53-43: Senate confirms former TX Solicitor General James Ho as 5th Circuit Court judge & President Trump's 12th US Court of Appeals nominee to be approved by the Senate, a record for a president in his first year.

It would be nice if most of these guys were qualified.

Trump has a penchant for nominating people who are highly unqualified ie: his family, his boasts of Hiring "Only the Best", but have come back to haunt him......

Talley, 36, a Trump nominee for the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama has never tried a case in his life (he has written more horror novels than he’s tried cases). In fact, he has only practiced law for three years, spending the bulk of his time since law school as a clerk or working for Republican campaigns. The American Bar Association unanimously ruled him "unqualified," only the fourth such rating since 1989 (and the second under President Donald Trump). He pledged his “support to the NRA [National Rifle Association]; financially, politically, and intellectually” in a 2013 blog post and told the Senate Judiciary Committee that despite the pledge, he would not commit to recuse himself from gun control cases.

Talley declined to disclose to Congress, when asked for potential conflicts of interests, that his wife, Ann Donaldson, is not only a White House staffer but chief of staff to the White House counsel, whose office is in charge of picking judicial nominees. (A White House official told the New York Times that Donaldson wasn’t involved in the judicial nomination process, and thus in picking her own husband.)

The Senate Judiciary Committee nevertheless approved Talley on a party-line vote.

Jeff Mateer, nominated to serve as a district court judge in Texas, was already hanging by a thread although he has not officially withdrawn. Mateer has run into trouble over speeches he made in 2015. In one, he referred to transgender children as being part of “Satan’s plans,” CNN reported.

The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared four of President Trump’s judicial nominees Thursday, rejecting complaints by Democrats who said that one of them called a Supreme Court justice a “judicial prostitute” and that the other equated the high court’s legal rulings to slavery and abortion. Mr. Schiff, in a 2007 post, called Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy a “judicial prostitute” who was “‘selling’ his vote as it were to four other Justices in exchange for the high that comes from aggrandizement of power and influence.”

Democrats said John Kenneth Bush, Mr. Trump’s nominee for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Damien Michael Schiff, his pick for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, had both made blog postings that should disqualify them from being judges. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, accused Mr. Bush of promoting the idea that former President Obama had been born in Kenya, by linking in a blog to a World Net Daily piece that involved a reporter traveling to Kenya to explore the issue. Mr. Obama has repeatedly released documentation showing that he was born in Hawaii.

To name a few.

Ho hum, more epic stuff ...

Following President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Asia, China has released a long list of dramatic tariff cuts on a range of imported consumer goods. In fact, over 200 different products will see an average reduction of approximately 10 percent.

U.S. cheese exporters have been particularly vocal about the importance of China lowering tariffs. Demand for dairy products has been growing rapidly in China—by 100,000 metric units over the past decade—and the U.S. dairy industry could benefit from greater access to the Chinese market.

Tom Vilsack, president and chief executive of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, also highlighted the diplomatic benefits of the cuts, noting that the process will “cultivate trust and build critical relationships between the U.S. dairy industry and Chinese official institutions.”

Beyond the U.S. dairy industry, many multinational corporations with household names in America will see major financial gains.

Nestle could see an approximate sales increase of 15 percent, or $18.7 billion, as a result of the tariff cuts. Procter & Gamble Co., an American company that manufactures products for brands like Tide and Gillette, will see tariff reductions on items ranging from diapers to electronic toothbrushes.

China’s unilateral decision to cut tariffs, however modest, should prove beneficial for its major trading partners, including the United States. The cuts will also benefit the people of China, allowing them greater access to a variety of products at more competitive costs.

http://dailysignal.com/2017/12/08/china ... asia-trip/

Obama's biggest parting gift to Trump may be the economy

[To think that the economy got the kickstart by Obama and his administration. Trump complains he inherited a mess. I wonder how Trump gets us out of the depression that Obama inherited.

The absence of better wage growth and inflation is one of the biggest mysteries in the economy.

The United States has added jobs for 85 straight months, the longest streak on record.

If my math is correct, 85-10 (months of trump)=75. Does this mean that 75 months (6 1/2 years...85%) of jobs added came under the Obama administration and has continued to grow under the Trump administration these last 10 months?? Trump's on a roll. Looks like he will surpass Obama's rate of increase 100% to 85%.........Oh Gawd! 6 years from now???

One positive about the tax plan.......I'm looking forward to my wages increasing significantly next year

Donald Trump is heading to the White House with a pledge to revive the U.S. economy and put millions of Americans back to work.

Based on the latest economic data, much of that goal has already been accomplished by President Barack Obama. That includes Friday's employment report that showed the unemployment rate had dropped to a nine year low of 4.6 percent.]

