I don't doubt Lucy Flores. I am sure the interaction occurred. I was anticipating others to come forward, but, considering at this point he is able to beat Trump in a general election that might be holding others back. It is hard to say what exactly other women would think or say. It is always up to the lady to decide. It would be unfair to make an assessment of their understandings of such touching.
Joe Biden needs to apologize to Lucy Flores (click here) and any others he may have insulted. His actions, as described by Ms. Flores does not rise to sexual assault. He sure isn't Donald Trump and Trump's "grab the pussy" advice or the man with small hands comment. Other candidates in the past have made worse mistakes and survived the primary.
Touching women or men is not allowed without explicit consent. No maybes or supposing it is all right. Touching is not alright.
(The War is Over Picture - click here)
I am not making excuses for the Former Vice President just trying to understand. My experience with politics is that there are those awkward moments that afterward, people look at each other like, "What was that?"
If there is anything the Democrats know is that Joe Biden provides plenty of those, "What the heck was that moment?" He may never have been a sailor, but, the picture describes what others feel in a commonly understood emotion when a battle is won.
I think the former Vice President needs to provide an interview with a trusted journalist and set the record straight. The moment Ms. Flores described sounds like it was full of emotion and anticipation. That may have been the issue. But, I wasn't there and she felt uncomfortable when the VP put his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. He needs to express his regret which I am sure he feels.
Joe Biden is liked by a lot of people, including unions. It is going to be up to the people to decide. If he enters the race for President of the country he has served most of his adult life, he is going to have to stand on his own and make the case for his candidacy. This may eliminate him, but, that is uncertain.
There are many highly qualified candidates in the Democratic field and some new faces that are turning people's heads. I wish everyone great luck and skill. I will be casting a ballot for the person that makes the climate crisis a priority and means it.
Next week I will be reviewing China and world events. I think there is a lot missing in the news these crazy days. But, Trump is determined to distract the country until the election of 2020. It will be up to the opposing candidates to remind the country what is really important. Protecting our democracy should be at the top of that list.
Good night.
Moving office space from one part of the USA to another part of the USA is not considered an increase in auto jobs. This type of site consolidation will probably result in a net loss of jobs in the USA.
March 31, 2019
By Steve Brown
Toyota is expanding its footprint in Plano. (click here)
The international automaker's Toyota Motor Credit Corp. is almost doubling the size of its office in the Legacy business park.
Toyota Motor Credit now occupies more than 54,000 square feet of offices in the Legacy Town Center III office building at 6900 North Dallas Parkway....
...Along with its main headquarters campus and the Toyota credit office in Legacy Town Center, the automaker's tech-oriented Toyota Connected subsidiary has a large office in the nearby Legacy West Urban Village.
Toyota announced in 2014 that it planned to move much of its U.S. base from Southern California to West Plano. The Japan-based automaker now has more than 5,000 workers in North Texas.
There are reports pregnant women are fleeing Venezuela for Columbia. This dam should not be failing. Is there any reason to believe the people qualified to take care of it no longer are in Venezuela?
If a communication link can be provided to the engineers involved perhaps The West can advise those remaining to run the plant.
Is the grid supplied by this dam failing? By every estimation, there should be little interruption of electricity in Venezuela. Unless those responsible for maintaining the grid aren't being paid and won't work. Russia can explain if they are part of the Venezuelan collective, pay rates aren't established yet.
March 30, 2019
By Vasco Cotovio and Ralph Ellis
On the Caroni River, (click here) one hundred kilometers from the confluence with the Orinoco River stands an impressive engineer work and art masterpiece. We are talking about Simon Bolivar (formely "Raul Leoni") Hydroelectric Power Station, also known as the Guri Dam. The construction started in 1963 concluded the first part in 1978 and the second one in 1986.
Caracas - Electricity slowly returned (cick here) in most areas of Caracas on Saturday after Venezuela struggled through the third major blackout of March.
Power went out around 7 p.m. Friday. Sirens, car horns and alarms echoed throughout the dark streets before generators began kicking in.
The situation is much worse in the barrios and poorer areas of the capital, and especially outside Caracas, with many struggling with intermittent service since the first major blackout.
Blackouts have become a daily occurrence across Venezuela as the economic crisis has worsened.
The power outage was the talk of the town, overshadowing another round of dueling protests by supporters of embattled President Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly....
...The cause of the third blackout has not been given, but the first two occurred because of problems at the Guri hydroelectric plant, which serves 70% of the country....
