http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/investigates-fbi-syria-greene/index.html

An FBI translator with a top-secret security clearance traveled to Syria in 2014 and married a key ISIS operative she had been assigned to investigate, CNN has learned.

The rogue employee, Daniela Greene, lied to the FBI about where she was going and warned her new husband he was under investigation, according to federal court records.

Greene's saga, which has never been publicized, exposes an embarrassing breach of national security at the FBI—an agency that has made its mission rooting out ISIS sympathizers across the country.

It also raises questions about whether Greene received favorable treatment from Justice Department prosecutors who charged her with a relatively minor offense, then asked a judge to give her a reduced sentence in exchange for her cooperation, the details of which remain shrouded in court-ordered secrecy.



Within weeks of marrying Cuspert, Greene, 38, seemed to realize she had made a terrible mistake. She fled back to the US, where she was immediately arrested and agreed to cooperate with authorities. She pleaded guilty to making false statements involving international terrorism and was sentenced to two years in federal prison. She was released last summer.

Washington (CNN)A 16-year-old walked up to the microphone.

"The state of the planet is unraveling all around us because of our addiction to fossil fuels," Xiuhtezcatl Martinez said at the steps of the US Supreme Court this week. "For the last several decades, we have been neglecting the fact that this is the only planet that we have and that the main stakeholders in this issue (of climate change) are the younger generation. Not only are the youth going to be inheriting every problem that we see in the world today -- after our politicians have been long gone -- but our voices have been neglected from the conversation.

"Our politicians are no longer representing our voices."

So, what's a voiceless kid to do?

How about sue President Donald Trump and his administration -- and then march to the White House?

Martinez is one of 21 young people taking Trump and members of his administration to federal court over inaction on global warming. On Saturday, several of these "climate kid' plaintiffs -- the youngest is 9 -- will walk alongside the chanting and sign-pumping adults at the March for Climate, Jobs and Justice in Washington. That demonstration is a call for a clean energy revolution, and it's expected to draw thousands. Perhaps fittingly, local forecasts call for potentially record-setting temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Demonstrators plan to converge on the White House.

Yes, it's easy to tire of protests in the Trump era, with this rally coming right on the heels of last week's March for Science and not so long after the Women's March. Talk is cheap. But these climate kids deserve your attention.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/04/25/new-alt-right-%E2%80%9Cfight-club%E2%80%9D-ready-street-violence#.WQGz66EMm8h.twitter



A new fight-club “fraternity” of young white, pro-Trump men is being formed, its organizers claim, to defend free-speech rights by “Alt-Right” leaders and engage in street fighting.

Kyle Chapman, a California activist arrested earlier this month in a clash in Berkeley between anti-fascist protesters and pro-Trump demonstrators, announced this week he is forming the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights (cleverly called “FOAK).

Chapman, who uses the Internet meme “Based Stick Man,” says his new militant, highly-masculine group will be the “tactical defensive arm” of the Proud Boys, another group that shows up at pro-Trump rallies looking to rumble with counter-protesters.

“We don’t fear the fight. We are the fight,” Chapman said in a recent social media post announcing FOAK’s formation.

“I’m proud to announce that my newly created Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights will be partnering with Proud Boys,” Chapman said, with the “full-approval” of its founder, Gavin McInnes.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/23/politics/nasa-astronaut-peggy-whitson-trump/index.html



President Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will call NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson from the Oval Office on Monday to congratulate Whitson on her record-breaking stay on the International Space Station.

Early Monday morning, Whitson officially set the US record for most cumulative days in space, surpassing astronaut Jeff Williams' record of 534 days, according to NASA.
View image on Twitter

Whitson arrived at the space station for her current stint on November 19, 2016, and is due to return to Earth in September.

Whitson also is the first woman to command the space station; she has commanded it twice. Her first stint as commander was in April 2008 and she's commanding the current crew.

She also holds the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut. Whitson took her eighth spacewalk in March.

https://www.inc.com/associated-press/president-donald-trump-order-buy-american-hire-american-h1b-visas.html

The White House said the current program undercuts American workers and that some tech companies are using it to drive down wages. President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order that seeks to make changes to a visa program that brings in high-skilled workers.

Trump is heading Tuesday to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he plans to sign an order dubbed "Buy American, Hire American," said administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity despite the president's frequent criticism of the use of anonymous sources.

The officials said the order, which Trump will sign at the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-on Inc., would direct the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Labor and State to propose new rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse. Those departments would also be asked to offer changes so that H-1B visas are awarded to the "most-skilled or highest-paid applicants."

