Trump becoming sour and dark as he turns against son-in-law Jared Kushner

According to a New York Times report by Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush, President Donald Trump has not only been overheard complaining about having to fire his disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn, but has also begun directing his mood swings at his son-in-law-turned-adviser Jared Kushner.

“His own mood, according to two advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has become sour and dark,” the report claims, “turning against most of his aides — even his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — and describing them in a fury as ‘incompetent,’ according to one of those advisers.”

Along with sources decrying the president’s temperament, the report also suggests that some aides believe Trump doesn’t understand his intel well enough to have leaked anything serious to the two Russian officials he met with in the Oval Office last week.

“In private, three administration officials conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling — and honest — defense of the president: that Mr. Trump, a hasty and indifferent reader of printed briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would do harm to United States allies,” the report claimed.

At: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/trump-becoming-sour-and-dark-as-he-turns-against-son-in-law-jared-kushner-report/

Argentine political prisoner Milagro Sala reports mistreatment, her fellow activists tortured

Argentine indigenous rights activist Milagro Sala made an official report to the local public prosecutor's office in which she declared being slapped, kicked, and pinched by guards, as well as receiving death threats from prison officials.

Sala stated in the report that fellow members of her Tupac Amaru Association at the prison - all women - have suffered repeated beatings, have sustained fractures, and vomit blood. They, according to Sala, "often scream at night to plead for a stop to the torture."

Arbitrary detention

Imprisoned without charges 16 months ago on orders from Jujuy Province Governor Gerardo Morales, Sala remains in prison on "illicit association" charges over a 2009 egg-lobbing incident against Morales which has not been linked to Sala and in which there were no injuries.

Citing a lack of evidence and serious irregularities such as the use of bribed witnesses, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, currently visiting Argentina, ruled on October 21 that Sala's detention is in fact arbitrary, and urged Argentine President Mauricio Macri (a close ally of Morales) to release her immediately.

Calls for her release were echoed by the OAS, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations.

Sala's report was also filed before the UN Working Group during their visit to the Alto Comedero prison on May 10. The prison official said by Sala to have directed the beatings - deputy director of the prison, Patricia Balcarce - had been moved to another facility just before the UN visit.

The judge overseeing Sala's case, Gastón Mercau, and other court officials corroborated the injuries detailed in Sala's report both to herself and her fellow inmates - including some that required hospitalization for torn ligaments and bone fractures. The judge has refused any motions on their behalf however, including all habeas corpus motions.

Mercau was appointed judge and assigned the case by Jujuy Supreme Court Justice Clara de Langhe de Falcone, his mother-in-law and one of four justices Morales added to the court last year.

Echoes of the last dictatorship

Horacio Verbitsky, the head of Argentina's most prominent human rights organization, the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), called on the Argentine Supreme Court to free Sala and her fellow Tupac Amaru detainees.

"Morales, his appointee Justice Falcone, and their allies ignore the UN Working Group's calls for her release; one even suggested they visit Syria instead," Verbitsky said. "This kind of reaction echoes that of the last dictatorship during the IACHR fact-finding visit in 1979."

The IACHR report from that visit, published in 1980, detailed widespread human rights violations committed during the "Dirty War" waged against leftist dissidents a few years earlier - something the dictatorship had denied up to then.

The IACHR arrives in Argentina on Thursday.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eldestapeweb.com%2Fvomitos-sangre-fracturas-y-amenazas-asi-torturan-milagro-sala-y-sus-companeras-la-carcel-jujuy-n28814

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Milagro Sala and Pope Francis in happier days; Francis has expressed concern over the Sala case.[/center]

Argentines unite against law helping human rights abusers

Thousands of Argentines of all ages and opposing political parties joined Wednesday to protest a Supreme Court ruling that many feared would lead to the release of convicted human rights criminals.

Argentines have been outraged by the top court’s decision last week that reduced the sentence of a human rights abuser based on a repealed law. Activists note that 750 such convicts could soon be freed with this precedent, and referred to this ruling as a “back-door amnesty.”

The so-called '2X1 law' was used by three of the Supreme Court’s five justices to reduce the 13-year sentence given to Luis Muiña for the kidnapping and torture of five people during a 1976 military operation against a suburban Buenos Aires hospital. The law was in effect from 1994 to 2001, when most dictatorship-era human rights criminals were still free.

