Check out Melania avoiding Donald Trumps hand – Rolling Out

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Photo source: Melania Trump via Facebook

Melania Trumps seeming repulsion at holding her husbands hand at public events is now well known to political pundits and every day citizens alike. She has avoided touching the presidents hand with such frequency that people are no longer surprised but it is amusing to many observers.

The first lady outmaneuvered Donald Trump again right around the time Playboy Playmate Karen McDougalclaimed that she had an affair with himafter he married Melania.

See the video supplied by ABC News that shows Melania Trump slyly moving her hand away just when The Donald makes an attempt to make contact.

You dont need to have a connoisseur in body language reading anymore to decipher the chemistry between Melania and her husband.

Melania made it obvious to the world once again that she does not want the president to put his paws on her.

The first family touched down in Palm Beach, Florida. Despite the very warm, tropical weather, the first ladys treatment of The Donald was as cold as an ice storm.

Melania Trump side-stepped his PDA attempts again in front of everybody, and you can see that clearly in the video.

No one is surprised at this point.It seems that the affair occurred when Trump was married to Melania for only about 12 months and they had just welcomed their son Barron into the world.

This is the second instance where a woman alleges she had sexual relations with The Donald in 2006. Stormy Daniels also claimed that she got with the president sexually and that he paid her handsomely in exchange for her silence on the indiscretion.

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Check out Melania avoiding Donald Trumps hand - Rolling Out

Is Donald Trump a Traitor? | Theliberalsite

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Post by Admin on Feb 17, 2018 3:02:33 GMT -6Is Donald Trump a Traitor?

It is not that he is a complicated subject. Quite the opposite. It is that everything about him is so painfully obvious. He is a low-rent racist, a shameless misogynist, and an unbalanced narcissist. He is an unrelenting liar and a two-bit white identity demagogue. Lest anyone forget these things, he goes out of his way each day to remind us of them.

At the end of the day, he is certain to be left in the dustbin of history, alongside Father Coughlin and Gen. Edwin Walker. (Exactly you dont remember them, either.)

What more can I add?

Unfortunately, another word also describes him: president. The fact that such an unstable egomaniac occupies the White House is the greatest threat to the national security of the United States in modern history.

Which brings me to the only question about Donald Trump that I find really interesting: Is he a traitor?

Did he gain the presidency through collusion with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

One year after Trump took office, it is still unclear whether the president of the United States is an agent of a foreign power. Just step back and think about that for a moment.

link

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Is Donald Trump a Traitor? | Theliberalsite

Ted Cruz Buries the Hatchet In Donald Trump’s Back

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Months after he started calling him Lyin' Ted, Donald Trump appeared at a May rally in Indiana and suggested that Sen. Ted Cruz's father, Rafael Cruz, had been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

"What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death, before the shooting?" Trump asked. "Its horrible.

[ Cruz Tells Delegates: 'Vote Your Conscience' ]

Incensed, Cruz responded by calling Trump a narcissist and a pathological liar. On Wednesday night, Cruz exacted his revenge and refused to endorse Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention meant to unify GOP support behind his nomination.

[ Full Transcript of Ted Cruz's Speech ]

In front of 5,000 RNC Republican delegates and a television audience of millions, Cruz at first did what he was supposed to do and declared Trump the 2016 winner fair and square. "I want to congratulate Donald Trump on winning the nomination last night," Cruz said.

[ Video: Ted Cruz Shakes Up Republican Convention ]

But as delegates waited for the endorsement, Cruz moved on to talk about conservative principles, devotion to family, and protecting the American dream. He spoke of a little girl who lost her father, a police officer, who died in the line of duty.

[ Ted Cruz Delegates Not Ready to Back Trump in November ]

"What if this is our last time?" Cruz asked. "Did we live up to the values we really believe? Did we do all we really could?"

He urged Republicans to "vote your conscience," but never urged them to vote for Donald Trump.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

[ 5 Stages of Cruz and Trump ]

Earlier in the day, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort indicated Cruz would endorse Trump. "We expect we'll like what we hear," Manafort said at a briefing. Cruz's former campaign manager, Jeff Roe, also seemed to expect an endorsement. "I think they'll be pleased with the speech," he said of the Trump campaign.

[ Lawmakers Say Cruz Destructive, Ego-Mad ]

But if the Trump campaign really thought Cruz had forgotten about the way Trump had treated his father and his wife (when Trump tweeted out an unflattering picture of her next to his supermodel wife, Melania), they were wrong.

And if the Trump campaign believed an endorsement was coming from Cruz, they haven't been paying attention.

Since the day Cruz dropped out of the presidential campaign, it has been clear that his fight was only just beginning. Over the past several months, he has revamped his Washington operation to look a lot more like a White House-in-Waiting than a consolation prize.

He has hired a David Polyansky, a top adviser in the campaign, as his Senate chief of staff. He's also launching two political non-profits "to promote conservative principles," widely seen as laying the ground work for policies and messages for his next presidential run.

[ Welcome Back to the Senate, Ted Cruz! ]

At a barbecue lunch for his supporters earlier in the day, Cruz insisted he didn't know "what the future will hold." But to a person, the supporters I spoke with fully expected Cruz to run again.

"Back in 2005, my wife said Ted Cruz would be president, and I still see that in his future," said Brian McAullife, a Cruz delegate. Asked if he thought Cruz would run sooner rather than later, McAuliffe said, "That depends on how good a job Trump does as president."

But hard feelings against Trump have remained deep among other Republicans.

Regina Thompson, Cruz's Colorado state director and deputy director of an effort to unbind the delegates from Trump, said, "Personally, I will not support Trump. I can't adhere to this. I will write in Ted Cruz."

Chris Herrod, Cruz's Utah state director, said he's trying to get there with Trump, but he can't say yet that he'll vote for him. "Some of the things he's said and written in his books are very difficult," Herrod said. "But more than anything, I think it's the bullying that people have a hard time with. I agree with many of his policies, but you shouldn't be a bully."

Even Utah's Sen. Mike Lee, a close friend of Cruz's, led the effort earlier this week to unbind convention delegates from voting for Trump. When asked two weeks ago why he hadn't yet endorsed Trump, Lee listed Trump's comments about the Kennedy assassination as the first of many reasons.

"We can get into the fact that he accused my best friend's father of conspiring to kill JFK," Lee said.

As it became clear Wednesday that Cruz would not endorse Trump, a chorus of boos inside the convention grew to a roar, but Cruz didn't seem worried at all. He finished his remarks calmly and smiled as he left the spotlight, exiting into the darkness.

[ Ted Cruz Shares the GOP's Values ]

Did he just live up to the values he really believed in? Yes. Did he do all he really could? Yes again.

Is the Republican Party going to be united leaving this convention? Thanks to Ted Cruz and the rest of the Republicans who can't forgive Trump's sins, no. It won't even be close.

Roll Call columnist Patricia Murphy covers national politics for The Daily Beast. Previously, she was the Capitol Hill bureau chief for Politics Daily and founder and editor of Citizen Jane Politics. Follow her on Twitter @1PatriciaMurphy.

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Ted Cruz Buries the Hatchet In Donald Trump's Back

Why Donald Trump Fears Women – All Breaking News

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Multiple allegations of domestic abuse against former White Housestaff secretary Rob Porter appeared to provoke President Donald Trump to fire off this tweet last weekend:

Trump offered no words of concern for Porters alleged victims, or any comfort for how their lives have been shattered or destroyed. Instead, he chose to side with the accused at the expense of the women.

This is what we have come to expect from Trump. His response wasnt an outlier; it was consistent with a man who always gives the benefit of the doubt to powerful, white and Republican men. In Donald Trumps paradigm, no women are innocent.They are asking for it.

When the face of Fox News, Bill OReilly, was besieged with accusations of misconduct toward numerous women, Trump publicly stated that I dont think Bill did anything wrong.

When the brain of Fox News, Roger Ailes, was confronted with dozens of sexual harassment allegations, Trump questioned the victims motives, saying on NBCs Meet the Press, I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much hes helped them, and even recently. And now, all of a sudden, theyre saying these horrible things about him. Its very sad because hes a very good person.

When then-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski got into a physical altercation that left a bruise on then-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields wrist, Trump responded by saying, I think its a very very sad day in this country when a man could be destroyed over something like that.

When bombshell allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers detonated Roy Moores Senate campaign in Alabama, the president of the United States stood by him, saying, He totally denies it. He says it didnt happen. And you know, you have to listen to him also.

And after at least 13 women have publicly come forward with credible allegations of inappropriate physical contact by the president himself, the White House has incredibly claimed that all 13 of these women are lying.

