Fox Crushes Cable News With Record High Viewership As CNN Implodes
Fox News dominated the basic cable news industry in 2019, according to a new report, which specifies the network has hit record high viewership.
Nielsen Media Research said Fox News averaged 2.5 million viewers during primetime in 2019, far outpacing any other news network. The network’s viewership hit a 23-year high this year, blowing out its competitors, CNN and MSNBC, by a long shot.
Fox News even beat out ESPN with its 1.78 million viewers during primetime. It seems the American people under a Trump administration are more concerned about politics and the economy than sports. MSNBC trailed ESPN for the third spot at 1.75 viewers during primetime. This is the fourth consecutive year Fox News has blown out its competitors.
Nielsen said CNN came in 22nd place, recorded just 972,000 viewers during primetime.
The gap in viewership between Fox News and CNN on a nightly basis is nearly 1.5 million viewers daily during primetime.
Fox News’ “Hannity” was the most popular news show with 3.3 million viewers during primetime. The second was “Tucker Carlson Tonight” with 3.1 million, and MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” was third with 2.78 million.
To sum up, CNN is suffering a credibility crisis as viewership is in a mass exodus, fleeing the fake news network to more conservative networks, such as Fox News. There appears to be no plan of action by CNN or liberal media to fix the hemorrhaging of viewership, indicating the trend will persist through 2020.
I have to wonder who Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is actually loyal to. Because, the U.S. strike of Kata’ib Hizbullah forces near the Al Qaim border crossing with Syria in Iraq is a dangerous escalation there.
And it’s completely at odds with Trump’s goals of wanting us out of the Middle East. The Al Qaim border crossing is a particular red line for Israel and their allies in the U.S. State and Defense Departments.
It represents the normalization of commerce between Syria, Iraq and Iran over time. This is the so-called Shia Crescent which is the stuff of nightmares for Benjamin Netanyahu.
And the U.S. has been hopping mad for months since now caretaker Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi opened the border because it undermines U.S. presence in Syria.
The entire point of U.S. occupation of the Al-Tanf border crossing into Jordan and the oil fields in Deir Ezzor province is about starving the Syrian government of any reliable energy and revenue.
When Al Qaim/Al Bukamai was opened it was only a matter of time before a major skirmish would occur over it. Israel staged a series of air attacks previously using U.S. assets and air bases to launch them back in September.
Now, we have the convenient excuse for attacking these forces which are part of the Popular Mobiliztion Units, PMU, which Pompeo despises by ‘retaliating’ for a rocket attack on the K1 base near Kirkuk where one U.S. mercenary was killed and a handful of others injured.
The response from the U.S. Air Force was completely out of line with the initial attack and occurred without any attempt by Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to justify it.
They just invoked the phrase, “Iran-backed forces” and then bombed troops over 200 miles away where they wanted to strike anyway.
And what’s important is what both Elijah Magnier and Moon of Alabama pointed out immediately, the U.S. struck member of Shia militias who were made official part of the Iraqi defense forces.
In other words the U.S. just attacked and killed dozens of Iraqi military personnel.
32 killed and 45 wounded the count of #US violent aggression on #Iraq security forces brigades 45 and 46 last night on a military position established to counter-attack and raid #ISIS remnant at al-Qaem, the borders between Iraq and Syria.https://t.co/pmBZ3fJu9e
His actions remind me of Italy’s Sergio Mattarella who inserts himself into the process of government formation there to suit his EU partners-in-crime.
In Iraq the U.S. has been officially silent on the government turmoil there but the circumstances are pretty clear that the chaos works as a cover for what was an egregious violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
Remember, the U.S. forces there are at the invitation of the Iraqi government and with Salih keeping the Shia political forces from uniting to choose a Prime Minister, the likelihood of that invitation being rescinded now is remote.
Color me not shocked that this attack on PMU forces occurred. Pompeo has been itching for an excuse to attack them for months. He tried his version of diplomacy with Prime Minister Mahdi to rescind their official status and was unsuccessful.
Mahdi was livid after Israel’s air attack and made noises about rescinding the U.S. invitation. No shock then that protests against his government spun up quickly after that.
So at some point this attack was going to happen. Netanyahu in serious political trouble facing a third election in a year, unable to form a government.
Pompeo coming to his rescue to keep the dream of warring with Iran should be obvious to all.
The question is whether President Trump is engaged with this policy at all or did Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper go off on their own, pull this trigger and then inform Trump and get him to accept this post hoc?
Everywhere Pompeo goes one week winds up in flames the next anymore. When he visits a trouble spot which Israel and the neoconservatives he represents want destabilized, a miracle occurs the next week.
