Yes, This Is Actually The Leader Of The Free World Talking

The Associated Press published the transcript of its interview with Trump-- it's unbelievable that people actually voted for this mental midget.

Here he  is lying about generating Chris Wallace's highest ratings (he didn't) and being more popular thatn 9/11:

    TRUMP: … [I]t’s interesting, I have, seem to get very high ratings. I definitely. You know Chris Wallace had 9.2 million people, it’s the highest in the history of the show. I have all the ratings for all those morning shows. When I go, they go double, triple. Chris Wallace, look back during the Army-Navy football game, I did his show that morning.

    AP: I remember, right.

    TRUMP: It had 9.2 million people. It’s the highest they’ve ever had. On any, on air, (CBS “Face the Nation” host John) Dickerson had 5.2 million people. It’s the highest for “Face the Nation” or as I call it, “Deface the Nation.” It’s the highest for “Deface the Nation” since the World Trade Center. Since the World Trade Center came down. It’s a tremendous advantage.

And how he learned that missiles kill people (no kidding):

TRUMP: Number One, there’s great responsibility. When it came time to, as an example, send out the 59 missiles, the Tomahawks in Syria. I’m saying to myself, “You know, this is more than just like, 79 (sic) missiles. This is death that’s involved,” because people could have been killed. This is risk that’s involved, because if the missile goes off and goes in a city or goes in a civilian area — you know, the boats were hundreds of miles away — and if this missile goes off and lands in the middle of a town or a hamlet …. every decision is much harder than you’d normally make. (unintelligible) … This is involving death and life and so many things. … So it’s far more responsibility.

And how he learned that the government is really YOOGE:

    TRUMP: The financial cost of everything is so massive, every agency. This is thousands of times bigger, the United States, than the biggest company in the world. The second-largest company in the world is the Defense Department. The third-largest company in the world is Social Security. The fourth-largest — you know, you go down the list.

    AP: Right.

    TRUMP. It’s massive. And every agency is, like, bigger than any company. So you know, I really just see the bigness of it all, but also the responsibility. And the human responsibility. You know, the human life that’s involved in some of the decisions.

And still whining:

TRUMP: I used to get great press. I get the worst press. I get such dishonest reporting with the media. That’s another thing that really has — I’ve never had anything like it before. It happened during the primaries, and I said, you know, when I won, I said, “Well the one thing good is now I’ll get good press.” And it got worse. (unintelligible) So that was one thing that a little bit of a surprise to me. I thought the press would become better, and it actually, in my opinion, got more nasty.

And here he is claiming the wall will stop all drugs:

TRUMP: If we stop 1 percent of the drugs from coming in — and we’ll stop all of it. But if we stop 1 percent of the drugs because we have the wall — they’re coming around in certain areas, but if you have a wall, they can’t do it because it’s a real wall. That’s a tremendously good investment, 1 percent. The drugs pouring through on the southern border are unbelievable. We’re becoming a drug culture, there’s so much. And most of it’s coming from the southern border. The wall will stop the drugs.

And here is, all conflicted about Wikileaks-- he likes the info they release, but yet he doesn't:

    TRUMP: When Wikileaks came out … never heard of Wikileaks, never heard of it. When Wikileaks came out, all I was just saying is, “Well, look at all this information here, this is pretty good stuff.” You know, they tried to hack the Republican, the RNC, but we had good defenses. They didn’t have defenses, which is pretty bad management. But we had good defenses, they tried to hack both of them. They weren’t able to get through to Republicans. No, I found it very interesting when I read this stuff and I said, “Wow.” It was just a figure of speech. I said, “Well, look at this. It’s good reading.”

    AP: But that didn’t mean that you supported what Assange is doing?

    TRUMP: No, I don’t support or unsupport. It was just information. They shouldn’t have allowed it to get out.

GOP's Willful Ignorance

The situation in Syria has basically been unchanged over the past four years-- other than the thousands of Syrians that have died at the hands of Assad (using weapons provided by Russia). But it seems that a lot of Republicans have changed their minds regarding U.S. airstrikes in Syria.

What do you think made the difference between 2013 and 2017? 

So Much For Nepotism Laws

After Donald Trump was elected, he said his children would serve no role in his administration.

