Continued from previous entry.

Special Council Report on the Russian Interference of the 2016 Elections (click here)
Page 125 in the report and page 133 of the PDF

Although only delegates could participate in formal discussions and vote on the platform, the Trump Campaign could request changes, and members of the Trump Campaign attended committee meetings.791 John Mashburn, the Campaign’s policy director, helped oversee the Campaign’s involvement in the platform committee meetings.792 He told the Office that he directed Campaign staff at the Convention, including J.D. Gordon, to take a hands-off approach and only to challenge platform planks if they directly contradicted Trump’s wishes.793

John Mashburn employment record (click here)

On July 11, 2016, delegate Diana Denman submitted a proposed platform amendment that included provision of armed support for Ukraine.794

Diana Denman (click here) was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Texas. Denman was one of 104 delegates from Texas bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention.[1] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates.

The amendment described Russia’s “ongoing military aggression” in Ukraine and announced “support” for “maintaining (and, if warranted, increasing) sanctions against Russia until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored” and for “providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces and greater coordination with NATO on defense planning.”795 Gordon reviewed the proposed platform changes, including Denman’s.796 Gordon stated that he flagged this amendment because of Trump’s stated position on Ukraine, which Gordon personally heard the candidate say at the March 31 foreign policy meeting—namely, that the Europeans should take primary responsibility for any assistance to Ukraine, that there should be improved U.S.-Russia relations, and that he did not want to start World War III over that region.797 Gordon told the Office that Trump’s statements on the campaign trail following the March meeting underscored those positions to the point where Gordon felt obliged to object to the proposed platform change and seek its dilution.798

On July 11, 2016, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Platform Subcommittee, Denman offered her amendment.799 Gordon and another Campaign staffer, Matt Miller, approached a committee co-chair and asked him to table the amendment to permit further discussion.800 Gordon’s concern with the amendment was the language about providing “lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine.”801 Miller did not have any independent basis to believe that this language contradicted Trump’s views and relied on Gordon’s recollection of the candidate’s views.802

According to Denman, she spoke with Gordon and Matt Miller, and they told her that they had to clear the language and that Gordon was “talking to New York.”803 Denman told others that she was asked by the two Trump Campaign staffers to strike “lethal defense weapons” from the proposal but that she refused.804 Denman recalled Gordon saying that he was on the phone with candidate Trump, but she was skeptical whether that was true.805 Gordon denied having told Denman that he was on the phone with Trump, although he acknowledged it was possible that he mentioned having previously spoken to the candidate about the subject matter.806 Gordon’s phone records reveal a call to Sessions’s office in Washington that afternoon, but do not include calls directly to a number associated with Trump.807 And according to the President’s written answers to the Office’s questions, he does not recall being involved in the change in language of the platform amendment.808

Rick Dearborn, (click here) seated on the couch with his left hand raised, will serve as Deputy Chief of Staff in President-elect Donald Trump’s White House.


Gordon stated that he tried to reach Rick Dearborn, a senior foreign policy advisor, and Mashburn, the Campaign policy director. Gordon stated that he connected with both of them (he could not recall if by phone or in person) and apprised them of the language he took issue with in the proposed amendment. Gordon recalled no objection by either Dearborn or Mashburn and that all three Campaign advisors supported the alternative formulation (“appropriate assistance”).809 Dearborn recalled Gordon warning them about the amendment, but not weighing in because Gordon was more familiar with the Campaign’s foreign policy stance.810 Mashburn stated that Gordon reached him, and he told Gordon that Trump had not taken a stance on the issue and that the Campaign should not intervene.811 

When the amendment came up again in the committee’s proceedings, the subcommittee changed the amendment by striking the “lethal defense weapons” language and replacing it with “appropriate assistance.”812 Gordon stated that he and the subcommittee co-chair ultimately agreed to replace the language about armed assistance with “appropriate assistance.”813 The subcommittee accordingly approved Denman’s amendment but with the term “appropriate assistance.”814 Gordon stated that, to his recollection, this was the only change sought by the Campaign.815 Sam Clovis, (click here) the Campaign’s national co-chair and chief policy advisor, stated he was surprised by the change and did not believe it was in line with Trump’s stance.816 Mashburn stated that when he saw the word “appropriate assistance,” he believed that Gordon had violated Mashburn’s directive not to intervene.817

