Month: January 2018

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Investigators: Pulse Nightclub Shooter’s Wife Knew Husband Was Planning Islamist Attack

The wife of the Pulse nightclub shooter, Omar Mateen, knew her husband was “going to do something bad” in the hours before he carried out his deadly attack, investigators have revealed.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, was aware that her husband was planning something “bad” just hours before he opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016, killing 49 people and injuring at least 68 others.

“I knew on Saturday when Omar left the house about 5 p.m. that this was the time that he was going to do something bad. I knew this because of the way he left and took the gun and backpack with ammunition,” Salman reportedly said in a statement.

“I knew later, when I could not get ahold of him that my fears had come true and he did what he said he was going to do,” she reportedly continued. “I was in denial and I could not believe that the father of my child was going to hurt other people.”

She also allegedly revealed to investigators that Mateen had become obsessed with violence in the Middle East and was watching numerous Islamic State (ISIS) recruitment videos and that the couple even drove around the Pulse nightclub a week before the massacre took place.

“How upset are people going to be when it gets attacked?” Mateen said, according to Salman’s statement, while she claimed she “knew he was talking about himself doing the attack on the Pulse.”

Salman will face trial in March for providing material support to a terrorist group and obstruction of justice. Defence lawyers for Salman are currently trying to exclude her statements to the FBI as evidence in the trial on grounds that they were coerced by authorities.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

via Breitbart News

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Buffalo News Columnist Angers Fans With Screw the Bills, Fight Dictator Trump Piece

In a sorry-assed season ruined by many due to spoiled ingrate multimillionaire athletes disrespecting the country and the military but kneeling during the national anthem, Buffalo fans had a rare beacon of holiday joy when their long-suffering team managed to make the playoffs.

It was the first time in seventeen years the woebegone Bills even had a sniff of the postseason.

It took a lot of luck and an epic late-game collapse by the Baltimore Ravens, but the Bills are a part of the postseason elimination tournament this year although it’s unlikely that they will stick around for very long even if they manage to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

Whatever bitterness that may have lingered with many in Buffalo has been washed away like the sores of lepers frolicking in the healing waters at Lourdes after Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s fourth-down miracle pass resulted in a touchdown and punched Buffalo’s ticket.

The team was so grateful that they sent 1,400 chicken wings to the Bengals, they should have just sent them to the Ravens instead considering their great choke job.

There is one Buffalo resident who wants none of it though, a liberal columnist for the Buffalo News has told fans to screw the Bills and spend their time devoting their efforts to waging the resistance against dictatorial President Trump.

Rod Watson vents his spleen in the Buffalo News in his screed entitled “Rod Watson: Playoff game? Please don’t tell me any more about it”:

Does the phrase “Get a life!” mean anything around here?

I could put up with it Sunday night. After all, the combination of the stunning end to the Bengals-Ravens game and the Bills’ “must win” win was a nice conversation starter.

I wasn’t even averse to rehashing it on Monday, since it was New Year’s Day and nothing else much was happening.

But all week long? I’m sick of it already.

We can’t possibly be so psychologically pathetic that having a football team make the playoffs for the first time in 18 seasons becomes the most important thing in town.

Or are we?

AND

In the meantime, what’s going on in the real world?

We have a president well on his way to becoming America’s first dictator, while he and “rocket man” threaten to blow up the planet. We have environmental and civil rights protections being shredded, agency heads neutering their agencies and a tax bill that expands the massive gap between the haves and have-nots.

We have Albany bracing for trials of former officials and contractors that will lay bare the buying and selling of state government.

And we have a school system that, despite glimmers of hope and change, still graduates too few and fails too many.

But is anybody rallying, partying or waving banners about any of that? No, it’s all Bills, all the time.

Buffalo needs help. At the inevitable watch parties, we should use halftime for mass therapy sessions to reaffirm what should be obvious: There are things more important than Tyrod Taylor’s quarterback rating. A city with Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan masterpieces, Underground Railroad sites and a burgeoning medical campus should not have to fixate on LeSean McCoy’s all-purpose yardage.

