Tuesday, November 7, 2017

12:29 PM 11/7/2017 - Opinions Review: Lessons from a century of communism - WP | What Russian Revolution? - The New York Times

Lessons from a century of communism

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What Russian Revolution? - The New York Times

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Most countries have an unpredictable future; Russia has an unpredictable past. That old chestnut has cropped up often this year as the Kremlin has struggled to find an appropriate official way to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Manipulating history for political ends is not unusual — see the Trump administration and the Civil War. But in Russia, invoking history has long been a way of proclaiming political or ideological affiliation. The “Great October Socialist Revolution” was the founding myth of the Soviet Union; Nov. 7 (Oct. 25 on the old Russian calendar), the date of the uprising that brought the Bolsheviks to power, was the national holiday, on which tanks, missiles and high-stepping soldiers swept through Red Square.
The history of the revolution — and of the czarist past, and for that matter of the entire world — was written to fit the myth of Soviet Russia as the vanguard of civilization, and woe to those who tampered with the official version. Unless they were the guardians of the official version, to whom it fell now and again to rewrite and update that history — like when Stalin went abruptly from demigod to footnote.
The end of the Soviet Union in 1990 set history adrift. The collapse of a totalitarian dictatorship that had overthrown an absolute monarchy forced Russians to confront a painful task of choosing what to glorify, what to condemn, and what to gloss over. Impassioned debates over what role of “liberalism,” “democracy” or “elections” might have had a century ago are really about today.
Those who pine for a powerful state, President Vladimir Putin among them, have come to blame Lenin for the territorial costs he incurred for quitting the war with Germany and to credit Stalin with putting it together again (until it was dismantled anew by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin). The last czar, Nicholas II, is alternately seen as a weak master who either foolishly allowed the autocracy to founder or who failed to ride with a democratizing tide. The Russian Orthodox Church has canonized him as martyr of an idealized, God-fearing past.
The fall of Communism is the onset of freedom for some, the collapse of empire for others, and simply irrelevant to many Russians under 35, who, according to public opinion polls, simply don’t know much about 1917.
Continue reading the main story

President Trump’s associates have been indicted. Can Trump himself emerge unscathed? 

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President Trump's associates have been indicted. Can Trump himself emerge unscathed?

Early Monday, the very first charges were issued in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Three former Trump campaign officials were indicted in the probe: Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and two lesser-known Trump associates Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos. So what are the details […]

After first saying ‘send him to Gitmo,’ Trump changes his mind about N.Y. terrorism suspect 

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After first saying 'send him to Gitmo,' Trump changes his mind about N.Y. terrorism suspect

President Trump on Thursday appeared to rule out sending the New York terrorism suspect to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after threatening a day earlier to send the alleged attacker to the detention center. Backing off his initial statement that he was considering detaining the suspect at America's most notorious prison, Trump said Thursday […]

How much power does a president have to prevent terrorist attacks? 

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How much power does a president have to prevent terrorist attacks?

On Tuesday afternoon, a 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant, Sayfullo Saipov, allegedly drove a rental truck down a bicycle path in Lower Manhattan. Saipov said he was inspired to carry out the attack by the Islamic State. Eight people — pedestrians and cyclists who were on the path — were killed and at least a dozen were injured […]

Arriving in Japan, Trump projects confidence, says he’ll probably meet Putin during Asia trip 

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Arriving in Japan, Trump projects confidence, says he’ll probably meet Putin during Asia trip
TOKYO — President Trump offered a brief overview of his five-country, 12-day trip to Asia as he flew from Honolulu to Tokyo on Saturday, telling reporters that he expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin while abroad, plans to pressure other leaders to take a tougher stance on North Korea, and thinks he is […]
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Trump arrives in Seoul, tours Camp Humphreys military base on eve of North Korea speech

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Trump arrives in Seoul, tours Camp Humphreys military base on eve of North Korea speech
SEOUL — President Trump arrived in South Korea on Tuesday and toured Camp Humphreys, the third military base he has visited since leaving Washington on a 12-day trip to the Asia Pacific as he prepares to deliver a major speech on North Korea. The president landed at the $11 billion base, 40 miles south of […]

To the Citizens of Russia!

6:15 AM 11/7/2017 - To the Citizens of Russia!


On the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, TIME magazine took a look inside the workings of Russian society and government.

To the Citizens of Russia!

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On the hundredth anniversary of the October Revolution we are publishing the proclamation issued on November 7 (October 25, O.S.), 1917 by the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.The proclamation was titled “K Grazhdanam Rossii (To the Citizens of Russia!)” and was distributed widely throughout Petrograd.
From the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies
To the citizens of Russia.
The Provisional Government has been overthrown. State power has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, the Revolutionary Military Committee, which stands at the head of the Petrograd proletariat and garrison.
The cause for which the people have struggledthe immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landlord ownership of land, workers’ control over industry, the creation of a soviet governmentthis cause has been assured!
Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers and peasants!
The Military Revolutionary Committee
of the Petrograd Soviet
of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies
October 25, 1917, at 10:00 a.m.

