Secretary Munchkin actually believes he is above the law because of Republican rhetoric.

Kennedy, "I don't know if we are in a trade war..."

Then don't pander to Munchkin and allow him to believe you are really that ignorant about the issue. I do wonder if Former Secretary Paulson is begging Munchkin to end the torture over China.

Kenndy, "...I will save my other questions until my other colleagues have a chance to weigh in...." When Kennedy speaks again after two Democratic Senators he disputes the focus of the so called colleagues. He didn't have additional questions, he simply carried out minimization of his colleagues.

Senator Coones is concerned about Community grants to neighborhoods that stimulate growth. Call me crazy, but, I don't consider that a minor issue.

Charitable Giving has dropped because there is no financial incentive in the IRS code now. Hm. The question was when will the US Senate receive the report about the impact on charitable giving. Munchkin BELIEVES in charitable giving, but, it is too soon for the Secretary to know the impact. Ho-hum. It only effects 37 million givers that is now reduced to 16 million.

Munchkin has no answers for these Senators, but, he certainly knows how to complain about the computer programs the American people have provided.

$600 million was diverted to the Trump border wall by Munchkin. Oh, yeah, there is also lots of good requests for this fund, he doesn't specifics though. Does he punch a clock to know if he actually comes into the office rather than chasing day trading?

CDFI Program (click here) has been cut from the budget by the Secretary.

It is my judgment of Secretary Munchkin that he is a racist in defunding the CDFI Program. It is more abuse of power by this Plutocrat.

Secretary Munchkin states that the IRS weaponizes requests against any American. That is a judgment by the Secretary of the Treasury. He continues to refuse to provide Trump's IRS filings to oversight by Congress.

Kennedy, "Do you think we should have a precedent...tax returns...how about you send me the tax returns of all the Democratic colleagues..."

Kennedy is nothing more than a political hack as the chairman of this Senate Committee. He has absolutely no intention of taking his colleagues seriously and advocating for Americans that are impacted by the decisions of Secretary Munchkin. Now that Munchkin knows he will never be challenged in his decisions by the US Senate Republicans, he will never do anything that favorably impacts the American people, especially minority Americans. 

Secretary Munchkin is corrupt as is Senator Kennedy and only reflects the brevity facing the American people with this administration in office. Munchkin is abusing the power of his office, provides no confidence in what is occurring with the US Treasury and probably spends most of his time manipulating words and laws to find a way to let Putin have his sanctions removed.

This US Treasurer is doing exactly what he wants to do without any oversight or conscience.

As the US House moves toward "Impeachment Inquiry"...

...I believe there should be an official place for PUBLIC COMMENT. I do not believe we know or understand the depth of Trump's lawlessness. The Public Comment during the Impeachment Inquiry can become part of the official record of the proceedings. Congress may have to employ a few people to preserve the Public Comment for the record and maintain the government data base that would be exclusively used for this purpose.

Donald J. Trump was elected president in a very questionable election that included Russian interference. While he is president today, there are many Americans that regret that vote, especially in the face of his lies while a candidate.

This inquiry needs to be through and allow for all the facts to come forward. That level of fact finding requires a webpage to receive Public Comment. The American people should express the depth of their own experience with the fraud that is Trump.

While the process of an impeachment inquiry moves forward regarding Trump, there needs to be movement in removing or fining Bill Barr for becoming the president personal political attorney. There is just no doubt that is happening. His open accusations regarding the FBI is a gross infraction of the public trust.

I am quite confident there are rules regarding privacy and confidentiality fo any government employee. Those rules are being discarded by Bill Barr for his political convenience.

I might add this for perspective. The Trump Cabinet has primarily been a revolving door of persons least able to carry out the responsibilities of these important agencies. IN THAT, understand this revolving door has allowed the Secretaries to exploit the office only to be discharged due to ethics violations. 

Example: Zinke was Secretary of the Interior and he now works for a company that exploits the very policies Zinke wrote while Secretary of the Interior.

There is exceptionally large increases in corruption under this president in the Cabinet agencies. There was no oversight for two years and the corruption was allowed to explode without detection or Congressional intervention to end it. I am very concerned about the DOJ and that level of permissiveness in growing corruption.

There have been large numbers of federal employees that have resigned their positions for mistreatment even at the beginning of this presidency. All that needs to be included in the public record as abuse of office. For two years, the federal government lost employees and no one cared. They have a right to register their own stories of Trump's influence that forced their resignations.

The farmers, the unions and the lives of average Americans have been adversely effected by Trump. They need to register their own experiences for the record of the inquiry.

