Manafort was laundering money. A lot of Russian money.

September 15, 2018

Kiev, Ukraine — At first glance, (click here) what happened to Yevgeny G. Kaseyev hardly seems like misfortune.

Without his knowledge, he says, unknown individuals set up multiple companies in his name and deposited tens of millions of dollars into those companies’ bank accounts.

“Sometimes it seems fun,” Mr. Kaseyev, a 34-year-old hairdresser, said with a shrug during an interview. “I’m a secret millionaire.”

Until the authorities came calling, that is, seeking $30 million in back taxes.

One of the people who did business with a company opened under Mr. Kaseyev’s stolen identity didn’t mean anything to him. But the name certainly caught the eye of investigators in the United States: Paul J. Manafort.

Mr. Manafort, who worked for a decade as a political consultant in Ukraine before becoming chairman of the Trump campaign in 2016, made a deal worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with the shell company under the hairdresser’s name. It was called Neocom Systems Limited, according to a Ukrainian lawmaker....

...The companies set up with Mr. Kaseyev’s identity had bland names like April Limited and Neocom Systems Limited. For example, in 2009, Mr. Manafort signed an invoice for $750,000 addressed to Mr. Kaseyev as director of Neocom Systems....

Just to understand the implications to other investigations and "catch and kill," election tampering and obstruction.

...“I need to open up a company (click here) for the transfer of that info regarding our friend David,” Cohen says. “I’m going to do that right away. I’ve spoken to [Trump Organization CFO] Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up.”...

Want to know what real corruption is occurring right under the SEC's noses?

Get this. This is a case whereby the SEC was not being provided Whistleblower reports. The Whistleblower Protections under Dodd-Frank was being purposely misinterpreted so the Whitleblower only had to report to his boss for the protections afforded him or her. In other words, a bank or banking company or stock company could have corrupt practices that exist without ever reporting them to the SEC. Somewhere along the way, corporate America decided all the reporting of corruption can be kept in house without anyone from the government knowing about it. AND IT WAS DECIDED BY CORPORATIONS, IT WAS LEGAL to conduct themselves illegally:

March 13, 2018

...Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision (click here) Limits Whistleblower Protections Under Dodd-Frank –

On February 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Digital Reality Trust v. Somers, in which it held that the protections against retaliation for whistleblowers under Dodd-Frank apply only to whistleblowers who report violations to the SEC and not, for instance, to those who report violations of securities laws to their supervisors, as the SEC had interpreted the law to apply in its rulemaking.

Please see full Newsletter below for more information.

Russia is so corrupted in the financial sector of the world, they have their own notices and newsletter.

AND, whom exactly cozies up to Russia in Helsinki?

Why was Manafort ever in doubt about conviction in the first place? Hello?

"FAKE NEWS, IT IS ALL FAKE NEWS!"

Why burn the books, just censor them. Woodward should sue. The censorship of any library is a concrete assault against the First Amendment.

What next, Russian language lessons and only print approved by Putin?

September 15, 2018
By Alejandro de la Garza

One West Virginia library (click here) director’s decision to keep Bob Woodward’s Fear Out of her library has backfired.

Fear, an explosive book on the Trump Administration, is already regarded by many as one of the most important books of the year. But for Donna Crocker, the director of the Morgan County Public Library in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., the book had no place on her library’s shelves.

She told The Washington Post on Friday that the library had not stocked Fear, but gave no further reason as to why. The Post did report that the town of about 600 voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of that,” Crocker said. “We have other Trump books.”...

Exactly. Manafort hasn't been sentenced yet.

I believe he will serve some time, probably at a minimum security prison. What Manafort and those so inclined have to understand is that it is never to occur again. His convictions are so grievous he will serve time somewhere.

I am glad for the Mueller investigation and team, they will get the entire picture and not simply bits and pieces. So, even with whatever shenanigans (including the confirmation of a completely unqualified and tainted Assistant Attorney General - that was quite a stunt) exists behind the scenes, the USA's justice is still the winner.

Also, if the US Justice Department is to constitutionally stand alone in it's purpose; there should be methods to offer a defendant the same type of relief as a sitting President can offer with a pardon.

The laws work. What constitutional crisis?

September 15, 2018

By Deanna Paul

Three days before (click here) the D.C.-based trial against Paul Manafort was set to begin, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III raised eyebrows in the legal community when his office filed a new charging document. Many began to wonder whether an announcement about a plea agreement with Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, was coming down the pipeline.

