Sorry, I am traveling tonight. There is a large storm coming into the country and I want stay ahead of it. Please be happy for me that I take my safety seriously and I thank you.

Next Sunday is flag day.

Until then...

In discussing the serious effects of COVID-19 with someone...

...I began to wonder about therapeutics. What is the chance of administering Coumadin/ warfarin as a prophylactic to prevent complications. Now, the reason for Coumadin is because it is easily reversed as a prophylactic should. But, we know when some cancer patients are placed on Coumadin that they still form clots and other therapeutics such as heparin shots help. Sometimes if the cancer is end stage it still might not be an answer. 

I thought blood thinners for the course of the virus until a patient tests negative would be prudent. I am sure there are physicians that have ordered this, ie: heart attacks. What is their experience? Which brings me to me last question. 

For patients that were already on blood thinners of one kind or another for a variety of reasons, did they have better outcomes with the viral infection? I am sure there are enough records to read to find these trends if they exist. It is just that so many of the adverse effects are from blood cloths, with the exception of the brain.

Just a thought.

Warning Storm Cristobal

The central Midwest including Michigan needs to pay attention to the storm named Cristobal in the Gulf of Mexico. The states inundated with rain a week or so ago will be facing another soaking in the coming days.

Ask the National Weather Service for anticipated rainfall as it moved north. Low lying areas may have to be sandbagged to prevent more flooding. Evacuations May be necessary.

Covid 19 global pandemic 6.6.20 (click here)

6,663,304 Confired Cases

392,802 Deaths

The Americas still have the highest of all statistics and Africa the lowest.

In United States of America, from Jan 20 to 4:43pm CEST, 6 June 2020, there have been 1,857,872 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 107,911 deaths.

The Americas are carrying 47 percent of all cases in the world. Nearly half of the COVID-19 cases are in North and South America.

Of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Americas the USA is responsible for 59 percent of those cases. Nearly 60 percent.

The United States of America currently has 28 percent of all COVID-19 cases and 27 percent of the deaths globally.

THIS IS A BREAK FROM PAST TRENDS. 

The USA was always had a far lower number of deaths compared to confirmed cases than the global numbers of deaths, but, this changes it. The USA now has over a quarter of the global deaths from infections from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

This new level of deaths means that 6 percent of those that contract the virus will die from it. This means out of every 100,000 cases in the USA 6000 will die.

Below are the statistics (click here) from the Flu Season of 2019-2020 in the USA per the CDC. The number of illnesses is far higher than COVID-19. However, the deaths are lower. In using the lower numbers of cases and deaths the percent of deaths from the flu is 0.06 percent. That is 24,000 deaths out of 39,000,000 illnesses.

COVID-19 deaths in the USA is 100 times worse than the flu.

There were 22 deaths from COVID-19 in New Zealand. The country is now free of the virus.

June 7, 2020
By Jenny Ruth

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has developed a strong global reputation. 

New Zealand (click here) should be capitalising on our Covid-free status and the global reputation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ...

Today is Friday, isn't it?

Hm...

Well. This is interesting. It is impressive. Flint still has a problem with violence. I am sure the police would like to see the end of it.

Suggestion: There are too many guns on the street.

June 4, 2020
By Georgea Kovanis

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson marches with demonstrators in Flint. (Photo via Genesee County Sheriff's Office Facebook page)

Chris Swanson, (click here) the sheriff in Genesee County, made national headlines for throwing down his riot gear last week and joining people protesting police brutality in the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white Minneapolis cop who pinned him down by the neck during an arrest.

The Flint Township protest took place on May 30, which Swanson said is the day "this office changed the way we do policing and George Floyd changed American policing because of what he sacrificed."

He said he is organizing meetings with members of the Black Lives Matter movement and with pastors throughout the community. "We're not going to just be an office of words, we're going to be an office of action."

So who is Swanson, besides a 27-year veteran of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office?...

January 15, 2020
Genesee county - Scam victims (click here) will not get their money or the big prize, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said.

He laid $120,000 on a table, which he said came from one of these scams.

Swanson said an 83-year-old man of sound mind had been caught up in this scam for the last three years. The scammers had him convinced he'd win big money and a Mercedes if he played along.