7. Post-Convention Contacts with Kislyak 

Ambassador Kislyak continued his efforts to interact with Campaign officials with responsibility for the foreign-policy portfolio—among them Sessions and Gordon—in the weeks after the Convention. The Office did not identify evidence in those interactions of coordination between the Campaign and the Russian government. 

a. Ambassador Kislyak Invites J.D. Gordon to Breakfast at the Ambassador’s Residence 

On August 3, 2016, an official from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the United States wrote to Gordon “[o]n behalf of” Ambassador Kislyak inviting Gordon “to have breakfast/tea with the Ambassador at his residence” in Washington, D.C. the following week.818 Gordon responded five days later to decline the invitation. He wrote, “[t]hese days are not optimal for us, as we are busily knocking down a constant stream of false media stories while also preparing for the first debate with HRC. Hope to take a raincheck for another time when things quiet down a bit. Please pass along my regards to the Ambassador.”819 The investigation did not identify evidence that Gordon made any other arrangements to meet (or met) with Kislyak after this email.

b. Senator Sessions’s September 2016 Meeting with Ambassador Kislyak Also in August 2016, a representative of the Russian Embassy contacted Sessions’s Senate office about setting up a meeting with Kislyak.820 At the time, Sessions was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would meet with foreign officials in that capacity.821 But Sessions’s staff reported, and Sessions himself acknowledged, that meeting requests from ambassadors increased substantially in 2016, as Sessions assumed a prominent role in the Trump Campaign and his name was mentioned for potential cabinet-level positions in a future Trump Administration.822

On September 8, 2016, Sessions met with Kislyak in his Senate office.823 Sessions said that he believed he was doing the Campaign a service by meeting with foreign ambassadors, including Kislyak.824 He was accompanied in the meeting by at least two of his Senate staff: Sandra Luff, (click here) his legislative director; 

Work history (click  here)

Is it a Republican thing they hire lobbyists for their assistants? That is built-in corruption.

and Pete Landrum, who handled military affairs.

Former Senior Advisor (click here) to Sen. Jeff Sessions strengthens firm’s national securityand international offering

Washington, D.C. – April 3, 2017: BGR Government Affairs announced today that retired Army Colonel Pete Landrum, who spent the last ten years as a Senior Advisor to former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), joined the firm as Vice President. Pete will strengthen the firm’s International and Defense practice, focusing on its homeland security, shipbuilding and aerospace clients....    

Peter Landum employment history (click here)

825 The meeting lasted less than 30 minutes.826 Sessions voiced concerns about Russia’s sale of a missile defense system to Iran, Russian planes buzzing U.S. military assets in the Middle East, and Russian aggression in emerging democracies such as Ukraine and Moldova.827 Kislyak offered explanations on these issues and complained about NATO land forces in former Soviet-bloc countries that border Russia.828 Landrum recalled that Kislyak referred to the presidential campaign as “an interesting campaign,”829 and Sessions also recalled Kislyak saying that the Russian government was receptive to the overtures Trump had laid out during his campaign.830 

Oops there it is. Trump was courting Russia the entire time and he carried that relationship into the White House. Interesting that Sessions is wooing ambassadors during the campaign only to have Trump, through Michael Cohen, bargain their way into the White House.

None of the attendees, though, remembered any discussion of Russian election interference or any request that Sessions convey information from the Russian government to the Trump Campaign.831

There was no reason for Sessions or Kislyak to discuss the campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump did that on a regular basis in the open. I imagine Trump's open conspiracy with Russia did make it an interesting campaign for Russia.

"Russia can you hear me...." was definitely being heard.

