Saturday, December 10, 2016

Make America Great Again! | Donald J Trump for President

Intel world struggles to crack the code of an untrusting Trump

Trump's highly public rebukes of the U.S. intelligence apparatus will undermine morale in the spy agencies. Donald Trump's insult-laced dismissal of reports that the CIA believes Russia hacked the 2016 election to help him is rattling a spy community already puzzled over how to gain the ear and trust of the incoming president.
Some fear that Trump's highly public rebukes of the U.S. intelligence apparatus will undermine morale in the spy agencies, politicize their work, and damage their standing in a world filled with adversaries. After all, if the U.S. president doesn't believe his own intelligence officials, why should anyone else?

"There is nothing more sacred to intelligence officers than their professionalism, honesty and non-partisanship. Trump's charges strike at the core of their integrity," said John Sipher, a former CIA officer with broad expertise on Russia.
Trump, a career businessman with no national security experience, has long taken positions that have alarmed intelligence officials, such as supporting torture and suggesting that it's OK to kill the family members of terrorists.
His choice of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a man who promotes conspiracy theories on Twitter, as his national security adviser has unnerved observers. And his apparent reluctance to accept daily intelligence briefings since winning on Nov. 8 has fueled concerns that Trump will assume the presidency blind to the dangers facing the United States.
But Trump, who often speaks fondly of Russian President Vladimir Putin, really struck a nerve during the latter stages of the presidential campaign by refusing to accept the U.S. intelligence consensus that Moscow was behind cyber-attacks on U.S. election organizations. On Friday, after The Washington Post reported that the CIA believes Russia was trying specifically to help Trump, the president-elect's team compared the allegations to the flawed claims that prompted the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Trump's transition team said in a statement that made jaws drop across the intelligence world, where many blame the George W. Bush administration, not spy agencies, for selective use of the data that led to the war.
Incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Saturday called for a bipartisan congressional probe into the reports of Russian electoral interference. "That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core," the New York Democrat said.
But Republicans have remained largely quiet on the subject, possibly out of an awareness of where the president-elect stands. Even Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, who acknowledged that the notion of Russian interference was not a surprise and signaled plans to probe the matter in the next Congress, noted, "The CIA has not always been exactly right, to say the least."
Trump would not be the first U.S. president to harbor a distrust of the intelligence community, which has worked hard to restore its standing in the public eye since the invasion of Iraq and revelations of intelligence agencies use of waterboarding and other torture techniques.
Richard Nixon, for instance, was deeply hostile to the CIA, which he suspected had caused him to lose his 1960 run for the White House. But Nixon was a former vice president and lawmaker who eventually reached the White House with far more knowledge of foreign affairs and governing experience than Trump, who has spent most of his career in the real estate business.
In interviews with several former intellige
nce officials and others connected to that community in recent days, it is  found a deep wariness of what a Trump presidency will mean.
The vast majority of people who work for intelligence agencies are career professionals deeply averse to the politicization of intelligence; there's also a deep and long-running suspicion of Russia in the intelligence community that Trump is unlikely to root out.
"They don’t like the president-elect’s criticism and are even more concerned that he is skipping his intelligence briefings," Jeffress said. “The new administration will need to reassure the career professionals, who of course include Democrats and Republicans, that they will not misuse or politicize their work.”
The question of the intelligence briefings is one that some analysts are more worried about than others.
Most recent presidents-elect have welcomed the in-person daily briefings by intelligence officials as an opportunity to verse themselves in the threats facing the United States before they take office. Trump is reportedly receiving at most one such verbal briefing a week.
Meanwhile, it's not clear if Trump is reading the President's Daily Brief, the written, top secret document produced every day by the intelligence community for the serving president and designated aides and which also is available to presidents-elect. Trump transition officials did not respond to questions about whether Trump is reading the written document and how many in-person briefings he has received.
In the case of Nixon, the CIA could not convince him to take a single face-to-face briefing during his transition to the presidency, according to David Priess, a former intelligence official and author of "The President's Book of Secrets." The CIA delivered Nixon's team the written daily brief every day, but at the end of the transition period, those envelopes were all returned unopened, Priess said.