"Fetal Heartbeat" is a very deceptive term.

"Live Science" got this one right. Most people will not understand that a "fetal heartbeat" is not the result of a heart so much as a group of developing cells.

The Republican rhetoric is DESIGNED to mess with people's understanding of what is a viable life. This along with ultrasound requirements in seeking an abortion has taken lies and turned them into laws. There are laws requiring ultrasounds based in considerable Republican rhetoric.

A heartbeat is not a heartbeat without a heart. The minuscule pulse that Republican lawmakers use and I use that term loosely have lobbed on to is fraud. It is just that simple. The so called heartbeat restrictions on abortion should be challenged in court based in science. 

A fully functional human heart is very complex in that it has it's own autonomous nervous system as well. The pulsing TISSUE of a fetus is not a functioning heart that will sustain an infant into adulthood. The entire idea of basing the beginning of life at the point there is a pulsing node of tissue is fraud, redefines life as any human being knows it making these laws dangerous. We don't need anyone adding confusion to what is an American, we already have judges that say money is a citizen as well.

The heatbeat law is political dogma that completely rejects science and endangers our democracy by allowing fraud to become law.

May 17, 2019
By Rachel Rettner

...But what exactly (click here) do we mean when we talk about a "fetal heartbeat" at six weeks of pregnancy? Although some people might picture a heart-shaped organ beating inside a fetus, this is not the case.

Rather, at six weeks of pregnancy, an ultrasound can detect "a little flutter in the area that will become the future heart of the baby," said Dr. Saima Aftab, medical director of the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami. This flutter happens because the group of cells that will become the future "pacemaker" of the heart gain the capacity to fire electrical signals, she said....

I don't want to hear anyone defending Trump as he is whining about not having knowledge about Flynn.

TRUMP WAS REFUSING INTELLIGENCE AND MILITARY BRIEFING DURING HIS CAMPAIGN. 

END OF DISCUSSION.

The Flint Residents need to organize to bring their affidavits before the court.

Affidavits, including and evidence such as doctor records, hospital records and hospital bills. The pediatrician and the professor and his students need to provide affidavits as well. They should be asked to participate so the court knows how all this transpired and how a group of people from Virginia came to Flint.

May 17, 2019
By Beth LeBlanc

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (click here) will not reconsider a request from Flint city officials who claim they should be immune from litigation related to a Flint water crisis lawsuit.

Several judges in support of denying the request said it would be inappropriate for the full appellate court to weigh in at this juncture in the case before Flint residents have had time to gather evidence to prove their claims.

A three-member panel from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that Flint officials should not be dismissed from the case filed by Flint residents Shari Guertin and her child, Diogenes Muse-Cleveland, even though Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder and several state officials had been dismissed more than a year earlier.

Flint officials asked that the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, not just the three-member panel, hear their arguments for dismissal, but the court denied the request Thursday in a decision that included concurrent and opposed opinions from judges on the court....

The hearings have to go forward. There is reason there is a two party system.

May 8, 2019

Washington—All 10 Democratic members (click here for the letter) of the Senate Judiciary Committee today sent a letter to Chairman Lindsey Graham requesting a hearing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The letter outlines 60 unanswered questions that could be addressed at a hearing.

“The Mueller report is a seminal document that caps the special counsel’s nearly two year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election,” the senators wrote.“However, as comprehensive as the report is, it’s clear there are many outstanding questions that remain unanswered.”

The senators continued: “Having Special Counsel Mueller before the committee is necessary to get those questions answered. The attached document identifies at least 60 unanswered questions related to both Russian interference and obstruction of justice.”...

Trump is actively undermining the rule of law.

If one follows the thread from the US House false findings into the Russian invasion of the elections of 2016, to the current focus by Barr to indict FBI agents, officials and former officials as well as the Special Counsel, it is premeditated. IT IS ALL SCRIPTED at least for the purpose of the campaign to no information voters. Trump must have an "Apprentice" staff writer somewhere in the shadows.

Besides Barr setting up a shadow governance in the DOJ, Congress is busy trying to repeal laws that Trump has already violated.

Remember the US House investigation on Russian invasion into the 2018 elections when the Republicans were a majority?

The reason Trump is so puzzled about how to approach "Nancy" is that he wants her to continue to undermine the Rule of Law in the USA and there is always impeachment. But, Trump knew before the 2018 elections he would be more troubled by the truth in the Senate than the House.

Additionally, the base supporters of Trump are getting their ideology purposed to cause violence in the country. The abortion law from Alabama was purposed as a campaign stump speech long before it passed into law by stories of women and doctors committing infanticide while calling it abortion. That speech came before the law, so the Tea Party is locking arms.

