On November 6, 2018, voters approved a mill levy increase for the Falcon Fire Protection District. Revenue from this increase will be used to implement a District-run Advanced Life Support ambulance service to ensure that Falcon-area residents have access to ambulance transport services and ALS emergency care regardless of the status of the county's contract with private ambulance providers. It will also be used to hire additional frontline firefighter/EMTs, which will provide a more effective and efficient workforce, maintain emergency services, and protect the District's Insurance Services Office rating.
The Falcon Fire Protection District wishes to thank its residents for approving this important funding, and for their continued support of local emergency services.
During the election process, misinformation about the mill levy and its purpose was widely spread across social media. We want to be sure our residents understand why the mill levy increase was requested and how it will affect them. Here are some common questions and concerns.
Why can't the fire district ask for more money from the county or state?
The Falcon Fire Protection District is funded primarily through property taxes. It does not receive funding from either El Paso County or the State of Colorado. It also does not receive any funds from sales tax.
Why does a small fire department need to increase revenue?
At 113 square miles, the Falcon Fire Protection District is not "small."
According to statistics published by the El Paso County Assessor in October 2018, the fire district now protects more than 66,300 people and more than 16,100 structures with an estimated 2018 market value of $4.2 billion. Falcon firefighters responded to 2,502 calls for service in 2017. That represents an increase of 20% from 2016, and a more than 26% increase since 2013. In 2018, the fire district received a record 2,665 calls for service, and demand for emergency services only continues to increase.
Like everyone else, the fire district is paying more for utilities, fuel, insurance, and other operational necessities. Its largest and most expensive apparatus are aging and due for replacement, and the cost of those apparatus increases every year. Employee costs are also going up, just like they are for any other business.
At the same time, the amount of revenue generated by property taxes is being negatively affected by the Gallagher Amendment (scroll down for more information on this issue).
Any increase in property values will equate to a higher amount of taxable value.
The Residential Assessment Rate is projected to decrease from 7.2% in 2018 to 6.11% in 2019. That translates to a lower percentage of your home's market (actual) value that is considered taxable.
The property tax statement you receive from the El Paso County Assessor's Office shows your home's Actual Value as determined by the EPC Assessor's Office. You will also see the Assessed Value (the amount on which you pay taxes), and the different taxes you pay to schools, fire district, water district, etc. This information is also online (http://land.elpasoco.com/).
Please note: The Actual Value and/or Market Value shown by the EPC Assessor's Office may not reflect the amount you can sell your home for, nor the property values listed on real estate websites such as Zillow.com.
1. The El Paso County Assessor's Office first establishes a property's "actual value." We'll use an example of $250,000.
2. The Assessor then multiplies the Actual Value by the Residential Assessment Rate (RAR) to determine the Assessed Value. The RAR is established by the state and is affected by provisions of the Gallagher Amendment (scroll down for more info on Gallagher). The RAR for the 2017-2018 tax years was 7.2%.
3. Mill levies are applied to the Assessed Value to determine what a special district or other taxing authority receives from the taxpayer.
How do we know that the fire district won't be back in a few years asking for more money?
The Falcon Fire Protection District prides itself on being fiscally responsible. Since the fire district's inception in 1981, it has received only three mill levy increases in 37 years (including the one approved on Nov. 6, 2018). The last mill levy increase, from 5.7 mills to 8.612 mills, was approved by voters in 2010 to retain firefighters hired under a federal grant that was expiring.
How much will businesses pay in property taxes?
Businesses/commercial properties fall under the category of Non-Residential Properties and are assessed at a fixed rate of 29% of their Actual/Market values.
What is the Gallagher Amendment and how does it affect the fire department?
In the State of Colorado, the assessment rate for commercial and residential property is determined by the Gallagher Amendment, which became law in 1982. This amendment mandates that no more than 45% of all property tax collected in the state can come from Residential Property. The remaining 55% comes from Non-Residential Property. The Gallagher Amendment requires assessment rates to adjust to maintain this 45% / 55% ratio.
Since Gallagher took effect, the Residential Assessment Rate (RAR) has either remained steady or repeatedly adjusted downward because the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevents any tax increase without voter approval. In 1982, the RAR was 21%. Today it is 7.2%, and it is projected to drop again in 2019 to 6.11%. Meanwhile, the Non-Residential Rate has held at 29%.
Why can't the fire department go back to being an all-volunteer organization to save money?
In short, returning to an all-volunteer model would significantly increase response times and affect the ability of the department to have sufficient personnel to respond 24/7. It would also negatively affect the district's Insurance Services Office rating, resulting in higher insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses.
The Falcon Fire Protection District covers one of the fastest growing areas of El Paso County. More people means more people needing emergency assistance. FFPD's call volume increased more than 20% between 2016 and 2017, and that growth is only expected to continue into the future. The district began to employ paid staff in 2000 when there were not enough volunteers available to respond to emergency calls.
FFPD still relies on volunteers (now called "reservists") to augment full-time and part-time staffing. However, volunteerism across the country is in decline. Fewer and fewer people have the time and/or the desire to commit to being a volunteer firefighter. Locally, many volunteers/reservists move on to paid firefighting jobs which results in a continuous cycle of recruit, train, and replace. The all-volunteer model is no longer effective for ensuring that emergency personnel are available to respond quickly to the growing needs of Falcon-area residents.
HOW CAN I FOLLOW THE DISTRICT'S PROGRESS AS IT IMPLEMENTS THE NEW AMBULANCE SERVICE?
The Falcon Fire Protection District is a strong proponent of transparency. District residents and the general public can follow all of the happenings at the fire district in a variety of ways.
The District website (www.falconfirepd.org) will have updates on the new programs being implemented. Financial and budget information, board meeting minutes, and other useful information also can be found here.
Attend the monthly Board of Directors meetings, which are open to the public. The Falcon FPD board usually meets at 4:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month. In December, the meeting takes place a week earlier to meet statutory deadlines for the annual budget. Any other changes in meeting schedules will be posted on the District website; on social media; and at Station 1, Station 3, and Station 4.
As part of the process to gather input for the proposed mill levy increase, the Falcon Fire Protection District held a series of "town hall" style meetings. Click the image below to see the information that was presented at these meetings.


Lawmate 5V regulator, how much load?
I was just wondering if the 5V regulator that's in the cable that comes with the 500mW 2.4GHz transmitter can handled the extra load of a camera as well as the transmitter. I took the regulator out of the plastic housing and soldered my own cables and connectors to it, then covered it in heat shrink, so it's a lot smaller and lighter than before. I've used it to power the transmitter for a handful of flights and it seems to work just great. That was with a 12V camera. I'd like to move the transmitter to another plane with a 5V camera, and it would be nice to use one regulator. The regulator in the plane is one I made using a linear 7805, and it runs about as hot as I'm willing to push it with just the camera. I did mount a little aluminum plate to it to cool it, but it would be much simpler to use the Lawmate regulator if it'll handle the load.
Just wondering if anyone has tried it, or could offer some ideas as to how much load it can handle.
Just to be sure, this is the cable I'm referring to, the regulator is on a little board inside the plastic at the end.
The little switcher circuit commonly found in these things are usually limited to 1A or less. So proceed with caution.
Keep in mind that as the load goes up, the ripple noise increases. So if it works, but you see noise in the image, just create a supply filter for it.


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Home Florida Daytona Black Democrat urges governor to drop Black court nominee
Black Democrat urges governor to drop Black court nominee
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Black Democratic state lawmaker who is challenging the appointment of a Black woman to the Florida Supreme Court contended Thursday that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is engaging in "racial tokenism" by choosing someone the court itself has already ruled is not eligible for the position.
State Rep. Geraldine Thompson said in an online news conference that DeSantis only chose Renatha Francis for the high court because she shares his conservative ideology, not because he is trying to achieve racial diversity.
Thompson says Francis doesn't meet the constitutional requirement of being a Florida Bar member for at least 10 years, a point the Supreme Court noted two weeks ago when it ruled DeSantis had exceeded his authority by appointing an ineligible candidate. The court did not undo the appointment, however.
"He wants to throw the rulebook out the window and do whatever he wants to do," Thompson said. "That's not what our country is supposed to be about."
Thompson wants the governor to rescind the appointment. She spoke a day after DeSantis defended his choice at an event Wednesday alongside several Black elected officials who support Francis' appointment. The governor appointed Francis in May with the understanding that she would not actually sit on the court until she is eligible. She will complete 10 years in the bar in two weeks.
DeSantis accused Thompson of blocking the appointment for political reasons. He noted that no other Blacks currently serve on the court.
But Thompson argued that DeSantis only wanted the "right" Black person on the court. "It was clearly about ideology and sharing the same perspective he had," she said. "This is one of the worst and most egregious examples of racial tokenism that I have seen in my life."
Francis, currently a circuit judge in Palm Beach County, would not be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court but would be the first Caribbean-American to do so. She operated a bar and trucking company in Jamaica before moving to the United States as an adult and working her way through law school.
Thompson represents portions of the Orlando suburbs, including Disney World and Universal Studios.
At the event Wednesday, DeSantis accused Thompson of hypocrisy, saying that she had been among those pushing for a Black justice and now that he has appointed one, she doesn't like her. He said her opposition would force him to choose from a list that includes no Black candidates. Thompson countered that a governor can't simply ignore the Florida Constitution.
"We're not appointing a prom queen here," she said. "We are appointing a justice of the Florida Supreme Court."
Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Iran's Rouhani says US sanctions make it difficult to purchase COVID-19 vaccines
US insists medicines and humanitarian goods are exempt, but trade restrictions make many banks and companies hesitant to do business with Tehran, fearing punitive measures
By AP	9 December 2020, 12:20 pm 0 Edit
Men walk while wearing face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Iranian capital Tehran, on November 30, 2020. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that US sanctions were making it difficult for Iran to purchase medicine and health supplies from abroad, including COVID-19 vaccines needed to contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump's administration has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran's banking sector and its vital oil and gas industry since unilaterally withdrawing the US from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
While the United States insists that medicines and humanitarian goods are exempt from sanctions, restrictions on trade have made many banks and companies across the world hesitant to do business with Iran, fearing punitive measures from Washington. The country is also cut off from the international banking system, making it difficult to transfer payments.
"Our people should know that for any action we plan to carry out for importing medicine, vaccines and equipment, we should curse Trump a hundred times," Rouhani was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 9, 2020 (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
He said even simple transactions to purchase medicine from other countries had become extremely difficult and that it can take "weeks" to transfer funds.
Rouhani said authorities are nevertheless doing what they can to buy vaccines from abroad, hoping to deliver them to high-risk individuals as soon as possible.
Last week, Iran said it is working on its own vaccine, with testing on human patients expected to begin next month. It plans to buy 20 million vaccine doses from abroad, for a population of more than 80 million people.
Iran has reported more than 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus out of more than a million confirmed cases — the worst outbreak in the Middle East.
Authorities have been reluctant to impose the kind of lockdown measures seen elsewhere in the region, partly because of concerns it would further exacerbate an already dire economic crisis. The sanctions have contributed to a plunge in the country's currency in recent years that has caused the price of basic goods to soar and wiped out many Iranians' life savings.


