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| Porn Users Forum » WHY DOESN'T POTUS ARREST BILL CLINTON, HILARY CLINTON, AND OBAMA? |
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| 11-29-18 03:25pm - 2172 days | #1351 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User  Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump learned that President Obama was not born in the United States. This means that Obama was a fake President. Put Obama and his family in prison, for tricking the American public about his birth place. Obama and his family have made millions of dollars from a fake Presidency. Trump needs to man up, and have Obama (and Hillary Clinton) prosecuted and in prison,where criminals belong. Trump promised to drain the swamp in Washington. He needs to put career criminals Obama and Clinton (and her lecherous husband, Bill Clinton) in prison, to make the country safe from thugs, rapists, and dark-skinned people everywhere. Edited on Nov 29, 2018, 03:31pm | |
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| 11-29-18 09:11pm - 2172 days | #1352 | |
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Loki (0)
Active User  Posts: 395 Registered: Jun 13, '07 Location: California |
"Drain the Swamp" was a great slogan, but the reality has been far different. Almost every day I read stories about ethics problems in President Trump's inner circle, either advisers to the President or cabinet members. It's tiring and depressing. "A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself." | |
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| 11-30-18 03:27am - 2172 days | #1353 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Lock them up. Is the Trump family a crumbling crime family? Did the family engage in illegal or shady deals, with Ivanka and Don Jr. part of the deals? Ivanka, golden girl of the Trump family, a criminal? You look at her smiling face, and wonder, is she a chip off her father? President Donald Trump has stated he is not part of his family business (even though he owns the business). He transferred control of the business to his children. So if the businesses make millions of dollars from foreign sources, it has nothing to do with him. Right. He still owns the businesses. But the businesses have nothing to do with him. That makes no sense. Will that argument hold up in court? Because lawsuits are coming, that President Trump is making illegal, personal profits from his Presidency. -------------- -------------- Mueller eyes Ivanka and Don Jr.’s work on Trump Tower Moscow Yahoo News Hunter Walker Nov 29th 2018 8:18PM WASHINGTON – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to build a skyscraper in Moscow has led him to ask questions about the role two of the president’s children played in attempting to secure a Russian real estate deal, sources tell Yahoo News. Mueller’s interest in the Trump family real estate company’s Russia skyscraper plans was confirmed on Thursday when Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney and fixer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the proposed deal. In charging documents, Mueller said Cohen falsely claimed the effort to build a Trump Tower Moscow “ended in January 2016” in an attempt to “minimize” links between Trump and the project and to “give the false impression” the effort ended before the Republican primaries in 2016. Yahoo News first reported in May that congressional investigators had obtained text messages and emails showing Cohen’s work on Trump Tower Moscow went on for longer than he admitted under oath. But Cohen wasn’t the only person at the Trump Organization who was pursuing deals to build a skyscraper in the Russian capital. Multiple sources have confirmed to Yahoo News that the president’s elder daughter, Ivanka, who is now a top White House adviser, and his eldest son, Don Jr. were also working to make Trump Tower Moscow a reality. The sources said those efforts were independent of Cohen’s work on the project. One of the sources said Ivanka was also involved in Cohen’s efforts. And a separate source familiar with the investigation told Yahoo News that Mueller has asked questions about Ivanka and Don Jr.’s work on Trump Tower Moscow. Mueller’s charging documents against Cohen included a line that described the Trump family’s involvement in the project. According to Mueller, one of the things Cohen lied about was that he “briefed family members” of Trump’s who worked at the Trump Organization about the proposed Moscow skyscraper. Prior to joining the White House, Ivanka was an executive at the company. Don Jr. and Trump’s middle son, Eric, remain with the Trump Organization. A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment on this story. Cohen and his attorney, Guy Petrillo, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did lawyers representing the president. A source familiar with the Trump Organization confirmed to Yahoo News that Ivanka and Don Jr. engaged in separate efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. The source said these efforts began “years earlier” than Cohen’s project and concluded in 2013. “They were not looking at any other deals after that,” the source said. The source also confirmed that both Ivanka and Don Jr. were aware of Cohen’s attempts to build in Moscow. According to the source, Ivanka’s role was limited to recommending an architect and Don Jr. was only “peripherally” aware of the plan. “Michael was looking at that deal. Don and Ivanka knew about it and Don testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was peripherally aware of it,” the source said, adding, “That’s why we’re so perplexed Cohen would lie about briefing them because no one’s ever disputed that they knew he was looking at it.” Don Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment on this story. An attorney for Ivanka Trump declined to comment on record. Just prior to his inauguration, Trump vowed his family’s real estate company would do no new deals abroad while he was in office. It would not be illegal for the Trump Organization to have conducted business in Russia prior to that point, and Mueller inquiring about Ivanka and Don Jr.’s work on Trump Tower Moscow does not mean they are targets of his investigation. The source familiar with the Trump Organization said the pair were not aware of any work Cohen did on the project beyond the period he initially described to congressional investigators. “There’s no question they knew about it, but they had no knowledge of any work on the project after January 2016,” the source said. The Trump Organization’s dealings in Moscow have attracted added attention due to the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump. The president has repeatedly denied he colluded with Russia and has called Mueller’s probe a politically motivated “witch hunt.” Messages obtained by the government show Cohen reached out to Putin’s office for help as he pursued the Moscow project. He initially said the Russian government did not respond to his overtures, but Mueller’s charging documents said Cohen did receive a response from Putin’s government. “On or about January 20, 2016, COHEN received an email from the personal assistant to Russian Official 1 (“Assistant 1”), stating that she had been trying to reach COHEN and requesting that he call her using a Moscow-based phone number she provided,” Mueller wrote. According to Mueller, Cohen and the official’s assistant spoke for “approximately 20 minutes” and he “requested assistance in moving the project forward, both in securing land to build the proposed tower and financing the construction.” Mueller said Felix Sater, a developer who was working on the project with Cohen, subsequently followed up. Sater is a Russian-born, longtime business associate of Trump’s who first met Cohen while they were both in high school. During the mid 2000’s, Sater, worked with Trump’s real estate company to build hotels in Florida and New York. He also discussed potential projects in Russia with Trump’s company during that period. As part of his deal to build Trump-branded properties, Sater had an office in the Trump Organization’s Manhattan headquarters and a company business card. Sater was convicted on charges related to a stock fraud scheme orchestrated by Russian organized crime figures in 1998. He then became a federal informant who spent years providing crucial information to the government about mobsters and terrorists. Sater declined to comment on this story beyond saying his work to build a Trump Tower in Moscow began in 2003. Correspondence provided by Sater to government investigators that was obtained by Buzzfeed showed he reached out to Cohen in May 2016 and said Putin’s top spokesman Dmitry Peskov wanted to invite him to attend an economic forum in St. Petersburg the following month. Sater said Peskov wanted to talk with Cohen there and “possibly introduce” him to Putin. Peskov was the same official who Cohen emailed in January 2016. According to Mueller’s charging documents, Cohen eventually told Sater he couldn’t make the trip to Russia “on or about June 14, 2016,” right as Trump was on the way to securing the Republican presidential nomination. Trump never managed to build a skyscraper in Russia, but he has tried for the better part of three decades. His first attempt came in 1987 when he traveled to the former Soviet Union to examine possible building sites. According to Buzzfeed, Trump’s company announced another “exploratory trip” in 1996 and that he had his eye on an abandoned factory in the country in 2005. Reports have previously emerged detailing Ivanka and Don Jr.’s involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow efforts.. The Buzzfeed report revealed Sater accompanied the two Trump children to Moscow in 2006. A source told Yahoo News that, while there, the pair held meetings about the project separately from Sater. “ The book Russian Roulette, which was written by Yahoo News chief investigative correspondent Mike Isikoff and David Corn, detailed a 2013 effort that involved the Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov and his son Emin. According to the book, Don Jr. was “in charge” of that project and Ivanka “flew to Russia and scouted sites with Emin.” The Agalarovs helped Trump host his Miss Universe pageant in Russia in 2013 and helped arrange the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The Trump Organization registered the web address TrumpTowerMoscow.com in December 2012. A source familiar with the deal said this was in conjunction with the work being done with Agalarovs. Trump tweeted at Aras Agalarov about the deal on Nov. 11, 2013, two days after the pageant. He expressed optimism they would get the skyscraper built together.c “I had a great weekend with you and your family,” Trump wrote, adding, You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next.” | |
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| 11-30-18 06:21pm - 2171 days | #1354 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The Trump crime family is starting to crumble. President Trump calls the Mueller investigation an illegal hoax. The next step would be to have Mueller arrested for wasting taxpayer money. Lock him up, the slogan Trump used for Hillary Clinton. Now he must lock Mueller up, before any other charges are brought against Trump and his allies. Or else, Trump could face impeachment, civil and possibly criminal charges. Can Trump order his secret service agents to take Mueller to jail? And on the way to jail, if Mueller resists arrest, shoot Mueller to death? Thus eliminating a criminal (Mueller) who belongs in jail. Also, President Trump called his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, a weak person, and a liar. But Trump praised Paul Manafort his former campaign chairman, for standing up to Mueller. Enquiring minds want to know: when will Trump be impeached? When will he face civil and criminal charges for his illegal activities? -------- -------- USA TODAY 'This is an illegal hoax': Trump calls for end to Mueller investigation after Cohen pleads guilty Christal Hayes, USA TODAY Published 10:35 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2018 CLOSE President Donald Trump says ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is a 'weak person' who is 'lying' to get a reduced sentence.' Trump made the comments shortly after Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate deal in Russia. (Nov. 29) AP WASHINGTON - After his former attorney pleaded guilty to lying in hopes of covering up potential Russian ties, President Donald Trump ended his Thursday lashing out at the special counsel investigation and calling for its demise. In a pair of tweets after landing in Argentina for the G20 summit, the president called the two-year investigation a "total witch hunt" and accused special counsel Robert Mueller of ignoring crimes committed by the "other side." "This is an illegal hoax that should be ended immediately," the president said on Twitter late Thursday. "Mueller refuses to look at the real crimes on the other side. Where is the IG REPORT?" It's far from the first time the president has attacked Mueller and his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but as time has gone on, Mueller's investigation has inched closer to the president and his closest advisers. More: Report: Trump Organization planned to give $50 million penthouse to Putin amid Moscow deal Earlier Thursday, Michael Cohen, the president's former attorney and fixer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in an aim to cover up Trump's ties to Russia, court documents show. Cohen admitted to lying about plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, telling lawmakers the plans ended in January 2016 when it really lasted well into Trump's presidential campaign. Prosecutors said that Cohen lied to the committees to “minimize links between the Moscow Project and (Trump) and give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before the Iowa caucus and the very first primary in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.” After the guilty plea was made public, Trump fought back on criticism and what the plea deal could mean for him. He called Cohen "a weak person" and said even if his testimony were true, it was perfectly legal for him to negotiate a real-estate deal while campaigning. “He's a weak person and not a very smart person," Trump said. "Even if he was right, it doesn't matter because I was allowed to do whatever I wanted during the campaign. I was running my business." The guilty plea came amid a flurry of activity from Mueller, who personally signed Cohen's deal. On Monday, Mueller voided a plea deal with Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, for lying repeatedly to investigators. Manafort has a hearing Friday to get a possible sentencing date for charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice for representing a pro-Russia faction in Ukraine. | |
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| 12-01-18 05:14pm - 2170 days | #1355 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump warns General Motors: I have national guards with rifles and handguns. And these guards are carrying live ammo. So if you keep firing employees, which I said would not happen, instead, I said that auto workers would have new jobs in the US, I will send the guards to put you in jail. GM workers feel that Trump made promises, that were broken. How can that be true? Trump is the most loyal, hard-working President the US ever had. GM and other workers need to support Trump, to make America great again. ----- ----- Salaried workers beware: GM cuts are a warning for all The Associated Press TOM KRISHER and JOSH BOAK Dec 1st 2018 4:32PM DETROIT (AP) — For generations, the career path for smart kids around Detroit was to get an engineering or business degree and get hired by an automaker or parts supplier. If you worked hard and didn't screw up, you had a job for life with enough money to raise a family, take vacations and buy a weekend cottage in northern Michigan. Now that once-reliable route to prosperity appears to be vanishing, as evidenced by General Motors' announcement this week that it plans to shed 8,000 white-collar jobs on top of 6,000 blue-collar ones. It was a humbling warning that in this era of rapid and disruptive technological change, those with a college education are not necessarily insulated from the kind of layoffs factory workers know all too well. The cutbacks reflect a transformation underway in both the auto industry and the broader U.S. economy, with nearly every type of business becoming oriented toward computers, software and automation. "This is a big mega-trend pervading the whole economy," said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has researched changes being caused by the digital age. Cities that suffered manufacturing job losses decades ago are now grappling with the problem of fewer opportunities for white-collar employees such as managers, lawyers, bankers and accountants. Since 2008, The Associated Press found, roughly a third of major U.S. metro areas have lost a greater percentage of white-collar jobs than blue-collar jobs. It's a phenomenon seen in such places as Wichita, Kansas, with its downsized aircraft industry, and towns in Wisconsin that have lost auto, industrial machinery or furniture-making jobs. In GM's case, the jobs that will be shed through buyouts and layoffs are held largely by people who are experts in the internal combustion engine — mechanical engineers and others who spent their careers working on fuel injectors, transmissions, exhaust systems and other components that won't be needed for the electric cars that eventually will drive themselves. GM, the nation's largest automaker, says those vehicles are its future. "We're talking about high-skilled people who have made a substantial investment in their education," said Marina Whitman, a retired professor of business and public policy at the University of Michigan and a former GM chief economist. "The transitions can be extremely painful for a subset of people." GM is still hiring white-collar employees, but the new jobs are for those who can write software code, design laser sensors or develop batteries and other devices for future vehicles. Those who are being thrown out of work might have to learn new skills if they hope to find new jobs, underscoring what Whitman said is another truism about the new economy: "You've got to regard education as a lifetime process. You probably are going to have multiple jobs in your lifetime. You've got to stay flexible." Whitman said mechanical engineers are smart people who could transfer their skills to software or batteries, but they'll need training, and that takes time and money. "In the past with these kinds of changes, eventually new jobs have been created," she said. "Will it happen this time, or is the change taking place too fast for everybody to be absorbed? I don't know." Although the job cuts took him and co-workers by surprise, Tracy Lucas, 54, a GM engine quality manager, decided to take the buyout and change careers. His children are grown and on their own, and with 33 years in at GM, he will get a pension and health care. The buyout will also give him about eight months of pay, enough time to take his newly earned master's degree in business administration and look for different work. He said he will be glad to leave some tedious management tasks behind but will miss seeing through a lot of work to reduce engine warranty claims. AdChoices He is leaving in part, he said, to save a job for younger co-workers. GM got 2,250 white-collar workers to take buyouts, and will have to complete the cutbacks by way of layoffs. "I really hate that we have to go into the whole process of tapping people on the shoulder," Lucas said. "I don't think the second wave is going to be pretty at all. It's going to be brutal." The white-collar cutbacks — combined with more to come at Ford, which is likewise making the transition from personal ownership of gasoline-burning vehicles to ride-sharing and self-driving electric cars — could hamper the renaissance underway in Detroit, which is emerging from bankruptcy and a long population decline. Many of these automotive industry engineers and managers are pulling down six-figure salaries, and some may have to move out of the Detroit metro area for new jobs. The Brookings Institution's Muro wonders whether auto companies will bring more electrical engineers and software developers to Michigan or put them in places where such jobs are already clustered, such as San Francisco, Seattle, Boston or near major research universities. "This is how regions change and labor markets change," Muro said. GM says it will hire in the Detroit area, but its autonomous-vehicle workforce has grown to over 1,000 at offices in San Francisco and Seattle. Nearly all of the 8,000 white-collar cutbacks will be in metropolitan Detroit, largely at GM's technical center in Warren, a suburb north of the city. That's equal to about 4 percent of the managerial and engineering jobs in the Detroit-Warren area, according to the Labor Department. Managerial salaries in the area average $124,000. Ford, which is just beginning its salaried workforce downsizing, hasn't said how many will go. But even if it's half of GM's total, the white-collar losses around Detroit will approach those during the financial crisis of a decade ago, when the metro areas shed 14,450 managerial and engineering jobs. That was 8.9 percent of those types of jobs in the metro areas. Layoffs are also likely to spread to auto parts suppliers, which won't need to design and build as many parts for gas-powered cars. While GM says cutting these positions is necessary to save money to invest in the new technology, there are possible long-term costs to shedding so many experienced workers in one swoop, especially if the switch to electric vehicles stalls, said Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, a management professor at Brandeis University. If that were to happen, the cutbacks could leave GM without the vital expertise it needs. Even the most skilled white-collar workers need to spend less and be prepared to change jobs or locations to stay employed, said Rick Knoth, a retired GM industrial engineer who survived a 2008 downsizing by taking an early retirement package after 37 years with the company. Knoth said he is confident most engineers are smart enough to turn their skills into a new career. But all white-collar employees need to be ready for change because it comes fast, he said. "The world isn't like it used to be, that's for sure," he said. "You can't count on anything." ____ Corey Williams contributed to this report from Warren, Michigan. Boak reported from Washington. Follow Tom Krisher on Twitter . | |
