October 18, 2017


News and Views


“I LIKE TO CALL ‘EM AS I SEE ‘EM, AND THAT’S WHERE I’M GONNA STAY,” SAID ANGUS. SOME PEOPLE JUST AREN’T FOLLOWERS, BUT MAY NOT BE “LEADERS,” EITHER. I PERSONALLY BELIEVE IN THINKING FOR MYSELF, PROCEEDING THROUGH LIFE TOWARD MY OWN GOAL, AND AT MY OWN PACE AVOIDING THE ABUSES OF THE THOROUGHLY GROUP ORIENTED MIND. I’M OF THE FRANK SINATRA PHILOSOPHY.

IT’S INTERESTING THAT THESE TWO IRASCIBLE OLD INDEPENDENTS ARE DOING SO WELL IN THE POLLS THAT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WANTS THEM IN THE FOLD RATHER THAN OUTSIDE AS IN 2016 – “THE BETTER TO CONTROL YOU, MY DEAR!” CLINTON’S 2016 PRIMARY PROBLEM WAS THAT SHE BLINDLY TRUSTED THE POWER OF THE PARTY AND HER SUPERIOR ABILITY TO WIN; AND THAT SHE AND OTHERS OF THE DNC BELIEVED – IT WAS WIDELY REPORTED THAT SHE EVEN SAID THIS – “IT’S MY TURN.” * [HTTP://THEREALSIDE.COM/2016/08/REMEMBER-THIS-HILLARY-SAID-ITS-MY-TURN-AND-I-DESERVE-IT/]. OF COURSE THAT MAY BE ONE OF THOSE RUSSIAN SPECIALS.

NO. IF WE ARE GOING TO BEAT THE RIGHTISTS OF ALL STAMPS, WE WILL HAVE TO BE PRAGMATIC AND SEE AT EACH ELECTION WHAT THE STRENGTHS ARE OF EACH PERSON. IF A BERNIE SANDERS IS IN THE LEAD, BRING HIM IN AND GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO RUN. WHAT THEY DID, INSTEAD WAS TRY TO KILL HIM. IT DIDN’T WORK, AND NOW THEY WANT HIM TO COME IN. WILL THEY GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO RUN, BECAUSE IF THEY WON’T THERE’S NO REASON TO ASSUME HE WILL FOLLOW THEM INTO THE PEN.

HE’S NOT ONLY “A LEADER,” BUT COMMITTED TO A CAUSE. HE’S ALMOST A DINOSAUR IN THAT WAY. PEOPLE IN THE USA DON’T “COMMIT THEMSELVES” TO MUCH OF ANYTHING NOW AND THEY RARELY SHOW MUCH “VISION.” THAT REQUIRES INDIVIDUALITY AND THOUGHT. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY USED TO KNOW WHAT IT WAS, BUT NOW THEY JUST TAKE WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE BEST OPPORTUNITY OF THE MOMENT, ESPECIALLY IF THERE’S MONEY INVOLVED. HOW DEPRESSING.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/356128-dnc-resolution-pressures-sanders-to-join-democrats
DNC resolution pressures Sanders to join Democrats
BY LISA HAGEN AND BEN KAMISAR - 10/18/17 07:53 PM EDT

Photograph – © Greg Nash, Bernie Sanders walking down a hallway

A new resolution before the Democratic National Committee (DNC) this week picks at old wounds from the party’s bruising 2016 presidential primary.

The resolution calls for Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Angus King (I-Maine)* to run as Democrats when they run for reelection in 2018 — when they’re both expected to win — and “beyond.”

The measure is clearly aimed at Sanders, who is on the shortlist of potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. And it exemplifies the continual unease among some Democrats about turning their party over to a candidate who won’t fully embrace them, as well as the frustration of Sanders supporters who see the repeated attacks as only meant to needlessly cut the senator down.

The resolution, sponsored by California DNC member Bob Mulholland, lauds both senators’ contributions “to key Democratic causes” but argues that “a strong and unified Democratic party … puts us in the best position to win elections.” It goes on to call on the party to “urge” Sanders and King to “register or affiliate with the Democratic Party in 2017, 2018 and beyond.”

“If Sanders plans on being part of the Democratic Party family in 2020, let’s ask him to be part of our family in 2018,” Mulholland told The Hill. “I can’t believe our team, the DNC, is not in favor of people running as Democrats.”

Mulholland went on to suggest that he believes that, since Sanders has sought to have a large say in the direction of the Democratic Party, he should fully commit to the party.

“Sanders runs around the country screaming at people to adopt his policies. The least the DNC can do is urge him to run as a Democrat in 2018 in the era of Donald Trump,” he added.

Mulholland, who supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential primary, said he has several California DNC members as cosponsors. The resolution will be discussed Friday morning during the DNC’s Resolution Committee meeting at the national party’s fall meeting in Las Vegas.

It’s unclear whether the resolution will pass out of that committee. It would need a simple majority to clear that hurdle before facing another vote during the general session on Saturday.

Democrats have long pressured Sanders to officially join the party now that he has become one of its most powerful figures.

Democratic senators named Sanders to a leadership position eight days after the 2016 elections, and he’s continued to build his clout within the caucus as Democratic colleagues sign on to his single-payer health-care plan.

