Friday, August 14, 2020

The Case against Trump Is “Open and Shut”: Kamala Harris Slams President’s Handling of Pandemic


As Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major presidential ticket, hits the campaign trail with Joe Biden for the first time, we play an extended excerpt of her address, in which she blasts President Trump’s handling of the economy, immigration, racial justice and the coronavirus pandemic. “The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut,” Harris says. “Just look where they’ve gotten us: more than 16 million out of work; millions of kids who cannot go back to school; a crisis of poverty, of homelessness, afflicting Black, Brown and Indigenous people the most.”

Steele: Trump Floating Harris Birtherism Shows 'Racist Ignorant Stupidity' | The 11th Hour | MSNBC


Former RNC Chairman blasts Trump for not refuting the latest round of birtherism, this time against Kamala Harris who was born in California. Aired on 8/13/2020.


Trump is a wicked, evil man! – Mark

'Do You Regret All Your Lying?' Reporter Stumps Trump at White House Press Briefing


The Huffington Post’s White House correspondent, S V Dáte, broke from the usual question and answer protocol at President Trump's press briefings, posing a simple, yet cutting question: "Mr President, after three and a half years, do you regret at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?," he asked. Trump, who after initially responding with his own question: "all the what?", ignored Dáte and moved on to the next question 'Do you regret all your lying?' White House reporter's question startles Trump


Read the article here »

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Trump Failed America: Don the Dumb


Clearly Trump is not a 'super genius,' but rather he is an unstable incompetent narcissist who conned his way into the White House with help of foreign interference.

Bye Ivanka: A Public Disservice Announcement


Bye Ivanka – The Sequel: Trump Family Nepotism Exposed


He Went to Jared: Jared Kushner's Failure


When America needed leadership most, he went to Jared. We paid the price.

Kamala Harris Makes Debut as Biden's Running Mate: 'America Is Crying Out for Leadership'


Kamala Harris made her campaign-trail debut as Joe Biden's vice-presidential running mate for the Democrats, criticising president Donald Trump for mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic and making an urgent argument for a Biden administration. Harris, a US senator from California, quickly leapt to the attack on Trump, saying he had endangered Americans by not taking the pandemic seriously, plunging the US into an economic crisis even as it wrestles with racial and social injustice. 'As somebody who has presented my fair share of arguments in court, the case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut,' Harris said

Kamala Harris Comes Out Swinging. Trump Can't Seem to Land a Punch. | The 11th Hour | MSNBC


On her first full day as Joe Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris hit Trump hard saying he's 'not up to the job.' The Republican response has been scattered. Aired on 8/12/2020.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Fred's Failure


Leadership


Regardless of the failure, President Donald J. Trump tells us again and again: "No, I don’t take responsibility at all."

Trump Donors: Don't Be Don's Next Con


Why Kamala Harris Is a Historic VP Pick for Joe Biden – BBC News


Presidential candidate Joe Biden has chosen California Senator Kamala Harris to be his running mate. Ms Harris also ran for the Democratic nomination for the top job. If Joe Biden is elected in November, Ms Harris will be the first female, the first black and first Asian-American vice-president.

Brahms Piano Concertos with Krystian Zimerman and Leonard Bernstein


Brahms piano concertos nos. 1 and 2 played by Krystian Zimerman with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. Piano Concerto No. 1 - 00:31 Piano Concerto No. 2 - 56:10

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Monday, August 10, 2020

Ivanka: “Find Something New”


The billionaire's daughter is telling unemployed Americans to "find something new." Thanks for the advice, Ivanka.

Chyna


China made Trump roll over like a dog.

Donald Trump : Names


Learn. Their. Names.

Grifters: Episode One


We all know Trump’s a scammer. Stiffed contractors. Ripped-off business partners. False advertisements. Bankrupted businesses. But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Saturday, August 08, 2020

Is the US-Saudi Arabia Relationship Falling Apart? | Inside Story


Former Saudi intelligence agent Saad Al Jabri is suing the Saudi Crown Prince in the US, alleging Mohammed Bin Salman sent the 'hit squad' that murdered Jamal Khashoggi to kill him in Canada.

