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lk2fireone (0)
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| 07-18-18 08:40am - 2349 days | #918 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User  Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news (or real news, it's hard to tell the difference any more). Trump changes his tune on North Korea. Says that Putin, his Russian master, will serve as an advisor to the the North Korean process. We are grateful that Putin has agreed to lend his expert help with the North Koreans. Hail Donald Trump, President of the United States. Hail Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, and Trump's best buddy (or maybe master is more accurate). ================ ================ Trump now says no 'time limit' to denuclearize North Korea AFP AFP 13 hours ago US President Donald Trump addressed his ongoing talks with North Korea on Tuesday at the White House (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM) Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump said Tuesday there is no hurry to denuclearize North Korea under his accord with Kim Jong Un -- a shift in tone from when the US leader said the process would start very soon. "Discussions are ongoing and they're going very, very well," Trump told reporters. "We have no time limit. We have no speed limit." Trump said he discussed North Korea with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday at their summit in Helsinki. "President Putin is going to be involved in the sense that he is with us," Trump said. The Republican president met with Kim on June 12 for an unprecedented summit in Singapore during which the North Korean leader pledged to work toward denuclearization of the peninsula. But the accord did not spell out a timetable for the process or say how it would be carried out. Diplomats are now expected to hammer out the details. More than a month later, no concrete progress has been reported and North Korea has complained the Americans are making unilateral demands. Before the Singapore summit, the Trump administration said denuclearization should start "without delay," and after the meeting, it spoke of the process beginning "very quickly." A day after the meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the bulk of North Korea's denuclearization should be completed by the end of Trump's term in 2020. The White House has hailed the summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore as a major breakthrough toward disarming the isolated, nuclear-armed North in exchange for easing of sanctions and other help with economic development. Pompeo met with Kim's key aide this month during his latest trip to Pyongyang but as soon as he left, the North's foreign ministry berated him over his "unilateral and gangster-like" demands. Trump last week signaled optimism however, unveiling a letter from Kim in which the young leader hailed the "start of a meaningful journey" and tweeting "Great progress being made!" | |
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| 07-18-18 08:16am - 2349 days | #917 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: The US Government spent over $68,000 at Trump's Turnberry Resort during his weekend stay. In addition to government money spent, Trump also did free advertising for the resort, which he owns. Both are violations of the law that says a sitting president should not profit personally from his personal business ties, according to the US Constitution. So is Trump breaking the law? Trump says he is enjoying the fruits of his labors. Trump's critics say he is breaking the law. And who believes a Trump employee, who states that the US government was only charged cost for services rendered? ------------ ------------ U.S. Government Spent Over $60,000 at President Trump's Turnberry Resort During His Visit Money Alix Langone,Money 14 hours ago Trump has still yet to fully divest from his company. The U.S. federal government spent more than $60,000 to house the President and his staff at Trump’s Scottish Turnberry golf resort last weekend. According to Scottish newspaper The Scotsman, which claims to have seen the records, the State Department made payments to SLC Turnberry Limited of more than $68,000 to cover expenses incurred on the trip. The total cost is not known. While the amount itself is not unusual for an international presidential trip, the federal funds used to pay for it typically do not go to a business owned by a sitting president, especially one who has yet to fully divest from the company which owns the resort. In addition to the payments, President Donald Trump also attained what essentially amounts to free advertising for Turnberry. In his now-infamous interview with British tabloid The Sun — during which he criticized Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of Brexit — Trump referenced his luxury resort, calling it a “magical” place and one of his favorite places. He played two rounds of golf while staying at Turnberry, according to the Scotsman. Playing there marked his 169th day of playing golf as the president. Ethics watchdog groups have expressed concern over the questionable decision to stay at one of his own hotels on a government trip. “I view this as kind of a forced subsidy of an infomercial for his properties,” Norman Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics told the New York Times. “He’s attempting to utilize his trip to get beneficial PR.” Despite Trump showing off his Turnberry property on the international stage, financial records show it has not been profitable since Trump purchased it in 2014, the Times reported. According to the Scotsman, the Turnberry luxury resort lost $23 million in 2016 alone. A chief compliance officer at the Trump Organization by the name of George Sorial reportedly told the Scotsman that, “For United States government patronage, our hotels charge room rates only at cost and we do not profit from these stays.” | |
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| 07-18-18 07:00am - 2349 days | #916 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Trump is cleared of all wrong-doing. Secret tapes show it's the slime-ball Democrats who allowed Russia to interfere in the Presidential election. So not only is Obama guilty of treason, when he allowed Russia illegal access to the election, but Trump is a righteous man of great integrity, who allowed Obama to stay out of prison, because Trump is a Christian who forgives his enemies. Hail Trump, leader for life of the greatest country on Earth. ---------- ---------- Donald Trump and the tangled tale of the tapes Jerry Adler and Hunter Walker 3 hours ago Yahoo News photo Illustration; photos: AP, Getty When Donald Trump gets in one of his frequent jams, caught between his own words and the truth, he likes to allude to the existence of tapes that will exonerate him. He did it in his confrontation with former FBI director James Comey over what was said in their private Oval Office meeting, leading to Comey’s famous expostulation to Congress: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes!” (There weren’t.) He did it just last week, disputing a British newspaper’s account of him insulting Prime Minister Teresa May, offering to supply reporters with tapes of the interview “for your enjoyment if you’d like it.” (The White House never followed up when Yahoo News requested the tapes, and the newspaper in question, the Sun, eventually released a clip that seemed to show Trump had said exactly what had been reported.) In fact, tapes (audio and video) have more often gotten Trump into trouble than out of it. There was, of course, the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that nearly derailed his campaign one month before the election. There is (or isn’t) the rumored “pee tape” of Trump with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room during his brief visit there in 2013, a recording supposedly in the possession of Russian intelligence, which in some people’s minds explains his otherwise inexplicable deference to Vladimir Putin. There are countless hours of outtakes from his 14-year run as host of “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice” in which he either did or did not say or do something reprehensible. While there’s no evidence for all or most of these recordings, the potential that they do exist supplied the premise for an upcoming television show in which comedian Tom Arnold details his search for compromising Trump clips. One thing Arnold almost certainly won’t find is a tape of the private conversation Trump had with Putin in Helsinki Monday. The two presidents met for more than two hours with only their translators present, and only those four know what was said — unless, as former CIA Director John Brennan suspects, Russian intelligence was listening in. “I think whatever Trump said in that meeting is now memorialized on Russian tape and will be used as necessary by Putin against Trump,” Brennan said in an appearance on “Morning Joe” Tuesday morning. Putin’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and the ongoing probe into whether Trump’s team colluded with the Russian mischief makers have brought spycraft into the spotlight in a way that hasn’t been seen since the height of the Cold War. A dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele raised the possibility that the Kremlin possesses embarrassing information about the commander in chief. The question came up at the president’s press conference with Putin when a reporter asked if Moscow has “any compromising material on President Trump or his family.” Putin laughed at the notion, but didn’t explicitly deny the existence of what Russian intelligence — which has a specialty in the sexual and financial blackmail of prominent Westerners — calls “kompromat.” “Yeah, I did hear these rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on Mr. Trump when he was visiting Moscow,” Putin said. “Now, distinguished colleague, let me tell you this: When President Trump was at Moscow back then, I didn’t even know that he was in Moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect. But back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in Moscow.” (That assertion runs contrary to reporting in the book “Russian Roulette,” co-authored by Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff, that Putin had been expected to meet with Trump backstage at the Miss Universe pageant and canceled at the last minute.) If Trump does find himself caught on secret recordings, it would represent one of his favorite weapons turned against him. During his real estate career, Trump earned a reputation for surreptitiously taping his employees and associates. Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen also was rumored to record his conversations for him and his client, for potential use as leverage. And Arnold and others have suggested that Cohen’s recordings could come back to haunt Trump since they likely fell into the possession of Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Trump’s relationship with Russia. Trump has also demonstrated a preoccupation with the possibility that others are taping him — most famously last year when he tweeted that “Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,” a claim it took the Justice Department six months to debunk. In fact, he reportedly didn’t even want White House stenographers to do their job of recording and transcribing his conversations with reporters, according to one who worked in both the Obama and Trump administrations. A deputy White House press secretary “told my colleague we would need to keep our microphones far away from the president’s face,” Beck Dorey-Stein wrote in the New York Times Tuesday. If Trump is so averse to being taped, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham had a warning for him: that Putin, a former KGB agent, could have taken advantage of the summit to plant a bug with the president. He suggested Trump should get rid of a World Cup souvenir Putin presented to him with during their meeting on Monday. “Finally, if it were me, I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House,” Graham wrote on Twitter. | |
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| 07-17-18 07:21pm - 2350 days | #297 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Thanks, Amanda, for listing nakety. It seems like a small site, so I will wait for it to grow a bit before I join. | |
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| 07-15-18 08:10pm - 2352 days | #915 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
This news article proves that cops should not carry guns. Guns can be used to kill innocent people. And even a cop can be killed with a gun. So cops should not carry guns, and that will lower the death rate of cops and civilians killed by guns. As for Neo-Nazi Trump, he should not be allowed to carry a gun, or have the legal power to fire nuclear weapons. Trump is in the early stages of alzheimer's, which explains why he is attacking our allies and playing friendly with hostile competitors like Russia, China, and North Korea. If Trump were a horse, he would be ready for the glue factory. Instead, Americans have voted him President. Sad day for America. ---------- ---------- U.S. Police officer, bystander die from gunshot wounds Associated Press SARAH BETANCOURT,Associated Press 5 hours ago BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts police officer and bystander died Sunday from wounds sustained when a suspect allegedly took the officer's gun and fired following a vehicle crash and a foot chase. Weymouth officer Michael Chesna was shot multiple times by his own firearm around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, and died from the injuries at South Shore Hospital, officials said. An unidentified elderly woman also died after being hit by stray bullets in a nearby home, authorities said. Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes said the shooting suspect, 20-year-old Emanuel Lopes, was in custody. Weymouth is located approximately 16 miles (26 kilometers) south of Boston on what is known as the South Shore. Police say the suspect crashed a car, fled the scene, and was later discovered by Chesna allegedly vandalizing a home. Prosecutors say that's when he attacked Chesna with a rock to the head. Chesna fell to the ground, and officials say, Lopes took the officer's gun and shot Chesna multiple times in the head and chest. Lopes then fled and fired more shots during a chase. Police say one of those shots fatally struck the woman in her home. Lopes suffered a leg wound while being arrested and is hospitalized at South Shore Hospital. He will be arraigned on two counts of homicide on Monday, at either his bedside or in court. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said on Twitter that his thoughts were with the families of the officer and bystander. "I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Officer Chesna and an innocent bystander today and my thoughts and prayers are with their families, loved ones and the @WeymouthPD after this tragic loss," Baker tweeted. Grimes described Chesna as a 42-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 4 and 9. Chesna was from Weymouth and graduated in 1994 from Weymouth High School. "I hired Mike Chesna six years ago tomorrow," Grimes said. Grimes said he had spoken to Chesna's mother and she said her son joined the military "to open the doors to get in this job." "He always had a kind word and a good attitude ... we very much appreciated his service to the Weymouth Police Department," said Grimes, describing the overnight shifts and traffic division duties Chesna held. Chesna's body was removed from the hospital and transported via procession of multiple law enforcement agencies to the state's medical examiner office in Boston, where he will be evaluated. Dozens of police, some tight-lipped and others crying, somberly saluted the vehicle carrying the officer's body, and mourners placed bouquets by the Weymouth Police Headquarters, now draped in black bunting. The Norfolk District Attorney's Office says it cannot release more information on the suspect's "past court involvement " prior to court Monday. Law enforcement groups as close as the Boston Police Department and as far as Maine are taking to social media to express their sadness. Massachusetts State Police Colonel Kerry Gilpin offered her condolences for the "horrific crimes," and said the State Police Crime Lab "will work tirelessly alongside District Attorney Morrissey and the Weymouth Police Department to speak for those two victims by holding the defendant accountable." | |
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| 07-15-18 02:53am - 2352 days | #914 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The FBI, the CIA, and other spy agencies in the US are full of corruption and graft. President Trump needs to clean the swamp in Washington. Throw the corrupt agents in prison: at the very least, fire them from their cushy jobs. Make America great again. -------- -------- Politics Republicans 'preparing to impeach deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein' after 12 Russians indicted over election meddling The Independent Emily Shugerman,The Independent 13 hours ago Republicans in the House are reportedly preparing an effort to impeach deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, the man overseeing the special counsel's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus have drafted an impeachment filing for Mr Rosenstein and are planning to introduce it as early as Monday, according to Politico. Republicans have long accused Mr Rosenstein of stalling their attempts to investigate the FBI’s probes of President Donald Trump’s campaign team and election rival Hillary Clinton’s private email server. News of the impeachment filing came as Mr Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian military officials for federal crimes during the 2016 election on Friday – a major development in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Democrats claim the Republicans are using the threat of impeachment to undermine Mr Mueller’s probe, which Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised as a politically motivated witch hunt. Mr Rosenstein took over supervision of the probe – which also concerns possible obstruction of justice by Mr Trump – after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself last March. Republicans, meanwhile, say the deputy attorney general is deliberately stonewalling their investigations of possible FBI bias. The House passed a measure last month demanding access to thousands of FBI documents related to the Russia investigation and the Clinton email probe. The White House also waded into the fray, ordering the Department of Justice on Monday to give legislators access to classified information about an informant the FBI used in its investigation of the Trump campaign, according to the New York Times. Republican such as Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, and Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan threatened to impeach Mr Rosenstein in April over similar complaints. Experts said at the time that impeachment was unlikely, as it would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate, where Republicans have a slim 51-49 majority. Mr Rosenstein defended himself in a public hearing last week against accusations by Mr Jordan that he was hiding information from Congress. "Your use of this to attack me personally is deeply wrong," Mr Rosenstein told Mr Jordan at the hearing. "When you find some problem with the production or with questions, it doesn't mean that I'm personally trying to conceal something from you." Announcing the indictment of the Russian officials on Friday, Mr Rosenstein accused members of the military unit known as GRU of monitoring computers, implanting malicious computer code, and stealing emails from Democratic organisations and the Clinton campaign during the 2016 election. The Mueller probe has so far resulted in indictments or guilty pleas from 32 people and three Russian companies, according to a Wall Street Journal tally. | |
