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THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:53 am
This says it all, he wanted to be POTUS and he didn't care which party he used to get to his goal. LLbb1 wrote:I am horrified by how few political skills Trump has, LL - the concept of catching more flies with honey than vinegar seems to be beyond him.
Party affiliation: Republican (1987-1989, 2009-2011, 2012-present), Reform (1999-2001), Democratic Party(until 1987, 2001–2009), Independent politician (2011-2012)
Lamplighter- Slayer of scums
- Location : I am the Judge, Jury and Executioner
Join date : 2011-06-24
Age : 84
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:20 am
Trump Attacks the Press, Cambodia Winds Up Collateral Damage.
It’s doubtful the U.S. president gives much thought to Cambodia, but his hostility to the U.S. press and any form of opposition has a powerful impact in Phnom Penh nonetheless.
Donald Trump has a lot to answer for in Cambodia, a country he rarely thinks about, if ever. But the hard-edged government of Hun Sen knows a green light for oppression when it sees one, and it’s now engaged in a multi-pronged crackdown on the free press and the political opposition.
In the last few weeks, authorities in Phnom Penh have shuttered the U.S. State Department-funded National Democratic Institute, triggered the closure of the highly respected and non-partisan English-language Cambodia Daily (where I worked early in my career), and ordered the silencing of nearly 20 radio stations unless they stopped broadcasting programming critical of the government.
Without such media, far fewer Cambodians will be able to access critical or objective journalism in the run-up to the July 2018 presidential elections, making the possibility of free and fair voting increasingly elusive. That is part of reason the Daily’s final issue focused on its persecution by tax authorities and an effort to decapitate the political opposition under the cover headline: “Descent into Outright Dictatorship.”
Government spokesmen in Phnom Penh repeatedly cite U.S. President Trump’s criticism of U.S. media, as well as the move to exclude some from the White House, as a justification for clamping down on media messengers in Cambodia.
And, after a CNN report cited a nonprofit group that worked against sex trafficking in Cambodia, in early August the government ordered the organization to be shut down for allegedly exaggerating the problem.
Speaking of “an insult which can’t be tolerated,” Hun Sen went full-Trump. “CNN deserves the rantings of President Donald Trump,” he said at a graduation ceremony for law students. “His rantings are right. I would like to send a message to the president that your attack on CNN is right. American media is very bad.”
Cambodia, in fact, has plenty of “American” media. The government-ordered radio closures have mostly hit stations that broadcast U.S.-funded programming like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, both of which are based in Washington, D.C.
And then there is—was—The Cambodia Daily, whose final issue detailed the story behind a seemingly arbitrary $6.3 million tax bill they were given just one month to pay. Both founder Bernard Krisher, and his daughter Deborah, who bought the paper in the spring for a symbolic sum, are American.
Prominent exiled opposition figure Sam Rainsy said in a phone interview with The Daily Beast that President Trump’s tone, priorities, actions, and inaction are facilitating a “striking authoritarian drift” in Cambodia and elsewhere.
“Dictators around the world feel encouraged,” Rainsy said from Paris.
“Hun Sen is benefitting from the eclipse of America, the loss of influence of the U.S. under Donald Trump; its lack of interest in human rights in far-away countries,” he said.
The implications are direct for Rainsy, who spent more than two decades building up a popular opposition movement in his homeland under the decreasingly watchful eye of the United States and an international community whose priorities often seem to be shifting elsewhere. Little changed in Cambodia when Rainsy faced politically motivated charges of defamation that risked sending him to prison for two years.
And when the ruling party passed a law allowing the government to shut down any political party whose leader has been convicted of a crime, Rainsy decided to give up the leadership of the Cambodian National Rescue Party early this year to save the opposition movement and allow it to run in local elections in June.
That led Kem Sokha, another longtime political opponent of Hun Sen, to take the reins of the party, and lead it to a surprisingly strong showing in local elections in June—setting the stage for what many observers expected to be a hard-fought national election next summer.
Rainsy, meanwhile, is stuck overseas, banned from returning to Cambodia, with authorities warning airlines against flying him into the country on a commercial flight because it could lead to bloodshed.
Such threats carry great weight in Cambodia, especially when they emanate from Hun Sen’s inner circle, but also because of the many skeletons in the country’s history. Once Southeast Asia’s oasis of peace, President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger launched a secret (and illegal) bombing campaign in Cambodia in the late 1960s to stop Vietnamese fighters from escaping carpet-bombing on their own soil by fleeing to a safe haven in Cambodia.
And so began the destabilization that helped facilitate the rise of the Khmer Rouge, an ultra-radical Maoist group with a particularly strong nationalist streak and a growing hatred of its former patron, Vietnam.
As the U.S. abandoned a failing war in Southeast Asia in 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia. Their leadership—simultaneously incompetent, cruel, and stunningly paranoid—engaged what has become known as the Khmer Rouge genocide in which 1.8 million Cambodians died of starvation, disease, and executions in less than four years.
Hun Sen was one of the Khmer Rouge’s young commanders—at least until a wave of internal purges convinced him to flee to neighboring Vietnam where the government developed an appreciation for him. After Hanoi’s leadership overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, they eventually installed Hun Sen as Cambodia’s minister of Foreign Affairs at a time when all major decisions emanated from Hanoi. In 1987, as the Vietnam occupation ended, Hun Sen became prime minister of a shaken country that remained reliant on its neighbor to the east.
And there Hun Sen has stayed, even as efforts to bring an end to decades of strife and confrontation resulted in a sprawling United Nations-driven peace process that began in 1991. Vietnam, the U.S., France, and other relevant foreign powers committed to the process.
What followed was a massive and costly international nation-building effort. Billions of dollars in aid were pumped into one of the poorest, most troubled countries in the world—on the condition that it become a multi-party democracy with a functioning state of law. In those circumstances, a free press was crucial. One of the main international guarantors of that whole process has long been the United States both despite and because of its complicated history in the region.
In the 32 years since he first became prime minister, Hun Sen, now 65, has learned to cater when necessary to the language of pluralistic democracy, although his autocratic tendencies have surfaced repeatedly, especially in the run-up to elections. But over the years a strong international reaction, especially when the U.S. enforced economic consequences, has convinced him repeatedly to back down, or at least to tone down.
In the Trump era, however, there are growing indications that Hun Sen feels he can be what he always wanted to be: a despot.
The official justifications for the government offensive on media and nonprofits was bureaucratic. Cambodia’s Department of Taxation and Ministry of Information went after them for supposed tax-, contract- and permit-violations.
But Hun Sen himself triggered that process when in early August he asked his cabinet to investigate the tax status of media companies and nonprofit entities that he has roundly attacked in the past.
And the pseudo-bureaucratic justifications for those closures were stripped away just after midnight on Sept. 3 when a far larger repressive strategy kicked in. More than 100 well-armed police swarmed the home of opposition leader Sokha and took him away, dazed, in handcuffs.
Hun Sen’s pliant courts have charged Sokha with treason and conspiring with a foreign country, the United States. Hun Sen explained that Sokha’s actions were so serious that he had to take action. But the evidence so far presented against the opposition leader, according to media close to the government, are based on an edited 2014 video of a speech Sokha made in Australia. In that talk, Sokha said that experts in various parts of the world, including American academia, were advising him, and he suggested that he was learning how to lead a peaceful people power revolution of the sort that Hun Sen is obsessed with preventing.
