"On Wednesday, President Trump fired Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin and said he’d replace him with White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy. Dr. Jackson has no experience running a large agency. The Department of Veterans Affairs is the federal government’s second-largest department, with 360,000 employees. Shulkin had been facing criticism for various ethics violations, including using taxpayer money to pay for his wife’s airfare during a trip to Europe last summer. But Shulkin says he’s actually being ousted because of his opposition to privatizing the VA, which runs 1,700 hospitals and clinics. The push to privatize the VA has been led by a group called Concerned Veterans for America, which is funded by the billionaire conservative Koch brothers. We speak to Suzanne Gordon, an award-winning healthcare journalist. Her forthcoming book is titled “Wounds of War: Veterans’ Healthcare in the Era of Privatization.” https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/30/david_shulkins_firing_at_the_va[with embedded video, and transcript]
Meet the Doctor Suing Trump: Dr. Eugene Gu on Gun Violence, Privatization of VA & White Supremacy
Published on Mar 30, 2018 by Democracy Now!
Doctors across the country are slamming former Republican Senator Rick Santorum for arguing that young people protesting for gun control would be better served by learning CPR. Dr. Eugene Gu of Vanderbilt University Medical Center tweeted, “As a surgeon, I’ve operated on gunshot victims who’ve had bullets tear through their intestines, cut through their spinal cord, and pulverize their kidneys and liver. Rick Santorum telling kids to shut up and take CPR classes is simply unconscionable.” We speak to Dr. Gu about gun violence, his lawsuit against President Trump and why he was suspended for taking a knee to fight white supremacy. https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/30/meet_the_doctor_suing_trump_dr[with embedded video, and transcript]
Remembering Stephen Hawking, Groundbreaking Physicist and Advocate for Climate, Palestine & Peace
Published on Mar 30, 2018 by Democracy Now!
On Saturday, members of the scientific community, family, friends and fans alike will gather to remember the life and legacy of groundbreaking physicist Stephen Hawking. Hawking died on March 14 at his home in Cambridge, England, at the age of 76. For decades, Hawking enchanted both scientists and science lovers by making groundbreaking discoveries about the origins of the universe, then translating these ideas for millions of nonscientists worldwide. His career and life itself have been celebrated as a medical miracle. Born in Oxford, Britain, in 1942, he was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder known as Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 21. Doctors said he had only a few years to live. Instead, he went on to live for more than 50 years, traveling the world in his motorized wheelchair and communicating through a custom-made computerized voice synthesizer. His only complaint was that the synthesizer gave him an American accent. He also protested against U.S. wars, including the U.S. war in Vietnam and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. We speak to Kitty Ferguson, author of two books about Hawking, “Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind [ https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Hawking-Unfettered-Mind-MacSci/dp/0230341993 ]” and “Stephen Hawking: Quest for a Theory of Everything [ https://www.amazon.com/STEPHEN-HAWKING-QUEST-THEORY-EVERYTHING/dp/B000S6JZ9I ].” https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/30/remembering_stephen_hawking_groundbreaking_physicist_and[with embedded video, and transcript]
Why Are So Many Unarmed Black People Being Killed by Police? Sacramento Activist Speaks Out
Published on Mar 30, 2018 by Democracy Now!
In Sacramento, California, hundreds of mourners gathered Thursday for the funeral of Stephon Clark, an unarmed African-American man who was shot by police officers 20 times in his grandmother’s backyard. We continue our conversation with Sacramento activist Berry Accius, founder of Voice of the Youth. https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/30/why_are_so_many_unarmed_black[with embedded video, and transcript]
During our special broadcast from the March for Our Lives, Democracy Now!’s youth correspondent Soledad Aguilar-Colon, a former reporter at IndyKids, interviewed other young people at the protest. https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/30/youth_voices_from_the_march_for[with embedded video, and transcript]
Sacred avatars that can’t be criticized, like Pope Francis & David Hogg, are being used to push big government agendas while savagely censoring anyone who criticizes or debates what they’re pushing. Alex Newman joins to talk about the coming Tech Tyranny and how China is the model that’s being imposed. Elon Musk’s electric Ponzi Scheme is shorting out on Wall Street. Trump talks about using the Defense Department to build the wall and the left freaks out.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this clip, Jim Bakker says that people who don't support President Trump "don't know God" or the Bible and that support for Trump is a test from God of one's faith in Him. http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jim-bakker-the-lord-is-using-trump-as-a-test-your-faith-in-god/
Every October in Venezuela, hundreds of people make a pilgrimage to Mount Sorte for Baile en Candela, a celebration of the goddess María Lionza. Armed with drums, razorblades, liquor, and fire, mediums perform age-old rituals to channel the spirits of Lionza’s closest disciples—letting the mystic figures take over their bodies to speak directly to the living.
On this episode of 'VICE INTL,' VICE Colombia trekked to the summit to see exactly what goes down on Mount Sorte each year. They spoke to Lionza's followers to hear why they made the pilgrimage, met up with a well-known spiritual guide, and looked on as a few brave souls had themselves possessed by the dead.
WATCH NEXT:
Sinking Rich: Speedboat Racing Through a Failed State
Published on Nov 15, 2017 by VICE Most people blame the Venezuelan government for the country's profound economic and humanitarian crisis, but the government blames the elite. Yet while millions of ordinary Venezuelans marched on their capital city to protest against the government, the government was throwing money at the elite—sponsoring them to ride around on boats for a week for the world's longest speedboat race. VICE's Charlet Duboc drank, danced, and chatted with the race's oldest hands before meeting up with an indigenous, impoverished community for a look outside Venezuela's upper echelon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmo5J3RhH8g [with comments]
First Lady Melania Trump Unveils 2018 White House Easter Egg Festivities
Issued on: March 30, 2018
The White House is excited to welcome nearly 30,000 attendees to this year’s Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn. First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald J. Trump invite this year’s attendees to enjoy a variety of activities, including the traditional Egg Roll and the Trump Administration’s Cards for Troops station. New this year: Bowling on the South Lawn – a special addition by the First Lady. More details about the event are listed below.
Activity Stations:
• State Egg Display (located on the Ellipse)
• Reading Nook
• Cards for Troops
• Lawn Bowling
• Photo Opportunities Complete with Mini Podiums and a Giant Frame for Families
• Egg and Cookie Decorating stations
• Egg Hunts
• Coloring Wall
• Tennis Court Activities
• Costumed Characters
• Commemorative Egg Distribution (available at departure)
Entertainment for this year’s White House Egg Roll:
• The United States Marine Band
• The United States Army Band
• The United States Air Force Band
• The United States Navy Band
List of Reading Nook Readers
• First Lady Melania Trump
• General Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr.
• Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
• Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Marsha Coats • Susan Pompeo
President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 2018 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month
Issued on: March 30, 2018
During National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we remain steadfast in our efforts to stop crimes of sexual violence, provide care for victims, enforce the law, prosecute offenders, and raise awareness about the many forms of sexual assault. We must continue our work to eliminate sexual assault from our society and promote safe relationships, homes, and communities.
Sexual assault crimes remain tragically common in our society, and offenders too often evade accountability. These heinous crimes are committed indiscriminately: in intimate relationships, in public spaces, and in the workplace.
We must respond to sexual assault by identifying and holding perpetrators accountable. Too often, however, the victims of assault remain silent. They may fear retribution from their offender, lack faith in the justice system, or have difficulty confronting the pain associated with the traumatic experience. My Administration is committed to raising awareness about sexual assault and to empowering victims to identify perpetrators so that they can be held accountable. We must make it as easy as possible for those who have suffered from sexual assault to alert the authorities and to speak about the experience with their family and friends.
When victims seek help, responses must be carefully tailored to the context in which the sexual assault occurred and the unique needs of each victim. To better assist victims, the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women has developed the Sexual Assault Victim Intervention Services Technical Assistance Center (SAVIS TAC). This new resource will help community officials and organizations appropriately respond to sexual assault by expanding their understanding of the type of support likely to be effective in each unique circumstance. Participants in the SAVIS TAC initiative will use available funds to provide intensive training and resources to service providers. With these resources, service providers, including rape crisis centers and other sexual assault and domestic violence organizations can build organizational and staff capacity for providing comprehensive sexual assault victim intervention services.
Together, during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we recommit ourselves to doing our part to help stop sexual violence. We must not be afraid to talk about sexual assault and sexual assault prevention with our loved ones, in our communities, and with those who have experienced these tragedies. We must encourage victims to report sexual assault and law enforcement to hold offenders accountable, and we must support victims and survivors unremittingly. Through a concerted effort to better educate ourselves, empower victims, and punish criminals, our Nation will move closer to ending the grief, fear, and suffering caused by sexual assault. The prevention of sexual violence is everyone’s concern.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2018 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. I urge all Americans, families, law enforcement, healthcare providers, community and faith-based organizations, and private organizations to support survivors of sexual assault and work together to prevent these crimes in their communities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.
Fox News' Tucker Carlson spent Women’s History Month parroting some of the grossest views of YouTube’s fringe right-wing anti-feminists in a series of segments about “Men in America,” mainstreaming their misogyny on his prime-time cable news program.
President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 2018 as Second Chance Month
Issued on: March 30, 2018
During Second Chance Month, our Nation emphasizes the need to prevent crime on our streets, to respect the rule of law by prosecuting individuals who break the law, and to provide opportunities for people with criminal records to earn an honest second chance. Affording those who have been held accountable for their crimes an opportunity to become contributing members of society is a critical element of criminal justice that can reduce our crime rates and prison populations, decrease burdens to the American taxpayer, and make America safer.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, each year, approximately 650,000 individuals complete prison sentences and rejoin society. Unfortunately, two-thirds of these individuals are re-arrested within 3 years of their release. We must do more -- and use all the tools at our disposal -- to break this vicious cycle of crime and diminish the rate of recidivism.
For the millions of American citizens with criminal records, the keys to successful re-entry are becoming employable and securing employment. Beyond the income earned from a steady paycheck, gainful employment teaches responsibility and commitment and affirms human dignity. As a Nation, we are stronger when more individuals have stable jobs that allow them to provide for both themselves and their loved ones.
I am committed to advancing reform efforts to prevent crime, improve reentry, and reduce recidivism. I expressed this commitment in my 2018 State of the Union Address and reinforced it by signing an Executive Order to reinvigorate the “Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry.” In the spirit of these efforts, I call on Federal, State, and local prison systems to implement evidence-based programs that will provide prisoners with the skills and preparation they need to succeed in society. This includes programs focused on mentorship and treatment for drug addiction and mental health issues, in addition to job training.
This month, we celebrate those who have exited the prison system and successfully reentered society. We encourage expanded opportunities for those who have worked to overcome bad decisions earlier in life and emphasize our belief in second chances for all who are willing to work hard to turn their lives around.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2018 as Second Chance Month. I call on all Americans to commemorate this month with events and activities that raise public awareness about preventing crime and providing those who have completed their sentences an opportunity for an honest second chance.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.
President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 2018 as National Fair Housing Month
Issued on: March 30, 2018
During April, America reaffirms its commitment to ending housing discrimination by celebrating National Fair Housing Month. This year, we mark a particularly important milestone in this effort. Fifty years ago this April 11 -- just 7 days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law. The Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, or national origin, is Title VIII of that law.
Over the last 50 years, our Nation has made great strides toward ensuring Americans have access to fair and affordable housing free from discrimination. In addition to enforcement of the prohibitions in the original Fair Housing Act, the Congress has twice amended the law to expand and enhance its protections. In 1974, the Congress acted to prohibit housing discrimination based on sex, and in 1988, the Congress extended the law’s protections to persons living with disabilities and to families with children. These actions have helped create a more fair and just market for housing throughout our Nation.
My Administration has continued to fight for the American people and for equal access to opportunity in America. That is why we are exploring and developing evidence-based reforms to enhance the development of affordable housing options, free from discrimination, that can alleviate poverty and promote opportunity. My Administration intends to deliver on the promise outlined by the Fair Housing Act, by ending prejudice and unlawful discriminatory practices in the sale, lease, and financing of housing, expanding the availability of affordable housing, promoting sustainable homeownership opportunities, encouraging economic mobility, and creating more vibrant communities.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, do hereby proclaim April 2018 as National Fair Housing Month. I urge all Americans to learn more about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act and reaffirm their commitment to making homeownership within reach, no matter one’s background.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.
Sinclair Broadcasting Group forced their local news stations to air the same script about fake news, in an attempt to undermine non-Sinclair stations. The broadcasting group is America's largest media company and has been accused of biased, pro-Trump coverage. In December, Politico reported that the Trump campaign had struck a deal with Sinclair during the 2016 election in order to obtain more favorable coverage.
Friday, Mar. 30th 2018[, with Joel Gilbert hosting the last half hour with an appearance by Herb London]: Jones Vs. Hogg - Second Amendment Face-off - Rex Jones' challenge to David Hogg to debate gun rights goes viral. Meanwhile, websites are being censored for comparing the March for our Lives to a Nazi youth rally. In other news, Palestinians swarm the Gaza border, clashing with Israeli troops, Facebook's growth-at-all-costs business model is exposed, and President Trump announces a troop pullout of Syria. On today's broadcast, UK journalist Katie Hopkins breaks down the Islamic invasion of Western Europe.
