TBR News September 16, 2018

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Isaiah 40:3-8 

Washington, D.C. September 16, 2018:” There is no known Planet X or 10th planet in our solar system. Scientists have been looking for about a hundred years. It was believed that such a planet was required to explain the orbital characteristics of the outer planets Uranus and Neptune. Many searches have been performed and, to date, no evidence of such a planet has emerged. In addition, better information about the masses of outer planets has also now shown that no other planets are necessary to explain the planetary orbits.

We get a number of strange communications every day and that one is typical of most. Peanut butter cures cancer, radio messages are received on dental fillings, MK-ULTRA redux, Hitler alive in Buenos Aires, Puerto Rican attack weasels destroyed the WTC and on and on.

Now we have gurus telling us about Kennedy and soon we will hear from the crystal ball set about Atlantis arising in Lake Mead, or that Russia is responsible for ingrown toenails.

There must be less intrusive forms of therapy. The revenge of the small of mind and large of ego has a certain humor value but like a very fat person sitting next to you at the movies, a little goes a very long way. Especially if it’s summer and you know that they can’t fit into any bathtub ever made. Just think of Camembert cheese and enjoy the movie.

There are many “theories” about the destruction of the WTC buildings.

The facts are simple: Commercial aircraft were hijacked by Muslim terrorists and crashed into the two buildings and another one crashed into the Pentagon. The buildings were subject to intense fires which weakened the support beams, causing the upper floors to collapse downwards, destroying both buildings.

Stories about “plasmoid clouds,” “rockets,” streets carpeted with aircraft parts that could not have come from commercial aircraft, Jewish moving van operators jumping up and down on top of their truck, US Army explosive experts rushing into the burning buildings to lay explosive charges are all interesting and very entertaining fantasies.

Not one of these “theories” has any more subjective value than a Grimm Brothers fairy tale. These stories make the round of the silly “blogs” and are augmented with “authoritative reports” of the atomic destruction of the city of Houston by evil Zionists.

All of these things are fantasy, designed to impress others with the self-importance of the reporter, have no basis in reality and are well worth a good satire.

And for high level unintended satire, read President Trump’s blogs.”

The Table of Contents

• Donald Trump has said 2291 false things as U.S. president: No. 24
• ‘Impeachment is hell’: Manafort deal increases pressure on Trump
• Donald Trump’s Russian connections
• Demonization of Russia in a New Cold War Era
• The Unpardonable Heresy of Tucker Carlson
• Cowboy to soy boy: Americans consuming more fake meat & dairy than ever
• ‘Serial killer’: US border patrol agent charged with murder of four women
• Trump administration to send U.S. cellphones a test alert on Thursday

 

 

Donald Trump has said 2291 false things as U.S. president: No. 24

August 8, 2018

by Daniel Dale, Washington Bureau Chief

The Toronto Star, Canada

The Star is keeping track of every false claim U.S. President Donald Trump has made since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. Why? Historians say there has never been such a constant liar in the Oval Office. We think dishonesty should be challenged. We think inaccurate information should be corrected

If Trump is a serial liar, why call this a list of “false claims,” not lies? You can read our detailed explanation here. The short answer is that we can’t be sure that each and every one was intentional. In some cases, he may have been confused or ignorant. What we know, objectively, is that he was not teling the truth.

Last updated: Aug 8, 2018

• Aug 7, 2017

“How much longer will the failing nytimes, with its big losses and massive unfunded liability (and non-existent sources), remain in business?”

Source: Twitter

in fact: The New York Times is not losing money: it made a net income of $16 million in the second quarter of 2017 and $13 million in the first quarter of 2017. Also, there is no evidence that its reporters have made up sources for articles on Trump.

• Aug 9, 2017

“My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before….”

Source: Twitter

in fact: Trump’s order on nuclear modernization — actually a presidential memorandum, not a formal executive order — was not his first; he had issued more than 12 other orders and memoranda by the time he issued that one. And as numerous experts pointed out, there has been not yet been a substantial change to the quality of the U.S. nuclear arsenal under Trump. Major changes take years to carry out.

Trump has repeated this claim 3 times

• Aug 10, 2017

“Additionally, it seems that Russia spent a lot of money on that false report, and that was Russian money, and I think it was Democrat money, too. You could say that was collusion.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: Trump is incorrect that Russia spent money on the now-famous investigative dossier compiled by a former British spy, which described alleged ties between Trump and Russia. Fusion GPS, the research firm that hired the ex-spy, has been accused by an investor, Bill Browder, of having worked on behalf of Russian interests on a separate matter. Browder did not allege that Russia spent money on the dossier itself.

“We are now an exporter, because of an incredible six months that I have (or had) — an exporter of oil and gas. That’s bad for Russia.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: The U.S. is not yet a net exporter of oil and gas. The White House announced this week, citing a government agency, that the U.S. was on track to become a net exporter of natural gas alone by the end of 2017; it was a net exporter in three of the first five months of 2017. Oil, however, is a different story. The same government agency said in January, under the Obama administration, that the U.S. might become a net exporter of energy of all kinds by 2026.

Trump has repeated this claim 9 times

“We’re down 78 per cent, nobody thought that would be — in the old days, with other administrations, if you were down 1 per cent, it was considered a big thing.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: Trump is falsely suggesting that there were never significant declines in the number of apprehensions on the southwestern border under previous administrations. As PolitiFact noted, the number of apprehensions on the southwest border fell from 1.6 million in 1986 to an average under 500,000 during Barack Obama’s tenure. At various points during Obama’s tenure, there were reductions from the previous year’s apprehension numbers.

Trump has repeated this claim 4 times

“We’re down 78 per cent at the border, and nobody thought that was possible.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: Trump and others use the number of apprehensions on the southwestern border as a way to measure illegal immigration. Comparing the five full months of Trump’s tenure — February through June — to the same months in 2016, apprehensions were down 58 per cent, not 78 per cent. There has never been any basis for Trump’s oft-repeated “78 per cent” figure.