Due to the gravity of the charges brought against him Sokha could face 15 to 30 years in prison.
Hun Sen has long used his control of all major government, judicial, and military institutions to divide his opponents before elections, whether through tempting job offers, payoffs, threats, criminal charges, or more extreme measures.
But the breadth of this pre-election mobilization stands out. Hun Sen is suggesting that other opposition figures may face prosecution, and if an opposition party tries to protect its leader, he has said, it will be eliminated.
Beyond the campaign calendar, why is this crackdown so much broader and more blatant than those that came before it?
“It is a new world with Donald Trump,” explained Rainsy, who from exile is hoping to convince the international community, especially European nations, to mobilize renewed pressure to free Sokha, save the opposition party, and get Cambodia back toward the democratic path.
“The U.S. is very weak,” says Rainsy, and that is a big problem for countries like Cambodia. “Before the United States acted as a brake for dictators, but the U.S. is no longer playing its role.”
Even before Sokha’s arrest, the United Nations Human Rights chief, Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad, was highlighting the link between Trump’s repeated attacks against some of the U.S.’ most prestigious media, like The New York Times and The Washington Post and events in Cambodia.
“The demonization of the press [in the U.S.] is poisonous because it has consequences elsewhere,” Ra’ad said in comments at an Aug. 30 news conference in Geneva. He also spoke of the danger that Trump’s comments could incite violence against journalists—and not just in United States.
During Hun Sen’s years in power, countless journalists have been threatened with prosecution by the courts, not to mention anonymous and not-so-anonymous death threats. A dozen journalists are known to have been murdered, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The idea that a president of the United States would actively speak against the freedom of the press, a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution and something American presidents have promoted for generations amounts to “a stunning turnaround,” Ra’ad noted.
Hun Sen hoped for a such a turnaround when, in the run-up to Trump’s 2016 election victory, he called the American businessman “very talented” and said, “I really want him to win.” The Cambodian strongman foresaw better relations between the U.S. and Russia, Cambodia’s former patron state, and less American pressure over human rights abroad.
He may not have foreseen the massive decrease in U.S. aid that Trump has ordered, however. The U.S. plans to reduce assistance to Cambodia from $78.3 million this year to just $21.5 million next year. Or perhaps Hun Sen just figured a decline in conditional aid and investment from Western countries is being more than replaced by the rising influence of China in the region. Beijing doesn’t care about the free press or respect for multi-party democracy, and with Hun Sen repeatedly sticking his finger in the eye of the U.S. in Southeast Asia, China keeps rewarding him with ever-growing foreign investment.
So Hun Sen is surfing the rise of China, and the declining interest of the U.S., regardless of its past commitments. “Hun Sen knows he can do what he wants,” Rainsy said. “Donald Trump doesn’t care about countries like Cambodia.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-attacks-the-press-cambodia-winds-up-collateral-damage?via=desktop&source=Reddit
It’s doubtful the U.S. president gives much thought to Cambodia, but his hostility to the U.S. press and any form of opposition has a powerful impact in Phnom Penh nonetheless.
Donald Trump has a lot to answer for in Cambodia, a country he rarely thinks about, if ever. But the hard-edged government of Hun Sen knows a green light for oppression when it sees one, and it’s now engaged in a multi-pronged crackdown on the free press and the political opposition.
In the last few weeks, authorities in Phnom Penh have shuttered the U.S. State Department-funded National Democratic Institute, triggered the closure of the highly respected and non-partisan English-language Cambodia Daily (where I worked early in my career), and ordered the silencing of nearly 20 radio stations unless they stopped broadcasting programming critical of the government.
Without such media, far fewer Cambodians will be able to access critical or objective journalism in the run-up to the July 2018 presidential elections, making the possibility of free and fair voting increasingly elusive. That is part of reason the Daily’s final issue focused on its persecution by tax authorities and an effort to decapitate the political opposition under the cover headline: “Descent into Outright Dictatorship.”
Government spokesmen in Phnom Penh repeatedly cite U.S. President Trump’s criticism of U.S. media, as well as the move to exclude some from the White House, as a justification for clamping down on media messengers in Cambodia.
And, after a CNN report cited a nonprofit group that worked against sex trafficking in Cambodia, in early August the government ordered the organization to be shut down for allegedly exaggerating the problem.
Speaking of “an insult which can’t be tolerated,” Hun Sen went full-Trump. “CNN deserves the rantings of President Donald Trump,” he said at a graduation ceremony for law students. “His rantings are right. I would like to send a message to the president that your attack on CNN is right. American media is very bad.”
Cambodia, in fact, has plenty of “American” media. The government-ordered radio closures have mostly hit stations that broadcast U.S.-funded programming like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, both of which are based in Washington, D.C.
And then there is—was—The Cambodia Daily, whose final issue detailed the story behind a seemingly arbitrary $6.3 million tax bill they were given just one month to pay. Both founder Bernard Krisher, and his daughter Deborah, who bought the paper in the spring for a symbolic sum, are American.
Prominent exiled opposition figure Sam Rainsy said in a phone interview with The Daily Beast that President Trump’s tone, priorities, actions, and inaction are facilitating a “striking authoritarian drift” in Cambodia and elsewhere.
“Dictators around the world feel encouraged,” Rainsy said from Paris.
“Hun Sen is benefitting from the eclipse of America, the loss of influence of the U.S. under Donald Trump; its lack of interest in human rights in far-away countries,” he said.
The implications are direct for Rainsy, who spent more than two decades building up a popular opposition movement in his homeland under the decreasingly watchful eye of the United States and an international community whose priorities often seem to be shifting elsewhere. Little changed in Cambodia when Rainsy faced politically motivated charges of defamation that risked sending him to prison for two years.
And when the ruling party passed a law allowing the government to shut down any political party whose leader has been convicted of a crime, Rainsy decided to give up the leadership of the Cambodian National Rescue Party early this year to save the opposition movement and allow it to run in local elections in June.
That led Kem Sokha, another longtime political opponent of Hun Sen, to take the reins of the party, and lead it to a surprisingly strong showing in local elections in June—setting the stage for what many observers expected to be a hard-fought national election next summer.
Rainsy, meanwhile, is stuck overseas, banned from returning to Cambodia, with authorities warning airlines against flying him into the country on a commercial flight because it could lead to bloodshed.
Such threats carry great weight in Cambodia, especially when they emanate from Hun Sen’s inner circle, but also because of the many skeletons in the country’s history. Once Southeast Asia’s oasis of peace, President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger launched a secret (and illegal) bombing campaign in Cambodia in the late 1960s to stop Vietnamese fighters from escaping carpet-bombing on their own soil by fleeing to a safe haven in Cambodia.
And so began the destabilization that helped facilitate the rise of the Khmer Rouge, an ultra-radical Maoist group with a particularly strong nationalist streak and a growing hatred of its former patron, Vietnam.
As the U.S. abandoned a failing war in Southeast Asia in 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia. Their leadership—simultaneously incompetent, cruel, and stunningly paranoid—engaged what has become known as the Khmer Rouge genocide in which 1.8 million Cambodians died of starvation, disease, and executions in less than four years.
