NOVEMBER 15, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


PRESIDENT TRUMP STRIKES OUT AT MUELLER AGAIN, BUT USING SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT WORDS FROM HIS USUAL SPIEL. I PERSONALLY WANT TO SEE THE MUELLER REPORT. RACHEL MADDOW SAID IT MIGHT BE MUCH LATER, LIKE ANOTHER YEAR.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46225486
Trump attacks Mueller's Russia inquiry as 'absolutely nuts'
15 November 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Mr Trump tweeted that those involved with the Russia probe were "a disgrace to our nation" GETTY IMAGES

US President Donald Trump has attacked Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, calling it a "total mess" and "absolutely nuts".

He tweeted on Thursday that investigators were "threatening" people to provide "the answers they want".

"They are screaming and shouting at people," Mr Trump wrote, adding that no collusion between his election campaign and Russia had been found.

He says the inquiry is a "witch hunt".

The US president has previously said the special counsel investigation led by Mr Mueller, who is a highly regarded former head of the FBI and a Republican, was unfair and dominated by "hardened Democrats".

After Trump fires Sessions - is Mueller next?
All you need to know about Trump Russia story

In Mr Trump's latest tweets, he describes Mr Mueller as "conflicted" and says that those involved in the long-running probe "are a disgrace to our nation".

The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t...

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Donald J. Trump
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@realDonaldTrump
....care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!

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The president later tweeted that Mr Mueller and "his gang of Democrat thugs" were destroying people, and blamed social media tech giants for unfavourable coverage towards his administration and the Republicans.

"Check out how biased Facebook, Google and Twitter are in favour of the Democrats," he wrote.

It is unclear what was behind his latest comments and Mr Trump did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Fears of an impending storm
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC Washington

Donald Trump is back on the attack against Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation. After a brief mid-term interlude that included dire warnings about refugee caravans in Mexico and mix-and-match endorsements of Republican candidates, the looming Russia investigation is back on the president's mind - and his Twitter feed.

Mr Trump may simply be reflecting the growing sense that Mr Mueller is poised for new action after a pre-election quiet period. Rumours and reports have swirled of impending indictments and late nights at the special counsel's office.

There's also the possibility that the president knows something new - either passed along from his lawyers or allies under investigation, or from his newly appointed acting attorney general, who the New York Times referred to in September as the White House's "eyes and ears" in the justice department.

Whatever the explanation, Mr Trump has appeared in a sour mood of late, lashing out at the media and, according to background sources, considering changes to his top staff. There is the feeling in Washington of an impending storm, of threats to the presidency from the outside and within.

It's been a quiet few days, but that seems certain to change.

It comes just a week after the US president forced the resignation of Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General who was an early supporter of Mr Trump.

Mr Sessions had earlier voluntarily removed himself from the Russia probe after Democrats accused him of failing to disclose contacts with the Russian ambassador during his Senate confirmation hearing.

Following this decision, Mr Trump told the New York Times: "Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else."

Mr Sessions' replacement in charge of the Department of Justice, Matthew Whitaker, now has the power to sack Mr Mueller or end the investigation.

Mr Whitaker, who has been appointed acting attorney general, has been open about his concerns over the scope of Mr Mueller's inquiry.

What is behind the Russia investigation?

In 2016, US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had used a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media in an attempt to turn the election against Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.

A team of investigators led by Mr Mueller is looking into whether anyone from Mr Trump's campaign colluded in the effort.

It has been established that senior members of Mr Trump's team met Russian officials, while several of these meetings were not initially disclosed.

The Trump-Russia saga in 200 words

The president's son, Donald Trump Jr, met a Russian lawyer during the campaign who was said to have "dirt" on Mrs Clinton, and adviser George Papadopoulos has admitted lying to the FBI about meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.

Four people connected with Mr Trump's campaign and presidency have been charged and further indictments could be issued.

However the US president denies any wrongdoing and no solid evidence has emerged to implicate him.


THE JOB THAT IS ASSIGNED TO POLICE OFFICERS IS VERY DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS, BUT THEY NEED TO “BITE THE BULLET” AND DO IT. SORRY, DEPUTY PETERSON.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/scot-peterson-parkland-deputy-who-failed-to-enter-school-during-shooting-no-show-in-front-of-investigative-panel
Scot Peterson, Parkland deputy who didn't enter school during shooting, doesn't show for investigative panel
By Nicole Darrah | Fox News

VIDEO shows deputy's action during Parkland shooting
Raw video: Footage from surveillance cameras shows deputy Scot Peterson's actions during massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day.

Video shows deputy's action during Parkland shooting

Scot Peterson, the disgraced Broward County sheriff's deputy who did not confront Nikolas Cruz as he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in February, declined on Thursday to testify before a public safety commission investigating the massacre.

Peterson, 55, would've been asked why he didn't enter the Parkland, Florida school building where 17 people were killed in one of the largest mass shootings in modern U.S. history.

SCOT PETERSON, DISGRACED PARKLAND SCHOOL COP, STARTS GETTING $8,702-A-MONTH PENSION

The school resource officer's attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, instead appeared before the commission. He told them that earlier Thursday he filed a lawsuit to stop the 14-member panel's subpoena.

Parkland shooter registered to vote while in jail

Nikolas Cruz, the confessed Parkland shooter, registered to vote while in jail. The news enraged one victim’s father.

The commission, which is meeting this week to dissect the Feb. 14 shooting, criticized Peterson on Wednesday, as they believe he could've prevented at least six deaths if he entered the building immediately. Instead, Peterson took cover from Cruz's gunfire and never went inside.

"He was a cop in name only," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "If he had been a real cop, he would have run in there with that gun."

One victim's parent told DiRuzzo that Peterson "didn't do his job. My daughter should be alive."

