July 8, 2017


News and Views


THERE IS A LONG HISTORY OF CANDIDATES CONTESTING ELECTIONS, SO IT’S NOT A SCANDAL IF TRUMP DOES THAT, TOO. HOWEVER, HIS CONTINUED LIES AND INNUENDO ABOUT THE “DISHONEST, UNFAIR AND BIASED” LIBERALS AND MEDIA OUTLETS -- AND HOW HE IS EXPOSING THEIR DASTARDLY DEEDS -- IS INFLUENCING THE MINDS OF THE HUMBLEST PEOPLE WHO TRUST ONLY FOX NEWS, ALEX JONES, RUSH LIMBAUGH AND BREITBART – IS THROWING MORE FUEL ON THE FIRE OF THEIR FEARFUL AND OFTEN BIZARRE CONSPIRACY THEORY BELIEFS.

HOWEVER, WHAT HE IS DOING INSTEAD, IS MORE THAN JUST MIND CONTROL. HE IS WORKING TOWARD SETTING UP A DATABASE OF EVERY VOTER’S PARTY, VOTING HISTORY, AND OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY OUR SSN, SUPPOSEDLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF IDENTIFYING VOTER FRAUD. THAT IS, FIRST, NO WAY TO DISCERN WHETHER OR NOT THE VOTER TRIED TO VOTE ILLEGALLY; AND SECOND, IT’S NONE OF “THE GUMMINT’S” D*#$ BUSINESS! A FILE OF THAT TYPE, EVEN IF WERE NOT TRUMP’S PERSONAL DESIRE, WILL LIKELY BE USED FOR ILL BY SOMEONE. IT’S JUST TOO TEMPTING.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/voter-fraud-case-tied-to-iowan-woman-voting-for-trump-twice/
By JOHN BAT CBS NEWS July 8, 2017, 8:17 AM
Iowa woman who tried to vote for Trump twice pleads guilty to election misconduct

A woman from Des Moines, Iowa, pleaded guilty to election misconduct for attempting to cast two separate ballots in the 2016 presidential election for then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.

According to the Associated Press, Terri Lynn Rote, 57, entered her plea for the felony charge on June 27. Court documents state that lawyers affiliated with the case are recommending Rote face up two years of probation with community service on the side.

Rote told police why she tried to vote more than once. She was convinced her first vote for Mr. Trump would be manipulated and changed to a vote for then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. According to her statement to the police, Rote believed Mr. Trump's claims about widespread election rigging.

Sentencing is set for August 15. Rote was arrested in October at a satellite voting station when she attempted to cast the second ballot. According to police records reviewed by the Washington Post, Rote's first early-voting ballot was issued at the Polk County Election Office.

In January, according to the Des Moines Register, Rote's defense attorney argued in a filing that she had "significant mental deficits" that should have prevented her from having to stand trial.

States resist commission's voter data request
Play VIDEO
States resist commission's voter data request

During an October presidential debate, Mr. Trump did not clarify whether or not he would accept the results of the election. Citing a 2012 Pew study, Mr. Trump toyed with the idea that the election was "rigged."

"I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now. I'll look at it at the time," Mr. Trump said after being asked whether he would accept the election results.

Days after the debate at a rally in Ohio, a state which went red in the presidential race, Mr. Trump continued to push the narrative of widespread fraud in the U.S. election system, suggesting he would only accept the final results if he won.

"I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters, and to all of the people of the United States, that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election -- if I win," Mr. Trump said.

Just days into his presidency, Mr. Trump made another unsubstantiated claim that somewhere between 3 and 5 million people in the U.S. illegally cast ballots for Clinton, which he says is the reason he lost the popular vote.

Mr. Trump continued to address voter fraud by establishing a commission to investigate the matter shortly after taking office. That commission has requested data from state election systems, including information such as names of voters, their party affiliations and voting histories. A growing number of states have rejected the requests, with many refusing outright to share the data or only small parts of it.



LOTS MORE AMERICANS ARE FULLY AWARE OF WHAT THE KKK AND OTHER SUCH GROUPS ACTUALLY DO THAN WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN THE SOUTH, SO THEY WILL PROBABLY MAKE A BETTER SHOWING FOR THE PROGRESSIVE VIEWPOINT THAN EVEN TEN YEARS AGO. I’M GLAD TO SEE THIS. THERE IS A NOTICEABLE SPLIT AMONG CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS AND CITIZENS, WITH MANY MORE BELIEVING IN DECENCY OVER THE VIEWS OF WHITE POWER FOLLOWERS.