Presidential Message on National Financial Capability Month
Issued on: March 30, 2018
The foundation of American prosperity is the freedom of financial independence. The inherent right of citizens to determine the best investments for their hard-earned money has spurred entrepreneurship and innovation that makes our country great. Too many hard-working people, however, struggle to invest in their financial independence, despite working long hours at well-paying jobs. Our Nation must endeavor to improve the financial capabilities of our citizenry. During National Financial Capability Month, we affirm the importance of financial literacy and highlight the need for all Americans to plan for their futures.
Across our Nation, millions of Americans are finding more opportunities to invest and save their hard-earned money with help from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This historic law includes the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history. It cuts taxes by $5.5 trillion over the next decade, providing much needed fuel to boost our economy. Since I signed this legislation into law in December 2017, more than 440 businesses have announced new investments, raises, or bonuses that are benefiting more than 4.5 million American workers.
As our economy continues to thrive, we must also focus on protecting our renewed prosperity by ensuring that all Americans can make informed financial decisions. In order to enhance the financial freedom of our citizens, my Administration is working to improve how Americans learn about evidence-based practices, which they can use to save and grow their earnings. The Department of the Treasury is leading these efforts, through a review of the effectiveness and quality of Federal financial education programs. This includes an assessment of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, a body made up of representatives from more than 20 Federal agencies. This reform process will allow us to fix or eliminate ineffective programs and build innovative tools that truly empower Americans to make smart financial choices, save for retirement, and build individual wealth.
During National Financial Capability Month, I invite families, communities, schools, employers, and other institutions to join us in empowering Americans of all ages and backgrounds to make informed financial decisions that will lead to an even more prosperous future.
Statement by The Press Secretary on The Efforts by Yemen’s Houthis to Destabilize The Arabian Peninsula
Issued on: March 30, 2018
Yemen’s Houthis have responded to efforts by the United Nations to reinvigorate a political process in Yemen by threatening to conduct more reckless missile attacks, like those they conducted on Sunday. These actions call into question the Houthis’ commitment to a peace process. These attacks again demonstrate that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is continuing to disrupt a nascent political process, escalate hostilities, and destabilize the region by proliferating weapons to the Houthis and others. The United States will remain steadfast in helping our partners defend themselves, providing desperately needed humanitarian assistance, and supporting an inclusive United Nations process to help resolve the conflict and bring peace and security to the region.
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call With President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey
Issued on: March 30, 2018
President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to discuss regional developments and the strategic partnership between the United States and Turkey. The two leaders expressed support for continued efforts to increase cooperation between their two countries, to advance shared interests as NATO allies, and to work through issues that affect the bilateral relationship.
Cornelius Jones has "2 difficult questions for atheists", which boil down to what purpose is there to life and why is it fair that a law abiding citizen dies just like Hitler.
Not difficult questions if you've spent any time thinking about it. Cornelius seems very confused about atheism, and he's made more than one video asking to talk.
I offer my answers to his questions, but also extend the offer to talk.
Original video:
2 Difficult Questions for Atheists (Please answer in the comments)
Published on Apr 29, 2012 by petts1 [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Fh8RmUBuGEtpuOyP1dcsA / https://www.youtube.com/user/petts1 , https://www.youtube.com/user/petts1/videos ] THIS VIDEO WAS NOT STAGED. THE BABY BUFFALO WAS LOST FROM THE HERD, WHICH IS NOT UNCOMMON. This video from the Masai Mara was shot on our trip in May of 2009. It's tough to watch if you're an animal lover, but it shows nature as it is intended to be. Predators and Prey. THIS VIDEO WAS NOT STAGED. THE BABY BUFFALO WAS LOST FROM THE HERD, WHICH IS NOT UNCOMMON. The herd is actually less than half a mile away, but the baby is too young to catch up. Our guide explained that often times male lions will run into herds of buffalo specifically with the idea of creating confusion so the babies will get lost. What you can't see in this video is that under the tree where the lion comes from is another dead baby buffalo that he killed. This lion seemed to know what he was doing. And for those who feel we should have saved the buffalo, I understand the instinct to save the animal, but on safari you don't do that. The lion has just as much right to live as that buffalo, and lions live by killing animals. If that isn't something you can understand, don't watch this video. Thank you to everyone who likes the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxejViC1Uvk [with (nearly 8,000) comments]
While David Hogg is allowed to bully conservatives and talk trash to anyone then back down, Rex Jones decided to step up to the table and challenge the Hogg to a debate. Also, Jeff Sessions is signaling that he is looking into abuses at the DOJ and the FBI while Obama was president by appointed a federal prosecutor to review. We also look at the blatant double standards in Hollywood when it comes to man made climate change.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
Trump’s presidency may be in jeopardy even if the women are unsuccessful in court.
Donald Trump has had many allegations of scandal and sexual misconduct made against him and has made it through them with little consequence. But now, two lawsuits might change that.
Cambridge whistleblower reveals 'concerning' link to Russia
The Beat with Ari Melber 3/30/18
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wiley talks to Ari Melber ahead of his testimony before Congress. Wiley says he hopes to urge congress that the scandal is beyond the Facebook “a data leak” and could impact “national security”. Wiley reveals work the Trump data firm did for a Russian oil company with ties to Kremlin intelligence, was “concerning” and that they could be aware of a “massive data set being harvested on Americans”.
World Exclusive: Whistleblower blasts Facebook 'exploitation'
The Beat with Ari Melber 3/30/18
In her first TV interview, a former top executive at Trump data firm Cambridge Analytica, Brittany Kaiser, blasts Facebook for exploiting private user data and calls the company “incredibly irresponsible” for not checking that Cambridge and other firms had deleted the harvested data. Kaiser reveals that no-one at Cambridge Analytica was aware CEO Alexander Nix and board member Rebekah Mercer attempted to reach Julian Assange.
Fallback Friday with Sacha Jenkins and Baratunde Thurston
The Beat with Ari Melber 3/30/18
Chief Creative Officer of Mass Appeal, Sacha Jenkins and Cultivated Wit founder, Baratunde Thurston join Ari Melber for Fallback Friday. This week’s nominations go to surveillance capitalism, self-driving cars and giant exoskeletons.
In Trump’s America, half the population lives in a world where the “crooked media” tells “fake news” made up of “alternative facts,” while the other half fights to maintain public trust in traditional media.
Much of this stems from the parallel online universe that led up to the 2016 election. Clinton and Trump supporters really don't listen to each other on Twitter, according to an analysis from the Electome project at the MIT Media Lab provided exclusively to VICE News.
“At least on Twitter, we see that there is a separation of where the journalists, and who the journalists are following, and no one is really listening or plugged into this Trump supporter graph.” Eugene Yi, a data-scientists at the lab told VICE News.
Formerly fringe bloggers, like Milo Yiannopolus and Mike Cernovich, seized the golden opportunity to speak directly to Trump supporters and flooded the internet with false information.
