Was it worth $13.5 million and who bought it? More money laundering?

Is $5.5 million appreciation in twelve years a reasonable amount?

June 12, 2019
By Dennis Lynch

In 2016, (click here) Los Angeles County's assessment appeals board valued the estate on North Canon Drive at a little over $6 million... Trump’s tax attorney Wade E. Norwood argued the home was worth $6 million...

The Trump Organization (click here) has sold one of its last remaining properties in Los Angeles, a home on North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.

The company, now controlled by President Trump’s son Donald J. Trump Jr., sold the home at 809 N. Canon Drive for $13.5 million, property records show. It was an off-market sale.

The buyer was an entity named Hillcrest Asia Limited, according to L.A. County records.

In 2007, the Trump Organization paid $7 million for the home. The company also once briefly owned the mansion next door on 806 North Canon Drive....

Have the Trump's always lived in company owned property?

...Trump’s son Eric Trump — who is also an executive vice president at the Trump Organization — called it “a beautiful home that our family enjoyed for many years.” But, he added, “given my father’s presidency and our hectic schedules, our family has not had the chance to enjoy the property in recent years and it has seen minimal use. As such, it simply made sense to sell.”...

That was convenient. Have the wife content at home while visiting mistresses across the street.

...The 809 North Canon home also stands directly across from the Beverly Hills Hotel. As has been widely reported, that was the location where now President Trump is alleged to have had affairs with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels. It was also where a third woman, Summer Zervos, alleged he assaulted her. President Trump has denied the claims by all three women....

It seems to me there is double speak about the Trump Company properties.

When is a home not a home? When it is owned by the Trump Company. The article below is over a year old before the Beverly Hills property was sold. The Trump Organization doesn't seem to stop lying. The golf course could not possibly be the ONLY income property. If the golf course is the only property identified as a business, then why are residential properties, obviously used for the occupation of the family, owned by The Trump Company?

I guarantee you the IRS filings will show costs of depreciation, costs of maintenance and taxes paid all as business deductions by the company. There has to be significant tax fraud in The Trump Company filings. A residence can't be owned by a family business and still be a residence.

The penthouse at The Trump Tower in NYC is occupied by the family. That is a section of the building that is a residence and not a tax deduction, especially after the Tax Law passed by Trump and the majority Republican Senate and House.

The point is there is plenty to be examined in Trump's tax returns.

May 18, 2018
By Dennis Lynch

President Donald Trump’s lone Los Angeles County property (click here) brought in $20 million in income last year, according to his annual financial disclosure released this week.

While Trump owns a home in Beverly Hills, his Trump Organization owns one commercial venture in L.A.: the 250-acre Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles and the adjoining Estates at Trump National luxury development in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The golf club earned $7 million less than it earned in 2016 and 2015.

RPV Development LLC, Trump’s wholly owned entity that legally owns the golf course and housing development, brought in roughly $11.6 million in “golf-related revenue” and another $9.3 million from “land sales,” in 2017, according to the disclosure.

The property is worth “over $50 million” and its assets include unsold lots, according to the disclosure form.

Trump’s top-earning property nationwide is the Trump National Doral Golf Course in Miami, which took in $74.7 million last year.

Trump also took in around $100 million in total from his New York properties, but the disclosure form doesn’t suggest any one property topped $10 million in income....

Why do I turn to Bill Maher to return to sanity??

Trump stated regarding receiving foreign information about his opposition candidate, "I would do both. (He would receive the information and then inform the FBI.)" In regard to turning over the information to the FBI without receiving it himself for his own use, he also stated, "The world doesn't work that way."

Yes, it does. Trump lives in a bubble by his own rules. This is the third USA House Committee that has voted on Contempt of Congress charges. THE THIRD COMMITTEE.

Judiciary
Intelligence
Oversight and Reform

June 12, 2019
By Joe Perticone and Sonam Sheth

Washington - The House Oversight and Reform Committee (click here) voted on Wednesday to hold Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas relating to the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 US Census, ramping up pressure on more Trump administration officials who are refusing to cooperate with investigations.