One did.

I’m a former assistant district attorney, and even after news of the plea broke on Friday, I didn’t think Manafort stood to gain much from a cooperation deal.

I still don’t. What’s clear, though, is that Manafort was out of cards to play....

...Mueller holds the keys. Manafort will almost certainly go to prison, notwithstanding the agreement, and only Mueller can bring the sentencing judge’s attention to Manafort’s efficacy or value. If Mueller doesn’t make the motion, the judge cannot consider it.

The caveat, though, is that a federal judge is never locked in. He merely takes Mueller’s recommendations under advisement....

Corrupt water meters? Where is the investigation and rebates to residents?

September 13, 2018
By Monique Judge

As of Thursday, (click here) the people of Flint, Mich., have been without a clean and stable water system they could trust for 1,604 days. The city’s water service lines are in the process of being replaced, but experts have said even that improvement comes with the danger of reintroducing lead into the water supply. The city and the state continue to bicker back and forth over who is the baddest, and all the while the people are the ones who continue to suffer.

In the midst of all this madness, a city official recently revealed that the Flint is unable to account for where the 12 million gallons of water that run through the city’s pipes each day is going.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a plan that would allow the city to replace thousand of water meters, Michigan Radio reports. Flint Chief Financial Officer Hughey Newsome told the station that the new meters will help the city improve water bill collections and reduce water theft. He then admitted that the city has no idea where all the water being used is going.

“If you think about the 12 million gallons per day of water that flows through the water system; we can’t account for all of that water,” Newsome said.

Manafort lawyers have tried plea deals before. Twice before. Maybe the third is the charm now that Manafort knows he is convicted. 

Columbia Gas Company states it is conducting safety checks, Someone is going to prison. Deregulation is probably the culprit. Massachusetts is staring to look like Texas. Cut costs to the bone  and the public pays the price. California explosion was like this a few years back and it was due to old infrastructure. Deregulation causes neglect and thus what happens. The petroleum industry needs to end their reign over USA utility power. Massachusetts has great offshore wind maps. There isn’t much that can go wrong if wind power is deregulated. I don’t know wind is all that regulated in the first place. Good-bye methane.

Rick Perry is destroying regulations. Check the Department of Energy. Columbua pushed it to far. Pushing the infrastructure too far is gross negligence. There is no excuse for it. Any deregulation will facilitate this level of danger, but, there is no excuse for it. Either Columbia knows what they are doing or they don’t. I expect to see perp-walks.

Massachusetts Governor Baker states the company response was adequate. Really?

The Outer Banks are probably devastated.

Avalon fishing pier webcam.  www.visitob.com

Doesn’t look horrible. Those docks are built to withstand hurricanes. But, the wind and water are calmer than expected. Kill Devil Hills beach camera is streaming live. It looks less than I expected. Daylight will tell the story and no one should be attempting to travel any of those bridges. It was the bridges last time that took a real beating. They’ll probably have to do beach replenishment.

I think the media has got it exactly right. The storms winds are actually not effecting the Outer Banks as I expected. The storms worst winds are south of the Outer Banks.

That is a relief to many. The Outer Banks are not safe in events like this. I am used to having those beautiful places absolutely devastated when these storms visit the state of N.C. I am hopeful they have been spared this time. I hope the whales are okay, too. I more optimistic they are, now.

I was just at the Neuse River last week. There are a lot of residential areas along that river. If that is where the wind is pushing the water, the folks there will need a lot of help.

There are very precious oyster beds in the Neuse. There was a large investment by the state with the help of Duke University in returning the native oyster to the state and their impoverished oystermen and women. It is going to be upsetting to many. It may have really disrupted the river enough to destroy those oyster beds. People are going to be left without seed stock. The oystermen and their families will be in need.

This is not Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry, Starry Night."

September 12, 2018

By Brian McNoldy and Matthew Cappuci

The Northern Hemisphere (click here) is facing an onslaught of hurricanes and typhoons, seemingly overnight. With three storms spinning in the North Atlantic — Hurricane Florence one of them — the tropics have exploded to life at the peak of the annual season. At the same, in the tropical Pacific, Super Typhoon Mangkhut is the most intense tropical cyclone in the world, packing 170 mph winds.

Why the remarkable uptick in activity? In the Atlantic, in particular, it's all thanks to a sudden alignment of the two things that fuel hurricanes: energy and wind.

