monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Canadian Economy Halts – GDP Growth Drops to 0.1 Percent, and No-One Is Talking About Why…

[FP] Canada’s economy practically came to a halt in the final three months of 2018, in a much deeper-than-expected slowdown that brings the underlying strength of the expansion into doubt.

The country’s economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, for an annualized pace of 0.4 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday from Ottawa. That’s the worst quarterly performance in two and a half years, down from annualized 2 per cent in the third quarter and well below economist expectations for a 1 per cent annualized increase.

While a slowdown was widely expected in the final months of the year due to falling oil prices, it’s a much bleaker picture than anyone anticipated with weakness extending well beyond the energy sector. Consumption spending grew at the slowest pace in almost four years, housing fell by the most in a decade, business investment dropped sharply for a second straight quarter, and domestic demand posted its largest decline since 2015. (read more)

MontereyJack wrote:
You sound as if you've never actually looked at any of the multiple factchecks that chronicle trump's lies and mistruths with his own words and the cod hard facts that disagree with him.
oralloy responds::Well, I haven't.

oalloy continues:I don't care if Trump lies

IAN MILLHISER
MAR 2, 2019, 9:38 AM
Eight days after Judge Amy Berman Jackson threatened to jail former Trump adviser Roger Stone over an image posted on Stone's Instagram account that appeared to encourage violence against Judge Jackson, the Trump consigliere is in trouble again for failing to disclose the "imminent general rel[e]ase" of a book.

The US and South Korea have confirmed they will no longer hold large-scale joint military exercises which have always infuriated North Korea.

The alliance's defence chiefs said the decision supported "diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula".

A number of exercises were suspended last year after US President Donald Trump met North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

North Korea regards the games as preparation for a military invasion.

The defence ministers from the US and South Korea agreed to end the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve series of exercises in a phone call on Saturday.

neptuneblue wrote:

IAN MILLHISER
MAR 2, 2019, 9:38 AM
Eight days after Judge Amy Berman Jackson threatened to jail former Trump adviser Roger Stone over an image posted on Stone's Instagram account that appeared to encourage violence against Judge Jackson, the Trump consigliere is in trouble again for failing to disclose the "imminent general rel[e]ase" of a book.

It's time to ask a higher court to replace the judge I think.

That is a poorly-written article. The image did not in any way appear to encourage violence against either the judge or anyone else.

US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has condemned a poster linking her to the 9/11 attacks displayed at a Republican stall in the West Virginia legislature.

She said the "anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist" encouraged threats of violence against her.

West Virginia Republicans said they did not support hate speech and had told the exhibitor to remove the poster.

Ms Omar was elected last November, one of the first two Muslim women to have been elected to the US Congress.

The poster at Friday's West Virginia Republican Day in the state legislature in the town of Charleston showed her and the burning twin towers in New York alongside the words: "Never forget - you said. I am the proof - you have forgotten."

In response Ms Omar said the image showed why she was the target of threats.

"No wonder I am on the 'hitlist' of a domestic terrorist and 'Assassinate Ilhan Omar' is written on my local gas stations," she said.

"Look no further, the GOP's [Republican] anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them."

Ms Omar's mention of a hitlist appears to refer to an alleged plot by a self-proclaimed white nationalist. Christopher Paul Hasson had a cache of weapons and a list of targets including Ms Omar and other prominent Democratic politicians.

The poster of Ms Omar was next to a poster for ACT for America, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a rights group, lists ACT for America as "an anti-Muslim hate group".

However, ACT said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the poster of Ms Omar and had a "zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination".

The West Virginia House of Delegates Anne Lieberman later resigned after she was accused in the House of making an Islamophobic remark.

Democratic Delegate Michael Angelucci said that during the row over the poster Anne Lieberman said all Muslims were terrorists.

Ms Lieberman declined to comment when contact by AP news agency.

Last month Ms Omar apologised for tweets implying US lawmakers only supported Israel because of lobby money.

"Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes," she said.

Which is why it's time to ask a higher court to remove the judge from the case.

Witch hunts are bad.

The Islamic State group may have lost all its territory in Syria but a rival jihadist group has been making gains in the last remaining opposition stronghold in the north of the country - and it has got residents nervous.

In a dramatic takeover last month, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept through towns and villages in Idlib province, as well as adjoining parts of Aleppo and Hama.

The group - which was known as al-Nusra Front before it broke off formal ties with al-Qaeda three years ago - expelled some rebel factions and forced others to surrender and recognise a "civil administration" it backs.

With almost 20,000 fighters in its ranks, HTS wants to impose strict Islamic rule in areas it controls. Civilians say the group's practices are similar to those of IS.

Hiba, a civil society worker in her mid-20s based in western Aleppo countryside, worries that women like her will be deprived of their rights, similar to what IS did in areas it captured.

International aid organisations have already suspended their work fearing reprisals by the group.

"This will affect many women who work with these organisations, and who earn their living and are empowered by the work," Hiba warned.

Most residents of areas that have fallen to HTS do not support the group's agenda.

"This is what we have been facing for the past eight years; someone who opposes us and tries to exterminate us," said Issam Khatib, who runs a Turkey-based civil society organisation that operates in western Aleppo.

Mohammed, who lives in the same area, told the BBC that HTS did not represent the people and was not welcome there.

"This black colour is imposed on us," he said, in reference to the extremist agenda the group holds.

"We really don't know who supports them; they have a power where no-one is able to face them."

The HTS takeover has also jeopardised the truce brokered by Turkey and Russia that has spared the 2.9 million civilians living in the enclave - including close to one million children - from a bloody government assault and a humanitarian disaster.

The truce deal established a demilitarised buffer zone running along the front line to separate opposition and government forces. Rebels were required to pull their heavy weapons out of the zone, and jihadists were told to withdraw altogether.

Residents are worried that the government, which is supported by Russia and Iran, will use the jihadists' gains as justification to resume their bombardment and eventually launch a full-scale ground offensive.

There have been sporadic clashes along the front line since the truce began in September. But in recent weeks Idlib has been shaken by government shelling that has killed more than a dozen civilians, as well as a number of bomb attacks blamed on IS sleeper cells.

Some residents are pinning their hopes on Turkey to intervene to save the truce and curb HTS's power.

One Turkish newspaper close to the government has reported that 15,000 HTS fighters are willing to join the so-called National Army, a force created by Turkey in an attempt to unify the opposition in north-western Syria.

"For me this is a sign there is some sort of a deal to avoid a major regime offensive," said Mr Khatib.

However, President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, where they have been supporting a Kurdish militia battling IS, may change the dynamics.

Turkey considers the militia, the People's Protection Units, an extension of a banned Kurdish rebel group in Turkey and it has vowed to set up a "security zone" with its allies inside Syria to prevent cross-border attacks.

The presence of HTS - which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, along with the UN, the US and other Western powers - has already hit civilians living in opposition-held north-western Syria hard.

At the end of September, the US and UK stopped aid they funded going through the key Bab al-Hawa crossing on Turkey's border with Idlib, saying they wanted to prevent extremists from benefiting from taxes they imposed on aid lorries.

And after the latest HTS offensive, some international agencies suspended funding for medical services, prompting local health authorities to warn that dozens of facilities would have to cease operations or rely on staff working without pay.

The UN has said it is still committed to its support for the millions of civilians in need throughout the opposition enclave.

But Sham, an architect involved in civil society initiatives in Idlib, said civilians there were very alarmed by international funding cuts.

"Those who have a job today will lose it tomorrow," she said. "Education, health facilities, and many other services will be affected."

It is still not clear what will happen in the enclave, as the situation is still so fluid. But the fears of the civilians living there will not change.

Revoking bail for frivolous reasons is a clear sign of a witch hunt.