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Decapitaciones, crucifixiones, masacres, entierro de víctimas vivas y limpieza étnica y religiosa. Estado Islámico (EI) se ha convertido en sinónimo de brutalidad.

Pese a que la crueldad le pueda parecer un sinsentido a la mayor parte de los seres humanos civilizados, para EI es una elección racional. Es una decisión consciente para atemorizar a los enemigos e impresionar a nuevos reclutas.

EI sigue una doctrina de guerra total, que no acepta arbitrajes o compromisos en lo que se refiere a arreglar disputas incluso con rivales islamistas sunitas.

Al contrario que la organización al Qaeda, con la que estaba emparentada originalmente, EI no intenta escudarse en la teología para justificar sus crímenes.

La violencia tiene su origen en lo que puede ser identificado como dos oleadas previas, aunque la escala y la intensidad de la brutalidad de EI excede cualquiera de las dos.

Para EI, el uso de métodos brutales es una elección racional.

La primera, encabezada por los discípulos de Sayyid Qutb, un islamista radical egipcio visto como el teórico principal del yihadismo moderno, se enfocaba en los régimenes árabes prooccidentales o lo que llamaba el “enemigo cercano” y, por lo general, mostraba más templanza en el uso de la violencia política.

Esta insurgencia islamista que surgió con el magnicidio del presidente egipcio Anwar Sadat en 1980, se disipó a fines de la década de 1990.

Para entonces, ya se había cobrado unas 2.000 vidas y había visto partir a un amplio número de militantes hacia Afganistán para combatir a un nuevo enemigo global, la Unión Soviética.

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Lea también: Cómo Occidente subestimó a Estado Islámico

“Máquina de matar”

El enfrentamiento de la Yihad afgana contra los soviéticos dio lugar al nacimiento de una segunda oleada enfocada específicamente en el “enemigo lejano”: Estados Unidos o, en una menor medida, Europa.

El movimiento estaba encabezado por un adinerado saudita convertido a revolucionario: Osama Bin Laden.

Se cree que cientos de yihadistas se han sumado a las filas de EI en las últimas semanas.

Bin Laden hizo grandes esfuerzos para racionalizar los ataques de al Qaeda del 11 de septiembre de 2001 en Estados Unidos, al calificarlos de “yihad defensiva” o represalia contra la percepción de dominación estadounidense por parte de las sociedades musulmanas.

Consciente de la importancia de ganar corazones y mentes, Bin Laden vendió el mensaje a los musulmanes -e incluso a los estadounidenses- de que fue un acto de autodefensa y no una agresión.

Sin embargo,este tipo de justificaciones no tienen ningún peso con el líder de EI, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, a quien no le puede importar menos lo que el mundo piense del derramamiento de sangre llevado a cabo por su grupo.

De hecho, él y sus compañeros se deleitan con la visualización de la barbarie y con la impresión que dan de salvajes.

A diferencia de las dos primeras oleadas, EI destaca la acción violenta sobre la teología y la teoría, y no ha producido ningún repertorio de ideas para mantener y nutrir su base social. Es una máquina de matar propulsada por sangre.

Más allá de la doctrina de Bin Laden de que “cuando la gente ve un caballo fuerte y un caballo débil, por naturaleza les gustará el caballo fuerte”, la estrategia de al Baghdadi de “la victoria a través del terrorismo” da la señal a amigos y enemigos de que EI es un caballo ganador. Sería el equivalente a decir: salga del camino o le aplastamos; únase a nuestra caravana y haga historia.

Cada vez hay más evidencias que muestran que, en los últimos meses, cientos si no miles de islamistas acérrimos antiguos enemigos de EI, como el Frente al Nusra y el Frente Islámico, respondieron al llamado de al Baghdadi.

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Lea también: Siete preguntas para entender qué es EI y cómo surgió

“Conmoción y pavor”

Una sofisticada de campaña de EI hace un llamamiento a los jóvenes sunitas descontentos y desengañados de todo el mundo, ya que se presenta como un poderoso movimiento a la vanguardia que ofrece la victoria y la salvación.

Lejos de aborrecer la brutalidad del grupo, los jóvenes reclutas se sienten atraídos por sus tácticas de conmoción y pavor contra los enemigos del Islam.

La idea de un nuevo califato atrae a muchos jóvenes.

Sus hazañas en el campo de batalla, especialmente su avance en enormes extensiones de territorio en Siria e Irak, y el establecimiento de un califato, resuenan aquí y allá.

El éxito y los últimos avances militares de EI han generado un aumento en los reclutamientos.

Musulmanes de países occidentales se suman a las filas de EI y otros grupos extremistas porque se sienten parte de una gran misión para resucitar un idealizado califato perdido y ser parte de una comunidad unida con una potente identidad.

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Lea también: ¿Cómo llega un joven occidental a convertirse en yihadista?

