SNIP

Before he became Trump’s bodyguard, Gary Uher was an FBI agent involved in a complex deal to bring Sater back from Russia in the late 1990s. The resulting plea deal allowed Sater to avoid prison time in a Wall Street probe by serving as a government informant until his sentencing in 2009. During much of the time that he was a secret informant, Sater was a Trump Organization business associate, working on projects in New York, Florida and Arizona.

http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article174494801.html

Shari Webber-Dunn, an inmate serving a murder charge in Kansas, said her First Amendment rights were violated by "Christian propaganda" imposed by the all-female prison. Now, she's suing department administrators to have it removed.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleged that the Topeka Correctional Facility in Kansas unconstitutionally embraces Christianity by displaying an eight-foot-tall wooden cross in its basement, publically posting prison-related prayers, soliciting book donations for a spiritual library and offering prayer request submission on a Christian bulletin board. Christian movies are also broadcasted on facility televisions and spiritual quotes are posted at the laundry room workplace, the lawsuit alleges.

Webber-Dunn believed that the correctional center was "imposing strong Christian values on inmates" and creating "a coercive atmosphere where inmates are pressured to spend their time in a highly religious atmosphere and to participate in religious activities and prayers."

Inmates are prohibited from removing anything from the public bulletin boards, which Webber-Dunn said violates the establishment clause prohibiting government agencies from establishing a religion.

http://www.newsweek.com/kansas-prison-inmate-says-christian-propaganda-violates-constitution-668673

MADISON - GOP lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker may have gone too far in dictating how courts should handle any potential litigation over a massive flat-screen factory planned for Racine County, the Legislature's nonpartisan attorneys have found.

The memo from the Wisconsin Legislative Council didn't come to definite conclusions but found several provisions of the legislation for Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan and its plant may be unconstitutional.

The provisions could give opponents of the Foxconn deal more lines of attack in litigation — and potentially drive up the cost to taxpayers for defending the state in court.

The law signed by Walker on Monday changes how environmental challenges and other potential legal cases over the factory would be handled, including automatically suspending any lower court orders until a higher court has weighed in.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/20/provisions-wisconsins-foxconn-law-could-unconstitutional-legislatures-attornonpartisan-analysis-find/684418001/

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Well after a long day I am officially sworn into the Marine Corps Poolee program (Delayed entry program) - my son - my sun - I am so proud

https://twitter.com/Rosie/status/910654365861478400

This is the second edition of this post, updated after six months of the Trump presidency. The organisation is thematic, but split into two halves: the election campaign and inauguration (dividing point is the New Yorker cover of The Wall), and Trump’s first six months in office.

https://extranewsfeed.com/a-visual-history-of-trump-magazine-covers-extended-edition-4177167b6a6c

The big five news organizations have passed on offering former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer a job as an exclusive paid contributor, network sources confirmed to NBC News Tuesday.

Since Spicer exited the White House, his representatives have been holding individual conversations about the possibility of President Donald Trump's former flack joining one of the major TV networks, which include CBS News, CNN, Fox (FAUX) News, ABC News and NBC News.

But "they won't touch him," said a media industry executive familiar with those conversations.

“The news organizations might use him on round tables, but [a paid exclusive contributor job] is not happening,” the executive added.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/networks-pass-sean-spicer-paid-contributor-role-n802781

POW! KABOOM!

Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican running for governor, vowed to not take any more money from the electric utilities until they strengthen the power grid.

"In this cycle," he said, "I'm done taking money from them."



Utilities face barrage of questions as power returns to Tampa Bay

Nearly all of Tampa Bay has electricity again a week after Hurricane Irma shredded the power grid, but elected officials here say the problem is far from solved.

They have many questions about the strength of local power utilities' infrastructure and failing communication systems that forced angry residents to report the same outages multiple times before getting help.

HURRICANE IRMA: Read the latest coverage from the Tampa Bay Times.

Much of residents' ire during and after the storm was directed at Duke Energy, the main provider in Pinellas County, where roughly 400,000 customers were left in the dark last week.

"I'm very concerned about the outages and the process that took place," said state Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, who was named to a special House committee that will look at hurricane preparedness after Irma. "I intend to ask a lot of difficult questions."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/utilities-face-barrage-of-questions-as-power-returns-to-tampa-bay/2338002

(CNN)Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke must revise his master's thesis or risk losing his degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, according to documents CNN's KFile obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The school arrived at its decision after a lengthy investigation triggered by a May CNN KFile report. The story revealed that Clarke's 2013 thesis, entitled "Making U.S. security and privacy rights compatible," contained language lifted from numerous sources, including multiple ACLU reports, the 9/11 Commission Report, The Washington Post, former President George W. Bush's book "Decision Points" and others. In all the instances KFile found, Clarke credited sources with a footnote but did not indicate with quotation marks that he was using the language verbatim.

Prior to the May story, Clarke said that he would be joining President Donald Trump's administration as assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security. In June, DHS announced that Clarke was no longer under consideration for the position. In August, he resigned his position as sheriff and announced the following week that he would join the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.
The Naval Postgraduate School's dean of students, Cdr. Paul Rasmussen, wrote in a July letter to Clarke obtained by KFile that he concurred with a finding of an "Honor Code Board" that the thesis was "in violation" of the school's honor code. The dean wrote that he further determined that Clarke's "violation was not a result of any intentional deception or misappropriation efforts." The letter informed Clarke that he had until October 23 -- 100 days -- to submit a revised thesis or NPS would "initiate degree revocation." Clarke did not respond to a request for comment on the school's decision.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/15/politics/kfile-david-clarke-thesis-update/index.html

So here are 4 rules to help him not get fired.

https://twitter.com/RepTedLieu/status/908408967189155841

In the aftermath of 2005's destructive Hurricane Wilma, Florida lawmakers approved laws to protect motorists at risk of getting stranded on the interstate, and residents of new highrises who can't climb stairs.

Proposed at the same time: a bill that would have required some nursing homes to have generators to protect frail elders from the ravages of heat and dehydration.

That bill died.

Cause of death: industry opposition and government miserliness.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/how-a-bill-requiring-nursing-homes-to-have-back-up-ac-died/2337550