After the man sent nearly $250,000 to the scammers, the elder abuse team at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office stepped in to save him from losing any more of his hard-earned money....

June 2, 2020

Flint post commander F/Lieutenant Brantley (click here) & her career were highlighted as a class project for Black History Month at Baker College. The college has always celebrated Black History Month however, this is the first time a class has requested to honor anyone local.

Flint - “I'm not a sellout. (click here) I'm trying to help.This is the way I want to help,” First Lieutenant Yvonne Brantley said.

She’s been a Michigan State Trooper for 25 years, serving multiple communities across our state.

F/Lt. Brantley rose through the ranks at MSP and now heads the Flint Post.

She is the highest-ranking African American woman currently serving with the Michigan State Police.

The long-standing divide between police and the African American community is something she understands from both sides.

But, she's dedicated her career to putting an end to it....

June 2, 2020
By Dale Dowden

It is no secret (click here) to anyone that the United States is currently dealing with a few things.

Many people are pointing fingers at this and that when it appears to be a group of things needing to be fixed.

Mark Ingram II, current running back for the Baltimore Ravens shared a video on twitter. The video is of a friend of his, Officer Deon Smith of Flint, Michigan who states, "I am am a product of Flint, Michigan!"

Before Officer Smith gets to that statement he delivers a heartfelt message to the community of Flint but the message is universal....

Stop growing this independent federal force that is larger than any other agency of the government outside the military.

I want budget cuts and it starts here!

The FBI has fewer personnel than the Secret Police of the Justice Department.

FBI Washington Field Office : With more than 830 special agents (click here) and more than 850 professional staff, the Washington Field Office remains at the forefront of the FBI’s efforts to protect the people and defend the nation.

June 5, 2020
By Garrett M. Graff

...To understand the police forces (click here) ringing Trump and the White House it helps to understand the dense and not-entirely-sensical thicket of agencies that make up the nation’s civilian federal law enforcement. With little public attention, notice and amid historically lax oversight, those ranks have surged since 9/11—growing by roughly 2,500 officers annually every year since 2000. To put it another way: Every year since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the federal government has added to its policing ranks a force larger than the entire Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives....

2500 agents X 20 years is 50,000 special police in Washington, DC. Where is the arsenal that supplies 50,000 police officers?

The FBI in total have only 35,000 agents. This is ridiculous. The Special Police have to be downsized and assessed for racial equality.

The Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Force is only 3800 officers for slightly more than 700.000 residents. The municipal government of Washington, DC should be outraged that their own police force is so minuscule compared to the Secret Police of the Justice Department.

This is ridiculous. There needs to be a severe reassessment of this DOJ force, it's duties and it's numbers. 

Rather than allowing Trump to bludgeon "The Green New Deal" as a political weapon...

...send it to the CBO (click here) for monetary cost and benefits. When realizing The Green New Deal will end the next tipping point and begin the reversal of the Climate Crisis, the CBO analysis should be interesting.

We do still have a Congressional Budget Office, don't we?

Looks like we do:

June 1, 2020
By Jeff Cox

The coronavirus (click here) likely will sap about $7.9 trillion of economic activity over the next decade-plus even with all of the rescue funding being poured in to offset the pandemic’s impact, according to a government estimate Monday.

Through fiscal 2030, the virus will reduce real economic output — nominal GDP adjusted for inflation — by 3% from initial economic estimates in January before the pandemic hit, the Congressional Budget Office said.

“Business closures and social distancing measures are expected to curtail consumer spending, while the recent drop in energy prices is projected to severely reduce U.S. investment in the energy sector,” CBO Director Phillip L. Swagel said in a written response to an inquiry from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Recent legislation will, in CBO’s assessment, partially mitigate the deterioration in economic conditions.”...

Trump really screwed up the response to this threat to the USA and national security. 

The first reversal will begin with the oceans and the end of acidification. The land and oceans are currently warehousing CO2. Those saturations will reverse before atmospheric saturation reversed in any noticeable and measurable ways.

Lindsay Graham's boogeyman doesn't exist. Nice try though.

