Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed that his meeting with US President Donald Trump had not taken place yet because of the domestic political struggle in the United States.

08.06.2018 - Putin Calls Trump 'Thoughtful Man', Hopes for Constructive Dialogue
Putin Calls Trump 'Thoughtful Man', Hopes for Constructive Dialogue

"He [Trump] is a thoughtful man, he knows how to listen and responds to the arguments given by the interlocutor. This gives me the reason to believe that the dialogue can be constructive," Vladimir Putin said on the Rossiya 24 television channel.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated that the Russian Foreign Ministry is preparing a meaningful preparation for the meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States and that the need for such contact is very high from the point of view of launching the process of normalization and improving relations between Moscow and Washington. According to him, the American side is in solidarity with this position.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that his meeting with US President Donald Trump had not taken place yet due to the domestic political struggle in the United States.

The last telephone conversation between Putin and Trump took place on March 20.

According to the Kremlin press service, the heads of US and Russian foreign affairs agencies were instructed to work out the issue of a meeting of the leaders. Moreover, later it became known that Trump not only talked about the possibility of a meeting but also invited Putin to Washington for this.

At the end of May, an assistant to the Russian leader Yuri Ushakov said that the possibility of organizing a meeting between Putin and Trump in the coming months, prior to the November summit of the Group of Twenty, has not yet been discussed.


09.06.2018 - Putin Expects Trump to Fulfill Pre-Election Promise, Improve Ties With Russia
Putin Expects Trump to Fulfill Pre-Election Promise, Improve Ties With Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Russia was ready to improve relations with the US, including through personal meetings.

"We can differently assess decisions that are taken by the United States, including by the US president. They can be criticized. Indeed, there is much that should be criticized. But there is one thing that I have already mentioned — Trump fulfills his promises given during the election campaign… One of the promises is to improve the Russian-US relations. I hope that this too will be fulfilled," Putin said in an interview, released on the website of the Vesti media outlet on Saturday.

The Russian president noted that relations between leaders of states should be "civilized," adding that Russia was ready to improve and develop relations with the United States, including through personal meetings.

"The experience I have with the US President shows that, despite the fact that his actions are often criticized, especially recently, including in the international arena and in the area of economy, nevertheless, this experience shows me that he is a reasonable man, he knows how to listen and responds to the arguments given by the interlocutor. All this makes me believe that the dialogue can be constructive," Putin said.

The Russian president further noted that Trump was a good listener and reacted considered other people's opinion. According to Putin, he is eager to meet with his US counterpart as the dialogue can be constructive.


08.06.2018 - Vienna to Host Possible Meeting Between Putin and Trump - Reports
Vienna to Host Possible Meeting Between Putin and Trump - Reports

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to Austria's leader Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for the friendly and open atmosphere during his visit to Vienna.

"As my visit is coming to its end, I would like to sincerely thank Mr. President and Mr. Federal Chancellor for a really friendly, very open atmosphere that was created for our joint work today," Putin said during the opening ceremony of the "Old Masters From the Hermitage" exhibition organized by the Russian State Hermitage Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also asked Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to organize a meeting with US President Donald Trump, media reported. Putin asked that Kurz set up a meeting with Donald Trump in Vienna this summer, an offer the White House is considering, the Wall Street Journal reported citing a senior European official.

Putin was on an official visit in the capital of Austria on Tuesday when he submitted the request, the report said.

Kurz has agreed to accept the request and will work to bring Trump to Vienna, the report added. US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman was in Washington, DC last week and has been reportedly trying to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin.

US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman was in Washington, DC last week and has been reportedly trying to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin. the official said on Thursday. "And, although the two leaders have previously discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting, we have nothing to announce at this time."


07.06.2018 - Lavrov, Pompeo Could Meet in August in Singapore - Source
Lavrov, Pompeo Could Meet in August in Singapore - Source

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could meet the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in August in Singapore, according to a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

There is such an opportunity, the question is being worked out," the source said, when asked about the possibility of Lavrov and Pompeo meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN regional forum in Singapore on August 2-4.

However, the source noted that the meeting could occur earlier.

ASEAN includes 10 countries — Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — with a total population of more than 600 million people.


09.06.2018 - US Senator McCain Puts Trump on Blast for Suggesting Russia Should Return to G8
US Senator McCain Puts Trump on Blast for Suggesting Russia Should Return to G8

The long-time critic of Russia, US Senator John McCain, has criticized US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Russia should be welcomed into the G8 format again.

McCain, a Republican representing Arizona who largely disappeared from the public milieu after being diagnosed with brain cancer last summer, emerged unexpectedly after Trump's recent remark on permitting the return of Russia to the Group of Eight (G8), which is presently the G7 in Russia's absence.

"The president has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies," the senator said in a statement Friday.

"Those nations that share our values and have sacrificed alongside us for decades are being treated with contempt. This is the antithesis of so-called ‘principled realism' and a sure path to diminishing America's leadership in the world," he added.

Back in 2007, then-presidential candidate McCain vowed to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight, should he be elected president. With a track record like this, there is little wonder Trump's suggestion to bring Russia back was so rousing.

Curiously, McCain was not the first senator to make a stink about Trump's suggestion: earlier today, Chuck Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York, wrote on Twitter: "We need the president to be able to distinguish between our allies and adversaries and to treat each accordingly."

It is interesting to note how seemingly the only issue that enjoys bipartisan support in Washington nowadays is ensuring the US president doesn't try and turn enemies into friends. Apparently, the lawmakers think the US should never attempt to engage in diplomacy and change the status quo in any way.

Trump remarked that "Russia should be in the meeting" while speaking to a group of reporters at the G7 summit in Quebec, Canada. Russia has been excluded since its 2014 annexation of Crimea, following that territory's referendum to leave Ukraine.

"They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," he said.


08.06.2018 - Former Trump Campaign Manager Manafort Hit with New Superseding Indictment
Former Trump Campaign Manager Manafort Hit With New Superseding Indictment

A new superseding indictment has been filed against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate of Manafort's, by US special counsel Robert Mueller's office Friday.

The new 32-page indictment charges both Manafort and Kilimnik with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.

A statement by the special counsel's office announced that Manafort's previous five charges, which include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, making false and misleading FARA statements and making false statements, remain unchanged.

