It is a waste of money, no different than the F-35.

It will be a gift to Russia and China.

August 1, 2018
By Michael Warren and Alex Rogers

The Pentagon (click here) said on Thursday that a highly sought-after cloud computing contract will not be awarded until Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has completed his examination of it.

The $10 billion, 10-year contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), has come under recent scrutiny from President Donald Trump, who has expressed concerns over the fairness of what has been a contentious bidding process among a handful of large tech companies.

Amazon has been widely seen as the front-runner to win the contract. Microsoft is the other finalist. The contract could be awarded as early as August 23....

I TOLD YOU SO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'
iT IS BETTER TO RECYCLE THE JUNK THAN PUT OUR SOLDIERS IN IT!

AND YES, IT IS ALL A WASTE OF MONEY BY THE TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS!

11 October 2018

Most weapons systems, including the F-35 jet, were found to be vulnerable to cyber-attack

Some of the most cutting-edge weapons (click here) in the US's military arsenal can be "easily hacked" using "basic tools", a government report has concluded.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found "mission-critical" cyber-vulnerabilities in nearly all weapons systems tested between 2012 and 2017.

That includes the newest F-35 jet as well as missile systems.

In the report, Pentagon officials said they "believed their systems were secure", NPR reported.

The committee's members expressed concerns about how protected weapon systems were against cyber-attacks.

The report's main findings were:

- the Pentagon did not change the default passwords on multiple weapons systems - and one changed password was guessed in nine seconds

- a team appointed by the GAO was able to easily gain control of one weapons system and watch in real time as the operators responded to the hackers

- it took another two-person team only one hour to gain initial access to a weapons system and one day to gain full control

- many of the test teams were able to copy, change or delete system data with one team downloading 100 gigabytes of information

The GAO added that the Pentagon "does not know the full scale of its weapons system vulnerabilities".

The Pentagon has not issued a detailed response to the 50-page report but the document quoted officials as saying that some of the security test results "were unrealistic"....

"More important than life itself ?"

That is Trump. Tonight he is blaming four minority women for inner-city blight and decay. He didn't use those words. A reality moment is they are not that old. But, the bottom line now is that billions and billions and billions of dollars have been wasted because of the USA people of color.

The racism is not stopping and now it is being attached to a dollar amount at a time when slavery descendant reparations are being discussed.

Racism is on the ballot and Trump demands it.

The corruption of power entitlement is spreading.

August 1, 2019

Lauren McGaughy and James Barragan

Austin - One of the lawmakers (click here) who listened to a conversation that a conservative activist secretly recorded with top GOP leadership said the Texas House speaker suggested he would take floor access away from a credentialed media outlet.

Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said he listened to the audio of the meeting between Speaker Dennis Bonnen, Texas House Republican Caucus Chairman Dustin Burrows and Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans, a political group that targets GOP lawmakers it deems not conservative enough. 

Bonnen said he could strip House media credentials from Scott Braddock, editor of the insider political website and newsletter the Quorum Report, and give media access to Empower Texans' writers at its website the Texas Scorecard, Stickland said.

Sullivan had previously alleged the credentials were offered if Empower Texans agreed to target only Republicans the speaker wanted ousted.

At least two other GOP lawmakers, Reps. Steve Toth of The Woodlands and Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, also said that they've heard the audio and that it backs up Sullivan's account. Toth has received donations from Empower Texans, but Clardy, who ran against Bonnen for speaker, has not been a favorite of the group....

"Medicare for All"

It is bold and timely. The number of people in need of reduced costs medications is clearly illustrated with Bernie's trip to Canada. The national health care of Canada does not exploit people for profit. The profit of the current health care system is the problem. CEOs have reduced the American health care as far as they can and now they are simply exploiting the cost of everything in order to increase profits and make shareholders happy. Those CEO and Executive Bonuses are driving the cost of health care. That is not what is supposed to drive the cost of health care. 

Everything in the USA health care ECONOMY is costly. Wall Street believes playing roulette with prescriptions using "Good Rx" is the solution. It is to some extent, but, there is no continuity of care from a trusted pharmacist in that scheme. I know the "Good Rx" option is valued by many Americans, but, it sacrifices the quality of care in searching for medications with coupons in a local pharmacy that makes it affordable. 

