Last Call For The Wire

The Justice Department's investigation into systemic racism fueling thousands of unlawful arrests and deadly brutality in Baltimore's police department has uncovered devastating results that should infuriate everyone in the country.

The Justice Department’s investigation into the practices and policies of the Baltimore Police Department details a number of shocking incidents involving Baltimore officers. Here are some excerpts, with the headings also written by the Justice Department: 

“BPD Conducts Unconstitutional Strip Searches” 

“Numerous Baltimore residents interviewed by the Justice Department recounted stories of BPD officers ‘jumping out’ of police vehicles and strip-searching individuals on public streets. BPD has long been on notice of such allegations: in the last five years BPD has faced multiple lawsuits and more than 60 complaints alleging unlawful strip searches. In one of these incidents — memorialized in a complaint that the Department sustained — officers in BPD’s Eastern District publicly strip-searched a woman following a routine traffic stop for a missing headlight. Officers ordered the woman to exit her vehicle, remove her clothes, and stand on the sidewalk to be searched. The woman asked the male officer in charge, “I really gotta take all my clothes off?” The male officer replied “yeah” and ordered a female officer to strip search the woman. The female officer then put on purple latex gloves, pulled up the woman’s shirt and searched around her bra. Finding no weapons or contraband around the woman’s chest, the officer then pulled down the woman’s underwear and searched her anal cavity. This search again found no evidence of wrongdoing and the officers released the woman without charges. Indeed, the woman received only a repair order for her headlight. “ 

“BPD Ignored Prosecutors’ Warnings Against Problem Officers” 

“Even where prosecutors have provided BPD with specific information on problematic officers who routinely make improper arrests, searches, or seizures, the Department has failed to meaningfully investigate the information or take appropriate action. For several years, the State’s Attorney’s Office maintained a ‘Do Not Call’ list of officers that prosecutors should not subpoena to testify because prosecutors determined that the officers did not testify credibly about their enforcement actions. Although the State’s Attorney’s Office regularly shared this list with BPD, the Department rarely used the information to identify officers who may need support or discipline. As a result, problematic officers remain on the street, detaining, searching, and arresting people even though the State’s Attorney’s Office has determined that it cannot prosecute a crime based on the officers’ testimony. The State’s Attorney’s Office no longer maintains a written ‘Do Not Call’ list, but prosecutors informally maintain a registry of problematic BPD officers who cannot be used to support criminal prosecutions. In recent years, the State’s Attorney’s Office has contacted BPD leadership on several occasions to identify officers that prosecutors determined can no longer testify credibly due to misconduct. In most of these cases, BPD leadership took no action against the identified problem officers.” 

“BPD’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ Strategy Focused on African American Neighborhoods” 

“In some cases, BPD supervisors have instructed their subordinates to specifically target African Americans for enforcement. A sergeant told us that in 2011 her lieutenant — a commander in charge of setting enforcement priorities for an entire police district during the shift — ordered the sergeant to instruct officers under her command to ‘lock up all the black hoodies’ in her district. When the sergeant objected and refused to follow this order, she received an “unsatisfactory” performance evaluation and was transferred to a different unit. The sergeant filed a successful complaint about her performance evaluation with BPD’s Equal Opportunity and Diversity Section, but BPD never took action against the lieutenant for giving the order to target “black hoodies” for enforcement. 

“Similarly, as described above, in 2012 a BPD lieutenant provided officers under his command with a template for trespassing arrests that suggested officers would arrest exclusively African-American men for that offense. As in the first example, this directive is especially concerning because it came from a shift commander. These statements targeting African Americans for enforcement reinforce the statistical disparities in enforcement outcomes that we measured. The enforcement activities ordered by the BPD commanders — arresting African Americans for trespassing and finding any possible basis to arrest ‘black hoodies’ — are consistent with the racial disparities we found in BPD’s discretionary stops, searches, and misdemeanor arrests.” 

“Racial Disparities in Arrests” 

The racial disparities in BPD’s stops and searches are further reflected in BPD’s arrest practices. From November 2010 – July 2015, BPD charged African Americans with 280,850 criminal offenses, constituting over 86 percent of all charges filed for which the race of the offender is known. Expressed a different way, African Americans in Baltimore were charged with one offense for every 1.4 residents, while individuals of other races were charged with only one offense per 5.1 residents. This discriminatory pattern is particularly apparent in two categories of BPD’s enforcement: (1) warrantless arrests for discretionary misdemeanor offenses such as disorderly conduct and failing to obey an officer’s order; and (2) arrests for drug possession. In both cases, officers arrest African Americans at rates far higher than relevant benchmarks. 