During the meeting, Kislyak invited Sessions to further discuss U.S.-Russia relations with him over a meal at the ambassador’s residence.832 Sessions was non-committal when Kislyak extended the invitation. After the meeting ended, Luff advised Sessions against accepting the one on-one meeting with Kislyak, whom she assessed to be an “old school KGB guy.”833 Neither Luff nor Landrum recalled that Sessions followed up on the invitation or made any further effort to dine or meet with Kislyak before the November 2016 election.834 Sessions and Landrum recalled that, after the election, some efforts were made to arrange a meeting between Sessions and Kislyak.835 According to Sessions, the request came through CNI...

I am uncertain what CNI is referred to in this document. I think it is the second one, The Council for the National Interest.

Council of Networked Information (click here)

The Council for the National Interest (click here)

...and would have involved a meeting between Sessions and Kislyak, two other ambassadors, and the Governor of Alabama.836 Sessions, however, was in New York on the day of the anticipated meeting and was unable to attend.837 The investigation did not identify evidence that the two men met at any point after their September 8 meeting.
..........................................................................................
Footnotes are primarily emails, telephone calls or emails.

Footnote 791 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 1;

Rachel Hoff (click here) was an at-large delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Washington, D.C. Hoff was one of ten delegates from Washington, D.C., bound by state party rules to support Marco Rubio at the convention. Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15, 2016.

Hoff was on the Republican National Convention Platform Committee. She was the first openly gay person to be on the committee.

At last week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, (click here) the GOP unveiled its most right-wing platform in years. It called for the end of women in combat, said pornography is a “public health crisis,” and, over a full year after the Supreme Court declared marriage a constitutional right for all, still defined marriage as between one man and one woman. But behind the scenes of the platform’s adoption was a small and ultimately outnumbered group of moderate voices fighting to keep their party relevant.

One of those voices was Rachel Hoff, the first-ever openly gay delegate on the Republican platform committee. Hoff proposed an amendment that wouldn’t actually endorse gay marriage but would acknowledge that people within the party disagreed on the issue. It was voted down. Then, in part to “test just how far this committee is willing to go to avoid a single positive reference to the LGBT community,” she proposed language specifying that the victims of the Orlando mass shooting were targeted for being gay. That, too, was rejected....

Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 10.

Footnote 792 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4; Manafort 9/20/18 302, at 7-8. 
Footnote 793 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4; Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10. 

Footnote 794 DENMAN 000001-02
DENMAN 000012
DENMAN 000021-22
Denman 12/4/17 302, at 1
Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2. 

Footnote 795 DENMAN 000001-02, 
DENMAN 000012, 
DENMAN 000021-22. 
Footnote 796 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10-11.
Footnote 797 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 1-2, 5-6. 

Footnote 798 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 5-6. 
Footnote 799 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2; see DENMAN 000014.

Footnote 800 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2;
Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11-12;
see Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2.

Footnote 801 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 3.
Footnote 802 M. Miller 10/25/17 302 at 3.
Footnote 803 Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2; Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2. 
Footnote 804 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 805 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2-3, 3-4; Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2. 
Footnote 806 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 7. 
Footnote 807 Call Records of J.D. Gordon Grand Jury . Gordon stated to the Office that his calls with Sessions were unrelated to the platform change. Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 7.

Footnote 808 Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018), at 17 (Response to Question IV, Part (f)).

Footnote 809 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 6-7; Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11-12; see Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11.

Footnote 810 Dearborn 11/28/17 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 811 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 812 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2-3;
see Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2-3;
Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11. 

Footnote 813 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 12.

Footnote 814 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2-3. 
Footnote 815 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 6. 
Footnote 816 Clovis 10/3/17 302, at 10-11. 
Footnote 817 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4. 

Footnote 818 DJTFP00004828 (8/3/16 Email, Pchelyakov [embassy@russianembassy.org] to Gordon). 

Footnote 819 DJTFP00004953 (8/8/16 Email, Gordon to embassy@russianembassy.org). 

Footnote 820 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 821 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.

Footnote 822 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 3-5.

Footnote 823 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Footnote 824 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.

Footnote 825 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5-6;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5 (stating he could not remember if election was discussed). 

Footnote 826 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5. 
Footnote 827 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5. 
Footnote 828 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302 at 4-5. 
Footnote 829 Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5. 

Footnote 830 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Sessions also noted that ambassadors came to him for information about Trump and hoped he would pass along information to Trump.
Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24. 

