Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

angelburst29 · Feb 5, 2018

Rhythmik said:
It's interesting to watch Adam Schiff interviewing James Comey under oath now knowing what we know.

US President Donald Trump has voiced his accusations against Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

'Must Be Stopped': Trump Accuses Top Democrat of Leaking Confidential Info
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802051061370358-trump-schiff-accusations-leak-confidential-information/

"Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!" Trump stated.

The statement was made amid a Twitter scrimmage between them: commenting on the recently released Republican memo on FBI and DOJ, Trump stated that the document indicates that there was no collusion between his election campaign and Russia. Adam Schiff, in his turn, fended off this argument, saying that former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, not Carter Page, was involved collusion with the Russians.

Adam Schiff
✔ @RepAdamSchiff

Quite the opposite, Mr. President. The most important fact disclosed in this otherwise shoddy memo was that FBI investigation began July 2016 with your advisor, Papadopoulos, who was secretly discussing stolen Clinton emails with the Russians. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/959798743842349056 … 11:09 AM - Feb 3, 2018

Meanwhile, Democratic members of Congress are urging Trump to release a rebuttal memo put together by Schiff and his colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee following Friday's release of a document from the Republicans on alleged abuses at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Justice Department).

The House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote during a meeting on Monday on whether to publicly release the Democrats' rebuttal memo.

The memorandum, released by Republicans on February 2, implies that the FBI abused power in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election, accusing top officials of political bias in the probe.

The memo's conclusions have raised questions about the legitimacy and legality of certain interactions between the US Department of Justice and the FBI, revealing the violation of surveillance laws in the investigation into the Trump presidential campaign.

Both sides under the investigation: the Trump administration and the Kremlin, have repeatedly denied all the accusations of collusion. Moscow has rebuffed unsubstantiated claims of meddling with the US vote, saying that such actions contradict the principles of Russia's foreign policy.

Outlets including The New York Times are burying the allegation laid out in the memo that the FBI abused its power to spy on a Trump campaign member.

Mainstream Media Outlets Banish Contents Of Republican Memo From Front Page Coverage Sat. Feb. 3, 2018 (Screen shots of media front pages)
http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/03/mainstream-media-banishes-contents-of-gop-memo-from-front-page-coverage/

In their front-page coverage of the story, mainstream media outlets gave readers no indication of the contents of a declassified memo released by the House Intelligence Committee on Friday.

The memo alleges the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice abused their power to obtain permission from a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on the Trump campaign. It asserts the FBI used an unverified opposition research dossier paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee to obtain permission to spy, but never disclosed certain information to the court that would have undermined its case, including who paid for the document and indications its author was an unreliable source.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and other mainstream outlets blocked these explosive allegations from their home pages Friday night, in some cases mischaracterizing the contents of the memo and downplaying its significance.

In its banner story, The Washington Post characterized the memo as “alleging missteps.” The memo alleges deliberate abuse of the system, not accidental missteps. In a nut graph next to that story, WaPo reiterates theories about what might happen to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as a result of the memo, with no real indication as to why he is implicated. Rosenstein signed warrant requests to the FISA court on the basis of allegations inside the dossier.

The New York Times banner coverage is a bit more informative, with the headline “GOP Releases Memo on Russian Inquiry,” followed by, “Alleges Abuses by FBI; Critics Call Claim Misleading.” But the key takeaway for readers from the memo itself seems deliberately opaque.

The memo criticizes information used in an application for a warrant to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, but does not provide all the evidence used in the application,” the front page reads.

The memo does not criticize information, it criticizes how the FBI massaged and presented that information before the FISA court to obtain permission to spy on the Trump campaign. And it’s not really news that “all the evidence” was not provided in the memo. Republicans never promised all the evidence, only a brief public-use summary based on classified material unavailable to the American public. Even that summary, according to memo critics, endangers national security. Readers looking for a key takeaway are done a disservice here.

The Wall Street Journal put a much more informative summary on their front page. “A House Republican memo alleges abuses in how top law-enforcement officials sought the surveillance of a onetime Trump adviser, suggesting partisan motives in a document that the FBI said contained factual omissions and inaccuracies,” the paper reports.

CNN’s top headlines include, “Did the [House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin] Nunes memo undermine its own core argument?” “Nunes says he didn’t read FISA applications” (he was briefed on the contents by another member who did), “James Comey Responds: That’s it?” And a big one referencing Sen. John McCain that reads, “Memo controversy is ‘doing Putin’s job,’ McCain says.”

The outlet’s banner coverage gives no indication of the contents of the memo or the nature of its allegations.

MSNBC’s treatment is similar. Zero references to content of the memo. Lots of headlines on criticism from Democrats and other stories pumping the Russia collusion narrative. One headline promises but doesn’t deliver the answer to a question readers of MSNBC could be forgiven for not knowing the answer to — “Why the Nunes memo is so controversial.”

Politico opted to frame its banner headline about the way Democrats on the committee are responding to Republican allegations of abuse of power inside the FBI, DOJ, and FISA system. The banner story manages to avoid the contents of the memo, while pushing two Democrat talking points — the memo is a nothingburger and might be used to undermine the Russia collusion investigation.

These editorial choices show what is by now a familiar willingness at mainstream outlets to pump narratives favorable to the Democratic Party and downplay any news that might be construed as favorable to President Trump, even if it means burying important elements of a massively important developing story their readers deserve to be informed about.

Yozilla · Feb 5, 2018

How curious - all this FISA clamoring closely followed by DOW JONES freefalling today, and skirmishes in Philadelphia. So what's that right behind the corner :huh:

In fact bad Apple sales reports of new phone maybe started DOW JONES fall - in fact those bad results seem to be served by 'leaks' that Apple purposefully slowed down the operating of older models. And imagine that, even they are under ~~serious~~ investigation for tthat misconduct... BITCOIN is also "crushed", German carmakers too (a sort of - if they don't jump fast enough in electric smart vehicles bandwagon...

...too continue...

angelburst29 · Feb 6, 2018

Another False Warning mistakenly issued ???

People along the US East and Gulf Coasts received a startling “Tsunami Warning” message on their phones Tuesday, after a routine monthly test message was mistakenly pushed out by some weather apps as a real warning.

Oops! It happened again -- tsunami test alert causes scare
http://www.cnn.com/2018/02/06/us/us-tsunami-warning-mistake/index.html

The National Weather Service sent the test message via the Emergency Alert System at around 8:30 a.m.

The message "was intended to only go to state warning points and certain other government agencies." However, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, "some news and weather services picked up the test message and posted it on their apps and via social media."

The push alerts and urgent messages people received on their phones did not make it clear that the warning was a test.

AccuWeather, makers of one of the apps that sent the alert, pointed the finger at the National Weather Service in a press release after the incident on Tuesday, saying the NWS coded the test message incorrectly.

This morning AccuWeather passed on a National Weather Service Tsunami Warning that was intended by the NWS to be a test but was miscoded by the NWS as a real warning."

Massachusetts Tsunami warning tests in dead winter #beverly pic.twitter.com/tZVStcpUhm
— Kate (@KateMeredithP) February 6, 2018
The false alarm came less than a month after a ballistic missile urgent alert was accidentally sent in Hawaii.

Many people noted the similarity between the two events and posted about it on social media -- with some even wondering if the Hawaii employee, who was fired for sending the mistaken missile alert, had found a new job.

National Weather Service local offices along the East and Gulf Coasts were quick to point out that there was no Tsunami Warning anywhere in the country, and that the warning was only a test.

The NWS said it was actively trying to find out how the message, which was issued by the Tsunami Warning Center, had been mistakenly sent out by third-party apps.

On Tuesday, a House subcommittee on emergency preparedness was scheduled to hold a hearing looking into what happened in the case of the false missile alert in Hawaii.

