Wonderful Musical! The Pajama Game at Arena Stage

Yesterday Tom and I went to see "The Pajama Game" musical at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and it was so much fun! I didn't know anything about the show, and Tom surprised me with the tickets. All of the performers were AMAZING. The Music was fun, the voices perfect, the dancing and acting were incredible. I could certainly see it again! 

AMAZING ACTORS (AND 2 WHO RESEMBLED FRIENDS) Britney Coleman and Tim Rogan were amazing leads in the show (and Tim has an amazing bod). Some of the other performers resembled friends of ours so we were drawn to them: Tony Neidenbach resembled our friend Ed (who passed in 1996) and Nancy Anderson resembled our friend Sarah (who passed in 2011), so we felt like both of them were with us during the performance. What a great feeling. Of course, I watched Tony and Nancy a bit more than some of the other dancers and singers because they looked familiar, and they were both incredible, too, as were the entire cast. 

ABOUT THE SHOW: The Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory is a tiptop model of efficiency — so why are things getting so steamy? It could have something to do with how hard new superintendent Sid Sorokin has fallen for Babe Williams, the trouble-making head of the union grievance committee. Sparks really start to fly when a workers’ strike pits management against labor and ignites an outrageous battle of the sexes. Packed with seductive dance numbers like “Steam Heat” and “Hernando’s Hideaway,” the best way to ensure a good night’s rest during the hectic holiday season is to play The Pajama Game

The Sleep-Tite Factory workers go on strike

BASED ON THE NOVEL: 7½ Cent by Richard Bissell
RUNS FROM October 27 TO December 24, 2017 On the Fichandler Stage in the Arena Stage Building

THE CAST: click to learn about them all here..

Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell
Music and Lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
Directed by Alan Paul
Choreographed by Parker Esse
Music Direction by James Cunningham
VIDEO REACTIONS: https://youtu.be/4dNhaWKVboc

Food for thought: Origin Dates of Some World Religions

Here are some observations from our friend Richard H about religions in the world. 

1) The oldest religion on earth is Hinduism. It’s a polytheistic religion, they believe in multiple Gods. The religion is approximately 9,000 years old.

2) The 2nd oldest religion (at about 7,000 years) is Judaism..it was the first monotheistic religion..they believe in one God.

3) The 3rd oldest in line would be Islam at around 5,000 years. Also a monotheistic religion. One God, Allah.

*4) Roman and Greek Gods date back over 4,000 years.
5) At 2,000 years old is Christianity.

Bottom Line: Before you judge other people for their religion, understand where you are in this line up....

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Neptune (Roman) or Poseidon (Greek) God of the Sea

*Interesting note from www.Ancient:.eu about Roman religion: From the beginning Roman religion was polytheistic. From an initial array of gods and spirits, Rome added to this collection to include both Greek gods as well as a number of foreign cults. As the empire expanded, the Romans refrained from imposing their own religious beliefs upon those they conquered; however, this inclusion must not be misinterpreted as tolerance - this can be seen with their early reaction to the Jewish and Christian population. Eventually, all of their gods would be washed away, gradually replaced by Christianity, and in the eyes of some, this change brought about the decline of the western empire. 

Hero of the Month: Groom Saves Drowning Boy!

We like to spotlight people who make a difference in the lives of others and act as heroes. Here's a  story about a man who jumped off a bridge to rescue a drowning boy. It all happened at the man's wedding, during his wedding photo shoot. He didn't hesitate to dive off a bridge to save the child.

Groom Heroically Saves Drowning Boy During Wedding Photo Shoot

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41391191

This heroic groom probably didn’t expect to play the role of Superman on his wedding day. 

Canadian newlyweds Clayton and Brittany Cook were posing for photos in a park in Kitchener, Ontario after their ceremony on Friday when Clayton noticed a young boy struggling to swim in the park’s pond. He promptly jumped down to the water’s edge and helped the boy out.

