Truth and Hammer

Author: Truth & Hammer

  • Trump To Prince Charles: If Climate Change Is Real, Don’t Blame America

    Trump To Prince Charles: If Climate Change Is Real, Don’t Blame America

    During his trip to the United Kingdom, President Donald Trump met with Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the royal throne. The two talked a great deal about climate change, according to the president — a revelation that broke protocols.

    Photo by Peter Summers/Getty Images

    It’s a generally-recognized tradition that politicians, from abroad or even at home in the UK, do not reveal what they’ve discussed with royal family members. Yet Trump, who spoke with “Good Morning Britain” host Piers Morgan (who coincidentally once appeared on Trump’s reality show “The Celebrity Apprentice”), couldn’t help himself, according to reporting from The Daily Beast.

    The prince has long-been a proponent of a healthier, more sustainable planet. As Time Magazine once reported, he’s been actively pushing to fight global climate change since at least 1990 (when it was previously more commonly known as “global warming”).

    Trump tells Prince Charles US has “clean” climate. “It’s even getting better because I agree with that we want the best water, the cleanest water. It’s crystal clean, has to be crystal clean clear.” https://t.co/752K0dDEoC pic.twitter.com/LzIwJXqke4

    — Jim Roberts (@nycjim) June 5, 2019

    Trump noted Charles’s passion in his interview with Morgan.

    “He is really into climate change and I think that’s great,” Trump said. “What he really wants and what he really feels warmly about is the future. He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate, as opposed to a disaster, and I agree.”

    Charles and Trump spoke on the subject for around 90 minutes, the president said. And while discussion on climate change was “great,” Trump made sure to tell Charles, even if it was real, it wasn’t anything America was responsible for.

    “I did say, ‘Well, the United States right now has among the cleanest climates there are based on all statistics,’” Trump said he told Charles. “And it’s even getting better because I agree with that we want the best water, the cleanest water. It’s crystal clean, has to be crystal clean clear.”

    Trump’s claims to the prince here are dubious, at best. The U.S. has expanded exploration for fossil fuels, loosened efficiency standards for vehicles, dropped out of the Paris climate accords, and weakened federal rules to protect wetlands from run-off polution, among other things, The Guardian reported. In reality, the U.S. is the second-biggest producer of greenhouse gases in the world.

    Trump wouldn’t give Morgan a definitive answer on whether he himself believed climate change was real or not, voicing skepticism on the issue because it’s had terminology name changes over the years.

    “Don’t forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change, now it’s actually called extreme weather, because with extreme weather you can’t miss,” Trump pointed out.

    According to NASA — an agency that Trump, as president, technically oversees — Climate change is real, and “climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.”

    The post Trump To Prince Charles: If Climate Change Is Real, Don’t Blame America appeared first on HillReporter.com.

    This content was originally published here.

  • Minnesota will pay homeowners to make their lawns bee-friendly | MNN – Mother Nature Network

    Minnesota will pay homeowners to make their lawns bee-friendly | MNN – Mother Nature Network

    Homeowners in Minnesota can benefit financially if they forgo the grass and instead grow a lawn for bees.

    State lawmakers have approved a new spending program that would set aside $900,000 annually to pay homeowners who replace traditional lawns with bee-friendly wildflowers, clover and native grasses, reports the Star Tribune. The spending plan has been sent to Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. The plan is an effort to help the state’s declining bee population.

    Although the wildflowers and native grasses will benefit all species of bees, the hope is that the unmanicured lawns will specifically attract and help the rusty patched bumblebee. Once abundant across a wide swath of North America, the bee species (Bombus affinis) was formally listed as endangered in March 2017. The fuzzy, striped critters have suffered an 87% decline in population since the mid-1990s due to factors such as climate change, pesticide exposure, habitat loss, population fragmentation and diseases transmitted from infected commercial domesticated honeybees.

