Do you really think HIllary or Kamala would have been any better?

 There are a few reasons that I voted Green in 2016 with the major one being there is no way I would vote for Hillary Clinton: even if ranked choice voting as involved. There would have to be a lot of slots for other options before I would vote for her. 

And I have three dogs who I would write in before I would vote for her.

No sexism. Unless the reason you wanted me to vote for her was that she was a woman. Both Kamala and Hillary are pretty bad choices.

I've gotten into them before, but this one needs to be hammered into your head if you think Hillary should have been an option:

 Misogynistic, anti-semites for Jill Stein.

Yeah, right!

Can't forget 'Orrible 'Arris:

 

WIll Iran be Trump's downfall?

 Thus is the security brief from the BBC: Iran: What should the US fear?

Will Trump's ego lead to a strategic error? Why hasn't the Congress used the War Powers Act to stop this insanity? 

 This shows that the United States needs to seriously reorganise and reassess because it has forgotten some of the lessons of its history.

The United States of America: 1790-2026

An arrogant, self-obsessed, incompetent, land speculator was the first president of the United States. And another one will be its final president. This is because the lessons of la Conquête were not learned and the mistakes kept coming. This video shows that strategy is far more important in war than firepower. 

Watch these videos for an eye opener.  I think they are AI, but they may be from Chinese sources. That's a shocker if true.

 The US is not prepared to fight a war for many reasons, one of which was its support for Israel.

Trump's arrogance and inability to deal with reality are harming the US.

No Trump derangement syndrome here, just the observation of people outside the US.

That's part of the problem with a country that holds a "World's Series" in which it plays with itself. 

Yes, bad pun intended.

Seriously, I don't get my news from US sources. And foreign newspapers often have an English edition, which I am providing the headline from Le Monde in English so that people in the US can see how Trump is trashing the country on the world stage.

Even in the 51st (51st-54th states?), the United Kingdom, which is fairly US friendly, he's taking a lot of heat. And Canada is on the outs with its neighbour to the south.

People in the US should realise that a lot is wrong with their country and it needs a serious overhaul of its system. This is especially true for its system of elections which is supposed to keep a clown like Trump from becoming president.

 

The Tory response to the State of the Union Address.

272 years ago, in 1754, another real estate speculator with an overblown sense of ego started a world war at Jumonville Glen. The bill for that war was presented to the people of the 13 Colonies and they revolted. Despite their not being able to properly unify to fight that war under the Albany Plan of Union. 26 years later, in 1776, they thought they were able to rule themselves, and started yet another war which bankrupted the nation and threw it into havoc.

They hastily cobbled together a Constitution in the hope that they could unify, but less than 100 years later, the US had another civil war. And now it looks as if the US may end up in another civil war under the leadership of another real estate billionaire and reality television star with an overblown ego.  

The system is broken and only works for a few.

Trump's belief in the US being a world power may cause its downfall.

 What exactly is the state of readiness of the US fleet in the Persian Gulf?

The United States needs to address its internal problems rather than be the world's bully. One has to learn its real history, not the myth. Wars cost money and are disruptive.

The Big Beautiful Eff Up.

I don't suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, but I do have to wonder how someone with a CV like his could become US President once, let alone twice. For example, Donald Trump's business ventures filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six times between 1991 and 2009, primarily involving his casino and hotel operations. These bankruptcies allowed his companies to restructure their debts while continuing to operate.

He made his "fortune" using other people's money.

And pushing the envelope.

In this case he's building a questionable multimillion dollar project on the US White House during the middle of a government shutdown. People are doing without services while he builds something which will not last.

I'm not sure that is a real tribute to US political stability.

The issue that the White House is a historic building factors in as well. I've lived in historic districts pretty much all my adult life. In one house, I was severely limited as to what I could do to the exterior: any changes had to be approved by a committee. I now live in a very modern house, yet it is also historically protected as part of post-War reconstruction! There are some really ugly houses that are practically untouchable due to that protection. Fortunately, mine isn't that protected despite it's "historic significance".

 Some historic listings even limit what one can do to the interior.

Yet, Trump can destroy a significant portion of the US White House with no problem.

Do you wonder why people are questioning this? 

The US isn't fascist, it's an Oligarchy and has been for some time. It's quietly been one. The wealthy have lived in their mansions in peace for some time, although the large mansions are becoming difficult to keep: even for the super wealthy.

