A look into Donald Trump’s possible nominee for Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson, what has he said and done?

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“Whether I choose him or not for “State”- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!” – Donald J. Trump on Twitter 11.12.2016.

We have to scrutinize and look over the men that possibly will be the most powerful men and woman in the Trump Administration, as they should not be forgotten what they did in the past. Especially when Trump himself has branded Obama Administration as ‘hopeless’ and ‘bad’; therefore his Administration should be better, though by the men and woman who is already picked his stature for military and rich-men is staggering, more than the qualifications for each role in Government. That is what is worrying. This time around it is the current Chairman of ExxonMobile, a negotiator and deal-maker for the grand-oil empire from Texas, the Rex Tillerson who is connected in Venezuela, Russia and Kazakhstan. He is the next in line for the possible task of Secretary of State!

“If you ask the average person on the street about U.S. energy and U.S. oil in particular, our situation, most Americans would say, ‘Oh, we’re energy poor; we don’t have enough oil; we don’t have enough natural gas.’” – Rex Tillerman

What he even wished to happen inside the US in the midst of the Obama Administration:

“Q: President Obama has outlined a plan to cut oil imports by one-third over the next 10 years. Is this feasible?

A: We expect gasoline demand in the U.S. to decline about 17% over the next 20 years. And that’s a function of both efficiency standards that have been put in place for automobiles, but also an ongoing penetration of hybrid and hybrid-electric vehicles. There’s going to be a natural decline in demand for motor fuels from that. That will be partially offset by increasing demand for heavy-duty fuels like diesel. That, along with the penetration of bio fuels, is going to result in a mitigation of imports. Whether we eliminate a third of the imports is hard to say. Another piece of our success will rest on whether the U.S. government decides to make available the lands that it controls, because 60% of the remaining oil resource in the U.S. is on federal lands and 40% of the remaining gas resource. It’s up to the federal government to allow the industry to explore those lands and develop those resources that could have a big impact on supply in the future” (Bartiromo, 2011).

Secretary of State does: “The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development” (Secretary of State, link: http://www.state.gov/secretary/).

So as the foreign affairs job has lots of responsibility to be the face of the nation when the President self cannot travel or negotiate, even do diplomatic missions to keep up with alliances and treaties that the US Government have or currently in the works. So the position should be done by somebody with tact and courtesy for the will of the US Government and the foreign dignitaries so that the person doesn’t offend either party while working for the common good. That is something that the possible former ExxonMobile chairman Tillerson has to do.

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Negotiations in Venezuela:

“According to the XM executives, the last significant contact XM had with the BRV or PDVSA was XM Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson’s May 16 meeting with Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez. During the meeting, Tillerson told Alvarez that XM must have a confidentiality agreement before it could begin negotiations on the remaining migration issues. In addition, he stated book value was not an acceptable basis for compensation for lost value. Finally, Tillerson said XM was looking for a win-win solution but warned that XM was willing to go to arbitration if it had to do so. The executives later mentioned that PDVSA’s stake in the Chalmette refinery was mentioned as a possible component in a compensation package. They did not specify who raised the topic” (…) “When asked if other IOCs had entered into negotiations with the BRV, XM executives replied they did not believe any companies had entered into meaningful negotiations. They stated they met with Total executives on May 22 to discuss the general situation. The Total executives stated their company has also rejected book value as a basis for compensation for lost value. In addition, they told the XM executives they believe the Sincor strategic association will be hit with a large tax assessment in the near future. Seniat, the BRV tax authority, presented CP and Chevron earlier this month with tax bills for close to USD 550 million for back taxes for the Petrozuata and Hamaca strategic associations for the years 2003 to 2005” (WikiLeaks, 2007).

In 2008 – Trading oil in Kazakstan:

“(Note: The one exception was a threat by President Nazarbayev in a December meeting with Tillerson’s deputy to use the subsoil legislation. Nazarbayev, however, reverted to his previous public line when he reassured the Ambassador privately the next day that the legislation would not/not be used against any existing contract. End Note.) In the end, both ExxonMobil and ConocoPhilips confirmed that the GOK used tough, but legitimate business pressures to pursue their case” (…) “ExxonMobil told us that CEO Rex Tillerson had decided that Exxon was going to hold the line on this issue. However, all our sources indidated that Tillerson was subjected to very strong pressure in the final negotiations, both by the other CEOs and by the Kazakhstani side. According to our in-country ExxonMobil contact (who was not in the meetings but who was extensively debriefed about them), it was the lure of future business in Kazakhstan that eventually led Tillerson to reverse course, and to agree to a “below market price” figure of $1.8 billion as the valuation of KMG’s increased share. (Note: Determining the “market price” for this share is essentially impossible, as different financial models will yield wildly varying results depending on the assumptions used. That said, all parties involved agree that $1.8 billion is a “below market price,” even if they can not tell you how much below market. End Note.)” (WikiLeaks, 2008). In 2011: “0100 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev meets Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobile corporation, and Dhimitrios Khristofias, the  president of Cyprus, within the framework of his visit to New York to  attend 66th session of the UN General Assembly. Video shows meetings;  Rex Tillerson and Dhimitrios Khristofias, speaking to camera” (WikiLeaks, 2011).

“Experience tells us that a good foundation is critical for success in the Arctic and elsewhere. ExxonMobil’s Sakhalin-1 project with Rosneft is an example where we have put this experience to work.” – Rex Tillerson

On Russia:

“Tillerson said he valued the efforts of the Russian government to improve the tax regime and that it would have a positive effect on Russian and foreign investors.The moves will help expand cooperation in the complex situation in Russia, he said. Tillerson said he was encouraged to see Russia move to create a competitive environment, taking into account the experiences of other tax regimes in other countries” (WikiLeaks, 2011). “Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday put the total of direct  investment in joint projects by Rosneft and ExxonMobil at 200-300  billion dollars, but “if we are talking about infrastructure, the construction of the necessary buildings, and surface facilities, the  investment could reach 500 billion dollars”. However, ExxonMobil expects  its agreement with Rosneft to encourage the Russian authorities to ease the tax regime for the industry. “Such steps will help the government to  expand cooperation in the difficult situation that is taking shape in  Russia,” the head of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, explained” (WikiLeaks, 2011).

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On Fracking:

Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson speaking at a January 2010 congressional hearing concerning the $41 billion merger of Exxon with XTO Energy (one of the worlda**s biggest natural gas drilling companies), said he could support revealing toxic frack mixes. He added that, by combining the hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling processes a**we can now find and produce unconventional natural gas supplies miles below the surface in a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible manner.a** Exxon has threatened to nix its XTO acquisition if Congress makes fracking a**illegal or commercially impractical.a**” (WikiLeaks, 2010).

Article about Tillerson faith in Global Warming:

“They’re clearly cognizant of global warming – they employ some of the world’s best scientists, after all, and they’re bidding on all those oil leases made possible by the staggering melt of Arctic ice. And yet they relentlessly search for more hydrocarbons – in early March, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson told Wall Street analysts that the company plans to spend $37 billion a year through 2016 (about $100 million a day) searching for yet more oil and gas.

There’s not a more reckless man on the planet than Tillerson. Late last month, on the same day the Colorado fires reached their height, he told a New York audience that global warming is real, but dismissed it as an “engineering problem” that has “engineering solutions.” Such as?” (Bill McKibben – ‘Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math’ 09.07.2012).

David Fenton sent an E-Mail titled: “Murdoch climate campaign” on the 19.02.2015 to Clinton Campaign Manager John Podesta that said: “Hi again. Here is the plan to go after WSJ and FOX on climate. I have 500,000 of this pledged if I can raise another million. It’s a real pledge from Graeme Wood in Australia. I sure hope something like this can happen it’s long overdue. Thanks again, David”. This E-Mail had an attachment where this we’re said:

“1)       A climate science ad series (surprisingly affordable) on the Wall Street Journal’s opinion page, sponsored by a mainstream institution like Columbia University’s Earth Institute or the Union of Concerned Scientists.  These would be unassailably factual and scientific but also compelling, memorable and clear. They would show the facts the Journal denies — Co2 from fossil fuels traps heat, the earth has warmed, the CEO of EXXON believes it why not this paper? This series would stress consequences for the economy and mainstream support from groups like the World Bank, International Energy Agency, PWC, NAS, the Royal Society, etc. Of course the Journal would attack the series in editorials, which will help it get more attention” (WikiLeaks, 2015).

