July 11, 2017


News and Views


CONGRESS WEIGHS IN

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/congress-political-world-reacts-to-release-of-donald-trump-jr-s-russia-emails/
By EMILY TILLETT CBS NEWS July 11, 2017, 3:03 PM
Congress, political world react to release of Donald Trump Jr.'s Russia emails

On Tuesday, after the publication several reports detailing a January 9th meeting between President Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-linked lawyer, Trump Jr. released his own copies of emails sent in the lead up to that meeting.

The exchange included communication between Trump Jr. and Rob Goldstone, a music publicist who facilitated the arrangement for a meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was described in the emails as a "Russian government attorney." The emails referred to information that would "incriminate" Hillary Clinton that Goldstone wrote would be "very useful" to Trump Jr.'s father.

"This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government support for Mr. Trump," one of Goldstone's emails said.

Veselnitskaya has since denied ever working for the Russian government or that she had compromising information to share with Trump Jr. and his associates.

The release of the emails sparked quick reaction across the political spectrum:

President Donald Trump:

Speaking on behalf of Mr. Trump, Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered a statement on Monday, saying "My son is a high quality person and I applaud his transparency." She directed all further inquiries into the situation to Trump Jr.'s attorney and outside counsel.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona:

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill following the release, McCain said, "I've said many times in the past there's another few that will drop and there will be other shoes that will drop." He added, "I know it's serious, but I've said a long time ago it's serious and this is a serious situation, one that is a long way from over."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia:

Addressing Hill reporters, Kaine said the release "delivered wheelbarrows full of new evidence to the special prosecutor and to the intelligence community." "We are now beyond obstruction of Justice in terms of what's being investigated," added Kaine. "This is moving into perjury, false statements and even potentially treason."

Marc Lotter, Press Secretary for Vice President Mike Pence:

"The Vice President is working every day to advance the President's agenda, which is what the American people sent us here to do. The Vice President was not aware of the meeting. He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket."

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon:
5h
Ron Wyden ✔ @RonWyden
No longer a question that the Trump campaign sought to collude with a hostile foreign power to subvert American democracy.

Follow
Ron Wyden ✔ @RonWyden
It is now incumbent on elected officials of both parties to stand up & do their duty: protect & defend the constitution.
12:39 PM - 11 Jul 2017
822 822 Retweets 1,940 1,940 likes

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Georgia:

"This is a sad day for our country. The email chain confirms that the President's son was both aware of and supported the Russian government's efforts to help the President get elected," said Cummings in a statement. "I remind my colleagues from both parties—the Constitution does not give Congress the right to remain silent in the face of this threat. We must investigate. And we must act on our findings."

Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California:

"There's no escaping it: the Trump Campaign's inner circle met with an agent of a hostile foreign power to influence the outcome of an American election," said Pelosi in a written statement. "The American people face a White House riddled with shadowy Russian connections and desperate to hide the truth. One after another, senior Trump officials have been caught hiding secret meetings with Russian agents. The incendiary news of the meeting arranged by Donald Trump Jr. is a grave development in the investigation of Trump officials' possible collusion with Moscow."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia:

"When we began this investigation 6 months ago, into any possible ties between the Russians and Trump officials, we got a constant refrain that there was nothing there, yet we've seen this pattern repeated now close to 20 times where senior Trump officials have constantly forgotten or omitted previous conversations with Russians, then, when they were shown evidence of those conversations they've had to recant," Warner told reporters on Tuesday. He added that Trump Jr. and Trump associates have "a lot of explaining to do", noting that he was "sure" Trump Jr. is going to appear before the intelligence committee, which Warner serves as Vice Chairman.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina:

"On their face, they're very disturbing it seems to be a an offer to assist the campaign, the campaign seemed to be willing to be assisted," Graham told reporters on the Hill. He added, "When you're offered assistance from a foreign government to your campaign the only answer is no, so I'm not going to condemn the guy on an email, but this is something that is most problematic thing I've seen thus far."