The real wake up call was the 2016 election where Bernie Sanders was sidelined for Hillary Clinton, resulting in Trump being President. Amusingly, this happened through the electoral college: an institution meant to prevent such occurrences.

There needs to be a significant change in US politics, but I don't see that happening in an Oligarchy. 

Trump wants to annex Canada. Que le spectacle commence !

 Trump has got to be one of the most ignorant people to lead the United States: and that's a pretty bad statement.

While on paper the US has a military advantage, Trump shows a link to George Washington. Washington thought he was a miltary genius, but he was another arrogant property investor who just happened to have started a world war.

One which the British decided to make the colonists foot the bill for, which led to the War for Independence. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that the real war which should have been lost in the 18th Century was not the one for Independence, but the "French and Indian War". The reality was that French didn't really care about their North American territories (the Caribbean and South American ones being more significant).

However, had the French put a bit more effort into supporting their Native Allies and pushed harder in other parts of the world, things would be vastly different.

On the other hand, the Québec Act was something that also stirred up the American Colonists. 

M. Trump will acquire a population of rather militant francophones who have the advantage of speaking a form of French which most people don't learn in school!

Tabernac! Osti!

While I can understand Québecois when it's written, there are some accents which are totally incomprehensible to me. And trust me, it's a standard joke in the Francophone world that Québecois is very different from what the French Ministry of Education and Foreign Ministry would like people to speak like.

Unfortunately, the Québecois haven't picked up on septante, huitante, and nonante, but that's another matter. I'm going to give a plug for someone who has been helping me cope with Québecois (and finally understand what Martin is saying in Jésus de Montreal, "street slang"). https://maprofdefrancais.ca/

Actually, I sort of can understand it with a transcript: « Sacrament, voici l’agneau sans taches, osti. Y est coloué (cloué) par nos impurs désirs tabarnak! Ç’a pas de câlisse de ciboire de bon sens, ça , viarge bout de crisse! » « Certain, osti » « J’ai-tu mon câlisse de voyage, moé?! » « moi aussi tabernacle » tabernacle »

 

The fun bit is that the Acadiens (Cajuns) have a bit of a headstart on the francophonisation. They have the accent.

 It's gonna be La revanche des berceaux with a vengence when we francophones get more militant!

TIGUIDOU !!!!!

Russell is right!

I couldn't agree more with what Russell is saying here: 

One thing is for sure – the Democrats more interested in bringing him down than understanding what led to his rise.

Toss in addressing the issues surrounding this mess brought to us by the duopoly.

And the bad news is: You can't blame Donald Trump for what is wrong in the US anymore.

Of course, the people with Trump Derangement Syndrome probably will continue to do so long after he has passed from the scene.

Seriously, I wasn't sure which would be worse: Trump winning the same way he did in 2016 by taking the electoral college, but not the popular vote. Or Joe Biden winning and then having to deal with all his shit.

It looks like option two is the one on the cards. With an addition of Horrible Harris to make the package even more fun to swallow.

The real problem is that the "Democrats" spent the past four years blaming everything and everybody, but the people responsible for making Donald Trump president in the first place.

The "Democrats" themselves.

Toss in that the system is pretty much a mess to begin with.

I walked away in 2016 with the Demexit and will not go back, but the system has to catch up with those of us who know it is broken. The electoral system is in serious need of reform and trying to pass the blame on the other guy won't help the situation.

Can Trump really win again in 2020?

 Yes, I am still of the opinion that Trump will win again in 2020 and that any other outcome is wishful thinking.

Trump supporters are (1) still fairly solidly behind him, (2) not very vocal in their support, and (3) going to be more inclined toward him that a Biden-Harris ticket. Let's toss in that most voters have pretty much already decided who they will vote for and will not switch.

Biden supporters are the case in point. Trump derangement syndrome has literally set in. How to tell if you have it: would you be vaccinated if Donald Trump announced there was a vaccine for corona virus? 

Remember that any approved vaccine would have to pass FDA regs.

Biden is unscrutinised and even when scrutinised things like #metoo and "Believe all women" goes down the shitcan when it's Tara Reade. And never mind all the videos out there. Same goes for the allegations of bribery from Ukraine and China.

"But Trump..."

On the other hand, can the allegations that Trump "mishandled" the pandemic lockdown play that well with voters who are having to actually deal with the lockdowns? I have the luxury of their being an inconvenience, but this is a hardship for a lot of people.