There is nothing Strzok or Comey did that was so wrong it could have prevented an investigation into the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russia had PAPERWORK been completed differently. The Russia investigation was begun because RUSSIA HACKED THE DCCC AND CLINTON CAMPAIGN TO PUT TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND RUSSIA SUCCEEDED. The investigation went forward as it should and the Special Counsel Report is damning of the Russians and the perjury of Trump.

FBI protocols are rules, not law. Sometimes protecting a democracy requires bravery beyond the rules.

Graham, Trump and Barr have nothing but disciplinary procedures on their hands. If Comey and Strok decide to testify beyond their 5th amendment rights we might find out why any breach in protocol was NECESSARY.

If Graham, Durham, or Barr seek to exonerate Russia from EVIDENCE of hacking that is treason. They should be very careful about their purpose.

The May unemployment figures should be no surprise.

The reason the Democrats wrote the PPP and enhanced unemployment laws was to bring about exactly what occurred in May. Americans with a stable income through unemployment actually started to spend money once the essentials of housing and food were accomplished. 

May would be the point where past due housing and food needs were finally coming under control and Americans were feeling better about their home budgets. The spending in May was no longer sustenance spending.

There is a much bigger problem on the horizon.

A few weeks ago there was a 6.5 earthquake in Nevada (click here). It was kind of rare for Nevada and usually, the North American Craton normally has quakes, but, they are primarily minor but deep in the Earth. However, this was unusual.

Naturally, the first thing that came to mind was the Yellowstone Caldera. I examined maps of major fissures and fault lines in the USA and didn't really think it would go beyond some aftershocks and dismissed the idea. In the back of my mind is the reality of the movement of the Hawaiian hotspot and the high level of activity in the ring of fire in the Pacific. It has been very active. But, that is the Pacific Plate and the North American plate is huge and really isn't affected that much by the Pacific Plate.

Then this happened.

June 4, 2020
By Jens Skapski

Earthquake swarms, geyser eruptions and ground uplift: (click here) Large volcanic areas like the Yellowstone caldera in US-state Wyoming are showing their dynamic processes in different ways. However, sometimes this normal background activity is said to be more dramatic.

You are probably here and reading this text because you think something unusual is going with the world's most famous apocalypse volcano. Maybe because you have seen some activity that you can't explain immediately. But more likely because you came across a newspaper article or a YouTube video that tells you some strange things are happening and you decided to google for further information. If this is the case, please take 3 or 4 minutes to read the following article.

Right at the beginning: I am "sorry" to disappoint you but this article won't tell you that the world is going to end. I would like to talk about news agencies, bloggers, YouTubers and other parts of the internet community who earn money with other people's fear.

And apologizes to everyone for the irritating headline but this is the only way to get the attention of people who are addressed here....

Now, for the most part, when Yellowstone rumbles it is normal and benign. What bothers me this time is that three weeks ago there was a major earthquake in Nevada. I think the park should be closed until this activity settles down and we know this is nothing more than benign activity. Give it a month or so and then let the Park Rangers and scientists decide about what is going on with Yellowstone.

I think this time it is important to be prudent. Besides, there is the virus and parks should be closed for a little while longer anyway. I think media services should want to pay attention to this even if just for fun. I wouldn't ignore it as nothing.

The last time “little green men” showed in the world that it made global news it was when Russia invaded Crimea and Victor left the country. I demand a thorough investigation to whom these military men were.

One other thing, if police budgets are cut take the meter readers off the payroll and put the cops back on the local tasks of the city. There simply aren’t that many terrorists in average neighborhoods.

The only responsible legislators in DC is the US House. I would expect it to take up both investigations as soon as is possible.

Forget about any responsible activity from the US Senate, they are far too busy using the federal government to look for the boogie man in the Russia investigation.

The plot by the Republicans is to create a deep state scenario, declare the government invalid, declare a Police State, and cancel the elections in November as they don't know how deep the deep state actually exists. The USA will then have its first king. That is exactly what is going on between Barr, Trump, and Graham. They will hold power as it is now with very little help in the structure of the federal government to run the country and the USA will fall into chaos and third world economics no different than the two-class systems of countries where strong men are at the top of the government. Trump accepts this advice and institutes it from people like Putin that want to destroy the United States of America.

