Words have meaning.

November 6, 2019
By Everton Bailey, Jr.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (click here) says he plans to donate $16,000 in campaign contributions he received from controversial Portland hotelier and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland between 2012 and 2016.

Wheeler announced Tuesday that he plans to send the money to eight local nonprofits and groups, as well as a national coalition supporting the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Sondland, who became the U.S. ambassador to the European Union last summer, has become embroiled in the Ukraine scandal and President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry.

According to campaign disclosure reports, Sondland personally donated $5,000 in 2015 to Wheeler’s mayoral campaign and $500 in 2012 when Wheeler ran successfully as state treasurer. Sondland also donated $10,000 to Wheeler’s mayoral campaign in 2016 under a real estate investment fund tied to his Provenance Hotels....

In reflection of testimony today...

...Ambassador Yovanovych should be asked where she would like her next post to be and then provided every opportunity to continue her service in comfort and confidence. Her family should be with her in comfort in that choice.

The USA's system of government ("the process") works and David Holmes is proof.

For all the complaining about "the process," the Republicans are making, David Holmes' testimony is proof "the process" is perfect.

As the public hearings are transpiring people are hearing words that cause them to pause and in the case of David Holmes, it was a bit of an epiphany. He realized that as Ambassador Taylor was walking through "the process" he was in possession of unique information no else besides a small group of people could relay to the Intelligence Committee.

David Holmes states he did not seek this testimony, but, was in a place with Ambassador Sondland that provided additional proof of the actions by Donald J. Trump. The process works exactly as it is supposed to work. The public hearings are causing people across the USA, the world and in this case as an example, David Holmes to pause and reflect. It wasn't until the puzzle pieces started to fall into place that he realized he had information that was unique and important. That is exactly how the process is supposed to work and it is exactly why Donald J. Trump wants to silence the staff regardless of their standing.

The country is important to every American. Granted there are someways freedom to the extent it plays out in the USA seems a burden rather than a blessing, but, at the heart of the public hearings are the demands by the process to expose the facts to Americans in a way they can understand. That very process exposed David Holmes in a way he didn't expect. I am sure he is not alone.

The process as it is carried out in the US House of Representatives is perfect and Americans have every reason to be confident the country is better for it.

November 15, 2019
By Savannah Behrmann

Washington - David Holmes, (click here) the State Department official who overheard a key conversation between President Donald Trump and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, told lawmakers during a closed-door deposition Friday that Sondland assured Trump that Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky “loves your ass” and would do “anything you ask him to” when asked about investigations he sought.

Holmes testified, "I then heard President Trump ask, 'So, he's gonna do the investigation?' Ambassador Sondland replied that 'he's gonna do it,' adding that President Zelensky will do 'anything you ask him to.'"

Holmes’ opening statement, which was first reported by CNN and confirmed by other outlets, recounted how he overheard the phone conversation between Sondland and Trump at a restaurant in Ukraine’s capital on July 26, just a day after the conversation between the two foreign leaders at the center of the inquiry....

There is a new mayor in Flint promising unity and more.

But. There still are those that seem to be too slippery and get away with murder.

No one is diverting attention from anyone responsible for the illegally high levels of lead in Flint, Michigan water supply. Engineers are more responsible than others because they should know better. Engineers are educated people and 

November 15, 2019

Flint - A judge (click here) has dismissed much of a civil lawsuit filed against engineering companies that were hired by Flint, Michigan, during its disastrous water switch in 2014.

The attorney general’s office has argued that Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam have some responsibility for the lead crisis in Flint. But Genesee County Judge Richard Yuille dismissed most counts last week, leaving only a claim of unjust enrichment.

The engineering companies deny any liability and say they warned Flint about challenges with its water plant. They’re still being sued by Flint residents in federal court.

Veolia welcomed the judge’s decision and said the lawsuit was an attempt to divert responsibility from state regulators. Lockwood, Andrews had a similar reaction. Attorney General Dana Nessel plans to press ahead.

Below is an e-page from an engineering firm that works with water and in particular water used by school children. No one group of people working with drinking water is exempt. Not one. The State, Federal, Local AND Private organizations are responsible for the knowledge they had and the way they applied it. Just because the government neglected its responsibility to a primarily minority community that doesn't mean the private sector gets away with it as if the government was supposed to have more advanced skills and knowledge.

