Last Call For The General Gets A Head

Let's not mince words here: White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly is still a right-wing racist Islamophobic lunatic and getting him out of Homeland Security (while a good idea) still means he's there working for Trump.

But if anything, Kelly seems to be good at collecting pelts of Trump's worst hires because Trump himself won't do it.  Kelly has already cashiered Tony Scaramucci and along with an alliance with National Security Council head Gen. H.R. McMaster, the notion is that Kelly will start taking out the garbage.

Looks like Kelly may have found his first head in actual card-carrying Bannon flunkie Seb Gorka, a man whom nobody can explain why he is still there and eating all the office snacks.

A senior administration official says Sebastian Gorka, a former counterterrorism analyst for Fox News who joined the administration as a counterterrorism adviser, will be leaving the White House in the coming days.

The official says that Gorka had initially been hired to play a key role on the Strategic Initiatives Group, an advisory panel created by Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon to run parallel to the National Security Council.

But that group fizzled out in the early months of the administration. Gorka was unable to get clearance for the National Security Council after he was charged last year with carrying a weapon at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The official spoke anonymously to discuss private personnel matters. Attempts to reach Gorka by email for comment were not immediately successful.

Kelly is still a jackass, but Gorka was a no-fooling Nazi white supremacist fascist, so if Gorka's out, that's a small point in Kelly's favor that's still completely overshadowed by the fact he's still working for Trump.

Israeli Serious Charges For Bibi

With all the news this week on the Mueller grand jury, it's important to remember there's a lot going on in the realm of political scandal outside the US as well.  In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro will today convene the first meeting of his 545-member constituent assembly on the way to what will almost assuredly be a full dictatorship.  In Brazil, President Michel Temer has narrowly escaped impeachment on corruption charges but his presidency is in tatters.  But the big one is in Israel, where PM Benjamin Netanyahu is now facing a major bribery and fraud scandal as his former chief of staff has turned state's evidence against him.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's former chief of staff Ari Harow has reached an agreement with the prosecution to turn state's witness in two corruption cases against Netanyahu.

Under the deal, Harow will be convicted of fraud and breach of trust in a separate case, but will avoid jail time. Instead, he will do community service as pay a 700,000-shekel ($193,000) fine. 

The Israel Police confirmed on Thursday that the prime minister is suspected of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu's bureau rejected the allegations on Thursday, calling them "unfounded claims." 

Harow served for two terms in key positions in the Prime Minister’s Office. In 2009 he was appointed bureau chief, but left after a year to pursue private business interests before coming back in 2014, this time as chief of staff. In between he maintained “friendly contact” with the prime minister, as he attested in the past in an official document. 

In 2015, Harow was arrested by the national fraud squad, on suspicions he was continuing to secretly operate a private lobbying and consulting business while he was the premier’s chief of staff. Last year, when the police began to examine matters pertaining to the prime minister, Harow landed in Israel and was immediately taken for questioning under warning, which meant he might be accused of a crime. The moves toward a state’s witness deal began at that time.

And those bribery charges are pretty serious.  Netanyahu is in a lot of trouble because Harow was nailed dead to rights on some pretty nasty stuff, and he has flipped on his boss as a result:

The two cases mentioned in the police request are known as Case 1000, which involves Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who was asked to purchase luxury items for Netanyahu and his wife; and Case 2000, in which Netanyahu tried to concoct a deal with Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Harow, who is suspected of bribery, fraud, breach of trust, aggravated fraud and money laundering, was also a key figure in a case that the police did not pursue. He headed the American Friends of Likud, which allegedly paid the salary of Odelia Karmon, an adviser to Netanyahu when the prime minister, who heads the Likud party, was opposition leader.

During the investigation of Harow, police confiscated his cell phone, and found recordings documenting the Netanyahu-Mozes conversations that are the basis of the Case 2000 probe. In the Karmon case, the attorney general did not believe that investigators would be able to produce evidence justifying a criminal indictment for alleged offenses that are subject in any event to a 10-year statute of limitations. Senior law enforcement officials believed, however, that the investigation should have been pursued, especially in light of recordings of Karmon that were obtained by police in which she described the sequence of events after she received her salary. 

“Bibi became insanely hysterical, all of a sudden. I don’t know who whispered to him, after all, you can light him up like a flame ... and then he said to me: Odelia, give back the money.” In the recording, Karmon also mentioned Harow: “He plied Netanyahu with many things. Flight tickets or whenever Netanyahu was in a bind. But not in exchange for anything. He was honest and sweet. He was simply helpless.”

