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Report: Senate Democrats in Red States Worried Impeachment Will ‘Spin Out of Control’

Democrats in red states are worried the impeachment process may spin out of control and destroy their chances of winning the Senate.

Dem Leaders Call For Trump’s Imprisonment, Torture and Execution

Because Trump is following the Constitution as to what a president does!

Giuliani Drops Bomb About Obama White House and Ukraine

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott Split Up, Taking a Break

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott are both single again — the couple is walking away from their relationship … for now, TMZ has learned. Sources connected to the now exes say they haven’t been together publicly since his “Look Mom, I …

GOP Rep Accuses Media of Falsely Reporting He Backs Trump Impeachment Inquiry

Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada accused mainstream media outlets of falsely reporting he supports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The New York Times ran a story on Friday with the headline, “Mark Amo…

Haiti: Police Station Looted as Protests of Corrupt Venezuelan Oil Escalate

Haiti authorities opened fire on Haiti rioters on Friday as protests against President Jovenel Moïse came to a head.

Leftists Wants to Use Orwellian Tactics on Trump’s Twitter Account

Share this link and spread the word – while you still can!

McConnell Recognizes Millions Lost to Communism on 70th Anniversary of People’s Republic

Criticizes nation’s surveillance, censorship and totalitarian practices.

North Korea Launches ‘Unidentified Projectile’ Hours After Agreeing to Resume Denuclearization Talks

Japenese coast guard, South Korean military detect unidentified missiles from North Korea

Director Todd Phillips Says He Made Joker Because “Woke” Hollywood Killed Comedy

He’s right.

Smollett Hits Jackpot Again as Special Prosecutor Turns Out To Be Foxx Donor

Jussie Smollett, the now-disgraced actor who dodged 16 felony charges despite a mountain of evidence against him, seems to have hit the jackpot yet again. Dan Webb, the special prosecutor assigned to look into why Kim Foxx’s office decided to dro…

Hypersonic Nuclear Missiles Unveiled at China’s Largest Ever Military Parade

30 thousand citizens reportedly handpicked to stand on sides of streets

Maxine Waters Declares Impeachment Isn’t Enough for Trump, He Needs ‘Solitary Confinement’

Just when the Capitol Hill craziness seemed to be peaking, Rep. Maxine Waters shows up. The voluble Democratic congresswoman from California, infamous for stoking physical intimidation of political opponents and calling for President Donald Trump’s imp…

US-North Korea Denuclearization Talks to Resume This Weekend

Talks to occur after seven-month hiatus

NFL Fines Saints Captain for Wearing ‘Man of God’ Headband, but He Still Stands for Christ

The only thing the NFL is better at than creating controversy is creating needless controversy. The NFL’s rule against players wearing “personal messages” during games has once again reared its ugly head, leading to a seemingly unnece…

Meet The Company Building A Lithium Ion Battery That's "Less Likely To Explode"

16 November 2019

Meet The Company Building A Lithium Ion Battery That's "Less Likely To Explode"

Paging Elon Musk...

SimpliPhi is a company based in Oxnard, California that is trying to tackle the problem of making a clean battery to store power. The company makes what it calls "clean, safe lithium-ion batteries, free of cobalt, the toxic element that can lead batteries to overheat and catch fire."

The company's power systems use lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which is a compound that doesn't carry the risks of traditional lithium ion batteries, according to Bloomberg. Companies like Blue Planet Energy and Sonnen are also using the LFP technology to make safer batteries.

ClintoSimpliPhi's batteries have already been adopted by groups like the n Foundation, who has installed their batteries, management software and other tools in hospitals and clinics on Puerto Rico after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria. The model is also working for California homeowners and businesses that are dealing with persistent blackouts as a result of the state's ongoing wildfires.

Each of these companies is also competing with Tesla and other battery makers to play a larger role in shifting energy away from fossil fuels.

Lithium ion batteries are a decades old technology and are considered crucial to widespread adoption of green energy, like wind and solar, because the electricity generated needs to be stored somewhere. Energy storage worldwide is expected to "multiply exponentially" over the next 20 years, necessitating $662 billion in investments. The market today relies on cobalt chemistries, but the LFP compound is increasing in its market share.

Even better yet is the fact that SimpliPhi hasn't burned through hundreds of millions of dollars, like every other startup company. It has been profitable since 2013 and has been doubling or tripling revenue annually. It expects to do $20 million in revenue in 2019. Its systems - tens of thousands of them - have been deployed in more than 40 countries. All of its employees are part-owners.