Inicialmente, muchos jóvenes de Londres, Berlín, París y de otras partes emigran a las tierras de la yihad para defender a quienes comparten su religión y son perseguidos, pero acaban en las garras de EI, haciendo las mismas acciones brutales como la decapitación de civiles inocentes.

Los orígenes de lo que mueve el extremismo desenfrenado de EI puede remontarse a al Qaeda en Irak, que estaba liderado por Abu Musab al Zarqawi, quien murió a manos de estadounidenses en 2006.

No tan diferente de su predecesor, EI se alimenta de una dieta antichiíta y de un odio visceral a las minorías en general, que se retrata a sí mismo como la punta de lanza de los árabes sunitas en la lucha contra los regímenes sectarios de Bagdad y Damasco.

Al Zarqawi y Al Baghdadi ven a los chiítas como infieles, una quinta columna en el corazón del Islam que debe ser aniquilada desde una visión del mundo genocida.

Siguiendo los pasos de al Zarqawi, al Baghdadi ignoró las súplicas reiteradas de su mentor, Ayman al Zawahiri, jefe de al Qaeda, y de otros líderes militantes para evitar la matanza indiscriminada de chíitas y, por el contrario, atacó a los régimenes dominados por chíitas y alauitas de Irak y Siria.

¿Miras a EE.UU.?

Al explotar la profundización del distanciamiento entre chíitas y sunitas en Irak y la guerra civil sectaria en Siria, al Baghdadi construyó una base potente de apoyo entre los rebeldes sunitas y ha mezclado a su grupo con las comunidades locales.

También reestructuró su red militar y nombró a oficiales experimentados del desmembrado ejército de Sadam Hussein que convirtieron a EI en una fuerza de combate sectaria profesional.

El líder de EI amenazó con matar a las tropas estadounidenses que vayan a Irak.

EI se ha centrado hasta ahora en los chíitas y no en el “enemigo lejano”. La lucha contra Estados Unidos y Europa es distante y no una prioridad; tendrá que esperar a la liberación doméstica.

Durante los bombardeos israelíes en Gaza del pasado agosto, los militantes criticaron en las redes sociales a EI por matar a musulmanes mientras no hacían nada para ayudar a los palestinos.

EI replicó al decir que la lucha contra los chíitas era prioritaria sobre cualquier otra cosa.

Ahora que EE.UU. y Europa se han unido en su lucha contra EI, el grupo tendrá que usar todas sus fuerzas en retaliar, incluyendo más decapitaciones a rehenes. Hay también una creciente probabilidad de que ataque objetivos diplomáticos vulnerables en Medio Oriente.

Pese a que pueda querer llevar a cabo una operación espectacular en suelo continental estadounidense o europeo, es dudoso que EI tenga actualmente la capacidad de llevar a cabo ataques complejos como el 11S.

Hace unos meses, en respuesta a conversaciones entre sus seguidores, al Baghdadi reconoció que su organización no estaba preparada para atacar a los estadounidenses en su propia casa.

Sin embargo, dijo que deseaba que EE.UU. desplegase tropas en su territorio para que EI pudiera confrontar directamente a los estadounidenses y matarlos.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2014/09/140909_internacional_estado_islamico_metodos_cruel_lav.shtml

Prominent Democrats lined up to hammer Attorney General Bill Barr for testifying Wednesday that federal authorities had spied on the Trump campaign in 2016, with one top House Democrat charging that Barr is not acting “in the best interest of the DOJ or the country.”

“I think spying did occur,” Barr said during the explosive hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “The question is whether it was adequately predicated. …Spying on a political campaign is a big deal.”

Barr later clarified in the hearing: “I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred; I’m saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it, that’s all.”

Despite mounting evidence that the FBI pursued an array of efforts to gather intelligence from within the Trump campaign — and the fact that the FBI successfully pursued warrants to surveil a former Trump aide in 2016 — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Fox News that Barr’s loyalties were compromised.

COMEY MEMOS CONTAINED FAR MORE CLASSIFIED INFO THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN

“He is acting as an employee of the president,” Hoyer said. “I believe the Attorney General believes he needs to protect the president of the United States.”

Added House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in an interview with the Associated Press: “I don’t trust Barr, I trust Mueller.” And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Barr on Twitter of “peddling conspiracy theories.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., added in a statement that Barr “should not casually suggest that those under his purview engaged in ‘spying’ on a political campaign.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., walks to a Democratic Caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“This type of partisan talking point may please Donald Trump, who rails against a ‘deep state coup,'” Schiff said, “but it also strikes another destructive blow to our democratic institutions. The hardworking men and women at the DOJ and FBI deserve better.”

Barr’s comments, and the ensuing semantic hullabaloo, followed a new report that the Justice Department’s internal watchdog is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who contacted members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, as part of a broader review of the early stages of the Russia investigation.