This here shows some of the stories of the man in the past, Rex Tillerson who has apparently massive faith in fracking and negotiation with Putin for the business he was running ExxonMobile. The WikiLeaks stories are special in themselves, but there other lost tales that needs to show the character of the man.

Like the Kurdistan adventure:

“Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson refused Tuesday to answer questions about a controversial deal the oil company has signed with the Kurdish government in northern Iraq” (…) “Exxon, (XOM, Fortune 500) which holds big contracts with the Iraqi government to develop oil fields in the southern part of the country, was sharply criticized by Iraqi government ministers last month over the deal. The Iraqis suggested Exxon might be sanctioned over the move, possibly putting their deals in the southern part of the country in jeopardy” (…) “Iraqis in Baghdad are loathe to see oil companies sign separate deals with the semi-autonomous government in the Kurdish north, preferring instead that all deals go though the central government” (Hargreaves, 2011). So the next Secretary of State is ruthless in trade for fortunes that he picked deals with Kurdistan government over the Southern Iraqi Central Government that counters the diplomatic way that the governments do with Iraq. So Rex Tillerman could surely do the same in charge of the State Department under the Trump Administration.

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Here is a story in the inner workings in Chad:

“There was Exxon’s meddling in a 2006 standoff between Idriss Déby, the authoritarian leader of Chad — a Central African country with rich oil reserves — and Paul Wolfowitz, then the leader of the World Bank. Déby wanted weapons to fight rebels supported by nearby Sudan, but good-governance clauses in loans Chad had received from the World Bank restricted the country’s ability to purchase arms. Wolfowitz was ready to freeze some of Sudan’s bank accounts, prompting Déby to threaten to effectively kick Exxon out of Chad. That could have cost the company billions of dollars. So Exxon lobbied the U.S. ambassador to Chad to fix the problem, which led to Déby getting his weapons and Exxon its oil” (…) “By now ExxonMobil had made its own choice clear,” Coll writes. “It was more interested in the survival of Chad’s oil production than it was in the World Bank’s experiment in nation building.” (Walsh, 2012). So he would use World Bank loans to trade weapons to make sure that the ExxonMobil get the possibility to the Oil Reserves in Chad. That proves how far the man will go for profit, that the authoritarian leaders needs for arms can be meet, if he get the oil as long as he makes a killing.

Than you have the story of how he worked in Guyana:

“US oil giant ExxonMobil made waves in Guyana last Thursday by announcing it had confirmed a “world-class discovery” of oil offshore. The company said results from its exploration well in the Stabroek block, about 120 miles (193 kilometres) offshore Guyana, found between 800 million and 1.4 billion oil-equivalent barrels” (…) “The waters around Guyana are largely unexplored. According to a Forbes story quoting Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, the 3-D seismic survey that Exxon conducted in the area was its largest in history — “the equivalent of 1,400 Gulf of Mexico blocks” (…) “In November 2015, Guyana’s government faced accusations that the state didn’t have the capacity to independently monitor ExxonMobil’s compliance with environmental regulations. The worry arose after it was alleged that ExxonMobil was promoting and funding climate change denials” (Abdelwahab, 2016).

So now that he is peculiar connected into the oil developments outside Guyana, as it was profitable for the company without considering the environment of the ocean and the sea as the we’re even paying climate change deniers in Guyana. That the billions of barrel is more important that the effect that oil drilling will have on the nation.

This from the guy that are key part of the former Standard Oil companies that we’re re-merged from Exxon and Mobil Oil Companies, that we’re too powerful in the United States. The US Company now are now so big Multi-National that they can secure the World Bank to fund Chad Government loans so they can buy weapons, and exchange give possible oil fields to the ExxonMobil. If that doesn’t say anything nothing does. This sort of fellow will now run the Secretary of State, not to talk about the Foreign Affairs of the United States. The diplomatic correspondence and according to due procedure of the Trump Administration; that will be interesting as the CEO Tillerman has been focused on profits and not on anything else. We can wonder what will be his Modus Operandi as a Secretary of State, what his policies and foreign affairs chief under Trump. Peace.

Reference:

Abdelwahab, Alex – ‘ExxonMobil’s significant oil find off Guyana leads to questions about the country’s future’ (05.07.2016) link: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-ExxonMobil’s-significant-oil-find-off-Guyana-leads-to-questions-about-the-country’s-future-30969.html

Bartiriromo, Maria – ‘ExxonMobil CEO: Open more federal land for oil and gas’ (18.04.2011) link: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/bartiromo/2011-04-18-bartiromo-rex-tillerson-exxonmobil.htm

Hargreaves, Steve – ‘Exxon silent on controversial Iraq oil deal’ (06.12.2011) link: http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/06/news/international/Exxon_Iraq_oil_deal/

Walsh, Bryan – ‘Inside the Death Star — Also Known as Exxon’ (01.05.2012) link: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2113546,00.html

Wikileaks –‘KAZAKHSTAN: ALL SIDES SMILING WITH KASHAGAN DEAL’ (18.01.2008) link: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08ASTANA91_a.html

WikiLeaks – ‘FAJA NEGOTIATIONS: NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS’ (25.05.2007) link: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07CARACAS1030_a.html

WikiLeaks – ‘KAZAKHSTAN/CYPRUS/UK – Programme summary of Kazakh Khabar TV “Zhanalyqtar” news 1400 gmt 21 Sep 11’ (21.09.2011) link: https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/71/711052_kazakhstan-cyprus-uk-programme-summary-of-kazakh-khabar-tv.html

WikiLeaks – ‘RUSSIA/FORMER SOVIET UNION-Exxonmobil Hails Russian Government Efforts to Improve Tax System’ (31.08.2011) link: https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/25/2574477_russia-former-soviet-union-exxonmobil-hails-russian.html

WikiLeaks – ‘Murdoch climate campaign’ (19.02.2015) link: https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/27241

WikiLeaks – ‘Re: FRACK – W.Va. eyes fluid disclosure; quote from Lachelt’ (09.03.2010) link: https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/38/386876_re-frack-w-va-eyes-fluid-disclosure-quote-from-lachelt-.html

WikiLeaks – ‘RUSSIA/CANADA/MEXICO – Russia’s oil firm signs partnership deal with ExxonMobil’ (02.09.2011) link: https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/70/705223_russia-canada-mexico-russia-s-oil-firm-signs-partnership.html

On Trump: How did we get here?

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I got to ask! How did we get here? What happen for the worldwide of events to lead to the man of that stature to be elected as the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, the leader of the so-called free-world! That the man most enlightened and most visionary happen to be the Donald, Donald J. Trump of New York and Manhattan.

We got to ask, now that it’s a month since he won the Electoral College and days apart from when they are throwing their inherent ballot to suffocate the world for 4 years. The Electoral College that has been basis for speculations for months for all broadcaster’s from inner Montana to Hot 97 in New York. Seriously, the Democracy of world is based on few noble men and woman from the states electing a president on confidence of the rules in each state. Because the people cannot be trusted to already elect a person on the ballot. Not that the United States population is caring enough about civic education to consider a fellow caring human being, still they should reconsider their political system when a fellow like Trump can eat cake and vomit daily from the White House. Just as written here: “The Constitution does not specifically require electors to cast their votes according to the popular vote in their states, but the laws of 29 states and the District of Columbia bind electors to do so. Some require pledges or threaten fines or criminal action, according to a summary of state laws by the National Assn. of Secretaries of State. No elector has ever been prosecuted for not voting as pledged. Since 1900, there have been only nine faithless electors who defected for individual reasons, including one who abstained from voting altogether” (Los Angeles Times – ‘All the times in U.S. history that members of the electoral college voted their own way’ (08.12.2016) link: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-faithless-electors-2016-story.html).

But, still with that in mind, how did we get there? It can be so many reasons, the lacking knowledge of how government works or the need for understanding of intricate policy building to succeed in Washington D.C. or that some daft small-town ignorant citizens would drop a metaphorical bomb on the lobbyists and elite in the capital. That is what they thought they did with electing a “billionaire” Trump who after becoming President-Elect started plotting together the riches, the most connected to big-business cabinet that has been in the White House. As well as taking in men who despise the ideas of certain departments and chambers they will run; so that the American government can become smaller and take in less tax of the wealthy that they all in power represent. They are walking away from the all the needed men and woman in the grass-root that ushered in the Trump Administration. So now they can do what they want without question, because the votes secured this chair’s and possibilities that is now in for the taking.

