Step aside House Intelligence Committee, here come the adults in the Senate to show you how an investigation is done.

Intel chairman says Russia hired more than 1000 hackers to create fake, anti-Clinton news in key states, won by Trump. @jeffpeguescbs, now pic.twitter.com/mmRBcE4qCu

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 29, 2017

Courtesy of TPM: 

One thing was made crystal clear in a Wednesday press briefing on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election: this investigation is a very big and very serious deal. 

In an hour-long appearance, committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice-Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) framed their probe as one of most ambitious investigative efforts ever taken on by a congressional committee. Burr, a 22-year veteran of Capitol Hill, framed the investigation as “one of the biggest” he’s seen in his tenure in Washington, D.C. 

Warner concurred, saying, “When we started this, we saw the scope, what was involved, I said it was the most important thing I have ever taken on in my public life. I believe that more firmly now.” 

Their solemn assurances to investigate the full scope of Russia’s involvement, to look into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian officials, and to produce a truly bipartisan report on their findings offered a stark contrast from the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation, led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). The House’s probe came to a standstill this week over Nunes’ overly close relationship with the President, and he and ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) haven’t appeared together publicly in days.

According to CNN the Senator Intelligence Committee already has a slate of witnesses ready to be called: 

Burr and Warner say they have 20 witnesses they plan to interview and have scheduled interviews with five of them so far. The committee leaders said that they are happy that President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort have agreed to testify, but they have not yet decided when they will bring them in. 

"To date, we have made 20 requests for individuals to be interviewed by the committee," Burr said. "As we stand here today, five are already scheduled on the books, and probably within the next 10 days the remaining 15 will have a scheduled date for those individuals to be interviewed by our staff. We anticipate inviting additional individuals to come and be interviewed, and ultimately some of those interviewed individuals may turn into private or public hearings by the committee, but yet to be determined."

It is rumored that one of the witnesses they have in mind is  Christopher Steele, that former MI-6 agent responsible for that Russian dossier.

If true that puts the Senate WAY ahead of the House in getting to the bottom of what happened in 2016.

I have to imagine that Trump's orange tinged assholes slammed right shut as he watched that news conference yesterday.

Before leaving office President Obama signs bill protecting Atheists and Freethinkers. I knew I loved this guy.

Courtesy of the Progressive Secular Humanist:  

For the first time, atheists and other nonreligious persons are explicitly named as a class protected by the law. 

President Barack Obama has signed into law the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act. The new law protects atheists, humanists, and other freethinkers around the world from religious persecution. 

Congress passed the international religious freedom bill protecting atheists, humanists, and other non-theists last week with overwhelming bipartisan support, and Obama signed the legislation into law last Friday, Dec. 16. 

The new law explicitly protects atheists, humanists, and other non-theists, and upgrades the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. 

I have to admit that as impressed as I am that Obama signed this bill, I am even more impressed that it received bipartisan support.

That is good news for this country, and even better news for those of us shunned by society for our critical thinking skills.

Also keep in mind that it is HIGHLY doubtful that this bill would have been written, or signed during a Donald Trump presidency.

Even with one foot out the door President Obama has our backs.

A very smart move for the Iowa pig mutilator.

Republican senate candidate Joni Ernst, famous for using her time castrating pigs as a political attribute, has now come out as a victim of sexual harassment in the military.

This from CNN:  

“I had comments, passes, things like that,” Ernst told TIME. “These were some things where I was able to say stop and it simply stopped, but there are other circumstances both for women and for men where they don’t stop and they may be afraid to report it.” 

In a statement, Ernst said she would work with Democratic Sen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York who's been pushing for legislation to take the authority for prosecuting sexual assault in the military out of the chain of command - a position Ernst said she backs. 

In that statement, Ernst also acknowledged the inevitable hurdle of gaining support for this position within the Republican Party. 

"This will not be an easy challenge. I understand many in my own party in Washington will oppose this plan, as will many in the military and Pentagon," she said. "However, this should not be a partisan issue, and as a woman in uniform, I know that we must act now.” 

Ernst told the Des Moines Register that she's "...not doing this to go against (her party)" 

"What I am doing is saying: 'This is a problem. It has not been resolved in the past couple decades. If we were handling it properly in the military, we would not have the issues that we have today,'" she said.

As you know I am not in the habit of  praising Republican candidates, ESPECIALLY those endorsed by Sarah Palin, but this is a smart move on Ernst's behalf.

By identifying herself as a victim of sexual harassment in the military, and stating her plan to work to Kristen Gillibrand to take authority for prosecution out of the chain of command, Ernst has positioned herself to attract quite a lot of women voters who may not have found her all that attractive before.

Not only is she standing up for women, she is discussing working in a bipartisan manner, which MOST Teabaggers find completely unacceptable.

Like I said this is a very smart move.

However one has to wonder how Sarah Palin is feeling about an endorsee that is so willing to go against the conservative talking points, and to engage in that most awful of sins, working with the Democrats?