Peterson told investigators he heard only two or three shots and didn't know whether they were coming from inside or outside the three-story freshman building. That is contradicted by radio calls in which he correctly identifies the building as the shooter's location. Bullets also came out a window almost directly above where he took cover. About 150 shots were fired.

BROWARD DEPUTY SCOT PETERSON SEEN STANDING OUTSIDE DURING FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING IN NEW VIDEO

He resigned soon after the shooting instead of facing possible termination.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Peterson defended his actions, questioning how people could "keep saying I did nothing?"

NEWS VIDEO INTERVIEW -- Family of Parkland shooting victim slam Broward County chaosVideo -- THIS PARENT REPEATEDLY SLAMS THE “UNETHICAL LIBERAL DEMOCRATS” FOR ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS. COULD THIS BE WHY FOX FEATURED THE VIDEO?

In the minds of the public, Peterson said, you are either a “hero or a coward, and that’s it.

“I’ve cut that day up a thousand ways with a million different what-if scenarios, but the bottom line is I was there to protect, and I lost 17,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


“DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES CHANGED OFFICIAL FORMS” – I CAN SEE WHY THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY MAY BE CONSIDERED FOR CRIMINAL CHARGES. IF YOU READ THROUGH THESE NEXT FOUR STORIES, ALL BEING ABOUT THE SAME BIZARRE AND COMPLICATED SITUATION, BUT EACH GIVING A GOOD BIT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND A GREAT DEAL, BUT MAYBE NOT THE WHOLE SITUATION. IT IS AS GOOD ENTERTAINMENT AS THAT WONDERFUL OLD MOVIE CALLED “THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-florida-recounts/
CBS/AP November 15, 2018, 5:20 PM
What you need to know about the Florida recounts

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner declared Thursday afternoon that the unofficial results from the machine recount of the U.S. Senate and Commissioner of Agriculture races have met the statutory threshold to trigger a manual recount. Official returns from a manual recount are due November 20.

The elections will decide the Senate race between Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who currently holds a narrow lead, and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, as well as the race for the state's chief executive, in which GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis is ahead of Democrat Andrew Gillum.

Here's a rundown on the latest developments.

The legal battles

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled Thursday that voters whose mail-in or provisional ballots were rejected because the signatures didn't match those on file will now have until Saturday at 5 p.m. to fix their ballots. Soon after the ruling, Scott appealed it.

In granting the preliminary injunction, Walker wrote that the issue "is whether Florida's law that allows county election officials to reject vote-by-mail and provisional ballots for mismatched signatures—with no standards, an illusory process to cure, and no process to challenge the rejection— passes constitutional muster. The answer is simple. It does not."

Democrats and Nelson argued that rejecting the ballots without standards for fixing them violates the Constitution's equal protection clause. They wanted all the voided ballots to be counted, a proposal rejected by Walker.

The state of Florida argued that Nelson had waited too long to file the suit and that delaying the results would cause irreparable harm.

State officials said the matching requirement led to the voiding of nearly 4,000 ballots, although that figure did not include larger counties such as Miami-Dade, and it is smaller than the margin of about 13,000 votes separating Scott and Nelson. That's a margin of 0.15 percent. Should that margin hold, there will be a hand recount, and the deadline for that is currently Sunday. It is not clear how or whether the court's extension will affect Thursday's deadline for the machine recount.

Walker ruled on Thursday afternoon in another case denying a request by the Nelson campaign to extend the machine recount deadline for all 67 counties in Florida.

Broward County
Broward County finished its machine recount of early and mail-in ballots Wednesday, and workers began the recount of the Election Day ballots Wednesday afternoon. According to CBS News Miami, Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes says the workers are on track to complete the machine recount by the Thursday deadline.

Snipes has faced strong criticism for the way she handled the midterm elections, CBS News Miami reports. Facebook has confirmed that some people posted Snipes home address and phone number online.

The Florida secretary of state alleges voting irregularities occurred in four counties, including Broward. The Florida Department of State on Friday asked U.S. attorneys to investigate the irregularities, attaching an example that appeared to show a Florida Democratic Party volunteer advising a mail-in voter to deliver a voter affadavit by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8, two days after the election. However, that information was incorrect, since the affadavits were due on the day before the election, on Nov. 5.

Palm Beach County

In Palm Beach County, tallying machines overheated this week, causing mismatched results with the recount of 174,000 early voting ballots, forcing staffers to redo their work. According to the Miami Herald, Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher says the county will finish its recount of the Senate race by 3 p.m., but not the gubernatorial race.

Florida law is not entirely clear on what this will mean to the recount. It says that if this is the case, the canvassing board should submit the original initial returns with an explanation of why it couldn't finish the recount on time. But the law also says the "canvassing board shall complete the recount."

If there is no court decision extending the deadline, the gubernatorial race could be decided by the machine recount deadline, since DeSantis maintains his lead over Gillum by 0.41 percentage points. The race would not be certified until next week, however.

Four county supervisors turned over information that showed Democratic Party operatives changed official forms* [SEE BELOW] to say that voters had until two days after the election to fix any problems with mail-in ballot signatures. Under current law, a voter has until the day before Election Day to fix a problem.

Where it goes from here
Scott agreed to step down from the state panel responsible for certifying the final results. Scott has also suggested fraud may be taking place in some counties. Critics have said Scott should have no role in overseeing the election given his close contest.

The League of Women Voters of Florida and another group had filed a lawsuit that sought to remove Scott from any official control over the election. Scott appoints the state's chief election official responsible for ordering recounts. Ballots, however, are counted by local election officials.

No less than six federal lawsuits have been filed so far in Tallahassee. Nelson's campaign has also filed a lawsuit seeking public records from a north Florida elections supervisor who allowed voters in GOP-heavy Bay County to email their ballots in apparent violation of state law.

