Number 12. This is beginning to sound like Cosby.

October 28, 2016

Meanwhile, (click here) another woman has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault. Ninni Laaksonen, a former Miss Finland in the Miss Universe beauty pageant that Trump once owned, says Trump grabbed her buttocks during a photoshoot in 2006. Laaksonen is the 12th woman to accuse Trump of unwanted sexual contact since the release of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump boasted of sexually assaulting women.

Why is he always posed with beauty queens? He takes away from the moment. I don't understand why Trump even has his picture taken with all these women. I think that is strange.

There is a time line beginning in 1979 so far:

...Vendela Kirsebom in 1993: (click here) When Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter took Trump to the 1993 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner as a “novelty guest” for the sake of shock and humor, he admittedly made a mistake in seating him next to Swedish Model Kirsebom. “After 45 minutes she came over to my table, almost in tears, and pleaded with me to move her,” Carter recalled for a piece in the magazine’s November 2016 issue. “It seems that Trump had spent his entire time with her assaying the ‘tits’ and legs of the other female guests and asking how they measured up to those of other women, including his wife.”...

...Jane Doe in 1994: On Dec. 16, Trump and financier Jeffrey Epstein—who has previously been convicted for underage sex crimes—are set to appear in a New York district court for a civil lawsuit by a woman alleging the two men raped her at Epstein’s Manhattan home when she was 13 years old. Responding to requests for comment from the Guardian, a Trump lawyer called the case “a sham lawsuit.”...

There are consequences for discussing sexual assault by Trump with APPROPRIATE others, like a supervisor.

...Nausheen Nurani in 2010: Nurani, a server at a restaurant in a hotel of Trump’s in Chicago, alleged in a complaint that she had been subjected to “frequent sexual harassment in her employment” at the restaurant and was fired after reporting the incidents to her supervisor. The case was settled in March with undisclosed terms, USA Today reported....

The Pipeline bosses have begun using live munitions to stop the demonstrators. So far two people have been shot and a couple of horses.

The bison of North Dakota are protected species along with the black footed ferret. The bison cannot be hunted and it's habitat are protected. That means the pipeline can't be built there. The habitat obviously extends to the very place the Native Americans had taken a stand against the pipeline.

WWF (click here) leads innovative work with public agencies, tribal nations, ranchers and other partners to create a sustainable future for the Northern Great Plains. Our two main goals are to sustain and enhance biodiversity across the Northern Great Plains and to restore two flagship species—bison and black-footed ferrets—where possible within the region. Achieving these goals requires a multi-pronged approach that recognizes unique challenges and opportunities from the local level all the way up to US federal policy and global initiatives. WWF is a leading voice for grasslands, and advocates for the incredible wildlife and communities of the Northern Great Plains.

Interestingly enough, the Bison/Buffalo herd noted in a film of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe protests is a RESTORED herd. The Bison was wiped out and had to be returned to the land. This is definitely a protected herd that has been restored to it's rightful habitat. 

Many of the iconic animals (click here) in Theodore Roosevelt National Park are mammals. Animals such as the American bison and the black-tailed prairie dog are relatively easy to spot. Others such as big horn sheep or elk are more difficult to find, due to their behaviors and/or preferred hours of activity. 

Many of the large mammals living in the park today were not present at the time of the park's establishment in the 1940s. Bison, elk and bighorn sheep had all been extirpated from this region. Deer and pronghorn were rare. Various reintroduction programs proved successful in returning native wildlife to the ecosystem. Not only do they represent the experiences of Theodore Roosevelt, but they provide visitors with their own experience of a wild prairie....

The habitat is extensive and cannot be disturbed. The herd was originally restored at "Theodore Roosevelt National Park" and have grown as is necessary to maintain a viable herd.

"...its toughness (click here) and hardy endurance fitted it to contend with purely natural forces...to resist cold and wintery blasts or the heat of the thirsty summer, to wander away to new pastures, to plunge over the broken ground, and to plow its way through snow drifts or quagmires." Theodore Roosevelt

As a matter of fact there were Yellowstone Buffalo moved to two areas of Montana as well as the ones below from Canada, to return them to their former habitat. The Native American reservations are vital to the return of the American Buffalo to it's former habitat. 

March 27, 2016
By the AP

Billings Mont. - Decsendants of a bison herd (click here) captured and sent to Canada ore than 140 years ago will be relocated to a Montana American Indian reservation next month, in what tribal leaders bill as a homecoming for a species emblematic of their traditions.

The shipment of animals from Alberta's Elk Island National Park to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation follows a 2014 treaty among tribes in the United States and Canada. That agreement aims to restore bison to areas of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains where millions once roamed.

"For thousands of years the Blackfeet lived among the buffalo here. The buffalo sustained our way of life, provided our food, clothing, shelter," Blackfeet Chairman Harry Barnes said. "It became part of our spiritual being. We want to return the buffalo."... 

These herds are very well documented and are definitely connected to the Native American lands. So, the North Dakota herd is connected through cultural ties to the National Park and Native Americans making a stand to end the assault by the petroleum industry.

These herds cannot be disturbed, especially their habitat. I don't know who gave the cops to bring tanks and humvees to this land, but, they are violating the protections of the buffalo herd as well as the Native Americans that value the land for it's historical purposes.

Where did anyone get the idea it was okay to roll heavy equipment across these lands disturbing the vital habitat of these herds? They are "W"rong. The equipment and the cops need to be removed from the lands and never return.

Pence and Trump were supposed to provide tax returns by October 15th, the due date of the extension for sending them in. Did they?

September 9, 2016 
By Jeanne Shadi

Donald Trump still refuses to do it. (click here)
But his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, just did what presidential nominees and vice presidential candidates have done for 40 years.