831 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5. 

Footnote 832 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4. 
Footnote 833 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 834 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5. 
Footnote 835 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23. 
Footnote 836 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23. 
Footnote 837 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.

Continued in following entry. 

Continued from a previous entry.

The Special Counsel Report on Russian Interference in the 2016 Elections
Page 123 in the report and 131 on the PDF

This is a very lengthy assessment and will require more than one entry to cover all of it.

I might add as reading this section of the Special Counsel's Report the facts that Trump objected to funding Ukraine's military needs even as a candidate. Withholding the funding of Ukraine while intimidating the new Ukraine president was on the agenda the entire time.

Released Trump Memo (click here)

6. Events at the Republican National Convention

Trump Campaign officials met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the week of the Republican National Convention. The evidence indicates that those interactions were brief and non-substantive. During platform committee meetings immediately before the Convention, J.D. Gordon, a senior Campaign advisor on policy and national security, diluted a proposed amendment to the Republican Party platform expressing support for providing “lethal” assistance to Ukraine in response to
Russian aggression.

...J.D. Gordon (click here) also told NPR that Page as well George Papadopoulos, who recently pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his own Russia contacts, were marginal figures in the Trump world. Both men served as members of the then-candidate's foreign policy team, but they were not central figures with a meaningful voice, he said.

"They were peripheral members of a relatively peripheral advisory committee," Gordon told NPR by text message. "They had no campaign email addresses, no assigned office space, no building passes, no responsibilities and very little access to campaign leadership."...

Perhaps party platforms are not taken as seriously as they should be, but, this is a direct benefit to Russia in an overt way that Putin could measure Trump's influence in the RNC, hence elected Republicans.

Gordon requested that platform committee personnel revise the proposed amendment to state that only “appropriate” assistance be provided to Ukraine. The original sponsor of the “lethal” assistance amendment stated that Gordon told her (the sponsor) that he was on the phone with candidate Trump in connection with his request to dilute the language. Gordon denied making that statement to the sponsor, although he acknowledged it was possible he mentioned having previously spoken to the candidate about the subject matter. The investigation did not establish that Gordon spoke to or was directed by the candidate to make that proposal. Gordon said that he sought the change because he believed the proposed language was inconsistent with Trump’s position on Ukraine.

Trump's corruption of this party and the country to benefit Russia is obvious and never changed once in office.

a. Ambassador Kislyak’s Encounters with Senator Sessions and J.D. Gordon the Week of the RNC

In July 2016, Senator Sessions and Gordon spoke at the Global Partners in Diplomacy event, a conference co-sponsored by the State Department and the Heritage Foundation held in Cleveland, Ohio the same week as the Republican National Convention (RNC or “Convention”).775 Approximately 80 foreign ambassadors to the United States, including Kislyak, were invited to the conference.776

On July 20, 2016, Gordon and Sessions delivered their speeches at the conference.777 In his speech, Gordon stated in pertinent part that the United States should have better relations with Russia.778 During Sessions’s speech, he took questions from the audience, one of which may have been asked by Kislyak.779 When the speeches concluded, several ambassadors lined up to greet the speakers.780 Gordon shook hands with Kislyak and reiterated that he had meant what he said in the speech about improving U.S.-Russia relations.781 Sessions separately spoke with between six and 12 ambassadors, including Kislyak.782 Although Sessions stated during interviews with the Office that he had no specific recollection of what he discussed with Kislyak, he believed that the two spoke for only a few minutes and that they would have exchanged pleasantries and said some things about U.S.-Russia relations.783

Later that evening, Gordon attended a reception as part of the conference.784 Gordon ran into Kislyak as the two prepared plates of food, and they decided to sit at the same table to eat.785 They were joined at that table by the ambassadors from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and by Trump Campaign advisor Carter Page.786 As they ate, Gordon and Kislyak talked for what Gordon estimated to have been three to five minutes, during which Gordon again mentioned that he meant what he said in his speech about improving U.S.-Russia relations.787

In preparation for the 2016 Convention, foreign policy advisors to the Trump Campaign, working with the Republican National Committee, reviewed the 2012 Convention’s foreign policy platform to identify divergence between the earlier platform and candidate Trump’s positions.788 The Campaign team discussed toning down language from the 2012 platform that identified Russia as the country’s number one threat, given the candidate’s belief that there needed to be better U.S. relations with Russia.789 The RNC Platform Committee sent the 2016 draft platform to the National Security and Defense Platform Subcommittee on July 10, 2016, the evening before its first meeting to propose amendments.790
.....................................................................................................