Trump has repeated this claim 12 times

“Hillary was going to cut the budget, substantially, the military budget.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: There is no evidence for this claim. Like Trump, Clinton called for an end to the “sequester” that limited military spending. “The sequester makes our country less secure. Let’s end it and get a budget deal that supports America’s military, our families and our country,” she said during the campaign

Trump has repeated this claim 2 times

“I want a strong military. You see our budget is up by — it will be hundreds of billions of dollars soon, our military budget.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: This is an exaggeration. Trump proposed a $54 billion increase to the defence budget. The final number approved by Congress will probably differ, but it will not be an increase of hundreds of billions.

Trump has repeated this claim 10 times

“There was no collusion between us and Russia. In fact, the opposite. Russia spent a lot of money on fighting me.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: There is no evidence of this.

“Everybody said there’s no collusion. If you look at the counsels that come in, we have a Senate hearing — we have Judiciary, we have Intelligence. So we have a House hearing. And everybody walks out, even the enemies, they said ‘No, well, there’s no collusion, there’s no collusion.'”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: Trump’s “enemies” have not flatly declared that there is “no collusion.” Some of his critics have acknowledged they have not seen evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, but they are not walking out of hearings saying there are firmly convinced that no evidence exists.

Trump has repeated this claim 18 times

“President Obama, in his wisdom, gave them (Iran) $150 billion.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: The “$150 billion” figure has no basis. Experts said Iran had about $100 billion in worldwide assets at the time; after the nuclear deal unfroze Iranian assets, Iran was able to access a percentage of that $100 billion, but not all of it. PolitiFact reported: “The actual amount available to Iran is about $60 billion, estimates Garbis Iradian, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pinned it at $56 billion, while Iranian officials say $35 billion, according to Richard Nephew, an expert on economic sanctions at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.”

Trump has repeated this claim 19 times

 

“My first order was, we have to do the military, but before we do the military per se, we’re going to do the nuclear.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: Trump’s order on nuclear modernization — actually a presidential memorandum, not a formal executive order — was not his first; he had issued more than 12 other orders and memoranda by the time he issued that one

Trump has repeated this claim 3 times.

“I want this, our nuclear arsenal, to be the biggest and the finest in the world. And we spent a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of effort, and it’s in tip-top shape. And getting better. And getting stronger.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: As numerous experts pointed out, there has been not yet been a substantial change to the quality of the U.S. nuclear arsenal under Trump. Major changes take years to carry out

Trump has repeated this claim 3 times

“Unemployment is the lowest it’s been in 18 years. The unemployment rate just came out. It’s the lowest it’s been in 18 years.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: The unemployment rate is the lowest since 2001, so 16 years. Trump has repeatedly added an extra year, claiming it is the lowest in “17 years”; in this press conference, he added two extra years.

Trump has repeated this claim 8 times

“Business enthusiasm’s the highest it’s been in 18 years.”

Source: Press conference at New Jersey golf club

in fact: The National Federation of Independent Business’s Index of Small Business Optimism is at its highest level since 2004, so 13 years, not 18 years. PwC’s Trendsetter Barometer, which measures the optimism of private-company CEOs and CFOs, is at 69%; it was higher in 2015, just two years ago.

• Aug 15, 2017

“And the other thing — very important — I believe wages will start going up. They haven’t gone up for a long time.”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: Wages have been rising since 2014. As PolitiFact reported: “For much of the time between 2012 and 2014, median weekly earnings were lower than they were in 1979 — a frustrating disappearance of any wage growth for 35 years. But that began changing in 2014. After hitting a low of $330 a week in early 2014, wages have risen to $354 a week by early 2017. That’s an increase of 7.3 percent over a roughly three-year period.” FactCheck.org reported: “For all private workers, average weekly earnings (adjusted for inflation) rose 4% during Obama’s last four years in office.”

Trump has repeated this claim 25 times

“I own a house in Charlottesville. Does anyone know I own a house in Charlottesville?”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: Trump appeared to be referring to the building at his son’s winery, which, again, he does not own.

“I own, actually, one of the largest wineries in the United States. It’s in Charlottesville.”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: This is false in two ways. Trump does not own the winery; his son Eric does. (“Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates,” the winery says on its website.) And it is not even the largest winery in Virginia, let alone one of the largest in the U.S

“And I’ll tell you, we’re spending a lot of money on the inner cities. We’re fixing the inner cities. We’re doing far more than anybody has done with respect to the inner cities.”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: There is no way in which this boast is accurate. Trump proposed billions of dollars in cuts to the Housing and Urban Development agency and to other programs of disproportionate benefit to poor urban areas.

 

“You had a group — you had a group on the other side that came charging in, without a permit, and they were very, very violent.” And: “The other group didn’t have a permit.”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: The counter-protesters at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville did indeed have a permit

“Now, I have to tell you, some of the folks that will leave (White House advisory councils), they’re leaving out of embarrassment because they make their products outside (the U.S.).”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: This is simply nonsensical. Members of Trump’s CEO advisory councils decided to leave in response to his controversial response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville. Even if other factors were privately in play, there is no indication that “embarrassment” about outsourcing was an issue at all.

“If you look at Merck as an example, take a look where — excuse me, excuse me — take a look at where their product is made. It’s made outside of our country. We want products made in the country.”

Source: Infrastructure speech and press conference on Charlottesville

in fact: Trump is wrong to suggest Merck does not manufacture in the U.S. at all. As CNBC reported: “Merck is headquartered in New Jersey, and its principal research facilities are in six U.S. cities as well as in Switzerland and China. Its manufacturing operations are headquartered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, and it has production facilities in nine locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.” While Merck also has manufacturing facilities “in Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Western Europe, Central and South America and Asia,” according to CNBC, Trump is misleading by omission.

“For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!”