While he regularly caucuses with the party, Sanders has declined to declare himself a Democrat, arguing that the party needs to open its doors to independents and the grass roots.

During a joint interview with DNC Chairman Tom Perez in April, when Sanders accompanied Perez on a unity tour shortly after Perez was elected party leader, the senator told MSNBC that he does not consider himself a
Democrat.

The issue continues to pop up every few months and reopen the debate — with the latest flap coming from Clinton’s campaign memoir, “What Happened.” Clinton argued in the book that “[Sanders] didn’t get into the race to make sure a Democrat won the White House, he got in to disrupt the Democratic Party.”

The controversy continues to hold resonance with some frustrated Democrats who see Sanders as a top 2020 primary contender. Sanders hasn’t ruled out another presidential bid, stoking speculation with a travel schedule that includes trips to early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Sanders’s allies see the debate as a waste of time that only interests party elites. Jonathan Tasini, a Sanders surrogate during the presidential primaries, pointed to polls showing that Sanders is the most popular politician in the country as proof that Americans don’t care about his party affiliation.

“Do you publish obscenities?” Tasini asked The Hill when asked about the premise of the resolution.

“This has no resonance or consequence to Democratic voters. Not the least of which, if you look at how many people identify as independent voters, the kinds of people Democrats want to pull over, they don’t care about the label,” he said.

He pointed to the growing interest among Democrats in Sanders’s single-payer health-care bill. A similar bill Sanders dropped in 2013 had no cosponsors.

“If there was such a deep wound, why did 16 Democratic senators stand with Bernie Sanders when he unveiled his ‘Medicare for all’ bill?” Tasini said.

“He’s actually healing the party and coalescing them around substantive policy,” he added.

The resolution will be discussed one day after a meeting of the DNC’s unity commission, a coalition of people named by Clinton, Sanders and Perez to help the party move on from a divisive primary election and come together.

Nomiki Konst, a Sanders-named delegate on the unity commission, swatted away the resolution as a distraction from the commission’s work.

“The DNC is at its weakest point since 1929,” she said.

“Here’s another example where one of its members is being used as a prop to distract from the crucial issues like, where did they spend all the money that they lost the [about 1,000] state legislature seats and the presidency [with], leaving state parties with empty bank accounts?” Konst continued.

Sanders himself hasn’t addressed the resolution, which would have no binding impact on his role in the party, although the latest nudge isn’t likely to change his mind. King, when asked about the resolution, said he’s going to remain as an independent when he runs for reelection next year in Maine.

“I’ve been an independent since the early nineties. I was a governor as an independent. That’s who I am,” King told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in a Tuesday night interview.

“I caucus with the Democrats. You have to choose one caucus or the other. It’s worked out. I more often vote with the Democrats, but not always. I like to call them as I see ‘em and that’s where I’m gonna stay.”


WHO IS ANGUS KING?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_King
Angus King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Angus Stanley King Jr.[1] (born March 31, 1944) is an American politician and attorney who is the junior United States Senator from Maine. A political independent, he served as Maine's 72nd governor from 1995 to 2003, winning his first election in a 4-way race with 35.37% of the vote.
King won Maine's 2012 Senate election to replace the retiring Republican Olympia Snowe and took office on January 3, 2013. For committee assignment purposes, he caucuses with the Democratic Party. He is the second incumbent Independent Senator, after Vermont's Bernie Sanders.

Early life, education, and early career[edit]
King was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen Archer (née Ticer) and Angus Stanley King, Sr., a lawyer.[1][2] He has spent most of his adult years in the state of Maine. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966 with a B.A. and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1969 with a J.D. While a student at Dartmouth, King joined the Delta Upsilon social fraternity.[3]

Soon after graduation from Virginia, King entered private law practice in Brunswick, Maine. He was a staff attorney for Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Skowhegan. In 1972, he served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics. King served as a legislative assistant to Democratic U.S. Senator William Hathaway in the 1970s. He was also well-known statewide as a television host on public television.[4] In 1973, when he was 29, King was diagnosed with an aggressive form of malignant melanoma during a routine doctor's appointment—an appointment, King says, he never would have made [sic] had he not had health insurance at the time. As a result of the visit and the early detection, King was able to receive treatment, and the experience undergirds his support for the Affordable Care Act.[5]

In 1975, King returned to Maine to practice with Smith, Loyd and King in Brunswick. In 1983, he was appointed vice president of Swift River/Hafslund Company, which developed alternative energy (hydro and biomass) projects in New England. In 1989, King founded Northeast Energy Management, Inc. The company developed, installed, and operated large-scale electrical energy conservation projects at commercial and industrial facilities throughout south-central Maine.[6]

. . . . The Washington Times described him as an idealist who "wants to slash regulations but preserve the environment; hold the line on taxes; impose work and education requirements on welfare recipients; experiment with public school choice and cut at least $60 million from the state budget."[10] His opponents criticized him for flip-flopping. Collins argued King "presents different images, depending on who he is talking to. Angus has been a Democrat his whole life. In my opinion, he became an independent because he didn't think he could beat Joe Brennan in a primary. He's extremely smooth, articulate and bright, but he says different things to different groups."[11] . . . .