Mere months later, the Trump White House announced Ivanka Trump would join the administration as a senior adviser to Donald Trump. But in an attempt to assuage taxpayers, they said Ivanka's role would be unpaid. 

Then came reports that Ivanka would be issued government equipments and communication devices-- for what reason, if she's not a government employee?   She is also going to be issued a top government clearance-- again for what reason if she is not a government employee and has no demonstrated need to see classified information?  Aren't security clearances supposed to be granted on a need to know basis?

This week provided further revelations that made clear that Trump's flouting of nepotism laws would be costing taxpayers even MORE money.  The White House announced that  Ivanka ( “special” assistant to the president) has hired a chief of staff.   And she will also be getting a taxpayer-funded spokesperson.



The White House is assuring everyone that Ivanke will still be following all ethics laws, however.  Who really believes that BS, anyway?

Think Twice About Going Back To United

The doctor dragged off a United Airlines flight suffered even further insult from the callous airline.   It has now come to light that on top of physically ejecting a paying customer, the airline did not take the time to release their luggage to Dr. Dao and his wife, instead sending it back to Kentucky and leaving them with nothing.

To make matters worse, United’s promise to reimburse the cost of the flight to the other terrorized passengers comes with a catch.  In order to get the refund, the affected customers have to promise not to sue United.  But the hits keep coming.

The same day of the infamous Chicago incident, a man on a United flight from Houston to Calgary was stung by a scorpion. The venomous creature fell from an overhead bin and landed on Richard Bell's hair as he was eating lunch in his business class seat.   United offered the passenger compensation, but the victim mysteriously refused to comment on the terms of that compensation.

On top of those stinging reports came another story of United's cruelty.  Last week, an elderly woman with a degenerative bone disease and severe arthritis was left in distress and pain after a United light from Los Angeles to Melbourne turned into a 16-hour ordeal thanks to callous United Airlines crew.

94-year-old Australian grandmother, Paz Orquiza was returning from what will likely be her last-ever visit to family in Los Angeles.  Orquiza's family had booked her a $3,600 business class ticket so she could fly in comfort. Her daughter, Rose, flew in economy, helping out with feeding and chair adjustments.  There were no problems with these arrangements on the outbound trip to Los Angeles..

But when the mother and daughter boarded the return flight to Australia, the United crew wouldn't allow the Rose to leave economy to help her elderly mother - and United staff wouldn't help either,  The flight attendant, without any sympathy or compassion, told the daughter that she could either take her mother to economy class, buy a business-class ticket for herself or leave the elderly woman to suffer on her own.

And so the 94-year-old-- who spends most of her days bed-bound--  was moved to the more cramped economy class.  Upon arrival to Australia, the elderly woman's legs had swollen, her neck was stiff and her whole body ached.  According to her daughter, her mother suffered great distress and pain from the ordeal, requiring strong pain medication and Valium to help with sleep.

Patriots Snub Trump

There was a BIG difference between the photo of the New England Super Bowl champs when they visited Obama back in 2015 and when they visited Trump earlier today.   Can you tell?

A whopping thirty-four players elected to skip the ceremony, another embarrassment for the embattled Trump.  The full list of boycotting players:  Tom Brady, LaGarrette Blount, Brandon Bolden, Dion Lewis, James White, Danny Amendola, Michael Floyd, Martellus Bennett, Shaq Mason, LaAdrian Waddle, Alan Branch, Malcolm Brown, Chris Long, Vincent Valentine, Dont'a Hightower, Barkevious Mingo, Malcom Butler, Patrick Chung, Duron Harmon, Cyrus Jones, Devin McCourty, Logan Ryan, Ryan Allen, Jonathan Freeny, Tre Jackson, Greg Scruggs, Chris Barker, Trevor Bates, Jamil Douglas, Chase Farris, Tyler Gaffney, Woodrow Hamilton, Devin Lucien, and DeAndrew White. 

Which Way Did He Go, George? Which Way Did He Go?

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that the Trump administration had said was steaming toward North Korea was actually conducting exercises off the coast of Australia, a U.S. defense official has acknowledged.

