National Archives releases first batch of 2017 JFK documents

[Tom Scully]

My read of Trump's priorities:

1) Trump
2) Netanyahu

On Putin: If Vlad were the number two priority, he would have lifted the sanctions. Instead, he strengthened them. The Dems are the ones kissing Putin's butt.

If your opinion was not so fragile.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwellian
"Orwellian" is seen as an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past,...

After long, State Department advances Russia sanctions

By Nicole Gaouette, Ted Barrett and Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 9:09 PM ET, Thu October 26, 2017


http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/26/politics/r....htmldelay
Washington (CNN)The State Department, facing bipartisan scrutiny from Congress, issued long overdue guidance on which Russian individuals and entities will be subject to sanctions under recently passed legislation -- 25 days after it was due.

The notice, required by the law, was due Oct. 1 and is meant to put potential stakeholders -- including US companies -- on alert in advance of the implementation in January. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent the list to Congress Thursday, State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
The State Department had come under sharp criticism from lawmakers from both parties who questioned why the Trump administration had missed the deadline and whether the delay reflected reluctance from the White House to further sanction Moscow. .....

.......Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Thursday that, "the Senate and House spoke loud and clear by overwhelmingly passing this piece of legislation and sent a strong signal to Iran, Russia and North Korea that our country will stand firm and united in the face of destabilizing behavior.".......

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/politics/d...index.html

.....In a statement, Trump expressed his own doubts about the legislation: "The bill remains seriously flawed -- particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate."
......
The measure was signed into law after it passed with overwhelming margins in both the House and Senate -- which made the threat of a presidential veto a non-starter -- but it was not an easy road to Trump's desk.
After the Senate passed the sanctions on Iran and Russia 98-2, the bill languished in the House for more than a month amid a series of procedural fights. Then the House added North Korean sanctions before passing the measure 419-3, effectively forcing the Senate to swallow the new sanctions in order to get the legislation over the finish line before Congress left for its August congressional recess.....
....Corker said that Congress would only veto an attempt to lessen sanctions on Russia if the administration took an "egregious" step to try to remove sanctions.....
.....Corker noted that Trump has refused to believe his intelligence leaders that Russia interfered with the election, and said that may have helped push Congress to get the bill done quickly."I do think that the lack of strong statements in that regard probably effected the outcome," he said.