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John Bolton, a former United States ambassador to the UN and ex-White House national security adviser, has admitted in an interview he had helped plan coups in foreign countries. Bolton made the remarks during a CNN-interview with anchor Jake Tapper in which he also suggested that former US president Donald Trump was not competent enough to pull off a "carefully planned coup d’etat". Bolton casually said: "As somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat – not here but, you know, [in] other places – it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what he [Trump] did." When pressed on which attempts he was referring to, Bolton said that he was "not going to get into the specifics," before he mentioned Venezuela. "It turned out not to be successful. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed," Bolton said. "I feel like there’s other stuff you’re not telling me [beyond Venezuela]," the CNN anchor said, prompting a reply from Bolton: "I’m sure there is." We all knew about this, of course, it's more of a confirmation than anything else. But it's still shocking to hear a former US official so casually admit to these things. And it's a shame that his remarks haven't received more media attention in the US and around the world.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is apparently using outright Nazi symbols in its online messaging and advertisements. In one of his online campaigns on Facebook that was attacking leftists, Antifa, and people participating in Black Lives Matter protests against police violence, white supremacy and right-wing terrorism actually involved a downward red triangle. That is the same symbol that the Nazis used in their concentration camps to label communists, trade unionists, and political dissidents. Those online ads have since been removed by Facebook. Washington Post reported that Facebook, after they started receiving attention from media outlets, “deactivated dozens of ads” from the Trump campaign with the inverted triangle for violating its policy against organized hate: Trump’s re-election campaign is also selling an official Trump and Pence "America First" tee which – if not a down-right copy – is heavily inspired by the Iron Eagle, which was the official symbol of the Nazi party in Germany (see comparison below). "America First" is also a slogan that was popularized by the antisemitic and fascist America First Committee, launched in 1940 to prevent US involvement in World War Two.

US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order authorizing sanctions against anyone involved in an International Criminal Court investigation of US war crimes in Afghanistan. Trump authorises sanctions against ICC officials WWW.ALJAZEERA.COM US says it will punish court workers investigating alleged war crimes by US forces and their allies including Israel. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has also made it clear that the executive order is also designed to protect Israel and their occupation forces in the West Bank and Gaza from any potential war crime investigations. To be honest, this important news story has flown under my radar during all these Black Lives Matter protests. It raises serious concerns but is undoubtedly just another example of blatant US imperialism and Trump's dismantling of international order and co-operation. But before we put all the blame on Trump, let's remember that there has been US opposition to the ICC since the start. The ICC was created in 2002 to promote international humanitarian law and punish war crimes and crimes against humanity, over 120 countries - including some of Americas closest allies in Europe - have signed and ratified the treaty. Former US President Bill Clinton did sign the treaty but refused to ratify it in the Senate, effectively making it useless, claiming that the US needed to assess the court’s operations before joining. Later, George Bush refused to join the ICC.

We all know that Donald Trump is a big liar, but Trump is actually more than a liar, he is a pathological liar. In fact, Trump lied and/or made "false and misleading claims" more than 8000 times during his first two years as President. And he continues to lie unabated. During his first year as president, Trump averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day. And during his second year, Trump made nearly 16.5 false or misleading statements (read: lies) every single day. President Trump made 8,158 false or misleading claims in his first two years WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM That's insane!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-dow-jones-stock-market-falls-20180205-story.html Looks like we are finally seeing some of the market corrections that people have been waiting for. To be fair, the Dow Jones is still about 4,000 points above where it was at this time last year. The stock market was one of the few places where Trumpists claimed victory (despite not actually having much directly to do with this phenomenon) and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues and how it affects his remaining base. Some on the right are chiding liberals for being too alarmist (and getting too excited) over this drop, and fully anticipate that the market will continue to grow at unsustainable rates.

Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, criticizes US President Donald Trump's tariff proposal while standing right next to Trump at a press conference. Sweden's prime minister takes a shot at Trump's tariffs while standing right next to Trump, Business Insider reports. Watch the video: ThinkProgress has more on this: Swedish prime minister criticizes Trump’s tariff proposal right in front of him Also this: Trump responded by saying tariffs would be imposed in a "loving, loving way." Say what!? I'm just happy our prime minister didn't make a complete fool of himself.