Barr had already been the subject of a civil-contempt resolution that passed the House on Tuesday, and Ross marks another cabinet-level official to be reprimanded by House Democrats.

The committee voted 24-15, with Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan as the sole Republican vote in favor of holding Barr and Ross in contempt....

Poland does not have to buy F35s to receive military armaments from the USA.

There are other stealth jets. The F35 is proving to be a problem. Still. 

June 12, 2019
By Valerie Insinna

Over the past several years, (click here) U.S. Defense Department leaders have gone from citing technical problems as their biggest concern for the F-35 program to bemoaning the expense of buying and sustaining the aircraft.

But the reality may be worse. According to documents exclusively obtained by Defense News, the F-35 continues to be marred by flaws and glitches that, if left unfixed, could create risks to pilot safety and call into question the fighter jet’s ability to accomplish key parts of its mission:

F-35B and F-35C pilots, compelled to observe limitations on airspeed to avoid damage to the F-35’s airframe or stealth coating. Cockpit pressure spikes that cause “excruciating” ear and sinus pain. Issues with the helmet-mounted display and night vision camera that contribute to the difficulty of landing the F-35C on an aircraft carrier....

This is a film loop of the F-22 Raptor. The Raptor is designed for air superiority. I don't know if Poland needs stealth fighters, so much as a strong presence in the region. Stealth can be nice and there are other stealth fighters than the F-35. Poland should consider it's choices carefully.

A Polish delegation, including military generals, might want to visit with the US Congress about these choices. These decisions can be made to complement NATO as well.

The US Congress will have to approve these sales. It would be good if a Polish Delegation paid a visit and won the Congress' confidence. Congress can help with details and contacts to the companies involved as well.

There is no doubt the USA stands with Poland since Russia flexed it muscle too much.

President Trump didn't once say President Andrzej Sebastian Duda's name. Trump dominated the answers to the press. The most we heard from President Duda was that Poland is great. I am assuming that is without Vladimir Putin being involved. Once again, Trump was including Russia in statements about how he wants everyone to get along. Really?

I think the welcoming ceremony highlights the relationship that already exists between the people of the USA and Poland.

June 12, 2019

US troops, part of a NATO mission to enhance Poland's defense, before an official welcoming ceremony in Orzysz, northeastern Poland, April 13, 2017

...Poland (click here) has long courted the United States for a permanent military presence to serve as a barricade against Russian influence. Despite Poland's pleas, however, Washington has stuck with a more flexible defense approach in the country. But that may soon change now that US President Donald Trump's at the helm.

For more than a year, the United States and Poland have been in talks over such an agreement, which Polish officials have indicated could be finalized by as soon as Sept. 1.

However, such a fixed US presence near Russia will undoubtedly spur Moscow to ramp up its own military presence near Poland's borders — placing Warsaw squarely in the middle of Moscow and Washington's increasingly heated great power competition....

By carrying out military exercises that threaten Western Europe, there is no doubt where loyalties lie when it comes to the USA, Poland and the Post Soviet countries. Putin is not interested in having diplomatic relations. I don't know what Trump is talking about. Putin wants war.

August 29, 2018
By Todd South

Following last year’s massive Russian military exercise (click here) on the western border, the country is headed into the largest military drills in nearly four decades on its eastern flank.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced this week that the Vostok-2018 exercise from Sept. 11-15 would involve as many as 300,000 troops, 1,000 aircraft and 900 tanks with units from China and Mongolia also participating.

The drills will be “on an unprecedented scale both in terms of the area covered and in terms of the numbers,” Shoigu told Russian state media.

It will include all their military’s airborne units and both northern and Pacific naval fleets, he said.

“Imagine 36,000 pieces of military equipment moving together at the same time — tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles. And all of this, of course, in conditions as close to combat as possible,” he said, CBS News reported...