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky:

When pressed on his trust in Mr. Trump amid changing stories about the administration's meetings with Russians, McConnell was brief with reporters, saying, "The investigation in the Senate's being handled by the intelligence committee, and I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of whatever may have happened."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York:

Speaking to reporters, Schumer called the release of the emails, "the end of the idea pushed by the administration and the president that there is absolutely no evidence of intent to coordinate or collude." He added, "Between these revelations, and the president's horrendous handling of the meeting with Mr. Putin, it's clear that congress needs to step in and sanction Russia and be a roadblock to lifting sanctions, 'cause clearly the president will not be tough with Mr. Putin, as he should be."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D- California:

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Schiff called the emails "very significant, deeply disturbing new public information about direct contacts between Russia and the very center of the Trump family, campaign and organization." He added, "Obviously, we need to get to the bottom of exactly what happened, what was said in that meeting any information that went into organizing that meeting and if that meeting was just the beginning or was a testing of the waters by he Russians to see if the campaign would be receptive to their engagement and involvement" in the election.



THIS STORY READS LIKE A SPY NOVEL, AND IT ISN’T EVEN FICTION. CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-jr-meeting-takes-russia-scandal-alarming-direction?cid=eml_mra_20170710
Trump Jr. meeting takes Russia scandal in an alarming direction
07/10/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa Trump wait for the start of the third U.S. presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on Oct. 19, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nev. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty

In any political controversy, when a relevant player starts dramatically changing his or her story, from one day to the next, it’s a sign of real trouble.

In March, for example, Donald Trump Jr. said that during his father’s campaign, he never participated in any campaign-related meetings with Russian nationals. Over the weekend, that claim fell apart when the New York Times reported that he met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, best known for opposition to the Magnitsky Act, which blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers.

The meeting took place in June 2016 in Trump Tower, and Trump Jr. was joined by Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, who was the campaign chairman at the time. None of the players deny that the meeting took place, but Trump Jr. said the discussion focused on an adoption program. This was “the first confirmed private meeting between a Russian national and members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle during the campaign.”

Soon after Team Trump’s story changed again, this time in a statement from the president’s outside legal team, suggesting that Democrats were somehow to blame.

Yesterday, the story changed once more. As the Times reported, the meeting wasn’t about adoptions.

President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it. […]

The meeting – at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Donald J. Trump clinched the Republican nomination – points to the central question in federal investigations of the Kremlin’s meddling in the presidential election: whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. The accounts of the meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help.

In a statement, Trump Jr. acknowledged that the meeting took place, and was arranged at the request of an acquaintance he did not name. “After pleasantries were exchanged,” he said, “the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton. Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.” He added that “the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.”

Trump Jr. may not fully appreciate the significance of that statement.

One of the key questions in the Trump-Russia scandal is whether, and to what extent, the campaign may have cooperated with Russians during the attack on the American election. For Trump Jr. to join Kushner and Manafort for a meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer in the hopes of obtaining damaging information about Hillary Clinton looks quite a bit like collusion.

In his statement, Trump Jr. is dismissive of the meeting, saying Natalia Veselnitskaya had nothing of interest to share. But in the process, he also effectively confirms the accuracy of the report: the point of the meeting was to obtain Clinton-related information from a Russian national.

In other words, Trump Jr., who now appears to have been caught lying about the meeting, had a specific motivation that led him to participate in the conversation: he wanted Clinton-related dirt from Moscow and was willing to accept it during the campaign. That conclusion doesn’t require any great leaps; for all intents and purposes, he’s admitted as much in print.

The argument from Trump Jr. is, in effect, that he tried to collude with a Russian national and was disappointed when the information wasn’t useful – which sounds more like a confession than a defense.

Postscript: For an American political campaign to solicit assistance from a foreign national isn’t exactly legal.

Second Postscript: Let’s not forget just how many members of Team Trump, including the president and vice president, insisted there were no pre-election contacts between the top members of the campaign team and Russians.