If the winds aloft in the atmosphere are too strong, they can shear apart a developing storm. It’s ironic but true — calm winds are needed to brew a hurricane. The amount of shear in the Atlantic has reached its seasonal minimum, kindling any fledgling storm and fostering its growth....

How many people GLOBALLY are under the threat of severe storms TODAY?

The troposphere is hot, the global movement of air slow and incredible loss of carbon sinks, including massive fires with a three mile high fire tornado and coral reefs that are bleached to the depths of over 130 feet.

From Nature, this is the abstract, but, the entire SCIENTIFIC article is at this link:

Published: 04 September 2018

Deep reefs of the Great Barrier Reef offer limited thermal refuge during mass coral bleaching

By Pedro R. Frade, 

Pim Bongaerts, 

Norbert Englebert, 

Alice Rogers, 

Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero & 

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg 

Nature Communications, volume 9, Article number: 3447 (2018)

Our rapidly warming climate (click here) is threatening coral reefs as thermal anomalies trigger mass coral bleaching events. Deep (or “mesophotic”) coral reefs are hypothesised to act as major ecological refuges from mass bleaching, but empirical assessments are limited. We evaluated the potential of mesophotic reefs within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and adjacent Coral Sea to act as thermal refuges by characterising long-term temperature conditions and assessing impacts during the 2016 mass bleaching event. We found that summer upwelling initially provided thermal relief at upper mesophotic depths (40 m), but then subsided resulting in anomalously warm temperatures even at depth. Bleaching impacts on the deep reefs were severe (40% bleached and 6% dead colonies at 40 m) but significantly lower than at shallower depths (60–69% bleached and 8–12% dead at 5-25 m). While we confirm that deep reefs can offer refuge from thermal stress, we highlight important caveats in terms of the transient nature of the protection and their limited ability to provide broad ecological refuge....

Earth's beauty lends itself to tourism and economic strength, but, the function of that beauty is far more important than any currency.

The Congress, especially the Republicans chronically make reference to "The captains of industry know their own business;" and bend to their will. But, when it comes to bending to the will of scientists attempting to save Earth, Congress' seeks every idiot form of hubris and slander that can be found to indulge the petroleum industry beyond reason.

I thank the Washington Post, it really is a very good article.

The Trump Administration does not know nor care about prioritizing the needs of the American people.

$200 million of diverted funds for Trumps' border war.

September 12, 2018
By Ron Nixon

Washington — The Department of Homeland Security (click here) transferred nearly $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a budget document released by a Democratic senator late Tuesday night, diverting funds from the relief agency at the start of the hurricane season that began in June. The release of the document comes as a major storm barrels toward the East Coast.

The document, which was released by the office of Senator Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, shows that the money would come from FEMA’s operations and support budget and was transferred into accounts at ICE to pay for detention and removal operations. The document also shows that the Department of Homeland Security transferred money from accounts at Customs and Border Protection that pays for border fencing and technology.

The transfer was a part of more than $200 million the Department of Homeland Security moved from the budgets of other agencies to ICE’s detention and removals....

A thirty-eight percent increase in border APPREHENSIONS or ARRRESTS, which is it? Where are the children and is Trump continuing to separate parents and children?

IT DIDN'T STOP IT MR. PRESIDENT, DID IT? They know where the Trump buses stop for a ride to shelter and humanitarian assistance. Hungary, thirsty, exhausted and seeking shelter from severe violence and drug cartels in their homeland.

September 12, 2018
By Julian Aguilar

The number of undocumented immigrant family units (click here) apprehended last month along the U.S. border with Mexico spiked by nearly 40 percent compared to July, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.

About 12,800 family units were apprehended on the border in August, a 38 percent increase from July’s 9,247. In a statement, DHS spokesperson Tyler Q. Houlton attributed the spike, in part, to smugglers and traffickers exploiting immigration laws.

“Smugglers and traffickers understand our broken immigration laws better than most and know that if a family unit illegally enters the U.S. they are likely to be released into the interior,” he said....

Bad attitude Trump NEVER LISTENS. Well, here is the result.

Big election issue is control of the border. That doesn't mean siphoning off funds from every other agency to feed the ICE detentions. 

CATCH AND RELEASE

CATCH AND RELEASE

CATCH AND RELEASE

Hello?

Super Typhoon Mangkhut will remain on it's current path.

