Daily Archives: July 26, 2017

Human Genetic Engineering Cons

Posted: July 26, 2017 at 3:56 pm

Many Human Genetic Engineering Cons are there that can stop a person from getting through the entire gene therapy. It is a process in which there is a modification or change in the genes of a human. The aim or objective of using Human Genetic Engineering is to choose newborn phenotype or to change or alter the existing phenotype of an adult or an already grown child. Human Genetic Engineering has shown a lot of promise for curing cystic fibrosis. It is a kind of genetic disease that exist in humans. It will increase the level of immunity in people. Increased immunity will make them resistant to several severe diseases.

There is also a speculation that Human Genetic Engineering can be used in other area of work. It can be used for making changes in the physical appearances. Metabolism may notice some improvements. Human Genetic Engineering Cons can be seen on the mental abilities of a human.

However, it can make certain improvements in the intelligence level. Human Genetic Engineering has made a lot of contributions in the field of advanced medical sciences. There is not much data about Human Genetic Engineering Cons . One can easily think of it as a successful invention in the field of medical science.

Gene therapy can be used for curing several deadly diseases. Many diseases are there that have no cure, so this is a helpful invention in this field. It can lead to various health benefits. Genetic engineering can also lead to population free from any diseases. However, some Human Genetic Engineering Cons are also there that can trouble human beings.

This is because of the complications involved in human genes. A person has multiple physical attributes that differ from each other, so chances are there that these attributes get controlled by only one gene sequence. This helps the scientists to make changes or alteration in only one gene at a time and the remaining multiple sequences of genes will automatically be altered.

Scientists involved in this alteration process also noticed that whenever a DNA strand gets a new gene, then it becomes difficult for the DNA strand to make a decision about where the new gene will be settled. It is one of the factors that contribute to Human Genetic Engineering Cons. With the help of genetic engineering scientists will find no difficulty at the time of altering a part of DNA in a human. This will keep them resistant or away from any genetic disease or effects. These effects might be there on the reproductive cells of a person.

For an instance, it these reproductive cells are there on parents that their children will automatically acquire the effects of genetics. Such Human Genetic Engineering Cons can cause few genetic diseases on humans. Chances of errors are always there in making use of genetic engineering for human cloning, agriculture, and in any other related field. Entire human generation can lead to mutation if these Human Genetic Engineering Cons do get removed at their earliest.

Human Genetic Engineering Cons

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Salvaging Hubble – New Scientist

Posted: at 3:55 pm

The illustrious Hubble Space Telescope will eventually re-enter Earths atmosphere and be destroyed or so I understand. Could it be returned to Earth safely and put in a museum? If so, what would be the cheapest way to do it?

(Continued)

Our apologies to Sam Palasciano whose earlier submission to this question on 3 June contained an error introduced by us Ed

Hubbles primary mirror weighs roughly 1800 pounds or 800 kilograms, not 450 as the article stated. This could be significant if someone wanted to seriously pursue this question.

However, I would much rather someone came up with a way of extending the life of the Hubble telescope in orbit. The replacement Webb Telescope, as I understand it, operates at different wavelengths. Hubble was designed to have a more useful operating window, including both ultraviolet and infrared, an advantage that will be lost when it is closed down.

Sam Palasciano, Oceanside, California, US

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Smith astronomer presents rare images of stars at national conference – GazetteNET

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NORTHAMPTON When Smith College astronomy professor James Lowenthal got images back from the Hubble Space Telescope this year, his initial response was simple: Wow!

What he was looking at were the brightest infrared galaxies in the universe close-up views of rare, ultrabright collections of stars from the early universe that are furiously producing even more stars. Those views, Lowenthal told the Gazette at his office on Tuesday, may someday help answer a fundamental question about the history of the cosmos: how did galaxies form and evolve?

The images Lowenthal was observing made use of a well-known effect called gravitational lensing. Essentially, the light from those 22 distant galaxies passes through the gravitational field of a closer massive object, which acts as a kind of cosmic magnifying glass for researchers on Earth.

That foregrounded, natural lens allows astronomers to see otherwise impossible-to-see pictures of the distant universe. Light traveling from those galaxies takes billions of years to reach Earth, so researchers are quite literally looking into the past at galaxies from as long as 12 billion years ago about 90 percent of the way back to the Big Bang, according to Lowenthal.