ANY private contractor involved in these circumstances are responsible for the outcome. The Attorney General is correct, Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Engineering firm is responsible for the negligence as well. They were hired to work on the water supply. This decision by Judge Yuille is at least curious if not suspicious. Does the Judge understand the issue and the brevity of the professionals working on the Flint water supply? If the answer is yes, then dismissal was a gift to the engineering firm for some reason. 

Since 2017, (click here) Terraphase (engineering) has sampled over 800 schools, taking more than 8,000 water samples to test for lead in drinking water in support of school, state, and local programs and providing recommendations for fixes. Our involvement includes:

• Providing drinking water testing and compliance support under EPA Lead and Copper Rule and 3Ts approach
• Supporting the School District of Philadelphia with lead in drinking water sampling for over 300 facilities per City of Philadelphia Code, Title 4, Section A-703.1 (amended), pertaining to “Special Certificate of Inspection” requiring certification of water quality as a condition of occupancy for buildings used for education
• Supporting California water districts with lead in drinking water sampling for schools under California SWRCB-DDW Permit Amendments CA HSC Sec. 116277/Assembly Bill (AB) 746
• Testing for lead in school drinking water on behalf of private schools
• Developing and implementing site-specific training programs

We have been there, done that with Ivanka once before. Trust who? (click here for Vice President Gore's latest accomplishment - thank you)

Something tells me Professor Lawrence Tribe would be a Trump Supreme Court nominee.

November 13, 2019
By Aiden Pink

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton (click here) claimed in a speech that First Family members Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump could convince President Trump to nominate a liberal to the Supreme Court if they thought it would help their reputations in New York City, NBC News reported Tuesday.

In a speech at private event connected to a Morgan Stanley investment conference in Miami, Bolton also claimed that President Trump’s Turkey policy and close relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be driven by personal or business considerations. The Trump Organization owns a property in Istanbul. Bolton had praise for Trump’s China trade policy but criticized him on issues pertaining to Turkey, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Ukraine, attendees told NBC...

Ambassador Marie Yovanovych was removed from her position in Ukraine the very day President Zylenekyy was inaugurated. That was not a coincidence. Rudy Guiliani and his two cohorts took over without the authority of the USA government.

In all honesty, I am surprised, or maybe I shouldn't be considering Bill Barr; that the FBI didn't have Guiliani's cohorts under their radar.

Guiliani wanted Ambassador Yovanovych out of the way so he could spin yarns about the Bidens. She was there two-plus years before Guiliani took over the foreign policy in Ukraine. 

Russia was visited by Guiliani during his run for president of the USA (click here). I hope that was accounted for in the investigation as well.

Ambassador Marie Yovanovych was not only removed the day of President Zelenskyy's inauguration, but she was also baselessly defamed on an increasing basis. There was no reason for any of it.

Any deposition in a secure setting that can hint at the Whistleblower identity should never be released in his or her lifetime.

There are seriously dangerous people involved in all this that will never be brought to justice in the USA and the Republicans seem to forget that.

October 16, 2019
By Ken Dilanian, Dan De Luce and Tom Winter

Dmytro Firtash, the Ukrainian billionaire, outside the Group DF office in Vienna, Austria, on March 14, 2016.

Washington -When two Rudy Giuliani associates (click here) were arrested last week and charged with funneling foreign money into political campaigns, two big questions lingered: Which foreigners were they working for, and what was their ultimate goal?

There are growing indications that a Ukrainian-backed oligarch who is fighting extradition to the United States figures in the answers.

The evidence is emerging from the mists of a complicated story.

The indicted pair, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were helping Rudy Giuliani hunt for dirt on Donald Trump's political opponents in Ukraine, even as they were also pitching potential partners on a business deal with Ukraine's gas company.

Oligarch Dmytro Firtash appears to be linked to both efforts.

Parnas and Fruman were advocating on his behalf as they pitched a natural gas deal, according to an American executive briefed on the meeting. And Firtash produced a document that Giuliani has used to attack former Vice President Joe Biden....

Mr. Jordan cannot be this obtuse. American ambassadors are not responsible for the preferences of American politicians. NO, Mr. Jordan the USA Ambassador is not responsible to tell leaders of another country to KNOCK IT OFF.

Donald J. Trump was disliked by many people in the world, Ukraine was not unique if that was actually the case.

