Thursday, June 9, 2016

'Take your border wall and shove it up your ass' Texas Democrats Tells Donald (Dumb) Trump

If it wasn't clear how Rep. Filemon Vela felt about Donald Trump before, it is now. The Texas Democrat sent an open letter to the presumptive Republican nominee telling him just where to put the border wall he's been calling for since the start of his campaign.
"Mr. Trump, you're a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass," wrote the second-term congressman. "I would like to end this letter in a more diplomatic fashion, but I think that you, of all people, understand why I cannot."

Spot the difference

    Vela, who represents a border region of Texas, was responding to the latest controversy by Trump related to the Hispanic community -- pillorying Trump for his criticism of Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge in Southern California overseeing the Trump University case. The Indiana-born Curiel has Mexican heritage, but Trump has said Curiel cannot be impartial because he is a "Mexican" and Trump wants to build a wall with along that country's border.
    Vela did not mince words.
    "You have now descended to a new low in your racist attack of an American jurist, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, by calling him a 'Mexican' simply because he ruled against you," Vela wrote, warning Trump not to "dismiss me as just another 'Mexican.'"

    "I'M HER AS I CANT WAIT TO START CAMPAINING" OBAMA ENDORSES HILLARY CLINTON

    Photo published for President Obama is in. Are you?

    "I want those of you who have been with me since the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that I'm with her," Obama continued. "I am fired up. And I can't wait to get out there and campaign with Hillary."
    Obama will campaign with Clinton next week in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
    "It's probably the first of many campaign events between now and November," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, adding that no more campaign events are scheduled yet. Earnest said Obama recorded his video Tuesday.
    His endorsement made note of the historic nature of Clinton's being the first female presidential nominee of a major political party. Obama's endorsement brings full circle a relationship that began when the two were rivals in the hard-fought 2008 Democratic nominating contest.
    Clinton thanked Obama for his endorsement in a tweet posted to her account Thursday.
    "Honored to have you with me, @POTUS. I'm fired up and ready to go!" she wrote, signing it with '-H' to indicate the tweet was from the former secretary of state personally

    MILITANT UNLEASHED FRESH TERROR IN SOMALIA .KILL 43

           


    Somalia al Shabaab group said its fighters rammed a suicide car bomb into a base of Ethiopian troops serving with the African Union’s AMISOM force and killed 43 soldiers on Thursday.
    Residents near the base in the central town of Haglan said they heard a huge explosion and then heavy exchanges of gunfire shortly before dawn.
    The gun duel lasted at least an hour after the initial blast, they told Reuters.
    There was no immediate comment from the AU force, made up of African nations supporting Somalia’s Western-backed government in its fight against the al Qaeda-linked militants.
    AMISOM usually says it is up to troop-contributing countries to announce casualties
    In the past, casualty figures cited by al Shabaab have been much higher than official numbers.
    “Our fighters stormed the Halgan base of AMISOM,” al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters.
    He said the militants used a suicide car bomb and exchanged fire with Ethiopian troops there.
    He said “several” al Shabaab fighters died, but did not give a number

    OUTRAGEOUS, EDO PDP SELLS GOVERSHIP NOMINATION FORM FOR N16 MILLION


    It was, however, learnt that some of the aspirants had expressed their displeasure over the cost of the form, which they described as not only expensive but an alleged plot to present a consensus candidate
    It was, however, learnt that some of the aspirants had expressed their displeasure over the cost of the form, which they described as not only expensive but an alleged plot to present a consensus candidate
    The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has  that the party’s nomination and expression of interest form for the September 10 governorship election in the state will be sold for N16m each. According to or source  Edo State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Chris Nehikhare, disclose on Wednesday, explained that while the expression of interest and nomination form would be sold for N11m each, N5m would cover administrative charges which mkes a total of 16m. It was, however, learnt that some of the aspirants had expressed their displeasure over the cost of the form, which they described as not only expensive but an alleged plot to present a consensus candidate.