Hun Sen was one of the Khmer Rouge’s young commanders—at least until a wave of internal purges convinced him to flee to neighboring Vietnam where the government developed an appreciation for him. After Hanoi’s leadership overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, they eventually installed Hun Sen as Cambodia’s minister of Foreign Affairs at a time when all major decisions emanated from Hanoi. In 1987, as the Vietnam occupation ended, Hun Sen became prime minister of a shaken country that remained reliant on its neighbor to the east.
And there Hun Sen has stayed, even as efforts to bring an end to decades of strife and confrontation resulted in a sprawling United Nations-driven peace process that began in 1991. Vietnam, the U.S., France, and other relevant foreign powers committed to the process.
What followed was a massive and costly international nation-building effort. Billions of dollars in aid were pumped into one of the poorest, most troubled countries in the world—on the condition that it become a multi-party democracy with a functioning state of law. In those circumstances, a free press was crucial. One of the main international guarantors of that whole process has long been the United States both despite and because of its complicated history in the region.
In the 32 years since he first became prime minister, Hun Sen, now 65, has learned to cater when necessary to the language of pluralistic democracy, although his autocratic tendencies have surfaced repeatedly, especially in the run-up to elections. But over the years a strong international reaction, especially when the U.S. enforced economic consequences, has convinced him repeatedly to back down, or at least to tone down.
In the Trump era, however, there are growing indications that Hun Sen feels he can be what he always wanted to be: a despot.
The official justifications for the government offensive on media and nonprofits was bureaucratic. Cambodia’s Department of Taxation and Ministry of Information went after them for supposed tax-, contract- and permit-violations.
But Hun Sen himself triggered that process when in early August he asked his cabinet to investigate the tax status of media companies and nonprofit entities that he has roundly attacked in the past.
And the pseudo-bureaucratic justifications for those closures were stripped away just after midnight on Sept. 3 when a far larger repressive strategy kicked in. More than 100 well-armed police swarmed the home of opposition leader Sokha and took him away, dazed, in handcuffs.
Hun Sen’s pliant courts have charged Sokha with treason and conspiring with a foreign country, the United States. Hun Sen explained that Sokha’s actions were so serious that he had to take action. But the evidence so far presented against the opposition leader, according to media close to the government, are based on an edited 2014 video of a speech Sokha made in Australia. In that talk, Sokha said that experts in various parts of the world, including American academia, were advising him, and he suggested that he was learning how to lead a peaceful people power revolution of the sort that Hun Sen is obsessed with preventing.
Due to the gravity of the charges brought against him Sokha could face 15 to 30 years in prison.
Hun Sen has long used his control of all major government, judicial, and military institutions to divide his opponents before elections, whether through tempting job offers, payoffs, threats, criminal charges, or more extreme measures.
But the breadth of this pre-election mobilization stands out. Hun Sen is suggesting that other opposition figures may face prosecution, and if an opposition party tries to protect its leader, he has said, it will be eliminated.
Beyond the campaign calendar, why is this crackdown so much broader and more blatant than those that came before it?
“It is a new world with Donald Trump,” explained Rainsy, who from exile is hoping to convince the international community, especially European nations, to mobilize renewed pressure to free Sokha, save the opposition party, and get Cambodia back toward the democratic path.
“The U.S. is very weak,” says Rainsy, and that is a big problem for countries like Cambodia. “Before the United States acted as a brake for dictators, but the U.S. is no longer playing its role.”
Even before Sokha’s arrest, the United Nations Human Rights chief, Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad, was highlighting the link between Trump’s repeated attacks against some of the U.S.’ most prestigious media, like The New York Times and The Washington Post and events in Cambodia.
“The demonization of the press [in the U.S.] is poisonous because it has consequences elsewhere,” Ra’ad said in comments at an Aug. 30 news conference in Geneva. He also spoke of the danger that Trump’s comments could incite violence against journalists—and not just in United States.
During Hun Sen’s years in power, countless journalists have been threatened with prosecution by the courts, not to mention anonymous and not-so-anonymous death threats. A dozen journalists are known to have been murdered, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The idea that a president of the United States would actively speak against the freedom of the press, a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution and something American presidents have promoted for generations amounts to “a stunning turnaround,” Ra’ad noted.
Hun Sen hoped for a such a turnaround when, in the run-up to Trump’s 2016 election victory, he called the American businessman “very talented” and said, “I really want him to win.” The Cambodian strongman foresaw better relations between the U.S. and Russia, Cambodia’s former patron state, and less American pressure over human rights abroad.
He may not have foreseen the massive decrease in U.S. aid that Trump has ordered, however. The U.S. plans to reduce assistance to Cambodia from $78.3 million this year to just $21.5 million next year. Or perhaps Hun Sen just figured a decline in conditional aid and investment from Western countries is being more than replaced by the rising influence of China in the region. Beijing doesn’t care about the free press or respect for multi-party democracy, and with Hun Sen repeatedly sticking his finger in the eye of the U.S. in Southeast Asia, China keeps rewarding him with ever-growing foreign investment.
So Hun Sen is surfing the rise of China, and the declining interest of the U.S., regardless of its past commitments. “Hun Sen knows he can do what he wants,” Rainsy said. “Donald Trump doesn’t care about countries like Cambodia.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-attacks-the-press-cambodia-winds-up-collateral-damage?via=desktop&source=Reddit
Lamplighter- Slayer of scums
- Location : I am the Judge, Jury and Executioner
Join date : 2011-06-24
Age : 84
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:00 am
Trump makes nice with Dems, leaving his party confused.
President Donald Trump was in the mood to celebrate after cutting a big deal with opposition Democrats.
Joshing with Northeastern officials in the Cabinet Room, Trump hailed New York Democrat Andrew Cuomo as "my governor" and traded banter with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, another fellow New Yorker.
"If you just dropped in from outer space, you wouldn't know what the last eight months have been like," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., recalling the friendly exchanges between Trump and Schumer during the meeting with New York and New Jersey lawmakers.
That would be the same Schumer whom the president had previously slammed as a "clown" and "Cryin' Chuck."
And now?
"In some ways it's almost like they were completing each other's sentences," King said.
On display at that chummy scene Thursday was the Trump who's emerged in full this past week: Trump the independent.
A president who spent months catering to the Republican conservative wing now appears unbound by ideology and untethered by party allegiances.
It's not a complete surprise to his fellow Republicans. They long have worried that Trump, a former Democrat, might shift with the political winds. But Trump's overtures to Democrats have left Republicans in an awkward and perplexing position, undercut by their leader and unsure of what's next.
"Our grass roots are very confused," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, on MSNBC Friday. Meadows said he viewed the deal as a "unique situation because of the devastation in Texas."
Trump's deal with Democrats to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and keep the government running for three month months — all in the name of speeding relief to hurricane victims — quickly passed Congress and gave him the opportunity to savor a victory after months of legislative setbacks. More at link.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/From-Trump-independent-streak-in-pursuit-of-12185107.php
President Donald Trump was in the mood to celebrate after cutting a big deal with opposition Democrats.
Joshing with Northeastern officials in the Cabinet Room, Trump hailed New York Democrat Andrew Cuomo as "my governor" and traded banter with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, another fellow New Yorker.
"If you just dropped in from outer space, you wouldn't know what the last eight months have been like," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., recalling the friendly exchanges between Trump and Schumer during the meeting with New York and New Jersey lawmakers.