Before this it was Lebanon and Iraq. This week it’s Ukraine. There is the threat of peace breaking out there with Russia and Ukraine agreeing to terms on both a gas and oil transit contract into Europe which Pompeo is dead set against.
Will we see some attack on Ukrainian forces which break the peace and can be blamed on Russia?
Trump has to know that escalation from here ends with U.S. forces coming home in body bags as PMU forces themselves, go off the reservation during this power vacuum in Baghdad and attack U.S. troops directly.
But I think this is exactly what Bibi and Pompeo want. This attack was a clear provocation to escalate and give Israel and the neocons all the ammunition they need to force Trump into the wider conflict with Iran they’ve been angry about not getting for six months now.
They failed with the Global Hawk incident back in June. That operation got John Bolton fired as National Security Director. Now we have a clearly disproportionate strike designed to inflame passions of Iran-backed Shia forces.
The entirety of Iraq’s leadership seems to be of the same mind, and even rejected the US plan to strike when they were tipped off immediately before it happened, per NBC:
In a statement, [former PM] Abdul-Mahdi said Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had called him about a half-hour before the U.S. strikes Sunday to tell him of U.S. intentions to hit the bases of the militia suspected of being behind Friday’s rocket attack. Abdul-Mahdi saidhe asked Esper to call off the U.S. plan.
One byproduct of the major US strikes on Sunday is sure to be that more and more of the Iraqi population will view the Americans, and not the Iranians, as the foreign occupiers.
This dramatic escalation by Washington is only likely to push more popular support toward the Shia PMF, and strengthen the movement in parliament to have US forces legally expelled, especially with the demise of the ISIS threat.
Any strike by the PMU here on U.S. forces will be music to Pompeo’s and Netanyhahu’s ears. And it will put Trump in a real bind with his base during an election year and an impeachment process Speaker Nancy Pelosi is purposefully dragging out to build a stronger case.
What stronger case could there be at this point if Trump were to not declare war or fire back on our troops getting attacked in Iraq or Syria? He’s derelict as Commander-in-Chief. It’s part of their stupid Ukraine narrative that Trump withheld aid weakens our national security.
As Secretary of State Pompeo has been nothing short of a disaster, undermining President Trump’s strong instincts to get the U.S. out of the Middle East and solve the myriad of open geopolitical wounds around the world.
Unlike his former-partner-in-neoconservatism, John Bolton, Pompeo is more adept at playing at being loyal to Trump while always seeming to move U.S. diplomacy in a more belligerent direction in the wake of any of Trump’s ‘impulses’ to act on his conscience and/or instincts.
It doesn’t matter if we’re talking Iran (Pompeo’s demands of Iran are off-the-charts insane), Lebanon (outright blackmail of the Lebanese government) or North Korea (making demands in negotiations which overstep Trump’s promises to Kim Jong-un) Pompeo is always there doing his thinly-veiled Israeli loyalty dance with the subtlety of a freight-train but somehow always framing it as making it Trump’s policy.
This move by Pompeo looks like a classic pre-emptive move to bind Trump down force him into a war which will be unpopular back home. The only one who wins with this attack is Israel.
U.S. troops are now less safe, effective forces fighting ISIS have been neutered and the Iraqi government is in shambles. Good job Mike.
Mike wants his golden parachute back to the Senate where he can continue doing god’s work for the Israelis, one more voice in a U.S. Senate seemingly without a limit on its thirst for power and the blood of the world.
This won’t end well and Trump better get his Flying Monkeys under control quick or he won’t be President much longer. Because when the body bags start, he’ll be the one who gets blamed.
China Non-Manufacturing PMI Slides Back Near Multi-Year Lows
Following a big, surprise jump in November, China’s official PMIs were expected to fall back a little in December (but remain – handily – above 50 and the ‘expansion/contraction’ divide), helped by an improvement in industrial production and hopes after the ‘phase one’ trade deal was (allegedly) completed.
A mixed bag though with manufacturing PMI flat at 50.2 (better than the expected 50.1) and non-manufacturing PMI lower at 53.5 (from 54.4) and below expectations of 54.2.
Source: Bloomberg
New manufacturing orders picked up (the last time the reading was above 50 was May 2018), but the improvement in manufacturing was concentrated in large- and medium-sized enterprises with small enterprises plunging deeper into contraction (at 47.2).
New non-manufacturing orders slowed as prices (selling and buying fell), pushing employment further into contraction (48.3).
