Trump meets with McConnell

Everything is riding on this tax cut. This is it. Does President Trump have the leadership to get cuts passed? Everybody knows that they’re going to get hurt if this doesn’t get passed. 

California continues to face dangerous wildfires

Firefighters made significant progress Sunday on two of the biggest wildfires raging across Northern California, but officials cautioned that they still face major challenges.

The winds that bedeviled firefighters Saturday remained mostly calm, allowing them to go back on the offense after a day of new evacuations. 

Of 224 people initially unaccounted for in Napa County, 146 have been found safe, four have been identified as dead and 74 remain missing, Napa County spokeswoman Molly Rattigan said. 

Over the next few days, weather conditions are expected to improve significantly, said Charles Bell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Winds from the southwest could bring cooler temperatures and more moisture. 

There is a 70% chance of rain forecast for Santa Rosa on Thursday evening, with relative humidity in the area expected to increase to more than 90% ahead of the rain system, Bell said. 

People ask ‘what can they do,’ the answer is nothing, there is nothing that can be done at this moment. These are natural disasters and we can’t do anything about it.

Bergdahl Pleads Guilty

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy via his attorney Monday. 

Bergdahl, 31, was charged after he disappeared from his base in Afghanistan in June 2009 and was held in captivity by the Taliban until May 2014. 

A judge said Bergdhal's maximum possible punishment would be life in prison, but he has not been sentenced yet. That hearing will take place on Oct. 23

Bergdahl’s lawyer said the prosecution and defense have not agreed to a stipulation of facts in the case, which is an indication that they did not reach a deal to limit his punishment, The Associated Press reported.

After his capture, Bergdahl said he made "somewhere between a dozen and 15 escape attempts.” 

The Taliban released Bergdahl in a prisoner swap for five detainees at Guantanamo Bay. 

Six soldiers' deaths have been tied, either directly or indirectly, to the search for Bergdahl during his disappearance in Afghanistan, former unit members alleged. 

While Berghdahl's pleas enable him to avoid a trial, he'll still face a sentencing hearing scheduled to begin Oct. 23. 

His years as a captive of the Taliban and its allies could be factored into his punishment, but the hearing also will likely feature damning testimony from his fellow service members.  

The judge has ruled that a Navy SEAL who suffered a career-ending leg wound and an Army National Guard sergeant whose head wound put him in a wheel chair would not have been hurt in firefights had they not been searching for Bergdahl. 

Bergdahl, who's from Hailey, Idaho, has been assigned to desk duty at a Texas Army base while his case unfolds.

Col. David Hunt dissects the Bergdahl case

What Col. Hunt expects Bergdahl to get is 30 years in prison because he deserted his team and was a traitor. What Bergdahl did was cooperate with the Taliban and join them for safe haven and gave up information about the base he came from which is straight up collusion with the enemy. 

Kaepernick Hits NFL Owners With Grievance Citing Collusion

Hillary Clinton has become a big supporter of these “kneelers” which there aren't that many of anymore because the NFL noticed that people stopped watching games so they stopped airing the national anthem. Once it wasn’t televised the number of players taking a knee decreased. 

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL on Sunday, alleging that he remains unsigned as a result of collusion by owners following his protests during the national anthem. 

The filing, which demands an arbitration hearing on the matter, says the NFL and its owners "have colluded to deprive Mr. Kaepernick of employment rights in retaliation for Mr. Kaepernick's leadership and advocacy for equality and social justice and his bringing awareness to peculiar institutions still undermining racial equality in the United States.”

Kaepernick's grievance will be overseen by Stephen Burbank, the NFL's special master, who will likely hold a conference call with both sides this week, a source who has seen the grievance and is familiar with the procedure told ESPN's Jim Trotter. 

Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers at the end of last season and remains a free agent despite a rash of injuries and poor play at the quarterback position.

Mark Geragos, one of Kaepernick's attorneys, said in a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday that he filed the grievance "only after pursuing every possible avenue with all NFL teams and their executives.” 

"If the NFL (as well as all professional sports leagues) is to remain a meritocracy, then principled and peaceful political protest — which the owners themselves made great theater imitating weeks ago — should not be punished," Geragos said in the statement, "and athletes should not be denied employment based on partisan political provocation by the executive branch of our government. Such a precedent threatens all patriotic Americans and harkens back to our darkest days as a nation.”

The NFL players' union said it would support the grievance, which was filed through the arbitration system that's part of the league's collective bargaining agreement. 

"Colin Kaepernick's goal has always been, and remains, to simply be treated fairly by the league he performed at the highest level for and to return to the football playing field," Geragos said. 

Collusion requires actual cooperation between teams (or cooperation between a team or teams and the league) 

Kaepernick needs more than mere supposition or belief that he has been victimized by a conspiracy. The evidence must clearly show that two or more teams, or the NFL and a team or teams, conspired to deny Kaepernick of an opportunity to play in the NFL. 

The hearing for Kaepernick’s grievance will be a private arbitration hearing—not a public trial.  

Although the federal rules of evidence will apply, NFL arbitration does not involve nearly the same degree of pretrial discovery as found in a trial.  

No subpoenas or warrants will be available in such a forum, and witnesses cannot be compelled to testify upon threat of being jailed.  

Kaepernick would not be obligated to drop the grievance if he signs with a team. He could still attempt to prove that he was victimized by collusion.

NFL fall meeting in NYC this week

NFL owners will have a comprehensive discussion this week at their regularly scheduled meeting in New York about the controversy over players' protests during the national anthem and will determine then whether it is permissible for a team to force its players to stand for the anthem, a top league official said last week. 

Owners are scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Manhattan. 

It is their regular fall meeting and was scheduled before the anthem controversy was amplified by recent comments made by President Donald Trump.

There also is no indication Colin Kaepernick will be there but since he’s been living in New York, it would make sense if he was invited.

Mail Time!

Cross country and long distance passenger trains are unaffordable in the USA and unless you can sit up for 4 straight days and change trains in Chicago and New Orleans, you can’t go coast to coast. 

Bill, I immediately signed up to be a Premium Member when you left FOX, it’s great to see you on the television screen. What is going on with the Vegas shooter timeline changes?

We received the Amazon Firestick, our grandson hooked it up. Even though we’re technically challenged it was very simple. Now we can see you on our big screen. We enjoy the podcast and the books. We no longer watch football, we spend our Sundays reading.