Gallup released their analysis on Friday, publishing the average approval rating for all twelve Presidents who have taken office post World War II. After Obama’s first year, he only achieved majority approval once more during his first term. His last spike in approval came in his 16th quarter in office, around the time he was re-elected. Support for Obama dipped dramatically down to the 40 percent range shortly after his second term started. Obama’s approval remained low until regaining the majority level in his final year as President.

Obama’s approval dipped as low as 38 percent at times when debt, unemployment, and the Islamic State were in focus. Negotiations over the debt ceiling limit and downgrading the US credit rating played a factor at the time of his lowest approval. Obama didn’t generate enough support for legislation to address the weak employment situation.

After the capture of Osama bin Laden in May of 2011, Obama gained a modest surge in support. His support level otherwise moved very gradually when it did change. Obama failed to achieve high ratings during his presidency, but he also avoided extreme lows. The Gallup study points out that the US didn’t suffer any major wars or international incidents which would have created a rally effect behind the former President.

Obama’s lackluster support may reflect his governing during a time where many were unsatisfied with the state of the nation. There was a low amount of trust between the people and the government, and diminished confidence in major US institutions. Obama may not have helped people confide in government. Some of his policies, including the Affordable Care Act, were heavily frowned upon. Obama also used his executive orders to advance his immigration policy after failing to accomplish that goal through the legislative process. (RELATED: Find more White House news at Whitehouse.news)

The overall approval ratings average is an indication of how well a president did their job, but ratings at the end of one’s presidency often have the greatest impact on how they will be remembered. Americans believe that Obama will typically be judged more positively than negatively by history, possibly even better than several of his predecessors who had much higher average approval ratings. Only time will tell if that projection holds true.

How are the Gallup polls collected?

The results for the most recent Gallup poll were based on telephone interviews conducted between October 20, 2016, and January 19, 2017. The Gallup US Daily survey consisted of randomly sampling 42,122 adults from all fifty states, and Washington D.C. All samples were 18 years or older and living in the US at the time.

The margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage points, at the 95 percent confidence level for results based on the total sample of national adults. The reported margins for error in sampling includes a computed design effect for weighting.

The minimum quota for each sample of national adults included 70 percent correspondence by cellphone, and 30 percent coming from landlines. Landline and cellular phone numbers were selected using random digit dial methods. Additional minimum quotas for the Gallup polls factored in time zones and regions.

Sources:

DailyCaller.com

Gallup.com

CnsNews.com

But the federal government has only responded with continued bans and regulatory restrictions that have limited access to the many who wish to freely choose this alternative medical treatment. In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has now technically reclassified cannabis extracts as a Schedule I substance, putting them in the same category as heroin.

Now, however, the nightmarish over-regulation of cannabis may be about to be dismantled. President Donald J. Trump may be about to nominate someone to head up the Food and Drug Administration who believes in, and is a fan of, medical marijuana. (RELATED: Discover the latest scientific data on cannabis, hemp and marijuana at HempScience.news)

As reported by The Anti Media, Trump has spoken to two potential candidates: Balaji Srinivasan, CEO of bitcoin start-up 21.co, and Jim O’Neill, the managing director of investment firm Mithril Capital Management. Both met with Trump about a week before his inauguration.

Srinivasan, Recode noted, does not have much use for the FDA. Though they are now deleted, Srinivasan’s Twitter archive at one time contained huge criticisms of the federal agency. Now that he’s being considered to run the agency, he apparently does not want to give senators critical of him any more ammunition to fire against him than necessary.

And while a Srinivasan nomination would certainly be in the same mold of Trump’s previous picks – most of his nominees have been critical of the agencies they are about to lead – it’s the potential selection of O’Neill that should excite cannabis and medical marijuana supporters more.

The Anti Media noted:

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, O’Neill has been fighting for weed legalization for years. The Coalition is known for having helped to legalize the plant in the Golden State.

Peter Thiel, billionaire founder of PayPal, and the most vocal and perhaps the only supporter of Trump in Silicon Valley, has ties to both men. That could weigh heavily in Trump’s eventual decision about which one to nominate because Thiel is a close Trump adviser. It should also be noted here that Thiel was the first major investor in the cannabis industry.

O’Neill is both a vocal supporter of marijuana legalization and an advocate of a more lenient FDA. He has also talked about the importance of implementing dramatic FDA reforms that would permit Americans the choice to “start using [drugs], at their own risk.”