Judge Walker, citing a well-known "Star Trek" episode about rapidly-reproducing furry aliens, said during one election lawsuit hearing Wednesday that "I feel a little bit like Captain Kirk in the episode with the Tribbles where they start to multiply." He began his third hearing of the day by correcting himself: "The lawyers are multiplying like Tribbles - not the lawsuits."

Scott was in Washington, D.C., while the court battles rage on. He stood at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's left shoulder Wednesday when the Kentucky Republican welcomed GOP senators who will take their seats in January when the new Congress is sworn in.

State law requires a machine recount in races where the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. In the Senate race, Scott's lead over Nelson was 0.14 percentage points. In the governor's contest, unofficial results showed DeSantis ahead of Gillum by 0.41 percentage points.

Once the machine recount is complete, a hand recount will be ordered in any race where the difference is 0.25 percentage points or less, meaning it could take even longer to complete the review of the Senate race if the difference remains narrow.

If the Senate race does go to a hand recount, the deadline for counties to finish is Sunday.

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


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/15/florida-recount-democrats-launch-plan-altered-state-form-fix-ballots/2016030002/
Email shows Florida Democratic official sought to use altered forms for reaching voters with ballot problems
Ana Ceballos, Naples Daily News Published 4:28 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2018 | Updated 5:56 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2018

TALLAHASSEE – A Democratic party official in Florida directed aides to share altered election forms with voters in an effort to fix ballot signature problems a day after polls closed in the key swing state, an email obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK shows.

The email shows a Democratic party leader provided staff with altered copies of a state form that were modified to give the impression that voters had more time to correct signature problems with mailed-in ballots than they actually had under state law.

The altered forms, which turned up in four counties in the state, appear to be an effort to increase the number of Democratic ballots counted in the state's hotly contested races for governor and Senate, election experts said.

It is not clear whether the effort changed the tally in any of the state’s marquee races, but election experts said altering the form is illegal and the controversy is likely to spur claims that party officials attempted to undermine the voting process.

Officials at the Florida Department of State said they asked federal prosecutors last week to investigate altered forms received by local election supervisors.

Jake Sanders, a Democratic campaign consultant in the state, told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida that he warned party officials about potential legal problems with the altered forms and was ignored.

"They should have been saying, 'This is unprecedented, we are fighting for your vote to count, fill this out so we can fight for you,'” Sanders said. “But self-imposing a fake deadline and deceiving people is counter to that."

Election officials check the signatures on mailed ballots against the signatures they have on record. If they don’t match, the ballot is set aside for further review. When that happens, a voter has the ability to resubmit their signature on a form to “cure” the difference between the signatures and have their ballot counted.

The email encouraged Florida Democrats to identify the challenged ballots and send the altered signature correction forms to voters. But the language was different: It replaced the deadline of 5 p.m. on Nov. 5, the day before the election, with a new deadline, "no later than 5 p.m. Thursday Nov. 8."

The altered forms surfaced in Broward, Santa Rosa, Citrus and Okaloosa counties. It is not clear whether election officials in those counties actually accepted any of the altered signature forms, given that they would have arrived after the state’s deadline.

Charles Zelden, political science professor at Nova Southeastern University in Florida and an election expert, said the move presented the appearance of trying to game the system.

(View the altered form here.)

(View the unaltered form here.)

“But a strict reading of the rules says if they don’t get it in the day before the day of the election, those votes don’t get counted anyhow. So on the surface, it’s a very inefficient way to game the system,” he said. “It could be a Hail Mary effort.”

Zelden said that if “this is an attempt at fraud to sneak in votes that would have not been counted otherwise, I’m just saying its chances of working are not great (but) it does play into the narrative of Republicans that this is a fraudulent effort and gives it some validity.”

Republicans, including the state’s governor and GOP Senate candidate Rick Scott and President Donald Trump, have been alleging fraud in the days since the Nov. 6 election. County officials were expected to complete a machine recount in three competitive statewide races on Thursday.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that voters should have until Saturday to correct signatures on ballots, a move that could open the door for these ballots returned with altered forms to be counted. Republicans supporting Scott, who leads incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by less than 13,000 votes in the recount, appealed the ruling.

Jackie Schutz Zeckman, Scott's campaign manager, called on Nelson to demand the immediate resignation of Florida’s Democrat Party Chair Terrie Rizzo.

"Democrats even admitted plans to fraudulently mislead voters in anticipation of including ballots submitted after the legal deadline if they could convince a judge to disregard Florida election law," Zeckman said. "Federal prosecutors are also investigating this clear example of attempt to fraudulently mislead voters by the Democrat Party in Florida."

Nelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Penalosa also did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the use of the altered forms.

The party compiled a list of voters and their contact information across the state who had their vote-by-mail ballots flagged with signature problems, and therefore not eligible.

It is not clear how many altered forms were sent across the state, but an email drafted by the state party’s central Florida deputy field director that was obtained by the USA TODAY Network-Florida outlined a step-by-step process for volunteers and staffers to follow to get as many voters as possible to submit the altered form three days after the deadline.

“The voters MUST print out the form and sign it by hand,” the party official, Jennifer Kim, wrote in the email that attached copies of the altered forms in both English and Spanish. The email also included a sheet with the contact information of all election supervisors in the state.

Kim was clear that staffers should target people who submitted absentee vote-by-mail ballots before Election Day and did not sign them properly. Her email subject line said "VBM signature cure instructions" and labeled the list of voters to be contacted as "VBM signature chases."

State Democrats have come under fire previously for suggesting to voters that the deadline to submit the ballot was later than it actually was. Pam Keith, a Palm Beach County Democrat, posted a Nov. 7 tweet in which she encouraged people to fix their absentee ballots two days after the state-mandated deadline.

