Politics Random, Random

[skatingfan]

RFK Jr. is 70, and is supposed to the young, healthy alternative - WTF

[ti-amie]

Melania Trump reveals son Barron, 18, has pulled out of being a delegate nominating his father for president because he has 'prior commitments'

'He regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,' the Office of Melania Trump said to DailyMail.com
READ MORE: Barron has his own political aspirations as he turns 18

By Emily Goodin, Senior U.S. Political Reporter In Washington D.C.

Published: 21:00 BST, 10 May 2024 | Updated: 23:03 BST, 10 May 2024

Barron Trump is declining Florida's offer to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention this summer, citing 'prior committments,' according to his mother's office.

Melania Trump's office made a statement to DailyMail.com on behalf of her son.

'While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,' the Office of Melania Trump said.

No futher details were given.

On Wednesday, Barron, 18, was elected as an at-large delegate to help formally nominate his father Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee.

It's now unclear if he will even attend the convention, which takes place in Milwaukee from Monday, July 15 to Thursday, July 18.


'While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party , he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,' the Office of Melania Trump said to DailyMail.com

Other family members - Don Jr. and his fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle, Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos - are also delegates at large for the state of Florida.

Ivanka Trump, who served as a senior adviser in her father's White House, was the only Trump child not on the delegate list.

Unlike his half-siblings, Barron Trump was rarely seen during his father's White House years, mainly at the request of his mother Melania who is known to be protective of her son.

She rarely let Barron attend official White House events when she was first lady. Additionally, she would have Barron travel in a separate car - instead of the Beast - when he rode in the presidential motorcade. The dedicated mom made sure he was buckled up in his SUV.

She also had Barron board Air Force One on the back stairs of the plane so there would not be photographs of him climbing the front stairs with his parents.

The former first lady has used her own presence to signal her support or displeasure with her husband. She did attend his announcement at Mar-a-Lago that he would make another presidential bid but she was not there on the night of Super Tuesday, when Trump effectively locked up the Republican presidential nomination.

Barron wasn't present at any of the above political events.

Previously, Barron has been the target of social media trolls.

Former NBC News executive Mike Sington said Barron was 'fair game' turning 18, the birthday that marks adulthood. He later deleted the tweet after facing harsh backlash and criticism online.

The youngest Trump was defended by many of his former first kids, including Chelsea Clinton.

'I think he's a private citizen,' she told ABC's The View. 'I feel so strongly that if you are a private citizen, you have an unimpeachable right to privacy, and I think the media should leave him alone.'

And, last year, a Chicago woman was arrested for making death threats against Barron.

Friday's shock announcement comes after Donald Trump revealed Barron likes politics and enjoys giving his father advice.

'He's really been a great student. And he does like politics. It's sort of funny,' the former president told 'Kayal and Company' on Philadelphia's Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.

'He'll tell me sometimes, 'Dad, this is what you have to do,'' he added.

Trump also revealed the 18-year-old, who is graduating from high school next week, is weighing what college he might attend. But, he noted, the campus protests have been a factor in that decision.

'He's a senior now in high school, and he'll be going to college. And you know, a lot of, a lot of these choices of colleges are changing because you see what's going on in the last month,' Trump said.

Trump has been critical of the pro-Palestine protests that have turned up on college campuses throughout the nation. He told Time magazine he would call out the National Guard on them.

Barron is considering NYU, the Daily Beast reported, but the school has seen its share protesters and arrests by NYPD. The Trump family has made no announcement about where Barron will go.

The former president also complimented his 6ft7in son's looks.

'He's a little on the tall side. I will tell you, he's a tall one, but he is a good-looking guy,' Trump said.

The former president spent Friday in a Manhattan court room as New York continues to prosecute him over a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels testified in court this week, talking aboug her sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. She claimed Trump told her at the time he and Melania have separate bedrooms.

Trump has denied the affair.

Reports of Barron's interest in politics seemed confirmed on Wednesday when the Republican Party of Florida picked him to join his older siblings as an at-large delegate for the state.

The only requirement to be a delegate is to live and vote in the state. Barron, who turned 18 in March, will be eligible to cast his first votes in the August primary and in the November election.

Barron graduates from Oxbridge Academy in suburban West Palm Beach next week.

That day - May 17th - will be a busy one for Donald Trump.

He's also scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Minnesota's Lincoln Reagan dinner.

Barron's graduation ceremony is in the morning so it's feasible Trump could attend both events.

It's unclear what Barron's plans are for after high school.

But sources told DailyMail.com that the 6ft 7in teen, who has never uttered a word in public, is a steadfast supporter of the Trump 2024 campaign behind the scenes.

Barron was at his father's 2016 presidential announcement and attended the Republican National Conventions in both 2016 and 2020.

He was not at his father's 2024 announcement at Mar-a-Lago.