Last week, Trump boasted that he was sending an "armada" to North Korea.  "Very powerful," he added. 

Just a few days later, on April 15, the U.S. Navy published a photo showing the USS Carl Vinson Strike Group transiting the Sunda Strait.  From April 16 to 18, the website Go Navy reported that the Vinson group was in the Indian Ocean.  Oops!

What followed was a glorified rendition of Willoughby the hound dog-- with White House and Defense officials contradicting each other and pointing fingers.   A Defense Department spokesperson was unsure if the Navy had had any conversations with Defense Secretary Mattis’ office or the Joint Staff following the mix-up, but said it was “not the Navy’s place” to speak with the White House about it.

The communications mix-up has raised eyebrows among Korea experts. "If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is. And that could be a logical conclusion from what's just happened," said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

The White House had no comment, referring questions to the Pentagon. The Pentagon directed all queries to U.S. Pacific Command.

Violence From Hindu Nationalists On The Rise In India

An Indian Muslim has died of his injuries after a group of men transporting cattle were attacked by members of a suspected cow protection vigilante group.

Four others survived an attack  by cow protection vigilantes as they were transporting cattle they had purchased from Jaipur in the northern state of Rajasthan back to their dairy farm in neighboring Haryana.

"Despite having legal documents we were pulled out on the streets, beaten by sticks and the crowd was shouting for us to be burned alive. If the police had not come and rescued us, all of us would have been dead," a teenager named Azmat told reporters.

The cow is considered sacred by India's Hindu majority, and killing cows is illegal in many states. Last month, the state of Gujarat passed a law making the slaughter of cows punishable with life imprisonment.

In 2015 a Muslim man was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh after reports that he had beef in his fridge. Since then, there have been regular reports of cow protection vigilante groups attacking people transporting cattle across the country.

In the current case, the men say that the cows they had bought were not for slaughter, and were for dairy purposes instead.  All five men were rushed to a nearby hospital, but one man, Pehlu Khan, did not survive. He succumbed to his injuries three days later in hospital.

Despite the circumstances, the local police have registered a case against the survivors of the attack for "illegally transporting cows".  "We had all the documents and there was nothing to hide. Police can verify the sale from the government facility," said Irshad Khan.

Vigilante groups who portray themselves as protectors of cows have been active in several states, emboldened by the perceived antagonism against  Muslims on the part of Prime Minister Modi.  Modi and his government as Minister of Gujarat is generally considered to have been complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots against Muslims.  Suspicions of Modi's intentions towards Muslims were heightened further after his national campaigns in 2007 and 2012 contained pronounced elements of Hindu nationalism.

Venezuela: Brownies Banned, Bakers Busted

Last month, Venezuela arrested four bakers for making illegal brownies and other pastries as President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government threatens to take over bakeries in Caracas as part of a new “bread war”.

Maduro sent out inspectors and soldiers into more than 700 bakeries around the capital to enforce a rule that 90% of wheat must be destined to loaves rather than more expensive pastries and cakes.

It was the latest move by the government to combat shortages and long lines for basic products that have characterized Venezuela’s economic crisis over the last three years.  Breadmakers blame the government for a national shortage of wheat, saying 80% of establishments have none left in stock.

During the inspections, two men were arrested and accused of using too much wheat in sweet bread, ham-filled croissants and other products, the government said in a statement sent to media.

Another two were detained for making brownies with out-of-date wheat, the statement added, saying at least one bakery had been temporarily taken over by authorities for 90 days.

Flying The Unfriendly Skies

United Against United

United Entering The World of Memes

Twitter Fallout For United

United Brutalizes Paying Customer For The Convenience of United Employees

A man was violently dragged off a United Airlines after the company says it overbooked the flight.

Video posted to social media shows the man screaming as security personnel pry him out of his chair, causing his head to bash against an armrest. He’s then dragged down the aisle on his back as horrified witnesses film on their phones and scream out in disgust.

According to witnesses, airline staff were initially looking for one volunteer to give up a seat before the flight from Chicago to Louisville boarded. Passengers were offered $400 and a hotel stay.

