August 31, 2018

Republicans 'cherry-picked' Russia probe documents to quiz U.S. official: Democrats

Source: Reuters



AUGUST 31, 2018 / 3:56 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on Friday accused Republicans of “cherry-picking” and leaking portions of text messages and emails between a U.S. law enforcement official and a former British spy who investigated then-businessman Donald Trump’s ties to the Russian government.

Two lawmakers made the charge in a letter to the Republican chairmen of the U.S. House of Representatives judiciary and government oversight panels, which on Tuesday questioned Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr about his ties with former MI6 officer Christopher Steele.

The letter was the latest salvo in a fight between the political parties as Republicans have criticized the propriety of the FBI’s probe of ties between Moscow and Trump aides and whether they coordinated during the 2016 U.S. election campaign.

The Democratic lawmakers said Republicans appeared to have violated House rules because they failed to share the communications between Ohr and Steele in 2016 and 2017 with the minority party. The materials were not among 800,000 pages of documents provided by the Justice Department to their panels, they said.




Read more: Link to source

August 31, 2018

CNN panel says it's very possible Trump leaked his own comments and whined about it

August 31, 2018

White House Tells Congress it Aims to Keep Canada in Nafta

Source: The New York Times


By Alan Rappeport and Ana Swanson
Aug. 31, 2018

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration told Congress on Friday that it intends to enter into a revised North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and will continue working to keep Canada in the pact, with talks between the United States and Canada continuing next week.

While sticking points still remain between the United States and Canada, the decision to try and keep moving ahead with a trilateral deal is a significant win for supporters of Nafta and an indication that the Trump administration wants to keep Canada in the pact.

“Today the President notified the Congress of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico – and Canada, if it is willing – 90 days from now,” Robert E. Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, said in a statement. Mr. Lighthizer called the talks with Canada “constructive” and said “Our officials are continuing to work toward agreement.”

The decision capped off a rocky negotiating session on Friday, as the United States and Canada struggled to reach agreement on several key issues and President Trump continued to disparage Canada and its trade practices, raising fears that the last-ditch talks to salvage Nafta could falter.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/us-canada-nafta.html

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After talks with Canada falter, Trump to advance preliminary Mexico trade deal on NAFTA

By Washington Post Staff
August 31 at 3:56 PM
President Trump plans to notify Congress Friday of a preliminary trade deal with Mexico that he hopes will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, a necessary step for his goal of signing a new North American trade pact before December.

Members of Congress have said they’ll only support a new NAFTA deal if Canada is included, but the administration’s notice is expected to state the White House is hopeful to reach an agreement soon.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/08/31/after-talks-with-canada-falter-trump-to-advance-preliminary-mexico-trade-deal-on-nafta/

August 31, 2018

Judge rejects Texas request to block DACA

Source: The Hill


BY TAL AXELROD - 08/31/18 03:34 PM EDT

A federal judge in Texas on Friday denied the state's request to invalidate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), saying the state had waited too long to file the suit and the results of ending the program now could harm the public.

The judge, however, did predict that a challenge to DACA will eventually be successful in front of the court, saying the program is likely illegal.

“The Court did not grant the preliminary injunction as it found that the States had delayed seeking this relief for years, that the balance of private interests fell in favor of the denial of the requested relief, and that implementing the relief at this point in time was contrary to the best interests of the public,” District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled. He went on to say that he thought DACA was "contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act."

“Plaintiff States have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals…program is contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act…The court also found that the Plaintiff States had made a clear showing of irreparable injury,” Hanen said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/404599-texas-judge-refuses-to-block-daca

August 31, 2018

Ford cancels Focus crossover model, cites Trump tariffs

Source: The Hill



BY ARIS FOLLEY - 08/31/18 03:50 PM EDT

Ford Motor Co. announced on Friday that it will be canceling its plans to sell its new Chinese-built Focus Active in the U.S. next year, citing President Trump’s escalating trade war as the reasoning behind the move.

Kumar Galhotra, president of the car company’s North America division, said the president’s move to hit autos built in China with an additional 25 percent levy last month undermined the profitability of the new car, which the company had initially planned to ship into the country next year.

“Our viewpoint on Focus Active was that, given the tariffs, obviously our costs would be substantially higher,” Galhotra said in a conference call, according to Bloomberg News.

“Our resources could be better deployed.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/404600-ford-cancels-next-years-ford-focus-citing-trump-tariffs

August 31, 2018

The Giulianis Break Up & Rudy breaks down? How Judi diagnoses her ex's new "dissembling" condition

The Giulianis Break Up And Rudy breaks down? How Judi diagnoses her ex’s new “dissembling” condition.

By Tish Durkin

“The man that he is now is absolutely not the man he was when I married him.”

Judith Giuliani is every bit as calm and cool as the empty, deeply air-conditioned Mount Fuji restaurant in Southampton where she has opted to meet late on a blistering August afternoon. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband, in commenting on her commenting on his infidelity and mendacity, has told reporters that she is spiteful and full of rage. Many of his associates have told me that she’s pretty much Lucifer and Marie Antoinette rolled into one. Sitting here sipping her tea, though, she seems like a pale, petite, pristinely groomed lady with much more story to tell than nerve to tell it. So, as if to get the whole thing over with, she has raced straight to the answer to the big question that is buzzing like a bee around the table as it has been buzzing around New York and, apparently, her life: What has happened to Rudy?