In Trump's last two White House campaigns, Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka were heavily involved - speaking at their father's rallies and campaigning for him. Tiffany joined her siblings in the 2020 campaign but Barron stayed out of sight.

He was only 10 when his father became president.

Barron, who turned 18 last month, returned to the spotlight with Donald Trump's hush-money trial when the former president argued he should be allowed a break from trial to attend Barron Trump's May 17 high school graduation.

Judge Juan Merchan agreed to allow the break in the trial.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ident.html

[skatingfan]

That's just too funny - Donald can't attend Baron's graduation because of a campaign event so Baron can't attend the convention - make sense.

[ti-amie]

That's just too funny - Donald can't attend Baron's graduation because of a campaign event so Baron can't attend the convention - make sense.

I am no fan of Melania but she has been a fierce protector of her son and has fought to keep him out of the clutches of the man she chose to be his father, something that most of the other women who have officially been with him were/have been unable to do.

As anyone who has raised a child/children knows parenting is not easy and there are many different ways she could've played this situation. Her approach seems to have been to "secure the bag".

She may be a bit nervous about that right now but if he wants her to play he will have to pay.

[ti-amie]

French official disputes passage about Emmanuel Macron in Kristi Noem's book
It’s the second time the South Dakota governor and VP contender has come under scrutiny for anecdotes in her book involving heads of state.

May 10, 2024, 7:26 PM EDT
By Alec Hernández, Nancy Ing and Megan Lebowitz

France's government is disputing a portion of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's book that describes a canceled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The book, which has already had a passage removed over unverified claims of the Republican governor meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, says a planned meet-up between Noem and Macron last year was nixed after he allegedly made “pro-Hamas” comments.

"While in Paris, I was slated to meet with French president Emmanuel Macron," Noem wrote in her book "No Going Back." "However, the day before we were to meet he made what I considered a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press. So, I decided to cancel."

A representative from the Élysée Palace disputed Noem's account, saying there’s no record of a scheduled meeting, nor was there an invitation extended to her.

When reached for comment Friday, a spokesperson for Noem said that “the Governor was invited to sit in President Macron’s box for the Armistice Day Parade at Arc de Triomphe.”

“Following his anti-Israel comments, she chose to cancel,” Ian Fury, the governor’s chief of communications, said in a statement, while adding that Macron "did not end up attending, either.”

Noem had been in Paris in November 2023 to speak at the Worldwide Freedom Initiative conference.

She did not specify in her book what Macron’s comments were. When asked for details, Noem's office on Friday pointed to Macron's remarks urging Israel to stop bombing Gaza and calling for a cease-fire. Macron also condemned Hamas, as well as its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and recognized "the right of Israel to protect itself and react."

The disputed account is the latest in a series of controversies generated by Noem's book.

The second-term governor, who is viewed as a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump, wrote that she met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but later said she “should not have put that anecdote in the book.” Her publisher has said the passage would be removed, but Noem deflected in interviews whether she has actually met with Kim.

She also described in her book how she shot and killed her family's 14-month-old dog. Noem has repeatedly defended her actions, citing what she said was the dog's aggression and noting that it was a “working dog” and “not a puppy.”

Trump responded to the backlash against Noem in an interview this week.

"She had a rough couple of days," he told Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin. "I will say that."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politi ... rcna151742

[ti-amie]

Kristi Noem’s publisher previously axed dog-killing story from book for its ‘bad taste’
Previous publisher thought dog killing story was in ‘bad taste’ and could harm her brand

Amelia Neath
4 days ago

An anecdote in Kristi Noem’s new memoir, where she describes killing her dog, has garnered a ton of negative attention but it’s now been revealed that the story almost never saw the light of day.

In her book, No Going Back, the South Dakota governor describes killing her dog Cricket because of its aggressive behavior.

The story has seriously backfired, and Ms Noem has received a wave of criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. It’s also led to questions over whether it will harm her chances of being Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick.

Yet, it has now been revealed that the publisher who worked with Ms Noem on her first book, Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland, shut down the story, according to Politico.

Two people involved with the book told the outlet that Ms Noem tried to include the dog-killing story but agents, editors, a ghostwriter, and publicists at Hachette Book Group’s Twelve imprints, said it was bad-taste and could potentially hurt her reputation.

Ms Noem reportedly argued that she thought it would portray her as a decisive person but the story was ultimately cut, Politico reported.

The Independent has contacted Hachette Book Group, and its imprint Grand Central Publishing which includes Twelve, for comment.

In No Going Back, which wa released on Tuesday, Ms Noem writes that she killed 14-month-old “working dog” Cricket after he ruined a pheasant hunt by chasing birds, then “massacred” a neighbour’s chickens, killing several of them, on the same day.

