President-elect Donald Trump has picked as his secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, setting up a possible confrontation with members of his own party in the Senate, according to a person involved in the transition.

Since Tillerson’s name emerged as a candidate for the post, leading Republicans have expressed reservations about his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company. 

GOP advisers have warned that a growing number of Republican senators may be unwilling to vote to confirm Tillerson because of his ties to Russia. While Senate Democrats cannot filibuster Trump’s Cabinet picks, Republicans have only 52 votes in the Senate, leaving them in potential jeopardy if Democrats unite in opposition to Tillerson. It will take at least 50 votes to confirm a nominee, plus Vice President-elect Mile Pence casting a tiebreaking vote.

Yet Trump, after a protracted selection process that saw him also considering 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has decided to press ahead with Tillerson. Like others in the new Trump Cabinet, the ExxonMobil chief executive lacks any experience in government but will try to apply his experience in the business world to the realm of diplomacy. And he has worked extensively around the globe and built relationships with such leaders as Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

The Trump team is planning an aggressive public relations campaign to win confirmation for Tillerson and dispel what it sees as a false narrative about his ties to Russia, a person involved in the transition said. Former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and James Baker are planning to go public Tuesday morning with their support for Tillerson, as is former defense secretary Robert Gates. Former vice president Richard B. Cheney also is supportive and may advocate for his confirmation.

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-picks-exxon...

 

Note: if you are one of the character in the toon above, please don't hesitate to communicate to this site that you would like an exclusive large print (pdf) of your own face from the illustrious cartoonist Gus Leonisky — Homer Simpson excluded.

see also:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/faites-vos-jeux

Tillerson

Mr. Tillerson has no background in diplomacy beyond corporate deal making. And his relationship with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s authoritarian leader, raises serious questions about whether he could manage Russia policy in a way that advances America’s national interests. Mr. Putin even gave him an “Order of Friendship” award in 2013.

American-Russian relations are at their worst since the Cold War, a result of Mr. Putin’s annexation of Crimea, the war in eastern Ukraine, his attempts to destabilize countries in Europe, and bombings of civilians in Syria. The Central Intelligence Agency’s newly revealed judgment that Russia interfered in the election to hurt Hillary Clinton adds a frightening dimension to the relationship.

read more: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/opinion/flawed-choices-for-the-state-department.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

 

It is obvious the NYT does not like Putin. Obama is as much an "authoritarian leader" as Putin and even more so. The only difference is the style and the arsenal. On the Question of Crimea, this has been settled by the fact that the region always was Russian or Turkish or whatever. It does not belong to Ukraine more than Scotland belongs to England. The Scots voted to stay in the UK. The Crimeans voted to be part of Russia. End game: more than 90 per cent people living in Crimea are Russian. The battle in Ukraine has been created by the US who have paid nazi thugs to sow discord in that country and foment a revolution to bring Ukraine under the egemony of the USA. That some people are resisting this in East Ukraine is understandable. The Russians are interfering in European countries far less than the USA has been doing with NATO and bribes.  That some EU people see that the USA is like a thug has nothing to do with Russia.

And as far as Russia interferring with the elections in the USA, PLEASE, go away. Don't tell me that the big cowboy USA can be manipulated like the USA has been manipulating tinpot countries around the world. Ludicrous. The CIA is a master of the fake news — far more than Rupert Murdoch. So far NOT A SINGLE PROOF has been provided. The CIA manufactured the "weapons of mass destruction" for Bush. Now it is manufacturing the Russian interference for Hillary. Hilarious.

Now, Putin is a clever little devil. He knows how far Tillerson will go...

mattis

'I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you f--k with me, I'll kill you all.'

'Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.'

'If in order to kill the enemy you have to kill an innocent, don't take the shot. Don't create more enemies than you take out by some immoral act.'

'A country that armed Stalin to defeat Hitler can certainly work alongside enemies of al-Qaida to defeat al-Qaida.'

'There are some people who think you have to hate them in order to shoot them. I don't think you do. It's just business.'

'PowerPoint makes us stupid.'
'Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.'

 

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/general-mattiss-best-quotes-2016-

 

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he has chosen retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis, who has said that responding to “political Islam” is the major security issue facing the United States, to be secretary of defense.

“We are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump told a rally in Cincinnati, the first stop on a post-election “thank-you tour.”