Column: Russian meddling not surprising

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Those who claim to have been shocked the Russians might have meddled in the 2016 election are either playing for the cameras or not paying attention. They, and the Soviets before them have employed “active measures”— a technical term that applies to all kinds of espionage — in the United States and the West practically from the moment the Czar was overthrown. 
For those who came in late, this kind of stuff is not new. And the U.S. does it, too. We’ve spent money on everything from propaganda to keep the Communists from coming to power in Italy after World War II to trying to oust Benjamin Netanyahu from the top job in the Israeli government. 
Earlier this week, a congressional committee took a deep dive into the alleged Russian interference. The matter of foreign manipulation of the U.S. electorate is one on which Congress should tread carefully. It’s a lot more complex than the Washington politicians and the media stars who travel the Acela between New York and the nation’s capital want you to believe. 
The idea was first pushed by people looking for a reason Hillary Clinton lost an election she seemed destined by fate to win. It’s true the Russians put ads on the web. It’s true the Trump campaign met with some Russians and may, as charged, have sought a few of them out to see if they had dirt on Clinton not available through normal channels. 
Yet, it’s also true the Democrats were up to much the same thing. The so-called dossier on Trump prepared by Christopher Steele, variously described as a former British intelligence operative, was produced through a private opposition research effort secretly financed by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. 
That aside, some members of Congress think social media companies are to blame. As the conduits through which information about both Clinton and Trump spread through the electorate, they are supposed to shoulder much of the responsibility for what occurred. 
But look at the numbers. Facebook, one of several social media companies called this past week to testify at one point volunteered that ads with content attributable to the Russians in some way went into the newsfeeds of 29 million Americans over a two-year period. 
When they finally got all the way downstream they’d been seen, the company estimates, by close to 126 million people, maybe more. That’s at least a third of the country but, over the same period, Americans had more than 30 trillion items flow through their news feed. 
Even if you believe every single allegedly Russian spot was read and sent along to at least one other person it constitutes less than one half of one percent of everything people saw. More importantly, no one has shown through any kind of study these ads affected the way people voted. 
That’s the key. It’s not a question of whether the Russians were trying to manipulate things; they almost certainly were. The question is whether it worked. In all likelihood it didn’t, though truth is probably unknowable. 
Some in Congress don’t care. Needing to look like they’re on the alert and with little consideration of the implication of what they’ve proposed, legislation to regulate Net-based ads and other political communications has already been introduced. These are regulations social media platforms will have to enforce. As blame-shifting goes, that’s like Congress telling computer manufacturers it’s their job to put a stop to hacking and identity theft. 
If Congress wants to go any further down this road it should keep the focus where it belongs. Suggesting Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies are somehow complicit in espionage because their platforms were used and abused by techies working for the Russians to spread disinformation misses the point. Facebook is already working on its own to prevent a replay of what happened in 2016. So, one suspects, are the other social media companies. 
The government, particularly the U.S. intelligence community should be its willing, helpful partner. Cooperation between the public and private sector will maximize both the efforts and the opportunities to keep disinformation from Russia or anywhere else from spreading while protecting our right to free speech. It’s a win-win. With the government mandates included in the legislative proposals already introduced in Congress, everyone loses. 
Roff is a former senior political writer for UPI and a well-known commentator based in Washington, D.C. Email him at peter.Roff@Verizon.net.
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Trump Travels to Asia as Russia Probe Escalates: A Closer Look

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Signed in as mikenova
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The Papers - BBC News

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BBC News



The Papers
BBC News
Image caption The Guardian is one of several papers to lead on revelations contained in the so-called Paradise Papers, reporting that millions of pounds from the Queen's private estate have been invested in a Cayman Islands fund. The paper says files ...
The Paradise Papers: another tax-shelter leak implicates Apple, Trump, Putin, Hollywood, Twitter, Facebook, the ...Boing Boing
Revealed: Queen's private estate invested millions of pounds offshoreThe Guardian
UK Queen's Private Estate Invested In Offshore Funds, Says 'Paradise Papers' LeakNDTV
CBC.ca
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Russians Posing as Black Activists on Facebook - Google News: Dark web: how Russian trolls spread fake news - The Week UK

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The Week UK



Dark web: how Russian trolls spread fake news
The Week UK
Both were inventions of a Russian “troll farm” assigned to exploit political, racial and religious tensions - and using carefully targeted Facebook ads, Russia's cyberwarriors orchestrated the ugly clash for the princely sum of $200 (£160). ... Some of ...

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 Russians Posing as Black Activists on Facebook - Google News

Putin and the Mob - Google News: Jennifer Rubin: Trump administration is up to its neck in Russians - Salt Lake Tribune

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Salt Lake Tribune



Jennifer Rubin: Trump administration is up to its neck in Russians
Salt Lake Tribune
Newly leaked documents show that Ross has a stake in a shipping company that does business with a gas producer partly owned by the son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the International Consortium of Journalists. (AP Photo/J.

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 Putin and the Mob - Google News
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putin won US 2016 election - Google News: Trump Aides On Edge Over The President's Upcoming Meeting With Putin In Vietnam - BuzzFeed News

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BuzzFeed News



Trump Aides On Edge Over The President's Upcoming Meeting With Putin In Vietnam
BuzzFeed News
Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson both view the meeting as worth the cost of the awkward optics, US officials told BuzzFeed News, but career diplomats inside the administration have come down on different sides. Some White House officials ...

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 putin won US 2016 election - Google News

VOA Newscasts - November 06, 2017 

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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.



Download audio: https://av.voanews.com/clips/VEN/2017/11/06/20171106-190000-VEN119-program_hq.mp3

Paradise Papers: Tax haven secrets of ultra-rich exposed - BBC News 

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From: Russia News Videos
Duration: 13:27

A huge new leak of financial documents has revealed how the powerful and ultra-wealthy, including the Queen's private estate, secretly invest vast amounts of cash in offshore tax havens.
Donald Trump's commerce secretary is shown to have a stake in a firm dealing with Russians sanctioned by the US.
The leak, dubbed the Paradise Papers, contains 13.4m documents, mostly from one leading firm in offshore finance.
BBC Panorama is part of nearly 100 media groups investigating the papers.
Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog

Russia probe: Mueller's evidence 

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From: Euronews
Duration: 01:29

US Federal investigators have enough evidence in the investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn and his son as part of the Russian election probe, "according to NBC News":https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-has-enough-evidence-bring-charges-flynn-investigation-n817666?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma which cites multiple sources.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly applying pressure on General Flynn after the indictment of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
What are the top stories today? Click to watch: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSyY1udCyYqBeDOz400FlseNGNqReKkFd
euronews: the most watched news channel in Europe
Subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=euronews
euronews is available in 13 languages: https://www.youtube.com/user/euronewsnetwork/channels
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Paradise Papers sends shockwaves around the world

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With high-ranking politicians appearing in the Paradise Papers, officials around the globe were quick to react to the leak. The EU and India have started investigations while Russian and US officials were on the defense.

November 5, 2017

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A look at the best news photos from around the world.

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How Wilbur Ross is connected to the Paradise Papers

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From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 02:27

The Paradise Papers reportedly name Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for not disclosing business ties to the Kremlin. Watch the video to find out how and whether or not the Commerce Dept is responding.