    The program would cover up to 75% of the cost for homeowners who convert their lawns. According to the Star Tribune, it would cover up to 90% in areas targeted as “high potential” to support rusty patched bees.

    How people can help

    White clover Some homeowners may consider it a weed, but clover is provides food for bees — and it’s good for the soil. (Photo: Grigorii Pisotsckii/Shutterstock)

    “I have gotten a ton of e-mails and so much feedback from people who are interested in this,” said state Rep. Kelly Morrison, who introduced the bill in the House. “People are really thinking about how they can help.”

    Morrison said she hopes the program will be ready by spring 2020. The state has not released details about how residents will be able to apply for consideration.

    In the meantime (and if you don’t live in Minnesota), you can make your yard more attractive to bees by forgoing a chemical lawn service (which can kill pollinators), growing lots of different flowering plants and leaving a few small spots of bare soil for bees to nest.

    If you can’t give up your whole lawn to clover and wildflowers because of pesky homeowner associations or other aesthetic reasons, at least try sneaking in a small undisturbed corner with tall grasses, sticks and general chaos. The bees will be happy and should move right in.

    Mary Jo DiLonardo writes about everything from health to parenting — and anything that helps explain why her dog does what he does.

    Posted an hour ago:
    Minnesota will pay homeowners to make their lawns bee-friendly
    A Minnesota spending plan will pay homeowners to transform their lawns into bee-friendly habitats.

    This content was originally published here.

  • FBI Gave Clinton Lawyer Special Treatment

    FBI Gave Clinton Lawyer Special Treatment

    Newly obtained internal FBI messages show the bureau failed to properly document agents’ interviews of at least four witnesses in the investigation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official U.S. government business.

    The documents, which were obtained by the nonprofit government watchdog Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, also show the FBI gave Clinton’s lawyer special treatment during the email investigation.

    The new information was gleaned from the 218 pages of messages exchanged by former FBI counterintelligence executive Peter Strzok and former bureau lawyer Lisa Page.

    In an Aug. 5, 2016, email, an unnamed FBI assistant general counsel asked Strzok, Page, and intelligence analyst Jonathan Moffa whether to include a number of Form 302s from the Clinton email probe for review by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for needed redactions.

    Form 302s are the reports of interviews that agents are required to write and submit promptly following their conversations with witnesses in ongoing cases.

    source

  • Navy SEALs Use This 7-Step Process to Achieve Any Goal. You Can Too

    Navy SEALs Use This 7-Step Process to Achieve Any Goal. You Can Too

    When most of us civilians hear about Navy SEAL’s capturing terrorists or pulling off hair-raising rescue missions, we stand in awe of their toughness. But according to Rob Roy, a 25-year veteran of the SEALs and author of The Navy SEAL Art of War, being a SEAL “is not about being the toughest guy. It’s about being the smartest guy.”

    In a recent Big Think video, Roy explains that while SEALs are clearly incredible warriors, they rely on careful planning and battle-tested approaches to leadership, as much as sheer strength and bravery. Accomplishing jaw-dropping things, Roy explains, is less about innate grit than you probably think, and more about process. Roy lays out the seven-step approach SEALs use to tackle even the most daunting missions, so you can adapt it to achieve your own biggest, scariest goals.

    1. Ask clarifying questions.

    Clearly, in military situations it’s essential to be clear about your objective, both so you don’t capture the wrong guy and know what winning looks like. But in civilian life, too, it’s impossible to achieve success if you don’t define it first. SEALs ask, “Exactly what do you want me to do? Who, what, when, where, how?” Roy notes. Adapt and answer this sort of question for your own context ,and you’ve taken taken the first step to reaching your goal.

    2. Identify all your resources.

    The next step is to marshal all your resources and see what you have to work with to achieve your aim. That means not only material resources like money and technology, but also intangible ones like your network and skills.

