Clinton, Trump take White House fight to swing states

Yahoo – AFP, Ivan Couronne, with Jennie Matthew in New York, July 29, 2016

Hillary Clinton (L) and Donald Trump (R) are the respective Democratic and 
Republican presidential candidates for the US election in November (AFP Photo/dsk)

Philadelphia (AFP) - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Friday take their fight for the White House to battleground states seeking to capitalize on back-to-back party conventions that offered starkly different visions of America.

The Democrat and first woman nominee for a major party will tour Pennsylvania and Ohio by bus, while Trump jets to Colorado, where his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border could resonate with angry whites but repel Hispanics.

It opens a new chapter in what is already one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in modern US history after Republicans and Democrats spent the last fortnight formally selecting their nominees.

Just over 100 days before polls open on November 8, both parties are divided, both candidates are profoundly unpopular and the race is tight.

With Clinton looking for a post-convention bounce, the most recent poll average, collated before she accepted the nomination on Thursday, gives Trump a 0.9 percent lead according to RealClearPolitics.

The Republican candidate on Friday trashed her speech and launched a savage assault on key surrogates who endorsed Clinton: fellow New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg and a retired US general.

"I just beat 16 people and am beating her!" he tweeted in reference to the Republicans he defeated to clinch the nomination.

His campaign dismissed her convention speech in Philadelphia as "an insulting collection of cliches and recycled rhetoric," that was "delivered from a fantasy universe, not the reality we live in today."

Bloomberg, a former New York mayor and political independent, "never had the guts to run for president," while John Allen "failed badly in his fight against ISIS. His record = BAD," fired off Trump.

Hillary Clinton (L) and Donald Trump (R) are the respective Democratic

 and Republican presidential candidates for the US election in November 

(AFP Photo/Adrian Leung)

Stoke pessimism

Both conventions featured withering personal barbs, with Republicans in Cleveland chanting "lock her up" against Clinton and Democrats painting Trump as a threat to US democracy.

Experts predict that "negative partisanship" -- voting against a candidate -- will play a major role in deciding who makes it to the White House.

On Friday, Clinton's running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, defended her more positive portrayal of America, in stark contrast to Trump's, and denied it was out of sync with an electorate that feels the country has lost its way.

"Even in a time when people have anxiety, I don't think what they want is leaders who stoke the pessimism," he told CNN.

Kaine said his first words to her on stage after her acceptance speech were: "It is a great country and you just made it a lot greater."

Kaine will accompany Clinton on the journey through so-called "rustbelt" states which are vital parts of almost any strategy to garner the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency.

In an election year that has seen the voices of the hard right and the hard left become more dominant, Clinton is making a bold play to seize the political center-ground.

A string of high profile Republicans, including the party's last presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have publicly stated they cannot vote for Trump because of his populist policies. This means some Republicans can be won over.

Clinton vowed Thursday to be a president for all Americans "for the struggling, the striving and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don't."

It's your family

On the convention floor, delegates waved American flags and chanted "U-S-A" in scenes of extreme patriotism more usually seen at Republican rallies.

Clinton also made a pitch for disgruntled working class voters, who have formed the backbone of Trump's base, saying that her priority as president would be to create "more good jobs with rising wages."

At the Republican convention Trump doubled down on controversial plans to clamp down on crime and on immigration from countries -- including France -- that he deems "compromised" by terror attacks.

"The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon, and I mean very soon, come to an end," he told delegates. "Safety will be restored."

Both Clinton and Trump donated large chunks of convention time to softening their public image.

Clinton's daughter Chelsea described a mother who liked to watch "Pride and Prejudice" while Trump's daughter Ivanka claimed her father would fight for equal pay for women and affordable childcare.

While Trump portrayed himself as a tough guy, Clinton used her own address to temper an image forged over decades of withering political trench warfare.

"It's true," she said. "I sweat the details," be it the amount of lead permissible in drinking water or the cost of prescription drugs.

"It's not just a detail if it's your kid, if it's your family," she said.