The current Ukraine’s prosecutor found NO evidence of Hunter Biden wrongdoing. That is amazing considering how Giuliani did his level best to create the opposite scenario even after removing the ambassador. 

The Bidens are innocent of wrongdoing!

END OF DISCUSSION!

That is an amazing reality. Joe Biden has been serving people in government for decades. Never was he ever interested in self- serving corruption. I have followed Joe Biden casually over the years because he believes in the Middle Class and the unions that make it possible. He is a really cool guy. He really loves the people. It shows. I don’t know if anyone noticed but his speech was made without notes or a teleprompter. It was all Joe. 

General Allen stated the USA was sliding into liberalism? Fighting racism and police brutality is liberalism? You have got to be joking.  What next?

The virus was thrust onto the country without warning. Countering the spread of the virus is not liberalism it is however survival. The virus has killed more Americans than any war the Pentagon carried out. Amazing how some people will use any aspect of an emergency for politics. 

Perhaps General Allen might take notice of the number of emergencies in the country and realize how inept Trump is. Simply keeping the USA sovereign within its borders and true to the USA Constitution is enough to keep most if not all Americans busy these days. I suppose the tenacity of every American in response to every emergency is liberalism too.

General Allen needs to put the responsibility for a country full of despair and mayhem where it belongs, in the White House bunker! I am sure it’s warehouses of national stockpile are full.

George Floyd will have two more services to accommodate his exceptional family.

This is how large extended families feel about each other. I listened to the brothers and cousins speak about their fondness for George Floyd. I have heard those stories before, but, the storyteller was a generation earlier than these storytellers. My family's stories of poverty ended a full generation ahead of those with this large African American family.  Reverend Al is right. Now is the time to end this inequality and end police brutality.

My mother and father grew up in poverty in a coal mining town. When my mother married, my father went to work in a factory after serving four years in the US Air Force, they were entering the Middle Class of the USA. Between the two of them, they moved into the Middle Class and educated their children. Poverty ended in my Father and Mother's life by the ages of 20. They would purchase a home about ten years later. Our family has never returned to those hard times. The Floyd family was still struggling with poverty and they are younger than me. My mother is 85 years old now. She remembers those hard days as a girl and a young woman, but, she hasn't experienced that for 65 years of her life.

Racism still continues and it has to stop. Bigotry, racism and prejudice needs to stop now. 

Police no longer have to be trained in Erik Prince Training Camps. (click here) It is time to end the escalation of the militarization of our homeland police. What was witnessed with the police that killed George Floyd, was training in the arts of suppressing the suspect. They are not normal techniques and methods for American homeland police. That knowledge of putting pressure on the neck in the right amounts to kill is LEARNED. Knowledge of anatomy was never part of the average police training, but, it is today.

If any police union is going to justify enormous force in day to day policing then they are as much the problem. I remember when Eric Garner was killed by police, the police union was identified as part of the problem and not the solution. 

The country has become occupied by a police force that focuses on suppression of will and life as part of their training. We witnessed that this time as well, especially in the brutality of Washington, DC.

There are no terrorists that run in the park every morning or walk their dog every evening or conduct bird watching. There is no need nor has there been any need for a militarized police force in the USA. September 11, 2001 occurred once on USA soil. The police being trained to handle terrorists at every turn is the wrong approach for the police that patrol our neighborhoods and Main Street. The people need to take back their country from fear and the imposition of wrongful deaths justified by police work.

Any technique that uses the neck by police to capture a suspect must be ended. No police union should stand in the way of ending those police methods, policies, and practices that involve restraint with a person's neck. Those days are over.

May George Floyd rest in peace and his family find solace in these difficult days.

There are many minorities be they African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans in the ranks of the USA military.

Listing four ethnic groups in the title to this entry I am sure I left out a dozen others such as Pacific Islanders.

Secretary Esper is a very intelligent man. No one goes to work for Raytheon Corporation without meeting trough standards. It would be quite an accomplishment if Secretary Esper would put his intelligence to work for the USA Military and conduct strong race training while seeking out any injustices within the ranks of the USA military, intentional and unintentional.