The now-infamous data targeting company Cambridge Analytica allegedly used mass amounts of personal information on the internet to manipulate voters, spreading pro-Trump news, no matter the factual evidence, which may have helped win the election for him.
With Trump in office, conservative new media and the mainstream are now at war over who is “fake news,” and a record low of 32 percent of Americans trust the press. And President Trump's personal crusade against the traditional press has only deepened the public divide.
But, "the president doesn't get to decide what the truth is," CNN's Jim Acosta, a common target of Trump's criticisms, told VICE News. VICE's Isobel Yeung meets the people on the frontlines in the battle for truth.
We Spoke To Rohingyas Taking Up Arms Against Myanmar’s Government (HBO)
Published on Mar 30, 2018 by VICE News
They insist they are freedom fighters, but the Myanmar government calls them terrorists. On August 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched a coordinated attack on border posts and military camps, killing 12 officers, and setting off a state-sponsored crackdown that has forced over half a million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The UN has called Myanmar’s military response to ARSA a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” and has documented reports of rape, murder, torture, and whole villages being burned to the ground. ARSA says they had no choice but to fight back against Myanmar’s force.
“Our aim was to let the world know, which is done,” an ARSA commander told VICE News. “Now our hope rests with the world.”
ARSA maintains that they have no intention of taking their cause beyond Myanmar. But some experts think that ARSA is getting support from powerful backers in the Middle East, and that their cause may attract foreign fighters.
“This could become the new center of international militancy and terrorism which could completely destabilize the security of the neighboring region,”said ANM Muniruzzaman, a former major general with the Bangladesh Army.
VICE News went to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to speak to ARSA members about what they think the group’s future holds.
Investigators probe allegations of Syrian war crimes
On Assignment with Richard Engel 3/30/18
“We have stronger evidence than we had for any past conflicts, any past tribunals,” said a lawyer collecting documents linking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to war crimes.
The U.S. election, Ukraine, Syria and now Skripal: How Russia has intervened subtly and not-so-subtly abroad, in what some see as an attempt to destabilize domestic affairs elsewhere.
"Leaving this mess is likely to result in emboldening both the Assad regime, the Russians, and the Turks to finish off the Kurds," says retired U.S. general Barry McCaffrey, of potential U.S. withdrawal from Syria.
A turning point in relations between Russia and the West?
On Assignment with Richard Engel 3/30/18
We’ve been talking about Putin’s aggressive foreign policy for a while, but it took the Skripal poisoning for the world to take action. Did Russia go too far this time?
Amid reports that the White House is worried President Donald Trump will become unleashed with the departure of Hope Hicks, Lawrence O’Donnell explains why Trump's "madness" grows no matter who is on his staff.
Why qualifications don't matter in Trump's White House
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 3/30/18
The panel reacts to reports Hope Hicks was a moderating force in the White House. Daniel Dale explains why Trump relies on personality more than qualification. Jason Johnson says service to Trump leaves staff "damaged." Ana Marie Cox & Jonathan Capehart also join.
More advertisers abandoned Fox News host Laura Ingraham's show after shooting survivor David Hogg says he did not accept her apology. Will politicians learn the lesson? Jonathan Capehart, Jason Johnson, and Ana Marie Cox join Lawrence O'Donnell.
Feds detain & subpoena Mueller witness at Boston airport
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 3/31/18
In a scene reminiscent of a spy thriller, the feds met, detained, questioned, & subpoenaed a new witness in the Mueller probe at the airport. So who is Ted Malloch? Our panel breaks it down.
Vaping & drinking games: New report of more White House chaos
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 3/31/18
On the heels of high-profile White House firings & dismissals, a new Washington Post report details one office inside Trump's White House marred by inexperience and drinking games. Our panel reacts.
Trump's EPA head Scott Pruitt faces new housing scandal
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 3/31/18
After facing scrutiny over spending tax-payer money on travel and security, EPA Director Scott Pruitt is now facing questions over a report that he stayed in a home linked to a lobbyist for a reduced rent.
President Jimmy Carter Is Still Praying For Donald Trump
Published on Mar 31, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The 39th President of the United States and 'Faith' author Jimmy Carter tells Stephen he prays for Donald Trump. Whether those prayers are being answered is another question.
Donald Trump and Ivanka yellow water motel friend. This is the system Ivanka loves; Americans getting stepped on and her friends making money off of us. (The World is laughing at the Americans)
( https://youtu.be/IcxTDMH3_GA ) Polyamory. Ethical non-monogamy. Open relationship. There are many ways to describe the consensual choice a couple can make to live a non-monogamous lifestyle—and ever more ways to navigate it. Maria Rosa Badia’s new short film Polyedric Love, premiering on The Atlantic today, features honest conversations with couples about the rewards and challenges of their unconventional relationships. “We’ve always been told that there’s this one way of being with someone, and if you retract from it, it’s not right societally,” says a woman in the film. “But if it’s right instinctually…” Making the film was an eye-opening experience for Badia, who came to see non-monogamous relationships as an inspiration, particularly with regard to overcoming jealousy. “I was moved by the couples’ honest rapport with their partners about their individual needs,” she told The Atlantic, “and how they had a very straightforward communication about it. I realized that what's necessary on a non-monogamous relationship to work—mutual respect and communication—is absolutely necessary for a monogamous relationship, too.” https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/556988/open-relationship-nonmonogamy/
Bros In Trump's White House Apparently Bond By "Icing" One Another At Work Bro, you just got iced, bro! If you don't know what icing is, you clearly have not been around bro culture since 2009. As the video below explains, "icing" is a drinking game in which one bro hides a Smirnoff Ice (a chick drink) for another bro to find. When the bro finds it, he has to get on a knee and chug. https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/smirnoff-ice-white-house
Spy poisoning: Russia escalates spy row with new expulsions Russia has announced further measures against UK diplomats while at the same time declaring tit-for-tat expulsions of officials from 23 other countries. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596812
West Wing surprised by Trump's unscripted Syria comment President Donald Trump surprised even the most senior members of his Cabinet when he announced Thursday during a speech in Ohio that the U.S. military would be "coming out of Syria, like, very soon," according to a senior administration official familiar with the matter. [...] http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/west-wing-surprised-trumps-unscripted-syria-comment/story?id=54132268
