Mayor De Blasio Cartoons

North Korea tensions: South's president seeks meeting with Kim Jong Un

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Thursday he is willing to meet with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un amid heightened tensions in the wake of Pyongyang’s first intercontinental ballistic missile test-launch.

Moon, in a speech ahead of the G-20 summit in Germany, also  proposed the two Koreas resume reunions of families separated by war, stop hostile activities along the DMZ and cooperate on the 2018 Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

"The current situation where there is no contact between the relevant authorities of the South and the North is highly dangerous," Moon said. "I am ready to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea at any time at any place, if the conditions are met and if it will provide an opportunity to transform the tension and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula."
Moon added that he is ready to put all issues on the negotiating table, including the North’s nuclear program and the signing of a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War.
Since taking office in May, Moon has been trying to improve ties with North Korea, but his efforts have produced little, with the North testing a series of newly developed missiles including an ICBM on Tuesday.
The North's ICBM launch, its most successful missile test to date, has stoked security worries in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo as it showed the country could eventually perfect a reliable nuclear missile capable of reaching anywhere in the United States. Analysts say the missile tested Tuesday could reach Alaska if launched at a normal trajectory.
After the launch, Kim said he would never put his weapons programs up for negotiation unless the United States abandons its hostile policy toward his country. Kim's statement suggested he will order more missile and nuclear tests until North Korea develops a functioning ICBM that can place the entire U.S. within its striking distance.
In a show of force against North Korea, South Korea and the United States staged "deep strike" precision missile firing drills on Wednesday. In North Korea's capital, thousands of people rallied Thursday in Kim Il Sung square to celebrate the launch.

De Blasio races to Germany to protest G20 summit

Idiot

Mayor Bill de Blasio is jetting off to Germany on Thursday to protest President Trump and other world leaders attending the G20 Summit meeting.

The day after a cop was assassinated in The Bronx, de Blasio skipped an afternoon swearing-in ceremony for 524 new NYPD recruits ahead of his flight overseas.

A last-minute advisory from City Hall said Hizzoner “will attend several events surrounding the G20 Summit, including Saturday’s Hamburg Zeigt Haltung rally.”
Organizers of that demonstration — “Hamburg Shows Attitude,” in English — say 10,000 people have registered to oppose G20 participants including Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdgoan.
“All stand for an attitude that we find unacceptable and do not want to accept,” Lutheran Bishop Kirsten Fehrs has said.
City Council members said they were unaware of de Blasio’s plan to abandon the Big Apple to push his progressive agenda in Europe.

Pence: Trump laid out a 'vision for the West' in Warsaw speech

Vice President Mike Pence praised President Trump's speech in Poland Thursday, telling Fox News' "Hannity" that Trump demonstrated "a commitment of will that will never back down to the shared values that we in this trans-Atlantic alliance have shared for more than 75 years."

Trump's address in Warsaw's historic Krasinski Square called on the U.S. and its Western allies to confront common threats, declaring "Our values will prevail, our people will thrive and our civilization will triumph."

Pence told host Laura Ingraham that Trump's speech displayed "unapologetic American leadership."
"It really is remarkable to think that for the last eight years we had an administration that was, more often than not, apologizing for America around the world," the vice president said. "And today in Warsaw ... President Donald Trump reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to be the leader of the free world."
Pence noted that Trump had urged Russia to cease what the president called "its destabilizing activities ... and its support for hostile regimes" ahead of Friday's much-anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
"For me, it was an example of the kind of bracing and direct and candid leadership that people across this country welcome in this president," said Pence, who later added, "frankly, ... leaders around the world, they are welcoming a President of the United States who’s embracing his role as leader of the free world."

Senate Republicans Warn of National Security Threat Due to Increased Leaks

Reporters ask questions after the Trump administration’s tax reform proposal in the White House briefing room. (Kevin Lamarque)

Senate Republicans are issuing a national security warning as the Trump administration is facing an alarming amount of media leaks.
A report released Thursday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairman says they’re now taking place about once a day.
It shows at least 125 stories with leaked information were found between the president’s inauguration and May 25th.
This is nearly seven times faster than Presidents Obama and Bush in their first 126 days in office.
The report adds the leaks exposed operations against enemies, and caused a diplomatic incident with an ally.

kim jong un cartoons

'South Park' creator worries show is becoming too much like CNN

The creator of “South Park” said in an interview published Monday that TV shows have gotten so inundated with jokes about President Trump, people have gotten tired of them.
“We fell into the same trap that “Saturday Night Live” fell into, where it was like, Dude, we’re just becoming CNN now,” Trey Parker told The Los Angeles Times. “We’re becoming: ‘Tune in to see what we’re going to say about Trump.’ Matt (Stone) and I hated it but we got stuck in it somehow.”
Parker said the show will not focus on Trump the way others do.
“We probably could put up billboards — “Look what we’re going to do to Trump next week!” — and get crazy ratings,” Parker said. “But I just don’t care.”
CNN faced widespread backlash Wednesday for seeming to imply the network would reveal the identity of the Reddit user who made an anti-CNN, Trump-themed GIF if he reneged on an apology – but some critics suggested the network also could have a legal problem on its hands.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter to cite Georgia state law’s prohibition against “theft by extortion.”
“Troubling. I assume CNN's lawyers are examining GA § 16-8-16 Theft by extortion. If CNN constructively obtained the gif-maker's IP...it's a GA crime if they threatened to ‘Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule....’” he wrote, citing a portion of the statute.

Rep. Steve Scalise re-admitted to intensive care unit

Doctors at the hospital where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., has been recovering from a gunshot wound downgraded his condition from "fair" to "serious" Wednesday after he contracted an infection.
MedStar Washington Hospital Center said Scalise had been re-admitted to the intensive care unit. The hospital added that it would provide another update sometime Thursday.
Scalise and four others were hurt when a gunman opened fire on a GOP baseball practice in Virginia on June 14. The gunman, identified as James T. Hodgkinson, was fatally shot by Capitol police.
The congressman was struck in the hip and the bullet tore into blood vessels, bones and internal organs. He has undergone several surgeries.
Sources told Fox News that doctors had anticipated that Scalise would suffer an infection related to the shooting. Sources close to the congressman indicated that they had been told from the start that the Louisianan's recovery would have ups and downs.
The shooting in the Virginia suburb that critically wounded Scalise and injured several others has forced members of Congress to examine their security arrangements to determine if they are sufficient.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she favors more money for the U.S. Capitol Police force, which is seeking an 8 percent increase to nearly $427 million for next year.
Pelosi said more money would help the agency enhance its presence when members of Congress, staff and others congregate away from the Capitol.
"It's security for other people who are there, too," she said at one point. "If somebody is coming after a member of Congress, you don't want to be anywhere nearby."
Even before the shooting, Speaker Paul Ryan and Pelosi had begun talking about changes that could improve members' safety, said Ryan's spokeswoman, AshLee Strong.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report.