Of course making the playoffs is a plus; all I’m asking for is a little perspective.

It’s enough to cause mixed emotions in the non-hysterical part of the population. Sure, a wild-card win over the Jaguars on Sunday would be nice.

On the other hand, I don’t think I could put up with another week of 24/7 hype. It’s already gotten on my last nerve.

Go (away) Bills!

Being the loyal and avid bunch that they are, Bills fans quickly took to Twitter and let’s say that they were not particularly thrilled with Watson’s explosion of Trump Derangement Syndrome induced diarrhea.

The Bills will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, many will ignore Watson’s temper tantrums but many more won’t be wasting their time because this is the exact attitude that the dipshits who ruined the season with their idiotic protests have.

BOYCOTT!

 

via Downtrend.com

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Watch: Nikki Haley just put Iran on notice and told the world where the U.S. stands on Iran protests

Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, put the United Nations and Iran on notice Friday during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

What did she say?

Haley, who is becoming known for her firebrand U.N. speeches, told her U.N. colleagues the U.S. unequivocally supports protesters in Iran, who have been protesting for more than a week for their freedom. She also blasted other U.N. member states whose human rights records are less-than-stellar.

“The world should applaud their courage. The voices of the Iranian people should be heard,” Haley said, adding:

We have debated the proper role of human rights in the Security Council. Some of our colleagues believe that human rights have no place here. They believe human rights and fundamental freedoms are the business only of the governments that control them.

The United States does not share that belief. Human rights are not the gift of governments. They are the inalienable right of the people themselves. Freedom and human dignity cannot be separated from peace and security. When the rights of the people are denied, the people rightly resist. If the concerns are not acknowledged, then peace and security are inevitably threatened.

Haley went on to destroy the Iranian regime, denouncing their involvement in the Syrian civil war and supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. She also rebuked the Islamic Republic for supporting militias in Iraq, the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, protecting the Iranian elite class while most others face some form of poverty and the country’s human rights abuses.

“Today the people of Iran are speaking to their government, and their message is undeniable: Stop the support for terrorism. Stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators. Stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars. Think of us,” Haley stated.

“They are acting of their own will, on their own behalf, for their own future. Nothing will stop Americans from standing in solidarity with them,” she explained.

“And let there be no doubt whatsoever: the United States stands unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation. We will not be quiet. No dishonest attempt to call the protestors, ‘puppets of foreign powers,’ will change that. The Iranian people know the truth. And we know the truth,” Haley added.

Watch Haley’s speech here:

What’s going on in Iran?

Citizens in dozens of Iranian cities have taken to their streets in a rare display of opposition to their strict Islamic government. They are demanding the removal of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and calling for the death of Iran’s anti-Western government.

via TheBlaze.com – Stories

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Uh oh, that tax bill ‘Armageddon’ Nancy Pelosi warned about is kicking in!

**Written by Doug Powers

Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats went full-blown apocalypse NOW when trying to convince everybody that the GOP tax bill was a planet-destroyer:

Pelosi called the tax bill “Armageddon” and the “end of the world”:

*****

You’ll be not so frightened to know that the “Armageddon” Pelosi warned was going to destroy the middle class is underway:

Additional “Armageddon”:

The horror!

When blue state Dems say the tax bill is frightening, they mean that in the “now I’m going to have to explain to my wealthier constituents why our state taxes are so incredibly high” kind of way:

The Trump administration may try to block potential plans by high-tax states including New York and California to shield residents from state and local tax break changes, according to White House economic adviser Gary Cohn.

“I understand what they’re trying to do for their cities and their states and their taxpayers,” said Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, during a Bloomberg Television interview Friday. “We at the federal government still have to collect revenue.”

The tax bill signed by President Donald Trump on Dec. 22 sets a new $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions for federal income taxes starting on Jan. 1. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this week said that the new cap was an act of “economic civil war,” and promised to fight back by suing the federal government and by changing the state’s tax code to shelter residents from the loss.

