October 31, 2017

Is the Bible a True Story?

Despite feverish searching with Scripture in one hand and cutting-edge technology in the other, evidence backing the Bible remains elusive. But there are some surprising anomalies

By Nir Hasson Oct 31, 2017

Beauty and biblical evidence both lie in the eye of the beholder, it seems. No evidence of the events described in the Book of Genesis has ever been found. No city walls have been found at Jericho, from the appropriate era, that could have been toppled by Joshua or otherwise. The stone palace uncovered at the foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem could attest that King David had been there; or it might belong to another era entirely, depending who you ask.

Archaeologists always hope that advances in technology will shed fresh light on at least part of this ancient mystery: Did the Bible really happen? So far, what discoveries there are, tend to indicate that at the least, the timelines are off.

A paucity of evidence

Eighteen years ago, on October 29, 1999, Haaretz published an article by Tel Aviv University's Ze’ev Herzog, whose message was spelled out in the very headline: “The Bible: No evidence on the ground.”

Of what? No evidence that the children of Israel sojourned in Egypt, passed through a miraculously parted Red Sea, wandered the Sinai Desert for 40 years or indeed any years, and no evidence that they conquered the land of Israel and divided it up among 12 tribes of Israel. The renowned archaeologist also shared his suspicion that David and Solomon’s "United Kingdom," described in the Bible as a regional power, was at most a minor tribal domain.

read more: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-1.818795

October 31, 2017

Fact Checker The repeated, incorrect claim that Russia obtained '20 percent of our uranium'

By Glenn Kessler October 31 at 3:00 AM

“How is it that our government could approve a sale of 20 percent of our uranium at the same time that there was an open FBI investigation?”
— Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto, Oct. 26, 2017

“Knowing what you know about Russia, was it really a good idea for the Obama administration and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to approve a deal giving the Russians control of 20 percent of our uranium supply? .?.?. Why did Hillary’s office and the Obama administration sign off on giving the Russians a fifth of our uranium? .?.?. Why is that a good idea to give a hostile power 20 percent of our uranium supplies? It’s insane though. .?.?. How would Hillary Clinton not know if a Russian company was getting 20 percent of our uranium supply? What was she doing?”
— Tucker Carlson, on Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Oct. 23

-snip-

The Pinocchio Test

The 20 percent figure has long been in wide circulation. As we noted, the Fact Checker recently used it, though with caveats. But we should have looked at the actual production data and asked the NRC for an updated estimate of production capacity. Clearly, the number is woefully out of date.

Given that Uranium One’s production is only 2 percent of an already small total U.S. production — not 20 percent — the overwrought claims that Clinton “gave away” 20 percent of the U.S. nuclear supply or that Russia controls that much U.S. uranium are simply absurd.

Four Pinocchios



Full article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/31/the-repeated-incorrect-claim-that-russia-obtained-20-percent-of-our-uranium/?utm_term=.1c3180c5d7ec

October 31, 2017

Trump Actually Looks Happy In His New Official Portrait

BY GREG PRICE ON 10/31/17 AT 11:34 AM

President Donald Trump’s official portrait was released Tuesday morning and, unlike many of pictures of the billionaire, he actually looks quite happy.

The new official portrait was a strong departure, as the president, dressed in a dark blue suit with a blue-patterned tie, is seen with a large grin. He has an American flag pin on one lapel and is standing before an American flag.

https://twitter.com/JudyKurtz/status/925341440179400706

The White House announced the release of Trump’s photo and Vice President Mike Pence’s portrait as well, and stated the pictures would be distributed to federal buildings across the country by the Government Publishing Office. The portraits also can be purchased by the public.

Trump has more than once updated his official Twitter account profile photo, often with seemingly menacing or nonplussed expressions, ss was the case with the official portrait released during his inauguration in January.

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-portrait-happy-697317

October 31, 2017

Trump Administration Too 'Afraid' To Meet With San Juan Mayor On Puerto Rico Response

Source: Newsweek Magazine




BY MARIA PEREZ ON 10/31/17 AT 10:55 AM

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, says the Trump administration is so “afraid” to discuss its “deplorable” response to Hurricane Maria that it hastily canceled a meeting between her and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after she had flown all the way to Washington on Tuesday.

