Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Speaking of that silly girl ... ;)
State Department Promotes Ivanka Trump’s Book In Another Ethics Blunder
C’mon, folks. Not pushing the Trumps’ private business is not that hard.
A State Department office retweeted Ivanka Trump’s post promoting her new book on Wednesday, likely violating a federal rule that bars the use of public office for private gain.
A federal government employee “shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity,” according to the Code of Federal Regulations (5 CFR 2635.702, to be specific).
Trump, who serves as a White House special counselor, had already canceled her book tour last month to avoid breaking the ethics rules around self-promotion.
“Out of an abundance of caution and to avoid the appearance of using my official role to promote the book, I will not publicize the book through a promotional tour or media appearances,” the first daughter announced on Facebook.
Trump has continued to use her personal Twitter account to promote her book, Women Who Work, after reportedly consulting with the Office of Government Ethics. But that advice would not cover @GenderAtState, the official account run by the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues.
there's more, a bunch of twitter stuff .. ; )
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ivanka-trump-book-state-department_us_590b7f4fe4b0104c734d035f
And did you see where chaffetz wants to cut Obama's retirement funds?
something .. I read this early early this morning .. and now I'll have to look for it ...
here I thought he was leaving and then I read that .. hold on a sec please .. ;) Here it is .. .what mean people republicans are ... .
Jason Chaffetz Finds a New Purpose: Cutting Barack Obama’s Pension
Obama’s $400,000 speech has apparently re-energized the House Oversight Committee chair.
I have never seen politicians so nakedly jealous of anyone as this batch of repubs are and have been, I mean the green is eating them it's embarassing ..
by Tina Nguyen
May 4, 2017 10:53 am
And what we are forced to pay for trumps entire family all around the world, and his stupid sons trips to kill elephants and etc... we pay for it .. and all of them ... and chaffettz has gas about Obama's retirement??????? .........come ON!
Last month, it seemed Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, was in an existential rut. With no Democratic presidents to investigate, and three-plus years of Benghazi evidence sitting in a corner collecting dust, the Utah Republican was struggling to find his bearings after preparing for years to investigate, and possibly impeach, Hillary Clinton. But with fellow Republican Donald Trump in the White House—he of the Kremlingate imbroglio, tangled business interests, and allegations of sexual harassment—Chaffetz has seemed listless, half-heartedly launching only minor investigations into the White House, while declining to look into any larger scandals. Two weeks ago, Chaffetz abruptly announced that he would not run for re-election in 2018, and might even retire early. Days later, he disappeared for a sudden, major foot surgery, explaining that he might not return for weeks.
And then Barack Obama gave a $400,000 speech to a Wall Street bank, and lo, Chaffetz’s life suddenly has renewed meaning. The Utah congressman had already hobbled back to Washington to vote on a G.O.P. health-care bill that would strip protections for pre-existing conditions like his foot problem. But it seems he is just as worked up about the former president’s speech. Years earlier, Obama vetoed a bill, authored by Chaffetz, that proposed cutting former presidents’ pensions if they made over $400,000 a year in outside income—precisely the amount of money that Obama received from financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. “The Obama hypocrisy on this issue is revealing,” Chaffetz told USA Today. “His veto was very self-serving.”
At the time, the bill had bipartisan support from Rep. Elijah Cummings, Chaffetz’s Democratic counterpart on the Oversight Committee. Under Chaffetz’s proposal, presidents earning more than $400,000 annually would have their presidential pension slashed to $200,000, with an extra $200,000 to pay for staff. This is far less than what former presidents and their widows are currently entitled to—an amount, according to the Congressional Research Service, that can reach up to $1.1 million per year (for George W. Bush). But Chaffetz is not being entirely honest about Obama’s “hypocrisy.” When he vetoed the bill last year, Obama explained that he had consulted the living former presidents, who were all in agreement that the bill would have “unintended consequences,” preventing staffers from immediately receiving pay and benefits after following the president into private life, and possibly affecting their Secret Service protection. He suggested that Congress make several technical fixes and send the bill back to him to sign, but they never did.
All told, the 2017 budget submitted by Obama last year requested $3.865 million for former presidents’ expenditures, a seemingly unnecessary amount for an elite club that can command hundreds of thousands of dollars for a night of speaking. Then again, taxpayers are currently paying hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the billionaire Trump family’s opulent lifestyle, so perhaps it helps to keep some perspective.
Truly Obama should put in for Reparations due - for the manner in which they treated him .. start from that night that mitch met with all the fat slobs in the bar and decided to mistreat him .. in a different day and time .. they would have simply decided to string him UP... under a tree ............but these days, you must now do it the way that the republicans did it ... I hope they pay for their cruelty someday ..
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/jason-chaffetz-barack-obama-pension
Statement By A.G. Schneiderman On House
Passage Of The American Health Care Act
Press Release » May 4th 2017
“The healthcare bill passed today by House Republicans is a threat to the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers. In addition to the devastating impact this bill would have on every New Yorker’s access to affordable healthcare, the legislation that passed the House today is unconstitutional in several critical respects—and I stand ready to challenge it in court.
First, House Republicans’ attempt to effectively deny women access to reproductive healthcare services is a cruel and unconstitutional attack on women’s rights - especially the most vulnerable.
Further, the Collins-Faso Amendment is a cynical ploy by House Republican leadership and President Trump that exceeds Congress’s authority by interfering with how New York has long elected to fund its Medicaid program.
This bill threatens to slash essential healthcare services for millions of New Yorkers who need them the most.
For these reasons, if this disastrous and unconstitutional healthcare bill is ultimately signed into law, I will challenge it in court.”
Español available
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/statement-ag-schneiderman-house-passage-american-health-care-act
bull shit ... you just gave another tax cut to your rich masters ...
you're not fooling anyone.. ever! This is what republicans ALWAYS DO!
AHCA is a betrayal of all the GOP’s promises on health care
It does the opposite of what they say.
by Matthew Yglesias
May 4, 2017, 2:46pm EDT
The American Health Care Act, passed today by the US House of Representatives, is a law that fundamentally does the reverse of what its proponents are promising.