The proper course of action would indeed be things like medicare for all, universal basic income, job security, and other "socialist" programmes. Toss in contact tracing and a lot of other things which people in the US would balk at.

Despite what Fox and Sky News Australia say, Biden is in no way willing to do the necessary steps to truly handle Covid-19. I would also guess that Harris wouldn't either. It seems to be one of the qualfications for being a Democratic nominee that you have a public and private position. Biden has made it clear that nothing will change if he is elected, but there will be lots of committees and investigations. 

I'm not sure how persuasive Biden and Harris are to the people who will really decide the election: the actual undecided voters. On the other hand, both Biden's and Harris's campaigns were considered dead until the "super Thursday" miracle. Then what was previously left for dead was declared the hope for the US.

The prognoses are still not good, but we can't criticise the chosen ones or we are somehow "helping Trump win".

Wouldn't running a couple of the shittiest candidates imaginable (even shittier than Hillary Clinton) count as "helping Trump win". "Trump bad" only works with the sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome and not uncommitted voters.

Or voters who want to hear real policies and agendas instead of what one would expect someone who has been in the US legislature to spew out.

Given the possible outcomes. 

1. Trump wins and the Dems really sit back and do some serious self-examination. Although, deep in my heart I know the Dems will blame everyone and everything except for the fact they chose to run an unpopular candidate.
2. Biden wins and the self-satisfied "Democrats" feel vindicated in shoving shit candidates down the people's throats. The ultimate outcome is that something far worse than Trump becomes president.

A Trump win is the better choice since real reform can only come from having to make compromises and changes to the system. The "lesser evil" system is how we got into this mess. Case in point, the Presidential Debates, which at one time were run by a non-partisan body, the league of women voters, but are now run by the "Commission on Presidential Debates", a partisan body.

 The two party system sure as fuck isn't how we will get out of the current mess in US poltics. And it would have made a lot more sense to work on electoral reform the past four years than chase imaginary Russians.

Vote Blue No Matter WTF?

Seriously? The Democrats haven't learned squat since 2016. That's due to the fact that they have been blaming everybody but themselves for that election. Toss in that they have been trying to distract people from their mistakes.

Except that is backfiring BIGTIME.

I wouldn't have known or cared about Hunter Biden if the Dumbocrats had that lie, but No they have to involve Donald Trump. The whole shebang looks like a Mexican finger pointing standoff of who is more corrupt in regard to Ukraine.

But we need to get a little history of the situation.

The US want to control Ukraine in order to establish US managed pipeline routes relating to the geopolitical competition over oil and natural gas. The US also wants to advance the US controlled NATO alliance to surround all of Russia's European borders. The Obama administration and the State Department (which Hillary Clinton had built up from 2009 to 2013) assisted in the undemocratic coup in Ukraine which was led by neo-Nazi white supremacists in 2014. This Nationalist group violently took over Ukraine. The Nationalists attempted to make it illegal in Ukraine to speak Russian, a minority who are still a major force in running the Ukraine government.

In Crimea, where the vast majority of residents are Russian, the Crimeans, fearing the Nationalist regime that had just taken over Kiev, quickly voted to rejoin Russia and by agreement with no military action at all, Crimea legally rejoined Russia. There was no supposed ‘invasion’ of Crimea. It did not happen.

Likewise, the people in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine were also concerned with the Nationalist ethnic cleansing. An election was held, but because a similar annexation of Donbas into Russia would spoil western plans to dominate pipeline routes and control Russia’s border, the fascist government in Kiev immediately moved with its military, to by force squash the vote and stop Donbas from leaving. This resulted in a 2014-2015 civil war in Donbas, in which Russia lent military support to Donbas (but no formal troops) and the US lent mirroring military support to Kiev.

Putin, if anything, is there preventing a possible genocide. Additionally, the Aid being given to the Ukrainian forces is questionable given that it could result in a genocide.

But TRUMP.

This is an excellent example of Trump Derangement Syndrome since very few people are discussing why we are giving aid which could result in a genocide in the first place.

Let's toss in that Hunter Biden's employment with Burisma was also being called into question under the Obama Administration. On the other hand, no one is questioning the propriety of his employment during these hearings.

The problem here is that both Biden and Trump are slimy. Biden has already said not to vote for him if you dislike fracking.

I'm not the only person to point out that Biden is the male version of Hillary Clinton.

