July 12 AND 13, 2017


News and Views


WHY SHOULD A KNOWN ADVERSARY MASQUERADING AS A SEMI-DEMI ALLY HAVE COMPOUNDS COMPLETE WITH SPYING EQUIPMENT ON US TERRITORY? OF, COURSE, THAT’S JUST MY OPINION.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/four-democratic-senators-call-for-keeping-russian-compounds-in-maryland-and-new-york-closed/
CBS NEWS July 13, 2017, 6:13 PM
Four Democratic senators call for keeping Russian compounds in Maryland and New York closed

Photograph -- A dock is seen at a recreational compound owned by the Russian government near Centreville, Maryland, on Dec. 29, 2016. GETTY

Some lawmakers are issuing a warning call that next week's meeting between U.S. and Russian government officials should not to spur the opening of Russian compounds closed by the Obama administration after it concluded that Russia had meddled in the U.S. elections.

Four Democratic senators have written a letter to Undersecretary Tom Shannon, who will be meeting with his Russian counterpart on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.

"We strongly urge the State Department not to return the diplomatic compounds in Maryland and New York to the Government of the Russian Federation at this time," they wrote. "Simply put, the Russian government has done nothing to deserve renewed access to these compounds."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York hail from the two states where the compounds are located. They believe that keeping the compounds closed and being vigilant in the meeting next week will help "deny the Russian government the ability to advance its interests from within our own states."

Shannon has been tasked with dealing with some of the countries' irritants, including the compounds. The Shannon-Ryabkov meeting was originally scheduled for last month in St. Petersburg but the Russians cancelled it as the U.S. announced it would be continuing the sanctions.

The senators are asking Shannon to meet with the FBI, and they added that the Russian government's "nefarious intentions" toward the U.S. were clarified during in the 2016 election. They also note that the treatment of U.S. personnel in Russia – which reportedly included the slashing of U.S. diplomats' car tires, home break-ins, and some violent attacks – has not "markedly improved." That was a primary reason that the compounds were initially closed. At the time "it had reached Soviet levels," says one former U.S. government official told CBS News.

The Russians have warned of retaliating if the compounds are not opened. "There were several variants of a response and a harsh reaction is prepared," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told a Russian News agency.

The State Department would not reply to that threat. It has, recently as this week, said that activity was taking place in the compounds that was illegal. This further verifies that the closing of the compounds was not just about retaliating for the treatment of U.S. personnel in Russia.

"Part of the reason that the Russian Government was asked to leave its dachas here in the United States," explained Heather Nauert, State Department spokesperson, was "because we knew that there were some activities taking place in those dachas that were not permitted under U.S. law."

CBS News has reported that when U.S. officials entered shuttered Russian compounds last year they found damaged materials that could have been used in intelligence gathering and that former officials say could have been useful in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The closure of the Russian compounds in November of 2016 took place in conjunction with new Russian sanctions that included the expulsion of 35 Russians who the U.S. said were spies operating under diplomatic cover.

Just a few days ago, President Trump met with President Putin for the first time at the G-20. The U.S. and Russia also agreed, along with Jordan, to a ceasefire in Southwest Syria.



THE KOCH BROTHERS LAWYER SPEAKS OUT ON OBAMACARE – URGES NO RETREAT BEFORE TOWN HALLS’ ANGER. THAT IS “THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE” IN ITS’ TRUEST FORM, AND A BASIC PART OF DEMOCRACY. OF COURSE, THEY ARE OPPOSED TO IT!

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/koch-brothers-political-chief-urges-gop-lawmakers-not-to-give-into-pressure-from-town-halls-on-health-care/
Koch Brothers' political chief urges GOP lawmakers not to give into pressure from town halls on health care
JULY 5, 2017, 10:30 PM| Americans for Prosperity president and Koch brothers' political chief Tim Phillips urged Republican lawmakers to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite pressure from constituents to leave parts of it in place. Elaine Quijano has more in a "Red & Blue" interview.



THE DARK FORCES BEHIND THE TRUMP CAMP WILL BE VERY UNHAPPY ABOUT THIS. IT WILL BE HARDER TO SILENCE THE BBC, IN ADDITION TO CBS, IF TRUMP MOVES TO GUT THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN THE USA. HOPEFULLY THAT ISN’T SOMETHING THAT HE WILL TRY, OF COURSE. EVEN MOST REPUBLICANS WON’T PUT UP WITH THAT!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-bbc-join-forces/
CBS NEWS July 13, 2017, 7:57 AM
CBS News and BBC News join forces around the globe

CBS News and BBC News announced a new editorial and newsgathering relationship Thursday that will significantly enhance the global reporting capabilities of both organizations. The announcement was made by CBS News President David Rhodes and BBC Director of News and Current Affairs James Harding.

