DECEMBER 28 AND 29, 2018

NEWS AND VIEWS

TRUMP’S IDEA OF BARGAINING IS TO BLUFF AND BLOW UNTIL HE SEES THAT IT ISN’T WORKING AND THEN GIVE IN. AFTER THAT YOU LIE IN A GRANDIOSE WAY ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-lowers-demand-for-border-wall-funding/
By PAULA REID CBS NEWS December 28, 2018, 7:10 PM
Trump lowers demand for border wall funding

On the seventh day of the partial government shutdown, President Trump on Friday threatened to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border if Democrats refuse his monetary demands to build his long-promised wall. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said he expected the shutdown to go on for a while, but revealed the president has come down from his initial demand of $5 billion to build the wall.

"We sat down with (Chuck) Schumer and gave him a number below five. I am not going to tell you what it is," Mulvaney said.

Mr. Trump canceled his plans to travel for the holiday and is doubling down on using whatever means necessary to get funding for a wall, tweeting, "We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with."

It is estimated that shutting down the border could cost the economy up to $1 billion a day.

Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer, soon-to-be House Majority Leader, slammed the White House approach.

"This is a strategy of theirs that is a stupid strategy, a harmful strategy, a strategy that undermines the confidence of the markets, undermines the confidence and moral of federal employees, and undermines the confidence, frankly, of the international community," Hoyer said.

Trump "willing to negotiate" on border wall, Sarah Sanders says.

While Washington remains deadlocked, 380,000 workers have been told to stay home without pay, and 420,000 others, including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners, members of the Coast Guard and Border Patrol officers, must work without pay.

John Martyn was furloughed from his New Hampshire job as an engineering technician for the Federal Aviation Administration. "As a federal worker you feel sometime like you're hostage to this," Martyn said.

Feds to furloughed workers: Try bartering for rent

Furloughed workers are expected to get one more paycheck. But his wife Amy is already thinking about what happens when the checks stop coming in.

"So, we have bills that get taken right out from that paycheck and how are we going to pay them?" she said.

The Smithsonian museums — among the most visited in the world — have remained open during the shutdown but will need to close if no deal can be reached by Wednesday.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


WHERE THERE’S A WALL, THERE’S NO WAY, TRUMP SAYS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-blames-deaths-of-migrant-children-on-democrats/
Trump blames deaths of migrant children on Democrats
BY GRACE SEGERS
UPDATED ON: DECEMBER 29, 2018 / 2:21 PM / CBS NEWS

President Trump responded to the recent deaths of two migrant children in U.S. custody for the first time Saturday, blaming Democrats' "pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally."

"Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can't. If we had a Wall, they wouldn't even try!" Mr. Trump tweeted.

"The two ... children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol," he wrote in a second tweet. "The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn't given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!"

Jakelin Caal, 7, died in government custody earlier this month. Caal's father has denied Customs and Border Patrol's (CBP's) claim that she did not consume food or water days before crossing the border.

Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, who died on Christmas Eve, was apprehended by border patrol agents on December 18, and on December 24, a CBP agent noticed Felipe was coughing and appeared to have "glossy eyes." Thirty minutes later, the Guatemalan boy was transferred to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, alongside his father, according to a timeline of events released by CBP.

Mr. Trump's tweet came as the president and congressional Democrats are deadlocked over funding for a border wall. Mr. Trump has refused to sign any partial government funding bill that does not contain the money he wants to build it. Democrats, meanwhile, are unwilling to spend more than $1.6 billion on the border wall. The partial government shutdown entered its eighth day on Saturday.

Border patrol agents who Mr. Trump says are "getting so little credit" are not receiving pay while the government is shut down, as they are federal employees.

First published on December 29, 2018

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


NOW THIS IS THE KIND OF THING THAT I HATE TO SEE, INFORMAL LOCALLY ENFORCED RACISM. IT’S THE KKK WITHOUT LEADERSHIP OR WHITE POINTY UNIFORMS, OR PUT SIMPLY, PURE THUGGERY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/portland-oregon-hotel-doubletree-calls-cops-on-black-guest-employees-on-leave/
CBS NEWS December 28, 2018, 8:13 AM
Oregon hotel employees who called cops on black guest put on leave

Two employees accused of racially profiling a black guest in the lobby of a Hilton DoubleTree Hotel in Portland, Oregon, are on leave Friday morning. The hotel apologized a second time to Jermaine Massey, who in widely shared Instagram videos claimed he was targeted for "calling his mother while black."

Massey was returning from a concert Saturday night when he said he went to a quiet corner of the hotel lobby to take a phone call from his mother when a security officer – now dubbed "Hotel Earl" by the internet – approached him and things got heated, reports CBS News correspondent DeMarco Morgan.

The 71-year-old security guard, Earl Wesley Meyers, had asked Massey for his room number. Massey said he didn't remember it and requested privacy for his phone call. Instead, Meyers called for the police to escort him off the property.

