New analysis examines staff pay records from Biden's 35-year Senate career
Finds he paid women 67 cents on average for every dollar male staffers made
In some years, the pay for women dropped to less than half that of men
"Biden has bemoaned gender disparities in wages on the campaign trailIn his 35 years in the Senate, Biden paid full-time female staffers on average just 67 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, according to an analysis of Senate records by theWashington Free Beacon.""
Iranian civil rights activist Saba Kord Afshari has been sentenced to 24 years behind bars, including a 15-year term for taking off her hijab in public — an act that authorities say promoted “corruption and prostitution.”
Afshari, 20, was handed the sentence by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on Tuesday — after standing trial last week on charges of “spreading corruption and prostitution by taking off her hijab and walking without a veil,” “spreading propaganda against the state,” and “assembly and collusion,” the Iran Human Rights Monitor reported.
Her sentences were increased by one-half because of “numerous charges and previous records,” according to the report.
Both Afshari and her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, were involved in White Wednesday protests, in which girls and women remove their compulsory hijabs and reveal their hair in public, the Daily Mail reported.
The duo often posted videos of themselves walking around the capital city without their headscarves — in an effort to encourage other women to leave their hijabs at home, according to the report.
Enlarge ImageYasaman Aryani and Saba Kord Afshari (right)Twitter
Authorities allegedly pressured Afshari to make confessions on video — but she vehemently refused, according to the Monitor.
So the Intelligence Ministry took her mother into custody to further coerce her into making false confessions, according to the report.
Afshari was first arrested during a protest rally in early August last year, and ultimately ended up in the Evin women’s prison, the outlet reported.
After that arrest, Afshari, among other detainees, posted an online message about their experience and used a cellphone to call for help from inside a state security force van, according to the report.
Afshari was granted amnesty and released in February, with only two months left until the end of her sentence — an act that she and another activist said was only a spectacle by government officials, the outlet reported.
“When I saw the situation of prisons closely … I came to the conclusion that we in Iran only have the name of human rights,” Afshari told the women’s committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran at the time. “In fact, in Iran, there are no rights for humans, let alone respecting human rights in the prisons.”
After her release, she continued to protest against human rights abuses under the Iranian regime, and was arrested again in early June. She ended up back at the same prison.
Shima Babaii, Mojgan Lali and Shaghayegh Mahaki — also women’s rights activists — were jailed as well, according to the Daily Mail.
They face six years each for “association and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state.”
Actor Jeffrey Wright on Wednesday appeared to warn that when the political left in America “get the power” back from Republicans, “everybody else” should “fucking duck.”
“Message from the @GOP:” Jeffrey Wright began, “There are no principles — not ethical, moral, legal, constitutional, religious, spiritual — NONE. There’s only power. And when we get the power, everybody else fucking duck.”
There are no principles - not ethical, moral, legal, constitutional, religious, spiritual - NONE. There’s only power. And when we get the power, everybody else fucking duck.
Lesson for everybody else:
Get the power.
“Lesson for everybody else: Get the power,” the Westworld star’s message concluded. It came as former Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered remarks at the Justice Department on Wednesday about the conclusion of his election interference investigation.
“If we had confidence that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Robert Mueller said, Wednesday echoing the conclusions made in his 800-plus page report. “Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider. It would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no court resolution of the actual charge. So that was Justice Department policy. Those were the principles under which we operated.”
“And from them, we concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime,” Mueller said. “That is the office’s final position and we will not comment on any other conclusions or hypotheticals about the president.”
Indeed, Jeffrey Wright was merely among the many Hollywood celebrities who demandedthat Congress began to take steps to impeach President Donald Trump
“Robert Mueller shorter: Impeach. The process was designed for this,” Wright said on Wednesday, joining the chorus of Hollywood figures calling for Trump’s impeachment.
Hundreds of dead animals were bought from China, Vietnam and elsewhere for use in research on lab cats back home.
March 19, 2019, 5:30 AM PDT
By Dareh Gregorian
U.S. government scientists bought hundreds of dogs and cats from "Asian meat markets" and conducted experiments that included feeding their remains to healthy lab cats for needless research, according to a disturbing watchdog report being released Tuesday.
Other experiments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's lab in Maryland included feeding dog remains to cats and injecting cat remains into mice, the report by the White Coat Waste Project found. The group is a non-profit that combats wasteful government spending on animal testing.
"It's crazy," Jim Keen, a former USDA scientist, told NBC News, which obtained a copy of the report. "Cannibal cats, cats eating dogs — I don't see the logic."