Buried lede: Dems who always say the rich don’t pay their fair share fight to keep the rich in their home states from paying higher taxes. This all might be “Armageddon,” but only when it comes to blowing the lid off Dem hypocrisy.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe





via MichelleMalkin.com

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Portland To Spend $29 Million On Luxury Condos For The Poor

In its never ending wisdom and good stewardship of the public purse, Portland has decided to spend $29 Million dollars on a 60-unit luxury condo building in the heart of the city’s upscale Pearl District. That comes to $483,333 per unit. For a condo. In an area where there is no parking. With the public on the hook for most of it.

In standard Portland operating procedure, it will please the greenies, by using an “innovative wood product called cross-laminated timber, or CLT, instead of steel and concrete.” Even more Portland-y, it will be called Framework and some organization called “Project^” is involved. Yes, Project^ is the name. With a “^”.

Courtesy of Willamette Week:

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced Nov. 7 he wants to use public housing dollars to build an 11-story building with an innovative design.

The building would be the nation’s tallest made of wood and serve as a public relations boon for the timber industry, but it’s also attracting critics because it would be far more expensive to build than a traditional concrete and steel structure.

“This might be a good project if we were not in a housing emergency,” says Jo Ann Hardesty, a candidate for the Portland City Council. “I’m just concerned we get distracted by the shiny new object.”

As Wheeler prepared to take office in fall 2016, he pledged to slash the high price the city pays to build affordable housing.

At the time, WW reported that city-subsidized apartments cost up to $514 per square foot to purchase and renovate—more than double the rate of constructing market-rate housing.

Wheeler’s response to that story was decisive.

“We have to reduce costs and get more supply on the market as quickly as possible,” Wheeler told WW then. “You can’t just declare a housing emergency and keep doing the same thing.”

But a year later, Wheeler’s choice for Portland’s next affordable housing project comes with a even higher price tag: $651.43 per square foot.

The city will chip in $6 million in urban renewal funds toward the nearly $29 million project. Another $19.5 million will come from other government sources—Home Forward and the federal low-income housing tax credit program—and $1.5 million from private investment and other public grants.

Meanwhile, the City Council hasn’t been given a chance to vote on the funding of Framework with city dollars. Instead, Wheeler acted alone.

In response to criticism last summer of the sluggish pace of city-funded housing projects, Wheeler relaunched a program called Fast Starts, in which developers with shovel-ready projects could apply for funding. The City Council voted to approve the Fast Starts, but Wheeler has picked Framework as the first project.

The Oregonian adds:

Chief cuck, err, Portland Mayor, Ted Wheeler

Last year, the median family income in the Portland metro area was $74,700 for a family of four or $52,290 for an individual.

Local housing authority Home Forward will contribute about $6.5 million, including grant money and fees the group will earn for development, according to Home Forward spokesman Tim Collier. About $10.6 million will come from federal tax credits, and building developer Project^ —pronounced “project”—will spend about $1.2 million.

“That’s like paying for a Toyota and getting a Tesla in return,” Wheeler wrote Thursday.

Wheeler wrote that leveraging private and other public resources is “essential” for creating affordable housing that lasts.

Investing in high-quality materials upfront will help ensure that the apartments affordable for 99 years as intended, he wrote.

“Less maintenance and repair over time translates into lower rents throughout the life of the building,” Wheeler wrote.

He noted the project’s numerous architectural awards including the Portland Design Commission Excellence Award and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Tall Wood Building Prize.

So in Ted Wheeler’s world, somehow paying more than market value for something is akin to getting a good deal?

The city’s website has a page dedicated to the project:

“We are pleased to be part of the mayor’s comprehensive efforts toward providing affordable housing to an underserved community of residents in Portland,” said Anyeley Hallova, developer, project^. “Our proud commitment to social equity and economic opportunity in urban and rural Oregon is being cosigned by a powerhouse alliance of like-minded organizations whose focus is on energy efficiency, conservation, building innovations, rural economic development, sustainable forestry, transit-oriented development, and affordable housing.” 

