The Serious Side - part 7

Maybe Im naive but why can’t these prisoners be returned to their home country, jailed and put on trial for terrorism?

One of the many articles that explain the complexity of it, Donnamarie.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/europe-confronts-problem-of-returning-isis-fighters-1.3799392

Personally I don't think for one minute it's not been the subject of massive consideration - and of course all those countries involved doing exactly the same thing legally and having a common strategy...Trump is being unbelievably naive.

And of course the minute he pulls out of the area all those who have helped the West and done our job for us really i e the Kurds will immediately be slaughtered by the Turks who are longtime enemies and want their land.

Remember that ISIS came about because the Allies left Iraq in a very bad way and a mostly Sunni population were left in the hands of a Shia government!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6980721/Trump-national-security-adviser-says-Russia-not-interfering-Western-Hemisphere.html

[size=34]'This is our hemisphere. It's not where the Russians should be interfering': Trump national security adviser says U.S is returning to the Monroe Doctrine and wants foreign influences to LEAVE Venezuela immediately[/size]

• President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would issue the 'highest-level sanctions' on Cuba after he claimed they had troops assisting socialist regime leader Niclas Maduro in Venezuela 
  
  
• Cuban government pushed back on the assertions and dared the U.S. to provide proof that Cuba had troops assisting Maduro's government 
  
  
• National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed that 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela were providing support for Maduro 
  
  
• Trump said the U.S. stands behind Venezuela's opposition movement to oust Maduro
  
  
• Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Bolton all expressed their support of the opposition uprising as well   
  
  
• Opposition leader, and self-declared interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido called for uprising against Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday 
  
  
• He released a video on Twitter from the La Carlota airbase in the capital city of Caracas calling this the 'final phase of Operation Liberty'
  
  
• The uprising remained largely nonviolent until he called for the military uprising  
  
  

By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:23 EDT, 1 May 2019 | UPDATED: 10:13 EDT, 1 May 2019

     


President Donald Trump's national security adviser said Wednesday that the U.S. deems the uprising in Venezuela to be a Western affair and outside actors must leave the South American country immediately.
John Bolton told White House reporters Wednesday morning that Trump is returning to the Monroe Doctrine and will be exerting its influence to stabilize Venezuela.
'We've made it very clear that the Monroe Doctrine is alive in this administration. We expect foreign influences to depart,' he said.
Bolton directed his contempt to Russia. He said the U.S. has evidence that Vladimir Putin's government convinced Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro not to flee the country and make way for a peaceful transition of power.

'This is our hemisphere. It's not where the Russians should be interfering,' Bolton asserted.  'This was a mistake on their part.'


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President Donald Trump's national security adviser said Wednesday that the U.S. deems the uprising in Venezuela to be a Western affair and outside actors must leave the South American country immediately
Cuba and Russia have aligned themselves with Maduro and against the U.S. The Trump administration and most of the West are backing the opposition movement that's trying to oust Maduro and reassert democracy.  
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Tuesday evening, but did not provide evidence, that Russia is responsible for Maduro's decision to remain in Caracas. He claimed in a 'Situation Room' interview on CNN that Maduro had a plane on the tarmac, and was about exile himself in Cuba, when the Russians told him to stay.
'He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay,' Pompeo insisted. 'He was headed for Havana.'  
Pompeo refused to back down from the claim and repeated it on Fox News forty minutes later. 
'He was ready to go. He'd made a decision that we'd been urging him to make for quite some time,' Pompeo said. 'He was diverted from that action by the Russians.'
Maduro denied the account, calling it 'craziness' and 'lies and manipulation.'
He told the U.S., 'Please, Mr. Pompeo, you're not being serious.'
Russia also denies that the event took place. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told CNN, 'Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war.'
Bolton claimed Wednesday that that Maduro decided to stay in Venezuela 'because Russian advice,' despite mounting pressure for him to step down.
He said that the Russians have not revealed the entire conversation with Maduro and attempted to sow discord in the embattled leader's administration. 
He told reporters at the White House after a series of television appearance that he could not say publicly how the U.S. knows Maduro was about to leave but he has 'very, very high confidence' in the information he received. 
'I really can't tell you the specifics of it,' he said. 'I think it reflects the role Russia has in Venezuela, I don't say this is an ideological conflict, but this is our hemisphere. It's not where the Russians should be interfering. This was a mistake on their part. It's not going to lead to an improvement in relations.'
He blamed Russia for claims that opposition leader Juan Guaido is staging a 'coup' in Caracas. Gauido is the elected head of the national assembly and the self-proclaimed acting president of Venezuela.
'It's not a coup when a legitimate president gives orders to his government,' Bolton argued. 'What is a coup, is the presence of Cuba and Russia, directing the top affairs of the government of Venezuela.' 
Trump threatened to issue an embargo on Cuba on Tuesday after claiming the communist government was assisting socialist regime leader Maduro's efforts to hold power in Venezuela.
The president said if Cuba did not pull troops from Venezuela, he would place the 'highest-level sanctions' on the island.
'If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba,' Trump tweeted Tuesday as violent conflict broke out in the socialist-controlled South American nation.
'Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!'
Cuba, however, challenged the Trump administration to back up claims that the nation was assisting Maduro in Venezuela.  


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President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he would issues a 'full and complete embargo,' and the 'highest-level sanctions' on Cuba after claiming they had troops in Venezuela assisting socialist regime leader Nicolas Maduro hold power 


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National Security Advisor John Bolton made the claim that 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela were providing security support to Maduro. But the communist country's government challenged the Trump administration to back up those claims
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez called U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton a 'pathological liar' last week for claiming that some 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela are providing security support for Maduro. 
Rodriguez said those few ten thousand Cubans are mostly medical workers.
'That State Department memorandum says Cuban special forces were deployed to the border between Colombia and Venezuela to engage in provocative military exercises. That's a lie. I invite them to provide evidence,' Rodriguez said at a news conference April 25.
Bolton alleged Cuban troops were keeping Maduro in power in Caracas. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also complained about Russia.
Trump and top administration officials went after the foreign adversaries as they expressed their support for the Venezuelan opposition movement that's seeking to overthrow Maduro.    
The president said he is keeping watch over the situation as violence continues to ensue in the socialist-controlled nation.
'I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely. The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!'
Bolton told press at the White House that the president is receiving regular updates. 
He refused to say whether the U.S. would get involved militarily, repeating an oft-sworn statement that 'all options are on the table.' He warned Maduro against using brute force on civilians.
Opposition leader Juan Guaido is heading Operacion Libertad, which translates to Operation Freedom, and urged a local military uprising against the government on Tuesday. 
The U.S. has been vocal supporters of Guaido, and Vice President Mike Pence told the opposition Tuesday to 'Go with God.'
'To @jguaido, the National Assembly and all the freedom-loving people of Venezuela who are taking to the streets today in #operacionlibertad—Estamos con ustedes! We are with you!' Pence tweeted on Tuesday. 'America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored. Vayan con dios! #FreeVenezuela' 
[size=10][size=18]Venezuelans watch as Guaido's 'Operation Liberty' unfolds




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Trump said he was monitoring the violent interaction between Maduro's socialist regime and the opposition movement, led by Juan Guaido


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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said in a video posted to Twitter early Tuesday morning that he had began the 'final phase' of his plan and urged protesters and military members to join the effort


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Vice President Mike Pence also put his support behind Venezuela's opposition movement, which seeks to oust President Nicolas Maduro and his socialist regime from power in the South American nation. 'Go with God,' the vice president tweeted
[size=18]Venezuelan opposition leader 'calls for military uprising'




L[/size]

Guaido called on Venezuelans to push President Maduro out of power in Venezuela, once and for all, in an uprising against his government rival. 
He said in a video taken at La Carlota airbase in the capital city of Caracas, while surrounded by heavily-armed soldiers, that 'the moment is now,' and urged protesters and members of the military to join the 'final phase of Operation Liberty.'
In the three-minute video, opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who has been under house arrest for leading an anti-government push in 2014, joined Guaido.
This was his first public appearance since his detention, and he said he had been 'freed' by soldiers supporting Guaido.
'This is the moment of all Venezuelans, those in uniform and those who aren't,' Lopez said. 'Everyone should come to the streets, in peace.'  
Bolton noted that more than 40 people had been killed by the Maduro regime and called it 'an act of bravery,' as he spoke to reporters during a hastily-arranged briefing at the White House on Tuesday.
'Well, Juan Guaido is out on the streets of Caracas now, rallying the people,' Bolton told the press outside the West Wing. 'Guaido is behaving in the same courageous way he and other leaders of the opposition have been for the last few months.'   
Pompeo also threw his weight behind the opposition movement. 


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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also expressed his support for Guadio's Operation Liberty. 'The U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy,' Pompeo said.


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Venezuelan soldiers, who have backed Guaido, exchanged gunfire with troops loyal to President Maduro outside La Carlota airbase in the capital Caracas on Tuesday. The airbase, located in Venezuela's capital city, was where Guaido filmed the video
[size=18]Men on motorbikes flee from gunfire in Altamira, Venezuela




Lo[/size]




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Protesters representing Juan Guaido were caught in the cross-fire and ran through clouds of tear gas in order to take cover
'Today interim President Juan Guaido announced start of Operación Libertad. The U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy,' Pompeo posted to Twitter Tuesday. 'Democracy cannot be defeated. #EstamosUnidosVE' 
He called for Maduro's 'illegitimate regime' to step aside so the country could 'return to prosperity,' and lauded 'the will of the people to peacefully change the course of their country from one of despair to one of freedom and democracy.' 
'#OperacionLibertad is underway in #Venezuela & the world is watching. @jguaido's safety must be guaranteed,' Pompeo tweeted Tuesday afternoon. 'The Venezuelan people are demanding change, a peaceful democratic transition, & return to prosperity. It's time for the illegitimate regime to step aside. #EstamosUnidosVE' 
Troops supporting Guaido set up defensive positions around the base before Maduro's forces arrived and opened fire with tear gas followed by live rounds, according to witnesses.
Guaido claimed that Maduro had lost the support of the military, but the president said he had spoken with his officers who had assured him of their 'total loyalty'.
'Nerves of steel!,' Maduro said on Twitter. 'I call for maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of peace. We will win!'
Guaido, who has the backing of the U.S. and most Western governments, has been trying to oust Maduro for months using largely non-violent protests.
'The end of Maduro's usurpation of power is possible. Venezuela's armed forces should stand loyal to their people and the constitution. Democracy will be restored in Venezuela,' Bolton said in a Twitter post on Tuesday afternoon. 







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Guaido has been trying to oust Maduro for months using largely peaceful protests, but that changed on Tuesday as he announced an uprising against the President



Maduro hit back on Twitter, saying that he maintained the complete loyalty of the military and pledging 'nerves of steel' for the fight against the opposition

Venezuela crisis: Which countries are supporting the opposition?

Support for Nicolas Maduro's regime comes from Russia, China, Turkey, Mexico and Iran, wheres the EU, United States, Canada, Australia and neighbours Brazil recognise Juan Guaido as leader of Venezuela
[size=16]Supporting 'interim' President Juan Guaido: 
[/size]

• United States
  
• Canada
  
• United Kingdom 
  
• Argentina
  
• Brazil
  
• Chile
  
• Colombia
  
• Costa Rica
  
• Guatemala
  
• Honduras
  
• Panama
  
• Paraguay
  
• Peru 
  
• Kosovo 
  
• The EU 27 
  
• Australia 
  

Supporting incumbent President Nicolas Maduro:

• Russia
  
• Belarus
  
• Greece 
  
• China
  
• Iran
  
• Cuba
  
• Mexico 
  
• Turkey  
  
• Syria 
  
• Bolivia 
  
• Uruguay  
  

Key international allies to Maduro's regime, Bolivia and Cuba, condemned the uprising, describing it as a coup attempt by violent rebels.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, another key ally of Venezuela, has invested billions in the country's oil industry and is said to have been 'discussing' the situation with his top security team.
Bolton, however, said 'we expect the Russians not to interfere in Venezuela.' 
Mexico expressed concern about an escalation in violence and called on both sides to seek a peaceful resolution through dialogue.
Additional protests were slated to take place on Thursday in Venezuela, and the U.S. urged Maduro not to use lethal force against civilians. 
Maduro's allies say they are staging a 'coup' and are considered 'traitors' by their country. 
Foreign Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in a tweet: 'We inform the people of Venezuela at the moment we are confronting and deactivating a reduced group of military traitors who are positioning themselves in the Distribuidor Altamira (neighbourhood) to promote a coup d'etat against the constitution and the peace of the Republic.
'To this intent is added the putschist and murderous ultra right which announced its violent agenda months ago. We call on the people to maintain maximum alert so, together the glorious National Armed Bolivarian forces defeat the intent to mount a coup and preserve the peace. We will win.'
Guaido claims that Maduro's power grab is unconstitutional and an election that kept him in power was rigged in his favor.
The U.S. and its allies consider Maduro a dictator and Guaido, the elected head of Venezuela's National Assembly, the country's interim and acting president. 
Roughly 50 countries are supporting Guaido, primarily in the West. Greece, Iran, Turkey, Mexico, China and Syria have sided with Cuba, Russia and Maduro.


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Many who back opposition leader Guaido, who deemed himself interim president, feel Maduro's claim to victory in the last elections were 'rigged'


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After announcing the final phase of his uprising, Guaido left the military base in order to hold a rally on the streets of Caracas in order to prove he holds popular support




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A Venezuelan opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, talked to media for the first time after being released from his home in Caracas, Venezuela, where he has been kept under house arrest since 2014. Lopez said he had been 'freed' by soldiers supporting Guaido

[size=34]Venezuela leadership battle: A timeline of key events[/size]

April 2013: Maduro is elected leader of the South American nation, succeeding Hugo Chavez as President. 
February 18 2014: Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is placed under house arrest after a wave of protests against Maduro.
July 17 2017: Millions of Venezuelans vote down Maduro's plans to take control of the country's National Assembly.  
May 20 2018: Maduro wins another snap election despite claims of vote rigging by opposition leaders. 
January 23 2019: Guaido declares himself acting president at a rally of tens of thousands of people in Caracas demanding that Maduro quit.
US President Donald Trump immediately recognizes Guaido as acting president, as do Canada and major Latin American powers.
Maduro gets the support of allies including China, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and Cuba. 
January 26: Six European countries say they will also recognize Guaido unless Maduro calls elections. 
January 30: thousands of opposition protesters, led by Guaido, call on Venezuela's military to abandon Maduro.
He demands that the Venezuelan government allow in foreign humanitarian aid, claiming the lives of thousands of people are at risk.  
February 4: Some 20 European countries also recognize Guaido. 
February 16: Guaido says he has the support of thousands of people to bring in aid via Colombia, Brazil and the Dutch island of Curacao. 
Venezuelan troops however block the road, preventing the aid from entering. 
February 21: Maduro shuts the border with Brazil. 
February 22: Russia also accuses the United States of using aid deliveries as a ploy for military action. 
March 7: most of Venezuela is plunged into darkness by a major power cut that lasts five days, followed by sporadic blackouts.
March 24: two Russian military planes bring in around 100 soldiers and 35 tons of equipment.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6980777/Trump-OBAMA-blame-Russian-election-interference-no-intention-doing-anything.html

[size=34]Trump claims OBAMA is to blame for Russian election interference saying 'he did NOTHING and had no intention of doing anything' as Bill Barr testifies on Mueller report[/size]

• President Donald Trump blamed Obama for doing 'NOTHING' to stop Russia from interfering in the 2016 elections
  
  
• Trump said it was up to then-President Obama to do something to  top Russia
  
  
• The president claims the FBI provided Obama with intelligence months ahead of the 2016 elections that Russia was attempting to influence the outcome of the elections 
  
  
• Trump claims Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report found that the Trump camp did not collude with Russia or obstruct justice throughout the investigation 
  
  
• Attorney General Bill Barr is testifying on Mueller's report before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday
  
  

By KATELYN CARALLE, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 10:37 EDT, 1 May 2019 | UPDATED: 10:59 EDT, 1 May 2019

     


President Donald Trump blamed the Obama administration for not doing anything to stop Russia from interfering in the 2016 elections.
'Why didn't President Obama do something about Russia in September (before November Election) when told by the FBI? He did NOTHING, and had no intention of doing anything!' Trump posted in a Twitterstorm Wednesday morning.
Trump said former President Barack Obama ignored the FBI when they alerted him to the potential threat from Russia.
Attorney General Bill Barr handed over a redacted-version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report to Congress in April, a few weeks after releasing a four page summary of the report on March 24.

The report found no evidence that anyone within Trump's campaign or administration conspired with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 elections. It was inconclusive on whether Trump obstructed justice during the investigation. Mueller instead left that determination to be made by Congress.



President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for doing nothing to stop Russia from interfering in the 2016 elections while he was still in office


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Trump said the FBI provided Obama with information a few months before the 2016 elections, which told him that Russia was attempting to influence the outcome


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Trump claims that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report has fully exonerated him, and says it found that he had not colluded with Russia or attempted to obstruct justice throughout the investigation
In the attorney general's summary, Barr concluded that there was no obstruction, a classification that Mueller said 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance' of the full report.
Trump said the report fully exonerated him in finding no collusion or obstruction.
'NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION,' Trump tweeted Wednesday. 'Besides, how can you have Obstruction when not only was there No Collusion (by Trump), but the bad actions were done by the 'other' side? The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!'
Several Democratic lawmakers, however, say ten separate points of possible obstruction laid out in the report are enough grounds to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. Other Democrats have cautioned their colleagues not to jump the gun on impeachment.
Barr is testifying about the special counsel's report before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.


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Attorney General Bill Barr, who is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, gave a four-page summary of Mueller's report in March. In April he handed over a redacted-version of the report to Congress, and it was later made available to the public


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Mueller indicated he was not satisfied with Barr's classification of the full 448-page report, especially the part where Barr indicated he felt the report did not find evidence that Trump obstructed justice. Mueller laid out 10 different 'episodes' that could potentially be obstruction, but he left the decision up to Congress


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Trump continues to push his claims that the special counsel found there was no obstruction and no collusion. He says the 'bad actions were done by the "other" side'
Mueller has expressed, according to multiple reports, that he was unhappy with the media coverage Barr's synopsis prompted.
'There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,' Mueller said at the time. 'This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.'
Barr and Mueller spoke on the phone after the summary was released, and complained particularly about Barr's classification of the obstruction part of the report.


Later, Barr released the full 448-page report, with many parts blacked-out and redacted for various reasons, like potentially causing harm to other ongoing matters, personal privacy issues or the information would reveal an investigative technique.
Trump has oftentimes attacked Mueller's investigation, calling it a bipartisan 'witch hunt' launched by 'angry Democrats.'
Now that Mueller's almost two-year investigation has come to a close, Democrats in Congress have upped their calls for impeachment and are moving forward with several other investigations into the 2016 elections and Trump and his associates' relationships with Russia.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6980189/POLL-Most-U-S-Democrats-say-age-not-just-number-White-House-candidates.html

[size=34]More than HALF of Democrats are less likely to back a presidential candidate who's over 70 despite aging Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders crushing the field to face Trump[/size]

• A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that more than half of Democrats are less inclined to support a presidential candidate who is over age 70
  
  
• Across both parties, 61 per cent of women reached the same conclusion
  
  
• Bernie Sanders is 77 and would be 79 on Inauguration Day 2021
  
  
• Joe Biden is 76 and would be 78 on his first day in the Oval Office if he were to become president 
  
  
• Donald Trump was 70 when he took office in January 2017, beating Ronald reagan's previous record of 69 years old
  
  
• Democratic field of 20 candidates also includes Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg, who are both 39, and 40-year-old Eric Swalwell 
  
  

By REUTERS and DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 06:02 EDT, 1 May 2019 | UPDATED: 20:08 EDT, 1 May 2019

     





As Democrats weigh a field of 20 White House hopefuls that includes candidates who would be the youngest or oldest president ever elected, new Reuters/Ipsos polling shows age could be a liability at either end of the spectrum.
More than half of all Democrats, 57 per cent, said they would be less likely to support a candidate over 70 years old. The result was the same across both parties and independents. 
Overall, 61 per cent of women said the same thing
More than a third of Democrats, 37 per cent, said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate younger than 40, according to the April 17-22 opinion poll.

Among all voters, that number jumped to 46 per cent.
About a quarter of all Democrats said a White House candidate's age did not matter.


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Former Vice President Joe Biden is 76 years old and would be 78 if he took over the White House; more than half of all Democrats said in a new poll that they would be less likely to support a candidate over 70


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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is the oldest declared candidate in the 2020 presidential race, at 77

[size=34]AGES OF THE 2020 CANDIDATES ON INAUGURATION DAY[/size]

As of April 25, 2019 there were 22 declared major party candidates in the 2020 presidential election. 
Here is the age each of them would be on Inauguration Day 2021 if they were to win:

• Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders: 79 years, 4 months, 13 days
  
• Former Vice President Joe Biden: 78 years, 2 months, 1 day
  
• Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld (R): 75 years, 5 months, 21 days 
  
• President Donald Trump (R): 74 years, 7months, 7 days
  
• Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren: 71 years, 6months, 30 days
  
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee: 69 years, 11 months, 12 days
  
• Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper: 68 years, 11 months, 14 days
  
• Author Marianne Williamson: 68 years, 6 months, 13 days 
  
• Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar: 60 years, 7 months, 27 days
  
• Maryland Rep. John Delaney: 57 years, 9 months, 5 days
  
• California Sen. Kamala Harris: 56 years, 3 months, 1 day
  
• New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: 54 years, 1 month, 12 days
  
• New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker: 51 years, 8 months, 25 days
  
• Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke: 48 years, 3 months, 26 days
  
• Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan: 47 years, 6 months, 5 days 
  
• Miramar, Florida mayor Wayne Messam: 46 years, 7 months, 14 days 
  
• Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro: 46 years, 4 month, 5 days
  
• Entrepreneur Andrew Yang: 46 years, 8 days 
  
• Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton: 42 years, 2 months, 28 days 
  
• California Rep. Eric Swalwell: 40 years, 2 months, 5 days 
  
• Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: 39 years, 9 months, 9 days
  
• South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg: 39 years, 2 days
  

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, 77, and former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, are the oldest contenders in the vast Democratic field. So far, they appear to be defying concerns about age as they sit together atop public opinion polls. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will turn 70 in June.
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and U.S. Representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Eric Swalwell are the youngest, with all three White House contenders under 40. U.S. Representative Seth Moulton is 40.
At a Buttigieg event in Des Moines, Iowa, Davis Chambers, 31, said his top priority was finding a candidate who could beat Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election. Like many in his age group, Chambers did not think youth was disqualifying but said advanced age made a candidate less attractive.
'I worry about having somebody who is close to 80 years old in the office,' Chambers said.
Trump, who turns 73 in June, would be the oldest president ever re-elected if he retains the White House. Former President Ronald Reagan, who was 73 at the time of his re-election, currently holds that title.
Former President John F. Kennedy was the youngest person elected to the White House, beginning his term at age 43 in 1961. The U.S. Constitution mandates presidents be at least 35.
The poll found many Democrats were generally wary of supporting older candidates.