US Commerce Chief Defends Investment in Russian Shipper Linked to Putin Inner Circle

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U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday defended his sizable business links to Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, saying "there is no impropriety." Ross, a 79-year-old billionaire industrialist, has a 31 percent stake worth $2 million to $10 million in a shipping venture, Navigator Holdings, with connections to Putin's son-in-law and an oligarch who is subject to U.S. sanctions and is Putin's judo partner, according to newly leaked documents. But Ross, a member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet, said on the sidelines of a business conference in London, "I think the media has made a lot more out of it than it deserves." Navigator earns millions of dollars a year shipping natural gas for Russian energy giant Sibur, which is partly owned by Kirill Shamalov, the husband of Putin's daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, and Gennady Timchenko, the oligarch who is Putin's judo partner, according to the documents. Timchenko is subject to the U.S. sanctions because of Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its subsequent support for pro-Russian separatists fighting the Kyiv government's forces in eastern Ukraine. ‘Nothing whatsoever improper’ But in a pair of interviews with the BBC and Bloomberg TV, Ross dismissed concern about his involvement in the operation. He said the Sibur deal was arranged before he joined Navigator's board. "There's no interlocking of board, there's no interlocking of shareholders, I had nothing to do with the negotiation of the deal," he said. "But most importantly the company that is our client itself, Sibur, was not then sanctioned, is not now sanctioned, and never was sanctioned in between. There's nothing whatsoever improper." Ross told Bloomberg, "We have no business ties to those Russian individuals who are under sanction." Ross said he has been selling his stake in Navigator, "but that isn't because of this." Ross sold off numerous holdings when he joined Trump's Cabinet earlier this year to avoid conflicts of interest while he promotes U.S. commerce throughout the world. But he kept his Navigator stake, which has been held in a chain of partnerships in the Cayman Islands, an offshore tax haven where Ross has placed much of his estimated $2 billion in wealth. ‘Paradise papers’ Ross did not disclose the Russian business link when he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as commerce secretary, but it surfaced in a trove of more than 13 million documents leaked from Appleby, a Bermuda-based offshore law firm that advises the wealthy elite on global financial transactions as they look to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.  Appleby says it has investigated all the allegations and found “there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients.” The cache of documents, called the Paradise Papers, was first leaked to a German newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and dozens of other media outlets around the world, including The Guardian in Britain, The New York Times and NBC News in the U.S., all of which reported on the Ross investment on Sunday. The disclosure of Ross' financial interests in Russia comes as a special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, and three congressional panels are investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, an effort the U.S. intelligence community has concluded was led by Putin in an effort to undermine U.S. democracy and help Trump win the White House. Several Trump campaign associates have come under scrutiny, but until the disclosures about Ross' holdings, there have been no reports of business links between top Trump officials and any member of Putin's family and his inner circle. The disclosures could put pressure on world leaders, including Trump and British Prime Minister, Theresa May, who have both pledged to curb aggressive tax avoidance schemes. “Congress has the power to crack down on offshore tax avoidance," said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "There are copious loopholes in our federal tax code that essentially incentivize companies to cook the books and make U.S. profits appear to be earned offshore. The House tax bill introduced late last week does nothing to close these loopholes."

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5:01 PM 11/5/2017 – Flynn and Ross, and when the Boss? | Mueller Has Enough Evidence to Bring Charges in Flynn … – NBCNews.com | ‘Paradise Papers’ reveal Trump commerce secretary Wilbur Ross’ Russia ties – Business Insider

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Saved Stories Saved Stories – None Mike Flynn – Google News: Michael Flynn Followed Russian Troll Accounts, Pushed Their … – Daily Beast Mike Flynn – Google News: Report: Flynn followed Russian trolls, amplified messages – The Hill Mike Flynn – Google News: Michael Flynn retweeted Kremlin Twitter trolls in days before election – VICE … Continue reading "5:01 PM 11/5/2017 – Flynn and Ross, and when the Boss? | Mueller Has Enough Evidence to Bring Charges in Flynn … – NBCNews.com | ‘Paradise Papers’ reveal Trump commerce secretary Wilbur Ross’ Russia ties – Business Insider"

With Manafort, It Really Is About Russia, Not Ukraine - New York Times

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New York Times



With Manafort, It Really Is About Russia, Not Ukraine
New York Times
Administration officials dismiss the alleged criminal activity by Mr. Manafort, formerly President Trump's campaign chairman, as being merely about money-laundering and Ukraine — but not Russia, the focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III ...

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50 Years Ago This Week: In Soviet Russia - TIME

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TIME



50 Years Ago This Week: In Soviet Russia
TIME
Milestone moments do not a year make. Often, it's the smaller news stories that add up, gradually, to big history. With that in mind, in 2017 TIME History will revisit the entire year of 1967, week by week, as it was reported in the pages of TIME ...

Flake: Trump calling for FBI to go after political adversaries is 'not normal' - CNN

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CNN



Flake: Trump calling for FBI to go after political adversaries is 'not normal'
CNN
"I've felt for a long time Congress needs to act with regard to background checks and mental health issues. I've introduced legislation on the topic," he said. "I've never felt anybody who is on a no-fly list should be able to get a gun." Flake also ...

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The Trump administration is up to its neck in Russians

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Russia Revels in Putin's Czar Power - U.S. News & World Report

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U.S. News & World Report



Russia Revels in Putin's Czar Power
U.S. News & World Report
... a carefully constructed character. While the latter largely detracts from America's influence in the world. Both men have a lot of enemies. Yet, only the former KGB officer knows how to really play the bad guy to his advantage. Trump antagonizes ...

Trump’s Familiar Massacre Response

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In wake of the mass shooting at a Texas church that left 26 dead, President Donald Trump was quick to blame mental health and not loose gun laws

Russia is a bigger threat than terrorism - Press & Sun-Bulletin

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Russia is a bigger threat than terrorism
Press & Sun-Bulletin
While jihadis study Islamic State group videos, Russian-backed propagandists study American political psychology, learning how to best influence voters with their fabrications. They understand the culture of American news ... While we are busy fighting ...

Trump’s Same Old Massacre Response

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In wake of the massacre at a Texas church that killed 26, President Donald Trump says the shooter’s mental health is to blame - not loose gun laws

How to Find a Smoking Gun in the Trump-Russia Investigation - InsideSources

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InsideSources



How to Find a Smoking Gun in the Trump-Russia Investigation
InsideSources
There are other individuals deep within the Russian intelligence services and Putin's inner circle who would definitively know the answers to questions of collusion. So how can we find these individuals and a smoking gun, should one exist? The answer ...

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Donald Trump: Trump’s Same Old Massacre Response

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In wake of the massacre at a Texas church that killed 26, President Donald Trump says the shooter’s mental health is to blame - not loose gun laws



 Donald Trump

Donald Trump | The Guardian: John Oliver on Trump: 'He's using his own incompetence as a defense' 

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The Last Week Tonight host discussed the president’s reaction to the revelations surrounding members of his cabinet and their ties to Russia
John Oliver has discussed Donald Trump’s reaction to the Russia investigation, suggesting that he’s trying to use his incompetence as a defense.
Continue reading...