The experiments — some of which the agency said in scientific reports were aimed at studying different forms of a parasite that causes the food-borne illness toxoplasmosis — are believed to have been conducted between 2003 and 2015. The animals that were euthanized to be used as lab food included over 400 dogs from Colombia, Brazil and Vietnam and over 100 cats from China and Ethiopia.
"Some of these cats and dogs were purchased by the government from the same Asian meat markets that the U.S. Congress roundly condemned in a House Resolution" last year, said the report by the WCW.
The group plans on releasing its findings, which were culled from the USDA's own research publications, in a report to Congress entitled, "USDA Kitten Cannibalism."
A feline purchased by the USDA facility in Maryland stands on a table in this undated photo obtained by a FOIA request. Felines, like the one shown, are used to breed kittens for taxoplasmosis experiments.WCW
The experiments were carried out at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service's Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. The facility was already under fire from some lawmakers for killing cats intentionally infected with T. Gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis.
"The details of these kitten experiments keep getting worse and they need to end now," said Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., the lead Republican co-sponsor of legislation aimed at stopping the cat killings.
"The fact that the USDA has been rounding up pets and other innocent dogs and cats in foreign countries —including at Chinese meat markets condemned by Congress — killing them and feeding them to lab cats back here in the States is simply disgusting and unjustifiable."
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., called the revelations "deeply disturbing."
"We can advance scientific discovery while treating animals humanely, and American taxpayers have every right to expect our government will meet that standard," he said in a statement, while urging passage of the legislation, entitled Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now — or KITTEN.
The agency has been breeding kittens at the lab since 1982, and feeding them raw meat to infect them with T. Gondii. Scientists harvest the parasites from their stool for two to three weeks, and then euthanize and incinerate the cats. Cats are used because they're the only host animal that produces parasite eggs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says toxoplasmosis is one of the leading causes of death from foodborne illnesses in the U.S. While over 40 million Americans are believed to carry the parasite without an issue, exposure can have "severe consequences" for people who are pregnant or have a compromised immune system.
Keen, who left the USDA after blowing the whistle on mistreatmentof livestock in Nebraska in 2015, said the Maryland experiments have helped combat toxoplasmosis, but that scientists there haven't had any major breakthroughs in about 20 years. He and WCW vice president of advocacy and public policy Justin Goodman contend that scientists can continue their work with the samples they already have, and don't need to keep infecting and killing kittens.
"They just don't need to do it anymore; it's scientifically unnecessary," Goodman said.
Keen was also at a loss to explain the scientific purpose of the "cannibal" experiments. The USDA is supposed to protect the food supply, but cats and dogs aren't part of the food chain in the United States.
"It's totally unrelated to the food safety mission," Keen said. "We shouldn't be paying for that as taxpayers."
Keen, who's now a private citizen, learned about the experiments while researching the Maryland lab's scientific publications. The publications said the dogs and cats were killed in Asia, South America and Africa, and then tissues from the animals were sent to Maryland.
Some of the publications detailed feeding tissue from cat hearts, brains and tongues to other cats. Others involved feeding the same parts of dogs to the lab cats, and in some cases, injecting the tissue from the infected cats into mice.
The studies conducted using animals from China said "the cats were killed humanely according to PRC laws for slaughtering of food animal (sic)." The WCW report calls that claim "concerning and deceptive," and pointed to the 2018 Congressional resolution condemning the Chinese facilities. The resolution said the treatment of dogs and cats in the Chinese facilities "would breach anti-cruelty laws in the United States."
The WCW report contends the experiments were needless.
"These were all abnormal diets for cats, dogs and mice so likely irrelevant to natural toxoplasmosis biology. Their scientific relevance and justification is questionable, at best, as is their relevance to American public health since we do not consume cats and dogs, and the practice is now outlawed in U.S.," the report says.
The USDA, which did not respond to requests for comment, has defended the cat testing in the past, calling it "life-saving research."
The WCW says almost 4,000 cats have been killed since the testing began, and that the experiments have cost taxpayers about $22 million to date.
Results of a seven-month investigation released on Wednesday confirmed "numerous instances of sexual harassment and other improper workplace conduct" in the Dallas Mavericks organization spanning more than 20 years.
The investigation, detailed in a 43-page report by investigators Anne Milgram and Evan Krutoy, essentially corroborated and expanded upon accounts brought to light in a Feb. 20 Sports Illustrated story and further detailed through reporting by The Dallas Morning News.
The investigation did not directly implicate Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, but cited several "significant errors of judgment." Cuban, due to what the investigation and the NBA termed "institutional and other failures," agreed to contribute $10 million to organizations committed to supporting the leadership and development of women and combating domestic violence.