The indictment notes that Kilimnik was involved in Manafort's multi-million dollar lobbying campaign for Ukraine without having registered as a foreign agent. It adds that Manafort and Kilimnik conspired together to influence the outcome of a trial, saying between February and April 2018, Manafort and Kilimnik "knowingly and intentionally attempted to corruptly persuade another person… with intent to influence, delay and prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding."

The latest indictment comes after Mueller's team accused Manafort on Monday of trying to get a witness to lie for him in court as he awaits trial on felony charges in connection to his foreign lobbying work. Manafort is currently on house arrest and a $10 million unsecured bail.

The office of special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference into the US 2016 election. Russia has repeatedly denied such allegations, and the most high profile indictments in the case so far have covered financial crimes committed before the election campaign ever began.


08.06.2018 - Ex-US Senate Intel Committee Staffer Arrested for Lying to FBI - Reports
Ex-US Senate Intel Committee Staffer Arrested for Lying to FBI – Reports

A former security director of the US Senate Intelligence Committee was arrested Thursday for lying to FBI agents probing a sensitive data leak, local media said citing Justice Department. James Wolfe stands accused of making false statement pertaining to his contacts with three reporters and to sharing data on the committee’s work with one of them, the New York Times said.

The outlet said earlier that state prosecutors had secretly seized years’ worth of phone and email records related to its journalist, Ali Watkins, who had dated Wolfe for three years prior to the probe.

The investigation follows complaints by US President Donald Trump about leaks to the media. Trump suggested last week that the Justice Department or Russiagate investigator Special Counsel Robert Mueller could be responsible.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year promised to crack down on leakers, saying his agency was pursing three times as many investigations as the previous administration.


08.06.2018 - Carter Page: US Government 'Abused' Its Power By Spying On Me
Carter Page: US Government ‘Abused’ Its Power By Spying on Me

Former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign Carter Page believes the US government “abused” its power by directing its vast surveillance capabilities at him under the pretext of a “dodgy dossier” that was funded by lawyers for Trump rival Hillary Clinton, Real Clear Investigations reported Thursday.

Until the DoJ [Department of Justice] discloses full information about the dodgy dossier, amends their court filings that led to extensive abuse of process, and discloses details on the other sources of their lies, it will be impossible for Americans to fully trust them again," Page said in an interview with the outlet published Thursday.

The court that granted authorities a warrant to spy on Page, the so-called FISA courts authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is different from US Article 3 courts, which provide the accused with the ability to defend themselves. FISA courts are secret, government-only entities, with no prosecutor or defense attorney present during their proceedings.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has defended the government's espionage against Page, arguing that "the FBI's concern about and knowledge of Page's activities… long predate the FBI's receipt of Steele's information." Christopher Steele was the former MI5 agent who supplied the essential dirt on Trump contained in the dossier. Schiff and fellow House Intelligence Committee Democrats pointed to Page's interview with the FBI in March 2016 as evidence that the dossier wasn't what kicked the operation to spy on Page into gear.

On Thursday, Page revealed that the March 2016 interview, which took place at the office of US Attorney General Preet Bharara in New York City, had "absolutely nothing" to do with the Trump campaign or "Russian collusion." Instead, the questions were related to "events in 2013" — long before Trump began hinting he would make a serious run at the White House.

Page was under FBI surveillance and was being "shadowed" before the election, RCI reports, by Stefan Halper, a professor at the University of Cambridge. The New York Times reported in 1983 that Halper was "the person in charge" of "an operation to collect inside information on Carter Administration foreign policy" in the 1980 presidential election race on behalf of Republican Ronald Reagan, who successfully challenged incumbent President Jimmy Carter.

Page, a US citizen and US Naval Academy graduate, has said under oath he did not meet with Kremlin officials as alleged by Steele, who received $168,000 from lawyers tied to the Clinton campaign to produce the document, most of the contents of which remain unverified. He has also not been indicted for any criminal wrongdoing in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, which has not suffered from a shortage of time nor resources that might be needed to bring charges against Page.

There was no basis for the FISA warrants," said Page. Page sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI in May 2017 seeking copies of "all information gathered pursuant to the warrants" that authorized surveillance against him, he said, as well as "all communications between Justice Department officials and employees of the campaign related to him," RCI noted.

Page said he has not received any materials from the government relevant to his FOIA request.


07.06.2018 - Melania Trump Allegedly Plotted Against Porn Actress, 'Believes Her Husband'
Melania Trump Allegedly Plotted Against Porn Actress, 'Believes Her Husband'

The saga involving President Donald Trump, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, their lawyers and even the US first lady, as it has now emerged, apparently shows no signs of ending any time soon.

According to the details of a new lawsuit, Stormy Daniels and her attorney Michael Avenatti have filed against Daniels’ former attorney, Keith Davidson, Michael Cohen allegedly met with Melania in March to decide on ways to discredit the pornographic star, The Daily Beast reported.

In a separate move, former New York mayor and Trump’s current attorney Rudy Giuliani asserted that the US first lady believes her husband and his denials of having an affair in 2006 with pornographic actress Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, one year after Melania and Donald Trump’s marriage, The Hill reported.

The adult-film star’s claims are a far cry from being credible due to her occupation, Giuliani, who recently joined Trump’s legal team, said, addressing the Globes business conference in Israel. He went on to laud the president’s relationship with the fair sex in his family, adding that Trump explicitly demonstrates that he is "a real gentleman."

Daniels appears to be one of an array of women who came forward during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign suggesting that they were sexually abused by the current president or, alternatively, had an affair with him.

After she had come into the spotlight earlier this year, reporting an alleged affair between her and Trump in 2006, she sued the president and his attorney Michael Cohen saying she had signed an affair-related $130,000 nondisclosure agreement prior to Trump’s election. In a separate lawsuit, she targeted Trump’s team for defamation over their flat denials of her claims. Giuliani notably pointed to the lack of credibility Daniels had demonstrated: I respect women — beautiful women and women with value — but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don't respect," Giuliani said. "Tell me what damage she suffered. Someone who sells his or her body for money has no good name."

Giuliani complicated the ongoing row between Daniels and President Trump last month when he revealed that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Daniels. However, the ex mayor rushed to backtrack, saying Trump had paid Cohen but was unaware of what the funds were intended for.

On Wednesday, Stormy Daniels levied a new lawsuit against her former attorney, Keith Davidson, as well as President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, saying the two men "colluded" and "acted in concert" to "manipulate" Daniels and benefit Trump. The lawsuit alleges that the two men started colluding when they learnt about the forthcoming publication of an In Touch article that was supposed to shed light on Daniels’ alleged affair with Trump.
 