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| 12-04-18 02:16am - 2168 days | #1356 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump is my hero. He's not afraid to let it all hang out: warts and typos and other mistakes, in his effort to spread the word from Donald Trump, leader of the Moral Majority for White America. Please note: Trump serves as a model for other great leaders: if a man is dishonest or disloyal to Trump, Trump wants that man punished: Trump wants Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, to serve a long prison term for cowardice and lies about Donald Trump, our greatest hero and man of the people. ------- ------- 'Scott Free' or 'scot-free'? Even Merriam-Webster mocked Trump's typo Taryn Ryder ,Yahoo Celebrity•December 3, 2018 President Trump’s Twitter rant against former personal attorney Michael Cohen made headlines Monday, but it was a typo that really stole the show. In a flurry of tweets, Trump argued that Cohen — who recently pleaded guilty to lying to Congress — shouldn’t get off scot-free … except he wrote “Scott Free,” kind of like the name of a person. The gaffe delighted Twitter, with even Merriam-Webster throwing some shade. Chrissy Teigen was a little less PC, writing, “f***ing dumbass thinks Scott Free is a person.” “Scott Free” has been trending for hours. This is a perfect example of why many people are against Twitter adding an “edit” button. (Sorry, Kim Kardashian!) | |
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| 12-09-18 01:31am - 2163 days | #1357 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
China does not understand how free, Democratic countries work. "Perhaps because the Chinese state controls its judicial system, Beijing sometimes has difficulty understanding or believing that courts can be independent in a rule-of-law country. There's no point in pressuring the Canadian government. Judges will decide," Paris tweeted in response to the comments from Beijing. I'm glad I live the United States of America, where the courts are free of political influence, and only President Donald Trump and the US Senate have the power to pack the Supreme Court with beer drinkers and liars and men who abuse women sexually. And where Donald Trump has the power to issue pardons to people he believes had the right to break the law and were unfairly punished by evil Democratic scum. God bless America, and Donald Trump, leader of the Moral Majority for a white America. And of course it's evil and vile that China tries to spy on people and steal trade secrets and other information. The United States of America would never do that. That's why NASA and other secret agencies spend billions of dollars each year spying on US citizens and our allies throughout the world, to make sure no one is stealing secrets or committing crimes against the US. Even Donald Trump, our glorious President, might be spied on, since he does not follow security protocol when using a phone. Which might be crime, since that is what he wanted to lock Hillary Clinton up for. Remember, "Lock her up"? Trump has committed numerous crimes, but since he is the President, who's gonna lock him up? --------- --------- ------- ------- World China: Canada's detention of Huawei exec 'vile in nature' [Associated Press] Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press ,Associated Press•December 8, 2018 China: Canada's detention of Huawei exec 'vile in nature' In this courtroom sketch, Meng Wanzhou, right, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, sits beside a translator during a bail hearing at British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018. Meng faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. She appeared in a Vancouver court Friday to seek bail. (Jane Wolsak/The Canadian Press via AP) BEIJING (AP) -- China summoned the Canadian ambassador to protest the detention of a top executive of leading Chinese tech giant Huawei, calling it "unreasonable, unconscionable, and vile in nature" and warning of "grave consequences" if she is not released. A report by the official Xinhua News Agency carried on the Foreign Ministry's website said that Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng called in Ambassador John McCallum on Saturday over the holding of Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is reportedly suspected of trying to evade U.S. trade curbs on Iran. Huawei is the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies and has been the target of deepening U.S. security concerns over its ties to the Chinese government. The U.S. has pressured European countries and other allies to limit use of its technology, warning they could be opening themselves up to surveillance and theft of information. Le told McCallum that Meng's detention at the request of the United States while transferring flights in Vancouver was a "severe violation" of her "legitimate rights and interests." "Such a move ignores the law and is unreasonable, unconscionable, and vile in nature," Le said in the statement. "China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately release the detained Huawei executive ... or face grave consequences that the Canadian side should be held accountable for," Le said. Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that Chinese pressure on the Canadian government won't work. "Perhaps because the Chinese state controls its judicial system, Beijing sometimes has difficulty understanding or believing that courts can be independent in a rule-of-law country. There's no point in pressuring the Canadian government. Judges will decide," Paris tweeted in response to the comments from Beijing. A Canadian prosecutor urged a Vancouver court to deny bail to Meng, whose case is shaking up U.S.-China relations and worrying global financial markets. Meng, also the daughter of Huawei's founder, was detained at the request of the U.S. during a layover at the Vancouver airport Dec. 1 — the same day that Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping of China agreed over dinner to a 90-day ceasefire in a trade dispute that threatens to disrupt global commerce. The U.S. alleges that Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It also says that Meng and Huawei misled American banks about its business dealings in Iran. The surprise arrest raises doubts about whether the trade truce will hold and whether the world's two biggest economies can resolve the complicated issues that divide them. Canadian prosecutor John Gibb-Carsley said in a court hearing Friday that a warrant had been issued for Meng's arrest in New York Aug. 22. He said Meng, arrested en route to Mexico from Hong Kong, was aware of the investigation and had been avoiding the United States for months, even though her teenage son goes to school in Boston. Gibb-Carsley alleged that Huawei had done business in Iran through a Hong Kong company called Skycom. Meng, he said, had misled U.S. banks into thinking that Huawei and Skycom were separate when, in fact, "Skycom was Huawei." Meng has contended that Huawei sold Skycom in 2009. In urging the court to reject Meng's bail request, Gibb-Carsley said the Huawei executive had vast resources and a strong incentive to bolt: She's facing fraud charges in the United States that could put her in prison for 30 years. The hearing will resume Monday after Meng spends the weekend in jail. Huawei, in a brief statement emailed to The Associated Press, said that "we have every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach the right conclusion." Canadian officials have declined to comment on Chinese threats of retaliation over the case, instead emphasizing the independence of Canada's judiciary along with the importance of Ottawa's relationship with Beijing. Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said Canada "has assured China that due process is absolutely being followed in Canada, that consular access for China to Ms. Meng will absolutely be provided." "We are a rule of law country and we will be following our laws as we have thus far in this matter and as we will continue to do," Freeland said Friday. While protesting what it calls Canada's violation of Meng's human rights, China's ruling Communist Party stands accused of mass incarcerations of its Muslim minority without due process, locking up those exercising their right to free speech and refusing to allow foreign citizens to leave the country in order to bring pressure on their relatives accused of financial crimes. The party also takes the lead in prosecutions of those accused of corruption or other crimes in a highly opaque process, without supervision from the court system or independent bodies. ___ Associated Press writer Robert Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. | |
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| 12-09-18 05:30pm - 2162 days | #1358 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Why has the Mueller investigation taken so long? Because they are investigating people who held powerful positions, therefore they have access to high-priced lawyers. And even if the accused have committed crimes (such as stealing millions of dollars or not paying taxes on millions of dollars in legal or illegal income), the punishment of these convicted criminals is usually a slap on the wrist. Bad boy, or bad man, you stole millions of dollars, maybe you will spend a few months in jail. Unless Donald Trump pardons you, because you stood up to Mueller and did not give hard evidence against Donald Trump. We live a free and open Democratic society, where the powerful steal millions, and get away with it. How much of the Trump family business was passed down to the President Donald Trump and his family, without paying the taxes that were due? The Trump family wealth is based on criminal gains. And supposedly, due to the statue of limitations, they have gotten away with it. ------- ------- Done With Michael Cohen, Federal Prosecutors Shift Focus to Trump Family Business Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s longtime lawyer, leaving court in Manhattan last month. Prosecutors have been examining whether other Trump Organization executives were involved in campaign finance violations.CreditAndrew Kelly/Reuters Image Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s longtime lawyer, leaving court in Manhattan last month. Prosecutors have been examining whether other Trump Organization executives were involved in campaign finance violations.CreditCreditAndrew Kelly/Reuters By Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Maggie Haberman Dec. 9, 2018 When federal prosecutors recommended a substantial prison term for President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, they linked Mr. Trump to the crimes Mr. Cohen had committed in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign. What the prosecutors did not say in Mr. Cohen’s sentencing memorandum filed on Friday, however, is that they have continued to scrutinize what other executives in the president’s family business may have known about those crimes, which involved hush-money payments to two women who had said they had affairs with Mr. Trump. After Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws and other crimes — he will be sentenced on Wednesday — the federal prosecutors in Manhattan shifted their attention to what role, if any, Trump Organization executives played in the campaign finance violations, according to people briefed on the matter. Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s self-described fixer, has provided assistance in that inquiry, which is separate from the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. In addition to implicating Mr. Trump in the payments to the two women, Mr. Cohen has told prosecutors that the company’s chief financial officer was involved in discussions about them, a claim that is now a focus of the inquiry, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Mr. Cohen has told prosecutors that he believes Mr. Trump personally approved the company’s decision to reimburse him for one of the payments, one of the people said. Neither the chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, nor any other executives at the Trump Organization have been accused of wrongdoing and there is no indication that anyone at the company will face charges in connection with the inquiry. But in recent weeks, the prosecutors contacted the company to renew a request they had made this year for documents and other materials, according to the people. The precise nature of the materials sought was unclear, but the renewed request is further indication that prosecutors continue to focus on the president’s company even as the case against Mr. Cohen comes to a close, the people said. At the time of the payments to the two women, Mr. Trump was the head of the company, and although he turned over its management to his elder sons, he still owns it through a trust. While the prevailing view at the Justice Department is that a sitting president cannot be indicted, the prosecutors in Manhattan could consider charging him after leaving office. It is also possible the prosecutors could seek his testimony before he leaves office if they continue the investigation into anyone else who might have had a role in the crimes, a person briefed on the matter said. A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the federal prosecutors in Manhattan, the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment. A lawyer for Mr. Weisselberg, Mary E. Mulligan, also declined to comment, as did Guy Petrillo, a lawyer for Mr. Cohen. | |
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| 12-09-18 05:44pm - 2162 days | #1359 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Reality Winner, a NSA contractor was jailed for 5 years after leaking to a US newspaper the truth that Russia interfered in US elections. In other words, the US government did not want the US public to know that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Trump still denies that Russia interfered. So, a woman gets a 5 year prison term, and her life is ruined, because she wanted US citizens to know that Russia was illegally interfering in US elections. While Trump cronies and associates, who have lied to the FBI investigators about Trump's activities, often get off with a slap on the wrist, and with little jail time. ---------- ---------- Reality Winner: NSA contractor jailed for five years over classified report leak Winner, who leaked report on Russian election interference, is first person Trump administration charged under Espionage Act Amanda Holpuch in New York @holpuch Thu 23 Aug 2018 12.39 EDT First published on Thu 23 Aug 2018 11.17 EDT Prosecutors said that NSA contractor Reality Winner printed a classified document showing Russian interference in the US election. The NSA contractor Reality Winner was sentenced on Thursday to five years and three months in prison for leaking a top-secret document about Russian interference in the US election. Winner, 26, was sentenced at a federal court in Georgia after pleading guilty in June as part of a deal with government prosecutors. She is the first person the Trump administration has charged under the Espionage Act for a document leak. The justice department did not pursue the maximum sentence and instead recommended a 63-month penalty. Government attorneys said that would be the longest sentence ever for an unauthorized disclosure to the media. Prosecutors said that in May 2017, Winner, who was working for the defense contractor Pluribus International Corporation, printed a classified document that showed how Russian military intelligence hacked at least one voting software supplier and had attempted to breach more than 100 local election systems in the days before the November 2016 vote. That document was the basis of a story published on the news site the Intercept about one hour before the justice department announced Winner’s arrest in June 2017. In court on Thursday, Winner said she took responsibility for “an undeniable mistake that I made”. Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Winner apologized for the leak and said: “My actions were a cruel betrayal of my nation’s trust in me.” Winner has been jailed since her arrest and in June she pleaded guilty to one felony count of transmitting national security information, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. After the sentencing, the justice department said that Winner had abused her government job to reveal sources and intelligence gathering methods. “This defendant used her position of trust to steal and divulge closely guarded intelligence information,” US attorney Bobby Christine said in a statement. “Her betrayal of the United States put at risk sources and methods of intelligence gathering, thereby offering advantage to our adversaries.” Winner’s attorneys challenged the lengthy recommended sentence in a court filing last week. “Despite her singular criminal act, as set forth below, the stipulated sentence of 63 months is in excess of many prior Espionage Act cases where the government has prosecuted ‘leakers’ of national defense information, including cases where the factual conduct, and information leaked, was arguably worse,” attorneys wrote. On Thursday, they struck a different tone. One of Winner’s attorneys, John Bell, told reporters her legal team was grateful the judge agreed to the recommended sentence. “It’s a serious matter and she can now get on with her life,” Bell said. Free speech advocates have warned that the Trump administration’s use of the Espionage Act – instead of less harsh laws that are crafted to penalize people for leaking government information – in Winner’s case perpetuates the aggressive attacks on whistleblowers seen under Barack Obama’s administration. The Intercept’s editor-in-chief, Betsy Reed, said Winner “should be honored, not punished” in a statement after the sentencing. “Selective and politically motivated prosecutions of leakers and whistleblowers under the Espionage Act – which dramatically escalated under Barack Obama, opening the door for the Trump justice department’s abuses – are an attack on the first amendment that will one day be judged harshly by history,” Reed said. Reed said the Intercept had not known the source of the document, but learned about Winner’s arrest shortly after the story was published. She also said there were “shortcomings” in how the news site handled the document. Reed said: “However, it soon became clear that the government had at its disposal, and had aggressively used, multiple methods to quickly hunt down Winner.” | |
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| 12-09-18 05:51pm - 2162 days | #1360 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Donald Trump is my hero. And scummy Democrats are trying to crucify him. As the bible tells us, Trump should love his enemies. He should let them crucify him, even put him and his criminal family in prison. And the government should take his properties, since the government has the right to seize illegal assets. Power to the people. Power to Donald Trump, leader of the Moral Majority for a White America. ------ ------ Trump 'at center of massive fraud against Americans', top Democrat says Erin Durkin in New York Sun 9 Dec 2018 11.50 EST First published on Sun 9 Dec 2018 10.43 EST New court filings show Donald Trump was “at the center of a massive fraud” against the American people, the incoming chair of the House judiciary committee said on Sunday. Mob mentality: how Mueller is working to turn Trump's troops Read more Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat set to take over the panel in January, said Trump would have committed impeachable offenses if it is proven that he ordered his lawyer to make illegal payments to women to keep quiet about alleged sexual encounters. “What these indictments and filings show is that the president was at the center of a massive fraud – several massive frauds against the American people,” Nadler said on CNN’s “State of the Union”. Another top Democrat, the California representative Adam Schiff, said Trump “could face the very real prospect of jail time”. Federal prosecutors said in court filings on Friday that Trump directed his then lawyer, Michael Cohen, to commit two felonies: payments made to women who said they had sex with Trump in return for their silence, in an effort to influence the 2016 election. 1:51 Trump: 'Michael Cohen is weak and trying to get a reduced sentence' – video “They would be impeachable offenses,” Nadler said, though he added it would still be a judgment call for lawmakers whether the offenses were important enough to warrant impeachment proceedings, which should only be launched in the gravest circumstances. “Whether they are important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question,” he said. “But certainly, they’d be impeachable offenses, because even though they were committed before the president became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office.” The Republican Congress absolutely tried to shield the president. The new Congress will not try to shield the president Jerrold Nadler After Democrats take control of the House, Nadler said, they will aggressively investigate what happened during the campaign. “The Republican Congress absolutely tried to shield the president,” he said. “The new Congress will not try to shield the president. It will try to get to the bottom of this in order to serve the American people and stop this massive fraud on the American people.” Perhaps consciously echoing a famous phrase from the Watergate scandal which brought down Richard Nixon, he added: “What did the president know and when did he know it about these crimes?” Schiff, the incoming chair of the House intelligence committee, said the filings indicate prosecutors may move to indict Trump as soon as he leaves office. The justice department has taken the position that a sitting president cannot be indicted and prosecuted, though the point is disputed among legal scholars and politicians. “There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the justice department may indict him – that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the very real prospect of jail time,” Schiff said on CBS’s Face the Nation. The California Democrat said the “powerful case” prosecutors made for Cohen to serve a prison sentence would apply “equally” to the man identified in filings as “Individual 1”: the president. “To have the justice department basically say that the president of the United States not only coordinated but directed an illegal campaign scheme that may have had an election-altering impact is pretty breathtaking,” he said. Schiff also said the intelligence committee will call Cohen to testify before Congress again. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in prior testimony. Schiff said the committee has already been in touch with Cohen’s lawyer. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said Trump’s alleged actions were “things that cannot and should not be ignored”. “We want to know everything, and we will know everything that has happened here at some point,” Rubio said, also on CNN. “If someone has violated the law, the application of the law should be applied to them like it would be to any other citizen in the country.” Comey transcripts: early Russia suspects and claims he 'hugs' Mueller Read more Appearing on CNN, ABC and CBS, Rubio repeatedly said a presidential pardon for Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair whose links with Russia were also detailed in court filings on Friday, would not be a good idea. Trump has publicly declined to take the idea off the table. “I believe it’d be a terrible mistake,” he told ABC’s This Week. “Pardons should be used judiciously. They’re used for cases with extraordinary circumstances.” Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, sounded a note of caution about the possibility of impeachment, saying there is not yet evidence that would broadly convince Americans they are warranted. “If impeachment is moved forward on the evidence that we have now, at least a third of the country would think it was just political revenge and a coup against the president,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press. “That wouldn’t serve us well at all. The best way to solve a problem like this, to me, is elections.” “You’re overturning the will of the voters,” he said. “I’m a conservative when it comes to impeachment. I think it’s a last resort and only when the evidence is clear of a really substantial legal violation … we may get there, but we are not there now.” | |