Footnote 775 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9;
Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22;
Allan Smith, (click here) We Now Know More About why Jeff Sessions and a Russian Ambassador Crossed Paths at the Republican Convention, Business Insider (Mar. 2, 2017).

Sessions was involved with the Russian Ambassador Kislyak on several occasions. This picture is of the meeting both Session and Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel. (click here)

Sessions lies a lot more than about Trump, he also lies about his connections to White Supremacists as a speaker at their meetings. I believe one took place in California.

...During his Senate confirmation hearing, (click here) Sessions did not mention the pair of discussions in an exchange with Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota. Franken did not ask Sessions whether he specifically spoke with Russian operatives, but Sessions, in answering an unrelated question, said he did not have any communications with "the Russians."

"If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?" Franken asked.

"Sen. Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities," Sessions responded. "I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I'm unable to comment on it."...

Footnote 776 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9;
Laura DeMarco, (click here) Global Cleveland and Sen. Bob Corker Welcome International Republican National Convention Guests, Cleveland Plain Dealer (July 20, 2016).

Footnote 777 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9; Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22.
Footnote 778 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9. 
Footnote 779 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22; Luff 1/30/18 302, at 3. 
Footnote 780 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9; Luff 1/30/18 302, at 3. 
Footnote 781 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9. 

Footnote 782 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22; Luff 1/30/18 302, at 3; see also Volume I, Section IV.A.4.b, supra (explaining that Sessions and Kislyak may have met three months before this encounter during a reception held on April 26, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel). 

Footnote 783 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22. 
Footnote 784 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9-10. 
Footnote 785 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 9-10.

Footnote 786 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10; see also Volume I, Section IV.A.3.d, supra (explaining that Page acknowledged meeting Kislyak at this event).

Footnote 787 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10. 
Footnote 788 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10. 
Footnote 789 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10.
Footnote 790 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10; Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 1-2.

Continued in the next entry.

US Senate (click here)

Perdue University is incorrect. Perdue stated the virus only effects the elderly and young people are not at issue. COVID-19 effects the lives of all ages, including college age people. There are handicapped noted by this virus and it cannot be ignored as schools at all level are reopening.

Victor Mercado of California is nominated to Assistant Defense Secretary for Strategies, Plans and Capabilities

Afternoon Session

The Senate (click here) will consider the nomination of Brian Miller to be Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery at the Treasury Department, a new position created by the CARES Act. He currently serves as White House Senior Associate Counsel.

Protests at night is not about violence. People work a job even in the USA today and they cannot march in the daytime.

August temperatures arrive early in the USA now.

The majority of marchers in protest of police brutality find evening and nighttime temperatures easier to walk. Even road work is being conducted at night now. It is called the Climate Crisis.

Senator Duckworth wanted to immediately pass US Senate bill 1938 to a vote. It was introduced three years ago. Lindsay Graham objected to it and ended the forward movement of a very worthy bill.


Short Titles

Police Training and Independent Review Act of 2019. (click here)

Official Titles as Introduced

A bill to provide for grants for States that require fair and impartial police training for law enforcement officers of that State and to incentivize States to enact laws requiring the independent investigation and prosecution of the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.

Senator Klobuchar requests an investigation into the problems in law enforcement and the prison system.

Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer raised objection to the actions of Trump and the overpowering police to remove. He notes the only reason protesters were pushed aside is for Trump's photo op.

Schumer Resolution - Constitutional rights of Americans must be enforced, looting and violence are unlawful and rubber bullets, gas and forced must not be used against protesters. 

