Why there are still US troops in Syria

The story behind Donald Trump’s fake withdrawal from Syria | The SpectatorJohn R. Bradley:

November 2, 2019 - "Last week, American troops and dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles moved to occupy oil fields in Syria. The escalation came just half an hour after Trump had tweeted that all US soldiers had left the country and would be coming home. As so often, the President says one thing, then orders the military to do the other. On Twitter, Trump is ending the endless wars. In the real world, he is perpetuating them.

"Trump’s focus is not really Syria, of course. It is the presidential election next year, and his precious voter base. But he can’t seem to decide if his supporters are peaceniks or bloodthirsty chauvinists. His problem is that they are both and neither. He’s beginning to learn that the relationship between foreign policy and domestic politics is more complicated than perhaps he realised.

"The most important group in Trump’s base are white evangelical Christians. In 2016, evangelicals rallied behind Trump in greater numbers — he took a staggering 82 per cent of their votes — than they had for any candidate since Nixon.... His trouble, however, is that he needs even higher levels of the evangelicals’ support to have any chance of being re-elected. In three crucial mid-western states where there are large evangelical populations, he won by just 70,000 votes. And his poll numbers there are down, so if there is even a 1 per cent drop in the evangelical support he is toast....

"Evangelical leaders condemned his pulling the troops out.... Trump took dozens of phone calls from .... evangelical activists, while Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, evangelical Christians themselves, met with numerous church congregations to try to pacify them. Hours later, Trump made the shock decision to send troops back to Syria.

"Trump’s other great miscalculation in Syria was to underestimate ... the neocons.... With the threat of impeachment hanging over his head, Trump cannot afford to alienate hawks such as Senator Lindsey Graham. Graham ... visited Trump in the White House to show him a map of where the oil fields are in Syria. (For all his boasting about American energy independence, Trump is preoccupied with the idea of seizing Middle Eastern oil.) Within hours of Trump agreeing to seize them, Graham gave his first major public appearance unequivocally denouncing impeachment proceedings....

"The US generals will be over the moon that Graham forced the U-turn in Syria. From the moment he entered the White House, Trump’s inexperience in international affairs meant he had to rely on men in uniform to guide him.... [T]he US annual defence budget is at least $1 trillion (and growing), and there is no group more determined to keep the wars alive (and the money flowing) than the military top brass. The build-up announcements in Syria and in Saudi Arabia in September — which also undermined Trump’s initial promises of de-escalation — following an attack on the kingdom’s oil facilities blamed on Iran came not from the White House but the Pentagon. Last year, the same was true when thousands more troops were sent to Afghanistan, again just days after Trump announced that he was going to withdraw all of those already there. Thus Trump defers to generals and men in uniform.....That he has not completely caved in to the top brass — Trump is the first US president in two decades, we should remember, not to have started a new war — is at least something to his credit.

"At the same time, it is now clear that Trump is not the president that anti-war types hoped he might be. And the reason is that perpetuating wars (while pretending to end them) is the least risky path for him to take electorally.... The reason Trump was put off war with Iran was less to do with a public backlash and more because he was persuaded that it might well mean losing votes. Trump, like most Americans, likes winning and kicking ass. The warmongers now have him exactly where they want him."

Read more: https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/the-story-behind-donald-trumps-fake-withdrawal-from-syria/
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Libertarian wins DA election in Broome co. NY

Board of Elections say Korchak wins race for Broome County DA after votes counted - WBNG:

November 19, 2019 - "Libertarian Michael Korchak has officially won the race for Broome County District Attorney. The Broome County Board of Elections spent Tuesday counting absentee and affidavit ballots.

"It came down to Korchak leading Republican opponent and local defense attorney, Paul Battisti, by 112 votes with 104 votes still to be counted. Democrat Debra Gelson trailed behind both of them. Cheers erupted throughout the Broome County Board of Elections Tuesday night, as supporters of Michael Korchak heard the results.

