Standing up to bullies take many forms.

May 7, 2019
By Steve Contorno

Matt Gaetz in 2008. (click here)

An investigation into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (click here) will proceed, the Florida Bar said Wednesday, meaning the Panhandle Republican could face discipline for allegedly intimidating President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.

A grand jury-like panel called the Grievance Committee will next decide whether there is probable cause that Gaetz’s tweet broke the state Supreme Court’s rules for lawyers. Gaetz, one of Trump’s top allies in Congress, is licensed to practice law in Florida.

If the Florida Bar had determined in its initial review that discipline was not warranted, then the case would have stopped. But it has not, meaning the Bar has decided that further investigation is needed.

In moving the case against Gaetz to this step, the Florida Bar is also signaling that its initial review determined that the allegations against Gaetz would, if proven true, be a violation of the rules....

Matt Gaetz (click here) represents the 1st district of Florida, in the panhandle. These ethics problems should be part of the dialogue when Gaetz seeks re-election. The people have a right to know what poor behavior is with their lawmakers.

Donald Trump is a man full of hate.

We are reminded of that all too often. He stated he can't imagine Mayor Pete with President Xi Jinping. I think Dopey Don called him President Xi. That was a bigoted remark against a gay man with aspirations to be president of the USA. That is just hate. There isn't any other good definition of a bigoted person.

I apologize to Mayor Pete Buttigieg. He didn't deserve that slight by Trump. I know it won't effect his run for the office, but, I think when Dopey Don makes stupid remarks someone needs to mark the incident.

The Trumps have no respect for anyone, except, money.

Twenty hours is a part time job. Most Americans work well over 40 hours per week, so I have no sympathy for million-billionaires that bemoan answering a subpoena to the US Senate.

Trump is starting his identity politics again. So, I have been trying to decide what name really identifies Trump.

Doc In no way.

Grumpy It has merit.

Happy I have never seen such a miserable human being as Trump.

Sleepy Probably after every round of golf.

Bashful Anyone that pads their crotch isn't bashful.

Sneezy Only from the standpoint he causes allergies to his presence.

Dopey Now that is a thought. Dopey Don. Yep. That fits him.

Dopey Don.

Continued from the previous entry.

August 2, 2016 was after the Wikileaks escapades and after the FBI began an investigation into the hacked websites of the DCCC and the Clinton Campaign. But, it was game on for Paul Manafort still campaign manager of the Trump Campaign.

Separately, on August 2, 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met in New York City with his long-time business associate Konstantin Kilimnik, who the FBI assesses to have ties to Russian intelligence. Kilimnik requested the meeting to deliver in person a peace plan for Ukraine that Manafort acknowledged to the Special Counsel's Office was a "backdoor" way for Russia to control part of eastern Ukraine; both men believed the plan would require candidate Trump's assent to succeed (were he to be elected President). They also discussed the status of the Trump Campaign and Manafort's strategy for winning Democratic votes in Midwestern states. Months before that meeting, Manafort had caused internal polling data to be shared with Kilimnik, and the sharing continued for some period of time after their August meeting.

Sorry, folks, but this is ridiculous. A man running for president of the USA now has Russians receiving campaign intelligence and is a partner in a winning strategy. To me that is a conspiracy. To the Special Counsel, it is unprovable. Why? I think only Robert Mueller can say. Perhaps because it wasn't Donald Trump directly, but, was it ever going to be Donald Trump directly? Heck, no.

February 8, 2019
By Katelyn Polantz

Donald Trump's 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort (click here) continued to keep in touch with his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik and discuss Ukrainian politics while he was working for the campaign and through last year, and that's become a central issue of Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation, according to a transcript of a closed-door court hearing.

A special counsel prosecutor also suggested in the hearing that the former campaign chairman was not forthcoming because Manafort was angling for a pardon.

Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann told a federal judge Monday that a meeting Manafort and Kilimnik had in August 2016 was "of significance to the special counsel." A redacted version of the transcript was released Thursday.

At the meeting, Ukrainian policy -- and, it appears according to previous filings, a peace plan that would have benefited Russia -- came up. Manafort in interviews with the special counsel said the discussion with Kilimnik about the topic ended then....

Of course, a peace plan for Ukraine would have to be part of the moral discussion between Kilimnik and Manafort. But, this was to be no ordinary peace plan, it had to benefit Russia.