    Little wonders, we see non performing Governors all over,

    HILLARY CLINTON IN SERACH OF RUNNING MATE FOR NOVEMBER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

    Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she'll consider "the most qualified people" for the Democratic vice presidential nomination -- which would include women.
    Now that she's clinched the party's presidential nod, Clinton told CNN's Anderson Cooper that she is turning her attention to selecting a running-mate ahead of the party's convention in Philadelphia in July.
    "I'm looking at the most qualified people, and that includes women, of course, because I want to be sure that whoever I pick could be president immediately if something were to happen -- that's the most important qualification," Clinton said.
    "I'm going to really begin to pay attention to that now that we've wrapped up the primary process," she said. "But it doesn't matter to me who the person is, as long as that person can really do the job that is required."


    Clinton said she's not sure when she'll name a vice presidential choice.
    "I don't know because I don't know how long it's going to take to try to sort all this out," she said.
    The former secretary of state also defended her family's Clinton Foundation, saying she is "proud of the work it has done" and arguing that foreign countries' contributions to the foundation do nothing to influence her political actions.
    "Money that has been given to the foundation goes to support humanitarian work. And if people want to influence anybody in office, I think they would choose the political work. And indeed, the work of the foundation really speaks for itself," Clinton said.
    As for whether her husband, Bill Clinton, would cut his ties to the foundation, she said that "we will cross that bridge if and when we get there."
    She said the former president's role will be to focus on struggling regions like Appalachia, tapping into his "wealth of experience" on economic issues to help the nation's poorest areas.
    "Some of these places I'm going to be paying attention to, I don't think they're going to vote for me. I said that when I was in coal country. But I'm going to support them," Clinton said.
    In the interview, the presumptive Democratic nominee also said she plans to reach out to vanquished Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders' supporters. Their unified opposition to Trump will help bridge the party's divides, she said.
    "Now we may have approached it somewhat differently, but our goals are the same. And contrast that with Donald Trump, who set up a fake university, Trump University, that committed fraud on people," Clinton said.
    "As we reach out and we talk about what's at stake in this election," she said. "I really believe a lot of Sen. Sanders' supporters will join us in making sure that Donald Trump doesn't get anywhere near the White House."

    2 suspects, 4 victims in Tel Aviv terror attack identified While the Hamas Praises the Gruesome Act

    The four people killed after a pair of gunmen opened fired on at an upscale market in Tel Aviv Wednesday night have been identified by Israeli police.
    They are:
    • Idan Ben Arieh, 42, from Ramat Gan, which is east of Tel Aviv
    • Ilana Naveh, 39, from Ramat Gan
    • Michael Faiga, 58, from southern Israel
      • Mila Meshayev, 32, from Rishon LeZion, which lies just south of Tel Aviv
      They died after two shooters, identified as Palestinians, opened fire at the Sarona Market -- a popular food and shopping complex near the Israeli Defense Ministry -- shattering what was a serene night with chaos and bloodshed.
      In total, 13 people suffered gunshot wounds, according to Israel's national emergency medical service. Four people, including one suspect, are still being treated at hospitals, Israeli police say.
      The attackers were dressed as Hasidic Jews, a law enforcement source briefed by Israeli officials said. Police officers shot one of the suspects. The other surrendered, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
      Israeli soldiers walk near a temporary checkpoint at the entrance of the Palestinian village of Yatta in the occupied West Bank on June 9,2016 after the army entered the village in search for clues leading to an attack the previous night in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv in which four people were killed and 16 others wounded. 
The two Palestinians assailants who carried out the attack came from Yatta, according to Israeli authorities. Israel said it had suspended entry permits for 83,000 Palestinians during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan following the shooting attack.

