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October 2017

Last week, The Hill reported that an FBI undercover agent in Russia accused President Barack Obama's DOJ of blocking him from speaking to Congress “about conversations and transactions he witnessed related to the Russian nuclear industry’s efforts to win favor with Bill and Hillary Clinton and influence Obama administration decisions.” His lawyer Victoria Toensing, who served as a Reagan DOJ official and chief counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee, explained she was trying to free her client of the confidentiality agreement. It worked. The DOJ and FBI freed the informant from his confidentiality agreement, which means he may now speak to Congress about what he witnessed.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal has given actor Corey Feldman an opportunity to revisit an issue he has been talking about for years. Feldman claims he is a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of pedophiles who hold powerful positions in Hollywood. He has also repeatedly said that the problem is worse than anyone knows.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the Democrats and failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton funded the now-debunked Trump Dossier that has allegations of collusion between now-President Donald Trump and Russia. Today, the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that claims Hillary's campaign and the DNC violated campaign finance law over payments for the Trump Dossier.

The mysteries continue to pile up when it comes to Stephen Paddock, the man who slaughtered over 50 people in Las Vegas earlier this month. Authorities still have no motive and it seems that everything new that pops up brings more questions. ABC News has reported that Paddock's laptop does not have its hard drive, meaning the authorities don't have access to a possible direction to a motive. Also, authorities in Los Angeles arrested his brother Bruce on child porn charges.

I've been keeping an eye on tax reform and ideas to make changes to 401(k) retirement funds have caught my eye. At first, tax writers wanted to tax your earnings before you place money in the fund. Then over the weekend they floated the idea of changing the pre-tax limit to $2,400 instead of $18,000. Of course this has caused an uproar, which led President Donald Trump to tweet out on Monday that tax reform will not include changes to your 401(k). House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) has said not so fast and the option remains on the table.

America's First Ladies have historically selected an area of focus during their husband's tenure as president.  Nancy Reagan chose the war on drugs ("Just Say No"), Laura Bush chose literacy and education, Michelle Obama chose nutrition and exercise.  First Lady Melania Trump announced that as First Lady her focus would be on curbing bullying in K-12 education, particularly cyberbullying. The Guardian reported at the time:
Melania Trump, whose husband has built a public profile partly around his vulgar and offensive Twitter account, called for a gentler and kinder America on Thursday, where children can spend time on social media without fear of harassment. In a rare public appearance, Trump portrayed her husband as a devoted family man with “deep love and respect” for all Americans with a speech intended to help soften his public image with women.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, claims that he has a "smoking gun" email that proves the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama directed funds from settlements away from conservative groups. From Fox News:
“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”

In August, Iowa officials submitted a request to make changes to its Obamacare market as it faced doom due to high premiums and insurance companies dropping out. Officials wanted to make changes that would "provide consumers with age- and income-based tax credits as well as using a reinsurance mechanism for insurers for costly medical claims. Now Governor Kim Reynolds (R) and Iowa Insurance Division Commissioner Doug Ommen have announced that the state withdrew its request since it "cannot be approved under terms that would be workable for Iowa."

Democrats and the left have been attempting a soft coup on the Trump presidency since election day. One of the key factors in this attempt to unseat a duly-elected president was the now infamous and thoroughly-debunked "Trump dossier" that falsely alleged Trump connections to, even collusion with, Russia. This document, it is now being reported, was funded by the Clinton campaign and by the DNC, then led by disgraced former DNC chair Debbie Wassermann-Schultz.