February 23, 2018


News and Views


“... LYING ABOUT A MARCH 19, 2013, MEETING INVOLVING MANAFORT, A LOBBYIST AND A MEMBER OF CONGRESS.” INTERESTING. THESE ENTANGLEMENTS BETWEEN TRUMP, HIS CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE AND “A MEMBER OF CONGRESS” GO BACK TO AN EARLIER TIME THAN I HAVE SEEN ACKNOWLEDGED BEFORE. I CAN’T HELP WONDERING HOW MANY ESTABLISHED REPUBLICAN LEADERS ARE INVOLVED IN WHAT LOOKS INCREASINGLY TO BE A “FEDERAL CONSPIRACY” INDEED, THAT HAS INVOLVED RUSSIA – PROBABLY MAINLY FINANCIALLY, I HOPE, EXCEPT FOR ATTACKING CLINTON DESPICABLY. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH TRULY LOW-GRADE BEHAVIOR IN THE REPUBLICAN POLITICAL PLAN? BECAUSE THEY ARE “TOO BIG TO FAIL?” ON THE OTHER HAND, IT COULD BE AN INTRICATE STEALTHY POWER PLAY OF LONG STANDING, MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION, BUT LINKED TO IT. THE TOTAL GOAL WAS TO TAKE OVER “THE GUVMINT” AND NOT BY AN OPEN AND FAIR ELECTION. I HOPE THAT WITH A GOOD MUELLER-STYLE WASHING OF THOSE AUGEAN STABLES – A SIMILAR JOB TO CLEANING OUT “THE SWAMP,” ONLY THINK OF COWS AND HORSES – WE WILL END UP WITH A GOOD PLACE TO START WHEN BERNIE SANDERS IS ELECTED PRESIDENT IN 2020.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-trump-campaign-associates-face-more-charges-050743063--politics.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=2d64fd91-5e6d-33de-8103-abddb6e1a799&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Ex-Trump campaign aide pleads guilty in Russia probe
CHAD DAY, TOM LoBIANCO and JEFF HORWITZ
Associated Press • February 23, 2018

Photographs -- 1 / 3
Rick Gates arrives at federal court in Washington, Friday, Feb. 23, 2018. Gates, a former top adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign is scheduled to plead guilty in the special counsel's Russia investigation to federal conspiracy and false statements charges. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former top adviser to President Donald Trump's election campaign pleaded guilty Friday to federal conspiracy and false-statements charges in the special counsel's Russia investigation.

The plea by Rick Gates was a strong indication that he is planning to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as it continues to probe the Trump campaign, Russian election interference and Gates' longtime business associate, Paul Manafort.

Gates, 45, of Richmond, Virginia, made the plea at the Federal Courthouse in Washington.

A court filing shows Gates admitted to charges accusing him of conspiring against the U.S. government related to fraud and unregistered foreign lobbying as well as lying to federal authorities in a recent interview.

Gates' plea came a day after a federal grand jury in Virginia returned a 32-count indictment against him and Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, accusing them of tax evasion and bank fraud.

The indictment in Virginia was the second round of charges against Gates and against Manafort, who has denied any wrongdoing. The two men were initially charged last October with unregistered lobbying and conspiring to launder millions of dollars they earned while working on behalf of a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party.

Gates' decision marks the fifth publicly known guilty plea in the special counsel probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign.

The plea also comes quickly on the heels of the stunning indictment last week that laid out a broad operation of election meddling by Russia, which began in 2014, and employed fake social media accounts and on-the-ground politicking to promote Trump's campaign, disparage Hillary Clinton and sow division and discord widely among the U.S. electorate.

The charges to which Gates is pleading guilty don't involve any conduct connected to the Trump campaign. They largely relate to a conspiracy laid out in his indictments, but they do reveal that Gates is accused of lying to the FBI during an interview earlier this month.

The court papers accuse Gates of lying about a March 19, 2013, meeting involving Manafort, a lobbyist and a member of Congress. Gates said the meeting did not include discussion of Ukraine, when in fact prosecutors say it did.

The charges don't name the lobbyist or the lawmaker but filings with the Justice Department show Manafort and lobbyist Vin Weber of Mercury Public Affairs met with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., on that date as part of an effort on behalf of Ukrainian interests.

Gates' lawyers filed a motion this month indicating they had reached "irreconcilable differences" with him. His new lawyer, veteran Washington white-collar attorney Thomas Green, formally took over Thursday. Green did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

As Gates was kept on house arrest, he frequently pleaded with U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson for leniency to attend sporting events with his four children. His court filings gradually began to show the strain the case was placing on him and his family.

On Thursday night, Gates emailed a brief letter to friends and family, telling them of his decision to plead guilty, Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman said.

"It's sad," said Burkman, who had hosted a fundraiser for Gates' legal defense fund.

