Peter Lemkin Wrote:It is laughable the news that 'Russia has assembled compromising information on Trumpf'....as compromising information on the man is widely and publicly available for anyone who cares to look. While it is likely yet another attempt to weaken Trumpf's hand from day one, I'm sure most every nation has or is assembling a dossier of compromising/embarrassing information on Trumpf and his cabinet, so they can have some leverage. This idea behind the report that Russia is or should be our natural enemy is insane. I know most Americans meet few Russians. Where I live, I meet several each and every day and I have also traveled there. I can assure those in the US and elsewhere that Russians, generally, are very nice and normal people [and all dog and Nature lovers] who do not want war nor to be aggressive. The Russian government now or in the past is no worse nor better than most governments, and has its good and bad points and figures.

Quote:{Unnamed} Senior U.S. intelligence officials presented classified documents to President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump alleging that Russia holds compromising personal and financial information on Trump, CNN and Buzzfeed reported Tuesday.

Quote:Trump shuts down CNN reporter
Donald Trump refused to answer a question from a CNN reporter during his press conference at Trump Tower in New York on Wednesday, as retribution for the CNN story that said he and Barack Obama had been presented with claims that Russia had compromising financial and personal information about the president-elect.
"Not you. Your organization is terrible," said Trump, when CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta tried to ask a question.
"Since you're attacking us, can you give us a question? Mr president-elect, since you're attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance?" asked Acosta.
"I'm not going to give you a question. You are fake news," said the president-elect.
Trump was furious after BuzzFeed published an unverified and salacious 35-page report yesterday claiming to show connections between Trump and Russia, usingCNN's earlier story (which mentions the report without revealing its full contents or publishing it) as justification for publishing. BuzzFeed's decision triggered a storm over media ethics.

Trump repeatedly criticized CNN and BuzzFeed throughout his press conference at Trump Tower in New York on Wednesday, calling BuzzFeed a "left-wing blog" and a "failing pile of garbage" for publishing the unverified report. CNN later said that its decision to publish "carefully sourced reporting" on unverified intelligence documents concerning Donald Trump was "vastly different than BuzzFeed's decision to publish unsubstantiated memos".

His attack on CNN can be viewed as somewhat ironic.
Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, was the head of NBC Entertainment when it launched The Apprentice, and the success of that and the subsequent spin-off The Celebrity Apprentice helped Zucker become head of NBC. Then CNNgave Trump millions in free publicity thanks to its round-the-clock coverage of his presidential campaign.
In Wednesday's press conference, Trump also slammed intelligence agencies for supposedly leaking the report to news agencies.

"I think it was disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake" to get out, said Trump.
"As far as BuzzFeed, which is a failing pile of garbage writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences, and they already are," said Trump.
Many news outlets, including the Guardian, published articles based on the report, without publishing it in full or giving its full details because they are unverified.
The Guardian reported that the FBI applied for a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court last summer so that it could monitor four members of Trump's team suspected of contact with Russian officials, but the Fisa court rejected the application.

Quote:Russia

Trump conceded that Russia hacked the DNC and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, but, Trump said, a lot of other people try to hack the US too. Trump said Putin would stop such behavior when he, Trump, is president. Trump ignored a question about whether anyone in his campaign had had contacts with Moscow during the campaign. And he dismissed reports that Russia wanted him to win, saying he'll be tougher on Russia than Clinton would have been.

Business

Trump claimed to have severed himself from his business interests, but this section of the news conference was a particularly troubling mess. Trump said that as president, he is not subject to a ban on conflicts-of-interest at any level, he appeared to assert. He served up a lawyer who made the same assertion. Then the lawyer described a "wall" to be erected between President Trump and the Trump Organization, which is to be managed going forward by Trump's sons. The lawyer said the Trump Organization would turn over hotel receipts from foreign governments to the US treasury. Trump said a big stack of manila folders next to his lectern contained documents in which he signed control of his organization over to his sons. But who knows what was in those folders; there was no mechanism described for transparency as the supposed restructure takes place, and it's unclear what window the public can hope to have on President Trump scrupulously not advising his sons about the Trump Organization.

Intelligence

Finally, Trump suggested that the intelligence community had fabricated documents describing Russia obtaining compromising information about him. He said "sick people," his "opponents", had assembled the documents, and "garbage" "fake news" media outlets had disseminated them. He rejected outright claims in the documents of contacts between his campaign and Russia, and of him behaving badly in Moscow. He said he always warned people traveling with him about cameras in foreign hotels and that in any case he is a germaphobe.

