February 24 and 25, 2018


News and Views


I DON’T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE CHARGE WOULD BE FOR A FOREIGN NATIONAL TO CONSPIRE IN THE WAY THAT THESE RUSSIANS DID, BUT ACCORDING TO AN ARTICLE IN THE LAST FEW DAYS, THEY DID “AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF THE ELECTION.” I ONLY WISH THEY WERE IN THE USA SO WE COULD GET OUR COLLECTIVE HANDS ON THEM (AROUND THE NECK!)

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-russia-election-impact_us_5a9098abe4b03b55731c37df
POLITICS
02/24/2018 05:01 am ET
Yes, Russia Likely Did Swing Votes For Donald Trump
And he didn’t keep talking about the WikiLeaks emails stolen by Russia because he thought voters didn’t care.
By S.V. Date

Photograph -- MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images
It takes a lot of mental energy to keep insisting that Vladimir Putin didn’t help Donald Trump in 2016. And he didn’t keep talking about the WikiLeaks emails stolen by Russia because he thought voters didn’t care.

WASHINGTON ― As John Bentley waited in line to see President Barack Obama campaign for Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 election, he worried that he’d been unable to persuade his son to cast a ballot for Clinton, too.

The 24-year-old believed Clinton was untrustworthy, with new emails released by WikiLeaks providing fresh proof on a daily basis.

“Can you believe it?” wondered Bentley, a 70-year-old African-American man and a lifelong Democrat.

Fifteen months later, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has found that the skepticism that afflicted people like Bentley’s son was no fluke. It was the result of deliberate efforts by the Russian government to hurt Clinton and help Donald Trump win the presidency ― efforts that included the targeting of young African-Americans like Bentley’s son.

“Defendants and their co-conspirators began to encourage U.S. minority groups not to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election or to vote for a third-party U.S. presidential candidate,” according to a Feb. 16 grand jury indictment obtained by Mueller.

In fact, the day before Obama visited Jacksonville, Florida, to support Clinton, Russians purchased an ad for the Instagram account of a fake group called Blacktivist. It urged African-Americans to vote for a third-party candidate. “Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it’s not a wasted vote,” the ad read, according to Mueller’s indictment.

It is impossible to know precisely how many voters nationally stayed home or voted for a third-party candidate because of the Russians’ social media campaign. Nevertheless, the details from the indictment raise new questions about the legitimacy of Trump’s victory.

There’s no question that it mattered. There’s no question that they thought it mattered.

Democratic pollster Mark Mellman

While Trump maintains there is no proof that the Russian assistance affected the election, the contours of that final month of campaigning and the closeness of the tally suggest that the opposite is true: that it is highly unlikely the Russian efforts did not affect the outcome.

“There’s no question that it mattered,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. “There’s no question that they thought it mattered. There’s no question that the Hillary Clinton folks thought it mattered.”

Over the entire final month of the race, Trump essentially centered his campaign on talking about the emails stolen by Russian intelligence and then released through its allied group WikiLeaks. The messages, which were sent to and from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, cast Clinton in a bad light. “We love WikiLeaks!” Trump would tell his rally crowds and live TV audiences, urging them to go to the website and read the emails for themselves. “Boy, do we love WikiLeaks.”

Democrats and even some Republican consultants said the Trump campaign would not have based its closing strategy on that theme if it were not working.

“You clearly wouldn’t do that if you didn’t think that was effective,” said Rick Tyler, a GOP consultant who worked for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign during the primaries.

Although Trump lost the popular tally by nearly 3 million votes nationally, he won three states that most observers expected to go to Clinton by a total margin of 77,744. Were the Russian efforts enough to have moved 77,744 votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania?

Clinton supporters argue that when an election is that close, every factor is potentially a game-changer. For example, shifts in polling numbers suggest that former FBI Director James Comey’s letters reopening, and then reclosing, the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state could also have cost her the election ― an argument Clinton herself has made.

One Republican-leaning pollster, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the question is impossible to quantify with any certainty. To move that many votes in those three states, the pollster said, would mean moving about 600,000 votes nationally ― or about half a percentage point. That said, he added that Trump’s success in using WikiLeaks to hammer on about emails and thereby remind voters of Clinton’s biggest vulnerability ― the FBI probe into her emails ― clearly makes that kind of vote shift plausible.

“I’m much more open to the notion that it mattered,” he said.