This new deal allows both organizations to share video, editorial content, and additional newsgathering resources in New York, London, Washington and around the world. The relationship between CBS News and BBC News will also allow for efficient planning of newsgathering resources to increase the content of each broadcaster's coverage of world events.

"CBS News is completely committed to original reporting around the world - a commitment clearly shared by the BBC," said Rhodes. "There's no better partner to strengthen and extend our global coverage than BBC News. I look forward to working with James Harding as we increase the capabilities of both organizations."

Edward R. Murrow's prized trophy is a BBC mic
Play VIDEO
Edward R. Murrow's prized trophy is a BBC mic

"There's never been a more important time for smart, courageous coverage of what's happening in the world," said Harding. "This new partnership between the BBC and CBS News is designed to bring our audiences - wherever you live, whatever your point of view - news that is reliable, original and illuminating. Our ambition is to deliver the best in international reporting on television. We're really looking forward to working together."

Sharing of content between CBS News and BBC News will begin immediately. Additional newsgathering components will be rolled out in the coming months.

The partnership builds on a relationship that dates back to the early days of television and radio news. Legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow delivered many of his famed reports from Studio B4 at BBC's London headquarters. Murrow discussed his fondness for his work at the BBC's studio B4, including a microphone he kept in New York with the BBC logo he used covering World War II.



SOME OF THESE THINGS LOOK INTERESTING AND HELPFUL, AND THEY ARE TOTALLY NEW TO ME: “RESEARCH FOR ANTI-ADDICTION VACCINES AND NON-EUPHORIC PAIN MEDICATION AND IDENTIFYING SOCIAL CONDITIONS THAT SPREAD ADDICTION.” HOW ABOUT GENERAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE. LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO TURN TO DRUGS ARE CHRONICALLY DEPRESSED, FOR INSTANCE. AND AS FOR FRAUD BY MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS, THAT ISN’T NEW. THERE WAS A SERIES OF STINGS IN FLORIDA AT “PILL CLINICS.” WHERE THERE’S A BUCK TO BE MADE, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMEBODY TO WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET IT.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sessions-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-take-down-in-us-history/
By JOHN BAT CBS NEWS July 13, 2017, 12:52 PM
Sessions announces "largest health care fraud takedown" in U.S. history

The Department of Justice, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal departments, revealed on Thursday the largest crackdown on health care fraud in U.S. history.

During a DOJ press conference, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Health Care Fraud Takedown, which is now operating in its eighth year, charged 412 defendants, including 56 doctors, accused of defrauding taxpayers around $1.3 billion.

"Too many trusted medical professionals like doctors, nurses, and pharmacists have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of their patients," Sessions said. "Amazingly, some have made their practices into multimillion dollar criminal enterprises. They seem oblivious to the disastrous consequences of their greed."

Sessions said that because of the crackdown, 295 health care providers could now potentially be suspended or barred from participating in federal health programs. The operation was labeled by Sessions and HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price as the "largest opioid-related fraud takedown in American history."

"We are sending a clear message to criminals across the country: we will find you. We will bring you to justice. And, you will pay a very high price for what you have done," Sessions said.

Of the 412 defendants, 120 were charged with crimes related to improper issuance and overprescribing of opioids, billing government health services for fraudulent claims, swapping prescriptions for money and illegally recruiting subscribers to medication, among other things.

Medicaid cuts in Senate bill could have dire effects at Ohio opioid clinic
Play VIDEO
Medicaid cuts in Senate bill could have dire effects at Ohio opioid clinic

"Thanks to the efforts, fewer criminals will be able to exploit our nation's opioid crisis for their own gain," Price said at the conference. "And this really epitomizes what the national takedown operation is all about."

Raising the nation's confidence in and protecting federal health programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, Price said, were some of the central aims of the operation. Price added that President Trump "instinctively understands the importance of saving and strengthening Medicare and Medicaid," pointing to the president's first budget request, which asked for an increased investment in the HHS' Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program.

At the end of the press conference, Sessions and Price discussed their strategies to address the country's drug-addiction epidemic, which is heavily fueled by increased levels of opioid prescriptions.

Sessions likened his strategy to efforts employed by the Reagan administration during the 1980's. He presented a synthesized three-prong approach: prevention, cutting distribution and providing treatment options.

Price tacked on a couple more strategies, including increasing access to anti-overdose drugs such as Narcan, which is used to offset opioid-induced overdose symptoms, supporting research for anti-addiction vaccines and non-euphoric pain medication and identifying social conditions that spread addiction.

Sessions and Price were joined at the conference by acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, DEA Director Chuck Rosenberg and HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson.

The FBI employed 29 of 56 of its field office locations for the operation. Both the DEA and HHS played vital roles in the process, lending resources and personnel for the investigation. Many of the charges, Sessions said, arrived because of tips from community members and cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement.


