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01/02/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

ISIS Is Responsible for Istanbul Nightclub Shooting Spree

The Islamic State said in a statement on Monday that it was responsible for a New Year’s shooting spree at an Istanbul nightclub that left 39 people dead and nearly 70 wounded, while authorities were still searching for the gunman.

The terror group said through its Aamaq News Agency that the attack was carried out by a “heroic soldier of the caliphate who attacked the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast.”

How could any woman support these animals.

Turkish authorities believe that the gunman came from a Central Asian nation and is likely to either be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, Turkish media reported citing unnamed sources.

Police had also established similarities with the high-casualty suicide bomb and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in June and was investigating whether the same ISIS cell could have carried out both attacks, the papers reported.

The unidentified gunman, who is still at large, killed a policeman and another man outside the Reina club in the early hours of 2017 before entering and firing at about 600 revelers partying inside with an automatic rifle.

“Unfortunately, (he) rained bullets in a very cruel and merciless way on innocent people who were there to celebrate New Year’s and have fun,” Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin told reporters.

Nearly two-thirds of the victims were foreigners, many from the Middle East, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. The report said the bodies of 25 foreign nationals killed in the attack would be delivered to their families later Monday.

The mass shooting followed more than 30 violent acts over the past year in Turkey, which is a member of the NATO alliance and a partner in the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. The country endured multiple bombings in 2016, including three in Istanbul alone that authorities blamed on IS, a failed coup attempt in July and renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the southeast.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vehemently condemned “the terror attack in Istanbul’s Ortakoy neighborhood in the first hours of 2017” and offered condolences for those who lost their lives, including the “foreign guests.”

Among the dead were an 18-year-old Israeli woman, three Indians, three Lebanese, a woman with dual French-Tunisian citizenship and her Tunisian husband, two Jordanians, a Belgian national, a Kuwaiti citizen and a Canadian, according to those countries’ governments and a diplomat. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry earlier said three of its citizens had been killed, but revised that, saying there was confusion over the nationality of one victim.

A U.S. State Department official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said one American man was among those wounded. Turkey’s minister for family and social policies, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, said citizens of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon and Libya were among those injured.

NTV news reported that the assailant was wearing a Santa Claus outfit when he entered the nightclub on the shore of Bosporus straight, on the European side of the city – a claim Prime Miniser Binali Yidirim denied.

Sickening video from the scene shows what appeared to be a man dressed in black and carrying a backpack as he shoots down a police officer outside the nightclub. Footage taken by a different camera inside Reina shows a figure wearing different clothes and what could be a Santa Claus hat.

Yildirim said the attacker left a gun at the club and escaped by “taking advantage of the chaos” that ensued. Some customers reportedly jumped into the waters of the Bosporus to escape the attack.

Mehmet Dag, 22, said he was passing by the club when he saw a man shoot at a police officer and a bystander. He said the attacker then targeted security guards, gunning them down and entering the club.

“Once he went in, we don’t know what happened. There were gun sounds, and after two minutes the sound of an explosion,” Dag said.

Turkish media said the local victims included a 22-year-old police officer and a 47-year-old travel agent, both of whom were shot outside the club.

One was given a funeral Sunday in Istanbul, where his two sons joined the mourners gathered around the flag-draped casket, the private Dogan news agency reported.

Ayhan Arik, a tourism company employee who had taken foreign guests to the nightclub, was shot in the head, the news agency said.

On Sunday, heavily armed police blocked the snowy street in front of the nightclub. The entrance was covered with blue plastic sheeting below a Turkish flag. Police also patrolled the Asian side of the Bosporus on the other side of the club.

Crime scene investigators were seen inside the nightclub searching through mingled piles of chairs, tables and pieces of clothing left behind during the panic among the guests.

There were emotional scenes in front of a city morgue where the dead were taken for identification. Some relatives cried out and fell to the ground as they apparently learned the fate of their loved ones.

The Islamic State group claims to have cells in the country. Analysts think it was behind suicide bombings last January and March that targeted tourists on Istanbul’s iconic Istiklal Street as well as the attack at Ataturk Airport in June, which killed 45 people.

