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Laurence O'Donnell last night studied OUR problem. Our including the world, as you remember VP Pence was traveling yesterday ..was it Belgian where they questioned him on who exactly was running the country? .. anyway.... I believe it was this one .. it's not long but it's SURE WORTH SEEING! ... it kept hope alive for me .. last night and today so far .. ;)
You WANT TO WATCH "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD"
..,,,,,,,,It looks like it's up next .. ?
anyway .. . - http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word
gooooooooooo mike! ... ;)
geeez .. and WE Really needed bridges and infrastructure stuff
... ya dumb shit! not prisons !
Do any of you wonder where this will end? I mean why wouldn't he say .. hey! .. let's pick up ______ anyones who I deem as 'BAD'? There is nothing to stop him now . At least this is how I'm reading this. Keep in mind . .he did not say anything close to what the laws today give your town and his troops permission for ... nothing! oh yeah .. excsue me . ."bad hombres" . .WELL this has gone WAY WAY AWAY from just "bad hombres" ... my god! now it's everyone, that's how I read it!
read this .. it explains it much better! I'm ALARMED! .. I'm very alarmed!. .what if . .oh never mind............
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/02/21/trump-meant-it-when-he-said-hed-deport-em-all/
one more minute cannot be wasted by mike pence in instituting 25!
Everyone everywhere knows he is as coocoo as jim lur and the brain function is less ....Pence!
do your job! It's up to you to protect us and the rest of the world! .. Everyone is watching You
Felix H. Sater
Russian-American businessman with longstanding ties to the Trump Organization.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html?_r=0&referer=https://t.co/T3CQP2u5l2?amp=1
A Big Shoe Just Dropped
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-big-shoe-just-dropped
None dare call it treason: As
the Flynn scandal widens, let’s
consider the evidence that
Trump is a traitor
Has Trump's entire team been compromised by Putin?
If so, everyone who continues to support him is complicit VIDEO
Chauncey DeVega
Thursday, Feb 16, 2017
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/16/none-dare-call-it-treason-in-the-wake-of-the-flynn-scandal-what-more-proof-do-we-need-that-donald-trump-is-a-traitor/
Trump Trauma vs.
No Drama Obama
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/19/1634166/-Trump-Trauma-vs-No-Drama-Obama
Do you have an update on the Terror Attack in Sweden this morning?
I'm having a problem finding ................updates!
In 77 Chaotic Minutes, Trump Defends ‘Fine-Tuned Machine’
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/us/politics/donald-trump-media.html?_r=0
Page Two --- As Moscow Advances, U.S. Allies Look Warily to Trump for Clarity
Western Europe hasn't been immune to the trend. In France, the leaders of the National Front, a party that wants to see the E.U. break apart, received a €11 million loan from a Kremlin-linked bank in 2014. The party's leader, Marine Le Pen, pledged in early February that she would pull France out of NATO if she wins the presidential election this spring. She is leading in the polls.
Next door in Germany, the intelligence agencies in Berlin have accused Moscow of orchestrating a "propaganda and disinformation" campaign ahead of Germany's federal elections in September. Its aim, says Stephan Mayer of the intelligence committee in the German Parliament, is to weaken Chancellor Angela Merkel's chances of re-election to a fourth term while funneling support to Alternative for Germany, a party of right-wing populists who have called for Berlin to lift its sanctions against Russia. "If you want to have freedom in the Western world, if you want to have freedom and peace in Europe, then you can do it only with Russia," says Georg Pazderski, the party's leader in Berlin.
The question is whether Trump will join that parade. At first, all indications pointed in that direction. In July, he suggested that Putin's annexation of Crimea could have been legitimate and that he would consider lifting sanctions "if Russia would help us get rid of ISIS." He has said the two sides might work together on nuclear issues. After the election, in January, Trump kept up the talk. The U.S. and Russia "will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the World!" he tweeted.
Upon taking office, Trump initially continued his soft rhetorical line. In his hour-long phone call with Putin on Jan. 28, they discussed possible areas of cooperation, including the fight against ISIS and other Islamic terrorist organizations, nuclear proliferation and potential economic and energy deals, according to a senior White House official who listened in on the call. Similarly, the White House readout of calls between Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg referred to fighting along Ukraine's border; in fact, Russian-backed forces operate deep within Ukraine, and to the eyes of some experts on Russia in the Administration, the language raised flags that the U.S. might accept Russia's territorial grab.