The White House said the program is currently undercutting American workers by bringing in cheaper labor and said some tech companies are using it to hire large numbers of workers and drive down wages.

...
But critics say the program has been hijacked by staffing companies that use the visas to import foreigners -- often from India -- who will work for less than Americans. The staffing companies then sell their services to corporate clients who use them to outsource tech work.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammillsap/2016/10/18/rust-belt-cities-and-moving-to-opportunity-its-time-to-get-back-on-the-hillbilly-highway/#860d8e27d82a

One of the most discussed events this presidential election has been the emergence of the white, blue-collar voter and its connection to Donald Trump’s political success. Several people have commented on this phenomenon, including J.D. Vance, author of the New York Times bestseller Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir about Mr. Vance’s life growing up in the Rust Belt city of Middletown, OH and his family’s eastern Kentucky, 'hillbilly' roots. Mr. Vance’s story presents Middletown as a city that is not only struggling economically, but socially and culturally as well.

Middletown is located in southwestern Ohio, south of Dayton and north of Cincinnati near the middle of the once navigable portion of the Great Miami River. It is primarily located in Butler County, with the remainder lying within Warren County. Both counties are part of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area (MSA), which delineates a common labor market. Like other cities in the region, Middletown’s economy has historically been based on manufacturing. One of its largest employers is AK Steel, which still has a mill in the city.

Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, manufacturing declined in the area. The figure below shows manufacturing employment in the Cincinnati MSA from 1969 to 2014. During this period manufacturing employment fell from over 206,000 workers to 113,000 workers, a 45% decline.

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The story of America is one of moving to opportunity. European immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland and Italy, as well as Asian immigrants from China, Vietnam and India, along with many others, have come to the U.S. looking for a better life. Once here moving continued, from the coast to the heartland, east to west and south to north and back again.

Today the U.S. has one of the most mobile populations in the world, and natives and immigrants alike often move to places with more economic opportunity. In the early to mid-20th century there was the northward rural to urban migration along the "Hillbilly Highway," which is how Mr. Vance’s family—and my own—ended up in Ohio. For the last 40 years or so the opposite has occurred. Cities such as Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas have experienced population booms while Dayton, Buffalo and others have been declining. These types of population fluctuations are a normal occurrence in the U.S.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-patient-says-something-hateful-and-heres-what-a-muslim-medical-student-does/2017/04/07/5b5726f2-fc6d-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?tid=hybrid_experimentrandomcheckpoint_2_na&utm_term=.59efa0be2b8c

“It’s been getting worse for the past couple of months,” he says. “I’ve been under a lot of stress with my business. And there’s so much else going on — I’ve been feeling angry a lot lately .?.?. .”

“You’ve been feeling angry? Why?” I ask.

“It’s the news,” Mr. J says. “ISIS and those Muslims.” His nostrils flare; his hands clench. “These Muslims think they can blow up our country!”

Heat crawls up my neck. I am a Muslim American. My parents emigrated from Pakistan nearly 30 years ago. I was born and raised in a small rural town in Western Maryland.

“I want to take care of them for good and send them all packing,” Mr. J continues. “They aren’t welcome here!”

He gives me an expectant look, waiting for me to nod in agreement. His sentiments are shared by many in the town my clinic serves. Outwardly, I don’t “look” Muslim, as I don’t wear a hijab. Because of my dark skin, I’m more often mistaken for an Indian Hindu.

Growing up in my predominantly white home town, I never really noticed any negativity from others about my race or religion — they were just a part of who I was.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was in sixth grade.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article142845844.html
The floor looks clean in this high-rise apartment, seven stories above Kuwait City traffic. Not a smudge in sight on the picture window. On the other side of the glass, the maid is hanging on by one knuckle, screaming.

“Oh crazy, come here,” a woman says casually in Arabic, holding a camera up to the maid.

“Hold on to me! Hold on to me!” the maid yells.

Instead, the woman steps back. The maid’s grip finally slips, and she lands in a cloud of dust, many stories below.

The maid - an Ethiopian who had been working in the country for several years, according to the Kuwait Times - survived the fall. The videographer, her employer, was arrested last week on a charge of failing to help the worker.

It’s still unclear what led to the fall. But it was not the first time a domestic servant had fallen off of a building in Kuwait, an oil-rich country where foreign workers are cheap, plentiful and live largely at the mercy of their employers.