If thats still not enough of an insight into how Trump views and values women, look no further than how he has made a mockery of his marriage vows to his current wife, Melania. Stephanie Clifford,also known as Stormy Daniels,allegesshe and Trump had a sexual relationship just months after Melania gave birth to the couples son.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen confirmed making a $130,000 payment to the porn star as part of an agreement to keep the alleged affair quiet.

According to anexplosive expose in The New Yorker, this was a pattern of behavior for Trump. At the same time he was spending time with Daniels,he began an affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, the outlet reported. Like in Daniels case, Trump allies orchestrated a six-figure deal for McDougal, who says the agreement keeps her from speaking about her relationship with Trump.

For Trump, women are objects that exist for his pleasure things he can rent and pay off.

Yet amid dozens of sexual assault allegations against powerful men, Trump had the audacity to say thisin November:

Women are very special. I think its a very special time, a lot of things are coming out and I think thats good for our society and I think its very, very good for women and Im very happy a lot of these things are coming out. Im very happy its being exposed.

Two things stand out to me:

1.) Trump seems to surround himself with a lot of people who have a history of sexual harassment, misconduct or abuse.

2.) Trump honestly believes that its always the womans fault.

During the height of the Roger Ailes scandal, Trump was asked by a USA Today columnist, Kirsten Powers, What if someone had treated Ivanka in the way Ailes allegedly behaved?Trumps response: I would like to think she would find another career or another company if that was the case.

That answer unpacks everything we need to know about how the president views the role of women in our society.

Even if it were his own daughter, Trump believes the onus is on her to make a change, not the man harassing her. Trump believes its the woman who needs to find a new job or career revealing he inherently does not view the role of women in the workplace as equal to men.

Its why he felt empowered to attack Megyn Kelly after she pressed him at a debate on his exhaustive history of making misogynistic and sexist comments.

Its why that pattern continued when Trump took to Twitter to attack Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, calling her, among other things, low I.Q.

And its why, two months ago, Trump tweeted a sexually suggestive smear against Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who happens to be one of the countrys leading voices against sexual harassment.

In men like Ailes, OReilly, Lewandowski and Porter, Trump sees a part of himself and his instinct to leap to their defense is really an act of self-preservation.

Trumps emotional fragility and personal history with sexual misconduct allegations have created a construct where he will always side with the man because he is inherently afraid of empowering women. At the heart of any abuse against women lie massive insecurities harbored by cowardly men.These men seem to delude themselves into thinking that the only way to compensate for their lack of intellect, ability, circumstance or position is to target and attack a woman.

That explains why Trump has surrounded himself with such an alarmingly high number of men who have a history of abuse towards women. In men likeAiles, OReilly, Lewandowski and Porter, Trump sees a part of himself and his instinct to leap to their defense is really an act of self-preservation.

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has his own history with allegations of domestic abuse, recently told author Joshua Green that the #MeToo movement could take down Trump. Irony aside, Trump seems to agree with Bannons assessment. Hes unwilling to give any ground to any woman, for fear that doing so will be the beginning of his end.

Unfortunately for him, women may finally be in a position to take it for themselves.

Kurt Bardella is a HuffPost columnist and a contributor to USA Today and NBC THINK. He is a former spokesperson for Rep. Darrell Issa, then-Sen. Olympia Snowe, then-Rep. Brian Bilbray, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter@KurtBardella.

Original Article on HuffingtonPost.com: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-bardella-trump-women_us_5a872af1e4b00bc49f43d30d

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Why Donald Trump Fears Women - All Breaking News

Melania Trump – Wikipedia

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Melania Trump (; born Melanija Knavs; [mlanija knaus], Germanized to Melania Knauss; April 26, 1970) is the current First Lady of the United States and wife of the 45th U.S. President Donald Trump.[1]

She was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia and grew up in Sevnica, in the Lower Sava Valley.[2] She worked as a fashion model for agencies in Milan and Paris, later moving to New York City in 1996.[3] Her modeling career was associated with Irene Marie Models and Trump Model Management.[4]

In 2001, she became a permanent resident of the United States. She married Donald Trump in 2005 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2006.[5] She is the first naturalized U.S. citizen to become First Lady of the United States.[6]

Melanija Knavs was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) on April 26, 1970.[7][8] Her father, Viktor Knavs, was from the nearby town of Radee, and managed car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer.[9][10] Her mother Amalija (ne Ulnik) came from the village of Raka and worked as a patternmaker at the children's clothing manufacturer "Jutranjka" in Sevnica.[11][12] As a child, she participated in fashion shows featuring children's clothing, along with other children of workers at the factory.[13][14] She has an older sister, Ines, and an older half-brother whom she reportedly has never met, from her father's previous relationship.[15][16]

Knavs grew up in a modest apartment in a housing block in Sevnica, in the Lower Sava Valley.[1][17] Her father was in the League of Communists of Slovenia, which prohibited its members from openly practicing religion.[18][19] As was common, however, he had his daughters baptised secretly.[20][21]

When she was a teenager, Knavs moved with her family to a two-story house in Sevnica.[22] Then, as a high-school student, she lived in a high-rise apartment in Ljubljana. She attended the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana,[23] and studied architecture and design at the University of Ljubljana for one year before dropping out.[24][25][26]

She began modeling at five years old and started doing commercials at sixteen when she posed for the Slovenian fashion photographer, Stane Jerko.[27][28] When she began working as a model, she translated the Slovene version of her last name "Knavs" to the German version "Knauss".[29]

At eighteen she signed with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy.[30] In 1992, she was named runner-up in the Jana Magazine "Look of the Year" contest, held in Ljubljana, which promised its top three contestants an international modeling contract.[7][31]

After attending the University of Ljubljana for one year,[32] she modeled for fashion houses in Paris and Milan, where in 1995 she met Metropolitan Models co-owner Paolo Zampolli, a friend of her future husband Donald Trump, who was on a scouting trip in Europe. Zampolli urged her to travel to the United States, where he said he would like to represent her.[14]

In 1996, she moved to New York City,[14][31][30][33] living in an apartment in Zeckendorf Towers on Union Square, with a roommate, photographer Matthew Atanian, per Zampolli's arrangements.[14] She did ten paid modeling jobs in the U.S. in the seven weeks before she received legal permission to work in the country.[5]

In September 1998, she met real estate mogul Donald Trump at a party thrown by Zampolli at the Times Square nightclub the Kit Kat Club (now the Stephen Sondheim Theatre).[34] Trump had been separated from Marla Maples since May 1997, and attended the party with Celina Midelfart. When Midelfart went off to use the bathroom, Trump approached Knauss and asked for her number. She took his number instead, and subsequently they attended the 1990s Greenwich Village hot spot Moomba, and began a relationship.[14][1][35]

Melania continued her modeling career,[14] with her American magazine cover shoots, including, In Style Weddings,[36] New York Magazine, Avenue,[37] Philadelphia Style,[38] Vanity Fair[39] and Vogue.[40] While they were dating, Trump relocated her family to New York, where her parents now live for most of the year.[41]

In 1999, the couple gained attention after an interview on The Howard Stern Show, and, when asked by The New York Times what her role would be if Donald Trump were to become President, she replied: "I would be very traditional, like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy."[10]

In 2000, she appeared with Donald Trump while he campaigned for that year's Reform Party presidential nomination and modeled for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[42][41]

After becoming engaged in 2004, Knauss married Donald Trump in an Anglican service on January 22, 2005, at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception in the ballroom at her husband's Mar-a-Lago estate.[43][44] The event was attended by celebrities such as Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Rudy Giuliani, Heidi Klum, Star Jones, P. Diddy, Shaquille O'Neal, Barbara Walters, Conrad Black, Regis Philbin, Simon Cowell, Kelly Ripa, then-Senator Hillary Clinton, and former president Bill Clinton.[44][45] At the reception, Billy Joel serenaded the crowd with "Just the Way You Are" and supplied new lyrics to the tune of "The Lady Is a Tramp".[44] The Trumps' wedding ceremony and reception were widely covered by the media.[33] She wore a $200,000 dress made by John Galliano of the house of Christian Dior.[44]

On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, Barron William Trump.[46] She suggested his middle name, while her husband suggested his first name.[47]

In November 2015, when asked about her husband's presidential campaign, she said: "I encouraged him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America. He loves the American people and he wants to help them."[48] She played a relatively small role in her husband's campaignatypical of spouses of presidential candidates.[49][50][51]

In July 2016, her official website was redirected to trump.com. On Twitter, she stated that her site was outdated and did not "accurately reflect [her] current business and professional interests".[52]

