May 28 and 29, 2017


News and Views


GIANFORTE AND THE WORST FACE OF CONSERVATISM – CONTROVERSIAL, INDEED!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gianforte-has-history-of-controversial-views-hostile-comments-to-press/2017/05/25/ceab14bc-4144-11e7-8c25-44d09ff5a4a8_story.html?utm_term=.160d8c6356f7
PowerPost
Gianforte has a history of controversial views and hostile comments to journalists
By Elise Viebeck
May 25, 2017

Photograph -- Republican Greg Gianforte won Montana's special congressional election on May 25, a day after he was charged with assaulting a reporter. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The Montana Republican congressional nominee charged with misdemeanor assault of a reporter on the eve of Thursday’s special election has a history of minor controversies, as well as comments some have interpreted as threatening toward the news media.

Technology entrepreneur Greg Gianforte, 56, made national headlines Wednesday night when he allegedly body-slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs at a campaign event in Bozeman. Jacobs was trying to ask Gianforte about the Congressional Budget Office’s score for the House Republican health-care bill. The CBO said that the plan would substantially lower the number of Americans able to obtain health insurance.

Although Gianforte has denied wrongdoing, several Montana news outlets withdrew their endorsements of his candidacy and reconsidered past situations in which Gianforte seemed to express aggression toward reporters.

An editorial in the Helena Independent Record described the paper as “sick and tired of Gianforte’s incessant attacks on the free press.”

“In the past, he has encouraged his supporters to boycott certain newspapers, singled out a reporter in a room to point out that he was outnumbered, and even made a joke out of the notion of choking a news writer, and these are not things we can continue to brush off,” the paper’s editorial staff wrote Thursday.


Greg Gianforte greets voters while campaigning in Missoula. (Staff/Reuters)
[GOP candidate cited for assault as newspapers pull endorsements]

Last month, a voter at a Gianforte town hall pointed out a journalist in the room, called the media “the enemy” and mimed the act of wringing a neck.

Gianforte smiled and pointed at the reporter.

“We have someone right here,” he said, according to the Ravalli Republic. “It seems like there are more of us than there is of him.”

Gianforte appeared to have the edge in his race against Democrat Rob Quist for Montana’s only House seat before Wednesday night’s incident threw the race into turmoil. The campaign pitted Gianforte, a onetime gubernatorial candidate whose net worth has been estimated at nearly $200 million, against Quist, 69, a cowboy-poet and musician with a history of unpaid taxes who had never run for office.

Some political strategists had acknowledged that Gianforte’s strong personality was becoming an issue in the race, as it had during his unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 2016.

“As soon as Greg started getting attacked on TV, people were like, ‘Oh, yeah, that guy, [the] billionaire jerk from New Jersey,’ ” an unnamed Republican strategist familiar with the race told Roll Call this week.

Greg Gianforte,the Republican candidate for Montana’s only U.S. House seat, sits in a vehicle Wednesday after allegedly body-slamming a reporter. (Freddy Monares/Associated Press)

Gianforte fully embraced President Trump during his congressional bid. He has campaigned with Vice President Pence and Donald Trump Jr. and spent time hunting — a favorite pastime — with the latter.

According to some critics, he has even channeled the president’s tough-guy persona.

Gianforte is a “wannabe Trump,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill.

“To use language like that, treat people harshly like that — that’s his model,” she said. “Donald Trump’s his model. And we’ve really got to say, ‘Come on. Behave. Behave. That’s outrageous.’ ”

Gianforte was born in San Diego and spent his formative years in the Philadelphia suburbs before receiving degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J.

[Montana’s special election showdown]

He started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1983. By his mid-30s, Gianforte had retired to Montana after selling his first software company, BrightWork Development, to nascent software giant McAfee for more than $10 million, according to Inc., a monthly business magazine.

A few years later, in 1997, he started his second technology venture, RightNow Technologies, providing customer service software. Oracle acquired the company in 2011 for a reported $1.5 billion. Gianforte received more than $100 million from the sale, a figure that brought his total income between 2005 and 2014 to $220.5 million, according to an Associated Press review of his tax returns.

During his time running RightNow, Gianforte became close to colleague Steve Daines, now Montana’s junior senator. Daines, a Republican and one of Gianforte’s closest allies in state politics, has called on him to apologize for Wednesday’s incident.

Gianforte first considered living in Montana during a hiking trip to the state in junior high school. Since moving there in the mid-1990s, he and his wife, Susan, have become part of the fabric of life in Bozeman, with their interest in technology start-ups, evangelical Christian faith and conservative political beliefs defining their ties to the community, according to news reports.