He is also a board member at the Seasteading Institute, an organization that seeks to create new societies at sea and away from current governments. This organization has been linked to libertarian movements in the past. Patri Friedman, the grandson of free market economist Milton Friedman, was a founder of the institute (as is Thiel).

Plus, O’Neill has served in government before; he served as the principle associate deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration.

O’Neill voiced support for free market ideals in 2009, saying that “because there’s not a free market in healthcare, people are suffering very significant health consequences that in a free market they would not suffer.” (RELATED: Get the latest news and information on cannabis and medical marijuana at MedicalMarijuanaUpdate.com).

By embracing the free market, he noted, drug prices and healthcare costs would be “much lower and allow innovation in cheaper delivery of care, both in terms of drugs and devices and better forms of delivery.”

The FDA currently has some of the broadest regulatory powers of all federal agencies. By picking a libertarian-minded nominee to run it, Trump may be signaling that he is prepared to de-emphasize the FDA’s role and rein in much of its authority.

Personally, Trump has expressed his support for medical marijuana and, as far as overall legalization, he has said he believes it should be a “state-by-state” issue. But most of the “mainstream” scientific community and Big Pharma have been lying about the benefits of cannabis for years.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

TheAntiMedia.org

Recode.net

TheGuardian.com

Bloomberg.com

Science.NaturalNews.com

Facebook is not only an NSA front that gathers surveillance information on you and your friends, it’s also engaged in heavy censorship of truthful news sources (i.e. the independent media). For example, although Natural News has over 2 million Facebook likes, a typical post only goes to about one half of one percent of that audience.

Some stories are utterly censored outright, including any story that contains phrases such as “vaccine side effects” or “autism and vaccines.” The Facebook censorship algorithms automatically strip out stories on “sensitive” topics that threaten the globalist order. This is exactly the same way China’s communist regime censors all internet posts about Falun Gong or the Tiananmen Square uprising. No one is surprised by the fact the Zuckerberg speaks Chinese and seems to get along great with the communists. I speak Chinese as well, but I’m pro-Taiwan and wholly opposed to the communist regime of mainland China because it is a totalitarian communist regime rooted in human cruelty and oppression. (That doesn’t seem to bother Zuckerberg one bit.)

Today I’ve posted a video that reveals how to beat Facebook censorship by connecting with alternative social media sources like Diaspora (Share.NaturalNews.com), GAB.ai (gab.ai/NaturalNews), GoodGopher.com and Censored.news.

Check out the full video at this link or watch below:

Unfortunately, the powers that be at the school don’t think nearly as highly about the United States Constitution as the Young Americans for Liberty and did everything in their power to have the students arrested for promoting free speech without first asking for their permission — which violates a solicitation policy in effect at Kellogg Community College.

Jack Burns of The Free Thought Project reports, “Additionally, the distribution of materials, according to the college, must be approved first by the department known as Student Life. In other words, the exercise of students’ first amendment rights according to the U.S. Constitution is regulated by the public school’s Student Life department. And the school defines free speech as ‘solicitation,’ another activity which must be pre-approved.” Demanding that free speech be approved destroys the very concept upon which free speech is based. It should not be unrestricted in any way, regardless of how unpopular or controversial the subject matter may be.

Thankfully, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is defending the students in a court case known as Young Americans for Liberty at Kellogg Community College v. Kellogg Community College. If there is any justice left in the world, they will win easily and the current policies at the college will become a thing of the past.

It’s hard to imagine anyone being so violently opposed to free speech that they try to get people thrown in jail for promoting it, but that’s the world we live in today. The Regressive Left hates the idea of liberty so much that they are willing to trample all over the Constitution, human rights, and the very idea of freedom in order to achieve their goals.

If the fact that these innocent students were thrown in jail for exercising a constitutional right is frustrating in and of itself, we should also remember that this is not exactly an isolated incident. Similar events frequently seem to take place on college campuses across the United States, where students are being punished for trying to spread the truth. Of course, the students being punished are almost exclusively conservatives and libertarians, while liberals are free to protest and riot all they want without any repercussions.

Free speech should be a universal right in the United States and it should apply to everyone everywhere. The very idea of “free speech zones” is unconstitutional and anyone who asks for permission in order to engage in free speech must not understand how liberty works. 2017 needs to be the year that we put our foot down and demand that this nonsense come to an end before more innocent people are imprisoned.

