Friday, October 27, 2017

THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE ARE RECTANGULAR.


IN THE 1950's WHEN MY SCHOOL FRIENDS WERE STARTING TO SMOKE CIGARETTES, I SAID TOBACCO COULD CAUSE CANCER. THEY SCOFFED.

DECADES AGO, I SAID THAT IF THE WEST DIDN'T HELP PEOPLE IN UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES, THEY WOULD ONE DAY FIND WAYS TO COME TO OURS. 

I ALSO HAD DREAMS OF MANHATTAN DEEP UNDER WATER.


VOTING IS GOOD?


MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA - 2017

VOTING IS GOOD - IF THERE IS ANYONE WORTH VOTING FOR. RICH POLITICIANS DO "GOOD WORKS" AND USE THEM AS VASELINE TO SLIDE INTO POWER. ONCE IN POWER, THEY DON'T KNOW YOU. THEY DON'T DO JUSTICE. THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT JUSTICE IS NOT IN THEIR JURISDICTION.
 
IN FACT, IN MONTREAL, QUEBEC AND CANADA, JUSTICE IS IN NOBODY'S JURISDICTION.

CANDIDATE MARVIN ROTRAND WAS A STRONG SUPPORTER OF MICHAEL APPLEBAUM WHO WAS BRIEFLY JAILED FOR HIS CRIMES. WE, THE N.D.G. SPLINTERS, WERE WITNESSES LONG BEFORE THE LAW TOOK ACTION, BUT WE WERE NEVER CALLED TO TESTIFY.
 
MONTREAL MAYOR DENIS CODERRE POURED MILLIONS OF TONS OF RAW SEWAGE INTO THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.
 
SHOW ME ANY POLITICIAN WHO IS HELPING VICTIMS OF THE MONTREAL POLICE.
 
 
EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT
 
"MRS. CARTER'S RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED THREE TIMES."
MARLENE JENNINGS, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
 
 
ALMOST ALL POLITICIANS ARE THE SAME - OUT TO MAKE THEMSELVES MORE COMFORTABLE, RICHER MORE POWERFUL.
 
THROUGH DECADES OF EXPERIENCE, I HAVE LEARNED THAT CANDIDATES MAKE PROMISES THAT THEY NEVER KEEP. IF YOU ASK THEM FOR HELP, THEY SMILE AND SAY THAT THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING UNTIL THEY ARE ELECTED.
 
AFTER YOU HELP THEM GET ELECTED, THEY SMILE AND SAY, "YOUR RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED BUT JUSTICE IS NOT IN MY JURISDICTION." JUSTICE IS IN NOBODY'S JURISDICTION IN CANADA.
 
FORMER MONTREAL MAYOR MICHAEL APPLEBAUM
 

Thursday, October 26, 2017

THIS EXPLAINS THE PROBLEM


THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE
ARE RECTANGULAR.

SINCLAIR BROADCASTING - CONTROLLING THE NEWS


DEMOCRACY NOW
PBS
Excerpt – October 26, 2017

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Andy, before—could you explain, because—as a result of overturning this rule, all of these different stations, TV stations and radio stations, can be increasingly consolidated. Now, one of the companies under which these stations have been consolidated is Sinclair Broadcasting. But this media organization, very few people know about. So could you tell us about this broadcasting channel?
 
ANDY KROLL: Yeah. I like to say that Sinclair Broadcast Group is the most influential media organization that most Americans have never heard of. It owns nearly—owns or operates nearly 200 local TV stations around the country. It has a tremendous influence over the local news business.
 
And it marries that influence, that size, reaching into 40 percent of households right now, with a unabashed conservative and pro-Trump agenda. You see that in the kind of programming that Sinclair produces and sends out to its local stations. These are called "must-run segments." They take, you know, basically, a shamelessly pro-Trump message, repeating talking points of the administration's through its commentators, and putting that into the local news.
 
And as you mentioned earlier, Sinclair is eyeing a deal to acquire 42 new stations around the country, giving it a reach to almost three-quarters of American households. So this is a massive broadcast company, set to get even bigger. And it has a distinct conservative viewpoint that it is intent and bent on projecting out to the millions of people who watch its television channels.
 
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what you mean when you say "intent and bent on." Your headline of your piece, "Ready for Trump TV? Inside Sinclair Broadcasting's Plot to Take Over Your Local News." What are the edicts being handed down?
 
ANDY KROLL: Well, Sinclair is a pioneer in what's known as the "must-run segment." This is a segment that is produced by Sinclair's corporate headquarters here in the D.C. area and also in Maryland, that it produces, and then it sends out to its stations around the country—again, almost 200 of them—and says, "You are required to run this 90-second commentary or this two-minute editorial." That content, that is being distributed out around the country, has a very clear, unequivocal conservative, partisan bent to it and, frankly, a pro-Trump bent to it.
 