The slide in Services dragged the composite PMI for China overall lower (but still well above the rest of the major world economies)…
Source: Bloomberg
We wonder how long this re-excitement of hope about Chinese economic growth will last given the massive amount of stimulus has produced a very meager credit impulse…
Source: Bloomberg
“The potential de-escalation of China-U.S. trade tension, improved global manufacturing demand, inventory restocking driven by lessening demand headwinds, and accelerated infrastructure investment growth in China may continue to support a moderate cyclical recovery,” China International Capital Corp. economist Eva Yiwrote in a note.
“Gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter may pick up on a sequential basis compared with the third quarter.”
The government is also reportedly rolling out a range of policies to support the economy in 2020.
The Trump Derangement Syndrome fevers ran high last week, as the media chattered on about their new favorite boogeyman. He’s a madman. He’s a gangster. He’s the most dangerous man on the planet. He’s Trump the Terrible – and we must get rid of him at any cost lest he win another term in the White House.
Donald The Delusional
Donald Trump is clearly insane – as in, 25th Amendment, let’s get him out of office insane. Or that’s the professional opinion of the completely ethical and uninterested in politics Dr. Bandy X. Lee. Back in January of 2018, Dr. Lee generously examined President Trump – without actually meeting with him – and declared him dangerously nuts. There is one problem with her diagnosis, however. As Liberty Nation’sMark Angelides explained at the time:
“The American Psychiatric Association (APA) actually bans psychiatrists from making a diagnosis without a direct examination. Not only is this rule in place because the APA believes without a face to face examination, all information is worthless, but they also see it as highly unethical.”
And as for not being politically motivated, at the time of her so-called diagnosis, Dr. Lee was promoting a book titled – of all things – The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.
Thankfully, her plan to have the president declared unfit and removed from office based on her clearly biased opinion failed and she faded out of the public eye. But just as the Herpes virus lurks beneath the surface only to pop up from time to time with surprise outbreaks, Dr. Lee has not and will not leave us be. She erupted back into the spotlight in June of 2019, leading a group of other anti-Trump mental health professionals at Capitol Hill as they tried to spread awareness of the Delusional Don.
Dr. Bandy Lee
It seems as true now as it was back in June when LNwrote, “if you thought you had heard the last of Dr. Bandy X. Lee, you’re as crazy as anyone who thinks her plan could actually work. That’s right, she’s back.” And back she is. This time, the good doctor is calling on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to demand Trump receive an evaluation.
Leave it to Salon to dig up the doctor for her opinion on Trump’s mental health. Their title says it all: “Pelosi ‘has the right’ to submit Trump to an ‘involuntary evaluation’: Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee.” Never mind impeachment – Speaker Pelosi, it seems, is falling behind in her duty to protect the nation from this dangerous madman.
“As a coworker, she has the right to have him submit to an involuntary evaluation, but she has not,” Lee told Salon. “Anyone can call 911 to report someone who seems dangerous, and family members are the most typical ones to do so. But so can coworkers, and even passersby on the street. The law dictates who can determine right to treatment, or civil commitment, and in all 50 U.S. states this includes a psychiatrist.”
Dr. Lee goes on to say that a mental health hold seems inevitable, but her opinion here is once again suspect. “I am beginning to believe that a mental health hold, which we have tried to avoid, will become inevitable,” Lee said. Avoid? She has actively campaigned to have him declared unfit to lead and removed from office! It makes you wonder which of the two, Donald Trump or Bandy Lee, has a mental health issue. She’s bound to fail and fade away as she always does, but when will she pop back up and what will her scheme be then? All we can really say with any certainty is that she will be back, eventually.
Trump The Thug
“Donald Trump will not be bound by any rule, even after he has been caught.” So reads the conclusion of a Saturday article in The Atlantic, titled “A Gangster in the White House.” So what has Teflon Don – admittedly, a rather gangster sounding nickname – done this time? He retweeted a follower’s post revealing the name of the person believed to be the whistleblower behind the Ukraine call reveal.
Tweeter in Chief Donald Trump
That’s right – the president shared a tweet revealing a name that has been circulating in the media for weeks. By late October, a bevy of articles offering “everything you need to know about Eric Ciaramella the whistleblower” had flooded the media. But Trump’s a gangster because he retweeted a story using the name.
“Trump is organizing from the White House a conspiracy to revenge himself on the person who first alerted the country that Trump was extorting Ukraine to help his reelection,” the author wrote before declaring the act “more lawbreaking to punish the revelation of past lawbreaking.”
But there are a few problems with this argument even if we pretend Trump’s call was criminal. First, there is some debate as to who is forbidden from outing a whistleblower. Even if Trump isn’t allowed to reveal the name, his retweeting of a news story two months after the man was first exposed by the media as the most likely candidate is hardly leaking top-secret information.