Also Friday, Gates asked a judge's permission to travel with his children to Boston for spring break so they could "learn about American history in general, and the Revolutionary War in particular."

Depending upon the terms of his plea agreement, Gates could become a key cooperator for Mueller with intimate knowledge of Manafort's years of political consulting work in Ukraine, as well as other events that have sparked the interest of federal investigators.

Gates had access at the highest levels of the campaign at the same time that Manafort, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner met with a team of Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016. He was also in the top ranks of the campaign when then-Sen. Jeff Sessions held a pair of undisclosed meetings with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.

For a few months in 2016, Gates was indispensable to Trump, leading the ground effort to help Trump win the Republican nomination and flying from state to state to secure Republican delegates in a scramble that lasted all the way until the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

But his power and influence waned once Trump fired Manafort in August 2016 after The Associated Press disclosed how Gates and Manafort covertly directed a Washington lobbying campaign on behalf of Ukrainian interests.

Gates survived his mentor's ouster and worked through the election on Trump's inaugural committee — but among Trump aides he earned the nickname "the walking dead." Gates also worked briefly with the outside political groups supporting Trump's agenda, America First Policies and America First Action, but was pushed out of that job last year.

Gates was working for Tom Barrack, a close friend of Trump's, when he was indicted last October.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker contributed.



“BUT NOW, YOU’RE SEEING A PRETTY CLEAR SIGNAL THAT DEMOCRATS WANT TO SHIFT TO THE LEFT ON HEALTH CARE — AND ARE STARTING TO WORK THROUGH THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE TO TAKE THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WITH THEM.” I SEE THIS AS PROGRESS FOR PROGRESSIVISM.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/23/17041638/single-payer-medicare-extra-health
Democrats are shifting toward single-payer. Here’s proof.
A key, center-left think tank now leans toward Sanders on health care.
By Sarah Kliffsarah@vox.com Feb 23, 2018, 9:30am EST

Photograph – A group of white 65 plus women are holding their Single Payer signs and chanting. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The architects of Hillary Clinton’s agenda are moving toward Bernie Sanders’s vision for universal health care — a step that shows how far the Democratic Party’s center has shifted on policy since the 2016 primary.

On Wednesday, the Center for American Progress released a detailed, universal coverage plan that would offer Medicare to all Americans, enrolling newborns right at birth, and allowing the federal government to set health care prices across the country.

“After we defeated repeal, it became clear that there would be a debate on the path forward for our country on health care,” says Topher Spiro, CAP’s vice president for health policy. “The debate is only going to gain steam. We thought we had some interesting ideas to contribute to that debate.”

Democrats have been moving toward the idea of a single-payer health care system in the last year. Presidential frontrunners like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) spent last fall lining up to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) plan for a Canadian-style health care system in the United States.

The CAP plan doesn’t envision quite as large a role for government as the single-payer system outlined by Sanders. It would allow employers to continue offering insurance to workers — although includes some strong incentives to switch those workers over to the public plan instead.

Importantly though, the CAP and Sanders plans are similar in that they envision the federal government guaranteeing health coverage to all Americans through one, more-centralized program. This is quite different than Obamacare, where tens of millions remain uninsured because they can’t afford the premiums or they live in states that have not expanded Medicaid.

The Medicare Extra for All Plan, explained
Sanders has long modeled his single-payer plans on the Canadian system, where the government operates one health insurance program for all citizens. Under this setup, Canadians get an insurance card from their province.

The CAP plan looks more to me like many European countries: a heavily-regulated, universal coverage program where the government standardizes the coverage all citizens receive. Under this scheme, the government sets prices and mandates a specific set of benefits — but allows a variety of health insurers to sell this coverage.

The Medicare Extra plan mandates that all health insurance cover a robust set of benefits including prescription drugs, hospital visits, doctor trips, maternity services, dental, vision, and hearing services.

The government would set the prices paid for all these services — unlike our current system, where thousands of insurers and hospitals haggle over fees that can vary widely from one place to another.

Low-income Americans would be enrolled in this plan without any premiums. Higher-income Americans would be expected to pay a monthly premium (at most, 10 percent of their income) — and also pay deductibles and co-payments (the exact amount of these is not set in the CAP plan, although Spiro said he is working with a modeling firm on making estimates).

The CAP plan would begin automatically-enrolling newborns, the uninsured and those turning 65 into the Medicare Extra program. Those who currently get coverage through federal programs — current Medicare enrollees, for example, as well as military members on TRICARE and government employees on the Federal Health Benefits plan — would also be rolled into Medicare Extra.

Medicare Extra wouldn’t be the only game in town

CAP envisions a parallel program called Medicare Choice: insurance that offers the same package of benefits, with the same premiums and cost-sharing, but run by private insurers. This is meant to be a new version of Medicare Advantage, privately run Medicare plans that currently cover 34 percent of seniors.

