H.R. McMaster says Trump administration will confront Russia's "destabilizing behavior" - CBS News

CBS NEWS December 19, 2017, 8:03 AM

H.R. McMaster says Trump administration will confront Russia's "destabilizing behavior"

President Trump's national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said Tuesday that the administration is going to confront Russia's "destabilizing" behavior in terms of its efforts to meddle in U.S. affairs using propaganda and by spreading disinformation.

"The president made clear in his national security strategy and in his speech that he's going to stand up for America no matter who threatens America, and what he's asked us to do with Russia is develop an approach that does three fundamental things," McMaster said in an interview on "CBS This Morning."

First, McMaster said that Mr. Trump has tasked his administration with confronting Russia's "destabilizing behavior... in Europe, in the Middle East, in our own country where they use a sophisticated approach to propaganda and disinformation, where they try to polarize communities within democratic societies and put them against each other."

"They use advanced tools, cyber tools and social media. We're going to confront that destabilizing behavior," he added.

McMaster rejected the notion suggested by former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that Russian President Vladimir Putin is manipulating Mr. Trump.

"It's just not true. What the president has asked us to do with Russia though, as well, is to deter conflict," he said. "You see that with the peace through strength pillar in the national security strategy, but also to try to find areas of cooperation. You mentioned it up front. Russia and the United States should cooperate on North Korea. There's no way that a nuclear armed North Korea is in Russia's interest."

This comes one day after Mr. Trump outlined his national security strategy.

Full transcript below:

NORAH O'DONNELL: Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is the President's National Security Advisor, he helped in crafting this document, he joins us now from the White House. General, good morning, thank you so much for joining us.

GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you.

NORAH: Thank you. Let me just ask you about a bit of news this morning. North Korea has rejected Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's proposal for talks without preconditions. Does that mean the military option is the only one left?

MCMASTER: No, what we're doing is really applying maximum pressure to North Korea to convince Kim Jong Un that this is a dead end, this pursuit of nuclear weapons and an intercontinental ballistic missile--long range ballistic missile which of course poses a grave danger to the whole world.

So what you've seen is an effort led by the President worldwide really though to isolate that regime, to cut off not just what is restricted by the current national -- the current UN Security Council resolutions but to do more. The President has asked all nations to cut off all trade with this rogue regime which you see has never met a weapon it didn't use or proliferate or sell to somebody else. You saw that with the cyber attacks you just discussed and you saw it with the murder of Kim Jong Un's brother in a public airport with a banned nerve agent. So this is a regime that can't get this -- this destructive capability.

NORAH: One of the things that I've noticed is the President spoke with Russian President Putin several times in the last couple of weeks and yet Russia has increased its trade and its oil exports to North Korea. Did the President specifically ask Putin to stop that?

MCMASTER: Yes, the President did ask President Putin to do more. He wants all nations to do more and it just doesn't make sense that Russia would increase trade and alleviate any pressure on the North Korean regime. Of course, North Korea poses a grave direct threat to all nations including China and Russia, but what happens when North Korea gets this capability? What if other nations in the region arm in this way and that's going to be even more destabilizing and of course, as I mentioned, North Korea has never met a weapon it didn't try to sell to somebody else.

ANTHONY MASON: So General, you're saying that there's -- is there any way in which the US can coexist with a nuclear North Korea?

MCMASTER: Anthony, I don't think we can't tolerate that risk. The world can't tolerate that risk. I mean, if North Korea has a nuclear weapon, I mean, who are you going to try to prevent getting one? Look at the behavior of this regime, the hostility of this regime to the whole world.

GAYLE KING: You know, President Trump and Secretary Rex Tillerson have had some high profile disagreements. Does that undermine Rex Tillerson's capability while he's traveling overseas?

MCMASTER: No, the President has made very clear that on North Korea for example, now is not the time to talk. And what he means is, there can't be negotiations under these current conditions. The north has to show initial steps toward denuclearization and the reason for this is previous approaches to negotiating with North Korea have failed miserably. What the regime does is they enter into negotiations, all the while they continue these very destructive programs, these talks often times end in a -- in a weak agreement and then North Korea immediately violates that agreement. The problem is now that their programs have advanced so far we don't have time to do that again and so we can't repeat the failed pattern of the past.

NORAH: I know the President put out a statement about his phone call with Russian President Putin sharing intelligence, which has happened for decades. Right? If we know a terrorist attack is going to happen in another country we try and share that to prevent the loss of life but the statement was viewed as unusual by some experts and last night James Clapper who I know you know well, the former Director of National Intelligence said that Putin knows how to handle an asset and that's what he's doing with the President. What do you make of that charge?

MCMASTER: Well as the President made clear in his National Security Strategy and in his speech that he's going to stand up for America no matter who threatens America and what he's asked us to do with Russia is develop an approach that does three fundamental things. First, confront Russia's destabilizing behavior. In Europe, in the Middle East, in our own country where they use a sophisticated approach to propaganda and disinformation, where they try to polarize communities within democratic societies and pit them against each other. They use advance tools, cyber tools and social media. We're going to confront that destabilizing behavior.

GAYLE: But Mr. Clapper seems to imply that the President is being manipulated - he seems to imply that the President is being manipulated.

MCMASTER: Well it's just not true. What the President has asked us to do with Russia though as well is make sure we can deter conflict. You see that with the peace through strength pillar in the national security strategy but also to try to find areas of cooperation. You mentioned it up front. Russia and the United States should cooperate on North Korea. There's no way that a nuclear armed North Korea is in Russia's interest and the President made that clear to President Putin on the phone call.

GAYLE: All right Lieutenant General, H.R McMaster, Herbert Raymond McMaster. We thank you for joining us. It's always good to have you on this program.

NORAH: Yes, we appreciate it.

MCMASTER: Great to be with you.

6 conspiracy theories the internet thinks are true - Independent

6 conspiracy theories the internet thinks are true

Posted 19/12/2017 by Mimi Launder in offbeat

UPVOTE

Not all conspiracy theories are as ridiculous as the Flat Earth movement.

The people of Reddit put together a thread on plausible conspiracy theories that have more evidence, reason and logic on their side than the usual crackpot conjecture.

1. Was the TSA intended to just give the illusion of safety?

Created after 9/11, the TSA (Transport Security Administration) dramatically increased the number and invasiveness of airport security checks in the US.

Yet the TSA is wildly inefficient: Homeland Security officials pretending to be terrorists managed to smuggle guns and bombs onto planes 67 times out of 70.

All this has left some speculating that the organisation is just for show.

2. Don't trust Twitter and Facebook? Maybe you should add Reddit to the list.

Some think Reddit is plagued with accounts similar to the bots found on Facebook and Twitter that are designed to spread propaganda and ads.

3. A few think that Snapchat filters might not just be for fun.

However, fact-checking site Snopes called this one out as totally false.

4. Cosmopolitan sex and dating tips are weird for a reason.

There are whole subreddits and Twitter accounts dedicated to parodying and celebrating the often mystifying guidance given out by Cosmo.

5. If your phone is short-lived, ask yourself why.

It sounds both manipulative and macabre, but some are convinced that phones are designed to die.

It might not be such a crackpot theory, with University of Sydney media professor Gerad Goggin telling ABC News:

It's a concept that has been obvious for a long time in terms of a consumer society.

And there's a sense now in which the built-in obsolescence in devices is shorter than usual.

Goggin believes the tactic allows manufacturers to flog another product.

6. There's even a conspiracy theory about the danger of sharing conspiracy theories on the internet.

After the US military researched how to influence social media users, some are twitchy that the government are using threads like these to work out how close to the truth we are.

Here's what the GOP tax plan could mean for you - ABC News

Here's what the GOP tax plan could mean for you

By ABC NEWS Dec 15, 2017, 6:45 PM ET

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The more than one thousand-page tax bill released by House and Senate Republicans on Friday evening moves the needle closer to possible passage of sweeping legislation that could impact millions of Americans.

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The bill provides provisions for deep tax cuts for corporations, tax breaks for the wealthy, and what experts say are more limited benefits for middle-class Americans.

ABC NEWS

Proposed Changes to Tax Brackets

Here is what ABC News has learned will be included in that bill:

FOR BUSINESS

-- Corporate rate to 21%, down from 35% under current law. Takes effect in 2018.

--- Eliminates Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax - Had been “rolled back” but not repealed in previous versions, according to Sen. John Cornyn.

--- Pass-through deduction rate set at 20% for first $315,000 of joint income

FOR THE WEALTHY

-- Top individual rate to 37%, down from 39.6% under current law.

-- Individual Alternative Minimum Tax exemption increased to $500k for individuals, $1 million for couples filing jointly.

FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

-- Standard deduction increased from $12,700 to $24,000 (had been previously reported as $24,400) for joint returns and from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals. According to the Tax Policy Center, more than two-thirds of Americans take the standard deduction when filing taxes.

-- Tax brackets: 7 brackets + a 0% rate 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%

-- Doubles the amount of the current exemption from the Estate Tax (currently $5.5 million)

For those who ITEMIZE instead of take the standard deduction

-- State and local tax deduction capped at $10,000 combined from any/all categories (property/income/sales taxes). Current law caps property tax deduction at $1 million. There are no current caps on state/local income tax deduction.

-- Mortgage interest deduction capped at $750k, down from $1 million under current law.

-- Graduate school stipend deduction (tax-free tuition waivers) preserved.

-- Student loan interest deduction preserved.

--- Medical expense deduction is preserved. It allows Americans to deduct medical expenses not covered by insurance that exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income.

-- Child Tax Credit preserved. Expanded from $1,000 to $2,000 and refundable up to $1,400 – had previously been refundable up to $1,100 but Rubio got it raised

--- Adoption tax credit is preserved

--- Charitable giving tax deduction is preserved

--- Repeal of individual mandate requiring health insurance. According to CBO, repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate insurance could lead to 13 million more Americans without health insurance, while saving the government $338 billion in federal health insurance subsidy payments over the next decade.

Stocks surge as investors cheer corporate tax cut - CNN Money

Stocks surge as investors cheer corporate tax cut

by Paul R. La Monica @lamonicabuzz

December 18, 2017: 12:04 PM ET

Stocks surged Monday after Wall Street got its early Christmas present -- a bill that would cut taxes for many businesses and that could be signed by President Trump before the holiday.

The Dow climbed more than 200 points in early trading, or about 1%, and was above 24,850, a record high.

The Dow is up more than 25% in 2017, led by blue chips Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), Apple (AAPL), Visa (V), McDonald's (MCD) and Walmart (WMT). All those stocks have soared at least 40%.

And the Nasdaq, home to hot tech stocks like Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google (GOOGL) owner Alphabet, topped 7,000 on Monday for the first time. It is up 30% this year.

The S&P 500 also rose by about 1% and hit an all-time high. All three indexes closed at records on Friday in anticipation of the release of the tax bill by Republican congressional leaders.

The biggest boost for Corporate America would be the slashing of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. That could boost profits significantly for big banks, according to a report from Goldman Sachs.

Financial stocks, unsurprisingly, were among the biggest gainers Monday. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) each rose more than 1% shortly after the opening bell.

Businesses would also be charged a one-time low tax rate on foreign profits of 15%. That's an incentive for multinational firms to bring back cash sitting in lower-tax countries.

The hope is that this cash will be used to boost dividends and stock buybacks, build new plants in the United States and hire more workers.

The House is expected to vote on the tax bill Tuesday, and the Senate is expected to vote either Tuesday after the House or Wednesday. The bill is expected to pass on party lines.

Stocks have been rallying all year because of strong economic growth and hopes that President Trump would roll back regulations to help stimulate the economy.

Even though Trump's effort to repeal Obamacare failed in Congress, many investors had remained optimistic that Trump would strike a deal with lawmakers on taxes.

And that's one of the main reasons that the Dow is inching closer to the 25,000 milestone, after already having passed the 20,000, 21,000, 22,000, 23,000 and 24,000 levels this year.

North Korea MUST be dealt with before it develops missiles that can strike Britain, warns the Defence Secretary - Daily Mail

North Korea MUST be dealt with before it develops missiles that can strike Britain, warns the Defence Secretary

Gavin Williamson said Kim Jong-Un's nuclear programme is a real danger to UK

Said the regime is trying to develop ballistic missiles which could hit London

He vowed that Britain will work with the US and other allies to tackle the threat

By Kate Ferguson, Political Correspondent For Mailonline

PUBLISHED: 00:28 AEDT, 20 December 2017

North Korea is a 'real danger' to the UK and must be stopped before it develops missiles which can strike British soil, the Defence Secretary has said.

Gavin Williamson said the tyrannical regime is a 'massive threat' and is busy trying to develop ballistic missiles which could hit London.

And he vowed that Britain will 'never hesitate' in doing what it takes to tackle Kim Jong-Un's military aggression.

His stark warning comes just hours after Donald Trump tore into the 'nuclear menace' posed by Pyongyang.

As tensions in the region continue to bubble, Royal Navy warships are being dispatched to join the US fleet and other allies to carry out joint operations.

Gavin Williamson said North Korea is a 'massive threat' and are busy trying to develop ballistic missiles which could hit London +5

Gavin Williamson said North Korea is a 'massive threat' and are busy trying to develop ballistic missiles which could hit London

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, pictured today with members of the armed forces in Horse Guards Parade, London, made the warning after the US defence chief said 'all options' are on the table to deal with Kim Jong-Un's nuclear programme +5

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, pictured today with members of the armed forces in Horse Guards Parade, London, made the warning after the US defence chief said 'all options' are on the table to deal with Kim Jong-Un's nuclear programme

Mr Williamson said: 'North Korea is a massive threat. They are a real danger to this country.

'They are currently on the pathway to have ballistic missiles that could strike London.

'This is not just a problem for the United States. This is a global problem. Britain has to step up in terms of dealing with it.

'There are threats emerging right around the world. Britain is a global player, it's a world player. We will never hesitate to deal with aggression and threats.'

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He hinted that Britain is drawing up contingency plans in case tensions in the region spill over into open warfare.

He told the Evening Standard: 'We are always planning for the worst and hoping for the best. We are working with all our allies in the region to make sure that we continue to put pressure on North Korea.

'We've got HMS Argyll, HMS Sutherland going to the region to do operations with our allies.'

North Korean military scientists have been furiously working to put a nuclear warhead on a missile so it can strike rivals thousands of miles away.

Kim Jong-un has overseen a string of tests in recent months ans American scientists estimate that North Korea's latest missile, tested last month, could have flown 13,000 kilometres, or 8,000 miles.

This is well within striking distance of London - which is around 5,400 miles from Pyongyang.

Donald Trump has torn into the 'nuclear menace' posed by Pyongyang and pledged to deal with it +5

Kim Jong-Un is desperate to transform his poor country into a nuclear power and under his reign military scientists have been furiously working to put a nuclear warhead on a missile so it can strike rivals thousands of miles away +5

Donald Trump (pictured in Washington yesterday) has vowed to take on the nuclear threat posed by Kim Jong-Un (pictured right) - who he has mockingly dubbed 'little rocket man'

North Korean scientists have carried out a string of ballistic missile tests in the past six months- including this one in late July. The tests have sparked global fears of a potentially devatstaig nuclear war between the power and the United States

North Korean scientists have carried out a string of ballistic missile tests in the past six months- including this one in late July. The tests have sparked global fears of a potentially devatstaig nuclear war between the power and the United States

Mr Trump has vowed to take on the nuclear threat posed by Kim Jong-Un - who he has mockingly dubbed 'little rocket man'.

In a speech yesterday the US President said: 'America and its allies will take all necessary steps to ensure denuclearisation and ensure that this regime cannot threaten the world.'

And his national security adviser General HR McMaster has warned the US is prepared to 'compel' North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

Gen McMaster said 'all options' are open to Washington to take on the threat saying 'we're not committed to a peaceful [resolution] – we're committed to a resolution.'

He added: 'We want the resolution to be peaceful, but as the president has said, all options are on the table and we have to be prepared, if necessary, to compel the denuclearisation of North Korea without the cooperation of that regime.

'The chances of war, who knows what they are? They could go up or down, I think, based on what we all decide to do.

'North Korea is a grave threat to all civilised people across the globe.'

Neo-Nazis are trying to spread hatred through comedy. This isn’t funny - Guardian

19/12/2017

Neo-Nazis are trying to spread hatred through comedy. This isn’t funny

Tauriq Moosa

It’s never OK to laugh at racist jokes – this is how neo-Nazi websites, such as the Daily Stormer, try to normalise their message

@tauriqmoosa

Wednesday 20 December 2017 00.05 AEDT Last modified on Wednesday 20 December 2017 00.07 AEDT

“The unindoctrinated should not be able to tell if we are joking or not.” So states the writing guide of the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer. As expressly outlined by the leaked guide, the goal is to make the site’s ideas digestible, palatable and visible to those outside its toxic sphere. By muddying the waters of Nazis’ hate, a greater number will drink.

While none of this is surprising to those of us who have been targets of Nazis and the alt-right, it’s useful to have their goals so plainly, if disgustingly, outlined. It helps show media sites contemplating profiles of white supremacists – like Mother Jones or the New York Times – that they’re only aiding them by putting forward their unchallenged ideas.

Don't let the alt-right hijack #MeToo for their agenda

And it’s also important as it reveals how Nazis use satire, humour or “lolz” as partial immunity for their hate, allowing them tolerance from those who would (or should) otherwise repudiate it. As the guide states: “Packing our message inside of … humour can be viewed as a delivery method. Something like adding cherry flavour to children’s medicine.”

If you’re a person of colour, this might already strike a familiar chord: you’ve no doubt experienced bigotry from supposedly not racist people in the form of “humour” or “satire”. By placing bigotry in such a shell many white people seem to believe they can’t or shouldn’t be criticised. As the Daily Stormer guide says: “When using racial slurs, it should come across as half-joking – like a racist joke that everyone laughs at …”

If you’ve ever been the only person of colour at a social gathering, you’ll know what it’s like when a casual racist joke arises. “Everyone” laughs because of power dynamics, not the joke’s genius. People of colour have been told not to be hypersensitive throughout our lives, that it’s just humour, don’t be a wet sock, it’s just words, and so on. When white people wield the conch of humour, people of colour are supposed to just endure the racism that comes out and laugh at the humour encasing it. This is the model neo-Nazis view as fertile ground for spreading hate.

Bigotry obtaining immunity under the banner of humour is so widespread, there’s even a popular card game called Cards Against Humanity, centred on that premise. (The company even refers to it as “a party game for horrible people”.) This stepping over lines of decency is boastingly called being “politically incorrect” or “ironic racism”. Too many people have convinced themselves that such humour is daring for targeting marginalised groups, or somehow sending those who “do it for real”. This is exactly what neo-Nazis want. It’s lifted directly from their writing guide to make hatred digestible, to spread it via normalisation and tolerance, via claims of humour’s immunity.

Many white people have told me, sometimes proudly, that they mock all races, thus outlining a belief we’ve moved beyond racial inequality. But we haven’t: just ask the neo-Nazis and white supremacists marching openly in America’s streets, calling for the death of a group of people who aren’t like them.

Donald Trump built his platform on this idea of stepping on so-called political correctness – without really saying what the term meant. As Adam Serwer writes in a powerful essay for the Atlantic: “What Trump’s supporters refer to as political correctness is largely the result of marginalised communities gaining sufficient political power to project their prerogatives on to society at large. What a society finds offensive is not a function of fact or truth, but of power.”

It’s not that these jokes are suddenly offensive, but that marginalised groups have a little more power to be heard. Many would rather complain about “political correctness” than wonder if they might be wrong. Here’s a hint: if your view aligns with a neo-Nazi writing guide, it’s probably wrong.

It’s too easy not to care about words, jokes and actions when you’re not the one affected by it. While I’m glad most white people seem to passionately oppose Nazis, that’s not a particularly high moral bar to pass. If you believe that Nazi ideology should be opposed, you can’t just ignore the way this ideology is spread. And normalisation through humour is a key part of that.

People cannot get immunity because they couch their slurs in humour or because they believe they’re not racist, sexist or transphobic. Intention doesn’t equal reality, especially when it’s a reality lived by people unlike you. We should all be trying to figure out what counts as hurtful so we can avoid it in ourselves and use our own privilege to call it out when we see it.

Daily Stormer jumps to dark web while Reddit and Facebook ban hate groups

That’s not oversensitivity, it’s that for far too long marginalised people’s concerns weren’t factored in. Now that our concerns are heard more, it undermines the status quo of whose considerations matter. Privileged people could continue their lives unaffected by whether their jokes hurt others. As Serwer noted in the same essay, this disjunctive alignment of consideration is why Trump is more outraged over kneeling athletes than murdered black children. Only one of those categories affects him and his base.

You may not be racist, but attempts to be funny cannot give you permission to say bigoted things for effect. It’s the foot in the door true bigots need to make their hate palatable and widespread. As Louise Mirrer, the president and CEO of the New York Historical Society, noted about Nazis normalising antisemitism in children’s books: “You kind of lose the capacity to feel appalled. And then you just believe it.”

There are no such things as monsters, only people who hold monstrous beliefs. They weren’t born with those views. Someone spread them. And now we have access to a modern Nazi playbook on how they do it.

Hatred should not be normalised and only we can prevent it. The Daily Stormer uses our complacency as fertile ground to further its agenda. It’s time we learned how the seeds of hatred are spread so we can stop them from blooming.

• Tauriq Moosa is a South African writer focusing on ethics, justice, tech and pop culture