September 12, 2018
1530 UTC
NOAA West Pacific Water Vapor Loop - Himawari-8 (click here for 8 hour loop - thank you)

Unlike the Atlantic storm currently menacing North Carolina there is no interference from the "Gulf of Mexico." In the case of Mangkhut the turbulence to it's west is adding to it's velocity.

It is a very hot troposphere to support so many storms in both oceans while the storms are reaching high velocities, near storm capacity. The capacity of the Pacific storms are greater than the Atlantic storms.

All precautions of this storms path must be taken. Do not under estimate coastal flooding with a large storm surge that accompanies these wind speeds.

Vietnam needs to be prepared for high winds. The diameter of this Super Typhoon will grow and effect their coast as well. Vietnam is probably receiving severe storms currently.

Northern Vietnam, Hanoi, is receiving intermittent thunderstorms while the southern reach of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City is receiving unrelenting thunderstorms. Vietnam will receive significant winds and rain with flooding and coastal erosion.

13 September 2018

Hong Kong is bracing for a super typhoon (click here) this weekend that could be the most intense storm ever to hit the city.

Super Typhoon Mangkhut, equivalent to a category 5 Atlantic hurricane and still gaining strength, was on a collision course for the Philippines first on Wednesday – with Taiwan and Hong Kong next on its forecast track.

The city’s government convened an interdepartmental meeting chaired by the security minister to discuss contingency measures and ensure preparedness.

“Representatives from relevant bureaus and departments also reported their preparatory work and contingency plans, particularly on measures in the prevention and handling of flooding, backflow of seawater and emergency plans for high-risk locations,” a government statement read.

Mangkhut, named after the Thai word for the mangosteen fruit, was forecast to come within 80km of the city on Sunday, but the Hong Kong Observatory said it was too early to predict a direct hit.

“It could be very close to Hong Kong,” senior scientific officer Queenie Lam Ching-chi said. “It has a large circulation with intense winds, so even if it is not a direct hit … it can constitute a great danger to Hong Kong.”...

India will receive rains and wind, but, diminished compared to Vietnam. It will primarily be effected on it's east coast, especially the northern coast. Warning for the Indian Ocean for shipping is important, there will be high waves and potential rouge waves. There can be some dust carried from the Sahara as well. The dust will be inconsequential to outcomes from the Super Typhoon.

Madagascar should be fine and central Sub-Sahara Africa can use the rain. Australia (not pictured) is below the equator in the southern hemisphere and will be unaffected by the current storm conditions to it's north.

This lung disease has been affiliated with diacetyl for a long time. Why has the Vape phenomena been allowed to continue unchecked?

13 March 2018

...According to the American Lung Association, (click here) using electronic cigarettes or vaping, particularly the flavored varieties, can cause popcorn lung.

Once the dangers associated with diacetyl were discovered in the early 2000s, the majority of popcorn producers stopped using the chemical. However, e-cigarette vapor has been proven to contain diacetyl.

A 2015 study of flavored e-cigarettes found that 39 out of 51 tested brands contained diacetyl. The same study concluded that most of these brands also contained the toxic chemicals acetoin and 2,3 pentanedione.

Manufacturers add diacetyl to the "e-juice" that is vaporized by e-cigarettes, most commonly to the strongly-flavored varieties. Diacetyl occurs in a wide range of different flavored e-cigarette products, ranging from vanilla to caramel and coconut.

The difference between diacetyl and butane are couple oxygens. It is highly organic, so it will become part of the body chemistry.

Page 407 of "The Sensory Evaluation of Dairy Products" (click here) by Stephen Clark, Michael Costello, MaryAnne Drake and Floyd Bodyfelt.

Diacetyl is part of dairy products. 

Really?

Sour (cultured) cream, cultured buttermilk, and cultured butter

That really bothers me, because, when I think of milk I think of children. 

Diacetyl is produced in two ways, naturally through fermentation to achieve a pH drop to sour what the target cream is and commercially through a process whereby there is dehydrogenation of 2,3-butanediol.

There it is. A four carbon molecule whereby the H s of the O-H molecule is removed through a chemical reaction that turns the H s in to H2 and the bond holding the OH molecule together becomes a double bond from the oxygen to the chain carbon atom.

Every bit of the molecule of Diacetyl is highly organically reactive. That is why it can be produced organically with a bacteria introduced to milk. The bacteria is harmless, but, Diacetyl weather produced organically or industrial is still Diacetyl.