These plans could “offer the same benefits as Medicare Extra and could also integrate complementary benefits for an extra premium.” This reminds me of the heavily managed competition we often see in countries like Germany and Switzerland.

Citizens of those countries get their health insurance from a whole slew of different insurers — Germany, for example, has hundreds of “sickness funds.” But those plans are so tightly regulated that they often look quite similar to one another, and often end up competing on their quality of service.

This is not what health wonks would call a single-payer system; instead, they fall into the multi-payer category. But these systems arguably achieve the same goals as a single-payer system: providing universal coverage at a reasonable price to all citizens.

“Bernie Sanders has laid out a vision, and I think the debate is around how to fulfill the vision,” Spiro says. “There are several objectives that progressives have in common: to guarantee coverage, to eliminate underinsurance, to restrain prices charged by prices, to allow any American to enroll in the same plan if they want. These are things we’re all working to achieve.”

The CAP plan would let companies still offer health insurance
One of the most controversial parts of the Sanders plan is the decision to eliminate employer-sponsored insurance, moving all Americans into the government-run plan.

Most Americans who do have insurance currently get it at work — and most people who get insurance at work say they like their coverage, making the prospect of eliminating employer-sponsored insurance altogether very disruptive.

The CAP plan takes a more moderate approach here, letting employers continue offering coverage to their workers so long as it meets certain federal standards. At the same time, it would give employers an alluring, simpler option: stop offering coverage and instead pay a payroll tax roughly equivalent to what they currently spend on health coverage.

I have no idea what decision employers would make here. Many smart health care observers thought that large companies would dump their workers onto the Obamacare marketplaces where the federal government would subsidize their premiums rather than the employer. But that didn’t happen, and we saw that employers were quite reticent to disrupt their workers’ coverage.

Would things be different under the CAP plan? I think they might be, mostly because the public Medicare Extra plan that CAP envisions is much more generous than current Obamacare plans. Workers may get just as good a deal, if not better, by switching to the government plan. But as we saw with Obamacare, employer-sponsored coverage is very sticky, and companies may be reticent to move employees onto a new plan.

Democrats are in the middle of a shift to the left on health care — thanks, in part, to Republicans
My colleague Dylan Matthews wrote a piece last year noting the remarkable shift in liberal health politics around single-payer:

When he ran for president last year, Bernie Sanders picked up basically zero support from the Democratic establishment. Only one fellow Senator endorsed him, and even his fellow Senator from Vermont endorsed Hillary Clinton.

The Bernie Sanders single-payer health care plan, released on Wednesday, is a totally different story. First, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) announced her plans to co-sponsor it; then Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) joined in. Then Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) joined in. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) will reportedly co-sponsor it as well, and Pat Leahy (D-VT), who bucked his colleague Sanders in last year’s primary, is reportedly a supporter too.

Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker, and Gillibrand are arguably the most famous and most-admired Democratic senators in the country among the party’s base; the betting markets give a 63 percent chance that one of them will be the 2020 nominee for president.

This CAP plan has some different ideas than the Sanders plan but is generally aiming in the same direction. And the fact that it even exists — that CAP didn’t present a less expansive plan, like a Medicare buy-in plan, for example — suggests that the consensus we saw emerging last fall is only getting stronger.

Part of this seems to have been catalyzed by the Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the party’s general refusal to work towards Obamacare’s implementation.

“The repeal debate and efforts to undermine the ACA have influenced me, and I think others, deeply,” Spiro says. “I don’t think we’ll get any cooperation in designing the current system to function optimally.”

As the Huffington Post’s Jonathan Cohn astutely tweeted, you probably wouldn’t see this push to move to a more regulated, more comprehensive health care system if Obamacare were functioning as its drafters hoped.

22 Feb

Jonathan Cohn
✔
@CitizenCohn
Replying to @CitizenCohn
Here's the irony: One reason even center-left types are thinking along these lines is their frustration with trying to make the ACA's private markets work in the face of so much hostility from GOP state and national leaders.


Jonathan Cohn
✔
@CitizenCohn
If every state's market looked like California's https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/covered-california-obamacare_us_5936cf84e4b013c4816b639f … Democrats and their allies would be content with more modest steps. But many look like Iowa's https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iowa-teenager-obamacare-scapegoat_us_59f4715de4b077d8dfc9dd70 … and that has increased appetite for bolder steps.

8:03 AM - Feb 22, 2018

An Iowa Teenager Didn't Wreck His State's Health Care Market. Here's Who Did.
A case study in Obamacare success and failure.

huffingtonpost.com

But now, you’re seeing a pretty clear signal that Democrats want to shift to the left on health care — and are starting to work through the nuts and bolts of what it would look like to take the rest of the country with them.


