RED TIE INVADES THE NORTH

Don’t you think the 45th president would look good in a Mao outfit?

It was a moment fit for a reality show, if I ever saw one…

At a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, Donald John Trump and his “beautiful friend” Kim Jong-un agreed to send their negotiators back to the table to seek a long-elusive nuclear agreement.

Trump stepped across a low concrete marker at 3:46 pm, local time, today, and walked 20 steps to the base of a building on the North Korean side for an encounter carried live on international television – an unprecedented, camera-friendly demonstration !!! of friendship intended to revitalize stalled talks.

Thus, Trump became the first sitting American commander-in-chief to set foot in North Korea.

“Stepping across that line was a great honor,” the 45th president commented. “A lot of progress has been made, a lot of friendships have been made and this has been in particular a great friendship.”

The encounter in Panmunjom was cast as a brief greeting, NOT a formal negotiation, but the two ended up together for a little more than an hour.

In other words, status quo for this administration, where there is NEVER any “formal” negotiation…on anything.

Emerging from the brief time together, Trump said he and Kim had agreed to designate negotiators to resume conversations in the next few weeks.

Which, if true, could conclude with positive results.

 

HEY, LET’S MEET at the DMZ

Anything for a camera shot…

Donald John Trump announced in Osaka, today, local time, that he would visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea tomorrow, and he publicly invited Kim Jong-un, the North’s leader, to meet him there for what would be their third get-together.

Trump said that during his next stop, in South Korea, he would be happy to greet Kim across the line that has divided Korea for nearly 75 years.

“I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon),” a tweet said. “While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”

Kim, I happened to be in the neighborhood…

Mother of Mercy, help us ALL!!!

MORE PHOTO-OPS…

The current president and President Xi Jinping of China agreed earlier today, local time, in Japan, to resume trade talks after a seven-week breakdown, averting for now an escalation of their multibillion-dollar tariff war that has roiled global markets and threatened the future of the world’s two largest economies.

The agreement, brokered during more than an hour of discussion [resolution to world problems in 60 minutes?!!?] between the leaders, did NOT by itself signal any major breakthrough in resolving the fundamental conflict.

Trump promised to hold off on his threat to slap new 25 percent tariffson $300 billion in Chinese imports, and he agreed to lift some restrictions on Huawei, the Chinese technology giant at the center of a dispute between the nations.

In exchange, The Weave said, China agreed to buy a “tremendous amount” of American food and agricultural products. “We will give them a list of things we want them to buy.” 

Donnie, Xi already has our list…and much, much more!

 

WHAT a CROCK of POOP!!!

There’s really NOTHING like a photo-op between two old comrades…

I love the expressions of ALL the Russians, realizing what a complete rube the 45th president of the United States of America is, and will continue to be.

Trump’s tie is something you see worn by the pit bosses at the Golden Nugget in Vegas.

THE FOG of SANCTIONS

Later today, officials from Britain, France and Germany are meeting with Iranian, Russian and Chinese officials in Vienna, with the aim of persuading Tehran NOT to exceed limits set in the 2015 nuclear accord in the coming days.

Over the past month. several European Union (EU) countries said they were working with Britain, France and Germany to open up trade channels !!! to Iran to cushion the impact of US sanctions, broadening the bloc’s efforts to save the nuclear deal.

This latest move comes as Europe is seeking to buy time for a diplomatic solution to the escalating tensions between the US, Europe and Iran over what Washington calls Tehran’s recent military aggression in the Middle East and its nuclear work.

Since the US last year pulled out of the international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, Europe has fought to keep it alive.

As the US has ratcheted up sanctions on Iran, Tehran has warned it will exceed some of the key commitments in the deal in coming days unless Europe offers real economic assistance that would help relieve some of the pressure the US sanctions has exerted.

The UK press is reporting Britain, France and Germany are working on a trade mechanism, known as Instex [NEVER heard of it either], to allow some trade to continue with Iran without the need for direct financial flows between Europe and Iran.

They are expected to announce later today, local time, that the mechanism is operational and that it will have a credit line to help get transactions going.

Some US lawmakers have called for sanctions to be prepared either against Instex or against a mirror Iranian company that is supposed to net out Iranian exports and imports from Europe in a similar way.

Sticky wicket, aye? 

THINK of your FAMILY, JOE

Wash the grease paint from your face, Joey, the play is over…

NEVER a fan of the political antics of Joe Biden, over the last four decades, watching him last night was a farce.

Longevity does NOT mean that one has free, and open-access to the stage, forever.

Biden’s time has gone!!!

He was a complete joke watching him throughout the debate in Miami.

Why?

Two overriding reasons: 1) He talks, and appears, ancient; and, 2) He is NEVER seems prepared.

The most revealing moment of the night, and the primary campaign to date, came when Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) confronted Biden over his comments on working with segregationists in the Senate, and his personal history.