Their philanthropy and activism have not come without controversy. Gianforte was a significant funder of the creationist Dinosaur and Fossil Museum in Glendive, Mont., which presents exhibits on the Earth’s age and the origins of the dinosaurs “in the context of biblical history.”

[Trump called the GOP hopeful in Montana a ‘wonderful guy.’ Pence endorsed him, too. They’ve both been mum since an alleged assault.]

Speaking at the Montana Bible College in 2015, Gianforte raised eyebrows for his comment that “the concept of retirement is not biblical.”

“The example I think of is Noah,” he said, according to the HuffPost. “How old was Noah when he built the ark? Six hundred. He wasn’t, like, cashing Social Security checks, he wasn’t hanging out, he was working. So, I think we have an obligation to work.”

Gianforte also lobbied against an LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance in Bozeman in 2014, suggesting in an email to city officials that allowing discrimination based on sexual orientation would be good for the local economy.

“Homosexual advocates try to argue that businesses are leery of locating in towns that aren’t friendly to homosexuals. I believe the opposite is truer,” Gianforte wrote in the email, obtained in 2015 by the National Journal.

During his 2016 race for Montana governor, Gianforte sought to clarify his position on the measure in a meeting with the editorial board of the Billings Gazette. He “endorsed nondiscrimination for workers . . . but not for customers,” the paper wrote.

These views have complicated the Gianfortes’ relationships in the world of higher education. In 2014, Montana Tech, a state-run university in Butte, announced that the couple would be its commencement speakers, prompting a backlash from students and faculty members.

[Win or lose, the questions that will be haunting each party in Montana’s special election]

Two years later, the Montana Board of Regents faced similar protests while considering an $8 million donation from the Gianfortes that would involve naming a university department after them. The board ultimately accepted the gift and approved the name change.

Gianforte’s sale of RightNow in 2011 ushered in a period of intense involvement in conservative education causes for the former executive. At the time, he was already a decade into a 14-year tenure as chairman of the board of Petra Academy, a K-12 Christian school in Bozeman that his children attended. The family donated $11.1 million to the school between 2005 and 2013 through its private foundation.

In 2012, Gianforte joined the boards of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, and ACE Scholarships, all of which advocate for school choice. Several of these groups received substantial donations from the Gianfortes, as did a variety of organizations that promote conservative Christian views such as opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Those groups included Focus on the Family, the Montana Family Foundation, Montana Right to Life, Alliance Defending Freedom, and the American Center for Law and Justice.

The Gianforte Family Foundation, founded in 2004, had $113 million in assets in 2013, according to a review published last year in the Billings Gazette. Gianforte sought to deflect attention to these donations during his 2016 gubernatorial campaign, presenting himself as a successful businessman and a proponent of Montana’s small technology community, not a conservative activist.

“I think prosperity is a virtuous thing and we need more of it in Montana,” he said in early 2016, before entering the race, according to the Associated Press.

Gianforte has served as the managing director of the Bozeman Technology Incubator since 1995, according to his LinkedIn profile, and is a member of FICO’s corporate board.

An avid hunter who regularly posts trophy photos on social media, Gianforte drew media attention last month for his plans to shoot prairie dogs with Trump Jr. while he was in Montana.

“As good Montanans, we want to show good hospitality to people,’’ Gianforte said, according to the Associated Press. “What can be more fun than to spend an afternoon shooting the little rodents?’’

He dismissed concerns voiced by the Humane Society of America. “Clearly they’ve never shot a prairie dog,” Gianforte said. “They don’t know how much fun it is.”

Alice Crites contributed to this report.


GIANFORTE’S BUSINESS TIES – A MINISTRY? NOT IN MY VIEW.

https://rightnowmedia.org/about/doctrinal-statement

RightNow Ministries operates under the grace of Almighty God. We serve local churches that represent diverse traditions and denominational affiliations. Our desire is to work in harmony on the basis of the essential doctrines listed below.

The Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God.

There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, both fully God and fully human. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died as the sacrificial substitute to pay for the penalty of sin, physically rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and He will one day physically return.

The Holy Spirit indwells all believers, accomplishing His regenerating and sanctifying work unto eternal life.

God created man and woman in His perfect image with equality across lines of ethnicity, gender, and class. All humanity, Christ excluded, is sinful by both birth and action.

The deserved penalty for sin is physical and spiritual death.

Salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ is a redemptive process, wholly of God, in which believers participate solely on the basis of His grace through their faith in Jesus.

Both the saved and the lost will be resurrected to their final judgment before God. Those who, in their earthly life, turned from sin and to Jesus in faith and repentance will be raised to eternal reward. Those who did not turn from sin and to Jesus will be raised to eternal punishment.


