8/09/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 9, 2020

 https://smashwords2.weebly.com/

Trump signs executive actions after stimulus talks break down on Capitol Hill

Aug. 9 -  (CNN)President Donald Trump signed four executive actions Saturday, one of which will provide as much as $400 in enhanced unemployment benefits -- 25% of which states are being asked to cover -- after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a coronavirus stimulus relief bill this week.



The other three actions he signed include a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year, as well as extending an eviction moratorium and deferring student loan payments.

"I'm taking action to provide an additional or extra $400 a week and expanded benefits, $400. That's generous but we want to take care of our people," Trump said at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.Trump said $300 (75%) of the enhanced aid will come from the federal government, and $100 (25%) will therefore have to come from the states. Since governors would have to pay that $100 for people to get the full benefit, it is not clear how many of those unemployed would be able to receive the full $400 benefit...     more

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/08/politics/trump-executive-order-stimulus/index.html

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8/08/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 8, 2020

 https://smashwords2.weebly.com/


U.S. suffered worst quarterly contraction on record as virus ravages economy
When the economy was tumbling in the second quarter, Trump pumped up the third quarter. Now the high hopes are slowly deflating.

July 29 - The U.S. economy crashed in historic fashion this year — shrinking at a nearly 33 percent annualized pace in the second quarter — as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged businesses and sent joblessness soaring. The question now for President Donald Trump, trailing in the polls and facing a daunting reelection effort, is just how much conditions can snap back in the months leading up to Election Day.

At least for the moment, the spike in Covid-19 cases, the potential for fresh trouble this fall and a bitter fight over how to pump more federal money into the ailing economy suggest the sharp bounce-back Trump is counting on may not show up in a way he envisions.

And the potential for another leg of the downturn hangs over a president who once counted the economy as by far his strongest selling point to voters.

“This is obviously the ugliest quarter we’ve ever seen in our history,” Edward Moya, senior analyst at currency trading firm OANDA, said of the Commerce Department’s initial estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product, which showed the economy contracting 32.9 percent on an annualized basis, the biggest drop in more than seven decades of records.

“A couple of weeks ago there was a lot more optimism that we would see a strong V-shaped recovery,” Moya said. But right now “there is a lot of bad news about how some areas are handling the virus. And every day we don’t have a new stimulus agreement in place is hurting the economy.”...   more
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/29/trump-v-shape-rebound-gone-387425
AUGUST 7, 2020
Larry Kudlow Comments to Reporters at White House
National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow speaks with reporters in the White House driveway about the state of the economy, saying that he expects the unemployment numbers to drop back into single digits before November.
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8/07/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 7, 2020

 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/08/more-than-100-protesters-demonstrate-along-president-donald-trumps-motorcade-route-during-cleveland-visit-photos-video.html

Trump in Ohio: See supporters, protesters lining Route 20 ahead of president's arrival
Daniella Medina
Fremont News-Messenger

Aug. 7 - President Donald Trump's visit to Clyde, Ohio, marks the first time a president will visit Sandusky County since 1912. 
This is also the first time Trump visits Ohio since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. His last visit was for a rally in Toledo. 
Trump is scheduled to arrive at the Whirlpool Corp. manufacturing plant in Clyde around 2:45 p.m. where he will deliver remarks about revamping the U.S. manufacturing industry in support of buying American-made products. He will then attend a fundraiser in Bratenahl later Thursday evening.    source

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8/06/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 6, 2020




Aug. 6 - Twitter says it will require Donald Trump to remove a post containing misinformation about coronavirus. And until he does so, he’s banned from tweeting. From The Washington Post:
Trump under fire for promoting false COVID-19 claims on Twitter
Jul 29, 2020
Pompeo says U.S., Russia have made progress on arms controla

Aug. 5 - WASHINGTON, Reuters – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United States had made progress with Russia on nuclear arms control recently and hopes China will decide to join the discussions.