Something feels "very wrong" with this next story? For one, CNN is publishing a story about an CNN employee who just happened to discover sensitive DHS material on a commercial plane? Then, there is mention in the article of Juliette Kayyem, a former DHS official who now serves as a CNN contributor?

The Department of Homeland Security documents critiquing the response to a simulated anthrax attack on Super Bowl Sunday were marked “For Official Use Only” and “important for national security.”

Super Bowl anti-terrorism documents left on plane
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/us/dhs-super-bowl-national-security-documents-left-on-plane-invs/index.html

Recipients of the draft “after-action” reports were told to keep them locked up after business hours and to shred them prior to discarding. They were admonished not to share their contents with anyone who lacked “an operational need-to-know.”

But security surrounding the December 2017 reports suffered an embarrassing breach:

A CNN employee discovered copies of them, along with other sensitive DHS material, in the seat-back pocket of a commercial plane. The reports were accompanied by the travel itinerary and boarding pass of the government scientist in charge of BioWatch, the DHS program that conducted the anthrax drills in preparation for Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

The reports were based on exercises designed to evaluate the ability of public health, law enforcement and emergency management officials to engage in a coordinated response were a biological attack to be carried out in Minneapolis on Super Bowl Sunday.

The exercises identified several areas for improvement, including the problem that “some local law enforcement and emergency management agencies possess only a cursory knowledge of the BioWatch program and its mission.”

CNN decided to withhold publication of this article until after the Super Bowl after government officials voiced concerns that publishing it prior to the game could jeopardize security for the event. A DHS official told CNN that areas for improvement identified in the draft reports had been addressed prior to Sunday’s game and that the agency had “great confidence” in its preparedness.

“This exercise was a resounding success and was not conducted in response to any specific, credible threat of a bioterrorism attack,” said Tyler Q. Houlton, an agency spokesman.

Juliette Kayyem, a former DHS official who now serves as a CNN contributor, said it was not surprising that the documents highlighted deficiencies.

She said such exercises are designed to expose gaps in planning and preparedness so that authorities “are better equipped if something bad were to happen.”

Nonetheless, she said, the misplacement of the documents was “a really stupid thing.”

“Who knows who else could have picked this up,” she said.

“The biggest consequence of this mistake,” Kayyem said, “may have less to do with terrorists knowing our vulnerabilities and more to do with confidence in the Department of Homeland Security. In the end, confidence in the federal government at a time of crisis is what the American public deserves.”

In addition to requesting that CNN not publish prior to the Super Bowl, DHS officials argued that disclosure of some material contained in the draft reports could threaten national security, regardless of when it was published. Based on that concern, CNN is withholding some details contained in the documents.

The after-action reports obtained by CNN are based on a pair of exercises conducted as part of DHS’s BioWatch program, which operates a nationwide aerosol detection system designed to provide an early warning of a biological attack across all levels of government.

The exercises — one in July, the other in early November — were built around the response to an intentional anthrax release that coincides with the Super Bowl.

Among the findings was that there were “differences of opinion” over how many people had been exposed, “which led to differences of opinion on courses of action.”

The reports also noted there was confusion among local health agencies about the meaning of alerts issued during the exercise and with whom information could safely be shared during an emergency.

This “made it difficult for them to assess whether their city was at risk,” the documents stated, and “creates a situation where local officials are deciding on courses of action from limited points of view.”

CNN was unable to verify who left the documents on the plane. The travel itinerary and boarding pass accompanying the documents was in the name of Michael V. Walter.

Walter, a microbiologist, has been the program manager of BioWatch since 2009, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“I am responsible for developing and operating a budget that has ranged up to 90 million dollars and directed a staff or more than 50 members,” his profile says.

He held previous posts with the Central Intelligence Agency and Naval Surface Warfare Center and has 20 years of experience with biological warfare research.

Walter, 59, did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

A DHS official said the missing documents were the subject of an “operational review” and that “DHS does not comment on personnel matters or potential pending personnel action.”

There has been a drumbeat of criticism surrounding the BioWatch program since its inception in 2003.

Multiple government reports issued over the course of more than a decade have raised questions about its cost and effectiveness.

“Since 2003, approximately $1 billion has been spent on this program,” according to a 2013 memo by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s oversight subcommittee. “After more than a decade of operation, DHS still lacks crucial data demonstrating the effectiveness of the current technology.”

The report also noted differences of opinion within the government about the program.

“Several statements by DHS about the performance of the BioWatch program are disputed by other government scientists or contradicted by information obtained in this investigation,” the document said.

A 2015 report by the Government Accountability Office struck a similar tone when it said “considerable uncertainty” exists about the types and sizes of biological attacks the system could detect. The report states that because DHS did not develop “performance requirements” for the program, the agency could not make informed decisions about how to upgrade it.

An agency official noted in an email to CNN that “Biodetection is one aspect of a layered approach to biodefense,” and that “DHS continues to develop requirements and field enhancements to our national biodefense.”

angelburst29 · Feb 8, 2018

angelburst29 said:
Super Bowl anti-terrorism documents left on plane
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/us/dhs-super-bowl-national-security-documents-left-on-plane-invs/index.html

Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke said on Wednesday that leaving sensitive DHS documents on a commercial plane is a breach of responsibility and that the case that occurred last week will be dealt with as a personnel matter.

DHS Treating Lost Super Bowl Attack Docs as 'Breach of Responsibilities'
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802081061453240-dhs-lost-sensitive-docs/

Sensitive Homeland Security documents based on drills for a biological warfare attack at the Super Bowl were discovered by a CNN employee in the seatback of a commercial plane prior to the event. A travel itinerary and boarding pass belonging to Michael V. Walter, who runs the DHS BioWatch Program, was found with the materials. The BioWatch program maintains an aerosol detection system, designed to alarm in case of a biological attack.

The papers reportedly contained an analysis of the exercises, designed to boost the ability of local and federal public health and law enforcement to coordinate a response if a biological attack took place in Minneapolis on Super Bowl Sunday.

During a roundtable discussion, Duke told Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member Doug Jones (D-AL), that the documents were "old information."

It's what we tend to call a hot wash of what we see and what we're looking forward to," the deputy secretary said, adding that it was still a breach of their responsibilities.

"The actual leaving of the documents we will be handling under a personnel matter, similar to anything else that is a breach of our responsibilities of our employees," she said, as reported by the Washington Examiner.

Due to the risk of a terrorist attack, the DHS gave the Super Bowl a Level 1 special event assessment rating, the highest security designation available.

The discovered DHS report, though not classified, was marked "for official use only" and "important for national security" and instructed recipients to keep it locked up after business hours and shred it before discarding.

The documents revealed that during the drills, conducted in July and November, local health agencies were confused about the meanings of alerts that were issued. Those who participated in the exercises also had different opinions on how many people had been affected by the simulated anthrax attack and therefore how best to respond, according to the documents.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has commented on alleged Russia's interference in the presidential election.

Despite Lack of Proof, Tillerson Again Accuses Russia of Alleged 'Meddling'
https://sputniknews.com/world/201802071061426634-us-russia-elections/

Rex Tillerson said in an interview with Fox News said that if Russians have intention to interfere, they are going to find ways to do that and added that the US can take steps, but once Russians decide they are going to do it, it's very difficult to preempt it.

The secretary of state pointed out that the attempts to interfere in foreign elections allegedly carried out by Russia must be stopped.

The official also alleged that Russia was trying to meddle in a number of elections in the western hemisphere, including the 2018 US midterm Senate elections.

Investigation of the Russia alleged interference in the US elections in 2016 is conducted by the FBI, special prosecutor Robert Muller and the special committees for the investigation of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress. Donald Trump and his key assistants repeatedly rejected allegations of any unlawful contacts with Russian officials during the election campaign.