Americans voters' widespread anxiety about the economy played a major role in the 2016 election. Trump's broad promises to restore widely shared prosperity, with little policy details spelled out, helped him win what many saw as as upset victory.

The underpinnings of that popular economic anxiety, though, are well defined. Since peaking in 1979, American manufacturing employment has shrunk by a third — a loss of more than 7 million jobs. Millions more discouraged, able-bodied workers faced with shrinking job options have left the work force, apparently for good.

Yet millions more older workers approaching retirement have set aside savings only to cover less than a year's expenses. And the next generation is entering the workforce financially handicapped by unprecedented levels of student debt.

So it's no surprise that the incoming Trump administration is eager to quell that groundswell of household angst by promising to boost the pace of economic growth to levels not seen in a generation.

"Our most important priority is sustained economic growth, and I think we can absolutely get to sustained 3 to 4 percent GDP, and that is absolutely critical for the country," Steven Mnuchin, Trump's choice for Treasury secretary, told CNBC on Wednesday.

But if GDP growth alone is the benchmark for Americans' financial well-being, the Trump administration will inherit an economy that is well on its way to fulfilling his campaign promises.

Today, some eight years after the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression, many forecasters see the long-overdue recovery finally picking up steam. "The economy is starting to hit on almost all cylinders," Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, said after reviewing the latest report on GDP growth.

The Commerce Department on Tuesday boosted its estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product to a 3.2 percent annual rate, up from the previous estimate of 2.9 percent. That's just 8-tenths of a percent shy of Trump's GDP growth target.

Like most presidents, Trump's term in office will be measured by historians, at least in part, by his stewardship of the U.S. economy. American voters will also have a chance to weigh in when they go to the polls four years from now.
If the recovery continues to build momentum, will history credit Trump or Obama?

For his part, Obama has vigorously defended his economic record over the last eight years, starting with his administration's response to the worst economic crisis in nearly a century. That record includes signing the 2009 Recovery Act, reversing a wave of layoffs that peaked at more than 800,000 in a single month.

"Anybody who says we are not absolutely better off today than we were just seven years ago — they're not leveling with you," Obama said in February. "They're not telling the truth. By almost every economic measure, we are significantly better off."

Trump would not be the first president (or governor, or mayor) to take credit for the accomplishments of his or her predecessor. Much of the groundwork for the 1980s national prosperity of the Reagan administration, for example, was laid by the politically painful policy of double-digit, inflation-killing interest rates engineered by fiercely independent Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.

But jobs numbers and top line GDP numbers mask the much more complex impact of today's economic crosswinds on the financial well-being of American families, still recovering from the trillions of dollars of household wealth wiped out by the loss of foreclosed homes, investment savings and lost paychecks after the wave of U.S. mortgage lending fraud that sparked the 2008 global financial collapse.

To better assess the accomplishments and unfulfilled agenda of the Obama administration, and assess its place in history, CNBC.com analyzed a broad swath of data to compare the economic records of the last six presidents. We looked at a variety of measures, calculating the net change from the start of a president's term to the end, beginning with Jimmy Carter's inauguration in January 1977. (Our data is current as of July when the analysis was first done during the presidential campaign.)

Here are a dozen charts showing what we found.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/30/obamas- ... onomy.html

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Journalists in Venezuela march for press freedom in a country where media violence happens more often

A record number of journalists around the world are in jail

12/14/17

A record 262 journalists were jailed in 2017 simply for doing their work, according to a report published Wednesday (12/13/17) by the Committee to Project Journalists. That figure is higher even than last year's historic peak of some 259 journalists behind bars.

The nonprofit's annual census found that, of those arrested, an astonishing 21 were arrested on "false news" charges. Others have been jailed for vague "anti-state" charges.

In an era of regular "fake news" accusations from Donald Trump, many have pointed a finger at the president for exacerbating the situation.

His consistent effort to delegitimize journalism is arguably spreading throughout the world — as is his hands off approach to condemning other countries for suppressing press freedom — and people have noticed.

Sen. John McCain called out Trump after the publication of the report, slamming the "harmful rhetoric" that "empowers repressive regime to jail reporters & silence the truth."

The 10 worst jailers of journalists in 2017:
Turkey 73
China 41
Egypt 20
Eritrea 15
Vietnam 10
Azerbaijan 10
Uganda 8
Syria 7
Saudi Arabia 7
Bahrain 6

http://mashable.com/2017/12/13/freedom- ... zKSvkcXkq3

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CNN stars Blitzer, Cooper, Amanpour and others fire back at Trump in day of rage

November 28, 2017

President Donald Trump has made CNN one of his favorite punching bags on Twitter, calling the network "fake news," "garbage journalism" and "the worst." He has tweeted a video clip of him in a WWE wrestling match tackling a figure with a CNN logo superimposed on the head. He has retweeted - and then deleted - an image of a Trump train running over a CNN reporter.

