9 suspects indicted in shooting of David Ortiz
Related: The Conspiracy to Kill David Ortiz
"Top T official calls Red Line ‘an urgent matter’ but unable to predict when it will be fixed" by Brian MacQuarrie, Kellen Browning and Diamond Naga Siu Globe Staff | Globe Correspondents, June 14, 2019
Fed up and scrambling, stressed Red Line commuters got more ominous news Friday when MBTA officials said they could not predict when normal service will be restored to the delay-plagued subway line following a derailment this week that took out part of the signaling system.
Steve Poftak, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said he does not know when repairs will be completed to critical signals at the JFK/UMass stop, where a 50-year-old train jumped the tracks Tuesday morning and threw the week’s commute into chaos.
“We view this matter as an urgent matter,” Poftak said, “and we are addressing it as fast as we can do it and do it safely.”
Poftak said MBTA officials are hoping to know by the end of the weekend whether they can restore direct service along the Quincy-Braintree branch line, instead of forcing those riders to switch trains at JFK/UMass Station in a workaround that the T has been using since the derailment.
Although the MBTA has repaired damage to the third rail, power system, and a significant amount of track, Poftak said the agency is still assessing the destruction of the signaling system “and how long it will take to fix.”
One big challenge is that, like so much of the T’s equipment, the signaling system is aging, and finding replacement parts has been challenging. “The signals themselves are relatively old, so the availability of spare parts is somewhat uncertain,” Poftak said.
The signals manage flow along the rail lines, keeping trains at set distances apart, but three sheds containing that electrical gear were heavily damaged by the derailing train, forcing the agency to run its cars at lower speeds since then and manually assist traffic in an area where the Red Line splits into its Braintree and Ashmont branches.
Since Tuesday, tens of thousands of riders have had their routines upended and been forced to improvise new ways into and out of the city. Many have become grudgingly and grouchily resigned to longer travel times and later arrivals at work.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Jessika Ewaart, 22, an accountant from Dorchester who normally takes the Red Line to JFK/UMass and then switches to Braintree. “I don’t take the Red Line anymore. It’s too much, it’s too much.”
Poftak said Red Line riders should continue to add 15 to 20 minutes to their travel time. T officials said commuters should check local media or the MBTA’s website on Sunday to see what’s in store for their commutes on Monday.
“Part of the reason for the current delays is that we are running the trains more slowly because we do not have the automatic switches and signaling equipment in place,” Poftak said. “We won’t speed up the system unless we believe we can do it safely.”
Poftak said the MBTA will run test trains over the damaged area through the weekend but said repairs to three signal sheds at JFK/UMass, including one that was nearly destroyed, will take time — raising the prospect that the Red Line could run at lower speeds for the foreseeable future. He said 150 employees and contractors are working on the repairs.
The signals at JFK/UMass were scheduled to be replaced as part of an ongoing $113 million program to replace all Red Line signaling systems.
“This, unfortunately, was supposed to be the last one replaced,” Poftak said of JFK/UMass.
The commuting chaos, caused by the second derailment in four days for the subway system, pushed long-simmering irritation into open disgust for many riders.
Poftak said the MBTA is looking at track infrastructure and the subway car as possible causes for the derailment. Although the car was built in 1969, the wheels and apparatus that hold them were installed in 2014, Poftak said. The train was inspected most recently on May 3.
“The message I want to send is we have a safe system,” Poftak said.
Whatever the cause, the accident has forced hordes of riders to rethink their strategies for getting into a city that already has one of the worst commutes in the country.....
Some are “ready to learn how to drive” even!
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Related:
"I don't know about you, but I was surprised to learn that the Red Line car that went off the tracks went into service in 1969. Yes, as in the Summer of '69. Woodstock and the first moon landing. Richard Nixon's first year as president and Kevin White's second as mayor of Boston. And Bill Russell's last year with the Celtics. The Braintree line wasn’t finished for another 11 years. There are 70 cars from that era still in service. (New cars are being built in Springfield by a Chinese company. Let’s hope our trade war with Beijing doesn’t delay them.) Technology has come a long way in the past 50 years. Here are just some of the advancements we've seen, in no particular order....."
[flip to below fold]
"Seth Moulton didn’t make the debate stage. Here’s what’s going on with his campaign" by James Pindell Globe Staff, June 13, 2019
MANCHESTER, N.H. — None of the typical campaign metrics have so far been encouraging for Representative Seth Moulton’s prospects. In most polls, not a single respondent says they are backing Moulton.
Moulton hasn’t hired staff or opened offices in the early presidential primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire — as many have done — although he does have a campaign presence in other states. His staff has declined, for the most part, to answer specific questions about how fund-raising is going. Moulton has received no major endorsements, and back home in his congressional district, there are already a half-dozen people openly exploring a primary challenge against Moulton should he not become the presidential nominee and seek reelection instead.
He is in the race to deny anyone but Biden a first ballot victory for nomination. That is why there are so many candidates.
In an interview, Moulton, 40, said he wasn’t discouraged. In fact, he said, when he is holding campaign events he feels a connection with voters. It reminds him of when he was behind 50 points in his first race for Congress, in 2014, before he knocked off an 18-year incumbent, John Tierney, in the primary.
“I just need to do more events, meet more people, and demonstrate I am the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump in the general election,” Moulton said.
Yet so far, his campaign schedule hasn’t been robust. This past week, Moulton held two public campaign events: a keynote address to the North Carolina Democratic Party’s annual dinner, and a speech to about 60 employees at New Hampshire’s largest utility company Monday morning. By comparison, when Senator Kirsten Gillibrand returns to the Granite State this weekend, she will hold seven events over two days.
