🇺🇸 **Hitler-themed pony in school assignment shocks parents in Illinois**
<https://archive.is/8Nd55>

Eighth-grade students in northeastern Illinois were given a task involving a pony with a Nazi swastika, along with a Hitler-style haircut and moustache. Parents were not impressed with the school’s methods, forcing it to apologize.

The bizarre in-class activity was handed to pupils of the Woodland Middle School in Gurnee by their language, arts and social studies teachers. Titled “If You Give a Hitler a Country” – an allusion to the classic children’s book ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’ – the assignment asked the children “to create a comic strip for little kids” to tell them about “Europe’s appeasement towards Hitler.”

The assignment was posted on Facebook by the mother of one of the students, Kelly Masterson, raising eyebrows among many other parents online. Masterson said she was taken aback when she found her son Michael’s work, in which SpongeBob SquarePants was pictured looking like Hitler, according to Daily Herald.

“There’s got to be a better way to teach our kids about the horrific things Hitler did,” another district parent, Dan Umansky, told the outlet, adding that he is eager to hear the school’s explanation.
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⚠ **Doug Jones won, Alabama is now a blue state**

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🇩🇰 ***Parents of local children, education officials and leading Danish politicians have criticized primary school after it chose to cancel the traditional Christmas service, due to the presence of students of immigrant backgrounds.*** https://archive.fo/DffWQ "We took the decision because we have children who are not Protestant,” Marianne Vederso Schmidt, the head of Gribskolen in Graested, a town of fewer than 5,000 people in eastern Denmark, wrote in an intranet posting earlier this month.

🇬🇧 **Russia spent less than a dollar on Facebook ads to ‘influence’ Brexit referendum**
<https://archive.is/cz059>

If Theresa May is certain Russia is ‘meddling’ in British democracy she obviously knows some seriously cheap advertisers. It just emerged Russia spent 73p ($0.97) on ads to influence the Brexit referendum. How much influence can you buy for 73p? Well, for a start, probably not a lot because the Facebook ads were about migration and the wider European context – and not Brexit. And then there’s the fact less than £1 was spent.

Facebook has revealed the figures after the Electoral Commission dug into Russia’s alleged “meddling.” In total, three adverts from the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency were seen just 200 times during the entire two month campaign period.

Two hundred. That does not even mean 200 people – just 200 clicks. There were more than 30 million voters. So potentially 0.0006 percent of the electorate saw them, to be exact. On the other side of the pond, Russia spent $100,000 on Facebook adverts in the two years around the US election.

Those Brits who are super keen to jump on the Russia-bashing bandwagon should be suitably red faced.
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🇺🇸 **Massive Los Angeles Fire Caused By Homeless Encampment**
<https://archive.is/aVTWK>

Last week, the Daily Wire reported on the growing homeless problem along the largely leftist controlled West Coast; Los Angeles and San Francisco being chief among the worst cities for this problem. It turns out that homeless problem helped to create one of the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

According to the Los Angeles Times, city officials have confirmed that "the blaze that swept through the hills of Bel-Air last week, destroying six homes and damaging a dozen others, was sparked by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment in a nearby ravine."

"The encampment was nestled in a canyon several hundred feet from Sepulveda Boulevard and the 405 Freeway, hidden from passing cars," reports the Times. "For several years, it had been home to an unknown number of people, officials said." Barrel fires have become a regular sight in L.A recently, where passersby witness smoke billowing up from freeway underpasses that are now laced with homeless encampments.

The fire swept through one of the city's most affluent neighborhoods, Bel Air. The irony has spurred some officials into calling for more action to combat the homeless problem.
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🇺🇸 **Kentucky state rep accused of sexually molesting teen girl commits suicide**
<https://archive.is/OvyUy>

A Kentucky state representative who faced questions about his claim that he’d run a morgue near Ground Zero — and an accusation he molested a teenage girl — committed suicide Wednesday night, authorities said. State Rep. Dan Johnson fatally shot himself near a bridge in a secluded area of Louisville, Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said.

