USA: Donald Trump: "there is method in his madness", and Republicans are playing along with him

'No, you're corrupt!': why there's method in Trump's playground taunts

Read more at; 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/24/donald-trump-joe-biden-ukraine?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

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NATO Prepares for War With Russia With Simulated Naval and Cyberattacks - by Cristina Maza

Around 1,000 participants from 30 member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathered in the tiny Baltic nation of Estonia late last month to prepare for war with an enemy that looks a lot like Russia, according to reports.

The exercises were dystopian and catastrophic, and included simulated cyberattacks, poisoned water supplies, a hacked drone employed to kill NATO soldiers and a faulty power grid. As tensions ratchet up between Moscow and the West, NATO countries, especially those like Estonia that border Russia, are increasingly preparing for the worst. The Locked Shields live-fire cyber exercise is a key part of that preparation.

“The exercise required participants to counter high-intensity attacks on a fictitious country’s IT systems and critical infrastructure networks. Teams had to maintain the IT systems while reporting incidents, managing crises, making strategic decisions, solving digital forensics tasks and dealing with other challenges,” according to a report on homeland preparedness. “The exercise involved a total of 4,000 virtualized systems and more than 2,500 attacks.”

Note EU-Digest: Contemplating war between Nuclear Powers is utter madness and even the idea of preparing for one is tltal madness, because their will be no victors. The only solution is complete disarmement by all nuclear Nations. Unfortunately with all these ego maniacs political leaders around the world this this is impossible.

Read more: NATO Prepares for War With Russia With Simulated Naval and Cyberattacks

USA: The Madness Continues -Trump says trade war is "already lost," and he "probably won't" attend White House Correspondents Dinner - by Katiana Krawchenko

Neither can the rest of the world

President Trump said in a radio interview aired Friday that the U.S. isn't in a trade war because the trade war is "already lost," and said he "probably won't" attend the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington later this month because the press is "so fake."

Mr. Trump made those comments in an interview with WABC's "Bernie and Sid in the Morning," taped Thursday. The interview took place before the president's Air Force One comments denying any knowledge of a hush money payment by his lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Mr. Trump explained why he is going after China on tariffs. On Thursday night, Mr. Trump announced he has directed the U.S. Trade Representative to consider an additional $100 billion in new tariffs on China, in response to China's decision to slap $50 billion in tariffs on U.S. imports. China's $50 billion was a response to the White House's announcement of $50 billion in tariffs on China. But Mr. Trump insisted that the U.S. isn't in a trade war — in the past he has called trade wars "good, and easy to win" — because the U.S. already "lost" a trade war.

"Well, fellas, we've already lost the trade war," the president said. "We don't have a trade war. We've lost the trade war because for many years, whether it's Clinton or the Bushes, Obama, all of our presidents before, for some reason it just got worse and worse. And now it's $500 billion in deficits and a theft of $300 billion in intellectual property. So you can't have this."

The president said the stock market might take a bit of a hit in the short term — and it has — but the country will be stronger in the long run, he insisted.

"Now we could—the easiest thing for me to do would be just to close my eyes and forget it," Mr. Trump said. "If I did that, then I'm not doing my job. I'm not saying there won't be a little pain but the market's gone up 40 percent, 42 percent—so we might lose a little bit of it—but we're going to have a much stronger country when we're finished. And that's what I'm all about. We have to do things that other people wouldn't do."

The president also suggested he will "probably" skip the White House Correspondents Dinner later this month, like he did last year. Mr. Trump alleged the press often makes up sources to write stories.

"I sort of feel that the press is so bad," Mr. Trump said. "It's so fake, it's so made up. I mean, 'sources say' and they have no sources. They're like novelists. I call them novelists."

Mr. Trump conceded that sometimes there are sources, but "in many cases they literally make up sources." Mr. Trump's own White House communications staff and senior staff on conference calls often decline to give reporters comments on the record, instead asking to be named as simply unnamed White House officials.

The president said he wants to get things straightened out with the press before attending the dinner, so it's "probably pretty unlikely" he will go.

"So I probably won't do it," he said.

White House Correspondents Association President Margaret Talev in a statement said the White House has told the association Mr. Trump does not plan to attend.

"The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment," she said in a statement. "In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also will represent the administration at the head table. The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy."

The New York radio show's hosts explained the show was pre-taped because White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and Mr. Trump wanted to listen to it on the air. Before the interview aired, they said the interview had more of the feel of a "kid from Queens" than a U.S. president. 

Read more: Trump says trade war is "already lost," and he "probably won't" attend White House Correspondents Dinner - CBS News

The Environment: Trump Takes Aim At A Centerpiece Of Obama's Environmental Legacy - by Nathan Rott

President Trump will sign sweeping executive orders today Tuesday, March 28  that take aim at a number of his predecessor's climate policies.

The wide-ranging orders and accompanying memorandums will seek to undo the centerpiece of former President Obama's environmental legacy and national efforts to address climate change.

It could also jeopardize America's current role in international efforts to confront climate change.

A senior White House official says the goal is to make the U.S. energy-independent and to get the Environmental Protection Agency back to its core mission of maintaining clean air and water.
In a symbolic gesture, the president is expected to sign the documents at EPA headquarters.

 Read more: - Trump Takes Aim At A Centerpiece Of Obama's Environmental Legacy : The Two-Way : NPR

USA: In Dallas, yet another shooting that won't move the needle on gun control - by Lucia Graves

Less than a month after the tragedy in Orlando, a familiar cycle is setting in.

On Wednesday, Americans went to bed thinking about one shooting. On Thursday morning, we woke up to another, watching an innocent victim die on a video taken by his girlfriend. On Thursday night, we fell asleep to the horrors of a third.

Such events used to feel like an aberration. And while the killing of blameless cops reporting for duty at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas on Thursday night is a new, heinous twist, the outcome – the gunning down of innocents – has become the status quo.

The trouble is, ending America’s scourge of mass shootings and the deep-seated bias in police killings will require many things that our country is not good at. It will require persistence and cooperation, empathy and bipartisanship. It will require policy reform and, specifically, gun control. It will require us to walk a line between numb detachment and murderous rage.

So far, we haven’t found the line.

President Obama sure tries. Overseas for a Nato summit in Warsaw on Thursday, he had just given extended remarks on the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, when the ambush-style attack in Dallas forced him to take up the topic of gun violence yet again.

He proceeded to say the obvious things that somehow, sadly, still need to be said, that “there is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks or any violence against law enforcement”, and that their deaths are a reminder of the sacrifices they make for our safety.

And then he said the same thing he’s been saying since he took office seven years ago, that easy access to powerful weapons is a big part of the problem. He’s tried just about everything on that front: soaring speeches, executive actions, congressional entreaties, even leading a black congregation in a soulful rendition of Amazing Grace.

But nothing’s worked. Washington hasn’t budged. If anything, Republicans have dug in their heels.

House Democrats’ sit-in for a vote on gun control last month was dismissed by their Republican counterparts as a “publicity stunt” and “not becoming US Congress”.

And this week Republican leadership put its focus on ways to punish Democrats for their actions.

Hours before the shooting in Dallas, GOP lawmakers delayed gun control votes indefinitely.

Read more: In Dallas, yet another shooting that won't move the needle on gun control | Lucia Graves | Opinion | The Guardian

Consumerism : GET A LIFE: Don’t lose your soul to sales - by Loretta LaRoche

The holidays are upon us! However, from my vantage point, they started in August with constant reminders that Halloween was approaching. Halloween comes in second to Christmas in money spent. Thanksgiving comes next, but that holiday focuses mostly on food. I love Thanksgiving because it does seem to remind us to be thankful, a welcome relief from what comes next – the Christmas crazies.

“Joy to the World” seems to have a new interpretation. It used to be focused on simple gifts, possibly homemade, a gathering of friends and family and the ritual of attending one’s church of choice. And believe me, I know there are still many who are involved in these practices. What seems to have grown exponentially is the incessant messages about retail purchases that will bring you happiness once you have them.

Black Friday is fast becoming another holiday. I have watched individuals slugging their way through crowds in order to get what they believe to be a deep discount on an item they want. There have been reports of people having tug of wars over a TV set or computer, and then there’s the nut bags that put a tent outside the store and camp out so they can be the first ones inside.

Am I sounding judgmental? Yes, I am, but I really need an explanation as to how we got to this place. I truly believe we have become consumed with consumerism. I doubt whether people camp out in front of a homeless shelter so they can be the first to volunteer as soon as the doors open. Research shows that altruism far outweighs buying something when it comes to lasting happiness. Our brains get giddy with delight when we first get what we thought we had to have. But it soon passes and then we need something else to get that that endorphin high.

Do I think we should wear shrouds and live in mud huts without any connection to the world? No, I seek the comforts of home, and I have technology that allows me to be current and connected. My greatest fear is that we are losing our “souls to sales.” The ultimate irony is that all the stuff being sold will go on sale and cost less as the holiday approaches. Most importantly, are we in control of our buying power, or are all the seductive ads making us their slaves?

 Read more: GET A LIFE: Don’t lose your soul to sales - News - Wicked Local Wareham - Wareham, MA