With the actions of Nunes, when in leadership, it is very easy to say the Tea Party Republicans/Freedom Caucus are using their elected power to undermine the Rule of Law. That goes for spineless Republicans like McConnell as well who is convinced that Trump's extremism is their own avenue to electability. That loyalty to electability is anti-American as it leads to dangerous rhetoric that is a direct threat to the USA Constitution.

Eliminating the law regarding private conversations with foreign governments won't change any sanctions currently standing as legislated law.

In a rally, Trump stated he was going to round up the Deep State and prosecute them, that is why the anti-law speech by Barr. Barr is a political operative and Trump's defense attorney and not serving the American people. It is time for him to go. Barr was an extremist before in his loyalty to Republican presidents. Enough.

April 27, 2018
By Max Kutner

House investigators (click here) have released a highly anticipated report on Russia’s election interference. Among the recommendations in the report, the lawmakers called for the repeal of a federal statute barring private citizens from negotiating with foreign countries for the United States without authorization.

18 U.S. Code § 953.Private correspondence with foreign governments (click here)

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both....

Friday’s report by the House Intelligence Committee came almost two months after the panel said it had finished its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible links to political campaigns. Investigators found no evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia, the report said, a finding that the president was quick to point out on Twitter on Friday.

The report also called for Congress to repeal the Logan Act, a statute that says private citizens cannot negotiate with foreign countries on behalf of the U.S. unless they are authorized to do so....

The United States of America has foreign policy for a reason. People like Trump and the Trump Company do not have the right to change that policy for their convenience and profit.

It is notable that the US House Representatives that proposed such a change in USA foreign policy law should receive ethics reviews. Their constituency needs to be aware of their violation of the public trust.

War requires allies.

So much for tariffs. There is a bunch of neocons in the White House, what does anyone expect? War is a staple for these jerks.

Additionally, putting tariffs on perishable commodities like agricultural products is never done. For the most part food and the items that go into food production are usually viewed from a humanitarian perspective and not greed to pay off the national debt and eliminate taxes for all. The entire idea of placing tariffs on agricultural products is anti-American. Is there something wrong with Canadian milk?

May 17, 2019
By Shawn Donnan and Jenny Leonard

President Donald Trump (click here) on Friday announced a delay in imposing tariffs on imported vehicles from the European Union, Japan and other nations for 180 days to pursue negotiations, avoiding opening another front in his tariff battle with some of America’s key allies.

The Commerce Department submitted its findings in February to the president after conducting a probe into whether car imports pose a national-security threat. Trump had until Saturday to decide how to respond, including whether to impose tariffs or defer any action.

Trump said in a proclamation released in Washington that he agreed with the conclusion by Commerce that imports of cars and their parts represent a national security threat....

It has been a remarkable 24 hour. It seems all to clearly that Barr is attempting to build an alternate reality to entertain the no information voter White Nationalists/Supremacists. I do believe Trump expects an uprising of some sort should me be impeached. I don't know why it won't stop impeachment.

Barr needs to be impeached and his license permanently revoked. He has lied, although not under oath, to the American people and today he is attempting to further commit fraud in creating a parallel DOJ and manufacturer a corrupt Deep State. He has to go. I don't care if the Senate is full of political animus and will play the part, Barr has to go and the result of a US House impeachment passed onto licensing parties for his revocation. If that can be done without impeachment, then the US House needs to do so.

In a meeting room in the US House, the Special Counsel's report was read. That was interesting. And in a courthouse where a former general of the USA military was being held for crimes the judge opened the documents for public view. The president's personal counsel actively pursued corruption of Former General Michael Flynn in preventing his cooperation with the Special Counsel.  The icing on the cake was when at least one member of the US Congress tried to do the same. It would seem as though there should be many more trials for those that attempted to obstruct justice.

And there is a tape.

May 16, 2019

A new court filing (click here) in former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s case, reveals Flynn told Mueller about specific, documented instances, where people linked to the Trump administration may have affected even his willingness to cooperate with the Russia probe. Former Attorney General Eric Holder tells reporters he believes there are grounds for impeachment.

Here we go again with war mongers. To begin Hugh Hewitt is a liar. There are no ships sunk in recent mischief with oil tankers. There were four ships listing from fire damage. No doubt the damage was intended, but, they weren’t exactly new tankers either.

After a fast talking rant including genocide, Hewitt’s bottom line is regime change. What was Bush’s reason for illegally invading Iraq? Regime change. No more. 