Keith told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida that she was aware the deadline to submit "cure affidavits" had expired but she told people there was still time to fix their absentee ballots.

"I was trying to show that if given notice, voters would try to fix their ballots," Keith said. "I was putting the word out because I was anticipating a (legal) challenge of that deadline."

An email that Jennifer Kim, Florida Democratic Party’s central deputy field director, sent Nov. 7 to party workers instructing them how to give voters an altered form to fix signature problems with their absentee ballots after the state deadline. Kim’s email shows this is a statewide effort to give voters the altered form with the wrong deadline to return it. The altered forms have turned up in several counties and have been turned over to federal prosecutors to review for possible election fraud.

She later deleted the tweet.

The Department of State, which oversees elections in Florida, raised concerns about the alterations, arguing that making changes to a state form is a criminal offense.

Election experts said that if state Democrats had sent a notice to their voters with challenged ballots, encouraging them to attempt to correct their signatures even though the deadline to do so had passed, they’d likely be in the clear.

The legal problem for Democrats is that they distributed the altered elections form, said Michael McDonald, an election expert at the University of Florida and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. The political problem, he said, could be wider if it casts doubt on their intentions.

McDonald likened the episode to another this year in which an election supervisor in heavily Republican Bay County counted ballots cast by email or fax, which is not permitted.

“In both cases, there were efforts to ensure that voters’ ballots would be counted and so while there were maybe violations of the law, I wouldn’t be going after either one of these,” he said. “But, undoubtedly, that’s not how this is going to play out.”

Contributing: John Fritze and Ledyard King.

The recount began 5 p.m. Saturday in Palm Beach County. Mary Helen Moore, mary.moore@tcpalm.com


FROM READING BOTH EMAILS FROM JENNIFER KIM, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT “CLEAR,” BUT CONFUSED IN SYNTAX AND USING AN ABBREVIATION INSTEAD OF SPELLING OUT THE WORDS. IF KIM IS AN ETHNIC CHINESE PERSON, THAT MAY EXPLAIN A LANGUAGE ERROR. I’M WILLING TO BET THAT IN A RUSHED AND CONFUSED ENVIRONMENT, PLUS THE FACT THAT THEY WERE PROBABLY USING BARELY TRAINED TEMPORARY AND PART-TIME WORKERS, "VBM SIGNATURE CURE” AND "VBM SIGNATURE CHASES" DID NOT SUCCESSFULLY TRANSMIT THE TERM “ABSENTEE VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT,” OR “COMMUNICATIONS LIST.” WHAT DO YOU THINK? STILL, HOW THOSE PARTICULAR INITIALS CAME TO BE TRANSLATED AS “PROVISIONAL BALLOTS,” I DON’T KNOW. THE SECOND KIND PERSON WHO JUMPED INTO THE CONFUSION TO CORRECT THE IMPRESSION, WAS TERRI RIZZO, WHO WROTE HER EMAIL DESIGNED TO CORRECT THAT ERROR, AND IT DID, OR AT LEAST IT WAS UNDERSTANDABLE TO ME, BUT IT WAS WRITTEN ON “A PRIVATE FACEBOOK PAGE.” WHY?

I DESPISE ACRONYMS AND JARGON, AND THEY ARE EVERYWHERE I TURN NOWADAYS. MY RESPONSE TO THEM IS TO IMMEDIATELY LOOK THEM UP ON GOOGLE, BUT THESE PEOPLE WERE PERHAPS IN TOO GREAT A HURRY TO DO THAT. “CURE” AND “CHASE” ARE EQUALLY MYSTIFYING. NEITHER IS SUFFICIENTLY CLOSE TO THE MEANING AS USED IN THIS CONTEXT TO HAVE BEEN USED AS AN INSTRUCTION. FINALLY, TERRIE RIZZO WROTE HER CORRECTIONAL EMAIL “ON A PRIVATE FACEBOOK PAGE.” DOES THAT MEAN SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE, OR AT LEAST ON SOME OTHER PLATFORM WHICH HAD BEEN AGREED UPON IN ADVANCE AS THE OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS PAGE? IF NOT, THAT IS ALMOST A GUARANTEE THAT HALF OF THOSE WHO NEEDED THAT INFORMATION DIDN’T EVEN SEE IT. THERE! IF THEY WILL DO IT THAT WAY IN THE FUTURE, MAYBE THIS PARTICULAR PROBLEM WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN.

PEOPLE TALKING IN CODE IS RIDICULOUS, ESPECIALLY IF THERE IS A REAL NEED FOR ACCURACY. PEOPLE TEND TO THINK THAT ALPHABET SOUP SAVES TIME, BUT NOT IF IT REQUIRES EXTRA TIME TO UNDERSTAND IT, OR IF A PILE OF BOTCHED WORK HAS TO BE DONE OVER; IF I WEREN’T A VERY STUBBORN PERSON, I MIGHT NOT HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER. IT IS VERY UNFORTUNATE THAT THIS WAS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY ERROR AND NOT THE REPUBLICANS. I’M SURE IT WASN’T A PURPOSEFUL ACTION MEANT TO CAUSE CONFUSION, THOUGH, AS THE WHOLE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS CLAIMING, BECAUSE IN WHAT WAY COULD THAT POSSIBLY BENEFIT US? THOSE SLIPPERY REPUBLICANS ARE HOPING TO GET THE ELECTION REVERSED IF THE COUNT SWITCHES TO DEMOCRATIC VICTORIES INSTEAD OF REPUBLICAN, AND BLACKEN OUR NAME BE DECLARING FRAUD.

https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/15/florida-recount-democrats-launch-plan-altered-state-form-fix-ballots/2009178002/
Florida Dems planned to use altered forms to fix mail ballots across state after deadline
Ana Ceballos, Naples Daily News Published 8:54 a.m. ET Nov. 15, 2018 | Updated 6:26 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2018

TALLAHASSEE – A day after Florida's election left top state races too close to call, a Democratic party leader directed staffers and volunteers to share altered election forms with voters to fix signature problems on absentee ballots after the state's deadline.

