Rising up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
So many times it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive
Eye of the Tiger
Merkel not planning reshuffle after Merz eyes cabinet job
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has no plans to reshuffle her cabinet, a government spokesman said, when asked about the prospects of conservative Friedrich Merz becoming a minister after losing the race to succeed her as conservative CDU leader.
“The chancellor is not planning a cabinet reshuffle,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert. He had been asked about a newspaper interview in which Merz said he was ready to re-enter politics full time and possibly become a minister.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-politics/merkel-not-planning-reshuffle-after-merz-eyes-cabinet-job-idUSKBN1OI1FO?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
U.S. Will Review Travel Ban on North Korea, Envoy Says
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States plans to review its ban on American travel to North Korea to help facilitate humanitarian aid shipments to the isolated country, Washington’s top envoy to the North said on Wednesday.
The remarks from Stephen Biegun, the State Department’s special representative for North Korea, indicated that Washington was easing some of its “maximum” pressure on North Korea to break a prolonged stalemate in talks on denuclearizing the North.
North Korea has insisted that its negotiations with the United States will make no headway unless Washington first eases sanctions. It remained unclear whether the lifting of the travel ban and humanitarian aid deliveries will be enough for the North to make a major concession toward denuclearization.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/world/asia/north-korea-travel-ban-us.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
South African police issue arrest warrant for Grace Mugabe
JOHANNESBURG – South African authorities issued an arrest warrant for Grace Mugabe, the wife of Zimbabwe's former leader who was accused of assaulting a woman in Johannesburg last year, South African police said Wednesday.
The warrant follows a long legal process during which a South African court this year ruled that the government acted illegally in granting diplomatic immunity to Mugabe when the alleged attack was first reported.
It also marked another setback for Grace and Robert Mugabe, who have kept a mostly low profile since the former president was forced from office in November 2017. Robert Mugabe, whose command over Zimbabwe once seemed impregnable, is now 94 years old and ailing.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/south-african-police-issue-arrest-warrant-for-grace-mugabe?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20foxnews%2Fworld%20%28Internal%20-%20World%20Latest%20-%20Text%29
Deplorables Rising: Report Shows Trump Kept His Word To Those On Bottom
Deplorables Rising: During the 2016 campaign, President Trump promised blue-collar and low-wage service sector workers that he would improve their lot. A new labor-market study by a major business group suggests he's kept his word.
The study by the Conference Board, the New York-based global business organization and think tank, found that blue-collar workers aren't just doing better, they're now in short supply.
"Reversing a decades-long trend in the U.S. jobs market, companies are now having a more difficult time finding blue-collar workers than white-collar workers," the Conferece Board said.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/blue-collar-deplorables-rising/
150+ companies thrived on Facebook user data under secretive ‘partnership’ deals – reports
Adding to a growing backlash against Facebook, a New York Times report detailed how the social media platform allowed unhindered access to users’ messages, email addresses and other data as part of deals with selected companies.
Large firms, including Netflix and Spotify, were given free rein to suck up data of millions of users a month, according to the NYT which reviewed over 270 pages of internal Facebook documents. It also interviewed over 50 former employees of Facebook and its partners. Most notably, users were never informed or asked for their consent.
Moreover, it turns out that Facebook had developed a special tool that enabled turning access to private data on and off – even if the user had already disabled sharing. As of 2017, more than 150 companies enjoyed this kind of no-questions-asked access under bilateral deals with Facebook which effectively allowed to firms to bypass the service’s updated privacy rules.
Some companies, including Sony, Microsoft and Amazon, were allowed to view users’ contacts through their friends. Others, like Spotify, Netflix and the Royal Bank of Canada, were able to read, write and delete users’ private messages and to see all participants on a thread. Even the Russian search giant Yandex has been listed. In 2017, it was apparently given access to Facebook users’ IDs, despite sharing of such data having been dropped for other “applications.”
https://www.rt.com/usa/446833-facebook-data-sharing-violations/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Madagascar goes to the polls in runoff presidential election
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar – Voters have begun casting their ballots are across the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar Wednesday to select a new president in a runoff election that pits two former leaders against each other.
Andry Rajoelina, 44, president from 2009 to 2014, received 39 percent of the vote in the first round in November, while Marc Ravalomanana, 69, president from 2002 to 2009, got 35 percent. They face off for the first time since political turmoil in 2009 forced Ravalomanana from power. Both have said they will accept the runoff's results.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/madagascar-goes-to-the-polls-in-runoff-presidential-election?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20foxnews%2Fworld%20%28Internal%20-%20World%20Latest%20-%20Text%29
Pope accepts resignation of Los Angeles bishop accused of misconduct
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Los Angeles auxiliary bishop, Msgr. Alexander Salazar, following allegations of misconduct with a minor in the 1990s, officials said Wednesday.
The Vatican announced the resignation in a one-line statement. It was the latest in a string of cases of alleged misconduct against bishops to come to light this year, following the scandal of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick that exposed how bishops have largely avoided sanction for improper behavior.