“IT'S MY TURN ... AND I DESERVE IT.”*
DID SHE, OR DIDN’T SHE REALLY SAY THAT? ONLY ONE SOURCE THAT I FOUND TONIGHT VERIFIES IT, AND HE IS A POLITICAL BLOGGER RATHER THAN A REPORTER. HIS WRITING IS ENTERTAINING, BUT MAYBE NOT TRUE, SO I HAVE PUT THIS CNBC ITEM ATTRIBUTING THE PHRASE TO HER. I BELIEVE I REMEMBER HEARING HER ON AN INTERVIEW SAYING THOSE DAMNING WORDS, BUT IT IS A MATTER OF INTERNET LEGEND RATHER THAN FACT NOW, APPARENTLY. BUT I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHERE ALL THE LINKS WENT – A WHITEWASH, PERHAPS?

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/09/why-clinton-lost-and-the-democrats-got-blindsided.html
Why Clinton lost and the Democrats got blindsided
Bradley Tusk, political strategist
Published 1:30 PM ET Wed, 9 Nov 2016 Updated 2:46 PM ET Wed, 9 Nov 2016
CNBC.com

“Hillary had two fundamental flaws that were intrinsically offensive to voters. First, her main argument for running was essentially "it's my turn." We revolted from Great Britain specifically because we don't believe that our leaders should be chosen solely based on genes and turns. The "my turn" candidate almost never wins and last night was no exception (and if you don't believe me, just ask Presidents Gore, Kerry, Dole and McCain). Second, when you live by one set of rules (co-mingling government and your own finances) in an entitled, self-righteous fashion and expect everyone else to live by another set of rules, it pisses them off. And that was heavily reflected in turnout and the results.”



“MR. TRUMP TOLD THE WIDOW THAT JOHNSON ‘KNEW WHAT HE WAS GETTING INTO.’” I’VE HEARD THAT PHRASE MANY TIMES. IT’S USED TO IMPLY THAT HE SHOULDN’T BE PITIED. THAT, OF COURSE, IS NOT WHAT HIS MOTHER NEEDS TO HEAR FROM THE CONSOLER IN CHIEF. AND BESIDES, NO MATTER HOW BRAVELY A PERSON GOES INTO A WAR SITUATION, HIS PAIN WILL BE AS REAL AND INTENSE AS THAT OF THE SOLDIER WHO IS ACCUSED OF COWARDICE. BEFORE ANYONE DISCOUNTS THAT PAIN, HE SHOULD HAVE TO FEEL IT HIMSELF. BETTER STILL GIVE IT THE DEFERENCE THAT IT IS DUE.

AS REP. WILSON SAID HERE, THE PRESIDENT DOESN’T CHOOSE HIS WORDS CAREFULLY. I SUSPECT HE PROBABLY CAN’T. HIS MIND DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY. WHEN HE MAKES THOSE GOOD WELL-WORDED AND ENUNCIATED SPEECHES THAT I HAVE SEEN FOUR OR FIVE TIMES NOW, HE IS ALMOST CERTAINLY READING A TELEPROMPTER. POTUS SAYS THAT THIS DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSWOMAN “FABRICATED” THE WHOLE STORY, “AND I HAVE PROOF.”

I WANT HIM TO PRODUCE HIS PROOF, EITHER ON AUDIO TAPE OR ON PAPER. HE SHOULDN’T MIND DOING THAT AFTER HOUNDING OBAMA FOR HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE OUT OF TRUE MALICE. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS SITUATION AND HIS INTERACTION WITH OBAMA IS THAT MY CHALLENGE AND REQUEST FOR HIS “PROOF” IS NOT A POLITICAL GAME OR SHEER BEDEVILING, BUT A LEGITIMATE REQUEST. FOR HIS OWN SAKE AND THAT OF THE COUNTRY, HE SHOULD PROVE HIS STATEMENTS, AND DON’T FABRICATE! THERE WERE THREE OR FOUR PEOPLE IN THAT CAR, THE PHONE WAS ON SPEAKER SO ALL COULD HEAR, AND THEY AGREE ON WHAT WAS SAID. IT’S JUST THAT THEY LEFT OUT ONE LITTLE THING – SEE THE LATIMES VERSION. NOT ONLY ARE THEY A LIBERAL NEWS SOURCE, BUT THEY ARE TRUTHFUL.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sarah-sanders-says-white-house-has-no-recording-of-trumps-call-with-widow/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS October 18, 2017, 4:01 PM
Sarah Sanders says White House has no recording of Trump's call with widow

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House does not have a recording of President Trump's call with the widow of fallen U.S. soldier Sgt. La David Johnson, after Mr. Trump claimed he had "proof" of the conversation.

The call has become a point of intense controversy, after Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida, said Mr. Trump told Johnson's widow, Myeshia Johnson, her husband "knew what he signed up for." During Wednesday's press briefing, Sanders did not dispute the details of Wilson's account, although she said she would not divulge the details of the president's private conversation.

Mr. Trump tweeted early Wednesday that he had "proof" to disprove Wilson's claim, but Sanders on Wednesday said the White House doesn't have a recording of the call. Sanders said others, including White House chief of staff John Kelly, were on the call.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
7:25 AM - Oct 18, 2017
64,117 64,117 Replies 19,767 19,767 Retweets 74,429 74,429 likes
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Mr. Trump, his press secretary said, was "sympathetic" and "respectful," and that the real problem is that his comments were "taken very far out of context by the media."