Moulton said one reason he hasn’t been on the road as much was the need to be present for key House votes in Washington.
When asked after a campaign stop this week how he will know his campaign hasn’t taken off, the Salem Democrat replied, “If I win, then I will never know it is not working.”
This is not to suggest that his campaign is nonexistent. The campaign has brought on Marie Harf, a former Obama administration official and Fox News contributor.
Moulton said he feels he has secured the field’s so-called lane on national security. His five-minute stump speech focuses on his service, particularly his four tours of Iraq as a Marine, and, anecdotally, voters ask Moulton more about foreign policy at his events than they query other candidates, who are more often questioned about domestic and social issues. During the lunch time at the New Hampshire energy company, for example, half of the questions were about Russia, China, and free trade.
He is thinking of naming Romney his VP candidate and Bill Kristol as national security adviser.
Another point of comparison for Moulton may be his friend and fellow US Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio. Ryan and Moulton are white men of approximately the same age. They worked together, twice, to try to topple Nancy Pelosi as the House Democratic leader. Ryan has been in the presidential race a couple weeks longer than Moulton, yet Ryan, 45, has met the metrics in polling to qualify for the first debates, scheduled for June 26 and 27 in Miami. He reached 1 percent in at least three national or early-state polls sanctioned by the DNC.
“I really can’t explain the state of Seth’s campaign, but he is an important voice,” Ryan said in a telephone interview. “I will say that I have been visiting some of these early presidential primary states a lot so I am probably better known.”
The most recent Des Moines Register poll of Iowans and national Quinnipiac Poll were among the last opportunities for Moulton to qualify for the debates. He received zero support in those surveys and others the party uses for its debate criteria.
“Compared to where other candidates were at this many weeks in, I am happy with where we are at on polling,” Moulton said. “The American people don’t know who I am yet. That takes time.”
Even if Moulton’s presidential campaign never takes off, there are political benefits to his bid: He can expand his fund-raising base nationwide and build a name for himself that could help him run for higher office or reelection next year.
As for the potential primary challengers back home, only one has officially filed paperwork, and that candidate, Jamie Zahlaway Belsito of Topsfield, once aided Moulton’s onetime Republican opponent, Richard Tisei, which might be a hard sell to Democratic primary voters. In addition to Tierney, of Salem, other potential Democratic primary candidates include former state senator Barbara L’Italien of Andover, state Representative Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead, and gun violence activist Angus McQuilken of Topsfield.
In the interview, Moulton said he is fully committed to his congressional district, and he said he wouldn’t be engaged in a presidential campaign just to do it.
“I am in this race to win. I am not in this race to get another job or raise my profile,” Moulton said. “I am in this race because I think it is of existential importance to this country that we beat Donald Trump and I think I am the best candidate to do that. And I have never shied away from serving my country when I feel I have something to offer.”
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Related:
"Democratic debate lineups: Biden, Sanders on 2nd night, Warren on 1st" by Reid J. Epstein, Lisa Lerer and Matt Stevens New York Times, June 14, 2019
WASHINGTON — With Friday’s announcement of the lineups for the debates, set for June 26 and 27, the political stakes and intriguing subplots of the 2020 Democratic primary race came into sharper focus.
The first night will be Senator Elizabeth Warren’s to lose, as she faces off against nine lower-polling candidates desperate for breakout moments, but the second night is potentially more consequential, a showdown among four of the biggest names in the 2020 presidential race: Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg, Harris.
Former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will share a stage for the first time — an encounter likely to pose some risk to both. The two men, who’ve been eager to turn the primary into a race against President Trump, will make the case for very different ideologies, but they also could look like figures from the past while on the same stage with Senator Kamala Harris of California and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.
The lineups were randomly decided in a process engineered by the Democratic National Committee, but Friday’s sorting drew criticism because the second night ended up including Democrats with far higher polling numbers.
The stakes are especially high for candidates like Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey and former representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who have struggled to catch fire with voters, yet Warren faces challenges, too. Her placement offers a chance to soak up extra time on the biggest night yet of the campaign, but it also means she will not get a chance to contrast herself with her top rivals and that if anyone wants to punch up at a top-tier candidate, they will be taking aim at her.
They "randomly" set it up to gang up on the populist Warren as Beto comes back down to earth.
Buttigieg will have a national stage to showcase his generational change argument while standing aside Biden and Sanders — who are each nearly 40 years older than he is.
Harris, who will face off against those three men and six other candidates, has an opportunity to present her contrasting vision of electability based on a multiracial coalition against Biden’s argument that he can win back white male Rust Belt voters.
The selection of the candidate lineups Friday unfolded like a scene from “The Apprentice,” the former NBC reality show. Arrayed on a table at the Rockefeller Center were two boxes labeled “2% and above” and “below 2%” to correspond to the candidates’ polling status.
OMG!!
Trump will pick who he runs against!
Each of the candidates’ names were written on pieces of paper, folded in half, and placed in the appropriate box.
“Once they pulled Biden, all the air went out of the room,” said a person present.....
I choking on this $h!t.
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Yeah, it will be like "nothing we’ve ever seen."
By the end there will only be one left (achoo)!
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"Two hikers were stranded on Mount Washington Thursday when temperatures at the summit were below freezing and the wind chill plunged to 12 degrees. One hiker was carried off the mountain and rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. The other was found in the fetal position on a trail, unable to walk or speak....."