There must be some disparities such as do minorities gravitate to any particular arm of the USA military? Are the military universities turning out officers of all race, creeds, and color? Are the pay grades equitable to all soldiers, be they Marines or Air Force pilots? Are women treated equally? Are minorities and women provided advancement at the same standard and rate as their peers? If not, why not and can it be changed? Military career paths are important and seniority matters, so how are the ratios of minorities and women measuring up in relation to seniority, advancement and pay? And what is the equity today for the LGBTQ community members of the USA military? Diversity means everyone.

The USA military MUST reflect equality for all and invite every diversity in the USA to voluntarily enlist and find a career path if they so desire.

I think Secretary Esper is up to the challenge. He should make it his personal project and guide its success.

June 3, 2020
By Zachery Cohen

Washington - Secretary of Defense Mark Esper (click here) said Wednesday that he does not support using active duty troops to quell the large-scale protests across the United States triggered by the death of George Floyd and those forces should only be used in a law enforcement role as a last resort after President Donald Trump recently threatened to deploy the military to enforce order.

"The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act," he said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

Esper also attempted to explain his use of the word "battlespace" when discussing quelling violence on the streets amid civil unrest.

"It's something we use day in and day out ... it's part of our military lexicon that I grew up with...it's not a phrase focused on people," he said. "In retrospect I would have used different wording."...

Vice President Biden gave a really wonderful speech yesterday. I heard the entire speech and it was incredible.

There was a time in the USA when social change was very hard, too. There were magnificent leaders that sought to move the country to a better place. No one quite states it like the Late Attorney General Robert F. Kenndy.

RFK was at the center of the civil rights movement as was his brother, the Late President John F. Kennedy. The 1960s saw the loss of some of the greatest leaders of our time. We lost them through gun violence and assassination. Losing them may have been the greatest loss to equal rights in the United States of America.

We have been here before. We have witnessed the brutality of National Guardsmen shooting and killing on a university campus. We know it is possible and we know until yesterday it never happened again. That return of hate and desperation cannot return at the time when the country is demanding change.

C-Span also has a tape about this speech worthwhile to listen to (click here).

It is interesting Trump believes he is under seige. Still in the bunker I suppose.

This is the parachute people. I went to see one of their shows at Fort Bragg. They answer to crisis contingencies. They were deployed to Iraq to work with the Iraqi military. They usually respond to a crisis within 18 hours. It makes sense that an emergency unit would respond first if the USA military was called up to attack the American people in protest.

Make no mistake, calling up the USA military into the interior of the USA is an attack on the citizens of the USA. The USA military is trained for war. Trump is running his own war against the American people with the permission of the Secretary of Defense.

Believe me, Mark Espers has a limited future in the Department of Defense. He is the Trump scapegoat for the war on citizens. Trump is in the bunker after all and his commanders are conducting the "War against Americans." Last night in DC isn't proof enough? A Photo Op? Protesters were assaulted for Trump's Photo Op. Sure. Why not after all it's the President under siege.

Trump has mental health issues and he is running a war on the American people. And Espers is the best man for the job, huh? How is FOX News selling it? "Trump takes on the thugs?" Sure. American thugs though.

The Deputy Secretary the US Senate confirmed today is Trump's next Secretary of Defense. I just don't see Espers returning to Raytheon after conducting a war on the American people.

The 82nd Airborne (click here) Division's Immediate Response Force (IRF) is deploying in response to riots in Washington D.C., three sources confirmed to Connecting Vets.

Connecting Vets was the first to report that the IRF has been placed on alert to respond to civil unrest over the weekend. The Department of Defense denied that report.

"Off-the-record: This is inaccurate ... Not true," officials said in an email. No off-record agreement was negotiated with Connecting Vets.

Now, a defense official with knowledge of troop movement is providing details of the IRF deployment to Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility Washington in Maryland last night. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and provided the information on condition of anonymity.

The IRF is broken down into three separate packages called Immediate Response Battalions (IRB) which are numbered IRB 1, IRB 2, and IRB 3. Yesterday, IRB 1 drew weapons and ammunition, to include crew-served M240 machine guns, at Fort Bragg, the source said.

The paratroopers were transported from Pope Army Air Field at Fort Bragg to Joint Base Andrews on three C-17 transport aircraft, sources said. Nine UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and three CH-47 Chinook helicopters were also transported to Joint Base Andrews. The helicopters were flown into Andrews by pilots and flight crew....