The New York Times reported that Justice Department Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz is looking into informant Stefan Halper’s work during the Russia probe, as well as his work with the FBI prior to the start of that probe.

FBI BLAMES SYSTEM-WIDE SOFTWARE GLITCH FOR MISSING TEXTS; STRZOK’S TEXTS FROM MUELLER PROBE TOTALLY WIPED

Trump, for his part, has vowed to release surveillance warrant applications used to monitor his former aide, Carter Page, beginning in October 2016. The FBI’s partisan sources in those applications have come under scrutiny, and FBI text messages obtained by Fox News show high-level concerns at the DOJ as to the credibility of sources presented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.

Page was never charged with any wrongdoing.

A separate DOJ IG investigation into potential FISA abuses by the FBI, which is expected to look at whether the bureau improperly presented misleading sources or withheld exculpatory information in its presentations to the FISA court, is ongoing. Barr said that review is likely to be completed by May or June.

In particular, the FBI assured the FISA court on numerous occasions — in the October 2016 warrant application and in subsequent renewals — that other sources, including a Yahoo News article, independently corroborated Steele’s claims, without evidence to back it up. It later emerged that Steele was also the source of the Yahoo News article, written by reporter Michael Isikoff.

The FBI also quoted directly from a disputed Washington Post opinion piece to argue that Trump’s views on providing lethal arms to Ukraine, and working toward better relations with Russia, was a possible indicator that the campaign had been compromised.

Trump’s policy on Ukraine weapons at the time mirrored then-President Obama’s policy, and the FBI did not present an independent assessment of the accuracy of the Post piece in its warrant application.

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: INTERNAL FBI TEXTS SHOW DOJ WARNED FBI ABOUT BIAS IN KEY FISA SOURCE

Still, Schiff and Hoyer were joined by other Democrats who pushed back against Barr’s comments.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., for example, told Fox News that Barr’s vow to probe the FBI’s 2016 counterintelligence probe amounted to nothing more than “Republican conspiracy theory nonsense.”

He also characterized Barr’s statements as an “effort to divert attention” from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report, which Barr said will be released within a week. Mueller’s investigation ended last month without securing the indictment of a single American for collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice, “despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.”

In a tweet late Wednesday, Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani condemned Nadler’s “diarrhea of the mouth,” and referenced a report last year that Nadler was overheard on a train discussing his plans to impeach the president.

“His lack of judiciousness was evident when he was overheard on Amtrak prematurely planning impeachment,” Giuliani wrote.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler D-NY, speaks during a House Judiciary Committee debate to subpoena Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Halper, an American professor who reportedly is deeply connected with British and American intelligence agencies, has been widely reported as a confidential source for the FBI during the bureau’s original investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. That official counterintelligence operation was opened by then-senior agent Peter Strzok, who has since been fired from the bureau.

During the 2016 campaign, Halper contacted several members of the Trump campaign, including Page and former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

“It was an illegal investigation. … Everything about it was crooked,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday, describing it as an attempted “coup” and reiterating his interest in digging into the probe’s origins. “There is a hunger for that to happen.”

Also on Tuesday, Fox News reported that a source said Barr had assembled a “team” to investigate the origins of the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.

On Wednesday, Barr testified that he hasn’t technically “set up a team” but has colleagues helping him as he reviews the case.

“I think spying did occur.”

— Attorney General Bill Barr

“This is not launching an investigation of the FBI,” he stressed. “Frankly, to the extent there were issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem of the FBI. I think it was probably a failure of the group of leaders—the upper echelons of the FBI. I think the FBI is an outstanding organization and I am very pleased Director Chris Wray is there.”

He added, “If it becomes necessary to look over former officials, I expect to rely on Chris and work with him. I have an obligation to make sure government power is not abused and I think that’s one of the principal roles of the attorney general.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The FBI’s 2016 counterintelligence investigation, formally opened by Strzok, began with a “paucity” of evidence, according to former FBI counsel Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was romantically involved.

During a closed-door congressional interview, Page admitted that the FBI “knew so little” about whether allegations against the Trump campaign were “true or not true” at the time they opened the probe, adding that they had just “a paucity of evidence because we [were] just starting down the path” of vetting allegations.

Former FBI Director James Comey would testify later that when the agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government, investigators “didn’t know whether we had anything” and that “in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn’t know whether there was anything to it.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-rage-against-barr-for-backing-claims-of-trump-campaign-spying-by-fbi

“Si me quieren odiar por ayudar, quiero que me odien con todas sus fuerzas” , dice Karla Morales Rosales, abogada de 29 años y activista de Derechos Humanos, que empezó una de las primeras cruzadas de ayuda, desde la sociedad civil, para los damnificados del terremoto. Su respuesta se da ante la serie de comentarios negativos y hasta insultos que ha recibido en su cuenta de twitter , que la acusan de estar aupada por la oposición. Pero asimismo son más los comentarios positivos que recibe de apoyo a su gestión.