Witnesses stated that after the flight boarded, staff announced that they now needed four people to volunteer to give up seats for United employees (not due to overbooking as United claimed).  The amount was increased to $800, and passengers were told the plane wouldn’t leave until four people volunteered.

When nobody offered, staff announced a computer would select four people. One couple cooperated and left. The man who was later to be brutalized by the airline was also selected.

United later released a cold-hearted statement, saying, "one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.  We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities.”

When the airline's attempt to deflect blame to "authorities" failed, United CEO Oscar Muñoz was forced to put out an additional statement, apologizing for having to “re-accommodate these customers.”  Muñoz later tried to blame the beat-up customer, labeling him as "belligerent".

In response, many are vowing to never do business with the airline again. The incident also comes just two weeks after the company found itself in hot water for refusing to allow three girls to board a flight because they were wearing leggings.

Under Trump, Even U.S. Citizens Are Not Safe from ICE

A U.S. citizen who ICE detained for weeks is suing the agency, alleging it violated his Constitutional rights.

The lawsuit holds that Rony Chavez Aguilar was held in ICE custody for nearly three weeks without being able to see a judge, and without knowing why he was being detained.

According to the suit, those officers initially arrested Aguilar on drug charges. He pleaded guilty and spent about two weeks in county jail for the offense. After the two weeks were up, he would have been free to go. But ICE thought he was undocumented, and wanted to deport him.

The officers kept him in the county jail so agents with ICE’s Chicago field office could take him into custody. ICE then picked him up on or around March 7 and moved him to the Boone County Jail in Burlington, Kentucky, where they contract out space to detain people facing deportation.  At that point, Aguilar told them he was a U.S. citizen-- but they didn’t believe him.

“He said, ‘Hey, I’m a citizen!’” said Charles Roth, who is representing Aguilar. “And basically they said, ‘Tell it to the judge.’”  However, they didn’t let him see one.

Roth, who is also the litigation director for the National Immigrant Justice Center, said many other immigrants find themselves in the same situation as Aguilar—detained for days or weeks without knowing what charges they face and without getting to defend themselves before a judge—and that he hopes a judge will let those people join Aguilar in a class action suit.

If Aguilar is successful, it could present a significant challenge for Trump’s mass deportation efforts. ICE doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Trump Follows Tried-and-True GOP Formula: When There's Trouble At Home, Start A War in the Middle East

After four years of grandstanding, Trump flip-flopped on Syria last night.  So what changed?  Some picture of suffering children?  There were plenty of suffering children back in 2013.

 

So far today, there has been little to no outrage among Republicans-- many of the same people who said back in 2013 that Obama could not constitutionally take military action in Syria without prior congressional authorization.  What's the difference now?

Warning To Pedestrians in South Yorkshire: Get Off The Road

Don't follow this one too closely

After 33 attempts, 14 different instructors, 85 lessons and $12,000 in taxi fares over 25 years, Christian Whiteley-Mason of South Yorkshire, England finally passed his driving test.

"I can't believe I've actually finally passed after all these years," said the mechanically misfortuned motorist. "I'm still in shock!"  The 42-year-old home care manager first took a drivers test in 1992 and quickly racked up a succession of test fails.  Even his husband Darren, thought he'd never pass, joking with him 'You're an accident waiting to happen.'

"There was this one examiner at the Barnsley test center who I used to pray I didn't get. She was notoriously tough and she failed me every time.  I had 56 lessons with my first instructor and eventually he told me to just give up as I would never pass," admitted the tortured Tyke.

By 2003, after Christian had failed his test a monumental 32 times, he admitted defeat and finally gave up on his dream of driving and decided it wasn't for him.  "I'd just had enough, I just thought I¹m never going to get it.," said Christian.

Even when he turned 40 and decided to give it another go, he had a few additional lessons but didn't stick with it, and never got as far as taking his test.  "I just got bored with it," Christian admitted. "I couldn't see the point."

But by his tenth wedding anniversary, Christian had increasingly been required to travel for work and was finding it more difficult to get by without being able to drive. "I had to either get taxis or rely on other people and it was costing me a fortune. So in January that was it, I just decided I was going to go for it."

