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Sean Hannitys defense of Donald Trump Jr. during his Fox News interview on Tuesday evening began with a lengthy and muddled pastiche of ways in which the Democrats and Hillary Clinton in particular had behaved just as badly. Or, maybe, worse.

Trump Jr. was there, youll recall, to respond to questions about his having accepted a meeting with an individual who explicitly promised negative information about Clinton offered by the Russian government. That Hannity was his first interlocutor on the subject is hardly surprising; the Fox News host has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to gloss over negative news about the administration. And as the show began, he made that clear.

Hannity revisited one of the points from his introduction later in the show a point that Trump Jr. himself had made on Twitter on Tuesday morning. What about a Politico report from January, Hannity asked, suggesting that Ukraine was colluding with the Clinton campaign to help her candidacy?

After loosely describing that Politico report, Hannity suggested that the media was ignoring it at their peril.

I pose this question to everybody in the media thats forced to tune in tonight, he asked. Which is worse?

The Russia-Trump Jr. issue is worse. Allow us to explain.

Hannitys argument stems from a January Politico article by Ken Vogel and David Stern, titled, Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire.

It centers on a woman named Alexandra Chalupa, who worked as a consultant for the Democratic Party throughout the 2016 cycle through her firm, Chalupa & Associates. Her role with the party was outreach to ethnic communities, but, a Ukrainian American herself, Chalupa had been researching Paul Manaforts work in that country even before he was tapped to serve as Donald Trumps campaign chairman in March of last year. Chalupa, Politico said, occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and [Hillary] Clintons campaign though the timing on this sharing isnt clear.

When Manafort began his work with Trump, Vogel and Stern write, Chalupa found herself in high demand. The day after he was selected, Chalupa briefed the partys communications staff on Manaforts background.

More to the point, Chalupa allegedly also worked with the Ukrainian Embassy in researching Manafort and any links between Russia and Trump. In an interview with Politico, she describes the embassy staff as being helpful in trying to answer her questions. A former political officer at the embassy told Politico that an aide to the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States had ordered him to help Chalupa in that regard. He described a meeting in which that aide, Oksana Shulyar, asked him to update Chalupa on an investigation into Manafort being conducted by an American media organization.

Vogel and Stern also report that Chalupa introduced reporter Michael Isikoff, who was working on articles about Manafort, to the Ukrainians. Chalupas work with the party ended in July.

Its worth noting that Chalupa gained some renown after the election for promulgating an unproven conspiracy theory on Facebook. Promoted by a viral tweet from her sister Andrea, who described Chalupa as having led Trump/Russia research at DNC, the Facebook post hinted darkly at Russian meddling directly in vote tallies, speculating about a Justice Department investigation into votes that were manufactured in favor of Trump in heavily Republican counties in key states. No evidence of this happening has been demonstrated in any form.

The Politico story also notes another way in which the Ukrainians allegedly submarined Manafort. He left his position with the Trump campaign last summer after a secret ledger detailing nearly $13 million in under-the-table payments to Manafort from the pro-Russia Party of Regions for which hed been working in Ukraine. The ledger was first reported by the New York Times after being discovered by a Ukrainian government agency and promoted by a journalist who was also a member of the countrys parliament which some argued meant that the countrys prime minister approved of the leak in order to damage Manafort.

The short-hand version of this story Russia helped Trump, but Ukraine helped Clinton! suffers badly from a collapse of scale.

While the Politico story does detail apparent willingness among embassy staffers to help Chalupa and also more broadly documents ways in which Ukrainian officials appeared to prefer Clintons candidacy, whats missing is evidence of a concerted effort driven by Kiev.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed his intelligence agencies to hack into and release private information from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. That effort included hackers from two different intelligence agencies which spent months inside the DNC network before releasing thousands of pages of documents to the public.

Whats more, they coordinated a widespread campaign to amplifying unflattering stories about Clinton and promote Trump. Russia also repeatedly probed American election systems, prompting an unusual warning to states from the federal government.