When salesman Hewitt is replaced by someone intelligent that actually can speak to any problems with Iran, like someone from Brookings, the country might actually listen rather than quaking in election fear.

The cult of personality. Hate Saddam, invade Iraq. Hate Khamenei, invade Iran. The President of Iran, President Rouhani is one of the most progressive leaders Iran has had. If Trump’s administration continues it’s dialogue of violence Ahmadinejad or someone like him or worse will be back.

An invasion into Iran is preposterous.

The invasion into Iraq was Cheney's second choice. Originally, the Rumsfeld Cabal wanted to invade Iran for it's oil.

The USA invaded Iraq on March 19-20, 2003. That was 20 months before the 2004 elections. The Iraq invasion was a lie. The evidence presented to the United Nations was fabricated. But, the death toll of civilians for the Iraq War hovers around 200,000. That is the reported death toll. It is uncertain the complete death toll in Iraq. We may never know. Those deaths included women, children, the elderly and the disabled. They were people that could not protect themselves or escape to other countries like Jordan.

Bush entered Iraq for the second time since his father had in 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. George H. W. Bush had a perfect reason to invade Iraq as it became a hostile neighbor to Kuwait. The Iraq invasion under "W" had no clear purpose and the idea it was responsible in any way for the attacks of September 11, 2001, is a complete lie that still lives on today.

But, we learned from H.W. Bush that Iraq fell all too easily. There was no reason from any standpoint to invade Iraq in 2003. But, the USA did and the Congress voted to reaffirm it. That was a very wrongful vote and only a small majority voted against it and became a sane voice afterward.

Iran is not that formidable. Additionally, morality within the international community falls to Iran. The USA was a member of a group of countries focused on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The USA, under Trump, and for political reasons (a campaign promise) left the international agreement. The USA, despite it's military might, is again acting immorally and illegally in stating an invasion into Iran is "not off the table."

Additionally, adding more troops to the region is not necessary. It will only serve to attract terrorists and increase the danger to the people of Iran and surrounding countries, including Iraq. The USA is stirring a pot that has just settled down for the most part after a very dangerous murdering militia called Daesh has been driven from the region.

There is no sound reason for Trump and Bolton to bring more troops to the region. If there is a greater threat to USA troops already there, then remove them. Bring the troops home for the Middle East. For the USA to carry out another illegal and highly immoral invasion into a sovereign country would only reinforce the idea that the USA can't be trusted and has lost all respect as a peace partner.

The USA Congress must vote down any declaration of war that Trump wants to use as a campaign tool.

Iran is not a threat to the USA.

The last time an issue like this occurred was in 2007 in the firings of US Attorneys by "W."

..."arbitrary", "fundamentally flawed", and "raised doubts about the integrity of Department prosecution decisions."

Those are the words of the Inspector General to the Department of Justice.

The same can be said today. Barr has not only exhibited gross ethical violations, he has also committed fraud in issuing the 4 page letter. In some ways, Barr, with the help of Trump, is hiding from the truth that is his actions and his actions alone.

It isn't as though the country hasn't been through these issues before, it is that this time Trump is using Congressional oversight as political rhetoric. The fact the Congress is dealing with a hostile and criminal Attorney General is the real problem. Barr is obstructing justice. If one recalls the US Attorney issue didn't play well for "W" in the long run, however, it was mostly invisible to the American people when he ran again in 2004. The actions of his administration came to the attention of the American people after the election.

To note, this time there is more than poor judgment and ethics at play; Barr has knowingly committed fraud. There is a lot of reasons for Barr and Trump, who considers Barr his best toy of all times, to refuse cooperation. Secretary Munchkin is more of the same.

This is all harassing behavior by the Trump White House. Even Sanders is stating the FBI are criminals. They might be from their point of view, but, from the terms of the law, the FBI are not criminals. It is noteworthy to realize it wasn't until the current FBI Director made testimony to Congress that Trump launched into a rant about criminality. Sanders is simply parroting the president.

It is reported that in a recent event Barr and Speaker Pelosi were in the same room and Barr made the comment she didn't bring her handcuffs. That is more of the harassing behavior typical of this White House. We have not only witnessed it on a regular basis in reports in the media, but, it was a driving force by Trump and Guiliani in attempts to obstruct justice with open threats to Michael Cohen. The threats coming from a sitting president and his attorney carried a great deal of weight to Michael Cohen that resulted in he and his family fearing for their lives. 

Harassment, in both the case of Cohen and the case of the Congressional investigation, has only one common perpetrator in both cases, Donald J. Trump, Sr. So, it is very easy to claim behavior by Trump's cabinet is directed by the president and no one else.