“We need more affordable units today and additional tools to address our community’s long-term needs. As a public agency, we have a responsibility to help create more options to develop affordable housing that’s seismically safer, more efficient and more sustainable. We’re thrilled to be a part of this innovation for our industry” said Michael Buonocore, Executive Director, Home Forward.

Framework is an award-winning project nationally and locally in recognition of its innovative, sustainable design, and pioneering research. The project recently received an acknowledgment prize for North America from the LafargeHolcim Foundation, considered the world’s most significant competition in sustainable design and scooped the national U.S. Tall Wood Buildingprize of $1.5 million from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Softwood Lumber Board, and Binational Softwood Lumber Council to fund the research necessary to utilize wood products in high-rise construction.

The Framework Project is represented by a collective of strong industry expertise that will drive the project’s success and will promote the use of wood technologies in future tall building developments. The group includes, in addition to project^ and Home Forward, LEVER Architecture, Walsh Construction Co., KPFF Consulting Engineers, ARUP, PAE Consulting Engineers, 2.ink Studio, and StructureCraft Builders Inc. For additional information, http://ift.tt/2qxXSpE.

The current number of homeless in Portland is estimated to be about 4,200, with about 2,500 of them in shelter beds on any given night, leaving about 1,700 out in the streets. At the rate of the Framework project, Portland will be able to solve the homelessness issue with about $2,029,998,600 total. That’s over $2 Billion.

The average price of a house in Portland is $380,000, and I’m sure those are a lot bigger than the 660 square foot condos of Framework. The city could literally buy 60 houses and save $6 Million from the cost of Framework.

Also keep in mind this $29 Million is just the starting estimate. If this is anything like the OHSU tram, which went from a projected $15 Million to north of $55 Million, or the sewer treatment plant that went from $8 Million to over $12 Million and also kills birds, or the paperless billing system that was designed under the guise of cutting costs but ended up costing $3 Million more than projected, or the Sellwood Bridge project that went from $290 Million to $325 Million and required emergency city bonds and federal grants in order to complete, then the taxpayers and businesses better get ready to pony up the difference for Wheeler’s pet project.

But who wants to be a taxpayer when they can live better on the dole with “free” luxury condos?

The post Portland To Spend $29 Million On Luxury Condos For The Poor appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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How will Kim Jong-un explain to his people about his new friends in South Korea?

This is essentially the polar opposite of one of the more popular memes you’ve probably seen on Twitter: Well, that de-escalated quickly.

It’s only been a couple of days since the two Koreas reestablished their hotline between the leaders and sent someone to start dusting off the furniture at the “peace village” in Panmunjom. But in that short time, meetings have been scheduled and calls have taken place. Word on the street has it that Kim’s representative to the International Olympic Committee is either on his way to or already in Switzerland to hammer out the final details and waivers allowing the North Korean athletes to compete after having missed all the deadlines to register. It’s almost entirely symbolic of course, but in a situation such as this, symbolism can be massively important.

North Korea’s Olympic representative said Saturday the reclusive nation was “likely to participate” in next month’s Winter Games in South Korea, Kyodo news agency reported, in the latest sign of a thaw in tensions on the peninsula.

The comments by Chang Ung, Pyongyang’s representative to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), come a day after the North and South agreed to hold rare talks next week and follow Seoul and Washington’s announcement that they would postpone joint military exercises that rile North Korea.

The Japanese news agency said Chang made the brief comment to reporters during a stopover at Beijing’s international airport.

Kyodo said Chang was believed to be traveling to Switzerland, where the IOC is based, quoting unnamed sources as saying the trip may be aimed at meeting the committee to discuss the North’s potential participation in the Games at Pyeongchang.

The actual “delegation” of athletes looks to be on the small side. The Daily Beasts reports that the only competitors who may be ready and able to go are a pair of figure skaters. But there will doubtless be other government observers. No doubt, the North Korean people will not get to watch their skaters compete for the Gold, primarily because almost nobody in the country owns a television, nor do they have electricity to power one if they did. They won’t be checking it out on their cell phones either and the internet isn’t allowed. In the end, those with a place to go watch state television will probably just have that one news anchor lady telling them that the North Korean team either won (whether they did or not) or blaming the corrupt western judges for failing to recognize them.

