Buried in a new article out of Bloomberg is an understated but potentially significant statement: “In fact, Manafort had alerted authorities to a controversial meeting on June 9, 2016, involving Trump’s son Donald Jr., other campaign representatives and a Russian lawyer promising damaging information on Hillary Clinton, according to people familiar with the matter.” That would be a huge development in this controversy if true, particularly if the notice occurred before the Russian meeting occurred.
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Saudi Arabia is once again in the news with another example of the extremist religious dogma that characterizes its Wahhabi traditions. The latest lunacy came with the arrest of TV host, actor, and aspiring artist, 
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the growing need for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to recuse himself from the Special Counsel investigation. Rosenstein has alluded to the possible need for his recusal but continues to participate in an investigation that could have direct bearing on his own role and decision-making. If he has material evidence on obstruction, he should not delay his recusal until he receives a formal request to appear before a grand jury. His relevance to the obstruction investigation is obvious and he should not be determined questions of scope when his own conduct could fall within the jurisdiction of the Special Counsel.
Yesterday, I finally had a chance to see the movie “Dunkirk.” My son Jack had already seen the film but liked it enough to go back with me. As a military history buff, you can imagine my reaction: I loved it. It captured the dire acts of survival on that beach and in those ships while under constant air and ground attack. Yet, despite overwhelming critical acclaim, some have objected that the film was too white and too male. 
Today Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to discuss a new leak crackdown, but he will have to deal with questions raised by one of the most massive leaks in recent memory. Someone has leaked the entire transcripts of two heated January phone calls with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The conversations are deeply embarrassing for the Administration because they directly contradict statements made by Trump to the public. These transcripts would also be likely classified, making their release a federal offense.
Two stories this week show how the views of people can shape and deceive them in the perception of photos. In Minnesota, Black Lives Matter advocates caused an uproar with a picture of what they claimed was the possible lynching of a black man in a St. Paul park. In Norway, anti-immigrant bloggers circulated a photo of what they claimed to be a city bus filled with women in full burkas. The lynching turned out to be the suicide of a middle aged white man and the Muslim women turned out to be empty cars.
There is an interesting torts case out of Dallas where a couple was sued by a photographer after they trashed the photographer in the media for withholding their wedding album over $125 that the studio insisted had to be paid. The story was immediately gobbled up by the media and the studio lost business and eventually closed. Now, instead of $125, Andrew and Neely Moldovan will have to pay one million dollars in defamation damages.
In a remarkable departure from his own Chief Executive, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Agency Chuck Rosenberg has repudiated the remarks of President Donald Trump that encouraged law enforcement officers to abuse criminal suspects. 
President Donald Trump has been widely criticized for his breaking an 80-year-old tradition in making political comments at the Boy Scouts National Jamboree in West Virginia. When asked about the controversy, however, Trump refused to apologize and instead said that there were no “mixed” views at the event. Rather, he said that the head of the Boy Scouts called him and told him it was “the greatest speech that was ever made to them.” 
I am in Chicago, my hometown, to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday. I always love coming home to his city, but which is beautiful in the summer. I took the kids swimming in Lake Michigan with huge waves and a perfect day. However, the city is reeling from an ever-rising murder rate. Just four years ago, the city passed 400 homicides around Thanksgiving. We just passed that mark in July in what could be a record bloody year in the Windy City. 