In December, ISIS released a video purportedly showing the killing of two Turkish soldiers and urged its supporters to “conquer” Istanbul. Turkey’s jets regularly bomb the group in the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab. Turkish authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the video.

The nightclub attack drew quick condemnation from the West and Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Turkey’s leader, saying that “it is hard to imagine a more cynical crime than killing innocent people during New Year celebrations.”

“However, terrorists don’t share moral values. Our common duty is to combat terrorists’ aggression,” Putin said.

The White House condemned what it called a “horrific terrorist attack” and offered U.S. help to Turkey. The U.N. Security Council condemned the “heinous and barbaric” assault in the “strongest terms.”

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/isis-claims-responsibility-for-istanbul-nightclub-shooting-spree.html

01/02/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

America Dollar Doing Well Because Of Trump So World Look Out

Is The Dollar Doing Well Because Of Donald Trump?

On Wall Street, the rising dollar has been one of the most visible signals of growing optimism in the U.S. economy; for many other countries, it spells trouble.

IRA IOSEBASHVILI

Updated Jan. 1, 2017 10:03 a.m. ET

85 COMMENTS

On Wall Street, the rising dollar has been one of the most visible signals of growing optimism in the U.S. economy. For many other countries, it spells trouble.

Most analysts expect the U.S. currency to strengthen in 2017, extending a gain that has boosted the value of the dollar by more than one-third since the U.S. credit downgrade in 2011.

That expectation is mostly because a strengthening economy appears likely to enable the Federal Reserve to enact its plan for multiple rate increases in 2017. Higher rates make it more attractive to hold dollar-denominated assets, attracting money into the U.S.

“Right now, there is an incredible amount of pressure to sell just about every type of currency and buy the dollar,” said Christopher Stanton, chief investment officer at Sunrise Capital LP, which manages $700 million.

Mr. Stanton recently bet that the U.S. currency will appreciate against the Australian dollar, Japanese yen and euro in the next few months.

A stronger dollar raises the buying power of U.S. consumers and businesses by making imported items cheaper and reducing the costs of traveling abroad. By the same token, however, it hurts U.S. exporters by making their goods less competitive overseas, cutting into corporate earnings and potentially weighing on stock prices.

In emerging markets, sustained dollar strength could undercut prices for oil and other dollar-denominated commodities, pressuring developing economies that export raw materials. Emerging-market companies and governments that have borrowed heavily in the U.S. currency will also find their debt more difficult to service.

For China, the rising dollar is exacerbating capital outflows and tightening liquidity, shaking markets that had enjoyed a period of relative stability for most of 2016. Chinese bond markets plunged in reaction to December’s Fed meeting, at which the U.S. central bank decided to lift rates and signaled several more boosts. Chinese regulators injected money to allay a possible credit squeeze, while stocks also fell.

China’s central bank has also had to drain $300 billion of its reserves in the first three quarters of the year, more than it spent in all of 2015, as it fought to slow the yuan’s decline against the dollar. China’s currency is down 4.3% against the dollar since October, falling to a record low. Other emerging-market currencies have been hit far worse: the Turkish lira is off nearly 15% in the last three months of the year.

Expectations of fiscal stimulus under President-elect Donald Trump “have absolutely re-energized the dollar,” said Alan Ruskin, head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at Deutsche Bank. “This is a major shift in policy dynamics.”

The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies, rose 3.1% in 2016 on a late-year surge against the euro, yen and emerging markets.

Roughly 60% of clients surveyed by Citigroup believe the dollar will be either “moderately higher” or “sharply higher” against developed and emerging market currencies next year.

Some worry, however, Mr. Trump’s proposals on infrastructure spending and tax cuts may not come to fruition. And past fiscal expansions have had mixed effects on the U.S. currency.

The ICE Dollar Index rallied more than 80% between 1981 and 1985, driven by a mix of fiscal stimulus pushed through by then-President Ronald Reagan and a series of rate increases by the Federal Reserve in the decade’s early years.

But tax cuts under President George W. Bush failed to boost the dollar in the 2000s, as they were accompanied by a dovish Fed and uncertain equity markets, a Deutsche Bank report said.

Investors also expect the Fed to keep a close eye on the currency’s ascent, and raise rates at a slower pace if the dollar’s rally appears to be bruising the U.S. economy.

Thanos Bardas, a portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman overseeing $255 billion, said he took profits in December on bets that the dollar will rise against the yen, wary that the U.S. currency has risen too quickly in a short period of time.

“The markets have an extremely rosy outlook,” he said. “The smart trade is to trust but verify.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/re-energized-dollar-looms-over-the-rest-of-the-world-1483272003

12/31/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Obama’s Cold War Directive Shuts Two Russian Country Clubs In US For Spies

Secret world of Russian spies living in the US has been revealed after Obama lifted the lid on two ‘spy bases’
The Maryland property is a luxurious, 45-acre compound just 30 minutes’ drive from Washington D.C.
There have been suspicions about the property since it was bought by the Soviet government in 1972
Other compound reported to have been shut down by is Killenworth on the North Shore of Long Island
Used as a vacation retreat by Soviet diplomats and personnel who were stationed at the United Nations
President ordered operatives out of the country as part of sanctions for their alleged role in hacking Thursday

Why Was This House In Maryland.

The ultra-luxurious secret world of Russian spies living in the United States has been revealed, complete with million-dollar mansions, ‘vodka parties’ and sprawling estates.

The lifestyles were uncovered after President Barack Obama lifted the lid on two ‘spy bases’ and ordered operatives out of the country as part of sanctions announced for their alleged role in hacking during the election.

Obama outlined the punishments in a statement released on Thursday, for what he said were the country’s attempts to ‘interfere with democratic governance’ and harassment of U.S. diplomatic officials in Russia.

The President all but named Putin in his statement – saying hacking was ‘ordered at the highest level’.

In the hours since the announcement, further details on the extravagant Russian compounds have emerged, after White House officials said they are: ‘recreational but also used for intelligence activities’.

The Maryland property is a luxurious, 45-acre compound that is located in Pioneer Point, according to The Washington Post.

It is believed to have been used as a vacation spot for Russian diplomats looking to get away, though there have long been suspicions it was used for much more nefarious means as well.

This Is A NY Spy House For Russia. Why are they here?

The compound is just 30 minutes’ drive from Washington D.C., and is believed to have been a center for espionage.

There have been suspicions about the property since it was bought by the Soviet government in 1972.

The sprawling property hosts a brick mansion that has now been converted into 12 apartments, as well as a dozen cottages, each with four apartments. In total, the compound can accommodate 40 families at a time.

Photographer Gary Landsman went inside the lavish home, snapping shots of exactly what it was like behind closed doors. The compound featured massive dining rooms, one with bright red walls, impeccably decorated lounge rooms and entertaining areas, as well as a carefully landscaped garden.

Former Russian ambassador Yuri Ushakov – who was in the position from 1999 to 2008 – and his family officially called the complex home for a time, according to Washington Life magazine. The ‘dacha’ as the magazine called it, also has a hunting lodge that was used to ‘host special visitors’.

‘No one really hunts but that’s what we call it,’ Ushakov told the magazine while laughing at the time of the interview.

The magazine said the compound was also home to: ‘Anatoly Dobrynin, who was the Soviet ambassador during the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations until he returned to Moscow in 1986.’

Russian activity at Killenworth has been controversial since it has long been rumored to house Soviet spies.

In 1982, the local council clashed with the State Department after it banned Russian diplomats from the beach as retaliation for what they said was Moscow’s spying on Long Island defense industries, according to The New York Times.

Local officials objected to the Soviets enjoying tax exempt status on the home, which deprived Glen Cove of revenue that it usually generated from property taxes.

The Glen Cove City Council angrily told the Reagan administration that it was ‘still offended that the Soviets are here spying and not paying taxes, and a little offended by the callousness, condescension and almost browbeating coming from Washington.’

Some have reacted angrily to the news that the American government allowed the spy bases to remain operational, without informing locals.

‘Even scarier, I live down the road from the compound,’ Maryland resident Billy Ross wrote.