“'I feel very relieved,' said Korchak. 'It was a tough battle, but we knew it was going to be a tight race and come down to the absentees, and it came down to the final absentees actually, as well as the affidavit votes.'

"Korchak says he credits the success to his support from both the people working on his campaign and the voters. 'We really had a great team. There’s too many people to even mention, but it really was a group effort and I’m very, very happy to continue to serve Broome County as a prosecutor,' said Korchak.

"Democratic opponent, Debra Gelson, says she was happy to see Korchak win.... However, Paul Battisti [is] demanding a recount....

"Battisti beat Korchak in the Republican primary by less than 200 votes. Korchak then made a surprise return as part of the Libertarian Party for the election."

Read more: https://wbng.com/news/top-stories/2019/11/19/korchak-officially-elected-broome-county-district-attorney/
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SC Libertarians call for Article V convention

South Carolina Libertarians, Republicans United In Supporting Convention Of States – FITSNews:

November 2, 2019 - "South Carolina Libertarians approved a resolution on Saturday ... at their annual state convention in Florence, S.C., calling on the GOP-controlled S.C. General Assembly to “join other states – including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, Utah, Arizona and Alaska – in passing a resolution calling for an Article V convention of states.

"In urging state lawmakers to support 'constitutional amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, and limit the terms of office for members of congress,' the Libertarian resolution specifically cited Article V legislation recently introduced at the S.C. State House (H. 3125 and S. 112).

"The resolution also stipulated that any Article V resolution approved by state lawmakers must be 'specifically restricted to addressing the aforesaid issues.”

"The GOP resolution – which passed the party’s state convention back in May – was similarly worded, calling for an Article V convention that was 'specifically limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of congress'.....

"Critics of Article V legislation – including S.C. governor Henry McMaster ... claim there is no way to control the issues a constitutional convention may address, and have raised the specter that such a gathering could conceivably deprive Americans of their Second Amendment right to bear arms, among other essential liberties....

"Article V is the section of the U.S. Constitution which deals with amending our nation’s founding document.  An 'Article V Convention' is one of two methods by which changes to the Constitution can be proposed.  The other method is a two-thirds vote of the U.S. House and Senate....

"As of this writing, the convention of states method has never been engaged – but the concept is gaining momentum across the country. That is a map posted to the Convention of States Action website, which shows Article V legislation having been approved in fifteen states ..., having advanced through at least one legislative chamber in seven additional states and having been introduced for debate in another seventeen states (including South Carolina)....

"According to a January 2018 survey conducted by The Trafalgar Group, 44.2 percent of South Carolinians supported calling such a convention compared to 24.1 percent who opposed the idea.  The rest – 36.1 percent – were undecided. When asked whether they would support an Article V convention for proposing amendments that would address term limits and a balanced budget, though, support for Article V shot up to 64.7 percent."

Read more: https://www.fitsnews.com/2019/11/02/south-carolina-libertarians-republicans-united-in-supporting-convention-of-states/
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Black Guns Matter founder quits Libertarian Party

Maj Toure exits the Libertarian Party in controversy after a failed bid for City Council | Clout - Chris Brennan and Andrew Seidman, Philadelphia Inquirer:

November 15, 2019 - "Maj Toure, the Libertarian Party candidate in last week’s election for a City Council at-large seat ... took less than half of 1% of the more than 1.3 million votes cast by 304,500 Philadelphians for 18 candidates in the race. Now Toure, 39, has broken up with the Libertarian Party, where he was seen as a rising star, thanks to his Second Amendment advocacy through 'Black Guns Matter,' a group he founded in 2016....

"Toure was scheduled to be the party’s keynote speaker at its national presidential nomination convention in Texas in May. That spotlight was revoked Wednesday after a political mess that started on and is still playing out across social media.

"Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark said Toure became 'more and more controversial' during his Council campaign and finally 'devolved into a lot of inappropriate name-calling' with a prospective donor to the party. Still, Sarwark said, he had hoped Toure would remain a Libertarian after joining the party last year.

