February 25 at 9:47 AM

President Trump on Monday cautioned fellow Republicans against falling into a Democratic “trap” as lawmakers prepare to vote this week on legislation rejecting his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

A measure is expected to pass easily in the Democratic-controlled House on Tuesday, forcing a difficult vote for GOP senators, who will have to weigh whether to support Trump on a move that even some in his party have criticized as circumventing the will of Congress.

“I hope our great Republican Senators don’t get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security,” Trump said in a tweet Monday. “Without strong Borders, we don’t have a Country – and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don’t fall into the Democrats ‘trap’ of Open Borders and Crime!”

Trump is attempting to use the emergency declaration to justify spending significantly more on barriers at the border than what Congress authorized in a compromise intended to avert another partial government shutdown.

If Senate Democrats are united, they will need only four Republican defections to pass the rejection of Trump’s emergency declaration and send it to his desk.

On Friday, Trump said he would veto the measure “100 percent” if that happened. And he predicted that Congress would be unable to muster the votes to override his veto.

As the House vote approaches, Trump is facing fresh backlash from fellow Republicans.

A group of 23 former Republican members of Congress has written a letter urging a termination of the emergency declaration.

The letter argues that Trump is encroaching on Congress’s “power of the purse” and urges current lawmakers to stand up for its constitutional powers.

We who have served where you serve now call on you to honor your oath of office and to protect the Constitution and the responsibilities it vested in Congress,” says the letter.

Its signatories include former senators John Danforth (Mo.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Gordon Humphrey (N.H.), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and 18 former House members.

A bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security officials also plans to issue a statement Monday saying that “there is no factual basis” for Trump’s proclamation of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The former officials’ statement, which will be entered into the Congressional Record, is intended to support lawsuits and other actions challenging the national emergency proclamation and to force the administration to set forth the legal and factual basis for it.

Mike DeBonis and Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-warns-fellow-republicans-as-congress-prepares-to-vote-on-rejecting-his-national-emergency/2019/02/25/d021053c-38fe-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., promotes his Medicare-for-all proposal at the 2017 Convention of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee in San Francisco, Calif., an issue that is dominating the early debate in the 2020 presidential contest.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., promotes his Medicare-for-all proposal at the 2017 Convention of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee in San Francisco, Calif., an issue that is dominating the early debate in the 2020 presidential contest.

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Bernie Sanders is back, but one of his signature policies never left.

In 2015, he introduced Medicare-for-all to many Democrats for the first time. Since Sanders’ first run for president, that type of single-payer health care system has become a mainstream Democratic proposal.

Last week, Sanders launched his second presidential campaign, amid a field of presidential candidates who are trying to figure out how to position themselves around the policy. Trying to stand out from the pack, though — especially on health care — poses a problem: Differentiating yourself means getting into the details, and getting into the details can turn voters off.

Over the last few weeks, candidates have been working to show voters the daylight between their respective health care proposals.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has stressed that he supports Medicare-for-all, and that he wants private insurers to have a role in that system. “Even countries that have vast access to publicly offered health care still have private health care,” he told reporters this month.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she wants a public option, in the form of letting people buy into Medicaid. As for single-payer health care, she says it’s a possibility in the long-term.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who says he’s still debating a run, also wants a sort of public option, but only for people above age 50, whom he would allow to buy in to Medicare. “I think Medicare-for-all will take a while, and it’s difficult,” he told CNN’s State of the Union.

Long story short: In a huge Democratic presidential field, health care is the first issue where candidates are really differentiating themselves.

Bumper sticker politics

“Health reform is always more popular as a bumper sticker than as a piece of legislation,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president for health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

He points to both the Obamacare and the Obamacare repeal efforts as examples — some ideas behind Obamacare, like insuring pre-existing conditions, were popular. But other aspects that proponents said were necessary to make it work, like the individual mandate, infuriated some voters, helping propel Republicans to big wins in 2010.

Likewise, the Obamacare repeal effort fired up many Republican voters, but the implications of the various repeal plans — fewer people with insurance, lack of protections for pre-existing conditions — ultimately helped doom the effort.

Medicare-for-all may prove to be yet another example of this trend, according to Levitt.

“There’s a huge political benefit for candidates to be in favor of the idea of Medicare-for-all in a primary,” he said. “But the more the details get filled in, the less popular that idea will be.”

When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced his Medicare-for-all legislation in 2017, he was joined by several other senators now seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California.

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When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced his Medicare-for-all legislation in 2017, he was joined by several other senators now seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California.

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California Sen. Kamala Harris may be the first to face a big lesson in this. At a recent CNN town hall, host Jake Tapper asked her about her support of Sanders’ Medicare-for-all bill, which he said would “totally eliminate private insurance.”

(A quick note here: Sanders’ plan does not totally eliminate private insurance, but it would vastly diminish its role.)

Harris said that she would eliminate private insurance — but after a quick backlash, the next day clarified, with a campaign spokesman saying she also supports more incremental health care overhauls.

Polling also shows how tricky selling Medicare-for-all could be once the details come into play. A January poll from Kaiser shows that nearly 7 in 10 Americans like Medicare-for-all if they hear it will eliminate premiums and out-of-pocket costs. But that support drops to around 4 in 10 if people hear it will mean higher taxes.

Both of those things could be true of a Medicare-for-all system. But trying to sell even this basic trade-off on the campaign trail — especially this early — is tough.

At the other, more moderate end of the spectrum, Klobuchar said she’s for the broad goal of “universal health care,” and did get specific on her support of a public option. But when it comes to Medicare-for-all, she remained vague, saying it could be a possibility. Voters will almost certainly try to pin her down more on that in coming months, but for now her answer may help keep her from alienating some more liberal voters.

For many candidates, keeping health care rhetoric broad might be a smart move for now, says Nadeam Elshami, former chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“It’s okay for a candidate to say, ‘Look: This is generally what I believe in. But I’m willing to hear first and then get into specifics later, after I have a deeper discussion of this issue,'” he said.

The “socialist” threat

Progressive health care overhauls will also likely feed into one of President Trump’s main attack lines: labeling Democrats as “socialists” as a way of painting them as extreme.

“It’s a surprising development that 10 years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act and after a massive political backlash against it, and a huge effort to defend it, Democrats are in there immediately swerving so hard to an even greater government role for health care,” said Michael Steel, a Republican strategist who worked for former House Speaker John Boehner and Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign.

Republicans know political backlash well — the backlash to their repeal efforts culminated in the GOP losing the House in 2018. Whatever criticism Trump throws Democrats’ way on health care for 2020, they will likely counter by asking him if he has his own alternative to Obamacare, having failed to fully repeal it.

Until then, Democrats will be doing similar calculations on both health care and a variety of other issues: weighing sweeping, progressive ideas that the president could try to label as “socialist” against incremental policies that might not excite liberal voters — and deciding which choice is most likely to get a Democrat into office.

Voters want sweeping health care changes …maybe

A basic tension underlies Democratic plans to overhauls the health care system: Only 1 in 3 Americans rate health care in the U.S. as “excellent” or “good,” according to Gallup. But at the same time, a large majority — 7 in 10 — view their own personal health care as “excellent” or “good.”

Which is to say, it’s easy to see how voters might want the system massively reformed. In addition, incremental changes that don’t go as far as Medicare-for-all might particularly infuriate progressive voters.

But at the same time, voters will likely bristle if that reform threatens to change their own health coverage, as some major health care overhauls, like Medicare-for-all, might do.

“There is a reason that President Obama’s signature promise on Obamacare was ‘If you like your plan, you can keep it,'” Steel said.

That promise proved untrue — some Americans saw their health care plans canceled under the new Obamacare rules, and Politifact named Obama’s statement the “lie of the year” in 2013.

Should a Democratic candidate’s health care proposal similarly threaten people’s current health plans, it’s a safe bet that it will become a major Republican line of attack.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/25/697095749/beyond-bumper-sticker-slogans-2020-democrats-debate-details-of-medicare-for-all

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U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s state-run news agency Xinhua both announced “significant progress” from the last week of trade negotiations.

Encouragingly, both sides specifically mentioned the issues of technology transfer, intellectual property protection, currency, services and agriculture. Still, the U.S. and China will need to overcome significant hurdles if they’re to ink a deal resolving their long-term disagreements.

Trump said in a Sunday evening Twitter post he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. that was originally scheduled for March 1. “Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement,” Trump tweeted. “A very good weekend for U.S. & China!”

Chinese stocks rallied following the news. The Shanghai composite soared 5.6 percent, sending the index back into bull market territory, or up more than 20 percent from a low touched in early January.

“In general it’s perceived as very positive,” Wang Huiyao, an advisor to the Chinese government and the president of Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization, said in a phone interview on Monday. “If people think this is good for the country, the government can rally support (and be) more conciliatory, more cooperative.”

However, a delay of punitive measures isn’t the same as an agreement. Much of the foreign business community has been frustrated by Beijing’s slowness to act on commitments made when the country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Last year, Trump also abruptly changed the tone on trade negotiations when both sides thought they were nearing an agreement.

What’s important, analysts said, will be a timeline for implementation on any trade deal, and specific consequences if commitments are not enacted.

Even Xinhua pointed out in a Chinese-language article on Monday that, according to a CNBC translation, “negotiations become more difficult the closer they get to the end. The chance this causes greater uncertainty cannot be ruled out.”

The American Chamber of Commerce in China said in a statement Monday that it’s pleased with the latest developments on trade, but “what is common among all of our members is the desire to progress on the fundamental underlying issues, which will be necessary if a long-term solution is to be found.”

The chamber cited a survey of its members last week that showed they “most valued greater market access for their industries; guarantees that antitrust, environmental protection, product safety, and other measures will be enforced equally against Chinese and foreign enterprises and individuals; improvements in intellectual property protection and elimination of pressure to transfer technology; and participation by foreign companies in standard setting.”

“China is likely to agree (to) some sort of deal and just run the clock down on the Trump administration.”
-Chris Rogers, research analyst at Panjiva

China has made some progress in reducing the requirement for joint ventures, analysts said. Beijing is also increasing its efforts to improve intellectual property protection, especially as the country tries to move into its own production of higher-value technologies.

Still, the Chinese government’s preferred pace of action may not be fast enough for the U.S., or businesses affected by tariffs.

“China is likely to agree (to) some sort of deal and just run the clock down on the Trump administration,” Chris Rogers, research analyst at Panjiva, a supply chain data company that’s part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a phone interview last week.