“BPD’s warrantless arrests for discretionary misdemeanor offenses exhibit substantial racial disparities. .. Analysis of this data reveals that African Americans account for the overwhelming majority of BPD’s discretionary misdemeanor arrests, and that reviewing officials are more likely to dismiss charges against African Americans—indicating that officers apply a lower standard when making them. As an initial matter, BPD officers arrest African Americans for several common misdemeanor offenses at high rates. Although they make up only 63 percent of Baltimore’s population, African Americans accounted for: 87 percent of the 3,400 charges for resisting arrest; 89 percent of 1,350 charges for making a false statement to an officer; 84 percent of the 4,000 charges for failing to obey an order; 86 percent of the more than 1,000 charges for hindering or obstruction; 83 percent of the roughly 6,500 arrests for disorderly conduct; and 88 percent of the nearly 3,500 arrests for trespassing on posted property.”

And again, these are just a small part of the findings of systemic racism, unlawful arrests, and a culture of viewing brown and especially black people as The Enemy,  You're crazy if you think this isn't happening in nearly every PD in America, too.

This isn't Jim Crow era stuff in America's past.  This is now.

Trump Cards, Con't

Democrats are licking their chops at the prospect of making gains in the House as well as the Senate thanks to Donald Trump, and I can't say I blame them.

Hillary Clinton is trouncing Donald Trump in several swing House districts, Democratic Party officials say in a new memo obtained by POLITICO that touts the party's down-ballot prospects in November but does not predict they'll capture the chamber. 

Clinton is posting double-digit leads in several vulnerable Republican districts including Rep. Bob Dold in Illinois, Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, California freshman Rep. Steve Knight, Rep. Mike Coffman in Colorado and Rep. Erik Paulsen in Minnesota, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee memo states.

“Donald Trump’s likely defeat in many swing districts will be a devastating anchor that drags down House Republicans all across the country,” wrote DCCC Executive Director Kelly Ward. 

The memo, which comes 90 days out from the election, says that Democrats intend to hitch their House opponents to Trump at every turn and misstep, including his suggestion Tuesday that “Second Amendment people” might stop Clinton if she’s elected. 

“For the next 90 days, Donald Trump will undoubtedly continue these types of antics – just yesterday he suggested a violent attack against Hillary Clinton – and House Republicans will be forced to deal with the fallout. Their problems are only going to get worse,” Ward wrote.

That's undoubtedly true.  The question is how many people will be willing to split their ticket and vote against Trump while still backing House Republicans that have been a disaster for the country for six years and created the very toxic political stew that gave rise to Trump in the first place.

Cook Political Report has all those above districts listed as toss-ups, so if numbers are starting to come in where Clinton has a big lead it could be a sign that Democrats may be able to pick up multiple seats.

It's possible that the Dems could pick up the 23 seats they need to take control of the House, there are 16 total GOP districts that Cook has rated a toss-up, with the Democrats likely to pick up a net total of five more, and 11 additional leaning districts that could be in play in the kind of election that goes particularly badly for one party.

Still, that's going to require a "blue wave" to win, and the prospect of giving the House right back in 2018 midterms is almost assured.  However, the Dems have to start somewhere in taking back the House, so they might as well take what gains they can get out of of Trumpster Fire.

The Rio Hunger Games

While world records are being smashed and medals awarded in Rio, it's time to check in with the more lasting political story in Brazil as the country's Senate has overwhelmingly voted to proceed with the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff over corruption charges, charges almost certainly related to financing the construction of the very Olympic venues being celebrated this month.

The Brazilian Senate has voted to hold an impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff, who is accused of breaking the budget law. 

The senate voted 59 to 21 in favour of going ahead with the trial against Ms Rousseff, which is likely to be held at the end of this month. 

The Senate suspended Ms Rousseff in May over alleged illegal accounting practices.
She says they were common practice under previous administrations. 

Following a marathon debate that ended early on Wednesday, the senate easily surpassed the required simple majority needed to decide on whether to try Ms Rousseff. 

