Monthly Archives: June 2017

Updated: May 31, 2017 10:27 AM ET

President Donald Trump has told aides he intends to pull out of the Paris climate agreement , throwing into doubt a landmark treaty that scientists have said is vital to combating global warming .

According to two White House officials, the President has not yet decided on how to withdraw from the agreement either through a multi-year formal process or the more extreme act of quitting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The aides cautioned any decision isnt final until it is announced, and that the President is still being lobbied by others to remain in the agreement.

Amid multiple reports that he had decided to withdraw, Trump said an announcement would come soon. "I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days," Trump said Wednesday morning on Twitter .

Trump made withdrawing from the agreement, negotiated by former President Barack Obama in 2015, a central focus of his campaign, arguing that it overburdened U.S. consumers and energy producers with carbon pollution limits that didnt apply to developing economies. But since he won the White House, the decision whether to fulfill that promise has been among the most fraught within his administration, dividing the Trump family and top aides along ideological and nationalistic lines.

Trump has also been the subject of ferocious international lobbying from leaders across the globe to remain in the agreement. The subject was a centerpiece of the G-7 meetings in Italy last week, where the leaders failed to reach consensus on climate issues because of Trumps dissension. Trump was also pressed by Pope Francis to remain in the accord, and the Pope gave Trump a copy of his encyclical on climate change. All signatories to the UN climate change treaty have signed onto the Paris accords except for Syria and Nicaragua.

Obama entered the agreement without seeking ratification from the GOP-controlled Senate, making it easier for Trump to quit the agreement.

Within the White House, the divisions tend to break along increasingly-familiar lines: Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and chief strategist Steve Bannon favor pulling out, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn and senior advisor Jared Kushner are all reportedly in favor of staying in. Withdrawal would allow Trump to fulfill a campaign pledge and may appeal to supporters of his inward-looking "America First" platform. But policy experts warn of the potentially significant downsides, including ceding global leadership on climate policy to China and Europe.

Trump could also adopt a third option. Since many of the nation's commitments to the Paris Agreement are voluntary, there are no concrete penalties if the U.S. fails to meet them. As a result, Trump could change U.S. commitments, preserving its role at the table while adopting less-stringent greenhouse gas reduction targets than those set under the Obama administration. Trump has already said that he will cancel U.S. payments to a UN fund dedicated to supporting climate change initiatives in the developing world.

Read this article:

Donald Trump to Pull U.S. Out of Paris Climate Agreement ...

New York Times

Does Donald Trump Still Think Climate Change Is a Hoax? No One Can Say New York Times WASHINGTON As a businessman, President Trump was a frequent and scornful critic of the concept of climate change. In the years before running for president, he called it nonexistent, mythical and a a total con job. Whenever snow fell in New ... Donald Trump's Exit From Paris Climate Deal Seals his DownfallNewsweek Has Donald Trump Ceded Global Leadership to China's Xi Jinping?Fortune Donald Trump's Vision of Pittsburgh is Sooooooo 80sMother Jones CNN -CNN International -Quartz all 11,410 news articles »

Go here to see the original:

Does Donald Trump Still Think Climate Change Is a Hoax? No One Can Say - New York Times

The country as a whole isn't thrilled with President Donald Trump's job performance. Andin general,the same goes for the swing states that helped him win the presidency lastNovember, according to the latest polls.

A handful of key states where both candidates seemingly had a shot at winning allowedTrump to shock the country and win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Michigan was one such state. Trump narrowly edged outClinton, earning 47.6 percent of the vote to her 47.3 percent. A paltry 11,612 votes gave the former reality star Michigan's 16 electoral votes.

A littlemore than four months into his presidency, Trump isn't exactly beloved in Michigan. Only 37 percent of likely voters in the state view him favorably, according to a new poll released byEPIC-MRA this week. Fifty-three percent viewed Trump unfavorably to some degree, while 44 percent of voters viewed the president very unfavorably. And that's not the worst of it.

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

Just 35 percent of likely voters gave Trump a positive job performance rating, while 61 percent gave him a negative rating, according to theEPIC-MRA survey. The poll interviewed 600 likely voters in Michigan from May 20 through May 24. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

U.S. President Donald Trump refers to amounts of temperature change as he announces his decision that the United States will withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, in Washington, U.S., June 1. Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/Reuters

Things weren't much better for Trump in Pennsylvania, another swing state he won by a small margin (a bit more than 1 percentage point). Just 37 percent of Pennsylvania voters approved of Trump's job performance, according to a May survey from Franklin & Marshall College.

While Michigan and Pennsylvania proved to be close races in November'selection, Trumpwon North Carolina over Clinton by nearly 4 percentage points. Butthe southern swing state's approvalwasn't great inApril,the last time it was measuredby a survey. Only41.6 percent of voters approved of the job Trump has done after 100 days in office, according to the poll from Elon University. Nearly 51 percent disapproved of his job performance.

"Though President Trump enjoyed considerable support among North Carolinians on Election Day, he has lost ground among the crucial independent voters responsible for his success over Hillary Clinton,"Jason Husser, director of the Elon University poll, said in a statement at the time.

The survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.36 percentage points, interviewed 506 likely votersfrom April 18 through April 21.

It's unlikely that Trump's standing has improved in the month or so since the North Carolina poll was released. A flood of controversiesmost notably the avalanche of bombshell reports relatedto the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and the Trumpadministration'spotential ties to Russiahave not been kind to the president's national approval rating. In late April, the FiveThirtyEight weighted average pegged Trump's national approval rating at about 42 percent. It has since fallen to 39.1 percent.

State polls are taken far less frequently than national surveys, but the local resultsin generalhaven't been good for the White House. A March Marquette University poll ofregistered voters in Wisconsina swing state Trump won by just 1 percentage pointfound Trump's approval rating stood at just 41 percent, while 47 percent of the state disapproved of the job he was doing. A Florida poll from the same monthpegged Trump's approval at 44 percent in the state, with disapproval at 51 percent.

Even in Texas, a state Trump won with ease, the president's approval rating appears to be deeply underwater. Only 42 percent of Texans approved of the job he was doing, compared with 54 percent who disapproved, aTexas Lyceum survey found in April.

Follow this link:

Donald Trump's Latest Approval Ratings in Election Swing States Reveal How Unpopular He Has Become - Newsweek

A tearful Kathy Griffin spoke out in response to backlash after she posted a short video of herself holding a decapitated likeness of Donald Trump's head -- saying that the president "broke me" by calling her stunt "sick."

The photo that Griffin posted sparked an immediate and widespread backlash as well as condemnation from the president, who called her actions "sick" in a tweet. First lady Melania Trump called the image "disturbing" and said it makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it."

"I'm gonna be honest, he broke me," Griffin said Friday of Trump's response. "I may get arrested today, I dont know."

The comedian said she is also getting "detailed death threats."

"This is America, you shouldn't have to die" over comedy, she added.

In the photo, which Griffin tweeted on May 30, then took down, she captioned herself holding up a fake Trump head, covered in fake blood, "I caption this 'there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his ... wherever,'" referring to an exchange between Donald Trump and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during the presidential primary season.

Griffin's First Amendment lawyer, Lisa Bloom, said that the Secret Service reached out to her and that she had to retain a criminal attorney as well. Griffin maintains she was not threatening the president.

Griffin explained that her and photographer Tyler Shields only spent five minutes coming up with the idea and that the pictures were part of a larger photo shoot that didn't include Trump.

The picture was never meant as anything malicious and that it was supposed to be interpreted in different ways, she added.

"I have no desire to threaten him," she said. "I made a horrible mistake and made a horrible call."

When talking about the aftermath of the pictures, Griffin said "I dont think I have a career after this." She was recently let go from CNN's New Years Eve special and added Friday that at least five concert venues have already canceled some of her shows. The most recent cancellation is her June 17 appearance at Uptown Theatre Napa in Napa, California, which made the announcement on Friday on its Facebook page. No reason was given for the cancellation.

The 56-year-old comedian also spoke about the tweets in response from Trump himself, calling the act "sick" and from the President's wife Melania, which focused on their son Baron's well-being.

"Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!" Trump wrote the morning after the picture started trending on the internet.

Bloom said that Griffin couldn't have imagined that her stunt would be misinterpreted and that other artists have done worse.

"I'm not afraid of Donald Trump ... I'm gonna make fun of him more now," she said Friday.

Originally posted here:

Kathy Griffin breaks down, says Donald Trump 'broke me' - ABC News

President Donald Trumps conflicts of interest have managed to center around China with unusual frequency this week. Lets dive in.

President Donald Trump has issued ethics waivers for four ex-lobbyists

This story practically speaks for itself. Trump, the man who made drain the swamp into a slogan during his 2016 presidential campaign, has issued 17 ethics waivers for people working for either him or Vice President Mike Pence. Of those 17 waivers, four have gone to former lobbyists three staffers at the National Economic Council and the chief of staff for Pence himself.

Chinese activists go missing when investigating Ivanka Trumps factory

Its scary enough that two Chinese activists investigating labor abuses at one of Ivanka Trumps Chinese factories have gone missing, while a third was arrested. Making matters worse, however, is the fact that this may have had to do with the Chinese governments desire to remain on the Trumps good side. As China Labor Watch director Li Qjang told The Guardian, he believes the activists may have been targeted because this factory makes products for Ivanka Trump, so now this situation has become political and very complicated.

Jared Kushners family uses Trump to promote more investments to Chinese businessmen

In less sinister China-related news, Bloomberg reportsthat a Jersey City apartment project being developed by Murray Kushner, the uncle of Trumps son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, was pitched to Chinese investors in a way that explicitly referenced the familys connections to the president. Although Jared Kushner himself wasntinvolved in the project and Kushner Cos. sent a cease-and-desist letter to Murray Kushners company when they heard about the pitch, the fact that this pitch occurred at all speaks to how those connected with Trump are seeking to cash in on his presidency.