Exit polling suggests that voters’ concern about Clinton and emails — and Trump’s pounding on that theme with the help of WikiLeaks in the final weeks — indeed made a difference.

In Michigan, for instance, 60 percent of the electorate was bothered by the email issue, and 75 percent of those voters supported Trump. Relatedly, a quarter of Michigan voters settled on a candidate in the final month. That group broke for Trump 52 to 37 percent, while those who decided earlier voted for Clinton 50 to 47 percent.

They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment against multiple Russians
Trump has been deeply sensitive to the appearance that he did not earn the presidency on his own. That’s one of the reasons, according to those close to him, why he has repeatedly pushed the false claim that he lost the popular vote because “millions” of undocumented immigrants supposedly cast ballots for Clinton. It is also why Trump has resisted admitting that Russians interfered in the election at all, let alone tried to boost his candidacy, sources close to him told HuffPost on condition of anonymity.

The fact of Russian interference in the election and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s preference for Trump was detailed in a Jan. 6, 2017, report released by the U.S. intelligence agencies. That conclusion was reinforced by Mueller’s Feb. 16, 2018, indictment.

“They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump,” the indictment states.

For over a year, Trump questioned the conclusion of U.S. intelligence, as he continued to play up the possibility that the culprit in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails was someone other than Russia. At various times, he suggested it might have been China, a 400-pound guy in his bed or someone from New Jersey.

At last, he appears to have abandoned that argument in the wake of Mueller’s indictment against 13 actual Russians and a Russian government-run group that employs hundreds of internet “trolls” who create and disseminate propaganda to influence foreign elections. Instead, the president turned to claiming that the Russian assistance did not have any effect.

“The results of the election were not impacted,” Trump wrote the afternoon the indictment was released.

The following day, he chided his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, for not making that assertion at a conference in Europe where McMaster acknowledged that it was now “incontrovertible” that Russia had interfered in the election. “General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians,” Trump tweeted ― and then proceeded to cite a string of conspiracy theories promoted by Fox News that he believed McMaster also should have mentioned.

You can’t say that what you were doing was effective, but what the Russians were doing wasn’t effective.
Republican consultant Rick Tyler
Some Trump supporters argue that the value of the ads the Russians bought on Facebook and other social media platforms was a pittance compared to the total amount of money spent on the race, so they couldn’t have mattered at all. Others simply insist there is no proof that American voters were affected by the thousands of fake news posts written by Russians and then spread via fake accounts and computer programs.

And former Trump campaign aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said neither Trump nor campaign officials were measuring the effect of his WikiLeaks speeches.

“Just trolling,” said one aide. “What we know worked was ‘Crooked Hillary.’ ‘Clinton Cash’ had impact on Dems ― Bernie ‘Bros’ ― and independents.” The aide added that the only emails WikiLeaks had were “BS Podesta and DNC.”

But Mellman, the Democratic pollster, said it is disingenuous to draw distinctions between the DNC emails released by WikiLeaks and the separate State Department emails when the average voter was aware only that Clinton had been under investigation for something to do with emails.

“There’s no question that the whole email controversy did damage Hillary Clinton,” he said, adding that many voters found the issue confusing and that Trump took advantage of that confusion. “If the press was talking about emails, it was bad for Hillary Clinton.”

Tyler, the Republican consultant, wonders how Trump supporters can argue that the social media ads and fake stories had no impact, when it was exactly the sort of thing the Trump campaign was doing itself. “You can’t say that what you were doing was effective, but what the Russians were doing wasn’t effective,” he said.



PARKLAND FEBRUARY 24, 2018

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/24/politics/parkland-survivor-melania-trump-cyberbullying/index.html
combat cyberbullying, start with Trump Jr.
Jennifer Hansler
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Updated 12:59 PM ET, Sat February 24, 2018

DO WATCH THIS VERY GOOD SERIES OF RELATED NEWS VIDEOS FROM CNN, WHICH CONSISTS OF INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS OF STONEMAN DOUGLAS DEMAND ACTION, TOWN MEETING STYLE INTERVIEWS OF SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE -- INCLUDES DANA LOESCH OF NRA.

(CNN)A Parkland school shooting survivor is calling for Melania Trump to fulfill her pledge to combat cyberbullying -- starting with her own family.

"Hey @FLOTUS you say that your mission as First Lady is to stop cyber bullying," 14-year-old Lauren Hogg tweeted Friday. "Well then, don't you think it would have been smart to have a convo with your step-son @DonaldJTrumpJr before he liked a post about a false conspiracy theory which in turn put a target on my back."