Carmen Yulín Cruz said she was supposed to meet with FEMA Administrator Brock Long to discuss the agency response to the September 20 hurricane, which to this day has left 75 percent of the island without power—only to discover the meeting had been scrubbed and not even been rescheduled after she landed in the U.S. capital.

“It was deplorable how FEMA acted against the Puerto Rican people,” said Cruz. “What are they afraid of? The truth has to be told, and people all over the world have seen how the Trump administration has treated Puerto Rico.”

https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/status/925234903737913344

It is unclear why FEMA canceled the meeting. Earlier this month, Long said Cruz’s complaints about the agency’s recovery effort amount to just “political noise.” But other groups are listening to Cruz. The United Nation’s top human rights panel http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22326&LangID=E on Monday that the U.S territory’s 3.4 million residents are being treated unfairly by their own American government.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/san-juan-mayor-suggests-trump-administration-too-afraid-attend-fema-hearing-697187

---

From the U.N. Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner:


Puerto Rico: Human rights concerns mount in absence of adequate emergency response

GENEVA (30 October 2017) - Puerto Rico remains without an effective emergency response more than a month after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, a group of UN human rights experts* has warned.

“The hurricane has aggravated the island’s existing dire situation caused by debt and austerity measures,” the experts noted, saying the situation remained “alarming” for the island’s 3.5 million residents in US territory.

“Thousands of people are displaced, with homes destroyed, and without any relief in sight. More than 80 per cent of the population, or close to 2.8 million people, continue to live without electricity. Few hospitals are functioning. There are allegations that the water available - for those who have access to it - may be contaminated.”

“With winter approaching, we call for a speedy and well-resourced emergency response that prioritizes the most vulnerable and at risk - children, older people, people with disabilities, women and homeless people.”

The UN’s Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, added: “Even before Hurricane Maria struck, Puerto Rico’s human rights were already being massively undermined by the economic and financial crisis and austerity policies, affecting the rights to health, food, education, housing, water and social security.”

The experts pointed out that nearly half the population of Puerto Rico were already living below the poverty line before Hurricane Maria struck.

The Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha, added: “We can’t fail to note the dissimilar urgency and priority given to the emergency response in Puerto Rico, compared to the US states affected by hurricanes in recent months.”

“After a natural disaster, with around 90 thousand homes totally destroyed, people are at their most vulnerable. It’s the obligation of all levels of government to act to protect them, and to ensure that lives can return to some normality quickly. People need safe and adequate homes – temporary and long-term – with electricity, clean drinking water and sanitation facilities” she stressed.

The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, added: “Hurricane Maria wiped out most of the island’s crops. Banana and coffee - the Island’s most valuable exports - were the hardest hit. The population is facing immediate food shortages but also long-term consequences from the destruction of the entire agricultural infrastructure.”

The experts said rebuilding should be of a high enough standard to withstand future disasters.

“We call on the United States and Puerto Rican authorities to remove regulatory and financial barriers to reconstruction and recovery,” they said. “All reconstruction efforts should be guided by international human rights standards, ensuring that people can rebuild where they have lived and close to their communities. Reconstruction should aim to increase the resilience of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, housing and hospitals against future natural disasters.”

They also stressed the need for debt relief for the island, which filed for bankruptcy in May 2017 under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). A federal court in San Juan has begun hearings over the biggest public debt restructuring in US history.

Several UN experts had expressed concern in September 2016 at the crippling public debt level and its impact on economic and social rights, but have not received any substantial response from Washington, San Juan or the Financial Oversight and Management Board to their questions and concerns.

ENDS

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22326&LangID=E

October 31, 2017

Sam Clovis's really bad excuse for greenlighting a Trump campaign meeting with Russians

By Aaron Blake October 31 at 8:36 AM

Sam Clovis was always a pretty suspect pick by President Trump to become the chief science adviser at the Agriculture Department — mostly because he's not actually a scientist. His chief qualification for the job seems to be that he was national co-chairman of Trump's 2016 campaign. Democrats have also spotlighted his past comments skeptical of climate change and suggesting that laws protecting LGBT rights could lead to the legalization of pedophilia. And now we can add another reason his nomination could be a key battle for Democrats — and a dicey proposition for Republicans.