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SANDERS’ SON LEVI DOES LOOK A GREAT DEAL LIKE HIS FATHER WHEN I COMPARE FEATURES SIDE BY SIDE. BERNIE’S BROTHER IS IN THE PARLIAMENT IN BRITAIN, OR WAS RECENTLY. I HAVEN’T SEEN ANY MENTION OF HIM LATELY. THEY’RE A PATRIOTIC AND CLEVER FAMILY. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT LEVI SANDERS WILL DO.

https://www.axios.com/bernie-sanders-son-considers-run-for-congress-1519344009-1b2d3b77-b8ef-43ad-885d-d790ff2f0ae5.html
Axios 18 hours ago
Bernie Sanders' son considers run for Congress

Photograph -- Levi Sanders (center) at rally for his father. Photo: Mireya Acierto/FilmMagic

Levi Sanders, the 48-year-old son of Sen. Bernie Sanders, is considering a run for Congress in New Hampshire, he told Vice News.

“Oh absolutely, I’m definitely considering it. I’m excited, motivated, and interested in the race. I’m just dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s.”
Why it matters: The elder Sanders is very popular in New Hampshire, where he swept to victory in the 2016 Democratic primary, and Levi told Vice he'd run on a similar platform. But Levi is not nearly as well-established with New Hampshire Democrats as other candidates already in the race to replace Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who is retiring. It's also a swing district that could be up for grabs in the general election.



https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/3k77ew/exclusive-bernie-sanders-son-wants-to-run-for-congress-not-everyone-is-on-board?utm_campaign=sharebutton
EXCLUSIVE: BERNIE SANDERS’ SON
WANTS TO RUN FOR CONGRESS. NOT EVERYONE IS ON BOARD.
By Alex Thompson Feb 22, 2018

PHOTO: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders arrives with his wife Jane (L) and son Levi (rear) at a rally Burlington, Vermont March 1, 2016. REUTERS- Brian Snyder.

Levi Sanders, Sen. Bernie Sanders only biological child, told VICE News that he is actively considering running for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st District, an open seat expected to be one of the most contested in the country in 2018.

“Oh absolutely, I’m definitely considering it. I’m excited, motivated, and interested in the race,” Levi said. “I’m just dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s.”

The 48-year-old Levi said that he would run on a similar platform of Medicare for all and free college tuition that animated his father’s presidential run in 2016, when the the elder Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 22 points in New Hampshire, 60.4 to 38 percent.

"The basic difference is that I’m a vegetarian and he’s not,” Levi said of his father, adding that despite their policy similarities he would run his own campaign. Levi said he has talked to his dad about the race but declined to elaborate.

It’s unclear how involved his father’s political apparatus would be. When asked about Levi’s potential congressional bid, Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver told VICE News that he “really doesn’t know much, to be honest with with you.”

Levi has been around for every race his father has ever run, as documented here by The New York Times, and served as a senior policy strategist for the presidential campaign. He also works as an advocate for people trying to obtain Social Security benefits. But this isn’t Levi’s first bid for political office: Eight years ago, he ran for city council in Claremont, New Hampshire,and lost.

But in keeping with family tradition, Levi’s potential run has upset a lot of other Democrats.

In New Hampshire’s 1st District, seven Democrats are already running and raising money to succeed Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who’s retiring. Her seat is one of the Republican Party’s top targets in 2018, as the district regularly swings from blue to red. Donald Trump received more votes than Hillary Clinton in the district in 2016.

The Democratic Party’s establishment has a handsome, polished successor for the district in Chris Pappas, and some of Bernie’s supporters are also backing state Rep. Mark MacKenzie, one of Bernie’s earliest supporters in the 2016 New Hampshire presidential primary. The state political director for Bernie’s presidential campaign is now working for MacKenzie.

Plus, as Sanders’ detractors are eager to point out, he doesn’t live in the district.

Still, it’s a sign of the power of the Sanders name in New Hampshire that just the prospect of Levi running has spooked Democratic officials in the state.

“Given how well Bernie did in the New Hampshire primary and how well known he is here, it will give him some instant visibility and make the race even more interesting,” said Dean Spiliotes, a professor at Southern New Hampshire University and an expert in the state’s politics.

“Whether he’s able to turn it into on the ground organization, it’s hard to know.”

Follow Alex on Twitter@AlxThomp



THE RIGHTIST FORCES OF 2015 AND 2016 WON LARGELY BY THEIR USE OF THE INTERNET, BUT THE INCREASING AWARENESS NOW THAT THE RUSSIAN SCANDAL IS ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT ‘FAKE NEWS;” AND NOW THIS MASS SHOOTING AT PARKLAND IS BEGINNING TO FEEL OVERWHELMING. IT MAY BE BEGINNING TO DO THEM IN, I SUSPECT. AT LEAST I HAVE HOPE.

