Trump, Putin reportedly agree to defeat ISIS in Syria

Nov. 11: U.S. President Trump and President Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam.  (Reuters)

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement on Saturday vowing to continue the fight against ISIS in Syria until the militants are completely defeated, Reuters reported, citing the Kremlin.

The statement was released after the two leaders chatted briefly during the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, Reuters reported, citing the Kremlin.

The statement reportedly said both Washington and Moscow agree that there is no military solution to the conflict and both countries expressed a commitment to Damascus’ sovereignty.
The two leaders chatted on Saturday while they walked to a “family photograph” at the summit and donned matching silk button-down shirts the day before, holding true to the tradition of wearing local attire at annual display of cooperation among world leaders.
The White House and the Trump administration earlier appeared to downplay Trump's possible meetings with Putin during the summit.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders blamed a scheduling conflict for why the two would not have a formal meeting. But she said it was “possible” and “likely” that they would have a less formal encounter.

Reuters  (President Trump and President Putin take part in a "family photo.")

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that there was no reason to schedule a formal meeting between Trump and Putin if the two countries are unable to make significant progress on issues including Syria and Ukraine.
"The view has been if the two leaders are going to meet, is there something sufficiently substantive to talk about that would warrant a formal meeting," he said.
It was reported on Thursday that Washington and Moscow were nearing an agreement on Syria for how they hope to resolve the Arab country’s civil war once ISIS is defeated.
The U.S.-Russian agreement that was being discussed focused on three elements, officials told The Associated Press: "deconfliction" between the U.S. and Russian militaries, reducing violence in the civil war and reinvigorating U.N.-led peace talks. The officials weren't authorized to discuss the deliberations and requested anonymity.

Mueller and Manafort Cartoons

Cal Thomas: Trump, Mueller and Manafort -- Get ready for more magical thinking

In considering the indictment of former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an associate, I am reminded of former Bill Clinton aide and defender James Carville’s line about the ability of a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich.”

Manafort and a longtime business partner, Rick Gates, pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts against them. Manafort is under house arrest after posting an outrageously high bond of $10 million. Gates’ bond was set at $5 million. George Papadopoulos, who was a foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI about his foreign contacts with several top Russian officials.

Predictably, the major media are celebrating this as the beginning of the end of the nascent Trump presidency. Within hours of the announced indictments, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof rushed into print with a column titled “Will Manafort Sing? If so, it may mark the beginning of the end of this presidency.”
Look for more of this wishful thinking that the establishment, the Democrats and all of the mainstream media have been hoping for since Trump won the election.
What Manafort stands accused of has nothing to do with the 2016 election, or with Russian “collusion.” No one, so far, has produced any evidence the Russians affected the election’s outcome. This is all about overturning the results and keeping “the swamp” full for those who live in it and reject change.
Real collusion might be in the significant share of U.S. uranium sold to the Russians during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state (she signed off on the deal), followed by a $500,000 fee paid to her husband for a speech in Moscow and the millions of dollars that subsequently flowed into the Clinton Foundation from uranium investors.
Special counsel Robert Mueller and Congress should investigate that Russian connection, along with the role of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign (and the earlier Republican role) in creating an anti-Trump dossier that has been shown to be a fraud and yet was used to justify the appointment of Mueller. If the reason for Mueller’s appointment is fraudulent, how can it be said that his investigation, which includes staff attorneys who made donations to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, is not tainted?
Among the many problems with this investigation is that it has no legal, subject or monetary limits. If Mueller and his associates are unable to prove collusion with the Russians, one can count on them coming up with something else. Far-left members of Congress, such as Maxine Waters, D-Calif., openly state that their objective is to “take out” the president, and they don’t mean to lunch.
There is also the matter of leaks from the grand jury. Not surprisingly, the details of the indictments matched the leak to CNN. Unless that network employs mind readers and engages in paranormal activity, those leaks are felonies and the leakers should be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are firing up investigations of their own, including long-overdue looks into various questionable and possibly illegal activities by the Clintons. Congress is the proper avenue for such investigations, not special counsels, who can “go rogue” if they wish.
These seemingly endless accusations and investigations are what so much of the country hates about Washington, the “D.C.” that increasingly seems to stand for “dysfunctional city.”
No matter which party controls government, the other party does all it can, by whatever means, to undermine those elected. This behavior solves no problems. It is only about grabbing and holding onto power.
Given the many moving parts in the Mueller probe and the loss of focus on the primary reason for it, the government may have a difficult time proving its case in court. But with unlimited funds and a staff of lawyers who have Democratic affiliations, you can bet they will try to make more than a ham sandwich out of it.
Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated op-ed columnist. His latest book is "What Works: Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America". Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribune.com.

