December 29 and 30, 2017


News and Views


GO TO THE WEBSITE BELOW FOR TWO GREAT “UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL” PHOTOS OF A PUMA, SO CLOSE TO THE LIGHT THAT HIS EYES GLOW LIKE A SPECTRE IN A HORROR MOVIE. AS LONG AS ANIMALS DON’T GET TOO CLOSE TO HOUSES OR BECOME SIMPLY TOO NUMEROUS SO THAT THEY DO POSE A DANGER, I REALLY LOVE HAVING THEM IN THE CITIES.

MY ADOPTED HOME OF JACKSONVILLE, FL HAS HAD A NUMBER OF BLACK BEARS IN STAID MIDDLE-CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS. THEN THERE ARE THE RACCOONS, OPOSSUMS, DEER, COYOTES, FOXES, PIT VIPERS AND CORAL SNAKES, HAWKS AND EAGLES, BEAUTIFUL LONG LEGGED WADING BIRDS, ALMOST CERTAINLY FLORIDA PANTHERS, AND OF COURSE MANY ALLIGATORS. JACKSONVILLE IS BUILT ON THE RIVER DELTA OF THE ST. JOHNS, AND WILD UNDERBRUSH FOLLOWS THE WATER UP INTO PARTS OF THE CITY. THAT’S CALLED “HABITAT,” IN THE ZOOLOGY TRADE, AND ANIMALS LOVE IT.

ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE BELOW, DON HENLEY OF THE EAGLES, CO-WROTE THE SONG 'DESPERADO' IN THIS VERY CALIFORNIA AREA. MAYBE THE “DESPERADO” OF THAT BEAUTIFUL AND HAUNTING SONG WAS PART HUMAN AND PART PUMA. I THINK THAT’S WHY WE HUMANS LIKE TO GO INTO THE WILD, BEAUTIFUL, AND DANGEROUS PLACES OF THE EARTH – TO SATISFY THE ANIMAL SPIRIT WHICH IS AT THE CORE OF OUR BEING. WE LONG TO BE HUNTER-GATHERERS AMONG SABER TOOTHED CATS. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE KINDRED SPIRITS WITH ME IN THAT WAY, I SUGGEST YOU READ THE JEAN AUEL EPICS OF THE EARTH’S CHILDREN SERIES. START WITH THE FIRST – “CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR.”

THE AUTHOR JEAN AUEL WAS MARRIED TO AN ANTHROPOLOGIST, AND INCORPORATED RESPECTABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION ON THE NEANDERTHAL AND THEN THE CRO-MAGNON INHABITANTS OF THE REGION AROUND THE DANUBE, OR “THE GREAT MOTHER.” IT IS SET AROUND 30,000 BP. IN MY HUMBLE VIEWPOINT, IF YOU DON’T FIND THESE BOOKS FASCINATING AND MOVING, YOU JUST DON’T HAVE MUCH IMAGINATION. GOTO HTTP://WWW.FAMOUSAUTHORS.ORG/JEAN-M-AUEL.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hollywood-mountain-lion-laurel-canyon-wildlife-habitat-land-purchase/
CBS NEWS December 30, 2017, 8:19 AM
Hollywood pumas to roam in wildlife habitat after land purchase

TWO CLOSEUP PHOTOS

High in the Hollywood Hills, conservationist Tony Tucci was curious about the wildlife still thriving in the urban jungle of Los Angeles. For months, his camera captured all kinds of animals roaming the ridge.

"All the animals that are native, indigenous to this area, they're still living among us?" CBS News correspondent Carter Evans asked.

"We're still living among them. They were here first," said Tucci, chair of Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW).

The most surprising discovery was a mountain lion, also called a puma. It has no GPS collar.

"An elusive celebrity, obviously. He's kind of old Hollywood," Tucci said.

CLAW is part of an alliance of preservation groups that's been raising money to protect the last few wildlife corridors in L.A. from development. With the Laurel Canyon Association, they successfully purchased a 17-acre parcel for $1.6 million this week.

"The puma absolutely helped us cross the finish line … but there was also an angel who soared like an eagle, and we can't be more thankful for Don Henley's contribution to this," Tucci said.

Rock legend Don Henley, one of founding members of The Eagles, donated $100,000 in memory of his friend and collaborator, Glenn Frey.

"Don Henley and Glenn Frey wrote the song 'Desperado' when they lived here in this canyon," Tucci said.

In a statement Henley said: "These resources are precious, both in terms of wildlife habitat, and in terms of the human history that resides there."

For the mountain lion in particular, the land is critical "because this is potentially his living room or his den," Tucci said.

"It needs to be preserved. And the hallways, the wildlife corridors also need to be preserved. So this animal can thrive," he added.

Several pumas are known to inhabit the Santa Monica Mountains. Most are tagged and well-documented. One called P-22 became something of a celebrity when he was caught on camera near the Hollywood sign. With a little more open space now set aside, this will continue to be "where the wild things are."

"We are jumping for joy that we can actually protect something like this for generations to come," Tucci said.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



THE MORE I HEAR WHAT FLAKE HAS TO SAY THE MORE I THINK HE WOULDN’T MAKE A HORRIBLE PRESIDENT, DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE IS A REPUBLICAN. THE PROBLEM WITH SO MANY REPUBLICANS IS THAT THEIR SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM IS LIKELY TO BE SOMETHING THAT I WILL CONSIDER “DRACONIAN.”