Trump is open to wide-ranging concessions to Russia in exchange for cooperation in some of these areas, the senior White House official says. Trump is not about to walk away from NATO, the official says, but believes the amounts that countries pay to support the alliance, which are based on decades-old economic percentages, may be outdated. "Let's renegotiate the deal," Trump has suggested, the senior official says. Trump has also told advisers he thinks that "maybe NATO should have a different mission and should focus on radical Islam," the official says. That alone would be a huge win for Moscow.
Normally, a President might request and receive a full-blown national-security briefing on a question as important as the future of Eastern Europe or a reset with Russia. Several National Security Council meetings on the topic might be needed, and a top-secret intelligence assessment might be produced. But multiple sources tell TIME there is hardly an interagency process in the improvisational Trump White House. And what does exist is disconnected from the power structure around Trump. Bannon is running his own strategic-initiatives group, unconnected to the traditional national-security structures, according to two sources familiar with it, which will generate its own assessment of Russia-policy options. In the meantime, Trump's thinking remains notional, the senior official says. But others in the Administration and outside analysts say concessions to Russia could include reducing or removing the U.S. anti-ballistic-missile footprint in Central and Eastern Europe, easing sanctions imposed for election meddling or the invasion of Ukraine, or softening language on the Crimean annexation. Trump has not yet considered the specifics of any deal with Russia, the senior official says.
Trump's inclination to do a big deal with Russia has been informed by Bannon, who has said the biggest strategic threat facing the U.S. and Europe is radical Islamic terrorism. Bannon's views are not monolithic. He criticized Putin in a widely read 2014 speech but praised his embrace of traditionalism. "Putin and his cronies are really a kleptocracy that are really an imperialist power that want to expand," Bannon said then. "We the Judeo-Christian West really have to look at what he's talking about as far as traditionalism goes--particularly the sense of where it supports the underpinnings of nationalism. Strong nationalist movements in countries make strong neighbors, and that is really the building blocks that built Western Europe and the United States, and I think it's what can see us forward." A Bannon national-security aide, Sebastian Gorka, has been less subtle in his rejection of Putin. "His nature is nothing more than a bully," Gorka said of Putin in a 2015 speech, and "he should be dealt with as bullies are dealt, and his nose should be smacked quickly and in a harsh fashion, that puts him back in his place."
Trump's newly appointed Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State and virtually the entire Republican and Democratic foreign policy establishment on Capitol Hill, in Washington and across Europe. "Tillerson and Mattis embrace the traditional view that we have had toward Russia," Corker says, but "there are other spheres within the White House that may look at things in a very different way."
Trump faces his biggest opposition on Capitol Hill. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have led a vocal and robust challenge to any rapprochement with Putin that would ease sanctions and instead want to impose even tougher penalties for Russia's election meddling in the U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says he opposes lifting sanctions against Putin.
The split among Trump, his Cabinet and much of his party has led to confusion about where the U.S. stands, even within his Administration. After pro-Putin forces in Ukraine launched their attacks in late January and early February, Trump's U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, gave a toughly worded statement. "Crimea is a part of Ukraine," Haley said at the U.N. on Feb. 2, and "our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine." White House spokesman Sean Spicer reiterated those views in a briefing days later. But several senior Administration officials say that they don't believe Haley was speaking for the President and that Flynn was unhappy with the statement.
Trump's willful effort to ignore Russia's meddling in the U.S. election, or anywhere else for that matter, only muddies matters further. The senior White House official says Trump's opinion of Putin and the possibility of doing a deal with him are not affected by the fact that the Russian leader interfered in the core exercise of American democracy. "People could say we have meddled with other people's elections too," the official says. Trump is not aware of Putin's other efforts to subvert democracy in much of Europe, the official says.
For the millions of Europeans facing the brunt of Putin's efforts that is more than unsettling--it's terrifying. "It would be absolutely naive to underestimate the attempts of Vladimir Putin and of the Russian government to try to destabilize Western democracies," says Mayer, the German parliamentarian. "That is a clear agenda of the Russian government."
For Montenegrins, their future hangs in the balance. A vote on the country's accession is stalled in the Senate. The White House has no plans to endorse Montenegro's membership in NATO at this time, a senior NSC official says.
