Tag: Russia

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Trump Backtracks On Syrian Missile Strike Threat

Donald Trump

Donald Trump backtracked today on his previous Twitter rant threatening Russia and Syria with a missile strike saying that an airstrike wasn’t necessarily imminent.

“Never said when an attack on Syria would take place,” Trump tweeted this morning. “Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS.”

Trump curiously asked for praise from Americans for doing his job: “Where is our ’Thank you America?’”

Trump yesterday:

Trump today:

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Trump Threatens Syria & Russia: Our Missiles “Will Be Coming, Nice And New And “Smart!”

Donald Trump appeared to threaten Syria and Russia Wednesday morning in a tweet post that vowed missiles fired at Syria “will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!'”

From The New York Times:

President Trump put Syria and Russia on notice Wednesday morning in a Twitter post, promising that missiles fired at Syria “will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’” and telling the Kremlin that it should not partner with a “Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” After the threat, the president said in a separate tweet that relations between the United States and Russia are worse than ever.

On Tuesday, the Russian ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, warned the United States and its allies that any missiles fired at Syria would be shot down, according to a Reuters report. There were already indications that Syria was moving key aircraft to a Russian base in the Mediterranean Sea, taking pains to protect important weapons systems.

Remember when Trump said attacking Syria would lead to “very bad things happening?”

And remember when Trump tweeted that “broadcasting” our military moves wasn’t smart?

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Trump Fires Secretary Of State Tillerson Via Twitter

Donald Trump has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this morning and, according to reports, Tillerson found out when he saw the president’s tweet announcing the news.

Tillerson and Trump have often found themselves on opposing sides of foreign policy over the past year.

Just yesterday, NBC News reported that Tillerson had called the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter with a military-grade nerve agent in the U.K. “a really egregious act” that appears to have “clearly” come from Russia.

Trump said he wouldn’t condemn Russia until after reviewing the facts.

Donald Trump must have gotten a call from his boss Vladimir Putin in Moscow and been told to fire Tillerson.

Of course, you may recall that back in October of 2017 the story broke that Tillerson had called Trump “a moron.”

Moral of the story? You can call the president a moron and keep your job; blame Russia for poisoning an ex-spy and you’re out.

As had been rumored for months, CIA Director Mike Pompeo will become the new Secretary of State, and his Deputy Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, will take the reins at CIA.

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News Round-Up: February 19, 2018

Ryan Cleary (via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• UK “Survival of the Fittest” reality show contestant Ryan Cleary (above) recently came out as bisexual.

• Sally Field is trying to hook her gay son up with Winter Olympics darling Adam Rippon.

• Trump’s proposed budget cuts for HIV/AIDS funding would lead to 300,000 more deaths per year.

• A homophobic ad in Russia warns folks the gays will take over unless they vote.

• A top Republican pollster says Oprah Winfrey is “triggering” for Donald Trump.

• Out crossover artist Andre Xcellence has released I’m Coming, his highly charged EP of Xcellent music that he calls the soundtrack of his life.

The EP includes “So What?”, a celebratory anthem that invites gays and straights to party on the dance floor together. Check out the release on iTunes here or on Spotify here.

Andre Xcellence EP “I’m Coming”
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The New Yorker: Trump Rigged Miss Universe To Boost Business In Certain Countries

Donald Trump

It will come as no surprise to anyone today that back when Donald Trump owned the Miss Universe Pageant, his picks for finalists often overrode the decisions of the judges.

And often, those finalists came from countries where Trump had business interests.

#QuelSurprise

Jeffrey Toobin writes for The New Yorker:

From 1996 to 2015, Donald Trump co-owned the Miss Universe Organization, which also included the Miss U.S.A. and Miss Teen U.S.A. pageants. A day or two before a pageant began, Trump would casually visit the contestants while they conducted their final rehearsals. Former contestants told me that Trump would circulate among the young women, shaking hands and chatting with each of them, periodically turning to speak with Paula Shugart, the president of the Miss Universe Organization, who followed him at a discreet distance. (Paula Shugart declined to comment.)

Adwoa Yamoah, who competed as Miss Canada in 2012, told me, “He made comments about every girl: ‘I’ve been to that country.’ ‘We’re building a Trump Tower there.’ It was clear the countries that he liked did well. He’d whisper to Paula about the girls, and she’d write it down. He basically told us he picked nine of the top fifteen.”

Kerrie Baylis, who was Miss Jamaica in 2013, described a similar scene and added that, when the finalists were announced, “the list looked like the countries that Donald Trump did business with, or wanted to do business with.” Shi Lim, who competed that year as Miss Singapore, told me, “The finalists were picked by Trump. He was really in charge. We called it the Trump card.” (A Miss Universe spokeswoman said that the pageant rules allowed the company’s staff, including Trump, to participate in naming the finalists.)

Toobin goes on to chronicle Trump’s obsession with Russian business, and explains how the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant (held in Russia) helped create many connections between Team Trump and several wealthy Russian businessmen.

Well worth the read.

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Russia Banned From 2018 Winter Olympics Over Allegations Of Doping

Amid allegations of state-sponsored doping, the International Olympic Committee has banned Team Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Those Russian athletes willing and able to prove they are “clean” may be invited to take part on a case by case basis.

From CNN:

Those athletes must meet strict guidelines and will compete under the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia” (OAR). They will wear a uniform with that name on it and the Olympic anthem will be played at any ceremonies.

The invitations will be decided upon by a panel led by the Chair of the Independent Testing Authority (ITA), Velerie Fourneyron, but it will be the IOC who ultimately decides.

Russia’s Olympic Committee has been ordered to reimburse the IOC’s costs of investigating the doping scandal and it must also pay $15 million.

Vitaly Mutko, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and former Minister of Sport, has been barred from attending any future Olympic Games.

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Podcast: Chile Begins Debate On Marriage Equality; Pink & Channing Tatum Challenge Gender-Norms In “Beautiful Trauma;” LGBT Hate Crimes Double In Russia

In this week’s podcast:

• Chile begins debate on same-sex marriage

• Hate crimes against LGBTs have doubled in five years in Russia

• Democratic senators introduce the LGBT Elder Americans Act

• A growing number of millennial men are more prone to identify as the more fluid “mostly straight” than use the term “bisexual”

• The highly anticipated gay-themed film, “Call Me By Your Name,” leads the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards with six nominations and does great box office in its first week in domestic release.

• Pink and Channing Tatum challenge gender-norms in her new music video, “Beautiful Trauma.”

All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report.

Listen below.

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Russia: Number Of LGBT Hate Crimes Doubles In Five Years After Passage Of ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law

By Rama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, Link

In only five years, the number of hate crimes committed against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Russia has doubled.

During that time Russian’s ‘gay propaganda’ law was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in June of 2013 as a tool to halt gay pride parades and harass LGBT activists.

Svetlana Zakharova, a board member with the prominent gay rights organization Russian LGBT Network, says “(Offenders) have become more aggressive and less fearful.”

“It seems to them that, to some extent, the government supports their actions. Many perpetrators openly talk about their crimes as noble deeds.”

Frighteningly, of 250 crimes that were examined, 200 were murders.

Researching records and data from judicial watchdog RosPravosudie, the number of sentences for crimes against LGBT people increased from 18 in 2010 to 65 in 2015.

Experts say the statistics don’t reveal a full picture of the animus shown LGBTs as many hate crimes are not reported, investigated or prosecuted.

Russia was ranked second to last on a list of Europe’s LGBT-friendly nations in 2016 by ILGA-Europe, a network of European LGBT groups. Only Azerbaijan scored worse than Russia.

(source)

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Bloomberg: Trump Jr. Hinted At Repealing Russian Sanctions “If We Come To Power”

Don Trump Jr. (L) Donald Trump (R)

Bloomberg reports that Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian government lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower last year, says Don Jr. indicated a Trump administration would be open to re-examining a law targeting Russia if they “came to power.”

Veselnitskaya said she went to the New York meeting to show Trump campaign officials that major Democratic donors had evaded U.S. taxes and to lobby against the so-called Magnitsky law that punishes Russian officials for the murder of a Russian tax accountant who accused the Kremlin of corruption.

“Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,’’ Trump Jr. said of the 2012 law, she recalled. “I understand our side may have messed up, but it’ll take a long time to get to the bottom of it,” he added, according to her.

Veselnitskaya also said Trump Jr. requested financial documents showing that money that allegedly evaded U.S. taxes had gone to Clinton’s campaign. She didn’t have any and described the 20-minute meeting as a failure.

A lawyer for Trump Jr., Alan Futerfas, said the president’s son had no comment about the interview, the first time Veselnitskaya has offered details about what was discussed at Trump Tower in Manhattan. In the past, Trump Jr. has said that he had wasted his time seeing the lawyer because she provided no useful information.

You’ll recall Junior took the meeting having been told Veselnitskaya had dirt that would incriminate Clinton.

Trump Jr. agreed to the meeting saying, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Holds Significant Business Ties To Russia

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

Ruh-roh…

According to the New York Times, yet another high ranking person in the Donald Trump orbit, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, has large financial ties to Russia, including members of Vladimir Putin’s own family.

After becoming commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross Jr. retained investments in a shipping firm he once controlled that has significant business ties to a Russian oligarch subject to American sanctions and President Vladimir V. Putin’s son-in-law, according to newly disclosed documents.

The shipper, Navigator Holdings, earns millions of dollars a year transporting gas for one of its top clients, a giant Russian energy company called Sibur, whose owners include the oligarch and Mr. Putin’s family member. Despite selling off numerous other holdings to join the Trump administration and spearhead its “America first” trade policy, Mr. Ross kept an investment in Navigator, which increased its business dealings with Sibur even as the West sought to punish Russia’s energy sector over Mr. Putin’s incursions into Ukraine.

Partnerships used by Mr. Ross, whose private equity firm has long been the biggest shareholder in Navigator, have a 31 percent stake in the company. Though his personal share of that stake was reduced as he took office in February, he retained an investment in the partnerships valued between $2 million and $10 million, and stood to earn a higher share of profits as general partner, according to his government ethics disclosure and securities filings.

Mr. Ross’s stake in Navigator has been held by a chain of companies in the Cayman Islands, one of several tax havens where much of his wealth, estimated at more than $2 billion, has been tied to similar investment vehicles.

The information came from a cache of leaked files from Appleby, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms.

Considering Trump said no one in his campaign or administration had any connections to Russia, there sure are a LOT of people with connections to Russia…