quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 19:36 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

De republikeinen pompen met geld in de by-election, maar staan weer achter in een nieuwe peiling.

Rick Saccone (R) 44%
Conor Lamb (D) 48%

In het district heeft Trump een approval van 44%, exact het aantal mensen dat op Saccone stemt.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 19:58 schreef SureD1 het volgende:
De paniek zal groot zijn bij de GOP als Saccone verliest...

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:01 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]


[..]

Het lijkt erop dat enkel de mensen die positief denken over Trump nog op de republikeinen stemmen en dat de republikeinen en onafhankelijken die normaal wel republikeins stemmen, maar Trump niet mogen, nu Dem stemmen, twijfelen of thuis blijven.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:03 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Dat kun je niet concluderen door twee percentages naast elkaar te leggen.

quote:

President Donald Trump's personal attorney used his Trump Organization email while arranging to transfer money into an account at a Manhattan bank before he wired $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence.

The lawyer, Michael Cohen, also regularly used the same email account during 2016 negotiations with the actress — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — before she signed a nondisclosure agreement, a source familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

And Clifford's attorney at the time addressed correspondence to Cohen in his capacity at the Trump Organization and as "Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump," the source said.

"The $130,000 question, however, is from whose account was the money transferred on Oct. 26, 2016." Avenatti said.

He said the email "suggests" it might have been a Trump Organization account since the correspondence was through Cohen's Trump email. He said it was "curious" that after Cohen got the email, he immediately forwarded it to his personal gmail and then used gmail to forward it to Davidson, presumably to show the money was ready to be wired.

"Mr. Cohen should immediately provide the prior emails [between him and the bank] to show exactly where the money came from," Avenatti said.

SPOILER

Cohen and Davidson did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News. First Republic Bank declined to comment.

Avenatti is representing Clifford in the lawsuit she filed this week, which alleged the nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the election is void because Trump never actually signed it.

In court documents, Clifford says she and Trump, who married Melania Trump in 2005, had an "intimate relationship" that lasted from the summer of 2006 "well into the year 2007" — which Trump's representatives have repeatedly denied.

Clifford gave an interview about the rendezvous with Trump to In Touch magazine in 2011 but it wasn't published at the time. Former employees of the magazine have told The Associated Press it was held after Cohen threatened legal action.

Fast forward a decade to 2016, when Trump was a candidate for the White House battling allegations of sexual misconduct. Clifford, according to her lawsuit, began making moves to tell her story to the media.

Negotiations between Cohen and Clifford ensued. With the election looming, Cohen registered a company called Essential Consultants in Delaware that could be used for the payment.

When he wired the $130,000 to Clifford's lawyer, something about the transaction led First Republic to file a suspicious activity report with the Treasury Department, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The timing of the report or the reason for it are not clear.

A year later, City National Bank's interest in the transaction was also piqued. Officials asked Clifford's then-attorney for information about the source of the money, without revealing why they wanted to know, The Washington Post has reported.

In January, news of the payment broke, putting Clifford in the spotlight. Now, Avenatti said, she wants to tell her story.

"She believes it's important that the public learn the truth about what happened," he told NBC's "Today" this week. "I think it's time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who is telling the truth."

As NBC News first reported, late last month Cohen seized on a clause in the nondisclosure agreement and got a private arbitrator to issue a secret restraining order barring Clifford from publicly releasing "confidential information" about the agreement.

The agreement uses pseudonyms, referring to Clifford as Peggy Peterson and another individual as David Dennison. In one of the documents, the true identity of Dennison is blacked out, but Avenatti told NBC News the individual is Trump.

Clifford signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on Oct. 28, 2016. Cohen signed the document the same day, but blank spaces where "DD" was supposed to sign are empty.

That means the agreement is invalid and Clifford is free to talk, Avenatti contends. Her lawsuit asks a court to affirm their position.

A day after the lawsuit was filed Cohen hit back. His attorney, Lawrence Rosen, fired off an email warning Clifford that she had violated the 2016 agreement and would be subject to penalties and damages if she continued to disclose information about it.

"The designated judge from the arbitration tribunal found that Ms. Clifford had violated the agreement and enjoined her from, among other things, filing this lawsuit," Rosen said in a statement to media outlets.

But Avenatti said that because the 2016 agreement was never signed and never in force, the arbitration clause it contains is also invalid and the gag order is meaningless.

"We do not take kindly to these threats, nor we will be intimidated," he told NBC News.

The suit also says that Trump must know that Cohen is trying to silence Clifford, since rules for the New York bar, of which Cohen is a member, require him to keep his client informed at all times.

"It strains credulity to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord and without the express approval and knowledge of his client Mr. Trump," the suit says

Stormy Daniels' attorney: Trump knew about payment

Cohen Used Trump Organization Email For Stormy Daniels Arrangements | Andrea Mitchell | MSNBC

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:10 schreef clumsy_clown het volgende:
Ik vraag me af of er iets zou kunnen gebeuren wat erg genoeg is om een reactie van Melania uit te lokken. Op dit moment lijkt ze zichzelf nog verder geïsoleerd te hebben dan ooit. Ze zal heus geen illusie van een liefdevol huwelijk hebben, maar zelfs zij zou toch een grens moeten hebben, zou je zeggen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:10 schreef clumsy_clown het volgende:
Ik vraag me af of er iets zou kunnen gebeuren wat erg genoeg is om een reactie van Melania uit te lokken. Op dit moment lijkt ze zichzelf nog verder geïsoleerd te hebben dan ooit. Ze zal heus geen illusie van een liefdevol huwelijk hebben, maar zelfs zij zou toch een grens moeten hebben, zou je zeggen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:07 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
Michael Cohen used Trump company email in Stormy Daniels arrangements

[..]

Stormy Daniels' attorney: Trump knew about payment

Cohen Used Trump Organization Email For Stormy Daniels Arrangements | Andrea Mitchell | MSNBC

quote:

Op vrijdag 48 aprustus 2019 25:67 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
(some random text to lure you in)

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:10 schreef clumsy_clown het volgende:
Ik vraag me af of er iets zou kunnen gebeuren wat erg genoeg is om een reactie van Melania uit te lokken. Op dit moment lijkt ze zichzelf nog verder geïsoleerd te hebben dan ooit. Ze zal heus geen illusie van een liefdevol huwelijk hebben, maar zelfs zij zou toch een grens moeten hebben, zou je zeggen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:15 schreef brokjespoes het volgende:

[..]

attentie Kijkertje: dit al gezien? (klik op link hieronder)

POL / [AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #470 Nunberg Meltdown

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 16:27 schreef OllieA het volgende:

[..]

Jij en Kijkertje en anderen: dank voor het posten van (long) reads. 👍

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:06 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]

Klopt, maar het lijkt er wel op, al weet je het nooit zeker. Ben wel benieuwd of de import heffingen nog een positief of negatief effect gaan hebben op deze verkiezing. De verkiezing is in de rust belt, dus dan lijkt mij positief aannemelijker.

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Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:18 schreef Szura het volgende:

[..]

Zou ze net als Claire Underwood de schrijver neuken (Michael Wolff ofzo)?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:22 schreef clumsy_clown het volgende:

[..]

*ril*
Then again, ze laat Trump ook bovenop haar klimmen. Maar goed, net als Claire zal ze ook niet zomaar weg kunnen lopen en Melania heeft niets om op terug te vallen. Ze zal het dus wel uitzingen, de hoeren zullen geen nieuws voor haar zijn, maar toch...

quote:

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has reportedly heard testimony that appears at odds with answers Blackwater founder Erik Prince gave to the House Intelligence Committee about a meeting he attended with a Russian executive before President Trump's inauguration.

A witness has told Mueller's team that Prince hadn’t been introduced to a Russian businessman by associates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), contradicting Prince’s testimony, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

George Nader, a UAE adviser who has emerged as a key figure in Mueller’s probe, told Mueller that the UAE officials at the meeting in Seychelles didn’t introduce Prince and Russian executive Kirill Dmitriev, as Prince had stated.

SPOILER

Prince, who founded the private security company formerly known as Blackwater, today known as Academi, had testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the meeting was by chance and had been set up by a UAE official.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Mueller has evidence showing that the meeting in the Seychelles between Prince and the Russian officials was set up to create a back channel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.

Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, had questioned earlier Thursday whether Prince had misled lawmakers last fall during his testimony about the meeting.

“That allegation if true would be very disturbing, considering that using Russian diplomatic facilities for a back channel would only be designed to hide those communications — not from the Russian government but from our own government,” Schiff said.

Schiff also said that he wants Prince to return before the committee and hand over documents that he had promised to share with lawmakers.

Prince, whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, had described the meeting as informal during his testimony.

“It was a matter of, ‘Hey, while you’re here, there’s a Russian guy that we’ve done some business with in the past, and it’d be interesting for you to meet him,’” Prince told lawmakers at the time.

Spokespeople for Prince and the special counsel both declined to comment to the Journal. The White House did not return a request for comment, and the Journal could not reach Nader.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:31 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:
En, is die nobelclub al in spoedzitting bijeen om Trump de Nobelprijs voor de vrede te geven als hij Kim Jung Oen oppeuzelt en de Noord Koreanen bevrijd? Bij Obama waren die globalisten heel rap, waarna Obama Syrie en Lybie in de ellende stortte

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:22 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Er was trouwens nog een andere poll hierover, waarin de republikein +3 gepeild is ... Kortom, wie het weet mag het zeggen...

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:37 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Eerst zien. Dan geloven.

Voorlopig laat Trump zich door een pornosletje piepelen, dus ik denk dat Kim hem wel aankan.

twitter:

pdmcleod twitterde op donderdag 08-03-2018 om 21:58:24 “Your father is looking down on you, he’s very proud,” Trump tells steel worker at his press conference.“He’s still alive,” the guy responds. reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:40 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Zijn voorgangers hebben allen geweigerd om om tafel te gaan met de Noord-Koreaanse leider, al heeft Clinton het geloof ik nog wel serieus overwogen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 21:15 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

twitter:

pdmcleod twitterde op donderdag 08-03-2018 om 21:58:24 “Your father is looking down on you, he’s very proud,” Trump tells steel worker at his press conference.“He’s still alive,” the guy responds. reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 21:18 schreef grrrrg het volgende:

[..]

Komt omdat dat onderdeel van de onderhandelingen zou moeten zijn. Trump geeft meteen iets weg door met hem te onderhandelen.
Straks heeft Kim een mooi fotomoment gehad en kan na de onderhandelingen gewoon weglopen.

Secretary Rex Tillerson Explains How North Korean 'Talks' Differ From 'Negotiations' | NBC News

quote:

President Donald Trump’s lawyers are seeking to negotiate a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that uses an interview with the president as leverage to spur a conclusion to the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The president’s legal team is considering telling Mr. Mueller that Mr. Trump would agree to a sit-down interview based on multiple considerations, including that the special counsel commit to a date for concluding at least the Trump-related portion of the investigation. One idea is to suggest a deadline of 60 days from the date of the interview, the person said.

Another consideration for the legal team is reaching an agreement with Mr. Mueller on the scope of his questioning of the president, which they expect to focus largely on his decision to fire former national security adviser Mike Flynn and former FBI director James Comey, according to people familiar with the matter.

SPOILER

Mr. Flynn, who was forced out of the White House after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his Russian contacts, pleaded guilty in December to lying to investigators about his contacts. Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey as he was investigating whether Trump associates colluded with Russia in interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Mueller was appointed to carry on that probe after Mr. Comey was terminated. Mr. Mueller is also investigating whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice when he fired Mr. Comey.

The president denies any collusion with the Kremlin and denies obstructing the Russia investigation, which he has called a “witch hunt.” Moscow has said it didn’t meddle in the campaign.

​The president’s legal team is under pressure from Mr. Trump to bring about an end to the probe. Mr. Trump has been eager to see the investigation wrap up as quickly as possible, describing it as a distraction that is hurting the country. His lawyers have repeatedly laid out public timelines by which they expected the investigation to end. Those deadlines have come and gone.

Tweeting in January, Mr. Trump said of the investigation: “On and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing.”

A person familiar with the Trump legal team’s process said that conversations with Mr. Mueller over a possible Trump interview are in the earliest stages.

John Dowd, the lead outside attorney for Mr. Trump, said in an email Friday: “We never discuss our communications with OSC (Office of Special Counsel).”

The special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Legal experts said they were skeptical that the special counsel would be open to the Trump legal team’s requests.

“You can’t put a timeline on these things,” said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor and an expert in government investigations. “Someone could walk in the door on the day before their proposed deadline and say, ‘I’ve got some information that’s going to blow your minds.’ … Mueller’s going to say, ‘Oh, too bad, the deadline’s tomorrow?’ ”

The special counsel has interviewed dozens of top White House officials and campaign aides, including the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and former chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Lawyers for Mr. Trump hold different views on whether he should testify and under what conditions. One member of the Trump legal team said last month that Mr. Trump’s testimony could set a bad precedent for future presidents, eroding their powers.

If Mr. Trump were to face detailed questions involving dates and times, his legal team may be reluctant to have him participate. As an example, general questions about what the president was thinking when he ordered the firing of Mr. Comey might be acceptable, as opposed to what action he took on a specific date and time.

Lawyers for Mr. Trump have studied federal court rulings that could be the basis for delaying or limiting the scope of an interview, or perhaps avoiding one altogether.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 21:15 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

twitter:

pdmcleod twitterde op donderdag 08-03-2018 om 21:58:24 “Your father is looking down on you, he’s very proud,” Trump tells steel worker at his press conference.“He’s still alive,” the guy responds. reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 21:38 schreef Janneke141 het volgende:

[..]



Zeldzaam pijnlijk.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 21:41 schreef Szura het volgende:
Het grote downplayen is al begonnen

@AliABCNews
So... it's not def happening in May? @PressSec: "The president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions take place by North Korea."
https://twitter.com/aliabcnews/status/972192099146829824?s=21

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 22:08 schreef SureD1 het volgende:
kan op hetzelfde stapeltje als DACA, gun control en the wall...

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 20:24 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Melania zal zich wel voor lul gezet voelen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 22:31 schreef Eficaz het volgende:

[..]

Melania gelooft die onzin niet

twitter:

kpolantz twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2018 om 21:04:25 Sam Nunberg update: Still apparently testifying with the Mueller grand jury. 5.5 hours and counting (which is, for the record, longer than his cable news interview tour on Monday) reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 22:46 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

twitter:

kpolantz twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2018 om 21:04:25 Sam Nunberg update: Still apparently testifying with the Mueller grand jury. 5.5 hours and counting (which is, for the record, longer than his cable news interview tour on Monday) reageer retweet

twitter:

bpolitics twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2018 om 17:31:10 “This is the president’s vision,” said Peter Navarro, Trump’s ascendant trade adviser. “My function, really, as an economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters” https://t.co/2ftXcsjLBc https://t.co/ifJaowXqLr reageer retweet

SPOILER

Today in school we practiced our active shooter lockdown. One of my first graders was scared and I had to hold him. Today is his birthday. He kept whispering "When will it be over?" into my ear. I kept responding "Soon" as I rocked him and tried to keep his birthday crown from stabbing me.

I had a mix of 1-5 graders in my classroom because we have a million tests that need to be taken. My fifth grader patted the back of the 2nd grader huddled next to him under a table. A 3rd grade girl cried silently and clutched the hand of her friend. The rest of the kids sat quietly (casket quiet) and stared aimlessly in the dark.

As the"intruder" tried to break into our room twice, several of them jumped, but remained silently. The 1st grader in my lap began to pant and his heart was beating out of his chest, but he didn't make a peep. Eventually, the principal announced the lockdown was lifted.

I turned on the lights, removed the table from in front of the door, opened the blinds and announced "Let's get back to work. " I was greeted with blank faces... petrified faces.... tear stained faces... confused faces... elated faces...and one "bitch REALLY?" face.

This is teaching in 2018. And no... I don't want a gun. #teacherlyfe

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:06 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

twitter:

bpolitics twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2018 om 17:31:10 “This is the president’s vision,” said Peter Navarro, Trump’s ascendant trade adviser. “My function, really, as an economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters” https://t.co/2ftXcsjLBc https://t.co/ifJaowXqLr reageer retweet

Wat een enge kontenkruiper.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:14 schreef Szura het volgende:

[..]

Fantastische econoom die de juiste cijfers zoekt bij de gevoelens van een seniele gek .

Mag hopen dat deze man nooit meer aan de bak komt na Trump.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 22:56 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

[..]

Hoe zit dat eigenlijk met zo'n grand jury ondervraging? >5.5 uur lang getuigen klinkt behoorlijk intensief ... is dat normaal?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:08 schreef AnneX het volgende:
Triest...mijn hart huilt, als ik dit lees...

SPOILER

Today in school we practiced our active shooter lockdown. One of my first graders was scared and I had to hold him. Today is his birthday. He kept whispering "When will it be over?" into my ear. I kept responding "Soon" as I rocked him and tried to keep his birthday crown from stabbing me.

I had a mix of 1-5 graders in my classroom because we have a million tests that need to be taken. My fifth grader patted the back of the 2nd grader huddled next to him under a table. A 3rd grade girl cried silently and clutched the hand of her friend. The rest of the kids sat quietly (casket quiet) and stared aimlessly in the dark.

As the"intruder" tried to break into our room twice, several of them jumped, but remained silently. The 1st grader in my lap began to pant and his heart was beating out of his chest, but he didn't make a peep. Eventually, the principal announced the lockdown was lifted.

I turned on the lights, removed the table from in front of the door, opened the blinds and announced "Let's get back to work. " I was greeted with blank faces... petrified faces.... tear stained faces... confused faces... elated faces...and one "bitch REALLY?" face.

This is teaching in 2018. And no... I don't want a gun. #teacherlyfe

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:21 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

[..]