There already was a peace plan for Ukraine that Germany, Ukraine, Russia and the USA signed as a treaty. That treaty removed all and any forms of nuclear capacity from Ukraine and in exchange Ukraine was to live forever in peace without fear of invasion by either The West or Russia. So, why discuss a peace plan with Russians when they had already broken an international treaty? If there is a good answer to that question, I sure haven't heard it yet.

This CONSTANT relationship between the Trump Campaign and Russian operatives continued. Manafort had maintained a relationship with the Trump Campaign after the election and basically extorted monies from a Wannabee US Navy Secretary. It is my opinion, Paul Manafort was a back channel between Russia and the Trump campaign even if he wasn't campaign manager.

Fall 2016. On October 7, 2016, the media released video of candidate Trump speaking in graphic terms about women years earlier, which was considered damaging to his candidacy. Less than an hour later, WikiLeaks made its second release: thousands of John Podesta's emails that had been stolen by the GRU in late March 2016. The FBI and other U.S. government institutions were at the time continuing their investigation of suspected Russian government efforts to interfere in the presidential election. (Don't tell me President Obama did nothing.) That same day, October 7, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint public statement "that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations." Those "thefts" and the "disclosures" of the hacked materials through online platforms such as WikiLeaks, the statement continued, "are intended to interfere with the US election process." 

NO ONE WAS LISTENING. TRUMP SURE AS HECK WAS GOING TO BRING ATTENTION TO AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE VERY GOVERNMENT THAT MANAFORT WAS CONSPIRING WITH AND WAS BENEFITTING HIS CAMPAIGN.

NO ONE WAS LISTENING.

I heard the announcement. My reaction was, that is a fine kettle of fish because the damage was already done.

Konstantin V. Kilimnik is the young Russian probably destined to be the next Vladimir Putin all the way to the left, in the Carolina Blue shirt.

Post-2016 Election. Immediately after the November 8 election, Russian government officials and prominent Russian businessmen began trying to make inroads into the new administration. 

Well, that's a surprise, isn't it? And, of course, Trump pushed the Russians right out of his life and back to Moscow, right? No, that isn't what happened at all. Donald Trump, "But, I want to do things with Russia."

WHILE:

"Paul Whelan's letters home only deepen the mystery surrounding his detention." (click here)

The most senior levels of the Russian government encouraged these efforts. The Russian Embassy made contact hours after the election to congratulate the President-Elect and to arrange a call with President Putin. Several Russian businessmen picked up the effort from there.

Kirill Dmitriev is Russian money. Now, why would Dmitriev be steered toward Erik Prince? Let's see this is December.

Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive officer of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, was among the Russians who tried to make contact with the incoming administration. 




Well, looky thar. It is Kirill Dmitriev and the Saudi Prince. Isn't the Saudi Prince best friends with Jarad Kushner?

So, it is early December 2016 and Trump nominated Betsy Devos for Education Secretary on November 23, 2016. It is easy to realize why Dmitriev saw Erik Prince as a target for Russia.

In early December, a business associate steered Dmitriev to Erik Prince, a supporter of the Trump Campaign and an associate of senior Trump advisor Steve Bannon. Dmitriev and Prince later met face-to-face in January 2017 in the Seychelles and discussed U.S.-Russia relations. (Bingo) During the same period, another business associate introduced Dmitriev to a friend of Jared Kushner who had not served on the Campaign or the Transition Team. Dmitriev and Kushner's friend collaborated on a short written reconciliation plan for the United States and Russia, which Dmitriev implied had been cleared through Putin. The friend gave that proposal to Kushner before the inauguration, and Kushner later gave copies to Bannon and incoming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. 

There is no reason for this cooperation. None. FROM THE BEGINNING, the Trump administration coveted Russia and I want to know why!!!!!!!!!

On December 29, 2016, then-President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for having interfered in the election. (Did I hear President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for interfering with the election?)
........................................................................................................

Quid Pro Quo

June 2, 2016

President Donald Trump’s administration (click here) moved quickly to try and lift economic sanctions on Russia and other punishments former President Barack Obama had put in place as soon as it took office in January, according to multiple sources who have spoken with Yahoo News.

“There was serious consideration by the White House to unilaterally rescind the sanctions,” according to Dan Fried, who retired in February as Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the State Department.