Trump joked that the media and audience should keep the news to themselves. “We are going to be announcing him Monday of next week,” Trump said. “Keep it inside the room.”

Mattis, who retired as chief of U.S. Central Command in 2013, has often said that Washington lacks an overall strategy in the Middle East, opting to instead handle issues in an ineffective one-by-one manner.

“Is political Islam in the best interest of the United States?” Mattis said at the Heritage Foundation in 2015, speaking about the separate challenges of the Islamic State and Iranian-backed terrorism. “I suggest the answer is no, but we need to have the discussion. If we won’t even ask the question, how do we even recognize which is our side in a fight?”

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-chosen-retired-marine-gen-james-mattis-for-secretary-of-defense/2016/12/01/6c6b3b74-aff9-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?utm_term=.90332eb8048d

 

haley

Nimrata "Nikki" Haley[1][2] (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972)[2][3][4] is an American politician who has served as the 116th Governor of South Carolina since 2011. Prior to becoming governor, she represented Lexington Countyin the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.[5]

Haley is the first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina; at the age of 44, she is the youngest current governor in the United States.[6][7] She is the second Indian-American, after Bobby Jindal, to serve as governor in the United States. Besides serving as governor, she also serves as chair, ex-officio, of the board of trustees of the University of South Carolina during her term in office.[8]

On November 4, 2014, Haley was re-elected to a second term as governor, a term that will expire on January 9, 2019.[9] She delivered the Republican response to Barack Obama's final State of the Union address on January 12, 2016.[10]

On November 23, 2016 it was announced that President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Haley for Ambassador to the United Nations when he takes office.[11]

read more and pay some cash to support wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley

 

Meanwhile, the role of the  United States Ambassador to the United Nations is to spruik the USA egemony to the world, wrapping it in "humanitarian" lingo. The present holder of the position is Samantha Power:

During her tenure, Power's office focused on such issues as United Nations reform, women's rights and LGBT rights, religious freedom and religious minorities, refugees, human trafficking, human rights, and democracy, including in the Middle East and North Africa, Sudan, and Myanmar. She is considered to have been a key figure in the Obama administration in persuading the president to intervene militarily in Libya.[4] In 2016, she was listed as the 41st most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.[5]

Power advocacy of humanitarian intervention has been criticized for being tendentious and militaristic, for answering a "problem from hell" with a "solution from hell."[58] Furthermore, Power's advocacy of deploying the United States armed forces to combat human rights abuses has been criticized as running contrary to the idea that the main purpose of the military is for national defense.[59]

Read more and pay some cash to wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Power

 

Power has somewhat been hypocritical in being a heart-bleeder and a militarist at the same time... The destruction of Libya was not one of her best effort, which she achieved with the help of Hilary Clinton. The official friendship of the USA with the Saudis does not reflect well on women's freedom, at the UN. Let's hope Nikki can be more straight forward...

munching with mnuchin...
The Treasury Department has expansive responsibility over business and oversees banking regulations, financial markets and the IRS. It has about 100,000 employees, an estimated 91,000 of them at the IRS, an agency that Trump has said is auditing his tax returns. Both he and Mnuchin would like to drastically simplify the US tax code, particularly for businesses.



What makes Mnuchin right for the job?
Trump has praised Mnuchin, who with the Republican National Committee helped raise tens of millions of dollars for Trump's winning campaign.
The 53-year-old started as a Wall Street insider working for old-line firms before running a series of eclectic businesses -- including his own hedge fund and a West Coast consumer bank. 
He told CNBC that tax reform will be his top priority and promised the largest tax overhaul since the Reagan administration.



What do Mnuchin's critics say about him? He made millions off the housing bubble
He has never held public office before, which would make this key economic position his first in the public sector. 
During congressional hearings, he can expect tough questions about his actions during the Great Recession. Mnuchin led a group that bought failed subprime lender IndyMac for pennies on the dollar in 2009, about a year after the FDIC took over the California bank following a run on deposits by customers.
IndyMac had become a poster child for the risky home loans that brought on the housing crisis and the meltdown in financial markets. The FDIC agreed to assume much of the losses as part of its sale to Mnuchin, who renamed it OneWest.
But regulators soon questioned OneWest's foreclosure practices, which included so-called robo-signings that pushed homeowners into foreclosure without proper review or due process.
The bank was one of many that agreed to pay millions in fines to compensate customers. Occupy Los Angeles protesters showed up at Mnuchin's Bel Air mansion in 2011. And this month, two fair housing groups in California filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, accusing the bank of discriminating against minority borrowers during his tenure there.
Mnuchin eventually sold OneWest to CIT Group (CIT) in 2014 for $3.4 billion and joined CIT as part of the deal. When he left CIT less than two years later, he received a $10.9 million severance package.
read more:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/12/politics/who-is-steven-mnuchin-trumps-...