With reporting by ZEKE J. MILLER and PHILIP ELLIOTT/WASHINGTON
http://time.com/4672985/moscow-russia-us-politics/
Tanks and troops from the U.S. 3rd Armored Brigade deploy to Poland in January to stand watch against Russia. Timothy Fadek—Redux
As Moscow Advances, U.S. Allies Look Warily to Trump for Clarity
Massimo Calabresi / Washington,Simon
Shuster / Podgorica, Montenegro
Feb 16, 2017
The coup was planned for election day. Wearing fake police uniforms and armed with assault rifles, more than a dozen Kremlin-linked plotters were allegedly preparing to storm the parliament of the tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro and assassinate its Prime Minister. Their goal, according to the government's investigators, was to stop the country of 620,000 from joining NATO, which would give the U.S.-led alliance control of nearly every northern Mediterranean port from Gibraltar to the Bosporus. On a tip from an informant, real Montenegrin police rounded up the plotters as polls opened for the vote in October. Two ringleaders, both suspected agents of the Russian intelligence services, are now back in Russia.
The aborted coup was a reminder that a new battle for Europe has begun. From the Baltics to the Balkans and the Black Sea to Great Britain, Vladimir Putin is seeking to rebuild Russia's empire more than 25 years after the fall of the Soviet Union. From Jan. 29 to Feb. 3, Russian-backed forces launched thousands of strikes in renewed attacks on pro-European government positions deep inside Ukraine. Using propaganda, agents provocateurs and overt military threats in Estonia, Serbia, Moldova and other East European countries, Putin is attempting to undermine the democratic governments of former communist countries, threatening the security of millions of people. Farther west, he is pursuing alliances with nationalist, anti-E.U. forces in France, Germany, Hungary and other major democracies.
Perhaps the most important front in this new conflict has been unfolding in the West Wing. Over the course of the past three months, according to senior Trump Administration officials and others who have participated, quiet but consequential talks have taken place there over whether the U.S. should resist Putin in his new campaign or cede to Russia a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. In return for the latter, the theory goes, Russia would join the U.S. in an alliance against ISIS, work to reduce nuclear-weapon stockpiles and help constrain China.
Donald Trump has publicly annunciated parts of such a grand bargain, as have top advisers Steve Bannon and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign on Feb. 13 for his back-channel conversations with a Russian diplomat. The White House officials who have advocated such a deal in whole or part see nationalism as the basis for all-important fights against Islamic extremism and China's rise.
Opposing a Russia deal are such Cabinet secretaries as Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who, backed by virtually the entire Washington foreign policy establishment, view multilateral alliances as crucial to maintaining hard-won stability in Europe and beyond.
Flynn's ouster makes it politically more difficult for those who would like to advance a pro-Moscow strategy. They were further set back on Feb. 14, when the New York Times reported that Trump's aides had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the U.S. presidential election. As multiple law-enforcement, intelligence and congressional investigations advance, the room for rapprochement with Russia is shrinking, but within the White House, that has not quelled the appetite for a deal.
Those who have spoken with Trump about a grand bargain with Russia say it appeals to the businessman in him. "The President really desires to do deals, and he wants to be seen as someone who's able to change the way the U.S. approaches the world," says Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Republican head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who argued against big deals with Russia in detailed conversations with Trump on Nov. 29 in New York City, when he was being interviewed for Secretary of State. "But doing deals for deals' sake without knowing what direction [they take us], that could be hugely harmful to our nation and to the rest of the Western world," Corker says.
It is unclear if the grand bargain was originally an American notion or one floated by Moscow. Critics wonder what benefit such a trade could have for Washington. Russia, they argue, is weak. Its economy has been in recession for two years and is smaller than that of Italy. Moscow's only aircraft carrier, a Soviet-era diesel clunker, barely coughed its way back and forth to Syria over the past six months, losing two planes to accidents along the way. Russia has been begging the U.S. to form an anti-ISIS alliance, no strings attached, and Putin has already expressed a desire, in his first post-Inauguration phone call with Trump, to pursue renewed arms-control measures. Ceding Eastern Europe to Moscow--something that has been close to heretical in Western diplomacy since Yalta--in exchange for freebies "would be both stupid and immoral and would reverse every fundamental tenet of American foreign policy since World War II," says Eliot Cohen of Johns Hopkins University, one of America's foremost conservative foreign policy experts.