Among Democrats ages 18 to 34, 54 percent said they were somewhat or much less likely to support a candidate over the age of 70.
Among 35-to-54-year-old Democrats, 58 percent said they were somewhat or much less likely to support a candidate who is over the age of 70, while 59 percent of Democrats aged 55 and older said the same.
Despite such concerns, Biden and Sanders lead the Democratic field for the 2020 presidential nomination in Reuters/Ipsos polling. Thirty percent of Democrats said they would vote for Biden and 15 percent said they supported Sanders in the latest Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll.
Sue Carrera, 56, a childcare worker from Inglewood, California, said she worried Biden and Sanders were too old to deal with the demands of being president.
'I mean, they are in their 80s at the end of their first term. The prospect of mental issues is a concern for me,' Carrera said over the weekend at a candidate forum in Las Vegas with union workers.
'I don't want [candidates] to be too inexperienced, but I don't want them to be old because then there is a possibility they might die in office,' she added.
The poll found younger candidates may see a benefit with younger voters but have trouble convincing some older voters that they are ready to lead.


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Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana is 37 years old, just a few years older than the constitutional minimum to be president


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Donald Trump was 70 when he took office in January 2017, beating Ronald reagan's previous record of 69 for a first-term commander-in-chief
Among 18-to-34-year-old Democrats, 49 percent said they were somewhat or much more likely to support a candidate under 40, while 28 percent said it did not matter. Twenty-three percent said they were less likely.
But among Democrats who are at least 35, 44 percent said they were less likely to support a candidate who is under 40.
Yiran Zhang, 24, a graduate student at Loyola University in Chicago, also attended the Las Vegas forum. Reflecting the polling showing that young adults are less likely than older Democrats to penalize a candidate for being over 70 or under 40, she said age was 'irrelevant.'
'What really matters is what you stand for, if you stand on the side of the working class,' Zhang said. 'I don't care what age you are.'
President Donald Trump said last Friday that he expects to make quick work of former Biden if he survives the grueling Democratic primary season. 
And he suggested the older Democrat is already showing his age on the campaign trail. Trump, 72, called himself 'a young, vibrant man.'
'I look at Joe, I don't know about him. I don't know,' he said. 'I would never say anyone's too old but I know they're all making me look very young both in terms of age and in terms of energy.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6984923/Biden-insists-China-not-competition-Romney-says-statement-not-age-well.html

[size=34]Biden insists China is 'not competition' for the U.S. - prompting Mitt Romney to tell him 'this will not age well' and Bernie Sanders to says he's 'wrong'[/size]

• Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States
  
  
• Claimed the Chinese are too busy straitening out regional issues and internal corruption to pose a threat to the United States' global hegemony 
  
  
• 'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,' Biden said. 'They're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not a — they're not competition for us'
  
  
• Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., warned Biden, 'This will not age well'
  
  
• Democratic competitor Bernie Sanders told Biden that he's 'wrong' in a tweet that accused China of siphoning off 3 million jobs from American workers
  
  

By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:29 EDT, 2 May 2019 | UPDATED: 09:50 EDT, 2 May 2019

     





Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States.
The politician who came out of retirement to compete for the Democratic nomination said the Chinese are too busy straitening out regional issues and internal corruption to pose a threat to the United States' global hegemony. 
'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,' Biden said at an event on his first swing through Iowa. 'I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not a — they're not competition for us.'


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Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States


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The remarks prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., to warn Biden, 'This will not age well'
[size=10][size=18]Joe Biden say that China is not a threat to the American economy




L[/size][/size]

The remarks prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., to warn Biden, 'This will not age well.'   
Democratic competitor Bernie Sanders told Biden that he's 'wrong' in a tweet that accused China of siphoning off 3 million jobs from American workers.
President Donald Trump had yet to respond to the claim as of Thursday morning, having switched the focus of his Twitter account from Biden to praise for the performance on Capitol Hill of Attorney General William Barr. 
He had spent a large chuck on of Wednesday morning taking aim at Biden's endorsement from a firefighters association. 
Biden addressed concerns about China's rising influence during a Wednesday campaign rally in a predominately rural state that's heavily affected by the trade war between Washington and Beijing. 
Chinese State media placed ads in an influential Iowa newspaper last fall in an attempt to turn public opinion against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Beijing's goods. He subsequently accused the communist nation of election meddling at a United Nation's Security Council meeting.


His ire diluted and Trump's administration's claimed this week that a trade deal with China that will minimize a massive trade deficit between the world's largest standalone economies is near completion.
Trump has accused the foreign nation of taking advantage of the U.S. and its leaders, like Biden's former boss and two-term President Barack Obama.
In Iowa City, Biden attempted to capitalize on his experience in the White House by reminding a crowd that he served as vice president for eight years and oversaw the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before that. 
He repeated a line he's been using for many years about his experience at the forefront of America's foreign affairs. 
'I've met virtually every major world leader...over the last 30 years, and that's not hyperbole, virtually every one,' he said.
Biden claimed that he does not 'know a single solitary one who would not change places with the problems the United States has' versus the problems they have.
'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. They can't even figure out how to deal with, the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the East, I mean in the West,' he said.
He added, 'They can't figure out how they're going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system.
The ex-senator then claimed that China is 'not competition for us' in the off-the-cuff remarks that came as he wandered back and forth across the stage.
Biden was referring to the conflict in the South China Sea and pervasive corruption inside the communist country's government. 
The remark was immediately swatted down by Sanders, who is a front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president.
'Since the China trade deal I voted against, America has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs. It’s wrong to pretend that China isn’t one of our major economic competitors,' he tweeted. 'When we are in the White House we will win that competition by fixing our trade policies.'
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6984447/Foreign-government-leases-Trump-World-Tower-stir-emoluments-concerns.html

[size=34]Seven foreign governments including Saudi Arabia's leased condos in one of Trump's New York towers in 2017 - and Congress was never told[/size]

• State Department has to give permission to foreign governments to rent apartments or houses - including in Trump World Tower, New York
  
  
• Building is 90-story tower beside the United Nations and is different from Trump Tower, where president lived before his inauguration
  
  
• Reuters investigation reveals it gave the go-ahead to Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Thailand and the European Union to lease in the tower
  
  
• But State Department did not ask Congress for permission for the leases
  
  
• May break emoluments clause, which prevents president taking money from foreign governments
  
  
• Trump remains in charge of his business empire but has passed day-to-day control to sons Don Jr. and Eric and executive Allen Weisselberg  
  
  

By REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 06:02 EDT, 2 May 2019 | UPDATED: 16:20 EDT, 2 May 2019



The U.S. State Department allowed at least seven foreign governments to rent luxury condominiums in New York's Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress, according to documents and people familiar with the leases, a potential violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause.
The 90-story Manhattan building, part of the real estate empire of Donald Trump, had housed diplomats and foreign officials before the property developer became president. 
But now that he is in the White House, such transactions must pass muster with federal lawmakers, some legal experts say. 
The emoluments clause bans U.S. officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional consent.

The rental transactions, dating from the early months of Trump's presidency and first revealed by Reuters, could add to mounting scrutiny of his business dealings with foreign governments, which are now the subject of multiple lawsuits.


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Tower in question: The Trump World Tower (center) is the tallest building near the United Nations building in New York and is entirely residential


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Leased: The State Department has to give permission to foreign governments to lease in the Trump World Tower - and anywhere else in the United States - but has not told Congress who it allowed to lease. Experts say it could be unconstitutional 



Friend and tenant: Saudi Arabia, whose de facto leader is Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, was one of the foreign governments which leased in the Trump World Tower after the inauguration in 2017
Congressional staffers confirmed to Reuters that the Trump World Tower lease requests were never submitted to Congress. 
Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said his committee has been 'stonewalled' in its efforts to obtain detailed information about foreign government payments to Trump's businesses.
'This new information raises serious questions about the President and his businesses' potential receipt of payments from foreign governments,' Cummings said in a statement to Reuters. 'The American public deserves full transparency.'
A State Department spokesperson referred Reuters to the Justice Department because the subject involved 'matters related to ongoing litigation.' 
The Justice Department declined to comment. The White House referred a request for comment to the State Department and the Trump Organization, which did not comment.
The 1982 Foreign Missions Act requires foreign governments to get State Department clearance for any purchase, lease, sale, or other use of a property in the United States.
Through the Freedom of Information Act, Reuters obtained diplomatic notes sent to the agency under this requirement from early 2015 until late 2017.
The records show that in the eight months following Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration, foreign governments sent 13 notes to the State Department seeking permission to rent or renew leases in Trump World Tower. 


That is more solicitations from foreign governments for new or renewed leases in that building than in the previous two years combined.
The governments of Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Thailand and the European Union got the green light to rent a combined eight units in Trump World Tower and followed through with leases, according to other documents viewed by Reuters and people familiar with the leases. 
Five of those governments - Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the European Union - had also sought to rent units there in 2015 and 2016, State Department records showed.
Reuters could not confirm whether the State Department signed off on two other lease requests from Algeria and South Korea and three additional requests from Kuwait.
'Letting this go without Congress knowing about it condones the creation of a second, opaque track of foreign policy,' said Harold Hongju Koh, a professor at Yale Law School and former legal adviser at the State Department. 
'What it might lead to is a group of countries enriching the people in power on the mistaken belief that it's going to improve their access.'
The 18-year-old luxury skyscraper is located next to the United Nations headquarters near the East River, and is not to be confused with Trump Tower, the Fifth Avenue landmark where Trump maintains a residence. 
Trump World Tower is controlled by a limited partnership owned by Trump and managed by the Trump Corporation, a Trump-owned company that draws its income from fees paid by unit owners, according to the building's financial records.
When privately-owned units are leased, their owners typically use the rental income to cover those common charges, according to unit owners and real estate experts interviewed by Reuters.
The State Department records did not make clear who owned the units in question.
The revenue Trump draws from foreign government business at his properties, such as the recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., has sparked lawsuits by U.S. lawmakers and the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia, alleging this income violates the emoluments clause.


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Family affair: Trump handed day-to-day control of his Trump companies to Eric Trump (far left), Don Trump Jr. (far right) and Allen Weisselberg (second right)
Trump's attorneys have argued in court that the Constitution only requires him to seek congressional approval for foreign emoluments offered in connection with his role as president. 
Trump has retained ownership of his global business interests while president, but handed off day-to-day control to his oldest sons and a longtime company executive.
On Tuesday, a U.S. federal judge denied Trump's motion to dismiss one of the emoluments lawsuits against him, saying Trump's narrow definition of emoluments was 'unpersuasive and inconsistent'. 
Courts may ultimately decide whether some of Trump's business dealings violate the Constitution.
Issuing such judgments is not the job of the State Department office in charge of reviewing foreign government property requests, according to Patrick Kennedy, who from 2007 to 2017 was the top State Department official in charge of the internal administration of the agency. 
He said that office's mandate is to screen for national security and diplomatic concerns, not for potential emolument violations.
If the State Department began obstructing requests from foreign governments to lease units in Trump-affiliated properties, he said, it could prompt them to retaliate against U.S. diplomats seeking housing in their territories.
'The State Department's interest in saying 'no' is probably zero if there's no security threat and we have good reciprocal relations with the countries,' Kennedy told Reuters.
According to the State Department records obtained by Reuters, which covered the period from January 2015 through September 2017, Trump World Tower was the only Trump-affiliated building in the United States where foreign governments sought to lease or buy units.
In 2017, the median monthly asking rent for units in Trump World Tower was $8,500, according to real estate website StreetEasy. That was more than 2.5 times the median in the surrounding neighborhood, known as Turtle Bay.
Some of the foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, had previously purchased property in the building, where the average unit currently sells for nearly $7 million, according to StreetEasy.
Mohammad Alkadi, a spokesman for the Saudi Mission to the United Nations, said Trump World Tower's prime location near U.N. headquarters was the kingdom's motivation to lease there.
'The governments pay for these units in the building not to get favors from Trump or anything, but just because it's very convenient and comfortable for us,' Alkadi said. He said he moved into his own unit in Trump World Tower at the end of 2017.
The Trump administration has closely aligned itself with Saudi Arabia on a host of issues, despite a CIA assessment that the country's crown prince ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and U.S. congressional opposition to American involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has driven millions of Yemenis to the brink of starvation.
Slovakia, another Trump World Tower renter, said in a statement that its lease was 'fully in line with U.S. legislation and our internal guidelines.' 
Slovakia's prime minister is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on May 3 to discuss security cooperation and other issues.
The Malaysian mission to the United Nations said it was not currently renting a unit in Trump World Tower when reached by phone in April.
It declined to comment on the unit it rented in 2017. That lease was confirmed to Reuters by a person familiar with the transaction.
All the other governments that sought to rent units after Trump's inauguration declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2017, the president earned more than $15 million in management and related fees through the properties managed by the Trump Corporation, according to the president's financial disclosure. The document did not reveal how much of that sum came from Trump World Tower.
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party animal - not! wrote:One of the many articles that explain the complexity of it, Donnamarie.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/europe-confronts-problem-of-returning-isis-fighters-1.3799392

Personally I don't think for one minute it's not been the subject of massive consideration - and of course all those countries involved doing exactly the same thing legally and having a common strategy...Trump is being unbelievably naive.

And of course the minute he pulls out of the area all those who have helped the West and done our job for us really i e the Kurds will immediately be slaughtered by the Turks who are longtime enemies and want their land.

Remember that ISIS came about because the Allies left Iraq in a very bad way and a mostly Sunni population were left in the hands of a Shia government!

PAN, thanks for that. I can appreciate the complexity of repatriating these ISIS fighters.
But if they aren’t sent home then what happens to all of these people being held in refugee camps. They can’t stay there forever. As far as Trump is concerned he’s a f**king idiot. Anything he says lacks any credibility. The fact that he’s threatening other countries to take back their own flies in the face of the fact that the U.S. denied a young woman from Alabama to return to the U.S. after going to Syria back in 2014. Blatant hypocrisy!

Mm, but not surprised when I hear that Omorosa (?) says he and Miller have a drawer full of crazy ideas to to announce and mix things up a bit with the press as a distraction..never the lives involved in such a thing.

The huge danger of them being stateless is of course that they will re-form Isis - which according to reports they are already doing, and that is why they release pix of al-Baghdadi to restir everything again...

Trump and his administration are just too stupid to realize this , too busy patting themselves on the back for ending issis 
which is a lie.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6989023/California-homeowner-shocked-racist-anonymous-letter.html

[size=34]Your interracial family is not wanted here': California father-of-five receives disgusting letter from racist neighbor telling him to 'vacate his new home in 60 days because this isn't the ghetto'[/size]

• Marc Yu found letter in mailbox of his Vacaville, California, home on Wednesday
  
  
• Filipino Yu and his Mexican wife Sandy live in the home with their five children
  
  
• Sick letter blasts his 'interracial family' and sneers that 'this is not the ghetto'
  
  
• Anonymous writer threatened to contact the 'landlord' and get them evicted
  
  
• Yu, who owns the home, was not intimidated and dismisses the 'stupid' letter 
  
  

By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:05 EDT, 3 May 2019 | UPDATED: 11:48 EDT, 3 May 2019

     



A California homeowner has received a shocking anonymous letter saying his 'interracial family is not welcome' in their neighborhood.
Mark Yu, who is of Filipino and Chinese descent, and his Mexican wife Sandy discovered the letter in the mailbox of their home in the Meadowlands area of Vacaville on Wednesday.
Yu, a 43-year-old San Francisco native, moved into the home with his wife and their five children ages two to 12 in November, according to SF Gate. 
'This isn't the ghetto,' the anonymous letter sneers. 'We may sound harsh, but your interracial family is not welcome here.'


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Yu, a 43-year-old San Francisco native, moved into the home with his wife and their five children ages two to 12 in November


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The shocking letter demanded that the family 'vacate' their home (above) within 60 days


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Yu found this letter in his mailbox on Wednesday, and posted it to Facebook
[size=10][size=18]Mixed-race family receives letter from racist neighbor




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The threatening letter gives the family 60 days to 'vacate' and promises to contact their 'landlord' and have them evicted otherwise.
Yu posted the letter on Facebook and received an outpouring of support. 
He said that many neighbors have been knocking on his door in order to assure him that they do welcome his family, and to express disgust at the letter. 
'Not everybody is a bad apple. There's more good people than there are bad people,' Yu told KTXL-TV. 
The family filed a police report, but investigators say that although the letter is contemptible it does not rise to the level of a crime. 
Neighbors praise the Yu family's kindness and say they have opened their home to homeless grandparents and a grandson, along with two women who struggled to find a place to live. 


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Mark Yu is of Filipino and Chinese descent, and his wife Sandy was born in Mexico


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The family moved into the home in November. They said most of their neighbors have been kind and welcoming, and have received an outpouring of support after getting the letter
Yu was especially shocked at the letter since in the houses along his block, there are at least seven interracial couples, KTVU-TV reported. 
It is not the first letter the family has received. Yu says that shortly after moving in, the family received a less aggressive letter urging them to clean up moving boxes left in their driveway.
He said a city code inspector was called and the family cleaned up the items.
Yu said the prior owner did not maintain the yard and it was mostly weeds, and that he has not had much time to work on improving it due to his job running a mortgage company branch.
He said he looks forward to the anonymous letter writer contacting his 'landlord', since he himself owns the home. 
'I'm not going to judge what kind of person this person is, but I'm gonna tell you this, is that what you did was stupid,' he told the Fox affiliate.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6991263/Trump-says-closely-monitoring-social-media-sites-bias-against-conservatives.html

[size=34]We have what's known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH!' Outraged Trump says he is 'closely monitoring' social media sites for bias against conservatives - after Facebook banned several far-right figures from their platform[/size]

• Alex Jones and Laura Loomer were among several right-wing commentators who were banned from Facebook and Instagram this week 
  
  
• On Friday, Trump hit back, implying that a social media crackdown on controversial content was actually an attack on conservatives
  
  
• He vowed to 'closely monitor' the popular sites for bias, before claiming that  'things are getting worse and worse for Conservatives on social media' 
  
  
• The president himself is a prolific user of social media, having tweeted more than 41,000 times  
  
  

By ANDREW COURT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 22:27 EDT, 3 May 2019 | UPDATED: 02:42 EDT, 4 May 2019

     




President Trump says he is 'closely monitoring'  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter after the social media giants removed a number of conservative figures from their platforms. 
Right-wing personalities Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer were banned from Facebook this week, as the site attempts to combat criticism that it spreads misinformation and hateful content. 
However, in a flurry of Tweets on Friday, the Commander-in-chief seemed to imply that the purge was merely an attack on right-wing voices and that shutting off their access to social media may be a violation of first amendment rights.  
'I am continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms. This is the United States of America — and we have what's known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH!' Trump wrote in one post. 

He added: 'We are monitoring and watching, closely!!'


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President Trump took to Twitter Friday to declare that he is monitoring social media sites for censorship of conservatives. It comes in the wake of Facebook's announcement that it was banning several far-right figures from its site 


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+7




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Trump shared a flurry of outraged tweets - clearly unimpressed by Facebook's recent purge of controversial users
Later, the president posted a tweet referencing Diamond & Silk, right-wing commentators who were briefly blocked from Facebook last year amid claims that their page was 'unsafe'.
'The wonderful Diamond and Silk have been treated so horribly by Facebook. They work so hard and what has been done to them is very sad - and we're looking into. 
'It's getting worse and worse for Conservatives on social media! ' he proclaimed. 
Trump then shared a link to a Breitbart article that discussed the social media bans of two more famous right-wing figures. 
'So surprised to see Conservative thinkers like James Woods banned from Twitter, and Paul Watson banned from Facebook!' he tweeted sarcastically. 
Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in on Facebook's recent purge. 
'The purposeful & calculated silencing of conservatives by @Facebook & the rest of the Big Tech monopoly men should terrify everyone. It appears they're taking their censorship campaign to the next level. 
'Ask yourself, how long before they come to purge you? We must fight back,' he implored. 
Despite the president hitting out at the social media giants, he is still a prolific user of Twitter. 
He has tweeted a whopping 41,600 times and he boasts an incredible 60 million followers. 


+7


Donald Trump Jr. joined his father in criticizing  Facebook and other big name social media sites 
On Thursday, Facebook announced that in addition to banning Yiannopoulos, Watson and Loomer, they had also culled Infowars founder Alex Jones from their site. 
They additionally blocked Paul Nehlen, a white nationalist who ran for Congress in 2018.
However, the social media giants have also barred other controversial voices who do not identify as conservative or right-wing.  
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was one figure who was blocked from the website, following accusations of antisemitism.  


+7


On Thursday, Facebook announced that in addition to banning Yiannopoulos, Watson and Loomer, they had also culled Infowars founder Alex Jones from their site (pictured is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) 


+7


Alt-right radio host Paul Joseph Watson, also a writer and conspiracy theorist, is among the right-wing personalities banned from Facebook this week
A Facebook spokesperson told Dailymail.com that it conducts a lengthy process to determine which people or groups it considers to have a violent or hateful mission.
Among the factors include whether or not the person has called for or directly carried out acts of violence against people based on characteristics like race, ethnicity or national origin. 


The firm also considers whether they're a self-described or identified follower of a hateful ideology, use hate speech or slurs in their bio on Facebook, Instagram or other social sites, and whether they've had pages, groups and accounts removed from Facebook or Instagram for violating its hate speech policies, the spokesperson added.  
Facebook's policies around dangerous content are further detailed on its site. 
The company first signaled a broader crackdown on content when, in March, it banned white nationalism and white separatist posts from its platform.
As part of the sweeping crackdown, Facebook said it would no longer allow posts that include statements like 'I am a proud white nationalist' and 'Immigration is tearing this country apart; white separatism is the only answer' to remain on its site. 

