Kim open to another summit with Trump, with conditions
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he is open to a third summit with President Donald Trump, but set the year's end as a deadline for Washington to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy, the North's state-run media said Saturday.
Kim made the comments during a speech Friday at a session of North Korea's rubber stamp parliament, which made a slew of personnel changes that bolstered his diplomatic lineup amid stalemated negotiations with the United States. His speech came hours after Trump and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in Washington and agreed on the importance of nuclear talks with North Korea.
"We of course place importance on resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations. But U.S.-style dialogue of unilaterally pushing its demands doesn't fit us, and we have no interest in it," Kim said during the speech.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, Kim blamed the collapse of his summit with Trump in February on what he described as unilateral demands by the United States, which he said raised questions over whether Washington has genuine willingness to improve relations. But Kim said his personal relationship with Trump remains good and that they could exchange letters at "any time."
Trump responded to the remarks by saying he agreed with Kim about their relationship, and also expressed a desire for another summit.
"I agree with Kim Jong Un of North Korea that our personal relationship remains very good, perhaps the term excellent would be even more accurate, and that a third Summit would be good in that we fully understand where we each stand," Trump wrote on Twitter.
"North Korea has tremendous potential for … extraordinary growth, economic success and riches under the leadership of Chairman Kim. I look forward to the day, which could be soon, when Nuclear Weapons and Sanctions can be removed, and then watching North Korea become one of the most successful nations of the World!" he tweeted.
In his speech, Kim repeated earlier claims that North Korea's crippled economy would persevere through heavy international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons program and that he wouldn't "obsess over summitry with the United States out of thirst for sanctions relief."
The United States has said the summit in Vietnam broke down because of the North's excessive demands for sanctions relief in return for limited disarmament measures. In their first summit last June in Singapore, Trump and Kim issued a vague statement calling for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing when or how it would occur.
Kim said the United States has been refusing to withdraw what the North perceives as "hostile policies" while sticking to "mistaken judgment that we would succumb to maximum pressure." He said the North would not compromise on the "fundamental interests of our country and people, even by a speck," and blamed the United States for arriving in Hanoi with "completely unrealizable plans."
"If the United States approaches us with the right manner and offers to hold a third North Korea-U.S. leaders' summit on the condition of finding solutions we could mutually accept, then we do have a willingness to give it one more try," Kim added. "We will wait with patience until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a courageous decision. But it will clearly be difficult for a good opportunity like last time to come up."
Kim also during the speech made a nationalistic call for South Korea to support the North's positions more strongly and criticized Seoul for acting like an "overstepping mediator" between Washington and Pyongyang. Kim held three summits last year with Moon, who lobbied hard to revive the nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea. Following the collapse of the Trump-Kim summit, the North had been urging the South to break away from Washington and proceed with inter-Korean economic projects that are currently held back by U.S.-led sanctions against the North.
"The South should not act as an 'overstepping mediator' or a 'facilitator' and should rather get its mind straight as a member of the (Korean) nation and boldly speak up for the interest of the nation," Kim said.
When asked about Kim's comments, South Korea's presidential office said Seoul is committed toward keeping the atmosphere of dialogue alive and helping negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang resume at an early date.
https://www.newser.com/article/732c44609d844ba7a5288ade43bf90bd/kim-open-to-another-summit-with-trump-with-conditions.html
So #IStandWithIlhan is trending on twatter
Trump tweets video edited to suggest Omar dismissive of 9/11
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump weighed in Friday on the most recent controversy involving Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, retweeting video edited to suggest that the Minnesota congresswoman was dismissive of the significance of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The video pulls a snippet of Omar’s speech last month to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in which she said “some people did something” as she made a comment about discrimination against Muslims following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The video in the president’s tweet repeatedly splices the line in between news footage of the hijacked planes hitting the twin towers.
Trump tweeted, “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!”
Neither Trump's tweet nor the video includes her full quote or the context of her comments.
Omar told CAIR in Los Angeles that many Muslims saw their civil liberties eroded after the attacks, and she advocated for activism.
“For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it,” she said in the March 23 speech. “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
Omar's remark has drawn criticism largely from political opponents and conservatives who say the congresswoman, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress, offered a flippant description of the assailants and the attacks on American soil that killed nearly 3,000 people and pointed the U.S. toward war.
CAIR was founded in 1994, according to its website, but its membership increased dramatically after the attacks.
Many Republicans and conservative outlets expressed outrage at Omar's remarks.
"First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something,'" tweeted Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a retired Navy SEAL who lost his right eye in 2012 in an explosion in Afghanistan.
"Here's your something," the New York Post blared on its cover beneath a photograph of the flaming towers.
The Minnesota Democrat has defended herself online and a hashtag popularized by supporters, #IStandWithIlhan, trended on Twitter on Friday night.
Omar tweeted a quote from former President George W. Bush shortly after the attacks, when he said: "'The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"
"Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack?" Omar tweeted. "What if he was a Muslim."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to hear from Omar about the comment.
A pair of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates waded into the debate to condemn Trump's tweet and to stand with Omar.
"She won't back down to Trump's racism and hate, and neither will we," Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted.
"The president is inciting violence against a sitting congresswoman — and an entire group of Americans based on their religion," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote, also on Twitter.
Attention focused on Omar’s comments has divided Democrats in recent episodes, over Israel and the power of the Jewish state’s influence in Washington. She apologized for suggesting that lawmakers support Israel for pay and said she isn’t criticizing Jews. But she refused to take back a tweet in which she suggested that American supporters of Israel “pledge allegiance” to a foreign country.
Those comments sparked a disjointed response by House Democrats, who pushed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism that became a broader declaration against all forms of bigotry.
https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Trump-tweets-video-edited-to-suggest-Omar-dismissive-of-911–508531521.html
I feel like she is an actress playing a role I really don't think she is really what she is portrayed as.
I feel part of her role is to re-introduce 9/11 to the public,
so the TRUTH can soon be released….slowly,//
SpaceX news: NASA and Elon Musk team up for mission to CRASH into asteroid
The space agency has instructed the help of Elon Musk’s aerospace company with the first-ever attempt to deflect an asteroid by purposely crashing into it. At an astonishing cost of £53 million ($69 million) the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will look to divert any asteroid which threatens the earth’s atmosphere. DART will launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in June 2021.
By October 2002 the spacecraft will attempt to crash into a “Didymoon” which is 540-foot-wide (165 meters) at a speed of 13,500 mph (6 km per second).
The collision is expected to take place when the rock comes within 6.8 million miles (11 million km) of Earth and redirect its course.
The space agency added: “The DART spacecraft will achieve the kinetic impact by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6 km/s, with the aid of an onboard camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software.
“The collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one percent, enough to be measured using telescopes on Earth.”
Mr Musk shared his delight at the news on Thursday, he wrote on Twitter: "Thanks on behalf of the SpaceX team.”
He added: “We love NASA!”
This comes as Mr Musk’s SpaceX send the world's most powerful rocket on its first commercial flight on Thursday.
The SpaceX launch delivered a Saudi Arabian satellite into space and for the first time ever all three Falcon Heavy rocket boosters returned to Earth after the launch.
Mr Musk shared photos of the landing on Twitter, he said: “The Falcons have landed.”
Meanwhile NASA wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations to @SpaceX on today’s successful launch and landing of the Falcon Heavy rocket!
“From our iconic launch pads at @NASAKennedy, we will continue to support the growing commercial space economy.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1113826/space-launch-nasa-SpaceX-science-news-elon-musk-Double-Asteroid-Redirection-Test
https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1117058043571621888