American intelligence agencies saw signs that people allied with Trumps campaign may have been aiding the Russians in that effort. Thats why this is all being discussed right now, of course, since Trump Jr.s emails draw the clearest line between the Russians and the campaign weve yet seen. The FBI began a counterintelligence investigation into Russias meddling a year ago.

By contrast, Politicos report details the work of one person who was researching Manafort with help from inside the Ukrainian Embassy and who, at some undetermined point, provided info to the Clinton campaign, though she worked for the DNC as a consultant until shortly before the party conventions. That, coupled with the Manafort ledger revelation, is the full scope of the Ukrainian plot thats been revealed. A weak link to the Ukrainians and a weaker link to the Clinton campaign.

You dont have to take our word for it, though.

Lawrence Noble, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, spoke with The Washington Post on Tuesday about how Trump Jr.s emails might pose a legal risk to him. Over email, he weighed in on the Politico story as well.

I think the article raises some troubling questions about Ukraine involvement in our elections, Noble said. The difference is that there is not clear evidence of the Clinton campaign coordinating with a foreign national or encouraging or accepting their help.

If the Ukrainian government did oppo[sitional] research in coordination with the Clinton campaign or the DNC and they knowingly accepted the information, he added, there is a possible foreign national contribution. But if Chalupa was gathering the information and passing it on, the question is who did the work and what did the Clinton campaign and DNC know. Thats not clear from the report.

If the Ukrainian government did the same with Clinton as the evidence suggests Russia did with Trump, he said, its just as serious. But we are not there.

To any objective observer, thats clearly the case. Neither Trump Jr. nor Hannity meets that description.

Excerpt from:
Exploring Sean Hannity's defense of Donald Trump Jr.: Clinton and Ukraine did it, too - Washington Post

OVERVIEW

On 21 June, in Minsk parties to the conflict have agreed for full cessation of hostilities enforced from 24 June to 31 August 2017 to allow safe harvesting. While not fully implemented, the agreement has reduced the overall level of hostilities. However, daily combat activities were reported throughout June, which continued to generate civilian casualties and increased humanitarian needs. OHCHR verified 65 civilian casualties (12 killed and 53 injured) in June, representing a decrease by 14 per cent comparing to the previous month. Causes of casualties vary, while shelling and incidents related to mines and explosive remnants of war prevail (63 per cent and 28 per cent respectively). The Protection Cluster reports that more than 7,000 km2 of areas along the contact line have been contaminated by mines and other remnants of war. Ongoing insecurity, the need for livelihoods and start of agriculture activities, particularly during the planting and harvesting seasons, indicate that the tendency of mine-related incidents is likely to continue. Damage to housing and critical civilian infrastructure is recorded almost daily, increasing critical needs across all sectors. According to the Shelter/NFI Cluster, since the start of 2017, needs in acute shelter intervention have increased by 140 per cent as of May. In parallel, WASH Cluster reports that since the start of 2017, disruption of water supply affected some 3 million people, which is an increase by 13 per cent of the initial 2017 HRP target. A single incident of shelling of a Pumping Station of the South Donbas Water Pipeline reported on 11 June denied access to water for some 400,000 people for more than five days, while an additional 700,000 people were also affected at variety stages. In addition, access to health has been severely hampered by constant insecurity. Health and Nutrition Cluster reports that some 160 health facilities are impacted by shelling due to conflict, while some 130 facilities are in urgent need of medical supplies to assist thousands of civilians in need. Respect for civilian areas and infrastructure by all parties to the conflict is the only solution to sustain dignity of lives of millions, who depend on proper functioning of these critical infrastructures. On 29 June, Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) concluded an analysis of the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) covering January - May 2017. The results indicate that while humanitarian needs grew, partners abilities to meet the life-threatening needs shrunk significantly due to lack of financial resources and access constraints. Because of underfunding several humanitarian partners were forced to readjust the programmes, and often, cease planned critical activities. Some of these activities included seasonal projects, such as agricultural and livelihoods support. Overall, underfunding remains a critical concern. As of 13 July, HRP is funded only at 20.3 per cent. Advocacy efforts to raise funding for Ukraine humanitarian portfolio continue. On 29 June, the HCT convened an expanded meeting with the donor community in Ukraine. The meeting discussed the results of the 2017 HRP January to May analysis, stressed the urgency of gaps as well as evolving needs and called for urgent support and increased funding for life-saving and prioritized activities of the 2017 HRP.

