Charlie Brown in the White House: 08/01/2020

Monday, August 31, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 1, 2020

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Jacob S. Blake is a 29-year-old African American [2] man who was shot and seriously injured by police on August 23, 2020. During an arrest, police officer Rusten Sheskey shot seven times[3][4] at his back, with four shots hitting Blake.[5][6] The incident occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin.[1][7][8][9] During the encounter, Blake was tasered and scuffled with officers.[10] He was shot as he opened the driver's door to his SUV and leaned in.[11] Three of Blake's sons were in the backseat.[12][13][14]

The police shooting was followed by protests, which included rallies, marches, property damage, arson, and clashes with police. Two protesters were also fatally shot in a confrontation with an armed civilian. Blake's name was invoked in protests in other cities as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has seen a resurgence in the wake of high-profile killings by police officers in 2020.[13] source from Wikipedia

Trump refused meeting Jacob Blake’s family because they wanted lawyer present

Aug. 31 - WASHINGTON — President Trump says he turned down a meeting with Jacob Blake’s family during his visit to Wisconsin on Tuesday because they wanted a lawyer present, something he said was “inappropriate.”
During a Monday evening briefing at the White House, Trump also claimed he spoke to the family’s pastor but a confused Jacob Blake Sr. told CNN immediately afterward that they didn’t have one.
“I thought it would be better not to do anything where there are lawyers involved,” Trump told reporters.
“They wanted me to speak but they wanted to have lawyers involved. I thought it was inappropriate so I didn’t do that,” he continued.
“They did have a lawyer that wanted to be on the phone and I said, ‘No, that’s inappropriate,’ but I just gave my best regards,” he said.
Trump is yet to make contact with Blake’s family more than a week after he was shot in the back by a white police officer in front of his three young sons in Kenosha, Wisconsin — sparking a fresh round of protests across the country.
The president will visit Kenosha on Wednesday to tour damaged businesses and thank local law enforcement for squashing protests, defying the wishes of the state’s governor who asked Trump to stay away, but will not meet with Blake’s family... more

https://nypost.com/2020/08/31/trump-refused-meeting-jacob-blakes-family-because-they-wanted-lawyer-present/

Sunday, August 30, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 31, 2020

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With Looming China Threat, US, India Could Ink ‘Big Deals’ Ahead Of 2020 Presidential Elections

As tensions continue to mount between India and China, the United States continues to tighten the noose around Beijing. In view of strengthening diplomatic and military ties, New Delhi and Washington are set to hold their first 2+2 format dialogue between foreign and defense ministries in September.

Aug. 25 - ...Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the Wilson Center in Washington, says “It’s certainly the right time to convene the next 2+2 session… To be sure, the upcoming US election may put a damper on the meeting, given that this may be the last time India sees the Trump administration on the other side of the table in the 2+2.”

The American side has also confirmed that BECA is indeed in the discussions list. “There’s much that could be on the agenda — how to make progress on finalizing BECA, the last remaining foundational agreement, what can be done with the Quad, how to scale up technology transfers and intelligence sharing, and so on”, added Kugelman.

The global scenario compared to last year has changed, and several significant changes like the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S.-China Trade War, the tensions in the South China Sea, Beijing’s troubled borders, and China’s support to Iran has created overt tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Pompeo and Esper both have criticized China for the ongoing faceoff at the LAC while US President Donald Trump has even offered to mediate between the two... source

https://eurasiantimes.com/with-looming-china-threat-us-india-could-ink-big-deals-ahead-of-2020-presidential-elections/

China continues military drills in South China Sea region amid rising tension with US

Aug. 30, BEIJING - The Chinese army has launched two sets of military drills in waters off the country's east coast as tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea amid US military presence in the region.

Shanghai-based military expert Ni Lexiong was quoted as saying by South China Morning Post that the drills in the Bohai and Yellow seas had the practical purpose of simulating both wartime attack and defence, should there be a conflict to unify Taiwan by force.

"Different scenarios, with a strong enemy or a weak enemy, need to be practised in drills," Ni said.

Terming the recent drills as "routine training", Diao Daming, an associate professor at Renmin University's National Academy of Development and Strategy, told state broadcaster China Central Television that "the exercises were meant to boost public confidence and intimidate the US and Taiwan." source

Saturday, August 29, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 30, 2020

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Trump administration ends election security briefings

Aug. 9 - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has ended all election security briefings to Congress just weeks before Americans cast their ballots for president, raising concern among lawmakers about the public’s right to know about foreign interference in the election...

In his letter to the committees, Ratcliffe wrote: “I believe this approach helps ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the information ODNI provides the Congress in support of your oversight responsibilities on elections security, foreign malign influence, and election interference is not misunderstood nor politicized.”

Democrats expressed outrage at the decision by Ratcliffe, who directs the office overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies.
“This is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently informed, and a betrayal of the public’s right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democrat who chairs the House’s intelligence committee, said in a joint statement.

“This intelligence belongs to the American people, not the agencies which are its custodian. And the American people have both the right and the need to know that another nation, Russia, is trying to help decide who their president should be,” they said.

