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Michael Bloomberg wants to paint the House blue: Tosses $80M to midterm elections


RT
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 16:02 UTC
Michael Bloomberg
© Yuri Gripas/Reuters
Former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg
Former mayor of New York City and billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg is throwing at least $80 million behind Democrat House candidates in November's midterm elections. His goal: turn the House blue.

Bloomberg is the seventh-richest person in the US. He has traditionally donated to candidates from both parties, often favoring moderate Republicans. In 2016, however, he endorsed Hillary Clinton, and has aligned himself more closely with Democrats since President Trump's election.

Calling House Republicans "feckless" for their failure to stand up to the Trump administration, Bloomberg said in a statement: "I've never much liked political parties, [but] this fall, I'm going to support Democrats in their efforts to win control of the House."

Bloomberg leans left on several key issues for Democrats: gun control, immigration, and the environment. It is likely that he will focus his spending on races in moderate suburban districts, where Trump is already unpopular. His strategy will likely avoid rural, conservative districts, where his anti-gun, East-coast Democrat message would fall on deaf ears.

Democrats need 23 seats in November to retake the House. And as the owner of Bloomberg Media Group, the billionaire and philanthropist has a well-oiled communications machine ready to spread his message.

Comment: When a political party leadership has acted as despicably as the Democrats in 2016, instead of examining the thinking and actions, making decisive changes and rectifications -- just throw gobs of money at it to do all over again. What does this say about justice, accountability and US voters?

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Footprints

Pressure is on: Iran may exit nuclear deal in coming weeks if...


RT
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 08:49 UTC
JCPOA
© My Future America/KJN
The Iran nuclear deal is in "intensive care" and it's possible that Tehran will have to withdraw from the pact if an agreement cannot be reached with its European signatories, the country's deputy FM Abbas Araghchi has warned.

Iran wants to preserve the deal but adjustments need to be made as a result of Washington's decision to withdraw from the landmark accord, Abbas Araghchi said in an interview to Euronews. The deal has "lost its balance" due to the US withdrawal, he added, so "if Europeans, and other remaining participants of the JCPOA are interested in Iran remaining in the deal, they should compensate [for] the absence of the US, and the re-imposition of US sanctions."

Tehran has repeatedly stated that it wants to salvage the deal, but has expressed frustration over European proposals for preserving the accord. Ali Akbar Salehi, chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), said on Tuesday that Europe's proposals to save the deal after the US withdrawal were not acceptable to Tehran. "If it continues like this, all sides will lose," Salehi said.

The European Union is considering a range of options to help breathe life into the faltering deal. Federica Mogherini, the European Union's chief diplomat, said in May that the bloc was considering deepening Europe's economic ties with Iran, shielding banking transactions with Tehran, and maintaining Iranian oil and gas purchases - as well as using EU finance to boost investment in the Middle East country. Like Araghchi, she likened the nuclear deal to "a relative in intensive care."

Comment: With the US exit, the onus is on the other members of the JCPOA to make a deal, keep it alive, support Iran, avoid war. By Trump forcing the issue, others are having to step up - broad-basing leadership, decision-making and responsibility.

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USA

Despite peace talks, Trump continues sanctions against N. Korea for another year


RT
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:45 UTC
Kim Trump
© Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
On track to peace.

Comment: Negotiations and dialog between the US and North Korea are expected to take many months, possibly a year or more to conclude. It would be pre-emptive to assume a result is assured that hasn't been determined, approved, nor demonstratively shown effective. Trump is being careful and prudent. Criticism at this point is unrealistic.

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Arrow Up

Making its 'mark': Germany reaps €3 billion from Greece's financial crisis


RT
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 11:00 UTC
EU/Greece flag guy
© Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
The eurozone has finally agreed to get Greece out of the European assistance program with the country to get its fifth and last tranche of €15 billion in August. The step brings an end to the 10-year debt crisis in the country.
"Greek debt is sustainable going forward," Eurogroup President Mario Centeno told journalists. "This is it, we have managed to deliver a soft landing of this long and difficult adjustment. There will be no follow-up program in Greece."
The agreement grants Greece a 10-year extension to repay €96.9 billion worth of loans covering roughly half of Europe's financial aid to Athens since 2010. The deal also defers interest payments and amortizations for another 10 years, until 2033.