carson

E-vo-lu-tion is not an option. It's the way life works. In medical sphere, the adaptation of bacteria, microbes and viruses tells us irrevocably about adaptation, including that in which our army of antibiotics are becoming lamer. Things evolve, change, devolve, become extinct, not because of the grace of a god's fart but because the total environment, including the biotic environment, in which we live also changes. 

Carson is a lunatic creationist who believes god created the universe so we could help him defeat the angels of death, the devil and his acolytes. 

 

One should see the humour in Trump tapping Carson on the shoulder for becoming the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development job. This is a move to appease the religious nutters who have voted for Trump... Clever.

-------

see also http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/30996

manigault

Omarosa Manigault, a first-season contestant on “The Apprentice,” has officially joined the Trump transition team, it was announced Thursday.

Manigault has been placed on the transition executive committee, joining the likes of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, Peter Thiel and a host of other loyalists.

During the lengthy presidential campaign, Omarosa, who is usually introduced by her first name, was a forceful and effective surrogate, often appearing on TV to cheer on and defend Trump.

She was spotted by reporters at Trump Tower this week, so her appointment is hardly surprising.

Her precise responsibilities are not known, but she appeared in the Trump Tower lobby with NFL greats Jim Brown and Ray Lewis after their meeting with Trump on Tuesday about urban development and job creation issues.

read more:

http://nypost.com/2016/12/15/omarosa-officially-joins-trump-transition-t...

pence

Officially, Mike Pence is the vice president-elect, the head of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team and the governor of Indiana. 

Unofficially, some Republicans see a few more titles in front of his name.

“It seems like he’s taken on the role of explainer-in-chief,” said Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), a centrist Republican who did not support Trump in the campaign.

“He’s the comforter-in-chief,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group. “That role works . . . because everyone respects his integrity and likes him personally.”

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pence-plays-role-of-trumps-ambas...

 

stallone

Sylvester Stallone may be joining the Trump administration.

Stallone, 70, could be up for chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, DailyMail.com reports.

“It’s been widely and wrongly assumed that a Trump presidency will be hostile to the arts,” a source tells the paper.

“But Mr. Trump feels this sort of A-list appointment is precisely the shot in the arm that the industry needs,” the source added.

Stallone, best known for his roles in the “Rocky” and “Rambo” movie franchises, publicly praised Trump’s run for president in January.

“I love Donald Trump,” the actor told Variety.

 

Read more:

http://nypost.com/2016/12/15/sylvester-stallone-could-get-a-job-in-the-t...

tom price

The belief among Democrats that a Republican could never win another presidential election was apparently so firm that they’re still in a state of shock. They’re even more stunned that Donald Trump has dared to name an ObamaCare critic as his health-care point man — which makes for an instructive moment.

Tom Price, a six-term Georgia Congressman and mild-mannered orthopedic surgeon, is an unlikely villain. But liberals are already saying the Health and Human Services nominee will shred the social contract, leave poor people and cancer patients panhandling for care, and jail women for their reproductive decisions. Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood claims that Price “poses a grave threat to women’s health in this country.” Earth to the abortion lobby: Declining to mandate and federally subsidize birth control coverage is not the same as “banning” it.

read more:

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/12/15/t...

john kelly

Washington (AFP) - John Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general picked Monday by Donald Trump to be Homeland Security secretary, will take the lead in the new administration's promised fight against Islamic extremists and illegal immigration.

The third former general chosen for President-elect Trump's cabinet, Kelly capped a 45-year military career as head of the US Southern Command, an assignment that immersed him in border security issues, migrant flows and counter-drug operations in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

That experience -- and his record running large organizations -- will be useful if he is confirmed by Congress to take charge of the Department of Homeland Security, a sprawling bureaucracy responsible for border protection and internal security.

With 240,000 civil servants, Homeland Security includes the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, immigration and customs enforcement, and the agency that protects airports.

It also has an intelligence arm and an office dedicated to preventing nuclear terrorism.

