] An elderly veteran lay on the floor in pain and resorted to using his bag of medication as a pillow while waiting at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Durham, North Carolina on Friday.
Stephen McMenamin, a former U.S. Marine who was seeking care, and his wife posted photos of the scene on Facebook and said a nurse at the VA center yelled at the veteran for laying on the floor, Atlanta's WSB-TV reported Monday night.
"My wife found it upsetting, so she took a couple pictures," McMenamin told the news station, describing how he witnessed another veteran on the ground using his bag of medication for a pillow after being denied a reclining chair.
The elderly patient told the nurse that he could not get off the floor, according to McMenamin.
"The nurse started yelling at him, telling him he can't do that. He's like, ’I can't get up and I won't get up. I will be here until you can see me. Can I please have a blanket?'" he said.
McMenamin's wife Hannah described in her Facebook post that multiple other veterans in wheelchairs had to wait hours to get care.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[NYPOST] Target Corp. reported a steeper-than-expected decline in fourth-quarter same-store sales and said it expected sales to continue to fall this fiscal year, sending its shares tumbling 13 percent in premarket trading Tuesday. I gotta go potty.
The company has struggled with declining sales as shoppers increasingly gravitate to online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. and spend more on big-ticket purchases such as cars and home renovations rather than electronics, food and apparel.
It is at such a point that a wise retailer does not make it clear to half its customer base that they are unwelcome.
The big-box retailer’s net income slumped to $817 million, or $1.45 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 28, from $1.43 billion, or $2.32 per share, a year earlier.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
MSM continues to spin the cause. Can give family values boycott any ink.
#2
Too many coastie mutual fund investment houses holding stock who'd rather suck it up than use their standing to sue the executive for gross failure in upholding their fiduciary responsibilities.
#7
The schmucks running the NFL and the NBA still haven't gotten the Target message--each league continues to virtue-signal over the bullshit-bathroom issue. Time for them both to get hit with a clue-stick.
#8
Looks like a case of the top management listening to the staff mandarins rather than to their customers...this all keeps up until there are no more customers to listen to.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/01/2017 11:04 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Went browsing through the local Target shoe department not long ago while waiting for Mrs. Uluque to do some shopping there. All of the shoes, every last pair, were made in China. I guess some people don't care about that, don't even look to see where something was made. But I do.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2017 13:01 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I signed off on Target after that incident with the kid in uniform.
And then there is their track record on hiring veterans.
[AlAhram] The biggest trial of suspects accused of involvement in last year's failed coup opened in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on Tuesday in a courtroom specially built to hold more than 1,500 people.
Some 330 suspects are being put on trial in Sincan outside the capital Ankara, and if convicted, they face multiple life sentences over their alleged links to the attempted overthrow of President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... last July.
Over 240 of those named in the indictment are already in jug, state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... Anadolu reported.
The suspects, many of them from the Polatli artillery and missile school command in Ankara, have been charged with murder or attempted murder.
They also stand accused of attempting to remove the Turkish republic's government and parliament, or trying to prevent those institutions from conducting their work.
The case is being heard at Sincan prison where there was heavy security in place, with a water cannon truck on site and a drone flying overhead as families arrived for the hearing.
The courtroom -- which has space for 1,558 people -- was packed, with security forces surrounding the suspects as they testified.
On the night of July 15, hundreds of people stood outside the Polatli command base while thousands erupted into the streets in the district to stop the coup bid.
- 'If needed, use weapons' -
The first suspect, a military cadet called Abdulkadir Kahraman, told the court that on the night of the coup, troops were informed by their commander that there had been a terror attack and were given ammunition.
Other suspects gave similar statements, including Arif Ozan Demir who told the court the commander told them there had been an attack and that they should "be prepared".
Some of the suspects added that a senior army officer told them to be prepared to use their weapons, Anadolu reported.
"The lieutenant-colonel said, 'There is an attack outside, we will ensure the people's security. We trained you for this day. If needed, use weapons'," suspect Ahmet Tamur told the court.
The cadet added that some members of the public had attacked the soldiers while others helped protect them.