The movement to impeachment has to be thought through to be successful. The Chief Justice will be presiding over the impeachment and he is an unknown in this issue. Roberts is currently leading a revolution against precedent from the Chief Justice's office. It is a divided court. Roberts doesn't even try to bring the court together. Most of his radical movement to destroying precedent is coming down to a permanent 5-4 vote. I think it is imprudent to not realize the actions by Roberts and his divided court is in the balance of the impeachment decision. Where precedent is reassuring, there is no way of knowing what precedent Roberts will destroy next.

The criminality of Barr and Trump need to be reinforced with the American people. The American people know the sting of corruption in their own lives. They know they are oppressed for reasons beyond their control. They will understand the issues with Trump and balance the outcomes. I think it is a mistake to continue to allow Trump to harass the Congress as if he is above the law. He is not. However, he is an obstructionist that has no respect for the US Constitution.

I think fines in significant amounts for Contempt of Congress is in order. They get their paychecks because Congress issues them in a budget. I think the collection of outstanding fines of the Executive Branch will be welcome by the American people in the next Congressional budget. Americans don't like deadbeats and that is exactly what Trump and his illicit cabinet members are. Trump is a notorious deadbeat from his earliest business dealings. Why would Congress expect anything any different?

One other thing. As Congress issues fines to the Executive Branch, the American people are mostly ignorant to the radical nature of the current majority in the Supreme Court. Where it can be a campaign issue for the Democrats, they should point it out. Independents, as a rule, don't like unfairness. It is why the "law and order" rhetoric plays so well for Republicans, regardless of their lawlessness. It is important for the average American to realize the extent a conservative court is eliminating longstanding precedent that has served the people well.

The taunting and nasty behavior was used against Michael Cohen. He and his family were harassed with death threats. Same exact behavior.

President Trump is obstructing the US Congress from investigating any conflict of interest because he says there is no legitimate legislative purpose?

That is just about the most arrogant and stupid wordplay I have ever heard in my life.

First, Trump is addressing the US Congress as if it is an unnecessary body of government. It is not Trump's right to define the purpose of the legislature of the USA. 

Second, "legitimate legislative purpose" would mean any legislative effort can go forward with "writing the words" without an investigation. "Writing the words" is the least of any legislation the US House passes. What does Trump think happens when legislation is written? Does he think a US House Representative simply sits down and writes words down out of an idea that occurred as if the light bulb came on?

The legislation written in the US Congress, House and/or Senate, is based in multiple disciplinary efforts to accumulate all the facts that will impact the "words on the paper." The USA legislature requires STUDY of a subject including what it will take to PROTECT that legislation from exploitation in a way it was never intended. 

THAT MEANS THE US CONGRESS INVESTIGATES THE PRESIDENT IF THERE IS ANY INDICATION IT NEEDS TO. That need does not have to be approved by the Executive Branch.

The Executive Branch under Trump are nothing more conmen. Lock them up! 

It is theocracy, not democracy. She spews rhetoric. This legislation is not based in sound science.

The US Government should never cross the wall between church and state, but, it has anyway while conservative presidents have been in the White House. The entire mess is directly related to political rhetoric. This Alabama law will only embolden the violent pro-life activists. There is no sound reason to even write the legislation, yet alone pass it.

Defunding Planned Parenthood is a direct assault on women's health.

An embryo or fetus has no constitutional rights.

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the fetus' only inherent constitutionally protected right is the right to be born, overturning a High Court ruling that a fetus additionally possessed the children's rights guaranteed by Article 42A of the Constitution.

"Right to be born" is not about embryos, it is about a fully formed baby or a viable neonate making it out of the womb.

The passage of this bill is about elections and money for elections. That is all this is.

May 15, 2019

By Amanda Arnold

In August 2015, (click here) when Ivey was Alabama’s lieutenant governor, she and Representative Terri Collins — who sponsored Alabama’s extreme anti-abortion bill — called for the “immediate defunding of Planned Parenthood by Congress” and the passage of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. (The bill, which has passed the House multiple times but never the Senate, would make most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy illegal.)

Since becoming sworn in as governor in April 2017, following the resignation of Robert Bentley, Ivey’s stance predictably has not changed. In January 2018, when the Trump administration established regulations that made it easier for religious doctors to discriminate against women seeking abortions, and for states to cut Medicaid funding to organizations like Planned Parenthood, Ivey celebrated the news as “a big win for states to ensure that tax dollars are not used to fund abortion or abortion-related services.” And, just last August, Ivey renewed what she calls her “steadfast commitment to protect the lives of the unborn” after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision to strike down a bill banning “dismemberment abortions."...