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:08 schreef AnneX het volgende:
Triest...mijn hart huilt, als ik dit lees...

SPOILER

Today in school we practiced our active shooter lockdown. One of my first graders was scared and I had to hold him. Today is his birthday. He kept whispering "When will it be over?" into my ear. I kept responding "Soon" as I rocked him and tried to keep his birthday crown from stabbing me.

I had a mix of 1-5 graders in my classroom because we have a million tests that need to be taken. My fifth grader patted the back of the 2nd grader huddled next to him under a table. A 3rd grade girl cried silently and clutched the hand of her friend. The rest of the kids sat quietly (casket quiet) and stared aimlessly in the dark.

As the"intruder" tried to break into our room twice, several of them jumped, but remained silently. The 1st grader in my lap began to pant and his heart was beating out of his chest, but he didn't make a peep. Eventually, the principal announced the lockdown was lifted.

I turned on the lights, removed the table from in front of the door, opened the blinds and announced "Let's get back to work. " I was greeted with blank faces... petrified faces.... tear stained faces... confused faces... elated faces...and one "bitch REALLY?" face.

This is teaching in 2018. And no... I don't want a gun. #teacherlyfe

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:14 schreef Szura het volgende:

[..]

Fantastische econoom die de juiste cijfers zoekt bij de gevoelens van een seniele gek .

Mag hopen dat deze man nooit meer aan de bak komt na Trump.

quote:

How a Russian-Linked Shell Company Hired An Ex-Trump Aide to Boost Albania’s Right-Wing Party in DC (Mother Jones)
Did Russians use the US political system to fuel political discord in the Balkans?

A former Trump campaign aide working as a lobbyist, a half-million-dollar payment, a conservative Albanian political party, four Republican congressmen, Breitbart News, a kosher restaurateur in New York City, an online dating service that promotes “beautiful” Ukrainian women, and Russian-linked shell companies—these are some of the elements in a bizarre tale of influence-peddling that spurs the suspicion that Russians covertly used Republicans in Washington in an effort to foment political conflict in the Balkans.

It’s a complicated story of international political skullduggery with a dizzying plot: A year ago, a sketchy Scottish firm called Biniatta Trade, which was formed by two Belize-based shell companies, paid a Republican lobbyist and former Trump campaign aide named Nick Muzin for work in the United States to help the Democratic Party of Albania. At the time, a parliamentary election was underway, and the right-wing DPA was challenging a government run by the Socialist Party. That government was led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, who was steering Albania into the European Union and warning of the rise of Russian influence in the Balkans. Coincidentally—or not—the two Belizean shell companies behind Biniatta Trade were both connected to firms controlled by Russians.

The bottom line: It appears that Russian-related entities secretly meddled in the United States in order to meddle in an election in Albania.

“Make Albania Great Again”
[...]

Dermate lange read dat copy-pasten niet realistisch is... + plaatjes!

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:43 schreef AnneX het volgende:

[..]

Deze ook...thats real.
Het was een tekst op fb. Dit stond ( ook) bij de response. Net zo hartverscheurend.

A drill op school:

“Well, the main office went into lock down with 3 students, myself, a visitor and one teacher. I locked the door, couldn't close the blinds so we went low for cover and became instantly silent. Why did my cell phone ring loud? "PICK UP YOUR PHONE, PHONE.... the one student looked at me and whispered Mrs. Jones pick up your phone we're going to get caught....I felt real sad because the drill was serious and by my phone ringing if the situation was really real I put those three students, two adults and myself in everlasting danger. The student said Mrs. Jones he's going to hear your phone ringing. Lesson learned.”

quote:

Exclusive: Trump getting a parade but tanks won't roll down Pennsylvania avenue (CNN)

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump will get his military parade, but it is unlikely to mirror the Paris Bastille Day event which inspired him as it will not involve any heavy military vehicles like tanks to avoid doing damage to the streets of Washington, according to a Pentagon planning memo shown to CNN.

The Pentagon memo sent to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was issued on Thursday and outlined the initial guidance on how Trump's sought after parade, scheduled for November 11 -- Veterans Day -- will look.
The memo says the parade will integrate with the annual DC Veterans Day parade and focus on the contributions of US veterans from the Revolutionary War to today "with an emphasis on the price of freedom."

The parade will "include wheeled vehicles only, no tanks," the memo said, adding that "consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure."

It will, however, involve "a heavy air component" with military aircraft flying overhead at the end of parade, including older aircraft "as available," the memo said.

The parade will also feature period uniforms from the Old Guard Fife and Drum, a unit that parades in period uniform.

The Joint Staff will be responsible for planning the parade and Northern Command, which oversees US troops in North America, will be responsible for executing it, according to the memo, which was signed by US Navy Capt. Hallock Mohler Jr., the executive secretary for the office of the secretary of defense.

The parade route will run from the White House to the Capitol, with the memo saying that veterans and Medal of Honor recipients will surround Trump in the reviewing area of the Capitol during the event.

News that Trump had asked the Pentagon to begin planning the parade emerged last month.

"We'll see if we can do it at a reasonable cost, and if we can't, we won't do it. But the generals would love to do it, I can tell you, and so would I," Trump told Fox News late last month.

"I think it's great for our country in terms of being a cheerleader and the spirit," he added.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 00:27 schreef Szura het volgende:
Rot toch op met je parade man

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 00:30 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

[..]

Ach, Amerikanen houden hiervan. Dit is by far het minst erge wat hij aanricht momenteel. Laat die man z'n parade hebben.

quote:

NRA files federal lawsuit challenging Florida gun-safety bill

(Reuters) - The National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit on Friday seeking to overturn a new Florida law that imposes a 21-year-old age limit and three-day waiting period on all gun purchases, saying the move violated Americans' constitutional rights.

Arguing that the bill signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott on Friday is invalid under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the NRA said it imposed a "blanket ban" on law-abiding citizens aged 18 to 21 from purchasing guns.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 00:54 schreef Szura het volgende:
https://www.reuters.com/a(...)y-bill-idUSKCN1GL30C

[..]

Walgelijk

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 01:01 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

[..]

Kun je vinden, maar ze hebben wel een punt toch? Als je met 18 jaar volwassen wordt geacht, dan kun je moeilijk volhouden dat grondwettelijke rechten worden onthouden... het verbod betreft immers alle vuurwapens, niet alleen (semi-)automatische wapens e.d.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 01:33 schreef Tchock het volgende:

[..]

Het is toch de normaalste zaak van de wereld dat bepaalde dingen aan mensen worden onthouden omwille van hun leeftijd?

quote:

Dat je volgens de wet volwassen bent betekent niet dat je alles kunt en mag. In de meeste staten mag je pas vanaf je 21e drinken nota bene.

quote:

Grondwettelijke rechten zijn niet absoluut en kunnen ingeperkt worden. Je mag ook geen volautomatisch machinegeweer bezitten in de VS, bijvoorbeeld.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:06 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

twitter:

bpolitics twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2018 om 17:31:10 “This is the president’s vision,” said Peter Navarro, Trump’s ascendant trade adviser. “My function, really, as an economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters” https://t.co/2ftXcsjLBc https://t.co/ifJaowXqLr reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 23:06 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

twitter:

bpolitics twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2018 om 17:31:10 “This is the president’s vision,” said Peter Navarro, Trump’s ascendant trade adviser. “My function, really, as an economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters” https://t.co/2ftXcsjLBc https://t.co/ifJaowXqLr reageer retweet

Wat een enge kontenkruiper.

twitter:

BostonGlobe twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:22:05 US may tie NATO contributions to tariff exemptions https://t.co/lIeWVYxbJM reageer retweet

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 02:37 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Geweldig, geen sabotage meer maar economische groei.

De man heeft gelijk. Trump heeft altijd een goed voorgevoel over dat soort dingen. De belastingverlaging leverde volgens de """"ëxperts""""" geen nieuwe banen op, maar de cijfers wijzen anders uit. Zelfs in Nederland moet men onderrhand toegeven dat de economie echt aan het groeien is en ik kan er over mee praten als ik kijk naar de hoeveelheid new business die ik deze maand heb binnen geharkt.

Een klant van mij zij al: "Ik weet niet wat er is gebeurd, maar opeens 'mag' het weer en zijn er leuke projecten opgestart" . Ik weet wel hoe het komt.

quote:

Donald Trump was so eager to have Vladi­mir Putin attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow that he wrote a personal letter to the Russian president inviting him to the event, according to multiple people familiar with the document.

At the bottom of the typed letter, Trump scrawled a postscript adding that he looked forward to seeing “beautiful” women during his trip.

Trump’s letter to Putin, which was described by people with knowledge of its contents, shows how interested he was in attracting the personal attention of the Russian president. The real estate magnate, who owned the Miss Universe pageant, wrote the note at a time when he was looking to expand his brand to Russia.

The letter, the first known attempt at direct outreach by Trump to Putin, has been turned over to investigators probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign. It is unclear whether Trump’s missive was ever delivered to the Russian president — and if so, whether Putin responded.

John Dowd, an attorney for President Trump, said he was not familiar with the letter. “It’s all nonsense,” he said. A White House spokesman and attorneys for the Trump Organization declined to comment.

SPOILER

At the time, Trump made no secret that he hoped Putin would attend the Miss Universe pageant, which was being held in Russia for the first time.

In a June 18, 2013, tweet, Trump wrote: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow — if so, will he become my new best friend?”

His letter to Putin was written that month, according to the people familiar with the document.

The pageant was part of a years-long effort to bring the Trump name to Russia. Trump has repeatedly sought to build a tower in Russia since the late 1980s, without success.

But in 2013, a new opportunity emerged through another business he owned: the Miss Universe pageant.

Trump was approached by billionaire Moscow developer Aras Agalarov and his pop star son, Emin, who said they would pay to bring Miss Universe to the Russian capital.

Trump was eager for Putin to attend the event, but the Russian president canceled a planned appearance at the last minute, Aras Agalarov told The Washington Post in a 2016 interview.

“That was a very complicated situation then, because I promised Trump he would meet Putin,” Agalarov said.

Instead, Putin sent a “friendly” letter and a gift of a Russian lacquered box, he said. “So he was leaving with very warm feelings,” Agalarov said. “He was very happy.”

During the pageant, Trump suggested that Putin was following the event and Trump’s role in it. “I do have a relationship, and I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today,” Trump told MSNBC while in Moscow.

Investigators for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III have asked witnesses questions about the Miss Universe pageant and Trump’s interest in having Putin attend the event, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

Mueller’s team also has examined Trump’s relationship with the Agalarovs, which extended beyond the 2013 pageant.

In June 2016, a music promoter representing Emin Agalarov emailed one of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., and asked if he would meet with a Russian lawyer who the promoter said could give him damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. responded. Days later, he met with the lawyer at Trump Tower in New York. A U.S.-based employee for the Agalarovs also attended, as did Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Trump Jr. has said that no information about Clinton was provided at the meeting.

Over the years, Donald Trump has offered inconsistent stories about whether he met Putin before he became president.

In October 2013, a month before the Miss Universe pageant, he told late-night host David Letterman that Putin was a “tough guy” and that he had “met him once.”

During a Republican primary debate in November 2015, Trump said that he knew Putin “very well.”

But in July 2016, he told a CBS affiliate in Miami, “I have nothing to do with Russia, nothing to do, I never met Putin, I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever.”

By that time, Russia was widely suspected of stealing emails from the Democratic National Committee, which had been published by WikiLeaks.

“I don’t know who Putin is,” Trump said at a news conference the same day. “He said one nice thing about me. He said I’m a genius. . . . I never met Putin.”

twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:10:50 2/ This changes our understanding of Steele's dossier. If Aras Agalarov promised Trump he would meet Putin, and then Trump was only able to talk to him by phone, and Trump had told Putin he wanted to see Moscow's "beautiful women," of *course* Aras' son offered Trump prostitutes. reageer retweet

twitter:

justinhendrix twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:45:18 "There's a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump doesn't want repeated publicly." @megynkelly on her sit-down interview with Putin. https://t.co/DlQFTQ9yil reageer retweet

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 03:44 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
In a personal letter, Trump invited Putin to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant

[..]

Draadje Abramson:

twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:10:50 2/ This changes our understanding of Steele's dossier. If Aras Agalarov promised Trump he would meet Putin, and then Trump was only able to talk to him by phone, and Trump had told Putin he wanted to see Moscow's "beautiful women," of *course* Aras' son offered Trump prostitutes. reageer retweet

twitter:

justinhendrix twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:45:18 "There's a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump doesn't want repeated publicly." @megynkelly on her sit-down interview with Putin. https://t.co/DlQFTQ9yil reageer retweet

quote:

twitter:

justinhendrix twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:45:18 "There's a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump doesn't want repeated publicly." @megynkelly on her sit-down interview with Putin. https://t.co/DlQFTQ9yil reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 22:54 schreef Freak188 het volgende:
Zal trump nog president zijn als de meeting met Kim Yong Un gepland is of zit ie achter de tralies?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 01:01 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

[..]

Kun je vinden, maar ze hebben wel een punt toch? Als je met 18 jaar volwassen wordt geacht, dan kun je moeilijk volhouden dat grondwettelijke rechten worden onthouden... het verbod betreft immers alle vuurwapens, niet alleen (semi-)automatische wapens e.d.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 01:33 schreef Tchock het volgende:

[..]

Het is toch de normaalste zaak van de wereld dat bepaalde dingen aan mensen worden onthouden omwille van hun leeftijd? Dat je volgens de wet volwassen bent betekent niet dat je alles kunt en mag. In de meeste staten mag je pas vanaf je 21e drinken nota bene.

Grondwettelijke rechten zijn niet absoluut en kunnen ingeperkt worden. Je mag ook geen volautomatisch machinegeweer bezitten in de VS, bijvoorbeeld.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 02:37 schreef Nintex het volgende:

De man heeft gelijk. Trump heeft altijd een goed voorgevoel over dat soort dingen. De belastingverlaging leverde volgens de """"ëxperts""""" geen nieuwe banen op, maar de cijfers wijzen anders uit. Zelfs in Nederland moet men onderrhand toegeven dat de economie echt aan het groeien is en ik kan er over mee praten als ik kijk naar de hoeveelheid new business die ik deze maand heb binnen geharkt.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 maart 2018 21:18 schreef grrrrg het volgende:

[..]

Komt omdat dat onderdeel van de onderhandelingen zou moeten zijn. Trump geeft meteen iets weg door met hem te onderhandelen.
Straks heeft Kim een mooi fotomoment gehad en kan na de onderhandelingen gewoon weglopen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 02:37 schreef Nintex het volgende:

Nou Rutte maak die miljoenen maar eens niet vervroegd over aan pallywood, maar aan de NAVO.

twitter:

BostonGlobe twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 02:22:05 US may tie NATO contributions to tariff exemptions https://t.co/lIeWVYxbJM reageer retweet

En Trump was toch zo ontzettend dom?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 00:50 schreef OMG het volgende:

[..]

Als het net zo'n topshow wordt als z'n inauguratie met hele tribunes waar geen hond te bekennen is en lage opkomst, dan kan ik er wel om lachen. Ook al heb ik liever dat m'n belastinggeld eens nuttig wordt besteed.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 08:56 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Behoorlijk. Want een eventuele verhoging van de tarieven geldt voor de EU als geheel. Hij kan geen uitzondering maken voor Duitsland of Nederland. Richting de EU heeft zo'n dreigement dus weinig zin.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 07:17 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

Soldaten van 18 t/m 20 jaar oud in den vreemde mogen wel met AK47 lopen, maar als ze terug in de VS zijn niet? Zet die maar neer bij scholen. Hebben ze ook meteen een betaalde baan. En metaal detector poortjes bij de scholen neerzetten. Als een idioot terreur wil plegen op een school komt ie wel aan wapens. Dat zagen we ook in Frankrijk in Bataclan. Frankrijk waar een strenge wapenwet heerst. Ik sta volledig achter de NRA

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 09:12 schreef thesiren.nl het volgende:

[..]

https://en.wikipedia.org/(...)tary_veteran_suicide.
Twintig per dag gemiddeld zijn zo verknipt dat ze zelfmoord plegen.
Geef je die een wapen op een school? Als er één is die echt losgaat dan doet hij nog veel meer schade dan een 14 jarig quake knulletje.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 02:37 schreef Nintex het volgende:
Een klant van mij zij al: "Ik weet niet wat er is gebeurd, maar opeens 'mag' het weer en zijn er leuke projecten opgestart" . Ik weet wel hoe het komt.

quote:

The ACLU’s top voting rights lawyer faced down one of President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commissioners in court on Friday, getting him to concede that he had shaky evidence of significant voter fraud in Kansas.

The exchange came on the fourth day of a trial over a Kansas law that requires residents to prove they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote. Several residents who were not allowed to vote in the 2016 election are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in the suit against Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R).

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s voting rights project, questioned Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official and member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, who is one of the most prominent people arguing that noncitizen voter registration is a substantial issue. Several studies and investigations have shown it is not.

The back-and-forth between the two men in U.S. District Court ostensibly was about Kansas law (von Spakovsky is serving as an expert witness for Kobach). But Ho’s cross-examination had deeper significance in the national debate over voting restrictions because he was able to show that allegations of widespread voter fraud can often be based on incomplete information derived using unscientific methods.

SPOILER

Von Spakovsky has said that voter fraud is a serious problem both in Kansas and nationally. Questioned by Kobach in court on Friday, he pointed to a handful of cases in Kansas and hundreds of allegations of noncitizens on the voter rolls that date back to the 1980s.

But Ho noted that von Spakovsky had donated to defendant Kobach’s campaign in 2010 and had voiced support for the idea that being born in the United States doesn’t guarantee U.S. citizenship. Ho intended to show that von Spakovsky had formed an opinion about the Kansas law before he knew much about it and had written an expert report based on unreliable information.

