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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Federal judge rules on sanctuary city crackdown: Trump can withhold grants to California

Xavier Becerra  Trump sanctuary cities
© Asssociated Press/Marcio Jose Sanchez
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked for a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's decision to withhold a law enforcement grant to the state.
A federal judge in Northern California has declined a request from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to block the Trump administration's decision to withhold a law enforcement grant to the state as part of its crackdown on states and jurisdictions that protect illegal immigrants.

Becerra asked for a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's decision, but Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against taking that step.

"The injury threatened is not irreparable," Orrick wrote. "The amount of money at stake is small compared to the state's budget. Payment is delayed, for the moment. The DOJ appears to be using its regular administrative process to decide whether it will follow its initial inclinations."

Comment: The judge's ruling is in line with the majority of US citizens' thinking.


Mr. Potato

Silliest 'Russia collusion' story yet? Trump invited Putin to 2013 Miss Universe pageant... taking place in Moscow

Miss Universe Trump
In what may be the dumbest Trump-Russia collusion "evidence" yet, the liberal hacks at Business Insider are unhinged and retreating to their safe spaces over revelations that 2013 Miss Universe pageant owner Donald Trump invited Russian President Putin to the event.

Why would Trump invite the Russian president to the Miss Universe pageant... IN MOSCOW?

We can only assume that Trump and Putin were plotting how to win the 2016 US presidential election, while using the Miss Universe beauty pageant as a front, to what would eventually become the ultimate election meddling crime.

Comment: Trump wanted Putin to go to a beauty contest but Putin was busy. That can only mean one thing: a conspiracy against American democracy! For more hilarious examples of pseudo-journalism, see:


Mr. Potato

Canada in trouble: Trudeau is an insult to seriousness foreign and domestic

Justin Trudeau India
The past two weeks have not been kind to Justin Trudeau's image. He decked his family out in colourful costumes, dragged them halfway across India, and wound up with the worst press of any Canadian PM on any foreign trip that anyone can remember. Canada-India relations are now in possibly their worst shape ever.

After that, he came home to introduce his relentlessly female-friendly budget (the one that made 358 references to "gender"). The best that can be said is that nobody minded it too much. Few of the females I know seemed particularly grateful for the extra-special treatment. Like the Indians, they just felt condescended to. "I'm sick of gender politics," one friend groused to me. "What matters is that we can't get anything in Asia right. "

But pandering is what Mr. Trudeau does best. He wants to be more feminist than the feminists and more Bollywood than Shah Rukh Khan. The trouble is that he's trying way too hard. So he just comes off as opportunistic and condescending.

Comment: The sooner Canada can get this wanna-be out of office, the better.


Bizarro Earth

While World is focused on North Korea, Japan quietly expands its military might

Japanese military
Washington claims China is rapidly expanding its military might, posing a threat to the US and its allies in the Asia Pacific region. Beijing is one of the focal points of America's national security plan that was unveiled in January, singled out along with Russia. The US military brass hats have raised the alarm over China's recent defense budget hike, despite the fact that its per capita defense spending is lower than that of other major world powers. They say China is not transparent enough and that this further complicates the problem.

Transparency is a good thing but it may not reveal the whole picture. One may appear to be open and aboveboard but still be hiding one's real plans and intentions. For instance, Japan is ranked among the world's ten most peaceful nations. Threatened by N. Korea and China, it appears to be an innocent victim looking to the US for protection. That's one side of the coin. But there is also another side.

USA

The Donald 2020: 'Keep America Great!' Trump unveils re-election slogan

Donald Trump
© Alex Edelman / Global Look Press
President Donald Trump has trialled his 2020 re-election slogan at a rally in Pennsylvania, vowing to 'Keep America Great'. He reiterated that he was joking about making himself president for life.

"Keep America Great!" will be Trump's slogan at the next election, whether or not he faces Oprah Winfrey at the hustings, he told the steelmaking community on Saturday night. The president said he was "almost positive" rehashing his 2016 slogan "make America great again" (MAGA) was out of the question, as he would already have achieved that after being president for four years.