The suspects' family members outside the prison told AFP they wanted justice.
Samet Oral urged the president to "watch our situation, to see how we are," adding: "We only ask for justice."
Sunduz Baykara said that some of the suspects were innocent of the charges and yet remained in jug.
"Even though our children didn't shoot, even though they have been beaten up by the people, it has been now eight months they stand behind bars."
- Biggest legal process -
Ankara has blamed the failed putsch on Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... -- who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States -- and his movement.
Turkey has denounced the movement as a terrorist organization and the suspects on trial at Sincan are also accused of belonging to an armed terror group.
Chief of General Staff General Hulusi Akar is one of the complainants in the case along with Gendarmerie Forces Commander General Yasar Guler.
The hearing is one of several cases that have opened across the country this month, with 47 people going on trial in the western city of Mugla on charges of attempting to assassinate Erdogan.
Until now, the largest had been in the Aegean city of Izmir where 270 suspects went on trial late last month, among them Gulen, being tried in absentia.
Following the failed putsch, Ankara declared a state of emergency and began a widespread crackdown, placing more than 43,000 people in pre-trial detention.
The state of emergency remains in place as the trials get underway in the biggest legal process in the country's history.
The first verdicts were handed down to a colonel and major last month when they were sentenced to life in jail in the northeastern city of Erzurum for violating the constitution.
[AnNahar] President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Tuesday warned that a Turkish newspaper would pay a "price" after a contentious report over alleged tensions between his government and the army.
Istanbul prosecutors launched an investigation into the Hurriyet front page story on Saturday which suggested that the army was not satisfied with the recent actions by the government.
The story listed seven grievances including the lifting of a historic ban on female officers wearing the Islamic headscarf in the officially secular country.
"Let me put it very clearly, what's done here, the headline they have used is insolent," Erdogan told news hounds at an Istanbul airport before leaving for Pakistain on an official visit.
Erdogan said nobody had the right to set the army against the government and warned: "Whoever tries to set us against one another will pay a price."
"No offense but I don't find such an approach forgivable at a time when we need unity, fraternity and solidarity more than ever," he added.
Erdogan said he discussed the issue with Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar on Monday.
The Hurriyet newspaper, the flagship daily of Dogan Media Group -- the Turkish media giant which owns television channels Kanal D and CNN-Turk -- is a mainstream daily but houses pro-government columnists as well.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/01/2017 03:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... would like to join the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... but the EU membership is not vital to it and is not the most pressing concern for Ankara, since the bloc currently is not willing to let it join, Turkish chief presidential adviser Ilnur Cevik told Sputnik. It's probably not vital to have the Porte in the EU, either.
"[Joining the EU] is not vital for us, but we do want it, but if we don’t get it is not going to be the end of the world," Cevik said. After the Nexit and the Frexit and the Luxit and such there'll be lots of room.
The president’s adviser added that the future of the European Union was uncertain and a lot would depend on the outcome of 2017 elections in Germany, La Belle France and the Netherlands. If there's not a Gerxit maybe they can argue over whether the Sultan or the Margrave has precedence.
"In the middle of all this we have the luxury of saying we can wait and see because they are not allowing us into in any case," Cevik said. There's probably a word missing from that sentence. It might not make any sense with it in anyway.
Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... meet at the presidential palace during the first visit since July’s failed coup in Ankara, Turkey, February 2, 2017.
Turkey became the candidate for EU membership in 2005. In March 2016, Turkey’s candidature received a boost as it signed an agreement with the European Union on taking back migrants colonists who arrived illegally in Greece in exchange for financial aid and concessions on visas.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Breitbart] Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has won the support of President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Steve Bannon in his attempt to pass his border adjustment tax plan, according to a report from Bloomberg:
Trump’s top strategist once described Ryan as "the enemy," but now the former Breitbart News chief is the speaker’s best chance to win approval for his border-adjusted tax, which Republicans currently say has almost no hope of clearing the Senate. In a handful of White House meetings, Ryan found that Bannon was perhaps the most enthusiastic backer of the border-adjustment plan, according to a senior administration official and a person familiar with the sessions.