And then there’s the question of the whistleblower’s protected status. Of course, the government that has had the whistle blown on it never wants to admit it – just ask Edward Snowden, who would still face prosecution for leaking should he return to the U.S.
This so-called whistleblower, on the other hand, certainly seems to have some powerful friends protecting him. Did he discover some wrongdoing and blow the whistle, or was he sent to Adam Schiff by a deep state that wants Trump gone? He wouldn’t have a chance if it weren’t for a last-minute rule change removing the requirement that a whistleblower’s complaint be based on first-hand knowledge. LN’sTim Donner hit the nail on the head when he said, “Common sense can lead you to only one conclusion when rules that would have disallowed the explosive complaint were changed just in time to allow it.”
Democrats In Denial
Despite trying to brand President Trump as a mafia-style criminal, a madman, and the most dangerous world leader today, the left has failed to erode his support. But still, they hurl their attacks. Surely, if they just keep fighting on, they can do enough damage to cost him the 2020 election. The left, of course, is simply in denial. Filmmaker and rabid anti-Trumper Michael Moore declared that if the next presidential election were held right now, Trump would win re-election – and he was probably right. But even he suffers from the delusion that Trump is nigh-universally hated. He explained that 70% of the 2020 electorate will be women and racial minorities, all of whom are on the side of the Democrats. Never mind the large number of conservative women who voted for Trump in 2016, and never mind the many blacks and Hispanics who have walked away from the Democratic Party since the last election, who now enjoy the lowest unemployment rates in the nation’s history. To the Democrats in denial, they don’t exist.
Tesla Plunges After Cowen Note Predicts Missed 2019 Delivery Targets
Tesla stock fell as much as 5% in trading on Monday, suffering its biggest drop in nearly a month after Cowen released a note suggesting that the company could miss its delivery target for the year.
The note suggested that Tesla could deliver 356,000 vehicles for the year, which is slightly below the company’s target of 360,000 to 400,000, according to Bloomberg.
Cowen’s note said: “Excluding the Netherlands and China, we expect Model 3 deliveries to be down compared to the prior quarter and year-ago period.”
Analyst Jeffrey Osborne’s estimate “highlights the demand saturation we are seeing across most mature markets as we shift from pent-up demand to steady flow demand.”
Cowen also raised its fourth quarter delivery estimate to 101,000 from 95,000 to reflect better expectations for the Netherlands and China. Osborne sees the company missing expectations for Model S/X and posting in-line numbers for Model 3.
At the same time, Wedbush’s Dan Ives released a note that predicted “Tesla will find success in China with Giga 3 and potentially hit the key 100,000 delivery number quicker than the U.S./Europe trajectory and be a demand tailwind.”
But the market seemed to agree with Cowen on Monday at least, as Tesla stock was clipped 3.7% on the day, closing at $414.60.
Starting to catch down to bonds’ reality?
Osborne believes there are many issues facing the company, including “pricing and mix issues that we believe will affect margins and profitability in the fourth quarter”. He’s also skeptical about long-term demand in China, where we have noted an electric vehicle supply glut is likely in the midst of taking place.
Cowen notes that the best selling EV in China this year “has sold less than 2,000 vehicles per week and the top 5 models (all local brands) combined for less than 6,000 vehicles per week.” These models cost about 25% to 75% less than what the China made Model 3 will cost.
“While Tesla has built a very dedicated fan base that has been willing to excuse poor build quality, customer service, and service infrastructure, we continue to be skeptical around broader adoption,” Osborne concluded, slapping a price target of $210 on the stock.
Will Osborne be the trend setter for analysts now that Tesla stock has hit the stratosphere, or will the company continue to elude reality? As the year wraps up, it won’t be long before we know whether or not their prognostication holds water.Tick tock, Elon.
The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 required a health warning to be placed on packs of cigarettes sold in the United States. The original warning, which appeared on cigarette packs from January 1, 1966, through October 31, 1970, was
Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous To Your Health
There are more dangerous things that Americans should be on the lookout for.
Just before Christmas, Donald Trump signed two bills into law to fund all the departments and agencies of the federal government and avert a government shutdown. According to the White House, the bills are:
H.R. 1158, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,” which provides full-year funding through September 30, 2020, for projects and activities of certain agencies of the Federal Government; and
H.R. 1865, the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,” which provides full-year funding through September 30, 2020, for projects and activities of the remaining agencies of the Federal Government.
The bills do some other things as well.