I’LL BET DONALD, JR. IS HAVING A BAD DAY TODAY.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/donald-trump-jr-posts-purported-emails-arranging-meeting-151806749--abc-news-topstories.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=bad81b5f-db87-38f1-ad4e-b7e8e737f190&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Offered Russian aid to 'incriminate Hillary,' Donald Trump Jr. wrote 'I love it'
Good Morning America
MEGHAN KENEALLY
Good Morning America July 11, 2017

READ ALL TEXT INSERTS ON WEBSITE.

Photograph -- Offered Russian aid to 'incriminate Hillary,' Donald Trump Jr. wrote 'I love it'

Donald Trump Jr. has released what he says are screen shots of the full email chain arranging the meeting between him and a Russian attorney who allegedly had damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

The meeting took place at Trump Tower in New York on June 9, 2016, and was arranged by Rob Goldstone, a music producer and an acquaintance of Trump's.

Trump posted a statement on his verified Twitter account about the situation, as well as four pages of purported emails between him and Goldstone, saying in the statement that he was doing so "in order to be totally transparent."

TEXT INSERTS HERE.

Donald Trump Jr. ✔ @DonaldJTrumpJr
Here's my statement and the full email chain
11:00 AM - 11 Jul 2017
11,043 11,043 Retweets 18,268 18,268 likes

In the messages, Goldstone describes the lawyer as "The Russian government attorney," and her name is not mentioned.

TEXT INSERTS.

Donald Trump Jr. ✔ @DonaldJTrumpJr
Here is page 4 (which did not post due to space constraints).
11:01 AM - 11 Jul 2017
8,733 8,733 Retweets 12,169 12,169 likes

TEXT INSERTS

The exchange appears to have begun on June 3, 2016, when Goldstone reached out to the eldest son of then-candidate Donald Trump Sr. In that email Goldstone appears to refer to one of his clients, Emin Agalarov, a singer from Azerbaijan who is the son of a wealthy businessman, Aras Agalarov.

"Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting," Goldstone wrote, according to a screen shot.

"The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father," Goldstone wrote, according to the screen shot.

"This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump -- helped along by Aras and Emin," Goldstone allegedly continued.

In a subsequent email in the purported chain, Goldstone allegedly wrote that he won't sit in on the meeting but "will send the names of the two people meeting with you for security when I have them later."

The lawyer has been publicly identified as Natalia Veselnitskaya, but the identity of the second person has not been established. Donald Trump Jr. has not referred to a second individual allegedly attending the meeting in any of the multiple statements he has made about it since knowledge of it became public this weekend.

Veselnitskaya spoke to NBC's "Today" this morning and denied that she has connections to the Kremlin or that she was part of any Russian effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

What we know about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign
Trump Jr. meeting with Russian lawyer may have violated campaign laws, say legal experts

Donald Trump Jr. previously confirmed that he invited to the meeting his father's then–campaign adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then–campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Donald Trump Jr. and his father's lawyers said that Donald Trump Sr. was not involved in the meeting, and on Monday, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the elder Trump learned about the meeting only "in the last couple of days."

Donald Trump Jr. has released statements on the meeting and agreed to share information about it with the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Along with the alleged emails today, he released an additional statement, which read:

"To everyone, in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails with Rob Goldstone about the meeting on June 9, 2016. The first email on June 3, 2016 was from Rob, who was relating a request from Emin, a person I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant near Moscow. Emin and his father have a very highly respected company in Moscow. The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research. I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn't work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet. I decided to take the meeting. The woman, as she has said publicly, was not a government official. And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act. To put this in context, this occurred before the current Russian fever was in vogue. As Rob Goldstone said just today in the press, the entire meeting was 'the most inane nonsense I ever heard. And I was actually agitated by it.'"

Here are copies of the images posted by Donald Trump Jr. on his verified Twitter account:

TEXT AND IMAGE INSERTS
. . . .