Existential means of or relating to existence

Got that?

Existential means of or relating to existence. 

What is being stated by the Former Vice President Biden is not a campaign slogan or political rhetoric, it is a warning.

I believe Americans concerned for the country with Trump's leadership are FEELING it. It is a threat and I believe many Americans know instinctively there is something very wrong in the Trump White House.

June 11, 2019
By John McCormack

Democrats (click here) are split on the question of repealing the Hyde amendment, the ban on federal funding of elective abortions under Medicaid, according to a Morning Consult poll conducted June 7 to 9. Only a plurality of Democratic primary voters, 45 percent, support repealing the measure, while 38 percent oppose repeal....

If there ever was a deep state it involves the oppression of women on a cultural basis.

That said, I believe the Hyde Amendment was hiding a religious agenda. That religious agenda has used the courts to legislate issues. The Republicans chronically, in past decades, have accused the Democrats of choosing judges that "legislate from the bench." It is quite the opposite.

One of the reasons Republicans like the Hyde Amendment is that it protects the soul from having abortion touch the monies paid in taxes through paid abortions with Medicaid. That idea launched a STRATEGY to defeat the USA Constitution and it's separation of church and state. Today, the abortion issue is being promulgated as a national priority for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

If the Robert's Court was ever to unseat Roe v. Wade and end the demand of every state having access to abortion it will be a strike for a theocracy rather than a democracy. Abortion rights must exist in any society to allow women the ability to control their outcomes in life.

Currently, in the White House is a man that seeks to end all the civil rights accomplished by women, minorities and the LGBTQI communities. We know he has ordered the USA military to discriminate against transgender members. YES, Trump is now building highly discriminatory policies against Americans that identify as Transgender.

A transgender person is someone who identifies as a gender other than his or her biological sex. For example, a person who is biologically male but identifies as female may identify as transgender. Transgender individuals are not excluded from military service, and DOD policy specifically prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. But all persons, whether or not they are transgender, must meet all military standards, including the standards associated with their biological sex. Waivers or exceptions to these standards may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

So, regardless of a transgender American in the military identifying as the opposite gender, sex reassignment surgery cannot take place, they cannot conduct themselves as the opposite gender and must live with a sexual identity they do not recognize as their own.

There are currently members of the US military serving as their PREFERRED gender identity. The idea a person has to be facing the choice between gender identity and valuable service to the USA is a threat to the volunteer military. The Trump administration is making far reaching changes and not simply the military. These changes effect clear air and clean water which is the basis of a promising trouble free life.

Donald J. Trump, in his policy positions, is an existential threat to the USA. We have children dying at the USA border in detainment camps. Children are not criminals. Children are not a threat to the USA. This is simply not us.

Parents needed to reduce illiteracy around the globe.

The definition of literacy has a high standard and not simply a skill whereby a person can write the alphabet. A literate person can read and write well. 

The rate of literacy refers to the ability to sufficiently read and write. Many factors, such as accessibility and quality of education, can contribute to these rates.

Reading and reading well is a global priority. The USA is ranked 125th in literacy with 86 percent able to read well.

Over the past several decades, (click here) global literacy rates have significantly increased. The main reasons for such an upward trend stems from the evolution of the educational system of many developing countries, and an increased acknowledgement of the importance of education to these societies in their respective entireties....

There is 26 countries in the 100 percent literate level in the world. Many of them are not readily thought to have such a phenomenal accomplishment.

A literacy rate that hovers around 100% is seen in quite a few other countries of the world, including Azerbaijan and Cuba. Countries such as Georgia, Tajikistan, Russia, Poland, and Slovenia have also all achieved literacy rates on or near 100%. Focusing on Russia, it is estimated that 53% of the population there receives some form of tertiary education. The government believes in free educational deliverance systems, and the fields greatly focused on therein are in “STEM” fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)....

The USA is outclassed by many other countries. The USA continues to lose it's foothold on high literacy rates because of the allowance of Charter Schools that under perform compared to public schools which is compounded by inaccessible higher education. 