“@JEFFFLAKE
WE CAN FIX DACA IN A WAY THAT BEEFS UP BORDER SECURITY, STOPS CHAIN MIGRATION FOR THE DREAMERS, AND ADDRESSES THE UNFAIRNESS OF THE DIVERSITY LOTTERY*. IF POTUS WANTS TO PROTECT THESE KIDS, WE WANT TO HELP HIM KEEP THAT PROMISE.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-dreamers-wont-be-protected-without-a-wall-first/
CBS/AP December 29, 2017, 11:47 AM
Trump says Dreamers won't be protected without a border wall

President Trump says there won't be protection for young immigrants brought into the country illegally unless he gets funding for a border wall and other items.

Mr. Trump said on Twitter Friday: "The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc."

He added: "We must protect our Country at all cost!"


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration* & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc. We must protect our Country at all cost!

8:16 AM - Dec 29, 2017
28,813 28,813 Replies 23,818 23,818 Retweets 93,136 93,136 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy


The battle over immigration has been delayed until 2018. Democrats want protections for the young immigrants, who are referred to as "Dreamers." DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Mr. Trump also told The New York Times in a wide-ranging interview at his club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach that no wall means no plan for Dreamers.

"Look, I wouldn't do a DACA plan without a wall. Because we need it. We see the drugs pouring into the country, we need the wall," the president said.

Later Friday, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, tweeted that he thinks they can find a way to fix DACA while improving border security, and help Mr. Trump "keep that promise."


Jeff Flake
✔
@JeffFlake
We can fix DACA in a way that beefs up border security, stops chain migration for the DREAMers, and addresses the unfairness of the DIVERSITY LOTTERY*. If POTUS wants to protect these kids, we want to help him keep that promise.

2:31 PM - Dec 29, 2017
547 547 Replies 187 187 Retweets 954 954 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy

But while there is significant bipartisan sympathy for these immigrants, GOP demands for Mr. Trump's border wall and for more immigration agents have proved difficult to resolve.

Whatever happened to Trump's new border patrol officers?

Shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to hire 15,000 new border security agents and immigration officers, and was given a two-year window by the Office of Personnel Management to do so. But hiring that many skilled workers so quickly is proving to be a challenge, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General was unsure whether those new agents and officers are even necessary.

The president continues to emphasize at rallies that the wall will be built. But nearly one year into his presidency, the construction of such a wall continues to lag behind the president's original expectations and Congress has yet to pass any meaningful funding for it.

Meanwhile, time is running out for a DACA fix before protections for those Dreamers end. The president announced the effective end of DACA in September, telling Congress they had six months to come up with a fix. That deadline is March 5.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


[CHAIN MIGRATION -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_migration
Chain migration
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular town follow others from that town to a particular city or neighborhood, whether in an immigrant-receiving country or in a new, usually urban, location in the home country. The term also refers to the process of foreign nationals immigrating to a new country under laws permitting their reunification with family members already living in the destination country.

Chain migration can be defined as a “movement in which prospective migrants learn of opportunities, are provided with transportation, and have initial accommodation and employment arranged by means of primary social relationships with previous migrants.”[1] Or, more simply put: "The dynamic underlying 'chain migration' is so simple that it sounds like common sense: People are more likely to move to where people they know live, and each new immigrant makes people they know more likely to move there in turn."[2]

. . . . Many groups have immigrated to the United States throughout history via chain migration. These social networks for migration are universal and not limited to specific nations, cultures, or crises. Chain migration is an overarching theme of many of the immigration experiences in American history. One group of immigrants to the English colonies in North America (and later the United States) was African slaves brought over forcibly; the circumstances of their migration do not fit the criteria of chain migration of free labor.

. . . . From 1942 to 1964, the American government sanctioned BRACERO PROGRAM allowed hundreds of thousands of Mexican migrant workers to “familiarize themselves with U.S. employment practices, become comfortable with U.S. job routines, master American ways of life, and learn English,” thereby creating social and human capital.[8] After the HART–CELLER ACT OF 1965 disbanded the Bracero Program, the incentives and effects of chain migration perpetuated undocumented immigration to the United States.

Absent any of the economic incentives, the Mexican American immigration relationship has a longstanding history and the effects of chain migration are pervasive when considering the number of Mexican American citizens, legal residents, and undocumented residents. Social capital provided by chain migration has helped perpetuate Mexican migration, whether it is undocumented or legal.

While immigrants from European nations during the period before the McCarran–Walter Act of 1952 were able to immigrate legally if with relative levels of ease depending on country of origin, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred almost all Chinese from immigrating to the United States. Nonetheless, many Chinese immigrants arrived in America by obtaining false documents. The Chinese Exclusion Act allowed the Chinese Americans already settled in America to stay and provided for limited numbers of family members of Chinese Americans to immigrate with the correct paperwork. This loophole and the fateful 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco’s public records provided Chinese immigrants, almost entirely men, with the potential to immigrate with false documents stating their familial relationship to a Chinese American.[9] These Chinese immigrants were called “paper sons,” because of their false papers. “Paper sons” relied on networks built by chain migration to buy documentation, develop strategies for convincing authorities on Angel Island of their legal status, and for starting a life in America.”

Ethnic enclaves

The information and personal connections that lead to chain migration lead to transplanted communities from one nation to another. Throughout American history, ethnic enclaves have been built and sustained by immigration. Different ethnic groups claimed distinct physical space in city neighborhoods to provide a reception for chain migration and maintain the community network it created. Examples of this trend include the many neighborhoods called Kleindeutschland, Little Italy, and Chinatown throughout the United States.

. . . . The effects of Chinese Exclusion and discrimination prevented Chinese residents from assimilating into American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Those factors, as well as social and cultural ties, precipitated the rise of Chinatowns as ethnic enclaves for Chinese Americans. Chain migration and the pseudo-familial nature of “paper sons” produced a relatively cohesive community that maintained ties with China.



[DIVERSITY LOTTERY* SEE –

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-diversity-visa-lottery-program/2017/11/01/69f3f422-bf15-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html
Immigration
Here’s what you need to know about the diversity visa lottery program
By Maria Sacchetti November 1]

From Romania to Nepal, they call it the “golden ticket,” a diversity visa lottery that offers citizens of countries with low immigration rates a chance to come to the United States.

Among the winners are a family of software engineers from Bulgaria, a physician and his lawyer wife from Romania, and hundreds of thousands of others from around the world.

On Wednesday, the program became best known as the entrance portal for Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan who came to this country on a diversity visa seven years ago and is accused of mowing down pedestrians and cyclists on a Manhattan bike path this week.

President Trump — who along with some Republican lawmakers had previously called for ending the diversity visa lottery program — doubled down Wednesday, saying before a Cabinet meeting, “We need to get rid of the lottery program as soon as possible.”

“We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems,” the president tweeted.

Moments earlier, he took a jab at Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who helped create the program in 1990.

“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty,” Trump tweeted. “I want merit based.”

The visa program, also known as the green-card lottery, issues up to 50,000 visas a year to people from dozens of countries, a tiny fraction of the roughly 1 million green cards the government issues annually. The aim is to mix up the nation’s melting pot.

The lottery is unusual because it does not require foreigners to obtain a sponsor — such as an employer or a relative — to come to the United States. Originally conceived as a way to help Irish citizens fleeing an economic crisis back home, the only requirement is that entrants be adults with a high school diploma or two years of recent work experience. Winners can bring their spouses and minor children. There is no application fee.

Millions apply each year, and fewer than 1 percent are randomly selected to undergo background checks. If they pass, they receive a green card, which grants them permanent residency in the United States and puts them on a path to citizenship. About 500,000 people have come to the United States through the program since 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.

Supporters say the lottery enhances the nation’s diversity, presents a welcoming face to the world and, overwhelmingly, brings law-abiding, productive residents to the United States. For immigrants, it can be a life-changing experience.

Africa and Eastern Europe account for two-thirds of the lottery winners in recent years. Citizens of countries that have sent at least 50,000 people to the United States in the past five years — such as Brazil, Canada, China and Mexico — cannot participate.

Livia and Adrian Lungulescu, a married couple in their 30s from Romania, came to this country on visas for his medical residency, applied for the lottery to stay permanently and won in 2009. Now they are both U.S. citizens. He treats patients from an office in New Hampshire and she represents immigrants in Boston.

“It helps the professionals and the high school graduates, not somebody that’s coming here to destroy America,” Livia Lungulescu said. “It’s something that helps people.”

The lottery, which has been managed by the State Department since it began operating in 1995, has raised concerns in the past, including in a 2007 Government Accountability Office report that said it was vulnerable to scams. The report also cited concerns from federal officials that the lottery allowed applicants from countries whose governments are sponsors of terrorism.

Egyptian Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, who shot and killed two people at Los Angeles International Airport on July 4, 2002, came to the United States after his wife won the visa lottery. Mohamed Atta, another Egyptian and one of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide pilots, applied for the lottery twice before entering the United States on a different visa to study aviation.

Winners undergo intense vetting, including criminal background checks and medical examinations. In the 2007 report, the GAO “found no documented evidence that DV immigrants from these, or other, countries posed a terrorist or other threat.

Immigration legislation that passed the Senate but died in the House in 2013 would have ended the program in exchange for legal residency for millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States. A bill proposed in August that would slash legal immigration levels in half over a decade also would eliminate the lottery program.

The fiscal 2019 visa lottery is currently taking applications, with a deadline of noon Eastern time Nov. 22. Winners are scheduled to be chosen in May.

Michael E. Miller contributed to this report.


“BUT BEING SELECTED IN THE LOTTERY PROCESS DOES NOT MEAN AN AUTOMATIC VISA FOR PARTICIPANTS; INSTEAD, IT ALLOWS THEM TO APPLY FOR ONE.” IF AFTER BEING SELECTED ON THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD OF A RANDOM CHOICE METHOD, WHOEVER THEN CHOSES TO APPLY MUST DO AMONG THE VERY BEST ON THE TESTS THAT WILL BE ADMINISTERED TO HIM/HER. THAT INCLUDES A PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PRESUMABLY IQ TEST. PEOPLE WITH HIGH IQS ARE USUALLY MORE LOGICAL, AND THOSE WITH EMOTIONAL BALANCE AND NO BRAIN DISORDERS WILL CERTAINLY BE LESS LIKELY TO BOMB A SYNAGOGUE OR A WOMEN’S CLINIC.

BUT DO ONLY ISLAMIC BELIEVERS BOMB SYNAGOGUES? NO. RADICAL AND FUNDAMENTALIST CATHOLICS, PROTESTANTS, AND ISLAMIC PEOPLE ALL DO. NOT ALL ISLAMIC INDIVIDUALS DO THAT EITHER, THOUGH – ONLY MENTALLY UNBALANCED PEOPLE DO – OF ALL RELIGIONS. IT’S THE HATERS WHO DO THAT, WHO IN TURN COME FROM ALL RELIGIONS, INCLUDING THE “CHRISTIAN IDENTITY” ALT-RIGHT GROUPS. HOW CAN WE SEPARATE THE AGGRESSIVE, THE XENOPHOBIC AND THE MENTALLY ILL FROM THE SANE AND EMPATHETIC? THAT’S WHAT WE NEED TO TRY TO DO.

I KEEP TALKING ABOUT EMPATHY, BECAUSE “LOVE” IS RELATIVELY HARD TO COME BY; BUT MOST HEALTHY PEOPLE DO HAVE SOME EMPATHY AND THAT IS THE PART OF OUR PERSONALITIES THAT WILL STOP US FROM COMMITTING MURDER OR – MORE COMMONLY – EMOTIONAL ABUSE. AS I SAID A FEW WEEKS AGO, AND I THINK IT’S SUCH A GOOD PHRASE THAT I’M GOING TO SAY IT AGAIN: “NO LOVE IN, NO LOVE OUT.”

THE PRIMARY WAY WE LEARN, ESPECIALLY OUR EMOTIONAL SETUP, IS BY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IF IT WAS POSITIVE, WE WILL BE HEALTHIER AND MORE LIKELY TO CARE ABOUT THINGS LIKE KINDNESS. IF WE THINK THAT IT’S PERFECTLY OKAY TO BULLY A MENTALLY CHALLENGED BOY, THAT’S WHAT I CALL “FRIGIDITY,” AND IT’S A CLEAR SIGN OF MENTAL ILLNESS. I PERSONALLY BELIEVE IN ENVIRONMENT OVER GENETICS ON THAT MATTER, UNLESS A PSYCHOLOGIST PROVES SOUNDLY THAT MOST MENTAL ILLNESS IS DUE TO AN INHERITED PHYSICAL FLAW. I THINK IT IS , MAINLY THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, AND THAT IT’S LEARNED. I BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS TO DETECT A LACK OF EMPATHY, AND ALONG WITH THE IQ TESTS, APPLICANTS SHOULD ALL TAKE THOSE. WE TEND TO JUST A PERSON BY THEIR CLOTHES OR JEWELRY, ETC. A PERSON LACKING EMPATHY SIMPLY HAS NO PERSONAL INTEREST IN HOW THE ABUSED PERSON FEELS, OR WHETHER WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS DAMAGING TO THEM. THEY DON’T HAVE WHAT I RELIGIOUSLY CALL “A CONSCIENCE;” SO OUR TEST AND PERSONAL INTERVIEW NEEDS TO DESELECT THOSE PEOPLE.

https://www.snopes.com/2017/11/11/diversity-visa-lottery-program/
News Political News
What is the Diversity Visa Lottery Program?
President Donald Trump criticized the program and called for its dismantling after a fatal terror attack in New York City in October 2017.
By Arturo Garcia

In the wake of a 31 October 2017 fatal terror attack in New York City, President Donald Trump and his administration are seeking to eliminate the visa program that reportedly let the suspect immigrate to the United States.

On 2 November, Attorney General Jeff Sessions joined the president in calling for the elimination of the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, through which the suspect in the attack, Sayfullo Saipov, entered the country in 2010 from Uzbekistan. Eight people were killed and at least 12 others injured when Saipov drove a truck onto a Manhattan bike path three days earlier.

Sessions said of the lottery-based program, which makes 50,000 permanent resident visas available each year:

We don’t use random chance in college admissions and we don’t roll a die to hire people. By the same token, a lottery tells us nothing about who is entering this country.

Trump has accused the program of contributing to “chain migration” and called for it to be dismantled and replaced with a merit-based system. But being selected in the lottery process does not mean an automatic visa for participants; instead, it allows them to apply for one. Interviews are conducted during fiscal year 2019.

As the State Department makes clear on its web site:

If you receive notification through the Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) website that you have been selected for further processing in the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) Program, you must successfully complete the steps on the following pages before a consular interview can be scheduled to determine if you will receive a visa. You should complete these steps as soon as possible.

It is important to remember that selection does not guarantee you will receive a visa. In order to receive a DV to immigrate to the United States, selectees must still meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law.

The department also states that eligible applicants “will only be scheduled for an interview when and if there is a visa number available.”
. . . .”


AIRPORTS ARE VERY BUSY PLACES, BUT EVEN SO, AIRPORTS NEED TO TAKE CARE OF SITUATIONS LIKE THIS. IF THE LADY DOTH PROTEST, TAKE HER DOWN THE HALL PERSONALLY ANYWAY. IT IS FAR EASIER TO GET LOST IN PLACES LIKE THAT THAN IT IS TO SAFELY FIND YOUR WAY. THE FAMILY WILL NOT BLAME THE AIRLINE FOR BEING “UNNECESSARILY” HELPFUL, BUT THEY WILL FOR THIS MISERABLE CASE OF NEGLECT. IF I WERE IN THAT POSITION, I WOULD CHAT WITH HER IN A FRIENDLY MANNER, SHOW MY ID AS A AIRPORT WORKER, AND THEN SHE’LL AGREE TO HAVING HER WHEELCHAIR PUSHED, ALMOST CERTAINLY. I’M SORRY SO MANY AIRLINES ARE BEING SUED, BUT IN THIS CASE, THEY DESERVE IT!

http://www.kgw.com/news/family-sues-alaska-airlines-contractor-over-pdx-airport-fall/503229281
Family sues Alaska Airlines, contractor over PDX airport
KGW 2:24 PM. PST December 29, 2017

Video -- Bernice Kekona, June 2017. Video provided by Kekona's attorney. KGW

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The family of a Spokane, Wash. woman is suing Alaska Airlines and another company in connection with a woman's fall down a Portland International Airport escalator in June. The woman died four months after the fall, and family members allege that neglect at the airport contributed to her injuries.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit, filed earlier this week in King County Superior Court, Bernice Kekona, 75, was traveling from Hawaii to Spokane with a transfer of planes in Portland. The grandmother was disabled with an amputated leg and other health issues.

At the Portland airport, while trying to get to the gate to her connecting flight, she fell down an escalator, resulting in significant injuries that led to her death, the suit states.

The suit also names Huntleigh USA, which contracts with Alaska Airlines to help assist passengers in transit. Kekona's family said that they had requested gate-to-gate service for their mother, who was disabled and needed wheelchair assistance.

According to the complaint, Huntleigh USA gate agents met Kekona as she deplaned in Portland and provided her a wheelchair ride to the top of the skybridge. She then was left alone and became confused, leading her to tumble in her wheelchair down an escalator, an incident captured on surveillance video.

Kekona was assisted by emergency workers after her fall and was transported to a Portland hospital for treatment. In September, she entered a Spokane hospital and for care of a leg wound, caused, her lawyers contend, by the initial Portland airport fall. She died two weeks later.

Huntleigh USA declined to comment Wednesday, according to news reports.

Federal law requires that airlines assist disabled passengers in transit. Alaska Airlines confirmed that Kekona received initial assistance but said she declined additional aid while navigating through the Portland airport.

In a statement to KING 5, KGW's sister station in Seattle, Alaska Airlines issued the following response:

"We’re heartbroken by this tragic and disturbing incident. We don’t have all the facts, but after conducting a preliminary investigation, it appears that Ms. Kekona declined ongoing assistance in the terminal and decided to proceed on her own to her connecting flight. After landing in Portland, Ms. Kekona was assisted into her own motorized scooter by an airport consortium wheelchair service provider Huntleigh. Once in the concourse, she went off on her own."

Kekona wrongful-death lawsuit against Alaska Airlines, contractor by KGW News on Scribd

© 2017 KGW-TV


YA DON’T SAY !! IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT TRUMP HAS GONE OUT OF HIS WAY TO ABUSE RUBIO. RUBIO VOCALLY DISAGREES WITH HIM – NOT GOOD!! I PERSONALLY LIKE RUBIO. HE’S A REPUBLICAN, BUT HE HAS HEART AND SENSE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rubio-says-tax-bill-probably-went-too-far-in-helping-corporations/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS December 29, 2017, 4:23 PM
Rubio says tax bill "probably went too far" in helping corporations

The GOP tax bill "probably went too far" in helping corporations, Sen. Marco Rubio told Florida's News-Press in a recent interview published Friday.

Asked for his overall view of the legislation —which the Florida Republican voted for and Mr. Trump signed into law last week — Rubio said the bill would have looked different if he were "king for a day." The legislation "probably" gave too much in benefits to corporations, he said, but noted the new law doubles the Child Tax Credit and is significantly better than the previous tax code.

Rubio and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, had suggested a corporate tax rate of 22 percent instead of the originally proposed 20 percent, in order to increase the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 per child, and Rubio threatened to vote against the bill if the Child Tax Credit didn't improve. The final legislation left the new corporate tax rate at 21 percent, down from the previous rate of 35 percent, and increased the Child Tax Credit to $2,000 per child, per year.

"If I were king for a day, this tax bill would have looked different. I thought we probably went too far on (helping) corporations," Rubio told the publication. "By and large, you're going to see a lot of these multinationals buy back shares to drive up the price. Some of them will be forced, because they're sitting on historic levels of cash, to pay out dividends to shareholders. That isn't going to create dramatic economic growth. (But) there's a lot of things in the bill that I have supported for a long time (such as) doubling the Child Tax Credit. And it is better — significantly better — than the current code."

"You all just got a lot richer," Trump tells friends at Mar-a-Lago

Rubio also told the publication many in the think tank and donor world described the Child Tax Credit to him as "welfare." So, Rubio said he had to spend a lot of time educating people about the credit, pointing out that it's tied to work.

"I had numerous people in the think tank world, and the donor world and even in the member world who said to me, 'This is welfare. It's for people who don't pay taxes,'" Rubio said in the interview. "So, we had to spend a lot of time educating people on the reality about the Child Tax Credit. It isn't welfare. It's directly tied to work. You can't get it if you don't have a tax return. You can't get it if you don't have earned income."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THE FACES OF DISASTER -- INTERVIEWS

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/survivor-describes-escape-from-deadly-bronx-fire-nyc/
By DON DAHLER CBS NEWS December 29, 2017, 6:05 PM
Survivor describes escape from NYC's deadliest fire in decades
10-year-old describes escape from NYC's deadliest blaze in decades
In all, 170 firefighters were called in to fight the fire, but the cold weather made things worse

NEW YORK - New York City's deadliest fire in decades happened three days after Christmas, on one of the coldest nights of the year. Twelve people, including four children, are dead, and four others are critically hurt.

It took first responders only three minutes to arrive, but not in time to prevent a tragedy caused by a 3-year-old toddler playing with the stove.

"The mother was not aware of it, was alerted by the young man screaming," said Daniel Nigro, commissioner for the New York City Fire Department. "She exited her apartment with her 2-year-old, and 3-year-old and left the door open."

bronx-ny-fire-2017-12-28.jpg
Multiple people were killed in a fire in NYC on Dec. 28, 2017. TWITTER/FDNY

That was a fateful mistake, according to the commissioner. Like smoke up a chimney, the fire was sucked into the hallways, and the entire five-story building was engulfed within minutes.

Crisbel Martinez, 10, escaped with her brother.

1229-en-nyfire-dahler.jpg
Crisbel Martinez escaped the deadly Bronx fire CBS NEWS

"I got scared and freaked out because I thought I was going to fall off the fire escape, but I tried my best," Martinez said.

The victims range in age from one to 63. Among the dead: a mother and her two daughters and niece. A family member didn't want to go on camera, but the heartbreak was obvious.

"Oh my God, those two little babies," they said. "God rest their souls, they're beautiful."

In another apartment, a woman and infant were found huddled in a bathtub.

FDNY personnel work on the scene of an apartment fire in New York
Fire Department of New York (FDNY) personnel work on the scene of an apartment fire in Bronx, New York, U.S. December 28, 2017. AMR ALFIKY/REUTERS

In all, 170 firefighters were called in to fight the blaze, but the cold weather made things worse, since crews had to battle the flames with freezing hoses.

According to city records, the 100-year-old building has a number of open safety violations, including a defective smoke detector on the floor where the fire began. The fire department is investigating whether that played any role in the tragedy.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THIS IS SAD NEWS. GRAFTON IS ONE OF MY VERY FAVORITE WRITERS. MAY SHE REST IN PEACE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sue-grafton-mystery-writer-dead-at-77/
AP December 29, 2017, 2:49 PM
Sue Grafton, mystery writer, dead at 77

LOS ANGELES - Mystery writer Sue Grafton has died in Santa Barbara, California. She was 77. Her daughter, Jamie Clark, posted news of her mother's death on Grafton's Facebook page Friday.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - Day One
Author Sue Grafton poses with a copy of her book "R is for Ricochet" on April 23, 2005 in Los Angeles. MICHAEL BUCKNER/GETTY IMAGES

She says her mother passed away Thursday night after a two-year battle with cancer and was surrounded by family, including including husband Steven Humphrey.

"Although we knew this was coming, it was unexpected and fast. She had been fine up until just a few days ago, and then things moved quickly," the post said.

Grafton began her "alphabet series" in 1982 with "A is for Alibi." Her most recent book, "Y is for Yesterday," was published in August.

"Many of you also know that she was adamant that her books would never be turned into movies or TV shows, and in that same vein, she would never allow a ghost writer to write in her name," her daughter wrote. "Because of all of those things, and out of the deep abiding love and respect for our dear sweet Sue, as far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y."

Humphrey said Grafton had been struggling to find an idea for "Z'' while undergoing treatment for rare and usually fatal cancer of the appendix, which was discovered in a routine colonoscopy.

"Nothing's been written," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "There is no Z."

He added with a laugh, "Nobody in this family will ever use the letter Z again."

The fictional heroine of the series, Southern California private detective Kinsey Millhone, was Grafton's alter ego, she told The Seattle Times earlier this year.

"I'm an introvert, so doing half of what Kinsey is beyond my poor capabilities," Grafton said. "But it's fun to get to live her life without penalty."

Her husband agreed that Grafton was Kinsey.

"Yes, as Sue said, 'We're one spirit in two bodies, and she got the good one,'" Humphrey said.

While Grafton aged, her heroine didn't quite as much.

"So when I started, she was 32, and I was 42. Now, she is 39, and I am 77. So there's a little bit of injustice there, but she is single," she told NPR in an interview earlier this year. "She's been married twice. She has no kids, no pets, no house plants."

She said she was looking forward to reaching the end of the alphabet with "Z is for Zero."

Lisa Scottoline, author of legal thrillers, tweeted that she was sad to hear of Grafton's passing.

"She forged a path for women in crime fiction, and all of us followed and adored her," she said.

Crime writer Lawrence Block called Grafton a wonderful writer "graced with vision and integrity and a generous spirit."

"That never-to-be-written Z book is the least of what we've just lost," Block tweeted.

Grafton began writing at 18, and completed her first novel at 22. "A is for Alibi" was the eighth novel she wrote, and the third she had published.

On her blog, she said her ideas come from everywhere.

"I read newspapers, textbooks on crime. I talk to private investigators, police officers, jail administrators, doctors, lawyers, career criminals. Ideas are everywhere," she said.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Grafton stayed tied to her roots, dividing her time between a home there and in California.

"The world has lost a great talent and prolific author in Sue Grafton - and in Louisville we have lost a citizen, friend, neighbor, a master gardener and hometown hero," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer tweeted. "Her legacy will live on through her words, which will entertain and thrill readers for generations to come."

In addition to her husband and daughter Jamie Clark, she is survived by another daughter, Leslie Twine, and her son, Jay Schmidt.

Grafton's remains will be cremated and the family will hold a private memorial Sunday. Memorials also will be held in Louisville and New York City.

© 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


MADDOW VIDS

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/17
Sensing advantage, Democrats hone 2018 messaging, priorities
Karine Jean-Pierre, senior adviser at MoveOn.org, talks with Joy Reid about how Democrats intend to turn the raw political energy Democrats are displaying into electoral success.
Duration: 7:41


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/17
Conditions favorable for Democrats in 2018 (if rules still apply)
Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for MSNBC, talks with Joy Reid about how the political conditions in 2018 compare with those of past midterm elections. Duration: 7:19


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/28/1728242/-Mueller-probe-expands-to-RNC-digital-operations-overlapping-Russian-Hacking
ERIC NELSON Blog Stream Groups Following Profile
Mueller probe expands to RNC digital operations overlapping Russian Hacking
2017/12/28

From Rachel Maddow & team with Joy-Ann Reid at the helm is this report out yesterday:
Mueller Probing Republicans Work With Russian Hacking | Rachel Maddow
Published on Dec 28, 2017
Natasha Bertrand, political correspondent for Business Insider, talks with Joy Reid about a report that the Mueller investigation is expanding to look at the extent to which RNC digital operations overlapped with Russian hacking activity

It appears that Mueller is now expanding the investigation into the republicans in congress along with various GOP operatives to determine the extent that the targeting of Russia hacked / stolen data (Guccifer 2.0 eg.) that wound up in republican tv commercials and on both twitter and face-book was made possible by that help in disseminating the stolen (hacked) data.

Guccifer 2 cut out
Guccifer 2.0
Several key down ballot races were targeted

At some point the Russian hacking campaign was discovered. Nancy Pelosi wrote a letter to republican House speaker, Paul Ryan, requesting that republican congress Not use the data stolen from DNC and individuals.

