Russia's foreign minister says a Moscow-proposed peace congress scheduled for next month is crucial for reaching a settlement in Syria and is not hampering United Nations-led talks.

Sergey Lavrov's statement on Wednesday comes a day after several dozen Syrian opposition groups issued a series of statements saying the talks in Russia's Sochi next month are an attempt to "circumvent" the U.N.-led peace process.

Lavrov, who was meeting with Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba on Wednesday, told Russian news agencies that the Sochi congress would lay the groundwork for U.N.-led talks. The Russian minister quoted "broad support" for the Sochi talks among Syrians and said Russia's goal is to gather together the largest number of opposition groups possible to help launch constitutional reform in the war-torn country.

Weah and Boakai are vying to succeed outgoing President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, whose 12-year rule cemented peace in the West African country after civil war ended in 2003.

CalvinBall wrote:Former Chelsea player!

Former president Barack Obama edged out President Donald Trump, 17 percent to 14 percent, to win his 10th most-admired title.

CalvinBall wrote:Former Chelsea player!

Trump reportedly faulted Sessions for Roy Moore's Alabama Senate loss

His complaint alleges that out-of-state residents had been allowed to vote and that election fraud experts had concluded through statistical analyses that fraud had taken place. One of the election experts Moore cites is Richard Charnin, who also posts about JFK conspiracy theories and the murder of DNC staffer, Seth Rich.

Moore's complaint also alleged "anomalous" higher voter turnout in Jefferson County, in which census data shows 43% of the population is black. He called the county's 47% voter turnout as "highly unusual" and questioned the integrity of its election results.

thephan wrote:Future train station at Western Wall could be named after Trump

Everybody kmows how to play this fool.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A brutal attack claimed by the Islamic State group devastated a two-story Shiite Muslim cultural center in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing at least 41 people and wounding another 84, many suffering severe burns from the intensity of the explosions.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said three bombs were used in the ferocious assault as well as a single suicide bomber who blew himself up inside the center, where scores of people had gathered to mark the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.

The claim reflects eyewitness reports that said one bomber sneaked into the center and exploded his device. Other explosions occurred outside the building, which also houses the pro-Iranian Afghan Voice news agency, which may also have been a target in the attack.

Earlier, Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said an unknown number of suicide attackers set off an explosion outside the center before carrying out an attack inside.

In its statement to Aamaq news agency, the IS said the center was being funded by Iran and used to propagate Shiite beliefs.

Separately, Dawlat Abad District Gov. Mohammad Karim said a powerful mine killed six shepherd children ranging in age from 8 to 10 on Wednesday.

Afghanistan has the highest number of mine victims in the world, which along with other roadside bombs, kill or wound an estimated 140 people every month.

Pennsylvania has agreed to return control of Philadelphia's public school system to the city after 16 years of state oversight.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday he will accept the recommendation of the School Reform Commission, which voted last month to dissolve itself and turn control of the district over to a locally appointed school board.

The administration also will rescind the designation labeling the district as "distressed."

The move will take effect June 30.

More broadly, Toomey’s influence represents the imprint of the supply-side doctrine in the bill — the notion that the benefit of lower taxes and fewer regulations on businesses and investors, in the words of its critics, “trickle down” to other Americans. That thinking delivered most of the dollar value of the GOP tax cuts to a lower corporate rate and a new break for owners of “pass through” businesses, whose profits are taxed as individual income, while offering relatively meager benefits for wage-earning Americans.

“But for Pat Toomey, it’s not likely we would have seen 50-plus votes in the Senate for that nature of a tax cut,” said David M. McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, a group Toomey led before entering the Senate.

Toomey called the tax legislation the capstone of a political career that began when he was a local politician who wrote an anti-tax measure into the city charter and included a stint as a House member who fought new banking regulations before he became the leader of an influential policy group that pushed to elect supply-side thinkers to Congress.

“I’ve spent my entire career hoping for this day,” he said in an interview last week. “To have a chance to be able to make a constructive series of contributions, it’s been very gratifying and fulfilling.”

Most polls taken in the final weeks of his reelection campaign had Toomey narrowly trailing Democrat Katie McGinty after a campaign in which he had emphasized his efforts to support law enforcement and work with Democrats on gun control, not his sharp economic policy views.

It was the most expensive Senate race in history, involving $179 million in combined spending, and Toomey pulled out a two-point win with the help of $3.6 million from the Club for Growth’s super PAC, $9.7 million from Koch brothers network groups and $6.1 million from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — all deeply interested in major tax cuts.