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| 07-14-18 11:00pm - 2352 days | #913 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Donald Trump makes a confession: the Russian hacks during the President campaign happened during Obama's presidency. Therefore, Obama is to blame for the Russian hacks. Obama should be put in jail, for his crimes. And Donald Trump is completely innocent. ----------- ----------- Obama to blame for Russian hacking response: Trump "The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration," Trump tweeted. CBS/AP July 14, 2018, 9:26 AM Trump responds to Russian hacking indictment by blaming Obama administration Last Updated Jul 14, 2018 10:02 AM EDT President Trump on Saturday blamed the Obama administration for not responding aggressively enough to Russian hacking of Democratic targets in the 2016 U.S. election — cyberattacks underpinning the indictment announced Friday of 12 Russian military intelligence officers. Mr. Trump's first personal response to special counsel Robert Mueller's initial charges against Russian government officials for interfering in American politics came in tweets the president posted while at his golf resort in Scotland, two days before a high-stakes summit in Finland with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Mr. Trump said he will bring up election meddling with the foreign president. On Saturday morning, Mr. Trump referred to the detailed, 29-page indictment of Russian intelligence officials from his own government as "stories." "The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration," Trump tweeted. "Why didn't they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?" When he has seemed to suggest acknowledgement of Russian meddling in the past, Mr. Trump has also blamed Obama for failing to do enough. The Saturday tweet follows a statement from the White House Friday that honed in on the fact that the indictment charges no Americans and does not claim the vote count was changed by the alleged meddling, while failing to condemn the Russians or hacking itself. "As Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said today: 'There is no allegation in this indictment that Americans knew that they were corresponding with Russians. There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime. There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result,'" Deputy White House Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement Friday. The indictment said the Russians hacked into Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic Party and released tens of thousands of private communications as part of a broad conspiracy by the Kremlin to meddle in an American election. U.S. intelligence agencies have said Moscow was aiming to help the Trump campaign and harm Clinton's bid. The indictments were announced Friday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as part of the ongoing special counsel probe into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. The 29-page indictment lays out how, months before Americans voted in November 2016, Russians schemed to break into key Democratic email accounts, including those belonging to Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Stolen emails, many politically damaging for Clinton, appeared on WikiLeaks in the campaign's final stretch. Mueller did not allege that Trump campaign associates were involved in the hacking effort, that Americans were knowingly in touch with Russian intelligence officers or that any vote tallies were altered by hacking. Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism about Russian involvement in the hacking while being accused by Democrats of cozying up to Putin. Trump, hours before the indictment was made public, complained about the Russia investigation hours, saying the "stupidity" was making it "very hard to do something with Russia." The Kremlin denied anew that it tried to sway the election. "The Russian state has never interfered and has no intention of interfering in the U.S. elections," said Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. The indictment identifies the defendants as officers with Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, also known as GRU. If that link is established, it would shatter the Kremlin denials of the Russian state's involvement in the U.S. elections, given that the GRU is part of the state machine. The Russian defendants are not in custody, and it is not clear they will ever appear in an American court. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia. The indictment accuses the Russian hackers, starting in March 2016, of covertly monitoring the computers of dozens of Democratic officials and volunteers, implanting malicious computer code known as malware to explore the networks and steal data, and sending phishing emails to gain access to accounts. One attempt at interference came hours after Trump, in a July 27, 2016, speech, suggested Russians look for emails that Clinton said she had deleted from her tenure as secretary of state. "Russia, if you're listening," Trump said, "I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing." That evening, the indictment says, the Russians attempted to break into email accounts used by Clinton's personal office, along with 76 Clinton campaign email addresses. By June 2016, the defendants, relying on fictional personas such as DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, began planning the release of tens of thousands of stolen emails, the indictment alleges. The Podesta emails published by WikiLeaks displayed the campaign's private communications, including deliberations about messaging that played into attacks that Clinton was calculating and a political flip-flopper. Private speeches she gave to financial industry firms were particularly damaging within the left wing of the Democratic party and among independents frustrated with the influence of Wall Street in politics. The indictment alleges that Guccifer 2.0 was in touch with multiple Americans in the summer of 2016 about the pilfered material, including an unidentified congressional candidate who requested and then received stolen information. On Aug. 15, 2016, the indictment says, Guccifer 2.0 reached out to someone in contact with the Trump campaign and asked the person if they had seen anything "interesting in the docs I posted?" Guccifer 2.0 said it would be a "great pleasure" to help. Prosecutors say weeks later, Guccifer 2.0 referred to a stolen DCCC document posted online and asked the person, "what do u think of the info on the turnout model for the democrats entire presidential campaign." The person responded, "(p)retty standard." The indictment doesn't identify the person, though longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone acknowledged Friday, through his lawyer, a "24-word exchange with someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0." "This exchange is now entirely public and provides no evidence of collaboration or collusion with Guccifer 2.0 or anyone else in the alleged hacking of the DNC emails," said lawyer Grant Smith. The charges come as Mueller continues to investigate potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Before Friday, 20 people and three companies had been charged in the investigation. Defendants include four former Trump campaign and White House aides, three of whom have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate, and 13 Russians accused in a powerful social media campaign to sway U.S. public opinion in 2016. Mr. Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said on Twitter that it was time to end the investigation since "no Americans are involved" in Friday's indictment. But with Mueller still investigating, it's not known whether further indictments are taking shape or will. On Saturday, top state election officials are meeting in Philadelphia to discuss cybersecurity concerns as a part of their annual meeting. The meeting comes in between Friday's indictment and Monday's Trump-Putin meeting. Some Democrats have called on Mr. Trump to cancel the summit, if he can't hold Putin accountable. Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Mr. Trump shouldn't be meeting with Putin one-on-one. "There should be no one-on-one meeting between this president and Mr. Putin. There needs to be other Americans in the room," Warner told reporters Friday. ___ Colvin reported from Glasgow, Scotland. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Richard Lardner, Desmond Butler and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report. | |
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| 07-13-18 11:19am - 2354 days | #912 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I am starting a Go-Fund-Me Campaign with a goal of $1 million US dollars. The aim is to be able to attend Sean Spicer's book launch. The price of tickets runs from $30 to $1,000. But I also need first class air tickets. Plus, whatever else is needed for contributions for graft and donations to the Neo-Nazi Donald Trump foundation to support his family in the style they are accustomed to after Trump is forced to leave the White House (from impeachment, jail, retirement, whatever). I do not believe that Donald Trump himself will be at the book siging. But if my Go-Fund-Me score hits $20 million or more, and Trump hears of this, then he might be tempted to attend, if I can promise him a $15 million donation to his favorite charity, which is himself. His second-favorite charity is to his family. No need to donate to Trump's friends, because they can grab enough graft for themselves. ----------- ----------- Politics This Is the Most Embarrassing Audience Ever to Witness a Book Launch, Period Esquire Charles P. Pierce,Esquire Thu, Jul 12 7:31 AM PDT Photo credit: Getty Images From Esquire It is 2018. Everything is weird and awful. From CNN: Organizers are selling tickets for the former White House press secretary's July 24 launch event, with prices starting at $30 and going up to as much as $1,000. Imagine explaining to your spouse and/or partner that you just dropped a grand out of the house account to go to Sean Spicer’s book event. For that price, Spicey better bring his own shrubbery to hide in. But, there’s more, isn’t there, Ghost of Johnny Olson? In addition to food and drinks, the event will feature a question and answer session with Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich, during which, according to the event's online description, Spicer will talk about "becoming an author, his days in the White House, and lessons learned." Prospective attendees are being directed to a website where they are presented with four ticket options: "Press Corp" for $30 which includes admission and a copy of Spicer's book, "The Briefing: Politics, the Press and the President"; "Assistant Press Secretary" for $250 which includes two tickets and signed books; "Deputy Press Secretary" for $500 which includes two tickets, admission to a VIP reception, and signed books; and "Press Secretary (Host Committee)" for $1,000 which includes being part of the host committee, four tickets, personalized books, and admission to the VIP reception. Wow. A chance to watch noted philosopher and public intellectual Katie Pavlich ask Sean Spicer questions! And the VIP reception! More high-end wingnuts than a MAACO outlet. Photo credit: Getty Images And, for your $1,000, you can hear Spicer create the chicken salad of poetry out of the chicken shit of his former job. The Guardian has excerpts. “I don’t think we will ever again see a candidate like Donald Trump,” Spicer writes. “His high-wire act is one that few could ever follow. He is a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow. His verbal bluntness involves risks that few candidates would dare take. His ability to pivot from a seemingly career-ending moment to a furious assault on his opponents is a talent few politicians can muster.” A unicorn, riding a unicorn, over a rainbow? A thousand bucks to see the lead singer in a Moody Blues tribute band? Everything is weird and awful. | |
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| 07-13-18 10:56am - 2354 days | #911 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Even if there is not sufficient evidence yet to convict Donald Trump as a Russian spy and operative, the FBI should place Donald Trump and his associates, including Mike Pence, in jail, while they work to determine how much damage Trump has done to the United States of America. At the least, Trump is guilty of using the office of President to enrich himself and his family. That is a crime punishable by both Federal and State laws. Enough is enough. Put Trump and his crooked allies in jail. Remember the chant: Crooked Hilary? Well, Trump is a bigger crook than Hilary ever was. --------- --------- New Mueller indictments reveal that congressional candidate requested stolen documents from Russian hackers in 2016 Joe Perticone 2m WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 13: U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (C) holds a news conference at the Department of Justice July 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. Rosenstein announced indictments against 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking computers used by the Democratic National Committee, the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other organizations. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images A candidate for Congress asked Russian hackers to provide documents on their campaign's opponent during the 2016 election. The allegation was revealed in a series of indictments against 12 Russian operatives by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday. WASHINGTON — When Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced on Friday the indictment of 12 Russian government operatives, the charges revealed that a candidate for the United States Congress requested information and documents on their campaign's opponent during the 2016 election. In the indictment, which became the latest development in the special counsel investigation headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, described the details of the transaction. "Between in or around June 2016 and October 2016, the Conspirators used Guccifer 2.0 to release documents through WordPress that they had stolen from the DCCC and DNC," the indictment read. "The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0,also shared stolen documents with certain individuals." "On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress," the charges added. "The Conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent." The indictment does not name the candidate for Congress or allude to whether or not they won their election months later. The party primaries would have been wrapped by August of 2016, hinting strongly that the individual who requested hacked documents from senior Russian military operatives was a Republican. The additional 12 indictments on Friday are yet another milestone in the ongoing investigation by Mueller and his team. So far, two dozen Russians have been indicted, while several others have faced charges for other crimes, including Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman and Michael Flynn, the Trump White House's former national security adviser. | |