Republicans refuse to respond to warnings about Russian hacking
down-ballot Dems were also targeted
Paul Ryan did not respond to Nancy Pelosi’s letter. No republican politician responded.
Some of the hacked material made it into Paul Ryan’s campaign advertisements.

investigation into republican politicians
Michael Isikoff | 12, 27, 2017
Republican politicians under investigation
Michael Isikoff | 12, 27, 2017

In the last few weeks, prosecutors have begun questioning republican national committee staffers about the party’s digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states.

Experts have posited that the granular information needed in targeting voters in key races in swing states was information that the Russian hacking operations would have sought to be most effective Michael Isikoff | 12, 27, 2017


NO COLLUSION NO COLLUSION NO COLLUSION

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mueller-probe-outgrows-witch-hunt-phase-100045988.html
Mueller probe outgrows its ‘witch hunt’ phase
Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News • December 27, 2017

VIDEO – Russia Investigation Continues to Heat UP

Steve Bannon’s eyes lit up. Several months before he left his job as a senior White House adviser last August, Bannon was talking to President Trump about the brewing political storm over the Justice Department investigation into his campaign’s alleged ties to the Kremlin. Suddenly, Trump had an inspiration. He looked straight at Bannon, jabbed at him with his finger and uttered the phrase that would become the slogan of the White House pushback against the Russia probe: “Witch hunt!”

Brilliant, thought Bannon, as he later related the exchange to colleagues.

Ever since, it is a phrase Trump has returned to time and again — and repackaged with typical Trumpian hyperbole. “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” Trump tweeted last May after ex-FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed as Justice Department special counsel to oversee the probe.

But now, as Trump prepares to end his first year in office, the witch hunt narrative may have outlived its usefulness. Mueller’s investigation has expanded and gained serious traction: The president’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Manafort’s chief deputy, Rick Gates, have been indicted. His former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty and is now a cooperating witness. So too is a former foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, who has admitted lying to the FBI about repeated contacts with alleged Russian cutouts* who had offered the Trump campaign “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”


[NOTE -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut-out*_(espionage)
Cut-out (espionage)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“In espionage parlance, a cut-out is a mutually trusted intermediary, method or channel of communication that facilitates the exchange of information between agents. Cutouts usually know only the source and destination of the information to be transmitted, not the identities of any other persons involved in the espionage process (need to know basis). Thus, a captured cutout cannot be used to identify members of an espionage cell.]”

Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, leaves Federal District Court in Washington on Nov. 2, 2017. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)

As described by sources familiar with various aspects of the investigation, the Mueller probe is fast approaching a critical crossroads. The president’s lawyers, Ty Cobb and John Dowd, are pressing Mueller to wind down the investigation and exonerate their client, which they have assured the president will happen by early next year.

But the sources familiar with the probe say that such a rapid conclusion is — as one put it — “fanciful.” Mueller and his team, they say, are pursuing new leads, interrogating new witnesses and collecting a mountain of new evidence, including subpoenaed bank records and thousands of emails from the campaign and the Trump transition.

In just the last few weeks, his prosecutors have begun questioning Republican National Committee staffers about the party digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. They are seeking to determine if the joint effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate, according to two of the sources.

In what is potentially another ominous sign for the White House, the lawyer for Jared Kushner, the president’s son in law and senior adviser who was in charge of the campaign’s digital operation, recently began searching for a crisis public relations firm to handle press inquiries — a step frequently taken by people who believe they may be facing criminal charges. (Kushner has denied all wrongdoing, and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has said he is cooperating with the Mueller investigation.)


White House senior advisor and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner arrives at the Hart Senate Office Building on July 24, 2017, in Washington, D.C., to testify behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Even if the new lines of inquiry don’t result in additional indictments — something unknowable at this point — the new material all but guarantees the Mueller investigation will stretch on for months, if not years, likely provoking Trump to revisit his decision not to fire the special counsel.

And if the president does take that step, many lawmakers and legal veterans say, it will cause a political explosion unlike any the capital has seen in decades. “It will be cataclysmic,” said Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor who lived through the so-called Saturday night massacre when President Richard Nixon fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox. “It will create a constitutional crisis.”

In the meantime, the president’s allies are mounting a ferocious attack on Mueller’s team — pointing to tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats by the special counsel’s prosecutors, and to text messages disparaging Trump by FBI agent Peter Strzok, whom Mueller has since moved off the investigation. They are also gunning for top FBI officials, especially deputy director Andrew McCabe, who they believe began a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign’s links to the Russians last year based in part on the controversial dossier prepared by a former British spy and funded as “opposition research” by the Clinton campaign.

“Everything points to the fact that there was an orchestrated plan to try to prevent Donald Trump from being the next president of the United States,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, in a recent television interview in which he vowed to subpoena senior FBI agents about the origins of the probe.

FBI acting director Andrew McCabe listens during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 7, 2017. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)

But for Democrats, the attacks on Mueller and the FBI are a distraction tactic meant to obscure how much has already been uncovered about the Trump team’s contacts with the Russians. Back in January, when the issue first starting getting political traction, the president and his top aides denied that he and his campaign had any connections to Moscow. “I have nothing to do with Russia,” Trump tweeted at the time.

Since then, Mueller’s team and congressional investigators have detailed numerous contacts, meetings and email exchanges between Trump’s campaign and Russian-connected operatives and officials that were unknown to the public when voters went to the polls in November 2016. Jeff Sessions, the Trump campaign’s chief national security adviser, met with the Russian ambassador at a hotel reception and later in his Senate office. Papadopoulos met with a Russia-connected professor and a woman introduced as “Putin’s niece” in an effort to set up a summit between Trump and the Russian president. And most famously, Donald Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort all met in Trump Tower with a delegation of Russians who they believed had derogatory information on Hillary Clinton — including “official documents” — that came straight from the highest levels of the Kremlin.

