July 30, 2020

EXCLUSIVE: Fearing Trump interference, FBI agents hid copies of Russia investigation docs

Source: CNN

In the hours after President Donald Trump suddenly fired FBI Director James Comey, on May 9, 2017, his former subordinates in the J. Edgar Hoover Building wondered if there would be more shoes to drop.

Would Trump dismiss more people? Would he shut down the investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia? Would the President demand that the Bureau cease its investigation of Michael Flynn, Trump's onetime national security adviser?

In response to these concerns, the FBI took extraordinary -- and previously undisclosed -- steps to protect its investigations.

From Comey's first meetings with Trump, shortly after he won the presidency, the FBI director developed misgivings about his new boss' behavior -- about Trump's demands for "loyalty," and even more unnerving, his request that the Bureau drop its investigation of Flynn. Comey's conversations with Trump had been so distressing that the director started writing up contemporaneous summaries of their interactions and sharing them with a handful of top officials at the Bureau. Now, suddenly, Comey was out -- and the question arose of what to do with his memos about his conversations with the President.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/politics/jeffrey-toobin-trump-fbi-mueller-true-crimes-and-misdemeanors/index.html

July 30, 2020

The latest trend among wealthy American travelers? Buying another country's citizenship.

Source: Washington Post

For generations, the American passport afforded its holders the privilege of hassle-free travel around much of the world. That has changed with the coronavirus pandemic. While borders are beginning to reopen to international travel, some countries are staying closed to Americans because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak stateside.

These travel restrictions are producing an emerging trend among some wealthy Americans: buying a second passport.

“This limitation of mobility has made more people aware of ... the benefits of having more than one passport,” said Armand Arton, the president of financial firm Arton Capital, which specializes in citizenship through investment.

...snip...

Arton says his firm has seen a 30 to 40 percent increase, year to date, in demand for services that help clients obtain citizenship in a sovereign state through financial means. The price tag for these services varies, ranging from $100,000 for some Caribbean options to more than $2 million for European ones.



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/07/29/latest-trend-among-wealthy-american-travelers-buying-another-countrys-citizenship/?utm_campaign=wp_by_the_way&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_bytheway

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Malta looks attractive. Access to the EU and they speak English...

July 30, 2020

Latest USA Swing State Voting Intention

Source: Redfield & Wilton Strategies

Redfield & Wilton Strategies’ latest polls across six US swing states find Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump in all six states, with leads ranging from 1% in North Carolina to 12% in Michigan. Relative to our results in June, Donald Trump has narrowed the gap in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but has fallen further behind in Arizona, Florida, and Michigan. In Wisconsin, Biden’s 10% lead has remained relatively stable since our first swing state voting intention in May.

State -- Biden -- Trump
Arizona -- 46% -- 38%
North Carolina -- 43 -- 42%
Florida -- 48% -- 41%
Pennsylvania -- 48% -- 41%
Michigan -- 49% -- 37%
Wisconsin -- 45% -- 35%


Read more: https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-usa-swing-state-voting-intention-19-to-24-july/

July 30, 2020

2020 Election Live Updates: Republicans Rebuke Trump for Floating Delaying Election

Source: New York Times

Top Republicans offered a rare rebuke of President Trump on Thursday, condemning his suggestion that the Nov. 3 general election be delayed — something he has no authority to order.

“Never in the history of the federal elections have we not held an election and we should go forward,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, adding that he understood “the president’s concern about mail-in voting.”

Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, declined to answer questions on Capitol Hill, but dismissed Mr. Trump’s suggestion in an interview with WNKY television in Bowling Green, Ky.

“Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions, and the Civil War have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time, and we’ll find a way to do that again this Nov. 3,” Mr. McConnell said. “We’ll cope with whatever the situation is and have the election on Nov. 3 as already scheduled.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/us/elections/biden-vs-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

July 30, 2020

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe speaks out about race and change as part of new Nike campaign

CNBC

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe says the world has gone through big changes this year when it comes to race and equality but the conversation needs to continue.

...snip...

As Rapinoe seeks to continue the conversation, she is starring in a new Nike campaign about athletes advocating for change and standing up for their communities.

The short film is designed to show the commonalities shared by athletes around the world and some of the challenges they must overcome, whether it's bouncing back after an injury, seeking equal rights or handling things that are out of their control, such as the coronavirus pandemic.