Continued from previous entry.

Special Council Report on the Russian Interference of the 2016 Elections (click here)
Page 125 in the report and page 133 of the PDF

Although only delegates could participate in formal discussions and vote on the platform, the Trump Campaign could request changes, and members of the Trump Campaign attended committee meetings.791 John Mashburn, the Campaign’s policy director, helped oversee the Campaign’s involvement in the platform committee meetings.792 He told the Office that he directed Campaign staff at the Convention, including J.D. Gordon, to take a hands-off approach and only to challenge platform planks if they directly contradicted Trump’s wishes.793

John Mashburn employment record (click here)

On July 11, 2016, delegate Diana Denman submitted a proposed platform amendment that included provision of armed support for Ukraine.794

Diana Denman (click here) was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Texas. Denman was one of 104 delegates from Texas bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention.[1] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates.

The amendment described Russia’s “ongoing military aggression” in Ukraine and announced “support” for “maintaining (and, if warranted, increasing) sanctions against Russia until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored” and for “providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces and greater coordination with NATO on defense planning.”795 Gordon reviewed the proposed platform changes, including Denman’s.796 Gordon stated that he flagged this amendment because of Trump’s stated position on Ukraine, which Gordon personally heard the candidate say at the March 31 foreign policy meeting—namely, that the Europeans should take primary responsibility for any assistance to Ukraine, that there should be improved U.S.-Russia relations, and that he did not want to start World War III over that region.797 Gordon told the Office that Trump’s statements on the campaign trail following the March meeting underscored those positions to the point where Gordon felt obliged to object to the proposed platform change and seek its dilution.798

On July 11, 2016, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Platform Subcommittee, Denman offered her amendment.799 Gordon and another Campaign staffer, Matt Miller, approached a committee co-chair and asked him to table the amendment to permit further discussion.800 Gordon’s concern with the amendment was the language about providing “lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine.”801 Miller did not have any independent basis to believe that this language contradicted Trump’s views and relied on Gordon’s recollection of the candidate’s views.802

According to Denman, she spoke with Gordon and Matt Miller, and they told her that they had to clear the language and that Gordon was “talking to New York.”803 Denman told others that she was asked by the two Trump Campaign staffers to strike “lethal defense weapons” from the proposal but that she refused.804 Denman recalled Gordon saying that he was on the phone with candidate Trump, but she was skeptical whether that was true.805 Gordon denied having told Denman that he was on the phone with Trump, although he acknowledged it was possible that he mentioned having previously spoken to the candidate about the subject matter.806 Gordon’s phone records reveal a call to Sessions’s office in Washington that afternoon, but do not include calls directly to a number associated with Trump.807 And according to the President’s written answers to the Office’s questions, he does not recall being involved in the change in language of the platform amendment.808

Rick Dearborn, (click here) seated on the couch with his left hand raised, will serve as Deputy Chief of Staff in President-elect Donald Trump’s White House.


Gordon stated that he tried to reach Rick Dearborn, a senior foreign policy advisor, and Mashburn, the Campaign policy director. Gordon stated that he connected with both of them (he could not recall if by phone or in person) and apprised them of the language he took issue with in the proposed amendment. Gordon recalled no objection by either Dearborn or Mashburn and that all three Campaign advisors supported the alternative formulation (“appropriate assistance”).809 Dearborn recalled Gordon warning them about the amendment, but not weighing in because Gordon was more familiar with the Campaign’s foreign policy stance.810 Mashburn stated that Gordon reached him, and he told Gordon that Trump had not taken a stance on the issue and that the Campaign should not intervene.811 

When the amendment came up again in the committee’s proceedings, the subcommittee changed the amendment by striking the “lethal defense weapons” language and replacing it with “appropriate assistance.”812 Gordon stated that he and the subcommittee co-chair ultimately agreed to replace the language about armed assistance with “appropriate assistance.”813 The subcommittee accordingly approved Denman’s amendment but with the term “appropriate assistance.”814 Gordon stated that, to his recollection, this was the only change sought by the Campaign.815 Sam Clovis, (click here) the Campaign’s national co-chair and chief policy advisor, stated he was surprised by the change and did not believe it was in line with Trump’s stance.816 Mashburn stated that when he saw the word “appropriate assistance,” he believed that Gordon had violated Mashburn’s directive not to intervene.817