Photographer Darren Hatt posted photos of the incident to his Facebook page, where they’ve been shared over five hundred times.

A group of kids followed the couple around while they took photos in Victoria Park, Brittany told HuffPost. Neither she nor Hatt noticed that one boy had fallen into the water until Clayton sprang into action.

Canadian newlyweds Clayton and Brittany Cook

“It was my turn to get my solo pictures taken so Clay was hanging out by the pond waiting,” Brittany told HuffPost. “We had three kids following us around [and] Clay noticed there was only two kids he could see... he walked over to check on them and noticed the kids looking at the water and one kid was struggling to swim, so Clay jumped down on a rock ledge closer to the water and pulled him out.”

The kids continued hanging out in the park after the incident, and the Cooks enjoyed the rest of their wedding night, Brittany added. The couple didn’t think much of the incident at first but later realized the value of Clayton’s quick thinking.

“Now it’s hitting us more that if we weren’t in the right place at the right time, things may have gone differently and perhaps even tragically,” Brittany said.

News you don't hear: from CA: A Man Tortured, Killed 8-Year-Old Boy For Being Gay

This 8 year old was murdered for "being gay."

Although hate crimes have increased in the last year, many are still not reported. In Oct. the President said the VP would prefer to see all gay people hanged.  Gay people face hate crimes DAILY and in California on Oct. 18 a trial began for a man who allegedly tortured and killed an 8-year-old for being gay. 

UPDATE on Nov. 17 at 10am ET:   California man has been convicted of torturing and killing his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, driven the prosecution argued by his belief that the boy was gay. Isauro Aguirre was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the May 2013 death of Gabriel Fernandez. A jury must now decide whether Aguirre, 37, should receive the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering Gabriel, who was declared brain dead and taken off life support two days after paramedics arrived at his home in Palmdale, California. 

Trial Begins For Man Who Allegedly Tortured, Killed 8-Year-Old Boy For Being Gay

Source: link to hate crimes story

  The murder trial of a man accused of brutally abusing and then killing an 8-year-old boy because the boy was thought to be gay has begun in Los Angeles, with a prosecutor detailing the “systematic torture” of the boy.

Gabriel Fernandez was repeatedly beaten, sustaining a fractured skull and broken ribs, and suffered burn marks, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami told a jury Monday. The child was starved, fed cat feces and his own vomit, sprayed with pepper stray and tied up and forced to sleep in a closet, the prosecutor said in his opening statement.
Isauro Aguirre, 37, the boyfriend of the boy’s mother, is charged with murder and facing the death penalty in the case. The mother, 32-year-old Pearl Fernandez, also is charged with capital murder and will be tried separately.
Gabriel Fernandez was found gagged and bound in a cabinet in the couple’s home in Palmdale, California, when first responders discovered him on May 22, 2013. He was declared brain dead and taken off life support two days later. 
UPDATED STORY: Man Pleads Guilty of Murdering 8 Year Old

Point Lookout State Park Part 4: The Haunted Lighthouse

Point Lookout's Lighthouse

In this final blog about Maryland's Point Lookout State Park, we'll tell you about the lighthouse and it's ghost! 

Point Lookout State Park is located at 11175 Point Lookout Road, Scotland, MD 20687. It's part of the Maryland Park Service. 

THE LIGHTHOUSE - Point Lookout Light is a lighthouse that began operation on Sept. 20,1830. It marks the entrance to the Potomac River at the southernmost tip of Maryland's western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. There were numerous lighthouse keepers and you can find the entire history here: http://www.ptlookoutlighthouse.com/overview.shtml

Tom and Rob at the lighthouse

ROB'S EXPERIENCES - Since the lighthouse was closed when we visited, we could only get as close as the fence that surrounded it. It was enough to make my legs feel shaky and unsteady. The energy in the house also gave me a headache (I get one when I'm around a ghost or spirit) so I knew there was a ghost or ghosts (intelligent haunt) inside. When we returned home we researched findings from paranormal teams who investigated and there was a lot of experiences. 

THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS
George Gatton, the last civilian lighthouse keeper at Point Lookout Lighthouse stated in an interview that he did not believe in ghosts. The lighthouse was tended by Raymond Hartzel until January 11, 1966, when the light was extinguished for the last time. Once the Navy and subsequently the State of Maryland took possession of the lighthouse and rehabilitated it, tenants of the lighthouse began reporting their experiences of unexplained voices, sightings and other phenomena. 

A RESIDENT'S GHOSTLY EXPERIENCES - Gerald (Gerry) Sword lived in the northern side of the lighthouse. Gerry invited Dr. Hans Holzer, a renowned parapsychologist based in New York, to investigate. Gerry's experiences included:

* The kitchen wall started to glow one night for about 10 minutes

* Every night for 2 weeks he heard someone snoring in the kitchen

* During storms, he often heard voices outside and inside the lighthouse

* Frequently heard someone walking up and down the hallway and stairs

* Heard loud voices outside and no one was there.

* His dog was locked in the screen-in porch in the evenings. One night he heard the dog barking and came outside to find the dog outside the porch but the door was still locked from the inside

* Smelled an odor in the living room

* Lights turned on and off and doors banged

HOLZER'S PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS FIND GHOSTS, VOICES

On January 14, 1980 - A medium felt sick; she had chills and felt cold and weak. She felt that someone had experienced agony in this room and had been held against their will: Some Civil War prisoners likely had been held there.

- Top of the Stairs The medium felt a woman's presence and felt that this woman had contemplated throwing herself down the steps many times.

- Steps to Cupola Medium felt a young blond man with blue eyes had been murdered within the last 50 years

- Feb. 1980 Investigation: in the Basement -Several investigators saw a figure in the farthest back room and recorded a voice that stated either let me out or get out.

- Dining Room Held a séance in this room - many photos revealed spirit lights. Many other unexplained voices were recorded  

- August 22, 1980.  Ghost photo in front bedroom, whispered voices on the tape. Again, another figure was seen in the basement. We all heard breathing and felt cold spots throughout the lighthouse.  

- Ghost of man paced up and down hallways

For more details visit: http://www.ptlookoutlighthouse.com/overview.shtml

NOTE FOR PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS - For information about investigating claims of the paranormal at the lighthouse, please see the paranormal program on the PLLPS.org website at: http://www.pllps.org/nighttimeinvestigations.shtml

Point Lookout State Park Part 3: The Destroyed Resort

A 1930s photo of the resort 

In blog #3 about Point Lookout State Park, Md we'll tell you about a once-popular resort that thrived (long after the civil war that we talked about in yesterday's blog), and has since been destroyed.

ABOUT THE RESORT- A popular bay-side resort once stood in the 1930s and served some of the elite.  

The 2 wheels that remain of the resort 

REMNANTS - All that's left of the resort today are 2 large geared wheels. 
  These wheels, one half buried, is all that remains a system that provided power in a power plant (also gone) and water (from a destroyed water treatment plant) to the former resort. 

TORN DOWN - Coastal erosion was one reason the once popular beachfront resort was torn down. 
The other reason was that the building was in poor condition after 60 years. 
  Continuing erosion on the peninsula has also swallowed up most of the land that the resort sat on.

NEXT: Point Lookout's Haunted Lighthouse! 

Point Lookout State Park, Md.: Part 2: Civil War Prison and ties to Tom

In today's second blog about Point Lookout State Park we'll tell you about the former Civil War Prison and Tom's quest about it.  

Point Lookout State Park's peaceful surroundings belie its history as the location of a prison camp which imprisoned as many as 52,264 Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. A museum on site recounts this vivid history. 