According to him, there was "no collusion, no abuse" of authority but "the Russian witch hunt continues."

Republicans in the US Congress distributed on Friday a memorandum, which sharply criticized the decision-making mechanism in the Justice Department and the FBI.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly called claims of alleged meddling in the US election "groundless," while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations.

US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum to setup a national vetting center to coordinate government efforts at preventing terrorists and criminals from entering the United States, the White House said in a press release.

Trump Signs Memo Establishing National Vetting Center to Identify Terrorists
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802071061421568-trump-established-vetting-facility/

"Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum to establish a National Vetting Center (NVC) to coordinate the efforts of departments and agencies to better identify individuals seeking to enter the country who present a threat to national security, border security, homeland security, or public safety," the release said on Tuesday.

The NVC will better coordinate these activities in a central location, the release added, to leverage critical intelligence "to identify terrorists, criminals, and other nefarious actors trying to enter and remain within our country."

Previous year, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13780, which resumed the US restricted refugee admissions programs and also put nationals from 11 countries which were believed to pose a higher risk to US national security under even tougher scrutiny.

The Senate’s top leaders announced Wednesday they have sealed agreement on a two-year budget pact that would shower both the Pentagon and domestic programs with almost $300 billion above existing limits, giving wins to both GOP defense hawks and Democrats seeking billions for infrastructure projects and combatting opioid abuse.

Senate leaders announce two-year budget pact
https://www.yahoo.com/news/house-senate-pursue-spending-deals-052307098.html

The agreement is likely to be added to a stopgap spending bill that passed the House on Tuesday and is aimed at averting a government shutdown Thursday at midnight.

The plan also contains almost $90 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-slammed Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

And it would increase the government’s borrowing cap to prevent a first-ever default on U.S. obligations that looms in just a few weeks.

The House’s top Democrat, however, swung out against the plan.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California announced she would oppose the budget measure unless her chamber’s GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect “Dreamer” immigrants who face deportation after being brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

The House on Tuesday passed legislation to keep the government running through March 23, marrying the stopgap spending measure with a $659 billion Pentagon spending plan, but the Senate plan would rewrite that measure.

Senate Democratic leaders have dropped their strategy of using the funding fight to extract concessions on immigration, specifically on seeking extended protections for the “Dreamer” immigrants. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., went with a deal that would reap tens of billions of dollars for other priorities — including combatting opioids — while hoping to solve the immigration impasse later.

The budget agreement would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies relief from a budget freeze that lawmakers say threatens military readiness and training as well as domestic priorities such as combating opioid abuse and repairing the troubled health care system for veterans.

Former CIA Director John Brennan has been hired as a paid contributor by NBC and MSNBC, the media company announced. He led the agency from 2013 to early 2017, under President Barack Obama.

‘News directly from the CIA’: Ex-director Brennan hired by NBC
https://www.rt.com/usa/417937-cia-john-brennan-nbc/

Brennan’s appointment comes amid the outcry over the memorandum released by House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-California) alleging impropriety by the FBI and DOJ while investigating claims of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

That Brennan previously lied to an NBC journalist about the CIA’s attempts to thwart a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the agency’s use of torture was apparently no deterrent to his appointment.

The ex-CIA chief made his first appearance in his new role as a senior national security and intelligence analyst on ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday, and promptly took the opportunity to accuse Nunes of being “exceptionally partisan” and abusing his role to protect Trump.

Brennan was nominated CIA director by Obama in 2013 and served until Trump took office in January 2017. In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, he has maintained that Russia “brazenly interfered” in the 2016 elections, offering no evidence to support his allegations.

The irony of Brennan’s new post was not lost on journalist and The Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald, who pointed out that it was a “little strange” for the network to constantly denounce RT and Fox as “state TV” and then hire CIA Directors & Generals as your “news analysts”?

The presence of former military and intelligence officials in newsrooms was once thought controversial. In 2008, the New York Times wrote an investigative analysis outlining the George W. Bush administration’s use of military analysts to shape terrorism coverage.

Internal Pentagon documents referred to them as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration “themes and messages” to millions of Americans “in the form of their own opinions.”

The largest contingent of analysts were affiliated with Fox News, followed by NBC and CNN, the investigation found.

angelburst29 · Feb 10, 2018

Mike Pence accused of hypocrisy for refusing to stand for Unified Korea during Winter Olympics opening ceremony - months after walking out of an NFL game because of kneeling players (Photos - Video)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5375621/Pence-accused-hypocrisy-not-standing-Korea-team.html

Vice President Mike Pence, who criticized NFL players for kneeling in protest during the national anthem, is being accused of hypocrisy for staying seated while the Korean unified team entered the Pyeongchang stadium Friday night for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

It was Pence who demonstrably left in the middle of a football game in Indianapolis in October over his disgust at a number of San Francisco 49ers players who knelt during the Star Spangled Banner.

Pence and his boss, President Donald Trump, have repeatedly singled out football players who have followed the example of former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and taken a knee during the national anthem.

* The impersonators appeared before the press seating and posed for photos
* They wanted to show the world that 'peace can be found' amongst conflict
* Security guards pounced on the pair and escorted them out of the stadium

'Trump' and 'Kim' are thrown out of the Winter Games opening ceremony after posing for selfies in the stands (Photos - Video)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5372631/Trump-Kim-thrown-Winter-Games.html

The bitter Cold War between the US and North Korea ended tonight when President Trump and Kim Jong-Un appeared before the world's press to shake hands.

But all was not as it seemed as two pranksters caused a stir at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Arm-in-arm they walked into the ceremony upstaging the US Vice President and Jong-un's sister who were seated in the VIP box on the other side of the 35,000-seater stadium.

Security guards soon pounced on the pair and escorted them out, but not before hundreds of cell phones had captured the moment and fed the internet.

The two impersonators appeared before the press seating area and posed for photographs.

'Trump' donned a red USA baseball cap while 'Jong-un' wore a pair of glasses and a long black coat.

One witness said: 'It was hilarious particularly as a few people thought these guys were the real deal at first.

'It was freezing and these comedians warmed everybody up. There was more attention on them than the athletes.'

Before leaving the stadium, the pranksters told an official that their message had been that 'peace can be found. '

The Kim impersonator said the two men decided to appear together in Seoul 'to show the world, this is what peace could look like when two leaders get along.

'We get along personally, so I believe that Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, if they talked they'd probably get along. Because in my opinion, they're pretty much the same person.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang for a third intra-Korean summit, media reported on Saturday.

North Korean Leader Invites South Korean President to Pyongyang - Reports
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201802101061532722-north-korea-south-korea-visit/

The invitation to visit Pyongyang at the "earliest date" was delivered by Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong, the Yonhap news agency reported citing presidential administration.

Kim Yo Jong is a member of the North Korean government delegation that arrived at the opening of the Olympics in Pyeongchang. On Saturday morning she, along with other high-ranking members of the delegation, visited the presidential palace and attended a dinner hosted by the President of South Korea. According to the agency, the delegates were invited in person.

"Let us make it happen by creating the necessary conditions in the future," Moon was quoted as saying by presidential administration's spokeswoman, according to the Yonhap news agency.

"An early resumption of dialogue between the United States and the North is needed also for the development of the South-North Korean relationship," Moon's quote read further.

A visit by Moon to the North would enable the first summit between leaders from the two Koreas since 2007.

The White House counsel has announced that they will not be releasing the memo compiled by Democratic lawmakers in the House Intelligence Committee (HIC) without revision, as the memo "contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages."

White House Won't Declassify Democratic Memo on Surveillance Without Revision
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802101061529249-democratic-memo-white-house-revision/

The letter from White House counsel Donald McGahn encouraged the HIC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to revise the memo to mitigate risks to national security, then send it back to the White House to be assessed again.

