Page 53 - 072917

Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 029 ~ 53 of 67
sian diplomats and shut down two Russian estates in the U.S.
Moscow said it would cut the U.S. diplomatic corps even further if the U.S. decides to expel more Rus-
sian diplomats.
The Kremlin had previously said it would not impose any sanctions on the U.S. until Trump signs the bill. ___
This story has been corrected to re ect that the Lavrov-Tillerson call was Friday, not Wednesday.
Dull, Boring and Bland communities forge international bond
LONDON (AP) — Dull and Boring, meet Bland.
Dull, Scotland and Boring, Oregon, two small communities united by unexciting names, have joined forces with a third: Bland Shire, Australia.
Dull and Boring became sister communities in 2012, after a Scottish woman passed through the U.S. town on a cycling holiday. Of cials say the relationship has boosted the pro le of both places.
Dull of cials on Friday hosted the mayor of the region of Bland Shire, New South Wales, at a reception to celebrate the third member of a club dubbed the League of Extraordinary Communities.
Bland Shire and Boring are both named after early residents, William Bland and William Boring, while Dull’s name may come from a Gaelic word for meadow.
Boring has a population of about 10,000 while Bland Shire has about 6,000 people and Dull is a hamlet with just 84 occupants.
Dennis Melloy, provost of the Perth and Kinross region that’s home to Dull, said the relationship with Boring and Bland had “created a real feel-good factor for their communities with quirky names.”
And he said the alliance could expand.
“We’ve found Ordinary and Dreary, both in America, and I think they could soon be part of it all,” he said.
Scaramucci tirades ignite smoldering White House tensions By JULIE BYKOWICZ and JONATHAN LEMIRE, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new communications director exploded the smoldering tensions at the White House into a full- edged con agration Thursday, angrily daring Trump’s chief of staff to deny he’s a “leaker” and exposing West Wing backstabbing in language more suitable to a mobster movie than a seat of presidential stability.
In a pull-no-punches, impromptu CNN interview that he said was authorized by the president, Anthony Scaramucci went after chief of staff Reince Priebus in graphic terms. “The sh stinks from the head down,” he said. “I can tell you two sh that don’t stink, and that’s me and the president.”
Not even a week into his new job, Scaramucci accused unidenti ed senior of cials of trying to sabotage him and committing a felony by leaking information. But the personal nancial information that he said someone had “leaked” about him had simply been obtained through a public records request.
Then in an expletive-laden interview published by The New Yorker late Thursday, an angry Scaramucci accused Priebus of being a “f------ paranoid schizophrenic.” He also used a graphic sexual reference to make the point that he believes White House chief strategist Steve Bannon used Trump’s election win to burnish his own reputation.
He also threatened to re White House staffers who leaked news about a dinner he had with the president.
“They’ll all be red by me,” Scaramucci told the magazine. “I red one guy the other day. I have three to four people I’ll re tomorrow. I’ll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus — if you want to leak something — he’ll be asked to resign very shortly.”
By day’s end Scaramucci sounded calmer, though not regretful.
“I sometimes use colorful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate ght for @ realDonaldTrump’s agenda. #MAGA,” he tweeted. The tag at the end stands for Trump’s “Make America Great Again.”