White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 16, 2020

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US eager to cooperate with Japan as it awaits new prime minister

Sep. 16 - WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- The U.S. government said Tuesday it is paying attention to Japan's process of selecting a successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and that it is eager to continue to cooperate on various regional and global issues.

While reiterating U.S. appreciation for Abe's years of effort in championing the bilateral alliance, a State Department spokesperson said in a statement, "We are watching the process of selecting a new prime minister with great interest."

"We look forward to continuing our work with the government of Japan, a steadfast ally, across our broad agenda of regional and global issues," the official said, reaffirming the alliance as "the cornerstone of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region."

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, 71, a longtime Abe loyalist, is set to be elected as the next prime minister in a parliamentary vote Wednesday after winning a landslide victory in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race on Monday.

Abe has served for nearly eight years beginning in December 2012, but said in late August that he will step down due to a chronic health issue.     source

菅义伟将成日本新首相 新政之路不平坦 20200914 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
15 Sep 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 15, 2020

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President Donald Trump on Monday boasted his Latino roundtable looks like a 'rally' - his second indoor event in two days after his rally in Nevada was fined for violating the state's COVID rules. 'This is supposed to be a roundtable but it looks like a rally,' Trump told the whooping and cheering crowd at his Latinos for Trump Coalition Roundtable in Phoenix. The event also had the feel of a rally. Supporters yelled 'Four more years, four more years' and 'we love you' to President Trump. Before he arrived, they danced to his campaign soundtrack, including 'Macho Man' and 'Eye of the Tiger.'...read

Donald Trump holds indoor 'Latinos for Trump' roundtable and boasts 'it looks like a rally' after host of Sunday's Nevada rally is fined for breaking COVID rules

Sep. 15 - President Donald Trump on Monday boasted his Latino roundtable looks like a 'rally' - his second indoor event in two days after his rally in Nevada was fined for violating the state's COVID rules.

'This is supposed to be a roundtable but it looks like a rally,' Trump told the whooping and cheering crowd at his Latinos for Trump Coalition Roundtable in Phoenix.

The event also had the feel of a rally. Supporters yelled 'Four more years, four more years' and 'we love you' to President Trump. Before he arrived, they danced to his campaign soundtrack, including 'Macho Man' and 'Eye of the Tiger.'

Arizona forbids gatherings of more than 50 people. There were more than 300 crowded into Trump's event at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa, with no social distancing and few people wearing masks.
 
At the entrance to the event was a table with a few dozen blue face masks scattered on it...     more

【精華】習近平從沒放棄武統！台「當美打手」引共機頻擾台？　
兩岸若開戰美緩不濟急？
14 Sep 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 14, 2020

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Donald Trump's campaign defends holding first indoor rally in three months TONIGHT in Nevada after last one in Tulsa saw staff and Secret Service agents test positive for COVD

Sep. 14 - President Donald Trump's campaign is defending holding its first indoor rally in months on Sunday night in Nevada after its last one in Tulsa saw several staffers and a few Secret Service agents test positive for COVID.
'If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States,' campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement. 
Trump is holding his rally in Henderson, Nevada, after state officials squashed his plans to hold an outdoor event at the Las Vegas airport because of restrictions on gatherings due to the coronavirus.

Instead, the campaign scheduled a visit to the the Xtreme Manufacturing facility, about 15 miles away from Las Vegas, where the president will speak at a warehouse there...     more

September 13, 2020
President Trump Hosts "Latinos for Trump" Roundtable in Las Vegas
President Trump hosted a ‘Latinos for Trump’ campaign roundtable at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, a property owned by Phil Ruffin, a business partner of the Trump Organization. At the top of the event, President Trump talked about some of his administration’s first-term actions aimed at lowering Latino unemployment. Then the participants, most of them small business owners in the Las Vegas area, talked about why they were supporting President Trump’s campaign for reelection. The roundtable was part of a multi-state swing through Western states, including Nevada, California, and Arizona.

US Presidential Election: 2020 Is Not 2016
Joe Biden will be vilified more and more by the Trump campaign as the election approaches. But this vilification is likely to be confined to inside the right-wing echo chamber.

Sep. 14 -With the nominating conventions over, the U.S. Presidential Election Race has begun in earnest.

Donald Trump trails in the ten most recent national polls by an average of 7%. Races in some key battleground states are closer, but most show former Vice President Biden in the lead.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Hillary Clinton had similar poll numbers in the run-up to the 2016 election. She lost the general election, nonetheless.

Things are different now

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 13, 2020

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Trump plans Nevada rally despite coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings
President Trump is moving ahead with plans to hold a rally in Nevada despite coronavirus concerns raised by Governor Sisolak and local authorities about large gatherings. Nikole Killion reports.

Saturday
September 12, 2020

• Speech
  
• 6:26pm
  Weekly Democratic Address
  

Why the US is risking a Pearl Harbor in space

Sep. 13 - For the last decade, Beijing and Moscow have both reorganized their militaries — and developed weapons — to wage a space war against the United States. The situation is now so precarious that America could face a Pearl Harbor in space.
As far back as 2007, China shocked the world when it launched an antisatellite (ASAT) weapon into low-Earth orbit and decimated a derelict weather satellite. ASAT technology is not new but the way China deployed it was both irresponsible and aggressive. Traditionally, countries have publicly announced when they planned to conduct ASAT tests, because they could damage satellites passing by the test site. China told no one. Then, China’s ASAT test created the largest debris field in human history. It also signaled to the West that China was ready for a new form of combat.

China has invested heavily in lasers powerful enough to blind American satellites. Beijing has also developed the ability to “spoof” American GPS satellites, which could confuse American military units and weapons in times of war. On Sept. 3, China surprised the world when it launched a reusable spacecraft that, before returning to Earth three days later, released a smaller object that still remains in orbit today. There is concern that this device is an offensive “space stalker” designed to covertly tailgate American satellites and push them from their orbits.

Russia has nearly identical counterspace capabilities. As recently as July, the US and UK governments accused Russia of illegally testing a space stalker in orbit.

This is all deeply worrying. Either Beijing or Moscow could use their technological might to rewrite the geopolitical order in their favor. US forces patrolling the South China Sea, for example, could find themselves under attack from China but unable to call for reinforcements or coordinate a viable defense — simply because their critical satellites have been destroyed before the siege began...     more

Related Article:  Opinion/Will: The eroding U.S. military dominance

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 12, 2020

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Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, 3 other attorneys disqualified from George Floyd case

Sep. 12, MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill disqualified Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and three other attorneys in his office from participating in the George Floyd case at a motions hearing Friday. 

Cahill barred Freeman, Senior Hennepin County Attorney Amy Sweasy, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton and Deputy Hennepin County Attorney Andy LeFevour from participating in the prosecution of the case for what he described as “sloppy” work while interviewing a witness, Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, prior to filing murder charges. Baker performed Floyd’s autopsy.

Other attorneys and staff from the county attorney's office can still participate in the prosecution of the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd’s death.

 
The prosecution asked the judge to consider his order barring the four attorneys from the case.
 
“Any suggestion by Judge Cahill that the work of Sweasy and Lofton was sloppy is incorrect,” The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office fully stands by the work, dedication and commitment of two of the state’s best prosecutors.”

The county attorney’s office says the meeting with the medical examiner was “completely routine” and they are confident the judge’s order will “eventually be withdrawn or modified.”

 
Cahill granted the reconsideration motion. No dates for the motion have been set.     source

U.S. 'deeply concerned' about Hong Kong activists held in China: Pompeo

Sep. 12, WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday the United States is deeply concerned about 12 Hong Kong democracy activists being held in China’s Guangdong province, saying they have been denied access to lawyers and local authorities have not provided information on their welfare or the charges against them.

The United States questions the Hong Kong leadership’s commitments to protecting citizens’ rights, Pompeo said in a statement. The activists were arrested about two weeks ago off the coast of Hong Kong, according to the statement.

At the end of August the provincial Coast Guard Bureau said in a post on its social media site that it had arrested at least 10 people after intercepting a boat off the cost of the southern province of Guangdong. Hong Kong media, citing unidentified sources, said the 12 were headed to Taiwan to apply for political asylum.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said earlier this week that if they “were arrested for breaching mainland offences then they have to be dealt with according to the mainland laws.”

“We question Chief Executive Lam’s stated commitment to protecting the rights of Hong Kong residents, and call on authorities to ensure due process,” Pompeo said....     more

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Now Donald Trump gets second Nobel prize nomination as Swedish populist politician says president should get award for Serbia-Kosovo deal

President Donald Trump has been nominated for a second Nobel Peace Prize - this time for his work in securing a deal between Kosovo and Serbia, two former Balkan war foes.

Sep. 12 - President Donald Trump has been nominated for a second Nobel Peace Prize - this time for his work in securing a deal between Kosovo and Serbia, two former Balkan war foes.

Swedish parliament member Magnus Jacobsson tweeted that he nominated the governments of the United States, Serbia and Kosovo 'for their joint work for peace and economic development, through the cooperation agreement signed in the White House. Trade and communications are important building blocks for peace.'