Fried told veteran investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, a former national investigative correspondent for NBC News and Newsweek alumnus, that in the early weeks of the administration he got several “panicky” calls from U.S. officials. They asked: “Please, my God, can’t you stop this?”

The sanctions in question included those imposed by Obama for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and others inflicted late last year to punish Moscow for its suspected efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. The plans Trump’s administration considered early on included returning diplomatic compounds seized from Russia in late 2016—recent reports say Trump is currently working to put this plan into action....
..................................................................................................................................

Incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn called Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and asked Russia not to escalate the situation in response to the sanctions. The following day, Putin announced that Russia would not take retaliatory measures in response to the sanctions at that time. Hours later, President-Elect Trump tweeted, "Great move on delay (by V. Putin)." The next day, on December 31 , 2016, Kislyak called Flynn and told him the request had been received at the highest levels and Russia had chosen not to retaliate as a result of Flynn's request. 

Happy New Year.

There is a new section following this and I will pick up there tomorrow.

I left off yesterday with this paragraph from the Executive Summary of Volume 1 of the Special Council Report.

This paragraph appears on page 6 of the Executive Summary of Volume 1. Page is also page 14 of 448 pages.

July 2016 was also the month WikiLeaks first released emails stolen by the GRU from the DNC. On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks posted thousands of internal DNC documents revealing information about the Clinton Campaign. Within days, there was public reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies had "high confidence" that the Russian government was.behind the theft of emails and documents from the DNC. And within a week of the release, a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos and his statement that the Russian government could assist the Trump Campaign. On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government reporting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.

The investigation found that the GRU, which is the Russian government, stole emails and documents from the Clinton Campaign. I hope every American realizes the degree to which Russia was intent on defaming Hillary Clinton to end any chance she would be elected President of the United States of America. It is important Americans realize their country is a target of other countries for nefarious reasons. 

I want to contrast this to the long established hopes of American diplomacy. It was only within the last half decade that the USA took steps to sanction Russian and remove their president from the G8. The G8 is now the G7. Those are very deep cuts into the very efforts of diplomacy between Russia and the USA. Those diplomatic efforts span decades and multiple USA presidents. No one that believes in peace and mutual goals and hopes wanted that to happen. I was disappointed to say the least when Russia invaded Crimea and then Eastern Ukraine. I thought "that Russia" was dead and buried forever.

Former Presidents of the USSR and then the Russian Federation such as Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev had grown a far better relationship with the USA and Western Democracy in Europe. It was celebrated in this country when they turned their country from a course of mutual destruction and into nuclear non-proliferation. Those decisions opened the door to investment and trade with The West. The long wished for hopes were finally coming true. 

When Vladimir Putin became the new president of the Russian Federation it was welcomed with as much anticipation of peace as the previous two presidents of Russia. President Putin was young and it was every American's expectation that he was equal to them and thought about the future in the same way. Americans can be naive that way. Most Americans didn't realize that communism was alive and well, that Russia was an emerging power and there were still profound problems in Russia reflected in longevity and health. The problem with alcoholism saturated Russia. I am not sure of the status of alcoholism today in Russia, but, if longevity hasn't improved much the best assessment is that it is still a sincere problem.

Vladimir Putin was a former KGB agent. He was knowledgeable about the world Russia was a part of and at no point in time did anyone expect Russia to invade Ukraine. That was the old world. But, here we were again with the same paradigm of aggression against innocent and unarmed people that was more than a shadow of the old USSR.

When Russia carried out a mission with their intelligence agencies to effect the elections of 2016, it meant it. Russia wanted someone who would be a president that they could expect cooperation from in the way of removing sanctions and providing whatever information Russia wanted and when it wanted it. Do not underestimate the level of invasion Russia carried out in the 2016 elections. Because we are a country well invested in agencies that protect this country, magnificent women and men that work within those agencies and an American population educated enough and open minded enough to realize the cyber world was not secure; there grew an understanding that Russia did something really wrong to this country.

July 2016 was the month when Russia launched the result of it's plans and it worked beautifully. Americans looked to Wikileaks to realize the extent the USA government might have private information about them when Edward Snowden risked his life and certainly his citizenship to allow the information to flow into the knowledge of Americans.

Again, when Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange used Wikileaks to display information from the USA military about a war in Iraq that didn't end when President Obama walked into the White House. 

Of those two instances, Americans were mostly grateful and grew impatient with their government about aspects they never dreamed would touch their lives. Both Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning were Americans. They had messages for other Americans that would create a knowledge base that could effect elections.