In a rare rebuke, the State Department praised Jabri and demanded answers about the safety of his children.

Will President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter for Bin Salman, be forced to take action?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan; Guests: Khalil Jahshan - Executive Director, Arab Center Washington DC; Mahjoob Zweiri - Director, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University; Rami Khouri - Senior Fellow, Issam Fares Institute, American University of Beirut


Mary Trump: The President's Anti-LGBTQ Policies Are Not Surprising


After growing up in the Trump family, Mary Trump says Donald Trump's discrimination against LGBTQ people is not shocking. In her new book "Too Much and Never Enough," she recounts many instances of bigotry she witnessed, including from her grandmother, who once referred to Elton John using a gay slur. Mary Trump says the remark stopped her from coming out to her family. "I wasn’t happy about it, certainly, that my grandmother had those attitudes, but it didn’t exactly surprise me in a household that was so racist, anti-Semitic and misogynistic," she says.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Says Russia Is Trying to Boost Trump’s Candidacy | The 11th Hour | MSNBC


“We’ve never seen such faithlessness to the ideas and ideals of the country.” Steve Schmidt reacts to the ODNI’s findings and certain Republican senators who seem to be helping disseminate Russian talking points. Aired on 8/7/2020

Brexit Behind Him, Boris Johnson Tries to Stop Scotland From Leaving U.K.


THE NEW YORK TIMES: Scottish polling shows a majority favor independence. The prime minister is concerned.

LONDON — Barely six months after Britain broke away from the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is increasingly consumed with trying to stop the breakaway of restive parts of the United Kingdom.

On Friday, Mr. Johnson sent his popular Treasury chief, Rishi Sunak, to Scotland, to tamp down nationalist sentiment that has surged there in recent months. Another top minister, Michael Gove, went to Northern Ireland with nearly $500 million in aid to help frustrated companies deal with new checks on shipped goods.

Experts have long predicted that Brexit would strengthen centrifugal forces that were pulling apart the union. But in Scotland, in particular, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated those forces, forcing Mr. Johnson to mount an elaborate — some say belated — charm offensive with the Scottish public. » | Mark Landler | Friday, August 7, 2020

Friday, August 07, 2020

"The World's Most Dangerous Man": Mary Trump on Her Uncle, President Trump, & Why He Must Be Ousted


"In my family, being kind was considered being weak," says Mary Trump, President Trump's niece, a clinical psychologist and author of "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man." We spend the hour with Mary Trump, discussing her book the president doesn't want people to read, in which she describes his upbringing in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed, cruelty and racist and sexist behaviors — which he is now inflicting on the world. Mary Trump also discusses the president's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, his long history of lies and misrepresentations, and the dangers of his reelection. "I believe that this country is on the knife's edge, and I don't want anybody going to cast their vote in November being able to claim that they just don't know who they're voting for," she says.

Saudi Crown Prince Accused in Lawsuit of Sending Hit Squad to Canada


THE GUARDIAN: US lawsuit by ex-Saudi intelligence official accuses Mohammed bin Salman of plotting to kill him

A former senior Saudi intelligence official with close ties to western intelligence agencies has accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of plotting to kill him, claiming in a US lawsuit that one such attempt was thwarted by Canadian officials in 2018.

A lawsuit by Saad Aljabri against the Saudi crown prince and other Saudi officials, which was brought in a district court in Washington DC, claims that the Saudi state launched a campaign to target the former high-ranking official in Canada because he was viewed as a threat to Prince Mohammed’s relationship with the US and his eventual ascendancy to the throne.

