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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
April 26, 2019
By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.
The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.
(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)
(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)
The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.
The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.
The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.
“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.
The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.
Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.
In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.
Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.
(Editing by Ronnie Greene)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Alfie Allen arrives for the premiere of the final season of “Game of Thrones” at Radio City Music Hall in New York, U.S., April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
April 26, 2019
By David Gaffen
(Reuters) – This Sunday’s episode of HBO’s juggernaut “Game of Thrones” is expected to bring death – a lot of it.
The fantasy series, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series of novels, is rapidly approaching its conclusion in its eighth season, with only four episodes remaining before it ends its run as one of the cable network’s most successful shows in its history.
With that comes the wind-down of the show’s key conflict – between those living in its medieval-fantasy society and an army led by the Night King, a blue-eyed humanoid creature from icy wastes in the far north who has the ability to raise and control the dead.
Shocking, unexpected deaths were the calling card for Game of Thrones for several seasons, beginning with the demise of its primary character, Eddard Stark, lord of the castle of the fictional locale of Winterfell. He was played by “Lord of the Rings” star Sean Bean, who featured heavily in the show’s marketing when it premiered in 2011.
Several other characters met unexpected ends in the seasons that followed, often in gruesome ways, such as season three’s “Red Wedding,” which featured the massacre of Eddard Stark’s wife and son and numerous allies at what was supposed to be a celebratory marriage. Major character Jon Snow was stabbed to death at the end of season five but was brought back to life in season six in one of the show’s most talked-about moments.
But the frequency of deaths that kept viewers off-balance has diminished in more recent seasons, and most key characters have survived.
That is likely to change with this Sunday’s episode, the third of six in this season. On gaming websites and Game of Thrones-themed message boards, pools have cropped up speculating which characters will die this week.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath, but we’re going to love it. That’s one of the reasons why we love Game of Thrones,” said Susan Miller, editor-in-chief of Watchers on the Wall, one of the best-known blogs about the show.
Most of the previous episode focused on the remaining characters gathered at the Starks’ home in Winterfell contemplating their existence prior to an impending assault by the Night King’s army.
Keeping track of the characters who could see their stories end is difficult at times: the show has featured more than 100 major speaking roles during its run, and even now more than 20 notable characters are all in the same locale. This Sunday’s episode will run more than 80 minutes, making it one of the longest of the series.
Among the characters most in danger:
THEON GREYJOY: Played by Alfie Allen, he was raised by Eddard Stark in Winterfell as a ward, but later betrayed his adoptive family and seized the castle. Now he is set to defend it. Bets on Sportsbetting.ag, an online sports betting site, put 4-to-1 odds on him dying first, highest of any character mentioned (a $100 bet pays out $400).
JAIME LANNISTER: This character, played by Danish actor Nikolaj Coster Waldau, is a knight who fathered several illegitimate children with his sister, Cersei, now the queen (played by Lena Headey). Odds on him dying first are 5-to-1.
BRIENNE OF TARTH: Played by Gwendoline Christie – who also appeared in the recent “Star Wars” films – she was the first woman knighted in the show’s Seven Kingdoms. She fetches 12-to-1 odds on dying first, according to Sportsbetting.ag.
(Reporting by David Gaffen, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
Source: OANN
A man stands in a doorway during heavy rain near the security cordon surrounding St. Anthony’s Shrine, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
April 26, 2019
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Muslims in Sri Lanka were urged to pray at home on Friday and not attend mosques or churches after the State Intelligence Services warned of possible car bomb attacks, amid fears of retaliatory violence for the Easter Sunday bombings.
The U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka also urged its citizens to avoid places of worship over the coming weekend after authorities reported there could be more attacks targeting religious centers.
Sri Lanka remains on edge after suicide bombing attacks on three churches and four hotels that killed 253 people and wounded about 500. The attacks have been claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.
Nearly 10,000 soldiers are being deployed across the Indian Ocean island state to carry out searches and provide security for religious centers, the military said on Friday.
Fears of retaliatory sectarian violence has already caused Muslim communities flee their homes amid bomb scares, lockdowns and security sweeps.
The All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ullama, Sri Lanka’s main Islamic religious body, urged Muslims to conduct prayers at home on Friday in case “there is a need to protect family and properties”.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith also appealed to priests not to conduct mass at churches until further notice.
“Security is important,” he said.
Police have detained least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, in their investigations so far.
Islamic State provided no evidence to back its claim that it was behind the attacks. If true, it would be one of the worst attacks carried out by the group outside Iraq and Syria.
Islamic State released a video on Tuesday showing eight men, all but one with their faces covered, standing under a black Islamic State flag and declaring their loyalty to its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The Sri Lankan government said there were nine homegrown, well-educated suicide bombers, eight of whom had been identified. One was a woman.
