The four remaining holdouts of the armed protest group that has occupied a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon for the past 41 days turned themselves in peacefully Thursday . . .
After the first three protesters surrendered to authorities at around 9:40 a.m. local time, the last occupier, David Fry, initially resisted. But just after 11 a.m., Fry turned himself in to the FBI, according to the Oregonian.
Fry had said on a live audio webcast that he was “feeling suicidal” and would “die a free man.” At one point he said he was pointing a gun at his head. He ranted about abortion, UFOs, the government “chemically mutating people” and Syria . . .
But eventually, after requesting listeners yell “Hallelujah,” he walked out to meet authorities . . .
One of the three protesters who turned themselves in first was holding an American flag as the group went out to meet authorities. Another protester said on an audio webcast that officials were not being rough and did not have guns pointed at the group. (Read more from “41-Day Standoff Ends as Last Armed Oregon Refuge Protester Surrenders to the FBI” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hqdefault-24.jpg360480Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-11 19:51:192016-04-11 10:52:4541-Day Standoff Ends as Last Armed Oregon Refuge Protester Surrenders to the FBI
Illegal immigrants are “a critical part of our society” and should be provided a route to amnesty, Republican presidential candidate John Kasich tells a coalition of Hispanic company executives.
“For those that are here that have been law abiding, God bless them,” he told the business group, which is a major advocate for expanded immigration.
“Then I think the [illegals] should have a path to legalization… I think that can pass,” Kasich said, using one of the euphemisms for granting legal residency to illegal immigrants.
The Ohio governor also claimed the illegal immigrants are skilled. The illegals “are a critical part of our society from doctors to engineers to lawyers– well, I don’t know if we need more of them [lawyers]– but we’ve got a lot of teachers, whatever,” he said . . .
Kasich’s pro-illegal stance is very unpopular among Republicans and voters, but it is consistent with the views of Democratic progressives and donor-class Republicans who think America should experience a level of foreign migration never before experienced in its history. (Read more from “John Kasich: ‘God Bless’ Illegal Aliens” HERE)
By John W. Schoen. Is there another U.S. recession on the way? . . .
The answer depends a lot on how you measure the strength and durability of the recovery, now in its seventh year based the business cycle dates tracked by economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research . . .
To see how this recovery compares, CNBC tracked a series of economic and market data over the last eight recessions since 1960 — starting each cycle with the beginning of each downturn.
By just about every measure, the current expansion has been the weakest of the eight.
One of the main reasons has been the relatively sluggish pace of spending and investment — by consumers, government and businesses — since the Great Recession began in December 2007. Consumer spending has recovered far more slowly than past recoveries. And despite a massive stimulus program in 2010, government spending at all levels is actually lower than when the Great Recession hit. (Read more from “Is the US Economy Running out of Gas?” HERE)
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The World Can’t Afford Another Financial Crash – It Could Destroy Capitalism as We Know It
By Allister Heath. They bounce back after terrorist attacks, pick themselves up after earthquakes and cope with pandemics such as Zika. They can even handle years of economic uncertainty, stagnant wages and sky-high unemployment. But no developed nation today could possibly tolerate another wholesale banking crisis and proper, blood and guts recession.
We are too fragile, fiscally as well as psychologically. Our economies, cultures and polities are still paying a heavy price for the Great Recession; another collapse, especially were it to be accompanied by a fresh banking bailout by the taxpayer, would trigger a cataclysmic, uncontrollable backlash.
The public, whose faith in elites and the private sector was rattled after 2007-09, would simply not wear it. Its anger would be so explosive, so-all encompassing that it would threaten the very survival of free trade, of globalisation and of the market-based economy. There would be calls for wage and price controls, punitive, ultra-progressive taxes, a war on the City and arbitrary jail sentences.
For fear of allowing extremist or populist parties through the door, mainstream politicians would end up adopting much of this agenda, with devastating implications for our long-term prosperity. Central banks, in desperation, would embrace the purest form of money-printing: they would start giving consumers actual cash to spend, temporarily turbo-charging demand while destroying any remaining respect for the idea that money needs to be earned. (Read more from “The World Can’t Afford Another Financial Crash – It Could Destroy Capitalism as We Know It” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/3040508093_50104084b2.jpg343368Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-11 19:46:202016-04-11 10:52:46Is the US Economy Running out of Gas?