A two-thirds majority is needed in the final vote following the trial, which is due in the week after the Olympics closing ceremony. 

As the debate got under way on Tuesday, Supreme Court President Ricardo Lewandowski told senators that they were about to "exercise one of the most serious tasks under the constitution".

Current replacement Michel Temer isn't exactly popular these days either, being roundly booed by Brazilians at the Olympic opening ceremony last weekend. As a reminder, Olympic games are usually financial disasters for the countries that host them too.

Both these events will have a long-term impact on Brazil, and not a very good one.

StupidiNews!

• US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps extended his record total as the world's most decorated athlete last night swimming the anchor leg to his 21st gold in the Men's 4x200 relay.
• Pacific Gas and Electric has been found guilty on multiple federal charges resulting from a 2010 residential area pipeline explosion that killed eight.
• At least 11 babies died in a maternity ward hospital fire in Baghdad on Wednesday, the fire was apparently caused by an electrical fault.
• Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan easily won his primary last night in Wisconsin after a grudging endorsement from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
• Cable internet startup Wow plans to bring gigabit fiber internet to five cities in 2016 as the company enters the fiber internet market against Google and AT&T.

Last Call For The Last Red Line

And as I expected, Donald Trump has now crossed the last line, openly wondering if somebody can't come along and provide a "Second Amendment solution" to his Hillary Clinton problem.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared to joke about the possibility that Hillary Clinton could be shot in remarks at a campaign rally Tuesday in Wilmington, N.C. 

Trump was discussing the possibility that Clinton, the Democratic nominee, would be able to appoint liberal justices to the Supreme Court if she wins the race for the White House. 

He then said that there was nothing that could be done in that scenario, before mentioning “Second Amendment folks.” 

“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment,” Trump said to boos from the crowd. 

“By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks,” he then added. 

“Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know.”

Gonna be a long four years.

Trump Cards, Con't

The latest losers in Election '16 are all the conservative pundits who promised us Trump would pivot to the general election after his rise in the primary.  I said that would never happen and lo and behold I was right.

On the heels of his campaign’s worst week yet, Donald Trump suggested that it is his temperament that “has gotten me here” and said he has no plans to change it. 

“I think that my temperament has gotten me here,” Trump said in a Tuesday morning interview on Fox Business Network. “I’ve always had a good temperament and it’s gotten me here. We beat a lot of people in the primaries and now we have one person left, and we’re actually doing pretty well there, but we’ll see how it all comes out.”

Trump’s poll numbers have sagged in recent days after he spent much of last week feuding with the Gold Star family of a fallen Muslim soldier and with prominent lawmakers in his own party. After initially refusing to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte in their respective primary races, Trump offered an about-face and voiced his support for all three. By then, the intense scrutiny — combined with Clinton’s bump from a well-received Democratic National Convention — had taken their toll on Trump’s campaign. 

But while a wave of recent public polls have shown Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits, the Manhattan billionaire said his campaign’s internal polling paints a rosier picture. Asked by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo what his campaign needs to do to escape from the polling hole it has sunk into, Trump said his campaign needs only “steadiness” and for him to continue “just doing what I’m doing.” 

As he often does, Trump pointed to the size of the crowds at his rallies as evidence that his campaign is successfully reaching voters. 

“I certainly don’t think it’s appropriate to start changing all of a sudden when you’ve been winning,” he said. “I mean I’ve beaten many people, and now we’re down to one. And we’ll see how it all works out, but I think it’s going to work out well.”

Apparently whichever Republican campaign strategist wrote up the memo on Trump's "reboot" on Monday forgot to give a copy to Trump himself. Reality never mattered to this election, only the perception of reality.

Donald Trump said a lot of different things last week so we polled to what share of his supporters bought into each of them: 

-69% of Trump voters think that if Hillary Clinton wins the election it will be because it was rigged, to only 16% who think it would be because she got more vote than Trump. More specifically 40% of Trump voters think that ACORN (which hasn't existed in years) will steal the election for Clinton. That shows the long staying power of GOP conspiracy theories.

-48% of Trump voters think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton deserve the blame for Humayun Khan's death to 16% who absolve them and 36% who aren't sure one way or the other (Obama was in the Illinois Legislature when it happened.) Showing the extent to which Trump supporters buy into everything he says, 40% say his comments about the Khans last week were appropriate to only 22% who will grant that they were inappropriate. And 39% of Trump voters say they view the Khan family negatively, to just 11% who have a positive opinion of them. 