We All Lose: Obama's Legacy and What It Means for a Trump Presidency

Mystery order: Troops providing inauguration security to lose commanding general mid-ceremony

Mystery order: Troops providing inauguration security to lose commanding general mid-ceremony
Published time: 13 Jan, 2017 23:09

Maj. Gen. Errol Schwartz, commanding general,DC National Guard (left) and Brig. Gen. Art Hinaman talk about the Guard's interoperability and coordination with local and federal officals ahead of the 2013 inauguration © D.C. National Guard / Facebook
Something unusual is set to happen during Donald Trump's inauguration: Nearly 8,000 National Guard troops protecting the nation's capital will lose their commanding general. It's unclear who approved the mid-ceremony change in command.
As the commanding officer of the DC National Guard, Major General Errol R. Schwartz is a presidential appointee. Schwartz will not only oversee the 2,700 troops in DC's Army and Air Force National Guard during the inauguration, but also an additional 5,000 unarmed troops from 40 states and military air support that are part of the Joint Task Force-District of Columbia (JTF-DC).
Schwartz will be removed from his post effective January 20 at 12:01pm local time ‒ as soon as the United States' commander-in-chief takes office, according to a memo obtained by the Washington Post. A post on the DC Guard's Facebook page says that he "will retire" and "step-down" at noon.

D.C. National Guard
on Friday
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 13, 2017) Joint Forces Headquarters, District of Columbia National Guard confirms the District of Columbia National Guard Commanding General Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz will retire from the National Guard after more than 40 years of distinguished service in the U.S. Army and U.S. Army National Guard, effective Jan. 20, 2017 at 12 p.m.
DCNG Land Component Commander Brig. Gen. William J. Walker, who is also currently dual-hatted as commander of Joint Task Force-District of Columbia, will assume command of the DCNG as the interim commanding general effective 12:01 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2017.
DCNG operations will remain normal in support of the inauguration. We will

"The timing is extremely unusual," Schwartz told the Post. "My troops will be on the street. I'll see them off but I won't be able to welcome them back to the armory."
The orders came from the Pentagon, Schwartz said, but he doesn't know who made the decision. He added that he would "never plan to leave a mission in the middle of a battle."
"I'm a soldier," Schwartz said. "I'm a presidential appointee, therefore the president has the power to remove me."
It is traditional for political appointees to tender their resignations ahead of the inauguration, regardless of incumbency. Since Schwartz, 65, was appointed to head the guard in 2008 by President George W. Bush, he offered resignation letters ahead of the 2009 and 2013 inaugurations of President Barack Obama, but those were not accepted, Major Byron Coward, a guard spokesman, told RT.
It is unclear who accepted Schwartz's resignation, which was tendered in December, Coward said. RT has reached out to Trump's transition team for comment, but has not received an answer.
DC City Council members decried the announcement and the timing of the removal.
"It doesn't make sense to can the general in the middle of an active deployment," Council Chairman Phil Mendelson told the Post. "He's been really very good at working with the community and my impression was that he was good for the Guard."
Schwartz isn't the only person who must leave his post as soon as Trump is sworn in as the United States' 45th commander-in-chief. The president-elect's transition team issued a blanket edict just before Christmas requiring that all politically appointed ambassadors leave their posts by January 20 "without exceptions," the New York Times reported.
It's also not the only potential opening that could be seen as a national security risk: The top two people at the National Nuclear Security Administration have not been asked to stay in their roles after the inauguration, and no replacements have been named, Gizmodo reported Monday, citing a source within the Department of Energy. The NNSA "maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile."
A leadership vacuum there wouldn't prevent the agency from fulfilling its essential duties, but it won't be able to advocate for itself in Congress, and the employees won't be answerable to anyone, Bob Rosner, the co-chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the former director of Argonne National Laboratory, told Gizmodo. The legislation authorizing the NNSA specifically states that non-NNSA officials are prohibited from managing agency staffers.
An NNSA official speaking on background denied the Gizmodo report, however, Defense News reported.
"The story is not accurate," the official said. "There have been no discussions between the president-elect's transition team and any of NNSA's political appointees on extending their public service past Jan. 20."
While the transfer of power between Obama and Trump takes place, Schwartz will transfer command of the DC Guard and the JTF-DC to Brigadier General William Walker, who currently serves as both the commander of the joint task force and the guard's land component commander. He has been trained to take over, Coward said.
"General Schwartz's retirement will have no impact to the support of the presidential inauguration mission or to our interagency partners. We will continue to be always ready, always there,' and supporting the presidential inauguration is no exception," the DC Guard said.
Unlike states, where governors tap the commanding officers of the National Guard, in the District, that job is left to the US president. The inauguration deployment is a complicated one, requiring DC to send a letter to the Secretary of the Army as part of a seven-step process to initiate the guard's activation. Soldiers and airmen in the guard will help local civilian authorities with traffic control and crowd management, among other activities. The DC Guard will also march in the inaugural parade.

David Guyatt Wrote:Mmmm. If the general being "retired" thinks it's unusual timing then it really is.