Jim Jordan says AG Barr ‘serious’ about uncovering origins of Russia probe

Attorney General William Barr fully intends to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation and find out why federal authorities conducted surveillance on the Trump campaign, House Judiciary Committee member Jim Jordan told Fox News on Tuesday evening.
“I think this is Bill Barr doing what he said (he would do)," Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said during a panel discussion on "The Ingraham Angle." "Remember when he was in front of the Senate Finance Committee four weeks ago? (Barr) said he was serious about putting a team to get to the bottom of this."
Jordan's comments came in response to remarks on MSNBC earlier in the evening by former CIA Director John Brennan, who insisted that surveillance of the Trump campaign went through a “rigorous due process” and was approved by the FISA court. Any efforts by Republicans to portray the surveillance as a “deep state” operation are a misrepresentation, Brennan said.
But the only misrepresentation, Jordan said, is that investigators failed to tell the FISA court who paid for the anti-Trump Steele dossier.
That controversial dossier, which the FBI used to obtain a warrant from the court under the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, and funded by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. It was used by Democrats and multiple media outlets as fodder to allege that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Meanwhile, Barr has appointed John Durham, a U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to examine the origins of the Russian investigation and determine if intelligence-collection efforts targeting the Trump campaign were “lawful and appropriate,” a person familiar with the matter told Fox News.
When asked to give his take on other networks dismissing the effort as a conservative “fantasyland,” Jordan said the effort should be taken seriously.
During the recent Senate Finance Committee hearing, Barr used two terms that should “scare” every single American, Jordan said. The terms were “unauthorized surveillance” and “political surveillance."

Mothers Day 2019

China Unfair Trade Cartoons

President Trump urges companies to produce domestically to Avoid Tariffs

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:33 PM PT — Saturday, May 11, 2019

President Trump is urging companies to make or produce goods domestically, in order to avoid tariffs related to the ongoing trade dispute with China.
Taking to twitter Saturday, the President said “making or producing goods and products in the good old USA” is a very simple way to avoid tariffs.

Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs? Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It’s very simple!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2019

This comes after trade talks with China concluded earlier this week, without an agreement between the two nations.
In a statement Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer revealed the President had ordered him to begin the process of raising tariffs on essentially all remaining imports from China.
The United States has upped duties on $200 billion worth of goods after accusing China of going back on previous agreements, designed to answer concerns on issues such as access to markets and intellectual property rights.
President Trump has since claimed the talks had been candid and constructive, adding tariffs may or may not be removed depending on what happens with respect to future negotiations.
However, China accuses the U.S. of proposing a one-sided text for a trade agreement, saying there were passages that offended its national dignity, and denies going back on its previous commitments.

Trump suggests China wants Dem elected in 2020 to secure better trade terms

President Trump shared his take on the stalled U.S. trade talks with China on Saturday, suggesting Beijing may be waiting until the 2020 presidential election to see if a Democrat gets elected to secure more favorable terms.
“I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win - in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year...." the president wrote.
Trump’s remarks came a day after another round of talks between Washington and Beijing ended with no trade pact. In follow-up tweets, the president said it would be wise for China to agree to a trade deal soon, before predicting it would face “far worse” terms if the impasse continues.
"....The only problem is that they know I am going to win (best economy & employment numbers in U.S. history, & much more), and the deal will become far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term. Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting BIG TARIFFS!" he posted.
In response to a lack of progress between both sides last week, the U.S. imposed further tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and threatened more tariffs on remaining Chinese products worth $325 billion.
China’s top negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, said Friday that both sides have agreed to more trade talks in Beijing, Bloomberg reported. Speaking to Chinese media, he said the U.S. must remove all extra tariffs to clear the way for the possibility of an agreement. China has vowed retaliation but has not released specifics.
“For the interest of the people of China, the people of U.S. and the people of the whole world, we will deal with this rationally,” Liu said. “But China is not afraid, nor are the Chinese people,” adding that “China needs a cooperative agreement with equality and dignity.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the Trump administration would release details of the tariffs on $325 billion in Chinese imports on Monday.
A trade deal seemed imminent, until last week when China sent American trade negotiators a cable with redacted text that both sides had been working on. To the American, the modification signaled Beijing’s walking back of its earlier commitments made during months of negotiations.