Lowenthal presented those images at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas, last month.

The reaction has been in our scientific community, This is so, so cool, Lowenthal said of the response from his colleagues.

But before Lowenthal could take that peek into the past with his fellow researchers including Min Yun, Kevin Harrington, Patrick Kamieneski and Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts Amherst they had to write a scientifically rigorous proposal laying out their case for getting highly sought- after time on the Hubble telescope.

We convinced them it would be really cool, Lowenthal said of the proposal. And wow! It was really cool.

Lowenthal said Yun and others cleverly discovered the galaxies by using publicly available data from several telescopes, and used the Large Millimeter Telescope a joint project between UMass and Mexicos National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics to confirm their distances from Earth.

It was thanks to that work narrowing down a list of distant galaxies that the team knew where to look when they got time on the Hubble telescope.

The distant galaxies in the Hubble images are producing 5,000 to 10,000 times more stars than the Milky Way, but are using the same amount of gas contained in the Milky Way. That fact leaves astronomers to puzzle over what exactly is fueling that star birth.

Possible explanations for the rapid creation of stars could be the collision of massive galaxies, a flood of gas or something entirely different. At issue is the very nature of galaxy formation and evolution.

Those are lingering questions that Lowenthal hopes to answer, but first the images from the Hubble telescope must be decoded.

While gravitational lensing makes those distant galaxies more visible in high detail, it also bends their light, leaving warped images with streaks, circles and arcs that can leave researchers unclear about what exactly theyre looking at. The task now is to unscramble those pictures.

To explain the warping of the images, Lowenthal used the analogy of looking at candlelight through a wine glass. The light will appear in different spots, or even stretch across the bottom of the glass in a circle, depending on how the glass is held.

Because the images theyve received are warped, researchers must now work backwards to reconstruct what those galaxies actually looked like before passing through the lens. Knowing the distance of those galaxies, Lowenthal and others must figure out other variables like the gravitational pull of the lens to model what the original image looked like, or to even figure out what the background and foreground are.

From Hubble, we got only monochromatic, black and white images. Its only one wavelength, Lowenthal said, noting that hes hoping to get images from Hubble in the future that will show colors like red and blue. If we did have that information, it would tremendously, instantly help us separate foreground from background, because the foreground and background are almost always different colors.

Lowenthal and his colleagues failed to get approval to use the Hubble telescope during the latest cycle of proposals, but he said he hopes theyll soon have access again, and they hope to gain further insight into the nature of those early galaxies.

While he waits for more data, however, the images Lowenthal already has have nevertheless changed his perception of the cosmos in at least some way. As a scientist who normally studies distant galaxies without much emphasis on gravitational lensing, the new images have made him rethink the galaxies he has been looking at for so many years.

I have not been thinking, Most of those galaxies are probably gravitationally lensed, at least a little bit, Lowenthal said. And now Im thinking, Everything is lensed!

Its definitely startling to have a big shift like that, he said, though the smile on his face and wonder in his eyes seemed to indicate he was far more excited and curious for the work ahead than startled.

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Russia to Raise Firepower in South to Neuter NATO Air ‘Threat’ – Newsweek

Posted: at 3:54 pm

Russias Defense Ministry has vowed to increaseits firepower in its southern regions near Ukraine and the Black Sea, in response to U.K. jets in Romania.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) currently runs patrols on behalf of NATO ally Romania, with four Typhoon jets deployed near the Romanian port city of Constanta. London made the deployment in April, just as the U.S. deployed two of the worlds most advanced warplanes, the F-22. One of the RAFs jets scrambledon Tuesday to track a group of Russian bombersflying across the Black Sea.

Related: How do the new U.S. sanctions on Russia work, and why is Europe worried?

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The tailing was at such a distance that the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it did not even see the Typhoon, though Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Wednesday at a conference of military officials that Russia needed to beef up measures in the region regardless.

Under these circumstances, Russia is forced to take symmetrical measures for neutralizing the emerging threat for national security, conducting actions for strategic containment and raising the battle capabilities of Russias Southern Military District, Shoigu said.

Shoigu did not say what the measures would be but usedthe recentU.S.-lead Sea Breeze drill conducted with Ukraineas a reason why Russia needed to reinforce further. NATO has repeatedly denied its limited multinational reassurance measures are intended to be aggressive towardRussia.