[size=34]WHAT DO FACEBOOK'S GUIDELINES FOR CONTENT SAY?[/size]

Facebook has disclosed its rules and guidelines for deciding what its 2.2 billion users can post on the social network. 
The full guidelines can be read here. Below is a summary of what they say: 
1. Credible violence
Facebook says it considers the language, context and details in order to distinguish casual statements from content that constitutes a credible threat to public or personal safety.
2. Dangerous individuals and organisations
Facebook does not allow any organizations or individuals that are engaged in terrorist, organized hate, mass or serial murder, human trafficking, organized violence or criminal activity.
3. Promoting or publicising crime
Facebook says it prohibit people from promoting or publicizing violent crime, theft, and/or fraud. It does not allow people to depict criminal activity or admit to crimes they or their associates have committed. 
4. Coordinating harm
The social network says people can draw attention to harmful activity that they may witness or experience as long as they do not advocate for or coordinate harm. 
5. Regulated goods
The site prohibits attempts topurchase, sell, or trade non-medical drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, and marijuana as well as firearms. 
6. Suicide and self-injury
The rules for 'credible violence' apply for suicide and self-injury. 
7. Child nudity and sexual exploitation of children
Facebook does not allow content that sexually exploits or endangers children. When it becomes aware of apparent child exploitation, we report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
8. Sexual exploitation of adults
The site removes images that depict incidents of sexual violence and intimate images shared without permission from the people pictured.
9. Bullying
Facebook removes content that purposefully targets private individuals with the intention of degrading or shaming them.
10. Harassment
Facebook's harassment policy applies to both public and private individuals.
It says that context and intent matter, and that the site will allow people to share and re-share posts if it is clear that something was shared in order to condemn or draw attention to harassment.  
11. Privacy breaches and image privacy rights
Users should not post personal or confidential information about others without first getting their consent, says Facebook. 
12. Hate speech
Facebook does not allow hate speech on Facebook because it says it creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion and in some cases may promote real-world violence. 
13. Graphic violence
Facebook will remove content that glorifies violence or celebrates the suffering or humiliation of others.
It will, however, allow graphic content (with some limitations) to help people raise awareness about issues.
14. Adult nudity and sexual activity
The site restricts the display of nudity or sexual activity.
It will also default to removing sexual imagery to prevent the sharing of non-consensual or underage content.
15. Cruel and insensitive
Facebook says it has higher expectations for content that defined as cruel and insensitive.
It defines this as content that targets victims of serious physical or emotional harm. 
16. Spam
Facebook is trying to prevent false advertising, fraud and security breaches.
It does not allow people to use misleading or inaccurate information to artificially collect likes, followers or shares. 
17. Misrepresentation
Facebook will require people to connect on Facebook using the name that they go by in everyday life.
18. False news
Facebook says that there is also a fine line between false news and satire or opinion. 
For these reasons, it won't remove false news from Facebook, but, instead, significantly reduce its distribution by showing it lower in News Feed.
19. Memorialisation
Facebook will memorialise accounts of people who have died by adding "Remembering" above the name on the person's profile. 
The site will not remove, update or change anything about the profile or the account. 
20. Intellectual property
Facebook users own all of the content and information that they post on Facebook, and have control over how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. 
21. User requests
Facebook say they will comply with:

• User requests for removal of their own account
  
• Requests for removal of a deceased user's account from a verified immediate family member or executor
  
• Requests for removal of an incapacitated user's account from an authorised representative
  

22. Additional protection of minors
Facebook complies with:

• User requests for removal of an underage account
  
• Government requests for removal of child abuse imagery depicting, for example:
  
• Beating by an adult
  
• Strangling or suffocating by an adult
  
• Legal guardian requests for removal of attacks on unintentionally famous minors
  
  

Nice to know drumpf is focused on the important things that face us. Heaven forbid a handful of hatemongers have to find a new platform for their rantings. Never mind that the country is falling apart and our government is becoming a pawn to a fascist wannabe.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6990877/Ex-Trump-aide-board-company-detains-migrant-kids.html

[size=34]Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly joins the board of a company that operates the largest facility for detaining migrant kids[/size]

• Caliburn International's CEO confirmed the appointment on Friday
  
  
• The company operates the largest facility for migrant children in the country
  
  
• About 2,500 kids are detained there after crossing the border without a parent
  
  
• Some in Congress have described 'prison-like' conditions at the Florida facility 
  
  
• Homestead facility is undergoing a huge expansion adding hundreds of beds 
  
  
• And the news was condemned by Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker 
  
  
• An executive order issued by Trump doesn't stop  Kelly from joining boards  
  
  

By LAUREN FRUEN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 17:57 EDT, 3 May 2019 | UPDATED: 09:05 EDT, 4 May 2019

     



Former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly has joined the board of a company that operates the largest facility for migrant children in the country, it was announced Friday.
Caliburn International's CEO James Van Dusen confirmed the appointment of the former Donald Trump cabinet member in a news release.
Some members of Congress have described 'prison-like' conditions in the facility in Homestead, Florida and the news has already been condemned by several senior democrats. 
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said it was 'corruption at its absolute worst,' and Sen. Cory Booker said Kelly's actions were 'disgusting.' 

U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who represents the district where the facility stands tweeted: 'This is unforgivable. It confirms what we knew about the President - that he and the people he surrounds himself with, like John Kelly, are willing to profit off the cruel detaining of immigrant children.' 
But CEO Van Dusen said: 'With four decades of military and humanitarian leadership, in-depth understanding of international affairs and knowledge of current economic drivers around the world, General Kelly is a strong strategic addition to our team.'
An executive order on ethics issued by President Donald Trump in 2017 doesn't appear to prevent Kelly and other White House officials from joining boards, but it does ban lobbying activities. 


+4


Former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly has joined the board of the conglomerate operating the largest facility for migrant children in the country


+4


An executive order on ethics issued by Trump in 2017 doesn't appear to prevent Kelly and other White House officials from joining boards, but it does ban lobbying activities. Trump and Kelly are pictured here in 2017 
The facility is undergoing a massive expansion, saying the dramatic spike in migrants' arrivals has increased the demand for space. 
It has added hundreds of beds in the past few weeks. About 2,500 children are detained there now, ages 13-17, after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent or guardian.
CBS News first reported on the board appointment in a Friday news report.
Kelly revealed the U.S. government was considering separating migrant families when he was Homeland Security secretary, saying it would be a deterrent for others considering migrating north. Kelly stepped down as chief of staff in January.
The Florida facility housed as many as 140 children who were separated from their parents last year.
Before joining the White House, Kelly was already affiliated with DC Capital Partners, the Washington private equity firm that formed the umbrella corporation behind the detention camp operator.
Kelly was seen last month touring the migrant teen detention camp in Homestead, Florida, where he was also spotted by activists protesting over the detention of children.
The new conglomerate formed last year by DC Capital Partners consolidated four companies. One of them is the facility contractor, called Comprehensive Health Services.


+4


About 2,500 children are detained at The Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Florida. The facility is undergoing a massive expansion, saying the dramatic spike in migrants' arrivals has increased the demand for space


+4


Children are seen as they walk through the facility in February. The facility is the nation's largest for housing migrant children


Among its executives, Caliburn also has a high-ranking military officer who advised President Donald Trump his first months in office, and a former Department of Defense inspector general.
'It appears to be a strategy of trying to leverage Washington insiders to help the company win contracts,' said Mandy Smithberger, a director at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog group.
The government recently gave the company new contracts to run other facilities in Texas and awarded it $340 million to expand its Florida operation in a no-bid phase.
The corporation's chief compliance officer, Lynne Halbrooks, served as Department of Defense's principal deputy inspector general from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2015. She is included in a 'revolving door' database by an independent watchdog group of military officials who are now working for companies they used to oversee.
The chief strategy officer for Caliburn is Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe, who was an assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from December 2015 to August 2017.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6991675/Omahas-Woodstock-Capitalists-celebrates-Buffett.html

[size=34]Warren Buffett says 'no textbook could have predicted the strange economy we have today' as he attends his firm's annual meeting dubbed 'Woodstock for Capitalists' in his Nebraska hometown[/size]

• Warren Buffett notes that unemployment remains its lowest since 1969, yet interest rates and inflation are not rising
  
  
• The U.S. government also continues to spend more money than it takes in taxes
  
  
• Buffett doesn't believe such conditions are sustainable for the long term 
  
  
• He is attending his firm, Berkshire Hathaway's, annual meeting Saturday 
  
  

By AFP
PUBLISHED: 02:43 EDT, 4 May 2019 | UPDATED: 12:49 EDT, 4 May 2019




Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has said the current economic environment is one that no one could have seen coming.
Buffett, 88, notes that the current climate is an unusual one with unemployment at the lowest levels for a generation, inflation and interest rates staying low and the U.S. government continuing to spend more money than it brings in.
'No economics textbook I know that was written in the first couple of thousand years that discussed even the possibility that you could have this sort of situation continue and have all variables stay more or less the same,' Buffett mused in a CNBC interview on Friday.


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Warren Buffett notes that unemployment remains its lowest since 1969, yet interest rates and inflation are not rising


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Speaking on CNBC Buffett notes how the U.S. continues to spend more money than it takes in


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A shareholder arranges her belongings under a large graphic of Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett. An estimated 40,000 people are expected in town for the event


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A shareholder and his son, both dressed in suits with pictures of Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, try to get a glimpse of Buffett as he arrives at the 2019 annual meeting


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Shareholders linedup before dawn to hear from billionaire investor Warren Buffett
'These conditions are not sustainable for the long term', Buffett said during the broadcast which came one day ahead of the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha this weekend.

'I don't think our present conditions can exist in terms of fiscal and monetary policy and various other elements across the political landscape,' he said. 'I think it will change, I don't know when, or to what degree. But I don't think this can be done without leading to other things.'   


The figures tell the story. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in April on Friday, the lowest since 1969.
Inflation was up just 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in March, well below the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target.


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Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett walks through the exhibit hall as shareholders gather to hear from the billionaire investor


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Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is surrounded by press and fans as he arrives at the 2019 annual shareholders meeting 


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The current economic environment is one that no one could have seen coming, Warren Buffett said


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Shareholders gather to hear from billionaire investor Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska


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Shareholders try to get a glimpse of Warren Buffett (not pictured), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway,


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Buffett doesn't believe today's current economic conditions are sustainable for the long term


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A cutout of Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett holds Duracell Batteries during a shareholders shopping day in Omaha
The third-richest man in the world also revealed that his firm has been buying shares of Amazon.
On Saturday, he will appear at the annual shareholder meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway empire.
The 'Oracle of Omaha' and his 95-year-old business partner Charlie Munger will take more than five hours of shareholder questions posed by three journalists.
Two questions are sure to come up, as they did last year: 'Who will succeed him?' And 'When does he intend to retire?'
Buffett will also meet privately with investors and business owners, many of whom are making the trek to Nebraska.


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Jaymee Wei of Taiwan poses with a life-size photo of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett


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He is attending his firm, Berkshire Hathaway's, annual meeting Saturday
Last year, about 40,000 people made the trip to Omaha, a leafy city home to about 410,000 residents, to hear him speak. Lines start forming at 4am to enter the theater and by 8am all the seats are gone.
Unlike other annual meetings, the goal here is not to release company results but to hear Buffett identify companies that he might invest in, or from which he might withdraw his money.
Does he believe in the strength of the sharing economy, symbolized by companies like Uber and Airbnb?
What does he think of artificial intelligence and self-driving cars?
David Kass, finance professor at University of Maryland, has made the trip each year for the past decade, sometimes with MBA students, a number of whom were granted private meetings with Buffett.
'It's pretty much a hobby,' said Kass, a Berkshire shareholder since 1985 and the author of a blog on Buffett.
This year he invited 200 of his students to follow the proceedings along with him, broadcast live in one of the university's auditoriums.
Berkshire Hathaway's meeting has been dubbed 'Woodstock for Capitalists,' with 'festival-goers' hailing from the Who's Who of the American business community.


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People pass an illustration of Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, during the 2019 annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska dubbed 'Woodstock for Capitalists'
In addition to well-known names like billionaire Bill Gates - Buffett's friend and bridge partner - business executives and investors come to seek the approval of the well-liked, folksy mogul at a time when appearing elitist can be a curse.
'He sets a great example for the leaders, especially business leaders, setting a great example for young people. He gives his money to help other people... and I think there is something we are missing now in this world,' said Indian millionaire Paul Singh, 68, who became an angel investor after the sale of his Primus Telecommunications company.
Singh's son Jay Phoenix, 32, a psychiatrist who became a millionaire after selling his startup, said Buffett represents a long view.
'Because you are getting wealthy and you are hitting those numbers, it doesn't mean that your lifestyle has to change that much,' he said. 'It's... about how you treat other people and the integrity that you have.'
Buffett, who is worth almost $90 billion, still lives in a modest house about 10 minutes outside downtown Omaha that he bought in 1958.
Apart from surveillance cameras, no other security is visible, but if a visitor takes photos, an agent will come out and ask 'nicely' what they will be used for.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6992165/Justice-Clarence-Thomas-moment-experts-say.html

[size=34]'Terrifying to many progressives': Justice Clarence Thomas is expected to play a pivotal role on the increasingly-conservative Supreme Court as its longest-serving member[/size]

• Legal scholars say it would be wise to pay closer attention to Thomas, 70, who became 'senior associate justice' after Anthony Kennedy retired last summer
  
  
• Many Americans know Thomas from his 1991 confirmation hearing, when he was accused of sexual harassment by former employee Anita Hill
  
  
• Thomas is also a staunch conservative who recently was joined on the court by President Trump's right-leaning nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh
  
  
• Thomas is an 'originalist' who believes in interpreting the Constitution as it's written, not inferring its intended meaning in more modern times
  
  
• He also tends to be less bound by legal precedent than other conservative justices and more willing to make sweeping moves
  
  
• Conservative justices are now firmly in control of the court, which is expected to rule on issues like abortion, gun control and LGBT rights in the near future
  
  
• Thomas is on a court with at least four votes for some 'pretty radical' decisions, says the author of a new book about Thomas due out in September
  
  
• Another expert said Thomas' views may now have more sway, which is 'terrifying to many progressives' 
  
  
• The question is whether the court's more conservative justices can get Chief Justice John Roberts, a more moderate conservative, to go along with them
  
  
• Thomas has stated he doesn't plan on retiring for the next 20 or 30 years
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 08:51 EDT, 4 May 2019 | UPDATED: 18:18 EDT, 4 May 2019

     

• [email=?subject=Read%20this:%20Justice%20Clarence%20Thomas%20is%20expected%20to%20play%20a%20pivotal%20role%20on%20the%20increasingly-conservative%20Supreme%20Court%20as%20its%20longest-serving%20member&body=Justice%20Clarence%20Thomas%20is%20expected%20to%20play%20a%20pivotal%20role%20on%20the%20increasingly-conservative%20Supreme%20Court%20as%20its%20longest-serving%20member%0A%0AThomas%2C%2070%2C%20became%20the%20high%20court%27s%20longest-serving%20justice%2C%20the%20%27senior%20associate%20justice%2C%27%20when%20Justice%20Anthony%20Kennedy%20retired%20last%20summer.%20He%20is%20consistently%20on%20the%20court%27s%20far%20right%20on%20rulings.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6992165%2FJustice-Clarence-Thomas-moment-experts-say.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top%0A%0A%0AMost%20Read%20Articles%3A%0A%0AMilitary%20plane%20carrying%20143%20people%20skids%20off%20the%20runway%20and%20crashes%20into%20a%20RIVER%20during%20botched%20landing%20at%20Jacksonville%20airport%C2%A0%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6991423%2FPlane-carrying-142-people-crashes-RIVER-Jacksonville-airport.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0ABig%20spender%21%20Billionaire%20Elon%20Musk%20takes%20girlfriend%20Grimes%20on%20date-night%20in%20Malibu%20just%20hours%20after%20announcing%20plan%20to%20buy%20%2425m%20of%20Tesla%20stock%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6991901%2FElon-Musk-takes-girlfriend-Grimes-date-night-Malibu.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0AMeghan%20is%20%27comfortable%27%20with%20Harry%20and%20mother%20Doria%20by%20her%20side%20as%20she%20prepares%20to%20give%20birth%20-%20as%20Royal%20fans%20hope%20%27Jedi%20Baby%20Sussex%27%20is%20born%20on%20international%20Stars%20Wars%20Day%20today%C2%A0%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6991853%2FWait-Baby-Sussex-Harry-Meghan-silence-date-sends-social-media-meltdown.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A]e[/email]
  

Clarence Thomas has been a Supreme Court justice for nearly three decades. It may finally be his moment.
Many Americans know Thomas, 70, from his bruising 1991 confirmation hearing, when he was accused of sexual harassment charges by former employee Anita Hill - charges he denied.
People may know he's a conservative and has gone years without speaking during arguments at the court.
But scholars say it would be wise to pay closer attention to Thomas.


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Legal scholars say it would be wise to pay closer attention to Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been the 'senior associate justice' on the Supreme Court since Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018


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Many Americans know Thomas from his 1991 confirmation hearing, when he was accused of sexual harassment charges by former employee Anita Hill (center)
He is now the longest-serving member of a court that has recently gotten more conservative, putting him in a unique and potentially powerful position, and he's said he doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon.

With President Donald Trump's nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh now on the court, conservatives are firmly in control as the justices take on divisive issues such as abortion, gun control and LGBT rights.
Thomas, for the first time, is on a court where there are at least four votes for some 'pretty radical' decisions, said political science professor Corey Robin, the author of a Thomas book due out in September.
Robin says the question will be whether the court's more conservative justices - Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito - can get Chief Justice John Roberts, a more moderate conservative, to go along.
Thomas became the high court's longest-serving justice, the 'senior associate justice,' when Justice Anthony Kennedy retired last summer.


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Clarence Thomas is sworn in to the Supreme Court in Washington, by Justice Byron White on October 18, 1991. Scholars say Thomas is an 'originalist' who believes in interpreting the Constitution as it's written, the way its authors intended


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Thomas is also a staunch conservative who recently was joined on the court by President Trump's right-leaning nominees Neil Gorsuch (top left) and Brett Kavanaugh (top right)
But unlike Kennedy, who sat at the court's ideological center and was most often the deciding vote when the court split 5-4, Thomas is consistently on the court's far right.
That's won him praise from Trump. As a presidential candidate, he called Thomas 'highly underrated.' Trump said Thomas has 'been so consistent for so long, and we should give him credit.'
More than 20 of the men and women Thomas mentored as law clerks have gone on to hold political appointments in the Trump administration or been nominated to judgeships by Trump.
Thomas and his wife, Virginia, herself a well-known conservative activist, have dined with the current President and First Lady.
Elizabeth Wydra, president of the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center, acknowledged that Thomas' views may now have more sway, something she described as 'terrifying to many progressives.'


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(Front row, left to right) US Supreme Court Justices Elena Kegan, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservative justices are now firmly in control of the court, which is expected to rule on issues like abortion, gun control and LGBT rights in the near future


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Thomas and his wife, Virginia (left), herself a well-known conservative activist, have dined with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump
Still, Thomas' views can be so far from his fellow justices that neither Roberts nor the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist before him have assigned Thomas big, landmark opinions on the belief that he won't be able to keep together the votes of his colleagues, said Ralph Rossum, the author of a book on Thomas.
Instead, Thomas often writes separately, speaking only for himself. Some critics dismiss those solo opinions as un-influential, but Rossum disagrees.
'He stakes out a position more forthrightly or vigorously than other justices are willing to go, but they're kind of sucked along in his wake,' Rossum said, adding that, like a magnet, 'Thomas drags the court in his direction. They may not go as far as he goes, but they go further than they would have otherwise.'
Some of the areas of law where, over time, Thomas has pulled the court closer to his positions include voting rights, campaign finance, and the Second Amendment, Robin and Rossum said.


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Thomas' far-right rulings have earned him praise from President Donald Trump. More than 20 of the men and women Thomas mentored as law clerks have gone on to hold political appointments in the Trump administration or been nominated to judgeships by Trump


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Thomas is now on a court with at least four votes for some 'pretty radical' decisions, according to political science professor Corey Robin, the author of a Thomas book due out in September
If it were up to Thomas alone, the high court would be willing to make sweeping moves. While the court is typically cautious about overturning its past decisions, Thomas, who as an originalist, believes in reading the Constitution as those who wrote it meant.
He feels less bound by precedent than other justices.
Just this term, Thomas called on the court to reconsider a landmark 1964 First Amendment case, describing it and later decisions extending it as 'policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.'
He also criticized a 1963 Supreme Court decision that guarantees a lawyer for anyone too poor to hire one. And he equated the court's Roe v. Wade abortion decision with its Dred Scott decision, which said African Americans weren't citizens, labeling both 'notoriously incorrect.'


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Thomas recently called on the court to reconsider a landmark 1964 First Amendment case, describing it and later decisions extending it as 'policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law'
He also wrote an opinion rebuking his colleagues for declining to hear cases involving states' efforts to strip Medicaid money from Planned Parenthood, a decision Thomas described as 'abdicating our judicial duty.' Alito and Gorsuch agreed.
If Thomas' writing can be attention-getting, he personally keeps a low profile. Thomas shies away from public speaking, describing himself as an introvert. He once explained: 'My personality is not such that I enjoy public appearances.'
At the high court, Thomas rarely asks questions during arguments, a contrast with his vocal colleagues. When in March he asked a question during arguments for the first time in three years, it was headline news.
But colleagues and court staff know Thomas as gregarious.


'Clarence knows the name of every employee in the courthouse, from the lowest position to the highest... with virtually all of them he knows their families, their happinesses and their tragedies,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor told an audience in 2014 at Yale, where both she and Thomas attended law school.
Over the past year, speculation has intensified about whether Thomas might retire, letting Trump nominate a like-minded, conservative justice.
But Thomas, who declined an Associated Press interview request, said in public comments recently that he's not retiring, not even in 20 or 30 years.
If so, Thomas is on track to be the longest-serving justice in history in 2028, when he'll celebrate his 80th birthday. He is currently the court's third-oldest member, behind Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, and Justice Stephen Breyer, 80.
Yale law professor Akhil Amar said part of the appeal of staying on the court for Thomas has to include his increasing influence. Amar said he could see Thomas justify staying this way: 'It's a pretty good job. I'm having fun, and I'm winning.'
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[size=34]Presidential hopeful Joe Biden blasts Donald Trump for allowing 'Jim Crow to sneak back in' by attempting to introduce tougher voting laws[/size]

• Joe Biden charged that Jim Crow is 'sneaking back in' as he criticized Donald Trump and Republican's efforts to reconfigure voting rules 
  
  
• Biden drew several hundred people to a community center in Columbia as he opened his presidential campaign in South Carolina
  
  
• He recalled racial segregation laws of the pasts as he took a swipe at Trump  
  
  
• 'You've got Jim Crow sneaking back in, frankly I've had it up to here,' he charged
  
  
• The former President is trying to appeal to black voters whose backing is crucial
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and LEAH MCDONALD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 01:32 EDT, 4 May 2019 | UPDATED: 20:45 EDT, 4 May 2019

     




Former Vice President Joe Biden charged Saturday that Jim Crow is 'sneaking back in' as he emphasized the need to ensure voting rights are protected, which he said is lacking under the Trump administration.
Biden drew several hundred people to a community center in Columbia as he opened his presidential campaign in South Carolina, home of the first-in-the-South primary and where black voters play a major role in the Democratic nominating process.
In criticizing Republican attempts to reconfigure voting rules, including establishing identification requirements, Biden recalled the racial segregation laws of the past known as Jim Crow.


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Presidential hopeful Joe Biden, (left),  has attacked Donald Trump, (right), for letting 'Jim Crow sneak back in' by attempting to reconfigure voting rules in his latest campaign appearance
'You've got Jim Crow sneaking back in,' he said, and added: 'You know what happens when you have an equal right to vote? They lose.'

Biden centered much of his speech around the need to restore decency to the White House, continuing to make his campaign a full-throttle assault against President Donald Trump.
'Quite frankly, I've had it up to here,' he said. 'Your state motto is, "While I breathe, I hope.'" 'It's not a joke. We're breathing, but God, we have got to have hope.'
Biden's initial campaign agenda to South Carolina included a fundraiser and a Sunday morning visit to a black church in Columbia.


He opened his latest run for president with explicit appeals to white, working-class voters across the Midwest, pledging his support for unions and promising to rebuild the middle class. 
Now, Biden is trying to gauge whether his message will resonate among black voters whose backing will be crucial in South Carolina and elsewhere.
Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. The laws, which existed for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until 1968, were meant to return Southern states to a two-tier class structure by marginalizing black Americans. 


