Bcnu
Bcnu's JournalThe N.R.A. "Now Russia Affiliated"
WASHINGTON
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html
The Kneeling Game
The Kneeling Game
( A letter to the editor)
The Vice President of the United States also got to play the Kneeling Game at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer. Perhaps as much as $100,000.00 or more was spent on V.P. Mike Pence, plus company, and President Trump's pre-planned "walk out" publicity stunt at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 8th.
Our flag and National Anthem do not represent the military or veterans exclusively. The flag represents freedom, our constitutional rights, equal justice for all. Our anthem memorializes it. Our flag never represented only the Armed Forces or only the N.F.L. -every NFL helmet has a mini U.S. flag on it. And by the way, the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force each have their own flags and emblems anyway. Are the players kneeling to those flags? No.
Many of the players' fathers are proud veterans. There is no disrespect of our military or veterans intended. The "kneelers" have said exactly that, repeatedly, why don't we believe them?
Do you think that when a French person sees the U.S. flag that they think "military"? Well, you'd be wrong. Do you think the Brits see our flag and think "military"? You'd be wrong again.
Or, putting it another way. When you see the French flag do you think "military" or do you think Dijon mustard, the Eiffel Tower, Louvre or "French" bread? When you see the Italian flag, do you think "military"? Most people probably think "pasta"... or maybe DiCicco's.. How about the Canadian flag? Do you think "military? I think of hockey, maple syrup.
I'm betting that readers did not know that President Trump, the loudest bullhorn on the issue, applied to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014 but the NFL said to him 'you do not meet the standards of team ownership', basically. We all know that Donald Trump never let's a good grudge go to waste, does he?
V.P. Mike Pence's publicity stunt cost tax payers upwards of $100,000.00 and he childishly stole a day that was to honor Indiana's best QB, ever. Mike Pence has stolen that momentous day of Peyton Manning's number being retired from the Colts' team and for the Colts' fans everywhere. And they're mad about it, too. It's concerning that neither our President or V.P. believe that there are more important issues to tackle beyond this presidential grudge-match. Oh, that's right, the V.P's next stop was a campaign rally.. is the swamp drained yet?
V(*****) K(***)
Must read:: Trump / Russia Chronological Storylines - Making Sense Of The Trump-Russia Mess
The beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency has been clouded by an ever-evolving scandal around potential collusion between his campaign and Russia. All told, there are five investigations into the matter, and from what we can tell publicly, none appears close to reaching a conclusion.
But they do appear to be heating up. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had assembled a grand jury in the Trump-Russia probe, escalating his investigation into possible collusion.
On Wednesday, Trump reluctantly signed a new Russian sanctions bill, saying in a statement that the legislation was “significantly flawed” and Congress had “included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions.” It was the latest sign of Trump’s desire to remain friendly toward a historic adversary, even after the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election.
Click through the navigation bar at the top of this page that is linked below to catch up on the most important developments in the Trump-Russia saga so far. And be sure to check back as the story inevitably progresses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-russia-scandal_us_597b9cb4e4b02a4ebb757e40?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote Could Be Soon
The National Popular Vote bill has been enacted by 11 jurisdictions possessing 165 electoral votes—61% of the 270 electoral votes necessary to activate it, including four small jurisdictions (RI, VT, HI, DC), three medium- size states (MD, MA, WA), and four big states (NJ, IL, NY, CA). The bill has passed a total of 33 legislative chambers in 22 states—most recently by a bipartisan 40–16 vote in the Arizona House, a 28–18 vote in the Oklahoma Senate, a 57–4 vote in New York Senate, and a 37–21 vote in Oregon House. A total of 3,055 state legislators have either sponsored or cast a recorded vote for the bill.
The shortcomings of the current system of electing the President stem from state winner-take-all statutes (i.e., state laws that award all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes in each separate state).
Because of these state winner-take-all statutes, presidential candidates have no reason to pay attention to the issues of concern to voters in states where the statewide outcome is a foregone conclusion. As shown on the map, two-thirds of the 2012 general-election campaign events (176 of 253) were in just 4 states (Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa). Thirty-eight states were ignored.
State winner-take-all statutes adversely affect governance. “Battleground” states receive 7% more federal grants than “spectator” states, twice as many presidential disaster declarations, more Superfund enforcement exemptions, and more No Child Left Behind law exemptions.
Also, state winner-take-all statutes have allowed candidates to win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide in four of our 57 presidential elections—1 in 14 times. A shift of 59,393 votes in Ohio in 2004 would have elected John Kerry despite President Bush’s nationwide lead of over 3,000,000 votes. A shift of 214,393 votes in 2012 would have elected Mitt Romney despite President Obama’s nationwide lead of almost 5,000,000 votes.
The U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1) gives the states exclusive control over awarding their electoral votes: “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors....” The winner-take-all rule was used by only three states in 1789.
The National Popular Vote interstate compact would not take effect until enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough to elect a President (270 of 538). Under the compact, the national popular vote winner would be the candidate who received the most popular votes from all 50 states (and DC) on Election Day. When the Electoral College meets in mid-December, the national popular vote winner would receive all of the electoral votes of the enacting states.