The complaint includes several jaw-dropping and unverified details about the alleged plot to target Aljabri, including a claim that a team of Saudi assassins were sent to Canada to kidnap the former Saudi official just two weeks after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. » | Stephanie Kirchgaessner, US investigations correspondent | Friday, August 7, 2020

Wednesday, August 05, 2020

The Guardian View on the Beirut Blast: A Tragedy within a Crisis


THE GUARDIAN: The world owes solidarity to a people exhausted by decades of corrupt and negligent government

Beirut has come to know the sound of explosions too well in its recent past, but none looked or felt like the blast that laid waste central districts of the city on Tuesday. The devastation is on a scale more usually wrought by earthquakes. The port at the heart of the Lebanese capital was annihilated. Shock waves ripped the facades from every building in neighbouring districts – and behind every shattered window are shattered lives. There are not enough hospital beds or a reliable supply of electricity. Infrastructure for storing and importing many of the city’s essential goods has been destroyed, making scarcity of food an imminent threat. A vast crater at the site of the detonation scars the coastline, but deeper still are the wounds to a nation that was already reeling from economic crisis, debilitated by pandemic and weary from political chaos and corruption. » | Editorial | Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Juan Carlos Has Fled Spain, But Questions Over His Past Will Follow Him


THE GUARDIAN: The immunity once afforded the former Spanish king won’t protect him any more against allegations of graft and fraud

For the past century and a half, job security has not been part of the Spanish monarchy’s experience. When former king Juan Carlos announced that he was packing his bags and heading into a form of exile on Monday, he was really following a family tradition.

No one would be more aware of that than 82-year-old Juan Carlos himself, who was born in exile and – reportedly – in relative impecunity (by royal standards) after his grandfather Alfonso XIII fled the country in the face of popular revolt in 1931.

It took General Francisco Franco, who came to power with the help of Hitler and Mussolini after turning a failed coup into the Spanish civil war in 1936, to restore the monarchy. But this only came after a vengeful Franco had himself ruled with absolute power, while violently suppressing democrats and making liberal use of death sentences, for almost four decades.

To secure the restoration, Juan Carlos had first to suck up to Franco, agree that the proper heir to the crown (his own father, Don Juan) should be leapfrogged, and then wait patiently for the dictator to die. When that finally happened in 1975, Juan Carlos received a dictator’s powers – and refused to criticise his predecessor as head of state. » | Giles Tremlett | Wednesday, August 5, 2020

How to Bible


Beirut Explosion Destruction Captured in Drone Footage


Aerial video captures the devastating impact of the explosion that left dozens dead and thousands injured in the Lebanese capital. The full scale of the blast is yet to be felt as rescue efforts continued the morning after the explosion flattened much of the city's port

Spaniens Ex-König Juan Carlos: Flucht in die Karibik? | DW Nachrichten


Der ehemalige spanischer König Juan Carlos ist ins Ausland geflüchtet. Einst hoch angesehen bei vielen Spaniern, ist der frühere Monarch des Landes, Juan Carlos, durch zahlreiche Affären und Skandale ins Zwielicht geraten. Bedrängt von Justizermittlungen und Korruptionsverdacht, hat sich der 82-Jährige nun ins Ausland abgesetzt.

Gustav Mahler - Adagietto | Gustavo Dudamel


Gustav Mahler - Adagietto. Sehr langsam. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor, 1901-02. Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel. Live Recording, 2015

Tuesday, August 04, 2020

Poor and Desperate, Pakistani Hindus Accept Islam to Get By


THE NEW YORK TIMES: Drawn by jobs or land offered by Muslim groups, some Hindus, facing discrimination and a virus-ravaged economy, are essentially converting to survive.

The Hindus performed the prayer rituals awkwardly in supplication to their new, single god, as they prepared to leave their many deities behind them. Their lips stumbled over Arabic phrases that, once recited, would seal their conversion to Islam. The last words uttered, the men and boys were then circumcised.

Dozens of Hindu families converted in June in the Badin district of Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Video clips of the ceremony went viral across the country, delighting hard-line Muslims and weighing on Pakistan’s dwindling Hindu minority.

The mass ceremony was the latest in what is a growing number of such conversions to Pakistan’s majority Muslim faith in recent years — although precise data is scarce. Some of these conversions are voluntary, some not. » | Maria Abi-Habib and Zia ur-Rehman | Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Huge Explosion Rocks Beirut with Widespread Damage and Injuries | ITV News


Ivanka and Jared Pocket Millions from Massive Conflicts of Interest


Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner managed to pocket a staggering $36 million in 2019, in spite of the fact that they are just simple White House advisers. This information was released late Friday evening in a financial disclosure form that the couple was hoping would be buried in the news cycle. But the massive conflicts of interest of the two cannot be ignored, as Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains.


