Because, you know, “Fair And Balanced” is already trademarked.
Our greatest responsibility is to serve our communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that Sinclair News produces.
But we’re concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories… stories that just aren’t true, without checking facts first.
Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’…This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.
At Sinclair News it’s our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically ‘left nor right.’ Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to sbgi.net and clicking on, well, whatever. We’re a monopoly and don’t care what you think. We will never, ever respond back to you.
We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual… We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.
Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback.
Aww… crap. Used that “Fair and Balanced” thing. Call Legal and see how much we owe Murdoch this time. Better not be a Stephanie Clifford million a pop either.
Hmm… what have I been saying for years? That TV “News” people have no natural talent except for looking pretty and reading off teleprompters? Something like that.
Am I blaming the “poor” local newscasters? You’re damn right I am. They could have quit, instead they chose to keep their phony baloney (and 6 figure) jobs. I don’t care how many cats or kids they have to support, borrow some integrity and get a gig as a gun toting janitor at the next Marjory Stoneman Douglas you cowards.
And if you don’t already have us bookmarked as your go to source of vile calumny, scurrilous rumors, and slanderous conspiracy theories I recommend you do so immediately as that’s the only kind we traffic in.
The jet arrived within hours of a meeting in nearby Manhattan between Paul Manafort, then chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik spent over a decade as Manafort’s translator and fixer in Ukraine. Weeks earlier, Manafort had emailed his old associate and told him to extend an offer of “private briefings” to Deripaska, according to The Washington Post.
Congressional investigators looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election are now probing the relationship between Manafort, Kilimnik, and Deripaska, according to two people familiar with the matter. The jet’s brief trip to New Jersey raises fresh questions about the relationship between the three men during the 2016 presidential campaign. Deripaska is believed to have close ties with the Kremlin. Kilimnik has been widely reported to be the unnamed person identified in court filings by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office this week as having ties to Russian intelligence — a relationship Kilimnik has long denied. [..]
Three days before the his meeting with Manafort, Kilimnik wrote in an email to the Trump campaign chairman that he had “met today with the guy who gave you your biggest black caviar jar several years ago,” a reference to Deripaska’s previous loans to Manafort. “We spent about 5 hours talking about his story, and I have several important messages from him to you,” he wrote.
“I need about two hours because it is a long caviar story to tell,” he added.
Manafort said he and Kilimnik discussed the Trump campaign and the recent hack of the Democratic National Committee during the August 2, 2016 meeting. Kilimnik, meanwhile, said they did not discuss the campaign, but talked about “current news” and “unpaid bills.”
Last year, The Washington Post reported that Manafort emailed Kilimnik, beginning in April 2016, offering to give Deripaska “private briefings” about the Trump campaign. Former intelligence officials told Business Insider that the offer was likely part of Manafort’s effort to resolve his financial dispute with Deripaska.
“I assume you have shown our friends my media coverage, right?” Manafort reportedly wrote to Kilimnik on April 11, 2016.
“Absolutely,” replied Kilimnik. “Every article.”
“How do we use to get whole,” Manafort responded. “Has OVD operation seen?”
Investigators concluded that “OVD” was a reference to Deripaska’s full name: Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska.
Kilimnik reportedly told Manafort in a later email that he had been “sending everything to Victor, who has been forwarding the coverage directly to OVD.” Victor was a senior aide to Deripaska, according to The Atlantic.
“Frankly, the coverage has been much better than Trump’s,” Kilimnik wrote. “In any case it will hugely enhance your reputation no matter what happens.”
On July 7, 2016, Manafort wrote to Kilimnik, “If he needs private briefings, we can accommodate,” according to The Post.
That’s not all there is to this story. In September, 2017, on his way to a summit at the United Nations in NYC, Trump made an unscheduled stop at his Bedminster, NJ resort. The press was kept away and there was a “lid” on the media until 6 PM that day. Coincidentally, the very next day Deripaska’s jet landed at a nearby municipal airport and remained for two days. This also coincided with Donald Trump, Jr. dropping his secret service protection. A day later, it’s reported that Manafort has been under FISA surveillance and that he’s about to be indicted.
We don’t know if Deripaska was on board, as he is banned from entering the US, or if any meeting took place between whoever was on the plane and the Trump administration or family members.
