September 27th, 2019

It is not known precisely when the August 2019 revision to the whistleblower complaint form was approved, nor is it known which, if any, version of the Disclosure of Urgent Concern form the complainant completed prior to addressing his complaint to Congress.
Reached by phone on Friday afternoon, a Director of National Intelligence official refused to comment on any questions about the secret revision to the whistleblower form, including when it was revised to eliminate the requirement of first-hand knowledge and for what reason...

I talked to a DNI official and asked when these revisions were made and why. The official said the intelligence community would not comment on anything to do with the anti-Trump whistleblower.

I never mentioned or asked about the anti-Trump whistleblower. https://t.co/ZvCpCMBx8h

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 27, 2019

Based on bookies' bets and a few recent actions, speculation is once again starting to grow that Hillary Clinton may be about to enter the Democratic Party presidential nominee race... in the interview with CBS Sunday Morning that is airing this weekend, Clinton said: “Look, there were many funny things that happened in my election that will not happen again,” Clinton said. “And I’m hoping that both the public and press understand the way Trump plays the game.”...

Volker’s resignation was first reported by The State Press, the student newspaper of Arizona State University, where Volker serves as executive director of the school’s McCain Institute. According to the complaint, Volker sought to "contain the damage" from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani's outreach to Ukraine's government about the Biden family. But a July 19 text message from Volker to Giuliani that was provided to Fox News on Thursday showed that Volker had in fact encouraged Giuliani to reach out to Ukraine.

The legislation signed by the president will serve as a temporary replacement for an appropriations bill for the new fiscal year, something that has, so far, been an impossible feat for the Senate. An approved spending bill would require both Republicans and Democrats to come together, which has not yet happened in 2019.

Debates over funding for the border wall being constructed across southern states has stymied the ability of the upper chamber to find common ground and approve plans for government spending. This emergency spending measure, which was passed by the House last week and the Senate on Thursday, staved off the threat of a government shutdown, but both chambers much reconcile a solution by Nov. 21.

In ancient fossilized rock formations called stromatolites, found in the Dresser Formation fossil site of the Pilbara region of western Australia, researchers have finally detected traces of organic matter, and describe their findings in a new study published by the journal Geology... The team's analyses revealed that the stromatolites are predominantly made up of a mineral called pyrite, riddled with nanoscopic pores. And the pyrite includes nitrogen-bearing organic material, as well as strands and filaments of organic matter that closely resemble the remnants of biofilms formed by microbe colonies.

Saudi Arabia will drop its strict dress code for foreign women as it seeks for the first time to lure holidaymakers and the spending that could help develop the kingdom’s economy away from its reliance on oil. Foreign women won’t have to wear an abaya, the flowing cloak that’s been mandatory attire for decades, though they’ll be instructed to wear “modest clothing”... On Saturday, the government will open applications for online tourist visas for citizens of 49 countries, while others can apply at embassies and consulates overseas...

The butler, who only identified himself as Gabriel, has come forward about the convicted pedophile’s celebrity guests during his 18-year career working at the $8 million pied-à-terre, FranceInfo reported. “I served crowned heads, diplomats, businessmen and politicians,” he told the outlet. Among the powerful guests he listed were former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Prince Andrew, who would crash several nights at the apartment while Epstein was out of town, according to FranceInfo.... The butler also claimed his boss was still hosting famous guests at his Paris apartment last year. He said former White House chief strategist Bannon paid a visit in fall 2018.

Bannon was also spotted going into Epstein's New York Mansion back in May 2018.

The so-called whistleblower’s account goes on to rely upon that same OCCRP report on three more occasions... The OCCRP report repeatedly referenced is actually a “joint investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and BuzzFeed News, based on interviews and court and business records in the United States and Ukraine”... The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) describes itself as a “non-profit media organization providing an investigative reporting platform for the OCCRP Network”.
[...]
Every page of the OCCRP website features the same bottom section listing the icons of four of the organization’s top funders, including Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)... Soros’s Open Society was listed as the number two donor in most of the annual financial records posted on OCCRP’s website starting in 2012. Some years list Soros as the organization’s top donor. OCCRP advertises its other funders, including Google, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the U.S. State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles said the rules conflict with a 1997 settlement agreement that requires the government to release immigrant children caught on the border as quickly as possible to relatives in the U.S. and says they can only be held in facilities licensed by a state. Gee said the Flores agreement — named for a teenage plaintiff — will remain in place and govern the conditions for all immigrant children in U.S. custody, including those with their parents.