Over the last half a year the Southern Military District received over 600 units of combat equipment, Shoigu said, state news agency Itar-Tass reported. The battle training of the staff and the preparation of the military authority is being perfected constantly.

He indicated that the high rate of exerciseswould continue.

The Black Sea and the Southern Military District is currently one of the crucial areas for Russia, which borderstwo nations on whose territory it has deployed troopsUkraine and Georgia.

Three NATO states sit on an extensive share of the Black Sea coastline. As ties between Russia and the NATO alliance have soured over Crimea, Black Sea waters have seen a handful of tense encounters between Russian and Western personnel.

Among the more spectacular was a near miss between a U.S. aircraft and a Russian jet jumping to escort it, getting within 10 feet for the U.S. jet.

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NATO(-member) in Name Only? – The American Interest

Posted: at 3:54 pm

Several developments this week demonstrate the continued deterioration of Turkeys relationships with traditional Western allies. The most shocking of the stories began to unfold when the state-owned Anadolu News Agency disclosed classified information about the whereabouts of soldiers from the United States and Europe who are fighting ISIS. As Al-Monitor noted:

The reportrevealedcrucial information on some of the US bases and on French and American soldiers in the region. The article and a detailed map appeared in AAs English version on July 18. On July 19, the leak spread to international media outlets. The US military told the press that publishing such sensitive informationwas professionally irresponsible.

Although President Recep Tayyip Erdoans chief foreign policy advisor, Ibrahim Kalin, denied any government involvement in the revelations about secret bases, the unwillingness of the president to remove the story from the webpages his ministries control speaks volumes. The Turkish state has indirectly sanctioned the dispersal of highly sensitive information that endangers the lives of American and European soldiers.

U.S. support for the Syrian Kurds remains the proximate reason for this tit for tat undertaken by the Turkish side. But there are more fundamental factors is Erdoans turn against the West. His governments once cavalier interest in pursuing EU membership has turned to outright hostility; he has revived neo-Ottoman foreign policy goals that turn Turkey to the east and the Islamic world; and he has domestically discredited Kemalism as a governing philosophy.

These large trends portend difficulties for the functioning of Europes web of alliances. As Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty notes the Parties may by unanimous agreement, invite any other European Stateto accede Turkey will not in the near future play ball on a controversial enlargement. This reality lends credence to President Trumps often crude avowal that NATO has in some important respects become obsolete. Meanwhile a new, assertive, but not very capable power is freelancing around the already fragmented Middle East and the Caucasus. The EU, having failed to bring Turkey into the fold when it was willing, must now learn to live with a hostile and aggressive new power on its fragile southeastern frontier.

Meanwhile, in the latest development of the ongoing saga of acrimony between Germany and Turkey, NATO itself has decided to step in and de-escalate things between its two feuding member states.The current dispute, whichbegana week ago with the arbitrary detention of a German human rights activist in Turkey, has snowballed with astonishing speed.Reutersreports:

The mediation offer by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, announcedon Monday, came as Ankara itself sought to limit the economic fallout from thedamaging row with Berlin, dropping a request for Germany to help it investigate hundreds of German companies it said could have links to terrorism.

Readers may need to fight the urge to rub their eyes at that sentence. An argument over a single German detainee has caused a cascade of disputes, with the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaublethreatening to curtail investment in Turkey, and Ankara returning the favor bysubmittingto Interpol a list of 700 German companies Turkish authorities supposedly suspect of financing terrorism.Then came the further retaliatory action taken by Turkey with regard to Germanys military. The same Reuters article notes:

Adding to tensions is Turkeys refusal to let German members of parliament visit soldiers stationed at two air bases []

This has already led Germany to move troops involved in the campaign against Islamic State from Turkeys Incirlik base to Jordan. The risk of further decampments has sparked deep concern in NATO and now prompted it to intervene.

Yes, Germany is willing to move its troops out of NATO due to an inter-member political conflict which it cannot resolve. It would prefer to keep them in Jordan, a country which, on the whole, has shown itself to be a much more dependable ally in the fight against ISIS than the mercurial and self-serving Turkey.What more damming signal could there be for a defense alliance in distress than the inability of its members to coperate with each other on mutual defense?