Radioactive cloud floating over Europe is nothing to worry about, experts say

FILE: Steam is emitted from the cooling tower at a nuclear power plant in Brussels. Authorities reportedly said the cloud poses only an “extremely low” risk of contaminating vegetation.  (AP)

Don’t mind the cloud of radioactive pollution floating over Europe – it’s harmless, the French nuclear safety institute IRSN said Thursday.

Officials in Europe said they began detecting unusually high levels of ruthenium 106, a radioactive atom that does not occur naturally, near France in the last week of September.

The IRSN immediately “mobilized all its means of radiological monitoring of the atmosphere and conducted regular analysis of the filters from its monitoring stations,” the agency said in a press release.
IRSN director Jean-Marc Peres told Reuters that the leak likely came from a nuclear fuel treatment site or center for radioactive medicine in Russia or Kazakhstan, not a nuclear reactor.
The radioactive cloud poses only an “extremely low” risk of contaminating mushrooms and other foodstuffs that are imported into France, the IRSN said in a statement.
“The potential health risk associated with this scenario is also very low,” the IRSN said.
In January, the IRSN similarly assured Europeans that the small amounts of nuclear radiation that were blooming throughout Europe were nothing to worry about.

Anthony Weiner wants pen pals in prison, report says

“Carlos Danger” is looking for a pen pal.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who reported to prison this week to begin a 21-month sentence for sexting with a 15-year-old girl, is hoping to stay in contact with the outside world.

Weiner’s away message on his personal email addresses provide specific instructions on how to stay in contact with the disgraced Congressman, the New York Post reported Thursday.
“Thanks for reaching out,” the message says. “Starting November 6^th, I’ll be away for a while but I would love to stay in touch. As quaint as it may sound, the best way to reach me is by sending a letter. When you write, ill get you the information about how email might work.
“So please include your full mailing address here and of course include it when you write,” Weiner says in the message. “And although you didn’t ask — yes, you may send me books via Amazon. (No crockpots or washers/dryers though)”
Weiner then provides information on how to contact him via the “Federal Medical Center” in Massachusetts.
ANTHONY WEINER SCANDALS: FROM POLITICS TO SEXTING CASES
Weiner, whose political career and later run for New York City mayor was derailed because of continuous sexting incidents — sometimes under a “Carlos Danger” pseudonym — was sentenced in September after he pleaded guilty in May to a charge of transmitting sexual material to a minor.

Trump: Roy Moore will 'step aside' if sexual misconduct allegations are true

Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks to supporters Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, in Montgomery, Ala., after he forced a Senate primary runoff with Sen. Luther Strange to fill the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)  (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

