Free Republic

ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company with a record of systemic corruption, is bidding for major contracts in Australia, including Telstra's 5G mobile network and a transport contract in Western Australia, even after being criminally sanctioned in the United States. An investigation by Fairfax Media has found ZTE not only paid $US12.8 million ($17 million) in bribes to secure one contract in West Africa, but had a designated internal department and multiple layers of management to approve these payments, according to a former insider. Documents show the bribes were meticulously recorded and ran to more than 20 per cent of one...

Susan Rice, a former Obama national security adviser, was left aghast Sunday after President Trump announced he was interceding in a trade dispute between his own Commerce Department and a Chinese telecommunications firm. "Even with all the crazy, this move by the President stands out as super-whack," Rice wrote on Twitter. Even with all the crazy, this move by the President stands out as super-whack. https://t.co/uVLTXNSKyQ

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working to give Chinese telecom company ZTE Corp "a way to get back into business, fast."ZTE earlier this month suspended its main operations after the U.S. Commerce Department banned American supplies to its business.As one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers, ZTE relied on U.S. companies such as Qualcomm and Intel for components.

ZTE Corporation, a Chinese firm that sells millions of phones in the United States, has halted "major operating activities" after a US ban against the company went into effect, according to a new public filing. Some of the company's products, which includes smartphones and telecommunications equipment, appeared to no longer be for sale online on Wednesday. It was unclear exactly which of ZTE's operations were impacted. The public filing says the company has enough cash to fulfill its "commercial obligations." No further details were offered. The company did not immediately respond to a request for more information. ZTE said last...

Washington (AFP) - Personnel on US military bases can no longer buy phones and other gear manufactured by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE, after the Pentagon said the devices pose an "unacceptable" security risk. Concerns have heightened at the Pentagon about consumer electronics being used to snoop on or track service members. "Huawei and ZTE devices may pose an unacceptable risk to (military) personnel, information and mission," Pentagon spokesman Major Dave Eastburn said on Friday. "In light of this information, it was not prudent for the Department's exchanges to continue selling them," he added, referring to the military-run shops on...

FCC chairman Ajit Pai is proposing new rules that would bar telecommunications and broadband companies from using a government subsidy program to buy telecom equipment and services from "any company that poses a national security threat." (please see link, for full article)

China's ZTE pleads guilty, settles US sanctions case for nearly US$900 million NEW YORK/HONG KONG: Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp has agreed to plead guilty and pay nearly US$900 million in a U.S. sanctions case, drawing a line under a damaging scandal that had threatened its cut off its supply chain. While the fine was larger than expected, ZTE, also a major smartphone maker, reported robust underlying earnings for 2016 and was upbeat in estimates for the first quarter. That and the resolution of the case helped its Hong Kong-listed shares surge 6 percent. A five-year investigation found ZTE...

In Wilbur Ross' first public announcement, the former hedge fund manger and current Trump commerce secretary announced that China's telecommunications giant ZTE has agreed to pay a total of $1.2 billion in penalties and plead guilty to violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, selling US technology to Tehran, and obstructing a federal investigation, ending a five-year probe that has raised trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The penalty was among the largest ever in a sanctions case. ZTE was accused that over a six-year-long period, it planned to obtain technology products from the U.S., incorporate them into ZTE equipment and...

Rep. Adam Schiff said Tuesday that the Chinese business deal linked to President Trump’s properties was a violation of the Emoluments Clause. “I certainly view this as a violation of the Emoluments Clause,” Mr. Schiff, California Democrat, said on CNN. Mr. Trump tweeted on Sunday that he wanted federal officials to help get the Chinese phone company ZTE back into business after U.S. penalties threatened to shut the business down, according to The Hill. The Huffington Post reported that it was only 72 hours later that a Chinese company offered a $500 million loan to an Indonesia construction project associated...

Several celebrities blamed President Trump for a deadly protest over the new U.S. embassy opening in Jerusalem Monday. “I’m glad Ivanka and Jared could take time away from their busy schedules of not being qualified to represent the US to go represent the US, and celebrate moving the capital in exchange for the adelson’s donations, while 50+ Palestinians have been killed,” Chelsea Handler tweeted to her millions of followers.

