Year: 2018

Gov. Ducey and GOP legislature fail to protect our children with reasonable gun safety regulation (Updated)

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First, a preface.

The NRA’s largest 2016 outlay was the $30.3 million it spent in support of Donald Trump. “[T]he NRA’s investment, which was more than any other outside group, paid for a slew of ads that directly targeted the same voters who propelled Trump to victory.”

Now 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. FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump:

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.

It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.

It’s unclear how long the Torshin inquiry has been ongoing, but the news comes as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sweeping investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with Trump’s campaign, has been heating up.

Disclosure of the Torshin investigation signals a new dimension in the 18-month-old FBI probe of Russia’s interference.

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Investigators for three congressional committees probing Russia’s 2016 operations also have shown interest in Torshin, a lifetime NRA member who has attended several of its annual conventions. At the group’s meeting in Kentucky in May 2016, Torshin spoke to Donald Trump Jr. during a gala event at the group’s national gathering in Kentucky in May 2016, when his father won an earlier-than-usual NRA presidential endorsement.

So there’s this aside.

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Code Red: dereliction of duty by a ‘criminally incompetent’ commander-in-chief

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After a weekend of our always insecure egomaniacal man-child Twitter-troll-in-chief Trump lashing out over Russia probe in an angry and error-laden tweetstorm, a remarkable series of opinions appeared in newspapers on Monday.

Max Boot wrote at the Washington Post, Trump is ignoring the worst attack on America since 9/11:

Imagine if, after 9/11, the president had said that the World Trade Center and Pentagon could have been attacked by “China” or “lots of other people.” Imagine if he had dismissed claims of al-Qaeda’s responsibility as a “hoax” and said that he “really” believed Osama bin Laden’s denials. Imagine if he saw the attack primarily as a political embarrassment to be minimized rather than as a national security threat to be combated. Imagine if he threatened to fire the investigators trying to find out what happened.

Or if you would prefer, imagine if this was the response to the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, as cartoonist Steve Benson does.

SteveBensonCartoon

That’s roughly where we stand after the second-worst foreign attack on America in the past two decades. The Russian subversion of the 2016 election did not, to be sure, kill nearly 3,000 people. But its longer-term impact may be even more corrosive by undermining faith in our democracy.

The evidence of Russian meddling became “incontrovertible,” in the word of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, after special counsel Robert S. Mueller III indicted 13 Russians and three Russian organizations on Friday for taking part in this operation. “Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton,” the indictment charges.

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Victoria Steele & Jim Love Compete to be Tucson’s State Senator

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Progressives have two excellent choices in Victoria Steele and Jim Love to be the candidate for the Arizona Senate in northern Tucson’s Legislative District 9. The Democrats aim to fill the shoes of widely-admired Steve Farley (who is off to unseat the Governor). Even though only one can prevail, Steele and Love are friends. He … Read more

“The Age of Consequences” free climate change film at the Loft

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 AT 7:30PM | FREE ADMISSION Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson “Featuring a post-film panel discussion with local experts: Gary Krivokapich Engineer at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base; Edward Beshore, Tucson Group Leader, Citizens Climate Lobby; Dr. Gregg Garfin Director of the Southwest Climate Science Center; Austin Yamada, Director of the Defense … Read more

(Update) The conservative media entertainment complex is an ancillary to Russian ‘active measures’ propaganda

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For Donald Trump and his conservative enablers who argue that Russia’s “dezinformatsiya” social media propaganda attack on the 2016 election had no effect on the outcome, there is a similar American right-wing disinformation propaganda campaign that demonstrates just how wrong you are.

The political network affiliated with billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to sell the recently passed GOP tax plan to voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Koch Network To Launch Multimillion-Dollar Campaign To Try To Convince Americans To Support The New Tax Plan. The result: the Republican tax cut law, which once appeared overwhelmingly unpopular, is now supported by a narrow majority of Americans, according to a Survey Monkey poll. Tax Overhaul Gains Public Support, Buoying Republicans:

The growing public support for the law coincides with … an aggressive effort by Republicans, backed by millions of dollars of advertising from conservative groups, to persuade voters of the law’s benefits.

Over all, 51 percent of Americans approve of the tax law, while 46 percent disapprove, according to a poll for The New York Times conducted between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11 by SurveyMonkey. Approval has risen from 46 percent in January and 37 percent in December, when the law was passed.

“Public opinion is moving in the direction of this bill,” said Jon Cohen, chief research officer for SurveyMonkey. “Considering where it was, it is dramatically different.”

Donald Trump is president thanks to 80,000 people in three states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “Trump won those states by 0.2, 0.7 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively — and by 10,704, 46,765 and 22,177 votes. Or put another way: But for 79,646 votes cast in those three states, Hillary Clinton would be the president of the United States.”

The Russian “dezinformatsiya” social media propaganda attack on the U.S. election only had to move a small number of voters in key swing states to succeed. It is an imponderable question to know whether it did. There is no way to state with any degree of certainty how many votes may have been swayed by Russian “dezinformatsiya” social media propaganda, often forwarded or retweeted by millions of “unwitting” Americans as the Special Counsel’s indictment recites (or “useful idiots” as Joseph Stalin referred to them). How Unwitting Americans Encountered Russian Operatives Online.

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