No decisions on a deal with Russia are imminent, but lingering uncertainty over U.S. commitment to East European democracies is helping to redraw the lines in the meantime. Leaders in Bulgaria and Moldova are listing back toward Moscow. And anti-E.U. candidates in France and Germany are finding common cause with Moscow ahead of elections later this year, sowing concern among traditional U.S. allies. "The liberal international order that the United States and its European allies have upheld since the end of World War II is in danger of unraveling," a recent Carnegie Endowment report on the breakdown in U.S.-Russia relations warns, "and there is mounting concern that the United States may abandon its commitment to preserving this order."
Montenegro, a nation with fewer inhabitants than San Francisco and a military of only about 2,000 members, has been conquered by one great power after another for most of its history, from ancient Rome to the Third Reich. After 10 years of talks and trial runs, the country is now on the cusp of joining the world's most powerful military alliance‚ this time voluntarily. Its leaders signed accession documents with NATO in May, and 24 of the alliance's 28 members have already ratified its membership. Only Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and the U.S. are left. Trump has Montenegrins worrying whether they'll make it. "If Putin asks Trump not to admit Montenegro and really gives him something in return, we don't know what will happen," says Nebojsa Medojevic, a Montenegrin lawmaker who backs NATO membership. Trump has yet to say whether he supports the country's accession to the alliance.
It is Montenegro's warm, deep-water port in the Mediterranean that makes it especially valuable to Putin, and he is known to push hard when he thinks his strategic interests are at stake. With its assault against Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin undertook the first territorial land grab by a major power in Europe since World War II. Russian special forces disguised as local self-defense units took control of the Crimean parliament in the course of one day that year. They installed a loyal Prime Minister, Sergei Aksyonov, who set the stage for Russia to annex the peninsula outright.
Some of those same commandos, who became known as the "little green men," then appeared in Ukraine's eastern regions. As the West moved to isolate Russia with sanctions harsher than those imposed against the Soviets during the Cold War, the Russian gunmen continued seizing government buildings around the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk and installing warlords to rule them. The result has been a separatist conflict that has so far killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.Dozens died during the latest flare-up in fighting, which began after Putin and Trump had their first post-Inauguration phone call on Jan. 28.
Putin has tested the West before, in Estonia, one of the five NATO members that directly border Russia. In September 2014, a group of Russian troops allegedly stormed across that border with the help of smoke grenades and radio jammers, kidnapped an Estonian security officer and took him back to Moscow to stand trial for espionage. The raid, which came two days after President Obama visited the country, was intended to show that "Russia does what it wants in this part of the world," Urmas Reinsalu, an Estonian lawmaker and former Minister of Defense, told the newspaper Postimees at the time.
Such provocations, along with persistent Russian cyberattacks and violations of NATO airspace, have forced the alliance to confront its own weakness in dealing with Moscow's new approach to warfare. Under Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty, all of its members are obliged to defend one another in case of an attack. But what constitutes an attack is not so clearly defined. Could a cyberattack require a NATO response? And what if the attackers were disguised to look like local paramilitaries?
The U.S. has been pushing back with more traditional measures. A week before Trump's Inauguration, a rotation of some 4,000 U.S. troops arrived in Poland. But Putin hasn't limited his efforts to Central and Eastern Europe. The project of European integration is fraying, with Britain's vote to leave the E.U. and the rise of anti-E.U. parties. Right on cue, Putin has stepped up to offer an alternative: a muscular brand of nationalism that defines itself in opposition to the liberal values of the West. He's found plenty of admirers. During his first official trip to Europe since Trump took office, Putin chose to visit his friend Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, who has pledged to turn his country into an "illiberal democracy" modeled largely on Putin's Russia. "It's in the air," Orban said after a meeting with Putin in Budapest on Feb. 2. "The world is in the process of a substantial realignment."
Within a week of Trump's victory, elections in two of Moscow's former satellite states brought pro-Russian leaders to power. In Bulgaria, a member of NATO and the E.U., a retired air force commander and political novice named Rumen Radev was elected President on a promise to balance out his country's alliances with the West. Speaking to reporters on election day, Nov. 13, he said he took comfort in Trump's pledge to "work for a better dialogue" with Russia. "That gives us hope, a big hope," Radev said. Much the same message came that day from the newly elected President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, whose campaign urged the country to tear up its integration deal with the E.U. "We gained nothing from this agreement," Dodon told a smiling Putin when they appeared in the Kremlin on Jan. 17.