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| 07-13-18 05:26am - 2354 days | #910 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump is forced to tell the truth. And put aside his modesty for a brief moment. Trump admits he is the most popular person in GOP history: "I beat our Honest Abe." Honest Abe, for those who do not know, is Abraham Lincoln, considered one of the most important Presidents in United States history. My guess is that Donald Trump considers himself the greatest, and most important President the United States has ever had, or will ever have. And if Trump is able to change the Constitution and the laws of the land, and make himself President/Dictator for Life of the United States of Trumpland, that idea might hold some truth. ----------- ----------- Trump brags he’s the most popular person in GOP history: ‘I beat our Honest Abe’ HuffPost US Ed Mazza Jul 13th 2018 4:49AM President Donald Trump claims he’s now more popular than President Abraham Lincoln. “You know, a poll just came out that I am the most popular person in the history of the Republican Party,” he boasted in an interview with the British tabloid The Sun. “Beating Lincoln. I beat our Honest Abe.” It’s not clear what poll Trump was referring to, but he made a similar claim on Twitter earlier this week: A Gallup poll found that 90 percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s job performance. However, as the New York Times noted, President George W. Bush was even more popular among Republicans at this point in his first term, buoyed by post-9/11 unity. Gallup had Bush in the mid- to high-90s among Republicans through much of 2002, peaking at 98 percent at multiple points. There were no polls during Lincoln’s time in office. Trump, who is currently in the United Kingdom, also claimed to be very popular there. “But the people of the UK, and I’ll bet if you had an honest poll, I’d be very strong,” Trump said. “They want the same thing I want. I love the U.K.” A YouGov poll conducted for ITV found that 77 percent of Brits have an unfavorable view of Trump. And in what may be another sign of his unpopularity, an anti-Trump social media campaign caused the 2004 Green Day song “American Idiot” to surge in popularity. According to USA Today, the tune is currently at #18 on the pop charts and #1 on Amazon’s British bestseller list. But it’s Trump claims about Lincoln that received attention on Twitter: This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-12-18 03:16am - 2355 days | #909 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Neo-Nazi Trump reveals his desperation. His followers have arrested Stormy Daniels, the stripper who confessed to having a sexual relationship with Trump. Can Trump have Stormy Daniels buried or murdered in jail? While the whole world watches? Except that people die in jail, and the cops usually give a story that the people were suicidal, or that the cops did everything to help the people before they died. Cops are humane people. To serve and to protect is their motto. That is why cops have the right to shoot to kill unarmed civilians. Because the civilians are a danger to the cops. But, getting back to Stormy Daniels, does Trump have the right to have Stormy Daniels arrested on bogus charges? Yes, if you are a Trump follower, who believes that Trump has the right to grab women by their pussies. No, if you think Trump is a Neo-Nazi lying slime-ball, who is dragging America down into the swamp he promised to clean. Trump, the slime-ball Neo-Nazi swamp creature from hell. (What a great title for an upcoming movie.) --------------- --------------- Lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels says she was arrested AFP AFP 3 hours ago Adult film actress Stormy Daniels speaks outside US Federal Court in New York with her lawyer Michael Avenatti in April (AFP Photo/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ) Washington (AFP) - Adult film star Stormy Daniels, locked in a court battle with President Donald Trump over their alleged affair, was arrested Wednesday while performing at a strip club in what her lawyer described as a "politically motivated" setup. Daniels was arrested at a club in Columbus, Ohio while performing an act she has done at nearly 100 strip clubs across America, Michael Avenatti wrote on Twitter. He said Daniels was arrested for allegedly allowing a customer to touch her in a non-sexual way while on stage. "This was a setup & politically motivated. It reeks of desperation. We will fight all bogus charges," Avenatti wrote. "They are devoting law enforcement resources to sting operations for this? There has to be higher priorities!!!," he added. Avenatti said in a later tweet that he expects Daniels to be released on bail "shortly" and charged with a misdemeanor for "touching." "We will vehemently contest all charges," he wrote. Daniels -- real name Stephanie Clifford -- is suing Trump and his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen to nullify a 2016 non-disclosure agreement preventing her from speaking out about the affair she says she had with Trump in 2006. Just days before the 2016 election, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence. She is hoping to have the non-disclosure agreement thrown out on the grounds that it is not valid because Trump never signed it. Through White House officials, Trump has denied the affair, although Cohen has admitted paying Daniels $130,000 as part of the agreement. He initially said he used his own money to pay Daniels and was not reimbursed by Trump. However, Trump -- who initially denied knowledge of the payment -- subsequently conceded that Cohen was in fact reimbursed. | |
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| 07-11-18 08:33pm - 2356 days | #908 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
A sporting goods assistant manager was fired because he helped catch a suspect trying to steal a gun. The manager's mistake: he violated store policy which prohibits employees from placing their hands on customers while they’re in the store. To policy is meant to reduce lawsuits against the store. Even though the suspect was trying to steal a handgun and ammunition, the assistant manager was fired. Maybe the assistant manager should have been a reservist cop. In that case, he could have shot the thief dead, and claimed self-defense. And the police union would have backed him up. And the police union would have helped sue the store for firing a cop doing his job. ------------ ------------ Florida 6 hours ago Academy Sports manager fired weeks after intercepting gun thief suspect in Florida store, lawyer says Elizabeth Zwirz By Elizabeth Zwirz | Fox News Dean Crouch, a sporting goods store employee who last month helped catch a suspect allegedly trying to steal a weapon, was suspended and later lost his job at the Florida business following the incident, his lawyer said. Dean Crouch, a sporting goods store employee who last month helped catch a suspect allegedly trying to steal a weapon, was suspended and later lost his job at the Florida business following the incident, his lawyer said. (Ryan Hobbs) A sporting goods store employee, who last month helped catch a suspect allegedly trying to swipe a weapon, was suspended and later lost his job at the Florida business following the incident, his lawyer said. Dean Crouch, 32, was working at the Academy Sports store in Tallahassee on June 29 when robbery suspect Jason White allegedly tried to steal a gun, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. After White reportedly tried to flee with the stolen firearm he’d requested to see, Crouch stepped in and ultimately detained him. Crouch, an assistant manager at the store, was nearby when the incident occurred and heard employees yelling "stop that guy," his attorney, Ryan Hobbs, told Fox News. While police made their way to the scene, the suspect was relocated to an office at the business, he said. Hobbs said the suspect had attempted to make off with a .40 caliber handgun and matching ammunition. The Tallahassee Police Department, who arrested the suspect, wrote on Facebook that “employees detained a man who tried to run out of the store with a firearm, ammunition, and a backpack, which were stolen from the business.” The suspect also allegedly stole two weapons from a pawn shop earlier the same day, police said. Hobbs claimed his client was placed on suspension in the days after the incident amid a policy that prohibits employees from placing their hands on customers while they’re in the store. Crouch lost his job on Tuesday, he said, adding that his client had been “suspended and terminated for preventing this thief from stealing this weapon.” “Academy has decided to, instead of treating him like a hero he is, they terminated his employment effective immediately because he put his hands on Mr. White,” Hobbs told the Tallahassee Democrat. Left without a job, Hobbs told Fox News that Crouch – who has a wife and two small children – put their home up for sale as “a direct result of him losing his job at Academy Sports.” “They’re just scared,” he said. A representative for Academy Sports did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. But company spokeswoman Elise Hasbrook told the Democrat that Academy’s treatment of the former employee’s conduct, as well as his eventual firing, complied with company policy. “While the incident ended without injury, actions inconsistent with corporate policies were taken,” she told the outlet. “We addressed the matter with the local store and individuals involved.” Hobbs told Fox News that they are “exploring” their “options” but at this point, no lawsuit has been filed. At the moment, he said they’re more concerned with “trying to protect his rights” and finding him a new job. Hobbs also told the Democrat that Academy’s policy might warrant a reexamination. “My instincts tell me they are concerned more about people like Mr. White suing them for being stopped in the course of a theft than they are about rewarding or acknowledging in a positive manner that Mr. Crouch may have saved lives,” he told the outlet. | |
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| 07-11-18 08:17pm - 2356 days | #907 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
President Trump picked a fine choice for the Supreme Court. A man who does not believe in rules limiting harmful emissions. It costs too much to force auto companies to make cars that allow people to breathe more easily. Instead, it's cheaper to let people die or go to the hospital if the air they breathe is harmful. ------------ ------------ Supreme Court July 9, 2018 / 10:04 PM / 2 days ago Supreme Court nominee has been a foe of emissions rules Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brett Kavanaugh, nominated on Monday to be a Supreme Court justice by U.S. President Donald Trump, is a long-time skeptic of business regulations, especially on rules limiting harmful emissions, although he has called global warming an “urgent” issue. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is seen in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 9, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Bourg If confirmed by the Senate, the 53-year-old conservative judge, who is well known in Washington legal circles, could serve for decades and have a major say over environmental regulations issued by future presidents, long after Trump has left office. Michael Brune, president of the Sierra Club, an environmental activist group, said Kavanaugh is “an extreme ideologue who has time and again proven himself hostile to common-sense environmental safeguards.” A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006, Kavanaugh often hears challenges to regulations brought by business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. In line with the views of White House Counsel Don McGahn, who led the Supreme Court nominee selection process, Kavanaugh has questioned environmental regulations issued by former Democratic President Barack Obama and the legal reach of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “The selection of Judge Kavanaugh shows that the Trump administration is serious about taming the administrative state,” said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Last year, Kavanaugh wrote a ruling that struck down a rule regulating hydrofluorocarbons used in spray cans and air conditioners. Scientists say they contribute to climate change. Hydrofluorocarbon manufacturers including Mexichem Fluor Inc, a unit of Mexichem SAB de CV (MEXCHEM.MX) and Arkema Inc, part of Arkema SA (AKE.PA), were part of a coalition that challenged the regulation. “However much we might sympathize or agree with EPA’s policy objectives, EPA may act only within the boundaries of its statutory authority,” Kavanaugh wrote. Companies that supported the regulation, including Honeywell International Inc (HON.N), last month filed court papers asking the Supreme Court to reinstate it. If Kavanaugh were confirmed as a Supreme Court justice and the hydrofluorocarbon case came to the court, he would be recused. No other major emissions case is clearly headed for the Supreme Court’s docket in its next term beginning in October, but Kavanaugh’s record could shape future cases. In 2012, he disagreed with the Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold the Obama administration’s first efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The regulations were challenged by business groups and energy companies such as Alpha Natural Resources Inc (APNR.PK), which went through a bankruptcy in 2015, and Massey Energy Co, later bought by Alpha. When the court refused to reconsider its ruling, Kavanaugh dissented, saying the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had exceeded its authority in seeking to regulate carbon emissions under a specific EPA program. He stopped short of saying that agency could not regulate greenhouse gas emissions altogether, however. “The task of dealing with global warming is urgent and important,” he wrote. The conservative Supreme Court majority in 2014 agreed with Kavanaugh on the point he raised in the case, although it upheld most of the Obama regulations. In another environmental case, Kavanaugh in 2014 criticized the Obama administration for not considering the costs of a rule limiting emissions of mercury and other hazardous pollutants, mainly from coal-fired power plants. Peabody Energy Corp (BTU.N), a major coal producer, was among companies opposing the regulation. “To be sure, EPA could conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs. But the problem here is that EPA did not even consider the costs,” Kavanaugh wrote. Again, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court later agreed, ruling in 2015 on a 5-4 vote that the Obama administration should have considered compliance costs. Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh & Kim Coghill | |
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| 07-11-18 07:46pm - 2356 days | #906 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Neo-Nazi Trump and his followers rejoice in tearing immigrant families apart. Claim that his Neo-Nazi followers are behaving with great generosity by putting the children in cages. Racist Neo-Nazi Trump, the most corrupt President in US history. But he has plenty of Republicans who support his Neo-Nazi policies. My question: why isn't Trump and his administration facing criminal charges for many of the corrupt and illegal acts they have done? --------- --------- HHS secretary: Separating immigrant families is ‘one of the great acts of American generosity’ Secretary Azar boasted of the Trump administration's abusive policy, claiming his department had nothing to hide. Rebekah Entralgo Jul 11, 2018, 10:45 am HHS secretary Alex Azar says separating immigrant families is "one of the great acts of American generosity."(Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images) HHS secretary Alex Azar says separating immigrant families is "one of the great acts of American generosity."(Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images) The same day the federal government missed a court-imposed deadline to reunite roughly 84 children under the age of 5 with their families — after being forcibly separated from them at the U.S.-Mexico border — Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar appeared on CNN to defend how his agency has handled the recent immigration crisis. “We have nothing to hide about how we operate these facilities,” Azar told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Tuesday night, referring to the juvenile and “tender age” facilities in which many of the separated children are currently being detained, which HHS officials have barred media outlets and public figures from filming or visiting unannounced. Advertisement Speaking to the conditions in which the children are being held, he added, “It is one of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we are doing for these unaccompanied kids.” Azar appeared to be using an incorrect term for children forcibly removed from their families at the border; typically, the term “unaccompanied” refers to those children who arrive at the border alone or without a parent or guardian present. The act of separating 3,000 children from their parents — HHS’ latest estimate for the number of minors in their care — is hardly generous. As many experts have noted, doing so can be deeply traumatic for the child and can cause long-lasting damage to their mental health. Last month, several media outlets published leaked footage and audio of some of those detention centers, in which children can be heard wailing and sobbing for their parents. “We have an orchestra here,” one border official is overheard saying in audio obtained by ProPublica, mocking the crying children. In audio from a phone call given to Vice News, another detained child cries to his mother, who is on the other end of the line, in Guatemala. “Everytime I go to sleep, I pray for you,” he says. The Trump administration has also had trouble keeping tabs on the families it separated at the border. Earlier in June, after President Trump signed an executive order reversing the family separation practice he himself had implemented as part of a broader “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, a federal judge in San Diego instructed the administration to reunite separated children with their parents within 30 days, or 14 days for children under the age of 5. However, during a conference call Friday afternoon, government officials requested an extension of that deadline, admitting to a federal judge that they had lost track of 20 percent of separated toddlers’ parents and would be unable to reunite them with their children by the July 10 cut-off. In a follow-up call Monday, during which the judge declined to offer an extension, administration officials further admitted they had only reunited four of the 102 children younger than 5 with their families and would not be reuniting 27 of them because their parents had criminal records. As The Daily Beast reported Tuesday, HHS has done the bare minimum to help reunite families, making the parents responsible for their own reunification. According to the outlet, U.S. officials recently told four immigrant women that they must pay for their own DNA tests in order to be reunited with their children, to prove they are, indeed, related. The tests are conducted by a private contractor on behalf of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the care and housing of immigrant children. The Trump administration has only reunited four immigrant kids under the age of 5 with their families, according to a court filing Tuesday afternoon. Officials must prove to a judge that they've reunited a total of 63 by Tuesday night, or made a good faith effort to do so, by the time the court reconvenes on Friday. (Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Trump administration has only reunited four immigrant kids under the age of 5 with their families Contrary to Azar’s claim that the agency has been making sure children are well taken-care of, some HHS shelters housing unaccompanied minors and children separated at the border also have dark histories of abuse. Advertisement As ThinkProgress previously reported, HHS has spent millions placing immigrant children into abusive homes, and some of the “tender age” facilities where the youngest children separated at the border are sent have faced allegations of sexual and physical abuse over the years. A recent ThinkProgress investigation, for instance, found that a shelter for unaccompanied minors, contracted by HHS, currently employs a man with a history of sex crimes. The shelter has also taken in children separated at the border. | |