The Mavericks organization was not levied any basketball-related penalties. Training camp starts Saturday for a much-anticipated 2018-19 season with rookie Luka Doncic and free-agent-signee center DeAndre Jordan.
Congressman's ex-girlfriend posts doctor's notes to corroborate abuse allegations
Rep. Keith Ellison addresses his campaign volunteers and supporters before sending them off on a door knocking campaign, Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, in Minneapolis. Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison said Friday he won’t abandon his campaign for attorney general amid allegations ...
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Wednesday, September 19, 2018
A 2017 medical document released Wednesday by Karen Monahan said she feared “retribution” if she revealed her allegations of abuse against her former boyfriend, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison.
Ms. Monahan posted the Minnesota clinic’s write-up from her visit to corroborate her accusations of physical and emotional abuse made public in August, which Mr. Ellison has denied.
“When I post this, it gets deleted every time,” she tweeted.
The document from the Park Nicollet clinic dated Nov. 28, 2017, said she was being treated for anemia and that she attributed it to the stress from her relationship with Mr. Ellison, which he has said ended in 2016.
“She states that she was in a very stressful environment for years, emotional and physical abuse by a partner with whom she is now separated,” said the clinic’s progress notes. “She did not have any physical injuries that required a physical examination in the past.”
The medical report continued, “She identifies the individual she was involved with as congressmen [sic] Ellison, and she is worried about retribution if she identifies him publicly.”
The release came after she tweeted Monday that she had provided medical records to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Laborer Party, which began investigating the charges last month.
Mr. Ellison, who is giving up his congressional seat to run for Minnesota attorney general, issued a statement last month confirming the relationship but denying that he abused Ms. Monahan, a Sierra Club organizer.
Democrats have stood behind Mr. Ellison, who serves as deputy DNC chairman, since she accused him last month of physical and emotional abuse during their two-year relationship.
The Democratic National Committee said initially it was “reviewing” the allegations, but DNC chairman Tom Perez later said he had deferred to the Minnesota DFL.
The allegations emerged after Ms. Monahan’s son Austin Monahan said in a Aug. 11 Facebook post that Mr. Ellisonhad put his mother through “pure hell” and said he had discovered a video of the congressman dragging his mother from bed and screaming at her.
Mr. Ellison has denied that the video exists, and Ms. Monahan has said she will not release the video.
“Karen and I were in a long-term relationship which ended in 2016, and I still care deeply for her well-being. This video does not exist because I never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false,” Mr. Ellison said in his Aug. 12 statement.
This file photo shows a sign is posted in front of a Taco Bell restaurant on February 22, 2018 in Novato, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Social media outrage was unleashed after a video showed a Taco Bell cashier in Hialeah, Florida, refusing to take a customer’s order in English.
What happened?
Customer Alexandria Montgomery was trying to place an order at a drive-thru through window at the Taco Bell store at 785 East Ninth St., when an employee told her she couldn’t take orders in English.
In the video, Montgomery asked the cashier if a manager is available.
“She is in her house sleeping,” the employee replied in Spanish.
“Honey, I have a car behind you,” the employee tells Montgomery in Spanish as she closes the drive-through window. “Can you move please? I have an order behind you. There is no one who speaks English.”
“This is Hialeah, I’m sorry,” she added in Spanish.
Two other Taco Bell employees in the story also did not try to help Montgomery.
“No more, papi,” the clerk said in Spanish to a man who was in the car with Montgomery. He was trying to argue that this is the United States.
Finally, the two drove off without ordering their food.
“This incident happened Wednesday night around 10:30 p.m. I contacted the manager and after explaining to her what happened all she did was apologize and say thank you and the call was disconnected,” Montgomery told el Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language publication.
Taco Bell Corp. told el Nuevo Herald that “this does not meet our customer service expectations.”
“We have worked quickly to resolve with the customer to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” a spokesperson for the fast food chain told the media outlet.
In a statement Taco Bell indicated “this individual no longer works for the brand,” the Miami Herald reported.
Montgomery told WTVJ-TV that the chain offered her a $100 gift card in exchange for her trouble.
“A gift card is not gonna just solve the problem, it’s not gonna give me justice,” she said. “Don’t try to like sweep it under the rug.”
Montgomery, a black woman, was supported by many people on social media who called the incident racist.
Hialeah is believed to have the largest Hispanic population in the U.S. An estimated 94 percent of residents consider themselves Hispanic or Latino, 2010 Census figures show.
Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.
The Goals of Communism
(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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