US President Barack Obama shared a warm embrace with Hillary Clinton,

capping an all-star night that included appearances by Joe Biden, Tim Kaine

and Michael Bloomberg (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)

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Khizr Khan addresses delegates on the fourth and final day of the Democratic 

National Convention at Wells Fargo Center on July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, July 29, 2016) - New

Matthew Ward - July 29, 2016

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. Your concerns about a number of issues are shared by many around the world, particularly the frequency of terrorist acts and mass shootings. As sad as it is to see our Earth brothers and sisters killing one another, we anticipated the increase in those kinds of incidents. They are the natural result of your linear time crunching up and energy levels that have intensified all personal characteristics, including mental instability, and corresponding behavior—those two powerful forces working in tandem is accelerating the activity of energy streamers with violent attachments.

We hasten to add that those forces are affecting everything on the planet, and situations propelled by beneficial attachments are steaming toward soundly-reasoned resolutions. An example is The Hague’s ruling pertaining to the South China Sea. China’s grumbling is not unexpected, but nothing in the energy field of potential indicates a strenuous objection that could lead to open conflict.

Of special interest in the United States and, because of its international influence, in other countries as well, is that nation’s two major political parties’ presidential nominees. We stated in previous messages that prevailing vibrations were not supporting candidates who lack moral and spiritual integrity, but the voters will decide who wins. Each party’s nominee has staunch supporters; however, the energy momentum of the electorate’s widespread dissatisfaction with both has become too strong for either to be elected.

Earth’s monitors in Nirvana tell us that the energy awhirl could manifest any of various possibilities that will put Senator Bernie Sanders in the White House. Souls at this station are apolitical, so it is not on a partisan basis that we will welcome his presidency, but rather that his wisdom, personal qualities and leadership will enable his country and your world to continue progressing toward Gaia’s vision for all life on her planetary body.

“So UK leaves EU. Now what?” The Illuminati’s dominoes will keep falling. It is not that countries cooperating to offer their citizens enhanced trade, employment and educational opportunities is not a grand idea— indeed, it is! But never was the purpose of the European Union to benefit the people, it was to put them squarely under the thumb of the Illuminati. When vibrations reached a rate wherein an organization built on a foundation of dark intent could not much longer stand, it became a matter of when the first domino in the EU would fall.

Let us put this into its larger context. The Illuminati—also now known as the cabal, global elite, shadow government, One World Order, One World Government—began as a group of individuals who felt that they were the most intelligent and learned people in the world, thus they were entitled to rule everyone else. Over time, others with the same superior attitude were drawn into the fold of this secret society, egos grew, tempers flared, and two competing factions emerged with the same goal, world domination.

Now we fast forward to sixty-some years ago, when the Rockefeller faction that operates out of New York and Washington, DC, was expanding its tentacles far westward and into Latin America. The Rothschild faction, headquartered in London and the Vatican, saw their territorial influence meager in comparison, so they buffed up their Council of Europe by establishing the European Union, European Central Bank and euro currency. The Union was put under the Council’s flag and shares its anthem—such a duplicitous choice, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” With the first few countries buckled in by their EU belt, so to say, the Rothschilds and their minions set off on their expansion course; they moved into the new state of Israel, then throughout the Mideast, and more recently, northern Africa and some countries formerly within the Soviet Union.

All along both factions have used strategies in the original plan to reach their goal. They infiltrated governments, military forces, intelligence agencies, multinational corporations, law enforcement and justice systems, religious hierarchies, entertainment industry, medical and educational fields. They garnered fortunes by manipulating the global economy through stock markets, banking and lending institutions, usurious interest rates and unfair taxation. They initiated civil wars, wars between adjoining countries, and World Wars I and II; assassinated or imprisoned opposition; formed terrorist groups; suppressed and misused technologies; controlled mainstream media and the illegal drug trade; and took over natural resources wherever they went.

The original plan also included what they have failed to do—reduce the population by several billions via nuclear weaponry, toxic pollution, and pandemics caused by laboratory-designed viruses. All attempts toward that diabolical end have been thwarted by members of your universal family in your skies or living among you. Still, the two factions kept adding to their respective lines of dominoes and each felt that the world was coming within its grasp.

