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| Porn Users Forum » User Ranks » User Post History |
Post History:
lk2fireone (0)
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| 751-800 of 3618 Posts | < Previous Page | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 15 | Page 16 | 17 | 26 | 35 | 44 | 53 | 62 | 72 | 73 | Next Page > |
| 08-07-18 05:54pm - 2345 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User  Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I agree with Drooler and biker, that a ranking system would be a nice upgrade over the choose-one-option polls we have currently. If the PU staff (or software staff) are willing to put in the time and effort of giving PU members that type of poll. At the same time, sometimes it gets a little fuzzy, trying to decide the relative importance of different factors: For example, in trying to decide whether to join a site or not, how do you rank the following: -membership price. -amount of site contents. -quality of videos. -quality of photoshoots. -navigation issues: is the site easy to use? good download speeds? pages load fast? easy to switch between sites? -choices of definition for videos and photos: small, medium, large, extra large. -quality of the models: are they attractive? amount of tattoos and piercings? -variety of the models (some PU members want an age spread, a spread of body types, nationalities). -the wow factor: does the site have something special, in the theme, presentation, that gets you excited or interested beyond normal? -whatever other factors a person uses to evaluate what a site is worth versus its cost. | |
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| 08-07-18 12:55pm - 2346 days | #955 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
@biker, I think Trump and Rudy are on the same page. Rudy is acting as Trump's attack dog, and he changes his story and opinions almost as fast as Trump. At one time Rudy was a respected for his thoughts and actions, especially after 9/11. But he's lost almost all credibility with his current role as Trump's attack dog. And lately Trump seems to be having a melt-down, where he attacks others because he thinks it might save him from Mueller and whatever other charges he will face. Not that the attacks are new, but they are even more wild and fanciful than ever. | |
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| 08-07-18 12:36pm - 2346 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
@biker, I did not contact a customer service rep at Vendo. I used one of the automated customer service pages: https://secure.vend-o.com/customers Enter your email, password for the membership site, and check the "I'm not a robot" box, and you get to the page listing your memberships. Choose the membership you want to cancel, and cancel. That easy. You get an immediate confirming email that you have cancelled, and the date your sub expires. There are other vendo pages, but the one I listed is the easiest and fastest to use. You might want to bookmark that page. The hot link to Vendo support I got on my membership join email did not work. And when I did a Google search for Vendo customer support, I found a Vendo customer support page that was less helpful: It wanted my full name, about 10 numbers of the credit card I used to sign up with, and a notice that I would get an email about my request to cancel within a few hours. So bookmark the URL for Vendo that I gave you. There's supposed to be a way to cancel using the DDF Network site, but I couldn't find a cancel page inside the network. So I got lucky with Vendo. It was fast and easy, without any human interaction. I'm talking about Vendo, because that's the biller I was given on signup. Check your join email, because you might have used Epoch. Or whatever. | |
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| 08-07-18 09:09am - 2346 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I just want to compliment Vendo, the billing agent for some porn sites. Usually I prefer to use CCBill and Epoch. But I've used Vendo in the past, several times, and never had a problem with them. Today, I used their website to cancel a subscription. It was easy (once I found the Vendo Customer Service web page). And I immediately got an email confirming the cancellation. Also, the Vendo Customer Service website lists all your recent subscriptions through Vendo. The subs are laid out in an easy to see listing. With full details about the name of the sites, signup date, date and amount of next charge. I've been sloppy, have too many subs. I've also been paying for some subs that were still active, that I didn't realize I had. Stupid. But the Vendo site showed me I have an active sub to DDF Network that I wasn't even aware of. (My short-term memory can be lousy.) So I will cancel the DDF Network sub, and use it until it expires later this month. And if I want to re-join DDF Network again, I will look for a cheaper price. Because I was paying $29.99/month, and not even using the site. And there are usually much cheaper ways to join. But thanks to Vendo, for: 1. Making it easy to cancel a sub. 2. Having a clean listing of subs you currently have, with the details, so you know what you are paying for. I'm going to look at whatever subs I have, to cut down on money wasted. Cheers. | |
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| 08-07-18 07:48am - 2346 days | #953 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump's lawyer admits he had bad information. A round-about way of suggesting that President Donald Trump lied, not just to the public, but also to his own lawyers. Who you gonna trust? The President, of course. The leader of our country. He has all the facts. Even if he has a problem in communicating the facts. Lies are easier than facts, for the President. Lies make the President look better, stronger, more of a true leader. "I've done nothing wrong." Echoes of President Richard Nixon. Except Nixon didn't lie as often as Donald Trump. -------- -------- Trump’s lawyer suggests Trump lied to his own legal team about his role in covering up collusion "I had bad information." Aaron Rupar Aug 6, 2018, 12:22 pm During an interview on Sunday’s edition of This Week, Jay Sekulow — one of President Trump’s lawyers — admitted he was wrong last year when he claimed Trump “wasn’t involved” in dictating a misleading statement for his son about the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his campaign and Kremlin-connected Russians who offered political dirt on Hillary Clinton. After initially denying Trump was involved at all, Trump’s legal team — including Sekulow — sent the special counsel’s office a memo early this year acknowledging Trump had in fact dictated a statement for Donald Trump Jr. claiming the meeting he arranged was “primarily” about Russian adoptions — not, as revealed by emails Trump Jr. subsequently released, to obtain damaging information about Clinton. Donald Trump and Don Jr. at a January 2017 press conference Trump dictated statement his administration claimed he didn’t draft On Sunday, host George Stephanopoulos pressed Sekulow on the disconnect between what he said last summer and what he now acknowledges to be the case. Advertisement “You said the president ‘wasn’t involved’ in any way at all. Later Sarah Sanders changed that, she said the president ‘weighed in’ but he didn’t dictate anything, and then in January of this year the president’s legal team, including you, sent a memo to Robert Mueller saying this: ‘You have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.,'” Stephanopoulos said. “So why did you deny President Trump’s involvement? When do you learn that the denial wasn’t true?” Sekulow pinned blame for his false statement on “bad information” that was fed to him. “Well let me tell you two things on that one. Number one, as you know George, I was in the case at that point, what, a couple of weeks, and there was a lot of information that was gathering, and as my colleague Rudy Giuliani said, I had bad information at that time,” Sekulow said. “I made a mistake in my statement, I’ve talked about that before. That happens when you have cases like this.” Sekulow continued, “As far as when did we correct it, the important part is the information that we’ve shared with the office of special counsel — I’m not going to get into the details — but we were very clear as to the situation involving that trip, and the statements that were made to The New York Times. So, I think it’s very important to point out that in a situation like this, you have, over time, facts develop.” Sekulow’s comments indicate Trump’s lies about the true purpose of the Trump Tower meeting weren’t limited to the statement he dictated for his eldest son falsely claiming it was “primarily” about Russian adoptions. They suggest Trump also mislead his legal team about a meeting which the president himself now admits represented his campaign’s willingness to collude with a foreign adversary. Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about the Trump Tower meeting in advance, including in a tweet posted Sunday. But there are strong indications that Trump hasn’t told the truth about that either. As ThinkProgress detailed, a speech Trump gave on June 7, 2016 — two days before the Trump Tower meeting — teased a forthcoming speech in which he promised to detail dirt about the Clintons. Advertisement “I am going to give a major speech on — probably Monday of next week — and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons,” Trump said. “I think you’re going to find it very informative, and very, very interesting.” Trump says he didn’t know about Trump Tower meeting. His speech 2 days before it suggests otherwise. When Trump made those comments, Trump Jr. had already exchanged emails with Rob Goldstone, a publicist who coordinated the Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a “Russian government attorney” who promised to provide him and other top Trump campaign officials with information about Clinton. Though Trump Jr.’s emails prove that he took the meeting in hopes of obtaining useful dirt on Clinton, he later claimed the Russian attorney didn’t have the goods. The “major speech” Trump teased was never delivered. In recent days, Trump and his legal team have started pushing the talking point that “collusion is not a crime.” Trump debuts new, incoherent talking point about collusion with Russia Sekulow isn’t the only member of team Trump who has had a hard time explaining comments they made in the summer of 2017 about the misleading statement Trump dictated for his son. In the wake of the New York Times breaking news in June about the memo acknowledging Trump dictated Don Jr.’s statement, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was grilled about a statement she made on August 1, 2017 about how Trump “certainly didn’t dictate” anything for Don Jr. Sanders refused to explain her own comments, and instead referred reporters to “outside counsel.” She wouldn’t even say if her comment from last August was “still operative.” | |
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| 08-07-18 02:50am - 2346 days | #952 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Today (August 7, 201 is Robert Mueller's birthday.He was born on August 07, 1944. Will Mueller invite President Trump to his birthday party to celebrate President Trump's close relation to the FBI and the Justice Department? | |
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| 08-07-18 01:27am - 2346 days | #951 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Question: Is President Trump a criminal? Answer: Do bears shit in the woods? ================== Politics Rick Gates Shows Why Trump Is So Worried About Witness Flipping Tessa Berenson / Alexandria, Virginia Time August 6, 2018 When Rick Gates took the stand in Paul Manafort’s Virginia trial Monday, he quickly showed the power Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team can wield if they can get witnesses to “flip” against former friends and colleagues, a particular obsession of President Donald Trump’s as the Russia investigation grinds on. By Monday, the jury in Manafort’s trial had heard from an FBI agent, high-end menswear salesmen, accountants and financial experts, among other witnesses, to testify about the tax and bank fraud that Trump’s former campaign chairman had been charged with. But court watchers had been eagerly awaiting Gates, who both the prosecution and defense seem to be hoping will be at the center of their case. Gates, who was also a senior Trump campaign official, was Manafort’s righthand man for years. The defense signaled in opening arguments that they’ll try to pin the tax and bank fraud crimes at issue in this case on him. Gates has already pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of making a false statement to investigators in the course of Mueller’s investigation. Gates’s appearance in court marked a dramatic moment in the probe: the first visible case of a witness flipping, or turning on friends or colleagues in a case. Trump’s former adviser George Papadopoulos has reportedly been cooperating with Mueller, but the public hasn’t learned what he may have divulged. Trump is obsessed with loyalty in his inner circle, famously even demanding it of former FBI Director James Comey. His preoccupation with the idea that confidantes or associates might turn on him came to the foreground recently when he fed rumors that his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen might flip, tweeting in April that journalists “are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip”” and that “most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if….it means lying or making up stories.” In early July, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani also suggested Cohen might flip: “If he believes it’s in his best interest to cooperate, God bless him, he should cooperate,” Giuliani said at the time. Weeks later, when Cohen released damaging information about Trump, Giuliani abruptly changed his tune, saying Cohen doesn’t have any “credibility” and “he’s lied all his life.” The government did not “let Gates out of trouble” for his cooperation, but prosecutors did agree to certain terms in a plea deal. Gates, who is facing five to 10 years in prison, testified Monday that as part of his plea deal he agreed to turn over evidence to the government and testify. In exchange, the government promised not to bring additional charges against him and drop a second indictment against him on tax and bank fraud charges. The power for the prosecution of having a formerly close associate flip on a defendant immediately became clear when prosecutor Greg Andres started asking him questions. “Did you commit any crimes with Mr. Manafort?” Andres asked. “Yes,” Gates replied. Gates, who typically sports a beard but appeared in court clean-shaven, said he had conspired with Manafort to underreport Manafort’s income on his tax returns and hide overseas accounts. He was explicit at multiple points about Manafort’s agency in the crimes, saying he lied to accountants “at Mr. Manafort’s request,” that he told those accountants Manafort didn’t control any foreign bank accounts (which the prosecution says he did) “at Mr. Manafort’s direction,” and that Manafort “directed” him to categorize some income as loans in order to reduce his taxable income. The importance of Gates’ appearance wasn’t lost on the onlookers crammed into the uncomfortable wooden benches in the back of the courtroom. When journalists heard that Gates would be next to testify, many of them fled the room to get the news out. (There are no phones or computers allowed in the court.) So many people jumped up that it caused a commotion, and Judge T.S. Ellis threatened to have people “excluded” if in the future they didn’t leave the court in a “quiet, orderly way.” Ellis tried to hurry the prosecution along throughout the day, at one point scolding Andres as he asked Gates about Manafort’s political work in Ukraine. “I certainly hope you don’t mean to offer a history of Ukrainian politics,” Ellis snapped. Prosecutors still said they estimate having about three more hours of questions for Gates on Tuesday before cross examination can begin. As Gates testified in a calm, dispassionate way about the crimes he says he and Manafort committed together (as well as crimes he says Manafort didn’t know about, including embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from him), Manafort appeared to be looking directly at his former colleague. Gates studiously avoided Manafort’s gaze and looked only at Andres, the judge or the jury. At one point Gates, still without meeting Manafort’s eye, testified that his former boss is “probably one of the most politically brilliant strategists I’ve ever worked with.” Even a flipped witness, it seems, can still have a nice word to say for his old boss. | |
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| 08-07-18 01:17am - 2346 days | #950 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump, the greatest President we've ever had, has done a wonderful thing: Exposing the Fake News the public is bombarded with. And also exposing the bias and lies of the Justice Department, the FBI, and any other organization that might be investigating Trump. Donald Trump, a man of the people. Go, Donald. We love you to pieces. ------ ------ Trump appears to change story on son’s meeting with Russian lawyer Posted 6:52 AM, August 6, 2018, by Associated Press BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Donald Trump appears to have changed his story about a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that is pivotal to the special counsel’s investigation, tweeting that his son met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer to collect information about his political opponent. “Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower,” Trump wrote in a Sunday tweet. “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!” That is a far different explanation than Trump gave 13 months ago, when a statement dictated by the president but released under the name of Donald Trump Jr., read: “We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago.” The misdirection came amid a series of searing tweets sent from his New Jersey golf club, in which he tore into two of his favorite targets, the news media and Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into possible links between the president’s campaign and Russia. Trump unleashed particular fury at reports that he was anxious about the Trump Tower meeting attended by Donald Trump Jr. and other senior campaign officials. Trump’s critics immediately pounced on the new story, the latest of several versions of events about a meeting for which emails were discovered between the president’s eldest son and an intermediary from the Russian government offering damaging information about Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton. Betraying no surprise or misgivings about the offer from a hostile foreign power, Trump Jr. replied: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Sunday’s tweet was Trump’s clearest statement yet on the purpose of the meeting, which has become a focal point of Mueller’s investigation even as the president and his lawyers try to downplay its significance and pummel the Mueller probe with attacks. On Sunday, Trump again suggested without evidence that Mueller was biased against him, declaring, “This is the most one sided Witch Hunt in the history of our country.” And as Trump and his allies have tried to discredit the probe, a new talking point has emerged: that even if that meeting was held to collect damaging information, none was provided and “collusion” — Trump’s go-to description of what Mueller is investigating — never occurred. “The question is what law, statute or rule or regulation has been violated, and nobody has pointed to one,” said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s attorneys, on ABC’s “This Week.” But legal experts have pointed out several possible criminal charges, including conspiracy against the United States and aiding and abetting a conspiracy. And despite Trump’s public Twitter denial, the president has expressed worry that his son may face legal exposure even as he believes he did nothing wrong, according to three people close to the White House familiar with the president’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. Sekulow acknowledged that the public explanation for the meeting has changed but insisted that the White House has been very clear with the special counsel’s office. He said he was not aware of Trump Jr. facing any legal exposure. “I don’t represent Don Jr.,” Sekulow said, “but I will tell you I have no knowledge at all of Don Jr. being told that he’s a target of any investigation, and I have no knowledge of him being interviewed by the special counsel.” Democrats hammered away at the president’s admission. “The Russians offered damaging info on your opponent. Your campaign accepted. And the Russians delivered,” tweeted Rep. Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “You then misled the country about the purpose of the Trump Tower meeting when it became public. Now you say you didn’t know in advance. None of this is normal or credible.” Trump’s days of private anger spilled out into public with the Twitter outburst, which comes at a perilous time for the president. A decision about whether he sits for an interview with Mueller may also occur in the coming weeks, according to another one of his attorneys, Rudy Giuliani. Trump has seethed against what he feels are trumped-up charges against his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, whose trial began last week and provided a visible reminder of Mueller’s work. And he raged against the media’s obsession with his links to Russia and the status of Michael Cohen, his former fixer, who is under federal investigation in New York. Cohen has indicated that he would tell prosecutors that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting ahead of time. Despite a show of force from his national security team this week as a warning against future Russian election meddling, Trump again deemed the matter a “hoax” this week. And at a trio of rallies, he escalated his already vitriolic rhetoric toward the media, savaging the press for unflattering coverage and, he feels, bias. “The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!” The fusillade of tweets came from Bedminster, Trump’s golf course, where he is ensconced in a property that bears his name at every turn and is less checked in by staffers. It was at the New Jersey golf club where a brooding Trump has unleashed other inflammatory attacks and where, in spring 2017, he made the final decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, the move that triggered the Russia probe. Trump was joined for his Saturday rally in Ohio by former White House communications director Hope Hicks, who departed the administration earlier this year. Her unannounced presence raised some eyebrows as Hicks has been interviewed by Mueller and was part of the team of staffers that helped draft the original statement on the Trump Tower meeting. Multiple White House officials have been interviewed while still working at the White House and have remained in contact with the president. | |
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| 08-07-18 12:46am - 2346 days | #949 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
James told Yahoo News said she has already discussed the bill with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the speaker of the state Assembly. She explained that there are some Democrats who are against the legislation in its current form and said she is eager to work with them on a “compromise bill.” “There have been some individuals who have concerns — particularly, believe it or not, coming from the black, Puerto Rican and Asian caucus, who believe it’s too broad and they want to carve out categories,” said James. Both James and Teachout have also said they are also prepared to take over if Trump moves to stop Mueller entirely. “You could imagine an effort to fire Mueller. You could imagine an effort to strip the staff,” Teachout told Yahoo. “You don’t know with Trump, but nothing is off the table.” Giuliani, the president’s attorney, dismissed the idea Trump would move to stop Mueller. “He’s not going to step in. If he was going to step in, he would have done it a long time ago,” Giuliani said. “The Mueller probe hopefully will end, because they haven’t found any evidence he did anything wrong. You can only investigate an innocent man so long.” Giuliani also said he’s “totally unconcerned” about the possibility of New York’s attorney general taking up the Mueller investigation. “They’d have the same problem that Mueller has. They’d have to figure out what the heck [Trump] did wrong,” Giuliani said. “He didn’t do anything wrong.” For now, James has emerged as the frontrunner in the race, with endorsements from a wide array of local unions and state officials. While James and her allies tout her Albany connections as an asset, her rivals have painted her as overly tied to the state establishment. In recent years, a slew of local officials in New York have faced corruption charges, including top aides to the governor. At the forum last week, Maloney argued the state’s voters should back someone “who’s independent” to take on the political misconduct in the state. In a scathing interview with the local publication City and State published on Thursday, Maloney attacked James as “propped up by insiders and the political machine.” But Maloney is also under fire in the race because, while putting himself forward as a potential rival to Trump, while in Congress he voted with the president 35 percent of the time — more than any other New York Democrat in Congress, according to FiveThirtyEight. In his interview with City and State, Maloney called the survey a “bulls*** metric.” Maloney and James are “people who in different ways have deep entanglements w the political establishment,” says Teachout, who first came to political prominence when she mounted a shockingly successful primary challenge to Cuomo in 2014. In this race, she has tried to frame herself as part of the progressive insurgency running against incumbent Democratic interests. On the campaign trail, James has pointed out that as public advocate, she has sued both Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. At the forum on Thursday, James also said she wants to “tear down” a state ethics commission that’s widely seen as closely tied to Cuomo, and “rebuild it as an independent entity” with “no ties to the governor.” All four Democratic candidates are cutting pioneering paths. If elected, James or Eve would be the first African-American woman elected to statewide office in New York. Maloney would be the state’s first openly gay official. And Teachout has been mounting her campaign while pregnant. A Siena College poll released last Tuesday showed James with 25 percent of the vote, followed by Maloney with 16 percent and Teachout with 13 percent. The fourth Democrat, Eve, had the support of just four percent of primary voters in the poll. The winner of the primary will face Manhattan attorney Keith Wofford, who is the Republican nominee and did not respond to requests for comment on this story. In the meantime, the race is on Trump’s mind, and he has asked allies in New York for opinions about the candidates, according to a source who has recently spoken to the president. For his part, Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, said none of the Democratic attorney general candidates are inspiring. “None of them impress me as a lawyer I would ever have represent me or hire,” Giuliani said. “They hardly have distinguished legal backgrounds.” _____ | |
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| 08-07-18 12:44am - 2346 days | #948 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Happy days are coming for President Donald Trump. The New York race for attorney general could mean more criminal investigations of Trump. But Trump is not worried, because he's not guilty of any crimes. -------- -------- New York race could spark new Trump investigation Hunter Walker 18 hours ago Letitia James, the public advocate in N.Y.C. and a candidate for attorney general in New York, plans to reform the criminal justice system. (Photo: David ‘Dee’ Delgado for Yahoo News) WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — While special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election could pose the most immediate threat to Donald Trump’s presidency, there’s another looming threat on the horizon. On Nov. 6, voters in the Empire State will select a new attorney general, and all of the leading Democrats running for the office are eager to take on Trump by either continuing Mueller’s work or mounting an entirely new investigation into the president. In an interview last Thursday, Tish James, the leading Democratic contender, told Yahoo News that she should be one of the president’s top fears, along with Mueller and the possibility that Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen could cooperate with federal prosecutors. “The president of the United States has to worry about three things; Mueller, Cohen, and Tish James. We’re all closing in on him,” James said. James, the New York City public advocate, is leading the pack of four Democrats who will face off in a primary on Sept. 13. The lone Republican in the race has decidedly slim chances in a state where Democrats have nearly double the number of voters and the attorney general hasn’t come from the GOP since the last century. The outcome of race could add a new layer of complexity for President Trump, who in the last month alone has sent out ten tweets about the investigation he calls a “rigged witch hunt.” Last week, Trump declared that the U.S. attorney general “should stop” it “right now, before it continues to stain our country any further.” However, even if Trump stops Mueller, the election in New York could create a new legal nemesis for the president. New York’s attorney general is in a unique position because the president’s real estate business and his campaign are both headquartered in the city, giving the state’s top prosecutor jurisdiction over many Trump properties as well as activities that took place during the 2016 election. That would potentially include the infamous meeting in Manhattan between the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-linked attorney who allegedly offered the campaign “dirt” on Trump’s rival, Hillary Clinton. The candidates appeared at a forum in Westchester County last Thursday evening where Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout, another candidate, emphasized the New York attorney general’s jurisdiction over the president. “Yes, we open the paper … every day wanting to know what Mueller is doing, but there are things the New York State attorney general can do to take on the threat of Donald Trump that nobody else can do,” she said. Both James and Teachout have said they would want to bring suits against Trump under the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which bars presidents from taking gifts or profits from foreign officials. “There’s a lot of property here in New York state that I believe the president of the United States has basically inured to his benefit, and I do believe that he’s engaged in self-enrichment,” said James. Trump is already facing three suits regarding emoluments. Attorneys general in Maryland and the District of Columbia have brought a case against Trump arguing the president is violating the law when foreign officials visit his hotel in the nation’s capital. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is also pursuing a similar case. And 200 Democrats in Congress have asked a federal judge to require Trump to obtain congressional approval before accepting emoluments. Teachout’s expertise is in anti-corruption law. She has already been involved in the current emoluments cases against the president. Teachout joined the board of CREW shortly after Trump was elected and worked on the group’s case. Her scholarship has also been cited in the Maryland and D.C. case. “I was one of two experts in the country in emoluments before he took office. I literally wrote the book on corruption and anti-corruption laws, and I’ve been advising attorneys general in other states on bringing this suit,” Teachout said at the forum. “But there’s a gaping hole in it. The victory could lead to the divestment of the Trump Hotel in D.C., but we need the divestment of all the businesses, and the businesses are located here in New York,” she continued. Before taking office, Trump and his attorneys announced he would turn over control of his company to his family. While he’s not involved in the daily operations of the business, Trump still collects on the companies’ profits. Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor who is now on Trump’s legal team, dismissed the idea of an emoluments suit as a “wacky theory.” He called the Democratic attorney general candidates “a bunch of political yahoos” and said their threats of an emoluments suit where a “totally political” and “disgraceful” attempt to drum up votes. “It’s hard to respond to all that. It’s all political. Let’s see what they would do,” Giuliani said. There wasn’t supposed to be much of a race for attorney general in New York. Eric Schneiderman was expected to easily win a third term before he abruptly resigned in May following allegations he engaged in abusive behavior in romantic relationships with multiple women. In May, a New York City attorney made a court filing claiming Trump’s close allies were aware of some of Schneiderman’s issues before they became public. Yahoo News asked Teachout and James if they believed the previous attorney general didn’t fully confront Trump due to his personal problems. “I can say that there have been missed opportunities,” Teachout said of Schneiderman. James pointed to Schneiderman’s decision not to pursue an emoluments case. “There is a criticism of him that he did not pursue the emoluments case. Why that is, I don’t know. I can’t speak for him,” James said of Schneiderman. “But I can tell you this: that Letitia James as the next attorney general will be very aggressive and will not miss a beat. I wake up each and every day committed to serving justice.” Teachout also noted that Schneiderman’s replacement, acting attorney general Barbara Underwood, brought a case against Trump’s charitable foundation weeks after her predecessor resigned. Underwood’s suit accused Trump of engaging in a “pattern of illegal conduct,” including “willful self-dealing” by, among other things, using the foundation for a fundraiser that he touted during his presidential campaign. “I can’t speak for the prior officeholder at all. I can say that when Barbara Underwood took over, she brought a bombshell of a lawsuit in the Trump Foundation case basically within a month,” said Teachout. Both Teachout and James would keep Underwood on in the attorney general’s office if they won the election. Schneiderman may not have brought an emoluments case, but before his sudden downfall, the former attorney general pursued Trump on several fronts. Since Trump took office, Schneiderman filed a spate of lawsuits in conjunction with other attorneys general against Trump administration policies, including the travel ban, the repeal of DACA and rollbacks in environmental regulations. All of the Democrats vying to replace Schneiderman have said they hope to continue these efforts to oppose the president’s policy agenda. Schneiderman also had been cooperating with the Mueller probe. This collaboration between the New York attorney general and the special counsel is important because the president could pardon anyone charged by Mueller at the federal level, but has no power to stop state charges. All four Democrats vying to replace Schneiderman, who include attorney Leecia Eve, have said they want to continue his work with Mueller. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who’s also running, has argued he’s best suited to work with Mueller because of his Washington experience. “I am deeply immersed in the details of the Russia investigation and all of the issues before the Intelligence Committee in the house,” Maloney said at the candidates’ forum. Maloney, who did not respond to requests for an interview, suggested at the forum that he believed supporting Mueller is the major way the attorney general can take on Trump. “The No. 1 thing the next attorney general or any of us is going to do to hold Donald Trump accountable is keep Bob Mueller on the job,” Maloney said. While the New York attorney general may have jurisdiction over some activities related to the Mueller investigation, the state can’t bring charges against anyone who has been pardoned by Trump. As part of his efforts to work with Mueller, Schneiderman has backed a proposed law in New York that would close this so-called “double jeopardy” loophole. This is another effort that the Democrats running to replace Schneiderman hope to continue. James has gone a step further than her rivals and promised she could get the law passed soon after she takes office by virtue of her relationships and experience in the state capital. “I am confident that when Letitia James becomes attorney general, that bill will be passed in the first 100 days,” she said at the forum. | |
