Source: Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May will learn on Thursday whether she must seek parliamentary approval before triggering the formal process of leaving the European Union, a step some investors hope will lessen the chances of an economically disruptive "hard Brexit".

London's High Court will hand down its judgment on whether May and her ministers have the authority to invoke Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism by which a country can leave the bloc, without the explicit backing of parliament.

May says she is determined to honor voters' decision in a referendum last June to leave the EU, and has the authority to do so.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-article-idUSKBN12Y00K

Source: Reuters citing Daily Mail

Disgraced former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner has checked into a rehab facility that treats sex addiction, the DailyMail.com reported on Wednesday.

The online version of the British newspaper said electronic devices are banned at the facility, which separates men from women and treats a range of addictions related to cyber sex, exhibitionism and anonymous sex and other acts. The facility was not named in the report.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. Weiner could not be reached for comment.

Federal prosecutors and New York police announced last month they were investigating Weiner following a separate report by the DailyMail.com that he engaged in sexually explicit cellphone and online messages with a 15-year-old girl from North Carolina.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-weiner-idUSKBN12Y006

Source: CNN

Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns have hit the ground hard in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania, and new CNN/ORC polls across the four states paint a picture of a tight race to the finish in critical battlegrounds.

Clinton holds a 4-point edge among likely voters in the historically blue-tilting Pennsylvania, and Trump tops Clinton by 5 with voters in red-leaning Arizona. Though both states tilt in the same direction as their 2012 results, the leaders' margins are tighter than their predecessors' final leads were in each state.

Florida appears to be as tight a contest as ever, with Clinton at 49% among likely voters and Trump at 47%. That's an apparent shift in Clinton's direction since the last CNN/ORC poll there in September before the presidential debates began, but still a within-margin-of-error race.

In Nevada, the poll suggests the race has also shifted, with Trump now ahead there 49% to 43%, with 5% behind Libertarian Gary Johnson, compared with a two-point Clinton edge in mid-October.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/politics/polls-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-florida-pennsylvania-nevada-arizona/

Source: WTVR - CBS affiliate

HAMPTON, Va. – If the 2016 Presidential Election were held today, Donald Trump would beat Hillary Clinton by three points, according to a new poll by Hampton University Center for Public Policy (CPP).

With less than a week before Election Day, the poll shows Trump with a three point lead (44-41 percent) over Clinton, among likely Virginia voters.

While the poll gives Trump a slight edge, 15 percent of likely voters remain undecided.

The poll was conducted October 26- 30. During the time of the poll, the news story about the FBI reopening the investigation into email servers used by Clinton was released on Friday, October 28.

The CPP poll believes the news did have an impact on the data collected during this time.

Read more: http://wtvr.com/2016/11/02/poll-trump-leads-clinton-by-3-points-in-virginia-post-email-investigation/

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Good Lord.

Source: The Star - Toronto, Canada

“Mr. Cosby cannot look at a photograph or any evidence and help his counsel or explain who those people are,” said defence attorney Angela Agrusa.

Bill Cosby’s eyesight has deteriorated to the point where he can no longer identify his accusers in photographs or otherwise help with his own defence, his lawyers said Wednesday as they waged a multipronged effort to get the sexual assault case against the 79-year-old comedian thrown out.

His attorneys also portrayed Cosby as political pawn who is being prosecuted only because a suburban Philadelphia district attorney used the public furor over the comic to get elected last year.

And they renewed their argument that Cosby’s lurid 2005 deposition from a related lawsuit should not be admitted at his trial, saying he answered questions under oath only after being assured he would not be charged with a crime.

Cosby leaned back in his chair as his lawyers made their case to a judge at the pretrial hearing.

Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/11/02/bill-cosby-is-legally-blind-can-no-longer-defend-himself-say-lawyers.html

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BULLSHIT.

Source: Washington Post

Among the small number of American newspapers that have embraced Donald Trump’s campaign, there is one, in particular, that stands out. It is called the Crusader — and it is one of the most prominent newspapers of the Ku Klux Klan. Under the banner "Make America Great Again," the entire front page of the paper's current issue is devoted to a lengthy defense of Trump’s message — an embrace some have labeled a de facto endorsement.

"'Make America Great Again!' It is a slogan that has been repeatedly used by Donald Trump in his campaign for the presidency," Pastor Thomas Robb wrote in the Crusader. "You can see it on the shirts, buttons, posters and ball caps such as the one being worn here by Trump speaking at a recent rally. … But can it happen? Can America really be great again? This is what we will soon find out!"