Von Spakovsky admitted that he was not aware of a single election in which noncitizen votes determined the outcome. He also conceded that his research into voter fraud had not been subjected to the same kind of rigorous peer review that academic work would face.

Ho noted that von Spakovsky’s expert report in the case contained incomplete information that allowed him to inflate the likelihood of noncitizens getting on the rolls. In one example, von Spakovsky pointed to a NBC News story that said 100 registered voters had returned jury duty questionnaires indicating they were not U.S. citizens. Von Spakovsky failed to note in his report, however, that NBC followed up with those voters and that about a third actually were citizens.

Under Ho’s questioning, von Spakovsky also admitted that his entire understanding of voter fraud in Kansas was based on a spreadsheet prepared by Kobach’s office of about 30 noncitizens who attempted to get on the voter rolls in one county in the state over the course of 18 years. Pressed if he knew the circumstances behind any of the cases, such as if any of reports were caused by an administrative error or confusion, von Spakovsky said he did not.

Von Spakovsky’s testimony is crucial to Kobach’s defense of the Kansas law. Kobach, who was also on the voter fraud commission with von Spakovsky, has to show that noncitizens getting on the voter rolls is a substantial problem and that nothing short of asking people to provide proof of citizenship can prevent it.

Ho had not spoken much during the trial since the opening arguments on Tuesday, but it was clear he had been waiting for an opportunity to question von Spakovsky. As he questioned him, Ho was icy. His questions were short and rapid, and he often raised his voice as he asked them, while von Spakovsky mostly answered quietly. At one point he turned his back to von Spakovsky. Kobach objected throughout that Ho was harassing the witness, and U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson admonished Ho to dial down his theatrics.

Robinson also questioned von Spakovsky’s understanding of voter fraud. In his Friday testimony, von Spakovsky said that any ineligible voter who cast a ballot was committing voter fraud because they were diluting the vote of a legitimate citizen. Robinson wanted to know if he believed it would also be voter fraud if thousands of legitimate voters were blocked from casting ballots because of a voting restriction (the ACLU estimates the Kansas law affected more than 35,000 people). Von Spakovsky said that he didn’t consider it to be fraud because every voter had an opportunity to obtain the necessary documents to register.

Pressed later by Ho, he was unable to name any voting restriction in the United States that he believed to be a burden to voters.

quote:

A former Navy sailor who pleaded guilty to a felony count of unauthorized possession and retention of national defense information for snapping photos on a nuclear attack submarine has received a pardon from President Donald Trump — and his attorney says Fox News deserves the credit.

The legal team for Kristian Saucier compared his case to the handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. That grabbed Trump’s interest, and it’s now paid off in the form of a presidential pardon, announced Friday.

Last week, Saucier appeared on “Fox & Friends,” a program that the president records and watches during his morning “executive time.” Trump frequently sends tweets that correspond with segments on the morning show.

Ronald Daigle, a lawyer hired to advocate for Saucier’s pardon, told HuffPost that Fox News played a key role in getting the case on Trump’s radar. “Absolutely,” Daigle said when asked whether going on Fox News was a big part of their strategy. “They were big supporters of Kris right from the beginning. They supported Kris.”

SPOILER

In 2016, shortly after then-FBI Director James Comey announced the results of the Clinton email investigation, Saucier’s legal team began comparing the submariner’s case to Clinton’s. The Justice Department responded that Saucier was “grasping at highly imaginative and speculative straws,” but the case got Trump’s attention.

Saucier was sentenced to a year behind bars prior to the 2016 election ― a sentence he completed before his pardon. One reason that federal prosecutors likely handled the case the way they did: Saucier destroyed a laptop, a camera and the camera’s memory card shortly after he was interviewed by the FBI. Pieces of a laptop were later found in the woods near a Saucier family home. Prosecutors tend to treat suspects more harshly when they are accused of destroying evidence.

Since the election, Saucier’s team has “sent tons of marketing materials to the White House” and distributed press releases in an effort to “capture the president’s opinion,” Daigle said.

Saucier’s team was aiming for a “political” pardon rather than a pardon that goes through the normal process of the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, Daigle said. Saucier was not yet eligible to go through that lengthy procedure.

“I flipped the process around,” Daigle said. “We were doing something to try to capture the attention of the president. When we put the pardon in, we did a press release for that. When we heard back from the pardon office, we put a press release for that. Every step of the way, we’re trying to do what we can to be on the radar, and hopefully the president will hear us. We think he heard us more than once.”

Daigle believes that Trump simply ordered that a pardon be prepared for his signature and that the Justice Department had very little involvement. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on its role in the pardon.

Daigle’s pardon strategy isn’t going to work for defendants across the board, he said.

“It’s not going to happen in every case. It just happened because we had a set of circumstances that were truly unjust,” said Daigle, referring to his argument that his client was prosecuted where others who committed similar offenses weren’t.

Daigle said he and his client were “very excited” about the news. He said he hoped Saucier, who has a young child, would be able to get his military benefits back.

“This would make a huge difference to his family if he can get his benefits back,” Daigle said. “This is a very talented young man, and he couldn’t find a job coming out for anything, only as a garbage collector. Now he’ll be able to go after these licenses and stuff to have a nice career on the outside.”

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 10:00 schreef brokjespoes het volgende:
Trump’s Latest Pardon Shows The Best Way To Get One: Go On Fox News (HuffPo)

[..]

SPOILER

In 2016, shortly after then-FBI Director James Comey announced the results of the Clinton email investigation, Saucier’s legal team began comparing the submariner’s case to Clinton’s. The Justice Department responded that Saucier was “grasping at highly imaginative and speculative straws,” but the case got Trump’s attention.

Saucier was sentenced to a year behind bars prior to the 2016 election ― a sentence he completed before his pardon. One reason that federal prosecutors likely handled the case the way they did: Saucier destroyed a laptop, a camera and the camera’s memory card shortly after he was interviewed by the FBI. Pieces of a laptop were later found in the woods near a Saucier family home. Prosecutors tend to treat suspects more harshly when they are accused of destroying evidence.

Since the election, Saucier’s team has “sent tons of marketing materials to the White House” and distributed press releases in an effort to “capture the president’s opinion,” Daigle said.

Saucier’s team was aiming for a “political” pardon rather than a pardon that goes through the normal process of the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, Daigle said. Saucier was not yet eligible to go through that lengthy procedure.

“I flipped the process around,” Daigle said. “We were doing something to try to capture the attention of the president. When we put the pardon in, we did a press release for that. When we heard back from the pardon office, we put a press release for that. Every step of the way, we’re trying to do what we can to be on the radar, and hopefully the president will hear us. We think he heard us more than once.”

Daigle believes that Trump simply ordered that a pardon be prepared for his signature and that the Justice Department had very little involvement. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on its role in the pardon.

Daigle’s pardon strategy isn’t going to work for defendants across the board, he said.

“It’s not going to happen in every case. It just happened because we had a set of circumstances that were truly unjust,” said Daigle, referring to his argument that his client was prosecuted where others who committed similar offenses weren’t.

Daigle said he and his client were “very excited” about the news. He said he hoped Saucier, who has a young child, would be able to get his military benefits back.

“This would make a huge difference to his family if he can get his benefits back,” Daigle said. “This is a very talented young man, and he couldn’t find a job coming out for anything, only as a garbage collector. Now he’ll be able to go after these licenses and stuff to have a nice career on the outside.”

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 09:12 schreef thesiren.nl het volgende:
Eigenlijk zou je moeten stellen in een juridische uitspraak Ok de NRA heeft gelijk we mogen het recht op bewapenen niet beperken, maar dan is de NRA wel verantwoordelijk om schadevergoeding te betalen aan ieder slachtoffer van een onder de 21 schutter.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 11:21 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Want mensen hoeven zelf geen verantwoordelijkheid meer te nemen?

De NRA kun je vergelijken met de KNVB. Je gaat hen toch ook niet schadevergoedingen laten betalen vanwege de tackles op het veld waardoor mensen hun benen breken?

Ik vind wel dat je de NRA moet beteugelen, omdat ze te veel machthebben als schietclubje, maar hen verantwoordelijk houden voor schietpartijen is bespottelijk.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 11:21 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Want mensen hoeven zelf geen verantwoordelijkheid meer te nemen?

De NRA kun je vergelijken met de KNVB. Je gaat hen toch ook niet schadevergoedingen laten betalen vanwege de tackles op het veld waardoor mensen hun benen breken?

Ik vind wel dat je de NRA moet beteugelen, omdat ze te veel machthebben als schietclubje, maar hen verantwoordelijk houden voor schietpartijen is bespottelijk.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 08:37 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

Het is geopolitiek niet zo moellijk hoor. Kim Jong Oen heeft internationaal geen enkele backup meer. China is hem liever kwijt dan rijk. Die wil niet dat er atoomwapens in Korea staan, waardoor ook Japan zich genoodzaakt ziet atoomwapens te maken of aan te schaffen. Zo stevig zit China ook niet in het zadel. Dat zagen we al eens in 1989. China is alleen in naam nog communistisch. Er zijn allerlei kapitalistische initiatieven. China zou heel wel kunnen leven met een soort tweede Hongkong, maar dan in de vorm van een verenigd Korea als daar waarborgen tegenover staan.
Het is beslist niet Kim Jong Oen die hier sterk staat. Daarom dat charme offensief gedurende de OS en nu op het matje komen bij Trump. Dat had een sterke Kim nooit gedaan. Als hij dit historisch moment niet pakt is het gedaan met hem en zijn rijke familie. Tegelijk kan Trump laten zien dat hjij er dan alles aan heeft gedaan om een oorlog te voorkomen door met rocketman aan tafel te gaan zitten. Overigens hoeft het niet eens op oorlog uit te draaien. Even een Ceauscescu-tje organiseren

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 11:21 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Want mensen hoeven zelf geen verantwoordelijkheid meer te nemen?

De NRA kun je vergelijken met de KNVB. Je gaat hen toch ook niet schadevergoedingen laten betalen vanwege de tackles op het veld waardoor mensen hun benen breken?

Ik vind wel dat je de NRA moet beteugelen, omdat ze te veel machthebben als schietclubje, maar hen verantwoordelijk houden voor schietpartijen is bespottelijk.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 08:37 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

Het is geopolitiek niet zo moellijk hoor. Kim Jong Oen heeft internationaal geen enkele backup meer. China is hem liever kwijt dan rijk. Die wil niet dat er atoomwapens in Korea staan, waardoor ook Japan zich genoodzaakt ziet atoomwapens te maken of aan te schaffen. Zo stevig zit China ook niet in het zadel. Dat zagen we al eens in 1989. China is alleen in naam nog communistisch. Er zijn allerlei kapitalistische initiatieven. China zou heel wel kunnen leven met een soort tweede Hongkong, maar dan in de vorm van een verenigd Korea als daar waarborgen tegenover staan.
Het is beslist niet Kim Jong Oen die hier sterk staat. Daarom dat charme offensief gedurende de OS en nu op het matje komen bij Trump. Dat had een sterke Kim nooit gedaan. Als hij dit historisch moment niet pakt is het gedaan met hem en zijn rijke familie. Tegelijk kan Trump laten zien dat hjij er dan alles aan heeft gedaan om een oorlog te voorkomen door met rocketman aan tafel te gaan zitten. Overigens hoeft het niet eens op oorlog uit te draaien. Even een Ceauscescu-tje organiseren

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:00 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Als NK zo zwak staat en daarom met de POTUS wil babbelen zouden ze dat al decennia zijn. Trump is tenslotte niet de eerste die een uitnodiging kreeg. Hij is wel de eerste die "Ja" zegt. Verder ligt er geen formele uitnodiging en heeft NK het slechtsvia-via laten doorschemeren dat ze dat willen.

Ik denk dat Trump's stijl -alleen maar reageren en ad-hoc besluiten nemen- hier ook niet succesvol zal zijn. Je zag al bij gesprekken met bevriende landen dat dat niet werkt. Waarom bij NK wel? Die kijken naar Irak en denken "Saddam gaf zijn WMD's ook op. Strak plan dus. Not."

Uiteindelijk krijg je een lachende Trump op de foto met de Slager van Pyongyang en meer niet. Wat een winst.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:19 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Ach, het was natuurlijk weer impulsief geroeptoeter van Trump. Nu de realiteit is ingezonken en het één en ander aan kleine Donny is uitgelegd blijkt het Witte Huis toch opeens een stuk minder happig:
https://www.politico.com/(...)ng-conditions-449448

En hoewel ze in China ook niet echt veel meer op hebben met het Noord-Koreaanse regime, houden ze wel van een buffer tussen hun eigen landsgrens en Amerikaanse bondgenoten. Er is China best wat aan gelegen om de situatie zoals hij is in stand te houden.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:29 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Je kan ook vragen wat andere landen hebben geboden om Amerika zulke heffingen niet in te laten voeren.....

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:26 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:
Zou wel geniaal zijn als Kim nu de uitnodiging intrekt. Dan heeft ie toch mooi Trump finaal voor schut gezet

Hoop het niet want dialoog is nodig maar het zou wel een geniale actie zijn

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:31 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Wie heeft het over heffingen?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:34 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Aan de andere kant zie ik liever iemand met verstand van zaken praten met Kim.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:34 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Ik. Wat betreft Noord-Korea is het wel leuk dat, zoals ik al zei, het geroeptoeter van Trump toch enig effect heeft gehad en dat het toch China is het dat een bepaalde druk heeft uitgeoefend. Oh oh waarom zouden ze dat toch hebben gedaan zeg.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:41 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Hoe kom je toch bij dit soort nonsens?
Noord-Korea is gewoon rustig doorgegaan met hun raketprogramma en lijkt inmiddels hun doel bereikt te hebben. Ze zullen nog wel gestaag doorgaan om te zorgen dat hun arsenaal robuust genoeg is om een eventuele pre-emptive strike te kunnen weerstaan en ondertussen voor de buhne doen alsof ze bereid zijn tot wat diplomatieke handelingen. Business as usual op het Koreaanse schiereiland.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:55 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

[..]

Behalve dan dat de Amerikanen er onder Trump dit keer wel intrappen

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:41 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Hoe kom je toch bij dit soort nonsens?
Noord-Korea is gewoon rustig doorgegaan met hun raketprogramma en lijkt inmiddels hun doel bereikt te hebben. Ze zullen nog wel gestaag doorgaan om te zorgen dat hun arsenaal robuust genoeg is om een eventuele pre-emptive strike te kunnen weerstaan en ondertussen voor de buhne doen alsof ze bereid zijn tot wat diplomatieke handelingen. Business as usual op het Koreaanse schiereiland.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:57 schreef BlackLining het volgende:
Bijzonder hoeveel mensen lijken te denken dat het een overwinning van Trump is om te worden uitgenodigd. Trump is niet de eerste die wordt uitgenodigd. Daarop ingaan, is een overwinning voor Kim en niet voor Trump.

Al zullen Hij en Zijn Gevolg daar wel anders over denken.. Het getuigt niet van enig diplomatiek inzicht.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:58 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Sinds Trump zijn aantreden is Noord-Korea's raketprogramma significant veranderd..... Natuurlijk niet. Het gaat er juist om wat er achter de schermen met China is gebeurd en wat Noord-Korea aanzet om schijnbaar zich gedwongen te voelen tot een meer diplomatieke benadering over te gaan. De volgende stap is een akkoord waarbij Noord-Korea iets van zijn arsenaal, al dan niet nucleair, zal gaan afbouwen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:00 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Maar hoe kom je er toch bij dat ze zich gedwongen voelen tot een meer diplomatieke benadering? Dat is volstrekte kolder.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:58 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Dat wil ik niet direct zeggen. Zoals ik al aangaf zijn ze al gewoon teruggekomen op Trump's impuls. Ook hebben de voorgangers van Trump verzuimd om echt effectief te zijn in het verhinderen van de gestage voortgang van het Noord-Koreaanse nucleaire programma.
Het is ook een vrij lastige situatie.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:01 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Noord-Korea doet nooit iets zomaar.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:58 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Sinds Trump zijn aantreden is Noord-Korea's raketprogramma significant veranderd..... Natuurlijk niet. Het gaat er juist om wat er achter de schermen met China is gebeurd en wat Noord-Korea aanzet om schijnbaar zich gedwongen te voelen tot een meer diplomatieke benadering over te gaan. De volgende stap is een akkoord waarbij Noord-Korea iets van zijn arsenaal, al dan niet nucleair, zal gaan afbouwen [en een apart akkoord met Zuid-Korea].

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:34 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Ik. Wat betreft Noord-Korea is het wel leuk dat, zoals ik al zei, het geroeptoeter van Trump toch enig effect heeft gehad en dat het toch China is het dat een bepaalde druk heeft uitgeoefend. Oh oh waarom zouden ze dat toch hebben gedaan zeg.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:01 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

[..]

Het is ook lastig zo niet onmogelijk om iets aan de situatie te doen die in alle eerlijkheid Trump ook maar cadeau heeft gekregen van zijn voorgangers. Maar de naïeve happigheid waarmee ze in eerste instantie op de uitnodiging ingingen toont maar weer aan dat deze regering op diplomatiek vlak boter kaas en eieren aan het spelen is terwijl de rest van de wereld schaakt.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:02 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Maar wat is er volgens jou zo nieuw? Een Amerikaanse president uitnodigen in ieder geval niet.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:02 schreef BlackLining het volgende:

[..]

En welk voordeel zou Noord Korea daar bij hebben? Die nukes zijn de levensverzekering van Kim. Gebruiken is zelfmoord, opgeven is zelfmoord. Aanhouden, niet gebruiken en blijven dreigen zorgt dat het regime in het zadel kan blijven.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:03 schreef mcmlxiv het volgende:

[..]