‘I’ve been living on Eastern Shore of Maryland for just over two years now,’ Chris Sabas, who did not know about the alleged base, wrote.

‘This is like 20 minutes from my house,’ Julia Girasole said of the Maryland compound.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4074720/Inside-luxury-resorts-Russian-spies-roamed-free-decades.html

12/28/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

LGBT and Transgender Freaks Mad Because Boy Scouts Says Boys and Girls Are Different

I don't want this freak near my children DAMIT. — I don’t want this freak near my children DAMIT.

The Boy Scouts of America once again landed under the harsh glare of the media spotlight for their policies on LGBT children.

Recently, a woman from New Jersey has been speaking to local media about how her transgender son was removed from his local Boy Scout troop because of his gender identity.

Kristie Maldonado, of Secaucus, N.J., told the Record newspaper that none of the children in Cub Scout Pack 87 had a problem with her 8-year-old son’s participation — but their parents did.

“Not one of the kids said, ‘You don’t belong here,’” she said.

Back in the old days we knew the difference between boys and girls. Not anymore.

Her son, Joe, said, “I had a sad face, but I wasn’t crying. I’m way more angry than sad. My identity is a boy. If I was them, I would let every person in the world go in. It’s right to do.”

The brouhaha finds the Boy Scouts in familiar territory in which the LGBT community and its allies take issue with traditional institutions they consider to be antiquated and in need of reform. To these advocates, a ban on transgender membership is a discriminatory policy and should not be tolerated.

Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts prepare to lead marchers while waving rainbow-colored flags at the 41st annual Pride Parade in Seattle in June 2015, two days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide. (Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP)

Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, a leading transgender rights nonprofit, said the Cub Scouts is not the place where children should be taught to discriminate. Instead, she said, they should be taught about discrimination and how to welcome people.

“This child seems like so smart and awesome. We’ve seen this a million times in schools and Cub Scouts: It’s always parents claiming to speak for their children,” Keisling told Yahoo News. “C’mon, it’s an 8-year-old. Let kids be kids.”

Keisling, who was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout in her youth, said it’s sad that the Boy Scouts did not learn their lesson after excluding gay people. She said it’s great that the Boy Scouts recognize that gay rights and transgender rights are two different issues, but also highlighted what she considers their similarities.

“I’ll tell you what’s the same about them: whether or not you’re an inclusive, welcoming organization or a stuck-in-the-past exclusionary, unwelcoming organization, the Boy Scouts seem set on being the latter,” she said.

The Boys Scouts grant youth membership to boys who are in first through fifth grades or between 7 and 10 years old, and revealed — amid the controversy — that the group defers to the child’s biological sex as recorded on his or her birth certificate.

When contacted by Yahoo News, the Boy Scouts of America shared a statement from the director of communications, Effie Delimarkos, declaring that Joe does not meet the organization’s requirements for eligibility.

“If needed, we defer to the information provided for an individual’s birth certificate and their biological sex,” Delimarkos said. “Scouting teaches its youth members and adult leaders to be respectful of other people and individual beliefs.”

The Boy Scouts are no strangers to controversy over gay rights. The group’s previous bans on gay adults and children on joining the organization generated tremendous outrage as the nation increasingly embraced liberal perspectives on LGBT issues.

But Joe’s removal is likely to be the first high-profile case of someone being removed from a troop because of gender identity.

In May 2013, the Boy Scouts’ national council voted to remove the ban on membership for gay youth. This was followed two years later with the organization lifting its ban on openly gay adult leaders.

According to Delimarkos, the group was unaware that the child was not born with male biological sex characteristics when the family started the registration process for Cub Scouts.

“During this process, it was brought to our attention that their child does not meet the eligibility requirements to participate in this program, so Boy Scouts of America [BSA] leadership reached out to the family to inform them and share information on alternative programs,” Delimarkos said.

The group suggested that the family could look into the organization’s co-ed programs, such as Learning for Life, STEM Scouts and Venturing.

A spokesperson for the Scouts for Equality advocacy organization said the organization is deeply disappointed in the decision to remove Joe from scouting and hope that it will be reversed quickly.

