Senate confirms Trump's consumer watchdog pick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 on Thursday to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. consumer watchdog despite opposition from Democrats and consumer groups who say she is unqualified.

Kathy Kraninger will serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), replacing acting chief Mick Mulvaney, after Trump signs a declaration approving her five-year term.

The banking industry and consumer groups will be watching to see whether Kraninger, who is currently a senior official at the White House budget office, will take on Mulvaney’s mantle and continue to aggressively curtail the CFPB’s enforcement and rule-writing agenda.

Kraninger faced criticism during her nomination hearing in July about the role she played in the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that separated more than 2,000 children from their parents.

Kraninger, who works closely with Mulvaney at the Office of Management and Budget, has denied having a role in setting or developing that policy but said she attended meetings relating to its implementation.

The CFPB was formed in 2011 under Democratic President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial crisis to protect ordinary Americans from predatory lending.

Democrats say the agency plays a critical role in protecting consumers, but Republicans have repeatedly criticized the CFPB as heavy-handed and overreaching.

“The Senate majority has endorsed for CFPB a nominee indistinguishable from Mick Mulvaney, who has done his level best to dismantle from within an agency that once won real results for American families hurt by Wall Street and predatory lenders,” Lisa Donner, who heads the consumer advocacy group, Americans for Financial Reform, said in a statement.

Industry groups said on Thursday, however, that Kraninger’s strong managerial experience at the budget office where she manages the budget for the financial regulators made her a good fit for the agency.

“We learned during her nomination hearing that she believes in promoting competition and appropriately tailoring regulations by taking into account both costs and benefits,” Rob Nichols, president and chief executive of the American Bankers Association, said in a statement.

“We share those views, and believe those principles will benefit consumers.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-senate-cfpb/senate-confirms-trumps-consumer-watchdog-pick-idUSKBN1O52DT?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter

Julian Assange rejects UK-Ecuador deal for him to leave the embassy

Julian Assange's lawyer has rejected an agreement announced by Ecuador's president to see him leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London, after six years inside.

Lenin Moreno, the president of Ecuador, has made no secret of his wish to be rid of the WikiLeaks founder, who sought asylum inside the embassy in June 2012 and has not left since.

On Thursday Mr Moreno announced that a deal had been reached between London and Quito to allow Mr Assange, 47, to be released.

"The way has been cleared for Mr Assange to take the decision to leave in near-liberty," said Mr Moreno.

He did not specify what "near liberty" meant.

Mr Moreno earlier this year announced that he was severing Mr Assange's telephone and internet links, and in October said he was banning him from making "political statement" that jeopardised Ecuador's relations with other countries. Mr Assange then sued for a breach of his human rights.

From December, he was also due to pay for his own costs of food, medical care and laundry, in yet another sign of the growing impatience of the Ecuadorean government.

Mr Moreno added that Britain had guaranteed that the Australian would not be extradited to any country where his life is in danger.

But Mr Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack, told The Telegraph that the deal was not acceptable.

The legal team have long argued that they will not accept any agreement which risks his being extradited to the United States.

Last year Jeff Sessions, the former US attorney general, said arresting Mr Assange was a priority.

In November a filing error revealed that Mr Assange faced charges in the US - although it was not clear what those charges were.

Many speculate they would be connected to the release of classified information, and Mr Assange fears a long prison sentence in the US for what his supporters say is publishing information in the public interest.

"The suggestion that as long as the death penalty is off the table, Mr Assange need not fear persecution is obviously wrong," said Mr Pollack.

"No one should have to face criminal charges for publishing truthful information.

"Since such charges appear to have been brought against Mr Assange in the United States, Ecuador should continue to provide him asylum."

Mr Assange fled to the embassy to avoid charges of rape, sexual molestation and coercion. All charges were dropped by May 2017.