JOB FINDERS? YEP.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/RightNow-Technologies-Reviews-E11910.htm

RightNow Technologies
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WORDS FROM JOHN MCCAIN -- AS IS OFTEN THE CASE, I AGREE WITH JOHN MCCAIN FOR HIS GOOD COMMON SENSE AND HONESTY. IT’S ANOTHER SIGN THAT HE HASN’T BEEN BOUGHT, AND NEVER WILL BE.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mccain-weighs-in-on-kushners-reported-request-for-secret-comms-channel-with-kremlin/
CBS NEWS May 29, 2017, 1:56 PM
McCain weighs in on Kushner's reported request for Russia back channel

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, is uneasy with a report that Trump son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner attempted to set up a secret communications channel with the Kremlin during the transition, before Mr. Trump was inaugurated.

"I don't like it, I just don't," McCain told Australia's ABC News.

"I know some administration officials are saying this is standard procedure," he said. "I don't think it's standard procedure prior to the inauguration of the president of the United States by someone who is not in an appointed position."

CBS News has confirmed that when Jared Kushner met with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December, Kushner discussed setting up a 'back channel' for communications between the Trump transition team and Russian officials. This is according to a source familiar with the intelligence gathered at the time.

As the Washington Post first reported, communications were intercepted between Kislyak and Moscow describing the talk.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Sunday defended Kushner during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"[T]here's a lot of different ways to communicate, back channel, publicly with other countries," Kelly said. And he dismissed the idea that any importance should be attached to Kushner's alleged efforts.

Jared Kushner scrutinized for real estate deals
Play VIDEO
Jared Kushner scrutinized for real estate deals

"I don't see any big issue here, relative to Jared," Kelly said.

McCain also responded to a report that James Comey decided to announce the outcome of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, based on Russian misinformation he may have known to be false.

"I think Mr. Comey, we now know, took action that he did in regards to then-candidate Clinton in regards to false news that was being put out by the Russians," he said in the interview. "This is becoming more and more bizarre -- in fact, you can't make it up."

In McCain's view, Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, have grown into a greater threat to the U.S. than ISIS.

"I think [Putin] is the premier and most important threat," McCain said, adding, "more so than ISIS."

ISIS can do "terrible things," McCain continued, "but it's the Russians who tried to destroy the very fundamental of democracy, and that is to change the outcome of an American election."

"I've seen no evidence that they succeeded, but they tried," he went on. "And they're still trying."



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/protest-sparks-texas-lawmaker-threats-of-gun-violence/
AP May 29, 2017, 5:12 PM
Protest sparks Texas lawmaker threats of gun violence

Photograph -- The Texas State Capitol Building, located in Austin, Texas. DANIEL MAYER / WIKIMEDIA

AUSTIN, Texas-- Hundreds of protesters opposing Texas' tough new anti-"sanctuary cities" law launched a raucous demonstration from the public gallery in the Texas House on Monday, briefly halting work and prompting lawmakers on the floor below to scuffle - and even threaten gun violence - as tense divides over hardline immigration policies boiled over.

Activists wearing red T-shirts reading "Lucha," or "Fight," quietly filled hundreds of gallery seats as proceedings began. After about 40 minutes, they began to cheer, drowning out the lawmakers below. Protesters also blew whistles and chanted: "Here to stay!" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, SB4 has got to go," referring to the bill that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law this month.

Controversy over Texas sanctuary city ban
Play VIDEO
Controversy over Texas sanctuary city ban

Some unfurled banners reading: "See you in court!" and "See you at the polls!"

State House leadership stopped the session and asked state troopers to clear the gallery. The demonstration continued for about 20 minutes as officers led people out of the chamber peacefully in small groups. There were no reports of arrests.

Texas' new law is reminiscent of a 2010 Arizona "show your papers" measure that allowed police to inquire about a person's immigration status during routine interactions such as traffic stops. It was eventually struck down in court.

A legislative session that began in January concluded Monday, and the day was supposed to be reserved for goofy group photos and sappy goodbyes. Lawmakers are constitutionally barred from approving most legislation on the last day.

But even after the protest ended, tensions remained high. Rep. Ramon Romero, a Democrat from Fort Worth, said he was standing with fellow Democratic Rep. Cesar Blanco of El Paso when Republican colleague Matt Rinaldi came over and said: "This is BS. That's why I called ICE."

Rinaldi, of Irving in suburban Dallas, and Blanco then began shouting at each other. A scuffle nearly ensued before other lawmakers separated the two.