Federal investigators question Ted Malloch in special counsel probe (CNN) - The FBI this week detained and questioned Ted Malloch -- who says he was an informal Trump campaign adviser in 2016 who was rumored last year to be a candidate for US ambassador to the European Union -- as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, Malloch said. Malloch issued a written statement saying he was detained by the FBI on Tuesday after he arrived on an international flight to Boston, where federal investigators took his cell phone and questioned him about Republican operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks. Malloch, who has authored a not-yet-published book accusing a so-called "deep state" within the US government of fabricating the opposition research dossier on President Donald Trump and Russia to try to destroy Trump, said he was served with a subpoena before he was released to appear before Mueller's grand jury in Washington, which he's expected to do next month. "The questions got more detailed about my involvement in the Trump campaign (which was informal and unpaid); whom I communicated with; whom I knew and how well -- they had a long list of names," Malloch said. "They seemed to then focus more attention on Roger Stone (whom I have met a grand total of three times and with groups of people); Jerome Corsi, a journalist who edited a memoir I had written some years ago; and about WikiLeaks, which I knew nothing." He said was asked specifically if he had visited the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up for nearly six years. He had not, he said. Malloch's statement shines another light into the workings of Mueller's probe into potential collusion between Trump's campaign team and Russia, which has also investigated potential financial crimes and other matters. Malloch is not the first witness to say he was asked about Stone, a longtime Trump associate. Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg said the special counsel's team pressed him about Stone and WikiLeaks, too. The special counsel's office declined to comment. Malloch was a professor in London who now runs a consulting firm. At one point early in the Trump administration, Malloch was rumored to be in line to become US ambassador to the EU, but questions were raised about inaccuracies in his biography and EU officials expressed alarm at his views, and he was not selected for the post. Malloch has ties to Nigel Farage, the British politician who was a key driver of Brexit, according to the Guardian, which first reported Malloch was questioned by the FBI. Glenn Simpson, whose firm Fusion GPS hired ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to compile the dossier on Trump and Russia, mentioned Malloch in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee last year, calling him a "significant figure" in the Brexit campaign with ties to former Trump campaign chief and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as well as Stone. In his statement Thursday, Malloch suggested that his upcoming book, "The Plot to Destroy Trump," was the reason he was questioned by federal investigators. "What could they want from me -- a policy wonk and philosophical defender of Trump? I am not an operative, have no Russia contacts, and -- aside from appearing on air and in print often to defend and congratulate our President -- have done nothing wrong," Malloch said. He is scheduled to appear before Mueller's grand jury on April 13, he said. https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/politics/fbi-malloch-questions-mueller/index.html
Megachurch pastor with ties to George W. Bush indicted on $3.5 million fraud A former religious adviser to President George W. Bush has been accused by federal prosecutors of defrauding investors of $3.5 million. Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell and a business partner, Gregory Smith, sold millions of dollars of worthless Chinese bonds, telling investors to "remain faithful and that they would receive their money," according to documents obtained by ABC Houston station KTRK. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Louisiana announced the 13-count indictment Thursday. Both men could face significant jail time and be forced to forfeit assets. Caldwell and Smith both face 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud count and for the wire fraud counts, according to the prosecutor. They face 10 additional years in prison for the conspiracy to commit money laundering count and the money laundering counts. [...] http://abcnews.go.com/US/megachurch-pastor-indicted-35-million-fraud/story?id=54117145 citing: Houston megachurch pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell indicted for wire fraud and money laundering http://abc13.com/local-megachurch-pastor-indicted-for-wire-fraud-money-laundering/3280073/
Woman Given 5 Years In Prison For Illegally Voting Says She Didn’t Know She Was Ineligible “Why would she vote illegally?” her attorney said. “What benefit does she receive by doing that?” Crystal Mason’s mom insisted that she vote in the 2016 presidential election, but when she went to her polling place in Tarrant County, Texas, she found her name wasn’t on the rolls. A poll worker helped her fill out a provisional ballot, of the sort given to people who aren’t on the rolls, and she cast it. Five years earlier, Mason had pleaded guilty to tax fraud and was ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution. She was also sentenced to five years in prison, as well as three years of supervised release. Though Mason says she didn’t realize it at the time, by casting that provisional ballot in November 2016, she had committed another felony. Texas prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from voting, and only allows them to vote once they have entirely finished their sentence, including any probation, parole and supervised release. In Texas, it is a second-degree felony to vote in an election in which you know you are not eligible. On Wednesday, state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez sentenced Mason to five years in prison for illegally voting, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Mason says she had no idea she was ineligible, but Gonzalez pointed out that an affidavit at the top of the provisional ballot notes that people on supervised release can’t vote. [...] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-felon-voting_us_5abe5ad4e4b0f112dc9bd00f
One state's novel idea to make Big Pharma pay for opioid epidemic Opioid manufacturers intentionally misled the public, a lawsuit says, and must pay to fix the problem The suit was brought by about 300 Arkansas cities and counties https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/health/arkansas-opioid-lawsuit/index.html
Accused Terrorists Were So Extreme They Scared Other Anti-Muslim Bigots Defense lawyers said the Kansas militiamen’s rants were just “locker room talk.” But other militiamen thought they sounded like plans of action. WICHITA, Kan. — Jurors in a federal courthouse Thursday were played recording after recording of three militia members spewing genocidal hatred of Muslims. The three men — Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen — are accused of being involved in a 2016 terrorism plot to bomb an apartment complex that housed Somali Muslim refugees and a mosque in Garden City, Kansas. In one recording played for the court Thursday, they can all be heard mapping out Muslim targets on Google Earth, dropping “pins” on a map of Garden City, each pin labeled “cockroaches.” “The fucking cockroaches in this country have to go, period,” Stein said in one recording. “They are the fucking problem in this country right now. They are the threat in this country right now.” “When we go on operations, there’s no leaving anyone behind, even if it’s a 1-year-old. I’m serious,” Stein said in another. “I guarantee if I go on a mission, those little fuckers are going bye-bye.” In another recording, the men discussed killing a Garden City landlord who owned a building occupied by Muslims and then raping the landlord’s wife and daughter. All to scare off other landlords from renting to Muslims. Whenever they ended up bombing Muslims in Garden City, one of the men said in another recording, it would mark the beginning of “the Crusades 2.0.” They eagerly discussed publishing a “manifesto” after the bombing — just like “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski did — and sending it to newspapers and radio stations across Kansas. Dan Day, the FBI informant who secretly recorded the militia, said the men wanted to time the bombing of the Garden City mosque during prayer hours. “They figured that would be the time they could get the most Muslims at one time,” he said. The manifesto, Day explained, was meant to “inspire” others across the country “to take up action and do what these guys were doing, blowing up different Muslim targets.” The three men’s defense attorneys have argued that all this talk of slaughtering Muslims was just a few dudes venting their frustration. “Locker room talk,” as one attorney put it. But if there are experts on when talk of mass murdering Muslims has become more than just bigoted