But, in July 2016, Russia used that level of trust in "open source" information to taint the elections between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. It was all onesided. It came from a foreign power that was now estranged from USA trust and trade. It came from Russia with threats to the USA people that if Hillary Clinton were elected there would be nuclear war. Because Americans, like Snowden and Manning were accepted at some level by the American people, the same exact naive open mindedness was cast upon the attacks by Russia.

This was different and whether Americans want to accept it or not, it is very dangerous.

continued in next entry   

"...there has been created a perception...."

This is a "Real Clear Politics" video. (click here) There is a transcript as well. I think it is important at this point in time to understand how the FBI sees it's the responsibility in releasing information to the general public.

Sen. John Kennedy questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray during testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday about the underlying predicate for the bureau's investigation into then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election....

By some strange and rare chance the video did not translate well here it can be found at the link above. Thank you.

This is nonsense.

Besides the reasons of the US House Judiciary Committee the controlled environment where the MOSTLY unredacted Special Council report is held, hostage, the CONDITIONS placed by Barr are dysfunctional, intimidating and an insult. 

May 6, 2019
By Madison Gesiotto

Despite their demands (click here) that Attorney General William Barr release the full unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller, Democrats have shown little actual interest in viewing it themselves. In a solid gesture of transparency, Barr allowed a dozen members of Congress, six Democrats and six Republicans, to access the report with most of the redactions removed. While grand jury material had to be redacted to comply with federal requirements, this version of the report does include classified information, materials related to ongoing investigations, and information that could damage reputations of individuals not charged with crimes....

There are 24 members of the US House Judiciary Committee alone. That does not account for the members of the US House Intelligence Committee or the equally important components in the US Senate. Limiting the scope of the number of Legislative members to read the MOSTLY unredacted Special Counsel document is a burden to the six CHOSEN by Barr.

The entire controlling environment is oppressive and designed to provide failure to the process the legislature has to carry out. The control under which these six exclusive members are allowed to read the documents is oppressive. They have to read it in a particular room that is controlled by Barr. There are no cell phones allowed. The notes the six members take have to remain in the room with the documents. 

To begin the document is not completely redacted. The US House and US Senate have security clearance to have these documents. It is my estimation the Trump family probably has the same clearance to read the unredacted documents.

The idea there can be no notes to leave the room brings up all kinds of problems. Six members of 635 women and men that make up the US House and US Senate have to take time out of their responsibilities (these members are chairpersons to committees) to go to a room, read documents, take notes and then leave the notes behind to commit the entire unredacted areas to memory. 

IT IS COMPLETELY UNWORKABLE.

The Trump administration has set a path that is completely clear, they intend to obstruct the government processes of the federal government and this is proof.

The idea the members of Congress would violate the law in having information regarding any ongoing Grand Jury is an insult to their oath of office. The US House wanted the Attorney General to join them in a court of law to find the Grand Jury testimony that can be released while other hearings continue. The fact there are ongoing Grand Jurys only brings up the question as to why the Special Counsel was disbanded in the first place.

Former FBI Director Mueller needs to testify to the US Congress as well as the members of the Special Council. The limits placed on the US Legislature regarding this report are ridiculous, providing no clear ability of the legislature to bring about law or changes in law to protect the USA from foreign influence that is harmful to its sovereignty.

The USA does not need another 22 month review of evidence.

After the US House votes on the Contempt of Congress by the Attorney General it needs to secure the Former Director of the FBI and members of the Special Council as witnesses to court proceedings.

Barr is disregarding the law that legislated the Special Counsel. Barr is partisan. It is obvious. There was absolutely no reason for Barr to ignore any subpoena. He could have easily appeared to the US House committees and explained his unreasonable reasons to withhold the entire Special Counsel report and supporting documents.

The facts are clear. The American people have a law that relieves the DOJ of the burden of any intense and urgent investigation to solve a defined problem. That law is the Special Counsel. It provides for an AUTONOMOUS study of the issue(s) involved and reporting those findings to the DOJ to act in filing legal proceedings as soon as possible That occurred under Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. There was no problem and proceedings of those actions by the Assistant AG are proving to be very important to the sovereign state of the USA.

Now, the new Attorney General wants to hobble the rest of the government to better study the findings and supporting documents. THAT IS OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE. Plain and simple.

