FBI Official Wont Say Whether Trump Acted As an

“Unwitting Agent” for Russia

A top FBI official investigating the Russian cyberattacks on the 2016 election would not say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump acted as an “unwitting agent” of the Kremlin during his presidential campaign.

Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, testified before the Senate intelligence committee that Moscow “employed a multifaceted approach intended to undermine confidence in our democratic process,” including efforts to “discredit” Hillary Clinton and help elect Trump.

Citing Priestap’s description of Russian efforts to “sow discord” in the United States, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) asked Priestap about the term “unwitting agent,” meaning an official duped into doing the bidding of a foreign power.
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The exchange recalled an August 2016 op-ed by former CIA Director Michael Morell endorsing Clinton. “Mr. Trump has also taken policy positions consistent with Russian, not American, interests—endorsing Russian espionage against the United States, supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea and giving a green light to a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States,” Morrell wrote. “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/fbi-official-wont-say-whether-trump-acted-as-an-unwitting-agent-for-russia/

I don't know if this has been posted before, but this is a great timeline on Russia and Trump.

How Trump Can Win and We Can Lose the Media War

In the dust storm kicked up last week over former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a big story seems to have been obscured: that of Reality Winner, the young defense contractor who slid a classified National Security Agency document to The Intercept website.

Putting aside Winner’s motives, of which I haven’t a clue, the document described an effort by Russian military intelligence hackers not just to steal and float negative information about Hillary Clinton, and thus attempt to tilt our election to Trump, but to penetrate our voting software, the very heart of our democracy, presumably to change votes.

The document doesn’t say if they succeeded or not, but this is big stuff — headline stuff. Instead, to the extent the story was covered at all, it was reported as the story of a treasonous government leaker — that bane of the president’s existence. Score one for Trump.

http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-can-win-can-lose-media-war/

A long read, but worth it. The author delves into many reasons for Trump's continuing support among certain groups of voters.

And here's another interesting question concerning Sessions.

I wish I'd been on this flight.

Mr. Comey and All the Presidents Lies

Trump, furious and frustrated, gears up to punch back at Comey testimony

Alone in the White House in recent days, President Trump — frustrated and defiant — has been spoiling for a fight, according to his confidants and associates.

Glued even more than usual to the cable news shows that blare from the televisions in his private living quarters, or from the 60-inch flat screen he had installed in his cramped study off the Oval Office, he has fumed about “fake news.” Trump has seethed as his agenda has stalled in Congress and the courts. He has chafed against the pleas for caution from his lawyers and political advisers, tweeting whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

And on Thursday, the president will come screen-to-screen with the former FBI director he fired, James B. Comey, who has consumed, haunted and antagonized him by overseeing an expanding Russia investigation that the president slammed as a “witch hunt.”
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“He’s infuriated at a deep-gut, personal level that the elite media has tolerated [the Russia story] and praised Comey,” former House speaker Newt Gingrich said. “He’s not going to let some guy like that smear him without punching him as hard as he can.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/politics/trump-furious-and-frustrated-will-join-allies-in-attacking-comey-testimony/2017/06/06/171e6d00-4acf-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html

Hang onto your hats, folks. I don't know how this is going to go down, but I have a feeling we're going to see something the likes of which we've never seen before with Trump live tweeting during Comey’s testimony.

Final words of script for undelivered JFK speech.

With all the discussion about the Paris Agreement, I found this article about funding

to be very interesting.

What Is the Green Climate Fund and How Much Does the U.S. Actually Pay?
By NADJA POPOVICH and HENRY FOUNTAIN JUNE 2, 2017

In announcing his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, President Trump also said the United States would stop contributing to the Green Climate Fund, a United Nations program that he claimed could eventually cost the country “billions and billions and billions” of dollars.

How much have rich countries pledged?

Industrialized countries have voluntarily pledged $10.3 billion since 2013 to help poorer nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the effects of climate change. The United States has pledged by far the most — $3 billion, twice that of the second-largest pledger, Japan. But on a per-capita basis, many other countries have offered more than the United States. Swedes, for example, will contribute nearly $60 each.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/02/climate/100000005143317.mobile.html

I have my hummingbird feeders put up in their usual spots and I've been getting a few regulars

stopping by. Surprisingly, my regulars now include a pair of House Finches that have been here every day for the last week or so. They always arrive together, perch on the "rail" around the feeder and poke around at the holes with their beaks and then move on.

The feeders holes don't show any damage like they are trying to peck or chip pieces off and I don't see how they could be accessing any nectar. Since they are always together should I assume that they don't have any nestlings to feed or eggs to incubate?

Has anyone else ever observed this behavior?