Greece will also receive an additional €15 billion on repayment of some more-expensive IMF loans, as well as to create a cash buffer so that it could meet financing needs in the next two years.

The deals sealed as part of the financial aid to Greece over the past eight years will give Germany, the EU's biggest economy, some €2.9 billion. The profit emerged from interest rates through purchases of Greek government bonds under the Securities Markets Program (SMP) of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Comment: A long haul for Greece, a profitable haul for the EU.

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Telephone

Phone call: Putin, Poroshenko discuss Donbass settlement, prisoner exchange


RT
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 01:33 UTC
Putin Phone
© Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik
The Russian president expressed concern over reports of new civilian casualties in Donbass during a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart. He also stated that the Minsk Accords were the only way to a peaceful settlement.

The Kremlin press service revealed details of the conversation between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko to reporters on Thursday, emphasizing that the contact had been initiated by the Ukrainian side.

The two leaders discussed a number of issues relating to the Donbass settlement with reference to the June consultations between representatives of the 'Normandy Four' - Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany - which negotiated, passed and control the implementation of the peace plan known as the Minsk Accords.

The Russian president expressed concern over the security situation in the Donbass region, and reports of new casualties caused by frequent artillery raids by the Ukrainian military.
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Family

Trump orders agencies to reunite separated families, Melania visits US-Mexico border


RT
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 16:36 UTC
Kids and signs
© Patrick Fallon/Reuters
Donald Trump is directing agencies to reunite immigrant families separated at the US-Mexico border, he said during a meeting with his cabinet at the White House.

The US president also added that his wife, Melania Trump, has traveled to McAllen, Texas to visit a border detention facility where children are being held, Reuters reported.

It comes after Trump announced that his wife, as well as daughter Ivanka Trump, were big factors in his decision to reverse his family separation policy.

"Ivanka feels very strongly, my wife feels very strongly about it, I feel very strongly about it. I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it. We don't like to see families separated," Trump said on Wednesday.

A Justice Department spokeswoman has confirmed that the zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration will continue, and that no changes will be made to the current prosecution process. That came after the Washington Post cited an unnamed official as saying that prosecutions of parents who cross into the US illegally would be suspended until Immigration and Customs Enforcement could "accelerate resource capacity to allow us to maintain custody."

Comment: A turn for the better. See also: Melania Trump's surprise visit to border facility

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Attention

Washington quits UNHRC but it is not 'bias against Israel'

Robert Bridge
RT
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 15:51 UTC
Nikki Haley
© WSAU.com
Nikki Haley: US withdraws from the UNHRC
This week, the US took the unprecedented step of announcing its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council - a day after America's worsening migrant crisis fell on the radar of the global body. Partisan politics may be to blame.

The Trump administration has a tough message for the global community. To quote John Bolton, US national security adviser: "We don't need advice from the UN... on how to govern ourselves."

In yet another sign of the Trump administration's ongoing alienation from the rest of the world - aside from its newfound relations with the communist state of North Korea - it was announced on Tuesday that Washington is formally withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, basking in the afterglow of American exceptionalism and self-righteousness, said the US "will not take lectures from hypocritical bodies and institutions, as America...selflessly gives its blood and treasure to help the defenseless."

Comment: Hope the door slapped them on the way out. This kerfuffle was all about and likely dictated by Israel. Trump just reversed the separation of children from parents order (an Obama policy), and it would be unlikely the UN would have moved on this scenario had it remained. Point in case: the UN hasn't lifted a finger for the children shot down in cold blood by the IDF in the recent massacres, nor has it moved to end the horrible apartheid victimization of the Palestinians. Maybe without Haley and crew hounding it about Israeli rights and privileges, it will stand a slim chance of actually becoming functional.