    3. Clarify roles and responsibilities.

    Before SEALs go into any mission, they make sure each person knows their role, from machine gunner to medic, what each must accomplish, and when. The roles in your team are unlikely to involve automatic weapons or morphine, but nonetheless, it’s essential to make sure everyone understands their area of responsibility and how it fits into the larger mission.

    4. Focus relentlessly on your goal.

    As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has explained, all good leaders take responsibility for outcomes, whatever the circumstances. For true leaders, there is no such thing as an excuse, because they always keep their focus on the goal and look for ways around each constraint.

    Roy explains, “In the SEAL teams, what we’ll do is we’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going to get Bin Laden.’ And one of the first questions they always ask is, ‘How many people do you think you can do the mission with if the helo crashes?’” In short, never let circumstances turn into excuses.

    5. Think through all possible contingencies.

    In practice, this means letting your pessimistic imagination run wild to dream up every hiccup and holdup you might face. How can you work around these possibilities? “There’s a car accident? OK, I’m going to walk. Well, the roads are blocked. OK, so how do I get around there?” Roy offers as an example. “You need to constantly think about what’s the next thing to do in that situation, because again, at the end of the day, you have to be able to accomplish your mission.”

    6. Train until you’re stress-proof.

    OK, you know your aim, you’ve assigned your roles, and you’ve talked through everything that could go wrong. Your planning is ace, but there’s another essential step to making  sure your paper plan actually translates to real life. This is the step where many of us fall down. There is no great accomplishment without day in, day out effort and training. One, because that’s how you build skills and a body of work. But also because steady practice is how you teach yourself to handle the stress of struggling for any audacious goal.

    “When you’re a SEAL, you train a lot, you train a lot. You do everything repetitively over and over and over again, because you want muscle memory,” Roy explains. “The more you know about what you’re doing, the more frequently you train for the mistakes and the problems and the hiccups, the more you’re able to do a lot more in a shorter period of time without much effort.”

    7. After-action review.

    Reached your goal? Congrats, but there’s still one final step left to go. “You do yourself and the people in the room or the people in the organization a disservice if you don’t debrief what happened or where the mistakes are at,” Roy concludes. This isn’t about assigning blame to people. It’s about figuring out what went wrong so you can do better next time.
  • Florida Deputy Charged for Inaction During Parkland Shooting

    Florida Deputy Charged for Inaction During Parkland Shooting

    MIAMI—The former Florida deputy who failed to confront a gunman during last year’s Parkland school massacre was arrested on June 4 on 11 criminal charges related to his actions, prosecutors announced.

    Broward State Attorney Mike Satz said in a statement that 56-year-old Scot Peterson faces child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury charges that carry a combined potential prison sentence of nearly 100 years.

    Peterson, then a Broward deputy, was on duty as the school resource officer during the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School but never went inside while bullets were flying. Seventeen people died and 17 others were wounded in the attack.

    Peterson’s bail was set at $102,000, Satz said. Once released, Peterson will be required to wear a GPS monitor and surrender his passport, and will be prohibited from possessing a firearm, the prosecutor said.

    source

  • Congress Passes $19.1 Billion Disaster Aid Bill, Sends to Trump

    Congress Passes $19.1 Billion Disaster Aid Bill, Sends to Trump

    WASHINGTON—The U.S. Congress on Monday, June 3, approved legislation providing $19.1 billion in emergency funding for disaster recovery efforts throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico, sending it to President Donald Trump to sign into law.  Final passage came as the House of Representatives voted 354-58 for the measure, which lawmakers and Trump had been in negotiation for months. It was approved by the Senate late last month, and Trump has said he supports it.  House leaders tried three times in the last ten days to win unanimous approval of the bill while most lawmakers were away on recess. But conservative Republicans blocked these efforts, forcing House leaders to wait until the full chamber returned to work on Monday to pass the bill.  The measure would assist victims of numerous disasters over the last two years, from hurricanes in the Southeast to Midwestern flooding and California wildfires. It has funds to repair highways and other infrastructure, including some military bases, as well as aid to help farmers cover crop losses.