Source: Twitter

in fact: This was shown to be untrue the very next day, when Trump abandoned the councils forever after the current members decided to quit.

 

‘Impeachment is hell’: Manafort deal increases pressure on Trump

• Washington ablaze with talk of ultimate move against president
• What we know so far about Mueller’s Russia investigation

September 16, 2018

by David Taylor in New York

The Guardian

Speculation about the impeachment of Donald Trump is escalating in Washington, after the president’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort’s decision to cooperate with investigators.

Manafort pleaded guilty to two criminal charges on Friday morning and struck a plea deal agreeing to assist special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The plea agreement set out how Manafort must turn over documents and brief officials about “his participation in and knowledge of all criminal activities”.

The Sunday politics shows were duly dominated by talk of growing peril for Trump following Manafort’s dramatic moment in court.

Adam Schiff, the leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told NBC’s Meet the Press: “Manafort is at the confluence of a number of pernicious interests. You’ve got the president’s son trying to get dirt from the Russians in Trump Tower, you’ve got the president himself asking the Russians for dirt on Hillary Clinton in a public statement.

“You’ve got Manafort trying to get money from this Russian oligarch … you have the Russians who want to have a relationship with the Trump campaign, they want to help Trump get elected. All those interests converge with Paul Manafort, so basically we want to know what can Manafort tell us about whether any of that was consummated.

“He’s trying to get money, they’re trying to get dirt, the Russians are trying to help Trump. Was there a meeting of the minds? That goes to the heart of the collusion or conspiracy issue.”

Schiff added: “Manafort is a key person to help us unwind whether this was the most improbable string of unlikely coincidences or whether this was an active conspiracy.”

The midterm elections are just more than 50 days away and Republicans are struggling to hold on to a majority in the House, knowing that if Democrats take control it would open the way to impeachment proceedings.

Republicans who want to fight the election on tax cuts and a surging US economy have been unable to break through the noise around the mounting toll of convictions linked to the Mueller probe.

Trump spent the weekend at the White House, mostly tweeting updates about the federal response after Hurricane Florence ravaged the Carolinas.

But he returned to his own defence, tweeting on Sunday morning: “The illegal Mueller Witch Hunt continues in search of a crime. There was never Collusion with Russia, except by the Clinton campaign, so the 17 Angry Democrats are looking at anything they can find. Very unfair and BAD for the country. ALSO, not allowed under the LAW!”

Ken Starr, the special prosecutor whose investigation of the Monica Lewinsky affair 20 years ago led to the unsuccessful impeachment of Bill Clinton, said on CNN’s State of the Union: “The Trump White House and the lawyers are taking a page from the Clinton playbook. Attack the prosecutor.”

He said the real significance of Manafort’s move was “we are much closer to getting the truth than we were before this plea”, calling it “terrific for the investigation and frankly the American people”.

Starr, who has just published a book about the investigation of Clinton, said Trump would be unwise to give Manafort a pardon. Asked if impeachment should happen, he said: “I hope not, because one of the lessons in the book is impeachment is hell. The country should not be taken through that.

“The founding generation wisely knew that it was such a serious act that it would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Unless there is a growing national consensus that impeachment is proper, it’s doomed to fail and it’s just the wrong way to go.”

A CNN poll last week showed eight in 10 Democratic voters think Trump should be impeached immediately and, across the board, more voters approve of Mueller than Trump when it comes to handling of the Russia investigation.

Mueller has been working for 16 months investigating Russia’s covert intervention in the 2016 campaign, links to members of Trump’s team and potential obstruction of justice by the president.

The Alabama Democratic senator Doug Jones told CNN: “Clearly you have people close to the president of the United States who have committed crimes and that, in and of itself, is a problem. But its not necessarily an impeachable offence.”

Jones, fighting to hold a seat in deep Trump country, cautioned that any judgment on whether to proceed with impeachment must wait until Mueller completes his work.

“Just because we’ve seen people that surround the president have gone forward [to prosecution] doesn’t mean there should be impeachment hearings, not by any stretch,” he said. “Once we see the reports we’ll have to weigh those reports on their own.”

 

Donald Trump’s Russian connections

Отчет, представленный министру Колокольцеву

Report submitted to Minister Kolokoltsev

 

Translation

 

The KGB had opened a file on Donald Trump in 1977, the year when Mr.Trump married Ivana Zelníčková, then a twenty-eight-year-old model from Czechoslovakia. Zelníčková was a citizen of a communist country. She was therefore of interest both to the Czech intelligence service, the StB, and to the FBI and CIA.

Zelníčková was born in Zlin, a town in Moravia. In the early 1970s she moved to Canada, first to Toronto and then to Montreal, to be with a ski instructor boyfriend. Exiting Czechoslovakia during this period was, the files said, “incredibly difficult.” Zelníčková moved to New York. In April 1977 she married Mr.Trump. Ivana became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988. The couple divorced in 1992

According to intelligence files, both in Moscow and in Prague, Czech intelligence agents kept the Trumps under close surveillance in Manhattan. The agents who undertook this task were code-named Al Jarza and Lubos. They opened letters sent home by Ivana to her father, Milos, an engineer. Milos Zelníčková had a functional relationship with the Czech secret police, who would ask him how his daughter was doing abroad and in return permit her visits home. There was continuing surveillance of the Trump family in the United States. At her request, and by her father’s insistence, Ivana and Donald Trump, Jr., visited Milos in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic,

As was the custom, the Czechs shared their intelligence product with their counterparts in Moscow, the KGB. Mr.Trump was of interest to Soviet intelligence for several reasons. In the first instance his wife came from a country under Soviet control and secondly during the perestroika period Trump was considered to be a good potential source as he was known to be a prominent real estate leader.  In the Czech intelligence files, communications from Ivana to her father mentioned her husband’s growing interest in politics. It was at this point that it appeared that Mr.Trump might embark on a political career and, if successful, be a first class intelligence asset.