President Trump on Thursday believes Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore “will do the right thing and step aside” if the sexual misconduct allegations against him are true, the White House said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters following the president’s Asia trip on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also cautioned against a rush to judgment.
“Like most Americans, the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life," Sanders said. "However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside."
Moore lashed out earlier at what he called "the Obama-Clinton machine's liberal media lapdogs" after The Washington Post reported on a woman's claims that the former judge and staunch social conservative initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14.
In a series of tweets Thursday evening, Moore claimed "The forces of evil will lie, cheat, steal –– even inflict physical harm –– if they believe it will silence and shut up Christian conservatives."
Amid calls for him to drop out of the race, Moore added, "Our nation is at a crossroads right now — both spiritually and politically. Our children and grandchildren’s futures are on the line. So rest assured — I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight!"
The Post story centered on allegations made by Leigh Corfman, now 53. She told the newspaper that Moore, then an assistant district attorney, first approached her in 1979 outside a courtroom in Alabama where she was sitting with her mother. On another occasion, she said Moore, then 32, took her to his home in the woods and kissed her.
During a subsequent visit, Corfman reportedly claimed he took off her shirt and pants; touched her over her bra and underwear; and guided her hand to his underwear. She said the two did not have sexual intercourse, and that she ended up getting dressed and asking Moore to take her home, according to the Post.
“I wanted it over with – I wanted out,” she told the Post, apparently recalling her train of thought at the time. Moore did take her home, she said.
The report caused immediate problems for Moore with his own party as he heads into the Dec. 12 election against Democrat Doug Jones. Several GOP senators called on him to step aside if the allegations are true – and at least one senator, Arizona’s John McCain, said he should drop out regardless.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who backed Moore’s rival Luther Strange in the GOP primary, said in a statement: "If these allegations are true, he must step aside."
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., head of the Senate GOP campaign arm, called the allegations “deeply troubling” and said: “If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election.”
Jones' campaign told multiple news outlets: “Roy Moore needs to answer these serious charges.”
But Moore’s campaign issued a statement saying the report is “baseless” and false.
“National liberal organizations know their chosen candidate Doug Jones is in a death spiral, and this is their last ditch Hail Mary,” Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead said. “Judge Roy Moore is winning with a double-digit lead. So it is no surprise, with just over four weeks remaining, in a race for the U.S. Senate with national implications, that the Democratic Party and the country’s most liberal newspaper would come up with a fabrication of this kind.
“This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation,” he said.
The Post noted that the legal age of consent in the state is 16, and sexual contact by anyone 19 or older with anyone between 12 and 16 years old is considered second-degree sexual abuse.
The statute of limitations, though, has long since passed.
The Post interviewed three other women who were teenagers at the time who claimed Moore pursued them when he was in his 30s, though he did not force them into any type of sexual relationship.
“I have prayed over this,” Corfman told the Post as to why she came forward, “All I know is that I can’t sit back and let this continue, let him continue without the mask being removed.”
Alabama's Republican governor, Kay Ivey, responded: “These allegations are deeply disturbing. I will hold judgment until we know the facts. The people of Alabama deserve to know the truth and will make their own decisions.”

Al Green Cartoons

Mattis Talks Regional Security at NATO Defense Ministers Meeting

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, right, speaks with U.S. Secretary for Defense Jim Mattis during a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his NATO counterparts start two days of talks in Brussels looking to expand the military alliance’s command structure and drum up more troop contributions for Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

OAN Newsroom

Defense Secretary James Mattis joins other allied defense ministers in Brussels to assess and discuss the situation in North Korea and Afghanistan.
During the two day meeting, Mattis will decide whether to approve the North Atlantic Command.
The new regional base and its forces would focus on keeping Atlantic shipping lanes safe from enemy submarines.
Meanwhile, NATO’s chief says the alliance has been making significant progress adapting to the changing security landscape.
“Today, we will take decisions on the next steps in our deterrence and defense to ensure that we have a command structure fit for changing times, that we can reinforce our forces quickly and effectively, and that our cyber defenses are even more robust,” stated NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The secretary general says the 29 member alliance will increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by next year in order to send a message to the Taliban.

House Dem's new demand: Impeach Trump by Christmas

Texas Democrat Al Green said Wednesday he’s giving his colleagues in the House a Christmas deadline to vote on impeaching President Trump.

“I now announce that before Christmas, there will be a vote on the chief inciter of racism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, sexism and ethnocentrism,” he said on the House floor, adding that he prayed the United States will “continue to reject what the inciter in chief, Donald J. Trump has been causing this country to have to endure.”