No current plan by any candidate is going to maintain it's current definition after it makes it to the legislature. There is no option in thinking the status quo is good enough for now. It is not. And NOW should be as expensive as it gets and it needs to get better from here. Health care has a high priority in this upcoming election. It was a high priority in 2018. The legislation has been written and passed in the US House of Representatives. It is "Moscow" Mitch McConnell that is the problem in providing a Senate vote on those bills waiting for Senate passage. 

Remember that in 2020. There is a roadblock in the US Senate and if that doesn't change in 2020 there is no moving forward.

When this legislative session ends with the inauguration of the next set of US House Representatives and Senators the current legislation not signed into law will expire and the process starts over.

I wouldn't be afraid of any proposal any of the Democratic candidates are putting forward. They all hold the American people in high esteem and value the Middle Class and the quality of life that has to be returned to them. When the legislative sessions of January 2021 begin there will be plenty of ideas to come forward to make health care better, including those Senators that will not be newly elected. I am looking forward to a better President that actually cares about the people and not the power of the Executive Branch.

The country is in better hands with the Democratic candidates by pure understanding of the misguided obstruction of the majority USA Republican Senate.

Let's get over the apprehension and get some good laws passed in 2021.

Bernie? Did your trip to Canada bring about sincere change in the laws of the USA?

July 31, 2019
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

Washington - The Trump administration (click here) said Wednesday it will create a way for Americans to legally and safely import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada for the first time, reversing years of refusals by health authorities amid a public outcry over high prices for life-sustaining medications.

The move is a step toward fulfilling a 2016 campaign promise by President Donald Trump. It weakens an import ban that has stood as a symbol of the political clout of the pharmaceutical industry.

But it's unclear how soon consumers will see benefits, as the plan has to go through time-consuming regulatory approval and later could face court challenges from drugmakers. And there's no telling how Canada will react to becoming the drugstore for its much bigger neighbor, with potential consequences for policymakers and consumers there....

The "Three Strikes and Your In" Era has not been met with equity yet.

Senator Cory Booker, as usual, did an exceptional job in describing the inequity in the past laws of the USA in sentencing people of color. He stated there was a strong disparity in the way Caucasians were sentenced and that of people of color. From his statement last night I take it that it is not only a social issue but at the time of the sentence, it was an economic issue.

He needs to write a grant and attach it to a Senate bill, any Senate bill would be honored to carry it. The grant needs to ask PhD level scientists, both social and mathematical, to find a way to move forward with changing the outcomes of the adversely affected prisoners. In other words, it might be a math equation and it might not, but, my guess is it will be.

MIT would have such people when it comes to deriving a far easier and faster method of identifying adversely affected populations of prisoners. I am assuming it is not just those in prison under the "Three Strikes and In" laws, but, also others that would fall under that paradigm.

Economics can be quantified. Ages, sentence length and year of incarceration for the first offense (the first offense is when the clock started to run on their life sentence) can be averaged. If MIT can quantify the difference between the Caucasian population of prisoners and that of those of color there can be a quick way to actually quantify the injustice and how best to bring about a far fairer sentence and quite possibly prisoner release. 

I do believe once such determinations can be made the prisoners first be moved off the life sentence and given a chance to decompress and prepare for release. That period of preparedness would fall to the warden who knows the inmate and his/her prison record.

I wish Senator Booker the best. As I said when he first announced his candidacy, he is a really incredible person, a unique personality with unique insight and he never disappoints.

Democrats have a very difficult decision. The candidates are wonderful people with love for the country and clear visions for their presidency should they be elected.

Of all the very diverse candidates there are two not having government experience, Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson. They are both very talented people bringing unique ideas to the platform. They should continue to stay involved. Andrew Yang is correct in stating automation is destroying jobs and if the machines have all the jobs where are people going to earn a living?

I have not changed my mind in the realty that Governor Jay Inslee is ready to lead on the first day. He already has laws that have worked in the State of Washington when it comes to everything from health to climate. Answering the questions put to him was effortless.

I thank him for coming forward to engage the climate, it is vital and it is a crisis. Earth is more a winner tonight because of his focus. I hope he is finally appreciated for the leader he is after tonight.

Goodnight.

Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture under Nixon and Ford, "Plant from fence post to fence post,"

U. S. Wheat Associates (click here)

That policy was begun about 1975. That has been the policy of the USA since and it has cost many family farms to end their farming and sell their land.