An investigation revealed that Johnson was accused of molesting a 17-year-old girl on New Year's Eve in 2012, according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. He has never been charged. Johnson allegedly forcibly kissed, groped and used his finger to penetrate the girl, despite her asking him to stop, on New Year’s Eve 2012. At the time, the woman told police, who investigated the incident but closed the case and did not file charges. He denied the allegations as calls mounted for him to resign.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page that asked people to care for his wife. He wrote that PTSD “is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME.” The post appears to have been removed.
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🇺🇸 **F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules**
<https://archive.is/u5vpZ>

The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to dismantle rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the internet, granting broadband companies the power to potentially reshape Americans’ online experiences.

The agency scrapped the so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility, like phone service.

The action reversed the agency’s 2015 decision, during the Obama administration, to have stronger oversight over broadband providers as Americans have migrated to the internet for most communications. It reflected the view of the Trump administration and the new F.C.C. chairman that unregulated business will eventually yield innovation and help the economy.
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🇺🇸 **SpaceX sends recycled rocket to dock with ISS in world first**
<https://archive.is/86qJq>

SpaceX has completed the launch of a recycled spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida – the first time the company has flown a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule that have both been used before. The company declared Friday’s launch a success, after the Falcon 9 took the Dragon spacecraft into orbit, before heading back to Earth and completing a flawless vertical landing.

Meanwhile, the Dragon headed for the International Space Station (ISS). It’s scheduled to dock on Sunday. The mission was Space X’s 20th successful recovery of a first-stage booster. Friday’s mission, 13th of the 20 that SpaceX was contracted to fly for NASA, brought 5,000lb worth of supplies, including food, scientific equipment and Christmas gifts for the astronauts cooped up aboard the ISS.

“This is the beginning of rapid and reliable reusability," said SpaceX Manager Jessica Jensen, according to AP. “We want to be able to send thousands of people into space, not just tens, and so reusability is a very key part of that, and we're excited because tomorrow is just one step closer to that.”
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🇩🇪 **Berlin police ban US & Israeli flags at protests, tighten control over pro-Palestinian demos**
<https://archive.is/MR2Xp>

Facing a wave of anti-Israeli protests, the German police have introduced additional measures to stop any outbreaks of anti-Semitism. They have even banned taking US and Israeli flags to rallies to prevent them from being burned.

“Any dangerous objects as well as the US and Israeli flags are not allowed at the demo,” the Berlin police wrote in a Twitter post ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally on Friday. The police also warned potential rally participants that the officers would carry out personal searches ahead of the event.

However, these were not the only measures introduced by the police in an attempt to stop what it sees as growing anti-Semitic sentiments at the rallies that have swept the German capital following US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “Two attested interpreters would accompany [the police] during the entire demo,” another police Tweet said, adding that the officers would also record the rally. *“No offensive utterances would be tolerated,”* the police also warned.
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🇺🇸 **Illegal immigration on border surges back to Obama levels**
<https://archive.is/4HYJU>

Illegal immigration across the Southwest border has surged back to Obama-era levels, according to the latest data released Friday that suggests the gains President Trump made early in his tenure have worn off.

Nearly 40,000 illegal immigrants were nabbed attempting to jump the border in November, which was up about 12 percent compared to October, and more than twice the monthly numbers from March and April, when Mr. Trump touted his early accomplishments.

Perhaps just as worrisome for officials is the rise in families traveling together, which surged 45 percent last month, and unaccompanied minors traveling without parents, which rose 26 percent in November.
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🇺🇸 **Female Democrat Accused Of Sexual Harassment, SLAMS Democratic Party For Pulling Support**
<https://archive.is/pTJe3>

Kansas Democratic candidate Andrea Ramsey, 56, who was gunning for Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder's 3rd District seat, announced that she is withdrawing from the race because the Democratic Party has pulled its support. The announcement comes after the Kansas City Star asked her about the lawsuit in which a former male subordinate claimed she sexually harassed him and retaliated against him when he rejected her advances.

"Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources," The Star reports. "Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006."

Ramsey issued a statement on Friday, denying the allegations and making clear that the Democratic Party is forcing her to withdraw.

"In its rush to claim the high ground in our roiling national conversation about harassment, the Democratic Party has implemented a zero tolerance standard," said Ramsey in the statement. "For me, that means a vindictive, terminated employee's false allegations are enough for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to decide not to support our promising campaign. We are in a national moment where rough justice stands in place of careful analysis, nuance and due process."
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🇺🇸 **Princeton latest Ivy League school to host BDSM tutorials**
<https://archive.is/0oSDk>

Princeton University has become the latest Ivy League institution to host a club for students who seek to explore sexual desires that delve into bondage, domination, sadism and masochism, underscoring a larger trend found at many top-tier universities.

The student-led club, Princeton Plays, launched earlier this month after Princeton’s student government voted to officially recognize it. It joins Harvard’s “Munch,” Columbia’s “Conversio Virium” and Cornell’s “Crunch” clubs as active student BDSM groups in the Ivy League.

The newest Ivy League BDSM group, Princeton Plays, aims to “provide a safe space for students interested in non-traditional relationships” and “to promote values of sexual inclusivity and affirm that all types of safe and consensual activity between individuals is valid,” according to The Daily Princetonian, which reported on its launch earlier this month.
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🇩🇪 ***German teen Linda Wenzel joined ISIS in 2016 at age 15.
Mid 2017 she was caught in Iraq and is in Iraqi custody since.*** https://hooktube.com/watch?v=IBUbHH4FAdg

:: **Mystery as partially-preserved corpse resembling a DINOSAUR is found with flesh still on its bones in India**
<http://archive.is/1K1hJ>

Scientists have been left mystified after the body of a creature resembling a dinosaur was discovered with flesh still on its bones.

The partially-preserved corpse was discovered by an electrician cleaning out a sub-station that had been left untouched for 35 years in Jaspur, a small city in Uttarakhand, India.

It resembles a small dinosaur, but since flightless dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million years, scientists have struggled to identify it.

The creature has now been sent for analysis, including carbon dating, which will reveal its age.

10-10
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<:shiiiiit:348458410217308170> **Philadelphia City Council approves bill to remove bulletproof glass from storefronts**
<http://archive.is/AXr0v>

The Philadelphia City Council voted Thursday to remove bulletproof glass from the windows of some local businesses, despite a backlash from shop owners who cited safety concerns.

The council voted 14-3 to approve legislation that could eventually force business owners to remove the protective glass outside their storefronts that some lawmakers believe operate as drug fronts and facilitate loitering and public urination, Fox 29 reported.

The bill, which was passed by the city’s Public Health and Human Services Committee on Dec. 4, enables Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections to regulate the bullet-resistant barricades that stand between customers and cash registers in many neighborhood corner stores.
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🇺🇸 **Al Franken continues working while departure date unclear**
<http://archive.is/P8UOC>

Even though he announced he would resign within "the coming weeks" amid accusations he groped women, Sen. Al Franken is still reporting for duty to Capitol Hill with no departure date set.

Gov. Mark Dayton, a Minnesota Democrat, said Wednesday that Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith was appointed to a one-year term in the Senate, which will conclude in January 2019. Smith, thought to be a leading contender to replace Franken, accepted the appointment.

But since his resignation last Thursday, the Minnesota senator has cast five Senate votes, attended at least one committee hearing as of Thursday and gave a floor speech on net neutrality Wednesday afternoon.

And while his replacement has been set, the senator's office has said he does not yet have a departure date -- and is still finalizing his plans.

His office told CNN his resignation date was still being "finalized" on Wednesday. And when pressed by CNN four times about his resignation on Thursday, Franken declined to answer questions on why he hadn't set his date.
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🇺🇸 **FBI Release Emails On 'Secret' Loretta Lynch-Bill Clinton Meeting Before FBI's Hillary Decision**
<https://archive.is/H9dnJ>

Friday afternoon, the FBI released a 29-page document containing Justice Department emails regarding the infamous meeting on the tarmac in Phoenix between then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton just days before FBI Director James Comey gave his much-criticized announcement that he would not press for charges against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her "extreme carelessness" in handling classified material.

