The House Intelligence Committee on Monday evening voted to make public a GOP-crafted memo alleging what some Republicans say are “shocking” surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
At the same time, the committee voted against making public a Democrat-drafted countermemo.
While the panel voted to release that memo to the entire House, Republicans expressed concern that publicly releasing the minority memo would damage sensitive intelligence sources and methods, according to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee’s ranking member . . .
The move ends weeks of speculation over whether the memo, which was drafted by staff for Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), would be made public. But it intensifies the dispute over what Democrats say is an all-out assault by Republicans to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Stone-faced committee Democrats appeared in a phalanx after the vote, decrying what Schiff described as the crossing of “a deeply regrettable line in this committee, where for the first time in the 10 years I’ve been on the committee, there was a vote to politicize the declassification process of intelligence.” (Read more from “House Votes to Release DOJ Surveillance Memo” HERE)
The structure, estimated as being between 3.5 and 11 miles across, was spotted on Google Earth in the Pacific Ocean just west of Mexico.
A video about the discovery uploaded to YouTube has drawn vast speculation about what it could be, including an ancient sunken city, a bizarre UFO, or even an alien base.
The “discovery” was made by Argentinian Marcelo Igazusta.
The video commentary described it has being “an intense light in the Pacific Ocean” of 3.5 miles in length, with a shape similar to a plane.
Scott C Waring, an alien conspiracy theorist, said: “It is a perfect pyramid that measures over 8.5 miles across one side of its base. Thats a conservative estimate, it could be up to 11 miles across.” (Read more from “8-Mile Pyramid Discovered at Bottom of Ocean” HERE)
By The Hill. Republican lawmakers on Sunday grappled with the potential need to protect special counsel Robert Mueller in light of a report that said President Trump called for his firing last year.
Hosts on the Sunday shows questioned lawmakers about the revelations in The New York Times report and what they mean for the investigation into Russia’s election interference and any potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key Republican who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own Russia probe, said it “wouldn’t hurt” to pass legislation protecting Mueller.
“It certainly wouldn’t hurt to put that extra safeguard in place given the latest stories,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Collins also noted that only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller last year after the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, could fire the special counsel. (Read more from “Republican Lawmakers Consider Need to Protect Mueller” HERE)
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Republicans in Congress Divided over Protecting Mueller from Being Ousted by Trump
By Sean Sullivan. Republicans in Congress were divided Sunday over protecting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, with two senators embracing plans to make it more difficult for President Trump to have him fired but a top House lawmaker declaring them unnecessary.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) highlighted his proposal to check Trump’s power over Mueller, while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said it wouldn’t hurt to pass legislation along those lines.
But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said there was no need to pass such a measure, as he defended how the president and his team have navigated Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The GOP discord came just days after the revelation that Trump sought Mueller’s ouster last June, prompting Democrats to make a renewed pitch for Congress to shore up the special counsel’s standing. It underscored the growing split in the Republican Party between Trump loyalists and others who are becoming increasingly concerned with the president’s actions. (Read more from “Republicans in Congress Divided over Protecting Mueller from Being Ousted by Trump” HERE)
Modern medicine has long presumed fertility to be the dominion of women, a space ruled by gynaecologists and invasive procedures explained by softly pink pamphlets. But that is only half the story. Possibly even less, according to mounting evidence. Male fertility is dipping, and fast. Sperm may prove to be the greatest casualty of modern life.
Last summer, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that male sperm counts had fallen by almost 60 per cent in 40 years. In what was the largest study of its kind, they analysed data from 43,000 men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, taking in 185 studies from 1973 to 2011. Its lead author, Dr Hagai Levine, decreed the result an ‘urgent wake-up call’. . .
