THE RUSSIANS ARE READY TO POUNCE UKRAINE AS ARMOR TRUCKS ROLLS SHORT OF BORDER FEELING FOR WEAKNESS

The white trucks of humanitarian aid rumbled through Russia in a convoy stretching for miles, moving slowly southwards on the M4 highway, amid a landscape of fertile fields and Ladas stopped at the roadside – their boots overflowing with watermelons for sale.

But, while the trucks came to a halt well short of Ukraine's border, a different Russian convoy did make the crossing into Ukrainian territory late on Thursday evening.

The Guardian saw a column of 23 armoured personnel carriers, supported by fuel trucks and other logistics vehicles with official Russian military plates, travelling towards the border near the Russian town of Donetsk – about 200km away from Donetsk, Ukraine.

After pausing by the side of the road until nightfall, the convoy crossed into Ukrainian territory, using a rough dirt track and clearly crossing through a gap in a barbed wire fence that demarcates the border. Armed men were visible in the gloom by the border fence as the column moved into Ukraine. Kiev has lost control of its side of the border in this area.

The trucks are unlikely to represent a full-scale official Russian invasion, and it was unclear how far they planned to travel inside Ukrainian territory and how long they would stay. But it was incontrovertible evidence of what Ukraine has long claimed – that Russian troops are active inside its borders.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/russian-military-vehicles-enter-ukraine-aid-convoy-stops-short-border

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY WHAT FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DEMOCRATS WANTING A BALANCE BUDGET BILL THERE IS NONE AS 10 MONTHS OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2014 HITS RECORD TAX COLLECTION $2,469,178,000,000

Inflation-adjusted federal tax revenues hit a record $2,469,178,000,000 for the first 10 months of the fiscal year this July, but the federal government still ran a $460,450,000,000 deficit during that time, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/246t-tax-revenues-fy14-hit-record-through-july-govt-runs-460b-deficit

THIS IS HOLLYWOOD THE LIBERALS BATTING FOR DEMOCRATS WHO ARE LOSING–THE CAUSE OF EVERY PAIN AND SUFFERING FOR AMERICANS AND THESE HOLLYWOOD ELITES PROMOTES THEM TO POWER, CONSIDER THE ECONOMY, CONSIDER UNEMPLOYMENT, CONSIDER THE FOREIGN POLICY AND TERRORISTS RUN AMOK, CONSIDER THE SCANDALS, CONSIDER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS GETTING A FREE RIDE, CONSIDER OBAMASCARE

Hollywood is pouring money into the midterm elections, with A-listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Barbra Streisand all coughing up blockbuster bucks.

The donations are largely aimed at keeping the Senate in Democratic hands. Republicans, who have the political winds at their backs, need to pick up six seats to win control of the upper chamber. 

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Streisand, a longtime Democratic donor, opened her checkbook in several competitive Senate races, according to Federal Election Commission data collected and analyzed by The Hill. 

In addition to a $10,000 donation to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $2,600 to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Streisand gave $1,000 to the campaigns of Democratic Sens. Mark Udall (Colo.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Jeff Merkley, (Ore.) and Mark Begich (Alaska), all top GOP targets.  

One of the biggest recipients of the entertainment industry’s dollars is Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, whose is in a tight battle against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R).

Her donor list reads like a who’s who of Tinseltown: producer J.J. Abrams, Ben Affleck, comedian Jack Black, “Avatar” director James Cameron, Nicolas Cage, Danny DeVito, Cameron Diaz, DiCaprio, Jennifer Garner, director Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Jerry Seinfeld, Mike Myers, and “Mad Men’s” Jon Hamm all giving $5,200 each, the maximum amount an individual can give to a single candidate in a two-year election cycle.  

Other Grimes donors include DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Woody Allen, Ted Danson, America Ferrera, Leonard Nimoy, Streisand, “West Wing” writer Aaron Sorkin, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock.

While the Bluegrass State race has attracted lots of attention, less-headline-making political matchups also caught the eye of some famous names. Louis-Dreyfus, who plays a fictional vice president on HBO’s “Veep,” waded into the real-life political world with a $2,600 donation to Rep. Lois Capps’s (D-Calif.) campaign coffers. 

Read more:http://thehill.com/news/campaign/214990-hollywood-tries-to-save-senate-for-dems

THE US POSTAL IS BLEEDING MONIES AND THERE’S NO LONGER A TOURNIQUET TO APPLY TO FOR ALL ARMS AND LEGS AND NECK HAVE ALL BEEN BANDAGE YET–THE US POSTAL STILL MANAGE TO LOSE ANOTHER $2 BILLION–ITS TIME TO DO SOME AMPUTATION IT SEEMS

The U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it lost $2 billion in its most recent quarter, despite some positive signs for the cash-strapped agency's bottom line.

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The USPS’s revenue grew by some $327 million over the same period last year, a jump of 2 percent. The revenue increase was largely driven by shipments of packages, an area where the agency has even expanded into Sunday service. Package revenue grew 6.6 percent this most recent quarter, as more people turned to online shopping.

Volume for first-class mail, the Postal Service’s most popular product, declined once more, marking a full eight years of quarterly drops.

But revenue for first-class mail increased 3.2 percent, due to an emergency price increase for stamps that the USPS was allowed to implement this year. Advertisers also used the mail more frequently, though the rate increase also mostly fueled the 5.1 percent increase in standard mail revenue.

“We’ve been effective in developing and marketing our products, and we’re improving how we leverage data and technology — all providing a higher return on mail for many customers and causing them to take a fresh look at the Postal Service,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.

Still, the agency’s losses in the most recent quarter far outstripped the USPS’s red ink from a year ago, when it lost $740 million between April and June.

Postal officials blamed the increased losses on a $1.5 billion increase in expenses, propelled by a jump in workers’ compensation costs. Without those new costs, caused by a change in interest rates, this quarter's losses would have been similar to 2013.

The Postal Service’s losses for the first nine months of the year have now climbed more than $4 billion, and senior officials said the tight financial situation had left them unable to make investments in the agency’s vehicle fleet and necessary parts of its infrastructure.

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/214812-usps-bleeds-another-2b