In a video posted to Instagram Massey said, "He even went so far as to say he's there to protect the safety of the guests. As if I weren't a guest and I was causing a disturbance and I was a safety threat."

According to Massey, white guests in the lobby were not similarly questioned. Instagram video shows Massey telling Meyers that he was a guest at the hotel. He produced his room key for a manager who said in the video, "He (Meyers) wouldn't have asked me to call 911 without any cause."

Responding officers warned Massey he could be arrested for trespassing if he stayed. According to the police report, the 34-year-old, who said he was "a former FBI agent ... became loud and started yelling that the hotel was racist."

"You know judging someone based off of the color of their skin – you never know how it feels until you've actually been there. I could have went to jail had I responded a different way," Massey said in a video.

In the past year police have been called on a group of black people barbecuing, a girl selling bottled water on the sidewalk and Bob Marley's granddaughter after she and her friends left their Airbnb.

Massey checked into a different hotel Saturday after he was kicked out without a refund. On Thursday, the DoubleTree announced it was reviewing its protocols and trainings and had launched an investigation. "We have a zero-tolerance stance on discrimination of any kind," it said in a statement.

"I plan to try to seek justice and make sure that that's not happening to anybody else," Massey said in a video.

Massey's attorney said in a statement his client was publicly humiliated and now wants the hotel to publicly answer to two questions: Why was he approached by security and interrogated? And why was he called a threat to the safety and security of guests?

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


IN THE US WE BELIEVE IN A JURY TRIAL AND CONVICTION, THEN SENTENCING, THEN FORMALIZED PUNISHMENT. I ALSO THINK THAT POLICE, IF THEY DO SUSPECT SOMEONE OF A CRIME, ESPECIALLY ONE THIS SERIOUS, SHOULD ACTIVELY SEEK SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO CONVICT, AND THEN TAKE THEIR TEAMS OF ARMED OFFICERS AND ARREST THEM ALL, NOT SHOOT THEM ALL. HOWEVER, I UNDERSTAND HOW THIS TECHNIQUE MAY CAUSE THE BAD GUYS TO STOP PUTTING BOMBS IN THE ROADWAYS. ON THE OTHER HAND, MAYBE NOT, BECAUSE THEY ARE VIRTUALLY ALL “NUT JOBS,” AND DO NOT PERCEIVE LOGIC. BOMBING A TOUR BUS IS UNFORGIVABLE IN MY EYES, THOUGH, AND IT ISN’T AS IF THEY DON’T KNOW THE BETTER WAY TO LIVE.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/29/africa/egypt-terror-raids-intl/index.html
Egypt security forces kill 40 suspected terrorists in raids - report
Laura Smith Spark-Profile-Image
By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
Updated 3:48 PM ET, Sat December 29, 2018

VIDEO – CNN NEWS

(CNN)Egyptian security forces killed 40 alleged terrorists in raids in the Giza and North Sinai regions early Saturday, state media reported, a day after four people were killed when a roadside bomb struck a tourist bus in Giza.

Egypt's Interior Ministry said the raids, conducted at dawn Saturday, targeted three suspected hideouts of terrorists who were planning hostile acts during the Christmas holidays, according to the state-run Al-Ahram online newspaper.

Ammunition, firearms and improvised explosive devices were recovered in significant numbers, Al-Ahram said, citing a ministry statement.

The raids were ordered "as a continuation of the ministry's efforts in chasing terrorist elements involved in the implementation of hostile operations seeking to destabilize the country's security," the statement said.

"Information was available to the national security sector about the preparation and planning of a series of terrorist attacks targeting state institutions, especially economy, tourism industry, armed forces, police and Christian houses of worship."

Three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian tour guide were killed and at least 11 people were injured in the attack Friday in a central tourist area of Giza, near Cairo, where the pyramids are located.

The improvised explosive device was hidden near a wall on El-Maryoutiya Street in Giza's Haram district and went off as the bus went by, authorities said. No one has claimed responsibility.

Vietnam's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Pham Binh Minh, said he was "deeply saddened" by the attack.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez called the bombing "a despicable, cowardly terrorist act" in a statement on Twitter. "We extend our sincere condolences to the victims' families in Vietnam and Egypt. We will continue to move towards a new year of determination to root out terrorism," he said.

The US State Department also condemned the attack. "We stand with all Egyptians in the fight against terrorism and support the Egyptian government in bringing the perpetrators of this attack to justice," it said.

CNN's Jennifer Deaton, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Hossam Ahmed and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.