SEE THE FOLLOWING NEWS ARTICLE ON THE SUBJECT: HTTP://WWW.CNN.COM/2016/11/11/POLITICS/KKK-DONALD-TRUMP-NORTH-CAROLINA-2016-ELECTION/INDEX.HTML. THERE ARE HALF A DOZEN OR MORE OTHER ARTICLES ON THE SAME PAGE IN WHICH THE CLAN IS NOT REBUKED, HOWEVER. STILL, GOODNESS STARTS WITH ONE SEED, WHICH WITH NURTURING, HOPEFULNESS AND HUMAN EMPATHY WILL GROW INTO A LOVELY FLOWER. I DO BELIEVE THAT, PARTLY BECAUSE EVEN WITH THIS APPARENT SETBACK IN OUR CULTURAL CLIMATE, THERE ARE LARGE NUMBERS HERE ON THE INTERNET SPEAKING AGAINST HATRED AND IGNORANCE.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/at-virginia-kkk-rally-counter-protesters-show-up-in-droves/
CBS NEWS July 8, 2017, 3:38 PM
At Virginia KKK rally, counter-protesters show up in droves

Photograph – KKK MARCH, BO ERICKSON / CBS NEWS

An armed Klu Klux Klan chapter is holding a rally in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday afternoon, protesting the city's decision earlier this year to take down a statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a public park and rename the park.

But hundreds of counter-protesters also showed up Saturday afternoon, outnumbering the expected number of KKK participants and holding signs denouncing racism and promoting tolerance. CBS News spotted a few counter-protesters being taken away by police after crossing a law enforcement barrier at the rally.

A few dozen KKK members showed up, with some wearing robes and hoods. The members had several different flags, including Confederate flags. The KKK, established at the end of the Civil War and now headquartered in North Carolina, preaches white supremacy.

"Stop the cultural genocide of white people!" says a poster advertising Saturday's rally on the KKK's website.

relee.jpg
A statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia. BO ERICKSON / CBS NEWS

"July 8th in Virginia we will make a stand for our southern history," the website says. "They are trying to erase whites and our great culture right out of the history books. The Civil War was not fought over slavery but over high taxes put on the South by the North. The whites did not make the blacks slaves; their own people captured them and sold them to Jewish merchants and they sold them."

According to Charlottesville officials, more than 100 police officers came to protect the public Saturday.

Charlottesville, a small city of about 43,000 people, is home to former President Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home and the university he founded, the University of Virginia.

CBS News' Paula Reid and Bo Erickson contributed to this report.



WE ALL HAVE OUR PARANOIAS. OF THOSE WHO DO WANT THESE “INTELLIGENT” PROTECTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, THEY FEAR ANOTHER ENTITY’S TAKING OVER THEIR DEVICE AND ORDERING EXPENSIVE PRODUCTS ON IT, OR COMMITTING A CRIME USING THEIR NAME, ETC. I, ON THE OTHER HAND, FEAR BIG BROTHER, ESPECIALLY THE WAY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS ARE ALREADY TRENDING, TRACKING ME DOWN TO MY HUMBLE APARTMENT AND ARRESTING ME FOR SPEAKING OUT ON THIS BLOG ON ANTI-RIGHTIST ISSUES.

WITH MY FINGERPRINT THEY CAN DO THAT. SECONDLY, IT’S AN EXTREMELY ANNOYING THING WHEN MY DEVICE DOESN’T WORK, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WOULD HAPPEN WITH THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY IF MY CATARACTS WORSEN, MY JOINT PAIN IS CAUSING ME TO LIMP THAT DAY, IF I ACCIDENTALLY CUT MY FINGER AND IT LEAVES A SIZABLE SCAR, AND SO ON. IT’S BASICALLY UNRELIABLE SO FAR, AND IS AN EXTREME INCONVENIENCE, WHICH, IF WE WERE TO ALLOW IT, WOULD BE PUT IN PLACE BY PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS FOR A PROBLEM THAT PROBABLY WON’T OCCUR IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND OF COURSE, TO ALLOW THEM TO TRACK MY SHOPPING ACTIVITY FOR BUSINESS REASONS. NO THANKS! MY VIEW ON THE ADVANCES OF TECHNOLOGY IS THE SAME AS THE WELL-KNOWN MEDICAL DICTUM: “DO NO HARM.” THE MORE HARM THEY ARE CAPABLE OF DOING, THE LESS I LIKE THEM. AND, DON’T FORGET, GADGETS WILL ALSO BE MORE AND MORE EXPENSIVE THE MORE TRICKS THEY CAN DO.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/technology-to-end-passwords-biometrics-active-authentication/
CBS NEWS July 8, 2017, 11:03 AM
Will biometrics "active authentication" help do away with passwords?

The average computer user has 27 passwords, and it can be tough to keep track of them all. But a solution may be at hand in our devices, with sensors that can read all kinds of identifying information about us. That could make biometric data the key to our online world, putting an end to the password.

Professor Vishal Patel asked a student to walk across campus at Rutgers University, then hand his phone to another student, who walked back. The difference in how they walk was "enough to identify who the person is walking," Patel said.

To the phone's accelerometer -- every smartphone has one -- the walking signals looked different, reports CBS News' Brook Silva-Braga.

Just two years ago, in "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," this was science fiction. But researchers like Patel are making biometrics real and trying to use them to make our devices more secure with a process called "active authentication" that constantly and passively monitors the user.

The phone was also trained to recognize the unique way its owner scrolls down the screen. The time between specific keystrokes also gives you away, as well as the words you choose and the way you punctuate them. Move a mouse and the path of the pointer can identify you, and so can the way you click.

No one method works well enough, but combining several should, as Google showed in a 2015 test claiming "a new method of authentication that may prove to be 10-fold more secure than the best fingerprint sensors."