They expand paid family leave. Said President Trump, “I am proud to report after that, after decades of empty promises and inaction, the legislation I have signed into law provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees. This ensures parents are not forced to choose between their jobs and spending precious time with their children.”
They give U.S. military personnel and most federal workers a 3.1 percent pay raise. Said President Trump, to federal workers, “This pay raise reflects the excellent work of our federal workforce.” And to service members, “Your selfless service, noble sacrifice, and unfailing allegiance to duty and country is what keeps America safe, strong, proud, and free.”
They repeal three taxes in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): the so-called “Cadillac tax” on generous employer health plans, taxes on health insurance companies, and taxes on medical-device makers.
They reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
And they raise the federal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21 years old. Specifically, in the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,” under Division N, “Health and Human Services Extenders,” in Title I, “Health and Human Service Extenders,” Subtitle F, “Miscellaneous Provisions,” Sec. 603, “Minimum age of sale of tobacco products,” it states,
(a) In General. — Section 906(d) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 387f(d)) is amended —
(1) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), by striking “18 years’” and inserting “21 years”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(5) Minimum age of sale. — It shall be unlawful for any retailer to sell a tobacco product to any person younger than 21 years of age.”
This is something that has been in the works all year.
Back in May, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a bill, the “Tobacco-Free Youth Act” (S.1541), to raise the federal minimum age for purchasing tobacco products to 21. “We’re in the middle of a national health epidemic,” said McConnell in a speech on the Senate floor. Kaine said in a statement, “Today, we are coming together to side with young people’s health. With this bipartisan legislation, Senator McConnell and I are working to address one of the most significant public-health issues facing our nation today.” American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said she supports the bill, saying in a statement, “We commend Majority Leader McConnell and Senator Kaine for prioritizing the health of teens and young adults with a bill to raise the national sales age for tobacco products to 21. We urge strong bipartisan support for this bill as written, and we call on lawmakers to reject any effort to add language that would weaken its impact or benefit tobacco companies.”
At the same time, but in the House, Rep. Donna E. Shalala (D-Fla.), sometime secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under Bill Clinton, and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), current Energy and Commerce Chairman, introduced a similar bill, the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019 (H.R.2339). “We’re trying to protect children,” said Shalala in an interview with CQ Magazine.
With the passage of the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,” those bills are now irrelevant.
Anyone with half a brain in the United States knows that smoking cigarettes is dangerous, destructive, and deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Smoking causes more deaths each year than the following causes combined: HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, firearm-related incidents.
More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking as have died in all the wars fought by the United States.
Cigarette smoking increases the risk for death from all causes in men and women.
But none of that means that the federal government should raise the federal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21.
Consider the following:
First of all, the Constitution. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize the federal government to set a minimum age for anyone to purchase tobacco products. And not only that, neither does the Constitution authorize the federal government to have anything to do with smoking tobacco or anything else. Tobacco was a plentiful commodity at the time the Constitution was written. If the Framers wanted to mention tobacco in the Constitution, they certainly could have done so.
Second, unnecessary legislation. Sixteen states, the District of Columbia, and more than 500 localities have already raised their minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21. These states are: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. The minimum age increases to 21 next year in Pennsylvania and Washington, and in Utah in 2021. Some other states have a legal age between 18 and 21. The new federal tobacco legislation is an assault on federalism and the Tenth Amendment.
Third, the proper role of government. Is it the proper role of government to keep the peace and punish those who violate the personal or property rights of others, or is it the proper role of government to be a nanny state that micromanages the behavior of its citizens? The federal government not only shouldn’t have a minimum age of 21 to purchase tobacco products, it shouldn’t even have a minimum age of 18.
Fourth, consistency. There are many dangerous activities that Americans engage in every day. And sometimes they lead to serious injury or death. Here are ten of them:
Skydiving
Bungee jumping
Operating a chainsaw
Climbing a ladder
Riding a motorcycle
Working as a roofer, fisherman, logger, or miner
Taking prescription drugs
Driving a car
Taking a bath
Crossing the street
If the government is going to have a minimum age for tobacco purchases to “protect children,” then why not a minimum age to engage in those other dangerous activities to protect even more children? And why not a maximum age to protect the elderly?
Fifth, second-class citizens. At the age of 18, Americans have the legal right to marry, enter into contracts, adopt children, vote in elections, and join the military and possibly die for their country. Yet, with this new tobacco legislation, the federal government is instituting a second class of citizens who can do all of those things but not buy a pack of cigarettes.