The Millenials is the first generation with a 50 percent college educated generation. Russia is still out performing the USA in regard to the college educated citizen.

June 7, 2019
By Rebecca Winthrop and Fred Dews

Senior Fellow Rebecca Winthrop, (click here for audio presentation) director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, says that global organizations project that by 2030 half of the world’s young people will not have the 21st-century skills and academic competencies they will need to thrive. The pace of change is too slow, and it could take a century for the poorest children to catch up.

What’s needed, she said, is a way to rapidly accelerate progress by leapfrogging education. And parents have a crucial role to play in this transformation.

In this episode, Winthrop talks with four education leaders, whom she met at the LEGO Idea Conference in Denmark, about the role of parents and the power of innovative approaches like playful learning in pursuing education transformation....

Advice and consent - Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote. International treaties include trade as well. Trump hasn't had any trade treaties brought to the US Senate for a vote. I would think that if there are an exceptionally large number of vacant government offices it would indicate a need to remind the president of his responsibilities. McConnell never did that in a letter to document the request. The more one looks at the lack of action by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the more it is obvious he isn't interested in the country. He is interested in the power and his own family's wealth. Why does that sound familiar? Taking an example from Kushner? May 6, 2018 By Margaret Hartmann ...So is Chao the rare Trump official (click here) who’s doing her job and not abusing her office in any way? Apparently not. Politico reported on Sunday that since her nomination, she’s appeared in at least a dozen interviews with her father James Chao, the founder and chairman of the Foremost Group shipping company, which carries goods between Asia and the U.S. All of the interviews are with Chinese and Chinese-American media outlets, and the secretary is otherwise press shy; she’s never held a press conference for beat reporters and usually refuses to answer reporters’ questions after public events. Federal employees are prohibited from using their office for their “own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.” But Chao makes no apparent effort to show she’s promoting her family’s business only as a daughter, not as U.S. Transportation secretary, and in fact, it appears several of the videos were filmed in her government office. DOT flags are shown in several of the spots, like the New China Press interview below, and one video features the state flag of Kentucky, highlighting her tie to the majority leader.... It is really curious that McConnell is elected term after term. The people of Kentucky love the Affordable Care Act. There is every indication it has benefited the health of citizens of that state, yet McConnell will act to cause it to be reduced to rubble so the people of Kentucky are left without a health care option. McConnell touts he saves coal jobs. He never saved one coal job in all his years in government. Coal jobs have been replaced by automation and the people of Kentucky need new jobs and retraining, but, every time he runs for office he lies continually to the people of Kentucky as if the entire state's economy relies on coal jobs. Mitch McConnell is calling himself the Grim Reaper. He sure does seem to own up to that name.

McConnell is not doing his job and when he does it is corruption that rules the day.

January 15, 2019

Donald Trump (click here) promised to hire only the “best people” to head government agencies, but two years into his four-year term, as many as a third to half of the federal agency executive positions he’s supposed to appoint are vacant, either because they resigned, were never confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, or were never nominated to begin with....

...OSHA: Scott Mugno To head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Trump nominated Scott Mugno, a former FedEx executive with a career-long history of opposing new OSHA regulations. At a January 2018 confirmation hearing, Mugno couldn’t name a single new OSHA rule he had supported during his two decades as safety chief at FedEx. The Republican-led committee approved him anyway, but his nomination never came up for a vote by the full Senate.

Wage and Hour Division: Cheryl Stanton The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is responsible for regulating and enforcing minimum wage, overtime, and family leave requirements, as well as prevailing wage laws for construction employees on federal contracts. To lead it, Trump nominated Cheryl Marie Stanton, a South Carolina workforce agency executive and member of the board of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. Stanton formerly clerked for federal judge Samuel Alito (the labor foe who later became Supreme Court justice and wrote the anti-union Janus decision.) She also worked as a White House lawyer for President George W. Bush, serving as the administration’s liaison to the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board. Her nomination passed out of the Senate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee in January 2018, but never got a Senate floor vote.

