October 24, 2017


News and Views


I CAN SEE THAT THESE DEATHS WOULD BE DISTURBING TO THE PRESIDENT, BUT HIS UNWILLINGNESS TO SAY ONE WORD ABOUT THE CASE IS STRANGE, UNLESS HIS LAWYER OR THE CIA OR THE PENTAGON, ETC., HAVE WARNED HIM TO SAY NOTHING AT ALL. THERE WERE TWO OR THREE CASES IN THE LAST MONTHS SINCE HIS ELECTION WHEN PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT BY UNWISE OR UNPLANNED SPEECH ON HIS PART HAD COMPROMISED NATIONAL SECURITY. MEANWHILE, THOUGH, THE AUTHORITIES ARE APPARENTLY STILL COLLECTING EVIDENCE RATHER THAN COMING TO MANY CONCLUSIONS. IT CERTAINLY IS AN INTERESTING AND DRAMATIC STORY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/niger-ambush-u-s-soldiers-likely-diverted-during-mission/
CBS NEWS October 24, 2017, 6:21 PM
Niger ambush: U.S. soldiers likely diverted during mission

The investigation into the Niger ambush that resulted in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers earlier this month suggests that they were likely diverted at some point in their mission, according to a senior U.S. official, CBS News' Andres Triay reports.

The soldiers had entered the village and were somehow delayed.

Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff discloses details about Niger ambush
Niger ambush: FBI now assisting in investigation

The investigation remains fluid, but there is also some indication that the 12 U.S. soldiers and 30 Nigerian forces had been on a reconnaissance mission for nearly 24 hours.

The patrol then received new orders to meet with elders in the village of Tongo-Tongo, where an ISIS offshoot had recently been recruiting supporters. A U.S. official tells CBS News that the patrol wanted to speak with the elders about countering ISIS' expansion, and they may also have been searching for a wanted terrorist.

The villagers delayed the troops' departure, and when the soldiers left, they were diverted from their intended route for unknown reasons. At this point, they were ambushed by 50 enemy fighters.

U.S. officials say it's unclear whether the attack was planned or simply one of opportunity. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said that the troops "did not expect resistance on this particular patrol, at least when they first planned it."

When the attack was over, three U.S. soldiers were mortally wounded, two were injured and one was stranded. Sgt. La David Johnson had been separated from the group, his body recovered 48 hours later by Nigerian forces. Military investigators and lawmakers are now asking whether this was a failure of intelligence or of preparation.

Eight hundred U.S. troops are in Niger to advise and assist local forces in their fight against terrorism.

"Americans aren't doing the actual fighting unless it's self defense, and in this instance, to me it clearly was self-defense," Bisa Williams, former U.S. ambassador to Niger, told CBS News. "It's important because Niger can create a bulwark. If we can stop and help them stop terrorists there, then we have less to worry about on the homefront."

The U.S. has had ISIS in West Africa-Greater Sahara on its radar, a senior administration official told CBS News' Margaret Brennan, but this official emphasized that there has not been support going to it from "core ISIS." In other words, the U.S. has detected neither money nor fighters going from the battlefields in Iraq and Syria to this part of Africa. This attack is not seen as evidence of an expansion of ISIS. Rather, these are insurgents who have pledged bayat -- that is, spiritual allegiance -- to ISIS because they saw this as an opportunity to attract supporters and make a name for themselves. Whether that changes now will be watched by the administration.

The senior administration official told Brennan the U.S. team was in the village because it was known that ISIS was trying to expand and recruit in this particular area. The message to village elders was that the U.S.-Nigerien government wants to fight with you.

Niger is one of the 69 members in the Global Coalition against ISIS. The State Department held a special session in July with ministers to focus on this particular region, which is known as the Lake Chad basin. That means the U.S. may share intelligence with those governments when it comes to targeting fighters, but it also helps them to push back against recruitment in their villages.

ISIS is in 10-15 countries in Africa, and ISIS in West Africa and ISIS in the Greater Sahara are the same group. It is not new -- it's an offshoot of Boko Haram. This official emphasized that the group is "more minor" than Boko Haram, Brennan reported.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



IT’S NOT BAD. IT’S HORRIFIC!

