Monday, December 2, 2019

Trump apparently now views military leaders as part of the 'deep state,' too

Trump apparently now views military leaders as part of the 'deep state,' tooAfter tapping four generals for top Cabinet positions early in his presidency, President Trump seems to have decided that U.S. military leaders are part of "the deep state," as he explained at a recent rally in Florida.While Trump "boasts of supporting the military, he has come to distrust the generals and admirals who run it," taking cues instead from Fox News host Pete Hegseth, The New York Times reports. "As a result, the president finds himself more removed than ever from a disenchanted military command, adding the armed forces to the institutions under his authority that he has feuded with, along with the intelligence community, law enforcement agencies, and diplomatic corps."The Times focused on Trump's extraordinary intervention in the case of Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a SEAL accused of war crimes and convicted of posing for a "trophy photo" with the corpse of an incapacitated teenage terrorism suspect he killed with a knife in the neck in Iraq, according to several members of his SEAL Team 7's Alpha Platoon. When the military court demoted Gallagher, Trump ordered his rank restored, and when the SEAL commander, Rear Adm. Collin Green, decided to boot Gallagher from the SEALs, Trump ordered him not to and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was ousted in the process.Trump's "handling of the case has distressed active-duty and retired officers and the civilians who work closely with them," because they believe it "emboldens war criminals and erodes the order of a professional military," the Times reports. But some rank-and-file service members are also concerned -- it was six fellow SEALs who turned Gallagher in for alleged war crimes, after all."It's blown up bigger than any of us could have ever expected, and turned into a national clown show that put a bad light on the teams," Chris Shumake, a former sniper who served in Gallagher's platoon, told the Times, in his first public comments on the case. Trump is "trying to show he has the troops' backs, but he's saying he doesn't trust any of the troops or their leaders to make the right decisions."More stories from theweek.com George Conway fires back at Kellyanne Conway's Joe Biden insults Trump administration reportedly releases Lebanon military aid after unexplained delay Is the Trump impeachment 'tainted'?




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'If he can do that, so can I': How Joe Biden shares grief with voters on the campaign trail

'If he can do that, so can I': How Joe Biden shares grief with voters on the campaign trailJoe Biden's personal losses have helped him connect with voters on a personal level few other candidates can match.




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Michigan Dem Senator Backs Green New Deal Goal of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050: ‘I Believe We Can Do That’

Michigan Dem Senator Backs Green New Deal Goal of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050: ‘I Believe We Can Do That’Senator Gary Peters (D., Mich.) voiced his support for the "Green New Deal" goal of reducing U.S. carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 in an interview that aired Sunday.Peters, along with 43 other Democratic senators, voted "present" when the non-binding Green New Deal resolution was brought to the floor for a vote in March. The resolution, drafted by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Senator Ed Markey (D., Mass.), aimed to eliminate the fossil fuel industry within ten years while providing new forms of employment for all current industry workers.The deal also promised to "ramp up renewable manufacturing and power production, retrofit every building in America, build the smart grid, overhaul transportation and agriculture, plant lots of trees and restore our ecosystem to get to net-zero."Host Chuck Stokes asked Peters about the timeline for transitioning the economy to net-zero carbon emissions during an interview on ABC's Michigan affiliate that aired Sunday."Do you want zero-net emissions by 2050 and do you think that's possible?," Stokes asked the senator."We have to push the technology as aggressively as we can, but I believe that we can do that," Peters replied. "We should look at this as an economic opportunity to drive our economy while also doing the right thing for the environment." The Senator's office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.Peters is currently in the midst of a reelection campaign against Republican challenger John James. Polls show the two candidates locked in a virtual tie.Michigan is the capital of the U.S. auto industry and a major swing state where President Trump emerged victorious in the 2016 elections. Peters has generally declined to say whether he supports the Green New Deal in its entirety, and he also has avoided questions regarding his support for Medicare for All proposals."Sen. Gary Peters is a 30-year career politician solely focused on retaining his personal political power in Washington," said Ted Goodman, spokesman for the conservative advocacy group Better Future Michigan. "This is why he supports Medicare-for-All and the radical proposals of the Green New Deal—while it's bad policy for Michiganders, he thinks its good policy for his own ambitions to endear himself to the new radical left in charge of his party."Peters announced in April that he backed certain aspects of the deal but did not elaborate beyond endorsing one specific detail of the much broader plan."There’s no question we’re going to need to make a massive effort to deal with this issue [climate change], and there are many aspects of the Green New Deal I support, particularly when it comes to retrofitting buildings," Peters said at the time."Michigan voters will remember that when given a chance to reject the job-killing Green New Deal, Peters was silent — standing with his party's most radical members," said the National Republican Senatorial Committee in a response to Peters's statement.




