Morning Report: August 15, 2017

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Published: 14 Aug, 2017
2 min read

Despite President Trump's condemnation of the KKK and white supremacist groups, a group of protestors chanted “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” before pulling a statue to the ground.

Some demonstrators then kicked or punched the fallen statue. The Confederate monument stood outside of a court house in Durham, North Carolina.

According to a report in USA Today, there are more than 700 Confederate monuments installed in public areas across 31 states. They're in public parks, courthouses, and capitol buildings. They have become increasingly controversial and are condemned by many as racist symbols.

Acts of protest sprung up in other cities last night. Hundreds gathered for “no hate” rallies in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., where protesters could be heard chanting, “This is what democracy looks like.”

Outside Trump Tower in New York, thousands of protesters voiced their displeasure with the president.

After reviewing his plans to launch 4 missiles at Guam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly said we will wait and see what "The Foolish Yankees" do next.

Un's comments were published in state media, and just hours after US Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned that if North Korea fired on US territory it would be "game on."

The US and North Korea have engaged in increasingly threatening rhetoric since last Tuesday when US bombers flew over the Korean peninsula, and US President Donald Trump threatened Pyongyang with "fire and fury" following an assessment that North Koreahad miniaturized a nuclear warhead.

According to state media, Kim has ordered senior generals to finalize a plan to fire four missiles less than 25 miles off Guam by mid-August.

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Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich joined two other CEOs who severed formal ties to the Trump administration following the president's response to racist violence in Virginia over the weekend.

The decision to leave Trump's American Manufacturing Council represents a big switch for Krzanich, who had resisted earlier calls to resign.

Krzanich decided to leave after the departure of Under Armor's and Merck's CEOs earlier in the day. Tesla CEO Elon Musk quit his posts on presidential councils in June after President Trump announced the United State's would leave the Paris climate change agreement.

On an Intel blog, Krzanich wrote:

"I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing. Politics and political agendas have sidelined the important mission of rebuilding America's manufacturing base."

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