only days before absentee ballots will be mailed to Montana voters, the only statewide congressional election of 2017 has been thrown into pandemonium following revelations that GOP nominee Greg Gianforte invests in Russian companies under U.S. sanctions.

“The race to fill Montana’s vacant congressional seat has a huge shakeup,” ABC-Fox anchor David Winter concluded while introducing a story by reporter Kolby Crossley. “ABC Fox Montana has learned that Republican Greg Gianforte has financial ties to two Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the United States.”

“Gianforte owns close to 150 thousand dollars’ worth of shares in Vaneck Vectors Russia ETF and more than 92 thousand dollars in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF fund” which have significant holdings in Gazprom and Rosneft.

With absentee ballots for the May 25 special election going out on Monday, the timing of this Russian investment scandal couldn’t come at a worse time for Gianforte.

“It plays directly into the narrative that Gianforte’s campaign doesn’t want to unfold: that Gianforte is a wealthy person from New Jersey, who moved to Montana to build a trophy home and fence off public land while getting rich by outsourcing and other money schemes like these Russian ties,” explained an analysis at the anonymous Montana Cowgirl Blog.

“And it’s made even worse by the fact that he tried to hide this money,” continued the analysis, while pivoting to similarities with Donald Trump’s scandals. “Just like the current administration’s illegal ties to Russian spies, Russian Money and Russian influence, the cover-up is almost a bigger story.”

Another deplorable caught with questionable, if not outright illegal, connections to Russia. At this stage it might be easier to ask which GOP'ers aren't in some kind of shady business deals with Putin Inc.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/busted- ... sanctions/



If he wins though it'll be proof positive that GOP voters care absolutely nothing for ethics or law & order and that cheap wins in the culture war are the only things that matter to them.

Pepe the Frog creator kills off character that became hate symbol

Michael Kunzelman, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The cartoonist who created Pepe the Frog has killed off the character in a rebuke to far-right extremists who transformed a benevolent internet meme into a racist, anti-Semitic symbol.

A Pepe cartoon published Saturday in comic book stores shows Matt Furie’s creation in an open casket. Furie didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday.
In a Time magazine essay last year, Furie described Pepe as “chill frog-dude” who debuted in a 2006 comic book called “Boy’s Club” and became a popular online subject for user-generated mutations.

But internet trolls hijacked the character and began flooding social media with hateful Pepe memes more than a year before the 2016 presidential election. Pepe became a tongue-in-cheek symbol of the “alt-right” fringe movement and its loosely connected brand of white nationalism, neo-Nazism and anti-immigration.

Pepe memes promoting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign became so ubiquitous that Trump himself tweeted an image blending his likeness with the cartoon frog in October 2015.
The Anti-Defamation League branded Pepe as a hate symbol in September 2016 and promoted Furie’s efforts to reclaim the character, with a social media campaign using the “#SavePepe” hashtag.

....Furie wasn’t amused by how his creation became an “icon of hate,” calling it a “nightmare” in his Time essay.
“Before he got wrapped up in politics, Pepe was an inside-joke and a symbol for feeling sad or feeling good and many things in between,” Furie wrote. “I understand that it’s out of my control, but in the end, Pepe is whatever you say he is, and I, the creator, say that Pepe is love.”

Fantagraphics, which published “Boy’s Club,” also published the one-page strip in which Furie killed off Pepe. Fantagraphics spokeswoman Jacq Cohen said she would be surprised if Furie never draws Pepe again, but she hadn’t discussed his plans for the character with him.

“This whole Pepe co-opting experience has been pretty rough on Matt as an independent artist,” Cohen said.

On the weekend of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a millionaire businessman who traveled to D.C. to celebrate the new president’s swearing-in was arrested and charged with sexual battery of two hotel maids at Washington’s downtown Mayflower hotel.

The Washington Post reported Sunday night that John Joseph Boswell was later convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery, sentenced to 10 days in jail — which he did not serve — and a mere six months’ probation, during which he was allowed to vacation in the Bahamas.

Boswell, the Post said, is the CEO of “Independent Stave Company, the world’s largest wine-and-whiskey barrel manufacturer. He lives in a 14,000-square-foot, $7 million mansion in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 20 miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.”

His victims were hotel maids, one of whom is an immigrant from Africa. [The Post — like most publications — does not identify victims of sexual assault by name.] She and her coworkers, like thousands of hotel housekeepers across the country, work in constant fear of just these types of assaults — which union surveys show happen to more than half of female hospitality workers.

The numbers may be even higher, but many hotel cleaners are immigrants and women of color who fear losing their jobs.