He does, however, still face charges in the UK of skipping bail.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/06/julian-assange-rejects-uk-ecuador-deal-leave-embassy/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

Luchese Crime Family Soldier Sentenced to 12 Years and Colombo Crime Family Associate Sentenced to 40 Months’ Imprisonment for Conspiring to Distribute Oxycodone

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/luchese-crime-family-soldier-sentenced-12-years-and-colombo-crime-family-associate

Doctor Convicted For Illegal Distribution Of Over 100,000 Oxycodone Pills

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/doctor-convicted-illegal-distribution-over-100000-oxycodone-pills

https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/1070785143332327424

🔵Live🔵 from outside the Embassy of #Ecuador in #London, following @Lenin Moreno’s statement on the #Assange case

https://youtu.be/IOa0ToA8NHY

Argentina: Modify Resolution on Use of Force

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/06/argentina-modify-resolution-use-force#

Hezbollah releases more photos of Israeli troops along Lebanese border

BEIRUT, LEBANON (11:00 P.M.) – Hezbollah’s official media wing released several photos from the Lebanese-Israeli border this week.

According to the official media wing of Hezbollah, their border troops observed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) digging along the border of Upper Galilee-Kafr Kila.

As shown in the photos below, the Israeli Defense Forces can be seen searching the border for the Hezbollah tunnels that are believed to be located near Kafr Kila….

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/hezbollah-releases-more-photos-of-israeli-troops-along-lebanese-border/

>>4184495

11/11 set off my priapism

it backfired

needed draining

https://twitter.com/VP/status/1070793352084447232

Transcript: NPR's Interview National Security Adviser John Bolton

In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, National Security Adviser John Bolton talks about the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, scion of a Chinese telecommunications giant, natural security threats posed by China and a second summit with North Korea.

Steve Inskeep: We'll just dive right in. But I want to start with the arrest that we learned about last night and that I presume you've known about for some time. What is the message that is sent by the arrest of Meng Wanzhou?

National Security Adviser John Bolton: Well, I'd rather not get into the specifics of law enforcement matters but, but we've had enormous concern for years about … in this country about the practice of Chinese firms to use stolen American intellectual property to engage in forced technology transfers and to be used really as arms of the Chinese government's objectives in terms of information technology in particular. So not respecting this particular arrest, but Huawei is one company we've been concerned about, there are others as well. I think this is going be a major subject of the negotiations that President Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed on in Buenos Aires.

This had been understood to involve Huawei 's dealings with Iran in some fashion. Are you saying that's not correct?

Well, I think the violations of the Iran sanctions are certainly of major concern to the Trump administration. It's one of his signature policies and I think that applies on a global basis. But with respect to a number of Chinese companies, we saw what happened with ZTE some months ago and many other issues of concern like that. And I think, as I say, as the negotiations proceed I think we're gonna see a lot about what Chinese companies have done to steal intellectual property, to hack into the computer systems, not just of the U.S. government, although they've done that, but into private companies as well.

I still don't understand, and I want to make sure that I don't come away with the wrong impression. Are you saying this is about technology transfer and intellectual property theft, or is this about Iran?

Well much of the…

This arrest specifically I mean.

Right, no, I was referring to the broader subject of our concern with Chinese companies. As I said, I don't I don't think it's appropriate to get into the specifics…

OK, understood.

of a particular law enforcement matter.

All right. Did the president know in advance that this arrest was coming?

You know, I don't know the answer to that. I knew in advance, but this is something that's, that we get from the Justice Department and these kinds of things happen with some frequency. We certainly don't inform the president on every one of them…. more here

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/673789473/transcript-nprs-interview-national-security-adviser-john-bolton?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

US tells Russia to scrap 9M729 missile or modify it — Department of State

WASHINGTON, December 6. /TASS/. Russia should return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty by either scrapping its 9M729 missile system or altering it in a verifiable manner, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson said on Thursday.

"Either you rid the system, rid the launcher or change the system where it doesn't exceed the range," she said.

http://tass.com/defense/1034798