Christian recounted the days leading up to the fateful day:  "There must be a God because I prayed every night that I wouldn't get that same examiner who'd kept failing me, and [the day of the test] I didn't."  Not only did he pass on his first attempt, but he only got marked down for three minor errors.  Admittedly, Christian increased his chances by taking the automatic-only driving test. 

"I'm so proud of myself. It's changed my life to be honest. I felt like I'd achieved everything I really wanted to achieve, this was the one thing left I had to do.  My motto was always been don¹t stop believing,"  Christian told reporters.  He celebrated the occasion by buying a second hand smart car, which he named Percy.

Trump Continues His War On Privacy

Visitors to the U.S. could be forced to provide cellphone contacts and social-media passwords and answer questions about their ideology, according to Trump administration officials, measures that could intrude into the lives of millions of foreigners.

The changes could apply to visitors from America’s closest allies as well as other nations and include subjecting more visa applicants to intense security reviews. Together, they would amount to the “extreme vetting” touted by Trump.

Administration officials conducting a review of vetting procedures aim to replace what they see as a presumption toward letting people into the country with a more skeptical outlook.  “If there is any doubt about a person’s intentions coming to the United States, they should have to overcome—really and truly prove to our satisfaction—that they are coming for legitimate reasons,” said Gene Hamilton, senior counselor to the Department of Homeland Security.

Their full scope has yet to be publicly discussed and would be sure to generate significant controversy, both at home, from civil libertarians and others who see the questions as infringing on privacy rights, and abroad, as other nations could impose retaliatory requirements on Americans seeking visas.

Bill O'Reilly Enters No-Ad Zone

Over a dozen companies have pulled advertising from the “The O’Reilly Factor” following revelations that the bombastic host has paid millions of dollars in hush money to keep the accusations of sexual harassment out of the headlines and the court room.

Following an explosive New York Times report that O’Reilly and Fox News had paid around $13 million in settlements addressing complaints brought by five of the conservative host’s previous female colleagues, advertisers moved to remove their commercials from the hit show. Among the first were automakers Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai.

The exodus gained momentum after the NYT article, with Mitsubishi Motors, T. Rowe Price, Wayfair, Bayer, Credit Karma and Lexus among those confirming to reporters that they had pulled advertising from O’Reilly’s show.

BuzzFeed News reached out to about 50 companies that advertise on “The O’Reilly Factor” and confirmed Tuesday that automaker BMW, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare and marketing company Constant Contact had pulled commercials.  Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline also told BuzzFeed that it has temporarily pulled advertising.

Insurance company Allstate, the men’s clothing line Untuckit and pet food company Ainsworth Pet Nutrition all confirmed Tuesday that they are withdrawing commercials from the show, NBC News reported.

Thai Junta Provides No Justice For Dead Policeman

Red Bull heir gets away with murder

Vorayuth Yoovidhaya, the grandson of the billionaire who invented the energy drink Red Bull, has once again failed to appear at a Bangkok prosecutor's office to face charges for killing a police officer with his Ferrari in 2012.

The ongoing failure by the Thai military junta to bring Vorayuth to justice are now commonly cited as the most prominent example of the untouchability of the super-rich in Thailand.

Police Sergeant-Major Wichian Klanprasert was riding his motorbike along Bangkok's Sukhumvit Road when he was hit by a grey Ferrari, which dragged his body more than 300 feet down the road, before driving off.  Investigating officers followed a trail of brake fluid to a luxury home less than a kilometer away, owned by one of Thailand's wealthiest families.

The badly-dented Ferrari was there, but initially the police were persuaded by private guards to detain a driver employed by the family as their main suspect.  When the police subsequently discovered the car had actually been driven by 27-year-old Vorayuth, he was tested and found to have excessive alcohol in his blood - but he claimed this was from drinking at home after the accident.

The police calculated that Vorayuth was driving over 100 mph, over twice the speed limit.  It took the police six months to prepare criminal charges of speeding, reckless driving causing death, and fleeing the scene of an accident.  At the time, Bangkok police chief Kamronwit Thoopkrajang promised the public that the culprit in Sergeant-Major Wichian's death would be brought to justice, or he would resign.