The Special Council are not clerks. The Speical Council calls forward the best of America to solve problems resulting from dangers to sovereignty issues among other reasons. In this case, Russia has been known to carry out active influence in the 2016 elections including the easily detected hacking of the DCCC and the Clinton Campaign. Those efforts intensified when Trump asked Putin to find 30,000 deleted emails.

The facts are filed. The report is made with a working document, I don't consider complete. Barr is throwing his legal weight around and does so at the expense of the American people when they have a right to know the dangers of foreign powers against the USA.

I believe Barr has shut down the operations of the Special Counsel by challenging the basis of the formation of the Special Counsel including the filing of FISA documents to provide a venue to accumulate information regarding such Russian assault. The assault existed. There is no doubt about it. The assault also proved to be concentrated with the Trump Campaign. That is absolutely obvious. The Russians were openly solicited by Donald J. Trump himself. The basis for the Special Counsel is rock solid. The FISA warrants involve members of that campaign and KNOWN Russian operatives. There is nothing wrong with the FISA warrants or the information accumulated because of those warrants.

This is an Attorney General that bends a knee in loyalty, as he has done in prior Executive Branch administrations, to a President under siege with a campaign that solicited Russian operatives to act against the sovereign state of the United States of America.

There is plenty of evidence and in reading the report of the Special Council there are mountains of evidence that spreads around the world. Barr can't undo that for the convenience of a bad president.

Barr is corrupt and he is corrupting this government. The Special Counsel is filled wall to wall of highly qualified professionals that have written a document that is 488 pages long with profound findings. Within that document, which spans two volumes, are introductions and executive summaries that damn the involvement of a campaign too attached to Russia and outcomes with Russia.

While the Special Council found individuals indictable and carried out successful trials and pleas to shut down the assault against the USA BY RUSSIA and it's finanicial influence (which is known to work because of the Citizens' United decision) there remains a breach in completing the task in the DOJ's lame policy that an obviously corrupt president can't be indicted. I understand the reasoning of the DOJ policy for fear of frivolous proceedings by some of the finest legal minds in the country, however, there remains obvious corruption. It is completely obvious. There is no doubt. A presidential candidate can't yell out to Russia for help at a news conference where cameras and journalists are recording every moment and not be found to be corrupt. That is just one instance.

The Special Counsel submitted a report that CANNOT BE REWRITTEN because it is politically inconvenient. That is what Barr is trying to do. The US House needs to bring the highly qualified Special Counsel, including the highly esteemed Robert Mueller, before the court to end the sham that is Bill Barr.

Sue everyone and every entity.

The White House has to be sued and so does Donald J. Trump, the person. He has personal animosity for whatever the perverted reason is and he is abusing the power of the Executive Branch to hurt private concerns in the USA.

Hold Sarah Huckabee Sanders responsible for her decisions in highly discriminatory methodologies to exclude those that disagree with Trump policies. She is getting away with it. She is hiding behind Trump's back and firing off inappropriate control of the USA press corp. Enough.

29 March 2018
By Alan Martin

Yesterday, (click here) Amazon's stock fell 4.4%, knocking around $31 billion off the company's value. The possible reason? An Axios report highlighting President Donald Trump's continued desire to "go after Amazon," possibly with anti-trust regulation. The report claims to come from five sources who have discussed the company with him: "he's obsessed with Amazon," said one of them. "Obsessed."

Another added: “He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law."

$31 billion off Amazon's net worth is very little in the greater scheme of things and it will likely bounce back soon, but it's worth digging into Trump's continued antipathy towards Amazon and specifically Jeff Bezos....

The Trump administration rejects the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

What does this White House read to understand the world?

Everything is personal to Trump. Doesn't he have a feud with Jeff Bezos (click here)? He is trying to put him out of business from inside the Executive Branch of the USA. There is plenty there to file a lawsuit about. Begin with the First Amendment and a free and open press.

The only real reason any journalist can be disqualified is if they pose a threat to human life. I doubt that exists at The Washington Post. I am quite confident every journalist now being ostracized can pass a background check with ease.

THERE ARE ESTABLISHED STANDARDS. Those standards are based in fact and sound decision making.

The Trump White House is known to be the base of the Trump Campaign supervised by Jared Kushner. That is not supposed to be happening inside the GOVERNMENT OFFICES of the President of the United States of America.