That would be the same Schumer whom the president had previously slammed as a "clown" and "Cryin' Chuck."
And now?
"In some ways it's almost like they were completing each other's sentences," King said.
On display at that chummy scene Thursday was the Trump who's emerged in full this past week: Trump the independent.
A president who spent months catering to the Republican conservative wing now appears unbound by ideology and untethered by party allegiances.
It's not a complete surprise to his fellow Republicans. They long have worried that Trump, a former Democrat, might shift with the political winds. But Trump's overtures to Democrats have left Republicans in an awkward and perplexing position, undercut by their leader and unsure of what's next.
"Our grass roots are very confused," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, on MSNBC Friday. Meadows said he viewed the deal as a "unique situation because of the devastation in Texas."
Trump's deal with Democrats to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and keep the government running for three month months — all in the name of speeding relief to hurricane victims — quickly passed Congress and gave him the opportunity to savor a victory after months of legislative setbacks. More at link.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/From-Trump-independent-streak-in-pursuit-of-12185107.php
Lamplighter- Slayer of scums
- Location : I am the Judge, Jury and Executioner
Join date : 2011-06-24
Age : 84
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:36 am
Strikes me that this is one of the few sensible things Trump's done, as this is no time for the US to grind to a halt.
bb1- Slayer of scums
- Location : watcher on the wall
Join date : 2011-06-24
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Sun Sep 10, 2017 4:53 pm
'We allowed standards to drop': US Navy ADMITS it is using under-trained sailors and uncertified ships as senior officials begin probe into the two aircraft carrier collisions that left 17 dead
Navy Admiral William Moran gave testimony about two warship accidents
Moran said budget constraints and hectic pace of operations no excuse
Accidents involving the USS John S. McCain in August and the USS Fitzgerald in June resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors
Moran urged congress during his testimony to stop providing defense budgets by way of stopgap measures
Wide-ranging investigation found that more than a third of warships based in Japan had expired certifications
Four Navy vessels have been involved in accidents this year in the Pacific
Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, a three-star officer, was relieved of duty after the McCain crash
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4869378/We-allowed-standards-drop-Navy-ADMITS.html#ixzz4sI8Z3gJl
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
That's worth a read. No, the ships involved hadn't been 'hacked' by the Evil Russkis. No, the container ships weren't manned by Evil Mooslimes, or Fattie's kamikazis, or any of the other deranged conspiracy theories spouted on Breibart and similar.
The US navy simply isn't good enough.
Navy Admiral William Moran gave testimony about two warship accidents
Moran said budget constraints and hectic pace of operations no excuse
Accidents involving the USS John S. McCain in August and the USS Fitzgerald in June resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors
Moran urged congress during his testimony to stop providing defense budgets by way of stopgap measures
Wide-ranging investigation found that more than a third of warships based in Japan had expired certifications
Four Navy vessels have been involved in accidents this year in the Pacific
Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, a three-star officer, was relieved of duty after the McCain crash
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4869378/We-allowed-standards-drop-Navy-ADMITS.html#ixzz4sI8Z3gJl
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
That's worth a read. No, the ships involved hadn't been 'hacked' by the Evil Russkis. No, the container ships weren't manned by Evil Mooslimes, or Fattie's kamikazis, or any of the other deranged conspiracy theories spouted on Breibart and similar.
The US navy simply isn't good enough.
bb1- Slayer of scums
- Location : watcher on the wall
Join date : 2011-06-24
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:49 am
Donald Trump Jr. slams Michael Moore for asking if Mar-a-Lago opened as shelter during Irma.
Donald Trump Jr. fired back at liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who questioned whether President Trump's Florida resort opened as a shelter when Hurricane Irma hit the state.
"It's on an island on both the ocean & intercostal and in a mandatory evacuation zone... probably not the best idea, but you know, narrative!" Trump Jr. wrote Sunday after Moore questioned whether Mar-a-Lago had opened as a shelter.
A spokesman for the Trump Organization saidWednesday that Trump properties in the path of the hurricane "are taking all of the proper precautions ... to ensure that everyone is kept safe and secure."
Mar-a-Lago, Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter, had all been closed as of Friday.
Donald Trump Jr. fired back at liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who questioned whether President Trump's Florida resort opened as a shelter when Hurricane Irma hit the state.
"It's on an island on both the ocean & intercostal and in a mandatory evacuation zone... probably not the best idea, but you know, narrative!" Trump Jr. wrote Sunday after Moore questioned whether Mar-a-Lago had opened as a shelter.
A spokesman for the Trump Organization saidWednesday that Trump properties in the path of the hurricane "are taking all of the proper precautions ... to ensure that everyone is kept safe and secure."
Mar-a-Lago, Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter, had all been closed as of Friday.
Lamplighter- Slayer of scums
- Location : I am the Judge, Jury and Executioner
Join date : 2011-06-24
Age : 84
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:46 am
Trump: North Korea sanctions 'small step,' warns of more
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday new U.N. sanctions "are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen" to stop North Korea's nuclear march. U.S. officials showed Congress satellite images of illicit trade to highlight the challenge of getting China and Russia to cut off commerce with the rogue nation.
The U.N. Security Council's new restrictions could further bite into North Korea's meager economy after what Kim Jong Un's authoritarian government says was a hydrogen bomb test Sept. 3. The world body on Monday banned North Korean textile exports, an important source of hard currency, and capped its imports of crude oil.
The measures fell short of Washington's goals: a potentially crippling ban on oil imports and freezing the international assets of Kim and his government.
"We think it's just another very small step - not a big deal," Trump said as he met with Malaysia's prime minister at the White House. "But those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen." He did not elaborate.
Despite its limited economic impact, the new sanctions succeed in adding further pressure on Pyongyang without alienating Moscow and Beijing. The U.S. needs the support of both of its geopolitical rivals for its current strategy of using economic pressure and diplomacy — and not military options — for getting North Korea to halt its testing of nuclear bombs and the missiles for delivering them.
Trump said it was "nice" to get a 15-0 vote at the U.N. More at link.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/US-warns-China-Russia-to-comply-on-NKorea-12191231.php
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday new U.N. sanctions "are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen" to stop North Korea's nuclear march. U.S. officials showed Congress satellite images of illicit trade to highlight the challenge of getting China and Russia to cut off commerce with the rogue nation.
The U.N. Security Council's new restrictions could further bite into North Korea's meager economy after what Kim Jong Un's authoritarian government says was a hydrogen bomb test Sept. 3. The world body on Monday banned North Korean textile exports, an important source of hard currency, and capped its imports of crude oil.
The measures fell short of Washington's goals: a potentially crippling ban on oil imports and freezing the international assets of Kim and his government.
"We think it's just another very small step - not a big deal," Trump said as he met with Malaysia's prime minister at the White House. "But those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen." He did not elaborate.
Despite its limited economic impact, the new sanctions succeed in adding further pressure on Pyongyang without alienating Moscow and Beijing. The U.S. needs the support of both of its geopolitical rivals for its current strategy of using economic pressure and diplomacy — and not military options — for getting North Korea to halt its testing of nuclear bombs and the missiles for delivering them.
Trump said it was "nice" to get a 15-0 vote at the U.N. More at link.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/US-warns-China-Russia-to-comply-on-NKorea-12191231.php
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:14 am
So, that's blood and fire off the agenda, then?