Boswell –is married with three young children back home in Palm Beach — has contributed more than $120,000 to Republican politicians and special interest groups over the last 25 years.

The businessman maintains his innocence, saying that when he touched the woman cleaning his hotel room, “I patted her on the lower back. It was just a friendly gesture.”

Police records and court testimony tell a different story, which is that on the afternoon of January 19, when the maid entered Boswell’s room at around 2 p.m., he approached her and placed his open hands on her buttocks and began to knead them, saying, “This is very nice stuff. I like that!”

A second housekeeping employee walked out of the suite’s bathroom and Boswell reportedly moved away from the first woman, who hastily fled the room. Alone with the second maid, Boswell “approached her, too, and ‘placed his hand on the top of her shoulder’ until she ordered him to sit down, according to the police report.”

The two women told only coworkers, declining to report the incident to supervisors or police. A coworker took it upon herself to alert management and call in the police, who arrested Boswell on Friday, Jan. 20.

“He was jailed alongside more than 200 protesters, including black-clad anarchists accused of smashing Starbucks windows and torching a limousine,” the Post said.

Upon arraignment and release, Boswell walked out of the jail into a throng of protesters who at first took him for one of their own and cheered.

Someone shouted out that they’d been in court with Boswell and that he was a sex offender. The crowd stopped cheering and pelted Boswell with rocks and garbage.

An orange slice struck him in the forehead.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice,” he told a reporter from the Post before walking back toward the Mayflower.

“On April 11, Boswell pleaded guilty. Court documents show that Boswell earns $600,000 a month, but Judge Michael Ryan ordered him to pay $50 into the crime victims compensation fund — one-fifth of the maximum penalty for the offense,” wrote Michael E. Miller.

Unlike most people on probation, Boswell has been granted dispensation to travel jet to destinations outside of the country. In April, he took a trip to the Bahamas and is scheduled for a trip to the Dominican Republic at the end of May.

Meanwhile, the two victims still work together at the Mayflower. After an aggressive visit from members of Boswell’s defense team, the first victim quietly moved out of her apartment to find somewhere else to live.

She now refuses to talk about what happened in Boswell’s 10th floor room.

“Whenever she would talk about it,” her co-worker said, “she would cry.”

Pregnant teen banned from attending high school graduation

Christian school in Maryland says the 18-year-old is being disciplined “not because she is pregnant but because she was immoral.”

A small Christian school in western Maryland is not backing down from its decision to ban a pregnant Grade 12 student from walking at graduation next week.

Despite a public outcry and growing pressure from national anti-abortion groups to reconsider, Heritage Academy in Hagerstown, Md., says that Grade 12 student Maddi Runkles broke the school’s rules by engaging in intimate sexual activity.

In a letter to parents Tuesday evening, school principal David Hobbs said that Runkles is being disciplined, “not because she is pregnant but because she was immoral . . . The best way to love her right now is to hold her accountable for her morality that began this situation.”

Runkles, 18, is a 4.0 student who has attended the school since 2009. She found out she was pregnant in January and informed the school, where her father was then a board member, in February. Initially the school told Runkles that she would be suspended and removed from her role as student council president and would have to finish the rest of the school year at home.

After the family appealed, Heritage said it would allow Runkles to finish the school year with her 14 classmates but she would not be able to walk with the other seniors to receive her diploma at graduation. The family believes that the decision is unfair and that she is being punished more harshly than others who have broken the rules.

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“It’s because I’m pregnant and you can see the results of my mistake,” Runkles said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “There have been kids who have broken the student code and they could have hurt people or even gone to jail and they only received an in-school suspension and they’re allowed to walk this year. The school is worried about its reputation, but I think they’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to set an example for the pro-life community and Christian schools about how to treat guys and girls like me.”

The baby’s father is out of high school and did not attend Heritage.

To Hobbs, a long-time educator completing his first year as the school’s principal, the decision to not allow Runkles to take part in graduation resulted from her actions. He thinks she needs to be held responsible and believes the penalty will be instructive to other students.

“The breach of a standard of abstinence is a grievous choice,” he said in an interview. “Maddi made a grievous choice. We do believe in forgiveness, but forgiveness does not mean there’s no accountability.”

Hobbs said Heritage, which opened in 1969 and has 175 students from pre-kindergarten through Grade 12, emphasizes abstinence and tells students to “maintain their purity until their wedding night.”

“We teach our students about the beauty of marriage and that sex inside of marriage is one of the things that is beautiful about marriage,” he said.

But while the school reaffirmed its decision, anti-abortion groups have rallied to support Runkles. They argue that by singling out a pregnant student, the school is making it more likely that young women will choose abortion rather than suffer embarrassment and punishment.

