China pledges neutrality - unless US strikes North Korea first

China’s government says it would remain neutral if North Korea attacks the United States, but warned it would defend its Asian neighbor if the U.S. strikes first and tries to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime, Chinese state media said Friday.

“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime, and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,” reported the Global Times, a daily Chinese newspaper controlled by the Communist Party.

Meanwhile, other Asia-Pacific countries have come out in support of the United States in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.
Japan’s defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said this week that his nation’s military was ready to shoot down North Korean nuclear missiles, if necessary.
In Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described his country and the U.S. as being “joined at the hip,” the South China Morning Post reported.
“If there is an attack on the U.S., the Anzus Treaty would be invoked,” and Australia would aid the U.S., Turnbull told Australia’s 3AW radio Friday morning. Turnbull was referring to a collective security agreement between the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
The Chinese response to the heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea followed a number of hot-headed proclamations.
North Korea has threatened the U.S. with a nuclear attack on Guam, a U.S. territory south of Japan, after President Donald Trump said additional threats against the country or its allies would be met with “fire and fury.”
On Thursday, the president doubled-down on the remarks, saying his original comment possibly “wasn’t tough enough.”
In a separate appearance, Trump added: “Let’s see what [Kim Jong Un] does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before – what will happen in North Korea.”
One North Korean government official, meanwhile, accused Trump of “going senile,” Fox News reported.

Trump thanks Putin for slashing U.S. diplomatic staff

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after a security briefing at his golf estate in Bedminster, New Jersey U.S. August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, remarks likely to rekindle criticism of Trump’s kid-gloves handling of Putin.
Breaking nearly two weeks of silence on Putin’s July 30 order cutting U.S. embassy and consulate staff by nearly two thirds, Trump said: “I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll.”
Trump said “there’s no real reason for them to go back” and “we’re going to save a lot of money,” in response to Putin’s Cold War-style move, differing from the reactions of other presidents in similar circumstances in the past.
It also clashes with a State Department official having called Moscow’s order “a regrettable and uncalled-for act.”
On Thursday, the State Department had no immediate reaction to the comments Trump made to reporters while on vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Congressional committees and a special counsel are investigating the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election campaign by hacking and other methods to help Trump, a Republican. They are also looking into possible collusion between the campaign and Russian officials. Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in the election and Trump denies any campaign collusion.
Putin, reacting to new sanctions imposed by the U.S. Congress and reluctantly signed into law by Trump, ordered Washington to cut 755 of its 1,200 embassy and consulate staff by September. Many of those affected likely will be local Russian staffers.
It was also a tit-for-tat reaction to former President Barack Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats from the United States last December over the intelligence agency reports.
During his campaign and since becoming president, Trump has consistently called for better ties with Russia, declined to criticize Putin and refused to unequivocally embrace the conclusions of the intelligence agencies.
Intended to be flippant or not, Trump’s remarks on Thursday were immediately denounced by current and former U.S. officials who have served both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Nicholas Burns, the State Department’s third-ranking official under Republican President George W. Bush, called Trump’s comments “grotesque.”
“If he was joking, he should know better,” said Burns, now a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “If he wasn’t, it’s unprecedented. A president has never defended the expulsion of our diplomats.”
The State Department has “horrified and rattled” by Trump’s remarks, said a veteran U.S. diplomat who has served in Russia, speaking on condition of anonymity.
And Heather Conley, formerly a top State Department official dealing with European affairs, said the expulsions of hundreds of people from an important U.S. embassy is extraordinary and “it is very difficult to see how the president could view these expulsions as a ‘positive’ development in any form.”
In additional remarks on Thursday, Trump said he was surprised by the FBI raid last month on the home of his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, adding that it sent a “strong signal.”
Trump said he has not given any thought to the possibility of firing special counsel Robert Mueller. In May, Trump dismissed James Comey, who was Director of the FBI when Trump went into office seven months ago.
As presidential candidate, Trump invited Russia to dig up thousands of “missing” emails from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, vexing intelligence experts and prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging a foreign country to spy on Americans.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said on the campaign.
Clinton kept a private server from 2009 to 2013. She handed over thousands of emails in 2015 to investigators, but did not release about 30,000 she said were personal and not work-related.

College Student Sentenced To Prison for Voter Registration Fraud, 4 Others Arrested For Fake ID Scheme

James Madison University student Andrew Spieles leaves the federal courthouse in downtown Harrisonburg with his family and attorney, Gene Hart, after pleading guilty to voter fraud charges. (Photot/LocalMedia/RichmondTimesDipatch)

A college student pleads guilty in federal court for registering deceased Virginia voters for the Democratic party during the 2016 election.
21-year-old Andrew Spieles was sentenced to prison on Tuesday for submitting 18 fraudulent voter registration forms when he was working for the democratic campaign.
Spieles job was to register voters information in a computer system at a political organization.
According to the Department of Justice, the register’s office discovered falsified forms for people who were either deceased, or had incorrect birth dates and social security numbers in August of last year.
Spielies admitted to the crime and was sentenced to 100 days behind bars.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s accusations of widespread voter fraud appear to be gaining steam as authorities arrest six other people for allegedly running a fake ID scheme in Massachusetts.
Officials say four of the suspects are clerks at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and involved in a scheme to produce fake identification documents through their agency.
The U.S. attorney’s office believes the false identities may have been used to fraudulently register to vote.
This comes after media reports claimed more than five million non-citizens may have voted in the 2008 election, suggesting the issue could have been more widespread in 2016.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel Cartoons

'No f--- cops'! Gym bans police officers, military because they might offend minority members

The owner of a gym in Atlanta is coming under fire after posting an obscene sign outside his business that states in part: "No f------ cops."