Therefore, Mr. Trump was in an active file of the KGB and regarded as a highly potential agent/informant and, possibly to become a full KGB agent.

Through the offices of his wife, Mr.Trump was encouraged to consider the Soviets as a good business connection. The relationship would be known as an important “confidential contact.” doveritelnaya svyaz. доверительные отношения  (Trust relationship)

Trump biography

Donald John Trump (June 14, 1946)

He is of German/Scottish origin. One of his German relatives was an Arnold Trumpf, b, 27 October 1892 in Gifhorn and died 7, January 1985 in Garmish-Partenkirchen. Trumpf was a member of the Nazi party number 389 920 from 1 December 1930. He was a member of the SS Race and Settlement Office as an SS-Oberführer

Trump was born and grew up in New York City. He received a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Trump took over running his family’s real estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded it to involve constructing and renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He also started various side ventures, including branding and licensing his name for real estate and luxury consumer products.

He managed the company until his 2017 inauguration as President of the United States.

Trump also gained prominence in the media and entertainment fields. He co-authored several books, and from 2003 to 2015 he was a producer and the host of The Apprentice, a reality television game show.

Trump owned the Miss Universe and Miss USA beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015. According to the American financial Forbes magazine, he was the world’s 544th richest person as of May 2017, with an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion.

In 1977, Trump married his first wife, Czech model Ivana Zelníčková. They had three children: Donald Jr. (b. 1977), Ivanka (b. 1981), and Eric (b. 1984). Ivana became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988. The couple divorced in 1992, following Trump’s affair with actress Marla Maples.

In October 1993, Maples gave birth to Trump’s daughter, who was named Tiffany after the upper-class Tiffany & Company. Maples and Trump were married two months later in December 1993. They divorced in 1999, and Tiffany was raised by Marla in California.

In 2005, Trump married his third wife, Slovenian model Melania Knauss, at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, Florida. Her original name was Melanija Knavs, born on April 26, 1970 at Novo Mesto, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia

In 2006, Melania became a United States citizen and gave birth to a son, March 20, 2006, Barron William Trump. Melania and Barron moved to the White House on June 11, 2017,

Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy, but his hotel and casino businesses were declared bankrupt six times between 1991 and 2009 in order to re-negotiate debt with banks and owners of stock and bonds. Because the businesses used Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they were allowed to operate while negotiations proceeded.

Mr. Trump was quoted by Newsweek magazine in 2011 saying, “I do play with the bankruptcy laws – they’re very good for me” as a tool for trimming debt.

The six bankruptcies were the result of over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York: Trump Taj Mahal (1991), Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1992), Plaza Hotel (1992), Trump Castle Hotel and Casino (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (2004), and Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009).

As president, Trump has frequently made false statements in public speeches and remarks. Trump uttered “at least one false or misleading claim per day on 91 of his first 99 days” in office according to The New York Times, and 1,318 total in his first 263 days in office. The Washington Post, also wrote, “President Trump is the most fact-challenged politician that The Fact Checker has ever encountered… the pace and volume of the president’s misstatements means that we cannot possibly keep up.”

Mr. Trump has a history of making racially-charged statements and taking actions perceived as racially motivated.

In 1975, Mr. Trump settled a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1973 alleging housing discrimination against black renters. In 1989, he was accused of racism for insisting that a group of black and Latino teenagers were guilty of raping a white woman in the Central Park jogger case even after they were exonerated by DNA evidence.

He continued to maintain this position as late as 2016.

Mr.Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign with a speech in which he described Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.

One of Mr.Trump’s campaign managers, Paul Manafort, had worked for several years to help pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovich win the Ukrainian presidency.

Other Trump associates, including former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn and political consultant Roger Stone, have been connected to Russian officials. Russian agents were overheard during the campaign saying they could use Manafort and Flynn to influence Trump.

Members of Mr.Trump’s campaign and later his White House staff, particularly Flynn, were in contact with Russian officials both before and after the November election In a December 29, 2016 conversation, Flynn and Kislyak discussed the recently imposed sanctions against Russia; Mr.Trump later fired Flynn for falsely claiming he had not discussed the sanctions.

Donald Trump has pursued business deals in Russia since 1987, and has sometimes traveled there to explore potential business opportunities. In 1996, Trump trademark applications were submitted for potential Russian real estate development deals. Mr.Trump’s partners and children have repeatedly visited Moscow, connecting with developers and government officials to explore joint venture opportunities. Mr.Trump was never able to successfully conclude any real estate deals in Russia. However, individual Russians have invested heavily in Trump properties, and following Mr.Trump’s bankruptcies in the 1990s he borrowed money from Russian sources. In 2008 his son Donald Trump Jr. said that Russia was an important source of money for the Trump businesses.

In 1996 Mr.Trump partnered with Liggett-Ducat, a small company, and planned to build an upscale residential development on a Liggett-Ducat property in Moscow. Trump commissioned New York architect Ted Liebman, who did the sketches.

In 1987 Mr.Trump visited Russia to investigate developing a hotel

In Russia, Mr.Trump promoted the proposal and acclaimed the Russian economic market. At a news conference reported by The Moscow Times, Mr.Trump said he hadn’t been “as impressed with the potential of a city as I have been with Moscow” in contrast to other cities had visited “all over the world.

By this time, Mr.Trump made known his desire to build in Moscow to government officials for almost ten years ranging from the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev (they first met in Washington in 1987) to the military figure Alexander Lebed.

Moscow’s mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov, showed Trump plans for a very large shopping mall to be located underground in the vicinity of the Kremlin. The mayor complimented Mr.Trump’s suggestion that this mall should have access to the Moscow Metro, and it was eventually connected to the Okhotny Ryad station. Although the 1996 residential development did not happen, Mr.Trump was by this time well known in Russia.

