When it comes to temporary national security clearance, Donald Trump is not doing his job.

Mr Porter is proof that the Trump White House is out of control and keeps people within their inner circle they like regardless of the findings of intelligence agencies otherwise.

Trump is not doing his job.

Look, this is a president that invited Russians into the White House for a meet and greet the day after he fired the Director of the FBI. How is it the Russians pull up to the White House and are waved in by Trump without the Secret Service to stop them? 

Rob Porter? Even if he were Russian he would have been provided tempory clearance (which turns into permanent clearance) because he is was part of the Trump cabal. Trump's family is not supposed to be working with him. That is prohibited. If Trump can't function without his family because he doesn't trust anyone else, then he is incompetent. Trump is breaking the USA laws over and over and Congress sits on their hands or worse.

(2)“public official” (click here) means an officer (including the President and a Member of Congress), a member of the uniformed service, an employee and any other individual, in whom is vested the authority by law, rule, or regulation, or to whom the authority has been delegated, to appoint, employ, promote, or advance individuals, or to recommend individuals for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement in connection with employment in an agency; and

(3)

“relative” means, with respect to a public official, an individual who is related to the public official as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister

(b) 

A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official.... 

That is the law and Trump is completely disregarding law of the USA. Trump is breaking the law. That reality has nothing to do with the Russian probe, but, no one does a darn thing about it.

A year has gone by and the people that were with Trump from the beginning still don't have nationals security clearance. That is illegal. It's ridiculous.

Sanctions

Why not Russia?

Why Itan?

I would love to know what Russia has on Trump. He was in Moscow and was playing with prostitutes. We all heard about the golden showers. Are all the women from that day still alive? 

When it comes to Iran, at one point Chancellor Merkel was lobbying the members of the P5 + 1 to draw up new sanctions against Iran. Iran had done nothing wrong. Merkel was attempting to find sanctions that would be okay with Trump. Within a couple weeks she gave up and the original agreement still is honored by most of the participants to the agreement.

Now, why would Chancellor Merkel give up trying to find a second set of sanctions against Iran tha Trump would approve of?

Because Trump wants a war in the Middle East. It looks as though with American soldiers killing Russian, he just might get it. A war would settle land disputes, If there ever was a wide spread killing field, there would be genocide of smaller groups of people. No doubt in my mind.

We saw what Daesh did. How much of the killing Daesh carried out was genocide? I am quite sure there are some. We got lucky with the Yazidis (click here). 

But, as to the sanctions against Russia and Trump lack of enforcement of them; he isn't doing his job. He just isn't. I know most Americans see the presidency as a pinnacle of a career of some sort. But, the truth is while the presidency of the USA is interesting, it is the place where law passed by the legislation is carried out. In other words, the presidency has orders to follow. Trump is not doing his job. Just that simple. There is every indication he is sabotaging the laws passed by the legislature, when it comes to Russia.

Like I said, Greenland is melting and Antarctica is calving huge ice sheets into the windward drift.

August 30, 2017
By Rob Jordan

A new analysis of drought in Jordan (click here) – one of the world’s most water-poor countries – suggests that without alternate water sources, better land use and improved water-sharing agreements, the country could face a future of potentially disastrous droughts. The research, which was the first to analyze several types of drought and to take into account land use changes in upstream Syria, could inform water policies in other arid countries with shared rivers....

This is exactly what happened with Syria. There was extensive drought, the farmers could no longer supply food to the cities and went to the cities to live and find work. With the influx of people into the cities religious differences were exaggerated as competition for work and living space became more evident. 

We cannot afford to have this tragedy occur in Jordan. If there is little water to find, there should be a consideration for a desalination plant. No different than Saudi Arabia. But, foremost Jordan should expect a plan from the USA to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. It is a moral issue.

There is also this:

13 February 2018
By NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Global sea level rise (click here) has been accelerating in recent decades, rather than increasing steadily, according to a new study based on 25 years of NASA and European satellite data.

This acceleration, driven mainly by increased melting in Greenland and Antarctica, has the potential to double the total sea level rise projected by 2100 when compared to projections that assume a constant rate of sea level rise, according to lead author Steve Nerem. Nerem is a professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, a fellow at Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and a member of NASA's Sea Level Change team.

If the rate of ocean rise continues to change at this pace, sea level will rise 26 inches (65 centimeters) by 2100 -- enough to cause significant problems for coastal cities, according to the new assessment by Nerem and colleagues from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; CU Boulder; the University of South Florida in Tampa; and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The team, driven to understand and better predict Earth's response to a warming world, published their work Feb. 12 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences....

This is a wake up call to mayors of all coastal cities. Globally. The temperatures will increase as well without ice structures able to mitigate the heat caused by greenhouse gases.


That melting includes Sibera as well. All the ice structures are disappearing.

Dead Russians at the hand of USA troops. This is getting to be a huge mess with no resolve for the refugees.

There are increasing tensions in the Middle East between the USA, Israel, Syria and Russia. People need to pay attention, Prime Minister Netanyahu is being investigated for corruption. (What Israeli Prime Minister isn't investigated for corruption?} Perhaps, Arlal Sharon. I think he was at one time, too, but nothing came of it. I miss him. I miss the late Arial Sharon. I think he was a great man with good visions for Israel.