How the Florida school shooting conspiracies sprouted and spread

President Donald Trump's eldest son liked a tweet promoting a false conspiracy theory that claimed that Lauren Hogg's older brother, David, had been coached by his father -- a former FBI agent -- to speak out against President Donald Trump.

"The fact that Donald Trump Jr. liked that post is disgusting to me," David Hogg said on "Anderson Cooper 360" Wednesday.

In her tweets, Lauren Hogg said that Trump Jr.'s seemingly tacit endorsement of the conspiracy theory had "created a safe space for people all over the world to call me and my family horrific things that constantly re-victimizes us and our community."

The teenagers' mother, Rebecca Boldrick, told The Washington Post that her family has received death threats online due to the conspiracy theories.

"Even though I thought it couldn't get worse it has because of your family," Lauren Hogg wrote to the first lady.

RELATED: School shooting survivor knocks down 'crisis actor' claim
School shooting survivor knocks down 'crisis actor' claim

Melania Trump has said she wants to use her platform to tackle issues facing children, including bullying. She has addressed the issue on several occasions.

"We must teach each child the values of empathy, communication -- a core of mindfulness, integrity and leadership, which can only be taught by example," the first lady said at a United Nations luncheon in September. She made a surprise trip to Michigan in October to discuss the problem with middle schoolers there.

Many have pointed out the ostensible irony of the first lady promoting anti-bullying given her husband's combative and sometimes belittling rhetoric. However, asked by CNN in October if the first lady feels the need to reconcile that irony with what she's trying to accomplish, Melania Trump's communications director Stephanie Grisham said flatly, "no."

CNN's Kate Bennett, Nicole Chavez and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.


NO, PRESIDENT TRUMP. THE FBI AND DOJ CAUGHT ON TO HIS ACTIVITIES AND DECIDED TO WATCH HIM. THEN, SEVERAL MONTHS LATER, YOU HIRED HIM. SO, AGAIN, EITHER YOU DIDN’T VET HIM PROPERLY, OR YOU ARE IN IT WITH HIM UP TO YOUR HIP BOOTS! EITHER WAY, NOBODY IS BEING UNFAIR TO YOU!

http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-trump-slam-democratic-rebuttal-to-nunes-memo-2018-2
'Political and legal BUST': White House comes out swinging against the Democratic rebuttal memo
Sonam Sheth
February 24, 2018

Photograph -- President Donald Trump. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump and the White House struck back at Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee after they released their rebuttal memo to the so-called Nunes memo.

Trump said the rebuttal was "a total political and legal BUST" and described actions by the Department of Justice that were "SO ILLEGAL."

He also suggested the FBI purposefully concealed facts about the Steele dossier's funding from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court while seeking a warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

There is no evidence that the DOJ or the FBI did anything illegal. Material evidence contained in the Democratic memo also indicates that the DOJ acted according to protocol by informing the court that the dossier was funded by a political entity.



READ THE DEMOCRATIC MEMO ON THE SCREEN HERE. THE SITE WOULDN’T LET ME COPY IT TO A WORD FILE, WHICH WOULD BE EASIER TO READ FOR ME. MAYBE YOU WHO HAVE YOUNGER EYES WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH IT. I’M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND WASTE INK BY PRINTING IT. I HATE ALL SCROLLING BACK AND FORTH. I CAN'T PRINT IT, EITHER. AAAARRRGH!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/24/read-full-text-democratic-intelligence-memo/370401002/
Read: Full text of Democratic intelligence memo
USA TODAY Published 4:27 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2018 | Updated 5:15 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2018

Congress released a redacted Democratic memo on Saturday pushing back on Republican claims of surveillance abuses in FBI’s Russia meddling probe.

The release comes after weeks of back and forth over how much of the Democratic document would be redacted.

“Read the document here: . . . .”



“RIFLES” ARE LOGICAL TO ME, BUT AR-15S UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE A RECOIL THAT POSSIBLY COULD INTERRUPT CONTROL OF THE AIM. TRUE, OR NOT? I’LL LOOK THAT UP. IF THEY ARE HARDER TO USE THAN AN ACCURATE SINGLE SHOT WEAPON, OUR PROBLEMS COULD BE WORSE, I’M AFRAID. THEY NEED SNIPER-TRAINED MARKSMEN, INSTEAD, IT SEEMS TO ME. ALL YOU NEED IS ONE SHOT IF YOU HAVE A GOOD LINE OF FIRE, AND IF YOU DON’T HAVE A CLEAR SHOT YOU SHOULDN’T SHOOT, ESPECIALLY INTO A CROWD. SO, IF SHERIFF ISRAEL CAN GUARANTEE SUPER GOOD SHOTS, IT MAKES SENSE TO ME. IT IS A FACT THAT AN OFFICER ARMED WITH A HANDGUN IS “OUTGUNNED” COMPARED TO AN AR-15.

