WATCH:President Donald Trump Holds CRUCIAL Joint Press Conference with President Niinistö of Finland

WATCH:President Donald Trump Holds CRUCIAL 

Joint Press Conference with President Niinistö of Finland

GEORGE SOROS Interesting person

I'VE MADE MY LIFE'S MISSION TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES. I HATE THIS COUNTRY AND I HATE ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN IT! GEOGE SOROS NEWSWEEK 1979

George Soros has been a prominent international supporter of democratic ideals and causes for more than 30 years. His philanthropic organization, the Open Society Foundations, supports democracy and human rights in more than 100 countries.

“A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy.”

Trump: 'All I want to do is MAGA'

President Trump on Wednesday hit at the media and defended his record, by saying he is just trying to "Make America Great Again."

"After reading the false reporting and even ferocious anger in some dying magazines, it makes me wonder, WHY?" Trump tweeted. "All I want to do is #MAGA!"

Trump frequently goes after media outlets, referring to some critical networks and stories as "fake news."

During a rally earlier this month in Arizona, Trump accused the media of "trying to take away our history and our heritage."

"For the most part honestly, these are really, really dishonest people, they're bad people," Trump said of the media at the rally in Phoenix, Ariz. "I really think they don't like our country, I really believe that."

His comments Wednesday come a day after Trump visited Texas to observe the recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey.

During his visit, Trump surveyed damage from the devastating floods that displaced thousands of people in the region.

He also praised the size of the crowd gathered to see him during his visit to Corpus Christi.

"What a crowd, what a turnout," Trump said to a crowd in the area.

House GOP eyeing $1B disaster funds cut to finance wall

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused epic flooding, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president's border wall.

The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief account is part of a massive spending bill that the House is scheduled to consider next week when lawmakers return from their August recess. The $876 million cut, which is included in the 1,305-page measure's homeland security section, pays for roughly half the cost of Trump's down payment on the U.S.-Mexico border wall that the president repeatedly promised Mexico would finance.

It seems sure that GOP leaders will move to reverse the disaster aid cut next week as floodwaters cover Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, and tens of thousands of Texans have sought refuge in shelters. There's only $2.3 billion remaining in federal disaster coffer.

The disaster relief cut to finance the wall was proposed well before Harvey and the politically bad optics are sure to lead lawmakers to do an about face, though that would create a money crunch in homeland security accounts.

Harvey aid is a fresh addition to an agenda already packed with must-do tasks and multiple legislative deadlines: Passing a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown; increasing the government's borrowing authority to prevent a market-quaking default on U.S. obligations; and paving the way for a GOP rewrite of the U.S. tax code.

Trump is slated to meet with congressional leaders next Wednesday. The meeting follows a recess that has seen Trump lambast several top Republicans, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., after the collapse of the GOP health care bill in his chamber. That has wounded the president's relationship with his own party, and the coming weeks should offer a test of how much clout he has with fellow Republicans.

McConnell is scheduled to attend next Wednesday morning's White House meeting, according to congressional aides. Also going are House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a meeting that hadn't yet been announced.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chamber's No. 2 Republican, is pressing for an emergency infusion of disaster aid pending estimates of longer-term rebuilding costs.

Despite Trump's promise at a rally in Phoenix last week to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border even "if we have to close down our government," congressional Republicans are optimistic of averting a politically damaging shutdown after the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

For one thing, most Republicans, including Trump, want to move on to a sweeping revamp of the tax code, and a shutdown debacle would only make tax legislation more difficult. A tax overhaul, cutting rates for individuals and businesses while erasing numerous tax breaks and loopholes, is difficult enough as it stands.

Like the failed push to repeal former President Barack Obama's health care law, the tax effort is likely to encounter strong Democratic opposition and divisions among Republicans, leaving its fate uncertain.

The massive, ongoing flooding caused by Harvey means that officials still don't know how much aid the metropolis will need to recover, but it's expected to be many billions of dollars. A possible outcome is one or even two infusions of immediate aid next month, with a longer-term recovery package coming by year's end.

Congress switches gears on proposed FEMA cuts post-Harvey

Washington (CNN)As Texas continues to attempt managing the destruction from Hurricane Harvey, Congress is due to consider an appropriations package that, as is, would rescind nearly $876 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund.

But with the proposal written prior to Hurricane Harvey, lawmakers are now expected to pivot funding directives to match the needs of the programs aiding recovery efforts.