Page Two follows ---
Republicans pass bill through House repealing wildlife regulations that ended bear cub killing
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/17/1634946/-Republicans-pass-bill-through-House-repealing-wildlife-regulations-that-ended-bear-cub-killing
i hate them ..1st the puppy mills now this ... you know what to do !
Cartoon: Tall tales of terror
By BrianMcFadden
Friday Feb 17, 2017 · 2:50 PM PST
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/17/1633229/-Cartoon-Tall-tales-of-terror
hey stupid! republicans are responsible for the debt
.. they have controlled congress .. since 2011 .. duh!
And Obama paid taxes.
The cost to protect Trump family on track to supersede what it cost to protect Obamas by hundreds of millions
https://yhoo.it/2l0N2Ug
Your so called "economist" is also a Flim Flam man
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Moore_(economist)
grow up - you don't have that much time left to free your mind from garbage
Who is the dumbest man on the internet?
https://www.google.com/search?q=who%27s+the+dumbest+man+on++the+world&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=Who+is+the+dumbest+man+on+the+internet
Look at this! did you know this already?
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is finally getting a taste of international diplomacy this week, in Bonn, Germany, as he makes his first official trip abroad to meet with various foreign ministers from the G20 countries. Tillerson’s travels come at at time when European allies are unsure, anxious, and wary of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, including his signaling, at times, for closer ties with Russia. And speaking of Russia, Tillerson got to introduce himself to their foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, which seemed like it might be a little awkward.
And apparently, it kind of was. Bloomberg reports that the two sat down, and Lavrov delivered his opening remarks, congratulating Tillerson on his job. But when it came time for Tillerson’s turn to speak, State Department aides forced American and Russian journalists to leave the room — something that Lavrov appeared to object to, asking: “Why did you shush them out?”
everything here
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/tillerson-goes-abroad-meets-with-russian-counterpart.html
who wants to live in a place like this? christ .. and this man I think is an American guy.. and he treats people like that in foreign countries?
.. .. people just doing the job that they were hired to do? ..I'm very unhappy
you can also watch it here - http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/trump-michael-flynn-defense-russia-attack-media
at the bottom .............
well, we have to wait until next week he says .. or someone says .. ..
did you happen to see it? .. I kinda of don't think you did because if you did .. ;) ...........you wouldn't have to ask me that .. .. lol .. ;) ,,,,,,,,,,he was horrid ... an escapee from a mental hospital!
omy god . .he was horrible .. wheedling conniving whining begging pleading . .demanding here and there ... and he wouldn't stop ! he just wouldn't shut up .. I had to get rid of it ... then I guess he stopped .. I should have stopped after the first one half hour .. he's insane!
pray for us! ... The man who was going to take Flynn's job ..declined!
here .. maybe you can hear him here .. god .... take your cross with you for protection .. . LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL !!!!!!!!! my god he's a witch!
oh and the guy that he hired to replace Flynn said .. Adios !!!! I don't want the job ! .. I mean I will suspect and never trust anyone who hires on with him now .. their reputation will be ruined and that will just be the 'least bad thing that will happen ... .. it's a travesty!
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/us/politics/donald-trump-press-conference-transcript.html?module=Chatblog®ion=Body&action=click&pgtype=interactive
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/16/us/politics/trump-news-conference-live-analysis.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
i do not know which one is what .. I heard it live until I couln't take it anymore and I haven't even turned these on .. so .. I NEVER want to hear him again .. . he's a HORROR movie! scary shit!
Thu Feb 16, 2017 | 2:26pm EST - U.S. ambassador at U.N. says Trump supports two-state solution
Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley presents her credentials to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., January 27, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
By Ned Parker | UNITED NATIONS
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Thursday the United States still supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a day after President Donald Trump suggested he is open to new ways to achieve peace.
"First of all, the two-state solution is what we support. Anybody that wants to say the United States does not support the two-state solution - that would be an error," Haley told reporters at the United Nations.
"We absolutely support the two-state solution but we are thinking out of the box as well: which is what does it take to bring these two sides to the table; what do we need to have them agree on."
poor thing .....
