The Russian attack on Ukraine's power grid.

I might add, Ukraine was under a Russian sympathizer as President in Viktor Yushchenko. He was ousted from power February 23, 2014. Ukraine under his leadership was made weak and vulnerable. This should be of no surprise that Ukraine was vulnerable to Russian attacks of any kind.

Ukraine never expected to have to defend itself against Russia. There was a treaty. There is another treaty today, but, Russia has been ignoring it's role in upholding treaties so much as to make Ukraine a victim to it's remaining power as an international power.

It was 3:30 p.m. last December 23, (2015) (click here) and residents of the Ivano-Frankivsk region of Western Ukraine were preparing to end their workday and head home through the cold winter streets. Inside the Prykarpattyaoblenergo control center, which distributes power to the region's residents, operators too were nearing the end of their shift. But just as one worker was organizing papers at his desk that day, the cursor on his computer suddenly skittered across the screen of its own accord.

He watched as it navigated purposefully toward buttons controlling the circuit breakers at a substation in the region and then clicked on a box to open the breakers and take the substation offline. A dialogue window popped up on screen asking to confirm the action, and the operator stared dumbfounded as the cursor glided to the box and clicked to affirm. Somewhere in a region outside the city he knew that thousands of residents had just lost their lights and heaters....

In less than a year after this attack Ukraine successfully tested it's renewed military strength in missile tests.

December 1, 2016
By Laura Smith-Spark

Ukraine carried out missile launches Thursday near Crimea (click here) -- territory that Russia annexed more than two years ago -- as part of military exercises, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported.

The drills involve the test firing of medium-range surface-to-air missiles, the news agency said.

"Everything goes according to the plan. There is no response from the Russian Federation. Ukrainian military are ready for any developments," Ukrinform cited military spokesman Volodymyr Kryzhanivsky as saying on Ukrainian TV.

Kryzhanivsky reportedly said the drills in southern Ukraine did not pose any threat to Crimea and that Ukraine was acting in accordance with international law....

Regardless of the electrical grid failure Ukraine did not back down and continued on it's course to independence and military strength. I sincerely don't believe the USA national security regarding it's defense capability relies completely on an electrical grid. Those would have to be long lines to any aircraft carrier. 

Don't they go on gas anyway?

The Republicans are doing little to nothing about the substance of the hearing except to provide an election ad.

Nothing is going to be resolved today. Sessions has already recused himself from the investigation. That is an obvious conflict of interest. He won't be answering any questions with substance.

This is a waste of time. Records have to be subpoenaed.

There you go. Sessions is as scared of perjury as any other charges that are possible. 

Oh, well, the Soviet Union collapsed and it is unfortunate we cannot communicate better than we do with Russia.

Ukraine is nothing to this man. THERE WAS A TREATY BROKEN BY RUSSIA, but, we should be on better terms than every with them. Amazing.

Why would Sessions take on Trumps diatribe about Russia? Loyalty? He is worried about perjury based on what loyalty to Trump?

I don't recall Sessions oath of office included loyalty to Trump. I think it was loyalty to the country and defense of the US Constitution.

The Hatch Act, (click here) a federal law passed in 1939, limits certain political activities of federal employees, as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs. ​The law’s purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation.​​​​ ​​

This policy statement is dated March 9, 2012. It was then Attorney General Eric Holder that issued this department policy. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had nothing to do with issuing this policy. It was her responsibility to enforce it. Given the fact Former Director Comey clearly violated this department policy it also makes Loretta Lynch appear to be inept. 

Land based generation of severe storms from single vortex.

June 13, 2017
1430.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere (click here - thank you)

For the past 48 hours a vortex spanning southern Canada and three states, including Idaho and Montana has sent out storms with wind guts of 20 mph.


June 13, 2017
0330.10z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere (see above for 12 hour loop - thank you)

The region involved spans the continent and is located at 45 degrees north latitude. The western vortex is a reverse circulation system and very similarly found with Superstorms.

Instead of moving east, it is stationary. It accumulates water vapor and at some point will send storms that deliver high winds and torrential rain that sustains for hours at a time.

Additionally, Tropicl Storm Calvin manifested in the east Pacific at the same time the 45 degree vortex formed.

continued...

I wonder if he is guilty of RICO?

Passed in 1970, (click here) the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States. It allows prosecution and civil penalties for racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. Such activity may include illegal gambling, bribery, kidnapping, murder, money laundering, counterfeiting, embezzlement, drug trafficking, slavery, and a host of other unsavory business practices....

Not just in Washington, DC; in his business dealings.

February 6, 2017
By McKay Coppins

...The question is not whether he’s vengeful,” (click here) conservative columnist Ben Shapiro told me. “The question is how willing he is to use the levers of government to exact that revenge.”...

Revenge is the enforcement of standards not widely accepted. Revenge is the basis of organized crime. ie: The "Sniffer Dogs" of law enforcement were being exceptionally successful in ferreting out heroine. In retribution, the drug cartels of Mexico placed fentanyl in heroine shipments to kill the dogs.

One has to question the idea that Trump has exceptional personal wealth worth in the face of so many business failures. There are legitimate questions that brings the IRS to his enterprises. No doubt about it. There is no harassment, there are IRS agents that have sincere concerns about the legitimacy of his taxes.

Revenge and cronyism are not desirable characteristics in a president. His statements about Dodd-Frank are proof enough he has plans for his power and it isn't to benefit the American people so much as him, his family and friends. The ethics are obvious and the idea he is committing crimes all along the way from his days as a real estate broker has to be asked.