Is everyone, absolutely everyone, at the top corrupt these days? – Mark

Spain Puzzles over Ex-King Juan Carlos's Whereabouts – BBC News


Former Spanish King Juan Carlos 'Leaves Spain' amid Corruption Investigations | DW News


Spain's former king Juan Carlos has left the country amid allegations of corruption. There are reports he is in the Dominican Republic, though no official announcement has been made. Prosecutors have long been investigating Juan Carlos. The longtime monarch is facing accusations he took a kickback from Saudi Arabia when Spanish companies won a contract to build a railway between Mecca and Medina. The King's former lover - Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein - is suspected to have received the bribe money.

Trump Lies to Save . . . Himself – with Dr. Justin A. Frank


Why is Donald Trump trying to destroy anything which is to do with his father. And father means the Fathers of our country as well. He wants to destroy our belief systems. Dr. Justin A. Frank take a look at why.

Trump: Tinpot Dictator? With Noam Chomsky


Is there a move towards fascism in the US? The Democrats are split, but it is the Republicans have gone way off the spectrum toward neo-fascism. Professor Noam Chomsky explains why.

Ex-King Juan Carlos Leaves Spain amid Corruption Allegations


Spain's former king Juan Carlos has left the country as criminal prosecutors investigate allegations of corruption. He has been accused of receiving a $100m gift from the late Saudi king for backing a high-speed rail contract. The move has reignited debate about the role of the monarchy in Spain.


THE NEW YORK TIMES: Juan Carlos, Spain’s Former King, Quits Country Amid Multiple Investigations »

Monday, August 03, 2020

Former Pope Benedict XVI Reported to Be Seriously Ill


THE GUARDIAN: Ex-pontiff, 93, has shingles after being in poor health for some time, says German newspaper

The former pope Benedict XVI, the first pontiff in 600 years to resign instead of ruling for life, is seriously ill, a German newspaper has reported.

The newspaper, Passauer Neue Presse, cited Benedict’s biographer, the German author Peter Seewald, who met the 93-year-old emeritus pope at the Vatican on Saturday.

A Vatican spokesperson did not comment on the report and the former pope’s personal secretary, the archbishop Georg Gänswein, did not immediately return a call asking for comment.

Seewald said Benedict, who has been in poor health for some time, was now suffering from shingles, a viral infection that causes painful rashes and is common among older people. » | Reuters | Monday, August 3, 2020

Fareed: Trump Thinks the Essence of His Job Is Public Relations


CNN's Fareed Zakaria gives his take on the importance and limitations of presidential power.

Sunday, August 02, 2020

Don't Eat before Finding out What Trump's USDA Just Did! (w/ Tony Corbo)


In a disgusting move, Donald Trump's Department of Agriculture (USAD ) is siding with major food production companies against consumers, by allowing cancerous, virus infected chicken on your dinner plate!


Brexiteers, enjoy your American chicken going forward! Not only is it chlorinated; but can it can give you cancer, too? – Mark

Rod Stewart: You Wear It Well


Velshi: The Gap between America’s Richest and Poorest Has Only Grown During the Pandemic | MSNBC


MSNBC’s Ali Velshi explains how recessions enrich the wealthiest while driving working class Americans into poverty.

Thousands Demonstrate against Netanyahu as Israel Protests Gain Strength


THE GUARDIAN: Crowds protest against alleged corruption and PM’s handling of coronavirus crisis

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets outside Benjamin Netanyahu’s house over the weekend in what appeared to be the largest protest to date calling for the embattled Israeli prime minister to resign.

Rallies on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday morning were held in Jerusalem, home to the official residence of the 70-year-old leader, as well as his beach house in central Israel, near Tel Aviv, and at dozens of road intersections across the country.

Throughout the summer, Israelis have packed roads and squares calling for Netanyahu to resign, protesting against his government’s handling of the country’s coronavirus crisis and charges of alleged corruption.

At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, the visibly frustrated leader accused what he said was a “one-sided” news media of supporting the movement against him. » | Oliver Holmes | Sunday, August 2, 2020