bluster, those experts are other bigots. Boyd Benson was a member of the Kansas Security Forces, an anti-government extremist militia group to which Stein, Allen and Wright all belonged. On June 12, 2016 —the same day as the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, when a Muslim man killed 49 people — Benson wrote this on Facebook: “Fucking Islam. I’m done. Kill them all.” “I was never shy as far as talking about Islam,” Benson explained to the court on Wednesday. On June 14, 2016, two days after the Pulse nightclub shooting, Stein and Allen went to Benson’s shooting range in the countryside near Partridge, Kansas. Day, the FBI informant, was there too, secretly recording the meeting. Benson talked of hunting local imams and of fomenting a war between local Shiite and Sunni Muslims. These proposals, Benson testified in court this week, really were just “blowing smoke and venting.” But when Stein talked about using explosives to target Somali Muslims in Garden City, Benson said he got very concerned. “I actually thought it was not just talk — it was more of an actual action, action.” “I had a gut feeling that what was just banter back and forth, ranting and everything else, was turning into something more serious and concrete,” he said. Benson said the meeting prompted him a few days later to tender his resignation with the Kansas Security Forces. “After that meeting I was done,” he said. “I was out.” Prosecutors displayed for the court a letter of resignation he wrote to KSF members. Prosecutors Thursday played recordings of other KSF meetings Day had recorded, these held at the home of KSF member Trish Burch. Day explained to the court that Stein organized the meetings at Burch’s home to determine “who was in and who was out” in a plan to bomb Somali Muslims. “It got tense in the room,” Day said. Burch was “totally against” it. She appeared “scared” of Stein, someone with whom she normally had a good relationship. “I’m not saying [Muslims are] good people,” Burch said in one of the recordings played for the court. “I’m saying I’m not going to be the one to go in and start shooting.... If they start coming at me, my family, then I’m right there. I’m more of a defensive person.” Day testified that Stein and Allen had trouble recruiting Burch and the other militia members at these meetings to join their terrorist plot. The other militia members, he said, thought the plot was going to get everyone “thrown in jail and give militias a bad name.” Day, whom the FBI recruited as an informant after he unwittingly attended a militia barbecue, was on the stand all day Thursday. He was at his most emotional in recounting one of the times he and Stein conducted surveillance of Somali immigrants in Garden City. They were driving along when they spotted a little girl they presumed was Muslim, Day said. “[Stein] seen the baby,” Day told the court, “and he was like, ‘There’s another little baby cockroach fucker. I wish I could take her out, too.’ He made a gun with his finger and said, ‘Kill the fucking cockroach.’” “I don’t see how he could kill an innocent little baby,” he said choking back tears once again, “just because they were a different race or religion.” Day testified that he lived in constant fear while infiltrating the militia group. He feared the men would act out on their murderous feelings toward Muslims. And he feared they’d find out he was an FBI informant and kill him. But, he said, he decided to press on. “I prayed about it, and it felt like God had put me in that place at that time,” Day said, adding that he wanted to “stop hundreds of people from getting murdered.” He’ll take the stand again Monday when the trial resumes. The trial is expected to last through April, when a nearly all-white jury will determine whether the militiamen will spend up to the rest of their lives in prison. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kansas-terror-plot-militia_us_5abd0e8ce4b03e2a5c7a53c9
Trump ally detained, served with Mueller subpoena at Boston airport Ted Malloch said FBI agents asked him about Roger Stone and WikiLeaks. A professor and author who once presented himself as a possible Trump administration ambassador to the European Union was detained and questioned by the FBI at Boston Logan airport and served a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Ted Malloch said in an emailed statement to NBC News that he was flying from his home in the U.K. via Boston to Cleveland, Ohio to celebrate Easter when he was stopped Wednesday, an incident first reported by the Guardian. NBC News has independently confirmed that Malloch was detained and questioned at the airport, but not the details of the encounter. According to Malloch, when he exited his flight from London he was taken aside by a TSA official and an FBI agent, and separated from his wife. Malloch said two FBI agents then told him he was being detained to answer questions related to the special counsel's investigation. He said they told him it was a felony to lie to the FBI and he told them he would "gladly" cooperate with them. According to Malloch, the agents also produced a document allowing them to seize and search his cellphone. At first, said Malloch, the agents questioned him about his career, showed him a color photograph of himself, and asked about his affection for the Philadelphia Eagles. Then, said Malloch, "The questions got more detailed about my involvement in the Trump campaign (which was informal and unpaid); whom I communicated with; whom I knew and how well — they had a long list of names." He said they asked him about former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, author Jerome Corsi and WikiLeaks. Malloch said he told them he met Stone a total of three times and always with groups of people, and that Corsi had helped edit one of his books years ago. He said he was asked if he had ever visited the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been living since 2012, and he replied no. Malloch also said the agents served him a subpoena from Mueller's team that had been issued that day, March 28, and that he later arranged with the Special Counsel's Office to appear for questioning on April 13. "What could they want from me — a policy wonk and philosophical defender of Trump?" said Malloch. "I am not an operative, have no Russia contacts, and—aside from appearing on air and in print often to defend and congratulate our President — have done nothing wrong. What message does this send?" A spokesperson for the Special Counsel's Office would not comment on Malloch's statement or whether or not Malloch was questioned. In November 2016, after Trump's upset victory in the presidential election, Malloch told the BBC he had been consulted by Trump throughout the campaign. He told reporters in early 2017 that he had interviewed for the position of U.S. ambassador to the EU twice. That position was vacated in January 2017 and is still vacant. The Trump administration told reporters that Malloch had never been considered for the position. Malloch has described the EU as having "evil" origins and compared it to the Soviet Union. A former professor at the University of Reading in the U.K. and the author of several books, he has a book coming out in May called "The Plot to Destroy Trump: How the Deep State Fabricated the Russian Dossier to Subvert the President." Roger Stone wrote the forward. Infowars host Alex Jones and Brexiteer Nigel Farage have written blurbs for the book cover, according to Malloch's publisher. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-ally-detained-served-mueller-subpoena-boston-airport-n861456