Now, with acre after acre planted (with the exception of very wetland) fence post to fence post farmers are supposed to decide how to survive the loss of their markets.

It looks like farmers will be selling their land again.

July 31, 2019

By Adriana Belmonte

A farmer surveys a wheat field near Beulah, N.D.

The White House (click here) recently announced that it would be providing an additional $16 billion in aid to American farmers affected by the trade war between the U.S. and China.

But the problem for American farmers has becomes bigger than something a bailout can fix.

“This trade thing is what’s brought on by the president and it’s really frustrating because he took away all of our markets,” Bob Nuylen, a farmer from North Dakota who grows spring wheat and sunflowers, told Yahoo Finance. “We live in an area where we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere. It costs us a lot of money — over $1 a bushel to get our grain to markets.”...   

Populism is not a good methodology for the financial markets

July 31, 2019
By Fred Imbret

Stocks dropped on Wednesday (click here) Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dampened hopes for further rate cuts later this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 333.75 points lower, or 1.2%, at 26,864.27 after falling as much as 478 points at one point. The S&P 500 slid 1.1% to close at 2,980.38. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% to 8,175.42. The Dow logged its biggest one-day decline since May 31 along with the S&P 500. The Nasdaq had it biggest one-day drop since late June.

“The stock market seemed disappointed with Powell’s performance, perhaps because while Powell did not suggest this was a ‘one-and-done’ cut, there was no overt messaging that a September cut is guaranteed,” said Don Ellenberger, senior portfolio manager at Federated Investors.

The Fed cut rates by 25 basis points, matching market expectations. The central bank cited “global developments ” along with “muted inflation” as reasons for easing monetary conditions....

The TPP only serves bankers and dock workers. Offshorers might be especially happy as well.

I thought the USA has had quite enough of the working poor.

The US trade deficit widened to USD 55.5 billion in May 2019 from a revised USD 51.2 billion in the previous month and compared to market expectations of USD 54.0 billion. That was the largest trade gap since December. Exports from the US rose USD 4.2 billion from the previous month to USD 210.6 billion in May.

The TPP makes that worse. The USA is already losing it's manufacturing base with the huge shifts occurring with GM. GM has a trickle down effect that hasn't set in yet.

Add to that a huge influx of foreign products coming through the docks and the American middle class disappears. Maybe that is really what Wall Street wants, they seem to love the impoverished labor of China.

It is time to get real about student debt.

2017-18 National Average Starting Teacher Salary: $39,249 (click here)

A bachelor prepared teacher needs an apartment/home, a car, clothes, insurances of several kinds, school supplies for their students and their student loan. All that out of less than $40,000 per year.

No candidate of any party is allowed to live in denial of this problem.

May 4, 2018
By David Carrig

...The combination of rising college costs (click here) and a starting salary that is lower-than-average for college graduates can put new teachers in a financial bind.

Grissom, 48, graduated from Metropolitan State College of Denver with a bachelor's degree in history and education in 1996 with about $60,000 in student loan debt and became a teacher with a starting salary of around $25,000.

Her monthly loan payment was $400 a month and she says at times it was a struggle to pay her rent. She has often had to work a second job to help pay her bills, including as a restaurant hostess and at greeting card store Papyrus in Denver’s Cherry Creek Mall....

There isn't a chance they could have gotten into the high paying jobs because the Ivy-League seats were all taken by the wealthy. They are working for a living and working at a job they wanted.

It wasn't their fault that every time limits on student loans and grants went up to provide a better quality of life to students while in school, that the colleges and universities sucked up that increase in the next tuition bill. And why the increases? To build more buildings with the wealthies name on them for donating about $2 million for the privilege. That $2 million didn't even touch the cost of the paint.

The higher education of our students has been corrupt for a long time. That is not even addressing the "Loans leading to nowhere" by private schools. This isn't their fault and it is time morality and the dignity of our democracy address their brain trust.

July 29, 2019
By Janet Golden

Happy 54th birthday, (click here) Medicare and Medicaid. What has happened to you since President Lyndon Johnson signed both into law on July 30, 1965? You’ve grown! Today, 44 million Americans, approximately 15% of the population, are on Medicare (including yours truly). An even larger share of the population, 20%, amounting to about 75 million people, is in the Medicaid program....