“It’s a bad decision,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life. “I was horrified when I learned that they wouldn’t let her walk at graduation. Usually when a woman is facing an unwanted pregnancy, especially a young woman, there is a sense of shame that comes into play and can have an impact on her decision and often does.”

Mancini said that while she respects the school’s code of conduct she worries about what the next pregnant student will do.

“What she needs is support, and what the school is doing is really the opposite of that,” she said. “It’s the antithesis of what it means to be Christian.”

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, also criticized the school. “By banning her and her alone, the administration and board collectively decided to make a public example of one student and has either intentionally or unintentionally communicated to the school community that pregnancy (not simply premarital sex) is a shame and should not be observed within our school community,” she said in a statement.

Runkles said her situation has drawn so much media attention in the past week, with her story being told by the New York Times, CBS and Fox, that some friends and classmates who once supported her now think she is just seeking publicity. The backlash has been severe, especially on social media, where she says strangers, acquaintances and parents of other students have attacked her.

“It has really gotten out of control,” Runkles said. “Moms of students have tagged me and said nasty things about me. I’ve had students start group messages to start nasty rumours. People saying I’m just attention-seeking and spoiled.”

The blowback led Runkles’ parents to pull Maddi and her Grade 9 brother out of the school for the remainder of the year. Her father, Scott Runkles, has resigned from the school’s board and her brother will transfer to another Christian school in the fall.

While she feels that her experience at Heritage has been ruined, Runkles says she is grateful for the support from her family and the Baptist church she belongs to in Frederick. She has also become involved in anti-abortion activism, taking part in rallies and speaking out against federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

“I chose life and sometimes it feels like it wasn’t worth it, but then it’s been kind of a blessing because I have a big platform to help other people,” she said.

Runkles, who has been accepted to Bob Jones University, a Christian school in South Carolina, doesn’t believe Heritage will change its mind about letting her walk at graduation June 2, but she said that if it does, she will take part.

“I would love to attend because my best friends will be there and I want to share that with them,” she said. “Some people are upset because they think I’m out to get the school, but I’m not. I just want them to do the right thing.”

Still, Runkles isn’t holding her breath waiting for the school to reconsider. And she has other things on her mind. Her baby boy is due Sept. 4.

The Republican candidate for Montana’s congressional seat has been charged with misdemeanor assault after he is alleged to have slammed a Guardian reporter to the floor on the eve of the state’s special election, breaking his glasses and shouting: “Get the hell out of here.”

Ben Jacobs, a Guardian political reporter, was asking Greg Gianforte, a tech millionaire endorsed by Donald Trump, about the Republican healthcare plan when the candidate allegedly “body-slammed” the reporter.

“He took me to the ground,” Jacobs said by phone from the back of an ambulance. “I think he whaled on me once or twice … He got on me and I think he hit me … This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in reporting on politics.”

Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey witnessed the incident at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Montana, according to an account published on the Fox News website. After Jacobs asked Gianforte his question, Acuna wrote: “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.

“Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the man, as he moved on top the reporter and began yelling something to the effect of ‘I’m sick and tired of this!’ … To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff’s deputies.”

Jacobs subsequently reported the incident to the police. The Gallatin county sheriff’s office said on Wednesday night it had completed its investigation and that Gianforte had been issued with a charge of misdemeanour assault.

“Following multiple interviews and an investigation by the Gallatin county sheriff’s office it was determined there was probable cause to issue a citation to Greg Gianforte for misdemeanor assault,” sheriff Brian Gootkin said in a statement. “The nature of the injuries did not meet the statutory elements of felony assault. Greg Gianforte received a citation on Wednesday night and is scheduled to appear in Gallatin county justice court between now and 7 June 2017.”

A statement by campaign spokesman Shane Scanlon blamed Jacobs for the altercation, saying that he “entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions.”

“Jacobs was asked to leave,” the statement reads. “After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.

“It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.”

Scanlon’s account is contradicted by audio of the abortive interview recorded by Jacobs, as well as the Fox News account. The audio does not capture Jacobs being asked to leave or lower his recorder, but does contain an apparent reference to the Guardian’s previous attempts to report on Gianforte. “I’m sick and tired of you guys,” Gianforte said. “The last guy who came here did the same thing. Get the hell out of here. Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the Guardian?”

Yes! You just broke my glasses,” Jacobs replied.

“The last guy did the same damn thing,” Gianforte said.

“You just body slammed me and broke my glasses,” Jacobs said.

“Get the hell out of here,” Gianforte yelled.