Having run a campaign during which he promised to cover everyone, protect Medicaid from cuts, and replace Affordable Care Act plans with “terrific” coverage, Donald Trump is now behind a bill that cuts Medicaid, covers fewer people, and allows states to replace ACA plans with stingier coverage. Having promised repeatedly to protect patients with preexisting health conditions from insurance market price discrimination, Paul Ryan is pushing a plan that removes existing protections and replaces them with hand-wavy and inadequately funded high-risk pools. Having leveraged public discontent with high deductibles and rising premiums, Republicans are pushing a bill that will leave most patients with higher out-of-pocket costs for equivalent plans and bring back skimpy plans with even higher deductibles.
That’s all happening because the GOP is committed to rolling back the taxes that pay for the Affordable Care Act, delivering a financial windfall to high-income families even though Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin swore at his confirmation hearings that the Trump administration would not pursue tax cuts for the rich.
The bill is currently being rushed through the House at breathtaking speed with no time for a Congressional Budget Office score or for members to hear from constituents back home. Republicans are acting like their plan cannot survive even cursory scrutiny by experts or the public for the good reason that their own rhetoric strongly suggests that they do not believe the public would find this legislation acceptable if they knew what it did.
The new AHCA breaks the GOP’s promises on preexisting conditions
When Ryan initially rolled out the American Health Care Act, he accompanied it with a Frequently Asked Questions page that offered a firm statement of moral purpose regarding the treatment of patients with preexisting conditions:
That statement is now gone from the House leadership’s website. In search of additional Freedom Caucus votes, Ryan abandoned that commitment and signed on to the MacArthur Amendment that will, in fact, allow insurers to charge higher premiums to sick people.
In its place is a new claim that the legislation is okay because it includes an amendment from Fred Upton that Ryan says “strengthens the AHCA by reaffirming our commitment to protect patients with preexisting conditions.”
It does not, in fact, do that. What it does is provide $8 billion in extra money that states could try to use over five years to partially defray the massive increases in costs that patients with preexisting conditions will face under MacArthur’s plans. But it’s not nearly enough money. As Larry Leavitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation tells Vox’s Dylan Scott, AHCA waivers could lead to “massive premium increases” and “there’s no way a reinsurance program or direct subsidies could ever fully offset that for everyone, and states aren't required to do so.”
o.k ... if interested go to this link and read the whole thing omg it's Matthew .. so you know how thorough it is! ..The THING is WE KNOW republicans (so does he.. ;) ) ... WE already knew what they would not do .. etc.. so there it is .. ... see you in the SENATE! ....hurry hurry .. hurrry............SEE YOU IN 2018!
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/4/15542342/ahca-promises-broken
Colbert unapologetically responds to #FireColbert backlash
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/entertainment/why-theres-a-campaign-to-firecolbert/2017/05/03/b88c0a8c-304c-11e7-a335-fa0ae1940305_video.html
May 4, 2017 9:00 AM EDT - After making an oral-sex joke about President Trump and Vladimir Putin, there are calls from Trump supporters to fire late-night host Stephen Colbert. On May 3, Colbert acknowledged the haters, but he didn't apologize. (The Washington Post) [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/05/03/colbert-had-a-lot-to-say-about-trump-and-putin-now-hes-silent-amid-firecolbert-backlash/?tid=ptv_rellink&utm_term=.f97d4f33c09d ]
I was going to give you Richard Cohen's from Feb. ...but, I can't stand him so I was looking around the paper, wasting time while looking and .. OHHHHHH!!! ... .. Look what I found! From Garrison Keller no less..........Now I can post this with my heart full of appreciation, joy and gratitude !.. instead of loathing .........
Trump has me searching for a new religion
Washington National Cathedral.
(Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
By Garrison Keillor January 17
And so the Boy President heads for Washington to be sworn into office, pumping his fist, mooning the media, giving the stinky finger to whomever irks him, doing his end-zone dance, promising to build the wall, cut taxes, create jobs, provide great health insurance for EVERYONE and send his son-in-law to the Middle East to solve that little problem, and the rest of us will sit in a barn and keep ourselves warm and hide our heads under our wings, poor things. Discouraging.
So I’ve been shopping around for a new religion to see me through the next four years. Too many of my fellow Christians voted for selfishness and for degradation of the beautiful world God created. I guess they figured that by the time the planet was a smoky wasteland, they’d be nice and comfy in heaven, so wotthehell. Anyhow, I’m looking around for other options.
Buddhism involves way too much sitting still for my taste; the Dalai Lama basically says, “Be gentle. Listen to the universe. Live in the moment. Let happiness flow through you.” And I think to myself, “This man has never had children.” Hinduism includes sacred cows, and my experience with cattle makes it impossible for me to revere them; they are stubborn and stupid, and letting them wander loose in the streets — why? Prime rib is their proper destiny.
Islam is great and so is Judaism but they’re so complicated! You can’t just walk into a temple and listen to a holy person and burst into tears and throw yourself down on the floor, as you can with Christianity, and say, “I believe!” and get dunked in water and, shazam, you’re in.
And spirituality is no go for me, like what you read about in books with sentences like “Creativity is the journey of channeling connectedness and realizing the potentiality of being.” Don’t want that. I want a religion.
At the moment, Zoroastrianism is looking good to me. Compared with other religions, it feels comfortable, something a guy could get used to. (It has nothing to do with the masked adventure hero Zorro, by the way. Or his ass.) Zoroastrians believe in one Great Almighty Spirit of Good who is in combat against evil forces, and Goodness prevails in the end. There is no self-flagellation or staring at the sun or snake-handling. In the afterlife, you will basically reap what you sowed in life. If you were industrious, generous and kind, you’ll be okay, and if you lied and cheated and didn’t pay your bills and plastered your name on big buildings, beware.
If I embraced it, I’d be one of the few Zoroastrians in Minnesota and I could start my own First Reformed Zoroastrian temple and pretty much write my own ticket. This is a huge advantage over the old system of adopting the religion of your forefathers. My parents were Bible-believing Christians, but I don’t get the parable where the latecomers get the same pay as the early birds and also the part about lust in your heart being the same as committing adultery itself: Where did that come from? A Christian who believes in those things is not going to be a happy person.