You know, the lead political analyst, if you could call it that, at Sinclair is a man named Boris Epshteyn, former Trump campaign aide and a former Trump White House aide, who left the administration and immediately went into this role at Sinclair. His segments are called "Bottom Line with Boris." They are distributed, and they are required to run every day at Sinclair stations. And these are basically Trump talking points. And, I mean, you can go on YouTube, you can watch all of his clips in a row. They are 100 percent toeing the Trump line. And if they're not that, they're softball interviews with Trump administration officials.
 
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I mean, of course, people might know who Boris Epshteyn is, because during the campaign he was one of his spokespeople, always interviewed on TV. This is one of Boris Epshteyn's recent commentaries.
 
BORIS EPSHTEYN: It is important to note that voter fraud goes beyond stealing or miscounting ballots. Intentionally improper voter registration is absolutely a type of voter fraud. The Commission on Election Integrity has gotten to work. … The extent of voter fraud in our elections has been hotly debated between the left and the right. The president's commission has been established to come up with a factual, impartial answer to that question. The states should do everything within their power to cooperate with the commission. And that's the bottom line.
AMY GOODMAN: And that is required by every station to run, Andy Kroll?

ANDY KROLL: Yes, that's right.

AMY GOODMAN: This is another clip from a Sinclair station, featuring former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka. The show was broadcast earlier this month.
 
SEBASTIAN GORKA: You do not make legislation out of outliers. Our big issue is black African gun crime against black Africans. It is a tragedy. Go to Chicago. Go to the cities run by Democrats for 40 years. Black young men are murdering each other by the bushel.
AMY GOODMAN: "By the bushel." That's former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka referring to "black African [gun] crime" on "black [Africans]," saying black men are killing each other "by the bushel." Andy Kroll?
 
ANDY KROLL: Sebastian Gorka, of course, another alumnus of the Trump White House, who, upon leaving, went immediately to Sinclair and is now a talking head at Sinclair. So you see this trend of Trump officials going to Sinclair Broadcast Group and then them being put on the airwaves and either pushing a completely crazy message, that Sebastian Gorka just did, on a segment that was supposed to be about guns in America—
 
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, I think "outright racist" is a very—
 
ANDY KROLL: Outright racist, yeah.
 
AMY GOODMAN: —more accurate way to describe it.
 
ANDY KROLL: Yeah, it's hard to find the words to describe what that was. You have Boris Epshteyn, as well. His segment, that we just listened to, is basically advocacy for the Trump administration in its deeply flawed, inept supposed commission on investigating voter fraud, which, of course, in most cases, doesn't exist.
 
So, you have this message, and you have stations around the country that, in a lot of cases, just want to do local news. But as they come under the Sinclair umbrella, they are being told by headquarters, "You will run these segments." In Boris Epshteyn's case, Sinclair doubled down and tripled the number of times that Boris Epshteyn was required to be run by its stations. And so, this is the progression we're seeing this year. So we're only seeing a more pro-Trump message, at the same time that Sinclair is looking to gobble up more stations and consolidate its control.
 
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, could you talk, Andy, about the founder of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, David Smith?
 
ANDY KROLL: Yeah. David Smith is a media mogul with an incredible amount of sway over what goes on on the local airwaves. He's not well known on the level of, say, a Rupert Murdoch, for instance, even though the two men would, I think, consider themselves contemporaries or competitors.
 
David Smith built a small family company that had three TV stations, starting in the mid-'80s. They were based out of Baltimore. And he—by finding ways around the law and taking advantage of ways that the law was changed—in this case, deregulated—in the past few decades, he has grown Sinclair into this conservative TV behemoth that it is today, and one that stands to get even bigger if the Tribune Media merger goes through.
 
David Smith, longtime donor to mostly Republicans, though Democrats, as well, who are in a position to help his company. And today, you know, he throws a party for a Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas. He travels in a, you know, elite, rarefied group of Republican supporters. He's even bragged about dining at the White House with the president. So he is right at the top of a Republican-industry-donor pyramid, if you will. But he has managed to avoid the amount of attention that, say, a Rupert Murdoch or some other international media moguls that we do of have attracted.
 
AMY GOODMAN: And the merging of Sinclair and Tribune? I mean, these are the smaller local stations that dot the United States, you know, crisscross the United States.
 
ANDY KROLL: That's right. The deal would give, again, 42 television stations from Sinclair—or from Tribune into Sinclair. It would add more of those dots on the map, as you mentioned. Right now, Sinclair has no presence in Colorado. This would give it a major presence in Colorado. But it would also bring stations in the three largest media markets in the country into the Sinclair company: New York, WPIX; KTLA in Los Angeles; and WGN, one of the most famous broadcast companies in America, in Chicago. So this would really seal Sinclair's position as the sort of dominant broadcast company—and, of course, given that many more tens of millions of people who would be potentially seeing Boris Epshteyn, Sebastian Gorka, potentially Bill O'Reilly.
 
AMY GOODMAN: Now, when we were talking about Sebastian Gorka, just to understand, as he's talking about black African violence here in the United States, who he is, the whole controversy around him wearing that pin at the inauguration, of the Vitézi Rend, the newspaper The Forward reporting members of the Vitézi Rend elite order confirmed Gorka took a lifelong oath of loyalty to the Hungarian far-right-wing group, listed by the U.S. State Department as having been under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany during World War II. I mean, just the significance of what is being required by these local stations to run all over the country?
 