Read more twisted news at Twisted.news.

Sources:

TheFreeThoughtProject.com

DailySignal.com

WND.com

Yes, you read that right: a DUI for driving while taking in some caffeine. Apparently, most of the United States population should be in jail. (RELATED: See more news about completely stupid but true events at Stupid.news)

During 2015, Joseph Schwab was pulled over for “erratic driving” in Fairfield, California. A statement from the Solano County District Attorney’s Office reveals that the responding officer was suspicious due to Schwab’s “erratic and reckless driving,” his “demeanor” and his “performance on a number of field sobriety tests.”

Given these concerns, the officer felt justified in slapping Schwab with a DUI — a charge that remained even after a blood sample came back negative for drugs, including cocaine, THC or opiates.

How could someone still be charged with a DUI when testing shows there are no drugs present? Well, according to the DEA, their reasoning is because drug tests don’t necessarily detect all drugs, and because the officer involved insisted it seemed like Schwab must have been under the influence of something. 

Fortunately for Schwab, this so-called reasoning was entirely unacceptable to his attorney — who even told CNN affiliate KCRA that she “couldn’t believe the charge.”

“I actually consulted with the other attorneys in my office to make sure that I wasn’t missing something,” she commented.

Thirty-eight year old Schwab was left to fight the charge for more than a year.

During the last days of 2016, the DA’s office finally announced that they would be dismissing the charges, albeit rather begrudgingly. According to them, their forensic lab experts said that it was “highly likely the defendant was under the influence of a drug,” even if there was no way for them to prove it.

“After further consideration, without a confirmatory test of the specific drug in the defendant’s system that impaired his ability to drive, we do not believe we can prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt,” bemoans the county press release.

Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, notes that even allowing such a charge to enter the justice system sets a dangerous precedent for the future. Will officers be able to continue whimsically pulling people over at will, and then charge them with DUIs even if drugs are absent from their systems? It’s already happened, and it’s probably only going to get worse. This time, the charges were dropped, but rest assured — they won’t be next time. (RELATED: See more news about resisting police state tyranny at RESIST.news)

As Adams’ notes, the powers that be are far more interested in prosecuting you than they are in protecting your freedom.  You’re guilty in the eyes of the law, even if you’re innocent. Why? Because they said you were, apparently. And as long as someone with enough power believes it to be true, your own truth will be ignored.

Easily one of the biggest question marks about all of this is that no other evidence has been indicated, outside of the officer’s testimony. If that is all it takes to charge someone with a crime these days, we’re in for a world of hurt. When blood testing — which is perhaps the pinnacle of evidence in the justice system — is ignored in favor of testimony, it is time to question who these people are really trying to help.

As Adams notes, “What’s the point of blood tests when California bureaucrats have already decided you’re guilty even before the test results come back?”

Sources:

NaturalNews.com

It has been rumored that the leaders of various European countries are now preparing for violent civil unrest because of the horrific refugee crises that are plaguing the area. Rachel O’Donoghue of Daily Star reports, “It comes after months of warnings from experts – including top military brasses – that massive economic issues, mass immigration, and terrorism will lead to a full-scale crisis. They have predicted this will affect the entire continent, eventually leading to civil war on the streets.”

As upsetting as this news is — as many innocent people are sure to be harmed during the chaos — it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Things have been getting increasingly violent and dangerous all throughout the continent and the powers that be have had no reasonable answers for what to do about it. Instead, they continue making the same mistakes over and over, which only makes the enemy more powerful than ever.

With all of these impending civil wars, murderous attacks and so on and so forth, World War III could be on the horizon once again. Despite all of the efforts to prevent the world from ending, it seems inevitable at this point. All of the extremism that is enabled by the globalists has gotten so strong that stopping it from taking hold will be incredibly difficult. It appears as though Europe is on the verge of a complete societal collapse — even their leaders know this is true — but the United States can learn from this.