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Snakes in Suits

NATO chief Stoltenberg pleads for unity, Tory MoDs alarm 'Russia is preparing for war'


RT
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 15:39 UTC
Jens Stoltenberg
© Simon Dawson/Global Look Press
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Ahead of next month's NATO meeting, Jens Stoltenberg used Thursday's London speech to appeal for unity despite disagreements. Meanwhile, Tory ministers warned "Russia is preparing for war" amid a funding row with Downing Street.

Speaking at Lancaster House ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May at No.10, the Secretary-General Stoltenberg said the bond between Europe and the United States would survive tensions and disagreements over issues such as trade and the Iran nuclear deal.
"Our bond is strong but some are doubting the strength of that bond. And yes we see differences between the United States and other allies over issues such as trade, climate and the Iran nuclear deal. It is not written in stone that the transatlantic bond will survive forever but I believe we will preserve it," he added.
Stoltenberg's plea for unity comes ahead of a summit of the 29-member alliance, expected to take place in Brussels on July 11 or 13, either side of US President Donald Trump's visit to the UK.

The summit is said to be one of the most fraught in the organization's history with US President Donald Trump at loggerheads with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a slew of issues, chief amongst them his demands that European allies spend more on defense.

Currently, only five NATO members are spending the 2 percent minimum of GDP on defense as demanded by the US president, with the UK among them.

Comment: Can't get members to pay their 2% military budget fees if there isn't the threat of a looming war on the near horizon, now can ya? And then there is the care and feeding of the MIC with state-of-the-art armament sales. Fear is a lovely (and lucrative) task master.

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Arrow Down

Haley degrades UN report on US poverty as 'misleading, politically motivated'


RT
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 10:25 UTC
HaleyWarrenSanders
© News.com.au/Die Hard Democrat
Nikki Haley • Elizabeth Warren • Bernie Sanders
Washington's envoy to the UN Nikki Haley has blasted a report on poverty in the US, as "misleading and politically motivated". The document accuses the Trump administration of deepening poverty and inequality.

"It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America," Haley said in letters addressed to Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts). The ambassador admitted poverty in America "remains a serious concern" however, "it does no one any good to inaccurately describe its prevalence or its causes."

Both Sanders and Warren were among over a dozen Democrats in the Congress who addressed Haley on the issues of inequality and poverty.
"I am deeply disappointed that the Special Rapporteur used his platform to make misleading and politically motivated statements about American domestic policy issues," Haley said. "Regrettably, his report is an all too common example of the misplaced priorities [of the UN]."
The report was written by the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, who is due to present it to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 22.
"The policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship," Alston said.
He stressed that he looks forward to responding to her comments in the Human Rights Council on Friday. "Too bad the US won't be there," he noted.

Comment: Attack dog Haley has one less venue for her spite and venom. While a debatable move by the US, some dare say she won't be missed.

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Family

Melania Trump's surprise visit to border facility

Kate Bennet, Betsy Klein
CNN
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 10:18 UTC
Melania shelter visit
© AFP
First Lady Melania Trump visits Upbring New Hope Children's Shelter
First Lady Melania Trump touched down in McAllen, Texas, Thursday for a publicly unannounced and hastily planned trip to get a firsthand look at the crisis affecting immigrant families at the US border.

"I want to thank you for your hard work, your compassion and your kindness," the first lady said at a roundtable briefing at Upbring New Hope Children's Shelter, with doctors and medical staff, social workers and other experts on hand. "She wants to see what's real," the first lady's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told CNN during a news briefing en route to Texas, explaining Trump's decision to visit. Trump becomes the first member of the President's inner circle to personally witness the situation that has captured the country's attention.

Something else that grabbed attention: the jacket the first lady donned as she left Washington. She wore an olive green jacket, which said on the back: "I really don't care. Do U?" in white graffiti-style lettering. Trump was not wearing the jacket when she landed in McAllen. The $39 jacket is last season Zara. The first lady's team said there was no hidden meaning behind the sartorial choice. "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe," Grisham said.


Comment: There are many things Americans and the media do not care about, but Melania's unfortunate jacket choice isn't one of them. More importantly, the president signed an executive order to reunite parents and children and the first lady showcased the care and facility provided for the children of separated families. See also:

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