"Daniel Hayes, the Libertarian official who revoked Toure’s invitation, praised his Second Amendment advocacy and donated to his Council campaign. Hayes pointed to tweets from Toure that were seen by some party members as transphobic and anti-immigrant. 'It’s social media silliness,' Hayes said of the furor after Toure was dumped.

"Toure has been knocking the Libertarian Party in his Twitter feed. But he declined to discuss the matter with Clout....

"Toure ... testified about gun violence in a Sept. 26 hearing of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. He addressed the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) in February. And he appeared in the Pennsylvania Capitol rotunda in May for a gun-rights rally hosted by State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Butler County Republican and one of the most conservative members of the state legislature."

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/politics/clout/libertarian-party-maj-toure-keynote-speaker-invitation-revoked-20191115.html
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Is LSD the mental-health wonder drug?

Can LSD help solve mental health issues? - CBS News - Faith Salie:

August 19, 2018 - "Ayelet Waldman is no stranger to drugs.... Diagnosed with a mood disorder, this author and mother of four had tried everything. 'I was profoundly, profoundly depressed, suicidally depressed,' she said. 'I had never been like that in my life.'

'That’s when she turned to ... LSD. In secret, Waldman ... began taking a miniscule amount every three days. It’s called microdosing, and it’s a controversial yet growing trend among the Silicon Valley crowd. But for her, she says, it worked. 'You don’t hallucinate; you don’t see anything unusual,' Waldman said. 'Best way I could describe it, a little more cheerful and a little more effective at work, like, a little more productive.'

"So productive, in fact, she wrote a book about her mind-altering experiment, A Really Good Day. And most importantly, her suicidal thoughts disappeared. But there was a catch: After a month, she ran out of the small supply she had gotten a hold of. And she stopped microdosing. Why? '‘Cause it’s illegal,' Waldman said. 'If it weren’t illegal, I would still be doing it.'

"Taking LSD, even a tiny microdose of it, is still against the law, and potentially dangerous. But once upon a time, LSD and psychedelics like it were considered potential wonder drugs. Throughout the 1940s, ’50s, and into the ’60s, scientists studied them to understand mental disorders like schizophrenia, and to treat anxiety, depression, even alcoholism.

"But when the drugs left the labs and started hitting the streets ... the bad trips and even worse headlines that followed changed their reputation. And then: the Controlled Substance Act led to a more than three decades-long ban on all psychedelic research. Since 2003, however, the FDA has allowed for a few clinical trials of illegal hallucinogens ... like psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient found in so-called 'magic mushrooms'....

"Dr. Tony Bossis, of New York University  ... along with researchers at Johns Hopkins University, published their findings of what a one-time dose of psilocybin can do to treat anxiety and depression in cancer patients. It was eye-opening. 'In this study, anxiety and depression reduced dramatically, immediately after the experience,' he said.... 'This medicine you take once, it’s out of their system in a few hours. But it generates a three- to four-hour, incredible transcendent experience. And it’s the memory of that experience that recalibrates how they view life and death and their existence, and give you very spiritual insights.'

"If that all sounds a bit far-out, scans have shown psychedelics may increase connectivity among different regions of the brain — areas that normally don’t communicate with each other. 'Maybe it’s time to take a sober, careful, scientific look at these medicines,' Dr. Bossis said, 'to revisit, are they helpful? Are they safe? Are they effective?'

"With more clinical trials on the horizon, researchers hope to open more minds about the potential of psychedelic drugs, one trip at a time."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-lsd-help-solve-mental-health-issues/
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Watch video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2120149124916986

Russia uses pedophilia charges to silence critics

Russian Libertarian Party Head Is Latest Kremlin Critic To Face Pedophilia Accusations - Robert Coalson, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty:

November 8, 2019 - "Mikhail Svetov, the head of Russia's opposition Libertarian Party, has denied allegations by Moscow prosecutors that he engaged in 'immoral activities' with a minor, after he was questioned by investigators for about 12 hours beginning on November 6.... Svetov has now become one of many people at odds with local or federal authorities in Russia who have found themselves the target of child pornography or pedophilia allegations.

