Monday, October 22, 2018
The article below is from Bloomberg News: Basically, Trump is making his own news opportunities.
By Michael D. McDonald
Jimmy Morales speaks in Washington on Oct. 12.
Guatemala is calling on Washington (click here) to free up billions of dollars in funding pledged in aid to curb illegal immigration to the U.S.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Friday his nation hasn’t yet received “a penny” of $2.6 billion the U.S. pledged for Alliance for Prosperity program, intended to boost development and cut crime in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and thereby reduce the number of people fleeing northward. The U.S. is putting onerous conditions on disbursing the funds, he said....
No one bothered to look into any information as to why all of a sudden there is a caravan of people coming from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador? There is a reason. Someone cut off the funding that prevents such things.
If paychecks dry up and tariffs make business impossible, what does the USA expect?
..."Not even Switzerland could comply with conditions they have given us" for releasing the funds, Morales said during an interview in Washington.
Guatemala itself has invested $2 billion under the program, he said. Morales said the country could use the money to invest in infrastructure and create jobs for thousands of potential migrants. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol says it detained nearly 43,000 family units from Guatemala at the southwest border in fiscal year 2018, up from 24,657 the previous year.
Morales is a close political ally of President Donald Trump’s administration, and even followed Washington’s lead in moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Despite this, he said tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are harming Guatemala’s small steel industry and his government will lobby to for concessions, similar to those granted to Argentina. The U.S. is Guatemala’s biggest export market....
Donald Trump is making it impossible to comply with the requirements for USA funds. He is playing with human lives. How many people have succumbed on their way from these countries to the USA border?
Trump's recent threats to end funding are all a lie. The funding is already UNAVAILABLE to the countries that are partners in these treaties.
Guatemala has done their part and invested to create work for their people as an incentive to stay and make a life for their families. The USA hasn't done it's part and evidently isn't going to.
This is more racism. Scapegoating works for Trump no matter the peril it creates.
There are reasons ambassadors burst out laughing when Trump speaks to the General Assembly of the United Nations. I am sure this incident only scratches the surface of the shenanigans the Trump Administration finds amusing.
There is usually a reason when such movement of people occur. They don't pull up stakes and simply leave for the USA. They have family in their countries. They love their families and love their country, but, when life becomes impossible there is safety in numbers.
All this and Pompeo is ending nuclear non-proliferation agreements with Russia. When are Americans going to wake up to what is happening to their country, it's reputation and their lives? Do they actually feel safer tonight? I don't. I think the national security of the USA is impaired.
The problem with the elections in the Red States is that Trump has reinfused the OLD methods of an economy with his tax cuts. The people believe their lives are better, especially where there are coal and petroleum industries. The fact is the USA Congress passed hideous laws under Republican demands and majorities and the world is not interested anymore. Countries are not looking to import coal anymore. The world wants to move into a future where their children will inherit a world safe to live in.
There is a great promise in the future, but, the Red States are chronically told the old ways are the only ways. The Republicans play with voting suppression and the politicians that take the billions of dollars handed out by industries like the Kochs simply reinvest their political aspirations on old, polluting economies.
The issue is not that Trump is reinfusing Red State economies with tax breaks that rebuild the old ways and people are seeing money coming their way again, it is that Trump is doing exactly that into a future that is already over. There is no hope in the Red State economies, just desperation for change and when it doesn't occur, they fall prey to the corrupt.
The worst thing Trump did was move out of the sphere of influence with global economies by ending the USA involvement to end the Climate Crisis and now that he double downed on his polluting agenda, the rest of the world wants nothing to do with the USA.
The USA doesn't live in a bubble and the people will find out soon enough. There is a reason the President was met with laughter at the UN General Assembly. They are on a different track than the USA. The USA has been left behind and the future is looming and every country on Earth is mindful of it. No one is expecting the USA to lead anymore. It is very sad.
There is a great promise in the future, but, the Red States are chronically told the old ways are the only ways. The Republicans play with voting suppression and the politicians that take the billions of dollars handed out by industries like the Kochs simply reinvest their political aspirations on old, polluting economies.
