Home · News · News May 2019 · May 15 2019
Wednesday May 15, 2019

2019 campaign: Trump vs. the world
Axios | Mike Allen | 05/15/19

President Trump is running a 2019 campaign against the world, picking fights on four continents and putting his pugilistic "America First" to a grand international test.

Why it matters: Trump has been buoyed for two years by a strong economy and relative global stability. Now, he may confront a hot war or a self-inflicted economic shock as he heads into the heat of his re-election campaign.

  1. China: The trade war looks increasingly likely to disrupt American business and create volatility in the capital markets. And, as Axios reported yesterday, the two sides are so far apart that the tariff fight could extend into 2020.
  2. Iran: The administration has begun serious war planning and the Pentagon has begun building up serious forces in the Persian Gulf, including an aircraft carrier strike group, and B-52 bombers and F-15 fighters flying deterrence sorties. America's allies in Europe are warning that the administration's actions may incite war.
  3. North Korea: Despite Trump's insistence that a deal remains in the works, Kim Jong-un's two missile tests were a clear effort to assert leverage.
  4. Venezuela: Conditions are worsening despite U.S. intervention, and the failed uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaidó has left thuggish, anti-American President Nicolás Maduro in power.
  5. Europe: The continent's leaders remain at odds with Trump across the board, most recently on his imposition of sanctions on countries that buy Iranian oil.
... Read more

'Hatred doesn't build overnight': behind the powerful Auschwitz exhibition
TheGuardian | Julianne McShane | 05/15/17

At the newly opened, largest-ever Auschwitz exhibition in North America, an extensive collection of objects and photograph paint a devastating picture

Ruth Grunberger was 16 years old when she stepped off a cattle car at Auschwitz in the dead of night in May 1944. She disembarked with nearly 100 other Jewish people, including her parents and her seven siblings, who had made the three-day, 250-mile trip from their hometown of Munkács -- in then Czechoslovakia, where they had spent weeks imprisoned in the basement of a brick factory -- to the concentration and extermination camp, located in the suburbs of the city of Oswiecim, in the southern part of German-occupied Poland.

At the entrance to Auschwitz, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele was one of the physicians who -- with "a flick of the cane clasped in a gloved hand", according to his biographer Gerald Posner -- granted life or death to the estimated 1.3 million people who arrived from across Europe. Mengele directed Grunberger's five siblings and her mother, Emma, to the left, where the gas chambers waited for the estimated 900,000 people who would die inside. He sent Grunberger, her 18-year-old sister, Manci, and their 16-year-old cousin, Edith, to the right, towards a future where forced labor was the only certainty. Mengele also sent Grunberger's 20-year-old brother, Asher, and her father, David, to work, but Grunberger never saw them again.

Officers from the Schutzstaffel -- the Nazi paramilitary organization also known as the SS -- ordered the women who Mengele spared to strip naked so they could shave and shear their head and body hair. Grunberger watched the tufts of her brown braids fall to the ground, the last remnants of her girlhood settling on the floor to be swept away. "I didn't think we were human anymore," she said. ... Read more

U.S. Pulls Nonessential Staff From Iraq Amid Rising Tensions With Iran
HP | AP/John Gambrell | 05/15/19

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. on Wednesday ordered all nonessential government staff to leave Iraq, and Germany and the Netherlands both suspended their military assistance programs in the country in the latest sign of tensions sweeping the Persian Gulf region over still-unspecified threats that the Trump administration says are linked to Iran.

Recent days have seen allegations of sabotage targeting oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a drone attack by Yemen's Iranian-allied Houthi rebels, and the dispatch of U.S. warships and bombers to the region.

At the root of this appears to be President Donald Trump's decision a year ago to pull the U.S. from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, embarking on a maximalist sanctions campaign against Tehran. In response, Iran's supreme leader issued a veiled threat Tuesday, saying it wouldn't be difficult for the Islamic Republic to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels. ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, May 15 [10:59]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, May 15 (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. Alabama Passes Near Total Ban on Abortion as Part of "Stealth Campaign" to Overturn Roe v. Wade
  3. Despite Threats & No Electricity, Anti-Coup Activists Remain Inside Venezuelan Embassy in D.C.
  4. Medea Benjamin: We Need to Build Up the Antiwar Movement to Oppose War Against Iran
  5. After End of Dictatorship, Sudan's Protest Movement Demands Transition From Military to Civilian Rule
AOC & Bernie Join Sunrise Movement in DC Town Hall | TRNN | 05/14/19 | 5:53
Trump Administration Beats War Drums (Full show) | TYT | 05/15/19 | 42:44
The1a.org
Is The U.S. Itching For A Fight With Iran? | 1a.org | 05/15/19 | 1hr
A New York Times report said a White House official presented a plan to send as many as 120,000 troops to Iran if it accelerates work on nuclear weapons or if Iran attacks American forces.

Here's more from their reporting: There are sharp divisions in the administration over how to respond to Iran at a time when tensions are rising about Iran's nuclear policy and its intentions in the Middle East.

Some senior American officials said the plans, even at a very preliminary stage, show how dangerous the threat from Iran has become. Others, who are urging a diplomatic resolution to the current tensions, said it amounts to a scare tactic to warn Iran against new aggressions.
President Trump Lawyers May Need Lawyers Over Fallout From Michael Cohen Lie | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 05/14/19 | 8:26
Targets Of House Investigations Into Donald Trump Revealed In Court Docs | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 05/14/19 | 20:42
Donald Trump Jr. Caves: Will Face Senate About Russia Probe | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC | 05/15/19 | 15:05
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Trump Labels The Trade War A 'Little Squabble' | Stephen Colbert | 05/15/19 | 10:54

05.15.2019. 10:09



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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
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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
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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.
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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?

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
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Nukes
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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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Kuznick Interviews

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

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China Valley of Tunnels

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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

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Trump's Mashups
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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)
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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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