The altered forms surfaced in Broward, Santa Rosa, Citrus and Okaloosa counties and were reported to federal prosecutors to review for possible election fraud as Florida counties completed a required recount in three top races.

But an email obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida shows that Florida Democrats were organizing a broader statewide effort beyond those counties to give voters the altered forms to fix improper absentee ballots after the Nov. 5 deadline. Democratic party leaders provided staffers with copies of a form, known as a "cure affidavit," that had been modified to include an inaccurate Nov. 8 deadline.

(View the unaltered form here.)

One Palm Beach Democratic activist said in an interview the idea was to have voters fix and submit as many absentee ballots as possible with the altered forms in hopes of later including them in vote totals if a judge ruled such ballots were allowed.

An email that Jennifer Kim, Florida Democratic Party’s central deputy field director, sent Nov. 7 to party workers instructing them how to give voters an altered form to fix signature problems with their absentee ballots after the state deadline. Kim’s email shows this is a statewide effort to give voters the altered form with the wrong deadline to return it. The altered forms have turned up in several counties and have been turned over to federal prosecutors to review for possible election fraud.

[DUPLICATE] An email that Jennifer Kim, Florida Democratic Party’s central deputy field director, sent Nov. 7 to party workers instructing them how to give voters an altered form to fix signature problems with their absentee ballots after the state deadline. Kim’s email shows this is a statewide effort to give voters the altered form with the wrong deadline to return it. The altered forms have turned up in several counties and have been turned over to federal prosecutors to review for possible election fraud. (Photo: Submitted Photo)

U.S. Chief Judge Mark Walker ruled Thursday that voters should have until Saturday to correct signatures on ballots, a move that could open the door for these ballots returned with altered forms to be counted. Republicans supporting Gov. Rick Scott, who leads U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson by less than 13,000 votes in the recount, appealed the ruling.

The Democratic Party email was sent before Nelson and his party allies filed a series of lawsuits challenging some voting rules that applied during the election, claiming they disenfranchised voters.

Jake Sanders, a Democratic consultant in the Treasure Coast who saw the email, told the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida that he warned party staffers about the legality of using an altered form, but was ignored.

"I warned FDP staff members of the questionable legal status of altering a state form and misleading people their vote would be counted before the court case played out," Sanders said. "And coordinated campaign leadership told them to keep pushing it that, 'We are exhausting every possibility.'"

Sanders said the legality of use of the altered form was never discussed.

To Sanders, the party was not being upfront with voters and "undermining making sure every vote counts."

"They should have been saying, 'This is unprecedented. We are fighting for your vote to count. Fill this out so we can fight for you.' But self-imposing a fake deadline and deceiving people is counter to that," Sanders said.

Jennifer Kim, the party's Central Florida deputy field director who also served as deputy training director, was clear in her Nov. 7 email that staffers should target people who submitted absentee vote-by-mail ballots before Election Day and did not sign them properly. Her email subject line said "VBM* signature cure instructions" and labeled the list of voters to be contacted as "VBM signature chases."

[VBM* -- “VOTE BY MAIL”]

That same day, however, state Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo wrote on a private Facebook page that efforts to fix ballots should be focused on provisional ballots, which were handled separately with a Nov. 8 deadline for voters to fix any issues.

"Hi all. Once again, to clarify: the activity taking place today is for provisional ballots. Not absentee ballots," Rizzo's note read.

Provisional ballots do not need to be corrected to be accepted by a county's canvassing board, but voters can provide additional information to help resolve any outstanding issues. They also use a separate state form for voters to complete when filing a provisional ballot.

Scott's campaign said Thursday that Nelson should demand Rizzo's resignation in the wake of news about the party's connection to the altered election documents and the plan to share with voters.

"Bill Nelson can either stay silent and be in favor of organized fraud by the Democrat Party, or he can do the right thing and demand the immediate resignation of Florida’s Democrat Party Chair," said Jackie Schutz Zeckman, Scott's campaign manager.

The recount began 5 p.m. Saturday in Palm Beach County. Mary Helen Moore, mary.moore@tcpalm.com

Nelson's campaign did not respond Thursday. Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Penalosa also did not respond Thursday to requests for comment about the use of the altered forms.

The party compiled a list of voters and their contact information across the state who had their vote-by-mail ballots flagged with signature problems, and therefore not eligible.

“These are people that submitted VBMs before Election Day and did not sign them properly,” Kim wrote in the email.

It is not clear how many altered forms were sent across the state, but Kim's email outlined a step-by-step process for volunteers and staffers to follow in order to get as many voters as possible to submit the altered form three days after the deadline.

“The voters MUST print out the form and sign it by hand,” Kim wrote in the email that attached copies of the altered forms in both English and Spanish. The email also included a sheet with the contact information of all election supervisors in the state.

Among those Democrats on Kim's email was Joe Walters of Brandon, listed by the Nelson campaign as a recount contact.

In case you missed it: FL agency asks U.S. prosecutors to investigate possible election fraud tied to Democrats

More: Collier certifies recount results, orders manual recount in county judge race

The document Kim attached to her email was an altered state form to fix an absentee ballot with signature problems. The altered form modified the original state document by replacing the deadline identified as "no later than 5 p.m. on the day before the election" with a new deadline "no later than 5 p.m. Thursday Nov. 8."

Kim's email instructed staff and volunteers to use the list of voters to contact about their signature problems on the absentee ballots, to complete the form on the phone with the voter and to email the completed form to the voter.