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| 08-07-18 12:13am - 2346 days | #947 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Wonderful news: Trump's wall could cost billions of dollars more than originally estimated. But the United States has plenty of cash to spend on the wall--all we need to do is borrow more. Go, Trump, leader of the Republican party, which demands a balanced budget. (The budget might be balanced by 3020, if we can have enough economic growth. Or maybe Trump will pull a magic rabbit out of the hat, and declare the US debt of $21,264,843,695,122 [21 trillion dollars] illegal and therefore non-payable.) "The Department of Homeland Security initially estimated the wall could cost about $21.6 billion, not including maintenance. But other estimates, including one compiled by Democrats, pegged the cost higher ― as much as $70 billion." ------------- ------------- Trump's Wall Could Run Up Billions In Unforeseen Costs, Watchdog Report Warns [HuffPost] Igor Bobic ,HuffPost•August 6, 2018 President Donald Trump’s proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border could cost billions of dollars more than initially estimated, a watchdog agency warned on Monday. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which is part of Congress’ oversight arm, said in a report released on Monday that the Trump administration failed to fully account for several factors in its estimate of the project, including how land ownership, varying topography, and the location of construction could affect the cost of putting up barriers along the border. As a result, the agency warned, the Department of Homeland Security “faces an increased risk” that the proposed wall “will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, or not fully perform as expected.” The Department of Homeland Security initially estimated the wall could cost about $21.6 billion, not including maintenance. But other estimates, including one compiled by Democrats, pegged the cost higher ― as much as $70 billion. “This report exposes what we have suspected would happen for over a year,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, who requested the report, said in a statement. “The Trump Administration, fixated on campaign promises no matter the cost or consequences, is rushing the construction of the President’s completely unnecessary border ‘wall.’ In moving too fast, they have ignored necessary and established acquisitions protocols and plan to build a multi-billion dollar border wall where their own analysis shows it is not a priority.” A DHS spokesman said it would be “misleading and inaccurate for GAO to say that progress is not being documented or to imply that progress is not being tracked.” Trump promised hundreds of times on the campaign trail that Mexico would pay for the wall. Yet he has repeatedly threatened to shut down the government if Democrats do not agree to appropriate U.S. taxpayer funding to build it. Republicans have urged Trump not to shut down the government over wall funding before the November midterm elections, fearing that a government funding lapse could spark a backlash against the party, as with previous budget standoffs. Trump has also claimed ― falsely ― that construction of the wall has already begun. “We started building our wall. I’m so proud of it. We started. We started. We have $1.6 billion, and we’ve already started,” he said during a speech in April. A budget deal he signed this year, however, included funding to build only 33 miles of barrier and fencing along the border in areas that are currently unsecured. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 08-06-18 11:16pm - 2346 days | #946 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Donald Trump says that California governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, is a criminal whose is responsible for the deadly wildfires in California. Jerry Brown, because he is a nutcase who favors the environment over human lives, has allowed water to be foolishly diverted to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, Jerry Brown is really a criminal, and should be in prison. Make America strong again. Put all slime-ball Democrats in prison, where they belong. Until Neo-Nazi Trump gains the power to have those slime-ball Democrats put up against a wall and shot. Hail Trump, Neo-Nazi President of the Great American Way. ---------- ---------- Politics Trump blames deadly wildfires on California governor Jerry Brown and 'environmental laws' The Independent Kimberley Richards,The Independent 7 hours ago Donald Trump has attacked California's "environmental laws", blaming them for the recent deadly wildfires. The president called for state governor Jerry Brown to allow the “free flow” of water he insisted was “foolishly being diverted” to the Pacific Ocean. Mr Trump addressed the wildfire tragedy on Twitter by weighing in on what he perceives to be the issues that have “magnified” the fires. “California wildfires are being magnified [and] made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilised,” he wrote. “It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!” Mr Trump went on to target his criticism at Mr Brown. "Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean," he wrote. He added that water “can be used for fires, farming and everything else.” Mr Trump’s comments were met with public backlash on social media by people who expressed confusion over the president’s statement that “readily available water” has been “diverted into the Pacific Ocean.” Scott McLean, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told The Independent that with bodies of water surrounding wildfires, access to water to battle the rapidly expanding fires has not been an issue. “So no, there’s no water issues – they’re having no issues to access to water,” he said. LeRoy Westerling, a University of California Merced professor specialising in wildfires and climatology told the San Francisco Chronicle that Mr Trump’s comments on the state’s diversion of water is mind boggling. “On the water side, it boggles the mind,” he said. “We do manage all of our rivers in California, and all the water is allocated many times over. So I’m not sure what he was recommending.” He added: “Even if we eliminated all habitat for riparian species and fish, and allowed saltwater intrusion into the delta and set up a sprinkler system over the state, that wouldn’t compensate for greater moisture loss from climate change.” The Medocino Complex Fire and the Carr Fire have destroyed more than 1,000 homes combined and forced thousands to flee. Officials have declared the Medocino Complex Fire as the second-largest wildfire recorded in the state, according to Reuters. The Carr Fire has claimed the lives of at least seven victims. In response to Mr Trump's tweets, many have taken to Twitter to address the grave effects of climate change and scientific consensus that the Earth's climate is warming. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey responded to Mr Trump's statements addressing climate change in a post published to Twitter. "Donald Trump can try to change the topic, but he won’t be able to divert our attention away from the fact that the hotter, drier weather magnifying the California wildfires is linked to climate change," he wrote. "And it will keep getting worse as long as we fail to act." | |
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| 08-05-18 10:10am - 2348 days | #945 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Real news: Although President Donald Trump says he did not know about his son's meeting with Russians at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign (a lie, because 1. Donald Trump lies all the time; 2, a lie, because President Trump does not want to admit to anything that might be illegal), Trump now says that his son's meeting with the Russians was totally legal. Isn't it wonderful how everything the Trump family does is totally legal, when if someone outside the Trump family did it, it might be considered criminal. Trump must have been blessed by Jesus Christ Himself, who gave the Trump family an unconditional pardon for any sins they might have committed. God bless President Donald Trump, the most wonderful, bestest President of the United States. ----------- ----------- Politics Trump Defends Son's Meeting With Russians as `Totally Legal' Ros Krasny, Nour Al Ali Ros Krasny, Nour Al Ali 4 hours ago U.S. President Donald Trump repeated that didn’t know about his son’s meeting with Russians at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign, while asserting that such meetings are a routine part of politics -- “totally legal and done all the time.” Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it! Sent via Twitter for iPhone. View original tweet. Trump has said similar things about the June 2016 meeting. On July 27, Trump said on Twitter that “I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr,” in response to reports that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was ready to tell authorities that Trump had known. “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam,” Trump said of Cohen. CNN reported that Cohen was prepared to tell federal investigators that the president knew ahead of time about the meeting, at which a Russian lawyer with links to the Kremlin was expected to deliver damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Such testimony by Cohen, a longtime fixer for Trump, would contradict the testimony and public denials of the president, his son, and other campaign officials who’ve repeatedly said the president wasn’t aware of the meeting until more than a year later. The meeting was attended by the president’s son as well as Paul Manafort, then chairman of Trump’s presidential campaign; Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and several Russians, including the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and their representatives. | |
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| 08-03-18 08:30pm - 2349 days | #944 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Brett Kavanaugh, Republican man of principles and honor, is a fine choice for Supreme Court Justice. He will back President Trump, the greatest President the US has ever had. Because it's the right thing to do. And it's the conservative thing to do. Saving the nation from slime-ball Democrats and slime-ball unions and anyone who does not worship at Trump's feet. ------------ ------------ Politics Brett Kavanaugh Was Involved in 3 Different Crises of Democracy Esquire Charles P. Pierce,Esquire 8 hours ago From Esquire Of all the perilous nonsense involved in the Great Penis Hunt of 1998, the most singularly indecent episode was the relentless fishing expedition into the suicide of Vincent Foster, the first White House counsel of the Clinton administration. On July 23, 1993, Foster shot himself to death under a tree in Fort Marcy Park in Virginia. Prior to taking his own life, Foster told friends that he was being overwhelmed by depression in the wake of the uproar over the firings of certain press corps pets in the White House Travel Office, which was another early chapter in the By-Any-Means-Necessary pursuit of the Clintons that continues in certain feverish quarters even today. (In the note he left behind, Foster specifically mentioned The Wall Street Journal, the editorial page of which was at the time run by a conspiratorial nutball named Robert Bartley. I wonder if they have a copy of that note hanging on the wall of the editorial offices, next to Paul Gigot's Pulitzer.) However, over the next couple years, the Republicans in the Congress, and their media allies in newspapers and on radio and TV, heedless of the pain endured by Foster's family, and by his colleagues in the White House, kept digging up Foster's corpse and flogging the Clinton Administration with it. The late charlatan Jerry Falwell promoted a bit of political porn called The Clinton Chronicles, which argued that Foster was merely another person that the Clintons had murdered. Various rightwing journalists excavated the open wound with promiscuous glee; one of these was Christopher Ruddy, who has re-emerged as a Trump Whisperer over the past two years when he should have been mowing the Foster family's lawn for the rest of his life. Congressman Dan Burton, who had current Trump aide David Bossie on his staff, famously shot a melon in his backyard to "prove" that Foster couldn't have killed himself. Photo credit: David Hume Kennerly - Getty Images Subsequent investigations failed to stop the onslaught. The autopsy concluded that Foster had committed suicide, so did a ludicrous Senate Banking Committee investigation headed by the ridiculous Al D'Amato. And, most important, so did Robert Fiske, the original Whitewater special prosecutor. In fact, it was this conclusion that was partly responsible for Fiske's being replaced by Kenneth Starr, who, because he is Kenneth Starr and a hack, opened the investigation again and handed it off to an ambitious lawyer in his office named...Brett Kavanaugh. From The Washington Post (emphasis added): In early 1995, however, Kavanaugh offered his boss, independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, the legal rationale for expanding his investigation of the Arkansas financial dealings of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, to include the Foster death, according to a memo he wrote on March 24, 1995. Kavanaugh, then 30, argued that unsupported allegations that Foster may have been murdered gave Starr the right to probe the matter more deeply. Foster’s death had already been the focus of two investigations, both concluding that Foster committed suicide. “We are currently investigating Vincent Foster’s death to determine, among other things, whether he was murdered in violation of federal criminal law,” Kavanaugh wrote to Starr and six other officials in a memo offering legal justification for the probe. “[I]t necessarily follows that we must have the authority to fully investigate Foster’s death.” His handling of Starr’s Foster probe helped elevate Kavanaugh’s career, but the lengthy inquiry enabled conspiracy theories to flourish and add to the tumult of the Clinton presidency. Once the Foster matter was closed, Starr’s office continued to investigate the Clintons and eventually veered into the president’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Kavanaugh pursued the Foster inquiry at Starr’s request, even though he and others in the office soon came to believe that Foster killed himself, according to two people who worked with him at the time. Ultimately, Kavanaugh’s report in October 1997 affirmed earlier findings of suicide. The Foster component of Starr’s investigation cost about $2 million and lasted three years. (An aside-any Republican operative, whether they have their own cable TV show or not, who expresses surprise and shock that there are so many people who believe the fanciful conspiracy theories of the QAnon crowd should examine their own damn conscience and ask where they were when the Republicans in Congress and high-priced conservative lawyers thought the idea that the president had his White House counsel murdered worthy of not one, but two congressional investigations, and not one, but two special prosecutors. It didn't start with this president*, kids.) To me, the Post story is overly generous to Kavanaugh, using his involvement in the Foster investigation, and his subsequent statements asserting that presidents should not be pestered by special prosecutors while in office, as being indicative of an "evolution" in Kavanaugh's legal thinking. Me? I think it marks him as a jumped-up hack with a nice CV who will do whatever he's told. There were three crises in democracy immediately prior to the current one, and all of them benefitted Kavanaugh's political mentors and helped him build his career: the Great Penis Hunt, the burglary of the 2000 election, and the Bush administration's descent into the dark side. Brett Kavanaugh was involved in all three of them. That would be a no, then, on his nomination. | |
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| 08-03-18 01:13pm - 2350 days | #943 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump has built a pyramid scheme of public fraud. It's a taxpayer-backed cash grab. Mindy Finn, Opinion contributor Published 10:49 a.m. ET Aug. 3, 2018 Donald Trump is pulling off a taxpayer-backed cash grab. It's an orchestrated, unprecedented scheme to enrich a president, his family and his friends. Even after warnings that tariffs would wreak havoc on the economy, Donald Trump has staked his presidency on a series of trade wars that are now coming home to roost. With economic ruin looming over American farmers — a key constituency — he refuses to change course. Instead, he’s mulling a policy of clientelism, a $12 billion cash handout to the victims of his own bad ideas. It’s a surprising development for many, especially the conservatives who have long lamented bailouts and subsidies, but it’s hardly out of character. On the contrary, it’s a natural fit for a White House that encourages corruption, exploitation and fraud in exchange for loyalty. As with his cabinet officials, he expects that the allure of taxpayer-funded kickbacks will be enough to keep farmers from holding him accountable for his own corruption and failures. It’s not an accident, it’s a strategy: grease the wheels of government so heavily that they spin in place. Far from draining the swamp, Trump and his coterie of grifters, fraudsters and co-conspirators have filled it in entirely, dividing the land into personal fiefdoms to exploit. Team Trump has been playing dirty The result has been an open season for public funds, private payoffs, and abuses of office. It’s almost quaint to remember that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was fired for using private jets for official travel. The now-resigned Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt exclusively travels in first class, while Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is fond of chartered flights. To say nothing of Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s use of military planes to see a solar eclipse with his wife. It isn’t just about luxury. Zinke’s involved in a land deal with Halliburton which is likely to benefit him directly. Pruitt reveled in petty grift, taking discounted rent from lobbyists and using his government security and employees as personal servants. Pruitt even used his position to try to find his wife a job. Following the president’s lead, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been less than honest about divesting his assets. The man helming Trump’s global trade war is profiting from it, even short-selling his stocks in a Kremlin-backed shipping company when he learned reporters were writing a story about it. More: Who pays for Trump's contempt for ethics? USA. USA. USA. Would Kavanaugh be a check on Trump if he tried to abuse his power? Scott Pruitt removes his ethical swamp from EPA The taxpayer-backed cash grab radiates even outside government officials. Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski opened a business selling his access to the president, even potentially to foreign governments. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen did similarly, trading a direct connection to Trump for six-figure checks. All of this is not only permissible to the president, it’s encouraged. That’s what makes our current situation unprecedented. This is an orchestrated effort to enrich the president, his family, and his friends. That’s why the Trump hotel in Washington is now a favorite location for foreign emissaries, reaping tens of millions of dollars from those seeking audience with the president. Membership at Mar-a-Lago doubled in price, because lobbyists and influence peddlers will pay anything to catch the president’s ear. And Trump condos are flying off the market as foreign governments pay exorbitant prices to gain the president’s favor. Even his own party pays the piper. The GOP and affiliated political groups have spent over $3 million at Trump properties since he took office. In short, Trump has built a clearly organized machine for largesse and corruption. It’s a pyramid scheme of public fraud, and the president gleefully sits at its top, reaping the rewards and doling out the shares. A new level of corruption in Washington Still, the president and his defenders deny anything is wrong. Many throw up their hands and say “Washington has always been this way.” That’s certainly what Trump would have us believe. In truth, this level of corruption is rampant in dictatorships across the globe, but unprecedented here. It’s disturbing to see the president ripping this page from the authoritarian textbook, though entirely in character. All around him he’s traded his blessing of corrupt dealings for a weakening of the agencies which might hold some check on him. Now, as key voters threaten to rebel over his policies, it’s only natural that he’d seek the same bargain with them. But the American people aren’t so easily bought. We’ve already waged and won numerous battles against the president’s corruption, but our fight is far from over. We must reinvigorate the institutions of transparency and accountability in our government. We must hold our leaders to an even higher ethical standard. And, especially when it starts to feel fruitless, we must do so with Donald Trump. Mindy Finn, co-founder of Stand Up Republic and founder of Empowered Women, ran for vice president with Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin in 2016 and was an aide in the 2004 George W. Bush and 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaigns. Follow her on Twitter: @mindyfinn | |
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| 08-03-18 09:10am - 2350 days | #942 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
World China unveils proposed tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods in latest trade war salvo Reuters By Se Young Lee and Christian Shepherd,Reuters 16 minutes ago BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China proposed retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods ranging from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to some aircraft on Friday, as a senior Chinese diplomat cast doubt on prospects of talks with Washington to solve their bitter trade conflict given current U.S. behavior. The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure for trade concessions from Beijing this week by proposing a higher 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. China immediately vowed to retaliate though at the same time urged the U.S. to act rationally and return to talks to resolve the dispute. The United States and China implemented tariffs on $34 billion worth of each others' goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese goods, which China has already announced it will match immediately. China has now either imposed or proposed tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. goods, representing the vast majority of China's annual imports of American products. Last year, China imported about $130 billion of U.S. goods. China's finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States, with the extra levies ranging from 5 to 25 percent. Timing will depend on the actions of the United States, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a separate statement. "The U.S. side has repeatedly escalated the situation against the interests of both enterprises and consumers," the Commerce Ministry said in its statement. "China has to take necessary countermeasures to defend its dignity and the interests of its people, free trade and the multilateral system." Representatives for the White House and the U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately reply to requests for comment on China's retaliatory move. TENSIONS WEIGH ON CHINESE MARKETS The United States alleges that China steals U.S. corporate secrets and wants it to stop doing so, and is also seeking to get Beijing to abandon plans to boost its high-tech industries at America's expense. Washington also wants China to stop subsidizing Chinese companies with cheap loans, claiming that this allows them to compete unfairly. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is determined to reduce the large U.S. trade deficit with China. Trump, who has accused China and others of exploiting the United States in global trade, has demanded that Beijing make a host of concessions to avoid the new duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods, which could be imposed in the weeks after a comment period closes on Sept. 5. China says the United States is deliberately creating the trade conflict, using bullying tactics, and ignoring international negotiating norms so that it can stop the rise of China as an competitor on the world stage. The rising tensions have weighed on Chinese stock and currency markets, with the Chinese yuan falling against the dollar. TOP DIPLOMATS MEET White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow warned China after it announced the latest retaliatory tariffs, saying Beijing should not underestimate Trump's determination to act on trade. "They better not underestimate the president," Kudlow said in an interview on Fox Business Network."He (Trump) is going to stand tough ... They better not assume anything. The president is not about to back down. And the best news, I think, is we are coming together with the European Union to make a deal with them, so we'll have a united front against China and, I think, most of our trade team would tell you, we're moving close on Mexico. So, this unifies NAFTA and U.S.-Europe, Australia, Japan - China is increasingly isolated with a weak economy." Kudlow added: "We will not let China steal our technology. We will not." China, however, shows no sign of bending to Washington's pressure. The two countries have not had formal talks on the trade dispute since early June. Still, two senior diplomats did meet earlier on Friday, on the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore. China is willing to resolve differences with the United States on an equal footing, the Chinese government's top diplomat said after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but added they did not address their trade war too specifically. "We are willing to resolve the concerns of both sides via talks on the basis of an equal footing and mutual respect. He (Pompeo) was accommodating on this as a direction, and said that he does not want current frictions to continue," said State Councillor Wang Yi, who is also China's foreign minister. Answering a reporter's question about what was specifically said on trade, Wang said: "We did not speak in such details. But actually, as journalists have noted, how can talks take place under this pressure?" However, Kudlow said there has been some communication "at the highest level" on trade between the United States and China in recent days. CONDOMS AND COFFEE Among U.S. products targeted in the latest Chinese salvo were a wide range of agricultural and energy products, such as liquefied natural gas. LNG's inclusion marks a deployment by Beijing of one of its last major weapons from its energy and commodities arsenal in its fight with Washington. The market is not large by value compared with approximately $12 billion of U.S. crude that came to China last year, but LNG imports could shoot up as Beijing forges ahead with its plan to switch millions of households to the fuel away from coal as part of its battle against smog. Morgan Stanley has estimated annual Chinese imports of U.S. LNG could rise to as much as $9 billion within two or three years, from $1 billion in 2017. The amount could be even larger if the United States resolves a logistics bottleneck. "As the total value of goods under tariffs shoots up, China has little choice but to use LNG and others to top up the value," said Lin Boqiang, professor on energy studies at China's Xiamen University. "The U.S. gas industry will be much harder hit by this as China imports only a small volume whereas U.S. suppliers see China as a major future market." Other U.S. goods targeted by China in the latest list include semiconductors, some helicopters, small-to-mid-sized aircraft, condoms, iron ore, steel products, roasted coffee, sugar, foods containing chocolate, candies, and even car windscreens. The United States was the fourth largest supplier of foreign chocolate products to China in 2017, worth around $24 million, after Italy, Russia and Belgium, according to customs data. China's growing sweet tooth is seen as a big sales opportunity for international makers of cookies and chocolate bars like Mars and Hershey . Small and medium sized planes were on the list of goods that would be slapped with an additional 5 percent tariff. However, the list did not specify a weight range or other details on the aircraft. Helicopters with an empty weight of less than 2 tonnes were also on that list. China's biggest U.S. imports by value in 2017 were aircraft and related equipment, soybeans and autos. (Additional reporting by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms and Susan Heavey in Washington; writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie and Martin Howell) | |
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| 08-03-18 09:03am - 2350 days | #6 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
@rearadmiral, Wait until Trump realizes how many Canadians have been slipping over the border and stealing jobs from homegrown Americans. Then he will put all the scumbag Canadians in prison until we can build a Great Wall in the North. Until the Wall is built, expect to see parents and children separated into different holding places. The drain on US resources has got to stop. Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogen, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Donald Sutherland. Kim Cattrall, Ellen Page, Rachel McAdams, Anna Paquin, Evangeline Lilly, Cobie Smulders,Kristin Kreuk, Pamela Anderson, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Neve Campbell, Elisha Cuthbert, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sandra Oh, Mary Pickford, Nina Dobrev, Catherine O'Hara, Kim Cattrall, Margot Kidder, Natasha Henstridge. All those listed above, and many others, will be rounded up and put in prison cells. And if they have already died, it won't make any difference: we will build prison cells for their dead bodies. Make America great again. America for Americans. Trumpland over all. Heil, Trump, the Greatest Nazi who ever lived! | |
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| 07-31-18 10:16pm - 2352 days | #941 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Trump says you need a photo ID to buy groceries While pushing for voter ID laws at a rally in Florida, President Trump claims that buying groceries requires an identification card. 'You need a picture on a card, you need ID' » Although Trump is not 100% correct, because I don't normally need a picture ID to buy groceries, I can say that as a proud member of the PU community, I have posted a picture of myself with my trusty service .45 ACP semi-automatic that holds 8 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. So I am able and ready to defend myself against any intruders in my house. However, I just read a news article today, where a homeowner killed an intruder in his house, and was then shot and killed by a cop (who thought the homeowner was the intruder). So, better to be safe than sorry: If you see a cop aiming a gun at you, shoot first, and then claim self-defense. Do not depend on the cop waiting to find out what the facts are before he starts firing. The best defense is a strong offense. (The news about the homeowner who was shot and killed by a cop is true.) | |
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| 07-31-18 08:57pm - 2352 days | #301 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Did you ever get a reply from UltraFilms.com? The site is run by the same people at Diesel Access Network (All Fine Girls, Wow Girls, Wow Porn), but it takes a separate membership to join UltraFilms. | |
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| 07-31-18 05:47pm - 2353 days | #5 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Amanda, wishing you the best. It was great while it lasted, and I'm hoping you will drop by the site, even if briefly, to let us know what's happening with you. Again, it was wonderful getting to know you, even if it was at a distance.  | |
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| 07-29-18 11:09pm - 2354 days | #940 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Trump tweet reveals that President Trump has sent his secret service agents to arrest Robert Mueller as a traitor to the United States of America. If Robert Mueller shows resistance, the secret service is authorized to shoot to kill, in self defence. Mueller is a dangerous, slime-ball Republican who has repudiated his Republican ideals, and is attacking the most glorious and grand leader the US has ever had. The KKK and the Nazi Party of America have also volunteered to help bring down the slime-ball, criminal Mueller. Americans, be proud, and support our great President for Life, Donald Trump. --------- --------- Trump opens window into his rage with Mueller attack Stephen Collinson Profile Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN Updated 1:08 AM ET, Mon July 30, 2018 Trump rails against Mueller in tweetstorm (CNN)Donald Trump is giving Americans a glimpse of the fury raging inside him as a pivotal moment nears for special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, and different strands of political and legal vulnerability swirling around the President become ever more threatening. Trump launched his most personal attack to date against Mueller in a tweet storm Sunday unleashed just two days before the special counsel's office takes its first prosecution -- that of the President's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort -- to trial in Virginia. "There is no Collusion! The Robert Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt, headed now by 17 (increased from 13, including an Obama White House lawyer) Angry Democrats, was started by a fraudulent Dossier, paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC. Therefore, the Witch Hunt is an illegal Scam!" Trump tweeted Sunday. Trump's tweets on Sunday represented his most specific attempt yet to discredit any findings of the Mueller investigation into alleged election collusion with Russians, following clear signs that his previous assaults have been effective in hardening the opinion of GOP voters against the probe. The attacks are not simply a window into his own rage, they also represent a coherent hardball strategy to unite his ever loyal political base and other Republicans behind him. With 100 days to go until midterm elections, that could be tough for the GOP. But they also have the effect of wresting attention from the President's best hope of averting a Democratic rout in the election, the building narrative that he has unleashed a period of national prosperity, highlighted by economic growth rate of 4.1% in the second quarter of the year. A week of drama related from Cohen and Mueller The President's Sunday outburst came days after CNN reported that Michael Cohen, the President's former lawyer, is willing to tell Mueller that Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump tower in which Russians were willing to hand over dirt on Hillary Clinton. The President has denied he knew about the meeting beforehand. RELATED: 20 times Trump and his allies denied he knew of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting Also last week, it emerged that Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been subpoenaed in the federal criminal investigation into Cohen in a move that adds to a sense that a net is closing around the President's inner circle. And ironically, given the President's chosen method of attack Sunday, The New York Times reported last week that Mueller was examining Trump's tweets to see whether they show malicious intent to obstruct justice in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. "Is Robert Mueller ever going to release his conflicts of interest with respect to President Trump, including the fact that we had a very nasty & contentious business relationship, I turned him down to head the FBI (one day before appointment as S.C.) & Comey is his close friend," Trump said in a second tweet. The President followed up with a third blast against Mueller. "...Also, why is Mueller only appointing Angry Dems, some of whom have worked for Crooked Hillary, others, including himself, have worked for Obama....And why isn't Mueller looking at all of the criminal activity & real Russian Collusion on the Democrats side-Podesta, Dossier?" Trump's trio of tweets were packed with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, but closely mirrored the conspiracy theories driven by his allies in conservative media that are designed to rough up Mueller and tarnish the credibility of his investigation to politicize any eventual allegations of wrongdoing he makes against Trump or members of his team. It was not immediately clear what the President meant when he claimed there were conflicts of interests involving Mueller. The New York Times reported in January that the President claimed a dispute over membership fees had prompted Mueller to leave a Trump golf club in Washington in 2011 when he was FBI Director. Ethics experts from the Justice Department determined last year when Mueller was appointed special counsel that his participation in the matters assigned to him is appropriate. Trump targets the press Trump's attacks on Mueller followed yet another extraordinary assault on the media by the President after he broke details of a private meeting he had with A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times on July 20. "When the media - driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome - reveals internal deliberations of our government, it truly puts the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk! Very unpatriotic!" Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon. Taken together with the Mueller offensive, the tweet represented an escalation of Trump's strategy to discredit the integrity and moral standing of any institution that will ultimately help to shape a national consensus on his conduct. Who has more credibility? There has been no publicly available evidence that Trump or his subordinates knowingly conspired with a Russian effort to help him win power in 2016. But Trump's constant attacks on Mueller will inevitably renew speculation about Mueller's position and whether the President will attempt to fire him. Such a move could trigger a crisis of governance in Washington and test whether Republicans, who have largely been unwilling to challenge Trump in the Russia election interference drama and will hold the President to account. Trump's allies also sought to shred the credibility of Cohen, after the President's former confidant turned against him, and following the airing last week of a tape obtained by CNN on which the two men discussed how they would buy the rights to a Playboy model's story about an alleged affair Trump had with her years before he turned to politics. In an interview on Fox News Saturday evening, the President's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Trump's legal team was investigating the tape of Trump and Cohen and suggested it might have been doctored. On Sunday, on CBS "Face the Nation," Giuliani said, "I don't see how you can believe Michael Cohen," and accused Cohen of violating Trump's attorney-client privilege. Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis issued a statement calling Giuliani "confused." Giuliani once praised Michael Cohen as 'honest,' but now says Cohen has 'lied all his life' "Mr. Giuliani seems to be confused. He expressly waived attorney client privilege last week and repeatedly and inaccurately -- as proven by the tape -- talked and talked about the recording, forfeiting all confidentiality," Davis said. The cresting intrigue about Mueller, Cohen and the President's increasingly tetchy mood robbed the White House of a clean victory lap, following the positive economic data released Friday. The 4.1% GDP growth rate figure will form the centerpiece of Trump's midterm election argument to voters that he has unleashed a new age of American prosperity that Republicans hope will prove more important to their choice than the ominous developments in the Russia probe and the uproar perpetually whipped up by the President's convention-shattering style. "Policies matter a lot ... and I think the President deserves a victory lap," the President's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." | |