-Even though Trump ended up admitting it didn't exist 47% of his voters say they saw the video of Iran collecting 400 million dollars from the United States to only 46% who say they didn't see the video. Showing the extent to which the ideas Trump floats and the coverage they get can overshadow the facts, even 25% of Clinton voters claim to have seen the nonexistent video. 

-Trump said last week that Hillary Clinton is the devil, and 41% of Trump voters say they think she is indeed the devil to 42% who disagree with that sentiment and 17% who aren't sure one way or the other. 

We've been writing for almost a year that there's a cult like aspect to Trump's supporters, where they'll go along with anything he says. Trump made some of his most outlandish claims and statements yet last week, but we continue to find that few in his support base disavow them.

Trump voters are so massively divorced from reality that when he loses in a landslide they're not going to accept it for a second.  If you thought America was in bad shape in 2016, wait until 2017.

The Pebble In The Av-Hill-Lanche, Con't

It's a bit early for high-profile defections from a losing presidential candidate with 90 days to go until the election, or it would be if the candidate was anyone other than Donald Trump. Today's contestant bailing on the Trump Train? Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins.

Donald Trump lost the support of another Republican lawmaker on Monday, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) stating she would not vote for her party’s presidential nominee in a Washington Post op-ed published on Monday night.

“With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize,” Collins wrote. “But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing — either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level — that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president.”

She specifically mentioned Trump’s verbal attacks against Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of US Army Capt. Humayun Khan who criticized him at the Democratic National Convention.

“Rather than honoring their sacrifice and recognizing their pain, Mr. Trump disparaged the religion of the family of an American hero,” Collins stated. “And once again, he proved incapable of apologizing, of saying he was wrong.”

She also cited Trump’s rhetoric concerning federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel and his mockery of reporter Serge Kovaleski late last year, arguing that Trump has shown a refusal to tone himself down in the general election.

“Regrettably, his essential character appears to be fixed, and he seems incapable of change or growth,” she said.

This is how badly Trump has damaged the Republican brand in 2016.

Now, Collins isn't up for re-election this year, but in a state where the other senator is an independent like Angus King, Collins trashing Trump without saying she'll support Hillary Clinton only makes sense, especially in a state where Clinton is ahead.  Still, this is a sitting Republican senator saying she will not vote for the party's standard-bearer, and that's definitely not good for Trump.

We'll see who else starts jumping off the Trump Train in the weeks ahead.  My guess is we'll see a lot more Republicans in the House and Senate do so in an effort to provide downticket cover for their colleagues up for re-election.

StupidiNews!

• Delta Airlines continues to have flight delays and cancellations caused by computer problems with flights worldwide for a second day.
• Several civil rights activists including the head of the NAACP were arrested Monday at a sit-in at a GOP Congressman's office in Virginia protesting Republican inaction on the VRA.
• Turkey's government says at least 16,000 people have been arrested and charged in connection with last month's failed coup attempt, another 6,000 detained are awaiting processing.
• Mexico's wealthiest businessman, mobile phone magnate Carlos Slim, wants major labor reforms in the country including the introduction of a three-day workweek.
• The Muslim teenager arrested when he brought a homemade clock to school in Texas has filed a lawsuit against the school district, his principal, and the city of Irving.

Last Call For The New Guy In The Race

The "Never Trump" branch of the GOP (the ones smart enough to know they're going to lose in a Goldwaterslide(tm) with Trump) are trying to recruit an independent centrist candidate for November, for whatever that effort is going to be worth, as it's far too late to get him on the ballot in several key states. 

Evan McMullin, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, will run for president as a third-party conservative alternative to Donald Trump, he said today.

"With the stakes so high for our nation and at this late stage in the process, I can no longer stand on the sidelines," McMullin said in a statement. "Our country needs leaders who are in it for the right reasons and who actually understand what makes this country the greatest on earth. Leaders who will unite us and guide us to a prosperous, secure future, beyond the dysfunction of a broken political system."

He took aim at both major-party presidential nominees.

"Hillary Clinton is a corrupt career politician who has recklessly handled classified information in an attempt to avoid accountability and put American lives at risk, including those of my former colleagues," he said. "She fails the basic tests of judgment and ethics any candidate for president must meet."