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We got there with fear, with a dishonest media, a dishonest internet, little spread of information and quick browsing through the contested campaigns as we still doesn’t know what “Making America Great Again!” means or to what extent making it better. If that is making KKK and Alt-Right accepted as a means of less-subtle racism in politics and the American communities, that has surely happen. That the Trump Campaign has surged on the fear of immigration and job-loss is clear factors, while they haven’t had a coherent plan to fix it. This has been seen as a factor while the Obama Administration took the nation from 7.9% unemployed into 4.9 % in 8 years that has happen while the Republican Party and Trump has claimed the destruction of nation as they know it. Which cannot be seen in statistics, tax-base or in sort of inflation level since the start of Recession of 2008; but that doesn’t matter because the myth of problems is what Trump needs! Just said like this: “The term Alt-Right, reputedly coined in 2008 by Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute, a bogus think-tank, encompasses views from libertarianism to paleoconservatism and onwards to the edges of pseudo-intellectual claptrap and the English language. Many Alt-Righters demonise Jews, but a few do not. Some, such as Brad Griffin of Occidental Dissent, another website, think “democracy can become a tool of oppression”, and that monarchy or dictatorship might be better; others, such as Mr Taylor, disagree. Some are techno-futurists; others espouse a kind of agrarian nostalgia. Many mourn the Confederacy. Mr Griffin thinks that, even today, North and South should separate” (…) “Yet from the quack ideologues to the out-and-proud neo-Nazis, some Alt-Right tenets are clear and constant. It repudiates feminism with misogynistic gusto. It embraces isolationism and protectionism. Above all, it champions white nationalism, or a neo-segregationist “race realism”, giving apocalyptic warning of an impending “white genocide”. Which, of course, is really just old-fashioned white supremacism in skimpy camouflage” (…) “The association precedes Mr Trump’s hiring as his campaign manager of Stephen Bannon, former boss of Breitbart News, a reactionary news website that Mr Bannon reportedly described as “the platform for the Alt-Right”, and which has covered the movement favourably” (Economist – ‘Trump and the Alt-Right Pepe and the stormtroopers’ 17.09.2016 link: http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21707201-how-donald-trump-ushered-hateful-fringe-movement-mainstream-pepe-and).

Why I ask myself this now is because of we’re soon in 2017, there will be important questions ahead. Many that we cannot foresee as much as the environment and climate change might mean for us, as kid of the 90s I remember the sun-damage danger and the Ozone, now it’s the CO2 emissions and heated polluted air, that Donald Trump doesn’t believe him because he is not a penguin who’s struggling to in dwindling ice on Greenland. As he assemble people who cares for business over environment, that cares more about production than the reasons for the earthquakes in Oklahoma state: “The state has seen a sever spike in earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or higher since 2008, when energy companies ramped up their hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for oil and gas in the state, Choy said. The number of 3.0 magnitude quakes rose from 2 in 2008 to 889 last year, according to USGS statistics. So far this year, there have been 572” (USA Today,’ Oklahoma earthquake reignites concerns that fracking wells may be the cause’ 07.11.2016 link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/07/oklahoma-earthquake-fracking-well/93447830/).

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We can wonder how this might be, as the Alt-Right, Republican Cabinet is assembled by men and woman who will honour Trump, be his advisors and take orders as he doesn’t have trouble with connections with his own businesses that his kids will control while he is in command. This is still an issue a month after as he will be Executive Producer for ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ on NBC while being in the White House, which is a hobby for the old-man who just used two years becoming President. So the Trump Organization will surely be controlled from the White House as he cannot shelf his control from anything he touches, even if that breaches with the constitution. That foreign dignitaries are now renting rooms in the Trump Hotels close to the White House, as it just happen to done during the Presidential Campaign was just coincidence: “Wednesday’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the culmination of a $200 million project. The Trump Organization renovated the 1899 Romanesque Revival-style Old Post Office building, on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. With 263 guest rooms and suites, and a ballroom that Trump has said is the biggest in the nation’s capital, the hotel is among the priciest in town. Donald Trump, speaking at the event, said the hotel came in “under budget and ahead of schedule.” He cut the ribbon in the lobby alongside wife Melania and children Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric and Tiffany” (Bloomberg – ‘Trump Executives Tout Brand Resilience at D.C. Hotel Opening’ 26.10.2016 link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-26/trump-executives-use-d-c-hotel-opening-to-tout-brand-resilience).

So as he was a Presidential-Candidate he could consider his time to his own business, how could we get there and how could the citizens who voted for him think he will act differently a month after? Certainly the proof now is clear that he thinks of his business and opportunities as much as he can consider America first. The public might grab glimpses of his thoughts on Twitter, but not a reality of how that will be configured in actions as President.

What the world can expect and how he will acts is unsure, more unsure than the policies of the Tories coming to the “leaving Europe and European Union in the Red-White-Blue Brexit” of Theresa May. Donald Trump might bomb somewhere for oil, he might kill kids and families to stop the civil war in Syria. What we can foresee of his actions is unknown and the US Society accepted that sort opinions and as a Commander-in-Chief is exceptional.

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The bravery and the reality, the stuttering silence of hope and only despair. Industrialization together with Multi-National Companies who gotten all freedom and liberty, while the citizens has to apply and be lucky to get jobs. The reality of Multi-National Companies steering lobbying in Washington D.C. and together with giant supported Super-PACs has picked out the “good” candidates for the Trump Administration as the roots of too big to fail is evident in the matter of businesses of the day. That is where the US dream is happening and dying. It is dying because of the Multi-National gets full control of the Senate and Congress, the President and if the Supreme Court Justices dies, than they can get their selected people to run for them there too. Not for the public good or will, but for the companies’ profits. That will be on overdrive with the men that has been picked as Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of Commerce.

How did we get to a place where the Presidential Candidate who was supposed to be there for the workers, the American workers was in shambles, that he nominees a man who has done this: “Puzder observes, “They’re not talking about $15 or $12 an hour, the kind of dramatic increases that are being bandied about in the political process right now.”  CKE’s average wage, he says, is a bit over $10 an hour, “so we’re not talking about everybody in the restaurant working for $7.25.” (In California, the minimum wage is now $10.) “But we’re talking about entry-level jobs. Are people going to want to hire entry-level employees for these very high minimums, which come with Obamacare, which come with mandatory sick leave, or other benefits which the government imposes on business for these individuals? Are you going to be able to keep minimum wage entry-level job positions open for individuals?” (L.A. Times – ‘   Does Andy Puzder really want to replace his Carl’s Jr. workers with robots? No, but…’ 30.03.2016 link: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-puzder-20160322-snap-htmlstory.html).

So with this all in mind, we should ask how we got here? Michael Moore said it so nicely back in the day: “Midwest Math, or Welcome to Our Rust Belt Brexit.  I believe Trump is going to focus much of his attention on the four blue states in the rustbelt of the upper Great Lakes – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Four traditionally Democratic states – but each of them have elected a Republican governor since 2010 (only Pennsylvania has now finally elected a Democrat). In the Michigan primary in March, more Michiganders came out to vote for the Republicans (1.32 million) that the Democrats (1.19 million). Trump is ahead of Hillary in the latest polls in Pennsylvania and tied with her in Ohio. Tied? How can the race be this close after everything Trump has said and done? Well maybe it’s because he’s said (correctly) that the Clintons’ support of NAFTA helped to destroy the industrial states of the Upper Midwest. Trump is going to hammer Clinton on this and her support of TPP and other trade policies that have royally screwed the people of these four states” (…) “That’s a small peek into the mind of the Endangered White Male. There is a sense that the power has slipped out of their hands, that their way of doing things is no longer how things are done. This monster, the “Feminazi,”the thing that as Trump says, “bleeds through her eyes or wherever she bleeds,” has conquered us — and now, after having had to endure eight years of a black man telling us what to do, we’re supposed to just sit back and take eight years of a woman bossing us around?” (…) “The Depressed Sanders Vote. Stop fretting about Bernie’s supporters not voting for Clinton – we’re voting for Clinton! The polls already show that more Sanders voters will vote for Hillary this year than the number of Hillary primary voters in ’08 who then voted for Obama. This is not the problem. The fire alarm that should be going off is that while the average Bernie backer will drag him/herself to the polls that day to somewhat reluctantly vote for Hillary, it will be what’s called a “depressed vote” – meaning the voter doesn’t bring five people to vote with her. He doesn’t volunteer 10 hours in the month leading up to the election” (Michael More – ‘5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win’ link: http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/).

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That Michael Moore saw it coming and asked for society to think about the reasons for protest Trump vote out there and the plans for shaking certain swing-states to the Republican Party. Something that happen… and it wasn’t beautiful the ones who had hope for another experience. We can just wonder how they got duped to follow this man and made the system ready for his as commander in chief!