 Donald Trump | The Guardian

Wilbur Ross - Google Search

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Image result for Wilbur Ross

trump and russia - Google News: Paradise Papers: Wilbur Ross says 'nothing improper' about Russia links - BBC News

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BBC News



Paradise Papers: Wilbur Ross says 'nothing improper' about Russia links
BBC News
Donald Trump's commerce secretary says there is "nothing improper" about his business links toRussian figures who are currently under US sanctions. Wilbur Ross was accused of misleading senators after leaked documents showed his interests in a firm in ...
'Paradise Papers' reveal Trump commerce secretary Wilbur Ross' Russia tiesBusiness Insider
Massive Leak Reveals New Ties Between Trump Administration and Russia, Implicating Commerce Secretary Wilbur ...Daily Beast
Paradise Papers: Commerce chief Wilbur Ross's links with sanctioned RussiansBBC News

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 trump and russia - Google News

Just Security: The Early Edition: November 6, 2017

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Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news.
TRUMP ASIA TRIP
“The era of strategic patience is over,” Trump said today at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the second day of his Asia trip, referring to the threat posed by North Korea and emphasizing the need to take a hard line against the Pyongyang regime. Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond report at CNN.
Japan could shoot North Korean missiles “out of the sky” with the “massive amount of military equipment” it purchases from the U.S., Trump also said today, Abe reinforced the need for Japan to “qualitatively and quantitatively” enhance its defense capability and that it would intercept missiles “if necessary.” The BBC reports.
Maximum pressure must be exerted on North Korea, Abe said today, agreeing with Trump’s position that all options are on the table to deal with the Pyongyang regime, Reuters reporting.
“No one – no dictator, no regime and no nation – should underestimate, ever, American resolve,” Trump said yesterday in a campaign-style rally with U.S. troops in Japan, also saying before he landed in the country that the Trump administration would consider designating North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism. Julie Hirschfeld Davis reports at the New York Times.
“It’s expected we’ll meet with Putin, yeah,” Trump told reporters at the weekend before landing in Japan, saying that he would seek help from the Russian President on North Korea when they cross paths at multinational conferences in Southeast Asia. Michael C. Bender reports at the Wall Street Journal.
Trump should use his Asia trip to reinforce America’s commitment to the region and serve as a “democratic counterweight to China,” the New York Times editorial board writes.
The Trump administration is slowly shifting toward a more traditional Republican position on China and parts of a more hawkish strategy have been incorporated into speeches that he will give on his Asia trip, but the test of whether the administration will get tougher on China will come once Trump returns. Josh Rogin writes at the Washington Post.
Trump’s trip to South Korea tomorrow could raise “several thorny issues,” Hyung-Jin Kim provides an analysis at the AP.
Trump is the perfect guest for China, his egotistical style, shunning of the normal channels of doing work and ignorance of Chinese history giving Beijing the opportunity to control the situation when he visits this week. James Mann writes at The Daily Beast.
NORTH KOREA
An invasion by ground forces would be the only way to locate and secure all of North Korea’s nuclear weapons sites, the Pentagon told lawmakers in a letter at the weekend, noting that further details about responding to a threat could not be publicly discussed but adding that the Pentagon “assess that North Korea may consider the use of biological weapons.” Dan Lamothe and Carol Morello report at the Washington Post.
The Pentagon assessment demonstrates that a diplomatic solution should be the priority as an outbreak of war “would kill hundreds of thousands of people,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said yesterday. Martin Pengelly reports at the Guardian.
A U.N. report on North Korea’s human rights situation and satellite photos showing the extent of abuse provide another reason why we should not “turn a blind eye” to the Pyongyang regime. The Washington Post editorial board writes.
South Korea imposed unilateral sanctions on 18 North Korean individuals today due to their direct affiliation to North Korean banks, according to an announcement by the South Korean finance minister, Seoul taking the measure a day ahead of Trump’s visit to South Korea. Christine Kim reports at Reuters.
TRUMP-RUSSIA
Enough evidence has been gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller to bring charges against Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and his son Michael G. Flynn, according to sources familiar with the matter, investigators will be speaking to multiple witnesses to gather more information about Flynn’s lobbying work which has been under scrutiny for months due to the Flynn Intel Group’s links to Russia. Julia Ainsley, Carol E. Lee and Ken Dilanian report at NBC News.
The Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has business connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s family and inner circle according to documents leaked over the weekend, known as the Paradise Papers, Ross did not fully disclose the financial ties during the confirmation process and the revelations come amid congressional investigations and Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Carol Morello reports at the Washington Post.
The revelations about Ross creates a potential conflict with his role in the administration and raises ethical concerns. Mike McIntre, Sasha Chavkin and Martha M. Hamilton report at the New York Times.
“Secretary Ross misled me, the Senate Commerce Committee, and the American people,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a statement yesterday, adding that the financial disclosures “are like a Russian nesting doll, with blatant conflicts of interest carefully hidden within seemingly innocuous holding companies.” Barney Jopson reports at the Financial Times.
The Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page met with Russian government officials during a trip to Moscow in July 2016, Page said in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee last week, contradicting previous accounts of his trip to Moscow, Mark Mazetti and Adam Goldman report at the New York Times.
The House Intelligence Committee has called on Trump’s security chief Keith Schiller to testify tomorrow in relation to their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and lawmakers are expected to ask about the details contained in the dossier compiled by former British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele, which alleged connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Carol D. Leonnig and Greg Miller report at the Washington Post.
Kremlin finances supported Russian billionaire Yuri Milner to invest millions of dollars in Facebook and Twitter through the Russian state-controlled V.T.B. bank and the government-controlled Gazprom Investholding financial institution, however there has been no suggestion that Milner or his companies have direct connections to Russia’s online propaganda campaign. Jesse Drucker reports at the New York Times.
Milner invested $850,000 in a startup co-founded by Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner according to the Paradise Papers, a revelation that is likely to attract more questions about Kushner’s business ties and possible connections to the Kremlin. Andrew Desiderio reports at The Daily Beast.
At least nine Trump associates had contacts with Russian during the 2016 U.S. election campaign or the presidential transition, the documents that were released last week as part of the Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos’s guilty plea show that Mueller’s team has an interest in a range of individuals, however the question remains whether the connections between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives amounted to a concerted Russian government campaign or were isolated coincidences. Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Carol D. Leonnig explain at the Washington Post.