Officials said this month that they have assessed that Russia is working to denigrate President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. They have also said China prefers to see Trump lose and regards the president as unpredictable, but officials have not detailed specific steps Beijing had already taken to interfere in the election. source

Trump is pursuing a narrative of 'lawlessness on the streets'

Aug. 28 - US Studies Centre CEO Simon Jackman says “the battle lines” for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign were made abundantly clear” in the President's lengthy address to the Republican National Convention. Mr Jackman told Sky News one line of attack was his appeal to the Republican base, while the other was “going after the law and order element”. “That is portraying the sense of an America that is descending into chaos and into crisis and that Trump stands between further degradation of that sort and people he’d like to vote for him,” he said. “There is still time for a politician and a performer like Donald Trump to make up that gap in the polls and there’s a lot of real world events to happen that may validate frankly the narrative that Trump is running at the moment about lawlessness on the streets of the United States. “Fear is a powerful motivator in politics and particularly … in a system where voting is not compulsory, something to motivate people.” Read source by click on "WATCH INTERVIEW"

Friday, August 28, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 29, 2020

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Returning to the campaign trail, Trump unloads baseless attacks on Biden.
“If you want to save democracy from the mob, then you must vote to defeat an extremely poor candidate,” President Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Aug. 29 - President Trump returned to the campaign trail on Friday night with a boisterous rally in New Hampshire, where he mounted a full-throated attack on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., calling him “the worst candidate” in American history and a friend of “the left-wing mob” that is “marauding through our cities.”... source

Donald Trump loses convention ratings battle with Joe Biden as 800,000 more watch Democrat's speech than president's White House address and fireworks

Aug. 29 - Democrat Joe Biden is the victor in the convention speech ratings war, edging out President Donald Trump's Thursday night appearance by an average of 800,000 viewers, according to Nielsen numbers.

The early number had shown a wider difference of two million early Friday afternoon, but the finalized number narrowed the gap slightly to 800,000.

The New York Times reported that Nielsen put Trump on 23.8 million to Biden's 24.6 million for the Democratic National Convention speech the Thursday before.

Trump had tried to pre-empt the bad news.

Thursday, August 27, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 28, 2020

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Donald Trump brands NBA 'political organisation' after Jacob Blake shooting protests
Jacob Blake was shot in the back several times by a police officer in Wisconsin, sparking widespread protets.

Donald Trump has branded the NBA a "political organisation", as protests intensified over the shooting of a black man by police in Wisconsin.

Aug. 28 - ..."NBA players and coaches met for nearly three hours earlier this week to discuss if the season can continue, as they continue not to play until politicians act to address police brutality.

The US basketball association had managed to make a successful comeback after the sport was suspended due to coronavirus back in March".... source

Former top Trump officials are betting he'll lose
And unprecedented number of administration veterans have turned against the president — and even many of those who still back him think he's doomed.

President Donald Trump has outraged Democrats and offended ethics lawyers this week by parading a number of his top officials in front of cameras during the Republican National Convention — a possibly illegal breach of historic norms.

But the furor over the precedent-busting encomiums to Trump by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and others have obscured another way his presidency has broken with the past: just how many of his onetime aides no longer support him.

At least 19 former top Trump administration officials in total have broken publicly with their former boss in one form or another, according to a POLITICO count, and several have already lent their names to various Republicans-for-Biden efforts. Not all of them have said they will vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden — former national security adviser John Bolton, for instance, says he will pull the lever for an unspecified third person. It amounts to a never-before-seen wave of defections of people who have denounced him or his policies or criticized his character in other ways... more

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/former-trump-officials-lose-403926

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 27, 2020

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Teen Kyle Rittenhouse Accused Of Murdering Kenosha Protesters
Aug 27, 2020

Kyle Rittenhouse (circled) can be seen wearing a white hat in the front row of a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 30.

The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January
Kyle Rittenhouse’s social media is filled with references to “Blue Lives Matter.” A Trump campaign spokesperson said, "This individual had nothing to do with our campaign."

Aug. 26 - The law enforcement–obsessed 17-year-old who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January.
Kyle Howard Rittenhouse’s social media presence is filled with him posing with weapons, posting “Blue Lives Matter,” and supporting Trump for president. Footage from the Des Moines, Iowa, rally on Jan. 30 shows Rittenhouse feet away from the president, in the front row, to the left of the podium. He posted a TikTok video from the event.

Seven months later, Rittenhouse went with his rifle to the third night of Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha after police shot Blake, a Black man who is now paralyzed as a result, according to his family. Rittenhouse attended as an armed vigilante, supposedly assisting police and protecting property in an unofficial capacity. Instead, he allegedly prowled the protest with a gun. Videos captured him fraternizing with law enforcement and attempting to get their attention.

By the end of the evening, he was considered a fugitive on the run. He was arrested Wednesday morning in Antioch, Illinois, and is expected to be extradited to Wisconsin to face charges of first-degree intentional homicide. Rittenhouse’s mother did not respond to a request for comment. The Lake County Public Defender’s Office, who represented him in court today, told BuzzFeed News it does not comment on active cases.

Wednesday’s arrest record from Antioch Police states that Rittenhouse “fled the state of Wisconsin with the intent to avoid prosecution for the offense.” According to public records, Rittenhouse lived in Antioch, which is about 20 miles away from Kenosha, with his mother and siblings and worked as a lifeguard at the local YMCA. more

17-year-old arrested for murder and fleeing state after Kenosha shootings that left two dead
Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois, faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide

Aug. 27 - A 17-year-old Illinois resident has been arrested by police for first-degree murder after allegedly fatally shooting two Wisconsin protesters on Tuesday evening.

Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois, was labelled a “fugitive of justice”, according to Lake County, Illinois Clerk of Courts public records first obtained by The Daily Dot.
The Antioch Police Department confirmed to The Independent that Mr Rittenhouse “voluntarily surrendered” himself to the department on Wednesday morning after an arrest warrant was filed. The suspect allegedly fled Kenosha, Wisconsin for his home state following the shooting... more