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: Gordon Hartogensis To head the federal government’s pension insurance agency, Trump nominated Gordon Hartogensis, a wealthy private investor and Republican donor with no experience in government or pension fund management. Hartogensis, 48, retired at age 29. He has spent the last seven years managing his family’s money. He’s also married to Grace Chao, the sister of Trump’s Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and is thus the brother-in-law of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). spends most of his time now managing his family’s money.

Employment and Training Administration: John Pallasch To head the agency in charge of job training and apprenticeships, Trump nominated John Pallasch, a Kentucky state workforce director and former Bush Jr. administration Labor Department official who also worked for anti-union education reformer Michelle Rhee.
               

Mitch McConnell does not love the USA. He loves the power and abuses it on a regular basis, including the abuse of Merrick Garland.

A Senate Majority Leader that isn't interested in fixing the problems that allow foreign interference in the country's elections; is not worthy of the job. Every American should be up in arms to realize the work of the Special Counsel is being ignored when it comes to USA sovereign elections. This is outrageous and McConnell believes that reform would hurt his party's chances in future elections. What does that say about the Republican Party when it comes to safeguarding USA sovereignty?

People should be afraid, very afraid.

June 10, 2019
By Jonathan Chait

The House Judiciary Committee (click here) held hearings today on the Mueller report and its devastating findings of the Trump campaign efforts to collude with Russia, and Trump’s obstruction of justice thereof. The Republican message, articulated by ranking member Doug Collins, is that this is all in the distant past — the Mueller report came out in early spring; it’s already late spring — and we should focus on the future. “We’re not bringing Russians front and center,” he complained. “If we were attacked, then the priorities should be to go on the battlefields and not to the sideshow.”

Funny thing about that: There actually are a lot of bills to safeguard the 2020 elections from the next Russian attack. Mitch McConnell is blocking all of them.

The New York Times reported a few days ago that McConnell is refusing to bring to a vote any bill to safeguard the elections from foreign attack. There’s a Democratic bill to provide election funding to state and local governments. There’s a bipartisan Senate bill to “codify cyberinformation-sharing initiatives between federal intelligence services and state election officials, speed up the granting of security clearances to state officials, and provide federal incentives for states to adopt paper ballots.” McConnell won’t allow any of them to come to a vote....

It seems obvious to me that McConnell likes the idea of an understood mutual agenda between the Russians and the Republican Party. McConnell is not at all alarmed by the cyber attacks Russia carries out against the USA's elections. That is not reasonable. McConnell is negligent of his duties to the country and is allowing continued cyber warfare by Russia.

If nothing else McConnell should be repeatedly brought up on ethics violations, but, his negligence of the national security of the USA is pre-meditated. That is more than an ethics violation.

The Do Nothing McConnell Senate.

Mitch McConnell has to have the record of doing nothing in the USA Senate than any majority leader in history. It isn't just this year, it is every time he is majority leader. Every year the Republican majority sits in the US Senate absolutely nothing gets done that benefits the American people, the wealthy sure, but, the people no.

If Joni Ernst is frustrated, just imagine how the people feel, especially Iowa. The tragedy rolling out in Iowa has to be a record in the degree people are suffering.

The Republican Senate has become the USA Obstructionist Senate. They don't get things done. 

June 10, 2019
By Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine

The Senate (click here) is going to get back to good old-fashioned legislating any day now. Republicans swear it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate has been almost entirely focused on confirming President Donald Trump’s personnel and judges and has had little in the way of recent legislative victories.

“It is frustrating,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a top Democratic target in 2020, said of the Senate standstill. “But we are still working on a number of really good bills.”

The paltry list of accomplishments has given Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer an opening to portray the GOP as devoid of any agenda and could endanger Republicans at risk in a tough election cycle. And there’s a growing recognition within the GOP that it needs to do more.