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:10 am
Trump and Democratic leaders reach tentative deal to protect Dreamers.
Schumer and Pelosi agreed to enhance border security, excluding funding for a wall.
President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer have reached a tentative agreement to beef up border security in exchange for providing a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” according to two congressional aides briefed on the meeting.
The framework, hatched at an unusual dinner hosted by Trump, would exclude funding for the border wall, Pelosi and Schumer said. And notably the agreement does not thus far include House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.), whom Trump spurned for Pelosi and Schumer on a fiscal deal last week.
The White House did not immediately confirm Democrats' account of the deal, and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back on their assertion that Trump had backed off the wall.
“While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” she tweeted.
An aide with knowledge of the meeting said Trump made clear to Schumer and Pelosi that he would continue pushing for the wall, just not as part of this deal. The agreement came as a surprise to most Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, according to two GOP aides, the second time Trump has blindsided them this month after his deal with Pelosi and Schumer on the debt ceiling.
Republicans said they were perplexed that Trump was backing away from his core campaign promises. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said if the deal is true, the "Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible."
One GOP aide said, with a sigh: "Maybe tomorrow he'll support NAFTA."
More at link.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/13/dreamers-trump-democratic-leaders-242698
Schumer and Pelosi agreed to enhance border security, excluding funding for a wall.
President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer have reached a tentative agreement to beef up border security in exchange for providing a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” according to two congressional aides briefed on the meeting.
The framework, hatched at an unusual dinner hosted by Trump, would exclude funding for the border wall, Pelosi and Schumer said. And notably the agreement does not thus far include House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.), whom Trump spurned for Pelosi and Schumer on a fiscal deal last week.
The White House did not immediately confirm Democrats' account of the deal, and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back on their assertion that Trump had backed off the wall.
“While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” she tweeted.
An aide with knowledge of the meeting said Trump made clear to Schumer and Pelosi that he would continue pushing for the wall, just not as part of this deal. The agreement came as a surprise to most Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, according to two GOP aides, the second time Trump has blindsided them this month after his deal with Pelosi and Schumer on the debt ceiling.
Republicans said they were perplexed that Trump was backing away from his core campaign promises. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said if the deal is true, the "Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible."
One GOP aide said, with a sigh: "Maybe tomorrow he'll support NAFTA."
More at link.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/13/dreamers-trump-democratic-leaders-242698
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:11 am
Republicans said they were perplexed that Trump was backing away from his core campaign promises. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said if the deal is true, the "Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible."
Yup; he's shafted his supporters.
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:11 pm
Trump denies making deal with Democrats on DACA.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter early Thursday to address rumblings that he had struck a deal with Democrats on DACA.
“No deal was made last night on DACA,” he tweeted. “Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.”
He added: “The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/national/trump-denies-making-deal-with-democrats-daca/uOfNSqzQmWCGlhcHa6opBL/
President Donald Trump took to Twitter early Thursday to address rumblings that he had struck a deal with Democrats on DACA.
“No deal was made last night on DACA,” he tweeted. “Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.”
He added: “The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.”
Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.
More at link.Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.
http://www.ajc.com/news/national/trump-denies-making-deal-with-democrats-daca/uOfNSqzQmWCGlhcHa6opBL/
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:04 pm
As Mueller probe intensifies, so do Trump attacks on Comey.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican attacks on fired FBI Director James Comey have sharply intensified in the last two weeks, with broadsides delivered on Twitter, public statements and even from the White House podium.
In June, Comey said President Donald Trump and the White House had lied about him and the law enforcement agency he led. In turn, he's repeatedly been accused of delivering false testimony, of prematurely exonerating Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server and of improperly leaking details about private conversations with Trump.
The attacks come as Congress and federal investigators probe the circumstances of his dismissal. Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told The AP this week that he does not consider Comey to be a "credible witness" and that there were multiple reasons for Comey's firing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican attacks on fired FBI Director James Comey have sharply intensified in the last two weeks, with broadsides delivered on Twitter, public statements and even from the White House podium.
In June, Comey said President Donald Trump and the White House had lied about him and the law enforcement agency he led. In turn, he's repeatedly been accused of delivering false testimony, of prematurely exonerating Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server and of improperly leaking details about private conversations with Trump.
The attacks come as Congress and federal investigators probe the circumstances of his dismissal. Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told The AP this week that he does not consider Comey to be a "credible witness" and that there were multiple reasons for Comey's firing.
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:53 pm
All very undignified and unedifying.
This business of the 'dreamers' - there's something deeply unpleasant about punishing them for what their parents did when they were children and had no say in anything. It's unworthy, IMO.
This business of the 'dreamers' - there's something deeply unpleasant about punishing them for what their parents did when they were children and had no say in anything. It's unworthy, IMO.
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:30 am
Trump signs resolution condemning white supremacists.
Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump signed into law a Congressional resolution condemning white supremacists on Thursday, after lawmakers maneuvered the president into backing a text triggered by his equivocal response to racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump signed the resolution "rejecting White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups," which was unanimously passed by Congress earlier in the week.
The overwhelming passage of the text meant that Trump would have likely had any attempted presidential veto overturned.
In a statement, Trump said he was "pleased to sign" the measure, adding that "as Americans, we condemn the recent violence in Charlottesville and oppose hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms."
Lawmakers from Virginia said Congress spoke with "a unified voice" to unequivocally condemn the August unrest, in which a rally by far-right extremists turned violent and a counter-demonstrator was killed when a car driven by a suspected white supremacist plowed into a crowd.
Trump was widely criticized for suggesting "both sides" shared blame for the violence between white supremacist groups and those opposed to them.
The president's job approval ratings sank to one of the lowest levels of his turbulent seven-month presidency, as he was savaged -- including within his own camp -- over his handling of the fallout from Charlottesville.
Trump earlier on Thursday had revived his much-criticized suggestion of an equivalence between counter-protestors and those who killed Heather Heyer.
"I think especially in light of the advent of Antifa, if you look at what's going on there, you know, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also," Trump said, using a common name for anti-fascist groups which have sprung up in opposition to a resurgent white nationalist movement.
"Now because of what's happened since then, with Antifa, you look at, you know, really what's happened since Charlottesville -- a lot of people are saying -- in fact a lot of people have actually written, 'gee Trump might have a point.'"
"I said, you got some very bad people on the other side also, which is true."
Trump's latest remarks sparked another round of controversy, amid a heated about the role of race in US politics.
Trump ran for the White House on a strongly anti-immigrant platform and before becoming president repeatedly and falsely questioned whether ex-president Barack Obama was born in the United States.
While overt racism is rare in most parts of the United States, a significant minority of Americans express racially-charged ideas.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 70 percent of Americans strongly agreed that people of different races should be "free to live wherever they choose" and that "all races are equal."
But 31 percent of respondents "strongly or somewhat agreed" that the United States needs to "protect and preserve its White European heritage."
"There are nearly 250 million adults in the United States, so even small percentages likely represent the beliefs of many millions of Americans," said Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump signed into law a Congressional resolution condemning white supremacists on Thursday, after lawmakers maneuvered the president into backing a text triggered by his equivocal response to racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump signed the resolution "rejecting White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups," which was unanimously passed by Congress earlier in the week.