The voter was instructed to print the form and to sign it. And Kim's email instructed the party workers to tell voters to deliver the signed form to their local election office.

Kim told staffers that voters should reply back to them after they delivered the forms at the party's email, vote@floridadems.org. That email was also included in documents Florida election officials referred to federal prosecutors in connection to the altered forms received by Broward and the other three counties.

The recounting of Senate and gubernatorial ballots is underway in Florida's second most-populous county after it fixed problems with its machines. (Nov. 11) AP

“If needed (party) staff or volunteer should go pick up their affidavit and deliver it for them if they are not able to deliver by 5 p.m. Thursday. (Each office should identify a runner that can do this.),” her email states.

“We will also follow with a tracking system for people who we send [with?] affidavits," Kim told staffers.

Pam Keith, a Palm Beach County Democratic activist, came under fire Wednesday after Republicans circulated a screenshot of a Nov. 7 deleted tweet she sent to about 22,000 of her Twitter followers, encouraging people to fix their absentee ballots two days after the state-mandated deadline.

Keith told the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida that she was aware the deadline to submit "cure affidavits" had expired but she told people there was still time to fix their absentee ballots. She then directed voters to email Katharine Priegues, a field organizer with the Florida Democratic Party, with the subject line "I want to help" for instructions on what to do.

"I was trying to show that if given notice, voters would try to fix their ballots," Keith said. "I was putting the word out because I was anticipating a challenge of that deadline (in court)."

Keith, who this year ran in the Democratic primary for Florida’s 18th Congressional District, knew that because the deadline to submit the "cure affidavits" had passed, it was almost guaranteed they would be rejected by election supervisors, who were under "no obligation to accept the affidavits."

"But better to have evidence in hand," said Keith, who volunteered for Democrat Andrew Gillum's campaign for governor.

That evidence would be a record of emails sent by voters who wanted to fix their absentee ballots but couldn't do so because they couldn't meet the state-imposed deadline. She said she did not alter the form or circulated by others in the party and has no ideas who did.

She said she doesn't consider her efforts to encourage voters after the deadline to fix their absentee ballots election to be fraud, arguing she acted because she believes the deadline to fix absentee ballots was arbitrary.

"It is not fraud to try and correct something. There's nothing fraudulent about that," she said.

After [Judge] Walker's ruling Thursday to allow voters more time to fix signature problems on absentee ballots, Keith said the actions that she and other Democrats took to help voters with the altered forms was justified.

"The deadline wasn't 'wrong,' per se. It was functionally meaningless and arbitrary," Keith said. "Most people never get notice, and many ballots weren't even looked at until the deadline had passed."

The Department of State, which oversees elections, raised concerns about the altered forms, arguing that making changes to state forms is a criminal offense in Florida. The forms were forwarded on Nov, 9 to federal prosecutors.

Federal law defines election fraud to include preventing voters from participating in a federal election "through such tactics as disseminating false information" about the race, as outlined in an Oct. 25 letter to the state department by Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry C. Wallace in Miami.

Wallace, who is handling federal election complaints in Florida, declined to comment when contacted about an investigation into the altered forms.

“Making or using an altered form is a criminal offense under Florida law,” wrote Bradley McVay, the state department’s lawyer, when he referred the altered forms circulated in Broward and three other counties to federal prosecutors. “More fundamentally, altering a form in a manner that provides the incorrect date for a voter to cure a defect (or an incorrect method as it related to provisional ballots) imposes a burden on the voter significant enough to frustrate the voter’s ability to vote.”


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/416901-broward-county-completes-machine-recount-ahead-of-deadline
Broward County completes machine recount ahead of Florida deadline
BY LISA HAGEN - 11/15/18 10:55 AM EST

Broward County, which has been at the center of Florida’s heated midterm recount battle, has finished its machine recount in the three statewide races ahead of a Thursday afternoon deadline, according to NBC Miami.

The final ballots were reportedly tabulated by machine late Wednesday night, and officials will use the remaining time before the deadline to hand count mail-in ballots.

All of Florida’s 67 counties are working to meet a 3 p.m. Thursday deadline for machine recounts. If the margin between candidates is less than 0.25 percentage points, a hand recount would likely be triggered.

Broward County has come under fire throughout the recount process, mainly from Republicans, for its handling of votes. President Trump on Wednesday became the latest Republican to call for the removal of Broward's supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes.

Broward’s completion of the machine recount comes as officials in Palm Beach County have suggested they might not meet the deadline. Palm Beach’s supervisor of elections, Susan Bucher, said earlier this week she believed they’d hit the deadline in the Senate race. But with machine mishaps, she warned that the county is "in prayer mode to finish on time,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida’s heated Senate race has been at the center of the recount as incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R) engage in a litigation battle.

A federal judge ruled Thursday morning that voters whose mail-in and provisional ballots were initially rejected due to signature issues will get two more days to fix their ballots.

“The precise issue in this case is whether Florida’s law that allows county election officials to reject vote-by-mail and provisional ballots for mismatched signatures — with no standards, an illusory process to cure, and no process to challenge the rejection — passes constitutional muster,” Judge Mark Walker wrote in his decision. “The answer is simple. It does not.”

Nelson’s recount lawyer, Marc Elias, praised the decision. But Scott’s team and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed an appeal Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta to challenge it.

A hand recount is likely in the Senate race, since Scott currently leads Nelson by only 0.15 percentage points.

In the governor's race, the candidates are separated by a wider margin, with former Rep. Ron DeSantis (R) currently ahead of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) by 0.41 percentage points.


PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRMS TEND, I BELIEVE, TO VARY IN A RANGE BETWEEN UNDERSTANDABLE SELF-DEFENSE OR ADVERTISING AND PERSONAL ATTACKS OR THE SPREADING OF OTHER VIRULENT LIES. UNFORTUNATELY, THESE THINGS DIFFER IN THE MATTER OF ALLEGATIONS AND SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION MORE THAN SPECIFIC, VERIFIED CONTENT. I REALLY FEEL THAT TOO MUCH OF WHAT APPEARS ON THE INTERNET IS HARMFUL TO INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS, AND WITHOUT LEGITIMATE CAUSE SO OFTEN.

FACEBOOK’S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE FAR RIGHT/TRUMPIAN CAMP IN THE 2016 AMERICAN ELECTION IS UNACCEPTABLE TO ME. IF I HAVE MALIGNED ANYONE WITHOUT GOOD CAUSE, I BELIEVE THAT I SHOULD HAVE TO LOSE MY POSITION ON THE FACEBOOK PLATFORM; OR IF I DID SERIOUS DAMAGE, TO A LAWSUIT OR CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. AS FOR FACEBOOK AS AN ENTITY, IT DESERVES TO PAY PENALTIES FOR ALLOWING OTHERS TO MAKE ATTACKS PURPOSELY AND UNFAIRLY, AND SHOULD DELETE THE ACCOUNT OF AN AGGRESSOR.

IN THE CASE OF A NATION SUCH AS RUSSIA – OR EVEN THE US GOVERNMENT – THEIR ACCOUNTS SHOULD BE FINED, FROZEN AND SHAMED IN THE NEWS. IT IS THE CASE, I NOTICE, THAT EVEN THAT DOESN’T STOP THEM, THOUGH. THE RUSSIAN BOTS CONTINUE TO ATTACK AMERICAN LIBERAL POLITICOS. OF COURSE, FROM THE OUTSIDE I AM UNABLE TO DETECT WHAT ACTIONS FACEBOOK MAY HAVE ACTUALLY TAKEN AND WHAT WAS PURE EXCUSES AND PROMISES.

TO MAKE SURE THAT WE TREAT EVERY GROUP FAIRLY, WE NEED SOME SPECIFIC RULES TO SPECIFY WHAT CRITICISMS AND METHODS ARE ALLOWED. OUR FREE SPEECH ADVOCATES HAVE TENDED TO REQUIRE A NO HOLDS BARRED APPROACH, WHEREAS I BELIEVE THAT LEADS TO FLAGRANT DAMAGES AND ABUSE, AND I BELIEVE THAT CRIMINAL LAWS AS WELL AS CIVIL REDRESS SHOULD BE ALLOWED. I AM THINKING ESPECIALLY OF HUMAN-LEVEL ASSAULTS, SUCH AS THE TRUMP CAMP SO OFTEN HAS MADE AGAINST HILLARY CLINTON, BARACK OBAMA, AND AS SOME HAVE MADE AGAINST SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS. THEY HAVE OBVIOUS GOALS – MORE MONEY, MORE POWER AND UNBRIDLED REVENGE. IT’S LIKE A FEUD BETWEEN CLANS. THERE IS NO “REASON” FOR THE ASSAULTS IN TOO MANY CASES.

UNDER OUR GUARANTEED FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ASSOCIATION, WE ALLOW A GREAT LATITUDE OF ACTIONS, BUT SOMETIMES IT GOES TOO FAR. THE ACTIONS OF POLITICAL USERS, SUCH AS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO AN INDEPENDENT WATCHDOG GROUP AND TO ITS’ PUBLICLY STATED FINDINGS. VERIFIABLE HARM AND ACTIONS SHOULD BE FOLLOWED BY SOME FORM OF LEGAL / FINANCIAL SANCTIONS. EVEN IF WE CAN’T BAN HATE SPEECH AND OTHER UNFAIR DEALINGS, WE SHOULD MAKE LIFE UNCOMFORTABLE FOR THE INDIVIDUALS OR CORPORATE ENTITIES.

IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT INDIVIDUALS WITHIN A CORPORATION OR GOVERNMENT CANNOT BE PUNISHED FOR THE CORPORATION’S MISDEEDS. CORPORATIONS ARE LIKE COMPUTERS. THEY CAN’T “DO” ANYTHING WITHOUT THE HUMANS WHO RUN THEM. I HAVE REALLY LOVED FACEBOOK, BUT I JUST CAN’T ANYMORE. THEY HAVEN’T MERELY DAMAGED PEOPLE, THEY HAVE DAMAGED OUR REPUBLIC. IF CORPORATIONS ARE “PEOPLE,” WHY CAN’T WE PUNISH THEM FOR TREASON AND ASSIGN WATCHDOG GROUPS TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT THEY DO?

SO MUCH OF WHAT FACEBOOK DID OR ALLOWED TO BE DONE IN 2016 WAS ACCOMPLISHED LONG BEFORE IT WAS DISCOVERED BY THE PUBLIC, AND THE DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE. FACEBOOK SAYS HERE THAT IT IS “MAKING PROGRESS.” WELL, THAT’S NICE.

https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2018-11-15/facebook-says-its-getting-better-at-removing-hate-speech
Facebook Says It's Getting Better at Removing Hate Speech
Facebook says it is making progress on deleting hate speech, graphic violence, fake accounts and rooting out other violations of its rules, including detecting them before they are seen by users.
Nov. 15, 2018, at 2:20 p.m.

PHOTOGRAPH -- FILE- In this Jun 7, 2013, file photo, the Facebook "like" symbol is illuminated on a sign outside the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook says it is making progress on deleting hate speech, graphic violence and other violations of its rules, including detecting them before they are seen by users. The company released its second report Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, detailing how it enforces community standards banning hate, nudity and other content. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it's making progress on deleting hate speech, graphic violence and other violations of its rules and detecting problems before users see them.

The company released its second report Thursday detailing how it enforces community standards on hate, nudity and other posts. Compared with its May report, Facebook says it has doubled the amount of hate speech it detects proactively, before users report violations. The new report covers April to September.