...Until the enactment of Medicare, the elderly were denied coverage by health insurers. Folks too old to work or lacking coverage from employers often found the costs of care out of reach. Medical expenses pushed other people into poverty or forced them to forgo necessities like food or heat in order to see a doctor or get hospital care. With the federal government paying some of the bill, Medicare, along with Social Security, lifted millions of our senior citizens out of poverty. Some facts are here.

If I understand the "Medicare for All" by some of the candidates, the change to this plan will happen gradually over time. THAT HAS BEEN THE WAY OF MEDICAID SINCE ITS INCEPTION. THIS IS NOT NEW. Americans need health care and they need the American Dream. How do you provide them both?

Medicaid has expanded enormously since its founding and is now comprised of numerous programs with different eligibility rules. The programs have had an undeniable impact on the young, decreasing infant and child mortality and improving long-term health. Some facts are here. The American Medical Association (AMA), once a staunch opponent of both Medicare and Medicaid, also grew up in the past decades and changed its tune. The AMA now supports the idea, proven by numerous studies, that better coverage equals better health. The organization now argues that any new legislation should not result in people losing health coverage and that Medicaid needs to be strengthened....

There are already many hospital closings. This a trend that has been going on for the past 20 years.

Twenty years ago, it was hospitals in the city that were closing, too. The "health care system" rather than hospitals took over healthcare promising to reduce health care costs. The only thing it did was to shrink the costs to CORPORATIONS and remove services to Americans.

March 20, 2019
By Avla Ellison

Of the 27 states (click here) that have seen at least one rural hospital close since 2010, those with the most closures are located in the South, according to research from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program.

Seventeen hospitals in Texas have closed since 2010, the most of any state. Tennessee has seen the second-most closures, with 10 hospitals closing since 2010. In third place is Georgia with seven closures.

Listed below are the 102 rural hospitals that closed between Jan. 1, 2010, and March 19, 2019, as tracked by the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. For the purposes of its analysis, the NC RHRP defined a hospital closure as the cessation in the provision of inpatient services.

"We follow the convention of the Office of Inspector General that a closed hospital is 'a facility that stopped providing general, short-term, acute inpatient care," reads a statement on the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program's website. "We did not consider a hospital closed if it: merged with, or was sold to, another hospital but the physical plant continued to provide inpatient acute care, converted to critical access status, or both closed and reopened during the same calendar year and at the same physical location."

As of March 19, all the facilities listed below had stopped providing inpatient care. However, some of them still offered other services, including outpatient care, emergency care, urgent care or primary care....

We have been here before, but, not because capitalism took over healthcare for profit, but, because Americans needed health care in their communities. We solved the problem then, we can do it again. We need to rebuild hospitals.

When I was a kid, the Rescue Squad was a group of volunteers that were well trained and saved lives. They ran fundraising campaigns when most of the people gainfully employed were union members and had the money to provide donations to their community RESCUE SQUAD in state of the art ambulances. They took donations, they didn't send bills.

They were well-respected members of the community. The people worked 40 hour per week jobs with free time on their hands to live a life that was fulfilling. They were a force in their communities and cared for the health of their community because it was there to be done. No one was a stranger.

In 1946, (click here) Congress passed a law that gave hospitals, nursing homes and other health facilities grants and loans for construction and modernization. In return, they agreed to provide a reasonable volume of services to people unable to pay and to make their services available to all persons residing in the facility’s area.

The program stopped providing funds in 1997, but about 140 health care facilities nationwide are still obligated to provide free or reduced-cost care.

Since 1980, more than $6 billion in uncompensated services have been provided to eligible patients through Hill-Burton....

Continued from previous entry

The CNI is a very qualified organization that can effectively comment on the years past in foreign policy of the USA. I think there is a real problem with Trump, Kushner and the Trump family that advises the president in that they are operating under old world ideas and opinion. I think the CNI is a very valuable organization, however, it has it's limits. They don't impress me as an organization that actively seeks information that changes their ideas of US and Russia relations.

Here is why I see it this way, an old world assessment, brilliant as it might be, is applying it to the new circumstances.

February 4, 2016
By Henry A Kissinger

From 2007 into 2009, (click here) Evgeny Primakov (click here) and I chaired a group composed of retired senior ministers, high officials and military leaders from Russia and the United States, including some of you present here today. Its purpose was to ease the adversarial aspects of the U.S.-Russian relationship and to consider opportunities for cooperative approaches. In America, it was described as a Track II group, which meant it was bipartisan and encouraged by the White House to explore but not negotiate on its behalf. We alternated meetings in each other’s country. President Putin received the group in Moscow in 2007, and President Medvedev in 2009. In 2008, President George W. Bush assembled most of his National Security team in the Cabinet Room for a dialogue with our guests....