Finding Your Name on Russia’s Hit List The nerve-gas poisoning of a former KGB agent in the U.K. has Moscow’s foes spooked. It was just before 10 p.m. on Feb. 12, Boris Karpichkov’s 59th birthday, when the former KGB agent got an unexpected call at his home in the U.K. It was a Russian secret service friend phoning covertly from mainland Europe to warn him of a hit list with eight names on it. Karpichkov, who’d defected to Britain in 1998, was on the list. So was Sergei Skripal, another ex-Russian double agent. Karpichkov initially dismissed the warning—he’d faced death threats before. Three weeks later, he changed his mind. On March 4, Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were rushed to a hospital after collapsing in a crowded shopping mall in the sleepy cathedral city of Salisbury in southwestern England. British officials determined the two—who remain hospitalized and may never fully recover—were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in what the U.K. says is the first offensive use of a chemical weapon in Europe since World War II. A local policeman was also hospitalized, and as many as 130 other people in Salisbury may have been exposed. The attack, which London and its allies blamed on Vladimir Putin’s government, led the U.K. to expel dozens of Russian diplomats. The U.S., along with NATO and 25 other allies of the U.K., followed on March 26 and 27, kicking out about 130 Russian diplomats. Britain is facing calls to crack down on illicit Russian money. Russia, which denies responsibility in the Skripal attack, has vowed to retaliate in kind for the expulsions. The Skripal case disturbingly echoes the 2006 death of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed with radioactive polonium slipped into his tea in London. A week after Skripal’s poisoning, a second Russian exile and Putin critic was murdered at his London home. Police are reexamining 14 suspicious deaths in the U.K., dating to 2003, of opponents of Moscow and others with links to Russia. Karpichkov arrives for a secret meeting with Bloomberg Businessweek in London in a black hat and dark glasses, clearly anxious. He says he’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because he’s living in constant fear and gets only four hours of sleep a night. He’s installed closed-circuit surveillance cameras around his home at his own expense. “How long is it going to go on? Who is going to be next?” Karpichkov demands to know from the British authorities. “I can ask to be removed to Mars or to the moon. What will it change? Nothing.” While Prime Minister Theresa May scored a diplomatic coup by persuading many other nations to expel Russian diplomats, the trail of corpses raises the question: Why have British authorities been so slow to act? Billions of dollars of Russian money have rushed into the U.K. since the 1990s, but billionaire oligarchs with ties to Putin have been allowed to remain. Britain said on March 28 that it would review visas for 700 wealthy Russians. When she was minister in charge of interior affairs, May “fought like a tiger” to stop a public inquiry into the Litvinenko murder for fear of causing a total rupture with Russia, says Jeff Rooker, an opposition Labour member in the Upper House of Parliament. “London is the capital of money laundering,” he says. May at the time said “international relations” were a factor in the decision not to allow a public inquiry into Litvinenko’s death. The 14 suspicious deaths have been attributed to suicides, natural causes, and accidents and not treated as murders. A British lawyer with links to Russia died in a mysterious helicopter crash in 2004. The badly decomposed body of another man, a British spy, was found in 2010 in a locked sports bag in the bathroom of his London apartment. In 2013, Boris Berezovsky, a Putin foe, was found hanged in his bathroom. In 2016 a U.K. scientist who helped detect the amount of polonium in Litvinenko’s body was found dead in his kitchen from stab wounds. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment on whether Russia was involved in the deaths, saying only that Moscow is ready to consider helping in the investigation if London asks. The Foreign Ministry on March 28 accused Britain of “systematically” failing to protect Russian citizens. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former billionaire and Kremlin opponent who was freed after 10 years in prison and now lives in exile in London, believes there’s worse to come. “A nuclear weapon has already been used, a chemical one, too, which leaves just a biological one in the arsenal, and this time no one will be able to do anything,” he says. Now living in an undisclosed U.K. location under an assumed name, Karpichkov already survived two attacks in New Zealand. After a beggar threw dust in his face in central Auckland in November 2006—a few weeks after Litvinenko was poisoned—Karpichkov lost 30 kilograms, one-third of his body weight, in two months. Four months later he fell ill again after finding mysterious amethyst-colored crystals on the carpet in his home. In the 1980s, Karpichkov rose to the rank of major in the KGB; he kept working for Russian intelligence in his home country of Latvia after it gained independence in 1991. He later was a CIA informant and defected to the West with boxes of secret documents. He says the British should offer him better protection. Chris Phillips, who from 2005 to 2011 headed the U.K.’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office, wants the police to ensure Karpichkov’s safety. He says of the hit list given to the ex-spy, “I would certainly be concerned if I were them.” On the list are several other Russian defectors, as well as Bill Browder, a U.S.-born British financier who’s become public enemy No.?1 for Russia’s government since he started campaigning for sanctions against Russian officials over the death of Sergei Magnitsky, the tax lawyer for Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. investment fund. Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after uncovering an alleged $230 million tax fraud. Three years later, a Russian whistleblower who provided information to Swiss authorities about the same fraud died near his U.K. home. In one of the 14 suspicious deaths, he collapsed while jogging after ingesting a rare toxic Chinese plant that triggers cardiac arrest. “My life has been at risk for years,” says Browder, whose London office is accessible only to people escorted by security. He called for action to rein in illegal Russian money flows from corrupt officials and oligarchs into the U.K. The Skripal attack should be a “wake-up call for Britain,” Browder says. Complicating the task of the British police are the close links between organized crime and the Russian intelligence agencies. Five Berezovsky business associates died in mysterious circumstances from 2008 to 2014, one suffering a heart attack, two jumping under subway trains, one falling off the roof of a department store, and the last plunging to his death from an apartment to be impaled on railings. Russian secret services can use all kinds of drugs to stage murders that don’t appear to be homicides, according to former counterterrorism chief Phillips. “Any trained assassin knows there is more than one way to kill someone,” he says. Marina Litvinenko, the widow of the dead spy, who succeeded only after a lengthy legal battle to get a public inquiry that pointed the finger at Putin for the assassination, also urges a crackdown on dirty Russian money. “Do you want another incident like this? Or do you want British citizens to decide that their government can’t protect them?” she asks. Karpichkov, who was trained as a KGB assassin though he says he never killed, echoes that sentiment. “If it was me tasked to take someone out in this country, it is doable—not only in the United Kingdom, basically anywhere in the world,” he says, before pulling on his hat and sunglasses and vanishing. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-29/finding-your-name-on-russia-s-hit-list
Richard Engel: Kremlin hit list includes Christopher Steele
His Predecessors Failed. Can Moon Jae-in Make Peace With North Korea?
"As North Korea Talks with China, South Korea & Japan, Could Bolton Derail Denuclearization Progress?"
The video, inserted below, is the first in one of F6's big ones, and in it, Tim Shorrock, is tops, especially with his comment on John Bolton at the end. Heh, Shorrok's, Kim 'travel by train' comment was the first to remind me i'd seen it before. Well worth watching.
Korea/US library.
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, met in the Demilitarized Zone last week. Pool photo
By Choe Sang-Hun
May 3, 2018
SEOUL, South Korea — The last time his liberal political party was in power, Moon Jae-in saw his boss at the time, Roh Moo-hyun, then South Korea’s president, walk across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea for a summit meeting that resulted in a peace declaration and promises of abundant aid.
He then saw those deals discarded a year later, in 2008, by a newly elected president who sought closer ties with President George W. Bush, who had branded the North part of an “axis of evil.”
Now, as president of South Korea, Mr. Moon is keen not to repeat past failures as he stakes his own political career on brokering a deal between the unpredictable leaders of the United States, his nation’s protector, and North Korea, long its mortal foe.