After a few days of these increased tensions, Turkey capitulated in part, caving to economic pressure by retracting its list of terrorism-supporting companies. (It went even further to try to save face, saying the submission of the list to Interpol had arose from a simple communications problem.)

This suggests that Europe may still hold some leverage over Turkey, despite its Presidents growing unpredictability.Whatever Erdoans self-serving geopolitical machinations lead him to do, he cannot change the fact of his countrys economic interdependence with Europe.Yet the days when NATO could command the loyalty of its members, necessitating that they handle disputes with co-parties discreetly, are long past. Its ranks may continue to fill with members in name only.

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RAF Typhoons scrambled to see off two Russian jets racing towards … – The Sun

Posted: at 3:54 pm

Fighter jet raced towards Moscow's TU-22 Backfire bombers off the coast of Romania

THE RAF this morning scrambled one of its fighter jets to intercept two Russian bombers in the Black Sea.

A British Typhoon raced towards Moscows TU-22 Backfire bombers as they approached Nato airspace off the coast of Romania.

PA:Press Association

The supersonic Brit jet - capable of reaching speeds of 1,500mph - was based atMihail Kogalniceanu Air Base on the western Black Sea coast.

Russia and Ukraine occupy the northern extreme of the sea.

The jets did not come close enough to see each other and the Russian aircraft departed southwards.

Wing Commander Lewis Cunningham, Officer Commanding 3(F) Squadron said It worked as we would have expected it to.

"We took down the details, ran to the aircraft and I took off within the prescribed timeline.

He added: Its satisfying. We spotted that there was something happening and then very quickly the phone call came and we were running out of the door.

Wing Commander Andrew Coe, Commanding Officer of 135 Expeditionary Air Wing based in Romania, said: This was a routine operation and is no different to what NATO aircraft do in other areas on a regular basis."

Russian and RAF jets have tracked each other several times in recent years - with Vladimir Putin's air force launching several sabre-rattling runs around the UK.

Getty Images

In February, RAF top guns intercepted two nuclear-capable Russian Blackjack bombers as they skirted the west coast of Scotland and Ireland.

On the way they were met by two of Britains supersonic Typhoon jets scrambled from two Scottish bases.

At the time ann RAF spokesperson said:We can confirm that quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby scrambled to monitor two Blackjack bombers while they were in the UK area of interest.

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Former NSA executive becomes author in Lakewood Ranch – YourObserver.com

Posted: at 3:53 pm


YourObserver.com
Former NSA executive becomes author in Lakewood Ranch
YourObserver.com
A line out of his bio says Harb, who worked 39 years with the National Security Agency (NSA), "applied a wide variety of analytic and language skills and techniques to the production of high-value intelligence" and that he "managed large complex ...

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New Docs Show Obama-Era NSA Spied On Americans Without Warrants – The Daily Caller

Posted: at 3:53 pm

TheNSA and the FBI under the Obama administration infringed upon foundational civil liberties manytimes over several years, according to recently declassified documents reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The memos which were originally obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) through Freedom of Information Act litigation detail the improprieties, specifically the massive, indiscriminate surveillance of peoples communications. They were first reported on by The Hill.

The NSA intercepted hundreds of thousands of peoples personal information, including email addresses and phone numbers, throughout then-President Barack Obamas tenure. It was ostensibly empowered by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows federal intelligence agencies to collect data on foreigners without a warrant. Due to the broad powers enumerated in the law and the inherent makeup of surveillance, the electronic communications of law abiding Americans are often picked up as well. Operators of the surveillance are required to immediately destroy any information that isnot part of the intended target, but often fail to do so. They are also officiallyobligated to keep the scope of the interception to a fewpieces of data, not a haphazardamount, and to ensure that a person who is inappropriatelyswept up in a warrant isnt identified.

According to section 3(b)(5) of NSAs Section 702 minimization procedures, computer selection terms used for scanning, such as telephone numbers, key words or phrases, or other discriminators, will be limited to those selection terms reasonably likely to return foreign intelligence information,' reads a formerly top secret NSA quarterly FISA compliance report from March 2015.

NSA reported that on [redacted] 2014, an analyst conducted an overly broad search against data acquired from multiple authorities including Section 702. NSA advises that the analyst realized his error immediately, canceled the query, and deleted the corresponding results, the memo reads, adding that the analyst was once again reminded of the FISA requirements. This specific outlined incident wasjust one of many listedin just one of the many quarterly reports issued by the NSA, signifying the extent of violations.