    The bill also includes a $605 million nutrition program and $304 million in community development grants to help Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, recover from a devastating 2017 hurricane.  Trump had opposed sending any more aid to the Caribbean island but recently relented on this point. The bill also faced delays amid failed talks on Trump’s $4 billion-plus request to care for thousands of migrants being held at the southern border. The sides narrowed their differences but couldn’t reach agreement in the rush to go on recess, but everyone agrees that another bill will be needed almost immediately to refill nearly empty agency accounts to care for migrants. “We must work together quickly to pass a bill that addresses the surge of unaccompanied children crossing the border and provides law enforcement agencies with the funding they need,” said top Appropriations Committee Republican Kay Granger of Texas.

    source

  • Small and Light Bag – Packed with Medical Supplies for Emergency, Survival, Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Travel, Car & Cycling. Be Prepared at Home & Work

    Small and Light Bag – Packed with Medical Supplies for Emergency, Survival, Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Travel, Car & Cycling. Be Prepared at Home & Work

    • CONTENTS – Packed with 66 useful and valuable hospital grade medical supplies – See the product images and the product description below for a full list of contents. We are confident that you will find that there are more and higher quality contents in our kits than any other on the market!
    • DESIGN – Comes in a red rip-stop 600D polyester nylon bag. Lightweight, compact and yet still holds everything you need for life’s unexpected events. This first aid kit is 7.0 inches long X 4.0 inches wide X 2.0 inches thick. It weighs approximately 0.3 lbs. This 1st aid kit is lightweight, small and durable.
    • VERSATILE – Great emergency kit for most daily use or adventures, including: homes, offices, camping, cars, restaurants, autos, sports, boats, road trips, workplace and schools.
    • BE PREPARED – This product will allow you to be ready for unexpected basic daily misshapes and even wilderness combat field survival trauma situations. We’ve seen our kits used in a variety of situations, including: month long sea kayak trips, minor pet accidents and everyday baby misadventures. Stash this kit in your backpack, vehicle glove compartment or medical cabinet for quick and easy solutions to emergencies.
    • TRUSTED – Complies with American ANSI and OSHA professional standards for most environments (please check our contents with your specific regulations) Manufactured in a modern sterile FDA registered facility and sold by FDA registered company that has been doing business for 40 years. Purchasing a Thrive Brand First Aid Kit ensures a safe, sterile and regulated product.
    Click Here for More information

  • Emergency Kit earthquake survival kit Trauma Bag for Car Home Work Office Boat Camping Hiking Travel or Adventures

    Emergency Kit earthquake survival kit Trauma Bag for Car Home Work Office Boat Camping Hiking Travel or Adventures

    Powerful Combo set: Spring-action Needle nose Pliers, Spring-action Regular Pliers, Spring-action Wire Cutters ,Wire Stripper, Saw Blade, Can Opener, Bottle Opener, Wood/Metal File, Phillips Screwdriver, Medium Slotted Screwdriver

    • Survival and Emergency prep are redness be prepared during unexpected major emergencies, natural weather disasters, and survival situations that require medical-grade supplies for immediate treatment, relief
    • Unique And Upgraded items – based on customers’ feedback. Bigger, stronger metal scissors and knife. inside is everything you need to help you survive: fire starter, knife, compass, whistle, saw, multipurpose flash light pliers
    • Wire saws: with super sharp blades and smooth features do not hurt the hand, is the fastest existing pocket wire saw. Rare earth alloy Ignition rods: directing fire can not ignite, scooped into the water can be wiped away immediately make fire.
    • Small size and easy to carry, this extremely useful kit can be placed in a backpack, car, drawers, etc. It’s necessary when camping, hiking, adventures, survival and in emergency situations
    Click here for more information

  • RBA cuts interest rates to a fresh record low – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

    RBA cuts interest rates to a fresh record low – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

    Updated June 04, 2019 17:10:03

    The Reserve Bank has cut its official interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to a new record low of 1.25 per cent.