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Q: Why do my .bat files print their contents? When I save an install.bat with echo hi as its sole content, it prints:
C:\ > install.bat
C:\ > echo hi
hi

I just want hi

A: Start the bat file with the line
@echo off

The @ supresses displaying that line, and the echo off turns off displaying the rest of the lines.

A: Either use @echo hi or start the batch file with @echo off.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Take the boat from the dock near Huntress Kella Nightbow to Auberdine. Once you have arrived in Auberdine, take the Letter of Introduction to Thundris Windweaver.
If you wait out on the dock, you'll see the boat arriving from the port of Auberdine in Darkshore. Once it has offloaded its passengers, you'll be able to board.
After a short journey, the boat will put in at Auberdine and you'll be able to deliver your message.
It's probably best to take this to Thundris Windweaver, an old friend of mine and a well-respected citizen of the town.


During a camping trip, 11-year-old Lee finds herself on a rough trail in a Vancouver Island forest. Halfway to an abandoned homestead, Lee trips and is knocked unconscious. She awakens in a world unfamiliar – all the usual landmarks have disappeared and the terrain is unpopulated except for a strange trailer and a herd of dogs. Lee investigates only to find an ornery woman at an easel who says she's Emily Carr, and a family from the Depression-torn Prairies illegally logging the island's mighty cedars.


J van der Merwe, "Key Management in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks," MScEng dissertation, in School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South-Africa, 2005.
Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) eliminate the need for pre-existing infrastructure by relying on the nodes to perform all network services. The connectivity between the nodes is sporadic due to the shared, error-prone wireless medium and frequent route failures caused by node mobility. Fully self-organized MANETs are created solely by the end-users for a common purpose in an ad hoc fashion. Forming peer-to-peer security associations in MANETs is more challenging than in conventional networks due to the lack of central authority.
This thesis is mainly concerned with peer-to-peer key management in fully self-organized MANETs. A key management protocol's primary function is to bootstrap and maintain the security associations in the network, hence to create, distribute and revocate (symmetric or asymmetric) keying material as needed by the network security services. The fully self-organized feature means that the key management protocol cannot rely on any form of off-line or on-line trusted third party (TTP).
The first part of the thesis gives an introduction to MANETs and highlights MANETs' main characteristics and applications. The thesis follows with an overall perspective on the security issues in MANETs and motivates the importance of solving the key management problem in MANETs.
The second part gives a comprehensive survey on the existing key management protocols in MANETs. The protocols are subdivided into groups based on their main characteristic or design strategy. We discuss and provide comments on the strategy of each group separately. The discussions give insight into the state of the art and show researchers the way forward.
The third part of the thesis proposes a novel peer-to-peer key management scheme for fully self-organized MANETs, called Self-Organized Peer-to-Peer Key Management (SelfOrgPKM). The scheme has low implementation complexity and provides self-organized mechanisms for certificate dissemination and revocation without the need for any form of off-line or on-line authority.
The fully distributed scheme is superior in communication and computational overhead with respect to its counterparts. All nodes send and receive the same number of messages and complete the same amount of computation. SelfOrgPKM therefore preserves the symmetric relationship between the nodes. Each node is its own authority domain which provides an adversary with no convenient point of attack.
SelfOrgPKM solves the classical routing-security interdependency problem and mitigates impersonation attacks by providing a strong one-to-one binding between a user's certificate information and public key. The proposed scheme uses a novel certificate exchange mechanism that exploits user mobility but does not rely on mobility in anyway. It enables nodes to setup security associations on the network layer in a localized fashion without any noticeable time delay.
The thesis also introduces two generic cryptographic building blocks as the basis of SelfOrgPKM: 1) A variant on the ElGamal type signature scheme developed from the generalized ElGamal signature scheme introduced by Horster et al. The modified scheme is one of the most efficient ElGamal variants, outperforming most of the other variants; and 2) A subordinate public key generation scheme.
The thesis introduces the novel notion of subordinate public keys, which allows the users of SelfOrgPKM to perform self-organized, self-certificate revocation without changing their network identifiers/addresses. Subordinate public keys therefore eliminate the main weakness of previous efforts to solve the address ownership problem in Mobile IPv6. Furthermore, the main weakness of previous efforts to break the routing-security interdependence cycle in MANETs is also eliminated by a subordinate public key mechanism.
The presented ElGamal signature variant are proved secure in the Random Oracle and Generic Security Model (ROM+GM) without making any unrealistic assumptions. It is shown how the strong security of the signature scheme supports the security of the proposed subordinate key generation scheme. Based on the secure signature scheme we provide a security arguement for SelfOrgPKM with respect to a general, active insider adversary model.
The only operation of SelfOrgPKM affecting the network is the pairwise exchange of certificates. The cryptographic correctness, low implementation complexity and effectiveness of SelfOrgPKM were verified though extensive simulations using ns-2 and OpenSSL. Thorough analysis of the simulation results shows that the localized certificate exchange mechanism on the network layer have negligible impact on network performance. The simulation results also correlate with efficiency analysis on SelfOrgPKM in an ideal network setting, hence assuming guaranteed connectivity. The simulation results furthermore demonstrate that network layer certificate exchanges can be triggered without extending routing protocol control packets.
Download the final version of the MSc in Electronic Engineering thesis here in pdf.
J van der Merwe, "Security Mechanisms for Distributed Communication Systems," PhD dissertation, in School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South-Africa, 2010.
In this thesis we study security mechanisms related to distributed communication systems within the context of peer-to-peer and group communication. These mechanisms include authority-based peer-to-peer key management, group key management, distributed-key management and thresholdmultisignature schemes. The thesis is comprised of four parts.
The first part of the thesis proposes a peer-to-peer key management scheme for authority-based mobile ad hoc networks. The key management scheme bootstraps and maintains the security associations in the network, that is, it creates, distributes and revokes keying material as needed by the networking services. The proposed key management scheme breaks the routing-security interdependency cycle and exploits the unpredictable and dynamic network topology to the advantage of security.
The second part of the thesis presents a group key management scheme for dynamic peer groups that is suitable for ad hoc networks. The group key management scheme exploits the dynamic group membership and network topology to assist with the bootstrapping of security associations for the group communication system protocols. These protocols include unicast routing, group membership service, multicasting, group key agreement and data sharing. We also show how to bootstrap the group communication system by proposing a progressively robust, primary-partition group membership service. The membership service exploits the inherent capability of the group communication system to mitigate the impact of frequent membership changes and routing failures.
The third part of the thesis considers distributed-key (secret sharing) management mechanisms for generic, distributed communication systems. Specific attention is given to secret sharing in a setting without any form of online authority. The proposed Distributed-Key Management Infrastructure (DKMI) gives group members the capability to share, update and redistribute a secret in support of a threshold cryptosystem.
The fourth part of the thesis presents a threshold-multisignature scheme that allows group signatures to be generated in a collaborative fashion. The proposed scheme guarantees the signature verifier that at least a defined threshold of group members participated in the generation of the group-oriented signature and that the identities of the signers are traceable. The characteristics of secure and robust threshold-multisignature schemes are defined and it is shown that the proposed scheme satisfies these properties.
Finally, the thesis analyzes the proposed schemes from a performance and security perspective in widely acceptable system and adversary models.
Download the final version of PhD in Electronic Engineering thesis here in pdf.