“No he leído todo lo que han escrito de mí, estoy demasiado ocupada llevando ayuda. Además no entiendo por qué me atacan si estoy trabajando con ellos. Me llamó Luis Valverde, el viceministro del Magap (Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Acuacultura y Pesca) que trabaja conjuntamente con nosotros en San Vicente y quien me aclaró que no había ninguna disposición para que los militares confisquen donaciones”, indica desde el centro de acopio en el club de la urbanización Terra Nostra, donde vive.

Añade que también la llamó personal de la Cancillería para ayudar en la entrega de filtros de agua donados a su cruzada. “A nadie le he dicho: no me ayuden”, puntualiza.

Desde la noche del 16 de abril, Karla, que se considera mitad manabita ya que su madre es de Bahía de Caráquez, se puso manos a la obra y escribió un tuit pidiendo donaciones que podían llevar a su casa, ya que a las dos de la tarde del domingo 17 ella viajaba llevando la ayuda. La madrugada de ese domingo, su esposo, el argentino Ezequiel Castro, bombero voluntario, viajó a Manabí y desde entonces dirige el centro de acopio en San Vicente.

Lea también: 19 niños duermen apilados en una carpa mínima en montaña cercana a San Vicente

Justamente en San Vicente, recuerda ella, que va y viene de Manabí, “se nos acercó el coronel Gómez, del Ejército, encargado de esa zona, y nos pidió que le enseñáramos cómo trabajábamos y literalmente se nos quitó el sombrero; desde entonces trabaja con nosotros”.

A partir de ese primer tuit, recuerda que el domingo 17 se sentó en la vereda de su casa a esperar la ayuda. Eran las nueve y llegó el primero, después el segundo y llegaron muchos más. Ella, que pensaba llevar un camión, partió ese primer día con 28 camiones con donaciones. Desde entonces se han hecho 198 viajes con donaciones, entre camiones trailers y contenedores y 80 vuelos de avionetas. Hasta el jueves, la ayuda desde el centro de acopio estaba avaluada en unos 3 millones de dólares.

Los aportes no solo han venido de la sociedad civil y la empresa privada, el Municipio de Quito la buscó para colaborar con la asistencia sanitaria y el Municipio de Guayaquil la ayudó con donaciones para 190 familias en una montaña. “Que me busquen me alegra porque significa que hemos hecho un buen trabajo, pero me sorprende, porque yo debería sumarme al trabajo de ellos, no al revés”, dice con sencillez Karla, delgada, menudita, con experiencia de trabajo en organismos internacionales como la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y en las Naciones Unidas. También ha trabajado en cruzadas humanitarias en Colombia, México y Perú. Precisamente gracias a sus contactos el domingo pasado llegaron treinta médicos de la Patrulla Aérea Civil Colombiana, una organización privada sin fines de lucro. (I)

Source Article from http://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2016/04/26/nota/5545833/solidaridad-karla-morales-desata-reacciones

Prosecutors and lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell convened on Saturday in front of the judge in the Briton’s sex trafficking trial in Manhattan federal court, to discuss how jurors would be instructed.

The attorneys and Judge Alison Nathan hashed out what Nathan will tell jurors before they start deliberating next week, such as which allegations against Maxwell correspond to specific counts against her.

In such proceedings, typical in US jury trials, both sides are able to object or make suggestions about proposed wording for jury instructions. The judge ultimately determines which requests will be met.

Maxwell’s charge conference unfolded without notable incident. Some changes to the proposed jury instructions were agreed.

Changes included referring to the Briton as “Ms Maxwell” rather than “the defendant” and refining when specific age cutoffs would be used instead of “minor”, in references to alleged victims. Maxwell’s lawyers had lobbied for stricter language surrounding descriptions of sex-trafficking.

Maxwell, 59, was apprehended in New Hampshire in July 2020. She is being tried on six counts in relation to alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minor teens. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty. She alluded to this on Friday, telling Nathan she would not take the stand in her own defense.

“Your honor,” she said, “the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and so there is no need for me to testify.”

Epstein, Maxwell’s long-term boyfriend and a convicted sex offender, counted Prince Andrew and former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump as associates before killing himself in a New York jail in 2019, while awaiting his own sex trafficking trial.

Maxwell’s defense rested on Friday. One of their key witnesses was Eva Dubin, a former Miss Sweden.

Dubin testified that she dated Epstein on and off from 1983 to about 1991, and traveled with him on his private planes. Following her marriage in 1994, she said, they stayed friendly. Dubin also said she and her husband were comfortable with the relationship between their children – two girls and a boy – and Epstein.

“They called him ‘Uncle F’,” she said, adding that she never saw Epstein engage in inappropriate conduct with teenage girls.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday. Nathan told attorneys she wanted outstanding legal issues worked out, warning: “I don’t want objections during closings.”