The Washington Post's Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported Monday night that Clovis was one of those anonymous campaign officials cited in former Trump aide George Papadopoulos's plea deal. Clovis was the one named as a “campaign supervisor,” and he both praised Papadopoulos's efforts to broker a meeting with the Russians as “great work” and later urged Papadopoulos to make the trip rather than Trump.

“Make the trip, if it is feasible,” Clovis told Papadopoulos.

Clovis's attorney, Victoria Toensing, told The Post that Clovis was only being nice and that he actually opposed the campaign meeting with Russians:

She said Clovis was “being polite” when he encouraged Papadopoulos to meet with Russian officials in August, adding that the campaign had a “strict rule that no person could travel abroad as a representative of the campaign.” Clovis could not stop an American citizen from traveling abroad “in his personal capacity,” she said.

.?.?.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/31/sam-cloviss-really-bad-excuse-for-greenlighting-a-trump-campaign-meeting-with-russians

October 31, 2017

Report: Lewandowski Was Trump Official Papadopoulos Emailed About Russia Trip

Source: Talking Points Memo




By ESME CRIBB Published OCTOBER 31, 2017 10:36 AM

Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was the “high-ranking campaign official” former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos emailed about arranging a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Washington Post reported late Monday.

“Have been receiving a lot of calls over the last month about Putin wanting to host him and the team when the time is right,” Papadopoulos wrote in April 2016 to a person identified only as “a high-ranking official of the Campaign” in court documents unsealed Monday.

The Washington Post reported, citing previously described emails that Trump’s campaign handed over to congressional committees, that the campaign official in question was Lewandowski.

-snip-

Lewandowski in June 2016 referred Papadopoulos to “the campaign supervisor,” according to court filings, a person Yahoo News identified on Monday as Sam Clovis, who joined Trump’s campaign in August 2015 as a co-chair and policy adviser. Clovis, a non-scientist and open skeptic of climate change, is Trump’s pick to be the USDA’s chief scientist.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-lewandowski-was-trump-official-papadopoulos-emailed-russia-trip

October 31, 2017

Roy Moore: Impeach Judge Who Blocked Trump's 'Transgenderism' Order

Source: Talking Points Memo




By MATT SHUHAM Published OCTOBER 31, 2017 11:08 AM

Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore said Monday night that the federal judge who issued an injunction against President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military “should be impeached.”

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, Moore said in a statement shared with TPM, “is absolutely ridiculous and is a perfect example of the outlandish doctrine of judicial supremacy whereby judges exalt themselves over the Constitution they are sworn to uphold.” (Read Moore’s full statement below.) Kollar-Kotelly granted a preliminary injunction Monday to stop Trump’s policy — which began with a tweet — from going into immediate effect.

Moore said the American Psychiatric Association considered, in his words, “transgenderism to be a mental disorder” until 2013. (The APA’s board of trustees approved the removal of “gender identity disorder” from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in late 2012, replacing it with “gender dysphoria.”)

“And only in 2016 did the Obama administration attempt to impose that delusion upon our fighting forces,” Moore continued. “To say that President Trump cannot prohibit transgenderism in the military is a clear example of judicial activism. Even the United States Supreme Court has never declared transgenderism to be a right under the Constitution.”

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/roy-moore-judge-who-stopped-trumps-transgenderism-order-should-be-impeached

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Read Moore’s full statement below:

“The decision of a federal judge in the District of Columbia enjoining President Trump’s executive order on transgenderism in the military is absolutely ridiculous and is a perfect example of the outlandish doctrine of judicial supremacy whereby judges exalt themselves over the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. As recently as 2013, the American Psychiatric Association considered transgenderism to be a mental disorder. And only in 2016 did the Obama administration attempt to impose that delusion upon our fighting forces. To say that President Trump cannot prohibit transgenderism in the military is a clear example of judicial activism. Even the United States Supreme Court has never declared transgenderism to be a right under the Constitution.