Much of this work has been funded by DARPA, the research group within the Department of Defense. Angelos Keromytis oversees the project.

"We have a lot of passwords, and as you've seen in the news, we get targeted same as everybody else, and we think we can do something better than passwords," Keromytis said.

So DARPA called on a dozen universities and private companies for creative solutions. Some are hard to believe.

"Your phone has a number of radios: wifi radio, cellular radio, Bluetooth radio. These emit signals, the signals from a close up distance reflect off your skin. Well, it turns out they don't actually reflect off your skin… they actually penetrate the skin a few millimeters," Keromytis said. "So one of our performers figured out a way of not only sensing heartbeat but also extracting a high-fidelity signal that could be used to authenticate a user based on their individual heartbeat."

So why isn't this active authentication active yet? It could drain our batteries too quickly or fail to work in certain settings – and some of the methods, like tracking our pattern of life, could turn off users.

"Once you have this information you can sort of learn where the person will end up in the afternoon or at night," Patel said.

"To a lot of people this is just going to look creepy," Silva-Braga said.

"That's right, it is creepy, but it is very powerful," Patel said.

Joseph Atick helped invent facial recognition technology 25 years ago. Today, he said tracking users is so valuable to marketers that tech companies can't be trusted to self-regulate their use of biometrics.

"You broke my password, I'm going to change it," Atick said. "I can't change my face, I can't change my fingerprints. I need some mechanism to protect me."

That mechanism would be a guarantee that all the biometric information stays on the device.



I’M FIRMLY OF THE OPINION THAT THE WHITE HOUSE SHOULD INTERFERE AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, AND OF OUR HAVING PROCESSES IN PLACE TO PREVENT IT; SINCE “THE WHITE HOUSE” IS NOT A PERSON, BUT THE PRESIDENT IS, AND PEOPLE ARE DISHONEST AND GREEDY IN A HUNDRED WAYS, NO PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT HAVE THE POWER TO CONTROL WHAT THE FCC DOES. SEVERAL TIMES NOW HE HAS CUT THE MANPOWER IN FEDERAL AGENCIES, EITHER TO GUT THEM OF ALL PROGRESSIVE THINKERS OR PERHAPS JUST AT RANDOM. THE SO-CALLED UNITARY EXECUTIVE THEORY OF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T SOUND LEGAL TO ME, AND IN MY VIEW SUCH LAWS IF THEY EXIST SHOULD BE ELIMINATED. THE PRESIDENT IS NOT A KING AND SHOULD NOT RULE LIKE ONE.

MICROMANAGEMENT BY THE EXECUTIVE IS DANGEROUS IN THAT IT MAY LEAD TO POLITICAL BIAS BECOMING POLITICAL CONTROL. THE CONSTITUTION, LEGISLATURE AND SUPREME COURT MAY DICTATE WHAT IS LEGAL, BUT THE MIGHTY BUREAUCRACY AND CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES ARE THE TRUE WATCHDOGS THAT SEE THAT IT REALLY HAPPENS THAT WAY.

ON NEARLY ALL ISSUES, I WANT MORE HEADS THAN ONE INVOLVED ON DECISIONS AND ACTIONS, SUCH AS A DECLARATION OF WAR OR WORSE, THE DROPPING OF ANOTHER NUCLEAR BOMB. TRUMP’S PATTERN OF FIRING DEPARTMENT HEADS – AND RECENTLY A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE -- AND POINTLESSLY (NEGLIGENTLY) FAILING TO NOMINATE MORE IS TRULY NOT GOOD. IT LIMITS THE NUMBER OF THOSE INTELLIGENT “HEADS” WHO CAN COME TO THE AID OF THEIR COUNTRY AGAINST ANY FORM OF ATTACK AT ALL, INCLUDING PRESIDENTIAL ATTACK.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/at-t-time-warner-merger-senators-concerned-about-white-house-interference/
CBS NEWS July 8, 2017, 9:14 AM
AT&T-Time Warner merger: Senators concerned about White House interference

The $85 billion mega-merger between AT&T and Time Warner -- the parent company of CNN -- is widely expected to close by the end of the year, if not earlier, should it win government approval. But the question of whether it will be approved was raised this week, after the New York Times reported that the White House, which has an adversarial relationship with CNN, was considering using the deal as "leverage."

Democratic senators reacted with dismay to the Times report and warned against any White House involvement in antitrust enforcement.

"Any political interference in antitrust enforcement is unacceptable," Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar wrote in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "Even more concerning, in this instance, is that it appears that some advisers to the President may believe that it is appropriate for the government to use its law enforcement authority to alter or censor the press. Such an action would violate the First Amendment."

White House hammers media after CNN retracts story
Play VIDEO
White House hammers media after CNN retracts story

Fellow Minnesotan Sen. Al Franken, who opposes the merger, echoed Klobuchar's sentiment in his own statement: "The Trump Administration's war against the media must not influence the fate of this transaction."

During the presidential campaign, when the deal between AT&T and Time Warner was announced, Mr. Trump promised to block the merger on its merits, calling it "a deal we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few."