...In this way, paradoxically, we find ourselves confronting anew an essentially philosophical problem. How does the United States work together with Russia, a country which does not share all its values but is an indispensable component of the international order? How does Russia exercise its security interests without raising alarms around its periphery and accumulating adversaries? Can Russia gain a respected place in global affairs with which the United States is comfortable? Can the United States pursue its values without being perceived as threatening to impose them? I will not attempt to propose answers to all these questions. My purpose is to encourage an effort to explore them....

Kissinger goes on to discuss military confrontation and other aspects of the world order, It is my understanding that this is one of Trump's many secrets. He has taken the information and clout that can be discerned from CNI and believes he is as much an expert as Kissinger or better than Kissinger.

...Ukraine needs to be embedded in the structure of European and international security architecture in such a way that it serves as a bridge between Russia and the West, rather than as an outpost of either side....

Kissinger is not recognizing Minsk I and Minsk II of which both Putin has abandoned in any kind of working trust between the two countries. There have been calls for Russia to return to Minsk, but, Putin has not made that attempt. There is every reason to believe he won't.

I think it is unfortunate Trump in his campaign went this route and maintains it in his presidency. In the year 2019, it is full of pitfalls. Who sent the Trump campaign to this organization? That is what I want to know.

b. National Interest Hosts a Foreign Policy Speech at the Mayflower Hotel

During both their March 24 phone call and their March 31 in-person meeting, Simes and Kushner discussed the possibility of CNI hosting a foreign policy speech by candidate Trump.611 Following those conversations, Simes agreed that he and others associated with CNI would provide behind-the-scenes input on the substance of the foreign-policy speech and that CNI officials would coordinate the logistics of the speech with Sessions and his staff, including Sessions' chief of staff, Rick Dearborn.612

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.

For the past thirty years (click here) Rick Dearborn has served two U.S. Presidents, six U.S. Senators, a premier think tank and a major trade association on Capitol Hill.

From January of 2017 until mid-March of 2018, Mr. Dearborn served The President of the United States as his Deputy Chief of Staff. Mr. Dearborn was responsible for the day-to-day operations of ~100 staff in five separate Executive Office of the President (EOP) departments

Three days after the 2016 election, President-Elect Trump tapped Vice President-elect Mike Pence to serve as Chairman of the Presidential Transition Team and asked Mr. Dearborn to serve as the Executive Director.  Daily responsibility included the direction and management of the core components of the Transition Team’s 600+ members....

November 16, 2018

Washington, D.C.— Rick A. Dearborn, (click here) former White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, is joining The Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow whose scholarship will focus on the issue of federalism.

Dearborn’s research will involve developing solutions for the return of power back to the state and local level consistent with the 10th Amendment. He’ll also serve as a counselor to Heritage on educating Executive Branch officials on public policy matters....

February 13, 2019
By Alex Gangitano

Rick Dearborn, (click here) President Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, is launching the Pass USMCA Coalition to advocate for Trump’s trade agreement with Mexico and Canada.

The group includes former Gov. Gary Locke (D-Wash.) as an honorary co-chair. It plans to create a membership of trade associations, businesses and advocacy groups to promote a swift passage of the deal....

...In mid-April 2016, Kushner put Simes in contact with senior policy advisor Stephen Miller and forwarded to Simes an outline of the foreign-policy speech that Miller had prepared. 613 Simes sent back to the Campaign bullet points with ideas for the speech that he had drafted with CNI Executive Director Paul Saunders (click here)...

Paul J. Saunders is Chairman and President of Energy Innovation Reform Project and a Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Center for the National Interest. His current work focuses on U.S.-Russia relations,..

Russia, again.

and board member Richard Burt.614 

October 23, 2018
By Jacob Heilbrunn

On Tuesday, (click here) National Interest Editor Jacob Heilbrunn interviewed Richard Burt to discuss the impact of the Trump administration’s declaration that it intends to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Burt, who is a partner at McLarty Associates and chairman of the National Interest’s Advisory Council, has enjoyed a distinguished diplomatic career. During the Reagan administration he served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs before becoming U.S. Ambassador to Germany in 1985. He has been intimately involved with arms-control issues throughout his career; in 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed him chief negotiator for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty, which national security adviser John Bolton reiterated today during a visit to Moscow, is evoking fears of a recrudescence of the nuclear arms-race that characterized the cold war, when each superpower vied for nuclear superiority over the other and created fears of the annihilation of mankind. So what are the actual implications of Trump’s audacious move? Burt offers a sweeping assessment below....