Throughout 2013, Vorayuth failed to appear seven times to hear the charges, with his lawyers providing an array of justifications, from him being on business overseas to feeling unwell.  In September 2013 the prosecutor ordered police to arrest him after his seventh no-show, but nothing happened.  At the end of that month, the statute of limitations on the speeding charge expired. Against a backdrop of growing political turmoil in Thailand, the case faded from public view.

Public interest in it was revived only after a horrifying road accident last year, involving another wealthy young man who drove his luxury car at high speed into another vehicle, killing two graduate students.  People started asking what had happened to the Red Bull heir-- and the military junta, which had promised to address the abuses of previous governments, felt forced to act.

In March last year, the Attorney-General announced that he would once again press charges against Vorayuth.  But throughout 2016, lawyers for the Red Bull heir successfully postponed repeated requests for him to report to the prosecutor's office, claiming that their client had filed a complaint of unfair treatment to the National Legislative Assembly, the military-appointed parliament.

The police continue to insist they can do nothing.  Asked by the BBC why they have not issued an arrest warrant against the accused, as requested three and a half years ago, they said that it is up to the Attorney-General's office to act.  The Attorney-General's office says he cannot be indicted unless he appears in person.

According to his lawyers, Vorayuth is currently on business in the UK. The Attorney-General has once again granted a postponement, to next month.

The statute of limitations on the most serious charge against Vorayuth, of reckless driving causing death, expires in the year 2027.  Few people are betting that he will face any legal sanction, or any consequences before that deadline frees him completely.

Putin Government Rounding Up Gay Men

More than 100 gay men have been detained and at least three have been killed by authorities in Chechnya, according to a Russian newspaper cited in a report in the New York Times.

According to government and police sources, the new developments follow a week of rumors about gay men mysteriously disappearing off the streets of the Russian republic.  Dozens of men between the ages of 16 and 50 have been detained “in connection with their non-traditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such,” according to Novaya Gazeta.

The report blamed local authorities for the men’s detention and identified three men as murder victims. It’s thought that the actual number of dead may be higher.

A spokesman for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, denied that any such activities have taken place. He further suggested that there are no gay people in the country at all.

“You cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist in the republic,” spokesman Alvi Karimov said in a statement obtained by Radio Free Europe on Saturday. “If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.”

The Russian Federation is known for its hostility to the LGBTQ community. Since 2013, it has upheld an anti-gay propaganda law that sharply curtails the public expression of LGBTQ identities.

Violent Protests Amid Constitutional Crisis In Paraguay

Demonstrators in Paraguay have set fire to the country's parliament building during violent protests against a bill that would lift presidential term limits.  One activist was killed and at least 30 others injured, including three lawmakers and a senator.  It was the worst violence of its kind since Paraguay became a democracy in 1992.

Under the 1992 constitution, introduced after the dictatorship, a head of state may only serve a single five-year term. But sitting President Horacio Cartes is trying to remove the restriction and run for re-election.

Protesters were photographed smashing in windows of the congress building in the capital, Asuncion and setting fire to the interior.  Protesters ransacked the offices of those who had backed the bill, according to reports.

Opposition activist Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police when they stormed the offices of the opposition Liberal party.  "The police barged in, threw people face down to the ground," according to Liberal Party leader Efrain Alegre, who was also hurt. "They came in aggressively, breaking the doors, it was savagery."

In a statement released on Twitter, President Cartes appealed for calm. "Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic," he said.

Protesters had taken to the streets following a secret meeting of 25 senators - a slight majority of the house - which approved a bill to amend the constitution.  The bill must also be approved by the other house of parliament - the chamber of deputies - where President Cartes' party holds an outright majority.  A similar proposal had been previously rejected in August.  Before the secret vote took place, Congress voted first to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again.

Opponents say the bill will weaken the country's democratic institutions.  Opposition senator Desiree Masi said: "A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us."

Paraguay was controlled by military ruler General Alfredo Stroessner, who seized power in a coup, from 1954 until 1989.  The new constitution in 1992 created the modern government but there has been a long period of political instability and party infighting, as well as a failed coup attempt.

President Cartes' term is due to end in 2018.  The change, if approved, would also allow former President Fernando Lugo to run again.  Lugo was ousted in 2012 over his handling of a land eviction in which 17 people were killed.