May 16, 2018

LA Times Trump went from 'America first' to saving jobs in China. This could be why

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-trump-china-zte-20180515-story.html

President Trump's stunning change in stance toward a Chinese telecom-equipment maker that his administration recently sanctioned drew widespread rebuke Monday, even as it seemed to increase the likelihood that the U.S. and China could soon pull back from the brink of a trade war.

China's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, is expected to arrive in Washington on Tuesday for several days of meetings with senior Trump administration officials. And Trump's tweet Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working together to help save ZTE could be a sign that Trump is looking for a potential deal to avert massive tariffs threatened by both sides.

snip

Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, called Trump's tweet on ZTE "indefensible," given that the company had been found breaking U.S. laws and was considered by many to be a security threat to the U.S.

snip

There was also speculation that Trump's step may have been in exchange for Beijing's support for the president as he gears up to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.

May 14, 2018

Trump is trying to start war(s) in the middle east

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem and scrapping the US part to the 6 nation deal
to keep Iran from ever making a Nuclear weapon.

May 11, 2018

White House refuses comment about Sadler's McCain remark

Source: CNN

(CNN)The White House on Friday refused either to acknowledge or disown a purported barb about Sen. John McCain's health by a communications staffer.

Instead, press secretary Sarah Sanders suggested questions about the incident were meant to sow discord among President Donald Trump's aides.

snip

Kelly Sadler, a special assistant who handles surrogate communications, told other staffers during a meeting Thursday that McCain's opposition to Trump's CIA director nominee, Gina Haspel, does not matter because "he's dying anyway," a White House official told CNN.

snip


"Certainly there is not a tone set here," Sanders said. "We have a respect for all Americans. That is something we try to do in both word and action."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/11/politics/kelly-sadler-john-mccain-white-house/index.html

---

ATTN Ms. Sanders you really need some gays in your life.

May 11, 2018

NPR Kelly Sadler: McCain Irrelevant, 'He's Dying Anyway,' White House Official Reportedly Says

Turns out she is a right wing hack from the Washington Times.

********


A day after Sen. John McCain urged his Senate colleagues to reject Gina Haspel as CIA director because she had overseen torture of detainees, a White House official reportedly mocked the ailing Arizona Republican, saying his opinion "doesn't matter" because "he's dying anyway."

snip

McCain, 81, who is suffering from incurable brain cancer, issued a statement on Wednesday calling Haspel's role in torture "disturbing" and "disqualifying" for the top CIA job.

The White House did not dispute the remark attributed to Sadler, but said in a statement, "We respect Senator McCain's service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time."

The reported remark by Sadler, a former opinion writer for the conservative Washington Times, came on the same day that a retired three-star general told Fox Business Network that the torture McCain endured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam "worked."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/11/610325611/mccain-irrelevant-he-s-dying-anyway-white-house-official-reportedly-says

May 10, 2018

D. Kos: Donald Trump gave a huge gift to Vladimir Putin, and may have saved the Russian government

Female host says: "Looks like we found it. Trump is withdrawing US from the Iran nuclear deal. Oil prices should go up, which is good for us."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/9/1763198/-Donald-Trump-gave-a-huge-gift-to-Vladimir-Putin-and-may-have-saved-the-Russian-government?detail=emaildkre

May 10, 2018

Cohen wasn't getting income for consulting work*.

Cohen was getting paid all those millions of $s for consulting work he was taking bribes to sell access to or
influence w/Donal Trump and no doubt Trump was getting the lion’s share of that dirty money.


BTW but really what about Hillary’s email server?


* https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142056375

May 9, 2018

Trump misspells OH's GOP nominee for Governor Mike DeWine in tweet

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180509/trump-tweet-misspells-dewine-calls-cordray-socialist

Trump tweet misspells ‘Dewine,’


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Congratulations to Mike Dewine on his big win in the Great State of Ohio. He will be a great Governor with a heavy focus on HealthCare and Jobs. His Socialist opponent in November should not do well, a big failure in last job!

May 8, 2018

We have a Russian agent in the White House and he is working to bring down the U.S..

This is a nightmare and I'm really depressed about what is going on and what
will happen. Good God in Butter, Mr. Mueller please hurry up.

May 8, 2018

Vanity Fair: MCHAEL COHEN GRAPPLES WITH HIS NEW REALITY

“I’D DIE FOR MY WIFE AND MY KIDS. AND THIS IS ALL RUINING THEIR LIVES”: AFTER RUDY’S MELTDOWN, MICHAEL COHEN GRAPPLES WITH HIS NEW REALITY
Besieged by the media and legal bills, and feeling abandoned by Washington, friends say Cohen is in a “dangerous place.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/05/michael-cohen-grapples-with-his-new-reality

Cohen, people close to him have told me, is a fighter who is determined to prove that he is collateral damage in a larger effort to ensnarl Trump, and that he is not going to hide or cower. Sometimes, he has friends come meet with him in one of the Regency’s meeting rooms. “That is not in his nature,” one friend told me. “None of this is normal, but he’s trying to keep it as normal as he can.”

Cohen’s attempt at normalcy was complicated recently by Trump’s bizarre interview on Fox & Friends, and then exacerbated by a string of equally bewildering comments uttered last week by Rudy Giuliani, the president’s new lawyer. On Wednesday, Giuliani had told Sean Hannity that Trump had, in fact, reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payment; the next morning, he claimed that Cohen made the payments to protect the Trump family, but also noted that the story would have come out close to the election—a convoluted answer that obfuscated questions about a potential campaign-finance violation. The Washington Post and The New York Times both reported that Trump had known what Giuliani planned to say ahead of time, but on Friday, Trump told reporters that his lawyer was new to the job and needed to get his facts straight, and he would be issuing a statement clarifying what he meant. Giuliani did, in fact, issue that statement, which reiterated that the payment did not violate campaign-finance rules because it would have been made to protect the family regardless of the election. (In March, Cohen told me in an interview: “What I did defensively for my personal client, and my friend, is what attorneys do for their high-profile clients. I would have done it in 2006. I would have done it in 2011. I truly care about him and the family—more than just as an employee and an attorney.”)

snip

Cohen, for his part, is mostly distraught over the impact on his family, according to the people familiar with his thinking. “I live for my wife and my kids,” he tells friends. “I’d die for my wife and my kids. And this is all ruining their lives.” An inaccurate NBC News report on Thursday saying that the government had wiretapped his phone, which was corrected by the network the same day, was particularly difficult on his children, according to one person. Once they read it, it doesn’t matter if it’s corrected, he has told people. The damage, he has said, is already done. (Though he has said he’s glad they did ultimately correct it.)

snip

“I am sitting here in this nightmare,” he has told people. He has said he has had no peace since January 2017, when BuzzFeed published the so-called “dossier” that made several claims about Cohen’s interactions with Russians throughout the presidential campaign (claims he has repeatedly denied). Since the raids, however, and following Giuliani’s media blitz, two people said that Cohen feels even more alone. Friends have said that “Washington has made a huge mistake” in hanging him out to dry. “That,” one person said, “is a dangerous place for him to be.”

May 8, 2018

Trump has no idea what is in the Iranian agreement and what it is about.

It was written by and signed off on by Iran, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and the U.S..
America can drop out but it will stay in effect as longer as the other nations stick to it.

It allows anytime anywhere access in Iran to inspect for any violations of the agreement and those
inspections are under the purview of the IAEA and not the United States and or any other nation.


BTW the main person behind the agreement is Ernie Moniz who if he is not the best in the world at
understanding the issues involved then the # of people who are as good or better is pretty damn
short list.

Ernie's bio:

Dr. Ernest Moniz served as United States Secretary of Energy from May 21, 2013 to January 19, 2017. As Secretary of Energy, he was tasked with implementing critical Department of Energy missions in support of President Obama’s goals of growing the economy, enhancing security and protecting the environment. This encompassed advancing the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, maintaining the nuclear deterrent and reducing the nuclear danger, promoting American leadership in science and clean energy technology innovation, cleaning up the legacy of the cold war, and strengthening management and performance.

Prior to his appointment, Dr. Moniz was the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a faculty member since 1973. At MIT, he headed the Department of Physics and the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. Most recently, Dr. Moniz served as the founding Director of the MIT Energy Initiative and as Director of the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment where he was a leader of multidisciplinary technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear power, coal, nuclear fuel cycles, natural gas and solar energy in a low-carbon world.

From 1997 until January 2001, Dr. Moniz served as Under Secretary of the Department of Energy. He was responsible for overseeing the Department’s science and energy programs, leading a comprehensive review of nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, and serving as the Secretary’s special negotiator for the disposition of Russian nuclear materials. From 1995 to 1997, he served as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.


snip

Dr. Moniz received a Bachelor of Science degree summa cum laude in Physics from Boston College, a Doctorate in Theoretical Physics from Stanford University, and honorary degrees from the University of Athens, Boston College, Boston University, the University of Erlangen-Nurenberg, Iowa State University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Michigan State University and Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. He has been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal of the Department of Defense, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator.

https://www.energy.gov/contributors/dr-ernest-moniz