The potential legal battles in the charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former campaign aide Rick Gates are set out by Darren Samuelsohn and Josh Gerstein at POLITICO.
The role of Gates has been under the spotlight and Michael Kranish and Tom Hamburger explain at the Washington Post how he has come to attention.
The importance of Josef Mifsud, the professor referred to in Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos’s guilty plea, and who offered to be a conduit between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, is analyzed by Griff Witte and Karla Adam at the Washington Post.
YEMEN
A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Saturday was “a blatant act of military aggression by the Iranian regime” and “could rise to be considered as an act of war,” a statement by the Saudi-led military coalition said today, adding that debris from the missile, which was intercepted, showed that it was made in Iran, a claim that was denied by the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (I.R.G.C.) Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari. Asa Fitch reports at the Wall Street Journal.
“Iran’s role and its direct command of its Houthi proxy in this matter constitutes a clear act of aggression,” the statement also said, adding that Iran’s supply of military weapons to Yemeni armed group was in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Al Jazeera reports.
Trump also blamed Iran for the attack, a claim that was rejected by Jafari as another “one of those slanders” by the U.S. president, adding that “we do not have even the possibility to transfer missiles to Yemen.” Reuters reports.
All flights to Yemen’s airports have been canceled today following the Saudi-led coalition’s closure of all land, air and sea ports which was announced today in response to the Houthis firing a missile toward Riyadh. Ahmed Al-Haj reports at the AP.
The Saudi-led coalition carried out at least 29 airstrikes on Yemen’s Sana’a province in response to the ballistic missile, in what many residents described as the worst day of bombing since the war started. Al Jazeera reports.
Militants set off a car bomb outside a security headquarters in the Yemeni city of Aden yesterday, killing at least 17 people and conflicting accounts have emerged regarding the storming of the compound. Ahmed Al-Haj reports at the AP.
SAUDI ARABIA
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman consolidated his power through the targeting of high-profile figures as part of purported efforts to tackle corruption. President Trump appeared to give a tacit endorsement of the arrests in a phone call with King Salman, the crown prince’s father, yesterday. David D. Kirkpatrick reports at the New York Times.
The extraordinary events in Saudi Arabia over the weekend have brought attention to Riyadh and the ruthless ambition of the crown prince. The weekend started with the interception of a Houthi ballistic missile, then the resignation of the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri while on a trip to Saudi Arabia, followed by a purge of Saudi figures – the incidents seemingly sending a message about Saudi’s power at home and abroad, Ishaan Tharoor writes at the Washington Post.
The crown prince’s action are part of a risky power play and he has been emboldened by support from Trump, his administration, and most probably, a visit by Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to Riyadh earlier this month. David Ignatius writes at the Washington Post.
The impending defeat of the Islamic State group is reorienting the focus of the region to the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, intensifying the Sunni-Shi’ite divide expressed through proxy warfare and opening the possibility of further escalation. Asa Fitch writes at the Wall Street Journal.
The events in Saudi Arabia at the weekend demonstrate the conflicts to come in the Middle East, the Crown Prince’s desire to reshape Saudi Arabia in the face of the threat posed by Iran, the resignation of the Lebanese Prime Minister who cited Iran’s responsibility for causing “devastation and chaos” in the region, and the firing of a missile by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, show Iran’s ability to exploit vulnerability. The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes.
LEBANON
The Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on Saturday in an announcement broadcast from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, criticizing Iran for its destructive role in Lebanon and across the Middle East, saying that he feared an assassination plot, and referring to the destabilizing role of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group. Nazih Osseiran and Margherita Stancati report at the Wall Street Journal.
Hariri’s resignation was a decision “imposed” on him by Saudi Arabia, the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah said in response, saying that “it was not our wish for Hariri to resign,” and Hariri’s decision has prompted fears of a further escalation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, with Lebanon playing a key role. Al Jazeera reports.
Could recent events drag Lebanon into another conflict? Halim Shebaya provides an analysis at Al Jazeera.
SYRIA
The Syrian army declared victory in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on Friday, marking what a military spokesperson termed the “last phase” in the Syrian army’s campaign against the Islamic State group. Louisa Loveluck and Tamer El-Ghobashy report at the Washington Post.
A truck bomb blast on Saturday killed refugees fleeing the Islamic State group in Deir al-Zour province, according to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (S.D.F.), the AP reports.
IRAQ
The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi raised the Iraqi flag at a border crossing with Syria yesterday, following the Iraqi forces’ successful campaign to liberate the western town of al-Qaim from the Islamic State group. Sinan Salaheddin reports at the AP.
At least five people were killed in two suicide bombings in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Saturday, following the first such attack since the Iraqi federal forces took the city from Kurdish Peshmerga last month. Mustafa Mahmoud reports at Reuters.
The Iraqi Kurds have lost vast swathes of territory since the controversial independence referendum held in September, Sergio Peçanha explains at the New York Times.
AFGHANISTAN
A ground and aerial offensive by Afghan and U.S. forces at the weekend in the Kunduz province led to civilian deaths, with lawmakers saying they have received conflicting reports about the number of people killed, with some putting the death toll at nearly 60. Sayed Salahuddin reports at the Washington Post.
The Afghan and U.S. military authorities are investigating the reports of civilian deaths, officials said today, Reuters reporting.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) has pushed to open an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan, an investigation that could implicate U.S. forces. James McAuley and Pamela Constable report at the Washington Post.
NIGER
The four U.S. Special Forces members killed on Oct. 4 in an ambush in Niger were helping to track militants on the border with Mali, suggesting that the soldiers were carrying out operations in a complex battlefield rather than a low-risk reconnaissance mission, as the Pentagon has asserted. Sudarsan Raghavan reports at the Washington Post.
Islamic State militants may have kidnapped one of the four soldiers killed, Debora Patta reports at CBS News.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
A federal judge in Indiana imposed blocked the military judge hearing the U.S.S. Cole case at Guantánamo Bay from seizing the war court defense attorney Rick Kammen, who quit the case over a secret ethical conflict. Carol Rosenberg reports at the Miami Herald.
The Israeli military uncovered the bodies of five Palestinian militants who were members of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, the AP reports.
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2016 elections and mental health - Google News: Flake: Trump calling for FBI to go after political adversaries is 'not normal' - CNN

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CNN



Flake: Trump calling for FBI to go after political adversaries is 'not normal'
CNN
"I've felt for a long time Congress needs to act with regard to background checks and mental health issues. I've introduced legislation on the topic," he said. "I've never felt anybody who is on a no-fly list should be able to get a gun." Flake also ...



