Sunday, June 9, 2013
Michelle Obama's Snub Of Chinese First Lady Is A Major Foreign Policy Faux Pas
This week’s summit is partly about building personal trust between the two leaders, but it’s also about enshrining the importance of the U.S.-China relationship. China wants to be taken seriously, and the United States wants China to take itself seriously. The fact that China’s first lady will fly across the Pacific but America’s couldn't bother to travel within her own country will not on its own overturn the U.S.-China relationship, of course. But it does undercut the summit’s implicit diplomatic goals in a minor but pretty direct way.Communist Party bosses had seen the June 7-8 Sunnylands summit as a golden opportunity to deploy Peng Liyuan’s much-vaunted charms on the world stage in a bid to spin a more favourable image of China’s leaders.
But last Tuesday Mrs Obama’s office told the New York Times the first lady would remain in Washington with her daughters who are coming to the end of their academic year.
Mrs Obama’s absence is likely to limit her Chinese counterpart’s role at the two-day California meeting, which begins on Friday, and may be interpreted as a snub, analysts said.
Zhang Ming, a political scientist from China’s Renmin University, predicted Mrs Obama’s absence would “not go down very well” in Beijing.
“First lady diplomacy is also very important and the US side has failed to cooperate,” he said. “According to normal diplomatic etiquette this is very strange. It shouldn't be like this.”
There Is Something About Olivia Munn
I used to watch Olivia Munn On G4 TV. I got a thing for that girl...
A picture of her is here:
http://jeffords.blogspot.com/2013/05/olivia-munn.html
A picture of her is here:
http://jeffords.blogspot.com/2013/05/olivia-munn.html
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Texas woman Shannon Richardson charged in Obama ricin threat
A pregnant Texas actress who told FBI agents her husband had sent ricin-tainted letters to President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was charged yesterday with threatening the president.
Shannon Richardson, 35, made an initial appearance in a Texarkana, Texas, courtroom after being charged with mailing a threatening communication to the president. She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Davilyn Walston said.
Richardson, a mother of five who has played bit roles in television shows, was arrested earlier yesterday for allegedly mailing the ricin-laced letters last month to the White House, Bloomberg and the mayor’s Washington gun-control group. The letters threatened violence against gun-control advocates.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Richardson had an attorney.
FBI agents wearing hazardous material suits were seen going in and out of Richardson’s house Wednesday in nearby New Boston, Texas, about 150 miles northeast of Dallas near the Arkansas and Oklahoma borders. Officials have said the search was initiated after Richardson contacted the FBI and implicated her husband, Nathaniel Richardson, a 33-year-old Army veteran.
John Delk, who represents Nathaniel Richardson, told the Associated Press Thursday that his client had filed for divorce and he may have been set up by his wife. Yesterday, Delk said his client was pleased with his wife’s arrest and was working with authorities to prove his innocence.
Delk said he wasn’t anticipating that Nathaniel Richardson would be arrested. “But until I’m sure they’re not looking at him being involved, I can’t say much more,” he said.
Bloomberg issued a statement yesterday thanking local and federal law enforcement agencies “for their outstanding work in apprehending a suspect,” saying they worked collaboratively from the outset “and will continue to do so as the investigation continues.”
Shannon Richardson’s resume on the internet movie database IMDb said she has had small television roles in The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead. She had a minor role in the movie The Blind Side and appeared in an Avis commercial, according to the resume.
She was seen leaving a Texarkana hospital yesterday before the court hearing, though it was unclear why she was there. A hospital spokeswoman didn’t return a phone message seeking comment.
Shannon Richardson, 35, made an initial appearance in a Texarkana, Texas, courtroom after being charged with mailing a threatening communication to the president. She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Davilyn Walston said.
Richardson, a mother of five who has played bit roles in television shows, was arrested earlier yesterday for allegedly mailing the ricin-laced letters last month to the White House, Bloomberg and the mayor’s Washington gun-control group. The letters threatened violence against gun-control advocates.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Richardson had an attorney.
FBI agents wearing hazardous material suits were seen going in and out of Richardson’s house Wednesday in nearby New Boston, Texas, about 150 miles northeast of Dallas near the Arkansas and Oklahoma borders. Officials have said the search was initiated after Richardson contacted the FBI and implicated her husband, Nathaniel Richardson, a 33-year-old Army veteran.
John Delk, who represents Nathaniel Richardson, told the Associated Press Thursday that his client had filed for divorce and he may have been set up by his wife. Yesterday, Delk said his client was pleased with his wife’s arrest and was working with authorities to prove his innocence.
Delk said he wasn’t anticipating that Nathaniel Richardson would be arrested. “But until I’m sure they’re not looking at him being involved, I can’t say much more,” he said.
Bloomberg issued a statement yesterday thanking local and federal law enforcement agencies “for their outstanding work in apprehending a suspect,” saying they worked collaboratively from the outset “and will continue to do so as the investigation continues.”
Shannon Richardson’s resume on the internet movie database IMDb said she has had small television roles in The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead. She had a minor role in the movie The Blind Side and appeared in an Avis commercial, according to the resume.
She was seen leaving a Texarkana hospital yesterday before the court hearing, though it was unclear why she was there. A hospital spokeswoman didn’t return a phone message seeking comment.
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