Slain soldier's father recounts his conversation with Trump

Trump ignites controversy over Gold Star families
Play VIDEO
Trump ignites controversy over Gold Star families

Kelly was dragged into the controversy earlier this week, after Mr. Trump asked whether former President Barack Obama called Kelly when his son was killed while in uniform in 2010. The White House would not comment on Obama's response on the record.

The president's remarks about Kelly's son stemmed from criticism to his response time to the deaths of the four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger earlier this month. Mr. Trump called the families of the fallen military members on Tuesday.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



I’M GLAD THIS IS JUST A DREAM; I HOPE I WAKE UP SOON. IF I WERE A TWEETIN’ WOMAN, I WOULD USE THE HASHTAG “TOT.” THAT STANDS FOR “TIRED OF TRUMP.” I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY SCRAPES HE HAS GOTTEN HIMSELF INTO AND CAN’T GET OUT. IF HE (AND HILLARY) WOULD FOLLOW THE RULE, “NEVER SPEAK DISMISSIVELY ABOUT ANYONE OR ANY IMPORTANT SUBJECT,” HE WOULD DO BETTER IN LIFE.

I FOUND AND READ THE WHOLE SENTENCE ON THE LATIMES SITE BELOW: IT SAID “PRESIDENT TRUMP REACHED OUT TO ONE OF THE WIDOWS TUESDAY AND SAID HER HUSBAND "KNEW WHAT HE SIGNED UP FOR ... BUT WHEN IT HAPPENS IT HURTS ANYWAY." YOU MAY PUT IT ON THE RECORD THAT I AM DEFENDING PRESIDENT TRUMP HERE. THE ADDED PHRASE “WHEN IT HAPPENS IT HURTS ANYWAY,” IS A GREAT DEAL MORE EMPATHETIC THAN THE SINGLE PHRASE I’VE SEEN REPEATED THROUGH THE OTHER HALF DOZEN ARTICLES I FOUND. I THINK WE HAVE US HERE AN A-1 “TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT!”

http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-trump-reaches-out-to-slain-soldier-s-1508296621-htmlstory.html
OCT. 17, 2017, 8:30 P.M.
Trump blasts congresswoman's claim that he told soldier's widow 'he knew what he signed up for'; lawmaker pushes back
Brian de los Santos

Listen to Video -- Trump blasts congresswoman's claim that he told soldier's widow 'he knew what he signed up for'
Tribune Publishing Co.

After facing criticism for not calling the families of four soldiers who died in combat, President Trump reached out to one of the widows Tuesday and said her husband "knew what he signed up for ... but when it happens it hurts anyway," according to Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.).

The call between Trump and Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, lasted about five minutes, according to accounts that Wilson provided to local media.

Wilson, a friend of the family, was in the car for the call, which happened before the fallen soldier's remains arrived at Miami International Airport.

"Yes, he said it," Wilson told the media. "It's so insensitive."

Trump's silence on the deaths of the soldiers, who were killed in combat in Niger on Oct. 6, generated controversy on Monday. When he was asked why he had not commented on their deaths, Trump responded by saying that President Obama and other presidents also had failed to reach out to families of servicemen killed in action.

That comment drew rebukes from former Obama staffers, who noted the many times that Obama had called family members of soldiers killed in action. Alyssa Mastromonaco, a deputy chief of staff for Obama, tweeted that it was a lie.

"He's a deranged animal," she said of Trump.

On Tuesday, Trump brought Gen. John F. Kelly, his chief of staff, into the controversy, saying Kelly hadn't received a call from Obama when his son, 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, died in combat in 2010.

"As far as other presidents, I don't know, you could ask Gen. Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? I don't know what Obama's policy was," Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio.

A White House official who demanded anonymity said that Obama did not call Kelly after the death. The official did not immediately say whether Kelly received a letter.

On Wednesday morning, Trump responded to the claims on Twitter, saying Wilson "totally fabricated" the story.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
7:25 AM - Oct 18, 2017
67,189 67,189 Replies 20,873 20,873 Retweets 78,985 78,985 likes
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In an interview Wednesday morning with CNN, Wilson said several other people who were in the car also heard Trump's remark. "I have proof too," she said. "This man is a sick man."

Staff writer Noah Bierman contributed to this report.

--

UPDATES
Oct. 18, 5:33 a.m.: This post was updated to add later comments from Wilson.
Oct. 18, 4:51 a.m.: This post was updated to add Trump's response





http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/17/17
Mueller interviewing former Trump staffers
Rachel Maddow relays a report that former Trump communications director Sean Spicer is among the former Trump staffers who have now been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller, leading to speculation about how far along Mueller is in his inquiry. Duration: 5:41



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/special-counsel-robert-muellers-team-interviews-sean-spicer/
CBS NEWS October 17, 2017, 7:21 PM
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team interviews Sean Spicer

Photograph -- White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer apologizes during an interview for saying Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons, at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RTX355MH REUTERS

Special counsel Robert Muller's team has interviewed former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, sources familiar with the process confirmed to CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett.

As the top White House spokesperson, Spicer is believed to have been privy to some of the administration's most important and sensitive information, and crafted the message surrounding those topics with the press. Spicer was the press secretary during the shocking firing of former FBI Director James Comey, and the ensuing fallout from that decision. Spicer was also a part of the White House when President Trump reportedly advised his son, Donald Trump Jr., on his statement about a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer about information that could damage Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.