Free download in PDF Ecology & Biodiversity General Awareness Multiple Choice(MCQs) and Answers for CSAT prelims. These previous years solved questions are helpful to crack IAS/IPS/IFS prelims paper I exam.
1 Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?
2 Which one of the following is the correct sequence of ecosystems in the order of decreasing productivity?
3 Which one of the following is the process involved in photosynthesis?
4 With reference to 'Global Environment Facility' which of the following statements is/ are correct?
5 Which one of the following National Parks has a climate that varies from tropical to subtropical, temperate and arctic?
6 In India, in which one of the following types of forests is teak a dominant tree species?
8 Which one of the following is the correct sequence of a food chain?
9 The Millennium Ecosystem assessment describes the following major categories of ecosystem services- provisioning, supporting, preserving and cultural. Which one of the following is supporting service?
10 Which one of the following is not a site for in- situ method of conservation of flora?


I have said it many times before—there are multiple self-defense tools, not just situational awareness. Now, don't get me wrong, situational awareness is a both a tool and a skill—that absolutely needs to be honed. We've talked about your voice being a self-defense tool, but one that we haven't covered is movement. Whether it's to find cover or to put some distance between you and the threat, movement is an essential self-defense tool to consider.
I'll admit it: I'm one of the guys that'll say "Well, I don't run—that's why I carry a gun." And I mean that. Running is awful (and I don't trust anyone who actually likes to run… KIDDING… maybe). ANYway—but one thing you need to consider is that a moving target is more difficult to shoot at, and if the potential threat has a hand weapon (like a knife), then they have to catch you to cut you.
Have you ever tried to shoot while moving, at a moving target? I have—and let me tell you, it's not a walk in the park. Also, consider the way the you carry your CCW. Can you draw while moving? If you pocket carry, can you get your hand in your pocket while running, not to mention get your hand and your pistol back out of your pocket?
Now, I realize that none of these are easy to practice and that even at some ranges, you are limited to standing still and shooting at your target. Now, I'm not condemning ranges for these rules—because they are for safety and they should be in place. What I want my readers to consider is that even though you may not enjoy running, like myself, but you may need to in a self-defense situation.
My advise is to practice in your backyard while dry firing, or ask one of your buddies with a large, open field if you can do some practice with live fire (be safe, though).
Stay armed and stay safe out there, my friends.
If you needed to, could you get your CCW out of its holster while moving? Have you tried? Discuss in the comments!


We all want to be financially educated and invest in companies we believe will be the most impactful in regards to what we believe in, all while reaching our financial goals. In order to do this, it's vital for you to reach out to a knowledgeable financial advisor and to set realistic financial goals.
Today's guest, Apollo Lupescu, is the Vice President and "secretary of explaining stuff" at Dimensional (the 7th largest mutual fund company). He talks about how to determine which companies to invest in, how to evaluate funds, and gives helpful tips on building financial competence. Tune into this episode of Your Best Financial Life with Scott Malbasa to start making better and smarter financial decisions.