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| 12-13-18 09:26pm - 2158 days | #1361 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump denies he broke the law. If Michael Cohen, the weakling that Trump used as a lawyer, broke the law, Trump says Michael Cohen deserves to go to prison, to teach Michael Cohen a lesson. But Trump was not aware of the criminal activities Michael Cohen was doing. Trump is the man of the people, the leader of the Moral Majority for a White America. That alone should convince his critics that Trump is innocent of all wrong-doing. ------- ------- Trump denies directing lawyer to break law [AFP] AFP•December 13, 2018 Michael Cohen (left) apologized for covering up the "dirty deeds" of US President Donald Trump Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump on Thursday denied directing his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen to break the law after the US president's longtime close ally was sentenced to three years for campaign finance violations and other crimes. "I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law," Trump tweeted. "It is called 'advice of counsel,' and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid." Cohen, 52, apologized Wednesday for covering up the "dirty deeds" of his ex-boss as he was handed jail time for multiple crimes including hush money payments implicating Trump. Pleading for leniency in a packed Manhattan courtroom before US District Court Judge William H. Pauley III, Cohen said he had been led astray by misplaced admiration for Trump. An emotional Cohen told the court he accepted responsibility for his personal crimes and "those involving the President of the United States of America." In his first public comments since Cohen's sentencing, Trump said on Twitter that legal experts had cleared him of any wrongdoing and repeated his denial that he had broken campaign finance laws, arguing that Cohen's crimes did not involve campaign finance. "Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not guilty even on a civil bases," Trump tweeted. "Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!" Cohen admitted charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York of tax evasion, providing false statements to a bank and illegal campaign contributions. Cohen also pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress -- a charge stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into whether Trump's 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia to get him elected. Among the charges against Cohen was making secret payments to silence two women threatening to go public during the election campaign with claims they had affairs with Trump. | |
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| 12-13-18 09:30pm - 2158 days | #1362 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump needs to fire Mueller, who is wasting taxpayer money on a witch hunt. Then Trump can appoint Brett Kavanaugh, a strong, loyal man who sits on the Supreme Court, to investigate if there was any collusion between the Russians and President Trump and his family. I look at Brett Kavanaugh, and I know he will be a fair and impartial judge, because he has sworn to uphold the laws of the United States of America. Go, Trump! Go, Kavanaugh! With leaders like these, the swamp in Washington will be drained! | |
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| 12-15-18 11:21am - 2156 days | #1363 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump Crime Family starts to crumble under civil and criminal investigations. Jail time for President Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and sons Don Jr and Eric. The only reason Trump's wife will get a pass is she's too shrewd to bet caught up in the illegal activities of the Trump family. And 10-year-old Barron can plead he's only a minor, even though President Donald Trump has been grooming Barron to take over the Trump Crime Family ever since the kid was 5-years-old. Trump started grooming the kid at 5-years-old, because the kid was shielded from adult criminal charges. ----------- ----------- Rolling Stone December 15, 2018 12:41PM ET Investigation into Inaugural Committee Spending Reportedly Closes in on Ivanka Trump The president’s daughter may have improperly negotiated payments to the Trump Organization for inaugural events By Peter Wade New York federal prosecutors are looking into potential financial wrongdoing by President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee and Ivanka Trump’s involvement in price negotiations for space rental in the Trump International Hotel in D.C. According to reporting by WNYC and ProPublica, President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee paid large sums of money to the Trump organization to host events at the Trump-owned property, and the president’s daughter discussed charging $175,000 per day for the space, despite organizers’ concerns that it would look like the Trumps were lining their pockets. “These events are in PE’s [the president-elect’s] honor at his hotel and one of them is for family and close friends. Please take into consideration that when this is audited it will become public knowledge. I understand that compared to the original pricing this is great but we should look at the whole context. In my opinion the max rental fee should be $85,000 per day,” Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, an event planner who helped with the inauguration, wrote to caution Ivanka and others involved with the planning. While it is not known what price was ultimately negotiated, if it was above market rate, the committee may have violated tax law. “The fact that the inaugural committee did business with the Trump Organization raises huge ethical questions about the potential for undue enrichment,” former IRS official Marcus Owens told WNYC and ProPublica. A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump’s ethics lawyer denied the first daughter’s involvement in the negotiations: “When contacted by someone working on the inauguration, Ms. Trump passed the inquiry on to a hotel official and said only that any resulting discussions should be at a ‘fair market rate.’ Ms. Trump was not involved in any additional discussions.” The Trump inaugural committee also drew attention because it raised more money than prior inaugurations by a large amount. Trump’s committee raised almost $107 million dollars, dwarfing spending for other presidential inaugurations. Forty million dollars of that remains unaccounted for, thanks to lax reporting requirements for inaugural committee spending. “They had a third of the staff and a quarter of the events and they raise at least twice as much as we did,” Greg Jenkins, who ran George W. Bush’s second inauguration, told WNYC and ProPublica. “So there’s the obvious question: Where did it go? I don’t know.” The Wall Street Journal and New York Times have also published investigative reports on inaugural spending in the past few days, with the Times reporting that federal prosecutors are looking into whether foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates illegally donated to the inaugural fund. Ivanka Trump is also under scrutiny for using her personal email account for government business. And the swamp continues to get swampier, thanks to the Trump family. Edited on Dec 16, 2018, 10:41am | |
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| 12-17-18 11:13am - 2154 days | #1364 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
This is wrong. A federal judge is set to consider whether President Donald Trump has limits on his powers. Trump needs to send members of the Armed Forces (Trump is the Commander in Chief, remember) to arrest this judge, with orders to shoot to kill if the judge resists arrest. Trump is our leader. He must be forceful and brave, and put traitors in the ground. God bless America. God bless Donald Trump. ------ ------ Judge to examine Whitaker appointment in U.S. asylum policy case Thomson Reuters Sarah N. Lynch Dec 17th 2018 12:47PM WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday is set to consider whether President Donald Trump violated the U.S. Constitution by appointing Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, part of a broader lawsuit challenging his administration's restrictions on asylum for immigrants. Setting aside established succession practices, the Republican president last month named Whitaker, a Trump loyalist, as the top U.S. law enforcement official after ousting Jeff Sessions as attorney general. A decision by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss could have ramifications for immigrants seeking asylum and for Whitaker's tenure at the Justice Department as he waits for the U.S. Senate to confirm President Donald Trump's permanent nominee for attorney general, William Barr. The lawsuit challenges Trump's asylum ban for immigrants who illegally cross the U.S. border on the grounds that it violates immigration laws and the Administrative Procedure Act, a statute that governs federal rule-writing procedures. The lawsuit also makes a constitutional case for why the asylum rules are invalid: that Trump violated the Constitution's so-called Appointments Clause when he appointed Whitaker because the job of attorney general is a "principal officer" who must be confirmed by the Senate, unlike Whitaker. It is unclear whether Moss will rule on that point. On Friday, Moss heard arguments in a different case also challenging Whitaker's legitimacy as acting attorney general. Altogether, there are at least nine different legal challenges pending in courts around the country to Whitaker's appointment. The asylum restrictions at issue in Monday's case were made by Trump through a presidential proclamation in November and an interim final rule issued by the departments of justice and homeland security. The rules were put on hold in November by San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift the temporary restraining order, saying the Trump administration had "not established that it is likely to prevail." Last week, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to let Trump's asylum order take effect as litigation over it proceeds. Tigar will preside over a hearing on Wednesday and will consider whether to impose a more long-lasting injunction. The case in court on Monday was filed on behalf of several immigrants seeking asylum, including a Honduran man who fled his country with his daughter after a gang threatened to kill his family. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham) | |
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| 12-18-18 01:18am - 2154 days | #1365 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Does our government lie to us? Does a bear shit in the woods? Or does the bear use a porta potty? Enquiring minds want to know. If an ordinary citizen lies to the police, that is against the law. But if a retired general, who is also the former head of a US intelligence agency, lies to the FBI, he doesn't realize it's a crime, because as a government employee, it's part of his job to lie. President Donald Trump lies to the US public all time. No crime. Because his lawyers claim it's political speech. Witch hunt. Donald Trump needs to get out the big guns and bury his enemies. That's the only way he can clean up the swamp in Washington. -------- -------- Run-up to Flynn sentencing tinged with unexpected drama The Associated Press ERIC TUCKER and CHAD DAY Dec 17th 2018 8:16PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Flynn may have given extraordinary cooperation to prosecutors, but the run-up to his sentencing hearing Tuesday has exposed raw tensions over an FBI interview in which the former national security adviser lied about his Russian contacts. Flynn's lawyers have suggested that investigators discouraged him from having an attorney present during the January 2017 interview and never informed him it was a crime to lie. Prosecutors shot back, "He does not need to be warned it is a crime to lie to federal agents to know the importance of telling them the truth." The mere insinuation of underhanded tactics was startling given the seemingly productive relationship between the two sides, and it was especially striking since prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller's office have praised Flynn's cooperation and recommended against prison time. The defense arguments spurred speculation that Flynn may be trying to get sympathy from President Donald Trump or may be playing to a judge known for a zero-tolerance view of government misconduct. "It's an attempt, I think, to perhaps characterize Flynn as a victim or perhaps to make him look sympathetic in the eyes of a judge — and, at the same time, to portray the special counsel in a negative light," said former federal prosecutor Jimmy Gurule, a University of Notre Dame law school professor. Until the dueling memos were filed last week, the sentencing hearing for Flynn — who pleaded guilty to lying about a conversation during the transition period with the then-Russian ambassador — was expected to be devoid of the drama characterizing other of Mueller's cases. Prosecutors, for instance, have accused former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of lying to them even after he agreed to cooperate. Another potential target, Jerome Corsi, leaked draft court documents and accused Mueller's team of bullying him. And George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser recently released from a two-week prison sentence, has lambasted the investigation and publicly claimed that he was set up. Flynn, by contrast, has been notably silent even as his supporters advocated a more combative stance. He met privately with investigators 19 times and provided cooperation so extensive that prosecutors said he was entitled to avoid prison altogether. Then came his sentencing memo. Although Flynn and his attorneys stopped short of any direct accusations of wrongdoing, they took pains to note that Flynn, unlike other defendants in Mueller's investigation, was not informed that it was against the law to lie to the FBI. They suggest the FBI, which approached Flynn at the White House just days after Trump's inauguration, played to his desire to keep the encounter quiet by telling him the quickest way to get the interview done was for him to be alone with the agents — rather than involve lawyers. They also insinuate that Flynn, of Middletown, Rhode Island, deserves credit for not publicly seizing on the fact that FBI officials involved in the investigation later came under scrutiny themselves. Former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who contacted Flynn to arrange the interview, was fired this year for what the Justice Department said was a lack of candor over a news media leak. Peter Strzok, one of the two agents who interviewed Flynn, was removed from Mueller's team and later fired for trading anti-Trump texts with another FBI official. Mueller's team has sharply pushed back at any suggestion that Flynn was duped, with prosecutors responding in their own sentencing memo Friday that there was no obligation to warn Flynn against lying. "A sitting National Security (Adviser), former head of an intelligence agency, retired Lieutenant General, and 33-year veteran of the armed forces knows he should not lie to federal agents," prosecutors wrote. Former FBI Director James Comey criticized the broadsides on the Flynn investigation during a Monday appearance on Capitol Hill, saying, "They're up here attacking the FBI's investigation of a guy who pled guilty to lying to the FBI." Trump has made no secret that he sees Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt" and has continued to lash out at prosecutors he sees as biased against him and those who help them. He's shown continued sympathy for Flynn, though, calling him a "great person" and asserting — erroneously — that the FBI has said he didn't lie. Flynn has not tried to retract his guilty plea, and there's every indication the sentencing will proceed as scheduled. Arun Rao, a former Justice Department prosecutor in Maryland, said the defense memo is striking because it's "inconsistent" with Flynn's cooperative stance so far. "You also wonder in this very unusual situation," he said, "whether it is a play for a pardon." It's also possible that at least some of the defense arguments may resonate with U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who directed prosecutors to produce FBI records related to Flynn's interview. That included portions of the notes from Flynn's Jan. 24, 2017, FBI interview, which is at the center of his case. In response to Sullivan's order, prosecutors publicly filed a redacted copy of the FBI interview notes late Monday evening. The notes show that FBI agents interviewed Flynn about his contacts with Russia, including his past trips to the country and his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Last year, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying about the contents of his conversations with Kislyak during the presidential transition. The notes show Flynn told agents he didn't ask Kislyak not to escalate Russia's response to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in response to election interference. But Flynn admitted in court papers last year that he did. The notes also show Flynn told agents he didn't ask Kislyak to see if Russia would vote a certain way on a United Nations resolution involving Israeli settlements. But in court papers last year he admitted that he did ask Kislyak to see if Russia would vote against or delay the resolution. Court papers show Flynn made that request at the direction of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. It's unclear what impact, if any, the notes will have on Sullivan's sentencing decision. Sullivan was the judge in the Justice Department's botched prosecution of now-deceased Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. He dismissed the case after prosecutors admitted that they withheld exculpatory evidence, prompting the judge to say that in nearly 25 years on the bench, "I've never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I've seen in this case." In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last year, Sullivan said the case inspired him to explicitly remind prosecutors in every criminal case before him of their obligation to provide defendants with favorable evidence. He says he has encouraged colleagues to do the same. But while Sullivan has proved especially sensitive to hints of government overreach, nothing about the Flynn case comes close, said Gurule, the law professor. "To portray him as somehow an innocent dupe, as somehow just this innocent victim in the process, this suggestion that there was a perjury trap — it's an absurd allegation," he said. ___ Follow Eric Tucker and Chad Day on Twitter: https://twitter.com/etuckerAP and https://twitter.com/ChadSDay ___ | |
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| 12-18-18 04:30am - 2154 days | #1366 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trouble in paradise. CBS denies former CEO Les Moonves $120M severance package. A man slaves for most of his life at CBS. Now it's time to retire, and the man wants to leave with a few dollars so he can live in peace. So what happens? The company denies the poor man his retirement package, which is only $120 million. Life is not fair. Will Les Moonves be forced to eat at McDonald's, instead of at a better restaurant that serves real steaks? Will the US Government deny President Donald Trump his retirement package because of accusations he gropes women by their pussies? ---------- ---------- CBS denies former CEO Les Moonves $120M severance package Ahmed Jawadi Dec 18th 2018 4:24AM Former CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves will not get his $120 million severance package. CBS' Board of Directors said in a statement Monday that it had finished its investigation into Moonves and found he had violated company policies and breached his contract. Earlier this month, The New York Times reviewed a draft report from the network's lawyers, which reportedly concluded that Moonves "engaged in multiple acts of serious nonconsensual sexual misconduct in and outside of the workplace." The Times report said he destroyed evidence as well as misled and "deliberately lied" to investigators. The network's statement added that the investigation found that the company had failed to hold "high performers accountable for their conduct" in the past. The board said it's now actively taking steps to improve the work environment for employees. Moonves left the company back in September after several allegations of sexual misconduct during his tenure. He denied some of the accusations, but did admit to making advances. Last week, CBS awarded 18 women’s advocacy groups $20 million of Moonves' $120-million severance package. | |