Jacob Heilbrunn: What is the best way to analyze President Trump’s move?

Richard Burt: I think that the way to think about this is at two different levels. One is political and the other diplomatic. The way the administration has approached this decision is simply atrocious. For a start, you don't make a significant decision like this in the aftermath of a political rally in Denver and not provide any kind of context to the public....

Trump has betrayed the very people that trusted him to make the best and right decisions.

...Simes received subsequent draft outlines from Miller, and he and Saunders spoke to Miller by phone about substantive changes to the speech.615 It is not clear, however, whether CNI officials received an actual draft of the speech for comment; while Saunders recalled having received an actual draft, Simes did not, and the emails that CNI produced to this Office do not contain such a draft.616...

Steven Miller wrote the speech. He probably drained the brains of these men and then took what he wanted, but, he wrote the speech, CNI didn't.

...After board members expressed concern to Simes that CNl's hosting the speech could be perceived as an endorsement of a particular candidate, CNI decided to have its publication, the National Interest, serve as the host and to have the event at the National Press Club.617 Kushner later requested that the event be moved to the Mayflower Hotel, which was another venue that Simes had mentioned during initial discussions with the Campaign, in order to address concerns about security and capacity.618

On April 25, 2016, Saunders booked event rooms at the Mayflower to host both the speech and a VIP reception that was to be held beforehand. 619 Saunders understood that the reception at which invitees would have the chance to meet· candidate Trump--would be a small event.620 Saunders decided who would attend by looking at the list of CNI' s invitees to the speech itself and then choosing a subset for the reception.621 CNI's invitees to the reception included Sessions and Kislyak.622 The week before the speech Simes had informed Kislyak that he would be invited to the speech, and that he would have the opportunity to meet Trump.623

When the pre-speech reception began on April 27, a receiving line was quickly organized so that attendees could meet Trump.624 Sessions first stood next to Trump to introduce him to the members of Congress who were in attendance.625 After those members had been introduced, Simes stood next to Trump and introduced him to the CNI invitees in attendance, including Kislyak.626 Simes perceived the introduction to be positive and friendly, but thought it clear that Kislyak and Trump had just met for the first time.627 Kislyak also met Kushner during the prespeech reception. The two shook hands and chatted for a minute or two, during which Kushner recalled Kislyak saying, "we like what your candidate is saying ... it's refreshing." 628

Several public reports state that, in addition to speaking to Kushner at the pre-speech reception, Kislyak also met or conversed with Sessions at that time.629 Sessions stated to investigators, however, that he did not remember any such conversation.630 Nor did anyone else affiliated with CNI or the National Interest specifically recall a conversation or meeting between Sessions and Kislyak at the pre-speech reception.631 It appears that, if a conversation occurred at the pre-speech reception, it was a brief one conducted in public view, similar to the exchange between Kushner and Kislyak. 

Footnote 611 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 7.

Footnote 612 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 8-11; C00008923 (4/6/16 Email, Simes to Burt (2:22:28 p.m.)); Burt 2/9/18 302, at 7.

Footnote 613 C00008551 (4/17/16 Email, Kushner to Simes (2:44:25 p.m.)); C00006759 (4/14/16 Email Kushner to Simes & S. Miller (12:30 p.m.)).

Footnote 614 Burt 2/9/18 302, at 7; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 615 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 13; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 616 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 13; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 7-8.

Footnote 617 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 8; Simes 3/8/18 302, at 12; C00003834-43 (4/22/16 Email, Simes to Boyd et al. (8:47 a.m.)).

Footnote 618 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 12, 18; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 11.

Footnote 619 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 11-12; C00006651-57 (Mayflower Group Sales Agreement).

Footnote 620 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 12-13.
Footnote 621 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 12. 

Footnote 622 C00002575 (Attendee List); C00008536 (4/25/16 Email, Simes to Kushner (4:53:45 p.m.)). 