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| 07-11-18 02:04am - 2356 days | #905 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Students, Alumni Urge Yale Law School's Leadership To Denounce Brett Kavanaugh HuffPost Carla Herreria,HuffPost 3 hours ago Even though Yale Law School published a press release touting the accomplishments of Brett Kavanaugh, its alumnus and President Donald Trump’s new Supreme Court nominee, not everyone at the school is singing his praises. As of Tuesday night, more than 200 students, staff members and alumni of Yale Law School signed an open letter calling for the institution to rescind its apparent support of Kavanaugh. The letter, addressed to the law school’s leadership and Dean Heather Gerken, argued that Kavanaugh, as a possible Supreme Court justice, puts American democracy in danger and called his nomination an “emergency.” “The press release’s focus on the nominee’s professionalism, pedigree, and service to Yale Law School obscures the true stakes of his nomination and raises a disturbing question,” the letter’s authors wrote. “Is there nothing more important to Yale Law School than its proximity to power and prestige?” The letter cited several of Kavanaugh’s past opinions, arguing that his conservative bias would place past Supreme Court rulings at risk. It also claimed Kavanaugh would act as a “rubber stamp for President Trump’s fraud and abuse,” pointing to the judge’s support for expanding presidential power. “At a time when the President and his associates are under investigation for various serious crimes, including colluding with the Russian government and obstructing justice, Judge Kavanaugh’s extreme deference to the Executive poses a direct threat to our democracy,” the letter read. Yale Law School published its press release about Kavanaugh on Monday, shortly after Trump announced he was nominating the Yale alumnus to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Yale Law spokeswoman Jan Conroy did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. Is there nothing more important to Yale Law School than its proximity to power and prestige? Open letter to Yale Law School's leadership Kavanaugh has played a role in major partisan political battles, working with independent counsel Ken Starr to prosecute President Bill Clinton and with President George W. Bush’s legal team during the 2000 election recount. The open letter to Yale Law School argued that Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh is the president’s way of overturning Roe v. Wade and making abortions illegal. The letter pointed to a dissent penned by Kavanaugh, in which the judge denied an undocumented teen the right to seek an abortion while in federal custody in Texas. It also highlighted another dissent written by Kavanaugh that argued the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate violated the rights of religious organizations, “even though those organizations were granted an accommodation that allowed them to opt out of” contraceptive coverage. The letter’s authors said Kavanaugh’s past opinions “give us grave concern that he will consistently prioritize the beliefs of third-parties over the oppressed,” including in cases involving abortion and contraception, and medical care for transgender patients. The students, alumni and staff called on Yale Law School’s leadership to rescind its implied support for Kavanaugh, urging them to find the “moral courage” when there is “so little cost.” “Perhaps you, as an institution and as individuals, will benefit less from Judge Kavanaugh’s ascendent power if you withhold your support,” the authors wrote. “But people will die if he is confirmed. We hope you agree your sacrifice would be worth it.” This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-10-18 09:41am - 2357 days | #904 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Why doesn't Trump just pardon himself for any and all crimes he may have committed before and during his presidency? Of course, he would still be liable for state prosecutions, but with an army of lawyers, and with a conservative Supreme Court on Trump's side, he should be able to ignore any slime-ball Democrat attacks until Trump is dead and buried. Hail Trump, the slime-ball Neo-Nazi President of the United States. The most corrupt President we've ever had, who is the leader of the Christian Moral Majority. ------- ------- Trump pardons ranchers in case that inspired 2016 occupation Associated Press JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER,Associated Press 49 minutes ago It began as a rally in support of Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, who reported to prison on Monday. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned two ranchers whose case sparked the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon. Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted in 2012 of intentionally and maliciously setting fires on public lands. The arson crime carried a minimum prison sentence of five years, but a sympathetic federal judge, on his last day before retirement, decided the penalty was too stiff and gave the father and son much lighter prison terms. Prosecutors won an appeal and the Hammonds were resentenced in October 2015 to serve the mandatory minimum. The decision sparked a protest from Ammon Bundy and dozens of others, who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near the Hammond ranch in southeastern Oregon from Jan. 2 to Feb. 11, 2016, complaining the Hammonds were victims of federal overreach. The armed occupiers changed the refuge's name to the Harney County Resource Center, reflecting their belief that the federal government has only a very limited right to own property within a state's borders. Bundy was arrested during a Jan. 26 traffic stop, effectively ending the protest. Another key occupier, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was fatally shot that day by Oregon State Police. In a statement Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called that decision to resentence the Hammonds "unjust." "The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West," she said. "Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency." The pardons are the latest in a growing list of clemency actions by Trump, who has been using his pardon power with increasingly frequency in recent months. Trump has been especially pleased with news coverage of his actions, which included commuting the sentence of Alice Johnson, a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses whose case had been championed by reality television star Kim Kardashian West. He has repeatedly referenced emotional video of Johnson being freed from prison and running into her family members' arms, and has said he's considering thousands more cases — both famous and not. But critics say the president could be ignoring valid claims for clemency as he works outside the typical pardon process, focusing on cases brought to his attention by friends, famous people and conservative media pundits. Aides say that Trump has been especially drawn to cases in which he believes the prosecution may have been politically motivated — a situation that may remind him of his own position at the center of the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling. Many have also seen the president as sending a signal with his pardons to former aides and associates caught up in the probe, or lashing out at enemies like former FBI Director James Comey, who oversaw the prosecution of lifestyle guru Martha Stewart, whom Trump has said he is thinking of pardoning. | |
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| 07-10-18 09:25am - 2357 days | #903 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Brett Kavanaugh, who helped build the case to impeach ex-President Bill Clinton (a slime-ball Democrat), has learned from the experience. He now believes that a President (who happens to be a Republican) should not be prosecuted or impeached unless there is serious and "dastardly" misbehavior. Is Donald Trump guilty of serious and "dastardly" misbehavior? Of course not. Trump is a Republican. One of the greatest Presidents the US ever had. Maybe the greatest President the US has ever had. Of course, it helps that both Kavanaugh and Trump are Republicans. But Kavanaugh, if approved for the Supreme Court, has sworn to follow the law. Without allowing personal prejudices to interfere. Can anyone say bullshit? ---------------- ---------------- Trump's Supreme Court pick has expressed doubts about investigating or prosecuting a sitting president Tara Francis Chan Brett Kavanaugh, who President Donald Trump nominated to replace the retiring Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, previously contributed to a 1998 report that made a case for President Bill Clinton's impeachment. This experience has shaped Kavanaugh's belief that presidents should not be indicted or distracted by investigations while in office. "Whether the Constitution allows indictment of a sitting President is debatable," he has said. Kavanaugh instead believes impeachment is the proper way to deal with a president's serious and "dastardly" misbehavior. | |
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| 07-10-18 08:47am - 2357 days | #902 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Letter to the editor: Trump's criminal associates troubling; it's clear he only has own interests at heart Jul 9, 2018 - 6:00 pm As more and more of Donald Trump's associates and enablers head off to prison, our president himself is looking more and more like a common criminal whose only exceptional characteristic is his persistent dishonesty. Does anyone seriously believe him about the Stormy Daniels imbroglio? As Michael Cohen's role as a fixer for Trump becomes clearer every day, Trump tries to distance himself from his so-called lawyer. Likewise, he tries to distance himself from Paul Manafort, his first choice for campaign manager. There are now over a dozen indictments (and a few guilty pleas) in regard to the probe of Russian involvement in the last election. Still, Trump tries to reinstate Russia to the G-7 summit while he alienates our longtime European allies. Withdrawal from the Paris Accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership were both boons to China's global interests (and damaging to ours), while withdrawal from the Iran Treaty benefited Russia more than any other country. It becomes more and more obvious that Trump's driving purpose is to undo whatever Barack Obama had accomplished as president, whether or not it works to the benefit of our country. As he works to alienate our alliances with Canada and Mexico via trade tariffs that will cost the average American dearly in terms of inflation, he strives to abolish any remaining good will toward America. Donald Trump has only his own interests at heart as he negotiates the future course of our country. I expect evidence of money laundering, association with Russian mobsters, witness intimidation, embezzlement, bribery and obstruction of justice will come to light as a result of the raids on Michael Cohen's home and office. Compared to Trump, Richard Nixon was just a paranoid amateur. This time, the people of the United States have elected a true criminal as their president. John Kennedy property maintenance Harahan | |
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| 07-10-18 08:42am - 2357 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Glad to see that PU is now https. Does that mean I can be safe from Government spies (except maybe NASA) while I'm enjoying my PU site? Anyway, my congrats on becoming a secure site.  | |
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| 07-10-18 05:44am - 2357 days | #901 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The truth revealed: Michael Cohen's new lawyer reveals that President Trump and Rudy Guiliani are shithole liars. You can't trust anything President Trump or Guiliani says. ---------- ---------- Cohen’s new lawyer slams Giuliani over Russia investigation By Mark Moore July 9, 2018 | 2:46pm | Updated Michael Cohen’s new lawyer blasted Rudy Giuliani for suggesting President Trump’s former longtime fixer tell the truth to the special counsel’s Russia investigation. “Did @rudygiuliani really say on Sunday shows that @michaelcohen212 should cooperate with prosecutors and tell the truth? ,” Lanny Davis wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Seriously? Is that Trump and Giuliani definition of ‘truth’? Trump/Giuliani next to the word ‘truth’ = oxymoron. Stay tuned. #thetruthmatters.” Giuliani made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows to press his case that Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling and any collusion by Trump’s campaign associates was corrupt. The former New York City mayor also said Trump wasn’t aware that Cohen, the president’s longtime fixer and lawyer, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 weeks before the 2016 election to keep her silent about an affair she alleges she had with Trump a decade earlier. He suggested Cohen, who’s under criminal investigation for bank and wire fraud by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, be free to speak to investigators. “Michael Cohen should cooperate with the government. We have no reason to believe he did anything wrong,” Giuliani said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I have no concerns that Michael Cohen is going to do anything but tell the truth.” Cohen hired Davis, longtime confidant to former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, last Thursday. Davis’ hiring came just days after Cohen told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” that his allegiance is to his family. “My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen said. | |
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| 07-10-18 04:51am - 2357 days | #900 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Blame it on the evil Neo-Nazi Trump. Costco has dropped the $1.50 Polish dog and soda combo. I knew Trump was a slime-ball, when I read stories about his attacks on rapist Mexicans and border-crossers from shithole countries, but now it's hitting close to home, Trump's attack on the Great American Way: Costco is dropping the $1.50 Polish dog and soda combo. I am a loyal Costco member, and a special treat was visiting Costco and paying $1.50 ($1.64 with tax) for a Polish hot dog and soda combo. No more. Now I will have to get the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, instead. I get the combo with a small side of sauerkraut (which is free), and a plastic knife and fork (also free), and a plate, with mustard and ketchup for the Polish dog. A very cheap meal, and convenient, since my local Costco is less than 2 miles from me. But Trump has forced Costco to eliminate the Polish dog. Another example of his hatred of foreigners. Impeach Trump, before he is able to destroy America completely. ------------ ------------ Lifestyle Costco Kills Beloved Food Court Item And People Are Doggone Furious HuffPost Ed Mazza,HuffPost 3 hours ago Costco just unveiled a new menu for its food court and one change isn't going Costco just unveiled a new menu for its food court and one change isn’t going over well on social media. The retailer still offers its famous $1.50 deal for a hot dog and a fountain soda, but the Polish dog combo ― also with a soda, and for the same price ― has been banished. The change is part of a food court makeover that includes the addition of a burger, an acai bowl and a meatless al pastor salad that even the company’s chief executive doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about. “This new plant-based protein salad, I know that excites you,” Craig Jelinek told shareholders earlier this year, according to the Seattle Times. “But it is healthy. And, uh, actually, it tastes pretty good, if you like those kind of things. I tried it once.” But it’s the exile of the Polish sausage that has put the company in the doghouse with some customers. While it’s still available to buy in bulk and make at home, the faithful are decrying the decision to ditch the dog from the food court. Some have posted complaints on the company’s Facebook page ― even on posts about cars and bottled water ― while others have taken to Twitter, in some cases using the #SaveThePolishDog hashtag: This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-09-18 09:35pm - 2357 days | #899 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Neo-Nazi Trump pick for the Supreme Court. Bullshit from Trump, bullshit from Trump's nominee. Throw these bastards in jail. They are pieces of shit. Proud of being shit. Block any nomination from Trump. Preserve the constitution from these shithole people. ----------- ----------- Trump picks Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Dylan Stableford 12 hours ago President Trump announced Monday night that Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appellate court judge based in Washington, D.C., is his pick to replace outgoing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy — a nominee who, if confirmed, will cement a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court. Trump made the announcement from the East Room of the White House. “I’ve often heard that, other than matters of war and peace, this is the most important decision a president will make,” Trump said. “The Supreme Court is entrusted with the safeguarding of the crown jewel of our republic, the Constitution of the United States.” “Judge Kavanaugh has impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law,” the president continued. “Throughout legal circles he is considered a judge’s judge, a true thought leader among his peers. He is a brilliant jurist with a clear and effective writing style universally regarded as one of the finest and sharpest legal minds of our time.” Kavanaugh told Trump was “grateful” and “humbled by your confidence in me.” “Throughout this process I have witnessed first hand your appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary. No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination,” Kavanaugh said. “Justice Kennedy devoted his career to securing liberty. I am deeply honored to fill his seat on the Supreme Court.” He added: “My judicial philosophy is straightforward: A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written and a judge must interpret as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent.” President Trump with Brett Kavanaugh, left President Trump announces Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee in the East Room of the White House on Monday. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Kavanaugh worked closely with independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the Whitewater investigation of President Bill Clinton. As documented in the latest episode of the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery,” Kavanaugh debunked the conspiracy theories that the Clintons were responsible for former aide Vince Foster’s death before becoming the primary author of the report laying out the case for Clinton’s impeachment. Kavanaugh was concerned with the more explicit sexual details of the report and attempted to redact them just before its publication. One of the possible grounds for Clinton’s impeachment in Kavanaugh’s report was the fact Clinton lied to his aides and the American public via his press team. In a 2009 piece for the Minnesota Law Review, Kavanaugh said that he believed presidents should not be subject to civil lawsuits or criminal investigations in office because they were “time-consuming and distracting.” After assisting in George W. Bush’s efforts in the 2000 Florida recount, Kavanaugh joined the White House, first as a counsel to the president and then as a staff secretary. Bush nominated Kavanaugh for a position on the D.C. Circuit in July 2003, but his confirmation took nearly three years because Democrats contended he was too partisan for the federal bench. Kavanaugh was called an “unqualified judicial nominee” by the New York Times before his May 2006 confirmation on a 57-36 vote. In 2016, the conservative National Review wrote said that Kavanaugh’s opinions were “clear, consistent, thorough, and thoughtful” and had an “analytical clarity” that would make the late Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia proud. SCOTUSBlog, a news site about the Supreme Court, has described Kavanaugh as “generally bringing a pragmatic approach” to his decisions but with a conservative judicial philosophy. In analyzing him as a possible replacement for either Kennedy or Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the blog Empirical SCOTUS said Kavanaugh would most likely be to the right of either Kennedy or Ginsburg on the court, but not as far to the right as Justice Clarence Thomas. In his time on the bench, Kavanaugh has declared the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unconstitutional and ruled against Obama-era environmental regulations. Kavanaugh’s name being floated as a nominee has caused some infighting on the right, with one group stating that the judge was not anti-abortion enough in a case involving an immigrant girl requesting the procedure. Multiple conservative writers have defended Kavanaugh against this claim. Trump interviewed a total of seven candidates last week and on Monday narrowed his list of finalists to a pair of federal appeals court judges, Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas Hardiman, the New York Times reported Monday. The announcement of Kennedy’s retirement last month sent shock waves across the nation, with Trump and his fellow Republicans poised to shift the court’s ideological balance to the right — and shape the country’s judicial future for generations to come. Abortion has emerged as a key issue in the looming confirmation battle, as Republicans hold a one-vote majority (51-49) in the Senate and need at least 50 to confirm Trump’s pick. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who supports abortion rights, said last week that she would not support someone who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that protects a woman’s right to have an abortion. “I believe very much that Roe v. Wade is settled law,” Collins said on ABC’s “This Week.” “A candidate who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have.” Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, were among five GOP senators who met with Trump last month to discuss the Supreme Court vacancy. Both are seen as key swing votes. After Trump’s announcement, Collins issued a statement citing Kavanaugh’s “impressive credentials and extensive experience,” and vowed to “conduct a careful, thorough vetting.” “I look forward to Judge Kavanaugh’s public hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee and to questioning him in a meeting in my office,” she added. “Tonight the president begins a forced march back to the days when women’s health care choices were made by government,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement late Monday evening. “There can be no mistaking Trump’s Supreme Court nomination for anything but what it is: a direct attempt to overturn Roe. v. Wade.” “I am so disheartened that President Trump would choose such a radical, anti-consumer, anti-woman jurist to be his nominee for the Supreme Court,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said in a statement. He added: “There is a fight coming, and I’m ready for it.” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont issued a similar statement. “Let us be clear: President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will be a rubber-stamp for an extreme, right-wing agenda pushed by corporations and billionaires,” Sanders said. “The coming Senate debate over the replacement of retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is about the future of Roe v. Wade, campaign finance reform, voting rights, workers’ rights, health care, climate change, environmental protection and gun safety.” He added: “I do not believe a person with those views should be given a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. We must mobilize the American people to defeat Trump’s right-wing, reactionary nominee.” Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court on Monday ahead of Trump’s announcement, and the size of the crowd increased immediately after. The ‘McConnell rule’ Trump said he expects a swift confirmation of Kennedy’s replacement before the midterm elections. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to vote on Kennedy’s successor “this fall.” But many Democrats said the Senate should follow the standard set by McConnell and refuse to vote on Trump’s next nominee to the high court. President Barack Obama’s choice for Scalia’s replacement, Merrick Garland, was blocked by congressional Republicans, who argued that the seat should be left unfilled until after the 2016 election. “There should be no consideration of a Supreme Court nominee until the American people have a say,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., tweeted. “Leader McConnell set that standard when he denied Judge Garland a hearing for nearly a year, and the Senate should follow the McConnell Standard now.” | |
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| 07-09-18 09:20pm - 2357 days | #11 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I just did a site review. It was not a masterpiece, but I thought it was good. Gone to PU hell, when I hit submit. Never again. Write reviews to a document, cut and paste. Much safer. (Maybe PU has an active intelligence, read the review, and that's why I was logged out of site. There are no accidents: everything has a purpose. Bullshit, or truth?) | |
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| 07-09-18 02:16pm - 2358 days | #898 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Politics Scott Pruitt’s Loophole for Glider Truck Manufacturers Faces Backlash Renae Reints 20 hours ago Former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt dealt a final blow to clean air initiatives before resigning Friday, implementing a loophole that will allow the production of thousands of diesel freight trucks with high emissions. The decision effectively undoes an Obama administration move that intended to cap production of these trucks at 300 per year, beginning this year. These “glider trucks” use recycled engines built before new technology reduced the discharge of harmful particulates that pollute the air. These trucks emit as much as 55 times the amount of pollutants as trucks with modern engines, the New York Times reports. Companies like Fitzgerald Glider Kits lobbied for this loophole, which allows them to ignore the 300-truck cap at least until the end of 2019. Last year, Fitzgerald Glider Kits made 3,000 glider trucks. President Donald Trump met with the CEO of this company when he was campaigning in 2016, and then again after taking office, Vox reports. The move has been denounced by public health groups, environmental groups, and many in the trucking industry, including the United Parcel Service, the largest truck fleet owner, and Volvo Group, one of the largest truck manufacturers. “This recent proposal to repeal the glider production limitations is unreasonable, is contrary to the provisions of the Clean Air Act, and undermines the multi-million dollar investments Volvo Group and others have made toward achieving tremendous air quality improvements in this country,” said the Volvo Group in its statement. Vickie Patton, the general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund, blames both Pruitt and new EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler for the effect the high pollutants will have on public health. “Pruitt and Wheeler are creating a loophole for super polluting freight trucks that will fill our children's lungs with toxic diesel pollution, ignoring public comments from moms and leading businesses across the country,” she told the Times. See original article on Fortune.com ======================================================= Suprising development: Ivanka Trump's Chinese-made products spared from Dad's tariffs. Of course, this must be legal, because the President of the United States would not favor his family before the American public. Everyone is equal under the law. Except some people are more equal than others. Trump and his family are the first among equals. As President, Trump has not separated himself from is private businesses. He still owns his private business while serving as President, which is a Trump first among US Presidents. -------------- -------------- Business Ivanka Trump's Chinese-Made Products Conveniently Spared From Dad's Tariffs Mary Papenfuss 10 hours ago Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods won’t touch Ivanka Trump’s foreign-made products for her fashion line. While Trump rails at Harley-Davidson motorcycles for moving some production to Europe to dodge EU tariffs, the first daughter and senior White House adviser has never manufactured a single product for her Ivanka Trump brand on American soil. Trump enacted tariffs Friday morning on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, affecting hundreds of products from boats to medical devices and auto parts. Products spared include those manufactured by his daughter. That means Chengdu Kameido Shoes in Sichuan province can continue to supply shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand as it has in the past. It’s currently bidding for a new contract to manufacture 140,000 pairs of shoes for Trump’s company, a spokesman told The South China Morning Post. Hangzhou HS Fashion in Zhejiang province also said it’s filling orders for orders for the G-III Apparel Group, which supplies shoes to Trump’s brand. Until January 2017 all of Ivanka Trump’s products were made in factories in China and Hong Kong, research director Chris Rogers at Panjiva, a global trade data tracking company headquartered in New York, told Politico. Since then, some manufacturing has apparently been moved to other overseas factories in Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam. There have been no obvious shipments from China since mid-March, but Rogers speculated shipments may now be more difficult to trace because they could be moving under code names. Other enterprises and workers in the U.S., meanwhile, are already feeling the heat from a trade war. China’s retaliatory tariffs have targeted U.S. seafood, soybeans, dairy products, cars, apples, whiskey, pet food and cigarettes, among several other products. Farmers are fearful they won’t be able to sell products they had earmarked for China. They also worry that suppliers from other countries will pick up the valuable market — for good — that they have worked for years to cultivate. “Soybeans are the top agriculture export for the United States, and China is the top market for purchasing those exports,” Iowa soybean grower John Heisdorffer said in a statement. “The math is simple. You tax soybean exports at 25 percent, and you have serious damage to U.S. farmers.” Despite the president’s mantra to “buy American and hire American” the Trump family retains major business operations overseas, and the Trump Organization continues to manufacture most Trump products in foreign factories. The president even continues to profit from partnerships involving the Chinese government through state-supported companies and investments, including in developments in Dubai and Indonesia, notes the Washington Post. Ivanka Trump won a number of valuable trademarks in China just as her father was pushing to lift U.S. sanctions against Chinese telecom company ZTE, over the objection of congressional leaders. Trump announced his support for ZTE 72 hours after the Chinese government agreed to put half-a-billion dollars into the Indonesian project. The deal raised “serious ethical issues,” the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics said. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-09-18 01:13pm - 2358 days | #897 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Joe Scarborough Calls Trump White House ‘Most Corrupt Administration in the History of Our Lifetime’ "Morning Joe" host rips into president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in epic 10-minute rant Jon Levine Published 5:51 am PDT, Monday, July 9, 2018 Joe Scarborough had a lengthy rant about some of the biggest scandals of the Trump administration on Monday’s “Morning Joe." Joe Scarborough laced into Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani on Monday’s “Morning Joe” in a rant that included a lengthy list of some of his clients’ biggest scandals. The MSNBC host said it all added up to being corruption of historic proportions. “This is the most corrupt administration in the history of our lifetime, certainly over the first year and a half,” said Scarborough. “[Giuliani] will tell you he’s been knighted by the Queen of England.” Clocking in at nearly ten minutes, Scarborough’s rant included reminders of scandals like former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price’s private jets, the former energy contracts given to company from the same town as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Scott Pruitt’s extensive list of questionable activities. The White House has fired back after MSNBC host Joe Scarborough compared the Trump administration’s approach to undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S. border to the Nazis’ treatment of Jewish families. There was Trump University, and payments to Stormy Daniels, three indictments in the Russia investigation and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is now currently sitting in solitary confinement. Scarborough’s listing of scandals was inspired by comments Giuliani made to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos saying that President Trump wanted to answer questions under oath, but how could he trust such a “corrupt” investigation. “He wants to testify,” said the former New York City mayor. “It’s hard to believe given all the things that have been shown about how tainted this investigation is. This is the most corrupt investigation I have ever seen.” Scarborough — as usual — defended special counsel Robert Mueller. “We certainly know that Robert Mueller is not corrupt.” said Scarborough “We certainly know he is a marine, a war hero, a guy who [unlike] Donald Trump didn’t skip out on serving this country, claiming deferments and bone spurs.” Since returning to Trumps’ orbit as his new lead attorney, Giuliani has become a fixture on television, occasionally making news and routinely promising anyone who will listen that he will bring the Russia collusion investigation to a close. | |
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| 07-09-18 09:51am - 2358 days | #896 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Neo-Nazi Trump is a penny pinching boss who tries to pay his employees as cheaply as possible. All the while stealing millions in illegal deals. ------------- ------------- Trump's Personal Driver for 25 Years Sues for Unpaid Overtime Christie Smythe Christie Smythe 1 hour 31 minutes ago U.S. President Donald Trump exits Marine One and boards a sports utility vehicle (SUV) to visit First Lady Melania Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S., on Wednesday, May 16, 2018. Trump is visiting Walter Reed where Melania Trump underwent successful surgery to treat a kidney condition on Monday. Photographer: Alex Edelman/Abaca Press Donald Trump’s personal driver for more than 25 years says the billionaire real estate developer didn’t pay him overtime and raised his salary twice in 15 years, clawing back the second raise by cutting off his health benefits. Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years. He’s not allowed to sue for overtime prior to that due to the statute of limitations. “In an utterly callous display of unwarranted privilege and entitlement and without even a minimal sense of noblesse oblige,” Trump and his businesses exploited the driver, Cintron says in the complaint. Cintron says he was required to be on duty for Trump starting at 7 a.m. each day until whenever Trump, his family or business associates no longer required his services. He worked as long as 55 hours per week, but was paid a fixed salary of $62,700 in 2003, $68,000 in 2006, and $75,000 in 2010, according to the complaint. The wage bump in 2010 came with a catch, Cintron said. He was induced to surrender his health insurance, saving Trump approximately $17,866 per year in premiums, according to the lawsuit. "President Trump’s further callousness and cupidity is further demonstrated by the fact that while he is purportedly a billionaire, he has not given his personal driver a meaningful raise in over 12 years!" Cintron said. | |