Non. Exisitential ennui is the fundamental realization that a cold and indifferent universe does not even deign to notice Cats and the futility of action is absolute, or as Tom Stoppard puts it-
Did you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?
No
Nor do I, really. It’s silly to be depressed by it. I mean, one thinks of it like being alive in a box. One keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one is dead, which should make all the difference, shouldn’t it? I mean, you’d never *know* you were in a box, would you? It would be just like you were asleep in a box. Not that I’d like to sleep in a box, mind you. Not without any air. You’d wake up dead for a start, and then where would you be? In a box. That’s the bit I don’t like, frankly. That’s why I don’t think of it. Because you’d be helpless, wouldn’t you? Stuffed in a box like that. I mean, you’d be in there forever, even taking into account the fact that you’re dead. It isn’t a pleasant thought. Especially if you’re dead, really. Ask yourself, if I asked you straight off, “I’m going to stuff you in this box. Now, would you rather be alive or dead?” naturally, you’d prefer to be alive. Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You’d have a chance, at least. You could lie there thinking, “Well, at least I’m not dead. In a minute somebody is going to bang on the lid, and tell me to come out.”
“Hey you! What’s your name? Come out of there!”
I think I’m going to kill you.
And that’s the thing about cats actually, they would eat you if they could. Dogs on the other hand would only eat you if they’re hungry.
Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.
This Day in History
Pope John Paul II Dies at 84; President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany; Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida; Falkland Islands seized from Britain; Hans Christian Andersen Born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it.
Christianity is a myth designed to prop up Roman Imperial State control just like the cults of Mithras and Sol Invictus. It is arguably more successful because of its persistence. Happy Ēostre.
Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.
Slobodan Milosevic arrested; American forces invade Okinawa; Nazi Germany begins persecuting Jews; Soul singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father.
One of the two white officers who wrestled Alton Sterling to the ground and killed him outside a Louisiana convenience store was fired after an excessive force investigation. The second officer will be suspended for three days.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul made the announcement and detailed the investigation into both white officers, Howie Lake and Blane Salamoni. The case stems back to the 2016 shooting of Sterling, who was later found with a gun.
Salamoni, the only officer to open fire, was terminated. Lake will be suspended for three days. Neither are in danger of being charged criminally, though, as an investigation by the state’s Attorney General did not find sufficient evidence of a crime. That finding was announced earlier this week.
After the announcement Friday, the department released graphic body camera footage showing Salamoni calling Sterling a variety of profanity-laced names while the injured man lay bleeding to death on the concrete.
Stephon Clark, the unarmed California man killed by police in his grandmother’s back yard, was facing away from the officers when they fired and hit him seven times from behind, the family’s attorney announced Friday, saying an independent autopsy revealed falsehoods in law enforcement’s narrative.
The 22-year-old father of two also did not die instantly and was alive for about three to 10 minutes while police failed to provide him medical aid and instead yelled commands at him and handcuffed him, according to the doctor who conducted an autopsy for Clark’s loved ones.
The news conference in Sacramento is likely to spark further outrage across the country after a week of national scrutiny surrounding the police killing of an unarmed black father in his family’s home on 18 March.
“It contradicts the narrative that has been put forth by the police … that they had to open fire because he was charging at them,” said Benjamin Crump, the family’s attorney. “The bullets were from behind.”
THIS WEEK, THE Louisiana House of Representatives introduced new legislation aimed at criminalizing the activities of groups protesting the extraction, burning, and transport of oil and gas. The bill is similar to a model created by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. Indeed, in the wake of the massive protest movement at Standing Rock, which attempted to prevent completion of the Dakota Access pipeline, at least seven states have introduced or passed “critical infrastructure” legislation. Louisiana’s version comes as opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline have ramped up protest activities in the state, staging occupations and blockades aimed at halting construction of the project.
The legislation creates new crimes that would punish groups for “conspiring” to trespass on critical infrastructure sites and prescribes particularly harsh penalties for those whose ideas, if carried out, would disrupt the operations of such infrastructure. The definition of the term critical infrastructure would be amended to include pipelines and pipeline construction sites. The language of the bill reaches far beyond cases of property destruction, and stands to net individuals who do not participate in or condone such activities.
