The Towering Inferno: Today's News for June 14th (Part 1)

Daily Mail:

'A number of fatalities' confirmed as huge blaze 'sparked by faulty FRIDGE' engulfs 27-storey London tower block: Trapped residents build ropes from sheets and hurl themselves from windows 

Dozens are feared dead today after an inferno started when a fridge exploded ripped through a 27-storey London tower block now on the verge of collapse.

Families were forced to 'beg for their lives' as they tried to escape the blaze, while several people are still trapped inside the 27-storey building as it teeters on the brink of collapse.

Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, White City, is currently 'lurching' to one side after a 'very, very severe fire' broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with those inside claiming a fire alarm failed to sound. 

In other words, by the time you read this, the building may have already collapsed.

It is curious that a simple refrigerator would not only explode, but cause this large of a fire, leading one to suspect terrorism. However, it seems this building had been suspect for years:

Grenfell Action Group said: 'Watching breaking news about the Grenfell Tower fire catastrophe. Too soon to even guess at numbers of casualties and fatalities.

'We have posted numerous warnings in recent years about the very poor fire safety standards at Grenfell Tower and elsewhere in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).

'All our warnings fell on deaf ears. This was inevitable and just a matter of time.'

The group had been posting about their concerns of tower block's safety regularly calling for it to be torn down before it went up in flames in the early hours of this morning in White City.

Chillingly, back in November, while addressing the managed by tenant managers Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), the group wrote: 'It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders.

'We believe that the KCTMO are an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia who have no business to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the every day management of large scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster.

'Unfortunately, the Grenfell Action Group have reached the conclusion that only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO residents will allow the external scrutiny to occur that will shine a light on the practices that characterise the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation.

'We believe that the KCTMO have ensured their ongoing survival by the use of proxy votes at their Annual General Meeting that see them returned with a mandate of 98 percent in favour of the continuation of their inept and highly dangerous management of our homes.'

In other news...

Fox News:

Jeff Sessions denies Russia collusion, defends Comey firing

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in dramatic Senate testimony, on Tuesday decried suggestions he colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign as an “appalling and detestable lie” -- while staunchly defending his role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

“I have never met with or had any conversations with any Russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election,” Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign.” 

Sounds pretty cut and dry, right? Fortunately, we have CNN to nitpick it:

CNN:

5 things we learned at Jeff Sessions' hearing

Here are the top five things we learned.

1. Sessions shut the door on Kislyak, then he re-opened it

Sessions had one major goal -- to protect himself after Comey thrust him into the center of the Russia maelstrom. And he appeared to do that effectively in a strong opening statement, where he slammed the door shut on even the possibility that he had a third meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

"I did not have any private meetings, nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel. I did not attend any meetings at that event separate," Sessions said.

"Nor do I recall" isn't actually "shutting the door", as CNN phrases it. While he did "shut the door" on any "private meetings", he said he doesn't recall any other conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Mind you, this doesn't mean there wasn't a conversation held, nor does it eliminate the possibility they discussed sending Boris and Natasha after the moose and the squirrel. But so far, it doesn't seem likely.

(Subject of Sessions and Kislyak conversation?)

2. Sessions' recusal started almost immediately, and left him blind on Russia's hacking
The chief law enforcement officer of the United States was never briefed on Russia's hacking of one of its major political parties, or any other efforts by Russia to mess with the elections -- past and future.

Why? Because he personally recused himself from all things related to the Trump campaign's ties to Russia the day after he was sworn into office. What Sessions didn't explain is why he waited a month to tell the public -- and his own associates -- that he had stepped aside from the probe.

We did NOT just learn this. It has been known and reiterated ad nauseam since he did it.

3. Sessions did a strong job protecting Trump, and himself

Rather than concentrating on Sessions' rebuttals of former FBI Director James Comey's testimony, CNN instead calls it"protecting Trump", thereby insinuating that Sessions must be lying.

While the media should speak truth to power, and hold public officials accountable, there is a line where they begin spouting unverified and even mean-spirited opinion. News analysis should at least attempt to be impartial, and CNN is showing their bias here.

4. Senate Republicans lined up more with Trump for this hearing

This could have been easily predicted in advance.

5. Senate investigators aren't done with Sessions yet

Ok. That is something, although it doesn't seem terribly important. Unless other information comes to light, any further testimony by Sessions is unlikely to produce anything substantial.