Ik denk dat het veel te vroeg is om wie dan ook te feliciteren. Er kunnen allerlei redenen zijn dat Kim communicatie aangaat met ZK en de VS. Gezien het recente verleden lijkt mij zwakte niet de meest waarschijnlijke.

Kim zou zijn wapenarsenaal wel eens op orde kunnen hebben, hij kan wellicht nog niet de VS bereiken, maar zeker Seoel, Tokio en nog wel een paar miljoenensteden. Een mooie positie om eens te kijken of hij wat barstjes in het bondgenootschap Japan, VS, ZK kan veroorzaken.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:05 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Omdat dit na de Winterspelen de eerste serieuze uitnodiging was [in lange tijd]. Dat is historisch. Noord-Korea moest tijdens de Winterspelen bereidheid laten zien aan de wereld significante stappen te willen maken, heeft het gedaan, wat Trump en Amerika de perfecte reden gaf zo'n uitnodiging weer te accepteren. Allemaal met Chinese druk gecoordineerd.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:16 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Ook Obama werd gewoon uitgenodigd hoor. Het zegt allemaal niets. Symbolische schijn van diplomatieke bereidheid is gewoon onderdeel van het Noord-Koreaanse arsenaal. Noord-Korea heeft onder Trump flinke vooruitgang geboekt en lijkt nu de VS te kunnen raken met hun nucleaire wapens, een in hun ogen ongetwijfeld belangrijke stap in het kader van zelfbehoud.

Je bewering over coördinatie is natuurlijk ook lachwekkende kolder gezien het feit dat de VS alweer terugkrabbelt. Trump is de belichaming van impulsiviteit, dat zie je ook hier gewoon weer.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:23 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De meeste voorafgaande uitnodigingen waren niet serieus, deze uitnodiging is gecoordineerd, prima dat jij dat niet gelooft maar dit soort retoriek werkt nu eenmaal beter dan de pragmatische ambtenarentaal die alleen uit is op behoud en niet op verandering.. Noord-Korea heeft onder Trump vooral mogen ervaren dat Kim zijn positie op dit moment zeer wankel is en dat China wel een beetje klaar is met het Noord-Koreaanse gezeik. Trump's retoriek heeft daar wel degelijk aan bijgedragen maar de enige echte kolder is dat mensen alleen naar hem kijken. Alsof die man in zijn eentje het hele Amerikaanse bestuur vormt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 09:22 schreef Monolith het volgende:
Hier nog een aardig stuk over waarom Twitter een kutmedium is:

https://www.theatlantic.c(...)-mit-twitter/555104/

quote:

In short, social media seems to systematically amplify falsehood at the expense of the truth, and no one—neither experts nor politicians nor tech companies—knows how to reverse that trend. It is a dangerous moment for any system of government premised on a common public reality

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:27 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

[..]

Waarom meen jij dat Kim's positie verzwakt is? Of bedoel je dan zijn interne positie? Extern lijkt het mij juist dat hij door de vele geslaagde kernproeven van de laatste maanden/jaren juist sterker staat dan voorheen: hij kan nu geloofwaardig maken dat hij in ieder geval een Amerikaanse bondgenoot zoals Japan of Zuid Korea met kernbommen kan bestoken.

Intern is misschien een ander verhaal maar daar is gezien de geslotenheid van het regime weinig zinnigs over te zeggen.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:35 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Intern. En dus ook extern. Noord-Korea kan een miljoen kernwapens maken maar dat verandert niks aan de realiteit voor het regime dat elke aanval zelfmoord zal zijn. Intern is de positieve van Kim zodanig verzwakt vooral omdat China klaar is met wat er in het land gebeurt. Dat maken we op uit recente Chinese handelingen en de ommezwaai van het Noord-Koreaanse regime.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:37 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

[..]

Maar zijn relatie met China is toch extern?

En hoe weet jij hoe het momenteel staat met de interne machtsverhoudingen in Noord Korea?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:55 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

[..]

Behalve dan dat de Amerikanen er onder Trump dit keer wel intrappen

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:23 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De meeste voorafgaande uitnodigingen waren niet serieus, deze uitnodiging is gecoordineerd, prima dat jij dat niet gelooft maar dit soort retoriek werkt nu eenmaal beter dan de pragmatische ambtenarentaal die alleen uit is op behoud en niet op verandering.. Noord-Korea heeft onder Trump vooral mogen ervaren dat Kim zijn positie op dit moment zeer wankel is en dat China wel een beetje klaar is met het Noord-Koreaanse gezeik.

quote:

Trump's retoriek heeft daar wel degelijk aan bijgedragen maar de enige echte kolder is dat mensen alleen naar hem kijken. Alsof die man in zijn eentje het hele Amerikaanse bestuur vormt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:44 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Je claimt maar van alles dat niet strookt met de feiten en roept dan 'prima dat je het niet gelooft'. Ik zie nergens reden om te stellen dat de positie van Kim op het moment wankel is. Sterker nog, die is in mijn ogen een stuk sterker dan voorheen. China heeft inderdaad wel steeds meer hun buik vol van Noord-Korea, maar is er wel alles aan gelegen om de status quo in stand te houden. China wil vooral stabiliteit in NK en een buffer tegen het Westen. Het laatste wat het land wil is een ineenstorting van het regime.

quote:

Het probleem is eerder dat juist het hele apparaat dat bedoeld is om een regering te ondersteunen in dit soort kwesties hopeloos onderbezet is, grotendeels door toedoen van Trump en in het geval van Korea is dat nog eens extra het geval vanwege het ontbreken van mensen op cruciale posities. Trump roept impulsief allerhande zaken waarvan mensen als Tillerson vervolgens denken 'wat heb ik nou weer aan m'n fiets hangen'. Dat jij daar een geniale strategie in ziet is prima, maar dan mag je wel met argumenten komen waaruit dat moet blijken. Er is nu via Zuid-Korea een soort van uitnodiging gekomen waar voorheen nog wel eens een 'officiële uitnodiging' kwam. De VS geeft al aan helemaal niet te gaan praten voordat er allerlei concessies gedaan worden die nooit gedaan gaan worden natuurlijk.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:05 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Omdat China dat eist.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:04 schreef BlackLining het volgende:

[..]

Werkelijk?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:35 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Intern. En dus ook extern. Noord-Korea kan een miljoen kernwapens maken maar dat verandert niks aan de realiteit voor het regime dat elke aanval zelfmoord zal zijn. Intern is de positieve van Kim zodanig verzwakt vooral omdat China klaar is met wat er in het land gebeurt. Dat maken we op uit recente Chinese handelingen en de ommezwaai van het Noord-Koreaanse regime.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:10 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Noord-Korea heeft nooit de illusie gekoesterd dat het de VS en Zuid-Korea kan verslaan in een militair conflict. Daar is al tientallen jaren niets aan veranderd. Kim heeft sinds enkele maanden echter de beschikking over een operationeel kernwapenarsenaal en daarmee en zeer sterke troef in handen. Daarom durft Kim een ontmoeting met Trump wel aan. Temeer omdat zijn Amerikaanse tegenhanger een imbeciel is die In een gesprek makkelijk naar je hand is te zetten.

Trump is by far de zwakste president uit de geschiedenis van de VS. Daar veranderen zijn bombastische tweets niets aan.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:16 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Kim had al een operationeel kernwapenarsenaal en pas toen bekend werd dat Kim het nu ook daadwerkelijk op een raket kon plaatsen begon het hele gezeik met Amerika. Het is toch vrij frustrerend hoe mensen in hun antipathie jegens Trump, al dan niet terecht, de realiteit gewoon weigeren te zien. Ja het zijn de bombastische woorden van Trump en Amerika geweest, plus druk van China om zeer duidelijke redenen waar ook Amerika mee te maken heeft, dat Kim nu ingeeft en bepaalde stappen zet.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:20 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Het is eerder frappant hoe jij zo lijkt te hopen dat Trump een succes wordt, dat je er al bijna vanuit lijkt te gaan dat de beste man voor vrede gaat zorgen op het Koreaanse schiereiland.

Je weet dat het Witte Huis alweer aan het terugkrabbelen is en die hele ontmoeting waarschijnlijk niet doorgaat?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:23 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Trump zal nooit een succes meer kunnen worden ongeacht wat wij vinden of Hopen dat hij bereikt. Dit gaat om een individueel punt en niet om zijn gehele Presidentschap. Als je dat niet uit elkaar kan houden kunnen we dit topic net zo Goed het anti-Trump topic noemen. Ik blijf liever wat meer objectief in deze.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:24 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Maar je weet dat Trump weer voor z'n beurt sprak en dat het Witte Huis aan het terugkrabbelen is?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:25 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Het gaat gewoon gebeuren hoor. Let maar op.

quote:

On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, an uncontrollable blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing at the seabed.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Macondo blowout) is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The U.S. government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3). After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

quote:

Oil companies seek to gain from a rollback of safety and environmental rules that were adopted after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

A dozen miles off the coast, on a rusty, aging platform, workers in hard hats and overalls spend their days extracting oil and gas from the ocean floor before retreating at night into tiny weather-beaten steel cubes that act as dorms. The platform, owned by a Houston-based energy company that until recently was bankrupt, has none of the grandeur — or profits — of the deep-sea structures over 100 miles offshore that are operated by international giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron.

But the company, Energy XXI, and other struggling operators in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico are beneficiaries of the Trump administration’s efforts to increase offshore production here — in large part by upending financial, environmental and safety regulations that the companies oppose.

While attention has been focused on President Trump’s disputed decision in January to reverse drilling restrictions in nearly all United States coastal waters, the administration has also pursued a rollback of Obama-era regulations in the Gulf. Those rules include safety measures put in place after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010, a disaster that killed 11 people and resulted in the largest marine oil spill in drilling history.

Smaller oil and gas companies, many backed by Wall Street and private equity firms, say they need the relief to survive financially, and the top safety official at the Interior Department appointed by Mr. Trump has appeared an enthusiastic ally.

SPOILER

“Help is on the way, help is on the way,” the official, Scott Angelle, said in September at a gathering in Lafayette, La., of oil and gas executives from so-called independent companies, which focus on drilling alone rather than the extended drilling-to-gas-station operations of bigger competitors.

But an analysis of federal inspection data by The New York Times found that several of the independent companies seeking the rollback, including Energy XXI, had been cited for workplace safety violations in recent years at a rate much higher than the industry average. Their offshore platforms suffer in some cases from years of poor maintenance, as well as equipment failures or metal fatigue on aging devices, records show.

In addition, there was a string of serious environmental and safety episodes in the last six months involving independent operators, including the death in February of a worker who was removing firefighting equipment from a platform about 30 miles offshore, and an oil spill in October that is considered the largest since the Deepwater Horizon event, according to Interior Department records.

“These regulations were written with human blood,” said Lillian Espinoza-Gala, a former offshore worker who now serves as an industry safety consultant and opposes easing protections. “The only way we can honor those who lost their lives is for us to learn how to do this in the correct way.”

But Mr. Angelle has close personal and recent ties to the oil and gas industry, particularly the smaller companies seeking his intervention. Earlier, he worked with them to end a temporary moratorium on new offshore drilling imposed by the Obama administration after the Deepwater Horizon accident.

Now he is the top official at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, a division created under President Obama to toughen safety standards and enforcement in offshore drilling because of problems exposed by Deepwater Horizon. Mr. Angelle spent his first months on the job, records show, traveling between Washington, Texas and his native Louisiana to meet with executives at most of the top offshore oil companies, including some repeatedly cited for safety violations.

During the gatherings, most of which were behind closed doors, he asked for suggestions about how federal safety and environmental rules should be rewritten. Sometimes he offered up his cellphone number, urging attendees to call rather than send emails or text messages, which could be subject to public records requests.

“Not all the good ideas in America come over the banks of the Potomac River,” Mr. Angelle said at a meeting in Houston in September that was sponsored by an affiliate of the American Petroleum Institute, the large industry lobbying group, and attended by a reporter. “To the degree this industry wants to be part of the discussion, tell me where you want me to be and we will be there,” he said, evoking applause.

Mr. Angelle’s leveraging of his role as a safety official to help channel the industry’s financial concerns and loosen regulations represents a sharp departure from his predecessors at the agency, which include a former Coast Guard vice admiral and a former federal prosecutor.

“What appears to be going on is a redefinition of the agency’s mission,” said Michael R. Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and inspector general at the Justice Department who became the first head of the bureau in May 2010. “This is a safety and environmental protection agency. It is not part of the agency’s mission or mandate to increase production of oil or gas. That is inappropriate.”

Mr. Angelle declined to be interviewed for this article. But in a written statement, he disputed that his agency had backed off its commitment to safety. “We must never have another Deepwater Horizon or anything close to it,” Mr. Angelle said.

An agency spokeswoman said that all Americans benefited from his efforts.

“The work we are doing in BSEE benefits the entire nation, and we are supporting the president’s objective of safely achieving energy dominance in order to contribute to national security, economic security and energy security,” said Eileen Angelico, the spokeswoman, adding, “The fact that Director Angelle deeply understands the industry we regulate is a good thing.”

The agency is starting an enforcement effort that will focus inspectors on platforms with the most frequent problems, reducing paperwork requirements so they can spend more time on checking equipment.

But Mr. Angelle’s speeches often center on helping the oil and gas industry cut costs and grow their businesses. And agency documents suggest moves he has already made could save the industry more than $1.3 billion in compliance costs over the next decade.

The Interior Department has joined the effort more broadly. Last year, the department suspended a requirement imposed on Gulf rig owners, a change that will save them hundreds of millions of dollars. The rule required owners to buy additional bonds or provide other assurance that they could cover the costs of removing rigs once they stopped producing.

The rule was meant to keep taxpayers from having to pick up the tab, but a collection of operators last year — with help from high-profile lobbyists like former Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi — convinced the Trump administration that the requirement was too onerous. The change has mostly benefited independents like Energy XXI.

Separately, the administration has reduced the royalties independent companies pay when drilling on new leases on the continental shelf, the shallow area of the Gulf before the ocean floor drops more than a mile deep.

And it has eased up on deadlines for the removal of unproductive or damaged platforms, a change that also primarily benefits the independents, as they own wells on the shelf that in many cases are decades old and will soon need to be repaired or demolished.

The rollbacks have been popular across Louisiana, which is home to dozens of companies that serve offshore operations and is where Mr. Angelle grew up.

“Too much damn regulation in the world,” said John Girard, 72, a neighbor of Mr. Angelle’s from Breaux Bridge.

Foraging for ‘Forgotten Assets’

In a presentation to Wall Street analysts, Houston-based Renaissance Offshore, one of the Gulf’s independent operators, called its business plan “a targeted acquire and exploit strategy.”

While major oil companies had given up on shallow-water drilling in favor of bigger prizes farther offshore, Renaissance was “happy to assume control of forgotten assets with bypassed reserves on the continental shelf,” the presentation said.

When oil was selling for $100 a barrel, it was relatively easy for independent companies to find private equity firms willing to invest in buying the aging platforms and deploying new technologies — such as horizontal drilling — to tap reserves that Exxon Mobil and others had left behind.

The “used cars” of the offshore oil patch were becoming profitable fleets again for companies like Renaissance, Energy XXI and Fieldwood Energy, which often bought up hundreds of platforms at a time as the major companies moved to deeper, more lucrative waters.

Even as the price of oil dropped precipitously in recent years, the purchases continued, including a move last July by Cantium, a Louisiana start-up, to buy 300 active wells, along with 152 platforms and other offshore structures, from Chevron, one of the last major oil companies to leave shallow waters.

“We see tremendous potential,” said Mark Ian Smithard, Cantium’s chief operating officer. “We see changes taking place in the regulatory environment, and we are working with our industry partners to make sure they go through.”

But federal safety inspection records hint at the difficulties many of the independents have faced, and help explain why regulatory changes by the Trump administration are seen as so crucial to the shallow-water industry’s survival.

Approximately 240 platforms in the shallow waters of the Gulf, serving over 2,000 oil and gas wells as of last year, are listed by the Interior Department as “idle iron.” This means that they are severely damaged, not operating and no longer economically viable, and that they pose environmental and safety hazards. Most of the platforms are controlled by independent companies like Energy XXI and are decades old.

Even as safety has improved for the industry as a whole, some independent operators have lagged significantly behind, the records show.

Renaissance, which produced 1.5 million barrels last year, as well as 3.8 billion cubic feet of gas, received 47 safety warnings or citations in 48 inspections in 2017. Among these were 20 orders to immediately shut down malfunctioning or unsafe equipment on offshore platforms. Overall, Renaissance had a violation ratio that was nearly twice the average, according to a Times analysis of agency data obtained through a public records request.

There were two accidents on Renaissance platforms during that period, including a fire that erupted 48 miles offshore. Two workers jumped into the Gulf after concluding that the firefighting equipment on board was essentially useless, like “putting water on a hot grease fire,” the records show. Crew members were rescued by a passing boat after they got into life rafts.

In the past 18 months, the company was also issued a violation notice by the Environmental Protection Agency for not complying with a permit that allowed it to dump wastewater, and by the Transportation Department for failing to have qualified staff inspect its 32 miles of underwater pipeline, federal records show.

Energy XXI, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of 2016, was found to have 207 safety violations during 337 inspections. Conditions were so serious that inspectors moved nine times to shut down entire oil platforms, not simply broken components they found.

Last year, the company paid more than $1.1 million in fines for four different episodes. In one case, it abandoned two offshore wells without ensuring that they had been properly plugged, allowing natural gas to bubble up from the ocean floor.

In 2017, the Interior Department conducted four separate investigations into accidents on Energy XXI platforms (out of 46 conducted across the entire Gulf). One of the inquiries looked at a fire that broke out in October just six miles off the coast, in 49 feet of water, when a gas compressor built in 1979 ruptured and melted.