Related: This 99-year-old man is gearing up for a road race to the top of Mount Washington this weekend
Don't die up there.
The kids will be okay, though, even if the Pentagon is by far the world’s largest single source of carbon emissions.
"At least 279 dolphins have stranded across much of the US Gulf Coast since Feb. 1, triple the usual number, and about 98 percent of them have died, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday. Scientists will investigate whether lingering effects from the 2010 BP oil spill and more immediate effects from low salinity because of freshwater flowing from high rivers and a Louisiana spillway contributed to the deaths, said Teri Rowles coordinator for NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program. BP spill effects included problems with lungs and adrenal glands and general poor condition, according to earlier reports....."
Another aspect of Obama's neglectful and failed legacy that has been forgotten.
I wonder what else is going on in Florida.
Judge deliberates fate of Blackstone mom charged with murder in ‘house of horrors’ case
Related:
"An infant boy who was cut from a Chicago woman’s womb with a butcher knife died Friday at a hospital where he had been in grave condition since the April attack that killed his mother, family spokeswomen said. Yovanny Jadiel Lopez died at Christ Medical Center in suburban Oak Lawn from a severe brain injury, according to a statement posted on Facebook by family spokeswoman Julie Contreras, who expressed ‘‘great sadness’’ in announcing the baby’s death. Family spokeswoman Cecilia Garcia confirmed the statement. The baby had been on life support since being brought to the hospital on April 23. Prosecutors say Clarisa Figueroa, 46, claimed she had given birth to the baby. She and her 24-year-old daughter, Desiree Figueroa, are charged with murder in the death of the baby’s mother, 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, and Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday that he expects both women will now be charged with murder in the infant’s death....."
Couple Who Tortured 12 Children in Their California Home Are Sentenced to Life
To their neighbors, the family seemed normal, if reclusive. David Turpin, 57, had been an engineer for Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Louise Turpin, 50, apparently stayed at home. They lived in a nondescript stucco home in a middle-class neighborhood of the city of Perris, about an hour's drive southeast of Los Angeles. Neighbors rarely saw the children outside the home. It was neatly kept on the outside, and did not arouse suspicion, but it reeked of human waste on the inside.
Also see: 27 More Graves May Have Been Found at a Notorious Florida Boys School
"Newport, R.I., teacher of the year charged with second-degree sexual assault" by Diamond Naga Siu Globe Correspondent, June 14, 2019
The 2019 Newport Teacher of the Year has been charged with sexually assaulting a student at Rogers High School.
Steven Kalble, the culinary arts program instructor at Newport Area Career and Technical Center, had “unwanted sexual contact with a 16-year-old female by using force, the element of surprise, and coercion,” according to a district court complaint filed in Rhode Island.
Kalble, 66, entered no plea in court on Tuesday to a felony charge of second degree sexual assault.
The assault happened in mid-April, according to the complaint, more than one month before Kalble received his teaching accolade on May 23.
According to a police report, Kalble sent inappropriate text messages to the student before the assault, including one in March that said, “I love you.”
Sexual predators seem to gravitate towards jobs like these, don't they, or did he just flip out?
The student’s mother met with Kalble, who said that the text was taken out of context, the police report said. It was agreed he would stop contacting the girl outside of school, but this week, the school called a meeting after it emerged that Kalble had continued communicating with the student by e-mail, according to the report.
After obtaining a search warrant, the police arrested Kalble at his house on Monday and seized a cellphone, desktop computer, laptop, external hard drive, thumb drive, and iPad for further investigation.
Kalble spent Monday night in jail. The court set his bail at $50,000, and Kalble was released Tuesday after his wife made a $5,000 cash payment and agreed to supervise him and ensure he makes his court appearances.....
She must be pissed!
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Time to say your Pledge of Allegiance:
"Nation’s stars and stripes celebrated across the state" by Sabrina Schnur Globe Correspondent, June 14, 2019
Cities and towns across the Commonwealth on Friday celebrated Flag Day, the day the design of the national flag was first approved, with pledges of allegiance, small flags planted in grass, and even a 5K event.
At the State House, a lucky tour group from Hanscom Air Force Base and Cold Spring Elementary School in Plymouth was invited to join Secretary of State William F. Galvin to recite the pledge of allegiance and hear the history of Flag Day.
The students, whom Galvin’s spokeswoman Debra O’Malley called an “enthusiastic group,” were given cookies and flags to take home.
Usually, the group is bigger, “but kids are out of school early this year,” O’Malley said, citing the lack of snow days during the winter.
Galvin explained to the group that Flag Day was originally suggested in 1885 by a teacher in Wisconsin who received national media coverage for his recognition of the day, but a teacher in New York was able to push it to the State Board of Education in New York by 1889.
The holiday did not gain national recognition officially until 1949, when President Harry S. Truman declared June 14 Flag Day.
Quincy will celebrate Saturday. The city boasts the longest-running Flag Day parade, of more than 60 years.....
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Anybody hear dogs barking?
"More than 100 dogs rescued from ‘squalid living conditions’ at kennel in Bradford, N.H." by Sabrina Schnur Globe Correspondent, June 14, 2019
More than 100 dogs rescued from a kennel in Bradford, N.H., were being cared for at animal shelters Friday as police consider whether to file criminal charges, officials said.
An investigation into possible animal cruelty found the animals in “squalid living conditions,” which raised “concerns of communicable diseases,” according to statements from the Humane Society for Greater Nashua and Bradford police.
The kennel owner has been cooperating with investigators, but could face charges, police said. The dogs were mixes of golden retrievers, black Labradors, and cocker spaniels.