The issue is not that Trump is reinfusing Red State economies with tax breaks that rebuild the old ways and people are seeing money coming their way again, it is that Trump is doing exactly that into a future that is already over. There is no hope in the Red State economies, just desperation for change and when it doesn't occur, they fall prey to the corrupt.
The worst thing Trump did was move out of the sphere of influence with global economies by ending the USA involvement to end the Climate Crisis and now that he double downed on his polluting agenda, the rest of the world wants nothing to do with the USA.
The USA doesn't live in a bubble and the people will find out soon enough. There is a reason the President was met with laughter at the UN General Assembly. They are on a different track than the USA. The USA has been left behind and the future is looming and every country on Earth is mindful of it. No one is expecting the USA to lead anymore. It is very sad.
What is there to say about Jamal Khashoggi? It is horrible and the more that is known, the more horrible it gets.
October 22, 2018
He ran social media for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince. (click here) He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country’s elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype.
Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at Khashoggi’s death. On Saturday, Saudi state media said King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team....
The King is involved now since the restlessness over this murder is taking over the daily business of the kingdom. The King is deploying his own people and there won't be any hiding. The King is the Custodian of the Two Mosques and he is not going to deceive anyone.
From articles I am reading, the King and his son the Crowned Prince have made phone calls to Jamal Khashoggi's son. What is being stated is that King and his son apologized to Jamal Khashoggi's son for his death. The son graciously accepted their apology. It is unclear whether Jamal Khashoggi's son lives in Saudi Arabia.
October 22, 2018
King Salman
“The king started asking aides and MBS about it. (click here) MBS had to tell him and asked him to intervene when Khashoggi’s case became a global crisis,” this source said.
Since he acceded to the throne in January 2015, the king has given Crown Prince Mohammed, his favorite son, increasing authority to run Saudi Arabia. But the king’s latest intervention reflects growing disquiet among some members of the royal court about the crown prince’s fitness to govern, the five sources said.
The crown prince, 33, has implemented a series of high-profile social and economic reforms since his father’s accession, including ending a ban on women driving and opening cinemas in the conservative kingdom.
But he has also marginalized senior members of the royal family and consolidated control over Saudi’s security and intelligence agencies.
His reforms have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, a purge of top royals and businessmen on corruption charges, and a costly war in Yemen.
Khashoggi’s disappearance has further tarnished the crown prince’s reputation, deepening questions among Western allies and some Saudis about his leadership.
October 22, 2018
He ran social media for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince. (click here) He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country’s elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype.
Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at Khashoggi’s death. On Saturday, Saudi state media said King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team....
The King is involved now since the restlessness over this murder is taking over the daily business of the kingdom. The King is deploying his own people and there won't be any hiding. The King is the Custodian of the Two Mosques and he is not going to deceive anyone.
From articles I am reading, the King and his son the Crowned Prince have made phone calls to Jamal Khashoggi's son. What is being stated is that King and his son apologized to Jamal Khashoggi's son for his death. The son graciously accepted their apology. It is unclear whether Jamal Khashoggi's son lives in Saudi Arabia.
King Salman
“The king started asking aides and MBS about it. (click here) MBS had to tell him and asked him to intervene when Khashoggi’s case became a global crisis,” this source said.
Since he acceded to the throne in January 2015, the king has given Crown Prince Mohammed, his favorite son, increasing authority to run Saudi Arabia. But the king’s latest intervention reflects growing disquiet among some members of the royal court about the crown prince’s fitness to govern, the five sources said.
The crown prince, 33, has implemented a series of high-profile social and economic reforms since his father’s accession, including ending a ban on women driving and opening cinemas in the conservative kingdom.
But he has also marginalized senior members of the royal family and consolidated control over Saudi’s security and intelligence agencies.
His reforms have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, a purge of top royals and businessmen on corruption charges, and a costly war in Yemen.
Khashoggi’s disappearance has further tarnished the crown prince’s reputation, deepening questions among Western allies and some Saudis about his leadership.
President Trump is making enemies in the Middle East by insulting the Palestinians with such actions as removing the Palestinian consulate and placing it in the basement of the Israeli consulate. King Abdullah will probably give a lease to the Palestinians rather than Israel.
It is horrible in the Middle East and the extremists are in control of the Israeli leadership, including Trump. He absolutely aggravates the potential for a peace process. The latest voice to speak to the drowned out voices of the people is the granddaughter of the assassinated Yitzhak Rabin.