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/10/19/51-gop-senators-just-voted-cut-15-trillion-medicare-and-medicaid-give-super-rich-and
Published on
Thursday, October 19, 2017
byCommon Dreams
51 GOP Senators Just Voted To Cut $1.5 Trillion from Medicare and Medicaid To Give Super-Rich and Corporations a Tax Cut
The Republican budget, declared Sen. Sanders after its passage, "is not a bad bill. It's a horrific bill."
byJon Queally, staff writer

Photograph -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, center, with fellow Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. (Photo: Reuters/Gary Cameron)

Along strict party lines, the Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday night voted to pass a sweeping budget measure—one criticized as both "despicable" and "horrific" for providing massive giveaways to corporations and the super-rich while eviscerating funding for social programs, healthcare, education, and affordable housing.

"Another dark deed done: GOP passes obscene budget to slash Medicare/Medicaid & explode the deficit – all in the name of tax cuts for the 1%."

—Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon)The measure passed by 51-49 vote, with only one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, joining every Democrat and the chamber's two Independents who voted against it. Its approval now paves that way for massive tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations envisioned by President Donald Trump and the GOP in both the House and the Senate.

"51 Republican Senators just voted to cut Medicaid by $1 trillion and Medicare by $500 billion so that millionaires and corporations can get a tax cut. It's immoral and despicable," said TJ Helmstetter, a spokesperson for Americans for Tax Fairness, in a statement immediately following the vote.

Though the budget resolution itself is nonbinding, MoveOn.org's Ben Wikler notes how the Senate passage on Thursday represents the "starting gun for what might be the most consequential legislative fight of the Trump era: the looting of the U.S. treasury to reward billionaire GOP donors and mega-corporations, at the expense of the rest of us." And with the Senate resolution now in place, a reconciliation process can begin with Republicans in the House, meaning the GOP can "shoot for a tax bill without a single Democratic vote."

In the wake of its passage, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who earlier this week called the proposal "Robin Hood in reverse" for taking from the poor to give to the rich— said the "Republicans' budget is not a bad bill. It's a horrific bill."

Sanders was far from alone in his outrage.

Naomi Klein Block

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) called the vote a "dark deed" and urged people nationwide to stand up and fight back against what the budget represents:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), also vocal in her warnings ahead of the vote, condemned the budget put forth by her Republican colleagues as "garbage".

Here, for the record, is the full roll call of the vote:
[THIS IS MUCH TOO LONG TO SEE 153 REPUBS SAYING YEA, AND THE DEMS SAYING NAY. IT’S ON THE WEBSITE IF YOU NEED IT.]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License



THESE COMMENTS ATTACHED BELOW ARE WELL WORTH READING, AND BY FAR MOST OF THEM ARE NOT ABUSIVE. HERE ARE A FEW. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TIME TODAY THIS SPEECH WAS DELIVERED, BUT THERE HAVE BEEN ALMOST 7,000 COMMENTS WITHIN THE FEW HOURS SINCE THAT TIME. FOLKS ARE DEFINITELY PAYING ATTENTION ON ALL MATTERS TRUMP. REPUBLICANS ARE NEARLY ALL ECONOMICALLY CONSERVATIVE, BUT THEY AREN’T ALL LIVING LIFE WITH NO OBVIOUS SIGN OF HUMAN FEELINGS.

I WOULDN’T BE FEARFUL AND ANGRY IF FLAKE WERE PRESIDENT, I DON’T BELIEVE, UNLESS HE IS ONE OF THOSE WHO WANT TO DISMANTLE THE HUMAN SOCIAL SAFETY NET, THE DEPARTMENTS THAT TAKE CARE OF IMPORTANT NONMILITARY CONCERNS SUCH AS THE ENVIRONMENT, EDUCATION, ETC. I HAVE SOME HOPE FROM HEARING HIM THAT HE IS NOT ONE OF THOSE. DO WATCH THE SPEECH. IT IS A BIT LONG, BUT NOT AT ALL BORING.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-gop-sen-flake-retire-had-tangled-trump-190716974--election.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=dbb2094c-7d9a-37c0-96b9-7f844af62e78&.tsrc=notification-brknews
GOP Sen. Flake, a vocal Trump critic, won't seek re-election
Associated Press
RICHARD LARDNER and ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press • October 24, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Jeff Flake announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election next year, delivering a forceful condemnation of the "flagrant disregard of truth and decency" and bemoaning political complicity in a Senate speech clearly directed at President Donald Trump.

Speaking to a rapt audience of other senators, the first-term Arizona lawmaker spelled out his frustration and disappointment in a floor speech before relaying the news that he would not be on the ballot in 2018.

"There are times we must risk our careers," Flake said. "Now is such a time."

Flake, who has criticized the path the Republican Party has taken under Trump, said the impulse "to threaten and scapegoat" could turn America and the GOP into a "fearful, backward-looking people" and a "fearful, backward-looking party." Flake didn't mention Trump by name, but his remarks were unmistakably aimed at the president and his administration.

Flake, a former House member, is a conservative who favors limited government and free markets has been known to work on bipartisan legislation. Most notably, he joined Democrats and Republicans on legislation aimed at finding a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

"A political career does not mean much if we are complicit in undermining these values," he said. He received applause at the conclusion of his remarks, which mirrored the themes Flake detailed in his recent book, an anti-Trump manifesto titled "Conscience of a Conservative." The senator regretted his party's failure to stand up to Trump in last year's presidential race.

But Flake would have faced an uphill fight for re-election. GOP voters are in an anti-incumbent mood, heightened by the failure of Republicans in Washington to make good on seven years of promises to scrap President Barack Obama's health care law.

The senator's extraordinary speech came shortly after Trump had joined Senate Republicans at their weekly policy luncheon — and a few hours after the president had engaged in a war of words with another retiring Republican senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee.

As Flake spoke, Corker sat in the chamber next to Sen. John McCain, Arizona's six-term senator who's also tangled frequently with Trump. McCain called Flake "a man of integrity, and honor and decency" and said he stood up for what he believed in "knowing full well that there would be a political price to pay."

Republicans and Democrats said they were sorry to see Flake go.

"It is one of the most depressing things that has happened during my time in the Senate," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who worked closely with Flake on bipartisan immigration legislation.

Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she was "extraordinarily disappointed" and called Flake a "person of utmost integrity."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Flake's speech, "A lot of the language, I didn't think, was befitting of the Senate floor."

After bucking Trump in a state the president won, Flake has been bottoming out in polls. Republicans may be left with a hard-core conservative challenger who might win the primary but lose in the general election.

Flake was facing a challenge from former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who failed in her effort to take out McCain last year but has gained some traction this year. Last week, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon attended a fundraiser for her.

Ward said in a statement, "Arizona voters are the big winner in Jeff Flake's decision to not seek re-election." She pledged to be "a strong conservative in the U.S. Senate who supports President Trump and the 'America First' agenda."

The PAC linked to Bannon crowed about a "monumental win" with Flake's retirement and called it "another warning shot to the failed Republican establishment that backed Flake and others like them that their time is up."

But mainstream Republicans in Arizona don't believe Ward can beat Rep. Krysten Sinema, who is running in her primary as the only well-known Democratic candidate. They've been searching for another candidate to take on Flake, and his decision to step aside opens the door wide.

Sinema, meanwhile, made a fundraising pitch on Twitter, saying with Flake's retirement "we must do everything we can to show that we are ready to win #AZSEN. Chip in now." She raised more than $1 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, and has more than $4.1 million on hand.

Besides Ward, other potential candidates for Flake's seat include current state university regent Jay Heiler, former state GOP chairman Robert Graham and state treasurer Jeff DeWit. Other names that have been floated in recent weeks include Reps. Paul Gosar and Trent Franks, conservative stalwarts who sit in safe GOP seats.