The emails, spanning from July 1-3, 2016, contain correspondence among various DOJ officials to the leaking of the impromptu 30-minute meeting between Lynch and Clinton that the AG insists was merely a personal chat about their grandchildren and recent travels, but what many continue to suspect had something to do with the ongoing investigation of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Comey's press conference in which he announced that he would not request Lynch to pursue charges was on July 5.

The emails appear to contain no bombshells, but do show that members of the department were outraged over the "secret" meeting getting leaked to the press and considering ramping up measures to prevent future leaks. Some of the correspondence, including about how to handle the fallout from the leaked meeting, are redacted.
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🇸🇪 **Swedish Brothers Rape Children Over 1,000 Times, Receive Miniscule Prison Sentences**
<https://archive.is/cG7Mc>

Two brothers in northern Sweden in their mid-thirties have been convicted of sexually abusing five children between the ages of three and 14 over 1,000 times — and the harshest sentence they got was 14 years in prison. The victims were apparently children who had been bullied in school or whose lives at home were difficult; the brothers plied them with drugs, alcohol and money, as testimony was given in Ångermanland District Court.

The **older brother was convicted of more than 580 cases of aggravated child rape and at least 500 cases of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor**, The Local reported. The **younger brother was found guilty of at least 500 child rapes and more than 50 cases of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor**.

On Friday, the **older brother was sentenced to 14 years in jail; the younger brother, 12 years**. The lighter sentence for the younger brother was based in part on the fact that he was younger than 21 when he committed the crimes. The brothers were ordered to pay $350,000 to the victims.
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🇺🇸 **California Health Officials Release Guidelines To Avoid Cellphone Radiation**
<http://archive.is/oEkE0>

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — California healthofficials have a new message for cellphone users.

For the first time ever, the California Department of Public Health has released guidelines about harmful cellphone radiation and how you can avoid it.

Dr. Karen Smith with the California Department Of Public Health said, “We recognize that there are a lot of people in the general public that have some concerns about their cellphones and whether using a cellphone is safe.”

Smith said, “When you sleep, you keep the cellphone at least arm’s length away from your body. And also, not carrying your cellphone in your pocket, having it either in your purse or not carrying it with you.”

10-10
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🇦🇹 **Far-right Freedom Party enters Austrian govt as anti-migrant sentiment creeps across Europe**
<https://archive.is/PR0G0>

After celebrating a resounding success in the recent parliamentary elections, the anti-immigrant Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) has joined a coalition government with Sebastian Kurz’s conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP).

The agreement between the People’s Party and the Freedom Party, which is returning to government after more than a decade's absence, was struck on Friday, the two parties’ leaders, Sebastian Kurz and Heinz-Christian Strache, announced in a joint news conference.

Strache, who once advocated a law similar to the ban on Nazi practices to be introduced against “political Islam,” spoke about “mutual appreciation” with Kurz, adding that they share “the responsibility for our homeland Austria and for the people in this country.”
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🇪🇺 **Crypto-crackdown: EU agrees on new rules to curb bitcoin anonymity**
<https://archive.is/c7h0C>

The EU is targeting bitcoin anonymity, saying the measure is needed to tackle tax evasion and other crimes. Anonymity of the cryptocurrency holders is a built-in feature that the EU hopes to undermine.

The new rules concerning cryptocurrency passed on Friday by the European Parliament and the European Council are part of a larger package, which also target prepaid cards and trust funds. The agreement is meant to be enshrined in legislation within 18 months by EU members.

Once they become law, the rules will require cryptocurrency exchange platforms and wallet providers to identify their clients. Identifying individuals and entities holding bitcoin and other digital currencies will presumably help to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and financing of terrorism.
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🇺🇸 **$21 trillion of unauthorized spending by US govt discovered by economics professor**
<https://archive.is/jnf4M>

The US government may have misspent $21 trillion, a professor at Michigan State University has found. Papers supporting the study briefly went missing just as an audit was announced.