You Can't Stop Us" will debut on TV as part of National Basketball Association tipoff on Thursday. The spot will feature a montage of 36 pairs of Nike athletes including LeBron James, Serena Williams and Kaepernick.

July 30, 2020

Jennifer Rubin: When did Republicans become such weaklings?

Washington Post

Republicans, especially in the era of President Trump, have adopted the swaggering tone and false bravado of high school athletes — heavy on trash talk but low on accomplishments. In 2016, Trump incited his followers to slug protesters; as president, he told cops to not be “too nice” putting suspects in police cars. Gun-toting MAGA protesters charged the Michigan Capitol to scream at security forces and threaten Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Trump orders federal forces to intimidate and attack peaceful protesters. Such bluster too often morphs into cruelty — toward children at the border, toward those unemployed through no fault of their own (slackers!). But more often than not, this is a party of sniveling victims and temper tantrums.

Trump is certainly the host of the pity party. He whines his approval ratings should be as high as those for respected doctors (whom he trashes). He moans that polls are rigged and concern about the pandemic is a “hoax,” meant to depress the economy and deprive him of a second term. (You would think an authoritarian wannabe would fear being seen as a crybaby by real autocrats such as Vladimir Putin.)

Trump’s allies in Congress are even worse. During what was otherwise one of the better congressional oversight hearings, Democrats grilled four tech executives — Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon (who owns The Post), Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Sundar Pichai of Google — on alleged predatory practices. Deploying evidence gathered over months of investigation, they probed and punched. Did Apple copy other companies’ apps and give preference to its own? Did Amazon gobble up data on third-party sellers to put them out of business? Had Google gone from a “turnstile” on the Internet to the destroyer of other search companies? And does Facebook buy other companies to control the market? Granted, Democrats frequently did not give the executives time to respond. But they asked germane questions that got to fundamental questions about monopolistic power and its adverse effect on competitors and consumers.

The Republicans? With few exceptions, they whined. Why wasn’t Trump’s son allowed to hawk hydroxychloroquine on Facebook? (It was on Twitter, and it was because the platform didn’t want unproven claims to endanger public health. The real question is why they let Trump do the same.) Why is it more difficult to find a story by a right-wing conspiracy mongering site on Google? (Maybe because relatively few people are interested in such blather?) They mostly groused that Facebook is “biased” against conservatives — even though some of the most trafficked items are from right-wing sites. The evidence was anecdotal, and it was all about them. They and their followers are victims, you see (despite talk radio, an entire cable TV “news” empire, Breitbart, Daily Caller and a horde of other mouthpieces for Trump). Such complaints have nothing to do with the lives of everyday Americans or the concerns for American entrepreneurs. They are about their exaggerated sense of victimhood.

July 30, 2020

Michael Flynn case to be reheard by full federal appeals court in D.C.

Source: Washington Post

A federal appeals court in Washington will take a second look a judge’s effort to scrutinize the Justice Department’s decision to drop its case against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed Thursday to revisit U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan’s plan to examine the politically charged matter, reviving the unusual case testing the limits of the judiciary’s power to check the executive branch.

The court’s brief order set oral argument for August 11.

Sullivan requested a rehearing by a full complement of judges after a divided three-judge panel ordered him to immediately dismiss the case and said Sullivan was wrong to appoint a retired federal judge to argue against the government’s move to undo Flynn’s guilty plea.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/michael-flynn-case-to-be-reheard-by-full-federal-appeals-court-in-dc/2020/07/30/003f9720-d033-11ea-8d32-1ebf4e9d8e0d_story.html

July 30, 2020

On the day Herman Cain died after contracting COVID at a Trump rally...

https://twitter.com/marc_lotter/status/1288839927740997640

July 30, 2020

Former presidential candidate Herman Cain dies of COVID-19

Source: WHIO News

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has died weeks after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, according to an announcement made Thursday on his website. He was 74.

“You’re never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning,” Dan Calabrese, the editor for Cain’s website, wrote Thursday in a statement. “Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away.”

Cain died at an Atlanta-area hospital where he had been critically ill for several weeks, according to Newsmax. Company officials said he had recently joined Newsmax TV and had planned to launch a new weekly show prior to his death.

Cain was admitted to a hospital July 1 after testing positive two days earlier for a novel coronavirus infection.


Read more: https://www.whio.com/news/trending/former-presidential-candidate-herman-cain-dies-covid-19/FE2SUKFHKVGB7NYNSY3Q3VBALI/

July 30, 2020

TS Isais shifting to the east...

https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/1288838700948955136