The overwhelming passage of the text meant that Trump would have likely had any attempted presidential veto overturned.
In a statement, Trump said he was "pleased to sign" the measure, adding that "as Americans, we condemn the recent violence in Charlottesville and oppose hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms."
Lawmakers from Virginia said Congress spoke with "a unified voice" to unequivocally condemn the August unrest, in which a rally by far-right extremists turned violent and a counter-demonstrator was killed when a car driven by a suspected white supremacist plowed into a crowd.
Trump was widely criticized for suggesting "both sides" shared blame for the violence between white supremacist groups and those opposed to them.
The president's job approval ratings sank to one of the lowest levels of his turbulent seven-month presidency, as he was savaged -- including within his own camp -- over his handling of the fallout from Charlottesville.
Trump earlier on Thursday had revived his much-criticized suggestion of an equivalence between counter-protestors and those who killed Heather Heyer.
"I think especially in light of the advent of Antifa, if you look at what's going on there, you know, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also," Trump said, using a common name for anti-fascist groups which have sprung up in opposition to a resurgent white nationalist movement.
"Now because of what's happened since then, with Antifa, you look at, you know, really what's happened since Charlottesville -- a lot of people are saying -- in fact a lot of people have actually written, 'gee Trump might have a point.'"
"I said, you got some very bad people on the other side also, which is true."
Trump's latest remarks sparked another round of controversy, amid a heated about the role of race in US politics.
Trump ran for the White House on a strongly anti-immigrant platform and before becoming president repeatedly and falsely questioned whether ex-president Barack Obama was born in the United States.
While overt racism is rare in most parts of the United States, a significant minority of Americans express racially-charged ideas.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 70 percent of Americans strongly agreed that people of different races should be "free to live wherever they choose" and that "all races are equal."
But 31 percent of respondents "strongly or somewhat agreed" that the United States needs to "protect and preserve its White European heritage."
"There are nearly 250 million adults in the United States, so even small percentages likely represent the beliefs of many millions of Americans," said Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Fri Sep 15, 2017 4:47 pm
Trump: London bombing is reason to expand US travel ban.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called Friday for a "tougher and more specific" U.S. travel ban after a homemade bomb exploded on a London train. In a flurry of early-morning tweets, Trump called the explosion another attack "by a loser terrorist" and suggested London police missed an opportunity to prevent it. He added that his travel ban targeting six mostly Muslim nations should be "far larger, tougher and more specific - but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!"
The bomb exploded on a packed train during rush hour on Friday, leaving at least 22 people injured but no one seriously hurt. Police said the explosion was a terrorist attack, the fifth in Britain this year.
"Another attack in London by a loser terrorist," Trump tweeted. "These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!" Scotland Yard declined comment, but British Prime Minister Theresa May quickly responded, saying: "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."
Trump told reporters Friday morning that he had been briefed on the explosion and said he planned to call May. Asked about his tweet on the travel ban, Trump said "we have to be tougher and we have to be smarter." More at link.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/uk/5516648-trump-london-bombing-reason-to-expand-us-travel-ba.html#.1258-stage-hero1-4
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called Friday for a "tougher and more specific" U.S. travel ban after a homemade bomb exploded on a London train. In a flurry of early-morning tweets, Trump called the explosion another attack "by a loser terrorist" and suggested London police missed an opportunity to prevent it. He added that his travel ban targeting six mostly Muslim nations should be "far larger, tougher and more specific - but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!"
The bomb exploded on a packed train during rush hour on Friday, leaving at least 22 people injured but no one seriously hurt. Police said the explosion was a terrorist attack, the fifth in Britain this year.
"Another attack in London by a loser terrorist," Trump tweeted. "These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!" Scotland Yard declined comment, but British Prime Minister Theresa May quickly responded, saying: "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."
Trump told reporters Friday morning that he had been briefed on the explosion and said he planned to call May. Asked about his tweet on the travel ban, Trump said "we have to be tougher and we have to be smarter." More at link.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/uk/5516648-trump-london-bombing-reason-to-expand-us-travel-ba.html#.1258-stage-hero1-4
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Fri Sep 15, 2017 5:13 pm
Man's an imbecile - the scumbag that did this probably lives in Tower Hamlets or some similar dump, and is NOT an import.
Incidentally, have Trump and co wiped from their 'minds' just how many Americans funded the IRA when they were slaughtering British citizens? Or is that different?
Incidentally, have Trump and co wiped from their 'minds' just how many Americans funded the IRA when they were slaughtering British citizens? Or is that different?
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:21 pm
Trump’s ‘Loser Terrorist’ Tweet After London Attack Sparks Harsh Response From Theresa May.
“I never think it’s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation,” British Prime Minister says.
Donald Trump’s Twitter reaction Friday to the latest terror attack on London’s underground received a scathing response from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who called his comments unhelpful.
In his early morning tweet, Trump called the person who carried out the attack a “loser terrorist” and suggested that London’s Metropolitan police knew about the bomber, whose attack at the Parsons Green Tube station in West London injured at least 22 people.
“These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard,” the president said, adding a tweet promoting his highly contested travel ban, saying it should be “far larger, tougher and more specific” before lamenting the fact that such a ban is “stupidly … politically incorrect.” More at link.
http://www.thewrap.com/theresa-may-responds-to-trumps-loser-terrorist-tweet-speculation-unhelpful/
“I never think it’s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation,” British Prime Minister says.
Donald Trump’s Twitter reaction Friday to the latest terror attack on London’s underground received a scathing response from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who called his comments unhelpful.
In his early morning tweet, Trump called the person who carried out the attack a “loser terrorist” and suggested that London’s Metropolitan police knew about the bomber, whose attack at the Parsons Green Tube station in West London injured at least 22 people.
“These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard,” the president said, adding a tweet promoting his highly contested travel ban, saying it should be “far larger, tougher and more specific” before lamenting the fact that such a ban is “stupidly … politically incorrect.” More at link.
http://www.thewrap.com/theresa-may-responds-to-trumps-loser-terrorist-tweet-speculation-unhelpful/
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Sat Sep 16, 2017 12:15 pm
Trump to make UN debut with speech offering warmth to allies.
President Donald Trump will use his debut speech to the U.N. General Assembly next week to offer warmth to the United States' allies and warnings to its adversaries.
"He slaps the right people, he hugs the right people and he comes out very strong in the end," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Friday as she previewed Trump's Tuesday speech.
Addressing the General Assembly is a milestone moment for any president, but one particularly significant for Trump, a relative newcomer to foreign policy who has at times rattled the international community with his unpredictability.
"No one is going to grip and grin," Haley said at a White House briefing. "The United States is going to work."
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump "will urge all states to come together to address great dangers" facing the globe. Among topics certain to be on the agenda: North Korea, which has defied both sanctions and Trump's threats by continuing with its aggressive missile testing, and Iran, which the president has accused of violating an international nuclear deal.
Trump has been sharply critical of the United Nations in the past, denouncing its "utter weakness and incompetence." As president-elect, he derided it as "a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time." He also suggested deep cuts to U.S. funding for the U.N.
Haley and McMaster outlined a robust schedule for Trump, who will also be joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other top advisers. The meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations are often done in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team.