    Key points:

    While it is the first change in the RBA’s policy setting since August 2016, it was a widely expected result.

    The futures market had priced in a 100 per cent likelihood of a cut at the June meeting, with another cut expected by October.

    All 43 economists surveyed by Refinitiv had also pencilled in a rate cut this month, while 80 per cent of them also expect a follow-up move in August.

    The RBA has been under mounting pressure to stimulate a clearly faltering domestic economy, with retail sales figures out this morning showing consumers had cut back their spending.

    While it had been loathe to cut rates in previous months for fear of further ratcheting up risky household debt, the bank felt it had to move given inflation has been marooned under its 2-to-3 per cent target band for the best part of three years and unemployment is starting rise.

    ‘ANZ has let down its customers’

    ANZ was the first major lender to move, cutting its variable interest rate loan by 0.18 percentage points 10 minutes after the RBA published its decision.

    “In making this decision we have weighed up a number of factors, such as business performance, market conditions and the impact on our customers, including our depositors,” ANZ’s head of Australian retail and commercial banking Mark Hand said.

    However, the decision to pass on just 70 per cent of the cut may not go down well with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who urged the banks to pass on the benefits of the cut.

    “I think the ANZ has let down its customers. This is deeply disappointing from the ANZ,” Mr Frydenberg said after the RBA decision and ANZ’s response.

    “This rate cut will be welcome news for Australian households and businesses and it will mean lower mortgage costs and lower interest payments.”

    “It is the Government’s expectation, indeed it is the public’s expectation, that banks should pass on, in full, to consumers, the benefits of reduced funding costs as a result of the Reserve Bank’s decision.”

    The RBA also noted that bank funding costs have fully reversed the increases that took place last year.

    The Commonwealth Bank has announced that it will pass on the rate cut in full to all of its standard variable home loans.

    National Australia Bank has followed suit and also announced that it will cut its standard variable rate home loans by 25 basis points.

    Some smaller lenders have also announced that they will pass on the rate cut in full, including Athena, RACQ and Reduce Home Loans.

    RateCity said the lowest ongoing variable rate now stands at just 3.19 per cent.

    Unemployment remains key

    “The board took this decision to support employment growth and provide greater confidence that inflation will be consistent with the medium-term target,” RBA governor Philip Lowe said in the regular post-meeting statement.

    “The main domestic uncertainty continues to be the outlook for household consumption, which is being affected by a protracted period of low income growth and declining housing prices.

    “Today’s decision to lower the cash rate will help make further inroads into the spare capacity in the economy. It will assist with faster progress in reducing unemployment and achieve more assured progress towards the inflation target.”

    While not committing to another move, Dr Lowe’s statement will do little to change perceptions the RBA has not finished lowering rates yet.

    “The board will continue to monitor developments in the labour market closely and adjust monetary policy to support sustainable growth in the economy and the achievement of the inflation target over time,” Dr Lowe concluded.

    The Reserve Bank governor is speaking tonight in Sydney, where he will also take questions about the bank’s first move in nearly three years and the likely future direction of monetary policy.

    RBA glass still ‘half-full’

    RBC’s Su-Lin Ong said, despite the RBA’s still largely optimistic outlook, it is highly likely it will have to cut deeper.

    “A further weakening in the labour market and core inflation that fails to lift will likely trigger further easing. To our mind, both pre-requisites are likely to be met in the coming months,” Ms Ong said.

    “Despite this, today’s statement was balanced and erred somewhat glass half-full.”

    Ms Ong added the extent to which the major banks pass on the full cut to deliver maximum policy traction will be a key determinant for RBA decisions in coming months.

    This content was originally published here.