The current archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, said the archdiocese was made aware of the claim in 2005. Gomez said prosecutors declined to bring charges, but that the archdiocese forwarded the complaint to the Vatican office that handles sex abuse cases.
Gomez said that office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, imposed precautionary measures against Salazar and that a further investigation by the archdiocese's independent review board found the allegation to be credible.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bishop-salazar-resignation-20181219-story.html
Federal appeals court orders foreign company to comply with subpoena
Dec. 18 (UPI) – A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered an unnamed company owned by a foreign country to comply with a grand jury subpoena possibly linked to Robert Mueller's investigation.
In a three-page ruling, appellate judges in Washington, D.C., didn't mention the link between the "Corporation" and "Country A," but Politico reported in October the case involved Mueller's Russia investigation.
The company argued it was immune from criminal proceedings under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the subpoena would require it to violate law in "Country A." The 1977 FSIA law limits the ability of foreign nations to be sued in U.S. courts
Judges David Tatel, Thomas Griffith and Stephen Williams unanimously agreed with the court that the act does not immunize the company from the subpoena. The company could seek a review of decision by the circuit's full bench
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018/12/18/Federal-appeals-court-orders-foreign-company-to-comply-with-subpoena/6331545177744/
Consumer groups file complaint with FTC over Google child apps
Dec. 19 (UPI) – Consumer advocate groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether child-friendly mobile games available in the Google Play store violate privacy laws by building a profile of the children.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act prohibits the collection of geolocation data and other private information that could be sold to advertisers. The group of 22 consumer advocate groups filed a complaint with the FTC saying Google violates COPPA and its own policies with several of its games. Many of the games are targeted at preschool age children.
"The business model for the Play Store's Family section benefits advertisers, developers and Google at the expense of children and parents," Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said. "Google puts its seal of approval on apps that break the law, manipulate kids into watching ads and making purchases."
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018/12/19/Consumer-groups-file-complaint-with-FTC-over-Google-child-apps/8981545217400/
California Companies Flee Business-Hostile State In DrovesCalifornia Companies Flee Business-Hostile State In Droves
California: California's business environment has gone from bad to worse, with thousands of businesses pulling up stakes and moving elsewhere. But don't take our word for it. Just ask the 1,800 companies that either relocated or "disinvested" in the formerly Golden State in 2016
A new report from business-relocation expert Joe Vranich says that the business climate has gotten so bad that, for the first time ever, he is actively telling clients "to leave the business-hostile state because its business climate continues to worsen."
And, no, he isn't a hypocrite. He's followed his own advice. Earlier this year he relocated his own successful consulting business from Irvine, California to Cranberry Township, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.
Maybe that shouldn't come as a surprise. It's not exactly news that California's legislature is the most left-wing, high-tax and business-unfriendly in the nation. California is a virtual one-party state. Lawmakers and regulators recently even tried to tax cellphone texts, but pushback from voters made them drop the plan just this week.
But it isn't just about the state's ultra-high taxes, says Vranich.
Bad Laws Drive Business Out
"California politicians threaten the well-being of businesses with one harsh law or regulation after another," he wrote. "Now, in 2018, the state has reached a new low with an awful law."
That "awful law," of course, is California's Immigrant Worker Protection Act. It sounds innocuous, even virtuous, but it isn't. The law basically calls it a crime to follow federal immigration law. Of course, failing to follow federal immigration law is also a crime. Companies can't win, they can only lose.
Democrats counter, of course, that California is booming. Who cares about a few businesses leaving?
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/california-companies-leave-taxes/
BREAKING: 12 INDICTED In Multi-State Operation… MAJOR BUST
MADISON, WIS. – Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced the unsealing of an indictment charging twelve people with crimes related to the distribution of cocaine. The indictment was returned on November 28 by a federal grand jury sitting in Madison and was unsealed yesterday.
The indictment charges Joseph Harper, 41, Madison, Wisconsin; Gregory Smith, 49, Houston, Texas; Timothy Hotchkiss, 38, Middleton, Wisconsin; Jennifer Green, 46, Madison; Gerald Schad, 26, Madison; Lonell Johnson, 27, Grand Marsh, Wisconsin; Bryan Lewis, 48, Madison; Miesha Ihm, 24, Madison; Diane Williams, 36, Dubuque, Iowa; Jamal Jackson, 39, Madison; and Gerald Walters, 36, Madison, with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. The indictment alleges that the conspiracy operated from November 2017 to November 2018.
In addition, the indictment charges Prince Hayes, 39, Fitchburg, Wisconsin, with distribution of cocaine on September 17, 2018. Harper and Jackson are also charged with separate counts of distribution and possession with intent distribute cocaine. Harper, Smith, Schad, and Ihm face additional charges of distribution and possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
https://rightwingtribune.com/2018/12/19/12-indicted-in-multi-state/
The New Normal: Female Trump Supporter SLAPPED AND ASSAULTED Outside of Flynn Hearing (Video)
Fourteen victims of anti-Trump rioters at a Trump campaign rally in San Jose, California in June 2016 filed a class action federal civil rights lawsuit in July against San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Police Chief Edgardo Garcia, the City of San Jose and several named and unknown attackers
The New Normal: Female Trump Supporter SLAPPED AND ASSAULTED Outside of Flynn Hearing (Video)
Jim Hoft by Jim Hoft December 19, 2018
Share
Tweet
Fourteen victims of anti-Trump rioters at a Trump campaign rally in San Jose, California in June 2016 filed a class action federal civil rights lawsuit in July against San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Police Chief Edgardo Garcia, the City of San Jose and several named and unknown attackers.