Politico first reported the interview with Spicer.

Is special counsel Mueller looking into Spicer's files?
Play VIDEO
Is special counsel Mueller looking into Spicer's files?

Spicer announced his resignation in July and officially left at the end of August.

Mueller's team is in the middle of interviews as it dives into Russian election meddling, any ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, as well as the Russian business transactions of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Mueller's team also recently interviewed former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Mueller, with a team of seasoned lawyers at his side, has convened a grand jury in the probe.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THIS SITUATION THAT OUR LEGISLATORS WROTE A LAW THAT WEAKENED THE DEA AND ENABLED THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TO GO ROGUE, IS THE KIND OF THING THAT MAKES ME (TO QUOTE COMEY) "SLIGHTLY NAUSEOUS." WE AMERICANS NEED TO GET BACK TO BEING CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE INSTEAD OF THE POCKETBOOK. I HOPE THIS LEGAL CRUSADER CAN DO SOME GOOD.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawyer-who-took-on-tobacco-industry-turns-to-big-drug-manufacturers-opioids/
By MARK STRASSMANN CBS NEWS October 18, 2017, 7:36 PM
Lawyer who took on tobacco industry now turning to big drug manufacturers

JACKSON, Miss. -- The opioid epidemic is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year -- and one attorney is fighting it in court.

As black market poison, opioids have become an American cradle-to-grave scourge.

"There is an opioid-addicted baby being born in a hospital right now," said Mike Moore.

Ex-DEA agent: Opioid crisis fueled by drug industry and Congress
Why 60 Minutes, Washington Post story on DEA made Americans so angry

Moore calls himself a "country lawyer from Mississippi." Don't believe it. He's a 65-year-old David who has found his next Goliath: The big drug manufacturers.

Moore says the industry understated how addictive the painkillers could be.

strassmann-opioid-attorney-2017-10-18.jpg
Attorney Mike Moore. CBS NEWS
"They said there was a study that showed that less than 1 percent of people taking opioids would get addicted if under a doctor's care. That turned out to be a big lie -- just wasn't true," Moore said. "They misled the American public. They misled the doctors in this country. Many of the doctors were duped. And frankly, I think they misled the FDA."

But one lawyer taking on a multi-billion dollar industry? It may sound like a mismatch. But don't believe that either.

"I do not believe nicotine or our product is addictive," said one tobacco executive to Congress.

"I believe nicotine is not addictive," said another.

Opioid crisis: Pennsylvania's AG on holding drug companies accountable
Play VIDEO
Opioid crisis: Pennsylvania's AG on holding drug companies accountable
In 1994, Moore filed the first civil lawsuit against the tobacco industry for misrepresenting the dangers of smoking. He was Mississippi's attorney general. Forty-six states eventually joined him. They won the largest class action settlement in history: $246 billion.

"My mama called me and told me it's time for me to come home," Moore said. "I mean everybody thought I'd gone absolutely nuts cause nobody frankly had ever beaten them at all. But we had a just cause."

Now Moore's pushing for a similar class-action suit against the pharmaceutical industry. He has convinced 11 states.

"It's a blunt instrument," Moore said. "It kinda hits people upside the head and gets their attention. Sometimes that works."

He admits that he "loves" being the David.

"These cases will get the truth out about this industry and maybe we'll never repeat this in history," Moore said. "Win or lose."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Mark Strassmann
Mark Strassmann was named CBS News Transportation correspondent in August 2011. He has been a CBS News correspondent since January 2001, and is based in the Atlanta bureau.



I’M BEGINNING TO WONDER IF TRUMP HAS BLACKOUTS? FIRST HE TELLS A DEAD SOLDIER’S FATHER THAT HE IS SENDING HIM A $25,000.00 CHECK – ODD IN ITSELF -- IN HIS CONDOLENCE LETTER, BUT THEN FORGETS TO INSERT IT. THIS STORY IS REALLY PRETTY EMBARRASSING AND A LITTLE DISTRESSING. IF OUR PRESIDENT DOES NEED MEDICAL CARE, HE SHOULD JUST GO GET IT. THE TIME WHEN MENTAL ILLNESS WAS SHAMEFUL IS, THANK GOODNESS, OVER IN THE SEMI-ENLIGHTENED WORLD OF HUMANS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-says-25000-check-has-been-sent-fallen-soldiers-father/
By BLAIR GUILD CBS NEWS October 18, 2017, 6:41 PM
White House says $25,000 check “has been sent” to fallen soldier's father

President Trump offered a $25,000 check to the father of a fallen soldier, which he has not yet received, according to a report from The Washington Post.

A few weeks after the June death of a Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge, during a phone call to console his father, Chris Baldridge, the president offered him $25,000 and promised to have his staff set up an online fundraiser for the family. Baldridge told The Post that neither has happened yet, and that he's only received a condolence letter from Mr. Trump, which, to the father's disappointment, did not include the check.

"I opened it up and read it, and I was hoping to see a check in there, to be honest," Baldridge told The Post. "I know it was kind of far-fetched thinking. But I was like, 'Damn, no check.' Just a letter saying 'I'm sorry.'"