I EMPATHIZE WITH THE PRODUCERS OF NEWS IN THIS CASE, BUT I DON’T WANT THEIR SOLUTION TO BE MY HAVING TO PAY A LARGE AMOUNT OF EXTRA MONEY, ESPECIALLY TO EACH NEWS PRODUCER. HOW ABOUT A SMALL NEWS FEE OF SORTS – NOT TO PAID BY SOME ONLINE METHOD OUT OF MY BANK ACCOUNT DIRECTLY TO THE NEWS ORGANIZATION, BUT TO BE COLLECTED BY THE ISP WHO SERVES ME. THAT COULD BE DONE ON A MONTHLY BASIS, ALONG WITH THE OTHER PARTS OF THE USER FEE, TAXES, ETC. THAT NEWS FEE MONEY COULD THEN GO INTO A FUND TO BE SENT ON DIRECTLY TO THE NEWS SOURCES THAT I AS AN INDIVIDUAL CHOOSE; SO THAT MY OVERALL INTERNET FEE WOULD GO UP A SMALL AMOUNT, BUT GREEDY WEBSITES WOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO HOLD OFF SERVICE BECAUSE I HAVEN’T PAYED THEM INDIVIDUALLY, AND ILLEGITIMATE BUSINESSES LIKE BREITBART WOULDN’T GET A PENNY FROM ME.

THE GUARDIAN, THE WASHINGTON POST, ARE TWO THAT VIGOROUSLY BEG OR OUTRIGHTLY BLOCK ME FOR A TIME PERIOD AFTER MY 5TH FREE USE, ETC. THEY SIMPLY PUT UP AN ANNOUNCEMENT OVER THE STORY I CHOSE AND ASK FOR A SUBSCRIPTION. IF I WAIT SEVERAL WEEKS OR A MONTH TO GO BACK TO THEIR SITE I CAN HAVE SOME MORE FREE USES. THE WASHINGTON POST FEE IS $25.00 A MONTH, AND I CAN’T AFFORD THAT. I CAN ALMOST ALWAYS FIND THE FACTS OF THE STORY SOMEWHERE ELSE. SOME OF MY FAVORITE OTHER SOURCES ARE HUFFINGTON POST, ALTERNET, LAPROGRESSIVE, ETC. I DO ALLOW WIKIPEDIA AND NPR TO DEBIT $3.00 A MONTH FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT.

IN ORDER TO KEEP DOWN THE PURELY FAKE NEWS PURVEYORS, INCLUDING THOSE SATIRE WRITERS -- WHO CAN BE VERY ENTERTAINING -- BUT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PRESENT THEMSELVES AS “NEWS.” PERHAPS THE NET COULD PUT AN EXTRA ISP FEE ON THE NEWS PURVEYORS WHO DO NOT COME FROM A BONE FIDE SOURCE LIKE CBS, ABC, AND SO ON. THIS MIGHT SATISFY MOST PEOPLE, BECAUSE I THINK MOST BRIGHT AND EDUCATED PEOPLE KNOW IN THEIR HEART OF HEARTS THAT THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST EXCELLENT AND RELIABLE CORPORATE NEWS OUTFITS AS BEING “FAKE NEWS,” BY THE DONALD TRUMP MACHINE, IS TOTAL POLITICALLY-BASED UNPROCESSED FERTILIZER. THEIR CYNICAL AND DAMAGING LIES ARE THE TRUE FAKE NEWS.

I WOULD LIKE FOR GOOGLE TO INVOLVE ITSELF IN SERIOUS SOURCING, NATIONAL ORIGINS OF THE NEWS OUTLETS INDIVIDUALLY (MANY FAKE NEWS STORIES COME OUT OF MACEDONIA, FOR INSTANCE), AND FACT CHECKING STORIES ON A PERIODIC BASIS CAN BE DONE, INSTEAD OF JUST RANDOMLY PENALIZING ALL USERS FINANCIALLY. IF THEY WOULD GO AFTER A SOURCE LIKE BREITBART, INFOWARS, RT, ETC. LEGALLY, I THINK THEY MIGHT BE PERSUADED TO STOP WRITING TRIPE. WHY IS IT LEGAL TO PRODUCE TOTAL TRASH AND BE ALLOWED TO PUBLISH IT OVER THE INTERNET AS “NEWS?”