 / AFP / HAZEM BADER        (Photo credit should read HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images)

      "People were having coffee," Amir Ohana, a member of the Israeli Parliament who was at the market, told CNN. "I saw a birthday cake on one of the tables. And then you see the chairs upside down and glass shattered and blood all over."
      Surveillance footage from a cafe near the shooting scene showed chaos as panicked customers knocked over chairs and tables as they rushed to escape. People crawled across the floor and others carried children in their arms.
      A pair of suspects were identified to CNN by the mayor of their hometown on Thursday. CNN is no longer releasing their names, as Israeli authorities have issued a gag order on reporting details that could identify the attackers.
      Rosenfeld said earlier that two "terrorists" were captured, with one shot and the second arrested at the market.
      According to Israel's security agency, they are both Palestinians from the village of Yatta in the southern West Bank, near the city of Hebron. Both were born in 1995. Meanwhile
      The Islamist group Hamas praised the attack in a statement, though they did not claim responsibility for it.
      Spokesman Housam Badran said this was the "first of many surprises" planned against Israeli forces during the month of Ramadan.

      Wednesday, June 8, 2016

      NORWAY GOVERNMENT , EX NIGER-DELTA WARSHIP DEAL AND THE BRITISH CONSPIRACY

      Norwegian Defence Chief, Haakon Bruun-Hansen, an admiral, has apologised to the country’s lawmakers for the sale of a fleet of a decommissioned naval battleships and combats boats to a former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.
      Mr. Ekpemupolo was the leader of one of the several militias in the Niger Delta region that led a devastating campaign of violence against the Nigerian state for several years until he was awarded a multi-billion pipeline protection contract by the out-going Goodluck Jonathan administration as part of an amnesty deal with ex-combatants.

      Warship
      After giving up fighting, surrendering his arms, and leading his men to hand over their weapons, Tompolo in 2012 received at least six decommissioned Norwegian battleships, a Norwegian newspaper, Daglabet, found in December.
      Among them were six fast-speed Hauk-class guided missile boats, now re-armed with new weapons.
      The most recent hardware was the KNM Horten, a fast-attack craft allegedly used for anti-piracy patrol in the Nigerian waters.
      Daglabet reported that the sale was implemented through a shell maritime Security Company based in the United Kingdom, CAS Global.
      CAS Global was used to evade a requirement by Norway that arms dealers obtain export license from their country’s foreign affairs ministry, the report adds.
      Mr. Ekpemupolo runs Global West Vessel Service, which handles maritime security issues for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

      After the deal became public in December, the Director General of NIMASA, Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi, claimed the vessels were purchased as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement in conjunction with the Nigerian Navy. He said the Navy has rearmed the vessels to enable it effectively carried out its anti-piracy patrol.
      “As an arm of the government responsible for maritime safety, security and regulations amongst others, we work in conjunction with the Nigerian Navy and other relevant security agencies to use their men and arms to patrol and provide safety of the country’s water ways, as mandated by the global body, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
      “It is the Navy that has fitted their guns on the vessels to aid their policing of the maritime domain,” he said.
      The Norwegian government also, at the time, defended the transaction, according to Daglabet newspaper, saying the export “followed correct procedure and terms of export to Great Britain. The re-export from Great Britain to Nigeria is a question to be handled solely by British export control authorities”.
      But the report that Norway sold such military hardware to an individual with a history of violence angered the country’s lawmakers and triggered an investigation leading to the arrest of three Norwegian civil servants, now being charged for corruption.
      Speaking during a parliamentary disciplinary committee enquiry into the sale of the battleships this week, the defence chief, Mr. Bruun-Hansen, admitted that military officials did not do proper due diligence before selling the decommissioned ships.
      “The fact that the vessels have landed in Nigeria under Nigerian flag reflects a breakdown in our systems, and I apologize for that,” Mr. Bruun-Hansen said during Thursday’s hearing.
      Mr. Bruun-Hansen was not the Chief of Defence at the time when the battle ship were sold to CAS Global.
      News bureau NTB reported that Mr. Bruun-Hansen’s predecessor, Harald Sunde, who was in-charge when the deal was struck, also apologised saying he was disappointed over all the mistakes made.
      He however blamed the breakdown of due diligence in the sale of the vessel to a reorganisation at the defence department’s logistics organization (FLO), at the time the sales was made.
      Also speaking during the hearing, Norwegian Foreign Minister, Børge Brende, said a lot about the sale and export of the vessels are still not known and the state prosecutor has been ordered to seek possible criminal violations.
      Dagbladet, which uncovered the shady deal, reported that a simple google search would have revealed that CAS Global only had a post office address, yet the military went ahead and allowed Nigerian representatives of the firm, probably handpicked by Mr. Ekpemupolo, to inspect the vessels before they were sold.
      “Does this mean that anybody can buy these boats, as long as they sign a declaration?” asked an irate Member of Parliament, Erik Skutle. “Even terrorists? How on earth could this happen?” he added.
      During the hearing, Petter Jansen, the head of FLO also tried unsuccessfully to answer questions about another revelation by Dagbladet that Norwegian military had another former Norwegian Coast Guard vessel, the KV Titran, through a South African brokerage company, Nautic Africa, which in turn sold the vessel to an unnamed Nigerian company. PREMIUM TIMES