Russia has never begged to be invited back to the Group of Eight (G8) of the world's most advanced economies and is working well in other negotiating formats, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

09.06.2018 - Russia Never Begged for Reinstatement of G8 Group - Foreign Minister
Russia Never Begged for Reinstatement of G8 Group – Foreign Minister

On Friday, the leaders of the G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — kicked off their annual two-day summit in Quebec. The group used to be called the G8 before Russia's membership was suspended in 2014 after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis. On Friday, US President Donald Trump told reporters the G7 should allow Russia to rejoin the group to revive the G8. Trump said the G7 has a "world to run," and Russia should be at the negotiating table.

"[Russia has] never begged to come back. When our Western partners made the decision to not participate in the G8 anymore by returning to the G7 format, we took it as their decision. And we are working perfectly in other formats, such as the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization], BRICS, and especially the G20, where our partners share our approaches," Lavrov stated on Russia's Channel One broadcaster.

The foreign minister also stressed that the G20 was the most promising format, as it was a platform for finding a consensus.

"Ultimatums do not work within the G20, negotiations are required there. The G20 is a mechanism for reaching consensus. I believe it is the most promising option for the future," he said.

The G20 comprises 20 of the world’s leading economies: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the European Union. This global forum aims at developing global policies in order to address the most pressing issues.

Meanwhile on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said that some of the G7 countries spoke in favor of Russia’s return to the format, and he personally believed that the G8 would be more meaningful for the world.

"It has been discussed. We did not vote [on the issue], but it has been discussed. Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back. And it used to be the G8, not the G7," Trump told reporters after the G7 summit in Quebec.

The president noted that Moscow’s return would an asset for both Russia and all the G7 countries.

"I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in, it would be good for the world. I think it would be good for Russia, I think it would be good for the United States, I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7. I think the G8 would be better, I think having Russia back in would be a positive thing. We are looking for peace in the world, we are not looking to play games," he added.

The idea of restoring Group of Eight (G8) format with Russia's participation will be restored was also supported by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

One of the topics that was discussed was Russia. Italy always shares the position of dialogue, which does not mean the lifting of sanctions any day now. This system is linked to the Minsk agreements that are still in the process of implementation. Time is needed to achieve this result," Conte told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.

"However, we told all our partners, including the European ones, that having Russia in isolation, given that it plays a central role in the most delicate geopolitical crises, does not suit anyone. So Italy's personal hope is [to restore] the previous G8 format with Russia's participation," he said.

Trudeau also noted that Trump's announced intention to "invite Russia back to G8," was not "what we are now interested in."

"I said very simply that it is not something we are even remotely interested or looking at this time to have Russia returned to the G7," Trudeau said at the press conference following the two-day summit.

Moreover, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that G7 countries agreed to be ready to adopt new restrictive measures against Russia.

"I also welcome the G7’s recognition of the need to maintain sanctions on Russia in light of Russia’s failure to fully implement the Minsk Agreements in Ukraine. We have agreed to stand ready to take further restrictive measures against Russia if necessary," May said in a statement after the two-day G7 summit.


09.06.2018 - US Host Lambasted for Attacking Ivanka, Melania Trump with 'Dead Inside' Remark
US Host Lambasted For Attacking Ivanka, Melania Trump With 'Dead Inside' Remark

Discussing a recent statement on women by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, MSNBC and Vanity Fair journalists slammed the US president’s daughter and wife for their silence with regard to his comment, which some have branded sexist.

MSNBC journalist Nicolle Wallace asked a colleague from Vanity Fair, Emily Jane Fox, why the US president’s two closest women, his daughter Ivanka Trump and first lady Melania Trump, have not reacted to Rudy Giuliani’s recent remark that he respects only “beautiful women and women of value.”

Are they just the most stoic human beings? Are they numb, are they dead inside, are they paid off? I mean, what’s their deal?” the anchor asked her counterpart.

Fox, who branded Ivanka the “most masterful compartmentalizer that America has maybe ever seen,” promptly agreed on Wallace’s presumption, claiming, however, that “they do not see President Trump the way that all of us see” him.

“They have such a distorted image of who he is that they don’t have the kind of reaction that we do. It’s almost some sort of trick or spell he has on them,” she stated.

Trump’s personal attorney, a former New York mayor, got blasted by journalists and social media users for his comment on porn actress Stormy Daniels’ claims about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.

“I respect women, beautiful women and women with value, but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don’t respect,” he said then.

Many commentators believe that Wallace and Fox have gone too far and suspect some personal vendetta. Others, however, endorsed the controversial statement. There were also some who further slammed Ivanka and Melania.


09.06.2018 - Watchdog Slams DoJ Wiretapping of NY Times Reporter as Threat to Press Freedom
Watchdog Slams DoJ Wiretapping of NY Times Reporter as Threat to Press Freedom

The seizure of data from a New York Times reporter sets a dangerous precedent as it marks the first time that US authorities have sought to gain access to a reporter’s records since President Donald Trump took office, a journalists’ rights group said in a statement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today expressed concern about the seizure of phone and email records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins by the US Justice Department," the statement said on Friday.

In what is mentioned as the first known incident of its kind, one of the federal prosecutors had gone after a journalist's data since Trump took power in January 2017, the statement noted.

"In order to perform their public accountability function, journalists must be able to protect their confidential sources. Efforts by government that undermine this ability… represent a fundamental threat to press freedom," CPJ North America program coordinator Alexandra Ellerbeck said.

The seizure of Watkins's data could be an opening salvo in an ongoing battle over reporters' ability to protect their sources, Ellerbeck warned.
 
Trump arrives late and leaves early as G7 leaders talk gender, oceans and climate | CBC News
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Trump disrupts G-7 gender equality meeting by arriving late German Chancellor Angela Merkel and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde wait for the arrival of President Donald Trump to the Gender Equality Advisory Council breakfast during the G-7 summit, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in La Malbaie, Quebec Canada. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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DeepStateNewsMSM

DeepStateNews Canada
Trump arrives late and leaves early as G7 leaders talk gender, oceans and climate | CBC News
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The Art of The Deal


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This picture looks awesome without Trump in it!
https://twitter.com/Fernando_Ufret/status/1005587261054947329



Trump Rage-Tweets That Trudeau Lied At G-7, Refuses To Endorse Final Statement
06/09/2018 - 19:27
 
The Daily Signal Published on Jun 8, 2018 / 10:53
Tucker Carlson, host of the popular Fox News show “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” spoke to Daily Signal editor-in-chief Rob Bluey at The Heritage Foundation’s 41st annual Resource Bank meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Carlson received the prestigious Salvatori Prize, recognizing his work to uphold and advance the principles of America’s founding. Read the full transcript of the interview:
https://dailysign.al/2JqmBFr

'Rocket Man' Tacos, Trump Kim Chi: Culinary Madness in Singapore Ahead of Summit
(updated 19:05 10.06.2018)
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Trump And Kim Sign Declaration of Peace in Singapore (Because The Alternative is Too Expensive) -- Sott.net
Niall Bradley Sott.net Tue, 12 Jun 2018 21:40 UTC
Comments:
Joyly about 7 hours ago
Let's make money, not war. It's a step in the right direction.

HVACTech about 5 hours ago
such a silly "Dotard"... who would have thought?
"Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself". -

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Haters be hatin


Trump warns Trudeau: Trade row 'will cost Canada a lot of money’
Published time: 12 Jun, 2018 16:51
US President Donald Trump has said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s criticism of his trade negotiation tactics following the G7 summit is “probably going to cost the people of Canada a lot of money.”

Speaking during a press conference following his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Trump suggested Trudeau’s remarks during the G7, in which he claimed that Canada “will not be pushed around” by the US, has soured the relationship between the pair.

Trump had informed the Western allies of his plans to impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico. The move caused consternation among other members, leading Trudeau to promise to “move forward with retaliatory measures” in a news conference scheduled after Trump had left.

READ MORE: Was Trudeau wearing fake eyebrows at the G7 summit? (POLL)
“Justin probably didn’t know that Air Force has about 20 televisions,” Trump said. “I see the television and he's giving a news conference about how he 'will not be pushed around' by the United States. And I say, 'Push him around? We just shook hands!"'
"I had a good relationship with Justin Trudeau, I really did. Other than he had a news conference because he assumed I was on an airplane and wasn’t watching. He learned. That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada.”



Trudeau had attempted to keep relations cordial in comments to reporters as he arrived at a cabinet meeting in Ontario. "We support the continuing efforts by the president on North Korea [and] we look forward to looking at the details of the agreement," Trudeau said, according to CBC.

Refusing to be drawn on Trump’s comments on Twitter that he is “weak” and “dishonest,” Trudeau said: “I’m going to stay focused on defending jobs for Canadians and supporting Canadian interests.”

READ MORE: ‘Betrayal!’ Kudlow claims Trudeau ‘stabbed US in the back’ with G7 comments

The Canadian prime minister has been under attack from various members of the Trump administration since his remarks at the G7. Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow accused Trudeau of ‘stabbing the US in the back’ and said Trump’s Canadian counterpart had attempted to undermine the president on the eve of an important summit with North Korea.

“He is not going to permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with North Korea,” Kudlow told CNN. “Kim must not see American weakness.”


Kudlow’s comments were quickly followed by Director of the White House National Trade Council Peter Navarr, who said there is a “special place in hell” reserved for anyone who double-crosses Trump.

"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” Navarro told Fox News. Later, he echoed Trump’s baiting of Trudeau, repeating the line that the Canadian statesman is “weak” and “dishonest.”

Navarro later apologized for the comments, telling a news conference in Washington on Tuesday: “My job is to send a signal of strength. The problem was that in conveying that message I used language that was inappropriate. I own that, that was my mistake, those were my words.”
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
 
Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog: Was there an unannounced missile launch on Whidbey Island early on Sunday morning?
Monday, June 11, 2018
Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather on the northern Kitsap Peninsula has one of the most impressive weather cam facilities in the nation, including high quality digital cameras photographing the clouds at night. He is an extremely reliable weather observer.

But early Sunday morning he picked up something that is both startling and unexpected: what looks like a missile launch from Whidbey Island.

Here is the picture (with a 20-second exposure) at 3:56 AM Sunday morning from one of his cameras (looking north towards Whidbey Island). Can you see the bright vertical streak on the left side of the figure? Note the illumination both inside and outside the cloud. It really looks like the ascent of a rocket.
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Greg provided me with a close up of the top portion of the image (see below). Really looks like an ascending missile
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For your orientation, the map below shows the location of the Skunk Bay camera (red circle) and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station (blue circle)
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I have never heard of rocket launches from Whidbey Island Air station in Oak Harbor. And checking online, I can not find any discussion of this feature.

This feature does not look like a meteor, nor are there any meteor reports for the area that I could find online. The lightning networks did not show a strike in that area.

Scott Sistek at KOMO TV says that they contacted the Navy about it yesterday. The Whidbey NAS spokesperson says they don’t have missile launch facilities there; Navy west coast spokesman said no ships in area.

Was there a missile launch on Sunday AM? Is there some other explanation of this feature?
I would be interested if someone had some insights into this sighting.

Trumps activity's during the week of the Summit:





[B]Donald J. Trump[/B]‏Verified account @[B]realDonaldTrump[/B] 2:27 PM - 11 Jun 2018
Meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly....but in the end, that doesn’t matter. We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!

X22Report Published on Jun 13, 2018 / 28:49
 
Let's Talk About That Mysterious 'Rocket Launch Over Whidbey Island' Photo (Updated)
We investigated this bizarre photograph, reaching out to the photographer, the Navy, and the FAA, and came to one conclusion.
By Tyler RogowayJune 11, 2018
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From the Article:
Social media has been buzzing about a bizarre photo captured by Skunkbayweather.com, a local weather website that also runs a number of webcams located near Hanesville, Washington. The site's cameras look across the Puget Sound at Whidbey Island from Skunk Bay and one of them takes time-lapses of the undeniably picturesque setting. Just before 4am on Sunday, June 10th, that camera caught what at first glance looks like the impossible—a rocket launch that seems to be emanating from or near Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

The photo looks downright impressive as the streak of light appears from behind low, broken cloud cover and rises towards the heavens. Adding to the picture's intrigue, what looks awfully similar to a large rocket can be seen at the end of the light trail in an extreme crop of the image. But how is that even remotely possible? The Naval Air Station, which I have been all over on numerous occasions, has no rocket operations of any kind. Furthermore, there aren't any launch facilities in the region that could even begin to explain this photo. The closest thing to something like that would be the Ohio class nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) based not too far away at Bangor Trident Base/Naval Submarine Base Bangor, but those apocalyptic machines don't launch missiles in the Puget Sound even for testing.

We contacted the owner of Skunkbayweather.com and they were very forthcoming with information and were happy to answer detailed questions regarding the photo as part of our investigation. They sent us the link to the entire timelapse which you can watch here, and went over the specific angle and field of view that the camera catches, as well as the camera type and its settings:

"It is a Canon T3 Rebel set up as a webcam. Images are captured about every 40-45 seconds. 3.5/20 second exposure/ 1600iso. I only run it on clear nights or when there could be severe weather."

The positioning of the camera is roughly shown in the chart below, which is from Skunkbayweather.com, discusses the webcams functions and positions. The site's owner told The War Zone:

"This was actually taken with "Cam4", which is a little wider angle than Cam2 and pointing in the same direction."

image

There were absolutely no indications that the owner of the site was trying to scam anyone or perpetuating a hoax. They seemed just as puzzled as anyone as to the picture's origins and are seeking a good explanation for it.
With this information in hand, we reached out the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island to see if there were any aircraft operations around the time of the photo. Not surprisingly, there weren't. The public affairs officer went to air operations directly to confirm this for us. We then reached out to Seattle Center's public relations representative and they checked into it and said the FAA had no idea what it was and had no anomalies on radar or strange reports that morning that would explain the image.

I happen to be experienced with complex time-lapse photography. It's worth noting that this type of photography can result in the appearance of distorted time and space in multiple ways. You are looking at a two-dimensional image of a complex 3D event, under unique lighting and environmental circumstances. What looks like a rocket being traced by its own exhaust plume as it rises into the heaves can actually be an object on a flat or even a descending profile coming towards you, or even an object moving away. Long distances traced by light can appear short and vice-versa, depending on the depth of the light being traced. The fact that the exposure lasts seconds, not fractions of a second, can also complicate making an accurate initial interpretation, but that information can also be beneficial when trying to decipher a mysterious image like this one.

One of the reasons we inquired for specific details about any air operations at NAS Whidbey Island at the time, including low approach or terminal operations of transient aircraft, is that we thought the image could be a fighter taking off from NASWI in afterburner and executing a high-performance climb. These dramatic maneuvers are common at some fast jet bases. But in this case, the early morning timing made such an explanation a long shot, as well as the lack of complaints that would have resulted in such a thunderous racket at 4am local time.

Next, we pulled up Flightradar24's tracking of aircraft in the vicinity of Skunk Bay around the time the photo was shot. You can see a video of those movements below. Note that time is UTC, not local.


Touch Picture 4 Video

The Alaska Airlines jet (ASA94) descending from the northwest would have been out of the frame of the camera, although at first, it looked like a possible explanation as either the aircraft's lights or its contrail could have possibly caused the illusion. Then we noticed an air ambulance helicopter—an EC-135T2+ registered as N952AL belonging to Air Methods—flying right in the vicinity of the Skunk Bay when the image in question was captured.

You will notice that there is an error with the tracking of the low flying helicopter that makes it freeze on the screen momentarily and Flightradar24 even notes this automatically. Then the chopper seems to dash across the channel at unbelievable high speed. This is an anomaly with the tracking, and in reality, the helicopter made its way across the channel at normal speed (around 115 knots at 2,000 feet) right around the time the photo was snapped and exactly where the streak is shown.

With this revelation in mind, the explanation of what you are seeing in the image is the helicopter moving away from the camera towards NAS Whidbey Island, just as it was tracked in the moments after the photo was taken. There is about a minute and a half time difference between the flight data and the time index on the photo. It's likely one of the clocks was slightly off in reference to the data being displayed and we know the helicopter speed data is not fully accurate due to the tracking anomaly anyway.

b3a4ee4552e6334cc262ed6b4a5e30aa.png

When the image is interpreted in that fashion, you can see how the aircraft began being traced by the long exposure starting near the camera and moving away. As a result, it was also much closer to the camera, lower in altitude, and covered far less distance in the short 20-second exposure than a rocket blasting into the heavens far off in the distance would. At 115 knots the helicopter would have covered roughly 3,900 feet. The cloud it disappeared into would also be far closer to the camera when interpreting the image in this way. And all this actually works remarkably well just by shifting the notion of what you should be seeing in the image.

The thing that looks like a rocket at atop a flame would have been a 'ghost image' of the part of the helicopter that was exposed from spill-over from its running lights and the low available light in the environment. This can look nothing like the actual object as the long exposure and how the light plays on the object can result in strange and often elongated shapes—in this case, something like a ghostly image of a rocket.

So there you have it, sadly this wasn't anything more exciting than a helicopter flying in a straight line in the wee hours of a quiet Sunday morning on the picturesque Puget Sound. Above all else, this photo serves as another reminder that sometimes there is much more to an image than what immediately meets the eye.

Update: 7:30pm PST—

Airlift NW has confirmed the Flighradar24 ADS-B data:

Update: 3:22pm PST—

Airlift Northwest just hammered the final nail in the conspiracy theorist's coffin on this one


Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com
 
An official has reportedly said that the president has been seeking to meet with his Russian counterpart since the APEC summit in Vietnam in November 2017, with administration officials simply hoping that Trump would forget and move on.

16.06.2018 - Trump Advisors 'Ignored' President's Request for Meeting With Putin - Reports (!!! Fire-the-advisors!!! :bye: )
Trump Advisors 'Ignored' President's Request for Meeting With Putin – Reports

"After [the APEC] meeting, the president said he wanted to invite Putin to the White House," an anonymous official speaking to The Washington Post said. "We ignored it," he added.

According to the official, top aides in the president's National Security Council, opposed to the idea of a summit, didn't consider setting up the meeting to be a direct order.

"They decided: Let's wait and see if he raises it again," the official said.

Other officials told the newspaper that the State Department recognizes the possible value of a meeting to try to resolve long-standing differences on issues like Ukraine, Syria, cybersecurity, and alleged interference in foreign elections. However, some of these officials also said that a summit would be premature amid differences on smaller issues, such as the status of the Russian diplomatic property seized in the US earlier this year over alleged Russian meddling in the US presidential election in 2016.

Presidents Putin and Trump have met twice – in Hamburg at the G20 Summit in July 2017 and Da Nang, Vietnam, in November 2017 at the APEC summit. Senior administration officials have said that Trump will meet Putin in July while in Europe for the NATO summit. However, last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that "no concrete arrangements" were made.

The last conversation between the presidents took place on March 20.

Last week, Putin called Trump a "thoughtful man," and said that he has "reason to believe that dialogue can be constructive." According to Putin, a full-fledged meeting with Trump has not taken place due to the "domestic political struggle" in the US.


16.06.2018 - Boris Johnson to Show Kushner 'Red Lines' Over Israel-Palestine Plan - Reports
Boris Johnson to Show Kushner 'Red Lines' Over Israel-Palestine Plan – Reports

The head of the British Foreign Ministry reportedly seeks to hold a meeting with Trump’s special adviser to discuss a new Middle Eastern peace initiative.

The US president’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has revealed that UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wants to hold a meeting with him and foreign ministers from France, Germany, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Israeli Channel 10 reports.

During the meeting, which is expected to take place sometime in July, Johnson reportedly hopes to compare notes and coordinate “red lines” for Washington’s new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, although Kushner already stated that it is ultimately up to President Trump to decide “what is included in the US plan.”

"Our peace plan won’t be the Bibi [Netanyahu] plan. It will be fair, balanced, realistic and fitting," Channel 10 quoted US officials familiar with the matter as saying.

The officials also reportedly claimed that both the Israelis and Palestinians wouldn’t like a certain aspect of the plan, while the White House announced that a US team would tour Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in order to promote this new initiative.

Meanwhile, Jared Kushner and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York City to discuss US efforts “to promote peace in the Middle East and to meet humanitarian needs in Gaza.”

Haley also criticized a new UN resolution condemning excessive use of force by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians in Gaza, lamenting that the document did not mention the Hamas movement or the Israeli right to "self-defense."


14.06.2018 - Netanyahu Praises US Envoy Haley for Supporting Israel at United Nations
Netanyahu Praises US Envoy Haley for Supporting Israel at United Nations

"Israel appreciates the firm support of the Trump administration in Israel at the United Nations and Ambassador Haley's resolute statement today, which exposed the hypocrisy of the bias against Israel at the UN,” the prime minister of Israel said in a statement, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.


13.06.2018 - Kushner Allegedly Cursed at Israel's Ambassador to US for 'Pushing' WH 'Around'
Kushner Allegedly Cursed at Israel's Ambassador to US for 'Pushing' WH 'Around'

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the alleged incident took place on February 13, 2017, when Michael Flynn was forced to resign as Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

The US president’s son-in-law and adviser allegedly used an expletive in a conversation with Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer as the latter visited the White House, Haaretz reported. Dermer reportedly sought to sign secret documents with the sitting president, which would allegedly serve as a sign of the US’ commitment not to ask Israel to abandon its purported nuclear arsenal.

The ambassador purportedly wanted to meet privately with Flynn, forcing Trump’s advisers to explain that Dermer could not dictate whom he wished to talked to. According to Haaretz, the aides got a feeling that they were “being taken advantage of.”

At some point, Kushner lost his temper and used profanity towards Dermer, allegedly saying that he wasn’t going to indulge to his desires just because of his Jewish background, the media outlet reported.

“You’re not going to tell us how to run these things. Don’t try to push us around. Don’t try to jam us,” Kushner allegedly said.

Meanwhile, Dermer said that he didn’t recall Ivanka Trump’s husband swearing at him, adding, “I have a very good relationship with Jared, but we don’t always agree on everything.”

In January 2016, Jared Kushner was appointed as Senior Adviser to President Trump and was immediately charged with brokering peace in the Middle East. Last month, Kushner, along with his wife Ivanka and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, appeared in Jerusalem to mark an historic occasion: the opening ceremony of the US Embassy in the city. During the official event, Trump’s son-in-law also delivered a speech, which drew a barrage of criticism on social media.


16.06.2018 - Trump at G7: "All Terrorists Live in Paris", Junker a "Brutal Killer" - Reports
Trump at G7: "All Terrorists Live in Paris", Juncker a "Brutal Killer" - Reports - Sputnik International

Participants of the G7 meeting reportedly had a hard time restraining themselves when the US President shared his insights on migration and terrorism with the French President, threatened to send the Japanese Prime Minister 25 million Mexicans and slammed the European Commission President during talks in Canada.

A senior EU official summed up his behind-the-scenes experience at the meeting of the leaders of the world’s most powerful developed economies in Canada on June 8-9 by telling the Wall Street Journal:

“A sense of irritation with Mr. Trump could be felt, but everyone tried to be rational and calm."

According to the report, the US President got into debates about trade issues and immigration, and went as far as to reproach Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon," Trump allegedly said Abe.

Attendees were also taken back by what he reportedly told France’s President Emmanuel Macron amid discussions about counter-terrorism and Iran.

You must know about this Emmanuel because all the terrorists are in Paris," Trump told Macron, according to the WSJ.

The US President also reportedly took aim at European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who criticized Trump for his tariff policy. He called the top European official a "brutal killer" for the way the European Union treats the US tech giants. However, according to the Telegraph, Juncker said that he believes it was meant as a compliment.

The White House and the US president himself, however, have yet to comment on the media report.

At the same time, Donald Trump took to Twitter to blame fake news for exaggerating tensions at the summit, emphasizing that the media "only shows the bad photos."

In light of recent moves by Washington, which had drawn harsh criticism fro other G7 states for imposing higher metal tariffs and pulling out from the Iran deal, a cloud hung over the meeting in Canada.

Following the summit, the American president attacked the closest US allies, Canada and the European countries, accusing them of attempting "to take advantage" of the US and criticizing their unwillingness to fulfill their financial obligations within NATO. In his turn, the host of the meeting, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got into a Twitter and media feud with Trump for his stance on the trade issues, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the summit as complicated and disappointing.

US President Donald Trump not only managed to make headlines at the G7 summit with his words and actions, as a photo of US President Donald Trump locking eyes with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain summed up the spirit of the G7 summit and quickly went viral.


16.06.2018 - Not an Idiot: Senator McCain's Daughter Defends Biden After Giuliani's Insult
Not an Idiot: Senator McCain's Daughter Defends Biden After Giuliani's Insult

As former US Vice President Joe Biden found himself the target of disparaging statements made by Trump’s ally Rudy Giuliani, the daughter of his old friend quickly moved to address this situation.

Meghan McCain, the daughter of Senator John McCain, stepped forward to defend former US Vice President Joe Biden from scathing remarks made by Donald Trump’s personal attorney, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"I am disgusted by Giuliani’s abhorrent and idiotic comments about Joe Biden," Meghan McCain tweeted, describing Biden as "one of the great political leaders of all time" and "one of the truly decent men left in politics."

Earlier, Giuliani told HuffPost that US President Donald Trump should be set for re-election in 2020 if the Democratic Party will nominate Joe Biden, whom the former NYC mayor called "a moron."

"I’m calling Joe Biden a mentally deficient idiot," Giuliani said, claiming that Democrats "need someone new, who would be more threatening to us."

According to The Hill, Joe Biden has been friends with John McCain for 40 years, and even personally comforted Meghan McCain when her father was diagnosed with cancer last year – the same affliction that claimed the life of Biden’s son Beau in 2015.


15.06.2018 - 'Very Unfair': Trump on Court Ruling to Send Ex-Campaign Chief Manafort to Jail
'Very Unfair': Trump on Court Ruling to Send Ex-Campaign Chief Manafort to Jail

Referring to the Manafort ruling, a federal judge said that Trump's former campaign head "abused the trust" placed in him.

A US judge has sent Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort to jail on Friday to await his trial on charges that he tried to influence two witnesses after he was granted bail, The New York Times reported.

Manafort's bail was revoked and he was sent to jail for tampering with two witnesses in connection to his case in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia collusion investigation, according to the media outlet.

US President Donald Trump characterized Manafort's sentence as "tough" and "unfair."

The former campaign chief's detention comes after Mueller filed new charges against him in a superseding indictment, which included conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice for alleged witness tampering, which violated the terms of Manafort's release.

Mueller had previously charged Manafort with conspiracy, money-laundering and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for work he did for the Ukrainian government. Manafort was confined to his home with an electronic bracelet after he was first indicted in October 2017 during Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the US.

Manafort is due to stand trial in Washington in September over allegations of undisclosed lobbying for the Ukrainian government. In July, he will also face a trial for tax and bank fraud charges.
 
The MSM's current hysteria to bury coverage of the FBI scandal and N Korea diplomacy by blaming Trump for the Bush/Obama laws that separate illegal aliens from the children who accompany them across the border has reached epic proportions. I guess it's a winner as the hyperbole and crocodile tears from newspeople, celebrities and loser candidates like Killary who actually used the "Trump's tearing babies from their mother's breasts" is nauseating. It needs to be fixed, but where was the concern back in 2014 when the MSM posted photos and a few stories here and there regarding the situation?

Crazy actor Peter Fonda has now added his thoughts on the matter via his Twitter account. He told followers that Trump's 12-year-old son Barron should be ripped from his mother's arms and put 'in a cage with pedophiles' in an expletive-laden rant about the border crisis, along with having people rise up and threaten ICE officer's families and children at their homes and schools. Absolutely insane.

Twitter has not suspended Fonda's account. Twitter immediately suspended a conservative who opined he would like to see someone sucker-punch Davig Hogg, the Parkland student who is apparently branching out of his anti-gun stance by jumping on the more popular Hitler/Trump-is-putting-children-in-concentration-camps bandwagon. I do not condone sucker-punching or stupid people advocating it even in frustrated jest. However Twitter should suspend crazy Peter Fonda.

Also, here's a NYTs article that says an empty Wal Mart is being used for illegal immigrant detention housing. Wouldn't this item be a hit for the Cs? I seem to recall a session in which the emptied Wal Marts had a future sinister purpose.
 
"The Whole Thing Is A Scam": Trump Unloads On "Deep State" Enemies During Fiery Speech
06/19/2018 - 14:47
President Trump went way off script during a Tuesday speech at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) - lashing out against everything from the "deep state" to the intense immigration debate, which he calls a distraction from Congressional hearings on the recently released Inspector General's (OIG) report on FBI bias during the 2016 US election
The MSM's current hysteria to bury coverage of the FBI scandal and N Korea diplomacy by blaming Trump for the Bush/Obama laws that separate illegal aliens from the children who accompany them across the border has reached epic proportions. I guess it's a winner as the hyperbole and crocodile tears from newspeople, celebrities and loser candidates like Killary who actually used the "Trump's tearing babies from their mother's breasts" is nauseating. It needs to be fixed, but where was the concern back in 2014 when the MSM posted photos and a few stories here and there regarding the situation?

Crazy actor Peter Fonda has now added his thoughts on the matter via his Twitter account. He told followers that Trump's 12-year-old son Barron should be ripped from his mother's arms and put 'in a cage with pedophiles' in an expletive-laden rant about the border crisis, along with having people rise up and threaten ICE officer's families and children at their homes and schools. Absolutely insane.

Twitter has not suspended Fonda's account. Twitter immediately suspended a conservative who opined he would like to see someone sucker-punch Davig Hogg, the Parkland student who is apparently branching out of his anti-gun stance by jumping on the more popular Hitler/Trump-is-putting-children-in-concentration-camps bandwagon. I do not condone sucker-punching or stupid people advocating it even in frustrated jest. However Twitter should suspend crazy Peter Fonda.

Also, here's a NYTs article that says an empty Wal Mart is being used for illegal immigrant detention housing. Wouldn't this item be a hit for the Cs? I seem to recall a session in which the emptied Wal Marts had a future sinister purpose.

Local affiliate out of SF Ca. even scraped the brawl with pulling the Japanese Internment Survivor card.

When in reality it was the demarcate enforcer's that issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942.

I know a family that had prime Santa Clara Valley land running a very successful flower nursery in back in the 40's. Only to have it confiscated and never returned that is now the infamous Silicon Valley!

My my my what a short memory of the dangerous liberal agenda!




 
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The Japanese-American internments via Executive Order 9066 was one of many stains on US history. President Roosevelt and the Democrats were the actionable party, yet I'm certain plenty of Republicans enabled the round-ups and property confiscations.

On another note, one more instance of insanity via Twitter: Occupy Wallstreet shows "How to Murder an Ice Agent" cartoon on its Twitter feed. OWS called it satire. Since when was graphic depictions of murder funny? Twitter still has the site up, although it looks as if the cartoon has been taken down.

Can it get any worse? Heck, yeah. The left has become unhinged. Even its supposed humor is sick.