THE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN THIS REMINDS ME OF THE 1997 FLOOD OF THE OHIO RIVER WHICH ENDED UP SPREADING ACROSS MILE AFTER MILE AND RIVER TO RIVER. THE NEWS FOOTAGE WAS FRIGHTENING, LIKE THAT OF NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE TERRIBLE KATRINA HURRICANE DISASTER. WE THINK OF LETTERS TO LEGISLATORS, BUT THE FULL KNOWLEDGE AMONG AMERICAN CITIZENS OF THIS FOOT-DRAGGING ON GUN CONTROL THAT IS HAPPENING IN THE LEGISLATURE VIA THE INTERNET IS LIKELY TO BE EVEN MORE POWERFUL.

THE PROBLEM OF COURSE, IS THAT AFTER A YEAR OR SO, THE MEMORY WILL BE THERE, BUT THE IMPETUS TO ACTION VERY LIKELY WON’T BE. OUR EVENTUAL DOWNFALL AS A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY IS LIKELY TO BE DUE TO AMERICAN LAZINESS AND PASSIVITY. WE ALL THINK READING, LISTENING, AND THINKING TAKE TOO MUCH EFFORT, SO WE WAIT FOR SOMEBODY ELSE TO DO IT, AND THEN WHEN A PROBLEM COMES UP WE BLAME “THE GOVERNMENT” FOR BEING AT FAULT. WHEN WILL WE COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT?

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/xw57zz/businesses-are-bailing-on-the-nra-after-the-parkland-shooting
Businesses are bailing on the NRA after the Parkland shooting
By Noah Kulwin Feb 23, 2018

Photograph -- Update 12:38 p.m. ET 2/23: The software maker Symantec, which owns NRA partners Norton AntiVirus and LifeLock, also decided to cut ties with the NRA, according to Gizmodo, after this article was published.

The National Rifle Association is getting burned by businesses after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last week.

So far, two business partners have dropped the NRA from their roster. The First National Bank of Omaha said in a tweet on Thursday that because of “customer feedback,” the bank will cease issuing its NRA Visa card after its contract with the pro-gun lobbying group expires. And Enterprise Holdings — which operates the car rental companies Enterprise, Alamo, and National — told reporters on Thursday that it would no longer offer a discount to NRA members.

For many years, the powerful lobbying group has struck partnerships with companies to offer NRA members discounts on a variety of services. Some of its existing partners include Hertz, FedEx, and the anti-virus software maker Norton.

The NRA initially kept quiet after the shooting, the second-deadliest ever in the U.S., with 17 people killed. Spokeswoman Dana Loesch appeared at a CNN town hall Wednesday night and spoke directly with survivors of the shooting, keeping her remarks unusually low-key.

But NRA leadership began fighting back Thursday morning. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre insisted that the only real way to prevent more school shootings was to increase security measures in schools — in particular, to start arming more security guards. And Loesch, who also appeared at CPAC, continued playing the game on the media.

“Many in legacy media* love mass shootings. You guys love it," Loesch said. "Now I'm not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media in the back [of the hall]."

Donald Trump has largely echoed the NRA’s proposals — like arming teachers, which he endorsed on Thursday morning. Before that, he voiced his support for banning bump stocks and strengthening background checks, which the NRA has supported for months. But the president has broken with the group on other aspects of gun policy. Earlier on Thursday, he tweeted that he supported raising the minimum age to 21 to purchase some weapons.

Cover image: NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center February 22, 2018 in National Harbor, Maryland. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press)


LEGACY MEDIA*
https://www.netlingo.com/word/legacy-media.php

Media that is considered "old," such as radio, television, and especially newspapers. With legacy media, the receiver does not contribute or interact with the content and remains totally passive.

Legacy media is also slang for Web sites that use outdated technology or presentation styles (as in brochureware). It's the opposite of new media.

NetLingo List of Internet Acronyms & Text Message Jargon
Read more at https://www.netlingo.com/word/legacy-media.php#YOqbQebVrO82iSfx.99


ANOTHER YOUNG MAN IS DOING MORE THAN WE EXPECT OF HIM. WATCH THIS VIDEO. YOU’VE ALL HEARD OF ORAL HISTORY, I IMAGINE, BUT THIS IS BOTH CHARMING AND A LINK BETWEEN THE PRESENT AND THE PAST. I HAVE NOTICED THAT WHEN PEOPLE DO GET OLDER, THEY USUALLY BECOME GENTLER AND MORE INSIGHTFUL. ALSO, AS SHARMI SAYS IN THIS ARTICLE, “... HE DOES IT BECAUSE TIME IS SHORT. WE'RE LOSING ABOUT 400 WORLD WAR II VETS A DAY.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-one-young-man-made-it-his-mission-to-interview-wwii-veterans/
By STEVE HARTMAN CBS NEWS February 23, 2018, 6:03 PM
Why one young man made it his mission to interview WWII veterans

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. -- Rishi Sharma has always been into superheroes – the real kind. That's why, as a junior in high school, he made it his mission to meet as many World War II combat veterans as possible.

