AUGUST 4 THROUGH 7, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ON TODAY’S RUSSIA PROBING OF OUR UPCOMING NOVEMBER ELECTION – TWO ARTICLES

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/intelligence-russia-hacking-elections_us_5b63bdf8e4b0b15abaa17542
POLITICS 08/03/2018 12:53 am ET Updated 3 days ago
Once Again, Intelligence Agencies Say Russia Is Targeting U.S. Elections Right Now
“Our democracy itself is in the crosshairs,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says at a White House briefing by intelligence chiefs.
headshot
By Nick Visser

VIDEO – TRUMP ADMIN WARNS RUSSIA TRYING TO MEDDLE IN MIDTERMS

Russia is waging a “pervasive” campaign to undermine democracy and “divide the United States,” several of the nation’s top intelligence officials said Thursday in their latest castigation of the Kremlin.

“As I have said consistently: Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day,” Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, said at a White House press briefing on Thursday. “This is a threat we need to take extremely seriously, and to tackle and respond to with fierce determination and focus.”

The comments come just weeks after President Donald Trump met in private with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and then undermined the assessment of his intelligence chiefs, saying he believed Putin when he told him “it’s not Russia” behind the efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

“I don’t see any reason why it would be,” he said during an extraordinary press conference after the closed-door talks.

Trump later walked back those statements amid widespread criticism, saying he accepted the “conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” adding a caveat that it “could be other people also.”

Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, said unequivocally that hackers, under the direction of Putin, were attempting to sow discord among Americans.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, left, White House national security adviser John Bolton, FBI Director Chris
CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, left, White House national security adviser John Bolton, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen hold a briefing on election security on Thursday. “Our democracy itself is in the crosshairs,” Nielsen said.
“What we see is the Russians are looking for every opportunity, regardless of party, regardless of whether or not it applies to the election, to continue their pervasive efforts to undermine our fundamental values,” Coats said Thursday.

Intelligence officials and lawmakers have been warning about efforts to influence elections as soon as the November midterms and into the next presidential election. Facebook this week also said it had deleted more than a dozen pages and profiles linked to “bad actors” linked to Russia-backed accounts from the last election.

Subscribe to the Politics email.
How will Trump's administration impact you?

address@email.com
During the briefing, which was also attended by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, national security adviser John Bolton and National Security Agency chief Paul Nakasone, officials said Trump had “specifically directed us to make the matter of election meddling and securing our election process a top priority.”

“Our democracy itself is in the crosshairs,” Nielsen said. “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and it has become clear that they are the target of our adversaries, who seek ... to sow discord and undermine our way of life.”

But Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) lamented Trump’s inaction surrounding the meddling issue.

“The intelligence community has been very active on this, the Department of Homeland Security has been active on this,” he told CNN. “While the president has been inconsistent in his tweets, and some of the messaging that he’s put on it, he’s the only one in the government that hasn’t been paying attention to this.”

Several lawmakers have already gone public to say they have been the subject of hacking attempts akin to those on the Democratic National Committee in 2016. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said aides in her office had received phishing emails in recent days and that members of both parties were being targeted.

“We’re hearing that this is widespread … with political parties across the country, as well as with members of the Senate,” she said.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said last week that Russian hackers had tried, unsuccessfully, to break into a government computer network.

“Russia has used numerous ways in which they want to influence through media ― social media, through bots, through actors that they hire through proxies,” Coats said of the ongoing attacks. “All of the above and potentially more. I can’t go into any deep, deep details on what is classified. But it is pervasive. It is ongoing with the intent to achieve their intent, and that is to drive a wedge and undermine our democratic values.”

This article has been updated with comment from Lankford.

Willa Frej contributed reporting.



WATCH THESE TWO VIDEOS.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/top-national-security-officials-warn-russia-still-trying-to-interfere-with-u-s-elections-1291204163665
Clint Watts: With QAnon, Russia doesn’t need to make fake news anymore

VIDEO – PRESS CONFERENCE
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/meet-the-press-august-5-2018-1293029955649




http://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=83679&gclid=Cj0KCQjw45_bBRD_ARIsAJ6wUXQrnTcQmeSRwRdhh2IIS_ENBm8pI0crnWwmfMHjVvdnk-8jJcH7aTEaAlXnEALw_wcB
#TFImoments: Bernie Sanders and the pope’s critique of global capitalism
Sebastian Gomes
July 26, 2018

VIDEO –

Pope Francis’ words and actions have had a profound impact on countless people of various backgrounds, interests, and beliefs. In the interviews for my upcoming documentary, The Francis Impact, I’ve heard some beautiful and concrete testimonies of this. So I created #TFIMOMENTS, a web series to share some of these profound and personal moments of connection with the pope.

When Pope Francis visited the United States in September of 2015, US Senator Bernie Sanders was just beginning to mount what he called “a political revolution.” Months later, he became an unlikely challenger to Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 US Presidential election. Many who followed that election still believe Sanders would have fared better against Donald Trump than did Mrs. Clinton.

Senator Sanders is known for his strong liberal—even socialist—views, some of which do not align with the Catholic Church. But since Francis’ election to the papacy in 2013, Sanders has applauded the pope for his public criticism of the current global economic system, in which a few people are exceedingly wealthy while millions are excluded and the Earth and its resources are exploited.

Particularly interesting in this #TFImoment with Senator Sanders is his acknowledgment that Pope Francis’ critique of global capitalism is “more radical” than his own and goes “much deeper” than the political platform he operates on.

This is because Francis’ critique is not primarily political, or even economic. It cuts deeper to the source, namely, the ancient human inclination to idolize money. The economic crisis we are experiencing, of wealth disparity and economic exclusion, has its roots in a profound human crisis, Francis says (Evangelii Gaudium 55).

Our #TFImoment with Senator Sanders is a testament to the fact that non-Catholics—even those opposed to some of the Church’s teachings—have been inspired by Pope Francis and perhaps, at times, comprehend his message at a deeper level than many Catholics.

From the time of Jesus, who never shied away from those who were “different,” the Church’s authentic tradition of promoting dialogue and reconciliation with various peoples has become a central theme of Francis’ papacy...and many non-Catholics, like Senator Sanders, are willing to shake his outstretched hand.
I should inform our readers that Salt + Light extended a personal invitation to all of the candidates running in the 2016 US presidential election to discuss Pope Francis’ general impact. Only Senator Sanders granted us an interview.

For more information about The Francis Impact visit the official webpage.

Next week’s #TFImoment: Journalist and Co-operative Advocate Nathan Schneider



FOR A 76 YEAR OLD MAN, OR ANYBODY AT ALL ACTUALLY, SANDERS HAS A VERY CLEAR AND INCISIVE MIND, AND TONGUE. HE CAN HOLD HIS OWN. THIS ARTICLE IS A FEW MONTHS OLD, BUT STILL GOOD INFORMATION.

https://www.bbc.com/news/43355674
Bernie Sanders stirs Texas crowd, is he running for something?
By Anthony Zurcher
North America reporter
10 March 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Bernie Sanders sounded an awful lot like a candidate at the Texas festival

It's like the presidential campaign never ended. And that may be just the way Bernie Sanders, with an eye towards elections to come, wants it.

On a cloudy day in central Texas, the former candidate for the 2016 Democratic nomination - the dishevelled septuagenarian who gave Hillary Clinton a scare in the 2016 primaries and became a progressive political star - was back in top form.

He was interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper before a packed conference hall at the South by Southwest technology, film and music festival in Austin. He mingled with small-dollar donors at a cafe in San Antonio. He offered his now trademark denunciation of the billionaire class and calls for universal government-provided healthcare, a $15 national minimum wage and free college education to an audience of more than 3,000 at Trinity University.

He boasted that many of the proposals described during his campaign as "radical and extreme" have become mainstream.

"Our ideas are gaining resonance all across the country," he said.

He also mixed in calls for gun control and racial justice - topics he shied away from in 2016. And unlike during that race - when the White House was in Democratic hands - he had a more tangible target to rail against, Donald Trump.

Image caption
Bernie Sanders buttons hint at a 2020 campaign
"In Trump we are living in unprecedented times," Mr Sanders said in Austin. "I think we have the least qualified person to be president in the United States - perhaps in the history of the United States. The way we defeat Trump is for every person in this room and all of us to get involved in the political process in a way that we have never done in modern history in this country."

On Saturday Mr Sanders heads to Lubbock, a traditionally conservative town in the northern panhandle of this traditionally conservative state.

"They told me that Lubbock was one of the progressive centres of Texas," Mr Sanders said to laughter in the much more liberal Austin. "They lied to me."

Six lessons learned from US Democrat wins
Where did the Republican Trump-haters go?
Bernie's mystery tour
In all seriousness, what is the Vermont senator doing anywhere in Texas? Why is he going to Arizona on Sunday? Why was he in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan earlier this year?

If you ask him, he'll say it's all about the 2018 mid-term elections. He wants Democrats to win enough seats in Congress to take back the US Senate and House of Representatives and put a check on Mr Trump's policy agenda.

To that end, Mr Sanders - and his supporters - have attempted to harness the energy and enthusiasm generated by his presidential campaign into a durable political movement. Our Revolution, with its baby blue and red logo similar to that of the 2016 Sanders campaign, is organising on a grass-roots level across the US and supporting local, state and national candidates in the 2018 mid-terms and beyond.