I just wonder how the American Experience became Donald J. Trump, how we went from hope and change, into fear and depression, where the army and military will get more power, where the multi-national companies will be more connected with the Trump Administration and the fracking, big-oil, giant banks and finance industry get more power in the White House. The Republican Party and their loyal cronies will have both houses and the Presidency under Trump. So the possibilities are endless. We can wonder how we got here.

How did we get here? And we should ask ourselves that? The answers are many and reasons for the US election turning to Trump should be asked more times as the answers will be different with times, as the layers will peeled off and we will find the core reasons for why a Reality Star, a Real Estate Investor and a Limited Label salesman, sometimes a snake-oil of that, became the next President of the United States. Peace.

The nominations of Mnuschin and Ross proves that Donald Trump is not ‘draining the swamp’!

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The Economic Policies of any United States administration are usually bound by the people that are running two key positions; these are Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of Commerce. The Economy is bound by the decisions these ones do. This here will prove what kind of administration that Trump will run and what kind of regulations of trade, business and economy in general. Therefore the picking of personnel is central to how the state of affairs at the top of the food-chain in Washington.

Donald Trump the Presidential-Elect that has been all and mighty on draining the swamp. So he proves that it was just words during the campaign to sell to his supporters, he even pledged this earlier in the year:

“We have to give new voices a chance … so we can have a government that works again and can function properly …” Trump said” (Hughes, 2016).

Draining the Swamp:

“There is another major announcement I am going to make today as part of our pledge to drain the swamp in Washington. If I am elected President, I will push for a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress” (…) “Decades of failure in Washington, and decades of special interest dealing, must come to an end. We have to break the cycle of corruption, and we have to give new voices a chance to go into government service. The time for Congressional term limits has arrived” (…) “Not only will we end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation” (Trump, 2016).

We will first see what the Treasury are supposed to do and what the department will do:

“Treasury’s mission highlights its role as the steward of U.S. economic and financial systems, and as an influential participant in the world economy” (Treasury.gov – ‘About – Role of Treasury’). So the Secretary of Treasury is important for the financial system, therefore it’s important to look at the nominee. So we have to look into the nominee who has influence of the financial systems.

Also, we have to see what is special about the Department of Commerce: “The Department works with businesses, universities, communities, and the Nation’s workers to promote job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and improved standards of living for Americans. Through its 12 bureaus and nearly 47,000 employees located in all 50 states and five U.S. territories and more than 86 countries worldwide, the Department administers critical programs that touch the lives of every American” (Commerce.gov – ‘About Commerce’). So we can see the importance of the person leading these 12 bureaus that should make it possible to create jobs and commercial business in the United States, therefore the person leading here has to know how to improve the economic growth.

With this knowledge the persons acts before and their economic framework together with the economic platform; that means their faith in the markets or the regulations. That he will give way to free regulations for the financial markets instead of regulating them.

steven-mnuchin

Steve Mnuchin is the nominee for Secretary of Treasury:

Mnuchin worked at Goldman Sachs for seventeen years, where he eventually became an executive vice president. According to the Wall Street Journal, he left in 2002 “at the age of 39 with a reported $46 million stake in the bank.” He was recruited by his Yale roommate, Eddie Lampert, to join ESL, a hedge fund, as vice chairman. A few months later, he jumped to SFM Capital Management as its CEO. But within a few months he changed jobs again, leaving SFM to co-found Dune Capital with his former Goldman colleagues Daniel Neidich and Chip Seelig” (…) “In 2009, Mnuchin helped assemble a group of investors (including computer capitalist Michael Dell, financier George Soros, private equity investor Christopher Flowers, and hedge fund titan John Paulson) to buy IndyMac Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as part of a sweetheart deal. They renamed it OneWest Bank and kept its headquarters in Pasadena” (Dreier, 2016).

Relativity bankrupt:

Relativity explicitly blames the bank, founded by Steve Mnuchin, who until recently was one of studio founder Ryan Kavanaugh’s best friends and a company director, for violating bankruptcy procedures and for delaying the release of a movie recently considered to be the studio’s savior, a letter and an email from the company obtained by The Post reveal” (…) “ OneWest’s hoovering up of the $50 million, revealed in court papers, included $32 million drained from the studio’s library and $17.9 million from two other accounts” (…) “The bank’s actions placed Relativity in a precarious financial state, forcing it to largely “stop paying many vendor bills, to postpone production of certain film projects and to postpone the release of certain completed films,” Blackstone’s Tim Coleman, Relativity’s financial adviser, said in court papers” (McCaulay, 2016)

Foreclosure from OneWest:  

“According to Gudiel, when she tried to make the $2,500-a-month mortgage payment two weeks late in November 2009, OneWest refused the payment and instructed her to pursue a loan modification, a long process that ultimately ended in rejection in January” (…) “OneWest referred questions to the public relations firm Sard Verbinnen & Co., which said that Fannie Mae, which holds about one-third of the mortgages in the country, had not authorized them to modify the loan” (… ) “OneWest is pleased that it has been able to work with Fannie Mae, the owner of the loan, to authorize it to offer the Gudiels a loan modification that would allow the family to stay in their home,” the firm said in a statement” (Huus, 2011).

Fraud from his bank:

While the Rigalis were negotiating on the mortgage modifications, IndyMac Federal Bank failed in what would be the fourth-largest bank failure in U.S. history. What was left of IndyMac was acquired in March 2009 by a Mnuchin-led group of private investors for $1.55 billion” (…) “The Rigalis’ court filings “alleged they were led to believe, by representatives of several banks over a period of years, that their $560,000 loan would be modified. They believed they had entered into several forbearance agreements with several but related banks.” (…) “Crandall wrote in his denial of the motion that “the facts before the court are sufficient to defeat summary judgment” of most of OneWest Bank’s assertions, and he concluded that the Rigalis produced enough proven evidence to show that they could prevail in a jury trial. OneWest quickly offered a settlement, sources said” (…) “Recent legislative measures “provide an important lens” for the court to look through, wrote Crandall in denying OneWest’s motion” (…) “The judge was referring to the banking practice of dual tracking, in which a borrower in default seeks a modification while the institution continues at the same time to pursue foreclosure. By the time the borrower learns what is happening, it is usually too late to prevent the foreclosure” (Blackburn, 2013).

Just as he has become the nominee certain board positions he had to give up:

“NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), cit.com, a leading provider of commercial lending and leasing services, today announced that Steven T. Mnuchin has resigned from its Board of Directors, effective immediately. His resignation follows President-elect Donald J. Trump’s announced intention to nominate Mnuchin as the next Secretary of the Treasury” (…) “On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Steven for his contributions to CIT,” said Ellen R. Alemany, Chairwoman and CEO. “Steven has been a valued member of our Board, and we wish him well in this monumental role.” (CIT.com, 2016). He also stepped down from being a board-member at Sears.

So the OneWest CEO Steve Mnuchin is becoming the Secretary of Treasury in the Trump Administration. He been a board-member in CIT and Sears, as well as been speculative in foreclosures in people’s homes as well as Relativity studio or Film Company became bankrupt because of the loans and structure of funding through OneWest. So this speculative actions can be assured of will happen, but not with just one hedge-fund Wall-Street banker bravado, but now with the economic policies as underlining from the newly nominated Munuchin.

Than we have the other nominee that will lead 12 important bureaus that is now being delegated through the financial heavy weight Ross; which also have long history on Wall Street.

wilbur-ross

Wilbur Ross is the nominee for Secretary of Commerce:  

Wilbur is another fellow with a spreadsheet that is impressive, but also sees the cynical side of the economy, where the importance of business is profits; not actually creating work. Therefore his nomination is more about securing equity is the reality than the person who actually earns those fortunes. Therefore the way he salvaged the businesses and made profits on them, as well as the reality of the man behind those transactions and how many settlements for fraudulent acts from his companies and subsidiaries. Here is a little look!

Wilbur Ross is best known for his ability to find distressed companies and turn them around for a large profit – it is a talent that has given him an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion. And in recent years Ross’s sights have been firmly set on financial companies. Since 2008 he has invested a reported $1.8 billion into banks.  But now he has had enough. NBNK Investments, the investment company in which Ross took a 30% stake in 2013 and that tried and failed to buy TSB from Lloyds, is closing. In 2010 NBNK had raised £50 million in an IPO with the aim of financing European banks. Six years later, it didn’t have a single investment to show for it” (Avery, 2016).