"I ditched so many days of high school to go do an interview," he said. "I started riding my bike to the local senior home. I interviewed those guys. Then I started driving."

It became a daily undertaking. When we first met Rishi in 2016, he was driving all over Southern California, interviewing guys like Marine tank commander Ernie Eisley.

Rishi, 20, talks to the men for hours, then gives the recordings to their families. He says he does it because time is short. We're losing about 400 World War II vets a day.

hartman-otr-ww2-vets.jpg
Rishi Sharma interviewing Ernie Eisley. CBS NEWS

"It's amazing how much history and knowledge is encased in each one of these individuals and how much is lost when one of them dies without sharing their story," Rishi said. "The fact is I wake up every day to obituaries, guys who I wanted to interview and I have to find out they died."

Rishi doesn't come from a military family. His parents immigrated here from India, and yet, he cares as much about our greatest generation as anyone I've ever met. In addition to his in-person interviews, he telephones at least five World War II vets a day, just to thank them for their service and sacrifice.

"It means a great deal to me that you were willing to endure all that so that I could be here today," Rishi told one vet on the phone.

hartman-otr-vets-update.jpg
Rishi Sharma (R) has been on a mission to meet World War II veterans and interview them. CBS NEWS

After this story first aired, Rishi raised enough money on GoFundMe to expand his mission across the country. He travels by car-and often sleeps in it. So far, he has interviewed over 850 vets in 40 states -- learning about their stories and their scars. Those that have healed and those that will never.

It's nice to know that as long as there are World War II veterans willing to talk, there will be at least one young man willing to listen.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



REPUBLICANS BLOCKING DEMOCRATIC WITNESSES? IT STRIKES ME HERE THAT, THOUGH THE HEARINGS IN THE CONGRESS AND SENATE ARE ONE OF OUR PRIMARY WAYS OF REACHING THE TRUTH, FROM WHAT I’VE SEEN OF THIS CASE, THERE ARE NO RULES OF PROCEDURE THAT CAN BE RELIED UPON, WE MAY NEVER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN CLOSED HEARINGS. THAT’S WHY SO MANY LOWDOWN AND DIRTY THINGS HAPPEN THERE. WE REALLY DO NEED A REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION TO STRIP OUT SOME OF THAT UGLY, SMELLY STUFF. THAT TAKES SUNSHINE.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/house-democrats-seek-20-30-witnesses-russia-probe-gop-resists-100034138.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=5e53fef9-5fa4-39a8-abc4-01c97ce294c4&.tsrc=notification-brknews
House Democrats seek 20 to 30 more witnesses in Russia probe, but GOP resists
Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News • February 23, 2018

Photograph mashup -- Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square in Moscow. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Yuri Gripas/Reuters, Getty Images) (Skullduggery)

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have a list of 20 to 30 witnesses they still want to question in the Russia investigation, but fear that Republicans will block them from doing so.

“I don’t know we’re going to get a crack at them,” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., told Yahoo News’ Skullduggery podcast.

Speier said that Republican staff members on the panel may even have engaged in tampering with witnesses to thwart inquires into President Trump’s or his campaign’s ties to the Russians, but did not elaborate.

Listen: Episode 7: Rep. Jackie Speier vents about the Russia investigation

“I think our investigation has been tied in knots from the very beginning,” Speier said. “So many of the witnesses we had come before us to testify were not subpoenaed, nor were their documents produced. So we were asking the questions without the benefit of documentation to determine whether they were telling the truth or not.”

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Asked if she has seen evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians that goes beyond what has already been made public, Speier said: “I have seen evidence of an interest in coordinating with the Russians.”

Speier then laid out her suspicions at some length:

“Why is Donald Trump so unwilling to impose sanctions [against Russia] that Congress has passed and he signed into law,” she said. “And I think the answer is, he has financial arrangements with the Russians that we have yet been able to uncover. And I think it has something to with the fact that we’ve never seen his tax returns. There are too many relationships you can point to where Trump engaged with Russian operatives; where statements by the Trump sons have suggested they get most of their business from the Russians; the Russian oligarch who purchased his mansion in Florida for twice the value —as the entire financial world was careening out of control in 2008 and, at the same time, that Donald Trump had a personal debt that was due.”

“So I am very concerned that there is a corrupting nature of the Russians on Donald Trump and others that we’ll never know,” Speier continued.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., with Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., also a member of the Intelligence Committee. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

On the release of the Democratic rebuttal to the controversial memo written by House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Ca., Speier said she’s not optimistic her party’s memo will ever be made public. The Nunes memo, she said, was “the equivalent of a third-grade book report” while the Democratic rebuttal was like a “post-graduate dissertation with footnotes.”

But Speier said she doubts that the White House — which has ultimate authority over what material is declassified for public release — will ever approve a version of the Democratic memo that will be the least bit informative.