Harow in other words had the evidence on him to burn Bibi and cashed it in for immunity.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Bye bye Bibi?  We'll see, but it definitely doesn't look good for him.

Russian To Judgment, Con't

More on last night's Mueller grand jury investigation news, last night of course the WSJ confirmed that the special counsel investigating the Trump campaign had empaneled a grand jury to look at a wide range of evidence related to the Russian collusion investigation.  Other news outlets running after this story have released additional information now, and together it paints a pretty grim picture for Trump and company.  First, CNN confirms that the grand jury is looking into Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russian nationals in June of 2016 and has issued subpoenas.

Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued grand jury subpoenas related to Donald Trump Jr.'s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

The subpoena seeks both documents and testimony from people involved in the meeting, CNN has learned. That meeting has drawn scrutiny since an email exchange beforehand indicated the Russians offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton. 

Mueller's grand jury activity was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. 

Mueller's team of investigators continue to look into whether President Donald Trump or any of his campaign associates colluded with Russia during the presidential contest.

Ahh, but there's more from CNN.

In the summer of 2016, US intelligence agencies noticed a spate of curious contacts between Trump campaign associates and suspected Russian intelligence, according to current and former US officials briefed on the investigation. James Comey, in his Senate testimony, said the FBI opened an investigation into Trump campaign-Russia connections in July 2016. The strands of the two investigations began to merge. 

In the months that followed, investigators turned up intercepted communications appearing to show efforts by Russian operatives to coordinate with Trump associates on damaging Hillary Clinton's election prospects, officials said. CNN has learned those communications included references to campaign chairman Paul Manafort. 

That's a big one, folks.  Manafort again was Trump's campaign chairman in 2016.

Even before Mueller was appointed, FBI investigators focused on four Trump associates: Paul Manafort, former campaign chairman, Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, Carter Page, cited by Trump as a national security adviser, and Roger Stone, a Trump friend and supporter who openly engaged with hackers calling themselves Guccifer 2.0, which US intelligence says was an online persona created as a cover for Russian intelligence agents. 

The approach to the Manafort and Flynn probes may offer a template for how investigators' focus on possible financial crimes could help gain leverage and cooperation in the investigation. 

CNN has learned that investigators became more suspicious when they turned up intercepted communications that US intelligence agencies collected among suspected Russian operatives discussing their efforts to work with Manafort, who served as campaign chairman for three months, to coordinate information that could damage Hillary Clinton's election prospects, the US officials say. The suspected operatives relayed what they claimed were conversations with Manafort, encouraging help from the Russians. 

Manafort faces potential real troubles in the probe, according to current and former officials. Decades of doing business with foreign regimes with reputations for corruption, from the Philippines to Ukraine, had led to messy finances. 

The focus now for investigators is whether Manafort was involved in money laundering or tax violations in his business dealings with pro-Russia parties in Ukraine. He's also been drawn into a related investigation of his son-in-law's real estate business dealings, some of which he invested in. 

The Trumpies will no doubt tell you that the focus on finances means that the collusion case can't be proven.  As I say, the Feds eventually got Al Capone on tax evasion.

Oh, and the CNN story ends thusly:

Page had been the subject of a secret intelligence surveillance warrant since 2014, earlier than had been previously reported, US officials briefed on the probe told CNN.

No big deal.  The government had a FISA warrant on Carter Page for two years before the Trump campaign hired him, nice.

And that brings us to this: The bigger point is that grand juries don't happen if there's no charges to be brought.  The Mueller investigation is moving inexorably forward, and they are issuing subpoenas (Reuters too backs up the CNN subpoena story.)

Again though this case will take months, if not years.  There's a lot here, there's a lot of evidence to examine that we don't know about yet, but the grand jury will have access to it all.  But the train is moving forward and somewhere down the line will be the decision to seek indictments against Trump campaign officials.  We're most likely very far from that point. 

But just six months into this administration and we're already at the grand jury stage.  Things may not be moving as fast as we'd like, but they are moving, deliberately, inexorably, and inevitably forward, towards one Donald J. Trump.

Count on it.

StupidiNews!

• At a rally in Huntington, WV last night Donald Trump characterized the investigation into his campaign as a "total fabrication" and again demanded Hillary Clinton be investigated.
• The US Secret Service has been unable to come to a financial agreement to keep a command post in Trump Tower in NYC, the post has been moved to a "nearby off-site location".
• Russian officials confirm that some 150 miners are being evacuated from a Siberian diamond mine after water broke into the underground mining complex.
• As border tensions between India and China expand, India is preparing to commission the first of six new naval attack submarines as Beijing increases its fleet in the Indian Ocean.
• Cable giant Charter has moved 30% of the customers acquired in last year's merger with Time Warner and Bright House to new higher cable prices, tens of thousands of customers have left.

Last Call For It's Mueller Time

Well now.  Today just got real interesting.

Here at Mueller Brewing Company, if you've got the time, we've got the grand jury.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The grand jury, which began its work in recent weeks, is a sign that Mr. Mueller’s inquiry is ramping up and that it will likely continue for months. Mr. Mueller is investigating Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether President Donald Trump’s campaign or associates colluded with the Kremlin as part of that effort.
A spokesman for Mr. Mueller, Joshua Stueve, declined to comment. Moscow has denied seeking to influence the election, and Mr. Trump has vigorously disputed allegations of collusion. The president has called Mr. Mueller’s inquiry a “witch hunt.”

Ty Cobb, special counsel to the president, said he wasn’t aware that Mr. Mueller had started using a new grand jury. “Grand jury matters are typically secret,” Mr. Cobb said. “The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly.…The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr. Mueller.” 

Before Mr. Mueller was tapped in May to be special counsel, federal prosecutors had been using at least one other grand jury, located in Alexandria, Va., to assist in their criminal investigation of Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser. That probe, which has been taken over by Mr. Mueller’s team, focuses on Mr. Flynn’s work in the private sector on behalf of foreign interests. 

Grand juries are powerful investigative tools that allow prosecutors to subpoena documents, put witnesses under oath and seek indictments, if there is evidence of a crime. Legal experts said that the decision by Mr. Mueller to impanel a grand jury suggests he believes he will need to subpoena records and take testimony from witnesses. 

A grand jury in Washington is also more convenient for Mr. Mueller and his 16 attorneys—they work just a few blocks from the U.S. federal courthouse where grand juries meet—than one that is 10 traffic-clogged miles away in Virginia. 

“This is yet a further sign that there is a long-term, large-scale series of prosecutions being contemplated and being pursued by the special counsel,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas. “If there was already a grand jury in Alexandria looking at Flynn, there would be no need to reinvent the wheel for the same guy. This suggests that the investigation is bigger and wider than Flynn, perhaps substantially so.” 

Thomas Zeno, a federal prosecutor for 29 years before becoming a lawyer at the Squire Patton Boggs law firm, said the grand jury is “confirmation that this is a very vigorous investigation going on.”

“This doesn’t mean he is going to bring charges,” Mr. Zeno cautioned. “But it shows he is very serious. He wouldn’t do this if it were winding down.”

The table is being set, folks.  The feast is being prepared.

And I'm betting a big platter of spatchcocked orange chicken is on the menu in the months ahead.

In Order To Form A More Perfect Union

The United Auto Workers are still trying to unionize auto plants in at-will employment Southern states, and they've been trying for over a decade now with basically zero success even as the Great Recession mangled the industry and then the recovery under Obama.

But in the age of Trump, where auto sales are starting to slump again after several solid years, the push to unionize may become far more important in states where the focus on getting good high-paying jobs.  The problem is nobody locally thinks unions are the answer anymore,.

For nearly a decade, the United Auto Workers union has tried to organize workers at Nissan Motor Co Ltd's (7201.T) assembly plant here, challenging the company's wages, safety record and commitment to treating African-American workers fairly. 

Starting Thursday, the roughly 4,000 workers at one of Mississippi's largest industrial employers will cast their votes, affecting not only their own futures but the union's as well. 

Another failure to organize a southern auto factory would leave the UAW weakened ahead of contract negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers in 2019, when many analysts forecast U.S. auto sales will be in a cyclical slump. 

The organizing vote, which the UAW called for last month, has divided workers at the Canton plant, which builds Nissan Murano sport utility vehicles, commercial vans and Titan and Frontier pickup trucks. 

Pro-union workers said the plant has a record of poor safety and complain that the company moved to a 401(k) defined contribution plan from a traditional plan. 

"This is not about wages, I'm concerned about safety issues at the plant and about my pension," says Patricia Ruffian, 51. "They say if we vote for the union we're going to have nothing, we have to start from scratch, and that's not true." 

The UAW also claims Nissan has illegally threatened workers that if they vote for the union, the plant will close. Based on those claims, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board has issued a number of complaints that Nissan has made that threat a number of times in recent years. The automaker denies the allegations. The outcome of the election could be contested, leading to a test of how the Trump-era NLRB will handle contentious labor issues. 

Rodney Francis, director of Human Resources at Nissan's Canton plant, said, "Labor rights are about the right to organize, or not to organize. All we've been doing is providing employees with the facts so they can make an informed decision and at the end of the day this is about what they choose." 

Nissan has strong supporters on the factory floor, who point to the history of problems at Detroit's unionized automakers and reject the UAW's arguments that black workers are not treated fairly. 

"Black people are doing much better here since Nissan came," said Tony Jacobson, 52, who is black. He has worked at the plant since it opened in 2003 and makes $28 per hour - comparable to the top rate for unionized workers at General Motors Co (GM.N) or Ford Motor Co (F.N). "I'm trying to save our livelihoods, I don't want Canton to be like Detroit."

If you haven't noticed, the fearmongering from FOX and Friends (and friends) are that Detroit's economy was destroyed by unions, and that if places unionize in 2017, they'll simply go to another plant in another state without them and leave the community destroyed.  Unfortunately, a lot of automakers and other large multinational corporations are big enough to do just that with their North American operations.

But unions have to start somewhere and grow membership or perish.  We'll see what the vote turns out to be, but if it's anything like Volkswagen's plant in Tennessee a few years back, I wouldn't hold out for too much hope.

Russian To Judgment, Con't

John Sipher and Steve Hall, two former career CIA men (one a station chief, one a Russia analyst) give their opinion in the NY Times on the Trump regime's growing collusion troubles and the Mueller investigation, and come up with a very plausible scenario of how things could have possibly went down.

Did the Trump campaign collude with Russian agents trying to manipulate the course of the 2016 election? Some analysts have argued that the media has made too much of the collusion narrative; that Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Kremlin-linked Russians last year was probably innocent (if ill-advised); or that Russian operatives probably meant for the meeting to be discovered because they were not trying to recruit Mr. Kushner and Mr. Trump as agents, but mainly trying to undermine the American political system. 

We disagree with these arguments. We like to think of ourselves as fair-minded and knowledgeable, having between us many years of experience with the C.I.A. dealing with Russian intelligence services. It is our view not only that the Russian government was running some sort of intelligence operation involving the Trump campaign, but also that it is impossible to rule out the possibility of collusion between the two. 

The original plan drawn up by the Russian intelligence services was probably multilayered. They could have begun an operation intended to disrupt the presidential campaign, as well as an effort to recruit insiders to help them over time — the two are not mutually exclusive. It is the nature of Russian covert actions (or as the Russians would call them, “active measures”) to adapt over time, providing opportunities for other actions that extend beyond the original intent. 

It is entirely plausible, for example, that the original Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers was an effort simply to collect intelligence and get an idea of the plans of the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate. Once derogatory information emerged from that operation, the Russians might then have seen an opportunity for a campaign to influence or disrupt the election. When Donald Trump Jr. responded “I love it” to proffers from a Kremlin-linked intermediary to provide derogatory information obtained by Russia on Hillary Clinton, the Russians might well have thought that they had found an inside source, an ally, a potential agent of influence on the election. 

The goal of the Russian spy game is to nudge a person to step over the line into an increasingly conspiratorial relationship. First, for a Russian intelligence recruitment operation to work, they would have had some sense that Donald Trump Jr. was a promising target. Next, as the Russians often do, they made a “soft” approach, setting the bait for their target via the June email sent by Rob Goldstone, a British publicist, on behalf of a Russian pop star, Emin Agalarov.

They then employed a cover story — adoptions — to make it believable to the outside world that there was nothing amiss with the proposed meetings. They bolstered this idea by using cutouts, nonofficial Russians, for the actual meeting, enabling the Trump team to claim — truthfully — that there were no Russian government employees at the meeting and that it was just former business contacts of the Trump empire who were present. 

When the Trump associates failed to do the right thing by informing the F.B.I., the Russians probably understood that they could take the next step toward a more conspiratorial relationship. They knew what bait to use and had a plan to reel in the fish once it bit.

Again, the Russians have been dealing with Trump for decades, he's a known quantity to them.  They knew how he worked, they know how he played, and everything in between.  They simply took the person they knew and played the game from there.  It was far, far more successful than they could have dreamed and the damage done to our country will ne generation as a result.  They know they've scored a massive victory, and as both Sipher and Hall have pointed out, finding the evidence of collusion should be considered somewhat inevitable.

The goal wasn't to get Trump into the White House, although that was secondary and arguably the best outcome for Moscow.  The goal was to damage the US political system to the point where it could no longer function and interact reliably with allies or interfere with enemies.

The last six months have proven to be the greatest success of Russian spycraft in history in that regard.

StupidiNews!

• Donald Trump has signed legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea that limits his authority to remove them, Russia is threatening a "full-scale trade war" in return.
• Energy Secretary Rick Perry may be Trump's choice to head the Department of Homeland Security as previous DHS head Gen. John Kelly is now White House Chief of Staff.
• Republicans and the White House are pushing newly proposed legislation to cut legal immigration to the US in half over ten years, but the bill faces long odds in the Senate.
• In the wake of Saudi Arabia's continued blockade, Qatar is moving forward with granting some benefits of citizenship to permanent resident foreigners.
• Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin is accusing Louisville TV station WDRB of flying a drone over his house, Bevin's million-dollar home has been the subject of ethics inquiries in the past.

Last Call For The State (Run) Of The Media

Everyone knows you can't be a proper real authoritarian regime without state-run media, and after the twin disasters of Sean Spicer's departure as Press Secretary and the short-lived "Tony Scaramucci as Communications Director" era, the Trump regime is turning to one of their own to bypass the Fourth Estate.

After months of denigrating the media as fake news, President Trump has launched a news program of his own on Facebook featuring his daughter-in-law.

"Watch here for REAL news!" a post on the president's Facebook page said Sunday.

Lara Trump, who is married to the president's son Eric, appeared as the video's host in front of a Trump campaign background. Speaking to the camera like a TV news anchor, she offered updates on news favorable to her father-in-law.

"I bet you haven't heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week because there's so much fake news out there," she said.

A Google search shows mainstream media outlets did cover the stories she recounted, such as Trump donating his salary, a new Foxconn manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, and economic growth. But they also reported on the turmoil within the White House, the failure of his party to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the president's tweets saying that he wanted to ban transgender people from serving in the military.

Trump's abrupt reversal of Department of Defense policy was a dominant news story in the mainstream media last week. BuzzFeed News reported that the White House did not have a plan for its implementation, how the news seemed to stun military leaders, and how the news was received by trans veterans.

Those stories were not included in Lara Trump's news update.

"The president also met with some incredible veterans this week in Ohio, giving his thanks to them for their service to our country. Likewise, the vice president visited Walter Reed hospital, where he sat down and talked to so many wounded soldiers who have put their lives on the line for all of us."

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about how the video came to be produced and if Lara Trump should be considered part of the president's communications team. She previously worked as a producer for Inside Edition and has frequently made appearances in support of the Trump campaign.

She first promoted what will apparently be a series two weeks ago, encouraging the president's 23 million followers on Facebook to tune in every week.

"We're going to bring you nothing but the facts — stay tuned," she said.

I'm honestly surprised it took this long for the Trumpies to set up a propaganda show like this.  They've been kicking around the idea of "Trump TV" since the beginning but it seems those plans have fallen through.

On a Wednesday night last month in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it was just like old times for Right Side Broadcasting.

Live on YouTube, hosts Steve Lookner and Liz Willis interviewed people sporting “Make America Great Again” hats, who waited eagerly in line to watch President Trump take the stage at a jam-packed, campaign-style rally. Some of the Trump fans doubled as Right Side fans, and asked Lookner and Willis to pose for selfies in their branded polos.

Once the event started, Right Side streamed Trump's remarks in their entirety, just as it did hundreds of times during a presidential race that vaulted this Auburn, Ala., start-up from Internet obscurity to a media partnership with the Trump campaign.

The president's Facebook page featured Right Side's video feed from Cedar Rapids — and racked up 1.8 million views.

But nights like this one have been rare since Trump pulled off an upset victory in November.

After generating $1.1 million in advertising revenue and donations in 2016, Right Side entertained grand expansion plans. Founder Joe Seales told Business Insider last fall that he wanted to add news shows to his company's YouTube channel and build toward 24-hour programming.

Instead, Right Side has been forced to cut back amid steep revenue declines. A staff of 12 is down to four. Shows hosted by Mike Cernovich, Wayne Dupree, Margaret Howell and Nicholas J. Fuentes have been canceled.

Far from seeing a gusher of donations from energized Trump supporters, Seales said he has been propping up Right Side Broadcasting with money from his own pocket.

“I think a lot of them feel like the mission has been accomplished,” Seales said of the president's backers. “I think that after Trump won, people thought, 'Well, hey, our job is done.' Our donations went down significantly after the campaign. I think everybody sort of has that feeling of, 'Why are you guys still doing this? Trump won.' ”

Ahh, but now the mission has changed.  Now it's all about propaganda and leveraging social media, something the Trump regime is fairly familiar with.  Something tells me we're going to see a lot more of Lara Trump in the future.

That's not a good thing.

The End Of The Affirmative Action Era

Donald Trump famously told black voters like me a year ago "What do you have to lose?" by voting for him.  Turns out besides the rollback of federal sentencing reforms for an Attorney General who wants to stuff as many black bodies in private prisons as possible and the virtual elimination of oversight of police departments who regularly engage in brutal, deadly racism, black folks now get to lose affirmative action in US colleges and universities.

The Trump administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Department’s civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.

The document, an internal announcement to the civil rights division, seeks current lawyers interested in working for a new project on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”

The announcement suggests that the project will be run out of the division’s front office, where the Trump administration’s political appointees work, rather than its Educational Opportunities Section, which is run by career civil servants and normally handles work involving schools and universities.

The document does not explicitly identify whom the Justice Department considers at risk of discrimination because of affirmative action admissions policies. But the phrasing it uses, “intentional race-based discrimination,” cuts to the heart of programs designed to bring more minority students to university campuses.

Supporters and critics of the project said it was clearly targeting admissions programs that can give members of generally disadvantaged groups, like black and Latino students, an edge over other applicants with comparable or higher test scores.

Not enough white people in colleges.  Time to bring the full power of the Justice Department to bear, right?  Here's the excuse they're using though:

The project is another sign that the civil rights division is taking on a conservative tilt under President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It follows other changes in Justice Department policy on voting rights, gay rights and police reforms.

Roger Clegg, a former top official in the civil rights division during the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration who is now the president of the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity, called the project a “welcome” and “long overdue” development as the United States becomes increasingly multiracial.

“The civil rights laws were deliberately written to protect everyone from discrimination, and it is frequently the case that not only are whites discriminated against now, but frequently Asian-Americans are as well,” he said.

Got that?  Republicans are claiming that affirmative action discriminates against white and Asian students so it has to end, never mind that the number of black and Latino college students has actually gone down considerably at the nation's top 100 universities over the last two decades.

Ever since the Supreme Court spared affirmative action last year, the GOP has been itching for a chance to dismantle it on the grounds of "reverse discrimination" and it looks like those efforts will start getting under way soon.

But, they told me there wasn't any difference between corporate shill Hillary and Trump, so why bother voting, ya know?

Turns out that difference is pretty gigantic if your black and/or Latino, which maybe explains why so any of us voted for her.

White folks?  Not so much.

Dems Flying High In Lexington

Don't look now, but Democrats are on the move here in Kentucky and next door in KY-6, GOP Rep. Andy Barr has just picked up yet another Democratic challenger in a district that's winnable for Team Blue.

Meet Amy McGrath, Marine fighter pilot and proud Democrat.



KY-6 was the long-time home of Democrat Ben Chandler, who lost in 2013 to Andy Barr after serving six terms representing Frankfort and Lexington.  Now Barr has some real trouble headed his way, because the good lieutenant here is exactly the kind of Democrat that can win in the Bluegrass State.

A retired fighter pilot says she will seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in Kentucky’s 6th District. 

Amy McGrath announced her candidacy on Tuesday with an online video touting her military career. She’s one of several of military veterans across the country to have launched campaigns as part of the broader Democratic strategy of challenging the Republican majority in the 2018 midterm elections. 

McGrath said she was not recruited by the Democratic Party. She said her decision to run stemmed from Donald Trump’s election as president, which caused her to rethink what it is to be an American.

McGrath is a political neophyte, but frankly in 2017/2018 that's an advantage among conservative red state voters, now isn't it?

It was Roger Ailes's now famous ad for Mitch McConnell that propelled him to Congress.  Wouldn't it be something if an ad for somebody in the same state put a Democrat on the national map this time in helping to rid the country of Ailes's (and McConnell's) legacy?

StupidiNews!

• Despite threats from the White House to cut millions of Americans off health care by stopping premium subsidies, senators on both sides of the aisle say it's time for a bipartisan health bill.
• NJ Dem Sen. Cory Booker has introduced legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, saying it's time for America to end the war on pot.
• A June accident at a Japanese nuclear research facility that exposed five to radiation has been deemed a Level 2 incident by the world nuclear regulatory watchdog, the highest level is 7.
• New USDA numbers show honeybees are making a strong comeback after nearly a decade of "Colony Collapse Disorder", colony losses are down 27% from this time last year.
• Baltimore prosecutors have dismissed dozens of pending drug cases after police body cam footage showed at least two incidents of officers planting evidence at crime scenes.

Last Call For State Of The Bank Account

The State Department is apparently out of the democracy game under the Tillerson/Trump "leadership era" because let's face it, it's a lot easier doing business with dictators, strongmen, and despots when you're unburdened by American values. Forget the red, white, and blue, it's all about the green. Josh Rogin at WaPo:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered his department to redefine its mission and issue a new statement of purpose to the world. The draft statements under review right now are similar to the old mission statement, except for one thing — any mention of promoting democracy is being eliminated. 

According to an internal email that went out Friday, which I obtained, the State Department’s Executive Steering Committee convened a meeting of leaders to draft new statements on the department’s purpose, mission and ambition, as part of the overall reorganization of the State Department and USAID. (The draft statements were being circulated for comment Friday and could change before being finalized.) 

• The State Department’s draft statement on its purpose is: “We promote the security, prosperity and interests of the American people globally.”
• The State Department’s draft statement on its mission is: “Lead America’s foreign policy through global advocacy, action and assistance to shape a safer, more prosperous world.”
• The State Department’s draft statement on its ambition is: “The American people thrive in a peaceful and interconnected world that is free, resilient and prosperous.”

Compare that to the State Department Mission Statement that is currently on the books, as laid out in the department’s fiscal year 2016 financial report: 

“The Department’s mission is to shape and sustain a peaceful, prosperous, just, and democratic world and foster conditions for stability and progress for the benefit of the American people and people everywhere. This mission is shared with the USAID, ensuring we have a common path forward in partnership as we invest in the shared security and prosperity that will ultimately better prepare us for the challenges of tomorrow.” 

Former senior State Department officials from both parties told me that eliminating “just” and “democratic” from the State Department’s list of desired outcomes is neither accidental nor inconsequential.

“The only significant difference is the deletion of justice and democracy,” said Elliott Abrams, who served as deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy during the George W. Bush administration. “We used to want a just and democratic word, and now apparently we don’t.”

But we sure like your money.  Morality, after all, doesn't pay the bills for multinationals like ExxonMobil. Note the repetition of the word "prosperous/prosperity" in the new State Department mission statement.

Hey now, you're a rock star, get your game on, get paid.

Serena Hits The Gap

Tennis legend Serena Williams took to Fortune Magazine yesterday to write an essay on Black Women's Equal Pay Day, as July 31st, 2017 represents the seven months longer it would take for the average black woman to work extra to equal what the average white man earned in 2016 alone.

Today is Black Women's Equal Pay Day. This day shines a light on the long-neglected fact that the gender pay gap hits women of color the hardest. Black women are 37 cents behind men in the pay gap—in other words, for every dollar a man makes, black women make 63 cents. 

I’d like to acknowledge the many realities black women face every day. To recognize that women of color have to work—on average—eight months longer to earn the same as their male counterparts do in one year. To bring attention to the fact that black women earn 17% less than their white female counterparts and that black women are paid 63% of the dollar men are paid. Even black women who have earned graduate degrees get paid less at every level. This is as true in inner cities as it is in Silicon Valley.

Together, we will change the story—but we are going to have to fight for every penny.
Growing up, I was told I couldn’t accomplish my dreams because I was a woman and, more so, because of the color of my skin. In every stage of my life, I’ve had to learn to stand up for myself and speak out. I have been treated unfairly, I’ve been disrespected by my male colleagues and—in the most painful times—I’ve been the subject of racist remarks on and off the tennis court. Luckily, I am blessed with an inner drive and a support system of family and friends that encourage me to move forward. But these injustices still hurt. 

am in the rare position to be financially successful beyond my imagination. I had talent, I worked like crazy and I was lucky enough to break through. But today isn’t about me. It’s about the other 24 million black women in America. If I never picked up a tennis racket, I would be one of them; that is never lost on me. 

The cycles of poverty, discrimination, and sexism are much, much harder to break than the record for Grand Slam titles. For every black woman that rises through the ranks to a position of power, there are too many others who are still struggling. Most black women across our country do not have the same support that I did, and so they often don’t speak out about what is just, fair and appropriate in the workplace. When they do, they are often punished for it. 

Unfair pay has prevailed for far too long with no consequence. Through decades of systematic oppression, black women have been conditioned to think they are less than. In many cases, these women are the heads of households. Single mothers. The issue isn’t just that black women hold lower-paying jobs. They earn less even in fields of technology, finance, entertainment, law, and medicine. 