Maxwell’s lawyers have contended that she is a surrogate for Epstein, who cannot be prosecuted in death. On Friday, Nathan told Maxwell’s lawyers: “There will be no argument on the government’s motivations.”

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/18/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-jury-instructions-attorneys-judge

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Según el Art. 60 de la Ley Orgánica de Comunicación, los contenidos se identifican y clasifican en:
(I), informativos; (O), de opinión; (F), formativos/educativos/culturales; (E), entretenimiento; y (D), deportivos.

Source Article from http://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2016/10/28/nota/5878258/juez-ordena-prision-preventiva-clever-jimenez-fernando

President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have been using private email accounts and the messaging service WhatsApp to conduct official government business, the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee said in a Thursday letter to the White House.

The use of private email and apps by two presidential advisers could violate the Presidential Records Act. It also would amount to the same activity that Republicans, led by Trump, campaigned on in 2016 as evidence of Hillary Clinton’s alleged criminality.

In his letter to the White House, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the chair of the committee, requested documents and information relating to the Trump White House’s use of nongovernmental channels.

Ivanka Trump, Cummings wrote, “continues to receive emails relating to official business on her personal email account” and “she does not forward emails received through her personal account unless she responds to the email, even if the subject matter of the email relates to her official duties.”

That, Cummings said, violates the Presidential Records Act.

Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, assured Cummings that his client took screenshots on WhatsApp of all government business conducted on the platform, including the times he has used it to communicate with foreign leaders. When asked whether he had used the app — which is prohibited by the White House — to discuss classified information, Cummings said Lowell replied, “That’s above my pay grade.”

Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, listen during a joint press conference with Trump and Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s prime minister, not pictured, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Trump said he’s disappointed with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and that ‘time will tell’ if the nation’s top law enforcement officer remains in his job. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, left, talks to Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, before a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey, Drumstick, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. This years pardoned turkeys, Wishbone and Drumstick, will join last years turkeys at Virginia Techs Gobblers Rest exhibit, where students and veterinarians care for the turkeys, and the public can visit and learn about the universitys teaching, research, and outreach programs in animal and poultry sciences and veterinary medicine. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, left, and Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, walk on the South Lawn of the White House to board Marine One before departing to Camp David in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, June 1, 2018. Trump said he will meet Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, after he sat down with a senior adviser to the North Korean leader in the White House to continue the groundwork for the historic meeting. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images

FILE: Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, right, and Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, May 19, 2017. New Yorks banking regulator has asked Deutsche Bank AG and a pair of local lenders to provide information about their relationships with Jared Kushner, his family and the Kushner Cos., according to people familiar with the matter. Kushners financial and business ties have been of consistent interest for potential conflicts given his broad portfolio as senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. Our editors select the best archive images on Kushner and his family. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, and Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, arrive for a ‘Be Best’ initiative event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, May 7, 2018. Melania announced a campaign Monday to raise awareness of children’s issues including social media use and opioid abuse, making a rare solo public appearance in the Rose Garden of the White House to formally launch her official work. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 05: (AFP- OUT) Former Vice President Joe Biden, fourth from left, and his wife Jill Biden, second from left, speak with Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, third from left, and her husband, President Donald Trump’s White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, third from right, as former Vice President Al Gore, second from right, speak to former President Jimmy Carter, right, and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, bottom center, before a State Funeral for former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral, December 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Bush will be buried at his final resting place at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. A WWII combat veteran, Bush served as a member of Congress from Texas, ambassador to the United Nations, director of the CIA, vice president and 41st president of the United States. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)




Cummings noted that the revelations about Kushner and Trump’s communications had come to light in 2017, but that “new information that raises additional security and federal records concerns” has since been obtained.

Previous attempts by the committee to obtain information on the use of private email have been rebuffed by the White House, setting up the latest battle between the Democratic-controlled body and the president.

“The White House’s failure to provide documents and information is obstructing the committee’s investigation into allegations of violations of federal records laws by White House officials,” Cummings said in his letter.

“If you continue to withhold these documents from the Committee,” Cummings added, “we will be forced to consider alternative means to obtain compliance,” a not-so-veiled allusion to a possible subpoena.

In the final month of the 2016 presidential race, Donald Trump accused Clinton of “willful and deliberate criminal conduct” in her use of private email while serving as secretary of state.

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Read more from Yahoo News:

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/03/21/democrats-accuse-ivanka-trump-and-jared-kushner-of-violating-law-with-private-emails/23698196/

The business community exhaled a collective sigh of relief over the weekend after President Donald Trump took tariffs against Mexico off the table and pulled back from another trade war.

At least for now.

Trump said he has “full confidence” that Mexico will crack down on migration, and the U.S Chamber of Commerce and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers praised the president for suspending the planned tariffs.

Whether or not Trump’s agreement with Mexico will hold, however, is an open question.