“Judge Kollar-Kotelly should be impeached by the House of Representatives for unlawful usurpation of power (Article II, § 4) and lack of good behavior (Article III, § 1), and referred to the Senate for a vote on removal. Not only has she placed herself above the Constitution in finding such a nonexistent right, but she has also interfered with the powers of the President as Commander in Chief of the armed forces under Article II, § 2, of the Constitution.

“Unless we return to faithful obedience to the Constitution and the separation of powers set out therein, our form of government and our liberties will be in dire jeopardy. Congress should not turn a deaf ear to this flagrant usurpation of executive authority.”

October 31, 2017

'Professor' in Russia disclosures says he has 'clear conscience'

Source: The Washington Post


Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, left, and professor Michael Katehakis speak at Rutgers University on Nov. 6. On Tuesday, a different academic, Joseph Mifsud of the University of Stirling in Scotland, identified himself as the “professor” mentioned in the Russia investigation involving Papadopoulos. (Costas Bej/The National Herald)



By Karla Adam October 31 at 10:04 AM

LONDON — An academic at a Scottish university confirmed Tuesday he is the “professor” mentioned in the probe over suspected Russian interference in U.S. politics but claimed the allegations are exaggerated.

According to court papers unsealed Monday, George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, told federal investigators that a professor in April 2016 promised him “dirt” on Hillary Clinton compiled by Russians, including thousands of emails. Joseph Mifsud, who joined the faculty of the University of Stirling earlier this year, was not named in the court documents. He confirmed his identity to the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, stressing that “I have a clear conscience.”

-snip-

Mifsud told the Telegraph that he knew nothing about emails containing “dirt” on Clinton, calling the allegations upsetting and “incredible.” He also dismissed the disclosure that he introduced Papadopoulos to a “female Russian national,” calling the allegation a “laughingstock.”

-snip-

Mifsud told the Telegraph that he introduced Papadopoulos to the director of a Russian think tank to help him better grasp Russian foreign policy and that he tried to set up meetings with experts on the European Union.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/professor-named-in-russia-disclosures-says-he-has-clean-conscious/2017/10/31/41a7a08e-be3b-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html

October 31, 2017

First Charges In Mueller's Russia Probe Stem From Trump Admin's Earliest Days

By SAM THIELMAN Published OCTOBER 31, 2017 6:00 AM

During the Trump administration’s very first week in office, the seeds were planted for the initial charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

Thanks to an indictment unsealed Monday morning, we now know former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos lied about the extent of his Russian contacts in an interview with FBI agents on Jan. 27, exactly one week after the inauguration. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to making false statements in that interview about his Russian contacts.

Mueller’s appointment didn’t come until May, after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, who had been overseeing the bureau’s probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election—and the collection of evidence for that investigation had already begun before Trump had even taken his hand off the Bible. The day before inauguration, the New York Times reported that law enforcement and intelligence sources were already looking at intercepted communications and financial records “as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.” Comey later testified before Congress that the FBI investigation into those links began in July 2016; Manafort was arrested on Monday.

Papadopoulos wasn’t even the first campaign adviser accused of misleading the FBI during the initial week of Trump’s presidency: Three days before Papadopoulos’ interview, Michael Flynn, at the time Trump’s national security advisor, denied to FBI investigators that he had discussed sanctions on Russia with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak—even though the Washington Post cited U.S. officials saying Flynn had indeed discussed sanctions with Kislyak before Trump took office.

The same day that Papadopoulos met with the FBI, then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates met with White House Counsel Don McGahn to share her concerns about Flynn’s “underlying conduct” for a second time.

The following Monday, Trump fired Yates.

Read more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mueller-probe-first-charges-stem-from-trump-admin-first-week

October 31, 2017

Trump lashes out on indictments, tries to shift focus to tax reform

Source: The Hill



BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 10/31/17 08:28 AM EDT

President Trump on Tuesday dismissed the latest wrinkle in the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling, saying the actions of his former campaign chairman occurred prior to his involvement with the Trump campaign.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925333956110757888

The tweet comes one day after Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman, and his former business associate, Richard Gates, were charged in a 12-count indictment coming out of the special counsel's probe into Russia's election interference. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Trump also dismissed the volunteer foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in the course of its investigation into Russia’s election meddling.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925335577217683456


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/357951-trump-seeks-to-distance-himself-from-advisors-after-indictments