Those functions would make Kelly a pivotal figure in carrying out Trump's election promises to build a wall on the Mexican border, deport undocumented immigrants and tighten legal immigration processes to screen out potential extremists.

read more:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-kelly-marine-general-head-homeland-security-164051526.html

pruitt

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of the oil and gas-intensive state of Oklahoma, to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a move signaling an assault on President Obama’s climate change and environmental legacy.

Pruitt has spent much of his energy as attorney general fighting the very agency he is being nominated to lead.

He is the third of Trump’s nominees who have key philosophical differences with the missions of the agencies they have been tapped to run. Ben Carson, named to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has expressed a deep aversion to the social safety net programs and fair housing initiatives that have been central to that agency’s activities. Betsy DeVos, named education secretary, has a passion for private school vouchers that critics say undercut the public school systems at the core of the government’s mission.

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/07/tru...

mcmahon

Note from Alyssa: I’m delighted to have convinced Betsy Phillips to appear on this blog twice in the same week. You should go read her on how country music defines itself here.

Many pundits have framed Donald Trump’s presidential victory as the rejection of the values of the liberal elite by “regular” people, which I find pretty hilarious considering how many billionaires Trump is putting in his Cabinet. If you compare Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick to head up the Education Department — with her billions of dollars of Amway money — and Betsy Phillips, me — a person whose 10-year-old car is missing three wheel covers — it’s not the liberal in that comparison who’s going to look like the “elite.” But then last week, I received a fundraising email from the Tennessee Democratic Party. The subject line was “WWE Co-Founder, Carl’s Jr. Head, and a Former Brain Surgeon Walk into a Bar …,” and the opening sentence read, “This sounds like the makings of a joke.”

I think Ben Carson and Andrew Puzder are, at best, pretty horrible choices for their jobs. But treating former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive Linda McMahon, whom president-elect Donald Trump has chosen to lead the Small Business Administration, like a joke sure feels elitist to me. And that it was Tennessee Democrats being so snobby was really disappointing.

Usually, you can count on people from Tennessee to have a bristling pride in our cultural productions. We know you all see us as backwoods hicks strumming our banjos and drinking our moonshine, and we’re a little insulted by it because we know you mean it dismissively, but also, come on! Have you heard Earl Scruggs or Bela Fleck? Have you been at a party where the Mason jar comes out of the freezer? Our music and our liquor are second to none.

Read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/12/14/professional-...

rick perry

US President-elect Donald Trump has formally announced Rick Perry, a former Texas governor and one-time presidential rival, as his choice to lead the Department of Energy.

Key points:

• Rick Perry is Donald Trump's choice for US energy secretary
• Perry ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2012 and 2016
• Perry welcomed the nomination to be part of the Trump team

 

If the nomination is confirmed by the US Senate, the move would put Mr Perry in charge of a federal department he proposed eliminating during his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Mr Trump's transition team said the President-elect cited Mr Perry's tenure leading Texas from 2000 until 2015, calling him "one of the most successful governors in modern history".

"Rick Perry created … a business climate that produced millions of new jobs and lower energy prices in his state, and he will bring that same approach to our entire country as secretary of energy," Mr Trump said in the statement.

Mr Perry, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2012 and 2016, welcomed the planned nomination to serve under Mr Trump, who takes office on January 20.

"It is a tremendous honour to be selected to serve as Secretary of Energy by President-elect Trump," Mr Perry said.

"I am deeply humbled by his trust in me."

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-15/donald-trump-formally-annouces-ric...

elaine chao

Former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao was nominated on Tuesday by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Transportation.

Chao ran the Labor Department under the George W. Bush administration. She met with the president-elect at Trump Tower last week to discuss labor and transportation policy, according to Trump’s transition team.

Top Senate Democrats signaled that Chao may not face much of a fight to get confirmed, with incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) congratulating her earlier on Tuesday for her exepcted nomination and praising her for her "long history of service to our country."

"Senate Democrats have said that if President-elect Trump is serious about a major infrastructure bill, backed by real dollars and not just tax credits and without cutting other programs like health care and education, that we are ready to work with his administration," Schumer said. "I hope Secretary Chao shares that ambitious goal and is willing to work with Democrats to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of good paying jobs along the way.”

The wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Chao is the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet-level position. She also served as deputy secretary of transportation under President George H.W. Bush. Chao was also a member of Trump’s Asian Pacific American Advisory Council during the campaign.

read more:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/elaine-chao-transportation-secreta...

devos

Betsy DeVos is hardly a household name, but the Michigan billionaire and conservative activist has quietly helped change the education landscape in many states, spending millions of dollars in a successful push to expand voucher programs that give families taxpayer dollars to pay for private and religious schools.

Now DeVos is poised to spread her preference for vouchers nationwide. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named her as his nominee for education secretary, a pick that suggests he aims to follow through with campaign promises to expand the movement toward “school choice” — including vouchers and charter schools — in an effort to break up a public education system that he has called “a government-run monopoly.”

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-picks-billionaire-b...

puzder

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he intends to nominate fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, a vocal critic of substantially increasing the minimum wage and an opponent of rules that would make more workers eligible for overtime pay, as head of the Labor Department.

Puzder, who runs CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., has been a harsh critic of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, arguing that it would increase costs for consumers and lead to fewer jobs. He also opposes the recently-delayed Labor Department rule that aimed to make millions more workers eligible for overtime pay.

As the head of a fast-food company, Puzder is a supporter of the approach touted by Trump on the campaign trail that lowering taxes for corporations and the wealthy and loosening regulations for businesses can boost job creation. He is a strong opponent of the Affordable Care Act, which he claims has hurt the restaurant industry because higher health premiums have left consumers with less money to spend.

By bringing in Puzder, Trump is signaling that he may scale back some of regulations introduced by current Labor Secretary Tom Perez. If confirmed, he will have the potential to reverse some of the Obama administration’s most notable efforts to bolster protections for workers, families and retirement savers.

[Here are the people whose names have been floated for Trump’s Cabinet] 

His appointment could put the future of the Labor Department’s overtime rule into question. In a Forbes op-ed that ran after the Labor Department finalized the overtime rule in May, Puzder wrote that the rule would “add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama Administration has imposed on employers,” and that the rule would lead to fewer hours and reduced opportunities for workers.

As Labor Secretary, Puzder could potentially decide not to defend the rule in court. He could also propose revisions to the rule, but any adjustments would likely require notice and public comment.

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2016/12/08/trump-names-...

hope

Donald Trump just announced his picks for his White House communications team, and he's tapped his campaign and transition press secretary, Hope Hicks, as strategic communications director. Here's what we know about her:

1. She's a bit of an enigma. Though she's the gatekeeper to members of the press who want access to Trump, she's made very few public appearances herself. She tends to stay behind the camera, advising her boss on press strategy. Earlier this month, though, she made a rare public appearance at a Trump victory rally in Mobile, Alabama when the president-elect invited the 27-year-old onstage.

read more:

http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/news/a9056/hope-hicks-facts/

conway

Trump aide Kellyanne Conway says she may have fewer distractions to contend with than many people in government.

Though she was reportedly skeptical of her ability to take on a key role at first, given the fact that she has four children at home, she is now confident she will be able to balance work and family. 

"I don't play golf, and I don't have a mistress, so I have a lot of time that a lot of these other men don't," Conway told the Fox Business Network on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump named her White House counselor.

"I see people on the weekend spending an awful lot of time on their golf games," she added, "and that's their right, but the kids will be with me; we live in the same house, and they come first."

Conway has 12-year-old twins, an 8-year-old and a 7-year-old.

 

read more:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/22/how-kellyanne-conway-can-balance-4-kids-a...

spicer

Former Republican National Committee Communications Director Sean Spicer has been tapped to be President-elect Donald Trump's press secretary. 

Trump also filled the other major roles of his press operation, giving the top slots to his most loyal and senior communications advisers from the campaign.

read more:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/sean-spicer-named-trump-s-...

golf caddie to trump...

(CNN)Daniel Scavino was working a high school job cleaning golf clubs at the Briar Hall Country Club in New York's Hudson Valley when a man who would change his life pulled into the parking lot in a stretch limousine. 

The visitor was business mogul Donald Trump, who, at that time in 1990, was famous as a flashy real estate developer, not a politician. The course where Scavino worked was heading into foreclosure, and Trump was in the market for expanding his golf business. Scavino, a lucky 16-year-old who happened to be in the right place at the right time, was selected caddie for Trump's party. He was instantly smitten. No one will ever believe this at school on Monday, he thought. That day on the course with Trump would eventually set him on a career path with the mogul's growing empire and, years later, place him squarely into Trump's inner circle. In his late 20s, Scavino was promoted to general manager of Trump National Golf Club at the same course where he started as a caddie. He would travel the world with Trump visiting course and he appeared on a golf-themed episode of "The Apprentice."read more:http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/29/politics/donald-trump-tweets-daniel-scavino/index.html

pompeo...

Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican congressman from Kansas, to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the Associated Press. Pompeo, 52, has served in the House of Representatives since 2011. He succeeds a 25-year veteran of the CIA, John Brennan, who’s served as the agency’s chief since 2013.

Here’s what you need to know about Pompeo:

read more:

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8306049/mike-pompeo-trump-cia-director/

navarro

A Chinese state newspaper on Friday accused a trade advisor picked by President-elect Donald Trump of “anti-China alarmism” and warned both sides would suffer if commerce is disrupted.

The China Daily editorial was more forceful and openly critical of economist Peter Navarro than China's foreign ministry, which appealed Thursday for cooperation.

Navarro, picked by Trump to run a new National Trade Council at the White House, has accused China of effectively waging economic war against the United States. The UC Irvine professor also will be director of trade and industrial policy.

“There is real cause for concern as the president-elect has named economist Peter Navarro, known for his anti-China alarmism, as his trade adviser,” said the China Daily, which is aimed at foreign readers.

 

A statement by Trump's transition team said the creation of the trade council “demonstrates the president-elect's determination to make American manufacturing great again.”

read more: 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-peter-navarro-20161223-story...

 

See also (from 10 years ago): 

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/3602

zinke

Donald Trump’s choice for interior secretary is a former NAVY Seal commander who is a Congressman from Montana.

Ryan Zinke is already a controversial appointment, in part because Trump bucked Republican leadership in the Senate, who wanted Zinke to run against a Democrat for U.S. Senate instead. 

Zinke has a long military pedigree, serving as a team leader in the famous Seal Team Six, and leading troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but his track record in Congress has raised concerns of conservationists, who say he flip-flopped on climate change.

Here’s what you need to know:

read more or less at:

http://heavy.com/news/2016/12/ryan-zinke-trump-wife-lolita-congressman-r...

mick and session

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, a conservative Republican member of the House and a fierce advocate of deep spending cuts, to be his budget director.

“He’s a tremendous talent, especially when it comes to numbers and budgets,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.

Mr. Mulvaney, 49, helped found the House Freedom Caucus, the group of conservative lawmakers who pushed for Speaker John A. Boehner to resign. As budget director, Mr. Mulvaney would help guide the president-elect’s promise of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a tax overhaul and a huge investment in the nation’s infrastructure.

An early backer of Mr. Trump’s during the campaign, Mr. Mulvaney has taken a hard line on spending during President Obama’s term, vowing not to raise the nation’s debt limit and embracing the term “Shutdown Caucus” because of his willingness to shut the government down instead.

read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/politics/mick-mulvaney-office-management-budget-trump.html

a racist...

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Jeff Sessions, then a United States attorney from Alabama, to be a federal judge. The Republican-controlled Senate rejected Mr. Sessions out of concern, based on devastating testimony by former colleagues, that he was a racist.

Three decades later, Mr. Sessions, now a veteran Alabama senator, is on the verge of becoming the nation’s top law-enforcement official, after President-elect Donald Trump tapped him on Friday to be attorney general.

It would be nice to report that Mr. Sessions, who is now 69, has conscientiously worked to dispel the shadows that cost him the judgeship. Instead, the years since his last confirmation hearing reveal a pattern of dogged animus to civil rights and the progress of black Americans and immigrants.

Based on his record, we can form a fairly clear picture of what his Justice Department would look like:

For starters, forget about aggressive protection of civil rights, and of voting rights in particular. Mr. Sessions has called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation.” Under him, the department would most likely focus less on prosecutions of minority voter suppression and more on rooting out voter fraud, that hallowed conservative myth. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Sessions brought voter-fraud charges against three civil rights workers trying to register black voters in rural Alabama. The prosecution turned up 14 allegedly doctored ballots out of 1.7 million cast, and the jury voted to acquit.