“I don’t think there was ever any interest in making the rebuttal memo public unless it was totally redacted, so it was made meaningless,” she said.

Asked about special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment last week of Russian trolls who worked for the Internet Research Agency and who set up phony Facebook and Twitter accounts to interfere in the U.S. election, Speier said the case pointed to a major intelligence failure by the U.S. government.

“Shame on all of us in the United States for not recognizing how pernicious this Internet Research Agency was going to be,” she said. She noted there was even a New York Times Sunday Magazine article that exposed the group’s operations some years ago, “yet it wasn’t taken very seriously. We can point fingers at a lot of folks for why [the Internet Research Agency was] able to flourish in the way they did.”



THIS WALKOUT IS INTERESTING, AND IMPRESSIVE ALSO. SEE WIKIPEDIA FOR SOME DETAIL ON IT. IT WILL MAKE A POINT, BUT WON’T BLOCK TRAFFIC OR CAUSE PANDEMONIUM. LANE MURDOCK IS THE YOUNG WOMAN WHO CONCEIVED THE IDEA, AND GOT THE BALL ROLLING ON HER COMPUTER. THE INTERNET REALLY IS WONDERFUL! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_gun_violence_protests

https://www.yahoo.com/news/meet-teen-girl-behind-national-school-walkout-movement-motivated-passionate-people-162942183.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=ecd5e8af-dc90-3332-9efb-d522bf6b8dfa&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Meet the teen girl behind the National School Walkout movement: 'We are motivated, passionate people'
Michael Walsh,Yahoo News • February 23, 2018

On April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, high school students across the country are planning to walk out of their classes at 10 a.m. and march to demand an end to gun violence in schools. The person behind the National High School Walkout is a teenager from Connecticut: Lane Murdock.

Murdock, 15, loves musical theater and poetry. The precocious teen has won a playwriting contest and regularly gives speeches at Ridgefield High School — just a half-hour drive from Sandy Hook Elementary School — where she’s currently a sophomore. Her knack for communication will come in handy now that she finds herself in the middle of the national conversation about gun violence.

On Valentine’s Day, Murdock was among the countless Americans horrified by the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. But when she returned home from school, she found her voice.

“It kind of started because we weren’t happy with how our nation and how our school have been dealing with the tragedy,” she told Yahoo News. “It started out with me personally. I went home and made the petition, which gained some good traction, and then made the Twitter account, which really blew up overnight.”

Murdock’s petition to the U.S. Senate and president demanding action to stop gun violence was posted on change.org. She argued that politicians have been too complacent in the face of gun violence and that the voices of teenagers have not been heard. Signing the petition constitutes a pledge from the (teen) signers to walk out and let the government know that it’s time for a change.

Lane Murdock
Lane Murdock of Ridgefield, Conn., conceived the National School Walkout after the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. (Photo: Courtesy of Lane Murdock)

The marchers will be wearing orange, which Murdock chose because hunters wear the color to avoid getting shot. Hunter orange sends the message: Don’t shoot! “It seemed to fit the movement well, in my opinion,” she said.

Two days later, as the petition and attention started to gain attention, Murdock sought out others to help with planning.

“It’s definitely been a whirlwind. I want it to gain popularity and support because the movement is so important, but it doesn’t prep you for when it actually happens,” she said.

What does she want her generation to do? Walk out, have sit-ins, hold hands, talk to each other and express how they feel because most high school students are not yet old enough to vote.

“We don’t really get a say or anything like that in these issues, even though when shooters go in our schools they’re going to our classrooms and our spaces,” she said. “As far as the movement goes, we kind of wanted to be a way to give a voice to teenagers.”

Lane Murdock
Lane Murdock: seeking a voice for teenagers in the gun violence debate. (Photo: Courtesy of Lane Murdock)

Since the National Walkout concept is only a week old, much more brainstorming and planning will be necessary before April 20. Murdock says more information will become available as the day approaches.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were murdered on Feb. 14, have been galvanized to work for political change. They held a rally for gun control at the Broward County federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and are similarly planning the “March for Our Lives” on March 24 in Washington — calling on lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws.

Murdock said members of her generation — variously called Generation Z and the Homeland Generation — differ from millennials because they grew up as digital natives, whereas the millennials experienced a shift.

“Kids like me can start a movement using a Chromebook computer they’ve had since sixth grade,” she said. “It’s easy to get into contact with people who have similar ideas or similar hopes.”

Though her generation is young and inexperienced, she said, they are brave, resilient and care about one another. She asked older people to listen and have patience as her generation enters the public eye and the national conversation — many for the first time. She said she isn’t accepting donations or working with any corporations, and that this movement is “the definition of grassroots.”

“We are motivated, passionate people. We’re just doing it differently than a lot of other generations had done it before,” she said.