Stefan Chmelik, an integrated healthcare practitioner and the founder of Harley Street’s New Medicine Group, is quite clear in his predictions. ‘There are scant mainstream medical treatments for male fertility and, at current rates of sperm decline, the human race will be infertile in 50 years. I’m beginning to see IVF babies of IVF babies. While I’m certainly not judging, it’s hard not to wonder what happens when we see tenth-generation IVF children.’ (Read more from “Spermageddon: Why the Human Race Could Be Infertile in 50 Years” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/sperm-956480_960_720.jpg720960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-01-28 21:34:182018-01-28 22:36:26Spermageddon: The Human Race May Actually Be Infertile in 50 Years
The firing of Google engineer James Damore for suggesting men are more suited to technical roles than women has triggered a culture war inside the Internet giant, with some Google employees saying the company is not doing enough to protect them from a harassment campaign that has subjected them to hateful comments and violent threats . . . [They claim they’ve been harassed] after screenshots were included in the 161-page lawsuit Damore filed in January alleging Google discriminates against whites, conservatives and men. . .
Google site reliability engineer Liz Fong-Jones, a trans [man who dresses as a woman] who has been the target of a harassment campaign conducted by a group of “extremists” inside Google, says [he] knows “multiple” colleagues who were not contacted by human resources or who were told that the company couldn’t do anything about their concerns. . .
Members of the far right have escalated their campaign against Google and the tech industry in recent weeks. Chuck Johnson, who was kicked off Twitter in 2015 after tweeting about wanting to “take out” civil rights activist DeRay McKesson, filed a lawsuit against Twitter on the same day that Damore filed his against Google. That week, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas also released undercover videos of Twitter employees that it said showed the company is out to quash conservative voices. . .
That debate blew up last August when Damore’s memo leaked and he was eventually fired. . . In his memo, Damore wrote that while he did not oppose diversity, efforts to increase the number of women in technology were unlikely to succeed because in general, women are more interested in people than ideas. Women are also more prone to anxiety and less tolerant of stress, Damore said. (Read more from “Google Harassing, Firing Employees Politically Incorrect Speech” HERE)
Villa turned up on the red carpet on Sunday evening in a customized white gown, originally by Pronovias. On the full skirt, she hand-painted the image of a [baby] radiating colors of the rainbow.
She accessorized with a tiara — she likes to go by Princess Joy Villa — and a small white bag that spelled out her message, in case anyone missed it. (Read more from “Pro-Trump Singer Wears Pro-Life Dress at Grammy Awards” HERE)
An outspoken internet activist killed himself in a New York hotel in eerily similar circumstances to fellow hacker and Reddit co- founder Aaron Swartz.
James Dolan, 36, took his own life at a newly opened hotel, Gowanus Inn and Yard, in Brooklyn just after Christmas.
He is the second developer of the whistle-blower submission system SecureDrop to commit suicide by hanging in the same area.
Soon after his death, the internet started drawing similarities between Dolan’s suicide and that of Swartz who hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment in 2013 as he was being pursued by federal agents.
Among those was WikiLeaks, who tweeted: ‘Second developer of WikiLeaks inspired submission system ‘SecureDrop’ security expert James Dolan, aged 36, has tragically died. He is said to have committed suicide. The first, Aaron Swartz, is said to have taken his own life at age 26, after being persecuted by US prosecutors.’ (Read more from “Founder of Whistle-Blower Securedrop Supposedly Hangs Self Just like Co-Founder Did While Being Pursued by Feds” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6591645993_7af4a4a225_b-1.jpg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-01-28 17:00:412018-01-28 22:03:48Founder of Whistle-Blower SecureDrop Supposedly Hangs Self Just like Co-Founder Did While Being Pursued by Feds
A Florida teenager diagnosed with terminal cancer will be granted his dying wish this weekend: to marry his high school sweetheart.
At 19-years old, Dustin Snyder will marry Sierra Siverio on Sunday at the Big Red Barn, which is being donated as a wedding space.
“I could never even think about leaving his side,” Siverio said in an interview with “The Now,” ABC News reported.
Snyder was healthy growing up, playing both football and baseball. He and Siverio also attended two proms together.
He was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma when he was 18, and endured six months of chemotherapy before being declared cancer free.
At the beginning of this year, though, things took a turn for the worst.
“Three weeks ago he was losing lots of weight and he was in a lot of pain,” Cassandra Fondahn, Snyder’s mother, said. “And we took him to the hospital and his stomach and his pelvic areas were infested with the cancer.”