Once Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, he might feel compelled to pay more heed to intelligence issues. But already people connected to the spy world are wondering if they'll need to radically alter the way they present the information to a man known to have a very short attention span and a dislike of reading.
Trump's favored mode of communication appears to be Twitter, and he's known to watch cable news regularly. He's said in the past that he's learned a lot about military affairs by watching cable shows. People familiar with his reading habits have told that he likes information delivered in "short and staccato" bursts.Different presidents have had their preferred modes of getting the daily briefing. President Barack Obama does not take oral briefings — he prefers to read the written version, which usually runs five to 10 pages, on a special secure iPad. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, always had a daily in-person briefing, even when he was on the road, Priess said.
Some presidents want very specific information, sometimes requesting detailed paragraphs on particular countries. Others prefer pithier nuggets of information. Bill Clinton was known to like extremely short statements of analysis referred to as "snowflakes" in addition to more substantive pieces. At times, including during the Ronald Reagan era, the written brief has been supplemented with video footage.
The expectation is that Trump will prefer bullet points to paragraphs, and headlines to details. Said Priess: "I would ask the president-elect directly: In what format would you like it? We can brief it to you. We can write it for you. We can do interpretive dance if you want. Just tell us."
Some sources told that it's not a terrible thing if Trump isn't devoting half an hour each day to reading the intelligence brief or listening to a briefer. "It's a misleading metric," said Philip Mudd, a former CIA officer who verbally briefed Bush. "Some people sleep eight hours a night, some people sleep six. Different presidents absorb information in different ways."
Mudd and others added that what may prove more important is ensuring that Trump's closest aides are aware of what the intelligence community needs him to know. Vice President-elect Mike Pence, for example, is reported to be deeply interested in the intelligence briefings and may be a useful conduit to his boss.
At the same time, some of the people Trump has surrounded himself with also are a cause for concern in corners of the intelligence world. Flynn, the designated national security adviser who previously ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, is reported to have scoffed at intelligence that didn't match his opinions. Days before the Nov. 8 election, he used Twitter to spread false conspiracy theories about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump has designated GOP Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas as the next CIA director. By many accounts, Pompeo is a sharp thinker. But he's also considered one of the most partisan members of Congress. He was especially vocal in opposing the nuclear deal that the Obama administration struck with Iran. The question for many in the intelligence realm now is whether Pompeo can objectively present their work to a President Trump.
"The poster child is the Iranian nuclear program," Mudd said. "I can guarantee you CIA people are saying, 'We’re worried he will shift our analysis on whether Iran is complying with the agreement or not or if he will he put his own spin on it'."But even if Trump surrounds himself with highly competent professionals, even if he feels pushback from Congress, even if he is attacked in the press, he still has tremendous power in intelligence matters."He’s a 70-year old billionaire whose entire approach to life was just rewarded. And his approach to life is to not accept facts he disagrees with and attack people who present facts that are inconvenient to him," said Matthew Miller, a former Obama administration Justice Department spokesman who has been highly critical of Trump. "I don’t know why on earth someone thinks he’ll change just because he takes office. There’s zero evidence he’s going to change."Some sources affiliated with the intelligence community also are quietly voicing concerns about Trump's ability to keep classified information secret, given his habit of going off-script. He uses Twitter to post his unvarnished opinions regularly. And as president, he'll be dealing with enormous amounts of information, some of it top secret, some of it not, a regular basis. It's difficult for anyone to compartmentalize all of that data.It's entirely possible that, if they haven't already, foreign countries will analyze Trump's tweets and public statements and compare them to his calendar to try to see if there are patterns that could offer hints about U.S. national security.But would it be proper for an intelligence officer to withhold information from Trump if he's worried about what he'll do with it?
No, some observers said.
"He’s the president. He gets the best we have to offer," Mudd said. "No intelligence officer would say, 'I’m not offering the best we have to the president of the United States.' We weren’t elected. They were."