EVIDENCE OF POTENTIAL COLLUSION DECEMBER 27, 2018 – MAYBE. THEN AGAIN, MAYBE THERE’S NOTHING HERE AT ALL. I CAN’T FIND A BRIEF BUT INFORMATIVE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THE “MEETING” IS, WHAT THE ISSUE IS, WHEN IT HAPPENED, WHAT THE DANGERS IF ANY ARE, WHETHER COHEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE AND WHY, AND OTHER SUCH STORY BUILDING INFORMATION. HOWEVER, SINCE EVERYBODY ON THE NEWS CIRCUITS SEEMS TO BE TALKING ABOUT IT AS THOUGH IT IS IMPORTANT AND UNDERSTOOD, I’M GOING TO PUT THESE THREE RELATED ITEMS IN FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED. PERSONALLY, I’M GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THE ROBERT MUELLER REPORT FINISHES AND MAKES A LITTLE BIT OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE.

IN ANY CASE, THERE WILL LIKELY BE NO IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT TRUMP; NOT BECAUSE HE DOESN’T DESERVE IT ALREADY FOR SEVERAL DOZEN REASONS, BUT BECAUSE THE HOUSE AND SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE EITHER PAID OFF BY TRUMP, OR THREATENED INTO SILENCE AND INACTIVITY. I KNOW THAT BECAUSE AT FIRST AFTER HE WAS ELECTED, THEY GROUSED ABOUT HIM REGULARLY JUST LIKE THE DEMOCRATS, AND THEN AFTER A MONTH OR SO, ALL BUT A PRINCIPLED FEW WENT ON OVER TO TRUMP’S SIDE.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/new-mcclatchy-report-cohen-cell-phone-pinged-in-prague-in-2016-1411357763862
New McClatchy report: Cohen cell phone pinged in Prague in 2016

Greg Gordon, investigative reporter for McClatchy News, talks with Joy Reid about the information behind his new reporting that Michael Cohen's cell phone was observed to have pinged cell towers in the area of Prague in the summer of 2016, and an Eastern European intelligence agency eavesdropped on Russians discussing his presence there.
Dec. 27, 2018



MORE PRAGUE NON-NEWS

https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-the-michael-cohen-prague-story-true
STRESS TEST
Is the Michael Cohen ‘Prague’ Story True?
The reporters behind it are either the new Woodward and Bernstein—or the new Judith Miller.
Jonathan Alter,
Maxwell Tani
12.29.18 12:58 PM ET

PHOTOGRAPH -- MICHAEL COHEN

Three weeks after 9/11, Vice President Dick Cheney was already trying to tie the horror to Iraq. He floated a bogus story that earlier in 2001, Mohammad Atta, ringleader of the terrorist attacks, had met in a Prague cafe with an Iraqi intelligence official.

Now another shadowy meeting in Prague that may or may not have taken place is in the news.

On Dec. 27, McClatchy DC—a reputable news outlet that broke the most important stories about the Iraq War—reported that cell phone tower records obtained by foreign intelligence sources place Michael Cohen (or at least his phone) in Prague in the late summer of 2016. The story says this information, as well as the fruits of electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency that picked up discussion among Russians of Cohen’s presence in Prague, are now in the possession of the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

If the McClatchy story is true, it has huge implications for Donald Trump's survival in the presidency. But that’s a major if; unlike many other scoops about the Mueller probe, no other outlet has been able to confirm McClatchy’s reporting. And the McClatchy reporters have made it clear that they have no corroborating evidence of their claims and that some of their sources are indirect at best.

REMEMBER THE DOSSIER
Phone Shows Cohen ‘Near Prague’ at Time of ‘Russia Meeting’

The stakes are immense. If the McClatchy story is validated, it would strongly suggest that Mueller has evidence that in 2016 Trump sent his personal lawyer and fixer to Europe to meet with a high-ranking Kremlin official. The point of the meeting, if it occurred, was ostensibly to discuss Russian concerns that their intrusion in the presidential campaign on Trump’s behalf might be exposed. This would confirm an important section of the (in)famous “Steele dossier” and offer major evidence of Trump’s participation in a criminal conspiracy.

Paying off porn stars, obstruction of justice, corrupt Russian real estate deals—they’re all serious, even criminal, but not in the same league as “Prague” (or another place where Prague-like meetings might have taken place). A meeting or multiple meetings of this kind would be the crown jewels of what Mueller in court filings calls the “core” of his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.

On the other hand, if the McClatchy story is false, it significantly lessens the odds that Mueller can prove a conspiracy case—the only case that is likely to lead to impeaching the president and removing him from office.

The Prague story is also critical for the reputations of reporters Peter Stone and Greg Gordon, who say they have four sources confirming that Cohen’s cell phone briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area.

“If the foreign intelligence intercepts are accurate,” Stone and Gordon write, “the big questions now are whether Cohen has acknowledged to investigators that a meeting in Prague occurred, informed them what transpired and revealed what, if anything, he told Trump about it.”

Cohen, who has already cut plea deals with Mueller and other federal prosecutors, continues to deny he was in Prague.


Michael Cohen
✔
@MichaelCohen212
I hear #Prague #CzechRepublic is beautiful in the summertime. I wouldn’t know as I have never been. #Mueller knows everything!