I DO AGREE WHOLEHEARTED WITH THE IDEA THAT THE NEWS AS A GROUP SHOULD BE ABLE TO NEGOTIATE FOR A JUST REMUNERATION. I LOVE GOOD NEWS WRITING AND COMMENTARY – MY FAVORITE RIGHT NOW IS RACHEL MADDOW – AND I DEFINITELY WANT THEM TO MAKE A GOOD LIVING, BECAUSE THEY DO A VERY SPECIAL AND IMPORTANT TASK. AS THE ARTICLE SAYS, GOOD NEWS REPORTING IS ESSENTIAL TO A DEMOCRACY, AND I HOPE WE WILL REMAIN FREE AND WELL-INFORMED.

RIGHT NOW, SOME NEWS OUTLETS ARE DOING THEIR OWN BLOCKING TO USERS SUCH AS MYSELF UNLESS I PAY FOR A SUBSCRIPTION WHICH COSTS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT, AND I’M NOT GOING TO. I CAN’T. SO FAR, ONLY A FEW ARE DOING THAT, SO IT’S WORKING OKAY FOR NOW. I JUST GO TO GOOGLE AND LOOK FOR THE STORY ELSEWHERE. IF THAT BECOMES COMMONPLACE, THOUGH, I WON’T BE VERY HAPPY.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/news-media-alliance-ceo-on-facebook-google/
CBS NEWS July 11, 2017, 1:34 PM
Why news outlets want to team up and take on Facebook and Google

People may be consuming more news than ever, but that isn't translating to increased revenue for media outlets.

Although some of the largest national newspapers reported a sharp jump in online subscriptions following the 2016 presidential race, a Pew study found that the industry as a whole saw advertising revenue plunge by nearly a third in the past decade.

Now, newspapers and other media organizations want Congress to grant them the right to team up and renegotiate how content is shared on Facebook and Google.

President and CEO of the News Media Alliance, David Chavern, joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he argues that Facebook and Google pose an "inexorable threat" to the news industry.

The News Media Alliance is a trade association representing about 2,000 digital and print outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

Chavern says the threat arises because when people consume news online, "the money isn't flowing to the folks hiring the reporters."

Instead, he points out, about 70 percent of digital advertising revenue goes to Facebook and Google, even though they don't shoulder the costs of news coverage.

"The two digital giants don't employ reporters: They don't dig through public records to uncover corruption, send correspondents into war zones, or attend last night's game to get the highlights. They expect an economically squeezed news industry to do that costly work for them," Chavern wrote in his op-ed.

On "CBS This Morning" he stressed that the set-up needs to change. "We need a system that allows the folks hiring the reporters to be able to produce the great content we need in this country."

Facebook's new initiative to fight fake news
Play VIDEO
Facebook's new initiative to fight fake news

Asked how the tech giants have responded, Chavern said, "I think they're trying to help publishers but it hasn't been very much, very fast."

Chavern argues that that the implications go far beyond the publishers themselves.

"News is not just content. News is what's tying together our democracy," he said. "If you get fake news, if you get garbage news, it impacts the whole of society."

He believes the solution is twofold.

"We need a better deal from Facebook and Google, among others. A better economic deal," Chavern said. Also important, he said, is brand awareness for news outlets on social media so that people can more easily distinguish one publisher from another.

"People going on Facebook often think that when they read it on Facebook that Facebook has produced the content," Chavern said. "Now, the crazy conspiracy theory and the news piece is fed to you just right the same way."

Do you know the source of the news you read online?
What the News Media Alliance wants from Congress is the ability to work together without violating laws intended to prevent monopolies.

"Under the antitrust laws the newspapers currently can't get together to negotiate with these giants and what we're just asking is the ability to negotiate as a group. That's all," Chavern said.

Asked why anyone would pay for news now after getting it free for so long, Chavern replied: "If you want a free news business, it's 'Pope endorses Trump.' Right? It's fake news world."

Facebook and Google issued statements saying that they want to work with news publishers on these issues.