Mulvaney? (click here) I didn't know he was a mind reader. He doesn't know what is occurring with the Mueller report either. It's all speculation and propaganda.
The US House is going to have to call Former Director Mueller to testify to find out if the Special Council was cut short so he could decide about all the issues in front of him.
I don't believe Robert Mueller would leave loose ends like this. There are outstanding trials and continuing investigations he has had to pass on to different authorities that Barr will try to wrestle to the ground, too. I think there is more corruption at work and Mulvaney is proof. He is the President's Chief of Staff. People are supposed to believe him? I don't think so.
AG Barr is out of line. HIs letter was written without any sound evidence and to CYA his obstruction of justice. All that was required by Barr was to review it for criminal content that needs to be prosecuted WHILE passing on the Mueller Report and supporting documents to Congress for review of need legislation.
Russia, an enemy of the USA, interfered in the 2016 elections. That is a fact. The investigation by the Special Council had autonomous power to carry out the law and secure future elections from foreign influence. The Mueller report belongs to the people of the USA and it needs to be passed on to Congress and the American people.
I think the assessment by Rachel Maddow is spot on. She cites the law. Something that seemed to escape the AG. Questions?
It would strongly appear as though Republicans are nothing more than lapdogs to Trump.
They don't care about the country, they care about power and how to get it.
Governments should know this is coercion and it needs to be reported to authorities in the USA. There is always the FBI. The CIA can be a better agency to report such problems.
This is extortion. A journalist FINALLY has brought threats to the American conscience.
Jarad Kushner is using his security clearance to extort monies from other countries.
Countries cannot be fearful of such actions. This is completely outrageous and has to be dealt with. No government entity should have the power to coerce another country. All actions between countries should occur through proper diplomacy channels and in writing. The entire scenario is not American in any way, shape or form.
This is not the first time the Kushner family has used the powers of the USA for their own purposes. There was that entire episode early on in Trump's administration whereby Chinese oligarchs were romanced into visas that would directly benefit the Kushners. Don, Jr. was in Congress pounding the halls of Congress for the passage of an extension on those visas before the Kushner family meeting held in China. That administration had intimidated the majority Republican Congress into submission because of threats to primary them.
Things are different now. The US House has a majority Democratic leadership and the doors of justice are open again.
I realize Qatar has image problems within its Middle East neighborhood. That is a matter left up to the nations in the Middle East. But, coercion for personal wealth by any American of an entire government or it's leaders is deep trouble for that person or persons.
When Turkey realized a Washington Post journalist was murdered and his body disposed of it did not conceal "the shame" of it happening within it's borders. Turkey immediately began providing information to American journalists to expose the crime. Turkish intelligence did not hesitate and it's President did not stop their exposure of a murder.
Those are the extremes to which wrongdoing has to be exposed sometimes. There is absolutely no way Qatar leadership should be hiding such outrageous crimes. No country should feel that threatened by any one person of USA origin. This could have been stopped before it became a crime and moniey was transferred. Exposure of internaitonal crimes is vital to it's resolve. Democractic freedom of speech governs such exposure and it is a very important right any international authority should know is available to them.
If nothing else put it on a Facebook entry on an official website, as a cry for help. Do something. The idea alone that exposure of crime will be carried out will stop it before it starts.
March 29, 2019
By Ed Krassenstein and Brian Krassenstein
While America’s attention has been focused primarily on the Mueller report, (click here) over the course of the last several weeks, a story that likely isn’t clearly captured in the Mueller report has been building steam. For well over a year now, there has been speculation about Jared Kushner’s security clearance, as well as his meetings and ties with various leaders within the Middle East. Now it appears as if this speculation is becoming a full-blown scandal.
Last week on KrassenCast we spoke to Vicky Ward, an investigative journalist and author of the new book Kushner Inc. Since then, Ward, who has been investigating ties that Kushner has had with the Saudis, Emiratis and Qataris, has come across new information that appears to imply that the president’s son-in-law may be extorting the nation of Qatar. HillReporter has also been in contact with several sources with ties to the Qatari government, which also help confirm some of the information that Ward has provided....
And this is just one project.
June 25, 2018 (posted by Ben Joravsky)
By Ryan Smith
...The amount you pay in property taxes (click here) is partly determined by the value of your property as assessed by Cook County assessor Joe Berrios. If you think Berrios has overassessed your property, you can appeal his assessment. If he—or the Cook County Board of Review—lowers your assessment, you'll pay less in property taxes. Over the last few years, Trump has successfully appealed several times, hiring 14th Ward alderman Ed Burke as his attorney. In addition to being chairman of the City Council's finance committee and one of Mayor Rahm's closest allies, Burke somehow finds the time to run a property tax appeal business....
