"5 former presidents aid hurricane relief effort" by Will Weissert Associated Press October 21, 2017
AUSTIN, Texas — The five living former presidents appeared together for the first time since 2013 on Saturday at a concert to raise money for victims of devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter and Republicans George H.W. and George W. Bush gathered on stage in College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University, putting aside politics to try to unite the country after the storms, in contrast with President Trump, who has vowed to help Texas and Florida for as long as it takes but has criticized Puerto Rican leaders while suggesting aid there won't be unlimited.
Curious as to why the web version altered what I read in print, but anyway.
What, the White House press office call his editor?
Also see: Many in Texas, Florida still waiting for federal aid after hurricanes
Nothing about Puerto Rico?
Texas A&M is home to the presidential library of the elder Bush. At 93, he has a form of Parkinson’s disease and appeared in a wheelchair at the event. His wife, Barbara, and George W. Bush’s wife, Laura Bush, were in the audience. The concert featured the country music band Alabama, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “Soul Man” Sam Moore, gospel legend Yolanda Adams, and Texas musicians Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen.
Earlier on Saturday, President Trump recorded a video greeting that avoided his past criticism of the former presidents and called them ‘‘some of America’s finest public servants.’’
‘‘This wonderful effort reminds us that we truly are one nation under God, all unified by our values and devotion to one another,’’ Trump said in the message.
The last time the five were together was in 2013, when Obama was still in office, at the dedication of George W. Bush’s presidential library in Dallas.
There is precedent for former presidents joining forces for post-disaster fund-raising. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton raised money together after the 2004 South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina the next year. Clinton and George W. Bush combined to seek donations after Haiti’s 2011 earthquake.
Where did all that Haiti aid money go anyway, other than building Bill Clinton a new hotel for his overnighters?
‘‘It’s certainly a triple, if not a home run, every time,’’ said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.
‘‘Presidents have the most powerful and prolific fund-raising base of any politician in the world,’’ Rottinghaus said. “When they send out a call for help, especially on something that’s not political, they can rake in big money.’’
YUP!
It's called cri$i$ capitali$m and it's a form of looting well-intentioned, good-hearted Americans.
Rottinghaus said the ex-presidents attending Saturday’s concert were always going to be viewed more favorably because polling consistently shows that ‘‘any ex-president is seen as less polarizing than the current president.’’
‘‘They can’t get away from the politics of the moment,’’ he said of current White House occupants. ‘‘Ex-presidents are able to step back and be seen as the nation’s grandfather.’’
That's when I had to stop reading and head for the porcelain god.
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I think I'll choose the guy on the left.
As for the others, all war criminals with a sexual harasser that gets a pass from the pre$$ and public.
Right below that pos was this:
"Trump says he will release final set of documents on Kennedy assassination" by Michael D. Shear New York Times October 21, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump says he has decided to release a final batch of thousands of classified government documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as president, the long blocked and classified JFK files to be opened,” Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday.
Even so, I don't think Trump has anything to worry about other than ‘‘character assassination,’’ although Democrats are calling him an ‘‘existential threat’’ that must be eliminated.
The release of the information being held in secret at the National Archives was mandated to occur by Oct. 26 under a 1992 law that sought to quell conspiracy theories about the assassination.
The material is expected to include about 3,000 documents that have never been seen by the public, and more than 30,000 that have been previously released with redactions, the Associated Press reported.
Trump has the power to block the release of the documents, and intelligence agencies have pressured him to do so for at least some of them. The agencies are concerned that information contained in some of the documents could damage national security interests.
HOW? The event was over 53 years ago.
There must be certain names connected to it that would reflect badly on current members of the family, etc.
Makes you wonder about Reagan, doesn't it?
The truth is, after that Bush was acting president. All the national security stuff, Iran-Contra, etc, were through his office.
The president did not make clear what he meant when he said in his tweet that the release of the documents would be “subject to the receipt of further information.” A White House official did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking clarification.
It is not known what revelations might be in the unreleased documents, though researchers and authors of books about Kennedy say they do not expect any bombshells that alter the official narrative of the assassination — that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in Dallas — delivered in 1964 by the Warren Commission.
PFFFT, yup!
That's why I'm not giving this rollout of a turd much attention.
With the deadline to release the remaining documents fast approaching, Trump had been under increasing pressure from advocates of transparency not to hold back any of the documents from the public on the grounds of national security.
Conspiracy theorists have long clamored for what they hope will be evidence to prove that the government covered up the truth about the killing.
Then those "conspiracy theorists" are either idiots or fools because this government is never going to release a smoking gun. This is just another lame and late, limited hangout -- with the kicker likely being that Russia was behind it all! The humiliation of missile crisis, you know, even though it is JFK who blinked (unlike official narrative). The Cuban missiles were defensive, otherwise they would have been fired. Kennedy agreed to stand down in Turkey. He blinked, thank God.