      YOUR CRIMINAL DAYS ARE OVER. NIGER DELTA AVENGERS MILITANT WARN MEND AND OTHERS



      NIGERA DELTA AVENGERS WROTE
      We appeal to the general public and all sane minds on the activities of Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to disregards all purported statements and misplaced threat emanating from disbanded criminal elements like the so-called MEND (Movement For the Emancipation of The Niger Delta) that are political sidekicks and desperations from Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state, Mr. Timipre Silva and their political paymasters to hold their political party to the jugular of the affairs of the Niger Delta Region. That our struggle is focused on the liberation of the People of Niger Delta from decades of divisive rule and exclusion. We are watching keenly their regretful efforts at rebranding and regrouping criminal elements in the region for their short political gains and territories. The NDA is unperturbed, we have mandate that is clearly a departure of those old tactics of the defunct so-called MEND that was indulged in kidnapping, hostage taking, Sea piracy, illegal oil bunkering, bank robberies and social crimes, the likes of  Boyloafs, Ateke Toms, were associated to in their days in the name struggle. The wind of change in the Niger Delta struggle has come, we are are young, smart, and focused Niger deltans. Our mandate is to liberate the Niger Delta people; we don’t run after pipeline contracts.
      God bless the Niger Delta People.
      Brig.Gen Mudoch Agbinibo

      Five cyclists killed, four injured in Michigan car crash

      Police and rescue workers attend to the scene after multiple bicyclists were struck by a vehicle in a deadly crash Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Copper Township, Mich.
      June  (Reuters) - Five cyclists were killed and four injured on Tuesday evening when a pickup truck collided with a cycling group along a road in southwest Michigan, officials said.
      The cyclists were struck at about 6:30 p.m. local time along the shoulder of a rural road north of Kalamazoo, Michigan, by a pickup truck driven by a 50-year-old man, Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting told a news conference.
      The man, who was not identified, was taken into custody. Charges against the driver could be filed on Thursday, Getting said.
      Five bike riders were pronounced dead at the scene while four riders were taken to hospital. The identification of those killed and injured will not be made public until families are notified, Getting said.
      Local ABC affiliate WZZM reported that one rider was in critical condition and another was in fair condition. The condition of the other two injured riders was unclear, the news station said.
      Several local law enforcement agencies received calls about how the vehicle was being driven about 30 minutes before the collision, according to Getting.
      "The police were actively looking for the vehicle based on the information that was called into them," he said.
      Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told local broadcaster WOOD, an NBC affiliate, that the driver fled on foot after the collision but was later taken into custody.
      Getting said the driver was taken into custody after he was found a short distance away from the collision.
      An earlier report said children were involved, but Getting said that all cyclists killed and injured were adults. He did give further details about the bike riding group.
      (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry)