Image caption
The Our Revolution merchandise has a striking resemblance to 2016 Sanders campaign material
In the Texas primaries on Tuesday - the first contests of the mid-term season - candidates supported by Our Revolution won or advanced to runoffs in 17 out of 29 races. One, Laura Moser in Houston, did so despite being opposed by a Democratic Party campaign committee - a move Mr Sanders called "absolutely unacceptable".

The Sanders movement flexed its muscles against the political establishment in Texas, and on Friday night in San Antonio, Mr Sanders declared the revolution "alive and well".

Democrats struggle to find a message
Sanders pitches European-style healthcare system
Whose revolution?
Of course, such a developed nationwide organisation could, in 2020, also be a turnkey campaign framework for a presidential candidate. Someone who has run before, perhaps. Certainly for someone who espouses progressive values and can win the hearts and minds of the movement.

Someone, say, like Bernie Sanders?

The Vermont senator was coy when an audience member in Austin asked him if he continued to have presidential ambitions.

Image caption
Jim Hightower, head of the Texas chapter of Our Revolution, thinks Bernie Sanders will run for President in 2020
"Right now, we're a long, long way away from 2020 elections," Mr Sanders said.

In reality, however, it's not that far off. By early 2019 the Democratic field will start to take shape.

Jim Hightower, an author, progressive activist and former state agriculture commissioner who heads the Texas chapter of Our Revolution, is less circumspect.

"I think he probably will run," Hightower says, although he quickly notes that he may not be the only progressive candidate in the field. "There's a whole new dynamic sparked by Bernie's presidential run showing that people respond when something big and different and ethical comes their way."

He adds, however, that Mr Sanders has a connection that's enduring.

"People have faith in him because he is a genuine person," he says. "You know he didn't change his image every day or try to position himself. He says, 'Here's who I am, and here's where I think we ought to be going'."

Image caption
Danny Fetonte doesn’t think Bernie Sanders is too old for another run
'The strongest candidate'
At Mr Sanders' two stops in San Antonio on Friday evening, his supporters were ready for their man to make another run for the top prize - even though he'd be 79 years old on election day.

"He looks younger today than he did four years ago," says Danny Fetonte, a retired labour union organiser from Austin who served as a Sanders delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. "I think they'll have a very hard time stopping him."

Jake Stevenson, a 20-year-old student at St Mary's University, said Mr Sanders was the first presidential candidate he voted for and the reason he chose to study political science.

"I still view him as the strongest candidate on the Democratic side," he said.

Image caption
Jake Stevenson cast his first presidential primary vote for Bernie Sanders in 2016
No regrets
If Mr Sanders does decide to compete in what is sure to be a crowded 2020 Democratic field, his organisation and built-in base of loyal support could give him a formidable advantage, particularly in early voting states. As other candidates scramble to build support, the Vermont senator could post victories even with a small plurality of the vote.

"What does he have to lose?" asks Scott Garrison, a Texas-based campaign veteran and political advertising strategist. "As long as he's okay with the possibility that he doesn't win in the end, he won't have to wonder what might have been. At the very least he could become a kingmaker or have influence on the 2020 policy debate."

At Mr Sanders' first stop in San Antonio, a entrepreneur was selling Bernie Sanders buttons, including one with the senator's trademark hair and glasses and the slogan "hindsight 2020".

For more than a year, some supporters have been whispering "Bernie would have won" against Donald Trump - sometimes with a tinge of bitterness. Now, in buttons and more than just whispers, they are starting to think that perhaps, in the not too distant future, Bernie may get another shot.


Media captionBernie Sanders: The momentum is with us


REAL CLEAR POLITICS IS A VERY INTERESTING NEWS SITE. THERE IS SOME OLD FOOTAGE OF BERNIE SANDERS FROM HIS FIRST VICTORY AS MAYOR, AND HIS LAST DAY GOODBYES WITH HIS STAFF THERE. IT’S BEAUTIFUL.

NOW IN TODAY’S ARTICLE, MARGARET BRENNAN TRIES TO IMPLY THAT TRUMP’S STORY THAT THERE IS NO COLLUSION, ETC., IS TRUE, MEANING OF COURSE THAT THEY HAVEN’T PROVED ANY YET – OR ANNOUNCED A DECISION. ADAM SCHIFF, IN HIS TURNS TO SPEAK, SHOWS HER EFFORTS TO CREATE A STORY WHICH ISN’T REALLY THERE UP FOR WHAT IT IS – A SIGN OF BIAS, I THINK.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/08/05/cbss_margaret_brennan_to_adam_schiff_you_admit_weve_seen_no_evidence_of_any_trumprussia_conspiracy.html
Posted By Tim Hains
On Date August 5, 2018

INTERVIEWER -- CBS MARGARET BRENNAN

'Face The Nation' host Margaret Brennan tries to get some clarity with Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, before we go any farther, because I want to draw a distinction. Since we have been saying here that some of the facts can get muddled here in the president's language, I want to make sure we're being precise in our conversation.

Can you agree that there has been no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy that has been presented thus far between the Trump campaign and Russia?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF: No, I don't agree with that at all.

I think there's plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight. Now, that's a different statement than saying that there's proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a criminal conspiracy. Bob Mueller will have to determine that.

But, of course, the entire meeting at Trump Tower...

BRENNAN: Right. So, you acknowledge that the FBI has not presented it thus far?

SCHIFF: No, what -- Margaret...

BRENNAN: I'm drawing this distinction because this is what the White House is arguing here, that the president is drawing a distinction, that he is saying, when he says hoax and witch-hunt, that he means one thing, and that it's not really trying to disassociate himself from what his national security team says.

SCHIFF: Well, first of all, we haven't seen what Bob Mueller has produced in terms of the evidence yet. So in terms of FBI proof, they're not going to present proof to the Congress. We're doing our own investigation.

And we have revealed evidence, I think, that certainly goes to the issue of conspiracy and collusion, a lot of which is now public.

But I do think that the president continues to cast doubt on whether he accepts the fundamental conclusion that Russia intervened, whether there was a conspiracy or not. He continues to raise questions about it. Indeed, his attempt to retract his statement in Helsinki that he doesn't see why the Russians would intervene, that goes well beyond any allegations of conspiracy.

So it's the president himself who's created this very muddled message. And the issue, I think, for us in the midterms is, what message is Putin hearing? Is he hearing the message that we heard from Coats and Wray and others in that press conference at the White House, or is hearing the message of the president of the United States?

And I fear that the message that the Kremlin cares most about is what they hear from Donald Trump, and that is still one of denial and cover for the Russians.



I’M SURE THERE WILL BE A WELL-FLESHED OUT AND GRISLY STORY WITH THIS WITHIN A FEW DAYS. FOR RIGHT NOW, THOUGH, I’M JUST GLAD TO SEE THAT THE CHILDREN ARE SAFE, EXCEPT FOR THE THREE YEAR OLD WHO HASN’T BEEN FOUND. THAT IS A VERY NEGATIVE SIGN, BECAUSE HE WAS LAST SEEN WITH ONE OF THE MEN WALKING DOWN A ROAD.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amalia-new-mexico-compound-moms-of-children-found-makeshift-compound-arrested-2018-08-06/
CBS/AP August 6, 2018, 3:36 PM
Mothers of 11 children found at "filthy" New Mexico compound arrested

PHOTOGRAPH -- This Friday, August 3, 2018, image shows a compound during an unsuccessful search for a missing 3-year-old boy in Amalia, New Mexico. TAOS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE VIA AP

TAOS, N.M. — Three women believed to be the mothers of 11 children found hungry and living in a filthy makeshift compound in rural northern New Mexico have been arrested, following the weekend arrests of two men, authorities said Monday. A message that people were starving, believed sent by someone inside the compound, led to the discovery of the children.

A boy last seen in Alabama in December traveling with one of the men who was arrested has not been found.

Taos County, New Mexico, Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said that the women and the two men face charges of child abuse. He identified the women as Jany Leveille, 38-year-old Hujrah Wahhaj and 35-year-old Subhannah Wahha. They were arrested in the town of Taos and booked into jail.

The children ranging in age from 1 to 15 were removed from the compound in the small community of Amalia near the Colorado border and turned over to state child-welfare workers.

Police are still are looking for AG Wahhaj, reported missing from Georgia's Clayton County, Hogrefe said. The boy's mother told police he left with his father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, for a trip to a park and never returned. The child was 3 at the time.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj was detained on an outstanding warrant in Georgia alleging child abduction. Lucas Morten was jailed on suspicion of harboring a fugitive, Hogrefe said. It was not clear over the weekend if they had lawyers.

Clayton County police said in a missing persons bulletin that Wahhaj and his son were last seen December 13 in Alabama, traveling with five other children and two adults.

Compound Searched-Children Removed
This Friday, August 3, 2018, image shows a compound during an unsuccessful search for a missing 3-year-old boy in Amalia, New Mexico. TAOS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE VIA AP

The search at the compound came amid a two-month investigation in collaboration with Clayton County authorities and the FBI, according to Hogrefe.