Trump also laid into the mainstream media, for the second time that day, for highlighting his supposedly light-hearted comments to a fundraising dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida a week earlier, to prove he had a "dictatorial attitude."

Video

In new film Putin explains how to stay cool, what Merkel sends him and what he can't forgive

Putin and Merkel
© REUTERS/ Kai Pfaffenbach
One week ahead of the Russian presidential election, President Vladimir Putin appeared in a feature-length promotional film, where he shared some of his core beliefs.

In the movie, released today, Vladimir Putin answered how he manages self-control in different situations, saying "When somebody loses his temper, he shows weakness. A person in my position has no right to show weakness."

He also said that he can forgive, but that not everything was forgivable: he believes that there's no excuse for betrayal. He also shared what keeps him energized and fit for work, saying his secret is "being sure what you are doing is righteous as well as being ready to devote your life to it."

Chart Pie

Beijing warns China-US trade war will be 'disastrous' for global economy

Steel worker
© Jianan Yu / Reuters
A trade war between the US and China will spell "disaster" for the entire world economy, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan has warned, after Donald Trump signed orders greenlighting stiff tariffs on imported aluminum and steel.

"There are no winners in a trade war," minister Zhong Shan said on Sunday, warning that a trade war between the two economic superpowers will leave the global economy in ruins.

"It will only bring disaster to China and the United States and the world," Zhong stated, in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to impose a 25 percent import duty on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.

Info

'US won't even sell us rifles': Turkey's FM explains decision for Russian S-400 air-defense systems

Russian S-400
© Evgeniy Biyatov / Sputnik
Ankara's decision to purchase Russian S-400 air-defense systems was prompted by the reluctance of its NATO allies, primarily the US, to sell advanced weaponry to Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.

"We needed it urgently because we did not have an air defense system. We even had troubles with buying simple rifles from the US due to concerns of the Congress. We had to buy it from someone," Cavusoglu told the Zeit newspaper, in an exclusive interview.

The S-400 Triumf is the most advanced Russian anti-aircraft system, designed to engage aerodynamic targets at a range of up to 400km and ballistic missiles up to 60km away. The launcher can use at least four interceptor missile types, suited to different targets. An S-400 division can engage up to 36 targets simultaneously.

Propaganda

Newsweek quotes Putin out of context to make him appear anti-semitic

Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Jews may be behind alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

In an interview broadcast late Friday, Putin was asked by NBC's Megyn Kelly whether he condoned the electoral interference by 13 Russians named in an indictment by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.


Comment: The original title of this article reads: "Putin Says That Jews 'With Russian Citizenship' May be Behind U.S. Election Meddling". Now let's see what he actually said:


"Maybe they are not even Russians but Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews, but with Russian citizenship, which should also be checked; maybe they have dual citizenship of a green card; maybe the U.S. paid them for this. How can you know that? I do not know either," he said.


Comment: Not quite the same thing, is it?


Comment: Taking Putin's remarks completely out of context in order to make him appear anti-semitic is very cheap on Newsweek's part. Happily, we have access to the full transcript of the interview, where we read:
Megyn Kelly: [Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the company accused of 'meddling' on the US election] is your friend. He has been indicted.

Vladimir Putin: Did you hear what I just said? He is not my friend. I know him, but he is not a friend of mine. Was I not clear? There are many people like that. There are 146 million people in Russia. That is less than in the US, but it is still a lot.

Megyn Kelly: He is a prominent businessman.

Vladimir Putin: A prominent businessman? So what? There are many prominent people in Russia. He is not a state official, he does not work for the government; he is an individual, a businessman.

Megyn Kelly: Some people say his real job is to do your dirty work.

Vladimir Putin: Who are those people? And what dirty work? I do not do any dirty work. Everything I do is in plain view. This is your prerogative; some people in your country enjoy doing dirty work. You think we do the same. That is not true.

Megyn Kelly: It is a) the fact that you know him, you admit that. He is a prominent Russian businessman. And he is specifically accused of running this operation; b) this is the same man who has been accused of sending Russian mercenaries into Syria and they attacked a compound held by American-backed militia. This guy gets around.