Murdock was born in her mother’s home state of Texas, and moved to Ridgefield in 2006, when she was 4. She thinks that her writing experience has helped her prepare to speak to people nationally. But she was quick to note the importance of representation. She characterized the walkout as “nonpolitical” and “anti-violence,” and wants to elevate the voices of many teens throughout the U.S. — not just hers.

“I think it’s really important that people know we’re a student-run movement. I want to make sure that during the course of this movement, I’m not pushing my own ideology, but the ideology of the students nationally,” she said. “That’s why we’re kind of working and talking to students right now to see what they want to happen and what kind of change they want, because I don’t want this to be the Lane movement, I want it to be a student movement.”

As of Friday, the petition has more than 166,000 signatures.



LIKE LUCILLE BALL, NANETTE FABRAY WAS BOTH BEAUTIFUL AND WACKY. THIS LIST OF ALL THE SHOWS THAT SHE PERFORMED IN IS AMAZING. I REMEMBER HER BEST FROM SID CAESAR. READ THIS, AND YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK AT THESE YOUTUBE VIDEOS. YOU HAVE TO SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOeMqL3l-LQ
-- TRIBUTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-1SBZJIrgg
– WITH SID CAESAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRCbkuMn5XE – CAESAR’S HOUR

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/nanette-fabray-dead-dies-band-wagon-hollywood-squares-1202709309/
Nanette Fabray, TV Star of the ’50s and ’60s, Dies at 97
By Carmel Dagan
FEBRUARY 23, 2018 2:12PM PT
Nanette Fabray, TV Star of

The exuberant, indefatigable actress-singer Nanette Fabray, a Tony and Emmy winner, a star of Vincente Minnelli’s golden-age musical “The Band Wagon” and a longtime presence on television, most notably on “The Hollywood Squares,” died Thursday at her Palos Verdes, Calif., home, according to the New York Times. She was 97.

In MGM’s “The Band Wagon” (1953), also starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Oscar Levant, Fabray appeared in that classic film’s two most famous numbers, “That’s Entertainment” and, as one of the bratty (and bizarre) babies in high chairs, “Triplets.”

Fabray also appeared on TV comedies and drama, starring on “Westinghouse Playhouse,” created by then-husband Ranald MacDougall, and recurring as Grandma Katherine Romano on hit 1970s sitcom “One Day at a Time.” She guested on “Burke’s Law,” “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” on which she played Mary’s mother; “Love American Style,” “Maude,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Coach.”

“A true performer and star of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Nanette Fabray had limitless exuberance and an expert sense of comic timing,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “Her dedication to her art was equaled only by her generosity and willingness to help others.”

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Fabray was a musical comedy star on Broadway in the 1940s, making her debut in “Let’s Face It!,” starring Danny Kaye and Eve Arden, and subsequently appearing in “By Jupiter,” “My Dear Public,” “Jackpot” and “Bloomer Girl.” She had star billing in “High Button Shoes,” “Love Life” — for which she won the Tony for best actress in a musical — and 1951’s “Make a Wish.” She later returned to the Rialto in 1962 to star with Robert Ryan in “Mr. President,” from Lindsay Crouse and Irving Berlin, and drew another nomination for best actress in a musical.

The actress appeared regularly on Sid Caesar’s “Caesar’s Hour” in the mid-’50s, winning three Emmys. She also guested on a seemingly innumerable number of variety shows, talkshows and gameshows starting in 1950 with “Your Show of Shows.” Fabray appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” five times and “The Carol Burnett Show” 13 times, and she showed up on programs fronted by Perry Como, Steve Allen, Jack Benny, Dinah Shore, Andy Williams, Merv Griffin, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, the Smothers Brothers and Bob Hope, as well as on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”

Fabray appeared on 184 episodes of gameshow “The Hollywood Squares” from 1967-78. Other gameshow credits included “What’s My Line,” “Password All-Stars” and “Match Game.”

Born in San Diego, Nanette Ruby Bernadette Fabares was a singer and tap dancer in vaudeville as a child.

As an ingenue, she appeared in the 1939 films “Essex and Elizabeth,” “The Monroe Doctrine” and “A Child Is Born,” credited as Nanette Fabares, but she never developed a substantial movie career.

Much later, she appeared in “The Happy Ending” (1969) and was among the stars of the 1970 comedy Western “Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County” and of the comedy “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1978). She appeared in the 1981 indie “Amy,” starred as an IRS investigator in the 1987 film “Personal Exemptions” and made her last bigscreen appearance in 1994’s “Teresa’s Tattoo.”

Fabray was an interviewee in the 2009 “American Masters” episode “Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About.”

She won the SAG Life Achievement Award in 1987.

Fabray was married to NBC executive David Tebet from 1947-1951 and to screenwriter Ranald MacDougall from 1957 until his death in 1973.

Survivors include a son, Jamie, from her second marriage and a niece, actress Shelley Fabares, and her husband, actor Mike Farrell.


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States form gun safety coalition to share background check data
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