But his open war on CNN has been escalating in recent days. In Warsaw this week, Mr. Trump said CNN has been "fake news" for a long time. "They've been covering me in a very, very dishonest way," he said.

And after CNN retracted a story linking Trump supporter Anthony Scaramucci to a Russian billionaire, causing three journalists to resign over the report, the president responded with a "Wow," and wondered "about all the other phony stories they do."

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Wow, CNN had to retract big story on "Russia," with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!
6:33 AM - 27 Jun 2017
34,028 34,028 Retweets 124,576 124,576 likes

But animus aside, it's not the White House that makes the call on whether the merger goes through.

That's up to the FCC and the Justice Department. The FCC evaluates mergers on the basis of whether they're in the public interest. In February, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told the Wall Street Journal that his agency would likely not be reviewing the deal because no airwave licenses would be transferred. This was, according to the Journal, a development that investors had been watching for, since an FCC review is considered to to be broader than the antitrust review conducted by the Justice Department.

The AT&T-Time Warner merger is a vertical merger, meaning that the two companies are not direct competitors. This, according to the Journal, is one of the main reasons the companies are confident that the Justice Department won't reject the deal on antitrust grounds.

Currently, the Justice Department does not have anyone heading the Antitrust Division, but Andrew Finch is currently serving as Acting Assistant Attorney General responsible for overseeing the division.



TRUMP CALLS THE MAYOR OF TANGIER ISLAND AND SAYS TO HIM, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THAT THE ISLAND “HAS BEEN HERE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS AND WILL BE HERE FOR HUNDREDS MORE.” I WONDER WHO’S RIGHT, TRUMP OR THE (LYING)SCIENTISTS? I’M GOING TO GIVE HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND SAY THAT IN THIS CASE, HE PROBABLY WAS TRYING TO PUT THE MAYOR AT HIS EASE BY TELLING HIM THAT HE HAS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. SCIENTISTS, HOWEVER, GIVE THE LITTLE PATCH OF LAND ANOTHER TWO DECADES BEFORE IT TOTALLY DISAPPEARS.

THEIR MOST IMMEDIATE NEED ON TANGIER IS A ROCK WALL TO HALT THE EROSION. THEY HAVE LOTS OF THOSE IN FRONT OF PRIVATE HOUSES IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. WE’VE HAD TO ADD SAND TO OUR BEACHES EVERY FEW YEARS SINCE I’VE BEEN HERE. I DON’T KNOW WHO PAID FOR THEM, BUT IF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS GOING TO WORK ON INFRASTRUCTURE, THIS SEEMS LIKE A GOOD EXAMPLE. (NOTE: I HAVE YET TO SEE EVEN ONE ARTICLE DOCUMENTING HIS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS’ BEING UNDERWAY – THE RIO GRANDE DOESN’T COUNT FOR THIS PURPOSE. BESIDES, IF TRUMP IS SO ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT WALLS, HE SHOULD GET BEHIND A FEDERAL PROJECT TO SHORE UP THIS LITTLE PARADISE AND THE HUNDREDS OF OTHER THREATENED LOCATIONS, SUCH AS PARTS OF NEW YORK CITY. I KNOW FROM MY CHILDHOOD STORIES THAT THE LITTLE COUNTRY OF HOLLAND WAS SAVED FROM THE OCEAN BY SUCH A WALL, AND ESPECIALLY BY A SHARP-WITTED AND COURAGEOUS BOY WHO STUCK HIS FINGER IN THE DYKE AND HELD IT THERE UNTIL HELP CAME.

THE MAYOR AND MANY OTHERS ARE UNHAPPY WITH THE PRESIDENT’S APPARENTLY DISMISSIVE COMMENT. READ THE PUBLIC COMMENTS THAT THE PEOPLE THERE HAVE RECEIVED. THE WAY PEOPLE REACT NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE, AND IN THIS CASE, SHOCK ME. ONE SUGGESTED THAT BECAUSE MOST OF THOSE RESIDENTS VOTED FOR TRUMP, THEY SHOULD BE PUNISHED BY MOTHER NATURE, AND ANOTHER SAID THAT THEY SHOULD LITERALLY DIE. SICK AND SAD, AS I FREQUENTLY SAY. IN AN EFFORT TO HELP, I JUST POSTED THIS CBS ARTICLE ON BOTH THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE FACEBOOK PAGES. AT LEAST THEY WILL SEE IT, AND HOPEFULLY READ IT.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tangier-island-sinking-mayor-pleads-for-help/
CBS NEWS July 7, 2017, 7:47 AM
Mayor of disappearing island: "We just need the help to come now"

Climate change is one of the big topics at Friday's G20 summit and researchers say it's one of the reasons a tiny island on the East Coast, Tangier Island, is washing away.

People there say erosion is the biggest problem and want the president's help before it's too late.

Right where Tangier lies there used to be hundreds of islands, but due to natural reasons, the islands have been swallowed by the bay, reports CBS News' Chip Reid.

Tangier Island, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, rises only a few feet above the surrounding waves. An hour by boat from the mainland, about 500 people live on Tangier.

Since the 1600s, residents have survived on the bounty of the bay. Tangier produces an estimated 13 percent of the bay's prized blue crabs -- more than any other town in Virginia.