In this March 5, 2019 photo, a cargo ship arrives at the Port of Tacoma, in Tacoma, Wash. U.S. and Chinese negotiators resumed trade talks Friday, May 10, 2019, under increasing pressure after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and Beijing promised to retaliate. (Associated Press)

The divide between both sides has not stalled the U.S. economy. The GDP rose at a 3.2 percent annualized rate, even as a five-week partial government shutdown affected some sectors. Unemployment is at a historic low and 213,000 jobs are being created monthly.
Trump, who is seeking re-election on the heels of a booming economy, signaled Friday that he is no rush to secure a deal. Over Twitter, he proposed using income from the import taxes to buy agricultural products from American farmers.
Chinese state media said China would give in on its core interests, Reuters reported.
“China clearly requires that the trade procurement figures should be realistic; the text must be balanced and expressed in terms that are acceptable to the Chinese people and do not undermine the sovereignty and dignity of the country,” the People’s Daily newspaper said in a commentary on Saturday.

Mad magazine, Buttigieg bite back at Trump mockery

Mad magazine got in on the action between President Trump and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, after Trump compared his young political rival to a cartoon mascot from the venerable humor mag.
First, Trump took aim at Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Ind., at a “Make America Great Again” rally on Wednesday calling him “Boot edge edge.”
“He has a great chance, don't he? He will be great,” Trump said sarcastically. “Representing us against President Xi of China, that will be great. That will be great. I want to be in that room and I want to watch that one.”
But Trump was far from finished with the young Dem. The president, who has repeatedly assigned unflattering nicknames to political foes, dug into Mad magazine history to find an apt one for the 37-year-old Buttigieg.
On Friday, in an interview with Politico, Trump declared that "Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States.”

Alfred E. Neuman has been the official cartoon face of Mad since 1956.

Neuman is the cartoon mascot and cover boy of the magazine, known for his red hair, the gap in his teeth and the catchphrase "What, me worry?"
But Mad dates back to the 1950s, and Buttigieg, the youngest candidate in the 2020 race, responded by saying he didn't really get Trump’s reference. (The character became a magazine icon under editor and publisher Al Feldstein, who was in charge of Mad from 1955-1984.)
“I’ll be honest, I had to Google that,” Buttigieg told Politico on Friday. “I guess it’s just a generational thing. I didn’t get the reference. It’s kind of funny, I guess.
"But he’s also the president of the United States and I’m surprised he’s not spending more time trying to salvage this China deal,” he said. That was a pointed reference to economic talks with Beijing that ended Friday without reaching a conclusive deal.
For its part, Mad couldn't resist adding its own voice to the political back-and-forth with a tweet about Buttigieg's lack of knowledge about Alfred E.: “Who’s Pete Buttigieg? Must be a generational thing.”
About Neuman:
"I want a definitive portrait of this kid,” Feldstein recalled in a 2007 interview with AV/TV Club. “I don't want him to look like an idiot — I want him to be loveable and have an intelligence behind his eyes. But I want him to have this devil-may-care attitude, someone who can maintain a sense of humor while the world is collapsing around him."
As for Buttigieg, though he was the butt of a Trump joke that may have eluded him because of his age, he has consistently polled higher than other, better-known Democratic contenders, including Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, making him a promising pick for the 2020 elections and raising the specter of future references to Mad's gap-toothed mascot.

Mike Pence warns Christian grads to prepare for ridicule from ‘secular left’

Vice President Mike Pence had a sobering message Saturday as he delivered a commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Pence warned graduating seniors of the Christian university that they needed to prepare for persecution from critics he described as “the secular left.”
“Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs,” the vice president warned, according to the Washington Times. “So as you go about your daily life, just be ready.”
As an example, Pence pointed to a “bevy of Hollywood liberals” who’ve been waging a boycott effort against the state of Georgia, whose Republican governor, Brian Kemp, recently signed a strict pro-life “heartbeat” abortion bill into law.
The vice president noted that strident criticism against Christians is relatively new in American experience.
“Throughout most of American history, it's been pretty easy to call yourself Christian,” Pence told the gathering, according to USA Today. “It didn’t even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible.”
According to the Christian Post, Pence said his wife Karen was subjected to “harsh attacks by the media and the secular left” when she returned to teaching at a Christian elementary school earlier this year.
“These attacks on Christian education are un-American,” Pence said, according to the Post, adding that President Trump and his administration have taken “decisive action to protect religious liberty.”
In 2017, Liberty University was the first college where President Trump delivered a commencement address since taking office. The school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., has been a staunch supporter of the president.

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