AN 80 PERSON HUMAN CHAIN! THAT’S SPECTACULAR. THE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO DO THAT IS SOMETHING I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD, AND THE OPERATION WAS UNDERTAKEN IN RECORD TIME. MAYBE IT WAS A VERY, VERY, CROWDED BEACH. A JACKSONVILLE FL BEACH WOULDN’T HAVE 80 PEOPLE THERE. THE QUICK THINKING, PERSEVERANCE AND COMMUNICATION SHOWS PEOPLE AT OUR BEST. THIS REALLY IS A GREAT STORY!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/panama-city-beach-strangers-human-chain-rescue-swimmers-florida/
CBS/AP July 11, 2017, 10:07 AM
Dozens of strangers form human chain to rescue swimmers at Florida beach

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- Strangers on a Florida beach formed an 80-person human chain to rescue nine members of family who had been caught in a riptide and pulled too far from shore.

CBS affiliate WKRG-TV reports the incident was captured on video.

Roberta Ursrey and her family were enjoying the day at M.B. Miller County Pier on the Gulf of Mexico when she noticed her sons were missing, the Panama City News Herald reported . She went looking for them and soon heard them screaming from the water that they were trapped by the current.

Others warned her not to go in the water, but Ursrey, her mother and five other family members swam to the boys' aid, but then found themselves also trapped in 15-feet of water.

Jessica Simmons, who had stopped with her husband at the beach for dinner, had just found a discarded boogie board when she saw people pointing at the water. She thought they were pointing at a shark, but when she realized people were drowning, she jumped on the board and began swimming toward Ursrey's family.

"These people are not drowning today," Simmons remembers telling herself. "It's not happening. We are going to get them out."

human-chain.jpg
Dozens of strangers worked together to rescue eight swimmers who were in distress on a beach in northwest Florida. ROSALIND BECKTON/WKRG-TV

Meanwhile, Simmons' husband and some other men started a human chain to bring everyone back to shore. Some couldn't swim, so stayed in shallow water. Eventually, about 80 people were involved and got to within feet of the family.

Simmons, her husband and some others then towed the family to the chain, which passed them back to shore.

Ursrey's mother suffered a major heart attack during the ordeal and remains hospitalized. A nephew suffered a broken hand. Otherwise, everyone was safe.

"I am so grateful," Ursrey said. "These people were God's angels that were in the right place at the right time. I owe my life and my family's life to them. Without them, we wouldn't be here."

Simmons said she was impressed by everyone working together to rescue the family.

"It's so cool to see how we have our own lives and we're constantly at a fast pace, but when somebody needs help, everybody drops everything and helps," Simmons told the newspaper. "That was really inspiring to see that we still have that.

"With everything going on in the world, we still have humanity," she added.

Paramedics transported two people to a hospital after they were rescued, WKRG reported.



I DO REMEMBER MY LAST LOVE (A MAN QUITE A BIT OLDER THAN ME) TAKING ME ONTO THE GRASS BEYOND A LANDING FIELD AT NATIONAL AIRPORT IN WASHINGTON DC, WHERE WE LAY DOWN AND WATCHED HUGE PASSENGER JETS TAKE OFF RIGHT OVER US. I’M NOT SURE HOW HIGH UP THEY WERE, BUT IT LOOKED LIKE ABOUT THE HEIGHT OF A THREE-STORY BUILDING. I DIDN’T KNOW IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS – UNLESS THE PLANE FELL, OF COURSE. IT WAS GREAT FUN, DANGER OR NO. IT DIDN’T CAUSE ANY WIND THAT HIT US ON THE GROUND.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jet-blast-sint-maarten-princess-juliana-airport-caribbean-kills-tourist-maho-beach/
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten -- A New Zealand tourist has been killed by the blast from a jetliner taking off at a seaside airport in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten, officials said Thursday.

The 57-year-old woman was knocked into a wall as she tried to cling to a fence to feel the blast on Wednesday, police spokesman Ricardo Henson said by phone. He said the woman was taken to the hospital, where she was declared dead. Her name wasn't released.

Rolando Brison, director of tourism for the island of St. Maarten, told the New Zealand Herald that he spoke to the victim's family.

"Yes, the family did confirm that (she was a New Zealander) to me," he said. "And we're so sad to hear that. At this time I only wish to express my deepest sympathy to the family and loved ones while we continue to investigate what transpired just hours ago."

image3493655.jpg
This undated photo provided by The St. Maarten/St. Martin Tourism Bureaus shows an Air France jet flying above Maho beach on the island of St. Martin in the northeast Caribbean. The island has a French side and a Dutch side, each exhibiting different culture and goods. AP PHOTO/ST. MARTIN TOURISM BUREAU

Henson said hundreds of tourists regularly ignore multiple warning signs to not stand by the fence at the Princess Juliana International Airport, which is less than 200 feet from the beach in the tiny territory.