At a press conference on Wednesday evening, sheriff Brian Gootkin said that there had been four witnesses to the altercation, in addition to Gianforte and Jacobs. Gianforte briefly spoke with sheriff’s deputies following the altercation but has not been interviewed. Gootkin said that he was not aware of any video of the incident. He also requested that reporters and members of the public stop calling Gallatin’s 911 dispatch.

According to campaign finance filings, Gootkin donated $250 to Gianforte’s campaign in March. Gootkin’s later statement acknowledged the contribution but said it had “nothing to do with our investigation which is now complete”.

Guardian US editor Lee Glendinning said in a statement: “The Guardian is deeply appalled by how our reporter, Ben Jacobs, was treated in the course of doing his job as a journalist while reporting on the Montana special election.”

“We are committed to holding power to account and we stand by Ben Jacobs and our team of reporters for the questions they ask and the reporting that is produced.”

The altercation took place at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. Gianforte was in a side room with a local television news crew when Jacobs attempted to ask his question, according to Jacobs.

“I decided there was no harm in asking one question, and the worst thing that could happen was they would tell me to go to hell,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs’s account was also partially confirmed by BuzzFeed News reporter Alexis Levinson, who wrote on Twitter that she had been in an adjacent room during the incident.

“This happened behind a half closed door, so I didn’t see it all, but here’s what it looked like from the outside – Ben walked into a room where a local TV crew was set up for an interview with Gianforte. All of a sudden I heard a giant crash and saw Ben’s feet fly in the air as he hit the floor. Heard very angry yelling (as did all the volunteers in the room) – sounded like Gianforte…”

Levinson told the Guardian by phone that before the incident, she overheard Gianforte’s staff telling Jacobs that the campaign was upset with the Guardian’s previous reporting and that the candidate would likely not have time to talk to him. Jacobs then entered the side room to try to talk to Gianforte, whose campaign has been backed by robocalls to voters from Trump and his vice-president, Mike Pence.

On Tuesday, the Guardian published the latest episode of its video series Anywhere but Washington about the Montana special election. The video includes two instances when Gianforte refused to be interviewed by reporter Paul Lewis. Video producer Adithya Sambamurthy said Wednesday that he and Lewis had been “blindsided” by the candidate’s unwillingness to answer questions, because they had been in contact with the campaign spokesman prior to their trip. Gianforte eventually agreed to speak with the Guardian for the video.

The special election called when Ryan Zinke vacated his seat has attracted national attention, and spending has reached $17m as the race has tightened. Democrat Rob Quist is a political novice and folk singer. Quist declined to comment on the altercation when approached by reporters on Wednesday.

Gianforte is a tech mogul who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2016.

On 28 April, Jacobs reported on Gianforte’s financial ties to Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the US. Gianforte’s wealth is estimated at between $65m and $315m.

Last month, the Missoulian newspaper took Gianforte to task for his attitude toward the press. At an event hosted by the Advancing Conservatism Society, an audience member reportedly said: “Our biggest enemy is the news media. How can we rein in the news media?”

Gianforte responded by pointing at a reporter and saying: “We have someone right here. It seems like there is more of us than there is of him.” Gianforte later told the Billings Gazette that his comments were a joke.

The Missoulian editorial board interpreted Gianforte’s statement as “demonstrat[ing] Gianforte’s agreement that news media are ‘the enemy’”.

“While his apology is appreciated,” they wrote, “Gianforte needs to take pains to set a better example of civility from now on.”

Last month, the Missoulian newspaper took Gianforte to task for his attitude toward the press. At an event hosted by the Advancing Conservatism Society, an audience member reportedly said: “Our biggest enemy is the news media. How can we rein in the news media?”

A new report from Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy analyzes news coverage of President Trump’s first 100 days in office.

The report is based on an analysis of news reports in the print editions of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, the main newscasts of CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC, and three European news outlets (The UK’s Financial Times and BBC, and Germany’s ARD).

Findings include:

•President Trump dominated media coverage in the outlets and programs analyzed, with Trump being the topic of 41 percent of all news stories—three times the amount of coverage received by previous presidents. He was also the featured speaker in nearly two-thirds of his coverage.

•Republican voices accounted for 80 percent of what newsmakers said about the Trump presidency, compared to only 6 percent for Democrats and 3 percent for those involved in anti-Trump protests.

•European reporters were more likely than American journalists to directly question Trump’s fitness for office.

•Trump has received unsparing coverage for most weeks of his presidency, without a single major topic where Trump’s coverage, on balance, was more positive than negative, setting a new standard for unfavorable press coverage of a president.

•Fox was the only news outlet in the study that came close to giving Trump positive coverage overall, however, there was variation in the tone of Fox’s coverage depending on the topic.

So....because the newsies are mean to poor widdle Trump, this reporter had to be body slammed?