"We're committed to helping quality journalism thrive on Facebook. We're making progress through our work with news publishers and have more work to do," said Campbell Brown, Facebook's head of news partnerships.

Google said: "We want to help news publishers succeed as they transition to digital. In recent years we've built numerous specialized products and technologies, developed specifically to help distribute, fund, and support newspapers. This is a priority and we remain deeply committed to helping publishers with both their challenges, and their opportunities."



WAS THIS A RACIST CRIME? WHAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM WITH SETTING THEIR BEERS ON THE WRONG TABLE? JUST A SEVERE CASE OF LOCAL XENOPHOBIA? EGAD! YOU WILL NOTE THAT THE BEATERS ARE SERBIANS, WHO ARE THE SAME GROUP WHO COMMITTED GENOCIDE SOME 15 YEARS AGO IN A PART OF YUGOSLAVIA, AND THAT CULTURALLY AND ETHNICALLY THEY ARE MORE RELATED TO RUSSIA THAN THEY ARE TO GREECE. SEE THE VERY STRONG RACIST NATURE OF THAT MASS MURDER.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bakari-henderson-friends-of-american-beaten-to-death-in-greece-speak-out/
CBS NEWS July 11, 2017, 7:40 AM
Friend of American fatally beaten outside bar in Greece: "I never once saw him angry"

Local media reported a selfie with a waitress started the fight that killed Bakari Henderson, the American man who was beaten to death outside a bar in Greece.

However, his friends told "CBS This Morning" that this account is not true.

They said the attack began when Henderson and his friends put their drinks down near a group of men at a bar on the Greek island of Zakynthos.

We know how it ended, with a group of men -- mostly Serbian, according to investigators -- beating Henderson outside the bar.

Friends back in his home state of Texas say they're not getting the answers they want about what took place that night and those who were in Greece are still trying to make sense of what happened, reports CBS News' Tony Dokoupil.

"I never once saw him angry, I never saw him irritated, not even a little, slightest bit flustered," said Daniel Brown, a friend of Henderson who spoke to "CBS This Morning" before departing Greece.

barcode-2.jpg
Bar Code, the bar in Zakynthos, Greece where Bakari Henderson apparently was before being beaten to death.

"My new life motto is 'blb' which stands for 'be like Bakari' and it's just a reminder to myself to always be humble, pursue my dreams and just never get upset by the little things in life," Brown said.

Brown says he was on his way to meet Henderson in the party destination of Laganas when the attack happened.

According to another friend who was there but didn't want to be identified, Henderson and his friends had set their beers on a table in a place called Bar Code when two men allegedly grabbed their bottles, broke them, and held them out like weapons. This sparked a fight that spilled out into the streets. At some point, Henderson became separated from his friends as more than 10 people started beating him.

Police have so far arrested eight men, including a bar employee and a bouncer for the deadly attack. Police say Henderson suffered severe head injuries.

"He was always extremely selfless and worried about everyone else before himself," Brown said of Henderson.

Henderson's close friend Megan McCray agreed.

"He was the most compassionate, like courageous, genuine friend I had growing up," McCray said.

McCray says she's not satisfied with the information she's getting about the death of Henderson, an aspiring entrepreneur who had just graduated college and was working to launch a new clothing line.

She says he wasn't the type to get into a bar fight.

"It was all really kind of unsettling and hard to swallow because that wasn't the person we knew Bakari to be. All of my friends and family have been trying to get down to the bottom of why ten guys were against him," McCray said.

A spokeswoman for Henderson's family says they're still working with the U.S. State Department to bring his body home.

They hope that will happen this week. A GoFundMe account has now raised $40,000 to help with those costs.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre
Srebrenica massacre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide[7] (Bosnian: Masakr u Srebrenici; Genocid u Srebrenici), was the July 1995 genocide[8] of more than 8,000[1][9] Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.