As for Donald Trump, he "appeals to the worst fears of Americans at a time we need unity, not division," McMullin said. "Republicans are deeply divided by a man who is perilously close to gaining the most powerful position in the world, and many rightly see him as a real threat to our republic."

People working on McMullin's bid resigned from Better for America — a 501(c)(4) organization that may not officially endorse or back any candidate — in order to push his candidacy. The group has been working for months to select a candidate and get on ballots throughout the country. In some states, like Texas, they will likely have to sue to get on the ballot. A 501(c)(4) group is an issue-based nonprofit that may raise unlimited funds and does not have to disclose its donors.

"Just as the American Revolution required men and women devoted to liberty and freedom to stand up and be counted, this moment calls a new generation to the same sacred task." McMullin said in the statement. "With that in mind, I have decided to pursue the cause of American renewal and the presidency of the United States of America."

It's an extreme uphill climb, but his supporters are confident that McMullin, 40, can act as a disrupter and peel off some red states in a race in which some Republicans are still resistant to Trump.

Hey, if the GOP wants to Nader themselves into losing a dozen red states in three months, I say go for it. But I can't imagine this guy getting even a fraction of the attention that even Jill Stein is getting right now.

Like David French, I'm betting this guy fizzles out before too long.

The Coming Av-Hill-Lanche, Con't

Monmouth University's latest presidential poll shows Hillary Clinton at the all-important 50% mark in their likely voter model, but a whopping 13 points ahead of The Donald.

 

Currently, 46% of registered voters support Clinton and 34% back Trump, with 7% supporting Libertarian Gary Johnson, and 2% backing Jill Stein of the Green Party. Support among likely voters stands at 50% Clinton, 37% Trump, 7% Johnson, and 2% Stein. In a poll taken days before the Republican convention in mid-July, Clinton held a narrow 43% to 40% lead among registered voters and a 45% to 43% lead among likely voters. 

Clinton has solidified support among her partisan base since the conventions while Trump struggles to lock in his. More than 9-in-10 Democrats (92%) say they will vote for Clinton, up from 88% in July and 85% in June. Just 79% of Republicans are backing Trump, which is virtually unchanged from prior polls (81% in July and 79% in June).
Independents are divided between Trump (32%) and Clinton (30%). In the Monmouth poll taken before the two parties' conventions Trump held a 40% to 31% lead among this group. Johnson the Libertarian has picked up independent voter support in the past month, now at 16% (up from 9%) with this group, while the Green Party's Stein has remained stable at 4% (compared to 3% last month). 

Importantly, Clinton continues to maintain a lead in the swing states - ten states that were decided by less than seven points in the 2012 election. She holds a 42% to 34% edge over Trump in these states, which is similar to her 46% to 39% swing state lead last month. 

"The dust is starting to settle on the tag-team conventions, with the net advantage going to Clinton," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Not only does Monmouth's polling have an A+ rating from FiveThirtyEight for accuracy, but the crosstabs (PDF) show exactly where Trump is getting obliterated.  Clinton has a whopping 55-27% lead among women, and it's nearly as bad for Trump among college graduates, 53-29%.

To put into perspective what a Clinton +13 national race would mean, we're talking LBJ vs Barry Goldwater in 1964, a map where the Republicans would be lucky to win five or six states, and where Clinton would get 500+ electoral votes.

I don't think that November will be that bad for Trump.

Yet.

That's Real White Of You, Don

You have to admire the honesty of white supremacists in America, who correctly see Donald Trump as the best shot they've had yet of "cleansing" America of those people and making the country a lot paler than it is now.

The effort to plant the seeds of white nationalism in the political mainstream, where they might blossom into pro-white political coalitions that appeal to a broader swath of Caucasian voters, will not be easy, according to the chairman of the American Nazi Party.

But Rocky Suhayda thinks there is one political figure who presents a “real opportunity” to lessen the load.

Who is it? Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president.

“Now, if Trump does win, okay, it’s going to be a real opportunity for people like white nationalists, acting intelligently to build upon that, and to go and start — you know how you have the black political caucus and what not in Congress and everything — to start building on something like that,” Suhayda declared on his radio program last month.