The White House responded to the story Wednesday afternoon.

"The check has been sent," White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters told CBS News. "It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda."

Walters did not specify when the check was sent.

On June 10, Baldridge's 22-year old son and two other soldiers were shot by an Afghan police officer in a suspected insider attack, according to the Post.

"I said, 'Me and my wife would rather our son died in trench warfare,'" Baldridge told The Post, recalling the 15-minute phone call to his home in Zebulon, N.C. from Mr. Trump. "I feel like he got murdered over there."

Mr. Trump's offer was a response to Baldridge's frustration with the military's survivor benefits program. During his phone call with the president, the Post reported, Baldridge told Mr. Trump that his ex-wife was expected to receive the Pentagon's $100,000 death gratuity because she was listed as their son's beneficiary.

"He said, 'I'm going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000,' and I was just floored," Baldridge said, quoting Mr. Trump, according to The Post. "I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, 'No other president has ever done something like this,' but he said, 'I'm going to do it.'"

The report adds to the controversy surrounding Mr. Trump's treatment of Gold Star families. On Monday, Mr. Trump was asked about the deaths of U.S. troops in Niger.

"Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls, a lot of them didn't make calls," he said, criticizing his presidential predecessors.

When Mr. Trump did call, he told the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, a soldier who was killed in Niger, that he "knew what he was getting into," adding that "it still hurts," according to Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida.

Wilson said she was in the car with widow Myeshia Johnson, who was driving to the airport to greet the remains of her late husband when the president called, CBS Miami reports. Mr. Trump denied her account, but Wilson stands by it.

CBS News spoke to the father of one of the soldiers slain in Niger who appreciated the president's call and said Mr. Trump offered his condolences and listened to him talk about his son for about 17 minutes of a 20-minute call.

At least 20 soldiers have been killed in action since Mr. Trump became president. He claimed he has "called every family of somebody that's died, and it's the hardest call to make."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



WE HAVE A NEW AND EXCEPTIONALLY CREEPY GROUP-THINK ORGANIZATION CALLED NXIVM, WHICH IS PRONOUNCED LIKE THE STOMACH MEDICATION, “NEXIUM.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/nyregion/nxivm-women-branded-albany.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=Trending&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
N.Y. / REGION
Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded
By BARRY MEIER OCT. 17, 2017

Photograph -- Sarah Edmondson left Nxivm after being branded as part of a secret ritual. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

ALBANY — Last March, five women gathered in a home near here to enter a secret sisterhood they were told was created to empower women.

To gain admission, they were required to give their recruiter — or “master,” as she was called — naked photographs or other compromising material and were warned that such “collateral” might be publicly released if the group’s existence were disclosed.

The women, in their 30s and 40s, belonged to a self-help organization called Nxivm, which is based in Albany and has chapters across the country, Canada and Mexico.

Sarah Edmondson, one of the participants, said she had been told she would get a small tattoo as part of the initiation. But she was not prepared for what came next.

Each woman was told to undress and lie on a massage table, while three others restrained her legs and shoulders. According to one of them, their “master,” a top Nxivm official named Lauren Salzman, instructed them to say: “Master, please brand me, it would be an honor.”

A female doctor proceeded to use a cauterizing device to sear a two-inch-square symbol below each woman’s hip, a procedure that took 20 to 30 minutes. For hours, muffled screams and the smell of burning tissue filled the room.

“I wept the whole time,” Ms. Edmondson recalled. “I disassociated out of my body.”

Since the late 1990s, an estimated 16,000 people have enrolled in courses offered by Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um), which it says are designed to bring about greater self-fulfillment by eliminating psychological and emotional barriers. Most participants take some workshops, like the group’s “Executive Success Programs,” and resume their lives. But other people have become drawn more deeply into Nxivm, giving up careers, friends and families to become followers of its leader, Keith Raniere, who is known within the group as “Vanguard.”

Photo -- Keith Raniere, founder of Nxivm, in 2009. Credit Patrick Dodson

Both Nxivm and Mr. Raniere, 57, have long attracted controversy. Former members have depicted him as a man who manipulated his adherents, had sex with them and urged women to follow near-starvation diets to achieve the type of physique he found appealing.

Now, as talk about the secret sisterhood and branding has circulated within Nxivm, scores of members are leaving. Interviews with a dozen of them portray a group spinning more deeply into disturbing practices. Many members said they feared that confessions about indiscretions would be used to blackmail them.

Mark Vicente, a filmmaker and former top Nxivm official, said that after hearing about the secret society, he confronted Mr. Raniere.

“I said, ‘Whatever you are doing, you are heading for a blowup,’” Mr. Vicente said.

Several former members have asked state authorities to investigate the group’s practices, but officials have declined to pursue action.

In July, Ms. Edmondson filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Health against Danielle Roberts, a licensed osteopath and follower of Mr. Raniere, who performed the branding, according to Ms. Edmondson and another woman. In a letter, the agency said it would not look into Dr. Roberts because she was not acting as Ms. Edmondson’s doctor when the branding is said to have happened.

Separately, a state police investigator told Ms. Edmondson and two other women that officials would not pursue their criminal complaint against Nxivm because their actions had been consensual, a text message shows.