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Biden recalled racial segregation laws of the pasts as he took a swipe at Trump. He is pictured taking photos with supporters following the first rally of his 2020 campaign on Saturday


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Biden centered much of his speech around the need to restore decency to the White House
The dawn of the 20th century saw states across the south ratcheting up Jim Crow laws, affecting every section of daily life. 
Laws forbade African Americans from living in white neighborhoods and segregation was enforced in most public areas. 
Signs posted at town and city limits warning African Americans that they were not welcome were also a familiar sight. The post-World War II era saw an increase in civil rights activities in the black community, with a focus on ensuring that black citizens were able to vote. 
This heralded the era of the Civil Rights Movement which resulted in the gradual removal of Jim Crow laws in various states. 
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended discrimination and segregation that became embedded in society by Jim Crow laws. 


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Biden claimed the Trump administration was allowing 'Jim Crow to sneak back in.' He was referring to a set of laws that legalized racial segregation. The regime existed for about 100 years from the post-Civil War era until 1968 with the start of the Civil Rights Movement 


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Laws also forbade African Americans from living in white neighborhoods and segregation was enforced in most public areas across the South
Meanwhile the latest poll of Democrat presidential primary voters shows a surge in support for Joe Biden, who has opened up a thirty point-lead over Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll poll was conducted from April 30 to May 1, just days after Biden announced he would be joining the crowded Democratic field for the 2020 election.
Biden led the field with 44 per cent of respondents indicating that they were 'most likely' to vote for him in the primary election. Sanders logged 14 per cent. 
Following those two were: Senator Kamala Harris with 9 per cent, Senator Elizabeth Warren with 5 per cent, and Senator Cory Booker tied with Beto O'Rourke at 3 per cent.


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The latest poll of Democrat presidential primary voters shows a surge in support for Joe Biden, who has opened up a thirty point-lead over Senator Bernie Sanders. He is pictured posing for  photos with audience members during a rally in Des Moines on Wednesday 


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Biden has attacked many of the policy areas and changes presided over Donald Trump, (pictured), since launching his presidential campaign last month 
'The Biden surge is significant and greater than expected,' Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, told The Hill. 'His launch was super successful and he has opened up a significant lead.' 
The new survey was conducted online and included 1,536 registered voters. Of those, 259 self-identified Democrats were asked about the party's primary field, and the results were weighted for demographics. 
This weekend, Biden is focusing his 2020 White House campaign on South Carolina while several other Democratic candidates are spending time in Iowa, another early-voting state.
He opened his latest run for president with explicit appeals to white, working-class voters across the Midwest, pledging his support for unions and promising to rebuild the middle class. 
Iowa is the focus this weekend for some of his rivals, including Warren, Sanders, O'Rourke and Senator Amy Klobuchar. 
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper are campaigning in New Hampshire.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7000893/US-China-trade-war-threatens-world-economy-IMF-warns.html

[size=34]Trump's trade face-off with China is 'a threat to the global economy' claims IMF chief Christine Lagarde after the President's vow to get tough if tomorrow's talks fail[/size]

• Christine Lagarde told US and China to end row 'in a way that satisfies everyone' 
  
  
• She also warned that failing to do so would 'threaten the world economy' 
  
  
• Negotiators are due to meet in Washington this week to hammer out trade deal 
  
  
• Trump has threatened to increase or impose tariffs of $555billion of Chinese goods unless a deal can be reached 
  
  

By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE and WIRES
PUBLISHED: 05:13 EDT, 7 May 2019 | UPDATED: 05:15 EDT, 7 May 2019

     




International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde has warned that the US and China are threatening the global economy with their tensions over trade.
Ms Lagarde called on the two countries to resolve their issues 'in a way that is satisfying to everyone' as negotiators prepare to meet in Washington on Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference at France's finance ministry, Ms Lagarde added: 'Clearly tensions between the United States and China are the threat to the global economy.'
Her warning comes after Donald Trump threatened to increase or impose tariffs on a total of $555billion of Chinese goods on Friday unless the dispute can be resolved.  


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Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, has urged Beijing and the US to work out their trade differences 'in a way that is satisfying to everyone'


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Lagarde also warned that a trade war between the two economic superpowers 'threatens the global economy' (file image)
[size=10][size=18]World stocks are rattled as Trump makes another trade threat




L[/size][/size]
In a pair of tweets, Trump said he would increase tariffs on $220billion of imports from 10 per cent to 25 per cent and impose fresh tariffs on an additional $325billion of goods on Friday in an attempt to pressure Beijing into negotiating.
America accuses China of using underhanded tactics to gain an unfair advantage in the technology market, and wants to redress a longstanding trade deficit.
Ms Lagarde's warning echoes that of billionaire investor Warren Buffett who said Monday that a trade war would be 'bad for the whole world'.
The Berkshire Hathaway CEO acknowledged that in negotiations it is sometimes necessary to 'talk tough', but said threatening a trade conflict is the 'nuclear' option. 
Speaking to CNBC, Buffett said: 'If we actually have a trade war it will be bad for the whole world, and could be very bad depending on the extent of the war.
'But there's times in negotiations when you have to talk tough. The one thing you can't do is shake your fist first then shake your finger later...


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Donald Trump threatened to hike tariffs on $220billion of Chinese goods and impose fresh charges on $325billion more on Sunday, ahead of talks in Washington this week


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Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, has warned that a US-China trade war would be 'bad for the whole world' after Trump threatened Beijing with further tariffs on Sunday
'You have to meet (the threat) after a while otherwise it doesn't mean anything...
'It's a dangerous game. It doesn't mean that it's a game that shouldn't be engaged in, but it is a dangerous game.' 
Speaking about US-China relations, Buffett also predicted that the pair will be the economic powerhouses of the world 'for the next 100 years'. 
Many analysts believe Trump's remarks are only intended to put pressure on the delegation traveling from Beijing to Washington for talks on Wednesday this week, but they caused panic among wary investors. 
The threat of increased sanctions has been looming for some time, and Trump has  twice pushed back deadlines for an increase, in January and again March. 
But on Sunday, Trump, who has called himself a 'tariff man,' said he's losing patience.
'The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!' Trump tweeted.
The two countries are locked in a high-stakes dispute over China's push to establish itself as a technological super power.


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Trump has repeatedly accused China of exploiting the US on trade, including using underhand tactics such as cybertheft, and wants to redress the balance of power 


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Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down on Monday in the wake of Trump's tweets


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Shanghai's Composite index was also reporting losses at Monday closing time

The U.S. charges that China is resorting to predatory tactics - including cybertheft and forcing foreign companies to hand over technology - in a drive to establish Chinese companies as world leaders in advanced industries such as robotics and electric vehicles.
The administration has repeatedly suggested that the negotiators are making progress. A month ago, Trump said that the two countries were 'rounding the turn' and predicted that 'something monumental' would be achieved in the next few weeks.
But last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin seemed to temper expectations, suggesting that Washington was willing to 'move on' if it can't get the deal it wants.
A substantive deal would require China to rethink the way it pursues its economic ambitions, abandoning or scaling back subsidies to its companies, easing up on the pressure for foreign companies to share trade secrets, and giving them more access to the Chinese market.
Philip Levy, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a White House economist under President George W. Bush, said the talks are too complicated for Trump's high-pressure tactics to work. 'The president treats this like we're haggling over the price of a used car,' Levy said.


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Meanwhile in Europe, Paris's CAC index showed the downturn had gone global


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Germany's DAX also reported sharp losses on Monday as the markets reacted to Trump
Trump has made a priority of shaking up American trade policy.
As a candidate for the presidency, Trump raged repeatedly about alleged Chinese perfidy - so much so that a video mashup of him spitting out the word 'China' went viral and collected more than 15 million views on Youtube.com.
Trump charged that previous administrations, gullible and weak, had let China get away with abusive trade practices, accepting empty promises from Beijing and allowing the U.S.-China economic relationship to grow ever more lopsided. As evidence, he pointed to America's vast U.S. trade deficit with China - $379 billion last year, by far the biggest with any country in the world.
Once he took office, Trump's relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, seemed to get off to a good start. The two men shared chocolate cake and amiable conversation at Trump's resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in April 2017. A few weeks later, China agreed to open its market U.S. beef, cooked chicken, and natural gas in what Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called a 'herculean accomplishment.'

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The romance faded. In March 2018, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a report accusing China of using predatory tactics to strengthen its tech companies.
Last July, the Trump administration gradually began slapping import taxes on Chinese goods to pressure Beijing into changing its policies. It now has imposed 10% tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports and 25% tariffs on another $50 billion. The Chinese have retaliated by targeting $110 billion in U.S. imports.
The fight between the world's two biggest economies is raising worries about global economic growth. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and others have downgraded their forecasts for the world economy, saying the U.S.-China standoff is reducing world trade and creating uncertainty for companies trying to decide where to buy supplies, build factories, and make investments.
Trump has portrayed his tariffs as a moneymaker for the United States and a benefit to the U.S. economy.


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Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (left) mt in the Oval Office last month during the previous round of trade talks


+12


China sends countless shipping containers like these 40-footers to the U.S. every year, and the U.S. sends far less back in goods and services



But a March study by economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Columbia University, and Princeton University found that the burden of Trump's tariffs - including taxes on steel, aluminum, solar panels, and Chinese imports - falls entirely on U.S. consumers and businesses who buy imported products. By the end of last year, the study found, they were paying $3 billion a month in higher taxes and absorbing $1.4 billion a month in lost efficiency.
Nonetheless, the overall U.S. economy has remained healthy. On Friday, the government reported that the U.S. unemployment rate had fallen to the lowest level in half a century.
The prospect of higher tariffs and heightened tensions could alarm investors when markets open Monday. 'When the president puts his foot down, it makes the market go down,' Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, wrote in a research note Sunday. 'Tariff man is back just in time to make the stock market dive, dive, dive.'

I'm not convinced he cares, Christine, but well done for speaking out.....

Thanks Annemarie

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7001183/Homophobic-donor-withdraws-7-600-donation-cancer-stricken-toddler-realizing-parents-lesbians.html

[size=34]Fury as homophobic donor withdraws her $7,600 donation to cancer-stricken 18-month-old toddler after realizing the girl's parents are lesbians[/size]

• Tiffany and Albree Shaffer, 26, from Ohio, had a life saving donation revoked
  
  
• Aaron Jackson, 37, offered to match required sum after the blatant homophobia
  
  
• Parents say they would thank homophobic donor for attention brought to Callie
  
  
• 18-month Callie was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, on January 8 and is deemed high risk
  
  

By MILLY VINCENT FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 07:30 EDT, 7 May 2019 | UPDATED: 07:34 EDT, 7 May 2019

     





A homophobic donor withdrew her $7,600 donation destined to deliver life saving treatment to a 18-month-old with cancer after learning that her parents are two women. 
Tiffany and Albree Shaffer, 26, were in the hospital waiting for yet more results of little Callie's treatment when they received a hateful Facebook message informing them of the donor's change of heart earlier this month.
The couple were devastated learn the would-be donor had backed out of giving them $7,600 to cover the 18-month-old's medical bills after discovering they were in a same sex relationship.


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18-month-old Callie Shaffer (centre) with her family; brother Tyler, seven, and parents Tiffany and Albree (left) Shaffer, 26. A $7,600 donation towards the care of Callie was removed after the donor found her parents were a same sex couple



However in a heart-warming twist, another benefactor named Aaron Jackson, 37, offered to match the required sum after being dismayed at the blatant homophobia.
Charity worker Aaron felt compelled to step in after claiming to have had a donor refuse to back his charity when they discovered they advocated LGBT rights.
Now Albree, from Cincinnati, Ohio, US, who quit her childcare business to care for Callie, says the generous donation will mean they have the time to focus on battling their daughter's neuroblastoma.


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The message sent to Callie's parents as they had their hopes of funding her treatment dashed by a homophobic donor


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Callie Shaffer receives treatment for stage four cancer in hospital. Callie was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, on January 8 and is deemed high risk because the advanced and aggressive cancer has metastasized to her bones
Now Albree, who quit her childcare business to care for Callie, says the generous donation will mean they have the time to focus on battling their daughter's neuroblastoma.
'Sorry. I'll still pray for her though but maybe it's God's way of getting your attention that she need's a mommy and a daddy, not 2 mommy's.'
However upon hearing about it, Aaron contacted them and said: 'I heard that you lost 7,600 because you two are lesbians.
'Well, I'm giving you $7,600 because you are wonderful parents that are fighting for your child.'
Albree said: 'We were already scared and stressed out and then we received that disgusting message.


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+15



Callie only began showing symptoms of illness back in December last year when the toddler stopped eating, drinking and wanted to be held all the time


+15


Callie Shaffer with brother Tyler (left) and parents Tiffany and Albree (right). Albree quit her childcare business to care for Callie


+15


Aaron Jackson, 37, was the kind donor who stepped in to help the family and fund the tot's cancer treatment after being appalled by the homophobic donor
'First we were shocked then disgusted.
'How can someone write something like that when we're already so down?
'We didn't reply and haven't heard from her since, but we've heard from others that she's since deleted her page.
'We're still shocked [that Aaron said he would donate so much]. I cried when I found out.'
'It was confusing because we weren't sure it was legit but he said 'we deserved it'.
'We do believe that maybe that woman [who withdrew her donation] should have an education class, because people can be afraid of what they don't have the knowledge of. It doesn't matter who cares for the child.
'I would say thank you to that woman now, because she's [inadvertently] brought so much awareness for Callie's story.'


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Callie playing with her doll while in hospital. The adorable girl wears a bow hair band as she receives treatment in hospital  
Aaron, who is president of non-profit humanitarian organisation Planting Peace and routinely helps at orphanages and crises across the globe, said experiencing something similar from a donor prompted him to step in.
Aaron, Destin, Florida, said: 'When I heard Callie's story, it really struck home for me on many levels.
'A donor pulled their support of our orphanage when Planting Peace started advocating LGBT rights.
'It's truly unbelievable to think about the similarities between the two situations.
'You have children going through horrific situations, they are vulnerable and need love and support.
'How anyone could put their issues with the LGBT community ahead of a child's life is heartbreaking.
'Not five minutes after learning that Callie lost the donation, I gave the full amount.
'Soon after, Planting Peace launched a fundraiser and now we have $10,000 for little Callie.
'My goal was to raise money to replace what she took away, but also to make sure that Callie knows there are many more people who love her in this world than those who feel the way that this one person felt.'


+15




+15



After an x-ray showed a very large mass in Callie's abdomen biopsies were ordered. They got the devastating results that the cancer had spread the following day, coinciding with the day the couple went to court to finalize their legal adoption of Callie
Callie was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, on January 8 and is deemed high risk because the advanced and aggressive cancer has metastasized to her bones.
However she only began showing symptoms of illness back in December last year.
Albree said: 'She wasn't eating or drinking that much. She wasn't playing that much.
'We'd put her in her playroom but she would just lie there. She just wanted to be constantly held and would cry unless we were holding her.
'She was very lethargic and just wanted to be cuddled all the time.
'This went on for about two weeks where it got to the point she wasn't drinking or eating at all.
'We took her to the doctors who said she wasn't worried because she wasn't dehydrated and she sent us home.'
Tiffany, 36, and Albree took her for a second opinion where she was sent home with a ten-day course of antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection and the start of an ear infection.
After no sign of improvement they reached out to a nursing friend and were advised to take her to the Emergency Room.
Albree said: 'So on January 1 we took her in and that's about the time we started to realise she was starting to become very bloated, which was odd.


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Aaron Jackson helping at an orphanage. Mr Jackson is president of non-profit humanitarian organisation Planting Peace and routinely helps at orphanages and crises across the globe, said experiencing something similar from a donor prompted him to step in


+15


The couple saved up to harvest an ovary so that Callie has more chance of being fertile following her treatment
'Normally that's how we could tell she had been eating but, because she hadn't, that's when the doctors become very concerned, especially when we told them about her other symptoms.
'After checking her breathing she was sent her for an x-ray. That's when they sat us down and told us this wasn't good.
'It showed a very large mass in her abdomen and he told us he was pretty sure it was neuroblastoma.
'We didn't know what that was and he didn't really want to say too much to us, without a biopsy, and being sure, so we Googled it and did our own research.'
The family were rushed to Cincinnati Children's Hospital and were kept there for several days.
Following a series of scans, Callie finally had a biopsy done on January 7.
They got the results the following day, coinciding with the day the couple went to court to finalise their legal adoption of Callie.
When they returned to the hospital they were told the devastating results of the biopsy.


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Callie Shaffer sticks her tongue out with mother Albree in cute pose. Albree says her daughter is too young to know what is going on but missed her brother while in hospital
Albree said: 'They said it had spread, more than the size of the tumour. It showed that she had 12 spots, or 12 lesions in her bones.
'She had to start chemotherapy straight away and then were told that this would mean that Callie would have little chance of being fertile.
'We were rushed into making the decision to harvest an ovary and insurance didn't cover this cost but this was a little something that we definitely wanted to do for her.
'We wanted to give her a little power back and a choice to be a parent when she's older.
'The support and money that we have had from everyone gives us more time and more attention to be able to focus on Callie and getting her better.'


+15


Callie is on her sixth session of chemotherapy treatment. The different cycles vary in length and they use different types of medication
Albree gave up work to be able to support Callie full-time while she receives treatment.
Tiffany still works at a day care facility for adults with development delays and disabilities and the pair have another son, Tyler, 7.
Albree said: 'Tyler misses his sister and we miss her just running around at home.
'She's too young to be really aware of what's going on but she loves and missed her brother.'
'Callie is on her sixth session of chemotherapy treatment. The different cycles vary in length and they use different types of medication.


+15


Little Callie before being diagnosed with the stage four cancer. Her parents thank all those who have donated towards her treatment
'Cycle one was five days and she was pretty ok with that one but cycle three was three days and that one was really rough. She had a lot of vomiting, got really sick.
'She's 14 days into this one now but we don't know what going to happen.
'We're waiting for Callie to have stem cell taken from her bone marrow and be put back into her body.
'We're just waiting. We just know nothing now.
'We were told to take it one day at a time and that's what I focus on. In order to stay positive, I stay in the moment on what we've got to do right now.
'Tiffany's sister had shared what was going on with Callie online, and particularly because of how she came about she is just so special to our friends and family.
'Everyone was so upset and distraught that they just started sharing the story of them and we got a lot of support from people that we didn't even know.
'We've never had any other abuse [outside of the homophobic would-be donor]; we've just had great, great support.
'And to those people who have helped and donated and supported us, I just can't find enough words to express our gratitude, and say how thankful we really are.'

How sad for such a beautiful little girl. What kind of animal would refuse her help because she disapproves of her parents? She'd better hold off sending that check to St. Judes until she can check them out. I'm pretty sure they treat all children, regardless of their parents' sex lives. She might accidentally help a child whose parents are gay!

Ooh, I think there might be something Mr Trump

doesn't want us to see.....!!

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/08/trump-invokes-executive-privilege-to-block-release-of-unredacted-mueller-report-1311738

CONGRESS

[size=40]Trump invokes executive privilege over unredacted Mueller report



By KYLE CHENEY and ANDREW DESIDERIO
 
05/08/2019 10:29 AM EDT
[/size]
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
President Donald Trump has invoked executive privilege to block an effort by House Democrats to access special counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted report and underlying evidence.
The move comes at the urging of the Justice Department, which said Tuesday it intended to ask Trump to make the sweeping claim in response to Democratic plans to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to provide Mueller’s materials to Congress.

“Regrettably, you have made this assertion necessary by your insistence upon scheduling a premature contempt vote,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler.

Our government is out of control, this is ridiculous.

At this point impeachment isn't nearly enough. Trump and every one of his "advisors" should already be in jail. The damage they're doing to our government and every aspect of life in our country is, IMO, treason and they should be charged and locked up.

PAN - Of course there's stuff he doesn't want us to see. Pretty much every word out of his mouth is a lie. God only knows what lies the report turned up.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7008065/Trump-campaign-says-president-NOT-debate-Bill-Weld-GOP-challengers.html

[size=34]'There is no Republican primary': Trump campaign says the president will NOT debate Bill Weld or other GOP challengers because he has 'overwhelming support' in the party[/size]

• Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Trump has record GOP approval 
  
  
• 'You don't get to be the Republican nominee if you don't have Republican voters'
  
  
• Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld is running against Trump
  
  
• Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake also have not ruled out challenges
  
  
• Trump on Wednesday asserted executive privilege to keep the un-redacted Mueller report secret from Congress 
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA
PUBLISHED: 18:48 EDT, 8 May 2019 | UPDATED: 19:05 EDT, 8 May 2019



President Donald Trump will not debate former Gov. William Weld or other Republican challengers because 'there is no Republican primary,' his campaign declared, defying other potential challengers.
Trump campaign national spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany cited Trump's strong support among Republican voters – as well as the enthusiasm of backers who came to see the president speak at a rally on Florida's panhandle Wednesday.  
'There is no Republican primary as the RNC has made clear,' she told DailyMail.com in an interview outside a Trump rally in Panama City before Trump spoke. 
'Voters support this president to the tune of 93 per cent. That's the highest own party approval rating for a president with one exception and its Bush during 9/11,' she said.


+7


NO HANDS: President Trump won't debate former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld because there 'is no Republican primary,' according to his campaign
Trump's support hit 91 per cent in a recent Gallup poll, an exceedingly high figure for a president, even as Democrats dig in against him and independents remain split on his reelection. 

'President Trump got more votes in the history of our party than any Republican nominee,' McEnany continued. 'So the notion that there is a Republican primary is a false one.'
She added: 'There is no Republican primary. The voters in this party, I can tell you this – go talk to all these in line [to see Trump]. None of them would know who any of these challengers – challenger – is. There is no Republican primary.'




+7


Trump campaign national press secretary Kaleigh McEnany made the comments in an interview with DailyMail.com


+7


Trump won the GOP nomination after flattening opponents in crowded debates


+7


Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) listen as answers a question during the Republican presidential debate at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston on February 25, 2016 in Houston, Texas


+7


McEnany greets a member of Bikers for Trump outside a Trump campaign rally Wednesday
'President Trump has the overwhelming support of our party. And guess what? You don't get to be the Republican nominee if you don't have Republican voters.'
Earlier this month, a Republican National Committee members voted to eliminate the RNC's debate committee. However, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel could create a debate committee later. The party continues to close ranks around Trump, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week declaring the 'case closed' against Trump in a floor speech now that the Mueller report is out. 
A Monmouth University poll in March gave Weld 8 per cent support, with another 10 per cent saying they weren't sure but could support him.
Pressed about Weld – who was twice elected governor of Massachusetts and was the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee in 2016, McEnany shot back: 'I understand the fake news media wants to concoct a primary. But there is no Republican primary. Our voters support the president at a higher rate than Barack Obama had support. Than George Bush had support.'