Several consequential improper disclosures have occurred in recent months, including the unmasking of elected officials like former national security adviser Mike Flynn, subsequently causing morelawmakers to question its validity than before.(RELATED: Will The GOP Remake Surveillance Laws After Trump Leaks?)

Our countrys founders required the government to get a warrant before searching Americans private papers, ACLU Staff Attorney Patrick Toomey told TheDCNF. The same holds true for Americans phone calls, emails, and internet browsing today, whether a person is communicating with a friend around the corner or a family member around the world. The NSA should not be spying on us.

The agency claims that of course some incidental surveillance will occur, and errors only happenless than 1 percent of the time.

Quite simply, a compliance program that never finds an incident is not a robust compliance program, said Michael T. Halbig, the NSAs chief spokesman, according to The Hill. The National Security Agency has in place a strong compliance program that identifies incidents, reports them to external overseers, and then develops appropriate solutions to remedy any incidents.

Stewart Baker, the first assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, told TheDCNF that its difficultto authorize Section 702 without enablingthe collection of Americans communications. He provides a telling example of a hypotheticalemail address like [emailprotected] in whichit doesnt explicitly show if Mahmoud, who may be conversing with nefarious Yemeni nationals, is an American or not.

Baker asserts that if the NSA knew that Mahmoud was an American, it would usually mask' his email address with some label like USPerson No. 1 email address.

Section 702 is an effective program that cant really work if we try to exclude Americans communications, Baker continued, adding that the unmasking provisions could be tightened up and they were effectively loosened as part of the sharing imperative arising from 9/11.

OneNSA analyst, for example, conducted the same search query about a particular American every work day for months.

The NSA announced in April that it stopped the practice of scooping communications American citizens have with foreign surveillance targets. But it is not clear how it will do so if it continues implementing surveillance under Section 702 of FISA, which is set to expire at the end of the year.

The content of our emails and texts contains incredibly personal information about our work, our families, and our most intimate thoughts, Michelle Richardson of the Center for Democracy Technology, a nonprofit, said in a statement provided toTheDCNF. The NSA should never have been vacuuming up all of these communications, many of which involved Americans, without a warrant. While we welcome the voluntary stopping of this practice, its clear that Section 702 must be reformed so that the government cannot collect this information in the future.

Not everyone is interested in reforming the surveillance measure, though. Spearheaded by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a large group of Republican senators introduced legislation in Juneto indefinitely extend the statute for national security purposes.

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Cain: President Trump is reasserting results; Declassified memos reveal Obama admin. NSA privacy violations – Fox News

Posted: at 3:53 pm

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 25, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a "Fox News Alert." And we are broadcasting from the swamp in Washington, D.C. And welcome to "Hannity."

A brand-new bombshell from The Hill's John Solomon reveals the depth of the Obama era NSA spying and civil liberties violations. John Solomon, along with Circa News's Sara Carter -- they will join us tonight on this explosive story.

Also, the president has just landed at Joint Base Andrews. And earlier tonight, he took his message directly to you, the American people. He had a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, where he pushed his agenda and took on his critics. And that is the subject of tonight's very important transitional "Opening Monologue."

All right, during tonight's massive rally in Ohio, President Trump issued an urgent call, pushing Congress to finally get rid of ObamaCare and to replace it with something that actually works for you, the American people. It's time for these guys in the swamp, in the sewer here in D.C. to get to work. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're now one step closer to liberating our citizens from this ObamaCare nightmare!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And delivering great health care for the American people. We're going to do that, too. The Senate is working not only to repeal ObamaCare but to deliver great health care for the American people. Any senator who votes against repeal and replace is telling America that they are fine with the "Obama care" nightmare! And I predict they'll have a lot of problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And I predict he's right. But repealing and replacing "Obama care" is not the only urgent task on the president's agenda. Now, listen to the president earlier tonight reassuring the American people that building the wall on our southern border is not just an empty campaign promise. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After spending billion dollars defending other nations' borders, we are finally defending our borders!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Don't even think about it. We will build the wall.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Don't even think about it.