"Many people come just for the thrill of this main attraction, and unfortunately this time someone lost their life," he said.

Henson said dozens have been injured in recent years by the jet blasts, but this is the first time someone has died.

"It's very dangerous," he said. "It goes on all day, every day."

Over the years, vacationers and airplane buffs have posted numerous videos on YouTube showing the hair-raising moments as planes come in for a landing right over the beach and the powerful forces of jet engine blasts knock people off their feet.

Planes Landing in St Martin - Mooney M20J Landing Across Maho Beach in St Maarten by Mooney 201er on YouTube



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_blast
Jet blast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jet blast is the phenomenon of rapid air movement produced by the jet engines of aircraft, particularly on or before takeoff.

A large jet-engined aircraft can produce winds of up to 100 knots (190 km/h; 120 mph) [1] as far away as 60 metres (200 ft) behind it at 40% maximum rated power.[2] Jet blast can be a hazard to people or other unsecured objects behind the aircraft, and is capable of flattening buildings and destroying vehicles [3]



SANDERS ON SERIOUS POLITICS – TWO ARTICLES

SANDERS IS AWARE OF AN IMPORTANT HUMAN TRAIT – “STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT!” 2020? HE “ISN’T NOT CONSIDERING IT.”. WITH THE TYPE OF MIND THAT HE HAS, AND HIS DAILY WALKS TO WORK, AND RUNNING, HIS PHYSICAL CONDITION IS PROBABLY SIMILAR TO AN AVERAGE 50 YEAR OLD, OR MAYBE YOUNGER, AND AS FOR HIS BEING ANYWHERE NEAR SENILITY, THAT’S RIDICULOUS. JUST LISTEN TO HIM TALK, DEBATE AND EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF POLITICAL ISSUES. FINALLY, HE IS VERY, VERY CHARMING AND HUMAN. DURING ONE OF HIS SPEECHES A LITTLE BROWN SPARROW-LIKE BIRD CAME DOWN AND SAT ON HIS PODIUM. HE STOPPED TALKING IN MID-SENTENCE AND WATCHED, SMILING, AS IT TOOK A GOOD LOOK AT HIM, THEN AS QUICKLY, IT FLEW AWAY. IT WAS TRULY A POETIC MOMENT. A SIGN FROM GOD, PERHAPS?

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/what-bernie-sanders-new-book-iowa-speech
NEWS & POLITICS
What Is Bernie Sanders Up To? New Book, Iowa Speech
A visit to Iowa, which holds a special place in presidential politics, is bound to fuel further 2020 speculation.
By Stav Ziv / Newsweek July 11, 2017, 8:47 AM GMT

Photograph -- Photo Credit: Scott P / Flickr
Posted with permission from Newsweek

The last time Bernie Sanders was in Iowa City to speak about a new book at the Prairie Lights Bookstore, it was February 19, 2015, just a few months before he announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. In August, he’s scheduled to return to the bookstore to promote his latest title, Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution.

“He became much better known in Iowa during the campaign cycle, so we expect that this will sell out very quickly,” Jan Weissmiller, co-owner of the bookstore, tells Newsweek over the phone. The event is scheduled for August 31, just two days after the book’s publication, and tickets are due to go on sale on Friday.

Last time, “we were shocked that 150 people came,” Weissmiller says. The bookstore was approached in 2015 about the opportunity to host the Vermont senator discussing The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and The Decline of Our Middle Class. The store had only three days to promote the event, and the temperature was below zero when the day came.

“It was the first time I was exposed to his message. It was very moving,” Weissmiller says, and the crowd—which she describes as a diverse group from a broad range of ages and socioeconomic status, including folks who weren’t often seen at the bookstore—seemed to agree. “Everyone was sort of on the edge of their seats. He’s a powerful speaker.”

Though the 150-person turnout exceeded expectations two and a half years ago, that will likely pale in comparison to the attendance this August. Sanders’s audience for various events in the city grew steadily throughout his campaign. He drew roughly 400 people at rallies in May and August 2015, and by January 2016, another rally brought between 3,900 and 5,000 people to the University of Iowa’s Field House to see the presidential hopeful, who was joined that day by Cornel West, actor Josh Hutcherson and the band Vampire Weekend.

The book talk this August will be held at Hancher Auditorium, which Weissmiller says has a capacity of 1,800. The Englert Theatre across the street from the bookstore—which has 725 seats and has previously hosted readings by Colson Whitehead and Stephen King—didn’t even want to try to host the large crowd Sanders seems sure to draw. Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 20 percent in Johnson County, though he ultimately lost the Democratic Iowa caucuses in the state party’s closest race ever.

Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution “has ideas for continuing a political revolution to fight for a progressive economic, environmental, racial and social justice agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides healthcare for all,” according to the publisher’s description. In the book, he “continues his fight against the imbalances in the nation’s status quo, and shows you how to make a difference to effect the changes America—and the world—need to create a better tomorrow.”

Speculation about a possible presidential bid by Sanders in 2020 has been rampant, even though he will be 79 by then. That’s almost a decade older than Donald Trump when he became the oldest president ever inaugurated. But his supporters don’t seem to mind. "Every single progressive I’ve come across would support another Bernie run for president," Lucy Flores, a former Nevada assemblywoman and founding board member of Our Revolution, told Newsweek in May. A visit to Iowa, which holds a special place in presidential politics, is bound to fuel further speculation.

Like other observers, Weissmiller has no idea whether Sanders's August visit to Iowa City will be a precursor to another presidential bid. But she says she knows “he believes that the electorate, that the populace has to be motivated to be very involved in the political process, whatever his role might be. That’s what this is about. We can’t sit back.”

Stav Ziv is a general assignment reporter for Newsweek. Before joining Newsweek, Stav was a features intern at Newsday on Long Island. She previously interned at the San Francisco Chronicle and Dance Magazine and her writing has also appeared in the Jewish Daily Forward, Stanford Magazine, DancePulp, and other publications.



“WE HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO IS DOING THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN UNPRECEDENTED.”

HE CERTAINLY IS! THE FBI DIRECTOR MUST PROTECT THE LAW, AND NOT IGNORE ASSAULTS ON IT AND RUBBERSTAMP PRESIDENTIAL OVERREACH. AS FOR TRUMP’S TRYING TO FIRE OTHER INVESTIGATORS NOW, I THINK HE MAY BE AWARE THAT SUCH A MOVE WOULD BE DANGEROUS TO HIM.

http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-2020-donald-trump-jr-email-and-what-america-needs-fbi-director-635678
BERNIE SANDERS ON 2020, DONALD TRUMP JR. EMAIL AND WHAT AMERICA NEEDS IN AN FBI DIRECTOR
BY STAV ZIV ON 7/12/17 AT 4:43 PM

Bernie Sanders supporters are still feeling the sting of their candidate’s loss in the race for the Democratic nomination for president and Hillary Clinton’s subsequent loss of the election to Donald Trump. Sanders’s fans, political observers and the media have been asking him for months whether he’ll consider running again in 2020.

The Vermont senator’s usual answer is that it’s way too early to talk about the next election. He reiterated as much in an interview that will air Thursday morning on Sirius XM’s “Make It Plain With Mark Thompson.” But when Thompson asked Sanders whether he’s leaving 2020 on the table or taking it off, the senator answered, more directly than he normally does, that he isn’t not [sic] considering it*.

“No, I am not taking it off the table. I just have not made any decisions,” Sanders said. “And I think it’s much too early,” he continued, directing the conversation to what he believes the public should be focusing on at this time.

“People right now, our job right now, is to not only fight against this disastrous health care proposal. It is to take on all of Trump’s reactionary proposals,” Sanders said. “He is a representative of the billionaire class, he’s at war against the working class. We’ve got to raise the minimum wage—right now we are working on that to 15 bucks an hour. We have got to make public colleges and universities tuition free. We’ve got to be aggressive on criminal justice reform.

“There’s a whole lotta fights that we have to fight,” he added. “It just too early to be talking about an election three-and-a-half years from now.”

Sanders has had to answer the question frequently. Here’s just a sampling of his responses:

“Four years is a long time from now,” he said in November, two days after the 2016 election. “We’ll take one thing at a time, but I’m not ruling out anything.”

“It is much too early to be talking about that,” he said at a town hall in January, several days before Trump’s inauguration. “What we have got to worry about is how we deal with the issues that impact us today,” he added. “One of the reasons that we had success in our campaign―we also surprised a lot of people―is that we talked about issues that people believed in.”

“Too often, the media get involved in what I call political gossip,” he said in late March. “The issue of today, in my view, is to try to address some of the concerns that I raised about the collapsing middle class, massive levels of income inequality, being the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people—that’s what we focus on. We do our work. And when election time comes around, things happen. People decide to run.”

In the interview with Thompson scheduled to air at 8 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, Sanders also addressed two major topics of the day—Donald Trump Jr.’s email and the nominee for FBI director, Christopher Wray.

“From my point of view it is a very damaging piece of evidence,” he said of Trump Jr.’s email. “But what is important is that there be a methodical, objective, bipartisan process that looks at this whole business of the possibility of Trump’s campaign colluding with the Russians,” he added. “To me this is pretty clearly a damaging revelation. But the process has got to continue, and it will.”