WL Ross & Co. LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is a private equity firm that was founded in 2000. WL Ross registered as an investment adviser with the Commission in April 2007. WL Ross is headquartered in New York, New York. Since 2006, WL Ross has been wholly owned by Invesco Private Capital, Inc., a subsidiary of Invesco Ltd., a publicly traded company (collectively, “Invesco”). WL Ross provides investment advisory services to the WLR Funds and other private equity funds, as well as to separately managed accounts and co-investment vehicles. According to its most recent Form ADV filing as of April 21, 2016, WL Ross has approximately $4.6 billion in assets under management” (Service Exchange Commission, 2016).

“Between 2001 and 2011, WL Ross adopted a Transaction Fee allocation methodology that resulted in WLR retaining a significant amount of those fees for itself rather than allocating them to the WLR Funds for the purpose of offsetting the management fee. Specifically, WL Ross allocated Transaction Fees that it earned from portfolio investments to the WLR Funds based upon their relative ownership percentages of the portfolio company without disclosing this practice. As a result, WL Ross retained for itself that portion of the Transaction Fees that was based upon co-investors’ relative ownership of the portfolio company, without subjecting such fees to any management fee offsets. WLR did not disclose to the WLR Funds and to the Funds’ limited partners that it would allocate Transaction Fees according to the above allocation methodology, and that WLR construed the ambiguous provisions in the relevant LPAs in its own favor rather than the WLR Funds’ favor. If WL Ross had instead adopted a methodology requiring the allocation of all Transaction Fees pro rata among the investing WLR Funds (and other WLR funds that also had offset provisions) and offset the WLR Funds’ management fees accordingly, the WLR Funds (and other WLR funds that also had offset provisions) would have received the benefit of all Transaction Fees received by WL Ross. WL Ross received approximately $10.4 million more in management fees using the selected methodology than if it had allocated Transaction Fees pro rata among the WLR Funds for management fee offset purposes during the relevant time period” (Security Exchange Commission, 2016).

Earning money on failing business:

“In May the board of NBNK, made up of private equity firm WL Ross & Co’s senior vice president Stephen Johnson, and Labour life peer and barrister Lord Brennan, voted in May to make the payment to WL Ross & Co for the “recovery of legal fees and other due diligence costs.” (…) “The vehicle’s most recent accounts revealed a loss for the year of £271,000, from a loss of £182,000 the previous year” (Bambrough, 2016).

“Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross has reached a deal to buy Nexeo Solutions Holdings LLC, a distributor of plastic resins and chemicals, for roughly $1.6 billion, including debt” (…) “Nexeo is currently owned by private-equity firm TPG, which purchased the company for nearly $1 billion from U.S. specialty-chemicals producer Ashland Inc (NYSE: ASH) in 2011. The deal is expected to be announced on Monday morning” (…) “WL Ross Holding will pay $500 million in cash and fund the rest of the purchase with debt, the sources told the newspaper. TPG will roll over some of its equity into the new public company, one of the people told the Journal” (DiSavino, 2016).

“The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday that the group failed to disclose its fee allocation practices, resulting in investors overpaying by $10.4m between 2001 and 2011. WL Ross was not allocating transaction fees to the funds to offset management fees, the SEC said” (…) “WL Ross also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $2.3m, but neither admitted to nor denied the SEC’s findings” (…) “We are pleased to have arrived at a resolution around historical management fee disclosure in a subset of our funds,” said Jeaneen Terrio, a spokesperson for Invesco, which bought WL Ross in 2006. “This resolution reflects a proactive approach to handling the matter and our commitment to exceeding the expectations of today’s private equity market.” (Sampson, 2016).

wilbur-ross-2012-quote

Fixing Irish Economy:

As an investor in Bank of Ireland, it would be a surprise if Ross thought otherwise – after all he needs to recoup his investment and more. But he is one of the world’s most successful turnaround financiers – his involvement in the turnaround of over $200bn of distressed assets worldwide has earned him the nickname ‘king of bankruptcy’. So his words will be a boost to Ireland’s international standing” (…) “In the past few weeks of financial turmoil, Ireland has seen some faith in the international money markets restored, with 10-year bond yields down from 14% in mid-July to around 9%.” (O’Carroll, 2011).

So Donald Trump’s way of cleaning up the swamp is giving the idiom or a myth, because Wall Street connections with Washington D.C. cartels were not supposed to happen under the presidency. With the knowledge of the men he has picked in charge of the Economy, this proves that it was never a part of plan. If so Trump has a rare way of sending of the message with hiring and nominating Steven Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross.

These men have worked up fortunes and earned monies on the destruction of the American Dream. They have taken people’s hard-earned monies and created profits overnight. These men have used sophisticated limited liabilities companies, hedge-funds and transactions to earn monies on failed houses and companies. With ease the men and woman could be stifled even the government banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the foreclosed homes has even been a bargain. These men are supposed to create industry and the regulations for the finance industry. Together with the creations of consolidation funds and the roll-over money from the government; so that the debt could be staying longer as Mnuchin believes even can be put into 100 year bonds. That could create an unknown inflation of funds and also of the regulations of the combined currency in the market. Something that Wall Street people sees it as an opportunity.

trump-regulations

Donald Trump has seeking to revamp the economy with men who are connected with the biggest investors of our time, with the families and using all kind of tricks to earn coins for themselves. Even the SEC has fined the companies of Mr. Ross for misbehaving with funds and with commissions, these men that has used ways of loop-holing the finance industry; the finance industry they now will steer. This can only be for the freedom of the giant companies and the wealth they have created in the market place on other people’s misery.

Trump has picked and nominated men who’s greed extend nearly no boundaries, these men will not drain a swamp or even follow up the promises on the campaign. They will continue and less regulates the economy. That might bring back the recession or even depression as the richer get wealthier and the poor will not become the middle-class.

These men has surely will secure the class there are set in and want to be part of. The one that they have been parts of and will secure the future of. These are not working-class friendly men who connect with the Indiana, Minnesota and Mississippi. So Trump clearly only a one-man show for the façade and not the real deal, sort of like a government acting on the Trump University philosophy: “You’re selling a feeling, not a product” and the same does the Trump Organization and now the Trump Administration.

The lie this time is the draining the swamp, the corporate parts of Washington D.C. politics and elites, as Trump chooses the same or even more wealthier businessmen who has more connections inside Wall Street and has more conflict of interest than before. The Trump Administration in the White House will be filled with men who have their business at heart and not the citizens who voted for him. Peace.

Reference:

Avery, Helen – ‘Banking: Wilbur Ross chases shadows’ (May 2016) Link: http://www.euromoney.com/Article/3551137/Banking-Wilbur-Ross-chases-shadows.html?copyrightInfo=true

Bambrough, Billy – ‘US billionaire investor Wilbur Ross picks up £280,000 from the ashes of NBNK’ (04.07. 2016) link: http://www.cityam.com/244546/us-billionaire-investor-wilbur-ross-picks-up–ashes

Blackburn, Daniel – ‘OneWest Bank pays 7 figures in mortgage fraud case’ (11.09.2013) link: https://calcoastnews.com/2013/09/onewest-bank-pays-7-figures-mortgage-fraud-case/

CIT.com – ‘CIT Announces Resignation of Steven T. Mnuchin from Board of Directors’ (02.12.2016) link: http://news.cit.com/press-release/corporate-news/cit-announces-resignation-steven-t-mnuchin-board-directors

Dreier, Peter – ‘The Worst of Wall Street: Meet Donald Trump’s Finance Chairman’ (10.05.2016) link: https://www.thenation.com/article/the-worst-of-wall-street-meet-donald-trumps-finance-chairman/

DiSavino, Scott – ‘Wilbur Ross to buy Nexeo from TPG for $1.6 billion: source’ (20.03.2016) link: http://www.streetinsider.com/Mergers+and+Acquisitions/Wilbur+Ross+to+buy+Nexeo+from+TPG+for+$1.6+billion%3A+source/11434492.html

McCaulay, Scott – ‘Controversial Film Financier Steven Mnuchin Joins Trump Campaign as National Finance Chairman’ (05.05.2016) link: https://filmmakermagazine.com/98428-controversial-film-financier-steven-mnuchin-joins-trump-campaign-as-national-finance-chairman/

Hughes, Trevor – ‘Trump calls to ‘drain the swamp’ of Washington’ (18.10.2016) link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/2016/10/18/donald-trump-rally-colorado-springs-ethics-lobbying-limitations/92377656/