We have to do our part in order to ensure that radical Islamic extremism doesn’t make its way to America the way that it has made its way to Europe. There are already many people stateside who share those beliefs, but not to the degree that Europe is having to deal with it. In order to prevent this from happening in the United States, we have to continue promoting western ideals while strengthening our borders and properly vetting immigrants. It’s the only way to keep us all safe. (RELATED: Stay informed about the coming collapse at Collapse.news)

Sources:

DailyStar.co.uk

Bloomberg.com

Maura Judkis of The Washington Post reports, “Miss Canada has found herself at odds with Miss World organizers, in a conflict stretching back more than a year regarding her advocacy work against human rights abuses in China — historically, a major sponsor and booster of the pageant.” Judkis writes that Lin was supposed to represent Canada during the 2015 pageant, but “Chinese authorities denied her a visa because of her political activity and support of Falun Gong, the Buddhist-inflected spiritual movement that has been banned by the government since 1999.”

It is no surprise that the Chinese government is trying to silence those who are willing to criticize the corruption that takes place behind closed doors. However, it is much more distressing that pageant organizers are willing to bow down to China and prevent Lin from expressing her opinion on the current state of affairs in the country. Especially as someone who has dealt with the negativity of China directly, she should be championed for standing up to the country — not silenced by the idiots on the left who are afraid of causing offense.

This kind of behavior is dangerous and extremely hypocritical. Members of the Regressive Left talk incessantly about giving voices to minorities and “oppressed peoples,” but when a minority decides to speak out against a value that they hold near and dear to their heart — like communism — they do everything in their power to shut them up.

It goes to show that they only want to support minorities whenever they can exploit them. The second a black, Asian or Hispanic comes out in support of conservative or libertarian ideals, they throw around terms like “internalized racism” in order to pass their opinions off as unintelligible and bigoted. It is completely ridiculous and should not stand.

Yet, this mindset continues to become more and more common. What has happened to Anastasia Lin is not unheard of — not in the slightest — but that doesn’t mean that we have to sit around and let it happen. It’s time to join the culture war, folks. It’s time to put an end to this before it is too late.

Update: Miss Lin was eventually allowed to speak with reporters after several weeks of tension.  She did not lay blame on the pageant organization, and instead acknowledged them for allowing her to come forward. Her primary focus is to bring much needed attention to the persecution of Falun Gong, as well as other human rights abuses in her native country of China.  

Sources:

NYTimes.com

WashingtonPost.com

Breitbart.com

NYTimes.com

(Article by By Dave Hodges from Thecommonsenseshow.com)

The simple thing to do seems to consist of canceling NAFTA. Mexico enjoys a $60 billion dollar trade surplus . They play home to millions of manufacturing jobs that used to go to Americans. Some economists will quietly say that this costs the United States almost a trillion dollars per year.  This means lower wages, higher taxes and a declining standard of living for America.

To add insult to injury, the tens of millions of illegal immigrants that have flooded into America sent home $25 billion to Mexican private interests in 2015. This money is not taxed. The labor represented by this amount, which does not account for the under-the-table money that is sent to Mexico, is only a drop in the bucket. Conservatively, and this is a gross under-representation of the actual money that America is bleeding. The labor represented in this amount is not taxed, none of this goes to unemployment compensation, workman’s compensation, social security and medicare. This greatly increases the burden on American citizens to cover these needs.

Mexico will never build the wall unless this movement of money is controlled and taxed. However, Trump is taking on an entire global economic empire. If you wondered why the media vilifies Trump at every turn, their six owners of the entire media profit greatly from all free trade agreements. This is what Trump is trying to undo. However, what most Americans don’t realize is the entire American economy is controlled by a few men who controls government and virtually every major industry in America.

Read more at: Thecommonsenseshow.com

A KFC outlet in the city’s financial district now uses facial recognition software to predict what a customer might order. Partnering with KFC, tech firm Baidu, often described as the Google equivalent in China, developed the software for what is described as the country’s first “smart” restaurant.

The AI system, which is voluntarily and can be overridden if a customer wants to partake of other menu items, makes recommendations based on a customers age, gender, and mood. The kiosk then supposedly stores the information.

Customers can pay with their smartphone and then pick up the order at the counter. A KFC exec commented the target market consists of “young consumers who prefer fashionable new things,” Eco-Business detailed.

In addition to the publicity generated by the facial recognition system, KFC and Baidu want to make ordering faster, more convenient and personalized which will in their view facilitate repeat business.

Most customers at the fried chicken restaurant are still opting for a human cashier.

Apart from whether it’s wise or intelligent, as it were, to eat fast food in the first place — and Natural News offers lots of information about that — the technology also raises the question as to whether it is “smart” to order by robot from a privacy standpoint. KFC menu items, by the way, happen to contain more MSG than almost any other fast food restaurants. MSG, known as an “excitotoxin,” is a chemical taste enhancer that’s linked to migraines and widely believed to harm nerve cells. Combining a brain-hurting chemical with a “mind reading” surveillance technology seems to be a questionable cocktail of bad ideas.