I HAVE JUST HAD A THOUGHT, THOUGH. WE COULD USE, PERHAPS, SMALL COMMUNICATION DEVICES WHICH TEACHERS COULD WEAR ON THEIR PERSON AND IN A WAY THAT MAKES THEM EASY TO ACCESS, WHICH WOULD NOTIFY THE SCHOOL OFFICES AND/OR THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE AND 911. I’M THINKING OF SOMETHING THAT WORKS LIKE THE FAMOUS ALERT THINGIES FOR SENIORS WHO “HAVE FALLEN, AND CAN’T GET UP.” I’VE GIVEN THOUGHT TO GETTING ONE, BUT THEY’RE PROBABLY EXPENSIVE.

I HAVE SEEN COMMENTS IN OTHER CASES IN THE LAST YEAR OR SO THAT SOME OFFICERS ARE PURPOSELY “STANDING DOWN” MORE OR LESS AS A PROTEST ACTIVITY, BECAUSE THEY FEEL THAT THE RECENT TREND TO PROSECUTE POLICE FOR SHOOTINGS IS UNFAIR AND DANGEROUS TO THEIR SECURITY. A COUPLE OF “TOP COPS,” HAVE STATED THAT FOR AN OFFICER TO BE REQUIRED TO RESTRAIN HIMSELF IS “BAD FOR MORALE.” WORSE, THERE WAS A REPORT WITHIN THE LAST TWO YEARS THAT POLICE TRAINING ABOUT DEADLY FORCE, SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTS POLICE TO USE THEIR GUN IF THEY EVEN “THINK” THAT THE SUSPECT “MAY BE REACHING FOR A WEAPON,” AND TO AIM AT THE CORE OF THE BODY WHERE ALL THE VITAL ORGANS ARE (TO REDUCE THE RISKS TO THE OFFICER) WE NEED A REASONABLE MIDDLE GROUND THERE.

AND FINALLY, THERE IS THE OFT REPEATED EXCUSE THAT THE SUSPECT “FAILED TO FOLLOW COMMANDS.” WE NEED TO HIRE POLICEMEN WHO ARE NOT BULLIES, BUT NOT TOO AFRAID OF A CONFLICT TO DO THEIR JOB, EITHER. WE NEED TO TRAIN OFFICERS THOROUGHLY IN HUMAN ISSUES INCLUDING HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE NO MATTER THEIR SKIN COLOR IN AS HUMANE A WAY AS POSSIBLE. LIKE IT OR NOT, POLICING IS A HUMAN INTERACTION JOB. I PERSONALLY DON’T WANT A “ROBOCOP” ON THE FORCE. WHAT I’M AFRAID I SAW IN THIS CASE, THOUGH, WAS THREE (OR FOUR?) OFFICERS WHO MADE A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO STAY SAFE WITHOUT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO DO THE JOB. THAT CLOSELY RESEMBLES A LABOR STRIKE TO ME, LIKE THE “BLUE FLU.”

FROM WHAT I’VE SEEN OF SHERIFF ISRAEL, HE’S A GOOD MAN, BUT HE AND THE WHOLE DEPARTMENT NEED TO LOOK INTO WHAT THE “RULES OF ENGAGEMENT” IN THESE TIMES ARE, AND SHOULD BE. IN A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF DEADLY FORCE CASES, THE OFFICER CLAIMS, AND IN ALMOST THESE EXACT WORDS EVERY TIME, “I FEARED FOR MY LIFE,” AND THEN, MAGICALLY, THEY GET OFF WITH NO PUNISHMENT WHATSOEVER. IF THEY WERE STRIPPED OF THEIR RANK AND RETIREMENT, THAT MIGHT BE ENOUGH OF A DETERRENT TO DO SOME GOOD. IF YOU HAVE THREE OR FOUR ARMED POLICEMEN AT THE SITE, THEY SHOULD GO IN AS A GROUP AND LOOK FOR THE SHOOTER. IF HE IS FOUND, AS SOON AS THEY GET A CLEAR CHANCE, SHOOT HIM AND FAST.