17.1K
4:21 PM - Dec 27, 2018 · Manhattan, NY
Twitter Ads info and privacy
9,985 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Stone and Gordon are experienced and well-regarded national security reporters with several important scoops between them. (Stone broke important parts of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in 2005). After this story plays out, they will either be latter-day Woodward and Bernsteins—far ahead of the pack on a scandal that could bring down a president—or another Judy Miller, The New York Times reporter manipulated by sources into publishing stories about the Iraq War that didn’t hold up. Even if the story doesn’t do damage, as Miller’s did, it would, if false, give the entire news media a black eye at a time Trump is trying to discredit any critical stories as “fake news.”

“Feels like McClatchy is ***really*** out on a limb if they’re wrong about this Cohen/Prague stuff,” tweeted MSNBC host Chris Hayes. “They're either right or they got massively snookered.”


Chris Hayes
✔
@chrislhayes
Feels like McClatchy is ***really*** out on a limb if they’re wrong about this Cohen/Prague stuff.

4,871
1:24 PM - Dec 27, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,615 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

A number of major media outlets have attempted to stand up the allegation that Cohen visited Prague in 2016, but McClatchy remains the only outlet that has published evidence suggesting a meeting may have taken place. Multiple prominent national security reporters told The Daily Beast they were unconvinced by the story, noting its lack of detail and both reporters’ interviews, at times tortured, about their report on MSNBC.

At one point, Greg Gordon strongly implied to MSNBC’s Joy Reid that his sources were not in government circles and had only indirect knowledge of any sensitive intelligence about Cohen.

“The sources have—some of the sources have government sources, and some of the sources are—are people who have told us that they have trusted intelligence-type sources that they get information from,” Gordon said.

In other words, Gordon’s sources didn’t themselves know about these alleged cellphone tower pings around Prague; they talked to people who supposedly knew.

Asked if he had any corroborating evidence for this story, Gordon told Reid, “I wish we had.”

One prominent national security reporter pointed out a number of respected news outlets had attempted to confirm the story, and had failed to do so, adding that both McClatchy stories had not answered a number of key questions: Where else did Cohen’s phone ping from? Who did he meet with? When exactly did a meeting take place, and how did he get there? And if other intelligence agencies picked up on evidence about a meeting, why didn’t they share the intelligence with U.S. intelligence officials?

“There are all these basic facts that should be able to be answered, and they haven't answered any of them,” they said. “They're just generating more smoke.”

“So much is riding on us being right, and so many people want us to be fake news,” another prominent national security reporter skeptical of the story said. “The consequences of being wrong are so high that...I'd be curious to know what kind of stress tests they've done on it.”

In an interview with The Daily Beast on Friday, Kristin Roberts, who oversees McClatchy’s Eastern region, said she understood that many people following the Trump-Russia case had questioned their stories about Cohen’s potential visit to Prague. Her team, she said, had asked themselves many of the same questions. Roberts said they couldn’t know for sure why Cohen would continue to lie a this point, but “this is a man who is a convicted liar and any good journalist would tell you that throws into doubt his credibility as a source.”

Stone and Gordon’s reporting is an effort to substantiate at least part of the work of Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence official whose dossier placed Cohen in Prague in meetings with powerful Russians. (The bundle of reports also passed along several bits of information that Steele himself has said he thinks are “fifty-fifty,” at best.) The dossier notes that a Kremlin intelligence asset identified as Konstantin Kosachev, “an important figure in the Trump campaign-Kremlin liaison operation,” was present at the meeting there with Cohen.

“So much is riding on us being right, and so many people want us to be fake news. The consequences of being wrong are so high that...I'd be curious to know what kind of stress tests they've done on it.”
— a prominent national security reporter skeptical of the story
Stone first reported in April that Mueller’s office had confirmed this part of the dossier. In the eight months since, other news organizations have tried and failed to confirm that story, which added to their skeptical reaction to the latest McClatchy account.

That skepticism deepened this week when Cohen, who has said his lying days are behind him, tweeted a firm denial:

“I hear #Prague #CzechRepublic is beautiful in the summertime. I wouldn’t know as I have never been. #Mueller knows everything!”

When pressed on Twitter over whether he could have been in the Prague area, Cohen tweeted “NO.”

This isn’t Cohen’s first denial. Before he flipped in the fall of 2018, Cohen offered a series of Prague alibis. He said he was in California that August with his children, and showed his passport, which contained no stamp of the Czech Republic, to Buzzfeed News. Reporters there explained that he could have a second passport and that he could easily enter the Czech Republic from other EU countries without a Czech stamp. But they also searched 45 Prague hotels and none had a Michael Cohen registered in the period when the dossier suggested he was in the city.