Dozens of Trump supporters were assaulted, spit on, beaten, cold-cocked, egged, chased, tackled and bloodied as they left the San Jose Trump rally by mobs of far left, Mexican nationalist, Socialist, SEIU and anarchist thugs.
One female Trump supporter was egged and spit on by hundreds of Mexican nationalists chanting “F*ck you!”
Another Trump supporter was cold-cocked with a bag of rocks while walking to his car and left bleeding.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/the-new-normal-female-trump-supporter-slapped-outside-of-flynn-hearing-video/
Macron in trouble as French police union announces protest
French police union Alliance Police Nationale called for a “black day for the police” for 19 December in France. The protest is to be “Act 1” just like the “yellow vests”, according to The Local.
The police union is staging their own protests against the embattled Macron’s upcoming cuts to the police budget.
“Police are not doing well and nobody is listening,” states Frédéric Lagache, the deputy secretary general of the Alliance union. He tells The Daily Express that the 2010 budget is “insufficient”.
The French police officers are being run ragged due to constant deployments at the “yellow vest” rallies.
“In the field, fatigue is felt and the police have been sacrificing their family life for almost a month, but they remain determined and their involvement is total even if they expect support and recognition of their administration “, Didier Martinez, a representative of Unité SGP-Police FO, told the La Depeche newspaper.
https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/12/macron-in-trouble-as-french-police-union-announces-protest/
Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don't lie, amen
Remember a smile is just
A frown turned upside down
The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes - 1971
Closer everyday people,, pay attention ,,, And the beat goes on
Hundreds of Police Departments Have Secretly Created Public Safety Watchlists
To everyone who thinks secret watchlists are nothing more than a conspiracy theory, I give you law enforcement’s secret public safety watchlists.
The name of the company responsible for creating public safety watchlists should say it all but I digress.
A recent article in Xconomy reveals that law enforcement is using Suspect Technologies facial recognition software to create secret public safety watchlists.
Suspect Technologies is also working to pilot a real-time service next year by monitoring public surveillance video feeds with its facial recognition software and cross-referencing it all against a public safety watchlist, CEO Jacob Sniff says. He explained the plans but declined to identify the law enforcement client.
“We have an agency early adopter, his conception is he’s going to have 10 facial recognition cameras in town: one in the police station lobby, some at the Greyhound bus locations, city hall, even the public pool area,” Sniff says. “He’s going to be scanning people’s faces against a small public watchlist.”
Sniff claims that at least 200 hundred police departments are secretly using his software. Sniff said, “Suspect’s software is being used by a couple hundred law enforcement agencies” but declined to identify them.
https://www.activistpost.com/2018/12/hundreds-of-police-departments-have-secretly-created-public-safety-watchlists.html
“Organized Crime Bosses Ruling Us By Fear…”
Two “forensic accountants” have found what some would claim are the “smoking guns” with regard to the apparent illegal activities of the Clinton Foundation. I don’t want to dilute their testimony, so I defer to the video below, which ought to astonish readers regarding the apparent lack of interest in proceedings going further on investigating former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
https://www.activistpost.com/2018/12/organized-crime-bosses-ruling-us-by-fear.html
HISTORIAN: We’re witnessing a soft coup of the Trump administration [Video]
If you’ve ever heard Victor Davis Hanson speak about current affairs and why America is in the place it’s in, you already know he’s loaded with smarts and common sense.
He is a soft-spoken man who lays it out there with no drama and no breathless platitudes of doom. He’s a realist. It’s why what he says in the video below should be taken very seriously. He’s dead on.
Hanson was on Tucker Carlson tonight and calmly stated that he believes a soft coup is taking place…We agree 100%
https://100percentfedup.com/historian-were-witnessing-a-soft-coup-of-the-trump-administration-video/
Seems this so-called judge tried to set Flynn up when he asked him to reconsider his plea
Judge Emmet Sullivan Slaps Travel Ban on General Michael Flynn After Abusing Him in Court
Flynn was scheduled for sentencing today for lying to FBI investigators. Flynn was set up by Obama Deep State operatives who did not even tell him he was being interrogated at the time.
Their 302 report is littered with inconsistencies and outright lies.
JUDGE SULLIVAN LECTURED FLYNN IN COURT TODAY…. “Arguably, you sold your country out.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/judge-emmet-sullivan-slaps-travel-ban-on-general-michael-flynn-after-abusing-him-in-court/
The DS wants war not Trump .you see what is going on with NK.. A year ago they were launching missiles every other day . pay attention… idiot