"My father was a crabber. My grandfather before him and great-grandfather," said James "Ooker" Eskridge.

tangier-mayor-eskridge.jpg
Tangier Island Mayor James "Ooker" Eskridge CBS NEWS

Eskridge is the mayor of Tangier. His family has been here for generations and they've watched it gradually sink under the waves.

"If we get a severe Nor'easter or something, you can make a mark where the shoreline is, and after the storm, you go out there and the mark is well off shore," Eskridge said. "Happening that fast."

Since 1850, the island has lost 66 percent of its land. In about 100 years, it is all expected to be underwater and evacuation of island could begin in the next two decades. Researchers say one cause is rising sea levels due to climate change -- but Tangier's more immediate problem is something called wave-induced erosion.

The island is literally being washed away by the waves and will eventually disappear.

"We need help from the erosion. If it was just sea level rise that we were worried about, we would be in good shape," Eskridge said.

Help looks like a rock wall. One was built on the island's western side in the 1980s and the erosion there stopped. Now, they say their only hope is a wall around the entire island—costing an estimated $20 to $30 million, which they don't have.

They'd like Congress to approve the money and Mayor Eskridge thinks President Trump could help cut through all the red tape.

"He's gonna cut back on the time it takes to do studies for these projects -- we don't have that time to play with," Eskridge said.

He thinks if Mr. Trump told Congress he wanted to save the island, it would be saved.

tangier-crab.jpg
Tangier Island water tower. CBS NEWS

Eighty-seven percent of the island's residents voted for Mr. Trump. Eskridge says that's in part because of his pledge to cut federal regulations.

In June, the president took notice of the island's support and gave the mayor a call.

"We had been discussing sea level rise. And he said, 'Tangier's been here for hundreds of years and it'll be here for hundreds more,'" Eskridge said.

The president's call triggered other calls to the island - but these were different. Some condemned the people here for seemingly agreeing with the president's controversial view of climate change. He has called it a hoax.

One business received a message that said, "You voted for Donald f***** Trump haha oh god I hope your whole f***** island sinks."

"It was disheartening and it was upsetting," said Laurie Thomas. She works for the town and said one man called to say that she and the people on the island deserved to die.

"I think it lit a fire under everybody again to push and to contact our congressmen," Thomas said. "And to try to save the island."

Thomas says saving Tangier would mean preserving a rare and special way of life – a place where parents let their children roam free to play in the streets and swim at the docks.

Regardless of whether climate change is man-made or not, Eskridge says the island is at the point where they need help immediately.

"We've been studied. And now we're to the point, the island's going down. We just need the help to come now," Eskridge said.

Mayor Eskridge said the last study took 20 years to complete—about the same amount of time the island has left.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_(novel)
Chesapeake (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chesapeake is a novel by James A. Michener, published by Random House in 1978. The story deals with several families living in the Chesapeake Bay area, from 1583 to 1978.[1]

Plot summary[edit]
The storyline, like much of Michener's work, depicts a number of characters over a long time period. Each chapter begins with a voyage which provides the foundation for the chapter plot. It starts in 1583 with American Indian tribes warring, moves through English settlers throughout the 17th century, slavery and tobacco growing, pirate attacks, the American Revolution and the Civil War, Emancipation and attempted assimilation, to the final major event being the Watergate scandal. The last voyage, a funeral, is in 1978.[2]



OBAMA REALLY IS A NICE MAN, AND IN MY OPINION A GOOD PRESIDENT. SKIN COLOR DON’T MAKE NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL TO ME!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alaska-mom-snaps-cellphone-pics-obama-carrying-her-025635285.html
'Oh my God, it is Obama': Alaska mom, baby meet ex-president
JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, Associated Press July 8, 2016 11 hours ago .

An Alaska mother is cherishing cellphone photos she snapped of her wide-eyed 6-month-old baby in the arms of former President Barack Obama.

Jolene Jackinsky was at Anchorage International Airport on Monday looking for an airline when she ended up in a waiting area for private flights where a man she thought looked like Obama was sitting.

"As I got closer, I thought: Oh my God, it is Obama," she recalled Friday from Newhalen, a small Alaska village where she's vacationing.

Obama then walked up to her and asked "Who is this pretty girl?"

They chatted about how fast children grow while Obama carried baby Giselle. Jackinsky took a few photos of a smiling Obama carrying Giselle, who was wearing a straw hat with a white ribbon.

Obama told them he was headed home from a vacation, Jackinsky said.

Airport officials were not immediately available Friday evening after work hours to confirm that Obama had stopped there.

When Giselle's father approached, Obama joked, "I'm taking your baby," Jackinsky said.

Giselle was calm and content during the brief encounter, Jackinsky said. "It was only five minutes but it was a moment that will last forever," she said.

She posted the photos on Facebook.

"I think it's unreal and pretty exciting that I get to have a picture with him and my baby," she said. "Not a lot of people get to meet him."

Associated Press writer Rachel D'Oro in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.



