thank you baker….you are doing great!
Memo of misunderstanding: Trump clashes with trade adviser over China talks
Tensions between Donald Trump and one of his top trade negotiators have been brought into the open as the two disagreed publicly about the definition of a memorandum of understanding.
In a White House meeting between US officials and China’s top negotiator, which was televised and attended by journalists, Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, contradicted the president’s claim that memoranda of understanding (MOU) are non-binding.
“I don’t like MOUs because they don’t mean anything. To me they don’t mean anything. I think you’re better off just going into a document,” said Trump during Friday’s exchange.
Lighthizer, who was brought into the White House team because of his anti-China credentials, then jumped in to clarify: “An MOU is a contract, it’s the way trade agreements are generally used. People refer to it like it’s a term sheet. It’s not a term sheet it’s an actual contract between the two parties.”
Trump was unhappy with Lighthizer’s definition, saying: “By the way, I disagree, I think that memorandum of understanding is not a contract to the extent we want. We’re gonna have – we’re doing a memorandum of understanding that will be put into a final contract, I assume, but to me the final contract is really the thing … that means something.”
The two went back and forth, with Lighthizer saying they would no longer use the term “memorandum of understanding”, but would instead call it a “trade agreement”.
“Good, I like that much better,” said Trump. “I wouldn’t go into a memorandum, I would go right into a trade agreement. Either you’re gonna make a deal or you’re not. To have these other agreements doesn’t mean anything.”
Lighthizer conceded that there were still “major hurdles” before the US and China can reach a trade agreement.
Talks have continued in Washington throughout the weekend between Lighthizer, US officials and Xi’s special envoy, Liu He.
On Sunday night, Trump tweeted that the talks had been “very productive” and as a result he would delay increasing tariffs of Chinese goods and assuming both sides continued to make additional progress, he would meet Chinese president Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago to complete the agreement.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/25/memo-of-misunderstanding-trump-clashes-with-trade-adviser-over-china-talks
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims recent move explains address questions
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., scrambled Sunday to explain why neighbors at her listed Bronx address never saw her there — and ended up claiming she recently relocated to a larger place nearby.
The day after The Post reported that residents said they had never seen her around — and she ducked questions about it after an appearance — her spokesman said the Democratic freshman congresswoman now lives with her boyfriend in a two-bedroom apartment “a block and a half away.’’
The pair relocated there earlier this month, he said.
“She lives in the same neighborhood she’s lived in for years,” said the spokesman, Corbin Trent. “She is not living in the exact same condo.’’
The recent move still didn’t explain why residents at her previous digs — a one-bedroom Bronx condo owned by her mom — insisted they had never seen her there.
U.S. reps and senators are required to have a residence in their home districts.
Trent claimed that Ocasio-Cortez, 29, was at her new home Sunday afternoon, although he wouldn’t identify the address.
Ocasio-Cortez, a former bartender-turned-progressive pacesetter, literally ducked questions about her residence after an appearance Saturday in Queens. She told The Post to wait for her to pose for a photograph — then slipped out a back door and into a waiting SUV.
Ocasio-Cortez previously claimed that she has lived since 2011 in a mortgage-free, fourth-floor condo in Parkchester, which according to records was bought by her late dad, Sergio Ocasio, who died in 2008.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-claims-recent-move-explains-address-questions
Spike Lee just HAD to talk about the 2020 election….he sounded so fucking dumb.
Kinda like his outfit.
saw on twat….WTAF
you are correct. I have been waiting for it, and haven't heard anything.
strange, isn't it?
Oscars 2019: Black Panther winners make Academy Awards history
Two Black Panther crew members made Oscar history by becoming the first black winners in their categories.
Ruth Carter scooped the costume design trophy, and Hannah Beachler shared the production design prize with Jay Hart.
"This has been a long time coming," Carter said in her speech. "Marvel may have created the first black superhero but through costume design we turned him into an African king."
Fellow Oscar winner Halle Berry was one of the first to congratulate her.
Meanwhile, Beachler - who has previously worked on Moonlight, Creed and Beyonce's Lemonade - paid tribute to Black Panther director Ryan Coogler.
"I stand here stronger than I was yesterday," she told the ceremony.
"I stand here with agency and self-worth because of Ryan Coogler, who not only made me a better designer, a better storyteller, a better person.
"I stand here because of this man who gave me a different perspective of life, who offered me a safe space, who's patient and gave me air, humanity and brotherhood.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47353021
Spike Lee uses Oscar speech to denounce Trump: 'Do the right thing'
Spike Lee used his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards on Sunday night to call for the rejection of President Trump, albeit not by name.
Mr. Lee won for best original script — his first award after almost 30 years as America’s prominent black director — for “Blackkklansman” and immediately began reading a speech praising his African ancestors and how 2019 is the 400th anniversary of the arrival of forced black labor in Virginia.
But as his film, otherwise set in the 1970s, ended with real-life footage of the deadly Charlottesville riots, he concluded his speech with a call to current politics.
“The 2020 presidential election is around the corner,” he reminded the liberal-leaning audience.
“Let’s all mobilize, let’s all be on the right side of history, let’s choose love over hate, let’s do the right thing,” he told the audience, which stood in ovation as he recited the title of the incendiary 1989 film that made his name.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/24/spike-lee-calls-rejection-trump-oscar-speech/