Tom learned that his great-great grandfather on his mother's side was imprisoned there and survived. After the war, his great-great grandfather returned to his wife and children in Virginia   It was pretty moving to stand on the soil where his great-great grandfather "lived" while imprisoned. 

WHAT WAS CAMP HOFFMAN? Point Lookout was the largest and one of the worst Union prisoner-of-war camps, established on August 1, 1863 on the Chesapeake Bay side of Point Lookout. 
According to Mycivilwar.com, the conditions were pretty bad. 

LIVING CONDITIONS - All prisoners lived in the overcrowded tents and shacks, with no barracks to protect them from heat and coastal storms. There were several different kinds of tents that the prisoners used. Each row of tents were labeled as a division and would hold 1,000 or more prisoners. The majority of the different types were: A-tents (5 men), Sibley tents (13-14 men), Hospital tents (15-18 men), Wall tents (3-8 men), Hospital flys (10-13 men), Wall-tent flys (3-8 men), and Shelter tents (3 men).

BATHING, WASHING, LIMITED DRINKING WATER - The back of the prison was next to the bay. Here, the prisoners were allowed a certain area to bathe, wash clothes, and find additional food, such as clams, lobsters, and fish. Fresh water for drinking was scarce and polluted. Wells supplied the water for the camp, but they proved too shallow and had iron and alkaline salts in it. Later on, a boat was arranged to bring in fresh water for the prison.

HORRIBLE CONDITIONS - Because of the topography, drainage was poor, and the area was subject to extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter. This exacerbated the problems created by inadequate food, clothing, fuel, housing, and medical care. As a result, approximately 3,000 prisoners died there over 22 months. Besides chronic diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid fever had become epidemic at the camp while smallpox, scurvy, and the itch had become quite common. 

The general area where Camp Hoffman was located on the Chesapeake Bay

PRISONER STATISTICS - In April 1865 at the end of the Civil War, there were still 22,000 prisoners there..They were release in alphabetical order and reverse order of states that seceded from the Union. By June 30, all of the prisoners had been transferred out of the camp. At least 3,584 prisoners died at the prison. It is estimated that a total of 52,264 prisoners, both military and civilian, were held prisoner there. Only 50 escaped successfully. 

NEXT: The Destroyed Resort 

Point Lookout State Park, Md.: Part 1: Civil War's Hammond Hospital

In October, we visited Maryland's Point Lookout State Park and in the next couple of blogs we'll talk about the war-related buildings, the civil war prison, the haunted lighthouse, and the former resort (now gone). In this blog you'll explore the Civil War Hospital and many things to do at the park.

ABOUT THE PARK - Point Lookout State Park is a Maryland state park occupying Point Lookout, the southernmost tip of a peninsula formed by the confluence of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River in St. Mary's County, Maryland.

Hospital looks like spokes on a wheel

CIVIL WAR'S HAMMOND GENERAL HOSPITAL -  In 1862, after the start of the Civil War, the U. S. government leased the land to build a military hospital for war casualties according to Waymarking.com. The hospital was constructed on pilings and had 16 buildings arranged like the spokes of a wheel with four small buildings in the center. 
 It was completed in the spring of 1863. Hammond Hospital could handle 1,400 patients. Union casualties were transported by water on steamers.  

After the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the federal government set up a POW camp on the same peninsula. Hammond started taking in injured and sick Confederate prisoners in addition to Federal soldiers, and the hospital soon became overcrowded.

The location

HOSPITAL TORN DOWN 3 YEARS LATER - After the Civil War ended, the government closed Hammond Hospital in 1865. The buildings were demolished or sold. Today, a monument marks the general location of Hammond Hospital. It is in the middle of the traffic circle at the end of Point Lookout State Park near the lighthouse. To the east of the monument across the road, there is a historical sign with the history of Hammond Hospital and a single piling, the only evidence a huge war hospital once existed here.

Spending A Day At Point Lookout

Beach Picnic Area - Open daily (6 a.m. – Sunset) starting Memorial Day through Labor Day weekend. Open year round with pedestrian access only during the winter season from sunrise to sunset.

Pavilion/Shelter - The pavilion contains a large open grill and picnic tables. Water and electric are available. The pavilion is located in the Beach Picnic Area with the swimming area and a small playing field nearby.

Park Store - The park store is open May - September. The park store offers snacks, ice cream, drinks, bait, ice, souvenirs and boating, picnicking and camping supplies.  

Civil War Museum/Marshland Nature Center - located within the Campground. Open to the general public, day visitors as well as campers. Museum and Nature Center are open seasonally, closed during the winter.  

A panoramic shot we took of the road to the lighthouse. 

Boating - A boat launch facility and fish-cleaning station are available for boaters. Canoe rentals and supplies are also available at the camp store.   

Fort Lincoln - Open year round sunrise to sunset (self-guided). Re-enactments and special events are held at Fort Lincoln throughout the year.  

Lighthouse - Open for tours the first Saturday of each month from April-November  

Hunting - There are 200 acres set aside for deer hunting.

Hiking - Periwinkle Point Trail, a self-guided nature trail located at the back entrance of the Civil War Museum/Marshland Nature Center.

For the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources Park Webpage:
http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/southern/pointlookout.aspx 

NEXT: The Civil War Prison and ties to Tom's family

Secrets of the Crew of the Sunken Civil War Submarine

Man walks past the bow of  Civil War submarine HL Hunley Credit: Reuters

Tom happened upon an interesting story he wanted to share:  Research was conducted on the remains of the 8 member crew of the H.L. Hunley (the first submarine to sink another ship in battle - during the US Civil War), which sank off the coast of South Carolina. In this blog you'll learn about the crew, how they died and the odd way their remains were found. 

WHO WERE THE CREW? 
Researchers found that 4 of the crew were born in Europe! Only one member of the crew is known to have married and had children; his descendants have been located.  Nothing is known about the others.  


THE ODD WAY THEY WERE FOUND 
 All 8 skeletons were found perfectly preserved at the posts inside the sub, with no damage observed to the skeletons.  When the Hunley was raised in 2000, salvage experts were amazed to find the eight-man crew poised as if they had been caught completely unawares by the tragedy. All were still sitting in their posts and there was no evidence that they had attempted to flee the foundering vessel.

HOW THE CREW DIED

The submarine being raised in 2000 Credit: US Navy

Researchers  at Duke University believe that the crew accidentally killed themselves, dying from the torpedo blast of the charge they set off, drowning the crew.   The blast from the charge caused their blood vessels to burst, causing them to die instantaneously.  Forensic artists have recreated busts of the men from the remains.  "This is the characteristic trauma of blast victims, they call it 'blast lung,'" Dr Rachel Lance.“You have an instant fatality that leaves no marks on the skeletal remains."

 The research was published in PLOS ONE.
 
  SOURCE: UK Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/08/23/mystery-deaths-hl-hunley-submarine-crew-solved-accidentally/

Checklist for the Trump-Russian Investigation (verified News Sources)

If you're trying to keep track of the  the Trump-Russia investigation, here's a handy checklist  of happenings from CREDIBLE news sources like CNN, NBC news, U.K. Independent (not Fox news) in date order. 

Source 1:  OCT 26 2017, 8:41 AM ET

by CHUCK TODD, MARK MURRAY and CARRIE DANN, First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit 
TIMELINE

·         Jan. 6: Intel community details that Russia interfered in the 2016 election— to hurt Hillary Clinton and benefit Trump.

·         Feb. 13: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigns just after the Washington Post first reported that the Justice Department had informed the White House that Flynn could be subject to blackmail after misleading statements about his interaction with Russia's ambassador.

·         Feb. 14: The New York Times reports that Trump's 2016 campaign "had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials."