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| 07-29-18 09:09am - 2355 days | #939 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Donald Trump and Michael Cohen need to hire the finest lawyers. So the truth can come out. And justice be served. And that Trump can be impeached and removed from office. However, that leaves a major problem: Mike Pence would then become President of the US. Would that be any better than having Trump as President? Can we have a new election, to replace Trump with someone better? A slimeball Democrat who would fight to drain the swamp in Washinton? Go, Hilary! ------------ ------------ Politics Rudy Giuliani: Michael Cohen Has Been Warned To Keep His Mouth Shut HuffPost Mary Papenfuss,HuffPost 12 hours ago Donald Trump’s legal team has warned his former fixer Michael Cohen to stop speaking out and violating lawyer client confidentiality, the president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani told ABC News Saturday. The warning comes just six days days after the team waived lawyer client privilege concerning a recorded conversation between Cohen and his former boss about a former Playboy model. “We have complained” to Cohen’s lawyers that “he’s violated the attorney-client privilege, publicly and privately,” Giuliani told the network. Giuliani said Cohen is in “grave danger of being disbarred.” But Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis told Huffpost in a statement that Giuliani “seems to be confused.” He “expressly waived attorney client privilege last week and repeatedly and inaccurately — as proven by the tape — talked and talked about the recording, forfeiting all confidentiality,” Davis added. The secretly recorded conversation, obtained by CNN, appears to involve a discussion between Cohen and Trump about buying the rights to a story by former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has claimed she had an affair with Trump. Giuliani has insisted that the tape clears the president of any wrongdoing. After the tape was released, Cohen launched a bombshell, saying that Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting during his campaign involving Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-linked attorney who was to provide damaging information on Hillary Clinton. If that’s the case, it could have serious repercussions in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia’s interference in the election. Trump has denied knowing about the meeting ahead of time. It may be this information that the legal team warned Cohen about, though Giuliani wasn’t clear in his ABC interview. Giuliani also told ABC Saturday that Trump’s team has hired multiple experts to analyze the recordings of conversations between Cohen and Trump. Giuliani has insisted that Trump told Cohen on the released tape “don’t pay with cash.” An expert used by CNN determined that Trump said “I’ll pay with cash.” Cohen also talks about apparently setting up some kind of shell operation to hide the payment. In any case, both men appear to be agreeing to pay to suppress the story that was reportedly purchased for $150,000 by the The National Enquirer — but never published. Giuliani said he’s aware of the subject matter of 13 Cohen tapes that have been seized by the government, but that only one affects the president. “There’s nothing on it that would concern us,” he said. The Washington Post reported that the FBI seized more than 100 recordings of Cohen conversations with a number of people. Giuliani also noted, in case anyone suspected otherwise, that the joint defense agreement between Trump and Cohen is over. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. ------------- ------------- Celebrity Rudy Giuliani's puzzling unfinished tweet brings out the best in Snark Twitter adam_rosenberg,Mashable 1 hour 2 minutes ago It's no "covfefe," but really, can anything ever beat that? Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Donald Trump's perhaps overly talkative lawyer, sent out a tweet on Sunday morning that quickly went viral. It was clearly a mistake, and may now be serving as a helpful distraction for the beleaguered Giuliani. But it's prompted some first-class responses. First, here's the tweet. It's the kind of accidental posting any of us could share, and get roasted for. Twitter did exactly that. Since signing on to represent Trump, Giuliani has gone on TV again and again to reinforce the president's lies. This past week he's been getting hammered in the news for saying that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen "has lied all his life," a sharp reversal from Giuliani's earlier claims dating all the way back to May that Cohen is "honest" and "going to tell the truth." That could be why "You" hasn't been deleted, especially after an unfinished Saturday night tweet from Giuliani also caught fire on social media. Tons of folks took "You" as a musical cue Others used it to rib Giuliani And of course, some folks just took the opportunity to dunk on Trump But the best of the tweeting just got real weird about "You" WATCH: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It's an inflatable Trump baby flying around London ------------- ------------- HuffPost Fox News Host Confronts Rudy Giuliani Over Michael Cohen 'Liar' Flip-Flop HuffPost Nick Baumann,HuffPost 39 minutes ago Rudy Giuliani can’t get his story straight on Michael Cohen — and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is calling him out on it. On “Fox News Sunday,” Wallace confronted Giuliani, who serves as one of President Donald Trump’s attorneys, on his flip-flopping about Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer. In May, Giuliani called Cohen an “honest, honorable lawyer,” Wallace noted. “But now you say, quote, your words... ‘a pathological liar’ who’s been lying for years. So what happened?” Giuliani said his shift stemmed from the revelation that Cohen had been “surreptitiously recording his clients” — referring to the tape of Cohen and Trump discussing a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who’s alleged she had a long-running affair with Trump before he became president. The tape was released last week and initially aired on CNN. “Obviously if I knew that, I never would’ve said he was a reputable lawyer,” Giuliani said. “I would’ve said he was a scoundrel.” “I knew nothing bad about Michael Cohen until all of this started to happen in the past couple weeks,” Giuliani insisted. Giuliani must not have been following previous news accounts about Cohen, who served as Trump’s personal lawyer for more than a decade and was targeted by an FBI raid in April. Cohen had reportedly compared himself to Tom Hagen, the fictional consigliere of the Corleone crime family in “The Godfather.” His business ventures are the subject of considerable interest from federal investigators, The New York Times reported in May, while Giuliani was still defending him. And Giuliani months ago corrected a Cohen falsehood. Cohen claimed in February that he had paid Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who also has said she had a brief affair with Trump, $130,000 out of his own pocket, and Trump in April claimed he didn’t know about the payment. Giuliani later admitted that Trump had repaid Cohen. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-28-18 09:09pm - 2355 days | #938 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Yahoo News Photo Staff •July 26, 2018 Trump flags: Made in China Flags for U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Keep America Great!” 2020 re-election campaign are seen at Jiahao flag factory in Fuyang, Anhui province, China July 24, 2018. (Photo: Aly Song/Reuters) The red, white and blue banners for U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-term campaign are ready to ship, emblazoned with the words “Keep America Great!” But they are made in eastern China and soon could be hit by punitive tariffs of Trump’s own making as he ratchets up a rancorous trade dispute with Beijing. (Reuters) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr. | |
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| 07-27-18 11:12am - 2357 days | #7 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
What is the law? A Supreme Court, filled with conservatives, could derail the impeachment of Donald Trump. For many different reasons. A Supreme Court, filled with liberals, (which won't happen with Trump nominating conservatives), could possibly allow the impeachment of Donald Trump. Just one more reason to stop Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court from being approved. | |
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| 07-27-18 11:06am - 2357 days | #6 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I agree the US Supreme Court does not technically make laws: they offer opinions on the law. Opinions can change. Roe vs. Wade made abortions legal. I'm simplifying. A Supreme Court filled with conservative judges could make abortions illegal. Again, I'm simplifying. Is that making the law? No. It's interpreting the law. To show what is legal. But in my mind, I believe the law is built on sand. And the distinction between making the law, and offering opinions on the law, is built on sand: The Supreme Court says abortions are legal. The Supreme Court can, in the future, say abortions are illegal. Is the Supreme Court making laws? Or giving opinions? The distinction can be nebulous, in my mind. | |
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| 07-27-18 09:57am - 2357 days | #937 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The changing face of truth: Has Donald Trump ever met a lie he didn't like? I'm referring to his own lies. He hates the lies (or facts) other people tell about him. Trump is the nicest man on earth: he will only stomp you from a sense of duty, or an effort to grab your dollars and coins. Trump loves money, and loves to boast how wealthy he is. -------- -------- HuffPost Trump Has Changed His Mind A Lot On What He Knew About The Trump Tower Meeting HuffPost Michelle Lou,HuffPost 1 hour 18 minutes ago President Donald Trump on Friday denied having prior knowledge of his son's President Donald Trumpon Friday denied having prior knowledge of his son’s highly scrutinized 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, the latest in a string of conflicting explanations for what and when he knew about the encounter. Trump’s comments came a day after CNN reported that his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen had claimed that the president knew in advance that Donald Trump Jr. met with Natalia Veselnitskaya in an effort to get incriminating information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Though Trump has repeatedly sought to distance him from the problematic meeting, his and his team’s statements on what he knew have morphed considerably over time. The discrepancies have drawn increased attention as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign heats up. Here’s how the president’s claims have evolved over the past year. Trump said he didn’t draft his son’s initial statement about the meeting After the New York Times in July 2017 first exposed the meeting, Trump Jr. claimed its sole purpose was to discuss American adoptions of Russian children (which Russian President Vladimir Putin banned in 2012). A day later, though, the first son admitted in a highly publicized statement that he met with Veselnitskaya after being offered dirt on Clinton. According to the Times, Trump himself signed off on his son’s initial statement on the meeting. Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, however, repeatedly denied that the president was involved at all. He was involved in drafting the statement but didn’t personally dictate it Later last July, the Washington Post reported that Trump had “personally dictated” Trump Jr.’s statement. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to the story by acknowledging that the president had actually been involved in drafting the statement while insisting that the president did not personally dictate it. Trump’s legal team said that he personally dictated the statement In a Jan. 29 memo to Mueller, Trump’s attorneys John Dowd and Sekulow contradicted Huckabee Sanders by saying the president had indeed dictated Trump Jr.’s statement. The Times published a copy of that letter in June. Trump acknowledged that the initial statement was misleading, but said it didn’t matter because it was prepared for the Times. “That’s not a statement to a high tribunal of judges,” Trump said two weeks after the letter was made public. “That’s a statement to the phony New York Times.” Giuliani reverses course and says that Trump actually didn’t dictate the statement Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said in June that Sekulow was “misinformed” when he wrote the letter to Mueller. “I think he was uninformed at the time just like I was when I came into the case,” Giuliani told NBC’s Meet The Press. “This is a point that maybe wasn’t clarified in terms of recollection and his understanding of it. And what Jay did was he immediately corrected it.” This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-27-18 07:55am - 2357 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I stumbled across an article on the same topic last year. That article stated there were serious problems with the British plan and how it could be used. One danger was that MindGeek, the owner of Pornhub and many other porn sites, could become even more powerful, if the UK forces UK citizens to sign up with the MindGeek age verification system. Not just because of additional revenue flowing to MindGeek, but also the massive amount of personal data that MindGeek will acquire. There are supposed to be firewalls between MindGeek's personal data, but that is flimsy. And the idea of giving the UK government more control over Internet access is dangerous to begin with. | |
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| 07-26-18 10:28pm - 2357 days | #298 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
trannypros.com Part of the Devils Film (Fame Digital) network. It used to be listed at PU, because I remember doing a review of the site years ago. I don't remember the complete review I did, but I do remember that watching trannys in action gave me a confusing reaction: should I think of them as guys, girls, or something in-between? And it stretches the mind on whether to enjoy this type of porn: I mean, boy-girl, fine. Boy-boy, not my interest. Tranny-boy, or tranny-girl, do I watch or not? Some of the trannys are really good-looking. | |
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| 07-26-18 02:04am - 2358 days | #936 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Donald Trump, the President of many truths. Trump hints that the secret tape of Michael Cohen, that seems to implicate Trump in a payoff scheme, was doctored. Trump is the President. He is obviously innocent. Why? Because the President can not be charged with any crimes in the performance of his duties. The President is not just the leader of our country, but also the man and force that holds the nation together. Anyone who criticizes Donald Trump is a traitor. They should be shot or exported, like scummy Hilary Clinton and her pervert husband who played sex games in the White House. Never again. We now have a President who knows how sacred women are, how they should be respected and treated. God save Trump. God save America. --------- --------- Politics Donald Trump Hints That Cohen’s Secret Tape Was Doctored Deadline Erik Pedersen,Deadline 17 hours ago For those who wondered how President Donald Trump would spin the Michael Cohen tape that seems to prove that POTUS lied about having no knowledge of the Karen McDougal payoff, here’s how: It was doctored. Really, we shoulda seen this one coming: On the 2016 recording, which was made secretly and played on CNN llast night, Trump’s then-lawyer Cohen is heard discussing the matter with him and brings up the “financing” of the payoff with then-candidate Trump, who asks, “What financing?” When Cohen says, “Well, I have to pay –,” Trump interrupts and says, “Pay with cash.” Cohen quickly replies, “No, no, no, no, no.” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis fed the tape to CNN’s Chris Cuomo and was on his Cuomo Prime Time show Tuesday to talk about it. He insists that they are talking about the payment to ex-Playmate McDougal made by longtime Trump friend and ally David Pecker, head of the National Enquirer’s parent company. Trump has denied not only the affair but knowledge that Pecker’s company paid her off then spiked its promised story about it in a so-called “catch and kill” move. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is on the record saying that it was Cohen who suggested paying off alleged former mistress Karen McDougal with cash — ostensibly to avoid a paper trail — but the tape clearly indictates it was Trump’s idea, one that Cohen nixed immediately. The tape then cuts off abruptly — a fact the president jumped on. “Can this be so?” | |
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| 07-26-18 12:00am - 2358 days | #935 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Can you trust Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer and fixer? About as far as you can trust Trump. Cohen told a reporter that he would not record a conversation. Then he recorded the entire conversation in secret. ---------- ---------- New York Post Cohen secretly recorded conversation with CNN anchor By Bob Fredericks July 25, 2018 | 6:11pm | Updated Cohen’s lawyer warns of ‘more to come’ after releasing Trump tape President Trump’s longtime fixer Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with CNN reporter Chris Cuomo earlier this year in which he said he arranged “on my own” a $130,000 payment in 2016 to Stormy Daniels, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. In the nearly two-hour exchange, which the paper said appeared to have been surreptitiously recorded by Cohen, Trump’s ex-lawyer discussed at length the payment he arranged in October 2016, a month before the presidential election, to Daniels, who alleged that she had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006, shortly after his third wife Melania gave birth to their son. “I did it on my own,” Cohen said of the payment, sources told The Journal. The conversation took place after The Journal in January revealed that Cohen had arranged the payment to Daniels. The paper reported that Cohen told Cuomo he wasn’t running a tape — before recording their entire conversation. Cohen has often appeared on Cuomo’s CNN show, and on Tuesday Cohen’s lawyer gave a widely anticipated audio recording of a conversation Cohen had with Trump in 2016 about buying the rights to a former model’s story of an affair with the then-candidate. | |
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| 07-25-18 11:19pm - 2358 days | #934 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Draining the swamp in Washington. House conservatives move to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Is Rosenstein a slime-ball Democrat? If so, he is probably guilty of treason. They are working to impeach Rosenstein for high crimes and misdemeanors. A lawyer being accused of high crimes? Put him against and wall, and let President Trump order his troops to FIRE! Actually, Rosenstein is a registered Republican. But--Rosenstein is probably a deep-cover Democrat masquerading as a Republican. So, it's important to clean our house, and eliminate all Democrats and traitorous Republicans to make America great again. -------- -------- House conservatives move to impeach deputy attorney general Associated Press Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press,Associated Press 3 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) -- A group of 11 House conservatives on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. The move comes after months of criticism aimed at the department — and the Russia investigation in particular — from Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. Trump has fumed about Mueller's probe and repeatedly called it a "witch hunt," a refrain echoed by some of the lawmakers. The impeachment effort is led by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, who talks to Trump frequently and often defends him to his colleagues. It is unclear whether there will be enough support in the party to pass the impeachment resolution, as Republican leaders have not signed on to the effort and are unlikely to back it. Meadows, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and the other Republicans who introduced the resolution have criticized Rosenstein and Justice Department officials for not being responsive enough as House committees have requested documents related to the beginning of the Russia investigation and a closed investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails. The introduction does not trigger an immediate vote, but Meadows could make procedural moves on the House floor that could force a vote late this week or when the House returns in September from its upcoming recess. The House is scheduled to leave Thursday for the five-week recess. The five articles charge Rosenstein of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for failing to produce information to the committees, even though the department has already provided lawmakers with more than 800,000 documents, and of signing off on what some Republicans say was improper surveillance of a Trump adviser. The resolution also goes directly after Rosenstein for his role in the ongoing Mueller investigation, criticizing him for refusing to produce a memo that outlines the scope of that investigation and questioning whether the investigation was started on legitimate grounds. Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump's campaign was in any way involved. It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for lawmakers to demand documents that are part of an ongoing criminal investigation. In a statement, Meadows said Rosenstein's conduct is "reprehensible." "It's time to find a new deputy attorney general who is serious about accountability and transparency," Meadows said. It's uncertain how many of Meadows' fellow Republicans agree. Rosenstein, along with FBI Director Christopher Wray, faced dozens of angry Republicans at a House hearing last month. The lawmakers alleged bias at the FBI and suggested the department has conspired against Trump — but many could draw the line at impeachment. "Impeachment is a punishment, it's not a remedy," House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy said shortly before Meadows introduced the resolution. "If you are looking for documents, then you want compliance, and you want whatever moves you toward compliance." The impeachment resolution came about two hours after GOP lawmakers met with Justice Department officials about the documents. Meadows said after that meeting that there was still "frustration" with how Justice has handled the oversight requests. Republican leaders, however, have said in recent weeks that they are satisfied with the Justice Department's progress. Gowdy said after the meeting that he was pleased with the department's efforts. House Speaker Paul Ryan has also said he is satisfied with progress on the document production. Meadows heads the conservative Freedom Caucus and has sparred with Ryan on issues from immigration to federal spending. His open threat of triggering a vote on impeachment — which he can do if he follows a certain set of procedural rules — could help him win concessions on other contentious issues before the House. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said she had no comment on the articles of impeachment. Rosenstein has overseen the Russia investigation since last year, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the probe following reports of his meeting with the Russian ambassador. Democrats have criticized the Republican efforts to pressure the Justice Department, saying they are attempts to undermine Mueller's investigation. In a joint statement, the top Democrats on the House Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform and intelligence committees called the move a "panicked and dangerous attempt to undermine an ongoing criminal investigation in an effort to protect President Trump as the walls are closing in around him and his associates." So far, the special counsel has charged 32 people and three companies. That includes four Trump campaign advisers. Democratic Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Adam Schiff of California said Rosenstein "stands as one of the few restraints against the overreaches of the president and his allies in Congress." | |