The problem is that the Democratic Party's credibility will be shot from the failed attempt to impeach Trump. They can't pull of a repeat of what they did to Sanders in 2016 without totally alienating his supporters.

Maybe there will be a few who are total masochists or idiots, but one of my takeaways from 2016 was that my vote didn't count. The other was that the problems were internal which means the US needs election reform more than they need the circle jerks to remove Trump.

The bottom line is that all the problems which led to Trump's becoming president are still firmly in place. I see the Democrats ready to make the same errors because they are too arrogant to fix their problems.

No, you have to earn my vote, which is why I left the Democratic Party before the DNC in Philadelphia. Don't count on me voting Blue. Or Red.

I don't vote for evil: lesser or otherwise.

That's how we got into this mess in the first place.

This is worth watching for why impeachment will backfire and the Dems will lose if Sanders isn't their candidate:
https://therealnews.com/stories/trump-impeachment-misguided-move

• Some of this came from https://steemit.com/impeach/@ericbrooks/why-are-both-republicans-and-democrats-lying-about-russia
• To see many of these details in a 2015 report by internationally respected war correspondent John Pilger, search the word 'Ukraine' at: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/27/why-the-rise-of-fascism-is-again-the-issue
• Robert Parry's 2015 report confirming the details showing that there was no 'invasion' of Crimea, go to: http://consortiumnews.com/2015/03/22/crimeans-keep-saying-no-to-ukraine
• CIA whistleblower Ray McGovern's report on the Ukraine crisis at: http://consortiumnews.com/2016/03/18/behind-the-crimearussia-reunion
•  Finally, to see a graph showing that almost all of the deaths of the civil war in Donbas occurred from 2014 to 2015, and that full war has not been active in the region for four years, go to: http://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-conflict-and-terrorism?tab=chart&time=1990..2017&country=UKR

The Dems double down on their bad bets.

Ever watch a compulsive gambler?

The Dems are like compulsive gamblers who make bad bets. They double down on the next "sure thing" until they self-destruct.

"Hillary will win in a landslide"
"Comey will vindicate Hillary"
"Russiagate will end trump"
"Ukraine is a done deal: Trump will be impeached"

See a pattern here?

The first problem is that "Russiagate" and "Ukrainegate" both had underlying Democratic misconduct. Clinton's e-mails and Wikileaks for Russiagate where DNC internal emails showed that Clinton WANTED Trump to be her opponent. The media pushed Trump and gave him nearly 6 billion dollars in free publicity.

Ukrainegate's underlying Democratic scandal concerns Joe Biden's son, Hunter, receiving a job from Buresma. Something which could have flown under the radar if the Dems kept their moufs shut.

Naw, they have to draw attention to Trump asking the Ukrainian President to look into it. There is also the money/military aid/arms sale  which was alleged to be held up by Trump and whether this is tied to the Biden thing. There is another aspect to this: a Ukrainian company called Burisma Holdings.

Like REFCO, Hillary Clinton's Commodities Broker, Burisma has a dodgy rep:

Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have conducted in total 15 investigations on Burisma's owner Zlochevsky. In 2016, former Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused Burisma subsidiaries of conspiracy and tax evasion of about one billion hryvnias (US$70 million) in 2014–2015, but later during investigation subsidiaries of Burisma were not mentioned. Tax audit of Esko-Pivnich by the State Fiscal Service found some violations in 2016. As a result, 50 million hryvnias (US$1.9 million) of additional taxes was paid to eliminate criminal charges. In total, Burisma paid additional 180 million hryvnias (US$7.44 million) of taxes to avoid further criminal proceedings. A criminal investigation was conducted if natural resources extraction licenses were issued to Burisma subsidiaries legally during the period Zlochevsky held government office. Although violations of the procedure were established by NABU, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office missed procedural deadlines for a lawsuit and the case for nullifying licesenses was dismissed by the court. In October 2019, Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka announced that all 15 investigation cases will be reviewed.

Let's add in the video of Joe Biden talking about how he was instrumental in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor fired for good measure.

At least the Ukrainians get what is going on if the American Public hasn't. A couple of Ukrainian MPs have asked for both Ukraine and US investigate this matter.

How much do you want to be no Ukrainians will be invited to the Partisan mudslinging match?

Hunter Biden is one very impressive person

Чи розуміє Гантер Байден українську?

Мало того, що українська мова - це інша мова. Він має інший алфавіт. Гaнтер зміг зрозуміти достатньо, щоб зробити гарну роботу?