But, the point is if Netanyahu is being investigated for corruption, there is more incentive to war to prevent any prosecution going forward when a War Hawk is in control. Pure speculation. 

But, it is time to pay attention to the abandonment of any potential for peace in the Middle East. The abandonment is being replaced with salvoes of war. The King of Jordan should be an interesting person at this point. 

I think King Abdullah II has the greatest and most impartial view of the Middle East. He is important and can be a peacemaker. I think if he speaks out to end tensios it should be respected. Jordan is suffering under the weight of refugees already and a war would only add to that reality when Jordan was looking forward to people returning home with the destruction of Deash.

Tillerson is due in Jordan tomorrow. (click here) I think it is appropriate the King of Jordan express his disappointment in escalating tensions and be cautious about changes to any "Memorandum of Understanding" between Jordan and the USA. I don't see why anything has to change in any agreement between Jordan and the USA until the Middle East is enjoying peace and prosperity.

King Abdullah II has extensive knowledge of the Palestinian plight. He can be a great asset to peace.

Where is the proof by the White House of Sarah Huckabee's statements which implicate the FBI is an unreliable agency?

February 13, 2018
By Ellen Nakashima and Shane Harris

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray (click here) on Tuesday contradicted the White House’s account of when the bureau informed officials about the status of a senior aide’s security-clearance investigation.

White House officials said that they were first contacted in the summer by the FBI about senior aide Rob Porter’s clearance. They also said that the investigation was never completed and that they did not know the extent of the allegations against Porter. He stepped down last week after accusations of spousal abuse by his two ex-wives.

But Wray, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the FBI submitted a partial report on his clearance in March (2017) and that the investigation was completed in July. Soon after, he said, the FBI received a request for a follow-up, which the bureau completed and provided in November. The FBI closed the file in January and then earlier this month, Wray said, the bureau received additional information and “we passed that on as well.”...

Everyone knows the recent information coming into the White House today is about the domestic abuse that was made aware to the public. There is no classified information coming into the White House. Sarah Sanders is propagandizing the idea there is new information coming into the White House. The FBI would not lie to the public, the congressional committees and while the FBI completed their investigation in July, obviously the Executive Branch does not believe the intelligence gathered. 

Only now when the truth is placed on Social Media is the Executive Branch receiving 'new information." I think this is a methodology of the current administration. They don't want to receive information from the FBI that is valuable. Trump didn't take intelligence information seriously when he was a candidate. I think the dismissive culture still exists and this is case in point. The Trump White House puts their own priorities first and if it means maligning the intelligence agencies, then so be it. Sanders statements today validates that point of view.

The rail infrastructure needs elevated high speed rail.

It is nice to say people will have a choice in self-driving cars. I am not stating it is right or wrong, but, such a national system a huge cyber network has to work all the time around the clock without errors. The security of these needed networks will be under attack all the time.

Advanced rail is a better investment until the self-driving cars are proven to be completely safe. That is not the case right now. The number of self-driving cars are few. The needs for an entire country of self-driving cars is a dreamscape that seems extremely unlikely to me. The rails are here, now and can be a real asset to regional and national transportation.

February 12, 2018
By Michael Friedberg

Several recent railway accidents (click here) may have struck fear into the hearts of passengers — but the next one could cripple our economy as well. And the deteriorating and outdated infrastructure along the Northeast Corridor rail system means that, sadly, that next disaster is just around the corner.

The Northeast Corridor’s 457 miles of railway — connecting major cities from Boston to Washington, D.C. — is the nation’s most economically critical stretch of infrastructure. These railways enable hundreds of thousands of workers to get to work each day, as one-third of all jobs in the region (that's 7 million jobs, all told) are located within five miles of a rail station. Those workers alone contribute over $50 billion annually to the American economy;altogether, the region would be the fifth-largest economyin the world....

The cabals I know exist are not organized in a White Supremacist meeting.

The cabals I know exist aren't necessarily friends, they don't get invited over each others homes for the holidays, although they might in a co-worker relationship, they are primarily at the county level of government and are held together by a common thread of religious persecution. 

I mean you know the law is imperfect and there are criminals living in society among us that should be in jail or worse. Right? I mean that is common knowledge, right?

These people believe they are plagued with others that are not Christian and evil. This is the real permanence of the Bush God Culture. It is real and it is carrying out their own idea of justice. Absolutely.

In the case of the Governor that was a political cabal that played the hand that was available to them in a game worse than poker. Poker has odds, this level of corruption is guaranteed.

Oh, minorities? "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha goin' do when they come for you?" Sheriffs aren't any good unless they can solve the crime, ya know?

Are American sheriffs better than sheriffss any place else?

That is what Sessions is saying. He is saying Common Law (the Republicans' Common Sense) is better in the USA than any other country.