On July 18, 2016, she gave a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention. The speech contained a paragraph that was nearly identical to a paragraph of Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.[53][54][55] When asked about the speech, Trump said she wrote the speech herself "with as little help as possible".[56] Two days later, Trump staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility and apologized for the "confusion".[57]

In 2016, she told CNN her focus as First Lady would be to help women and children. She also said she would combat cyberbullying, especially among children, having quit social media herself due to the "negativity."[58]

In February 2017, she sued Daily Mail and General Trust, the owner of The Daily Mail, seeking $150 million in damages over an August 2016 article which falsely alleged that she had worked for an escort service during her modeling days. The Mail retracted the article, apologized, and printed the retraction from the blogger they were quoting, who said: "I had no legitimate factual basis to make these false statements and I fully retract them".[59] The lawsuit stated the article had ruined her "unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to establish "multimillion dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world".[60] Her claim raised potential ethical questions with its implication that she intended to profit from being First Lady.[61] On February 18, the lawsuit was amended, removing the language about her earning potential and focusing instead on emotional distress.[62] In April 2017, the parties settled the lawsuit and the Daily Mail issued a statement that said, "We accept that these allegations about Mrs Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them." The Mail agreed to pay her $2.9 million.[63][64]

Five days before the election, she told a crowd of supporters in Pennsylvania: "Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers. It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied, or attacked. It is terrible when that happens on the playground. And it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet."[65] Regarding the contrast of her platform with her husband's use of Twitter during his campaign, Melania said shortly after the election that she had rebuked him "all the time" but that "he will do what he wants to do in the end".[66]

She assumed the role of First Lady of the United States on January 20, 2017.[67][68] She continued living in New York City at the Trump Tower with her son, Barron, until the end of his 20162017 school year at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School.[69][70] They moved into the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2017.[71] Her Secret Service code name is "Muse" (beginning with the same letter as Trump's code name, "Mogul," per Secret Service tradition).[72]

She is the second foreign-born woman to hold the First Lady title (after Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1775 in London to an American father and British mother).[73][74] She is the first First Lady to be a naturalized citizen (rather than birthright citizen), and the first whose mother tongue is not English.[75] At 5feet 11inches (1.80m), she is also one of the tallest First Ladies to hold the office, tied with Michelle Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt.[76]

The first White House event she hosted was a luncheon for International Women's Day on March 8, 2017. She spoke to an audience of women about her life as a female immigrant, and about working towards gender equality both domestically and abroad, noting the role of education as a tool against gender inequality.[77][78][79]

In March 2017, Slovenia honored her by introducing "First Lady" wine, a red wine produced in the region near her hometown of Sevnica.[80][81]

In February 2017, at a Florida rally, she led the crowd in the recitation of Lord's Prayer.[82][83] On her husband's first foreign trip as President in May 2017, Melania spoke in Italian with children at Bambino Ges Hospital, a pediatric hospital in Rome.[84]

In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that during a three-month period where she lived in New York in 2017 that she took Air Force jet flights (between New York City, Florida and Washington) at a cost of more than $675,000 to taxpayers.[85][86] In comparison, former first lady Michelle Obama's solo travel cost an average of about $350,000 a year.[85][86]

On January 30, 2018, on the night of the State of the Union address, she broke with tradition by riding in a separate car in the Presidential motorcade with her guests, rather than riding with her husband in the presidential limousine.[87]

Vogue has compared Trump's wardrobe as First Lady to that of Jackie Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, noting that she prefers "strongly tailored pieces" in bold colors and almost exclusively wears high-end designers.[88][89]

Trump is involved with a number of charities, including the Martha Graham Dance Company,[90] the Boys Club of New York, the American Red Cross,[91] and the Police Athletic League.[92][93]

Trump's native language is Slovene. She also speaks Serbo-Croatian.[94] In a May 2017 interview with Greta van Susteren, Trump said that she spoke English, French, Italian, and German.[95]

During her and her husband's visit to Vatican City in May 2017, she revealed that she is a Catholic, making her the first Catholic to live in the White House since President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie over half a century earlier.[96][97]

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Melania Trump - Wikipedia

Donald Trump Russian Intelligence Allegations – Page 107 …

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(THREAD) Yulya Alferovaex-wife of Russian oligarch Artem Klyushin and a member of Trump's entourage in Moscow in 2013is yet another witness who confirms, albeit inadvertently, Trump lied about what happened at the Ritz Moscow. The list of such witnesses is now very, very long.

2/ With new evidence Trump can be successfully blackmailed over sexual exploitsjust as the Steele dossier says he's being blackmailed right now by the Kremlinand with Trump's recent Twitter lie that no one knew he'd run for president until mid-'15, Alferova is back in the news.

3/ Alferova is significant for several reasons, among them tweets she sent to Trump before he announced his candidacy for POTUS. In the first one, she confirms what Trump has long denied but what her ex-boss Emin Agalarov admitted to Forbes: Trump struck a deal in Moscow in 2013.

4/ That picture includes Alferova, Trump entourage member Phil Ruffin, Trump's bodyguard Keith Schiller, and another unidentified person. But Alferova also tweeted Trump in January 2014 in a way that suggested she already knew, post-hanging with him in Moscow, he'd run for POTUS.

5/ That Trump spent time in Moscow talking politics with Alferova is also confirmed by Alferova. Given that Trump has often couched his desire to run for POTUSand, more particularly, his Russia policyin terms that revolve around Barack Obama, this Alferova tweet is significant.

6/ So Alferova was part of Trump's entourage in Moscow in 2013; confirms that he struck a deal with the Agalarovs while there; confirms that he discussed politics "again and again" with the Russians while there; and after he left, expressed certainty he was running for president.

7/ So now we have Trump telling Americavia tweetthat because no one knew that he was running for president until June 2015, there's no way a Russian information warfare campaign initiated in 2014 could have had anything to do with him. Alferova gives the lie to that statement.

8/ But Alferova was also with Trump for almost the entirety of what he once called his "weekend in Moscow"a statement he dishonestly amended as soon as the trip became controversial, calling it a quick, businesslike "there-and-back." Alferova knows the truth about what happened.

9/ So the fact Alferova lied through her teeth the moment U.S. media got to her in January 2017 to ask about the Steele dossier is incredibly significant.

Let's look first at this article in The Daily Beast that asked her a number of questions about Trump's "weekend in Moscow."

10/ The article ignores that Alferova was then married to Artem Klyushin, a Russian oligarch close to the Agalarovs and a good friend of Konstantin Rykov, known as Moscow's biggest pimp and "the Kremlin's chief propagandist." Klyushin was part of Trump's Moscow entourage, too.

11/ Per the article, the Agalarovs "asked the then-26-year-old Alferova, a quick-thinking Moscow entrepreneur, to help organize Trumps Miss Universe contest."

Well, noshe was a blogger who they asked to take pictures, a gig she got because of Klyushin.

12/ Alferova, talking to The Daily Beast after Buzzfeed dropped the Dossier in January '17, said I'm confident nobody has any video of Trump with prostitutes."

Schiller would later tell Congress a Russian businessmanbelieved to be Alferova's husbandoffered Trump prostitutes.

13/ She also said, "I'm not even sure if he spent the night at the Ritz." Again, Schiller has confirmed he did, so one wonders why Alferovawho either had no info on the subject or knew the truthwould try to put into the jetstream that Trump might not even have been at the Ritz.

14/ If that sort of disinformation sounds like what we hear from Kremlin mouthpieces, it *should*: Alferova worked for the Agalarovs, who are among the Kremlin's no-bid real estate developers.

They would later be the ones to set up the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016.

15/ Moreover, The Daily Beast skates over the fact that, just as Rykovpal to her then-husbanddid social media for the Kremlin, so did Alferova at a lower level: "[She] develops social-media pages for Russian governors and regional officials, organizing federal/regional events."

16/ It's a pattern one notices with the very small number of people Trump was allowed to hang out with during the weekend the Kremlin got kompromat on him: they're all either Russian oligarchs beholdenas such oligarchs areto Putin, or, far more often, *directly* Kremlin-linked.

17/ But kudos to The Daily Beast for finding out that the word on the street in Moscow was that Trump was indeed being blackmailed: "Stanislav Belkovskya host at the independent Russian network Rain TVsaid 'Prostitutes around the city say the golden-shower orgy story is true.'"

18/ Alferova told The Daily Beast "the allegations make no sense," defending against claims Trump acted overly familiar with her by noting her husband was present. Again, we've since learned from Schiller that her husband fits the profile of the man who offered Trump prostitutes.