      NIGERIA FCT MINISTER REJECTS DANGOTE RAMADAN GIFT

      The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Muhammad Bello, has reportedly turned down food items donated by the Dangote Foundation for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Abuja.The Foundation, according to a  source, had taken the gift items, including sugar, salt, spaghetti, rice, danvita, and wheat meal worth millions of naira to the minister’s office yesterday but was bluntly rejected by him
      All entreaties to make him realise that the items are meant for distribution to the needy like those in the IDP camps fell on deaf ears as Bello was said to have stated that he was not hungry and didn’t solicit for any donations.
      In a swift reaction, however, the Special Adviser to the FCT Minister on Media, Mr. Abubakar Sani, said there was no truth in the report that the FCT Administration (FCTA) rejected the purported gift from Dangote Foundation to the IDPs.
      According to Sani, “FCTA is not aware of any donations and therefore, not in the position to neither reject nor accept the said gift items.
      “I asked who saw the said gifts and the answer was no one did,” he said.
      In the same vein, the Director of Public Relations, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Abuja Office, Mr. Ishaya Chonoko, also said that the agency was not aware of such donations.
      Chonoko said: “If the normal procedure was followed, we should be aware of such donations, but as far as we are concerned, no donations of such was made, at least to the best of our knowledge.”
      The Foundation owned by the richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, as part of its mandate to give especially in the holy month of Ramadan for the indigent and the vulnerable in the society, has the tradition of donating money and food materials to the less privileged and victims of other disasters across the country.“The Ramadan supplies are delivered to the 36 states, including the FCT yearly and the governors assign a contact person to receive the items which are delivered in trucks on behalf of the governor before distribution to the identified beneficiaries by the state government,” an official of the Foundation who did not want to be named said.

      Sources close to the Foundation in Lagos insisted that the FCT Minister did reject the donation to the surprise of the representatives of the Foundation even when it was explained to him that it was for the less privileged.Informed sources at the minister’s office indicated that the letter for the donation came while the minister was having a meeting with his directors and they all corroborated the fact that the donation was an annual gift from Dangote Foundation for the less privileged but he would not listen to any explanation as he insisted the food items be returned.Some residents of the FCT expressed dismay at the action of the minister as they condemned his disposition to the plights of the IDPs who the items were meant for and were actually on the lookout for it having been informed earlier that the foundation would soon put smiles on their faces.

      Callers at the FCT Secretariat at Area 11, it was gathered, were said to be very displeased on hearing of the minister’s rejection of the items, which they believed would have made the IDPs in the Abuja camp feel the good side of Ramadan.According to them, the reason behind the minister’s rejection of the food items cannot be justified because those in the IDPs’ camp are hungry and some of them are dying because government could not cater for all their needs.A Dangote Foundation source confirmed that as at the time of filing this report, about 31 states had already taken deliveries of their items and some had started the distribution. It was learnt that 106 trucks of food items are on their way to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in fulfilment of Dangote’s promise to make this Ramadan fulfilling for the IDPs in the states.The latest donation of food items was coming shortly after the Foundation donated N2 billion for the rehabilitation of the IDPs in various camps in Borno State.

      The source said the Dangote Foundation had in the past supported victims of disasters with monetary and food items. Food items were donated to the victims of post 2011 elections violence in some parts of the north, while victims of flood disaster across the country were also helped with various food items and other relief materials.According to him, the Foundation also took its charity abroad when in 2015, donated $1 million to support the government of Nepal to rehabilitate the victims of two devastating earth quakes that ravaged the country that year in quick succession.
      The Foundation also donated $500,000 to the government of the Republic of Niger to support victims of meningitis outbreak in the country.

      http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/06/08/minister-rejects-dangotes-ramadan-gifts-for-vulnerable-displaced-persons/