October 22, 2018
By Liel Leibovitz
What are we to learn from the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin? (click here) Speaking at the 23rd anniversary of her grandfather’s death yesterday, Noa Rothman, now a 41-year-old screenwriter, left little room for doubt: Israel, she said in her bitter and much-publicized speech, has turned into a benighted nation where dissent is not tolerated and criticism not possible, a sorry state of affairs orchestrated, of course, by the Dark One himself, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Just what are Bibi’s sins? I’ll let Rothman herself tell you. “The problem is that in our country, these days, doubting is akin to treason, criticism is taken as pettiness, and a demand for setting an example is construed as political persecution,” she said. “When did one of the nation’s leaders in these times give legitimacy to a dissenting voice, god forbid, not as part of a cynical political debate but honestly, in the name of pluralism, which is so vital to democracy, to our very existence, to our future.”...
It is horrible in the Middle East and the extremists are in control of the Israeli leadership, including Trump. He absolutely aggravates the potential for a peace process. The latest voice to speak to the drowned out voices of the people is the granddaughter of the assassinated Yitzhak Rabin.
October 22, 2018
By Liel Leibovitz
What are we to learn from the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin? (click here) Speaking at the 23rd anniversary of her grandfather’s death yesterday, Noa Rothman, now a 41-year-old screenwriter, left little room for doubt: Israel, she said in her bitter and much-publicized speech, has turned into a benighted nation where dissent is not tolerated and criticism not possible, a sorry state of affairs orchestrated, of course, by the Dark One himself, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Just what are Bibi’s sins? I’ll let Rothman herself tell you. “The problem is that in our country, these days, doubting is akin to treason, criticism is taken as pettiness, and a demand for setting an example is construed as political persecution,” she said. “When did one of the nation’s leaders in these times give legitimacy to a dissenting voice, god forbid, not as part of a cynical political debate but honestly, in the name of pluralism, which is so vital to democracy, to our very existence, to our future.”...
Fraud receives the death sentence. Western investors beware.
23 October 2018
Iran's state TV (click here) is reporting that the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences for two individuals convicted of financial crimes.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi said Monday that the two were convicted of "spreading corruption on earth," a term used for crimes punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
Iranian authorities have identified them as Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmail Ghasemi, whom local media dubbed the "Sultan of Coins" after he was arrested after hoarding two tons of gold coins in an attempt to manipulate the local currency.
Iranians have stocked up on gold coins and other safe-haven investments as the local currency has plummeted in recent months. Iran has meanwhile set up special courts as part of a campaign against financial crimes.
The death penalty in Iran is most often carried out by hanging.
Other counties that impose the death penalty for corruption or fraud include China, North Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Morrocco.
Iran's state TV (click here) is reporting that the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences for two individuals convicted of financial crimes.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi said Monday that the two were convicted of "spreading corruption on earth," a term used for crimes punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
Iranian authorities have identified them as Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmail Ghasemi, whom local media dubbed the "Sultan of Coins" after he was arrested after hoarding two tons of gold coins in an attempt to manipulate the local currency.
Iranians have stocked up on gold coins and other safe-haven investments as the local currency has plummeted in recent months. Iran has meanwhile set up special courts as part of a campaign against financial crimes.
The death penalty in Iran is most often carried out by hanging.
Other counties that impose the death penalty for corruption or fraud include China, North Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Morrocco.
In New Zealand all they ask is justice.
22 October 2018
By Kristy Johnson
Numbers of unassigned rape cases (click here) are climbing rapidly, prompting criticism police are under-resourcing investigations into sexual violence.
The monthly backlog of adult sexual assault files waiting to be assigned to a detective has risen by 78 per cent in two years, to an average 180 each month in the last three months.
The Northland region alone had 45 sexual assault cases unassigned in September, the highest of any police district, and twice that of the next-highest area, Central.
At the same time, official data shows, reporting rates for sexual assault have remained almost unchanged....
11 October 2018
By Anna Leask
Every day, (click here) the woman sat at the back of the courtroom, quiet and for the most part, alone.
Immaculately dressed, she listened intently to the evidence she was allowed in court for - and sat outside quietly reading her book when the room was closed for the victims, and during lunch breaks.