As Anderson Cooper said on Monday, the criticism is "frankly something that we've come to expect" at CNN.

But Trump's most recent attack on CNN seems to have especially aggravated the network, prompting what appeared to be an organized response from some of its most prominent journalists, including Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Christiane Amanpour and Brooke Baldwin.

The response followed several days of tweets by Trump including:

- "FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!"

- "We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!"

It was the first tweet, the apparent assault on the work of CNN International correspondents abroad, that marked a breaking point for many CNN journalists. To them, Trump's words undermined and threatened the work of colleagues in the field risking their lives amid war zones, natural disasters and other dangerous environments to report the truth.

CNN's public relations department responded to Trump's tweet within minutes: "It's not CNN's job to represent the U.S. to the world. That's yours. Our job is to report the news."

And on Monday, the network dedicated significant airtime to rebuking Trump.

"We have thick skin here at CNN," host Anderson Cooper said Monday. "We can handle criticism but we'll damn sure call it out when it's a lie."

"His assault against a free press, a free press that stands up to him, will not stop us or any other legitimate news organization," Cooper said. "It won't stop my colleagues around the world who put their lives on the line to do their work, to report."

He went on to spotlight the work of veteran international correspondents Ben Wedeman, one of the first western journalists inside Libya covering the removal of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and Arwa Damon, whose group was under siege in Mosul, Iraq for more than 28 hours in November, 2016.

In his Monday broadcast, anchor Wolf Blitzer introduced a nearly five-minute montage of clips showing CNN correspondents covering war and strife in places like Afghanistan, Syria, Niger, Libya and the Philippines.

"The relentless pursuit of the truth and the outright rejection of any attack against it is something we still hold sacred, always will," Blitzer said. "No matter how many insults or blatant assaults on the press and its freedom, this pursuit is something for which we will never bend nor break. Even the loudest critics can't silence the facts."

"CNN and CNN International are not sponsored by any state, nor any autocrat, or any political organization, and despite the constant criticism from the president, we are unwavering in our mission, free and independent as the press should be," he added...................

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/CNN- ... 388175.php

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trump rebukes the DOJ in public and on twitter but turns out to be meek as a kitten when it comes time to go face to face.

The Trumpstapo is coming.

"It's a shame what's happened with the FBI," Trump said before traveling to the bureau's National Academy in Quantico, Va. "We're going to rebuild the FBI; it'll be bigger and better than ever."

Trump said there is "a level of anger" within the bureau following the removal of a top FBI agent from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election for exchanging anti-Trump text messages with a bureau colleague. Mueller's inquiry includes a review of possible obstruction of justice by the president for his abrupt May dismissal of FBI Director James Comey for his handling the of the Russia inquiry.

"It is very sad when you look at those documents," the president said, referring to the exchanges involving FBI counter-intelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page. "How they've done that is really, really disgraceful... It's a very sad thing to watch, I will tell you that.


But later Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he didn't "share" the president's displeasure with the bureau. Sessions' comments at an afternoon briefing on rising violent crime marked the first time he had addressed Trump's rebukes of the bureau.

"I don't share the view that the FBI is not functioning at a high level all over the country," Sessions said. "In my view, the FBI has a huge national security requirement, but it also is fulfilling a fabulously important role" in combating violent crime.

Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray offered a ringing defense of the agency in the wake of Trump's rebukes in which the president claimed that the bureau's standing was the "worst in history."

"It is the honor of my life to lead the FBI," Wray told the House Judiciary Committee. "There is no finer institution than the FBI and no finer people who work there."

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Trump praises police after blasting ‘sad,’ ‘disgraceful’ FBI

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump heaped praise on law enforcement while decrying anti-police sentiment in a speech to FBI academy graduates on Friday not long after he lamented the agency's "sad" and "disgraceful" state.

In remarks to the FBI National Academy that also touched on immigration and violent crime, Trump called himself a "true friend and loyal champion" of police while noting that members of law enforcement "rarely get the recognition" they deserve.

An hour earlier, speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on his way to talk to graduates of the academy in Quantico, Virginia, Trump said: "It's a shame what's happened with the FBI, but we’re going to rebuild the FBI. It’ll be bigger and better than ever."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white- ... es-n830026

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Trump nominee can't answer basic law questions

Senator openly mocks Trump judicial nominee

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questions Matthew Spencer Petersen, President Trump's nominee for district court judge, about his lack of experience trying cases in court.

After Spencer admitted he'd never tried a case to a verdict, Republican Sen. John Kennedy, of Louisiana, reeled off several principles of law and asked Spencer to describe them:

“Have you ever tried a Jury trial?” Kennedy asked.

“No.”

Kennedy then asked him if he’d ever tried civil, criminal, or bench trials, or trials in either state or federal court;

Petersen confirmed that he had not.

“Do you know what a motion in limine is?” Kennedy asked.

Petersen’s answer was meandering and somewhat evasive. “I appreciate this line of questioning . . . but I believe that the path I have taken to be in a decision-making role on, I guess, somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 enforcement matters, overseeing I don’t know how many cases in federal court…”

“Yessir, I’ve read your resume,” Kennedy responded. “Just for the record, do you know what a motion in limine is?”

“I would probably not be able to give you a good definition right here at the table,” Petersen answered.


The video posted by Whitehouse (“Hoo-boy,” the senator commented in his tweet) has proven to be catnip for Democrats, who have lambasted Trump’s judicial nominees and tried to keep them off the bench. It has been an uphill battle. As the Huffington Post noted Thursday, Trump has so far successfully appointed 12 judges to the nation’s circuit courts — more than any other President in his first year in office since the courts were established 126 years ago. These judges are largely conservative, as is Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose appointment to the Supreme Court in April is considered one of Trump’s biggest accomplishments to date.

The votes in the Senate to confirm these judges have fallen along party lines — Democrats have coalesced to largely vote “no” every time — but as Whitehouse’s video shows, not every Republican can be swayed. Kennedy is a freshman senator from Louisiana who is regarded among the congressional press corps as a reliable source for a colorful quote (he described the Las Vegas shooter as a “perverted idiot” and said he’d have to be “drunk” to vote for tax hikes), and while his voting record is conservative, his questioning earlier this week is one more piece of evidence that GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill aren’t going to line up behind Trump on every issue.

https://firenewsfeed.com/politics/881338

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Talley, 36, a Trump nominee for the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama has never tried a case in his life (he has written more horror novels than he’s tried cases). In fact, he has only practiced law for three years, spending the bulk of his time since law school as a clerk or working for Republican campaigns. The American Bar Association unanimously ruled him "unqualified," only the fourth such rating since 1989 (and the second under President Donald Trump). He pledged his “support to the NRA [National Rifle Association]; financially, politically, and intellectually” in a 2013 blog post and told the Senate Judiciary Committee that despite the pledge, he would not commit to recuse himself from gun control cases.

Talley declined to disclose to Congress, when asked for potential conflicts of interests, that his wife, Ann Donaldson, is not only a White House staffer but chief of staff to the White House counsel, whose office is in charge of picking judicial nominees. (A White House official told the New York Times that Donaldson wasn’t involved in the judicial nomination process, and thus in picking her own husband.)

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Donald Trump bemoaned the arduous confirmation process faced by his judicial nominees. “We have some of the most qualified people,” he told reporters, blaming Democrats for “obstruction.” “They're waiting forever on line. . . . It shouldn't happen that way. It's not right, it's not fair.” Two months later, Trump, aided by the aggressive workings of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is approaching the record for most federal appeals court judges confirmed during a president’s first year in office; so far Trump has nominated 59 young conservative judges, and 14 have been confirmed. But one of the president’s “most qualified people” appeared to hit a roadblock on Wednesday, floundering in the face of questions from senators.

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[ AND THIS IS WHAT WE ARE DEALING WITH FOLKS. TRUMP IS STILL FILLED WITH MINDLESS DECISIONS EXECUTED WITH MINIMAL KNOWLEDGE AND POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC RESULTS ]

Melania and Ivanka Trumps’ botched NYC mayor votes thrown out

A couple of members of President Donald Trump's family got rocked by the vote in last month's New York City mayoral election.

Absentee votes cast by the president's wife, Melania, and daughter Ivanka Trump were not counted by city officials after both made mistakes with their ballots, a spokeswoman for the New York City Board of Elections confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday.

The first lady did not sign the envelope that contained her completed absentee ballot before she sent it in, as is required by the New York City Board of Elections, said a board spokeswoman, Valerie Vasquez said.

Ivanka Trump, for her part, didn't mail her absentee ballot in until Election Day, Nov. 7, Vasquez said, and it didn't arrive in time to be counted.

As a result of the mistakes, the votes cast by both Trumps were tossed out.

"They were invalid and not counted," Vasquez told NBC News.

Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio trounced his Republican rival, Nicole Malliotakis, by more than 422,000 votes.

News of the ballot errors was first reported by the Daily News, which also noted that the president filled out his date of birth incorrectly on his application for an absentee ballot. Trump, who was born on June 14, 1946, said on the application that his birthday was July 14, 1946, according to the News, which viewed his application. It wasn't clear if his vote still counted.

The voting snafus weren’t the first time Trump family members messed up on Election Day.

The president's son Eric and Ivanka were unable to vote for their dad in the New York State GOP presidential primary in April 2016 because they failed to register as Republicans in time.

In addition, the president's daughter, Tiffany Trump, was registered to vote in two states at the time of the 2016 election — New York and Pennsylvania, according to state election records in both states. Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, was also registered to vote in two states, New York and New Jersey, at the time of the 2016 election, according to The Washington Post.

[ If trump doesn't know his own birth date, maybe he was born in Germany ]

Trump's judge pick had a very bad day

VIDEO OF INTERVIEW

https://youtu.be/nUvNVR90bFM

President Donald Trump's nomination of Matthew Spencer Petersen to a lifetime appointment as a federal district court judge demonstrates the President's utter contempt for the judiciary.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday for several of President Trump's nominees for coveted federal district court judicial positions, Petersen got to see a scathing and highly effective cross-examination by Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana. Unfortunately for Petersen, he was the subject of the cross-examination, which has likely extinguished any possibility of him being confirmed, even by the Trump-friendly Republican senatorial majority that has been relentlessly approving conservative nominees to the federal courts.

The televised hearing showed Kennedy using an experienced trial lawyer's cross-examination technique of baby-stepping a witness into a corner and then hitting him over the head with a baseball bat -- symbolically, of course.

Since the primary job of a federal district court judge is to try cases, Kennedy began his examination with a very unusual question to the entire panel of aspiring federal judges: "Have any of you not tried a case to verdict in a courtroom?" The question seemed somewhat ridiculous because the primary job of a federal judge is the supervision of complex federal trials.

Who would nominate a lawyer with no trial experience to supervise federal trials?

Petersen was the only nominee to raise his hand. He was about to have a very bad day.

Kennedy then proceeded with a series of follow-up questions that demonstrated Petersen's utter lack of qualifications for a federal district court appointment. The nominee was forced to admit, in sequential answers, that he never tried a jury case in a "civil" or "criminal" court. In fact, he had never tried a case of any sort in either "state" or "federal court," not even "bench" trial (trial before a judge rather than a jury), nor had he ever even argued a motion or conducted a deposition on his own.

The nominee was then forced to admit a dismal or entirely nonexistent level of knowledge regarding the two bibles of federal courtrooms: the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In his coup de gras, the Louisiana senator asked Petersen about his familiarity with the "Daubert standard" and "Motions in Limine" two subjects known to even the most novice of federal trial lawyers relating to the evaluation of expert testimony and the limitation or exclusion of evidence from consideration at trial.

Petersen was clueless, but at all times willing to take, as he might put it, a "deep dive" presumably to learn the subjects in question if necessary at some time in the future. He apparently was unaware that issues like these routinely occur during fast moving federal trials and there is no time for swimming lessons for the inexperienced.

Kennedy concluded with two particularly interesting questions, given President Trump's promise to remake the federal courts with conservative judges who interpret rather than make law. The senator asked if the nominee knew about the Younger and Pullman abstention doctrines. Both are federal doctrines that are beloved by conservatives as they relate to the concept of federal abstention from interference with state court proceedings until they have run their course. Petersen was once again clueless, failing the last two questions on Kennedy's short but incisive examination.

The exam demonstrated that even a conservative senator from Louisiana couldn't stomach the nomination of such an embarrassingly unqualified lawyer to such an important position. As Congress and the President seek to increase the number of conservative judges in the federal courts, they should spend a little more time finding lawyers who know how to try a case. Fairness and competence in the federal courts is far more important than rewarding supporters or lawyers pushing Trump's populist brand of always changing conservative ideology. When interviewing a bright, fair and experienced lawyer possibly worthy of a judicial appointment, the President or his staff should remember to ask the most important question of all:

Have you ever tried a case?

U.N. council mulls call for U.S. Jerusalem decision to be withdrawn

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would insist any decisions on the status of Jerusalem have no legal effect and must be rescinded after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the city as Israel’s capital. The one-page Egyptian-drafted text, which was circulated to the 15-member council on Saturday and seen by Reuters, does not specifically mention the United States or Trump. Diplomats say it has broad support but will likely be vetoed by Washington. The council could vote early next week, diplomats said. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass. After the decision, Arab foreign ministers agreed to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution. While the draft is unlikely to be adopted, it would further isolate Trump over the Jerusalem issue. The U.S. mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the draft. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has praised Trump’s decision as “the just and right thing to do.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1EA0NW

Myanmar journalists' group to don black T-shirts over arrest of Reuters' reporters

YANGON (Reuters) - A group of Myanmar journalists said they would begin wearing black T-shirts on Saturday in protest at the detention of two Reuters reporters accused of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act, as pressure builds on Myanmar to release the pair. The Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists, a group of local reporters who have demonstrated against past prosecutions of journalists, decried the “unfair arrests that affect media freedom”. n a statement on Facebook, the committee said its members would don black T-shirts “to signify the dark age of media freedom” in Myanmar. They demanded the unconditional and immediate release of the two reporters, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27. “Journalists all over the country are urged to take part in the Black Campaign,” the group said. It said it also planned to stage official protests and prayers. The group has staged several protests on behalf of arrested reporters from other media this year, including one in June in which around 100 journalists took part. It was not immediately clear how many journalists have joined the black T-shirt protest.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myan ... SKBN1EA09Z

Victims of Mexico military abuses shudder at new security law

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Human rights activist Juan Carlos Soni fears a new security law passed by Mexico’s Congress on Friday could mean his death after he suffered beatings, electrocution and abduction at the hands of the armed forces four years ago. Bucking widespread protests from rights groups, Congress approved the Law of Internal Security, which will formally regulate the deployment of the military in Mexico more than a decade after the government dispatched it to fight drug cartels. Soni, 46, a teacher from the central state of San Luis Potosi, whose case was documented by Mexico’s national human rights commission, related how in 2013 he was detained, blindfolded and tortured by marines after being warned by them to stop looking into alleged rights abuses. While being held in a cellar, Soni said, he was made to leave fingerprints on guns and bags of marijuana and cocaine. He was then arrested on charges of carrying an illegal weapon and drug possession, and spent 16 months in prison until he was released with the aid of U.N. representatives in Mexico.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexi ... SKBN1E92LR
North Korean high-ranking official missing

Reports that North Korea's second most high-ranking official to Kim Jong Un has vanished. CNN's Brian Todd reports on his whereabouts. Source: CNN

Jet fires 3,300 rounds a minute

The U.S. military is ground-testing the F-35 fighter jet's Gatling gun, another step before the $1 trillion fighter jet project can be fully operational.Source: CNN

World's fastest train takes you a mile in 10 seconds

The Japanese Maglev train crushed its own world record by traveling at 374 miles per hour for nearly 11 seconds. Check out the train in action. Source: CNN

A look at Brexit: Why are the Brits thumbing their noses at Europe?

The message from the shires of England is that they no longer trust their leadership. A divide has opened; centers of cosmopolitan wealth are at odds with their council estate and country-living cousins. It is not about wealth, it is about history -- about who the British think they are. For the majority, they are too far from their history, their roots are stretched, and the blame for it falls on migrants -- not personally but as an all-consuming force for change. Where Henry's archers might have gathered for mead merriment and more, the pubs of little England have been alive with an anti-elitist groundswell. The global capitalist machine, they postulate, has gobbled up more migrants than the country can contain. For many in the UK, beyond the leafy fringes of the capital's rosy suburbia, they see a rich upper class that has grown ridiculously rich, intertwined with a political elite in their pocket and their thrall. It is a revolt that needs little understanding, they would say. The poor have been misunderstood and misrepresented for too long. As a policeman outside the UK prime minister's home at 10 Downing Street told me last night as the "leave" campaign took the lead, the politicians -- and with a gesture of his head, he indicated the prime minister behind him -- "didn't listen." he argument of political leaders that immigration benefits the economy is lost on the "Leave" supporters because they don't feel they see the benefits.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/europe/br ... index.html
Ukraine FM: Russia Does Not Live in a Vacuum, Sanctions Are Effective

Ukraine’s foreign minister applauded decisions announced this week by Canada and the European Union (EU) as important in demonstrating the international community’s solidarity with Ukraine and sending a clear message to Russia. “Look, Russia does not live in a vacuum, sanctions are effective,” Pavlo Klimkin said Friday in an interview with VOA. EU Council President Donald Tusk announced Thursday that leaders of the organization’s 28 member states were “united on the rollover of economic sanctions on Russia.” The European Union’s sanctions post constraints for Russia’s access to the coveted EU markets. Initially, they were put in place in 2014 “in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and deliberate destabilization of a neighboring sovereign country.” Earlier this week, the Canadian government added Ukraine to its Automatic Firearms Country Control List, thus enabling Canadian individuals and companies to apply for permits to export certain prohibited firearms, weapons and devices to Ukraine. “Canada and Canadians will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland declared.
https://www.voanews.com/a/ukraine-forei ... 66427.html

Erdogan: Turkey Seeking to Annul Trump Jerusalem Decision at UN

ANKARA —
Turkey is launching an initiative at the United Nations to annul a decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, President TayyipErdogan said on Friday. Erdogan was speaking two days after a Muslim leaders meeting in Istanbul condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's decision, calling on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. "We will work for the annulment of this unjust decision firstly at the UN Security Council, and if a veto comes from there, the General Assembly," Erdogan told crowds gathered in the central Anatolian city of Konya via teleconference. The United States is a permanent Security Council member with veto powers, meaning any move to overturn Washington's decision at the council would certainly be blocked. "President Trump...does not intend to reverse himself, despite the various condemnations and declarations," Ambassador David Friedman said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/erdogan-says- ... 65272.html

EU Leaders Agree on Next Phase for Brexit, Deeply Divided on Immigration

European leaders finished a summit in Brussels agreeing that Britain has done enough to move on to the second phase of negotiations to leave the EU, but without any signs of agreement on matters of immigration. On the issue of Brexit, EU leaders agreed to allow Britain to move onto the next phase of negotiations. The move was expected after British Prime Minister Teresa May traveled to Brussels last week to secure an agreement on the first phase of Britain leaving the European Union. “There is still more to do, but we’re well on the road to delivering a Brexit that will make Britain prosperous, strong and secure,” May said. The second phase of Brexit will be focused on post-Brexit relations between London and the European Union and any potential future trade agreements.
https://www.voanews.com/a/eu-summit-bre ... 66401.html

What does Brexit mean?

It is a word that has become used as a shorthand way of saying the UK leaving the EU - merging the words Britain and exit to get Brexit, in the same way as a possible Greek exit from the euro was dubbed Grexit in the past.

Why is Britain leaving the European Union?

A referendum - a vote in which everyone (or nearly everyone) of voting age can take part - was held on Thursday 23 June, 2016, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union. Leave won by 51.9% to 48.1%. The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting.

What was the breakdown across the UK?

England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%. Wales also voted for Brexit, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed staying in the EU. Scotland backed Remain by 62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted Remain and 44.2% Leave.
Britain got a new Prime Minister - Theresa May. The former home secretary took over from David Cameron, who announced he was resigning on the day he lost the referendum. Like Mr Cameron, Mrs May was against Britain leaving the EU but she played only a very low-key role in the campaign and was never seen as much of an enthusiast for the EU. She became PM without facing a full Conservative leadership contest after her key rivals from what had been the Leave side pulled out.

Where does Theresa May stand on Brexit?

Theresa May was against Brexit during the referendum campaign but is now in favour of it because she says it is what the British people want. Her key message has been that "Brexit means Brexit" and she triggered the two year process of leaving the EU on 29 March, 2017. She set out her negotiating goals in a letter to the EU council president Donald Tusk. She outlined her plans for a transition period after Brexit in a big speech in Florence, Italy.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887

Nazareth Christmas Celebrations to Be Held as Normal, Mayor Says

JERUSALEM — Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where Jesus is thought to have been raised, will celebrate Christmas as usual, its mayor said, denying the festivities would be curtailed in protest against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. On Wednesday, a city spokesman said there would be some cuts to the celebrations to protest President Donald Trump's decision on Jerusalem, which angered Palestinians as well as U.S. allies in the Middle East and the rest of the world. Mayor Ali Salam told Reuters on Saturday that three singers who had been scheduled to perform would not appear. He gave no reason for their absence, but said that the celebrations would proceed as normal. "I don't know why people thought that there would be cuts to the celebrations. Everything, except for three singers who will not be coming, will be held as normal. We have already welcomed 60,000 people to the city today," Salam said. Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel, with a population of 76,000 Muslims and Christians, is one of the Holy Land's focal points of Christmas festivities which began officially Saturday evening.
https://www.voanews.com/a/nazareth-chri ... 66815.html

White House Signals Western Wall Has to Be Part of Israel

WASHINGTON — Senior Trump administration officials outlined their view Friday that Jerusalem's Western Wall ultimately will be declared a part of Israel, in another declaration sure to inflame passions among Palestinians and others in the Middle East. Although they said the ultimate borders of the holy city must be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the officials — speaking ahead of Vice President Mike Pence's trip to the region — essentially ruled out any scenario that didn't maintain Israeli control over the holiest ground in Judaism. The issue is sensitive because the wall is beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders and abuts some of the Islamic world's most revered sites. "We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not be part of Israel. But as the president said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement," a senior administration official said. Another official later added by email, "We note that we cannot imagine Israel would sign a peace agreement that didn't include the Western Wall."
https://www.voanews.com/a/white-house-s ... 65926.html

Hunger at Damascus' Door as Syrian Government Blocks Aid

BEIRUT — At the doors of the Syrian capital, children with wrinkled faces and arms like sticks are going hungry because President Bashar Assad's forces, supported by Russia and Iran, are blocking trucks filled with humanitarian relief. As the government and its opponents wrap up another fruitless round of talks in Geneva, humanitarian officials warn that conditions outside Damascus have reached crisis levels, with the government maintaining a siege on the Eastern Ghouta suburbs that has trapped close to 400,000 people without enough food, fuel or medicine for the winter. They say patients with empty stomachs and kidney failure are dying in their beds while waiting for evacuation to hospitals just minutes away. The fighting in Syria's nearly seven-year war has tapered off in many areas since local cease-fires took hold, but the suffering in Eastern Ghouta - Damascus' once fertile hinterland, now cut off from the world - has only gotten worse.
https://www.voanews.com/a/syria-starvin ... 64012.html

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seagull wrote:The Trumpstapo is coming.