The General Assembly "is an incredibly sophisticated dance that doesn't really play to Tillerson's strengths or to the president's strengths," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies. "You often have one 15-minute meeting after another," with the goal of keeping focused on key points. "It's kind of like speed dating from hell," he said.
The president will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally, on Monday before holding a dinner with Latin American leaders. On Tuesday, in addition to his General Assembly speech, Trump will meet with the emir of Qatar, whose kingdom is embroiled in a dispute with other Middle East nations, including Saudi Arabia, over alleged funding of terror groups.
Trump on Wednesday holds a working lunch with African leaders and will meet with the heads of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. The White House has played down prospects for a major moment in the Middle East peace process. Trump also will sit down with British Prime Minster Theresa May, just days after she scolded him for choosing to publicly "speculate" about the nature of an explosion Friday that injured at least 22 people in the London subway.
Trump, who will stay in his Manhattan penthouse at Trump Tower, will conclude his stay Thursday with meetings with leaders from Turkey, Afghanistan and Ukraine before holding a lunch with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, largely to discuss the threats emanating from North Korea.
The presidents of China and Russia are not expected to attend the meetings.
Other topics on the agenda include the unstable situations in Venezuela and Syria and the fight against the Islamic State and al-Qaida terror groups. McMaster said that improving business ties between the United States and other nations will also be on the agenda.
"This administration's ironclad commitment to free, fair and reciprocal trade and access to markets will be the bedrock of our economic talks," he said.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Trump-to-make-UN-debut-with-speech-offering-12202543.php
President Donald Trump will use his debut speech to the U.N. General Assembly next week to offer warmth to the United States' allies and warnings to its adversaries.
"He slaps the right people, he hugs the right people and he comes out very strong in the end," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Friday as she previewed Trump's Tuesday speech.
Addressing the General Assembly is a milestone moment for any president, but one particularly significant for Trump, a relative newcomer to foreign policy who has at times rattled the international community with his unpredictability.
"No one is going to grip and grin," Haley said at a White House briefing. "The United States is going to work."
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump "will urge all states to come together to address great dangers" facing the globe. Among topics certain to be on the agenda: North Korea, which has defied both sanctions and Trump's threats by continuing with its aggressive missile testing, and Iran, which the president has accused of violating an international nuclear deal.
Trump has been sharply critical of the United Nations in the past, denouncing its "utter weakness and incompetence." As president-elect, he derided it as "a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time." He also suggested deep cuts to U.S. funding for the U.N.
Haley and McMaster outlined a robust schedule for Trump, who will also be joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other top advisers. The meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations are often done in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team.
The General Assembly "is an incredibly sophisticated dance that doesn't really play to Tillerson's strengths or to the president's strengths," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies. "You often have one 15-minute meeting after another," with the goal of keeping focused on key points. "It's kind of like speed dating from hell," he said.
The president will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally, on Monday before holding a dinner with Latin American leaders. On Tuesday, in addition to his General Assembly speech, Trump will meet with the emir of Qatar, whose kingdom is embroiled in a dispute with other Middle East nations, including Saudi Arabia, over alleged funding of terror groups.
Trump on Wednesday holds a working lunch with African leaders and will meet with the heads of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. The White House has played down prospects for a major moment in the Middle East peace process. Trump also will sit down with British Prime Minster Theresa May, just days after she scolded him for choosing to publicly "speculate" about the nature of an explosion Friday that injured at least 22 people in the London subway.
Trump, who will stay in his Manhattan penthouse at Trump Tower, will conclude his stay Thursday with meetings with leaders from Turkey, Afghanistan and Ukraine before holding a lunch with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, largely to discuss the threats emanating from North Korea.
The presidents of China and Russia are not expected to attend the meetings.
Other topics on the agenda include the unstable situations in Venezuela and Syria and the fight against the Islamic State and al-Qaida terror groups. McMaster said that improving business ties between the United States and other nations will also be on the agenda.
"This administration's ironclad commitment to free, fair and reciprocal trade and access to markets will be the bedrock of our economic talks," he said.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Trump-to-make-UN-debut-with-speech-offering-12202543.php
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Sat Sep 16, 2017 9:20 pm
Donald Trump Awkwardly Shakes Wife Melania’s Hand & It’ll Make You Cringe.
Is this how the President is supposed to treat his First Lady? After Melania Trump introduced Donald Trump, instead of hugging her, he shook her hand and told Melania to ‘go sit down.’ Awkward!
The cringe factor is high in this one. It seems Donald Trump, 71, wanted to keep it professional during his appearance at Joint Base Andrews on Sept. 15. As members of the United States Air Force gathered to hear Trump speak, his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, 47, gave a few remarks before introducing him. As Donald walked on stage, he didn’t lean in for a kiss on a cheek or offer up a hug. Instead, he reached out to shake her hand, all business-like. Yes, he did thank her, but the microphone also picked up Trump saying, “You can go sit down.”
While no one was expecting Donald and Melania to make out at the podium (because it would be even more awkward) it was pretty odd to see Trump treat his wife as if she was some random stranger. “Melania…looks like a mannequin when she stands by [Donald] and he just, like, gives her a formal handshake and sh*t,” one onlooker remarked on Twitter. “LMAO so awkward.” Another pointed out that Donald’s behavior was that of a “patronizing assh*le” who treated his wife “like a child, and she seems about as lost.” Most people were just a bit befuddled by this awkward encounter, as it didn’t really come across as they were that into each other. More at link.
http://hollywoodlife.com/2017/09/16/donald-trump-shakes-melania-hand-awkward-video-watch/
Is this how the President is supposed to treat his First Lady? After Melania Trump introduced Donald Trump, instead of hugging her, he shook her hand and told Melania to ‘go sit down.’ Awkward!
The cringe factor is high in this one. It seems Donald Trump, 71, wanted to keep it professional during his appearance at Joint Base Andrews on Sept. 15. As members of the United States Air Force gathered to hear Trump speak, his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, 47, gave a few remarks before introducing him. As Donald walked on stage, he didn’t lean in for a kiss on a cheek or offer up a hug. Instead, he reached out to shake her hand, all business-like. Yes, he did thank her, but the microphone also picked up Trump saying, “You can go sit down.”
While no one was expecting Donald and Melania to make out at the podium (because it would be even more awkward) it was pretty odd to see Trump treat his wife as if she was some random stranger. “Melania…looks like a mannequin when she stands by [Donald] and he just, like, gives her a formal handshake and sh*t,” one onlooker remarked on Twitter. “LMAO so awkward.” Another pointed out that Donald’s behavior was that of a “patronizing assh*le” who treated his wife “like a child, and she seems about as lost.” Most people were just a bit befuddled by this awkward encounter, as it didn’t really come across as they were that into each other. More at link.
http://hollywoodlife.com/2017/09/16/donald-trump-shakes-melania-hand-awkward-video-watch/
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:28 pm
Trump at UN threatens to 'totally destroy' N. Korea, calls Iran 'murderous regime'.
President Donald Trump, this morning in his first speech to the United Nations, slammed "rocket man" Kim Jong Un.
At first, Trump did not name the North Korean leader, using a nickname instead.
"Rocket man is on a suicide mission," Trump said.
He continued, "No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary."
Trump called on all nations to isolate the Kim regime in light of its "reckless pursuit" of nuclear weapons and treatment of its citizens.
