There were two key paragraphs in the Washington Post’s report from last Friday. Russia probe reaches current White House official, people familiar with the case say:
Although the case began quietly last July as an effort to determine whether any Trump associates coordinated with Russian operatives to meddle in the presidential election campaign, the investigative work now being done by the FBI also includes determining whether any financial crimes were committed by people close to the president. The people familiar with the matter said the probe has sharpened into something more fraught for the White House, the FBI and the Justice Department — particularly because of the public steps investigators know they now need to take, the people said.
And:
While there has been a loud public debate in recent days over the question of whether the president might have attempted to obstruct justice in his private dealings with Comey, whom Trump fired last week, people familiar with the matter said investigators on the case are more focused on Russian influence operations and possible financial crimes.
As I said, “This would explain passing references to the Treasury Department in recent reporting. This likely involves the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN.”
The Treasury Department and FinCEN are now in the news this week. CNN reports, Warner: Treasury has not fully responded to Senate Intel requests:
Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said Tuesday that the Treasury Department has not fully complied with his committee’s requests for documents relevant to its probe into Russian meddling in the US election.
Likewise, Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter on Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requesting records of Trump businesses and any connections to Russia by June 2.
Warner and Senate intelligence committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, sent a request for documents last month to the department’s division on terrorism and financial intelligence.
“While the committee has received some documents from Treasury, the information received thus far is insufficient and we’ve expressed this concern to Treasury,” the Virginia Democrat said during a Senate banking committee hearing considering nominations. “I find myself in an undesirable position today, one that could have been avoided by an administration that has blamed Democrats for obstructing their nominees.”
“The truth is, while Chairman Burr and I asked this administration for documentation that we believe necessary to support the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into Russian interference, unfortunately, the administration so far has failed to make an appropriate appreciation for our sense of urgency by not fully responding to our requests,” the Virginia Democrat said.
As a result of the Treasury’s unresponsiveness to the committee’s requests and apparent slow-walking of its investigation, Democrats protested Treasury division nominee over missing Trump financial documents:
Leading Democratic senators are withholding votes for President Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department’s terrorism and financial crimes division to protest the administration not producing records related to their probe of the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russian officials.
Top Senate Banking Committee Democrat Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and top Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat Mark R. Warner (Va.) complained during a committee confirmation vote for Sigal Mandelker that the administration is being too lackadaisical about producing documents that lawmakers have requested to supplement their probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, better known as FinCEN, would share records with the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation. Warner and committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) had sent a letter April 26 requesting documents, including alerts of possibly suspect transactions known as “flash notices” and information prepared in relation to terrorism or money laundering cases known as “314a requests.”
“While the committee has received some documents from Treasury, the information received thus far is insufficient, and we have expressed this concern,” Warner said Tuesday, following the vote to recommend Mandelker’s nomination to the full Senate. The vote was 16 to 7, with Warner, Brown and several other Democrats voting no — “a step I wouldn’t otherwise take,” Warner stressed, had the Treasury Department better complied with the request for information.
“What I can’t ascertain yet is, is this truly just slow-walking or is this just trying to fully understand the nature of our request,” Warner added to reporters after the vote.
* * *
Several Banking Committee Democrats voting against Mandelker’s confirmation Tuesday said they hoped that the Treasury Department would furnish the requested documents before the full Senate took up the nomination.
House Financial Services Committee Democrats have requested that Deutsche Bank provide information detailing whether President Trump took out loans backed by Russia, Reuters reports. U.S. House Democrats seek info from Deutsche Bank on Trump accounts:
Democrats on a U.S. of House of Representatives panel have asked Deutsche Bank to provide information on whether any accounts connected to President Donald Trump have ties to Russia, adding another dimension to probes into connections between Moscow and Trump.
Democrats on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee said on Wednesday they had sent a letter the previous day to Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer John Cryan seeking details of internal reviews to determine if Trump’s loans for his real estate business were backed by the Russian government.
The congressional inquiry also seeks information about a Russian “mirror trading” scheme that allowed $10 billion to flow out of Russia.
“Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia,” the Democrats wrote. “It is critical that you provide this committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews.”
The Democrats requested the documents from the bank, but cannot compel it to hand over the information. The committee has the power to subpoena the documents, but that would require cooperation from committee Republicans who make up the majority of the panel because the party has control of the House. No Republicans signed on to the document request.
Citing media reports, the Democrats called for the bank to hand over any documents tied to internal reviews of Trump’s personal accounts at the bank. They also said the bank should state publicly that it had reviewed both the “mirror trading” scheme and Trump’s accounts.
Mirror trading involved buying stocks, for example, in Moscow in rubles, with related parties selling the same stocks shortly thereafter through a bank’s London branch.
They also called on the bank to name an independent auditor to verify the results of the reviews, which should be turned over to the committee “as soon as reasonably practicable.”
The Federal Reserve fined Deutsche Bank $156.6 million last month for “unsafe” foreign exchange trading practices as well as lacking other necessary safeguards.
In 2015, Deutsche Bank paid a record $2.5 billion in fines to settle American and British government charges that it conspired to manipulate market rates for their benefit.
The theory here is a simple one: Trump could not get financing from American banks after a series of bankruptcies; Deutsche Bank has a history of laundering Russian money, Deutsche Bank fined for $10 billion Russian money-laundering scheme; Deutsche Bank is one of the few major banks that has continued to do business with the Trump organization through multiple bankruptcy filings over nearly two decades; the loans Deutsche Bank made to the Trump organization may have been guaranteed by the Russian government, or Russian oligarchs connected to the government; if so, Trump may be compromised by his foreign entanglements with Russians in his financial arrangements.
This is first an Emoluments Clause issue, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, which restricts “any present [or] emolument … of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state … without the consent of the Congress.”
Secondly, and more importantly, it is a national security issue. Just as acting Attorney General Sally Yates warned that Gen. Michael Flynn could be subject to blackmail or extortion due to his undisclosed financial ties to Russia, even more so could President Trump. It would go a long way towards explaining Trump’s inexplicable reticence to critize Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for interfering in the U.S. election, while at the same criticizing and actively seeking to obstruct the congressional and FBI investigations into the Russian interference and any coordination with the Trump campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee will issue subpoenas to former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its investigation into Russian election interference, the committee’s top Democrat confirmed Wednesday. House intel panel will subpoena Flynn businesses:
The House Intelligence Committee will issue subpoenas to former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its investigation into Russian election interference, the committee’s top Democrat confirmed Wednesday.
Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) told reporters he intends to subpoena Flynn’s businesses, following in the footsteps of the Senate Intelligence Committee. That panel on Tuesday issued a second round of subpoenas directed at two Alexandria, Va., companies associated with Flynn — Flynn Intel Inc. and Flynn Intel LLC.
The orders “will be designed to maximize our chance of getting the information that we need,” Schiff said Wednesday during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
[C]orporations are not subject to Fifth Amendment protections, providing committee leaders with an alternative avenue to obtain the information they want.
Should Flynn deny either the House or Senate subpoenas for records from his businesses, the two committees will have to decide how far to go in enforcing them.
At the far end that scale is holding Flynn in contempt of Congress — the first step in seeking Justice Department support to enforce the orders.
“We need to use whatever compulsory mechanism necessary to get the information he possesses,” Schiff said Wednesday.
* * *
Both the House and Senate intel panels are investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election. The Senate panel has not yet asked Flynn to testify — its requests have so far been for documents.
Schiff said that the House committee has asked Flynn to come forward.
Tea-Publicans in Congress continue to make a mockery of the oversight and investigation functions of Congress in an effort to protect Donald Trump, putting party loyalty before patriotism and country.
For the eighth time in the last three months, House Republicans on Wednesday voted down an effort by Democrats to make President Trump’s tax returns available to Congress. GOP rejects Dem effort to demand Trump’s tax returns:
The House rejected a resolution authored by House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairwoman Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) directing the committee with jurisdiction over the tax code in a procedural vote that fell mostly along party lines.