Huus, Kari – ‘Homeowner taps ‘Occupy’ protest to avoid foreclosure’ (17.10.2011) link: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44908122/ns/us_news-life/t/homeowner-taps-occupy-protest-avoid-foreclosure/#.WEHO5fnhDIU

O’Carroll, Lisa – ‘Ireland will be ‘Celtic Tiger’ again – Wilbur Ross’ (31.08.2011) link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2011/aug/31/ireland

Samson, Adam – ‘WL Ross in $14.1m settlement with US over fee disclosures’ (24.08.2016) link: https://www.ft.com/content/e8424f8f-5031-3d50-941b-a51ccaa07980

Security Exchange Commission – ‘Release No. 4494 / August 24, 2016 ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING File No. 3-17491’ (24.08.2016)

Trump, Donald J. – ‘TRUMP PLEDGES TO DRAIN THE SWAMP AND IMPOSE CONGRESSIONAL TERM LIMITS’ (18.10.2016) link: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/trump-pledges-to-drain-the-swamp

U.S. Gov. Indicators of Terrorist-Hoaxes and these hoaxes are draining resources from the Security Operations!

hoax-bomb

The United States Government fear the rise of phony terrorism hoaxes. I am sure there will be more prank calls from the White House to scare out the President on the RoboCalls. We can now learn about how the Security Organizations of US are seeing and indicating the possibilities of hoaxes, as such as students calling in to stop and an exam. The other being swatting where for a certain fearful agent of terror might swat a place to send Security Organizations into the wrong places and focus at wrong target.

The Intelligence shows through the study what kind of things that could catch people of guard. Like calling in shootings that isn’t happening that are straining the resources on goose hunts for the safety of the citizens. The Hoaxes that the citizens are sending in are using the limited resources that the Security Organizations have.

Hoax Indicators Overview:

“Based on our analysis of open sources and DHS-supported fusion center reporting, we assess malicious terrorism hoaxes such as bogus e-mails and phoned-in threats, including swatting and automated robocalls, will continue to challenge first responder resources throughout the country and territories, as they create disturbances and send false alarms. According to numerous police departments, these hoaxes—claiming active shooter, fire, and bomb threats—divert valuable resources or close down locations; most are motivated by a desire to cause disruption or annoyance rather than physical harm, and do not represent an actual terrorist threat. We judge hoax threats will continue to strain state and local government first responder resources over the next few years based on the number of threats made in the United States over the past two years” (U//FOUO, 2016).

Swatting Overview:

“Swatting uses the 911 system to report false incidents at a location (e.g., fires, shootings) and results in the dispatching of emergency services. Swatting poses a potential significant threat to public safety by diverting first responder resources needed to handle real emergencies occurring during the incident response time. Although most swatting incidents are criminal in nature, we assess the diversion of resources by a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) during a real attack would amplify the effectiveness of their attack against a different location. These calls could also result in accidental deaths by inadvertently placing unsuspecting victims targeted by the call in a confrontational situation with law enforcement tactical response” (U//FOUO, 2016)

Robocalls:

“Robocalls use a computer-generated phone call made directly to a target or a group of targets rather than via the 911 system, often using a voice anonymizer to deliver a recorded bomb threat via telephone. Robocalls and e-mailed bomb threats are usually nonviolent hoaxes intended to force an evacuation of the threatened location, typically a school or a courthouse” (U//FOUO, 2016).

letter-hoax

(U) Potential Indicators

(U) Malicious terrorism hoax indicators can include, but are not limited to:

» (U//FOUO) Specifying the exact timing and target of an attack (since providing that information would jeopardize the success of an event);

» (U//FOUO) Containing complex scenarios involving chemical weapons or other advanced capabilities, sometimes citing geographically

dispersed targets; and

» (U//FOUO) Involving teams of 10 or more operatives.

(U) Swatting indicators can include, but are not limited to:

» (U//FOUO) Using a voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) system to report an incident, often falsifying the address on the operator’s screen;

» (U//FOUO) Receiving limited information from a caller about the incident and disconnecting once additional questions are asked by the

operator; and

» (U//FOUO) Reporting of an emergency (e.g., building fire, shooting, gas leak) that requires a multi-agency response.

(U) Robocall indicators can include, but are not limited to:

» (U//FOUO) Recording that is monotone or robotic, and background inconsistent with emergency or threat;

» (U//FOUO) Refusing to answer follow-up questions when prompted; and

» (U//FOUO) Reporting a bombing requiring an evacuation” (U//FOUO, 2016).

If you don’t see the picture, you can see yourself teens calling for fun to the Police 9-11 and saying that their seeing a mysterious guy or student using the Security Organizations to mock or get rid of test at their high-school.

But this proves that the Security Organization has organized and studies the hoaxes to see patterns and such so they are sure that they can try to spot them for certainties, like if the feel of flow of information from the informant together with the system of call even says something. If it we’re through ordinary phone-lines the lesser chances of hoax calls to the Security Personnel. The informant who calls in hoaxes is usually actually asking for more than one type of response from the Police, Fireman or others to fix it.

This is information not only the Security Organizations should have, but the public so they could figure the difference between the men and woman who creates fake terrorist acts or hoax to make people into fear. The fear that could harm innocent and also strain the Security Operations locally for the harmful calls that could stop them from actually doing their job and actually doing their duty their fellow citizens! That should matter and the public should know so they don’t do such acts which costs the State and Federal State resource, man-hours and research that is precious. Peace.

creepy-clown

Reference:

(U//FOUO) Office of Intelligence and Analysis – ‘Malicious Terrorism Hoaxes Likely to Endure, Strain State and Local First Responder Resources’ (15.08.2016)

White House Report states that the A.I. regulations are lacking in both military and privately at this current day in the U.S.

uas_map

Simultaneously, industry has been increasing its investment in AI. In 2016, Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai said, “Machine learning [a subfield of AI] is a core, transformative way by which we’re rethinking how we’re doing everything. We are thoughtfully applying it across all our products, be it search, ads, YouTube, or Play. And we’re in early days, but you will see us — in a systematic way — apply machine learning in all these areas.” (White House, 2016).

Present AI-enabled Products:

“Currently relevant examples of the regulatory challenges that AI-enabled products present are found in the cases of automated vehicles (AVs, such as self-driving cars) and AI-equipped unmanned aircraft systems (UAS, or “drones”). In the long run, AVs will likely save many lives by reducing driver error and increasing personal mobility, and UAS will offer many economic benefits. Yet public safety must be protected as these technologies are tested and begin to mature. The Department of Transportation (DOT) is using an approach to evolving the relevant regulations that is based on building expertise in the Department, creating safe spaces and test beds for experimentation, and working with industry and civil society to evolve performance-based regulations that will enable more uses as evidence of safe operation accumulates” (White House, 2016).

Recommendation to the States:

“Recommendation 1: Private and public institutions are encouraged to examine whether and how they can responsibly leverage AI and machine learning in ways that will benefit society. Social justice and public policy institutions that do not typically engage with advanced technologies and data science in their work should consider partnerships with AI researchers and practitioners that can help apply AI tactics to the broad social problems these institutions already address in other ways.

Recommendation 2: Federal agencies should prioritize open training data and open data standards in AI. The government should emphasize the release of datasets that enable the use of AI to address social challenges. Potential steps may include developing an “Open Data for AI” initiative with the objective of releasing a significant number of government data sets to accelerate AI research and galvanize the use of open data standards and best practices across government, academia, and the private sector” (White House, 2016).

Recommendation to the Federal Government:

“Recommendation 3: The Federal Government should explore ways to improve the capacity of key agencies to apply AI to their missions. For example, Federal agencies should explore the potential to create DARPA-like organizations to support high-risk, high-reward AI research and its application, much as the Department of Education has done through its proposal to create an “ARPA-ED,” to support R&D to determine whether AI and other technologies could significantly improve student learning outcomes.

Recommendation 4: The NSTC MLAI subcommittee should develop a community of practice for AI practitioners across government. Agencies should work together to develop and share standards and best practices around the use of AI in government operations. Agencies should ensure that Federal employee training programs include relevant AI opportunities” (White House, 2016).

On LAWS:

“Over the past several years, in particular, issues concerning the development of so-called “Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems” (LAWS) have been raised by technical experts, ethicists, and others in the international community.79 The United States has actively participated in the ongoing international discussion on LAWS in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW),80 and anticipates continued robust international discussion of these potential weapon systems going forward.