“It doesn’t have to be anti-, like the movement’s been for decades, so much as it has to be pro-white,” he added. “You know what I’m saying? It’s kinda hard to go and call us bigots if we don’t go around and act like a bigot. That’s what the movement should contemplate. All right.”

Actual Nazis, guys.  Actual "we identify as the America Nazi Party" people are behind Trump.  And why not? And the Nazis have company.

Suhayda is far from the first avowed white supremacist to publicize his support and enthusiasm for Trump.

Earlier this year, Rachel Pendergraft — the national organizer for the Knights Party, a standard-bearer for the Ku Klux Klan — told The Washington Post that the KKK had begun using Trump’s candidacy as a new conversation starter to recruit followers.

She said this has been discussed on a private, members-only website and in “e-news, stuff that goes out to members.”

In addition to opening “a door to conversation,” she said, Trump’s candidacy had electrified some members of the movement.

“They like the overall momentum of his rallies and his campaign,” Pendergraft said. “They like that he’s not willing to back down. He says what he believes, and he stands on that.”

Actual Klansmen, guys.  Actual Nazis and actual Klansmen backing Trump.

On his radio show in February, David Duke — a former Ku Klux Klan leader and a current U.S. Senate candidate from Louisiana — encouraged listeners to cast their ballots for Trump, saying that “voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.”

This week, Duke told NPR that he is “100 percent behind” Trump’s political agenda.

“As a United States senator, nobody will be more supportive of his legislative agenda, his Supreme Court agenda, than I will,” Duke said.

“Donald Trump is not a racist,” he added. “And the truth is — in this country, if you simply defend the heritage of European American people, then you’re automatically a racist.

Gosh I wonder where they might have gotten that idea?

But remember there's no difference between the two candidates, right?   Keep supporting the racist, and get support from racists, and people might think you're a racist too, Trump voters.

StupidiNews!

• Day 2 of the Rio Games was dominated by American swimmers, with Michael Phelps winning his 19th gold and Katie Ledecky breaking her own 400m freestyle world record.
• Donald Trump will give what is being billed as a "major economic address" in Detroit today, he is expected to call for making child care expenses tax-deductible, among other things.
• Turkish President Erdogan is promising the country will be rebuilt stronger after last month's failed coup as he spoke to a massive rally of more than a million in Istanbul on Sunday.
• Delta Airlines has grounded all global departures as a computer outage has affected all the carrier's flights worldwide on Monday.
• The United States has dodged yet another hurricane as named storm Earl has spun out over the Yucatan, the odds of the US dodging major hurricanes for 11 years at we have is 1 in 2,300.

Where's The Fake "Iran Ransom" Story Going?

Republicans have been bringing up the "Obama administration paid ransom to Iran" lie a lot in the last two weeks, and I've wondered what the next step is.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says his Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was responsible for negotiations that led to a $400 million U.S. payment to Iran. Reacting to a Wall Street Journal story published Wednesday that described the delivery of the cash to Tehran in January, Trump accused Clinton on Twitter of having opened talks to give Iran the money.

Trump expanded on his remarks later, saying the money was a ransom payment for four Americans detained in Iran, that Iran released a video of the cash being unloaded from a plane in Tehran and that Iran only released a group of U.S. sailors it had captured in the Persian Gulf because it was about to be paid. These claims range from the incorrect to the unsupported.

TRUMP, in a tweet Wednesday: "Our incompetent Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was the one who started talks to give 400 million dollars, in cash, to Iran. Scandal!"

THE FACTS: Trump is wrong about Clinton's involvement. The $400 million payment - plus $1.3 billion in interest to be paid later - is a separate issue from the Iran nuclear deal that Clinton initiated. The process that resulted in the payout started decades before she became secretary of state. 

This was all made public as part of the Iran nuclear deal negotiations last year.  So again, why are Republicans bringing it up now and so obviously lying about Clinton somehow being in charge of the State Department in 1979?  Why are Republicans so desparate to tie Clinton to Iranian "wrongdoing"?

Here's the answer to your question.

An Iranian scientist accused of providing information on his country's nuclear program to the United States has been executed for treason, an Iranian judiciary spokesman said Sunday.

Shahram Amiri was charged with spying for enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, spokesman Gholamhosein Mohseni-Ejei said in his weekly news conference, the Iranian Student News Agency reported.