At least three are pregnant and two have given birth since being rescued, but Douglas Barry, president and CEO of the Humane Society, said a few of the puppies could be ready adoption very soon.....
Would be better off putting them down.
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Related: "PetSmart Inc.-controlled Chewy Inc. surged in its first day of trading after raising $1.02 billion in an initial public offering, as investors bet that pet owners will do more of their shopping online for everything from cat food to doggy sweaters. Chewy’s shares rose as much as 88% in the first hour of trading Friday from the $22 offer price. The shares closed up 59% to $34.99, giving the company a market value of about $13.95 billion. Americans spent more than $72 billion on their pets last year....."
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Under fire, Trump says he would ‘absolutely’ report foreign campaign help" by Peter Baker New York Times, June 14, 2019
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday appeared to backtrack somewhat on accepting campaign help from Russia or other foreign governments without necessarily telling the FBI, saying he would certainly inform law enforcement authorities if he were approached.
Under fire for saying earlier in the week that “I’d take it” and scoffing at the notion that he should call authorities, Trump shifted by saying that although he would still look at incriminating information provided by a hostile foreign power about an election opponent, he would “absolutely” report such an encounter.
“Of course, you give it to the FBI or report it to the attorney general or somebody like that,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends” in a telephone interview on Friday morning. “But of course you do that. You couldn’t have that happen with our country.”
He shot back angrily, however, at Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said Thursday that the president’s willingness to take foreign help to win an election demonstrated “that he does not know right from wrong” and that “he’s been involved in a criminal cover-up.”
Trump called that a “fascist statement.” The president also pushed back against criticism on another front, rejecting a recommendation by an independent agency that he fire his counselor, Kellyanne Conway, for violating federal law governing partisan politics in government.
“No, I’m not going to fire” her, Trump said. “I think she’s a terrific person. She’s a tremendous spokeswoman.”
The recommendation to fire Conway came from the Office of Special Counsel, an agency that enforces the Hatch Act governing politics in the federal workplace and is unrelated to the former special counsel, Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump and Russia.
The agency called Conway a “repeat offender” for using her perch at the White House to engage in campaign politics when she went on television or social media criticizing the Democrats running for their party’s nomination to challenge Trump in next year’s election. Henry J. Kerner, the head of the agency, who was appointed by Trump, said her conduct erodes the rule of law.
They are conspiring to get rid of her.
Trump also used the Fox interview Friday to announce that he plans to bring back to his administration Thomas D. Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement until retiring last year. His nomination to keep the job permanently languished in the Senate.
Homan, who has been a strong supporter of Trump’s hard-line immigration policies in his own appearances on Fox, would become a “border czar” working out of the White House, the president said. “He’s going to be very much involved with the border,” Trump said, but the president said he has not yet decided on a replacement for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary who announced Thursday that she will step down at the end of the month after nearly two years as Trump’s chief spokeswoman.
The president said he had many good candidates to take the job, but did explicitly rule out one, Anthony Scaramucci, who served for 11 days as White House communications director before being fired in 2017 after a foul-mouthed rant about his colleagues to a reporter.
The president’s comments on taking campaign help from Russia came after more than a day of withering criticism from Democrats, and even uncomfortable distancing from Republicans who said any candidate should automatically report a foreign effort to influence US elections.
With his initial remarks earlier in the week, Trump had put his relationship with Moscow back into the center of the debate in Washington over the future of the presidency after Mueller reported that he could not establish any criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
He reopened the issue during an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, when he dismissed the notion that a candidate should call the FBI if approached by a foreign power with election help, as Trump’s own FBI director, Christopher A Wray, has said should happen.
“I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life,” Trump told Stephanopoulos dismissively. “You don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you do.”
He added, “Give me a break — life doesn’t work that way.” Reminded that his own FBI director had said such approaches should be reported, Trump said, “the FBI director is wrong.” He later said that he might call the FBI, but only if he thought something wrong had been done. “I think maybe you do both,” he said.
Those comments stirred a fresh furor on Capitol Hill, fueling calls for legislation requiring US political campaigns to report foreign entities that offer campaign help and emboldening Democrats pushing for Trump’s impeachment......
Oh, btw, the AIPAC lobbyist is waiting in for you in your office.
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"Trump says McGahn ‘may have been confused’ in saying Trump directed him to pursue Mueller’s firing" by John Wagner Washington Post, June 14, 2019
WASHINGTON — President Trump said in an interview broadcast Friday that former White House counsel Donald McGahn ‘‘may have been confused’’ when he told investigators that Trump had directed him to pursue the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller amid his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
During the interview with ABC News, Trump issued a fresh denial of an episode detailed in Mueller’s report that House Democrats have seized upon as they examine whether Trump sought to obstruct Mueller’s probe and should be impeached.
‘‘I don’t care what he says. It doesn’t matter,’’ Trump said of McGahn in the interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
‘‘I was never going to fire Mueller. I never suggested firing Mueller,’’ the president said.
McGahn emerged as a central witness in Mueller’s report, offering hours of interviews about several occasions when Trump ordered him to do ‘‘crazy’’ things, according to the special counsel’s findings. Those included trying to persuade the Justice Department to get rid of Mueller, according to the report.
See: New York Sunday Times
They were brought back down to earth the next day.
Asked by Stephanopoulos why McGahn would lie under oath, Trump said: ‘‘Because he wanted to make himself look like a good lawyer, or, or he believed it because I would constantly tell anybody that would listen . . . that Robert Mueller was conflicted.’’