19/ So you have someone connected to the Russian government whobefore it was known the trip was controversialtweeted only *inculpatory* things about Trump's actions there. Once it became controversial, everything she said about the trip was *exculpatory* and seemingly *untrue*.

20/ In mid-2017, Alferova appeared again to reassure Americans that Trump met with no one important in Moscowthough he met Putin's banker and permits man before cutting a deal (funded by Putin's banker and permitted by Putin's permits man) with Agalarov.

CONCLUSION/ This is the sort of pattern of deceit investigators look for when investigating a coverup.

And as I've discussed in other threads, there are 10+ other witnesses who directly/indirectly confirm the Dossier's Ritz Moscow claims. All suggest Trump is being blackmailed.

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Donald Trump Russian Intelligence Allegations - Page 107 ...

Donald Trump visits shooting survivors at hospital – American …

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President Donald Trump on Friday night visited doctors and nurses who treated victims of Wednesdays Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

The president traveled directly to North Broward Hospital from the Palm Beach International Airport, where he landed onboard Air Force One, along with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, White House chief of staff John Kelly and first lady Melania Trump.

A dozen sheriffs cruisers were at the hospital along with Secret Service personnel.

The job theyve done is incredible and I want to congratulate you, Trump said as he shook the hand of a doctor, identified as Dr. Igor Nichiporenko.

When asked, the president said he met with victims: Yes I did. I did indeed.

The Trumps paid their respects to medical personnel who treated some of the injured. The hallway, a long corridor with white floor tiling and off-white walls, was empty aside from a doctor and security personnel.

Its sad something like that could happen, Trump said.

He said he was impressed with the speed with which first responders reacted, calling it record-setting and in one case 20 minutes. Its an incredible thing, Trump said.

Hundreds of people were at the corner of Northwest 27th Avenue and Broward Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale for the spectacle of Trumps motorcade arriving at the Broward Sheriffs Office HQ.

The convoy came roaring in at 7:40 p.m.

Vivian Adams, a fifth-grade teacher at Tamarac Elementary, said she rushed out of her house as soon as she saw on the news he was going to be in near her neighborhood.

There wasnt time to make her planned sign, which would have said, We need gun control. We need more protection in our schools.

Lauren Edwards, 9, said she was more interested in exploring her future career as a police officer.

Would I block off traffic or direct people walking? she said. Also I didnt know there would be snipers, she said gesturing at the roofline of the headquarters building.

At the meeting, Trump praised law enforcement and first responders for their response to the school shooting. He said: Ill tell you who appreciates it, too, is the parents. Because I was at the hospital with the parents and they are very thankful for the job. Theyre in really great shape considering most people would not have been. They are really thankful.

At 8:45 p.m., the motorcade rolled from the Broward Sheriffs Office headquarters.

Trump is spending the weekend at his private club and estate, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach.

2018 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.

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CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077?!) Confirmed For E3

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Cyberpunk 2077 was a game that was first announced a few years ago at E3, since then though, there has been very little news on when the game will come out, let alone any more information on the game itself.

One of the reasons so many people are looking forward to the game, besides the fact that it looks amazing, is that its being developed by CD Projekt Red you might know that name from a little (sarcasm) series called The Witcher!

As time has gone on more and more people have wanted to know MORE about the game and just recently they have been added to the list of developers who are going to be at E3 this year. Does this finally mean we will hear some new information about the game Cyberpunk 2077, or something else new?

Gamers Elite has written about Cyberpunk 2077 before, so if you want you can check out some information below, as well as a general summary of the game.

CD Projekt Red Confirms New Witcher Gamehttp://gamerselite.com/cd-projekt-red-confirms-new-witcher-game/

The game will feature non-English-speaking characters. Players who do not speak the languages can buy translator implants to better comprehend them; depending on the advancement of the implants, the quality of translations will vary, with more expensive implants rendering more accurate translations. Braindance, a digital recording device streamed directly into the brain, allows the player character to experience the emotions, brain processes and muscle movements of another person as though they were their own.

I guess we will have to wait until E3 to hear anything more about Cyberpunk 2077, but I am glad to know that they are at least on the very long list of attendees for the gaming event.

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CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077?!) Confirmed For E3

Netflixs Altered Carbon misses the point of cyberpunk

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Netflixs new science fiction TV series Altered Carbon ticks all the boxes for a modern-day cyberpunk series. Based on a 2002 novel by Richard K. Morgan, its about a hardboiled investigator named Takeshi Kovacs who lives in a world where human consciousness can be stored on a chip called a stack, and transferred between bodies (now known as sleeves.) The rich have effectively become immortal, sequestering themselves far above the gritty streets of futuristic San Francisco. The masses use flashing holograms to sell copious sex, drugs, and violence, beneath a perpetually dark and rainy sky. The series offers a Blade Runner-tinged aesthetic that many people adore, me included.

But that aesthetic, paradoxically, is why Altered Carbon fails, as both good television and good cyberpunk.

Films like Blade Runner and classic cyberpunk novels like Neuromancer, helped transform science fiction by imagining how new inventions would intersect with existing culture, particularly outside respectable bourgeois society. Early cyberpunk posits that technology will shape humanity, but that ordinary people will also shape technology, and that much of the future will simply be a remixed version of the present. The specific tropes its associated with like city streets inspired by Tokyo and Hong Kong, omnipresent advertising, and hardboiled mystery plots emerged from these larger philosophical underpinnings.

As Gavia Baker-Whitelaw at The Daily Dot and Ryan Britt at Inverse have pointed out, though, modern cyberpunk is basically a kind of retro-futurism. Its an often predictable genre that meticulously copies 30-year-old ideas of what tomorrow might look like including dated gender roles; an ARPANET-era vision of computer use; and perhaps most importantly, a culture that hasnt spent several decades imagining a cyberpunk future. Blade Runners groundbreaking visual style has been sanded down into a gorgeous prefab kit thats applied to futures without any consideration for what makes a given science fiction society unique or distinctive. And in Altered Carbons case, that kit isnt just derivative. It sabotages the genres truly timeless aspects, stretching out surface-level tropes like an ill-fitting skin.

Altered Carbon is a far future that looks inexplicably near. The exact date is ambiguous, but a description puts it at over 300 years from now, compared to a few decades in Blade Runner. Humans have colonized other planets, discovered the remnants of an alien civilization, and conquered death. They also favor fashion that looks like a noir-inspired H&M collection, back-alley brothels with tacky holographic signs, distinctly 20th-century skinhead tattoos, and grimy urban architecture. (Morgans novel Altered Carbon takes place even later. But as a book, it has the freedom to leave these kinds of details to the imagination, or pause to explain their backstory.) Kovacs wakes from a 250-year stint in a disembodied stack prison the equivalent of a Revolutionary War prisoner jumping forward to 2018 and his flashbacks are barely distinguishable from the main setting.

That choice could have been used for compelling worldbuilding. Altered Carbons neo-San Francisco is ruled by multi-centenarian Methuselahs or Meths, and it would make sense if theyd held onto nostalgic relics like some nightmare version of the Baby Boomers. But the show seems basically uninterested in the implications of body-swapping and immortality, unless it directly affects Kovacs journey, or advances simplistic social commentary. Altered Carbon doesnt use anachronistic details to explore how we got from the present day to the 24th century. Theyre just convenient narrative shorthand for downtrodden prostitute or street tough, or more generally, dark and gritty future.

This undercuts the themes of social division and class consciousness that Altered Carbon is supposedly exploring, and cyberpunks general penchant for vibrant, complex settings. The rich and poor seem so completely divided in this series that theres no reason for all culture to freeze just because the rich are living in amber or if there is a reason, Altered Carbon doesnt make a case for it. In fact, the series would be much stronger if a high-tech but stagnant society of immortals periodically appropriated fresh pop culture from a short-lived underclass. It would combine present-day social concerns with strange new technology, while still letting Altered Carbon indulge in retro-futurism.

But instead of treating stacks and sleeves as unpredictable forces, Altered Carbon depicts them as a cudgel that decadent immortals use against the helpless poor in dully predictable ways. Theres one piece of uniquely creepy depravity in the series: a woman whose pet snake apparently contains a human mind. Otherwise, after several hundred years of life, Altered Carbons Meths have settled on two hobbies: admiring the middlebrow neoclassical decor of their private sky mansions, and killing poor people. Theyre not even particularly creative about it apparently low-budget snuff scenarios and clumsy zero-gravity death matches never get old.

These temporary deaths are all horrible, of course, as is the Meths overall callousness. But theres such a monotonous, unimaginative tread of cruelty that it loses any shock value or allegorical heft. Beneath its serious grown-up science fiction trappings of nudity and sexual violence, Altered Carbon is less incisive than the equally heavy-handed young adult series The Hunger Games, which mixed on-the-nose class commentary with genuine futuristic weirdness.