+7


Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld is seeking the Republican presidential nomination


+7


Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich hasn't ruled out a run
'I can go down the list. Than any past president. So the fake news can try to create a party but it doesn't exist because our voters stand with the president,' she said. 
McEnany also responded to major news Wednesday on the fight for documents, with Trump asserting executive privilege and refusing to allow Attorney General Bill Barr to turn over the un-redacted Mueller report to Democrats in Congress.
'The president has been fully and completely exonerated, this chapter of history is done, Democrats are trying to relive it because they don't like the conclusion of the Mueller report, but the president has been exonerated on all counts,' she said.
'People who misled the nation on collusion and obstruction and are continuing to do so on a myriad of other counts,' she said of Democratic critics. 'I would suggest they legislate rather than investigate, beause they came up short after two years and the American people caught them in their elaborate web of lies.'
She rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claim that Trump is trying to 'goad' Democrats into impeachment.
'That's ridiculous that she's saying that. She's trying to deflect from her own members who are quite vocal about their want of going against the will of the American people and supporting impeachment,' she said. 
She also brushed off a New York Times story that said Trump lost more than $1 billion over a decade based on IRS transcripts.
'I would echo the president's attorney and refer you to him. He said that this was entirely inaccurate, these were IRS summaries and they are riddled with inaccuracies,' she said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7007941/We-constitutional-crisis-Judiciary-Democrat-Jerry-Nadler-says.html

[size=34]'We are now in a constitutional crisis!' Top Judiciary Democrat Jerry Nadler says Congress and Trump are now on collision course and accuses president of being worse than Nixon after vote to hold AG Barr in contempt[/size]

• House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said the country is in a 'constitutional crisis' after Democrats voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt
  
  
• Their vote came after President Trump exerted executive privilege over the full, unredacted version of the special counsel Robert Mueller's report
  
  
• The final House still needs to vote on the Barr contempt citation but the move sets up a court battle between the executive and legislative branches
  
  
• 'This was a very grave and momentous step we were forced to take today to move a contempt citation against the attorney general of the United States. We did not relish doing this but we have no choice,' Nadler said 
  
  

By EMILY GOODIN, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:37 EDT, 8 May 2019 | UPDATED: 19:06 EDT, 8 May 2019

     





House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said the country is in a 'constitutional crisis' after Democrats voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt and President Donald Trump exerted executive privilege over the full, unredacted version of the special counsel Robert Mueller's report.   
'We are now in a constitutional crisis,' Nadler said Wednesday after the House Judiciary Committee voted 24-16 along partisan lines to hold Barr in contempt of Congress.
The final vote still needs to take place on the House floor but the move sets up a court battle between the executive and legislative branches of government.  


+6


House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said the country is in a 'constitutional crisis' after Democrats voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt


+6


The vote against Barr came after President Donald Trump exerted executive privilege over the full, unredacted version of the special counsel Robert Mueller's report
[size=10][size=18]Nadler on Barr contempt vote 'we are in a constitutional crisis'




Lo[/size][/size]

Six congressional committees in the House have launched investigations into the Trump administration, citing congressional oversight authority.
President Trump has been resisting - fighting a subpoena for his business records, refusing to hand over his tax returns, claiming executive privilege over the full Mueller report and ordering his former White House counsel Don McGahn not to testify before Nadler's committee. 
But his use of his executive privilege on Wednesday was the first time he's waged that weapon in his war against Congress.  
'This was a very grave and momentous step we were forced to take today to move a contempt citation against the attorney general of the United States. We did not relish doing this but we have no choice,' Nadler said.
'The House will have to vote that contempt citation to begin the court battle. There can be no higher stakes than this attempt to take all power away from Congress and away from the American people,' he added. 
He did not have a date the full House will vote but merely said it would happen 'soon.'


The New York Democrat also compared Trump to Richard Nixon, who resigned to avoid impeachment.
Nixon also tried to claim executive privilege to keep Congress from getting the tapes he made of conversations in the Oval Office but the Supreme Court ordered him to hand them over.  
'The White House makes an nonsensical claim in the Department of Justice for these various documents they say are executive privilege. Most are not executive privilege. It's not a blanket bar,' Nadler said.
'In the Nixon case the tapes, you will remember or have read about the tapes. These were the most sensitive through executive privilege. They were private conversations between the president and his advisers and the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that the interests of the public in justice and accountability outweighed the interests of the president in privacy and ordered those tapes revealed. It led to Nixon's resignation. Number one. Number two - executive privilege is designed to get candor by the president's advisers to advise him,' Nadler added.
'Once that has gone public, once the president has said it's okay to share those conversations or evidence with the Mueller investigation, with your private attorney, with whoever, there is no more privilege. It's done already. Everything we have requested, the unredacted parts, all the material in the redacted parts of the Mueller report, none of it is privileged because all of it they waived to Mueller or to whoever,' he argued.
[size=18]Judiciary Committee holds AG William Barr in contempt




Lo[/size]







+6


The House Judiciary Committee voted 24-16 along partisan lines to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt of Congress


+6


White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Trump had no choice but to use executive privilege
The White House argued Democrats forced them to use executive privilege.
'Faced with Chairman Nadler's blatant abuse of power, and at the Attorney General's request, the President has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.  
'The Attorney General has been transparent and accommodating throughout this process, including by releasing the no-collusion, no-conspiracy, no-obstruction Mueller Report to the public and offering to testify before the Committee. These attempts to work with the Committee have been flatly rejected. They didn't like the results of the report, and now they want a redo,' she added.  
The Justice Department slammed the vote, saying Congress could not force them to break the law. 
'The attorney general could not comply with the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena without violating the law, court rules, and court orders, and without threatening the independence of the Department's prosecutorial functions,' said Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec in a statement.
'It is deeply disappointing that elected representatives of the American people have chosen to engage in such inappropriate political theatrics. Regrettably, Chairman Nadler's actions have prematurely terminated the accommodation process and forced the president to assert executive privilege to preserve the status quo. No one, including Chairman Nadler and his committee, will force the Department of Justice to break the law.'  
The Justice Department had tried to pre-empt a contempt vote by offering Democrats a less-redacted version of the report, which they refused.
Democrats argue they do not want Barr to break the law and release grand jury information, merely to join their effort to ask the courts to unseal material for the grand jury for committee use.  
The Justice Department is arguing that under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure they are not allowed to release the grand jury information. Mueller used grand juries to get subpoenas and search warrants in addition to the indictments he handed down.
But Democrats point out Congress has managed twice to obtain federal grand jury information in prior special counsel investigations - Watergate and Ken Starr's probe. 
Barr offered to let a select group of Democrats view the entire report except for the grand jury information - but Democratic lawmakers denied his offer, saying they wanted to see it all. 
Sanders slammed Democrats for not taking Barr up on his offer.
'I think it's so absurd this idea that Congress doesn't get to see the Mueller report. In fact, there's a less redacted version of the Mueller report sitting there waiting on them to come and look at it,' she told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. 
'Not a single Democrat has even taken the time to go and look at it. They're asking for information they know they can't have. The attorney general is actually upholding the law,' she added.
'The attorney general is protecting information, grand jury information, confidential information, that he cannot release. But the fact that the chairman knows that and he continues to ignore it, is absolutely absurd,' she noted.  


+6


GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, one of Trump's biggest defenders on Capitol Hill, said Democrats were trying to destroy Barr's reputation


+6


House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said he fight was about Congress' oversight power
During Wednesday's six-and-a-half-hour hearing, Republicans slammed Democrats for holding a political dog-and-pony show. 
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, one of Trump's biggest defenders on Capitol Hill, said Democrats were trying to destroy Barr's reputation because of concerns about what the attorney general would find in his investigation of whether or not the FBI spied on Trump's campaign during the 2016 election. 
'Bill Barr is following the law and what's his reward? Democrats hold him in contempt,' Jordan said. 'I don't think today's actually about getting information. I don't think it's about getting the un-redacted Mueller report.'
'I think it's all about trying to destroy Bill Barr because Democrats are nervous he's going to get to the bottom of everything. He's going to find out how and why this investigation started in the first place,' he added. 
But Nadler said during the hearing the fight was not about Mueller's report but Congress' oversight power.
'Our fight is not just about the Mueller report. Our fight is about defending the rights of Congress as an independent branch to hold the president, any president accountable,' he noted.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7009107/Trump-smiles-cracks-joke-supporter-yells-immigrants-shot-border.html

[size=34]'Only in the panhandle can you get away with that': Trump pulls faces and cracks a joke after Florida rally supporter yells that immigrants should be shot at the border[/size]

• Trump was discussing the US-Mexico border and said, unlike other countries, the US border control can't use weapons
  
  
• 'How do you stop these people?' he asked, as fans shouted 'Build the wall!' 
  
  
• Then one supporter yelled 'Shoot them' and the audience burst into laughter 
  
  
• 'That's only in the panhandle can you get away with that statement,' he quipped 
  
  
• Trump also continued to falsely claim that he had given $91billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico, even bringing out a tiny bar graph chart to illustrate his point 
  
  

By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 01:44 EDT, 9 May 2019 | UPDATED: 03:17 EDT, 9 May 2019

     




Donald Trump raised eyebrows at his campaign rally on Wednesday when he smiled and cracked a joke after a fan yelled that immigrants should be shot at the border.  
Trump had been talking about immigrants coming to the US-Mexico border when he asked the crowd, 'But how do you stop these people?' 
As his fans began to shout 'Build the wall!' one supporter yelled 'Shoot them!' 
Trump turned his head to see the fan, smiling as his supporters burst into laughter. 

Scroll down for video 


+3


Donald Trump raised eyebrows at his campaign rally on Wednesday when he smiled and cracked a joke after a fan yelled that immigrants should be shot at the border
[size=10][size=18]Trump laughs when supporter shouts ‘shoot them’ during rally




Lo[/size][/size]




The president couldn't hold back a smile before joking with the crowd. 
'That's only in the panhandle can you get away with that statement,' he quipped. 'Only in the panhandle.'
Trump had first brought up the very first speech he gave after announcing his presidential run, in which he declared that Mexicans coming to the US were 'rapists'. 
'I talked about what's happening. I mention the word rape,' he told the crowd. 'The fake news media, they went after me. Guess what? That speech was so mild compared to what's actually happening.' 
Trump then retold his story of women being smuggled across the border 'tied up, with tape over their mouths'.   
The president then noted that he doesn't let border control 'use weapons' against immigrants even though 'other countries do'. 
That's when one of his fans yelled their support for shooting down immigrants - many of whom are refugees seeking asylum. 
Trump also continued to falsely claim that he had given $91billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico, even bringing out a tiny bar graph chart to illustrate his point. 
'We've never given $91billion to a state. We gave it to Puerto Rico,' he continued. 'In fact, I brought a chart. Would you like to see a chart? Very haphazardly, I just happen to have it with me.'


+3


Trump also continued to falsely claim that he had given $91billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico, even bringing out a tiny bar graph chart to illustrate his point
Trump then pulled a standard-sized piece of paper out of his suit jacket, joking he didn't put the chart on a big board because 'that costs the government too much money'. 
'But you can all see that!' he exclaimed, holding up the small piece of paper. 'That's Puerto Rico,' he said, pointing at the side of the chart with the tallest bar graph. 
'They don't like me,' he repeated. 'And what the Democrats want to do, they want to give more and more and I say, "You know what? I have a great relationship with the people of Puerto Rico, but it hasn't been fair.' 
'But you're getting your money one way or another and we're not going to let anybody hold it up,' Trump told his Floridian fans. 'And I think that the people of Puerto Rico are very grateful to Donald Trump for what we've done for them.' 
Nearly 3,000 people were killed when Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico in 2017. 
Congress has so far only distributed around $11billion in aid to Puerto Rico. 
The $50billion in future disaster disbursements is only speculative and it could be decades before the island sees the funds, which would still require future appropriations by Congress. 
Trump also took time during his rally to defend Attorney General Bill Barr, hours after the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress.
'After two years, nothing, no collusion. And now the Democrats – we have a great attorney general, now the Democrats are saying "We want more,"' Trump told an outdoor rally in Panama City.
'Now they say the Mueller report, we want to start all over again. It is a disgrace.'


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Trump also took time during his rally to defend Attorney General Bill Barr, hours after the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress
Speaking after House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler declared a 'constitutional crisis' in the clash over documents and testimony, Trump fused his own defense following the two-year Mueller probe to a call for unity.
'It's time to come together for the people of Panama City, for the people of Florida, for the people of our country – it's time to stop this nonsense,' Trump implored.  
Later in his remarks, Trump went after the 'fake news' media – then pivoted to quips about the length of his term in office.

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'They are a bunch fakers, fakers,' Trump said. 'You know in six years, they're all going to be out of business, folks,' he said.
'If we want to drive them crazy, I'll say in 10 years they'll go crazy,' Trump said, joking about serving 12 years in office.
'See he is a despot,' Trump said, mocking how he said his comment would be portrayed in the media. 
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7013625/Tennessee-judge-posts-link-Facebook-saying-Jews-f-k-Holocaust.html

[size=34]Tennessee judge posts link on Facebook saying Jews should ‘get the f**k over the Holocaust’ and that Muslim immigrants were 'foreign mud'[/size]

• Justice Jim Lammey, 61, from Shelby County Criminal Court may now be publicly reprimanded, following a Wednesday hearing
  
  
• Lammey came under fire after posting a link to an article written by Holocaust denier David Cole that also referred to Muslim immigrants as ‘foreign mud’ 
  
  
• The posts were discovered after Lammey accidentally switched his Facebook profile from private to public
  
  
• Lammey, however, insists that he isn’t racist or anti-Semitic and maintains that he has a right to freedom of speech 
  
  
• He also says that nothing he shared on Facebook would prevent him from presiding over criminal cases impartially and fairly
  
  
• The Shelby County Commission committee held a hearing on Wednesday ahead of the vote on whether to publicly censure Lammey 
  
  

By LUKE KENTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 02:03 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 02:57 EDT, 10 May 2019

     



A Tennessee judge posted racist and anti-Semitic articles and memes to his private Facebook page, including one that said Jews should ‘get the f**k over the Holocaust’.
Colleagues of Justice Jim Lammey, 61, from Shelby County Criminal Court have now rallied to publicly reprimand the shamed judge, following a Wednesday hearing.
Lammey came under fire after posting a link to an article written by the notorious Holocaust denier David Cole that also referred to Muslim immigrants as ‘foreign mud’.
He was also found to have shared other anti-immigration articles, memes and a number of conspiracy theories.

The posts were discovered after Lammey accidentally switched his Facebook profile from private to public.


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Colleagues of Justice Jim Lammey, 61, from Shelby County Criminal Court have now rallied to publicly reprimand the shamed judge, following a Wednesday hearing


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Lammey came under fire after posting a link to an article written by the notorious Holocaust denier David Cole that also referred to Muslim immigrants as ‘foreign mud', among a serious of other questionable posts (as above)
Despite his social media posts, Lammey, insists that he isn’t racist or anti-Semitic and maintains that he has a right to freedom of speech.
He also says that nothing he shared on Facebook would prevent him from presiding over criminal cases impartially and fairly.
‘I don’t see where sharing articles about (Islamic law) or third time deported people coming in and committing crimes would prejudice my ability to be fair and impartial in any case,’ Lammey told Commercial Appeal.
‘I certainly don’t agree with that, being a Holocaust denier. My best friend — who’s deceased now — was Jewish and I wouldn’t do that,’ he continued.
A coalition, including members form the American Muslim Advisory Council and the Jewish Federation, have now called for the judge to be punished.
The request was filed to the Shelby County Commission’s Law Enforcement, Corrections and Courts Committee on Wednesday.


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He was also found to have shared other anti-immigration articles, memes and a number of conspiracy theories


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Despite his social media habits, Lammey insists that he isn’t racist or anti-Semitic and maintains that he has a right to freedom of speech
In their letter to the board, the coalition wrote: ‘Judge Lammey’s April 5 post was only one example of his habit of sharing articles, conspiracy theories, and ‘jokes’ online that carry a dark message of hatred,’ the letter reads.
‘The content he spreads often targets Muslim and Latin American immigrants, which is troubling because of Judge Lammey’s elected position overseeing criminal trials as a representative of the State of Tennessee.
‘We respectfully call on the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Board of Judicial Conduct to publicly censure Judge Lammey and to explore bringing the anti-bias and Holocaust education resources of our respective organizations to the judges, clerks, and staff of our state judicial system.’
Chaired by Tami Sawyer, the committee’s leader seemed to agree with the coalition’s views, tweeting last week that ‘It’s time for [Lammey] to hang up his robe’.
Many of the judge’s Facebook posts were shared from far-right websites such as Breitbart.com.
Often the posts portrayed immigrants as abusers of welfare, voting fraudsters or a general threat to prosperity in America, Fox 13 reported.
On February 3, Lammey posted a meme with a mug shot of a tough-looking Hispanic man and false statistics blaming ‘illegals’ for rising crime rates.
In an interview with WMC Action News 5, Lammey once more insisted he did not hold racially prejudice views.
‘Someone asked me are you a racist, I’m like no, I’m not a racist,’ Lammey said. ‘It’s an embarrassing question to have to answer.’


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Lammey says that nothing he shared on Facebook would prevent him from presiding over criminal cases impartially and fairly


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Many of the judge’s Facebook posts were shared from far-right websites and groups
He further added that he wasn’t anti-immigrant, either. ‘I don’t have anything against anyone,’ he stated.
Over the weekend his son James Lammey came to his on Facebook, claiming he’s never heard his dad ever air racist views.
‘The media’s desperation for a story often times tarnishes or even ruins the reputation of good people,’ his son wrote.
The Shelby County Commission committee held a hearing on Wednesday ahead of the vote on whether to publicly censure Lammey in regard to the racially insensitive posts.


Several members of the coalition said, contrary to Lammey’s claims, his online behavior and potential views do seriously compromise his ability to act impartially as a criminal judge.
‘Jim Lammey can say and think and post whatever he wishes,’ Rabbi Kate Bauman told the board. ‘But a line of professional responsibility has been crossed.’
‘The posts and articles posted by Lammey, that he saw fit to circulate disgust me; as a Jew, as a descendant of refuges, as a religious leader, and as a human being.’
The county commission will allow Lammey to present his side of the argument on Monday afternoon.
Following his statement the commission will vote whether or not to censure him.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7012417/Democrat-Mike-Gravel-Buttigieg-running-fact-hes-gay-Biden-rails.html

[size=34]Pete Buttigieg is running on 'the fact he's gay' and Joe Biden is 'off the rails.' 88-year-old Democratic 2020 candidate Mike Gravel unloads on opponents - after entering race as a joke and now saying he wants to WIN[/size]

• Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, who admitted he wasn't running to win in the 2020 primary race, criticized Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg's campaigns
  
  
• He said Buttigieg 'doesn't say anything more than the fact that he's gay' and called Biden 'off the rails'
  
  
• In announcing his campaign,  Gravel admitted that he was not running to win, but wanted to get on a Democratic debate stage to share his ideas and then endorse a different candidate he felt would live up to that
  
  
• A few weeks later, he announced that he was running to win
  
  

By KATELYN CARALLE, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:59 EDT, 9 May 2019 | UPDATED: 21:10 EDT, 9 May 2019

     





Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel berated Democratic presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Thursday.
Gravel, who launched a 2020 parody presidential campaign where he admitted he was not running to win, told The Hill in an interview that Buttigieg 'doesn't say anything more than the fact that he's gay and that energizes the gay community.'
He mistakenly referred to Buttigieg as the ‘Mayor of Indiana,’ a position that does not exist. 
Buttigieg is openly gay and has been married to his husband Chasten Glezman since June 2018. The two say they want to have children. 

The mayor's campaign declined to comment on Gravel's remarks.  
In the interview, he also took aim at former Barack Obama's vice president, calling him 'off the rails,' even though Biden is widely viewed as a moderate Democrat compared to the rest of the 2020 field. 


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Former Alaska Mayor Mike Gravel attacked South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden's campaigns on Thursaday


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The former Alaska senator said Buttigieg 'doesn't say anything more than the fact that he's gay and that energizes the gay community,' and claimed Biden is 'off the rails' due to his 'conventional wisdom'


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Buttigieg is openly gay and has been married to his husband Chasten Glezman since June 2018 
[size=10][size=18]South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg joins 2020 presidential race




Loa[/size][/size]




'You have to look at what this person represents ideologically,' Gravel said of the former vice president, who is making his third bid for the White House. 'Biden ideologically is off the rails. He's conventional wisdom, but conventional wisdom is off the rails in the United States.' 
The former senator represented Alaska in the Washington, D.C. from 1969 to 1981 and is 88-years-old, far older than any of the other 21 Democrats running for the party's nomination next year.
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders comes is second eldest at 77-years-old, and Biden is in a close third at 76.
Buttigieg, on the other hand, in the youngest candidate at 36-years-old.
If Biden, Sanders or Gravel were to win the nomination and defeat President Donald Trump in 2020, they would become the oldest entering president.
While speaking on Thursday, Gravel was also critical of Biden's handling of the Anita Hill hearings.

[size=34]AGES OF THE 2020 CANDIDATES ON INAUGURATION DAY[/size]

As of May 9, 2019 there were 24 declared major party candidates in the 2020 presidential election, including 22 Democrats and two Republicans. 
Here is the age each of them would be on Inauguration Day 2021 if he or she were to win:

• Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel: 90 years, 8 months, 9 days
  
• Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders: 79 years, 4 months, 13 days
  
• Former Vice President Joe Biden: 78 years, 2 months, 1 day
  
• Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld (R): 75 years, 5 months, 21 days 
  
• President Donald Trump (R): 74 years, 7months, 7 days
  
• Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren: 71 years, 6months, 30 days
  
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee: 69 years, 11 months, 12 days
  
• Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper: 68 years, 11 months, 14 days
  
• Author Marianne Williamson: 68 years, 6 months, 13 days 
  
• Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar: 60 years, 7 months, 27 days
  
• Maryland Rep. John Delaney: 57 years, 9 months, 5 days
  
• California Sen. Kamala Harris: 56 years, 3 months, 1 day
  
• Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet: 56 years, 1 month, 25 days 
  
• New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: 54 years, 1 month, 12 days
  
• New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker: 51 years, 8 months, 25 days
  
• Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke: 48 years, 3 months, 26 days
  
• Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan: 47 years, 6 months, 5 days 
  
• Miramar, Florida mayor Wayne Messam: 46 years, 7 months, 14 days 
  
• Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro: 46 years, 4 month, 5 days
  
• Entrepreneur Andrew Yang: 46 years, 8 days 
  
• Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton: 42 years, 2 months, 28 days 
  
• California Rep. Eric Swalwell: 40 years, 2 months, 5 days 
  
• Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: 39 years, 9 months, 9 days
  
• South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg: 39 years, 2 days
  

Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Hill testified over allegations of inappropriate behavior towards her from then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
'Joe was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he wasn't a kid,' Gravel said. 'He'd been in the Congress long enough to know the difference between right and wrong. When he was Chairman he denied the ability to bring in two additional witnesses that would have corroborated Anita Hill.'
In his first television appearance after announcing last month, Biden did not apologize for the way he treated Hill 28 years ago.
'I'm sorry the way she got treated,' Biden told ‘The View’ co-hosts and audience. 'If you go back and look at what I said and I didn't say, I don't think I treated her badly. I took on her opposition.'
He said what he didn't figure out how to do at the time was, 'stop people from asking inflammatory questions.’


