Trump continued to needle at China Sunday by openly questioning the so-called “one China policy” on Fox News.
China then issued a stern rebuke to Trump’s comments early Monday through its foreign minister.
“I don’t know why we have to be bound by a one China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said Sunday, adding, “I don’t want China dictating to me.”
That provocative language prompted a Monday editorial in China’s state-run newspaper describing Trump’s diplomacy as “ignorant as a child.”
On Dec. 8, China flew a long-range nuclear bomber outside of the nation for the first time since the Taiwan phone call — reportedly a symbolic show of strength.
The threat of trade war with China is a real risk to Americans, experts warn.
Policy analysts also warn that military conflict could be on the table if aggression between China and the U.S. escalates further. Read more
(Tweet from @nycsouthpaw) Kris Kobach should learn to use folders and cover sheets.
[image] Department of Homeland Security Kobach Strategic Plan for first 365 Days.
——————
Can someone caption this when you get a chance? I’m on mobile.
[Transcript for those who are having trouble reading]
1. Bar the Entry of Potential Terrorists -I. Update and reintroduce the NSEERS screening and tracking system (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) that was in place from 2002-2005. All aliens from high risk areas are tracked. -II. Add extreme vetting system for high risk aliens. Question them regarding support for Sharia law, jihad, equality of men and women, the United States Constitution. -III. Reduce intake of Syrian refugees to zero using authority under the 1980 Refugee Act.
2. [Unreadable] Record Number of Criminal Aliens in the First Year -[unreadable] 193,000 criminal removal cases dropped by the Obama Administration. -[unreadable] ICE guidance memorands(?) adopted by the Obama Administration, issue new guidance [unreadable] “criminal alien” as any alien arrested for any crime, and any gang member. -[remainder is mostly unreadable; discusses enlisting local and state goverments to aid in the decrease of “criminal aliens”]
3. [Mostly unreadable, discusses PLANS FOR THE WALL] -[unreadable] in addition to the 319 miles of existing [unreadable] covering the entire 1,989 miles planned for rapid build. [unreadable] the PATRIOT Act to prevent illegal aliens [unreadable]
[Most of the rest is unreadable]
5. [unreadable] -[mostly unreadable, the ending sentence contains the phrase “Draft amendments to National Voter…”]
That’s all I could make out. If anyone else wants to add what they can see, feel free to do so.
This is a serious breach of classified information handling. I hope he gets fired for this! Better people have been fired for less (and lost an election)
In Finland, speeding tickets are calculated based on your income – causing some Finnish millionaires to pay fines of over $100,000. Source
This is what “equality” looks like in that liberal fairy tale land of Finland. They punish you proportionately to how successful you are. Sounds really “fair.”
Except… it is fair? Because it’s proportionate. I don’t get what’s difficult about that. An impoverished person paying $400 dollar fine isn’t the same as a millionaire paying the same amount. For the poor person, $400 dollars could mean starving. Would you really claim it would have the same consequence for a rich man? Would it even be noticeable to him, while the absence of food in their stomach would be glaring to a poorer man? Would it be fair for a man to starve for the same crime as a man that would be having a three course meal?
By taking income into account, it allows the impoverished able to still survive while paying any fines they may incur. And, ultimately, while $100,000 dollars would be noticeable to a millionaire, they would still get by. And, assuming the law is properly implemented, they would be paying the same equivalent of their yearly income that a poorer person would. That’s what makes it fair. They would be impacted the same way – but you are looking at the amount rather than the equation.
Also, it’s important to make sure that even the rich would pause at the cost of a fine. They need to fear the law just as a poor man does.
Oh no… rich people facing fines that might actually make them consider not doing illegal things because the punishments might actually hurt them… how unfair… -V
Finnish person here. Our speeding ticket system owns and only people who bitch about them are people who wanna break the laws – the loudest whiners are the rich people who think they can just pay their way out of trouble and that’s why we have laws like that.
400 dollar ticket.