As chief of staff during the Roh administration, from 2003 to 2008, Mr. Moon did not participate in the negotiations with the North, led at the time by Kim Jong-il, the father of the current leader, or join Mr. Roh’s overland visit to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. But he did help Mr. Roh organize those talks, held in October 2007.
He has clearly taken to heart what he sees as the lessons of that stillborn peace initiative.
One lesson was that advancing inter-Korean relations with generous offers of aid was a nonstarter so long as the United States remained locked in a standoff with the North over its nuclear weapons program.
Another was that any deal with North Korea must be struck and carried out early in the terms of the South Korean and American presidents. This ensures that the agreement does not die with a change of governments and political ideologies in Seoul and Washington, as the 2007 agreement and other past deals did.
“When we look back, the most important thing is speed,” Mr. Moon told the current North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, during their meeting last week in the Demilitarized Zone, the fortified border separating the two Koreas.
During that meeting, Mr. Moon urged the North Korean to move quickly to make a deal with President Trump during their talks, expected later this month or next month. “We have to learn lessons from the past,” Mr. Moon told Mr. Kim.
President Trump and Mr. Moon at the Blue House in Seoul in November.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
That need for speed is apparent in the fast pace of diplomacy that appears to be leading to a first-ever summit meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea, who just a few months ago appeared on the brink of war.
Mr. Moon, 65, has played a key role in bringing together Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim, who now appear likely to meet at Panmunjom, the same “truce village” in the Demilitarized Zone where Mr. Moon held his talks with Mr. Kim.
Such a meeting would be a triumph for Mr. Moon, who has experienced both highs and lows in his country’s relations with North Korea.
Mr. Moon was a conscripted member of an elite paratroop unit in 1976, when ax-wielding North Korean troops murdered two American Army officers while they pruned a poplar tree that blocked their view at Panmunjom. In “Operation Paul Bunyan,” Mr. Moon’s unit was sent in to finish chopping down the tree while the North Koreans stood back.
Until last week, Mr. Moon’s only visit to North Korea was in 2004, when he accompanied his mother on a government-arranged reunion to see her younger sister for the first time since the Korean War. Mr. Moon himself was born in a refugee camp during the war, after his parents fled their native North Korea on board an American Navy cargo ship.
His approach to handling the United States is one of Mr. Moon’s biggest departures from his predecessor, Mr. Roh, who committed suicide in 2009 amid corruption allegations surrounding his relatives.
Mr. Moon appears to have concluded that Mr. Roh doomed his own peace deal at least in part by failing to get Mr. Bush to back it. Instead, Mr. Roh, fiery and blunt, had vowed not to “kowtow to the Americans.”
Since taking office last year, Mr. Moon has shown himself more sophisticated and accommodating in managing relations with Washington.
A rally held in Seoul last week to pray for peace ahead of the DMZ summit meeting. Opinion polls show nine out of 10 South Koreans view Mr. Moon’s talks with Mr. Kim as a success.CreditGreg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
He has closely consulted with the White House during the current rush of diplomacy. Mr. Moon has also been careful in public to credit Mr. Trump .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/asia/trump-north-korea.html .. for making the current breakthroughs possible, saying that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize .. President Trump and Mr. Moon at the Blue House in Seoul in November.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times .
[Moon, the driver of the present peace process, knows flattery works more with on some than others.]
The need to bring in America also reflects hard-earned domestic political lessons. Mr. Moon saw Mr. Roh and Kim Dae-jung, the two presidents who championed what was called the Sunshine Policy of engagement with North Korea, fail as the North persisted in its weapons programs despite generous aid.
Both died heartbroken men, with their legacy dismantled by their conservative foes, who ridiculed them as naïve and pro-North Korean.
“One thing South Korea has learned is that it cannot improve ties with North Korea without progress in denuclearizing North Korea,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. Otherwise, he said, any deal “would be like building a house of cards.”
During his meeting with Mr. Kim at Panmunjom, Mr. Moon’s highest priority appeared to be convincing the young North Korean dictator that he could create a better future by striking a deal with Washington to rebuild his country’s economy in exchange for giving up his nuclear arsenal.
Despite the spectacle of the two Korean leaders leisurely holding hands as they stepped across their nations’ border, Mr. Moon and his aides compared his mission to “walking on this ice,” and urged Mr. Kim to quickly sign and implement a deal while he and Mr. Trump were in office.
“I am still in the first year of my term,” Mr. Moon told Mr. Kim during their meeting. “I hope we can maintain this speed through my term.”
Mr. Moon’s rush for an early deal is rooted in past experiences.
In 1994, North Korea and the United States reached their first of many agreements on dismantling the North’s nuclear program, then in its very early stages. Washington offered energy aid and promises of normalizing diplomatic and economic relations, but the accord unraveled after the United States dragged its feet because it did not expect the North Korean government to survive long past the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pictures of Mr. Kim and Mr. Moon beamed onto the Peace House during a closing ceremony at the end of their summit in Panmunjom. Pool photo
North Korea also hedged its bets, secretly keeping a program to enrich uranium so it could one day build its own atomic bombs.
In 2000, President Kim Dae-jung, the initiator of the Sunshine Policy, flew to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Jong-il, ushering in a period of détente that seemed to promise an end to hostilities on the peninsula. Investment and trade flourished, and families separated by the war were allowed to hold reunions.
Kim Jong-il sent his trusted aide, Vice Marshal Jo Myong-rok, to the White House to ask President Bill Clinton to visit Pyongyang. However, Mr. Clinton decided he could not attempt so bold a diplomatic move at the end of his time in office, and instead sent his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright.
The new opening with Washington closed after Mr. Bush took office in 2001. North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.
“After he stepped down, President Clinton visited Seoul and told President Kim Dae-jung how regrettable it was; he said if he had a little bit more time in office, he could have changed the course of the Korean Peninsula,” said Lim Dong-won, a former aide to Mr. Kim, who attended the meeting.
Mr. Roh, who replaced Kim Dae-jung, tried to keep the détente alive with his 2007 agreement on easing military tensions and increasing economic cooperation. But the deal, signed four months before Mr. Roh’s term ended, was quickly overturned by Mr. Roh’s conservative successor, Lee Myong-bak.
Mr. Lee was eager to align himself with Mr. Bush, who sought to isolate the North with sanctions in the hopes it would surrender its nuclear weapons program, a strategy continued by President Barack Obama.
So far, Mr. Moon’s gambit seems to be winning broad support within South Korea. Opinion polls show his approval ratings surging, with some nine out of 10 South Koreans viewing the DMZ meeting as a success.
Not all South Koreans are convinced, however.
Hong Joon-pyo, leader of the main conservative opposition Korean Liberty Party, likened Mr. Moon to former Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain of Britain, who he said fell into Hitler’s “trap of false peace.”
“After being cheated eight times, did he still think for a ninth time that North Korea would not cheat this time?” Mr. Hong said.