The spending cuts in the initial package were intended help cover costs of administration priorities in the homeland security bill, which includes President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.

Trump assured Texans that areas affected by Hurricane Harvey would see swift action from the government.

"You're going to see very rapid action from Congress -- certainly from the President," Trump saidon Tuesday.

Insistent that Texas would get the funding it needed for recovery, Trump added that he thought it would come from outside the larger budget package.

GOP leaders are working on sending additional funds through a supplemental spending bill, and if spending legislation is passed in September, the disaster relief fund will get additional money, according to a GOP aide.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long predicted on Saturday that the agency will be in Texas "for years" following the devastation from Hurricane Harvey.

Harvey made landfall Friday night and has since broken the US record for rainfall from a single storm, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said -- with some areas of the state seeing almost 52 inches of rain.

"It is simply too early at this point to determine whether FEMA may need supplemental funding. The FEMA Disaster Relief Fund is funded, as planned, to meet disaster needs this fiscal year. The committee will proceed accordingly should the need arise for supplemental funding after damage and recovery assessments can be made," Chris Gallegos, the Republican spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations Committee, told CNN earlier this week.

Friday, Trump announced a major disaster declaration, which directed federal aid to affected areas after Thomas Bossert, Trump's homeland security adviser, said Friday that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested the disaster declaration earlier Friday.

Bannon: 'We will never turn on' Trump

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is vowing he will "never turn" on his former boss.

But that doesn't mean Bannon, who has returned to his role as Breitbart's executive chairman, will go easy on President Donald Trump.

"We will never turn on him," Bannon promised in an interview with The Economist published Friday. "But we are never going to let him take a decision that hurts him."

Bannon rejoined Breitbart the same day he left the White House, having been forced out by the President and his new chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly.

Bannon has vowed to use the site -- which he has termed a "killing machine" -- to target his rivals at the White House and continue to keep up pressure on Trump and the White House to make good on Trump's campaign promises.

But Bannon has already made clear that his vow to "never turn" on Trump does not extend to criticism of his policies and decisions.

Breitbart has bared its teeth since Bannon returned to the helm, terming the President's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan a "flip-flop."

It also has run pieces critical of top White House aides, including the President's son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom Bannon feuded with.

"I am an ideologue, that's why I am out," Bannon told The Economist. "I can rally the base, have his back. The harder he pushes, the more we will be there for him."

Some of Bannon's ideological allies still remain at the White House, including his deputy, Julia Hahn, and the President's senior policy adviser and top speechwriter, Stephen Miller. Both share much of Bannon's nationalist ideology and hardline views on trade and immigration.

Still, Bannon's departure from the White House has left an ideological void among the President's top advisers, giving Kushner and his allies an advantage in influencing the President on policy.

Donald Trump: Culture warrior

It's hardly a surprise that Steve Bannon declared the Trump presidency -- the one "we fought for and won" -- dead a few hours after he was banished from Trump's White House.

The former chief strategist to the President has always enjoyed a grand view of himself and, especially after helping guide Trump to victory last year, grandiose ideas about his ability to reshape the American political landscape. Bannon's plans, though, were quickly interrupted when it came time to work the levers of government. His florid notion of an ascendant "economic nationalism" -- the kind that could birth a generational coalition -- has so far wilted after just seven months in the West Wing.

Bannon isn't the first political operative with a better sense of how to sell ideas than realize them. Nor is he unique in seeking to cast his departure from the halls of power as the end of a hopeful era. But his suggestion that the administration is entering a new phase rings true.

Trump's failure to gut Obamacare, followed by last week's meltdown in the aftermath of Charlottesville -- and the President's own assessment of each -- are the essential factors to consider when mapping out where his presidency is headed. The political capital poured into the health care push was a historic bust. Not only was Trump denied the "win" he so desperately craved, but in stumbling over such unpopular legislation, he diminished his dealmaking brand and with it, his ability to push the next item on the GOP to-do list: tax reform.

Now, with his economic agenda on the skids, Trump is dropping the pretense and pivoting to an outright culture war.

For all that is unprecedented about this President and his administration, his response to the deadly attack in Charlottesville was fundamentally unsurprising. Trump is a voracious consumer of political media and Fox News is at the core of his diet. Under pressure, he articulated his growing frustration as cultural grievance.