“The American people have the right to know whether or not their President is operating under conflicts of interest related to international affairs, tax reform, government contracts, or otherwise,” the resolution states.
Two Republicans who have called on Trump to release his tax returns didn’t vote with the rest of their party. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) sided with Democrats, while Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) voted “present.”
The procedural vote to table the motion was 225 to 187. Arizona’s congressional delegation: Yeahs: Biggs, Franks, Gosar, Schweikert; Nays: Gallego, Grijalva, O’Halleran, Sinema; Not Voting: McSally.
Democrats had forced votes on a weekly basis from late February leading up to Tax Day in April on resolutions directing the House Ways and Means Committee to request the last decade of Trump’s tax returns.
They revived the tactic last week after Trump fired James Comey as director of the FBI, which has been investigating whether the Trump campaign had improper contacts with Russian government officials.
Three congressional committees have the power to request individual tax returns from the Treasury Department and review them in closed session: House Ways and Means, Senate Finance and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Sánchez’s resolution notes that Comey had previously testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this month that tax returns can be useful for an investigation.
“When are tax returns useful in investigating a criminal offense?” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked.
“Well, they’re useful in showing unreported income, motive. If someone hides something that’s — should otherwise be a tax return indicates they might know it was criminal activity,” Comey said.
Democrats are turning to a variety of procedural avenues to circumvent GOP leaders and try to force a vote on requesting Trump’s tax returns.
They launched a procedure known as a discharge petition last month on Rep. Anna Eshoo’s (D-Calif.) bill requiring presidents and presidential candidates to provide their last three years of federal income tax returns to the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission.
The discharge petition would need 218 signatures to get a vote, meaning nearly two dozen Republicans would have to cross party lines and endorse the effort.
This investigation would conclude more quickly if Tea-Publicans were not actively hindering the investigation.
Hey AZBlueMeanie, have you seen this?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-alleged-russian-hacker-teamed-up-with-florida-gop-operative-1495724787?mod=e2tw
US intelligence says Guccifer 2.0 works for the Russian military.
But of course the right keeps saying there was no collusion.
So, let’s get this correct. If any Republican in the US talked to anyone in Russia, that proves collusion.
Stock market just hit an all-time record. Implicitly forecasting 4 percent annual growth after 8 years without a 3% growth quarter.
Keep screaming.
So, you didn’t actually read the article.
Also, where did we land on that whole Huppenthal was going to provide evidence of his accusations of crimes he’s leveled at literally thousands of people?
You’re a documented liar, a conspiracy nut, a corrupt and disgraced politician, and your mom dresses you funny.
Is this what this blog has been reduced to?
Trump! Russia! Trump and Russia! The Russian Connection! Putin! Medvedev! More Putin and Trump!
I think it would be a much better use of time and energy to let the investigations play out in due time and focus on what can/should be done with regard to the economy / jobs / education / healthcare and the like.
This may be important on some grand scale to some people, but the typical voter is a lot more concerned with whether they can afford to make rent and pay the bills, have a decent school for their kids, and so forth, than whether there’s some shady backroom deal.
What was that saying from 25 years ago?
It’s the ___________, Stupid.
Yesterday the Philippines released the transcript from a phone call between Trump and Duterte.
Worse than thoughtlessly sharing military secrets, Trump commended Duterte’s work combating drugs in the Philippines.
“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump said. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”
To date, over 9,000 people have been murdered, without trial, for drug dealing or use, and the killers get paid 200.00 per extrajudicial execution.
Duterte brags that in his previous post as a mayor, he killed people himself.
You’re not wrong, Edward, that we need to keep our eyes on the economy and the American people, but the Leader of the Free World thinks murder is good policy.
Don’t normalize Trump by letting his statements and actions become banal.
There is a lot of room in-between ‘don’t normalize Trump’ and ‘not becoming blind to everything else’.
I genuinely and honestly don’t know what the Democratic Party stands for in 2017 other than ‘Stop Trump’. And I am willing to bet that other people feel the same way as I. It’s not that I like Trump or agree with him or support him in any way, and I’ve been to a number of protests and demonstrations against him. But that’s not enough to win over the mass of people – of voters and potential voters – more concerned about how they’re going to make rent and pay utilities on June 1st than they are about some private phone call.