Changing the status quo will take dedicated action, legislation, employer recognition, and courage for employees to demand more. In short, it’s going to take all of us. Men, women, of all colors, races and creeds to realize this is an injustice. And an injustice to one is an injustice to all. 

The first step in making a change is recognition. We need to push this issue to the front of conversations so that employers across the U.S. can truly understand that all male and female employees must be compensated equally. Not close. Not almost the same. Equally. 

Recently, I have joined SurveyMonkey’s board of directors, with this specific initiative in mind. SurveyMonkey wants to make information accessible so that all of us can make informed decisions. As they say: knowledge is power. As a black female entrepreneur and person in the spotlight, I am trying to figure out how I can move the needle forward and open doors for everyone, no matter the color of their skin. But I want to start with the wage gap.

And that's really the issue.  The wage gap exists across not just "pink collar" jobs like office assistants or secretaries, it exists among geologists, physicians, civil engineers, lawyers, and CEOs too. We've got the numbers, and across the board black women get paid less, period.  That's even more true for Latino women by the way, as well as white women.

If the most highly-paid tennis player of her generation can recognize this and take steps to help, we all can.

Russian To Judgment, Con't

The Trump regime can't stop lying, and can't stop getting caught in those lies as we revisit Donald Trump Jr.'s now infamous June 2016 meeting with several Russian nationals where the topic was seeking Russian intelligence dirt on Hillary Clinton.  It now turns out Trump the Younger's statement after that news broke wasn't the work of himself or his lawyers...but dictated by his father, according to a Washington Post story.

On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril.

The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.

But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed.

Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared an article, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.”

The claims were later shown to be misleading.

Remember how the concern was that such a misleading statement was potential legal trouble for those involved in creating it?

Over the next three days, multiple accounts of the meeting were provided to the news media as public pressure mounted, with Trump Jr. ultimately acknowledging that he had accepted the meeting after receiving an email promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s campaign.

The extent of the president’s personal intervention in his son’s response, the details of which have not previously been reported, adds to a series of actions that Trump has taken that some advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy.

As special counsel Robert S. Mueller III looks into potential obstruction of justice as part of his broader investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, these advisers worry that the president’s direct involvement leaves him needlessly vulnerable to allegations of a coverup.

“This was . . . unnecessary,” said one of the president’s advisers, who like most other people interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. “Now someone can claim he’s the one who attempted to mislead. Somebody can argue the president is saying he doesn’t want you to say the whole truth.”
Trump has already come under criticism for steps he has taken to challenge and undercut the Russia investigation.

Gosh, you think Trump is an inveterate liar who, if these reports are true, dictated a massive lie in order to try to cover up the truth and protect his son?  It wasn't just the Trump regime that put out this statement, it was Donald Trump himself.  Trump said that he was aware of his son's meeting but not the content of that meeting, and now we know that's a lie.

One might even say this was potential obstruction of an investigation into that meeting. And somebody in the White House just blew a hole in Trump's defense and leaked to the Washington Post.

As I said, the Trump Jr. meeting was the end of the beginning of this story.  Now it's moving on to a new stage.

The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the murder of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The explosive claim is part of the lawsuit filed against Fox News by Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for the news network. The suit was obtained exclusively by NPR. 

Wheeler alleges Fox News and the Trump supporter intended to deflect public attention from growing concern about the administration's ties to the Russian government. His suit charges that a Fox News reporter created quotations out of thin air and attributed them to him to propel her story. 

Fox's president of news, Jay Wallace, told NPR Monday there was no "concrete evidence" that Wheeler was misquoted by the reporter, Malia Zimmerman. The news executive did not address a question about the story's allegedly partisan origins. Fox News declined to allow Zimmerman to comment for this story. 

The story, which first aired in May, was retracted by Fox News a week later. Fox News has, to date, taken no action in response to what it said was a failure to adhere to the network's standards.

The lawsuit focuses particular attention on the role of the Trump supporter, Ed Butowsky, in weaving the story. He is a wealthy Dallas investor and unpaid Fox commentator on financial matters, who has emerged as a reliable Republican surrogate in recent years. Butowsky offered to pay for Wheeler to investigate the death of the DNC aide, Seth Rich, on behalf of his grieving parents in Omaha. 

On April 20, a month before the story ran, Butowsky and Wheeler — the investor and the investigator — met at the White House with then Press Secretary Sean Spicer to brief him on what they were uncovering. 

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that President Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

Turns out Trump is involved in a lot of things and then later lied about them or had his people lie about them and specifically his involvement, and he keeps getting caught time and time again in those lies.

Stay tuned.