Lower courts have meanwhile denounced it as unconstitutional and rejected requests for freedom by other convicted abusers. Congress overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday that would ban the reduction of jail sentences for crimes against humanity committed during Argentina’s brutal 1976-83 military dictatorship.

A firm reaction

Demonstrators marched to Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo square, facing the presidential offices, carrying banners with photos of those who were forcibly disappeared in a government-sponsored crackdown on leftist dissidents during Argentina’s “dirty war.” Human rights activists believe the real number of disappeared to be as high as 30,000.

Many wore white headscarves that have become a symbol of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo human rights groups. During the dictatorship, they fought to recover their children and grandchildren by marching every week in front of the presidential offices.

“Fortunately, the whole society has reacted firmly,” Estela Barnes de Carlotto, president of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, told demonstrators. Demonstrations against the ruling were held across Argentina, as well as in Barcelona and Paris.

President Mauricio Macri's Human Rights Secretary, Claudio Avruj, initially applauded the May 3 ruling but later retracted amid the political firestorm that followed. He has rejected calls for his resignation.

Speaking to the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner - during whose tenure most of the 750 currently in prison for human rights crimes were tried and convicted - noted that Macri has always favored impunity for Dirty War perpetrators.

“This follows a long sequence of actions, starting with the president's referring to human rights as a 'scam'. They have created the institutional climate that made this ruling possible.”

At: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/argentines-unite-against-law-helping-human-rights-abusers/2017/05/10/b8757704-35e2-11e7-ab03-aa29f656f13e_story.html?utm_term=.606e397b1615

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“Your Honors: Never Again.”[/center]

Rudy Giuliani next FBI director? Former mayor due at White House; insists he isn't being considered

Source: Newsweek

Rudy Giuliani has denied that he is a candidate to be the new, permanent FBI director, despite saying that he was scheduled for a meeting at the White House Wednesday.

The former New York City mayor and presidential candidate was rumored by many to be a possible choice to replace James Comey after he was controversially fired by President Donald Trump Tuesday evening.

Giuliani was a big supporter of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and was at one point expected to take a leading position within his administration. He also was in Washington, at Trump International Hotel, just hours after Comey’s dismissal. Speaking to reporters from The Atlantic and New York Magazine late Tuesday evening, Giuliani was asked about the prospect of succeeding Comey and current Acting Director Andrew McCabe.

“I’m not a candidate for FBI director,” Giuliani said. “The president’s not gonna ask me, and I’m not gonna be FBI director.”

But Giuliani, who serves as an informal cybersecurity adviser to Trump’s administration, went on to say that he was set to be at the White House Wednesday, although purely in relation to his current role. “I’ll be possibly—I’ll be in the White House tomorrow,” he said. “Nothing to do with, uh, having to do with my role.”

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/rudy-giuliani-fbi-director-trump-606790

UN expert group visits Argentina to assess arbitrary detention situation

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, carry out its second official visit to assess the situation of deprivation of liberty in the country. The visit, taking place from May 8 to 18, will be the first such visit made by the expert group to Argentina since 2003.

The Working Group’s delegation, comprised of human rights experts Elina Steinerte and Sètondji Roland Adjovi, will visit a variety of places of deprivation of liberty, including prisons, health care institutions, and police stations, to meet with persons deprived of their liberty and to seek relevant information, for its assessment of the overall system.

During the ten-day visit, the experts will visit Buenos Aires city and province, as well as the provinces of Jujuy and Chubut, where they will meet with the federal and local authorities, civil society and others to build an objective understanding of the wide variety of issues concerning the deprivation of liberty in Argentina.

Milagro Sala

The Working Group is expected to visit the most prominent political prisoner in Argentina today, indigenous rights activist Milagro Sala. Sala was imprisoned without charges 16 months ago on orders from Jujuy Province Governor Gerardo Morales, and remains in prison despite lack of evidence and serious irregularities such as the use of bribed witnesses.

The Working Group ruled on October 21 that Sala's arrest was in fact arbitrary, and urged Argentine President Mauricio Macri (a close ally of the right-wing Morales) to release her immediately. This request was echoed by the Secretary General of the OAS and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which declared on December 4 that her detention violates international rights of protest and speech.

