Sarandon...

The Elizabeth Warren honeymoon may be coming to an end.

Warren’s weak fundraising and Native American controversy out of the gate gave her the look of a second-rate candidate.

Democrats are already opening up new lines of attack: calling her celebrated policy proposals a “fraud,” challenging her to say how she’d pay for a massive health care plan, highlighting a lack of diversity in her supporters and dropping reminders of Warren’s long span as a Republican.

The actress Susan Sarandon, while in Iowa supporting Bernie Sanders, threw shade at Warren last week. “[Sanders] is not someone who used to be Republican. He is not someone who used to take money, or still takes money, from Wall Street. He is the real deal,” she said.

Reckoning is coming on Warren’s menu of policy proposals soon.

House...

The American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War refers to the United States-led support of Syrian opposition and the Federation of Northern Syria during the course of the Syrian Civil War and active military involvement led by the United States and its allies — the militaries of the United Kingdom, France, Jordan ..

The CIA had been facilitating the flow of arms from Libya to Syria "for more than a year" beforehand in collaboration with "the UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar"; "the operation was largely run out of a covert CIA annex in Benghazi."

U.S. military intelligence predicted "the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos and, potentially, to Syria's takeover by jihadi extremists, much as was then happening in Libya.   

The outcome is grim. 10 millions refugees and six hundred thousands death.

On a different story, Barack and Michelle Obama are close to buying a massive Martha’s Vineyard estate.    It was most recently on the market asking $14.85 million.

Gillibrand...

Kirsten Gillibrand is ending her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination after failing to qualify for the third debate.

“Today, I am ending my campaign for president,” she tweeted. “I think it’s important to know how you can best serve,” adding that her supporters should “go beat Donald Trump.”

Gillibrand launched her campaign with a focus on women’s issues. She rode the momentum of the #MeToo Movement that brought women to the polls in the 2018 midterms. But in a presidential field containing the most female candidates ever, her pitch didn’t catch on, and by the time she began embracing broader issues like campaign finance reform she had trouble finding her lane.

Hope many who have no chance to get out so the public would be served better by the few.

Gesture...

A Lancaster County man who made a “gun-like hand gesture” at his neighbor committed a crime.

“Kirchner argued on appeal that the gesture did not cause a hazardous or physically offensive condition, that he did not intend to cause public alarm, and that there essentially was no harm done to the victim or society,” a statement from the DA’s Office said. 

However, the high court found the gesture of imitating the firing and recoiling of a gun “risked an altercation” and supported the charge. The neighbor also reported feeling insecure, which is why the call to 911 was placed.

The DA’s Office said there was an ongoing history of confrontations between Kirchner, the neighbor. The DA’s Office said because of that contentious history, the neighbor had installed six video cameras and the gesture was recorded.

Kirchner was ordered to pay a $100 fine and court costs.

Wanabe...

A suspected serial rapist wanted for years has been nabbed in the Atlanta, Georgia, area, after police investigators in Clayton County discovered he was a police recruit at their own department.

Eight cases have been linked by DNA to suspect 24-year-old Kenneth Thomas Bowen III.
Most of his alleged assaults were within two miles of his house, said Clayton County Police Lt. Tom Reimers.

The chief explained that Bowen "was scheduled to attend academy training early on the morning in September, he failed to arrive on time as scheduled. When questioned …  he gave multiple statements that differed as to where he was and who he was with." His picture, and 911 various calls narrowed it to Police officer wanabe.

Had he not attempted to join the ranks of the Clayton County Police Department, it's questionable as to when we would have apprehended him.

Defamatory...

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell said Wednesday he made an "error in judgment" in reporting about supposed Russian ties to President Donald Trump's finances without verifying the story.

O'Donnell's admission came in a tweet Wednesday after a lawyer for Trump said the story was false and defamatory, and called on NBC News to apologize and retract it.

O'Donnell said in his tweet that the story, which led Tuesday night's broadcast, "didn't go through our vigorous verification and standards process. I shouldn't have reported it and I was wrong to discuss it on the air."

He said on the show that he'd been told that Deutsche Bank had documents showing that Russian oligarchs had co-signed loans for Trump. He said the report came from a single source, who he didn't identify. The documents also supposedly reveal that Trump paid little in taxes, he said.

Sleaze, just a thought.

Believe...

No Picnic...

The Justice Department inspector general is preparing to release a report on the conduct of fired FBI Director James Comey in the Trump-Russia investigation.

Comey's memos were, at the least, confidential FBI documents, and at most, in some cases, classified.

 Comey told Congress that he sent some of the memos to a friend for the purpose of being leaked to the New York Times. Comey hoped media reports would set off a firestorm that would result in a special counsel to investigate the Trump-Russia matter.

Comey was also part of the process, through which the FBI sought and received a secret court warrant to wiretap short-term Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. 

The FBI cited allegations from the now-discredited Steele dossier as part of its application for the warrant. 

Being on the receiver end is no Picnic.

Pain...

Attempts to understand the nature of illicit drug abuse and addiction can be traced back for centuries, however, the search has always been limited by the scientific theories and social attitudes available or dominant at any one time. 

Illicit drug use has been documented across the world however the quality of estimated prevalence of use is best in the developed countries of Europe, North America, and Australasia.

 We now can collect.  Just a thought.

Gossip...

Real journalism is different from the gossip, punditry, and clickbait that dominates today’s news. Real journalism, in the words of Joseph Pulitzer, is the painstaking reporting that will “fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, [and] always fight demagogues.

Real journalism requires significant resources. One reason we do not have enough real journalism in America right now is because many outlets are being gutted by the same forces of greed that are pillaging our economy. 

For example, Facebook and Google—control 60 percent of the entire digital advertising market. They have used monopolistic control to siphon off advertising revenues from news organizations.  

Corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have bought and consolidated beleaguered local newspapers and slashed their newsrooms. Just a thought.