The sign, which has since been removed, appeared outside of EAV Barbell Club on the east side of Atlanta, according to 11Alive. The full sign said: "Rules: Do whatever the hell you want, correctly, except Crossfit cultism. No f------ cops.”

The notice started to gain attention after a military veteran saw the message and reported it to media outlets.
Jim Chambers, the owner of the gym, told 11Alive he took responsibility for the sign and wanted the message to be clear.
“We’ve had an explicitly stated ‘no cop’ policy since we opened, and we also don’t open membership to active members of the military,” Chambers told NBC4i.
SUSPECT ACCUSED OF SHOOTING, KILLING MISSOURI POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED
Chambers said law enforcement agents were not allowed in his business because their presence made his minority clientele uncomfortable.
The Atlanta Police Department did not comment on the ban but said, “Were we to respond to an emergency there, this sign would not stop us from lawfully doing our job.”
Chambers added: “If they have a warrant, they can go anywhere they want, but we’re not breaking the law."
Chambers said he would put the sign back up at some point but claimed that he and his clients would not need the help of law enforcement in the future.
“It was really just that the vulgarity in that sign that seems to bring it out for people,” Chambers told 11Alive.

Trump blasts McConnell over 'excessive expectations' remark, source says

President Donald Trump ripped into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a tense private phone call Wednesday morning, a source familiar with the call told Fox News.

The source said Trump was reacting angrily to McConnell’s remarks at a Rotary Club speech Monday in his home state of Kentucky in which he suggested that the president, given his lack of political experience, suffers from “excessive expectations” about what both chambers of Congress can get done.

During the approximately 10-minute phone call, the source said, the president curtly told McConnell he did not appreciate the criticism and still expects Republican leaders to push for repealing ObamaCare, even though that has largely been shelved for now.
The source added that Trump also told McConnell he is unhappy with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who cast a decisive vote against repealing ObamaCare without a replacement in place. McCain, who is battling brain cancer, also slammed the president’s aggressive rhetoric on North Korea this week.
The source said the president mused to McConnell that he does not understand why the majority leader is allowing McCain to keep his powerful chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee after bucking the party.
The barb-filled phone call between Trump and McConnell -- the Senate leader whom the president still needs to shepherd the rest of his legislative agenda -- came hours before the president's Wednesday afternoon tweet expressing more gentle public annoyance over McConnell’s remarks.
“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so,” the president tweeted. “After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?”

Japan Collecting Intel on North Korea, Guam Responds to Provocation

Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered for a rally at Kim Il Sung Square carrying placards and propaganda slogans as a show of support for their rejection of the United Nations’ latest round of sanctions on Wednesday Aug. 9, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

OAN Newsroom

Japanese officials say the country is collecting intelligence on North Korea’s nuclear program.
The nation plans to closely coordinate with the U.S. and South Korea, urging Pyongyang to comply with the U.N. Security Council resolutions.
One of the specific investigations Japan will be conducting aims to determine the validity of a report that says North Korea has successfully produced a miniature nuclear warhead which can fit inside its missiles.
Officials in Tokyo point to the U.S. as a vital ally amid Pyongyang’s provocation.
As the threat in Pyongyang escalates, Japan is also considering changes to the way it approaches defense.
Meanwhile, the governor of Guam is reassuring his people after North Korea threatens to carry out a missile strike on the U.S. territory.
In an online message Wednesday, Governor Eddie Calvo says he was told by both the DOD and DHS that changing the country’s threat level is unnecessary.
This despite growing threats by North Korea to strike the U.S. via Guam.
Calvo says North Korea’s warning is no threat, and the island is prepared for “any eventuality.”
He says Guam has defenses strategically placed to protect its people.
Pyongyang says it’s “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, which is home to about 163,000 people, and a U.S. military base.

Scientists Debunk N.Y. Times Story About ‘Leaked’ Climate Change Report

OAN Newsroom

Scientists debunk The New York Times claim that it leaked a secret — “gloom and doom” — climate change report which President Trump is trying to keep from the public.
The story was published on Monday, and makes allegations against those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change.
It reported that people were worried the study would be publicly released, but those who worked on the report are pushing back against the claims.
A scientist who authored the report tweeted quote, “BBC asked me if I leaked our climate science report to the media. I said no — why bother. It was publicly available during review.”