President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[Devius]

US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un briefly at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) on Sunday.

The unprecedented meeting comes after Mr Trump tweeted an apparently spontaneous invitation to Mr Kim to join him on his visit.

In a joint press conference in Seoul, South Korea President Moon Jae-in confirmed they would have a "handshake for peace" at the border.

North Korea has not yet commented.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48814975

[EDIT]
President Trump met the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un at demarcation line between North and South Korea.
The two men shook hands with Mr Kim saying he had never expected to meet the president at this place.
Mr Trump then crossed over into North Korea, the first US President to do so.
Mr Kim then crossed over into the South with Mr Trump, then greeted the South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

This is a result of any blue will do strategy despite all the numbers you just stated the media narrative is still that Kentucky is overwhelmingly conservative and the only way the Democrats can win is to run a candidate that is as far right as possible when the Democrats implement this strategy what ends up happening is they end up alienating too much of their base thus suppressing turn out and the Republicans keep on winning. Wash, rinse, and repeat all across the South and you can see why there's nothing but a sea of red down there.

Haven't studies shown that voting polls are few and hard to find in areas where African Americans live? Also those in charge of conducting the elections and counting the ballots in these states all seem to be Republicans. It also seems to be very much harder to get certain folks registered in the first place as has been the case since the end of Reconstruction.

The South is mostly more conservative, but every state has a county or two controlled by organized criminal groups. I smell corruption and hypocrisy of the highest order.

Not that we don't have areas of conspicuous depravity and and corruption in California, thank goodness.

[ball7]

Originally Posted by Devius

Mr Kim then crossed over into the South with Mr Trump, then greeted the South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

At which point the South Korean arrested Kim for crimes against humanity.No…..Well you can always dream

[Devius]

Fact check: Obama never 'begged' for a meeting with Kim Jong Un

After President Donald Trump stepped into North Korean territory on Sunday and then held his third meeting with Kim Jong Un, he claimed that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had tried and failed to secure a meeting with Kim.

"President Obama wanted to meet, and Chairman Kim would not meet him. The Obama administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly. And Chairman Kim would not meet with him," Trump said during a news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Former senior aides to Obama say this is a lie. Independent experts also say it is entirely baseless.

Facts First: There is no evidence that Obama ever sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un, let alone that he was "begging" for a meeting or seeking a meeting "constantly."

Former Obama officials have vehemently rejected Trump's claim. Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to Obama, told CNN on Sunday: "There's no mystery here: it's just a lie with no supporting evidence and no basis in anything. It's not even an exaggeration, it's just not true."

Rhodes said Obama "never even considered" seeking a meeting with Kim. Later in the day, Susan Rice, former Obama national security adviser, wrote on Twitter: "At the risk of stating the obvious, this is horse-sh*t."

"This probably comes as no surprise, but there's zero truth to Trump's claim. It's utterly fabricated garbage," said Van Jackson, author of On the Brink: Trump, Kim, and the Threat of Nuclear War, who served as senior country director for Korea at the Department of Defense under Obama. "Obama never even deliberated on whether to meet Kim because circumstances were never appropriate. It was never in the conversation. I don't always agree with Ben Rhodes's judgments, but this is a factual issue and he's right about this."

Asked for comment on Sunday, Katie Hill, Obama's current communications director, responded with a link to a tweet in which Rhodes said Trump was lying.

Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/01/p...-un/index.html



'Nice man, terrible president': Trump fires back at Jimmy Carter

Donald Trump has dismissed Jimmy Carter’s swipe at the legitimacy of his presidency, calling it nothing more than a “Democrat talking point” while offering his own digs at the 94-year-old former president.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference at the G20 summit in Japan, Trump said he was surprised by the former president saying Russian interference in the 2016 election was responsible for putting him in the White House. He also punched back – though with a somewhat muted response.

“Look,” Trump said, “he was a nice man. He was a terrible president. He’s a Democrat. And it’s a typical talking point. He’s loyal to the Democrats. And I guess you should be.”

Trump added: “As everybody now understands, I won not because of Russia, not because of anybody but myself.”

Speaking during a discussion on human rights at a resort in Leesburg, Virginia on Friday, Carter said there was “no doubt that the Russians did interfere” in 2016.

He also alleged that that interference, “though not yet quantified, if fully investigated would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”

The US intelligence community asserted in a 2017 report that Russia worked to help Trump and to undermine Hillary Clinton, a finding discussed at length by special counsel Robert Mueller in his report on such Russian efforts, links between the Trump campaign and Moscow and potential obstruction of justice by the president.

But the intelligence agencies did not assess whether that interference affected the election or contributed to Trump’s victory.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...p-jimmy-carter

[Devius]

Trump orders tanks for Independence Day parade

President Donald Trump's plans to host a military parade on US Independence Day this week have left critics seeing red, rather than red, white and blue.

At his "Salute to America" on Thursday, Mr Trump will address the nation from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC amid a parade of military tanks.

But city officials have expressed dismay at the possible damage to roads at the 4 July event.

A congressman dismissed the celebration as a presidential vanity project.

"We're going to have planes going overhead - the best fighter jets in the world and other planes too," the Republican president told reporters at the White House on Monday.