MORE
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-israel-un-idUSKBN15V2FL
For example?
take it up with the wsj!
The ODNI statement comes in response to a Wall Street Journal story reporting that intelligence officials have kept intelligence from Donald Trump. | Getty
Office of Director of National Intelligence: We don't withhold intel from Trump
By Louis Nelson
02/16/17 07:16 AM EST
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence denied on Wednesday reports that intelligence community officials have withheld intelligence from President Donald Trump.
The ODNI statement, released late Wednesday night, comes in response to a Wall Street Journal story reporting that intelligence officials have kept intelligence from Trump over concerns that that information might be leaked or otherwise compromised by a White House reportedly lacking in organization and besieged by internal conflict.
"Any suggestion that the U.S. Intelligence Community is withholding information and not providing the best possible intelligence to the President and his national security team is not true,” the ODNI statement said.
The Journal’s reporting, which cites anonymous sources and has not been independently confirmed by POLITICO, is further evidence of a rift between Trump and the intelligence community of which he is in charge. On Wednesday, Trump blamed the intelligence community for leaks that have proved damaging to his administration and compared its practices to those of Russia.
In the past, he has likened the intelligence community to Nazi Germany and stubbornly disputed conclusions reached unanimously by all 17 federal intelligence agencies.
Further muddying the relationship between Trump and the intelligence community are the alleged ties between close allies of the president and the Russian government, which have been reported by multiple media outlets but have been strenuously denied by Trump and those around him.
!
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/office-director-national-intelligence-trump-intel-wsj-235080
U.S. Allies Conduct Intelligence
Operation Against Trump Staff
and Associates, Intercepted
Communications
By Kurt Eichenwald On 2/15/17 at 2:58 PM
As part of intelligence operations being conducted against the United States for the last seven months, at least one Western European ally intercepted a series of communications before the inauguration between advisers associated with President Donald Trump and Russian government officials, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The sources said the interceptions include at least one contact between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian official based in the United States. It could not be confirmed whether this involved the telephone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that has led to Flynn’s resignation, or additional communications. The sources said the intercepted communications are not just limited to telephone calls: The foreign agency is also gathering electronic and human source information on Trump’s overseas business partners, at least some of whom the intelligence services now consider to be agents of their respective governments. These operations are being conducted out of concerns that Russia is seeking to manipulate its relationships with Trump administration officials as part of a long-term plan to destabilize the NATO alliance.
Moreover, a Baltic nation is gathering intelligence on officials in the Trump White House and executives with the president’s company, the Trump Organization, out of concern that an American policy shift toward Russia could endanger its sovereignty, according to a third person with direct ties to that nation’s government.
These sources spoke on condition that they not be identified because they were not formally authorized to disclose the information. While Newsweek was told which allied nations intercepted the communications and are gathering intelligence on Trump associates, the sources did so on condition that the countries not be identified out of concern those governments would incur the president’s wrath.
The Western European intelligence operations began in August, after the British government obtained information that people acting on behalf of Russia were in contact with members of the Trump campaign. Those details from the British were widely shared among the NATO allies in Europe. The Baltic nation has been gathering intelligence for at least that long, and has conducted surveillance of executives from the Trump Organization who were traveling in Europe.
These operations reflect a serious breakdown in the long-standing faith in the direction of American policy by some of the country’s most important allies. Worse, the United States is now in a situation that may be unprecedented—where European governments know more about what is going on in the executive branch than any elected American official. To date, the Republican-controlled Congress has declined to conduct hearings to investigate the links between Trump’s overseas business partners and foreign governments, or the activities between Russia and officials in the Trump campaign and administration—the very areas being examined by the intelligence services of at least two American allies.
Some details about Trump’s business partners were passed to the American government months ago. For example, long before the president’s inauguration, German electronic surveillance determined that the father of Trump’s Azerbaijani business partner is a government official who laundered money for the Iranian military; that information was shared with the CIA, according to a European source with direct knowledge of the situation.
Of equal concern to our allies is Trump’s business partner in the Philippines, who is also the special representative to Washington of that country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. This government official, Jose E.B. Antonio, is the head of Century Properties, which in turn is a partner with the president’s business in the construction of Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines. According to people with direct knowledge of the situation, a European intelligence service has obtained the contracts and other legal documents in the deal between the Trump Organization and Antonio. That deal has already resulted in large payments to Trump’s business, with millions of dollars more on the way—all coming from an agent of the Philippine president.