He said FBI agents had surveilled the area a few weeks ago but did not find probable cause to search the property.

That changed when Georgia detectives forwarded a message to Hogrefe's office that initially had been sent to a third party, saying: "We are starving and need food and water."

The sheriff said there was reason to believe the message came from someone inside the compound.

What authorities found was what Hogrefe called "the saddest living conditions and poverty" he has seen in 30 years on the job.

"The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer," Hogrefe said, according to Reuters. "But what was most surprising, and heartbreaking was when the team located a total of five adults and 11 children that looked like Third World country refugees not only with no food or fresh water, but with no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for clothing."

The group appeared to have been living at the compound for a few months. It was unclear how or why they ended up in New Mexico, Hogrefe said.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


THIS HAS A BACK STORY THAT ISN’T TOLD HERE ALSO. THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT HAD KNOWN ABOUT THIS ENCAMPMENT FOR AWHILE, BUT DIDN’T GO FOR A SEARCH WARRANT (OR SO THE IMPLICATION HERE SEEMS TO BE) BECAUSE THEY FEARED THE GUNS THAT THE MEN WERE HOLDING. MAYBE THERE HAD BEEN A ROBBERY OR SOMETHING EARLIER TO BRING THEM TO THE SHERIFF'S ATTENTION. I WANT TO THINK THAT THEY WERE UNAWARE OF THE CHILDREN AND WOMEN BEING HELD, WHO WERE ALL AFRAID OF THE MEN. THE GOOD NEWS HERE IS THAT ALL BUT ONE CHILD, WHO IS MISSING, ARE GETTING MEDICAL CARE NOW. THE MISSING THREE YEAR OLD MAY VERY WELL HAVE COME TO HARM, BUT NO BODY HAS BEEN FOUND.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45079090
New Mexico: Police find 11 starving children in compound
AUGUST 8, 2018 6 hours ago

PHOTOGRAPH -- Police described the location where the children were found as a "makeshift compound" near the community of Amalia in the north of New Mexico
PHOTOGRAPH -- Police said the children were living in "Third World" conditions
PHOTOGRAPHS -- Suspects Siraj Wahhaj (L) and Lucas Morton. Mr Wahhaj is also suspected of abducting his three-year-old son
PHOTOGRAPH -- Image copyrightEPA
Image caption -- Police said the children were living in "Third World" conditions


Police in the US state of New Mexico have rescued 11 malnourished children who were being kept in squalid conditions in a remote desert compound.

They said the children, aged one to 15, had no shoes, were wearing rags and "looked like Third World refugees".

Five adults were found at the scene, including two heavily armed men.

Police searched the site after receiving a message from a third party that read: "We are starving and need food and water."

It is not clear how the group ended up at the compound in Amalia, near the state's border with Colorado.

Police described the compound as a small underground caravan covered by plastic, with no running water or electricity.

Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe told ABC News the children were hungry, thirsty and filthy.

"I've been a cop for 30 years. I've never seen anything like this. Unbelievable," he said.

"They were skinny, their ribs showed, they were in very poor hygiene and very scared."

No fresh water was found at the site, and the only food there was a few potatoes and a box of rice, police said.

Two armed men, Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton, were arrested at the scene, and charged with several counts of child abuse.

Three women, believed to be the children's mothers, were detained but later released.

Mr Hogrefe told ABC it appeared the women and children "were brainwashed and feel great intimidation from the men that were in control of this facility".

The 11 children have been taken into care by local social services.

Mr Wahhaj is also wanted on suspicion of abducting his three-year-old son, but the boy was not among the group found at the compound, US media report. It was the search for the boy that led to the arrests on Friday.

Police said they had been aware of the compound for some time but had to wait for a search warrant to be issued before entering, as the occupants were "most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief".

Mr Wahhaj was armed with an AR-15 rifle and four pistols when they encountered him, they said.


WHAT IF EFFORTS TO FALSIFY GOVERNMENT INFORMATION LIKE THIS IN THE ARTICLE BELOW WERE ADDED TO THE IMPEACHMENT CRIMES? WHAT IS THE PENALTY FOR FALSIFICATION OF THAT SORT, I WONDER, AND HOW OFTEN IS IT KNOWN TO HAVE HAPPENED? GOVERNMENT RECORDS NEED TO BE RELIABLE, AS THEY ARE USED FOR INFORMATION INTO THE FUTURE. NEWS REPORTS NEED TO BE ACCURATE, TOO, BUT GOVERNMENT REPORTS BECOME HISTORY.

THIS SEEMS TO ME TO BE A SERIOUS OFFENSE. YOU WILL NOTICE THAT DUNLAP ONLY GOT COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTS THROUGH AN EXTENDED LEGAL BATTLE. THEY DO BAD THINGS, IN THIS CASE THEIR OWN VOTER FRAUD I FEEL SURE, AND THEN TRY TO COVER IT UP. THAT’S ANOTHER POTENTIAL CRIME, OR IT SHOULD BE. I’M SO GLAD FOR THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT! THE GOOD THING ABOUT THIS SITUATION IS THE NUMBER OF STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL WHO REFUSED TO FILL OUT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S INTRUSIVE QUESTIONS, AND FILED SUIT. NOW THAT’S DEMOCRACY AT WORK, AND THE “OVERLY COMPLICATED” LEGAL STRUCTURE IS WORKING LIKE BRER RABBIT’S BRIARPATCH. TRUMP GAVE UP ON IT AND ABANDONED THE EFFORT.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-voter-fraud-panel-documents-20180803-story.html
'The most bizarre thing I've ever been a part of'; Trump panel found no voter fraud, ex-member says
By Eli Rosenberg
Washington Post
August 3, 2018, 11:35 PM

PHOTOGRAPH -- Vice President Mike Pence, left, accompanied by Vice-Chair Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, speaks during the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, July 19, 2017. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the 11 members of the commission formed by President Donald Trump to investigate supposed voter fraud, issued a scathing rebuke of the disbanded panel on Friday, accusing Vice Chair Kris Kobach and the White House of making false statements and saying that he had concluded that the panel had been set up to try to validate the president's baseless claims about fraudulent votes in the 2016 election.

Dunlap, one of four Democrats on the panel, made the statements in a report he sent to the commission's two leaders – Vice President Mike Pence and Kobach, who is Kansas's secretary of state – after reviewing more than 8,000 documents from the group's work, which he acquired only after a legal fight despite his participation on the panel.

Before it was disbanded by Trump in January, the panel had never presented any findings or evidence of widespread voter fraud. But the White House claimed at the time that it had shut down the commission despite "substantial evidence of voter fraud," due to the mounting legal challenges it faced from states. Kobach, too, spoke around that time about how "some people on the left were getting uncomfortable about how much we were finding out."

Dunlap said that the commission's documents that were turned over to him underscore the hollowness of those claims: "they do not contain evidence of widespread voter fraud," he said in his report, adding that some of the documentation seemed to indicate that the commission was predicting it would find evidence of fraud, evincing "a troubling bias."



THIS SANDERS BILL DEFINITELY SHOULD PASS, IF THE GENUINE NEED FOR LEGISLATION IS THE KEY FACTOR. THE NATURE OF THE LOCALITY IS MORE LIKELY TO BE THE TURNING POINT, THOUGH, SINCE “CONSERVATIVE” CULTURE AND POLITICS IS THE REAL ISSUE IN MY OPINION. THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST TWO LONG ARTICLES IN THE PAST YEAR OR SO ON THE FACT THAT MANY PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY POOR AND BLACK PEOPLE, ARE GIVEN A TICKET FOR A BROKEN TAIL LIGHT AND THE OWNER OF THE CAR IS JAILED INTERMINABLY. SURELY WE CAN ALL SEE THAT SUCH THINGS ARE NOT “JUSTICE.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/opinion/columnists/bernie-sanders-cash-bail.html
Opinion
‘Modern Day Debtors’ Prisons’
The time has come to end cash bail, a major factor in inequality in the court system.
By Meagan Day and Bhaskar Sunkara
Meagan Day is a staff writer at Jacobin, where Bhaskar Sunkara is editor.
Aug. 6, 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced legislation last month that would end the use of cash bail in federal criminal cases.CreditRogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

Despite releasing a comprehensive and remarkably radical criminal justice reform agenda in 2015, Senator Bernie Sanders was accused throughout his presidential campaign of being insufficiently concerned with the topic, and of habitually changing the subject to economics. The reality is that Mr. Sanders has the clearest insight into the connections between criminal justice issues and economic inequality of any major politician today. And nowhere, perhaps, are those connections more obvious than in the instance of cash bail.

In late July, Mr. Sanders introduced legislation that would end cash bail on the federal level. “Cash bail” is the current bond system in which people arrested for even low-level offenses are detained pending trial — unless and until they pay a fee. The fees are often arbitrary and often beyond people’s means ($3,000 for allegedly stealing a backpack, $10,000 for a bicycle), leaving the poorest arrestees locked up, sometimes for years, without being convicted of a crime.

Under this system, freedom comes with a price tag, and those who can pay it get to walk while the rest languish in the United States’ bloated prison system. Citing a statistic showing that over 400,000 people are in jail simply because they can’t afford to pay bail, Mr. Sanders called for the end of “modern day debtors’ prisons.”