THERE ARE REASONS WHY NEPOTISM ISN’T A GOOD IDEA, AND THE FACT THAT THE SON OR DAUGHTER SIMPLY ISN’T QUALIFIED IS ONE OF THEM. OUR CONSTITUTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF WHO IS ALLOWED TO BE PRESIDENT IS VERY, VERY UNHELPFUL IN THE REAL WORLD. IT’S ALL OF THREE SENTENCES LONG AND SPECIFIES ONLY THAT HE MUST BE A NATURAL BORN AMERICAN AND AT 35 YEARS OF AGE. THOSE LANDED GENTRY WHO WROTE IT DIDN’T EVEN IMAGINE THE KIND OF COMPLEX AND DANGEROUS WORLD WE WOULD BE DEALING WITH.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ivanka-trump-briefly-sits-in-for-president-trump-at-g-20-meeting/
By STEFAN BECKET CBS NEWS July 8, 2017, 9:00 AM
Ivanka Trump sits in for President Trump at G-20 meeting

Ivanka Trump, President Trump's daughter and White House adviser, took Mr. Trump's seat during a meeting of G-20 leaders in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday as Mr. Trump stepped away during the proceedings.

A photo posted to Twitter by a Russian official attending the session during the last day of the G-20 summit shows Ivanka Trump seated next to British Prime Minister Theresa May. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel can be seen seated nearby.

Svetlana Lukash, the official who posted the photo which was subsequently deleted, is the Russian sherpa to the G-20, the group of 20 major industrialized nations.

svetlana.png
In a since-deleted tweet, Russian sherpa to the G-20 Svetlana Lukash posted a photo of Ivanka Trump taking President Trump's place during a meeting of world leaders in Hamburg, Germany, on July 8, 2017. TWITTER / @LANALUKASH

A White House official confirmed Ivanka Trump sat in for Mr. Trump when the president of the World Bank began addressing the session.

"Ivanka was sitting in the back and then briefly joined the main table when the president had to step out," the official told CBS News. "When other leaders stepped out, their seats were also briefly filled by others."

The episode drew fire from observers who criticized the unusual move of having a family member take the president's place during a meeting of world leaders. Ivanka Trump joined the White House staff as an unpaid assistant to the president in March. Her husband Jared Kushner serves as senior adviser and is also unpaid.

Ivanka Trump on her new White House role
Play VIDEO
Ivanka Trump on her new White House role

In an interview with CBS News in April, Ivanka Trump defended her role in the administration after previously stating she would remain a private citizen.

"I wasn't elected by the American people to be president," she told "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King. "My father is going to do a tremendous job. And I want to help him do that."

Earlier Saturday, Ivanka and Mr. Trump spoke at a World Bank event for a fund supporting women entrepreneurs. Mr. Trump announced a $50 million U.S. commitment to the fund and praised his daughter's work on empowering women.

"I'm very proud of my daughter Ivanka. Always have been," Mr. Trump said. "If she weren't my daughter, it would be so much easier for her. It might be the only bad thing she has going, if you want to know the truth."



IS DONALD TRUMP ANTI-SEMITIC? ARTICLE SAYS PROBABLY NOT, EXACTLY, BUT NOT SENSITIVE ON THE ISSUE EITHER. A LOT OF AMERICANS ARE IN THIS SAME GROUP. WE ARE NOT, BY AND LARGE, A SENSITIVE BUNCH. WE’RE NOT SO MUCH ILL-BRED AS UNDEREDUCATED IN INTERPERSONAL INTERACTIONS, ESPECIALLY AMONG THE MIDDLE AND UPPER CLASSES OR AS HE FINDS HIMSELF NOW, HAVING TO CARRY OUT DIPLOMATIC TASKS.

SOMEONE IMPORTANT – WINSTON CHURCHILL, MAYBE – SAID THAT ENGLAND IS “A NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS.” WELL, WE ARE A NATION OF WORKING CLASS PEOPLE WHO HAVE SOME MONEY NOW, BUT NO IDEA OF WHAT TO DO WITH IT. I DON’T BELIEVE HE IS ALWAYS INTENTIONALLY BEING INSULTING, BUT OTHER TIMES, HE DEFINITELY IS. HE’S PERSONALLY CALLOUS AND CAN BE VERY AGGRESSIVE, I THINK, ESPECIALLY IN RETALIATION TO THE TYPE OF QUITE CRUEL SNUBS THAT MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE -- WHO WERE BROUGHT UP IN A HOUSEHOLD WITH ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY THEIR WAY THROUGH COLLEGE AND BUY SOME EXPENSIVE CLOTHING – DO TEND TO DELIVER, MAINLY BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT.

IN THIS COUNTRY WHEN WE THINK OF POLITENESS IT IS USUALLY FOCUSED ON TABLE MANNERS RATHER THAN KINDNESS. WE AREN’T A VERY KIND PEOPLE, ALL IN ALL. THEY, TOO, ARE “INSENSITIVE.” CHILDREN FROM THAT KIND OF HOUSEHOLD OFTEN THINK THAT IF YOU AREN’T IN THEIR FINANCIAL CLASS YOU SHOULD “EMULATE YOUR BETTERS” IN ORDER TO CLIMB UP THE LADDER A LITTLE FURTHER, AND MAYBE THEN THEY WILL BEHAVE DECENTLY TOWARD YOU AFTER THAT TIME.