McConnell and his deputy, Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, are telling committee chairmen to start approving bills and get them ready for the floor, according to Republican senators. Some lawmakers are optimistic that by August, they will have passed a bill lowering health care costs along with defense policy legislation. Approval of a new North American trade deal this year is also a possibility, as is a bipartisan deal to lift stiff budget caps....

One could almost defend the concentration on appointing judges to the federal bench if it were to fully staff courts that hear immigration issues. But, the trouble is the judges that are being appointed to such gaps in courtrooms are bad judges.

So, McConnell is pushing judges through the Senate only to have the country complain to the DOJ to have them removed. These complaints are not frivolous, there are records that come to bear to account for all the complaints. The Republican Obstructionist Senate aren't even vetting these appointments.

It is going to be a disaster and bog down the courts even longer. The cases Nicholas R. Ford decides sometimes ends up the Appealate Courts only to have his decisions overturned for ABUSE OF DISCRETION. (click here) That means Ford legislates from the bench based on his ideology and not the Rule of Law. 

May 16, 2019
By Emily Hoerner

Nicholas R. Ford, (click here) who left behind a checkered record when he retired from the Cook County circuit court last month, has a new job: Ford was appointed this week as a U.S. Immigration Court judge, based in San Francisco.

The appointment immediately drew criticism from one progressive lawyers group, the National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area, which strongly condemned the move and called on the Department of Justice to immediately rescind Ford’s appointment to the bench.

“As someone who has dedicated his career to perpetuating racist state violence, Judge Ford has no place in a courtroom,” said the advocacy group’s executive director, Jay Kim, in a news release. “He is particularly unfit for Immigration Court, where he will be deciding the fate of asylum seekers and torture victims.”

Kim said her group does not frequently oppose judicial appointments but based on the circumstances felt it was necessary. The group will be tracking Ford’s work through their immigration court observation program....

So rather than studying a topic, researching where the law is failing the people and bringing legislation out of committee for a vote; McConnell has decided to  DO NOTHING and legislate from the bench. By placing ideological judges in the courts it will clog the courts sending more and more cases to the appellate courts. That is not what any of the courts in the USA need. They need competent judges that make constitutional decisions that don't turn criminals out on the streets because of abuse of power.

If the only way the American people can have a competent Senate lead by someone with good moral judgment is to kick McConnell out, then kick McConnell out. Replace him with a Senator that actually loves the country beyond the power afforded those that governor. Or are supposed to govern. 

There is no room in the USA Senate for Mitch "Grime Reaper" McConnell.

This is not a liason. It is a government paid lobbyist for McConnell's re-election.

Chow is breaking the law and exploiting the American people for re-election of her husband to the US Senate. This is not just an ethics violation, she is directing Labor Department monies to an exclusive lobbyist for her husband. She is breaking the law. She is stealing USA Treasury money for her own purpose.

Here again, taking the example of Trump's "in the open" lawbreaking.

June 11, 2019
By Jason Lemon

...Politico reported (click here) on Monday that Chao's Transportation Department had designated a special liaison to assist specifically with grant applications and other requests from her Republican husband McConnell, who is also the Senate majority leader. This effort set the stage for the approval of $78 million worth of projects in Kentucky, as McConnell runs for reelection in the state next year. 

"Where a Cabinet secretary is doing things that are going to help her husband get reelected, that starts to rise to the level of feeling more like corruption to the average American," John Hudak, the deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management and a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution told Politico. "I do think there are people who will see that as sort of 'swamp behavior.'"...     

More failure of USA foreign policy under Trump.

Lebanon has always been a friend to the USA. We were Lebanon's strongest ally for decades. I find this alarming. Hezbollah is known to have residence in Lebanon. They were able to increase their military prowess during the time they were cut off from Iran by Daesh. This is a worry if the USA still cares about the people of Lebanon. No matter how one looks at this it is not good news.

When it comes to money, Trump doesn't need the State Department or the Department of Commerce, it only needs Jared.