Revelations since then about Russian interference in the election give at least speculative credence to a Prague meeting. By late summer 2016, the Trump campaign knew that the contacts Paul Manafort and Carter Page made with Russians were under FBI surveillance. Intercepts showed the Russians were so concerned about detection of their meddling that they recalled a key intelligence officer (later indicted) and showed other signs of needing to coordinate a cover-up in person. This might also explain the Inaugural-eve trip of Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and a major Trump donor, to the Seychelles, where investigators believe he met with Russians under investigation by Mueller’s office.

THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION
Cohen Lied to Congress to Cover Up Trump’s Moscow Tower Deal
Adam Rawnsley

Cohen's lies and denials supposedly ended in September of 2018, when he met for the second time with Mueller’s team (He lied during their first meeting). In early December, the Mueller sentencing memo revealed that Cohen has now “accepted responsibility” for his lies regarding “what he knew about contacts between the Company [the Trump Organization] and Russian interests during the course of the campaign." The sentencing memo goes on to explain that Cohen provided the Mueller probe with "useful information" about matters "core to its investigation” of a Trump-Russian conspiracy. Left unsaid was that if Cohen testifies to Mueller’s satisfaction, the special counsel is entitled to argue in court for a further reduction in his sentence.

All of this lends credence to Cohen’s newest denials of a Prague trip.

Cohen is Mueller’s witness now and his still-adjustable sentence depends on his coming clean. Lying after flipping would be very hazardous to Cohen’s freedom, not to mention his credibility as a witness against Trump (who calls him a “rat”) or anyone else in court. He would also expose himself to another charge of lying to Congress.

Is Cohen still lying anyway? We don’t know. Did the reporters get misled by their shadowy sources? We don’t know that, either. Perhaps we’ll learn relevant details about “Prague” (and other possible evidence of collusion) if and when Mueller files his long-rumored report on Trump-Russia to the Attorney General.

Until then, the way the first “Prague” story played out may be instructive. Shortly after 9/11, Cheney went on “Meet the Press” to say that it “has been pretty well confirmed” that Mohammad Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence official in a Prague cafe just five months before he and 18 other terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into the towers and the Pentagon. The Czech interior minister said the story was true.

The Bush White House flogged the Prague meeting hard to build support for the phony charge that Iraq was to blame for 9/11. But over time, the story looked less and less believable and in 2006, Cheney admitted there was no evidence for it. Of course by then the disastrous Iraq War—sold to the American public as a response to 9/11—was in its fourth bloody year.

Both the Iraqi-Atta “Prague” story favored nearly two decades ago by the right and the Cohen “Prague” story favored today by the left (and anyone else who detests Trump) are essentially unsubstantiated intelligence reports converted, wrongly or rightly, for the use of propagandists and law enforcement. We’ll likely know by spring—“Prague Spring”—if this time that stunning city on the Vltava River helps shape the fate of an American president.


I GET TIRED FAST OF MOST GROUP-UNITY MARKERS AND ATTITUDE ISSUES INVOLVED ON HOW WE LOOK, TALK, ETC. THAT ISN’T “IDENTITY” TO ME. WHO WE ARE INTERNALLY IS IDENTITY. LEARNING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN IN SCHOOL SHOULD BE THE GOAL, AND VISUAL DISTRACTIONS ARE NOT GOOD, I DON’T THINK. THEY STIR UP HOSTILITY AND STRIFE, AND IF WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THAT OLDER ISSUE – PANTS SLIDING DOWN OFF OF SKINNY YOUNG BOTTOMS AND SHOWING THOSE COLORFUL UNDERSHORTS, CLEARLY THE WHOLE POINT OF THE WHOLE EXERCISE – THAT SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY BANNED.

I REALLY DOUBT THAT ANY GOOD QUALITY PRIVATE SCHOOL WOULD ALLOW THAT. IF WE WANT EDUCATED AND SUCCESSFUL SONS AND DAUGHTERS, THERE MUST BE SOME BASIC RULES. SCHOOL IS FOR STUDIES, NOT FOR SPORTS OR THESE “IDENTITY” ISSUES. IF THEY CAN PLAY A SPORT AND STILL MAKE GOOD GRADES, GREAT, BUT IF NOT THEN THEY SHOULD GET SOME TUTORING OR SOMETHING INSTEAD OF SPORTS. TRUST ME. MOST KIDS WILL NOT GET A SPORTS BASED SCHOLARSHIP, SO IT WOULD BEHOOVE THEM TO GO FOR AN ACADEMIC ONE INSTEAD.

https://www.msnbc.com/david-gura/watch/why-identity-politics-is-alive-and-well-in-2018-1413347907811
Why identity politics is alive and well in 2018
How a viral video of a high school wrestler being forced to cut his deadlocks sparked a discussion on what it’s like to be black in America and in all places…a school. MSNBC contributor Baratunde Thurston and a panel of guests discuss. DURATION 5:56
Dec. 29, 2018