Trump has repeatedly said that Mueller was biased as an investigator because of multiple conflicts, including a past ‘‘business dispute’’ with him and because Mueller asked him for a job. His claims have been disputed by multiple people familiar with his interactions with Mueller.
The House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to McGahn, but so far he has declined to appear before the panel, citing a White House legal opinion that close presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify. The full House passed a resolution this week that empowers the committee to go to court in a bid to enforce the subpoena.
During the ABC interview recorded earlier this week, Trump also defended his decision not to submit to an in-person interview with Mueller’s team.
Pressed by Stephanopoulos as to why he declined to answer questions about possible obstruction of justice, Trump grew testy.
‘‘George, you’re being a little wise guy, OK — which is, you know, typical for you,’’ Trump said.
‘‘Just so you understand. Very simple. It’s very simple. There was no crime. There was no collusion. The big thing’s collusion. Now, there’s no collusion. That means they set — it was a setup, in my opinion, and I think it’s going to come out,’’ the president said.....
When?
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Related:
"According toSpecial Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, ‘‘Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), one of the world’s leading sovereign wealth funds with reserve capital of $10 billion under its management, reported directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin and frequently referred to Putin as his ‘boss’.” He was among those Russians who attempted to make contact with the Trump transition team and, with Rick Gerson — a close friend of Jared Kushner’s — drafted a plan for US-Russia reconciliation, the report says. The Mueller report says Sergei Gorkov is a Russian banker and attorney who formerly headed Vnesheconombank, also known as VEB, Russia’s state economic development bank, met with Kushner on Dec. 13, 2016. However, the report draws no conclusions on the nature of the meeting....."
Mueller protected Kushner!
"Ivanka Trump made $4 million from her investment in her father’s Washington hotel last year, according to a disclosure released by the White House on Friday. She also made at least $1 million from her line of branded apparel, jewelry, and other merchandise, down from at least $5 million in the previous year. Trump, 37, announced in July that she was closing her fashion businesses amid controversies over her role in the White House. Trump and husband Jared Kushner earned between $28.8 million and $135.1 million in outside income while working as unpaid senior advisers to her father, President Trump, their disclosures, which covers 2018, show. Kushner, 38, disclosed at least $27 million and as much as $135 million in debt....."
Whatever happened to her emails, Rep. Cummings?
"It’s a saga made for our time — and it may be a little closer to resolution. Last year, a group of concerned citizens in Washington wrote the District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to protest the renewal of a liquor license for President Trump’s downtown property, the Trump International Hotel. The reason: D.C. law states that license applicants must be of ‘‘good character and generally fit for the responsibilities of licensure.’’ President Trump does not satisfy those requirements, the group argued, but the board ultimately declined to take up the case because the group filed its petition after the Trump hotel had already been granted its liquor license. In the spring, the protesting group of eight clergy and judges, many of whom are D.C. residents, decided to refile their petition, this time when the Trump hotel’s liquor license was up for renewal before the ABC board. This time, the board denied the hotel’s request, and this week issued a ruling that clears the way for the complaint to move to mediation or a hearing before the board....."
Maybe it is time for a drink.
Sam Patten gets 3 years’ probation for illegal lobbying for Ukraine
Ex-Obama WH counsel charged with lying about lobbying work
Greg Craig was indicted Thursday on charges of making false statements and concealing information in a Justice Department foreign lobbying investigation that intersected with the Russia probe. Craig was charged in a two-count indictment that accuses him of willfully concealing material facts about work he and his former law firm performed for the Ukrainian government. Craig is a prominent Washington attorney and was the first White House counsel to former President Barack Obama. In private practice, his clients have included former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was charged in a leaks investigation. The work that drew the Justice Department’s attention occurred in 2012.
Also see:
Kicking the Electoral College to the curb
Then the elections would be better as Trump sends up a ‘Russia, if you’re listening . . . ’ signal for 2020.
Looks like they heard him:
"Russia sought to use social media to influence EU vote, report finds" by Adam Satariano New York Times, June 14, 2019
LONDON — European authorities blamed Russian groups Friday for disinformation campaigns designed to depress turnout and sway public opinion in last month’s European Union elections, an official accounting that underscored how Russian interference has not abated and that Facebook and other tech platforms remain vulnerable to meddling.
The preliminary review by the European Commission and the bloc’s foreign policy and security arm found that Russian-linked groups and other nonstate actors had worked to undermine credibility in the European Union through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Officials said new regulations might be needed to force internet platforms to do more to stop the spread of deliberately false information.
“The evidence collected revealed a continued and sustained disinformation activity by Russian sources aiming to suppress turnout and influence voter preferences,” the report said.
The report was the first official substantiation by the European Commission of the role that Russians and other groups played in disinformation in the May elections, which many investigators, academics and advocacy groups had warned about. It was a reminder of how active Russians and others continue to be in spreading divisive content online to inflame and stoke electorates all over the world, a strategy that the Kremlin had pioneered in the 2016 US presidential election.
Since then, Facebook, Twitter, and others have vowed to clamp down on foreign interference and have worked on new technology and other methods to stop outside meddling during elections, but the report Friday highlighted how much work the platforms still needed to do to stay a step ahead of disinformation networks. The report also has implications for American officials ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with an increasing number of smaller, harder-to-detect domestic groups adopting Russia-like strategies to influence voters.
“The genie’s out of the bottle,” said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab who has been tracking disinformation efforts in Europe. “What we’ve seen over the past few years is an increasing number of actors, both state and nonstate, using similar methods online to interfere in democratic processes.”