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NATO summit toasts 70 years. But is it waving or drowning?

There will be plenty of applause when NATO leaders gather in London to celebrate seven decades of the most successful military alliance in history.


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Trump administration lifts hold on Lebanon security aid

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has lifted a mysterious "hold" on more than $100 million in security aid for Lebanon, congressional and State Department officials said, more than a month after lawmakers learned the funds were being blocked.


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U.S. urges probe of 'excessive' use of force in Iraq

The United States on Monday called recent violence in Nassiriya, Iraq in which at least 29 people died "shocking and abhorrent," calling on the Iraqi government to investigate and punish those responsible for the "excessive" use of force.


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Fanciful Mochi With a French Twist


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New Charges ‘Likely’ in Case Against Giuliani Associates


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Time’s Up Blasts Gabrielle Union’s Ouster as Reality Show Judge


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11 People Injured After a Shooting Near New Orleans' French Quarter

11 People Injured After a Shooting Near New Orleans' French QuarterAt least two victims are in critical condition and one person has been detained




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Legal storm clouds gather over Rudy Giuliani, America's tarnished mayor

Legal storm clouds gather over Rudy Giuliani, America's tarnished mayorAnalysts say an indictment is likely as prosecutors focus on Giuliani’s work for Trump and himself in UkraineRudy Giuliani: ‘The president knows that everything I did, I did to help him.’ Photograph: Charles Krupa/APWhen the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani emerged as one of Donald Trump’s most bareknuckle defenders during the Russia investigation, attacking his former colleagues in the justice department, people asked: “What happened to Rudy?”Now, as federal prosecutors tighten a net of criminal investigations around Giuliani, the question has become: “What is going to happen to Rudy?”The poignancy of Giuliani’s downfall from national hero and presidential candidate to the subject of multiple federal criminal investigations has been often remarked in the past year.The net tightened again last week when it emerged a grand jury had issued a broad subpoena for documents relating to Giuliani’s international consulting business as part of an investigation of alleged crimes including money laundering, wire fraud, campaign finance violations, making false statements, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.“We who admired him for so long expected much more from Rudy Giuliani and his legacy,” Ken Frydman, a former Giuliani press secretary, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece last month. “‘America’s Mayor,’ as Rudy was called after September 11, is today President Trump’s bumbling personal lawyer and henchman, his apologist and defender of the indefensible.”Giuliani has denied wrongdoing and scoffed at the notion he is in any legal jeopardy – particularly from federal prosecutors in the southern district of New York, an office he once led as a star US attorney during Ronald Reagan’s first term. There Giuliani built a reputation for taking on mob bosses and aggressively prosecuting the kind of criminal activity he now stands accused of.“Me ending up in jail?” Giuliani told the celebrity gossip site TMZ at a Washington airport on Monday. “Fifty years of being a lawyer, 50 years of ethical, dedicated practice of the law, probably have prosecuted more criminals of a high level than any US attorney in history. I think I follow the law very carefully. I think the people pursuing me are desperate, sad, angry, disappointing liars. They’re hurting their country. And I’m ashamed of them.”But in no version of events does Giuliani appear not to be in big trouble.The immediate source of his current problems is the work he did in Ukraine over the last two years for himself and on behalf of Trump, who instructed the Ukrainian president to speak to Giuliani in a 25 July phone call.Giuliani wanted the Ukrainians to announce an investigation of Joe Biden, Trump’s chief political rival, according to US officials who testified in the impeachment hearings. In pursuit of his errand, Giuliani contacted current and former Ukrainian prosecutors, multiple Ukrainian presidential administrations and multiple Ukrainian oligarchs, according to testimony.Prosecutors are investigating whether Giuliani offered the oligarchs help with their problems with the US justice department in exchange for help with his project to harm Biden, a charge Giuliani has denied.Rudy Giuliani’s business associates Lev Parnas, left, and Igor Fruman sit either side of lawyer during their arraignment in New York City on 23 October. Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/ReutersTwo Soviet Union-born American associates of Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were arrested last month on campaign finance charges, and Parnas is cooperating with investigators. Alongside the prosecutors in New York, the US justice department in Washington is also investigating Giuliani’s conduct, as is the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Congress is also after Giuliani, who came in for sharp public criticism in the impeachment hearings earlier this month, when Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch described a smear campaign Giuliani had mounted against her, allegedly because as an anti-corruption advocate she stood in the way of Trump’s Ukraine scheme.“I do not understand Mr Giuliani’s motives for attacking me,” Yovanovitch testified. “What I can say is that Mr Giuliani should have known those claims were suspect, coming as they reportedly did from individuals with questionable motives and with reason to believe that their political and financial ambitions would be stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.”As the pressure on him has intensified, Giuliani’s antics in his own defense have grown increasingly animated. He warned last week that he had collected information that would put his political enemies on their heels.“I’m also going to bring out a pay-for-play scheme in the Obama administration that will be devastating to the Democrat party,” Giuliani told Fox News. He even threatened to start an impeachment podcast.Giuliani on Trump: ‘We are friends for twenty-nine29 years and nothing will interfere with that.’ Photograph: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty ImagesBut what matters most for Giuliani right now is his long friendship with Trump, his most powerful protector, which goes back to the late 1980s, when Trump served as co-chair of Giuliani’s first fundraiser for his 1989 mayoral campaign, according to Wayne Barrett, who has written books about both men.In a telephone interview with the Guardian, in response to a question about whether he was nervous that Trump might “throw him under a bus” in the impeachment crisis, Giuliani said: “I’m not, but I do have very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid.”Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who was also on the call, then interjected: “He’s joking.”“We are friends for 29 years and nothing will interfere with that,” Giuliani told TMZ of Trump. “The president knows that everything I did, I did to help him. And he knows it. I did it honorably. I did it legally. I did it in a way that it will embarrass the people who are pursuing me and have nowhere near the integrity and honor that I have.”Trump has tweeted that Giuliani “may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer”.In an interview with disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly last Tuesday, however, Trump distanced himself from Giuliani. Analysts watching Giuliani’s case expect that an indictment could be handed down at any moment, raising the prospect of America’s Mayor in handcuffs.“If Rudy’s story ends the way it feels like it’s going to end,” wrote Evan Mandery, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and veteran of New York City political campaigns, “it’s not plausible for anyone who knows or has studied him to say they never saw it coming.”




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California Gov. Newsom to campaign in Iowa for Kamala Harris

California Gov. Newsom to campaign in Iowa for Kamala HarrisCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom will travel to Iowa to campaign for Sen. Kamala Harris as she tries to rebound amid a critical stretch in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Newsom will visit the first voting state Dec. 14-15 on behalf of Harris, his home-state senator and longtime friend and political ally. “The governor of California is a big deal, and he’ll get a lot of attention,” said Bill Carrick, a California political strategist who led Richard Gephardt’s unsuccessful Democratic presidential campaign in 1988.




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Georgia governor's Senate appointment defies Trump

Georgia governor's Senate appointment defies TrumpGeorgia Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to appoint financial services executive Katie Loeffler to fill the state’s vacant Senate seat, according to Politico. Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson announced earlier this year that he would be leaving the Senate at the end of 2019 for health reasons.




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Indians demand swift action against rapists as protests spread after woman's murder

Indians demand swift action against rapists as protests spread after woman's murderProtests over the alleged rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinary doctor spread to cities across India on Monday as people demanded tough and swift punishments, including public lynchings, to stop crimes against women. The woman was raped, asphyxiated and her dead body then set alight on Nov 27 on the outskirts of the southern city of Hyderabad, according to police. Protesters and lawmakers said they wanted authorities to ensure that rape cases were speedily processed and those convicted punished instantly, similar to demands that were raised after the fatal gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi in 2012 that had caused outrage and international condemnation.