Which is "Does Hunter Biden understand Ukrainian? Not only is Ukrainian a different language. It has a different alphabet. Was Hunter able to understand enough to do a good job?"

Serious question since Biden was getting 50k a month to be a compliance officer for a Ukrainian corporation. Wouldn't being able to work in Ukrainian be part of the job description? Even Lt. Col. Vindeman said that Hunter Biden didn't seem to be qualified for the job.  Toss in Even Hunter Biden admits these jobs don't appear to be on the up and up.

We can get into Buresma's corruption as well. And the Ukrainians seem to be on the same page as Trump about this matter as well. I'm not holding my breath to see any Ukrainians give testimony before the house Judiciary Committee.

But it would be interesting.

Let's add in for good measure that Hunter Biden has a similar job with a Chinese corporation.

So, while Trump asks for information on this, which even the Atlantic admits is "accepatble corruption", he's hauled before the Media and public with impeachment proceedings.

Listening to politicians talk about corruption is like Captain Renault being told there is gambling at Rick's place.

I can't wait for all this to blow up.

The better part is that the Ukrainian forces have serious neo-Nazis in their midst: the Azov Brigade. The right could have a field day with all of this!

Dissenting voice on impeachment which got missed by the US media

This law prof makes it clear that he dislikes Trump, but he knows what the public seem to be missing and the Democratic establishment. I don't like Trump, but I also do not like the Democrats.

Unfortunately, he has the pulse of the nation down to a tee.

People are pissed, but they are pissed at the wrong thing. Trump's win was due to a sick system.

The lack of proper introspection into what really went wrong in the 2016 election is what would be much more proper than the bullshit that Trump has been subject to.

This guy is right: both sides of this controversy have demonised the other to justify their defences.

Why isn't he being listened to?

Donald Trump IS...

The All-American Id from New York City.

Lie it or not. A hat tip to Arlo Gutherie's "Alice's Restaurant" for this idea.

Anti-Muslim Ban Update, Sunday March 12, 2017

Last week six Attorneys General filed suit to stop it.

So far, as was the case with the previous failed ban initially, the court has requested further submission from the AGs to address specific facets.

The AGs, joined by the ACLU, and an impressive number of corporations, will be making further submissions to the court. The ban is scheduled to take effect later this week.  I predict that as with the first failed ban which completely fails to deliver on its premise but is instead throwing rotten red meat to the ignorant deplorable bigots who voted in the fascist Trump.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Trump's latest anti-Muslim ban is a bad thing, an illegitimate thing, a fascist thing, a failure.

The new and not improved travel ban that targets Muslims tries to justify the need for national security with the claim that there are 300 investigations into refugees.

Not convictions. Not even prosecutions. "Investigations". Let me be clear, investigations clear people. Investigations into crimes or terrorism look at a lot of people, many who are guilty of nothing as a process of elimination.

In a separate piece of news, we learned today that apparently one of those who is being investigated, or at least having his right to travel reviewed, is Khazr Khan, the father of the Muslim soldier who gave his life to protect this country. Kahn and his wife spoke out during Hillary Clinton's campaign, parents who were subsequently shamefully vilified by Trump and his campaign. There is no evidence of any legitimate reason Khan should be singled out for this 'review' or investigation other than a politicized attack by Trump on this patriotic American citizen.

That taints all of these other supposed 300 'investigations'.

Since some 50,000 refugees entered this country just last year alone, and we have been taking in refugees since long before the Obama administration -- so what? What is the REAL significance of this vague assertion (another one without evidence)? The biological father of Steve Jobs came here as a Syrian political refugee back in the mid 1950s.

So who are these suspect refugees? Absent any other information as to how long they have been here, what screening they underwent in order to arrive here and in particular the information we have from Homeland Security that national origin is no predictor of terrorism and that most terrorists are radicalized AFTER arriving here, that assertion by the spectacularly less than honest Trump administration to justify, or attempt to justify, the anti-Muslm ban (and that is still what it is) is worse than meaningless.

I predict that this ban will fail for exactly the same reasons as the previous executive order -- because it is malicious, bigoted and incompetent.

So far the reality is that ZERO refugees from any of the remaining six countries have committed terrorist acts against the United States on US soil. And if actual terrorism is the standard, then we should be banning refugees and immigrants and visa seekers from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Chechnya, among others, and not from the countries Trump has singled out for apparently unfounded persecution.