Heiler announced early this month that he was considering a run. He was chief of staff to Arizona Gov. Fife Symington in the 1990s and has been involved in numerous political campaigns.

Herschel Fink, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party, said Flake's retirement "further exposes the Republican Party's civil war — which will continue in full force in Arizona as the GOP struggles with a field of candidates who go further and further out of touch with voters."

Associated Press writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.


DO WATCH THIS VIDEO:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-gop-sen-flake-retire-had-tangled-trump-190716974--election.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=dbb2094c-7d9a-37c0-96b9-7f844af62e78&.tsrc=notification-brknews
GOP Sen. Flake says he'll retire, had tangled with Trump
Associated Press
ERICA WERNER and ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press • October 24, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Jeff Flake announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election next year, delivering a forceful condemnation of the "flagrant disregard of truth and decency" and bemoaning political complicity in a Senate speech clearly directed at President Donald Trump.

Speaking to a rapt audience of other senators, the first-term Arizona lawmaker spelled out his frustration and disappointment in a floor speech before relaying the news that he would not be on the ballot in 2018.

Related Searches
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"There are times we must risk our careers," Flake said. "Now is such a time."

Flake, who has criticized the path the Republican Party has taken under Trump, said the impulse "to threaten and scapegoat" could turn America and the GOP into a "fearful, backward-looking people" and a "fearful, backward-looking party." Flake didn't mention Trump by name, but his remarks were unmistakably aimed at the president and his administration.

Flake, a former House member, is a conservative who favors limited government and free markets has been known to work on bipartisan legislation. Most notably, he joined Democrats and Republicans on legislation aimed at finding a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

"A political career does not mean much if we are complicit in undermining these values," he said. He received applause at the conclusion of his remarks, which mirrored the themes Flake detailed in his recent book, an anti-Trump manifesto titled "Conscience of a Conservative." The senator regretted his party's failure to stand up to Trump in last year's presidential race.

But Flake would have faced an uphill fight for re-election. GOP voters are in an anti-incumbent mood, heightened by the failure of Republicans in Washington to make good on seven years of promises to scrap President Barack Obama's health care law.

The senator's extraordinary speech came shortly after Trump had joined Senate Republicans at their weekly policy luncheon — and a few hours after the president had engaged in a war of words with another retiring Republican senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee.

As Flake spoke, Corker sat in the chamber next to Sen. John McCain, Arizona's six-term senator who's also tangled frequently with Trump. McCain called Flake "a man of integrity, and honor and decency" and said he stood up for what he believed in "knowing full well that there would be a political price to pay."

Republicans and Democrats said they were sorry to see Flake go.

"It is one of the most depressing things that has happened during my time in the Senate," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who worked closely with Flake on bipartisan immigration legislation.
Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she was "extraordinarily disappointed" and called Flake a "person of utmost integrity."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Flake's speech, "A lot of the language, I didn't think, was befitting of the Senate floor."

After bucking Trump in a state the president won, Flake has been bottoming out in polls. Republicans may be left with a hard-core conservative challenger who might win the primary but lose in the general election.
Flake was facing a challenge from former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who failed in her effort to take out McCain last year but has gained some traction this year. Last week, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon attended a fundraiser for her.

Ward said in a statement, "Arizona voters are the big winner in Jeff Flake's decision to not seek re-election." She pledged to be "a strong conservative in the U.S. Senate who supports President Trump and the 'America First' agenda."

The PAC linked to Bannon crowed about a "monumental win" with Flake's retirement and called it "another warning shot to the failed Republican establishment that backed Flake and others like them that their time is up."

But mainstream Republicans in Arizona don't believe Ward can beat Rep. Krysten Sinema, who is running in her primary as the only well-known Democratic candidate. They've been searching for another candidate to take on Flake, and his decision to step aside opens the door wide.

Sinema, meanwhile, made a fundraising pitch on Twitter, saying with Flake's retirement "we must do everything we can to show that we are ready to win #AZSEN. Chip in now." She raised more than $1 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, and has more than $4.1 million on hand.