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Gravel originally said he was not running to win, but just wanted to get to the Democratic debate stages where he could share his ideas and then endorse another candidate. A few weeks after launching, his campaign announced that he was now running to win


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Gravel's campaign, which is run but a 17-year-old high school senior, posted to his Twitter
‘How do you stop these character assassinations outside? There was a full blown attack on her in order to get the defense for Clarence Thomas. And no woman or any victim of harassment should ever be put through that circumstance in public hearings,' Biden said.
Gravel said in a draft of his campaign plan that he did not plan on seriously seeking the presidency, but said his goal was to get on the Democratic primary debate stage so he could bring attention to what he believes is important.
'The goal of a Gravel 2020 campaign would not be to win, but instead to draw attention to the central issues that Sen. Gravel has focused on over the previous decades,' the campaign plan indicates. '[T]he ultimate goal would be to gain media attention and then endorse either Rep. Gabbard or Sen. Bernie Sanders before the Iowa caucuses.'
Gravel, who also ran for president in 2008, did not call out Sanders or Gabbard in his rant Thursday. 
Weeks after launching his campaign, which was designed to fail, Gravel made another announcement via Twitter: 'WE'RE RUNNING TO WIN FOLKS'.
Notably, the former Alaska senator's campaign manager is a 17-year-old high school senior.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7014715/Trump-declares-no-need-rush-China-talks-pulling-trigger-200billion-worth-tariffs.html

[size=34]Trump declares 'no need to rush' China talks after the U.S. pulls the trigger on $200billion-worth of tariffs and says the U.S. will buy up American crops and ship them to 'starving' countries[/size]

• US Customs and Border Protection imposed the new 25 percent duty on affected US-bound cargoes leaving China after 12.01am on Friday 
  
  
• The president said talks continue in a 'very congenial manner'
  
  
• The talks resume after Thursday negotiations failed to stop the U.S. from imposing tariffs
  
  
• China has vowed to retaliate
  
  
• Global markets rose Friday on hopes of a potential deal 
  
  
• Trump is promising to have the U.S. government buy up U.S. agriculture products and ship them to 'starving' countries 
  
  
• He also used the trade war to attack Democratic rival former Vice President Joe Biden 
  
  
• The hike comes in the midst of two days of talks between top US and Chinese negotiators to trying to rescue a faltering deal to end a 10-month trade war
  
  
• China's commerce ministry said 'necessary countermeasures' would be taken
  
  
• Mike Pence said the administration is working 'hour by hour' to reach agreement
  
  
• Economists and industry consultants have said it may take three or four months for American shoppers to feel the pinch from the tariff hike
  
  
• They say retailers will have little choice but to raise prices on a range of goods
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and WIRES
PUBLISHED: 07:38 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 08:31 EDT, 10 May 2019

     


A sanguine President Donald Trump said there was 'no rush' in China talks, hours after the U.S. escalated a trade war with the world's second-largest economy by slapping a 25 per cent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The president said morning bilateral talks – announced Thursday night amid the failure to avoid the new tariffs – were taking place in a 'very congenial' manner – as U.S. financial markets had yet to open to respond to the latest developments. 
'Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner - there is absolutely no need to rush - as Tariffs are NOW being paid to the United States by China of 25% on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods & products.'
Trump once again proclaimed the tariffs as 'payments' to the treasury – when economists say U.S. companies who import goods from China are likely to pass on the costs to U.S. consumers. He also provided reassurances to U.S. agriculture, and announced plans to provide assistance to 'starving' countries to make up for presumed loss of the Chinese market following expected retaliation. 

His upbeat comments on Twitter came as global markets rose Friday despite the tariffs and Chinese threat of retaliation, on hopes of a potential deal. 
'These massive payments go directly to the Treasury of the U.S...agricultural products from our Great Farmers, in larger amounts than China ever did, and ship it to poor & starving countries in the form of humanitarian assistance. In the meantime we will continue to negotiate with China in the hopes that they do not again try to redo deal!' Trump wrote.


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President Donald Trump's tariff increase to 25 percent on $200billion worth of Chinese goods took effect Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the US and China as they pursue last-ditch talks to salvage a trade deal. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are pictured in November
'Tariffs will bring in FAR MORE wealth to our country than even a phenomenal deal of the traditional kind. Also, much easier & quicker to do. Our Farmers will do better, faster, and starving nations can now be helped. Waivers on some products will be granted, or go to new source!' he added.
Rather than cast the trade war as something that could potentially bring on a global recession, as some critics fear, Trump described it as a zero-sum that would benefit the U.S. and harm China. 


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President Trump tweeted Friday after the U.S. slapped tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, carrying through on a threat


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[size=10][size=18]President Trump pulls trigger on tariff against China




Lo[/size][/size]



'If we bought 15 Billion Dollars of Agriculture from our Farmers, far more than China buys now, we would have more than 85 Billion Dollars left over for new Infrastructure, Healthcare, or anything else. China would greatly slow down, and we would automatically speed up!' Trump wrote. 
China has vowed to retaliate with 'necessary countermeasures' against US tariff hikes on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Markets rose in France, Germany, and Britain Friday even with the developments in the escalating trade war, with Dow and S&P futures off slightly.   
Trump also appeared to indicate that his tariffs were superior to a deal with the Chinese. 
'Tariffs will bring in FAR MORE wealth to our Country than even a phenomenal deal of the traditional kind. Also, much easier & quicker to do. Our Farmers will do better, faster, and starving nations can now be helped. Waivers on some products will be granted, or go to new source!' he wrote later Friday morning.
Then Trump used the trade battle to go after rival Biden, who leads Democratic presidential polls.
'Tariffs will make our Country MUCH STRONGER, not weaker. Just sit back and watch! In the meantime, China should not renegotiate deals with the U.S. at the last minute. This is not the Obama Administration, or the Administration of Sleepy Joe, who let China get away with “murder!”' Trump wrote, using his preferred derogatory nickname for the former vice president.
Trump's tariff increase to 25 per cent s took effect on Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the United States and China as they pursue last-ditch talks to try to salvage a trade deal.
China's commerce ministry said today it 'deeply regrets' the tariff hikes but did not elaborate on what specific measures Beijing would take.
A statement from the ministry said: 'The eleventh round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations is underway and we hope the US and the Chinese side can meet each other halfway.'
With no action from the Trump administration to reverse the increase, US Customs and Border Protection imposed the new 25 percent duty on affected US-bound cargoes leaving China after 12.01am on Friday.

Goods in the more than 5,700 affected product categories that left Chinese ports and airports before midnight will be subject to the original 10 per cent duty rate, a CBP spokeswoman said. 
Vice President Mike Pence said during a trip to Minnesota to tout a trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, that the Trump administration is working 'hour by hour' to reach a trade agreement with China, but added negotiators have to 'stand firm'.
The grace period was not applied to three previous rounds of tariffs imposed last year on Chinese goods, which had much longer notice periods of at least three weeks before the duties took effect. 


Trump gave US importers less than five days notice about his decision to increase the rate on the $200billion category of goods to 25 percent, which now matches the rate on a prior $50billion category of Chinese machinery and technology goods.
The hike comes in the midst of two days of talks between top US and Chinese negotiators to try to rescue a faltering deal aimed at ending a 10-month trade war between the world's two largest economies.


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A container dock of Yangshan Port in Shanghai, east China. President Trump's latest tariff hikes on Chinese goods took effect today and Beijing said it would retaliate
The biggest Chinese import sector affected by the rate hike is a $20billion-plus category of internet modems, routers and other data transmission devices, followed by about $12billion worth of printed circuit boards used in a vast array of US-made products.
Furniture, lighting products, auto parts, vacuum cleaners and building materials are also high on the list of products subject to the higher duties.
Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association said the tariffs would be paid by American consumers and businesses, not China, as Trump has claimed.
'Our industry supports more than 18 million US jobs - but raising tariffs will be disastrous,' Shapiro said in a statement. 
'The tariffs already in place have cost the American technology sector about $1billion more a month since October. That can be life or death for small businesses and startups that can´t absorb the added costs.' 
Economists and industry consultants have said it may take three or four months for American shoppers to feel the pinch from the tariff hike but retailers will have little choice but to raise prices on a wide range of goods to cover the rising cost of imports before too long, according to economists and industry consultants.

Re: Mike Gravel

Good grief! Who's next? At this rate the whole damn Democratic Party will run! Why, why, why do they always sabotage their chances?!!! Drumpf must be laughing his ass off.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7014727/Outrage-British-Normandy-veterans-banned-Omaha-beach-Donald-Trump.html

[size=34]British Normandy veterans are furious after US officials banned them from visiting Omaha beach on the 75th D-Day anniversary because of tight security for Trump's visit next month[/size]

• Ken Cooke and Ken Smith, both 93, landed on Sword beach on June 6, 1944
  
  
• The pair wanted to visit Omaha Beach where Americans landed in Normandy
  
  
• Mr Smith said there was no need for a security pass in Normandy in 1944
  
  

By DARREN BOYLE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 08:16 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 10:29 EDT, 10 May 2019

     


Two Normandy veterans say they have been banned from visiting Omaha beach on the 75th anniversary of D-Day because of security for President Trump.
Ken Smith and fellow York veteran Ken Cooke , both 93, from York, will travel to France for one final time next month. The first time they went to Normandy, they landed under heavy fire on Sword beach. 
Now they have been told their movements on June 6 will be heavily restricted due to the number of VIPs in attendance - including President Trump. 
The pair will be accompanied by  a coachload of relatives and supporters on the five-day trip to pay tribute to their fallen comrades. 


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D-Day veteran Ken Smith, pictured, has been told he cannot visit Omaha Beach in Normandy on the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord because of the security requirements for US President Donald Trump


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Mr Smith, pictured before D-Day, was hit by machine gun fire while storming Sword Beach on D-Day - however he escaped injury as his radio stopped the bullets 


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Mr Smith said: 'He said: 'We didn't have all this security last time I landed in Normandy. In fact, I didn't even need my passport'
They will also take part in a British commemoration at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Bayeux on June 6, the 75 anniversary of the landings.

But the two old soldiers also wanted to visit the other Normandy beaches but have been told they cannot because tight security surrounded the President's visit.
D- Day veteran Ken Smith, from York, was straffed by machine gun fire as he waded ashore.


Two bullets would have found their mark but they drilled into the radio set the signals operator was carrying on his back.
He fought on to help liberate much of Europe until being wounded months later in fighting on the Dutch-German border.
He said: 'We didn't have all this security last time I landed in Normandy. In fact, I didn't even need my passport.


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Both veterans were among the British troops who landed on Sword Beach, pictured on D-Day
'Most of the veterans are in wheelchairs or need walking frames - so it's not as if they present any kind of security threat at all.
'I think Trump is more likely to be bumped off by his own people than one of ours.
'I wanted to visit Omaha because it was British landing craft that delivered them to the beaches.
'That was the biggest mistake of Saving Private Ryan that they showed Americans landing the troops.
'I always like to pay my respects to my fallen American comrades so this is very galling and a bit of a shock.
'The whole of Normandy is being turned into a no go area and we have got wander around with identity cards around our necks.'
Operation Overlord was the biggest amphibious invasion involving 160,000 Allied forces . More than 4,000 Allied forces were killed on that day alone. It's unclear exactly how many D-Day veterans are alive today. The survivors are now in their 90s or 100s.
Of the 73,000 Americans who took part, just 30 are currently scheduled to come to France for this year's anniversary. 
All but three of the 177 French forces involved in D-Day are gone. 






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The two veterans wanted to pay tribute to their fallen comrades at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in Normandy which was codenamed Omaha Beach during Operation Overlord


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Mr Smith said the movie Saving Private Ryan which featured a battle scene showing American troops landing in Normandy was factually incorrect. He said the landing craft used on the day were British and not American
Mr Smith continued: 'The security people even want to know out middle names which they didn't on D-Day and we are banned from most of the American areas.
'It's a shame because the Americans really go to town on the anniversaries where as the British tend to do it on the cheap.
'The most galling thing is this is not a cheap visit for us pensioners. You have to be at least 94 to have landed on Normandy at all.
'One of the biggest costs is travel insurance - and they weren't worried about that in 1944 either.'
Mr Cooke, from York, stormed: 'I think it's a load of rubbish. Ken especially wanted to go to Omaha beach. It's a disgrace really.'
President Trump is making a state visit to the UK ahead of the anniversary. 
As part of his trip, he will attend a D-Day commemoration in Portsmouth, which has already proved contentious. 
A double-layered solid fence is being erected around Southsea Common in Portsmouth. 
President Trump and the Queen will attend the event - but ordinary members of the public will be blocked from view. 
Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, has said that the US president had not been invited and should not attend because he would take the attention away from the veterans.
He has now revealed that the event will have to be surrounded by a two layers of security fencing, preventing uninvited members of the public from being able to watch the ceremony on Southsea Common also being attended by the Queen.
He said the only way for people to be able to see the proceedings would be on big screens put up on the common or at home on television.
Mr Vernon-Jackson explained that the security measures were being ramped up from those originally planned when the monarch was the only world leader expected to attend.
He added that heads of state of the 14 nations involved in D-Day, as well as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had subsequently all been invited. 
The official international ceremony will take place on Juno Beach at 6pm on June 6 attended by many heads of state, including President Trump and Theresa May.
Trip organiser Paul Reed said that entering the American sector had never been an option for non-US citizens, once the President's visit was confirmed.
He said that, in line with previous major anniversaries attended by US presidents, the area would be in lockdown so it was never on the itinerary 16 months ago.
MailOnline has approached the US Embassy for comment.  

[size=34]D-Day: How Operation Overlord turned the tide of war in Europe[/size]

Operation Overlord saw some 156,000 Allied troops landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
It is thought as many as 4,400 were killed in an operation Winston Churchill described as 'undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place'.
The assault was conducted in two phases: an airborne landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6.30am.
The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved.


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The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved. 
The landings took place along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
The assault was chaotic with boats arriving at the wrong point and others getting into difficulties in the water.
Troops managed only to gain a small foothold on the beach - but they built on their initial breakthrough in the coming days and a harbour was opened at Omaha.
They met strong resistance from the German forces who were stationed at strongpoints along the coastline.
Approximately 10,000 allies were injured or killed, inlcuding 6,603 American, of which 2,499 were fatal.
Between 4,000 and 9,000 German troops were killed - and it proved the pivotal moment of the war, in the allied forces' favour.


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The first wave of troops from the US Army takes cover under the fire of Nazi guns 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7014853/Rudy-Giuliani-pushes-Ukrainian-state-investigation-muddy-Bidens-son.html

[size=34]Trump calls Biden CreepSleepy Joe as he declares the Democratic race a two-way fight between Obama’s VP and ‘Crazy Bernie’ – as Rudy promises to dig MORE dirt on Hunter Biden’s drugs and Ukraine links[/size]

• Trump handicapped the Democratic presidential primary on Twitter
  
  
• 'Looks to me like it’s going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie'
  
  
• Giuliani is planning a trip to Ukraine to push an investigation
  
  
• He said he is 'not meddling in an election' but 'meddling in an investigation'
  
  
• Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and earned $50,000 a month while his father pushed Ukraine to push out a prosecutor
  
  
• Joe Biden's effort was part of an anti-corruption push 
  
  
• President Trump on Thursday called for former Secretary of State John Kerry to be investigated
  
  
• His rally crowd on Wednesday again called to lock up Hillary Clinton  
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 10:49 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 11:55 EDT, 10 May 2019

     





President Donald Trump went back to handicapping the Democratic presidential field, declaring it a two-man race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, as his lawyer Rudy Giuliani called for the Justice Department to investigate Biden.
'Looks to me like it’s going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie. Everyone else is fading fast!' Trump wrote on Twitter Friday, combining insults for two Democratic poll leaders.
The category he deemed fading fast includes such candidates as South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke.
Trump elevated Biden, who leads in early national polls as well as a new New Hampshire poll, as his lawyer Rudy Giuliani defended a coming trip to Ukraine to encourage the foreign government to investigate a Ukrainian energy company where Biden's son Hunter sat on the board.  


+4


'Looks to me like it’s going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie,' President Trump said of the Democratic nomination fight Friday
Giuliani has been explicitly encouraging a foreign investigation as well as a U.S. investigation that could muddy Trump competitor Joe Biden, vowing the leading Democrat will get investigated before Election Day.

His comments follow a report that Giuliani, who fiercely defended Trump during the Mueller probe, is planning a trip to Ukraine to press his case that it should pursue an inquiry that could tarnish Biden's son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.    
'It’s a big story. It’s a dramatic story. And I guarantee you, Joe Biden will not get to election day without this being investigated, not because I want to see him investigated. This is collateral to what I was doing,' Giuliani told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and Justice Department official, called on DOJ to act. 


+4


'Joe Biden will not get to election day without this being investigated,' said Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani


+4


Trump said the Democratic primary was a race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders 


+4


Hunter Biden earned $50,000 per month on the board of a Ukrainian energy company at a time his father intervened in the country to force out the nation's top prosecutor
'Now, if you tell me this doesn’t get investigated between now and election day, then our Justice Department is as corrupt as "The Washington Post", CNN,' he told Ingraham Thursday night in an interview.
Giuiliani told the New York Times of his effort: 'There’s nothing illegal about it. Somebody could say it’s improper.'
The issue he wants probed involves Joe Biden's effort as vice president to pressure Ukraine to oust its chief prosecutor. The action was part of an anti-corruption effort.
The story involved Hunter Biden's five-year tenure on the board of a Ukrainian company, Burisma holdings, during a time where his father went to Ukraine to pressure the government to step up anti-corruption efforts and fire its top prosecutor. The prosecutor had been investigating the company.  
Joe Biden traveled to Kiev in March 2016 to deliver a stern message, threatening to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees to the country if the government didn't dismiss the nation's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin.  
In explaining the complex web he wants probed involving Trump's leading Democratic opponent, Giuliani also brought up Hunter Biden's discharge from the Navy after testing positive for cocaine use. 
Said Giuliani: 'Joe Biden was appointed the point man for Ukraine. Two to three weeks later, his son, Hunter, who had just been tossed out of the military for testing positive for cocaine, was appointed to a position on the most corrupt agency, the most corrupt business in Ukraine, a natural gas business called Burisma, which was headed by an oligarch who was being protected by Putin in Russia. 
'And Biden's kid took down about $3 million or $4 million that we could count. And Biden, when the kid got under investigation, actually says, quote, I strong-armed the president of the Ukraine to dismiss the prosecutor because the son of -- I will leave it out -- was corrupt,' Giuliani continued.
The New York Times reported that Giuliani was planning a trip to Ukraine as part of the effort – an unusual bid to encourage a foreign nation dependent on U.S. military support to investigate a political opponent. 
'We’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do,' he told the paper. 
He got some support from his Angle during the Fox News interview. 
'Ooh, like you’re not allowed to travel, apparently, Rudy, to help your client. Jeez,' she said. 
'Well, I am his lawyer,' he said of Trump. 'One of the things lawyers do when you defend a client is to develop innocent hypothesis, explanations of what your client was charged with.'
Giuliani also wants Ukraine to investigate his claim that Hillary Clinton helped spur the Russia probe, which President Trump repeatedly calls a 'witch hunt,' even though on Thursday he referred to the Mueller report as 'the bible.'
'The Mueller report came out – that's the Bible,' Trump said Thursday, blasting a Senate Intelligence panel subpoena of his son, Donald Trump Jr.  
Said Giuliani: 'Well, the fact is this was a massive collusion between the Democratic National Committee, officials of the Obama administration, Clinton people, and the Ukrainian officials, corrupt officials – who, by the way, were pro-Russian corrupt officials – to create false information about Trump, about Manafort. This is – this is real – not collusion, conspiracy to present false information, and to leak it to the press, and to give it to the FBI.'
Paul Manafort was Trump's 2016 campaign chair who is serving a 7 1/2 year prison sentence for money laundering and other crimes related to his work for a Ukrainian oligarch. 
President Trump on Thursday for former Secretary of State John Kerry to be investigated for what Trump said were violations of the Logan Act due to his communications with Iran.   

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7015489/Principal-teachers-suspended-California-elementary-school-photo-posing-NOOSE.html

[size=34]Principal AND teachers are suspended from California elementary school after leaked photo showed them posing and grinning with a NOOSE[/size]

• Four California teachers are pictured smiling as they pose with a noose
  
  
• Image circulated alongside a separate one of a noose after the principal reportedly shared it in an email to teachers earlier this month
  
  
• It then spread via Instagram and outraged parents called for them to be fired 
  
  
• Principal was put on leave Wednesday evening after school district was notified 
  
  
• Teachers were placed on administrative leave Thursday after parent protests 
  
  
• Many parents have pulled their worried children from class and one said there had been issues of race involving her daughter prior to this scandal 
  
  
• Summerwind teacher said there's a 'lack of people of color' teaching at school
  
  
• Third of students are black, a third Hispanic but there are a few black teachers
  
  
• A parent said: 'You hate them little Spanish babies. All them little minorities'
  
  

By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 12:29 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 13:22 EDT, 10 May 2019

     


A California principal and four teachers have been placed on administrative leave after an image circulated showing them smiling as they posed with a noose.
Linda Brandt, the principal of Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, reportedly shared the photograph in an email to all teachers earlier this month.
It shows four educators – one believed by people close to the situation to have not had her first year contract renewed for a second year prior to the scandal breaking – dangling and pointing to the rope tied to in a fashion to hang.
Alongside on of it hanging on a classroom wall, the pictures quickly spread to parents via Instagram.

Scroll down for video 


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Four teachers have been placed on administrative leave after an image circulated showing them smiling as they posed with a noose


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The principal reportedly shared offensive images in an email sent to all teachers earlier this month and it quickly spread on social media

Fox News Privacy Policy
'They had the audacity to show up today,' Shaka Phillipps, a former teacher, administrator, and educational consultant, told Yahoo Lifestyle as she protested them still having their jobs Thursday. 'The integrity of the school is completely compromised. To the black community, a noose is a weapon, a symbol of slavery and lynching.'
Her niece attends the school and she said she is 'now questioning the education every student of color has received in this class'.
The older brother a student at the school explained how let him know the image is an offensive reminder of a time when slavery was prevalent among African Americans. 'I showed her the picture of her teacher and of someone hanging from a tree,' Randle Jr. told Yahoo Lifestyle. 'She's sad and shocked that her teacher would hold a torture device.'
Teacher Michele Lemaire opined a 'lack of people of color' teaching at Summerwind is a 'huge issue'.
She said a third of the students there are black and another third Hispanic but there are only a few black teachers.



Teachers at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale were told to go home on Thursday after protests from parents


+8


Linda Brandt, the principal of Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, shared the photograph in an email to all teachers earlier this month. She was placed on leave Wednesday
Parent Breyon Clemmons said that one of the teachers in the image has been the subject of racial controversy before.
Clemmons said her younger daughter is now having issues with a teacher at the school.
She told Fox 11: 'I've requested that my kid be taken out of one classroom because that teacher, in particular, has shown prejudice discrimination against my kid and when I requested the black teacher I got grief for that.'
According to a teacher at the school who didn't want to be identified, all the unidentified teachers pictured look after first grade students.
The Palmdale School District didn't immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
Clemmons let her fourth-grade daughter skip class Thursday as they held a protest. 


+8


'You hate them little black babies. You hate them little Spanish babies. All them little minorities,' upset Darrin Harper expressed


+8


Teacher Michele Lemaire called a 'lack of people of color' teaching at Summerwind a 'huge issue'. She said a third of the students there are black and another third Hispanic but there are only a few black teachers


+8


Parent Breyon Clemmons said that one of the teachers in the image has been the subject of racial controversy before. Her daughters were taken out of class
'I don't want to come to school because I feel like they're going to hurt me or do something with the noose that they're not supposed to do,' 10-year-old Camille Clemmons told Antelope Valley Press.
Prior to the scandal Brandt was being considered for a promotion to Palmdale School District Superintendent.
Brandt was the first to be placed on leave on Wednesday evening after the incident 'involving the discovery of a noose and possibly inappropriate responses to that discovery' were brought the attention of the district that afternoon.