"You are changing history, you're changing culture," Trump said during his Tuesday press conference. Then, two days later, he returned to the point on Twitter, writing in a series of posts, "Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You can't change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who's next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!"

Trump pitches tax reform to 'bring back Main Street'

President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered his opening pitch on tax reform, framing the effort in populist terms saying Republican plans to overhaul the tax code would be a boon for lower- and middle-class Americans.

But Trump offered only broad outlines of what the tax code would look like if his tax reform gambit succeeds, as GOP congressional leaders and the White House have yet to reach an agreement on the details of the tax plan. Trump will meet with congressional leaders to hammer out those details on Tuesday, a White House official said.

"We're here today to launch our plans to bring back Main Street by reducing the crumbling burden on our companies and on our workers," Trump said in Springfield, Missouri. "The foundation of our job creation agenda is to fundamentally reform our tax code for the first time in more than 30 years."

Even as he laid out his tax reform pitch in broad strokes, Trump sought to turn up the pressure on members of Congress to get behind his still-undetailed effort and he called out Missouri's Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

"She must do this for you and if she doesn't do it for you, you must vote her out of office," Trump said. "She's gotta make that commitment. If she doesn't do it, we can't do this anymore."

Tillerson aide: Constitution, not Trump, 'speaks for the country'

Rather than walk back eyebrow-raising comments made by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday, an aide told CNN Monday that President Donald Trump speaks for himself when it comes to American values "because the Constitution speaks for the country."

The Tillerson aide said the secretary of state was not criticizing Trump in the remarks.

"The secretary and President have expressed different points of view. He isn't being critical, but more so re-establishing without confusion what are known American values," the aide said.

"The values start from the Constitution. The President's job is to uphold those values. Did he do the best job ever responding to Charlottesville? Nope. But that doesn't mean America changes."

The aide added, "That is why the President speaks for himself because the Constitution speaks for the country."

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Tillerson had said Trump "speaks for himself" when asked about the President's response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which he blamed "both sides" for the racial unrest. The secretary of state was asked about a United Nations committee issuing a warning to the United States about racism and hate crimes, saying US leaders had not sufficiently condemned white supremacy.

"I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values," Tillerson said.

"And the President's values?" anchor Chris Wallace asked.

"The President speaks for himself," Tillerson said.

Tillerson's remark appears to be the latest sign of a gap between the former globe-trotting oil executive and the freewheeling President, who ran an "America First" campaign. The comments also come as a GOP source in touch with the West Wing and familiar with internal discussions said Trump is souring somewhat on Tillerson.

"He is in a tough spot. No doubt," the source said, referring to Tillerson. But the source, who, like Tillerson's aide, requested anonymity in order to discuss the President's thinking, pushed back on the notion that Trump is losing patience with Tillerson due to the comments on Sunday.

Trump's concerns, this source said, have more to do with Tillerson's leadership at the State Department and the secretary's more "establishment" style.

"What change is he bringing?" the source asked, referring to Tillerson.

Trump administration's mixed North Korea signals raise questions about US strategy

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that "talking is not the answer" when it comes to reining in North Korea -- seeming to contradict some of his top Cabinet officials who insist the US will continue to seek a peaceful resolution to tensions with Pyongyang, despite its provocative missile tests.

"The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!" Trump tweeted, just days after North Korea launched a missile that flew over northern Japan.

It was not immediately clear what Trump meant by "extortion money," though previous administrations have tried to defuse nuclear tensions by offering the North Korean regime food and aid packages, some of it in exchange for Pyongyang's commitment to curb its nuclear programs -- promises that have always been broken.

The North Korean launch was "the first step of the military operation of the (North Korean military) in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam," North Korean state media said, doubling down on Pyongyang's threats in early August to strike the US territory, home to a large US military base.

Trump's chest thumping suggestion that some undefined action -- not talk -- is needed is just the latest signal sent by the President that seems to contradict the Cabinet officials most involved in finding a way to defuse a nuclear showdown in a region that's home to billions, vital to the global economy, and the location of strategic US military bases

While some US officials hint that it might be part of a good cop, bad cop effort to increase pressure on North Korea, one former US official said the administration's signals are too incoherent for that to be likely.

"The idea that this is part of a "good cop, bad cop" strategy seems to be an attempt to excuse the reality that the Trump administration is in chaos when it comes to North Korea," said Abraham Denmark, a former assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, who sees no coherent administration strategy on Pyongyang.