Journalist Raúl Noro, Sala's husband, was himself detained for four months without charges after leading a protest calling for her release on July 14.

The Group’s delegation will share with the media their preliminary observations at a press conference to be held at the UNIC Buenos Aires Auditorium, just north of downtown.

At: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21572&LangID=E

President Carter & Bernie Sanders - May 8, 2017

Jimmy Carter said he voted for Bernie Sanders

Source: USA Today

Former President Jimmy Carter, while gushing about Vermont's Bernie Sanders, candidly told a crowd on Monday he voted for the independent senator over Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Democratic primary.

Sanders and Carter shared the stage at the Carter Center in Atlanta for a conversation on human rights. There, Sanders spoke with his campaign-style vigor on a range of issues, from American values, the need to "revitalize American democracy" and boost voter turnout.

After Sanders presented one of his many comments, Carter spilled his endorsement with, "Can you all see why I voted for him?"

It drew laughs from Sanders, Carter, and the crowd. The one-term president didn't expand on his pick. He did add "dissatisfaction with the existing system of politics" resulted in President Trump's election.


Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/05/09/jimmy-carter-said-he-voted-bernie-sanders/314494001/

Right-wing competition for Fox News? Sinclair Broadcasting announces purchase of 42 TV stations

Most Americans have likely never heard of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, even though it is the largest operator of local television news stations in the country.

With Fox News Channel continuing to be mired in legal and financial fallout resulting from the tenure of its controversial founder Roger Ailes, Sinclair’s expansion strategy couldn’t be better timed as the market for right-leaning media is in a crucial state of flux.

According to Reuters and several other news organizations, Sinclair has almost completed negotiations for an approximately $4 billion bid to acquire Tribune Media, a smaller television company that owns or operates 42 local stations along with several cable channels, including WGN. Sinclair now owns 173 stations in 81 markets.

While the local station acquisitions would certainly expand the reach and revenue of Sinclair, the WGN purchase may be the most significant part of the deal for the company. Sinclair has long been aiming to launch its own cable news channel to directly compete with Fox News Channel for right-leaning news viewers.

Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune might not go off completely without a hitch. While the FCC, under its new head, Ajit Pai, announced in April that it was going to increase some limits on station ownership, the combined Sinclair-Tribune behemoth may still exceed the restriction that a firm cannot reach more than 39% of U.S. households.

At: http://www.salon.com/2017/05/08/competition-for-fox-news-sinclair-broadcasting-announces-purchase-of-42-local-tv-stations/

CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS all ban Trump's new campaign ad

Trump’s 2020 campaign arm put out a new ad on Monday. The ad praised Trump for his accomplishments in his first 100 days. But a lot of good that does him when mainstream media refuses to even air the ad.

CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS have now all rejected Trump’s campaign ad.

The networks have banned the ad because it states things that simply are not true. The biggest problem they have with the ad is that it labels the media as “fake news.”

CNN said: “The mainstream media is not fake news, and therefore the ad is false. Per our policy, it will be accepted only if that graphic is deleted. Those are the facts.”

At: http://mindy-fischer-writer.com/2017/05/cnn-abc-nbc-cbs-ban-trumps-new-campaign-ad/

Le Pen and Macron clash in crucial French election debate

Source: BBC News

The two contenders for the French presidency traded insults in a fiery head to head TV debate, in a key moment of a long and bitter campaign.

Centrist Emmanuel Macron said his far-right rival Marine Le Pen's strategy "is to lie," while she called him a shameless "darling of the system."

Macron is well ahead in the polls, although his lead has been reduced. The aim of both candidates is to win over the estimated 18% of undecided voters ahead of Sunday's election.

The debate was heated for most of its 160 minutes, with both candidates throwing personal insults at each other.

Le Pen called her 39-year-old rival "the candidate of savage globalisation," happy to sell off France's assets and relinquish control of the country. Macron, in turn, accused the 48-year-old leader of the National Front (FN) of being "the high priestess of fear," saying she talked a lot but "proposed nothing."

For the first time, neither candidate is from a mainstream French party.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39791175

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