ANDY KROLL: Yeah. And Gorka is—if you watch that clip, or the roundtable that that clip comes from, which is available on Sinclair's website, I mean, Sebastian Gorka is more or less given an open mic to say what he thinks about, in this case, quote-unquote, "guns in America." We see where he took that theme. But he was a foreign policy aide in the Trump White House. He was not a domestic policy expert. He was not someone working on the issue of guns, for all that we know. And yet he is just given this platform, as he has been on several other occasions with Sinclair.
 
The company seems to have no qualms, given the background that you describe, the fantastic reporting that The Forward has done on his past. They seem to have no problem giving him that platform, just as they reportedly seem to be considering an arrangement with Bill O'Reilly, someone who, as you mentioned, has settled sexual harassment claims for tens of millions of dollars when he was at Fox News, to the point that Fox fired him.
 
AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain that last part. What do you understand is the state of these negotiations? And have they been stopped by this latest news of his $32 million settlement with a Fox host for sexual harassment?
 
ANDY KROLL: What I've heard and what I've seen reported in the past week is that there are negotiations underway between Sinclair and O'Reilly around either—whether it would be bringing him in as a host or a commentator or some kind of arrangement or partnership between O'Reilly having his own—potentially his own program, his own platform, and Sinclair as the megaphone, if you will, projecting that program, projecting O'Reilly out, using its empire of stations. Now, Sinclair has denied that it is talking with O'Reilly, and has repeatedly done that, though the reporting, that doesn't go for the official comment from Sinclair, would suggest otherwise.
 
I will say that I, you know, have talked to people in and around Sinclair, and among the rank and file, if you will, there is kind of shock and disgust that—in light of O'Reilly's sexual harassment settlements and all the allegations at Fox, that Sinclair would be thinking about considering a partnership with him has a lot of people there upset, concerned about their futures, whether they want to work there if Bill O'Reilly joins the company in some capacity.

THAILAND'S KING BHUMIBOL - JAZZ MUSICIAN


Image result for king bhumibol musician

King Bhumibol played many instruments


http://cliffcartermrnostalgia.blogspot.com

THE KING OF THAILAND'S DEATH BRINGS DEEP GRIEF

CANADA - ABORIGINAL PEOPLE COMPLAIN


Aboriginal people file hundreds of human rights complaints.

DO THE NATIVE PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO COMPLAIN?

A FRIEND OF MINE INSISTS THAT THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE SOLD THEIR LAND AND HAVE ACCEPTED A LOT OF MONEY AND BENEFITS FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, MUCH OF WHICH HAS BEEN SQUANDERED AND STOLEN BY CHIEFS. I DON'T KNOW THE TRUTH, BUT A NATIVE MAN I ONCE MET TOLD ME IT WAS TRUE. THAT IS NOT "BIG RESEARCH". I ALWAYS WANT THE FACTS, THE TRUTH.

Phyllis Carter

162 complaints filed against First Nations governments, 150 filed against federal government

Chief Bryan LaForme of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, left, filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission because two young boys in his community with learning disabilities need special education, equipment and supervision at school.

Chief Bryan LaForme of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, left, filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission because two young boys in his community with learning disabilities need special education, equipment and supervision at school. (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada)              

Canadian Human Rights Commission

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has received more than 300 complaints from aboriginal people and First Nations groups since 2008, when legislation was changed to allow the commission to look at issues such as reserve housing and federal funding for reserve services.
 
"Aboriginal peoples, First Nations in particular, are looking at the Canadian Human Rights Commission as being a potential, as a catalyst for change of the living conditions on reserve," says David Langtry, the acting chief commissioner.
 
The Canadian Human Rights Act was amended in 2008 to include issues under the Indian Act, which had previously been excluded. The revised legislation applied immediately to the federal government, the commission says, while First Nations governments were given three years to prepare for the transition.
 
One of the complaints comes from the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, in southern Ontario, where two young boys with learning disabilities need special education, equipment and supervision at school.
 
The federal government provides a certain amount of money every year for education, but Chief Bryan LaForme says there's a ceiling, with no flexibility for unique cases.
 
"If we lived on the other side of the tracks, that would be open and our young people — the special ed students — there would be no issues as to cost. That would be provided by the province for those young people," LaForme says.
 
The chief filed a complaint about the issue with the commission and recently learned it's going to a tribunal.
 
"There was no other avenue to take our complaint to until the legislation was passed about human rights becoming effective for First Nations."
 
New obligations under act
 
Laforme says First Nations also need resources, such as legal expertise, to help them resolve allegations of discrimination now that local bands have obligations and accountability under the Human Rights Act.
 
Complaints summary
 
The commission says 162 complaints have been filed against First Nations governments:
 
47 of those complaints are undergoing further examination by the commission.
38 are in the early stages of the commission process.
77 have been closed.