Between 2000–2010, Mr.Trump entered into a partnership with a development company headquartered in New York represented by a Russian immigrant, Felix Sater. During this period, they partnered for an assortment of deals that included building Trump towers internationally and Russia was included. For example, in 2005 Slater acted as an agent for building a Trump tower alongside Moscow River with letters of intent in hand and “square footage was being analyzed.”

In 2006, Mr.Trump’s children Donald Jr. and Ivanka stayed in the Hotel National, Moscow for several days, across from the Kremlin, to interview prospective partners, with the intention of formulating real estate development projects.

Sater had also traveled to Moscow with Mr. Trump, his wife Ivanka and son Donald Jr.

Mr. Trump was associated with Tevfik Arif, formerly a Soviet commerce official and founder of a development company called the Bayrock Group, of which Sater was also a partner.

Bayrock searched for deals in Russia while Trump Towers company were attempting to further expand in the United States. Mr. Sater said, “We looked at some very, very large properties in Russia,” on the scale of “…a large Vegas high-rise.”

In 2007, Bayrock organized a potential deal in Moscow between Trump International Hotel and Russian investors

During 2006–2008 Mr.Trump’s company applied for a number of trademarks in Russia with the goal of real estate developments. These trademark applications include: Trump, Trump Tower, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Trump Home.

In 2008, Mr. Trump spoke at a Manhattan real estate conference, stating that he really prefered Moscow over all cities in the world and that within 18 months he had been in Russia a half-dozen times.

Mr.Trump had received large and undisclosed payments over 10 years from Russians for hotel rooms, rounds of golf, or Trump-licensed products such as wine, ties, or mattresses, which would not have been identified as coming from Russian sources in the tax returns

A secret KGB memo under date of February 1, 1984 concerned the necessity of making an expanded use of the facilities of cooperating foreign intelligence services—for example, Czechoslovakian or East German intelligence networks.

The most revealing section concerned kompromat.

The document specifically requested any compromising information about Donald Trump, including illegal acts in financial and commercial affairs, intrigues, speculation, bribes, graft … and exploitation of his position to enrich himself. Plus any other information that would compromise the subject (Trump) to his country’s authorities and the general public. Naturally the information could be used to cause him serious problems in his country if exposed.

Finally, the report mentioned that his attitude towards women was also of interest. The point of interest would be if he was the habit of having affairs with women.

Mr. Trumps’ first trip to Moscow came after he found himself seated next to the Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin in 1986. His original position was Soviet ambassador to the U.N. Dubinin’s mission as ambassador was to make contact with America’s business elite.

There was a luncheon held by Leonard Lauder, the son of Estée Lauder. Mr. Trump was invited to meet the Ambassador. Ambassador Dubinin spoke fluent English and during the course of the luncheon Trump spoke at length with the Ambassador who proposed that Trump build a large luxury hotel, directly across from the Kremlin, in association with the Soviet government.

Mr.Trump at once became interested in the project and expressed his willingness to cooperate on such a project.

By January 1987, Mr.Trump had become a “prominent person” status and therefore Ambassador Dubinin deemed Mr.Trump interesting enough to arrange his trip to Moscow. U.S.-based Soviet diplomat, Vitaly Churkin—the future U.N. ambassador—was of assistance in this project.

Mr. Trump first visited the Soviet Union on July 4, 1987.

Mr. Trump flew to Moscow for the first time, together with his wife Ivana and Lisa Calandra, Ivana’s Italian-American assistant. Ambassador Dubinin’s invitation to Trump to visit Moscow was a standard operation exercise by the KGB.

The Trump trip was orchestrated by the Intourist Agency which was under the control of the KGB. Its duty was to investigate and monitor all foreigners coming into the Soviet Union.

The Trumps were treated with great courtesy by Soviet officials and they were housed in Lenin’s suite at the National Hotel, at the bottom of Tverskaya Street, near Red Square.

The hotel was connected to the Intourist complex next door and was under KGB control.

The Lenin suite had been fixed for electronic surveillance.

In November of 2013, the Miss Universe pageant was held iin Moscow

It was there that  Mr. Trump — then the pageant’s owner — spent several days socializing with Russia’s business and political elite and becoming acquainted with a wealthy developer whose connections his son would later seek to capitalize on. The developer, Aras Agalarov, offered to pass on information about potential rival Mrs. Clinton from Russia’s top prosecutor to help a projected Trump presidential campaign.

The contest was held at Crocus City Hall, a venue owned by Agalarov. The event would be a family affair: Agalarov’s son, a pop singer named Emin, performed on stage and his wife was a judge.

Mr.Trump remained on good and productive terms with the Agalarov family, at one point, appearing in a music video with Emin and sending him a videotaped greeting on his 35th birthday.

During his trip to Moscow on November 9-11, 2013 for the Miss Universe pageant, Mr.Trump surrounded himself with business people and those necessary to sign a deal which would bring a Trump Tower project to Moscow. These were: Aras Agalarov, Emin Agalarov,Yulya (Yulia) Alferova,Herman Gref, Artem Klyushin, Vladimir Kozhin, Chuck LaBella, Rotem Rosen, Phil Ruffin, Alex Sapir, Keith Schiller, Roustam Tariko and Bob Van Ronkel.

At first, President Putin, who had planned on meeting Mr.Trump at the pageant, sent numerous individuals tied to the Russian construction sector to the event to discuss potential lucrative building plans and to ascertain Mr. Trump’s attitudes.

President Putin to establish a distance, stated he was unable to attend the pagent because of a last-minute visit from the King of the Netherlands.

Previous to this meeting, there had been no positive positions on the possibility that Mr. Trump, with Russian assistance and financing, might construct a luxury hotel in Moscow. Trump made several tweets thanking individuals in Moscow and bragging about his future plans. Then on November 12th, 2013 Trump posted a link to the Moscow Times, remarking that his organization was working on building a luxury hotel in Moscow “@AgalarovAras I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next. EMIN was WOW!”

