CHICKENS COMING HOME – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  I've noticed, in the last three of four days, a decided increase in the number of stories dealing with, not Trump's alleged collusion with Russia, but Hillary Clinton's, and that of members of the Obama administration.  Seems the GOP may actually be waking up.  From Fox: 

The Russian lawyer who landed a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. during last year’s presidential campaign with the promise of dirt on Hillary Clinton had one big thing in common with the Democratic candidate: Both had opposed Russia sanctions targeting human-rights abusers. 

Further, former Secretary of State Clinton’s initial opposition coincided with a $500,000 speech her husband gave in Moscow – a link her 2016 campaign fought to downplay in the press, according to WikiLeaks-released documents.

Trump White House officials now are trying to draw attention to that speech and the Clintons’ ties to Russia in a bid to counter criticism over Trump Jr.’s now-infamous meeting. 

“If you want to talk about having relationships with Russia, I'd look no further than the Clintons,” Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a briefing last week. “Bill Clinton was paid half a million dollars to give a speech to a Russian bank, personally thanked by President Putin.”

The former president indeed had received a personal call from then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressing his appreciation for the speech. According to Mrs. Clinton’s ethics disclosure form filed while she was secretary of State, Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 by the Russia-based finance company Renaissance Capital for his June 29, 2010, speech in Moscow to its employees and guests attending the company's annual conference. 

The speech is now coming back to haunt the Clintons, considering the company that cut the check was allegedly tied to the scandal that spurred the Global Magnitsky Act, a bill that imposed sanctions on Russians designated as human-rights abusers and eventually would become law in 2012.

COMMENT:  The issue here is whether the mainstream media will do much with this story, or even cover it.  We have a Democratic Party press, and there's no shame felt about it.

The Republican power here lies in the party's control of Congress.  Republican-led committees are apparently at work investigating various aspects of the Obama administration, with particular attention paid to Susan Rice and Samantha Power. 

But the Republicans have to be tigers, not mealy-mouthed "gentlemen."  Gentlemen don't win against the Obama machine.

July 18,  2017