Sanders also stressed the need for an independent FBI director. “We have a president who is doing things that have been unprecedented. There is reason to believe that he may have fired the last F.B.I. director because that director was in the middle of an investigation looking at the possible collusion of the Trump campaign with Russia,” he said. “The most important thing is that any new F.B.I. director within the Trump administration has got to be absolutely independent and has got to make it clear that he will stand up for law and for justice, and not be at the whim of this president.”





http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/jeff-sessions-tells-hate-group-doj-will-issue-religious-freedom-n782756
NBC OUT JUL 13 2017, 6:46 PM ET
Jeff Sessions Tells ‘Hate Group’ DOJ Will Issue Religious Freedom Guidance
by MARY EMILY O'HARA

Right-wing news website The Federalist published on Thursday an exclusive transcript of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' speech to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — a conservative Christian law firm that was designated a "hate group" in 2016 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Justice Department confirmed in an email to NBC News that the transcript was legitimate. ADF did not respond to multiple requests for comment delivered on Wednesday and Thursday.

Image: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions addresses the National Law Enforcement Conference on Human Exploitation in Atlanta
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks in Atlanta on June 6. Christopher Aluka Berry / Reuters

In his off-camera, closed-door speech about religious freedom delivered Tuesday night, Sessions announced new federal guidance is on the way.

"Since he was elected, President Trump has been an unwavering defender of religious liberty," Sessions stated. "The president has also directed me to issue guidance on how to apply federal religious liberty protections. The department is finalizing this guidance, and I will soon issue it."

The Justice Department would not comment on the impending guidance.

"The guidance will also help agencies follow the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," Sessions continued in his prepared remarks. "Congress enacted RFRA so that, if the federal government imposes a burden on somebody’s religious practice, it had better have a compelling reason."

When the speech at Alliance Defending Freedom's Summit on Religious Liberty appeared on the Attorney General's public schedule, it was cause for concern among LGBTQ advocacy groups and Democrats — many of whom issued statements questioning why Sessions would speak to what some call an anti-LGBTQ hate group due to its history of litigating against LGBTQ rights.

But after reading the transcript and learning of the Justice Department's plans to create a new federal policy on protecting religious liberties and doubling down on enforcing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, advocates suggested Sessions was more interested in protecting the right to discriminate than the freedom of religion.

"Here he goes again. It appears [what] the Attorney General is saying is that he will only enforce a 'civil rights' law that is meant as an excuse to discriminate; but he won’t enforce longstanding, real civil rights laws like Title IX, Title IX and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in an email sent to NBC News.

JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, also assailed Sessions' speech and his promise of federal guidance on religious liberty protections.

"Sessions’ alarming comments proved what LGBTQ and civil rights leaders know to be true — that he cannot be trusted," Winterhof told NBC News via email. "A month ago, he vowed to protect transgender women from violent attacks and now we find him promoting license to discriminate laws. This is another predictable step for the anti-LGBTQ Trump-Pence Administration."

The Trump administration has promised several times to enact some form of increased religious liberty protections. During the campaign, Trump said he would sign the First Amendment Defense Act, a bill that would allow businesses to turn away LGBTQ people as well as unmarried couples and single mothers.

Before being confirmed as Attorney General, then-senator Sessions was a sponsor of the First Amendment Defense Act.

In May, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty that allows companies to reject the Affordable Care Act's mandate on birth control coverage. Trump's administration has been criticized by LGBTQ advocates for a series of actions ranging from erasing LGBTQ content from federal websites one day after the inauguration to the Department of Education's revocation of an Obama-era policy that increased transgender students' rights.

Sessions has also faced criticism from LGBTQ rights advocates. In a January interview, the mother of slain gay college student Matthew Shepard told NBC News that Sessions fought against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Act when it was being debated in 2009. In a lengthy speech decrying the legislation designed to help victims, Sessions said that "gays and lesbians have not been denied access" to anything, and that hate crimes were "thought crimes."

In his senate career, Sessions displayed strong anti-LGBTQ leanings. According to a report issued by the Human Rights Campaign, then-senator Sessions argued in favor of anti-sodomy laws used to imprison gay men, opposed same-sex marriage, sought to terminate National Endowment for the Arts funding because it once went to black lesbian filmmaker Cheryl Dunye, opposed repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy keeping lesbian and gay service members in the closet, and tried to block federal funding for HIV-prevention programs if they appear to “promote sexual activity and behavior” among “homosexual men and women.”