State medical regulators also declined to act on a complaint filed against another Nxivm-affilated physician, Brandon Porter. Dr. Porter, as part of an “experiment,” showed women graphically violent film clips while a brain-wave machine and video camera recorded their reactions, according to two women who took part.

The women said they were not warned that some of the clips were violent, including footage of four women being murdered and dismembered.

“Please look into this ASAP,” a former Nxivm member, Jennifer Kobelt, stated in her complaint. “This man needs to be stopped.”

In September, regulators told Ms. Kobelt they concluded that the allegations against Dr. Porter did not meet the agency’s definition of “medical misconduct,” their letter shows.

Mr. Raniere and other top Nxivm officials, including Lauren Salzman, did not respond to repeated emails, letters or text messages seeking comment. Dr. Roberts and Dr. Porter also did not respond to inquiries.

Former members said that, inside Nxivm, they are being portrayed as defectors who want to destroy the group.

It is not clear how many women were branded or which Nxivm officials were aware of the practice.

A copy of a text message Mr. Raniere sent to a female follower indicates that he knew women were being branded and that the symbol’s design incorporated his initials.

“Not initially intended as my initials but they rearranged it slightly for tribute,” Mr. Raniere wrote, (“if it were abraham lincolns or bill gates initials no one would care.)”

From the Message

Below is an excerpt of a text message Mr. Raniere sent to a female follower, which suggested that he knew women were being branded and that the symbol’s design incorporated his initials.

“... Not intended initially as my initials but they rearranged it slightly for tribute (if it were abraham lincolns or bill gates initials no one would care). The primary meaning and design of the brand symbol has nothing to do with my initials ...”

Joining the Sisterhood

Ms. Edmondson, who lives in Vancouver and helped start Nxivm’s chapter there, was thrilled when Lauren Salzman arrived in January to teach workshops.

The women, both in their early 40s, were close and Ms. Edmondson regarded Ms. Salzman as a confidante and mentor.

“Lauren was someone I really looked up to as a rock star within the company,” said Ms. Edmondson, an actress who joined Nxivm about a decade ago.

During her visit, Ms. Salzman said she had something “really amazing” she wanted to share. “It is kind of strange and top secret and in order for me to tell you about it you need to give me something as collateral to make sure you don’t speak about it,” Ms. Edmondson recalled her saying.

The proposition seemed like a test of trust. After Ms. Edmondson wrote a letter detailing past indiscretions, Ms. Salzman told her about the secret sorority.

She said it had been formed as a force for good, one that could grow into a network that could influence events like elections. To become effective, members had to overcome weaknesses that Mr. Raniere taught were common to women — an overemotional nature, a failure to keep promises and an embrace of the role of victim, according to Ms. Edmondson and other members.

Submission and obedience would be used as tools to achieve those goals, several women said. The sisterhood would comprise circles, each led by a “master” who would recruit six “slaves,” according to two women. In time, they would recruit slaves of their own.

“She made it sound like a bad-ass bitch boot camp,” Ms. Edmondson said.

Ms. Edmondson and others said that during training, the women were required to send their master texts that read “Morning M” and “Night M.” During drills, a master texted her slaves “?” and they had 60 seconds to reply “Ready M.”

Trainees who failed had to pay penalties, including fasting, or could face physical punishments, two women said.

In March, Ms. Edmondson arrived for an initiation ceremony at Ms. Salzman’s home in Clifton Park, N.Y., a town about 20 miles north of Albany where Mr. Raniere and some followers live. After undressing, she was led to a candlelit ceremony, where she removed a blindfold and saw Ms. Salzman’s other slaves for the first time. The women were then driven to a nearby house, where the branding took place.

Photo -- Sarah Edmondson showed her brand. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

In the spring, the sorority grew as women joined different circles. Slaves added compromising collateral every month to Dropbox accounts, and a Google Document was used to list a timetable for recruiting new slaves, several women said.

Around the same time, an actress, Catherine Oxenberg, said she learned her daughter had been initiated into the sorority.

“I felt sick to my stomach,” said Ms. Oxenberg, who starred in the 1980s television series “Dynasty.”

Ms. Oxenberg had become increasingly concerned about her 26-year-old daughter, India, who looked emaciated from dieting. She told her mother that she had not had a menstrual period for a year and that her hair was falling out.

Ms. Oxenberg said she invited her daughter home in late May to try to get her away from the group.

When Ms. Oxenberg confronted her about the sorority, her daughter defended its practices.

“She said it was a character-building experience,” Ms. Oxenberg said.

Photo -- Catherine Oxenberg was informed that her daughter, India, had become part of Nxivm’s secret sorority. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

‘Humans Can Be Noble’

By the time the secret group was taking shape, Mark Vicente, the filmmaker, had been a faithful follower of Mr. Raniere for more than a decade.

Mr. Vicente said he had been contacted by Ms. Salzman’s mother, Nancy, a co-founder of Nxivm who is known as “Prefect,” after the 2004 release of a documentary he co-directed that explored spirituality and physics.

Soon, Mr. Vicente was taking courses that he said helped him expose his fears and learn strategies that made him feel more resolute.

He also made a documentary called “Encender el Corazón,” or “Ignite the Heart,” which lionized Mr. Raniere’s work in Mexico.

“Keith Raniere is an activist, scientist, philosopher and, above all, humanitarian,” Mr. Vicente says in the film.