Mr. Sanders’ bill is more radical than one proposed last year by two of his colleagues, the Democrat Kamala Harris of California and the Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, which sought to reform but not eliminate cash bail. In completely prohibiting “the use of payment of money as a condition of pretrial release” on the federal level, the Sanders bill turns one of Black Lives Matter’s most broadly popular demands directly into legislation.

It may not pass under a Republican-controlled Congress, but the bill has garnered support from heavyweight liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, indicating the idea’s transformation from activist demand to mainstream policy proposal. And with Mr. Sanders himself leading the charge, maybe it’s finally time to put to rest the myth that the senator doesn’t care about criminal justice reform.

This article is part of the Opinion Today newsletter. David Leonhardt, the newsletter’s author, is on a break until Aug. 27. While he’s gone, several outside writers are taking his place. This week’s authors are Meagan Day, a writer for the socialist magazine Jacobin, and Bhaskar Sunkara, the magazine’s editor. You can sign up here to receive the newsletter each weekday.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion).


THIS STORY IS ABOUT NOT THE BORDER WITH MEXICO, BUT WITH CANADA. IMMIGRANTS HOP ON A FLIGHT TO CANADA FOR ABOUT $300.00 AND THEN COME SOUTH INTO THE US THROUGH THE ALMOST TOTALLY UNGUARDED CANADIAN BORDER. IT’S A KIND OF BACK DOOR ROUTE FOR MEXICANS TO TOTALLY BYPASS THE GUARDED CROSSINGS, AND GET IN WITHOUT FACING AN INSPECTION. THE DANGERS OF WALKING THROUGH WILD COUNTRY, THOUGH, WOULD KEEP ME FROM GOING THAT ROUTE. GRIZZLY BEARS ARE TOO MUCH FOR MY NERVES.

“THOUSANDS OF SENSORS DEPLOYED ALONG THE BORDER INCORPORATE MOTION DETECTORS AND CAMERAS.” I HAVE WONDERED SEVERAL TIMES WHY WE DON’T DO THIS ON THE RIO GRANDE BORDER. IT’S PROBABLY CHEAPER THAN A WALL, AND THEN HAVE A STRING, ACROSS THE WHOLE EXPANSE ON THE AMERICAN SIDE, OF SMALL BORDER PATROL BASES FOR AGENTS SO THAT THEY CAN MOVE QUICKLY OUT AND CATCH THE BAD DUDES.

I DON’T REALLY THINK OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS BEING DANGEROUS CRIMINALS, THOUGH TRUMP KEEPS SAYING THAT, BUT THERE REALLY ARE DRUG RUNNERS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AMONG THEM ALSO. OF COURSE, THAT GROUP ARE PROBABLY WEALTHY ENOUGH TO HAVE SOME WELL PRODUCED FAKE DOCUMENTATION AND WILL SIMPLY COME THROUGH THE LEGAL CROSSINGS. SUCH AS IN A TRANSFER TRUCK.

A TRUCK OF THAT KIND WAS CAUGHT IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, JUST A YEAR OR SO AGO, THAT WAS SEEN BY A WALMART STORE EMPLOYEE ON A CIGARETTE BREAK, WHO NOTICED THAT IT WAS LETTING OUT MANY IMMIGRANTS FROM THE BACK, WHO WERE THEN BEING PICKED UP IN CARS. TRAGICALLY THERE WERE ALSO SEVERAL DEAD PASSENGERS FOUND IN THE TRUCK. THAT WAS A TERRIBLE STORY, BUT THIS MORE RECENT SERIES OF CONFRONTATIONS, THE WORST BEING THE CHILDREN BEING SEPARATED FROM THEIR PARENTS, IS MANY TIMES WORSE. AS A NATION WE WILL HAVE TO REPENT THIS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/illegal-northern-border-crossings-on-the-rise/
CBS NEWS August 6, 2018, 7:49 AM
Illegal U.S. northern border crossings up 142 percent from last year

CBS News has learned the number of people caught illegally crossing the United States' northern border is up 142 percent. Border Patrol agents apprehended 445 people entering the U.S. from Canada during the first six months of 2018; that compares with 184 during the same period last year.

The northern border is very easy to cross, which was actually the original intention. But it also makes it very difficult to secure.

An unguarded metal fence is the only thing keeping smugglers from entering a remote corner of New York State – a small part of the physical security infrastructure along America's northern border.

Norm Lague, the Border Patrol agent in charge here, says it's impossible to cover 100 percent of the entire 5,525-mile-long U.S.-Canadian border, the longest and busiest land boundary in the world.

us-canada-border-norm-lague-with-don-dahler-620.jpg
Border Patrol Agent Norm Lague shows Don Dahler part of the border protection between the U.S. and Canada. CBS NEWS

"It's a tough challenge to go ahead and take the limited resources we have and work in such a vast area," Lague told correspondent Don Dahler

About 400,000 people and more than 1.6 billion in goods legally cross the border every day.

Last year, Border Patrol agents along the northern border apprehended 3,027 people who were in the country illegally. By comparison, agents along the southern border captured more than 300,000.

"The northern border is much more vast," said Lague. "The terrain is very difficult to work in, and we do not have the resources at our disposal that the southern border has," said Lague.

Notably, of those apprehended along the northern border, nearly half (1,489) were from Mexico. Mexican citizens don't need a visa to enter Canada, and one-way flights to Toronto and Montreal only cost about $300. Once there, Border Patrol agents say, they can slip into the U.S.

Many buildings and businesses literally straddle the northern border. At Derby Line, Vermont, a row of flower pots marks the northern border, which actually cuts right through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House.

border-line-at-derby-line-vt-620.jpg
The border between Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Quebec actually cuts right through buildings, and is demarcated by a row of flower pots. CBS NEWS

And illegal traffic goes both ways. Just last January, a Canadian man pleaded guilty to smuggling handguns through the Haskell library into Canada.

Many official ports of entry, like a floating dock near Lake Champlain, are unmanned at night. Border Patrol agents rely on local residents, patrols and sensors to alert them to possible crossings.

Thousands of sensors deployed along the border incorporate motion detectors and cameras. When they sense someone coming across, the tricky part is getting a border patrol agent there in time quickly enough to catch them.

sensors-at-us-canada-border-620.jpg
Sensors dot the U.S.-Canada border. CBS NEWS

Sometimes entering the U.S. is as simple as walking across a 20-foot wide clearing in the woods, or paddling across a lake. And you don't have to check in with anyone.

Porter Fox is author of "Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border" (W.W. Norton). "It's generally agreed that the northern border is more vulnerable to a terrorist sneaking into this country," Fox said. "The only known terrorists to be apprehended coming overland into America came from the North.

"This border was created in a different time. It was created as the world's friendliest border between two countries."

He said that seven million American jobs depend on cross-border business. "There's a lot at stake up here in the North," Fox said.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


DO LISTEN TO TREVOR NOAH’S INTERVIEW AND COMMENTS ON TRUMP. HE HAS ALSO WRITTEN A BOOK THAT I’M SURE IS GREAT. I HOPE SOMEBODY ELSE BUYS IT AND LENDS IT TO ME. IT WILL PROBABLY COST $30.00 AT LEAST.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trevor-noah-daily-show-donald-j-trump-presidential-twitter-library/
By JESSICA KEGU CBS NEWS August 2, 2018, 3:19 PM
What Trevor Noah has learned about Trump from analyzing his tweets

Trevor Noah is pretty sure President Trump hates Diet Coke more than he hates Hillary Clinton. Why? His Twitter history.

Noah and the writers of "The Daily Show" are out with a new book inspired by the president's tweets called "The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library," based on the show's successful pop-up library. Noah told "CBS This Morning" on Thursday that looking at his Twitter in a more holistic sense – rather than dissecting it tweet by tweet – offered considerable insights into the president's strategy.

"We can't look at each tweet individually. It doesn't tell you a story. If you wake up every morning and look at a Trump tweet, like Marco Rubio said, you'll go crazy. So, when you put the tweets in context it gives you a pattern," Noah said. "Looking at how he sees the 'witch hunt.' How he sees the investigation against him. How he communicates with people who work for him…You start to notice a trend. So when you put them into categories you realize that not only is he an interesting president but I would say he's the most prolific Twitter user we have seen in our lifetimes."

In his latest controversial post, Mr. Trump called on his attorney general to end the Russia probe immediately, referring to it as a "Rigged Witch Hunt." The tweet prompted some Democrats to accuse the president of obstructing justice.

"What's interesting though is now we're going to engage in a discussion about should versus would… Also, I think it's interesting that Donald J. Trump has flipped the script on everybody. He showed us that the things most people would do in private that would get them busted, if you do them in public it's somehow better. Which is not how I've ever lived my life. I've never seen an instance where doing something bad in public somehow lets you off the hook," Noah said.