Footnote 623 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 19-20. 
Footnote 624 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21. 
Footnote 625 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21. 
Footnote 626 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21.
Footnote 627 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21. 
Footnote 628 Kushner 4/11/18 302, at 4.I 
Footnote 629 See, e.g., Ken Dilanian, Did Trump, Kushner, Sessions Have an Undisclosed Meeting With Russian?, NBC News (June 1, 2016); Julia Ioffe, Why Did Jeff Sessions Really Meet With Sergey Kislyak, The Atlantic (June 13, 2017). 
I 
Footnote 630 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22. 

Footnote 631 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 14, 21; Boyd 1/24/18 302, at 3-4; Heilbrunn 2/1/18 302, at 6; Statement Regarding President Trump's April 27, 2016 Foreign Policy Speech at the Center for the National Interest, CNI (Mar. 8, 2017).

I am going to end here for today and will resume tomorrow. I find it unfortunate Trump became the RNC nominee. Evidently, everyone ever vested in the party felt a strong sense of need to avail themselves to Trump and his entourage to increase expertise and provide support for at the very least international policy. I think the CNI organization was used for whatever purpose the Trump Campaign saw fit and then discarded any loyalty to those involved. 

continued in later entry - thank you

Continued from a previous entry

4. Dimitri Simes and the Center for the National Interest 

Members of the Trump Campaign interacted on several occasions with the Center for theNational Interest (CNI) (click here),...

Board of Directors (click here)

Henry Kissinger, Honorary Chairman
Maurice R. Greenberg, Chairman Emeritus

General Charles Boyd, Chairman
Drew Guff, Vice Chairman
Richard Plepler, Vice Chairman
Dov Zakheim, Vice Chairman
Senator Pat Roberts
Graham Allison
Jeffrey Bewkes
Ambassador Richard Burt
Kris Elftmann
Leslie Gelb
David Keene
Admiral Michael Mullen
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Grover Norquist
William Ruger
Paul J. Saunders
Dimitri K. Simes
J. Robinson West
David Zalaznick

...principally through its President and Chief Executive Officer, Dimitri Simes....

Dimitri Simes and his alleged handler, Sergei Lavrov (click here)

Dimitri K. Simes (click here) is President and CEO of the Center for the National Interest and Publisher of its foreign policy magazine, The National Interest.  Mr. Simes was selected to lead the Center by former President Richard Nixon, to whom he served as an informal foreign policy advisor and with whom he traveled regularly to Russia and other former Soviet states, as well as Western and Central Europe....

... CNI is a think tank with expertise in and connections to the Russian government. Simes was born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. In April 2016, candidate Trump delivered his first speech on foreign policy and national security at an event hosted by the National Interest, a publication affiliated with CNI. Then-Senator Jeff Sessions and Russian Ambassador Kislyak both attended the event and, as a result, it gained some attention in relation to Sessions's confirmation hearings to become Attorney General. Sessions had various other contacts with CNI during the campaign period on foreign-policy matters, including Russia. Jared Kushner also interacted with Simes about Russian issues during the campaign. The investigation did not identify evidence that the Campaign passed or received any messages to or from the Russian government through CNI or Simes.

a. CNI and Dimitri Simes Connect with the Trump Campaign

CNI is a Washington-based non-profit organization that grew out of a center founded by former President Richard Nixon. 593 CNI describes itself "as a voice for strategic realism in U.S. foreign policy," and publishes a bi-monthly foreign policy magazine, the National Interest.594 CNI is overseen by a board of directors and an advisory council that is largely honorary and whose members at the relevant time included Sessions, who served as an advisor to candidate Trump on national security and foreign policy issues.595

Dimitri Simes is president and CEO of CNI and the publisher and CEO of the National Jnterest.596 Simes was born in the former Soviet Union, emigrated to the United States in the early 1970s, and joined CNI' s predecessor after working at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.597 Simes personally has many contacts with current and former Russian government officials,598 as does CNI collectively. As CNI stated when seeking a grant from the Carnegie Corporation in 2015, CNI has "unparalleled access to Russian officials and politicians among Washington think tanks," 599 in part because CNI has arranged for U.S. delegations to visit Russia and for Russian delegations to visit the United States as part of so-called "Track 11" diplomatic efforts.600

Example of Track II diplomatic efforts:

"Talking to the Enemy: Track II and It's Significance in Afghanistan" (click here)