Alabama and Georgia need to leave their theocracy in their Bibles on Sunday. Alabama's maternal death rate has increased by 20 percent in two years. The rate was 10 maternal deaths per 100,000 in 2016 and increased to 12 maternal deaths per 100,000 women.

California has 4.5 per 100,000 women and Georgia has 46 per 100,000.

Alabama has a difficult time keeping people alive, especially if they are minorities. Chambliss, the idiot that thinks nothing of mixing government and religion, states this is about human rights. Liar. He can't even keep the kids born alive.

May 15, 2019 
By Ashley Reese

In Alabama, (click here) a state that just passed a total ban on abortion, more than a quarter of children live in poverty; 30 percent of those children are under the age of five.

Only half of Alabama’s 67 counties have an obstetrician.

Infant care for a single child in Alabama takes up an average of 11 percent of a family’s income. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, child care costs are unaffordable when they exceed 7 percent of a family’s income.

Single mothers in Alabama spend 29 percent of their income on childcare costs.

Child care costs for families with two children—an infant and a four-year-old—cost 28 percent more than the average rent in the state.

About 88 percent of Alabama’s rural hospitals are operating “in the red.”

Alabama has the second highest infant mortality rate in the country.

Alabama rejected the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, despite support for the expansion from the Alabama Hospital Association.

More children are living in poverty in Alabama now than they were almost 20 years ago, and the state has the fifth highest child poverty rate in the country.

Alabama’s child food insecurity rate is 22.5 percent. The national average is 17.5 percent.

There are no maternity leave or family leave laws in the state of Alabama.

Alabama is the sixth poorest state in the country, its most impoverished regions are predominantly black.

Alabama State Senator Clyde Chambliss, who sponsored the abortion bill, characterized the legislation as a necessary government intervention to protect human rights. “When God creates the miracle of life inside a woman’s womb, it is not our place as human beings to extinguish that life,” Chambliss said.

The law will cause to many problems. Heck, viability is not considered possible until 26 weeks outside the uterus. I have seen neonates at 21 weeks in NICUs, but, as to whether they survived, I don't know. The entire idea that an embryo is a citizen is not intelligent.

Periviability, also referred to as the limit of viability, is defined as the stage of fetal maturity that ensures a reasonable chance of extrauterine survival. With active intervention, most infants born at 26 weeks and above have a high likelihood of survival, and virtually none below 22 weeks will survive. The chance of survival thus increases dramatically over these few weeks, and this crucial time window may be considered the period of periviability. 

I think Alabama needs to work on quality of life of it's citizens before it places more hardship on them.

Alabama's 2017 median household income grew by almost 2 percent over the previous year, according to recently released Census Bureau estimates. The median income in Alabama was $48,123, up from $47,221 the previous year.

Alabama legislators have a long way to go in moral content before they even try to make a theocracy out of the state.

Continued from previous entry

The end of the sited paragraph from page 9 had "Harm to Ongoing Matter" at the end. I think it is obvious what the ongoing matter is. It is the Russians indictments. It isn't appropriate, when reading this document, to stop thinking because the words "Harm to Ongoing Matter" appears in the document. It is easy to know what the topic is being discussed at that point. What we don't know is the content of that section. The methods used by the Special Council in including those words provide for containment of the knowledge of the public. But, the public doesn't have to go brain dead because of those words.

Second, while the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges. Among other things, the evidence was not sufficient to charge any Campaign official as an unregistered agent of the Russian government or other Russian principal. And our evidence about the June 9, 2016 meeting and WikiLeaks' s releases of hacked materials was not sufficient to charge a criminal campaign-finance violation. Further, the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired with representatives of the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.

"...was not sufficient..." is the dominating understanding of that paragraph. Many of the members of the Trump Campaign have been charged with other crimes. Just because these particular crimes weren't charged doesn't mean there were no crimes. There were plenty of crimes.

"...was not sufficient..." IS NOT AN INNOCENT FINDING.

I might add, in not charging those crimes, there is still plenty of room down the road to charge people with crimes should there be more evidence or a repeat of the crimes. By not charging crimes at this time PRESERVES the evidence the Special Council found in case it could be helpful in the future.

Third, the investigation established that several individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign lied to the Office, and to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the investigation of Russian election interference. The Office charged some of those lies as violations of the federal false statements statute. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying about his interactions with Russian Ambassador Kislyak during the transition period. George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor during the campaign period, pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about, inter alia (among other things), the nature and timing of his interactions with Joseph Mifsud, the professor who told Papadopoulos that the Russians had dirt on candidate Clinton .in the form of thousands of emails. Former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress about the Trump Moscow project.