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MARY EMILY O'HARA



THIS OFFICIAL DID BELITTLE THE SITUATION OF A WOMAN, DRINKING OR NOT, WHO IS TAKEN AGAINST HER WILL, WHETHER SHE WAS INJURED (BRUISES, ETC.) OR NOT. SEX MOVES VERY RAPIDLY SOMETIMES, AND THE ROUTE FROM “PETTING,” TO A COMPLETED SEX ACT IS A SHORT ONE. IF THE WOMAN IS SUFFICIENTLY AROUSED, THAT ISN’T A BAD THING, BUT IF SHE IS UNPREPARED, UNWILLING AND NOT IN AN ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MAN, IT IS RAPE. IF SHE SAYS NO, IF SHE PUSHES AT HIM TO MAKE HIM LEAVE HER ALONE, THAT IS NOT CONSENT. ONE ARTICLE ON THIS SOME TWO YEARS AGO SAID THE WOMAN HAS TO VERBALLY AND CLEARLY INDICATE THAT SHE IS VERY READY AND VERY WILLING, OR IT CAN BE CALLED RAPE. SO MANY YOUNG MEN KNOW NOT THE FIRST THING ABOUT HOW TO MAKE LOVE, WHICH IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. BEING “READY” REQUIRES TENDERNESS AND GENTLENESS.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/education-department-official-apologizes-comments-campus-sex-assaults-n782661
POLITICS JUL 13 2017, 5:35 PM ET
Education Department Official Apologizes for Campus Assault Comments
by DANIELLA SILVA

The Education Department's civil rights chief apologized for comments she made regarding campus sexual assaults, which come as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos prepares to meet with advocates for survivors and those accused of assault while weighing changes to Title IX enforcement.

Candice Jackson, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, apologized Thursday for saying "90 percent" of campus sexual assault accusations develop out of drunken sex or breakups.

"What I said was flippant, and I am sorry," Jackson said in a statement to NBC News. "All sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously — which has always been my position and will always be the position of this department."

Image: Candice Jackson
Candice Jackson at a presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9, 2016. Evan Vucci / AP file

Jackson told The New York Times on Wednesday that in most investigations, there is "not even an accusation that these accused students overrode the will of a young woman."

"Rather, the accusations — 90 percent of them — fall into the category of 'we were both drunk,' 'we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right,'" she told The Times.

In her apology Thursday, Jackson said she had been a victim of sexual assault.

"As a survivor of rape myself, I would never seek to diminish anyone's experience," she said in the statement. "My words in The New York Times poorly characterized the conversations I've had with countless groups of advocates."

Related: DeVos' Civil Rights Pick Once Claimed Anti-White Bias, Report Says

Jackson's apology comes as DeVos is scheduled to meet with survivors of sexual violence and those who say they have been falsely accused. The meeting is part of a series of listening sessions to discuss the impact of the department's enforcement of Title IX.

"The Secretary and senior Department officials have been engaged in ongoing discussions with students, parents, schools, advocacy groups and experts to learn about their experiences and hear their views of how the Department can best fulfill its obligations to protect students under Title IX," the Education Department said in a news release on its website.

Jessica Davidson, managing director of the advocacy group End Rape on Campus, who was at the meeting with sexual assault victims, told NBC News that the session "was very emotional."

June 6: DeVos Refuses to Answer Whether Federally Funded Schools Can Discriminate Play Facebook Twitter Embed
June 6: DeVos Refuses to Answer Whether Federally Funded Schools Can Discriminate 2:17

Most of the meeting was spent with survivors of different backgrounds and experiences, who shared their stories with DeVos and Jackson.

"It was particularly emotional today both because I'm glad that survivors are finally being heard and I'm worried that they aren't being heard enough," she said.

Neena Chaudhry, director of education at the National Women's Law Center, who was also present, said Jackson briefly addressed her comments to The Times.

"She shared her own experiences and was trying to make everybody else feel, let them know, that she took their concerns seriously," she said.

But Chaudhry added that Jackson's comments were still "deeply troubling" to advocates.

"We were really shocked and appalled by those comments, and I think once they're out there, you can try to take them back, but the damage is done," she said.

She said she hoped DeVos would continue to meet with sexual assault survivors.

"This was just a handful of survivors that the secretary met with, and there are many, many more out there across the country" she said.

Cynthia Garrett, co-president of Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE), told NBC News that some of the students who had been falsely accused "started crying" and that DeVos was very attentive to all of their stories.

"I thought she was very interested in what these students were saying. I think she and Candice Jackson are just trying to find a fair solution," she said.

"We want fair procedures. We don't want to take away Title IX," she added.

Joseph Roberts, a board member for FACE who also advocates for Stop Abusive and Violent Environments, told NBC News that he "couldn't have asked for a better experience" at the meeting.

Roberts said he was falsely accused of sexual harassment while he was a student at Savannah State University in Georgia.

"She gave us the chance to sit down and tell our story," he said of DeVos. "It's just like restoring my faith."

Title IX is a section of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. The Obama administration had stepped up enforcement and schools' obligations to respond to campus sexual assault.