A vigorous endorsement from Donald Trump could help save the border-adjustment plan, which is running into strong opposition from the energy industry and retailers. The retailers took the unusual step of launching an advertising campaign on the tax issue aimed at viewers of Fox News’ Fox and Friends and Saturday Night Live, TV programs Trump is known to watch.
Ryan has also spoken positively of Bannon since the election, telling PBS Newshour on Feb 8, "We’re different kinds of conservatives, that we can safely say, I think. But we’re serving a purpose, which is to get this agenda passed, and on that agenda that we’ve rolled out, that we ran on, on that we agree. So I see a person that I have a common cause and purpose with."
#1
What am I missing here? If a country taxes our stuff upon entry into their country, why shouldn't we do the same in return? Are conservatives that stupid that they don't get this? Fair is fair.
#2
This is all part of the Free Trade mantra from doctrinaire libertarians who insist on dealing with the rest of the world as though they play by the same rules. There belief system is that Free trade is the one and only driver of increasing wealth.
This is true in the abstract BUT we don't live in the abstract. What this does is increases the total wealth while ruining the equitable distribution of that wealth, concentrating more and more in the globalist .5%. see NAFTA.
#3
When Duncan Hunter Sr. was running in the Republican presidential primary in 2008 he advocated what he called the mirror policy. If a country charges a tariff of a certain percentage of the price of our products, we should charge that same percentage tariff on their products. Too bad, nobody paid much attention to Hunter. McCain won the nomination and we all know what happened after that.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2017 13:09 Comments ||
Top||
Scientists reportedly say that the world’s only sample of metallic hydrogen, which was touted as potentially revolutionizing technology, has disappeared. I looked in my sock drawer. Its not there.
Last month physicists at Harvard University achieved what they described as "the holy grail of high-pressure physics," when they created the first metallic hydrogen material.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Science Alert reports that the sample has disappeared, much to the dismay of experts. The sample was stored at temperatures around -316 degrees Fahrenheit, the report said, noting that the metallic hydrogen was kept at high pressure between two diamonds in a vice-like device.
Earlier this month the vice failed when testing caused the diamonds to break, according to Science Alert, which says that scientists haven’t been able to find a trace of the metallic hydrogen.
"Basically, it’s disappeared," Isaac Silvera, Harvard’s Thomas D. Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences, who led the research, told Science Alert. "It’s either someplace at room pressure, very small, or it just turned back into a gas. We don’t know."
It takes bizzillions of megawatts to draw the hydrogen out of the atmosphere or water and store it or convert it to a "metal" in a controlled space at near zero Kelvin.
It will not clean up the atmosphere because you are burning fossil fuels at a record rate to provide energy for the conversion.
Most of the enviroweinies advocating these alternate fuels forget that fossil fuels are needed to create most of them...yes I am looking at you Ethanol.
[Free Beacon] The man known as "Gary from Chicago" who stole the show Sunday night at the Academy Awards served 22 years in prison for attempted rape and other crimes.
Gary Alan Coe and his fiancee Vickie Vines were part of the group of unsuspecting tourists who Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel invited inside the Dolby Theater in Hollywood during the ceremony.
Coe, 59, a native of the South Shore of Chicago, introduced himself as "Gary from Chicago" while wearing a "Hollywood" sweatshirt and holding his fiancee's purse, Page Six reported. He kissed the hands of several celebrities sitting in the front row and Denzel Washington even pretended to marry him and Vines with Kimmel standing right there.
F*ckers
CRTV’s contract with Mark Steyn Enterprises has ended, and we will no longer be carrying the Mark Steyn Show. CRTV wishes Mr. Steyn and his team the best in their future endeavors. Little explanation from either side. I'm getting a refund.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Free Beacon] New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted Monday to drawing the attention of city agencies to certain issues on behalf of community members who need help with business.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] 
[Free Beacon] The man known as "Gary from Chicago" who stole the show Sunday night at the Academy Awards served 22 years in prison for attempted rape and other crimes.