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1917 Russian Revolution Anniversary: This Week in History

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7:29 AM 11/6/2017 – Palmer Report: Mike Pence is in deep shit

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Palmer Report: Mike Pence is in deep shit social media in trump campaign – Google News: Mr. Facebook Goes to Washington – AdAge.com donald trump racketeering – Google News: How the FBI won ‘the World Cup of fraud’ as Fifa scandal arrives in court – The Guardian trump authoritarianism – Google News: Being Trump’s Mouthpiece … Continue reading "7:29 AM 11/6/2017 – Palmer Report: Mike Pence is in deep shit"

At least 9 people in Trump’s orbit had contact with Russians

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By Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Carol D. Leonnig / The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — After questions emerged about whether campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page had ties to Russia, President Donald Trump called him a “very low-level member” of a committee and said that “I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him.”
When it was revealed that his son met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower, the president told reporters that “zero happened from the meeting” and that “the press made a very big deal over something that really a lot of people would do.”
And, last week, with the revelation that adviser George Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his efforts to arrange meetings between Moscow and the Trump campaign, the president derided him as a “low-level volunteer.”
While Trump has sought to dismiss these Russia ties as insignificant, or characterized the people involved in them as peripheral figures, it has now become clear that special counsel Robert Mueller views at least some of them as important pieces of his sprawling investigation of Russian meddling in last year’s presidential campaign.
Documents released last week as part of Papadopoulos’ guilty plea show that Mueller’s team is deeply interested in the Trump campaign’s operations, including possible links to Moscow, at even the lowest levels. And Mueller’s interest in Russian contacts may extend to Trump’s business, as well, with the special counsel’s office recently asking for records related to a failed 2015 proposal for a Moscow Trump Tower, according to a person familiar with the request.
A key question in the investigation – and one that hangs over Trump’s presidency – is whether these instances add up to a concerted Russian government effort to probe and infiltrate the Trump campaign, or whether they were isolated coincidences and, therefore, inconsequential. Ultimately, Mueller must decide whether anyone in Trump’s orbit coordinated with the Russians, and, if so, if such actions were illegal or just unseemly. Collusion itself is not a crime.
The new court filings, along with recent interviews and other documents reviewed by The Washington Post, reveal more details than were previously known about the extent to which Trump’s campaign became a magnet for people who believed U.S. policy toward Russia should be retooled – and for Russians who agreed.
In all, documents and interviews show there are at least nine Trump associates who had contacts with Russians during the campaign or presidential transition. Some are well-known, and others, such as Papadopoulos, have been more on the periphery.
Trump’s one-time campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, had extensive ties to Russian business interests, remained in close touch with a Russian colleague, and discussed holding private campaign briefings for a Russian businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A top Trump Organization attorney, Michael Cohen, corresponded through intermediaries with Moscow property developers about trying to build a Trump Tower there.
Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian attorney at Trump Tower in New York came after promises that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton they wanted to share with the Trump campaign. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was also at that meeting, as well as a December encounter with Russia’s ambassador in which Kushner suggested setting up a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin.
Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to work with Russians to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin. Page traveled to Moscow during the campaign. Another foreign policy adviser, J.D. Gordon, met with the Russian ambassador on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.
The Russian ambassador also met twice with then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, now Trump’s attorney general, and discussed sanctions with Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, during the presidential transition – a conversation that later led to Flynn’s resignation.
Russian government officials have rejected the notion that any contacts with Trump’s campaign or business were directed by the government or part of any effort to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.
Trump in the past denied that he or his associates communicated with Russia during the campaign. Now, he and his allies are seeking to minimize the importance of the contacts that have emerged.
“I think the American public can fully appreciate that those are isolated, obviously disconnected events, quite small in number for a presidential campaign,” said Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer. “Nothing about the actual facts published to date suggests that the president while he was a candidate ever met a Russian, ever spoke to a Russian, or colluded with anybody.”
Experts who have studied Russian tactics see something different: a picture emerging of a concerted and multifaceted Kremlin effort to infiltrate Trump’s campaign.
“You’ve got some consistency here in terms of the Russian tradecraft … The general pattern of Russians appearing to try to find soft spots, to find the soft underbelly of the campaign to make contact,” said Steve Hall, who retired from the CIA in 2015 after 30 years running and managing Russia operations. “I just think there’s way too much smoke out there for there to be absolutely no fire.”
Even if there was fire from the Russian side, it remains unclear how those within the Trump campaign reacted. In the case of Papadopoulos, new court filings show he shared his contacts with the Russians in at least one meeting with Trump and Sessions and other times with Trump’s campaign manager and lower level staffers. At times, according to emails described to The Post, he was rebuffed. But in one August 2016 email exchange cited by prosecutors, national campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis encouraged Papadopoulos to meet with Russian officials, writing, “Make the trip, if it is feasible.”
The release of the Papadopoulos guilty plea came amid a dramatic week in Washington that underscored the potential peril for Trump and his inner circle and revealed more details of Russia’s apparent efforts to meddle in the U.S. election in multiple ways.
Facebook and other social media companies provided more details about how their platforms were manipulated through what outside researchers have said was a sophisticated campaign to mimic American political conversation with the intention of shaping the behavior of U.S. voters – and in some cases by remotely organizing political rallies in American cities.
Facebook, for instance, acknowledged that on its platform alone, posts created by Russian operatives may have been seen by as many as 126 million users. That’s in addition to 11 million potentially reached by Russian-bought Facebook ads, and 20 million by posts on Instagram, which Facebook owns. Facebook has said it is working to improve the security of its platform.
The use of social media came in addition to elements of the Russian operation that were identified months ago by the U.S. intelligence community – including the hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Democratic officials that were spread during the campaign’s final months via WikiLeaks.
The first sign that Russians might have been interested in connecting with Trump came soon after his June 2015 announcement that he was running for president.
At a town hall meeting in Las Vegas the following month, a young Russian gun rights activist named Maria Butina found her way to a microphone and asked the Republican candidate to describe his foreign policy, “especially in the relations with my country.”
Trump promised that if elected he would improve relations. “I know Putin and I’ll tell you what, we get along with Putin,” Trump said.
Butina, who did not respond to requests for comment last week, told The Post in April that her question to Trump was “happenstance” and that she has never been an employee of the Russian government.
As the campaign progressed, Trump broke with the skepticism of Moscow embraced by the foreign policy establishment in both parties. He consistently expressed admiration for Putin, questioned long-held assumptions about future support for NATO and the value of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Crimea.