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DDT: Week Sixty-one – Tweeting, Hiding from Protests
Filed under: Donald Trump,Uncategorized — trp2011 @ 9:47 PM
Tags: Andrew McCabe, Cambridge Analytica, Emerdata, Erik Prince, Jeff Sessions, military, presidential election, Robert Mueller, Russia, transgender
Late Friday evening has become the time for Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) to drop bombs, usually in order to steer the media away from news that he doesn't like. DDT's news last night before the massive March for Our Lives gatherings today was to once again ban transgender military members in the military. His ban of several months ago has been overturned in court, but DDT executed an order supporting the new memo from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that disqualifies U.S. troops who have had gender confirmation surgery because "military service requires sacrifice." Transgender troops without surgery can stay if they have been medically stable for 36 consecutive months before joining the military or if they were diagnosed with gender dysphoria after President Obama's end of the ban in 2016. Four lawsuits are already opposing DDT's earlier ruling.
Facebook's providing Cambridge Analytica with data consumed much of the news during the past week. Clips of C.A.'s officials were caught on a hidden camera explaining their blackmail to put conservative candidates into office. Last Sunday, CBS reported that DDT's campaign never used any data from Cambridge Analytica, but suspended C.A. CEO president Alexander Nix disagreed, saying that C.A. put DDT the winner in the presidential election. Brad Parscale, DDT's current campaign director, worked with C.A. to turn women and black voters against Hillary Clinton with fake stories.
Worse news from C.A.: key players have a new company, Emerdata, with C.A. primary funder Robert Mercer's daughters, C.A.'s suspended CEO Alexander Nix as director, C.A.'s chief data officer Alexander Tayler, and Julian Wheatland, chairman of Cambridge Analytica parent firm SCL Group. Connected to Emerdata is Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and now chairing the private security firm operating mostly in Africa. Prince is the brother of Secretary of State Betsy DeVos. George Nadar, who organized a meeting in the Seychelles between Erik Prince and a high-level Russian banker to set up a secret DDT-Russia back channel, has been granted immunity and is now singing to Mueller. Before he became FBI Director, discovered that Prince had probably broken the law by trying to sell secretly modified paramilitary attack aircraft to Azerbaijan's military.
DDT's keeps tweeting continual denial that "there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), minority leader of the House Intelligence Committee, responded:
"Mr. President, the Committee reached no such conclusion — only Republicans. In fact, we did find evidence of collusion, despite GOP members being more interested in protecting you than learning the truth. When accusing others of lying, best not to misrepresent facts yourself."
DDT's increasingly frantic tweets about Mueller indicates that he is closing in on the truth about DDT's corruption, fraud, and Russian collusion. The messages from DDT, stuck in the White House for last weekend, hit a new high for him, and desperate aides took him to a golf course after the Sunday morning tweet storm. DDT came back with more vituperative tweets by Wednesday.
Excited about Vladimir Putin's being "re-elected" for another six years, DDT called the dictator to congratulate him, ignoring warnings from his national security advisers. Briefing materials stated "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" and condemn the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tweeted:
"An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election."
DDT took pride in being on good terms with the Russian president and not bringing up anything negative such as the Kremlin's murders and meddling in the U.S. elections. Republicans such as retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) treated DDT's turning his belly up to Russia as the new normal. Videos showed ballot-stuffing at polling stations; earlier, viable candidates were either arrested on sham charges or killed. The story escalated when DDT became furious about his actions becoming public, and he is again determined to discover who did the leaking, calling it criminal.
Although the White House staff does not work for him personally, DDT has required them to sign "non-disclosure" agreements with threats if they reveal anything about him. Earlier DDT failed to force reporters to sign NDAs when they traveled with VP Mike Pence. As rumors run rampant, some people think that Chief of Staff John Kelly is behind the leaking because of past inappropriate statements to the press. DDT took pride in being on good terms with the Russian president and not bringing up anything negative such as the Kremlin's murders and meddling in the U.S. elections.
More revelations about Russia' interference in the U.S. elections:
The hacker that stole Democratic National Committee emails, Guccifer 2.0, was "an officer of Russia's military intelligence directorate (GRU)," connecting the hack to the Kremlin.
Andrew McCabe, fired by the DOJ with the blessing of AG Jeff Sessions, had authorized a criminal investigation into Sessions last year because he "lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives." Sessions said under oath that he had no contacts with any Russian officials during the campaign until he began to remember that he talked to the Russian ambassador twice. After Mueller was appointed as special investigator, McCabe's investigation moved on to him. Other Sessions' "lack of candor" comes from his claim under oath to the House Judiciary Committee that he "pushed back against a suggestion to meet with Russians during DDT's campaign. Three people have told investigator Robert Mueller that Sessions never objected to arranging a meeting with Russia. Emails show that DDT's campaign urged George Papadopoulos to reach out for a "partnership with Russia." Although Sessions recused himself from all things Russian, he fired McCabe to defend DDT from Mueller's Russian investigation. Former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has written a thought-provoking description of Sessions' "lack of candor."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has called for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about McCabe's firing. Even Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that McCabe should have been allowed to finish his last 26 hours.
As GOP congressional leadership shy away from protecting the investigation into the Russian scandal, the conservative WashPo chides their refusal to declare Robert Mueller off-limits from DDT's firing machine:
"The president treats government as purely a tribal battle between one side and the other and expects public servants to put loyalty to him before loyalty to country or the rule of law. Republican congressional leaders should not remain complicit in this debasement."
Columnist Eugene Robinson wrote:
"If Trump does try to fire Mueller, [Ryan] and [McConnell] should get much of the blame. They have given Trump no reason to believe they will ever stand up to him."
This past week, DDT hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who gained his new position in a coup that involved torture and imprisonment of his family members. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster expressed concerns about the relation of Jared Kushner, DDT's son-in-law, with MBS who bragged about having Kushner "in his pocket." MBS may also have used classified information from DDT's daily briefings to determine who MBS imprisoned. Tillerson and McMaster are gone; Kushner remains in the White House, and the Senate failed to stop the U.S. part in a bloody, three-year war in Yemen. Despite a bipartisan effort, 45 GOP and 10 Democratic senators voted to continue its support for Saudi Arabia's bombing missions.
With Jared Kushner head of his family business, it filed at least 80 false applications for construction permits in a three-year period ending in 2016 lying about the rent-regulated tenants in its buildings to make it easier to push them out and sell a building with higher rents.
The Dow Jones index dropped 1,460 points this past week after the Feds raised the prime rate a quarter of a percent, Facebook suffered from public knowledge that it provided information to Cambridge Analytica, and DDT escalated the trade war by placing tariffs on $60 billion of Chinese goods and limiting China's freedom to invest in U.S. tech. China threatened tariffs on $3 billion in U.S. goods, most of them agricultural, hitting the states that voted for DDT. The 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act may be a harbinger of our future. Yet DDT caved on most of his steel and aluminum tariffs, exempting countries for two-thirds of steel and over half of aluminum imports.
Capping the week was March for Our Lives, a movement by young people protesting unlimited gun ownership with the message "Enough Is Enough." Millions of people, almost one million just in Washington, D.C., marched around the world with 800 different protests in the United States alone. DDT escaped to Mar-a-Lago before the event this morning, detouring around any protesters on his way back from the golf course. Most legislators went home yesterday immediately after a $1.3 trillion spending bill passed Congress. [Above: the view from the Washington, D.C. stage.]
Two GOP congressional members gave lukewarm praise for the young people although Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) misrepresented their mission. Others idly commented about sports, farmers, and praise for the spending bill and tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Democrats were seen attending the marches. For the first time in almost two decades, more people have a negative view of the NRA than positive, according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. It found that 37 percent see the NRA in a positive light with 44 percent viewing it negatively. The greatest drop came from white married women.
DDT: Week Forty-Two – Meddling in Foreign Affairs
Filed under: Donald Trump — trp2011 @ 10:16 PM
Tags: America First, Asia, Carter Page, foreign policy, Michael Flynn, Mike Pompeo, presidential election, Puerto Rico, purge, Russia, Saudi Arabia
Today is Armistice Day, a commemoration of world peace. At least it was for 35 years until 1954 until Dwight Eisenhower made it "Veterans Day"—but still for peace. It's still on November 11, but the peace is gone—just commemorating all those who go to war. Maybe more of them if Dictator Donald Trump (DDT has his way).
The media may be consumed with Alabama's senatorial candidate, Roy Moore, and his sexual assaults but Robert Mueller continues with his investigation into Russian involvement in the presidential election. Carter Page, one of a small group advising DDT on foreign policy, testified before the House Intelligence Committee last week that he told both DDT's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and current White House communications director Hope Hicks about a July 2016 trip to Moscow to meet with high-placed Russian officials. At that time, Page congratulated DDT's foreign policy team for their "excellent work" on the "Ukraine amendment" in changing the GOP platform to fit with Russia's preference.
Also in the transcript from Page's seven-hour testimony is Page's email to DDT campaign aides, read aloud by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), that describes "a private conversation" with a high Russian official. Page wrote that he had been provided "incredible insights and outreach" by Russian lawmakers and "senior members" of Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration during the trip. Earlier he stated that he had only brief greetings from the official. Page is one of at least nine DDT-connected people who had contact with Russians during the campaign.
Revelations about the exchange of Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya show that they agreed to exchange "dirt" on Hillary Clinton for possibly overturning the Magnitsky law sanctioning Russians for murdering a Russian tax accountant accusing the Kremlin of corruption.
George Papadopolous may have told investigators that he lied about his planned collusion with Russia to protect DDT.
A "modified" gag order has been ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson regarding the criminal case against former DDT campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates. The order seems to be in response to Manafort's lawyers declaring that the charges are "ridiculous." Although statements to the public from lawyers, defendants, and witnesses are not outright banned, they are prevented if they "pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case." Jackson said, "This is a criminal trial, and it's not a public relations campaign."Indictments for former national security advisor Michael Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr. may be upcoming. These two were involved in a plan to kidnap an Islamic mullah seeking refuge in Pennsylvania from Turkey, Fethullah Gülen, for a $15 million payment and turn him over to the Turkish government. Flynn Sr. was working for Turkey while he was a part of the DDT team. VP Mike Pence was behind the selection of Flynn for his short-lived position in the White House.
DDT told CIA Director Mike Pompeo to meet with a conspiracy theorist advocating the belief that the hack during the presidential campaign was an inside job and not by the Russians. Bill Binney, former code-breaker at the National Security Agency, is a frequent guest on Fox News and Russia's state propaganda RT. Intelligence agencies, including Pompeo's CIA, already know that Russian agents hacked into the U.S. elections. DDT sees himself as the CEO of intelligence agencies, and the political Pompeo is comfortable with that position.
After DDT talked with Vladimir Putin, he said that Putin stated in a "very, very strong" way that Russia didn't meddle in the election so DDT's intelligence agencies are wrong. Russian officials said that Putin didn't talk with DDT about the election. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) slammed DDT for believing Putin over his own intelligence agencies. (America Second after Russia.) McCain also criticized DDT for not addressing human rights during his stop in Vietnam.
DDT has been in Asia for over a week, touting his personal properties and claiming "America First." His visit to his property in Hawaii marked the 97th day in 287 days since his inauguration that he spent at a Trump-owned business. In Japan, he hawked U.S. military gear before he bragged about how other countries had underestimated the United States. "It was not pleasant for them, was it?" he finished. In Seoul, DDT bragged about the Women's U.S. Open being held at his golf club in Bedminster (NJ). The visit came the day after USA Today reported that DDT "has installed at least five people who have been members of his clubs to senior roles in his administration." The article added, "[N]ever in modern history has a president awarded government posts to people who pay money to his own companies."
Fog kept DDT's helicopter grounded, aborting his visit to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, but South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, had no trouble driving there to wait for him.
In Bejing, DDT told business leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Danang, Vietnam. "I am always going to put America first, the same way that I expect all of you in this room to put your countries first." President Xi Jinping of China supported globalization, saying relations among countries should be "more open, more inclusive, more balanced, more equitable and more beneficial to all." Hours after DDT gave his "America First" speech to the business leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, eleven countries put together the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Now it's "America Outside."
DDT bragged about the $250 billion deal with China buying into the United States. These are not done deals, but pledges—just like most of DDT's "promises."
In a first among presidents, DDT did not answer questions from the press while in China. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that China wouldn't let him. "America Submissive."
More ignorant DDT statements from his trip.
DDT and his family may have participated taken a part in the purge of Saudi royals by the new Crown Prince. DDT sent his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Riyadh to talk with the new prince, and both DDT and his son Donald Trump Jr. praised the purge. Subjects of the purge, possibly facing criminal charges, include princes, senior ministers and the former head of Saudi's military; one of them had disagreed with DDT on Twitter. The prince is now freer to block Iranian influence in Syria and Qatar. The Lebanese prime minister has resigned, claiming fear for his life from Iran, but possibly forced by Saudis. Lebanon accused Saudi Arabia of detaining its prime minister, while Saudi Arabia has ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon. Kushner, assigned to create peace in the Middle East, has fanned "the fires of sectarian conflict and terror" in an attempt to obtain contracts of over $380 billion for military gear. The possible instability in the Middle East from Saudi's actions may have a negative affect on the stock market.
In the year of leaks, the Paradise Papers, a release of over 13 secret million documents, may reign supreme. Thus far, people have learned about ways that multinational companies such as Apple and Nike conceal their money offshore as well as how Russian investments helped fuel the rise of Facebook and Twitter and how DDT's inner circle, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, is connected to Russian oligarchs. The Paradise Papers also shows how multi-billionaire Robert Mercer not only avoided a 39-percent tax on profits from his foundation but also used his money to publicize falsities about the Clintons, including the promotion of the Uranium One scandal that DDT is trying to use in order to veer attention from his involvement with Russia.
DDT's departure from the Paris climate agreement leaves the U.S. totally isolated since Syria, the final holdout other than the U.S., announced its plans to sign the accord.
The Senate Commerce committee just approved Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) for NASA chief with all 13 Democrats objecting. If senators approve him, a non-partisan science research agency will be led by a conservative climate denier with almost no scientific or technical experience.
The DOJ finally dropped its prosecution of Desiree Fairooz, a retired children's librarian who laughed during the confirmation hearing of AG Jeff Sessions. Her second trial was set for next week after a judge overturned the jury's conviction, ruling that "laughter is enough, standing alone" is not enough for a conviction.
Last June, DDT told Native American tribes to start drilling on their reservations in violation of federal regulations, according to a new report.
After a line installed by Whitefish Energy failed, Puerto Rico is down to 18 percent power 50 days after Hurricane Maria. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the Pentagon's liaison to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), announced that relief efforts is moving from crisis to recovery with federal troops leaving the island because of the expense.
Next week returns to the GOP tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy.
That Russia 'Thing'
Filed under: fraud — trp2011 @ 10:04 PM
Tags: Donald Trump, Jr., Natalia Veselnitskaya, presidential election, Prevezon, Russian collusion, solicitation
The drip-drip of information about collusion between Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) and Russia has developed into a steady flow as the dam against information starts to break down. Last week saw the publicity about a meeting between DDT associates at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya because she promised that she could provide them damaging information about Hillary Clinton's campaign. Early information showed that those attending included DDT's son Donald Trump, Jr., DDT's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helps run both DDT and the family business, and one-time DDT campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has a history of business ties with Russian and pro-Russia Ukrainian kleptocrats. Now it appears that more people were present, including Russian businessman and former counterintelligence officer Rinat Akhmetshin.
The story put Jr. on the cover of Time. It began with Jr. claiming that he didn't meet and then moved on to his claim that it was just about foster children, followed by admission that she Veselnitskaya offered information but didn't provide any useful information against Clinton. Paul Manafort told his investigators about the meeting and that Jr. had set it up.
Jr. blatantly released emails proving he knew the offer to the meeting came directly from the Russian government and that possible information about be "very high level and sensitive." The emails explicitly refer to "Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump" as well as Jr. agreeing to a meeting with a "Russian government attorney" to obtain documents from the Russian government. Jr.'s response to the emails is that "I love it especially later in the summer," the time when the hacked emails from the DNC were released to the public.
The shifting story about DDT's involvement with Russia to meddle in the presidential election: no, we didn't talk to anybody; yes, we talked to somebody but it wasn't about the election; yes, we talked about the election but didn't get any useful information. The question is what's next. That's why all these people need lawyers. This fascinating view of who hired whom is missing the latest hire, Alan Futerfas. The lawyer for organized crime mobs including the Gambino, Genovese, and Colombo families is representing Jr.
Jr.'s emails support the chain of people from the Kremlin to DDT. The timeline of 20 denials about Russian collusion in the past year is accompanied by six more lies about Jr.'s meeting.
DDT claimed he knew nothing about the meeting, but a trail exists. Four hours after Jr. confirmed his meeting with Veselnitskaya on June 7, DDT promised a speech "discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons." He said that it would be "very, very informative." Two days later, DDT lacked the information and talked about national security. A few hours after the meeting, DDT asked Russia to find Hillary Clinton's so-called "deleted" 33,000 emails.
DDT's spin on the meeting is blaming former AG Loretta Lynch for allowing the lawyer into the country. Veselnitskaya came to the U.S. with the claim that she was an attorney for Prevezon Holdings, a Russian company accused of money-laundering for the mob by buying expensive real estate. Prevezon's actions are related to DDT's firing Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for New York's Southern District, while he was overseeing a money laundering case against Russian mobsters who allegedly hid $230 million in NYC real estate, some of it belong to DDT. The Russian lawyer who revealed the fraud met a suspicious death. Veselnitskaya called the DOJ settlement of $5.9 million in lieu of $230 million "almost an apology from the [U.S.] government."
Richard Painter, George H.W. Bush's ethics counsel, described Jr.'s actions as "treason." As to the question of collusion, the term is defined as "secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others." Ryan Goodman, former Defense Department special counsel, declared that the meeting was prohibited by federal criminal law.
"The law states that no person shall knowingly solicit or accept from a foreign national any contribution to a campaign of an item of value. There is now a clear case that Donald Trump Jr. has met all the elements of the law, which is a criminally enforced federal statute."
The statute governing foreign contributions to U.S. campaigns, 52 USC 30121, 36 USC 510, has two key passages. The first:
"A foreign national shall not, directly or indirectly, make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation, in connection with any Federal, State, or local election."
The second:
"No person shall knowingly solicit, accept, or receive from a foreign national any contribution or donation prohibited by [this law]."
The term "solicit" has a specific meaning in this context:
"A solicitation is an oral or written communication that, construed as reasonably understood in the context in which it is made, contains a clear message asking, requesting, or recommending that another person make a contribution, donation, transfer of funds, or otherwise provide anything of value."
The Committee of the Federal Register defines "solicitation":
"To ask, request, or recommend, explicitly or implicitly, that another person make a contribution, donation, transfer of funds, or otherwise provide anything of value."
Jr. knew that he was soliciting information from a foreign source and that damaging information in "political opposition research" would cost a great deal of money. The illegal part was trying to get the information, not Jr.'s success. Everyone at the meeting was trying to solicit information from a foreign government, i.e., the Russians. Jr. may have solicited other times because he told Sean Hannity on Fox that he "probably met with other people from Russia" during the campaign.
Charles Krauthammer said:
"If you get a call to go to a certain place in the middle of the night to pick up stolen goods, and it turns out stolen goods don't show up but the cops show up, I think you're going to have a weak story saying, 'well, I got swindled here….' It's a hell of a defense to say your collusion wasn't competent and it didn't work out."
DDT counsel Kellyanne Conway may be expecting more drips in her use of the word "yet":
"'Collusion'? No. We don't have that yet."
Most congressional Republicans are trying to cover DDT's illegal acts of Russian collusion. They ignore the questions, refuse to answer them, or obfuscate. Denials of DDT's collusion have morphed into claims that collusion isn't illegal. Jr.'s emails about collusion with Russia? No problem? Hillary Clinton's private email service? Horrifying! Rep. Steve King (R-IA) threatens to investigate Anthony Weiner's 650,000 emails if the Democrats won't ignore Jr.'s emails. GOP senators such as Ted Cruz (TX), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Lindsey Graham (SC) used Senate hearing time to question witnesses about Clinton instead of Russian collusion. GOP leaders of the intelligence committees in the House and Senate have called the media to challenge stories about the collusion.