The commission says 150 complaints have been filed against the federal government:
 
3 of those complaints are in the early stage of the commission process.
62 are under examination at the commission.
13 have been referred to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for adjudication.
72 have been closed.

Source: Canadian Human Rights Commission
 
Langtry said there are many issues facing First Nations, particularly on reserves, pointing to concerns about everything from access to clean water, health, education, policing and child welfare.
 
He has been told there "could be a great reluctance to make a complaint because that person has to continue to live in that community"
 
But complaints have been filed  - 162 against First Nations governments and 150 against the federal government.
 
One case involving the federal government was brought by the Assembly of First Nations and a child welfare group, who allege that funding for child welfare services on reserves is discriminatory because it's less than funding provided by provinces and territories for non-aboriginal children off-reserve.
 
In April, the Federal Court rejected the federal government's attempts to prevent First Nations groups from arguing for better funding for child welfare on reserves.
 
The federal government had tried to block the case, saying federal and provincial funding levels for services couldn't be compared.
 
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal initially sided with the government's view and dismissed the case. But the Federal Court disagreed and ordered the tribunal to hold a new hearing with a new panel.  The attorney general has appealed the Federal Court's ruling.

Related Stories

First Nations people now covered under rights act
Shacks and slop pails: infrastructure crisis on native reserves
Stop building junk on reserves, says Mike Holmes
First Nations housing in dire need of overhaul
 
With files from CBC's Alison Crawford and The Canadian Press 


THE REQUIREMENTS OF JUSTICE



JUSTICE DEMANDS 
THAT 
THE PUNISHMENT MUST FIT THE CRIME


WHEN MUSLIM EYES ARE SMILING?



WHEN MUSLIM EYES ARE SMILING?



THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ISLAMIST MASK - NIQAB, BURQA


THIS IS NOT ABOUT ANY GOD. IT IS POLITICAL. THE OBJECT IS TO IMPOSE, SPREAD AND ENFORCE THE POLITICAL WILL OF ISLAMIST EXTREMISTS.
 
I HAVE NO OBJECTION TO PEOPLE WEARING A HEAD SCARF OR A CROSS OR A SKULL CAP, OR A STAR OF DAVID, OR A TURBAN OR A BEARD. THOSE SYMBOLS ARE NOT THREATENING. BUT THIEVES AND BANDITS AND KILLERS COVER THEIR FACES SO THAT THEY CAN ATTACK AT ANY TIME AND ESCAPE UNRECOGNIZED.
 
WOMEN WHO COVER THEIR FACES PLAY INTO THE WILL OF THE EXTREMISTS WHO RAISE THEM FROM BIRTH TO OBEY MEN AND DO THEIR WILL WITHOUT QUESTION. "YOU ARE BORN A SLAVE AND YOU WILL ENJOY BEING A SLAVE".
 
I HAVE DISCUSSED THIS WITH MUSLIM MEN, SOME OF WHOM TELL ME THAT THEY DON'T WANT ANY OTHER MAN TO ENJOY THEIR PROPERTY AND OTHERS WHO TELL ME THEY OPPOSE THIS TYRANNICAL PRACTICE. ONE MUSLIM MAN TOLD ME YESTERDAY THAT HE HAS BEEN CRITICIZED BY ISLAMIST WOMEN WHO ASK IF HE IS GAY BECAUSE HE IS SPEAKS UP FOR WOMEN.
 
NO THINKING PERSON SHOULD ACCEPT THE TIDE OF ISLAMISTS WHO ARE DETERMINED TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD.
 
THIS IS NOT ABOUT MUSLIM PEOPLE. NO ONE SUFFERS MORE  BECAUSE OF THE CRIMES COMMITTED BY ISLAMIST TERRORISTS THAN MUSLIM PEOPLE. THIS IS ABOUT FANATICS WORKING EVERY ANGLE, INFILTRATING AND PRESSURING AND MANIPULATING FROM WITHIN.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2636321/hijab-niqab-burka-what-is-the-difference/

THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUTH


Here are some of the things I have learned about truth:
 
You can deny it, suppress it, distort it, try to discredit it, try to shame or intimidate or silence the one who tells it.
 
You can hide it under a pile of lies and deceptions. You can find associates who will help you smother it or heap dirt or ridicule on it.
 
You can shove it under a bushel basket and sit on it. But the truth about truth is that it is always true. And it will shine through.


Phyllis Carter



Wednesday, October 25, 2017

666 TRUMP TOWER - CHINA - THE MARK OF THE BEAST


TRUMP'S TOWER at 666 FIFTH AVENUE

In the very near future
, you will not be able to buy food without a "credit card" owned by the banks.


http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2017/10/23/vers-le-supermarche-sans-caisse



Revelation 13:16-18 

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, freeman and slave, to receive a mark on (or in*) his right hand or on (or in*) his forehead, so that no-one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom, if anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man and it's number is 666." Rev 13:16-18


Kushners May Get $400 Million From Chinese on Tower at 666 Fifth Avenue
 
A company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, stands to receive more than $400 million from a prominent Chinese company that is considering investing in the Kushners' marquee Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Ave.
 
