Politics

In the aftermath of BuzzFeed's release of the now-infamous "Trump Dossier," much time has been spent speculating exactly who paid for dirt on the Trump administration and who had the opportunity to take a sneak peak at the findings before the report was passed off to the FBI.  Media reports have suggested that the "opposition research" was ordered by one of Trump's presidential primary competitors though that detail has never been officially confirmed.

Just a few short days after President Trump's 'relative' rapprochement with Russian President Putin, his 'allies' in NATO have stepped up the rhetoric in a very sensitive area for Putin, as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg pledged support for Ukraine during a visit to Kiev on Monday.

As Military.com reports, Ukraine and the West accuse Moscow of smuggling weapons and troops across the porous border in support of the separatists, a charge has repeatedly denied.

While Rex Tillerson was actively seeking to resolve the Qatar crisis with his "shuttle diplomacy" tour across the Gulf, signing a memorandum of understanding with Qatar on fighting terrorism in Doha on Tuesday  after spending Monday in Turkey and Kuwait, Qatar said more Turkish troops had arrived at a Turkish military base in Doha after Ankara fast-tracked legislation in June expanding the troop deployment to Qatar.

According to Gulf Times, the Directorate of Moral Guidance at the Ministry of Defence has announced the arrival of the fifth batch of Turkish troops in Qatar.

According to a new poll by Morning Consult, the most popular senator in the U.S. is independent and once presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

As Statista's Martin Armstrong points out, voters in his state of Vermont have given him a net approval rating of 54 percent - 75 percent saying they approve of the job he is doing, 21 percent saying they disapprove.

You will find more statistics at Statista

We've spent a lot of time of late discussing the precarious financial positions of states like Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey which each suffer from their own myriad of financial threats including massive budget deficits, monstrous unfunded pension liabilities, pending debt downgrades, etc.  In case you've missed those notes, here is a recap for your amusement: