Trump says he'll meet with Kim Jong Un on denuclearization in the 'not too distant future'

Source: The Hill

President Trump said Saturday that he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "in the not too distant future," alluding to a third possible summit between the two to leaders discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Trump tweeted early Saturday that Kim had sent him a letter seeking a meeting to start negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang following the conclusion of the United States's joint exercises with South Korea.

"It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises," Trump wrote, adding that Kim apologized for testing short range missiles and claimed the "testing would stop when the exercises end."

"I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future! A nuclear free North Korea will lead to one of the most successful countries in the world!" he added.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/456939-trump-says-hell-meet-with-kim-jong-un-on-denuclearization-in-the-not

Tiny Pricks Project

Eat healthier, and you'll help save the planet, report says

Perfectly Timed Photo Shows Singing Blackbird Creating Vortex Rings with His Breath

This year, amateur bird photographer Kathrin Swoboda achieved a career-changing shot. Like many photographs of birds, her portrait of a blackbird stars a perched, singing subject. What sets this photograph apart from others, however, is that viewers can actually see his song—an element expertly captured by the strategic photographer.

Early on March 17, 2019, Swoboda set out toward Huntley Meadows Park, an island in Virginia favored by nature photographers for its wildlife-friendly wetlands. Here, she hoped to photograph the male red-wing blackbird, a robin-sized species of bird known for its crimson shoulder markings and distinctive throaty song. “Specifically,” Swoboda tells My Modern Met, “I wanted to photograph their breath, which when expelled would condense in the cold air.”

Fortunately, Swoboda found a suitable subject: a “quite vociferous” blackbird. As he vigorously called out for a potential mate, the bird began “forming smoke rings with his spring song.” Due to both the chilly early morning temperatures and her strategic use of the morning sun as backlighting, Swoboda was able to capture this phenomenon in a pair of stunning photographs, with one even earning Swoboda the grand prize of this year’s Audubon Photography Awards.

While Swoboda’s portraits of the red-wing blackbird are now her most well-known works, this species is not the only bird she enjoys photographing. You can explore an aviary of exceptional photographs on her website.

https://mymodernmet.com/red-winged-blackbird-kathrin-swoboda/

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe sues Justice Department over firing

Source: CNBC

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice on Thursday over his 2018 firing, which came just over 24 hours before he planned to retire, alleging the punishment was "politically motivated and retaliatory."

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington. It names Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, as well as the DOJ and FBI, as defendants.

McCabe, who served in the FBI for more than two decades, alleged that President Donald Trump schemed to "discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents because they were not politically loyal to him."

McCabe's public firing by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a "critical element" of the scheme, according to the suit.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/08/ex-fbi-deputy-director-mccabe-sues-justice-department-over-firing.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

Yay, Dr. Jen Gunter (Goop slayer extraordinaire) is going to have a TV show:

WSJ: Banks Hand Over Trump Docs To House, State Investigators

Source: TPM/WSJ

Investigators targeting President Trump’s financial and business history may have found a way around the White House’s blocking of congressional subpoenas, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Banks have been handing over thousands of pages of documents related to business ties between Russians and Trump to congressional committees investigating the President, while other banks have been producing information to New York state investigators probing the Trump org.

Letitia James – New York’s attorney general – has reportedly gotten information about loans to the Trump org, potentially offering a tantalizing view of the notoriously opaque group’s financial makeup.

A joint investigation by the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees hit a roadblock in May after Trump sued to block subpoenas issued to two of his longtime lenders – Deutsche Bank and Capital One. Those subpoenas targeted information on the financial history of Trump himself, that of his immediate family, and of his closely held business entities.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/wsj-banks-hand-over-trump-docs-to-house-state-investigators

Viola Davis: THIS is what I'm embracing right now ❤️ 🎥

Woody Harrelson Once Had to Escape a 'Brutal' Dinner With Donald Trump By Going Outside to Smoke Wee

Exclusive: White House rebuffed attempts by DHS to make combating domestic terrorism a higher priori

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)White House officials rebuffed efforts by their colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security for more than a year to make combating domestic terror threats, such as those from white supremacists, a greater priority as specifically spelled out in the National Counterterrorism Strategy, current and former senior administration officials as well as other sources close to the Trump administration tell CNN.

"Homeland Security officials battled the White House for more than a year to get them to focus more on domestic terrorism," one senior source close to the Trump administration tells CNN. "The White House wanted to focus only on the jihadist threat which, while serious, ignored the reality that racial supremacist violence was rising fast here at home. They had major ideological blinders on."

The National Counterterrorism Strategy, issued last fall, states that "Radical Islamist terrorists remain the primary transnational terrorist threat to the United States and its vital national interests," which few experts dispute. What seems glaring to these officials is the minimizing of the threat of domestic terrorism, which they say was on their radar as a growing problem.

"Ultimately the White House just added one paragraph about domestic terrorism as a throw-away line," a senior source involved in the discussion told CNN. That paragraph mentions "other forms of violent extremism, such as racially motivated extremism, animal rights extremism, environmental extremism, sovereign citizen extremism, and militia extremism." It made no mention of white supremacists. (A separate paragraph in the report mentions investigating domestic terrorists with connections to overseas terrorists, but that does not seem to be a reference to white supremacists.)

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/politics/white-house-domestic-terrorism/index.html