Trump berated May for Britain not doing enough, in his assessment, to contain Iran. He questioned her over Brexit and complained about the trade deals he sees as unfair with European countries. May has endured Trump's churlish temper before, but still her aides were shaken by his especially foul mood, according to U.S. and European officials briefed on the conversation.

Britain wants to seal a deal this fall, so that Parliament has time to vote on it before the U.K. leaves the bloc on March 29. The European Parliament also has to approve any agreement, as do all 28 EU nations.

Preposterous!

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"I simply don't understand what point you are trying to make"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Let's recall: In its final position, the European Parliament had tried its utmost to avoid specifically mentioning upload filters, in order to avoid the massive public criticism of that measure. The text they ended up with, however, was even worse: It would make online platforms inescapably liable for any and all copyright infringement by their users, no matter what action they take. Not even the strictest upload filter in the world could possibly hope to catch 100% of unlicensed content.

This is what prompted YouTube's latest lobbying efforts in favour of upload filters and against the EP's proposal of inescapable liability. Many have mistaken this as lobbying against Article 13 as a whole - it is not. In Monday's Financial Times, YouTube spelled out that they would be quite happy with a law that forces everyone else to build (or, presumably, license from them) what they already have in place: Upload filters like "Content ID".

In this latest draft, the Council Presidency sides with YouTube, going back to rather explicitly prescribing upload filters. The Council proposes two alternative options on how to phrase that requirement, but they match in effect:

new demands on Britain ... a somewhat crude infographic ... trade-off between rights and obligations ... a draft deal that addressed fears of disruptive checks on the Irish land border by promising that Britain could negotiate an EU customs union ...scores more pages added to the draft treaty aimed at ensuring a "level playing field" ... "No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied."

"The ECR group in the European Parliament was founded by the UK Tories, when then Prime Minister David Cameron left the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) in 2009. ..."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

In response to a tax hike on already rising diesel prices, outraged French people, hailing predominantly from rural areas, are planning a nationwide protest on November 17. ..The demonstrations are expected to be massive: more than 850,000 [!] people signed a petition supporting the Yellow Vests...

An estimated 282,000 [!] people took part in more than 2,000 "yellow vest" protests nationwide, according to French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. ... One person was killed and 106 others injured - three critically - in accidents related to the demonstrations. ... The protests were at times tense, with security forces using teargas to disperse crowds attempting to reach the Elysée presidential palace in Paris.

The amateur nature of the protests, often spontaneous and therefore illegal, made it tricky for police, who had orders to use dialogue over force but to stop protesters from completely blocking major routes or endangering lives or property.

According to BuzzFeed News, Mr Gove was attending a roundtable meeting with individuals from the Food and Drink Federation when he was informed of the likelihood of the country running out of the popular confectionery.

As they explained to Mr Gove, two of the ingredients that are used to make Mars bars are imported and only take a few days to go off.

Therefore, should food imports be barred from entering the UK via the port of Dover in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Mars will be prevented from making the chocolate bar.

This could then lead to the country running out of all Mars bars in as little as two weeks.

Amazon will pay JBG Smith $294 million to buy two plots of land next to the Pentagon, on which the real estate investment trust will develop seven or eight new office buildings, Kelly said. The tech firm will also rent about 500,000 square feet in three existing properties, though it will probably leave some of that space once the new offices are built, Kelly said. JBG Smith expects to spend about $90 million on renovating two of the leased buildings. No tenants will be forced out as a result of Amazon moving in.

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Crystal City and Pentagon City

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Criticizing EU efforts to bypass sanctions, Hook reiterated a warning that such an EU effort sent "the wrong signal, at the wrong time."

However, he added that waivers from sanctions granted to eight* of Iran's biggest oil importers were to ensure the U.S. measures did not harm allies or raise oil prices.

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* USA Today (Nov: Italy, Greece, Japan, China, S Korea, Turkey, Taiwan, India) completes Bloomberg reporting, "The European Union as a whole won't get a waiver." Duration of the waivers is another story all together.

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EU Takes Measures to Protect Business with Iran
US Foreign Policy from Crisis to Crisis

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Carlos Ghosn: Nissan scandal slams brakes on cost killer's career

Carlos Ghosn was, until Monday, a titan of the global car industry. The first person to lead two Fortune 500 companies at the same time, he also enjoyed an almost unique position as a foreign chief executive of a major Japanese company - even gaining the honour of a manga comic book version of his life and rice sculptures of his face in bento lunchboxes sold to Japanese businessmen.

Yet in a remarkable development which has shocked the automotive industry, Ghosn will now be dismissed by Nissan on Thursday after alleged financial irregularities. Nissan did not hold back in its statement on Ghosn, accusing him and a senior colleague of "significant acts of misconduct" including understating his pay to regulators and misusing company assets. Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, both of which Ghosn also chairs, have yet to respond.

Ghosn has attracted more and more controversy for his inflated pay packages and his refusal to share power at the three car manufacturers he's been leading.

(I dare to hope that Graeber, anthropologist, PhD, will be invited to write it, since nearly no one keeps an account of the editors of these august reference titles.)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Next year's Congress will include a record number of women, while the incoming freshman class will also boast a number of firsts: The first [2] two Native American women. The first [1] Somali-American lawmaker. The first [2] two Muslim women. The first [1] Palestinian-American woman.

"This is not about me, this is not about the dynamics of any personality," the 29-year-old Latina, who toppled veteran Rep. Joseph Crowley in the New York Democratic primary, told reporters. "This is about uplifting the voice and the message of the fact we need a green new deal. ... We are here to back [Pelosi] up in pushing for 100 percent renewable energy," Ocasio-Cortez added. "This is an encouragement of her."

Along with Ocasio-Cortez, a liberal star with more than 1 million Twitter followers, it includes Abigail Spanberger, an ex-CIA operative who defeated Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) in a swing district, and Angie Craig, a former medical technology executive who won a seat in the Minneapolis suburbs. None of them are committing to backing Pelosi for Speaker.

At least 129 women were elected to serve in Congress next year -- up from 112 [+17] this current session, according to Quorum, a legislative tracking company. That includes 35 new women in the House and three in the Senate. [38?] ... Other history-makers include Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley (D), who will become the first [1] black woman to represent Massachusetts. ...California congressional candidate Young Kim appears poised to become the first [1] Korean-American woman elected to Congress.

"I just want to say, in a new era, where we are focused on talking about what's at stake for the people that we represent, I hope that kind of question is one that we never ask," Omar said at a Congressional Progressive Caucus press conference on Monday. "The same way that I hope we never continuously talk about the 'firsts.' "

After the midterm elections, coverage of the migrant caravan plummeted in the @washingtonpost and @nytimes https://t.co/CrTkWGCjiT pic.twitter.com/ADV3AYFXHl

— Media Matters (@mmfa) November 14, 2018

    The Palestinian command published a video of the strike against the bus by a Kornet anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). Since it lost dozens of tanks to ATGM attacks in the 2006 war against Hezbullah in Lebanon, the Israeli army is extremely afraid of such missiles. The arrival of these weapons in the besieged Gaza will be a serious concern.
    The Palestinians also launched over 460 artillery missiles and mortars within 25 hours. This by far exceeds the firing rate during Israel's 2014 war on the Gaza strip. Some of these missiles had a larger range then previous models. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense systems fired some 100 missiles but their accuracy is questionable and teh price high. Each Iron Dome missile costs some $65,000 while a mortar round or rocket costs a few hundred dollar. Many of the Palestinian rockets reached their targets in the Zionist settlements Ashkelon, Netivot, and Sderot.
    Israel announced only two hits on missile launching cells. It seems that the Palestinians have perfected their camouflage and remote firing capabilities.
    The rival Palestinian groups in Gaza -Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others- operated under a central command. No group claimed missile strikes for itself. In the past each volley of missiles was followed by a news statement in which this or that group claimed responsibility. This time all groups worked from a common operations room. None released responsibility claims or other information that would help Israel's intelligence.

Interesting if true. If they actually managed to significantly upgrade from bottle rockets the dynamic would change quite a bit.

Also it is astonishing how the Saudi - Qatar split is everywhere in plain site, yet remains mostly unmentioned.

MEMORABLE QUOTE: "That case has nothing to do with us."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

○ Firefighter groups: Trump's California wildfire tweet was 'shameful' and 'ill-informed'

○ California wildfires: Camp Fire kills 42 to become deadliest in state history as Trump approves major disaster declaration | The Independent |

○ 'Everything is gone': California town of Paradise mourns wildfire devastation | The Guardian |

There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018

California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2018

○ Government Shutdown: What Happens to the Los Padres National Forest?
○ California has 129 million dead trees. That's a huge wildfire risk. | Vox - Sept. 4, 2018 |

'Sapere aude'

Facebook PR strategy: Half our critics are part of a Global Jewish Conspiracy; the other half are antisemites.https://t.co/AzDF5FiP9U pic.twitter.com/2Va78PpAav

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) November 15, 2018

Pope Gregory XVI (died 1846) prevented the construction of railways in the Papal States, and was reputed to have said "chemin de fer, chemin d'enfer" ("road of iron, road of hell").[4] [6]

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"commercial sex act"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.