Besides Ward, other potential candidates for Flake's seat include current state university regent Jay Heiler, former state GOP chairman Robert Graham and state treasurer Jeff DeWit. Other names that have been floated in recent weeks include Reps. Paul Gosar and Trent Franks, conservative stalwarts who sit in safe GOP seats.

Heiler announced early this month that he was considering a run. He was chief of staff to Arizona Gov. Fife Symington in the 1990s and has been involved in numerous political campaigns.

Herschel Fink, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party, said Flake's retirement "further exposes the Republican Party's civil war — which will continue in full force in Arizona as the GOP struggles with a field of candidates who go further and further out of touch with voters."
___
Associated Press writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.


COMMENTS --
6,832 reactions7%61%32%
Share your reaction

al
al5 hours ago
DRAIN the Swamp. Democrat, republican or whatever, IF you are not leading or following PLEASE get out of the way!
ReplyReplies (318)2,623806

James
James5 hours ago
Gee, that didn't take long. Of course he was a Never Trumper and Trailing by 35 pts to Kelli Ward. Another One Bites The Dust.
ReplyReplies (175)1,973661

DTown87
DTown875 hours ago
All you have to do is read the history of dictatorships and how they take over a government without a military force and you'll know what is going on here.
ReplyReplies (365)2,0441,333



I USUALLY LIKE INSECTS, BUT THIS ONE IS UNGRACEFUL AND LOOKS UNFRIENDLY. I’M GLAD I DON’T LIVE IN ASIA! I’M GLAD THE ARTICLE SAYS IT’S SMALL. THE PHOTO LOOKS MUCH BIGGER.

https://www.snopes.com/2017/10/21/weird-insect-intrigues-facebook-users/?utm_source=bme&utm_medium=manual&utm_campaign=monday_update&bt_ee=x6WG93jxe7Y9ll8PtYvhCiohTustqK1RkhM2ba9TB5BOPFRQVtcLiBH7ksThb1+c&bt_ts=1508760661576&utm_source=bme&utm_medium=manual&utm_campaign=monday_update&bt_ee=XOoYHMAAxdrAq79Fd8oU8aJ6Poonb7PQBwa8H20Mw50DkqgvaE0Qi/X7SgwZ6liF&bt_ts=1508760661190
Weird Insect Intrigues Facebook Users
Facebook users offered reactions ranging from puzzlement to terror upon encountering a video that appeared to show a strange moth-like insect.
By David Mikkelson

In October 2017, many Facebook users offered reactions ranging from puzzlement to terror upon encountering a video that appeared to show a strange moth-like insect with several large tufted tendrils extending from its abdomen.

The unusual creature seen in the video seems to be a CREATONOTOS GANGIS MOTH, a species of arctiine moth found in Southeast Asia and Australia. As noted in a page devoted to the odd-looking insect, the tendril-like objects attached to its abdomen are scent organs: [GO TO WEBSITE AND CHECK THIS THING OUT!]

Creatonotos is an unassuming moth that lives in South-east Asia (China, India, Japan, Thailand) and northern Australia. These diminutive moths are famous for making a nuisance of themselves in pomegranate trees.

His white, black, red and yellow hues make him an attractive member of the moth family, but it’s not his colouring that initially draws the eye.

The moth’s characteristic that really turns heads are those massive furry things streaking away from the Creatonotos’ abdomen; those dangly organs are its scent organs, called coremata. The coremata (or hair-pencils) produce the pheromone hydroxydanaidal to attract their mates.
Here’s another view of Creatonotos gangis:



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/23/17
Holder: 'There has to be a wall' between White House and DoJ
Former Attorney General Eric Holder talks with Rachel Maddow about the independence of the Justice Department from the White House and whether Donald Trump understands the role of attorney general. Duration: 9:05



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/24/17
NBC News: U.S. soldiers were likely set-up for Niger ambush
Courtney Kube, NBC News national security and military reporter, talks with Rachel Maddow about new details being learned about the nature of the deadly attack on U.S. soldiers in Niger. Duration: 19:17