Early reporting from the Fox network omitted any reference to Russia in Jr.'s emails.
Most of the attention surrounding the meeting has been on Jr., but Kushner may be in trouble too. His security clearance is based on lies about his past meetings, and Democrats want Kushner's access to classified information rescinded. Since his presence at the meeting was revealed, Kushner remembered over 100 foreign contacts that he had omitted from earlier high-security clearance applications.
VP Mike Pence might also be in hot water. On Fox, his press secretary Marc Lotter refused to respond to a question about whether Pence met with the Russians. Six months ago, Pence denied that anyone with DDT's campaign had met with Russians trying to meddle in the election, but now the world knows differently.
Two Democratic donors and a DNC staffer are suing DDT and his longtime adviser Roger Stone for their public release of emails stolen from the DNC. Congressional committees are competing to be the first to question Jr.
For several days, this was DDT's only response to Jr.'s scandal: "My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency." He left for Paris and embarrassed the people of the United States there.
Last February, New York Times David Leonhardt wrote:
"This combination—an anti-democratic president and a quiescent Congress—is very dangerous. Even though many members of Congress think [Trump's] approach is wrong, they have refused to confront him because he is a member of their party. He has the power to sign bills that Republican legislators have long favored, and their political fortunes are tied to his popularity."
Most Republicans just want to keep DDT healthy enough to sign papers—and right now they're in control. But the hacking continues.
Trump: 'Deflector in Chief'
Tags: cyberattacks, David Remnick, Jeff Sessions, Kremlin, libel, President Obama, presidential election, T, Ted Lieu, tweets
"The time for trivial fights is past." – Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) during his first address to Congress last Tuesday evening.
DDT's semi-presidential appearance didn't last long. Left without his keepers at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, DDT worked to deflect all his bad press resulting from this week's scandals about Russia about that country's participation in the presidential election with angry, libelous tweets. Between his rants about firing Arnold Schwarzenegger were accusations about President Obama tapping his phones at the Trump Tower. The adolescent sending the tweets couldn't even spell "tapp" correctly: he gave the word an extra p. The excuse his handlers gave DDT was a vague statement in fake Breitbart news about Barack Obama's "police state" tactics. With no evidence, could be sued for libel, disseminating damaging false information.
Rep. Ted Lieu's (D-CA) summary of DDT's problems:
"Either @realDonaldTrump is paranoid like Nixon, or judge found probable cause of crime for #wiretap. Either way our President is in trouble."
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said:
"It's beneath the dignity of the presidency. It is something that really hurts people's view of government."
Growing concern has developed because DDT will be hosting Angela Merkel next week after accusing her of "ruining Germany." Schumer echoed Lieu's conclusion about the allegations either being false or providing probable cause to search for broken laws.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) described DDT as "deflector in chief." She said about DDT's accusations:
"It's called a wrap-up smear. You make up something. Then you have the press write about it. And then you say, everybody is writing about this charge. It's a tool of an authoritarian."
Two issues about Russia that DDT wants to conceal are the way that his new AG, Jeff Sessions, committed perjury in saying that he had no communication with the Russians and the question of whether a special prosecutor should be assigned to address DDT's campaign involvement with Russia instead of letting the partisan Congress investigate the matter.
Concerns about Russian involvement in the campaign has been released in dribbles and drabs for almost a year as DDT continued to express his unadulterated admiration for Vladimir Putin as a leader. The most recent activity before DDT's tweet was when Sessions tried to jump out of the frying pan by finally recusing himself from any investigations into the FBI and hoping to save himself from resignation. He's in a risky situation because Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) wants Sessions to go back to the Senate to explain his statements made earlier under oath.
Sessions' problems began when he answered a question that no one asked him. Franken asked Sessions what he would do as AG if the connections between DDT and Russia were true. Sessions didn't answer that question, but he said that he had "been called a surrogate" in the campaign and that "I did not have communications with the Russians." By now the media has made clear that his answer was not true (aka a lie) because he met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice while the White House was working on sanctions against Russia. When these meetings were publicly revealed, Sessions said he couldn't remember if he talked politics with the ambassador. Russia is now in control of Sessions' future because the ambassador can blackmail him. Saturday Night Live opened with a spoof about Sessions, played by Kate McKinnon.
Franken sent a letter to Sessions telling him that his not mentioning Russian involvement in the election "strains credulity." The letter asked why Sessions had failed to mention the communication and what all his and his staff members' communications with "Russian officials and their associates during the presidential campaign of 2016" are. As Franken wrote:
"If it is determined that you lied to the [Judiciary] Committee and the American people under oath during your confirmation hearing, it is incumbent upon you to resign from your position as attorney general."
DDT's response to Sessions' recusal was a "ballistic" rant in which he used "a lot of expletives" and "nobody has seen him that upset." That may be the reason that Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus didn't go to Florida with DDT—thus the tweets. And DDT's demand for a special prosecutor into the non-existent wiretaps. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who has consistently maintained that there's no need for an investigation into Russia's involvement in DDT's campaign, said that the Intelligence Committee "will make inquiries" as per DDT's demand. On the other hand, FBI Director James Comey asked the Justice Department to publicly reject DDT's claims about the former president's wiretaps of Trump Tower.
Democrats—including seven of the nine on the Senate Judicial Committee—are calling for a special prosecutor into Russian interference while Republicans continue to squirm about its possibility. Doing so would allow a nonpartisan person instead of an acting deputy attorney general to leads an investigation. DDT's nominee for that position, Rod Rosenstein, could be asked about a commitment to naming a special prosecutor before his final vote. The historical precedent for an appointment is during the Watergate scandal in 1973 when the Judiciary Committee demanded that Nixon's nominee name the prosecutor before the vote as well as asking questions about the prosecutor's level of independence. Other special prosecutors occurred for investigation into Bill Clinton's Whitewater affair and George W. Bush's Valerie Plame affair.
Almost two decades ago, then-Sen. Jeff Sessions defined the standard for assigning a special prosecutor. The issue was whether Gore lied during an investigation into the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign's fundraising. Sessions said that an independent investigator should be appointed any time that an AG is asked to investigate the president because of the president's power over the AG. Now Sessions may face criminal charges for perjury and leads the same agency, the Department of Justice, that would ordinarily investigate alleged violations of federal law. For all the time before he finally recused himself, he was in the same power that the AG faced in the case where he set up the standard.
In its continued support for DDT, the FBI may be concealing information from Congressional committees attempting to investigate communication between DDT's people and the Russian officials. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said that the intelligence community has not been forthcoming, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said, ''We know less than a fraction of what the FBI knows." Asked about transcripts that the FBI refused to share with Democrats, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tried to "deflect" the issue by refusing to discuss them, indicating that they do exist. The issue of transcripts is interesting because U.S. citizens, including Michael Flynn, can be taped without FISA warrants. Transcripts of Flynn–or anyone else–would indicate evidence of wrongdoing.
After DDT's accusations about President Obama's wiretapping one of his homes, he moved on to tweets stating that the former president had Russian ties and that Democrats didn't want to help the FBI investigate the Russian cyberattacks.
DDT's "relationship" with Russia seems to be cooling in the light of continued criticism from people in the U.S.—something that DDT cannot handle. One indication is that his pick for top Russia adviser is Fiona Hill whose book Mr. Putin, Operative in the Kremlin alludes to Vladimir Putin's history as a KGB operative. There are also rumors that Putin didn't want DDT to win; he just wanted to create chaos in the United States. On MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, New Yorker editor David Remnick said:
"Everybody expected Hillary Clinton to win. You expected her to win. The polls expected her to win. So they succeeded, in some sense, beyond their wildest dreams, and now they're freaked," Remnick added ominously. "If you talk to people in Moscow now, there's a lot of buyer's remorse. There was an order sent down to Russian television, 'enough with the celebrating about Trump!'"
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the Kremlin is waiting for "some kind of actions" to understand what the future holds because "we have heard different statements from President Trump." Even Russia understands that DDT's volatility is untrustworthy.
The weekend is almost over, and DDT will get his keepers back when he returns to the White House. His handlers there may temper his tweets.
Should we be obsessed with the Russia story? Of course! This is bigger than Watergate, and it sets the direction for the United States for decades to come. An additional issue surrounding the White House is that eight Russian operatives connected to DDT have already been found dead. We need to overcome the "deflector in chief."
No Select Committee to Investigate Russian Hacking
Filed under: Congress — trp2011 @ 8:30 PM
Tags: John McCain, Julian Assange, presidential election, Russian hacking, U.S. intelligence
Senate buddies John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) have caved in to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in their demand to investigate Russian hacking into the presidential election that may have caused Hillary Clinton to lose to Donald Trump (DT). McConnell, who blocked information about the hacking last September, "declined" to allow a select committee, claiming that existing Senate committees are enough. In the past, McCain has said about the hacking, "When you attack a country, it's an act of war. "If you try to destroy the fundamentals of democracy, then you have destroyed a nation." After his brief return to being a "maverick," McCain has gone back to wimp.
(AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
DT and his team claim that Russia had nothing to do with interfering in the presidential election. Their source? Sexual assault fugitive Julian Assange who has been hiding for years in the Ecuador Embassy in London. Assange is noted for his Wikileaks smears about Clinton's inner circle as bunch of crazed, creepy Satanists.
At this time, Assange's follower, DT, can't even keep track of when his meetings are scheduled: he has accused officials of postponing until Friday his "intelligence" briefing on the "so-called 'Russian hacking'" that he doesn't believe. The briefing was always scheduled for Friday, and DT's "Presidential Daily Briefing" was scheduled yesterday. He rarely attends these briefings so he may not bother to keep track of the times. The one yesterday did not concentrate on Russian hacking because that briefing is scheduled for Friday.
Much has been said about Russians hacking only Democrats; DT accused them of not having "hacking defense" like the Republicans. In another indication of Russians influencing the election, however, U.S. intelligence officials say "the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee's computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks." On New Year's Eve, DT told that press that "I know things that other people don't know" about the hacking and promised to tell all yesterday or today. His team has withdrawn that disclosure.
Basically, a president-elect is taking sides with a criminal hacker with Russian connections over the United States intelligence agencies. Assange has had a program on Russia's propaganda station, and DT has started a feud with his own intelligence community to side with Assange who leaked names of Afghan civilians acting as U.S. informants. That president-elect was elected by a hawkish political party that has been skeptical about Communist Russia's relationship with their nation. Former vice-president elect Sarah Palin called Assange "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands" and now apologized to him.
DT is so supportive of Russia that he plans to reduce the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the CIA. His real motive may be that he's afraid that intelligence will find out things about him that he doesn't want them to know.
DT's faith in Assange is at opposite ends from major Republicans in Congress. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) told conservative Hugh Hewitt that "the guy [Assange] is a sycophant for Russia. He leaks, he steals data, and compromises national security." Graham, who backed down on investigating Russian hacking, said:
"We have two choices — some guy living in an embassy on the run from the law … who has a history of undermining American democracy and releasing classified information to put our troops at risk, or the 17 intelligence agencies sworn to defend us. I'm going with them."
Even VP-elect Mike Pence has stated that there is sufficient evidence that Russia played a part in the election.
While DT spreads his opinion far and wide on Twitter that his 17 intelligence agencies are wrong, the current CIA director, John Brennan, talked to Judy Woodruff on PBS about the upcoming release of the Russian intelligence report this coming Monday. He recommended a "wait and see" approach:
"There is no intelligence community worldwide that has the capabilities, the expertise, the analytic capability of the U.S. intelligence community. And so I would suggest to individuals who have not yet seen the report, who have not been briefed on it, that they wait and see what it is that the intelligence community is putting forward before they make those judgments."
DT has a lot at stake regarding information about Russian hacking. He wants only three things: money, vengeance, and popularity. Finding out that he won the presidency because a foreign government illegally influenced his election could damage the last piece.
Admitting to Russian hacking could also damage his relationship with Vladimir Putin, who DT calls his "best friend" and who may hold the purse strings of much of DT's investments. DT's friendship with Vladimir Putin can also put money into his pocket. President Obama's sanctions stopped a $500 million oil deal between the Russian government and Exxon. Lifting the sanctions could put lots of money into DT's pocket and be a major reason for Putin to make sure that Trump got elected. As Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson could help make money for both him and DT.
A hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled for tomorrow with McCain as chair, but McConnell may be able to destroy that one too. Today, George Little, a former spokesman for the CIA, tweeted about DT, "Let's stare this reality square in the face: PEOTUS is pro-Putin and believes Julian Assange over the @CIA. On Jan. 20 we will be less safe."
DT's strategy is always creating a diversion when the media might address something detrimental to him. Look for his tweets in the next couple days to see where he leads the media.
U.S. Suffers from White Male Entitlement
Filed under: Elections — trp2011 @ 8:48 PM
Tags: Charles Krauthammer, Hillary Clinton, presidential election, Racism, Sexism, white male entitlement, white male supremacy
A virulent genetic disorder overwhelming the United States continues to pass from one generation to another. Supported by a male monotheistic religion, Christianity has increased the genetic white supremacy during the past half millennium through killing of women accused of being witches, Muslims starting with the crusades, heathens to reform them, etc. Although science identifies no racial differences, skin color has been vital to the control of the nation. "Red" Native Americans were slaughtered and still being persecuted, and "black" captives were and are enslaved and mistreated to create a fortune for the ruling—i.e., white—class. Yet columnist Charles Krauthammer mourns how "the white working class [is] left out in the cold, neglected and condescended to as both our social status and economic conditions decline." The neglect is no longer recognizing his "race" as being superior.
The White Male Supremacy Violence Disease (WMSVD) controlling religion, government, education, media, military institutions, and income was threatened during the past election, and the WMSVDers fought back with a vengeance. The anger built since a black (actually biracial) man moved into the White House with his black wife and children. Hatred for him was commonly displayed in social media, emails, and tweets while the haters kept trying to convince the world that they could not possibly be racists.
Racism has permeated the country since its inception. Slaves were classified as three-fifths of a human in the U.S. Constitution, the persecution of Jim Crow started as soon as the Civil War was over, and Republicans developed the "Southern Strategy" in the late 1960s by appealing to racism in order to dominate the majority of the states in the Union. By the campaign of Donald Trump (DT), the white men's terror that they were losing their superior entitlement guided the line of attack.
DT's surrogates such as Rudy Guiliani and white supremacist Steve Bannon have compared his victory to that of Andrew Jackson, a wealthy slave owner nicknamed "Indian Killer"who massacred thousands of Native Americans and killed more on a death march to clear their land for cotton plantations complete with slaves because, to Jackson, people of color weren't human. He started the Seminole War and then fabricated "evidence" to get two British men executed in another violation of justice. Yet conservatives in the U.S. became furious when the Secretary of Treasury attempted to replace his image on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman.
The so-called "neglected" white men who had to put up with a black man in the White House for eight years weren't about to a woman lead the country. By 2016, 52 percent held a "very unfavorable" view of Hillary Clinton, 20 points higher than their "very unfavorable" view of President Obama in 2012 and 32 points higher than the percentage for this rating of the president in 2008. They delighted in DT calling for shouts of "lock her up" at the GOP convention and ensuing DT rallies–even the one this past week. Journalist Peter Beinart found these messages on merchandise at the convention:
Don't be a pussy; vote for Trump in 2016.
Trump 2016: finally someone with balls.
Trump that bitch.
Hillary sucks but not like Monica.
Life's a bitch: don't vote for one.
KFC Hillary Special: 2 fat thighs, 2 small breasts, left wing.
And more with highly disgusting visuals.
Research reveals that the emasculation that most feared by men is subordination to women, and women who need traditional gender roles are also afraid of male subordination. Both genders judge women more harshly than powerful men. Males are prized for being ambitious, but ambitious women engender "feelings of moral outrage" such as contempt, anger, and disgust.
Jennifer Berdahl of the University of British Columbia found that women who "deviated from traditional gender roles—by occupying a 'man's' job or having a 'masculine' personality" were disproportionately targeted for sexual harassment. The same harassment occurs when women even propose that she might violate traditional gender roles. In southern cities, locations where more men maintain traditional gender perspectives, higher rates of male-on-female murder occur with greater economic equality between men and women.
In the United States, people who "completely agree" that society is becoming "too soft and feminine" were more than four times as likely to have a "very unfavorable" view of Clinton as those who "completely disagree." And DT's supporters believed that the U.S. isn't "tough" enough.
Clinton is highly popular when she isn't campaigning, when she's actually in an office. And she was most popular when she played the traditional role of "First Lady" and then serving a male president as Secretary of State. As a president, however, she would have been one of the "illegitimate authorities." People attacked her for trying, and she became increasingly defensive. Past experience taught her than admitting a mistake armed her enemies, and she became paranoid—probably because people really were out to get her.
People blamed President Obama for increasing racism in the country, but his position gave whites "the perceived moral license to express more critical attitudes about minorities," according to a study. With Clinton no longer a threat, white men will know that they have again achieved a greater level of superiority.
For 50 years, Clinton worked to achieve her goal to help people by complying with traditional gender norms—changing her last name to match her husband, changing her hair, being more submissive, etc., etc. Yet the media and their readers still focused on her glasses, her pantsuits, her increasing weight, her voice, etc. She worked across the aisle and forgave the criticism, moving forward.
The "common scold" laws punishing only women during the colonial days of America for quarreling have quietly continued into the 21st century. It continues with describing women's mannerisms as scolding, shrill, slutty, weak—including DT's references to women as a pig or dog. Any woman who asserts herself—especially when running for president—is too loud or ambitious or brash.
White male entitlement was obvious during the NBC's Commander-in-Chief Forum earlier this year. Facilitator Matt Lauer interrupted Clinton far more than DT, asked her more challenging questions, and questioned her answers more often. This behavior follows studies about interruptions in conversations and other negative treatment of women.
Democrats have spent the past three weeks trying to analyze the reasons that Clinton lost—racism, need for jobs, a weak Democratic presidential candidate, problems such as Clinton's emails, accepting money for speeches from Wall Street, supporting trade deals and the Iraq War in the past, etc. Their primary objections, however, were to her personality, blaming her for being arrogant and not friendly enough. Trump was overwhelmingly arrogant, not friendly, and obnoxious. But he's a white man.
White males now want to take over the Democratic party because they think women cannot win. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio tried to oust California's Nancy Pelosi as House Dem leader because he thinks she has the "wrong message." He wants to concentrate on jobs "because we're not talking about the kind of things that are on people's minds." Ryan says that no one cares about the Zika virus, possibly the next health epidemic, and accuses Pelosi of not being able to talk with the "beer-drinking" union members.
As of today, Hillary Clinton has won the popular vote by 2.5 million despite the constant battering from Congress, the media, and members of her own party. She is the only presidential candidate to be openly opposed by the FBI–the weeks immediately before the election–and the Russian government. She ran against a candidate with no moral compass who lied 80 percent of the time and made promises that he knew he wouldn't keep the other 20 percent. And she ran in the first presidential election since the Supreme Court wiped out laws to stop voter suppression.
Across the country, GOP-controlled states stopped low-income voters from exercising their freedom to vote: North Carolina would have been hers if the GOP governor had not stopped minority voters in 18 of 100 counties from early voting; Wisconsin would have gone for her if officials had not illegally kept low-income voters from getting IDs; Florida would have been a Clinton state if minorities had not been kept from the polls by intimidation; Texas might have been competitive if officials had not lied to low-income people about their eligibility to vote; etc. And Democrats could have taken over the House if not for the gerrymandering after the 2010 GOP takeover.
Scottie Hughes, Trump surrogate, claims that facts are "an idea of an opinion," that "there's no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts." During his campaign, DT continually promised that he would keep Carrier in the United States when the Indiana-based air conditioning and heating systems maker threatened to take 1,400- jobs to Mexico. People voted for DT because of his promises, but he said this week that he didn't remember saying that. He also promised that he wouldn't pay off companies to stay. Yet Carrier gets $7 million from Indiana's taxpayers to keep 1,000 jobs—how long no one knows—while Carrier sends another 1,000 to Mexico. Yet DT said that he didn't really make this promise, that it was "a euphemism." People voted for DT because he made this "euphemism."
The United States is a culture of white male entitlement. Those who put up with Barack Obama in the White House decided that they wouldn't let a female take over when President Obama left. And now the white males of the Democratic party are deciding to throw women under the bus in hopes that they can take back the country.