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Ukraine: Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 13 July 2017) - ReliefWeb

The ACC started their 2017 ACC Football Kickoff on Thursday, and commissioner John Swofford held his annual press conference in which he discussed various subjects about the conference.

Swofford answered a question about ACC division realignment and cross-rivalries such as Duke and North Carolina State that will only play each other now once every six years.

"I don't know," Swofford said. "I don't have an answer to that really. I think that's probably one of the -- one of those challenges that any league that gets to 14 has. I mean, there's no easy solution to that. And what's right for one conference might not be right for another conference. But it's pretty much -- it's very similar in every league of our size. I think that's one of the -- you know, in an ideal world you'd love for everybody to play everybody. The next thing you love is for everybody to play everybody as often as they can, since it can't be every year. And then beyond that, you just keep, I think, turning over, is there a better way to do this? If you ever get to the point where you just say, you know, there's not a better way to do it, that's not a good place to be. I don't care how well things are going, you need to be looking at is there a better way to do it? So far we haven't come up with one that's better than what we're doing in the minds of the majority of our schools, and that's how that works is a majority vote. Same thing with divisions."

Swofford believes that the two ACC divisions are very balanced right now.

"We haven't really talked about divisions in several years now," Swofford said. "There for a while, we talked about it and how to schedule every meeting. So I think right now where we are, things have settled in both in terms of how we schedule and in terms of the divisions, and you know, divisions can change. We all know that. Right now -- and if you look at -- surprisingly, to some, if you look at over the years the head-to-head competition with the Atlantic and Coastal, it's very close to 500. It's not imbalanced. But you know, we'll keep looking at it, but I wouldn't anticipate any change in the near future."

Honestly, with all due respect to Mr. Swofford, you got this one wrong as there is a severe imbalance in the ACC Atlantic with Clemson and Florida State. These two teams are top five type teams moving forward in the next decade and beyond and should be playing in the ACC Championship yearly in a must-see marquee national matchup, not in a knockout game in the middle of the regular season. College Football fans are smart and will turn the channel for better games if a 7-4 coastal team is playing in the ACC Championship.

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Swofford on ACC division realignment - TigerNet

As Democrats move to regroup after last year's bruising election, the party's biggest heavyweights former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made clear they're not going anywhere.

The former commander-in-chief was returning to the political fray Thursday evening, headlining aprivate fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee in Washington, D.C.

The group is led by his former attorney general Eric Holder and aimed at tackling "unfair" gerrymandering.

"Restoring fairness to our democracy by advocating for fairer, more inclusive district maps around the country is a priority for President Obama," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said Wednesday.

Before he left the White House, Obama said redistricting would be a top political priority in his post-presidency and admitted he failed to create a sustaining organization around the political coalition that twice elected him to office.

But the appearance could signal the latest step in a gradual return to political life, at a time when his party could use the boost.

The GOP raised nearly $10.9 million in May more than twice the amount collected by Democrats. Not only are Democrats low on cash, they have struggled in a series of congressional special elections this year.

As a private citizen, Obama mostly has worked on causes related to his foundation and future presidential library, avoidingD.C. politics or mentioning President Trump by name. But that could be changing, as he has blasted congressional Republicans attempts to repeal and replace his signature health care legislation.

Clinton, too, is returning to the spotlight by launching a PAC aimed at helping congressional Democratic candidates in the upcoming midterms.