Vladimir Putin: You know, this man could have a wide range of interests, including, for example, an interest in the Syrian fuel and energy complex. But we do not support him in any way. We do not get in his way but we do not support him either. It is his own personal initiative.

Megyn Kelly: You did not know about it?

Vladimir Putin: Well, I know that there are several companies, several Russian companies there, maybe his among others, but this has nothing to do with our policy in Syria. If he does anything there, he does not coordinate it with us; he probably coordinates it with the Syrian authorities or the Syrian businesses he works with. We do not interfere in this. Does your government interfere in every step your businesses take, especially small businesses? It is essentially a medium-sized business. So, does your president interfere in the affairs of every medium-sized US business? That is just nonsense, isn't it?

Megyn Kelly: If the 13 Russian nationals plus three Russian companies did in fact interfere in our elections, is that okay with you?

Vladimir Putin: I do not care. I do not care at all because they do not represent the government.

Megyn Kelly: You do not care?

Vladimir Putin: Not at all. They do not represent state interests. If you are worried about anything, state it officially, send us documents proving it and explain what exactly those people are accused of. We will see if they have violated Russian laws...

Megyn Kelly: I did that.

Vladimir Putin: No, this is not true. If they violated Russian law, we will prosecute them. If they did not, there is nothing to prosecute them for in Russia. But after all, you must understand that people in Russia do not live under US law but under Russian law. This is how it is. If you want to reach an agreement with us, let us negotiate, choose the subject, make an agreement and sign it. But you refuse to do this. I am telling you for the third time: we have proposed working together on cyberspace issues. But the US refuses to work like this and instead throws 13 Russians to the media. Maybe they are not even Russians, but Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews, but with Russian citizenship, which should also be checked: maybe they have dual citizenship or a Green Card; maybe, the US paid them for this. How can you know that? I do not know either.
Obviously, Putin was desperately trying to get the point across to Megyn Kelly that the Russian 'trolls' were not part of the Russian government and in no way represent it, and that they were working on their own initiative or for third party interests. As an example, he mentioned Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews and even Americans. But he was clearly not trying to push forward a 'Jewish conspiracy theory' as Newsweek suggests. Nobody is taking Putin's comments to mean that he is anti-Ukrainian, anti-Tatar or anti-American. So why should we think they were anti-semitic?

Why did Putin choose these groups of people as examples? Simply because those are people who may have loyalties to other countries while holding a Russian nationality - and once again, this was said to stress the point that they did not represent the Russian government. In the case of the Jews, it is a fact that many around the world are loyal to Israel while holding a different nationality. Is it anti-semitic to make a passing reference to this fact?

It is surprising that something so obvious even requires an explanation, but that is the sad state of affairs when we encounter malicious mainstream media headlines and articles such as this one.


Attention

"Europe needs this gas more than Gazprom needs to sell it": Ukraine reliant on EU for supplies

gas ukraine
© Laszlo Balogh / Reuters
Brussels will not allow a repeat of the January 2006 gas crisis, when Ukraine allegedly siphoned deliveries destined for Europe, predicts TeleTrade analyst, Petr Pushkarev.

That is because the current Ukrainian government is completely dependent on the EU, both financially and politically, he told RT.

"Europe has all the levers of influence on Ukraine, something not seen in 2006 or in 2009. And of course, Europe will not weaken pressure on Ukraine on the gas issue, where it directly relates to the interests of the EU itself. Therefore, Gazprom, severing the contract with Ukraine's Naftogaz, knows what it is doing, and does not take any risks," Pushkarev said.


Last week, Russia's Gazprom said it would cancel its contract with Ukraine's Naftogaz for the supply and transit of natural gas to the country. The announcement came after the Stockholm Arbitration ordered Naftogaz to pay Gazprom $2 billion, while ordering the Russian company to compensate Naftogaz to the tune of $4.67 billion.

Comment: 'Calm before the storm': Russian news report on likelihood of conflict escalation in Ukraine (VIDEO)