Month: December 2019

NASA’s planned Artemis mission to the Moon in 2024 looks increasingly in doubt as the agency faces severe funding cuts from US lawmakers The proposal faces a 58 percent funding shortfall in the bill that […]

December 17, 2019 John Ganjei

LUNCHTIME POLITICS: Impeachment Backfiring? – Biden on Top – Trump’s Re-Election Numbers Up

Your Daily Polling Update for Tuesday, December 17, 2019 TRUMP JOB APPROVAL: AVERAGE 46%Up 1 from yesterday RON’S COMMENT: Since Friday, President Trump’s job rating has gone up 3 points. Looks like the impeachment process may […]

Lawmakers Reach Late Tax-Break Deal

Congressional leaders struck a tax-policy deal late Monday, capping a long weekend of negotiations with an agreement that will extend lapsed and expiring tax breaks but won’t be as expansive as many lawmakers had hoped, […]

British PM Johnson Demands EU Trade Deal by End of 2020

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use the prospect of a Brexit cliff-edge at the end of 2020 to demand the European Union gives him a comprehensive free trade deal in less than 11 months, […]

China, Russia Push for North Korea UN Sanctions Relief

A proposal by China and Russia to ease UN sanctions on North Korea increases pressure on the United States and signals what is the likely end of unified efforts to persuade Pyongyang to give up […]

Trump Campaign Says Impeachment Backfiring

President Donald Trump’s campaign has embraced Democratic-led efforts to impeach him as a major asset to his 2020 re-election campaign, betting that his supporters and disaffected political independents will be motivated to vote for him […]

Hong Kong Needs To Do More to Stop Violence, Resolve Problems, Government Claims

Hong Kong’s chief secretary, Matthew Cheung, said on Tuesday he was disappointed with recent protest violence after a period of relative calm, as the Asian financial hub geared up for more anti-government demonstrations in coming […]

Defense Bill Aims to Prevent Repeat of Hawaii False Missile Alert

A defense bill expected to be passed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday seeks to prevent local government agencies from mistakenly warning residents of a ballistic missile attack the way Hawaii did nearly two years […]

Boeing to Halt Max Production in January

Boeing got a clear message from the Federal Aviation Administration: The grounded 737 Max won’t get approval to fly again anytime soon. So the company had little choice but to idle the giant factory where […]

SpaceX Successfully Launches Heavyweight Boing Satelite, Lands Booster

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 7:10 PM ET this evening and landed the booster on its drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean after takeoff. […]

December 16, 2019 John Ganjei

LUNCHTIME POLITICS: Trump’s Trade Deals – Super Tuesday States – Issue Preferences – DC Games

Your Daily Polling Update for Monday, December 16, 2019 TRUMP JOB APPROVAL: AVERAGE 45%Up 1 from Friday RON’S COMMENT: Today’s average is based on five polls, ranging from 41% (Reuters) to 49% (Rasmussen). Without these […]

Turkey Could Close Incirlik Air Base amid U.S. Threats

Turkey could shut down its Incirlik air base, which hosts U.S. nuclear warheads, in response to threats of U.S. sanctions and a separate U.S. Senate resolution that recognized mass killings of Armenians a century ago […]

Comey Admits He Was ‘Overconfident’ When Probing Trump Campaign Members

Former FBI Chief James Comey admitted that he was “overconfident” when he defended the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to probe Trump campaign members for Russian meddling in the presidential election […]

Biden and Sanders Lead Polls in Dem Primary Field

Presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are the leading candidates in the Democratic primary field according to a new NPR/PBSNewsHour/Marist poll, the latest indication that the progressive senator from Vermont is seeing a surge in support ahead of the […]

Democrats Demand Tougher Language in NDAA on Election Security

Democrats have complained that the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which the Senate is supposed to vote for this week doesn’t go far enough to protect election security, The Hill reported. The bill includes […]

Ilhan Omar Says GOP is ‘Making a Mockery’ of U.S. Constitution

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said that GOP leaders are making a “mockery of the Constitution” with their plan to acquit President Donald Trump of his wrongdoing, and lambasted Senate Republicans for “abdicating their responsibility and their […]

‘Real Sloppiness’ in Russia Probe, Comey Claims

Former FBI Director James Comey acknowledged Sunday that a Justice Department inspector general report identified “real sloppiness” in the surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide and said he was wrong to have been “overconfident” […]

Iran Hawks Seize on Pompeo’s Senate Interest

In recent days, Iran hawks in Congress leveraged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interest in a Senate run to win a key concession from the Trump administration that could help their bid to kill the […]

Japan, South Korea Meet Over Trade Dispute

Japanese and South Korean trade officials met on Monday for the first time since Japan imposed controls on exports to its neighbor of high-technology materials, plunging testy relations between the U.S. allies into a new […]

U.S. Envoy Biegun Reaches Out to North Korea

U.S. special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, urged Pyongyang on Monday to return offers of talks, dismissing leader Kim Jong-un’s year-end deadline while highlighting Washington’s willingness to discuss “all issues of interest”, Reuters informed. […]

U.S. Exports to China to Nearly Double During ‘Phase One’

The “phase one” U.S.-China trade deal will nearly double U.S. exports to China over the next two years and is “totally done” despite the need for translation and revisions to its text, U.S. Trade Representative […]

Lavrov’s Visit to Washington Unlikely to Change U.S.-Russia Relations

Relations between Russia and the United States are in such a deep crisis that even a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was unlikely to turn the tide, said spokesman for the Russian President […]

Senator Graham Predicts Trump Impeachment ‘Will Die Quickly’

President Donald Trump’s close ally and chairman of the Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham said he is willing to use all his power to put the expected impeachment trial in the Republican-led Senate to an end […]

Trump Campaign Manager Slams Google’s Political Ads Policy as ‘Removal of Free Speech’

Last month, Google announced that it would no longer allow political advertisers to target voters on political affiliation and would only permit political groups to target ads based on “general categories”: age, gender, and general […]

Boeing Declines to Participate in Pentagon’s Multibillion-Dollar ICBM Program

Boeing refused to bid for a Pentagon tender of $85 billion to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to replace the Minuteman III, Bloomberg reports, citing a statement from the company. “Boeing is disappointed we were […]

White House Reportedly Limits Access to Trump’s Foreign Leader Calls in Wake of Ukraine Scandal

Donald Trump’s senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to the US President’s phone calls with foreign leaders, according White House sources cited by CNN, Sputnik reports. The new […]

Bernie Sanders Endorses & Un-Endorses Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur for Congress in Under 24hrs

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has retracted his endorsement of Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur for a California House seat, less than 24 hours after making it following a torrential backlash over Uygur’s “sexism,” RT […]

December 14, 2019 Focus Washington

Trump Congratulates Boris Johnson on Election Victory

President Donald Trump has extended his congratulations to Boris Johnson on his win in the United Kindom’s general election on Friday, adding that his victory will bring a potentially “massive” trade deal. Newsweek reported that […]

December 14, 2019 Focus Washington

Trump Says He ‘Wouldn’t Mind’ Long Impeachment Trial

President Donald Trump stated that he “wouldn’t mind” a long trial in the Senate if the House votes to impeach him, a break from some of his GOP allies who have said they hope to […]

December 14, 2019 Focus Washington

Treasury Lifts Sanctions on Russian Companies amid Mistaken Identity Case

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday delisted three Russian companies sanctioned over their association with a known cybercriminal, due to an apparent case of mistaken identity, Meduza reports. The companies — Vertikal, OOO, Yunikom, OOO and TSAO, […]