This week have seen the resignation of the US President Donald Trump's staff secretary Rob Porter who was accused by two of his ex-wives of physical and emotional abuse.

Another White House Aide Quits After Ex-Wife's Accusations
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802101061532202-white-house-aide-abuse-allegations/

White House speechwriter David Sorensen resigned on Friday after his ex-wife claimed that he'd abused her, becoming the second staffer to do so this week, according to the Washington Post.

"Before we were contacted by the media, we learned last night that there were allegations. We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegations and he resigned today," Deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah said.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the associate deputy attorney general (AG) of the US, their third highest ranking official, will be departing from the DOJ.

US Justice Department's Number Three Official to Step Down
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961121000317

Rachel Brand will be leaving the DOJ in the near future, her personal friend and former colleague Jamie Gorelick revealed in a statement to the Associated Press (AP) on Friday.

Brand will be taking the role of head of global corporate governance with the world's largest corporation.

"She felt this was an opportunity she couldn't turn down," Gorelick told AP, adding that "It really seems to have her name on it."

Had Brand remained with the DOJ, there is an excellent chance she would have assumed oversight of the ongoing special counsel investigation into alleged ties between US President Donald Trump and Russian actors. The investigation is being overseen by Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, who has been under significant scrutiny as a result of his involvement in the investigation.

Trump has lambasted the Justice Department in recent weeks, particularly after the release of a House Intelligence Committee (HIC) memo in early February that alleged surveillance abuses against his presidential campaign undertaken by the DOJ and FBI.

Unlike Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the special counsel investigation, Brand has kept a low public profile and has not been scrutinized by Trump. She was most recently in the news for pushing Congress to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program that gave the DOJ the authority to spy on foreigners suspected of wrongdoing, and has been a champion of free speech rights on college campuses.

Brand also served as a legal adviser and the United States Assistant AG for the Office of Legal Policy under the presidency of George W. Bush. Her job as associate deputy AG entailed overseeing the civil rights and antitrust divisions of the DOJ.

Yozilla · Feb 11, 2018

Maybe this reconciliation btw two Koreas could be a precursor to breakdown of Western/US union - like merging of two Germanies was a kind of prelude to collapse of Soviet one :huh:

angelburst29 · Feb 11, 2018

Yozilla said:
Maybe this reconciliation btw two Koreas could be a precursor to breakdown of Western/US union - like merging of two Germanies was a kind of prelude to collapse of Soviet one

History does repeat itself - from time to time? North and South Korea, both, seem to be making serious moves towards some type of unification.

This possible unification might be "why" Henry Kissinger made another guest appearance at the White House, this last Thursday (2.08.2018)?

Trump, Kissinger Discuss World Hotspots in Private Powwow Saturday February 10, 2018
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-henry-kissinger-us/2018/02/08/id/842287/

President Donald Trump is meeting on Thursday with Henry Kissinger, the 94-year-old elder statesman who served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Trump revealed the powwow in a tweet in which he said he and Kissinger will chat about three world hotspots: North Korea, China and the Middle East.

Kissinger has been vocal in recent days about various world issues.

Last month, he said if North Korea is allowed to keep its nuclear weapons, other nations will seek them too as a way "for achieving international prominence and the upper hand."

He made the remarks as he appeared along with the former State Department chief in the Reagan administration, George Shultz, and President George W. Bush's former deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, before the Senate Arms Committee.

Windmill knight · Feb 13, 2018

Check out this article by Justin Raimondo on Sott:

https://www.sott.net/article/377229-Donald-Trump-a-president-surrounded-by-the-War-Party-has-no-choice

Donald Trump, a president surrounded by the War Party, has no choice

They've got him surrounded

As Vice President Mike Pence made a fool both of himself and the country he is supposed to be representing at the Olympic Games by refusing to stand for the athletes of any nation other than the US, back at home the Washington Post was reporting on a President Trump who appears to have nothing in common either with Pence or with the White House staff. The piece, entitled "Trump's favorite general: Can Mattis check an impulsive president and still retain his trust?" tells a story that pits a President inclined to challenge the War Party against a Praetorian Guard determined to nullify his electoral mandate to keep out of foreign wars and put "America first":

"Although Trump has given the military broad latitude on the battlefield, he also has raised pointed questions about the wisdom of the wars being fought by the United States. Last year, after a delegation of Iraqi leaders visited him in the Oval Office, Trump jokingly referred to them as 'the most accomplished group of thieves he'd ever met,' according to one former U.S. official."

Truer words were never spoken, but of course this leak is designed to embarrass Trump and put him at odds with those very thieves. Mattis was presumably horrified by this truism, since the General is an even bigger thief, having successfully manipulated Congress into appropriating 15.5 percent more money for the military than Trump asked. The Post piece goes on to detail the President's many heresies:

"He has repeatedly pressed Mattis and McMaster in stark terms to explain why US troops are in Somalia. 'Can't we just pull out?' he has asked, according to US officials.

"Last summer, Trump was weighing plans to send more soldiers to Afghanistan and was contemplating the military's request for more-aggressive measures to target Islamic State affiliates in North Africa. In a meeting with his top national security aides, the president grew frustrated. 'You guys want me to send troops everywhere,' Trump said, according to officials in the Situation Room meeting. 'What's the justification?'"

Oh, the shocked silence in that room must have lasted for what seemed like forever. Then Mattis came up with the same old bullshit:

"'Sir, we're doing it to prevent a bomb from going off in Times Square,' Mattis replied."

Trump didn't fall for it: "The response angered Trump, who insisted that Mattis could make the same argument about almost any country on the planet." And the President wasn't alone in his skepticism: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions echoed Trump's concerns, asking whether winning was even possible in a place such as Afghanistan or Somalia."

Here's the scary part, which concludes the piece:

"It was Mattis who made the argument that would, for the moment at least, sway Trump to embrace the status quo - which has held for the past two presidents.

"'Unfortunately, sir, you have no choice,' Mattis told Trump, according to officials. 'You will be a wartime president.'"

Really? Why is that? And which war is Mattis specifically referring to? Afghanistan? We're largely out of Iraq. Syria - the latest addition to our interventionist folly? We aren't told, but in my view it's not any foreign war Mattis is referring to, but - perhaps unconsciously - he's referencing the war at home, i.e. the one being conducted by his own government against the President of the United States.

We read about it every day in the media: the Russia-gate hoax is still being flogged, despite growing evidence of its utter falsity. Robert Mueller is still on the prowl, looking for a pretext to take Trump down. The media, a longtime adjunct of the national security bureaucracy, is openly working in tandem with the intelligence services to take out Trump - and if you want to know why, just re-read the reporting on Trump's reluctance to go along with the War Party's murderous agenda.

So once they take him down, who will be Trump's replacement? It'll be Mike Pence, of course, the same person doing everything in his power to destroy the possibility of peace on the Korean peninsula - quite against Trump's expressed hope that "we can make a deal" with North Korea.

The War Party cannot tolerate a President who questions the most basic premises of the American Empire: "You guys want me to send troops everywhere!" Of course they do. However, Trump was elected to carry out a very different mandate: to start putting America first. He railed against regime change. And now the regime-changers want to carry out a change of regime against him.

Just look at the reporting by James Risen in The Intercept: the FBI/CIA/NSA cabal paid a Russian operative $100,000 as a down payment on a total of a million to get compromising material on Trump. Isn't this kind of thing only supposed to happen in places like Tadjikistan? Oh, it was all done under the pretext of getting back our stolen cyber-war tools, but really - how valuable are they if the Russians already have them? Sure, we could find out what was stolen - we still don't know - but the long involved process described by Risen is really about getting rid of Trump. That's all they really care about right now, and they'll stop at nothing - including, I believe, assassination - to pull it off.