From Pew Research:

October 1, 2018
By Richard Wike, Bruce Stokes, Jacob Poushter, Laura Silver, Janell Fetterolf and Kate Devlin

America’s global image plummeted (click here) following the election of President Donald Trump, amid widespread opposition to his administration’s policies and a widely shared lack of confidence in his leadership. Now, as the second anniversary of Trump’s election approaches, a new 25-nation Pew Research Center survey finds that Trump’s international image remains poor, while ratings for the United States are much lower than during Barack Obama’s presidency....

end

Corruption in Russia.

The reason Americans can be deceived to the degree Russia is an enemy is because up to the point where Putin invaded Ukraine Russia was a part of a "feel-good feeling" about a nuclear country.

Russian corruption, except for a laughable "YouTube" video of a ballot box being stuffed is mostly out of sight of Americans. It is real and there are deaths of Americans and Russians that have occurred for the convenience of Putin and his politics.

The invasion of Ukraine happened. It is real. There is an illegal bridge built between Russia and Crimea to influence the power structure there. Those tactics come right out of the Former Soviet Union. It was not unusual for an American to wake up, read their morning paper and what was somewhere on the front page was, "Russia invaded Yugoslavia." Those articles reinforced the idea Russia was an enemy. 

Americans are very welcoming people and to the extent, Putin was allowed to participate in primarily Western organizations like the G8. That welcoming was due to the fact all those connections were paths to peace and denuclearization.

Today, we have a president that embraces an enemy to Western civilization, including the Western civilization in the Pacific and Hawaii. Trump is wrong and his actions in Ukraine screams of betrayal to the people of the West and not just the USA. The abandonment of alliances is obvious by Trump. The Congress, many times the Senate, is trying to sew legislative fabric to make up for that abandonment. Congress needs to recollect it's dignity and realize they are nothing but a hurdle to Trump's further plans for the USA's surrender to Russia.

Trump almost succeeded in Ukraine if it weren't for a Whistleblower. That can be no more trust. 

Enough of this.

Hannity never issued a retraction and that is why this is such a hot topic. The Deep State's FAKE BLACK LEDGER.

Trump and Hannity were trying to increase the idea in the jury pool that Manafort was framed.

Paul Manafort received those monies. The black ledger belonged to the party of Yanukovych. The black ledger is real. The FBI accepted it was evidence of the monies Paul Manafort received and never reported.

Paul Manafort is not a victim, the government of the USA was deceived and the taxes owed was never paid. That is only one count brought before THE COURTS with evidence found in the wake of Yanukovych. 

Yanukovych abused the people of Ukraine with his lavish house and the monies due not just the USA, but, Ukraine as well.

(right) Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin. The TWO MEN THAT ARE ENEMIES OF THE USA AND UKRAINE. Why is that somehow lost in translation at FOX News?

Hannity is promoting the idea that Paul Manafort was wrongly accused and the evidence was more DEEP STATE FAKE EVIDENCE that lead to his prosecution. That is propaganda, it is also very deep fear-mongering that has a percentage of Americans afraid of their government.  We have seen evidence of that fear in attacks by people who have testified their violent actions were due to the influence of the Trump Campaign and their attendance at Trump's speeches. This fear is also seen today in realizing Trump has his own communication network where he advocates the mainstream media is FAKE. It seems a communication network of Trump's making is also obligated under FCC laws to offer TIME FOR OPPOSING VIEWS to their viewers. Those opposing views are also sparse at Hannity.

Republicans are obtuse.

Nunes is laughable. I don't know where his thinking went during the first session, but, he has absolutely no respect for a woman traumatized by Trump and his followers. He didn't have to apologize for Trump's rude and uncalled for behavior, but, as Ranking member he should have respected the Ambassador for her service and reporting of the abuse of power by the president of her highly distinguished reputation. She deserved respect and he handed her nasty comments about the legal and secure proceedings carried out before the hearing today.

Hearing after hearing the committee has always carried out confidential and issues of security in closed hearings.

Then Nunes didn't even recognize the Chairman's instructions to take 45 mins for himself and their attorney. Nunes went about calling on a Congresswoman when she wasn't recognized. That is nothing short of moronity.

Everyone on the committee will get their 5 mins AS THEY DID ON WEDNESDAY, after the questioning of the witness. 

The Congresswoman that played along with the APPEARANCE OF OPPRESSION of Republicans by the Deep State is as much a moron as her Ranking Member.