"And we're going to have some tanks stationed outside."

He said the event will "be like no other, it'll be special".

City leaders have spoken out against the idea.

"We have said it before, and we'll say it again: Tanks, but no tanks," the District of Columbia council tweeted on Monday.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48842428



John Bolton shoots down report of 'nuclear freeze' with North Korea

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday dismissed reports that the administration is considering agreeing to a “freeze” of North Korea’s nuclear weapons arsenal as opposed to a more comprehensive denuclearization pact.

Prior to President Donald Trump’s meeting Sunday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — where Trump became the first sitting commander-in-chief to step into the isolated, communist state — the New York Times reported that administration officials had been mulling a deal with Pyongyang to halt production of new nuclear material as a way to kickstart another round of talks with Kim’s regime.

But the head of Trump's National Security Council slammed the Times story, writing online that “there should be consequences” for its publishing. Bolton did not specify whether it was the Times or whoever its source was that should face those penalties.

“I read this NYT story with curiosity. Neither the NSC staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to ‘settle for a nuclear freeze by NK,’” Bolton tweeted, describing the report as “a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President.”

The Twitter account for the Times' public relations department replied to Bolton's message, writing: "We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting."

Sen. Lindsey Graham also rejected the potential compromise reported by the Times, praising Bolton in a tweet Monday.

"Glad to see National Security Advisor Bolton push back hard against the NY Times narrative stating the Administration would accept a nuclear freeze as an acceptable outcome by North Korea," the South Carolina Republican wrote online.

"To President Trump’s great credit he has the right goal – which is irreversible, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula – with economic and security guarantees to North Korea in return," Graham continued. "This is the only win-win situation available for the Korean peninsula, United States, and the world at large. Legitimizing a nuclear arsenal in the hands of an unstable, erratic despot will never be an acceptable outcome."

Bolton, who has been a strong advocate within the West Wing to continue the administration’s drive for full denuclearization within North Korea, was meeting with Mongolian officials in Ulaanbaatar over the weekend, and was not present for Trump’s impromptu meeting with Kim inside the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea.

Source:
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...freeze-1391480

[Devius]

The Trump administration has dropped a controversial plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, marking a major victory for civil rights groups.

It comes just days after the Supreme Court blocked efforts to include the question, ruling that the government's justification seemed "contrived".

The White House argued it would bolster protections for minority voters.

But opponents said it would deter immigrant households from taking part in the once-a-decade population count.

Democrats and civil rights groups feared this reluctance would lead to millions of people - mostly Latinos and African Americans - going uncounted for.

The Supreme Court had temporarily blocked the citizenship question, saying the government had not provided adequate justification for it.

President Trump initially touted the idea of delaying the census to allow time to provide new legal arguments.

But on Tuesday his administration backed down.

"I respect the Supreme Court but strongly disagree with its ruling regarding my decision to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 census," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

"The Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question," he added.

What is the citizenship question?

"Is this person a citizen of the United States?"

This question has not appeared on a US census for all Americans since 1950, though it has been asked to some subsets of the population between 1970 and 2000.

The population count helps the government draw up districts for state and local elections, and determine how much federal funding each state receives - a matter of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48849152

[leinad27]

Leave it to Donald to turn a day that celebrates our nation's birth into a all about
me event. He didn't have a reality game show for nothing. Tanks pal

[Mal Hombre]

He got the idea from his good friends Vladimir and Kim,He'd have trucks with Huge pictures of Himself, If He thought He could get away with it...

[ball7]

You think it's all over.....Then he tweets:

The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.

[Devius]

North Korea has accused the US of being "hell-bent on hostile acts", despite a recent agreement between the two countries to resume nuclear talks.

Pyongyang's delegation to the United Nations said on Wednesday that the US was "obsessed with sanctions".

It also accused Washington of attempting to "undermine the peaceful atmosphere" on the Korean peninsula.

The statement comes just days after the leaders of the two countries held a historic meeting.

US President Donald Trump met his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un, on Sunday in the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ) which divides the two Koreas.

He became the first sitting US president to set foot in the North and, after talks that lasted for almost an hour, the pair agreed to set up teams to resume stalled negotiations on denuclearisation.

But the latest North Korean statement marks a shift in tone and a return to the angry exchanges that have marred relations between the countries in recent times.

What did North Korea say?

The North Korean delegation said it was responding to a US allegation that it had breached a cap on refined petroleum imports that was set in 2017.

It also said it was responding to a joint letter sent by the US, France, Germany and the UK to all UN member states that called for further sanctions on North Korea.

The letter reportedly asked all members to send expatriate North Korean workers home.

"What can't be overlooked is the fact that this joint letter game was carried out... on the very same day when President Trump proposed [a] summit meeting," the statement read.

"[It] speaks to the reality that the United States is practically more and more hell-bent [on] hostile acts against the DPRK [North Korea]."

"All UN member states will have to keep vigilance against deliberate attempts by the United States to undermine the peaceful atmosphere that has been created on the Korean Peninsula," it said.

Pyongyang added that it was "quite ridiculous" for the US to view sanctions as a "panacea for all problems".

The US is yet to respond to the statement.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48863401