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| 07-25-18 04:30pm - 2359 days | #933 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Did Donald Trump make a secret deal to advertise for Coke over Pepsi? Enquiring minds want to know: How much did Coke pay Trump for the advertisement? ----- ----- Donald Trump Shouting ‘Get Me A Coke’ On Cohen Tape Sets Twitter Alight HuffPost Lee Moran,HuffPost 11 hours ago Tweeters are thirsting over one particular moment from the secretly recorded conversation between President Donald Trump and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen. In audio recorded by Cohen in 2016 that CNN aired Tuesday night, Trump abruptly interrupted the lawyer as they discussed a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal (with whom Trump allegedly had an affair) to demand that someone “get me a Coke.” Trump’s demand comes at the 2:30 mark below: Guess he didn’t have his red button handy at the time ― the one that reportedly sits on the president’s Oval Office desk to summon a White House butler with a Coke. Trump, on the tape, then said what various accounts report as either “please” or “Liz” before returning to the matter at hand. The tape itself has caused a political stir, showing that Cohen is escalating his break with Trump. But many people on Twitter couldn’t resist using their new favorite catchphrase “get me a Coke” to have fun at the president’s expense: This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-25-18 04:22pm - 2359 days | #932 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Has Trump ever lied? While he was President? A better question would be: Does Trump know what the truth is? Trump is a serial liar. Trump has a history of secretly recording telphone calls. But when his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly recorded phone calls between Cohen and Trump, Trump says the tapes are possibly illegal. (Because the tapes could be used against Trump.) The tapes show that Trump lied (or had his spokespeople lie) about the Karen McDougal payment. ---------- ---------- Trump blasts Cohen over recording: 'What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?' Dylan Stableford 9 hours ago President Trump on Wednesday blasted his lawyer Michael Cohen after CNN aired a recording of a conversation that was secretly taped by Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election. On the tape, then-candidate Trump and Cohen can be heard discussing potential hush-money payments intended to squash a Playboy model’s story about an alleged affair she had with Trump. “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?” Trump tweeted. “So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped — can this be so? Too bad!” The tape is one of several recordings seized by the FBI during a raid on Cohen’s office earlier this year. Cohen is under federal investigation for potential bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Cohen, Trump’s self-described “fixer” and longtime ally, has in recent weeks signaled a willingness to “flip” on his former boss. Michael Cohen and Donald Trump (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images, Joshua Roberts/Reuters, iLexx/Getty Images) On the September 2016 recording, which was made inside Trump Tower, Cohen appears to tell Trump that he will need to set up a company for “financing” to buy the rights of Karen McDougal’s story from American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. AMI had reportedly reached a $150,000 deal to pay McDougal for her story about their alleged 2006 affair, which it never published — a tactic commonly known in the world of tabloid publishing as “catch and kill.” “What financing?” Trump asks Cohen. “We’ll have to pay,” Cohen replies. “Pay with cash,” Trump appears to reply. “No, no,” Cohen says. The two-minute recording then cuts off. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, contends that Trump actually told Cohen “don’t pay with cash.” Appearing on Fox News Tuesday night, Giuliani urged viewers to listen to the recording multiple times. “The third time you hear it, it becomes clear,” Giuliani said, adding: “I’ve had about 4,000 hours of Mafia people on tape. I know how to listen to them. I know how to transcribe them.” Based on the audio, Trump’s instruction to Cohen is not entirely clear. Giuliani said the payments to AMI were ultimately never made. But it appears Trump knew about payments to McDougal — something his campaign denied. On Nov. 4, 2016, when asked about the payments AMI made to McDougal by the Wall Street Journal, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, “We have no knowledge of any of this.” Last week, after the existence of the tape was reported by the New York Times, Trump reacted on Twitter by characterizing the raid as a break-in and suggesting Cohen’s actions were “perhaps illegal.” “Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) — almost unheard of,” Trump tweeted. “Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!” The raid was conducted via a warrant. In New York State, where Trump Tower is located, only one party has to consent for a legal recording of a discussion. And in May 2017, when Trump warned that fired FBI Director James Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations,” the Washington Post noted that Trump, himself, has “a long history of secretly recording calls.” | |
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| 07-25-18 02:47pm - 2359 days | #931 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
A lawsuit filed by attorneys general in Maryland and Washington D.C. alleging that Donald Trump violated the Constitution will continue, the Washington Post reports, despite Trump’s efforts to dismiss the case. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte has agreed to hear a case arguing that, by overseeing the Trump Organization, which conducts business overseas, Trump broke a set of obscure anti-corruption laws known as the Emoluments Clauses that bar public officials from accepting payments from foreign officials. (He resigned from the business, but this means nothing, as he has not fully divested). According to the Post, this appears to be the “first time the first time a federal judge had interpreted those Constitutional provisions and applied their restrictions to a sitting president.” From the Post: Messitte’s 52-page opinion said that, in the modern context, the Constitution’s ban on “emoluments” could apply to Trump — that it could cover any business transactions with foreign governments where Trump derived a “profit, gain or advantage.” “This includes profits from private transactions, even those involving services given at fair market value,” Messitte wrote. ... “In sum, Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the President has been receiving or is potentially able to receive ‘emoluments’ . . . in violation of the Constitution,” Messitte wrote. The Justice Department, which is reviewing the decision and may appeal, released a statement saying, “We continue to maintain that this case should be dismissed.” Trump’s previous defense has been “I have a no-conflict situation because I’m president,” which makes absolutely no sense, unless of course by “president” he means “man who is above the law.” I ask, again: is it crime time yet? About the author Prachi Gupta is a senior reporter at Jezebel. | |
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| 07-25-18 11:11am - 2359 days | #930 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
www.usatoday.com/ Michael Cohen's playmate payoff tape with Donald Trump puts both men in legal crosshairs Harry Litman, Opinion contributor Published 1:52 p.m. ET July 25, 2018 It doesn't matter if Trump paid by cash or check. The Cohen tape shows two men carrying out a conspiracy. The question is whether it was criminal. The immediate focus since the release of the audio tape of Michael Cohen talking to President Donald Trump has been on whether the president suggests paying off model Karen McDougal, with whom he allegedly carried on a 10-month affair in 2006, with cash or a check. That question, however, is really of marginal significance and is swamped by several larger factual points that the tape establishes, and several others that it suggests. First, the anchoring point for legal purposes is that the tape clearly demonstrates two men carrying out a common scheme, or, in the terms of the law, a conspiracy. While Team Trump and Cohen are busy trying to disparage one another, they obscure the chief fact that for purposes of whatever conduct they are pursuing in the tape, they are joined at the hip. Cohen’s liability is Trump’s; Trump’s liability is Cohen’s. Second, given that the two are acting in concert, the question becomes what is the objective of their agreement, and is it criminal? Again, from the standpoint of a prosecutor, this will ultimately be a question for a jury. And it is critical to remember that the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have a mountain of evidence in addition to the tape, on top of which will likely be Cohen’s own testimony. But the evidence of the tape alone is that the object of the conspiracy was to conceal the payout to McDougal in order to further Trump’s electoral prospects. Cold-blooded nonchalance about a payoff That seems the clear import of several aspects of the tape. The entire conversation is about the campaign, beginning with Cohen’s congratulations to the president on his poll numbers. The discussion is also about suppressing the records of Trump’s divorce from Ivana (which allegedly included an accusation of spousal rape) and includes Trump’s statement “All you’ve got to do is delay for —,” which is most naturally construed as a delay until the election. And the conversation takes place in September 2016, in the final weeks before Election Day. Furthermore, there is no indication of any other purpose, for example shielding Melania Trump from the painful revelation of the affair. On the contrary, one of the most probative aspects of the tape — and an illustration of why tape evidence is usually a prosecutor’s dream — is the evident nonchalance and cold-bloodedness with which Trump pursues the apparent hush-money arrangement. The third factual issue raised by the tape is if the men are acting in concert, and if the objective is to suppress the information in order to aid Trump’s electoral prospects, what legal liability might that entail. Again, it’s important not to judge the case solely on the tape, but that point cuts against Trump and Cohen, because we can reasonably expect the prosecutors to have a wealth of additional information. More: Michael Cohen's legal woes keep getting worse and signs don't point to a Trump pardon Donald Trump's foolish legal strategy is weakening the presidency From Stormy Daniels to John Bolton, will America ever recover from Donald Trump? But there are at least three kinds of charges that the prosecutors would want to pursue. They all concern a kind of fraud, and they can be categorized according to whom the men's action was designed to fool. First is the Federal Election Commission. It would have been awkward to say the least to list a $150,000 in-kind contribution from the National Enquirer to buy the silence of Karen McDougal on a campaign disclosure form, and the Trump campaign did not. That means that they may very likely have broken campaign finance laws that require full disclosure of contributions. A willful violation of that sort is criminal, though the FEC has not been robust in enforcing the criminal provisions of the law. The second sucker was Karen McDougal herself, whom the men and others manipulated shamelessly to keep her story bottled up. In particular, there appears to be evidence that Trump pal David Pecker, the CEO of AMI, which owns the Enquirer, bought the rights to her story for $150,000 with the intention of performing a “catch and kill,” preventing the story from ever seeing the light of day. (It is the rights to that story that Trump and Cohen are discussing buying from AMI.) The manipulation may have included supplying McDougal with an attorney — the same attorney he funneled to Stormy Daniels — who was at least somewhat in Cohen’s pocket and failed to act in her best interest. It’s a safe bet that attorney, Keith Davidson, will be cooperating with the prosecutors. Cohen and Trump in the crosshairs Finally, the sort of arrangement Trump and Cohen were pursuing requires incorporation, banks, and other administrative inconveniences. It is at least a possibility worth pursuing that in setting up and using the corporation — which may have been designed for multiple clean-up operations — Cohen would have misled bankers about the purpose of the funds. So bank fraud would be a third possibility that prosecutors will be looking into. That is not to say an indictment of Cohen — which will almost certainly be forthcoming unless he decides to cooperate — would also name Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator. It could, but that decision would need to be made at the highest reaches of the Department of Justice (in this case by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein) and would implicate weighty questions of constitutional law. Still, it’s important to remember that the tape’s political implications and legal implications are not one and the same. Prosecutors don’t care about the political mud wrestling between the two camps, and will mainly overlook (except as it provides evidence of guilty knowledge) the outlandish spinning that Giuliani in particular is attempting in the public arena. They are pursuing facts and law to where they take them: the statutory elements that spell out criminal behavior in the U.S. code. And with the tape, that mission now has Cohen and the president directly in the crosshairs. Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, teaches the Supreme Court as a Political Institution at UCLA Law School. He clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy during the 1988-89 Supreme Court term and worked on Supreme Court and other judicial nominations at the Justice Department. Follow him on Twitter: @harrylitman | |
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| 07-24-18 06:25pm - 2359 days | #929 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Is President Trump a liar? Is the moon made of green cheese? --------- --------- AP FACT CHECK: Trump overstates progress on veterans care Associated Press HOPE YEN,Associated Press 4 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is exaggerating the progress he's made on his campaign promise to provide veterans with quick medical treatment from private doctors if they're dissatisfied with Department of Veterans Affairs care. Speaking at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention Tuesday, Trump prematurely described VA benefits that have yet to be implemented as immediately available and a "big success." His newly signed law seeking to expand the private-sector Veterans Choice program will take at least a year to be implemented. The program has also struggled to meet a standard of providing timely medical appointments within 30 days, a problem that even his new VA secretary, Robert Wilkie, has acknowledged might not be fixed soon. A look at the claims and the reality behind them: TRUMP: "We passed Veterans Choice, the biggest thing ever. ... It has got to be the biggest improvement you can have. So now if you can't get the treatment you need in a timely manner, people used to wait two weeks, three weeks, eight weeks, they couldn't get to a doctor. You will have the right to see a private doctor immediately, and we will pay for it." THE FACTS: The care provided under the Choice program is not as immediate as Trump suggests, nor is it likely to be the "biggest thing" ever. Currently only veterans who endure waits of at least 30 days for an appointment at a VA facility are eligible to receive care immediately from private doctors at government expense, a standard that the VA is frequently unable to meet. Under a newly expanded Choice program that will take at least a year to implement, veterans will still have to meet certain criteria before they can see a private physician. A recent Government Accountability Report found that despite the Choice program's guarantee of providing an appointment within 30 days, veterans waited an average of 51 to 64 days. Pressed at his confirmation hearing last month, Wilkie declined to commit the VA to meeting the 30-day standard, pledging instead to push interim fixes and better training for VA schedulers to help speed appointments. It's also unclear whether the expanded Choice program will prove to be the "biggest thing ever." The new law gives the VA secretary wide authority to decide when veterans can bypass the VA, based on whether they receive "quality" care, but the program could be restricted by escalating costs. ___ TRUMP: "We're greatly expanding telehealth and walk-in clinics so our veterans can get anywhere, at any time, they can get what they need, they can learn about the problem and they don't necessarily have to drive long distances and wait. It's been a very big success." THE FACTS: It's not a success at all because it hasn't started. A new benefit giving veterans access to walk-in clinics such as MinuteClinics won't begin for another year, and the care won't always be freely provided "anywhere, at any time." Only enrolled veterans who have used VA health care services in the previous two years would be able to get care at private walk-in clinics. After two visits, veterans could be subject to higher co-payments charged by the VA. Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck | |
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| 07-23-18 03:58pm - 2361 days | #928 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump administration considers stripping critics of security clearance. There’s just one problem. Trump's press secretary said the administration may strip security clearance from critics -- even those without one. Josh Israel Jul 23, 2018, 3:56 pm Updated: Jul 23, 2018, 4:22 pm Perhaps three of the most consistent hallmarks of Donald Trump’s administration were on display Monday at Sarah Sanders’ press briefing. In a single announcement, the administration demonstrated wild hypocrisy, pettiness toward critics, and total incompetence. At the urging of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the Trump administration says it is considering a move to revoke security clearances for former CIA directors John Brennan and Michael Hayden, former FBI director James Comey, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Their reasoning: this bipartisan group of former appointees has been critical of Trump. “The President is exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearances because they’ve politicized, and in some cases monetized, their public service and security clearances,” Huckabee Sanders announced. “Making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia — or being influenced by Russia — against the President is extremely inappropriate, and the fact that people with security clearances are making baseless these baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence.” Trump and his administration, of course, have broken all precedent to ignore the constitutional prohibition on foreign emoluments and have made millions in personal profits thanks to the power of the presidency. Minutes after her press conference, Trump himself was hawking his own campaign merchandise at an event down the hall. But beyond the pettiness and hypocrisy, the announcement was notable for the lack of preparation and research that preceded it. A spokesperson for McCabe responded via Twitter that — thanks to the Trump administration’s decision to fire him back in March, he already had his security clearance deactivated. General Hayden also tweeted that he does not even receive classified briefings, meaning that he is not monetizing or politicizing classified information. A competent administration might have better examined whether such a petty and hypocritical move would have any effect before announcing that it was under consideration. The Trump administration did not. UPDATE (7/23, 4:22 p.m.): Washington Post national security reporter Devlin Barrett tweeted on Monday afternoon that Comey also no longer has a national security clearance. | |
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| 07-23-18 02:08pm - 2361 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Violence in games and movies is far more accepted than sex. I remember when Playboy and Penthouse magazines were still popular, they were kept in plastic bags, and put under the counter, so under-age children would not be contaminated or tempted to look at them. So sex in games would be a big No-No, I'm guessing. | |
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| 07-23-18 02:01pm - 2361 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
In the U.S. and many other areas, violence in movies and games is far more accepted than sex. So "capture the ass" might be a big No-No in many countries, I'm guessing. I remember when Playboy and Penthouse were still popular, but they were wrapped in plastic bags and hidden under the counter at stores, so under-age browsers would not be contaminated. | |
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| 07-22-18 08:12pm - 2361 days | #7 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
In addition to protecting your login details, it also protects, I assume, the exact member pages you visit at your membership sites. Otherwise, the ISP will keep a record of what pages you visit at each porn paysite, maybe how long you spend at each page, etc., what you download, etc. So, if https can keep your actions more private, I'm all for it. | |
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| 07-22-18 06:37pm - 2361 days | #927 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
DID Brett Kavanaugh HELP TO IMPEACH BILL CLINTON Brett Kavanaugh worked with Ken Starr to impeach President Bill Clinton. Clinton was a Democrat. Later, Kavanaugh wrote that a sitting President should not be bothered by civil proceedings or criminal proceedings unless the President was accused of a heinous crime. (Was Clinton accused of a heinous crime? By lying under oath? By having sex with Monica Lewinsky?) So did Kavanaugh flip on the issue? Not really. He helped impeach Bill Clinton, a Democrat. But while Republican Presidents were in office, he said a President should not be bothered by minor or even major crimes, unless they were truly momentous. Kavanaugh also argued that the Supreme Court should never have forced Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate Tapes. Without the Watergate Tapes being exposed, Nixon would not have resigned. Nixon, of course, was a Republican. So the law is the law. But how it's applied or interpreted is a not an unbiased act, but can be a very biased action. Just my two cents. Everyone is equal under the law. If you believe that, then I have a Brooklyn Bridge I want to sell you, for cheap. The Bridge is very valuable, because it controls access to Manhattan. Do I hear an offer of $1 billion? Do I hear an offer of $5 billion? Come, people, if Trump can make the Chinese invest $500 million in his Indonesian project, surely a domestic bridge is worth far more than $5 billion. | |
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| 07-22-18 01:23am - 2362 days | #926 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
TheHill.com Schiff: Surveillance warrant docs show that Nunes memo 'misrepresented and distorted these applications' By Jacqueline Thomsen - 07/21/18 11:04 PM EDT Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Saturday that the release of documents related to the surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser show that Republicans “misrepresented and distorted these applications” in their claims of bias at the Department of Justice. “These documents affirm that our nation faced a profound counterintelligence threat prior to the 2016 election, and the Department of Justice and FBI took appropriate steps to investigate whether any U.S. persons were acting as an agent of a foreign power,” Schiff said in a statement. “FBI and DOJ would have been negligent had they not used all the tools at their disposal, including Court-authorized FISA surveillance, to protect the country.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Saturday released more than 400 pages of heavily-redacted documents on the surveillance of former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. The application documents state that FBI "believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government ... to undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law." Page told The Hill that he’s “having trouble finding any small bit of this document that rises above complete ignorance and/or insanity.” Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee argued in a memo released in February that the DOJ and FBI were biased against Trump and his campaign, and abused their authority in obtaining the surveillance warrant against Page. Committee chair Devin Nunes's (R-Calif.) staff authored the document. Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and other Democrats released their own memo shortly afterward, pushing back against the GOP claims of bias. Schiff said Saturday that while the documents show the FBI’s “legitimate concern” about Page, he said the materials should not have been released during a pending investigation. “These national security considerations were cast aside by President Trump, whose decision to declassify the Nunes Memo — which misrepresented and distorted these applications — over the fervent opposition of the Department of Justice, was nakedly political and self-interested, and designed to to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation,” the lawmaker said. | |
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| 07-21-18 03:01pm - 2363 days | #925 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Former VP Joe Biden comes out swinging against Donald Trump. Biden is not a fan of Donald Trump, says Trump is the most corrupt president the US ever had. The feeling is mutual: Donald Trump says Obama, who Trump hates, picked Joe Biden out of the garbage heap to serve as VP. --------- --------- 'We're in the midst of an all-out assault on human dignity': Joe Biden Good Morning America JUSTIN DOOM,Good Morning America 6 hours ago 'We're in the midst of an all-out assault on human dignity': Joe Biden originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Former Vice President Joe Biden denounced the current administration's handling of issues including immigration on Friday night, saying in a speech in Arizona, "We're in the midst of an all-out assault on human dignity." Biden was addressing the League of United Latin American Citizens at an event in Phoenix, where he said "grotesque lies about immigrants and policies that rip babies from their mothers' arms carry echoes of the darkest moments in our history." "Not only are they a national shame," Biden added, "they tarnish the very idea of America and diminish our standing in the world." It's not the first time Biden has criticized the administration or President Donald Trump. In February, the former vice president said Trump was "a joke" and that his criticism of the FBI was "just a disaster." A month later, he said if he and Trump attended the same high school, he "would have beat the hell out of him" for disrespecting women, adding: "I've been in a lot of locker rooms my whole life. I'm a pretty damn good athlete. Any guy that talked that way was usually the fattest, ugliest S.O.B. in the room." (MORE: Biden on Trump: 'He's a joke' and his FBI attacks are 'just a disaster'  (MORE: Biden says he would have 'beat the hell out' of Trump in high school for disrespecting women) Biden later walked back the comment, but not before Trump responded on Twitter that Biden was "weak, mentally and physically" and he "would go down fast and hard, crying all the way." On Thursday, the president said in a CBS News interview, when asked against whom he'd most like to run in 2020: "I dream about Biden." Later in the interview, as reported by the Associated Press, Trump said Barack Obama took Biden "out of the garbage heap, and everybody was shocked that he did. I'd love to have it be Biden." A Biden spokesperson declined to comment at the time. In his comments on Friday night, the former vice president also criticized the administration's "betrayal of the Dreamers," Trump's pardoning of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, underfunding schools, attacking organized labor and neglecting Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. (MORE: Trump pardons controversial former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio) He encouraged those in attendance "to vote, to raise up your voices and, especially, to run for office" as "we fight to preserve the promise of a proud, inclusive middle class." "I was raised by a man -- my father -- who believed with every fiber in his being that everyone -- everyone -- deserves to be treated with dignity," Biden said. "We're in the midst of an all-out assault on human dignity. Yes, at the border, but also in the courtroom, in the classroom and on the factory floor." | |
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| 07-21-18 07:34am - 2363 days | #924 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Good Morning America Cohen taped Trump discussing making hush payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal: Sources Good Morning America Good Morning America 14 hours ago Cohen taped Trump discussing making hush payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal: Sources originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Investigators discovered recordings made by Michael Cohen, at least one of which includes then-candidate Donald Trump talking about making a payment related to a former Playboy model, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News. The recording was found as part of the raid on Michael Cohen’s home office and hotel carried out earlier this year in New York, the sources told ABC News. The New York Times first reported the news of the recording. The Playboy model in question is reportedly Karen McDougal, who has previously claimed that she had an affair with Trump. The White House previously denied McDougal's claims. The recording includes a short conversation between Cohen and then-candidate Trump talking about a plan, allegedly devised by Cohen, to try to purchase the rights to McDougal’s story from AMI since the media company had already bought the rights to her story, according to sources familiar with the audio recording. Cohen proposed paying about $150,000 to AMI, the sources sadi, and on the Trump can be heard telling Cohen to make sure the payment is properly documented in order to keep a record of it. That said, the sources say that payment never happened. The content of the recording was first reported by The Washington Post. Cohen is under criminal investigation by New York federal prosecutors in a case that’s separate from the one that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is pursuing. Sources said that investigators were looking into Cohen’s personal business dealings as well as those with Trump’s alleged mistresses and media organizations as well as the 2016 campaign. The April raid on Cohen’s home office and hotel – unusual for targeting an attorney – sparked outrage from the president, who called it “an attack on our country.” Cohen, the president’s longtime fixer and personal attorney, was known for his loyalty to Trump, vowing to “take a bullet” for him. But he recently told ABC News’ chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos: “I put family and country first.” PHOTO: ABC News' George Stephanopoulos interviewing Michael Cohen, who was formerly an attorney for President Donald Trump. (ABC News) Cohen has not been charged with a crime. Rudy Giuliani, who is now Trump’s personal attorney, confirmed to ABC News Trump did have a discussion with Cohen before the election but he said that the payment to McDougal that was being discussed was never made. Giuliani also said the recording in question is less than 2 minutes long. The payment, as ABC News has previously reported, was made to McDougal by AMI. “Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani said to ABC News. “In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” he said. McDougal, who was Playmate of the Month in December 1997 and Playmate of the Year in 1998, alleges that she had a 10-month romantic affair with Trump in 2006. After being silent for more than a decade, McDougal started speaking about it earlier this year, first opening up in an interview with The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow in February. PHOTO: Karen McDougal, Playboy Playmate of the Year 1998 attend Playboy's Super Saturday Night Party presented by Bacardi at Sagamore Hotel, Feb. 6, 2010, in Miami Beach, Fla. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Bacardi) McDougal told CNN's Anderson Cooper in March that her first intimate encounter with Trump came in June 2006, soon after she met the New York real-estate tycoon at the Playboy mansion during a taping there of his reality series, "The Apprentice." At the time, Trump had recently married the now-first lady Melania Trump, and the couple had an infant son. "I was attracted to him," McDougal said. "He's a nice looking man. I liked his charisma." In March, McDougal filed a lawsuit in state court in California, seeking to invalidate a contract she signed with American Media, Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer. In August 2016, AMI purchased the rights to McDougal's story in exchange for $150,000 and a deal for her to write columns and appear on covers of fitness magazines owned by AMI. But AMI never published a story about her alleged affair with Trump. She's alleging in court filings that AMI colluded with her former attorney and Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to purchase her story with the purpose of burying it in advance of the election. AMI has denied the allegations. In the interview with CNN, McDougal claimed that she is a lifelong Republican who voted for Trump and that she has no financial motivation for speaking out. She said she would be willing to return the $150,000 she received from AMI. "I just want my rights back," she told CNN. A White House spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News in February that Trump denies having an affair with the ex-Playboy model: "This is an old story that is just more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal." | |
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| 07-21-18 07:33am - 2363 days | #923 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Your favorite president speaks about recordings. There are many types of recordings. Most of them are fakes. If you hear a recording with President Trump making un-American speeches or talks, that is certainly a fake recording. Only trust recordings with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the President Trump himself. That is the only way you will know the truth. So if you hear a fake recording by Michael Cohen of the President talking about Stormy Daniels or that Playboy Playmate, do not trust it! Did it come with a certificate of authenticity signed by Donald Trump? Of course it did not. Donald Trump is a God-fearing man who has devoted his life to his country and his family. He would never lie, cheat, or steal, because money is the least of his concerns. He values honor above all else, honor to God, to his country, to his family. ---------- ---------- Trump denies wrongdoing, says lawyer's tape 'perhaps illegal' Reuters By David Brunnstrom,Reuters 54 minutes ago U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denied any wrongdoing a day after reports that his onetime attorney had recorded them both discussing buying the rights to a story by a woman who said she had an affair with Trump. The president said it was "perhaps illegal" for a lawyer to record a client. "Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of," Trump tweeted, in an apparent reference to an FBI raid on the office of his former lawyer Michael Cohen in April. "Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!" Trump added. Trump's onetime personal attorney Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump two months before the 2016 election in which they discussed buying the rights to a story by a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump, one of the president's lawyers said on Friday. Lawyer Rudy Giuliani said no campaign funding was involved in the discussion between Trump and Cohen, who has distanced himself from Trump in recent months as the FBI investigates Cohen's business dealings. If campaign funds were used, that could run afoul of federal election law, legal experts say. Before the election, the Trump campaign denied any knowledge of payment to the former model, Karen McDougal, but the taped conversation could undermine those denials. The existence of the audio recording was first reported by the New York Times, which said Trump and Cohen discussed a potential payment to McDougal. Giuliani confirmed the conversation to Reuters and that it took place in September 2016 but said it involved reimbursing the parent company of the National Enquirer tabloid for McDougal's story rights. The payment was never made, he said. Giuliani also denied Trump had an affair with McDougal. He said the tape would show that Trump makes clear that if there is going to be a payment, it should be done by check, which would be easily traced. Giuliani said the FBI seized the recording this year during a raid on Cohen's office. The FBI investigation stemmed in part from a referral by the U.S. special counsel's office, which is looking into possible coordination during the election campaign between Trump's aides and Russian officials. Moscow denies U.S. allegations that it interfered in the election and Trump denies any campaign ties to Russian officials. A representative for McDougal has not responded to requests for comment. The White House had also declined comment. McDougal has said she began a nearly year-long affair with Trump in 2006 shortly after his wife, Melania, gave birth. She sold her story for $150,000 in August 2016 but it was never published by the National Enquirer, a practice known as "catch and kill" to prevent a potentially damaging story from becoming public. David Pecker, the chairman of parent company American Media Inc (AMI), is Trump's friend. Giuliani said the discussion of payment did not mean McDougal’s claim of an affair was true and characterized it as an attempt to resolve false allegations that were "personally damaging" to Trump. Under U.S. election law, presidential candidates must disclose campaign contributions, which are defined as things of value given to a campaign in order to influence an election. Giuliani said the proposed payment was a personal matter and not subject to campaign finance law. The New Yorker magazine reported in February that Trump had an affair with McDougal at the same time he had a relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels and that the National Enquirer prevented McDougal's story being made public. The White House has said Trump denies having sex with Daniels. Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Cohen for possible bank and tax fraud, and for possible campaign law violations linked to a $130,000 payment to Daniels and other matters related to Trump's campaign, a person familiar with the investigation has told Reuters. Cohen has not been charged with any crime. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens and David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Nick Zieminski) --------------- --------------- | |