My religion would be a gentle faith that believed in the sacredness of leisure. Napping as a form of prayer. You worship the Lord by sitting on the porch and sipping iced tea and dozing off over a good book. Baseball is part of Reformed Zoroastrianism, and the number three, and Ferris wheels and deep-fried cheese curds. A tolerant religion, but it would come down hard on tailgaters and the writers of technical manuals and people who butt in when you’re busy working. “I’m sorry to disturb you,” they say. Well, then don’t, okay?
But then I stop and think about all the work involved in starting up a religion and deciding on dogma and having mystical visions, and proclaiming the truth to people who don’t care, and dealing with the oddballs and misfits who’d be attracted to the thing, and I think, “No way.”
So I am left with Confucianism, accepting the sacredness of confusion. Life is messy and it always has been. We work hard to earn money, we neglect our health and then we pay the money to restore our health, meanwhile we forgot how to enjoy life, so what good is health anyway, and now 80,000 people in three states have elected a president who can’t focus on anything for more than a couple of sentences and who contradicts himself every other day. So it goes. Have mercy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-me-searching-for-a-new-religion/2017/01/17/361d575e-dcf0-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.123456848c96
Fastlizzy, I read two conservatives this morning .. who also know he is not fit to serve .. and others. Here's two-
Trump has a dangerous disability
By George F. Will
May 3 at 7:36 PM
INCLUDING-TWO 2 Minutes of two brief clips (trump talking glubity gloop.. .. to illustrate what Mr. Will is saying ..
VIDEO CLIP - don't miss it!
FIRST PARAGRAPH-
It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about President Trump’s inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence.
go read it you'll enjoy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-a-dangerous-disability/2017/05/03/56ca6118-2f6b-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.62a5521f60f4
did you give F6 the day off today asshole?
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=131048020
I didn't see that announced anywhere... sorry
It’s time to seriously consider that Trump is unfit to be president
Ron Insana | @rinsana
56 Mins Ago
ALL Embedded links here - [ http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/its-time-to-seriously-consider-that-trump-is-unfit-to-be-president-commentary.html ]
Let's face it, and let's say what needs to be said, President Trump has rhetorically crossed the Rubicon. His jabbering
has jumped the shark. His public pronouncements have passed the point of no return.
We are now beyond debating whether this president's policies have merit or whether he intends to "make America great again."
Having said that, his health-care and tax-reform proposals, such as they are, have not been sufficiently vetted, nor scored,
and may well hurt the people he promised to help and would likely do more harm to the economy than good.
The courts have blocked his immigration bans. His wall has no funding. His regulatory rollbacks will make drinking
water dirtier and national monuments murkier.
But policy debates should simply cease to matter now.
We should, however belatedly, be discussing whether President Trump remains fit and competent enough to remain the
leader of the free world.
In a matter of 72 hours, while celebrating the "achievements" of his first 100 days in office, he spoke in a manner
unbecoming a U.S. president, sent inconsistent — if not dangerous —messages to allies and adversaries alike.
To add insult to injury, he invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, accused of committing genocide against his
own people in his war on drugs, to the White House.
And he said he would be "honored" to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, calling him a "smart cookie."
Of course, at the same time, he was threatening a pre-emptive strike against Pyongyang.
Talk about cognitive dissonance!
He said he didn't understand why the Civil War couldn't be "worked out" and suggested that Andrew Jackson might have been
able to stop it. Nevermind that Jackson was dead 16 years before the Civil War began and that he, himself, owned 150 slaves.
(Frederick Douglas, who the President recognized not too long ago as " an example of someone who has done an amazing job
and is being recognized more and more," is likely rolling over in his grave somewhere close to Jackson's.)
In an utterly incomprehensible interview with CBS anchor, John Dickerson, the president rambled on about his
unfounded allegations that President Obama "wiretapped" the incoming president.
When pressed for details, he then summarily, and on camera, dismissed Dickerson from the White House.
His own chief of staff confirmed that the president has looked into either amending, or abolishing, the First Amendment.
The bedrock amendment on which this nation was founded is an apparent insult to presidential prerogatives.
This, as the president recently referred to the entire Constitution as "archaic." That document is the very one and only,
upon taking the oath of office, he has sworn, and is required, to uphold.
It is quite clear that this president is unfamiliar with constitutional law and, understandably, may not
yet heard about the 25th Amendment.
For his edification, Section IV of the Amendment states:
"Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."
Since taking the oath of office, he has impugned his predecessors and, according to some published estimates, made
over 400 unsubstantiated claims in the mere three months he has sat in the Oval.
And, since March of 2015, when then citizen Trump began exploring a run for the White House, I maintained that he did
not have the requisite skills, temperament or character to occupy the Oval Office.
His most recent behavior not only confirms those observations, in my opinion, but also goes well beyond the realm
of being simply ill-suited for the job.
For the good of the country, our people, our allies, and to a much lesser extent, even our enemies, Congress should
give that amendment a fresh look and, if agreed, make use of it.
103 days already seems too long.
Commentary by Ron Insana, a CNBC and MSNBC contributor and the author of four books on Wall Street. Follow him on Twitter @rinsana.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/its-time-to-seriously-consider-that-trump-is-unfit-to-be-president-commentary.html
ROTFLMAO!
Einstein is on National Geographic station .. only 15 mins ..
I haven't seen it so .. will give it a try ...
yeah .. I also want to see the utah jazz get their rearends
handed to them by the warriors .. but Einstein .....is calling me ... ;)
sigh .........such a man!
Why don't you tell us the answers to your questions? That would really be best ... as ............I didn't hear her...
I happen to know her though and I know she tells the truth.
And from what I know about you .. Is That YOU do NOT tell the truth ..
so .....please proceed Mr. Lur, the board is all yours
How long will these hateful republicans in congress ignore that their very own creature is totally insane, nuts, coo coo, batshit crazy?
They are so used to being able to fool their own creatures who put them in year after year .. it's all mechanical for them ...such as .......'oh yeah .. he's nuts. .so what? . .he'll sign what we want .. .. when we want, we must take advantage of him whenever/wherever we can for as long as we can ... ' those must be the types of chit chat that goes on with them, while cringing ... .. I mean they can't all be deaf dumb and blind to his insanity? .....can they?
The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions
Crazy as a LOON and as MEAN AS A SNAKE! MEANER ACTUALLY!
