Washington has hired a private Russian company that grew out of a security business co-founded by Mr. Putin’s former K.G.B. boss, an 82-year-old veteran spy who spent 25 years planting agents in Western security services and hunting down their operatives.

Under a $2.8 million no-bid contract awarded by the Office of Acquisitions in Washington, security guards at the American Embassy in Moscow and at consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok will be provided by Elite Security Holdings, a company closely linked to the former top K.G.B. figure, Viktor G. Budanov, a retired general who rose through the ranks to become head of Soviet counterintelligence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/world/europe/embassy-moscow-kgb.html?_r=0

Geee. What could go wrong there?

Source: Reuters

A federal judge in Washington on Monday blocked President Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, handing a victory to transgender service members who accused the president of violating their constitutional rights.

The service members asserted that Trump’s policy violated their rights to due process and equal protection under the law under the U.S. Constitution. Kollar-Kotelly said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim that the ban was unconstitutional because the administration’s reasons for it “do not appear to be supported by any facts.”





Read more: www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-transgender/in-defeat-for-trump-judge-blocks-transgender-military-ban-idUSKBN1CZ25E

---

Another bad day for Trumpery.

Mississippi judge who barred a mother from seeing her newborn baby for 14 months because she hadn’t paid court-imposed fees has stepped down.

The judge first issued the order after the woman and a friend, who were driving through the city of Pearl looking for work, were pulled over by a police officer who discovered both women had outstanding warrants for routine misdemeanor offenses. The police officer who made the arrest told the Mississippi Department of Human Services that the child who was in the car with the two women was “abandoned,” despite the fact that it was the officer’s own arrest that forced the child to be separated from the mother.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/mississippi-judge-resigns-after-barring-mother-from-seeing-her-baby-for-14-months-over-unpaid-court-fees/#ampshare=https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/mississippi-judge-resigns-after-barring-mother-from-seeing-her-baby-for-14-months-over-unpaid-court-fees/

https://imageproxy.themaven.net/670x/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/maven-user-photos/theintellectualist/news/NAv5OIwQ-EK6xCNdzHY1Gw/AElDmEun60mZ0z08i_wQHw

Posted with permission from Crooks and Liars
Here's what Blue Falcon means.

For non vets “Blue Falcon” is a term that stands for buddy fucker or a selfish or bad person. #KellyBlueFalcon is a hashtag. Good! He is!

https://deepstatenation.com/angry-vets-are-now-calling-gen-john-kelly-a-blue-falcon/

Here is where you can read some of the tweets.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueFalcon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-17661284873744081312.ampproject.net%2F1507685388117%2Fframe.html

One of many I feel fits
1st Sergeant (Vern)‏ @Top_Sergeant 17h17 hours ago
More
#Trump & #BlueFalcon send troops to Niger without combat support. Troops die, don't meet plane carrying caskets & taunt grieving family

HUMACAO, Puerto Rico—Nurses came to Puerto Rico from the mainland United States to help treat the sick, but many are instead working to prevent starvation and dehydration

“I don’t know what’s taking FEMA so much time to move on from the assessment mode to intervention,” Litten said, comparing her days on the island to her chaotic day job as an emergency room nurse in California.
The nurses not only identified the areas where people lack access to clean water but also spent time going to grocery stores, shopping for necessity goods.
“Once we hit the streets we noticed lots of people were facing dehydration and starvation, so we switched gears [to provide food] since day one,” Litten said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/with-fema-overwhelmed-its-up-to-nurses-left-to-feed-starving-puerto-ricans?source=facebook&via=desktop

I did think it was because Trump's FEMA did not know what they were doing. I am beginning to think it is on purpose.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/09/25/cecil-township-fire-chief-racial-slur-mike-tomlin/

I am heartened by the reaction of the people from that town. It was immediate. Most of them were outraged. Yes he apologized but, if that was not how he thought and felt about Tomlin, it would not have been his reaction and word of choice. And being someone in a position of Chief of the Fire Department, it makes you question how his feelings effected his job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=159&v=-t5mxm9CRhE

http://leftwingnation.org/this-trumpy-bear-commercial-is-the-funniest-thing-weve-ever-seen-and-yes-its-real/

Bet it's made in China and talk about disrespecting the flag. This thing covers 4 or 5 no noes of flag etiquette.