The president thanked Mexico’s president and foreign minister and said so long as Mexico tries “very hard” to enforce the deal, “this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico.”

But Trump also warned that that tariffs remained an option.

“We can always go back to our previous, very profitable position on tariffs — but I don’t believe that will be necessary” he said in a Twitter post Sunday.

Trump has a record of quickly changing his position if he believes his negotiating partner is not meeting his demands.

The president suspended tariff hikes on China, for example, as the two countries sat down to try to hash out a trade deal. But he ultimately reversed that decision and more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods after trade talks collapsed – despite weeks of signaling from the White House that the two sides were making progress.

In that case, the White House accused China of back tracking on its commitments, while Beijing pointed the finger at the U.S. It’s now unclear if Beijing and Washington can reach a deal. Negotiations have apparently stalled and administration officials have said no concrete plans for talks have been scheduled.

Whether or not a deal is reached now seems to hang on a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 meeting in Japan this month.

“We’re going to need to see action, and President Trump is going to need to make sure he’s clear that we’re moving in the right direction to a deal,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC‘s Nancy Hungerford. “The president will make a decision after the meeting.”

Mnuchin made clear that Trump will continue to wield tariffs as a negotiating tool.

“If China wants to move forward with the deal, we’re prepared to move forward on the terms we’ve done,” he said. “If China doesn’t want to move forward, then President Trump is perfectly happy to move forward with tariffs to re-balance the relationship.”

In the case of his policy toward Mexico, the president has made cracking down on migration at the southern border a central priority of his administration, but he has often been frustrated by court battles and opposition in Congress, where Democrats control the House.

Indeed, his abrupt decision to threaten 5% tariffs on all Mexican exports seemed to come as an act of frustration, apparently egged on by conservative radio commentary and immigration hawk Stephen Miller.

But it’s unclear if Mexico has the capacity to the stem migration from Central America. The factors pulling people north are strong and Mexico’s enforcement capacity appears weak.

A former U.S. ambassador to Mexico wrote this week that migration from Central America is fueled by the inability of governments there to provide for their citizens, a reality that that “deep-rooted causes that will take years to solve.”

Tony Wayne, now a non-resident fellow at The Atlantic Council, said Mexico simply has not had sufficient resources to stem the flow of migrants.

“Mexico’s immigration and refugee agencies are severely understaffed, under-resourced, and overwhelmed by the increased numbers of Central Americans heading north,” Wayne wrote.

And The New York Times reported on Saturday that terms of the deal mostly consist of actions that the U.S and Mexico actually agreed to months ago — well before Trump’s original decision to threaten tariffs.

While the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers praised Tump’s decision not to pull the trigger on tariffs, the group also warned that any barriers to trade at the border would hurt the economy. 

“Any barrier to the flow of commerce across the U.S.-Mexico border would have a cascading effect – harming U.S. consumers, threatening American jobs and investment and curtailing the economic progress that the administration is working to reignite,” the alliance’s CEO, David Schwietert, said. 

In the case of China, markets were expecting a deal and were blindsided when the opposite happened and the president hiked tariffs.

In the case of Mexico, the two countries may have a signed an agreement in hand right now, but Trump made clear in his announcement Friday and comments over the weekend that the tariff threat is only suspended — and he could wield it again at any time.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/09/trump-mexico-tariff-threat-still-looms-over-businesses.html

News about the massive volcanic eruption near Tonga in the west Pacific continues to make waves around the world thanks to science and social media.

On Wednesday, the Gemini Observatory, part of the National Science Foundation’s NOIR Lab located atop Hawaii’s Maunakea tweeted a video showing a visible pressure wave triggered by the eruption traveling through the upper part of the atmosphere.

When you watch the video below, look for a faint, reddish ripple in each of the angles. The brighter white streaks appear to be waves as well, but those are more typical high-level clouds.

According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, the pressure wave was traveling at approximately 600 mph, close to the speed of sound. Weather observing stations all over the U.S. detected the pressure wave as it moved from west to east on Saturday morning.

The eruption also produced a more literal wave, of course, the tsunami that traversed the Pacific Saturday morning. The energy from the eruption very quickly displaced ocean water and sent it outward from the eruption site. The tsunami reached the California coast several hours later.

Watch video above: Surfers evacuate California beach as tsunami hits Central Coast

The video from the Gemini Observatory shows how water-like our atmosphere is. It’s made of countless gas particles, but it behaves very much like a fluid in the way it circulates. The volcanic eruption was an extreme visualization of how energy can travel through all of those air particles, but a more muted and everyday example is weather systems. These “waves” of high and low-pressure form, strengthen and move around the globe helping to transfer energy in the form of wind and precipitation.

