monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Donald Trump Jr. slammed the news network Saturday, claiming in a tweet that it had refused to run a racist immigration-related ad that had been sponsored by Donald J. Trump for President.

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What are Republicans lying about? As I said, almost everything. But there are two big themes. They lie about their agenda, pretending that their policies would help the middle and working classes when they would, in fact, do the opposite. And they lie about the problems America faces, hyping an imaginary threat from scary dark-skinned people and, increasingly, attributing that threat to Jewish conspirators.

Both classes of lie are rooted in the real G.O.P. agenda.

What Republicans truly stand for, and have for decades, is cutting taxes on the rich and slashing social programs. Sure enough, last year they succeeded in ramming through a huge tax cut aimed mainly at corporations and the wealthy, and came within one vote of passing a health “reform” that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would have caused 32 million Americans to lose health coverage.

The G.O.P.’s problem is that this agenda is deeply unpopular. Large majorities of Americans oppose cuts in major social programs, while most voters want to raise, not reduce, taxes on corporations and high-income individuals.

But instead of changing their agenda to meet voters’ concerns, Republicans have resorted to a strategy of deception and distraction. On one side, they have gone full black-is-white, up-is-down on policy substance. Most spectacularly, they are posing as defenders of protection for people with pre-existing conditions — protection that their failed health bill would have stripped away, and which they are now trying to take away through the courts. And they’re claiming that Democrats are the ones threatening Medicare.

On the other side, they’re resorting to their old standby: race-based fear.

But selling racial fear was easier in the 1980s and early 1990s, when America really was suffering from high levels of inner-city crime. Since then, violent crime has plunged. What’s a fearmonger to do? The answer is: lie.

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Bahrain's opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, has been handed a life sentence after the Court of Appeal found him guilty of spying for Qatar.

The ruling comes just months after the Bahraini High Court of First Tier acquitted Salman of the charge of "colluding" with the rival state.

Bahrain cut ties with Qatar in 2017.

Human rights group Amnesty has described the decision as a "travesty of justice" amid Bahrain's "continued crackdown on dissent".

"This verdict... demonstrates the Bahraini authorities' relentless and unlawful efforts to silence any form of dissent," Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Heba Morayef said.

"Sheikh Ali Salman is a prisoner of conscience who is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression."

The Nigerian army has cited a video of US President Donald Trump, in which he says soldiers should respond with force to migrants throwing stones, to justify opening fire on a Shia group this week.

"When they throw rocks... consider it as a rifle," Mr Trump says in the clip.

Nigerian police have arrested 400 members of a Shia Muslim sect after days of deadly protests in the capital.

Amnesty International has criticised Nigeria's army for the killings, saying the Shia protesters were peaceful.

But a spokesman for the Nigerian army says their decision to fire live rounds at protesters in Abuja was justified because they were armed, telling the BBC "this is what [Mr] Trump was talking about".

The army's official Twitter account shared the video adding the caption "please watch and make your deductions".

The clip shows the US president saying, in reference to Central American migrants, "they want to throw rocks at our military, [then] our military fights back".

Nigeria Army spokesman Brig Gen John Agim says the army posted the video in reaction to the rights group's report accusing the army of using weapons against Shia protesters.

The army did not mention the fact that the US embassy in Abuja has urged Nigerian authorities to "take appropriate action to hold accountable those responsible for violations of Nigerian law".

The number of Shia Muslim protesters killed by Nigeria's army in the capital, Abuja, in clashes which began at the weekend, has not been independently verified.

The Nigerian army says six protesters have been killed, but the protest group itself says dozens died, and rights group Amnesty International says the true number is 45.

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), have been demanding the release of their leader Ibraheem Zakzaky who has been in custody for 34 months.

Disputing Amnesty's statement that protesters were unarmed, Brig Agim told the BBC "police found 31 petrol bombs with the protesters as well as guns, knives and stones".

"The Shia people always obstruct the work we're doing," he added, saying they had blocked an arms convoy at the weekend and overrun a checkpoint on Monday.

Brig Agim said it was "not true that they were protesters", and described them as "the aggressors".

Bahrain is the home of America's 5th fleet.

Quote:

Bahrain is the home of America's 5th fleet.

Does anyone give a **** where the UK's fleet is, and do they have more than one?

Many years ago I was driving and listening to Dick Estell's Radio Reader and there was scene in the novel he was reading where thousands of refugees were lined up at the US/Mexican border where they confronted the US military — but I never found out what happened nor can I remember the name of the novel or the author.

Like many other news websites, Common Dreams has been plagued by inflammatory anti-Semitic comments following its stories. But on Common Dreams these posts have been so frequent and intense they have driven away donors from a nonprofit dependent on reader generosity.

A Common Dreams investigation has discovered that more than a thousand of these damaging comments over the past two years were written with a deceptive purpose by a Jewish Harvard graduate in his thirties who was irritated by the website's discussion of issues involving Israel.

His intricate campaign, which he has admitted to Common Dreams, included posting comments by a screen name, "JewishProgressive," whose purpose was to draw attention to and denounce the anti-Semitic comments that he had written under many other screen names.

What’s the likely impact from a U.S.-China trade war?

It’s not entirely clear. Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch have warned that a full-fledged trade war, especially one that lasts more than a year, would slow the U.S. economy.

By disrupting supply chains, eroding business confidence and heightening uncertainty, a trade war, they say, could “push the economy toward full-blown recession” and jeopardize America’s economic expansion — the second-longest on record.

Besides American soybean farmers, American manufacturers are also being squeezed. Machinery and components used in finished goods made in the United States have been affected. U.S. manufacturers are having to pay more for parts and equipment, thereby putting them at a competitive disadvantage to foreign rivals.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would provide up to $12 billion in emergency relief for farmers hurt by the president’s trade war, moving to blunt the financial damage to American agriculture and the political fallout for Republicans as the consequences of President Trump’s protectionist policies roll through the economy.

Unveiled two days before the president is scheduled to visit Iowa, a politically important state that is the nation’s top soybean producer, the farm aid appeared calculated to show that Mr. Trump cares about farmers and is working to protect them from the worst consequences of his trade war.