monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

New York's Guggenheim museum has turned down a request from President Donald Trump to borrow Van Gogh's work for the White House - instead offering him a gold toilet, media reports say.

The museum apologised for not being able to furnish the White House with Van Gogh's Landscape With Snow, the Washington Post says.

But the Guggenheim suggested a "solid, 18-karat toilet" could be offered as an alternative.

The White House has made no comment.

Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier has won a landmark case in the US, overturning a decision to impose huge 292% tariffs on imports of its C-Series planes, partly built in the UK.

It follows a ruling by the US Commerce Department in December that the UK and Canada had given it unfair subsidies.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed the ruling - which safeguards thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland.

But it's seen as a blow to US President Trump's "America first" trade policy.

Bombardier had been widely expected to lose the case, which followed a complaint by its US rival, Boeing.

But in a surprise ruling, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favour of the Canadian firm.

Mrs May said it was "good news" for UK industry.

"Bombardier and its innovative workforce play a vital role in the Northern Ireland economy," she said.

The ITC voted 4-0 in favour of Bombardier, ruling that there was no injury to US manufacturers.

Tariffs of 292% will not now be imposed on orders of C-Series planes by US airlines.

The Trump administration has signed a $24m contract with Boeing to replace two food chilling systems aboard Air Force One, the president’s plane, according to reports.

The systems are two of five such “chillers” aboard Air Force One, which must be equipped with a refrigeration capacity to handle 3,000 meals, according to military specifications.

That’s enough to feed the president and 50 of his closest friends three meals a day for three weeks. And that’s assuming the president never indulged in his favorite plane fare: fast food.

The $24m price tag, upon which Boeing declined to comment, amounts to enough taxpayer money to fund an estimated eight weekends for the president at Mar-a-Lago, which Trump visited 11 times in his first year as president.

Or the cash could be used to provide security at Trump Tower in New York City, where the president no longer lives, for about two months.

As president-elect, Trump trashed Boeing’s stock by attacking on Twitter the high-priced Air Force One program.

“Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion,” Trump tweeted. “Cancel order!”

It’s not clear where Trump got the $4bn figure; at the time Boeing had a $170m contract to begin work on the next Air Force One.

More Americans are seeking medical care for flu than at any time since the "swine" pandemic of nearly a decade ago, say US health officials.

Thirty-seven children have died and nearly 12,000 patients have been admitted to hospital nationwide.

The outbreak could surpass 2014-15 when 34 million Americans fell ill, says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In that season, 710,000 people were admitted to hospital and 56,000 died.

The director of the CDC, Dr Daniel Jernigan, said thousands of people were going to doctor's offices and emergency rooms to seek treatment for flu-like symptoms.

"This is the highest level of activity recorded since the 2009 pandemic," he said.

All 50 states excluding Hawaii are reporting "widespread" flu activity.

A 12-year-old boy in Florida, described by his family as a healthy child, became one of the latest to die from the virus.

Dylan Winnick died on Tuesday a day after developing a fever, according to stunned family members.

In 2014-15 the number of child deaths from flu reached 148.

Schools in at least 12 states have closed this year because of the deadly virus.

Also being mourned is Karlie Illg Slaven, 37, who died on Monday in Indiana from a flu-related illness after taking care of her two sick children.

Her distraught father is advising the public to get a flu shot, saying his daughter was the only household member not to have been vaccinated for the virus.

Mother-of-two Tandy Harmon died last week in Oregon after being diagnosed only two days earlier.

Dr Jernigan said baby-boomers - those in the 50 to 64 age bracket - are currently being hit particularly hard.

The 2009 swine flu pandemic was exceptionally widespread because it was a new virus.

However, the H3N2 virus that has swept the nation this year is the most deadly of the so-called "seasonal" strains.

The strain, also known as the "Aussie flu", has been around for 50 years and was first called the "Hong Kong flu" in 1968.

H3N2 also wreaked havoc during the 1997-98 and 2003-04 seasons, and is known to be particularly harmful for young children and the elderly.

But the Guggenheim suggested a "solid, 18-karat toilet" could be offered as an alternative...The White House has made no comment.

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The Weinstein scandal put Hollywood’s hypocrisy in broad daylight. RT if you agree the DNC should return his donations.
7:45 AM - 9 Oct 2017

President Donald Trump’s legal team has been studying a 1990s federal court ruling that could be the basis for delaying, limiting or avoiding an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar the matter.

Mr. Trump this week told reporters he was “looking forward” to speaking to the special counsel’s office, which has already interviewed more than 20 members of his White House staff.

“I would love to do it, and I would like to do it as soon as possible,” the president said.

Yet he also said that any decision about testifying before prosecutors looking into possible obstruction of justice on his part would be “subject to my lawyers,” whose interest is to spare Mr. Trump any legal jeopardy.

Mr. Mueller’s investigation is looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow during the campaign and whether the president obstructed justice when he fired former FBI Director James Comey, who initiated the probe.

Mr. Trump has denied both accusations, and Russia has said it didn’t meddle in the campaign.

Granting Mr. Mueller an interview poses legal risks that some people close to the president find unacceptable. The 1997 case potentially gives Mr. Trump some leverage.

In that case, a federal appeals court ruled that presidents and their closest advisers enjoy protections against having to disclose information about their decision-making process or official actions.

The court ruled that prosecutors hoping to overcome arguments of executive and presidential privilege must show that such information contains “important evidence” that isn’t available elsewhere.

A central piece of Mr. Mueller’s inquiry is Mr. Trump’s decision in May to fire Mr. Comey.

The Mueller team is examining whether the action amounted to obstruction of justice, a finding that could touch off impeachment proceedings.

Legal scholars said that Mr. Trump’s lawyers could invoke the 1997 case to obtain more favorable terms of any voluntary interview Mr. Trump gives, because a court fight over an interview or grand jury testimony could take months to resolve.

The president has taken shifting positions on the investigation. He has denounced it as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax,” but also said he believes Mr. Mueller will treat him fairly.

U.S. Abandons Kurdish Allies...Again

The Trump administration has apparently caved in to the demands of the Turkish dictator Erdogan and will no longer provide support to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. The Kurdish fighting forces have been continually exploited by the Western powers, armed, trained, and sent into combat with meaningless promises of an eventual Kurdish homeland — which never happens. Maybe they'll wise up and rise up one of these days.
Reuters

The Turkish presidency said in a statement on Saturday that Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan, and U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster held a phone call on Friday in which McMaster confirmed the United States would no longer provide weapons to the YPG.

In a sign of growing bilateral tensions, Ankara and Washington disagreed over the main message of a phone call between Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump held on Wednesday.

The White House said Trump had urged Erdogan to curtail the military operation in Syria, while Turkey said Erdogan had told Trump that U.S. troops should withdraw from Manbij.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said she had seen media reports about the phone call, but was not aware of any change in U.S. posture.

The Turkish presidency said Kalin and McMaster had agreed for Turkey and the United States to remain in close coordination to “avoid misunderstandings”.

That headline and intro was mine, layman.

U.S. to end weapons support for Syrian Kurdish YPG, Turkey says

You're right. I shouldn't believe everything written, however, there's a long history of the Kurds getting shafted and so it wouldn't surprise me if this is true, and if it is, it's shameful.

But the history of the West abandoning the Kurds is there for all to see.