Tariffs have hit both Chinese and U.S. businesses, data show. Beijing is also struggling to crack down on high debt levels while maintaining stable growth. A boost from a surge in Chinese exports that happened in anticipation of tariff increases is also fading.

The U.S. imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods last year, while Beijing retaliated with duties on $110 billion worth of imports from America. During a G-20 meeting in Argentina that concluded Dec. 1, Trump agreed not to raise duties further if both countries could reach an agreement on trade within 90 days.

“Finding a resolution to the trade (tensions) that eliminates tariffs would greatly reduce uncertainty in the business community,” Jake Parker, vice president of China operations for the U.S.-China Business Council, said Monday. He noted that the tariffs have had a significant impact on U.S. businesses, especially those in agriculture and retail.

“We’ve also heard from a number of companies because their costs have risen, that has put them in a less competitive position vis-a-vis their European and Japanese counterparts,” Parker said. “Once you lose market share it’s very hard to regain that in the near term.”

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to CNBC’s faxed requests for comment on Monday. Details on a potential meeting between Trump and Xi were unclear.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/25/chinese-stocks-rocketed-higher-on-trumps-trade-tweet.html

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Howard X says officials have told him that his visa is “invalid”, but has received no explanation as to why

A Kim Jong-un impersonator has been deported from Vietnam ahead of the real North Korean leader’s meeting with US President Trump in Hanoi this week.

Hong Kong resident Howard X staged a fake summit with Trump impersonator Russell White last week.

The two were later held for questioning by Vietnamese police and told to cease all their political jesting.

Howard X says officials have since told him his visa is “invalid”, but says he has received no further explanation.

“Satire is a powerful weapon against any dictatorship. They are scared of a couple of guys that look like the real thing,” Howard X, who was wearing a black suit and thick black glasses in the style of Kim Jong-un, told reporters.

He and Mr White took part in a faux summit in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, telling reporters they intended to scale down North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

“We’re working toward peace. Through negotiations, with dialogue, we want to help North Korea of course,” Canada-born Mr White told reporters at the time, dressed at Donald Trump.

“Hopefully he can overlook all my nuclear missiles and lift the sanctions,” answered Howard X, a full-time impressionist who visited Singapore ahead of the first US-North Korea summit last year.

The men were later detained by police whilst giving an interview to a local TV station.

Vietnamese police told the pair to stop their impersonations and said they could only travel around the city with an approved itinerary and escort, AFP news agency reports.

“The real reason is I was born with a face looking like Kim Jong-un, that’s the real crime,” said Howard X.

Media captionHoward and a Donald Trump impersonator go hand in hand in Singapore

He added he believed he was being deported because the North Korean leader had “no sense of humour”.

The Kim lookalike took part in similar satirical stunts during the first US-North Korea summit in Singapore last year.

He was also escorted away by security at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea after dancing in front of North Korea’s cheerleading squad.

President Trump and Kim Jong-un are due to meet in Hanoi on 27-28 February for talks expected to focus on persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

Their first summit in Singapore last June generated significant coverage and optimism, but delivered very few concrete developments.

Both sides said they were committed to denuclearisation, but gave no details of how this would be carried out or verified.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47354761

Three crew members died after an Atlas Air 767 freighter operated on behalf of Amazon Air crashed near the city of Anahuac Texas, in the Trinity Bay.

Flight 3591 was flying  from Miami to Houston when the incident occurred.

In a statement, parent company Atlas Air Worldwide said: “Atlas’ primary focus is working to provide the families of those affected with care and support. The company has established a Family Assistance Center staffed with specialists to support the families. Atlas Air Chief Executive Officer Bill Flynn is on site with a team from the airline.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected,” said Bill Flynn, Atlas Air chief executive. “This is a sad time for all of us. Our team continues to work closely with the NTSB, the FAA and local authorities on the ground in Houston. We would like to commend the efforts of all of the first responders. We sincerely appreciate their efforts and support in the investigation.”

The company said it was working with the emergency services and other agencies to establish the circumstances around exactly what happened. Further updates will be available on its website.

 

 

Source Article from https://www.aircargonews.net/uncategorized/atlas-air-b767-freighter-in-crash-near-houston-three-crew-feared-dead/

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President Trump told US Governors North Korea has great economic potential

North Korea could become one of the world’s “great economic powers” if it relinquishes its nuclear weapons, US President Donald Trump has said.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Trump said the nation had “more potential for rapid growth than any other”.

His comments came hours after his secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Pyongyang remains a nuclear threat.

Mr Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the second time on the 27-28 February in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“We both expect a continuation of the progress made at first summit in Singapore,” Mr Trump tweeted, referencing the meeting between the two leaders in Singapore last June.

Speaking at the Governors’ Ball – a black tie event for US state governors – on Sunday evening, the president also said he had developed a “very very good relationship” with Mr Kim.

He reiterated that he was “in no rush” to press for North Korea’s denuclearisation. “I don’t want to rush anybody. I just don’t want testing. As long as there’s no testing, we’re happy,” he said.

The Singapore summit was historic as the first meeting between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea, but the agreement the two men signed was vague on detail. Little has been done since about their stated goal – finding a way to get nuclear weapons off the Korean peninsula.

The president’s latest remarks come on the eve of his departure for Vietnam, and are being seen as a bid to manage expectations.

What did Pompeo say?

Mr Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has similarly downplayed what could be achieved at the summit. On Sunday he told Fox News: “We may not get everything down this week, [but] we hope we’ll make a substantial step along the way.”

In a separate interview, he also appeared to contradict the president’s stated view that there is no nuclear risk from Pyongyang.

“Do you think North Korea remains a nuclear threat?” CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him.

“Yes,” he replied.

“But the president said he doesn’t,” Mr Tapper said, to which Mr Pompeo responded: “That’s not what he said… I know precisely what he said.”

In the aftermath of the Singapore summit last year, Mr Trump tweeted that “everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea”.

North Korea has long insisted it will not give up its nuclear arsenal unless the US removes its troops from South Korea.

Mr Kim has now departed for Hanoi by train, and Mr Trump is expected to leave for Vietnam later on Monday.

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Mr Trump and Mr Kim made history when they met in June 2018

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47353184

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Hong Kong (CNN Business)US President Donald Trump has given Chinese stocks a boost by announcing that he’ll delay a major tariff hike to give the two countries more time to reach a trade deal.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/25/investing/us-and-china-trade-war-stocks/index.html

    U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators meeting in Washington, D.C. last week. Citing progress in the talks, President Trump said he would suspend a planning increase in tariffs on Chinese goods due to take effect on March 1.

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    U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators meeting in Washington, D.C. last week. Citing progress in the talks, President Trump said he would suspend a planning increase in tariffs on Chinese goods due to take effect on March 1.

    Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

    President Trump will hold off raising tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese imports, after what he called “very productive” trade talks in Washington this weekend.

    Tariffs had been scheduled to jump from 10 to 25 percent next Saturday. But Trump agreed to postpone that increase in hopes of negotiating a more comprehensive trade agreement.

    Trump tweeted that the two sides had made “substantial progress” on structural issues, including protection of intellectual property and an end to the forced transfer of U.S. technology. The president hopes to finalize a deal during a face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Florida vacation home.

    “Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement,” Trump wrote, celebrating what he called “a very good weekend for U.S. & China!”

    Trade talks were initially expected to wrap up Friday but had been extended through the weekend in a sign of positive momentum. Negotiators cautioned, however, that a final deal was still uncertain.

    “It’s a little early for Champagne,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday.

    U.S. businesses will welcome the decision to delay higher tariffs. Even at the existing, 10 percent rate, Trump’s China duties are costing American businesses and consumers upwards of $2 billion per month.

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/24/697562568/trump-suspends-china-tariff-hike-citing-progress-in-trade-talks

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CNN.MobileWebFloatingPlayer.transition,onPin: function () {playerInstance.hideUI();},onUnpin: function () {playerInstance.showUI();},onPlayerClick: function () {if (mobilePinnedView) {playerInstance.enterFullscreen();playerInstance.showUI();}},onDismiss: function() {CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer.disable();playerInstance.pause();}});/* Storing pinned view on CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer So that all players can see the single pinned player */CNN.Videx = CNN.Videx || {};CNN.Videx.mobile = CNN.Videx.mobile || {};CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer = mobilePinnedView;}if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (jQuery(containerClassId).parents(‘.js-pg-rail-tall__head’).length) {videoPinner = new CNN.VideoPinner(containerClassId);videoPinner.init();} else {CNN.VideoPlayer.hideThumbnail(containerId);}}},onContentEntryLoad: function(containerId, playerId, contentid, isQueue) {CNN.VideoPlayer.showSpinner(containerId);},onContentPause: function (containerId, 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playerId, token, mode, id, duration, blockId, adType, instance, isAdPause) {if (mobilePinnedView) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleMobilePinnedPlayerStates(containerId, isAdPause);}},onTrackingFullscreen: function (containerId, PlayerId, dataObj) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleFullscreenChange(containerId, dataObj);if (mobilePinnedView &&typeof dataObj === ‘object’ &&FAVE.Utils.os === ‘iOS’ && !dataObj.fullscreen) {jQuery(document).scrollTop(mobilePinnedView.getScrollPosition());playerInstance.hideUI();}},onContentPlay: function (containerId, cvpId, event) {var playerInstance,prevVideoId;if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreEpicAds’);}clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onContentReplayRequest: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);var $endSlate = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0);if ($endSlate.length > 0) {$endSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–active’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’);}}}},onContentBegin: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.enable();}/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays a video. */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.mutePlayer(containerId);if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘removeEpicAds’);}CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoSourceUtils.clearSource(containerId);jQuery(document).triggerVideoContentStarted();},onContentComplete: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreFreewheel’);}navigateToNextVideo(contentId, containerId);},onContentEnd: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(false);}}},onCVPVisibilityChange: function (containerId, cvpId, visible) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleAdOnCVPVisibilityChange(containerId, visible);}};if (typeof configObj.context !== ‘string’ || configObj.context.length 0) {configObj.adsection = window.ssid;}CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === 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    ‘);$vidEndSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–active’);}};CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;var configObj = {thumb: ‘none’,video: ‘world/2018/06/12/trump-kim-jong-un-summit-wrap-zw-orig.cnn’,width: ‘100%’,height: ‘100%’,section: ‘domestic’,profile: ‘expansion’,network: ‘cnn’,markupId: ‘body-text_37’,theoplayer: {allowNativeFullscreen: true},adsection: ‘const-article-inpage’,frameWidth: ‘100%’,frameHeight: ‘100%’,posterImageOverride: 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findNextVideo(currentVideoId) {var i,vidObj;if (currentVideoId && jQuery.isArray(currentVideoCollection) && currentVideoCollection.length > 0) {for (i = 0; i 0) {videoEndSlateImpl.showEndSlateForContainer();if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.disable();}}}}callbackObj = {onPlayerReady: function (containerId) {var playerInstance,containerClassId = ‘#’ + containerId;CNN.VideoPlayer.handleInitialExpandableVideoState(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.handleAdOnCVPVisibilityChange(containerId, CNN.pageVis.isDocumentVisible());if (CNN.Features.enableMobileWebFloatingPlayer &&Modernizr &&(Modernizr.phone || Modernizr.mobile || Modernizr.tablet) &&CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibraryName(containerId) === ‘fave’ &&jQuery(containerClassId).parents(‘.js-pg-rail-tall__head’).length > 0 &&CNN.contentModel.pageType === ‘article’) {playerInstance = FAVE.player.getInstance(containerId);mobilePinnedView = new CNN.MobilePinnedView({element: jQuery(containerClassId),enabled: false,transition: 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playerId, token, mode, id, duration, blockId, adType, instance, isAdPause) {if (mobilePinnedView) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleMobilePinnedPlayerStates(containerId, isAdPause);}},onTrackingFullscreen: function (containerId, PlayerId, dataObj) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleFullscreenChange(containerId, dataObj);if (mobilePinnedView &&typeof dataObj === ‘object’ &&FAVE.Utils.os === ‘iOS’ && !dataObj.fullscreen) {jQuery(document).scrollTop(mobilePinnedView.getScrollPosition());playerInstance.hideUI();}},onContentPlay: function (containerId, cvpId, event) {var playerInstance,prevVideoId;if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreEpicAds’);}clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onContentReplayRequest: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);var $endSlate = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0);if ($endSlate.length > 0) {$endSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–active’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’);}}}},onContentBegin: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.enable();}/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays a video. */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.mutePlayer(containerId);if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) 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true) ? true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary(configObj, callbackObj, isLivePlayer);});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete(‘videodemanddust’);