7. Post-Convention Contacts with Kislyak 

Ambassador Kislyak continued his efforts to interact with Campaign officials with responsibility for the foreign-policy portfolio—among them Sessions and Gordon—in the weeks after the Convention. The Office did not identify evidence in those interactions of coordination between the Campaign and the Russian government. 

a. Ambassador Kislyak Invites J.D. Gordon to Breakfast at the Ambassador’s Residence 

On August 3, 2016, an official from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the United States wrote to Gordon “[o]n behalf of” Ambassador Kislyak inviting Gordon “to have breakfast/tea with the Ambassador at his residence” in Washington, D.C. the following week.818 Gordon responded five days later to decline the invitation. He wrote, “[t]hese days are not optimal for us, as we are busily knocking down a constant stream of false media stories while also preparing for the first debate with HRC. Hope to take a raincheck for another time when things quiet down a bit. Please pass along my regards to the Ambassador.”819 The investigation did not identify evidence that Gordon made any other arrangements to meet (or met) with Kislyak after this email.

b. Senator Sessions’s September 2016 Meeting with Ambassador Kislyak Also in August 2016, a representative of the Russian Embassy contacted Sessions’s Senate office about setting up a meeting with Kislyak.820 At the time, Sessions was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would meet with foreign officials in that capacity.821 But Sessions’s staff reported, and Sessions himself acknowledged, that meeting requests from ambassadors increased substantially in 2016, as Sessions assumed a prominent role in the Trump Campaign and his name was mentioned for potential cabinet-level positions in a future Trump Administration.822

On September 8, 2016, Sessions met with Kislyak in his Senate office.823 Sessions said that he believed he was doing the Campaign a service by meeting with foreign ambassadors, including Kislyak.824 He was accompanied in the meeting by at least two of his Senate staff: Sandra Luff, (click here) his legislative director; 

Work history (click  here)

Is it a Republican thing they hire lobbyists for their assistants? That is built-in corruption.

and Pete Landrum, who handled military affairs.

Former Senior Advisor (click here) to Sen. Jeff Sessions strengthens firm’s national securityand international offering

Washington, D.C. – April 3, 2017: BGR Government Affairs announced today that retired Army Colonel Pete Landrum, who spent the last ten years as a Senior Advisor to former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), joined the firm as Vice President. Pete will strengthen the firm’s International and Defense practice, focusing on its homeland security, shipbuilding and aerospace clients....    

Peter Landum employment history (click here)

825 The meeting lasted less than 30 minutes.826 Sessions voiced concerns about Russia’s sale of a missile defense system to Iran, Russian planes buzzing U.S. military assets in the Middle East, and Russian aggression in emerging democracies such as Ukraine and Moldova.827 Kislyak offered explanations on these issues and complained about NATO land forces in former Soviet-bloc countries that border Russia.828 Landrum recalled that Kislyak referred to the presidential campaign as “an interesting campaign,”829 and Sessions also recalled Kislyak saying that the Russian government was receptive to the overtures Trump had laid out during his campaign.830 

Oops there it is. Trump was courting Russia the entire time and he carried that relationship into the White House. Interesting that Sessions is wooing ambassadors during the campaign only to have Trump, through Michael Cohen, bargain their way into the White House.

None of the attendees, though, remembered any discussion of Russian election interference or any request that Sessions convey information from the Russian government to the Trump Campaign.831

There was no reason for Sessions or Kislyak to discuss the campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump did that on a regular basis in the open. I imagine Trump's open conspiracy with Russia did make it an interesting campaign for Russia.

"Russia can you hear me...." was definitely being heard.

During the meeting, Kislyak invited Sessions to further discuss U.S.-Russia relations with him over a meal at the ambassador’s residence.832 Sessions was non-committal when Kislyak extended the invitation. After the meeting ended, Luff advised Sessions against accepting the one on-one meeting with Kislyak, whom she assessed to be an “old school KGB guy.”833 Neither Luff nor Landrum recalled that Sessions followed up on the invitation or made any further effort to dine or meet with Kislyak before the November 2016 election.834 Sessions and Landrum recalled that, after the election, some efforts were made to arrange a meeting between Sessions and Kislyak.835 According to Sessions, the request came through CNI...