DeVos came under fire during a January confirmation hearing for saying it would be "premature" for her to commit to upholding the previous administration's Title IX guidance on campus sexual assault.



CLEARLY UNWARRANTED INVASION OF PERSONAL PRIVACY

https://thinkprogress.org/
Ordered by court to disclose his Russia contacts, Sessions releases blank sheet of paper
What’s he hiding?
Aaron Rupar
Jul 13, 2017

Ordered by court to disclose his Russia contacts, Sessions releases blank sheet of paper
What’s he hiding?

In response to a court order directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to disclose the part of his security clearance form detailing his Russia contacts, the Department of Justice released a mostly blank page of paper.

The Thursday morning “disclosure” comes in response to a lawsuit from an ethics watchdog group.

According to NPR, a “recently-launched ethics watchdog group called American Oversight filed a Freedom of Information Act request in March for sections of the Standard Form 86 [i.e., security clearance] relating to Sessions’ contacts ‘with any official of the Russian government.’” On June 12, a judge ordered the DOJ to comply with the request within 30 days.

As recently as Wednesday, the DOJ said it planned to comply with the court order. But the deadline came and went this week.

On Thursday morning, the DOJ finally made an attempt to comply with the court order by disclosing a single page document that is almost totally redacted. The one exception is a box checked ‘No,’ indicating Sessions has not had contact with a foreign government in the last seven years.

Citing a DOJ spokesman, Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider reports that the former senator from Alabama is intentionally omitting meetings he had with Russian officials, including Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

But it is not clear Sessions was acting in his official capacity when he met with Kislyak during the campaign. As the Wall Street Journal has reported, one of Sessions’ meetings with Kislyak happened at the Republican National Convention — an event Sessions traveled to and from using campaign funds. What’s more, a person who was at the RNC told the Journal that Sessions and Kislyak discussed the Trump campaign.

In the margin of the single-page disclosure released on Thursday, Sessions cites two statutory justifications for not disclosing information about his meetings with Russians. Both of them claim disclosure “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

In late May, CNN broke news that Sessions — arguably Trump’s highest-profile supporter in Congress during the campaign — didn’t disclose any meetings he had with Russian officials on a security clearance form he filed ahead of becoming attorney general, despite being required “to list ‘any contact’ he or his family had with a ‘foreign government’ or its ‘representatives’ over the past seven years.”

House Republican spreads fake news to discredit damaging report on Jeff Sessions

TO READ THE REST OF THIS STORY, GO TO THE THINKPROGRESS WEBSITE ABOVE. IT’S TOO LONG TO INCLUDE HERE.



MSNBC VIDEOS JULY 13, 2017

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-camp-tries-to-turn-narrative-as-russia-scrutiny-intensifies-994931267680?cid=eml_mra_20170713
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/12/17
Trump camp tries to turn narrative as Russia scrutiny intensifies
Rachel Maddow explores the latest reporting in the investigation into Trump campaign collusion with Russia as the investigation expands and Trump supporters struggle to recast the Trump Jr. collusion scandal. Duration: 20:50


http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/kushner-revises-security-documents-adding-more-than-100-names-996469315539
HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS 7/13/17
Kushner under fire for revising security documents
Investigators are trying to determine whether Kushner aided the Russian disinformation campaign. Duration: 6:08


http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/not-shocking-not-bizarre-congressman-on-trump-jr-993841731886
MORNING JOE 7/12/17
Not shocking, not bizarre: Congressman on Trump Jr.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., joins Morning Joe to discuss the fallout after Donald Trump Jr. and his 2016 meeting a Russian lawyer. Swalwell has called for an independent commission to investigate. Duration: 11:15


http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/by-sharing-his-emails-did-donald-trump-jr-confess-to-a-crime-993338947537
THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS 7/11/17
By sharing his emails did Donald Trump Jr. confess to a crime?
Legal experts have varying opinions about the legal trouble that may be facing Donald Trump Jr. Three of the best, Jill Wine-Banks, Joyce Vance, & Jens David Ohlin, join to discuss. Duration: 6:52


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-camp-tries-to-turn-narrative-as-russia-scrutiny-intensifies-994931267680?cid=eml_mra_20170713
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/12/17
Trump camp tries to turn narrative as Russia scrutiny intensifies
Rachel Maddow explores the latest reporting in the investigation into Trump campaign collusion with Russia as the investigation expands and Trump supporters struggle to recast the Trump Jr. collusion scandal. Duration: 20:50


http://www.nbcnews.com/video/trump-defends-son-s-meeting-with-russian-lawyer-995912259531
Trump: ‘Most People Would’ve Taken’ Russian Lawyer Meeting
THU, JUL 13
President Trump says his son is “a wonderful, young man,” and that his meeting with a Russian lawyer was standard opposition research.
DURATION 2:01