The bill ensures that every vote, in every state, will matter in every presidential election.
The National Popular Vote bill preserves the Electoral College and state control of elections.
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation
The Republican Party Of Lincoln was the Strong Central Government Liberals of 1860
The Republican Party Of Lincoln was the Strong Central Government Liberals of 1860 - Dems were States' Rights Conservatives
As my wife and I crossed the parking lot to enter the market, I noticed a Confederate flag proudly displayed in the back window of a parked truck. Had I been given a casual opportunity, I would have liked to ask the owner if he or she was a strong Democratic voter. "Heck no! I always vote Republican!" would have been the expected answer.
My question brings the answer to a fact of history that is rarely discussed. Yes, Republicans freed the slaves. Yes, Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents. But Republicans at the time of the Civil War were the big-government, liberal party and they believed that all men were truly created equal.
In 1860, the 'new' Republican Party platform of Lincoln was for a powerful central government that was against slavery. They were for free farmland for non-slave holding western settlers, for freedom of immigration into the United States and rights to all immigrants, for building the transcontinental railroad and regulating national banks -very much a left-of-moderate party platform. The Democratic Party platform was the hard-line states' rights, pro-slavery, admittedly white-supremest as proclaimed in the Confederacy's "Cornerstone Speech" manifesto, conservative party. Many things fractured the politics of 1860. Among those were the promotion of a gold standard, the Free Soilers, and pro & anti-slavery Whigs that forced a split that dissolved the long-established Whig Party. As a result, though considered a long-shot, Lincoln's 'new' Republican Party won the election.
When we celebrate President Lincoln as one of the United States' greatest presidents with holidays and dinners we must understand the accurate accounting of history, that ideological platforms switched during the terms of the majority and consecutive Republican presidents that followed the Lincoln-Johnson terms. The long list of Republican presidents that followed Lincoln and V.P. Andrew Johnson ended with conservative Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, caused in large part by unregulated banking, then worsened by the Hoover administration's fear that introducing any level of socialism was unacceptable -those continue as modern Republican talking points.
Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt's election win was the final indicator that both party's previous platforms had fully flipped and the economy was boosted into what is one of the great successes in our history. The New Deal followed by the G.I. Bill were two prominent progressive economic triggers that sustained a fruitful U.S. economy.
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." -Franklin D. Roosevelt. That approach surely seems to have worked very well for the economy. It is perhaps another part of history that we should examine more closely regarding corporate subsidies, the cap on the Payroll Tax and the lowered tax rates for the wealthiest vs. quality public health and affordable college education for all Americans.
It should be noted that some conservative "DixieCrats" remained in office well into the 20th century, but that the Confederate flag today is flown by Republican and/or Tea Party supporters almost exclusively. It is no longer flown by Democrats. In fact, we have seen modern-day Democrats file lawsuits to have the Confederate flag removed from government buildings. This is one of many, more than obvious signs of how the two rival party's platforms have flipped since Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest, if not the greatest of all U.S. presidents.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
A CHRISTMAS CAROLby Victor Krag
'TWAS the winter of our discontent
The five of us living in this tiny tent
So very poor, though never a bore
Happy hiding out in an R.E.I. store.
Then, "Get out you! Go On! Shoo! Scram!"
The night-clerk yelled as we ran and we ran
Into the breezeway onto cold hard cement
The perfect preserver of floor condiment.
Chewing the Power Bars that we grabbed running out
Dipping them in catsup and the mustard strewn about
Bundling up boxes, all we could as we're moving
Cardboard was warm and gentle and soothing.
'To the far lot' I called to my good family
Taking shelter beneath a tall Christmas tree
The little one cried "Daddy, I think that I'm sick"
'Oh don’t worry Tim, here comes fat old Saint Nick'
"Ho Ho Ho, now who have we here?
Easy now son, have some of my beer"
Things were looking better, though not as good as before
"Who's got it better than us?" was our chant in the store
"Nobody!" we yelled with all the pride we could give
Long after Levi's Stadium was built on the field where we'd lived.
Santa was cheerful and kind, but smelly
Offering us his moldy peanut butter and jelly
While Santa was ranting and burping bloviations
I began having some wild hallucinations
Moldy rye bread I’m told was hallucinogenic
And Santa's sandwich was hardly fresh nor authentic
Whoa, I see Dasher! now Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
Comet with Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
What's going to happen when this stuff really kicks in?!
My family are now elves drinking eggnog mint juleps
Christmas tree lights shooting laser-like bullets
And my boy Tim syncing Tip-Toe Through The Tulips
Our Santa is now kissing the Christmas tree vendor
Yep, Christmas is here, in all of it's splendor.
copyright 2013 Victor R. Krag
If Hillary Clinton was such a 'disaster' in the Senate, why did the Trumps give her all that money?
Trump, wife Melania & daughter Ivanka each donated $2k+ to her RE-ELECTION campaign.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/11/1580848/-If-Hillary-Clinton-was-such-a-disaster-in-the-Senate-why-did-the-Trumps-give-her-all-that-money
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Member since: Sat May 24, 2008, 12:33 PM
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