Lionel Messi at the double as Barcelona cruise to win over Osasuna

Saturday, 11th December

Osasuna0

Home team scorers
 

Barcelona3

Away team scorers
Luis Suarez 59
Lionel Messi 72
Lionel Messi 90 +1:32
Barcelona put pressure on the La Liga leaders Real Madrid by picking up their first win in four league games as two second-half strikes from Lionel Messi and one from Luis Suárez secured a 3-0 win at struggling Osasuna on Saturday.

The champions missed a slew of chances in a dominant first-half display but their class eventually shone through when Suárez tapped Jordi Alba’s neat cutback into an empty net in the 52nd minute to break the deadlock.

Suárez had earlier struck the post with a low shot after swivelling away from his marker, Iván Márquez, inside the box. Osasuna later hit the woodwork themselves, when Sergio León drove towards goal after racing away from Samuel Umtiti before his delicate chip evaded the Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen but not the crossbar.

Messi sealed the points in the 72nd minute by finishing off another pass from Alba and in stoppage time the Argentina striker toyed with the Osasuna defence to grab the third and move ahead of Suárez and Cristiano Ronaldo as the league’s top scorer with 11 goals.

“We had a lot of chances and we knew that as soon as we got ahead it would open up. Fortunately, we were able to see out the game,” Suárez told reporters. “We can’t give up the fight, we’re Barça and we’re title candidates, we won’t give up whether we’re five, six or seven points behind.”

Barcelona remain second in the standings and provisionally moved three points behind Real, who host Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday evening hoping to set a club record of 35 games unbeaten in all competitions.

Pros and Cons of Cashless Economy in India : NARANDRA MODI'S CHANGING STEP

Pros and Cons of Cashless Economy in India

Everyone is facing huge problem when it comes to shortage of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
Why do we have to face this problem?
Is it by default or by design? Is our government doing the right thing?
Is cashless economy going to benefit this country? Or it is just for rich and poor have to suffer.
We debate all this and many other things in following article.

What is a Cashless Economy?

In a cashless economy most of the transaction will be done by digital means like e banking, debit and credit cards, PoS (point of sales) machines, digital wallets etc.
Cashless Economy
In simpler words no liquid money or paper currency will be used by the people in a given country.
In a cashless economy the third party will be in possession of your money.
He will allow you to transact that money whenever it is needed. If it is not needed then the third party can use that money.
Third party can be a government or any other public or private sector bank.

Why this Debate Now?

It is almost a month since Modi government banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 note.
In the beginning people thought that this is a great idea and the country will become corruption free. But as the time passes people are getting weary about the ban.
Huge problems and pain that they have to go through each day, do they worth it?
Is the cashless economy the way forward? Both sides, people who favor cashless economy and people who don’t are putting their arguments forward.
So this is the right time for the country to have a debate whether cashless economy is good or bad for the country.

Pros of a Cashless Economy

Let us start with advantages of cashless economy.

Positive Impact on Society

We are seeing the impact of cashless economy on the society when it comes to crime rates.
According to Union defense minister after demonetization the crime rates in Mumbai has dropped to half.
Not just Mumbai but Delhi is seeing a substantial decline in crimes related to financial motive.
Bank robbery, burglary, extortion etc are declining because of demonetization.

Attack on Parallel Economy

This is one of the most important reasons why a cashless society is must.
People who hoard money under their bed (also known as black money), people who launder money bypassing banking channels, terrorist who need money to finance their terror etc will run out of business now.
Size of Parallel economy will reduce substantially.

Financial Inclusion

Digital economy will help to enhance our current banking system. There will be increased access to credit for people who did not fall in any banking network.
Financial inclusion will automatically reduce poverty.

Increase the Tax Net

All the transactions that are done can be monitored and traced back to a given individual.
If officials from tax department smell something fishy then they can trace the money transaction back to the individual.
Hence it will be really difficult for someone to evade tax. Increasing tax net is very important for any government.

Boost in Consumption

There would be no incentive for people keeping money in the bank. So they would love to spend on things that they like.
It will help to boost consumption that is really good for any economy. More jobs will be created and income level of people will rise.

Security and Convenience

Last but not the least is security and convenience. You don’t have to carry a wallet with money in it.
You just use your mobile phone or credit card for transaction. It is very hassle free and already going on in urban areas of the country.

Cons of a Cashless Economy

Well we also have to look other side of the picture.

Security – Cyber Attack, Fraud and Power Outages

Cashless economy can be a nightmare when it comes to security. All your transactions will be done digitally.
You will be prone to cyber attacks like hacking. Hackers can hack your sensitive information like password, credit card number etc and leave your account with no money.
Even your personal computer is compromised. You can save yourself from fraud but it is very difficult to save from a cyber attack.
Finally if there is a power outage especially in India which is very regular then entire system will be affected for long time.

Have to Trust Government or Third party

As I said earlier there is no money in your hand. All the money is digital so either they are in control of banks or government or any other third party.
You have to trust government or bank blindly because everything is under their possession. This is could be scary because if tomorrow something happens you will be left with no hard cash.

Reduced Liquidity means Bad for Certain Sectors

There are certain sectors which depend upon high level of transaction.
Sectors like Real Estate, jewelry, retail industry, restaurants and eating joints, cement and other SME will be affected badly because of cashless society.
It means a lot people who are employed by these sectors are also going to be affected.