Bread and Circuses has long been a strategy used by autocrats and would-be autocrats to placate the population, because it works. If you’re going to win over voters, it is critical to keep the focus on the pocketbook issues.
“I genuinely and honestly don’t know what the Democratic Party stands for in 2017 other than ‘Stop Trump’.”
That is because all the democrats do stand for is to stop Trump. I don’t know why, or what happened to set them off as it has, but the democrats (and the left, in general) have given up working for economic ideas, education, welfare, etc., and devoted all their time and energy to attacking Trump and trying to impeach him. It has gone well beyond an obsession to full blown derangement.
“If you’re going to win over voters, it is critical to keep the focus on the pocketbook issues.”
I despise Bill Clinton, but he understood that the economy was the key issue very well, AND he knew how to win elections. Todays democrats are certain the entire country feels the same way they do about Trump and hurting Trump is all they have to do to win voters over. I think they are wrong, and I hope they don’t figure it out. That ignorance cost Hillary the elections, and it will cost the election for whomever the next candidate is, as well.
You obviously do not bother to read all the economics and health care posts I do. Or is it a case of being selective? I suppose if you were old enough to have been around in 1972-74, you would be whining “Nixon, Wategate! Nixon, Wategate! Nixon, Watergate!” You would have missed the defining event of the time. This may very well be another. I provide these posts for the benefit of those who have to suffer with the miserable quality of newspaper/local TV reporting in Arizona and who may not spend their days frying their brains on cable news or surfing the Internet. You know, that “informed electorate” thing.
I do and I appreciate them. However, it seems as though there are a lot more posts trying to link Trump and Russia than there are about a lot of local issues, which are in my opinion more important than the latest dumb thing that Trump said.
Where was literally any discussion by yourself about the County and City bond hearings from Tuesday? You spend a lot of time compiling meetings for local Democratic Party meetings (see: https://blogforarizona.net/political-calendar-week-of-may-21-2017/ ) but not one sentence that I could see about the fact that the city and county were both setting tentative budgets earlier this week. Or what about some posts about what local groups are doing? I have to scour FB and occasionally something from Ms. Classen about what groups here in southern AZ are actually working toward to effect social change.
But I’ll reiterate my question from above: What does the Democratic Party really and truly stand for right now other than ‘Resist Trump and Everything He Does’?
We have a division of work here. Carolyn typically covers the local Tucson/Pima County news as time/work permits. My time is also limited, although you have to admit that I do a better job of providing content than others, for which I am rewarded with endless grief. Some of our other bloggers have not been posting because they also have time/work constraints. We all have lives and jobs, and this blog is not a paying gig. We cover as much as we can.
Between the calendars that Carolyn and I post, there is no other source for this information in Arizona. The local papers no longer maintain calendars of political events — you should complain to the the Daily Star and Tucson Weekly. Even the Arizona Democratic Party does a horseshit job of posting a calendar of its own events. I can tell you that many people rely on the calendars you mock, I hear from them regularly.
If you want to know what the Democratic Party stands for, maybe you should take the initiative to attend some of these meetings and to educate yourself as hundreds of new Democratic volunteers and PCs have done in recent months. As a Green Party candidate, your question is more an exercise in trolling Democrats. The question YOU need to answer is what the Green Party stands for, because no Green Party candidate has ever been elected to any office in Arizona of which I am aware. To reframe your question, “What does the Green Party stand for other than constantly complaining about the Democratic Party?”
One more thing
Maybe this will be the defining event of the time.
Maybe this will be another investigation in the vein of the GOP investigating Slick Willy’s little willy.
And that was a real nice ageist jab from the supposedly ‘pro-social tolerance party. Wonder why my generation is so turned off from the Democratic party.
Must be nice for you to be posting pseudonymously from behind a computer screen.
Edward, I get what you’re saying about paying attention to the middle class, but at the same time….