There's too much money riding on the continued existence and expansion of our worldwide empire to let Trump ruin their scam. Too many careers are based on it, too much prestige is at stake, too many "allies" are dependent on the largesse it affords them. They're boxing him in, despite his noninterventionist instincts, and they're compiling "dossiers," and they're mobilizing all their forces for the final assault on the Oval Office. In an important sense, Trump is being held hostage: they have limited his policy options in every important sphere of the national security/foreign policy realm, The "swamp" Trump talks about is an international miasma, and swamp creatures of diverse nationalities are crawling out of the muck, their claws aimed straight for the presidential throat.

The War Party plays for keeps. The question is: does Donald Trump? We shall see.

Notes in the Margin

You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud.

I've written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).

You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.

Comment: There you have it. Democracy, American style. It seems that Trump did have the intention of putting 'America First' by improving life at home - not through imperial military adventures abroad. But the Deep State in all its glory has spoken: He has no choice. He will be a wartime president.

Let that sink in.

Laura · Feb 13, 2018

So, it is pretty much what the Cs said: Trump has no choice. And this recent business about his daughter in law opening a package with white powder in it probably drives the point home.

angelburst29 · Feb 14, 2018

Windmill knight said:
Check out this article by Justin Raimondo on Sott:

https://www.sott.net/article/377229-Donald-Trump-a-president-surrounded-by-the-War-Party-has-no-choice

It's a very good article. Sometimes, I get the sense that Pence is Mattis's handmaiden? Tillerson doesn't seem to be working with Trump, either?

Just recently, Pence was in Israel visiting "the Wall" when Trump was facing a Government shut down. I wonder, what the repercussions might be, if it was discovered (beyond doubt) that the Wailing Wall is actually a remnant of the Roman Fort Antonia? A grand deception!

The Bible speaks of large animal sacrifices in the Temple. A water source was needed for preparation and purification. The only fresh water stream in the area is Gihon Springs, which runs through the City of David. Archaeological excavations in the area have uncovered possible evidence of a Temple foundation dating back to Solomon's time. The video below goes into more "on site" information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rmk6_bIDMM (30:49 min.) Published on Jul 7, 2017

Something to consider. Can you imagine the upheaval in political and religious thinking if the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is not the site of Solomon's and Herod's temples? And what if the stones of the Wailing Wall are not what tradition says? In this highly-researched, exciting book, the author proposes from current archaeological excavations and Scriptural corroboration that the true temple location is not where tradition teaches.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited South Korea during the first days of the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. After his trip, the politician confessed that he was annoyed by US Vice President Mike Pence's behavior. Here's why.

Gerhard Schroeder Slams US Vice President Pence's 'Clumsy' Behavior at Olympics
https://sputniknews.com/world/201802131061627386-schroeder-pence-clumsy-behavior/

German ex-leader Gerhard Schroeder has criticized US Vice President Mike Pence's conduct at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, calling his actions "clumsy."

According to German newspaper Die Welt, the remark was made regarding the fact that Pence had ostentatiously avoided contact with North Korea's officials who also attended the opening ceremony, including Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un.

At the same time, before his return flight from South Korea to the US, Pence had declared that the US was ready to conduct direct talks with North Korea.

Pence also said in an interview with The Washington Post, published Sunday, that the Trump administration will go on with its strategy of "maximum pressure and engagement at the same time" with regard to North Korea, but noted that Washington was also open to direct diplomatic discussion.

"The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization," Pence told the newspaper. "So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we'll talk."

At the same time, the US official noted that his statement doesn't mean any change in the previous political course toward North Korea. On Wednesday last week, he said that the United States would soon roll out its "toughest and most aggressive" round of economic sanctions to ensure the denuclearization of the DPRK.

DianaRose94 · Feb 14, 2018

Windmill knight said:
Check out this article by Justin Raimondo on Sott:

https://www.sott.net/article/377229-Donald-Trump-a-president-surrounded-by-the-War-Party-has-no-choice

Donald Trump, a president surrounded by the War Party, has no choice

They've got him surrounded

As Vice President Mike Pence made a fool both of himself and the country he is supposed to be representing at the Olympic Games by refusing to stand for the athletes of any nation other than the US, back at home the Washington Post was reporting on a President Trump who appears to have nothing in common either with Pence or with the White House staff. The piece, entitled "Trump's favorite general: Can Mattis check an impulsive president and still retain his trust?" tells a story that pits a President inclined to challenge the War Party against a Praetorian Guard determined to nullify his electoral mandate to keep out of foreign wars and put "America first":

"Although Trump has given the military broad latitude on the battlefield, he also has raised pointed questions about the wisdom of the wars being fought by the United States. Last year, after a delegation of Iraqi leaders visited him in the Oval Office, Trump jokingly referred to them as 'the most accomplished group of thieves he'd ever met,' according to one former U.S. official."

Truer words were never spoken, but of course this leak is designed to embarrass Trump and put him at odds with those very thieves. Mattis was presumably horrified by this truism, since the General is an even bigger thief, having successfully manipulated Congress into appropriating 15.5 percent more money for the military than Trump asked. The Post piece goes on to detail the President's many heresies:

"He has repeatedly pressed Mattis and McMaster in stark terms to explain why US troops are in Somalia. 'Can't we just pull out?' he has asked, according to US officials.

"Last summer, Trump was weighing plans to send more soldiers to Afghanistan and was contemplating the military's request for more-aggressive measures to target Islamic State affiliates in North Africa. In a meeting with his top national security aides, the president grew frustrated. 'You guys want me to send troops everywhere,' Trump said, according to officials in the Situation Room meeting. 'What's the justification?'"

Oh, the shocked silence in that room must have lasted for what seemed like forever. Then Mattis came up with the same old bullshit:

"'Sir, we're doing it to prevent a bomb from going off in Times Square,' Mattis replied."

Trump didn't fall for it: "The response angered Trump, who insisted that Mattis could make the same argument about almost any country on the planet." And the President wasn't alone in his skepticism: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions echoed Trump's concerns, asking whether winning was even possible in a place such as Afghanistan or Somalia."

Here's the scary part, which concludes the piece:

"It was Mattis who made the argument that would, for the moment at least, sway Trump to embrace the status quo - which has held for the past two presidents.

"'Unfortunately, sir, you have no choice,' Mattis told Trump, according to officials. 'You will be a wartime president.'"

Really? Why is that? And which war is Mattis specifically referring to? Afghanistan? We're largely out of Iraq. Syria - the latest addition to our interventionist folly? We aren't told, but in my view it's not any foreign war Mattis is referring to, but - perhaps unconsciously - he's referencing the war at home, i.e. the one being conducted by his own government against the President of the United States.

We read about it every day in the media: the Russia-gate hoax is still being flogged, despite growing evidence of its utter falsity. Robert Mueller is still on the prowl, looking for a pretext to take Trump down. The media, a longtime adjunct of the national security bureaucracy, is openly working in tandem with the intelligence services to take out Trump - and if you want to know why, just re-read the reporting on Trump's reluctance to go along with the War Party's murderous agenda.

So once they take him down, who will be Trump's replacement? It'll be Mike Pence, of course, the same person doing everything in his power to destroy the possibility of peace on the Korean peninsula - quite against Trump's expressed hope that "we can make a deal" with North Korea.

The War Party cannot tolerate a President who questions the most basic premises of the American Empire: "You guys want me to send troops everywhere!" Of course they do. However, Trump was elected to carry out a very different mandate: to start putting America first. He railed against regime change. And now the regime-changers want to carry out a change of regime against him.

