Iran's Rouhani rejects talks with Washington

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected talks with the United States on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said Iran would call and ask for negotiations “if and when they are ever ready”. Tehran and Washington have escalated rhetoric against each other in recent weeks as the United States has tightened sanctions with what it says is the goal of pushing Iran to make concessions beyond the terms of its 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump withdrew the United States a year ago from the deal between Iran and global powers, under which Tehran curbed its uranium enrichment capacity, a potential pathway to a nuclear bomb, and won sanctions relief in return. Trump restored U.S. sanctions on Iran last year and extended them this month, ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil or face sanctions of their own. Iran has repeatedly rejected any further negotiations as long as the United States remains outside the nuclear pact.

“Today’s situation is not suitable for talks and our choice is resistance only,” state news agency IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying. Trump said on Monday that Iran would be met with “great force” if it attempted anything against U.S. interests in the Middle East. He said reports Washington was trying to set up talks were false, but “Iran will call us if and when they are ever ready”. Critics have accused Trump of sending mixed signals. Last week three U.S. officials told Reuters that Trump had told his top advisers he does not want war with Iran.

Iran has portrayed the hot and cold rhetoric as evidence Trump is being goaded into war against his better judgment by hardline aides such as National Security Adviser John Bolton. “Right after threatening Iran, they were forced to say they do not seek a war,” Rouhani said in televised remarks on Tuesday. “Iranians will never bow to a bully.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-rouhani/irans-rouhani-rejects-talks-with-washington-idUSKCN1SR046?il=0

North Korea warns U.S. over seized ship at rare U.N. news conference

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea stepped up its campaign on Tuesday for the United States to return a seized cargo ship belonging to Pyongyang, warning Washington that it had violated its sovereignty in a move that could affect “future developments” between the countries. North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Kim Song held a rare news conference at the United Nations in New York to demand the immediate return of the ship, which the United States said earlier this month it had seized over accusations it was used for coal shipments in violation of U.S. and U.N. sanctions.

“The United States should deliberate and think over the consequences its outrageous act might have on the future developments. Also the United States must return our cargo ship without delay,” Kim said. “We regard it as part of our territory where our sovereignty is fully exercised.” He said the seizure of the ship, known as the “Wise Honest,” defied the spirit of a statement by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after their first meeting in Singapore in June 2018. They pledged to build new ties between their countries and work toward North Korea’s denuclearization. The U.S. Justice Department earlier this month said the ship was seized and impounded to American Samoa. The vessel was first detained by Indonesia in April 2018.

A second meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un in Hanoi broke down in February. With talks on denuclearization stalled, North Korea went ahead with more weapons tests this month. The tests were seen as a protest by Kim Jong Un after Trump rejected his calls for sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit. The U.N. Security Council has unanimously strengthened sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products. “We will carefully watch every move of the United States,” said Kim. Kim wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday to ask him to take “urgent measures” over the issue. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that the letter had been received. “We’re taking a look at it. The issue of sanctions, the implementation of sanctions, the interpretation of sanctions, is really a matter for the U.N. Security Council to decide and to discuss,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-un/north-korea-warns-u-s-over-seized-ship-at-rare-u-n-news-conference-idUSKCN1SR21J?il=0

California sues Trump administration over high-speed rail funds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California on Tuesday sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court after the U.S. Transportation Department confirmed it would withhold $929 million in high-speed rail funding awarded to the state in 2010. California later on Tuesday plans to seek a temporary restraining order request asking a judge to prevent the U.S. Transportation Department from repurposing the money, the governor’s office said.

The state will argue that the withholding is aimed at punishing California for opposing President Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the southern U.S. border. The suit also names Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)and FRA chief Ron Batory. The Trump administration moved to end funding after California Governor Gavin Newsom said in February the state would scale back the planned $77.3 billion high-speed rail project after cost hikes, delays and management concerns, but would finish a smaller section.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the project. In a speech last week, Trump recounted that he had said “Elaine, it’s over for them” to Chao about the California project. The move marked the latest in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and California over a series of issues including immigration, vehicle emissions standards and internet policy. The most populous U.S. state has repeatedly sued the Trump administration and officials had expected the state would sue over the rail funding. The U.S. Transportation Department declined to comment on the suit. The FRA, the U.S. railway regulator said last week it had canceled the funding agreement after it said the state failed to make “reasonable” progress on the project.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-rail-suit/california-sues-trump-administration-over-high-speed-rail-funds-idUSKCN1SR295

>>6552318

The clowns will do their best to try and make the general public believe it.

Federal Efforts to Secure Key Cities From Mass Terror Attack Found Faulty

Report: DHS 'does not have assurance that cities can sustain threat detection and deterrence'

A federal investigation into a nationwide program to secure America's top cities from a mass terror attack has found that the Department of Homeland Security has not adequately tracked local progress in detecting threats and cannot provide assurances that cities participating in the program can sustain efforts to thwart terror attacks. Since June 2018, several large cities have received nearly $145 million in federal dollars to purchase detection equipment and other devices that could help local law enforcement detect nuclear and radiological materials, which the federal government has deemed a top national security matter. However, DHS—which operates the program—has not adequately tracked how dollars are spent, nor has the agency developed methods to ensure that these key cities can sustain detection efforts aimed at stopping a weapon of mass destruction if a terrorist deployed it.

With the Trump administration's Justice Department charging would-be terrorists in the United States at a quickening rate, detection efforts have become all the more important for major cities. Federal investigators are now warning DHS that it must make a greater effort to help these cities sustain their threat detection abilities. "DHS does not have assurance that cities can sustain threat detection and deterrence capabilities gained through the" Securing the Cities program, also known as STC, according to a new report issued by federal oversight investigators.

"DHS has not enforced planning requirements for sustaining those capabilities and has taken limited action to help cities do so, although encouraging sustainment is one of its primary program goals." Local officials from at least five cities participating in the program told federal investigators "they anticipate funding challenges that will adversely impact their ability to sustain capabilities over time," the report warns. "For example, several city officials said they cannot rely on other DHS or federal grant programs or local sources of funding once STC funding ends." "Unless DHS analyzes risks related to sustainment, works with cities to address these risks, and enforces sustainment-planning requirements for cities in the program in the future, program participants could see their radiological detection programs and related capabilities deteriorate," the report states.

In addition to funding and organizational challenges, DHS's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, or CWMD, "does not have assurance that cities can sustain threat detection and deterrence capabilities gained through the STC program, and cities anticipate funding challenges once STC program funding ends," according to the report. "Specifically, CWMD has not enforced sustainment planning requirements and has taken limited action to help cities sustain their capabilities, even though encouraging sustainment is one of its primary program goals. Cities anticipate funding challenges that will adversely affect their ability to sustain capabilities after the program."

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/federal-efforts-to-secure-key-cities-from-mass-terror-attack-found-faulty/

COMBATING NUCLEAR TERRORISM DHS Should Address Limitations to Its Program to Secure Key Cities

https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/699035.pdf

The New York Times Substantially Rewrites ‘Scoop’ About Trump’s EPA. Doesn’t Issue A Correction

The New York Times made substantial changes to an article claiming the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will use new modeling that minimizes projected deaths from air pollution. The “scoop,” based on anonymous sources, initially reported new pollution modeling would be used to justify the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which is set to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan aimed at fighting climate change. The Times, however, did not issue a correction as of Tuesday morning, despite making substantial edits to the initial story. A top EPA official told The Times the cost-benefit analysis for ACE would include multiple methodologies for assessing public health impacts, not just one new model.

Republicans and conservative activists have long argued EPA in the past misused pollution modeling to justify further government intervention. In particular, EPA critics argue the agency’s inclusion of “co-benefits” from reducing small particulate matter — levels of which already meet agency air quality standards — in its regulatory analysis overstates public health benefits of cutting emissions. EPA issued a statement to reporters countering NYT’s initial reporting. “To be clear, there is no new methodology related to particulate matter included in the cost-benefit analysis accompanying the final Affordable Clean Energy rule,” said EPA spokesman James Hewitt. “EPA sets national ambient air quality standards at a level that protects public health with a margin of safety,” Hewitt said. “A longstanding and important question is how much benefit is derived by further reducing ambient levels below the national standards.”

Past reports indicate EPA has been working to clamp down on the use of “co-benefits” for at least the last year or so. EPA has pushed for using public scientific data and revising the so-called “social cost of carbon” estimate. Citing five anonymous current and former EPA officials, The Times reported Monday that EPA will “adopt a new method for projecting the future health risks of air pollution, one that experts said has never been peer-reviewed and is not scientifically sound.” The modeling change was “unusual because it discards more than a decade of peer-reviewed E.P.A. methods and relies on unfounded medical assumptions,” The Times initially reported. Sources said the “new modeling method would be used in the agency’s analysis of the final version of the ACE rule, which is expected to be made public in June,” The Times reported. “William L. Wehrum, the E.P.A. air quality chief, acknowledged in an interview the new method would be part of the agency’s final analysis of the rule.”

The Times report set off alarm bells among environmental activists who oppose any changes to how EPA cost-benefit analyses. Late Monday, however, The Times added that Wehrum’s “aides later said the matter had not been settled.” Wehrum seemed to have eventually cleared up the confusion with The Times. The paper altered its report to say: “Asked on Monday whether the new method would be included in the agency’s final analysis of the rule, William L. Wehrum, the E.P.A. air quality chief, said only that the final version would include multiple analytical approaches in an effort to be transparent. He said the agency had made no formal change to its methodology.” EPA’s Hewitt said no methodology change would be made until it had undergone peer-review. “No change to this scientific method will be made unless and until the new approach has been peer reviewed,” Hewitt said in a statement. “EPA is constantly evaluating approaches to improve transparency and communicate uncertainty regarding costs and benefits of its regulatory actions.”

“The Affordable Clean Energy rule would result in significant reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases as well as precursors of particulate matter and ozone from the power sector,” Hewitt said. Times reporter Lisa Friedman did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/05/21/the-new-york-times-substantially-rewrites-scoop-about-trumps-epa-doesnt-issue-a-correction/

>>6552424

Great Catch Anon!

>>6552431

Aren't you a word smith!

>>6552732

Mighty satisfied with yourself as well..interesting.

>>6552779

Triggered and pissed are you…good! You could make better use of your time and help rather than spew your vulgar attitude around here.

>>6552813

I smell and see your attitude..words have nothing to do with it…Everything you stand for is negative. I hope that you like what you see when you look in the mirror. Everyone needs someone sometime. I hope you are well stocked!