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trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/k9rlr9v3tdize-dztf3p9q2 content esgSubNav
Report: Brazil's BRF negotiating leniency deal in food safety case
Author Isa Martinez
Theme Retail & Consumer Products
Food processor BRF SA is discussing a leniency deal with authorities in Brazil in connection with allegations that the company evaded food safety inspections, Reuters reported Oct. 18, citing local-language newspapers.
BRF CEO Pedro Parente represented the Brazilian company in negotiations with the federal comptroller-general, known as the CGU, according to a report in Estado de S. Paulo, which said the talks were in an "initial phase." The company is also reportedly in discussions with the federal prosecutor's office, known in Brazil as the MPF.
BRF has reportedly offered to disclose the bribery system it allegedly used to pay officials at Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture. The company has also been accused of attempting to conceal claims of food contamination from laboratory tests.
The case led to the arrest of former BRF CEO Pedro Faria and also resulted in a temporary halt of the company's poultry exports to the European Union.
BRF declined to comment to Estado de S. Paulo about the matter, as did the MPF and the CGU, Reuters reported.
Isa Martinez


India Morgan Phelps, Imp to her friends, is sure that there were two different Eva Cannings who came into her life and changed her world. And one of them was a mermaid (or perhaps a siren?) and the other was a werewolf. But Imp's ex-girlfriend, Abalyn, insists that no, there was only ever one Eva Canning, and she definitely wasn't a mermaid or a werewolf. Dr. Ogilvy wants Imp to figure out for herself what actually happened. But that's awfully hard when you have schizophrenia.
I'd heard that this book was a chilling mystery featuring GLBTQ characters and mental illness. When I discovered it on Audible with an appealing-sounding narrator, I knew what I was listening to next. This book is an engaging mystery that also eloquently captures the experience of having a mental illness that makes you question yourself and what you know while simultaneously giving a realistic glance into the queer community.
Imp is an unreliable first person narrator, and she fully admits this from the beginning. She calls herself a madwoman who was the daughter of a madwoman who was a daughter of a madwoman too. Mental illness runs in her family. She states that she will try not to lie, but it's hard to know for sure when she's lying. This is due to her schizophrenia. Imp is writing down the story of what she remembers happening in journal style on her typewriter because she is trying to figure out the mystery of what exactly happened for herself. The reader is just along for this ride. And it's a haunting, terrifying ride. Not because of what Imp remembers happening with Eva Canning but because of being inside the mind of a person suffering from such a difficult mental illness. Experiencing what it is to not be able to trust your own memories, to not be sure what is real and is not real, is simultaneously terrifying and heart-breaking.
The thing that's great about the writing in the book is that it shows both the beauty and pain of mental illness. Imp's brain is simultaneously beautiful for its artistic abilities and insight and a horrible burden in the ways that her mental illness tortures her and makes it difficult for her to live a "normal" life. This is something many people with mental illness experience but find it hard to express. It's why many people with mental illness struggle with drug adherence. They like the ability to function in day-to-day society and pass as normal but they miss being who they are in their own minds. Kiernan eloquently demonstrates this struggle and shows the beauty and pain of mental illness.
There is a lot of GLBTQ representation in the book, largely because Kiernan is clearly not just writing in a token queer character. Imp is a lesbian, and her world is the world of a real-to-life lesbian. She is not the only lesbian surrounded by straight people. People who are part of the queer community, in multiple different aspects, are a part of Imp's life. Her girlfriend for part of the book is Abalyn, who is transwoman and has slept with both men and women both before and after her transition. She never identifies her sexuality in the book, but she states she now prefers women because the men tend to not be as interested in her now that she has had bottom surgery. The conversation where she talks about this with Imp is so realistic that I was stunned. I'm not sure I've ever seen a conversation about both transitioning and the complicated aspects of dating for trans people that was this realistic outside of a memoir. Eva Canning is bisexual. It's difficult to talk about Eva Canning in-depth without spoilers, so, suffice to say, Eva is out as bisexual and she is also promiscuous. However, her promiscuity is not presented in a biphobic way. Bisexual people exist on the full spectrum from abstinent to monogamous to poly to promiscuous. What makes writing a bisexual character as promiscuous biphobic is whether the promiscuity is presented as the direct result of being bi, and Kiernan definitely does not write Eva this way. Kiernan handles all of the queer characters in a realistic way that supports their three-dimensionality, as well as prevents any GLBTQphobia.
The plot is a difficult one to follow, largely due to Imp's schizophrenia and her attempts at figuring out exactly what happened. The convoluted plot works to both develop Imp's character and bring out the mystery in the first two-thirds of the book. The final third, though, takes an odd turn. Imp is trying to figure out what she herself believes actually happened, and it becomes clear that what she ultimately believes happened will be a mix of reality and her schizophrenic visions. That's not just acceptable, it's beautiful. However, it's hard to follow what exactly Imp chooses to believe. I started to lose the thread of what Imp believes happens right around the chapter where multiple long siren songs are recounted. It doesn't feel like Imp is slowly figuring things out for herself and has made a story that gives her some stability in her life. Instead it feels like she is still too symptomatic to truly function. I never expected clear answers to the mystery but I did at least expect that it would be clear what Imp herself believes happened. The lack of this removed the gut-wrenching power found in the first two-thirds of the book.
The audiobook narration by Suzy Jackson is truly stellar. There are parts of Imp's journal that must truly have been exceedingly difficult to turn into audio form, but Jackson makes them easy to understand in audio form and also keeps the flow of the story going. Her voice is perfect for Imp. She is not infantilized nor aged beyond her years. She sounds like the 20-something woman she is. I'm honestly not sure the story would have the same power reading it in print. Hearing Imp's voice through Jackson was so incredibly moving.
Overall, this book takes the traditional mystery and changes it from something external to something internal. The mystery of what really happened exists due to Imp's schizophrenia, which makes it a unique read for any mystery fan. Further, Imp's mental illness is presented eloquently through her beautiful first-person narration, and multiple GLBTQ characters are present and written realistically. Recommended to mystery fans looking for something different, those seeking to understand what it is like to have a mental illness, and those looking to read a powerful book featuring GLBTQ characters whose queerness is just an aspect of who they are and not the entire point of the story.
Wow, that's an excellent review. You did it a lot more justice than I did! 🙂 It WAS a really good book, wasn't it?