Trump has created an atmosphere in America where entitled white people are feeling emboldened to spread their fear and hate.
Hate crimes are way up since the election. White supremacists have spread flyers at ASU, Kavanagh introduced a bill to require police to track the political motivations of protestors based on anti-Trump protests that offended his delicate sensibilities.
That’s a local politician, and it’s chilling.
Trump’s hate-speech endangers local people of Muslim faith, and pretty much anyone who isn’t white.
Remember the crazy “make my f***ing burrito” nazi guy lives around here.
His ignorance and recklessness poses a threat to thousands of Arizonan’s serving in the military.
In spite of what most people think, Arizona is very dependent on the federal government. WalletHub rated us 11th for states that rely on DC. Closing down the National Parks in AZ alone would be brutal to the local economy.
Mexico is Arizona’s biggest trading partner. Trump likes to start fights with Mexico.
Trump’s hate speech has immigrants scared, and that’s not good, because we like to eat here in Arizona, and immigrants do most all of the picking.
Trump’s proposed budget would hit Arizona like a ton of bricks, especially places like Surprise, where there are a lot of people getting Social Security and Medicare. A full repeal of the ACA would hurt local hospitals. They’re the ones who convinced Brewer to take the money.
Tom Price is a danger to women’s health. And under Trump we continue to see old white men making decisions for women.
Women make up at least half the state if not more, that’s pretty local.
Betsy DeVos is working to destroy Arizona’s public schools.
Scott Pruitt gutting the EPA isn’t going to make the local air any easier to breathe, and that’s an issue for a lot of people. The local weather folks include a healthy air alert in their broadcasts for a reason.
Jeff Sessions’ policy of “give ’em the maximum” is going to fill our private prisons, costing us millions, and breaking up families.
Sessions irrational fear of marijuana is going to hurt local businesses and their customers, and their customer’s health.
Trump’s deportation squads are breaking up families in Arizona.
The push to sell off federal lands at fire sale prices, lands that you and I own, is going to impact Arizona bigly.
Then there’s the impact on Arizona’s youth. Trump is no role model, but he was given the most powerful position in the history of the world. Kids pay attention, they see that the guy who likes to grab ’em by the pussy is living pretty good.
Don’t think that’s real? Look up the Clinton-Lewinsky Effect, 80% of teens don’t think oral sex is sex.
All politics is local, but I can’t remember a POTUS that has a bigger sledgehammer to use against the economy and people of Arizona.
That said, I back your efforts locally, I’ll probably donate to your next campaign.
Oh, yeah, and one more thing…
Under Trump we’re losing the net neutrality battle.
That means we could lose access to this blog someday.
ISP’s will be able to slow traffic to sites they don’t like, or block them altogether.
They’ll most likely do this using a tiered system, like your cable company.
Tier One – Basic internet, limited to sites the ISP owns, movies via your ISP’s pay per view only.
Tier Two – Netflix, Amazon, basic news.
……….
Tier Ten – Unlimited. But it will cost you. Unlike now, where all traffic is treated equally.
The First Amendment only applies to the government. A private company that doesn’t like what someone says on a blog is well within their rights to block access.
That’s local. Who will aggravate AZBM if we lose access?
“Under Trump we’re losing the net neutrality battle.”
I was unaware of that, Tom. Thank you for informing us about this possibility. I defenitiely do not want that to happen. I will have to research it and do what I can to keep it from happening…
You’re right, and those *are* issues where I agree we should be talking. I did not mean to imply that we shouldn’t be talking about them.
I just think that we should talk about how Trump’sand the GOP’s policies are to the detriment of Arizonans (along with talking about our local politicians), rather than focusing so much on personalities or the latest stupid thing someone said.
I think there’s more than enough bad policy to discuss here that we shouldn’t be distracted by the Russians and lose sight of what I should feel are the real issues. Whatever will be found re:Putin will be learned in due time, and keeping the focus on those battles you mention, I think, is a much better use of my time than shouting about the Russian threat that may or may not be found after a through investigation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxAKFlpdcfc
That’s it. I’m for sure donating to your next campaign, Edward.