Harm to Ongoing Matter

And in Febraury 2019, the US District Court of Columbus found that Manafort lied to the Office and the grand jury concerning his interactions and communications with Konstantin Kilimnik about Trump Campaign polling data and a peace plan for Ukraine. 

Be clear, Konstantin Kilimnik was discussing plans for the future of Ukraine and in that understanding, polling data was provided to Kilimnik. Kilimnik wasn't anybody. He brought no special skills to the election. He wasn't a paid staffer. He was a Russian tied to Putin. Isn't everyone in Russia tied to Putin? There was no particular reason for Kilimnik to have these discussions to win over confidence with Manafort about Ukraine. Ukraine had a peace plan which Vladimir Putin ended with Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea. 

Got that?

Crimea was a sovereign state and an important part of Ukraine and Russia stole it. The elections in Crimea were bogus. The people of Crimea never had a valid vote on Russia's annexation. Russia stole an entire state of Ukraine illegally. Simply took it because it could, not because it should. Even with all those facts staring Manafort in the face, Kilimnik became a trusted person to share campaign data with to effect the elections.

Got that?

The information passed on to Kilimnik effected the outcome of the USA elections of 2019. There was no other reason for Kilimnik to have that information and it had absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine. Supposedly, the reason for the corruption into the election of 2016 was that ONLY Donald Trump could bring peace to Ukraine. That hasn't happened and it won't happen. There have been peace treaties brokered by other COUNTRIES to end the violence/civil war in Ukraine. Every treaty was violated by Putin in never ending the civil war at Russia's border with Ukraine. PUTIN NEVER ENDED the conflict in the face to a signed peace treaty. Instead, he continued to fuel the civil war with munition supplies to the insurgents in Eastern Ukraine. There is every indication, Putin had no intention to actually honor the peace treaties.

                                                ***

The Office investigated several other events that have been publicly reported to involve potential Russia-related contacts. For example, the investigation established that interactions between Russian Ambassador Kislyak and Trump Campaign officials both at the candidate's April 2016 foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., and during the week of the Republican National Convention were brief, public, and non-substantive. And the investigation did not establish that one Campaign official's efforts to dilute a portion of the Republican Party platform on providing assistance to Ukraine were undertaken at the behest of candidate Trump or Russia. The investigation also did not establish that a meeting between Kislyak and Sessions in September 2016 at Sessions's Senate office included any more than a passing mention of the presidential campaign.

There was non-substantive use of information about anything Russia in the face of meetings with the Russian Ambassador. Trump gave two speeches which would include the way he saw foreign policy under a Trump administration. In those two speeches, there was nothing monumental, significant or respectful. In other words, in the face of meetings with the Russian Ambassador, there was nothing in the speeches that followed indicating the conversations with that ambassador were helpful, new or earth shaking to bring about a good opinion of Trump. There was nothing that would reveal a new peace plan for Ukraine. There was nothing in the speeches that would bring an understanding Trump was able to be a stateman over and above what anyone in the public would know. 

THEREFORE, what were the meetings about? It sure wasn't about the state of the world or proposals Trump could expect to be accepted by Putin. That was never going to happen. Trump has no influence with Putin. So, why the meetings? Nothing comes out of his meetings with Putin even today.  

The investigation did not always yield admissible information or testimony, or a complete picture of the activities undertaken by subjects of the investigation. Some individuals invoked their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination and were not, in the Office's judgment, appropriate candidates for grants of immunity. The Office limited its pursuit of other witnesses and information-such as information known to attorneys or individuals claiming to be members of the media-in light of internal Department of Justice policies. See, e.g. , JusticeManual§§ 9-13.400, 13.410. (click here) Some of the information obtained via court process, moreover, was presumptively covered by legal privilege and was screened from investigators by a filter ( or "taint") team. Even when individuals testified or agreed to be interviewed, they sometimes provided information that was false or incomplete, leading to some of the false-statements charges described above. And the Office faced practical limits on its ability to access relevant evidence as well-numerous witnesses and subjects lived abroad, and documents were held outside the United States.

That is really cute. The evidence sought by the Special Counsel was held out of reach in other countries. These people are not innocent. Their actions are very nefarious. They were simply out of the reach of USA law because the evidence was withheld in countries the USA could not access.

Further, the Office learned that some of the individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated-including some associated with the Trump Campaign---deleted relevant communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long-term retention of data or communications records. In such cases, the Office was not able to corroborate witness statements through comparison to contemporaneous communications or fully question witnesses about statements that appeared inconsistent with other known facts.