Source Article from https://www.kcra.com/article/pressure-wave-tonga-volcano-eruption-captured-on-camera/38831943

Las últimas masacres ejecutadas por delincuentes en las ciudades como Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán y Choloma, Cortés, muestran que el grado de violencia en nuestro país ha llegado a su máxima expresión, estos son cometidos en plena luz del día o amparados en las tinieblas, en cualquier punto de las diferentes ciudades.

Estas noticias, que ya son cotidianas, nos impactan, frustran y atemorizan, lo cual es lógico, pues como seres humanos somos sensibles ante semejante situación.

Pero la pregunta que debe surgir en los principales medios de comunicación de nuestro país que han publicado imágenes y videos polémicos sobre este tipo de tragedias que son suministros diarios de noticias: ¿Vale la pena darle horas de cobertura en vivo a este tipo de noticias?

En varias ocasiones lamentablemente hemos visto cómo los directores o presentadores de noticieros televisivos tienen la ¨delicadeza¨ de pasar una y otra vez hasta llegar al abuso videos que muestran asesinatos de personas que quedaron grabadas en una cámara, olvidando dos aspectos fundamentales, primero: que el efecto de las imágenes violentas y explícitas tanto para las audiencias y los mismos periodistas conllevan un terrible trauma sicológico y daño emocional a los amigos y familiares de las víctimas; por tanto, antes de la utilización de imágenes explícitas en las noticias, es imprescindible considerar las posibles consecuencias a la hora de hacerlo.

Segundo: los expertos concluyen que aquellos individuos que cometen este tipo de actos reñidos con la ley gozan y se sienten importantes al saber que sus actos delictivos tienen cobertura mediática y a la vez se convierten, a menudo, en héroes o modelos para cierto tipo de personas inhibidas, e incapaces de llevar a cabo actos similares.

Es tiempo de tomar conciencia sobre estas consecuencias y darles paso e importancia a otras noticias.

Source Article from http://www.laprensa.hn/opinion/columnas/906186-412/otras-noticias

Acting White House chief of staff Mick MulvaneyJohn (Mick) Michael MulvaneyHarris sends letter to Barr demanding answers over ObamaCare repeal efforts Overnight Health Care — Presented by the American Conservative Union — Trump says GOP senators writing ‘spectacular’ ObamaCare replacement | New ObamaCare fight puts spotlight on Mulvaney | NY attorney general sues Sackler family over opioid epidemic The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Pass USMCA Coalition – Trump to return to campaign stage MORE said Sunday that it would take “something dramatic” for President TrumpDonald John TrumpSaudi King ‘absolutely rejects’ Trump measure on Golan Heights Five things to watch as 2020 Dems release their tax returns Baldwin returns to SNL to summarize Mueller report: ‘Daddy won’ MORE to not shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“Something dramatic,” Mulvaney said on ABC’s “This Week” when asked what it would take for Trump not to follow through on his threat of shutting down the southern border entirely.

“When Jeh Johnson said it’s a crisis, I hope people now believe us. A lot of folks in the media… Democrats didn’t believe us a month ago, two months ago, when we said what was happening at the border was a crisis: a humanitarian crisis, a security crisis,” he said.

“One hundred thousand people coming across the border this month… that is a crisis,” he added.

Trump tweeted twice last week that he could close parts of the border unless Mexico’s government immediately stopped illegal crossings.

He also continued blamed Democrats for “weak immigration laws.”

The comments came after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said last Wednesday that immigration enforcement has reached a “breaking point.”

This is not the first time Trump has threatened to close the border. He threatened in November and in December of last year to do the same. 

 

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/436619-mulvaney-it-would-take-something-dramatic-for-trump-not-to-close-the

An upstate New York man accused of phoning a death threat to the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was in custody Friday, authorities said.

Patrick Carlineo, 55, of Addison, told federal agents when he was arrested that he is a patriot, that he “loves” President Donald Trump and “hates radical Muslims in government,” according to the criminal complaint against him, reported the Elmira Star-Gazette. 

Carlineo phoned Omar’s office March 21 and asked the person who answered if the staff member worked for the “Muslim Brotherhood,” according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of New York.

The caller added: “Why are you working for her? She’s an [expletive] terrorist.” He then threatened to shoot her, officials said.

The staffer contacted Capitol Police, which launched an investigation. The caller spelled his name and left a phone number, which police traced to an Addison address.

Carlineo told investigators he couldn’t remember exactly what he said when he called Omar’s office but conceded it could have been close to what was reported by the staff member, according to the criminal complaint. 

He told agents he had a shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle in his home when he was arrested, officials said.

Carlineo made an initial appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in Rochester and was ordered held until a detention hearing Wednesday. He faces charges of threatening to assault and murder a United States official, authorities said. 

If convicted, he could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. 

Omar, one of two Muslim women now serving in Congress, has been the target of other death threats, including an assassination threat scrawled in a gas station bathroom in Minnesota in early March.