Trump practices tax avoidance. But, he doesn't practice tax avoidance as a method of process, he seeks out the avenue of corruption that will guarantee him tax avoidance. Ed Burke is an attorney that needs to be reviewed by his peers. He practices conflict of interest, not tax avoidance. His applications for tax relief for his clients need to be audited to be sure they received legitimate tax reductions.
Ed Burke should not be re-elected 14th Ward Alderman. He is corrupting the tax system in Chicago.
Considering the tax avoidance by Trump, the Chicago tower needs to be reassessed and for back taxes as well. The process Ed Burke employed was corrupt because of conflict of interest.
...So, in effect, Trump has depended on the kindness of powerful Democratic bosses to cut his property taxes even as he bashes the Democrats and tries to eradicate everything they believe in.
Burke recently dropped Trump as a client—in part because he's worried the connection will cost him votes as he runs for reelection next year in a mostly Latino ward. But the damage has already been done. Thanks to Burke, Trump has saved roughly $14 million in property taxes since 2010, according to a Sun-Times exposé.
What's worse, the less Trump pays in property taxes, the more the rest of us have to pay. I don't know exactly how much more we have to pay to compensate for the $14 million in breaks that Burke helped Trump win. But it makes my blood boil just thinking about all of this....
Does Trump go out of his way to build towers no one else would? Does he think bankruptcy is a business model? Does he build these towers so he doesn't have to pay rent or purchase a home? The White House, other than the house he grew up in, is probably the first place he lived with a lawn to mow.
March 27, 2019
By Alex Nitkin and Joe Ward
About a year before the 2005 groundbreaking (click here) for Trump International Hotel & Tower, Trump Organization executive Charles Reiss met the late Chicago real estate broker Bruce Kaplan and his colleague, Leslie Karr. The Trump family, Reiss said, wanted advice on how to market the retail space that would face the Chicago River at the tower’s base.
“The way it’s designed now, it’s never going to lease up,” Karr recalls telling Reiss. The roughly 70,000-square-foot deck’s 10-foot ceilings, undulating facade and sunken location would be too awkward to attract customers, she said.
Just reaching the space requires detailed directions. At the north end of the Wabash Avenue bridge, a tiled stairway dips down from the sidewalk and beyond the sight of passing pedestrians. Once you reach the bottom, the path gives way to a row of metallic columns rising like Sequoia trees five stories up to the hotel lobby, interrupting an otherwise unobstructed view of the river....
I am quite confident Scott Pruitt's time at the EPA served Trump well. The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois need to assess Trump's Chicago tower for compliance with water quality standards.
There is no excuse for this. It effects the environment of the river and can create algae growth. The conservation clubs should be up in arms no matter where a Trump tower exists, even by name only, if the property is in violation of environmental laws.
Water quality needs to be a national agenda.
August 15, 2019
By Jay Kozlarz
Chicago’s Trump International Hotel & Tower (click here) may find itself in legal hot water due to a recent lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan alleging that the building’s river-fed cooling system is in violation of multiple state and federal clean water laws.
Madigan’s complaint, filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, says that President Trump’s namesake downtown tower is lacking the necessary permits to pull nearly 20 million gallons of water from the Chicago River each day and discharge a byproduct known as “heated effluent” back in the waterway.
The lawsuit also states the building’s owners failed to submit a mandatory study detailing the impact of their intake system as well as measures implemented to limit the number of fish killed either by its powerful suction or its heated outflow—which can be up to 35 degrees warmer than ambient river water....
It is my understanding that when items are stolen, regardless of their value, it is widely reported by police to pawn shops. No doubt these thieves are aware of such notices, so they will probably sell them in alternate ways such as baseball trading card shows and online. If rare and unusual baseball articles are seen online kindly report them to the police. The sales may be legitimate and the authorities will know that, but, the odds are they are stolen and need to be returned.
March 27, 2019
By MacKenzie Shuman
Dozens of Hall of Fame (click here) autographed baseballs were stolen early Wednesday from a trophy case at beloved Scottsdale restaurant Don & Charlie's, said Ben Hoster, a spokesman for the Scottsdale Police Department.
The baseballs have an estimated value of $200,000 to $600,000, depending on current market values and baseball excitement, Hoster said....