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JFK would have been in his 90s now had he lived.
Oh, you can add another grandfather to the list:
"His friends and fellow senators say, he has carved out a new role for himself on Capitol Hill: elder statesman and truth-teller....."
(Back to the toilet)
More of a truth-teller:
"Steve Bannon faults George W. Bush for ‘destructive’ presidency" by Michael R. Blood Associated Press October 21, 2017
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Former White House adviser Steve Bannon depicted former President George W. Bush as bumbling and inept, faulting him for presiding over a ‘‘destructive’’ presidency during his time in the White House.
Bannon’s scathing remarks on Friday night amounted to a retort to a Bush speech in New York last week, in which the 43rd president denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics and warned that the rise of ‘‘nativism,’’ isolationism, and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation’s true identity.
F*** him, although bringing up conspiracy theories at a gathering of such globalists means they are shitting bricks. They wouldn't even mention it if things were all right.
Now, I'm not a big fan of Bannon because AmeriKan politics and the pre$$ coverage surrounding them are nothing but a Zionist funnel; however, he gets some cheers for this:
But Bannon, speaking to a capacity crowd at a California Republican Party convention, said Bush had embarrassed himself and didn’t know what he was talking about.
Bannon said Bush has no idea whether ‘‘he is coming or going, just like it was when he was president.’’
‘‘There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush’s,’’ Bannon added, as boos could be heard in the crowd at the mention of Bush’s name.
The remarks came during a speech thick with attacks on the Washington status quo, echoing his call for an ‘‘open revolt’’ against establishment Republicans. He called the ‘‘permanent political class’’ one of the great dangers faced by the country.
He is right insofar as it goes.
A small group of protesters gathered outside the hotel where Bannon spoke, chanting and waving signs — one displaying a Nazi swastika. The protesters were kept behind steel barricades on a plaza across an entrance road at the hotel, largely out of view of people entering for the event. No arrests were reported.
Bannon also took aim at the Silicon Valley and its ‘‘lords of technology,’’ predicting that tech leaders and progressives in the state would try to secede from the union in 10 to 15 years. He called the threat to break up the nation a ‘‘living problem.’’
He also tried to cheer long-suffering California Republicans, who operate in a state that Trump lost by over 4 million votes and where the GOP has become largely irrelevant in state politics.
In Orange County, where the convention was held, several Republican House members are trying to hold onto their seats in districts carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential contest.
‘‘You’ve got everything you need to win,’’ he told them.
The crowd gave Bannon a standing ovation at the end of his speech.
Bannon is promoting a field of primary challengers to take on incumbent Republicans in Congress. But in California, the GOP has been fading for years.
What's up with the fires, btw?
The state has become a kind of Republican mausoleum: GOP supporters can relive the glory days by visiting the stately presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, but today Democrats control every statewide office and rule both chambers of the Legislature by commanding margins.
No wonder California is such a mess.
Not all Republicans were glad to see Bannon.....
Like who?
"During two television interviews Sunday, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell sharply criticized former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and others trying to knock off Republican incumbents as ‘‘specialists at nominating people who lose.’’ McConnell was asked about Bannon’s efforts to find primary opponents for all but one of the Senate Republicans running for reelection next year. McConnell argued that the kind of candidates Bannon and others are supporting will not have the broad appeal needed to win general elections in some of those states. ‘‘The kind of people that are supported by the element that you've just been referring to are specialists in defeating Republican candidates in November, and that’s what this interparty skirmish is about,’’ McConnell said on ‘‘Fox News Sunday.’’ ‘‘Our goal is to nominate people in the primaries next year who can actually win’’ in the general election. Trump would sign an interim bill only if it also lifts the tax penalties that Obama’s health care law imposes on people who don’t buy coverage and employers who don’t offer plans to employees. The White House is also focused on taxes....."
Did anyone tell McConnell that Trump won (and so did Judge Moore)?
Going the way of the Dems, Mitch, and that tax plan isn't getting much attention.
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They are crazy in Kansas and corrupt in Kentucky.
"In the middle of a Jewish cemetery in East Boston, a chapel from 1903 is the future home of a center that will tell Greater Boston’s immigration story. During a time when the Trump administration is restricting immigration, a host of efforts honoring immigrants and their contributions are gaining momentum in Boston and beyond....."
Well, you can see jwho is behind that agenda.
"Trump’s travel ban has already cost the US billions in tourism" by Christopher Muther Globe Staff October 18, 2017
When President Trump issued his first travel ban, industry analysts predicted it would send a chilly message to travelers around the world and result in a swift drop in the number of tourists to the United States.
Now, studies show those predictions may have become reality.
May have?
The travel order, a source of confusion and fear among some foreign travelers, has already resulted in a loss of billions of dollars to the US economy.
And yet stocks at record highs and the government claims the job market is as healthy as it has been in years!!!
Experts say each time the ban makes headlines, it turns off more travelers from a potential US visit.
“There has been a Trump slump, and the strong dollar has compounded it,” said Olivier Jager, chief executive of ForwardKeys. “This must be worrying for the US economy.”
WTF?
Another potential factor driving away foreign travelers is the global perception of the United States.
Its favorability rating has dropped to 49 percent, meaning less than half the world is with them.
In addition to the strong dollar, tourism to the United States has been affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Maria and could see further setbacks following this month’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Well, that's price you pay for staged and scripted false flag fictions and geo-engineered events to convince you of catastrophic global climate change.
A recent tourism council report on tourism in North America outlined just how critical travel dollars are to the US economy. Tourist-related products and services added $24 billion to New York City’s gross domestic product in 2016. According to the US Travel Association, tourism supports one in nine US jobs.
Brand USA, a marketing organization that promotes tourism to the United States through a combination of government and private funding, recently launched a campaign to try to alter the perception that the country is inhospitable. Dubbed “One Big Welcome,” the promotion includes a video showing locals in key travel destinations such as Hawaii and New York talking up their hometowns.
According to Christopher Thompson, chief executive of Brand USA, much of the early discussion surrounding the drop in foreign tourists was centered on the Trump administration’s ban and the president’s focus on safety. Instead, he thinks the lagging numbers are a result of a strong dollar.
“Overall, numbers from the Department of Commerce are down, but when I talk to our industry partners, we’re getting very mixed signals as to whether it’s up or down,” he said.
Yeah, tell me about it!
Michael Bellisario, an analyst at R.W. Baird, agreed that it’s difficult to determine if the drop in tourism is a result of the dollar or the travel ban but said new headlines surrounding the latest ban certainly won’t stem the losses.
“There’s really no positive to be found in the latest news and all this negativity,” he said.
There may be some hope that more foreign tourists are beginning to return. Still, there is industrywide concern.....
What was that about very mixed signals?
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Trump is just trying to keep us safe, right?
"New York officials fear closing of US lab combating terror threats" New York Times October 22, 2017
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security plans to close a New York lab that has helped the city’s police and fire departments develop systems to detect nuclear and biological threats, a move some officials fear could hamper efforts to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks.
The radiological program that the National Urban Security Technology Laboratory developed with the New York Fire Department is widely considered the national standard.
The lab has also worked on combatting drug trafficking and money laundering.
“The lab has provided an invaluable amount of information to us over the years, including helping us understand biological and nuclear threats when nobody understood that stuff,” said Gerard McCarty, director of emergency management at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The Trump administration has proposed closing the lab as part of larger cuts it envisions at Homeland Security.
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So when is the false flag scheduled to go live?
"A Cub Scout was kicked out of his den after he questioned a Colorado lawmaker about gun control and comments she had made about African-Americans’ health and fried chicken. Ames Mayfield, 11, posed the questions at an Oct. 9 event in Broomfield. Cub Scouts had been told to be prepared to talk to Republican state Senator Vicki Marble about important issues. Ames’s mother, Lori Mayfield, said a local scout leader later told her that the topic of gun control was inappropriate because of its political nature and that the boy’s questions were disrespectful. The Boy Scouts, which includes the Cub Scouts, refused to comment on why the boy was asked to leave but said he will remain in scouting after finding a new group. In videos recorded by Lori Mayfield, scouts asked why people wanted to vote for Barack Obama just because he was black and about Trump’s proposed US-Mexico border wall. It was unclear which scouts asked the questions....."
I'm told ‘‘there is something wrong in our country where Republicans believe it’s a right to own a gun but a privilege to have health care,’’ and all I can say is read your Constitution.
What does it mean to be a Boy Scout anyway?
Training for future work is all it is:
Newly assertive CIA expands its Taliban hunt in Afghanistan
Doing the same in Somalia as the wars go covert and hidden from public view.
US-backed forces take Syria’s largest oil field from ISIS
Here is why (so when are the U.S. foreign fighters coming home, Rex?), and isn't it the Arabian Gulf now?
This is meaningless, readers.
You know what the source of all the problems in the region are, right?
See what happens when you try to help Palestinians?
Thankfully, the AmeriKan MIC will preserve the AmeriKan Dream (“The government’s policies sound good, but we don’t see the benefits” ).
I'm glad there hasn't been anything regarding Korea the last few days.
Time for taps.