Two departments of the US federal government may have spent as much as $21 trillion on things they can’t account for between 1998 and 2015. At least that’s what Mark Skidmore, a Professor of Economics at MSU specializing in public finance, and his team have found.

They came up with the figure after digging the websites of departments of Defense (DoD) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as well as repots of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) over summer.

The research was triggered by Skidmore hearing Catherine Austin Fitts, a former Assistant Secretary in the HUD in the first Bush administration, saying the Inspector General found $6.5 trillion worth of military spending that the DoD couldn’t account for. She was referring to a July 2016 report by the OIG, but Skidmore thought she must be mistaking billion for trillion. Based on his previous experience with public finances, he thought the figure was too big even for an organization as large as the US military.
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🇺🇸 **Trump to remove ‘climate change’ as a national security threat**
<https://archive.is/kMtae>

The Trump administration will reverse course from previous Obama administration policy, eliminating climate change from a list of national security threats. The National Security Strategy to be released on Monday will emphasize the importance of balancing energy security with economic development and environmental protection, according to a source who has seen the document and shared excerpts of a late draft.

“Climate policies will continue to shape the global energy system,” a draft of the National Security Strategy slated to be released on Monday said. “U.S. leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth, energy agenda that is detrimental to U.S. economic and energy security interests. Given future global energy demand, much of the developing world will require fossil fuels, as well as other forms of energy, to power their economies and lift their people out of poverty.”
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🇺🇸 **Residents flee as flames approach wealthy California enclave**
http://archive.is/4ALuq

MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Residents piled into cars and fled on Saturday, turning downtown Santa Barbara into "a ghost town" as surging winds drove one of the biggest fires in California's history toward the city and the nearby wealthy enclave of Montecito.

The mandatory evacuations around Montecito and neighboring Summerland came as winds that had eased a day earlier roared back at around 30 mph (48 kph), with gusts to about 60 mph (97 kph). Firefighters sprayed water onto hot spots sparked by wind-blown embers. Firefighters also drove to the historic San Ysidro Ranch in yellow fire trucks as heavy smoke rose from the coastal hills, blotting out the blue skies.

A portion of Santa Barbara was under mandatory evacuation. At the city's zoo, workers began putting some animals into crates and kennels, to ready them for possible evacuation.

Jones
------------------------

🇺🇸 **Trump transition lawyer: Mueller improperly obtained documents in Russia probe**
http://archive.is/Amhf1

Exclusive— A lawyer for the Trump presidential transition team is accusing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office of inappropriately obtaining transition documents as part of its Russia probe, including confidential attorney-client communications, privileged communications and thousands of emails without their knowledge.

In a letter obtained by Fox News and sent to House and Senate committees on Saturday, the transition team’s attorney alleges “unlawful conduct” by the career staff at the General Services Administration (GSA) in handing over transition documents to the special counsel’s office.

Kory Langhofer, the counsel to Trump for America (TFA), argues the GSA “did not own or control the records in question” and the release of documents could be a violation of the Fourth Amendment – which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Jones
------------------------------

🇺🇸 **LEFTISTS TRIGGERED AFTER TAYLOR SWIFT SAYS ‘COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR BETTER YEAR’**
http://archive.is/tK7yH

Pop star Taylor Swift apparently struck a nerve with leftists and Internet trolls this week after she said she “couldn’t have asked for a better year” in 2017 and thanked her fans in a birthday Instagram post.

“I love you guys so much,” Swift captioned a photo taken at a recent London concert. “I couldn’t have asked for a better year, all thanks to you. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Can’t wait to see what 28 will be like. See you on tour.”

That simple message was apparently too much for some Twitter users — and at least a few media outlets — who questioned how Swift could have a “great year” with all the tragedy occurring in the world, including the election of President Donald Trump.