And if Liza ever runs I’ll double down.
Clarification. Applause is for Tom’s comments @1:45PM and 2:02PM.
Much appreciated (takes a bow with much theatrical flourish), but I’d like to share the applause with Edward if you’ll allow.
He makes a critical point, one of those “shoot, I knew that” kind of things that I overlook in the daily acid trip that is Trump.
Trump’s supporters don’t care about Russia, and those are the people we need to reach.
I am definitely supporting Edward in his next campaign. I’ll even volunteer for the phones.
I could never be a politician. 🙂
Edward has a young person’s perspective, of course, and I think he validates what I’ve been saying. That is, we’ve got to keep talking about the future as if we actually have one.
So, while the GOP is trying to take full advantage of Trump’s reign of terror before he resigns/dies/is impeached/is institutionalized, we have to keep talking about our own agenda. We have to talk about what a 21st century America is going to be like when the pendulum swings back. And it will. We just have to believe in ourselves and stay vigilant.
The numbers are coming in as the folks get “woke” and there’s more of us than there is of them. Trump is temporary, dangerous but temporary, and the evil subculture that emerged around him will eventually be back on the fringe, marginalized, total losers.
what no trump collusion. and you kept calling trolls anyone who asked for evidence of trumps criminal collusion. I guess you were the troll. following the money is always a good idea but unlikely to ensnare trump. as for his associates unless you got ivanka or jared trump will just keep on trucking and dump the liabilities if he has not done so already flynn manafort et.al.
The thing about investigations is you can’t say “there was no” whatever until the investigation is over.
That’s kinda’ the point.
I think we’ve lost the Captain to the leggy siren’s of the Fake News channel.
Why should the good Captain/censored wait to reach his conclusions when the left wastes no time in reaching it’s conclusions in finding Trump and associates guilty long before the facts are in?
You shouldn’t be so quick to condemn Fox News. Since you and others here bashed it so badly, I decided to watch it a little bit, and I have not found that “fake news” you keep talking about. I find news with a conservative slant and reports from conservative sources that would never see the liight of day were it not for a conservative news outlet. I believe the problem lefties have with Fox News is that is it conservative news, nothing more.
I have to watch fox to find out what is happening. fox showed testimony of brennan in hearing saying obama administration gave classified information to RUSSIA routinely! all msdnc and clinton news network want to talk about is some reporter who got shoved aside in montana. when the media asked montanians isn’t this terrible and rant you going to vote for the democrat now! they mostly said no and good job until the media stooge cut the mike. I have to find the news where its at not where I would like it to be. as sun tzu says know your enemy and yourself and you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles. if you no neither like the liberal elitists you will always lose.
“fox showed testimony of brennan in hearing saying obama administration gave classified information to RUSSIA routinely!”
Be careful, censored! Tom doesn’t like it when you (1) defend Fox News, and (2) introduce facts that don’t mesh with his world view.
Good response, by the way!!
No one “has” to watch cable news, Cap, but if you must, I suggest you seek out Amy Goodman and her show Democracy Now on the Free Speech TV channel or on the web, or find Thom Hartmann’s shows.
No one is rougher on Clinton and Obama than the real progressive media. MSNBC and CNN are corporate media, they are NOT liberal media.
The difference is progressive media beats up on Obama for things he actually did/did not do, while Fox spent years interviewing birthers.
Fox spreads conspiracy theories, but if you like that I get it. They tell stories to old people who stopped thinking 50 years ago.
And FFS, of course Obama shared info with Russia, when it made sense, he didn’t just burp up some intel to make himself look cool in front of the older kids on the playground.
That’s a talking point of epic stupidity, so must have come from Fox and Friends?
I can separate the wheat from the chaff not only on fox but with amy goodman and tom hartmann. remember during the election when tom called jill stein crook compared to hillary! you have to search for the truth.diogenese.
Don’t let anyone here discourage you. You are one of the few realists here who asks the hard questions about truth and facts. Some posters here get irritated by that and want you to stop. Don’t let them shut you down.