I DO PERSONALLY THINK THAT NETANYAHU HAS BEEN HEARTLESS AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS, THOUGH I HAVE NO ANIMUS AGAINST JEWISH PEOPLE. THEY’RE INTELLIGENT, USUALLY KIND AND OPEN, AND HONEST. I LIKE THEM MORE THAN THE AVERAGE AMERICAN, IN FACT. NETANYAHU HAS AN AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDE, HOWEVER, AND THOUGH THE PALESTINIANS HAVE DONE BAD THINGS ALSO, INCLUDING BEING OBSTRUCTIONIST ABOUT SETTLING THE LAND ISSUES, ALL PARTIES NEED TO DROP THEIR HOSTILITIES AND TALK SERIOUSLY. ALL OF THE ISLAMIST GROUPS IN THAT PART OF THE WORLD ARE REACTING TO THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN CONFLICT.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/19/sanders-feinstein-demand-congress-ditch-effort-criminalize-pro-palestinian-bds
Published on
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
byCommon Dreams
Sanders, Feinstein Demand Congress Ditch Effort to Criminalize Pro-Palestinian BDS Campaign

Israel Anti-Boycott Act would extend "U.S. legal protection to the very settlements the U.S. has opposed as illegitimate and harmful to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace for more than 50 years," the senators write
byAndrea Germanos, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and hold a news conference to announce proposed gun control legislation at the U.S. Capitol October 4, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Wednesday urged congressional leaderships not to include in a must-pass spending bill a measure that would suppress free speech rights by criminalizing boycotts of Israel.

"While we do not support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, we remain resolved to our constitutional oath to defend the right of every American to express their views peacefully without fear of or actual punishment by the government," the senators wrote (pdf) to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

The measure is the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), a revised version of which is being pushed by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

Kate Ruane, senior legislative counsel at the ACLU, wrote last week that while the new iteration leaves out possible jail time as punishment "for American companies to participate in political boycotts aimed at Israel and its settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories when those boycotts were called for by international governmental organizations like the United Nations," the legislation still represents "a full-scale attack on Americans' First Amendment freedoms," as violators could still face criminal financial penalties of up to $1 million.

"Even as amended," adds Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch, "the bill would impose fines on American companies, nonprofits, and their representatives for refusing on human rights grounds to do business in settlements." He continues:

Yet firms operating in Israeli settlements both benefit from and contribute to serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and the bill would mean those acting to end complicity in serious abuses—the only way they can meet their responsibilities under the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights—could find themselves guilty of a crime.

In their letter to Senate leadership, Sanders and Feinstein note that the measure would extend "U.S. legal protection to the very settlements the United States has opposed as illegitimate and harmful to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace for more than 50 years."

"At a time when the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government is pursuing policies clearly aimed at foreclosing the two-state solution, it is deeply disappointing that Congress would consider choosing to penalize criticism of those policies," they continue.

Responding to reporting about the new letter on Twitter, U.S.-based anti-occupation group IfNotNow urged Schumer to see the call to reject "this horrific bill" as "what leadership looks like."

"Will u advocate for free speech or bend to the will of Jewish establishments?" the group asked.


THIS WRITER ON SANDERS’ ABILITIES AT THE MID-70’S AGREES WITH ME. FIRST, HIS PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CONDITION ARE NOT DAMAGED BY HIS AGE. SECOND, NOBODY HAS A BETTER PLAN OR ABILITY TO IMPROVISE QUICKLY WHEN THERE ARE ROADBLOCKS AHEAD. THIRD, HE IS HONEST, KIND, AND GENTLE. YOU MAY HAVE GUESSED, I REALLY DO LIKE POLITICIANS WHO ARE GOOD PEOPLE, SO I WON’T VOTE FOR ANYONE ELSE UNLESS BERNIE DOESN’T RUN, AND EVEN THEN I MAY WRITE HIS NAME IN.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/12/25/why-bernie-sanders-still-most-progressive-choice-president
Published on
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
by The Guardian
Why Bernie Sanders Is (Still) the Most Progressive Choice for President
With less than two years until election day, no other Democratic candidate has the ability to defeat Donald Trump
byNathan J. Robinson

PHOTOGRAPH -- "A candidate should be judged on their record. Based on how recently most of the 2020 prospects have embraced the progressive agenda, it’s reasonable to suspect some opportunism. Sanders, on the other hand, has a lifelong history as a thorn in the side of the establishment," writes Nathan Robinson. (Photo: Common Dreams/CC BY 3.0)

Speculation over the 2020 US presidential elections has already gotten contentious. The Democratic field looks as if it’s going to be crowded, and new prospects are floated by the press seemingly every week, from Oprah Winfrey to Beto O’Rourke. With just under two years to go until election day, it’s best not to become too consumed by presidential speculation. But for those on the left who want to defeat Donald Trump and advance egalitarian political values, it’s important to start to think about who can succeed. For those of us who believe in radically transformative political change, the choice is already clear – Bernie Sanders is the only viable option.

"It’s obvious that he’s the party’s best shot. He has a formidable team of experienced organizers, national popularity and name recognition, and a clear, bold agenda that can win over working-class people of all genders and races."
Based on his record, Sanders should be the progressive favorite by default. In 2016, he ran an impressive insurgent campaign that came close to defeating the party elite’s handpicked candidate. Savvier Democrats have already recognized that Sanders' message is the one that best suits the mood of the electorate.

His ideas have set the agenda for the Democratic party for the past two years, with elected officials trying to burnish their progressive credentials by doing photo ops with Sanders and adopting his policies, from free college to Medicare for All (a plan that even the majority of Republican voters now favor). Many polls suggest he is the most popular politician in the country, and would be the clear favorite in a match-up against Trump. Attempts to portray Sanders as the candidate of white “Bernie Bros” ignore the facts – Sanders has higher favorability ratings among people of color than any other Democratic politician. It’s obvious that he’s the party’s best shot. He has a formidable team of experienced organizers, national popularity and name recognition, and a clear, bold agenda that can win over working-class people of all genders and races.

What about the other frontrunners? Some current polls put Joe Biden ahead of Sanders in a potential primary. But while Biden’s “Uncle Joe” persona has endeared him to Democrats across the country, no serious progressive can support him. For one thing, Biden has declared himself indifferent to the concerns of millennial voters, saying he has “no empathy” for young people who complain about student debt, precarious employment, and high rent. I don’t know about other millennials, but I prefer a candidate who can empathize with me.

Biden has also spent a long career in Washington failing to take important stands at critical points. He has misrepresented his pandering to racists during the 1970s, and his handling of Anita Hill’s testimony during 1991’s was infamously shameful. (After decades in which Hill waited for an apology from Biden, he finally gave a partial one this year, while still declining to accept blame for what happened to Hill.) If that wasn’t enough, Biden’s creepy history of routinely violating women’s personal space should make his candidacy a non-starter in the post-#MeToo era.

How about Beto O’Rourke, the “Kennedyesque” golden boy currently being floated as a potential nominee? O’Rourke turned in an impressive showing against Ted Cruz in Texas. But O’Rourke is a member of the centrist New Democrat coalition, and his commitment to progressive values is so lukewarm that he refuses to even use the word “progressive” to describe himself. His record as a legislator is thin, and he has been noncommittal and evasive when discussing core progressive policies like tuition-free college and single-payer healthcare. Since he hasn’t taken the lead on pushing a left agenda in Congress, there’s little reason to think he would be effective at doing so as president.

In fact, every candidate other than Sanders has qualities that should be deeply troubling to those on the left. Elizabeth Warren, whose calls for a more democratic economy put her closer to Sanders than any other senator, has called herself a “capitalist to my bones” – a sharp contrast with the democratic socialism with which the majority of millennials sympathize. (Warren’s disastrous handling of the “Native American” controversy also does not suggest the kind of nimble political instincts crucial to taking on a master of sleaze and scandal like Donald Trump.)

"A candidate should be judged on their record. Based on how recently most of the 2020 prospects have embraced the progressive agenda, it’s reasonable to suspect some opportunism. Sanders, on the other hand, has a lifelong history as a thorn in the side of the establishment."
Kamala Harris has a record of overseeing and then defending serious prosecutorial misconduct as California’s attorney general, and racial justice advocates strongly criticized her for her failure to hold police accountable. Cory Booker, whose political rise was fueled by corporate money, has such warm feelings for Wall Street that he actually criticized Barack Obama for being too harsh on private equity firms.

Kirsten Gillibrand spent the first part of her career as a lawyer for Big Tobacco, and according to the American Conservativewas originally elected by “running to the right”, such as by staunchly opposing drivers’ licenses for undocumented people. Gillibrand has recently begun to sound far more progressive, but someone who served as the paid agent for “merchants of death” faces a high burden to prove they’ve changed.

A candidate should be judged on their record. Based on how recently most of the 2020 prospects have embraced the progressive agenda, it’s reasonable to suspect some opportunism. Sanders, on the other hand, has a lifelong history as a thorn in the side of the establishment. Even as a teenager, Sanders was getting himself arrested in civil rights demonstrations.

As mayor of Burlington, he pioneered an innovative community land trust approach to affordable housing. He has been an efficient legislator, even earning the title “amendment king” for his success in getting measures through Congress. And he has shown a willingness to take principled stands, including his early opposition to the Iraq war plus his votes against the Defense of Marriage Act and the Patriot Act.

There are only a few serious criticisms of Sanders, the main one being “he’s too old.’ But while age might be a more serious factor if the current president were far younger, Trump is a septuagenarian like Sanders. Sanders still shoots hoops, he criss-crosses the country giving speeches, and he has more energy than many of us who are less than half his age. If Trump tries to make an issue of Sanders’ superior age, experience, and wisdom, Sanders can just challenge him to settle it on the basketball court.