Part of the problem is that unlike many cyberpunk protagonists, Kovacs isnt really part of Altered Carbons world hes a newcomer being handsomely paid to investigate a Meths (temporary, but mysterious) murder. Actual members of the underclass are rarely given goals or agency, unless theyve been personally liberated by Kovacs and his infinite expense account. Theyre doll-like bodies waiting to be smashed up, so Kovacs can either justify his rage or establish his good-guy status with paternalistic advice. (You shouldnt let anyone hurt you. Youre worth more than that, he helpfully tells one brothel worker.) We know more about how the poor people of this society die than how they live.

A couple of running subplots delve into Altered Carbons specific vision of the future, and unsurprisingly, theyre the best parts of the series. A sentient Edgar Allan Poe-themed hotel which interacts with guests using an avatar based on Poe himself offers a window into an intriguing AI service economy, including virtual poker nights with a labor union. Poe strikes up a friendship with a sleeveless woman, which emphasizes the fuzzy line between an artificial personality and a human who only exists on a chip. And Kovacs police officer partner Kristen Ortega has a neo-Catholic family thats split over Gods view of resurrecting a loved one. In these cases, Altered Carbon pushes past its Blade Runner fetish and reflexive cynicism to find something human.

But when the larger world is so thin, its hard to put something like neo-Catholicism in a larger context. Characters have had centuries to get used to the idea of stacks. Why do so many still seem blindsided by their existence? And why do so few people, including the dour Meths, seem to be doing anything interesting with the technology?

Altered Carbon trades thoughtful writing and design for a blinkered focus on polemic and prefab dystopia. Instead of imagining what a future full of body-shifters would look like, the series seemingly starts with an aging visual style, adds the premise that rich immortals enjoy hurting people, and work backward from there. It has all the superficial hallmarks of a cyberpunk classic like Blade Runner, but it would have been far better cyberpunk without them.

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Netflixs Altered Carbon misses the point of cyberpunk

CD Projekt Red Teases Importance Of Cyberpunk 2077s Story …

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Whats going on with CD Projekt Red? Are they making progress on Cyberpunk 2077?

CD Projekt Red is working hard on their next game, Cyberpunk 2077, and though they have been tight-lipped about the game itself, they are talking about certain aspects of the title, including the importance of the setting and the story. in an interview with a Spanish newspaper, the team noted:

Many of the things that we have talked about, have been designed thinking about what we could do in the next 30 years, I am surprised how close we have come. Cyberpunk is basically focused on how the street and ordinary people use technology to fight against those who rule, that is, the big companies, the people with power, those at the top.

Technology is the tool. Technology allows you to do things that put you on the same level as those that have power. This means that the things that were only accessible to the rich and powerful are now accessible thanks to technology, to people who are not of that 1%.

You will see how much death there is throughout the trailer. There are things in the windows, reflections, things in the newspapers, scattered under the shattered bodies, things like that. These are things that cannot be completely told in a conventional video game because they come from the imagination of the game master. So many of the things that people will see or I hope, is what I would have seen if I were directing the game and they will see just as I imagined the scene would be.

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Cyberpunk | Warrior Cats Forums

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CyberpunkFeb 16, 2018 0:31:13 GMT -5via mobile Post by on Feb 16, 2018 0:31:13 GMT -5

altered carbon!!!!!god i loved that show im so mad i finished it !!!! screams i've been into cyberpunk for years, p much all the -punk derivatives tbh. but man. that show def shoved me in harder. now i really wanna read the books and neuromancer some of the other critical cyberpunk reads ugh

edit;; also it's majorly fanfic-able and i probably need to watch it again + read the books (even tho i hear they're different in a lot of ways) bc there's just so much to learn for it

I think my favorite so far is the old commander (who probably has a name but I can't think of it rn; looked it up Falconer)Poe is amazing tooand Ortega's partner.

rip him tho we all knew he was marked for death since he was introduced. Tho he didn't have to body block the SINGLE SHOT in that pistol with his stack like bro. u could've used any other part of ur body and been completely fine

the world is so nice.and same more books

ortega herself is my fav tbh im v straight but i would marry her anyway. and yah quell!!!! def my second fav and by only a narrow margin. the show has the best girls honestly. and poe was a great addition. i heard he wasn't in the books i think?? so some people complained but i think he was a great quirky addition anyway

and agree ): but truthfully if he hadn't blocked that way they might've gotten another shot off and so it possibly would've happened anyway ): i cried tho help. actually that show made me cry a LOT eek

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a cyberpunk RPG – skeletonkeygames.rpgnow.com

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The government and giant corporations rule society. Genetic evaluation keeps those in place that have not enough money or influence to climb up the social ladder. Artificial intelligence is present everywhere, and cyberpods - the first artificial beings - beg the question what it means to be human and where to draw the line. The poor live their lives in overcrowded slums, pursuing lowly jobs that barely pay enough to make a living while the rich have no such troubles.

Between all this, Operators exist. Highly talented, trained, augmented and expendable individuals living outside of society in a dystopian megacity like Los Angeles. They work for unknown third-parties who want something done off the books, be it industrial espionage, sabotage, assassination or whatever else needs to be done. They are professionals, using cyberware and their unique skills to accomplish their mission and deal with the downside of altering their bodies: alienation. When they lose touch with their humanity they start to suffer the consequences.

This core book provides you with everything you need to know to get started, including the following:

Visit us onhttps://neomancerrpg.wixsite.com/neomancerto see the Quick Start Rules (also available on Drivethrurpg), create an Operator and play your first mission!

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Hunt and contain hostile robots in a cartoonish cyberpunk …

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Hello all!

The idea is a colorful action game, suitable for ages 8 - 80. The aim of the game is to stun and capture robots. Yes, like Ghostbusters but without the ghosts. Ghostbusters the game from 2009 was the best example in my opinion, of an action game where the player does not kill anyone. There are also minor influences from the movie "I, Robot" in the game as well.

The story takes place a few decades into the future. Its about a man who invented a device that tames hostile robots and allows him to shut down and repair them without causing any damage in any way to them. Law enforcement on the other hand is armed and trained to destroy hostile robots on site due to an incident in the city where robots malfunctioned and massacred hundreds of civilians. The players device saves money for his clients and allows him to repair robots that have sentimental meaning to some of his clients. Of course something goes wrong, robots go rogue and begin to organize and build armor for themselves that deflect bullets. They raid powerplants and weapons, even taking control of top secret technology, unleashing it against the city. When humans retalizate, the robots attack is so aggressive and unbridled that much of our defenses are neutralized and humanity is left vulnerable to extinction. Enter, our hero! He just happens to have a little gadget that can neutralize the robots and shut them down! The basic story is still under construction but I wanted it to be a foundational story that allows for expansion. Once the main game is done, any idea can be added to the lore over time.

The game is meant to be very simple, colorful, basic, and be a visual treat if at all possible. It took so long to get anything done because I was trying to make a AAA title and use ALL the ideas I had at once. Lesson learned? Work within your limitations. I have no formal skill in anything related to game development aside from playing games so I will start simple and each new game will have improved art and effects.

It will feature several large levels, bosses, upgrades (dont know how to do upgrades, XP or leveling yet so it will be dumb simple for now), a basic checkpoint save system, A.I, optimized to run at 30 frames minimum at all times, menu with volume/music control, soundtrack, custom sounds and it will be free to play, open source and all.

This is a solo project. With the exception of Blender Game Engine, UPBGE and publically available source code, I will build all the art assets. There isnt a website yet, but there IS some simple code ready to build a site. I multi task alot because I really enjoy the entire process of building, learning and creating. I also enjoy long romantic walks on the beach and BBQ.

Progress will be posted here and any youtube videos showing the tech demo features in action. I already learned to build some engine features and will upload them for demonstration of progress and as a tutorial for anyone that wants to know how. The game is exclusively using UPBGE 0.2.1 because it had features turned on that the new Blender had turned off like animated textures. UPBGE is more game friendly and I will likely be sticking with it for the forseeable future as its got it all!

Here are a few early scribbles that will be redrawn and improve later on:Scaled images to 300*300 - is that too large? It seems too large..

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Spirituality and Addiction – MARR Addiction Treatment Center

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By Jim Seckman, MAC, CACII, CCS

Spirituality is an aspect of our humanity that is innate. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are spiritual creatures. In the book Addiction and Grace,author Gerald G. May, MD discusses spirituality in terms of a longing that we have as humans. A longing for something more, something deeper, something greater than who we are. So spirituality could be viewed as the process of growth into a deeper connection with God, others, ourselves and the world around us. While the longing may not be comfortable at times, it is healthy and dynamic.