Toomey wanted a $2.5 trillion budget for the tax bill — enough to squeeze in a laundry list of tax cuts aimed at generating growth. Corker was willing to offer budgetary “headroom” to craft an ambitious bill but was afraid the tax writers would avoid eliminating loopholes if given too much leeway. They settled on $1.5 trillion.

pacino wrote:Pat Toomey was fundamental in steering the tax bill away from populism and towards supply-side tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations and repealing the individual mandate:

More broadly, Toomey’s influence represents the imprint of the supply-side doctrine in the bill — the notion that the benefit of lower taxes and fewer regulations on businesses and investors, in the words of its critics, “trickle down” to other Americans. That thinking delivered most of the dollar value of the GOP tax cuts to a lower corporate rate and a new break for owners of “pass through” businesses, whose profits are taxed as individual income, while offering relatively meager benefits for wage-earning Americans.

“But for Pat Toomey, it’s not likely we would have seen 50-plus votes in the Senate for that nature of a tax cut,” said David M. McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, a group Toomey led before entering the Senate.

Toomey called the tax legislation the capstone of a political career that began when he was a local politician who wrote an anti-tax measure into the city charter and included a stint as a House member who fought new banking regulations before he became the leader of an influential policy group that pushed to elect supply-side thinkers to Congress.

“I’ve spent my entire career hoping for this day,” he said in an interview last week. “To have a chance to be able to make a constructive series of contributions, it’s been very gratifying and fulfilling.”

Most polls taken in the final weeks of his reelection campaign had Toomey narrowly trailing Democrat Katie McGinty after a campaign in which he had emphasized his efforts to support law enforcement and work with Democrats on gun control, not his sharp economic policy views.

It was the most expensive Senate race in history, involving $179 million in combined spending, and Toomey pulled out a two-point win with the help of $3.6 million from the Club for Growth’s super PAC, $9.7 million from Koch brothers network groups and $6.1 million from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — all deeply interested in major tax cuts.

Toomey wanted a $2.5 trillion budget for the tax bill — enough to squeeze in a laundry list of tax cuts aimed at generating growth. Corker was willing to offer budgetary “headroom” to craft an ambitious bill but was afraid the tax writers would avoid eliminating loopholes if given too much leeway. They settled on $1.5 trillion.

Katie McGinty ran on $15 min wage and gun safety laws but there was no core message given to voters. Ugh

JUburton wrote:

pacino wrote:Pat Toomey was fundamental in steering the tax bill away from populism and towards supply-side tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations and repealing the individual mandate:

More broadly, Toomey’s influence represents the imprint of the supply-side doctrine in the bill — the notion that the benefit of lower taxes and fewer regulations on businesses and investors, in the words of its critics, “trickle down” to other Americans. That thinking delivered most of the dollar value of the GOP tax cuts to a lower corporate rate and a new break for owners of “pass through” businesses, whose profits are taxed as individual income, while offering relatively meager benefits for wage-earning Americans.

“But for Pat Toomey, it’s not likely we would have seen 50-plus votes in the Senate for that nature of a tax cut,” said David M. McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, a group Toomey led before entering the Senate.

Toomey called the tax legislation the capstone of a political career that began when he was a local politician who wrote an anti-tax measure into the city charter and included a stint as a House member who fought new banking regulations before he became the leader of an influential policy group that pushed to elect supply-side thinkers to Congress.

“I’ve spent my entire career hoping for this day,” he said in an interview last week. “To have a chance to be able to make a constructive series of contributions, it’s been very gratifying and fulfilling.”

Most polls taken in the final weeks of his reelection campaign had Toomey narrowly trailing Democrat Katie McGinty after a campaign in which he had emphasized his efforts to support law enforcement and work with Democrats on gun control, not his sharp economic policy views.

It was the most expensive Senate race in history, involving $179 million in combined spending, and Toomey pulled out a two-point win with the help of $3.6 million from the Club for Growth’s super PAC, $9.7 million from Koch brothers network groups and $6.1 million from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — all deeply interested in major tax cuts.

Toomey wanted a $2.5 trillion budget for the tax bill — enough to squeeze in a laundry list of tax cuts aimed at generating growth. Corker was willing to offer budgetary “headroom” to craft an ambitious bill but was afraid the tax writers would avoid eliminating loopholes if given too much leeway. They settled on $1.5 trillion.

Katie McGinty ran on $15 min wage and gun safety laws but there was no core message given to voters. Ugh

SESTAK WOULDA WON - my dad, probably