The planned $4-billion transaction includes terms that some real estate experts consider unusually favorable for the Kushners. It would provide them with both a sizable cash payout from Anbang Insurance Group for a property that has struggled financially and an equity stake in a new partnership. 
 
The details of the agreement, which is being circulated to attract additional investors, were shared with Bloomberg. It would make business partners of Kushner Cos. and Anbang, whose murky links to the Chinese power structure have raised national security concerns over its U.S. investments. In the process, an existing mortgage owed by the Kushners will be slashed to about a fifth of its current amount.
 
The document offers a rare look at a major deal by a close Trump associate and family member. It's unclear whether the deal could prompt federal review, as occurred when Anbang bought other properties, like the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Anbang could also face review by the Chinese government, which has been clamping down on overseas investments and which has a range of pending issues with the Trump administration.
 
Controversial Visa Program
 
The proposed partnership is seeking additional participants through a controversial federal program known as EB-5, which is intended for economically distressed neighborhoods and provides residency permits to major foreign investors.
 
The deal would value the 41-story tower at $2.85 billion, the most ever for a single Manhattan building: $1.6 billion for the office section and $1.25 billion for the retail section. The new partnership will refinance $1.15 billion in existing mortgage debt.
 
"This is a huge, huge exit strategy for an office building," said Joshua Stein, a New York real estate lawyer. "It does sound like a home run of a transaction for Kushner and his group."
 
Scott A. Singer, president of the Singer & Bassuk Organization, said the terms struck him as "aggressive but not absurd," based on the net income and square footage metrics he was shown by Bloomberg. He said they were along the lines of what might be expected for a trophy asset at a prime location.
 
Conflict of Interest?
 
Kushner Cos. declined to discuss details of the plan or name the potential lenders or investors it is courting, saying the deal is not finalized. A company spokesman, James Yolles, said that Jared Kushner sold his ownership stake in 666 Fifth to family members so the transaction poses no conflict of interest with his White House role.
 
"Kushner Companies has taken significant steps to avoid potential conflicts and will continue to do so," Yolles said in a written statement.
 
Asked for comment, a White House spokeswoman said Kushner will recuse himself from any matter where his impartiality could be reasonably questioned, including an examination of the EB-5 program.

Some government ethics experts argue that the Kushner family and business are so close-knit that the steps Jared Kushner has taken do not go far enough. Also at issue: as-of-yet undisclosed lenders who are financing the project and the forgiveness of a portion of a $250 million loan which will allow the debt to be cleared for one-fifth of its value.
 
'Sweetheart Deal'
 
"At the very least, this raises serious questions about the appearance of a conflict that arises from the possibility that the Kushners are getting a sweetheart deal," said Larry Noble, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. "A classic way you influence people is by financially helping their family."
 
The transaction would allow the Kushner Cos.' investment in the tower to be salvaged by lenders and businesses that could have extensive dealings with the federal government, while also permitting the Kushners to buy back into the building's more lucrative retail spaces and maintain a 20 percent stake.
 
The deal would allow Vornado Realty Trust -- which is partnered with Trump in his two most valuable properties - to exit a troubled asset with a 10-fold payout on its stake in the building's offices and a doubling of its investment in its stores. It declined to discuss the deal.
 
Steven Roth, chairman of Vornado, co-chairs a committee dedicated to one of the new administration's signature campaign pledges: infrastructure investment. Vornado is the biggest property owner in the area surrounding Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station and could benefit from increased infrastructure spending.
 
Fears of Espionage
 
Anbang would pay a hefty price for both sections of the 666 Fifth Ave. project but score its first U.S. real estate investment of the year. The company's ties to the Chinese government are sufficiently unclear that former President Barack Obama declined to stay at the Waldorf after Anbang bought it because of fears of espionage. Now Anbang will be business partners with in-laws of the First Family.
 
An outside spokesman for Anbang, Tim Ragones, declined to comment on the deal terms but denied that the company's ownership structure is unclear. "Anbang is a highly transparent company that operates in accordance to the standards of public companies and strictly abides by applicable regulatory requirements," he said.
 
Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, has become something of a de facto envoy for the administration, and was present for a meeting between Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, and his father-in-law at the end of February. As one of the president's closest advisers, he could have input on a wide range of issues affecting China, from national security concerns and territorial disputes to trade matters and allegations of currency manipulation. There are discussions under way between China and the U.S. on a potential summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to take place as early as next month.
 
The refinancing agreement is the latest twist in the history of a building that was Jared Kushner's grandest conquest and nearly proved his downfall. In 2007, he purchased the tower for a then-record $1.8 billion. It was a move that signaled the company's intention to expand beyond its extensive holdings in suburban garden apartments to more prestigious urban properties. Then the financial crisis hit. Four years later, with the investment teetering near insolvency, Vornado swooped in, getting a 49.5 percent stake in exchange for an $80 million capital injection. It then took on more of the tower in 2012, purchasing the retail spaces at the building's base from Kushner and others for $707 million.
 