See more here:

This week in Donald Trump's conflicts of interest: More drama about China - Salon

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

We are here today to reaffirm our unbreakable support for the American heroes who keep our streets, our homes, and our citizens safe, and theyve been doing an amazing job under very adverse conditions, Trump said during a signing ceremony at the White House.

Trump signed thePublic Safety Officers Benefits Improvement Act, a bill to help streamline benefits for disabled officers and the families of fallen officers.

For too long, injured officers have suffered, and the children of fallen officers have put their dreams of college on hold while bureaucracy delayed crucial benefits, made it impossible for their families, Trump said. No longer. Its unacceptable, and its going to end today.

Trump also signed the American Law Enforcement Heroes Act, a bill allowing federal grants to help military veterans transition to careers in law enforcement.

America is proud of our veterans, and I think I can say a double proud or a triple proud, he said.

Referring to his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, Trump joked that the two bills he signed Friday were slightly less controversial than yesterday.

Several members of the law enforcement community joined Trump in the Diplomatic Reception Roomfor the signing ceremony, including representatives from the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Sheriffs Association.

Law enforcement officers from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, and Virginia were also present.

When a home is threatened, when danger visits our doorstep, when innocent lives are on the line, Americans turn to their courageous officers of law enforcement because we know they are here to serve and to protect us all, Trump said, thanking them.

Link:

Donald Trump Signs Bills Assisting Law Enforcement: 'We Are Behind You 100 Percent' - Breitbart News

New York Daily News

How the Evergreen protesters echo Donald Trump New York Daily News Last fall, on the day after Donald Trump was elected President, scores of students at Evergreen State College walked out of class. They burned an American flag, and wrote chalk messages to protest Trump's victory. "We need a revolution," read one. "Not ... and more »

Original post:

How the Evergreen protesters echo Donald Trump - New York Daily News

New York Times

Donald Trump Poisons the World New York Times This week, two of Donald Trump's top advisers, H. R. McMaster and Gary Cohn, wrote the following passage in The Wall Street Journal: The president embarked on his first foreign trip with a cleareyed outlook that the world is not a 'global community ... America First Doesn't Mean America AloneWall Street Journal all 8 news articles »

Here is the original post:

Donald Trump Poisons the World - New York Times

He isan unseriousmanone who exists in a universe constructed in his mind, the choices he makes dictated by a reality invisible to the world around him. Everything that he believes is outdated, tied to a past that the culture-at-large gladly buried long ago.

I'm talking, of course, aboutMiguel de Cervantes's classicprotagonist, Don Quixote.

There's a famous passage in the novelDon Quixote, published in two parts in the early 17th century,in which the herojousts withor tilts atwindmills. You see, Don Quixote believes he is a knight, the last of a dying breed preserving the chivalrous code. In reality, he has lost his mind and the knights died off long ago.Regardless, whileout on an adventure, Don Quixote spotsthese "monstrous giants" and tells his oft-befuddled compatriot Sancho Panza thatit is his duty to battle themand, of course, to take their riches.

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

His pal Sancho replies: "What you see over there aren't giantsthey're windmills; and what seems to be arms are the sails that rotate the millstone when they're turned by the wind." But Don Quixote is unmoved by reality, and, in turn, fights the windmills.

The phrase "tilting at windmills" has since entered the lexicon as an expression usedto describeone who battles imagined enemies, a person vigorously chasing down something despite reality's best efforts to dissuade him or her from the task.

Like many things, this brings us to President Donald Trump, who hasnot quite literally, but almostliterallytiltled at windmills.

Trump, who Thursday announcedthe U.S.would back out of the landmark Paris accord that unified the world in fighting climate change, has long had a bone to pick with wind turbines. You've probably seen them somewhere: They're the hulking, stark-white, tri-bladedwindmillsthat convert wind into electricalpower.

While the wind turbines provideclean power, Trump has routinely battled them largely because he thought they looked unsightly next to his posh golf courses. He even took his fight against windmills all the way to the Britain's highest court.Trump lost.

But the fight didn't stopnoteven after he won the election on November8. Days later,Trump urged British alliesto oppose the sorts of wind farms that would spoil his immaculate views.

As with most of hisenemies, the president has tweetedand tweeted oftenabout the wind turbines he so loathes. He hascited bird deaths, which do happen (at a far lower rate compared tothings like cellphone towers), butsome environmentalists say the benefits wind turbines provide withgreen energy would end up saving many more birds from global warming than they kill. He has said they cause health problems and, to be fair, some people who live or work in close proximity to turbines have described annoyance and issues like headaches, sleep disturbance and anxiety (many wind farms are offshore, however). He has claimed they have a warming effect on the climate (they do not). He hascalled them ugly. He even pleaded with Rachel Maddow and tweeted a link to the Huffington Post.

The now-president and the monstrous giants have been jousting for years in a fight much of the world has forgotten. Presented belowis Trump tilting at windmills:

Go here to see the original:

Donald Trump Tilting at Windmills: A Long Fight, Explained - Newsweek