Addiction tries to make a spiritual experience static. When we are in an addictive process, we want to hold on to the moment, not feeling the discomfort of the longing but attempting to maintain what we feel in an instant. Our spirituality becomes stagnate and the addiction leads us into a deep bondage with a substance or process.

While we know that addiction is a disease that is primary, chronic, progressive and fatal, with a describable and predictable course and common symptoms, addiction affects all aspects of the person. When we think about the disease of addiction from the perspective of our spirituality, we can see that addiction is a disease that is born out of the human condition. There is deep hopelessness, meaninglessness and longing that the addict is trying to suppress with some substance or process, rather than finding healing through the grace of God. The addict is seeking a greater depth of peace and fulfillment but only finds greater emptiness and pain. The separation from God and from healthy spirituality is intensified by an increasing pattern of actions that could be considered evil or sinful.

While ancient writers didnt understand addiction in the same way we do, they certainly understood the nature of addiction. The Biblical writers saw the patterns of addiction and discussed it more as bondage, temptation and sin. Indeed, addiction is a disease that will drive/lead us into wrongful acts. However, if we look at sin from a perspective of separation from God and Gods grace, then we come closer to understanding the spiritual dilemma of addiction. In the book of Genesis, we see that humans are caught up in an addictive process from the beginning. The original temptation in the Garden of Eden posed as the following:

Addiction sets up a trap for us: while appearing to address a deep need, we are drawn to its attractiveness and the promise of feeling complete in some way an alternate god is introduced to rob us of true spirituality. We become spiritually malnourished, believing we have found peace, abundance and fulfillment in the very thing that will rob us of it. In addiction, we mistake:

But, fortunately, that is not the whole story. While we humans are experts at finding ways to place ourselves into spiritual bondage, it is this very spiritual woundedness that becomes the path to our healing and recovery. While addiction is slavery to a cruel god, it can also be the pathway to a deeper spirituality than is experienced without it. What religion labels sin, what therapy calls sickness, are precisely what bring us closer to God. Addiction reveals this bondage and brokenness so starkly to the addict. When we are wounded, we understand our weakness, our need for a savior (those who are well dont need a doctor, right?), and become willing to let God in. It is through our wounds that we can allow God and others to enter our lives and help make us whole.

In 12-Step programs, addiction treatment and recovery, the person confronts his or her own brokenness and bondage, shares in others brokenness and comes to accept it both in others and themselves. This honesty, once reached, forms the basis for the development of a healthy spirituality. As the person works through the 12 Steps, he or she discovers the process of growth in understanding God, others, themselves and the world around them.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the 12 Steps is that they very carefully walk us through exactly what we need and when we need it, and support a long-lasting recovery and a healthy and dynamic spiritual life. Finally, when we reach Step 12, we find that the spiritual awakening that is promised is supported by actively working with others. It is in the action of reaching out to each other and helping others that the spirituality of recovery is truly found. Dr. Bob S., one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), who attended the Oxford Group to quit drinking (and couldnt), stated, The spiritual approach was as useless as any other if you soaked it up like a sponge and kept it to yourself.

In essence, spirituality is not something we can capture. According to AA co-founder Bill W., We have to live it.

ReferencesAddiction and Grace (Gerald G. May, MD)The Spirituality of Imperfection (Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham)

Jim Seckman, MAC, CACII, CCS is the Clinical Director at MARR. He has over 20 years experience working in the field of addiction treatment in a variety of clinical settings, including inpatient, outpatient and residential. Jim is past president of GARR (Georgia Association of Recovery Residences), has served on the Ethics Committee for GACA (Georgia Addiction Counselors Association) and conducts regular training workshops on addiction treatment. For more information on social media and ethical standards, email him at [emailprotected].

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Spirituality and Addiction - MARR Addiction Treatment Center

Victor Stone (Prime Earth) – FANDOM powered by Wikia

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Justice League: Origin

Victor Stone was a high school athlete at odds with his brilliant scientist father Silas Stone.[1] Vic was caught in an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs when a nearby Father Box detonated.[2]

His father saved his life by using experimental technology to turn him into a cyborg in the Red Room. Dr. Stone injected his son with nanites and installed experimental robotic parts . These included a Promethean skin graft, Dr. Will Magnus' Responsometer, Professor Ivo's A-maze operating system, the classified and prototypical B-maze operating system, and Dr. Ryan Choi's White Dwarf Stabilizer, as well as the energies from the Father Box. This allowed Vic to access the vast New Gods data library and discover Darkseid's true invasion plans.[3]

When Vic first woke up after the accident, he discovered he could not move his legs, and then later learned of his new robotic body. The Red Room was attacked by a group of Parademons; before they could hurt Dr. Charles, Cyborg's defense system's reacted automatically, causing his arm to shift into a sonic cannon. He destroyed the creatures, along with half the building. Vic, still in shock, asked his father what happened to him; his father told him that he couldn't let him die. Vic escaped through the hole in the wall, with his father's calls to stay falling on deaf ears.

While roaming the streets, Vic saved a woman being attacked by Parademons; in the process, he also absorbed some of the Parademon's components, giving him access to Boom Tube technology. This new ability automatically transported him to the site of a major battle, where he met Aquaman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman while trying to control his new powers.[4] In the middle of the alien invasion, he helped them fight Darkseid and his Parademon army.[5] Cyborg tapped into the alien technology to close their portal after Superman hurled Darkseid back to Apokolips. This crisis lead humanity to finally accept super-heroes.[6]

Vic receives a visual feed of the hero Shazam (Billy Batson) heading to the nation of Kahndaq. This leads Batman to reassemble the Justice League, along with a new recruit: the magic-wielding Zatanna. Together they traveled to Kahndaq to stop Shazam.[7]

After the supposed death of Doctor Light by Superman's hands in Kahndaq, Vic and the Martian Manhunter performed an autopsy to prove that the villain's death was not Superman's fault.[8] Wonder Woman teams up with the Justice League Dark to go look for Pandora; Vic is among the heroes that remain at A.R.G.U.S., while the rest of the Justice League try and stop her.[9]

Victor was present when the Atom of Earth 3 informs Superman, Firestorm, and Element Woman of the true purpose behind the Justice League of America; she reveals that they were being spied on, which lead to them ending up in Kahndaq.[10]

When the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3 arrived on Prime Earth, Cyborg's body was taken over by a sentient computer virus. It rejects Vic's human body, and the Green Lantern is forced to suspend him in green energy as Cyborg's body reforms as a complete humanoid, and introduces itself as Grid before unleashing heavy artillery blasts on everyone.[11]

After his organic body was rejected by Grid, Victor was taken to S.T.A.R. Labs by Batman and Catwoman in the hopes that Silas could help him. Silas was at first hesitant to turn his child once more into Cyborg, to which Victor pleaded that he should stop protecting him and that it was his decision to be transformed into Cyborg this time; he must help stop the Crime Syndicate. Cyborg's new armor was crafted after Victor told his father to take him into the real red room, which he knew about since he went on-line for the first time. The armor was made slimmer since he would rather to look more human like than a tank; jump jets were also installed so he wouldn't rely solely on Boom tubes. He noted that being off-line; it was quiet and that he wasn't being bombarded by information.[12] Cyborg goes to enroll the assistance of Doctor Will Magnus so he could revive his metal men to help him fight against the Crime Syndicate. Magnus initially refuse to revive his Metal men as he deemed them failures, however Cyborg persuades him to do so.[13] With the group once again revived and united they're led against The Grid who Cyborg lured away from the Watchtower. Grid summoned members of the Secret Society but they were quickly dispatched by the Metal Men under the command of Victor. Cyborg and Grid both enter the digital world where they fight with one another. Grid initially had the upper hand after using Victor's human side as his weakness. However Cyborg expresses that he has grasped his tech side and that he is the bridge between human and technology and he controls the digital universe, then, severing the Grid's connection with the outside world, Cyborg traps him inside the body.[14] Receiving Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth from Steve Trevor, Victor travels to fallen Watchtower where he helps Batman utilize Wonder Woman's rope to free the Justice League groups from the Firestorm network.[15]