Authorities have focused their investigations on international links to two domestic Islamist groups – National Thawheed Jama’ut and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim – they believe carried out the attacks.
Government officials have acknowledged a major lapse in not widely sharing an intelligence warning from India before the attacks. Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned over the failure to prevent the attacks.
The Easter Sunday bombings shattered the relative calm that had existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago.
Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions.
Most of the victims were Sri Lankans, although authorities said at least 38 foreigners were also killed, many of them tourists sitting down to breakfast at top-end hotels when the bombers struck.
They included British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals. Britain warned its nationals on Thursday to avoid Sri Lanka unless it was absolutely necessary because there could be more attacks.
(GRAPHIC: Sri Lanka bombings – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Xy02BA)
(GRAPHIC: A decade of peace shattered – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W4wZoU)
(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Paul Tait)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media at the State Department in Washington, U.S., April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
April 26, 2019
By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes to boost morale at the State Department with an “ethos” statement that some former officials viewed with skepticism, partly because an early draft had language they saw as an admonition not to leak to the media.
Two former officials knowledgeable about the effort said the language rankled them because it implied diplomats could not be trusted and they questioned the need for an “ethos” statement laying out the agency’s characteristic attitudes and beliefs.
The two former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the initiative was driven by Ulrich Brechbuhl, the State Department counselor who is a close aide to Pompeo and was his classmate at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
A third former official knowledgeable about the effort said the language alluding to leaks ultimately had been dropped and that the statement itself sought to burnish the esprit de corps at the department.
“There was something that could be taken as a no-leak pledge that was in an early draft. It did not (survive),” said that former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pompeo is scheduled to deliver remarks on “One Team, One Mission: Introducing our Ethos” at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Friday, the anniversary of his becoming secretary of state.
A senior State Department official involved in the effort said he did not recall specific discussion about leaks but that there was a wider discussion of accountability and professional responsibility.
The official, who spoke on behalf of the department on condition of anonymity, said he could not categorically rule out that there had been any talk about leaks but stressed that it was by no means the main focus.
“To do so (categorically rule it out) means you want me to say that nobody ever had this on their mind or it was not one of the sort of elements that we would define as professional responsibility or accountability,” he said. “It might have been in people’s minds. … It was never a principal or major one.”
More than a dozen current and former officials questioned the need for the statement of ethos, noting that U.S. diplomats take an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
The agency also has a mission statement that says: “The U.S. Department of State advances the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity, by leading America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance.”
FOCUS ON MORALE
Pompeo has worked to improve morale by increasing promotions, lifting a hiring freeze and making it easier for diplomats’ family members to work at missions abroad – reversing policies pursued by his predecessor, Rex Tillerson.
Pompeo has also said that he wanted to focus on the State Department “getting back our swagger,” a phrase that rang false to some U.S. diplomats who are taught to be understated rather than overbearing, given U.S. economic and military might.
Several current and former officials said the latest effort may backfire at an agency where many are disheartened by chaotic national security decision-making, unfilled senior positions and perceived White House distrust of U.S. diplomats.
Told of the statement and the effort to enhance the agency’s esprit, Richard Boucher, a former State Department spokesman or deputy spokesman under four Republican and two Democratic secretaries of state, said: “You mean ‘swagger’ didn’t do it?”
“Nothing speaks like leading with diplomacy and if we are going to start doing that then we don’t really need … (a new) statement,” said Boucher, who teaches at Brown University.
“The impetus for the initiative was a perceived lack of loyalty and discipline,” said another former official who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying its reception would depend on whether it celebrates “the craft of diplomacy” or “it is more of an admonishment to toe the administration line.”
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Cooney)
Source: OANN
A U.S. judge in Washington state Thursday blocked new Trump administration rules that would provide additional hurdles for women seeking abortions, including by banning taxpayer-funded clinics from making abortion referrals.
Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima granted the preliminary injunction in cases brought by the state and abortion rights groups, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said. The new rules were due to take effect May 3.
“Today’s ruling ensures that clinics across the nation can remain open and continue to provide quality, unbiased healthcare to women,” Ferguson, a Democrat, said in an emailed statement.
The ruling came two days after a federal judge in Oregon, hearing a separate challenge by 20 states, said he intended to at least partially block the rules. That judge, Michael McShane, suggested he was reluctant to issue a nationwide injunction, but said the administration’s new policy was motivated by “an arrogant assumption that the government is better suited to direct women’s health care than their providers.”
Title X is a 1970 law designed to improve access to family planning services, especially for low-income women and those in rural areas, but abortion opponents and religious conservatives say it has long been used to indirectly subsidize abortion providers.
Abortion is a legal medical procedure, but federal laws prohibit the use of Title X or other taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman.