Jones
---------------------------

🇺🇸 **FACEBOOK ADMITS SOCIAL MEDIA HARMFUL TO MENTAL HEALTH**
http://archive.is/94189

Citing internal and academic research, Facebook admitted its users will feel worse about themselves after spending only 10 minutes absorbing content on the site.

In a company blog post on Friday, Facebook cited studies from the University of Michigan and UC San Diego that revealed how social media negatively impacts the mental health of users.

According to Facebook:

In general, when people spend a lot of time passively consuming information — reading but not interacting with people — they report feeling worse afterward. 

In one experiment, University of Michigan students randomly assigned to read Facebook for 10 minutes were in a worse mood at the end of the day than students assigned to post or talk to friends on Facebook. 

Jones
---------------------------

🇺🇸 **REPORT: LEGALIZING ‘DREAMERS’ WOULD COST TAXPAYERS $26 BILLION**
http://archive.is/7ofY3

Legalizing 2 million illegal immigrant “Dreamers” would cost the government $25.9 billion over the next decade, as those now-legal people would claim more tax, education and other benefits they haven’t been able to get before, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday.

The CBO also said newly legalized Dreamers would sponsor 80,000 more immigrants to enter the country as part of “chain migration.”

Immigrant-rights activists have argued that legalizing Dreamers would be a financial boon to the country, but the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation suggested otherwise, saying that while they would pay somewhat higher taxes in to the government, they would take far more out of it.

The findings could be a blow to activists who have demanded the bill be included in any year-end spending deal.

Jones
------------------------------

🇺🇸 **ALT-LEFT PLANS NATIONWIDE ‘RAPID RESPONSE’ IF MUELLER FIRED FROM RUSSIA PROBE**
http://archive.is/kloZm

The Alt-Left group MoveOn.org is planning to roll out massive nationwide ‘rapid response,’ rallies, that “will begin hours after news breaks of a Mueller firing,” according to anew event post on the group’s official website.

According to the post, “Donald Trump is publicly considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller” which the group feels is just an effort to conceal illicit activities with the Russians, despite the fact that both Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director Robert Muller were actually involved in the embezzlement of U.S. Uranium, as reported by Intellihub in the bombshell piece titled “Hillary Clinton requested FBI Dir. Mueller deliver highly enriched uranium to the Russians in 2009 in secret ‘plane-side tarmac meeting.’

Now the snowflakes at MoveOn.org are saying that it would be a “constitutional crisis” if Trump were to fire Mueller and vow to hold emergency “Nobody Is Above the Law” rallies in all 50 states.

The Alt-Left group’s plan is as follows:

– If Mueller is fired BEFORE 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ 5 P.M. local time.

– If Mueller is fired AFTER 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day.

Jones
---------------------------

🇺🇸 **Spike in Illegal Immigration Coincides with Talk of DACA Amnesty by GOP Establishment, DHS Secretary**
http://archive.is/Nfceq

A steady increase in illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border under President Trump’s administration has coincided with continued talks among lawmakers to give amnesty to illegal aliens.

The number of border-crossings in November 2017, Breitbart Texas reported, has risen to a staggering 39,006 illegal aliens. This puts last month’s border-crossings under Trump in-line with former President Obama’s administration when it comes to illegal immigration at the southern border.

Since April 2017, border-crossings have risen under Trump a whopping 147 percent.

Meanwhile, the increase in illegal aliens attempting to enter the U.S. through the southern border has coincided with constant discussion from the Republican establishment, Democrats, the open borders lobby, and corporate interests about giving amnesty to nearly 800,000 illegal aliens under the Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Jones
--------------------------

🇺🇸 **Following Harassment Allegations, Democratic Rep. Ruben Kihuen Announces He Will Not Seek Re-Election In 2018**
<https://archive.is/xYBrX>

On Saturday, Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-NV) announced that he will not seek re-election in 2018 following allegations of sexual harassment from two women.