"Historian Yury Dmitriyev, who conducted ground-breaking research into Soviet crimes in the Karelia region under dictator Josef Stalin, was initially charged with taking 'pornographic' photographs of his foster daughter.... After he was acquitted of those charges, authorities soon rearrested him on more severe charges of child sexual assault. That case is still pending.

"In May, another Karelia historian, Sergei Koltyrin, was convicted of having sex with a minor and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Prior to his arrest in October 2018, Koltyrin told several people that he feared repercussions because of his opposition to government-backed efforts to 'prove' that Stalin-era executions in the Karelia region had actually been carried out by Finns....

"In April 2015, Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky was charged in England over pornographic images of children found on his computer. He claimed at the time that he was the victim of a revenge plot by the Russian secret services.... The trial was suspended ... and the case was still pending when Bukovsky, who pleaded not guilty, died on October 27.

"In December 2017, French citizen Yoann Barbereau completed a harrowing escape from Russia, fleeing child-pornography and pedophilia charges in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.... He was arrested in February 2015 and spent 16 months under house arrest during his trial. In September 2016 .... he fled to Moscow and made his way to the French Embassy. He spent 14 months hiding in the embassy before setting off on foot to a Baltic country that he declined to name.

"In June 2015, Lithuanian police visited the home of Konstantin Rubakhin, a Russian environmental activist who was seeking political asylum in the country after being harassed and beaten in Russia. Police told him they were investigating allegations of child pornography, allegations that Rubakhin believed were planted by the Russian security services to thwart his asylum application. The authorities in Lithuania quickly dropped the case.

"In 2013, Russian opposition activist and blogger Rustem Adagamov fled Russia amid pedophilia allegations that he denied as 'insane.' The accusations were made by Adagamov's former wife in an interview with Russia's state-controlled RT television network.

"Raising suspicions that someone is a pedophile suits 'the Kremlin's line that human rights activists are all just degenerates,' Vytas Jurkonis, a Lithuanian human rights activist, told The New York Times in December 2016."

Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-libertarian-latest-kremlin-critic-to-face-pedophilia-accusations/30260347.html
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New high: 67% of Americans want cannabis legal

Two-thirds of Americans support marijuana legalization | Pew Research Center:

November 14, 2019 - "Two-thirds of Americans say the use of marijuana should be legal, reflecting a steady increase over the past decade, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The share of U.S. adults who oppose legalization has fallen from 52% in 2010 to 32% today....

"As in the past, there are wide partisan and generational differences in views of marijuana legalization. Nearly eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (78%) say marijuana use should be legal. Republicans and Republican leaners are less supportive, with 55% in favor of legalization and 44% opposed.

"Majorities of Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1997), Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) and Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) say the use of marijuana should be legal. Members of the Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1945) continue to be the least supportive of legalization: Only 35% favor legalizing marijuana, while 64% are opposed. The generational divide in views of marijuana legalization exists within both party coalitions....

"In addition to asking respondents about whether marijuana use should be legal in general, the Center asked a separate group of respondents about legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use. Nearly six-in-ten Americans (59%) favor legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use, while another 32% say it should be legal for medical use only. Only 8% say it should not be legal.

"About two-thirds of Democrats (68%) say marijuana should be legal for both medical and recreational use, compared with 49% of Republicans. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say it should be legal just for medical purposes (38% vs. 28%) or that it should not be legal at all (12% vs. 4%).

"Younger adults are somewhat more likely than older adults to say that marijuana use should be legal for both medical and recreational use. About two-thirds (69%) of those ages 18 to 29 say it should be legal for both types of use, compared with 48% of those ages 65 and older. Most adults 65 and over nonetheless favor legalization in some form.

"The growth in public support for legal marijuana has come as a growing number of jurisdictions have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized the drug for recreational purposes. Meanwhile, 33 states – plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – have legalized the drug for medical purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"Marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law. However, several Democratic candidates for president have proposals to legalize or decriminalize marijuana use."

Read more: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/
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