    ‘);$vidEndSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–active’);}};CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;var configObj = {thumb: ‘none’,video: ‘politics/2018/06/12/trump-north-korea-summit-gma-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn’,width: ‘100%’,height: ‘100%’,section: ‘domestic’,profile: ‘expansion’,network: ‘cnn’,markupId: ‘body-text_46’,theoplayer: {allowNativeFullscreen: true},adsection: ‘const-article-inpage’,frameWidth: ‘100%’,frameHeight: ‘100%’,posterImageOverride: 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findNextVideo(currentVideoId) {var i,vidObj;if (currentVideoId && jQuery.isArray(currentVideoCollection) && currentVideoCollection.length > 0) {for (i = 0; i 0) {videoEndSlateImpl.showEndSlateForContainer();if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.disable();}}}}callbackObj = {onPlayerReady: function (containerId) {var playerInstance,containerClassId = ‘#’ + containerId;CNN.VideoPlayer.handleInitialExpandableVideoState(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.handleAdOnCVPVisibilityChange(containerId, CNN.pageVis.isDocumentVisible());if (CNN.Features.enableMobileWebFloatingPlayer &&Modernizr &&(Modernizr.phone || Modernizr.mobile || Modernizr.tablet) &&CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibraryName(containerId) === ‘fave’ &&jQuery(containerClassId).parents(‘.js-pg-rail-tall__head’).length > 0 &&CNN.contentModel.pageType === ‘article’) {playerInstance = FAVE.player.getInstance(containerId);mobilePinnedView = new CNN.MobilePinnedView({element: jQuery(containerClassId),enabled: false,transition: CNN.MobileWebFloatingPlayer.transition,onPin: function () {playerInstance.hideUI();},onUnpin: function () {playerInstance.showUI();},onPlayerClick: function () {if (mobilePinnedView) {playerInstance.enterFullscreen();playerInstance.showUI();}},onDismiss: function() {CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer.disable();playerInstance.pause();}});/* Storing pinned view on CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer So that all players can see the single pinned player */CNN.Videx = CNN.Videx || {};CNN.Videx.mobile = CNN.Videx.mobile || {};CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer = mobilePinnedView;}if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (jQuery(containerClassId).parents(‘.js-pg-rail-tall__head’).length) {videoPinner = new CNN.VideoPinner(containerClassId);videoPinner.init();} else {CNN.VideoPlayer.hideThumbnail(containerId);}}},onContentEntryLoad: function(containerId, playerId, contentid, isQueue) {CNN.VideoPlayer.showSpinner(containerId);},onContentPause: function (containerId, playerId, videoId, paused) {if (mobilePinnedView) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleMobilePinnedPlayerStates(containerId, paused);}},onContentMetadata: function (containerId, playerId, metadata, contentId, duration, width, height) {var endSlateLen = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0).length;CNN.VideoSourceUtils.updateSource(containerId, metadata);if (endSlateLen > 0) {videoEndSlateImpl.fetchAndShowRecommendedVideos(metadata);}},onAdPlay: function (containerId, cvpId, token, mode, id, duration, blockId, adType) {/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays an Ad */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onAdPause: function (containerId, playerId, token, mode, id, duration, blockId, adType, instance, isAdPause) {if (mobilePinnedView) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleMobilePinnedPlayerStates(containerId, isAdPause);}},onTrackingFullscreen: function (containerId, PlayerId, dataObj) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleFullscreenChange(containerId, dataObj);if (mobilePinnedView &&typeof dataObj === ‘object’ &&FAVE.Utils.os === ‘iOS’ && !dataObj.fullscreen) {jQuery(document).scrollTop(mobilePinnedView.getScrollPosition());playerInstance.hideUI();}},onContentPlay: function (containerId, cvpId, event) {var playerInstance,prevVideoId;if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreEpicAds’);}clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onContentReplayRequest: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);var $endSlate = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0);if ($endSlate.length > 0) {$endSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–active’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’);}}}},onContentBegin: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.enable();}/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays a video. */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.mutePlayer(containerId);if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘removeEpicAds’);}CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoSourceUtils.clearSource(containerId);jQuery(document).triggerVideoContentStarted();},onContentComplete: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreFreewheel’);}navigateToNextVideo(contentId, containerId);},onContentEnd: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(false);}}},onCVPVisibilityChange: function (containerId, cvpId, visible) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleAdOnCVPVisibilityChange(containerId, visible);}};if (typeof configObj.context !== ‘string’ || configObj.context.length 0) {configObj.adsection = window.ssid;}CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary(configObj, callbackObj, isLivePlayer);});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete(‘videodemanddust’);

      Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/24/asia/north-korea-vietnam-model-intl/index.html

      Image caption

      A number of defectors have spoken to the BBC

      Venezuelan soldiers who defected into Colombia on Saturday say they fear for the safety of their families under President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

      Speaking exclusively to the BBC’s Orla Guerin, one defector aged 23 says he is worried forces loyal to the president may “lash out against my family”.

      “But I think it was the best decision I could have made,” he adds.

      More than 100 soldiers are said to have defected, most during deadly clashes over aid deliveries on Saturday.

      Tensions were high after President Maduro sent troops to block roads and bridges at the borders of neighbouring Brazil and Colombia, where food and medicine deliveries, organised by the US, were set to enter the country.

      At various crossing points, Venezuelan security forces fired tear gas at volunteers and protesters burning outposts and throwing stones at soldiers and riot police.

      Battered and bruised

      By Orla Guerin, BBC international correspondent

      We met the deserters – male and female – one day after they laid down their weapons and left their posts. They have found sanctuary in a Catholic church, with a discreet security presence outside.

      Some seemed to be in shock over the violent scenes this weekend when Venezuelan troops fired on their own people with teargas and rubber bullets.

      The parish priest who took them in told us many arrived battered and bruised. The deserters said they had fled because their homeland needed change, and their children needed food. After speaking on the phone to a loved one, one young officer wept openly.

      Most of those we met were foot soldiers. They said the top brass was still bound – by corruption – to President Nicolás Maduro, and that he would fight to stay in power.

      But they said he had lost the rank and file who were putting their faith in the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó.

      What do the defectors say?

      After agreeing to speak with the BBC on condition of anonymity, a group of Venezuelan deserters based in a church in Cúcuta described what pushed them to leave President Maduro’s armed forces.

      Media captionThe moment Venezuelan troops crashed through border into Colombia

      “There are many professional troops who want to do this. This will be a domino effect. This will have significant influence on the armed forces,” one 29-year-old man said.

      “The armed forces have broken down because of so many corrupt officers.

      “The professional military is tired. We cannot remain slaves, we are freeing ourselves,” he added.

      Another defector, a woman, described the mood on Saturday as “tense”, adding: “I was thinking I could not harm my own people.

      “My daughter is still in Venezuela and that is what hurts the most. But I did this for her. It’s difficult because I don’t know what they might do to her.”

      A third said he felt pain at seeing the Venezuelan people on the streets fighting for humanitarian aid.

      Image copyright
      EPA

      Image caption

      Demonstrators clashed with Venezuelan security forces at the borders of Colombia and Brazil

      “I felt impotent and useless. I felt pain for everything happening,” he said.

      What is the latest?

      On Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Maduro’s “days are numbered” following the deadly events at the weekend.

      “Picking exact days is difficult. I’m confident that the Venezuelan people will ensure that Maduro’s days are numbered,” Mr Pompeo told CNN.

      At least two people died in Saturday’s clashes between civilians and troops loyal to Mr Maduro.

      Self-declared interim President Juan Guaidó, who has been recognised by more than 50 countries, has called on other nations to consider “all measures” to oust Mr Maduro after opposition-led efforts to bring in aid descended into clashes.

      Image copyright
      EPA

      Image caption

      Venezuelan police prevented aid crossing the Simon Bolivar International Bridge

      He also said he would attend a meeting of mostly Latin American countries in Colombia on Monday, despite being under a travel ban imposed by Mr Maduro. US Vice-President Mike Pence will represent Washington at the talks in Bogota.

      A senior White House official said on Sunday that Mr Pence was planning to announce “concrete steps” and “actions” in addressing the crisis at the talks on Monday, Reuters news agency reported.

      Meanwhile, Colombia and Brazil said they would intensify pressure on Mr Maduro to relinquish power. US President Donald Trump has not ruled out an armed response to the Venezuela crisis.

      Separately on Sunday, a boat carrying US aid from Puerto Rico to Venezuela was forced to dock on the small Dutch island of Curaçao after it was intercepted by the Venezuelan navy off the northern coast, AFP news agency reports.

      The vessel was reportedly loaded with nine cargo containers filled with food and medicine.

      Image copyright
      Getty Images

      Image caption

      The supply ship that was forced to dock on the island of Curaçao

      Mr Maduro, who says he is the legitimate president and is backed by key economic allies including Russia, Cuba and China, has warned that deliveries of foreign aid would open the way for US military intervention.

      Mr Guaidó, who declared himself interim president last month, argues that alleged irregularities with the nation’s 2018 election render Mr Maduro’s leadership illegitimate.

      What happened at the border on Saturday?

      Venezuela’s opposition had intended to peacefully bring aid trucks over the borders with Brazil and Colombia.

      Mr Guaidó had pledged that the aid would come into the country on Saturday. In response, Mr Maduro partly closed the country’s borders.

      Venezuelan civilians attempted to cross in order to get to the stores of food and medicine, but the attempt quickly descended into bloody violence.

      Soldiers opened fire on civilians, using a mixture of live ammunition and rubber bullets.

      Media captionVenezuela-Colombia border turns violent

      Video footage showed Venezuelan soldiers crashing their armoured vehicles into the border with Colombia in order to defect.

      Another video posted on social media appeared to show four soldiers publicly denouncing the president and announcing their support for Guaidó.

      Mr Guaidó promised the defectors amnesty if they joined the “right side of history”.

      How did we get to this point?

      The humanitarian aid stockpiled in Colombia and Brazil is at the centre of a stand-off between Mr Maduro and Mr Guaidó that goes back to Mr Maduro’s disputed re-election in 2018.

      For several years Venezuela has been in the grip of a political and economic crisis.

      An out-of-control inflation rate has seen prices soar, leaving many Venezuelans struggling to afford basic items.

      More than three million people have fled Venezuela in recent years, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

      Please upgrade your browser to view this content.




      Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47352295


      New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged last week with misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution. He has denied the accusations. | Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

      In The Arena

      Don’t be shocked by the arrest of Robert Kraft. Sex businesses are often hiding in plain sight, and their customers are not who you think.

      February 24, 2019

      Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, was recently charged with two misdemeanors for allegedly soliciting prostitution at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. A spokesperson for Mr. Kraft categorically denied the accusations, but police Chief Daniel Kerr claimed to be in possession of video footage of Kraft receiving “paid acts” in the room.

      Many expressed surprise at Kraft’s alleged transgression—after all, he’s a wealthy, powerful man who could probably figure out how to pay for sexual favors more surreptitiously and with higher-end providers, if that’s what he wanted. But nobody should have been shocked.

      Story Continued Below

      I wasn’t surprised because Kraft fits the profile: older, educated, affluent and looking for services with women who are unlikely to recognize him, much less speak about the alleged illicit services he received.

      And what about the Orchids of Asia Day Spa? To the outside world, the alleged erotic massage parlor appears to provide only legitimate services, being located in the same shopping center as a Publix and Outback Steakhouse restaurant, Orchids of Asia advertised Swedish, Deep Tissue, Shiatsu, Thai, Hot Stone, Reflexology and Hawaiian Lomi-Lomi massages.

      However, commercial sex businesses are typically hidden in plain sight.

      According to RubMaps.com, a website used by commercial sex consumers to rank and review alleged erotic massage locations, Orchids of Asia Day Spa has been active since 2012. On the website, reviewers claimed to have paid for so-called “ass-play,” “handjobs,” and “breast-play” at the location. According to the commercial sex consumers, “full service”—a euphemism for sexual intercourse—was not provided.

      Commercial sex consumers who reviewed Orchids of Asia Day Spa described it as being located in a “run-of-the-mill” strip mall. The men most frequently described the masseuses as being Chinese and aged between 30-40 years old. They alleged that masseuses would “tweak the nipples” of the consumers or tease them until they produced an erection, after which “extras” would be negotiated. On average, men claimed they paid $75 for the massage and an additional $40 tip in exchange for an erotic hand massage of their genitals.

      Reviewers also claimed the Orchids of Asia Day Spa was formally known as Tokyo Spa & Massages, which had the same location and phone number, but simply changed in name. This is a common tactic used by erotic massage parlors. The location and phone number will stay constant, but the registered owner and name will change on paper—known as a straw man business, in order to stifle investigations by law enforcement.

      On other commercial sex review websites, such as USASexGuide.nl, commercial sex consumers, who refer to themselves as “Mongers” and “Hobbyists,” were confused on how the police in Florida were able to obtain video of Kraft, if he actually did receive commercial sex services, as alleged. Some speculated the video actually came from the business owner’s security system as opposed to police, but one “Monger” floated the possibility that “one of the girls flipped on the owners. Police were made aware of a possible sex trafficking ‘victim’ in this establishment and they got a judge to sign off on the surveillance based on a ‘sex trafficking victim.’” This is certainly within the realm of possibility—but police haven’t confirmed it.

      While most women involved in the commercial sex industry are not victims of sex trafficking, it is often difficult to discern the difference between the two. Erotic massage parlors, in particular, are locations at high risk of sex trafficking, as commercial sex providers are often recent immigrants who were defrauded into providing the illicit services upon arriving in the United States.

      The Trump administration has made combating sex trafficking a priority, for example by signing the Abolish Human Trafficking Act, which strengthened programs supporting survivors and resources for combating modern slavery, and by signing the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, which authorized $430 million to fight sex and labor trafficking. But it’s unclear how effective these efforts have been in actually combating this modern scourge. The commercial sex industry is hidden in plain sight, in shopping centers, nail salons and massage parlors that both women and men patronize across the country and evidence suggests that American laws haven’t been particularly effective in combating these clandestine crimes by preventing new crimes, protecting victims and prosecuting offenders.

      Ultimately, whether or not Kraft is found guilty of soliciting prostitution, men like him will continue to fuel the demand for these services. The commercial sex industry is driven by people the public would least expect: They are our brothers, fathers, husbands, neighbors, teachers and—allegedly—even wealthy owners of major league sports teams. These men must understand that their commercial sex activity can fuel sex trafficking and learn what these victimizations involve. Victims can suffer from serious psychological and physical trauma, which can negatively affect them for years, decades or even a lifetime.

      We’re never going to snuff out the exchange of money for sex between consenting adults—not for nothing is it described as “the world’s oldest profession.” However, we can fight sex trafficking by decriminalizing consensual commercial sexual activity (which isn’t the same as legalization). Police should be able to use discretion and offer lesser punishments, especially if a source is reporting a sex trafficking victimization. This would help identify more sex trafficking cases—and that’s the real battle before us.

      Source Article from https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/24/sex-trafficking-225203

      Inside, at sessions presided over by Pope Francis himself, the world’s top bishops, clad in their black cassocks and purple sashes, listened every day to the brutal testimony of abuse survivors — many of whom spoke about the indifference and complicity of church leaders like them. A Nigerian nun excoriated them for their hypocritical silence and lack of transparency.

      In a bid to improve relations with the news media, the organizers invited a veteran Vatican reporter from Mexico to address the gathering.

      “If you do not decide in a radical way to be on the side of the children, mothers, families, civil society, you are right to be afraid of us,” said the reporter, Valentina Alazraki. And if they remain in denial, she said, honest reporters “will be your worst enemies.”

      However frustrated many of the faithful were by the meeting, high-ranking church officials said it had achieved a positive outcome.

      Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said on Saturday that he was “very pleased,” even if specific action still needed to be determined.

      At first, Cardinal DiNardo said, some countries did not want to admit that they had the same problems as the United States, Cardinal DiNardo said. But in the end, he said, he was impressed with the consensus that developed.

      “This went far better than I think some of us had hoped,” he said. “Now you have the bishops all saying it’s ubiquitous.”

      Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/world/europe/pope-vatican-sexual-abuse.html

      House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff insisted Sunday he’s willing to take the Justice Department to court over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s forthcoming final report on the Russia investigation, which sources tell Fox News is wrapping up.

      The DOJ’s inspector general sharply criticized former FBI Director James Comey for publicly outlining the bureau’s case against then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 without finding criminal wrongdoing worthy of prosecution. Against that backdrop, it appeared unlikely the DOJ would be eager to release any findings by Mueller of noncriminal misconduct — but Schiff, D-Calif., suggested he has several tools to take matters into his own hands.

      “We will obviously subpoena the report,” Schiff told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’ “This Week.” “We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress; we will take it to court if necessary. And in the end, I think the department understands they’re going to have to make this public.”

      It was not clear whether the Justice Department would be obligated legally to respond to such a subpoena, or whether courts — which typically steer clear of legal and political disputes between branches of the federal government — would force the DOJ to turn over the document.

      “We need to get the facts out there, get this behind us in a way that people thought that anybody that should have been talked to was talked to any question that should have been asked, was asked,” Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.

      But asked if he thought there could be a subpoena, Blunt, R-Mo., said, “I don’t know that you can.”

      Still, Schiff criticized newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr for evidencing what he called a “bias” against the Mueller probe, which Barr now oversees, and Schiff said transparency is the only realistic solution.

      Barr disclosed last month that he’d discussed Mueller’s Russia probe with Vice President Mike Pence, although he insisted he neither provided legal advice to the White House nor received any confidential information from Pence.

      WHAT DID BARR TELL PENCE ABOUT THE MUELLER PROBE?

      Barr, in testimony during his confirmation hearings, also defended the unsolicited memorandum he sent to the Justice Department last year that was critical of the Russia probe, explaining that it was narrow in scope and based on potentially incomplete information.

      “If he were to try to withhold, try to bury any part of this report, that will be his legacy,” Schiff said Sunday. “And, it will be a tarnished legacy. So I think there will be immense pressure not only on the department but on the attorney general to be forthcoming.”

      Barr testified that, as he understood the regulations governing the special counsel, the report would be confidential – and any report going to Congress or the public would be authored by the attorney general.

      Some Democrats sounded the alarm after Barr’s testimony, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., charging that Barr indicated he’d exploit legal “loopholes” to hide Mueller’s final report from the public and to resist subpoenas against the White House.

      “I will commit to providing as much information as I can, consistent with the regulations,” Barr had told Blumenthal when asked if he would ensure that Mueller’s full report was released publicly.

      Schiff, meanwhile, emphasized that regardless of the special counsel regulations, Trump likely could preempt the whole issue voluntarily by ordering the DOJ to release the report.

      “We are going to get to the bottom of this,” Schiff said. “We are going to share this information with the public. And if the president is serious about all his claims of exoneration, then he should welcome the publication of the report.”

      Some Democrats are pointing to documents that Justice Department officials provided to Congress in the wake of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails, as well as information that Republicans demanded as part of their own inquiries.

      Schiff said he told department officials after they released information related to the Clinton investigation that “this was a new precedent they were setting and they were going to have to live by this precedent whether it was a Congress controlled by the Democrats or Republicans.”

      In a letter Friday, Democrats warned against withholding information on Trump on the basis of department opinions that the president can’t be indicted. Many Republicans also have argued that the full report should be released, though most have stopped short of saying it should be subpoenaed.

      Whatever happens with the Mueller report, Schiff has made clear that the investigations of the White House are only just beginning. The Democrat, whom Trump has derided as “little Adam S—-‘ and a ‘political hack,’ announced a new congressional probe into Trump’s financial dealings earlier this month.

      Schiff also has attacked Republicans aggressively for refusing to condemn Trump.

      “When he attacked the press as the enemy of the people, you again were silent. When he targeted the judiciary, labeling judges and decisions he didn’t like as illegitimate, we heard not a word. And now, he comes for Congress, the first branch of government, seeking to strip it of its greatest power, that of the purse,” Schiff wrote in a Washington Post op-ed last week.

      CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

      “Many of you have acknowledged your deep misgivings about the president in quiet conversations over the past two years. You have bemoaned his lack of decency, character and integrity. You have deplored his fundamental inability to tell the truth. But for reasons that are all too easy to comprehend, you have chosen to keep your misgivings and your rising alarm private. That must end. The time for silent disagreement is over. You must speak out.”

      Appearing on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” this weekend, though, Schiff revealed he repeatedly had declined invitations from Fox News’ “Hannity” to appear on-air to defend his positions.

      Fox News’ Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

      Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schiff-dems-absolutely-take-doj-to-court-over-mueller-report-if-necessary

      February 24 at 7:00 PM

      A bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security officials will issue a statement Monday saying that “there is no factual basis” for President Trump’s proclamation of a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

      The joint statement, whose signatories include former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former defense secretary Chuck Hagel, will come a day before the House is expected to vote on a resolution to block Trump’s Feb. 15 declaration.

      The former officials’ statement, which will be entered into the Congressional Record, is intended to support lawsuits and other actions challenging the national emergency proclamation and to force the administration to set forth the legal and factual basis for it.

      “Under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the president to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border,” the group said.

      Albright served under President Bill Clinton, and Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, served under President Barack Obama.

      Also signing were Eliot A. Cohen, State Department counselor under President George W. Bush; Thomas R. Pickering, President George H.W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations; John F. Kerry, Obama’s second secretary of state; Susan E. Rice, Obama’s national security adviser; Leon E. Panetta, Obama’s CIA director and defense secretary; as well as former intelligence and security officials who served under Republican and Democratic administrations.

      Trump’s national emergency declaration followed a 35-day partial government shutdown, which came after Congress did not approve the $5.7 billion he sought to build a wall.

      In announcing his declaration, Trump predicted lawsuits and “possibly . . . a bad ruling, and then we’ll get another bad ruling” before winning at the Supreme Court.

      The former security officials’ 11-page declaration, a copy of which was shared with The Washington Post, sets out their argument disputing the factual basis for the president’s emergency.

      Among other things, they said, illegal border crossings are at nearly 40-year lows. Undetected unlawful entries at the U.S.-Mexico border decreased from 851,000 to nearly 62,000 between 2006 and 2016, they said, citing Department of Homeland Security statistics.

      Contrary to the president’s assertion, there is no documented emergency at the southern border related to terrorism or violent crime, they said, citing administration reports and independent think tank analyses.

      Similarly, they state that there is no drug trafficking emergency that can be addressed by a wall along the southern border, noting that “the overwhelming majority of opioids” that enter the United States are brought in through legal ports of entry, citing the Justice Department.

      They also argue that redirecting money pursuant to the national emergency declaration “will undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.” And, they assert, “a wall is unnecessary to support the use of the armed forces,” as the administration has said.

      Some of the same former officials wrote a joint declaration disputing the factual basis for the president’s order shortly after he took office in January 2017 barring entry to foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The former officials asserted that the order was not based on a bona fide national security assessment but on “a deliberate political decision to discriminate against a religious minority.”

      Their views were filed as a joint declaration and later as a friend-of-the court brief in lawsuits challenging the original order and subsequent revisions, and it was cited by almost every federal judge who enjoined the ban. By the time the challenges reached the Supreme Court, the administration had significantly narrowed the ban, which the high court upheld on a 5-to-4 vote.

      With respect to the declared national emergency, plaintiffs have filed two cases in the District of Columbia, two in California and one in Texas.

      Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/former-senior-national-security-officials-to-issue-declaration-on-national-emergency/2019/02/24/3e4908c6-3859-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html

      WASHINGTON — Donald Trump was in full deflection mode.

      The Democrats had blamed Russia for the hacking and release of damaging material on his presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. Trump wasn’t buying it. But on July 27, 2016, midway through a news conference in Florida, Trump decided to entertain the thought for a moment.

      “Russia, if you’re listening,” said Trump, looking directly into a television camera, “I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing” – messages Clinton was reported to have deleted from her private email server.

      Actually, Russia was doing more than listening: It had been trying to help Republican Trump for months. That very day, hackers working with Russia’s military intelligence tried to break into email accounts associated with Clinton’s personal office.

      It was just one small part of a sophisticated election interference operation carried out by the Kremlin – and meticulously chronicled by special counsel Robert Mueller.

      We know this, though Mueller has made not a single public comment since his appointment in May 2017. We know this, though the full, final report on the investigation, believed to be in its final stages, may never be made public. It’s up to Attorney General William Barr.

      We know this because Mueller has spoken loudly, if indirectly, in court – indictment by indictment, guilty plea by guilty plea. In doing so, he tracked an elaborate Russian operation that injected chaos into a U.S. presidential election and tried to help Trump win the White House. He followed a GOP campaign that embraced the Kremlin’s help and championed stolen material to hurt a political foe. And ultimately, he revealed layers of lies, deception, self-enrichment and hubris that followed.

      Woven through thousands of court papers, the special counsel has made his public report. This is what it says.

      RUSSIA, LOOKING TO INTERFERE

      The plot began before Bernie Bros and “Lock Her Up,” before MAGA hats and “Lyin’ Ted,” before there was even a thought of Trump versus Clinton in 2016. It started in 2014, in a drab, concrete building in St. Petersburg, Russia.

      There, a group of tech-savvy Russian nationals, working at an organization called the Internet Research Agency, prepared “information warfare against the United States of America.” The battleground would be the internet, and the target was the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

      Using a game plan honed on its own people, the troll farm prepared to pervert the social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram – that Americans had come to depend on for news, entertainment, friendships and, most relevantly, political discourse.

      It would use deception, disinformation and the expansive reach of the electronically connected world to spread “distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.” Ultimately, it would carry a budget in the millions, bankrolled, according to an indictment, by Yevgeny Prighozin, a man so close to the Russian president that he is known as Putin’s chef. (Prighozin’s company has denied the charges).

      It was a long game. Starting in mid-2014, employees began studying American political groups to see which messages fell flat and which spread like wildfire across the internet. The organization surreptitiously dispatched employees to the U.S. – traveling through states such as Nevada, California and Colorado- to collect on-the-ground intelligence about an America that had become deeply divided on gun control, race and politics.

      As they gathered the research, the trolls began planning an elaborate deception.

      They bought server space and other computer infrastructure in the U.S. to conceal the true origin of the disinformation they planned to pump into America’s social media bloodstream. They began preparing networks of fake accounts they would use like sock puppets to masquerade as U.S. citizens.

      The Russian trolls set up accounts that appeared to be associated with Black Lives Matter, the Tennessee GOP, Muslim and Christian groups and the American South. By late 2015, as Clinton sparred with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, her rival for the Democratic nomination, and as American media still saw Trump as a longshot to emerge from a crowded Republican field, the Internet Research Agency began secretly buying online ads to promote its social media groups.

      By February 2016, they were ready. A memo circulated internally. Post content about “politics in the USA,” they wrote, according to court papers, and “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump- we support them).”

      As disinformation scrolled across American computer screens, an entirely different Russian operation readied its own volley.

      In March 2016, as Clinton and Trump began to emerge as the leaders of their respective parties, Russian military intelligence officers began setting a trap.

      Hackers in Russia’s military intelligence, known as the GRU, started sending dozens of malicious emails to people affiliated with Clinton’s campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee.

      Like Watergate, it was a break-in. But this time, the burglary tools were emails disguised to fool people into sharing their passwords and in turn provide hackers unfettered access to their emails. The goal was to collect as many damaging documents as possible that could be released online and damage Clinton’s candidacy.

      In a few short weeks, the hackers had penetrated their targets and hit the motherlode: the private Gmail account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

      ___

      A RECEPTIVE CAMPAIGN

      While the Russians were hacking, a young Trump campaign adviser named George Papadopoulos received some startling news in London.

      It was April 26, 2016. While traveling through Europe, he had connected with a Maltese academic. The professor, a middle-aged man with thinning gray hair named Joseph Mifsud, had taken a keen interest in Papadopoulos upon learning that he had joined the Trump campaign as a foreign policy adviser. To dazzle his young friend, Mifsud boasted of his high-level Russian connections and introduced him to a woman named Olga – a relative, he claimed, of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

      Mifsud and Olga wanted Papadopoulos to arrange a meeting between Trump aides and Russian officials. Eager to ingratiate himself with the campaign, Papadopoulos brought up his newfound connections in a meeting with Trump and several high-ranking campaign officials, saying he could broker a Trump-Putin summit. When he raised the idea, his lawyers later said, Trump nodded with approval and deferred to another aide in the room, future Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said the campaign should look into it. Sessions would later say he remembered telling Papadopoulos that he wasn’t authorized to speak for the campaign.

      When he walked into a London hotel for breakfast with Mifsud, Papadopoulos expected to discuss Russia’s “open invitation” to meet with Trump. But the conversation quickly turned to another subject. Mifsud confided in Papadopoulos that Russia had “dirt” on Clinton. What kind of dirt? “Thousands of emails.”

      What happened next remains a mystery. Prosecutors haven’t revealed exactly where Mifsud got his information or what Papadopoulos might have done with it. The encounter, the first known instance of a Trump aide hearing of stolen emails, would later help kick-start the Russia investigation. But at the time, it was just one of many connections already established between the Trump campaign and Russia.

      Unbeknownst to the public, Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen had been trying to broker a business deal in Russia for the Republican candidate. The proposal was for a Trump Tower Moscow. A letter of intent was signed. Cohen had discussed it with Trump and his children. Cohen had even gone so far as to reach out to the Kremlin directly for help, speaking with an official about ways to secure land and financing for the project.

      While Cohen pursued the deal, another person with Russia ties joined the Trump campaign. Paul Manafort, a longtime Washington insider, had made millions as a political consultant for Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. Over that time, Manafort developed a close relationship with a man named Konstantin Kilimnik, who the FBI says has ties to Russian military intelligence. Manafort also had worked for a Russian billionaire named Oleg Deripaska who is close with Putin.

      But in March 2016, Manafort was looking for a comeback. His business had dried up after Yanukovych was ousted and fled to Russia. The millions that Manafort had hidden from the IRS while enjoying a lavish lifestyle were largely gone. With the Trump campaign, Manafort saw an opportunity to get back on his feet. He and his protege, Rick Gates, quickly worked their way into the highest levels of the campaign, and they began trying to make sure old clients had heard about their new positions.

      As Trump clinched the Republican nomination, Manafort and those around him began preparing for a general election battle against Clinton.

      The Russians did, too. The Internet Research Agency boosted its support of Trump – and disparagement of Clinton. Using stolen identities and bank account information, the troll farm also began buying political ads on social media services, according to Mueller.

      “Donald wants to defeat terrorism … Hillary wants to sponsor it,” read one. “Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote,” read another.

      Meanwhile, hackers with the GRU secretly implanted malicious software – called X-Agent – on the computer networks of the DNC and the DCCC. It allowed them to surreptitiously search through the political operatives’ computers and steal what they wanted. As the hackers roamed the Democratic networks, a separate group of Russian intelligence officers established the means to release their ill-gotten gains, registering a website, DCLeaks.com.

      By May, the Democratic groups realized they had been hacked. The DNC quickly hired a private cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike, to identify the extent of the breach and to try to clear their networks of malware. But they kept it quiet until they knew more.

      On the Trump campaign, Papadopoulos continued to push for a Trump-Putin meeting, unsuccessfully.

      At the same time, another Russian outreach found a willing audience in Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

      In early June, Trump Jr. exchanged a series of emails with a British publicist representing Emin Agalarov, a pop singer in Russia, whose father had partnered with the Trumps on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. Emin Agalarov and Trump Jr. had become friendly, and the publicist, Rob Goldstone, had become a common intermediary between the two wealthy sons.

      Over email, Goldstone brokered a meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer. He said the lawyer had documents that could “incriminate” Clinton and they were being shared as part of the Russian government’s support of the Trump campaign. “Seems we have some time and if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. wrote back.

      The meeting was held at Trump Tower in Manhattan on June 9. Trump Jr. attended along with Manafort and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. Participants in the room would later say the meeting was a bust, consumed by a lengthy discussion of Russian adoption and U.S. sanctions. To Trump Jr., the information wasn’t useful ammunition against Clinton. He was less concerned that it came from Russia.

      Days later, on June 14, the DNC publicly announced it had been hacked, and pointed the finger at Russia.

      By then, the Russian hackers had launched DCLeaks.com. According to Mueller , the DNC announcement accelerated their plans.

      They created a fake online persona called Guccifer 2.0, which quickly took credit for the hack. Through Guccifer, the hackers masqueraded as a “lone Romanian hacker” and released caches of stolen material.

      The efforts attracted the attention of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group led by Julian Assange from his exile within Ecuador’s embassy in London.

      On June 22, 2016, the group sent a private message to Guccifer: “Send any new material here for us to review and it will have a much higher impact than what you are doing.”

      Over the next several weeks, WikiLeaks requested any documents related to Clinton, saying they wanted to release them before the Democratic National Convention when they worried she would successfully recruit Sanders supporters.

      We “think trump has only a 25% chance of winning against hillary … so conflict between bernie and hillary is interesting,” WikiLeaks wrote.

      Using Guccifer, the Russian intelligence officers transferred the files to WikiLeaks, hoping for a big online splash.

      They wouldn’t have to wait long.

      ___

      LEAKS AND CIGARS

      July 22 was supposed to be a big Friday for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The former secretary of state was planning to announce Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate. The party’s convention was just days away.

      But at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, WikiLeaks stole the limelight, releasing more than 20,000 stolen DNC emails.

      The cascade of stolen material was almost immediately picked up by American news outlets, conservative pundits and Trump supporters, who in the wake of Clinton’s FBI investigation for using a private email server, were happy to blast out anything with “Clinton” and “emails” in the same sentence.

      So was Trump. After publicly questioning that Russia was behind the hack of Democratic groups, he took to the stage in Florida to make his famous call to Russia, “if you’re listening.” He would later begin praising WikiLeaks.

      Smelling a possible political advantage, the Trump campaign reached out to Roger Stone, a close confidant of Trump’s who is known for his bare-knuckles brand of political mischief. Stone had been claiming to have connections to WikiLeaks, and campaign officials were looking to find out when Wikileaks would drop its next batch of documents.

      According to an indictment against Stone, after the first release of DNC documents, “a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had regarding Clinton’s campaign.

      In August, Stone began claiming he had inside information into Assange’s plans. At the same time, he was privately sending messages to a radio host and a conservative conspiracy theorist – both of whom had claimed to have connections to WikiLeaks – seeking anything they knew. (No evidence has emerged that these messages made it to Assange).

      That same month there was a meeting that went to the “heart” of the Russia investigation, according to a Mueller prosecutor. It involved Manafort, and it remains an enigma, at least to the public.

      Court papers indicate Manafort had previously shared polling information related to the Trump campaign with Kilimnik, his old Russian pal. According to emails and court papers, Manafort – looking to make money from his Trump access – had also been in touch with Kilimnik about providing private briefings for the billionaire Deripaska. (There’s no evidence such briefings ever occurred).

      Meeting with Manafort and Gates at New York’s Grand Havana Room cigar bar on Aug. 2, 2016, Kilimnik brought up a possible peace plan for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. What happened at that meeting is in dispute and much of it remains redacted in court papers.

      But the Mueller prosecutor would note: The men left separately to avoid unwanted attention.

      As the campaign entered the final stretch and Trump’s advisers waited for the next WikiLeaks dump, Russian trolls- who had gained hundreds of thousands of social media followers – were barraging Americans with pro-Trump and anti-Clinton rhetoric, using Twitter hashtags such as “#MAGA” and “#Hillary4Prison.”

      By early October, Stone was looking for more. On Oct. 3, 2016, ahead of an expected news conference by Assange, Stone exchanged messages with Matthew Boyle, a writer at Breitbart who was close to Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon.

      “Assange – what’s he got? Hope it’s good,” Boyle wrote to Stone.

      “It is,” Stone wrote back. “I’d tell Bannon but he doesn’t call me back.”

      Hours later, Assange held a news conference in which he appeared to waffle on whether he would release additional documents about Clinton.

      Bannon reached out to Stone: “What was that this morning???” Stone chalked it up to a “security concern” and said WikiLeaks would be releasing “a load every week going forward.”

      By Oct. 7, the Trump campaign was embroiled in its own scandal. The Washington Post released audio of Trump bragging about sexually harassing and groping women. But within hours, WikiLeaks gave Trump’s team a break.

      The first set of emails stolen from Podesta’s accounts popped onto WikiLeaks’ website. Stone’s phone lit up. It was a text message from a Bannon associate.

      “well done,” it read.

      ___

      A SERIES OF LIES

      The first documented lie in the Russia investigation happened on Jan. 24, 2017, in the White House office of freshly appointed national security adviser Michael Flynn.

      It was the Tuesday after Trump’s inauguration, and Flynn was settling in after a whirlwind presidential transition.

      Since Trump’s victory in November, Flynn had become part of Trump’s inner circle – and the preferred contact between the Trump team and Russia. In late December, Flynn had asked Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., to reject or delay a U.N. vote condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Days later, as the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia for election-meddling, Flynn implored Kislyak not to escalate a “tit-for-tat” fight over punishment imposed on Moscow for election interference.

      But on that Tuesday, when FBI agents asked Flynn about those conversations, he lied. No, he said, he hadn’t made those requests of Kislyak.

      Days later in Chicago, other FBI agents confronted Papadopoulos as he had just stepped out of the shower at his mother’s home. Though his mother would later say she knew it was a terrible idea, he agreed to go to their office for questioning, where he misled them about his conversations with Mifsud, the Maltese professor.

      Months later – after Mueller’s May 2017 appointment – Cohen lied to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project, saying it ended much sooner than June 2016. Cohen would later say he was trying to be loyal to Trump and match the public messaging of a president who had adamantly denied any business dealings with Russia.

      Even when Trump aides tried to come clean and cooperate with Mueller’s team, they couldn’t keep their stories straight.

      As he was working out a plea agreement with Mueller, Gates lied to investigators about his and Manafort’s Ukrainian lobbying work. Manafort pleaded guilty and agree to cooperate but a judge later determined he had also misled Mueller’s team about several matters, including about his interactions with Kilimnik. Those lies voided the plea deal.

      The deceptions played out as Mueller methodically brought criminal cases. He indicted the Russian hackers. He did the same to the troll farm. He exposed Manafort’s tax cheating and his illicit foreign lobbying, winning at trial and putting the 69-year-old political operative at risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. And one by one, his team got guilty pleas from Flynn, Papadopoulos and others.

      Most recently, he indicted Stone, accusing him of witness tampering and lying to Congress about his efforts to glean information about the WikiLeaks disclosures. Despite emails showing him repeatedly discussing WikiLeaks with Trump advisers and others, Stone told lawmakers he had no records of that sort. (Stone has pleaded not guilty.)

      In the backdrop of all this is Trump and his family.

      Mueller’s grand jury heard testimony from several participants of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting arranged by Trump Jr., but no charges have been filed.

      The mercurial president himself has made no secret of his disdain for the Mueller investigation and his efforts to undermine it. Mueller has investigated whether any of Trump’s actions constituted obstruction of justice, but the special counsel hasn’t gone public with what he found.

      And it’s unclear if he ever will.

      Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC.

      Source Article from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/24/mueller-report-revealed-through-court-records/

      Pope Francis celebrated a final Mass on Sunday to conclude his unprecedented summit of Catholic leaders on clergy sexual abuse.

      Giuseppe Lami/AP


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      Giuseppe Lami/AP

      Pope Francis celebrated a final Mass on Sunday to conclude his unprecedented summit of Catholic leaders on clergy sexual abuse.

      Giuseppe Lami/AP

      Wrapping up an unprecedented Vatican summit, Pope Francis denounced the abuse of minors and called for an end to the Catholic Church’s long history of covering up the scandal.

      In a Mass on Sunday, he made an appeal for an “all-out battle” on clergy sex abuse but offered few specifications, reflecting broader criticisms that the four-day meeting had not produced concrete actions to hold church leaders accountable.

      Francis told church leaders that most sexual abuse of minors occurs in the family and talked about abuse in relation to online pornography and sex tourism across the world.

      But he added that the universality of abuse “does not diminish” the harm done within the church, and he called those who had abused children “instruments of Satan” and “ravenous wolves.” The presence of abuse within the church, Francis said, is more scandalous because of its incompatibility with the Church’s “moral authority and ethical credibility.”

      “Indeed, in the people’s justified anger, the Church sees the reflection of the wrath of God, betrayed and insulted by these deceitful consecrated persons,” the pope said.

      Critics called the speech lukewarm, saying that it brought no new intensity or specificity to the issue. Becky Ianni, who was sexually violated by her family priest as a child, says the pope just reiterated points he had previously put forward before.

      “He talked about prayer and penance,” Ianni, a board member of Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, told NPR. “While those are nice sentiments, none of those things are going to protect children right now. And that’s my number one concern as a victim of clergy abuse.”

      She says SNAP has asked the pope to take specific actions, including firing bishops or cardinals who cover up abuse and turning over church records to secular authorities.

      Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, told The New York Times that the pope’s Mass was a “catastrophic misreading” of the grief and anger within the Church.

      “As the world’s Catholics cry out for concrete change, the pope instead provides tepid promises, all of which we’ve heard before,” she said.

      Francis had invited 190 Catholic bishops and religious superiors for a summit to discuss how the institution would address the clergy sex abuse crisis. It was the first time the pontiff had gathered church leaders from around the world for such a purpose, raising hopes that it might mark a turning point in the institution’s slow track record of responding to the issue. But the Vatican dampened expectations early on, calling the summit a “meeting characterized by prayer and discernment.”

      On Sunday, the Vatican announced that it would publish an edict from the pope and rule book on the protection of minors, in addition to forming a task force. Rev. Federico Lombardi, the moderator of the summit, said Vatican leaders would meet Monday to reflect on propositions and needs brought up at the gathering.

      Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of America Magazine, said the summit was a necessary step for the Catholic Church.

      “The concrete actions will come later in what’s called a ‘motu proprio,’ which is a document that they said the pope is going to issue later on,” he told NPR. “That will spell out, from what I understand, more rules and regulations. I think this was more of a reflection on what happened, and a kind of encouragement for a change of culture.”

      In one concrete step, Francis said he wanted to change church law on child pornography, so that the act would be considered a “grave delict” if it involved children under the age of 18, not just those under 14. That means all cases involving minors would be handled by the Vatican office that processes sex abuse cases.

      Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, a top Vatican sex crimes investigator, said the pope had expressed the need for a “change of heart.”

      “This is obviously theological language, but it is a very important language for us,” Scicluna told NPR’s Weekend Edition. “The pope actually put the abuse of kids and the cover-up of that abuse on the same level of gravity.”

      Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/24/697498640/pope-calls-for-all-out-battle-on-clergy-sex-abuse-with-few-specifics

      No matter what President Trump says or does when he holds a second historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday and Thursday in Vietnam, he will never satisfy his Republican and Democratic critics.

      However, if Trump sticks to his realist instincts – above all else, working in a pragmatic manner to preserve his America First agenda – and if Kim is serious about reaching some kind of nuclear arms control agreement, the odd couple could make history in Hanoi.

      And who knows, Trump – or perhaps Trump and Kim – might even be awarded the Nobel Prize.

      HANOI SUMMIT NIGHTMARE SCENARIO: BAD DEALS AND LITTLE CHANGE

      None of this will be easy.

      Kim’s father and grandfather – who ruled North Korea before him – have a history of stringing along past U.S. presidents of both parties with assurances of cooperative behavior and then breaking their promises.

      The North has invested heavily to develop a small nuclear arsenal that Kim is not eager to give up, seeing it as his best guarantee against any U.S. effort to attack his impoverished communist nation.

      President Trump’s critics on the left and right portray him as naïve and desperate to reach some sort of agreement – any agreement – with Kim to boast about in his expected re-election campaign next year.

      While Kim clearly believes that nuclear weapons are his best insurance policy against a future American attack, Trump must convince the North Korean leader that the exact opposite is true: only denuclearization will ensure North Korea’s security.

      Will Trump succeed in getting a real agreement that at minimum moves North Korea significantly closer to the U.S. goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula? Or are Washington and Pyongyang destined to be enemies far into the future, with no hope of the North peacefully giving up its nukes?

      I have faith in President Trump – at least when it comes to this crucial national security issue. While I am a proud registered Republican, I can’t say I always agree with the president, nor do I embrace some of the more outlandish and fiery rhetoric he has displayed when it comes to North Korea.

      But the good news is that Trump has a unique set of traits that the foreign policy elites in Washington lack: a clear imagination to see things differently, with a knack for applying his successful business skills to the hard knocks arena of global politics.

      Combined with President Trump’s willingness to try new approaches in international affairs that others think are crazy, he has taken the old playbook on how to handle the hermit kingdom and lit it on fire.

      Amen.

      The U.S. president’s imagination and principled realism could make history in the coming days. I believe there is a clear blueprint to usher in a new era of peace on the Korean Peninsula, protect our allies in the region and offer a real chance at seeing North Korea give up its nuclear weapons.

      What’s needed now?

      Building on the Singapore summit last June, here are some steps that could make the summit in Hanoi a success:

      First, President Trump needs to make Kim understand that America is not North Korea’s enemy, has no desire to overthrow Kim and his regime, and can be trusted.

      To do this, President Trump must set the conditions whereby Kim feels comfortable enough that he can begin the process of denuclearization.

      While Kim clearly believes that nuclear weapons are his best insurance policy against a future American attack, Trump must convince the North Korean leader that the exact opposite is true: only denuclearization will ensure North Korea’s security.

      If Trump and Kim agree to sign a simple political declaration ending the Korean War once and for all, tensions between the two nations could ease dramatically.

      Kim would have the proof he needs to not only trust our intent but to go back to his own people – especially those in the military and in his leadership circle – and say America no longer has any hostile intent and our relationship has fundamentally changed.

      A peace treaty would also enable Trump to claim a historic win. The U.S. president should offer a treaty with no preconditions.

      After all, a peace treaty would not really be a U.S. concession. It would simply acknowledge the obvious fact that the Korean War ended with an armistice in July 1953. That was long before Kim was born and when President Trump was just a 7-year-old boy.

      Second, U.S. officials must ensure we have the means to communicate with the North Koreans – especially if another crisis erupts in the future.

      To do that, both sides should establish small liaison offices in each other’s capitals. This would allow for near-instant communication and understanding to ensure that important messages do not take days to travel from one part of the world to another.

      Many will argue this is a type of de facto diplomatic recognition of the North Korean government. Maybe that is true, but with North Korea potentially having the capability to strike the U.S. with nuclear weapons, being able to understand the thinking of that nation’s leaders is more important than ever.

      The establishment of liaison offices would also allow the North to get a better window into our own diplomatic strategies and national security thinking, helping ensure that Kim and his regime do not misperceive our intent.

      There is no weakness in wanting to have a dialogue with those you have differences of opinion with in order to avert an armed conflict. That’s why we have diplomatic relations with Russia, China and many other nations we disagree with.

      Look at it this way: North Korea was created in 1948, when Korea was divided into North and South. The U.S. has never had diplomatic relations with the North and even fought a war against the nation for three years. But a strategy of using diplomatic isolation to topple the regime hasn’t worked for 71 years – so why should we think continuing this strategy will work now?

      Third – and crucially important – the world must see the first steps towards the North giving up its nuclear weapons.

      The formula to do this is well know by now. Kim has already said he would dismantle his Yongbyon nuclear facility if Washington offers “corresponding measures” – meaning relief from economic sanctions crippling the North.

      The Trump administration has only recently began to move away from the idea that no sanctions relief can be granted until full North Korean denuclearization is complete.

      President Trump needs a way to take pressure off Kim without getting a political shellacking back in the U.S. by critics who say he is making a gigantic concession for meaningless promises by Kim.

      That’s where South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in comes in. Moon told Trump he would move forward quickly on inter-Korean economic projects that would be worth tens of billions of dollars to the North to get Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.

      Considering North Korea’s economy is only worth $16 billion – half the size of Vermont’s – an economic shot in the arm would be a game changer for the Kim regime. My bet is that the North would jump at the opportunity and all sides would clearly get something they want.

      Finally, we should not forget about the more than 7,000 brave American warriors who are still “unaccounted for” from the Korean War.

      In addition to these Americans missing in action in the long-ago war, there are also many North Korean soldiers whose status was never resolved. Both nations should step up efforts to solve these cases once and for all.

      Washington and Pyongyang should form joint teams that can work together and excavate the battlefields and areas where it is likely remains can be found.

      History tells us this can build important trust between nations and heal the wounds of an old war. This is what happened when Vietnam and the U.S. embarked in such efforts before diplomatic relations were restored.

      History proves that nations that inherently don’t trust one another have a long way to go to bridge the gap and achieve a lasting peace.

       CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

      It is in both the U.S. and North Korea’s interest to end a state of war between us that – in the worst-case scenario – could erupt again with nuclear weapons, killing millions of people.

      Even those of you who oppose President Trump and want him out of the White House as soon as possible should be rooting for his success at the summit. If he can somehow eliminate the North Korean nuclear threat in exchange for economic and diplomatic concessions, that will be a victory for the American people and for people around the world.

      CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HARRY KAZIANIS

      Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/if-you-dont-want-a-nuclear-war-hope-trump-does-these-things-in-his-summit-with-north-koreas-kim-jong-un

      <!– –>

      The United States is planning to delay a menu of additional Chinese tariffs that were scheduled to begin on March 1, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, as the world’s two largest economies hash out a definitive end to a wide ranging trade dispute.

      In a series of posts on Twitter, Trump cited “substantial progress” in bilateral talks between the U.S. and China. As a result, the president said he would suspend the new levies that would have taken place as early as Friday, but did not articulate a new deadline.

      Last week, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC that the United States and China are discussing a late March meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, news that Trump confirmed on Sunday. The summit is scheduled to take place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida.

      Ahead of that confab, China has committed to buying up to $1.2 trillion in U.S. goods, though as late as last week, the two sides were said to be far apart on issues concerning the forced transfer of intellectual property.

      The U.S.-China trade war has upended markets, and cast a shadow over prospects for global growth. In recent trading sessions, investors have been slowly pricing in the prospect that the fight would be resolved. On Sunday, Dow futures indicated a modestly higher opening on Wall Street Monday.

      –CNBC’s
      Thomas Franck
      and
      Kayla Tausche
      contributed to this article.

      Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/24/trump-us-will-delay-china-tariffs-scheduled-to-start-on-march-1.html

      A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the all-male military draft is unconstitutional.

      U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas wrote in an opinion that the “time has passed” to discuss the place of women in the military. 

      “While historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now ‘similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft.’ If there ever was a time to discuss ‘the place of women in the Armed Services,’ that time has passed,” Miller wrote.

      Miller’s ruling comes after a lawsuit was brought by the National Coalition for Men, which describes itself as seeking to raise “awareness about the ways sex discrimination affects men and boys.”

      The Selective Service System requires that all men register with the agency within 30 days of their 18th birthday.

      Miller’s ruling was made as a declaration and not an injunction, meaning the court didn’t specifically say how the government should change the Selective Service System, USA Today reported.

      Marc Angelucci, an attorney for the men who brought the lawsuit, told USA Today that the ruling is “symbolic” to some extent.

      “But it does have some real-world impact,” Angelucci added. “Either they need to get rid of the draft registration, or they need to require women to do the same thing that men do.”

      Source Article from https://thehill.com/policy/defense/431334-judge-rules-all-male-military-draft-unconstitutional

      Image copyright
      EPA

      Image caption

      Saturday saw deadly confrontations at border crossings as volunteers attempted to collect aid

      US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered” after deadly clashes over humanitarian aid.

      “Picking exact days is difficult. I’m confident that the Venezuelan people will ensure that Maduro’s days are numbered,” Mr Pompeo told CNN.

      Two people died in Saturday’s clashes between civilians and troops loyal to Mr Maduro, who blocked aid deliveries.

      Self-declared interim President Juan Guaidó said Mr Maduro must resign.

      Mr Guaidó, who has been recognised as interim leader by more than 50 countries, has called on other nations to consider “all measures” to oust Mr Maduro after opposition-led efforts to bring in aid descended into clashes.

      He also said he would attend a meeting of mostly Latin American countries in Colombia on Monday, despite being under a travel ban imposed by Mr Maduro. US Vice-President Mike Pence will represent Washington at the talks in Bogota.

      A senior White House official said on Sunday that Mr Pence was planning to announce “concrete steps” and “actions” in addressing the crisis at the talks on Monday, Reuters news agency reported.

      Meanwhile, Colombia and Brazil said they would intensify pressure on Mr Maduro to relinquish power. US President Donald Trump has not ruled out an armed response to the Venezuela crisis.

      Image copyright
      EPA

      Image caption

      Venezuelan police prevented aid crossing the Simon Bolivar International Bridge

      Image copyright
      EPA

      Image caption

      Protesters at the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge on the border between Cucuta, Colombia, and Venezuela

      Separately on Sunday, a boat carrying US aid from Puerto Rico to Venezuela was forced to dock on the small Dutch territory island of Curaçao after it was intercepted by the Venezuelan navy off the northern coast, AFP news agency reports.

      The vessel was reportedly loaded with nine cargo containers filled with food and medicine.

      Image copyright
      Getty Images

      Image caption

      The supply ship that was forced to dock on the island of Curaçao

      Mr Maduro, who says he is the legitimate president and is backed by key economic allies including Russia, Cuba and China, has warned that deliveries of foreign aid would open the way for US military intervention.

      Mr Guaidó, who declared himself interim president last month, argues that alleged irregularities with the nation’s 2018 election render Mr Maduro’s leadership illegitimate.

      What happened at the border on Saturday?

      Venezuela’s opposition had intended to peacefully bring aid trucks over the borders with Brazil and Colombia.

      Mr Guaidó had pledged that the aid would come into the country on Saturday. In response, Mr Maduro partly closed the country’s borders.

      Venezuelans civilians attempted to cross in order to get to the stores of food and medicine, but the attempt quickly descended into bloody violence.

      Soldiers opened fire against civilians, using a mixture of live ammunition and rubber bullets.

      Image copyright
      Reuters

      Image caption

      A demonstrator runs into barbed wire strung across a street in Ureña

      At least two people including a 14-year-old boy were killed, human rights groups said.

      There were also reports that some aid stockpiled on the border had been burned. Mr Pompeo described the reports as “sickening”.

      “Our deepest sympathies to the families of those who have died due to these criminal acts,” he wrote on Twitter. “We join their demand for justice.”

      Media captionVenezuela-Colombia border turns violent

      At least 60 soldiers had defected by late Saturday, according to Colombia’s migration service, but most of the military appeared to still be loyal to Mr Maduro.

      Video footage showed Venezuelan soldiers crashing their armoured vehicles into the border with Colombia in order to defect.

      Another video posted on social media appeared to show four soldiers publicly denouncing the president and announcing their support for Guaidó.

      Media captionThe moment Venezuelan troops crashed through border into Colombia

      Mr Guaidó promised the defectors amnesty if they joined the “right side of history”.

      Late on Saturday, Colombia’s government estimated the number of injured at border crossings to be about 300.

      Amnesty International described the use of live ammunition by Venezuelan troops as a crime under international law.

      How has Maduro reacted?

      President Maduro has ignored international calls to hold new elections. He has accused Mr Guaidó of being an “American pawn” and an “imperialist beggar”.

      As protests got under way at Venezuela’s borders, Mr Maduro staged a rally in Caracas.

      “Take your hands off Venezuela, Donald Trump,” he told a cheering crowd.

      The US is leading the international effort to pressure Mr Maduro, and has implemented a raft of financial sanctions against his government.

      How did we get to this point?

      The humanitarian aid stockpiled in Colombia and Brazil is at the centre of a stand-off between Mr Maduro and Mr Guaidó that goes back to Mr Maduro’s disputed re-election in 2018.

      For several years Venezuela has been in the grip of a political and economic crisis.

      An out-of-control inflation rate has seen prices soar, leaving many Venezuelans struggling to afford basic items.

      More than three million people have fled Venezuela in recent years, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

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      Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47348293

      Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax stunned lawmakers Sunday with an impromptu speech comparing himself to lynching victims from the late-19th and early 20th centuries as he fights to remain in office amid sexual assault allegations.

      “I’ve heard much about anti-lynching on the floor of this very Senate, where people were not given any due process whatsoever, and we rue that,” Fairfax said from his rostrum in the Virginia State Senate, referencing legislation the General Assembly passed expressing “profound regret” for lynchings in Virginia between 1877 and 1950.

      “And, we talk about hundreds, at least 100 terror lynchings that have happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia under those very same auspices. And yet, we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing,” Fairfax added. His remarks, which lasted approximately five minutes, were greeted with stunned silence from state senators.

      Fairfax, who is black, has been accused of sexual assault by two women. One of them, Meredith Watson, accused Fairfax of raping her 19 years ago while they were undergraduates at Duke University. The other accuser, Vanessa Tyson, has claimed Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex on him in a Boston hotel room during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Tyson’s lawyer said last week that Tyson planned to meet with prosecutors in Massachusetts to detail her allegations.

      Republicans in the state’s House of Delegates last Friday announced plans to hold a public hearing where Fairfax, Tyson and Watson could testify, a move that Fairfax and some Democrats have panned as a political ploy. Watson requested such a hearing in an opinion piece published by The Washington Post last week.

      SECOND JUSTIN FAIRFAX ACCUSER CALLS FOR PUBLIC HEARING INTO ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS

      Fairfax has indicated he woud not participate in the hearing, leaving it an open question whether Republicans would try to compel him to testify. Fairfax has said the accusations should be investigated by law enforcement.

      House of Delegates Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, a Republican, said Fairfax’s comments about lynchings were highly inappropriate.

      “That is the worst, most disgusting type of rhetoric he could have invoked,” Gilbert said. “It’s entirely appropriate for him to talk about due process and we would intend to offer him every ounce of it, and he’s welcome to take advantage of that anytime he would like.”

      FAIRFAX ACCUSER CALLS ON VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS TO PROBE SEXUAL ASSAULT CLAIMS ‘IMMEDIATELY,’ WITH CLOCK TICKING

      Some black lawmakers did not object to Fairfax’s speech.

      “He said what he needed to say,” said Sen. Mamie Locke.

      Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Chairman Del. Lamont Bagby said he’s heard similar rhetoric from his constituents, who have expressed concerns that Fairfax is being treated unfairly because of his race.

      Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats and both white, are embroiled in their own scandal after acknowledging they wore blackface in the 1980s. Northam has resisted widespread calls to resign and instead said he intended to devote his remaining years in office to addressing the state’s deep and lingering racial divisions.

      The trio of scandals has rocked Virginia politics and exposed deep divides among Democrats.

      CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

      State Democrats have expressed fear that the uproar over the governor could jeopardize their chances of taking control of the GOP-dominated Virginia legislature this year. The party made big gains in 2017, in part because of a backlash against President Donald Trump, and has moved to within striking distance of a majority in both houses.

      At the same time, the Democrats nationally have taken a hard line against misconduct in their ranks; analysts have pointed out that women and minorities are a vital part of their base and they want to be able to criticize Trump’s behavior without appearing hypocritical.

      The Associated Press contributed to this report.

      Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/embattled-virginia-lt-gov-justin-fairfax-compares-himself-to-lynching-victims