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/2/15518574/desiree-fairooz-justice-department
That's REAL .. people! It's REAL! . .do you get that ?
crap everyone I know has - as totally as you can- withdrawn from all of it . myself included as ..... BECAUSE OF THAT SHIT!!! that I have to read about and hear about every day . . .if I opt in .. as I used to do ..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...come on! . .isn't there anyone with some power anymore??? ...Our government can't even help ITSELF! ......I'm afraid to look around anywhere .. god knows what news I will find .. that one up above is enough! for an entire month! JESUS!
Let's hope there's no 'coal mine' bookie operations anywhere .. ;)
that's great news! It clearly illustrates where truth is being told and for some odd reason it's being acted upon.
X Newsmax tv Host? gets kicked off & out from newsmax? REALLY?
my god! what could he have done? .. every coo coo in the world is found on newsmax
and oh .... tracy? the X movie star? .. PULEEZE
man puleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze! can't you do any better than that?
It's more recycled bullshit, if it's not coffins it's "vehicles"
http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/femacoffins.asp
http://www.snopes.com/gowdy-custody-investigators-missing/
The Last Line of Defense is an entertainment web site with a penchant for fake news. The web site, which
has a long history of publishing misinformation, carries a disclaimer labeling its content as satirical:
The Dumbest President America has ever elected___
has been Lashing out at wrong court after his effort to defund sanctuary cities is struck down
The president went after the court that will hear the case next.
President DUMB ASS!
The morning after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to deny federal funding to so-called “sanctuary cities,” President Trump threatened to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings,” Trump wrote as the first of a three-part Twitter rant Wednesday morning. “See you in the Supreme Court!”
Trump said that the Ninth Circuit?—?where he presumed the ruling was issued?—?has a “terrible record of being overturned.” But Judge William Orrick?—?a district court judge based in San Francisco who issued Tuesday’s injunction?—?does not sit on the Ninth Circuit, which is an appeals court. As Politico pointed out, the Ninth Circuit will be the next court that will hear the case if the Trump administration chooses to appeal the decision.
First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!
?—?@realDonaldTrump HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA .. Yeah! SURE..president LARDASS!
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-orrick-tweets-383c39391ba6
Federal Judge Rules That Trump's Sanctuary Cities Order Is "Clearly Unconstitutional"
"Given the nationwide scope of the Order, and its apparent constitutional flaws, a nationwide injunction is appropriate."
Chris Geidner
Posted on April 25, 2017, at 1:37 p.m.
A federal judge on Tuesday barred the Trump administration from enforcing part of President Trump's January executive order that took aim at sanctuary cities — concluding that a challenged provision is "clearly unconstitutional."
US District Judge William H. Orrick issued a nationwide preliminary injunction — sought by San Francisco and Santa Clara counties in California — against enforcement of Section 9(a) of the January 25, 2017, executive order.
The section of the order purported to give Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly broad authority to deny funds to cities that "refuse to comply" with a law that requires cooperation between state and local governments and federal immigration authorities.
"[T]he Order has caused budget uncertainty by threatening to deprive the Counties of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants that support core services in their jurisdictions," Orrick wrote.
Although the Justice Department argued a narrow interpretation of what the executive order authorized, Orrick pointed to the president's own words — Trump called the order "a weapon" to fight cities that opposed his immigration policies — in concluding that the narrow reading "is not legally plausible."
Later, addressing the scope of the injunction, he wrote, "Given the nationwide scope of the Order, and its apparent constitutional flaws, a nationwide injunction is appropriate."
Then it shows where they are enjoined? I think it said anyway, it's all there ... for now ... him and jeffie can keep their fingers the F out of our state!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/federal-judge-stops-administration-from-enforcing-part-of?utm_term=.dx9Ak7jGQ#.lg9MN87eQ
This Is Not A Joke Or '90s Movie: Here's How A Trade War With Canada Could Happen
President Trump’s new tariffs on Canadian lumber will cause anger in Canada, but could
also be a step towards a much broader trade battle. Beware the Canadian dairy lobby!
Paul McLeod
Posted on April 25, 2017, at 9:52 a.m.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Tuesday turned a simmering dispute between the U.S. and Canada into an open confrontation, announcing a 20% tariff on Canadian softwood lumber imports and threatening in a tweet to go after the Canadian dairy industry.
Canadian PM responds to lumber tariffs imposed by the US
By charmaine noronha, associated press
TORONTO — Apr 25, 2017, 2:10 PM ET
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada and the U.S. could suffer from what he called a "thickening" border, a day after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on softwood lumber and trade tensions between the two countries escalated.
Trudeau was responding to the announcement of new U.S. duties of up to 24 percent on softwood lumber entering from Canada.
Canada's Liberal Party leader said the two countries are economically interconnected, but it's not a one-way relationship.
"There are millions of good U.S. jobs that depend on the smooth flow of goods, services and people back and forth across our border," Trudeau said during a press conference.
He cited free trade in the North American auto sector as an example of how a typical car part can cross the border up to six times before it ends up in a finished automobile.
"You cannot thicken this border without hurting people on both sides of it," Trudeau said. "Any two countries are going to have issues that will be irritants to the relationship. Having a good constructive working relationship allows us to work through those irritants.
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr echoed Trudeau's sentiment, saying that the tariff hurts people in both countries, including American homebuyers, who will now pay more for wood.
The U.S. and Canada typically enjoy a friendly trading relationship, but things have soured in recent months.
Trump has been railing against Canada's decision to change its policy on pricing domestic milk to cover more dairy ingredients, leading to lower prices for products, including ultra-filtered milk. Trump has called the move "a disgrace" that hurts U.S. producers in dairy states like Wisconsin.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that Canada is making life "very difficult" for American dairy farmers and that the government "will not stand" for it. You know, don't you wonder if that was his first opening with the Canadians? . .sheeesh! .. WE WON'T stand for it! .. what a way to talk to people that you want something from.... all anything trump r dumb
Lumber and dairy issues were also problems under previous presidents. In softwood lumber, the countries have had a once-a-decade cycle of tariffs, trade litigation, and ultimately settlements.
Officials said Canada is not likely to challenge the new tariff legally under the North American Free Trade Agreement or with the World Trade Organization until next year.