Still, it’s likely to be seen as progress of a sort in the international community. Whether it’s because of Donald Trump, despite him or nothing to do with him, plenty of countries are eager at this point to see a path forward that doesn’t include any nukes going off. But that leaves us with another question. What does Kim Jong-un tell his people during his first address to the nation after the games are over? He and his family have been feeding them a steady diet of disinformation for years, drilling it into them that the United States is an evil empire out to destroy them and the government of South Korea is nothing more than our willing puppets, constantly plotting against them.

How does he explain that suddenly they’re really not such a bad bunch and they might as well get together and do some figure skating and find a way to be peaceful neighbors? Sure, he can initially spin it as the South having “caved” to the North’s superior power, but if relations do actually normalize, won’t Kimi have to begin allowing some of his citizens out of the bubble sooner or later? What happens when they get access to mass media and the internet, and begin realizing how badly they’ve been kept in the dark and misinformed for all these years? Rocket Man might have a whole new set of problems on his hands and they wouldn’t be coming from the United States.

The post How will Kim Jong-un explain to his people about his new friends in South Korea? appeared first on Hot Air.

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Sorry, Liberals, Twitter Won’t Silence Trump

Via NY Post:

Twitter on Friday offered up an explanation for why it does not block world leaders like President Trump who post things that would get average Joes and Janes banished.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance,” Twitter said on Twitter.

“Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society,” the website’s unsigned statement said.

Keep reading…

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73-Year-Old Woman Delivering Meals To The Homeless Attacked With Machete

The sight of an uncovered woman triggered him.

Via WCAX:

A Burlington man faces attempted murder charges after allegedly attacking a woman with a machete.

“It’s pretty scary yes,” said Carl Mcmahon.

Mcmahon is staying at Harbor Place in Shelburne. Harbor Place provides temporary emergency housing with services, run by the Champlain Housing Trust. Early Friday, police responded to calls of a man with a knife smashing out car windows.

“On arrival we found that this person who was reported to have a knife, had actually attacked an elderly female,” said Corporal Jon Marcoux of Shelburne Police.

That female, was a 73-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer who was dropping off meals on the regular route. It is unclear what provoked the attack, but police say 32-year-old Abukar Ibrahim was the one with a machete. He attacked the woman who sustained multiple injuries. She was sent to the hospital, and later released.

“He barricaded himself in the room. After two and a half hours, he came out on his own,” said Marcoux.

Corporal Marcoux says the Shelburne Police Department gets a fair number of calls, responding to Harbor Place.

Keep reading…

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Nikki Haley Speaks out on Iran and the Palestinians

Nikki Haley Speaks out on Iran and the Palestinians
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley issued some stark warnings during a press briefing she held at UN headquarters on January 2nd. Her bluntness and moral clarity are welcome changes from the doublespeak and moral relativism we heard so often from her Obama-era predecessors, Susan Rice and Samantha Power.

via CanadaFreePress.Com

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Hollywood Triggered by Trump Calling Himself ‘Genius’

Hollywood Triggered by Trump Calling Himself ‘Genius’

Midler Perlman Getty

Getty/Getty

by Daniel Nussbaum6 Jan 20180



President Donald Trump took to Twitter Saturday to defend himself from claims he is mentally incompetent, writing that his past accomplishments make him not just smart, but a “genius” — and Hollywood, predictably, reacted with jokes and mockery.

“Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence…..,” Trump began in a series of tweets Saturday morning.

Of course, celebrities were quick to weigh in on the president’s statement, with most offering up jokes or memes related to Trump’s use of the phrase “stable genius.”

Filmmaker Rob Reiner and actress-singer Bette Midler each weighed in with jokes about donkeys, while actor Albert Brooks tweeted that in response to the president’s statement, the 25th Amendment “literally jumped out of the Constitution.”

Below, find Hollywood’s reaction to Trump’s tweets.

 

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

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