"If the President has made up his mind against talks with North Korea, that should be the end of the conversation," Denmark said. "This dramatically undercuts the State Department - any offer of talks to North Korea has zero credibility if the President is not on board."

And without a decision on whether talks will be pursued, "no diplomacy or military decision can be made," Denmark said. And he adds another thought. "The President's tweet left an obvious question go unanswered: if the President feels talks will not solve this issue, what does he believe will solve it?"

Trump spoke in early August of visiting "fire and fury" on North Korea if it so much as threatened the US -- which it promptly did. He issued that threat as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson continued to emphasize a "peaceful pressure" campaign aimed at systematically cutting off Pyongyang's sources of financial and diplomatic support.

"We do view it as a provocative act against the United States and our allies," Tillerson told "Fox News Sunday," after North Korea fired three short range missiles on Friday [Aug 25]. "We're going to continue our peaceful pressure campaign as I have described it, working with allies, working with China as well to see if we can bring the regime in Pyongyang to the negotiating table."

US successfully tests shooting down ballistic missile

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary James Mattis, asked about Trump's tweet, reiterated the call for diplomacy while speaking before a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo.

Asked if the US was out of diplomatic solutions when it comes to North Korea, Mattis simply replied, "No."

He then elaborated, "We're never out of diplomatic solutions. We continue to work together and the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today, and look for all the areas with we can collaborate."

As North Korea hones its ability to deliver nuclear weapons far enough to reach US territory, some analysts and US officials suggest that the tough talk from Trump isn't a contradiction of his most senior officials, but part of a plan to ratchet up pressure.

"There's no shift away from the pressure strategy," said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA deputy division chief for Korea who is now a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "The administration is affirming what every new administration has said -- negotiations have been tried and they have failed."

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss North Korea strategy, said that in the administration's view, "economic, diplomatic, military, all of these options are on the table." While Tillerson works on increasing financial pressure on the DPRK and isolating it further, Trump's role might be to apply the diplomatic pressure with his angry, tweeted denunciations.

Trump, the official said, "is making it very clear: North Korea needs to choose a new path." But the official added that in order to reach the US goal of a nuclear free Korean peninsula, "we will continue to increase the weight of our peaceful pressure campaign." 

That campaign, spearheaded by Tillerson, is about exerting maximum economic pressure on North Korea by severing its trade ties with other countries, and increasing its diplomatic isolation. Speaking to the UN in April, the top US diplomat delivered a message about North Korea's nuclear programs that was a gentler version of Trump's angry tweet.

"For the past 20 years, well-intentioned diplomatic efforts to halt these programs have failed," Tillerson said. "the policy of strategic patience is over." He added, "The more we bide our time, the sooner we will run out of it."

Anthony Ruggiero, a former deputy director of the US Treasury Department, suggests that Trump's more recent rhetoric might have a particular aim.

"The exchange of words between North Korea and the US would not prevent Pyongyang from continuing its missile tests," said Ruggiero, an expert on the use of targeted financial measures for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "The goal was deterring North Korea from launching missiles toward Guam or attacking South Korea, which has not happened."

Trump's Wednesday post came just hours after North Korea's state-run media reported that leader Kim Jong-Un presided over the dawn launch Tuesday of the "ultra-modern rocket system," the first missile ever fired from Pyongyang, the nation's capital.

North Korean officials told CNN in Pyongyang that Kim was "very satisfied with the performance of the missile."

The intermediate-range missile, identified by the North Koreans as the Hwasong-12, flew over Japan, further fueling tensions between North Korea and the United States and its allies, Japan and South Korea.

"The world has received North Korea's latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior," Trump said in an initial statement on Tuesday, taking a more measured tone than in his previous remarks or in the tweet he'd send Wednesday.

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table."

Early Wednesday, the US conducted a test intercept of a medium range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii, according to a statement from the US Missile Defense Agency.

Wisdom from the Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is one of the greatest geniuses in the history of mankind,

 the embodiment of a true Renaissance personality: inventor, engineer, sculptor and painter.

 Gifted with great talent and curiosity, the Florentine master works in several areas: mechanics, 

astrology, aerodynamics, geology, botany, arithmetic and geometry - and these are just some

 of the areas that we know he worked for.