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| 12-19-18 04:07pm - 2152 days | #1367 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son in law, earns praise for efforts to make the US justice system fairer. And and as first step, Kushner has volunteered to be the first member of President Trump's inner circle to volunteer for a 30-year prison term. "I know I've done some criminal things, but I was trying to help my wife and father-in-law make millions of dollars in illegal income. The Trump crime family loves money. Legal and illegal. So, with the President's approval, and the approval of my dear wife, I helped to commit illegal acts to make money for the Trump crime family. While in prison, I will pray for my wife and father-in-law, that they will see the error of their ways, and bring them closer to God. Amen." ----- ----- Kushner earns praise for backing criminal justice overhaul The Associated Press JILL COLVIN Dec 19th 2018 5:52PM WASHINGTON (AP) — It was the first time many liberal advocates had set foot inside President Donald Trump's White House. They had come at the invitation of presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser. Many liberal and good-government groups had questioning his lack of experience in government, and raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and cozy relationship with foreign leaders, including Saudi Arabia's crown prince. But in White House conference rooms and lobbying trips to Capitol Hill, Kushner worked with advocates, legislators and those on both ends of the political spectrum to forge a deal intended to make the nation's criminal justice system fairer. Now Kushner, the likely subject of new investigations when Democrats take control of the House next year, is getting credit for helping to push through what could be the first major bipartisan legislative success of the Trump era. "I don't think this would have happened without him," said Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential contender. He said the bill would have "a profound effect on thousands of families who have been suffering as a result of this broken system." Inimai Chettiar, director of the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, attended multiple meetings at the White House and lobbied with Kushner on Capitol Hill. She said that while the center's policies are generally "very oppositional" to the Trump agenda, criminal justice offered a rare opportunity for cooperation. Kushner "understands why this is a very important issue and the effect that it could have," she said. For Kushner, the criminal justice issue has long been deeply personal. Kushner was in his early 20s and a law and business school student in the mid-2000s when his father was sentenced to federal prison on charges of tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign donations. "When you're on the other side of the system, you feel so helpless," Kushner told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I felt like, I was on this side of the system, so how can I try to do whatever I can do to try to be helpful to the people who are going through it" and deserve a second chance. Slideshow preview image 15 PHOTOS First Step Act, the criminal justice reform bill See Gallery The issue was never part of Trump's campaign message. But within months of his father-in-law taking office, Kushner was spotted in the hallways of Congress, coming and going from meetings on the subject. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said he talked to Kushner as often as five times a day. Kushner worked with groups including the ACLU, Brennan Center, and the conservative Koch brothers' network, along with Republican governors, law enforcement groups, former Obama special adviser Van Jones and reality star Kim Kardashian West. And he got the president on board. Even before Tuesday's Senate vote, though, some of the unlikely allies worked with Kushner on criminal justice were skeptical the working relationships built in recent months will translate into further bipartisan successes. A House vote is expected later this week. The administration enters a new era in January, when Democrats take control of the House. Democrats have made clear that they intend to use their subpoena power to investigate the administration, including Kushner. He is expected to face an onslaught of inquiries digging into everything from his businesses and security clearance to his relationship with the Saudi royal accused of ordering the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Revamping criminal justice, they say, was a unique and rare area of consensus. "The fact of the matter is that many of the policies of the Trump administration are squarely at odds with ACLU principles. And it's lovely to have a rapport on an issue you can agree with," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It might be much harder to find common ground on any other issue." Kushner declined to comment on the record about the expected inquiries, and what the new reality might mean for the president and the White House. He also faced opposition from within the administration, including former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who opposed sentencing changes that helped to bring Senate Democrats on board. Even on Tuesday, critics of the bill were making a final push to amend the legislation, which gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders and boosts prisoner rehabilitation efforts. But Romero, whose ACLU has filed 107 lawsuits against the administration so far, most challenging its immigration policies, praised Kushner's "tenacity" and "doggedness." "Though we have many areas of disagreement with the White House, it was refreshing to find one area where we could work together," Romero said, adding that, Kushner's personal commitment to the issue "allowed us to break through." Holly Harris, a conservative strategist and executive director of the Justice Action Network, credited Kushner's efforts to put Republican governors supportive of the legislation in front of the president to share their experiences about how similar efforts in their states had helped reduce crime. "Their voices were critical in showing another side of reform to the president," she said of Trump. "He never quit. He never slowed down. He kept moving things," added Grover Norquist, an advocate for lower taxes, who also worked with Kushner. ___ Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report. | |
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| 12-20-18 11:38am - 2151 days | #1368 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump is a man of honor and principles. He will not bow down to scummy Democrats who want Trump to sign a bill that is against the American people. Instead, Trump will stick by his guns, and let the US government be shut down. Go, Trump, leader of the Free World. Trump, leader of the Moral Majority for a White America. If you're not white, go back to the rathole country you came from. Smell the clean air of America, because it's the last chance you will have to steal a breath from loyal Americans. --------- --------- Speaker Ryan says Trump 'will not sign' bill to keep government open Thomson Reuters Dec 20th 2018 1:38PM WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will not sign legislation to fund the federal government that passed the U.S. Senate, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters after a meeting with the president on Thursday. Ryan, speaking alongside U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy outside the White House, said Trump wanted any spending agreement to secure the U.S. border. House Republicans had serious concerns over funding and the wall but want to keep the government open, Ryan said ahead of Friday's midnight deadline. (Reporting by Steve Holland, Tim Ahmann and Makini Brice Writing by Susan Heavey Editing by Bill Trott) GoFundMe page aiming to pay for Trump's border wall raises over $4M in 3 days Trump says he won’t sign any legislation by Democrats without border wall funding U.S. ally in Syria says pullout will aid IS, cause instability | |
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| 12-21-18 12:30am - 2151 days | #1369 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Secretary of Defense will resign. But Trump is the President. As President, Trump has the right to choose who will serve as Secretary of Defense. Perhaps Trump will make a better choice next time, and pick someone who knows how to successfully defend America. Mattis was an idjit. Why? Because he was unable to transform Trump's vision of a strong and true America into reality. Trump is the man God sent to earth to make America great again. We have to support Trump. Even when he steals millions of dollars and pisses on the rights of American citizens. As long as he doesn't allow any more rapist Mexicans and other dark-skinned people into our proud, white America. ----- ----- 'This is scary': Mattis' resignation triggers bipartisan chorus of concern on Capitol Hill NBC News Ali Vitali Dec 20th 2018 9:25PM Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' impending departure shook an already tense Capitol on Thursday night, with lawmakers in both parties reacting with concern over what Mattis' departure means for both Trump's administration, and the international community. In a letter announcing his resignation, Mattis told President Donald Trump that he had the right to have a secretary of defense whose worldview was "better aligned with yours" on subjects like "treating allies with respect" and "being clear-eyed" about malign actors. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Mattis "an island of stability amidst the chaos of the Trump administration." "This is scary," he tweeted. Mattis, in his letter, said he would depart at the end of February. "A Secretary of Defense quitting over a public disagreement with a President whose foreign policy he believes has gone off the rails is a national security crisis," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tweeted, surmising a "morale crisis at the Department of Defense right now" after both the news of Mattis' impending departure and Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Republicans were also unbridled in voicing their concern. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, quote-tweeting the president's announcement about Mattis, said: "That's what happens when you ignore sound military advice." "This is a sad day for America because Secretary Mattis was giving advice the President needs to hear," Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement. Trump first announced the news of Mattis' departure on Twitter, portraying it as a retirement. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attempted an optimistic view, saying he hoped the general's "decision to resign was motivated solely by a desire to enjoy a well deserved retirement." That sentiment was quickly replaced, however, after Rubio read Mattis' letter — which did not include any praises or compliments of the president and implicitly criticized the president's military judgment. To Rubio, the letter "makes it abundantly clear that we are headed towards a series of grave policy errors which will endanger our nation,damage our alliances & empower our adversaries." He also pressed for more oversight of the executive branch by Congress. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had praised Mattis earlier in the day, noting disagreement between the president and the Pentagon chief over Trump's recently announced decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Though one of Trump's staunchest defenders, Graham has been vocal in his opposition to the move. Mattis "thought that it was not the time was not right to leave [Syria], for all the reasons just expressed. Secretary Mattis is one of the most seasoned national security people I know, he's got a great team around him, the President does, he just has to listen," Graham said in a news conference. Thursday night, Graham tweeted: "It is with great sadness that I was informed of the resignation of General Mattis." | |
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| 12-21-18 06:48am - 2150 days | #1370 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump vows to the American people: For the safety of the country, the government has to be shut down. This will drain the swamp in Washington. Hopefully, the scummy Democrats will drown in the cesspool of corruption they have created. And Republicans will rise in strength, to make America great again. Let us pray for President Donald Trump to be able to bear the burden of guiding our country through dangerous times. If the government shuts down, that means the country will save millions of dollars it won't have to pay to government workers. Hopefully, the government will never have to pay those workers, so the company will be much better off. The truth will set you free. And Trump is the man with the golden arm, who will provide our country, one nation under God, with the means to protect itself from Mexican rapists and dark-skinned people who are trying to destroy our religious freedoms. Death before dishonor. Thank you, Donald Trump, leader of the Moral Majority for a White America. ---------- ---------- Trump says a shutdown would 'last for a very long time' The Associated Press LISA MASCARO, MATTHEW DALY and CATHERINE LUCEY Dec 21st 2018 8:25AM WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a midnight deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump said Friday a closure would drag on "for a very long time" and he tried to build the case that congressional Democrats would bear responsibility if there's no deal over his demand for U.S.-Mexico border wall money. Only a week ago, Trump said he would be "proud" to shut down the government, which Republicans now control, in the name of border security. "I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down," he asserted. But with the hours dwindling before the midnight deadline, Trump sought to reframe the debate and make Democrats the holdouts to settling an impasse that threatens hundreds of thousands of federal workers on the eve of the end-of-the-year holidays. And he exhorted the Senate's Republican leader to corral enough Democratic votes to send a House-passed plan to the White House, even though the measure is almost certain to be rejected in the Senate. "Senator Mitch McConnell should fight for the Wall and Border Security as hard as he fought for anything. He will need Democrat votes, but as shown in the House, good things happen. If enough Dems don't vote, it will be a Democrat Shutdown!" he tweeted. At the same time, Trump said he expected Democrats "will probably vote against Border Security and the Wall even though they know it is DESPERATELY NEEDED. If the Dems vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time. People don't want Open Borders and Crime!" The Senate has been called back into session to consider a package approved by House Republicans late Thursday that includes the $5.7 billion Trump wants for the border with Mexico. Senators had passed their own bipartisan bill earlier in the week to keep the government running, with border security at existing levels, $1.3 billion, but no money for the wall. Both bills would extend government funding through Feb. 8. The White House said Trump would not travel to Florida on Friday as planned for the Christmas holiday if the government were shutting down. More than 800,000 federal workers will be facing furloughs or forced to work without pay if a resolution is not reached before funding expires at midnight Friday. At issue is funding for nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice, as well as national parks and forests. Many agencies, including the Pentagon and the departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services, are funded for the year and would continue to operate as usual. The U.S. Postal Service, busy delivering packages for the holiday season, would not be affected by any government shutdown because it's an independent agency. The shutdown crisis could be one of the final acts of the House GOP majority before relinquishing control to Democrats in January. Congress had been on track to fund the government but lurched when Trump, after a rare lashing from conservative supporters, declared Thursday he would not sign a bill without the funding. Conservatives want to keep fighting. They warn that "caving" on Trump's repeated wall promises could hurt his 2020 re-election chances, and other Republicans' as well. The GOP-led House voted largely along party lines, 217-185, to attach the border wall money to the Senate's bill. House Republicans also tacked on nearly $8 billion in disaster aid for coastal hurricanes and California wildfires. Some Republicans senators cheered on the House, but prospects in the Senate are grim amid strong opposition from Democrats. Even though Republicans have a slim majority, 60 votes are needed to approve the bill there. One possibility Friday is that the Senate strips the border wall out of the bill but keeps the disaster funds and sends it back to the House. House lawmakers said they were being told to stay in town for more possible votes. ___ Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Kevin Freking and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report. | |
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| 12-21-18 06:57am - 2150 days | #1371 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Note: All Americans can feel safe. Even if the US Government shuts down, Trump has vowed to stay at his desk in the White House, scrutinizing for any attacks by North Korea or Russia or the treacherous European allies who have hidden missiles that are aimed at America. Trump knows you can't trust anyone. That is why he is going to pick a new Secretary of Defense who will waterboard all enemies of the US, and find their secret plans to harm us. Trump is the man. Place your trust in Trump, and we will get through the time of bloodshed and terror that Mexican rapists and other dark-skinned people wish to inflict on our innocent men, women and children. Can you imagine a Mexican rapist on a white US child? The horror. The shame. Trump, I join my prayers with billions of other right-thinking people, wishing you the best in this holiday season. | |
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| 12-21-18 07:43pm - 2150 days | #1372 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The US government is shutting down a bit. But not to worry. President Trump has ordered the Armed Services to arrest all scummy Democrats, who are the people responsible for the shutdown. But Donald Trump has vowed to stay on the job: he will sacrifice his personal liberty and stay away from the golf courses that are so dear to his heart. The Armed Services are carrying live rounds, so if a soldier orders you to raise your hands, raise them high, unless you want to be shot. ------ ------ Senate adjourns, partial shutdown ensured Thomson Reuters Dec 21st 2018 8:33PM WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government was to begin a partial shutdown at midnight on Friday after Republican senators failed to muster the votes needed to approve $5 billion that President Donald Trump wants for a border wall fiercely opposed by Democrats. Trump said the impending shutdown of some key parts of the federal government could last "a very long time," and he sought to blame Democrats. They, in turn, put the blame squarely on Trump, reminding him that last week he said he would be "proud" to shut the government down in order to get funding for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. Republican and Democratic senators earlier this week reached a deal on short-term funding legislation that did not include the $5 billion Trump wants, but the president said on Thursday he would not sign it. The impending shutdown was the latest evidence of dysfunction in Washington and does not bode well for next year, when Democrats will have a stronger hand as they take control of the House of Representatives. "President Trump has thrown a temper tantrum and now has us careening toward a 'Trump shutdown' over Christmas," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor. "You're not getting the wall today, next week or on January 3rd, when Democrats take control of the House," Schumer added. Hours before the midnight deadline, lawmakers met with Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials in a last-ditch effort to find a compromise funding bill acceptable to both political parties and Trump. But they were unable to reach a deal. The adjournment of the House just before 7 p.m. and the Senate just after 8 p.m. ensured a government shutdown. Senators said talks would continue over the weekend. The Senate was set to return from recess at noon (1700 GMT) on Saturday. Congressional funding for about one-quarter of the federal government's programs expires at midnight (0500 GMT). Three-quarters of government programs are fully funded through next Sept. 30, including those in the Defense Department, Labor Department and Health and Human Services. But funding for other agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Agriculture, was set to expire at midnight on Friday. A partial shutdown begins with affected agencies limiting staff to those deemed "essential" to public safety. "GOING TO GET A WALL" Before meeting with Senate Republicans at the White House, Trump wrote on Twitter that "Democrats now own the shutdown." That contrasted with what he said during a televised argument with Schumer in the White House on Dec. 11. "I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country," Trump said. "I'll be the one to shut it down." Before the House and Senate adjourned, negotiators were discussing $1.6 billion for a range of border security measures - not specifically for a wall - and retaining financial assistance for areas hit by natural disasters that was added by the House, a Republican Senate aide said. That $1.6 billion would only be $300 million more than the amount the Senate approved in the temporary funding bill that it passed late on Wednesday, only for Trump to reject it. Trump earlier on Friday had said at the White House that chances of a shutdown "are probably pretty good," adding, "We're going to get a wall." Trump made a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking a key campaign promise in the 2016 election, when he said it would be paid for by Mexico. He sees it as a winning issue for his 2020 re-election campaign. Democrats oppose the wall, calling it unnecessary and ineffective. Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Marco Rubio expressed frustration with what they said was Trump's shifting position. Rubio said that earlier in the week the Republicans went with their funding bill because Pence had told them the White House was open to such a proposal. "We had a reasonable path and there was every indication from the president that he would sign it," Alexander said. In a series of early-morning tweets on Friday, Trump called on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to use a "nuclear option" to allow a Senate vote on legislation with a simple majority, rather than the standard "supermajority" of 60 votes. But there was not enough support among Republican senators to do so. The possibility of a government shutdown fed investor anxieties and contributed to another down day for U.S. stocks on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.82 percent, the S&P 500 lost 2.06 percent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.99 percent. The showdown added to tensions in Washington as lawmakers also grappled with Trump's sudden move to pull troops from Syria, which prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to resign. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion by Trump's campaign team is also hanging over the White House. In a shutdown, critical workers -- including U.S. border agents, and nonessential employees -- would not get paid until the dispute ends. National parks also would close unless the government declares them essential. More than half of the 1,700 people who work for the executive office of the president would be "furloughed," meaning they would be put on temporary leave. (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Ginger Gibson and Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Steve Holland and Susan Heavey; Writing by Will Dunham and Bill Trott; Editing by Kieran Murray, Cynthia Osterman) | |