June 11, 2019

The meeting in Bahrain is another money project by Kushner. Where the family this time?

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil (click here) announces that his country will not participate in the US-led economic peace summit in Bahrain later this month.

Bassil says that Beirut will not be attending because the Palestinians will not be there. Moreover, he says that not enough information has been given about the plan for them to play along.

However, it is not clear if the US invited Lebanon to participate.

It is understandable that Lebanon would have strong opposition to any economic conference by the USA. The Palestinians are losing ground in international status as they lose more and more ground in the West Bank. These are all actions that continue to change Israeli borders.

June 10, 2019

Ramallah/Amman - A U.S. envoy’s comments (click here) on Israel having the right to annex at least parts of the occupied West Bank show “extremists” are involved in White House policy on the issue, Palestinian leaders said over the weekend.

In a responding statement to U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s comments in a New York Times interview, a Palestinian government spokesperson said some leading U.S. policy on the issue were “extremists” lacking in “political maturity.” The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it was looking into filing a complaint with the International Criminal Court on the issue.

A very big thanks to all the witnesses that appeared at the House Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday.

It was obvious from the testimony carried out at the US House Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday, there were sincere reasons to continue to investigate the crimes of the White House. The US House received the confidence from the testimonies yesterday that they needed to act to bring a civil contempt to the floor and pass it.

The witnesses were vitally important and it was extremely obvious every one of them love this country. 

June 11, 2019
By Joe Perticone and Sonam Sheth

Washington — The House of Representatives (click here) voted Tuesday to allow a congressional committee to enforce subpoenas by taking uncooperative executive branch officials to court using a civil contempt resolution.

A civil contempt resolution is different from criminal contempt of Congress, which can result in lofty fines or even jail time.

The move comes after the House Judiciary Committee advanced contempt of Congress resolutions for both Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn, marking the most severe congressional action against President Donald Trump's administration since Democrats reclaimed the chamber's majority....

China's weak currency is reflective of a country without a strong domestic economy.

China has two currencies. In recent years it was promoting the renminbi as a potential international currency. 

The phenomena of this Chinese currency should be a lesson to the third world and emerging economic countries, in that the Chinese currency including the Yen, can be manipulated by threats of tariffs.

A country cannot survive international pressures IF it does not have a strong domestic economy. China's claim to international economic markets is the fact it has a cheap workforce which makes it an exporting country. China imports very little, but, for very profound reasons.

Differently said, there is no reason for China to have a stable economy or currencies. It has no stable domestic economy that provides the country with a stronger currency. Resilience. There is no inherent resiliency to the Chinese economy, it is dependent on international trade. That is a very bad place for any country to be. The reason China survives these assaults on it's economic stability is that it is a communist country whereby citizens are workers and not consumers.

Communist countries, such as China or Russia, can build their military in the face of economic collapse. It doesn't need money. These countries have no real incentive to improve the quality of life of their people. We have witnessed the stagnation in Chinese and Russian leadership that only instills a stronger regime that oppresses the people.

It is reasonable to ask the question, "Does China or Russia actually want to be emerging countries outside the desire to destroy the Free World?" China was all too eager to provide cheap wage labor to the Free World, without any commitment to improve the quality of life of it's citizens. In other words, China alone can trap the Free World into a dependency on it's labor, while de-escalating the strong economic machine that has been the USA. What has resulted in the USA in the face of cheap Chinese labor is The Working Poor. China definitely depresses the wage in the USA.

This entire dynamic of China, calling it the second largest economic power in the world, is artificial. The tariffs are proof of that. The tariffs can bring economic penetration into the global economy by China to a standstill while shrinking the previous economic success of China. China has no resilience in a domestic economy. A stronger Middle Class in China would remove incentives for Free World companies to continue to use Chinese labor.

That is China's folly.

It believed it could take over the entire labor market of major Wall Street companies deflating the economic strength of the USA. Americans don't like to work for nothing, while citizens of communist countries accept their poverty. The resiliency of the USA economy allows for vibrant entrepreneurship and very stable local economies. China cannot completely remove the American will for a strong and successful "American Dream."