SOMEONE LIKE TRUMP DOESN’T BELIEVE THAT ANYBODY IS “BETTER” THAN HE IS. THAT’S A GOOD OLD AMERICAN VIEWPOINT THAT I HAPPEN TO SHARE, IN THIS COUNTRY ANYWAY, BUT I’M NOT ABOUT TO TRY TO BE A PRESIDENT OR A DIPLOMAT. I THINK THOSE OF US WHO DISLIKE HIM SO MUCH DO SO BECAUSE IT IS LITERALLY DANGEROUS FOR HIM TO BE IN THAT POSITION OF POWER, AND WHEN HE ATTACKS WOMEN AS HE DOES, WE FEEL VERY, VERY ANGRY.

SOMEHOW, THOUGH, WITH HIS SON-IN-LAW BEING JEWISH AND HIS DAUGHTER A CONVERTED JEW, HE PROBABLY ISN’T PURPOSELY “DISSING” THEM. HE DOES GIVE EVERY APPEARANCE OF LOVING HIS DAUGHTER. THAT’S NOT TO SAY THAT HE SHOULDN’T TAKE A COURSE IN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS, WHICH I’M SURE ALL THE REST OF THEM AT THAT LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT DO. I REMEMBER A NEWS SNIPPET OF A PRESIDENT BEING TAUGHT THE PROPER WAY TO BOW. ONE OF TRUMP’S PROBLEMS IS THAT HE JUST DOESN’T CARE ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS WHICH SUDDENLY BECOME VERY IMPORTANT AT THAT LEVEL IN LIFE. THE FUTURE OF A NATION COULD DEPEND ON IT.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/why-does-donald-trump-keep-dissing-jews.html?mabReward=CTS2&recp=0&module=WelcomeBackModal&contentCollection=Magazine®ion=FixedCenter&action=click&src=recg&pgtype=article
SundayReview | OP-ED COLUMNIST
Why Does Donald Trump Keep Dissing Jews?
Frank Bruni JULY 8, 2017

IMAGE -- Credit Nicolas Ortega

When something happens once, it’s a curiosity. Twice, it’s a coincidence.

Three times or more, it’s a pattern.

And Donald Trump has established a pattern of offending — or at the very least ignoring — Jews. The most recent example was just last week, when he declined to pay his respects at a Holocaust memorial in Warsaw that other American presidents routinely visited.

What’s going on? The answer, in my view, isn’t quite as dark as many of his detractors would paint it. But it’s disturbing nonetheless, and his blunders when it comes to Jews speak volumes about his limitations as a person and liabilities as a president.

But first, the record: He’d been in office just a week when International Holocaust Remembrance Day rolled round and his administration issued a statement that bizarrely omitted any specific mention of Jews. Administration officials made no apology, saying that millions of people who weren’t Jewish died in the Holocaust and that by not singling out any one group of victims, the White House had taken a more “inclusive” approach.

Then there was an initial, strange silence from Trump and his aides about a rash of anti-Semitic vandalism and bomb threats around the country in January and February.

In May, in Israel, Trump insisted on a much shorter stop at Yad Vashem, an important Holocaust memorial and museum, than either Barack Obama or George W. Bush had made, and he stuck to that plan even as many Israelis and American Jews cried foul. The tone-deaf breeziness of his approach was accentuated by the message he left in the visitors’ book: “It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends — so amazing & will never forget!” As Yair Rosenberg of the Jewish magazine Tablet tweeted, it was “basically just what teenagers write in each other’s high school yearbooks.”

Ivanka Trump went to the Warsaw memorial in her father’s stead, though Trump softened that blow somewhat by mentioning, in his big Warsaw speech, that “the Nazis systematically murdered millions of Poland’s Jewish citizens.”

Ivanka converted to Judaism to marry Jared Kushner, and the couple’s key roles in the White House mean that Trump has observant Jews at the very core of his presidency — and of his life.

But that didn’t stop him from making remarks to Jewish Republican donors in December 2015 that seemed to play into an anti-Semitic stereotype. “I’m a negotiator — like you folks,” he said, later adding: “Is there anybody that doesn’t renegotiate deals in this room? Perhaps more than any room I’ve ever spoken to.”

During his presidential campaign, he embraced the favor of groups and people who trafficked in white supremacy. He re-tweeted material from proudly anti-Semitic Twitter feeds, and prompted a furor by promoting an image that placed Hillary Clinton’s face atop a pile of cash and beside a six-pointed star on which “most corrupt candidate ever” was written.

The website PolitiFact concluded that it was “unlikely that the Trump campaign intended to put out a Star of David image. In fact, the campaign moved to replace the star with a circle when the image gained attention.” Even so, PolitiFact noted, Trump had an unusual habit of “using social media to broadcast material that comes from sources with a history of spreading racism, anti-Semitism or white supremacy.”

I’m not convinced that Trump is much of an anti-Semite, any more than I’m convinced that he’s much of a homophobe. (Racism and sexism are another matter.) But I think he’s so thirsty for, and intoxicated by, whatever love comes his way that he’s loath to rebuff the sources of it.

