Osama bin Laden is dead. Don't tell me the billionaires believe he is still alive, do they?

January 28, 2017
By Democrat-Gazette Staff Wire Reports

...May tried to push Trump toward positions she supports, (click here) noting that he had assured her he was "100 percent" behind NATO, a world body he has dismissed as "obsolete." Trump let May's statement stand without comment during a joint news conference in the White House East Room.

Trump also addressed other matters, including his recent statements that torture "does work" in prying information out of terror suspects.

Trump was pressed about whether he would revert to a George W. Bush-era use of torture. Multiple news organizations had earlier obtained copies of a draft executive order signaling widespread changes to U.S. interrogation and detention policy.

Trump said he would defer to Mattis, who has questioned the effectiveness of such practices as waterboarding, which simulates drowning.

"He has stated publicly that he does not necessarily believe in torture or waterboarding, or however you want to define it. ... I don't necessarily agree. But I would tell you that he will override because I'm giving him that power. He's an expert," Trump said.

A few hours after the news conference, Trump stood at the Pentagon as Mattis, the retired general, was formally sworn in as the military's chief.

The draft order, which the White House said was not official, also would reverse former President Barack Obama's effort to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a place Trump has said he wants to fill up "with bad dudes."

The draft also requests recommendations on whether the U.S. should reopen CIA detention facilities outside the United States. Critics said the clandestine sites have marred the United States' image on the world stage....