President Barack Obama will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary, but there is no doubt where he is leaning, according to former White House press secretary Jay Carney.
“I think the president has signaled while still remaining neutral that he supports Secretary Clinton’s candidacy and would prefer to see her as the nominee,” Carney said on CNN Wednesday following coverage of the president’s speech to the Illinois state Senate in Springfield . . .
“I think he is maintaining that tradition of not intervening in a party primary,” he added. “But I don’t think there is any doubt that he wants Hillary to win the nomination and believes she would be the best candidate in the fall and the most effective as president in carrying forward what he has achieved.” (Read more from “This Is the Presidential Candidate Obama Is Supposedly Supporting” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hqdefault-22.jpg360480Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-10 22:06:422016-04-11 10:52:47This Is the Presidential Candidate Obama Is Supposedly Supporting
The FBI has encircled remaining occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, which armed protesters took over in early January.
Les Zaitz, senior investigative reporter for the Oregonian, posted the following tweet: . . .
The FBI has encircled the four remaining occupiers at the Oregon wildlife refuge. Agents in armored vehicles are demanding they surrender.
Refuge occupier Sean Anderson adds additional confirmation that FBI will not advance tonight, but will allow occupiers to meet at checkpoint with Fiore and Graham later Thursday morning.
Anderson says occupiers will put their weapons in their vehicles when they turn themselves in as they march toward the checkpoint with American flags.
Anderson added that turning themselves in to the FBI is “going against everything we believe in,” but said they will “proceed with our surrender” once Fiore and Graham arrive at the refuge.
FBI agreed not to advance overnight, Sean Anderson says. #Oregonstandoff
By Catherine Herridge and Pamela K. Browne. At least a dozen email accounts handled the “top secret” intelligence that was found on Hillary Clinton’s server and recently deemed too damaging for national security to release, a U.S. government official close to the review told Fox News.
The official said the accounts include not only Clinton’s but those of top aides – including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines – as well as State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy and others. There is no public evidence they were authorized to receive the intelligence some of which was beyond Top Secret.
A second source not authorized to speak on the record said the number of accounts involved could be as high as 30 and reflects how the intelligence was broadly shared, replied to, and copied to individuals using the unsecured server.
“My contacts with former colleagues and current active duty personnel involved in sensitive programs reveal a universal feeling that the HRC issue is more serious than the general public realizes,” Dan Maguire, a former strategic planner with Africom, and with 46 years combined service, told Fox. “Most opine they would already be behind bars if they had apparently compromised sensitive information as reported.” (Read more from “Scandal Grows: This Is Who Handled the ‘Top Secret’ Intel on Hillary Server” HERE)
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Judge Chides State Department for Delay in Clinton Email Release
By Laura Koran. A federal judge expressed dismay over the State Department’s continued delays releasing Hillary Clinton’s emails.
“The government has put me between a rock and a hard place,” Judge Rudolph Contreras said at a hearing Tuesday, noting his displeasure over the State Department’s explanations about the delays.
Contreras said he felt he was being forced to choose between accepting the State Department’s proposed timeline without question, or else risk the accidental release of sensitive information by hurrying the process.
The State Department’s proposed production schedule would result in all the remaining emails being released the day before “Super Tuesday” and after early contests in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. (Read more from “Judge Chides State Department for Delay in Clinton Email Release” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/459273407_44913ea931_o-1.jpg22953443Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-10 22:06:042016-04-11 10:52:47Scandal Grows: This Is Who Handled the ‘Top Secret’ Intel on Hillary Server
By Cheryl Chumley. Gov. Chris Christie has decided to suspend his presidential campaign, according to two Republicans briefed on his deliberations.
Christie held a meeting and conference call with campaign staff at 4 p.m. to inform them of his decision, the Republicans said.
Christie headed home to New Jersey after his New Hampshire primary loss, telling supporters his message apparently didn’t have enough steam to push him to a top-place finish with voters.
Later Wednesday, talk was swirling that he was suspending his presidential campaign, according to CBS News and the New York Times.
