Chelsea Manning Photo Shows Freshly Freed Whistleblower

Chelsea Manning has posted the first photo of herself on social media a day after leaving prison, where she served seven years for releasing 75,000 documents to WikiLeaks.

“Okay, so here I am everyone!!” the photo was captioned Thursday, showing Manning wearing makeup and and low-cut top.

Okay, so here I am everyone!! =Phttp://bit.ly/2rxm8Vk#HelloWorld http://pic.twitter.com/gKsMFTYukO

— Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) May 18, 2017

When she entered the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 2010, Manning was a 22-year-old Army Private named Bradley Manning, convicted by a military tribunal under the Espionage and Computer Fraud Abuse Acts and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Manning came out as transgender just after her sentencing in August 2013.

Although the military at first refused to provide any accommodations for her gender dysphoria, a settlement was reached after she filed a lawsuit in 2014, and Manning received hormone therapy and grooming items provided to women in custody.

Manning had her sentence commuted by President Barack Obama three days before he left office. Still, she served more time than any other whistleblower in U.S. history.

Manning is still on active duty while she appeals her 2013 conviction and is subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“After so many years of government control over her body and gender, I know she is eager to grow her hair, express her gender and negotiate decisions on her own terms,” ACLU attorney Chase Strangio said, NBC News reported.

Manning, who seems to be quickly acclimating to social media, also tweeted a few other photos celebrating her release and a new start.

Here’s to freedom and a new beginning.http://bit.ly/2qY8ZaQ#chelseaisfree http://pic.twitter.com/ZLjIv4W1We

— Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) May 18, 2017

So, im already enjoying my first hot, greasy pizza http://bit.ly/2rxqsnF#ChelseaIsFree http://pic.twitter.com/NZR9cePsFb

— Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) May 17, 2017

Source: newsmax – Chelsea Manning Photo Shows Freshly Freed Whistleblower

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Report: China Offers Concessions on Beef Imports, Financial Investments

China has moved quickly to avoid a trade war by offering concessions on U.S. beef exports and better market access for financial investments, the Financial Times reports. The U.S. and China also agreed to a 100-day plan to address trade imbalances.

Additional concessions by China are said to also include agricultural imports. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday discussed trade options at their first face-to-face meeting in Washington.

“The atmosphere at the talks was good,” Chu Shulong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the Financial Times. “Trade is the most worrying issue for the U.S. and China. But it looks like a trade war can be averted for at least the next 100 days while the two sides negotiate.”

The treaty would allow American beef to be sold in China for the first time since 2003 and allow majority foreign ownership in China’s securities and insurance companies. China imposed a ban on American beef in 2003 triggered by a case of mad-cow disease in Washington state.

U.S. officials are also looking for a lower tax rate on automotive imports while China is seeking greater protection for Chinese investment in the United States.

Source: newsmax – Report: China Offers Concessions on Beef Imports, Financial Investments

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Massive Protest in Hungary Against Bill That Could Oust Soros University

Hungarians rose up in one of the largest protests against the seven-year rule of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday, protesting against new legislation that could force out of the country one of its top international universities.

The Central European University (CEU), a school founded by U.S. financier George Soros, could be forced to leave Hungary after a bill passed in Parliament this week by Orban’s Fidesz party set stringent, new conditions under which it must operate.

The bill has led to criticism from hundreds of leading academics worldwide as well as from the U.S. government and the European Union.

The protest drew some of the largest crowds against Orban’s seven-year rule, with organisers estimating attendance around 70,000. The crowd marched across a bridge over the river Danube and filled the square outside Parliament, which was defended by several lines of police, some in riot gear.

Thousands of people, mostly students, stayed on after the main protest for an unannounced march on the building of the Education Secretariat, then on to the headquarters of Fidesz, where where they chanted anti-Fidesz slogans before, with numbers dwindling, they blocked Oktogon square, a busy intersection in central Budapest.

Though passionate, the protest remained peaceful throughout.

Hungarian President Janos Ader must now sign the bill by Monday to make it law. The protesters said they wanted to convince Ader to reject the bill and refer it to a constitutional review.

“What do we want Ader to do? VETO,” the crowd chanted. “Free country, free university!”

“The government wants to silence pretty much everyone who doesn’t think the same as them, who thinks freely, who can be liberal, can be leftist,” protest organiser Kornel Klopfstein, a PhD student at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, told Reuters.

“According to the government one of the centres of these people is at CEU… We should stand up for academic freedom and for CEU.”

The students sat down on the pavement and chanted slogans like “Here is the end, Viktor”, or “Fidesz is dirty”.

Crackdown on Dissent

The government has been tightening up on dissent in other ways as well, proposing tighter rules on non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which will have to register with authorities if they have a yearly foreign income of 7.2 million forints ($25,000).

The rules are admittedly targeting organisations funded by Soros, a Hungarian-born American financier who for decades has given away billions of dollars of his fortune to support causes of a liberal “open society” worldwide.

The Hungarian premier has often vilified Soros, whose ideals are squarely at odds with Orban’s view that European culture is under an existential threat from migration and multiculturalism.

Orban has often said NGOs are doing Soros’ bidding.

“The government is always looking for someone to fight with, and Soros seems like a perfect person for this because he funds NGOs in Hungary and he funds CEU as well,” Klopfstein said.

CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff has said the school would continue operations as normal and demanded that the law be scrapped and additional international guarantees of academic freedoms be added to current legal safeguards.

The U.S. State Department will send diplomats to Budapest next week to address the CEU crisis, said Ignatieff, who spent several days in Washington to lobby the U.S. government, lawmakers and the media.

“They want to completely undermine and eradicate what remains of civil society,” Bara Bognar, a 40-year-old finance professional, told Reuters. “This is the first protest I have ever participated in. There is a level at which you must be present, so here I am.”

“The method, the lack of dialogue, the efforts for years to annihilate all democratic institutions, this cannot be the future of us nor our children.”

Source: newsmax – Massive Protest in Hungary Against Bill That Could Oust Soros University

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