To hear what Trevor Noah has to say to the people who believe there is too much focus on the president's tweets, watch the video in the above player.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



1400 PEOPLE IN THE CROWD FOR AN OLD MAN AND A BELIEVER IN ISLAM. UNTIL TRUMP AND PUTIN FINISH MAKING THIS COUNTRY OVER IN THEIR FAVORITE IMAGE, IT’S STILL AMERICA !!

https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/08/bernie_sanders_abdul_el-sayed.html
MICHIGAN NEWS
Bernie Sanders, Abdul El-Sayed draw 1,400 at Detroit rally
AUGUST 5, 2018 5:01 PM

GALLERY – 51 PHOTOGRAPHS

By Emily Lawler elawler@mlive.com
DETROIT, MI - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, fired up a crowd for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday, just two days before the Michigan's primary election.

"I'm here not only because I support the very bold and progressive ideas of Abdul, but because I appreciate the kind of campaign that he is running," Bernie told the crowd of around 1,400 supporters Sunday afternoon.

El-Sayed is one of three Democrats competing in the Aug. 7 gubernatorial primary. He's strived to portray himself as more progressive than his opponents, Shri Thanedar and Gretchen Whitmer.

At the rally with Sanders - one of two, as the pair are slated to speak in Ypsilanti later on Sunday -- El-Sayed hit on the highlights of his platform in his speech. He wants to "de-DeVos" public schools, guarantee Michiganders safe water, put a $15 minimum wage in place and institute single-payer health care and reverse auto insurance rates.

He also spoke out forcefully against discrimination, including against people for their skin color, ethnicity, sex or being LGBT.

"I'm done waiting while people all over the state are told that they don't belong," El-Sayed said.

Bernie Sanders, too, spoke of an all-inclusive vision. He said the ideas he and El-Sayed had were not radical, they were ideas that resonated with the American people.

And he was dismissive of polls that showed El-Sayed coming in third of three candidates in the primary.

"I understand there has been some discussion here in Michigan about the polling and the fact that Abdul is behind on some of the polls. So let me give you the personal perspective," he said.

Sanders was down 27 points in the polls the day before the primary, he said.

"And that was pretty good, because the poll the day before had me 36 points behind. Well, we won that election. And by the way, so will Abdul," Sanders said.

The crowd was enthusiastic when speakers referenced systemic changes to the health care system. El-Sayed supports single-payer health care.

"We believe that it's time for Democrats to stop pussyfooting and playing around with health care. We need a real health care plan," said Rev. Charles Williams, president of the Michigan National Action Network to a roar of applause.

El-Sayed spoke of his experience leading Detroit's health department and the systemic issues he saw.

Many in the crowd were supporters of both El-Sayed and Sanders. That was the case for Adam Stout, 22, of Marysville, who voted for him in his first ever presidential primary. Sanders' message resonated with Stout, and so does El-Sayed's.

"When the governor's race started and I started to read about Abdul's campaign... it was kind of a no-brainer for me," said Adam Stout, 22, of Marysville, who supported Bernie Sanders in 2016.


He kept checking to see if Sanders had endorsed El-Sayed yet, and when the endorsement finally came he said it built momentum in the days leading up to the election.

"I feel like he came in at the right moment," Stout said of Sanders.

Rawan Khuja, 29, of Dearborn, also supported Sanders. Now she is supporting El-Sayed in the gubernatorial primary. Asked what drew her to his candidacy she said she likes what he stands for and finds it inspiring that he is an Arab-American.

"It shows diversity in our country," she said.

At this rally, speakers focused on helping him get into the governor's mansion.

Nina Turner is president of Our Revolution, a national group that endorsed El-Sayed. She, too, urged people to get to work in the remaining time before the election.

"We're preaching to the choir, but you have got to leave here more committed to give your time, your talent or your treasure," Turner said.

El-Sayed encouraged people to put in the work. There are two days until the election, he said, and it's enough time for volunteers to make a difference.

"It's not about how much time you have, it's about how much of yourself you put in your time," El-Sayed said.

He's one of a number of candidates looking to rally supporters in Southeast Michigan ahead of the primary. Gretchen Whitmer held a rally in Detroit with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan at the same time as the Sanders event on Sunday. Republican candidate for governor Bill Schuette continued his statewide "Time to Win Again" tour in Metro Detroit.

The primary election takes place Aug. 7. The Democratic candidates are El-Sayed, Thanedar and Whitmer. Running on the Republican side are Brian Calley, Patrick Colbeck, Jim Hines and Bill Schuette. The general election takes place on Nov. 6.


THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE FIRST REELS OF A REALLY FRIGHTENING PIECE OF FICTION, BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT IS TRUE. THIS POOR CHILD, I FEEL SURE, LEANED OVER HER PARENTS TO TRY TO WAKE THEM AND GOT THEIR BLOOD ON HER CLOTHING. TERRIBLE. THE SLEEPY SOUTH YIELDS CRIME, MAYBE NOT AS OFTEN, BUT AS FRIGHTENLY AS LARGE NORTHERN CITIES DO. THE PHOTOGRAPH IS OF A ONE LANE ROAD, POORLY PAVED AND WANDERING DOWN A HILL UNDER AN CANOPY OF HUGE OAK TREES. THERE IS A STREET JUST LIKE THIS HERE IN JACKSONVILLE. I LOVE THAT KIND OF SCENERY, BUT IT REMINDS ME OF THE GREAT OLD MOVIE, “IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT” WITH ROD STEIGER AND SIDNEY POITIER AS VIRGIL TIBBS. WEBSITE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Heat_of_the_Night_(film).
READ ALSO, IF YOU LIKE MYSTERIES, SOME OF THE VIRGIL TIBBS MURDER MYSTERIES BY JOHN BALL. I FIRST MET TIBBS IN THESE NOVELS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/birmingham-alabama-toddler-on-street-with-bloodstained-clothes-leads-police-to-2-dead-bodies/
CBS/AP August 4, 2018, 3:10 PM
Wandering toddler wearing bloodstained clothes leads police to 2 dead bodies

PHOTOGRAPH -- The child led officers to a home where an adult male and an adult female were found dead. WIAT-TV
62 PHOTOS – MOST HORRIFIC CRIMES

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Authorities in Alabama say a wandering toddler with blood stains led police to two dead bodies, CBS affiliate WIAT-TV reports. Birmingham Police are now working a double homicide investigation in the death of two middle-aged adults found dead inside a home.

Birmingham police Sgt. Johnny Williams told AL.com that police responding to a report of a child alone on the street found a toddler wearing bloodstained clothes Thursday. The child was uninjured and led officers to a home where an adult male and an adult female were found dead.

Williams says the child's relationship to the adults is currently unknown.

Their deaths have been classified as homicides. Identities have been withheld pending notification of family.

Police are investigating.

Most horrific crimes

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



TRUMP WISDOM OF THE DAY --
YOU KNOW YOU’VE REALLY MADE IT WHEN THE DONALD INVENTS A PERSONAL NAME FOR YOU, SO HE CAN HARRANGUE YOU EARLY IN THE MORNING AND THE LAST THING AT NIGHT ON WHATEVER SUBJECT IS GOING THROUGH HIS MIND. FOR HIM TO CALL ANYBODY CRAZY IS RIDICULOUS, BUT HE CAN’T HELP DOING THAT. WHY? BECAUSE HE’S CRAZY, PERHAPS? OF THE TWO NAMES HE HAS CHOSEN, I LIKE CRAZY DUDE BEST, BECAUSE “DUDE” IS FUN AND CARRIES ME BACK TO MY YOUNG DAYS. SO, ALRIGHT. THE GAMES HAVE FORMALLY BEGUN, I GUESS.


https://heavy.com/news/2018/08/trump-crazy-bernie-sanders-dude-video/
Trump Calls Sanders Crazy Bernie & Crazy Dude: Watch
By Jessica McBride
Aug 2, 2018 at 8:18pm

PHOTOGRAPH -- Trump referred to Bernie Sanders at his Pennsylvania rally as "Crazy Bernie."

President Donald Trump, during his rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, launched a verbal attack on Senator Bernie Sanders, labeling Sanders “Crazy Bernie” and a “crazy dude.”

You can watch video of the moment below:


Aaron Rupar
✔ @atrupar
· 2 Aug

Replying to @atrupar

Trump says he is "proud" of his dire campaign messaging to African Americans, which was that they had "nothing to lose" because their communities were already miserable hell holes with lots of crime and poor schools. pic.twitter.com/h7HVTEnbpW


Aaron Rupar
✔ @atrupar

Trump smears @SenWarren as "Pocahontas," then repeatedly calls @SenSanders "crazy Bernie." pic.twitter.com/oXzdgi6BVx

8:02 PM - Aug 2, 2018


Trump launched into the Bernie Sanders comments after declaring that his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” was “maybe the greatest slogan ever, right?”

He also said rally-goers’ MAGA hats would be “very valuable someday.” He used a derogatory nickname for Democrat Elizabeth Warren as well as dubbing Bernie Sanders both “Crazy Bernie” and “a crazy dude.”

President Trump then touted the African-American employment rate numbers, saying they had “reached the lowest level in the history of our country. Honestly, think of that number. I honestly think that’s hard for the Democrats to beat….how do you stop that?”

He then launched into his verbal fusillade against the Senator from Vermont, who was vanquished by Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary but could plausibly mount another challenge in 2020.

“Let’s say I’m running against Pocahontas or Crazy Bernie. I tell you, I’ve gotta hand it to Bernie. I saw him up there the other day,” Trump said.