Forget, also, any federal criminal-justice reform, which was on the cusp of passage in Congress before Mr. Trump’s “law and order” campaign. Mr. Sessions strongly opposed bipartisan legislation to scale back the outrageously harsh sentences that filled federal prisons with low-level drug offenders. Instead, he called for more mandatory-minimum sentences and harsher punishments for drug crimes. The one bright spot was his working with Democrats to reduce the 100-to-1 disparity between punishments for crack and powder cocaine offenses.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/opinion/jeff-sessions-as-attorney-general-an-insult-to-justice.html

 

A pair of dorks that will fullfil every Dunny (er sorry Donny) wishes...

coats

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to choose as director of national intelligence two-time Senator Dan Coats, a former ambassador to Germany, secret foodie and lover of all things Indiana who also served as a member of his chamber’s Intelligence Committee.

Known for a self-effacing style, Mr. Coats was popular among his colleagues. “I always thought he should wear a red cardigan,” said Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado. “He was the closest thing to Mister Rogers we could come up with.”

While fiscally conservative, Mr. Coats, an Indiana Republican who completed his second Senate stint this month, often found common cause with Democrats, who described him as thoughtful on intelligence and national security issues, with a sharp intellect and disarming humor.

“I have always been impressed with his demeanor,” said Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and who served on the Intelligence Committee with Mr. Coats and traveled with him in Eastern Europe. “He’s not a fierce partisan and knows the intelligence community. He’s very amiable and easy to work with.”

The position of America’s top intelligence official was created by Congress in 2004, as a response to criticism that the nation’s spy agencies had failed to detect and prevent the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/dan-coats-direction-national-intelligence-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced he will nominate former Indiana senator Dan Coats as the new national intelligence director.

Key points:

• Mr Trump says Mr Coats shows expertise required to lead intelligence community
• Capitol Hill veteran boasts extensive Washington career, including government service and lobbying
• A critic of Russia, Mr Coats was banned from Russia after US sanctions

 

The announcement comes one day after the release of a declassified government report on Russian efforts to influence the presidential election.

Mr Trump said Mr Coats "has clearly demonstrated the deep subject matter expertise and sound judgment required to lead our intelligence community".

"[Mr Coats] will provide unwavering leadership that the entire intelligence community can respect, and will spearhead my administration's ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do us harm," Mr Trump said.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-08/donald-trump-picks-lobbyist-dan-co...

 

US President-elect Donald Trump says "only 'stupid' people or fools" would dismiss closer ties with Russia, a day after intelligence leaders declared Moscow meddled in the US election with the aim of helping him get elected.

Key points:

• Mr Trump says Russia will respect US "far more" under his administration than Barack Obama's
• Intelligence agencies' report explicitly tied Vladimir Putin to election meddling
• Mr Obama urges Americans to remember they "are on the same team"

Mr Trump has repeatedly questioned the assessment by American intelligence agencies that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election and despite a classified report being presented to him outlining Russian hacking claims, the incoming president has reaffirmed his desire for closer ties with Moscow.

"Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only "stupid" people, or fools, would think that it is bad!" Mr Trump tweeted.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-08/only-stupid-people-oppose-closer-u...

boente

Dana J. Boente was nominated by President Barack Obama on Oct. 8, 2015, and confirmed by the United States Senate on Dec. 15, 2015, as the 60th U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA). As the chief federal law enforcement for the district, which includes offices in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News, Boente supervises the prosecution of federal crimes and the litigation of federal civil matters.

Boente is a 31-year veteran of the Department of Justice, and has spent his professional career in public service. He began as a law clerk to Chief U.S. District Judge J. Waldo Ackerman for the Central District of Illinois in 1982. In 1984, he joined the Tax Division’s Criminal Section as part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program.  In January 2001, Boente became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Fraud Unit of EDVA. He was detailed to the Tax Division in August 2005 to serve as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General.  Boente returned to EDVA when he was selected as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney in May 2007, and later served as the U.S. Attorney for EDVA from October 2008 through September 2009.  In December 2012, Boente was appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, a position he held until September 2013. He became the Acting U.S. Attorney for EDVA by virtue of the Vacancy Reform Act on Sept. 23, 2013, and served in that position until Dec. 15, 2015.

read more:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/meet-us-attorney

The Democratic appointee's directive was only ever likely to be temporary, given that Senator Jeff Sessions, Mr Trump's pick for Attorney-General, will likely move to uphold the President's policy.

Mr Sessions is awaiting Senate confirmation.

US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana Boente was sworn in as acting Attorney-General about 9:00pm Monday (local time) to replace Ms Yates in the meantime.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-31/donald-trump-sacks-attorney-genera...