This hotel deal was finalized during Trump’s weekend stay in Moscow for his Miss Universe pageant. At the Four Seasons Hotel at Ulitsa Okhotnyy Ryad, 2, a private meeting was held between Mr. Trump and President Putin. As the President is fluent in English, no other person was present. President Putin praised the business abilities of Mr. Trump and said that he would be a “refreshing person” as President of the United States. President Putin said that his people would be pleased to support Mr. Trump and that if this support was deemed material in achieving a victory, President Putin had one request to make of Mr. Trump. President Putin said his best wish was to establish “friendly and cooperative attitudes” by both parties, firmer business contacts and an abandonment of the policy of threats to the Russian Republic. President Putin stressed that certain very right-wing groups in America had been constantly agitating against him and against the Russian Republic and he hoped that Mr. Trump, if elected, could ignore these few people and work with, not against the Russian Republic. Mr. Trump repeatedly assured the President that he woud be most eager to do just that and he agreed to work with various people in the United States who were friendly towards, and had connections with, the Russian Republic.

This most important conversation was recorded as a form of kompromat. And it is certain that a direct quid pro quo took place in November of 2013 between President Putin and Mr. Trump.

On June 16, 2015, Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for President

The methodology of Russian assistance:

The SVR has often sent intelligence officers to branches of the New York Public Library, and other public libraries, where they obtained access to the Internet, via library computers, without revealing their identity.

They placed propaganda and disinformation to educational web sites and sent e-mails to US media. It is a fact that the alternate internet site, WikiLeaks, is entirely controlled, out of Sweden, by the SVR and that they use this front to release genuine information to address issues they consider important to influence.

The articles or studies were generated by Russian experts who worked for the SVR. The purpose of these active measures was to whitewash Russian foreign policy, to create good image of Russia, to promote Anti-American feelings and “to cause dissension and unrest inside the US.

The materials used to support the candidacy of Mr. Trump were a series of emails from, and to, the Democratic National Committee which were perfectely genuine but selected to bring discredit on the campaign of Ms. Clinton. This material was part of a trove of such material obtained by an American domestic intelligence agent and sold to Russian interests.

In June of 2016, Mr. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and his presidential chairman Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer when they were told the Russian intelligence had acquired highly damaging information concerning Mrs. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate.

Russian property developer, Aras Agalarov had arragned this meeting. Subsequently the information gleaned from this meeting was given to Aras Agalarov from Russian prosecutor-general Yuri Chaika.

Because the Trumps, both father and son, were not discreet, the American Central Intelligence Agency, who were subjecting both Trumps to surveillance, learned of some of the contacts with Russian government personnel and one of their internal memos spoke very disparingly of these contacts.

Then, on September 6, 2016, there was an arragned accident in Moscow in which an oncoming vehicle was suddenly controlled to swerve across the median and collide with a State-owned BMW used by President Putin. The driver of the Presidential car was killed instantly. As the President was known to have been in China for the G20 summet meeting, the arraigned accident was not an assassination attempt but meant as a clear warning to the President to abandon his activities in support of Presidential candidate Trump.

It is known that the CIA has developed the methodology of controlling the speed and direction of a moving vehicle via its on-board computer system.

Messagings from the CIA section in the American Embassy in Moscow were intercepted and decoded by Russian intelligence that clearly indicated the reasons for the arrangned accident.

 

Demonization of Russia in a New Cold War Era

September 14, 2018

by Mairead Maguire

In examining the future, we must look to the past.

As we watch the media today, we are spoon fed more and more propaganda and fear of the unknown, that we should be afraid of the unknown and have full faith that our government is keeping us safe from the unknown. But by looking at media today, those of us who are old enough will be reminded of the era of Cold War news articles, hysteria of how the Russians would invade and how we should duck and cover under tables in our kitchens for the ensuing nuclear war. Under this mass hysteria all Western governments were convinced that we should join Western allies to fight the unknown evil that lies to the east. Later through my travels in Russia during the height of the Cold War with a peace delegation, we were shocked by the poverty of the country, and questioned how we ever were led to believe that Russia was a force to be afraid of. We talked to the Russian students who were dismayed by their absolute poverty and showed anger against NATO for leading their country into an arms race that they could not win. Many years later, when speaking to young Americans in the US, I was in disbelief about the fear the students had of Russia and their talk of invasion. This is a good example of how the unknown can cause a deep rooted paranoia when manipulated by the right powers.

All military is expensive, and we can see in Europe that the countries are reluctant to expand their military spending and find it hard to justify this to their people. In looking at this scenario, we can ask ourselves what is beneficial about this hysteria and fear caused on both sides. All armies must have an enemy to deem them necessary. An enemy must be created, and the people must be convinced that there is need for action to safeguard the freedom of their country. Right now, we can see a shifting of financial power from old Western powers to the rise of the Middle East and Asia. Do we honestly believe that the Western allies are going to give up their power? My suggestion is: not easily. The old dying empires will fight tooth and nail to protect their financial interests such as the petrol dollar and the many benefits that come through their power over poverty-stricken countries.

Firstly, I must say, that I personally believe that Russia is not by any means without faults. But the amount of anti-Russian propaganda in our media today is a throwback to the Cold War era. We must ask the question: Is this leading to more arms, a bigger NATO? Possibly to challenge large powers in the Middle East and Asia, as we see the US approaching the South China seas, and NATO Naval games taking place in the Black Sea. Missile compounds are being erected in Romania, Poland and other ex-Soviet countries, while military games are set up in Scandinavia close to the Russian border to practice for a cold climate war scenario. At the same time, we see the US President arriving in Europe asking for increased military spending. At the same time the USA has increased its budget by 300 billion in one year.