The financial relationship between an American president and the Philippine government comes at a time when the historic alliance between the West and the Southeast Asian country is under great stress. Since the election last year of Duterte, a campaign of slaughter has gripped the Philippines, with death squads murdering thousands of suspected drug users in the streets. The carnage, which intelligence officials have concluded is being conducted with Duterte’s involvement, has been condemned throughout the Western world; the Parliament of the European Union and two United Nations human rights experts have urged Duterte to end the massacre.
Duterte has responded by signaling his government could tilt its alliances away from the West, instead turning to China as its primary ally. Such a move could be devastating, given that the American armed forces maintains large military bases there. The situation with the Philippines “is already an enormous challenge,” one official with direct knowledge of the European intelligence operations said. “President Trump’s business there is a complicating factor that we are trying to assess.”
The information gathered by the Western European government has been widely shared among the NATO allies, although it is not clear how much has been provided to American intelligence officials. One source said that members of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s staff had been briefed on the surveillance findings prior to her meeting last month with Trump and that officials within the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel have also obtained the details.
These intelligence operations against the United States come as a result of allied concern about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s designs to damage NATO and whether Trump intends to follow a policy path that would embolden Russia. In addition, they are apprehensive about whether a newly strengthened Moscow would use its energy weapon—Western Europe obtains almost 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia—to push aggressive policies with little objection from the Trump White House.
Officials in the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are particularly concerned. Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they fear that, should the Trump administration drop sanctions intended to punish Moscow’s military adventurism, their nations’ futures could also be at risk. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will "protect" Russian speakers wherever they are; only 17 percent of Ukraine’s population is ethnic Russians. However, ethnic Russians make up 24 percent and 27 percent of the populations of Estonia and Latvia, respectively, according to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an American think tank. And even though only 6 percent of Lithuania’s population is ethnic Russian, its government brought back military conscription, which had been abandoned seven years earlier, following Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine.
While nothing improper has been detected, the Baltic nation also launched an investigation by its intelligence service into the relationship between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his longtime personal friend, Igor Sechin, the head of the Kremlin-controlled oil company Rosneft. Sechin and Rosneft are on the blacklist of people and entities designated for sanctions following Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. He was Tillerson’s main business partner when he worked as the chief executive of Exxon Mobil and is a powerful figure in Russia who is both a former member of the FSB (the federal security service that is the primary successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB) and the former head of presidential administration in charge of the security services.
“Sechin’s power derives from his relationship with Putin,” according to a 2008 State Department cable sent from the embassy in Moscow. “As Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration in charge of the security services, there was little doubt about Igor Sechin's power. He was widely regarded as a very influential member of Putin's inner circle, perhaps even the most influential, with the requisite FSB background to advance the President's (and his own) agenda.”
That influence, and the role Sechin could play in gaining greater power for Russia through oil sales if sanctions are dropped by the Trump administration, is what made him a primary target in the Baltic state’s intelligence investigation of Tillerson. Yet, back in America, the name Sechin was not even mentioned during Tillerson’s confirmation hearings before the Senate.
wow wow wowowowow WOW! sheesh! big stuff!
http://www.newsweek.com/allies-intercept-russia-trump-adviser-communications-557283
Analysis Trump Is Delusional and Ignorant About Israel. His Meeting With Netanyahu Proved It
'So I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like,' Trump said,
but finding a deal both sides like is exactly the problem.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.772087
American Jewish Leaders Call Trump’s Ideas on Israel 'Terrifying' and 'Bizarre'
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.772048
Netanyahu Beside Him, Trump Shows Fealty to His White Supremacist Base
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.772048
Former U.S. Ambassadors Urge Senate Not to Confirm Friedman as Trump's Israel Envoy
David Friedman's 'extreme positions' make him 'unqualified for the position,' former
American envoys to Israel Pickering, Kurtzer, Walker, Cunningham and Harrop write Senate.
Amir Tibon Feb 16, 2017 2:55 AM
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.772048
much more at Haaretz ..just sign up and you can read all of them ..
Amen!
LOLOLOL . .really really going nuts now !
grand finale?
up to about 15 mins. ago . .but still!... he won't stop!
Trump: 'Russia Is Fake News' (VIDEO) a few seconds ago
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that "Russia is fake news" and insisted that...