There are a few other criticisms that can be made of Sanders, including his unfair criticism of leftist “open borders” advocates. He has cast bad votes (the 1994 Clinton crime bill comes to mind) and sometimes makes frustrating gaffes. I do not think Sanders is the ideal candidate, the one I would make in a laboratory. It would indeed be nice to have someone younger, ideally a woman of color (if only the constitution didn’t bar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez!) But the question isn’t “Is Sanders flawless?” Rather, it’s “Is Sanders the best candidate we have available?” To that, the answer is clear. No other 2020 prospect comes close.

© 2018 The Guardian



MADDOW BLOG

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/18
Election fraud probe leaves House seat in 'legal no man's land'
Michael Bitzer, politics professor at Catawba College, talks with Joy Reid about the election fraud investigation that has left North Carolina's Ninth Congressional District without a certified winner, and the local politics that are making the outcome unclear. Duration: 13:32


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/18
Role of immigration in America distorted by Trump rhetoric
Rep. Pramila Jayapal talks with Joy Reid about the value of immigration to the United States and how Donald Trump has warped the treatment of the issue with overheated politicization. Duration: 8:34


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/18
New primary date puts California in 2020 power position
Jason Johnson, political editor for The Root, talks with Joy Reid about how California moving its primary to Super Tuesday makes it more of a player in Democratic primary politics, while its diversity makes it a helpful proving ground for hopeful national candidates. Duration: 6:41


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/18
U.S. suffering effects of Trump gutting environmental protections
Eric Lipton, investigative reporter for the New York Times, talks with Joy Reid about extensive new reporting in the Times about the observable environmental impact of Donald Trump rolling back Obama-era environmental and anti-pollution regulations, and hiring the likes of Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke to run the EPA and the Interior Department. Duration: 7:26


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/18
Cohen again denies Prague visit despite report of intel, evidence
Barbar McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Joy Reid about the legal implications for Michael Cohen if the information reported by McClatchy, that Cohen was in Prague as the Trump dossier says, is true, and why it wouldn't already have been mentioned in Cohen's charges. Duration: 4:47


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/18
House Dems eager to complete picture of Trump camp ties to Russia
Rep. Mike Quigley, member of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Joy Reid about the Intelligence Committee's perspective on a new McClatchy report that seems to corroborate allegations in the Trump dossier that Michael Cohen was in Prague in late summer of 2016. Duration: 5:48


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/27/18
Trump-backing billionaire Mercer spent millions less in 2018
Joy Reid reports on newly released financial records that show that Robert Mercer, who has funded Donald Trump's presidential campaign as well as Breitbart News and Cambridge Analytica, spent millions less in 2018 than he did in 2016, though climate change disinformation is apparently still enjoying his largess. Duration: 1:58


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/26/18
Trump opens disorienting fire hose of falsehoods over the holiday
E.J. Dionne, columnist for The Washington Post, and Ned Price, former Obama NSC spokesman, talk with Joy Reid about the recent spate of Donald Trump tweets and other behavior that are demonstrably, disorientingly false. Duration: 16:28


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/26/18
Trump cruelty-as-deterrent border strategy yields tragedy, chaos
Julia Ainsley, national security and justice reporter for NBC News, talks with Joy Reid about difficult circumstances at the U.S. border as the Trump administration's strategy of trying to deter migrants and refugees at the southern border with cruel treatment is producing chaos and a humanitarian crisis. Duration: 7:42



BODY TRADE

THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO IS INFORMATIONAL IF SOMEWHAT DISTURBING, A TIME TEAM VIDEO OF THE NECESSARY “BODY TRADE” USED FOR THE EDUCATION OF STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITIES SO WE CAN HAVE WELL-TRAINED DOCTORS AND NURSES. YOU WILL KNOW IT FROM HORROR MOVIES SUCH AS FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MODERN-DAY NEWS STORIES ABOUT ABORTIONS AND THE ALLEGED SALE OF FETAL PARTS.

AS ALL OF THE TIME TEAM PRODUCTIONS ARE, IT IS FASCINATING. HAVE A LOOK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. THERE IS HAPPY NEWS AT THE END OF THIS, HOWEVER. ENTER “MELANIE,” A VIRTUAL BODY USED BY MEDICAL STUDENTS TODAY (IN GREAT BRITAIN, AT ANY RATE). “SHE” IS “A COLLECTION OF CT SCANS,” WHICH CAN BE SORTED PART BY PART, TISSUE BY TISSUE AS NEEDED FOR STUDY. THANK GOODNESS! PEOPLE DO STILL DONATE THEIR BODIES FOR STUDY, BECAUSE THERE IS AN ONGOING NEED FOR THE REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE, BUT HOPEFULLY BODY-SNATCHING HAS DIED OUT AS A TRADE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-762-BzNs
Time Team Special 58 (2014) - Secrets of the Body Snatchers