Electrical engineer Josh Crosby, president of power-system consulting firm CatalystE in Huntsville, Ala., has been using SimpliPhi’s batteries in projects for the U.S. military since 2014. He said:

"Their safety track record, efficiency, and price—two to three times less than what military battery makers charge—led [me] to SimpliPhi. Its batteries have been tested at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. Cobalt is more energy-dense and lighter, but it’s not going to last as long, and you have an inherent risk of fire.”

Catherine Von Burg, SimpliPhi’s co-founder said:

“How can we talk about clean energy if we’re using a chemistry that is fundamentally hazardous and toxic?”

That's a great question: maybe someone should ask Elon Musk.

Recall, it was only days ago we wrote about one Tesla owner not being able to dispose of his wrecked vehicle as a result of the toxins in its battery.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/16/2019 - 18:00 Tags Environment Technology Internet Business Finance

Democrats Flipped From "Quid Pro Quo" To "Bribery" Because A 'Focus Group' Told Them To

16 November 2019

Democrats Flipped From "Quid Pro Quo" To "Bribery" Because A 'Focus Group' Told Them To

Authored by 'Allahpundit' via HotAir.com,

Something to bear in mind the next time Pelosi starts burbling about how “prayerful” this process has been for them.

Apparently Jesus told her to start focus-grouping battleground states to find the way forward.

Chris Wallace passed along the info to Fox viewers this morning...

Chris Wallace on “how political” impeachment is: House Dems changed messaging after focus grouphttps://t.co/6fnpkZ5E4w pic.twitter.com/NsbU3hhHsj

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 15, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

...and WaPo reported on it last night:

Several Democrats have stopped using the term “quid pro quo,” instead describing “bribery” as a more direct summation of Trump’s alleged conduct.

The shift came after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee conducted focus groups in key House battlegrounds in recent weeks, testing messages related to impeachment. Among the questions put to participants was whether “quid pro quo,” “extortion” or “bribery” was a more compelling description of Trump’s conduct. According to two people familiar with the results, which circulated among Democrats this week, the focus groups found “bribery” to be most damning. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the results have not been made public.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a House Intelligence Committee member, kicked off the effort to retire “quid pro quo” from the Democratic vocabulary during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he said “it’s probably best not to use Latin words” to explain Trump’s actions.

It makes me laugh to think of Dems needing a focus group to explain to them that “bribery,” a concept even kindergarteners grasp as wrong, is a bit more effective than “quid pro quo” when trying to turn public opinion against the president. That’s so elementary that I assumed they switched to bribery in their messaging for legal reasons, because it’s an impeachable offense specified in the Constitution. No more hiding by the GOP behind the vagueness of the term “high crimes and misdemeanors”! Pelosi was about to put them on the spot: This is bribery, son. It’s right there in black and white in Article II. If the facts are there, you must vote to remove.

But no, turns out she and Schiff needed a group of average joes to officially confirm that bribe sounds worse than some Latin term known mainly to lawyers.

I’m surprised Trump hasn’t highlighted the focus-grouping on Twitter yet.

Not only does it underline that impeachment is a political process, being run by people who stand to gain electorally by investigating him, but it leaves Democrats open to the claim that they’re not just tweaking the terminology based on public opinion, they’re tweaking the actual charges. If the facts, which haven’t changed materially since this started, told a straightforward story of bribery all along then why was the less definitive “abuse of power” cited until recently as the core claim against POTUS?

Ah well, doesn’t matter. Probably no one is watching these hearings who hasn’t already been persuaded one way or the other already:

Lots of Democrats are watching, no doubt because they’re psyched to see Trump formally accused of wrongdoing by witnesses. Lots of Republicans are not watching, either because they don’t want to see it or because they’re not going to be convinced by some Democratic production. Maybe the numbers will move for Trump’s Senate trial, when the stakes are higher and the GOP is in charge.

If I were Pelosi, I’d be worried about those independent numbers, though. It stands to reason that they’re the most persuadable voters out there. It’s one thing for partisan Republicans to skip the hearings but if indies are tuning out too then whose mind is to be changed by them? No one’s. As they’re increasingly coming to realize.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/16/2019 - 17:30 Tags Politics

Baltimore City Hits 300 Homicides For 5th Consecutive Year Amid Murder Crisis

16 November 2019

Baltimore City Hits 300 Homicides For 5th Consecutive Year Amid Murder Crisis

Baltimore has just hit 300 homicides for the fifth consecutive year, reported The Baltimore Sun.

On a per-capita basis, Baltimore is one of the most dangerous cities in America. If you have plans on going to Baltimore for the holidays -- cancel them immediately -- that's because the city is imploding on itself, likely to get worse in the early 2020s.