I watch the media as they say, Well, he just had some fun during the campaign on the wall. That wasn't fun, folks! We're building that wall. And walls do work. And we're going to have great people come into our country, but we're not going to put ourselves through the problems that we've had for so many years!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Is Congress listening? Now, the president also promised to drive out violent cartel-linked gangs and to put an end finally to sanctuary cities once and for all. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The predators and criminal aliens who poison our communities with drugs and prey on innocent young people, these beautiful, beautiful innocent young people, will find no safe haven anywhere in our country. And that is why my administration is launching a nationwide crackdown on sanctuary cities!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: American cities should be sanctuaries for law-abiding Americans, for people that look up to the law, for people that respect the law, not for criminals and gang members that we want the hell out of our country!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, the president also spoke about lowering taxes in tonight's speech. Please lower taxes. Please stop burdening us! Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: My administration is working every single day to heed and honor the will of the voters. That includes working on one of the biggest tax cuts in American history. And actually, if I get what I want, it will be the single biggest tax cut in American history!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We have the highest taxes anywhere in the world, and this will really bring them down to one of the lowest. And we really have no choice. We will have growth. We will have everything that we've dreamed of having. It's time to let Americans keep more of their own money. It's time to bring new companies to our shores and to create a new era of growth, prosperity and wealth!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: What a great idea. Let's get Americans back to work, back in the labor force, and of course, out of poverty and off of food stamps. Republicans, what do you stand for?

Now, the president's rally didn't just include plans for the future. He also touted a long list of accomplishments. Now, despite what the left- wing mainstream establishment media is reporting -- well, the president -- he has been very busy the last six months, working on trying to push through his bold agenda despite pretty much zero help from any Democrats, and frankly, weak Republicans.

And here's the president talking about what he has accomplished so far these last six months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our 2nd Amendment is very, very sound again. That would have been gonzo. It would have been gone.

We've eliminated burdensome regulations at record speed, and many, many more are coming off. And boy, have we put those coal miners and coal back on the map. You've seen that, huh?

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We've achieved a historic increase in defense spending to get our troops the support they so richly deserve. We have signed new legislation to hold federal workers accountable for the care they provide to our great, great veterans!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: To protect American jobs and workers, I withdrew the United States from both the Trans-Pacific Partnership potential disaster...

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: ... and the job-killing Paris climate accord. Believe me.

Unemployment last month hit a 16-year low. Since my election, we've added much more than one million jobs!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Believe it or not, you're never going to hear that in mainstream media. And what you just heard is only a fraction of what the president has actually accomplished.

Also tonight, in true Trump fashion, the president fought back against his critics, the best part of the speech. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Sometimes they say, He doesn't act presidential.

(BOOS)

TRUMP: And I say, Hey, look, great schools, smart guy. It's so easy to act presidential, but that's not going to get it done. In fact, I said it's much easier, by the way, to act presidential than what we're doing here tonight! Believe me. And I said...

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I said, with the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office! That I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Do we really want a president who just acts? Now, tonight, the president sent a very important message that will reverberate across America and into the swamp and sewer that is Washington, D.C., where I am tonight.

And the president's not going to sit idly by and watch Congress fumble his agenda. He's going to take his message again and again directly to you, the American people. It's time to put pressure on lawmakers to finally do their job and get something done.

Here with reaction, author of the book "Putin's Gambit," Fox Business host, our sister network, Lou Dobbs is with us.

You know, every time the president goes directly to the American people, you see the reaction. There is not one iota's difference before the campaign. And every agenda item he has, which helped a lot of these senators and congressmen get elected, is supported by those crowds. What is Washington not getting? What are Republicans not getting?

LOU DOBBS, FOX BUSINESS: Just about everything, as you know, Sean. The president today was -- you know, as you say, this rally today was just like every rally that he carried out as a candidate for president. The love in the room for the president was palpable.

He is watching -- he doesn't need any extra energy, but he's drawing great energy from these people who are his supporters. They are also the people for whom he is working, not K Street, the lobbyists, the billion-dollar donors that expect to have the federal government heel and certainly the leadership of the Republican Party. They're so accustomed to them heeling to their every order and beck and call.

He is frustrating the establishment. That's what we're watching, is a conflict between this president, the status quo, and frankly, the defenders of the status quo, whether they're Republicans or Democrats. And he is winning, winning and winning. And the people in that room in Youngstown, Ohio, all 7,000 of them, know that very well, as do tens of millions of other Americans.