And sixth, the nature of government. Government has always been the greatest violator of personal freedom and property rights. As former Foundation for Economic Education president Richard Ebeling put it, “There has been no greater threat to life, liberty, and property throughout the ages than government. Even the most violent and brutal private individuals have been able to inflict only a mere fraction of the harm and destruction that have been caused by the use of power by political authorities.”
Regardless of how dangerous, destructive, or deadly the use of tobacco might be, the government hazard to the individual liberty and personal freedom of Americans is infinitely more dangerous, destructive, and deadly.
Greta Thunberg: “I Wouldn’t Have Wasted My Time” Meeting With Trump
During a Monday interview with BBC radio’s “Today” program, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg said that she wouldn’t have met with President Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, even if she had the opportunity.
She wouldn’t meet with him, Thunberg said, because she doubts that he would take her seriously: if Trump won’t acknowledge the work of the world’s leading climate scientists, then what hope would Thunberg have?
“Honestly, I don’t think I would have said anything [to Donald Trump] because obviously he’s not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me?” Thunberg said. “So I probably wouldn’t have said anything, I wouldn’t have wasted my time”.
Back in September, a video of Thunberg giving Trump the “death stare” – as left-leaning outlets like the Guardian, Buzzfeed and Huffington Post described it – during her visit to the UN General Assembly went viral, earning the 16-year-old climate activist more plaudits from her peers and supporters.
Donald Trump earned the enmity of climate activists when he decided to pull the US out of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord back in 2017. So far, Trump has directed his administration to relax or rescind dozens of Obama-era environmental rules. And if he wins another term (an outcome that is looking more likely by the day), it’s almost guaranteed that he will continue to gut the EPA while relaxing restrictions on the American energy industry – coal in particular.
Since Thunberg’s rise to fame earlier this year, Trump has repeatedly criticized the teenager, once joking that she should “work on her anger management problem.”
And he’s not the only world leader to criticize young Greta. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro once called her “a brat” and complained that she receives too much attention from the media.
Australian Prime Minister Morrison told Thunberg that he was “not here to impress people overseas” after she accused his administration of not doing enough to protect the environment.
During Monday’s interview, Thunberg accused Bolsonaro, Morrison and her other critics of being “terrified of young people” and their insistence that their countries do more to protect the environment.
“Those attacks are just funny because they obviously don’t mean anything,” Thunberg said during the interview. “I guess of course it means something – they are terrified of young people bringing change which they don’t want – but that is just proof that we are actually doing something and that they see us as some kind of threat”.
Her father, who also chimed in during the interview, praised his daughter for handling the criticism “incredibly well” consider his daughter’s autism.
Thunberg rejoined the activists camping outside Sweden’s Parliament in December after four months of traveling overseas, starting with her trip to New York for the UN General Assembly back in September.
“I hope I won’t have to sit outside the Swedish parliament for long. I hope I don’t have to be a climate activist any more,” she said on Monday, adding she was looking forward to returning to school in August.
“I just want to be just as everyone else. I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager.”
Unfortunately for Thunberg, the young activist will likely find that there’s no going back. But fortunately, she has a good sense of humor, as Reuters pointed out.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know how she does it, but she laughs most of the time. She finds it hilarious,” said Thunberg’s father, Svante Thunberg, who also participated in the interview.
Don’t take criticism from strangers on the Internet so seriously: now that’s a lesson that could benefit thousands, if not millions, of Americans.
The events of the past couple of days should be a major wake up call for all of us. The number of mass shootings in the United States hit a record high in 2019 as the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis continues to disappear. And these mass shooters seem particularly attracted to soft targets such as schools and churches. When I was growing up, I never even imagined that a gunman might storm into my school or church and start shooting. And as far as I knew, neither my school nor my church had any sort of armed security. But now if you are attending a church or sending your kids to a school that does not have armed security, you are literally gambling with the lives of your family members. The world that we live in has dramatically changed, and if we choose to ignore the harsh realities that now confront us, we do so at our own peril.
On Sunday, a gunman opened fire at a Church of Christ in Texas about eight miles away from Fort Worth, and it immediately made headlines all over the nation…
A gunman killed two people during a Sunday morning service at a church in White Settlement before members of the congregation fatally shot him, authorities say.
Police in White Settlement, about eight miles west of Fort Worth, were called before 11 a.m. to the West Freeway Church of Christ at 1900 South Las Vegas Trail after two members who are part of the church’s security team opened fire on the gunman.
What do you think would have happened if nobody in that church had been armed?
The gunman could have just run around the congregation shooting people at his leisure.
In the video, the gunman, who is wearing what seems to be a dark-colored hood, gets up from a pew in the back of the room and walks up to a man in a suit who is standing in the corner.