THEY SHOULD CALL FOR “BACKUP” AS THEY’RE MOVING THROUGH, OF COURSE. IN FACT, I WOULD EXPECT TO SEE A FULLY ARMED SIX OR EIGHT MAN SWAT TEAM POUR THROUGH THE DOORS OF THE SCHOOL AND TRY TO LOCATE “THE PERP.” FINALLY, MY LAST COMMENT IS TO ASK WHY DEPUTY PETERSON WAS ALLOWED TO RESIGN RATHER THAN FACING DISMISSAL? DISMISSAL IS WHAT, IN MY OPINION, SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN A CASE AS DISASTROUS TO ALL THOSE KIDS AS THIS ONE WAS, RATHER THAN HIS MERELY BEING “SUSPENDED.”

I CERTAINLY DO HOPE HE WON’T BE GIVEN A GOOD RECOMMENDATION FOR HIS SERVICE. I UNDERSTAND THAT THE SHERIFF IS “LOOKING INTO” THE STRANGE CASE OF THE INACTIVE OFFICERS, BUT IF NO CHANGE IN DISCIPLINE, RETRAINING, AND EXAMINATION OF THE RULES OF HOW COPS ARE SUPPOSED TO PROCEED IN SUCH A CASE, I WILL BE DISGUSTED. SOMETHING REALLY STRANGE HAPPENED HERE.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-sheriff-investigating-deputies-remained-school-shooting/story?id=53325711
Florida sheriff investigating if deputies remained outside school during shooting
By VICTOR OQUENDO and David Caplan
Feb 24, 2018, 4:29 AM ET

AUDIO – 911 call
VIDEO -- Trump pushes for arming teachers
PHOTOGRAPH -- People are brought out of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooting at the school, Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland, Fla.
"If there is no wrongdoing in the part of our deputies, we’ll move on," Israel said Friday. "If there is wrongdoing on the part of our deputies, we’ll handle it accordingly as I have for 5 years as sheriff."
President Donald Trump speaks with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel while visiting first responders at Broward County Sheriff's Office in Pompano Beach, Fla., on Feb. 16, 2018.


But Israel doesn't need to rely on those reports -- his office is hearing it directly from his colleagues in Coral Springs, he said.

"This information came to us from Chief [Anthony] Pustizzi of Coral Springs," Israel said. "He relayed it to one of my colonels, my colonel filled me in, we immediately decided that the course of action we’re going to take is meet with the Chief and ask for permission to interview his officers. Contingent upon what they say we will head our investigation in whatever way we need to."

Israel continued, "We will dot every I, cross every T. We'll do it in a meticulous manner. If there is no wrongdoing in the part of our deputies, we'll move on. If there is wrongdoing on the part of our deputies, we’ll handle it accordingly as I have for 5 years as sheriff."

People look on at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Feb. 18, 2018, in Parkland, Florida.

RELATED:
Student says Nikolas Cruz threatened to 'kill' him, sent photo of guns months before school shooting
Fla. school officer waited outside building for 4 minutes as killings happened, sheriff says

These reports follow the suspension without pay of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas school resource officer after Israel said video shows him taking up a defensive position during the shooting but never entering the school.

Israel announced Thursday that the decision to suspend Deputy Scot Peterson was made after reviewing video from the shooting and taking statements from witnesses and Peterson himself, Israel said.

On Friday, Israel said, "In the video I saw of Peterson, which caused me to go in the direction I went, I don’t believe you even see a deputy in that part of the picture at all."

Peterson was armed and on campus during the shooting, Israel said. Since he met the requirements for retirement, Peterson opted to resign after he was told he was being suspended, Israel said.


EVOLUTION IN PROGRESS – THE COYWOLF

Meet The Coywolf Wildlife Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1mX5EchbOs
National Geographic Wild CN
Published on Mar 27, 2017


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EAQxnIHUCU
Lion of the Americas [Mountain Lion Documentary] | Wild Things
This film follows the story of six mountain lions in the Northern Rockies. When the resident male is killed by hunters, one of the young males gains control. We follow him tour his territory as he establishes himself: defining its boundaries, stalking and hunting the deer herd whilst learning what it means to be an adult male.
Content licensed by Sky Vision
Click here for more documentaries: http://bit.ly/2gSPaf6