Which one is that?
Related: Gantz Faces Lurid Questions After Iran Hacked His Phone
Actually, it was the other way around, cui bono?
Jew York Times got it wrong again so pop the bubbly!
Also see:
"A growing collection of evidence indicates that three nations directly involved in coordinating the planning and carrying out of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States—Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—were also jointly involved in “hacking” the 2016 U.S. presidential election to bring about Donald Trump’s victory....."
"Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor. At the time, the emissary was also promoting a secret plan to use private contractors to destabilize Iran. The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign....."
I'm sorry, NYT, SAY AGAIN?
The contractor is Erik Prince (brother of Betsy DeVos) of Blackwater fame, the specialist is Joel Zamel, whose company employs several Israeli former intelligence officers specializing in collecting information and shaping opinion through social media and was paid up to $2 million, and the emissary would be the infamous Israeli fixer and interventionist George Nader, a convicted pedophile with a shadowy past, who frequently met with Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn.
So when are the Democrats and pre$$ going to focus on them?
Related:
"Facebook said Thursday it banned an Israeli company that ran an influence campaign aimed at disrupting elections in various countries and has canceled dozens of accounts engaged in spreading disinformation....."
It was the "Archimedes Group, a Tel Aviv-based political consulting and lobbying firm that boasts of its social media skills and ability to ‘‘change reality,’’and all the votes went into a Black Cube.
Back to the blather:
European officials did not draw a direct link in the report between the disinformation campaigns and the Kremlin or provide details about which groups in Russia or elsewhere were behind the efforts. The report also stopped short of assessing whether the tactics had an effect on how people voted, with turnout in the elections having hit record levels. The report largely cited the findings of outside researchers who had been tracking the European elections, yet European officials said the report was significant because it highlighted the “new normal” of disinformation campaigns.
Yeah, and we know who is behind most of those, and another disinformation campaign is the ma$$ media and pre$$ itself! They are running interference and covering up for them!
Btw, I resent the implication by the eliti$t and $upremaci$t pre$$ that we are all a bunch of empty vessels waiting to have our minds filled with their propaganda and lies.
“There was no Big Bang moment. There was no new Facebook-Cambridge Analytica case that we know of,” said Vera Jourova, a European commissioner, during a news conference in Brussels. Yet “the European elections were not free of disinformation.” She added that the continued online meddling was “something we cannot accept.”
Yeah, they put on so many faces.
Facebook said it had taken steps to protect the integrity of the European elections, including entering into partnerships with local fact-checking organizations, adopting new rules to show who was buying political ads on its platform and dedicating teams of employees to monitor election interference.
“The fight against false news will never be over,” the Silicon Valley company said in a statement in response to the report. “That is why we are making significant investments to remove fake accounts and clickbait and to promote high-quality journalism and news literacy.”
Apparently not. That is why I am here!
For now anyway.
Twitter and Google did not respond to requests for comment.
Independent investigators had long warned that Europe was vulnerable to disinformation campaigns ahead of last month’s vote, but eradicating disinformation campaigns was tricky in the elections, which were spread across 28 countries and 24 official languages.
In the run-up to the voting, researchers highlighted efforts by Russia-linked groups and those in favor of far-right policies to use Facebook and Twitter to spread false information and exaggerate political divisions. In particular, they identified hundreds of Facebook and Twitter accounts peddling disinformation, more than 1,000 examples of WhatsApp messages sharing suspicious materials and a mix of suspicious websites that spread varying degrees of misleading information — often taking advantage of local political divisions.
US intelligence officials have warned that the 2020 campaign will also be targeted by foreign groups. In January, the Worldwide Threat Assessment written by government intelligence agencies said Russia would continue to use social media to amplify social and racial tensions in an effort to influence policy and elections.....
It will $oon be nothing but $ocial media.
--more--"
Yeah, if the elections don't go the way you want, blame Russia!
SIGH!
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Or you can blame Iran:
"After tanker attack, Trump insists ‘Iran did do it,’ rejecting denials" by Erin Cunningham and Simon Denyer Washington Post, June 14, 2019
ISTANBUL — President Trump rejected Iran’s denials Friday that it attacked two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, insisting in a television interview that ‘‘Iran did do it’’ and pointing to a video released by the US Central Command purporting to show Iranian vessels retrieving an unexploded mine from one of the damaged ships.
I saw that grainy black and white pos, and you guys really don't expect us to believe any of this, do you?
Or do you just not care? Shovel shit on the wall and hope it sticks?
However, the head of the Japanese shipping company that owns one of the targeted tankers challenged the US assertion that the vessel was attacked with limpet mines. He said Friday that the crew reported it was hit by ‘‘a flying object.’’
You mean, what, a UFO, space weapon, or cruise missile?
Wouldn't be the first time, I suppose (what is with the cut as the second tower was hit?) -- if you can believe what you saw on TV that day.
Iran called the US allegations against it ‘‘alarming.’’
In an interview on Fox News’ ‘‘Fox & Friends’’ program, Trump said, referring to the Central Command video: ‘‘Well, Iran did do it, and you know they did it because you saw the boat.’’
This guy is absolutely hopeless. He bombs Syria over a fake chemical attack or false flag, and now he's pushing this.
He added: ‘‘I guess one of the mines didn’t explode, and it’s probably got essentially Iran written all over it. And you saw the boat at night, trying to take the mine off and successfully took the mine off the boat. And that was exposed. That was their boat. That was them, and they didn’t want the evidence left behind.’’