As the two speak and the man points to his right, the gunman reaches into his jacket and pulls out a shotgun.
Of course this kind of thing seems to be happening every few days now, and as a result many of us have become desensitized to this sort of violence.
I just did a Google search for church gunman and I got 23,800,000 results. The unthinkable has suddenly become a reality that every church in America must deal with.
If you are holding services that are open to the public, you must have armed security. There is simply no other safe alternative.
And this rise in violence here in the U.S. is happening in the context of rising persecution all over the globe.
On Christmas Day, 11 Christians were brutally martyred by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria, but it barely made a blip in the U.S. news cycle…
Bloodthirsty ISIS terrorists have reportedly beheaded 11 Christian hostages on Christmas Day in Nigeria. The militants said in a sickening video that the mass killing was in revenge for the deaths “of our leaders, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”. Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which includes supporters from Boko Haram, released a shocking 56-second video. Claiming to show their captives’ execution, the clip was produced by ISIS’s media arm, Amaq, reports the BBC.
Sadly, what we have seen so far is just the beginning. Thousands of Christians were martyred for their faith in 2019, and the persecution just continues to intensify with each passing year.
Meanwhile, anti-Semitic violence just continues to escalate as well. On Saturday night, a horrific anti-Semitic attack in New York shocked the entire nation…
Authorities say an Orange County man stabbed five people at a rabbi’s home late Saturday night in Monsey, New York — the latest and most violent in a string of anti-Semitic attacks in the greater New York City area in the last few days.
Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said the suspected attacker, identified as Grafton Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake, entered the residence around 10 p.m. armed with a knife. Saturday was the seventh night of Hanukkah and was being widely observed in Monsey, a hamlet that is home to thousands of Orthodox Jews. There were as many as 70 people in the rabbi’s home at the time of the attack.
These precious people were not even meeting in a synagogue.
This gathering was being held in a private home, and you would think that would be safer.
Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the attacker moved from one target to another with brutal efficiency…
“He took out his knife, sword from a holder and started hitting people back and forth. Nothing, he didn’t say anything. He screamed after me when I came out here, he screamed after me, ‘Hey you, I’ll get you,’” one witness told CBS2’s Marc Liverman. “He moved to the front door. He could go straight into the kitchen and the dining room’s the first thing. First, he went into the dining room and hit a few people there. Then he went into the kitchen and hit one guy there, and then he came back to the dining room.”
We live at a time when anti-Semitic violence is on the rise all over the nation. Leading up to the attack on Saturday night, there were anti-Semitic incidents in New York state on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Many in the Jewish community in New York are living in fear at this point, and according to the Washington Post the number of anti-Semitic crimes in New York City alone has “jumped 21 percent in the past year”…
Anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise around the country, leaving members of the Jewish community feeling frightened and unsafe. In New York City, anti-Semitic crimes have jumped 21 percent in the past year. According to the Anti-Defamation League, there were 1,879 incidents of anti-Semitism in the United States in 2018, including more than 1,000 instances of harassment.
But of course this epidemic of anti-Semitism is not just isolated to New York. Hatred for Israel and hatred for the Jewish people is rising all over the nation, and it is being fueled by extremely evil people that are absolutely seething with hatred.
We can certainly wish that the world would go back to the way it once was, but meanwhile we have to take the steps that are necessary to protect our families and our communities.
From now on every house of worship in America should have armed security, and if your house of worship does not, I would find somewhere else to go.
Seven years after Colorado legalized marijuana, the state legislature has finally authorized options for people who want to use it somewhere other than private residences. A law that takes effect on Wednesday will allow cannabis consumption in specially licensed pot shops, restaurants, and other businesses, including mobile “marijuana hospitality establishments” such as tour buses. The law addresses a predicament that has long puzzled out-of-state visitors who stop by dispensaries in cities such as Denver and Pueblo, only to discover that there are virtually no places where they can legally consume the marijuana they have just legally bought.
That gap will not be filled immediately, since businesses that want to create cannabis consumption spaces have to obtain both state and local permission. The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division has posted a license application form, along with the relevant regulations, which take effect on January 1. But cities need not allow on-site consumption at all. Assuming that local governments go along, Coloradans should eventually see something like Dutch-style “coffeeshops” where customers can enjoy marijuana with food and beverages in a social setting.