The most serious offenses involved Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations, which was convicted in August of eight felony violations related to a platform explosion that killed three workers and injured several others. It has since gone out of business, one of at least 19 oil and gas companies that have operated in the Gulf to go bankrupt since 2015.

Representatives from Energy XXI declined repeated requests for comment.

A spokesman for Renaissance said the company had already moved to improve its compliance record this year. “As a company we not only adhere to industry best practices but look to exceed on them in every way,” Renaissance said in a written statement.

Ridgelake Energy, a small company operating in shallow waters, also had a large number of reported violations last year. Its owner, William M. Hines, blamed the run-down condition of equipment he acquired from one of the Gulf’s many bankrupt operators.

“There is a lot of broken stuff out there,” he said. “We are working to get all this back into shape.”

Concern among enforcement officers has been growing because some of the independent companies are looking to extend operations toward the Gulf’s deep waters, where the risks are even greater.

On the same day in February that it filed for bankruptcy, Fieldwood announced that it was going to acquire $700 million in oil wells from Noble Energy, which is leaving the offshore area to focus on shale drilling on land. With that purchase, Fieldwood hopes to start major explorations in deep water, even as it faces scrutiny for violations on the shelf.

A spokesman for Fieldwood said the company was already operating in deep water and would be “be much stronger financially when we come out of this restructuring.”

Lars Herbst, the Gulf director for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, warned offshore operators at a briefing last year that certain kinds of shutdown had doubled. He attributed the spike in such orders, which involve an “unsafe situation” that “poses an immediate danger to the entire facility or personnel,” to a large number of “financially at-risk companies.” Those businesses, he said, operated 449 of the 2,104 active facilities in the Gulf.

More recently, the agency conducted a two-day inspection blitz involving gas leaks on offshore platforms, many of them owned by independent operators in shallow waters. Inspectors found that 17 percent of the 36 platforms and well operations they visited had “oil and gas accumulations,” industry lingo for leaks that can lead to fires, agency records show. Eight facilities either lacked operating gas detectors or had other problems with their leak-detection systems.

“It was quite concerning,” said Jason Mathews, the agency’s chief for safety management in the Gulf.

A Native Son Leads the Charge

The Cajundome in Lafayette is well known as a venue for college basketball games, country music concerts and monster truck shows. But for Mr. Angelle, 56, it is associated with an enduring alliance he forged with the offshore oil and gas industry nearly eight years ago.

In July 2010, just three months after the Deepwater Horizon accident, Mr. Angelle, then lieutenant governor, stood in the arena before more than 10,000 locals, offshore workers and industry executives. He promised to pressure the Obama administration to end the moratorium on new offshore drilling, which had deeply angered communities that depended on it. The ban was lifted that October.

“Enough is enough,” he said with a thick Cajun accent in a rousing speech laced with rhymes and applause lines. “And it’s time to quit punishing innocent American workers to achieve some unrealistic political agenda.”

One of nine children whose father owned a local Ford dealership before going into Louisiana politics himself, Mr. Angelle turned the arena on fire by ticking off the names of local families.

“This moratorium is not hurting the stockholders of BP, or Exxon or Chevron,” he declared. “This moratorium is hurting the Cheramies, and the Calaises, and the Dupuises, and the Robins, and the Boudreauxs and the Thibodeauxs!”

Mr. Angelle knew his audience well: After graduating from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he started his career by scouting for onshore drilling sites. He eventually went on to lead the state agency charged with regulating the oil and gas industry, and made a series of appeals to Interior Department officials — some at the safety agency he now runs — to press the federal government to soften its response to the Deepwater Horizon accident.

His ties to the industry are also financial. Mr. Angelle was paid $1 million to serve for four years on the board of directors at Sunoco Logistics, a pipeline company. And when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2015, he benefited from large contributions from the industry. One of these was a $1.25 million donation to Louisiana Rising, a political action committee that backed him, from a top executive at an oil and gas company that then had hundreds of Gulf platforms. Mr. Angelle promised voters that he was “fighting for Louisiana’s energy industry” in one advertisement.

After being appointed to his current post, Mr. Angelle made a return visit to the Cajundome last September as part of his outreach to oil and gas executives. Mr. Angelle, agency officials note, has sold off any industry stock assets to comply with federal conflict-of-interest rules.

His job was new, but his message was familiar: How can I help your companies thrive? In addition to safety enforcement, he made it clear that he viewed his role as helping the industry grow.

“One of the things that we want to do is help unlock the next wave of investment into the Gulf of Mexico,” he said at the time. “That is what we want to do.”

The next day, at a meeting with executives in Houston, Mr. Angelle acknowledged that efforts to assist the industry could be hampered if safety problems persisted.

“At the end, we are only as strong as the weakest link,” he said. “And if we have someone who is a bad actor, you owe it to yourselves, you owe it to your families, you owe it to the industry, you owe it to America, to call them out.”

Even before this gathering, the Trump administration had signed off on the first rollback of industry regulations, including the one pertaining to the removal of unproductive offshore platforms. The lobbying effort on that rule was funded in part by companies, like Renaissance and Energy XXI, that were plagued by safety violations. It involved both Mr. Lott and his partner, John Breaux, a Democrat and former senator from Louisiana, according to a disclosure report.

The rule had taken effect late in the Obama administration after government auditors estimated that it would cost nearly $40 billion to remove the old wells, but determined that oil companies had issued just $2.9 billion worth of bonds to cover the expense.

The Obama administration’s remedy was to require companies to buy more bonds, or provide other financial guarantees, to prove they had the capacity to pay for the removal of the wells. The industry’s reaction was swift.

“The Louisiana economy needs a kick start, not a kick in the teeth,” Gifford Briggs, the top lobbyist and vice president at the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, wrote in 2016.

The problems associated with the old platforms can be severe, as seen in an oil leak 12 miles off the Louisiana coast that has been spreading a sheen across the Gulf for more than a decade. The leak, from a collapsed platform once operated by the now defunct Taylor Energy Company, could continue for 100 years unless it is properly sealed, the safety agency has estimated.

Next, the oil and gas companies pushed to unravel a major safety requirement known as the well-control rule, which regulates methods used to drill new oil and gas wells — and prevent explosions.

It took six years after the Deepwater Horizon accident to enact the rule, a process that involved thousands of hours of consultations with industry experts and public safety officials, according to Mr. Bromwich, the former federal prosecutor who helped start the process.

The new rule, which took effect in July 2016, required additional inspections of devices called blowout preventers, the equipment that failed during the Deepwater Horizon disaster. To prevent accidents, another provision required oil and gas platforms to shut down temporarily when so-called lift boats positioned themselves for repair work.

At a meeting Mr. Angelle called in September, industry officials detailed their objections while members of staff — some of whom helped write the rule — sat taking notes. Separately, Mr. Angelle held private meetings with representatives from the same companies, according to a copy of his calender, obtained through a public records request.

“It is mostly knee-jerk reactions that came out of Washington,” Craig Castille of Stone Energy said in prepared remarks that called for more than a dozen changes to the regulation. “The pendulum has swung way too far to the right.”

Two days later, Mr. Angelle directed his top aides to prepare documents explaining how the agency had justified the requirement, according to emails obtained through the public records request.

“Please highlight the sections around the drilling margin and any discussion on blowout preventer,” Mr. Angelle wrote. “This will help inform me.”

In late December, Mr. Angelle sent the White House a proposal to overhaul the well-control rule, estimating that oil companies would save $986 million in the coming decade. The proposal included many changes requested by the industry, such as loosening inspection requirements for blowout preventers and eliminating the need to shut down operations as lift boats approached.

“Oil and natural gas operators raised concerns about certain regulatory provisions that impose undue burdens on their industry, but do not significantly enhance worker safety or environmental protection,” said the confidential draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Times.

Though the proposal is undergoing a review before the revisions are made public, the White House has made clear that it welcomes the effort. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.

Also in December, the safety bureau moved to ease requirements on the maintenance of offshore oil and gas platforms, cutting costs by an additional $228 million over the next decade.

To some longtime residents and activists, the changes, and the hundreds of millions of dollars they will save for companies, are not worth the possible trade-offs in safety and environmental protections.

“It’s always the workers who pay,” said Scott Eustis of the Gulf Restoration Network, an environmental group. “And Gulf Coast workers will pay with their bodies, their lives, their children, who will grow up without fathers.”

Mr. Bromwich, like other former officials who spent years drafting the safety rules, lamented the move to weaken them.

“It’s just a terrible signal to the industry as to who is in charge,” Mr. Bromwich said. “It is classic swamp behavior.”

But for offshore crews, the changes bring excitement and renewed optimism about work.

“It affects from the lowest guy to the highest guy, regulations, all day long,” said Don LeBoeuf, an Energy XXI crew worker here in Port Fourchon, before he boarded a boat to a platform 60 miles offshore.

Huge drillships — with names like Deepwater Asgard, owned by Transocean, the same company that owned Deepwater Horizon — have been anchored in place 18 miles offshore for months at a time with their generators running and their crews on board, waiting for work.

When a small boat with a reporter and photographer recently pulled up alongside Deepwater Asgard, workers peered over the side, wondering why they had visitors. Asked what they thought about the Trump administration’s rollback of regulations in the Gulf, one of them yelled, “Drill, baby, drill!”

Several weeks later, the ship actually did get a drilling contract, and is now back at work.

Regulations and Tough Times

Even in a difficult period, the Gulf generates 97 percent of offshore oil in the United States, about 18 percent of the country’s crude oil and $2.8 billion a year in royalty and lease payments to the federal government. And 2017 was a record year for the Gulf, with a total of 1.65 million barrels a day.

There are 2,200 offshore oil and gas platforms along an 820-mile stretch of coast between Brownsville, Tex., and Mobile, Ala., and they are an imposing presence, resembling in places a battalion of Imperial Walkers from the “Star Wars” movies.

But in early March, the number of drilling rigs used in the Gulf was just 14, compared with 145 at the industry’s peak in 2000.

The downturn was set off by a drop in oil prices, competition from fracking and other sources and, local businesses will tell you, an overbearing regulatory reaction to the Deepwater Horizon accident. Talk of lifting regulations echoes throughout the coastal communities that serve offshore operations, particularly the smaller concerns that specialize in shallow-water drilling.

“There is just not a lot of business out there right now for the offshore service companies,” said Court B. Ramsay, president of Aries Marine of Lafayette, which has a fleet of 26 boats used in repairing oil and gas platforms in shallow waters. “It would be a shot in the arm for sure, for my business and many business like mine, if we can get some relief from some of these rules.”

Statistics from the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, which operates the port here about 160 miles from Lafayette, show that as many as 450 boats passed in and out of the piers each day, mostly to serve the oil and gas industry, during drilling’s peak. Now there are about 300. In addition, diesel fuel sales have dropped from about 40 million gallons a month to about 20 million, said Chett Chiasson, the port’s executive director.

The fall in oil prices certainly contributed to the decline, Mr. Chiasson said, but he also blames the Obama administration.

“There were regulations that were not necessarily increasing safety, but they were just increasing the cost of the activities in the oil and gas industry and thus hindering their ability to keep operating in the Gulf,” he said. “We know things need to be safe and operate in a safe manner. But we don’t need to overregulate in a way that disincentives investment.”

Port Fourchon itself has the feel of a moon base. It is reached via an eight-mile bridge intended to keep the port operating even during flooding, an increasingly common occurrence because of damage to protective wetlands caused by drilling and dredging. Every major oil and gas company has an encampment with ships and repair warehouses. Hundreds of workers converge daily in a rush-hour scramble of muddy pickup trucks.

The port operates around the clock, 365 days a year, with hundreds of service boats and helicopters ferrying crews to and from offshore platforms and drilling rigs. Giant workboats — the equivalent of floating dump trucks — carry loads of mud, fuel, water, food and other supplies the crews require.

Safety remains a focus. There are signs on the drillships and offshore platforms reminding crews of the importance of following safety rules. At the port entrance, a memorial depicts a mermaid ascending from the water, complete with a cloak that includes an oil rig. The Our Lady of the Gulf statue was installed last year to honor offshore workers who have died in the Gulf, including the those killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

But the primary concern voiced here is economic.

“Half the supply boats and crew boats up and down the bayou have been seized by the banks,” said Kathleen Chiasson, who once ran a truck-dispatching company that supplied the industry, and now works behind the counter of a gas-station mini market. “I just hope someone can do it to get it back to at least half the way it used to be.”

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:29 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Als ik Trump was, had ik het niet gedaan. Althans, niet voordat Kim daadwerkelijk laat zien dat hij bereid is zijn kernwapens te ontmantelen.

Met lege handen terugkomen en ondertussen wel Kim's regime legitimeren met je bezoek, is het domste wat Trump kan doen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:35 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

We zullen zien wat er gebeurt maar ik denk dat een deal al lang wordt voorbereid voordat hij daar is, wat natuurlijk vrij logisch is, maar China zal er best dichtbij staan. En daar maak ik me wat meer zorgen om want hoezo is Trump niet meer 'boos' op China?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:05 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Zou best kunnen.

Macron seeks to charm Trump at Bastille parade in Paris

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 15:23 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De meeste voorafgaande uitnodigingen waren niet serieus, deze uitnodiging is gecoordineerd, prima dat jij dat niet gelooft maar dit soort retoriek werkt nu eenmaal beter dan de pragmatische ambtenarentaal die alleen uit is op behoud en niet op verandering.. Noord-Korea heeft onder Trump vooral mogen ervaren dat Kim zijn positie op dit moment zeer wankel is en dat China wel een beetje klaar is met het Noord-Koreaanse gezeik. Trump's retoriek heeft daar wel degelijk aan bijgedragen maar de enige echte kolder is dat mensen alleen naar hem kijken. Alsof die man in zijn eentje het hele Amerikaanse bestuur vormt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:29 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]
Met lege handen terugkomen en ondertussen wel Kim's regime legitimeren met je bezoek, is het domste wat Trump kan doen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:39 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Omdat Trump door Xi met veel toeters en bellen werden ontvangen in China. Zo eenvoudig is het om Trump voor je te winnen.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:35 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

We zullen zien wat er gebeurt maar ik denk dat een deal al lang wordt voorbereid voordat hij daar is, wat natuurlijk vrij logisch is, maar China zal er best dichtbij staan. En daar maak ik me wat meer zorgen om want hoezo is Trump niet meer 'boos' op China?

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:02 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Maar Trump heeft geen brief of formeel voorstel gehad van Kim. Die is slechts via-via gaan fluisteren dat hij met Trump wil praten. Dat is waar Trump op in is gegaan.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:31 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Wat ben jij kinderlijk naïef met al die aannames

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:52 schreef BlackLining het volgende:

[..]

Ongefundeerde aannames dus.

Dan vind ik de uitleg dat voorgaande presidenten altijd geweigerd hebben omdat de Kim niet willen legitimeren toch een stuk aannemelijker. Door op het hoogste niveau te gaan praten, erkent Trump in Kim zijn gelijke, waarmee hij ook de dreiging serieus neemt. Kim kan nu zeggen "zie je wel! Wij hebben de Amerikanen aan tafel gedwongen!".

Het is diplomatiek he, geen kringverjaardag.

Trump is daarnaast, en dat weet Kim ook, een man van weinig ruggegraat. Het is hier al vaker benoemd maar laat hem een militaire parade zien (en dat kan NK), bewoner hem wat en je hebt hem. Jinping en Putin spelen het ook zo, en zelfs Macron levert dat trucje.

Macron seeks to charm Trump at Bastille parade in Paris

Ik zou nog eerder geloven dat Kim het had bedoeld als grap, en nu rollend van het lachen door zijn kantoor gaat omdat Trump zo dom is om hierop in te gaan.

Begrijp me overigens niet verkeerd, ik heb ook de oplossing niet in pacht, maar dat heeft niemand. Dat dit niet verstandig is, dat weet ik echter wel.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:13 schreef OllieA het volgende:
Deze vond ik interessant:
https://www.theatlantic.c(...)r-mike-pence/546569/

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:31 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Wat ben jij kinderlijk naïef met al die aannames

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:32 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De aanname dat een Amerikaanse President zonder enige voorbereiding of coordinatie een ontmoeting met Kim aangaat mag toch ook echt best kinderlijk naief worden genoemd. Hoe groot je hekel of minachting voor Trump dan ook moge zijn.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:32 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De aanname dat een Amerikaanse President zonder enige voorbereiding of coordinatie een ontmoeting met Kim aangaat mag toch ook echt best kinderlijk naief worden genoemd. Hoe groot je hekel of minachting voor Trump dan ook moge zijn.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:36 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Deze administratie staat immers bekend om het plegen van adequate voorbereidingen.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:38 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Jij denkt dat Trump zich urenlang laat bijpraten over de geschiedenis van het Koreaanse conflict, de Kim-dynastie en het communistische regime?

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:40 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Nee. Maar dat heb ik ook niet gezegd. Ik heb gezegd dat wat Trump gaat bespreken met Kim flink zal worden voorbereid, dat de uiteindelijke uitkomst in de vorm van wat voor akkoord dan ook, op een heel ander niveau wordt beslist en dat Trump zijn fiat min of meer al is gegeven.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:39 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Als je een beetje Trump volgt, dan heb je kunnen zien dat ie maar wat doet. Hij raaskalt wat tijdens zo'n rally en improviseert 90% van de tijd. Het is zelden doordacht en al zijn acties en uitspraken komen voort uit impulsiviteit. Denk je nou echt dat er tot nu toe iets is voorbereid ?

