No News Today: Today's News for June 19th

You are probably thinking that is an odd title for a post about the news, but it is quite apt.

The main lede in most news services is about a London van attack where one person died and about 10 more were injured, plus the alleged terrorist was captured. Per my policy, I will not be covering this.

The other so-called big story is the news reporter Megyn Kelly interview of news reporter Alex Jones. When news reporters interviewing news reporters becomes news, it is just pathetic. Can the end of civilization be far behind this? We can only hope so, because otherwise it may need to be euthanized.

So all I have for news is one story, and even it is more propaganda than news:

New York Times:

Russia Renewed Unused Trump Trademarks in 2016

Amid a broadening investigation of Russian contacts with his associates and his own role in trying to stop it, President Trump fired off another angry tweet this past week repeating his assertion that he has no business interests in Russia.

Actually, according to Trump's attorney, he is NOT under investigation. Mind you, that doesn't mean he couldn't be under investigation at a moment's notice. But there would have to actually be evidence. But don't let that stop you, New York Times!

Last year, while hacking Democrats’ emails and working to undermine the American presidential election, the Russian government also granted extensions to six trademarks for Mr. Trump that had been set to expire...

Again, we have no evidence connecting the Democrats' emails with Russian hackers. allow me to clarify: The emails released by Wikileaks have yet to be connected to Russian hackers connected to the Russian government. There is evidence that Russian hackers have tried to hack many computers connected to the American election, yet we have no proof that they were successful, nor any proof that anything was ever affected, such as actual votes. So the line about "hacking Democrats’ emails" is speculative, and not fact like it is worded.

...The Trump trademarks, originally obtained between 1996 and 2007 for hotels and branding deals that never materialized, each had terms that were coming to an end in 2016. 

Despite their inactivity, the Trump Organization sought extensions for the trademarks from Rospatent, the Russian government agency in charge of intellectual property. In a series of approvals starting in April 2016 and ending in December, Rospatent granted new 10-year terms for the trademarks, the agency’s records show.

Sound like pretty routine stuff, until...

Four of the approvals were officially registered on Nov. 8 — Election Day in the United States.

Under normal circumstances, renewing trademarks in Russia is generally a routine matter, and there is nothing to suggest from the few public records available that Mr. Trump was shown favoritism. Still, extensions are not guaranteed and can be subject to challenge — particularly if, as in this case, the trademarks went unused for years, according to interviews with a half-dozen lawyers specializing in intellectual property law.

Certainly a trademark CAN BE challenged, but it isn't a certainty that it will be. By the way, that last line is a bit misleading, as this article later states:

Since then, the Trump trademarks have remained on the books but not put to use. If there were no challenges to a renewal application, approval by Rospatent would normally not be a problem, said Peter Sloane, a trademark attorney with Leason Ellis in White Plains. 

“I am not aware of any reason why a renewal would be denied if the necessary formalities, such as filing a new power of attorney, are met,” he said.

In other words, if nobody else is applying for the trademark on "Trump Tower" or "Trump Vodka", then renewing them would be a breeze.

Continuing:

Beyond the questions about Russian government approvals, the trademark renewals cast doubt on Mr. Trump’s oft-stated insistence that he has no business interests in Russia. Mr. Trump has made the claims in response to investigations of possible collusion between his associates and Russia during and after the election.

Let us be clear on what the New York Times is implying: Donald Trump received favorable treatment from the Russians on his trademarks, because they wanted him to win the presidential election, which they approved on the day he won the presidential election, which they helped him to win (this is fact according to the Times).

Here is what is missing: What do the Russians have that Trump wants or wanted last year? If you say the "DNC emails", then you have to explain how Kim Dotcom knew about them and the Wikileaks connection to them in 2015?

Also buried in the Times' story is the fact it wasn't just Russia approving trademarks:

An announcement by China in February that it approved trademark registrations the Trumps had long sought set off alarm bells among ethics watchdogs and congressional Democrats, though the action appeared to have been the final step in a decision reached before Mr. Trump became president. Peruvian officials approved Trump trademarks in late December, not long before Peru’s president met with Mr. Trump in February. 

Where are the questions about Chinese or Peruvian hackers? Don't laugh at the Peruvian hackers. From the Daily Mail in September 2014:

The Peruvian hackers have broken into military, police, and other sensitive government networks in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, defacing websites and extracting sensitive data to strut their programming prowess and make political points.

Now the team calling itself LulzSecPeru has created a national political uproar.

Emails the hackers stole from the Peruvian Council of Ministers' network and dumped online last month fueled accusations that top Cabinet ministers have acted more like industry lobbyists than public servants. That helped precipitate a no-confidence vote last week that the Cabinet barely survived.

The hackers, who describe themselves as two young men, are a homegrown version of the U.S. and U.K-based LulzSec "black hat" hacker collective that has attacked the Church of Scientology and agitated on behalf of the WikiLeaks online secret-spillers and Occupy Wall Street.

Mind you, this doesn't mean the Peruvian hackers actually hacked the DNC emails, or even did it for the Peruvian government. Then again, we have just as much proof of Peru's involvement as we do of Russia's involvement.