Most assumed she was connected to a victim, a mother or grandmother perhaps.
Or maybe she was just one of those law-loving folk who liked sitting through High Court trials.
The truth?
*Sarah was Colin Jack Mitchell's first victim, a woman he had raped when he was just 15, in her own home, in the middle of the day after following her home from her local dairy.
More than 45 years had passed since that - and it's likely Mitchell had no idea who she was, or even that she was at court.
But Sarah knew exactly who, and what, he was.
"I was there to honour and support the women who gave evidence, and also to honour myself," she said.
"I needed to confront him."
Mitchell pleaded guilty to raping Sarah and was jailed for five years.
But the Herald has been unable to report on that case until now because - for reasons not stated on the court file - he was granted permanent name suppression.
After he was released from prison Mitchell went on to rape again, twice - in 1984 and 1992.
It's likely he would have raped a third woman at an isolated West Auckland quarry in 2017 had she not managed to get away.
In a bid to tell the full story about Mitchell - a predatory sexual deviant who targets vulnerable young women walking on their own - the Herald applied to the Court of Appeal to have the name suppression around his earliest offending as an adult lifted....
By Kristy Johnson
Numbers of unassigned rape cases (click here) are climbing rapidly, prompting criticism police are under-resourcing investigations into sexual violence.
The monthly backlog of adult sexual assault files waiting to be assigned to a detective has risen by 78 per cent in two years, to an average 180 each month in the last three months.
The Northland region alone had 45 sexual assault cases unassigned in September, the highest of any police district, and twice that of the next-highest area, Central.
At the same time, official data shows, reporting rates for sexual assault have remained almost unchanged....
By Anna Leask
Every day, (click here) the woman sat at the back of the courtroom, quiet and for the most part, alone.
Immaculately dressed, she listened intently to the evidence she was allowed in court for - and sat outside quietly reading her book when the room was closed for the victims, and during lunch breaks.
Most assumed she was connected to a victim, a mother or grandmother perhaps.
Or maybe she was just one of those law-loving folk who liked sitting through High Court trials.
The truth?
*Sarah was Colin Jack Mitchell's first victim, a woman he had raped when he was just 15, in her own home, in the middle of the day after following her home from her local dairy.
More than 45 years had passed since that - and it's likely Mitchell had no idea who she was, or even that she was at court.
But Sarah knew exactly who, and what, he was.
"I was there to honour and support the women who gave evidence, and also to honour myself," she said.
"I needed to confront him."
Mitchell pleaded guilty to raping Sarah and was jailed for five years.
But the Herald has been unable to report on that case until now because - for reasons not stated on the court file - he was granted permanent name suppression.
After he was released from prison Mitchell went on to rape again, twice - in 1984 and 1992.
It's likely he would have raped a third woman at an isolated West Auckland quarry in 2017 had she not managed to get away.
In a bid to tell the full story about Mitchell - a predatory sexual deviant who targets vulnerable young women walking on their own - the Herald applied to the Court of Appeal to have the name suppression around his earliest offending as an adult lifted....
Elon Musk is not afraid of the future.
October 21, 2018
By Deborah Netburn
Elon Musk (click here) announced Sunday that the first tunnel of a proposed underground transportation network across Los Angeles County would open Dec. 10.
“The first tunnel is almost done,” Musk wrote to his 23.1 million followers shortly after 5 p.m....
By Deborah Netburn
Elon Musk (click here) announced Sunday that the first tunnel of a proposed underground transportation network across Los Angeles County would open Dec. 10.
“The first tunnel is almost done,” Musk wrote to his 23.1 million followers shortly after 5 p.m....
We don't need the hate speech. The agent had a cache of weapons ready to kill other officers that would approach his home.
October 22, 2018
By Rick Jarvis
Laredo – The driver of the white Dodge Ram pickup truck (click here) circled the San Bernardo neighborhood, seeking his next prey....
...That night was the beginning of the end of a 12-day killing spree last month that claimed four women and rattled this normally quiet border city. Enriquez was the last of four women who authorities said were murdered by Juan David Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol....