These people are not innocent, they are slick. They knew what they were doing in destroying evidence.

Accordingly, while this report embodies factual and legal determinations that the Office believes to be accurate and complete to the greatest extent possible, given these identified gaps, the Office cannot rule out the possibility that the unavailable information would shed additional light on (or cast in a new light) the events described in the report. 

The Special Counsel was hobbled in being able to complete a thorough investigation that would no doubt bring about more indictments and convictions.

This ends the Executive Summary of Volume I. When these documents were contested in their handling by Bill Barr, Robert Mueller himself stated at least provide the Introduction and Executive Summaries to the American public.

I will conclude here and will continue at another time in reading the Introduction and Executive Summary of Volume II, BEFORE, I continue reading the rest of the redacted Special Counsel report to the American people.

Thank you for your interest. This is our country. We need to understand it and in that how to best protect it from deceptive people that place themselves above the law because they are wealthy and/or powerful.

Given the high level of corruption brought to the Special Counsel investigation by the DOJ, I didn't get very far on page 8.

I do mean corruption. There were revised decision making rules introduced into the Special Counsel Investigation and then there is the memo that has no place in decison making rules. It has never been included in any process at the DOJ before Trump's administration. The manual and memo are highly corrupted. It was grossly inappropriate for the DOJ to enter a new decision making manual to the Special Counsel investigation

Every one of these issues, be it the new decision making manual or the memo are all ethics violations.

This continues from Page 8 to Page 9 of the report. It is page 17 of the PDF.

Section V of the report provides detailed explanations of the Office's charging decisions, which contain three main components.

First, the Office determined that Russia's two principal interference operations in the 2016 U.S. presidential election-the social media campaign and the hacking-and-dumping operations violated U.S. criminal law. Many of the individuals and entities involved in the social media campaign have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to defraud the United States by undermining through deceptive acts the work of federal agencies charged with regulating foreign influence in U.S. elections, as well as related counts of identity theft. See United States v. Internet Research Agency, et al., No. 18-cr-32 (D.D.C.). Separately, Russian intelligence officers who carried out the hacking into Democratic Party computers and the personal email accounts of individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign conspired to violate, among other federal laws, the federal computer-intrusion statute, and the have been so char ed. See United States v.Ne ksho, et al., No. 18-cr-215 D.D.C .. (click here)

Harm to Ongoing Matter

This is not included to the public release of the redacted Special Counsel report. There is a site that claims to have some of the supporting documents to the Special Council report (click here). This website accumulated these documents from the trials that have come out of the Mueller investigation so far. This is NOT complete. The links to these documents are not on this webpage. I try to keep links and use of cyberspace on "Blogger" to a minimum. For accuracy please to the website to view these documents. Thank you.

Litigation Documents

• U.S. v. Michael D. Cohen
• U.S. v. Michael T. Flynn
• U.S. v. Richard W. Gates III (District of Columbia)
• U.S. v. Richard W. Gates III (Eastern District of Virginia)
• U.S. v. Internet Research Agency LLC, et al
• U.S. v. Konstantin Kilimnik
• U.S. v. Paul J Manafort, Jr (District of Columbia)
• U.S. v. Paul J. Manafort, Jr (Eastern District of Virginia)
• Paul J. Manafort, Jr v. U.S. Department of Justice
• Andrew Miller v. U.S.
• U.S. v. Viktor Borisovich Netyksho
• U.S. v. George Papadopoulos
• U.S. v. Richard Pinedo, et al
• Sealed v. Sealed (In re Grand Jury Subpoena)
• U.S. v. Roger J. Stone, Jr.
• U.S. v. Alexander van der Zwaan

continued in next entry

Considering the findings regarding the election with Bill Nelson, the Special Counsel investigation should be expanded.

The Congresspeople (click here) who visited Moscow on 07/04/2018?

All Republican.

To the left sitting is the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He is a high ranking communist.

Sen Steve Daines (R-MT) (Elected in 2014, re-election 2020)
Rep Kay Granger (R-TX, 12th Dist) (Elected in 1996 - re-election every 2 yrs) Sen John Hoeven (R-ND) (Elected 2016 - re-elected 2022) Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) (Elected 2016 - re-elected 2022) Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) (Elected 2016 - re-elected 2022) Sen Jerry Moran (R-KS) (Elected 2016 - re-elected 2022) Sen Richard Shelby (R-AL) (Elected 2016 - re-elected 2022) Sen John Thune (R-SD) (Elected 2016 - re-elected 2022)