Leonardo da Vinci is best known for the trail he left in the fine arts. "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" are works that we all know. Leonardo's writings as a writer still know little. In fact, we can not talk about his literary work that was completed while he was alive. A good painter should paint two things, that is, the man and the concept of his mind. The first is easy, the latter is difficult. Leonardo had this gift, and he did not spare either by sharing his wise advice. These are some excerpts from the book "Fragments".

"The artist is equal and compete with nature."

"There are many people who have love and desire for drawing, but not predispositions.

 This can be seen in young people who lack connectivity and never shy things. "

"The shadow is darker when it is closer to the source of light."

"The bark of trees always has bigger cracks on the south side, than on the north."

"Always the north side of the old trees is dressed in a green moss."

"The cloud is lighter than the air below it and is heavier than the air above it."

"Beautiful and ugly things get stronger each other because of contrast."

"If the sculpture is lit at the bottom it will look monstrous and peculiar. But this is not the case with painting, which carries all its elements with itself. " "He does not look back, the one who is directed toward the stars." "Well-lived life is a long life." "Just as iron rusts when it's not used, so does the intellect is destroyed by non-creativity." "Knowledge is the daughter of experience."

What's more important about success or mistakes? (Teaching Story)

A Teacher's Story: How Much Does Faith Need?

We all make mistakes in life, but how much we allow them to influence us depends on ourselves.

 Life is not a mathematical task, but can be described with the help of one.

In the classmate's class, the professor solved tasks. A little girl began to laugh after the professor 

wrote the wrong answer on the board. But she did not expect what happened next.

The board's professor wrote the following:

9Х1=7
9Х2=18
9Х3=27
9Х4=36
9Х5=45
9Х6=54
9Х7=63
9Х8=72
9Х9=81
9Х10=90

When he finished writing he turned to the students and they started laughing at the first wrong result.

 Then the professor told them:

"I deliberately made a mistake with the first result, because I want to learn something very important.

 This was for you, to understand how the world will deal with you. You saw that I typed the exact

 result 9 times, but nobody congratulated me on that. Everyone laughed and you criticized

 me for one mistake. The lesson is that the world will never appreciate what you will do well, 

even a million times, but will criticize you for one mistake that you will make. 

Do not let this discourage you. You should always rise above ridicule and criticism. Be strong. "

A Teacher's Story: How Much Does Faith Need?

He brought a grain of wheat over to a king like a chicken egg.

 The king ordered the elderly man to call him to ask if he remembered whether there was such

 a large grain in his day. They barely brought it to the old man, who was walking with crutches.

 The king asked him about the wheat, but he replied:

- There was no such wheat in my time. Ask my dad.

The father comes, an old man with a crutch, sees wheat and says:

- There was no such wheat in my time. Ask my dad.

The father comes, a healthy, good-natured old man, without crutches, looked at the wheat and said:

- Yes, such a grain grew in my time, with such food.

The king asked the old man:

- Why do you, the eldest of all, walk so straight and without crutches, and your son with one crutch,

 and your grandson with two?

The old man replied:

The king asked the old man:

- Did you buy the grain with money?

The old man told him:

- There was no money in our time. We cultivated it and shared one with another so that everyone

 could produce it. This is done with faith.

A strange woman is sweeter (a teaching story)

In many, very distant times, the Lord made 10 Adam: one was a shepherd, the other farmer,
 the third tailor, etc. In other words, everyone was created for a particular job. 
But one day they appeared before the Lord and told him:
 
- It's boring, can you help us?!
 
The Lord gave them a batter and commanded them:
 
- Let every one of you make from a part of this batter a woman for herself, as she likes - full or weak,
 sad or smiling, low or high, and I will breathe life into them.
Then the Lord brought a cup of sugar and said:
 
- Take one lump of sugar and give it to your wife, so that your life is sweet to her!
 
All men did it. But the Lord became angry:
 
- There is a cheater among you, because the bowl had 11 lumps of sugar and someone took
 two instead of one!
However, none of the Adamovians acknowledged the error and did not repent. 
Then the Lord gave a soul to the women, mixed them, and gave them to the men who would fall.
 Since then, 9 out of 10 men think that the other woman is sweeter because 
she ate one piece of sugar more than others! And only one person in the ten know
 that the woman next to him is the only one, and the others are the same 
- because he himself had eaten a piece of sugar that was missing!