The idea teens make well informed decisions about their bodies is a complete misunderstanding of growth and development. The Vapes, as well as cigarettes, need to be made illegal to anyone under the age of 18 and those caught using them provided education to what both Diacetyl and Tobacco will do to their lungs. This needs to be taught in health classes across the country beginning in the sixth grade. WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS.

The Vape manufacturers and any store selling these products need to be fined for allowing the sale to minors. Every principal across the USA regardless of a private, public or experimental school system (charter schools) is responsible for these products on their campus and need to carry out educational sessions for parents, students and teachers. Teachers should be empowered to remove any appliance used for vaping from a student without notice. Parents need to be made aware these appliances are illegal on any educational campus where minors are present and the school administrators will be held responsible FOR THEIR PRESENCE, whether being used or not. Vaping at any assembly on campus must be forbid and treated as cigarettes to a specific area away from cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoking and vaping have different chemicals involved when incorporated into a person's metabolism, therefore, their isolation for smoking need to be at separate locations, but, AWAY FROM NON-SMOKERS.

September 12, 2018
By Sheila Kaplan and Jan Hoffman

Warning that teenage use of electronic cigarettes (click here) has reached “an epidemic proportion,” the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday gave Juul Labs and four other makers of popular vaping devices 60 days to prove they can keep them away from minors. If they fail, the agency said, it may take the flavored products off the market.

The order was part of a sweeping action that targeted both makers and sellers of e-cigarettes. The agency said it was sending warning letters to 1,100 retailers — including 7-Eleven stores, Walgreens, Circle K convenience shops and Shell gas stations — and issued another 131 fines, for selling e-cigarettes to minors.

In addition, the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a briefing that the agency would look closely at the manufacturers’ own internet storefronts. He flagged what he called “straw purchases” — bulk orders of the devices, which buyers in turn used to sell to minors.

Such practices, he said, should be readily apparent to product manufacturers.

“If the companies don’t know, or if they don’t want to know, “ he said, that such purchases are underway, “we’ll now be helping to identify it for them.”...

September 12, 2018
1430.30z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of North West Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

My best estimate is land fall looks like Emerald Island. Croatan National Forest. It is near Camp Lejuene.

Great Britain believe providing weapons to Saudi Arabia advances the causalities in Yemen.

September 11, 2018
By Harriet Agerholm

MPs are to hold an emergency debate (click here) on the desperate situation of civilians in Yemen, as a new poll suggested a majority of Britons opposed arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is the British government’s largest arms customer, with the UK licensing more than £4.6bn worth of arms to the country since the beginning of its bombing campaign in Yemen in March 2015, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).

A poll by YouGov for Save the Children and Avaaz published on Tuesday found that 13 per cent of the British public supported the sale of weapons to the Saudis, while 63 per cent opposed them. It also indicated less than one in six people (14%) think that the UK’s role in supporting the Saudi/UAE-led coalition reflects British values and interests....

Yemen is a difficult topic. On one hand the Houthis have been aggressive in attacks into Saudi Arabia and of course then enters the issue of Iran. Iran backs the Houthis and while the Brits are tired of the killing and suffering of the Yemeni people, including their children, the fighting has not stopped.

Currently, Saudi Arabia is fighting the Yemeni rebels to maintain a port city Hodeidah, a Yemen port on the Red Sea. (click here) Of course, once the port is in the hands of Saudi Arabia it is difficult for the rebels to receive their munitions.

The peace talks collapsed. I think it was simply an excuse. I can't see the parties interested in peace actually killing the delegation to Switzerland. Iran needs to speak to the parties from Yemen and make it clear their safety is understood. If Iran can arm rebels it can also back the delegates to the peace talks. 

...The UN and Britain (click here) had invested heavily in the success of peace talks led by UN special envoy Martin Griffiths, but the talks collapsed before they started when the Houthi negotiating team said it had not received satisfactory guarantees from Saudi Arabia about its safe passage to Switzerland. Griffiths said he would continue to his efforts to relaunch the talks....

The entire process gets more complicated when realizing a Foreign Minister is making his way to Iran to secure a British woman of Iranian ethnicity from being detained and return her home.

Alistair Burt, the Foreign Minister from the UK, is visiting with the full force of the "Iran Deal" still intact. I doubt Mr. Burt will be involved in talks regarding the war raging in Yemen in any meaningful way. I suppose he plans to bring it to the attention of Iran, but, that is the UN and the peace deal was supposed to be conducted while Mr. Burt is visiting the Iranians.