+8


Superintendent Raul Maldonodo said they are investigating the matter
'The Principal has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the matter,' Current Superintendent Raul Maldonodo said in a statement Thursday morning.
'Our Palmdale Promise to our students and community is to ensure the following: EQUITY for all our students, schools, and communities as reflected in outcomes and opportunities. 
'Facilitating and supporting every student's achievement by BUILDING ON THEIR STRENGTHS, CULTURES, LANGUAGES, and experiences to create new successes. MULTILINGUALISM and MULTICULTURALISM as individual, community, national, and global assets in the 21st century. INTEGRITY AND COMMUNITY based on trust and the common purpose that empower individuals and communities.'
As parents protested Thursday the teachers were sent home.
'You hate them little black babies. You hate them little Spanish babies. All them little minorities,' Darrin Harper expressed as he spoke of his upset to Fox 11. 'You hate them just of where they're from. Because of the color of their skin you hate them? They're innocent. My babies.'
The Superintendent said he didn't know the context of the noose image.
Two teachers were recently fired from a New York middle school where a collage depicting nooses labeled 'back to school necklaces' was displayed for several months.


The nontenured staff members, who had been employed by the district for two to three years, were dismissed by the Roosevelt Union Free School District board.
Parents had become outraged after learning of the collage, which showed a pair of nooses jokingly dubbed 'back-to-school necklaces'. 
The classroom collage also included a pink smiley face sticker, and the words 'ha ha' and '#yes.' 
According to Urban Dictionary, the phrase 'back to school necklace' is another name for a noose.
'This is due to the utter despair you feel when school starts back up again,' the entry for the term reads.


+8


The 'incident involving the discovery of a noose and possibly inappropriate responses to that discovery' was brought to Palmdale School District's attention late afternoon Wednesday

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7015879/House-passes-19B-disaster-aid-bill-Trump-opposition.html

[size=34]Congress passes $19 billion disaster aid package after Trump ordered GOP not to support bill to assist Puerto Rican hurricane victims because it ignored his border security concerns[/size]

• The House passed a $19 billion disaster aid bill that would deliver long-sought relief to farmers and victims of hurricanes and floods, including Puerto Rico
  
  
• Measure passed by a 257-150 vote over the opposition of most Republicans
  
  
• They said it should include the Trump administration's $4.5 billion request for stepped-up humanitarian aid and law enforcement along the border
  
  
• Trump ordered them not to support the bill in a Thursday evening tweet
  
  
• He claimed victory later, despite the bill's passage: 'Great Republican vote today on Disaster Relief Bill. We will now work out a bipartisan solution'
  
  
• 'Get me a Bill that I can quickly sign!' he added as the bill went to the Senate
  
  
• Trump has repeatedly claimed that Puerto Rico doesn't need any more money, claims he gave them $91 billion already but that's not the case 
  
  

By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 12:37 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 16:16 EDT, 10 May 2019

     



The House passed a $19 billion disaster aid bill that would deliver long-sought relief to farmers and victims of hurricanes and floods, including Puerto Rico, over the president's objections on Friday.
The measure passed by a 257-150 vote over the opposition of most Republicans.
They said it should include the Trump administration's $4.5 billion request for stepped-up humanitarian aid and law enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border, which is facing a wave of migrants fleeing violence in Central America.
Trump ordered them not to support the bill in a Thursday evening tweet that he reshared just before the vote. He claimed victory later, despite the bill's passage.

'Great Republican vote today on Disaster Relief Bill. We will now work out a bipartisan solution that gets relief for our great States and Farmers. Thank you to all. Get me a Bill that I can quickly sign!' he said. 


+5


The House passed a $19 billion disaster aid bill that would deliver long-sought relief to farmers and victims of hurricanes and floods, including Puerto Rico, over the president's objections on Friday
[size=10][size=18]Trump claims Puerto Rico got $91 billion with pie chart at rally




L[/size][/size]





+5


U.S. President Donald Trump tosses rolls of paper towels to people at a hurricane relief distribution center at Calvary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico in October 2017
Trump is feuding with Democratic officials on the island of Puerto Rico and falsely claims that Puerto Rico has already received $91 billion in aid.
He complained Thursday, at a campaign rally, that it was more money than hurricane-savaged states like Texas had received.
'Puerto Rico got $91 billion. I understand they don't like me. It's the most money we've given to anybody,' he argued. 'We've never given $91 billion to a state. We gave it to Puerto Rico.'
He held up a blue and orange bar graph on white printer paper to back up his point. 'In fact, I brought a chart. Would you like to see a chart? Very haphazardly, I just happen to have it with me,' he claimed. 
Trump bashed Democrats for attempting to give Puerto Rico 'more and more' money. 'I have a great relationship with the people of Puerto Rico, but it hasn't been fair,' he insisted.
Congress has not given Puerto Rico $91 billion in aid. The island is promised $40.7 billion but a mere $11.2 billion has been spent. Another $19.4 billion has been obligated, Politifact explained in April. 
Trump is including future, projected FEMA costs of $50 billion in his claim. Puerto Rico has not been given any of that money, as Trump has repeatedly claimed.
A day after his rally he attempted to block Democrats' disaster aid relief bill based on another gripe: the legislation doesn't include border security dollars he demanded.
'House Republicans should not vote for the BAD DEMOCRAT Disaster Supplemental Bill which hurts our States, Farmers & Border Security,' Trump tweeted. 'We want to do much better than this. All sides keep working and send a good BILL for immediate signing!'


+5


Donald Trump falsely claimed he has given $91 billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico, even trying to use a bar chart as evidence, at a rally on Wednesday evening
The House had passed an earlier $14 billion version of the measure in January, but the legislation has been held up in the Senate. 
Disaster aid measures are usually among the few reliably bipartisan pieces of legislation left in an increasingly partisan Washington. 
But the pending measure faces several obstacles in addition to the battle over Puerto Rico, including an attempt by powerful Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby to boost Army Corps of Engineers harbor dredging efforts, of which the Port of Mobile in his state would be a major beneficiary.
Shelby's relationship with White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also appears strained.
Since the House measure originally passed, Midwestern floods have added billions of dollars to the government's roster of disaster needs, while a rising wave of Central American migrants seeking refuge from violence in their countries is requiring additional billions of dollars to house and care for thousands of migrants.
'The bill languished for months in the Senate over assistance for Puerto Rico. And as it sat there, floods battered the Midwest and tornadoes swept the South,' said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey. 'This legislation attempts to meet the needs of all of America's disaster-stricken communities - whether in Puerto Rico or the Midwest, California or the Carolinas.'
Republicans on Thursday delivered a new offer to Democrats in hopes of finally breaking the legislation free, adding money for Puerto Rico and flooded Midwestern states.
Lawmakers had hoped to have the legislation enacted into law by now but are now eying Memorial Day as an informal deadline.


+5


Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, is backing Bernie Sanders' presidential bid. She's pictured with Sanders before an April event alongside fellow campaign co-chair Nina Turner
'I've spoken to the president. I've spoken to the leader on the Senate side. I believe we can solve this all by next week,' said top House Republican Kevin McCarthy of California. 'Let's do this together. Let's show America that when it comes to a time of need that we all put partisanship aside.'
The White House and some Republicans want to add Trump's border request to the measure.
'We should provide much needed relief to communities recovering from hurricanes, floods, wildfires and tornadoes. But we cannot turn our backs on a border crisis that is growing worse by the day,' said top Appropriations Committee Republican Kay Granger of Texas. 'Law enforcement and humanitarian relief organizations are being pushed to the limit, and we must act now.'
Democrats have resisted the idea of merging the border and disaster measures, saying that would delay the aid measure and complicate its passage.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, said  'there may be some pieces' of Trump's border request that could be added to the disaster aid measure in endgame negotiations. 'We'll see,' she told the Associated Press.


+5


Workers repair the El Governor Motel that was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Michael on May 09, 2019 in Mexico Beach, Florida. Seven months after the category five hurricane made landfall near the small community, the town is still littered with heavily damaged and destroyed homes and businesses
Friday's measure originally added $3 billion to the earlier House bill to help Midwest states such as Iowa and Nebraska recover from this spring's floods.
But then it was successfully amended on the floor numerous times by lawmakers in both parties, who added $1.8 billion to rebuild military bases in Nebraska and Florida, as well as more flood aid for the Midwest.
The measure also would extend the federal flood insurance program through September to give lawmakers more time to renew the program, which enjoys broad bipartisan support. 
The additional time would give the House and Senate banking panels time to develop a longer-term extension of the program.

He's such a hypocrite. Imagine how fast the billions would come pouring in if Mar A Lago got hit.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7016991/Federal-judge-strikes-Kentucky-abortion-law.html

[size=34]Judge blocks Kentucky law that would ended abortions after 15 weeks, ruling it would create a 'substantial obstacle' to woman's right to choose[/size]

• A federal judge on Friday struck down a Kentucky abortion law that would halt a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies
  
  
• The law takes aim at an abortion procedure known as 'dilation and evacuation'. The procedure was used in 537 of 3,312 abortions in Kentucky in 2016
  
  
• U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. ruled that the 2018 law would violate constitutionally protected privacy rights
  
  
• McKinley wrote that standard D&E procedures account for virtually all second-trimester abortions in Kentucky
  
  
• He said the law would 'unduly burden' women seeking the procedure
  
  
• Kentucky's only abortion clinic challenged the law right after it was signed by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin
  
  
• Gov. Bevin immediately vowed to appeal the judge's ruling 
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 18:57 EDT, 10 May 2019 | UPDATED: 18:09 EDT, 11 May 2019

     




A federal judge on Friday struck down a Kentucky abortion law that would halt a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies. The state's anti-abortion governor immediately vowed to appeal.
U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. ruled that the 2018 law would create a 'substantial obstacle' to a woman's right to an abortion, violating constitutionally protected privacy rights.
Kentucky's only abortion clinic challenged the law right after it was signed by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.
A consent order had suspended its enforcement pending the outcome of last year's trial in which Bevin's legal team and ACLU attorneys argued the case.


+10


Abortion clinic escort volunteers line up outside the EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville, Kentucky on July 17, 2017. A federal judge on Friday struck down a Kentucky abortion law that would halt a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies


+10


Abortion opponents hold signs during a rally in downtown Louisville, Kentucky on July 19, 2017. The law the judge struck down took aim at an abortion procedure known as 'dilation and evacuation'. The procedure was used in 537 of 3,312 abortions in Kentucky in 2016



The law takes aim at an abortion procedure known as 'dilation and evacuation.'
The procedure was used in 537 of 3,312 abortions in Kentucky in 2016, according to state statistics.
McKinley wrote that standard D&E procedures account for virtually all second-trimester abortions in Kentucky.
The law would 'unduly burden' women seeking the procedure, he said.


+10




+10



U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. (left) ruled that the 2018 law would violate constitutionally protected privacy rights. Kentucky's Republican Gov. Matt Bevin (right) signed the controversial bill into law in 2018. He has vowed to appeal McKinley's ruling


+10


A pro-life protester (L) and a pro-choice escort (right) who ensures women can reach the clinic stand outside the EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville, Kentucky on January 27, 2017
'If the Act goes into effect, standard D&E abortions will no longer be performed in the Commonwealth due to ethical and legal concerns regarding compliance with the law,' he wrote.
The result, the judge said, would be that women lose 'the right to obtain a pre-viability abortion anywhere in the Commonwealth of Kentucky after 15 weeks.'
ACLU attorney Alexa Kolbi-Molinas said the judge's ruling 'affirms that health, not politics, will guide important medical decisions about pregnancy.'
'Laws like this are part of an orchestrated national strategy by anti-abortion politicians to push abortion out of reach entirely,' she said in a statement.


+10


The abortion law struck down by the judge takes aim at an abortion procedure known as 'dilation and evacuation'. The procedure was used in 537 of 3,312 abortions in Kentucky in 2016


+10


A pro-life billboard standing in Louisville, Kentucky in January of 2010. Judge McKinley wrote that standard D&E procedures account for virtually all second-trimester abortions in Kentucky
Bevin spokeswoman Elizabeth Goss Kuhn said the governor's legal team will appeal McKinley's decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
She predicted the law 'will ultimately be upheld.'
'We profoundly disagree with the court's decision and will take this case all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to protect unborn children from being dismembered limb by limb while still alive,' she said in a statement.
Kentucky is one of many Republican-dominated states seeking to enact restrictions on abortion as conservatives take aim at the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.


+10


Judy Osborne, 68, of the Precious Blood Catholic Church displays a sign as she and other church members take part in a one-hour demonstration against abortion in Owensboro, Kentucky on October 4, 2015


+10


Patricia Canon (front), who volunteers escorting women past protesters, stands outside the EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville, Kentuck on July 8, 2017
Energized by new conservatives on the Supreme Court, abortion opponents in multiple states hope to ignite new legal battles that could prompt the justices to revisit Roe v. Wade.
Steve Pitt, lead attorney for Bevin's legal team, described the second-trimester procedure as 'brutal, gruesome and inhumane' during last year's trial over the law in Louisville.
The state's lawyers say the law would still allow use of the D&E procedure, but only after doctors used other methods to induce fetal death. Abortion providers violating the law would be guilty of a felony. Women undergoing such abortions would not face prosecution.
The judge said Friday the law would require women seeking a second-trimester abortion at and after 15 weeks to 'endure a medically unnecessary and invasive procedure that may increase the duration of an otherwise one-day standard D&E abortion.'


+10


President Donald Trump (right) talks with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (left) during a meeting with state leaders about prison reform at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ on August 9, 2018
McKinley said the plaintiffs 'successfully showed the Act will operate as a substantial obstacle to a woman's right to an abortion before the fetus reached viability - a violation of a woman's Fourteenth Amendment rights to privacy and bodily integrity.'
The case is part of a bitter legal fight in Kentucky over abortion policy.
Kentucky Republicans have pushed through a series of measures putting limits and conditions on abortion since assuming complete control of the state's legislature in 2017. Those laws have triggered several legal challenges.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7029921/Alabama-Senate-debates-bill-banning-nearly-abortions.html

[size=34]Alabama passes near-total abortion ban with NO exceptions for rape or incest: 25 to 6 vote challenges more than 40 years of federal abortion protection under Roe v. Wade[/size]

• Alabama passes bill outlawing nearly all abortions - including those in rape cases
  
  
• Under the bill, the only exceptions are to safeguard the health of the mother 
  
  
• The 25 to 6 vote makes it the most restrictive anti-abortion measure passed since pro-life campaigners were defeated in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973
  
  
• The landmark 1973 case ruled that a Texas law banning women from the right to an abortion except to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional 
  
  
• Today, the Republican-controlled senate defeated a Democratic amendment that would have allowed abortions even for those impregnated by rape or incest
  
  
• Its passage comes amid a wave of anti-abortion measures in Republican-controlled state capitols around the U.S., emboldened by Trump's administration
  
  
• Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced in 16 states this year
  
  
• Georgia signed into law Tuesday a so-called heartbeat bill to outlaw abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable - typically around the six week mark
  
  
• The Alabama bill goes even further, banning abortions at any stage of pregnancy
  
  

By ROD ARDEHALI FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 19:03 EDT, 14 May 2019 | UPDATED: 02:07 EDT, 15 May 2019



Alabama lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday banning nearly all abortions, including those in rape and incest cases.
The 25 to six vote makes it the most restrictive anti-abortion measure passed since pro-life campaigners were defeated in the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1973. 
That ruling stated that depriving women of the right to an abortion except to save the mother's life was unconstitutional.
Under the Alabama bill, the only exceptions are to safeguard the health of the mother, while doctors could face 10 years in prison for attempting an abortion and 99 years for actually carrying out the procedure.

Scroll down for video 


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The bill was previously approved by the Alabama House of Representatives and will now go to Republican Governor Kay Ivey, who has withheld comment on whether she would sign it but generally is a strong opponent of abortion (senators  speak during a state Senate vote on the strictest anti-abortion bill in the United States)
The bill will now go before Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who despite not having publicly committed to signing the legislation, is seen as strongly opposed to abortion and is expected to sign the bill into law.
The law would take effect six months after being signed but is certain to face a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who have vowed to sue. 
The bill comes as part of a multi-state effort to have the U.S. Supreme Court reconsider a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. 


Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced in 16 states this year, four of whose governors have signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected. 
Georgia recently signed into law the so-called heartbeat bill to outlaw abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable - typically around the six week mark.
The Alabama bill goes further, banning abortions at any time. People who perform abortions would be subject to a felony, although a woman who receives an abortion would not be held criminally liable.


+4


The law, which passed 25-6, would take effect six months after being signed by the governor, but is certain to face legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who have vowed to sue (protestors demonstrate outside of Alabama's state senate)

THE 'HEARTBEAT BILL' MOVEMENT: WHICH STATES ARE BRINGING THE MEASURES

STATES THAT NOW HAVE 'FETAL HEARTBEAT' LAWS

• Georgia (signed into law May 7, 2019)
  
• Ohio (signed into law April 11, 2019)
  
• Mississippi (signed into law March 21, 2019) - though it is being challenged
  

STATES THAT PASSED THE BILL - THEN COURTS BLOCKED IT

• Arkansas (passed March 2014, blocked March 2015)
  
• North Dakota (passed July 2015, blocked January 2016) 
  
• Iowa (passed May 2018, blocked January 2019)
  
• Kentucky (passed March 2019, blocked April 2019)
  

STATES THAT ARE CONSIDERING IT

[list=mol-bullets-with-font]
[*]Louisiana has a bill in the senate with strong bipartisan support 
[*]Tennessee has a bill but the Republican AG warned it will be hard to pass, driving many to vote against
[*]South Carolina gave near-final approval to the bill last month
[*]Missouri's bill also advanced last month
[*]Texas wanted to bring the death penalty for women who undergo abortions
[*]West Virginia introduced a bill in February 2019
[*]Florida's bill failed yesterday, but anti-abortion lawmakers are expected to try again
[*]Minnesota proposed the bill in January 2019
[*]Maryland's failed to pass in April
[*]Alabama's bill approved in senate vote 
[*]Kansas Republican lawmakers are trying and failing to override a veto that blocks a fetal heartbeat bill
[*]Illinois's bill was proposed in February
[*]New York's bill was proposed in February 
[/list]





The Republican-controlled Alabama Senate also defeated a Democratic amendment that would have allowed legal abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape and incest.
Anti-abortion advocates know any laws they pass are certain to be challenged, and courts this year have blocked a restrictive Kentucky law and another in Iowa law that was passed last year.
But supporters of the Alabama ban said the right to life for the unborn child transcends other rights, an idea they would like tested.
Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss, arguing in favor of the Alabama bill, said the whole point was 'so that we can go directly to the Supreme Court to challenge Roe versus Wade.'
The high court, now with a majority of conservative justices after Republican President Donald Trump appointed two, could possibly overturn Roe v. Wade - something that would prove seismic in the fight between pro-life and pro-abortion campaigners. 
Republican lawmaker Terri Collins, sponsor of the legislation, said: 'Our bill says that baby in the womb is a person.' 
Just this year, Mississippi, Kentucky and Ohio have also outlawed abortion under the heartbeat law.
Democratic state Senator Linda Coleman-Madison called the Republicans hypocritical for advocating small government that ought to stay out of private matters but 'now you want in my womb; I want you out.' 
Actress and activist Alyssa Milano has called for a sex strike under the social media hashtag #SexStrike.
It comes in response to the campaigns against abortion rights, urging women to refuse sex with men 'until we get bodily autonomy back.'
The anti-abortion measures taking effect around the nation have prompted support and disgust in equally fervid measure.
The heartbill bill was thrown into stark focus again when it emerged an 11-year-old in Ohio who allegedly became pregnant after being raped by a 26-year-old would have no right to an abortion under the new state legislation signed into law last month. 
Ohio passed the bill banning abortion in April. As the bill will not come into effect until July, the victim, who cannot be named, will be allowed to have abortion if she chooses, but thousands of other victims will soon be denied the same right.
The legislature also means many women will only discover they are pregnant after the time period for a legal abortion has passed. 
The case has raised serious questions about the so-called 'heartbeat bill', which four other states have passed so far.   


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Anti-abortion advocates know any laws they pass are certain to be challenged, and courts this year have blocked a restrictive Kentucky law and another in Iowa law that was passed last year
[size=18]Donald Trump: Roe v Wade abortion case was wrongly decided




Loaded: 0[/size]

[size=34]Pregnant 11-year-old rape victim in Ohio would have no right to an abortion under new state law[/size]

An 11-year-old in Ohio who allegedly became pregnant after being raped by a 26-year-old would have no right to an abortion under new state legislation signed into law last month. 
Ohio passed a bill banning abortion after a heartbeat is detected in the fetus, at around five or six weeks into a pregnancy, in April.
As the bill will not come into effect until July, the victim, who cannot be named, will be allowed to have abortion if she chooses, but thousands of other victims will soon be denied the same right.


+4




A pregnant 11-year-old rape victim in Ohio would have no right to an abortion under new laws in her state had she been assaulted just two months later. Pictured: protesters fighting against an abortion ban dress up as handmaids outside Alabama State House in Montgomery
The legislature also means many women will only discover they are pregnant after the time period for a legal abortion has passed. 
The case has raised serious questions about the so-called 'heartbeat bill', which four other states have passed so far.   
Attorney General Dave Yost defended the law after being quizzed about this specific case by CBS News. 
He told the broadcaster: 'Sometimes, the evolution of the law requires bold steps. 
'In the last 46 years, the practice of medicine has changed. Science has changed. Even the point of viability has changed. Only the law has lagged behind.'
Ohio already bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and the girl will need to gain parental consent or her case to a judge for permission.  
Although the bill passed the House of Representatives 74-3, some GOP state senators have expressed discomfort that the bill doesn't include an exception for rape.
'Overwhelmingly, the people out on the street I'm talking to, they are hesitant to put into law no exceptions,' Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said.

Alyssa Milano is right!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7031507/China-threatens-Peoples-War-blames-trade-war-Trumps-greed-arrogance.html

[size=34]China threatens a 'PEOPLE'S WAR' on US and blames the trade war on Trump's 'greed and arrogance' as tensions escalate between Beijing and Washington[/size]

• The mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party blasted U.S. in a new column
  
  
• Beijing called the ongoing trade war the creation of 'one person' and 'one team'
  
  
• The article from Monday also claimed that Washington has been 'lying non-stop' 
  
  
• While Trump said this week that he would tolerate 'no more' abuses from Beijing  
  
  
• Tensions are high as Trump and Xi are set to meet at G20 leaders' summit in June
  
  

By DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and TRACY YOU FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 05:41 EDT, 15 May 2019 | UPDATED: 06:24 EDT, 15 May 2019

     




China has waged a 'people's war' on the U.S. and blamed the intensified tariff war on Trump's 'greed and arrogance'. 
In a new commentary published by Global Times, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, Beijing called the trade war the creation of just 'one person' and 'one team' - referring to Trump and his administration without naming names.
It said that the Trump administration hijacked the interests of all American people to fight the war with China. 
The column, released on Monday, also claimed that Washington has been 'lying non-stop throughout the war' because otherwise Trump's team 'won't feel motivated'. 