Who did Trump level revenge of and why? If those he sought revenge are breaking the law he should be reporting that and advocating for better laws. There is no excuse for revenge. After the people and businesses he left in the breach when he declared bankruptcy again and again. 

How did this guy make it into the White House? Oh, yeah, Russia. He is loyal to his financial backers without a doubt. Ruling by consensus is fine if it is legal, but, what Trump practices is illegal. He goes over the line.

In my opinion, he practiced intimidation with the banks from his earliest investments. Banks could not afford to foreclose. The banks were then required to restructure the debt and allow different payment arrangements. Intimidation of such nature is unethical, but, when realizing he pre-determined the crimes he was prepared to commit as a strategy it changes from ethical issues to one of illegal exploitation and lies to banks who first saw their investments as secure.

Comey is the bright shiny object in the room. And in the meantime what happened with Wall Street corruption?

The corruption in his administration is completely obvious."...friend's of mine that can't borrow money..."

Wall Street will collapse because Donald Trump's friends need to borrow money. Amazing. What does that say about Donald Trump's friends.

June 12, 2017

By Martha C. White

Consumer advocates criticized House Republicans’ push to effectively defang the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a bill passed late last week, but some observers warn that the bill’s biggest threat is that it opens the door to a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

I told you so. The USA is well on the way to sinking the global economy AGAIN.

“It really undermines supervision and it really destroys a lot of other protections against ‘too big to fail,’” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform. “It goes through and comprehensively disempowers regulators and weakens systemic risk regulation in a huge range of areas.”

Mike Konczal, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, characterized the Financial CHOICE Act — which is likely to be scaled back in the Senate — as an opening volley that lays out Republican priorities for regulatory rollback. “It sets a tone for how the GOP views financial reform overall,” he said.

Republicans and banking interest groups have said that the Dodd-Frank act gives too much power to regulators. “[Dodd-Frank] grants the CFPB vague and sweeping authority to regulate large swaths of the economy… and the authority to impose substantial penalties on individuals and businesses,” senators Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Mike Lee (R-UT) wrote in a January letter to the incoming Trump administration....              

Carson is reducing the qualifications for public-private partnerships.

CORRUPTION. Where is Kushner? The corruption exhibited by the Kushner family in regard to EB5 visas only raises the suspicion regarding further corruption in the USA.

According to Carson, there are meetings all over the country to show the programs available through his department. If cronies are going to be building HUD housing there needs to be people to rent them.

I just have an idea it is a closed loop. Money from China and building HUD housing in the USA. There are red flag everywhere on this mess. 

June 12, 2017
By Brena Swanson

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (click here) Secretary Ben Carson is back at it this week promoting National Homeownership Month after a busy week last week.

In honor of National Homeownership Month, Carson, along with his family, toured the floor of the NYSE exchange and had the honor ringing Monday’s closing bell (full video below).

HUD kicked off the month by hosting a housing forum on June 1, which included an appearance from Carson.

During his opening remarks of the forum, entitled “A New Era of Homeownership,” Carson spoke of the importance of homeownership and HUD’s efforts to ensure that “every hardworking and creditworthy American enjoys a fair chance at becoming a homeowner.”

Then last week, Carson also attended the National Housing Policy Symposium to talk about the HUD budget and veteran homelessness in honor of the month.

The full video of the NYSE event is below, along with several tweets from Carson....

So let me get this right. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch said there would not be charges against Hillary Clinton and guess what?

There hasn't been.

There was no there, there. Why should a presidential candidate for president be attacked over charges that were never going to happen including any affiliated with the Weiner computer.  

June 11, 2017
By Victoria Guida

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (click here) on Sunday said Congress should look into former FBI Director James Comey’s revelation that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked him to downplay the nature of his investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Comey said Lynch had asked him to refer to the probe as a "matter" rather than an investigation, an exchange that he said made him feel queasy.

This is more of the same of the type of harassment the Clintons have had to sustain over their entire careers.

Evidently, the steely eyed look of Loretta Lynch is more telling than the facts.

Loretta Lynch is the most qualified attorney in the country. She is also a controversial figure with the Republicans because she was the US Attorney that took on the cover-up of the brutal police force under Rudy Giuliani's administration.

August 9, 2007
By Sewell Chan

Ten years ago today, (click here) a 30-year-old Haitian immigrant named Abner Louima was arrested and sodomized with a broomstick inside a restroom in the 70th Precinct station house in Brooklyn. The case became a national symbol of police brutality and fed perceptions that New York City police officers were harassing or abusing young black men as part a citywide crackdown on crime.  

The case also marked the beginning of the unraveling of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s relationship with the black community in New York. That relationship would deteriorate even further, after the police shot two unarmed black men, Amadou Diallo in February 1999 and Patrick Dorismond in 2000....

The Republicans are afraid of her. They postponed her nomination to Attorney General for two months after Former Attorney General Eric Holder resigned to private practice after a highly distinguished career in service to the USA. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is above reproach and her testimony is more about securing the information regarding Russia than any inappropriate discussion with Comey.

The fact Comey was out of line in the Attorney General's office only is more testament  to his complete disrespect and disdain he had for her in regard to any Clinton outcome. It is why he stepped out of line and impacted Clinton's campaign in addition to the Russian impact. Two powerful women was just too much for him to swallow. If Hillary Clinton were elected there is a good chance the current Attorney General Loretta Lynch would have been asked to stay on.