This guy has got his head so far up Israel's ass, his orange mop shows when they say aaaah!
Trump also denounced Iran’s leadership while expressing interest in negotiations. ‘‘They’re a nation of terror, and they’ve changed a lot since I’ve been president,’’ he said. ‘‘They’re in deep, deep trouble.’’ He later added: ‘‘They’ve been told in very strong terms ... we want to get them back to the table if they want to get back. I’m in no rush.’’
They don't want to talk to an asshole!
Yutaka Katada, president of the Kokuka Sangyo shipping firm that owns the Kokuka Courageous tanker, told reporters Friday in Tokyo: ‘‘The crew are saying it was hit with a flying object. They say something came flying toward them, then there was an explosion, then there was a hole in the vessel. Then some crew witnessed a second shot.’’
Katada added: ‘‘To put a bomb on the side is not something we are thinking. If it’s between an explosion and a penetrating bullet, I have a feeling it is a penetrating bullet. If it was an explosion, there would be damage in different places, but this is just an assumption or a guess.’’ He said he did not believe that the tanker was struck ‘‘because it was Japanese,’’ as that would have been difficult for an attacker to determine.
‘‘When the shell hit, it was above the water surface by quite a lot,’’ Katada said. ‘‘Because of that, there is no doubt that it wasn’t a torpedo.’’
He said the ship’s crew saw an Iranian military ship in the vicinity on Thursday night Japan time, Reuters news agency reported.
How about under the water?
Appearing Friday on CNN after Trump blamed Iran for the attacks, the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s top Republican, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, urged the administration to focus on diplomacy. ‘‘We always want peace,’’ he said. ‘‘Not war.’’
Is there anyone in the world that believes that?
The White House said Trump spoke Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was in Tehran meeting with top Iranian leaders when the tankers were attacked. The two discussed ‘‘the circumstances surrounding the attacks,’’ and Trump thanked Abe ‘‘for his effort to facilitate communication with Iran,’’ the White House said.
The fact that this attack was carried out while the Japanese Prime Minister was in Iran only adds to the suspicion and deflects
The US Central Command late Thursday made public a dark, grainy video and corresponding timeline suggesting that US military assets in the region observed the Iranian vessels approaching the tanker and removing the device.
They also showed the Saudis a satellite photo of Iraqi troops on the border, etc, etc.
Sorry, but we are no longer buying any of this war-mongering codswallop coming from the U.S. government.
How stupid do you think we are?
Senior US officials showed photographs to reporters of the damaged tanker Kokuka Courageous with what the Navy identified as a suspected magnetic mine attached to its hull. The unexploded weapon was probably applied by hand from an Iranian fast boat, one official said. The officials, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity because many elements of the investigation remain secret, said the type and timing of the attacks bear Iranian hallmarks, but US officials could not yet say with certainty where the mines were manufactured or exactly how they were laid.
Probably?
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged restraint and said China hopes that ‘‘all sides can jointly safeguard navigational safety in the relevant waters,’’ news agencies reported.
‘‘Nobody wants to see war in the gulf,’’ he said. ‘‘That is not in anyone’s interest.’’
Well, yeah, if you discount the Israelis.
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Speaking of the Chinese:
After protests, Hong Kong’s leader faces more calls to delay bill
By Mike Ives New York Times
Lexington man charged with stealing, smuggling technology
Yeah, China bad.
On to Africa:
"The World Health Organization on Friday said the Ebola outbreak in Congo, which spilled into Uganda this week, is an ‘‘extraordinary event’’ of deep concern but does not yet merit being declared a global emergency. The UN health agency convened its expert committee for the third time to assess the outbreak, which some experts say met the criteria to be designated an international emergency long ago. This outbreak, the second-deadliest in history, has killed more than 1,400 people since it was declared in August. Three members of the family who brought the virus into Uganda have died after attending the burial of an infected relative, a popular pastor, in Congo....."
It's all about more funding for vaccines, and give them time.
"A record number of people in South Sudan face a critical lack of food, a new report by the government and the United Nations says. The report released Friday says almost 2 million people are near starvation nine months after a peace deal ended a five-year civil war. The report stops short of declaring a famine. The deteriorating situation is attributed to food shortages exacerbated by delayed rainfall, South Sudan’s economic crisis, and years of strain from a conflict that killed almost 400,000 people. Some South Sudanese, including children, have told the Associated Press they eat only once a day. The World Food Programme country director in South Sudan, Ronald Sibanda, said the crisis coincides with the current rainy season. WFP says it has positioned 173,000 metric tons of food across the East African country, more than at this point last year....."
What has become clear is that when the U.N. hollers famine, it's really a fig leaf to get into the host nation. Sudan is currently undergoing some sort of CIA color revolution, and you no longer hear anything about the famine in Yemen so.....
God help them:
"The billionaire French donors who publicly proclaimed they would give hundreds of millions to rebuild Notre Dame have not yet paid a penny toward the restoration of the French national monument, according to church and business officials. Instead, it’s mainly American and French individuals, via Notre Dame charitable foundations, that are behind the first donations paying the bills and salaries for up to 150 workers employed by the cathedral since the April 15 fire that devastated its roof and caused its masterpiece spire to collapse. ‘‘The big donors haven’t paid. Not a cent,’’ said Andre Finot, senior press official at Notre Dame. ‘‘They want to know what exactly their money is being spent on and if they agree to it before they hand it over, and not just to pay employees’ salaries.’’ Almost $1 billion was promised by some of France’s richest and most powerful families and companies, some of whom sought to outbid each other, in the hours and days after the inferno. It prompted criticism that the donations were as much about the vanity of the donors wishing to be immortalized in the edifice’s fabled stones than the preservation of France’s church heritage....."