This is the first visit to Iran since the United States reneged on it's part to the Iran Deal when there was absolutely no reason in sight for it to end.

August 31, 2018

...“As long as Iran (click here) meets its commitments under the deal, we remain committed to it as we believe it is the best way to ensure a safe, secure future for the region,” Burt said in a statement before his visit....

...Britain is seeking the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She was arrested in April 2016 at a Tehran airport as she was heading back to Britain with her daughter, now aged four, after a family visit....

The people of the UK are correct, the war in Yemen is becoming a sincere humanitarian problem for the children and no one needs another Syria. Any conflict has to measure it's purpose in relation to the people of that country and whether continuing the war is simply killing people with no clear result in sight. 

There comes a time in any conflict/war when the war itself is the enemy and end it becomes the prudent thing to do. If there is an example of that, it is Syria. The fighting should have ended a long time ago, but, no party would see the devastation and the suffering of the people; there were other priorities and that is where humanitarian issues takes center stage and civil war is no longer the problem, so much as genocide and senseless killing.

Low Income households helped by Medicaid Expansion in Montana.

Everyone knows health care costs are driven by the bad habit of smoking cigarettes. The cigarette tax will provide healthcare in Montana for 100,000 people that would normally not afford it. The new tax would raise $74 million a year by the year 2023.

One other thing to note, while the Montana Veterans health system passed inspection from the Joint Commission, but, only half of the Montana Veterans are enrolled (click here for 2017 report). There is every reason for Montana veterans to sign up. Sometimes campaign stops can provide information and assistance in signing for their health care.

US Senator Jon Tester has voted for every legislative measure to help veterans. The Montana veterans seem to think an office in Kalispell would help with some of their complaints. It is a distance from Northwest Montana to current facilities. They feel forgotten by the VA.

And, by the way, veterans don't want their health care privatized. The veterans have the best of both worlds. If the VA system is becoming overloaded as when the PTSD epidemic was raging; the director can enlist private and public hospitals to help at no cost to the veterans. So, privatizing the VA is mostly a campaign maneuver and not the best outcomes of our veterans.

A veterans meeting of about 12 particpants provided insight to the privatized veterans program.

...Several participants agreed that the Veterans Choice program, which intended to open avenues for care outside VA facilities, was, in practice, deeply flawed — several told stories of abandoned appointments, missed diagnoses and claims not paid for. Many viewed the recently passed VA Mission Act, intended to shore up many of the issues with the Choice program, with skepticism....

This is from "The Military Times." 

April 10, 2018

...Nearly everyone (click here) in the veterans community and on Capitol Hill is against privatizing VA — and nearly everyone has a different definition of what privatization is.

Last week, VA officials released a statement titled “Debunking the VA Privatization Myth,” which insists “there is no effort underway to privatize VA,” and “to suggest otherwise is completely false and a red herring designed to distract and avoid honest debate on the real issues surrounding veterans’ health care.”

The move came in response to comments from former VA Secretary David Shulkin, fired by President Donald Trump over Twitter less than two weeks ago.

In an op-ed just hours after his dismissal, Shulkin warned of individuals within the White House who “seek to privatize veteran health care as an alternative to government-run VA care.”...

This is a big year for the Montana ballot, including a significant pay increase for state legislators. 

September 11, 2018

By Colby Itkowitz

The tobacco industry (click here) has spent more than $9 million to date to persuade Montana voters to vote "no" on a ballot initiative to make Medicaid expansion permanent in the state, according to state campaign finance filings.

The reason that tobacco companies want to prevent low-income Montanans from accessing health coverage? The industry would have to pay for it.

In November, Montana voters will get to choose whether to increase taxes on all tobacco products to fund Medicaid expansion and other health programs. Advocates of  the "Healthy Montana Initiative" argue that smoking contributes to a range of illnesses, so the industry producing them should help bear the burden of increased health-care costs.

Under the Affordable Care Act, states are allowed to expand their Medicaid programs to cover people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,000 a year. The federal government paid 100 percent of expansion costs through 2016. Since then, federal funding has been tapering off and by 2020 the states will have to pay 10 percent of the cost of any Medicaid expansion....

...Earlier this year, with no sign that the state legislature would act to reauthorize the Medicaid expansion, a number of health organizations, including the American Heart Association,  the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Montana Hospital Association, as well as providers across the state, collected enough signatures to secure a ballot initiative known as I-185 that allows voters to determine the future of the Medicaid program....