Later, a group of Democratic lawmakers held a press conference to accuse Rinaldi of threatening to "put a bullet in the head" of someone on the House floor during a second near scuffle. They said the comment was made in the direction of Democratic Rep. Poncho Nevarez, from the border town of Eagle Pass.

In a subsequent Facebook statement, Rinaldi admitted saying he'd called federal authorities and threatened to shoot Nevarez - but said his life was in danger, not the other way around.

"Nevarez threatened my life on the House floor after I called ICE on several illegal immigrants who held signs in the gallery which said 'I am illegal and here to stay,'" Rinaldi wrote. He said Democrats were encouraging protesters to ignore police instructions and, "When I told the Democrats I called ICE, Representative Ramon Romero physically assaulted me, and other Democrats were held back by colleagues."

Rinaldi said Nevarez later "told me that he would 'get me on the way to my car.'" Rinaldi said he responded by making it clear "I would shoot him in self-defense," adding that he is currently under Texas Department of Public Safety protection.

Texas' new law requires police chiefs and sheriffs - under the threat of jail and removal from office - to comply with federal requests to hold criminal suspects for possible deportation.

Police also can ask the immigration status of anyone they stop. The bill was viewed as a crackdown on Austin and other "sanctuary cities," a term that has no legal meaning but describes parts of the country where police are not tasked with helping enforce federal immigration law.

Monday's protest was organized by activists who canvassed over Memorial Day weekend in Austin. They informed anxious immigrants about the rights they retain despite the law and urged grassroots resistance against it.

Abril Gallardo rode 15 hours in a van to Austin to urge fellow Hispanics to fight back.

"Fear motivated me to get involved," said Gallardo, a 26-year-old Mexican native who entered the U.S. illegally at age 12.

Texas cities and immigrant rights' groups have challenged the legality of the law, hopeful for a legal victory like the one in Arizona, but that could take months to have any effect.

But even as some vowed to fight, others have begun fleeing the state. Their ranks are still too small to quantify, but a larger exodus - similar to what occurred in Arizona - could have a profound effect on the Texas economy. The state has more than 1 million immigrants illegally in the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
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Some are abandoning Texas for more liberal states, where they feel safer - even if it means relinquishing lives they've spent years building.

Jose, a 43-year-old Mexican living in the U.S. illegally since 2001, and his wife Holly left Austin for Seattle in January in anticipation of Texas' immigration crackdown. That meant parting with Jose's grown son, their community of friends and their beloved home of eight years.

"I felt like we ripped our roots up and threw ourselves across the country," said Holly, a 40-year-old Kentucky native who wanted to protect her husband.

Holly said as soon as Donald Trump was elected president, she and her husband began preparing to move. They expected Texas would "follow Trump's agenda trying to force local law enforcement to do immigration's job." And when they heard Texas had approved a crackdown on "sanctuary cities" she said they "finalized the decision."




KIMBRO IS A YOUNG BLACK MAN OF GOOD FEATURES AND APPARENT INTELLIGENCE, BUT ALSO LOOKS TO ME TO BE DEPRESSED. I DO HOPE THAT THEY HAVE APPREHENDED THE RIGHT PERSON, AND THAT THERE WON’T BE OTHERS DISCOVERED TO HAVE BEEN KILLED. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED THAT NEW YORK, FLORIDA AND TEXAS ARE VERY FREQUENTLY THE LOCATION OF THESE KINDS OF EVENTS? I HAVEN’T CHECKED THAT OUT STATISTICALLY, BUT JUST FROM READING SO MANY OF THESE ARTICLES, I SEEM TO SEE A GREAT DEAL OF IT.

I THINK IT’S TRUE THAT THERE ARE A GOODLY NUMBER OF MORE OR LESS POOR PEOPLE IN ALL THESE STATES, WITH MEMBERS OF VARIOUS ETHNIC AND NATIONAL ORIGINS HERE ALSO. I DON’T MEAN BY THAT STATEMENT THAT SUCH PEOPLE ARE NECESSARILY PRONE TO VIOLENCE, BUT WHERE THERE IS POVERTY AND A POSSIBLE LACK OF CULTURAL ACCEPTABILITY AMONG THE LARGER POPULATION, THERE IS GREATER PERSONAL STRESS, AND PEOPLE DO, TOO OFTEN, “CRACK” UNDER SUCH WORRIES AND LACK OF SOCIAL SUPPORT.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-fear-more-victims-after-texas-man-charged-with-killing-2nd-woman/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP May 29, 2017, 3:55 PM
Police fear more victims after Texas man charged with killing 2nd woman

Photographs -- Molly Matheson, left, and Megan Getrum, right CBS DFW
Photograph -- Reginald Kimbro CBS DFW

PLANO, Texas -- Police say a man charged in the slaying of an ex-girlfriend has been accused of killing a second woman whose body was found in a Dallas lake days later, and investigators fear there could be more victims.