May 10, 2019
By Sophie Weiner

After almost eliminating press conferences, (click here) the Trump administration’s campaign against journalists covering the White House has reached a new peak. On Wednesday, the administration today revoked the hard passes of almost the entire White House press corps, the Washington Post reports.

After telling all six Post reporters that their hard passes were revoked, the administration then said they’d take requests for “exceptions,” veteran White House journalist Dana Milbank writes. The exceptions were granted for all of the other Post journalists besides Milbank.

From the "Post:"

The White House press office granted exceptions to the other six, but not to me. I strongly suspect it’s because I’m a Trump critic. The move is perfectly in line with Trump’s banning of certain news organizations, including The Post, from his campaign events and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesn’t like.

White House officials provided me no comment for the record...

How much is Trump worth?

The recent report in the New York Times clearly illustrates Donald J. Trump's successful exploitation of the bankruptcy laws of the USA.

To be clear. Donald J. Trump and his company exist at the expense of a vast number of other people. There are many, many businesses that contracted with Trump over the decades to make a living and become wealthy themselves. Let's not forget Trump University.

Donald J. Trump has harnessed the imaginations of people only to drop them firmly dropped on their behinds. His wealth came at the expense of others. He didn't invent anything. He found a path called "Failure" that allowed him to accumulate billions.

The "worth" of Donald J. Trump today actually belongs to others. Unfortunately, bankruptcy laws that benefit the wealthy allow him to keep it

To .

In case little scholarly thought went into, why Trump? The Tea Party. They are the people that came out of nowhere immediately after the election of President Barak Hussein Obama.

The Tea Party, the Right Wing's most extremist element (The Freedom Caucus)  manifested because of Koch money and continue to exist because of Koch money. The Kochs never adapted a modern day model for their family business. They continue to exploit petroleum and coal as if it is relevant to today's world. So, the entire mess that is Trump is because the Koch's don't want to change their business model. I wonder how their China Division is doing?

The people backed by Koch's money are seriously attempting to turn the clocks back about six decades. They "don't believe" in the future. It isn't profitable to do so.

It would seem as though the dredges from the Republican past have found a wacko home in North Carolina. The John Locke Society claims wind turbines are a national security threat. I wonder what their position is on Donald Trump's beautiful letters with Kim?

The burgeoning leadership of the DNC needs to begin a reform movement in North Carolina. It is so old world, they still adhere to the idea Columbus sailed on a flat Earth.

May 8, 2019
By Dave Anderson

Harry Brown, (click here) the state senator who wants to ban new wind power farms in eastern North Carolina, has received thousands of dollars in campaign money from Koch Industries and other fossil fuel interests.

Brown, who serves as the Republican Majority Leader in the North Carolina Senate, received a $4,000 contribution for his reelection campaign from the Koch Industries Political Action Committee (KochPAC) in August of 2018.

At the time, Brown was busy defending North Carolina’s controversial 18-month moratorium on new wind farms, which only became law after Brown snuck it into a bipartisan 2017 solar bill signed by Governor Roy Cooper. Brown’s moratorium was premised on overblown claims about the impacts of wind turbines on military operations.

The John Locke Foundation took credit for the role that its “reporting” on the national security threat supposedly posed by “massive turbines” played in laying the groundwork for the 2017 moratorium. It pulled in $85,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation in 2017, according to IRS data compiled by Greenpeace. It was the largest recorded donation the John Locke Foundation has received from the Charles Koch Foundation. The group was co-founded by Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers....

Who is selling North Korea the fuel for it's rockets?

I never think of North Korea as having a vast petroleum reserve. What country is supplying Kim with the fuel to send rockets into the air? 

May 9, 2019
By Matt Clinch

Reuters reported, (click here) citing a South Korean official, that the projectile flew 420 km in an easterly direction.

NBC News said that the chief national security advisor in South Korea is monitoring the situation.

Last week, North Korea launched a number of rockets and at least one short range missile from its east coast into the ocean....

I think Kim misses Donald. After all, wasn't Donald "the good father figure" Kim has always needed? Such beautiful letters. 

But, setting aside all the frivolous details of the personal engagements of Kim and Donald; the eastward destination of Kim's rockets is the USA. He is really doing his level best to visit a rocket on Sarah Palin.

This administration in the White House is a complete failure. At least the USA military has been able to keep up exercises with allies, which needs to return to the South Korean peninsula.