monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Wis. man allegedly steals guns, sends manifesto to Trump

On second thought, I think I'd probably just blackmail a few AK-47's out of him. He would go for that. ****, he has 60 of them.

The US military has ordered a navy strike group to move towards the Korean peninsula, amid growing concerns about North Korea's missile programme.

The Carl Vinson Strike Group comprises an aircraft carrier and other warships.

US Pacific Command described the deployment - now heading towards the western Pacific - as a prudent measure to maintain readiness in the region.

President Trump has said the US is prepared to act alone to deal with the nuclear threat from North Korea.

"The number one threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilising programme of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability," US Pacific Command spokesman Dave Benham said.
The strike group comprises the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, two guided-missile destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser.

As well as massive striking power, the carrier group has the capability to intercept ballistic missiles.

It was originally due to make port calls in Australia but instead has been diverted from Singapore to the west Pacific - where it recently conducted exercises with the South Korean Navy.

A Syrian refugee who was shouted down at a Stop the War demonstration says he "felt oppressed" by the group.

The protest in Downing Street on Friday evening was against the American attack on a Syrian airbase.

Hassan Akkad, from Damascus, asked why the group was not protesting against President Assad instead, but was drowned out.

He said: "British people not letting a Syrian say something about Syria in a protest about Syria. It's mad."
After a video of the encounter video was shared widely online, Mr Akkad told the BBC: "I didn't see them protesting against the chemical attacks, I didn't see them protesting against Putin bombing Syria for the last two years.

"I wanted to go to that protest and I wanted to observe.

"I went to the protest and I saw a group of 30 people with placards, not a single mention of Assad.

"All the placards are against Donald Trump and they're repeating baseless slogans with their megaphones."

He added: "I went to them respectfully and said, 'Listen I'm a Syrian refugee who lives here and I have an opinion, it's a protest about Syria I want to say something'.

"They didn't even address me, they ignored my existence. With their megaphones they went louder and louder and the organisers told them to carry on."

Mr Akkad left Syria in September 2015. He says he was imprisoned twice and tortured for protesting against Assad's regime.

He left his family there and made an 87-day journey to the UK.
Mr Akkad said when the US launched its attack on a Syrian airbase, it did so with "great accuracy" whereas, he said, Assad's bombers "literally shred people down".

"They [President's Assad's forces] have killed hundreds of thousands, we've lost our home, we were displaced, we were made refugees all because of the Assad regime," he said.
"People were tortured to death, chemical attacks, all sort of attacks barrel bombs shredding children and flattening down entire cities.

"So bombing Assad's war machines is in our favour because that means less Syrian civilians will die, less children will die."

After the group would not let Mr Akkad speak, he said: "I felt oppressed, it was like being back in Syria. Like how the Syrian police used to mute our voices.

"I'm not going to be silenced I have the right to say what I believe.

"I left the protest. I was angry, I was livid."

Bomb Attacks On Two Coptic Churches In Egypt Kill At Least 36, Injure More Than 100

TANTA/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 36 people were killed and more than 100 injured in bomb attacks on two Coptic churches on Palm Sunday, in the latest assault on a religious minority increasingly targeted by Islamist militants.
The first bombing, in Tanta, a Nile Delta city less than 100 kilometers outside Cairo, killed at least 25 and injured at least 78, Egypt’s Ministry of Health said.

The second, carried out just a few hours later by a suicide bomber in Alexandria, hit the historic seat of the Coptic Pope, killing 11, including three police officers, and injuring 35, the ministry added.

In February, Christian families and students fled Egypt’s North Sinai province after a spate of targeted killings.

Those attacks came after one of the deadliest on Egypt’s Christian minority, when a suicide bomber hit its largest Coptic cathedral, killing at least 25. Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egypt’s Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since Islamic State spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities. In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya were killed by Islamic State.

President Trump’s trips to his luxury Florida resort “have already cost the US taxpayer at least $24 million — roughly as much as Barack Obama spent on travel in the first two years of his presidency,” the Independent reports.

Some facts and rational analysis.

http://truepublica.org.uk/global/the-escalating-war-on-syria-and-need-for-international-law/

Seymour Hersh and Robert Parry concluded the attack was most likely carried out by militants with support from Turkey.

Glad our arrogant Pres. is enjoying his taxpayer funded golf outing after announcing the US should take military action against Syria

KOCH BROTHERS’ OPERATIVES FILL TOP WHITE HOUSE POSITIONS, ETHICS FORMS REVEAL

Newly disclosed ethics forms reveal that a significant number of senior Trump staffers were previously employed by the sprawling network of hard-right and libertarian advocacy groups financed and controlled by Charles and David Koch, the conservative duo hyper-focused on entrenching Republican power, eliminating taxes, and slashing environmental and labor regulations.

Some of the relationships were well-known. Marc Short, for instance, now Trump’s chief liaison to Congress, previously led Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the dark money nonprofit used by the Koch brothers and their donor cohort to dispense money to allied groups. Freedom Partners, which maintains an affiliate Super PAC, was at the center of the Kochs’ $750 million election effort during the campaign last year.

But the ethics forms, made available to the public on Friday evening, reveal a number of previously undisclosed financial ties between the Koch network and Trump’s inner circle of political aides.

Charles M. Blow‏Verified account @CharlesMBlow 10h10 hours ago
Tuck this feather in ur hat: Feds spent $100 mil to bomb airbase in Syria but couldn't find $55 mil to fix pipes in Flint #WhoCaresAboutKids

Sean Hannity tweet from 9/3/13

Quote:

Glad our arrogant Pres. is enjoying his taxpayer funded golf outing after announcing the US should take military action against Syria