...More than a month after the slayings, authorities and friends and families of the victims are all still grappling with a central, unanswered question: Why? What triggered Ortiz, a Navy veteran, husband, father of two and Border Patrol supervisor, to allegedly go on the deadly rampage, meticulously killing woman after woman, police say, with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol police believed to be his Border Patrol-issued service weapon?
Ortiz is accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29; Claudine Ann Luera, 42; Griselda Alicia Hernandez, 35; and Enriquez. The women all knew each other from San Bernardo,...
... They left behind sons, daughters, devastated moms and dads and perplexed, angered friends....
By Rick Jarvis
Laredo – The driver of the white Dodge Ram pickup truck (click here) circled the San Bernardo neighborhood, seeking his next prey....
...That night was the beginning of the end of a 12-day killing spree last month that claimed four women and rattled this normally quiet border city. Enriquez was the last of four women who authorities said were murdered by Juan David Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol....
...More than a month after the slayings, authorities and friends and families of the victims are all still grappling with a central, unanswered question: Why? What triggered Ortiz, a Navy veteran, husband, father of two and Border Patrol supervisor, to allegedly go on the deadly rampage, meticulously killing woman after woman, police say, with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol police believed to be his Border Patrol-issued service weapon?
Ortiz is accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29; Claudine Ann Luera, 42; Griselda Alicia Hernandez, 35; and Enriquez. The women all knew each other from San Bernardo,...
... They left behind sons, daughters, devastated moms and dads and perplexed, angered friends....
The facts cannot be denied. The Saudi operative is wearing the same eyeglasses. Unfortunately, the operative's walk is not completely recorded. There must be a time stamp on the photo; how long after Jamal Khashoggi went into the Saudi consulate did this operative come out?
Those clothes don't look as though they have been through a fight. The operative is even wearing the same tee shirt. Did his fiancee notice this man at all?
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| Add caption |
October 22, 2018
CNN reported (click here) early Monday morning that one member of the 15-man team suspected in the death of Jamal Khashoggi dressed up in his clothes and was captured on surveillance cameras, according to a senior Turkish official.
The revelation came the same day as five Turkish employees of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul are giving statements as witnesses under an investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish broadcaster NTV said on Monday....
...After two weeks denying any involvement in the 59-year-old's disappearance, Saudi Arabia on Saturday said Khashoggi, a critic of the crown prince, died during a fight in the building. An hour later, another Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold....
The Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Steve Mnunchin is completely wrong. Other than just eliminating any business from investing in Iran, the USA has lost it's ultimate leverage in having the USA as the only banking system that can address money transfers into and out of Iran. There is always cash, but, the EU has been developing their own financial instruments to carry out their treaties.
The USA is an unwilling partner and isn't even pursued when treaties become an issue. The USA has absolutely no presence at the Egypt peace talks either. The USA has lost a great deal of credibility and let's face it, if the USA is bowing to Russia why not just deal with Russia? Donald Trump and his favored view of Russia is creating a new paradigm that places Russia at the center of global attention in ways it never imagined. Now, dealing with Russia brings the USA along as a potential partner.
The USA is compromised under the Trump administration and it is creating entanglements of allies. There is a very strong reason to examine the ties Trump has with Russia and end them. There is no reason for Mnuchin to go to Saudi Arabia, there is no pressure the USA can bring to Iran other than military confrontation. Why Iran do that? It still has a viable agreement with all the other partners and then some.
"Good Night, Moon"
12.2 days old moon
92.5 percent lit
October 21, 2018
By Dustin Nelson
There are just a few (click here) significant meteor showers remaining in 2018. The two most active displays won't arrive until December, so the peak of the Orionid meteor shower this Sunday may be one of your best chances to experience a spectacular night of stargazing before the year is out, even if it's not the most active shower left this year.
The Orionid meteor shower runs from October 2 through November 7 and will peak the night of Sunday, October 21 into the morning of Monday, October 22. Earlier this year, Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office told Thrillist to expect somewhere in the range of 20 to 30 meteors per hour when the Orionids peak. Unfortunately, it looks like some of these meteors will be obscured by the bright light of a nearly full moon on the night of October 21.
The shower, which stems from Halley's Comet, has the ability to produce up to 90 meteors per hour in a year when it's at its most active. We won't see that this year, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to see some bright shooting stars when you look up tonight....
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