Trump Says What Flynn Did 'Wasn't Wrong,' Blames Media For His Ouster 8 minutes ago
President Donald Trump said Thursday that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn "wasn't wrong"...
Trump To Issue New Executive Order To 'Protect Our Country' 12 minutes ago
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would issue a new executive order to...
Trump: My Administration Is 'Running Like A Fine-Tuned Machine' 25 minutes ago
President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that his administration is "running like a fine-tuned machine"...
Trump Attacks Press: 'The Level Of Dishonesty Is Out Of Control' 26 minutes ago
President Donald Trump lectured journalists about their “tremendous dishonesty” in a press conference announcing...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-new-executive-order-protect-our-country
It's absolutely understandable why Melania and family do not live with him . .
even at the tower, She lives on another floor ... .with Baron ..
only loony tunes could spend a night with him . .SHUTUP trump!
you're embarrassing the United States of America! they may have to pull him out of the room ! ............
Trump To Issue New Executive Order To 'Protect Our Country'
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-new-executive-order-protect-our-country
omg,,,,,stop already,,this whine pleading/begging is too disgusting for words
KEEEERIST my god the entire world is watching with snickers ...
my god my god ... ...
all the white racists ( alt right(all WHITE) hate him , he is establishment ...
they are criminals ( to giggle with each other, they call themselves 'outlaws' ) yes . .not bright .. at all ..
The criminals call him the Leaker per bannon and perhaps most of all bannon
he would be a perfect leaker .. maybe too perfect, who knows?
anyway, everyone hates him now .. sheeesh..
thanks Fuagf .. good article (s) .. .. ;)
this shit is getting real serious .. real real serious and scary at just how vulnerable we are now without a sound mind anywhere to be seen in the white house .. I dunno maybe Reince ... bannon hates him etc.. etc..etc.. making a big move to get rid of him .. so maybe he's the one .. trump thinks he's the one ..................well, nothing to do but be patience and we'll find out in good time ... sooner then we think, I think ... ; )
Like this____For instance, For every dollar Californians give to DC, we get back...
by Take Two February 06 2017
California would be the sixth-largest world economy [ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-economy-idUSKCN0Z32K2 ] if it broke off into its own nation.
Could our state make it on its own if it didn't rely on money from D.C.?
It might have to if President Trump follows through on stripping federal funds from the whole state.
In a recent interview with Fox News, he complained about the dozens of California cities that are sanctuary cities, which means they don't work with federal officials to track down and prosecute undocumented immigrants.
"California in many ways is out of control, as you know," he said. "I don't want to defund anyone. I want to give them the money they need to properly operate as a city or state. If they're going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon."
Now, legally, he can only cut off funds to state programs connected to the issue at hand.
In this case, if local law enforcement doesn't cooperate with the feds on immigration, then the feds can only hold back money meant for local law enforcement.
But let's say we take Trump at his word – to completely pull federal funding from California.
Mathematically, it wouldn't be so bad if we had to pay our own bills
In 2015, Californians sent the IRS a grand total of $405.8 billion. [ https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/15databk.pdf ]
That same year, Uncle Sam spent some money in the state to pay for things like upkeeping roads, keeping us healthy through Medi-Cal and Medicare, and maintaining national parks like Yosemite.
But the cash we got is short of what we gave.
The state's Legislative Analyst's Office says we took in $368 billion through federal spending. [ http://www.lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3531/1 ]
That means 91 cents of every dollar you sent to the federal government circled back home.
So if California kept money that taxpayers normally send to Washington, it doesn't look bad on paper.
California Democratic leaders responded Monday to President Trump's threat of defunding the state, AP reported:
"If this is what Donald Trump thinks is 'out of control,' I'd suggest other states should be more like us," said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount.
California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said state residents contribute more to federal coffers than their state gets in return, and any sanctions against California would ripple nationwide.
"President Trump's threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities," de Leon said.
Rendon, de Leon and other Democratic leaders in California have fiercely criticized Trump and vowed to fight his policies through the Legislature and in court.
http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2017/02/06/54879/for-every-dollar-californians-give-to-d-c-we-get-b/
oh I did tell you didn't I, that all these tax breaks you dummies enact benefit California the most! ..
I sort of figured you could figure that out . .but after thinking for a sec .... ...... no maybe not.