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| 07-21-18 06:09am - 2363 days | #922 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
In spite of what President Donald Trump says, not all FBI agents are corrupt. Here is an example of an FBI agent who enjoys photography. He uses his cell phone to take pictures of women changing in a dressing room. The problem is, he does not get permission first. As a FBI agent, he should follow the advice of the Pres, and grab them by the pussy. Or use his gun to cop a feel. ------------ ------------ Charlotte Observer | CharlotteObserver.com 22-year-old changing in dressing room catches FBI agent taking photos, NJ cops say | Charlotte Observer A New York FBI agent was arrested after police said a womat an Edison, New Jersey, clothing store caught him using his cell phone to take pictures of her changing in a dressing room. A New York FBI agent was arrested after police said a woman at an Edison, New Jersey, clothing store caught him using his cell phone to take pictures of her changing in a dressing room. Mark Lennihan AP National 22-year-old changing in dressing room catches FBI agent taking photos, NJ cops say By Jared Gilmour jgilmour@mcclatchy.com July 20, 2018 04:18 PM A 22-year-old woman was changing in a New Jersey clothing store’s dressing room on Thursday when she made a horrifying discovery, according to police. There was a man snapping pictures of the woman on his cell phone as the woman changed clothes at the shop in Edison, New Jersey. And when the woman confronted the man, she found out he wasn’t just anyone. The man told her he was a law enforcement officer, according to Middlesex County prosecutors. That’s when the woman called 911. Danuel S. Brown, a 30-year-old special agent in the FBI’s New York field office, was arrested on charges of fourth-degree invasion of privacy, prosecutors said. Brown is a resident of Piscataway, a New Jersey town near Edison. Brown had positioned his cell phone below the door to the woman’s dressing room, and then used the device to capture multiple pictures of the 22-year-old as she changed, investigators said. Brown is being held in a Middlesex County jail until a court appearance in New Brunswick, according to prosecutors. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing, and that anyone with additional information in the case should reach out to Edison police. | |
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| 07-20-18 11:13am - 2364 days | #921 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Scott Pruitt, the EPA chief who either resigned or was fired, used a double standard: Protect himself with taxpayer money, but let ordinary taxpayers go to hell. This is the Republican way: protect yourself, grab as much money as you can, funnel money to the rich and wealthy, while taking money away from programs to benefit workers and the lower class. Make America great again: White, Conservative, and power to the wealthy. -------------- -------------- EPA worries about Pruitt’s toxic desk reveal absurd double standard By Yaron Steinbuch July 20, 2018 | 10:44am Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s staff planned to take precautions to protect him from the toxic effects of formaldehyde in a fancy new desk – but months later, his top aides blocked the release of a report on the health dangers of the carcinogen, according to Politico. Pruitt was wrapping up a more than $9,500 redecoration of his office when a top official noticed a California warning on a desk the administrator wanted to order saying it contained the chemical. “Sorry to bother you with this but we need some help. The desk the Administrator wants for his office from Amazon has a California Proposition 65 warning,” acting deputy chief of staff Reginald Allen emailed Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, acting head of EPA’s toxic chemicals office, the news outlet reported. “What I am asking is can someone in your area tell us whether it is OK to get this desk for the Administrator related to the warning?” Allen wrote April 7. The emails were released to the group American Oversight under the Freedom of Information Act and shared with Politico. In her response, Cleland-Hamnett explained that the desk was likely made of compressed wood in which formaldehyde is frequently used as a glue. Although an EPA regulation limiting formaldehyde emissions from such items had been put on hold by Team Trump, California regulates the chemical, meaning emissions from the ornate desk were “likely to be fine,” Cleland-Hamnett wrote. But she suggested letting the furniture piece air out for a few days before being placed in the administrator’s office. Administrative staff apparently made plans to have the desk assembled at a warehouse and left there for a week, according to the report. It’s unclear whether Pruitt ended up ordering the desk as part of the renovation — which included artwork from the Smithsonian and framed photographs of Pruitt and President Trump — but his aides took steps to protect him from exposure to the chemical, documents showed. A few months later, top EPA officials took steps to block a health report produced by another division at the agency that found the levels of formaldehyde that many Americans breathe every day are tied to leukemia and nose and throat cancer, among other ailments. American Oversight chief Austin Evers said the emails fit into the pattern of behavior that led to the downfall of Pruitt, the perk-seeking, climate-change skeptic who recently resigned amid an avalanche of ethical controversies over his personal and professional behavior “You can add ‘EPA chemical safety science’ to the list of taxpayer-funded benefits that Scott Pruitt kept for himself. The irony would be comical if this wasn’t so dangerous,” Evers said in a statement. “Months before Scott Pruitt blocked the EPA’s report on the dangers of formaldehyde to public health, he got the benefit of EPA’s safety experts looking out for his own health,” he added. Formaldehyde-based compounds are commonly used in industrial strength adhesives and can be found in composite wood products. | |
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| 07-20-18 10:59am - 2364 days | #920 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Did Neo-Nazi Trump ever have a sex life? Trump's lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, secretly taped Trump talking about making hush payments to Playboy model Karen McDougal. So my hope is that Trump got his money's worth. Except that now that he is president, Trump seems to feel that historic events are fake news: whatever he does not like is fake, so his sex with any women except his current wife is fake: except I don't know if Trump is getting any from his current wife, since he can't get his hands on her to grab her by the pussy, his favorite technique. Even though this is a porn site, we should respect the office of the President of the United States, even if he does not respect anyone or anything except the cash in his own personal bank account. So, a moment of silence, while we visualize Trump and Melania in bed. Do the heaven shake and thunder while this happens? Separately, President Trump called the FBI raid on Michael Cohen "an attack on our country". I guess Trump means sex is sacred, and should not be investigated. Except when a Democrat has sex, like ex-President Clinton, then it's all right to investigate and even lead to impeachment, because Democrats are slime-balls. While Republicans are men of outstanding courage and moral fiber, who might have sex, but it's the good, God-fearing kind of sex that people should applaud. Go, President Trump, the first President who proclaimed that women should be grabbed by the pussy. Except that Trump is a serial denier: he denies he ever said that women should be grabbed by the pussy. And he denies that he ever had an affair with Karen McDougal or Stormy Daniels. And if you ask him, he is willing to deny he is a thief, a hypocrite, a liar, and the most corrupt President the US ever had. ------------------------- ------------------------- Cohen taped Trump discussing making hush payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal: Sources Good Morning America Good Morning America 15 minutes ago Cohen taped Trump discussing making hush payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal: Sources originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Investigators discovered recordings made by Michael Cohen that include then-candidate Donald Trump talking about making a payment to a former Playboy model, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News. The recordings were found as part of the raid on Michael Cohen’s home office and hotel carried out earlier this year in New York, the sources told ABC News. The New York Times first reported the news of the recordings. The Playboy model in question is reportedly Karen McDougal, who has previously claimed that she had an affair with Trump. The White House previously denied McDougal's claims. Cohen is under criminal investigation by New York federal prosecutors in a case that’s separate from the one that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is pursuing. Sources said that investigators were looking into Cohen’s personal business dealings as well as those with Trump’s alleged mistresses and media organizations as well as the 2016 campaign. The April raid on Cohen’s home office and hotel – unusual for targeting an attorney – sparked outrage from the president, who called it “an attack on our country.” Cohen, the president’s longtime fixer and personal attorney, was known for his loyalty to Trump, vowing to “take a bullet” for him. But he recently told ABC News’ chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos: “I put family and country first.” PHOTO: ABC News' George Stephanopoulos interviewing Michael Cohen, who was formerly an attorney for President Donald Trump. (ABC News) Cohen has not been charged with a crime. Rudy Giuliani, who is now Trump’s personal attorney, confirmed to ABC News Trump did have a discussion with Cohen before the election but he said that the payment to McDougal that was being discussed was never made. Giuliani also said the recording in question is less than 2 minutes long. The payment, as ABC News has previously reported, was made to McDougal by AMI. “Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani said to ABC News. “In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” he said. McDougal, who was Playmate of the Month in December 1997 and Playmate of the Year in 1998, alleges that she had a 10-month romantic affair with Trump in 2006. After being silent for more than a decade, McDougal started speaking about it earlier this year, first opening up in an interview with The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow in February. PHOTO: Karen McDougal, Playboy Playmate of the Year 1998 attend Playboy's Super Saturday Night Party presented by Bacardi at Sagamore Hotel, Feb. 6, 2010, in Miami Beach, Fla. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Bacardi) McDougal told CNN's Anderson Cooper in March that her first intimate encounter with Trump came in June 2006, soon after she met the New York real-estate tycoon at the Playboy mansion during a taping there of his reality series, "The Apprentice." At the time, Trump had recently married the now-first lady Melania Trump, and the couple had an infant son. "I was attracted to him," McDougal said. "He's a nice looking man. I liked his charisma." (MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Michael Cohen says family and country, not President Trump, is his 'first loyalty' (MORE: Donald Trump's alleged affair with Playboy model reveals 'systemic' pattern of concealing stories, says Ronan Farrow) (MORE: Who is Karen McDougal, the ex-Playboy Playmate who allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump?) (MORE: Ex-Playboy model on alleged Trump affair: 'Somebody's lying, and I can tell you, it's not me' In March, McDougal filed a lawsuit in state court in California, seeking to invalidate a contract she signed with American Media, Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer. In August 2016, AMI purchased the rights to McDougal's story in exchange for $150,000 and a deal for her to write columns and appear on covers of fitness magazines owned by AMI. But AMI never published a story about her alleged affair with Trump. She's alleging in court filings that AMI colluded with her former attorney and Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to purchase her story with the purpose of burying it in advance of the election. AMI has denied the allegations. In the interview with CNN, McDougal claimed that she is a lifelong Republican who voted for Trump and that she has no financial motivation for speaking out. She said she would be willing to return the $150,000 she received from AMI. "I just want my rights back," she told CNN. A White House spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News in February that Trump denies having an affair with the ex-Playboy model: "This is an old story that is just more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal." | |
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| 07-20-18 01:50am - 2364 days | #919 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: President Donald Trump leads a crowd of Neo-Nazi and KKK followers in a flag burning ceremony of the U.S. flag. Trump vows he will fly the Nazi flag over the White House, and tells his followers that now is the time to scourge America and make it Great, White, and Clean Again. His followers chant: "Death to Commies and Liberals and Slime-ball Democrats." (Ignoring that Trump's master is Vladimir Putin, a Commie.) ----------- ----------- American flag burned outside LA office of congresswoman Associated Press CHRISTOPHER WEBER,Associated Press 7 hours ago People place their fists over a burned U.S. flag as they chant slogans outside the Los Angeles office of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Thursday, July 19, 2018, in Los Angeles. A crowd gathered at the field office to counter a protest by a self-styled militia group burned the flag taken from the back of a pickup truck that drove up to the scene. The pickup, with two men who appeared to be white inside, was stopped by the crowd. The crowd opened the doors and a man then grabbed the flag flying on a pole in the bed of the vehicle, which took off. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) LOS ANGELES (AP) — A small crowd that gathered Thursday outside the Los Angeles office of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters to counter an expected protest by a self-styled militia group burned an American flag taken from the back of a pickup truck. The incident happened after the far-right Oath Keepers group didn't appear at the office after saying it would rally against the congresswoman. A group of counter-protesters there to support Waters were chanting "black power" and other slogans when the pickup approached. The vehicle, occupied by two men who appeared to be white, was stopped by the crowd. Some marchers opened the doors and one grabbed the flag flying on a pole in the bed of the truck, which sped off. The flag was stepped on and lit on fire as someone stoked the flames. A few people cheered and someone yelled, "This is not the American flag, this is their flag." No one was injured or arrested. Police wouldn't immediately say whether they were investigating. Attempts to reach a representative for Waters were unsuccessful. The congresswoman, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, sparked anger among conservatives after she called on the public to "push back" on administration officials spotted in public. The Oath Keepers called Waters a "protest terrorist inciter" and said members intended to "stand against terrorism, stand for freedom of speech and association, in support of ICE/Border Patrol as they enforce constitutional immigration laws." The gathering was planned for the early afternoon but police said then that authorities had been informed by Oath Keepers that the demonstration was called off. "The Oath Keepers would like nothing more than to inflame racial tensions and create an explosive conflict in our community," Waters said in a statement a day earlier urging counter-protesters to stay away. A few dozen counter-protesters including union workers, church leaders, South Los Angeles residents and members of activist groups gathered peacefully outside the office at midday. Some held signs proclaiming "Black, brown and labor unity!" and "Resist!" "These people are coming here to cause problems," said Cliff Smith, an organizer with United Union of Roofers Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local No. 36. "Violent right wing groups have no business here." __ Contact Weber at https://twitter.com/WeberCM __ Associated Press photographer Jae Hong contributed to this report. | |
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| 07-19-18 10:45am - 2365 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Wait until Trump pushes a few more conservative judged on the Supreme Court. Then there's a good chance porn might be semi-legal or banned in the USA. After all, if God meant for us to watch porn, he would never have allowed the Christian moral majority (and any other Religious majority) to prosper. Down with porn. Up with prayer books. A clean mind in a clean body is the way to God. | |
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