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Articles I recommend reading:

• Reuters: Ivanka and Fugitive From Panama

  Exclusive: How an alleged fraudster in Panama, working with Donald Trump's daughter, helped make Trump's first international hotel venture a success. The broker was in business with a money-launderer and two criminals from the former Soviet Union. Then he fled.

• The ramped up security and forced removal of beggars in Hyderabad, India in preparation for Ivanka's visit next week, where she will resume her role as the Administration's spokeswoman for empowering female entrepreneurs.

  A US Secret Service team has made several rounds of visits to the hotels and the GES venue and reviewed security arrangements for Ivanka. They would bring their own bullet-proof vehicles for Ivanka to travel within Hyderabad, besides carrying their own specialised weapons and bringing squads of trained sniffer dogs.

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I think Donald Trump made one of is worst decisions yet yesterday in expressing his support for Roy Moore over a Democrat. Why? Because it was so transparent that he cares more about getting his tax bill passed and scoring a win with Congress (after the total beating he took on health care) than whether or not the Republican who would be sitting in the Senate was a child sex abuser.

The about-face by Ms. Most Unimportant Person in the World confirmed it.

Kellyanne Conway suggested that the White House remains open to Roy Moore's embattled senate candidacy on Monday when she told Fox & friends that "we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through" -- less than a week after Conway said that "no Senate seat is worth more than a child" in the wake of a series of sexual allegations against Moo

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It's been days since our last open thread, and my next thread will be next one. It's right around the corner. This one got so long and specific, I am limiting comments to the topic under discussion. For those of you who view Talkeft site as a little community of sane people trying to accomodate themselves to life in an insane world, the news will be expecially pertinent to you.

Ok, here goes. I think I'm about ready to switch TalkLeft to Wordpress. Readers may remember I started the project in 2013, intending for it to be a "premium access" version of TalkLeft. I abandoned that idea pretty quickly, deciding to keep it free instead, and I have been tinkering with the design and other tweeks ever since. Depite WP's thousands of designs and plugins,
most of which I've read or tested out, the truth is, Wordpress is deliberatly made with some features off limits. An uber-coder could change it, but not a mere mortal like me, with only html training and not even css) under my belt. But take a look, I've tweeked it a lot.
And after trying out hundreds of new themes.
I confident that the one I have, which is the same as this one, only bigger and with bigger text, is all the change I need. [More...]

Glenn Thrush has been suspended from the New York Times and will be entering an in-patient alcohol treatment program, following a Vox expose of his conduct with young female reporters. The report has copies of text messages between Glenn and one of the women.

I'd like to see the reporters focus on the allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment against Donald Trump over the years. Trump, like the carnival barker he is at heart, just yells "Clinton" when the topic is raised, knowing it will deflect attention. Clinton is not sitting in the Oval Office or any public office. What he did or didn't do 25 years ago is a public record, was examined in depth at a House and Senate impeachment trial, in the Paula Jones lawsuit and more. Trump (and his Clinton-hating supporters) conveniently fail to mention that Monica Lewinsky, according to her public statements, engaged in a consensual relationship.

Glenn Thrush allegedly made unwanted sexual advances -- several women have made the same allegations against Trump. Thrush's accusers believed he was in a position to help their careers, and therefore his unwanted overtures were sexual harassment. Trump's accusers claim he used his position of power and wealth to make unwanted advances against them. Clinton is different, he used his position of power to engage in a consensual relationship. [More...]

Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles reporter has issued a statement detailing a pretty disgusting encounter with Al Franken in 2006. Franken was not a Senator at the time. The story ends with a photo of him grabbing her breasts while she's asleep on the military plane home from Afghanistan.

The alleged incident occurred during her 9th ISO Tour to entertain the troops. (Her father was a Vietnam vet and her husband (then her boyfriend) is an Air Force Pilot.

Franken had written some skits for the show and brought props and costumes to go along with them. Like many USO shows before and since, the skits were full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience.

You can read the rest at the link. [More...]

Ohio began the process of executing Alva Campbell, a 69-year-old inmate with medical problems yesterday morning. The executioners jabbed him with needles for 30 minutes, in his arm and below his knee, trying to find a usable vein to inject him with the lethal drugs. They couldn't find one. At 9:40 a.m, the reporters were told to leave the room, and the execution was halted.

Gov. John Kasich has rescheduled the state-ordered killing for June, 2019. Why that date? Unknown. [More...]

From Tina Brown's memoir: Donald once poured red wine down the back of a gown worn by Vanity Fair journalist Marie Brenner (and told another journalist he had done the same to Leona Helmsley.)

In news worth reading: An investigation by the BBC uncovers a deal to let ISIS members leave Raqqa as it was falling. The Washington Post reports on Russia using video game images on the topic of the U.S. colluding with ISIS. Bellingcat's report is here.

A new report commissioned by Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee addresses how much land the U.S. could seize under eminent domain to build Trump's border wall. The Trump Administration has not disclosed what this might cost: [More...]

Attorney General Jefferson Sessions testified before Congress today about Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. He denied lying to Congress. He just has a bad memory. (Warning: auto-play video, shame on the NY Times.)

“I have always told the truth,” Mr. Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee, adding that he stood by his previous testimony because “I had no recollection of this meeting until I saw these news reports.”

In October, he claimed to be unaware of anyone in the campaign who had contacts with Russians. He also said, “And I don’t believe it happened,” he said then. [More...]

Via the New Yorker, Donald Trump. Jr. is in the soup again, this time over his contacts with Wikileaks. And according to the New Yorker, Mike Pence has been taken for a ride again, or else he's lying.

I wish Trump Sr. would stay in Asia. Unfortunately, he's returning home to make more of a mess for our country.

Bill Gates is investing $50 million in Alzheimer's research. He says men in his family have suffered from the disease.

I switched from iPhone5s to a Samsung Galaxy 8 last month and I'm still struggling to adjust to the differences. One thing that's great is AT&T (and maybe others) are offering Direct TV Now for $10 a month with no contract (including live and local channels) and HBO for life. With one click of your phone, and no Apple TV or other gadget needed, it mirrors to you big TV. Only downside: You can't change the language of the closed captions -- if the show is in Spanish, the captions will be too. Other downside: There's no recorder. Still, I'm not sure it's worth keeping Comcast at $200 a month for internet and TV. But I do miss my iPhone.

I'm not seeing any other news to report on at the moment.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The TL kids have sent out the first photos of their new 9 pound baby girl, born at 3:30 pm yesterday. She even has a cool name -- Karter.

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Democrats won from coast to coast yesterday.

In addition to Dems taking both Governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, it was a day of firsts: The first transgender legislator in Virgina.

The first Sikh Mayor in Hoboken, NJ. And Charlote, NC elects its first African-American Mayor.

This does not bode well for Donald Trump. Aside from the election results, which are impossible to disassociate from unhappiness with his occupancy of the oval office, there's this: [More...]