Update: Peter Fonda has taken down the sick tweet I referenced earlier in this thread and apologized to the Trump family. Let's hope has-been actress Nancy Sinatra, Director Joss and other so-called celebrities and Twitter followers of Fonda who applauded his sick tweet do the same.
 
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On another note, one more instance of insanity via Twitter: Occupy Wallstreet shows "How to Murder an Ice Agent" cartoon on its Twitter feed. OWS called it satire. Since when was graphic depictions of murder funny? Twitter still has the site up, although it looks as if the cartoon has been taken down.

Soros' Antifa organization's tweets went one step further and put 1,500 Ice Agents lives in danger.

20.06.2018 - Antifa Tweets List of 1,500 Ice Agents Amid US Border Row
Antifa Tweets List of 1,500 ICE Agents Amid US Border Row

The person who initially compiled the database is an NYU professor. The list has been picked up and spread by left-wing activists amid fierce debates over the hardline US immigration policy and ongoing family separations at the country’s southern border.

The Twitter account "nebraska antifa" posted a link to a list of employees of the US’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including their phone numbers and locations. As the original post was deleted shortly thereafter, Sam Lavigne, the user who had doxed the ICE agents, tweeted a link to an archived post, giving access to the original database.

Sam Lavigne, who is reportedly an adjunct professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, compiled the database from the officers’ LinkedIn information.

“While I don’t have a precise idea of what should be done with this data set, I leave it here with the hope that researchers, journalists, and activists will find it useful,” he wrote in a now-deleted Medium blog post.

Antifa is a left-wing organization classified as domestic terrorists by the FBI and the DHS.

The group’s members are reported to have assaulted their right-wing rivals. One of the most significant attacks was carried out against peaceful demonstrators at a right-wing rally in Berkeley last summer.

Recent reports that thousands of illegal immigrants have been forcibly separated from their children at the US-Mexico border have sparked public outrage in the country, with ICE agents falling under heavy scrutiny.


20.06.2018 - Trump Says He Will Sign Executive Order to End Separation of Immigrant Families
Trump Says He Will Sign Executive Order to End Separation of Immigrant Families

The White House has been harshly criticized for its "zero-tolerance" policy, as it has led to the separation of thousands of children from their families at the border.

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he would sign "something pre-emptive" in order to put an end to the separation of immigrant families at the southern borders of the country.

"We're going to be signing an executive order in a little while…We've got to be keeping families together," Trump said as quoted by a pool reporter. "So I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time, I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together but we have to keep our borders strong. We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country."

The president added that the administration is "going to count on Congress" to address the issue.

Earlier in the day, Trump said on his Twitter account that the migration laws in the US are "the weakest and worst anywhere in the world." These words followed earlier statements by the US president on the migration issue, having previously tweeted "If you don’t have Borders, you don’t have a Country."

The alleged executive order could conclude a long struggle between the president and the opposition, which started last May when US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the Trump administration would adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal migrants.

The policy includes measures such as taking children away from parents that had been detained by the authorities. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, up to 2,000 immigrant children were separated from their parents between April 19 and May 31, leading to protests across the country. In response, Republican lawmakers have expressed the desire to allow parents and their children to stay together.


21.06.2018 - Trump's Immigration Order May Face Court Battle - Lawyers Association
Trump's Immigration Order May Face Court Battle - Lawyers Association

US President Donald Trump’s executive order to detain undocumented immigrant children for more than 20 days to avoid separating families may face a court struggle akin to the battle over the travel ban, Second Vice President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Allen Orr told Sputnik.

"What President Trump did today was adopted policy that expressly violates a federal court holding. Therefore it is basically kicking the can to the judicial branch of government which had already reached the decision on the number of days the child can be confined," Orr said on Wednesday. "Much like the travel ban… [there will be] a fight in court."

The immigration lawyer was referring to Trump’s bid to impose a travel ban on immigrants from five Muslim countries in addition to Venezuela and North Korea. The case has gone through a prolonged and fierce legal battle all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Orr also said that if the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began implementing Trump’s measure effective immediately, the federal court could order the release of the children, "thus returning us back to where we started."

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump issued an order to end the separation of illegal immigrant families after pictures went viral of children locked in cages near the US-Mexico border. However, one of the Justice Department’s top lawyers told reporters that a federal judge needs to modify an existing legal settlement that forbids the US government from detaining immigrant children for more than 20 days — even if they are with their parents.

US Health and Human Services spokesperson Kenneth Wolfe said in a statement later on Wednesday that migrant families already detained for illegal entry into the United States will not be immediately reunited with their families as directed in Trump's executive order. In other words, existing cases will not be "grandfathered in" to be covered under the new order, the official said.

A "zero tolerance" policy announced by the Trump administration in April has led to thousands of children being separated from their families at the border and placed in detention facilities.


Wed Jun 20, 2018 - New York to Sue US Administration over Immigrant Family Separation
Farsnews

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the state will file a "multi-agency lawsuit against the [Donald] Trump administration for violating the Constitutional rights of immigrant children and their families who have been separated at the border".

Cuomo pointed to more than 70 children who are staying in federal shelters in New York, adding that the number is expected to increase as other facilities are contacted, The Hill reported.

"#BREAKING: New York State intends to file a multi-agency lawsuit against the Trump administration for violating the Constitutional rights of immigrant children and their families who have been separated at the border," Cuomo tweeted.

Cuomo plans to direct the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the Department of Health and the Office of Children and Family Services to commence legal action against the federal government's "Separation of Families" policy.

The policy, a result of the administration's "zero tolerance" for illegal border crossing from Mexico, prosecutes all adults caught illegally crossing, separating parents awaiting prosecution from children that accompany them.

Border agents have reportedly separated 2,342 children from parents as part of the new policy since the strict enforcement began in April. Children stay in shelters until they are placed in foster care or with a legal guardian or family member.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy last month, and the administration has said the policies will help deter immigrants from making future attempts to illegally cross into the United States.

The announcement arrives comes just one day after Cuomo said on Monday that he will not deploy National Guard troops from New York state to the southern border, citing the Trump administration's "inhumane" immigration policy as justification for the refusal.

"The Trump Administration's policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy," Cuomo said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We will not tolerate the Constitutional rights of children and their parents being violated by our federal government. New York will act and file suit to end this callous and deliberate attack on immigrant communities, and end this heartless policy once and for all," he added.
 
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