Former California Rep. Ellen Tauscher and aide Kate Merrill also have started a super PAC focused on seven districts in the Golden State that voted for Clinton but ended up voting for a GOP candidate in the House.

Some, though, have questioned whether the two-time failed presidential candidate, who recently slammed the DNC, should have such a starring role.

In May, the former Democratic presidential nominee directed criticism at the DNC and said she inherited nothing from the Democratic Party.

It was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, non-existent, wrong. I had to inject money into it the DNC to keep it going, Clinton said during a question and answer session at Recodes Code Conference in California.

Democrats, it seems, are still mapping out a game plan for 2018.

The party suffered losses in several House special elections this year, reigniting the debate as to whether the current leaders have what it takes to put Democrats back in power.

Particularly painful was Jon Ossoffs 3-percentage-point loss in Georgias 6th Congressional District. More than $23 million was raised across the country in the contest that was billed as a referendum on Trump.

Following the Georgia fail, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., faced renewed calls from party colleagues for her removal from leadership. She also had been linked to Ossoff in multiple Republican ads in the race. But Pelosi continues to hold on, as Clinton and Obama return to the political stage.

Garry Mauro, a strategist who led former President Bill Clintons 1992 campaign effort in Texas, told The Daily Caller that while Hillary Clinton would be well received, it would be ill-advised for her to play the dominant role.

Were not going to win these races because Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi comes to the state and campaigns, he said. Were going to win it because we represent new leadership and new ideas.

Rep. Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts, agrees. Moulton has been one of many who have been calling for new leadership.

We're at the worst electoral position that the Democratic Party has been in in decades, he said in an NPR interview. And so when you keep losing like that, you can't keep doing the same old thing.

One up-and-comer is California Sen. Kamala Harris, whose national presence got a boost after Obama told a group of Democrats in 2013 that in addition to being brilliant and tough, Harris was by far, the best-looking attorney general in the country.

Obama later apologized for the comment.

Since then, Harris, in her freshman term, has been dogged in her criticism of the Trump administration. She has voted against 18 of Trumps nominees and has been described as fearless.

But pinning the hopes of the Democratic Party on her shoulders might be a bit premature.

She just got here, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said when asked about Harris political future as a national figure. What she should do is concentrate on being a good, and possibly a great, United States senator. The rest will either happen or not happen.

Fox News' Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

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Obama, Clinton return to political fray but can they help Dems? - Fox News

The ESPYs are all about celebrating the biggest and boldest names in sports but at Wednesdays award show, it was former first lady Michelle Obama who took home the prize for loudest applauseof the night.

The audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles rose to a standing ovation when Obama took the stage to posthumously present Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage.

Obama gave a heartfelt speech praising Shriverslifelong work on behalf of people with disabilities.

[ESPYs to honor Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver with posthumous courage award]

I am here tonight to honor a remarkable woman, a woman who believed that everyone has something to contribute and everyone deserves the chance to push themselves, to find out what theyre made of, and to compete and win, Obama told the crowd. Through her passionate service, she made the world more welcoming and fair.

Shriver, who died in 2009, was inspired by her sister Rosemary, who was born with intellectual disabilities but loved to play sports with her athletic siblings. In 1962, Shriver created Camp Shriver, a day camp for children with intellectual disabilities hosted in her familys back yard. Six years later, her effort evolved into the first International Special Olympics Games in Chicago.

The former first lady, clad in a striking black dress, was joined onstage by eight Special Olympics athletes as well as Shrivers son Tim Shriver, who accepted the award on his mothers behalf.

[Michelle Obama continues her speaking tour with appearance at womens conference]

Once a great first lady, still a great first lady, he said of Obama, and the crowd cheered its approval. He added that his mother would have been touched by Obamas presence at the ceremony: She would have been so honored that you are here for her tonight, as we all are.

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Michelle Obama wins the night at the ESPYs - Washington Post