“That hair is getting whiter and whiter and he’s getting crazier and crazier, and I saw him, ‘We’re stopping Donald Trump. We’re stoppin’ him…’ and I looked at my wife and said, ‘You know you’ve got to hand it to that guy. He doesn’t quit,’ and that’s OK. Crazy Bernie. He’s one crazy dude. So, I don’t know who we’re going run against. I don’t know. But when Bernie tells how wonderful things are, think of it. He wants to raise your taxes, he wants to create massive amounts of crime, he wants to open the borders. Think of it. Just think of it…and I say one thing. African-American, Hispanic, Asian, you have the lowest level of unemployment in the history of our country. How does someone fight that?”

At one point, Trump waved his hands around, mimicking Sanders’ speaking style.

Sanders wasn’t the only politician given a nickname by Trump:

Some people on Twitter weren’t fans of the nicknames, although the crowd seemed to enjoy them. “Trump in Wilkes-Barre rally gives shout-outs to Crooked Hillary, Crazy Bernie, Pocahontas, and Sleepin’ Bob Casey. The crowd roars with laughter. This how you know these MAGA folks are literally immature. No decency!” wrote one critic on Twitter.

He also resurrected the “Crooked Hillary” moniker that he gave to Hillary Clinton during the presidential election. Trump didn’t mention Joe Biden, another plausible Democratic contender in 2020, during the moment. Biden recently polled seven points ahead of Trump in a hypothetical match-up for 2020.



http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/dan-rather-unloads-on-donald-trump-over-racist-attack-on-lebron-james/ar-BBLtVKS?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
Dan Rather Unloads On Donald Trump Over 'Racist' Attack On LeBron James
Lee Moran
AUGUST 4, 2018 3 hrs ago

Video by CBS News

Veteran journalist Dan Rather unleashed a blistering attack on Donald Trump over Twitter early Saturday.

The former CBS news anchor described the president’s tweeted attack on NBA star LeBron James and CNN host Don Lemon as “racist.”

Trump posted the following late Friday:


Donald J. Trump
✔ @realDonaldTrump



Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!


11:37 PM - Aug 3, 2018

Rather responded with this message:


Dan Rather
✔ @DanRather

This is apparently what the President of the United States feels the need to share with the world at what should be long past his bedtime? It's a disgrace. It's racist. And it's the product of petty but dangerous hatreds. I repeat this is the PRESIDENT??!?

“This is apparently what the President of the United States feels the need to share with the world at what should be long past his bedtime?” Rather asked.

He said Trump’s tweet was “a disgrace” and “racist.”

“And it’s the product of petty but dangerous hatreds,” Rather added. “I repeat this is the PRESIDENT??!?”

Fellow Twitter users also exploded in anger at Trump’s tweet, which was in delayed response to an interview Lemon conducted with James that aired Monday. In it, James said Trump enabled racists and used sports to divide the nation. James, who has previously called Trump a “bum,” and Lemon are yet to respond.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.


OUR FUTURE IN SPACE –TWO ARTICLES

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/03/635344671/nasa-announces-crew-for-first-commercial-space-flights
SPACE
NASA Announces Crew For First Commercial Space Flights
August 3, 20181:33 PM ET
Nell Greenfieldboyce 2010
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE

PHOT6OGRAPH -- NASA has named nine astronauts to crew the first test flights and missions of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. From left to right: Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Eric Boe, Nicole Mann, Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover. NASA

NASA has announced the names of the astronauts who will be the first people in history to ride to orbit in private space taxis next year, if all goes as planned.

In 2019, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner are both scheduled to blast off on test flights with NASA astronauts on board. "For the first time since 2011, we are on the brink of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Friday, standing in front of a giant American flag at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Since NASA retired its space shuttles, the agency has had to buy seats on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get its crews to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the test flight astronauts for SpaceX's Dragon, Bridenstine said. NASA astronauts Eric Boe and Nicole Aunapu Mann are slated for the test flight of Boeing's Starliner, accompanied by former NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, who now works as a commercial astronaut for Boeing.

Article continues after sponsorship

Ferguson commanded the final mission of the space shuttle program, and Hurley was the pilot on that flight. Now the pair will be among those who usher in a new era for NASA.

"The first flight is something you dream about as a test pilot, you know, and you don't think it's ever going to happen to you," Hurley said. "But it looks like it might. Bob and I are extremely excited to kind of put Dragon through its paces in space. "

NASA has been collaborating with commercial space companies for years, with the goal of having the private sector take over "routine" trips to the space station and low Earth orbit. That shift came under the Obama administration, which killed President George W. Bush's plan to return to the moon.

Lawmakers in Congress, however, insisted that NASA still needed to develop its own rocket and space capsule, called the Space Launch System. And the moon has re-emerged as the pre-eminent space destination under the Trump administration.

NASA has spent billions developing the Space Launch System and its first flight, scheduled for 2020, will send an uncrewed capsule around the moon and back. Astronauts aren't expected to go on such a trip until at least a couple years after that.

Critics say NASA's rocket is too expensive and won't fly enough to be worth the money. They point to the Falcon Heavy, a brand new, much lower-cost heavy-lift rocket developed by SpaceX, and say that NASA could use commercial options like this one to send up pieces of hardware and assemble them in orbit.


https://www.npr.org/2018/07/31/630866664/nasa-s-mission-to-touch-the-sun-launches-this-summer
WATCH: Building A Probe That Will Survive A Trip To The Sun
July 31, 2018 5:01 AM ET
BECKY HARLAN
MAIA STERN
Madeline Sofia 2017 square
MADELINE K. SOFIA

VIDEO -- Building A Probe That Will Survive A Trip To The Sun | Maddie About Science
VIDEO -- NASA's going to "touch" the sun. NPR YouTube

This summer, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will embark on a mission to "touch the sun."

"Touch" might be a bit of an overstatement — the probe will actually pass 3.8 million miles from the sun's surface. Its primary job is to learn more about the outer atmosphere of the sun, called the corona. Many things about the corona remain a mystery. For example, scientists still aren't sure why the corona of the sun is hotter than its surface. The probe will take a series of images and measurements to figure out how energy and heat move through the corona.

NASA will also study the solar wind, a stream of super high-energy particles released from the corona. The solar wind leaves the sun's atmosphere and zooms past Earth at more than a million miles per hour. It can affect Earth's satellites and cause changes in space weather.

No one knows what causes the solar wind to accelerate to such high speeds. Scientists are hoping that the data they receive from the probe will help them understand the process. In fact, the probe is named for Eugene Parker, the scientist who first developed the theory of a solar wind.

Article continues after sponsorship

In order to deal with the tremendous heat of the sun, the probe will be protected by a heat shield. The heat shield will face temperatures approaching 2,500 degrees F. But amazingly, if it works correctly, the heat shield will keep the spacecraft's instruments at a relatively pleasant 85 F.

To make sure the probe can withstand the temperature extremes of space, NASA is putting it through thermal vacuum testing. According to Betsy Congdon, a lead engineer on the heat shield from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, they test it by "basically hanging this big oven that we've designed over the spacecraft" to simulate the sun.

This will be a historic mission for many reasons. When NASA was founded, they came up with a list of missions that they wanted to accomplish. According to Congdon, "this is the only one that hasn't been done, and people have been working on it for decades."

The launch window for the probe opens on Aug. 11. After it launches from Cape Canaveral, Fla., it will take about seven years to reach the corona. It will be the closest that humanity has ever been to a star.


THIS IS A VERY SPECTACULAR FIND FOR AN AMATEUR. I’VE SEEN PEOPLE ON THE BEACH HERE USING THOSE METAL DETECTORS. IT LOOKS LIKE FUN.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-somerset-45038710/a-metal-detectorist-discovered-the-roman-gold-signet-ring
A metal detectorist discovered the Roman gold signet ring
An amateur metal detectorist has discovered a Roman gold signet ring in a Somerset field.
01 Aug 2018

The 48g ring was uncovered at the same site, in Crewkerne, where a rare Roman lead-lined coffin was found.

It's thought to be 24-carat gold with an onyx engraving of the God of Victory.

The ring is yet to be fully assessed by the British Museum but local finds officers believe it dates from 200-300 AD.


“THE MANED WOLF IS A WEIRD-LOOKING BEAST.” I DISAGREE. I THINK HE’S PRETTY. WATCH THE VIDEO.

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/29/613725707/matchmaking-for-maned-wolves
WATCH: Rare Maned Wolves Need A Matchmaker
May 29, 20184:17 PM ET
MADELINE K. SOFIA
BECKY HARLAN
MAIA STERN

ART -- Matchmaking For Maned Wolves | Maddie About Science
VIDEO -- Tinder for wolves? The survival of the maned wolf may depend on the science of matchmaking. NPR YouTube

The maned wolf is a weird-looking beast.

PHOTOGRAPH -- A maned wolf at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.
Maia Stern /NPR

Its huge ears and lanky black legs have earned it the nick name "fox on stilts". But the maned wolf is neither fox nor wolf. It is a distinct species in the Canidae family.