The Louisiana bill, unlike the ALEC model, does not require that any disruption to a facility’s functioning take place for penalties to apply — an individual could face huge fines or prison time without ever having set foot on the property.
“This is ALEC-plus,” said Pamela Spees, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who is representing groups opposed to the Bayou Bridge project.
…Following on the heels of the strike victory of 20,000 educators in West Virginia, who won a 5 percent pay increase for themselves and all public workers in the state, some 150,000 teachers and public workers in Oklahoma are preparing to strike this coming Monday, April 2.
…
On March 23, the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), the biggest educators’ union in the state, presented a plan to raise $905.7 million in revenue to fund education and provide teachers with a $10,000 raise over three years, with $6,000 coming in year one. Support professionals would receive a $5,000 pay increase with half of that in the first year.
Other state employees are pressing for a $7,500 increase over three years, and the OEA proposal earmarks more than $300 million in revenue to restore funding for core state services, including education.
The adamant demands of these workers are the result of more than a decade of stagnant incomes, underfunding of schools and cuts to public services. Teachers haven’t had a raise in 11 years, and it’s been 12 years since the last across-the-board pay increase for state workers such as child support specialists, social service workers, bridge inspectors and others.
EARLIER THIS YEAR, Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., was facing a surprisingly robust primary challenge from Marie Newman, a progressive Democrat backed by some of the many constituencies that Lipinski has clashed with over the years. Lipinski represents a solidly Democratic seat, but has become one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, with his opposition to legal abortion and hostility toward marriage equality and immigration rights.
Eventually, Lipinski narrowly defeated Newman in the March 20 primary — thanks in part to support from the centrist political alliance No Labels. Lipinski is a member of the group’s House Problem Solvers Caucus, an informal collection of representative who work to, well, solve problems.
No Labels, which was formed in 2010 with a mission to promote centrism, focuses primarily on good governance and remains vague in terms of what policies it supports. The group takes an approach to politics based on the theory that both parties tend to cater to the extremes in primaries, and, if elected, those polarized members of Congress create dysfunction, government shutdowns, and the gridlock that sours the public on Washington. In addition to advocacy for bipartisanship, the group is turning to electoral politics, supporting moderates in races against what the group perceives to be ideologues who are farther afield in both parties. As part of its electoral efforts, No Labels pledged to raise $50 million to bolster candidates in the 2018 midterms.
One of the races that the group got involved in was the Chicago-area primary, spending roughly $1 million to back Lipinski over Newman, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. (The spending was technically done through a Super PAC called United for Progress, under the umbrella of Country Forward, which is No Labels’ allied political entity.)
In Hartford, Vermont, last year, U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus as it arrived from Boston, asking passengers about their citizenship and checking the IDs of people of color or those with accents. In January, they stopped a man in Indio, California, as he was boarding a Los Angeles-bound bus. In questioning him about his immigration status, they told him his “shoes looked suspicious,” like those of someone who had recently crossed the border.
Interrogation, searches, demands for identification, and possible detainment are processes people are subjected to as they try to enter the U.S. at ports of entry as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection tries to keep borders secure. Turns out, this broad authority doesn’t end at ports of entry but extends for another 100 miles into the interior, across the entire perimeter of the country.
It’s an area some derisively refer to as the “Constitution-Free Zone.” It’s also home to two-thirds of the U.S. population.
Within this area, U.S Border Patrol, a division of Customs and Border Protection, has authority to board and search any vehicle, bus, or vessel without a warrant and can ask occupants to prove their legal status in this country: “Papers, please.”
Some 200 million people live within that 100-mile zone, which encompasses most major U.S. cities from east to west and north to south, including New York and Seattle, Detroit and Philadelphia. The zone also includes the entirety of many states, Florida, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, for example.
THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL Campaign Committee has intervened in a third U.S. House race in Texas, endorsing former Obama administration official and NFL linebacker Colin Allred for a Dallas-area seat held by incumbent Republican Pete Sessions.
In 2016, the party failed to field a candidate in the race.
Allred garnered 38.5 percent of the vote in the first round of the Democratic primary for the 32nd Congressional District, short of the 50 percent he needed to advance directly to the general election. He still has to clear a May 22 runoff against Lillian Salerno, another Obama administration veteran, who earned 18.3 percent in the seven-person field.