"Amiri had access to confidential military secrets and was connected to our No. 1 enemy, the Great Satan,” Mohseni-Ejei said. "He was sentenced to death in primary court, and the sentence was confirmed by Supreme Court" after Amiri appealed.

Mohseni-Ejei said U.S. officials had been unaware that Iran was monitoring Amiri's efforts for the West.

"The CIA thought that its movements were kept away from the eye of Iranian Intelligence Ministry," Mohseni-Ejei said. "They took Amiri to Saudi Arabia."

Amiri, 38, disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2009. He re-emerged a year later in the U.S., claiming in a video that he had been abducted, interrogated, tortured and offered millions in bribes while under "intense psychological pressure" by the CIA. He said he rejected the U.S. effort to break him.

The U.S. said in 2010 that Amiri had defected voluntarily and was paid millions of dollars for providing "useful information."

The Iranian regime executing scientists as "Western spies" is nothing new.  What's new is Republicans blaming Clinton for it.

An Iranian nuclear scientist has been hanged for treason for providing secrets to the US, Tehran has confirmed, less than a year after emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server were released apparently referencing Shahram Amiri as “our friend.”

Amiri had once claimed to be abducted by the CIA, but emails on the Clinton email server released last summer seemed to have confirmed what US officials had been saying at the time: Amiri helped the United States learn about Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities but then had second thoughts.

Amiri went missing in 2009 after going on religious pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He emerged in the United States in 2010 and eventually had gone to Iran’s special interest section at the Pakistan embassy seeking help to get back Iran.

In one email exchange dated in July 2010, Clinton’s lead foreign affairs advisor, Jake Sullivan, flagged Clinton to unwanted media attention regarding Amiri’s desire to go back.

“The gentleman you have talked to Bill Burns about has apparently gone to his country’s interests section because he is unhappy with how much time it has taken to facilitate his departure,” Sullivan wrote. “This could lead to problematic news stories in the next 24 hours. Will keep you posted.”

A day after the email exchange, Clinton made a public statement July 13, 2010, that Amiri was under no pressure. “He’s free to go. He was free to come. Those decisions are his alone to make.”

The emails were part of some 30,000 released by the State Department.

In other words, the Republicans are dead sure that they've got Clinton cold here.  You know, just like Benghazi!

Right?

The October Suprise This Year Is That There Is None

If Julian Assange has been hand-delivered evidence from Putin and Russian intelligence that will "put Hillary Clinton away" the fear now is that he's waiting until the last two weeks of the election to use it to bury her and assure a Trump victory. I don't buy it at all and think it's hogwash, especially since all the DNC leaks have done so far is gotten rid of the bad apples in the DNC and has done the Democrats a favor. The larger point is given so much evidence that Russia is behind this, what can the Obama administration actually do?

The administration insists it has improved its ability to respond quickly to cyberattacks, and officials increasingly say they support publicly calling out foreign nations that hack the United States. One administration official noted that it took just five weeks for President Barack Obama to impose economic sanctions against North Korea in response to the destructive late-2014 hacking of Sony Pictures.

Yet current and former officials acknowledge that constructing a public response isn't an instant task. Merely preparing a declassified explanation of who perpetrated an attack or readying economic sanctions takes weeks. Bringing criminal charges — as the Justice Department has done with state-backed hacking suspects in Iran and China — can require years.

And the U.S. has never leveled any official public reprisal for hacking by Russia, despite years of evidence that hackers linked to Vladimir Putin’s regime have carried out intrusions of the White House, State Department and Pentagon.

Obama himself preached caution at a news conference this week. Imposing penalties, he said, “requires us to really be able to pin down and know what we’re talking about.”

The prospect of a lengthy wait is unnerving for Clinton supporters, who see potential repeats of last month’s mass release of Democratic National Committee emails as one of a handful of unpredictable curveballs that could still toss the White House to Donald Trump. Democrats have charged that the website WikiLeaks dumped the emails as part of a Russian effort to aid Trump, who has praised Putin and expressed doubts about U.S. commitments to allies in Eastern Europe.

Russia has denied having anything to do with the DNC hacks or a separate breach aimed at donors to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But if the U.S. concludes that Putin’s regime is to blame, a growing chorus of security hawks says the White House must make it clear that such meddling in the U.S. political system cannot stand.

“If in fact you could definitively or strongly develop a case for attribution against Russia, that in fact the Russians should be confronted with it and we should confront them publicly with it,” former Obama administration National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said Thursday during a POLITICO Playbook breakfast.