The wolves live in a vast tropical savanna in South America called the Cerrado, which boasts extraordinary diversity of plants and animals. But that habitat is disappearing due to rapid expansion of agriculture.

According to Smithsonian scientist Nucharin Songsasen, this large-scale habitat loss threatens the future of the maned wolf species. "Eighty percent of these grassland already disappeared. And only five percent of that natural habitat that's remaining is protected."

A maned wolf pup born January 5, 2018 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.
Janice Sveda/Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

So Songsasen is leading a team at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute that is attempting to breed an insurance population of maned wolves. Basically, a backup population of captive maned wolves in case the animals become extinct in the wild.

In order to play matchmaker for the maned wolves, Songsasen works with scientists all over the country to build a genetic database of the wolves currently in captivity. Each wolf is given a genetic value that corresponds with how related they are to other wolves. The less related two wolves are, the better suited they are as potential mates. That's because genetic diversity helps a population survive.

Songsasen uses these genetic values as well as the health, age, and location of the wolves to make a match. But mating wolves isn't as simple as putting two of them together. "They only have two to three days that they will breed a year," says Songsasen.

Because the wolves mate so infrequently, Songsasen is working on developing reproductive tools to breed the wolves. Songsasen and her colleague Jennifer Nagashima worked with Cornell University to perform the first successful in-vitro fertilization in domestic dogs. Now, they are trying to adapt IVF for the maned wolf.

Until then, they'll continue to match up wolves and hope for pups the old-fashioned way.



IT’S LATE, AND I’M TIRED AND GETTING PUNCHY, BUT WHEN I SAW THIS PARAGRAPH AND STARTED READING THROUGH IT, I COULDN’T FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WAS SAYING, AND THEN I SAW WHO WROTE IT. OKAY. I UNDERSTAND NOW.

“I’d like to introduce a true leader, a proud veteran, my great friend, a tough, brilliant cookie — true, he’s tough, he’s smart and he loves Florida and he loves our country and he’s going to be your next governor — Ron DeSantis,” Trump said Tuesday in Tampa.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-trump-bernie-sanders-draw-battle-lines-florida-governors-race-180825978.html
President Trump and Bernie Sanders draw battle lines in Florida governor's race
David Knowles
Yahoo News•August 01, 2018

PHOTOGRAPHS -- Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum; Sen. Bernie Sanders (Photos: Wilfredo Lee/AP, Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

One day after President Trump held a raucous rally in Tampa to stump for front-runner Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed long shot progressive candidate Andrew Gillum.

Florida still must hold its primary on Aug. 28, but a Mason-Dixon poll released last week shows Gillum, who is the mayor of Tallahassee, trailing three other Democrats in the race — Gwen Graham, Philip Levine and Jeff Greene.

“I’m proud to endorse Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum in his race for governor of Florida,” Sanders said in a statement released Wednesday. “As governor, Andrew Gillum will work to provide health care for all through a Medicare-for-All program, raise the minimum wage to a living wage, invest in sustainable energy, improve education, make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and be welcoming to immigrants. Andrew has never backed down from a fight, including beating the NRA and standing up against xenophobic politicians. Andrew Gillum will set a new course for Florida — a governor who represents all the people and not just powerful special interests.”

PHOTOGRAPH -- President Trump greets Ron DeSantis during a rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa on Tuesday. (Photo: ©James Borchuck/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Wire)

Ahead of the Aug. 28 Republican primary, DeSantis — a U.S. representative from the area around Daytona Beach — holds a commanding 41 percent to 29 percent lead over his closest challenger, Adam Putnam, in the same Mason-Dixon poll.

“I’d like to introduce a true leader, a proud veteran, my great friend, a tough, brilliant cookie — true, he’s tough, he’s smart and he loves Florida and he loves our country and he’s going to be your next governor — Ron DeSantis,” Trump said Tuesday in Tampa.

While Gillum has sought to distinguish himself as the progressive champion in a crowded Democratic field, DeSantis made it clear that he fully supports Trump’s White House agenda, releasing an ad that portrayed the candidate as something of a rubber stamp for the president.


CYNICISM MAY BE THE UNMENTIONED ELEMENT NECESSARY TO RISE FROM THE GUTTER TO THE PRESIDENCY, IN ADDITION TO BUSINESS GENIUS AND GREED, THAT IS. I AM SORRY TO FIND HIM LINKED IN ANY WAY TO SANDERS, NOT THAT I BELIEVE BERNIE IS EVEN SIMILAR TO THE TRUMP FOLLOWERS, BUT I HOPE HE HAS TURNED OVER A NEW LEAF. I ALSO HOPE HE WILL NEVER AGAIN WORK WITH BERNIE.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bernie-sanders-ad-man-who-played-paul-manaforts-game/2018/08/01/0df78c18-95c7-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html
Opinions
The deep cynicism of Bernie Sanders’s chief strategist
By Dana Milbank
Columnist
August 1, 2018

Photograph -- Tad Devine. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Tad Devine, during his run as chief strategist for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, railed against the corrupting influence of money in politics.

He repeatedly echoed the Sanders message that “our economy is rigged,” that “special interests” buy politicians, that “all of the new wealth is going to the top of America,” that there is a “corrupt system of campaign finance” of which Hillary Clinton offered an “egregious” example. Sanders, by contrast, “supported the little guy.”

Those who heard Devine’s interviews and watched his Sanders TV ads therefore may be surprised to know that, in the years and months leading up to the Sanders presidential campaign, Devine was making gobs of money to secure the election of one of the world’s most corrupt political figures and then his allies.

Thanks to Robert S. Mueller III’s prosecution of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman and sometime business associate of Devine, we now have an unusual glimpse into the role the Democratic ad man had in electing and preserving the power of Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych, a crooked pro-Putin autocrat. Though American political consultants routinely rake in cash from foreign leaders — even shady ones — Devine’s seamless pivot from advocate for antidemocratic thug to champion of a principled democratic reformer shows extraordinary flexibility.

Yanukovych’s fraudulent election in 2004 as Ukraine’s president was invalidated, but not before his opponent was poisoned by dioxin. Yet testimony in the Manafort trial and documents released by Manafort’s lawyers show Devine helped Manafort on Yanukovych’s comeback as prime minister in 2006 and successful presidential run in 2010. Devine produced a memo of advice for Yanukovych’s party in 2012, even though by then Yanukovych had thrown the leading opposition politician in jail and had built a $100 million mansion — complete with zoo, helipad, golf course and replica galleon on an artificial lake — while his people were, in Devine’s own words, struggling with “joblessness, hunger and the general despair.”

Yanukovych was ousted in 2014 after he halted Ukraine’s movement toward the European Union, yet Devine offered to help Manafort’s efforts in the 2014 Ukraine election — for a price. “We are ready to take on this project,” he wrote to Manafort partner Rick Gates, for $100,000 per month (payable in advance), $25,000 per week of runoff, a $50,000 “success fee” and expenses including first-class airfare. In June 2014 — even as talks about the Sanders presidential run were getting underway — Devine went to Ukraine to help remnants of Yanukovych’s party reforming under a new name. “My rate for something like this would be $10,000/day, including travel days,” he wrote to Gates.

As Sanders likes to say, let me be clear: Manafort is the one on trial for money laundering and other crimes. Devine is a witness for the prosecution; as prosecutors pointed out when he testified Tuesday, he wasn’t the one with a bank account in Cyprus. There is no hint Devine did anything illegal — only cynical.

Manafort, who worked for the world’s sleazebags, made no pretense of scruples. But Devine was the guy molding the Sanders campaign as a righteous, everyman’s insurgency against the corrupt, wealthy establishment. Devine, who had worked on Sanders’s first campaign for the Senate in 2006 (the same year he plotted Yanukovych’s comeback), earned more than $5 million for his firm from the populist Sanders presidential campaign and at least $10 million in commissions split with another firm, according to a Slate tally.

Devine, through an employee, declined to comment Wednesday.

Devine wrote with Manafort a January 2006 memo when Russia was cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine, showing Yanukovych how to ride his “good neighbor” policy toward Russia to victory. He became prime minister. Devine drafted a presidential victory speech for Yanukovych in February 2010 (“We are all Ukrainians first,” the American wrote) and later that year wrote talking points showing how Yanukovych and his party could attack the opposition.

By April 2012, Yanukovych had jailed his opponent and become an international pariah. Devine told Gates, “I regret that we will not be able to work with you” on Ukraine’s parliamentary elections. But four months later, Devine wrote a strategy memo for Manafort. “The number of people who admit they are having difficulty feeding their family throughout Ukraine today is stunning,” he wrote, urging Yanukovych to “signal” his concern and calling for his party to attack. “I would recommend a roughly 3:1 negative to positive ratio in the advertising,” he wrote.

In March 2014, Devine sent Gates a $100,000-per-month proposed agreement “to work on the election in Ukraine.” In court Tuesday, Devine said Gates had recruited him to work for the man who is now Ukraine’s president, billionaire Petro Poroshenko, but Devine didn’t wind up working on the project.

Just as well. It was almost time for him to launch the anti-corruption campaign of Bernie Sanders.