“We bet the ranch on New Hampshire and no one ever anticipated the Trump phenomenon,” one source said to ABC News, citing Christie’s looming announcement. “He’s a realist.” (Read more from “Two Republican Presidential Candidates Just Suspended Their Campaigns” HERE)
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Carly Fiorina Drops out of Republican Presidential Race
By Scott Bixby. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Wednesday, over a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primaries and her ineligibility to participate in upcoming presidential debates.
“This campaign was always about citizenship,” Fiorina wrote in a Facebook post on her official campaign account. “I’ve said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet. I’m not going to start now. While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.”
Issued by the sole female candidate in the Republican field, Fiorina’s statement singled out women who looked up to her as someone who could go toe-to-toe with the male-dominated political establishment, urging them not to be bound to ideology because of their gender.
“Do not let others define you,” Fiorina wrote, addressing women and girls. “Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because you’re a woman. That is not feminism. Feminism doesn’t shut down conversations or threaten women. It is not about ideology. It is not a weapon to wield against your political opponent. A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses and uses all her God-given gifts.” (Read more from “Carly Fiorina Drops out of Republican Presidential Race” HERE)
Photo Credit: KERO-TVA gun shop owner in Southern California was subjected to a raid by the federal government in 2014, but he has just now decided to voluntarily forfeit the more than 3,000 parts the agents took two years ago.
Christopher Cook, the owner of The Armory in Southwest Bakersfield, California, told KERO-TV that it was simply a clerical error and wrong information given to officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives by a former lawyer that led to a raid of his business in 2014, during which officials took 3,804 parts . . .
Cook contended that his former lawyer gave ATF officials the wrong information regarding how the pieces were made that led to the raid as well as his eventual forfeiting of the more than 3,000 parts taken from him.
“The reason that I quit fighting is because it’s a battle that I don’t believe that the U.S state attorney, the DOJ or the ATF office would be able to say they were going to give our stuff back,” he said.
According to KERO-TV, the Department of Justice said in an agreement with Cook that the agency will ensure that the receivers stay out of the hands of criminals. The agreement also states that Cook will never be criminally prosecuted for this incident; he is also not allowed to sue the ATF for wrongfully taking his property. (Read more from “Gun Store Owner Breaks Silence, Reveals ATF Raided His Business in 2014 and Why He ‘Quit Fighting’ Them” HERE)
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That’s according to James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, who on Tuesday, in the annual worldwide threat assessment report of the U.S. intelligence community, added gene editing to a list of threats posed by “weapons of mass destruction and proliferation.”
Gene editing refers to several novel ways to alter the DNA inside living cells. The most popular method, CRISPR, has been revolutionizing scientific research, leading to novel animals and crops, and is likely to power a new generation of gene treatments for serious diseases.
It is gene editing’s relative ease of use that worries the U.S. intelligence community, according to the assessment. “Given the broad distribution, low cost, and accelerated pace of development of this dual-use technology, its deliberate or unintentional misuse might lead to far-reaching economic and national security implications,” the report said.
The choice by the U.S. spy chief to call out gene editing as a potential weapon of mass destruction, or WMD, surprised some experts. It was the only biotechnology appearing in a tally of six more conventional threats, like North Korea’s suspected nuclear detonation on January 6, Syria’s undeclared chemical weapons, and new Russian cruise missiles that might violate an international treaty. (Read more from “Top U.S. Intelligence Official Calls Gene Editing a WMD Threat” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/maxresdefault-21.jpg7581356Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-10 22:01:462016-04-11 10:52:48Top U.S. Intelligence Official Calls Gene Editing a WMD Threat
The White House promised on Wednesday that it would be able to uphold U.S. commitments to an international climate change agreement, as a court ruling heightened concerns about the stability of the global carbon reduction pact reached last year.
Shares of coal companies reflected the uncertainty the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. After jumping nearly 7 percent early in the session, the Thomson Reuters U.S. coal index was down 3 percent in afternoon trading.
The court dealt a serious blow to the Obama administration’s climate change agenda on Tuesday when it took the unusual step to delay implementation of the Clean Power Plan until legal challenges to the regulation are completed.
A centerpiece of the Obama administration’s climate change policy, the Clean Power Plan was designed to lower carbon emissions from U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels.
The decision to temporarily block the rule came after the United States entered into a landmark agreement in December with countries around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Read more from “Despite Carbon Ruling, White House Says U.S. Can Meet Climate Deal Goals” HERE)
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