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| 12-22-18 01:02pm - 2149 days | #1373 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump is a pussy. He is asking advisers if he can legally fire the Fed chief. Trump is the President. Trump chose the Fed chief. If the Fed chief is not doing a proper job, of course Trump can fire him. Don't ask your advisers. Tell them what to do. Pussy! Pussy! Pussy! The nation has lost faith in Trump. He is not fit be the Commander in Chief. --------------- Trump asking advisers if he can legally fire Fed chief By Kevin Liptak, CNN Updated 9:31 AM ET, Sat December 22, 2018 Federal Reserve raises key interest rate (CNN)President Donald Trump has begun polling advisers about whether he has the legal authority to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, according to two people familiar with the matter, who described the President as newly furious at the Fed chief as markets tumble. Earlier this year, Trump's advisers told the President that it was doubtful he would have the law behind him if he fired Powell. But Trump has renewed the issue after the Fed again raised its benchmark interest rate this week. So far, the White House hasn't come to a final legal determination on Trump's authority to fire his Fed chairman, whom he nominated a year ago. The law states the President can fire a Fed governor for cause, but it hasn't been tested on the firing of a chairman. Top West Wing economic advisers have warned Trump that firing Powell would only exacerbate the problem the President is ostensibly trying to solve: nose-diving markets. The unprecedented move would likely cause more turmoil. Bloomberg first reported Trump's latest frustrations with Powell. CNN has previously reported that Trump's anxiety is mounting about the economy as warning signs of a global slowdown emerge. On days when the market is down triple-digits, Trump has surveyed his team about whether he'll catch the blame. Many have told him he likely will. Whipsaw markets and a string of steep dives have spawned a pervasive anxiety in the White House, according to senior officials, where for the past two years the strength of the US economy has provided steady reassurance amid even the deepest of political crises. As Trump faces fresh vulnerability — most aspects of his life are now under investigation just as Democrats are preparing to assume control of the House — the economy no longer offers the same comfort it once did, despite rising wages and the lowest unemployment rate in half a century, according to interviews with multiple White House officials and people close to Trump. The volatility comes after several disappointments, including General Motors' decision last month to shutter plants in Ohio and Michigan -- a business move that struck deep in the heart of MAGA country, where Trump wooed voters away from Democrats with repeated pledges to bring back lost manufacturing jobs. Trump's trade war with China has also generated mixed political results, with tariffs biting Trump's loyal base of farmers. The President, whose advisers promised him Wall Street would love a resolution with Beijing, has been irritated that markets instead tumbled after he revived the threat of escalated tariffs if the ongoing negotiations don't bear fruit. | |
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| 12-23-18 05:41am - 2148 days | #1374 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump sends tsunami to Indonesia, killing at least 222 dark-skinned people. Trump wants to make America white again. But he is expanding his vision beyond the US borders. He is now looking at Indonesia, where people have dark skins, like the Mexican rapists. So he used his secret codes to send a Tsunami to Indonesia, increasing the white population of the county by a few percent. Once Trump is able to use his secret weapons of mass destruction better, the white population will grow in percentage, because Trump has vowed to destroy all dark-skinned rapists and murderers and terrorists. --------- --------- Tsunami triggered by volcano kills at least 222 The Associated Press Dec 23rd 2018 7:44AM CARITA BEACH, Indonesia (AP) — A tsunami believed to be triggered by a volcanic eruption killed at least 222 people in Indonesia during a busy holiday weekend, sweeping away hotels, hundreds of houses and a group of people attending a beach concert. More than 800 were reported injured and 28 missing after the tsunami hit around the Sunda Strait on Saturday night, the Disaster Management Agency said. The toll could continue to rise because some areas had not yet been reached. Scientists, including those from Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics agency, said Sunday that the tsunami could have been caused by undersea landslides or those occurring above sea level on the Anak Krakatau volcano's steep outside slope following the eruption. The volcano's name translates to "Child of Krakatoa," a volcanic island formed over years after one of the largest eruptions in recorded history occurred at the Krakatoa volcano more than a century ago. The scientists also cited tidal waves caused by the full moon. Dramatic video posted on social media showed an Indonesian pop band named "Seventeen" performing under a tent on a popular beach at a concert for employees of a state-owned electricity company. Dozens of people sat listening at tables covered in white cloths while others bobbed to the music near the stage as bright strobe lights flashed and theatrical smoke was released. A child could also be seen wandering through the crowd. Seconds later, with the drummer pounding just as the next song was about to begin, the stage suddenly heaved forward and buckled under the force of the water, throwing the band and all their equipment into the audience. The group released a statement saying their bass player, guitarist and road manager were found dead, while two other band members and the wife of one of the performers remained missing. "The tide rose to the surface and dragged all the people on site," the statement said. "Unfortunately, when the current receded our members are unable to save themselves while some did not find a place to hold on." Tourists were also affected during the long holiday weekend ahead of Christmas. "I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m (meters, or 50-65 feet) inland," Norwegian Oystein Lund Andersen wrote on Facebook. The self-described photographer and volcano enthusiast said he was taking pictures of the volcano when he suddenly saw a big wave come toward him. "Next wave entered the hotel area where I was staying and downed cars on the road behind it," he wrote. "Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground (through) forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of (by) the locals. Were unharmed, thankfully." The Anak Krakatau volcano lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, linking the Indian Ocean and Java Sea. It erupted about 24 minutes before the tsunami, the geophysics agency said. The worst-affected area was the Pandeglang region of Java's Banten province, which encompasses Ujung Kulon National Park and popular beaches, the disaster agency said. Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 222 deaths had been confirmed and at least 843 people were injured. Rescue workers were still trying to access other affected areas. Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo expressed his sympathy and ordered government agencies to respond quickly to the disaster. "My deep condolences to the victims in Banten and Lumpung provinces," he said. "Hopefully, those who are left have patience." In the city of Bandar Lampung on Sumatra, hundreds of residents took refuge at the governor's office. At the popular resort area of Carita Beach, some survivors appeared lost. Azki Kurniawan, 16, said he was undergoing vocational training with a group of 30 other students at Patra Comfort Hotel when people suddenly burst into the lobby yelling, "Sea water rising!" He said he was confused because he did not feel an earthquake, but ran to the parking lot to try to reach his motorbike. By the time he got there, it was already flooded. "Suddenly a 1-meter (3.3-foot) wave hit me," he said. "I fell down, the water separated me from my bike. I was thrown into the fence of a building about 30 meters (100 feet) from the beach and held onto the fence as strong as I could, trying to resist the water, which feels like it would drag me back into the sea. I cried in fear. ... 'This is a tsunami?' I was afraid I would die." The 305-meter (1,000-foot) -high Anak Krakatau volcano, located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, has been erupting since June. In July, authorities widened its no-go areas to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the crater. However, Anak Krakatau remains much smaller than Krakatoa when it blew in 1883, killing more than 30,000 people. Krakatoa launched far-reaching tsunamis and created so much ash, day was turned to night in the area and a global temperature drop was recorded. The violent explosions sank most of the island into the volcanic crater under the sea, and the area remained calm until the 1920s, when Anak Krakatau began to rise from the site. It continues to grow each year and erupts periodically. Gegar Prasetya, co-founder of the Tsunami Research Center Indonesia, said Saturday's tsunami was likely caused by a flank collapse — when a big section of a volcano's slope gives way. He said it's possible for an eruption to trigger a landslide above ground or beneath the ocean, both capable of producing waves. "Actually, the tsunami was not really big, only 1 meter (3.3 feet)," said Prasetya, who has closely studied Krakatoa. "The problem is people always tend to build everything close to the shoreline." Nine hotels and hundreds of homes were heavily damaged. Broken chunks of concrete and splintered sticks of wood littered hard-hit coastal areas, turning beach getaways popular with Jakarta residents into near ghost towns. Vehicles tossed by the waves remained belly up in the rubble or were lodged in the air under collapsed roofs. Debris from thatch-bamboo shacks was strewn along beaches. Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and home to 260 million people, lies along the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. In September, more than 2,500 people were killed by a quake and tsunami that hit the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, which is just east of Borneo. Saturday's tsunami rekindled memories for some of the massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake that hit on Dec. 26, 2004. It spawned a giant tsunami off Sumatra island in western Indonesia, killing more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries — the majority in Indonesia. Roads and infrastructure are poor in many areas of disaster-prone Indonesia, making access difficult in the best of conditions. ___ Associated Press writers Margie Mason and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. | |
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| 12-24-18 04:50am - 2148 days | #1375 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
In the spirit of Christian forgiveness, Donald Trump has made an amazing announcement: he forgives all his enemies, even the ones who will go straight to hell (where they belong) for criticizing his achievements. Also, Trump has issued general pardons to himself, his wife, and all his children, for any and all crimes they may have committed in the past. Trump, his wife and children are all innocent, but evil, scum-sucking Democrats have attacked his precious family, and Trump will defend his family to the last drop of his blood (unless they turn on him and agree to testify against him--in which case he will see that they spend the rest of their lives in prison). God bless America, God bless Donald Trump and his wonderful family. May the US public contribute billions of dollars to the Trump foundation, so Trump can make America great again, without worrying about paying for his next meal at McDonald's. Trump recently declared he'd be proud to shut down the government over border issues. Trump is a brilliant man, who drags us kicking and screaming into the glories of a new, Whiter America based on Christ's love of his fellow man. (Except for scummy Democrats, rapist Mexicans, people from shithole African countries, and a few other places Trump has yet to speak about.) | |
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| 12-24-18 07:44am - 2147 days | #1376 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Making America White again, so White people can live in peace. Without worrying about whether some crazed Mexican rapist or dark-skinned person of color will come bursting through their kitchen door with a sawed-off shotgun or people-killer armed assault rifle firing 5 bazillion bullets per second. You can't trust everyone to be safe and sane like I am. I sleep with a Smith & Wesson .357 in my right hand. A Smith & Wesson .500 in my left hand. And a box of anti-personnel grenades strapped to my chest. Rolling over is a chore. But I sleep like a baby, knowing I'm prepared against the Chinks, the Slants, the Mexicans, the scummy Democrats that are outside my house. God bless Donald Trump, making America great again, making it White again. -------- -------- MSNBC TODAY 'Wow, I'm racist': In time of viral encounters, 'white spaces' are used to confront biases U.S. news 'Wow, I'm racist': In time of viral encounters, 'white spaces' are used to confront biases "I used to think I was this perfect little white person in a bubble that didn't do anything bad to black people, and so I was OK." Workshop offers candid talk on race, privilege and being white Dec. 24, 2018 / 7:11 AM PST By Erik Ortiz Nicole O'Connor, a nurse practitioner in St. Louis, was selling her dining room table on Facebook when a prospective buyer — a black man — reached out. She told her husband not to leave her alone if the man came to see the furniture, which she didn't feel the need to say when a white woman like herself had shown interest. That was her moment of clarity: "I was like, 'Oh my God, that's racism,'" O'Connor, 32, said in a group of all white adults this month. "So I told my husband. I'm like, 'I don't know what to do with this, but this is how I'm feeling.'" O'Connor felt vulnerable and embarrassed but also understood as she shared the story with seven others sitting in a circle at a school in suburban St. Louis. No one passed judgment. This was their "white space" — a concept that has been growing in communities like St. Louis where racial incidents have prompted anger and even unrest. A stream of viral videos this year involving white people — them calling police on black people doing ordinary activities perceived as suspicious, threatening to call ICE on Spanish-speaking workers or in racist rants — resonated in ways that have frustrated and disturbed not only minorities but white Americans who want to make sense of what they're watching. An NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll released in May found that 64 percent of respondents believe racism remains a "major problem" in America, and while 40 percent of blacks said they were treated unfairly in a store or restaurant, only 7 percent of whites said the same. O'Connor's group is one of several that began through the Metro St. Louis chapter of the YWCA, which has focused on racial justice in a region that has been historically segregated and where blacks have faced higher rates of poverty, infant mortality and unemployment than whites. The YWCA's program — based on the 2010 book "Witnessing Whiteness" — began in 2011, but interest climbed after the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in the suburb of Ferguson in 2014, said Mary Ferguson, the chapter's racial justice director. Now, as many as 16 groups meet in schools, churches and other community spaces, with up to 25 people in each, Ferguson said. More than dozen more groups are set to begin meeting in January. Enrollment is free and the groups are organized by volunteers, but there remains one catch: Participants must identify as white. "It was important to us that we had a group where people of color wouldn't be on the spot, wouldn't be asked to teach, wouldn't be asked to listen to white people as they struggle to understand racism," she added. Ferguson said having a place for white people to meet also promotes a more candid conversation. The sessions focus on book chapters such as "Culture, Tradition, and Appropriation?" and "Positions of Privilege." "One of the greatest fears that many of our participants express ... is the fear that they're going to offend," Ferguson said. "That they are going to show their ignorance, that they are going to upset other people and they sense it themselves. One way that we can open up the space for conversation is to make the group all white." Such "whiteness" programs have been scrutinized by whites and people of color who believe the courses are their own form of segregation. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs scrapped an "Unmasking Whiteness" class in May since it was not intended for all races, The Gazette, the local newspaper, reported. But the assumption that America has moved into a "post-racial" space — particularly after the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008 — is a fallacy, said Debby Irving, who is white and the author of "Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race," about the concept of white privilege. This year's trend of white women, in particular, calling police on black people — including a man trying to enter his own apartment building in St. Louis and a young boy in Brooklyn, New York, wrongly accused of sexual assault — shows that "white ignorance and white silence" remain chronic problems in America, Irving said. O'Connor, the nurse practitioner, said she had never heard the term "white privilege" until this year, but through "Witnessing Whiteness" sessions has realized how racism can be subtle and unintentional, not as overt as waving a Confederate flag and shouting the N-word, but real nonetheless. Nicole O'Connor said she had never heard the term "white privilege" until this year.NBC News One chapter in the book, she told the group, made her think, "Wow, I'm racist," and that she "used to think I was this perfect little white person in a bubble that didn't do anything bad to black people, and so I was OK." Speaking with her husband after the furniture-selling incident made her see the progress she was making because she could at least recognize and vocalize her subtle racism. "This class has done a lot for me in just the awareness and understanding of where this exists in my life," O'Connor told the group. "Do I know what to do with it right now? No. But you've got to start somewhere." Other people in the group were working out their own experiences: One man said the feeling of white guilt alone wasn't going to stop the shootings of black men by police. A woman wondered how she could be labeled as "privileged" if she was lower-middle class and worked hard just to get there. Vincent C. Flewellen, who is African-American and the former associate director of diversity and inclusion at a St. Louis-area private school that offered a "Witnessing Whiteness" program, said going through the sessions doesn't automatically transform someone. It's a process. But at a minimum, he said, he wants white people to not call police on black people "just because they're gathering in a park." Most important, he added, "the outcome is that they find their voice and are able to speak to, call out and stand up against racism." Sue Dersch, a group leader, has been trying to do just that. She began as a participant in the program in 2014, after the shooting in Ferguson. She hadn't necessarily thought of herself as racist — in fact, she and her husband had adopted two black sons more than 10 years ago. But going through the program led her to re-examine her life experiences. One time, before the adoption, she said she tensed up and became fearful when she saw a young black man in a hoodie walking toward her in a parking lot. A year ago, while she was stuffing letters into a mailbox, a young black man was walking toward her — again, she said, she grew tense. Dersch — no stranger to being targeted when her "Black Lives Matter" signs were vandalized repeatedly outside of her home three years ago — was mortified that she had had the same reaction. "I had the overwhelming feeling of, 'Oh my goodness, some other women could be feeling that same way about my sons,'" said Dersch, 63. "That really kind of shook me." When thinking about videos of white women calling police on black people — garnering nicknames on social media like "Pool Patrol Paula" and "Barbecue Becky" — she sometimes wishes she could freeze-frame the situation and tell them: "It's not your business. ... Take a step back, stay in your lane, go get your groceries, and go home and fix dinner." Ultimately, she said, it's easy to be critical of others, but white people can't be afraid to turn the mirror on themselves for fear of being branded as racist. For her, it's a progression, peeling back layer after layer of built-in bias. Her goal? "I want to be less racist tomorrow than I am today," Dersch said. Erik Ortiz Erik Ortiz is an NBC News staff writer focusing on racial injustice and social inequality. Shako Liu contributed. Edited on Dec 24, 2018, 11:21am | |
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| 12-24-18 05:39pm - 2147 days | #1377 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
A US court orders North Korea to pay $501 million in US student's death. President Donald Trump reads the news, and says, what a great idea. He then offers a $50 bounty on Robert Mueller, dead or alive, for wasting US taxpayer dollars on a witch hunt. "There are no witches", President Trump declares. "I learned that as a boy, growning up in Salem, Ma." So why is Bob Mueller wasting all this money? He could have, instead, used the money to pay his golf club membership fees to me, and we'd both be happier people. ----- ----- U.S. court orders North Korea to pay $501 million in U.S. student's death Thomson Reuters Lesley Wroughton Dec 24th 2018 3:45PM WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Monday ordered Pyongyang to pay $501 million in damages for the torture and death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier, who died in 2017 shortly after being released from a North Korea prison. Warmbier's parents sued North Korea in April over their son's death. The 22-year-old student died days after he was returned to the United States in a coma, and an Ohio coroner said the cause of death was lack of oxygen and blood to the brain. "North Korea is liable for the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing of Otto Warmbier, and the injuries to his mother and father, Fred and Cindy Warmbier," Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia said in her ruling. Pyongyang has blamed botulism and ingestion of a sleeping pill for Warmbier's death and dismissed torture claims. Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement they had promised their son justice. "We are thankful that the United States has a fair and open judicial system so that the world can see that the Kim regime is legally and morally responsible for Otto’s death," the Warmbiers said. "We put ourselves and our family through the ordeal of a lawsuit and public trial because we promised Otto that we will never rest until we have justice for him," they said. "Today’s thoughtful opinion by Chief Judge Howell is a significant step on our journey." Howell's ruling was a default judgment, a type of decision entered against a party that does not appear in court. Default judgments against foreign defendants are often difficult to collect. U.S. courts can compensate default judgment holders by ordering the seizure of funds or other assets located within the country, but that is unlikely in this case because sanctions prohibit North Korea from accessing the U.S. financial system. The ruling comes at a sensitive time in U.S.-North Korea diplomatic relations, as the two countries negotiate the dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. President Donald Trump has said that Warmbier did not die in vain and his death helped initiate a process that led to a historic meeting this year between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. A student at the University of Virginia, Warmbier was imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months starting in January 2016. He had been visiting the country as a tourist. North Korea state media said he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel. (Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Mary Milliken and Cynthia Osterman) | |