On Friday, Pence released 10 years of tax returns.
Unlike that of his new boss, Pence's tax situation is a fairly simple affair....

I think Director Comey didn't like being called corrupt as the Donald Trump campaign and House Republicans did after the previous statements about the Clinton emails. 

With this announcement the Trump campaign and House Republicans can no longer say the FBI is corrupt. 

Director Comey is making a statement regarding the Clinton emails when the country believes everything about the campaign is corrupt/rigged and charges of gunmen were found to be not guilty. I think there is a valid concern about retaliation by gunmen after the election in 11 days.

The Flint River Water Project

Another factoid:

How many people in Flint knew there is another Flint River? The other Flint River is not in Michigan. It is Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Atlanta, Georgia receives it's water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. (click here) 

How many people believe the name Flint did not have a Native American origin?

Well, here it is again. And, this Flint River is having water quality issues, too. The city of Flint, Michigan has company in it's plight. What is unique about the Flint River in Michigan is that the pollution into the drinking water was completely avoided before financial ruthlessness took over. 

I think it is important for the people of Flint, Michigan to know they are not in this fight alone, regardless, of the unfortunate beginning of the pollution into their drinking water. Cities across the USA need to come together as a coalition to reverse the poor water quality in the country.

There is on going research to this project.

Thank you. 

It is just more of the same as before. The character of the emails won't change. There was no criminal aspect to the emails.

This is not from the private server. Hillary Clinton has stated before there are retroactive classification when communications are read by other cabinet level offices.

The Clinton campaign offices should file a "Freedom of Information Act" to obtain the emails.

The FBI was checking emails for Russian hacking. That probably has a priority with these emails, too.

October 28, 2016
By Sean Sullivan, John Wagner and Anne Gearan
Manchester, N.H. - Donald Trump cheered (click here) the reopening of an FBI inquiry into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email system Friday, saying the renewed scrutiny offers a chance to correct “a grave miscarriage of justice.”

The FBI will investigate whether additional classified material is contained in emails sent over the private system Clinton used while she was secretary of state, FBI director James Comey informed congressional leaders Friday.

Trump spoke minutes later. Interrupted by chants of “lock her up!” Trump said, “This is bigger than Watergate.”...

Native American lands are not public lands. They are a separate nation within the USA.

October 26, 2016
By Lynda V. Mapes

For the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, (click here) the battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline recalls a bitter history the tribe does not want repeated.
“We want to protect our land, and we want to protect our water,” said Dave Archambault II, tribal chairman. “Our concerns and interests don’t matter and this is how we have been treated for over 150 years.”
Once roaming the Great Plains, living in teepees and hunting buffalo, the great Sioux leaders such as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse are household names for many. Their bloodiest moments are, too: Wounded Knee. Custer’s Last Stand.
But the history of the Sioux people and the United States is also one all too familiar: of broken promises, and a relentless taking away of lands for white settlement, gold mining and development. Those lands were promised to be reserved for the Indians’ sole use forever, in peace treaties that were supposed to be the highest law of the land....

There is also United Nations support for the return of lands to the Native Americans of the USA. Breaking promises within treaties is a civil rights violation.

May 4, 2012
By Chris McGreal

A United Nations investigator (click here) probing discrimination against Native Americans has called on the US government to return some of the land stolen from Indian tribes as a step toward combatting continuing and systemic racial discrimination.
James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said no member of the US Congress would meet him as he investigated the part played by the government in the considerable difficulties faced by Indian tribes.

Anaya said that in nearly two weeks of visiting Indian reservations, indigenous communities in Alaska and Hawaii, and Native Americans now living in cities, he encountered people who suffered a history of dispossession of their lands and resources, the breakdown of their societies and "numerous instances of outright brutality, all grounded on racial discrimination".

"It's a racial discrimination that they feel is both systemic and also specific instances of ongoing discrimination that is felt at the individual level," he said.
Anaya said racism extended from the broad relationship between federal or state governments and tribes down to local issues such as education....

If this is happening in Houston, what is going on in the rest of Texas?

I think Houston needs a new District Attorney. This is terrible. A witness was treated as a prisoner rather than given protection in a safe house since she was vital to the prosecution of a rapist. 

The current District Attorney Devon Anderson should have resigned. There are many problems in Houston including prison guards that rape inmates. This is a case for the federal Justice Department.

October 27, 2016

Defense lawyer Rusty Hardin, one of Houston's most renowned litigators who said he was outraged at political ads put out by Democrat Kim Ogg, (click here) said the entire criminal justice system — not DA Devon Anderson (click here) — failed a mentally ill rape victim who was jailed for almost a month last year while waiting to testify.

Hardin is representing Nicholas Socias, the trial prosecutor at the center of the controversy.

"What happened to the victim is incredibly horrible," Hardin told reporters on Thursday. "But Nick was confronted with the problem, absolutely convinced that if this man was not tried in this particular case, that he not only would continue to rape again, but his rapes were getting more and more violent."

At issue is the plight of a mentally unstable rape victim who made headlines this summer after filing a federal lawsuit because she was jailed over the Christmas holiday after breaking down on the stand while testifying against a serial rapist.

The woman, known as Jenny, was first taken to the mental health ward at St. Joseph's Hospital and then was transferred to the Harris County jail to be held as a material witness. She was accidentally misclassified as a suspect, instead of a witness, and put in general population, where, she said, she was beaten by another inmate and assaulted by a jail guard. She has filed a federal lawsuit over the handling of her case.

Anderson was roundly criticized for her office's action but has maintained that the rapist would not have been convicted if the woman had not testified.

The criticism has carried through to campaign mailers and television commercials from Ogg, Anderson's rival in the general election for district attorney, and Ogg's supporters. One commercial features Jenny's mother, in shadows, detailing her daughter's ordeal and urging voters to support Ogg....