I didn't see it of course but saw on social media that Joy Reid was doing a spot on TV recently and called President Trump "an authoritarian of the first order".

Just the fact that you can say that on TV without fear of violence or arrest shows how truly f'n stupid of a comment that is.

I really don't know where you people get this shit. Maybe one day you'll get your socialist eutopia and then you'll see how a gustapo works.

Trump wakes up every morning and says "What would Hitler do?".

Australia arrests man accused of trying to sell missile parts for North Korea

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australian police said on Sunday they had arrested a man accused of working on the black market to sell missile components and coal on behalf of North Korea, the first charges ever brought in Australia over the sale of weapons of mass destruction. The man had been charged with two counts under an act preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, police said, and with another four under legislation enforcing United Nations and Australian sanctions against North Korea. The Sydney man was identified by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other media as 59-year-old Chan Han Choi, who they said had been living in Australia for more than 30 years and was of Korean descent. He was arrested in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood on Saturday and was due to face court later on Sunday, police said. He came to the attention of authorities earlier this year, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said. “This man was a loyal agent of North Korea, who believed he was acting to serve some higher patriotic purpose,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters. “This case is like nothing we have ever seen on Australian soil,” he said.Police will allege the man tried to broker the sale of missile components, including software for the guidance systems of ballistic missiles, as well as trying to sell coal to third parties in Indonesia and Vietnam. “This is black market 101,” Gaughan said. The man faces up to 18 years in jail if convicted..............
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nort ... SKBN1EB01U
Fatah Calls for 'Angry Protests' During Pence Visit to Jerusalem

The political party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has called for "angry protests" during the visit to Jerusalem next week of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. "We call for angry protests at the entrances to Jerusalem and in its Old City to coincide with the visit on Wednesday of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and to protest against [U.S. President Donald] Trump's decision," Fatah said Saturday. Trump angered Palestinians this month when he announced that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing a delicate policy that has been in place for decades. Palestinian leaders reacted by canceling their plans to meet with Pence. He is still expected to meet with Israeli officials. Both Palestinians and Israelis claim Jerusalem as their true capital. But the dispute over Jerusalem has meant that government functions are conducted elsewhere: Tel Aviv, for Israel, Ramallah, for the Palestinian National Authority. Trump's announcement was met with anger in Palestinian communities, spurring thousands of Palestinians in the Middle East and elsewhere to stage demonstrations against the decision............
https://www.voanews.com/a/fatah-calls-a ... 67142.html
This story on Trump's Russia paranoia is terrifying

The Washington Post published a breathtaking piece this week detailing the depth and breadth of President Donald Trump's blind spot on Russia. The story is, in a word, terrifying. Trump, as revealed in scrupulous detail in the article, simply does not believe the unanimous conclusion of the US intelligence community: That Russia purposely sought to interfere in the 2016 election to help his candidacy and hurt the bid of Hillary Clinton. Trump's refusal to acknowledge that fact is, according to sources in the Post story, entirely attributable to the fact that he believes doing so would somehow invalidate or weaken his victory and his presidency.

This paragraph -- up high in the Post story -- is a stunner:

"The result is without obvious parallel in US history, a situation in which the personal insecurities of the president -- and his refusal to accept what even many in his administration regard as objective reality -- have impaired the government's response to a national security threat. The repercussions radiate across the government."

Stop. Go back. Read that paragraph again. What it says is this: Trump's insecurity about the nature of his victory (and who should get the credit for it) has made it impossible for the broader government and foreign policy apparatus to properly address the threat posed by Russia. The ways in which Trump's insecurities have trickled down to how Russia is dealt with by his administration include, according to sources cited in the Post story:

*He hasn't convened a single Cabinet-level meeting to discuss Russia
*His Presidential Daily Briefing -- a sort of "where are we now" look at the US and the world -- often has Russia news written down but not delivered orally, for fear of angering him.
*Trump mistook Fiona Hill, a top Russia adviser at the National Security Council, for a secretary at a meeting. "Trump appeared to mistake Hill for a member of the clerical staff, handing her a memo he had marked up and instructing her to rewrite it," write the Post reporters................
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/15/politics/ ... peditorial

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seagull wrote:Trump wakes up every morning and says "What would Hitler do?".

Oh no, he's a republican. He actually acknowledges Jesus...

But that brings up another hilarious oddity. Liberals constantly compare Trump to Hitler. Oblivious to the fact that Hitler and the Nazi's were far left. The German Nationalist Socialist Party.

And seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was Obama's NSA that was spying on James Rosen and other reporters.

And that it was Obama's IRS that targeted political enemies. (tea party and conservative groups)

And that it was Obama's FBI that illegally obtained a FISA warrant and spied on the candidate of the opposing party for President of The United States.