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| 12-24-18 05:45pm - 2147 days | #1378 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Will members of Donald's Trump family ever be indicted? Have members of Donald's Trump family ever lied? Do bears shit in the woods? (Or do they use a porta potty? Which would still qualify as shitting in the woods.) Enquiring minds want to know: ---------- ---------- the national interest Nov. 7, 2018 Donald Trump Jr. Expecting to Be Indicted by Mueller Soon By Jonathan Chait @jonathanchait Donald Trump Jr. Photo: Scott Sonner/AP/REX/Shutterstock Last year, Donald Trump Jr. testified that he never informed his father of a meeting with Russian officials promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. It seemed hard to believe that the ne’er-do-well son would neglect to seek credit for his expected campaign coup from the father whose approval he so obviously craves. And now it seems that Robert Mueller has obtained proof that it is not in fact true. The Trump family lies all the time, of course, but doing it under oath is a crime. Two days ago, Gabriel Sherman reported that White House officials are concerned about Donald Jr. “I’m very worried about Don Jr.,” a former West Wing official told Sherman, who fears Mueller will be able to prove perjury. Deep in a report about Trump’s 2020 campaign plans, Politico drops the news this morning that Trump Jr. “has told friends in recent weeks that he believes he could be indicted.” If it’s what you’re saying, we love it. Get unlimited access to Intelligencer and everything else New York. Learn More » The details of the expected indictment remain to be seen. But if Trump Jr. did lie under oath, the obvious question is why. He had a lawyer, who presumably informed him of the dangers of perjury. Why take the risk of perjury to deny having informed his father about a meeting with Russian officials if the contacts produced absolutely nothing? | |
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| 12-24-18 06:13pm - 2147 days | #1379 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Donald Trump pours shame on Christmas. Says there is not enough money to keep the National Christmas tree lit up. Trump is showing Christians the dark side of his real nature: Is Trump the anti-Christ, in sheep's clothing? Trump has also ordered that restroom facilities will be closed. So people can take a dump in the streets, if they are willing to chance being arrested for public indecency. ------- ------- National Christmas tree dark due to government shutdown HuffPost US Ron Dicker Dec 24th 2018 9:27AM Lots of folks aren’t seeing the light in Washington this week. The National Christmas Tree may stay dark during the partial government shutdown, according to reports on Sunday. “During the federal government shutdown, the White House Visitor Center and National Christmas Tree site will be closed,” the National Park Service wrote on its website. “Restroom facilities will be closed.” The tree, a massive Colorado blue spruce, was damaged Friday when a man in “emotional distress” tried to climb it, a park service spokesperson told The Hill. The shutdown has “complicated” repairs that would allow for the lights to be turned back on. There was a flicker of hope that might happen. The National Park Foundation, a charity that supports the park service, was providing materials and labor to get the lights working, a park service spokeswoman told WTOP. The lights flickered on and off Sunday as workers assessed the damage. The darkened tree, located on the Ellipse near the White House, adds a grinch-like note to the standoff between President Donald Trump and Congress over his demand for a $5 billion border wall. Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, warned the shutdown could stretch into January. President Calvin Coolidge began the National Christmas Tree tradition in 1923, when he lit a tree with 2,500 bulbs in red, white and blue, according to the park service. Ninety-five years later, the prospects appear dim that the tree will be relighted in time for Christmas. Talk about a dark moment in history. | |
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| 12-24-18 07:41pm - 2147 days | #1380 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: the only real news that's fit to print. President Trump wants to shut down the news: newspapers, radio, TV. He wants to start his own national news center, "The Real News Reports" by the only honest man in the US government: Donald Trump. Vote for Trump, the man who will make America white and great again: Donald Trump, leader of the Moral Majority for a White America. --- --- Trump calls report about him 'lashing out' at acting AG Matt Whitaker 'fake news' Geobeats Dec 24th 2018 9:21PM President Trump on Monday called a recent report about him “lashing out” at acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker “fake news.” “I never ‘lashed out’ at the Acting Attorney General of the U.S., a man for whom I have great respect,” Trump tweeted. “This is a made up story, one of many, by the Fake News Media!” The tweet comes after CNN reported that Trump had expressed his anger at Whitaker over developments in the case against the president’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen. According to the report, “Trump was frustrated, the sources said, that prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made Trump look bad. None of the sources suggested that the President directed Whitaker to stop the investigation, but rather lashed out at what he felt was an unfair situation.” CNN claims there were two such confrontations—one after Cohen pleaded guilty and another after prosecutors suggested that Trump himself was complicit in campaign finance violations by agreeing to pay for the silence of his alleged mistresses during the 2016 election. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for charges that “included arranging hush-money payments to two women who said they had affairs with Mr. Trump, tax evasion, making a false statement to a bank and lying to Congress,” reports the New York Times. | |
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| 12-27-18 11:52am - 2144 days | #1381 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Donald Trump tweets video of secretive SEAL team in Iraq. Remember Hillary Clinton, with the chant to lock her up. Now Trump might have broken the law, with tweets of a secretive Seal team in Iraq. God save President Trump. He belongs in prison for numerous crimes. In prison, Trump will have to chance to repent for his sins. Lock up Trump, and his family, and his allies. While the president has broad authority to declassify information, some observers called it a breach of operational security. You need to declassify information before releasing it. Not after. So Trump is breaking the law. ======= ======= Trump tweets video of secretive SEAL team in Iraq AFP AFP 3 hours ago US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during an unannounced trip to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB) Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump may have inadvertently unmasked a Navy SEAL team during his short visit to a US base in Iraq this week. Ordinarily, the whereabouts of special operations forces are a closely held secret. In the rare instances when they are filmed while in a combat zone, their faces and other identifying features are usually blurred out. But after his lightning trip to Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq on Wednesday, Trump tweeted a video of him posing for photos with US troops, shaking their hands and signing mementos. In one scene, he is giving a thumbs up alongside a group of what appear to be special operations forces. According to the pool report of the event, held in a dining hall at the base, a man called Kyu Lee told Trump he was the chaplain for SEAL Team Five. Lee recalled Trump telling him: "Hey, in that case, let’s take a picture." While the president has broad authority to declassify information, so his tweet likely didn't run afoul of any rules, some observers called it a breach of operational security. Revealing identities "even if it's the commander-in-chief, would prove a propaganda boom if any of this personnel are detained by a hostile government or captured by a terrorist group," Malcolm Nance, a former US Navy intelligence specialist told Newsweek. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump also drew criticism in the US for repeating a previously debunked claim that he had secured military members a pay raise for the first time in 10 years, when in fact the Pentagon has increased pay each year. In Iraq following the visit, pro-Iran lawmakers called for the government to expel US forces. | |
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| 01-01-19 03:19pm - 2139 days | #1382 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump lies there is a 10 foot wall around the Obama house in Washington. Maybe Trump needs new glasses? Or a new brain? But Trump wants to build a wall about 3 or 4 times higher than the imaginary wall around Obama's house. And thousands of miles long, which would be much longer than the imaginary wall around Obama's house. What's the difference in cost: Obama 10 foot wall: Zero (there is no wall). Trump wall: Billions of dollars. -------- -------- January 1, 2019 1:02PM ET Trump Lies About ’10 Foot Wall’ Around Obama’s Home. There Isn’t One A neighbor confirmed the former president’s house is “100 percent visible from the street” By Peter Wade the Obama's red brick home that does not have a 10 foot wall around it The Obamas' home in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C In the midst of the government shutdown over funding of President Donald Trump’s border wall, the president tweeted a bizarre justification for wanting to build a barrier between Mexico and the United States, saying that former President Barack Obama has a “ten foot Wall” surrounding his home in Washington, D.C. But thanks to reporting by the Washington Post, we know that is patently false. It turns out the president was completely making up this assertion. According to one neighbor who spoke with the Post: “There’s a fence that goes along the front of the house, but it’s the same as the other neighbors have. It’s tastefully done.” And another neighbor confirmed to the paper that the house is “100 percent visible from the street.” While there is a fence and a guard house blocking part of the driveway to the Obamas’ $8.1 million-dollar home, installed by the Secret Service, the Post’s fact checker confirms the front of the house is open to the street, and nothing blocks the stairs leading up to the front door. And the mansion, located in the Kalorama neighborhood of D.C., certainly isn’t a compound, like Trump alleged. Trump also claimed in his tweet that his proposed border wall would be a “slightly larger version” of the wall he accused the Obamas of having. But even that was stretching the truth. His desired border wall would be three or four times as tall and thousands of miles long, significantly larger than the imaginary fence around President Obama’s house. | |
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| 01-01-19 03:58pm - 2139 days | #1383 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news update: Trump welcomes the new year with a government shutdown continuing. Trump defends his country by keeping out racist Mexicans, scummy blacks, terrorist Muslims, and other criminals. Keep America safe. Keep America White. Keep America the land that I love, that I believe in. ---------- ---------- Donald Trump rejects Democratic funding plan, wishes Happy New Year to 'haters' David Jackson, USA TODAY Published 9:13 a.m. ET Jan. 1, 2019 | Updated 5:46 p.m. ET Jan. 1, 2019 With the partial government shutdown stretching into 2019, here's what you need to know about the effects. USA TODAY WASHINGTON – With no end of a partial shutdown in sight, President Donald Trump rang in the new year Tuesday by denouncing a new Democratic plan to reopen the government because it lacks money for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. "The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allocated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative!" Trump tweeted. "The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security - and our Country must finally have a Strong and Secure Southern Border!" Democrats accused Trump of promoting the shutdown, in its 11th day as well as a new year, by insisting on an expensive wall that would do little or nothing to stop illegal border crossings. Trump "has given Democrats a great opportunity to show how we will govern responsibly & quickly pass our plan to end the irresponsible #TrumpShutdown – just the first sign of things to come in our new Democratic Majority committed to working #ForThePeople," Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted in promoting her plan. From the White House, Trump issued mocking season's greetings to his critics. "HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA!" Trump tweeted. He wrote, "2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE, GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!" Later in the day, Trump issued a more sedate tweet: "Happy New Year!" Trump taunted Pelosi, who is likely to be elected House speaker for the new Democratic majority. "Border Security and the Wall 'thing' and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker!" Trump tweeted. "Let’s make a deal?" The Trump administration invited congressional leaders to the White House on Wednesday for a briefing on border security, including plans for the wall. Pelosi and the Democrats said they already have a plan and will pass it when they take charge of the House of Representatives after it convenes Thursday. The proposal includes full-year funding for shuttered departments except for the Department of Homeland Security, which handles immigration and border security. The Democrats called for temporary funding of the DHS through Feb. 8 as Trump and Congress negotiate a long-term plan, though many Democrats oppose any federal funding for the wall. "The President is using the #TrumpShutdown to try to force an expensive & ineffective wall upon the American people, but Democrats have offered two bills which separate the arguments over the wall from the government shutdown," Pelosi tweeted. Though White House officials said they would not comment on any plan until Congress sends them one, Trump has said in tweets he would oppose any plan that lacks money for a wall. Monday, the president tweeted that "the Democrats will probably submit a Bill, being cute as always, which gives everything away but gives NOTHING to Border Security, namely the Wall. You see, without the Wall there can be no Border Security." Though Democrats will have the votes in the House to pass their plan, its fate in the Republican-run Senate is uncertain at best. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the GOP Senate "is not going to send something to the president that he won’t sign." | |
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| 01-11-19 11:27am - 2129 days | #1384 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump Has Just Hired An Army Of 17 Lawyers To Hide From Mueller [Esquire] Olivia Ovenden Esquire•January 10, 2019 Despite his attempts to cause confusion and chaos with a national address on the proposed border wall - in which he said very little - the heat of the Mueller investigation is clearly getting to Donald. So much so that he's considerably strengthened his legal team in order to help protect himself as the feared contents of Mueller's report loom. The significantly larger team has been assembled with the aim of preventing Trump's discussions with top legal advisors being disclosed to House Democrats or revealed in Mueller's forthcoming report. The Independent report that, "The strategy to strongly assert the president's executive privilege on both fronts is being developed under newly arrived White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who has hired 17 lawyers in recent weeks to help in the effort." Were Trump to succeed in blocking areas of Mueller's report from becoming public it would enrage Democrats, many of which have long been hoping the contents of the report will give them grounds to issue subpoenas. With the report potentially due as soon as next month, Democrats are especially concerned that Trump's legal team is attempting to conceal obstruction of justice by the president - an impeachable offence. Hoping to hide behind an army of lawyers, Trump's legal team have told special counsel Robert Mueller he will not answer any more questions. Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Reuters, "As far as we're concerned, everything is over. We weren't convinced they had any questions they don't know the answer to." He added, "They could try to subpoena him if they want. But they know we could fight that like hell," he said. The investment in a bolstered legal team is particularly galling for federal government workers who continue to go unpaid amid the partial government shut down. Donny always said his priority was protecting American jobs, but perhaps he should have made clear he only meant his own. | |
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| 01-12-19 05:48am - 2128 days | #1385 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
As a matter of national security, President Trump must be bold: he must fire and arrest the secret cadre inside the FBI which is working to undermine his goal of making America white and great again. The signs of treason are obvious: the FBI has secretly probed whether Trump has ever been, or is currently, working for Russia. Mueller was and possibly still is involved in the probe. To defend the integrity of the United States Presidency, Trump must fire immediately all dis-loyal FBI agents and place them in prison, where they will be forced to admit to their illegal crimes. Trump has called the Mueller investigation a "Witch Hunt". It turns out he was 100% correct. The secret FBI cadre wants to drag Trump down, even though Trump's Presidency is one of the most glorious and powerful efforts to bring greatness back to the American people (American people excluding Mexican rapists, murderers, people from shithole countries like Africa, and other un-desirables that want to feed off the teat of White America while shitting all over America's most holy white parts). ------------ ------------ Report: FBI probed whether Trump secretly worked for Russia The Associated Press Jan 11th 2019 9:46PM WASHINGTON (AP) — The New York Times reports that law enforcement officials became so concerned by President Donald Trump's behavior in the days after he fired FBI Director James Comey that they began investigating whether he had been working for Russia against U.S. interests. The report, published late Friday, cites unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation. Special counsel Robert Mueller took over the investigation when he was appointed soon after Comey's firing. The Times says it's unclear whether Mueller is still pursuing it. Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Times that he had no knowledge of the inquiry but said that since it was opened a year and a half ago and they hadn't heard anything, apparently "they found nothing." | |
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| 01-13-19 01:46am - 2128 days | #1386 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump has concealed details of his meeting with Putin. But that's all right. As long as Trump was not paid under the table, but in an open and fair manner in bank transfers, then Trump can claim he was acting as a businessman, trying to encourage Putin to act like a capitalist, and selling Putin secrets for more money than the secrets were worth. Trump has plenty of lawyers to back up his claims, of innocence. --------------------- Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in administration By Greg Miller January 12 at 10:05 PM President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said. Trump did so after a meeting with Putin in 2017 in Hamburg that was also attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. U.S. officials learned of Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official sought information from the interpreter beyond a readout shared by Tillerson. The constraints that Trump imposed are part of a broader pattern by the president of shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from fully knowing what he has told one of the United States’ main adversaries. As a result, U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in classified files, of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with the Russian leader at five locations over the past two years. Such a gap would be unusual in any presidency, let alone one that Russia sought to install through what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as an unprecedented campaign of election interference. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is thought to be in the final stages of an investigation that has focused largely on whether Trump or his associates conspired with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. The new details about Trump’s continued secrecy underscore the extent to which little is known about his communications with Putin since becoming president. After this story was published online, Trump said in an interview late Saturday with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that he did not take particular steps to conceal his private meetings with Putin and attacked The Washington Post and its owner Jeffrey P. Bezos. He said he talked with Putin about Israel, among other subjects. “Anyone could have listened to that meeting. That meeting is open for grabs,” he said, without offering specifics. When Pirro asked if he is or has ever been working for Russia, Trump responded, “I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked.” [A beefed-up White House legal team prepares for battle with special counsel] Former U.S. officials said that Trump’s behavior is at odds with the known practices of previous presidents, who have relied on senior aides to witness meetings and take comprehensive notes then shared with other officials and departments. Trump’s secrecy surrounding Putin “is not only unusual by historical standards, it is outrageous,” said Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state now at the Brookings Institution, who participated in more than a dozen meetings between President Bill Clinton and then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s. “It handicaps the U.S. government — the experts and advisers and Cabinet officers who are there to serve [the president] — and it certainly gives Putin much more scope to manipulate Trump.” A White House spokesman disputed that characterization and said that the Trump administration has sought to “improve the relationship with Russia” after the Obama administration “pursued a flawed ‘reset’ policy that sought engagement for the sake of engagement.” The Trump administration “has imposed significant new sanctions in response to Russian malign activities,” said the spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and noted that Tillerson in 2017 “gave a fulsome readout of the meeting immediately afterward to other U.S. officials in a private setting, as well as a readout to the press.” Trump allies said the president thinks the presence of subordinates impairs his ability to establish a rapport with Putin and that his desire for secrecy may also be driven by embarrassing leaks that occurred early in his presidency. The meeting in Hamburg happened several months after The Washington Post and other news organizations revealed details about what Trump had told senior Russian officials during a meeting with Russian officials in the Oval Office. Trump disclosed classified information about a terrorism plot, called former FBI director James B. Comey a “nut job” and said that firing Comey had removed “great pressure” on his relationship with Russia. The White House launched internal leak hunts after that and other episodes and sharply curtailed the distribution within the National Security Council of memos on the president’s interactions with foreign leaders. “Over time it got harder and harder, I think, because of a sense from Trump himself that the leaks of the call transcripts were harmful to him,” said a former administration official. Senior Democratic lawmakers describe the cloak of secrecy surrounding Trump’s meetings with Putin as unprecedented and disturbing. ------------------ Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview that his panel will form an investigative subcommittee whose targets will include seeking State Department records of Trump’s encounters with Putin, including a closed-door meeting with the Russian leader in Helsinki last summer. “It’s been several months since Helsinki and we still don’t know what went on in that meeting,” Engel said. “It’s appalling. It just makes you want to scratch your head.” The concerns have been compounded by actions and positions Trump has taken as president that are seen as favorable to the Kremlin. He has dismissed Russia’s election interference as a “hoax,” suggested that Russia was entitled to annex Crimea, repeatedly attacked NATO allies, resisted efforts to impose sanctions on Moscow, and begun to pull U.S. forces out of Syria — a move that critics see as effectively ceding ground to Russia. At the same time, Trump’s decision to fire Comey and other attempts to contain the ongoing Russia investigation led the bureau in May 2017 to launch a counterintelligence investigation into whether he was seeking to help Russia and if so, why, a step first reported by the New York Times. It is not clear whether Trump has taken notes from interpreters on other occasions, but several officials said they were never able to get a reliable readout of the president’s two-hour meeting in Helsinki. Unlike in Hamburg, Trump allowed no Cabinet officials or any aides to be in the room for that conversation. Trump also had other private conversations with Putin at meetings of global leaders outside the presence of aides. He spoke at length with Putin at a banquet at the same 2017 global conference in Hamburg, where only Putin’s interpreter was present. Trump also had a brief conversation with Putin at a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires last month. Trump generally has allowed aides to listen to his phone conversations with Putin, although Russia has often been first to disclose those calls when they occur and release statements characterizing them in broad terms favorable to the Kremlin. In an email, Tillerson said that he “was present for the entirety of the two presidents’ official bilateral meeting in Hamburg,” but he declined to discuss the meeting and did not respond to questions about whether Trump had instructed the interpreter to remain silent or had taken the interpreter’s notes. In a news conference afterward, Tillerson said that the Trump-Putin meeting lasted more than two hours, covered the war in Syria and other subjects, and that Trump had “pressed President Putin on more than one occasion regarding Russian involvement” in election interference. “President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the past,” Tillerson said. Tillerson refused to say during the news conference whether Trump had rejected Putin’s claim or indicated that he believed the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered. Tillerson’s account is at odds with the only detail that other administration officials were able to get from the interpreter, officials said. Though the interpreter refused to discuss the meeting, officials said, he conceded that Putin had denied any Russian involvement in the U.S. election and that Trump responded by saying, “I believe you.” Senior Trump administration officials said that White House officials including then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster were never able to obtain a comprehensive account of the meeting, even from Tillerson. “We were frustrated because we didn’t get a readout,” a former senior administration official said. “The State Department and [National Security Council] were never comfortable” with Trump’s interactions with Putin, the official said. “God only knows what they were going to talk about or agree to.” Because of the absence of any reliable record of Trump’s conversations with Putin, officials at times have had to rely on reports by U.S. intelligence agencies tracking the reaction in the Kremlin. Previous presidents and senior advisers have often studied such reports to assess whether they had accomplished their objectives in meetings as well as to gain insights for future conversations. | |
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| 01-13-19 06:37pm - 2127 days | #1387 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
GOP part stands behind Trump 1000%. The GOP party has a deaf ear when it comes to reports that people it favors might have committed crimes: The GOP part is the party that backs possible rapists, pussy-grabbers, thieves and adulters (if they are of the Republican party, otherwise, if a Democrat, Democrats are shameful scum who should be executed for doing things only a Republican has the right to do). So what is Trump is a racist? He's the president. The president has a right to his personal beliefs. So what if Trump is a possible traitor? He's the president. And no right-thinking Republican will criticize the president who's a member of their party. Go, GOP. the biggest hypocrites alive (except for Donald Trump, the biggest liar of them all). The only good Republican is a dead Republican. Clean the swamp in Washington. Put all the Republicans in jail. --------- --------- GOP shrugs off report that Trump concealed details of Putin meetings HuffPost US Igor Bobic Jan 13th 2019 7:11PM Top Republican lawmakers appeared unfazed Sunday by reports that President Donald Trump has “gone to extraordinary lengths” to conceal his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the last two years. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Trump has repeatedly sought to hide his interactions with Putin, often one of the main U.S. adversaries in international affairs. According to the story, Trump’s actions included “taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials,” such as former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. As a result, U.S. officials told the Post, there exists “no detailed record, even in classified files,” of Trump’s meetings with the Russian leader at five locations over the past two years. The unusual attempts at secrecy did not appear to concern a pair of top congressional Republicans, who downplayed the matter as part of an unconventional strategy employed by an equally unconventional president. “This is not a traditional president. He has unorthodox means but he is president of the United States. It’s pretty much up to him in terms of who he wants to read into his conversations with world leaders,” Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Johnson speculated that Trump felt “burned earlier by leaks of other private conversations” between him and other world leaders, prompting his effort to keep interactions with Putin from members of his own administration. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” similarly dismissed the Post report, arguing that Trump’s administration has been tough on Russia and that concerns about the president’s affinity for Putin are unfounded. “I know what the president likes to do. He likes to create a personal relationship, build that relationship, even rebuild that relationship like he does with other world leaders,” McCarthy said. Asked whether he’d like Congress to investigate the matter, including potentially calling the president’s translator to testify, McCarthy said, “I’d like the president to be able to build these relationships.” A Democratic congressional leader on Sunday questioned why Trump has a habit of being friendly with Putin. “Why is he so chummy with Vladimir Putin, this man who is a former KGB agent, never been a friend to the U.S., invaded our allies, threatens us around the world, and tries his damndest to undermine our elections, why is this President Trump’s best buddy? I don’t get it,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on ABC’s “This Week.” | |
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| 01-14-19 07:35am - 2126 days | #1388 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump jokes about working for the Kremlin after the Republican Party gives him a free pass on any crimes he may have committed. "Trump is our man", the lying hypocrites of the Republican part chant. "It doesn't matter what he did-legal or criminal. We stand behind Trump, our leader." So the Republican party is revealed, time and again, as hypocrites with no morals, no sense of guilt for putting a rapist on the Supreme Court, for helping a man become president who is a serial womanizer and guilt-free liar. ---------- ---------- 'Thought he worked for the Kremlin?' Trump jokes about Russia ties after claims the FBI investigated him as a potential Russian agent Business Insider Sinéad Baker Jan 14th 2019 8:54AM US President Donald Trump joked about his ties to Russia after a bombshell report said that the FBI had investigated him as a potential Russian agent. Trump said that his policies resulted in low gas prices and more domestically produced oil, which did not help Russia. "But this is bad news for Russia, why would President Trump do such a thing? Thought he worked for Kremlin?," he tweeted. The FBI began investigating whether President Donald Trump was a witting or unwitting Russian agent after he fired FBI director James Comey in May 2017, The New York Times reported. US President Donald Trump joked about his alleged ties with Russia after claims that the FBI had started to investigate whether he was a Russian asset. Trump cited "Fox and Friends" on Twitter on Monday morning, touting a claim that gas prices in the US are falling because he had curtailed regulations on the industry. Trump wrote that this meant the US is "now producing a great deal more oil than ever before." Trump then joked that he wouldn't do this if he was allied with Russia. "But this is bad news for Russia, why would President Trump do such a thing? Thought he worked for Kremlin?," he tweeted. “Gas prices drop across the United States because President Trump has deregulated Energy and we are now producing a great deal more oil than ever before.” @foxandfriends But this is bad news for Russia, why would President Trump do such a thing? Thought he worked for Kremlin? The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was intentionally or unintentionally working for the Russians after he fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, according to a bombshell New York Times report. The bureau is already investigating whether Trump's 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Moscow, but this report is the first indication that the FBI thought that the president himself could have been acting, wittingly or unwittingly, as a Russian agent. It is not clear if the counterintelligence investigation is still underway. Trump first responded to the report on Saturday, when he tweeted that former FBI leaders were "corrupt" and opened up an investigation with "no reason & with no proof." He also repeated his now-familiar attacks on Comey, calling him "Lyin' James Comey" and a "total sleaze." | |
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| 01-14-19 09:37am - 2126 days | #1389 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
BREAKING FAKE NEWS: TRUMP SHUTS DOWN THE IRS. SAYS AMERICANS NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY SALES TAXES. SAYS AMERICANS NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY INCOME TAXES. TRUMP SUES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR ALL TAXES HE HAS PAID SINCE HER WAS AN INFANT. GOOD LUCK, MR. TRUMP: WHO IS STRONGER: THE IRS, OR MR. TRUMP? | |
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| 01-15-19 12:55am - 2126 days | #1390 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
This is fake news: President Trump is the bravest man I've ever known. He said he would charge a gunman to protect innocent lives. Without even a weapon. Just his bare hands. So how dare a reporter question the bravery of our glorious president? ------- ------- Trump said he would charge a gunman. Here’s what he’s actually done in the face of danger. How Trump has fared in the face of danger in the past By Eli Rosenberg February 26, 2018 President Trump’s assertion that he would have run toward the Parkland, Fla., gunman had he been near the school would have been a bold claim for just about anybody to make. “I really believe I’d run in, even if I didn’t have a weapon,” he said during a meeting at the White House on Monday. Trump has no background in law enforcement or the military, and the boastful nature of the statement — the president was nowhere near the shooting when it occurred — immediately raised questions about his intent. And given Trump’s public track record in the face of proximate danger, his words instead ended up underscoring a separate truth: His actions have, at times, read differently than his tough talk. Spooked at a rally The most frightened that Trump has ever seemed in public was perhaps a moment during a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, in March 2016. The then-candidate was in the midst of speaking about manufacturing, when a man hopped the barrier behind him and rushed the stage. Trump stopped speaking, looked nervously behind him and grabbed and started to duck behind his lectern. He was then swarmed by Secret Service agents, who steadied him. Trump continued his speech after the disruption, and gave the audience a thumbs-up, claiming that he could have handled the attacker himself, despite his first reaction. “I was ready for him,” Trump said, “but it’s much easier if the cops do it.” A Secret Service agent suffered a minor injury in the episode, and the suspect, whom police identified as Thomas Dimassimo, was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors. The moment was later immortalized in a doctored video in which a seated Sen. Bernie Sanders yelling “boo” was edited into the frame the moment before Trump was spooked. Later that year at another rally, Trump was hustled off a stage in Nevada, after the someone in the audience yelled “gun.” No weapon was found. An eagle named Uncle Sam In 2015, Trump was beaten out by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Time magazine’s Person of the Year. But as a runner-up (the magazine said he was third, behind Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi), he was still given a write-up and photo shoot for the magazine. Time paired him with a 27-year-old bald eagle named Uncle Sam during the shoot, but the bird didn’t want to stay still, flapping its wings so hard it blew Trump's hair as it sat on his gloved hand. And in the midst of a separate pose that photographers arranged with Trump at his desk and the bird perched beside him, Uncle Sam lunged at Trump as he went to grab something near its feet. Trump quickly shrank away from the bird, recoiling so far that he nearly fell out of the camera frame. “We’re not doing it again; don’t worry,” Trump told the crew. “What you will do for a cover. This bird is seriously dangerous but beautiful.” [Trump says he would have rushed in to protect students from gunman at Florida high school] The Vietnam War Trump’s detractors call him “Cadet Bone Spurs” for his failure to serve in the Vietnam War though he was of age, and they have some facts on which to ground their epithet. While 9 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam War — 1.8 million were drafted — the future president was given five deferments from the draft: four related to his college studies and one for bone spurs in his heel, though the problem was not severe enough to prevent him from playing sports such as football, tennis and golf as a young man. For years, Trump had explained his lack of service by the luck of a high lottery number. The year of Trump’s graduation from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, 1968, was the bloodiest for American troops of the war: about 16,900 service members were killed that year. By the time the war ended in 1975, 58,000 Americans had died. In contrast, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, whose investigation into Russian interference Trump routinely maligns, chose to enlist in the Marine Corps and was deployed to Vietnam to lead a rifle platoon that year, earning two awards for valor and suffering a gunshot wound to his leg. Decades later, Trump told radio host Howard Stern that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was “my personal Vietnam.” “I feel like a great and very brave soldier,” Trump said. Blood, germs and feels Trump, who has a reputation as a germaphobe, has spoken about his fear of contamination for years. He told Stern about his penchant for hand-washing and drinking through straws, saying he was concerned about glasses being dirty and the cleanliness of other people’s hands. He also told the radio host that he was terrified of blood. “I’m not good for medical,” he said in a 2008 interview. “In other words, if you cut your finger and there’s blood pouring out, I’m gone.” He told Stern about an old man falling from the stage during a benefit at his Mar-a-Lago club. “I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away,” Trump said. “I didn’t want to touch him.... He’s bleeding all over the place. I felt terrible. You know, beautiful marble floor, didn’t look like it. It changed color. Became very red. And you have this poor guy, 80 years old, laying on the floor unconscious, and all the rich people are turning away. ‘Oh my God! This is terrible! This is disgusting!’ And you know, they’re turning away. Nobody wants to help the guy.” Trump said Marines at the benefit came to the aid of the fallen man, and the future president kicked into action. “I was saying, ‘Get that blood cleaned up! It’s disgusting!’ ” said Trump. “The next day, I forgot to call to say he’s okay.” No-go zones For decades, presidents have visited troops overseas at least once a year, especially during their first year in office. Vice President Pence went to Afghanistan on Trump’s behalf before Christmas, and he visited troops who are fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq at an undisclosed military base last month. But Trump has yet to visit a combat zone, despite the United States’ military entanglements overseas. In an editorial that urged the president to visit a war zone, USA Today writer Gregg Zoroya noted the risks involved, pointing out that the Kabul airport where Defense Secretary Jim Mattis landed in September had come under an intense rocket attack that resulted in civilian deaths. “Most of the time, these trips produce little political payoff. News coverage is scant. Most Americans back home are asleep during the visit,” Zoroya wrote. “It’s also a long way to travel with living conditions far less accommodating than the White House or a luxury Florida resort like Trump's Mar-a-Lago.” President Trump covers himself from the rain with an umbrella while his son, Barron Trump, walks behind as they board Air Force One in West Palm Beach, Fla., after a holiday weekend in January. (Andrew Harnik/Associated Press) Trump also waited nearly two weeks to visit hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico in October, then made a series of remarks that some saw as gaffes. “I’ve been to Puerto Rico many times ... and I’ve always loved it,” he said in his remarks. “And your weather is second to none, but every once in a while you get hit.” Trump has talked exceedingly tough on North Korea, to the chagrin of some foreign-policy experts, but a highly touted trip to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea in November — all but one president since Ronald Reagan has made the pilgrimage — was canceled at the last minute because of hazy skies. A month after the launch of his presidential campaign, he made a show of visiting the border near Laredo, Tex., repeatedly talking up the danger of the visit. “I may never see you again, but we’re going to do it,” he told Fox News. His trip to Laredo — a news conference at an airport hotel and a brief visit to the bridge connecting the city to Mexico — lasted less than three hours. Laredo is one of the safest cities in Texas and has a lower murder rate than Trump’s home town, New York City. ‘You never stand in front of the door’ During an interview with The Washington Post in 2016, Trump spoke about collecting rent from buildings his father owned in “dangerous” areas, such as Coney Island, Brooklyn and Cincinnati, where he said he was “liable to get shot” if he came at the wrong time. “You know when you collect rent — and you may have heard this — but you never stand in front of the door,” Trump said. “And you always knock this way because you get bad things coming through that door.” | |