Mr. Raniere has used those words to describe himself. On his website, he said he spoke in full sentences by age 1, mastered high school mathematics by 12 and taught himself to play “concert level” piano. At 16, he entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

Before Nxivm, he helped run a company called Consumers’ Buyline Inc., which offered discounts to members on groceries and other products.

In the mid-1990s, several state attorneys general investigated it as a suspected pyramid scheme; Mr. Raniere and his associates agreed to shut it down.

Through Nxivm, Mr. Raniere transformed himself into a New Age teacher with long hair and a guru-like manner of speaking.

“Humans can be noble,” he says on his website. “The question is: will we put forth what is necessary?”

By many accounts, Mr. Raniere sleeps during the day and goes out at night to play volleyball or take female followers for long walks. Several women described him as warm, funny and eager to talk about subjects that interested them.

Others saw a different side. Nxivm sued several former members, accusing them of stealing its trade secrets, among other things.

Mr. Vicente said he was aware of the negative publicity, including a 2012 series by The Albany Times-Union that described alleged abuses inside Nxivm.

Mr. Vicente’s views began to change this year after his wife was ostracized when she left Nxivm and he heard rumors about the secret sorority.

Photo -- Mark Vicente and his wife, Bonnie Piesse, both former members of Nxivm. Mr. Vicente confronted Keith Raniere about the secret society within the group. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Mr. Vicente said he got evasive answers when he asked Mr. Raniere about the group. Mr. Raniere acknowledged giving “five women permission to do something,” but did not elaborate, other than to say he would investigate, Mr. Vicente said.

Mr. Vicente said he suspected Mr. Raniere was lying to him and might have done so before. Suddenly, self-awareness techniques he had learned felt like tools that had been used to control him.

“No one goes in looking to have their personality stripped away,” he said. “You just don’t realize what is happening.”

Followers Start to Flee

In May, Sarah Edmondson began to recoil from her embrace of the secret society.

Her husband, Anthony Ames, who was also a Nxivm member, learned about her branding and the couple both wanted out.

Before quitting, Mr. Ames went to Nxivm’s offices in Albany to collect money he said the group owed him.

He had his cellphone in his pocket and turned on its recorder.

On the recording, Mr. Ames tells another member that Ms. Edmondson was branded and that other women told him about handing over collateral. “This is criminal,” Mr. Ames says.

The voice of a woman — who Mr. Ames said is Lauren Salzman — is heard trying to calm him. “I don’t think you are open to having a conversation,” she said.

“You are absolutely right, I’m not open to having a conversation,” he replied. “My wife got branded.”

A few days later, many of Mr. Raniere’s followers learned of the secret society from a website run by a Buffalo-area businessman, Frank R. Parlato Jr. Mr. Parlato had been locked in a long legal battle with two sisters, Sara and Clare Bronfman, who are members of Nxivm and the daughters of Edgar Bronfman, the deceased chairman of Seagram Company.

Photo -- Nxivm’s Executive Success Programs offices in Albany. The organization has chapters across the country, Canada and Mexico. Credit Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times.

In 2011, the Bronfman sisters sued Mr. Parlato, whom they had hired as a consultant, alleging he had defrauded them of $1 million.

Four years later, in 2015, the Justice Department indicted him on charges of fraud and other crimes arising from alleged activities, including defrauding the Bronfmans. Mr. Parlato has denied the claims and the case is pending.

Mr. Parlato started a website, The Frank Report, which he uses to lambaste prosecutors, Mr. Raniere and the Bronfmans. In early June, Mr. Parlato published the first in a torrent of salacious posts under the headline, “Branded Slaves and Master Raniere.”

A Nxivm follower, Soukaina Mehdaoui, said she reached out to Mr. Raniere after reading the post. Ms. Mehdaoui, 25, was a newcomer to Nxivm, but the two had grown close.

She said Mr. Raniere told her the secret sorority began after three women offered damaging collateral to seal lifetime vows of obedience to him.

While Ms. Mehdaoui had joined the sorority, the women in her circle were not branded. She was appalled.

“There are things I didn’t know that I didn’t sign up for, and I’m not even hearing about it from you,” she texted Mr. Raniere.

Mr. Raniere texted back about his initials and the brand.

By then, panic was spreading inside Nxivm. Slaves were ordered to delete encrypted messages between them and erase Google documents, two women said. To those considering breaking away, it was not clear whom they could trust and who were Nxivm loyalists.

Late one night, Ms. Mehdaoui met secretly with another Nxivm member. They took out their cellphones to show they were not recording the conversation.

Both decided to leave Nxivm, despite concerns that the group would retaliate by releasing their “collateral” or suing them.

Ms. Mehdaoui said that when she went to say goodbye to Mr. Raniere, he urged her to stay.

“Do you think, I’m bad, I don’t agree with abuses,” she recalled him saying. He said the group “gives women tools to be powerful, to regain their power for the sake of building love.”

Nxivm recently filed criminal complaints with the Vancouver police against Ms. Edmondson and two other women accusing them of mischief and other crimes in connection with the firm’s now-closed center there, according to Ms. Edmondson. The women have denied the allegations. A spokesman for the Vancouver police declined to comment.

Ms. Edmondson and other former followers of Mr. Raniere said they were focusing on recovering.

“There is no playbook for leaving a cult,” she said.