I am uncertain what CNI is referred to in this document. I think it is the second one, The Council for the National Interest.

Council of Networked Information (click here)

The Council for the National Interest (click here)

...and would have involved a meeting between Sessions and Kislyak, two other ambassadors, and the Governor of Alabama.836 Sessions, however, was in New York on the day of the anticipated meeting and was unable to attend.837 The investigation did not identify evidence that the two men met at any point after their September 8 meeting.
..........................................................................................
Footnotes are primarily emails, telephone calls or emails.

Footnote 791 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 1;

Rachel Hoff (click here) was an at-large delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Washington, D.C. Hoff was one of ten delegates from Washington, D.C., bound by state party rules to support Marco Rubio at the convention. Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15, 2016.

Hoff was on the Republican National Convention Platform Committee. She was the first openly gay person to be on the committee.

At last week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, (click here) the GOP unveiled its most right-wing platform in years. It called for the end of women in combat, said pornography is a “public health crisis,” and, over a full year after the Supreme Court declared marriage a constitutional right for all, still defined marriage as between one man and one woman. But behind the scenes of the platform’s adoption was a small and ultimately outnumbered group of moderate voices fighting to keep their party relevant.

One of those voices was Rachel Hoff, the first-ever openly gay delegate on the Republican platform committee. Hoff proposed an amendment that wouldn’t actually endorse gay marriage but would acknowledge that people within the party disagreed on the issue. It was voted down. Then, in part to “test just how far this committee is willing to go to avoid a single positive reference to the LGBT community,” she proposed language specifying that the victims of the Orlando mass shooting were targeted for being gay. That, too, was rejected....

Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 10.

Footnote 792 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4; Manafort 9/20/18 302, at 7-8. 
Footnote 793 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4; Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10. 

Footnote 794 DENMAN 000001-02
DENMAN 000012
DENMAN 000021-22
Denman 12/4/17 302, at 1
Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2. 

Footnote 795 DENMAN 000001-02, 
DENMAN 000012, 
DENMAN 000021-22. 
Footnote 796 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10-11.
Footnote 797 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 1-2, 5-6. 

Footnote 798 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 5-6. 
Footnote 799 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2; see DENMAN 000014.

Footnote 800 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2;
Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11-12;
see Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2.

Footnote 801 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 3.
Footnote 802 M. Miller 10/25/17 302 at 3.
Footnote 803 Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2; Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2. 
Footnote 804 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 805 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2-3, 3-4; Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2. 
Footnote 806 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 7. 
Footnote 807 Call Records of J.D. Gordon Grand Jury . Gordon stated to the Office that his calls with Sessions were unrelated to the platform change. Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 7.

Footnote 808 Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018), at 17 (Response to Question IV, Part (f)).

Footnote 809 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 6-7; Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11-12; see Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11.

Footnote 810 Dearborn 11/28/17 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 811 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 812 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2-3;
see Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2-3;
Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11. 

Footnote 813 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 12.

Footnote 814 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2-3. 
Footnote 815 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 6. 
Footnote 816 Clovis 10/3/17 302, at 10-11. 
Footnote 817 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4. 

Footnote 818 DJTFP00004828 (8/3/16 Email, Pchelyakov [embassy@russianembassy.org] to Gordon). 

Footnote 819 DJTFP00004953 (8/8/16 Email, Gordon to embassy@russianembassy.org). 

Footnote 820 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 821 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.

Footnote 822 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 3-5.

Footnote 823 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Footnote 824 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.

Footnote 825 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5-6;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5 (stating he could not remember if election was discussed). 

Footnote 826 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5. 
Footnote 827 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5. 
Footnote 828 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302 at 4-5. 
Footnote 829 Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5. 

Footnote 830 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Sessions also noted that ambassadors came to him for information about Trump and hoped he would pass along information to Trump.
Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24. 

831 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5. 

Footnote 832 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4. 
Footnote 833 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 834 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5. 
Footnote 835 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23. 
Footnote 836 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23. 
Footnote 837 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.

Continued in following entry.