“Just from what’s been made public, it’s pretty clear the Trump campaign and family were willing and eager to work with the Russians,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “They showed almost no restraint in engaging with the Russians to see what they had to offer on their opponent. It was a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality.”

Photograph -- President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony on Dec. 15, 2017, in Quantico, Va. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

Whether all this adds up to “collusion” — the sensational charge of active collaboration between the Trump campaign and Moscow that was first laid out in the controversial dossier commissioned by the Clinton campaign — is far from clear. But for Swalwell and quite a few others, it is already clear that the Russian probe has been far more than a witch hunt.



SOMETIMES I WONDER IF AMERICANS ARE BECOMING TOTALLY UNAWARE OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL? THIS IS DISGUSTING, FIRST, BUT IT ALSO MUST BECOME THE NEXT CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION IN MY VIEW. THERE ARE SO MANY PIECES MISSING HERE THAT I CAN’T HELP WONDER IF THERE ISN’T SOMETHING INTENTIONAL GOING ON, THOUGH IT’S PROBABLY “UNDER THE TABLE.”

DURING THE LAST YEAR, MULTIPLE POLICE DEPARTMENTS AROUND THE COUNTRY WERE FOUND TO HAVE DONE THE SAME THING. ODD COINCIDENCE, NO? ERRORS, YES, BUT THE SAME ERROR? IS IT COLLUSION, BRIBERY, INABILITY TO THINK THINGS THROUGH TO THE END, OR SIMPLE LAZINESS. IN AT LEAST TWO OF THE CITY PDS THE STATEMENT WAS MADE THAT WHILE THERE WAS A RULE TO THAT EFFECT, THERE WAS NO SPECIFIC POSITION IN THE DEPARTMENT WHO HAD BEEN NAMED BY THE LAW TO CARRY OUT THAT TASK, SO NOBODY DID IT. THIS IS UGLY. SOMEBODY HIGHER UP THAN THE LOWEST LEVEL OF OFFICER SHOULD LOSE HIS JOB, HIS DECORATIONS AND HIS PENSION. MAYBE IT’S ALSO A CRIME.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/three-cities-sue-defense-department-over-poor-reporting-to-gun-check-database/2017/12/26/8e284a62-ea82-11e7-9f92-10a2203f6c8d_story.html
National Security
Cities sue Defense Dept. over gun-check system failures
By Associated Press December 26

NEW YORK — Three large U.S. cities filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Defense, arguing that many service members who are disqualified from gun ownership weren’t reported to the national background check system.

New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia said in court papers that the military’s broken system for relaying such information helped spur the massacre of 26 people inside a Texas church last month.

“This failure on behalf of the Department of Defense has led to the loss of innocent lives by putting guns in the hands of criminals and those who wish to cause immeasurable harm,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “New York City is joining Philadelphia and San Francisco to stand up to the Department of Defense and demand they comply with the law and repair their drastically flawed system.”

Local law enforcement officials rely on the FBI’s database to conduct background checks on applications for gun permits and to monitor purchases. It must be up to date to prevent people from wrongly getting guns, the cities’ attorneys wrote.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., seeks an injunction and judicial oversight to ensure ongoing compliance with the Defense Department’s obligation to submit records.

Military officials previously acknowledged problems with their reporting.

A Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that he couldn’t comment specifically on the lawsuit.

“The department continues to work with the services as they review and refine their policies and procedures to ensure qualifying criminal history information is submitted to the FBI,” said Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman.

The Defense Department’s failure to report “significant numbers” of disqualifying records to the FBI’s national background check system allowed former Air Force member Devin P. Kelley to buy a rifle with which he shot 26 people to death Nov. 5 in a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., the lawsuit said. Kelley had been convicted of assaulting family members in a 2012 court-martial and should not have been allowed to purchase a gun.

Air Force leaders already acknowledged that the service failed to alert the FBI to Kelley’s criminal history and that they discovered “several dozen” other such reporting omissions. Army leaders have said their service also has similar gaps.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon’s watchdog agency said it found a “troubling” number of failures this year by the military services to alert the FBI to criminal history information. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a review of the FBI database.



WATCH THESE NEXT TWO:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/17
Trump asserts 'absolute right' to do what he wants with Justice
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Joy Reid about Donald Trump's apparent belief that the attorney general should protect the president and that he has the right to do what he wants with the Justice Department. Duration: 4:01


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/17
Trump DoJ assertion more than Nixon would have dared: Beschloss
Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, talks with Joy Reid about the historical context for Donald Trump's assertions about his power over the Justice Department and its investigations. Duration: 4:21


FARR AND THE PIONEER FUND

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/17
Trump nominee's racist roots raises alarm*
Rev. William Barber talks with Joy Reid about his concerns about the racism of Donald Trump judicial nominee Thomas Alvin Farr. Duration: 5:58

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-trump-and-the-women-he-hates-980073539893
6/29/17
Lawrence on Trump and 'the women he hates'
President Donald Trump once again showed his true character in a vulgar attack on Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski, another self-inflicted problem as he struggles to implement his agenda. Duration: 9:09


HOW TO DECIDE AN ELECTION BY THE MOST NONSENSICAL WAY POSSIBLE

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/17
Mueller probing Republican non-Trump work with Russian hacking
Natasha Bertrand, political correspondent for Business Insider, talks with Joy Reid about a report that the Mueller investigation is expanding to look at the extent to which RNC digital operations overlapped with Russian hacking activity. Duration: 13:00