The softwood spat is unfolding amid a much bigger trade issue — renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Despite remarks from the president and his cabinet secretary, neither lumber nor dairy are actually part of the current NAFTA.
So, this is actually new to trump only & that is why we even heard about it at this time ... he'd kill for 'any' attention that he perceived as flattering to him ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canadian-pm-responds-lumber-tariffs-imposed-us-47008749
Thanks Borealis, that sums it up beautifully! ...
and the trump fans are all dancing in the street with joy ...
the only ones doing that really are the big corps with dreams of how low their taxes can go, .. along with the .0001
percent and the 1 percent in our country who dream of destroying the planet while not paying for doing it .............what a hoot!
And of course and thank god! there are still many rich people who truly do care and do NOT go along with 'him/them' at all, NO! .. not one bit!
In strategy and substance, the American public disagrees with the course that President Trump and congressional Republicans are pursuing to replace the Affordable Care Act with conservative policies, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Large majorities oppose the ideas at the heart of the most recent GOP negotiations to forge a plan that could pass in the House. These would allow states to choose whether to keep the ACA’s insurance protection for people with preexisting medical problems and its guarantee of specific health benefits.
Public sentiment is particularly lopsided in favor of an aspect of the current health-care law that blocks insurers from charging more or denying coverage to customers with medical conditions. Roughly 8 in 10 Democrats, 7 in 10 independents and even a slight majority of Republicans say that should continue to be a national mandate, rather than an option for states to retain or drop.
Read: Full Post-ABC poll results
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/public-pans-republicans-latest-approach-to-replacing-affordable-care-act/2017/04/25/25355eb0-26aa-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html?utm_term=.ea98f0829258
I read that our illustrious donaldo trumpoo has accomplished nothing in his first 100 days, EXCEPT,
he has slapped our GREAT neighbors and friends from CANADA with a hefty tax on lumber ....
well, I guess if you have a hard time being tuff with anyone in reality ... you can certainly
get your toe wet by sneaking it out towards the north .. .god ! ... so embarrassing
And he has unnecessarily for sure, put three, maybe four AMERICAN LIVES in danger without doing
a damn thing except .. his bully trash talking! ...........
we're having a party this weekend, the theme is "Learning how to Cringe as Americans in the 21st Century" ....
should be fun
Ivanka Trump gets booed, hissed at during Berlin event
By Annie Karni
04/25/17 08:33 AM EDT
BERLIN — Ivanka Trump arrived in Berlin on Tuesday morning armed with facts and figures to recite at what was expected to be a highbrow international summit to discuss women's entrepreneurship, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But on her first international trip as an official representative of the United States, the first daughter was put on the spot about her father's attitudes toward women, booed and hissed at by the crowd, and grilled by the moderator about what, exactly, her role is in President Donald Trump’s administration.
“You’re the first daughter of the United States, and you’re also an assistant to the president,” said the moderator, WirtschaftsWoche editor-in-chief Miriam Meckel. “The German audience is not that familiar with the concept of a first daughter. I’d like to ask you, what is your role, and who are you representing, your father as president of the United States, the American people, or your business?”
It was an aggressive opening line of questioning for the first daughter, who was seated next to Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and one seat down from Merkel. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands was also a participant on the W20 Summit panel, which Ivanka Trump attended at Merkel's invitation. And it appeared to put her on the spot.
“Certainly not the latter,” Trump said. “I’m rather unfamiliar with this role as well. ... It has been a little under 100 days, and it has just been a remarkable and incredible journey.”
She did not define what her new role as a senior White House official entailed but said she cares "very much about empowering women in the workplace" and defined her goal as enacting “incremental positive change. That is my goal. This is very early for me; I’m listening, learning.”
The questions asked of Trump seemed more direct than those about women in the workforce posed to other panelists. But there was also a lot of curiosity ahead of her visit here about Trump's new role in her father's administration.
Trump, who was deeply involved with her father’s campaign and has been instrumental in his administration in the first three months in office, positioned herself as someone who is still in humbling listening-tour mode. “I’m striving to think about how best to empower women in the economy,” she said, at one point calling herself a feminist. “I have no doubt that coming out of this trip I’ll be more informed.”
But she was booed and hissed at by the majority-women audience at the conference when she lauded her father for supporting paid-leave policies. “I’m very proud of my father’s advocacy,” she said, calling him “a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive.”
Meckel, the moderator, pushed her to address the vocal disapproval from the audience.
“You hear the reaction from the audience,” she said. “I need to address one more point — some attitudes toward women your father has displayed might leave one questioning whether he’s such an empowerer for women.”
During the campaign, more than a dozen women went public to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, unwanted advances and assault. Ivanka Trump did not comment on those accusations during the campaign, and on Tuesday she dismissed the criticism via her father’s favorite enemy — the press.
“I’ve certainly heard the criticism from the media, that’s been perpetuated,” she said, drawing laughs from the audience.
And despite being invited to attend the panel by Merkel in her role as a senior White House official, she defended her father from her vantage point of loyal daughter — a crouch familiar from when she was confronted by uncomfortable questions about her father on the campaign.
“As a daughter, I can speak on a very personal level,” Ivanka Trump said. “I grew up in a house where there was no barrier to what I could accomplish beyond my own perseverance and tenacity. That’s not an easy thing to do; he provided that for us.” She said that her father treated her exactly the same way he treated her two brothers, who now run the family business. “There was no difference,” she said.
Trump also credited her father’s administration for hiring women in important roles.
“The team basically going through the vetting and hiring process — six out of eight of those people are women,” she said.
photos at the link . . too huge to post
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/25/ivanka-trump-booed-berlin-237569
Patriots Player Writes Moving Letter to Barack
Obama After Visiting with Trump at the White House
By Katherine Richter
April 22, 2017 at 12:47pm EDT
Jacoby Brissett/Instagram
President Donald Trump honored the New England Patriots at the White House Wednesday for their historic Super Bowl win, and third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett came armed with an open letter for former president Barack Obama, which he shared along with a photo of himself at the White House.
He began, “Dear Big O, I am writing you this letter to say thank you. I want to thank you for what you have done for this country – outside of politics. Honestly, I don’t know enough about politics to judge what was good or bad, but I want you to know that when you said ‘Yes We Can’ – a young man dreaming a dream from rough circumstances in Florida heard you.”
