monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Plump isnt fit to polish McCain's shoes.

A. The president has flat out lied many many times about what happened with Stormy Daniels and the American people have the right to pay attention. How many times did the right wing media scream "character issue" during Clinton's ordeal? It is an issue if the American people decide it's one, and they have let it be known that they regard it as one.

B. With all the changing of the story and the changing of the lawyers and having one Trump lawyer say one thing one day and another Trump lawyer saying the exact opposite the next day, along with Trump contradicting himself via Twitter almost daily, the matter could not be handled more incompetently. If Trump handles this thing this badly, what does it say about his ability to perform under real stress? The president's ability to deal with stressful situations is at issue.

C. Michael Cohen's payment of Stormy Daniels raises issues of campaign financing, a contribution by Michael Cohen to his buddy Trump of $130,000 might very well count as an unreported campaign contribution. That merits Mueller's attention right there.

D. The company that Michael Cohen set up to pay off Stormy Daniels has received a massive influx of funds from a Russian oligarch. If it is this company's money which paid Stormy Daniels off, then we don't know that Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels off at all, he might well have been using the Russian oligarch's money. In which case, we have a Russian oligarch making what is possibly a totally illegal $130,000 contribution to Trump's campaign, and that absolutely demands Mueller's immediate attention. Campaigns cannot receive contributions from foreign sources.

There's more, but I'll just leave it at these four for now. The Stormy Daniels story is legitimate news story no matter what the conservatives claim.

A porn star who lowered herself by sleeping with the likes of Trump, and wishes to share her story as a cautionary tale. Ever hear of Freedom Of Speech?

and wishes to share her story as a cautionary tale

It has nothing to do with morals, if it did, she wouldn't have slept with a married man.

Exposing and Dismantling Obama’s Legacy

Matt Margolis, author of The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama, examines Obama’s ransom payment to Iran and other scandals. “We’re still paying the price for the eight years he was in office,” he says. “If we don’t fully understand what happened and what motivated him, and the impact of his policies and decisions, we’re going to be in for trouble.” Margolis believes the next generation should receive the truth about the damage that Obama did to the nation.

Open-source research points to a man named Stefan Halper as the CIA asset tasked with planting incriminating evidence of Russian "collusion" on the Trump campaign. In March, @The_War_Economy presciently foresaw this development. Here's a deep dive into Halper and his involvement with low-level Trump staffers for the sole purpose of advancing the "insurance policy".

Pakistan has prevented a US diplomat from leaving the country after he allegedly killed a motorcyclist by driving through a red light last month.

Local press said on Saturday that a plane was sent by the US to collect Col Joseph Emanuel Hall, a military attache, but was denied clearance.

US officials have previously said he cannot be arrested or tried because he has diplomatic immunity.

The incident has increased political tension between the countries.

Ateeq Baig, 22, was killed in the crash in Daman-e-Koh, north of Islamabad, on 7 April.

CCTV footage showed a white four-wheel-drive - said to be driven by Col Hall - ignoring the red traffic light at an intersection, crashing with a bike at speed and then braking.

The US embassy has denied reports in Pakistan's media that Col Hall was drunk while driving.

The dead man's father has called for the colonel to stand trial at Islamabad High Court (IHC).

On Friday, the IHC had ruled Col Hall does not have absolute immunity.

He had already been put on a travel "black list", which meant airports had been told not allow him to leave.

Neither the US or Pakistan has officially commented on Saturday's news.

Relations between Washington and Islamabad have been in the spotlight since US President Donald Trump's New Year's Day tweet, where he accused Pakistan of "lies and deceit".

That's why we have a military. Send them in for a rescue and tell them it's OK to be a bit sloppy about collateral damage.

Federal Tax Cuts Leave States in a Bind

The federal tax overhaul cut taxes for millions of American families and businesses. But the law also had an unintended effect: raising the state-tax bite in nearly every state that has an income tax.

Now, governors and state legislators are contending with how to adjust their own tax codes to shield their residents from paying more or, in some cases, whether to apply any of the unexpected revenue windfall to other priorities instead.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which President Trump signed into law in December, did not directly affect state budgets. It cut federal tax rates, but also made other changes that mean more income will be subject to taxation. Because most states use federal definitions of income and have not adjusted their own rates, the federal changes will have big consequences for both state budgets and taxpayers.

“Residents of the majority of states would experience an unlegislated tax increase,” said Jared Walczak, an analyst with the Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank.

In Minnesota, the state estimates that residents could pay more than $400 million in additional state taxes in the next fiscal year because of the new federal law. That has set off a fight over how to respond. The state’s Democratic governor wants to give most of that money back to Minnesotans through tax cuts aimed at low- and moderate-income families; the Republican-controlled legislature wants broader-based tax cuts. Both sides say they must resolve the issue before the legislative session ends May 21.