Hier een aardig artikel over de risico van Trump improviseer-acties van augustus vorig jaar: https://www.theatlantic.c(...)-trump-trane/536379/

Dit artikel ging over dreigementen zoals 'Fire and Fury' en nu opeens gaat Trump Kim Jong-Un ontmoeten om eens te praten over... ja wat eigenlijk?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:40 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Nee. Maar dat heb ik ook niet gezegd. Ik heb gezegd dat wat Trump gaat bespreken met Kim flink zal worden voorbereid, dat de uiteindelijke uitkomst in de vorm van wat voor akkoord dan ook, op een heel ander niveau wordt beslist en dat Trump zijn fiat min of meer al is gegeven.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:41 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Echt stuitend, die naïeviteit

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:40 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Nee. Maar dat heb ik ook niet gezegd. Ik heb gezegd dat wat Trump gaat bespreken met Kim flink zal worden voorbereid, dat de uiteindelijke uitkomst in de vorm van wat voor akkoord dan ook, op een heel ander niveau wordt beslist en dat Trump zijn fiat min of meer al is gegeven.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:32 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De aanname dat een Amerikaanse President zonder enige voorbereiding of coordinatie een ontmoeting met Kim aangaat mag toch ook echt best kinderlijk naief worden genoemd. Hoe groot je hekel of minachting voor Trump dan ook moge zijn.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:44 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Als je zo'n gesprek gaat voeren, moet je goed beslagen te ijs komen en weten waar je het over hebt. Simpelweg een dealtje opstellen en ervan uitgaan dat Kim dat ondertekent als Trump even aan dezelve tafel als hem gaat zitten, gaat niet werken.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:45 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Dat zegt dan ook helemaal niemand. Je bezigt hier continu stropopredeneringen. De gebeurtenissen tot dusver zijn, Zuid-Korea geeft een uitnodiging van Noord-Korea door. Trump roept impulsief ja. Het Witte Huis laat weten dat het toch allemaal even iets gecompliceerder ligt.
Dat is de gangbare modus operandi in veel gevallen.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:42 schreef Klaphark het volgende:

[..]

Oke.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:45 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Dat dealtje gaat ook niet tijdens het gesprek met Trump besloten worden. De ontmoeting tussen Trump en Kim zal er vooral een voor de camera's zijn.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:48 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Aha, dus een pr-momentje gaat op magische wijze leiden tot een historisch akkoord? Want Kim is gekke Henkie?

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:31 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Dus?

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:47 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Dat is jouw uitleg van de context dat is heel wat anders dan wat er daadwerkelijk is gebeurd of wat er daadwerkelijk gebeurt. Het Witte Huis heeft niet gezegd dat het wat gecompliceerder ligt omdat Trump ja zei, of dat nu wel of niet impulsief was, het Witte Huis zegt dat nu vanwege de kritiek die zo'n besluit dus ongetwijfeld met zich meebrengt.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:54 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Dus wat gaat Trump bespreken en wanneer is hij succesvol geweest?

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:56 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Weer een stropop. Die 'omdat' staat niet in mij post. Of je leest niet goed of je geeft de opvattingen van anderen steeds bewust verkeerd weer.
Ik som de gebeurtenissen in chronologische volgorde op. Eerst zegt Trump 'ja'. Ik noem dat gezien de omstandigheden impulsief op basis van de feiten:
https://mobile.nytimes.co(...)mq331AQECAEYAQ%3D%3D

Trump zou Kim al binnen twee maanden willen ontmoeten.

Vervolgens krabbelt men terug:
https://www.politico.com/(...)ng-conditions-449448

Dat maakt het in mijn ogen wel redelijk duidelijk dat het weer een impulsieve reactie was. Ook omdat het binnen het gedragspatroon van Trump past.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:56 schreef Barbusse het volgende:
Er gaat alleen geen akkoord komen. Kim gaat z'n speeltjes en macht niet opgeven. Einde discussie.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:56 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Weer een stropop. Die 'omdat' staat niet in mij post. Of je leest niet goed of je geeft de opvattingen van anderen steeds bewust verkeerd weer.
Ik som de gebeurtenissen in chronologische volgorde op. Eerst zegt Trump 'ja'. Ik noem dat gezien de omstandigheden impulsief op basis van de feiten:
https://mobile.nytimes.co(...)mq331AQECAEYAQ%3D%3D

Trump zou Kim al binnen twee maanden willen ontmoeten.

Vervolgens krabbelt men terug:
https://www.politico.com/(...)ng-conditions-449448

Dat maakt het in mijn ogen wel redelijk duidelijk dat het weer een impulsieve reactie was. Ook omdat het binnen het gedragspatroon van Trump past.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:00 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Uiteraard gaat Kim dat niet doen. Saddam Hoessein en Khadaffi deden dat.

Slecht plan.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:57 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Ik weet niet wat Trump gaat bespreken. Zou sowieso wel een uniek moment zijn als hij daar zit met Kim. Denk dat ze elkaar wel wat te vragen hebben misschien ook de landen als zodanig.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:00 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Ik zie men pas vooral terugkrabbelen nadat er veel vragen kwamen, nadat er de gebruikelijke kritiek bij kwam kijken, lijkt me niet vreemd bij zo'n gevoelige beslissing.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:00 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Ik zie men pas vooral terugkrabbelen nadat er veel vragen kwamen, nadat er de gebruikelijke kritiek bij kwam kijken, lijkt me niet vreemd bij zo'n gevoelige beslissing.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:03 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Lachend met Kim op de foto, die vervolgens gewoon dictator blijft.

Briljant plan.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:05 schreef Szura het volgende:

[..]

En gewoon blijft werken aan z’n wapenprogramma

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:03 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Lachend met Kim op de foto, die vervolgens gewoon dictator blijft.

Briljant plan.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:41 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Omdat in defensie en bij buitenlandse zaken (wat er van over is) zeer tactisch begaafde ambtenaren en andere publieke dienaren zitten die vanuit Republikeins perspectief de President prima voor hun karretje kunnen spannen. Dat zal ook veel meer effect hebben met buitenlands beleid dan met binnenlands beleid waar het gevoeliger is, waar er meer partijen meespelen, en waar wat minder tactiek bij komt kijken maar vooral diplomatiek en retorisch vermogen.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:10 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

[..]

Ik heb het belangrijke deel even voor je vetgemaakt: er is niet meer zoveel van over. Er is een flinke leegloop geweest en veel posten zijn nog onbezet. Zoals b.v. de ambassadeur in ZK.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:13 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Dat weet ik maar dat neemt nog altijd niet weg wat ik zei. Bovendien speelt Defensie hier ook een grote diplomatieke rol.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 17:41 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Omdat in defensie en bij buitenlandse zaken (wat er van over is) zeer tactisch begaafde ambtenaren en andere publieke dienaren zitten die vanuit Republikeins perspectief de President prima voor hun karretje kunnen spannen. Dat zal ook veel meer effect hebben met buitenlands beleid dan met binnenlands beleid waar het gevoeliger is, waar er meer partijen meespelen, en waar wat minder tactiek bij komt kijken maar vooral diplomatiek en retorisch vermogen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:15 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

[..]

Nou dat neemt flink wat weg. Daarnaast zei je ook nog:

quote:

Het is ze niet eens gelukt om Trump de basis van handelsovereenkomsten met de EU bij te brengen. Hij heeft Merkel wel 10x gevraagd om een handelsakkoord met Duitsland, wat niet kan, want die sluit je met de EU.

Trump naar Kim sturen in de hoop tot een goed resultaat komen is een hopeloze zaak.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:03 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

En waarom komen er veel vragen? Omdat er geen weloverwogen beslissing aan ten grondslag ligt, maar een impulsieve reactie van de president.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:03 schreef Barbusse het volgende:

[..]

Trump had gewoon niet direct ja moeten zeggen. C'est tout.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:03 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Lachend met Kim op de foto, die vervolgens gewoon dictator blijft.

Briljant plan.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:19 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Misschien had hij het niet meteen moeten roepen maar ik denk dat zijn 'ja' al eerder was bestlist en dat het ons een kijkje biedt wat er achter de schermen gebeurt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 11:30 schreef Ringo het volgende:
Verantwoordelijk houden is juridisch vast onhoudbaar. Maar de samenleving heeft er alle baat bij om die club rouwdouwers te framen als een stel schietgrage mafklappers, die de geweldscultuur in de VS hebben aangewakkerd en gefaciliteerd.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:23 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:
De NRA heeft ongeveer 45 miljoen leden.

quote:

Members: 5 million (self-reported, as of 2017)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:20 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Als er een akkoord komt waarbij Noord-Korea wat van zijn arsenaal afbouwt, dichter naar Zuid-Korea groeit, nou prima toch.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:20 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Als er een akkoord komt waarbij Noord-Korea wat van zijn arsenaal afbouwt, dichter naar Zuid-Korea groeit, nou prima toch.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:27 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

En als de top mislukt en Trump zich knollen voor citroenen laat verkopen of met lege handen vertrekt hebben we altijd de foto's nog waarop je hem handjes kan zien schudden met Kim.

Winning!

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:21 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

[..]

Het heeft er anders alles van dat Trump weer eens wat impulsief heeft geroepen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:41 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Hoe kom je toch bij dit soort nonsens?
Noord-Korea is gewoon rustig doorgegaan met hun raketprogramma en lijkt inmiddels hun doel bereikt te hebben. Ze zullen nog wel gestaag doorgaan om te zorgen dat hun arsenaal robuust genoeg is om een eventuele pre-emptive strike te kunnen weerstaan en ondertussen voor de buhne doen alsof ze bereid zijn tot wat diplomatieke handelingen. Business as usual op het Koreaanse schiereiland.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:32 schreef BlackLining het volgende:
Waar ik me in een dergelijk scenario wel zorgen over maak, is dat Kim een stuk slimmer is dan Trump. Ik zie Trump er dan nog wel toe in staat sancties te verlichten want het is eigenlijk toch best een toffe kerel. Met dat grote leger enzo. Minder bureaucratie ook, stuk beter. We should give that a shot someday!

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:32 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

En jij dacht dat de Amerikanen en Trump dat niet doorhebben? Tillerson en Trump gaan gewoon door good cop bad cop te spelen. Die Kim Jong Oen kakt gewoon in zijn broek. Daarom dat voorstel. Die heeft al lang door dat er een nieuwe wind door Wasington raast. De No nonsense wind

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:32 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

En jij dacht dat de Amerikanen en Trump dat niet doorhebben? Tillerson en Trump gaan gewoon door good cop bad cop te spelen. Die Kim Jong Oen kakt gewoon in zijn broek. Daarom dat voorstel. Die heeft al lang door dat er een nieuwe wind door Wasington raast. De No nonsense wind

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:31 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Waarom zou Kim daar in vredesnaam mee akkoord gaan? Juist nu hij met zijn operationele arsenaal een sterke troef in handen heeft.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:34 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Van Kim heb ik nou ook niet echt een hoge pet op, maar bovenal geldt voor dit soort situaties wel dat het vrij onwaarschijnlijk is dat Trump dat soort beslissingen unilateraal gaat nemen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:27 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

En als de top mislukt en Trump zich knollen voor citroenen laat verkopen of met lege handen vertrekt hebben we altijd de foto's nog waarop je hem handjes kan zien schudden met Kim.

Winning!

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:21 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

[..]

Het heeft er anders alles van dat Trump weer eens wat impulsief heeft geroepen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:36 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Nogmaals. Omdat hij moet van China.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 14:34 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Aan de andere kant zie ik liever iemand met verstand van zaken praten met Kim.

What Trump said about North Korean nukes in 1999

President Trump on North Korea 1999

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op donderdag 08-05-2014 om 03:34:41 Crazy Dennis Rodman is saying I wanted to go to North Korea with him. Never discussed, no interest, last place on Earth I want to go to. reageer retweet

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:38 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Sure.

En gaat de VS dan haar troepen terugtrekken uit Zuid-Korea? Of denk je werkelijk dat Xi voor Sinterklaas gaat spelen en het voor de VS meest ideale scenario doorvoert?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:40 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Ja, hij zegt veel dingen... veel onzin ook met name ...

Van een paar jaar terug:

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op donderdag 08-05-2014 om 03:34:41 Crazy Dennis Rodman is saying I wanted to go to North Korea with him. Never discussed, no interest, last place on Earth I want to go to. reageer retweet

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:41 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De VS laten de anti-Chinese maatregelen vallen mbt economische sancties etc.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:41 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De VS laten de anti-Chinese maatregelen vallen mbt economische sancties etc.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:45 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

Sure.

En daarna gaat Xi nog even op z'n knieën voor Trump en kust hij z'n voeten. Je weet dat ze Trump in China keihard uitlachen en zelfs gebruiken als propagandamiddel om te laten zien dat democratie niet werkt.

Xi laat Trump niet naar huis gaan als de grote winnaar. Op z'n minst moeten de Amerikaanse troepen weg uit de regio.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:46 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

En de staalindustrie dan? En de JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:41 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De VS laten de anti-Chinese maatregelen vallen mbt economische sancties etc.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:51 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Weer een nieuw schrijven:

[ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:51 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Zozo, de anti-Chinese maatregelen nog wel. Doel je op de importheffingen op staal en aluminium? Daar speelt China een marginale rol. Canada, de EU, Japan en Zuid-Korea spelen alleen een veel grotere rol. Die 2-3% van de import uit China is vrij marginaal.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:50 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Heb je het nieuws niet gevolgd?

twitter:

VanityFair twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 03:08:19 According to five Republicans close to the White House, Trump is preparing to replace his senior staff in the coming weeks. First to go will be Kelly and McMaster. Then Jivanka. https://t.co/IBtnTiaTJg reageer retweet

twitter:

VanityFair twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 04:04:57 Gary Cohn wanted to take over as chief of staff, and quit when he didn't get the job. “Trump laughed at Gary when he brought it up,” sources tell @gabrielsherman https://t.co/AuYgKrQbqh reageer retweet

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:54 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

De anti-Chinese maatregelen dus die er verder niet zijn gekomen, sterker nog, China heeft zelfs wat handreikingen gezien.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:55 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Hij gaat geen extra heffingen op Chinees staal gooien?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:05 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Zal Xi fijn vinden.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 18:50 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Je snapt zelf ook wel dat Noord-Korea op dit moment heel veel dingen uitvoert die China helemaal niet lekker zit. Dat hele uitbouwen van dat arsenaal is tegen de Wens in van China die Noord-Korea, en Kim, steeds meer een eigenzinnige koers zien varen. China heeft er alle baat bij om Noord-Korea wat dieper terug in het hok te duwen zonder Noord-Korea te verliezen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:03 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Je fantaseert er steeds lustiger op los.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:01 schreef Nintex het volgende:
Waren deze al voorbij gekomen?

twitter:

VanityFair twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 03:08:19 According to five Republicans close to the White House, Trump is preparing to replace his senior staff in the coming weeks. First to go will be Kelly and McMaster. Then Jivanka. https://t.co/IBtnTiaTJg reageer retweet

twitter:

VanityFair twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 04:04:57 Gary Cohn wanted to take over as chief of staff, and quit when he didn't get the job. “Trump laughed at Gary when he brought it up,” sources tell @gabrielsherman https://t.co/AuYgKrQbqh reageer retweet

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:05 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Maar zijn achterban niet.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:07 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

En wat China nog minder ziet zitten, is een machteloos Noord-Korea met blijvende aanwezigheid van Amerikaanse troepen in Zuid-Korea.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:07 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Xi heeft net zijn levensduur als groot Chinees leider verlengd mocht je het hebben gemist even.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:08 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Ik had het over Trump's achterban.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:07 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]

Ivanka en Jared weg zal zonde zijn. Ze zijn van de liberale republikeinse fractie in het Witte Huis. Die kunnen de christen( Pence ) fractie nog een beetje tegengas geven. Voor je het weet gaan ze abortus, euthanasie, videogames, alcohol en gokken weer verbannen Ik vrees dat de langzame legalisatie van het ( medische )wiet, ook nu kansloos is.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:09 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Het ligt eraan, als Trump The Mooch terugbrengt en een aantal andere uit zijn campagne dan hebben de R's juist minder macht.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:08 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Noord-Korea hoeft helemaal niet machteloos te zijn, het maakt China ook helemaal geen reet uit of Noord-Korea machteloos is, zolang Noord-Korea maar als marionettenstaat blijft en andere schepen wegblijven uit Noord-Koreaanse wateren dat is het belangrijkste.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:10 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]

Ik ben nog steeds voor Romney op buitenlandse zaken, maarja dat gaat nooit gebeuren.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:07 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]

Ivanka en Jared weg zal zonde zijn. Ze zijn van de liberale republikeinse fractie in het Witte Huis. Die kunnen de christen( Pence ) fractie nog een beetje tegengas geven. Voor je het weet gaan ze abortus, euthanasie, videogames, alcohol en gokken weer verbannen Ik vrees dat de langzame legalisatie van het ( medische )wiet, ook nu kansloos is.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:12 schreef Szura het volgende:

[..]

Prutsers zonder enige competentie zoals Ivanka en de corrupte Kushner hebben niks in het WH te zoeken. En wat ze daar in de VS qua binnenlandse zaken beslissen kan me eigenlijk bar weinig schelen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:12 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]

Waarom zou je State nog willen onder Trump? Dat departement is kapot. Geen eer meer te behalen. Zeker niet niet nu.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:07 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Ik denk dat jij de Aziatische regio gewoon niet zo begrijpt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:14 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]

Romney heeft de beste competenties ervoor, maar hij gaat de senaat in.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 16:52 schreef BlackLining het volgende:

[..]

Dan vind ik de uitleg dat voorgaande presidenten altijd geweigerd hebben omdat de Kim niet willen legitimeren toch een stuk aannemelijker. Door op het hoogste niveau te gaan praten, erkent Trump in Kim zijn gelijke, waarmee hij ook de dreiging serieus neemt. Kim kan nu zeggen "zie je wel! Wij hebben de Amerikanen aan tafel gedwongen!".

[...]