Ms Noem has spent the past few weeks defending her actions and faced criticism from political commentators, Democrats, and anti-Trump Republicans. Political strategists also suggested that the story may have affected her chances at becoming Donald Trump’s running mate.

“She’s DOA,” an ally of Mr Trump told The Hill last week, adding that it’s “not good” if you have to respond multiple times to a story.

Ms Noem has blamed the backlash on “fake news.” She told CBS on Sunday that ending Cricket’s life was a “choice she made over 20 years ago” to “protect” her family.

“This was a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people. And- and I had little children at the time, our operation had many kids running around and people in interaction with the public. And I made a difficult choice,” she said.

In No Going Back, published by Hachette’s Centre Street, Ms Noem also claimed she met North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un which her team now says was a mistake.

In a statement to The Independent, Ian Fury, chief of communications for Ms Noem’s office, said: “It was brought to our attention that the upcoming book No Going Back has two small errors. This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor. Kim Jong Un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been.”

The validity of the Kim Jong Un story came into question after The Dakota Scout, a publication in South Dakota, tried to verify the meeting but couldn’t find evidence of it ever taking place.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 40853.html

[ti-amie]

What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign
Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry.

By Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow
Updated May 9, 2024 at 1:54 p.m. EDT|Published May 9, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.

The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. Biden has called global warming an “existential threat,” and over the last three years, his administration has finalized more than 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters. In comparison, Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years.

In recent months, the Biden administration has raced to overturn Trump’s environmental actions and issue new ones before the November election. So far, Biden officials have overturned 27 Trump actions affecting the fossil fuel industry and completed at least 24 new actions affecting the sector, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Interior Department, for instance, recently blocked future oil drilling across 13 million acres of the Alaskan Arctic.

Despite the oil industry’s complaints about Biden’s policies, the United States is now producing more oil than any country ever has, pumping nearly 13 million barrels per day on average last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade last year.

Yet oil giants will see an even greater windfall — helped by new offshore drilling, speedier permits and other relaxed regulations — in a second Trump administration, the former president told the executives over the dinner of chopped steak at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump vowed at the dinner to immediately end the Biden administration’s freeze on permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports — a top priority for the executives, according to three people present. “You’ll get it on the first day,” Trump said, according to the recollection of an attendee.

The roughly two dozen executives invited included Mike Sabel, the CEO and founder of Venture Global, and Jack Fusco, the CEO of Cheniere Energy, whose proposed projects would directly benefit from lifting the pause on new LNG exports. Other attendees came from companies including Chevron, Continental Resources, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, according to an attendance list obtained by The Post.

Trump told the executives that he would start auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a priority that several of the executives raised. He railed against wind power, as The Post previously reported. And he said he would reverse the restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.

“You’ve been waiting on a permit for five years; you’ll get it on Day 1,” Trump told the executives, according to the recollection of the attendee.

At the dinner, Trump also promised that he would scrap Biden’s “mandate” on electric vehicles — mischaracterizing ambitious rules that the Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized, according to people who attended. The rules require automakers to reduce emissions from car tailpipes, but they don’t mandate a particular technology such as EVs. Trump called the rules “ridiculous” in the meeting with donors.

The fossil fuel industry has aggressively lobbied against the EPA’s tailpipe rules, which could eat into demand for its petroleum products. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry trade group, has launched a seven-figure campaign against what it calls a de facto “gas car ban.” The campaign includes ads in battleground states warning that the rule will restrict consumer choice.

“Clearly, if you are producing gasoline and diesel, you want to make sure that there’s enough market there,” said Stephen Brown, an energy consultant and a former lobbyist for Tesoro, an oil refining company. “I don’t know that the oil industry would walk in united with a set of asks for the Trump administration, but I think it’s important for this issue to get raised.”

Although the repeal of the EPA rule would benefit the fossil fuel industry, it would probably anger the auto industry, which has invested billions of dollars in the transition away from gasoline-powered cars. Many automakers are under increasing pressure to sell more EVs in Europe, which has tightened its own tailpipe emissions rules, and they are eager to avoid a patchwork of regulations around the globe.

“Automakers need some degree of regulatory certainty from government,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota and other car companies.

“What has emerged instead is a wholesale repeal … and then reinstatement … and then repeal again of regulations every four or eight years,” Bozzella said in an email.

Biden’s EV policies have also sparked opposition in Republican-led rural states such as North Dakota, where there are far more oil pump jacks than charging stations. A key figure leading the Trump campaign’s development of its energy policy is North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who has been talking extensively to oil donors and CEOs.

At a fundraiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., Burgum told donors that Trump would halt Biden’s “attack” on fossil fuels, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by The Post.

“What would be the No. 1 thing that President Trump could do on Day 1? It’s stop the hostile attack against all American energy, and I mean all,” Burgum said. “Whether it’s baseload electricity, whether it’s oil, whether it’s gas, whether it’s ethanol, there is an attack on liquid fuels.”