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London Bridge victim's father said his death shouldn't be used to justify 'draconian sentences,' as Conservatives call for tougher punishment

London Bridge victim's father said his death shouldn't be used to justify 'draconian sentences,' as Conservatives call for tougher punishmentForeign Secretary Dominic Raab was questioned about Tory plans to toughen sentencing after David Merritt criticised "detaining people unnecessarily."




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Why Donald Trump Should Fear Iran's Deadly Missile Arsenal

Why Donald Trump Should Fear Iran's Deadly Missile ArsenalTehran can't get the best military equipment. So they went asymetric.




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Joe Biden mocked for 'no malarkey' campaign pledge

Joe Biden mocked for 'no malarkey' campaign pledgeJoe Biden was mocked this weekend after launching a campaign slogan - "no malarkey" - that did little to dispel fears the front-runner in the Democrat presidential nomination is behind the times.  The phrase, emblazoned on the bus he is using to travel around the key state of Iowa, dates back to the 1920s. Mr Biden, who would be the oldest first-term president to be sworn in at 78, said the term was intended to highlight his truthfulness when compared to Donald Trump. "What we're referring here [is] my Irish ancestry, when my grandfather would really think something is full of you know what, he'd say, 'that's a lot of malarkey,'" he explained to supporters on Sunday. "So we're on a No Malarkey tour, meaning we're telling the truth." Mr Biden often harks back to his role as vice-president to Barack Obama and he notably used the phrase to dismiss Paul Ryan in a 2012 Vice Presidential debate, emphasising his reputation as straight-talking 'Uncle Joe'.  Political analyst Nate Silver suggested that the slogan was Mr Biden being self-deprecating - which would appeal to his loyal supporters. However, the campaign slogan has left some people baffled while others suggested it showed that Mr Biden was out of touch with younger voters. One Twitter user wrote: "I’m voting for Biden so he can finally fix the four big problems facing society: jibber-jabber, hogwash, tommyrot, and flapdoodle." A second suggested that the arcane language showed Mr Biden was "tired and old." "It's sort of poking fun at himself," he said.  Mr Biden's age has emerged as an issue on the campaign trail especially after some faltering performances in a series of televised debates. If you're going to sound out of date anyway, why not go for the elegance of NoRodomontade? https://t.co/g2yAHAH9JP— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) November 30, 2019 He has also had to fend off questions about his son, Hunter, who took a seat on the board of the Ukrainian oil company Burisma, despite having no experience in the energy sector. Despite leading in the national polls for the Democrat nomination, Mr Biden has fallen behind in the first two states to vote, Iowa and New Hampshire. South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg has built up a seven-point lead in Iowa, where Mr Biden now languishes in fourth place. In New Hampshire, Mr Biden is also in fourth place where the race is being led by Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, who is four points ahead of Mr Buttigieg. That was the in slang back in 1960 Leave it to Beaver time. He’s lost it. In Iowa his was wife was talking and he sticks his face to her right hand bites her finger. Who does that? Creepy Uncle Joe. I heard Dr Neurology say they way Biden acts and says weird stuff is medical— Eric Moorman (@blueknight193) December 1, 2019 A poor performance in both states could suck out any momentum that Mr Biden was hoping to generate in the early stages of the race, leaving him facing an uphill battle to win the nomination. Mr Biden enlarged on his "no malarkey" theme when asked to explain how his experience made him more qualified for the Oval Office than younger rivals like Mr Buttigieg and New Jersey Senator, Cory Booker, a former mayor of Newark, New Jersey. "I've dealt with every one of the major world leaders that are out there right now and they know me, I know them. And as time goes a pun here, no malarkey, I know them and they  know I know them." Mr Biden gave a further demonstration of his occasionally eccentric campaigning style when he playfully bit his wife Jill's finger as she waved her arm in front of him during her introductory remarks.




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Limited Edition Challah at Zaro’s


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NASA Finds India’s Vikram Moon Lander Crash Site, With Amateur’s Help


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Time’s Up Blasts Gabrielle Union’s Ouster as Reality Show Judge


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Facebook Gives Workers a Chatbot to Appease That Prying Uncle


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Guardian identified for small child found wandering Sunday morning by Fort Myers police

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