Really Bad for Poor

This is the real point and will be debating this in great details in following paragraph. Here I just want to say cashless economy is really going to hurt poor.

Rich Vs Poor Debate

The whole debate about cashless economy revolves around rich versus poor.
Here we are not talking about Sweden or Denmark but India.
Still people in this country struggle to meet their basic needs like food, cloth and shelter.
Over half of the population does not fall in any banking network. They still have to depend upon hard cash for meeting their basic needs.
Recently over 80 people have died because of demonetization. You can imagine the impact if country decides to go completely cashless.
Poor people have to suffer a lot because they will not be covered.
On the other hand people living in urban areas will benefit because the cashless economy is for them.
Government has to be inclusive and include all sections of society before they go for a cashless economy.
Otherwise poor which is more than 50% of the country will reject cashless economy and government has to suffer set back in coming elections.
So you can conclude by saying cashless economy is good if it is inclusive otherwise it is really bad.

How Far are We From Becoming a Cashless Society?: A Ground Reality

Before we dream of becoming a cashless economy we have to face many realities. Here are some of them.

1. Half of the Population Does not Fall in Any Banking System

As I said earlier 50% of Indians are not covered by any banking system so how you can think of cashless economy.

2. Limit Internet Penetration

In India there are over 350 million internet users. The internet penetration rate is just 27% which is very low compared to countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Indonesia etc.
It has to be at least 67% which is global median.

3. Limited Smartphone Penetration

Only 17% of Indians use smartphones which is very low if you want to become a cashless economy.

4. Limited Smartphone with Broadband Subscription

Only 15% of Indians have internet on their smartphone. So it will be only 154 million people with broadband on their smartphones.

5. Internet Speed

The internet loading speed is very slow. The average page load time in India is 5.5 seconds whereas in China is just 2.6 seconds.

6. Limited PoS Machines

PoS machines (Point of sales) are must for any cashless transactions. However in India there are only 1.46 million PoS machines. It means only 856 machines per million people which is very low compared to China where it is 4000 machines per million people.
After reading above 6 points you will conclude India lacks infrastructure for a cashless economy. So it is going to be long time when India thinks of becoming a cashless economy.

Where Government and Society Stands on Cashless Economy?

Government is taking measures to increase liquidity into the system so that people face less inconvenience.
Recently RBI launched Unified Payments Interface which makes digital transaction very simple.
Government is also trying to improve overall infrastructure so that more and more people can come into banking net and internet.
Society has also to play its part. They have to understand the importance of cashless economy and appreciate measures taken by the government.

England vs India: a great match

England in India, 5 Test Series, 2016 - 4th Test

England
400(130.1)
India
451/7*(142.0)
  • IND lead by 51 runs - Stumps
Virat Kohli and Jayant Yadav will look to continue from where they left off on day three, as India chase down England's huge first innings total of 400 runs at the Wankhede
  • England 1st Innings
  • India 1st Innings
BATTING
R
B
4S
6S
Lokesh Rahul b Moeen Ali
24
41
4
0
Murali Vijay c & b Adil Rashid
136
282
10
3
Cheteshwar Pujara b Jake Ball
47
104
6
0
Virat Kohli* Not Out
147
241
17
0
Karun Nair lbw b Moeen Ali
13
18
2
0
Parthiv Patel c Jonny Bairstow b Joe Root
15
31
1
0
Ravichandran Ashwin c Keaton Jennings b Joe Root
0
3
0
0
Ravindra Jadeja c Jos Buttler b Adil Rashid
25
46
2
1
Jayant Yadav Not Out
30
86
3
0
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 
Umesh Yadav 
Extras: 14(B: 5, LB: 7, NB: 0, WD: 2, P: 0)
451/7(142.0)
BOWLING
O
M
R
W
James Anderson
15
5
43
0
Chris Woakes
8
2
34
0
Moeen Ali
45
5
139
2
Adil Rashid
44
5
152
2
Jake Ball
14
5
29
1
Ben Stokes
8
2
24
0
Joe Root*
8
2
18
2
FALL OF WICKETS
 
Lokesh Rahul 
1-39 (14)
Cheteshwar Pujara 
2-146 (52.2)
Murali Vijay 
3-262 (87.4)
Karun Nair 
4-279 (94.1)
Parthiv Patel 
5-305 (102.4)
Ravichandran Ashwin 
6-307 (104.1)
Ravindra Jadeja 
7-364 (117.5)