Burgum also criticized the Biden administration’s policies on gas stoves and vehicles with internal combustion engines, claiming that they would prevent consumers from buying both technologies. While the Energy Department recently set new efficiency standards for gas stoves, they would not affect the stoves in people’s kitchens or those currently on the market.

“They’ve got some liberal idea about what products we need,” Burgum said. “You all need EV cars. You don’t need internal combustion. We’ll decide what kind of car you’re going to drive, and we’re going to regulate the other ones out of business. I mean, it’s just in every industry, not just in cars, not just in energy. They’re telling people what stoves you can buy. This is not America.”

The Biden campaign initially declined to comment for this article. After it was published, however, Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement that “Donald Trump is selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks. It’s that simple.”

“It doesn’t matter to Trump that oil and gas companies charge working families and middle-class Americans whatever they want while raking in record profits — if Donald can cash a check, he’ll do what they say,” Moussa added.

Burgum — a possible contender to lead the Energy Department in a second Trump term — has pushed harder to address climate change than many other Republicans. He set a goal in 2021 for North Dakota — the third-largest oil-producing state — to become carbon-neutral by 2030. He has stressed, however, that the goal won’t be achieved via government mandates or the elimination of fossil fuels, and he has cultivated deep support among oil donors.

Despite Trump’s huge fundraising ask, oil donors and their allies have yet to donate hundreds of millions to his campaign. They have contributed more than $6.4 million to Trump’s joint fundraising committee in the first three months of this year, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Climate Power. Oil billionaire Harold Hamm and others are scheduling a fundraiser for Trump later this year, advisers said, where they expect large checks to flow to his bid to return to office.

One person involved in the industry said many oil executives wanted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or another Republican to challenge Biden. But now that Trump is the nominee, this person said, they are going to embrace his policies and give.

Dan Eberhart, chief executive of the oil-field services company Canary and a Trump donor, said the Republican onslaught of donations was not surprising.

“Biden constantly throws a wet blanket to the oil and gas industry,” Eberhart said. “Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ philosophy aligns much better with the oil patch than Biden’s green-energy approach. It’s a no-brainer.”

Alex Witt, a senior adviser for oil and gas with Climate Power, said Trump’s promise is he will do whatever the oil industry wants if they support him. With Trump, Witt said, “everything has a price.”

“They got a great return on their investment during Trump’s first term, and Trump is making it crystal clear that they’re in for an even bigger payout if he’s reelected,” she said.

John Muyskens contributed to this report.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... ign-money/

[ponchi101]

It is not the USA. Exxon and Chevron reported record earnings. But so did almost all other oil giants. Shell and TOTAL reported records in 2023 Q4.
And the environmental laws and regulations implemented by the Biden Admin make it more difficult for new permits, but not for reservoirs already being exploited. What has happened is that they have cut down on exploration, saving lots of money there, and they keep trimming down their operations, personnel wise.
Notice that the price of oil has remain stable around $85 for a few years now. So, getting Tiny in office will mean little because the industry has learned how to work at these levels consistently.
Last: they are truly not interested in land projects anymore. They prefer marine: much less hassle from the public (tough to picket an offshore platform).

[ashkor87]

All the rants we hear from Trump about immigrants had nothing to do with economics...everyone knows immigrants strengthen the economy and the social fabric of a nation...hostility to immigrants (which I never experienced, btw, in the 15 years I lived in the US) is racism, fear of the 'other', pure and simple. But I must say the US is better than most countries, including my own.

[Suliso]

I agree in principle, but it's always a complicated question which potential immigrants to admit and which ones not. Demand for US in particular likely exceeds capacity by at least 10x...

[ashkor87]

I agree in principle, but it's always a complicated question which potential immigrants to admit and which ones not. Demand for US in particular likely exceeds capacity by at least 10x...

Best not to apply criteria..they will always be misguided and biased, and too focused on today

[Suliso]

What do you apply then? I think it would be not too crazy to estimate that 2% of World population would like to move to US next year if they could. That's 140 million people. For smaller rich countries the math would be even more crazy.

[ponchi101]

A very conservative estimate, I would add. I would move to he USA (there is no legal path), and I am wealthy, by S. American standards.
But the US economy would crater without immigrants. The problem is that the issue has become political, not social. So no facts are being talked about.
(BTW. I would move to Europe first. But, again, no legal path for me to do that, and the two countries where Is speak the language are not appealing to me).

[ashkor87]

What do you apply then? I think it would be not too crazy to estimate that 2% of World population would like to move to US next year if they could. That's 140 million people. For smaller rich countries the math would be even more crazy.

Decide on a number then lottery

[ashkor87]

I had every opportunity to immigrate into the US and didn't