A DCCC aide pointed to Allred’s strong performance in the primary and a series of endorsements, including the state and local AFL-CIO, former Dallas Mayor and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (Allred’s former boss). But choosing sides in the primary before Democratic voters have the final say could irk some party faithful. It’s already angered one: Lillian Salerno.
“I figured they’d let us duke it out, but they couldn’t help themselves,” said Salerno, who was a small business entrepreneur before working for the United Nations and the Agriculture Department. “I don’t see the benefit of this that helps our party. I’m a Democrat; why does this help us?”
It’s unclear what designating Allred as a “Red to Blue” candidate accomplishes in March, before the primary runoff, as opposed to after the runoff in May. The DCCC did not promise any resources or support within the next two months for Allred. The committee has also been plagued by the perception of putting its thumb on the scale in primaries across the country, especially in Texas.
It’s spring break for Chicago’s public school students, and some of the city’s young people are taking the opportunity to protest. This week, dozens of high school and middle school students from the city’s South and West Sides have participated in a series of actions to demand that Chicago’s City Council halt the proposed construction of a new $95 million training facility for the Chicago Police Department.
The training facility, like the city’s police department, has been mired in controversy. Young activists, who say the $95 million should instead be invested in their communities have flyered, staged protests and held teach-ins in opposition to the project since last summer, building significant community support.
The city was also hit with a lawsuit on Monday filed by activists with the #NoCopAcademy campaign who are seeking to expose emails and records that they believe will disprove Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s claims that the police academy is being built in response to recommendations from the Department of Justice (DOJ). Activists say available evidence indicates that the project was being planned months before the DOJ report, which offered a scathing review of Chicago police practices, was released.
But despite public outcry, Chicago’s City Council is expected to vote to approve the contractor and design of the facility later this spring. Students and adults opposed to the project attended a Chicago City Council meeting on Wednesday to voice their disapproval of the project.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel left the room during the discussion, returning after it was over.
In a new paper, French political economist Thomas Piketty, author of the bestselling 2013 book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” argues that Western political parties on the right and left have both become parties of the “elites.”
Yet the 65-page paper from the notoriously punctilious economist — titled “Brahmin Left vs. Merchant Right: Rising Inequality & the Changing Structure of Political Conflict” — is more surprising for the lessons it has for the political left in the Western world. Indeed, the left-populist wing of Western political parties, including the American progressive movement restarted by Bernie Sanders, has reason to celebrate: Piketty’s paper aligns with their somewhat counterintuitive strategy that shifting the Democratic Party platform more to the left is actually a winning electoral strategy that can help bring back disenfranchised working-class voters and less educated voters who currently may not vote at all or identify with right-wing populism.
“Using post-electoral surveys from France, Britain and the US, this paper documents a striking long-run evolution in the structure of political cleavages,” Piketty writes in the abstract. He goes on to explain the political changes that have happened since the 1950s and 1960s, when “the vote for left-wing (socialist-labour-democratic) parties was associated with lower education and lower income voters” — in other words, the Labour Party of the United Kingdom, the Socialist Party of France and the Democratic Party of the United States were considered parties that supported and helped destitute and less-well-educated voters.
Yet over time, those parties, Piketty explains, “gradually become associated with higher education voters,” which he describes as creating a system of “multiple-elite” parties where “high-education elites now vote for the ‘left,’ while high-income/high-wealth elites still vote for the ‘right’ (though less and less so).” In other words, both sides of the spectrum became parties of the elite, with no party for less educated folks or the working class.
Piketty argues that this situation “contributes to rising inequality and lack of democratic response to it,” as well as the rise of populists like Trump, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage in Britain.
In its first analysis of how the GOP tax plan will affect Americans’ personal income taxes alone, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (TPC) this week underscored what experts and most of the public already knew: that the Republican tax law will pour tens of thousands of extra dollars into pockets of the wealthy few while providing mere crumbs for the poor.
Specifically, according to TPC’s new report, the top one percent of earners will receive an average annual tax cut of around $33,000 just from individual tax changes under the GOP law. The poorest Americans, by contrast, will see an average break of about $40 per year.