After-which, the League underwent a paradigm shift introducing a few new members onto its team. That being a recently depowered Captain Cold, a youthful new ward empowerd by divine magic; who incidentally nearly started an international incident Shazam and finally a well known villain who'ed recently turned over a new leaf, Lex Luthor.[16] While he and Shazam were on Monitor duty searching for Power Ring's missing ring, he suggested the new leaguer to try using his magic. Which instead ended up in him conjuring a ping pong table they could play while they worked.[17] When the New Power Ring went on a tear through Portland; Oregon, The Justice League intervened to try and quell the situation. But tensions quickly skyrocketed when the Doom Patrol had came with intentions of their own regarding the ring. When he tried to interface with the ring that Volthoom inhabited, doing so fused his circuits and fried all of his systems rendering him unconscious as a result.[18] Back at S.T.A.R. Labs Victor was getting looked over by his father Sylas. As Shazam eagerly wished to zip over to Metropolis to aid Superman and Lex in they're battle against a rampaging Gorilla Grodd, Cyborg himself couldn't head out because his bionics were all but derezzed due to his interaction with the alien ring's computer.[19] But more than gave his consent to head out in his place, in the meantime he would go over the visions he saw of the entity that destroyed the Crime Syndicate's earth. Suggesting to take another dive into the ring to find out more, only for his dad to advise against it given he might be trapped inside it if he did that again.[20]

An incident occurred revolving around the forces of Apokolips searching for something called a Chaos Shard which is sought after by Glorious Godfrey and his Parademon horde. While he and the rest of the League managed to drive them off and save Batman's life, he was cross with them as they let them get away with the sarcophagus carrying both the body of his deceased son and a fragment of the Chaos Crystal that was hidden within it.[21]

While he and the rest of the crew stand strongly against Bruce's desire to infiltrate the domain of Darkseid, given that his territory is a huge X-Factor which the act of such an undertaking could lead to incredibly dire consequences. Batman hijacked Vic's teleportation apparatuses and beamed his way up into the Watchtower to procure a powerful armament he and the rest of the Justice League had a hand in building for him.[22] Which in turn took next to the entire Justice League just to dissuade his impossible task, for a time. After a distraction set by Batman was initiated in the form of solid holographic projections appearing as some of the JL's most dangerous enemies. Batman once again made off with the Hellbat to the destopian world of Apokolips.[23]

When called upon to the Batcave, Cyborg is misled by Batgirl, Red Robin and Red Hood into believing they need help with the holo-villians projected to distract him and the League prior to Bruce's departure to what is essentially Hell. He jacked himself into the Batcomupter in order to disable the rogue programs only to fall prey to The Batman's contingency devised to incapacitate him should the need arise.

The program they immersed him in would keep Victor docile and powerdown his defensive systems until Barbara could hot wire his Mother Box in order to get the Boom Tube working. As the three make it through the tube as soon as it activates, Cyborg soon awakes from his programmed sleep mode to witness their transition between dimensions. Being more than a little peeved at the Bat-Family for using him the way they did, he would jump in after them with Titus following after as he bit onto his leg.[24] Just making it through the portal with brief seconds to spare, Cyborg votes the crew just find and help batman now and save the admonishment of responsible parties for later. Just as they are beset by the dregs of Armegetto when Darkseid's son Kalibak discharges his Chaos Cannon.

Cyborg and the Bat Kids enter into a small skirmish between the starving pit feeders and the Apokoliptian Dog Cavalry. The battle is quickly ended with Cyborg blasting the enemy combatants with his sonic cannons, leaving behind a better morsel for those who attacked them to feed upon as they make their escape.

Eventually finding the Dark Knight battling the nightmarish planets heavily armed special forces, Bruce's Family reminds him why he initially came to enemy territory in the first place while Cyborg leads the charge into Kalibak's citadel to take back The Chaos Shard and his Son's body.[25]

As the Batman and his crew led the assault on Kalibak and his forces, Cyborg immediately went to work dismantling his Chaos cannon. Tearing it clean in half with his bear hands, but he was hit with a crippling systems feed back when he tried to interface with the cannon's main power station. Frying and fusing most of his circuitry.[25] Due to his systems being disrupted, Victor was left mechanically catatonic. Barely even able to lift his head up, as Batman battled Darkseid while Red Hood and Tim fought off Parademon's and the rest of the Apokoliptian horde. Vic talked Barbara through opening his chest to rewire the Mother Box in it manually again. Succeeding in opening up a Boom Tube they vacated to the portal with due haste.[26]

It's later revealed that Cyborgs systems were infected with a virus however, reasoning as to why the Boob Tube wasn't closing. When Jason and Tim tried to assist him, his auto defense systems kicked in zapping them both. Stating it would take him some time to purge his systems and initiate a reboot in order to regain control of his Boom Tube protocols. Eventually working to get systems back online, just as Batman rammed a Batplane into Kaliback back through an Open portal.[27] Afterwards Cyborg heads out to inform the rest of the league of everything that had happened.

During the invasion of the Dark Multiverse, Cyborg is captured and tortured by the Murder Machine. He escapes thanks to his Mother Box and rescues the Justice League.

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Victor Stone (Prime Earth) - FANDOM powered by Wikia

Seychelles Spa – Palmetto, Fl : Spa

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Welcome To Seychelles Day Spa in Palmetto

We invite you to step into a tranquil oasis dedicated to your personal well-being. We offer specialty spa treatments for your face, body, hands, feet and hair, catering to both male and female guests.

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The FAQs on John Piper’s "Christian Hedonism" | Searching …

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Question 36.

Isnt the doctrine of the Trinity similar to Christian Hedonism in that it is a label and a doctrine not explicitly taught in the Bible but is nonetheless true?

Answer 36.

Many people have compared the speculative philosophy of Christian Hedonism to the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. The comparison is born on the assumption that extra-biblical labels may be freely created to apply to biblically derived doctrines. This assumption is acceptable enough. The comparison then continues using the logic that since labels are acceptable inventions (albeit they are not found in the Word) Christian Hedonism must be just as acceptable a doctrine as the Trinity because both are loosely based on Scripture, and are therefore both biblical concepts described by "artificial" labels. It is here that the logic of comparison is faulty.

Use of the Trinity as an analogous situation for Christian Hedonism is a false analogy because the Bible very clearly and explicitly teaches us the doctrine of one God consisting of three persons who are also called God. These tenets of the Trinity are based on explicit Bible verses that individually teach us that God is One, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Three make the One, or, Three in One (Trinity).

In contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity, Christian Hedonism fails to find such specific Bible verses for its primary tenets: the pursuit of ones own pleasure with all ones might is an actual command of Scripture, the pursuit of ones own pleasure is ones highest calling, one must become a Christian Hedonist to see the Kingdom of God and be saved, and the very goal of worship is attaining the pleasure which is found while worshipping God.

Perhaps it can be said another way. The "Trinity" is a very polite label for a gathering of specific Bible verses. It is not a label for a general idea or philosophy. Whereas Christian Hedonism is a philosophy that is not built from specific verses but from a system of logic and assumptions based loosely on abstract interpretations of a wide ranging set of passages that do not actually state or directly teach the very tenets of hedonism.

The "Proofs"

To "prove" the doctrine of the Trinity, you need to demonstrate that the Bible calls God "One God" and not three gods. Then you need to demonstrate that the Bible calls the Father "God", the Son "God", and the Holy Spirit "God".

In fact, the Word does just that. The four tenets of the doctrine of the Trinity are:

Tenet One

: God is One, not Three; God alone is the Alpha and the Omega (the First and Last God)there are no other Gods but He

"Jesus answered, "The foremost is, HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD." (Mark 12:29)

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. " (Isaiah 44:6)

"I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He. " (Isaiah 41:4)

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son." (Revelation 21:6,7)

"My glory I will not give to another. Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. " (Isaiah 48:11b,12)

Tenet Two

: The Father is God

"the Father, God, has set His seal." (John 6:27b)

"I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. " (John 20:17b)

Tenet Three

: The Son is God (the child who is born is actually God Eternal, the first and the last)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:1,14, 17)

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I, Jesus", (Revelation 22:13, 16a)

For a child will be born to us, a son

will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6,7)

Tenet Four

: The Holy Spirit is God; and He, as God, appoints gifts to the saints as He wills

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:11)

But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. (1 Corinthians 12:18)

And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28)

And perhaps the best summation passage that aligns the worship of the Father with Jesus being worshipped as the Mighty God Who has all authority, which then is aligned with the fact that all believers are baptized (made to identify with) the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit is Matthew 28:17-20.

When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

While the label "Trinity" may be a polite "made-up" label that describes a deep truth of plain Scriptures, each of the four tenets of the doctrine of the Trinity are expressly supported by direct Scripture. God says that only God is called "the first and the last", yet Jesus calls Himself by that title. We find that Isaiah calls the Son of God, who is born on the Earth, by the name Eternal Father and Mighty God. We read that God is the only One Who assigns the gifts as He desires, but we read that the Holy Spirit is the One who assigns the gifts as He wills.