At the end of the day, any ad campaign needs to get real people to take real and tangible action. Ideally, the advertiser wants to see the real effectiveness of a campaign in real numbers.
The Value Game is applied to a new jet charter start-up called Social Flights and offers an opportunity for advertisers to become part of the experience of the traveller, rather than a distraction to everybody. Instead of paying a website for click throughs, the vendor can pay the traveler directly to "click through" a catalog of products. As long as your product is relevant to the travel experience, the traveller will be interested and engaged.
The Game is to be relevant and this is where Social Flights helps create the playing field.
Social Flights will collect data about a travelers intentions in a fully open agreement. Travelers submit this data to the game with the explicit understanding that vendors will compensate them with relevant discount coupons. Data are normalized so that the traveller is anonymous in every respect while still providing very rich intentions to the vendor. Vendors can now target their value proposition with great precision.
What's a Travel Trader Game?
This sets up a game where the traveler, when presented with many options, will plan their trip and influence their friends based on the perceived value of the options presented to them – it's like holding properties on a Monopoly(TM) Board. As the travelers play the game, the vendor is being discussed, researched, and propagated all across the web in real time and in real context with a tangible experience as the travelers decide what activities to pursue.
When someone "clicks" on the vendor proposition from their "experience environment" of travel, their intention to be interested, informed, entertained, and fulfilled by your product is much higher than in a off-experience "forced" impression. When they compare, and even trade, coupons with their friends, a negotiation happens which influences a group of people. These negotiations lead to discussions all across the Internet. These discussions mean different things to different people so a fresh pool of customers is always on tap for the next round of play.
Why let Facebook own YOUR game when you can own it yourself?
Social Flights allows travelers to sell their data to vendors who, in effect, compensate the traveler with discount "option" that can only be exercised if the traveller (and their friends) makes a purchase. Advertising is essentially FREE until the traveler exercises their discount option. Even then, the advertiser has all the information that they need to determine the quality of the effectiveness their campaign and the effectiveness of a competitor's campaign. No matter whether you are the traveler or the vendor, how you play the game becomes YOUR intellectual property. Patent that Facebook!