An unusual consideration in the refinancing plan is the proposal to pay off a part of the mortgage known as a "hope note," which was for $115 million when Kushner Cos refinanced its debt in 2011. The loan, which was made by Barclays Plc and has since been sold off to investors, is now valued at more than $250 million because of compounded interest. But according to the deal documents, the Kushners will settle the debt for just $50 million. The Kushners declined to discuss the agreement. LNR Partners LLC, which currently oversees the debt, declined to comment.
 
Anbang will pay for most of the building and take out a construction loan of more than $4 billion to convert the property's higher floors into luxury residential units. The Kushners have agreed to invest $750 million in the retail portion of the building and will end up with a one-fifth stake in a project that the deal document says would be valued at $7.2 billion when completed. In addition to the $400 million from Anbang, the Kushners will receive another $100 million from other investors.
 
The plan also relies on the government program known as EB-5, which grants two-year visas and a path to permanent residency to foreigners who invest a minimum of $500,000 in projects that create jobs in economically distressed areas.
 
Lax Vetting?
 
Supporters argue that the program, which is overwhelmingly used on deals involving Chinese investors, attracts foreign capital and creates jobs at no U.S. taxpayer cost. But some Homeland Security officials and the General Accounting Office have warned that lax vetting has threatened to turn the program into a mechanism for the government to sell visas to wealthy foreigners with no proven skills, paving the way for money laundering and compromising national security.
 
It has been used to finance high-profile developments in wealthy enclaves, however, including Brooklyn's Barclays Center and Hudson Yards. The deal for 666 Fifth Avenue, on one of the world's most expensive shopping strips, blocks from Trump Tower, would arguably be the toniest location for an EB-5 project yet. The $850 million in EB-5 funding sought in the refinancing plan for 666 Fifth Avenue would be the largest to date.
 
Congress is now considering whether to renew the program and adopt new restrictions to deter the misuse of the program. The White House will ultimately be involved in that decision.
 
(Corrects first paragraph to say Anbang considering investment in Manhattan tower.)
 
 
by David Kocieniewski  and Caleb Melby
March 13, 2017
 
https://bloomberg

Monday, October 23, 2017

THE HELL HOLE OF CANADA POST



"
CANADA POST" NO LONGER BELONGS TO THE CANADIAN PEOPLE. 

CANADA POST DOES NOT DELIVER TO THE ELDERLY OR THE HANDICAPPED. YOU MUST USE FEDEX OR PUROLATER.


IF YOU WANT TO SEND A PACKAGE TO AN ELDERLY OR HANDICAPPED PERSON, DO NOT USE CANADA POST. 

MY SON SPENT HOURS ON THE PHONE AND INTERNET ARRANGING FOR DELIVERY OF SOME EQUIPMENT I NEED. 

I WAS TO RECEIVE THE PACKAGE ON THURSDAY OR FRIDAY OF LAST WEEK AT MY APARTMENT IN MONTREAL. THE SENDER WAS TOLD SPECIFICALLY - SEVERAL TIMES - NOT TO DELIVER ON WEDNESDAY AS I WOULD BE IN HOSPITAL THAT DAY.

CANADA POST LEFT A NOTICE FOR ME IN MY APARTMENT BUILDING MAILBOX ON WEDNESDAY - WHEN I WAS IN HOSPITAL - SAYING THE PARCEL IS AT THE POST OFFICE AND I CAN PICK IT UP THERE. 


SEVERAL PHONE CALLS TO CANADA POST WERE FRUITLESS. THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU CAN'T WALK, THEY WILL NOT DELIVER. 

EVEN IF I COULD LIMP ALONG FROM A TAXI INTO THE POST OFFICE USING MY WALKER, I COULD NOT CARRY A PARCEL. BUT CANADA POST WILL NOT DELIVER.

SO I SPENT HOURS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET MY PARCEL. 

CANADA POST WILL TURN IT OVER TO A THIRD PARTY ONLY IF THE PERSON CAN PROVE THAT HE/SHE LIVES AT MY ADDRESS AND HAS RECEIVED MAIL AT MY ADDRESS. I HAVE NO THIRD PARTY LIVING WITH ME AND NO ONE GETS MAIL HERE BUT ME.

A HANDWRITTEN LETTER FROM ME WILL NOT DO. MY MEDICARE CARD WITH PHOTO WILL NOT DO. 

IN FACT, I CANNOT PICK UP MY OWN PARCEL MYSELF BECAUSE THE SENDER PUT IT IN MY SON'S NAME AT MY ADDRESS - AND HE LIVES IN ONTARIO. 

FURTHERMORE, IF MY SON TAKES A DAY OFF WORK AND COMES TO MONTREAL TO PICK UP THE PARCEL, HE WON'T BE ABLE TO GET IT - EVEN THOUGH IT IS IN HIS NAME - BECAUSE HE DOES NOT LIVE AT MY ADDRESS. 

IF YOUR PARCEL FALLS INTO THE HELL HOLE OF CANADA POST, TRY TO SURVIVE ANYWAY.

LUNATICS MURDER FOR THEIR IMAGINARY GODS

  • The bodies of 40 of those fighters and two of their wives were found in two buildings and a mosque in the battle zone.

    WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE! LUNATICS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE MURDERING, BUTCHERING, INFLICTING AGONY ON INNOCENT CHILDREN, PRETENDING TO REPRESENT SOME GOD THEY HAVE INVENTED IN THEIR SICK BRAINS. THEIR ONLY GODS ARE GREED, HATE, IGNORANCE AND CRUELTY.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

THIS IS THE WORK OF THE SAUDI PRINCES



Related image


DONALD TRUMP DOES A SWORD DANCE WITH THE SAUDIS WHILE THEY BOMB YEMINI CHILDREN

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2017/07/trump-does-saudi-sword-dance-while.html

STARVING IN YEMEN - THANKS TO THE SAUDIS


Image result for starving in yemen

ASSAD'S CRIMES - UNBEARABLE SUFFERING AS CHILDREN STARVE


One-month-old Sahar, her ribs protruding under translucent skin, breathed her last on Sunday in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, where a crushing regime siege has pushed hundreds of children to the brink of starvation.
Only a trickle of humanitarian aid ever reaches this rebel-held region east of Damascus, under a tight blockade by Assad regime forces since 2013.
Eastern Ghouta is one of four "de-escalation zones" set up in May under a deal between backers of rival sides in Syria's devastating six-year war.
But food supplies still rarely enter the region, where medical officials say hundreds of children are suffering acute malnutrition.
On Saturday, the parents of Sahar Dofdaa, just 34 days old, took her to a hospital in the Eastern Ghouta town of Hamouria.
Images filmed by a reporter working with AFP showed a wide-eyed girl with listless eyes and little but skin on her bones.
She tried to cry but lacked the strength to make much of a noise. Her young mother sobbed nearby.
Her skeletal thighs poked out of a nappy way over her size. Placed on the scales, she weighed less than two kilogrammes (just over 4 pounds).
Like hundreds of children in Ghouta, Sahar was suffering from acute malnutrition.
Her mother was too undernourished to breastfeed her and her father, earning a pittance at a butcher's shop, was unable to afford milk and supplements.
Sahar died at the hospital on Sunday morning and her parents took her -- their only child -- to their nearby town of Kafr Batna to bury her.
Her death came after another child in Ghouta also died of malnutrition on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"Residents suffer from severe food shortages, and when goods are available in the markets, it's at a crazy price," the Observatory said.
- Ghostly faces -
Medics at hospitals and health clinics in Eastern Ghouta say they examine dozens of malnourished children a day -- and that the number is on the rise.
A Syrian child suffering from severe malnutrition is weighed at a clinic in the rebel-held town of Hamouria in the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, on October 21, 2017
A Syrian child suffering from severe malnutrition is weighed at a clinic in the rebel-held town of Hamouria in the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, on October 21, 2017
Images taken by an AFP correspondent show skeletal infants with ghostly faces.
One has breathing difficulties, another has a feeding tube in its mouth and a third has a bandage wrapped around his tiny arm.
Yahya Abu Yahya, doctor and regional head of medical services for Turkish NGO Social Development International, which has several medical centres in Ghouta, said the group's centres had examined 9,700 children in recent months.
"Of these, 80 were suffering severe acute malnutrition, 200 had moderate acute malnutrition, and about 4000 were suffering from nutritional deficiencies," he said.
The UN children's fund UNICEF defines "severe acute malnutrition" as the most extreme and visible form of undernutrition.
"Its face is a child -- frail and skeletal -- who requires urgent treatment to survive," it says.
Abu Yahya said that many children in Eastern Ghouta are suffering from "deficiencies, migraines, vision problems, depression, psychological problems".
According to UN figures, some 400,000 people live in besieged parts of Syria, the majority in Eastern Ghouta.
Despite agreement on de-escalation zones backed by regime supporters Russia and Iran and rebel sponsor Turkey, the region still has very limited access to aid.
Abu Yahya said the region was not receiving basic foods children need, such as sugar, sources of protein and vitamins.
On September 23, a convoy carrying food and medical aid for some 25,000 people entered three besieged areas of Eastern Ghouta, according to the UN.
But Abu Yahya said what aid does reach the region covers just five to 10 percent of the needs of malnourished children.
Sahar was the latest victim of Eastern Ghouta's food crisis.
On Sunday, her father carried the tiny child to her grave. Behind him, relatives walked with Sahar's mother, nearly collapsing with grief.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

BIZARRE CRIME IN KASHMIR

Kashmir gripped by fear of 'braid-chopper'

Psychologists say braid-chopper who reportedly targets women is figment of imagination of people struck by conflict
Kashmir gripped by fear of 'braid-chopper'
FILE PHOT

By Zahid Rafiq 
SRINAGAR, Jammu Kashmir
On Friday morning, a mob of more than a hundred people caught hold of a mentally challenged man in northern Jammu Kashmir's Sopore town.
They stripped him, thrashed him, and built a fire in a paddy field.
As the mob chanted, "Kill him, push him into the fire", the young man tried to beg his way out.
The man, who was later identified as Wasim Ahmed, after videos of the incident went viral on social media, became another victim of the growing incidents of mob violence, in a region where rumors are rife about the presence of a mysterious braid-chopper.
Harmeet Singh, the district police chief, said: "We rushed to the spot as soon as we heard of the incident and we rescued the young mentally challenged man from the people."
"He always used to wander around the streets but today the people suspected him of being a braid-chopper," he added.
In the past month, the braid-choppers have allegedly attacked 110 women, in the disputed region, and cut their hair. Almost all the incidents have taken place while the women were at home, and the cut hair have been left at the crime scene.