This is not a game of logic or a philosophy lesson. The names God chose for Himself are equally applied to Jesus and the Holy Spirit in numerous verses that explicitly say these things. A person does not have to work at trying to find subtle connections between the Son and the Father, and it is not necessary to jump through loops of loosely tied threads of logic to see some minor insight that might lead in the right direction. Scripture spells out the doctrine plainly. Gods name is Eternal Father and His Son is to be called, Eternal Father. God is He Who gives out spiritual gifts, and God is the Holy Spirit who decides what person is to get which gifts. Each tenet of the doctrine is plainly corroborated by a very plain statement from Scripture.

Christian Hedonism Lacks Such Proof Verses

Now compare this to the philosophy of Christian Hedonism. To prove Christian Hedonism you need to demonstrate that the Bible calls devotion to pleasure the greatest pursuit and highest calling of mankind, and you must demonstrate that the Bible commands that one must be converted to Christian Hedonism to be saved, and that the worship of God is only valid when the goal of worship is to attain pleasure.

Tenet One of Christian Hedonism

: the pursuit of your own pleasure in God is a command from the Bible

Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

[Note: nowhere in this verse are the words "pursue pleasure" found, nor is it proper to use logic to construe "delight yourself in the Lord" to infer a command to "pursue your own pleasure in God"see

FAQ 29]

Tenet Two of Christian Hedonism

: the Pursuit of Pleasure is the greatest pursuit and highest calling of believers

"The radical implication is that pursuing pleasure in God is our highest calling." (Piper, page 21, The Dangerous Duty of Delight)

[Note: Christian Hedonism offers no Bible passages to support this tenet, so we offer this quote from Dangerous Duty.]

Tenet Three of Christian Hedonism

: one must be converted to Christian Hedonism to be saved

"Unless a man be born again into a Christian Hedonist he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John Piper, Desiring God, page 55)

"Could it be that today the most straightforward biblical command for conversion is not, Believe in the Lord, but, Delight yourself in the Lord?" (John Piper, Desiring God, page 55)

"The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is not an extra that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. Until your heart has hit upon this pursuit, your faith cannot please God. It is not saving faith." (John Piper, Desiring God, page 69)

[Note: Christian Hedonism offers no legitimate Bible passages to support this tenet, so we offer these quotes from Desiring God.]

Tenet Four of Christian Hedonism

: the goal of worship is to attain pleasure in God

"I came to see that it is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure to be had in him." (Piper, Desiring God, page 16, 1996 edition)

[Note: Christian Hedonism offers no legitimate Bible passages to support this tenet, so we offer this quote from Desiring God.]

In fact, the Word says none of those things, anywhere. You cannot even find one passage that acknowledges that there is such as thing as "the pursuit of pleasure", except where that pleasure is utterly lewd and detestable in the sight of God.

Given you cannot find even one passage that elevates pleasure to a valid pursuit of any kind, much less our greatest pursuit (hence the label "hedonism"), it is an even harder task to imagine a Bible versemuch less find onethat requires conversion to hedonism as a condition of salvation.

And finally let us consider the tenet of Christian Hedonism that states that the worship of God is only valid when the goal of worship is to attain pleasure for the worshipper. Again, the diligent Bible student will discover that worship is valid or authentic when it aims to be verbally edifying (1 Corinthians 14:26), calls others to repent from sin (1 Corinthians 14:23-25), and causes us to put our physical bodies into motion serving God and one another (Romans 12:1-13).

It should also be pointed out that worshipping God involves praising Him, and this is often called "shouting with joy to the Lord". Even some of our labors of worship are to be done with "cheer" and with "joy". Yet, what is the purpose or goal of worship: to experience joy and cheer, or, to praise God, edify the saints, and serve one another? The Bible states the goal of worship is to praise God, sometimes accompanied by the expression of joy; edify the saints, sometimes with the heart of cheerfulness; and to serve one another. The goal, according to plain Scripture, is never so that we can experience pleasure, experience joy, or experience cheer. Such experiences are attitudes that can accompany worship, but they are neither the goal nor the test for authenticating worship. Worship may be conducted in fear, in great sadness, or even in depression, and it will still be valid and God-honoring worship.

Consider Psalm 42. The Psalmist said his soul panted for God. Why? Because God had cut off His presence and His temple worship from His people when they were driven into exile by God for their sins. The Psalmist was not giving some romantic notion about his soul desiring a mystical rapturous pleasure of a hedonistic encounter with God as if that were some kind of normative event. The Psalmist was here worshipping God in deep depression that God had withdrawn Himself from him and the people because they had sinned. The Psalmists soul was panting for forgiveness from God, his desire was to quench his sorrow over his sins for which he cried night and day (verse 3). He longed to be able to go to temple again and to have his prayers heard and his sins covered by sacrifice again (verse 4).

Was the Psalmist in Psalm 42 worshipping God any less because his attitude was one of grief and sorrow instead of rapturous pleasure? No. In fact, Jesus, in a parable (Luke 18), said of the tax collector who worshipped in anguish at the temple that his worship caused him to be proclaimed righteous whereas the man who stood up in his self-righteous pleasure and worshipped in his zeal left still in his sin. Such men who worship to attain pleasure and to attain the pleasure of being seen ought to consider with wise discretion and discernment what Jesus said about those who seek their spiritual rewards while still on Earth (Matthew 6:1-6).

When we begin to think and to teach that the worship of God is so that we can attain heights of pleasing emotions we miss the point of worship entirely. It is true that sometimes pleasing emotions accompany or result from praising God or serving others, yet that is not why we are told to serve. Gods motives for giving us these commands is for the edification of others, for meeting the needs of others, for demonstrating to God our dependence and gratitude toward Him.

Worship is outward focused on those who are greater and more important than ourselves. When we get the silly notion that the worship is "for me" we begin quite literally worshipping ourselves.

Doctrine Comes From the Word, Philosophies Have No Such Burden

Christian Hedonism fails the biblical test on all four of its primary tenets. Unlike the doctrine of the Trinity, the philosophy of Christian Hedonism finds no evidential support in the Word. It is entirely a human idea based on human philosophy and human desires. It is made into a religion only when men give its secular foundation religious intent. They then run the risk of repeating the error of the Pharisees, which is elevating ones own ideas to a level of importance even above the plain commands of Scripture, eventually becoming experts at this newly established "tradition" instead of experts at obeying the Word.

For a more in-depth exploration behind whether the philosophy of Christian Hedonism is read out from biblical passages (exegesis) or whether the ideas are read into the Scriptural text (eisegesis) you are invited to read FAQ 30.

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The FAQs on John Piper's "Christian Hedonism" | Searching ...

Bitcoin Price Forecast: Tim Draper Predicts Bitcoin Will Be Worth More Than $100,000

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Daily Bitcoin News Update
Bitcoin prices drop on Friday, as yesterday's market rally corrects. The BTC to USD rate has retraced to $9,895.91 at the time of writing, after crossing $10,000 yesterday.

Not much has changed in the past 24 hours. There has been no earth-shattering good news nor nerve-racking bad news. We are viewing the sideways swing as the customary price movement in this space.

In the meantime, however, we’re turning our focus to the longer term to predict which way Bitcoin prices will be journeying next. At least one.

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Bitcoin Price Forecast: Tim Draper Predicts Bitcoin Will Be Worth More Than $100,000

Ethereum Price Forecast: A Brand New Reason to Be Bullish on ETH

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Ethereum News Update
Although Ethereum prices moved sideways on Friday morning, a new fund endorsed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has the crypto poised for some massive gains.

The secretive project is the brainchild of an Avengers-like cast of Ethereum power players, including Cosmos, Golem, Maker, Global Blockchain Labs, OmiseGo, Raiden, and Tendermint. (Source: “.

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Ethereum Price Forecast: A Brand New Reason to Be Bullish on ETH

Litecoin Price Forecast: PayPal-Like Coinbase Commerce Better Than LitePay?

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Daily Litecoin News Update
The bull is taking a breather this morning as cryptocurrency prices stabilize. The Litecoin price has dropped from its high witnessed yesterday. Just as we had expected, the pump ahead of the Litecoin hard fork and "LitePay" launch is deflating. As I pen this update, the average LTC to USD rate has settled at $225.88, after reaching as high as $235.09 yesterday.

In the last two updates, if you've been following, we informed our readers about the possible speculative trading underway with Litecoin. There's been a good chance that most of these new buyers have not been looking to HODL this coin, but only to make a quick buck as.

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Litecoin Price Forecast: PayPal-Like Coinbase Commerce Better Than LitePay?