The current tariffs will compromise China and Russia's desire to end the economic strength of the USA. It only illustrates how opening relations with China so long ago was correct, however, China derailed it's own economic success because the communist regime is more interested in power than the quality of life of it's own citizens and it's own ability to manufacture to strong domestic consumerism.

China and Russia have lost the war to defeat the USA's economy. It would be best for these countries to embrace the idea of being a legitimate emerging economy and reward their citizens with a strong Middle Class and quality of life and end any international military ambition that would rob those citizens of such national achievements.


May 13, 2019
By Hudson Lockett and Daniel Shane

...A weaker exchange rate (click here) in the wake of the latest rise in US tariffs would provide China with cheaper and more competitive exports as it grapples with the latest demands for concessions out of Washington. But it would also have costs.

In August 2015, Beijing carried out the biggest one-day devaluation of the renminbi in more than two decades, in what critics described as an effort to boost its export-driven economy. However, the downward adjustment of the currency exposed China to criticism and it complicated relations with the US, where politicians have long argued that the renminbi is undervalued.

The move also undermined China’s efforts to have the renminbi accepted as a global reserve currency alongside the dollar, yen, euro and sterling. Gains made by the renminbi in this respect, before the devaluation, have since been reversed. In March the currency accounted for just 1.2 per cent of international payments, according to data from Swift....

I guess. The two half brothers weren't particularly close though.

I find it curious Kim Jong Nam was considered a valuable CIA agent. He was exiled and was held in ridicule for a long time. I don't know what he would have known that was valuable. That idea raises speculation on who he had contact with that provided information to him to pass to the USA. I find Nam's death very tragic and bizarre. If it involves the USA, I think that is especially unfortunate. I doubt he had influence with Un.

Nam was a reformer. That makes him important for reasons other than being a CIA informant.

11 June 2019
By Ben Graham

The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, (click here) who was killed by two women who smeared his face with the nerve agent in an airport, was reportedly a secret CIA informant.

The Wall Street Journal has spoken to a secret source who claims there was a "nexus" between the US spy agency and Kim Jong Nam — and that he had met with operatives several times.

They added that Kim — who lived mainly in the Chinese enclave of Macau —was killed while on a trip to meet his CIA contact person and that he was "almost certainly" in contact with security services of other countries.

The source told the Journal that the CIA, was relieved that his assistance didn't come out in the wake of that killing...

His murderers got away with it, because the prosecution could not prove intent to murder. SO WHAT! They killed him whether they were naive to the fact they were using a nerve agent of not. Bizarre. 

...Lawyers for the women have previously said they were pawns in a political assassination with clear links to the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and that the prosecution failed to show the women had any intention to kill. Intent to kill is crucial to a murder charge under Malaysian law...

If Un is not a party to this conspiracy, he should be demanding justice for his brother's death.

Trump is unfit for office.

Chart to left - click here.

The Trump Administration has the highest turnover rate of White House staff during the first year of a presidency. The reason the second year is lower is that many administration offices remain empty. The Secretary of Defense cabinet level position remains empty while major movement of troops and USA assets occur.

Currently, the US House may enter into an Impeachment Inquiry. Mental Health of the President has to be included in that inquiry. There are many professionals in the country with opinions regarding the mental health of Donald J. Trump.

Additionally, there is a problem with racism with the President. He not only hates China, but he also has one Oriental American in his administration. His level of racism and bigotry is a part of his decision making. Having a minimal representation of minorities in his Cabinet is reflective of his administration's diversity.

Of course, the law breaking of Trump on a continuous basis in lying to the American people and sequestering conservative voters into an uneducated electorate, is completely unethical as well. There are profound issues with Trump and the Special Counsel report only touches on one aspect of disqualifying characteristics. As the chief of the Executive Branch, Trump is incompetent.