Related: Notre Dame walls now stabilized; next steps are unclear
It's France's Ground Zero and looking more and more like arson, but by who and why?
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
I wouldn't hop a plane anytime soon:
"Even if workers don’t walk off the job, they have the ability to disrupt the national air travel system as the summer travel season kicks into high gear. The workers could adopt a tactic used by other transportation unions in which they only perform work required by their contract and adhere precisely to safety regulations — taking care not to cross the line into an illegal job action. This could slow down the process of getting food and drinks onto planes and have a ripple effect on the airlines’ carefully orchestrated schedules....."
Looks like the flight has been delayed so you better grab a room:
"Despite criticism, Dock Square condo project advances" by Tim Logan Globe Staff, June 14, 2019
A condominium project that would transform one of the most historic corners of downtown Boston received rare — and scathing — criticism at the Boston Planning & Development Agency board meeting Thursday.
Nonetheless, the proposal still passed, clearing a key City Hall hurdle, and developers aim to start construction next summer.
“Replacing a terrible garage with a 209-unit condo building doesn’t seem to me like the highest use of this space,” said Board member Ted Landsmark, an architect. “And we’re going to be stuck with this for decades. I’m dumbfounded. I just don’t get it,” but, if dissenting votes are rare at the BPDA, full rejection of projects that reach the board are almost unheard of. The project was approved, with little discussion from other board members, 3-1. The building still needs approval from the BPDA’s Zoning Commission, but once that is secured, a spokesman said, developers hope to break ground in mid-2020.....
--more--"
Time to sneak you out through the basement:
"The Harriet Tubman $20 bill was far along before Mnuchin delayed work" by Alan Rappeport New York Times, June 14, 2019
WASHINGTON — Extensive work was well underway on a new $20 bill bearing the image of Harriet Tubman when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced last month that the design of the note would be delayed for technical reasons by six years and might not include the former slave and abolitionist.
I'm sure the NYT sees Trump's racism here, and it really doesn't matter who is on the money. It is worth less every day.
Many Americans were deeply disappointed with the delay of the bill, which was to be the first to bear the face of an African-American. The change would push completion of the imagery past President Trump’s time in office, even if he wins a second term, stirring speculation that Trump had intervened to keep his favorite president, Andrew Jackson, a fellow populist, on the front of the note, but Mnuchin, testifying before Congress, said new security features under development made the 2020 design deadline set by the Obama administration impossible to meet, so he punted Tubman’s fate to a future Treasury secretary.
It would be nice if he really started acting like Jackson -- although an attempt on his life would soon follow (or the ma$$ media will out him).
In fact, work on the new $20 note began before Trump took office, and the basic design already on paper most likely could have satisfied the goal of unveiling a note bearing Tubman’s likeness on next year’s centennial of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. An image of a new $20 bill, produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and obtained by The New York Times from a former Treasury Department official, depicts Tubman in a dark coat with a wide collar and a white scarf.
That preliminary design was completed in late 2016.
A spokeswoman for the bureau, Lydia Washington, confirmed that preliminary designs of the new note were created as part of research that was done after Jacob J. Lew, President Barack Obama’s final Treasury secretary, proposed the idea of a Tubman bill.
The development of the note did not stop there. A current employee of the bureau, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, personally viewed a metal engraving plate and a digital image of a Tubman $20 bill while it was being reviewed by engravers and Secret Service officials as recently as May 2018. This person said that the design appeared to be far along in the process.
Within the bureau, this person said, there was a sense of excitement and pride about the new $20 note, but the Treasury Department, which oversees the engraving bureau, decided that a new $20 bill would not be made public next year. Current and former department officials say Mnuchin chose the delay to avoid the possibility that Trump would cancel the plan outright and create even more controversy.
In an interview last week, Mnuchin denied that the reasons for the delay were anything but technical.
How many Tubmans would it take to raise the debt ceiling?
“Let me assure you, this speculation that we’ve slowed down the process is just not the case,” Mnuchin said, speaking on the sidelines of the G-20 finance ministers meeting in Japan.
The Treasury secretary reiterated that security features drive the change of the currency and rejected the notion that political interference was at play. He declined to say if he believed his predecessor had tried to politicize the currency.
Noooo!
Obama and Lew would never have done that!
“There is a group of experts that’s interagency, including the Secret Service and others and BEP, that are all career officials that are focused on this,” he said, referring to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. “They’re working as fast as they can.”
--more--"
Why don't they take Hamilton off the $10 instead?
Turns out Hamilton (nee Levine) was an agent for the Rothschilds.
You want a loan?
"Quicken Loans has agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of fraudulently sticking the government with bad mortgages. The deal was disclosed Friday, and the case was dismissed by a Detroit federal judge. The government had accused Quicken of cutting corners when verifying the income of certain borrowers. Quicken also was accused of seeking improper appraisals so it could make a larger mortgage. The loans were insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which paid Quicken if a borrower defaulted. Quicken denied the allegations. Vice chairman Bill Emerson tells the Detroit Free Press that the company did “nothing wrong” but paid for losses involving “human error.” Quicken will remain in the FHA program. Quicken’s founder is Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert, who owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. He is recovering from a stroke."
Well, that will keep things quiet and let them get on about their bu$ine$$.
Here's hoping you have a Good Life before you die.