Some with long personal and business ties to Russia practically elbowed their way into the campaign.
Longtime Republican operative Paul Manafort had not been involved in a U.S. political campaign for years until he tracked down one of Trump’s oldest friends, Thomas Barrack Jr., not long after Trump lost the Iowa caucuses and asked to be connected.
“Paul came to me and said, ‘I really need to get to [Trump], I think I can be really effective at the convention,’ ” Barrack said in a recent interview.
He was hired in March 2016 and named campaign chairman two months later.
Manafort, who was charged last week as part of Mueller’s probe with money laundering, making false statements and failing to register as a foreign lobbyist, had worked for Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine and had in the past undertaken multimillion-dollar business deals with Russian aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska.
Manafort pleaded not guilty, and his attorney told reporters that the charges were “ridiculous.”
During his five months working for the Trump campaign, he had repeated contact with a Russian employee of his Kiev office, including two in-person meetings.
The assistant, Konstantin Kilimnik, is a Russian army veteran who has told associates he used to work with Russian military intelligence. Kilimnik, in a statement earlier this year to The Post, denied intelligence ties.
Over email, Manafort asked Kilimnik to pass a message to Deripaska, offering “private briefings” about Trump’s campaign. Manafort’s spokesman has said the emails represented an “innocuous” effort to collect past debts, and he had envisioned “routine” briefings for Deripaska. A spokeswoman for Deripaska has said he never received the message and that no briefings were held.
In court papers released last week, prosecutors said Manafort and a “Russian national who is a long-standing employee” of Manafort’s lobbying firm served as “beneficial owners and signatories” on bank accounts that Manafort used to shift money around the world. The description matches Kilimnik. They also said his company has employees in both Ukraine and Moscow and noted his “connections to Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs.”
One of Trump’s campaign foreign policy advisers, Carter Page, had lived and worked in Moscow and produced a trail of writings proposing repairing relations between the United States and Russia.
Like Manafort, Page volunteered himself to the campaign, snagging an introduction from New York Republican chairman Ed Cox. Cox, who told The Post in May that Page had reached out to him in early 2016 asking to be connected to the Trump campaign, described Page as “very informed and up to date on things.”
Trump announced Page’s role in March 2016, and in July, Page traveled to Moscow and spoke at a Russian university.
Other than briefly greeting a deputy minister who attended his speech, Page has denied government contacts on the trip and said scrutiny of him is the result of Democratic persecution for his pro-Trump views. Page answered questions last week before the House Intelligence Committee, which is expected to release a transcript in the coming days.
Papadopoulos too appears to have volunteered himself, first to the campaign of another Republican presidential candidate, Ben Carson, and later to Trump’s team.
Court documents show that he had repeated contacts with a Russian woman and a man with ties to Russia’s foreign ministry, starting days after he was named a Trump adviser in March 2016 and extending for months.
In April, he was told by a London-based professor that the Russians had dirt on Clinton, including thousands of her emails.
Other Russia contacts came through more established members of Trump’s world.
Cohen, a lawyer for the Trump Organization and a close confidante of the president, fielded two requests during the campaign from Russians interested in building a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Cohen quickly declined one that arrived in late 2015, a proposal submitted through an intermediary on behalf of a billionaire Russian property developer.
But Cohen was engaged on the other Russian tower proposal, which came from Moscow developer Andrei Rozov and has recently drawn Mueller’s attention. That plan had come to Cohen through a friend, a Russian-American former Trump business partner named Felix Sater, who Cohen has said encouraged him to make visits to Russia.
Trump signed a letter of intent to further explore the proposal with Rozov’s company in October 2015.
Rozov has not responded to requests for comment.
Sater has acknowledged the effort, saying it was “abandoned” by the Trump Organization. Sater’s attorney, Robert Wolf, declined to comment.
Cohen has said that he never visited Russia and that the tower plan, which was canceled in January 2016, was “simply one of many development opportunities” the Trump Organization has fielded over the years. His attorney declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, was seeking to reach out to Trump’s circle.
After attending a foreign policy address from the rising candidate in April 2016, where he briefly greeted Trump and was seated in the front row, Kislyak then met at an event on the sidelines of Republican National Convention with Trump aides Page and Gordon. The ambassador met at another event with Sessions.
Sessions met again with Kislyak in his Capitol Hill office in September. Sessions has said he accepted the meeting in his role as a senator rather than as a representative of the campaign.
The Kislyak meeting with Kushner during the presidential transition, in which the two discussed setting up the secret communications channel, has also drawn the interest of investigators. The Post reported earlier this year that Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent effort to protect their discussions from monitoring, and that Kislyak reported the idea to his superiors in Moscow, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials.
Mueller’s team is also probing the Trump Tower meeting held by Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer, interviewing one of the participants before a grand jury in August.
Trump Jr. has said he believes the Russian attorney sought the gathering under false pretenses, that she shared no information about Clinton and that he had no further communication with her or her representatives.
But it was not Trump Jr.’s only interaction with people tied to Moscow during the campaign.
A top Russian central bank official and former lawmaker, Alexander Torshin, told Bloomberg that he sat with Trump Jr. at a National Rifle Association dinner in spring 2016, though a White House official has said the two exchanged only a brief greeting.
Then, in October, just weeks before the election, Trump Jr. delivered a paid speech in Paris to the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs, a French think tank that advocates the Russian position on some foreign policy issues.
Randa Kassis, a founder of the group, told The Post on Friday that she went to Moscow shortly after the November election and briefed Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov on the speech.
Trump Jr’s speech in Paris was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr., declined to comment.
Some potential contacts with Russians are not fully understood.
The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting shortly before Trump’s inauguration between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and the president-elect, U.S., European and Arab officials told The Post earlier this year. Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, and a Prince spokesman that the meeting “had nothing to do with President Trump.” But officials told The Post that Prince presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant.
Butina, the woman who had first questioned Trump about Russia after he became a candidate, reappeared later in the campaign.
She was part of a group that sought a meeting with the campaign in June 2016 to discuss the persecution of Christians around the world, according to Rick Clay, a politically connected former Iraq war contractor who conveyed the request to the campaign. Clay said Trump adviser Rick Dearborn turned down the request, which was first reported by CNN.
“They made the right call,” Clay said.
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social media in trump campaign - Google News: Investments in social-media firms were backed by Kremlin - Seattle Times

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The Indian Express



Investments in social-media firms were backed by Kremlin
Seattle Times
Federal prosecutors and congressional investigators are examining how Russians linked to the Kremlin turned the sites into garden hoses of bogus news stories and divisive political ads, and whether they coordinated with the Trump campaign. No one has ...
Jared Kushner Keeps Failing To Disclose Connections With RussiansHuffPost
Russia funded Facebook and Twitter investments through Kushner associateThe Guardian
The Kremlin invested 'hundreds of millions' in Twitter and Facebook through a Kushner associateBusiness Insider