Has The Colonel given way to Big Brother?

KFC plans to roll out the technology to 5,000 stores in China.

According to TechCrunch, a Baidu press release explains that “the system would tell ‘a male customer in his early 20s’ to order ‘a set meal of crispy chicken hamburger, roasted chicken wings and coke for lunch,’ while ‘a female customer in her 50s’ would get a recommendation of  ‘porridge and soybean milk for breakfast.'”

“Of course, the prospect of a company storing data about customers’ faces and fried-chicken preferences raises the ever present trade-off between convenience and privacy,” the Guardian noted, adding that, as it is, intrusive personal data in China is apparently readily available on the open market.

The Guardian reporter also found that on a second visit, the AI machine evidently “forgot” her preferences, so the technology, for better or worse, has a ways to go.

In questioning the validity of predicting menu choices from physical appearance, which may be a marketing ploy, the Quartz website also warns about the implications of data mining for the consumer.

“By building an image database of customers and their orders, KFC could get a much more deeper understanding of the market…An image and order history lets KFC begin to build a detailed dossier on each customer, stored on a machine of unknown security. If other stores implement similar systems, a whole new trove of personal data could be created. So before you order that eight-piece meal, think about the digital price you’re also paying.”

Last year, KFC implemented voice-activated robot order takers at a restaurant in Shanghai.

KFC can be an occasional guilty pleasure for some, but before ordering at one of the franchise eateries here or abroad, consider this: Natural News previously reported that the secret ingredient in the closely guarded original chicken 11-herbs-and-spices recipe might be monosodium glutamate (MSG), a chemical which has been linked to various health issues. (Related: Learn more about MSG and it’s affects.)

On the subject of fast-food automation generally, the ex-McDonald’s USA CEO recently issued a reluctant “I told you so” after predicting that the “Fight for $15,” i.e., activists who champion a $15 minimum wage, would prompt employers to begin installing touchscreen, self-service kiosks to reduce headcount, thereby increasing the ranks of the unemployed.

Sources:

Eco-business.com

Eater.com

The Guardian.com

TechCrunch.com

Qz.com

Inquisitr.com

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as though police in Roseville are particularly compassionate or logical, so Taylor was written a ticket. Why? According to the police, leaving a vehicle running unattended is an issue of public safety. To call that an egregious overreaction would be an understatement, especially when you consider where the driveway is located.

Mike Wehner of BGR reports, “In the TV news report on the incident, the street where Taylor’s vehicle was ticketed appears to be a quiet residential neighborhood — not the kind of place you’d expect a running vehicle to be stolen in broad daylight and in the dead of winter. In fact, the vehicle’s spot in the driveway was no more than ten feet from the front door of the home itself.”

Even worse? Roseville’s police chief, James Berlin, has continued to stand by his officer’s decision. That means that it’s only a matter of time before more people in the area start getting hit with these absurd tickets. Instead of being reasonable and understanding that, in order to be comfortable, people living in these areas that are affected by extreme weather conditions need to heat their vehicles up in the morning in order to drive safely.

Our country needs to make some considerable strides over the course of the next year in order to get on the right track of making America great again. One of the things that needs to happen immediately, so that the other goals can be achieved, is the destruction of the police state in America. All over the country, there are still people being charged with ridiculous crimes, being written tickets for the dumbest reasons imaginable and being forced to deal with the consequences. That is completely unacceptable and unconstitutional. As American citizens — and as human beings — we have rights that should not be infringed upon, but Big Government has gotten so out of control that these rights are no longer a concern of theirs. They care about increasing their own profits and pushing their agendas. The well-being of the average, working-class American doesn’t matter to them and that’s something that should be addressed on a national scale. (RELATED: See more news about stupid things at STUPID.news)

While this story may sound like a minor issue in the grand scheme of life — and it very well may be — it is part of one of the biggest problems in our country. We’ve reached a point where the federal government can no longer deny that the United States of America is a police state. There is far too much damning evidence to prove it that their only way to get this issue to go away is by solving it outright. We deserve to live freely and we deserve to heat up our vehicles on cold mornings.

Sources:

DailyWire.com

MyFox8.com

BGR.com