The tobacco lobbyists in Montana are not following the rules.

September 10, 2018

Montana's campaign regulator (click here) says two tobacco companies opposing a ballot initiative registered late and failed to report a campaign expense.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan wrote in a decision last week that Altria Client Services and RAI Services Company registered as incidental political committees two days late in June. They also failed to report the travel expenses of a representative who appeared before the Montana Chamber of Commerce.

The companies represent the makers of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes and report spending $8.8 million on the Montanans Against Tax Hikes committee that opposes the initiative to raise the state's tobacco tax. The initiative seeks to raise the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 to $3.70, on snuff to at least $3.70 per 1.2-ounce can and tax e-cigarettes and vaping products for the first time....

There seems to be some reporting by the "Washington Examiner" stating Senator Tester has a great deal of cash in his campaign coffers. I would hope so because Jon Tester's campaign is a bit frugal in that he spends what he has to and saves some in case he needs it.

According to "Open Secrets" (click here) he raised about $16.5 million and spent less than $10.5 million. His donations are all reported and while he has significant monies yet to spend if he needs it; there is nothing wrong nefarious going on.

Voter turnout in Montana has been interesting. When Senator Jon Tester ran in 2012, voter turnout was 72.18 percent of all registered voters of which there are 681,608. That was an exceptionally high turnout for Montana elections. I suggest his campaign seek to repeat that turnout. That level of participation occurred in Montana in the presidential election year of 2008 and 2016; but, otherwise Montana has about 55 percent participation.

September 11, 2001

17 years, Osama bin Laden is dead and the USA is still in Afghanistan.

I am not alone and in good company.

September 10, 2018
By Barry B. Rosen

After a Taliban attack in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on Aug.16, 2018.

“It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end,” (click here) Gen. John Nicholson said as he relinquished command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Seventeen years of war have shown no plausible theory of success to justify additional U.S. costs and more killing in Afghanistan. Though Nicholson directed his war-ending advice at the Taliban, and reiterated U.S. commitment to the fight, he offered no theory of victory.

Supporters of the war claim that its political purpose is to bring the Taliban to the bargaining table. The Taliban want U.S. departure; the U.S. wants Taliban capitulation. There is no common ground, and policymakers must know this.

The sad political purpose of endless U.S. military involvement is for leaders to be seen trying to prevent terrorists from once again launching international attacks out of Afghanistan. But the U.S. presence in Afghanistan cannot prevent future terrorist outrages....

The answer to ending the terror of the Taliban is to recognize Pakistan's role in their continued presence in the region. The Taliban are a militia, they are not ethnic and have no rights under any human rights convention. If anything the Taliban violate any human rights issue and cause hardship and death.

The truth is while the government of Pakistan is friendly to any country in the world and carry out no war with any, they harbored the Taliban and protected Osama bin Laden until his death. Today, the Taliban has reconstituted their numbers and are still a threat to the Afghan government. 

The people of Pakistan have mostly driven them out of their country, but, only to settle in Afghanistan and the western border of Iran. The people most responsible for the ongoing problems in Afghanistan are Pakistan's ISI and the Iranian government and their elite forces. The Taliban serve the purpose of keeping the USA military busy so they can't cause any more problems as in Iraq.

If Afghanistan is to have peace among their people, it is up to the government to supply sufficient national security. Right now the USA is occupying Afghanistan to the suffering of it's people. The USA does not belong there.

Daesh has been driven out of every other country in the world, EXCEPT, Afghanistan.

The USA causes more problems than they solve, it is time  to bring the troops home and for their humanitarian mission they should bring home all the scrap military melt in downed machines and otherwise; home to the USA for recycling. The children of Afghanistan need playgrounds, not makeshift playgrounds of downed and abandoned aircraft.

August 15, 2018
By Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah

Abul, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber (click here) targeted students preparing for university exams in a Shiite neighborhood of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 25 young men and women studying together in an attack that was blamed on Deash (ISIS).

Najib Danish, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said at least 35 people were also wounded in the attack that struck a private building in the Shiite Dasht-i Barcha area of Kabul. He feared the casualty toll could rise further.

The explosion initially set off gunfire from Afghan guards in the area, leading to assumptions that there were more attackers involved, but officials later said all indications were that there was only one bomber....