A prominent Jewish Republican put it well. “I think Trump is such a pathological narcissist that the act of telling people who love you that you reject them — he can’t get around that,” he told me, interpreting Trump’s reasoning this way: “What can be wrong with them? They’re for me!”

Trump is disinclined to denounce any constituency or tactics that elevate him to the throne, where he’s sure that he belongs. The outcome validates even the ugliest and most divisive ascent.

“I don’t think he’s goading these people or associating with them because he shares their views,” the Republican added. “I do think that he’s so insensitive about the presidency — about the responsibilities of the leader of the free world — that he doesn’t realize it’s not enough to say, once or twice, ‘I don’t agree with them.’ He doesn’t realize that you have to be very clear.” And he doesn’t realize — or care — that he’s validating and encouraging them.

He doesn’t understand the message of zipping through Yad Vashem when predecessors lingered, because he’s less concerned with the weight of his office than with the whims and convenience of Donald Trump. It’s all about him, always — and if he’s sure in his own heart that he’s good with Jews, then he shouldn’t have to prove it.

Go back to his mini-tantrum during a White House news conference in February, when a reporter for a Jewish magazine tried to ask him whether he was paying proper heed to the anti-Semitic bomb threats. Trump interpreted the question as an indictment not of his behavior but of his being — “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life!” he trumpeted — and turned the discussion toward the big, bad media. Forget about any persecution of Jews. Let’s talk about the persecution of Trump.

You can be only so considerate to others when you never stop considering yourself. And the flamboyantly nonconformist culture of Trump’s presidency has downsides. This administration shrugs off and throws away some rituals and niceties that do matter to people, estranging them in the process.

Gay Pride Month came and went without even a banal word of recognition from the White House. So while Trump likes to crow, in a hallucinatory fashion, that gays love him, we made do in June with a tweet from his outsourced conscience, by which of course I mean Ivanka.

Some of this is Steve Bannon and his ilk. Their idea of nationalism is chilly to the recognition of subgroups, including Jewish Americans.

Some of it boils down to an absent professionalism. Trump isn’t matching the respectful choreography of other presidents because there’s no one in his inner circle familiar with the dance. Kushner, Bannon, Stephen Miller and Reince Priebus are all new to this kind and level of work. They lack institutional memory, along with any awareness of how easily those blind spots become insensitivity.

I can’t know definitively how Trump feels about Jews or gays or a whole lot else. But I can see clearly his sloppiness and self-absorption, and they’re cause enough for alarm.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@FrankBruni) and join me on Facebook.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.


MORE ON TEAM TRUMP AND THE RUSSIANS

https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-trump-son-son-law-met-kremlin-linked-231157670--politics.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=dbb2094c-7d9a-37c0-96b9-7f844af62e78&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Report: Trump son, son-in-law met with Kremlin-linked lawyer
Associated Press
July 8, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's eldest son, son-in-law and then-campaign chairman met with a Russian lawyer shortly after Trump won the Republican nomination, in what appears to be the earliest known private meeting between key aides to the president and a Russian.

Representatives of Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner confirmed the June 2016 meeting to The Associated Press after The New York Times reported Saturday on the gathering of the men and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower. Then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended, according to the statement from Donald Trump Jr.

He described it as a "short introductory meeting" during which the three discussed a disbanded program that used to allow U.S. citizens to adopt Russian children. Russia ended the adoptions in response to American sanctions brought against the nation following the 2009 death of an imprisoned lawyer who spoke about a corruption scandal. Trump Jr. said he invited the other two Americans, was asked to attend by an acquaintance not named in the statement, and was not told beforehand with whom he would meet.

"It was not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow up," he said.

Kushner lawyer Jamie Gorelick said her client already disclosed the meeting in a revised filing of a form that requires him to list meetings with foreign agents.

"Mr. Kushner has submitted additional updates and included, out of an abundance of caution, this meeting with a Russian person, which he briefly attended at the request of his brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. As Mr. Kushner has consistently stated, he is eager to cooperate and share what he knows," she said.

Unlike Kushner, Trump Jr. does not serve in the administration and is not required to disclose his foreign contacts. The newspaper reported Saturday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, that Manafort disclosed the meeting to congressional investigators questioning his foreign contacts.

Manafort helmed Trump's campaign for about five months until August and resigned from the campaign immediately after the AP reported on his firm's covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party. He is one of several people linked to the Trump campaign who are under scrutiny by a special counsel and congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and potential coordination with Trump associates.

Manafort has denied any coordination with Russia and has said his work in Ukraine was not related to the campaign.

The newspaper said Veselnitskaya is known for her attempts to undercut the sanctions against Russian human rights abusers. The Times also said her clients include state-owned businesses and the son of a senior government official whose company was under investigation in the United States at the time of the meeting.


MADDOW REPORTS:

Have some information? Check this out:
www.sendittorachel.com



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-to-news-orgs-heads-up-for-hoaxes-985491523709?cid=eml_mra_20170707
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/6/17
Maddow to news orgs: beware of forged Trump Russia documents!
Rachel Maddow explains how an ostensible top secret NSA document submitted through the show's inbox is likely a fake, and points out the perils of such forgeries to news organizations trying to report out important stories like the Trump Russia story. Duration: 21:06