  • Anti-trump activists leave behind a mountain of litter after listening to ranting Corbyn blast Trump | Daily Mail Online

    Anti-trump activists leave behind a mountain of litter after listening to ranting Corbyn blast Trump | Daily Mail Online

    Call yourselves eco-warriors? Anti-trump activists leave behind a mountain of litter after listening to ranting Corbyn blast Trump and lecture him about the environment

    Anti-Trump protesters have left behind swathes of litter after listening to Jeremy Corbyn slam the President for his stance on the environment.

    Pictures from around Trafalgar Square and Parliament show discarded plaques and banners which had been left dumped on the floor as Trump Babysitters admitted that numbers were only in the tens of thousands.

    Plenty of people braved the rain for the protests, but it was clear that there were not as many activists present, in comparison to his last visit in 2018.

    250,000 gathered when Mr Trump visited the UK on July 13 last year. 

    During a speech with Theresa May this afternoon, the President said it was ‘fake news’ that protests had been taking place in the capital. 

    Piles of banners and signs were left on the side of the road close to Parliament today 

    The entrance of Westminster Station was full up with litter this afternoon as rush hour got underway

    Rubbish trucks were pictured hitting the streets following the protests with this collector chucking rubbish in

    He said: ‘We left the Prime Minister, the Queen, the royal family, there were thousands of people on the streets cheering. Even coming over today there were thousands cheering.

    ‘Then I heard there were protests, I said ‘Where are the protests? I don’t see any protests’. I did see a small protest today when I came – very small – so a lot of it is fake news I hate to say.’

    Climate change activists, students, pacifists, trade union members and families all gatherered, while the protesters will include Handmaids Against Trump – women who will be draped in red with white hoods in homage to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about a crackdown on reproductive rights. 

    Signs that read ‘Stop Trump’ and ‘Tories Out Now’ were left on pavements and roads as well as bottles and food wrappers.

    Other signs had messages which read ‘Trump Climate Disaster’, other read ‘dump Trump’, and took their message quite literally when they dumped their litter across London. 

    This afternoon rubbish trucks were pictured on the streets of central London, as the cleanup begun.

    MailOnline reader Lisa Sergent sent in a photo of abandoned placards on the ground, saying: ‘You call these eco-warriors?’

    Protesters literally dumped their rubbish on the floors and left bits of paper and litter every where

    Protesters march to Whitehall from Trafalgar Square this afternoon as they protest the state visit by President Trump

    The President (above) had stood next to Theresa May during a speech at Westminster where he mentioned Jeremy Corbyn 

    During the protests Jeremy Corbyn hinted that the President wasn’t taking climate change seriously.

    ‘Can we stop treating people who travel for a place of safety, escape from oppression, from climate change-induced degradation or economic poverty to try to make their contribution to the world – don’t treat them as enemies, treat them as fellow human beings and citizens of this planet who deserve our support, our sympathy and our understanding.’

    He mentioned his request to the UK government to declare a climate emergency across the whole planet and said we needed to protect the natural world.    

    ‘If we are to protect the natural world and environment on which we all depend, then actions have to be taken. 

    ‘A world dedicated to personal profit and greed, to mass exploitation and the most intensive forms of farming destroys the natural world, bit by bit by bit, that we all rely on. 

    ‘Sixty per cent of wildlife has been lost in this country in the past 40 years and it’s getting faster and getting worse. The problems are galloping all around the world.’

    He also mentioned the Paris climate change accord, which Trump famously snubbed.  

    Empty coffee cups, plastic bottles and even cigarette packets were left all over the pavement this afternoon

    Jeremy Corbyn this afternoon delivered a firebrand speech to anti-Donald Trump protesters at Trafalgar Square in London

    Anti-trump activists leave behind a mountain of litter after listening to ranting Corbyn blast Trump

    The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

    Add your comment

    What’s This?

    By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

    Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

    Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.

    Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

    Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual

    We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

    You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.

    This content was originally published here.