The killings were perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić. The Scorpions, a paramilitary unit from Serbia, who had been part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, also participated in the massacre.[6][10] In April 1993 the United Nations (UN) had declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica—in the Drina Valley of northeastern Bosnia—a "safe area" under UN protection. However, in July 1995, UNPROFOR's 370[11] Dutchbat soldiers in Srebrenica failed to prevent the town's capture by the VRS—and the subsequent massacre.[12][13][14][15]

In 2004, in a unanimous ruling on the case of Prosecutor v. Krstić, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), located in the Hague, ruled that the massacre of the enclave's male inhabitants constituted genocide, a crime under international law.[16] The ruling was also upheld by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2007.[17] The forcible transfer and abuse, of between 25,000 and 30,000 Bosniak women, children and elderly which accompanied the massacre was found to constitute genocide, when accompanied with the killings and separation of the men.[18][19]

In 2005, Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations described the mass murder as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War,[2] and in a message to the tenth anniversary commemoration of the massacre, he wrote that, while blame lay "first and foremost with those who planned and carried out the massacre and those who assisted and harboured them", the UN had "made serious errors of judgement, rooted in a philosophy of impartiality", describing Srebrenica as a tragedy that would haunt the history of the UN forever.[2]

In 2006, in the Bosnian Genocide case held before the International Court of Justice, Serbia and Montenegro was cleared of direct responsibility for, or complicity in, the massacre, but was found responsible for not doing enough to prevent the genocide and not prosecuting those responsible, in breach of the Genocide Convention. The Preliminary List of People Missing or Killed in Srebrenica compiled by the Bosnian Federal Commission of Missing Persons contains 8,373 names.[1] As of July 2012, 6,838 genocide victims have been identified through DNA analysis of body parts recovered from mass graves;[20] as of July 2013, 6,066 victims have been buried at the Memorial Centre of Potočari.[21]

In April 2013, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić officially apologised for the massacre, although he stopped short of calling it genocide.[22] In 2013 and 2014, the Netherlands was found liable in its own supreme court and in the Hague district court of failing in its duty to prevent more than 300 of the deaths.[23][24][25][26][27]

On 8 July 2015, Russia, at the request of the Republika Srpska and Serbia, vetoed a UN resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre as genocide. Serbia called the resolution "anti-Serb", while both European and US governments affirmed that the crimes were genocide.[28][29] On 9 July 2015, both the European Parliament (EP) and the U.S. Congress adopted resolutions reaffirming the description of the crime as genocide.[30][31]



UNFORTUNATELY, THE EVIDENCE OF (PRESUMED) MURDER IS NOT IN THIS ARTICLE, SO MAYBE THE POLICE HAVE WITHHELD THE INFORMATION, AS WELL AS THE SPECIFIC EVIDENCE AGAINST THE MAN. THIS SUSPECT WAS “INVOLUNTARILY COMMITTED TO A MENTAL INSTITUTION.” THE ARTICLE DOESN’T SAY WHY POLICE SUSPECT THE MAN OF MURDER, ETC. I HOPE TO SEE MORE LATER. SEE ALSO THE EXCELLENT ABC COVERAGE TONIGHT INCLUDING LIVE FILMING, AND ANALYSIS BY NANCY GRACE. HTTP://ABCNEWS.GO.COM/US/INSIDE-MYSTERIOUS-DISAPPEARANCES-YOUNG-MEN/STORY?ID=48565240

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/person-of-interest-linked-to-search-site-in-disappearance-of-4-young-pennsylvania-men/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP July 11, 2017, 12:54 PM
Person of interest linked to search site in disappearance of 4 young Pa. men

Photograph -- From left, Jimi Tar Patrick, Dean Finocchiaro,Tom Meo and Mark Sturgis CBS PHILADELPHIA
Video – CBS THIS MORNING

BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. -- Authorities in suburban Philadelphia have named a person of interest in the disappearance of four young men who vanished within days of each other last week.