Ik zou nog eerder geloven dat Kim het had bedoeld als grap, en nu rollend van het lachen door zijn kantoor gaat omdat Trump zo dom is om hierop in te gaan.

quote:

Concerns about his approach will be magnified by the impulsive way he announced the breakthrough, bursting into the White House briefing room, to tell journalists to expect a major announcement.

Reflecting his craving for affirmation, the excited President told Jon Karl of ABC News, even at this early stage of the process "hopefully, you will give me credit," offering little sign he appreciates the magnitude of the task he faces.

Top officials in the Pentagon, and even in his own White House were unaware something was afoot until Trump appeared before reporters. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who earlier cautioned that talks with Pyongyang were a distant prospect, was thousands of miles away in Africa.
CNN

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 20:43 schreef AnneX het volgende:
Er was niks op teevee en toen las ik de longread over de plannen van god.
https://www.uncover-skinc(...)b&utm_campaign=10mrt

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 20:43 schreef AnneX het volgende:
Er was niks op teevee en toen las ik de longread over de plannen van god.
https://www.uncover-skinc(...)b&utm_campaign=10mrt

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 20:54 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

[..]

En de relevantie met de amerikaanse politiek is...?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 20:41 schreef Monolith het volgende:
Nou, is dat ook weer duidelijk voor DeParo.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 20:54 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

[..]

En de relevantie met de amerikaanse politiek is...?

quote:

Jared Kushner’s family company recently began construction on an oceanfront development in this Jersey Shore city, a project that has the strong backing of local officials, who agreed to support it with $20 million in bonds.

But unknown to Long Branch officials, the Kushners have been in talks to team up with another family-run company that has an even bigger presence in the White House: the Trump Organization.

The Kushners are in private discussions to have President Trump’s company manage at least one hotel at the center of the development known as Pier Village, according to people briefed on the previously unreported talks. The Kushner Companies and the Trump Organization have signed a letter of intent, though no deal is final and the Kushners are not required to inform city officials.

The long-running talks blur the line between family, business and politics in ways that lack precedent: Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner, the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, retain financial interests in their family businesses. The Trump Organization’s outside ethics adviser has raised questions about a potential deal — one reason the two-year-long discussions have not been completed.

The talks are underway as the White House role of Mr. Kushner has become increasingly strained because of his business dealings. Mr. Kushner lost his top-secret security clearance last month, in part because of worries that foreign governments might try to gain influence by doing business with him.

While Mr. Kushner has sold some holdings in Kushner Companies, he has held on to a majority of his stake, including an ownership interest in the recent $283 million expansion of Pier Village. Mr. Trump has handed over management of his company to his two oldest sons, but the president continues to own it.

“The concern is that the president might not want to do anything that would upset the Kushner family agreement to do business with his company,” said Marilyn L. Glynn, who served as general counsel in the Office of Government Ethics during Republican and Democratic administrations, when told by The New York Times about the Trump-Kushner talks.

The White House declined to comment. Both companies on Friday confirmed their discussions about the hotel in Pier Village, while dismissing ethics concerns.

SPOILER

The plans under discussion in Long Branch have called for the Kushners to own the hotel and make payments to the Trump Organization to run it. The bonds issued by the city, part of a broader renewal effort, are not earmarked for the hotel, but they will support public infrastructure around Pier Village, and in turn help the hotel and nearby properties succeed.

Last year, in another previously unreported endeavor involving the two family businesses, the Trump Organization began managing a Kushner-owned hotel in Livingston, N.J., people briefed on the matter said. That property, the Westminster Hotel, is believed to be the only hotel that the Trumps manage but do not brand.

The behind-the-scenes activity signals a deepening of the Trump-Kushner business relationship, which until recently appeared to be limited to a single residential project in Jersey City. It also poses potential ethical headaches for the White House, Ms. Glynn and other legal experts say.

Deals between the two families, said Ms. Glynn, who also served as acting director of the ethics office for part of George W. Bush’s presidency, do not inherently violate any ethics rule. But, weighing whether new financial entanglements posed more of a problem than existing family ones, she added, “I think the financial concerns trump the familial ones, so to speak.”

Walter M. Shaub Jr., who led the ethics office under President Barack Obama and is a frequent critic of Mr. Trump, said: “If a subordinate is your son-in-law, maybe you like them, but once you have entangled business interests, they’ve got leverage over you. Blood is not thicker than money for a lot of people.”

In a statement, the Kushner Companies said the Trumps “have zero equity of any type in our properties or businesses.” In Long Branch, the statement said, “we are contemplating a third-party operator agreement with their hotel management division at market rate.” Noting that it did not specialize in the hospitality industry, the company said it had “a business obligation to seek the most capable resource.”

In an interview, Eric Danziger, the head of Trump Hotels, disputed that teaming up with the Kushners might pose a conflict.

“This is a straight-up business deal,” he said. “If there were something out of the ordinary about the deal, then I think that question is fair,” he said, but “we do market transactions that are reviewed and checked.”

Mr. Danziger said that Bobby Burchfield, the Trump Organization’s outside ethics adviser, had asked about the financing involved in a potential Long Branch deal with the Kushners. Mr. Burchfield, who scrutinizes how the Trump Organization’s partners finance deals, among other things, often requires more information before approving a deal.

Whether or not the Trumps and Kushners reach a deal, Mr. Kushner stands to gain. He is expected to eventually own 20 percent of the hotel in Pier Village, according to documents obtained through a public records request. And he was personally involved in the project early in the presidential campaign. In documents provided to Long Branch, the Kushner Companies stated that Mr. Kushner “is strictly a passive investor.”

He also retains a stake in a Kushner residential tower in Jersey City that bears the Trump name.

In Livingston, Mr. Kushner has divested from the Westminster Hotel, a three-story property overlooking strip malls. While it is unusual for the Trumps to manage hotels that do not carry one of their brands, Mr. Danziger said he was discussing similar deals with other companies as a way to expand the business under the “right circumstances.”

“An owner wants to know they can depend on and rely on the operator, and we have a lot of credibility as operators,” he said.

The growing relationship between the families could be helpful to the Trumps, as the ethical restraints they voluntarily adopted after the election have proved to be a hindrance to new business. The Trump Organization, which agreed not to start any new foreign projects during the presidency, has yet to open a new hotel in the United States since Mr. Trump took office.

While Mr. Danziger said the pipeline of potential deals was “still very active,” the company has also shown some signs of scaling back: Since the election, the Trump name has been removed from properties in Manhattan, Toronto and Panama.

A pairing with the Kushners could bring other complications. If the Trumps manage a Kushner property that received foreign or domestic government funding, it could test the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, which essentially prohibit the president from accepting certain gifts from foreign or domestic governments. Some legal experts argue that local bonds like the ones issued in Long Branch could brush against the domestic clause.

The Kushners, who co-own the development with Extell Development, a New York real estate firm, said they would not accept money from foreign governments.

The firm, however, has a history of seeking cash from investors with strong connections to foreign governments, including Anbang, an insurance company in China.

The Kushners also have a history of teaming up with Israeli investors, which is ethically thorny for Mr. Kushner, whose central responsibilities in the White House include handling Middle East policy. Extell’s bonds have traded on the Tel Aviv stock exchange.

The Kushners also used money from Chinese investors to finance the construction of Trump Bay Street, the residential tower in Jersey City. The Chinese money came through the so-called EB-5 program, which offers visas to foreigners in exchange for $500,000 investments in real estate projects. Federal prosecutors have been investigating the Kushner businesses’ use of the program, though the company has said it no longer pursues this type of funding and “did nothing improper.”

In addition, investigators working for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election, have asked questions about Mr. Kushner’s interactions with foreign businesspeople, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

In Long Branch, the Kushners are moving ahead with building the hotel in Pier Village and may add more hotels in the area.

The talks with the Trumps have focused largely on the Pier Village property under construction, which might carry the Scion brand, a new line of four-star hotels the Trumps announced in 2016. The Kushner Companies, however, said on Friday that it planned only to have the Trumps manage the hotel.

The hotel construction is part of the latest phase of a decades-long effort to remake the Long Branch waterfront after a fire destroyed the boardwalk in 1987 and contributed to a downward spiral.

Mayor Adam Schneider and local business leaders spearheaded a redevelopment plan in the 1990s that gave rise to Pier Village. The effort increased the city’s annual beachfront revenue from $200,000 in the early 1990s to more than $2 million in 2017, the mayor said.

The Kushners have long owned an oceanfront house in an exclusive section of town, and in 2014, they teamed up with Extell to buy Pier Village.

With the purchase, the Kushners took over the part of Pier Village that already had a row of restaurants and shops, as well as a vacant strip of land that will eventually feature luxury residential condominiums, retail stores and the hotel.

Mr. Kushner was involved in planning the project. He was copied on emails with city officials, and the mayor recalls meeting with him twice.

Mr. Kushner assumed a role in the White House, but his sister, Nicole Meyer, and his father, Charles Kushner, continued to work on the effort, including discussions with officials about the bonds.

In September, the City Council unanimously approved the bonds to help close a “funding gap.” The city will borrow the money to reimburse Kushner Companies and Extell for approved costs that arise from building public improvements such as a boardwalk, public restrooms and a children’s play area.

Mr. Schneider said that the arrangement would not cause a tax increase, and that the city had struck a better deal with the Kushners and Extell than with the previous owners of Pier Village.

The city expects to more than recoup its investment by collecting an annual service charge and other payments that the Kushners and Extell pay in lieu of certain taxes. And the city said it had obtained a personal guarantee from Charles Kushner.

“It’s actually a very lucrative deal to municipalities,” Mr. Schneider said.

A week after the city approved the bonds, emails show, Ms. Meyer invited local officials to lunch at the Beach House restaurant at Pier Village. “Please let us know if you would like to join,” the invitation said, “and thank you for all your support and efforts!”

When informed by reporters that the Trump Organization might ultimately be involved in a hotel in his town, Mr. Schneider, a Democrat first elected in 1990, sighed and expressed concern.

But he added: “Our success is that we have a hotel that’s doing a great volume of business that’s creating jobs and economic vitality. It can be achieved no matter what name is on any building.”

quote:

In an interview with NBC previewed on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that some of the people recently indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for disrupting the 2016 U.S. election might be — gasp — Jewish.

SPOILER

NBC anchor Megyn Kelly, who was criticized for being too timid in her questioning of Putin in an interview last year, was more direct this time around. She asked Putin about the 13 Russians who Mueller and his investigators say helped organize a wide-ranging conspiracy to foment political unrest in the U.S. and ultimately help Donald Trump get elected.

“Why have you decided the Russian authorities, myself included, gave anybody permission to do this?” Putin responded, turning the tables on Kelly, as he is wont to do, by reminding her that America has a habit of interfering in Russian elections.

Kelly asked Putin if his constituents should be concerned that he was unaware of the hacking. But Putin didn’t take the bait, continuing to insist that the state had nothing to do with it.

“There are 146 million Russians. So what? … I don’t care. I couldn’t care less. … They do not represent the interests of the Russian state,” he said.

Later, he cast doubt on whether those who had been indicted actually met his definition of citizens.

“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” he said. “Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship. Or maybe a green card. Maybe it was the Americans who paid them for this work. How do you know? I don’t know.”

Though Putin has allied himself with the deeply conservative Russian Orthodox Church, which has recently promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, hatred of Jews has generally not been a big part of his nationalist playbook. But apparently he’s fine with scapegoating the group, and other minorities, when it suits his political interests.

Several U.S. federal agencies have agreed that the election hacking was directed from the highest echelons of Russian government. But one prominent American who has yet to be convinced is President Trump, who has taken Putin’s word for his innocence, and not-at-all-suspiciously showered the despot with praise again and again.

Ahead of an upcoming election that will mostly be a formality, Putin has ramped up his aggressiveness against Western interests. At the beginning of the month, he unveiled plans for new “invincible” nuclear weapon that seemed straight out of the Cold War zenith.

Confronting Putin, Part 1 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

SPOILER

Confronting Putin, Part 2 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 3 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 4 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 5 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 6 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

quote:

President Trump is in discussions with a veteran Washington lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during the impeachment process about joining the White House to help deal with the special counsel inquiry, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The lawyer, Emmet T. Flood, met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office this past week to discuss the possibility, according to the people. No final decision has been made, according to two of the people.

Should Mr. Flood come on board, the two people said, his main duties would be a day-to-day role helping the president navigate his dealings with the Justice Department.

Two people close to the president said that the overture to Mr. Flood did not indicate any new concerns about the inquiry. Still, it appears, at the least, to be an acknowledgment that the investigation is unlikely to end anytime soon

Mr. Flood would not replace Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer who since last summer has taken the lead role in dealing with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. But Mr. Cobb has told friends for weeks that he views his position as temporary and does not expect to remain in the job for much longer.

Mr. Cobb’s primary task — producing documents for Mr. Mueller and arranging for White House aides to meet with prosecutors — is largely complete. Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers have been handling negotiations with Mr. Mueller over the terms of a presidential interview.

Mr. Flood had been on the wish list of some of the president’s advisers to join his legal team last year, and he is the only person the White House has been in contact with about such a role.

White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Flood declined to comment.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:54 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:54 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:54 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:59 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Heb dit nu drie keer gelezen. Maar ik krijg echt het idee ik een of ander schrijfsel zit te lezen van iemand die op hetzelfde geestelijke niveau zit als een Caligula, Ivan Grozny of Idi Amin. Manmanman, wat een niveau. Maar ook weer schitterend dat je dit soort wereldgeschiedenis meemaakt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:58 schreef SureD1 het volgende:

[..]

Dat is nep toch?! Of tweet hij, na het opstappen van Hope Hicks, dit soort dingen direct naar Huckabee-Sanders?

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 22:29:37 The European Union, wonderful countries who treat the U.S. very badly on trade, are complaining about the tariffs on Steel & Aluminum. If they drop their horrific barriers & tariffs on U.S. products going in, we will likewise drop ours. Big Deficit. If not, we Tax Cars etc. FAIR! reageer retweet

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op zaterdag 10-03-2018 om 21:02:02 In the first hours after hearing that North Korea’s leader wanted to meet with me to talk denuclearization and that missile launches will end, the press was startled & amazed.They couldn’t believe it. But by the following morning the news became FAKE.They said so what, who cares! reageer retweet

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:40 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
Putin Says Jews Might Be to Blame for 2016 Election Hacking

[..]

Confronting Putin, Part 1 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

SPOILER

Confronting Putin, Part 2 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 3 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 4 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 5 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

Confronting Putin, Part 6 | Megyn Kelly | NBC News

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:11 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

En jij denkt dat de Amerikanen hun troepen terug gaan trekken uit Zuid-Korea?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:10 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:
Jaja mensen, Xi is gekke Henkie en geeft even al zijn troeven uit handen in ruil voor de belofte dat tarieven niet worden verhoogd.

DeParo, je weet dat Xi er belang bij heeft dat het communistische regime in Noord-Korea overeind blijft?

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:19 schreef Monolith het volgende:

[..]

Ik zie je hier echt nul argumenten of bronnen aandragen, enkel fictie. Probeer dat eerst maar eens voordat je anderen de maat neemt, want je aannames en veronderstellingen lijken niet echt een basis te hebben in de realiteit.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:59 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Heb dit nu drie keer gelezen. Maar ik krijg echt het idee ik een of ander schrijfsel zit te lezen van iemand die op hetzelfde geestelijke niveau zit als een Caligula, Ivan Grozny of Idi Amin. Manmanman, wat een niveau. Maar ook weer schitterend dat je dit soort wereldgeschiedenis meemaakt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 22:59 schreef Falco het volgende:

[..]

Heb dit nu drie keer gelezen. Maar ik krijg echt het idee ik een of ander schrijfsel zit te lezen van iemand die op hetzelfde geestelijke niveau zit als een Caligula, Ivan Grozny of Idi Amin. Manmanman, wat een niveau. Maar ook weer schitterend dat je dit soort wereldgeschiedenis meemaakt.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 23:49 schreef SureD1 het volgende:

[..]

Fascinerend. Qua intelligentie zitten Poetin en Trump de nodige standaarddeviaties uit elkaar...

Body Language: Trump Putin Meeting G20

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Op zondag 11 maart 2018 04:52 schreef Eficaz het volgende:

[..]

[..]

Lang niet iedereen vindt dat. En niet iedereen in de senaat heeft voorgestemd.

Het is niet zeker door wie het vliegtuig is neergehaald. Daar zijn de meningen heel erg over verdeeld in de wereld. Dus niet íedereen.

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Op zondag 11 maart 2018 09:37 schreef thesiren.nl het volgende:

[..]

Wat waarom een kopje kofffie? In Rusland zijn de meningen verdeeld misschien en hier zetten ze dwaalsporen uit.
Feit is dat een buk mh17 neerhaalde en dat dezelfde buk lanceer installatie de volgende dag weer terug in Rusland was. Minus 1 buk raket. Foto's, filmpjes, google earth, sateliet beelden, alles is er. Lul toch niet man.

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Op zondag 11 maart 2018 09:49 schreef grrrrg het volgende:

[..]

Daarom waren de nabestaanden van de MH17 aanslag ook zo boos op Geert Wilders. Zij weten dat deze aanslag uit de koker van het Kremlin kwam, ook al was het een 'ongelukje'.
En om dan een vriendsschapsspeldje met de Russische vlag te dragen, dat is gewoon misselijk makend

Ik vraag me werkelijk af hoeveel geld al deze Europees rechts-extremistische partijen ontvangen uit Rusland en of daar eens wat aan gedaan kan worden.

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 09:37 schreef thesiren.nl het volgende:

[..]

Wat waarom een kopje kofffie? In Rusland zijn de meningen verdeeld misschien en hier zetten ze dwaalsporen uit.
Feit is dat een buk mh17 neerhaalde en dat dezelfde buk lanceer installatie de volgende dag weer terug in Rusland was. Minus 1 buk raket. Foto's, filmpjes, google earth, sateliet beelden, alles is er. Lul toch niet man.