We are not safer in the US, we are under greater fascism and authoritarianism. We are afflicted by official bigotry and hate and intolerance and ignorance. THAT is dangerous.

Remember the State of the Union speech just last week? Where Trump promised pipelines would use US STEEL?

Update on Sessions, the Russians and collusion to elect Trump (allegedly)

Here is a little more on why recused AG Jeff Sessions getting busted for perjury could be a big deal to investigating Trump's apparent collusion with the Russians to rig the outcome of the election.

From USA Today:

"Trump and other White House aides have repeatedly denied any contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

The ties between Sessions' staff and the current White House are many. Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller was Sessions' communications director before joining the Trump campaign in January 2016, and former Sessions chief of staff Rick Dearborn was director of the Trump transition and is now Trump's deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs.

..Sessions was perhaps Trump's most loyal supporter in Congress last year, and he chaired Trump's national security advisory committee."

Sessions directly benefited from Trump's questionable election.  He gained personally from this apparent collusion, gaining a position arguably more powerful than being a senator, and one from which he could shield Trump from investigation.  While there is no clear quid-pro-quo, no evidence so far that Sessions was promised the AG slot, or some other political plum, if Trump won, I think we can consider it implied from the outcome.

As a Trump National Security advisor, the CHAIR of Trump's National Security Advisors, Sessions would know damn well about the efforts of the Russians against the US, from hacking Americans (and not ONLY the DNC) but also in the proxy war in Syria as it relates to terrorism and ISIL. Sessions was much more than "called a surrogate a time or two" in his relationship to Trump and the campaign. He was a key insider, which makes his connections to Russia all the more suspect.

If the DoJ and the FBI can get leverage on Sessions for his conduct -- like perjury -- Sessions might throw Trump under the bus to save his own hide.  Not just Trump but also Trump staffer Stephen Miller who is a former Jeff Sessions staffer. Or at least Sessions might try to reduce the punishment from his actions in some way if not seek total immunity. Sessions has never struck me as a particularly strong person who would fall on his sword for someone like Trump; rather he is and has always been something of an opportunist, a man who took more money from special interests like Big Oil to act against the interests of his constituents than any other member of Congress.

Here is at least a spark that could lead to fire in all the Russia /Trump smoke

I have always found the Guardian to be reliable, one of the great newspapers world wide for being accurate and careful in what they write.

Today the Guardian wrote a piece that calls Jeff Sessions a liar. Still. New. It says that after Sessions met with the Russian Ambassador at the RNC convention, casually, which appears to be true, SESSIONS ALSO MET WITH THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR PRIVATELY AT THE RNC, OTHER THAN HIS CASUAL PUBLIC ENCOUNTER.

That makes his explanation of his failure to admit this to the Senate Confirmation senators' questions under oath a lie. THIS raises the issue of credible perjury by Sessions, if it can be proven -- and I would expect it can be proven, if it is being leaked in this way by Justice or other whistle blowers.

"According to a justice department official speaking anonymously to the Washington Post when it first reported the story, the meeting was casual: Kislyak and other ambassadors approached Sessions after he finished giving a speech. Sessions then spoke with Kislyak alone, the official said, citing a former staffer for the senator. To say the meeting was “set up by the Obama administration” is false."

Further it clarifies that contrary to claims, this was not a meeting set up by the Obama State Department. What is true is that the US State Department had a long standing pattern of inviting ambassadors from other countries to our political conventions as an educational opportunity. No subsequent meetings at the convention could be characterized as this kind of very public attendance by the Russian ambassador.  This is a case of both the original action AND the cover up being what will bring down Sessions, and Trump and his advisors, past and present.

Nowhere do we see this attendance by the Russian ambassador or anyone in his embassy doing this with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic convention.

Further, it appears that Jeff Sessions attended the GOP Convention on the Trump campaign dime, using campaign donations funding for that trip, not his own $$$ and not any senate funds to do so. This has been reported by a range of sources, including the Wall Street Journal and San Francisco Gate:

"The use of political funds instead of legislative funds is an important distinction because the Trump administration maintains that Session was acting only in his role as a then-U.S. senator when he talked to Kislyak."

This looks like the first sparks of the fire behind the smoke. This looks like more heat than just attempted obscuring the facts

https://www.theguardian.com/…/fact-check-trump-obama-wireta…
http://www.sfgate.com/…/Report-Sessions-used-political-fund…