Sessions is trying to say the Anglo-American basis of law that sheriffs supposedly practice is better than any other law anywhere. This is all part of the dogma that comes along with Republicans. In other words, sheriffs are elected and they carry out common law practice in law enforcement. It is another way of saying anarchy is best unless there are some deplorables in the town; namely those with different skin color. You have to buy into this mess to understand it, okay?

Common law is ancient law and has been practiced globally since the beginning of time. So, are there sheriffs in other places? Sure. Part of what is wrong with the ISI in Pakistan is the influence the lcoals carry to law enforcement.

A sheriff by any other name is an elder in most cultures where law is disseminated among the people. So, in places like Afghanistan, one of the hurdles for the USA military was making friends with tribal elders. They were the law.

So, the idea there is a sheriff elected by the people to carry out the will of the people is not new, it is not exclusively Anglo anything and it is not at all Americans. Americans adopted such practices from England where the Sheriff of Nottingham was a living horror.

In the USA there are good sheriffs and there are bad ones. The bad ones are elected repeatedly, like Arpaio, because of "the badge" and the faith the people put into that badge. So, how can a bad sheriff be elected over and over again? They do basic law enforcement and the corruption is never detected.

The minorities in the USA know all to well how they become the subject of law enforcement and end up convicted of crimes they never committed. In a conversation with a southern lawyer, he told me the word misdemeanor is becoming meaningless. 

He was a county prosecutor for five years and he stated the cases he is now defending in his civilian defense practice would have never been brought to court in the first place when he was a prosecutor. He said innocent people are finding themselves facing a judge and don't know why. He also said there are many people convicted fo misdeameanors and it is becoming common place. Not that people aren't angry about it, but, it simply doesn't matter in society most of the time.

He blamed extremist politics on the victimization of basically innocent people. He also stated elected officials will abuse the rights of the public in order to be elected. He has more and more of it over the years. He has a vibrant practice and most of his clients are found innocent. He also said a citizen has to have patience with "the system" in order to be found innocent. That might mean jail until trial or high bail amounts, too.

My point is this: Jeff Sessions is not only stupidly talking to pander to extremist voters, but, he is enforcing corruption.  I know people who have faced these corrupt practices and their plight. I was happy to see addressed by Cenk Uygur. I believe Governor Siegelman.

See, the acceptance of corruption becomes a way of life, UNTIL, it suits the best interests of those that want power. I think Governor Siegelman addresses that clearly in that the governance he had was not necessarily of his making and he was caught up in a process that worked against him simply because he was Governor and made an appointment that was repeated many times before him.

This stuff is scary, but, I know it's real. I know cabals exist in this country and innocent people suffer because of it. This level of corruption cannot continue to exist because when good people are elected, they find themselves nothing more than pawns in a game of control by those with money.

So, Sessions? He is nothing more than a cog in the corrupt mechanism of the GOP. He was successfully kept at bay for a long time, until Trump decided Sessions was his minion.

This the USA. DO NOT LOOK THE OTHER WAY BECAUSE SOMEONE IS FLYING A FLAG AND STANDING DURING A NATIONAL ANTHEM. This is real.

Let me point to a few things about the White Supremacists in the USA.

To begin, Jeff Sessions is a known racist. He is a White Supremacist. That is a fact. He attends their meetings and makes speeches to them. The most recent that I am aware of was in California within the past year. Steve Scalise attends the meetings of White Supremacists in Europe.

Question: Realizing the US Republicans rely on White Supremacists to win their elections does anyone actually think they will impeach a White Supremacist president?

But, as to Jeff Sessions, I want to point to his stupidity in treating "The Sheriff" as a unique invention of Anglo-American law enforcement.

Question: What are the words for "Sheriff" around the world? Mostly, was the SS a Third Reich sheriff? 

The problem with having Republicans elected to office that are stupid is the problem. They don't know anything about leadership, compassion, their place in government or how to govern. But, the worst part is Sessions says stupid stuff like this and the entire world knows he is not only a racist, but, totally absorbed in his electorate base of people who vote with their skin color rather than their ability to address their own best interest. 

Got that? I am always interested when racism is overt as with Sessions, but, the most interesting part is what he or any White Supremacist says, because it is always stupid, ie: Trump, the bankruptcy president billionaire plutocrat. By the way, when looking at the electorate of the Republican Party there are a high percentage that have declared bankruptcy and renamed their businesses without blinking an eye. Bankruptcy to people like Trump is a tool, not a problem thrust upon them by irreverent Wall Street.

12 February 2018

By Alex Kaspark

...I want to close (click here) by reiterating my deep appreciation and profound thanks to the men and women of law enforcement […] and I want to thank every sheriff in America. Since our founding, the independently elected Sheriff has been the people’s protector, who keeps law enforcement close to and accountable to people through the elected process.

The office of Sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement, we must never erode this historic office, I know this, you know this, we want to be partners, we don’t want to be bosses, we want to strengthen you and make you be more effective in your work....

I want the swastika banned from public view, including tattoo parlors. It is a symbol of hate without any sincere use otherwise. No different than the Confederate Flag off public lands and sequestered only to appropriate museums, the swastika needs to be eliminated. It is not an American symbol. The swastika is an expression of anti-semitism as well. That meaning is built into it.