The missing men have been identified as Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg; Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead; Dean Finocchiaro, 18, of Middletown; and Jimi Tar Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township. Patrick disappeared on Wednesday, and the three others on Friday. Investigators fear foul play is involved in the disappearances, and say they're investigating how the four men know each other.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said 20-year-old Cosmo DiNardo was re-arrested on an unrelated gun charge Monday because he has become more of a flight risk. DiNardo is being held on $1 million bail over a charge that he illegally possessed a shotgun after a mental health commitment. The charge dates back to February, reports CBS Philly.

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From left, Jimi Tar Patrick, Dean Finocchiaro,Tom Meo and Mark Sturgis CBS PHILADELPHIA

Weintraub said Tuesday DiNardo is considered a person of interest in the disappearances. Weintraub also confirmed DiNardo is the son of the owners of a Solebury Township property investigators have been combing over "with the equivalent of a fine-toothed comb."

But Weintraub cautioned that "sometimes that chasm between person of interest and person accused, arrested or certainly convicted is so wide we never cross it." He said DiNardo "may or may not be" a part of the investigation in days to come. He urged anyone with information about how the four missing men are connected to each other or to DiNardo to come forward.

"I can't say that there is that type of information, but if there is, I beg of you to please give it to us and let us run it down," he said.

Neither DiNardo's lawyer nor his parents have returned calls for comment from the Associated Press.

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Cosmom DiNardo CBS PHILLY

Investigators are chasing fast-developing leads in the search for the men, but say that it could take days despite intense efforts centered on the large swath of farmland about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. Weintraub would not say exactly what led authorities there, but on Monday called leads in the case "incredibly hot" and "very fruitful."

Weintraub confirmed Tuesday the Solebury Township property is the main search site, though other locations have been searched as well. Investigators also searched a property in Bensalem that the DiNardo family owns, CBS Philly reports.

Weintraub stressed no human remains have been found in the search. Monday, he said investigators aren't sure what they'll find.

Two of the missing men, Sturgis and Meo, are longtime friends who work in construction for Sturgis' father, Mark Potash. Finocchiaro is a mutual friend of theirs, Potash told The Associated Press.

Sturgis and Meo were last seen together Friday night in the Doylestown area. Finocchiaro has been arrested multiple times on charges that include drug possession, driving under the influence and assault.

Potash said he did not know where his son was heading or what he was doing before he disappeared Friday.

The FBI is involved in the search.




THIS FEAR OF VACCINATIONS IS NOTHING BUT PARANOIA AND THE KIND OF PANIC THAT SO OFTEN COMES FROM PEOPLE’S CHOOSING TO GET THEIR NEWS AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM EMOTIONALLY TINGED AND NON-PROFESSIONAL SOURCES. IT’S GOSSIP RATHER THAN NEWS.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/measles-kills-children-in-europe-unacceptable-tragedy/
CBS/AP July 11, 2017, 4:03 PM
Measles kills 35 children in Europe in "unacceptable tragedy"

Photograph -- A dose of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine JOE RAEDLE, GETTY IMAGES

LONDON -- The World Health Organization says measles has killed 35 children in Europe in the last year, calling it an "unacceptable tragedy" that deaths are being caused by a vaccine-preventable disease.

The figure is nearly a threefold increase since 2016, when measles killed 13 children in Europe. In 2015, it killed three.

In a statement Tuesday, the U.N. health agency said the most recent death was a 6-year-old boy in Italy, where there have been more than 3,300 cases and two deaths since last June. The highly contagious virus has also caused 31 deaths in Romania.

Behind Minnesota's worst measles outbreak in nearly 30 years
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Behind Minnesota's worst measles outbreak in nearly 30 years

Despite decades of medical research confirming the vaccine's safety, fears about the vaccine have caused thousands of parents to avoid vaccinating their children across Europe. In May, Italy made 12 vaccines mandatory for children, to combat what the government characterized as "misinformation."

The U.S. has also seen an uptick in measles this year, with 108 cases reported to the CDC as of mid-June. That's more than the total of 70 cases reported in the country in all of 2016.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Without the vaccine, doctors estimate 90 percent of people who are exposed will become ill. Recent outbreaks have mostly been traced to travelers who contracted the virus overseas and then spread it to others who were not vaccinated.