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Manville kan syfta på:

 Lesley Manville (1956–), en brittisk skådespelare

Geografi

Kanada
 Lac Manville – en sjö
 De Manville Lake – en sjö
 Mount Manville – ett berg

USA
 Manville, Indiana – ort i Milton Township, Jefferson County, Indiana
 Manville, New Jersey – stad i Somerset County, New Jersey
 Manville, Rhode Island – stad i Providence County, Rhode Island
 Manville, Wyoming – stad i Niobrara County, Wyoming.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Cision Blog regrets to inform its readers that Bob Clark, a former ABC News correspondent and host has passed away at the age of 93. Clark served as a television reporter and White House correspondent for ABC News from the 1960s until the late 70s. He was a contributing host of the network's Issues and Answers, which is the American Sunday morning political affairs program now known as This Week. Clark had covered the assassinations of both President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. After his retirement from ABC, Clark appeared as a guest host and commentator on C-SPAN.


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North Shields
Mystery of the trawler that sailed out of the River Tyne 80 years ago and never came home
How the North Shields trawler, Jeanie Stewart, went missing without a trace in December 1938, by Molly Davitt
David MortonNostalgia Editor
The trawler Jeanie Stewart which sailed out of North Shields on December 14, 1938, and was never seen again
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Today marks 80 years since the mystery disappearance of the small steam trawler, Jeanie Stewart.
The nine crew members who sailed from the Fish Quay in North Shields on December 14, 1938 for a routine fishing trip were never seen again, leaving behind their wives and dependent children.
The men, including Captain Fred Mills, were mostly from North Shields, but there was also the mate from Hartlepool and a deckhand from South Shields. They were all lost to the North Sea.
Their absence created a terrible burden for the families, and 81-year-old Terence Grewcock explained how this story has a big significance for him.
His father, Jack Grewcock, was one of the nine crew members to go missing.
Lucy and Jack Grewcock with baby Terence in 1938 (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
Speaking of the Jeanie Stewart, he says today: "Her destination was the fishing grounds in the North Sea, off the coast of Aberdeen. She was scheduled to return after 10 days at sea, on Christmas Eve.
"For the unsuspecting families, it was just another routine trip. But Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day came and went with no news of the missing Jeanie Stewart.
"Come early January 1939, she was now officially 'lost at sea'. And she never did return."
Newcastle and Tyneside in the 1970s: A new book using brilliant Chronicle archive photographs
Although Terence admits he cannot remember his father, he adds: "It must have been a very bleak Christmas indeed for those families of the missing nine men, as they were eventually forced to accept the reality of the situation."
Jack Grewcock was 27, and was proud to be from South Shields. His son, Terence, had been born in 1937, the year after he had married his wife. The last picture of Jack was taken in the summer of 1938 in the backyard of their house on Edith Street.
A successful relief fund, organised by the mayor of Tynemouth, surprisingly raised £3,500 for the struggling families of the crew members, despite the grinding economic recession of the 1930s and the approaching Second World War.
Terry Grewcock lives happily today in Surrey (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
However, in a controversial decision, the money was not divided between the dependent families, and a trust fund was instead set up to decide who would receive the money.
Extensive searches were made in the North Sea above Aberdeen, but news articles from early 1939 mention the only thing ever found was a raft which was suspected to belong to the crew of the Jeanie Stewart.
A Chronicle reporter who joined one of the searches, aboard the trawler Boyne, described the atrocious conditions in the North Sea as he wirelessed back to our old offices in Newcastle's Westgate Road.
Watch a clip of Newcastle On Film - a brilliant new DVD from the North East Film Archive
"We are now heading south, 600 miles off the Scottish coast. There is an easterly gale, mountainous seas, and hailstones as big as marbles."
Eighty years after the disappearance of the Jeanie Stewart, Terence Grewcock is living with wife Kathryn in Surrey, and has three-grown up children and five grandchildren.
He says: "To sum up, it was a tough beginning, but it turned out well in the end."
There remains no further clue of what happened to the trawler all those years ago.
Tynemouth