Somehow, one can’t help but sense that that question is all mixed up with the question of what has happened to his marriage. No one is ordering anything to eat, but we are digging into quite some stew.

If you ask Judith to spell out the difference she sees between the Rudy she married and the Rudy she is divorcing, she will contrast his (supposedly) no-nonsense, straight-talking mayoral past with his current, presidential-lawyer habit of “dissembling, to put it kindly.”

Perhaps, even now, she is looking back with the half-blind eyes of love. Rudy was never known as the soul of honesty — or, for that matter, sanity. Even as he was building his reputation for saving New York City, he was chewing out reporters, firing spotlight-stealing officials, and manufacturing enemies to vanquish. He was also simultaneously denying and flaunting an extramarital affair with his most powerful aide. Vengeance-as-competence was his signature dish, often served with a heaping side of personal turmoil. Back in the day, though, he always emanated at least some sense of calculation, and in retrospect, that was comforting. In the months since “America’s mayor” resurfaced as Donald Trump’s lawyer-avenger, he has, in many eyes, evinced a great deal more madness than method. Last week, civic-minded speculation about this became the stuff of headlines in the Times. The sex part had long since hit the tabloids.

“I am not upset about Maria Rosa Ryan,” Judith declares, referencing the hospital administrator with whom Rudy was caught spending a night at a New Hampshire hotel in March, an episode exposed in the New York Post. (Rudy claimed that he and Ryan weren’t up to anything carnal, just dining and watching The Godfather — which the former mayor is, in fairness, widely believed to consider better than sex.)

more
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/judith-giuliani-rudy-giuliani-divorce.html

August 31, 2018

Philippine President Duterte Blames Rape Cases on 'Beautiful Women'

Source: The Daily Beast



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte joked that rapes will continue “as long as there are many beautiful women” during a Thursday night speech, The New York Times reports. Duterte was addressing the high number of sexual assaults in the city of Davao, where he once served as mayor. “They said there are many rape cases in Davao,” he said while speaking in the city of Mandaue. “As long as there are many beautiful women, there will be more rape cases.” In response, a coalition of women’s groups in the Philippines called #BabaeAko (I Am Woman) said that Duterte was adding “insult to the scars of rape survivors” rather than solving the problem. “Duterte sees women’s sexuality as their sole reason of existence [...] We call on all Filipinos to rise up against a President who spits on everything our ancestors fought and died for,” they said in a statement. A spokesperson for Duterte told the Times that the president’s remark was a “joke,” claiming that the southern town of Davao has a “more liberal” definition of what was considered offensive. The Philippine National Police recently announced that Davao had the highest rape rates in the nation, with 42 rapes occurring between April and June. This comes after Duterte called his own daughter a “drama queen” after she admitted to being a sexual-assault victim.

READ IT AT NEW YORK TIMES

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/philippine-president-duterte-blames-rape-cases-on-beautiful-women

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I expect Trump will be thanking Duterte for providing him with an excuse for being a "p***y grabber"

August 31, 2018

Senate Intel Committee Made Referral To DOJ Due To 'Concerns' Over Patten Testimony

By Tierney Sneed
August 31, 2018 2:05 pm

The Senate Intelligence Committee told TPM on Friday it made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice over “concerns” with Samuel Patten’s testimony.

Committee chairman Richard Burr and Vice Chairman Mark Warner said in a statement:

“We can confirm that Mr. Patten produced documents to the Committee and was interviewed by Committee staff. Due to concerns about certain statements made by Mr. Patten, the Committee made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice. While the charge, and resultant plea, do not appear to directly involve our referral, we appreciate their review of this matter. We will have no further comments on this case at this time.

more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/committee-made-referral-to-doj-due-to-concerns-over-patten-testimony

August 31, 2018

Bill Clinton Pays Moving Tribute to Aretha Franklin: 'She Has Sung for America'

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-clinton-pays-moving-tribute-to-aretha-franklin-she-has-sung-for-america/

August 31, 2018

Racist robocalls tied to neo-Nazi group target Andrew Gillum

Source: The Tallahassee Democrat



Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat Published 12:54 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2018 | Updated 2:02 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2018

Robocalls against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum that say they were paid for by a neo-Nazi group in Idaho are going out to voters in Tallahassee.

The automated calls are narrated by someone pretending to be Gillum and using an exaggerated minstrel dialect with jungle noises in the background. The calls end with a disclaimer that they were funded by The Road to Power, an anti-Semitic, white supremacist website and podcast linked to Scott Rhodes of Sandpoint, Idaho.

According to the Des Moines Register, a sister paper of the Tallahassee Democrat, the group has been linked to other robocall campaigns in Charlottesville, Virginia, Oregon and California.

Terry Kant-Rauch, a Tallahassee realtor, received one of the robocalls this morning in the voice mail of her cell phone. Kant-Rauch, a Democrat who happens to have a biracial daughter, became emotional after hearing it, she said.

Read more: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/08/31/racist-robocalls-tied-neo-nazi-group-targets-andrew-gillum/1157860002/