The president-elect complained about Obama’s ‘inflammatory statements’, but didn’t specify what the US president has done or said to anger him this time
The thin veneer of civility between Barack Obama and Donald Trump has a few more cracks in it this morning, after Trump tweeted to accuse Obama of throwing up “inflammatory” roadblocks during the presidential transition of power.
Trump also said on Wednesday morning that Israel was being treated with “total disdain and disrespect” by the United Nations, after a UN vote (the United States abstained from the vote) declared West Bank settlements by Israel illegal. Israeli officials have accused the Obama administration of creating and pushing the resolution.
When asked to clarify what Trump means by saying Obama is not allowing for a smooth transition, press secretary Sean Spicer said on a media call that the tweets “speak for themselves”.
On Monday, Spicer said in an interview that Trump’s use of Twitter to communicate will be “a really exciting part of the job”.
Obama has long said that George W Bush had ensured a smooth transition when he took office in 2009, and he was insistent that his successor receive the same treatment.
Immediately after the election, Obama invited Trump and his wife, Melania, to the White House to meet with him and the First Lady. It created a (very forced) friendly rapport of sorts between the two men, with a clearly strained Obama attempting to be as welcoming and hospitable as possible. The planned 15-minute meeting turned into a 90-minute private meeting, with Trump afterwards declaring the president a “good man”.
“I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel. He explained some of the difficulties, some of the high-flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved,” said Trump.
“I want to emphasize to you, Mr President-elect, that we now are going to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds,” said Obama during their White House meeting on 10 November.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on a two-state solution is in grave jeopardy.
And he insisted UN condemnation of illegal Jewish settlements on occupied land was in line with American values.
Earlier, US President-elect Donald Trump tweeted in support of Israel, saying he would not allow it to be treated with "disdain and disrespect".
He urged Israel to "stay strong" until he assumed office next month.
On Friday, the US chose not to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlement construction, leading to an angry response from Israel.
The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the most contentious between Israel and the Palestinians, who see them as an obstacle to peace and the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
More than 500,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
What is the two-state solution?
A "two-state solution" to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is the declared goal of their leaders and many international diplomats and politicians.
It is the shorthand for a final settlement that would see the creation of an independent state of Palestine on pre-1967 ceasefire lines in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, living peacefully alongside Israel.
The United Nations, the Arab League, the European Union, Russia and the United States routinely restate their commitment to the concept.
Mr Kerry said: "The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is the only way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state. That future is now in jeopardy.
"Friends need to tell each other the hard truths, and friendships require mutual respect. The United States did in fact vote in accordance with our values, just as previous US administrations have done at the Security Council before us."
He added: "The Israeli prime minister publicly supports a two-state solution, but his current coalition is the most right-wing in Israeli history with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements.
"The result is that policies of this government, which the prime minister himself just described as more committed to settlements than any Israel's history, are leading in the opposite direction. They are leading towards one state."
In two tweets issued on Wednesday morning New York time, Mr Trump said: "We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect.
"They used to have a great friend in the US, but... not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (UN)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied on Twitter: "President-elect Trump, thank you for your warm friendship and your clear-cut support for Israel!"
Critics have urged the president-elect to use more conventional channels to communicate on international matters.
The UN resolution passed last Friday stated that the establishment of settlements "has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace".
The US decision to abstain infuriated Mr Netanyahu, who has taken diplomatic reprisals against the countries that voted in favour of the resolution.
Meanwhile, an Israeli committee has postponed a vote to authorise construction of almost 500 new homes in Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
The move apparently follows a request from Mr Netanyahu's office.
The party that has had a decadeslong soft spot toward Moscow and been reluctant to believe that the Kremlin might have aggressive intentions or, say, cheat on an arms-control agreement, is in a frenzy over Russian hacking that supposedly denied Hillary the victory that was rightfully hers.
John Podesta, the chairman of a Hillary campaign that considered accepting the results of an election part of American writ as of about two months ago, refused several times on “Meet the Press” last week to say the presidential election was “free and fair.”
n a contest this narrow, anything might have been decisive. But the monocausal Russian explanation for Hillary’s defeat ignores her myriad political and ethical vulnerabilities that the Democrats were determined to disregard.
Vladimir Putin couldn’t have hand-picked a worse champion for them this year. There was no reason to believe that Hillary Clinton was a good politician who could deliver a compelling message, since she had never done it before.