Ross

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Wilbur L. Ross, the billionaire investor, as commerce secretary on Monday, installing a key leader for the Trump administration’s plans to overhaul trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

By a vote of 72 to 27, the Senate confirmed Mr. Ross, who has already been advising President Trump on economic policy and helping him to craft ways to rewrite the tax code. A renegotiation of Nafta is expected to be Mr. Ross’s top priority when he takes over the job. During his confirmation hearing in January, he warned that “all aspects” of the agreement between the United States and its northern and southern neighbors are on the table.

With the confirmation of Mr. Ross, the most important members of Mr. Trump’s economic team are in place just in time for looming fights over the budget, health care and tax legislation.

Compared with some of Mr. Trump’s other cabinet picks, Mr. Ross had his confirmation process move ahead with relative ease. He faced less resistance from Democrats than Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Andrew F. Puzder, whose nomination to lead the Labor Department was derailed.

A former Democrat, Mr. Ross, 79, divested a significant portion of his holdings to avoid conflicts of interest before taking the helm of the Commerce Department. He also tried to temper some of Mr. Trump’s views on trade, attempting to ease concerns that the United States is going to be engaging in trade wars.

“I am pro-trade, but I am pro-sensible trade,” Mr. Ross declared at his confirmation hearing.

read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/us/politics/wilbur-ross-commerce-secretary.html

catanzaro

 

 

GreenWire has reported that climate change denier Mike Catanzaro — a lobbyist for oil and gas companies Noble Energy,Devon Energy, Encana Oil and Gas,  American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and Hess Corporation — will soon become a top energy policy aide for President Donald Trump. 

Catanzaro's lobbying disclosure forms for quarter four of 2016 serve as a potential preview of energy policy to come from the Trump White House. During that quarter, Catanzaro lobbied against U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) methane regulations, against U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement offshore drilling regulations, and for oil and gas development on U.S. public lands. 

As DeSmog has reported, Catanzaro served as a top energy aide during Trump's presidential campaign. According to GreenWire, he is expected to serve as special assistant to Trump for energy and environmental issues under the umbrella of the White House National Economic Council.

His activities will include “implementing the president's domestic energy and environment agenda and kind of managing the inter-agency process that deals with those issues,” a source close to the Trump administration told GreenWire. “This is likely to be the most influential domestic energy policy position within the White House [and] will comfort industry and conservatives who view him as a champion for free-market energy and environment policy.”

Catanzaro and the White House press team did not respond to a request for comment.

read more:

https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/08/trump-mike-catanzaro-energy-aide-l...

 

 

 

Theranos decided to close its doors after squandering hundreds of millions of dollars received from investors. Until being appointed defense secretary by US President Donald Trump, Jim ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis sat on the company’s board and advocated the use of the company’s blood testing products within the Pentagon.

Theranos, a company that said it had invented a novel way of testing a very small amount of blood that would revolutionize the diagnostic industry, is officially dead. Stanford drop-out Elizabeth Holmes founded the company when she was 19 years old in 2004. The company raised hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade from venture capital firms and private investors, resulting in optimistic valuations of $9 billion dollars.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/201809051067784788-blood-testing-firm-mad-dog...

The rise and fall of Theranos

1. Jennifer Couzin-Frankel*

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup John Carreyrou Knopf, 2018, 352 pp.

 See all authors and affiliations

Science  18 May 2018:
Vol. 360, Issue 6390, pp. 720
DOI: 10.1126/science.aat7771
Read more:http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6390/720

 

US President Donald Trump has escalated his attacks on Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, saying, "I don't have an attorney-general".

Key points:

• Mr Trump publicly attacks his own Attorney General during interview
• Says he is still angry over Russia investigation and Republican investigations
• Later softens his attacks and offers support for Mr Sessions

 

Mr Trump, in an interview with US political website The Hill released on Wednesday (local time), said that he was "so sad over Jeff Sessions", who he has repeatedly denounced for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

"He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be Attorney-General, and I didn't see it," Mr Trump said in the Oval Office interview. 

"And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered."

The President softened his stance slightly when talking to reporters on the White House lawn hours after the interview's publication, saying, "I'm disappointed in the Attorney-General for numerous reasons, but we have an Attorney-General."

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-20/donald-trump-escalates-attacks-on-...

 

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