What they hadn’t taken into account is the light. After millennia of being held captive by the darkness that enshrouded the planet, the peoples started responding to the light beamed to Earth by spiritually evolved civilizations. The more enlightened they became, the more determined they were to throw off the yoke of oppression and persecution, and voices for freedom grew in numbers and volume. All the while, the intensifying light also was exposing the Illuminati’s global network of corruption and ruthlessness, and their dominoes started falling.

BREXIT is the most recent. Few individuals who voted to leave know of the Illuminati or the real purpose of the Union; what they knew is that benefits they had been led to believe they would derive had not materialized. Few who voted to remain know of the Illuminati or what the Union really was about, but they were faring well or were leery about what would happen if the United Kingdom set out on its own. Few know that the outcome of BREXIT was more than the vote count—it was influenced by vibrations that are undergirding activities leading toward a world of peace, honest governance, justness, and a fair share of Earth’s abundance for all peoples.

There will be some frayed nerves and bumpy patches as the EU unravels; more truths emerge; the economy fluctuates as the Illuminati—some at the peak of both factions have joined forces—futilely try to hold onto their ill-gotten wealth; and violence runs out its energetic course. Every happening in this moment and forthcoming is moving society closer to that aforementioned world. Beloved family, we know how eager you are for that to come about, and your steadfastness as lightworkers is helping to bring ever closer in linear time that which is fait accompli in the continuum.

“I am distressed about countries not wanting to accept immigrants from violence-torn areas and prejudice growing against them in countries that have taken them in. How can we ever live in harmony with prejudice increasing? First let us say that fear—a highly magnified energy form that is the major tool and fuel of dark minds and hearts—is the root of prejudice in all its pernicious forms and the source of all actions stemming from the illusion of separateness.

For the eons that Earth was stuck in deep third density, prejudice was the motivator of the violence and injustices that let countless souls complete their chosen karmic lessons. Now that the society is moving out of that density with its karmic merry-go-round, what is perceived as prejudice increasing actually is putting this basest aspect of humankind into the glare of a global spotlight so its destructive divisiveness can be clearly seen. As vibrations keep rising, healing, harmony and peace will come as love and mutual respect unify the peoples in the Oneness of All.

“Managing millions and millions of refugees seems an insurmountable problem. What will happen to all these desperate people?” The plight of the millions in hastily arranged camps will ease somewhat as aid organizations gain strength in numbers, and donations of monies, food, water, medical supplies and other essential equipment increase. The light radiated by the many aid-givers along with the light in worldwide compassion and the massive amount beamed to the planet is helping to sustain the refugees’ endurance and hopefulness.

As tyrannical regimes fall and warring ends, repatriation of people who fled those areas can begin. Financial and reconstruction assistance will be given in communities where this is practical; where villages and towns are too severely damaged to rebuild, the same assistance will be given to former residents so they can start anew in other locations. Immigrants in countries that gave them sanctuary will assimilate into those populations with benefits for all or choose to return to their native lands.

Please remember that the majority of refugees chose these life-changing circumstances to complete third density karma and evolve; also in keeping with contract choices, not all will survive their traumatic ordeal. People whose experiences are direr than chosen or who die prior to their contracts’ life span receive extraordinary opportunities for advancement in soul evolution, and advancement is the goal of every soul in every lifetime.

Some readers questioned whether loss of life and vast destruction due to wildfires, flooding and earthquakes creates negativity or is part of Earth’s cleansing process. It does both. While all of those events do create negativity, the cleansing effects for Earth are much greater—that is, negativity created by all other sources is released by natural disasters in far greater measure than the amount produced by those events.

“Do soul contracts of alternative healthcare practitioners and whistleblowers include being killed because of their efforts to do good?” Some contracts do. Practitioners who have been killed to prevent them from healing with natural therapies chose that fate to shed light on the collusion of the medical establishment with vaccine manufacturers and pharmaceutical and insurance companies; those whose services led to being professionally discredited and perhaps incarcerated or who fled to other countries agreed to those disruptions in their lives. It is the same with whistleblowers who have exposed many other situations that also adversely affect your lives. The numbers of individuals who experience or are threatened with one or another of the nefarious means whereby the Illuminati deal with anyone who jeopardizes their money-based interests have decreased as public awareness has increased.

Our explanation of why there will be no nuclear explosions in space prompted questions about the people who were damaged in such occurrences. First, this doesn’t apply to bodies, but to souls, and those that have been damaged were living as free spirits that didn’t embody, souls in civilizations so highly evolved that they have no density, or souls in astral travel. When a soul is shattered in a nuclear explosion, it doesn’t separate into whole personages, but rather into fragments that contain bits and pieces of memories of all lifetimes and whatever was remembered about the Beginnings in Creator. Traumatized by abrupt separation from the wholeness, most fragments drift throughout space, lost and confused, but some find their way into a body—this isn’t “possession,” it is an act of love on the part of the occupant soul.

Specially-trained teams search the heavens for the fragments, which emit vibrations on a unique bandwidth, and when one is found, it is transported to a healing facility where it is lovingly nurtured. When all fragments are located—in linear time this may take millennia—an intricate process is undertaken to restore the soul to its wholeness with every aspect of each lifetime in proper sequence. The diligent search and complex restoration show the infinite, eternal importance of each and every soul to Creator and, in this universe, to God.

“Can the soul be seen in a Kirlian photograph?” No. What is seen is the aura, light emanating from a body’s electromagnetic field that reflects the person’s spiritual status, emotional make-up, convictions and physical condition at the moment the photograph is taken.

Auras change in accordance with changes in the person. A healthy individual living in godly ways has a glowing aura that extends a fair way out from the body and may be multihued; the more spiritually evolved the individual, the brighter and broader the aura. If a person with those qualities becomes seriously ill or injured, the aura narrows and dims; its former status returns as healing occurs. A healthy individual whose mind is closed has a thin, dull aura; if that individual opens to spiritual and conscious enlightenment, the aura grows correspondingly wider and brighter. Someone whose greedy, angry, demanding or deceitful nature causes hardships for others outside their pre-birth agreement has a narrow murky border around the body; and a person who consistently ignores conscience and willfully causes suffering to others doesn’t have enough light for even an outline.

It is the collective auras of Earth’s humankind, animals and plant life that we see when we look at the planet in its entirety. Dear ones, if you could see what we do, you would be both joyous and awestricken by the panorama of love and enlightenment sparkling around the globe. Keep your light shining brilliantly!

All along your Earth journey you have been accompanied and supported by the unequaled power of love from light beings throughout this universe.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com

Six more officials charged in Flint water scandal

Yahoo – AFP, July 29, 2016

The damage to the Flint's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent,
causing residents to use filters to make their water drinkable (AFP Photo/
Brett Carlsen)

  

Chicago (AFP) - Authorities in the US state of Michigan filed criminal charges Friday against six current and former state officials over lead water contamination in the city of Flint, signaling that their probe is expanding.

"Many things went tragically wrong in Flint. Some failed to act," Michigan State Attorney General Bill Schuette told a news conference as he announced the new charges.

"Some intentionally altered figures, and covered up."

More than 8,000 children are believed to have consumed lead-tainted water in the hardscrabble northern city, which has become a focus of the 2016 White House race.

Until now, three state workers had been criminally charged over the health crisis, which occurred in the aftermath of government officials' cost-saving effort in 2014 to switch the city's source of drinking water.

One took a plea agreement to cooperate in the probe.

Chief investigator Andrew Arena said his team was "starting to work our way up" in the areas of state government they were investigating, and expanding the probe "into other departments."

"This at the end will be the largest criminal investigation in the history of the state of Michigan," he said.

On Friday authorities charged another six current and former state employees for covering up evidence of water contamination. They face various felony and misdemeanor counts, including conspiracy, misconduct in office and tampering with evidence.

Flint residents Gladyes Williamson (C) holds a bottle full of contaminated water,

and a clump of her hair, alongside Jessica Owens (R), holding a baby bottle full

of contaminated water (AFP Photo/Mark Wilson)

Experts say the new source of water proved more corrosive on aging pipes and caused lead contamination that exposed thousands of children to the toxin.

"In essence, these individuals concealed the truth. They were criminally wrong to do so," Schuette said.

The highest ranked official charged is Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired in February from her post as chief of Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality.

"Shekter Smith ignored reports that the (water treatment) plant was out of compliance, lied that the water plant was certified, and deliberately misled her superiors," Schuette said.

She faces a felony charge of misconduct in office and a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.

The others charged are: Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott, who are current employees in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Corrine Miller, a former MDHHS employee; and Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal, current employees of the state's Department of Environmental Quality.

Todd Flood, special counsel for the Flint probe, said he was in talks with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's office in connection with the investigation and that talks had been "constructive."

The damage to the city's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent. Residents must use filters to make their water drinkable.

Last month officials also filed a lawsuit accusing a French company and a Texas firm of negligence and fraud, for their roles in the Flint water crisis.

Democratic Party chair resigns in wake of email leak

Yahoo – AFP, July 24, 2016

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, pictured on January 16, 2016, will "step down as
 Democratic party chair at the end of this convention," she said in a statement on
the eve of the Democratic National Convention (AFP Photo/Andrew Burton)

Philadelphia (AFP) - Embattled Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Sunday she is resigning, following a leak of emails suggesting an insider attempt to hobble the campaign of Hillary Clinton's rival in the White House primaries Bernie Sanders.

Wasserman Schultz will step down at the end of the Democratic National Convention, she said in a statement on the eve of the confab in Philadelphia that is set to anoint Clinton as the party's presidential nominee.

Her departure, long sought by Sanders, is aimed at drawing a line under the scandal as establishment Democrats seek desperately to unite the party behind the campaign of former secretary of state Clinton, who goes up against Republican Donald Trump in the November presidential election.

Bernie Sanders makes a point July 12, 

2016 at a rally in Portsmouth, New 

Hampshire where he endorsed presumptive

 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary

Clinton (AFP Photo/Justin Saglio)

Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, reiterated her intention to be a surrogate for Clinton in the presidential campaign, but said her five-year stint leading the Democratic National Committee was over.

"Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention," she said in a statement.

She said she will still open and close the convention.

A cache of leaked emails from Democratic Party leaders' accounts includes at least two messages suggesting an insider effort to cripple the upstart Sanders campaign that had competed with Clinton -- including by seeking to present him as an atheist to undermine him in highly religious states.

The Vermont senator Sunday repeated calls for the resignation of Wasserman Schultz, whose leadership was already under fire and whose impartiality was called into question by the leaks.

President Barack Obama said he called Wasserman Schultz Sunday to say he was "grateful" for her years of service.

"Her leadership of the DNC has meant that we had someone who brought Democrats together not just for my re-election campaign, but for accomplishing the shared goals we have had for our country."

Yet Wasserman Schultz recently proved a divisive leader, with the Sanders camp and its supporters concerned the DNC was angling for a Clinton nomination.

A supporter of former US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

 holds banners in Philadelphia on July 24, 2016, one day before the Democrats

 gather to formally annoint Clinton as their candidate for the November 

presidential election (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

"The emails just proved what we believed to begin with," Dora Bouboulis of Vermont told AFP as she marched in a Philadelphia demonstration.

Clinton issued a statement to thank Wasserman Schultz and to state her friend "will continue to serve as a surrogate for my campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states."

Trump however was quick to pile on.

"I always said that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was overrated. The Dems convention is cracking up," he taunted on Twitter.

Related Articles:

Scandal crocks Democratic Party truce on eve of confab

Leaked emails threaten image of Democratic party unity

Bernie Sanders and the Movement Where the People Found Their Voice

Bernie Sanders and the Movement Where the People Found Their Voice

Nightly demonstrations follow failed coup in Turkey

Since the failed coup, protesters have filled squares throughout Turkey on a nightly basis. On July 15, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on supporters to take to the streets to defend his regime from the military.

Deutsche Welle, 23 July 2016

Thousands of people have flocked to squares across Turkey on a nightly basis since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called supporters to the streets on July 15, the evening of the failed coup. The supporters of the regime have become known as the "Democracy Watch."

"I still think there is a threat," 26-year-old Muhittin Bayhantopcu said on Istanbul's Taksim Square Friday evening. "This threat is against the entire country, toward all groups. I'm here for democracy."

Thousands of people filled the square on Friday evening, many of them holding Turkish flags. There were women wearing religious coverings such as chadors, men with tattoos on motorcycles, men wearing Islamic skullcaps, and men wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts. Most people appeared to be conservative. Some demonstrators brought their children.

"In this country, there always was and is the threat of a military coup," a university student said. "I know this because I study history." She said she had voted for an opposition party in the most recent elections, but that that party had since characterized the post-coup assemblies on Taksim as nationalist. "But if the other parties displayed the same stance and were in the same place, everything would be different," the student said. "We would be a united nation. I'm here with my people."

Young and old have been lured to Turkey's squares by Erdogan's call to
defend democrarcy

'Security and tranquility'

Protests had been banned for the past three years on Taksim Square, where in 2013 demonstrators had railed against the regime and its plans to turn parts of Istanbul's beloved Gezi Park over to developers. The movement spread nationwide, and more than 20 people were killed in the crackdown. Things have gone more smoothly at these demonstrations, with some participants even posing for photos with the police. Queues for sandwiches distributed by the state stretch 70 meters (230 feet). "These marches must continue," President Erdogan said on Friday.

To facilitate that, public transit is running 24 hours and portable toilets have been put into use. "The danger has not yet passed," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday. "The security and tranquility of our citizens has been ensured. But there is no room for complacency."

On one of two televisions on Taksim Square, a presenter read out the national anthem and encouraged the crowd to wave flags, which can be bought onsite for 5 lira (1.5 euro/$1.60). T-shirts bearing the phrase "Sovereignty belongs to the nation" are also for sale, as are headbands that say "Martyrs never die," scarves with Erdogan's name and image, and flag-themed key chains. People chant "God is great" or slogans referencing the flag's red and white.

"This country is ours," an older woman said on Friday. "This land is ours. This flag is ours." She wouldn't give her name, but it was clear that her sympathies did not lie with the coup's plotters: "My Lord didn't side with these traitors. He protected us."

Red carnations were piled in front of a podium, near the listed names of the people killed during the coup attempt. There were two notebooks on the podium to allow mourners and patriots to express their thoughts.

"What is it like to lie in front of a tank?" said 43-year-old Ilhan Atac, who had come to the square with his 4-year-old daughter, explaining what he had written in one of the notebooks. "How brave must one be to use their chest as a shield from bullets? I thanked my martyrs for doing these things. I said that since we are a great nation, we would not fall apart."

On the stage, the master of ceremonies reminded the crowd that people were on city squares across Turkey. He listed the cities, asking "Are you here?" The demonstrators replied: "We're here. We're here until further notice."

Twenty-four-year-old textile worker Selahattin Ergün had been here for the past five nights. "I'm happy to be together with these people," he said. "Kurds, Turks, Zaza, Circassians, and Laz - I'm seeing everyone in unity together here right now."

#Istanbul : First cross-party rally to condemn the #TurkeyCoupAttempt Photos @Kilicbil @ozannkosee @PhotographyGO pic.twitter.com/gbupHQVaas

— AFP Photo Department (@AFPphoto) July 24, 2016

Related Articles:

Pro-Erdogan supporters wave a Turkish flag during a rally at Bosphorus bridge

in Istanbul on July 21, 2016 (AFP Photo/Umit Turhan Coskun)

Turkey detains senior Gulen aide after coup attempt
Turkey to disband presidential guard after post-coup detentions: PM


Mini Channelling Grand Rapids, Michigan - July 16-17, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)  (With reference to global changes & Turkey coup > 10.10 min) - New

Fox News boss Ailes looking at exit: media

Yahoo – AFP, 20 July 2016

Fox News boss Ailes looking at exit: media

Roger Ailes, the politically connected chief of Fox News, is negotiating his exit from the media group amid a lawsuit alleging he sexually harassed a star host, reports said Tuesday.

Ailes, a longtime ally of founder Rupert Murdoch who is chairman and chief executive at Fox News, is discussing terms of his departure, according to The Wall Street Journal, owned by a separate business unit controlled by Murdoch.

The Journal and The New York Times both quoted sources close to the situation on the exit talks as speculation swirled on Ailes's future.

The Daily Beast reported that Fox had initially confirmed Ailes had negotiated a deal to leave, but "subsequently walked back that confirmation."

The online Drudge Report posted a tweet about an exit package worth $40 million for Ailes, but moments later deleted the tweet.

Fox News declined to comment on the reports.

"Roger is at work. The review is ongoing. The only agreement that is in place is his existing employment agreement," said parent company 21st Century Fox.

The parent company of Fox News has launched an internal review following a

 sexual harassment lawsuit against the network's powerful boss, Roger Ailes. 

Former anchor Gretchen Carlson alleges she was fired after turning down sexual

advances from the Fox News chairman and CEO. Vinita Nair reports.

Earlier this month, the cable news giant said it had launched an internal review of allegations in a lawsuit by Fox News host and former Miss America Gretchen Carlson, who claimed she was fired for rejecting Ailes's sexual advances.

Fox stated at the time it had "full confidence" in Ailes but added that it was reviewing the matter.

"We take these matters seriously," Fox said in the July 6 statement.

New York Magazine reported Monday that Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James had decided that Ailes would soon be out.

The report, citing sources close to the situation, said Ailes was given the option of resigning or being fired this week.

Ailes, a former consultant to Republican presidents, is a key figure in the media empire.

Murdoch's sons have been taking a larger role in operations since the 85-year-old tycoon announced he was gradually easing control of his corporate empire, which includes 21st Century Fox and the global publishing group News Corp.

Related Article:

Roger Ailes leaves Fox News in wake of sexual harassment claims - New

Dutch lorry maker DAF fined €753m for cartel forming over 14 years

DutchNews, July 19, 2016

Photo: Alf van Beem via
Wikimedia Commons 

The European Commission has fined a group of truck manufacturers, including Dutch firm DAF, a total of €2.93bn for operating as an illegal cartel for 14 years. 

The commission said in a statement that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF had broken EU antitrust rules by colluding on truck pricing and on passing on the costs of compliance with stricter emission rules. The cartel operated between 1997 and 2011, the commission said. 

Eindhoven-based DAF was given the second biggest fine of nearly €753m. 

MAN was not fined as it revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission. All companies acknowledged their involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case.

‘It is not acceptable that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and DAF, which together account for around nine out of every 10 medium and heavy trucks produced in Europe, were part of a cartel instead of competing with each other,’ competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. 

DAF has been part of American listed industrial group PACCAR since 1996.

Related Article:

EU fines truckmakers for 14-year cartel

Turkey regains control after deadly anti-Erdogan coup bid

Yahoo – AFP, Fulya Ozerkan with Raziye Akkoc in Istanbul, July 16, 2016

People react after taking over military position on the Bosphorus bridge in
Istanbul, on July 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/Bulent Kilic)

Ankara (AFP) - Turkish authorities wrested back control of the country Saturday, after crushing a military coup by discontented soldiers seeking to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that claimed more than 250 lives.

After facing down the bloodiest challenge to his 13-year rule, Erdogan triumphantly addressed thousands of supporters in his home Istanbul district after Friday's chaos in the strategic NATO member of 80 million people.

The authorities blamed Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric who is Erdogan's arch enemy, for the plot and lost no time in rounding up 2,839 soldiers over alleged involvement, amid concerns over the extent of the retribution.

Turks woke up early Saturday to television pictures showing dozens of soldiers surrendering after the failed coup, some with their hands above their head, others forced to the ground in the streets.

"The situation is completely under control," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said outside his Ankara offices, flanked by Turkey's top general who had himself been taken hostage by the plotters.