Peering down the stage to look at Joe directly, Kamala assailed him for remarks he made this month invoking his work in a Senate that included a pair of notorious segregationists.

Drumroll, please…

It was then that Harris went further, and deeper, recalling that Biden had also opposed school busing in the ’70s.

“There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day,” Kamala said. “And that little girl was me.”

It was in that moment we ALL show BOTH Biden’s vulnerability and the urgency his rivals feel to start sowing doubts about his candidacy with voters.

And, Joe, that’s something that even Neil Kinnock can’t help you with…

 

LET’S DO LUNCH

The US chief trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, and his Chinese counterpart, Liu He, talked by telephone this week on ways to get the trade talks back on track and expect to meet in person in advance of the presidents’ Saturday lunch meeting after the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

As the day awaits another 95 degrees across the Prairie, it is far from clear what the two will manage – and, whether their bosses will approve their work.

Word on the street [I’ve ALWAYS wanted to use that phrase] has it that Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to present Trump with a set of terms the US should meet before Beijing is ready to settle a market-rattling trade confrontation, raising questions of whether the two leaders will agree to relaunch talks.

If I understand it, among the preconditions, Beijing is insisting !!! that the US remove its ban on the sale of U.S. technology to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. 

Beijing also wants the US to lift ALL punitive tariffs and drop efforts to get China to buy even more US exports than Beijing said it would when the two leaders last met in December.

Giddy up, Donnie…

To me, the main elements in this relationship – economic and commercial ties – have become unmoored, and few agree on the future contours of the relationship or the magnitude of the conflicts, as far as I’ve read or heard.

Most economists estimate China will overtake the United States as the largest economy in 10 to 15 years.

Though Trump incessantly praises Xi – saying they “will always be friends”  – the idea of China as a dangerous juggernaut, more formidable than the Soviet Union, has become increasingly widespread in the administration.

And, by the way, Xi doesn’t have any friends – NEVER has nor will.

Billy, Timmy, Johnny, and Beto…bye

I’ll make this simple…

In the first of two nights of debates, MSNBC was NOT ready…with their assigned moderators [pathetic; none of them could control the action – especially Rachel and Chuck; simply awful!!!] as well as their broadcast technical glitches throughout the broadcast.

Billy deBlasio, Timmy Ryan, Johnny Delaney, and Beto O’Rourke, I hope you ALL caught the red-eyes out of Miami last night…you’re toast!

It’s been 887 days since the last inauguration, and 573 days until the next inauguration.

A lot can happen as the world turns…

And, a lot will happen!

Of the remaining six, Julian Castro, Lizzie Warren and Jay Inslee garnered my attention.

The best remark of the evening came from Inslee, “The biggest threat is Donald Trump. No question about it.”

 

THUS, IT BEGINS…

The fight for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination will begin to assume a more concrete shape starting tonight and tomorrow – June 26th and 27th – when twenty candidates take the stage in Miami for the first round of debates.

This herd qualified to participate by meeting one of two criteria before June 12th: a) securing a minimum number of donors [at least 65,000], or b) registering more than 1% support in three major polls.

The qualifying criteria are the same for the second round of debates in Detroit on July 30th and 31st.

For the third round, to be held on September 12th and 13th [in a location NOT yet chosen], the criteria are essentially doubled, which could reduce the field considerably.

The Democratic National Committee has sanctioned twelve debates, to be held until next April.

Watching and listening to 10 applicants at a time, over back-to-back nights, being interviewed by the likes of Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd seems bizarre logic.

We saw/heard what happened when the caravan of GOP clowns, Donald John Trump and 16 other job applicants, marched and paraded around the stage in 2015-’16.

You get Bozo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! himself…

The time for political professionals to play a constructive role is before the primaries, NOT after.

But, their job should be to commend the party’s most promising potential candidates to the attention of the public, NOT to make the final choice themselves.

Trying to start the car when it’s flooded, just doesn’t work!

 

MATTHEW 24:45-51

The 230-195 vote, largely along party lines, sets up a showdown with the GOP-controlled Senate, which is expected to take up its own version of the legislation this week.

The House passed a $4.5 billion bill funding food, water and shelter for people entering the US at the southern border after Democrats pushed through last-minute changes to win support from progressive and Hispanic lawmakers.

But the package faces a tough path to enactment.

While this debate rages on, Trump again overhauled the leadership !!! responsible for border policies, naming an immigration hard-liner and former FOX News contributor [you read that correctly]as acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

The new “acting” commissioner, Mark Morgan, has been pushing for the nationwide deportation raids that the president delayed last week.

The move continued the turmoil at the Department of Homeland Security, whose senior ranks have been purged over the past four months ago.

The inhumane treatment of men, women and especially children at our southern border has little to do with funding.

It is the result of Trump mandated policy and practice…