HANNITY: But Lou, if the Republicans don't do their part -- this is a seven-year promise to replace, replace "Obama care." They needed Mike Pence for the motion to proceed today...

DOBBS: Right.

HANNITY: ... which doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence that they're going to get this whole thing done or done in a way that they had promised for seven years. And think I think you got an economic plan so we can get Americans...

DOBBS: Right.

HANNITY: ... out of poverty, off of food stamps...

DOBBS: No, you're right.

HANNITY: ... back to work and get the border built and funded. And I don't think Congress realizes they will pay the price if they don't get the job done.

DOBBS: That is the sub-text here. You're exactly right again, Sean. This is -- this threat that is looming is for every one of those congressmen who are hesitant and hesitating to support this president and his agenda, and particularly the leadership, the speaker and the majority leader of the Senate, Ryan and Mitch McConnell. They had better deliver this time because it will be fundamentally a question of the survival of the Republican Party.

Donald Trump is -- what he was saying in Youngstown, Ohio, in my opinion, in addition to everything else that was so terrific about the economy, about turning this country around, he's serving notice that those are Trump Democrats in Youngstown, Ohio, which he lost by 3 points. But four years earlier, Barack Obama won that county by 27 points!

These are his people. And you heard Gino (ph), the man he brought up on the stage, and the chants for Gino from the crowd because he was talking about how much this president is loved by the forgotten man and woman. And all of those people in Youngstown represent much of the bread basket, where they've lost a third of the population of Youngstown, Ohio, their factories once one of the top steel producing cities in the country. And it's -- it's remarkable the notice that he served. And I guarantee you -- I don't know whether McConnell and Ryan got it, but I can guarantee you Schumer and Pelosi get it, and they're worried to death.

HANNITY: Yes. And by the way, a better way...

DOBBS: Oh, yes.

HANNITY: They -- there's no way for them, and especially after eight years of failure. Lou Dobbs, I know you stayed late for us tonight. As always, thanks you for being with us.

DOBBS: Great to be with you, Sean. Thanks.

HANNITY: And here now with more reaction to the president's rally in Youngstown, Ohio, we have Fox News contributor Herman Cain. One of the things -- I noticed that Chuck Grassley in the Senate is saying, Wait a minute. If outside interference from a foreign country is a big deal -- Russia, Russia, Russia -- OK, we've got evidence of collusion with Ukraine and influence in the election, as well. Also, we have the Uranium One deal. And then I look at House conservatives. They're pushing for a probe of Comey and Clinton and I know others are talking about Loretta Lynch.

The part of me is torn, Herman Cain, Mr. 999, positive ideas -- it's torn because it's not fair what we've been seeing, but the agenda the president talked about, repeal, replace and schools and borders and listing his accomplishments and Gorsuch -- at the end of the day, I suspect if he succeeds, that will push Republicans over the top in 2018 and 2020. I'm torn what to do.

HERMAN CAIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: But many of them don't realize that. Sean, that speech in Ohio reminded me of the three rallies I attended in Georgia, where I helped to introduce this president. He is re-asserting results, results, results. That's why he got the reaction from the crowd that he got. The Democrats are all about resist, resist, resist, and it's not resonating with people.

Hip, hip, hooray that he's taking his message directly to the people because the mainstream media's not going to do it. So he's doing it himself. And I think that helps to re-energize those people that voted for him because of exactly the things he is able to do, even despite the pushback by RINOs, Republicans in name only, and Democrats.

HANNITY: We learned that in spite of, what, 60 to 68 votes, repeal and replace -- Herman, we're on the radio. We were telling our audience those are showboats because if they really wanted to repeal and replace in those votes, they would have used the constitutional authority and the power of the purse, and they never did it. And the one guy that tried to use it, Ted Cruz, was excoriated by the Republican Party. So we knew they were showboats.

But on repeal and replace now, we learned 100 House Republicans had no intention of keeping that promise. And now you see the Senate just for the motion to proceed needing Mike Pence. This does not bode well, in my mind.

CAIN: You're right, Sean. Here's the deal. They thought that the American people were going to have very short memories. That's what they still think. What this president is doing is reminding the American people of what these Republicans promised.

And I got to tell you, last night on your show, you challenged your viewers to do exactly what I challenge my listeners to do, send e-mails, make phone calls and let them know that you are paying attention. That's the only thing that gets their attention. That's what gets results.