Restaurants that serve alcohol are not eligible for the new licenses, and tobacco use will not be allowed either, although the law amends the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act to allow pot smoking in licensed locations. Licensees have to make sure that cannabis consumption is not visible to passers-by, prevent employees from partaking, and destroy any unused products that customers leave behind. Outdoor consumption areas are allowed, provided they are surrounded by “a sight-obscuring wall, fence, hedge, or other opaque or translucent barrier,” such that marijuana “is not visible from a public place without the use of optical aids, such as telescopes or binoculars, or aircraft.”
Denver, where marijuana retailing is concentrated, already has a program, created by a 2016 ballot initiative, that notionally allows “cannabis consumption establishments,” which may not sell marijuana but may allow customers to use marijuana they bring with them. The licensing process has been slow and arduous, however, and currently there is only one such business in the entire city: The Coffee Joint, which is next door to a dispensary. Before the new state law can have any impact in Denver, the city will have to write rules expanding what is currently allowed.
It sounds like that will not happen anytime soon, if ever. “Denver has not officially determined whether our city will opt in or opt out of the hospitality law,” spokesman Eric Escudero says by email. “Our focus right now is taking steps to address social equity, so more people disproportionally impacted by the war on drugs are positively impacted by cannabis legalization.” He says the city has commissioned a study of that issue, which should be completed in January or February.
“If Denver decides to go forward by creating new licenses for hospitality,” Escudero says, “we believe it is vital to have improvements in our licensing process so equity applicants have an improved opportunity for greater participation in the cannabis industry,” assuming “the study shows there is a lack of participation by people disproportionally impacted by the war on drugs….Our goal is to get it right and not accelerate the process based on when a state law goes into effect.”
The state’s allowance for “mobile premises” that could be licensed as marijuana hospitality establishments would explicitly legalize the weed-friendly tour buses that Denver entrepreneurs thought offered a way around the city’s strict consumption rules. Last year Denver started cracking down on those operations. Because of such policies, Colorado has fallen behind Alaska, California, and Nevada in providing cannabis consumption options, even though it was the first state to allow recreational sales.
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Erik Prince’s ‘Secret’ Meeting With Venezuelan Government “Flagged” By US Treasury
Earlier this month we detailed the bizarre story of controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince’s trip to meet with top Maduro government officials in Venezuela in late November. Prince had held “secret talks” with no less than Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, which reportedly included the Frontier Services Group executive pressing Caracas for the release of six imprisoned Citgo executives, something that apparently happened, according to a Bloomberg report. Other details of what was discussed or possibly agreed to remain a mystery.
At the time speculation abounded as to whether or not his trip had the approval or knowledge of the Trump administration, given that as we pointed out at the time VP Delcy Rodríguez is a sanctioned individual, meaning discussion of any business arrangement with her or other officials without authorization is against US law. Now it appears Prince could be in hot water over the meetings:
Erik Prince, a major Republican donor and founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, has been referred to the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions violations tied to his recent trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President Nicolas Maduro, two senior U.S. officials said.
There’s no indication that Prince, whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, will be sanctioned for the meeting last month in Caracas with Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
Frontier Services Group executive and Blackwater Founder Erick Prince attending an event in New York, via Reuters.
Weeks ago the State Department denied that Prince was acting in an unofficial “back channel” capacity.
When the reports first surfaced, the State Department even claimed it had no knowledge of the visit, with special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams saying in a statement, “Neither the meeting nor any offers made were on behalf of the United States Government and on their face such offers would appear to violate U.S. sanctions.”
The entire strange episode was widely interpreted as meaning the White House had grown tired of regime change efforts inside Venezuela and that support for US-declared ‘interim president’ Juan Guaidó was wavering.
Of course, it could also signal that an internal US government conflict over Venezuela policy is breaking out into the open, as the AP report hints:
But the fact the visit was flagged underscores the concern of officials in the Trump administration over what appeared to be an unauthorized diplomatic outreach to Maduro. This, as support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó inside Venezuela — if not Washington — appears to be waning.
Prince and outspoken Maduro aide Vice President Delcy Rodriguez
A business associate of Prince’s who is said to have traveled to Caracas for the meetings claims the National Security Council and Treasury Department were properly notified and that no objections were raised.
The associate also said that no sanctions-violating activity took place, as no business dealings were involved, and nothing of value was received from Venezuelan government officials. Instead, “The person said Prince, a former Navy SEAL, continues to support the Trump administration’s goal of removing Maduro but believes State Department efforts to reach that goal have failed and new alternatives — which the person did not specify — need to be tried,” according to the AP.
Though “flagged” for the trip, it’s highly unlikely that any legal repercussions will follow whatsoever, given not only Prince’s deep insider connections with the Trump administration, but also that the whole ‘mission’ was probably authorized by somebody at the top, even if initially “off the books”.