Honestly, games. They play games with the government of the people.

ETHICS VIOLATIONS.

Somalia deteriorated since it's independence.

Trump has no right to place the failure of a country on the shoulders of a diplomatic mission.

1950 - Italian Somaliland (click here) becomes a UN trust territory under Italian control.

1956 - Italian Somaliland renamed Somalia and granted internal autonomy....

                  

The impeachment proceedings is not about the right of a president to remove an ambassador it is about the corrupt reasons that brought Trump to act against Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

The Ranking Member is breaking the law in demanding the identity of the Whistleblower.

The reason for the demand is corrupt as is any other Republican making this demand because want to intimidate further Whistleblowers from coming forward which currently is TWO so far.

Over the years, (click here) lawmakers have recognized the crucial service whistleblowers provide in holding organizations accountable for wrongdoing. As a result, many state and federal laws have been enacted to encourage whistleblowers as well as protect them from workplace retaliation. One such law is the Whistleblower Protection Act, which provides a way for federal employees to make disclosures of misconduct and to report instances of retaliation. Below, you’ll find an overview of the Whistleblower Protection Act and key points to consider if you are – or might be – a federal whistleblower.

Creation of the Whistleblower Protection Act

Whistleblower rights and protections were initially addressed by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. In 1989, Congress passed the Whistleblower Protection Act to “strengthen and improve protection for the rights of federal employees, to prevent reprisals, and to help eliminate wrongdoing within the Government.” One way the law did this was by clarifying the procedure by which employees could report wrongdoing and workplace retaliation. Another was by separating the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) from the Merit Systems Protection Board and empowering the OSC to represent whistleblowers in these matters....

I think the Ambassador has the complete right to file a liable lawsuit beginning with Trump and all the way to Hannity and FOX News. I have never been more serious. If I were she and a president attacked my reputation to win ILLEGAL AND CORRUPT control of a country, ie: Ukraine, I would not only sue for liable, I would demand they be prosecuted.

I am so proud of our diplomatic corps and today we hear from a lady.

I am very much looking forward to hear her speak today. 33 years a professional. Invaluable. Yet, she is treated as a problem and removed from her post. If there was an extensive danger to Ambassador Yovanovitch, she should have been provided greater security, bodyguards and an intelligence detail to get to the bottom of the issue. By removing her to the USA, Donald J. Trump surrendered to the terrorists. Russian probably if they exist at all.

November 14, 2019
by Rosalind S. Helderman

In February, (click here) the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine — a 33-year career diplomat who had served presidents of both parties — received a blunt warning.

“Watch your back,” Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said she was told by Ukraine’s interior minister.

The Ukrainian official relayed that a pair of Florida businessmen and a Kyiv prosecutor with whom Yovanovitch had clashed were working to oust her from the post she had held since 2016, she later told House investigators.

The trio had a powerful ally, he added: President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani.

“I thought it was exceedingly strange,” Yovanovitch said, according to a transcript of her closed-door testimony last month....

Republicans are obtuse and will lose their elections because of it.

The FBI is doing it's level best to make local and state authorities aware of the danger to citizens because of the free flow of guns in the USA. I am convinced they have never tried harder to stop the violence, this was especially true since the August 3rd and 4th of this year.

The police response is within minutes of the first alert to shots fired. They can't do better. 

Guns are still finding their way into the hands of people willing to use them for their own reasons causing maiming and deaths among INNOCENT Americans. 

All this true, yet the Republicans do nothing. It is their oath of office to protect American lives and the USA Second Amendment does not permit anarchy.

November 14, 2019
By Mia Nakaji Monier, Crystal Duan, Moriah Balingit and Katie Mettler

Santa Clarita - A 16-year-old student (click here) pulled a gun from his backpack and opened fire on classmates at a high school north of Los Angeles on Thursday morning, fatally wounding two teens and striking three others before turning the gun on himself, police said.

The shooter, whose attack unfolded at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, survived his self-inflicted gunshot wound and was in grave condition at a hospital, authorities said. The suspect carried out the shooting on his 16th birthday, police said.

Someone called 911 to report the shooting at 7:38 a.m., according to authorities. When deputies arrived two minutes later, they found six students with gunshot wounds in the quad, a popular outdoor gathering spot with trees and picnic table. They later learned the shooter, who was dressed in black, was among them. They also recovered a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the scene....