Just look at the reporting by James Risen in The Intercept: the FBI/CIA/NSA cabal paid a Russian operative $100,000 as a down payment on a total of a million to get compromising material on Trump. Isn't this kind of thing only supposed to happen in places like Tadjikistan? Oh, it was all done under the pretext of getting back our stolen cyber-war tools, but really - how valuable are they if the Russians already have them? Sure, we could find out what was stolen - we still don't know - but the long involved process described by Risen is really about getting rid of Trump. That's all they really care about right now, and they'll stop at nothing - including, I believe, assassination - to pull it off.

There's too much money riding on the continued existence and expansion of our worldwide empire to let Trump ruin their scam. Too many careers are based on it, too much prestige is at stake, too many "allies" are dependent on the largesse it affords them. They're boxing him in, despite his noninterventionist instincts, and they're compiling "dossiers," and they're mobilizing all their forces for the final assault on the Oval Office. In an important sense, Trump is being held hostage: they have limited his policy options in every important sphere of the national security/foreign policy realm, The "swamp" Trump talks about is an international miasma, and swamp creatures of diverse nationalities are crawling out of the muck, their claws aimed straight for the presidential throat.

The War Party plays for keeps. The question is: does Donald Trump? We shall see.

Notes in the Margin

You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud.

I've written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).

You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.

Comment: There you have it. Democracy, American style. It seems that Trump did have the intention of putting 'America First' by improving life at home - not through imperial military adventures abroad. But the Deep State in all its glory has spoken: He has no choice. He will be a wartime president.

Let that sink in.

Click to expand...

The article is pretty sad. But it's nothing really surprising for anyone that pays attention...If only people could wake up to what's truly happening. Whenever I see a rant about him in newspaper or on social media, I just want to yell "No, he isn't the enemy!". Anyway, let's see how this whole thing will unfold.

angelburst29 · Feb 23, 2018

A US judge has denied Paul Manafort's request to change his bail conditions. The former campaign manager for US President Donald Trump had appealed for a release from his house arrest, which the judge refused to grant.

US Judge Denies Paul Manafort's Request to End His House Arrest 22.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802221061912809-paul-manafort-house-arrest-continues/

"Minute order denying without prejudice defendant Manafort's sealed motion for reconsideration of the conditions of release," read a court filing from the court of US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Manafort was indicted alongside his business partner and former Trump deputy campaign manager Rick Gates in October. The two men have been accused of criminal misdoings during their work as lobbyists in Ukraine on behalf of former President Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions.

The two men stand accused of conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit fraud, and failure to register as foreign agents. None of the charges directly pertain to their work on the Trump campaign.

They were the second and third people indicted by Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller, respectively. Mueller was appointed to investigate alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian actors in May 2017. He has indicted four Trump campaign officials in total: Manafort and Gates, plus foreign policy adviser George Papadopolous and national security adviser Michael Flynn, both for making false statements to the FBI.

Mueller has also indicted 13 Russian nationals, three LLCs, and two American nationals with no direct connection to the Trump campaign. None of these 22 indictments have suggested that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian actors. Russian authorities have also consistently denied any and all allegations that they meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Robert Mueller has filed new charges against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, former campaign advisers to US President Donald Trump. The men stand accused of laundering $30 million and are facing tax fraud, bank fraud and bank fraud conspiracy charges related to their work as lobbyists in Ukraine.

Manafort, Gates Charged With Laundering $30 Million in Ukraine Income 23.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802231061914718-mueller-charges-manafort-money-laundering/

According to the indictment, Manafort disguised over $10 million in income from his Cyprus bank as loans. Manafort and Gates, who also maintained bank accounts in Saint Vincent, the Grenandines and the Seychelles, allegedly lied to US tax authorities and told them they had no foreign bank accounts.

"Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their Ukraine work. From approximately 2006 through the present Manafort and Gates engaged in scheme to hide income from United States authorities while enjoying the use of the money," the indictment reads.

"During the first part of the scheme between approximately 2006 and 2015, Manafort, with Gates' assistance, failed to pay taxes on this income by disguising it as alleged loans from nominee offshore corporate entities and by making millions of dollars in unreported payments from foreign accounts to bank accounts they controlled and United States vendors."

"Manafort also used the offshore accounts to purchase United States real estate, and Manafort and Gates used the undisclosed income to make improvements to and refinance their United States properties."

The indictment goes on to claim that Manafort and Gates used those properties as collateral to illicitly acquire loans. The men then used these woebegotten funds in the US to support "a lavish lifestyle" for Manafort and college tuition for Gates' children.

Manafort was indicted alongside Gates by Mueller in October. The two men have been accused of criminal misdoings during their work as lobbyists in Ukraine on behalf of former President Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions: conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit fraud, and failure to register as foreign agents.

A judge at the District Court for the District of Columbia set a sealed hearing for Friday in the case of Rick Gates, a former associate of President Donald Trump, after the defendant's lawyers submitted a motion to withdraw, according to an electronic filing.

US Judge Sets Sealed Hearing for Friday in Ex-Trump Aide Rick Gates Case 22.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802221061906309-us-judge-hearing-gates-case/

"It is ordered by the Court that a sealed hearing on the [161] Motion for Leave to Withdraw as Counsel of Record is scheduled for Friday, February 23," the electronic filing said on Thursday.

The hearing will deal with Gates' attorneys' request to retrieve from the case over what they have described as "irreconcilable differences." Sealed or closed-door hearing means that no public and nonessential staff can be present in a courtroom.

Gates was indicted last October alongside former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has been investigated for his alleged links to Russia in the 2016 US presidential election.

Last week, media published that Gates has been negotiating a plea deal and has already addressed to the team of US Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is leading the Russia investigation.

The lead Brexiteer is set to be the most prominent British speaker at the largest conservative event in the States, as the US-UK "special relationship" remain in limbo.

Transatlantic Bromance: Farage to Praise Trump in Front of US Conservatives 22.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/world/201802221061897544-farage-trump-cpac-bromance/

According to The Telegraph, former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage will argue that US President Donald Trump is fulfilling his campaign promises at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that is being held this week.

The CPAC is the largest annual conservative gathering in the US attended by thousands of conservative politicians, commentators and activists.

This year the conference also features a number of prominent right-wing figures from Europe, including Farage as well as his key allies Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore.

The trio had previously made the news after posing with Trump in the now famous golden elevator picture, taken in the aftermath of the US presidential elections in November 2016.

The trio had previously made the news after posing with Trump in the now famous golden elevator picture, taken in the aftermath of the US presidential elections in November 2016.

In an effort to strengthen his bond with the US President, Farage is expected to praise the Donald as "a man who is keeping faith with his electorate."

"Here is a man who is achieving extraordinary things and here is a guy who has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations of what he would be capable of as US president," the former UKIP leader told The Telegraph.

Farage's speech at the CPAC will also insist that such conservative victories in Europe as Brexit are "far from being a temporary blip," and the so-called "populist" movement is gaining momentum on the continent, despite the victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential elections last year.

"Don't be distracted by everybody's excitement over Macron," the Brexiteer said.

"The revolution of those that believe in nation state and national identity is still rolling."

To back up his claim, Farage pointed out that "the vote that is called ‘populist' in Europe averaged 8 percent in 2000, it is now 24 percent."

Nigel Farage and Donald Trump have a long and colorful history.

The UKIP leader participated in numerous pro-Trump rallies during the 2016 presidential race and was in fact the first foreign politician that the US President met after the elections.

In turn, Trump has praised Farage on multiple occasions and even suggested that he should be appointed the UK ambassador to Washington in breach of diplomatic protocol.

The pair's relationships remained unstrained by the evident cooling of the US-UK relationship, which occurred after Trump got into an argument with UK Prime Minister Theresa May over his repost of controversial right-wing pictures published by the embattled Britain First group.