“While most of the corporate tax cuts flow to the top of the income distribution, what this shows is that even in the direct changes to the individual-side of the tax code, most of those changes are still being allocated to the top,” Kim Rueben, a senior fellow at TPC, told the Washington Post.
The Post published a visual of the disproportionate gains seen by those at the very top:
Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here.
Looking to switch up the main dish for your seder or for easy dinner ideas to cook later in the week? These impressive, Passover-friendly recipes include braised lamb, slow-roasted fish, grilled short ribs, and baked chicken.
Crisped, browned chicken thighs are stewed with lemons, olives, and capers in this Mediterranean-inspired main. The recipe calls for chopping the meat before serving, but the thighs can also be served whole for a more elegant presentation.
For this holiday-worthy vegetarian entrée, roasting the butternut with several bay leaves slipped between the slices results in a subtle aromatic backdrop for the chile glaze.
This old Gourmet recipe has reviews from 126 users, almost all of whom love it. So take it from them: even if it’s your “first time cooking lamb,” you’ll be “hooked.”
Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.
This Day in History
President Lyndon Johnson announces that he isn’t running for re-election; Flag first unfurled on top of Eiffel Tower; Terry Schiavo dies; Oklahoma debuts on Broadway.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
People who put themselves on the line and sacrifice their own safety for the greater good and for others, and anyone in any profession whose concern is the welfare for other people instead of the individual, are inspiring and important.
Ham is salty. Whether its smoked or just fully cooked ham is salty. Since many people are trying to reduce the daily intake of salt, this is away to have your ham for Easter and eat your fill. I use chef Julia Child’s method to reduce the salt by boiling the ham first.
Remove all wrappings from the ham and wash it under cold water.
Place ham in a pot large enough to hold it and the boiling ingredients.
Add to the pot
2 onions, pealed and quartered;
2 carrots, cut in large chunks;
12 parsley sprigs, 6 thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 12 peppercorns, 3 cloves tied in cheesecloth to make a sachet d’épices.
Pour in one 750 ml. bottle of dry white wine and one quart of cold water.
Bring it to a boil skimming away any impurities off the top. Simmer 20 min per pound. Ham is done when internal temperature reaches 140ºF
Once cooked, removed from pot and let stand for 15 to 20 minutes before pealing away the skin, leaving the fat. With the tip of a very sharp knife, score the fat creating a diamond pattern. Keep warm by tenting with foil and a thick towel.
Pre-heat the oven to 450ºF
I don’t decorate the ham with anything, but I have used this recipe to glaze the ham while it bakes.
Ingredients
1 cup of bourbon
1 cup of cola, preferable Kosher Coke (no high fructose corn syrup)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 sprigs of fresh thyme tied in cheesecloth to make a sachet d’épices
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan, simmering gently to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the liquid until thick and syrupy and liquid coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Place the ham fat side up on a rack in a large roasting pan. Pour and brush the glaze over the ham. Place in the oven on the lower rack; roast 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned. If using glaze, brush on more after first 10 minutes of cooking. When done, remove from oven, tent with foil and a thick towel. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. If you have a slicer, each slice will be graced with that glorious glaze. It might be worth getting a slicer if you cook big amounts of meat often. For low cost meat slicer parts, National Band Saw manufactures meat slicer spare part replacements. Slicing with a knife can sometimes hack the meat which is not what you want.
You will be amazed at how tender and tasty this ham will be and nowhere near as salty.
“During the course of the confirmation proceedings on my nomination to be Attorney General, I advised the Senate Judiciary Committee that ‘[i]f a specific matter arose where I believed my impartiality might reasonably be questioned, I would consult with Department ethics officials regarding the most appropriate way to proceed.’
“During the course of the last several weeks, I have met with the relevant senior career Department officials to discuss whether I should recuse myself from any matters arising from the campaigns for President of the United States.
“Having concluded those meetings today, I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States.
“I have taken no actions regarding any such matters, to the extent they exist.
“This announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation.
“Consistent with the succession order for the Department of Justice, Acting Deputy Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana Boente shall act as and perform the functions of the Attorney General with respect to any matters from which I have recused myself to the extent they exist.”