The demonization of Russia is, I believe, one of the most dangerous things that is happening in our world today. The scapegoating of Russia is an inexcusable game that the West is indulging in. It is time for political leaders and each individual to move us back from the brink of catastrophe to begin to build relationships with our Russian brothers and sisters. Too long has the elite financially gained from war while millions are moved into poverty and desperation. The people of the world have been subjected to war propaganda based on lies and misinformation and we have seen the results of invasions and occupations by NATO disguised as “humanitarian intervention” and “right to protect”. NATO has destroyed the lives of millions of people and purposely devastated their lands, causing the exodus of millions of refugees. The people around the world must not be misled yet again. I personally believe that the US, the UK and France are the most military minded countries, whose inability to use their imagination and creativity to solve conflict through dialogue and negotiation is astonishing to myself and many people. In a highly militarized, dangerous world it is important we start to humanize each other and find ways of cooperation, and build fraternity amongst the nations. The policies of demonization of political leaders as a means of preparing the way for invasions and wars must be stopped immediately and serious effort put in to the building of relationships across the world. The isolation and marginalization of countries will only lead to extremism, fundamentalism and violence.

During our visit to Moscow we had the pleasure of attending a celebration of mass at the main Orthodox Cathedral. I was very inspired by the deep spirituality and faith of the people as they sang the entire three-hour mass. I was moved by the culture of the Russian people and I could feel that their tremendous history of suffering and persecution gave them sensitivity and passion for peace.

Surely it is time that we in Europe refuse to be put in a position where we are forced to choose between our Russian and American brothers and sisters. The enormous problems that we are faced with, such as, due to climate change and wars, mass migration and movement of peoples around the world, need to be tackled as a world community. The lifting of sanctions against Russia and the setting up of programs of cooperation will help build friendships amongst the nations.

I call on all people to encourage their political leaders in the US, EU, and Russia to show vision and political leadership and use their skills to build trust and work for peace and nonviolence.

Mairead Maguire (www.peacepeople.com) was awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to help end the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland

 

The Unpardonable Heresy of Tucker Carlson

September 13, 2018

by Pat Buchanan

Our diversity is our greatest strength.

After playing clips of Democratic politicians reciting that truth of modern liberalism, Tucker Carlson asked, “How, precisely, is diversity our strength? Since you’ve made this our new national motto, please be specific.”

Reaction to Carlson’s question, with some declaring him a racist for having raised it, suggests that what we are dealing with here is not a demonstrable truth but a creed not subject to debate.

Yet the question remains valid: Where is the scientific, historic or empirical evidence that the greater the racial, ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of a nation, the stronger it becomes?

From recent decades, it seems more true to say the reverse: The more diverse a nation, the greater the danger of its disintegration.

Ethnic diversity, after all, tore apart our mighty Cold War rival, splintering the Soviet Union into 15 nations, three of which — Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia — have since split further along ethnic lines.

Russia had to fight two wars to hold onto Chechnya and prevent the diverse peoples of the North Caucasus from splitting off on ethnic grounds, as Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan had done.

Ethnic diversity then shattered Yugoslavia into seven separate nations.

And even as we proclaim diversity to be our greatest strength, nations everywhere are recoiling from it.

The rise of populism and nationalism across Europe is a reaction to the new diversity represented by the Arab, Asian and African millions who have lately come, and the tens of millions desperate to enter.

Center-left and center-right parties are losing ground in European elections because they are seen as feckless in meeting what more and more indigenous Europeans believe to be an existential threat — mass migration from across the Med.

Japan’s population has ceased to grow, and each year brings fewer toddlers into its schools. Yet Tokyo resists the racial and ethnic diversity greater immigration would bring. Why, if diversity is a strength?

What South Koreans dream of is uniting again with the 22 million separated members of their national family who live in the North, but share the same history and blood.

This summer, in its Basic Law, Israel declared itself an ethnonational state and national home of the Jewish people. African migrants crossing the Sinai to seek sanctuary in Israel are unwelcome.

Consider China, which seeks this century to surpass America as the first power on earth. Does Xi Jinping welcome a greater racial, ethnic and cultural diversity within his county as, say, Barack Obama does in ours?

In his western province of Xinjiang, Xi has set up an archipelago of detention camps. Purpose: Re-educate his country’s Uighurs and Kazakhs by purging them of their religious and tribal identities, and making them and their children more like Han Chinese in allegiance to the Communist Party and Chinese nation.

Xi fears that the 10 million Uighurs of Xinjiang, as an ethnic and religious minority, predominantly Muslim, wish to break away and establish an East Turkestan, a nation of their own, out of China. And he is correct.

What China is doing is brutalitarian. But what China is saying with its ruthless policy is that diversity — religious, racial, cultural — can break us apart as it did the USSR. And we are not going to let that happen.

Do the Buddhists of Myanmar cherish the religious diversity that the Muslim Rohingya of Rakhine State bring to their country?

America has always been more than an idea, an ideology or a propositional nation. It is a country that belongs to a separate and identifiable people with its own history, heroes, holidays, symbols, songs, myths, mores — its own culture.

Again, where is the evidence that the more Americans who can trace their roots to the Third World, and not to Europe, the stronger we will be?

Is the Britain of Theresa May, with its new racial, religious and ethnic diversity, a stronger nation than was the U.K. of Lloyd George, which ruled a fourth of mankind in 1920?

Was it not the unity Bismarck forged among the diverse Germanic peoples, bringing them into a single nation under the Kaiser in 1871, that made Germany a far stronger and more formidable power in Europe?

Empires, confederations and alliances are multiethnic and multicultural. And, inevitably, their diversity pulls them apart.

The British Empire was the greatest in modern history. What tore it apart? Tribalism, the demands of diverse peoples, rooted in blood and soil, to be rid of foreign rule and to have their own place in the sun.

And who are loudest in preaching that our diversity is our strength?

Are they not the same people who told us that democracy was the destiny of all mankind and that, as the world’s “exceptional nation,” we must seize the opportunity of our global preeminence to impose its blessings on the less enlightened tribes of the Middle East and Hindu Kush?