This is hardly the first time Green has called for impeaching the president, though he hasn't put a timeframe on it until now.
Last month, Green unveiled formal articles of impeachment, though it never made it to the House floor for a vote. At the time, Green said he wanted to give lawmakers extra time to read through the proposal.
Green’s resolution covered four articles of impeachment.
One accused the president of “inciting white supremacy, sexism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, race-baiting, and racism by demeaning, defaming, disrespecting and disparaging women and certain minorities.” Another alleged Trump brought “shame and dishonor to the office of the presidency by associating the majesty and dignity of the presidency with causes rooted in white supremacy, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, white nationalism and neo-Nazism.”
GREEN INTRODUCES ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP
While acknowledging conservatives aren’t likely to jump on board and kick Trump out of the Oval Office, Green said, “Whatever others will do is their choice. My conscience dictates that I will vote to impeach.”
There’s not much enthusiasm among most congressional Democrats to impeach.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly downplayed talk of impeachment and on Sunday told CNN it wasn’t one of her legislative priorities.

12 Months of Trump: Year since election brings economic boom, deepening divisions, probe politics

A year ago today, President-elect Donald Trump – perhaps the only politician not shocked by his historic victory – rallied supporters with a vow to apply his bigger-and-better business style to the country as a whole.

“America will no longer settle for anything less than the best,” he declared. And after a divisive election, the next commander-in-chief pledged to be “president for all Americans.”

Twelve months later, the changes are seismic.
It is indisputable that the candidate who ran as the get-things-done, board-room executive was great for Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained nearly 29 percent since Election Day 2016. The S&P 500 is up 21 percent.
After a rocky first quarter, economic growth also has picked up to around 3 percent under Trump, while the unemployment rate has dipped from 4.8 percent in January to 4.1 percent.
Trump marked his election anniversary Wednesday with a tweet congratulating the "DEPLORABLES" who voted for him.
The Trump team and its allies on Capitol Hill are vowing a bigger economic shot in the arm soon if they can muscle through a massive tax overhaul in the coming weeks and months – aiming to unleash growth by slashing corporate tax rates, simplifying the tax system and boosting the standard deduction.
But the deal isn’t yet sealed, and congressional leaders are cautious given their repeated failure to pass an ObamaCare overhaul as promised during the campaign.
While the president has struggled to get his legislative agenda passed on Capitol Hill, Trump often boasts of his nomination – and the successful Senate confirmation – of Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court when talking up his accomplishments to conservative audiences.
Elsewhere, 12 months of Trump have brought mounting complications.
NOT-YET-UNITED STATES
In the days after Trump’s election, Gallup conducted a poll finding a record 77 percent of Americans think the country is divided on key values. The country hasn’t demonstrated much unification since then. Trump’s inauguration was countered with massive protests in cities across the country. Far-left activists have since rioted on college campuses and far-right demonstrators – including neo-Nazis – have taken to the streets, notably in Charlottesville where a counter-protester was killed in August.

Moderate Republicans are increasingly speaking out against the president, like Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who plans to retire.  (AP)

The president’s scorched-earth approach to politics – largely conducted via his Twitter account – also has fueled divisions on Capitol Hill, where moderate Republicans are increasingly speaking out against the president and bucking the White House on key votes like health care, even when it invites his Twitter wrath. The most outspoken are those, like Sens. Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, who plan to retire.
PROBE POLITICS
Meanwhile, a backdrop of investigations and grievances over those investigations has kept both sides of the political aisle in an outrage cycle.
In a stunning sequence of events that started with Trump’s firing of James Comey at the FBI, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump associates. The first indictments were announced last week, though they didn’t speak specifically to campaign collusion with Moscow. The investigation is ongoing, as are related congressional investigations – giving Democrats, especially book-touring Hillary Clinton, a hook for continuing to question the fairness of the 2016 race.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump associates.

But Republicans have increasingly countered with allegations of their own, with some even calling for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate Obama and Clinton-era controversies – including claims that the Clinton email case was mishandled and questions over how much the FBI relied on a research firm that commissioned an unverified anti-Trump dossier. It has recently emerged that the research was funded with help from the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party.
IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN
Nothing energized Trump’s base during the campaign like his promises to get tough on illegal immigration, build a wall and institute extreme vetting for refugees and others entering the country.