“This is the first time a youth has been removed from the BSA because of his gender identity, and the BSA now finds itself at a pivotal moment as an organization,” the spokesperson said via email. “We hope they will choose to be on the right side of history. Joe is not the first openly transgender Cub Scout, and he will not be the last. We urge BSA president Randall Stephenson to take immediate action to end this discrimination before it’s codified into a formal policy.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/boy-scouts-on-transgender-youths-we-defer-to-birth-certificates-175737451.html

12/22/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Germany has 7,000 terror suspects at large that they can’t monitor

Germany is finding it ‘almost impossible’ to keep track of around 7,000 potential terror suspects in the country, a former British intelligence chief has warned.

Richard Barrett, who was head of counter-terrorism at MI6, said the authorities were finding the number of ‘live’ cases unmanageable.

The grim assessment came as German security services face difficult questions following the Berlin Christmas market massacre.

It has emerged that the suspect, Anis Amris, a lifelong criminal, should have been deported months ago.

The 24-year-old, who has a 100,000 euro reward on his head, was under surveillance by German intelligence for several months following his arrival in the country in 2015.

He had been arrested three times this year and his asylum application was rejected, but deportation papers were never served and he disappeared.

The Tunisian radical was known to be a supporter of Islamic State and to have received weapons training.

He also tried to recruit an accomplice for a terror plot – which the authorities knew about – but still remained at large.

He was under investigation for planning a ‘serious act of violence against the state’ and counter-terrorism officials had exchanged information about him last month.

Reports suggest intelligence services might have even lost track of Amri as recently as just a few weeks ago after he went underground.

The potentially fatal mistakes heaped further shame on the German security services, who wasted several hours questioning an innocent Pakistani asylum seeker in the aftermath of the truck rampage, which killed 12 shoppers and wounded 48.

German police are in a desperate race to detain Amri, described as being probably armed and ‘highly dangerous’ before any further terrorist attack.

There were reports police had carried out raids on two addresses in Berlin last night but this was later denied by police.

A senior foreign German politician today blamed the atrocity on ‘institutional political correctness’, arguing that Amri would not have been free to act if police had enforced the law.

Meanwhile a European arrest warrant issued for Amri reveals the fugitive has used at least six different aliases under three different nationalities. Photographs show how he has changed his appearance over the years.

Mr Barrett, who was in a key role at MI6 when the September 11 attacks took place in 2001, said it was not surprising that some extremists slipped through the surveillance net.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there were 550 ‘really extreme potential terrorists on the books’ in Germany.

‘In addition to that though if you include all the Lander (local regions) in Germany they have about 7,000 live cases,’ he said.

‘As you can imagine, that is an almost impossible number to control.

He said the wider group of suspects were people who had ‘come to attention in this context of radical extremism’ and were ‘worthy of investigation’.

11/30/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Transgender Woman Charged With Triple Homicide

A former teacher-turned-transgender woman and LGBT activist who sued a California school district for discrimination has been arrested and accused of a triple homicide, police report.

Oakland police arrested Dana Rivers, 61, of San Jose in connection with a triple murder. Dead are Patricia Wright, 57, Charlotte Reed, 56, and 19-year-old Toto Diambu, found stabbed and shot to death in a home on November 11.

Officials arrested Rivers on three counts of murder, arson, and possession of metal knuckles, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Police say that after murdering the three victims, Rivers set the Oakland home on fire at about 12:30 a.m. on Friday, November 11.

Rivers was discovered with a gun, ammunition, and a knife used in the murder, according to police reports.

Officials offered no motive for the crime.

Media outlets quickly discovered that the suspect was once named David Warfield, a teacher at Center High School in Antelope, California. In the 1990s, Warfield began to transition into a female and eventually sued the school system for discrimination.

After an earlier announcement of his intention to transition into a woman, Warfield was suspended from teaching in 1999 and soon sued because of the school system’s decision. Later going by the name Dana Rivers, the former teacher won a $150,000 settlement from the school system.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/17/sacramento-police-charge-transgender-former-teacher-triple-homicide/

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On Wall Street, the rising dollar has been one of the most visible signals of growing optimism in the U.S. economy; for many other countries, it spells trouble.

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