On December 1, Buzzfeed published an article in which a former female staffer for Kihuen alleged that during the 2016 campaign, the congressman "propositioned her for dates and sex despite her repeated rejections," and "touched her thighs without consent."

On December 13, another woman came forward alleging that Kihuen sexually harassed her when he was a state senator. According to The Nevada Independent, the woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, claims that Kihuen "touched her thighs or buttocks on three separate occasions without her consent" and sent "hundreds of suggestive text messages," which she showed to the outlet.

On December 15, the House Ethics Committee opened up a formal investigation into Kihuen, reports Politico.

Kihuen, who denies the allegations, released the following statement about the ethics probe: "As I’ve said previously, I intend to fully cooperate, and I welcome an opportunity to clear my name." He added: "Due process and the presumption of innocence are bedrock legal principles which have guided our nation for centuries, and they should not be lost to unsubstantiated hearsay and innuendo."
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🇺🇸 **Trump lawyer says ‘Russiagate’ probe head Mueller illegally obtained 10,000s emails**
<https://archive.is/9O8Vh>

In a letter sent to the House and the Senate and seen by Fox News, Kory Langhofer, lawyer for Trump’s transition team, claimed that Mueller obtained “tens of thousands of emails,” including confidential communications between a client and a lawyer, due to “unlawful conduct” by the staffers at the General Services Administration (GSA), which hosted the Trump team’s email servers during the transition.

Accusing the GSA of “unauthorized disclosures” for giving Mueller access to private information it “did not own or control,” Langhofer went to blame the agency for infringing on the right of the US citizens to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures, as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment.

The special counsel’s office has reportedly made “extensive use” of the texts seized from Trump’s transition team that include “materials that are susceptible to privilege claims,” Langhofer wrote, adding that apart from internal emails, the GSA also handed over laptops, cell phones and an iPad at its own liberty.

Trump’s team discovered what it believes a breach of privacy on December 12 and December 13, the lawyer said, noting that some of the compromised materials were leaked to the media by “unknown persons.”
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🇺🇸 **In political gamble, GOP gives permanent tax cuts to corporations, but not people**
http://archive.is/sSn0H

The essential gamble of Republican plans to overhaul the tax code is now becoming clear: Big businesses get a large, permanent tax cut, while American families receive only temporary tax relief that expires as soon as 2023 in the House bill and 2026 in the Senate bill.

In the House bill, the tax increase would mostly hit moderate and middle-income families because a credit designed to help them expires after five years. But in the Senate plan, released late Tuesday, virtually all Americans would face higher tax rates because the individual income rate cuts go away entirely in 2026. The tax cuts for corporations do not expire.

Public opinion polls already show that many Americans believe the tax bills aredesigned to help the rich, not the middle class. In a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, just 16 percent think the plan will reduce their personal taxes, and 61 percent think the wealthy will benefit the most, similar results to many other recent polls about taxes. On top of that, Democrats are trying to hammer the GOP for what they say are disproportionate benefits for businesses and the wealthy.

Every tax bill requires difficult trade-offs. The centerpiece of President Trump and congressional Republicans' tax plan is lowering the corporate rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, which they say will lead to faster growth and, as a result, more jobs. But that has to be paid for or it would add trillions of dollars to the U.S. debt, a burden on future generations that economists say would slow growth down the road.

....fuck

Jones
------------------------------------

🇿🇼 **Zimbabwe should extradite Ethiopian dictator Mengistu**
<http://archive.is/p15pp>

Zimbabwe has said it will not force former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to return home despite the fall of his ally Robert Mugabe.

However, the Zimbabwean opposition has revisited the issue of the asylum given to Mengistu, whose brutal reign left thousands of Ethiopians dead.

The push by the opposition should reawaken Africa to re-examine itself and its sincerity when it comes to why dictators who left behind a trail of suffering in their countries should be protected and allowed to lead a comfortable life in exile.