The US President's invitation to Britain remains standing, though there is still no concrete date set for the official visit that has been postponed for over a year now.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday again lashed out at what he called "fake news" outlets, insisting that he never suggested arming teachers as a possible solution to school shootings.

Trump Defends His Comments on Giving US School Teachers Guns 22.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802221061902597-trump-comment-teachers-guns/

"I never said 'give teachers guns' like was stated on Fake News CNN and NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving 'concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience — only the best," Trump said in a Twitter message.

The president was referring to comments he made on Wednesday during a White House listening session with victims and survivors of school shootings, including last week's attack in Parkland, Florida that left 17 people dead.

In a series of Twitter posts on Thursday, Trump argued that "Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards," adding that "If a potential 'sicko shooter' knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will never attack that school."

Trump invited victims of last week's shooting in Parkland to the White House, along with survivors and parents of children killed in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and the 2012 Sandy Hook School massacre. The president listened to a series of emotional stories and pleas during the 90-minute meeting and asked his guests to suggest solutions to the persistent problem of school shootings in the United States.

On Gun Control - Trump vowed to push for legislation on comprehensive background checks for potential gun owners, as well as raise the age for purchasing guns and end the sale of bump stocks.

"I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks!" Trump said in a Twitter message. "Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue — I hope!"

On Tuesday, Trump said he signed a memo authorizing US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to propose regulations to ban bump stock devices. Bump stocks allow individuals to transform civilian semi-automatic firearms into military-style machine guns.

Nearly 300 shootings have occurred at US schools since 2013, an average of about one per week, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a US gun control advocacy group.

Last week's attack in Florida was the 18th incident involving guns at a US school so far this year, and the eighth to result in injuries or deaths, according to a running tally provided on the group's website.

US Customs and Border Protection said in a press release on Wednesday that it has started construction of a 2.25-mile wall that will replace a stretch of fence on the US border with Mexico.

US CBP Agency Begins Construction of Border Wall With Mexico in California 22.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/us/201802221061882712-usa-mexico-wall-construction/

"The area of the border wall replacement will be an approximately 2.25-mile section replaced with 30-foot high bollard style wall," the release said on Wednesday. "The El Centro Sector wall replacement is one of Border Patrol’s highest priority projects. [The fence] in this area was built in the 1990s out of recycled scraps of metal and old landing mat."

US Customs and Border Protection explained that the El Centro Sector is a high-intensity area of illicit immigration and drug trafficking.

Last year, Customs and Border Protection agents captured 18,633 illegal aliens, seized 5,554 pounds of marijuana, 483 pounds of cocaine and 1,526 pounds of methamphetamine and 2,521 ounces of heroin.

The El Centro Sector is located in the southern portion of the US state of California in the Imperial Valley and four border patrol stations are responsible for covering 70 miles of the border.

Constructing the wall on the US border with Mexico has been President Donald Trump's signature pledge on the campaign trail and during his presidency. Shortly after taking office in January of 2017, Trump signed an executive order to initiate the border wall project.

The Pentagon missed a deadline Tuesday to send a prisoner from the Guantanamo Bay detention center home to Saudi Arabia in what would have been the first transfer under President Donald Trump.

Pentagon says ‘soon’ on 1st Guantanamo transfer under Trump Tuesday 20 February 2018
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1250826/world

Ahmed Al-Darbi pleaded guilty before a military commission at the US base in Cuba in 2014 to charges stemming from an attack on a French oil tanker. He was supposed to be transferred to a rehabilitation program for former militants in Saudi Arabia in exchange for his testimony in two other Guantanamo war crimes cases.

But the US is still awaiting unspecified “assurances” from the Saudi Arabian government before the Defense Department can move forward with the transfer, said Navy Cmdr. Sarah Higgins, a Pentagon spokeswoman for issues related to Guantanamo.

Higgins said that the Defense Department “hopes the transfer will take place soon,” but said she could not offer further details.

Al-Darbi’s lawyer, Ramzi Kassem, said he realizes that dealings between two nations can take longer than expected and that he believes “all sides are working together toward the same goal” to complete the transfer despite the missed deadline.

“It would make little sense for the US government to renege on a deal with Mr. Al-Darbi after describing his testimony as ‘unprecedented’ in counter-terrorism prosecutions to date,” said Kassem, a professor at the City University of New York School of Law who has been Al-Darbi’s lead defense counsel since 2008. “That would virtually guarantee that no one else will cooperate with the US government and its military commissions.”

The prisoner pleaded guilty to charges that included conspiracy, attacking civilian objects, terrorism and aiding the enemy for helping to arrange the 2002 Al-Qaeda attack on the French tanker MV Limburg. The attack, which killed a Bulgarian crew member, happened after Al-Darbi was already in US custody and was already cooperating with authorities, according to court documents.

He has testified to being subjected to sleep deprivation, painful shackling and other abusive treatment while in US custody in Afghanistan.

Al-Darbi could have received a life sentence but instead got 13 years under an agreement that he be sent after four years to the rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia. As part of the deal, he agreed to testify against Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who is charged with orchestrating the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen and Abd al Hadi Al-Iraqi, who is charged with overseeing attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2002-2006.

Al-Darbi provided testimony in both cases, though neither has gone to trial yet. On Friday, a military judge put the Cole case on indefinite hold until another court can weigh in on legal issues that have emerged over the decision by the senior members of the defense team to quit the case because of what they say was a breach of attorney-client privilege.

No prisoners have left Guantanamo under Trump, including five men who were previously deemed eligible for transfer out of the detention center. There are now 41 men held at the base. President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush together released nearly 750 men from Guantanamo.

DougEE · Feb 25, 2018

I came across this cartoon and thought I'd share it, but not sure which thread is best.

angelburst29 · Feb 26, 2018

US President Donald Trump reportedly lost his temper during a phone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto after the latter insisted that Trump rescind his declaration that Mexico City would pay for Washington’s border wall between the two neighboring countries.

Diplomacy Much? Trump Temper Tantrum Cancels Meeting With Mexican President 25.02.2018
https://sputniknews.com/society/201802251061985965-trump-temper-cancels-diplomatic-talks/

The Mexican president had been planning a trip to Washington in March, but, according to officials in Mexico and the US, the state visit was called off because Trump refused to agree to publicly recognize Mexico's policy of not paying for the construction of a border wall between the two long term allies, cited by the Washington Post.

An avowed promise during Trump's successful presidential campaign, the construction of a 2000-mile wall between Mexico and the US — as a means of limiting illegal migration — is widely reviled by politicians, pundits and people on both sides of the border.

During an almost-hour-long phone conversation on Tuesday, Peña Nieto and Trump spent a significant portion on the wall, and Trump's adherence to his unpopular promise brought the talks to a hasty close when the US president quickly ended the call, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter.

Peña Nieto, facing an upcoming July election, has consistently held to his position that Mexico will never pay for the Trump-sponsored wall, while the US president has made the increasingly unlikely multi-billion dollar infrastructure project a cornerstone of his White House legacy.

"The problem is that President Trump has painted himself, President Peña Nieto and the bilateral relationship into a corner," asserted former Mexican ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan.

"Even from the get-go, the idea of Mexico paying for the wall was never going to fly," Sarukhan pointed out.

"[Trump's] relationship with Mexico isn't strategically driven. It's not even business; it's personal, driven by motivations and triggers, and that's a huge problem," he said, adding that, "It could end up with the US asking itself, ‘Who lost Mexico?'" cited by the Washington Post.

US officials remained optimistic, however, offering platitudes and political boilerplate following the contentious conversation and its rapid curtailment.

"We enjoy a great relationship with Mexico," Trump National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton vowed, continuing, "the two administrations have been working for a year to deepen our cooperation."

