Tag: united states

Not all of these arguments hold up on closer inspection, however. Here’s a quick look at each of the claims. There’s a difference between voter fraud and Russian meddling As he faced low polling numbers in the waning weeks of the 2016 election, Trump repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the election, arguing that there was “large scale voter fraud” and that the election is “absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media.” Both of these claims were baseless, as multiple fact-checkers and news stories attested. Speaking at a press conference in the Rose Garden on Oct. 18, Obama advised Trump to “stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.” “The larger point I want to emphasize here is that there is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even — you could even rig America’s elections, in part, because they are so decentralized and the numbers of votes involved,” he said. This muddies the distinctions between rigging the election and meddling in it, however. Obama was specifically pushing back against Trump’s assertion that voter fraud would cost him the election — a baseless claim that he repeated even after winning the election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was skeptical that the intelligence backed up the White House claims of Russian attacks, and key Democrats were upset that the White House did not push back harder, according to a 2017 report in the Washington Post. But it’s not accurate to say that the Obama Administration or Democratic leaders in Congress didn’t believe that Russia was attempting to influence the election until after Trump won. Trump isn’t tougher on Russia than Obama In August of 2017, Congress passed a bill by an overwhelming veto-proof margin (419-3 in the House and 98-2 in the Senate) that imposes new sanctions on Russia in retaliation for meddling in the election and limits the president’s ability to lift them. “And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it.” As noted above, the Obama Administration publicized Russian election interference, sanctioned Russian individuals and entities, ejected diplomats and closed Russian compounds.

In terms of actual support of active U.S. involvement within the UN, a 2017 poll by the the non-partisan Better World Campaign, which works to strengthen US engagement inside the UN, shows that 88 percent of Americans support an active role of the U.S. within the UN to solve difficult global challenges. If anything we should use our involvement with the UN to promote American values, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. A lack of U.S. involvement, however, does not help for increased multilateralism and institutional reform; rather, it will greatly exacerbate it and leaves a gaping void of U.S. leadership in its stead. Save some small to medium conflicts there has been no world war since World War II, and most importantly no nuclear war since before the creation of the UN. Even if these meetings don’t produce favorable results, it still gives all parties an opportunity to seek alternatives to escalation, sanctions, and worse case scenarios such as another world war. Ever since its founding, the UN and its predecessor, the League of Nations (LoN), have both largely drawn scorn and repudiation from those critics skeptical of U.S. involvement in global institutions. These strains of skepticism have carried into modern politics as well, particularly from former Congressman Ron Paul who has time and time again called for the U.S. to withdraw from the UN. Both of these documents have libertarian themes throughout, and they’re based on certain inalienable human rights and the rule of law. Furthermore, the very purpose of the WTO is to promote reducing trade barriers and tariffs in order to promote global free trade. We should actively promote democratic values, the rule of law, peace, free trade, and immigration, but we should do so within these various international bodies where the world comes together.

After asking the Pentagon to hold a military parade in his honour, President Donald Trump has been told they’ll be a massive parade all across America as soon as he’s impeached. The nationwide parades could be attending by tens of millions of Americans happy to see the back of Trump. Figures that even he finds appealing. ‘I’m not so keen on the idea of being impeached but I do like the sound of tens of millions of Americans turning out to honour me in some way. Obama never had that,’ said Trump. While the parade date is still to be confirmed, most Americans are hoping it can be held sooner rather than later. ‘For all the criticism Trump has received for the amount of America’s money he’s spent on golfing, I think we’d be happy to spend that all over again on an impeachment parade for him,’ said Hillary C, a housewife from Washington DC. Trump is now said to be actively helping the FBI in their investigation into his affairs with Russia in an effort to get his parade as quickly as possible.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Former hippies across the United States have been put in the unbearable position of rooting for the F.B.I., hippies have confirmed. From Vermont to California, erstwhile hippies bemoaned a nightmare scenario that has forced them to side with a law-enforcement agency they have despised since the Summer of Love. “I always dreamed I’d spend my retirement surrounded by my grandchildren, telling them that the F.B.I. “That dream has been shot to hell.” Her husband, Mick, nodded his head in sad agreement. “We were so happy when pot was legalized in California,” he said. “But the fact that we’re now on the same side as the F.B.I. has ruined even that.” Now in their seventies, the Foylers are spending their days doing things they never dreamed possible when they traipsed through the mud at Woodstock: going door to door in Santa Cruz, asking other former freaks to sign a pro-F.B.I. petition. “Donald Trump has wrecked America’s standing around the world, spread misogyny and bigotry, ravaged the environment, and endorsed a child molester,” Carol said. “But making people like us support the F.B.I.

The Story: As the Davos conference got underway Tuesday January 23, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced that the 11 nations still in...

The Story: As the Davos conference got underway Tuesday January 23, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced that the 11 nations still in...

Two people run into each other in their neighbourhood, or virtually on Facebook, and instantly start discussing the president. If the two support Trump, they might share a grumble about the media. But they are also signalling something else to each other, namely: “You and I belong to the same tribe. Then, in 2016, even many previously apolitical Americans embraced their tribal political identity. That year’s US election drew about twice as much interest on Google as the three previous presidential elections combined. And politics has only become more tribal since. Supporting him therefore gives you a clearer identity now than it did in 2016. Remainers sport European flags and their new acronym FBPE (Follow Back Pro EU), just as Trump supporters have American flags and MAGA (Make America Great Again). These people have found their tribes. Most people choose not to, partly because they like living in their tribe.

In the last half of last year, U.S. armed forces under President Donald Trump’s direction launched 2,000 air strikes against Taliban targets in Afghanistan. That is, if one’s goal is to win the war. In fact, even the increased U.S. bombing campaign has so far failed to shrink Taliban positions. One would also assume that defeating the Taliban is the purpose of said longest-ever U.S. war, now being waged for the 17th year by U.S. forces . Second, it may force the Taliban to the negotiating table and a deal creating a joint power arrangement between the Taliban and the ephemeral Afghan government. We are now spending ‘blood and treasure’ to force the wicked government we somewhat successfully sought to remove from power to come on back and re-take a measure of political control. “The new strategy presupposes that U.S. and Afghan forces can pound the Taliban so hard that it has no choice but to relinquish its war against the Afghan government and instead join it in some sort of power-sharing agreement,” explains the Post, adding that one American general acknowledged “the Taliban could even be given control of entire provinces in such an agreement.” Hmm. “We should leave Afghanistan immediately. We cannot build a sparkling, new, self-sufficient, freedom-loving Afghan society. If a resurgent Taliban government were to again threaten the USA, that could be addressed, as Trump put it, “hard & quick.” It is a far more realistic policy, destined to be cheaper in lives and treasure, than nation-building decade after decade — and bombing an enemy you are hoping to turn into a partner in a future Afghan government.

The Story: In an interview with Reuters, President Trump said Wednesday, January 17, that he may pull The United States out of the North American...

It hasn’t been a great couple of weeks for Alibaba in the U.S.. First affiliate Ant Financial’s proposed acquisition of MoneyGram collapsed due to objections from the U.S. government, now its Taobao service has the dubious honor of again featuring on the USTR (United States Trade Representative) naughty list. Taobao, Alibaba’s hugely popular marketplace, is among 25 e-commerce sites to feature in the latest USTR ‘Notorious Markets’ list. The annual list roots out physical and digital marketplaces that are adjudged to be “engaging in and facilitating substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.” The key concern of the report on Taobao is around how Alibaba works with IP holders to remove counterfeit listings and prevent sales of unlicensed goods. “A high volume of infringing products reportedly continue to be offered for sale and sold on Taobao.com and stakeholders continue to report challenges and burdens associated with IP enforcement on the platform,” the report said of Taobao, which is a key service that helps Alibaba reach 488 million Chinese consumers each year. The USTR acknowledged that Alibaba has taken steps to improve the situation, but it noted that “important unresolved concerns remained.” In particular, the report said Alibaba hasn’t clearly articulated the scale of Taobao’s counterfeiting issue, instead choosing to present progress it has made. It was also criticized for prioritizing major brands over the concerns of SMEs. Alibaba responded with with a “point by point rebuttal” of the section of the report focused on Taobao. Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said in a blog post that the company “went above and beyond each specific concern raised by the USTR last year.” “It’s clear that no matter how much action we take and progress we make, the USTR is not actually interested in seeing tangible results. Therefore, our inclusion on its list is not an accurate representation of Alibaba’s results in protecting brands and IP, and we have no other choice but to conclude that this is a deeply flawed, biased and politicized process,” Evans said. In a separate statement, Alibaba said politics were behind Taobao’s inclusion on the list: “As a result of the rise of trade protectionism, Alibaba has been turned into a scapegoat by the USTR to win points in a highly-politicized environment and their actions should be recognized for what they are.