Plano police on Friday announced a capital murder charge against 23-year-old Reginald Gerard Kimbro. Jail records don't list an attorney for Kimbro, whose bond tops $1 million.

Officials say Kimbro is charged with killing 36-year-old Megan Getrum, who was last seen April 14 leaving her Plano home to go for a walk in a nature preserve. Her body was found the next day in Lake Ray Hubbard, 30 miles away. Kimbro did not know Getrum, police say, and investigators do not know why she was targeted.

Fort Worth police say 22-year-old Molly Matheson was found slain in her apartment April 10. Investigators said her killer tried to get rid of evidence by washing her body, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Kimbro was arrested April 27 and charged with killing Matheson. The two dated each other when they attended the University of Arkansas.

Investigators say both women were sexually assaulted and strangled. A medical examiner found that Getrum died of blunt force injury, neck compression and drowning, reports the Dallas Morning News, citing court records.

A sexual assault exam found Kimbro's DNA, the paper reports.

Kimbro has been tied to violent assaults dating back to 2012, the station reports, though none of them resulted in prosecutions.

kimbro.jpg
Reginald Kimbro CBS DFW

A Plano woman reported Kimbro raped her on Sept. 22, 2012, but police say she later decided not to pursue charges, reports CBS DFW. On March 21, 2014, another woman accused Kimbro of raping and choking her at a South Padre Island hotel. The district attorney there later dismissed the charges, the station reports.

This week, another woman came forward claiming Kimbro repeatedly choked her in 2014, the station reports.

"It is frustrating to know that neither of these senseless murders would have ever happened if our judicial system had done its job properly," Matheson's family said in a statement released to CBS DFW.

Plano police say they're poring over any unsolved rapes or murders with possible ties to Kimbro.

"Could there be a third? Absolutely, there could be a third," Plano Police spokesman David Tilley told CBS DFW. "We're hopeful there's not going to be a third."



I DO LOVE TO READ ABOUT SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES, AND THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST I’VE SEEN LATELY. THE ARTICLE DIDN’T DESCRIBE THE OPERATION VERY WELL, THOUGH. SO HOPEFULLY WE WILL KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS FEAT OF SURGICAL SKILL IN A LATER ARTICLE.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-vet-injured-by-land-mine-undergoes-experimental-amputation/
By DAVID MARTIN CBS NEWS May 29, 2017, 7:13 PM
Afghanistan vet injured by land mine undergoes experimental amputation

Watch CBS news video.
Photograph -- Dr. Matthew Carty amputated Brandon Korona's leg using procedure that could reinvent the science of amputations

BOSTON -- Just looking at Brandon Korona, you would never guess what he is about to do.

"I'm at peace with it. My family's at peace with it," Korona said. "And my friends think I'm crazy."

a22n-martin-amputees-walsh-pkg-transfer.jpg
Brandon Korona CBS NEWS

He asked doctors to cut off his lower left leg. Four years after it was crushed by a land mine in Afghanistan, he gave up on trying to save it.

"It was all rods, screws and some bone that didn't grow back right… It looked like a leg, but it wasn't a leg," he said.

Dr. Matthew Carty amputated Korona's leg in a six-hour operation at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital in Boston. He used a new procedure that could reinvent the science of amputations.

a22n-martin-amputees-walsh-pkg-transfer2.jpg
Dr. Matthew Carty CBS NEWS

"In the past all that has been asked of an amputated limb is to provide an adequate padding surface in order for a prosthetic to be adequately mounted," Carty said.

The new procedure connects the leg's front and back muscles to each other, allowing them to keep working together and communicate about it with the brain.

"And that is what enables us to walk normally without having to constantly look at our feet," Carty said.

The surgery is experimental. Korona is the first veteran and only the second patient to undergo this kind of amputation.

The goal is to connect Korona's stump to a new generation of smart prosthetics, now under development at MIT, that would move like a human foot.

"If we can elevate amputation to an equivalent form of salvage or an equivalent form of therapy, that in some ways is a major win for patients," Carty said.

a22n-martin-amputees-walsh-pkg-transfer3.jpg
Brandon Korona after his surgery CBS NEWS

Two weeks after Korona's surgery, all that was left of his lower left leg were the screws that used to hold it together, in a plastic container.

"I'm happy that I have lost my leg and I'm ready to start recovering again," Korona said.

If the new procedure doesn't work, then he will use a standard prosthetic. Either way, the ruined leg that has been running his life for the last four years is gone.