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| 07-08-18 05:38pm - 2359 days | #895 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Stop the presses!!!! Justin Bieber is reportedly engaged to Hailey Baldwin. I thought Bieber was supposed to be sweet on Selena Gomez. But apparently they have both moved on. Will Bieber, now that he is engaged to be married, make a run for the White House? And why not? With a new-found maturity, he could be more qualified than Neo-Nazi Donald Trump. ------- ------- ET Online Scott Baumgartner Jul 8th 2018 6:58PM Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin just got engaged, according to multiple reports. The pop star reportedly popped the question on Saturday night while they were staying at a resort in the Bahamas. According to TMZ, who was first to report he news, 24-year-old Bieber and 21-year-old Baldwin were spotted at a restaurant where everyone in attendance was salsa dancing. Then, out of nowhere, the “What Do You Mean?” singer’s security detail told everyone in attendance to put their phones away because "something big was about to happen." That’s when Bieber reportedly got down on one knee. ET has reached out to both Bieber and Baldwin's reps for comment. Baldwin's father, Stephen Baldwin, congratulated the couple on Twitter on Sunday with a Bible passage. He has since deleted the tweet. "Sweet smile on my face!" he wrote. "Me&wife (Kennya) always pray 4 Gods will!! He is moving in the hearts of JB&HB. Let’s all pray for His will to be done. Love you 2 so much!!! #Godstiming #bestisyettocome Congrats  @JeremyBieber @pattiemallette #PraiseJesus."On Sunday, the singer’s father, Jeremy Bieber, posted a photo on Instagram that appears to be referencing the engagement. In the image, the singer is silhouetted against a tropical sunset. The older Bieber captioned the image, “@justinbieber Proud is an understatement! Excited for the next chapter!” Interestingly enough, in February, Bieber's ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, attended his father's wedding in Jamaica to Chelsey Rebelo. Bieber's mother, Pattie Mallette, also tweeted on Saturday night, writing, "Love Love Love Love Love Love Love." Meanwhile, a source tells People, “It’s kind of a surprise, but kind of not. Justin has been extremely happy these past few weeks. He has known Hailey for a long time. This might seem sudden, but they know each other very well.” In video taken by Instagram user @zoe_nicolee, Bieber is spotted dancing happily to his own song with Luis Fonsi, "Despacito," on the reported night of the engagement. In another video, he salsa dances with Baldwin. Bieber was also snapped planting kisses all over Baldwin's face during their getaway. Bieber and Baldwin have been spotted together constantly since rekindling their romance roughly a month ago, after dating in 2015. One particularly notable sighting included fans spotting them locking lips at a park in New York City. | |
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| 07-08-18 04:50am - 2359 days | #894 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Scott Pruitt, a God-fearing man, who served as President Trump's head of the EPA, is devastated he was forced to resign. How can we expect Christian soldiers to fight for our country, if they are not honored and respected? Shame on President Trump, for not defending Scott Pruitt more strongly, against the evil scum Democrats and others who helped to bring Pruitt down. ---------- ---------- Scott Pruitt Is Devastated That White House Forced Him to Resign EPA Post, Sources Say Bloomberg Bloomberg Fri, Jul 6 3:35 PM PDT Scott Pruitt resigned as EPA chief Thursday after White House Chief of Staff John Kelly delivered a message from the president that it was time for the scandal-plagued administrator to leave, according to two people familiar with the situation. Pruitt didn’t want to leave his post and was described as being devastated that he had to resign, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a personnel matter. President Donald Trump wanted Pruitt to leave, after revelations that the administrator’s public schedule had been altered to shield some meetings from public view, they said. Doctored schedules—which could be a criminal violation of the Federal Records Act—were effectively the final straw after a tenure marred by alleged ethical missteps. The administration knew that more damaging reports would emerge soon, one of the people said. Trump ultimately announced Pruitt’s departure on Twitter at 3:37 p.m. Thursday, saying the EPA chief had done an “outstanding job.” Later, Trump said Pruitt chose to resign because he felt he was a distraction. “It was very much up to him,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “We’ve been talking about it for a little while.” Top White House advisers have been encouraging Trump to dismiss Pruitt for months, amid mounting allegations of unethical conduct, improper spending and abuses of power. And Trump discussed the idea with people close to him several times, as he sharpened his public criticism of Pruitt’s activities. An early June disclosure that a top EPA aide helped Pruitt try to buy a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel was particularly embarrassing to the president, one of the people said. But Pruitt was caught off guard by Kelly’s call and flummoxed by his request to resign, one of the people said. Just one day earlier, Pruitt had been celebrating Independence Day at the White House. On Friday, his final day in office, Pruitt was back at the EPA building in downtown Washington to say goodbye to aides. Spokespeople for the EPA didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. | |
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| 07-05-18 11:46pm - 2361 days | #893 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
It's more than a few gold coins. The Republican's are making hundreds of millions in contributions. And the big businesses they are supporting are making billions in revenues, that would not have been allowed under the Obama rules. Damage to the environment? Lower health care standards? Who the fuck cares? Deny, lie, blame the Democrats and the immigrants for whatever problems there might be. | |
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| 07-05-18 07:01pm - 2362 days | #891 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Wheeler, meanwhile, plodded along quietly. Later that month, a state air pollution regulator accused Wheeler of “bullying” and “intimidating” the regulator’s nonpartisan organization in 2005, when Wheeler served as a top aide to Inhofe and counsel to the Senate environment and public works committee. The regulator said Wheeler demanded tax records as part of a “witch hunt” to punish his organization for opposing a bill Inhofe proposed that would have enshrined climate change denialism into air pollution law. In April, as Pruitt’s scandals began to mount, Democrats asked for more time to question Wheeler, since, as Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) put it, a full-chamber vote on his nomination would be “a shadow confirmation vote for the next administrator of the EPA.” Yet the Senate confirmed his nomination with more support than Pruitt received in February 2017, with the votes of three Democrats ― Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) ― and of Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the only Republican who had opposed Pruitt. This is like rearranging deck chairs on the environmental Titanic. Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch “There are going to be a number of senators with big regrets when all is said and done that they gave only lip-service opposition to Andrew Wheeler,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. “This is like rearranging deck chairs on the environmental Titanic.” Last year, Wheeler served as a lobbyist for Energy Fuels Resources, a uranium mining company with operations just outside Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Last July, Wheeler and a top executive from the firm met with top Interior Department officials to discuss Bears Ears the same week Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that President Donald Trump dramatically shrink the monument, according to agency calendars. Pruitt’s flashy efforts to bolster the coal industry came after repeated meetings with Murray, the outspoken mining magnate who runs Murray Energy. Wheeler, by contrast, worked for him until mid-2017, helping deliver the Trump administration a so-called action plan that included a federal bailout of coal-fired plants, the repeal of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan and a challenge to the 2009 EPA endangerment finding that determined carbon dioxide pollution poses a risk to public health. The White House announced its plan to use an obscure Cold War–era law to prop up coal and nuclear plants in June. The EPA began the process of rolling back the Clean Power Plan in October and is now workshopping a draft of a rule to replace it with a dramatically weaker alternative — proof of the lasting power of the endangerment finding, which compels the agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions in some form. That could change under Wheeler. In March 2010, he accused the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of blurring “the lines between science and advocacy” and functioning “more as a political body than a scientific body,” suggesting the EPA could “reconsider its endangerment finding without almost exclusively relying upon the IPCC.” The remarks, previously posted to his former lobbying firm’s website, appear to have been deleted. Robert Murray, chief executive of Murray Energy Corp., employed Wheeler as a lobbyist until 2017. (Joshua Roberts / Reuters) At Wheeler’s November confirmation hearing, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment and public works committee, said Wheeler assured him privately that he “views EPA’s legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, which is based on the endangerment finding, as settled law.” But Wheeler evaded questions about his belief in the overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet is warming primarily because of emissions from burning fossil fuels, industrial farming and deforestation. He deployed the same sort of ambiguous rhetoric used by much of the Trump administration, many other Republicans and Charles and David Koch. “I believe that man has an impact on the climate, but what’s not completely understood is what the impact is,” Wheeler said at his confirmation hearing when aggressively questioned about the findings of the federal government’s latest climate report. And things change quickly. Just a week ago, he abruptly gave a series interviews to a handful of mainstream and conservative-leaning news outlets. He repeatedly made the point that he had no plans to take Pruitt’s job. “No one feels great about [Wheeler], but no one thinks he will be as corrupt or disrespectful as Pruitt,” said an EPA staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. The staffer said Wheeler “doesn’t seem the leader type” and described him as “really awkward.” “He seems to hate the spotlight,” the staffer said. In a short email to EPA staff, Wheeler thanked Pruitt for “his service and leadership” and struck a conciliatory tone. “I am both humbled and honored to take on this new responsibility at the same agency where I started my career over 25 years ago,” he wrote in the email, which HuffPost obtained. “I look forward to working alongside all of you to continue our collective goal of protecting public health and the environment on behalf of the American people.” Wheeler would need to be confirmed in another Senate vote to become the permanent administrator, according to Bob Perciasepe, a former deputy EPA administrator who served for five months as acting administrator in 2013. But the acting rules are complex and riddled with loopholes that give the White House leeway over who commands a federal agency in the absence of its Senate-approved chief. It seems unlikely the administration will push for a hasty EPA vote as it attempts to confirm the next Supreme Court justice before the midterm elections in November. “This is a guy who shares all the ideology of Pruitt, except his style is totally different,” O’Donnell said. “He’s not a flamboyant, backslapping politician with a taste for scandal. He’s a relatively quiet, behind-the-scenes guy who will try to permit the kinds of industries the agency regulates to reshape the rules.” This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 07-05-18 07:00pm - 2362 days | #890 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Politics Scott Pruitt’s Replacement Is Even Worse HuffPost Alexander C. Kaufman,HuffPost 2 hours 26 minutes ago Andrew Wheeler at his Senate confirmation hearing for the Environmental Protection Agency deputy administrator position in November. (Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works) Just one year ago, Andrew Wheeler worked as one of the coal industry’s most powerful lobbyists, serving as coal baron Bob Murray’s Capitol Hill muscle, challenging environmental regulations and casting doubt on the science behind climate change. On Monday, Wheeler will take over at the Environmental Protection Agency, after Administrator Scott Pruitt’s sudden resignation Thursday amid a five-month avalanche of ethics and legal controversies. Wheeler’s ascension, while expected to return stability to the scandal-struck EPA, demonstrates how the administration secured the future of its radical plan to dismantle the nation’s leading public health agency at the behest of the industries it regulates, amid the distractions of Pruitt’s humiliating final months as the agency’s second-shortest-serving administrator in history. “He will be potentially considerably more effective, both because you don’t have the daily drama that you’ve had for the last several months and because Andy knows how the system works,” said Stan Meiburg, a former acting deputy EPA administrator who spent 39 years at the agency. “He could be more effective for the administration in achieving its policy objectives.” Pruitt left behind a considerable legacy of halting critical regulations, reshaping the EPA’s science advisory boards and provoking an exodus of talent from the agency that could take decades to reverse. Yet roughly one-third of the regulatory rollbacks Pruitt attempted were halted by legal challenges ― setbacks widely attributed to his brash style and overeagerness to antagonize environmentalists. Still, he proposed some of the most drastic changes to the agency in his final months. In April he proposed gutting auto emissions standards, which would essentially eliminate the only remaining major federal rule to curb greenhouse gases. Weeks later, he put forward a “transparency” rule that would dramatically limit the public health studies the EPA may use when writing regulations. By June, Pruitt kicked the effort up a notch, issuing a formal notice to solicit ideas on how the agency performs regulatory cost-benefit analyses, in a move widely seen as a giveaway to industry polluters, and proposed a regulation to replace a landmark Obama-era rule protecting drinking water for 117 million Americans. By taking these steps as formal rulemaking changes rather than executive actions, the processes will continue in his absence, likely with far less of the scrutiny that his notoriety invited. The EPA did not respond to requests for comment and an interview with Wheeler. “We have full confidence in acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler to carry President Trump’s important EPA reform agenda forward,” said Myron Ebell, a veteran climate change denier who led Trump’s EPA transition team. Two right-wing operatives who run separate climate denial blogs shared the same reaction to Wheeler’s promotion: “Winning.” Now former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt at the White House during a Fourth of July picnic for military families. His dismantling of environmental regulations will continue in his absence, likely with far less of the scrutiny that his notoriety invited. (Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images) Wheeler’s nomination to be the EPA’s deputy administrator came with little fanfare last October, announced just days after a gunman mowed down 58 concertgoers in Las Vegas, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. In November at his confirmation hearing before the Senate committee on environment and public works, he repeatedly dodged questions about climate change and critical environmental policies, couching his responses in fluent legalese and touting his four-year record serving as an agency staffer under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Wheeler skated by on his poise and familiar Beltway rhetoric as Kathleen Hartnett-White, the president’s pick to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, flamed out next to him, stammering over questions of basic science. The committee advanced his nomination to the full Senate for confirmation, but the vote didn’t take place before the end of the legislative session, and his nomination was returned to the Senate panel. In February, just before the committee voted again, The Intercept published a report detailing fundraisers that Wheeler held for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), his former boss, in May. The Sierra Club called on the Senate panel to delay the vote and open an investigation. But that didn’t deter Republicans, who held the vote on schedule, even as many federal employees in Washington delayed morning activities by two hours because of snow. Democrats put up little opposition, though the nomination advanced without a single one of their votes. The same month, the White House withdrew Hartnett-White’s nomination as Republican support waned amid a tireless campaign by Democrats and environmentalists to paint her as unhinged, highlighting past statements from her crediting coal with abolishing slavery and suggesting increased carbon dioxide emissions were good for the planet. | |
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| 07-05-18 06:04pm - 2362 days | #889 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