“I don’t think countries are paying a price for this kind of activities,” Stephen Hadley, who held the same post under George W. Bush, said at the same event.

Calls for action have also come from several congressional Democrats and Republicans who serve on defense, law enforcement or intelligence committees, as well as a bipartisan group of 31 security and counterterrorism experts who urged Obama to “take prompt actions” that would “deter foreign actors from pursuing such tactics in the future.”

“This is not a partisan issue,” wrote the experts from the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group, who included Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and former CIA directors Michael Hayden and William Webster. They added: “Our president should be chosen by American citizens, not by foreign adversaries or interests.”

The prospect of Trump winning with Russian help has even gotten Republicans scared enough to back the Obama administration on this. That to me says everything, that there is actually somebody they hate more than Obama and Clinton: Putin and Trump.

Sunday Long Read: Unraveling The Sweater

Vanity Fair's Mark Seal takes a look at the case against Bill Cosby, and the sexual assault charges from 2004 that ended up opening the floodgate and strengthened the push to extend statute of limitations laws on sexual assault crimes.

It began with a young woman screaming in her sleep.

Andrea Constand, then 31, had left her job as director of operations of the women’s basketball team at Temple University, in Philadelphia, to return home outside of Toronto to live with her parents. She planned to begin studies to become a massage therapist. Six feet tall, her red hair a mass of curls, she was, her father would say, “the most truthful, honest, and faithful kid I’ve ever met.” Her prowess on the basketball court had attracted scholarship offers from dozens of colleges, and later she played professionally in Sicily before finding a job at Temple University, the alma mater of Bill Cosby. But when she returned home her upbeat personality had dimmed into darkness. She suffered from nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, sleeplessness, and depression, and she isolated herself from her friends and her family.

When her mother, Gianna, asked her what was wrong, Andrea wouldn’t answer. Then, on January 12, 2005, after experiencing a “flashback,” she told her mother that Bill Cosby had sexually assaulted her. Cosby had been attracted to Andrea the first time he saw her, at a Temple basketball game. “Before he acted upon that interest, he needed to develop a friendship with her,” according to a police affidavit. He courted her with his stardom, power, and influence, inviting her to dinners with academics and entertainment-industry professionals, and offering her fatherly advice about her life and career plans. She had no romantic interest in the television star, 36 years her senior, and she has said she twice rebuffed what she called his embarrassing sexual advances, once when he unbuttoned her pants and began touching her. Still, she trusted him, so when he called in January 2004, offering to discuss her life and career and telling her that they would be alone and to “dress in comfortable clothing,” she accepted.

Arriving at 8:45 P.M. at his sprawling home on five lush acres in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, one of his three residences (the other two are in rural Massachusetts and Los Angeles), “she came in through the kitchen door,” Cosby would later say. She told him that she was considering changing jobs, leaving her demanding position at Temple, and that making the decision had drained her. After pouring her a glass of wine, she said, Cosby went upstairs and returned with what he called “three friends,” three blue pills which, he said, “will make you feel good. The blue things will take the edge off.”

Constand asked if they were herbal.

“Yes,” said Cosby, according to her account. “Down them. Put them down. Put them in your mouth.”

She did. He urged her to taste the wine, but she protested that she hadn’t eaten all day. “Just taste the wine,” he pressed.

So she did. They continued to talk, but after 20 or 30 minutes her vision blurred, and she found it difficult to speak.

“I can’t even talk, Mr. Cosby,” she told him.

Her legs were “rubbery and like jelly.” She had lost any sense of place and time, was “in and out” of awareness, “frozen” and “paralyzed.” “Everything was blurry and dizzy,” she told the police. “I couldn’t keep my eyes open.”

Cosby said he was going to lay her down on the couch. “I’m going to let you relax,” he said, leading her to the couch. Suddenly, she felt him behind her. “I was aware that his hands were on my breasts,” she said. “His hands were in my pants and his fingers in my vagina . . . . I also remember him taking my right hand and placing my hand on his penis . . . . I was unable to move my body. I was pretty much frozen.”

Seal does a pretty good job here exploring the case, the history, the stories of the women who came forward, and the difficulty in proving assault in a courtroom.  I can understand people being uncomfortable reading it, but it's something that I believe you should do.