“In the last handful of months, we’ve been working diligently to get the three nations that have the largest nuclear capabilities – the United States, Russia and China – to have strategic dialogue about how we move forward together to decrease the risk to the world,” Pompeo told reporters.


“We’ve made progress with the Russians; we’ve had two good gatherings. I hope we’ll have one before too long, and we’re hopeful that the Chinese will choose to participate,” he added.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick, David Brunnstrom and Humeyra Pamuk)    source

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8/05/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 5, 2020

President Trump holds a news conference at the White House
Aug. 5, 2020
It Would Be A Costly, Unlikely Blunder If Israel Were Responsible For The Beirut Explosion

Aug. 4 - As the smoke clears over Beirut, and rescuers struggle to aid survivors of a massive explosion that killed at least 78 people and wounded more than 4,000, an ominous question hangs in the air:

Was Israel responsible?

Israel denies any involvement. Lebanon’s government and Hezbollah militants – never shy about blaming their arch-enemy Israel for any misfortune – say the disaster was an accident caused by volatile explosive material in a warehouse. If Israel were in fact responsible, the result could be a war with Hezbollah and Hezbollah’s patron Iran that could even embroil the United States and other nations in a vast Middle East conflagration.

Complicating matters is that U.S. President Donald Trump quickly asserted that the explosion was the result of an attack.


Beirut blast horror: Chemical explosion tears through Lebanese capital 'like a nuclear bomb' levelling buildings, killing dozens and wounding THOUSANDS - with boom heard as far away as Cyprus

Aug. 5 - A massive explosion in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has killed at least 73 people, left thousands more injured and wreaked devastation on the city.   
The country's health minister said more than 3,700 have been wounded following the blast at the city's industrial port, where hazardous chemicals are stored in warehouses.
Dramatic footage from around 6pm local time yesterday shows smoke billowing from the harbour area shortly before an enormous fireball explodes into the sky and blankets the city in a thick mushroom cloud. ..     more

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8/04/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 4, 2020

August 3, 2020
President Trump "Hiring American" Executive Order Signing
President Trump met with U.S. tech workers and signed an executive order on hiring Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump announced the removal of Tennessee Valley Authority’s chair James Thompson and board member Richard Howoth and called for the removal of their CEO Bill Johnson. This was in response to the company laying off employees and hiring H-1B visa holders. During the round table discussion, it was announced the company is willing to reverse course and rehire previously laid off employees. The president also said he would not ban the Ticktock app if Microsoft or another company bought it before September 15th.
Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with U.S. Tech Workers and Signing of an Executive Order on Hiring American
Aug. 3, 2020
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  And today I’m signing an executive order to ensure that the federal government lives by a very simple rule: Hire American.  We’ve been doing it at a level that hasn’t been done maybe ever.

I’ll also be taking firm, disciplinary action against the leadership of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has sadly and cruelly betrayed American workers.  And we have some of those great American workers with us at the table.  This is the Cabinet Room, and it’s an honor to have you in the Cabinet Room and at the Oval Office.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-u-s-tech-workers-signing-executive-order-hiring-american/
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8/03/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 3, 2020

White House steps back from Donald Trump's call for delayed election

Aug. 3 - The White House has no plans to try to delay the US presidential election this year, its chief of staff says, even as he defends a tweet from US President Donald Trump raising the possibility
.
“We're going to hold an election on November 3, and the president is going to win,” Mark Meadows told CBS News.

Trump's tweet on Thursday (local time), which set off alarm bells throughout Washington, was merely meant to raise questions about whether a major expansion of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic could produce fraud or lead to untenable delays in counting votes, Meadows insisted.

READ MORE:
* Donald Trump's campaign in crisis, aides attempt last-minute reset
* Why Trump's election delay tweet matters
* Trump floats delaying US elections, but it won't happen
* Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at odds with Twitter after Donald Trump threatens social media companies         source

Polls show Biden leading, but these swing voters favor Trump
Aug 1, 2020
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8/02/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Aug. 2, 2020



NPR's David Folkenflik speaks with former White House economic advisor Tomas Philipson. He was the acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers until he resigned in June.