10-10
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🇺🇸 **Trump confirms he won’t fire Mueller despite allegations of unlawful email seizure & bias**
<https://archive.is/RDl9J>

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he has no plans to sack FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the “Russia collusion” probe, recently marred by conflicts of interest and improper conduct claims. Trump echoed various Republican officials who said over the weekend that he was not considering Mueller’s dismissal. "No, I'm not," Trump said upon returning from a trip to Camp David.

With new accusations brought against the investigators by Trump’s transition team lawyer on Saturday, a number of high-profile White House officials came forward to tell the media that the president was not entertaining the option.

In a letter to Congress on Saturday, the lawyer, Kory Langhofer, alleged that Mueller’s office had violated the US constitution by “unlawfully” obtaining troves of emails from a government agency that hosted the transition team's servers. The emails reportedly included confidential lawyer to client communication.
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🇷🇺 **Trump to Putin: US was glad to save many lives in Russia by helping foil major terrorist attack**
<https://archive.is/waFM9>

“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Donald J. Trump today to thank him for the advanced warning the United States intelligence agencies provided to Russia concerning a major terror plot in Saint Petersburg, Russia,” read the statement from the White House. “Based on the information the United States provided, Russian authorities were able to capture the terrorists just prior to an attack that could have killed large numbers of people. No Russian lives were lost and the terrorist attackers were caught and are now incarcerated.”

The statement also noted that the Russian president even extended his gratitude to CIA chief Mike Pompeo, which Trump promptly passed on to the agency. The two leaders agreed that this operation against terrorism “serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together.”

In a series of overnight raids on Wednesday and Thursday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested members of a terrorist cell linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, seizing a large amount of explosives, weapons and ammunition and dismantling a bomb-making workshop. The extremists were planning a series of attacks on public places, including a suicide bombing and an explosion in the Kazan Cathedral in the center of the city.
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🇬🇧 **British embassy employee found dead in Beirut 'after being raped and murdered'**
<https://archive.is/R86RE>

A UK woman working for the British Embassy in Beirut has been found dead. Rebecca Dykes' body was found on Saturday close to the Metn expressway, in the Lebanese capital. Sources have confirmed to the Mirror that Lebanese authorities have now launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances of Ms Dykes' death.

It's claimed that Ms Dykes had been at a bar with friends and colleagues in the Gemmayzeh area of central Beirut. She reportedly left just after midnight, according to The Telegraph. It is reported by Al Jadeed TV that Ms Dykes, who was in her 30s, had been raped and murdered some time after leaving her friends. The BBC added that senior police sources revealed that she had been strangled.

Her body was found several miles away from the bar. Ms Dykes' body has been transferred to the Dahr al-Bashak Hospital for a post-mortem, it has been reported. Friends say she had been due to fly home for Christmas with her family on Saturday.
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🇷🇺 **Russian oligarchs sue Trump dossier producer for becoming ‘collateral damage’ in smear campaign**
<https://archive.is/PnMRC>

Fusion GPS, the producer of the infamous Trump dossier, is fending off in court three of Russia’s richest oligarchs by painting them as corrupt bankers in bed with President Vladimir Putin.

The three primary investors in Moscow’s Alfa Bank — Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan — filed a libel lawsuit against Fusion in October. Fusion’s dossier, written by former British spy Christopher Steele, says two of them engineered cash bribes to Mr. Putin. The dossier also implies that the bank colluded with Mr. Putin to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking Democratic Party computers.

The lawsuit describes the three billionaires as international businessmen who became “collateral damage” in Fusion’s war to destroy the Donald Trump campaign.

“This is a defamation case brought by three international businessmen who were defamed in widely disseminated political research reports commissioned by political opponents of candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election cycle,” says a Dec. 12 filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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🇸🇪 ***Sweden Forced to Raise Retirement Age To Pay For Mass Immigration Policy*** https://archive.fo/Lxf4C#selection-199.0-199.72 The increasing costs of population growth in Sweden, driven almost entirely mass migration, have forced the government to seriously consider raising the national retirement age to pay for the additional costs.
Swedish Socialist party Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson announced that the retirement age would likely be raised in the near future in order to offset increased welfare costs.