He has asked there to be a vote by unanimous consent. McConnel objected talking out both sides of his mouth. He states all those provisions of Schumer resolution but he doesn't see it should be documented in a resolution. McConnell is not stating the reason why the resolution cannot be adopted but for political reasons and includes Trump in his excuse to end any vote on the resolution.

McConnell introduced Resolution 601and Minority Speaker Schumer objected to it. There is no current e-page for either of these resolutions.

The session continued for the vote to confirm Brian Miller to be Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. The vote will split along party lines.

Brian Miller is involved in the Ukraine cover-up.

Last year, (click here) Brian Miller, a White House lawyer, rejected a request by the Government Accountability Office for the White House to provide information about the withholding of aid to Ukraine.

...Brian Miller, (click here) who is currently senior associate counsel in the Office of White House Counsel, would oversee a $500 billion rescue fund for industry if confirmed by the Senate as the new special inspector general for pandemic recovery. Trump announced late Friday his intent to nominate Miller for the job.

In the counsel’s office, Miller was involved in defending the president during the impeachment proceedings, and Democrats said his current role raises questions about his independence.

“This oversight position, which will be responsible for overseeing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, requires complete independence from the president and any other interested party to assure the American people that all decisions are made without fear or favor,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Saturday. “To nominate a member of the president’s own staff is exactly the wrong type of person to choose for this position.”...

Brian Miller was passed by 51 Republican votes.

Senator Booker addressed the current unrest in the country regarding racism. The Senator addressed the depersonalization of the victims of racist violence.

Ahmaud Arbery (click here)

Kentucky - "Louisville (click here) postal inspector Tony Gooden asserted that the LMPD did not use his office to verify that a drug suspect delivered packages to Breonna Taylor’s address, which directly contradicts what the police stated in the affidavit to secure a no-knock warrant for the home.

This revelation validates what we already knew: This young woman was brutally and unjustifiably killed by Louisville police, who supplied false information on the warrant they used to enter her home unannounced. Gooden further stated that ‘no packages of interest were going there.’ We will continue to demand transparency from the Louisville police on behalf of Breonna’s family.”

George Floyd - ...Then Terrence Floyd (click here) collapsed to his knees, and the crowd hushed as he let out an anguished scream.

He had traveled from Brooklyn, N.Y., with several others, including the Rev. Kevin McCall, who told the crowd that the Floyd family has “a long road ahead of justice.”

“Just because we’re doing it peacefully, that doesn’t mean we don’t want all four of the officers locked up,” said McCall, drawing cheers.

US Senator Booker spoke at length about his experience of racism. He stated the protesters don't need just the end of violence, but, also the presence of justice. I think that is a very valid point. The protesters across the country are still on the street because of the lack of justice.

Senator Van Hollen's speech on the Senate floor was cut off at C-Span.


end

Trump has used the Bible as a prop before. 

My mother is a very prayful person. She attends online mass everyday and prays the rosary daily. When she saw him  stand in front of St. John's Church she screamed "Sacrilege," ran to her bedroom lit a candle that had been blessed and prayed the rosary. She is 85 years old and I would appreciate it if Trump would stop trying to kill the elderly. If it isn't COVID-19, he is playing games with their faithful hearts.

January 30, 2016

Just two days ahead of the first nominating contest in Iowa, (click here) Donald Trump is making a final attempt to court evangelical Christian.

In a new video posted to Facebook Saturday, the billionaire businessman thanked evangelicals and promised to "never let you down."...

The Insurrection of 1807 stood unchallenged all these many years until "Brownie" screwed up the response to Katrina.

The Insurrection Act does not allow Trump to unilaterally deploy troops into the interior of the USA.

Does Esper still have the option to go back to his old boss, Raytheon? He should consider it.

To begin, there is no insurrection, there are people with masks marching in the streets of the USA EXPECTING the government to pay attention to overbearing police actions throughout the country. Is Trump sure there isn't a police insurrection?

The Insurrection Act needs the request of governors to deploy the USA military. 

There is an amendment that was passed because Michael D. Brown, the "W" director of FEMA screwed up the response and the circumstances in New Orleans became critical and people were dying.