More than 50 political strategists are 'consumed with representing will of the American people'

Billionaire hires impeachment 'army' to 'remove Trump from power' 02/08/2018
http://www.wnd.com/2018/02/billionaire-hires-impeachment-army-to-remove-trump-from-power/

Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, a friend and donor to Obama and Clinton, is hiring an army of more than 50 political operatives in a major campaign to help Democrats get control of the U.S. House this year and “remove Trump from power.”

“Need to Impeach” Founder Steyer, 60, announced Thursday that he is hiring a team of 50 political and communications strategists to coordinate his campaign. While Steyer launched his $20 million campaign to impeach Trump last year, he has now promised to double that amount and also spend $30 million on 2018 House races through his super PAC, NextGen America.

“The team, including 50 staff members, is adding thousands of new supporters to the impeachment movement each day, creating a digital army of activists who are mobilizing to take back the House of Representatives in the 2018 election and remove Trump from power,” read a Thursday statement from “Need to Impeach.”

Separately, House Democrats announced Thursday that they plan to target as many as 101 Republican-held congressional seats this year, the most in a decade.

Steyer, who was once considered for secretary of energy during the Obama administration, spent $10 million opposing Trump’s successful tax-reform package. He contributed about $90 million to Democratic Party candidates and causes in 2016.

Steyer was an Obama fundraiser during the 2008 presidential election, collecting $50,000 to put the future president into office. He also lobbied Obama to block the Keystone XL pipeline.

Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., attended a big-money fundraiser at Steyer’s home overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in 2015. More than 50 wealthy Democratic donors attended the event.

The climate-activist billionaire hosted fundraisers for former Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton and paid millions toward ads, canvassing and voter turnout efforts to help her.

In fact, John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, has had a close friendship with Steyer for many years. Podesta served as Steyer’s adviser.

Rumors are now flying about Steyer’s possible 2020 White House ambitions.

“Our campaign has entered a new phase of social impact,” Steyer said in a statement. “The team that I have put together will lead one of the largest political engagement initiatives in recent memory, mobilizing supporters to elect public officials who are willing to put country over party. The Need to Impeach team gets it done. They are practical, and they are consumed with representing the will of the American people.”

Steyer has called Trump a “clear and present danger” and claimed the president is mentally unstable.

On Twitter, President Trump has called Steyer a loser, tweeting, “Wacky & totally unhinged Tom Steyer, who has been fighting me and my Make America Great Again agenda from the beginning, never wins elections!”

Nonetheless, even Obama’s former top adviser, David Axelrod, has condemned Steyer’s campaign to impeach Trump, saying the effort is too much, too soon.

In November, Axelrod tweeted: “Steyer impeachment ads seem to me more of a vanity project than a call to action. It is – at least at this point – an unhelpful message. If imepachment becomes a political tool, it will be as damaging to our democracy as the degradations @realDonaldTrump has inflicted on it.”

Steyer’s organization, NextGen, has donated grants to several refugee and immigration organizations and to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In 2016, it contributed $20 million to the For Our Future PAC, which donated more than $3.3 million to Clinton’s campaign and spent nearly $3.5 million to oppose Trump.

NextGen also gave $150,000 to MoveOn.org and $250,000 to Color of Change, both of which are key players in WND’s list of “Top 10 leftist groups wreaking havoc against the U.S. and sabotaging Trump.”

One “Need to Impeach” staffer is speechwriter and communications strategist Dave Bloom, who is a former undergraduate fellow of FactCheck.org and congressional intern for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

angelburst29 · Feb 28, 2018

Jared Kushner's security clearance downgraded Tuesday February 27, 2018
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8052183-181/report-jared-kushners-security-clearance

WASHINGTON — The security clearance of White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner has been downgraded, significantly reducing his access to classified information, according to two people informed of the decision.

Kushner had been operating with an interim clearance at the "top secret/sensitive compartmented information" level for more than a year. Now he is authorized to access information only at the lower "secret" level, according to a White House official and a person familiar with the decision, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. Neither source was authorized to discuss the decision publicly.

Tuesday's news set off rampant speculation among Trump allies that Kushner's days in the White House might be numbered. On the same day, the departure of a third Kushner ally in the West Wing in as many months was announced. And the selection of a Kushner ally to serve as Trump's 2020 campaign manager appeared to suggest the campaign could provide Kushner with a convenient place to land after his White House duties end.

Kushner lost his access to the nation's deepest secrets after chief of staff John Kelly ordered that White House officials with interim clearances pending since before June 1, 2017, be cut off if they hadn't received permanent clearances by last Friday. A White House official confirmed to The Associated Press that Kelly's order has been implemented.

President Donald Trump could have reversed Kelly's decision and unilaterally offered Kushner a clearance, but deferred to Kelly. Kushner is one of dozens of White House aides who have been working without permanent security clearances for the better part of a year.

His attorney told the AP that Kushner's ability to do his job won't be affected by any change to his clearance.

"Those involved in the process again have confirmed that there are dozens of people at Mr. Kushner's level whose process is delayed, that it is not uncommon for these clearance reviews to take this long in a new administration, and that the current backlogs are now being addressed," said Peter Mirijanian, a Kushner spokesman.

Kushner's portfolio once included the U.S. relationships with China and Japan and a host of domestic priorities, including infrastructure, trade and economic development. But his freewheeling reach in the foreign policy space — which was viewed as undermining Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — already had been curtailed somewhat under Kelly.

Still, Kushner is reportedly said to have reviewed the highly secret presidential daily brief and has been in the room for some of Trump's most consequential domestic and foreign policy decisions.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that she would not comment on individual security clearances but called Kushner "a valued member of the team, and he will continue to do the important work that he's been doing since he started in the administration."

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways they could manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.

The nations included the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the Post reported, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter. The newspaper said it was unclear if any of those countries had acted on the discussions, but said Kushner's contacts with foreign government officials had raised concerns within the White House and were among the reasons Kushner had not yet been able to obtain a permanent security clearance.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the report about Kushner's business dealings and efforts to influence him "is exactly what the security clearance process is designed to avoid."

Kushner's contacts with foreign officials also have been a part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, a former U.S. official told the AP. Mueller's team, in its interviews for the ongoing Russia probe, has asked people about the protocols Kushner used when he set up conversations with foreign leaders.

The Kushner Cos., for example, had attempted to raise money for its struggling 666 Fifth Avenue skyscraper in New York from a large Chinese insurer with ties to the ruling Communist Party. Those talks ended after lawmakers and government ethics experts expressed worry that China could be using a deal to curry favor with the White House.

Kushner stepped down as CEO of his family's real estate company to join his father-in-law's administration.

With a top-secret clearance, Kushner would have had access to information about covert operations and intelligence sources and methods. With a secret clearance, he would still have access to intelligence assessments, but not necessarily the information behind why the U.S. knows what is being shared with him.

The downgrade would mean that anyone giving top-secret material to Kushner could be accused of mishandling classified material, according to David Priess, who wrote a history of the President's Daily Brief, the highest-level intelligence document produced in the United States. Still, a president has the ultimate authority to classify or declassify information, so he could show the brief — covering hot spots around the globe, U.S. covert operations and intelligence about world leaders— "to whomever he damn well pleases," Priess tweeted.

The White House's handling of security clearances has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of revelations that former White House staff secretary Rob Porter had worked for more than a year with only interim clearance. Porter, whose job gave him constant access to the most sensitive of documents, had been accused of domestic abuse by his two ex-wives. The White House has repeatedly changed its timeline about who knew what and when about the allegations.

Kushner has been forced to repeatedly correct omissions in his "SF-86," the government-wide form used to apply for clearances, as well as his financial disclosure forms, which experts said could delay or even nix his chances of earning a clearance through the normal process.

Also here:
Kushner loses access to top-secret intelligence
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/27/jared-kushner-security-clearance-downgrade-427178

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