Turkey coup attempt (AFP Photo/Sophie HUET-TRUPHEME, John SAEKI)

Describing the attempted coup as a "black stain" on Turkey's democracy, Yildirim said 161 people had been killed in the night of violence and 1,440 wounded.

General Umit Dundar, who stood in as acting chief of staff while Hulusi Akar was being held by the rebels, said 104 coup plotters has been killed. Akar was later rescued in an operation that marked the end of the plotters' hopes.

During a night where power hung in the balance, large crowds of flag-waving supporters of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) defied the coup leaders' orders of a curfew and flooded the streets to block the attempt to overthrow the regime.

"We should keep on owning the streets tonight no matter at what stage (the coup attempt is) because a new flare-up could take place at any moment," Erdogan warned on Twitter on Saturday.

'People are afraid'

Friday's putsch bid began with rebel F-16 jets screaming low over rooftops in Ankara, soldiers and tanks taking to the streets and multiple explosions throughout the night in the capital as well as the biggest city Istanbul.

Parts of parliament were turned to rubble after being hit by air strikes from rebel jets.

Supporters of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, protest in Istanbul’s 

Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Rebel troops also moved to block the two bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, culminating in a stand-off with an angry crowd.

Turks have not seen such scenes since 1980 when the military led by general Kenan Evren ousted the government and many had no desire to revive these memories.

As protesters poured onto the streets, an AFP photographer saw troops open fire on people gathered near one of the bridges, leaving dozens wounded.

Soldiers also shot at protesters angrily denouncing the coup bid at Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square, injuring several.

There was chaos in the city as angry crowds jeered the passing tanks, with much smaller numbers welcoming the troops.

US President Barack Obama stressed the "vital need" for all parties to "act within the rule of law" as Turkey rounded up the coup plotters.

While condemning the coup bid, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the plotters had to be dealt with "under the rule of law".

Turkey's General Erdal Ozturk, commander of the Third Army, has been detained while Alparslan Altan, one of 17 judges on the constitutional court, was taken into custody.

Judicial authorities said 2,745 judges would also be sacked in the wake of the coup bid.

"Brothers, I must say that this is now being cleaned up," said Erdogan said in his speech in the district of Kizikli on the Asian side of Istanbul.

People apprehend a Turkish soldier, third right in blue, that participated in the 

attempted coup, on Istanbul's Bosporus Bridge, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (AP

Photo/Selcuk Samiloglu)

'Treason and rebellion'

The president's critics have long accused him of undermining modern Turkey's secular roots and of sliding into authoritarianism -- but he was believed to have won control of the military after purging elements who opposed him.

Turkey's once-powerful military has long considered itself the guardian of the secular state founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

It has staged three coups since 1960 and forced out an Islamic government in 1997.

Erdogan immediately pinned the blame on "the parallel state" and "Pennsylvania" -- a reference to Gulen, his arch-enemy whom he has always accused of seeking to overthrow him.

"The United States -- you must extradite that person," he said to cheers from the supporters.

But the president's former ally "categorically" denied any involvement in the plot, calling the accusation "insulting".

Yildirim took aim at the United States for hosting what he called "the leader of a terrorist organisation."

Speaking in Luxembourg, US Secretary of State John Kerry invited Turkey to hand over any evidence it had against Gulen.

A man kicks a Turkish soldier that participated in the attempted coup, on 

Istanbul's Bosporus Bridge, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Selcuk Samiloglu)

Meanwhile, Turkey demanded the extradition of eight people thought to have been involved in the putsch who landed in a Black Hawk military helicopter in Greece.

And Istanbul authorities sought to get life back to normal with the bridges reopening to traffic and Ataturk International Airport -- shut down by the plotters -- gradually reopening.

But the US government said it has suspended all flights to Turkey, and banned all airlines from flying to the United States from Turkey due to uncertainty after the coup bid.

Turkish authorities also imposed a security lockdown at the Incirlik air base in the southern province of Adana used by US and other coalition forces in the fight against jihadists in Syria, the US consulate said.

The US military command in Europe has ordered American forces across Turkey to take maximum protective measures.

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