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| 01-17-19 02:26pm - 2123 days | #1391 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The real news: Guiliani (one of President Trump's many lawyers) now says he never said there was no collusion with Russia. Who will Guiliani throw under the bus, to save President Trump? Trump's two sons, who Trump does not seem to care for? Or Trump's daughter Ivanka, who Trump would like to jump on, if she wasn't his daughter? Enquiring minds want to know: who will be the next victim of Trump's guilt? If Trump is sent to prison, would he be able to share a cell with his daughter, Ivanka? That would help pass the time for both of them. -------- -------- Giuliani: 'I never said there was no collusion' with Russia [AFP] AFP•January 16, 2019 Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, on Wednesday insisted he "never said there was no collusion" between Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign and Russia -- only that Trump himself was not involved. Speaking to CNN's Chris Cuomo, the former New York mayor said he did not know if others involved in the campaign had worked with Russia. "I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign," Giuliani said. "I said the President of the United States," he added. "There is not a single bit of evidence the President of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspiring with the Russians to hack the DNC." A day earlier, Trump had insisted he "never worked for Russia" following two bombshell reports. "It's a disgrace that you even ask that question," he told reporters on the White House's South Lawn. "It's all a big fat hoax." In the first report, The New York Times said the FBI opened an investigation into whether Trump was acting on Russia's behalf soon after he became president. Meanwhile, The Washington Post detailed what it said were the unusual lengths taken by Trump to hide the contents of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both men's comments come as Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation looms large in the background, punctuated by guilty pleas, convictions and indictments of former Trump associates. These include his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Manafort has admitted to sharing polling data with a Russian during the 2016 presidential race, according to a court filing inadvertently made public by his lawyers. CNN reported that the intended recipients were two pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs. But on Wednesday, Giuliani suggested that was "not collusion". "Polling data is given to everybody," he told CNN. | |
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| 01-18-19 09:28am - 2122 days | #1392 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Real news: Chris Christie (former New Jersey Governor) rips into Trump's white house: says Trump is surrounded by "Amateurs, Grifters, Weaklings." -------- -------- Chris Christie Tears Into Donald Trump's White House: 'Amateurs, Grifters, Weaklings' [HuffPost] Lee Moran ,HuffPost•January 17, 2019 Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reportedly delivers a savage critique of President Donald Trump’s inner circle in his upcoming book, Let Me Finish. In an exclusive excerpt of the tell-all memoir that was obtained by Axios, Christie wrote that Trump has a “revolving door of deeply flawed individuals” working for him in the White House. They are “amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons” who “were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia,” he added in the tome, which is due out Jan. 29. Christie, who was axed from the Trump transition team just days after the 2016 election, also said the president “trusts people he shouldn’t, including some of the people who are closest to him.” “They set loose toxic forces that have made Trump’s presidency far less effective than it would otherwise have been,” he wrote. “If this tragedy is ever going to be reversed, it is vital that everyone know exactly how it occurred.” In another excerpt published by British newspaper The Guardian on Tuesday, Christie accused Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner of conducting a revenge political “hit job” on him. Christie prosecuted Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, for witness tampering and tax evasion in 2005. | |
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| 01-18-19 09:36am - 2122 days | #1393 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, said he would take a bullet for Trump. Cohen was that loyal. But now that Cohen is making deals trying to reduce his time in prison, Trump has turned on Cohen, saying Cohen was convicted of perjury and fraud, and may have stolen thousands of dollars. It's a shame Cohen and Trump can't remain friends, but Trump has a habit of firing people and then saying they are not worth shit. --------- --------- ‘Lying to reduce his jail time’: Trump lashes out at Cohen, threatens father-in-law after BuzzFeed report Geobeats Jan 18th 2019 11:33AM President Trump has tweeted an apparent response to a recent BuzzFeed News report that alleges he told his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Citing a quote from a Fox News personality, Trump wrote on Friday: “Kevin Corke, @FoxNews ’Don’t forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars….’ Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!” Trump suggested during a Saturday interview with Fox News that he had damaging information about Cohen’s father-in-law, notes The Hill. Cohen has since reportedly been reconsidering his decision to testify before Congress in February. The attorney was sentenced to three years in prison for charges that “included arranging hush-money payments to two women who said they had affairs with Mr. Trump, tax evasion, making a false statement to a bank and lying to Congress,” according to the New York Times. The BuzzFeed report released on Thursday had noted: “Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.” | |
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| 01-19-19 11:51am - 2121 days | #1394 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Real news: Trump threatens the nation: impeach me if you want to see a stock market crash. Trump is hiding away from friends (does he have any?) and family (he hasn't slept with his wife since she got preggies with that fake boy of hers that she passes off as Donald Trump's son). Get rid of Trump before he destroys the American family values that he shits on every day. -------- -------- Trump: Impeach me if you want to see a stock market crash Geobeats Jan 19th 2019 10:47AM President Trump on Saturday warned that if he’s impeached, the country could face an economic crisis. “The Economy is one of the best in our history, with unemployment at a 50 year low, and the Stock Market ready to again break a record (set by us many times) – & all you heard yesterday, based on a phony story, was Impeachment. You want to see a Stock Market Crash, Impeach Trump!” Trump wrote on Twitter. The impeachment chatter was recently fueled following a since disputed BuzzFeed report alleging that Trump directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump has addressed impeachment in other tweets as well. “How do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%?” Trump tweeted on January 4. Years ago, he did, however, call for former President Obama’s impeachment. “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?” Trump wrote in 2014. | |
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| 01-19-19 03:42pm - 2121 days | #1395 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, who is one of the finest Americans alive, backs President Trump 100%. McConnell says the Democrats are evil scum who have shut down the US governmemt. Putting government employees out of work, and leaving those employees scrambling to find food and money to pay their bills. Why are Democrats so evil and unfeeling and the scum of the earth? Is it because they are envious of the wealth that Republicans have created for the common US citizen? Vote for the party of the Moral Majority for a White America. Vote for Trump, the greatest President we've ever had. The man who would have gone to Vietnam to end the war, except his family convinced him to get a solid education before risking his life. And then the bone spur happened, keeping him out of the military. God save Donald Trump, hero of all White Americans and Fundamentalist Christians. | |
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| 01-22-19 05:30pm - 2118 days | #1396 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Texas pastor says that Trump's border wall is blessed by God. Even heaven will have a wall. So Trump's border wall has been blessed by God. But a minister rejects the pastor's words: saying that not all walls are blessed by God. Will the two preachers duke it out on TV, for a fight to the death? Or will the two preachers fight a war of words, about what God means for Trump to do? Stay tuned to this channel: Enquiring minds want to know: Is Trump the most corrupt President the US has ever had? -------- -------- Pastor In Favor Of Trump’s Border Dream Claims Even Heaven Will Have A Wall One evangelical preacher is supporting Trump’s border wall dream and using the Bible to support it, even claiming that heaven itself will have a wall around it. Pastor of First Baptist Dallas Church in Texas, Robert Jeffress has been a huge supporter of Trump — and recently appeared on “Fox & Friends” Sunday to give his thoughts on Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as well as other Democrats. “The Bible says even Heaven itself is gonna have a wall around it,” Jeffress stated on the show. “Not everybody is going to be allowed in. So if walls are immoral, then God is immoral.” But not all American Christians adhere to the pastor’s bold stance. President and general minister of the United Church of Christ, Rev. John C Dorhauer, shared with HuffPost how his denomination rejects the idea of building a wall between nations is either moral or biblical. He referenced examples like the Berlin Wall as well as walls used in Europe to divide Jewish people into ghettos. “A wall indicates a failure to love our neighbor as ourself, the foundation of a law Jesus asked his disciples to embrace,” Dorhauer shared. But Jeffress defended Trump’s policies and believes there is nothing immoral about building a border wall. “The Bible teaches that the primary responsibility of government is to maintain order and keep its citizens safe, and there’s nothing wrong with using a wall to do that,” he shared. He then referenced two biblical passages to support his point – ones he has referenced multiple times in the past to support Trump’s plan for a wall. Jeffress alleged that God instructed Nehemiah, a 5th-century B.C. Jewish leader, to construct a wall around Jerusalem to keep its people safe. Jeffress also made the claim that heaven itself will also be surrounded by a wall — a reference to a passage from Revelation 21, where it says there will be a “great and high wall” surrounding a “New Jerusalem” at the end of the world. On Tuesday, Trump discussed the morality of his border wall during a Oval Office address that was televised – arguing how politicians do not build walls around their homes because they hate the people on the outside, “but because they love the people on the inside.” Jeffress tweeted out how Trump gave a “powerful speech,” shortly after the address. But research shows how American Christians are across the board regarding their feelings about the border wall. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, stats show that white Christians support the wall, including 67 percent of white evangelicals, 52 percent of white mainline Protestants and 56 percent of Catholics. But Christians who are not white have differing opinions – 73 percent of Hispanic Catholics, 66 percent of Hispanic Protestants and 70 percent of black Protestants oppose the border wall. Also, the morality of the border wall in the bible is not as black and white as Jeffress makes it out to be. Because while the Bible includes stories of constructing walls – it also contains stories about Joshua, a Jewish leader who tore down walls. Leader of the Franciscan Action Network, Jason Miller, who spearheads the Catholic social justice group, shared with HuffPost how its possible to “cherry-pick” any reference from the Bible to defend one’s point of view. But when it comes to Christians, the biblical command to love God and one’s neighbors should stand above all other teachings. After all, it is the golden rule. | |
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| 01-24-19 12:30am - 2117 days | #1397 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Breaking news: Trump says the union has busted. Says he will not make a State of the Union address until the government shutdown has ended. If the government shutdown does not end, Trump will be forced to declare martial law and have the scummy Democrats arrested and hanged. Without benefit of trial, since these are dangerous times and harsh measures must be taken to protect the Presidency and the Nation, one Nation under Trump and under God. ------- ------- Trump says he'll wait until shutdown over to make State of the Union address Thomson Reuters Jan 24th 2019 12:00AM Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said in a late night Tweet on Wednesday that he will wait until the government shutdown is over to deliver a State of the Union address from the House of Representatives. Trump also criticized House leader Nancy Pelosi for withdrawing a previous invitation to deliver the address. The House Speaker said she changed her mind because of the shutdown, which has lasted more than a month and affected 800,000 federal workers. "This is her prerogative - I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber," the president said in the tweet. | |
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| 01-24-19 07:45am - 2116 days | #1398 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Who are you gonna believe? Donald Trump, a serial liar? Rudy Guiliani, another serial liar following in the steps of his boss, Donald Trump? Special prosecutor Mr Mueller, who plays games hiding the truth because it's part of his job description: his job is not to reveal the truth to the American public, but to give his report to the Attorney General. The Attorney General can then decide what is done with the report. --------- --------- Trump's Moscow Tower designs 'revealed in leaked documents' after Rudy Giuliani said 'no plans exist' [The Independent] Andrew Buncombe ,The Independent•January 22, 2019 Blueprints for a luxury Moscow skyscraper and hotel bearing the name of Donald Trump have been published, a day after the president’s lawyer insisted “no plans were ever made”. In an interview with the New Yorker, Rudy Giuliani sought to downplay previous comments in which he told the New York Times and other media outlets over the weekend that discussions about a proposed Trump Tower in the Russian capital had continued throughout 2016. The comments were made amid claims Mr Trump had directed his then lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to congress about The Apprentice star’s property dealings. “First of all, the Times was absolutely wrong. Probably just as wrong as BuzzFeed was. I never said he had conversations about a skyscraper in Moscow,” the New Yorker quoted Mr Giuliani as saying in an interview published on Monday. “The only thing that ever happened was that they submitted a letter of intent about a possible project in Moscow that never went beyond that. No money was ever paid, no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file. Nothing ever happened to it. Much ado about nothing, because the New York Times wants to crucify the president.” No more than a day later, BuzzFeed News published what it said were indeed the plans for a proposed Moscow Trump Tower. The building would have been the tallest in Europe, the news site reported, beneath a headline that said: “Trump’s lawyer said there were “No Plans” for Trump Tower Moscow. Here they are.” It said its story about the towers was based on “hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year of reporting”. It said it had obtained a plan by a New York architect for a building with a glass obelisk that would have been 100 stories high. The project never went ahead, though the plan is now part of the investigation by Robert Mueller into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the nation's alleged attempt to influence the 2016 election. It quoted Russian real estate developer Andrey Rozov saying to Cohen in September 2015: “The building design you sent over is very interesting and will be an architectural and luxury triumph. I believe the tallest building in Europe should be in Moscow, and I am prepared to build it.” Last week, BuzzFeed News reported that special prosecutor Mr Mueller believed Cohen had been directed by Mr Trump to lie to Congress about his plans for the tower. Mr Trump and the White House denied the report and Mr Mueller issued a rare statement saying: “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the special counsel’s office, and characterisation of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate.” BuzzFeed has said it stands by its report. There has been no response to the latest report by Mr Trump or his lawyer. | |
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| 01-24-19 12:51pm - 2116 days | #1399 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
This is a dark day in the history of the United States. Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, has been subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committed. What does the Senate Intelligence Committee want to know? Are they investigating Donald Trump, our beloved President who has probably been guilty of more corruption than any President in US history? Will the Republicans defend Trump by turning a deaf ear to any comments by Cohen? Will the Republicans continue to slander Cohen, making him out to be the bad guy who tried to lead Trump astray, who tried to make Trump commit crimes for personal gain? Or was Trump willing and able to do those crimes, on his own, but needed a fall guy to take the blame if things went wrong? Is Donald Trump the teflon Don, the head of a criminal family that reached heights of power no former mafioso ever dreamed of? Stay tuned for further developments. Trump is the man: leader of the Moral Majority for a White America. Note: Can Trump legally order his secret service, sworn to protect the President, to put a hit on Cohen? Or, can Trump, in secret, order a hit squad to take out Cohen and his entire family, as a warning to former workers about the dangers in turning against Trump, our elected President? Enquiring minds want to know: Can Trump ask his pal, Putin, for help in arranging for "accidents" to Cohen? ------- ------- Michael Cohen subpoenaed by Senate Intelligence Committee NBC News Dartunorro Clark Jan 24th 2019 11:58AM The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday subpoenaed Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer. The move comes a day after Cohen delayed his public testimony before the House Oversight Committee over alleged "ongoing threats against his family from President Trump" and members of his legal team, Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said in a statement Wednesday. In December, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for what a Manhattan federal court judge called a "veritable smorgasbord" of criminal conduct, including making false statements to Congress about the scope and status of the Trump Tower Moscow project. Prosecutors said Cohen provided the Senate Intelligence Committee inaccurate information about the project to minimize links between the president and efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and to give the false impression that the project had ended before the Iowa caucuses in February 2016. The committee's chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, declined to comment. | |
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| 01-25-19 07:49am - 2115 days | #1400 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump orders all police officers: Shoot first, ask questions later. Here's an example of a St. Louis police officer killing another officer. The surviving officer says it was accidental. But the dead police officer tells another story: "He shot me in the back, Ma", cries the ghost of the dead officer. Trump says he only honor live heroes, so the dead cop is not a hero. Trump will give the Presidental Medal of Honor to the surviving cop, for courage and bravery under unusual circumstances: (The circumstance was the second cop lived while the first cop died). The cop who died was a female. Trump knows no females are fit to be cops. Just like he knows no transgendered people or gays or other weirdos don't fit into our proud military. Go, Trump, you are the Man! -------- -------- St. Louis police officer kills another officer in accidental shooting: Authorities [Good Morning America] MORGAN WINSOR ,Good Morning America•January 24, 2019 St. Louis police officer kills another officer in accidental shooting: Authorities originally appeared on abcnews.go.com An off-duty police officer was accidentally shot and killed by another officer in St. Louis early Thursday morning, authorities said. The accidental shooting occurred around 1 a.m. local time after two off-duty officers stopped by one of their homes during their shift. Officer Katlyn Alix, who was off-duty at the time, came by the residence and was shot in the chest, St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden Jr. told reporters at a press conference. The two officers took Alix, 24, to the hospital where she died, Hayden said. No further information was immediately released, including the names of the other officers. St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson called the shooting "terribly sad." The Metropolitan Police Department, City of St. Louis (SLMPD) confirmed via Twitter early Thursday morning that one of its officers had died from a gunshot wound. "We are deeply saddened to announce that the officer transported to the hospital has succumbed to her injuries. We ask that you keep the officer's family and the entire SLMPD in your thoughts and prayers as we mourn the loss of our officer and friend," the department tweeted. We are deeply saddened to announce that the officer transported to the hospital has succumbed to her injuries. We ask that you keep the officer’s family and the entire SLMPD in your thoughts and prayers as we mourn the loss of our officer and friend. pic.twitter.com/NGcU4tpXiU — St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) January 24, 2019 This is the second law enforcement officer in the U.S. to die from gunfire in the past week. Officer Sean Tuder was shot and killed in the line of duty Sunday while attempting to serve an arrest warrant in Mobile, Alabama. 17 hours ago "The accidental shooting occurred around 1 a.m. local time after two off-duty officers stopped by one of their homes during their shift. Officer Katlyn Alix, who was off-duty at the time, came by the residence and was shot in the chest, St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden Jr. told reporters at a press conference. The two officers took Alix, 24, to the hospital where she died, Hayden said." How are you off-duty during your shift? Were there two officers total, or three? A lot of mysteries in the prose of this "journalist." BBA 23 hours ago My condolences to the family. I'm sad to hear that yet again another life has been taken, but I'm confused. Was this off duty officer shot by another off duty officer. Where is the rest of the story. I don't understand. Ryan 17 hours ago Katlyn Alix, 24, was off-duty when she was accidentally shot by an on-duty officer at an apartment, SLMPD spokeswoman Officer Michelle Woodling told CNN. Another on-duty officer was also at the scene. The two on-duty officers -- both described only as 29-year-old white men -- met Alix at the apartment. Police have not said who lived at the residence. While they were sitting in the living room, one of the officers "mishandled a firearm" and shot Alix in the chest, Woodling said in an email. According to the SLMPD's statement, a call for "officer in need of aid" was put out at 12:56 a.m., and the third officer told the dispatcher they were taking Alix to the hospital. She was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, the statement said. | |
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