·         Feb. 14: Then FBI Director James Comey met at White House with Trump, where Trump tells him: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," the president says, per a memo Comey wrote about the meeting. "He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."

·         March 1: The Washington Post reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Russia's envoy twice in 2016 -- which Sessions didn't disclose in his confirmation hearing.

·         March 2: Sessions recuses himself from any federal inquiries involving Trump's 2016 campaign.

·         March 20: Comey confirms his agency is investigation allegations that Trump's 2016 campaign might have contacts with Russian entities.

·         May 9: Trump fires Comey. The original explanation is that it was due to how Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation — and was based on the recommendation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

·         May 10: In Oval Office meeting, Trump tells Russian officials, "I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job," he said, according to the New York Times. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

·         May 11: In interview with NBC's Lester Holt, Trump said he firing Comey regardless of what Rosenstein recommended. And he suggested the Russia investigation was a reason behind the dismissal. "When I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story."

·         May 17: Rosenstein appoints former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel in Russia probe.

·         July 9: NYT reports that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer on June 9, 2016 after being promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton — "the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help."

·         July 11: NYT publishes emails between Rob Goldstone ("This is obviously very high level and sensitive information, but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump") and Donald Trump Jr. ("If it's what you say, I love it." The entire email exchange is entitled: "Russia — Clinton — private and confidential."

·         July 31: WaPo reports that Trump dictated his son’s misleading statement about that meeting with the Russian lawyer.

·         Aug 3: WSJ reports that special counsel Mueller impaneled a grand jury in his Russia investigation.

·         Aug 9: WaPo reports that the FBI searched Paul Manafort's home on July 26.

·         Oct. 4: Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says his committee continues to look at whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. “There are concerns that we continue to pursue: collusion. The committee continues to look into all evidence to see if there was any hint of collusion.”
Oct. 4- Facebook Reveals Many Russian-bought, Pro-Trump Campaign Ads - A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump's victory last November, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Some of the Russian ads appeared highly sophisticated in their targeting of key demographic groups in areas of the states that turned out to be pivotal, two of the sources said. The ads employed a series of divisive messages aimed at breaking through the clutter of campaign ads online, including promoting anti-Muslim messages, sources said.

Oct. 20 - Senate intelligence committee investigators have spoken with several Russians who attended a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., a sign that the matter remains a significant focus for lawmakers looking into potential coordination between Trump associates and Kremlin-linked operatives during the presidential campaign. (CNN)

·         Oct. 25: The Daily Beast reports that the head of Trump’s data-analytics firm Cambridge Analytica wrote in an email last year that he reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about Hillary Clinton’s missing 33,000 emails.
Oct. 30- Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were both ordered to home confinement Monday and ordered to surrender their passports after pleading not guilty to charges stemming from Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Oct. 31- George Papadopoulos ,  former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI after he lied about his interactions with foreign officials close to the Russian government -- the campaign's clearest connection so far to Russia's efforts to meddle in the 2016 election. In court records unsealed on Monday, the FBI said George Papadopoulos "falsely described his interactions with a certain foreign contact who discussed 'dirt' related to emails" concerning Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Records also describe an email between Trump campaign officials suggesting they were considering acting on Russian invitations to go to Russia.

Nov. 3- Jared Kushner has turned over documents in recent weeks to special counsel Robert Mueller as investigators have begun asking in witness interviews about Kushner's role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey
Nov. 1- Candidate Donald Trump did not dismiss the idea of arranging a meeting with Russia's president when it was suggested in a meeting with his campaign foreign policy advisers last year, according to a person in the room.
Nov. 8-  Carter Page reveals new contacts with Trump campaign, Russians: Carter Page's six-plus hours of testimony before the House intelligence committee makes clear senior members of the Trump campaign were aware of the former Trump foreign policy adviser's July 2016 trip to Russia -- and Page may have had interactions with more Russian government officials beyond what he's previously acknowledged