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Palmer Report: Mike Pence is in deep shit 

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Vice President Mike Pence has been keeping a remarkably low profile lately, presumably under the premise that if he keeps his head down long enough, he might inherit the presidency by default. But even as it becomes increasingly clear that Donald Trump isn’t going to survive his catastrophically exploding Trump-Russia scandal, Pence now is facing a huge problem of his own – and it’s about to get much worse for him.
The arrest of Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort was already a huge problem for Mike Pence. For reasons known only to them, Pence and Manafort were regularly communicating by phone while Pence was in charge of the Trump transition team, for reasons that could not have been above-board. Actually those reasons may also be known to investigators, as Manafort was under wiretap surveillance during that same timeframe; it’s not known if the phone calls between Manafort and Pence were picked up. Now that the legal system is about to pick Manafort to pieces, his weird secret connection to Pence may become public. However, Pence is about to face an entirely different problem.
The arrest of Michael Flynn is now reportedly imminent. During the transition period, Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings sent a letter to Mike Pence, informing him that Flynn was taking dirty money from foreign governments. Pence ignored this letter and, in his role as head of the transition team, allowed Flynn to be named National Security Adviser anyway. When Flynn’s Russian connections were later exposed, Pence lied on national television just to protect Flynn.
Michael Flynn’s arrest will set his criminal case in motion, and in the process it should expose the real reason Mike Pence was covering for Flynn all along. If Pence was actively trying to cover up Flynn’s crimes – and it sure looks like he was – then it’s difficult to imagine Pence surviving. It’s entirely possible that Donald Trump could be ousted, Pence could inherit the presidency, and then Pence could be ousted not long after.
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US elections and russia - Google News: Leaked Documents Tie US Commerce Chief To Firm With Russia Links - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

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RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty



Leaked Documents Tie US Commerce Chief To Firm With Russia Links
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Potential links between Trump associates and Russia have come under scrutiny amid multiple U.S. investigations into Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S.presidential election and the question of whether associates of Trump may have colluded ...
Trump commerce secretary's business links with Putin family laid out in leaked filesThe Guardian
US commerce secretary invests in firm linked to Putin family and allies, reports sayWashington Post
Paradise Papers: Commerce chief Wilbur Ross's links with sanctioned RussiansBBC News
Daily Mail
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Putin and the Russian Mafia - Google News: Texas Shooting, Paradise Papers, Shalane Flanagan: Your Monday Briefing - New York Times

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Texas Shooting, Paradise Papers, Shalane Flanagan: Your Monday Briefing
New York Times
Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, retains multimillion-dollar investments in a shipping firm with business ties to the inner circle of President Vladimir Putin of Russia. ... “The way they do business,” one expert said, “makes the Mafia look like ...

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2016 elections and mental health - Google News: The Note: Are 'thoughts and prayers' enough after yet another mass shooting? - ABC News

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The Note: Are 'thoughts and prayers' enough after yet another mass shooting?
ABC News
A year after a disappointment for the ages, and on the eve of the biggest electoral tests of the Trump era, the party is groaning under the weight of its own divisions instead of rebounding. The Democratic Party is reliving the divides that defined the ...
Texas shooting: Suspect posted Facebook photo of semiautomatic rifle with 'she's a bad b****' captionThe Independent

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Maria will fundamentally change US policy toward Puerto Rico - San Francisco Chronicle

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USA TODAY



Maria will fundamentally change US policy toward Puerto Rico
San Francisco Chronicle
Maria has also exposed the crisis within Puerto Rico's divided politics. The Statehood and Commonwealth parties have campaigned for decades on resolving Puerto Rico's political status. Yet, both parties share responsibility for the island's escalating ...
ALL OUT POLITICS: Being a US Territory Should Merit More than Paper TowelsHuffPost
Hurricane Maria affects Puerto Rico, Tufts' Puerto Rican studentsTufts Daily
Top US coal boss Robert Murray: Trump 'can't bring mining jobs back'The Guardian

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Fox News Poll: Support for Puerto Rican statehood increases in wake of Maria - Fox News

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Fox News Poll: Support for Puerto Rican statehood increases in wake of Maria
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U.S. President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump and local officials, stops to speak with reporters outside a hurricane relief distribution center at Calvary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - ...
Sticking around after Hurricane Maria blew through Puerto RicoMyAJC (blog)
Democrats Call for Investigation Into Whitefish Energy Contract in Puerto RicoNBCNews.com
Puerto Rico Cancels Whitefish Energy Contract to Rebuild Power LinesNew York Times
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FoxNewsChannel's YouTube Videos: Steve Rogers: Internet becoming training ground for killers 

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From: FoxNewsChannel
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Retired Navy lieutenant commander speaks out after Texas church mass shooting.


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Euronews's YouTube Videos: Texas church massacre

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Duration: 01:34

A mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, has left a community shattered and grieving ...
At least 26 people were killed and another 20 wounded after a gunman walked into the First Baptist Church and opened fire.
The attack happened at around 11.30 am local time when the church was full of worshippers
The victims range in age from 5 to 72 years old. Among the dead is the 14-year-old daughter of the Church's Pastor.
"You never think something like this is going to happen cl…
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2017/11/06/texas-church-massacre
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FoxNewsChannel's YouTube Videos: At least 26 dead in worst mass shooting in TX history 

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Bryan Llenas reports


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FoxNewsChannel's YouTube Videos: Brian Levin on possible motivations behind mass shootings 

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Criminologist discusses the possible motivations behind the mass shooting in Texas


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VOA Newscasts - November 06, 2017 

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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.



Download audio: https://av.voanews.com/clips/VEN/2017/11/06/20171106-070000-VEN119-program_hq.mp3

San Antonio church shooting – 11.5.17 

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M.N.: Interpretation: “Son, Un-tony-o”. – 11.6.17 San Antonio church shooting   – Saved Stories Saved Stories – None Multiple killed and wounded in Texas church shooting – FOX 7 Austin Several Dead In Church Shooting In Texas – NBCNews.com At Least 26 Dead in South Texas Church Shooting – Wall Street Journal Gunman opens fire in church … Continue reading "San Antonio church shooting – 11.5.17"

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At least 26 people killed in shooting at Texas church

CNN-7 hours ago
In April 2016, Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle he used in the shooting from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, ...
Texas Church Shooting: More Than Two Dozen Parishioners Killed
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