As President Donald Trump pursues his goal of making the federal judiciary more conservative, his fellow Republicans who control the Senate are poised to confirm another batch of his picks for influential U.S. appeals courts to the dismay of some Democrats. The Senate this week is set to take up six of Trump’s nominees to the regional appeals courts, including four from states that have at least one Democratic senator. A long-standing Senate tradition that gave senators clout over judicial nominees from their home states has been fraying for years, meaning Democrats have less of a chance of blocking appointees...

The documentary "RBG" is a look at perhaps the most unlikely rock star Washington has ever seen: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Tracing her roots, education and career, it's her early and continuing fight for gender equality that winds through the film. Jeffrey Brown talks with directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen. Read the Full Transcript John Yang: Finally tonight, she is largely known for issuing stinging dissents from the Supreme Court bench. But a new documentary, out today in select theaters, provides an intimate and rare look inside the life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Jeffrey Brown has...

If Chris Cuomo had been around during WWII, would he have been telling FDR and Churchill that they needed to disclose their D-Day plans? Maybe so, judging by Cuomo’s absurd questioning of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on CNN this morning. Cuomo suggested to Netanyahu that Israel needs to “come clean” and be “honest” about its nuclear weapons capabilities if it expects Iran to do the same. [snip] But the bigger point is that Israel is effectively at war with Iran and other countries in the Middle East. It is a tiny nation surrounded by hostile powers. Why would Israel, why...

The new Advanced Placement U.S. History book is under fire across America for, among other scandals, portraying President Donald Trump's supporters as ignorant old racists. It also paints Trump as a racist and highlights his alleged “extremism,” without explaining what, exactly, the far-left author considers to be “extreme.” “Most thought that Trump was too extreme a candidate to win the nomination, but his extremism, his anti establishment rhetoric and, some said, his not-very-hidden racism connected with a significant number of primary voters – more voters than any other single Republican candidate,” claimed the author, without explaining how Trump could win...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Tired of all this Winning yet? – Heads had to be exploding all over the fake mainstream news media on Monday, as President Trump hit 51% approval in the Rasmussen Survey and several other polls showed the President’s approval ticking upwards. These results have to be maddening to all the fake reporters and editors who wake up every day intent on slanting their reporting against the current POTUS in their tireless efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2016 national election. Even worse for the fake media and its masters at the...

See link https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/videos/1043586805807271/UzpfSTIxMzc1MzI0NDgwOjEwMTU2MjUwMzE0NTM0NDgx/?sk=h_chr

The hilarious duo of Diamond and Silk is a danger to society. That’s according to Facebook. The pro-Trump pair posted on the embattled social media platform on Friday night, saying after months of correspondence, they were deemed to be “unsafe to the community.”

• Poll finds attitude to ban on military-style weapons has striking age divide • Experts say finding could be driven by video games such as Call of Duty A large majority of Americans say they support a ban on the sale of assault weapons, a category of politically controversial guns that includes the AR-15-style rifles that have become the weapon of choice for mass shooters. Opposition to an assault weapon ban was strongest among Republicans and among self-identified registered voters 18-34, the poll found. Unlike older Americans, millennials were closely divided on their support for an assault weapon ban, with...

In an interview with Wired magazine, Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s political agenda — he wants to curb free speech and free expression on the platform in exchange for “safety.” From the Wired interview: I think at the heart of a lot of these issues we face are tradeoffs between real values that people care about. You know, when you think about issues like fake news or hate speech, right, it’s a tradeoff between free speech and free expression and safety and having an informed community. These are all the challenging situations that I think we are working to try to...

Former CIA Director John Brennan is warning that lawmakers who try to protect President Trump will face a "reckoning." "Leadership of House Intel Committee has traded last vestige of integrity for politics," Brennan tweeted. "With other investigative shoes yet to drop, legislators who try to protect @realDonaldTrump will face November reckoning. Hopefully, bipartisan effort in Senate Intel Committee will endure..."