Nov. 9- White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller has been interviewed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, according to sources familiar with the investigation.The interview brings the special counsel investigation into President Donald Trump's inner circle in the White House. Miller is the highest-level aide still working at the White House known to have talked to investigators.Miller's role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey was among the topics discussed during the interview as part of the probe into possible obstruction of justice, according to one of the sources.
Nov. 9- Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has expressed concern about the potential legal exposure of his son, Michael Flynn Jr., who, like his father, is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
Nov. 10-  Ex-Trump security chief testifies he rejected 2013 Russian offer of women for Trump in Moscow

AND- if you want to see which of the Trump Campaign's people were linked to Russia, here's an informative interactive from CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/trump-russia-connections/

Parts of the Steele (U.K.) dossier have been confirmed

Also, NBC’s Ken Dilanian reminds us that PARTS of the Steele dossier seem to line up with known facts. For example, Dilanian notes:

·         The dossier discusses Trump’s attempts to secure business deals in Russia, saying, “Regarding TRUMP’s claimed minimal investment profile in Russia, a separate source with direct knowledge said this had not been for want of trying. TRUMP’s previous efforts had included exploring the real estate sector in St Petersburg as well as Moscow…” We now know that despite Trump saying he had no deals in Russia, his organization was trying to build Trump Tower Moscow during the Republican primaries.

·         The dossier says a “senior Russian diplomat withdrawn from Washington embassy on account of potential exposure in US presidential election operation/s.” According to McClatchy, Mikhail Kalugin was recalled from his post as head of the embassy’s economics section in August of 2016. BBC reported that U.S. government sources identified Kalugin as a spy, though NBC News has not confirmed this.

·         The dossier asserts that in early August 2016, “a Kremlin official involved in US relations commented on aspects of the Russian operation to date,” discussing attempts to compromise Jill STEIN of the Green Party; TRUMP foreign policy adviser Carter PAGE; and former DIA Director Michael Flynn, by inviting them to Moscow. Flynn and Stein spoke at the RT gala in 2015, Flynn having been paid. Page gave a Kremlin-friendly speech in Moscow in July 2016 while he was advising the Trump campaign. (Page responded Thursday in an email to NBC News, “No one ever tried to compromise me.”)

14 Dog Portraits That Show The Adorably Human Side Of Pups 




By Brittany Wong , Huffington Post

Well, this is doggone cute.
In a new photo series called “The Dog Show,” Moscow-based photographers Alexander Khokhlov and his wife Veronica Ershova capture the surprisingly human-like expressions of dogs. 
There’s Marceille, a Saluki Persian greyhound who embodies the winking, tongue-out emoji:



Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershov



You better werk. 


Here’s Grand, an Old English Sheepdog who puts human hipsters to shame with his dog bun: 




Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershov



Hipster Santa vibes.


And then there’s Blake, a good boy Staffordshire Bull Terrier who deserves a medal for his smile:




Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershov



D’aww.


The fetching photos were taken in Moscow at multiple photo sessions throughout this year. In an interview with HuffPost, Khoklov said he and his wife were amazed by the emotion and depth behind the dogs’ expressions. 
“We saw hypnotizing looks, boring looks, skeptical looks, cunning looks, selfish looks, smiles, giggles, winks, sadness and happiness,” he said. “The project is ongoing, so we’re looking forward to showcasing even more personalities.”
Below, see more photos from impawsably cute photo series, which recently won a silver award at the Prix De La Photographie contest in Paris, France.
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  Rachel the Husky

  

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• (LEFT: Tata the Poodle
  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Freyby the Basset Hound

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Adele the Xoloitzcuintli (aka Mexican Hairless Dog)

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Venya the Welsh Corgi

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  George the Bordeaux Mastiff

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova 
  
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  Michelle the German Wirehaired Pointer

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Reyna the Whippet

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Audrey the English Bulldog

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Tora the Afghan Hound

  

  Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
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  Navarra the Bull Terrier