Azarov, who was prime minister from 2010-2014, is himself wanted by Ukrainian authorities for alleged abuse of power. He said he was not aware of any evidence suggesting wrongdoing on Hunter Biden’s part, but said it was in the Ukrainian public interest to ascertain the legality of his activities. In particular, he said it was important to investigate what Biden had done for Burisma to justify his fee.

The chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees initially requested a laundry list of documents on Sept. 9 and sent a follow-up letter on Monday. "Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House's impeachment inquiry," wrote Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Foreign Affairs chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.; and Oversight chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md. The chairmen asked for State Department correspondence and documents dating from Jan. 20, 2017, to the present. The documents relate to reports that Trump pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate potential 2020 election rival Joe Biden, his son Hunter and the Bidens' business activity in Ukraine.

Now, experts in Spain are trying to determine what caused the majority of those marine mammals to die. According to BIOS Cape Verde, an environmental association in the area, 163 melon-headed dolphins were found Tuesday on a beach on Boa Vista Island. 100 officials, residents and tourists tried to drag some of the living dolphins back out to sea, but they were largely unsuccessful. In the end, authorities buried 136 dead dolphins using bulldozers... Experts from BIOS collected samples from 50 animals and are studying them to find the root cause of the mass die-off event. They also collected four of the dolphins and froze them in their facilities to be studied,

🚨 🚨IMPT question - when did Adam Schiff have access to the complaint or any related information? The letter to Schiff and Burr was dated August 12th. Did Schiff have ANY access earlier than Committee & if yes, why did he not immediately share this with his Committee? 🚨🚨

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) September 27, 2019

t comes two weeks after a CBS News investigation revealed how recruiters entice seniors to submit a DNA sample for a "free" genetic cancer risk test. CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod reported that many victims of the scam never receive their results and their Medicare accounts are billed anyway. The individuals charged are accused of submitting more than $2.1 billion in false Medicare claims... Recruiters convinced seniors to hand over a saliva sample and their Medicare cards. One recruiter said she makes $200 per senior and others are pulling in thousands a month. She said the bill to Medicare can range from $2,500 to $10,000.

Staff Sgt. Ladonies Strong was driving a 5-ton transport vehicle when it overturned on June 6, killing Cadet Christopher Morgan, 22, of West Orange, N.J., according to reports. The Army said she was charged on Sept. 13 with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, reckless operation of a vehicle and dereliction of duty... “The incident remains under investigation and at this point the command has not yet made a decision whether the charges will be referred to a court-martial; that decision won’t be made until after the Article 32 hearing is complete,” Lt. Col. Patrick Husted, a 3rd Infantry Division spokesman, told the paper. Strong is due to appear at a preliminary hearing next month at Fort Benning.

It’s now against the law in New York City to threaten someone with a call to immigration authorities or refer to them as an “illegal alien” when motivated by hate. The restrictions — violations of which are punishable by fines of up to $250,000 per offense — are outlined in a 29-page directive released by City Hall’s Commission on Human Rights.
“‘Alien’ — used in many laws to refer to a ‘noncitizen’ person — is a term that may carry negative connotations and dehumanize immigrants, marking them as ‘other,'” reads one passage of the memo. “The use of certain language, including ‘illegal alien’ and ‘illegals,’ with the intent to demean, humiliate, or offend a person or persons constitutes discrimination.”

U.S. Africa Command released a statement on Friday saying 17 militants were killed in the strike, launched a day earlier in southwest Libya. U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, director of intelligence at the command, vowed to continue pursuing IS militants and deny them “safe haven to coordinate and plan operations” in Libya.