Read more from Dana Milbank’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

Read more:
Jennifer Rubin: Why Trump is so freaked out by the Manafort trial
Jennifer Rubin: Trump seems determined to show ‘corrupt intent’
Jennifer Rubin: What you need to know about Paul Manafort
Greg Sargent: A top adviser to Bernie Sanders makes a key concession about the race
Charles Lane: Actually, the ‘billionaire class’ might be more progressive than Sanders says

Dana Milbank
Dana Milbank is an op-ed columnist. He sketches the foolish, the fallacious and the felonious in politics. Follow


WE RATE THE STATEMENT HALF TRUE.

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/aug/03/bernie-s/did-conservative-study-show-big-savings-bernie-san/
Did conservative study show big savings for Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All plan?
By Louis Jacobson on Friday, August 3rd, 2018 at 11:07 a.m.

Photograph -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Sept. 13, 2017, where he unveiled his Medicare for All legislation. (AP/Andrew Harnik)

When a free-market think tank published its analysis of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan, Republicans took to social media to tout the report’s most eye-popping finding.

Sanders’ Medicare for All would cost $32.6 trillion over 10 years, an amount they framed as crushingly large.


Paul Ryan
✔
@SpeakerRyan
$32.6 trillion dollars. That’s how much Washington Democrats’ single-payer healthcare proposal would cost over 10 years. Even doubling all federal individual and corporate income taxes wouldn’t cover this cost. It is just absurd. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/study-medicare-bill-estimated-326-trillion-56906940 …

11:00 AM - Jul 30, 2018

Study: 'Medicare for all' projected to cost $32.6 trillion
Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for all" plan would increase government health care spending by $32.6 trillion over 10 years, according to a study by a university-based libertarian policy center....

abcnews.go.com
1,994
4,699 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Sanders, however, found good news for his idea in the generally skeptical report.

In a video he shared on social media July 30, he pointed out one of the report’s findings that others had overlooked. Sanders tweaked the Koch brothers, the conservative donor family that has supported the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia.

Sanders said, "Let me thank the Koch Brothers of all people for sponsoring a study that shows that Medicare for All would save the American people $2 trillion over a 10-year period. … That is what is in the study of the Mercatus Center."


Bernie Sanders
✔
@SenSanders
Thank you, Koch brothers, for accidentally making the case for Medicare for All!

7:30 PM - Jul 30, 2018
19.9K
8,324 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Sanders’ plan would essentially expand Medicare to cover everyone, rather than just those older than 65. Individuals (and their employers) would no longer need to shoulder co-pays for medical care or premiums for private insurance coverage. Instead, the government would pay everyone’s medical bills.

Sanders and his allies say this would end up saving money, because it would remove the middle-man of insurance companies, which drive up administrative costs, and and enable the government to use new bargaining power to rein in costs by providers.

Skeptics counter that those savings are not guaranteed, and the lack of a monetary incentive for patients to hold back on services could lead to increased use of the system, adding to the overall cost. In addition, with the government having to raise revenue to pay everyone’s bills, taxes and the federal debt could go dangerously high, potentially canceling out or exceeding the money that individuals and families would save in higher take-home pay and lower health-care expenses.

In this article, we’ll look at something much more narrow: whether Sanders is right that the Mercatus report says that single-payer would save the United States $2 trillion in health care outlays.

In a way, Sanders is right, though his assertion glosses over some caveats.

Where the $2 trillion estimate comes from

The Mercatus report included a table summarizing the financial effects of Sanders’ bill. With a minimum of arithmetic, it’s not hard to find the $2 trillion in question.

It’s the difference between the Department of Health and Human Services’ projection of the amount of total health care spending in the United States, and what Mercatus thinks that number would be under Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal. (See Table 2.)

Under Mercatus’ projection for Medicare for All, the total amount of health expenditures would actually fall compared to what is expected under a continuation of the current system.

Specifically, total health care expenditures would fall by $2.054 trillion over 10 years, according to Mercatus.

So there’s definitely something to what Sanders said.

Some reasons for pause

The Mercatus report’s author took issue with Sanders’ focus on that figure.

Charles Blahous said that to come up with that estimate, Mercatus used a relatively generous assumption about how well Sanders’ plan will end up controlling health care costs. It assumes that provider payment will be reduced to Medicare levels, that negotiation with prescription drugmakers will generate significant savings, and that administrative costs will be cut from 13 to 6 percent.

However, in an alternative scenario in which cost-control works less effectively (see Table 4) Mercatus found that over the same 10-year period, national health expenditures would actually increase by $3.252 trillion compared to current law.

So while the number Sanders chose really does appear in the report, he’s cherry-picked the more flattering of two estimates.

Sanders’ bill "indicates that health providers would be paid at Medicare’s payment rates, which are about 40 percent lower than those paid by private insurance," Blahous said. "Obviously, immediately cutting payments to health care providers by roughly 40 percent would lower national health spending."

But would cuts that large actually occur (and without other negative consequences, such as mass retirements of doctors unwilling to accept lower fees)? This is where independent experts express caution.

Sustained cuts as deep as those projected in the Mercatus model Sanders pointed to are "not likely feasible," said John Holahan, a fellow in the health policy center at the Urban Institute. His Urban Institute colleague, Linda Blumberg, agreed, saying it’s a "pretty heroic assumption to say that you can dial payment rates down to those levels system-wide politically."

In addition, even if the switch to Medicare for All does end up cutting the total amount of money spent on health care in the United States, the legislation places more of those costs on the federal budget. In an era of rising debt and an aging Baby Boom generation, that could be a problem.

Josh Miller-Lewis, a spokesman for Sanders, focused instead on the impact on individuals, many of whom will end up ahead. "Under Medicare for All with a progressive tax system, the vast majority of people will save money on health care," he said.

Our ruling

In cheekily thanking the Koch brothers, Sanders said a study they indirectly sponsored "shows that Medicare for All would save the American people $2 trillion over a 10-year period."

The $2 trillion figure can be traced back to the Mercatus report. But it is one of two scenarios the report offers, so Sanders’ use of the term "would" is too strong. The alternative figure, which assumes that a Medicare for All plan isn’t as successful in controlling costs as its sponsors hope it will be, would lead to an increase of almost $3.3 trillion in national health care expenditures, not a decline. Independent experts say the alternative scenario of weaker cost control is at least as plausible.

We rate the statement Half True.


WATCH THIS VIDEO – ONE OF THESE TWO CREATURES IS BRIGHTER THAN THE OTHER. WHICH DO YOU THINK IT IS?

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/man-head-head-bison-yellowstone-prompting-warnings-national/story?id=57010279
Man arrested after going head-to-head with bison at Yellowstone National
By KELLY MCCARTHY JULIA JACOBO via GMA Aug 3, 2018, 5:21 PM ET


A NICE LITTLE BIT FROM THE UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-45084802
Seal found 17 miles inland on Somerset Levels
AUGUST 6, 2018 8 hours ago

PHOTOGRAPH -- CARL BOVIS
Image caption
The seal "looked as happy as Larry" on the banks of the River Parrett

A seal has been spotted "lounging in the mud" 17 miles (28km) from the sea in a field in Somerset.

The animal, thought to be a harbour or common seal, was spotted basking in the sun on the Somerset Levels by nature photographer Carl Bovis on Sunday.

Mr Bovis said it "looked as happy as Larry" on the banks of the River Parrett, despite being miles inland.

The RSPCA said it probably followed the fish upstream but seals were "usually capable of finding their way back".

Image copyrightCARL BOVIS
Image caption
The RSPCA said the wayward animal is a harbour or common seal
Image copyrightCARL BOVIS
Image caption

Despite low water levels, it is thought to have swum up the River Parrett through Bridgwater and on to the Somerset Levels

Mr Bovis, said he was messaged on Sunday by his friend Milly Burt claiming she had seen a seal in a field as she drove past.

"I thought 'what?' but when I went to where she said she'd seen it and came back down river, it was right in front of me," he said.

"I was amazed. It was lounging on the mud beside the river and it saw me straight away but didn't seemed concerned or fussed.


"It was beautiful to see. I've only ever seen a seal once and he looked just fine and as happy as Larry."

Despite the low water levels, the wayward animal is thought to have swum up the River Parrett chasing fish from the Bristol Channel, through Bridgwater and on to the Somerset Levels.

Skip Twitter post by @CarlBovisNature
YouTube ‎@YouTube

Carl Bovis
@CarlBovisNature
Seal on the Somerset Levels! https://youtu.be/z8N-Uz6jqDo via @YouTube

4:09 PM - Aug 5, 2018
35
See Carl Bovis's other Tweets
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Report
End of Twitter post by @CarlBovisNature

The RSPCA said seals are found inland "from time to time" but are "usually capable of finding their way back to the sea".

"Seventeen miles is not a concerning distance, as long as there's the river nearby," a spokeswoman said.

"So hopefully once he's enjoyed a bit of sunbathing inland, he'll head back out to sea."


You may also like:
Snake filmed eating pigeon in street
Stolen castle key returned 40 years later
Baby, 12 days old, has tooth removed



FROM FACEBOOK, REMEMBER THIS:

“IF YOU ARE PRO-LIFE YOU SHOULD BE WILLING TO TREAT ALL LIVES EQUALLY.”
https://www.facebook.com/rachel.hunt.1804/posts/10216341583189227