State Parties to the CCW are discussing technical, legal, military, ethical, and other issues involved with emerging technologies, although it is clear that there is no common understanding of LAWS. Some States have conflated LAWS with remotely piloted aircraft (military “drones”), a position which the United States opposes, as remotely-piloted craft are, by definition, directly controlled by humans just as manned aircraft are. Other States have focused on artificial intelligence, robot armies, or whether “meaningful human control” – an undefined term – is exercised over life-and-death decisions. The U.S. priority has been to reiterate that all weapon systems, autonomous or otherwise, must adhere to international” (White House, 2016).

US Government and the DoD:

“The U.S. government is also conducting a comprehensive review of the implications of autonomy in defense systems. In November 2012, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued DoD Directive 3000.09, “Autonomy in Weapon Systems,” which outlines requirements for the development and fielding of autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons. Weapon systems capable of autonomously selecting and engaging targets with lethal force require senior-level DoD reviews and approval before those weapon systems enter formal development and again before fielding. The DoD Directive neither prohibits nor encourages such development, but requires it to proceed carefully and only after review and approval by senior defense officials. Among other things, the DoD Directive requires that autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems are rigorously tested and that personnel are trained appropriately in their use to advance international norms pertaining to armed conflict” (White House, 2016).

Recommendation 23: The U.S. Government should complete the development of a single, government-wide policy, consistent with international humanitarian law, on autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons” (White House, 2016).

These findings are showing how the current Obama Administration has worked on the matter and studied the use of AI in workforce and military. Together with the DoD, the DoD and usage of the AI and UAS. United States Government has made decisions, but has not apparently a current vision on how to use or how regulate the technology of the moment. What is problematic is that there are no common ground for the Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), neither the DoD Directive neither prohibits nor encourages such development, but requires it to proceed carefully and only after review and approval by senior defense officials. This shows the importance of the current regulations and how to develop the technology to use it in combat and in private sector in the US.

Certainly the Trump Administration has to work on this, but they will surely use this for their benefit. We can all wonder what they will use of this technology and the AI and UAS. Peace.  

Reference:

United States White House – ‘Science and Technology Council PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE Executive Office of the President National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology’ (October, 2016)

Statement Regarding Revocation of Relief to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. from Certain Regulatory Consequence of Enforcement Actions (18.11.2016)

wells-fargo-18-11-2016

UPC: A Reflection of the US Election in the Context of the False Narrative Peddled about UPC (16.11.2016)

upc-16-11-2016-p1upc-16-11-2016-p2

DAPL: Energy Transfer Parterners and Sunoco Logistics Partners Denounce Today’s Announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers (14.11.2016)

etp-14-11-2016-p1etp-14-11-2016-p2

Opinion: The American people now have to live on the philosophy of Slim Charles; Actually fight for the lies of Trump!

slim-charles

Slim Charles: “Don’t matter who did what to who at this point. Fact is, we went to war and now there ain’t no goin’ back. I mean, shit, it’s what war is, you know? Once you in it, you in it. If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight” (The Wire, Season 3 Episode 12 – “Misson Accomplished”, 09.12.2004).

Why do I start off with Slim Charles as he is talking about fighting a war over corners with Marlo Stanfield in Baltimore and Avon Barkesdal lost his companion and comrade Stringer Bell after he was ratted out… but what I will talk about isn’t the Wire, but it has been the same way with the Campaign and Phenomenon of Donald J. Trump.

Today, I made realisation while taking public transport to work. I thought to myself what has been the main component of Trump’s game-plan. It seems to show as little as possible of policy, as little as possible of political framework and being part of the establishment. But also transparency and accountability has been like aids to the Candidacy of the Republican Candidate Trump.

Another key part of the accountability and transparency is that he has constantly lied. The lies has been staggering and at massive levels. Like the ice that hit the Titanic, it should have sunk the ship of an ordinary campaign, but the American couldn’t care less. Trump lied about his past, his wealth, his education, his lifestyle, his previous ethical background.

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He has lied to public about his wealth, he is not as rich as he claims; if he we’re so he would have given the public the IRS Tax Returns. Because there we would see the real value of the Trump Organization, the golf-courses and the value of ‘the Art of the Deal’; because the toilet paper of stated wealth and ownership is oversaturated. If it we’re the true deal and not a play of cards to the public, since if it we’re true value than it would been given the same value of the estates, businesses and royalties. First lie!

Second lie, must be the portrayal of success in general; is with the bankruptcies in Casinos’ in Atlantic City, Trump Institute and University, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Magazines, Trump Airlines and so on. The success now has been “the Apprentice” on the Television with a dozen of seasons. The rest he has earned money on is stifling his costumers and with dozens of law-suits. Other than because of shady reputation because of that the way of earning revenue hasn’t become of building houses or high-raises, instead it has become a licensing operation. So his name is what makes the money, not his achievements. People are buying into the Trump name, but not the real value of premium products or quality service.

So when he is not as rich as he says he is, another lie; then you have the business-savvy point that settles with a licensing operation and not a true, yet another lie.

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That is the most important parts of his project, as he was a successful businessman who wasn’t a politician. Well, he is more flip-flopping politician and also a cruel one at that. The Political play has been to use the others past against them. Since he wasn’t really a politician; still the Trump has lied about Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush.

The other lies are is stances, at one point in life he was a very aligned with the Democratic Party, siding with Bill and Hillary Clinton, defending his infidelity and claiming that Hillary was a fine woman. At one point he was defending and saying that the U.S. should go quickly in to Libya and get rid of Col. Gadhafi. Another point where he defended George W. Bush and his father for their wars in Iraq; while on the Campaign Trial he has dined all of this asked for the tapes, asked for the evidence, but the clips are accessible and online for anybody who wants. His Video-Logs are there too, where he speaks of the similar matters too.

The lies are endless, and his image is a lie, his persona and his attitude to. Because he change as needed be, he is said to have a moral flexibility. Well, he has been structured on hatred for immigrants and for foreign interference, he is an isolationist. That is it! The rest hasn’t been steady, on basic minimum wage his stance has changed, on deportation force it has change and the stances are endless.

The worst part is that American Electorate apparently didn’t care, or not enough of them. They have bought into a cobb-web of lies and deceit. They ate it all up and bought into the sellers tale.

I wouldn’t believe the words that come out of his mouth, he only says what he need to say or told to say. He talks against the usage of Teleprompters, but used it freely when it benefitted him. He claimed Mitt Romney released his tax-returns too late, but till this date he hasn’t dropped his and I doubt he will. So his states and statement are pointless, are just needed for his own stature, but not for his character.

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The Character of him only known by his close family and whatever friends he has; to rest of us it is lies upon lies. Deception of who he might be and what he stand for, except for his blatant racists spurges of vomit. Trump has been able to sit in golden chairs and licence out products with golden letters, but his true delivery is his lies. The lie that he is good and want to “Make America Great Again”. He wants to make himself great again, back in the day when he was great and built the Trump Tower with the help of the Mafia. He doesn’t care about the working-class in Wisconsin or Mississippi.

Trump lies and will continue to lie for the benefit of himself and his cause; the cause being himself and his fictions lifestyle. Therefore he wants to spend more time at Mar-A-Lago in Miami, Penthouse in New York, than at the White House. Because he want his loyal minions to work out the perks, while he carry the title. He doesn’t care about anybody else than himself, he wants to spend time on the golf-course and eat the benefits of the Public Office. Not actually work for living, he has lied for living already and wants to relax as President.

Just wait and see, he will spend less time in office than Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, he is more concern about the benefits of being President for his donors, rich wealthy elite; which happens to be the establishment and not the common-man in Michigan or North Dakota.

The man that based his life on lies and built his current business on more lies; the lies that are deceptive and deconstructive to him and to society; that now is the true state of affairs. Trump has the choice either to destroy or rebuild.

But he went to war on that lie like Slim Charles said and now they have to continue to fight on that lie. The lie that Trump had something to deliver other than his own self-constructed bloated ego. Peace.  

Opinion: On BBC Newsnight Tyrrell showed ignorance on Trumps blatant racism; Trump been so a dozen of times!

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This is days after Emmett Tyrrell showed the true colours and spark of ignorance that he was so apologetic that even Corey Lewandowski and Stephen K. Bannon isn’t. They are straight forward attacking minorities and claiming what their ring-leader and coming President Donald J. Trump. Those African-Americans, Latinos and all the minorities; I am white European; I hate the ones claiming to be superior because of the colour, faith or creed. None of us asked for where we we’re born and where we from, we just entered planet earth and will leave the same way we entered. I’m a human being… I am a human first, like the rest on this blue-planet, not white, that is just my skin. I am just a man, not superior… for those who believe that needs a reality check and needs new a vision. Maybe the Clark Kents of the world can change the world, but I am just a human being, who is tired of this men claiming this sort of lies and deceptions. Trying to spin the world and reality, they need guidance and help and that ASAP!

So after following this election, I disagreed and felt that the Republican National Party and the coming President Trump has said some disgraceful things. That surely a certain Emmett Tyrrell needs to read and might even get the clips to listen to. Because I don’t know how much marshmallows between his earholes, but certainly enough to silence the noise of nasal voice of Trump during the Campaign of 2015-2016; where Trump said all kind of racist crap… therefore the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other White Supremacists supported the candidacy.

Here is what was said on BBC Newsnight after the Election result:

“Tyrrell claimed Trump “hasn’t been racist”. Adichie replied: “I’m sorry but… if you are a white man, you don’t get to define what racism is, you really don’t” (…) “You don’t get to sit there and say he hasn’t been racist when he objectively has” (…) “And it’s not about your opinion. Racism is an objective reality and Donald Trump has inhabited that reality.” Tyrrell retorted: “Do you know of the false consciousness which is a theory you are talking about is a Marxist concept?” (…) “In other words… I can’t even open my mouth here because I am a white male.” Adichie said: “No, of course you can. I am just saying to you that Donald Trump has shown us and has said things that are objectively racist.” (Snowdon, 2016).

Than you can see all the nonsense been said from July 2015 to October 2016; this is snippets because Trump didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut or his mouth silent. He usually double-down and continue to pounder on the subjects to show his true opinions.

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Trump in July 2015:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best” (…) “They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting” (Fox News, 2015).

Trump in December 2015:

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” (…) “Mr. Trump stated, “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.” (Trump, 2015).

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Trump in August 2016:

“The Democrats have failed completely in the inner cities,” he told an audience in Ohio this week. “Poverty. Rejection. Horrible education. No housing, no homes, no ownership. Crime at levels that nobody has seen. You can go to war zones in countries that we are fighting and it’s safer than living in some of our inner cities that are run by the Democrats.” He went on, “Look, it is a disaster the way African-Americans are living, in many cases, and, in many cases the way Hispanics are living, and I say it with such a deep-felt feeling: What do you have to lose? I will straighten it out. I’ll bring jobs back. We’ll bring spirit back. We’ll get rid of the crime. You’ll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now, you walk down the street, you get shot.” (Waldman, 2016).

Trump in September 2016:

“We need law and order. If we don’t have it, we’re not going to have a country” (…) “African Americans and Hispanics are living in hell. You walk down the street and you get shot” (…) “gangs roaming the streets” (…) “African American communities are being decimated by crime” (Chan, 2016).

Second in September 2016:

“I think Chicago needs stop and frisk. Now people can criticize me for that or people can say whatever they want, but they asked me about Chicago and I think stop and frisk with good strong — you know — good, strong law and order. But you have to do something. It can’t continue the way it’s going,” Trump said in an appearance on Fox & Friends Thursday” (…) “You know, [the police are] proactive and if they see a person possibly with a gun or they think may have a gun, they will see the person and they’ll look and they’ll take the gun away,” Trump said” (…) “Wow, here we go again. It’s very sad. When you look at what’s going on it’s very sad. It’s very divided, our country, and it’s getting worse. So, I’m not overly surprised to see it but it’s happening everywhere,” Trump said. “It just seems that there’s a lack of spirit between the white and the black. I mean, it’s a terrible thing that we’re witnessing.” (Collins, 2016).

Third in September 2016:

“The Democratic Party has run the inner cities for 50, 60, 70 years and even a hundred years straight” (…) “We are on a mission of change. That includes a new agenda” (…) “You can go to Afghanistan. You can go to war-torn countries and you will find that it’s safer than being in the middle of some of our inner cities” (…) “We’re going to give security and safety” (Trudo, 2016).

Trump in October 2016:

Nobody needs to tell African-Americans in this country that the old new deal from the Democratic Party isn’t working for them. In election after election, Democratic party leaders take African-American voters for granted and year after year the condition of Black America gets worse. The conditions in our inner cities today are unacceptable. Too many African-Americans have been left behind” (…)”Safe Communities. We will make our communities safe again. Every poor African-American child must be able to walk down the street in peace. Safety is a civil right. We will invest in training and funding both local and federal law enforcement operations to remove the gang members, drug dealers, and criminal cartels from our neighborhoods. The reduction of crime is not merely a goal – but a necessity” (…) “We will restore the civil rights of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and all Americans, by ending illegal immigration. No group has been more economically harmed by decades of illegal immigration than low-income African-American workers. Hillary’s pledge to enact “open borders,” – made in secret to a foreign bank – would destroy the African-American middle class. We will reform visa rules to give American workers preference for jobs, and we will suspend reckless refugee admissions from terror-prone regions that cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. We will use a portion of the money saved by enforcing our laws, and suspending refugees, to re-invested in our inner cities” (Trump, 2016).

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If these words, statements doesn’t get understood by fellow man Emmett Tyrrell, than he is ignorant, blatant disgrace to the man-kind as we know. People like him cannot say that the coming American President Trump isn’t racist; because he pre-determined the destinies of the African-Americans, the Muslims and Latinos as the Mexicans that are coming is the reasons for the crimes and drugs in United States.

I am sure that the United States should send the President-Elect to walk around in Afghanistan, in the suburbs of Kabul or any other town, before he walks back to Baltimore and Chicago, as the predicament of the crimes and gangs are suspicious ways of using them as pawns to scare the rest to vote for him.

So please Emmett Tyrrell, another Trump apologists like Joe Scarborough of MSNBC and others, please either shut-up or apologise for your nonsense. Trump has a racial undertone of white supremacy going back to when tried to kick-out African American tenants in 1973:

“They first met him, on the front page no less, on Oct. 16, 1973. Then 27 years old, Mr. Trump was the president of the Trump Management Corporation, at 600 Avenue Z in Brooklyn, which owned more than 14,000 apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island” (…) “Major Landlord Accused of Antiblack Bias in City,” the headline stated. The Department of Justice had brought suit in federal court in Brooklyn against Mr. Trump and his father, Fred C. Trump, charging them with violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 in the operation of 39 buildings” (…) “The government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals ‘because of race and color,’ ” The Times reported. “It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.” (Dunlap, 2015).

This was the 1970s and it’s the same fellow who uses by any means, whatever at his disposal for his own gain. As he did through the Trump Management to control who lived in his buildings… this will be the same way in the future. His acts have been like this all through his career, so why should he stop now being biased and brash in his actions.

Enough of this crap. Peace.

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Reference:

Collins, Eliza – ‘Trump backs up on ‘stop and frisk’, says he means just Chicago’ (22.09.2016) link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/09/22/trump-narrows-call-stop-and-frisk-policy-chicago/90826694/

Chan, Melissa – ‘Donald Trump Claims Black and Hispanic People Are ‘Living in Hell’ (26.09.2016) link: http://fortune.com/2016/09/26/presidential-debate-donald-trump-living-in-hell-black-people/

Donald J. Trump – ‘DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT ON PREVENTING MUSLIM IMMIGRATION’ (07.12.2015) link: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration

Donald J. Trump – ‘DONALD J. TRUMP’S NEW DEAL FOR BLACK AMERICA’ (31.10.2016) link: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-announces-a-plan-for-urban-renewal1

Dunlap, David W. –‘1973 | Meet Donald Trump’ (30.07.2015) link: http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2015/07/30/1973-meet-donald-trump/

Fox News – ‘Trump stands by statements on Mexican illegal immigrants, surprised by backlash’ (04.07.2015) link: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/04/trump-stands-by-views-dangerous-mexican-illegal-immigrants-admits-surprised-by.html

Snowdon, Kathryn – ‘Emmett Tyrrell’s Explanation Of Racism On BBC Newsnight’ (12.11.2016) link: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-shuts-down-robert-emmett-tyrrells-explanation-racism-bbc-newsnight_uk_58275d76e4b0ec3145f88086

Trudo, Hanna – ‘Trump calls Afghanistan safer than America’s inner cities’ (12.09.2016) link: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-afghanistan-inner-cities-228057

Waldman, Paul – ‘Donald Trump’s new plea to minorities: You’re pathetic, so vote for me’ (24.08.2016) link: http://theweek.com/articles/644560/donald-trumps-new-plea-minorities-youre-pathetic-vote