After his terminal diagnosis, just three days ago, he said that his final wish was to marry his high school sweetheart, Siverio.
“She means the world to me,” he said in the interview, though his words are now barely audible.
Snyder’s older sister, Brittany Hails, set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the wedding.
“He is currently on hospice and has a pain pump connected to his heart,” the page read. “We are trying to make his wishes come true by providing him and his long-term girlfriend with a wedding 28th Jan 2018 (Sunday).”
So far, the community has helped raise money for wedding rings, a dress and a tuxedo for the young couple. LifePath Hospice is donating flowers and bridesmaid dresses.
“Please lets help Dustin enjoy the rest of his life with his soulmate,” the fundraising page concluded.
Synovial sarcoma is a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma, “which is a type of cancer that arises from soft tissues near the joints but can sometimes develop in the kidney and lung,” according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
It is common in people younger than 30, but it is still a very rare tumor. It only occurs in 1 to 3 people per million. “About 800 new cases of synovial sarcoma are diagnosed in the U.S. each year,” the hospital reported. It is also more common in males.
Signs and symptoms of synovial sarcoma include “problems using one or both legs, feet, arms or hands” as well as “pain near the affected area.”
No matter how little time is left, the young couple’s upcoming nuptials, and the whirlwind of planning a wedding in a week, is their happy ending. (For more from the author of “High School Sweetheart Grants Boyfriend His Dying Wish After Terminal Diagnosis” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6589927353_2d0274223a_b.jpg1024765Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-01-28 16:48:372018-01-28 16:48:37High School Sweetheart Grants Boyfriend His Dying Wish After Terminal Diagnosis
Many of the so-called Dreamers worried about their immigration status are starting to reconsider their opposition to a possible wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report Friday from the San Francisco Chronicle.
President Donald Trump’s wall at the border wouldn’t be so bad, some groups are now saying, so long as it means citizenship for the nearly 700,000 people brought into the country through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“If building a wall leads us to having citizenship, then I’m all for it,” Ana Rodriguez, who works at a daycare center in California, told reporters at the Chronicle. “The U.S. is what I know and that’s where I want to live my life — I want to be a part of it in full.”
Rodriguez and others like her are arguing about accepting a trade-off — giving Trump his wall in exchange for retaining DACA. The Trump administration proposed a bill earlier this month offering citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants in exchange for $25 billion for a border wall.
Activist organizations have also noted that DACA recipients are making recalculations about their opposition. Marissa Montes, co-director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic in Los Angeles, noticed in recent weeks that they are sounding more and more likely to back a wall in exchange for citizenship.
“It’s coming from a point of exhaustion — they’ve tried everything,” Montes told reporters. “Their instinct is survival and as human beings, how much longer can they endure this? They’re ping-ponging back and forth.”
Former President Barack Obama implemented the program in 2012 to allow people younger than 16 who live in the country illegally to receive renewable, two-year protections from deportation along with work permits. They also had to live in the country continuously from 2007 onward and have no criminal convictions.
Trump ended the Obama-era executive action in September telling Congress it had six months to codify the program into law before protections expired. The president eventually temporarily reinstated the action after being showered with criticisms — but the temporary halt will be lifted over the next several months.
Democrats have been seeking a bill that covers DACA recipients, and as many as 2 million similarly situated illegal immigrants who did not apply or did not qualify for the Obama amnesty.
Trump’s upcoming proposal appears to be an effort to split the difference between the Democratic demand and an immigration reform bill from House Republicans, which was limited to roughly 700,000 existing DACA beneficiaries.
Democrats used the DACA issue as a cudgel during the budget debate earlier this month to temporarily shut down the government. Republicans refused to bend to the Democrat’s demands at the time to negotiate DACA, while the minority party largely unified to use the shutdown deadline to exact protections from the GOP for hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants.
Republicans tried to sweeten the deal, offering Democrats a long-term extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, as well as the delay of some unpopular health care taxes. The GOP believed the public would blame Democrats if the sweetener was rejected.