Brissett spoke about the inspiration Obama provided him as a young boy.
“As I prepare for the honor of visiting the White House, I will be there as a Super Bowl Champion – and I will think of you, mainly because the White House is a different, and better place because you lived there,” Brissett wrote in his letter, which he also shared on Instagram. “I was a kid that came from nothing and I am living out one of the greatest dreams of my life. I am just grateful for the opportunity to walk on the same steps as you did, and to have a platform to inspire and I hope to leave my mark on history the way you did.”
John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty
Defensive tackle Alan Branch did not pay President Trump a visit. Speaking to CNN, he said he skipped the trip because of the “disgusting” way that Trump talks about women. “I have no interest in going and shaking his hand,” Branch explained. “I’ve gotta [be able to] go back home and look my daughters in the eye.”
http://people.com/sports/patriots-players-letter-thanks-barack-obama/
Exxon Seeks U.S. Waiver to Resume Russia Oil Venture
Exxon Mobil applied to Treasury for exemption to resume
venture with Rosneft forged in 2012 by Rex Tillerson
wonder how this one will turn out? HA!
n June 2012, Russia's President Vladimir Putin (center), watched by Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin, shook hands with Rex Tillerson, who was then Exxon Mobil chief executive and is now U.S. secretary of state, at a signing ceremony at a Rosneft refinery in the Black Sea town of Tuapse. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/sputnik/Reuters
By Jay Solomon and Bradley Olson
Updated April 19, 2017 3:53 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON— Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM 0.65% has applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Russia in a bid to resume its joint venture with state oil giant PAO Rosneft, according to people familiar with the matter.
Exxon has been seeking U.S. permission to drill with Rosneft in several areas banned by sanctions and renewed a push for approval in March, shortly after its most recent chief executive, Rex Tillerson, became secretary of state on Feb. 1, according to one of these people. The company originally applied for a waiver to gain access to the Black Sea in July 2015 but its application wasn’t approved, the person said.
STINKS! Doesn't IT?
more stink here
https://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-seeks-u-s-waiver-to-work-in-russia-despite-sanctions-1492620677
Hay Mas Mal En El Aldehuela Que Se Suena
"There is more evil in the little village than is heard." -- Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote
Much, much more.
by driftglass at 4/19/2017 11:08:00 PM
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2017/04/hay-mas-mal-en-el-aldehuela-que-se-suena.html
I have no proof and may never get it ... but I still think and believe with all my heart that money is passing hands ... and positions (maybe future jobs) going along with the cash.. yep, that's what I think ... I see no upstanding people .. not trump and most certainly not any in his cabinet, crap look who he gives a job to? Price? Bannon & him? ... LOW LIFE WHITE TRASH, all of them!..puleeze, my god ! ....and most important ..just look at the ones leaving, no explanation ..just decided to quit ... .. and then there are always a few ...... who have those big old lollipops stuck on their foreheads .... damn few though. Many are crooks to begin with and truly that is all he hires, CROOKS! people who have never worked in the field, but hey you know, they're rich .. ;) ..... ... .. and shameful and NOW they KNOW that republicans are stupid too....We always knew it!
.. they didn't, until 'he' hired them ....and they got a good look at each other ... I'll be happy to see the day when they meet at bedtime in a Colorado prison
and__Justice Dept. debating charges against WikiLeaks
members in revelations of diplomatic, CIA materials
goo.gl/T5Avve
TRUST ME! nothing will ever happen to him!
Trump and The Problem of Militant Ignorance
By Josh Marshall Published April 14, 2017, 2:36 PM EDT
It is what we might call ‘the consensus judgment’ that President Trump is a deeply ignorant man and perhaps a profoundly ignorant President. But it is worth stepping back and considering just what this means, the different kinds of ignorance that exist and how they differ.
Without making a direct comparison, it is worth remembering that each of the last three Presidents came to office with a steep learning curve about the modalities of the presidency and many aspects of the challenges and issues they would face. Clinton, Bush and Obama were each, in different ways, pretty green. Bush’s father, since he had served in Congress, as head of the CIA and especially because he had served as a fairly active Vice President for the previous eight years, came in knowing quite a lot about the specifics of the Presidency.
Some of the difference with Clinton, Bush and Obama (let’s call them CBO) is that they had good staff or at least knowledgable staff who could help them understand what they didn’t know and advise them on the almost infinite number of details they could never hope to understand in depth. But there’s another key issue. You don’t become President by being excessively humble. Yet CBO each had a sense of what they did not know. At a bare minimum, they didn’t advertise it when they learned something they later realized a lot of other people knew.
What is endearing, terrifying and hilarious about Trump is not simply his ignorance, really his militant ignorance, but his complete lack of self-awareness about his ignorance. Trump told a reporter for The Wall Street Journal that his understanding of the problem of North Korea changed dramatically after hearing ten minutes of history from the President of China. Needless to say, Trump didn’t need to admit this. But neither was it candor.
So far the Trump Presidency has been a sort of Mr Magoo performance art in which the comically ignorant Trump learns elemental or basic things that virtually everyone in the world of politics or government already knew – things that the majority of adults probably know. Health Care: “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” North Korea: “I felt pretty strongly that they had tremendous power. But it’s not what you think.” There are perhaps half a dozen examples equally stark.
In other words, President Trump is open about his discoveries and even eager to share them but universally projects his previous state of comical ignorance onto the general public or whomever he is talking to. In other cases, this would make sense. If Trump discovered that humans could fly if they hold their nose, close one eye and say “Shazam!” I’d want to know. Because that’s awesome. And I wouldn’t think worse of Trump for not knowing it before. Because this is new and amazing information. But learning that health care policy is complicated is a different kind of discovery.
Remaining ignorant is probably a good adaptive strategy for him because it allows him to pretend that everything is obvious, that he can solve any problem and generally act like he can do anything – in a way, this allowed him to become President.
What is key though is to understand that this is not just ignorance. Ignorance is just the first stage of Trump’s fairly advanced problem. He is not only ignorant but clearly unaware of his level of ignorance. This is compounded by a seeming inability to understand that everyone else isn’t equally ignorant to him. Those of us who are parents know the wonder of discovery experienced by small children. They find out there were things such as dinosaurs or close primate relatives called lemurs. As loving parents we indulge them, sometimes feigning ignorance of things we actually already knew to support a child’s joy in discovery.
But Donald Trump is a 70 year old man. And not a terribly nice man.
His ignorance is not endearing. We don’t need to lie to him to make him feel good about himself. Still it is good to understand his condition. Ignorance is just lack of information. But there’s something wrong with Trump’s brain – maybe cognitive, perhaps simple entitlement or just broad spectrum derp – which appears to make it genuinely impossible not to project his own ignorance onto everybody else.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-the-problem-of-militant-ignorance
Failure to sanction China helped North Korea, former officials say
Three U.S. administrations backed away from punishing Chinese
banks and businesses for helping their neighbor's weapons program.
By Josh Meyer
04/16/17 07:02 AM EDT
Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have not acknowledged the role of Chinese banks
and businesses in providing North Korea access required to develop WMD programs.
caption under a huge photo of both men
Even as Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping pledge to stop North Korea’s fast-advancing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, there’s one uncomfortable secret that neither leader has publicly acknowledged: Chinese banks and businesses are playing key roles in providing Pyongyang with access to the global markets they need to acquire critical parts and technologies.
For at least a decade, North Korea has sidestepped U.S. and United Nations sanctions against its own trading and financial institutions by establishing a global network of front companies, shell companies and third-country agents to seek parts, technology and financing for its weapons programs, according to interviews with current and former counterproliferation officials and congressional documents.
These front companies rely on assistance provided by Chinese banks to gain access to U.S. and global financial systems, often by conducting transactions in U.S. dollars, and on Chinese businesses to obtain weapons parts, according to those sources.
In a little-noticed letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in February, six senators called on the administration to target Chinese banks and other entities as a way of effectively cutting off North Korea’s access to hard currency it uses to finance its illicit weapons-of-mass-destruction programs.
“With the risks of proliferation and war now at a critical stage,” they wrote, “we have no more time to waste on inaction.”
One of the financial institutions the senators cited as facilitating North Korea’s weapons programs is one of China’s biggest — the Bank of China — raising concerns among U.S. officials that at least some of the assistance being giving to Pyongyang is state-sponsored.
The assistance provided by Chinese entities to North Korea goes as far back as the 1960s, and includes some state-run operations, according to current and former national security officials here and overseas, other experts and a POLITICO review of counterproliferation documents.
During that time, Chinese businessmen and financiers also helped spread technology to virtually all of the world’s other illicit WMD programs too, including some assistance on chemical and biological agents, these sources say.
As U.S. intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies watched, Chinese individuals and companies provided significant amounts of specialty components and technology to Iran, Pakistan, Syria and other nations. That assistance, and the participation of Chinese banks and financial institutions, has been instrumental in the research and development of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons by these regimes, according to the sources.
Career counterproliferation experts in the U.S. government have been quietly ringing alarm bells about China’s role in the global black market in WMD parts and technology for years, and with increasing urgency as North Korea and Iran made rapid advances in their programs, three senior U.S. national security officials who recently retired told POLITICO.
But instead of taking strong and public action against Beijing, they say, three successive U.S. administrations — under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — opted to quietly nudge it behind the scenes and accept its repeated promises to put an end to the proliferation activity emanating from within its borders.
Some officials say that despite comments by both Trump and Xi about working together to thwart North Korea, they are wary that his administration is on the same path, despite mounting tensions over North Korean missile tests. The latest apparent provocation came early Sunday, when North Korea tried to test a missile, which exploded almost immediately upon being launched.
Although Trump himself has avoided publicly calling out China for its role in North Korea’s WMD programs, he praised Xi last week, saying he is confident that the Chinese president will do what it takes to pressure Beijing’s neighbor into dropping its nuclear threats, and standing down its illicit research and development programs.
"I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea," Trump tweeted on Thursday. "If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will. U.S.A.!"
In recent weeks, White House officials have begun anonymously floating the idea of sanctioning some Chinese institutions, in part as a way of avoiding military action against Pyongyang. And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly raised the issue in his recent visit to Beijing.
Some veteran counterproliferation officials said that while they welcome such efforts, previous administrations also considered them but ultimately backed down when China opposed them, in some cases by insisting the sanctions would destabilize its neighbor and hurt the North Korean people.
“Over time, every time we get close to putting in secondary sanctions, the Chinese agree to do a little more” to apply pressure to North Korea, said Dennis Wilder, who served from 2015 to 2016 as the CIA’s deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific. “They’ve been very good at playing the game of ratcheting up the pressure on North Korea at times when it helps them avoid us imposing sanctions.”
That’s especially the case when the U.S. has threatened to directly sanction Chinese entities, its financial institutions in particular, for their role in assisting North Korea, according to Wilder and others.
“You can imagine that if Treasury designates the Bank of China, the Chinese would have to worry about how once the bank is tainted, all sorts of people would move their money out, and other banks would end or slow their activity with the bank as well," Wilder said. "Now you would have a stigma attached to these institutions.”
An official in the Bank of China's New York branch said he was unable to respond to charges that the bank facilitated North Korean arms programs. “We’re not able to make any immediate comment," he said. "Personally, I don’t have the information, and it is difficult for us to coordinate a response. We will have to find out.”
The bank has in the past also referred calls to Brett Philbin, a Washington-based vice president at the Edelman communications firm. He did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
If the United States were to seek sanctions against Chinese entities, it already has identified dozens of individuals, companies and banks around the world that have been facilitating and financing North Korea’s weapons activities, former officials said.
“Treasury has done their homework on this for many years, and there are files available at Treasury for Trump to review,” said Wilder, who was also special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asian Affairs at the National Security Council from 2005 to 2009. “There are sanctions packages that are either ready to go, or could be ready in a minute” against the Chinese entities.
Last September, the Justice and Treasury departments indicted and sanctioned one Chinese trading company, Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Ltd., and alleged that it was responsible for more than $500 million in trade with North Korea. The enforcement actions, and related financial freezes, were considered especially sensitive because the massive Chinese conglomerate is headed by a Communist Party member who U.S. officials believe has long aided Pyongyang’s nuclear program, according to former officials.