Clinics that receive money under Title X provide a wide array of services, including birth control and screening for diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. The program serves 4 million patients, about 1.6 million of whom obtain services through Planned Parenthood.
In addition to banning abortion referrals by taxpayer-funded clinics, the changes would prohibit clinics that receive federal money from sharing office space with abortion providers — a rule critics said would force many to find new locations, undergo expensive remodels or shut down.
“All over the country, there are Title X providers looking at their patient schedules and wondering what they were going to do,” said Clare Coleman, president of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which sued. “Now we know that everyone can continue to do their care as they have been doing for the past 50 years.”
The judge made his ruling from the bench and said he would issue a written opinion early next week, Coleman said.
The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment, citing a policy of not commenting on litigation.
While the new rules would permit clinic staff to discuss abortion with clients, they would no longer be required to do so. If patients ask for an abortion referral, staff would be required to give a list of primary care providers with no indication as to which provide abortions.
The list would have to include providers who do not offer abortions, and it could not include clinics or organizations that aren’t primary care providers, such as Planned Parenthood.
Supporters of the changes say they return Title X’s regulations back to their original legislative intent that “none of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”
“We’re extremely disappointed that a district judge made a ruling — a wrong ruling — that affects the entire nation,” said Mark Miloscia, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, which was not involved in the case. “We support family planning, but not giving it through agencies that kill the unborn.”
The legal challenges argue that the changes violate a requirement that patients receive pregnancy counseling that is not weighted for or against abortion, and that it violates the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on regulations that impose “unreasonable barriers to the ability of individuals to obtain appropriate medical care.”
Some 98,000 patients in Washington were expected to receive care through Title X this year, Ferguson said.
Source: NewsMax America
FILE PHOTO – Dec 10, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) celebrates after a play against the Oakland Raiders in the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
April 26, 2019
An explosive audio recording aired by a Kansas City television station on Thursday night reportedly includes Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill threatening his fiancée, who accused him of injuring their young son.
In the recording broadcast by CBS affiliate KCTV, a voice identified as the boy’s mother, Crystal Espinal, tells Hill that her son said regarding who punched him, “Daddy did it.”
She adds, “He is terrified of you.”
A voice alleged to be Hill replies, “You need to be terrified of me, too, b—.”
The man identified by the TV station as Hill adds, “I didn’t do nothing.”
Espinal reportedly made the recording as an “insurance policy” and gave it to a friend, who passed it along to the TV station, according to a report from the Kansas City Star. The 11-minute recording, reportedly taped at a Dubai airport, includes Espinal accusing Hill of using a belt on the boy, along with an accusation that “you open up his arms and you punch him in the chest.”
The Johnson County (Kansas) District Attorney’s office now has the recording, the newspaper reported.
The development comes a day after the district attorney’s office announced it would not bring charges against him for child abuse and neglect. Officials have said the criminal case is closed but could reopen with new evidence.
Hill’s attorneys insisted earlier Thursday that Hill is “innocent of any crime.”
For his part, the 25-year-old Hill released a statement through his lawyers before the recording came to light.
“I love and support my family above anything. My son’s health and happiness is my number one priority. I want to thank the Kansas City Chiefs, my attorneys, my agent and my union for supporting me through this. My focus remains on working hard to be the best person for my family and our community I can be, and the best player to help our team win,” Hill said in the statement.
Authorities had been investigating incidents — one on March 5 for child abuse and neglect, and one on March 14 for battery — at Hill’s home in Overland Park, Kan. Both police reports indicated a juvenile was involved.
Hill and Espinal were listed on the March 5 police report as “others involved.” On the March 14 report, Espinal was listed as “others involved,” with a juvenile listed as the victim.
The Kansas City Star reported previously that the couple’s son sustained a broken arm in the incident. The Star also reported earlier this week that the boy was recently removed from his parents’ custody as part of a family court process called a “child in need of care” case.
Despite not being charged with a crime, Hill could be subject to discipline from the NFL.
–Field Level Media
Source: OANN
Britain’s Prince William arrives at Christchurch Hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
April 25, 2019
By Charlotte Greenfield
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince William met survivors of a deadly shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, including a five-year-old girl recovering in hospital, during a two-day visit to New Zealand.
William, the Duke of Cambridge, was making the trip on behalf of his 93-year-old grandmother Queen Elizabeth, New Zealand’s head of state, following a request from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
He arrived in Christchurch on Thursday afternoon and on Friday visited Christchurch Hospital to meet survivors recovering from injuries from the attacks, before he was set to visit the two mosques where a gunman killed 50 worshippers on March 15.
He had started the visit on Thursday in the country’s largest city of Auckland where he attended an ANZAC memorial service. He later visited Starship Children’s Hospital with Ardern to meet five-year-old Alen Alsati, who had recently woken up from a coma after she and her father were injured in the attacks.