And with the president giving the kind of patriotic, pressable (ph) results-oriented speech that he's given today, it reminds people that, Yes, if I send that e-mail, if I make that phone call to my representative or to my senators, it will make a difference. I think this is great for the direction that this president is trying to go.

HANNITY: All right, Herman Cain, always good to see you. We appreciate it.

All right, we got...

CAIN: Thank you.

HANNITY: ... a busy breaking news night tonight here. "Hannity" in D.C. In a mini monologue, we will lay out the scandals Congress and the DOJ should be investigating and we'll get reaction, Monica Crowley, Geraldo Rivera.

And also tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm here this evening to cut through the fake news filter and to speak straight to the American people!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: President Trump calling out the fake news media at tonight's rally in Ohio. Mercedes Schlapp, Lanny Davis, Larry Elder will join us with reaction.

And tonight, a "Hannity" investigation. An explosive new report by The Hill's John Solomon. It is about the Obama administration's NSA spying and civil liberties violations you need to know about. John Solomon, Sara Carter join us as we continue from the sewer and the swamp that is Washington, D.C.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Your future is what I'm fighting for each and every day. Here is just a small sample what have we accomplished in just our first six months in office. And I'll say this, and you know, they always like to say, Well, I don't know. But I think that with few exceptions, no president has done anywhere near what we've done in his first six months.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Not even close.

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Cain: President Trump is reasserting results; Declassified memos reveal Obama admin. NSA privacy violations - Fox News

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NSA Ajit Doval in Beijing amid standoff as China demands Indian troop withdrawal – Hindustan Times

Posted: at 3:53 pm

Indias National Security Adviser Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon for a multilateral security meet but the focus will be on his bilateral interactions with the Chinese leadership against the backdrop of the military standoff near the Sikkim border.

Doval will meet President Xi Jinping with his counterparts from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries on Friday. Security officials from BRICS states are meeting to discuss issues such as counter-terrorism and cyber-security in the run-up to the groupings summit to be held in Chinas Xiamen city in September.

But the focus will be on whether Dovals meetings with Chinese officials, including state councillor Yang Jiechi, will help to resolve or at least ease - the tensions in Donglang, where the standoff is now into its second month.

The BRICS-related meetings, including the meeting with Xi, are slated for Friday but Chinese and Indian officials here were tight-lipped about Dovals schedule.

Beijing on Wednesday repeated its precondition for any dialogue with India to resolve the standoff: New Delhi has to withdraw its troops from Donglang, which is under Beijings control but claimed by Thimphu.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has blamed India for the face-off and importantly chose a foreign country, Thailand, to air his strong views on the situation. Wang told reporters in Bangkok this week the problem was very straightforward and even Indian officials publicly said that Chinese soldiers didnt enter the Indian territory.

This meant, he indicated, the Indian side admitted (crossing) into Chinese territory. The resolution of the problem is very simple, he said: Indian troops have to go out.

India has said it acted in coordination with Bhutan to block the construction of a road by Chinese troops at Donglang as it would alter the status quo and have serious implications for national security.

On Monday, Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang indicated Doval is likely to meet Yang in Beijing but ruled out a discussion on the Donglang standoff.

As far as we know, in previous meetings, usually it is arranged for the heads of delegations to hold (bilateral) meetings to exchange views on bilateral relations and other international issues, Lu had said.

He had added: The crux now is Indian border troops illegally stayed on Chinas territory. Once again, we urge India to pull back to the Indian side of the boundary. I want to stress that this is the precondition for any meaningful talks between the two sides.

Dovals visit is part of the build-up for the BRICS Summit to be held in Xiamen city in the first week of September, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

If the standoff between India and China isnt resolved by then, it will cast a shadow of uncertainty over the summit and might put a question mark on the idea of BRICS.

For now, the multilateral element of the BRICS security summit will be on display this week.

On Friday, the five heads of security delegations from the BRICS states will meet to discuss global governance, counter-terrorism, cyber security, energy security, international and regional hotspots, and national security and development.

Besides Doval and Yang, minister of state security David Mahlobo of South Africa, Minister Sergio Etchegoyen of the Office of Institutional Security of the Presidency of Brazil and Russias Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev will attend the meeting.

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