In its last days, the Obama Treasury Department also quietly took action against Chinese businessman Mingfu Chen as part of a broader sanction package targeting a procurement network for Iran’s ballistic missile program. And several Chinese individuals and companies have been targeted in crackdowns against Iran’s nuclear program over the years as well.
But many other Chinese trading firms, including Chinpo Shipping and 88 Queensway, continue to engage in commerce that facilitates North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, according to the letter from the six senators.
And even less has been done to go after the Chinese financial institutions that make many, if not most, of North Korea’s procurement efforts possible. In a Senate hearing several months ago, Obama administration Treasury officials acknowledged that they had not sanctioned a single Chinese bank for its involvement in North Korea’s efforts.
“We cannot be serious about North Korea sanctions until we’re ready to confront the China challenge,” said Anthony Ruggiero, a veteran U.S. intelligence and financial counterproliferation official until December. “The big question is whether there is political will.”
“I get that you don’t want to sanction the Chinese entities the day before Xi walks into Mar-a-Lago,” Ruggiero said in reference to the summit between the two leaders earlier this month. “But what about the week after?”
Historically, the U.S. has had great success in squeezing North Korea via sanctions, especially those imposed on complicit third-party financial institutions. A 2005 crackdown on Banco Delta of Macau, for instance, prompted banks around the world to freeze and shutter North Korean accounts, making it much more difficult for Pyongyang to finance its WMD programs through criminal conduct.
And while the Justice Department indictment of Dandong Hongxiang is a step in the right direction, the case also underscored how little the U.S. government is doing to root out Chinese support for North Korea’s WMD programs, said Ruggiero, who was working for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at the time.
U.S. authorities knew about Dandong Hongxiang’s activities for six years before taking action against it, Ruggiero said. China also has been reluctant to provide U.S. authorities with financial documents that the Treasury Department needs in order to investigate the conglomerate and related proliferation network, and freeze assets.
But when it disclosed the indictment, the Justice Department said there were “no allegations of wrongdoing” by the U.S. correspondent banks or foreign banks that did business with the conglomerate.
To Ruggiero and other critics, that suggests that U.S. authorities either didn’t pursue the obvious financial leads, or didn’t act on them.
“It’s pretty shocking that we let them violate U.S. law for so long. We would have never allowed that to occur if it was Iran,” Ruggiero said. “Why did we let the Dandong Hongxiang network sit there for six years? What was that network involved in, and why didn’t we go after Chinese banks?”
Dandong Hongxiang has declined to comment on the case.
In their letter to Mnuchin, the six senators, all Republicans, called on the Trump administration to do more to crack down on China, and to determine its role in aiding and abetting North Korea. The letter was written by Ted Cruz of Texas and Cory Gardner of Colorado, and co-signed by Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, David Perdue of Georgia, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rubio.
“Although the Treasury Department sanctioned Dandong Hongxiang and its corporate officers, freezing the assets of a handful of entities is a far cry from what is necessary: a determined, sustained, and well-resourced campaign to investigate, uncover, and sanction the complex web of similar Chinese, Middle Eastern, and other third-country companies and banks that fund Kim Jong-un’s regime, facilitate proliferation, and break sanctions,” the senators wrote.
“All necessary legal tools are in place to begin conducting such a campaign in earnest, today,” the senators said, especially to go after the many Chinese banks — including the Bank of China — that they accused of facilitating North Korean proliferation by flouting U.S. “Know-Your-Customer” obligations and disregarding their obligations to enforce U.N. sanctions on North Korea.
Citing the lack of any banks targeted along with Dandong Hongxiang, they said, “It is difficult to construe this inaction as anything less than a lack of political will” on the part of the U.S. government.
Over the years, some career counterproliferation officials have pushed for deeper investigations into the procurement networks to determine whether Beijing is actively involved or just aggressively looking the other way.
Vann Van Diepen, a top U.S. counterproliferation official for the past 25 years, said that while China engaged in the state-sponsored spread of WMD technology in earlier decades, it has been much more cagey in recent years, to the point where the U.S. doesn’t know the extent of its official support.
Publicly, China has supported some United Nations crackdowns on WMD proliferation, but it has quietly been allowing that activity to occur within its own borders, not stopping operators that it knows are aggressively helping Pyongyang and at times willfully looking the other way, said Van Diepen.
"Most people believe that this is not a state-sponsored activity; we don't know that, one way or another, but China hasn't devoted the priority, effort, or resources to thwart this," Van Diepen said. "And when that continues to be the case over 20 years, even when they have been criticized, over time it becomes a choice, and you have to wonder what's going on. At a minimum they can certainly find out if they want to."
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/north-korea-china-sanctions-237238
Let's get back to the Jim Lur distraction, much more entertaining........
Yes, and now it's "HIS Military" ____________"Everybody knows exactly what happened and what I do is I authorize my military. We have the greatest military in the world and they've done their job as usual. So, we have given them total authorization," Trump said after meeting with first responders at the White House on Thursday. [ http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/13/us-drops-largest-non-nuclear-bomb-ever-in-afghanistan.html ]
Holy shit ! ..........why now? He's provoked this
even from before he was president! with his trash talking
Funny thing for them he .. that trumpee had nothing to do with it.. The General somebody, I heard it this morning early, who is in charge of everything in that section of Afghanistan is the man who called for it ..I didn't know the military on the ground fighting had to call up the don....to get permission to drop a big ole bomb on an emptpy tunnel ... but whatever .. the first thing I thought of was... OH NO! the Earth the Earth .. .. the earth is crying out loud while we're killing it ... ... it's so damn sad! at times ,,,,, I think I just can't take it anymore ....... I miss Obama, He Cared for all of creation!
You have given us absolutely zero qualifications on why you 'should be' or 'pretend to be'
.. . some type of arbitrator of the truth on much of anything, but particularly, this subject you chose.
Hookrider, can you tell me this .. when did he get so coo coo? .. I was reading his posts from way back in the beginning of this board .. and he sounded
like a normal guy .. I didn't really get up to the bush years .. .. but when did he go crazy ? .. with the Black Man or what?
teabaggers created when they saw the blackman, made them plum nuts! .. LOLOLOL .. .. it's true ...And they haven't gotten over it yet