He also said it was "an outrage" that some nations continue to trade with North Korea. At other points, he referred to Kim's regime as "depraved" and "twisted."
The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, Ja Song Nam, was photographed at the General Assembly this morning, but he left before Trump entered the room. The seats assigned to North Korea, which are in the front row, were empty during Trump's speech. The only individual in the area was an unidentified man who appeared to be taking notes. More at link.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-bashes-korea-rocket-man-suicide-mission/story?id=49936583
President Donald Trump, this morning in his first speech to the United Nations, slammed "rocket man" Kim Jong Un.
At first, Trump did not name the North Korean leader, using a nickname instead.
"Rocket man is on a suicide mission," Trump said.
He continued, "No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary."
Trump called on all nations to isolate the Kim regime in light of its "reckless pursuit" of nuclear weapons and treatment of its citizens.
He also said it was "an outrage" that some nations continue to trade with North Korea. At other points, he referred to Kim's regime as "depraved" and "twisted."
The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, Ja Song Nam, was photographed at the General Assembly this morning, but he left before Trump entered the room. The seats assigned to North Korea, which are in the front row, were empty during Trump's speech. The only individual in the area was an unidentified man who appeared to be taking notes. More at link.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-bashes-korea-rocket-man-suicide-mission/story?id=49936583
Lamplighter- Slayer of scums
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Age : 84
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:07 pm
Has Trump noticed that the US is completely outnumbered by all these nations he's threatening? As for 'rocket man' - the US is rapidly becoming a laughing stock.
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:38 am
Trump's disaster of a speech before the United Nations.
resident Donald Trump delivered a speech to his alt-right, anti-globalist base from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He offered a vision of America's role in the world starkly different from any of his predecessors who stood in the same spot before the leaders of the world. In the end, Trump offered up remarks that were antithetical to the ideas and ideals that led the United States to play a central role in the U.N.'s founding in the wake of World War II.
Trump spoke frequently about "sovereignty" in his remarks, so frequently that it might be argued that it was the central theme of his speech. "We do expect all nations to uphold these two core sovereign duties: to respect the interests of their own people and the rights of every other sovereign nation," he said. National sovereignty, of course, has been perhaps the foundational tenet of international affairs for centuries. But Trump's words were code. They spoke to the fears of the Breitbart crowd that U.S. collaboration with other nations in a global organization means giving up its sovereignty to foreigners.
Trump also lashed out at "global bureaucracies" and international trade accords. While he said that the U.N., after almost three-quarters of a century, showed some promise, he complained the United States was spending too much on it ("We pay far more than anybody realizes. The United States bears an unfair cost burden," he said). This attack on the U.N. comes in conjunction with his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his goal of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, his threats to undo the U.S.-South Korea trade deal and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as his criticism of our NATO allies and alliances. More at link.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-trump-united-nations-speech-0920-story.html
.......................................
Trump's fiery UN address redefines US role in the world.
President Donald Trump's debut speech at the United Nations featured saber-rattling aplenty, but it also showed glimmers of a Trump doctrine that could transform America's place in the world.
It was described by one observer as a "42-minute tweetstorm" and by another as president George W. Bush's "'axis of evil' speech on steroids."
But in most respects, Trump's first stint before the green marble rostrum was everything you might expect from the truculent, norm-shattering businessman-turned-politician.
It was decidedly not what anyone would have expected from any of his 44 predecessors as president of the United States, and heralded a new style of American leadership in the global arena.
Trump's rhetoric -- dubbing Kim Jong-un a "rocket man" on a "suicide mission" -- was lapped up by supporters at home, but left allies around the world bewildered at the change that has gripped the world's only superpower.
Beyond the bellicose style, Trump demanded a change in substance, making it clear he wants to turn the clock back on the last half-century's growth of global rules and global institutions and return to the primacy of the nation state.
Trump's remarks used the words "sovereign" or "sovereignty" 21 times, rhetoric more often deployed in modern times by China to deflect criticism of a domestic crackdown or by Russia to deride US interference in domestic affairs.
More at link.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-fiery-un-address-redefines-us-role-world-024315137.html
resident Donald Trump delivered a speech to his alt-right, anti-globalist base from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He offered a vision of America's role in the world starkly different from any of his predecessors who stood in the same spot before the leaders of the world. In the end, Trump offered up remarks that were antithetical to the ideas and ideals that led the United States to play a central role in the U.N.'s founding in the wake of World War II.
Trump spoke frequently about "sovereignty" in his remarks, so frequently that it might be argued that it was the central theme of his speech. "We do expect all nations to uphold these two core sovereign duties: to respect the interests of their own people and the rights of every other sovereign nation," he said. National sovereignty, of course, has been perhaps the foundational tenet of international affairs for centuries. But Trump's words were code. They spoke to the fears of the Breitbart crowd that U.S. collaboration with other nations in a global organization means giving up its sovereignty to foreigners.
Trump also lashed out at "global bureaucracies" and international trade accords. While he said that the U.N., after almost three-quarters of a century, showed some promise, he complained the United States was spending too much on it ("We pay far more than anybody realizes. The United States bears an unfair cost burden," he said). This attack on the U.N. comes in conjunction with his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his goal of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, his threats to undo the U.S.-South Korea trade deal and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as his criticism of our NATO allies and alliances. More at link.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-trump-united-nations-speech-0920-story.html
.......................................
Trump's fiery UN address redefines US role in the world.
President Donald Trump's debut speech at the United Nations featured saber-rattling aplenty, but it also showed glimmers of a Trump doctrine that could transform America's place in the world.
It was described by one observer as a "42-minute tweetstorm" and by another as president George W. Bush's "'axis of evil' speech on steroids."
But in most respects, Trump's first stint before the green marble rostrum was everything you might expect from the truculent, norm-shattering businessman-turned-politician.
It was decidedly not what anyone would have expected from any of his 44 predecessors as president of the United States, and heralded a new style of American leadership in the global arena.
Trump's rhetoric -- dubbing Kim Jong-un a "rocket man" on a "suicide mission" -- was lapped up by supporters at home, but left allies around the world bewildered at the change that has gripped the world's only superpower.
Beyond the bellicose style, Trump demanded a change in substance, making it clear he wants to turn the clock back on the last half-century's growth of global rules and global institutions and return to the primacy of the nation state.
Trump's remarks used the words "sovereign" or "sovereignty" 21 times, rhetoric more often deployed in modern times by China to deflect criticism of a domestic crackdown or by Russia to deride US interference in domestic affairs.
More at link.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-fiery-un-address-redefines-us-role-world-024315137.html
Lamplighter- Slayer of scums
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Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
bb1 Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:58 am
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4901618/Internet-goes-crazy-John-Kelly-Trump-speech.html
Just awful, using the UN to threaten to obliterate 25 million starving, brainwashed people - and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands outside the North.
bb1- Slayer of scums
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Join date : 2011-06-24
Re: THE TRUMP DISASTER AREA
Lamplighter Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:30 am
With that speech, he has proved to the word exactly what he is, a loumouthed bully with total disregard for anyone else. He reacts exactly the way he did on his reality show - a snarling, sarcastic lowlife. The look on his wife's face and her public rejection on many occasions of his hand-holding offers says it all. Let's just hope he can be restrained; those little hands have control of the nuclear levers. LL
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- Location : I am the Judge, Jury and Executioner
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Age : 84
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