SCOTT PRUITT'S SCANDALS IN BRIEF Ex-Oklahoma attorney-general Scott Pruitt had never lived in Washington D.C. until he became EPA Administrator last year. But his scandals now include how he: Paid just $50 a night to stay in a condo owned by an energy lobbyist's wife but only when he was in town (and called it 'market rent'  ;Had his door battered down by Capitol Hill Police because he wasn't responding and claimed he was 'napping' - on a weekday afternoon; Allegedly demanded flashing lights and sirens to get through traffic because he was late for dinner; Also allegedly demanded a bulletproof SUV with run-flat tires - and a bulletproof desk; Got a desk 'bigger than the Resolute' and a soundproof phone booth to stop officials hearing his calls; Had his security chief reassigned, allegedly for questioning his demands; Allegedly had other officials moved or reassigned for questioning his spending; Claimed to know nothing about pay raises given to two key aides he brought with him from Oklahoma; when the White House turned them down, officials found a loophole; Booked private jet flights and got authorization afterwards when it was too late to turn them down; Used flights through hubs so he could then get home to Oklahoma more cheaply from there; Got first class flights, with officials claiming he had 'threats' and needed to be kept from ordinary passengers - but only concrete example was someone shouting 'you're f***ing up the environment' in Atlanta Airport; Officials looked into getting him $100,000 a month private jet from NetJets; His spokesman falsely claimed he had a 'blanket waiver' to fly in first; Missed a flight en route to Morocco and spent a day and a night in Paris instead; Took his round the clock security detail on his vacation to the Greek islands and Turkey; When he was questioned about his $50-a-night deal by Fox News said it was 'unfair to ask.' Used an aide to help him shop for a used luxury mattress at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Used 24/7 security detail to pick up dry cleaning and help him shop for lotion Had aides keep 'bad' information off his official schedule Asked a top aide to help get his wife a $200,000 job Sought to use contacts to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise Asked an aide to get him a used mattress at a Trump hotel in Washington Spoke to Trump about becoming attorney general in midst of Russia probe Pruitt and his wife lived briefly last year in Washington's U Street corridor before relocating to a new place — a move that forced them to pay a penalty. The EPA chief asked the two advisers, both of whom are lawyers, to examine the lease to see if there was a way to avoid the penalty, Dravis told committee staffers. Pruitt's chief of staff Ryan Jackson spoke to congressional investigators on Friday and confirmed he had helped connect Pruitt with fellow Oklahoman, lobbyist J. Steven Hart, to reach a housing deal in early 2017. The initial arrangement — under which Pruitt agreed to pay $50 a night only on the days when he stayed in the condo owned by Hart's wife, Vicki — was supposed to last six weeks, Jackson said. A spokesman for the Harts told the newspaper that Pruitt was initially supposed to stay in the Capitol Hill condo for 39 days. He lived there for six months, and the matter is now under review by lawmakers and the EPA's inspector general. Jackson said he, along with Dravis, also had raised concerns about Pruitt's decision to routinely travel first class. Pruitt, who has repeatedly said that agency security experts made the decision to switch him to first-class travel, returned to traveling coach earlier this year. Additionally, a current and former EPA official told the Post, Pruitt routinely asked his assistants — including then-executive scheduler Sydney Hupp — to put hotel reservations on their personal credit cards rather than his own. In one instance, according to former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski, Hupp was stuck with a bill of roughly $600 for a booking she had made for the Pruitt family during the presidential transition process. Chmielewski said he was in Jackson's office when Hupp approached Pruitt's chief of staff to explain that the period for transition reimbursements had expired and that Pruitt had not covered the bill. Jackson ended up leaving $600 in cash in Hupp's drawer, according to Chmielewski. Agency spokesman John Konkus declined to comment to the Post on the latest testimony and allegations. 'EPA has not spoken with Mr. Jackson or Ms. Dravis about their testimony,' he said. Pruitt also kept a 'secret' calendar to hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others, a former EPA aide will soon testify. EPA staffers met routinely met in Pruitt's office to 'scrub,' alter or remove records from Pruitt's official calendar because they might 'look bad,' Chmielewski, who attended the meetings, told CNN. A review of EPA documents by CNN found discrepancies between Pruitt's official calendar and other records with more than two dozen meetings, events or calls being omitted from Pruitt's public calendar. Former EPA deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski said Scott Pruitt kept a secret calendars for meetings that might look bad +6 Former EPA deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski said Scott Pruitt kept a secret calendars for meetings that might look bad For example, Pruitt's public EPA schedule shows that his final meeting for the day of April 26, 2017, was with Australia's environmental minister, but an internal calendar shows that later the same day he attended a dinner at the BLT Prime restaurant inside Trump International Hotel hosted by coal producer Alliance Resource Partners and its CEO, Joseph Craft. Craft, who donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and has given millions more to mostly Republican candidates and committees, has advocated for the rollback of former President Barack Obama's coal-industry regulations. Chmielewski said that some interactions were intentionally removed after they occurred, such as meetings in June 2017 between Pruitt and Cardinal George Pell, who was charged weeks later with multiple historical charges of sexual offenses. Pell has pleaded not guilty. 'We would have meetings what we were going to take off on the official schedule. We had at one point three different schedules. One of them was one that no one else saw except three or four of us,' Chmielewski told CNN. 'It was a secret ... and they would decide what to nix from the public calendar.' Chmielewski claims he was forced to leave the EPA in February after raising questions about Pruitt's management and spending practices. If the allegations about the secret calendar are true, the practice of altering or deleting records of meetings could violate federal law as either 'falsifying records' or hiding public records, according to legal experts interviewed by CNN. 'If somebody changed, deleted, scrubbed a federal record with the intent of deceiving the public or intent of deceiving anybody, it could very well be a violation of federal law,' Larry Noble, a former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, told the network. Chmielewski said Pruitt's aides would print sections of the private calendar, gather around a table, and decide what would be omitted or altered. He said this often occurred under Pruitt's direction. Pruitt was approached at a D.C. restaurant Monday night by a young mother who urged him to resign +6 Pruitt was approached at a D.C. restaurant Monday night by a young mother who urged him to resign CNN said it reached out to EPA for comment. The controversy over his tenure has made the EPA chief a recognizable public figure. Pruitt was dining with a friend at Teaism restaurant in Washington D.C. on Monday, when he was confronted by local teacher who urged him to resign over the reported irreparable damage he is causing to the environment. Walking over with her two-year-old son in her arms, Kristin Mink told Pruitt: 'This is my son, he loves animals, he loves clean air, he loves clean water.' Pruitt faces at least 13 federal investigations into his spending and management practices regarding his tenure at the EPA. At least two of those are aimed at the circumstances surrounding his $50-a-night lease at a Capitol Hill condo owned by a person with ties to the energy industry. The agency chief is also under fire for directing an EPA aide to contact a senior Chick-fil-A executive as part of an effort to land his family a franchise, and a $2,000 payment to his wife from organizers of a conference the administrator then attended at taxpayer expense. He's also been criticized for using a staff for his personal activities, such ask asking an aide to help him buy a used mattress from the Trump hotel in Washington , and asking his security detail to pick up his dry cleaning and help find his favorite moisturizing lotion at Washington-area hotels. Trump has steadfastly defended Pruitt's job performance, but has recently become critical of the baggage his behavior has heaped onto the administration. 'Scott has done a fantastic job at EPA,' Trump told reporters last Friday, 'but, you know ... I'm not happy about certain things, I'll be honest.' 'He's done a fantastic job running the EPA,' the president reiterated, 'which is very overriding.' | |
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| 07-05-18 06:03pm - 2362 days | #888 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
In the letter released on Thursday minutes after Pruitt’s resignation, Democrats on the House Oversight committee included a partial transcript of testimony from Millian Hupp, the EPA administrator’s former director of advance scheduling, as well. She revealed that the agency knew about ‘issues’ involving Cardinal George Pell prior to a dinner in Rome with the Vatican official. Pell was charged by Italian police with sexual assault after the trip, and the dinner was scrubbed from Pruitt’s public schedule. Hupp hinted that an aide to Pruitt mentioned the allegations prior to the dinner, although she claimed not to remember what the concerns were that the aide brought forward to her privately and could not say if he told anyone else. She said it was Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, who ordered all references to the cardinal to be removed from the schedule after the fact. She said she could not recall whether Jackson provided a reason for the edit. Jackson in testimony says the dinner that he also attended was left off Pruitt’s public schedule because it was a ‘personal’ and not an ‘official function’ and that no one brought concerns about Pell to him prior to the trip. ‘There was no EPA business there. It was just a gathering of people,’ Jackson said. Pruitt’s chief of staff also admitted in his testimony that other ‘personal’ meetings would have been left off, too, including ones that may have included lobbyists. Dravis told investigators that she only recalls scheduling one lunch with a lobbyist for Pruitt that was deemed personal, though. The lunch was with Rick Smotkin, a former Comcast lobbyist who controversially set up a junket in Morocco for Pruitt that he accompanied him on in December. Smotkin won a lobbying contract from the Moroccan government in April that was retroactive to January 1. He registered after the fact as foreign agent in order to represent the African government. At a cost of $100,000 to the U.S. taxpayer, the trip garnered the attention of the EPA’s inspector general and prompted another investigation. The EPA said that trip was pursuant to an effort to lock in a trade deal with Morocco and the administrator was not aware that Smotkin had such close ties to the foreign government. For months, negative stories about Pruitt like the Morroco junket, the dinner with the cardinal and jobs the EPA administration tried to obtain for his wife were fed to reporters. And yet, the president kept him on, commenting to press in early June, 'Scott Pruitt is doing a great job within the walls of the EPA. 'I mean, we're setting records.' He remarked that Pruitt is 'being attacked very viciously by the press' outside of what he's doing for the EPA. 'I'm not saying that he's blameless, but we'll see what happens,' Trump said, hinting then that his patience with the official would not be endless. Pruitt vented about the personal 'attacks' on him in his resignation letter: 'It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also, because of the transformative work that is occurring. However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us,' he wrote. Pruitt added: 'I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service. I pray as I have served you that I have blessed you and enabled you to effectively lead the American people,' he added. Dravis, the Environmental Protection Agency's former associate administrator for the Office of Policy, spoke to Republican and Democratic aides on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for several hours on Thursday where she made the allegation about the efforts to land a six-figure job for Pruitt's wife,The Washington Post reported. Dravis told the staffers that Pruitt asked her to contact the Republican Attorneys General Association — a group Pruitt had once led and Dravis had worked for before coming to the EPA — as part of the job search for his wife, Marilyn. Samantha Dravis, a former EPA aide, told investigators Scott Pruitt wanted her help finding his wife a job that paid over $200,000 +6 Samantha Dravis, a former EPA aide, told investigators Scott Pruitt wanted her help finding his wife a job that paid over $200,000 Pruitt served as attorney general of Oklahoma before President Donald Trump appointed him to the EPA. Dravis said she declined to make the call to avoid any potential conflicts of interest or possible violations of the Hatch Act, which limits federal officials' political activities. She also told congressional investigators Pruitt wanted his spouse to find a post with an annual salary of more than $200,000, one individual told The Post. Scott Pruitt's faith-filled resignation letter Mr. President, it has been an honor to serve you in the Cabinet as Administrator of the EPA. Truly, your confidence in me has blessed me personally and enabled me to advance your agenda beyond what anyone anticipated at the beginning of your Administration. Your courage, steadfastness and resolute commitment to get results for the American people, both with regard to improved environmental outcomes as well as historical regulatory reform, is in fact occurring at an unprecedented pace and I thank you for the opportunity to serve you and the American people in helping achieve those ends. That is why is hard for me to advise you I am stepping down as Administrator of the EPA effective as of July 6. It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also, because of the transformative work that is occurring. However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us. My desire in service to you has always been to bless you as you make important decisions for the American people. I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service. I pray as I have served you that I have blessed you and enabled you to effectively lead the American people. Thank you again Mr. President for the honor of serving you and I wish you Godspeed in all that you put your hand to. Your Faithful Friend, Scott Pruitt Working with GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who is now heading up Pruitt's legal defense fund, Dravis did help find Marlyn Pruitt a job at the Judicial Crisis Network. The conservative group said it paid Marlyn Pruitt less than six figures to work as an independent contractor setting up their new offices. The arrangement ended earlier this year, the group told The Post. When Dravis raised the prospect of discussing the job search with an official in EPA's ethics office, Pruitt told her to consult with Mitchell instead, she told congressional staff last week. The ongoing investigation into Pruitt's tenure at the environmental agency has revealed repeated incidents of questionable behavior regarding his use of staff and government resources. The latest testimony from former aides shows an agency chief who tried to find his wife a well-paying gig, ignored aides objections to his first-class travel and used aides - who are paid with taxpayer dollars - for personal business. Pruitt also asked his staff to review his personal rental agreement regarding a condo in Washington D.C. Dravis said Pruitt asked her and another former top aide, Sarah Greenwalt, to review a rental agreement that he had decided to break. | |
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| 07-05-18 06:02pm - 2362 days | #887 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Tremendous news: Scott Pruitt has resigned. Will President Trump issue a pardon to Pruitt clearing Pruitt of any federal crimes Pruitt may have committed while in office? Because there are dozens of investigations into Pruitt's conduct while in office. ------------- ------------- Friday, Jul 6th 2018 12AM Disgraced Scott Pruitt FINALLY quits after months of scandals but tells Trump in bizarre letter: 'You are serving as president today because of God's providence' EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is finally resigning after a landslide of scandals and a dozen investigations President Trump tweeted the news saying Pruitt has 'done an outstanding job' Pruitt asked an aide to get his wife a job at the Republican Attorneys General Association that paid over six figures He was at the White House for Fourth of July celebrations Wednesday Democrats probing staff claims he falsified schedules Stayed at condo of lobbyists wife for $50 per night Demanded First Class flights and VIP treatment Asked aide to try to get a used Trump hotel mattress for his Washington home Pushed to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise Bulletproof desk and sound-proof room Meeting with cardinal charged with sexual assault kept off schedule Told top aide he spoke to Trump about potentially replacing AG Jeff Sessions Heckled at restaurant by mother holding her child Aides told congressional staff they warned Pruitt about his first-class travel Aides also said Pruitt asked them to review his personal condo rental agreement Another aide charges Pruitt asked staff to put his hotels on their credit cards Pruitt is under at least 13 federal investigations into his tenure at EPA Among the claims he was already facing are lavish travel and security spending and sending his security detail to a hotel to get his favorite moisturizer Used his post to try to roll back environmental regulations By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.s. Political Editor and Emily Goodin, U.s. Political Reporter and Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com Published: 15:58 EDT, 5 July 2018 | Updated: 18:49 EDT, 5 July 2018 Embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt finally resigned on Thursday after an onslaught of scandals that led to more than a dozen investigations of his use of staff, VIP travel, and efforts to gain perks and boost his household income. But in an unexpected culmination to a one of the most remarkable accumulations of scandal in Washington lore, the disgraced cabinet official attributed his joining the Trump administration to divine providence. 