US President Donald Trump has said that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer shed "fake tears" over his ban on Muslims from several countries entering the United States.

Schumer got emotional and shed tears while discussing Trump's controversial immigration ban during a press conference in New York on Sunday.

Trump responded on Monday, saying that "there's a 5 percent chance they're real."

"I noticed Chuck Schumer yesterday with fake tears," he said after holding a meeting with small business leaders at the White House. "I'm going to ask him who is his acting coach."

Schumer, standing alongside refugees, said Democrats were considering legislation to overturn Trump's executive order.

"If we get a few more Republicans, I think we might be able to pass legislation to overturn it," he said. "It will be up to getting more Republicans."

Supplemented from original post at strategic-culture.org

The chief source of funds to Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups is Saudi Arabia's royal family.

Documentation comes from testimony of the captured top Al Qaeda financial operative to a U.S. Court; and from testimony cited in the 'missing 28 pages' of the congressional investigation into 9/11; and from private communications of a U.S. Secretary of State.

These documents cover Al Qaeda's finances, not only pre-9/11, but up through at least 2014, and they consistently indicate that — throughout at least this lengthy period — the royal Saud family provided the essential funds that enabled Al Qaeda's global operations, including the 9/11 attacks.

Al Qaeda isn't merely an extension of the Sauds' Sunni-fundamentalist Wahhabist-Salafist jihadist beliefs, but every one of Al Qaeda's members also receives a "salary" and is therefore a mercenary who is fighting for a cause that he not only believes in, but also receives his livelihood from.

The "growing phenomenon of fake news," which has been labeled a "threat to democracy," is to be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is launching an inquiry into the "widespread dissemination, through social media and the internet, and acceptance as fact of stories of uncertain provenance or accuracy."

The committee aims to identify those most likely to be misled by false articles and to set an industry-standard definition of the phenomenon. The MPs want to investigate whether the way advertising is bought, sold and placed online has encouraged the growth of fake news.

It will also look into the role of search engines and social media companies, including Google, Twitter and Facebook, to determine whether they should take more responsibility for controlling the proliferation of fake news stories.

Damian Collins, the chairman of the committee, said the trend represents a "threat to democracy and undermines confidence in the media in general."

Russia believes that it may be possible to create safe havens for internally displaced persons in Syrian territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with Eritrea's Foreign Minister Saleh Mohammed on Monday.

"As far as the idea of creating safe havens in Syrian territory is concerned, in the process of our dialog with our US counterparts we will try to clear up this theme," Lavrov said. "We see that the way this issue has been formulated is different from the ideas voiced at the previous phases of the Syrian crisis, in particular, the ideas that implied creation of a platform inside Syria for planting alternative governments there with the aim to use that floor as a stronghold for overthrowing the regime. This is an exact replica of the events that took place in Libya and were used as a pretext for military intervention in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions."

"As far as I understand, the US initiative for creating zones where migrants could feel themselves secure is aimed precisely at taking some steps in the context of easing the migration burden on countries that surround Syria, other countries of the region, Europe and, in the final count, the United States," Lavrov said.

"If the issue on the agenda is letting people who have been forced to abandon their homes as a result of the internal conflict in Syria feel secure, get the basic services and keep their children in safety where at least some education services are available until their homes have been restored and their native lands have returned to normal life, I believe that in cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other agencies, including the International Organization for Migration it might be possible to consider creation of safe havens for internally displaced persons in Syrian territory," Lavrov said. "Of course, this will require practical coordination of the details and the very principle of creating such territories with the Syrian government. Work along these lines is already in progress.

The activities of organizations funded by US billionaire investor George Soros in Hungary are "anti-democratic," as they want to undermine the government in Budapest, the foreign minister of Hungary told RT.

Soros "would like this government to fail, he would like to kind of fire this government because he doesn't like our approach, doesn't like our policies," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RT's Sophie Shevardnadze.

"We find it very anti-democratic if someone from abroad would like to influence Hungarian voters on whom to vote for," he asserted.

Several days before the interview, the Hungarian parliament began to discuss a bill allowing authorities to audit NGO executives and request detailed reports on their foreign donations.



Earlier in January, chairman of the ruling Fidesz party Szilard Nemeth said that "these organizations must be pushed back with all available tools, and I think they must be swept out, and now I believe the international conditions are right for this with the election of the new president [Donald Trump]."

Under pressure from US President Donald Trump's protectionist stance, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has scheduled meetings with heads of Japanese businesses ahead of his visit to Washington.

Abe is meeting Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda and the head of business lobby Keidanren this week, Reuters reports.

In a phone call with Abe on Saturday, Trump repeated his pledge to create jobs in the United States, and asked the Japanese PM, how the country could contribute, according to the Nikkei business daily, quoting unnamed Japanese government officials.

After the phone call, the White House said the US and Japan are "committed to deepening the bilateral trade and investment relationship."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan - the first Muslim mayor of a major western city - has demanded Donald Trump's state visit to the UK is cancelled.

He told Sky News: "I am quite clear, this ban is cruel, this ban is shameful, while this ban is in place we should not be rolling out the red carpet for President Trump.

"I don't think he should be coming on a state visit while the ban is in place, I couldn't be clearer."

He said the ban "flies in the face of the values" the US was built on.

He added: "I'm pleased that the Prime Minister has now said she and the Government do not agree with President Trump's policy, which will affect many British citizens who have dual nationality, including Londoners born in countries affected by the ban.

When President Donald Trump was elected last November, Republican lawmakers enthusiastically joined his call to rewrite the tax code and dismantle Obamacare in the first 100 days of his presidency.

But as congressional Republicans gathered for an annual policy retreat in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the 100-day goal morphed into 200 days. As the week wore on, leaders were saying it could take until the end of 2017 - or possibly longer - for passage of final legislation.

Trump had a different idea when he spoke to lawmakers in Philadelphia, telling them: Enough talk. Time to deliver.

The divergent views on the timetable were among many indications of tensions that simmered just below the surface at the three-day Republican retreat.

Before the cameras, Trump and Republicans sought to convey an image of a happy, unified family, playing down differences over tax policy, whether to reinstate torture interrogation techniques and investigating 2016 election fraud.

And clearly there is none of the open warfare that has sometimes erupted among Republicans, such as when Senator Ted Cruz infuriated many of his colleagues by leading a standoff over Obamacare that partially shut down the government in 2013.

A Russian joke goes like this: "Question: why can there be no color revolution in the United States? Answer: because there are no US Embassies in the United States."

Funny, maybe, but factually wrong: I believe that a color revolution is being attempted in the USA right now.

Politico seems to feel the same way. See their recent cover:
While I did predict that "The USA is about to face the worst crisis of its history" as far back as October of last year, a month before the elections, I have to admit that I am surprised and amazed at the magnitude of the struggle which we see taking place before our eyes. It is now clear that the Neocons did declare war on Trump and some, like Paul Craig Roberts, believe that Trump has now returned them the favor. I sure hope that he is right.

Let's look at one telling example:

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and political commentator Katie Hopkins have voiced their support for US President Donald Trump's immigration ban on citizens from seven Muslim countries.

The policy, which has been dubbed #MuslimBan on social media, has proved controversial in the UK, with over a million British people signing a petition to ban the US president from entering the country until the restrictions are lifted.

Farage and Hopkins, however, have said they approve of the policy of "extreme vetting," calling for similar measures to be implemented in the UK.

"He was elected to get tough, he was elected to say he will do everything within his power to protect America from infiltration by ISIS [Islamic State] terrorists," Farage said on the BBC's Sunday Politics show.

"Now there are seven countries on that list, he is entitled to do this, he was voted in on this.

"He is fully entitled to do this, and as far as we are concerned in this country, yes I would like to see extreme vetting."