The murder crisis in Baltimore could hit a record this year. There are 47 days left, and as of Saturday morning, 301 homicides have been logged into The Baltimore Sun murder map -- as shown below:

Homicides trends for the year are above average -- even in the "greatest economy ever," where President Trump continues to pump headlines detailing how black youth are doing better than they ever have. As to why anyone would believe government jobs data ahead of an election year is beyond us -- come to Baltimore, and you'll see first hand many of the inner cities stuck in a decades-long depression of extreme wealth inequality that has led to the collapse of economic mobility for hundreds of thousands of African Americans.

The murder crisis isn't slowing down but rather accelerating into year-end. One would think because of seasonal factors, such as cold weather, that homicide trends would weaken -- but not this year -- it's likely total homicides for the year will range from 330 to 345.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison told reporters on Thursday that the murder crisis is "ruining families and it's horrifying, and we're all disgusted by it."

Harrison is right, the disgust among working-class families is so high that a massive exodus has been seen in the last several years as the city's total population has collapsed to 100-year lows. Many are fleeing for the suburbs, escaping death and destruction.

Harrison, who previously served as New Orleans' police chief, told reporters last week that it could be several years before crime trends are reversed.

He said a new deployment strategy in Baltimore had been implemented to address the "culture of violence" in the city affecting the youth.

So if you have holiday plans to visit Baltimore City -- please cancel them if you value your life.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/16/2019 - 17:00 Tags Law Crime

Stablecoins 'Threaten Global Financial Stability', Fed Warns

16 November 2019

Stablecoins 'Threaten Global Financial Stability', Fed Warns

Authored by William Suberg via CoinTelegraph.com,

Stablecoins could “complement” other payment systems and improve conditions for consumers, but need constant checks, says the United States Federal Reserve.

In its November 2019 Financial Stability Report released on Nov. 15, the Fed highlights stablecoins and their potential impact on the U.S. and beyond.

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

Fed: Unregulated stablecoins “pose risks”

Rather than dismissing the phenomenon, officials eye potential use cases for the future but insist any stablecoin must adhere to regulatory demands.

“Innovations that foster faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payments could complement existing payment systems and improve consumer welfare if appropriately designed and regulated,” the report explains.

At the same time, the Fed warns:

“However, the possibility for a stablecoin payment network to quickly achieve global scale introduces important challenges and risks related to financial stability, monetary policy, safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing, and consumer and investor protection.”

It added rare official praise of Facebook’s embattled Libra concept, describing it as an example of stablecoins, which “have the potential to rapidly achieve widespread adoption.”

“A global stablecoin network, if poorly designed and unregulated, could pose risks to financial stability,” it states elsewhere.

Better fractional reserve coin?

The report comes as the Fed takes an increasing interest in digital currency. As Cointelegraph reported earlier this month, the central bank is currently looking for a dedicated research manager for the sphere, as China prepares to launch its state-backed digital currency.

At the same time, a former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump revealed last month he plans to issue his own stablecoin, which is not fully backed by reserves.

U.S. lawmakers have sought to vet existing stablecoin offerings, notably market leader Tether (USDT), which currently faces a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that Bitcoin (BTC) figures have broadly dismissed.

This week, Fed chair Jerome Powell meanwhile admitted that the $23 trillion U.S. national debt was no longer “sustainable,” but that the consequences of not paying it off were not critical.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/16/2019 - 16:30 Tags Business Finance

Leaked Chinese Government Documents Prove Muslims Are Being Detained In Massive Numbers

16 November 2019

Leaked Chinese Government Documents Prove Muslims Are Being Detained In Massive Numbers

There's now substantial evidence - in the Chinese government's own words - that they are detaining Muslims in massive numbers.

403 pages of internal documents have been leaked to the New York Times that describe a clampdown in Xinjiang - a resource-rich territory located on the border of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia - where authorities have "corralled as many as a million ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs and others into internment camps and prisons over the past three years."

In Xinjiang, Muslim ethnic minority groups make up more than half the region's population of 25 million. The largest group is the Uighurs. Beijing has fought with the Uighurs for decades, who have offered resistance to Chinese rule.

The current crackdown began after a surge of antigovernment and anti-Chinese violence, including ethnic riots in 2009 in Urumqi, the regional capital, and a May 2014 attack on an outdoor market that killed 39 people just days before Mr. Xi convened a leadership conference in Beijing to set a new policy course for Xinjiang.

The Chinese government has called these camps "job training centers" to fight Islamic extremism, but the documents seem to confirm the coercive nature of the crackdown in the words of the Chinese government.

The campaign is being called "ruthless and extraordinary". Senior party leaders are recorded ordering "drastic and urgent" action, including mass detentions. The leaked papers show how the country carried out its "most far-reaching internment campaign since the Mao era."

