Home · News · News May 2018 · May 25 2018
Friday May 25, 2018

President Trump Is a Better Dealbreaker Than Dealmaker
NewYorker | Susan B. Glasser | 05/24/18

At 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, I was speaking with a senior Administration official involved in the preparations for President Trump's summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. The chances, the official told me, were still "seventy-thirty" that the summit would happen, in Singapore, on June 12th, despite increasingly jittery statements from both sides in recent days. By the time we talked again, after dinner, however, the prospects seemed to be dropping by the minute. The North Koreans had released a new statement in the hour since we had first spoken, calling remarks by Vice-President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid" and threatening to cancel the meeting and, instead, proceed with a "nuclear-to-nuclear showdown." "I saw that," the official said, referring to the bellicose new statement. "Well, maybe it's down to sixty-forty, but the point is we are planning for it."

Already, though, it was clear that the summit, which so recently had Trump openly musing about his prospects for a Nobel Peace Prize, was in serious doubt, and the official repeatedly returned to the question of the blame game that could ensue if the talks collapsed. He had been reviewing the long history of unsuccessful nuclear negotiations with North Korea, spanning three generations of the Kim family, and had concluded that, no matter what the facts, there was always an aggressive fight to affix responsibility. "Whenever talks have failed with North Korea," the Administration official observed, "it's been because of North Korea."

On Thursday morning, Trump called off the summit, writing in a testy letter to Kim that he was cancelling the meeting, "based on the tremendous anger and hostility displayed in your most recent statement." The blame game, it seemed, had already begun. ... Read more

The Chilling Effect of Trump's War on the FBI
TheAtlantic | Natasha Bertrand | 05/25/18

As the president ramps up his attacks on the law-enforcement and intelligence communities, long-standing damage to key agencies seems inevitable.

President Trump spent his early Wednesday morning, as he does many mornings, on Twitter. This time, he chose to weigh in on the "Criminal Deep State" and the claims that it embedded a spy in his presidential campaign as part of the federal investigation into Russia's election interference.

"They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before!" he wrote.

Much has been written in recent days about Trump's "new" strategy to discredit the Russia investigation. The president has been attacking both the investigators in the Russia probe and the news organizations that cover the investigation, all in an attempt to persuade the public that the probe has been tainted by bias from the start. The frequency of these attacks may be climbing, but Trump's tactics have actually remained remarkably consistent--beginning before he even took office. "Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to 'leak' into the public," Trump tweeted on January 11, 2017, referring to a dossier published by BuzzFeed that alleged collusion between his campaign team and Russia. "One last shot at me," he added. "Are we living in Nazi Germany?" ... Read more

Edward Snowden on Privacy in the Age of Trump and Facebook
Edward Snowden on Privacy in the Age of Trump and Facebook | TheIntercept | 05/25/18 | 1hr
EXACTLY FIVE YEARS ago this week, Edward Snowden absconded to Hong Kong with a trove of documents detailing the extent of the U.S. government's global and domestic surveillance programs. He soon found himself in exile in Russia and dubbed "the most wanted man in the world." The Snowden leaks started a new conversation about digital privacy and online security, and even led to changes in the law. But more recently we've discovered it isn't just Big Government that poses a massive threat to our privacy, but also Big Tech. Facebook, for example, exposed data on up to 87 million Facebook users to a researcher who worked at Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy employed by the Trump campaign. The issues of surveillance and privacy and mass data collection, not just by the government but by Big Tech firms like Facebook, are still as live and and as contentious as ever. On this week's episode of Deconstructed, Edward Snowden joins Mehdi Hasan from Moscow to discuss surveillance, tools that can help protect people's privacy, and the likelihood of a Trump-Putin deal to extradite him.
Elliott Broidy | wikipedia website
NPR.org | Fresh Air
Reporter Tells Of Persian Gulf Rivalries, Hacked Emails And A Mueller Subpoena | NPR Fresh Air | 05/23/18 | 1hr
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 25 [8:44]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 25 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
  1. Headlines
  2. As Trump Pulls Out of N. Korea Summit, Women Activists Head to DMZ to Promote Korean Peace Process
  3. "It Is About Bloody Time": Harvey Weinstein Assault Survivor Reacts to Arrest in NYC on Rape Charges
  4. Bill Cosby Rape Survivor Says Black Women Face Disproportionate Pressure Not to Speak Out on Assault
  5. Cuban Exile & CIA Agent Luis Posada Carriles Dies a Free Man in U.S. Despite Years of Terrorism
Trump-Jong Un Meeting Cancelled, But Can the Talks Survive? | TRNN | 05/24/18 | 14:57
Trump Torpedoes North Korea Talks Before They Start | TYT | 05/24/18 | 12:47
Trump Sets The Table For Another Crash, Bank Bailouts | TYT | 05/24/18 | 7:13
Justice Comes For Harvey Weinstein | TYT | 05/24/18 | 2:18
The1a.org
Friday News Roundup -- Domestic | 1a.org | 05/25/18 | 1hr
  1. This week, President Donald Trump canceled a planned summit with North Korea. "The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth," he wrote. (The commemorative coins are still available, though.)
  2. And the NFL said all athletes and staff must stand for the national anthem if they are on the field. Many outlets are reporting that some players are already thinking of new ways to protest, and the coach of the New York Jets says he will pay the fines of any players who wants to take a knee.
  3. The House voted to pull back some of the regulations in the Dodd-Frank banking bill. That legislation is on the President's desk, while the farm bill has stalled.
Friday News Roundup -- International | 1a.org | 05/25/18 | 1hr
  1. Ireland votes today on the repeal of their Eighth Amendment, which bans almost all types of abortion. The vote comes as citizens grapple with the role of the Catholic Church in the country.
  2. Saudi Arabia is cracking down again on gender equality activists, just weeks before a ban on women driving is supposed to be lifted. At least 11 activists were arrested for, in part, "undermining stability" and "suspicious contact with foreign parties," according to the BBC.
  3. And Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro was re-elected this week with 68 percent of the vote, amid a historic abstention rate of 52 percent. Maduro's main opposition party boycotted the vote. After President Trump signed new economic sanctions on the country, Maduro expelled the top U.S. diplomat
Mueller Probe's Many Threads Are Why Details Can't Be Public | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 05/24/18 | 21:47
President Trump's Unplanned N.K. Summit Dump Put Journalists In Cruel Danger | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 05/24/18 | 3:05
President Donald Trump Better At Breaking Than Making Deals: New Yorker | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 05/25/18 | 12:25
Joe: No Good Answer For Why Emmet Flood Attended Briefings | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 05/25/18 | 12:51
Summit Delayed In Dangerous Manner: Analyst | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 05/25/18 | 8:17
North Korea expresses willingness to resolve issues with US | FoxNews | 05/24/18 | 4:41
Newt Gingrich speaks out about deep state corruption | Hannity | FoxNews | 05/24/18 | 6:03
Newt Gingrich speaking about corruption is like the pot calling the kettle black.
Ingraham: The unbridled power of the surveillance state | FoxNews | 05/24/18 | 8:29
It is interesting they always bring up President Obama when it comes to Deep State, but never George Bush when the Deep State Apparatus was really being ramped up.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Michael Cohen's 'Taxi King' Partner Flips | Stephen Colbert | 05/24/18 | 4:23
The Commemorative Coin Spoke Too Soon | Stephen Colbert | 05/25/18 | 5:16
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Trump Cancels NK Summit, Pushes Crazy Spy Claim | Seth Meyers | 05/24/18 | 9:32
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Samantha Bee on Trump & Kellyanne Conway | Jimmy Kimmel | 05/25/18 | 4:08

05.25.2018. 10:51



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Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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