Katrina was the first major Climate Crisis storm and arrived in Louisiana with a 20-foot storm surge that traveled right up the Mississippi and deposited ships at the shoulder of the river. Lake Ponchartrain of Louisiana swelled and between the storm surge and the lake, water volume caused the destruction of the levees. When the levees broke, and "The Big One" finally arrived the residents of the Ninth District were underwater and many died. I don't recall the exact number at this time, shame on me, but it was over 1100 people dead in the USA due to a hurricane and the most in decades.

General Honore (click here) was sent to the interior of the country to rescue New Orleans from being stranded, hungry, and without medical access. I remember his arrival. It was after some military soldiers arrived and were actually preparing their weapons, his helicopter touched down, he lept out and stated, "Put your guns down!"

Obviously, General Honore was not interested in terrifying Americans more than they already were after they had very little warning to leave New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. They were terrified and many lost family members. They didn't need Ameican troops pointing their weapons in their face. Honore was magnificent and never once overstepped the unusual authority. He reassured the people and directed the troops to help and bring about an understanding of order within a city and area with it being absolutely destroyed by a major hurricane that Louisiana rarely if ever experienced.

There was an amendment to the Insurrection Act after that event in Louisiana.

The amendment (click here)

That was the only change to the Insurrection Act for well over 100 years. The President of the USA is NOT a king and the founders of this country took every opportunity to reiterate the fact this was a free country and the president would never be a king. 

The amendment to the Insurrection Act is NOT permission for the USA military to turn their guns on the American people. The governors have to consent, or better said, ASK for the assistance of the USA military within their borders.

Trump's fantasy of being a tyrant in the USA is getting old. He has yet to address the death of George Floyd and it sure as heck didn't happen in front of a church across from the White House.

Enacted by: the 9th United States Congress
March 3, 1807 10 USC Ch. 13: INSURRECTION (click here)

From Title 10—ARMED FORCESSubtitle A—General Military LawPART I—ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS

Let me know when Trump actually addresses the death of George Floyd.

The Minneapolis government has proved to be untrustworthy. First, they blamed looting and fires on an outside entity. Now, they lied about the autopsy. Why does this go on? This seems worse than Ferguson to me.

June 1, 2020
By Paul Walsh and Liz Navratil

Attorneys representing George Floyd's family (click here) released findings of their own autopsy that said the man was asphyxiated while now-fired officer Derek Chauvin had his kneeing pinning Floyd's neck. The results directly challenged preliminary results from the examination by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office that he was not strangled, but died from other factors, including being restrained.

"George died because he needed a breath, a breath of air," family attorney Ben Crump said during a news conference Monday afternoon. "For George Floyd, the ambulance was his hearse."

Crump added that Floyd "was living, breathing, talking until we see those officers restrain him while he's face down in handcuffs with Officer Chauvin having his knee lodged into his neck for over 8 minutes, almost 9 minutes, and the other officer having both his knees lodged into his back. And the doctors will explain the significance of that, as to the cause and manner of death."...

The guilt of lies and misinformation has to be purged from the cities of the USA. I believe Trayvon Martin required an independent autopsy as well.

This is all corruption and don't expect the greater American population to like it and simply dismiss this brutality that leads to deaths.

It is easy to be rough when a corrupt coroner has your back.

This happened in Seattle and it is very unhelpful. When is the USA's police going to demilitarize? Never? This is ridiculous.

There are two reports about the incident (click here).

June 1, 2020

Images of violence continue to come out of the US (click here) as protests over the death of George Floyd escalate.

Footage shared on Twitter earlier today shows a police officer kneeling on a protester's neck - the same type of tactic that the police officer charged with Floyd's murder did for nearly nine minutes, according to the official complaint.

The incident, captured on video, allegedly took place in Seattle and shows a Seattle Police Department officer putting his knee on a protester's neck during an arrest outside a T-Mobile store that was being looted.

The people surrounding the scene begin to protest the police officer's actions and a fellow officer physically removes the cop's knee from the protester's neck.

"Antifa" is an idea, not an organiztion.