  • This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/04/06/new-york-man-arrested-following-alleged-death-threat-against-rep-ilhan-omar/23707540/

A host on liberal network MSNBC took aim at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday, following the court’s recent decision not to block the new Texas abortion law.

Although not mentioning Barrett by name, it was clear that host Tiffany Cross was referring to the justice who was appointed to the nation’s highest court in 2020 by former President Donald Trump.

The insult came after Cross accused Republicans of “hypocrisy” for opposing abortion while supporting Second Amendment rights to gun ownership and rejecting coronavirus restrictions.

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. (Associated Press)

TEXAS JUDGE TEMPORARILY SHIELDS STATE’S CLINICS FROM ANTI-ABORTION GROUP’S LAWSUITS

“It’s the hypocrisy for me, these Republican lawmakers fix their mouths claiming they’re pro-life, but they allow Texans to carry guns with no permit or no training,” Cross said, according to Mediaite.com.

“They’re against the life-saving vaccine and mask mandates,” she added.

MSNBC host Tiffany Cross.

Later, she said, “This entire thing, about protecting the fetus when they care so little for life in this country, is beyond comprehension. If it feels like they really must hate women in Texas and all across the country, how is it possible the Supreme Court allowed this to stand?

“I know that they haven’t ruled on it, but they can rule later,” Cross continued. “But we have an actual handmaid on the court. So I have to tell you, I’m not excited about depending on them to protect me and my right to choose.”

“Handmaid” refers to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood that tells of a future in which the U.S. government has been overthrown and replaced by a society in which women’s only role is to serve men. It subsequently became a TV series starring Elisabeth Moss.

The Washington Post reported in October 2020 that Barrett held the title of “handmaid” as a member of a religious group called People of Praise. At the time, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz , R-Texas, criticized the Post article as a “religious smear” directed at Barrett.

Elisabeth Moss plays Offred in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” (MGM)

Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling, opting to decline to block a new Texas abortion law that took effect earlier in the day. The law bans most abortions in the state and allows private citizens to sue anyone who’s allegedly involved in an abortion, other than the patient.

Backing the majority decision were justices Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

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Dissenting were the court’s three liberal justices – Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer – plus Chief Justice John Roberts. Kagan referred to the Texas law as “patently unconstitutional.” 

Then on Friday a Texas judge issued a temporary restraining order shielding Texas abortion clinics from lawsuits filed by anti-abortion groups for two weeks, with a hearing on the injunction scheduled for Sept. 13.

Legal observers have claimed that the Texas law could lay the groundwork for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion throughout the U.S.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/amy-coney-barrett-handmaid-msnbc-host-tiffany-cross-texas-abortion-law

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Democrat Terry McAuliffe has formally conceded to Glenn Youngkin in a statement Wednesday morning.

The Associated Press projected Youngkin as the Virginia governor’s race winner after midnight. According to election results, Youngkin obtained 1,677,436 votes. McAuliffe received 1,610,142 votes.

“While last night we came up short, I am proud that we spent this campaign fighting for the values we so deeply believe in. We must protect Virginia’s great public schools and invest in our students. We must protect affordable health care coverage, raise the minimum wage faster, and expand paid leave so working families have a fighting shot. We must protect voting rights, protect a woman’s right to choose, and, above all else, we must protect our democracy. While there will be setbacks along the way, I am confident that the long term path of Virginia is toward inclusion, openness and tolerance for all.”

Terry McAuliffe

McAuliffe extended his congratulations to Youngkin on his victory.

“Congratulations to Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin on his victory. I hope Virginians will join me in wishing the best to him and his family,” McAuliffe said in his statement.

The victory for Youngkin, a first-time candidate, could signal a shift in the commonwealth’s political landscape and lay out a plan for Republicans running in competitive states in the post-Trump era.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Source Article from https://www.wric.com/news/politics/local-election-hq/terry-mcauliffe-concedes-virginia-governors-race-to-glen-youngkin/

“Because of your actions, Mollie’s father, Rob, will never get to walk his only daughter down the aisle,” Ms. Calderwood said. “Because of your actions, Mr. Rivera, I will never get to see my daughter become a mother.”

Mr. Bahena Rivera, who is planning to appeal his conviction, did not speak at the sentencing. His lawyers also declined to comment.

In Iowa, a conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Lawyers for Mr. Bahena Rivera tried unsuccessfully to argue that someone else had committed the killing.

During his trial, The Des Moines Register reported, Mr. Bahena Rivera testified that two armed and masked men had confronted him in his home and had ordered him to drive them to Brooklyn, where one of them killed Ms. Tibbetts, put her body in his trunk and ordered him to drive to a cornfield.

Judge Joel D. Yates of the Eighth Judicial District rejected that defense during the sentencing.

“Mr. Bahena Rivera, you and you alone forever changed the lives of those who loved Mollie Tibbetts,” Judge Yates said.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/us/mollie-tibbets-murder-life-sentence.html