The Customs and Border Protection agency recently unveiled prototypes of a new wall design from several contractors.  (Reuters)

Implementing those policies hasn’t been easy, but the Trump administration has sought to make a hard break from the Obama years: Shortly after taking office in January, the president signed an executive order temporarily banning immigration from several majority-Muslim countries while restricting entry for some Syrian refugees. That led to protests across the country and federal court challenges, which forced the administration to revise the order. The ban expired last month, as the administration keeps pursuing revised rules.
Trump also tasked his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, with ramping up enforcement of immigration laws, including cracking down on sanctuary cities by threatening to deny them federal funding. Trump also announced plans to end DACA, the Obama-era executive action protecting young immigrants from deportation, while calling on Congress to pass a remedy. All of this has been complicated by Trump’s public criticism of Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
The wall along the southern border has yet to be built – and Mexico still insists it won’t pay for it, as Trump promised during the campaign – but the Customs and Border Protection agency recently unveiled prototypes of a new wall design from several contractors.
REGULATION ROLLBACK
Gridlock in Congress has not stopped the president from unraveling former President Barack Obama’s executive action legacy, with Trump portraying his regulatory rollbacks as a boon for business.

Gridlock in Congress has not stopped the president from unraveling former President Barack Obama’s executive action legacy.

That includes withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, green-lighting the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines, moving to roll back the Clean Power Plan and using the Congressional Review Act, an obscure rule-killing law, to wipe out a wave of last-minute regulations pushed through before he took office.
THE WORLD IS STILL A DANGEROUS PLACE
The president has spent a considerable amount of his time over the last 12 months dealing with threats – at home and abroad.
As the Islamic State orchestrated terror attacks and declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump famously promised during to “bomb the sh-t” out of ISIS. Last month, after the liberation of Raqqa, the president boasted that “more progress” had been made “against these evil terrorists in the past several months than in the past several years.”
Tensions with North Korea, however, have escalated since Trump took office, with the president mocking leader Kim Jong Un as “Little Rocket Man” over the country’s nuclear program. During a speech in South Korea this week, the president warned North Korea: “Do not underestimate us. And do not try us." As for the nuclear threat from Iran, Trump announced last month that he would decertify the 2015 Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, while leaving to Congress whether to restore sanctions.

President Trump has mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Little Rocket Man.”  (AP)

In recent months, the president has flown on Air Force One to sites of deadly disasters in the country, including hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. He also traveled to Las Vegas last month after the massacre at a country music festival – the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. Democrats have reiterated their calls for new gun control measures in the wake of more mass shootings, including after the slaughter of a Texas church last weekend, but the NRA-backed president has suggested he has no appetite for restricting the gun ownership of law abiding Americans.
ORDER IN THE WEST WING?
There’s been no shortage of drama, rivalries and turnover inside the West Wing. Many aides -- including national security adviser Mike Flynn, chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer -- joined the White House at the beginning of the administration but have since been fired or resigned from their positions. Anthony Scaramucci lasted just 10 days in office. And the presence of Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as White House aides has complicated dynamics.
But some of that drama has calmed since this summer’s selection of retired Marine general and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly for White House chief of staff. Kelly has attempted to bring order to an unruly West Wing environment as the president pushes Congress to pass a tax reform package, a campaign promise Republicans acknowledge having to fulfill after failing so far to repeal ObamaCare.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has attempted to bring order to an unruly West Wing as chief of staff.

In an op-ed for USA Today on Wednesday marking the anniversary of the election, Vice President Pence argued that tax reform would pass in the Republican-controlled Congress by the end of the year.
“It has been a year of accomplishments, and we’re just getting started,” Pence said. “Before this year is out, we’ll pass historic tax cuts for the American people. And with President Trump’s leadership, I know: We will Make America Great Again.”