It is no different than the idea of "globalists." It is an idea and not an organization. The government would find it easy to attack an organization as a domestic terrorist group, but, alas the only thing concrete about Antifa are the people showing up for a cause, not a meeting.

I guess everyone unable to come to terms with real pain for real reasons will need the idea of a scapegoat.

June 1, 2020
By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Sandra E. Garcia

Seeking to assign blame for the protests (click here) that have convulsed cities across the country this week, President Trump said on Sunday that the United States would designate antifa, the loosely affiliated group of far-left anti-fascism activists, a terrorist organization.

The president’s critics noted, however, that the United States does not have a domestic terrorism law and that antifa, a contraction of the phrase “anti-fascist,” is not an organization with a leader, a defined structure or membership roles.

Rather, antifa is more of a movement of activists whose followers share a philosophy and tactics. They have made their presence known at protests around the country in recent years, including the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017....

I find it fascinating the word violent is used about protests when they loot and light fires. No one is dead because of it. The injuries came from the cops and their rubber bullets that were even fired at people standing in the doorway of their home watching the police march through their residential streets as viewed by film loops on "Tic Toc."

Buildings can be rebuilt. Lives can't be brought back once dead.

The people feel a great deal of inequality for many reasons, but, the ability to realize wealth is a big problem.

I am very confident Mayor Lightfoot will seek ways to return small businesses to the Chicago landscape. I think she cares about the people. She, as other government officials, need to articulate the grievances of the people. Only when those grievances are part of the dialogue will people believe they will be addressed.

I think the observations about "The Loop" that was addressed by Mayor Lightfoot is a good beginning. Government leaders have to listen and hear as well as see and wish for peace.

June 1, 2020
By Gregory Pratt

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (click here) denied that the city prioritized protecting the Loop over neighborhoods on the South and West sides over the weekend and promised to help rebuild.

“There is no way, no way we would ever let any neighborhood receive more resources and protection than any others. Ever,” Lightfoot said. “That certainly didn’t happen over the course of the weekend.”

Lightfoot said such criticism is offensive to her as a black woman and added: “We did not stand by and let the South and West sides burn as some are propagating.”

Lightfoot made her comments after protests over the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis police, led to nationwide civil unrest, including widespread looting and some arson. The city shut down most access to Chicago’s downtown on Sunday after people burned and looted businesses in the Loop, and looting migrated to neighborhoods on the South and West sides....

The Supreme Court found the best resolve to the issue of SARS-CoV-2.

Americans are allowed to have their bodies intact and free of disease. The decision by the Supreme Court reflects the idea that global pandemics are dangerous. The well being of the human body came first as it should.

The opposite of this decision places Americans in direct conflict with their churches, not their faith. The decision to open churches is made by people that do not have the best interest of their parishioners. Sorry, they simply don't. Such a church can imperil the entire community and not just parishioners, as if that is okay, too.

People of faith don't have a problem transitioning to an "at home" expression. They don't have to display it to a congregation and neither do their faith leaders. If a person has sincere faith it is simply a matter of turning on an online source and participate in any religious ceremony carried out by the leadership of the church.

To believe divine intervention is better than warnings by health professionals and the government is not even faithful. That is arrogance. Humility is much needed by faith leaders that think they can outwit a very deadly virus through prayers in a building.

Religious leaders have become very inventive to keep their parishioners at the center of their prayers online and otherwise. It is easy to tithe without being inside the church building. 

May 30, 2020
By Ian Milihiser

The Rev. Nicolas Sanchez (click here) Toledano poses among pews adorned with portraits of his parishioners at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Late Friday night, (click here) the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision establishing that states still have some power to regulate how many people are allowed to gather in churches during a deadly pandemic

The case, South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, began on May 11, when a California church sought a lower court order allowing it to hold in-person services, despite a state order requiring places of worship to hold services online to avoid spreading the coronavirus. While the case was pending before the Supreme Court, however, California relaxed its order to allow such in-person services, so long as the number of attendees did not exceed 25 percent of the building capacity or 100 worshipers.

That relaxation did not put an end to the case, however. The church still sought a broad order exempting it from much of the state’s power to regulate public health....