'He grabbed me'

Tasleema Jan, one such victim of the braid-cutting incidents, told Anadolu Agency: "I had gone to the attic upstairs to bring my son's uniform and I saw a shadow flit behind me."
"I tried to walk down quietly, to tell my husband and son and the neighbors to check our attic but as soon as I put my foot down on the first plank of the stairs, he grabbed me," said Jan, who is in her forties.
She said that attacker strangled her with her son's school tie and when she tried to rip off his black mask, he sprayed something on her face and she passed out.
"My husband and son resuscitated me after 10-15 minutes and my hair had been cut into pieces. I used to have hair this long," Jan said, pointing to her lower back.
Tasleema was the seventh woman to be attacked by the braid-chopper in the Batamaloo neighborhood of the capital Srinagar.
As she narrates her ordeal, an announcement crackles from a mosque loudspeaker asking people to remain vigilant of the braid-choppers.
Outside her house in the narrow lane, a few young men sit on a pavement saying they are part of the neighborhood's vigilante group to protect the dignity of the women and to nab the braid-chopper. 

Neighborhood vigilante groups

"The braid chopper had a close shave last night. He was there at the window of the area president's house and he sprayed something at his daughter but we spotted him right at the moment and he ran away, jumping off the two-story house," says Shahid Rasool, a vigilante in his twenties.
Over the past few months, the incidents have become part of everyday conversation, and detailed descriptions of the braid-chopper have emerged.
The braid chopper, according to the locals, is extremely agile and walks in spring-fitted shoes that allow him to scale not only walls but also houses. He carries with him a spray that knocks down people. Anesthesiologists in the region deny knowledge of any such canned sprays that can make people unconscious.
"I have no knowledge about the existence of any such spray but as an anesthesiologist I can confirm to you that administering anesthesia is serious business and if there is an overdose the person can die," Khalid Feroz, an anesthesiologist, told Anadolu Agency.
He said, so far, there have been no casualties in these reported attacks, or even injuries, due to people falling after losing consciousness.
The doctors believe that there are essentially no braid choppers and blame the whole situation on overwhelming stress and trauma in the region, where conflict has killed more than 70,000 people since 1989 as India and Pakistan fight for control.
India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region. Last year, hundreds of thousands of people came out in open rebellion against the Indian rule in the region, which responded by killing more than 100 civilians, wounding over 15,000 and arresting 15,000 people.

 Mental health crisis

"It is a classic case of dissociative disorder and all the doctors know it. There is a mental health crisis in this place with such a long and unending conflict and then the oppression within the society that puts extreme pressure on the women," a senior psychiatrist told Anadolu Agency on the condition of anonymity.
"But what is surprising is that the government instead of coming out and calling it disassociate disorder, which they knew after the first six cases, announced a prize money of $9,000, further feeding this fire instead of quelling it. As a psychiatrist I can explain everything except the government's response," he said.
The psychiatrists refuse to speak on record saying they do not want to become easy targets for a government that is "up to sinister games" and a people "driven to frenzy with fear".
Many locals blame the Indian agencies for the braid-chopping attacks, seeing it as a part of India's psychological operation against Kashmiris.
The separatist leaders of the region responded to the incidents by calling for shutdowns and anti-India protests.
"This government has deep intelligence networks and overwhelming presence in Kashmir and yet they are unable to catch a single culprit. That is why the people are angry, because they are under attack. The dignity of our women is under attack. It seems that the Indian agencies are involved in all this," senior Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told Anadolu Agency.
The police officially say that they are investigating the incidents and have so far made no arrests. 

Police looking for clues

"Whenever someone commits a crime, he or she leaves behind some evidence in the form of footprints or fingerprints but in these cases, we are still looking for clues," Munir Khan, the Kashmir police chief, told journalists on Friday.
Off the record however, police say they are sure after preliminary investigations that there are no braid-choppers.
In the region, trust in the police, which is seen as an extension of the Indian state, is scarce.
Taking justice into their own hands, angry mobs have attacked innocent civilians, even killing one.
A 70-year-old man in south Kashmir was killed earlier this month when his neighbor suspecting him of being a braid-chopper struck him on the head with a rock. A young crossdresser was caught and beaten by a mob in Srinagar; two middle-aged tailors out to receive cloth from a customer were stripped and bludgeoned; a young man was hung upside down from a tree after being severely beaten. Dozens of other incidents of mob violence have been reported.
The legend of the braid-chopper meanwhile grows and anger gathers people into mobs -- their ire falling on common civilians.