Photos and a video posted on Kensington Palace’s Twitter account showed Prince William sitting on the side of the child’s hospital bed, surrounded by her family and Ardern.
The girl asked if he had a daughter.
“Yes, she’s called Charlotte … she’s about the same age as you,” Prince William replied.
Later in the evening, the Prince went to Christchurch’s justice center to meet first responders to the mosque shootings, including ambulance staff.
“You did an incredible job on a very bad day,” he said, according to Kensington Palace’s Twitter account.
(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A sign is pictured at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood building in New York August 31, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
April 25, 2019
Source: OANN
A Los Angeles business owner says she is at her wits’ end as local streets are piled with garbage and flooded with “raw sewage” by homeless people and squatters while lawmakers turn a blind eye.
Karen Hix, a lifelong resident of the area whose family has owned a business in the same location for over 100 years, says transients are being allowed to create a “health crisis” by officials in the sanctuary city.
Hix’s plight caught the eye of Tucker Carlson, who invited her onto his show to discuss the decay of her neighborhood and share photos of the filth.
“Some of these pictures are almost too disgusting to put on the screen, but we have a number of them of RVs – people are living those full-time?” Carlson asked.
“Yes, people are living in them full-time,” Hix confirmed. “You’ll notice there is raw sewage that is coming out. This raw sewage ends up in one place – in our gutters, which go down to our ocean. It’s more than an environmental crisis, it’s a health crisis down in this area.”
“I have reached out to our councilperson, Councilman [Curren] Price; I’ve reach out to Mayor [Eric] Garcetti, and as of today, they have not contacted me.”
A shocked Carlson asked Nix how someone such as Garcetti, who lives in Los Angeles, could not notice his city is falling apart.
“I would love to have a discussion about how, ‘You have invited them here to live on our streets and our sidewalks by disregarding the laws that are actually in place and not letting our law enforcement actually enforce these laws, so now you need to deal with what this has brought’ – that’s what I would love to say to them,” Hix responded, alluding to the city’s ‘sanctuary status’ for illegal aliens and vagrants.
Interestingly, the aforementioned Councilman Curren Price was recently awarded the 2018 “Champion for Change” award by the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), in recognition of his work on behalf of “immigrant families” residing in the district.
“Councilman Price partnered with CARECEN from 2017-2018 to provide FREE legal service and filing fee assistance to individuals and families living in CD 9,” touts Price’s website. “The program helped nearly 600 South LA neighbors with their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and citizenship applications.”
California officially declared itself a ‘sanctuary state’ in January, 2018.
Owen Shroyer satirically announces California’s passage of ‘The New Gangrene Deal’ in light of exploding homeless populations across the state.
Dan Lyman: Follow @CitizenAnalyst
Source: InfoWars
A photo of a child stuffing money in a burlesque performer’s G-string sparked outrage this week, causing the entertainer to delete her post.
But instead of apologizing for the shocking nature of the picture, the stripper doubled down, defending her right to sexualize children.
The incident began this week when New Orleans-based burlesque dancer Bella Blue posted the photo to Facebook with a caption reading: “This little girl was at brunch a few weeks ago and her family was encouraging her to tip and engage with me. It’s always so refreshing to see families actively destigmatizing and changing narratives around bodies and sexuality.”
I’m ready for the cleansing fire. pic.twitter.com/qpMNcVkPwf
— Roosh (@rooshv) April 25, 2019
The post continued:
“At the end, her mom (who’s back there taking pics!) came up to me and said ‘thank you for showing her that being a strong woman is ok.’ And I told her ‘No, no. Thank YOU for exposing her to burlesque and for encouraging her to experience it.’”
By Wednesday, Bella had deleted the post claiming it was causing “hate” and “division” which she thought would be better directed toward “our administration or racism or equal rights.”
According to Pluralist.com, she added she had no problem with children interacting with strippers if it’s done “in an environment that is suited for them.”
“I still think it’s ok for children to see burlesque in an environment that is suited for them,” Bella reportedly wrote in subsequent posts which have also been deleted. “I still think that the family bringing this child and encouraging her to tip destigmatizes everything we grow up learning about bodies.”
Critics online condemned the photo, which essentially depicts a child’s loss of innocence.
“I’m ready for the cleansing fire,” wrote blogger and author Roosh V.
Others on Twitter agreed with the sentiment:
Those same parents will be the same ones complaining that society ruined their kids.
— Andrei, MBA (@eurodre) April 25, 2019
— RichardPichers (@GumshoeWilford) April 25, 2019
— OGREtheTroll (@OGREtheTroll) April 25, 2019
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adan.salazar.735
Source: InfoWars
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