...On March 14, 2016, CNI board member Richard Plepler organized a luncheon for CNI and its honorary chairman, Henry Kissinger, at the Time Warner Building in New York.601 The idea behind the event was to generate interest in CNI's work and recruit new board members for CNI.602 Along with Simes, attendees at the event included Jared Kushner, son-in-law of candidate Trump.603 Kushner told the Office that the event came at a time when the Trump Campaign was having trouble securing support from experienced foreign policy professionals and that, as a result, he decided to seek Simes's assistance during the March 14 event.604

Just as a reality check, I find all this very curious. As of July 21, 2016 the nomination of Donald J. Trump was secured. At no point in time was he accepting any National Security Assessments, as Hillary Clinton did, during his campaign. He was refusing National Security Assessments even after his election in November. But, here in March of 2016 they were soliciting the assistance of a very esteemed foreign policy organization and Jared Kushner was involved.

I guess by the end of July 2016 they knew it all.

Simes and Kushner spoke again on a March 24, 2016 telephone call,605 three days after Trump had publicly named the team of foreign policy advisors that had been put together on short notice.606 On March 31, 2016, Simes and Kushner had an in-person, one-on-one meeting in Kushner's New York office.607 During that meeting, Simes told Kushner that the best way to handle foreign-policy issues for the Trump Campaign would be to organize an advisory group of experts to meet with candidate Trump and develop a foreign policy approach that was consistent with Trump's voice.608 Simes believed that Kushner was receptive to that suggestion.609

Simes also had contact with other individuals associated with the Trump Campaign regarding the Campaign's foreign policy positions. For example, on June 17, 2016, Simes sent J.D. Gordon...

Same Gordon. He is very qualified. What the heck is he doing with Butina? I think the GRU was all over this campaign and it continued to steer the Trump Campaign back into the arms of Vladimir Putin and whatever money it took.

August 4, 2019
By Emily Stewart

...Rosalind Helderman (click here) at the Washington Post reported on Friday that Butina and Gordon, who served as director of national security for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, exchanged multiple emails in September and October of 2016. He had already left Trump’s campaign at the time, though he was offered a role in the transition team....

...an email with a "memo to Senator Sessions that we discussed at our recent meeting" and asked Gordon to both read it and share it with Sessions. The memorandum proposed building a "small and carefully selected group of experts" to assist Sessions with the Campaign, operating under the assumption "that Hillary Clinton is very vulnerable on national security and foreign policy issues." The memorandum outlined key issues for the Campaign, including a "new beginning with Russia."610

That doesn't make sense. Hillary Clinton was hardly new at national security or foreign policy. It doesn't make sense these men underestimated Clinton's abilities. Besides being Obama's Secretary of State, she served in the US Senate on the US Armed Services Committee from 2003 - 2009. Odd, very odd.

593 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 1-2.
594 About the Center, CNI, available at https://cftni.org/about/.

595 Advisory Counsel, CNl, available at https://web.archive.org/web/20161030025331/ http://cftni.org/about/advisory-council/;
Simes 3/8/18 302, at 3-4; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 4; Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 16. 

Footnote 596 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 2. 
Footnote 597 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 1-2; Simes 3/27/18 302, at 19.
Footnote 598 Simes 3/27 /18 302, at 10-15.
Footnote 599 C000l 1656 (Rethinking US-Russia Relations, CNI (Apr. 18, 2015)).
Footnote 600 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 5; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 29-30; Zakheim 1/25/18 302, at 3. 

Footnote 601 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 6; C00006784 (3/11/16 Email, Gilbride to Saunders (3:43:12 p.m.); cf Zakheim 1/25/18 302, at 1 (Kissinger was CNI's "Honorary Chairman of the Board"); Boyd 1/24/1 8 302, at 2; P. Sanders 2/15/18 302, at 5.

Footnote 602 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 5-6; Simes 3/27/18 302, at 2. 
Footnote 603 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 6; Kushner 4/11/18 302 at 2. 
Footnote 604 Kushner 4/ 11/ 18 302, at 2.
Footnote 605 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 6-7. 
Footnote 606  Grand Jury    see Volume I, Section IV.A.2, supra
Footnote 607 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 7-9.
Footnote 608 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 609 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 8; see also Boyd 1/24/18 302, at 2
Footnote 610  C00008187 (6/17/16 Email, Simes to Gordon (3:35:45 p.m.)).

continued in following entry - thank you