President Xi Jinping laid the groundwork for the camps during speeches to officials in Xinjiang in April 2014, after Uighur militants stabbed more than 150 people at a train station, killing 31. In his speech, Xi called for "an all-out struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism using the organs of dictatorship and showing absolutely no mercy.”

Xi also said: “The methods that our comrades have at hand are too primitive. None of these weapons is any answer for their big machete blades, ax heads and cold steel weapons. We must be as harsh as them and show absolutely no mercy.”

Xi also urged his party to "emulate aspects of America’s war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks."

“We say that development is the top priority and the basis for achieving lasting security, and that’s right. But it would be wrong to believe that with development every problem solves itself,” Xi said in one speech.

In another speech, he said: “After the United States pulls troops out of Afghanistan, terrorist organizations positioned on the frontiers of Afghanistan and Pakistan may quickly infiltrate into Central Asia. East Turkestan’s terrorists who have received real-war training in Syria and Afghanistan could at any time launch terrorist attacks in Xinjiang.”

The camps expanded rapidly in 2016 when Chen Quanguo was appointed new party boss for the region. He handed out Xi's speeches to stay on message and implored his officials to “round up everyone who should be rounded up.” Any local leaders that stood in Chen's way were immediately purged, including one official who was jailed.

And the leak suggests that there could be discontent from within the party. The Chinese, who often undertake policymaking under the cloak of secrecy, are certainly not known for leaking internal government documents.

Since 2017, hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang. One leaked document describes how to handle minority students returning home to Xinjiang in summer 2017 to find that their relatives have been detained. The document says that students should be informed that their relatives are receiving “treatment”.

One document ordered: "Keep up the detentions. Stick to rounding up everyone who should be rounded up. If they’re there, round them up.”

Officials in Eastern Xinjiang drafted the Q and A script and distributed the guide across the region, urging officials to use it as a model.

The document says: “Returning students from other parts of China have widespread social ties across the entire country. The moment they issue incorrect opinions on WeChat, Weibo and other social media platforms, the impact is widespread and difficult to eradicate.”

Authorities suspected that the answers wouldn't work well with students and also supplied answers to follow up questions like:

When will my relatives be released? If this is for training, why can’t they come home? Can they request a leave? How will I afford school if my parents are studying and there is no one to work on the farm?

The guide recommends answers that get firmer in nature, eventually culminating telling students that their relatives have been "infected" by the "virus" of radical Islam and must be quarantined and cured. Even grandparents could not be spared, officials were told to say.

One answer says: “If they don’t undergo study and training, they’ll never thoroughly and fully understand the dangers of religious extremism. No matter what age, anyone who has been infected by religious extremism must undergo study.”

Another says: “Treasure this chance for free education that the party and government has provided to thoroughly eradicate erroneous thinking, and also learn Chinese and job skills. This offers a great foundation for a happy life for your family.”

The authorities are using a scoring system to see who can be released from camps. Students are told that the system takes into account their daily behavior, which has a direct effect on when their relatives may be released.

“There must be effective educational remolding and transformation of criminals. And even after these people are released, their education and transformation must continue,” President Xi said during one trip to Xinjiang.

You can read the New York Times' full longform piece, including all of the leaked documents, here.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/16/2019 - 16:00 Tags Politics War Conflict

The Crown leaves viewers furious as the Queen is shown faking tears at the Aberfan coal-tip tragedy

16 November 2019

The Queen visited Aberfan eight days after an avalanche of slurry killed 144 people, mostly children, in 1966. In The Crown the Queen rebuffs Harold Wilson's suggestion to visit relatives.

Prince Andrew speaks publicly for first time about relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

16 November 2019

The Duke of York is questioned during a BBC Newsnight interview about his links to the disgraced financier who was found dead earlier this year in a prison cell while being held on sex trafficking charges.

Media tycoon Evgeny Lebedev denies having files of compromising material on Boris Johnson

16 November 2019

Evgeny Lebedev today blames an 'ugly strain of Russophobia' over allegations he obtained 'Kompromat' at a party attended by Boris Johnson at his luxury villa in Umbria, Italy.

Devon Windsor stuns as she and Johnny 'Dex' Barbara marry in St. Barts

16 November 2019

It's wedding day for this happy couple. Devon Windosr and Johnny 'Dex' Barbara have officially tied the knot. The supermodel was spotted outside the church with her father in a stunning lace gown.

Will.i.am says Qantas flight attendant he accused of racism shouldn't be sacked

16 November 2019

Rapper will.i.am likens his treatment on board a Qantas flight to a 'police state' after officers were called to meet him on the plane when it landed in Sydney over an altercation with a flight attendant.