What she lacked in raw political skill, she made up for with dubious practices. She and her husband hadn’t anticipated her second run for the presidency by staying squeaky clean, but by buckraking from every corporate or foreign interest possible on the promise of a return to power. They were happy to, at the very least, skirt the rules, with Hillary’s homebrew email arrangement — concocted to hide her correspondence from legitimate media and congressional inquiries.
In other words, the Democratic establishment rushed into the arms of a candidate who, it was clear from the beginning, could well lose to Donald Trump, especially if a few things bounced the wrong way — and is now shocked and outraged that she indeed lost when a few things bounced the
wrong way.
Yes, the Russian interference was among those things. But some perspective: The hack of the Democratic National Committee disrupted the early going of the Democratic convention, but the convention was still a wild political success that gave Hillary a big bounce. The subsequent WikiLeaks release of John Podesta’s emails constituted a steady drip-drip of discomfiting information, yet most of it didn’t break through in the media. Certainly none of it had the effect of the James Comey letter 11 days before the voting, which dominated the coverage for days and led to an immediate slide in Hillary’s poll numbers.
This is why Democrats tend to lump in Comey with the Russians when arguing that the election was hacked, even though he’s the director of the FBI, not the FSB. Comey is a public servant who had to grapple with the unprecedented circumstance of a major political party knowingly nominating a presidential candidate under FBI investigation. Who thought this was a good idea?
Democrats just assumed that everything related to the investigation would go Hillary’s way, in an act of sheer wishfulness (and denial about the seriousness of the matter). Hillary escaped indictment, but two of the worst moments of her campaign came courtesy of Comey, whose public explanation of her handling of her emails wounded her in the summer.
It is true that late-deciding voters broke against Hillary, although it’s impossible to disentangle the effect of WikiLeaks, the Comey letter and natural factors, i.e., she was the known quantity running as the quasi-incumbent at a time of great voter discontent.
Democrats are calling for an investigation to get to the bottom of the Russian interference in the election. This is entirely appropriate. But everything points to the Democrats not being able to handle the fundamental truth of what happened Nov. 8 — they took a flier on a historically weak candidate out of a misbegotten attachment to the Clinton dynasty and paid a grave price for their foolish mistake.
What’s worse than the card machine being down during the Christmas eve sales? Having your website go down just before your Boxing Day sale launches would have to be pretty close
We JUST published an article waxing lyrical on how great the Lush Boxing Day sale was set to be. We were right. It is in fact so great that people are queuing up around the block and online the website overloaded and crashed.
Lush have gone into a little more detail on Facebook, where they explain:
‘It’s true, our website has been throwing a temper tantrum and we are incredibly sorry to each and every one of you who has experienced frustrations while trying to place an order. We are working very hard behind the screens to settle things down and our call centre is fully staffed and taking your calls (we do encourage you to leave a voicemail with the call centre as we are answering them in the order they were placed). And of course if you can, please head down to your local shop to partake in the sale there. No excuses, we let you down and for that we are deeply sorry.’
I actually feel a little bit bad for them.
People are taking their frustrations out on Twitter and it is truly an emotional roller coaster.
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PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Hawaii on Monday to recognize the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor.
Abe landed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for the historic visit. He will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit the memorial that honors sailors and Marines killed in the 1941 attack.
Japan's former leader Shigeru Yoshida went to Pearl Harbor six years after the country's World War II surrender, but that was before the USS Arizona Memorial was built. Yoshida arrived at Pearl Harbor in 1951, shortly after requesting a courtesy visit to the office of Adm. Arthur W.R. Radford, commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet. The office overlooked Pearl Harbor, offering a direct view of the attack site.
The memorial will be closed to the public Tuesday when Abe visits the historic site, joined by U.S. President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii with his family.
The importance of the visit may be mostly symbolic for two countries that, in a remarkable transformation, have grown into close allies in the decades since they faced off in brutal conflict. At the same time, it's significant that it took more than 70 years for U.S.-Japanese relations to get to this point.
Abe won't apologize for Japan's attack when he visits, the government spokesman said earlier this month.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that "the purpose of the upcoming visit is to pay respects for the war dead and not to offer an apology."
The visit comes six months after Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima for victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of that city at the end of the same war.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
OH HIIIII.... Anyone else ever do their own makeup really dramatic and sultry, knowing you're gonna make love later?? I always use half a bottle of setting spray to make sure I'm glowing
Alien: Covenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX
Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with ALIEN: COVENANT, a new chapter in his groundbreaking ALIEN franchise. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.
In Theaters - May 19, 2017
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby
Directed by: Ridley Scott
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Alien: Covenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX
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