The report comes a day after The New York Times published an extensive report about the company's strategy it described as "delay, deny and deflect" to deal with crisis after crisis over the past two years. This included hiring a Washington public relations firm, Definers, to discredit opponents. Facebook said Thursday it has cut ties with the firm.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tags: California


LIAR IN CHIEF. TRUMP DOESN’T NEED A PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM. HE DOES HIS OWN LYING.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ap-fact-check-trump-inflates-jobs-improvement-veterans-59226310
AP FACT CHECK: Trump inflates jobs improvement for veterans
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP ECONOMICS WRITER WASHINGTON — Nov 15, 2018, 4:35 PM ET

PHOTOGRAPH -- President Donald Trump acknowledges applause as speaks during a conference supporting veterans and military families through partnership at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump is spinning a tale regarding the number of jobs he's provided for military veterans.

At a veterans' event Thursday, he said the unemployment rate for former service members is its best in 21 years. He's not even close. It's only a one-year low. And it was even lower 18 years ago, under President Bill Clinton.

A look at his claim:

TRUMP: "Veteran unemployment has reached its lowest level in nearly 21 years, and it's going to be better."

THE FACTS: He's pulling numbers out of thin air.

The veterans' unemployment rate fell to 2.9 percent in October, the latest data available, but that is still above the 2.7 percent rate reached in October 2017, also under Trump. That was the lowest joblessness rate for veterans in nearly 17 years.

Veterans' unemployment has fallen mostly for the same reasons that joblessness has dropped generally: strong hiring and steady economic growth for the past eight years.

In May 2000, veterans' unemployment dropped to a low of 2.3 percent, and he hasn't reached that.

In any event, it's impossible for Trump to claim an achievement not seen in 21 years on veterans' unemployment. The data on joblessness for vets only go back 18 years, to 2000.



Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures

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AS PEOPLE USED TO SAY WHEN I WAS YOUNG, THE BEST THING TO DO IS OFTEN TO “HIT ‘EM IN THE POCKET BOOK.” IT CERTAINLY DOES TEND TO BE EFFECTIVE. “SERIOUSLY, THOUGH FOLKS,” THE HITLER REFERENCE APPLIES HERE AS TO SO MANY STORIES AND SITUATIONS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS OR SO SINCE TRUMP WAS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. WHICH CAME FIRST, NEO-FASCISM IN THE USA OR IN THE REST OF THE WORLD.

HITLER LISTED AND ARRESTED PEOPLE ON PURELY PERSONAL GROUNDS; PUT OUT THE CALL FOR CITIZENS TO SPY ON THEIR NEIGHBORS AND REPORT THEM TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR PERCEIVED SUSPICIONS AND INFRACTIONS; DEPORTATION OR WORSE OF PROFESSIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL PEOPLE FOR ADVOCATING SOME BANNED POLICY.

LET’S FACE IT, INTELLECTUALS AND PROFESSIONALS ARE DANGEROUS TO AN AUTOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. THERE IS ANOTHER CASE IN TODAY’S NEWS ABOUT A POPULAR COMEDIAN IN INDIA WHO DISRESPECTS GOVERNMENT SOMETIMES, LIKE SO MANY COMEDIANS. HE IS SERVING THIRTY YEARS IN PRISON NOW. INDIA WAS ONE OF OUR DEMOCRATIC PARTNERS THE LAST TIME I HEARD. OH, WELLLLL.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46219356
Denmark withholds aid to Tanzania after anti-gay comments
NOVEMBER 15, 2018 3 hours ago

PHOTOGRAPH -- Denmark's minister for development co-operation, Ulla Tornaes, said respect for human rights was crucial for Denmark

Denmark is withholding 65m krone (£7.5m; $9.8m) in aid to Tanzania after "unacceptable homophobic comments" from a senior politician, a minister says.

Development Minister Ulla Tornaes did not name the official but said she was "very concerned" by the comments.

Last month, Paul Makonda, commissioner for the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, called on the public to report suspected gay men to the police.

He said he would set up a surveillance squad to track down gay people.

The government said at the time that Mr Makonda was expressing his personal opinion, not government policy.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Tanzania and punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Correspondents say statements against gay people have increased since President John Magufuli's election in 2015.

In 2017, the country's deputy health minister defended a threat to publish a list of gay people.

Tanzania deports lawyers accused of 'promoting homosexuality'
Tanzania threat to list gay people

More about Tanzania

"I am very concerned about the negative development in Tanzania. Most recently the totally unacceptable homophobic statements from a commissioner," Ms Tornaes said on Twitter.

"I have therefore decided to withhold DKK 65m in the country. Respect for human rights is crucial for Denmark."

Denmark is Tanzania's second biggest aid donor.

Ms Tornaes has also postponed a planned trip to the east African country, Danish broadcaster DR reported.

Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Paul Makonda urged members of the public to report gay men to the police

The Tanzanian government has not yet commented.

Mr Makonda - a staunch ally of the president - said last month that he expected international criticism for his stance, but added: "I prefer to anger those countries than to anger God."

The government distanced itself from his views, saying that he "was only airing his personal opinion".

It said the government would "continue to respect and uphold all human rights as provided for in the country's constitution".

Earlier this month, 10 men were arrested for allegedly conducting a same-sex marriage ceremony on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

The move was condemned by human rights groups.

In a statement on EU-Tanzania relations, the European Council said it would "conduct a comprehensive review of its policies" towards the country.

Citing an "unprecedented attitude", the council renewed calls for "Tanzanian authorities to refrain from exerting undue pressure and limitations on diplomatic missions".

Higher Representative Federica Mogherini said there were deep concerns about "the deteriorating situation for LGBTI persons".