'I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service,' Pruitt wrote Trump in his resignation letter as he faced more than a dozen investigations. In just one of a litany of scandals that swirled around Pruitt, aides say Pruitt asked them to help his wife find a job that would net her a salary that topped $200,000. But that report was just the latest in a string of reports of efforts to score tickets to top tier events, enjoy cut-rate lodging, fly first-class, meet lobbyists without a public record, blow through Washington D.C. traffic – and maybe even become the next attorney general with authority over the Russia probe. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt asked aides to help his wife Marilyn find a job that would net her a salary that topped $200,000. She was at his side when he was sworn in by Supreme Court Samuel Alito +6 EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt asked aides to help his wife Marilyn find a job that would net her a salary that topped $200,000. She was at his side when he was sworn in by Supreme Court Samuel Alito President Trump announced the long-expected news on Twitter. He hailed he top official who had caused a flood of humiliating headlines even as he praised Pruitt's 'outstanding' tenure. He told reporters riding with him on Air Force One on a flight to Montana that it was Pruitt's decision to resign and that it had been in the works for several days. 'It was very much up to him,' Trump said. 'Scott Pruitt did an outstanding job inside of the EPA. We’ve gotten rid of record breaking regulations and it’s been really good,' the president stated. 'You know, obviously the controversies with Scott, but within the agency we were extremely happy.' Congressional Democrats were probing staff claims he ordered them to falsify his official schedules to shield meetings with industry bigs. Pruitt's former chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski – who came to EPA from the Trump campaign – told CNN Pruitt held meetings to 'scrub, alter or remove from Pruitt's official calendar numerous records because they might "look bad."' He said close aides kept three different schedules – and one of them containing potentially revealing information was kept secret. He was already facing a dozen-plus scandals at the time. 'I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,' President Trump tweeted on Thursday. 'Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA,' Trump wrote. 'I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!' the president concluded. Pruitt was at the White House for the Fourth of July celebration yesterday, in just the latest instance of him being held closely. President Trump tweeted that he has 'accepted the resignation' of Pruitt Trump said Pruitt had done an 'outstanding job' at EPA The party invite was a sign of Pruitt's proximity to Trump, who made not of his attendance in his Independence Day remarks, despite the obvious political cost of keeping a scandal-tarred administrator of a cabinet agency. Others departed following revelations of private jet use alone. Minutes after Trump confirmed Pruitt's departure from his Cabinet on Thursday, House Oversight Committee Democrats dropped a transcript with the exact language used by his longtime aide, Samantha Dravis, to describe a 2018 effort by Pruitt to become the nation's top law-enforcement officer. The transcript, which came in the form of a letter to the EPA's inspector general, also contained damning testimony from Pruitt aides on a host of other topics that agency's IG is said to have been probing. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee's top Democrat, wrote in an accompanying statement,'Scott Pruitt’s petty grifting and pervasive corruption are known far and wide, but it will take generations to fully reverse the widespread harm he inflicted on our air, our water, and the health of our people. 'President Trump’s decision to keep Pruitt on far too long—and to lavish praise on him even today for ‘an outstanding job’—is the opposite of draining the swamp,' he argued. 'It is a prime example of how the Trump Administration is zealously promoting the interests of oil companies, gas companies, and other industries at the expense of American families.' Trump continued to claim that Pruitt is a 'terrific guy' in a conversation with reporters on his presidential plane on Thursday. He said that Pruitt voluntarily left the administration. Democrats revealed on Thursday that Pruitt attempted to become attorney general before throwing in the towel at the EPA. While he may have simply wanted a promotion to the Justice Department in spite the onslaught of headaches he caused the administration, he was also likely cognizant of the Vacancies Act, which allows a Senate-confirmed official to run a cabinet department for a prolonged period should a vacancy occur. 'He had had conversations with me about media speculation around the possibility that he could become the next Attorney General,' Dravis testified. 'It’s my sense that that’s a position that he would be very interested in,' she told the committee. It is something Pruitt told her he spoke to the president about. 'He hinted at that some sort of conversation had taken place between he and the President. But he did not provide me with specifics. I was not present for the conversation. I don’t know what, if anything, was discussed,' she said. | |
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| 07-04-18 05:13pm - 2363 days | #885 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Trump has declared war on North Korea. He has his fingers on the box to send 1000s of nuclear missiles to North Korea, wiping out one of the most dangorous countries in the world. But loose lips sink ships. Do not repeat this, because if North Korea learns of Trump's firebombing, they will retaliate with nuclear missiles of their own. Hopefully, North Korea will attack South Korea, China, Japan, and other countries near them. So Americans can rest easy, because who cares what happens to South Korea, China, and Japan. Trump, leader of the free world. ------ ------ Trump brashly declares: 'If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!' Dylan StablefordSenior Editor Yahoo News•July 3, 2018 President Trump on Tuesday brushed aside questions over whether his assertion that he “solved” the crisis with North Korea was premature amid reports its leader, Kim Jong Un, is trying to conceal parts of its nuclear weapons program. “Many good conversations with North Korea — it is going well!” Trump tweeted. “In the meantime, no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months. All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining.” “If not for me,” he added, “we would now be at War with North Korea!” Trump’s brash declaration comes two days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to North Korea to meet with Kim — his third trip to the rogue nuclear nation. President Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Last week, NBC News reported that U.S. officials “believe that North Korea has increased its production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites in recent months — and that Kim Jong Un may try to hide those facilities as he seeks more concessions in nuclear talks with the Trump administration.” On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency “has concluded that North Korean officials are exploring ways to deceive Washington about the number of nuclear warheads and missiles, and the types and numbers of facilities they have, believing that the United States is not aware of the full range of their activities.” And on Sunday, Wall Street Journal reported that “new satellite imagery indicates Pyongyang is pushing ahead with weapons programs even as it pursues dialogue with Washington.” A North Korean missile production facility in the city of Hamhung is seen from a satellite image taken on June 29, 2018. (Photo: Planet Labs Inc/Handout via Reuters) Yet for weeks, Trump has been trying to check North Korea’s denuclearization off of his to-do list. Returning from his historic summit with Kim in Singapore, Trump declared via tweet, “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” At their summit, Trump and Kim signed an agreement that stated North Korea would “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” But the document did not specify exactly what that would entail. Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn two days later, Trump again said the nuclear threat is gone. “I have solved that problem,” he said. President Trump speaks to reporters on the North Lawn of the White House on June 15, 2018. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Appearing on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday, National Security Adviser John Bolton seemed to distance himself from Trump’s “mission accomplished” talk. “We’re very well aware of North Korea’s pattern of behavior over decades of negotiating with the United States,” Bolton said. “We know exactly what the risks are of them using negotiations to drag out the length of time they have to continue their nuclear, chemical, biological weapons programs and ballistic missiles.” Bolton said the U.S. hopes to get North Korea to dismantle the bulk of its ballistic programs “within a year.” He added: “There’s not any starry-eyed feeling among the group doing this … we’re well, well, well aware of what the North Koreans have done in the past.” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 missile in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 16, 2017. (Photo: KCNA via Reuters) At the White House Monday, press secretary Sarah Sanders said she would not “confirm or deny any of the intelligence reporting that’s out there.” But she also suggested North Korea had yet to commit to denuclearization. “If North Korea makes the decision to denuclearize, their ballistics programs could be dismantled in a year,” Sanders said. “We’re continuing to make progress,” Sanders said. “There’s great momentum right now.” President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un leave after signing documents at their summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) | |
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| 07-04-18 08:46am - 2363 days | #884 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The United States is based on flawed laws: President Trump is the leader of the greatest country on Earth. As such, his power is supreme: He has the right and duty to defend Democracy: He is the Supreme Leader of the Armed Forces of the United States. Therefore, he should have the Armed Forces round up all civilian protesters and have them shot. Let God sort out the innocent from the sinners. Seig Heil, mein Trump! ------------ ------------ Anti-abortion groups are mad that one of Trump’s Supreme Court finalists isn’t lawless enough The rule of law is for losers. Ian Millhiser Jul 4, 2018, 9:58 am Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a top contender for the Supreme Court, sided with the Trump administration in a case where the government literally tried to hold a woman prisoner to prevent her from having an abortion. But somehow, Kavanaugh’s opinion in this case branded him as insufficiently hostile to Roe v. Wade. Multiple outlets report that anti-abortion groups are “quietly lobbying senior White House officials against possible Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.” Much of the opposition stems from Kavanaugh’s opinion in Garza v. Hargan, the imprisoned pregnant woman case. When Garza reached Kavanaugh, his court was asked to decide the fate of a pregnant woman who was held in a facility for undocumented minors that enter the country without an adult guardian. The administration would not let the woman leave the facility to obtain an abortion. Nor would it release her to two family members who offered to take custody of her and become her “sponsor,” though it was unclear why these two potential sponsors were rejected. A majority of Kavanaugh’s court held that the woman must be allowed to have her abortion. As the Supreme Court held in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the government may not enforce a policy that has “the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.” Holding a woman prisoner to prevent her from having an abortion qualifies. Kavanaugh’s dissent did not try to argue that literally holding a woman in a locked facility to prevent her from reaching an abortion clinic does not place “a substantial obstacle in the path” of her receiving an abortion. Nor did he join a solo dissenting opinion by Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, which claimed that undocumented immigrants rounded up at the border lack constitutional rights. Not even the Trump administration embraced Henderson’s position. Instead, Kavanaugh argued that the government could temporarily delay the woman’s access to an abortion while it searches for another sponsor who could take custody of her. The Trump administration, Kavanaugh argued, “has permissible interests in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor, and refraining from facilitating abortion.” Admittedly, that’s a less maximalist position than simply proclaiming that Casey was wrong and that Kavanaugh’s court shouldn’t follow it. But there’s a reason why the Supreme Court is called the “Supreme” Court. Its decisions are supreme over the rest of the federal judiciary, and a lower court decision that openly flouted Casey would be lawless. | |
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| 07-04-18 08:30am - 2363 days | #883 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump wants a war with Venezuela because he thinks the US can win. But what if Trump is wrong? Is it ethical to fire nuclear weapons at a country that does not have nuclear weapons? Of course it is. Might makes right. That is what US history has shown, time and again, with the native Indians and other savages we were forced to fight--including the rapist, scumbag Mexicans who slaughtered white US citizens at the Alamo. -------------------- -------------------- Trump pressed aides on Venezuela invasion, US official says Associated Press JOSHUA GOODMAN,Associated Press 1 hour 33 minutes ago FILE - In this May 22, 2018, file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds up the National Electoral Council certificate declaring him the winner of the presidential election, during a ceremony at CNE headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can’t the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country? (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can't the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country? The suggestion stunned those present at the meeting, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, both of whom have since left the administration. This account of the previously undisclosed conversation comes from a senior administration official familiar with what was said. In an exchange that lasted around five minutes, McMaster and others took turns explaining to Trump how military action could backfire and risk losing hard-won support among Latin American governments to punish President Nicolas Maduro for taking Venezuela down the path of dictatorship, according to the official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions. But Trump pushed back. Although he gave no indication he was about to order up military plans, he pointed to what he considered past cases of successful gunboat diplomacy in the region, according to the official, like the invasions of Panama and Grenada in the 1980s. The idea, despite his aides' best attempts to shoot it down, would nonetheless persist in the president's head. The next day, Aug. 11, Trump alarmed friends and foes alike with talk of a "military option" to remove Maduro from power. The public remarks were initially dismissed in U.S. policy circles as the sort of martial bluster people have come to expect from the reality TV star turned commander in chief. But shortly afterward, he raised the issue with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, according to the U.S. official. Two high-ranking Colombian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing Trump confirmed the report. Then in September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump discussed it again, this time at greater length, in a private dinner with leaders from four Latin American allies that included Santos, the same three people said and Politico reported in February. The U.S. official said Trump was specifically briefed not to raise the issue and told it wouldn't play well, but the first thing the president said at the dinner was, "My staff told me not to say this." Trump then went around asking each leader if they were sure they didn't want a military solution, according to the official, who added that each leader told Trump in clear terms they were sure. Eventually, McMaster would pull aside the president and walk him through the dangers of an invasion, the official said. Taken together, the behind-the-scenes talks, the extent and details of which have not been previously reported, highlight how Venezuela's political and economic crisis has received top attention under Trump in a way that was unimaginable in the Obama administration. But critics say it also underscores how his "America First" foreign policy at times can seem outright reckless, providing ammunition to America's adversaries. The White House declined to comment on the private conversations. But a National Security Council spokesman reiterated that the U.S. will consider all options at its disposal to help restore Venezuela's democracy and bring stability. Under Trump's leadership, the U.S., Canada and European Union have levied sanctions on dozens of top Venezuelan officials, including Maduro himself, over allegations of corruption, drug trafficking and human rights abuses. The U.S. has also distributed more than $30 million to help Venezuela's neighbors absorb an influx of more than 1 million migrants who have fled the country. For Maduro, who has long claimed that the U.S. has military designs on Venezuela and its vast oil reserves, Trump's bellicose talk provided the unpopular leader with an immediate if short-lived boost as he was trying to escape blame for widespread food shortages and hyperinflation. Within days of the president's talk of a military option, Maduro filled the streets of Caracas with loyalists to condemn "Emperor" Trump's belligerence, ordered up nationwide military exercises and threatened with arrest opponents he said were plotting his overthrow with the U.S. "Mind your own business and solve your own problems, Mr. Trump!" thundered Nicolas Maduro, the president's son, at the government-stacked constituent assembly. "If Venezuela were attacked, the rifles will arrive in New York, Mr. Trump," the younger Maduro said. "We will take the White House." