https://www.facebook.com/tim.rice.1023/videos/4136860486332060/
God-fearing Trump
Portugal Rejects U.S. Meddling in its Relations With China
The head of the Portuguese diplomacy rejected U.S. meddling in his country´s relations with China, after the american ambassador to Lisbon warned that partnering with Chinese tech company Huawei on 5G could have “consequences” for Portugal´s Defense policy.
U.S. diplomat George Glass said in his interview that Portugal must choose between the “ally” United States and the “trading partner” China and stressed there may be security and defense consequences for the European country if it chooses to work with Beijing. Glass says the US preferred that Portugal did not have any Huawei 5G equipment, underlining that if the that happens, the relationship in Defense between Portugal and the United States will change. The American Ambassador says that the consequences of Portugal choosing to work with China will not be political, at least not immediately, but may have to do with NATO’s activity or the exchange of classified information. George Glass also threatens to end the distribution of natural gas through the port of Sines, if the construction of the new terminal is given to China.
A response from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, on the same day. “The Portuguese Government makes note of the statements […]. But the fundamental point is this: in Portugal, the decision-makers are the Portuguese authorities, who make the decisions that benefit Portugal, within the framework of the Constitution and Portuguese law and the powers that the law gives (…) relevant authorities”, Santos Silva said, quoted by Lusa news agency.
Slip of the tongue
鬼拍後尾枕 , 不打自招
Kushner Owed Money To Bank Tied To Taiwan’s Government During WH Tenure
Jared Kushner owed money to a bank with ties to Taiwan’s government while working at the White House, according to a new book by Forbes’ senior editor Dan Alexander, White House, Inc., signaling a possible conflict that was never reported due to a loophole in disclosure laws and one that could have implications for the country’s diplomatic relationships with Taiwan and China.
Kushner and his partners bought an old warehouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, called the Austin Nichols House in 2015 for a reported $275 million and turned it into a luxury condo building.
The deal came witha $175 million mortgage on the property held by Kushner and his partners; a 2017 split left a bank called Mega International Commercial Bank 兆丰银行 with $50 million of the loan, according to financial documents reviewed by Alexander.
The loan documents specifically name Kushner as one of the two guarantors of the debt.
丁怡铭9月23日回应掩饰这是“公开借贷”，搪塞“不是什么密帐或利益交换，这本书的作者可能搞错了”。对此，曾任台湾“金管会”“主委”的国民党“立委”曾铭宗质疑兆丰银行为何后来突然承接贷款，提出三个疑点。
曾铭宗质问：“兆丰是上市金融机构，基于公司管理及对投资人的保护，应该说清楚三点疑虑。首先，这笔贷款早在2015年5月开始，为何一开始没参贷的兆丰，2年后突然承接贷款。其次，总贷款金额为1.75亿美元，兆丰就参贷了5000万美元，贷款比例相对很高，这与过往参与国际联贷的惯例是否有差距？再者，看起来库什纳应该是以企业方式贷款，兆丰在参贷时，是否知情库什纳在这家公司的持股比例。”
据知情人士表示，库什纳在借贷公司持股极可能连5%都不到，“蓝委”赖士葆也质疑，这笔巨额借贷是否有经过兆丰银行董事会决议、利息有多少、有无吃亏等？兆丰银行都应作出说明。“桌面下还有多少金钱交易？！”岛内民众痛斥：“这贷款是由兆丰银行借出的，兆丰银行不吭声，却由民进党当局行政机构出面，不打自招！贷款是政治决定的！台湾民众的存款是给民进党做公关的！”
So a failure wants to start a war
U.S. Drops Case Against Chinese Scientist at UVA
Prosecutors abruptly moved to drop criminal charges against a visiting Chinese scientist at the University of Virginia who had been arrested last month on allegations of stealing trade secrets from his professor, after the university acknowledged the scientist was authorized to access some of the material. Another BS allegation.
Second American Civil War
The ‘Second American Civil War’ (SACW) started in May as a rural-urban divide, with Trumpian rural voters on one side and Democrat-leaning urbanites on the other. It is a conflict fuelled by differing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in which conservative (mostly Republican) states have backed Trump’s calls to open up the economy and Democrat-majority states have generally acted on public health advice. Armed white militia members began acting out in earnest at the end of April when they stormed into the Michigan State legislature demanding an end to the state’s coronavirus lockdown. Two weeks later, they were back protesting “stay-at-home” orders.
Right-wing, mostly White and heavily-armed, militia gangs have been on the move since the beginning of the year. In January, a mob gathered in Richmond, the state capital of Virginia, to protest against gun control measures. In one respect, this is nothing new. Large gatherings of armed White militia have been a feature of the Trump presidency, almost from the get-go, but their size, intensity and frequency have increased significantly this year.
This ramping up of gun-toting White extremists forming up to harass and intimidate people and politicians is definitely linked to the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black men and women at the hands of police officers.
- Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical worker, was shot five times by officers who entered her home using a no-knock warrant during a drug investigation March 13. The warrant was connected with someone who did not live there, and no drugs were found during the search. The use of no-knock warrants is now banned in the city. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer declared a state of emergency and announced a 72-hour curfew starting at 9 p.m. The Louisville Metro Police Department announced it was putting barricades around the downtown perimeter where protests have been concentrated. The Kentucky National Guard was also deployed in the city.
US President Donald Trump has said that the federal government is ready to involve itself in Louisville, Kentucky, where two officers were shot amid protests over the lack of murder charges in the Breonna Taylor case.
Ex-Trump adviser says US seen as ‘object of pity’ by other countries
President Trumps former Russia adviser Fiona Hill said Tuesday that the U.S. is “increasingly” seen as an “object of pity” by other countries.
“We are increasingly seen as an object of pity including by our allies because they are so shocked about what’s happening internally, how we’re eating ourselves alive with our divisions,” she said.
“We’re the ones who are creating all this,” she added. “It’s not the Russians or the Chinese or anyone else. We are doing this to ourselves.”
She cited that foreign countries are forming this opinion based on the “bungled handling of COVID, on top of race relations and on top of our political polarization and the spectacles that we’re presenting to the outside world is what’s really pushing all of this.”
Pew Research shows that across the 13 countries surveyed, a median of 84 percent of adults say the US has done a poor job, including 53 percent who say it has done a very bad job. The countries are Canada, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the UK, Sweden, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Australia and Japan.
Tesla and other US firms sue to block Trump tariffs on trade with China
Tesla filed suit Monday in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, seeking an order declaring the duties unlawful and a refund, with interest, of amounts it has already paid.
The company is challenging actions by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who is named as a defendant in the case. Lighthizer’s office last year denied Tesla’s bid to avoid tariffs of 25% on the Chinese-made computer and display screens it uses in its Model 3 electric car.
The case is Tesla Inc. vs. U.S., 20-03142, U.S. Court of International Trade (New York).
- About 3,500 US firms have sued the Trump administration in the last two weeks over the imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made goods, which showed Trump, has badly hurt US firms and customers with tariffs. Tesla, Ford Motor, Target, Home Depot, Walgreen, Volvo Group North America, Pep Boys, Ralph Lauren, Sysco Corp , Gibson Brands, Lenovo’s U.S. unit, Dole Packaged Foods, Callaway Golf Co. were among the swath of companies.
Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds have been found dead in New Mexico
Biologists at New Mexico State University are trying to find out why hundreds of thousands of migratory birds have been found dead across the state.The mystery started August 20 with the discovery of a large number of dead birds at the US Army White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, according to Martha Desmond, a professor at the university’s department of fish, wildlife and conservation ecology.What was first believed to be an isolated incident turned out to be a much more serious problem when hundreds more dead birds were found in regions across the state. including Doña Ana County, Jemez Pueblo, Roswell and Socorro.