If the establishment is proven wrong about greater diversity bringing greater strength to America, there will be no do-over for the USA.

 

Cowboy to soy boy: Americans consuming more fake meat & dairy than ever

September 16, 2018

RT

A new study by the Good Food Institute (GFI), which represents the plant-based foods industry, found that sales of substitutes for animal products have exceeded $3.7 billion.

While total US retail food sales grew just two percent over the last 12 months, retail sales of plant-based foods grew 17 percent during the same time period.

“The plant-based foods industry has gone from being a relatively niche market to fully mainstream,” said Michele Simon, Executive Director of the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA).

Simon explained that plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are now consumed not just by vegetarians but “even mainstream consumers” who are “enjoying these delicious and innovative options in the market today.”

The report found that sales of plant-based ‘meat’ increased 23 percent in the past year, up from six percent growth the previous year. Retail sales of plant-based products grew double-digits across all nine US census regions.

GFI predicted that the global meat alternatives market is set to grow over the coming years, reaching $6.3 billion by 2023. It is currently valued at $4.63 billion.

“As consumers look to decrease their meat consumption, more and more people are choosing plant-based meat. In fact, 12 percent of households across the US now purchase plant-based meat,” said GFI Director of Corporate Engagement Alison Rabschnuk.

“[This is] a significant increase from last year and I expect we’ll see that trend continue,” Rabschnuk added.

The research also found that “the plant-based meat category today is looking suspiciously like the plant-based milk category about ten years ago.”

Plant-based milk (a $1.8 billion market) commands a full 13 percent of total retail milk sales nationally. By contrast, it accounts for just about one percent of total US retail meat sales.

GFI noted that plant-based milk has become an increasingly common household staple and people are seeking out other plant-based dairy products. Those “other dairy alternatives” are seeing some of the greatest sales growth, according to GFI.

 

‘Serial killer’: US border patrol agent charged with murder of four women

• Juan David Ortiz, 35, is intelligence supervisor
• Fifth woman escaped at gas station and found help

September 16, 2018

Associated Press in Laredo, Texas

Texas authorities charged a US border patrol supervisor with murder following what they described as the serial killing of four female sex workers and a possible attempt on the life of a fifth woman who escaped at a gas station and found help.

Juan David Ortiz, 35, an intelligence supervisor for the border patrol, was charged with four counts of murder and aggravated assault and unlawful restraint, Webb county district attorney Isidro Alaniz said in a tweet.

Ortiz was arrested after the fifth woman managed to flee. State troopers found Ortiz hiding in a truck in a hotel parking lot in Laredo at around 2am on Saturday. The border city is about 145 miles south-west of San Antonio.

“We do consider this to be a serial killer,” Alaniz said, adding that after the suspect picked up the fifth woman she quickly realized that she was in danger.

“When she tried to escape from him at a gas station that’s when she ran into a [state] trooper,” Alaniz said.

He said that authorities believe Ortiz had killed all four women since 3 September. The names of the victims were not immediately released. Alaniz said two of them were US citizens but the nationalities of the other two were not yet known. All of them were working as prostitutes and one was a transgender woman, he said.

“The manner in which they were killed is similar in all the cases from the evidence,” said Alaniz, declining to discuss the evidence or say how the women were killed.

Alaniz said investigators were still trying to determine a motive for the killings. Authorities said they believe Ortiz acted alone.

“It’s interesting that he would be observing and watching as law enforcement was looking for the killer, that he would be reporting to work every day like normal,” Alaniz said.

Ortiz was a 10-year veteran of the border patrol. US Customs and Border Protection issued a statement saying that it was fully cooperating with the investigation.

“Our sincerest condolences go out to the victims’ family and friends,” it said. “While it is CBP policy to not comment on the details of an ongoing investigation, criminal action by our employees is not, and will not be tolerated.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety, whose Texas Rangers are investigating, did not return several messages seeking comment.

Webb County jail records showed Ortiz was being held on four counts of murder, with bond set at $500,000 per charge. In total, bond was set at $2.5m.

Jail records did not list an attorney to speak for him.

 

Trump administration to send U.S. cellphones a test alert on Thursday

September 15, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration will send a message to all U.S. cellphones on Thursday to test a previously unused alert system that aims to warn the public about national emergencies.

The messages will bear the headline “Presidential Alert”, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement this week. Phones will make a loud tone and have a special vibration, said FEMA, which will send the alert.

The test message, scheduled for 2:18 p.m. EDT on Thursday, will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The test has been scheduled to ensure that the alert system would work in the event of a national emergency. U.S. cellphone users will not be able to opt out.

Former President Barack Obama signed a law in 2016 requiring FEMA to create a system allowing the president to send cellphone alerts regarding public safety emergencies.

Since the wireless emergency alert system began in 2012, it has issued over 36,000 alerts for situations such as missing children, extreme weather and natural disasters, but never a presidential directive. Cell phone users can opt out of natural disaster or missing children alerts.

FEMA said in a statement the alerts can only be used for national emergencies. The president has sole responsibility for determining when the national-level alerts are used.

In the event of widespread severe weather or another significant event on Sept. 20, the test will be pushed back to Oct. 3, FEMA said.

The administration announced in July that it would schedule the test alert for September. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its role in planning the test alert.

The administration will send a test alert via radio and television broadcasters two minutes after the cell phone alert. It will interrupt programming for about one minute, FEMA said.

Cell towers will broadcast the WEA test for approximately 30 minutes beginning at 2:18 p.m.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules to ensure starting in 2019 that alerts are more precisely targeted, with links to photos or other important information.

There have been issues with prior state alerts.

In January, Hawaii issued a false alert of a missile attack that went uncorrected for 38 minutes after being transmitted to mobile phones and broadcast stations, causing widespread panic across the Pacific islands state.

In April, the FCC blamed that false alarm on human error and inadequate safeguards.

Reporting by Jason Lange, David Shepardson and David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio