[Majorityrights News] Alex Navalny, born 4th June, 1976; died at Yamalo-Nenets penitentiary 16th February, 2024 Posted by Guessedworker on Friday, 16 February 2024 23:43.
[Majorityrights Central] A couple of exchanges on the nature and meaning of Christianity’s origin Posted by Guessedworker on Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:19.
[Majorityrights News] Is the Ukrainian counter-offensive for Bakhmut the counter-offensive for Ukraine? Posted by Guessedworker on Thursday, 18 May 2023 18:55.
Posted by DanielS on Monday, 12 December 2016 11:23.
Update: New York Times, “Trump Picks Rex Tillerson, Exxon C.E.O., as Secretary of State”, 12 Dec 2016:
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday settled on Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, to be his secretary of state, dismissing bipartisan concerns that the globe-trotting leader of the energy giant had forged a too-cozy relationship with Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia, transition officials said.
Mr. Trump planned to announce the selection on Tuesday morning, finally bringing to an end his public and chaotic deliberations over choosing the nation’s top diplomat — a process that at times veered from rewarding Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of his most loyal supporters, to musing about whether Mitt Romney, one of his most vicious critics, might be forgiven.
Russia’s Prime Minister Putin speaks with Tillerson in Sochi in 2011
President-Elect Trump ‘will name Exxon CEO with close links to Putin as his secretary of state’, snubbing Mitt Romney.”
Trump is expected to name Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
Exxon Mobil chief emerged on Friday as the leading candidate.
Favored status was revealed as Giuliani withdrew.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name the chief executive of Exxon Mobil as the country’s top diplomat, NBC News reported Saturday.
Exxon chief Rex Tillerson emerged on Friday as Trump’s leading candidate for U.S. secretary of state and is expected to meet with him later on Saturday, a transition official told Reuters.
NBC News cited two sources close to the transition team in reporting that Tillerson will be named as secretary of state.
The president-elect had interviewed 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney twice – taking him to a three-Michelin starred dinner on one of those occasions.
Should Tillerson be nominated, his business ties, too, will come under scrutiny. Exxon Mobil has operations in more than 50 countries and boasts that it explores for oil and natural gas on six continents.
In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia’s largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson his nation’s Order of Friendship.
‘He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,’ John Hamre, a deputy defense secretary to Bill Clinton told the Wall Street Journal.
But U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea cost Exxon Mobil dearly, forcing it to scrap some projects and costing it at least $1 billion in losses. Tillerson has been a vocal critic of the sanctions.
Trump has spoken of wanting warmer relations with Moscow, which has sparked concerns in Congress that he could lift or loosen some of the sanctions on Russia.
Tillerson has been chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil since 2006. He is expected to retire from the company next year.
Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another divisive issue. The company is under investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.
Posted by DanielS on Sunday, 04 December 2016 07:58.
Visigrad Post, “Slovakia Prevents Islam From Becoming A State Religion”, 1 Dec 2016:
That’s the way to do it: make Islam illegal.
Slovakia – On Wednesday 30 November the Slovak parliament passed a law proposed by members of the coalition of Prime Minister Robert Fico to prevent Islam from gaining official status in Slovakia.
The Slovak National Party (SNS) proposed that, in order for a religion to be formally recognized by the State, it should have at least 50,000 members -instead of the 20,000 members before that law- and so to have State grants and run its own schools.
For the time being according to the latest statistics Slovakia has 2,000 Muslims, 5,000 according to the Slovak Islamic Foundation. On the 5.4 million inhabitants in Slovakia, 62 per cent declare themselves Roman Catholics.
The president of the Slovak National Party Andrej Danko said on this subject that “Islamization begins with a kebab and this is what happens in Bratislava, we must be aware of what we could face in 5 or 10 years … We must do everything in our power to ensure that no mosques are built in the future.”
The law was approved by two-thirds of the Slovak parliament, including the ruling coalition headed by left-wing prime minister Robert Fico and opposition parties. The Nationalist Party The SNS then proposed that not 50,000 but 250,000 should compose an official religion, which was immediately rejected.
Posted by DanielS on Thursday, 01 December 2016 05:01.
Incubators with headscarfs is what the Islamic incursion in Berlin has made of these women (Photo: picture alliance / dpa)
JungeFreiheit, “Demographic repression: Space without people.”
Breitbart, “Germany: Nearly 40 Per Cent of Under Fives Now ‘Migrant Background’, 21 Sept. 2016:
Following the release of figures which reveal almost four in ten children under five have foreign roots, Michael Paulwitz says the demographic change will be the death of Germany’s welfare state.
The journalist and historian predicts that “hard struggles” over resources will take place when ethnic Germans are a minority, and that native Germans “will inevitably lose out”.
Mr Paulwitz’ article follows the release on Friday of official figures from the Federal Statistics Office. While they show 21 per cent of the total population currently have a migrant background he notes that such people are disproportionately represented in the younger age cohorts.
One in three people aged under 18 who are resident in Germany have foreign roots, and the number jumps to 36 per cent among people under five.
This, he ominously points out, “allows one to appreciate where [Germany] is headed”. Mr Paulwitz points to the demographics of Berlin, where people with a migration background comprise 30 per cent of residents.
Mr Paulwitz also mentions that ethnic Germans are already minority in the district centre and many of the surrounding central districts.
With these trends in mind, he observes: “First in the cities, later throughout the country, ethnic Germans are to become a minority in their own city and in their own country.
“Will Germany still be, in the coming years and decades, the land of the Germans when immigration of people from non-European cultures continues at a high level?” Mr Paulwitz asks.
The historian writes that “one does not need much imagination to imagine how profoundly the population picture will change within the next two decades”.
He calls attention to the fact that in this timeframe many current pensioners will die and that the, mainly German lineage, cohort of 45 to 65 year olds — those “at the peak of their working lives” with regards to paying taxes — will have withdrawn from the workforce.
The demographic statistics for this year also show that people with foreign roots are twice as likely to be unemployed than Germans and are significantly more likely to have been educated to only a lower secondary school level, or have no education background at all.
Mr Paulwitz writes: “The social and redistributive state as we know it will no longer be affordable at its present level when the population is no longer dominated by ethnic Germans, and is a multicultural population mix.”
Collected in mid 2015, the Federal Statistics Office data fails to reflect the more than 1.6 million migrants who arrived in 2015 and the first half of 2016, or the huge number of estimated illegal immigrants living in Germany.
Mr Paulwitz points out that while Angela Merkel’s open door policy was a “dramatic escalation” of previous policies, even before she “opened the lock” a quarter of people aged between 15 and 45 had foreign roots in 2014.
He contends that these demographic trends can only increase as, “through family reunification, this number [1.6 million] is expected to at least double if not multiply”.
Furthermore he observes there is an “inexhaustible supply” of Arabs and Africans who want to move to Germany. The historian typifies them as “second, third and fourth sons” of families, who are “demanding” but “lack the education or drive to create their own wealth”.
Taking all of this into account, Mr Paulwitz diagnoses a grim future for Germany and its native population. He forecasts “hard struggles over resources will be the result” and contends that ethnic Germans are “pacified” and “ageing”.
Considering the huge number of people with foreign roots already present, their far higher fertility rate and no sign of an end to the country’s policy of importing hundreds of thousands of migrants a year, Mr Paulwitz says indigenous Germans “will inevitably lose out”. He also foresees that “the sexual assaults, a result of the surplus men imported, will increase”.
Mr Paulwitz concludes: “A government that decides to change the ethnic and cultural structure of the country without asking its people violates the principle of popular sovereignty, constitutional lawyer Dietrich Murswiek has said … It’s surprising that citizens have begun to fight it at the ballot, but more surprising is that so few are doing so.”
Posted by DanielS on Saturday, 26 November 2016 17:14.
Brandon Victor Dixon: At the end of the show on Friday, he told Mr. Pence, “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf all of us.”
Hamilton’s black Rule (image and issue courtesy John Derbyshire).
Having emerged through that casting call, “Hamilton” cast member Brandon Victor Dixon (a black playing White Vice President Hamilton) lectured Vice President-elect Pence on diversity and racism -
NYT, “Brandon Victor Dixon: At the end of the show on Friday, he told Mr. Pence, “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf all of us.” 19 Nov 2016:
As the play ended, the actor who played Vice President Aaron Burr, Brandon Victor Dixon, acknowledged that Mr. Pence was in the audience, thanked him for attending and added, “We hope you will hear us out.”
“We, sir — we — are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,” he said. “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”
Posted by DanielS on Wednesday, 23 November 2016 20:57.
During an on-the-record editorial board meeting with the New York Times today
“‘I Condemn Them’: Trump Tells NY Times He Disavows Alt-Right Conference”
During an on-the-record editorial board meeting with the New York Times today — a meeting he canceled at one point — President-elect Donald Trump hit on a number of topics and issues that were tossed at him from reporters.
One of the pressing subjects on the journalists’ minds was how Trump viewed the support he’s received from those in the alt-right. Specifically, they wanted to know how the incoming POTUS felt about the recent conference alt-right leaders held in Washington over the weekend in which attendees were seen giving Nazi salutes as Richard Spencer exclaimed “Hail Trump!”
When first asked about whether he felt he did anything to “energize” the alt-right, Trump said he didn’t think so.
Daily News, “President-elect Donald Trump’s disavowal of his support among white nationalists didn’t sit right with the alt-right, 23 Nov 2016:
In one of his most direct repudiations of the once-fringe movement’s proximity to his bid for the presidency, Trump finally said Tuesday that he doesn’t “want to energize the group and I disavow the group,” during an on-the-record sit-down with the New York Times.
Alt-right members took to Reddit forums to express dismay over the president-elect’s comments, some saying they’ve been “fooled” into thinking Trump had truly taken up their white supremacist vision.
Donald Trump disavowed the support of the alt-right movement during a sit-down with the New York Times on Tuesday.
“Trump’s a civic nationalist which is a step in the right direction,” one Reddit commenter wrote. “His election was all about buying time, securing the Supreme Court and stopping illegal immigration. His victory is important but I hope no one deluded themselves into thinking that he was the second coming.”
Trump’s comments on Tuesday came days after white nationalists gathered at a conference in Washington D.C. organized by the far-right think tank National Policy Institute and its founder, Richard Spencer, in celebration of the “year of Donald Trump.”
Video of Spencer speaking showed scores of alt-right members raising their arms in a Nazi salute. Message board commenters said Trump wouldn’t stand by their cause after footage of the Neo-Nazis emerged.
“Certainly not after Richard Spencer saying ‘Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!’ and people in the audience doing the Nazi salute,” one post read.
The Anti-Defamation League, a leading advocacy group fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, praised Trump’s condemnation of his white supremacist supporters, specifically citing the NPI conference in D.C.
“We welcome President-elect Trump’s denunciation of the National Policy Institute convention just blocks from the White House,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt in an emailed statement. “Racist and anti-Semitic groups have absolutely no place in our politics or society.”
Trump was criticized during his campaign for being sluggish about condemning the support of white supremacists, most notably after receiving an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.
His forthcoming administration continues to be associated with the alt-right movement due to the prominent role of Stephen Bannon, who was recently tapped to be Trump’s chief strategist.
Before becoming Trump’s campaign manager, Bannon was the chairman of Breitbart News, a haven for white nationalist news and anti-Semitism.
Speakers taking questions from the press included alt-right supporters (left to right) Peter Brimelow, Kevin MacDonald, Jason Jorjani, and Jared Taylor.
Protesters gather along 14th Street outside of the Reagan Building before the start of the press conference.
Millennial Woes interviews Matt Tate, Richard Spencer and Nathan Damico about protestors:
Posted by DanielS on Thursday, 17 November 2016 05:01.
DAILYKENN.com—Donald Trump has promised to provide vouchers to inner city children, allowing them to attend high-quality private schools rather than being locked in to government schools dominated by teachers’ unions.
President-elect Donald Trump. (AP)
(CNSNews.com) - Trump’s Education Plan: School Choice for ‘Every Single Inner City Child in America”, 11 Nov 2016:
As presented on the campaign trail and detailed on the Trump-Pence website, President–elect Donald Trump wants to implement school choice programs in all 50 states that will allow students and their parents to pick the school that works best for them, and the money to pay for it will follow the student, not the school bureaucracy.
“If we can put a man on the moon, dig out the Panama Canal, and win two World Wars, then I have no doubt that we, as a nation, can provide school choice to every disadvantaged child in America,” said Trump in a Sept. 8 speech in Cleveland, Ohio.
The proposal calls for using $20 billion in federal funds to incentivize the states to start (or expand their existing) school choice programs.
From there, “if the states collectively contribute $110 billion of their own education budgets toward school choice,” said Trump, “on top of the $20 billion in federal dollars, that could provide $12,000 in school choice funds to every K-12 student who today lives in poverty.”
“The money will follow the student,” he said. “That means the student will be able to attend the public, private, charter, or magnet school of their choice – and each state will develop its own system that works for them.” Trump reportedly has added home schools to the proposal.
There are a some school choice programs in the United States, but they are limited and vary widely in terms of which schools a student may choose; who is eligible to participate; how many students may participate; and how much funding is available for each program.
For example, California does not offer private school choice, but it allows intra-district and inter-district open enrollment at its public schools, reports the Heritage Foundation. Texas offers the same as California. Virginia does not allow private school choice or public school choice and it has “weak charter school laws, reported Heritage.
In his speech, Trump emphasized the need to help American students in the inner cites to be offered the opportunity to pick their school, which will help them to get on the ladder to success.
“We are one nation, and when any part of our country hurts, our whole country hurts,” said Trump. “My goal as president will be to ensure that every child in the nation – African-American, Hispanic-American, all Americans – will be placed on the ladder of success: a great education, a great job.”
“The Democratic Party has trapped millions of African-American and Hispanic youth in failing government schools that deny them the opportunity to join the ladder of American success,” he said. “It is time to break up that monopoly.”
“I want every single inner-city child in America who is today trapped in a failing school to have the freedom – the civil right – to attend the school of their choice,” said Trump. “Our government spends more than enough money to easily pay for this initiative, with billions left over. It’s simply a matter of putting students first, not the education bureaucracy.”
He then explained that the United States, at the state and federal levels, spends approximately $620 billion on K-12 education each year. (The federal government kicks in $64 billion and states provide about $570 billion.) That averages to $12,296 for every student.
Chicago, for instance, spends about $11,976 per student, said Trump, and Los Angeles spends about $10,602. New York City spends $20,226 per student.
By offering $20 billion more in federal funds to encourage states to participate in school choice – to establish (or expand) their own programs for their citizens – “it would create a massive education market that is competitive and produces better outcomes,” said Trump. (Currently, only about $1.9 billion is spent on school choice programs nationwide.)
The $20 billion would be allocated to states that “have private school choice and charter laws, encouraging them to participate,” said Trump.
“These schools would then cater to the needs of the individual student and family, not the needs of the Teachers’ Union,” he said. “But the $20 billion is only the beginning,” said Trump. “As president, I will establish the national goal of providing school choice to every American child living in poverty…. Each state will develop its own formula, but we want the dollars to follow the student.”
“I will use the pulpit of the presidency to campaign for this in all 50 states,” he said, “and I will call upon the American people to elect officials at the city, state and federal level who support school choice.”
Way to go White Trump voters!
Trump, ever “the advocate of White working people,” has determined that it is teacher’s unions and the capacity for educators to be discriminatory (by the de facto means in this case, of pricing out the pattern) of black menace to White school children, that is the problem - not the blacks: Donald is all for this group of Americans: in fact, it is the only racial/ethnic group that he explicitly supports.
Russia’s Prime Minister Putin speaks with Tillerson in Sochi in 2011
Brandon Victor Dixon: At the end of the show on Friday, he told Mr. Pence, “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf all of us.”
During an on-the-record editorial board meeting with the New York Times today