Person making 10 dollars an hour: “Fuck, I better slow down”
Millionaire driving a Jaguar: “LOL 400 DOLLARS, FUCK THAT, NYOOM”
Compared to a proportional ticket.
Person making 10 dollars an hour and must pay 400 dollar ticket: “Fuck, I better slow down.”
Millionaire who must pay 100,000 dollar ticket: “Fuck, I better slow down.”
Like wtf. Some people have been so brainwashed by capitalism and worship of the rich that they literally can’t tell the difference between fairness and unfairness anymore.
It IS fair. The fact that it flies in the status quo so much should make you think about that status quo.
Just in case NPR, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and every other major news organization isn’t enough for some of you, Snopes has also confirmed that Russian government interfered with the US election. Not just that, but the CIA knew about this all the way in October, and the GOP controlled Senate sat on the information.
A dark cloud of illegitimacy hangs over the pending presidency of Donald
Trump. Consider:
1. The CIA has concluded that Russia intervened in the election in order to
help Trump become president. The secret CIA assessment found that Russian
operatives covertly interfered in the election campaign in an attempt to ensure
the Republican candidate’s victory.
2. Trump has close business ties to Russian
oligarchs, friends of Putin, who have financed his projects and, presumably, also lent billions of dollars to Trump’s
enterprises – which may explain why Trump won’t disclose his tax returns,
which would show evidence of these deals.
3. Several of Trump’s key campaign aides – including his former campaign
manager, Paul Manafort – have close ties to Russia. Manafort was a longtime consultant to Viktor Yanukovich, the Russian-backed president of Ukraine who was overthrown in 2014 and who has done multi-million-dollar business deals with Russian oligarchs.
Between 2007 and 2012,
Manafort received some $12.7 million in cash payments from a pro-Russian
political party in Ukraine.
Trump’s foreign policy advisor, Michael Flynn, flew to Moscow last year to attend a gala banquet celebrating Russia Today, the Kremlin’s propaganda channel, and was seated at the head table near Putin.
5. Trump is expected to pick as his Secretary of State ExxonMobil CEO Rex
Tillerson, who is also close to Putin. In 2013, Putin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship, one of the highest honors Russia gives to foreign
citizens. Tillerson came up through the ranks at Exxon by managing the
company’s Russia account. After becoming CEO, Exxon bet billions on Russia’s
vast oil resources through a partnership with Russian oil giant Rosneft, owned
partly by the Kremlin. Putin himself attended the 2011 signing ceremony for the
deal. Russia has already indicated it would welcome Tillerson being named
America’s top diplomat.
6. Trump was defeated in the actual voting by a startling—and still
growing—2,676,670 votes. Clinton’s popular vote victory margin is now 2
percent, thus handing Trump the largest defeat suffered by a candidate elevated
to the presidency by the Electoral College in modern history.
The dark cloud of illegitimacy continues to grow darker.
Before the Electors submit their ballots for president next week, Trump must
release his tax returns and the CIA must make public its report on Russia’s
intervention in the U.S. elections in support of Trump.
Meet Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education. She funds an institute that wants to bring back child labor and get rid of public education.
Betsy DeVos is from my area (West Michigan) and let me tell you: she comes from not one, but two of the most corrupt, entitled, extreme conservative families in the area.
Something else, that I feel like people really should be aware of is that our state government (led, of course, by Rick Snyder of the ongoing Flint Water Crisis) just stated that literacy is not a right.
What happened is that some students in Detroit tried to sue the state because they have been denied access to literacy (through disinvestment and indifference to Detroit’s public schools). And the official response is that state legislation only requires that there be a system of free public schools. So yeah, there are schools. Schools without money or resources. But they’re there, and literacy is not a right (apparently).
Meanwhile, Betsy DeVos is a huge supporter of charter schools. Which means that she’s strongly anti-public school. She never went to public school, nor did any of her children.
Also: the DeVos family contributed over $9 million to the Tr*mp campaign.
May's Blog 