"While Trump wants to make America great again, we have to ask ourselves, 'What made America great in the first place?'" the article continues. "The short answer to that is simple. America was great not because of what our forefathers did — but because of who our forefathers were.

"America was founded as a White Christian Republic. And as a White Christian Republic it became great."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/01/the-kkks-official-newspaper-has-endorsed-donald-trump-for-president/

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Birds of a feather...

Source: ABC News

Hillary Clinton trails Donald Trump for the first time this campaign in who’s seen as more honest and trustworthy, a sign of further possible fallout from renewed FBI scrutiny of Clinton-related emails. A steady six in 10 likely voters disapprove of how she’s responded to the issue.

Given Clinton’s advantage in other areas, the race between them is now a precise dead heat in the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, 46-46 percent. A majority, 55 percent, continues to expect Clinton to win, though that’s down 5 points from its peak last week, before FBI Director James Comey announced the latest review of emails related to Clinton's use of a private server while she served as secretary of state.

Enthusiasm for both candidates remains weak -- 46 percent of Clinton’s supporters and 52 percent of Trump’s are very enthusiastic about their choice, compared with, for example, 64 percent for Barack Obama and 62 percent for Mitt Romney at this point in 2012.

That absence of enthusiasm reflects the historic unpopularity of both candidates, potentially impacting motivation to vote. That said, nearly one in four likely voters, 23 percent, say they’ve already voted. It was 17 percent at this point in 2012, so it looks to be on pace for a record.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-rated-honest-contest-stays-dead-heat-poll/story?id=43225421

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Good lord! Will the "Concern Police" let me be concerned now?



All kidding aside, this is no joking matter. GET OUT THE VOTE.

Vote, make sure friends and family vote.

I'll be driving people to the polls even though my state is fairly solid for Hillary.

Source: Reuters

China and Russia took a step closer on Wednesday to the joint development of a long-haul jet to challenge Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA), displaying a model of the unnamed plane that would compete with Western rivals.

State-owned planemakers Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) [CMAFC.UL] and United Aircraft Corp (UAC) of Russia said they had started the hunt to find suppliers, as they presented a mock-up of the wide-body jet at Airshow China. Neither firm gave details on financing or technical specifications for what Western analysts call a politically-driven initiative that will be difficult to pull off and is likely to carry a high price tag.

China opened the show on Tuesday in the southern city of Zhuhai with a brief flypast of its J-20 stealth fighter, in a demonstration of military clout.

Both countries are currently developing smaller narrow-body jets to compete with the best-selling Airbus and Boeing types.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-airshow-china-russia-widebody-idUSKBN12X1CO

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Interesting. Perhaps pushing China and Russia together isn't really that great of a strategic geo-politics plan?

Aren't we suppose to cosy up to one or the other of them in the old divide and conquer game? Pardon my cynicism.

Source: Reuters

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte chided the United States on Wednesday for halting the planned sale of 26,000 rifles to his country, calling those behind the decision "fools" and "monkeys" and indicating he might turn to Russia and China instead.

Duterte's tirades against the former colonial power are routine during his speeches and he said on Wednesday he once believed in Washington, but had since lost respect for what is the Philippines' biggest ally.

The U.S. State Department halted the sale of the assault rifles to the Philippine police after U.S. Senator Ben Cardin said he would oppose it, Senate aides told Reuters on Monday. Aides said Cardin, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was reluctant for the United States to provide the weapons given concern about human rights violations in the Philippines during Duterte's bloody, four-month-old war on drugs.

"Look at these monkeys, the 26,000 firearms we wanted to buy, they don't want to sell," Duterte said during a televised speech.
"Son of a bitch, we have many home-made guns here. These American fools."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-usa-rifles-idUSKBN12X18O

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Ok... time to start destabilizing the Phillipines' elected government, I suppose. Send in the NGO's. Cut some checks to the political opposition. We need to nip this in the bud.



Seriously, this guy reminds me of the movie Idiocracy. What's happening to world "leaders" these days?

Source: Reuters

Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady are set to go on trial on U.S. charges that they tried to carry out a multimillion-dollar drug deal to obtain a large amount of cash to help their family stay in power.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court in the case of Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores.

Prosecutors accuse the nephews of trying to monetize their political connections to use one of Venezuela's airports to send hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to Honduras for transshipment to the United States.

Prosecutors say their goal in part was to obtain cash to counteract money they believed the United States was supplying to the opposition before Venezuela's December 2015 National Assembly elections.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-usa-crime-idUSKBN12X19V