He hasn’t lived up to that promise. As a matter of fact, he has broken it several times in the last year, the latest breach of promise was yesterday when he appointed Utah US Attorney to investigate FBI conduct of the Trump Russian investigation i.e. the FBI handling of the investigations of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, her e-mail server, the GPS Fusion dossier and the Carter Page warrants issued by FISA.
In a letter to senior Republican lawmakers, Sessions said that in November, he named U.S. Attorney John Huber — unanimously confirmed to lead the Justice Department’s Utah district under President Barack Obama and again under President Donald Trump — to partner with the Justice Department’s inspector general in the inquiry.
The move adds legal muscle to an internal investigation being run by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who is nearing the release of an extensive report on the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. [..]
“Mr. Huber is conducting his work from outside the Washington D.C. area and in cooperation with the inspector general,” Sessions wrote on Thursday. “I am confident that Mr. Huber’s review will include a full, complete and objective evaluation of these matters in a manner that is consistent with the law and the facts.”
Sessions said he had been getting regular updates from Huber and would receive recommendations from him on whether any new investigations should be opened or current investigations should be reinforced — or whether he would revisit the discussion of appointing a special counsel.
The attorney general also noted Horowitz’s recent decision to open a new inquiry into allegations by Republicans that the FBI misused a surveillance program to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser. Sessions noted that he had asked Horowitz to pursue the matter, among others raised by Republicans in repeated letters over the past year.
As Republican lawmakers have battered the Justice Department to take action, congressional Democrats say the GOP is kicking up dust to distract from a widening and increasingly perilous investigation of Trump campaign contacts with Russia. They have warned that any move by the Justice Department to accommodate these demands would be a subversion of the justice system. Most recently, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Horowitz’s decision to examine potential surveillance was the result of a pressure campaign by Republicans to look into a “conspiracy theory.”
“Any objective review of these claims should tell us what we already know — that the FBI was right, that there was sufficient evidence to continue investigating certain Trump campaign officials for their connections to the Russian government, and that the Republicans are desperate to distract from that investigation,” Nadler said.
But as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow explains, Sessions is violating his recusal “from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States.”
First, Maddow noted that the firings of former FBI director James Comey and former deputy assistant director Andrew McCabe did have something to do with the Russia investigation. In the case of Comey, President Donald Trump revealed his true motivations to NBC’s Lester Holt. McCabe was conducting an investigation into Sessions for the firing of Comey when he was fired.
Second, it was revealed Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller is now looking into two key Republicans, Trump’s former deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn and former Trump campaign policy director John Mashburn. The only place that Mashburn’s name has popped up, according to Maddow, is when it came to a strange incident at the Republican National Convention. It isn’t clear whether it was Mashburn or any other prominent member of the Republican National Committee, who demanded the party’s platform take a lighter stance against Russia in the battle for Ukraine. Mueller’s court documents detailed that he’s asking the two men specifically about the RNC. [..]
“Mueller’s team has been asking about a convention-related event attended by both Russia’s U.S. ambassador and Jeff Sessions, the first U.S. senator to support Trump and now his attorney general, said one source, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation,” Reuters reported Thursday. [..]
“If this new reporting is correct, this means a couple things,” Maddow began. “First, and most importantly, it means that in current inquiries by the special counsel’s office, what they are asking witnesses about now is about the central matter under investigation. It’s not just obstruction of justice. They are asking about the question of contacts with and potentially collusion with Russia.” [..]
“Anybody will be alarmed by these reports about what Mueller is asking witnesses about now,” she continued. “Hey! That’s the attorney general you’re talking about there! The currently serving attorney general of the United States is the subject of active inquiries in the Mueller investigation on multiple fronts while he’s serving as attorney general which involves him setting up multiple inquiries and whether or not the FBI should have been investigating the Russia matter at all and whether they have been too bias in favor of Hillary Clinton. He’s the subject of inquiries by the Mueller investigation, meanwhile sicking these two investigators on the Russia investigation? This is a rat’s nest, and boy, does that recusal seem to be sagging under its weight these days.”
It appears that Sessions is now trying to obstruct Mueller’s investigation into his involvement with the Russians, as well as, Trump’s and his family.
Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.
This Day in History
President Ronald Reagan is wounded in an assassination attempt; The U.S. reaches a deal with Russia to buy Alaska Territory; Actor James Cagney dies; Musician Eric Clapton born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s 