Vladimir Putin exposes the NWO & MH17 Conspiracy

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:13 schreef martijnde3de het volgende:

[..]

Ik heb vrienden daar, dus heb meer binding met de binnenlandse politiek.

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Op zaterdag 10 maart 2018 19:11 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

[..]

En jij denkt dat de Amerikanen hun troepen terug gaan trekken uit Zuid-Korea?

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 10:11 schreef DeParo het volgende:
Amerika eist van de Chinezen dat ze 100Bln USD in trade deficit goedmaken door meer te importeren, zo kan China de handelstarieven die Amerika dreigt te plaatsen omzeilen, China denkt dat 1/3 van het handelstekort al kan worden ingevuld als de Amerikanen de restricties op de export van militaire en ICT-producten laten varen. Dat is natuurlijk een wassen neus van de Chinezen maar beide landen zetten groot in. Naar het schijnt zouden de Chinezen wel bereid zijn te onderhandelen wat strookt met de Amerikaanse berichten dat ze serieus aan het praten zijn over hoe een deel van het handelstekort (waar beide landen andere data over hebben die zo'n 20% verschilt) kan worden ingevuld.

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Op zondag 11 maart 2018 10:18 schreef grrrrg het volgende:

[..]

Er is ook wel een probleem met China. Voor buitenlandse bedrijven is het heel moeilijk om de Chinese markt te betreden. Het is heel protectionistisch.

quote:

Florida enacted its first gun control measures in more than two decades on Friday when Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act ― in open defiance of the National Rifle Association. 67 members of the Florida House and Senate with “A” or “A-plus” ratings from the gun rights group voted for the bill. If you count Scott, who earned an A-plus rating himself, that makes 68 NRA-approved politicians who chose to break with the group.

The NRA had come out strongly against the new regulations, which include raising the minimum age for all firearms purchases to 21, creating a three-day waiting period and banning the sale of bump stocks. Marion Hammer, the NRA’s powerful Florida lobbyist and former president, called on gun rights supporters to flood Florida House Republicans’ inboxes with messages telling them to vote no after the state Senate passed the bill. “YOU and every other law-abiding gun owner is being blamed for an atrocious act of premeditated murder,” she wrote.

Hammer’s used to getting what she wants. A recent New Yorker profile referenced a 2011 bill that punishes local Florida officials for pushing stronger gun control measures than those at state level as one of her many victories. Florida legislators, however, were feeling the pressure from student activists begging them to take action in the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

The legislation passed 20-18 in the state Senate, and 67-50 in the state House. As the Trace notes, just six of 23 Senate Republicans voted against the bill, followed by 19 of 76 House Republicans. Many Democrats voted against the bill due to a controversial provision creating a program that allows superintendents and sheriffs to arm some school personnel, following the argument that gun-free zones prevent people from defending themselves against a shooter.

Yet the gun control measures passed this week no doubt come as an unwelcome shock to the NRA, which has long found support among Florida Republicans. How the group will retaliate against those politicians who defied its wishes remains to be seen.

quote:

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Republican National Committee’s Instagram account is setting the record straight about the number of women in the Trump administration. "How could we possibly be one of the most male-dominated administrations in recent history?" the GOP seemed to ask in its Friday post. After all, just look at all our wives and daughters.

The RNC was already called out for a similar remark earlier this week, when it tweeted that President Donald Trump “has appointed more women to senior-level positions than previous administrations.”

That tweet was quickly debunked thanks to a Brookings Institute report from last May, which found that, while Trump is roughly on par with the George W. Bush administration as far as women in high-level positions are concerned, he remains significantly behind both the Clinton and Obama administrations.

But at least according to the GOP, it seems we’ve been counting wrong this entire time. In a post presumably meant to point out the many women Trump has appointed to senior-level government and campaign positions, the GOP saw fit to include both the second and first lady as well as Trump’s own daughter, Ivanka. Which is to say, a quarter of the women the GOP was able to muster up are there by virtue of either marriage or birth.

The original Instagram post read, “Contrary to mainstream belief, President Trump has appointed more women to senior-level government and campaign positions than previous administrations. He’s empowering ALL Americans with his winning agenda. Take a look at some of these leading ladies!”

quote:

President Donald Trump suggested drug dealers in the United States should face harsher punishments, such as the death penalty or life in prison, during a campaign rally for congressional candidate Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

“I think it’s a discussion we have to start thinking about,” Trump said during the rally in Moon Township. “I don’t know if we’re ready. I don’t know if this country’s ready for it.”

Trump praised Singapore and China for their “zero tolerance policy” when it comes to drugs, and floated the idea for the U.S.

“That means if we catch a drug dealer, death penalty,” Trump said of Singapore, recalling a conversation he had with the country’s president. “And they don’t have a problem.”

The president may have also pulled inspiration from the Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, whose bloody war against drugs has led to the deaths of thousands of people ― including small-time drug users and innocent people whom he has called “collateral damage.”

SPOILER

Last year, Trump congratulated Duterte for his efforts in eradicating drugs from the country, according to a leaked transcript of their phone call.

“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump reportedly said. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

Speaking at Saccone’s campaign rally Saturday, Trump said drug dealers need to be handled in the same way the U.S. handles those convicted of murder, adding that people who “kill some person, knife one person” may get the death penalty or life in prison.

“You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you’re smuggling them in and you’re making a lot of money and people are dying and they don’t even put you in jail,” Trump said.

“That’s why we have a problem, folks,” he added. “I don’t think we should play games.”

Trump’s remarks this weekend mirror a speech he made at the White House Opioids Summit last week, when he suggested again that drug dealers should have to face the death penalty.

“Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty,” Trump said during last week’s summit. “And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do.”

Trump’s self-congratulating speech on Saturday covered a wide variety of topics. During the rally, Trump claimed his controversial tariffs would revive the steel industry, took credit for the reduced tensions with North Korea and discussed competing against Oprah Winfrey if she decides to run in the 2020 presidential elections.

Trump also announced his new re-election campaign slogan: “Keep America Great, exclamation point.”

quote:

The legislative blitz that rocketed the $1.5 trillion tax cut through Congress in less than two months created a host of errors and ambiguities in the law that businesses big and small are just now discovering and scrambling to address.

Companies and trade groups are pushing the Treasury Department and Congress to fix the law’s consequences, some intended and some not, including provisions that disadvantage certain farmers, hurt restaurateurs and retailers and could balloon the tax bills of large multinational corporations.

While Treasury can clear up uncertainty about some of the murky provisions, actual errors and unintended language can be solved only legislatively — at a time when Democrats seem disinclined to lend votes to shoring up a law they had no hand in passing and are actively trying to dismantle.

SPOILER

On Thursday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent the Treasury Department 15 pages of detailed requests for clarification on how the law affects multinational corporations, mutual fund investors and mom-and-pop pass-through entities.

It was a public display of the lobbying that businesses are waging primarily behind the scenes to change or shape enforcement of the law, most notably its byzantine new provisions intended to crack down on multinationals sheltering profits abroad for tax purposes.

“The question is whether our system is set up today in a way to do little midcourse corrections as time goes on, or is it not,” said Dana Trier, who left the Treasury Department last month after serving as deputy assistant secretary for tax policy during the drafting of the bill. “The mistakes or unintended consequences for this or that group won’t show up for months.”

The result could be a tax-theme replay of the years after passage of the Affordable Care Act, when Republicans refused to cooperate with so-called technical corrections legislation, and a Democratic administration was forced to push the limits of its authority to address concerns in the enforcement of its signature policy accomplishment.

Among the problematic portions to emerge so far is what has become known as the “grain glitch.” A late change to the legislation altered a deduction for United States production in a way that permitted farmers to deduct 20 percent of their total sales to cooperatives — agricultural organizations owned by groups of farmers that operate for the benefit of their members.

This allows farmers to deeply reduce their tax bills, but it has caused an uproar among independent agriculture businesses that say they can no longer compete with cooperatives, since farmers would choose to sell to cooperatives to take advantage of the more generous tax break.

The conservative Tax Foundation said that the flaw should be addressed quickly, saying that, if left in place, “the deduction would allow some farmers to effectively become tax-exempt.”

Leaders of independent grain companies from Oklahoma, Minnesota and South Dakota traveled to Washington in late February to make their case to lawmakers that a fix was urgently needed, warning that businesses like theirs could collapse or be sold.

“We will be much more receptive to selling our business if this happens,” said Todd Lafferty, co-chief executive of Wheeler Brothers Grain Company in Watonga, Okla. “It’s going to result in further consolidation of the industry, but that’s not what we want to do.”

Mr. Lafferty, a Republican, said he was excited about the new tax legislation until he heard about the provision. Despite the other benefits of the law, he said, he would rather be governed by the old tax code than face a competitive disadvantage to nearby cooperatives.

Thomas Lien Jr., of Dakota Mill and Grain in Rapid City, S.D., said that he already regretted the $20 million investment his business made last year to build a shuttle loader grain elevator for moving large quantities of grain because farmers were now only interested in selling to cooperatives. Now he wondered how his business and others like it could survive.

“It’s going to drive investments in rural America away,” Mr. Lien said. “We can’t compete.”

Restaurants and retailers are also concerned about a drafting error that will mitigate the tax benefits they receive when renovating. The law was supposed to simplify depreciation rules for businesses making renovations or other property improvements so that they could deduct these expenses over 15 years. Because of a mistake in the writing of the bill, the cost of these investments must be deducted over 39 years, diminishing the intended benefit.

The top lobbyist for the restaurant industry said that she was hopeful that lawmakers had heard their complaints.

“It is our understanding that it was an honest mistake,” said the lobbyist, Cicely Simpson, the executive vice president of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association. “The bipartisan intent behind the law was a 15-year depreciation period, and we are confident Congress will have this resolved quickly.”

But legislative fixes will be tough. Unlike the original tax bill, which passed along party lines, legislation correcting any portion of the tax bill will require Democratic votes to get through the Senate.

The law passed Congress via the budget reconciliation process, which bypassed a Senate filibuster and enabled Republicans to approve it on a party-line vote in both chambers. A fix-it bill would need at least nine Democrats in the Senate to join Republicans.

For now, at least, Democratic leaders appear disinclined to provide those votes. They are still fuming over the partisan process that delivered the bill to President Trump’s desk.

“I’m willing to make technical changes, but they have to be substantive, too,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio and a member of the Finance Committee. “We’re not just going to sit down and fix the things they did badly because they did it in the dead of night with lobbyists at the table.”

A second, much larger group of issues are those that need Treasury clarification — areas of the law that companies say could be construed in any number of ways, with vastly differing consequences for tax liabilities.

That includes questions over which businesses, and what types of business income, qualify for a new 20 percent deduction for so-called pass-through entities, whose owners pay taxes on the companies’ profits through the individual code. For example, the Chamber of Commerce is pushing to ensure the deduction applies to investors in mutual funds that own stakes in real estate investment trusts.

It also includes a dizzying number of concerns over the new system for taxing multinational corporations that the law created.

Those corporations are upset over the possible scope of two provisions that collectively form a sort of alternative minimum tax for companies operating in the United States and overseas. The bill’s architects pitched those provisions as a means of cracking down on companies that shift profits to foreign parent companies or subsidiaries to avoid American taxes.

But affected companies say they fear the legislation could be construed overly broadly by officials at Treasury or the Internal Revenue Service, subjecting activities that those companies do not consider forms of profit-shifting to the minimum tax.

A Chevron executive called one of the minimum tax provisions “a disaster” last month at a public forum. At the same event, an Eli Lilly official said the provisions discouraged companies from holding intellectual property in the United States, counter to the intent of Congress, because they forced those companies to reimburse foreign affiliates doing work outside the country.

Many companies are looking to Treasury to resolve those concerns. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s list of requests includes several suggestions for ways the department can limit the minimum tax’s reach.

Republican lawmakers who wrote the bill, however, are not looking kindly on efforts to change the intent of the law. Their staff members say they have asked businesses to make a data-based case for why their proposals are necessary.

“I stress the importance of carrying out legislative intent,” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and the chairman of the Finance Committee, wrote in a letter last month to Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary. The intent, he added, was to remove “damaging tax-base erosion found in the former tax system” — a reference to eroding the tax base of the United States by shifting corporate profits abroad.

Rohit Kumar, a former Senate leadership aide who now leads a tax policy group at the accounting firm PwC, said turmoil in the first months of a new and sweeping law was to be expected. “Everyone needs to stop and take a deep breath,” he said. “This is normal, against the magnitude of the change.”

Still, companies that want change will undoubtedly continue pressuring Congress, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Kumar said.

“Nature favors the bold,” he added. “I suppose you could just sit back and wait, but a better strategy is to be engaging with Treasury and I.R.S., and engaging with the Hill.”

David J. Kautter, the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury’s assistant secretary for tax policy, said last month that the agency had a detailed plan for introducing clarifications and, when possible, fixes to the legislation.

“We have multiple work teams focused on the entire bill,” Mr. Kautter said. “We’re going full bore on guidance.”

Republicans and lobbyists say they are optimistic that Congress will act soon on at least the grain glitch. Some lawmakers have been musing about stuffing more fixes into a big, must-pass spending bill expected this month.

But that bill would require the support of the Democratic Party, and could give it an ability to demand something in return — such as rollbacks of limitations on state and local tax deductions, which primarily hurt taxpayers in liberal states.

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 10:58 schreef brokjespoes het volgende:
En, oja, de president zakt alweer een stukje verder af:


President Donald Trump Suggests Death Penalty For Drug Dealers

[..]

SPOILER

Last year, Trump congratulated Duterte for his efforts in eradicating drugs from the country, according to a leaked transcript of their phone call.

“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump reportedly said. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

Speaking at Saccone’s campaign rally Saturday, Trump said drug dealers need to be handled in the same way the U.S. handles those convicted of murder, adding that people who “kill some person, knife one person” may get the death penalty or life in prison.

“You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you’re smuggling them in and you’re making a lot of money and people are dying and they don’t even put you in jail,” Trump said.

“That’s why we have a problem, folks,” he added. “I don’t think we should play games.”

Trump’s remarks this weekend mirror a speech he made at the White House Opioids Summit last week, when he suggested again that drug dealers should have to face the death penalty.

“Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty,” Trump said during last week’s summit. “And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do.”

Trump’s self-congratulating speech on Saturday covered a wide variety of topics. During the rally, Trump claimed his controversial tariffs would revive the steel industry, took credit for the reduced tensions with North Korea and discussed competing against Oprah Winfrey if she decides to run in the 2020 presidential elections.

Trump also announced his new re-election campaign slogan: “Keep America Great, exclamation point.”

Dit gaat hopelijk toch ook over witteboord-dealers die prijzen van medicijnen 500x verhogen?

quote:

BMW, for example, builds hundreds of thousands of cars each year at its massive factory in South Carolina, the company's biggest in the world. The German automaker produced 371,000 vehicles last year in the US, 16,000 more than it sold there, according to Germany's Center for Automotive Research.

Mercedes-Benz, which is owned by Daimler, built nearly as many cars in the US as it sold in the country. Both automakers, which have invested billions in the US, export cars made there to other markets -- and they could be hurt by any retaliation from America's trade partners.

http://money.cnn.com/2018(...)pean-cars/index.html

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 11:59 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

En waarom zakt Trump daar verder af? Als je een idioot die op een school jongeren doodschiet de doodstraf geeft, waarom dan drugsdealers niet die afhankelijke mensen de dood injagen in grote getale? Wel eens naar de hoeveelheid overdosis gekeken in de VS? Alleen heroine zorgt al voor zo'n 16.000 doden in de VS. Dat is bijna 1000 keer de doden die recent vielen op die school in Florida. In series zoals Narcos op Netflix kunnen we zien wat voor schade en doden vallen in deze industrie. Trump heeft daar gewoon gelijk. Drugs maakt meer kapot dan je lief is.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/chapter/causes_of_death

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 11:59 schreef Trumpinator het volgende:

[..]

En waarom zakt Trump daar verder af? Als je een idioot die op een school jongeren doodschiet de doodstraf geeft, waarom dan drugsdealers niet die afhankelijke mensen de dood injagen in grote getale? Wel eens naar de hoeveelheid overdosis gekeken in de VS? Alleen heroine zorgt al voor zo'n 16.000 doden in de VS. Dat is bijna 1000 keer de doden die recent vielen op die school in Florida. In series zoals Narcos op Netflix kunnen we zien wat voor schade en doden vallen in deze industrie. Trump heeft daar gewoon gelijk. Drugs maakt meer kapot dan je lief is.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/chapter/causes_of_death

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 12:44 schreef Monolith het volgende:
Je zou toch ook denken dat de fantasie van de war on drugs inmiddels wel dood en begraven zou zijn. Een surveillancestadstaat als Singapore als model mensen is ook wel erg onnozel. Maar ja dat krijg je als je bejaarde, wereldvreemde mannen als Sessions en Trump aan het roer hebt.

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 12:53 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Voor Singapore en de Filipijnen werkt het. Of het ethisch verantwoord is dat dan is een heel andere discussie. Zou me ook niet verbazen als Brazilie vroeg of laat overstapt op dit model en Amerika in de aan Mexico grenzende staten plus ghetto's dan.

quote:

Op zondag 11 maart 2018 12:53 schreef DeParo het volgende:

[..]

Voor Singapore en de Filipijnen werkt het. Of het ethisch verantwoord is dat dan is een heel andere discussie. Zou me ook niet verbazen als Brazilie vroeg of laat overstapt op dit model en Amerika in de aan Mexico grenzende staten plus ghetto's.

twitter:

NBCNews twitterde op zondag 11-03-2018 om 01:22:45 President Trump says the South Korean president told him: "Without Donald Trump, the Olympics would have been a total failure ... A little hard to sell tickets when you think you're going to be nuked." https://t.co/dl40sN9ZTY reageer retweet