Negotiators report progress in coronavirus relief talks

Aug 1 - WASHINGTON — Lawmakers reported progress on a huge coronavirus relief bill Saturday, as political pressure mounts to restore an expired $600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit and send funding to help schools reopen.
“This was the longest meeting we've had and it was more productive than the other meetings,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who was part of the rare weekend session. “We're not close yet, but it was a productive discussion — now each side knows where they’re at."

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8/01/2020

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

Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias says states and Congress need to act now to ensure all votes count during the general election. These changes are overdue. (Joy Sharon Yi, Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)
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Republicans to Trump: You can't delay 2020 election
Top Republicans have rejected President Donald Trump's suggestion that November's presidential election should be delayed over alleged fraud concerns.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53599363
PBS NewsHour live episode, July 31, 2020
Aug. 3, 2020
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7/31/2020

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

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In His Eulogy for John Lewis, Barack Obama Just Changed the Landscape of a Joe Biden Presidency
By coming out unequivocally for destroying the filibuster—along with supporting D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood—the former president drew some new lines on the field.

July 30 - Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, delivered a eulogy at the funeral for John Lewis in Atlanta on Thursday that traced the long arc of history that ran through the great man's life. He spoke of Lewis's bravery at Selma—and in the Freedom Rides, and in the Nashville sit-ins—and how the Alabama state troopers, some of whom nearly beat Lewis to death at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, might have thought they'd won at the end of the first day. That they'd pushed back the tide of history and preserved for themselves the order of things. But then another day came. It seemed an allegory for our times, when, as ever, the relentless movement to make this country live up to its founding values is "hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed."

But Obama's grasp also tightened on what might be called more concrete concerns. He demanded that those many politicians calling John Lewis a hero could best honor him "by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for"—the Voting Rights Act, which Senate Republicans have refused to renew. The Supreme Court's gutting of the Act under John Roberts precipitated a wave of voter suppression, particularly in the very same former Jim Crow states that the Act had originally targeted for the most stringent oversight. Obama demanded the Act's revitalization, but he went further: he called for the destruction of the Senate filibuster if it's necessary to do so—that is, if Republicans lose control of the chamber and abuse the filibuster to block legislation. In the process, he classified the filibuster itself as a "Jim Crow relic."...     more
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Remembering John Lewis: In His Own Words | NBC Nightly News
Jul 31, 2020

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7/30/2020

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



Mary Trump explains why the president is so ‘drawn’ to Vladimir Putina
July 29 - ...“I think there are plenty of reasons to believe that’s the case,” said Mary Trump. “But, you know, I can speak to the resemblance that Putin may have to my grandfather. One of the things my grandfather did was, you know, through neglect, abuse, and pressure, was turn Donald into somebody who was eminently useful to smarter, and more powerful men. And I think part of the charm, although, again, I am not privy to any conversations with them — I imagine Putin understands exactly how to manipulate Donald, you know, whether or not there are financial incentives.”

She went on to describe a particularly brutal incident for the president when his brother dumped mashed potatoes on his head and everyone laughed. To this day, Mary said, Trump still crosses his arms and gets visibly upset about it...   source
  • Judy Woodruff:
    In an interview released today, President Trump said that he had not challenged President Vladimir Putin over Russian efforts to pay the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
    The two leaders spoke just last week, for the seventh time in recent months.
    As Nick Schifrin reports, this comes as the administration also cemented plans to withdraw and redeploy American forces in Europe.     source

PBS NewsHour live episode, July 29
July 30, 2020
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7/29/2020

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


Democrats seek to shame Barr over politics at the Justice Department

July 28 - Democrats clashed with Attorney General William P. Barr on Tuesday at a congressional hearing marked by angry recriminations over racial justice protests in Portland, Ore., and around the country, as the nation’s top law enforcement official said additional agents were needed to subdue aggressive, violent crowds.


The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee was acrimonious from the outset, as liberal lawmakers accused the conservative attorney general of politicizing the Justice Department through his deployment of federal agents to U.S. cities, his involvement in high-profile prosecutions of people connected to President Trump, and his posture toward the upcoming presidential election.

Lawmakers spent months seeking Barr’s testimony on a host of issues related to the Trump administration’s interactions with the Justice Department. With the attorney general finally seated at the witness table, Democrats mostly made speeches or talked over him as he attempted to answer their questions, seemingly squandering any chance of getting new information or an admission out of him.

“This is a hearing; I thought I was the one who was supposed to be heard,” Barr said in exasperation.

In a thick fog of partisan bickering, indignant lawmakers argued about everything from mask-wearing etiquette to bathroom breaks. In the afternoon, the committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) initially refused Barr’s request for a five-minute break. “You’re a class act,” the attorney general said sarcastically, before Nadler relented.

Many of the angriest exchanges focused on the federal government’s response to protests over police misconduct and brutality, with Nadler accusing the attorney general of deploying more manpower to spark ugly confrontations with protesters because, the lawmaker argued, Trump believes such confrontations will scare Americans into voting for him.

“You are projecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives. Shame on you, Mr. Barr,” Nadler said...     more
AG Barr Defends Response To Portland Protests In Tense Congressional Hearing | NBC Nightly News
Jul 29, 2020
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7/28/2020

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

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The body of civil rights leader and politician John Lewis has arrived in Washington DC, ahead of a week of ceremonies marking the life of the famed activist. Lewis died on July 17, aged 80 - the last surviving member of the Big Six, who together organized the 1963 March on Washington. He was among the original 13 Freedom Riders who rode buses across the South in 1961 to challenge segregation in public transportation. The riders were attacked and beaten, and one of their buses was firebombed. But the rides changed the way people traveled, and set the stage for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. From Monday Lewis will lie in state in the Capitol - the first black politician to receive one of the highest of American honors. 

Joe and Jill Biden pay their respects to Rep John Lewis at the Capitol as the civil rights activist becomes first black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda while guard of honor collapses in 96 degree heat

Representative John Lewis died on July 17 at the age of 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer
Lewis, born in Troy, Alabama, will lie in state from Monday in Washington, beneath the rotunda of the Capitol

July 28 - Joe and Jill Biden paid their respects to Rep. John Lewis at the Capitol in Washington DC on Monday as the famous civil rights activist became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state beneath the Rotunda.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8565163/Preparations-begin-John-Lewis-lay-state-Capitol-laid-rest-Atlanta.html
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7/27/2020

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

Donald Trump greets supporters in Bedminster WITHOUT a mask - but stands six feet away and tosses them 'Keep America Great' hats
President Donald Trump stopped to say hello to about 50 supporters Sunday who had gathered at an intersection several miles from his New Jersey golf club
The president did not wear a mask, but kept his distance from the crowd, tossing 'Keep America Great' hats at his fans.
He could be heard telling the group 'thank you' before hopping back in his SUV and heading back to his Bedminster resort.
Earlier in the weekend he golfed with NFL great Brett Favre, tweeting Sunday, 'A good golfer - hits it LONG!'
Trump was also the 'special guest' at an event put on by America First Action, but press wasn't allowed in.
July 26 - President Donald Trump stopped to say hello to about 50 supporters Sunday who had gathered at an intersection in Bedminster, New Jersey several miles down the road from his private golf club where he's spent the weekend.

  
Trump - who was not wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus - got out of his black SUV and was handed a stack of 'Keep America Great' baseball hats to toss into the crowd.
 
The president stayed about six feet away from the group and could be heard telling them 'thank you.' ...     more
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