Democrats appear concerned about the optics as well. A Super PAC allied with Senate Democrats commissioned a poll in 12 battleground states to determine which party would be blamed if a shutdown was tied to the legal status of dreamers. The poll found that Democrats absorb most of the blame in such a scenario.
The poll, which was conducted in December by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group on behalf of a Senate Majority PAC, also found that blame for a shutdown would be split between Trump and Republicans, and Democrats in Congress, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.
Recent polling shows Hispanics are evenly split on whether to combine a DACA deal to the building of a wall — 42 percent of Hispanics oppose it and 42 percent support it, according to the Quinnipiac poll conducted Jan. 18. In total, 73 percent of voters’ support allowing Dreamers to remain in the U.S. legally, according to the poll.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/DACA_protest_Columbus_Circle_90069.jpg29472885Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-01-28 16:42:512018-01-28 16:42:51‘I’m All for It’: DACA Immigrants Suddenly Changing Their Tune on Trump and the Border Wall
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin thinks Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave in far too easily when reaching a deal to end the federal government shutdown on Monday.
Senate Democrats originally forced the three-day shutdown by refusing to support a spending bill. They were upset that it did not address the roughly 700,000 illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and were protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Appearing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Manchin indicated that he wanted the shutdown to end, though he doesn’t believe Schumer had “the stomach” to effectively fight for what he wanted.
When asked by host Chuck Todd if, had the shutdown continued, he still would have filed for re-election in 2018, Manchin responded, “I’d have been hollering a lot louder probably.”
“I don’t think Chuck had the stomach to go on,” he added. “He plays a part differently. I understand the dynamics of our caucuses much different.”
Manchin suggested that as a Democrat from West Virginia, his approach is different from the one taken by Schumer, a senator from New York who leads the entire Democrat caucus in the upper chamber.
“The Democrat caucus is … that’s a big tent,” he said. “And I just said I come from West Virginia. I’m representing my state. I’m not a Washington Democrat. I’m a West Virginia Democrat. That’s a little different.”
Schumer has been criticized for the deal he reached with Republicans to end the shutdown.
Lawmakers agreed to keep the government funded through Feb. 8, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised that Republicans in the upper chamber intend “to take up legislation … that would address DACA, border security and related issues, as well as disaster relief,” according to ABC News.
As noted by the Washington Examiner, Republicans are upset that Schumer forced the shutdown in the first place.
Many liberals, meanwhile, think the Democrat Party caved on DACA, as they doubt that McConnell will keep his promise to address the issue.
In the days following the end of the shutdown, there has been a lot of back and forth between Schumer and President Donald Trump, as both sides look to get their way on a long-term immigration deal.
Trump has port forth a proposal that would offer amnesty to DACA recipients, in return for border wall funding and limits on legal immigration.
But Schumer has rejected this plan, claiming that the president is simply using DACA recipients “as a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hardliners have advocated for for years.”
As we have been urging him to do for months, the President has finally put pen to paper to show us where he stands on immigration. Unfortunately, this plan flies in the face of what most Americans believe. 1/2
While @realDonaldTrump finally acknowledged that the Dreamers should be allowed to stay here and become citizens, he uses them as a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hardliners have advocated for for years. 2/2
Though Trump and Schumer have both blamed each other for the deadlock, Manchin said Sunday that their “bantering” is nothing more than “New Yorkers talking to each other.”
“I don’t understand that language. But that’s how they talk. Now when Chuck and I talk we talk West Virginian to New York. That’s a little different,” he added.
Todd also asked whether Schumer backed down on the government shutdown because Manchin threatened not to run for re-election. Manchin denied that was true, though he did claim to have told Schumer that the Senate “sucks.”
“If it sucks, why are you running for re-election,” Todd asked.
“Because I think I can make it better. I think I can contribute to bringing people together. I’m not giving up on it. This is a small price to pay for the great country I’ve had the privilege of living in and being an American,” Manchin replied. (For more from the author of “Top Democrat: Chuck Schumer Didn’t Have ‘the Stomach’ to Fight Trump over Shutdown” please click HERE)