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In a new commentary published by Global Times, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, Beijing calls the trade war the creation of just 'one person' and 'one team' - referring to Trump and his administration without naming names. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet at G20 leaders' summit next month in Japan



The commentary was written in response to the comment made by White House's top economic adviser on Sunday regarding who would pay for the tariffs imposed by U.S. on Chinese goods. 
Larry Kudlow has acknowledged that U.S. consumers and businesses will pay the tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese goods - even though President Trump himself insisted in a tweet, incorrectly, that China pays. 
'Washington originally hoped to finish [the trade war] quickly, and did not prepare to fight a long-lasting war psychologically. Now it is mobilizing [its team] last minute with baffling words that do not hold water,' said the article which was re-published by Xinhua News Agency. 
'China is not a small country and does not earn our daily bread from U.S. only. 
'Particularly in today's world, the Chinese market is huge and very close to the U.S. market in size, and the trend is [we] will overtake the U.S.,' it added.
The column concluded by saying that 'the U.S. side fights because of its greed and arrogance' while China simply launched an counterattack 'to protect our legitimate rights and interests'.
It continued: 'The U.S. trade war is supported and fought by one person and one team and it hijacks the people of that country.
'As for China, our entire country and all people are hijacked in the meantime. For us, this is a real "People's War".'  


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President Donald Trump (right) expanded his tariff regime to include practically everything China exports to the US; Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) retaliated Monday but said his own tariffs won't go into effect until June. The pair are pictured in November 2017


+18


 China announced Monday it would raise tariffs on $60 billion in US exports by next month, responding in kind to President Donald Trump's decision last week to hike duties on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese merchandise


+18


A Chinese worker adjusts a hydraulic lift at a factory which produces construction machinery for export to many countries, including the US, in Jinan, in east China's Shandong province
Donald Trump predicted Tuesday that the U.S. will notch a trade victory in what he described as 'a little squabble with China.'
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House, the president grinned as he asked: 'You want to know something? You want to know something? We always win.'
And Trump warned that he might stack even more tariffs on a growing pile of anti-China duties in order to put additional pressure on Beijing.
'We're looking at it very strongly,' Trump said.
'This has never happened to China before,' he said of the already painful tariff regime that shows no sign of letting up.
And the president underscored that Americans who might find themselves saddled with the costs of his tariffs can take them out of the equation by freezing the Chinese out.


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President Donald Trump said Tuesday of the trade 'squabble' with China that 'we always win'


+18


Trump went all-in Tuesday on his China trade war, escalating the high-stakes poker game he's playing with Chinese President XiJinping
'You have no tariff to pay whatsoever if you're a business. All you have to do is build or make your product in the United States,' he said.
He also suggested Americans buy products 'from someplace else other than China.'
'I think we're winning it. We're going to be collecting over $100 billion in tariffs,' Trump said.
'I think it's going to turn out extremely well,' he added, declaring that America is 'in a very, very strong position.'
Trump began Tuesday with an extended Twitter rant directed squarely at Beijing, warning that he's done making trade concessions to his Chinese rival Xi Jinping.
The president's nine tweets blasted China for walking away from what had been a nearly finished deal, just hours after telling an audience at the White House that extended talks would be 'very successful.'
He also pledged to bail out U.S. farmers who are feeling a financial pinch as China's market tightens, saying he will use money collected through newly imposed tariffs on Chinese products at the border.
And throughout, Trump insisted America is powerful enough to outlast a great stonewall from China.


+18



Chinese President Xi Jinping is emerging as Trump's most potent economic adversary on the world stage as he works to protect China's trade advantages – which Trump claims are the result of former presidents' mishandling 


+18


China's imports of soybeans from the U.S., once its biggest supplier, have dropped massively during Trump's trade war; the president said Tuesday that he's prepared to make up the gap through subsidies paid for with money from his anti-China tariffs


+18





Trump began Tuesday with an early-morning tweet-storm that showed no hint of hesitation about his aggressive posture
'We are now a much bigger economy than China, and have substantially increased in size since the great 2016 Election. We are the 'piggy bank' that everyone wants to raid and take advantage of. NO MORE!' he tweeted. 
Trump wrote that America's 'great Patriot Farmers' will ultimately benefit from a reoriented trans-Pacific trade balance, and '[h]opefully China will do us the honor of continuing to buy our great farm product, the best.'
But if not, he added, he will step in with subsidies: 'This money will come from the massive Tariffs being paid to the United States for allowing China, and others, to do business with us.'
'The Farmers have been 'forgotten' for many years. Their time is now!' he concluded. 
Trump called his friendship with Xi 'unlimited' in his tweet-storm, and suggested that his patience with China's trade negotiators also has a distant expiration date. 
'When the time is right we will make a deal with China. My respect and friendship with President Xi is unlimited but, as I have told him many times before, this must be a great deal for the United States or it just doesn't make any sense,' he wrote. 


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The president has escalated his trade war this month with new tariffs and a take-no-prisoners approach to cutting a long-term deal with China


+18





An hour after he tweeted his opening salvo on Tuesday, the president pledged to bail out U.S. farmers who have lost contracts with China
[size=18]President Trump announces he will meet with Xi Jinping at G20




Lo[/size]









The president's all-in move on trade comes a day after American stock markets plummeted by more than 600 points, and only stabilized after he told reporters he will personally meet with Xi next month in Japan.  

CHINA'S NEW TARIFFS ON U.S. GOODS

China announced on May 13 that it will increase tariffs on 5,140 U.S. products, worth about $60 billion.
A higher 25% will be levied on 2,493 products including:

• Liquefied natural gas
  
• Soy oil
  
• Peanut oil
  
• Petrochemicals
  
• Frozen minerals
  
• Cosmetics
  

Other products will get tariffs of 5% to 20% including:

• Soybeans
  
• Beef
  
• Pork
  
• Seafood
  
• Vegetables
  
• Whiskey
  
• Ethanol
  

Some products remain tariff free such as:

• Crude oil
  
• Airplanes 
  

'I'll meet with him directly. Yes, I'll be meeting with President Xi of China,' he said reporters in the Oval Office, alongside Viktor Orbán, the right-wing prime minister of Hungary. 
'And that will be, I think, probably a very fruitful meeting,' he added. 
Trump's annoucement briefly halted the market's slide, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 617 points. Only one other day this year, January 3, has seen worse market losses.
Both leaders will be in Osaka, Japan for the annual G20 leaders' summit June 28-29. 
There had been some doubt inside the White House about whether Trump would make the trip at all. He is already going to Toyko this month for a separate trip related to the ascension of Japan's new emperor. 
China had Monday morning that it would hike import tariffs to as high as 25 per cent on U.S. goods, and bluntly told Trump it would 'never surrender' on trade.
Trump warned Xi Jinping on Monday that if he doesn't make a trade deal, companies will flee China to avoid increasing their prices in the U.S. as a result of the president's punishing new tariffs.
Trump levied new tariffs Friday on practically everything China exports to the United States in the hope of forcing Beijing to come back to the negotiating table for talks about a long list of what the White House sees as trade abuses.
'I say openly to President Xi & all of my many friends in China that China will be hurt very badly if you don't make a deal because companies will be forced to leave China for other countries. Too expensive to buy in China. You had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out!' Trump wrote on Twitter. 
But China showed no sign of backing down. 


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The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 700 points Monday before ending the day down 617 as traders reacted to an increasingly aggressive U.S.-China trade war; the bleeding temporarily stopped after Trump announced he will meet with Xi next month


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A statement by the Tariff Policy Commission of the State Council, China's cabinet, said: 'China's adjustment of tariff-adding measures is a response to US unilateralism and trade protectionism.'
It added that it hoped the U.S. would work with China towards a 'win-win agreement.' Despite the retaliation, Beijing appeared to give time to find a resolution by setting the June 1 date. 
'China will never surrender to external pressure,' foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a regular press briefing on Monday. 
Trump continues to insist the U.S. has the upper hand and will force China to give in on conditions for future trade in order to ink a stable deal. 
'We're in a great position right now, no matter what we do,' he said. 'Yeah, I think China wants to have it, because companies are already announcing they are ... leaving China and going to other countries so they don't have to pay the [U.S.] tariff.' 


+18


A container ship sat docked at the Port of Oakland on Monday in California as China retaliated against Trump's latest Tariffs by threatening their own – a 25 percent import tax on $60 billion of U.S. goods entering China


+18


Trump spoke to reporters Monday in the Oval office alongside Viktor Orbán, the right-wing prime minister of Hungary
The Dow was down than 475 points when markets opened. That selloff came after China announced that its tariff increases would go into effect on June 1. 
But Trump appeared to stop the bleeding temporarily by giving traders hope that the day's uncertainties would have an expiration date. 
The four worst single-day losses in the history of the Dow Jones average all came during the Trump presidency, in 2018. He also presided over the biggest-ever daily gain, and six of the top 10.
This year's January 3 selloff, which dropped the Dow by 660 points, was immediately followed by a gain of nearly 747 points the next day – the fourth-largest gain ever.
 Monday's fall in the Dow Jones index came after stocks weathered a pair of similar tumbles this month, losing value when President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese goods and then rebounding on the hope of a trade deal. 
The result has been a volatile week-long roller coaster with no end in sight. 






Last Thursday morning the Dow skidded 580 points, only to regain nearly 470 by close of trading on Friday. 
The tech-heavy NADAQ stock index was down 1.7 per cent on Monday and the S&P 500 lost 2.1 per cent by midday.  
The president insisted over the weekend that a robust 3.2 per cent growth in the American GDP is tied to his aggressive tariff policy, and suggested Monday that China has far more to lose than the U.S.
'I say openly to President Xi & all of my many friends in China that China will be hurt very badly if you don't make a deal because companies will be forced to leave China for other countries. Too expensive to buy in China. You had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out!' Trump wrote on Twitter.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7030491/Nancy-Pelosi-leads-charge-decrying-Alabama-abortion-ban-bill.html

[size=34]'Women's rights are under attack': Nancy Pelosi leads backlash against 'cruel' Alabama abortion ban bill, as Alyssa Milano rails against the 25 men who voted in favor of the bill[/size]

• Abortion proponents were thrown into fury by bill passed in Alabama Tuesday
  
  
• Proposal would ban nearly all abortions and threaten doctors with life in prison
  
  
• Alabama Governor Kay Ivey will now consider whether to sign the bill into law
  
  
• Bills proponents hope to force a Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade 
  
  
• Pro-abortion advocates expressed outrage at the bill and bans in other states
  
  
• Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris joined celebrities in outrage  
  
  

By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 01:12 EDT, 15 May 2019 | UPDATED: 02:36 EDT, 15 May 2019

     




Democrats and abortion advocates have reacted with swift fury to a bill passed in Alabama that would ban abortion in nearly all cases.
Alabama's state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to outlaw nearly all abortions, creating exceptions only to protect the mother's health, as part of a multistate effort to have the U.S. Supreme Court reconsider a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. 
The country's strictest abortion bill was previously approved by the Alabama House of Representatives and will now go to Republican Governor Kay Ivey, who has withheld comment on whether she would sign but is generally a strong opponent of abortion.
'Women's rights are under attack,' wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a CaliforniaDemocrat, in a tweet. 'This relentless and cruel Republican assault on women's health is designed to force a court battle to destroy Roe v. Wade. Democrats will be ready to defend health care and women's reproductive freedom.'


+8


Margeaux Hartline, dressed as a handmaid, during a rally against HB314, the near-total ban on abortion bill, outside of the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama on Tuesday





+8












Other high-profile Democrats joined the outcry on Twitter, denouncing the move by Alabama's Republican-controlled state government. 
'Outrageous news coming out of Alabama. This law would effectively ban abortions in the state and criminalize doctors for doing their jobs - providing health care to women,' wrote Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California who is seeking the party's presidential nomination.
'Alabama just passed a near-total ban on abortion. No exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors could face 99 years in prison for providing abortions. This is a war on women, and it is time to fight like hell,' wrote Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who is also running for president.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, also seeking the Democrat nomination, chimed in: 'This ban is dangerous and exceptionally cruel—and the bill's authors want to use it to overturn Roe v. Wade. I've lived in that America and let me tell you: We are not going back—not now, not ever. We will fight this. And we will win.' 
Democrat Beto O'Rourke, a former Texas Congressman and 2020 hopeful, wrote: 'HB 314 is not only unconstitutional - it's a radical attack on women across Alabama and America. We won't back down when it comes to fully protecting Roe v. Wade, fighting dangerous efforts to roll back reproductive health care and defending a woman's right to access an abortion.' 




Nancy Pelosi (left), Alyssa Milano (center) and Rochelle Ritchie were among critics of the bill


+8


Anti-abortion ban bill protesters, dressed as handmaids, from left, Bianca Cameron-Schwiesow, Kari Crowe, Allie Curlette and Margeaux Hartline, wait outside of the Alabama statehouse after HB314, the near-total ban on abortion bill, passed the senate on Tuesday


+8





Hollywood celebrities joined the hue and cry as well.
Actress Alyssa Milano wrote of the Alabama senators who voted in favor of the bill: 'Not one uterus. NOT ONE UTERUS.' 
Milano was on Chris Cuomo's CNN show on Tuesday night to renew her call for women to go on a sex strike.
'These bills make sex and getting pregnant extremely dangerous for women so at some point we have to consider what it means,' she said.
'This can't happen under our watch. Woman need autonomy over our own bodies or we have nothing,' wrote actress Natasha Lyonne, best known for her role in Orange Is The New Black.
Comedienne Michelle Wolf, famed for her performance at the 2018 White House Correspondent's Dinner, wrote: 'Do what the Alabama government refuses to do: help women by donating to the yellowhammerfund.org. Donating is as easy as flicking an embryo out of a uterus should be.' 
Chloe Bennet, best known for her role on the television series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., tweeted that 'the doctors in Alabama who are performing the abortions could get MORE jail time than the actual rapists.'


+8




+8




+8





The law, which passed 25-6, would take effect six months after being signed by the governor, but is certain to face legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups which have vowed to sue.
Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced this year in 16 states, four of whose governors have signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected.
The Alabama bill goes further, banning abortions at any time. Those performing abortions would be committing a felony, punishable by 10 to 99 years in prison, although a woman who receives an abortion would not be held criminally liable.
The Republican-controlled Alabama Senate also defeated a Democratic amendment that would have allowed legal abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape and incest. 
Alabama's State Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton spoke out harshly against the measure after the body rejected an amendment that would add an exception in the case of rape or incest.
'You don't care anything about babies having babies in this state, being raped and incest,' Singleton said on the Senate floor after the amendment's defeat. 'You just aborted the state of Alabama with your rhetoric with this bill.' 
'You just raped Alabama with this bill,' he added.

I wished Trump would just have a basic knowledge about economics, esp political economics, and how tariffs work. And the long-term impacts and effects his interventions and 180° turns have. And how diplomacy works.
And how long his politics will influence our society, economy and politics...

About the Alabama anti-abortion law:

Criminalizing and forbidding abortion has never stopped from women to have an abortion. There were always people who helped them - in ideal circumstances doctors - or they tried it themselves. Which often didn't work or killed them.
So improving living conditions often helps women to decide pro-life. Knowing that they won't lose their homes and will still be able to feed their families definetely helps. And yet there are women who simply can't have a baby because they were raped or have health issues or other important reasons - it should be their decision to have a child or not. It's also really bad that ir's mostly men who decide this, but for me it seems even worse - somehow like a betrayal to women - when it's women supporting anti-abortion camoaigns and laws.

So they don't want abortion . When will they be taking condoms away from men?

There is a Benedictine nun, Sister Mary Chittister, OSB, who I have quoted before because her position on anti-abortionists resonates with me. She says these people don't believe in right-to-life but rather right-to-birth because after the child is born they don't want any of their tax money to go to programs that will guarantee the child a decent life.

If you're interested, her website is: joanchittister.net
 click on: on women

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7032521/Trump-sends-hundreds-TSA-help-police-Mexican-border-summer-travel-season.html

[size=34]Trump plans to send hundreds of TSA workers to help police deal with migrants at the Mexican border – leaving airports shorthanded for the summer vacation period[/size]

• Transportation Security Administration is temporarily deploying hundreds of officials to the southern border to assist with immigration duties
  
  
• According to an internal TSA email, the assignment will create 'some risk' in security during the 'very busy summer' travel season
  
  
• The plans will decrease about 8 per cent of federal air marshal operations and 20 per cent in Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response patrol operations
  
  
• A TSA spokesperson said: 'TSA, like all DHS components, is supporting the DHS effort to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the southwest border'
  
  
• President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, citing illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug smuggling
  
  

By KATELYN CARALLE, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:05 EDT, 15 May 2019 | UPDATED: 12:19 EDT, 15 May 2019

     



Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officials are being deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist in dealing with migrants arriving at the southern border.
The TSA workers will be temporarily helping with immigration duties, and, according to an internal email obtained by CNN, the assignment will create 'some risk' of depleted resources in aviation security during a 'very busy summer' travel season.
Those deployed will including air marshals, who fly in civilian clothes on commercial flights to prevent terror attacks.
'There is now immediate need for more help from TSA at the SW border,' Gary Renfrow, a senior TSA official, wrote in the email to the agency's regional management.

'TSA has committed to support with 400 people from Security Ops,' he said, adding that they will be deployed in waves 'similar to support for past hurricanes.'


+6


President Donald Trump's administration is deploying hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers to the southern border to assist with immigration duties


+6


Although the deployments will not initially include uniformed TSA screeners, it will include law enforcement officials and air marshals, which the administration says would likely produce 'some risk' in airport  security during the 'very busy summer' travel season.


+6


The TSA assignment comes as illegal border crossings spike and apprehensions hit a 10-year high
In addition, TSA will initially send 42 law enforcement officials to the border from six different cities, and that number will eventually grow to 175, according to two sources.
Other parts of TSA will be asked to contribute around 10 per cent of its workforce, but the efforts will not include unformed airport screeners, Renfrow said in the email.
The law enforcement officials will be designated as immigration officers following legal training, according to a source familiar with the plans, and the individuals deployed will assist Customs and Border Protection employees with their work.
Before she was ousted as Department of Homeland Security secretary last month, Kirstjen Nielsen asked volunteers from DHS, including those working for TSA, 'to assist CBP and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in responding to the emergency at the southern border.'
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan, who used to run CPB, took over for Nielsen, and TSA Administrator David Pekoske was selected as his deputy at DHS.


+6


Before her ousting last month then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked volunteers from DHS, including TSA employees, 'to assist... in responding to the emergency at the southern border'


+6


The acting DHS secretary, Kevin McAleenan (pictured), used to run CPB, and TSA Administrator David Pekoske was selected as his deputy


+6


An internal TSA email noted Pekoske's (pictured) dual role. The border effort is 'a high priority for DHS, and our Administrator,' the email reads
The recent email notes Pekoske's dual role and describes the border effort as 'a high priority for DHS, and our Administrator.'
The TSA plans come as illegal border crossing apprehensions hit a 10-year-high.
Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan said recently that there are 4,300 active duty military and National Guard troops already assisting at the border.
Customs and Border Protection also moved 750 of its officers last month from other assignments to assists with Border Patrol.
'TSA, like all DHS components, is supporting the DHS effort to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the southwest border. TSA is in the process of soliciting volunteers to support this effort while minimizing operational impact,' TSA spokeswoman Jenny Burke said in a statement.
The assignment will result in a decrease in about 8 per cent of federal air marshal operations and 20 per cent in Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response patrol operations.
In February, following a budget fight with Congress over border wall funding, President Donald Trump declared a humanitarian crisis at the border, citing illegal crossings and the rise in crime, including human trafficking and drug smuggling.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7029573/US-alt-right-leader-No-Charlottesville-without-Trump.html

[size=34]'Charlottesville wouldn't have happened without Trump': Neo-Nazi leader Richard Spencer credits the 'nationalist' president with boosting the public presence of the alt-right'[/size]

• Organizer of a notorious white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, nearly two years ago said it would not have taken without Donald Trump
  
  
• 'There is no question that Charlottesville wouldn't have occurred without Trump' leader for the 'alt-right', Richard Spencer, said in an interview
  
  
• A 21-year-old neo-Nazi is serving life in prison after driving his car into a group of counter-protesters following the August 2017 gathering of white supremacists
  
  
• Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and dozens of other people injured when James Alex Fields Jr drove his car into the crowd
  
  
• Trump drew broad criticism following the Charlottesville violence when he spoke of 'very fine people' and 'blame on both sides' of the conflict 
  
  

By AFP and LUKE KENTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:13 EDT, 14 May 2019 | UPDATED: 12:57 EDT, 15 May 2019

     



One of the organizers of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville two years ago said it would not have taken place had Donald Trump not become president.
'There is no question that Charlottesville wouldn't have occurred without Trump' leader for the 'alt-right', Richard Spencer, said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine.
'It really was because of his campaign and this new potential for a nationalist candidate who was resonating with the public in a very intense way,' Spencer said.
'The alt-right found something in Trump,' he added. 'He changed the paradigm and made this kind of public presence of the alt-right possible.'


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Organizer of a notorious white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, nearly two years ago (shown above) said it would not have taken without Donald Trump



'There is no question that Charlottesville wouldn't have occurred without Trump' leader for the 'alt-right', Richard Spencer (left), said in an interview
The rally in Charlottesville took place six months after President Trump took office.

It originated after white nationalists and Spencer scheduled a protest, named 'Unite the Right', about the city's plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Several hundreds of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists - many carrying tiki torches - marched on the University of Virginia campus chanting slogans such as 'Jews will not replace us' and 'Blood and soil.'
The rally and subsequent counter-protest the following day led to a 21-year-old neo-Nazi serving life in prison after he drove his car into a group of counter-protesters.
Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and dozens of other people injured when James Alex Fields Jr drove his car into the crowd.


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Several hundreds of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists - many carrying tiki torches - marched on the University of Virginia campus chanting slogans such as 'Jews will not replace us', to ostensibly demonstrate against the removal of a confederate statue
[size=10][size=18]'White lives matter!': Chants from protestors through UVA campus




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Heather Heyer (right), 32, was killed and dozens of other people injured when James Alex Fields Jr drove his car into the crowd


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Trump drew broad criticism following the Charlottesville violence when he spoke of 'very fine people' and 'blame on both sides' of the conflict (James Alex Fields, left, is pictured at the rally)
The counter-protesters had gathered in opposition to the white supremacists who had come to the university town ostensibly to protest the removal of the Confederate statue.
Trump has been accused of giving tacit encouragement to white supremacists by failing to unequivocally condemn their ideology and his anti-immigration policies have mostly targeted Muslims, Africans and Latinos.


Trump drew broad criticism following the Charlottesville violence when he spoke of 'very fine people' and 'blame on both sides' of the conflict, appearing to establish a moral equivalence between the white supremacists and those who opposed them.
The incident turned Charlottesville into a symbol of the growing audacity of the far right under Trump.
Spencer, one of the organizers of the 'Unite the Right' rally, told the Atlantic that Trump was 'being honest and calling it like he saw it.'
'I was proud of him at that moment,' he said.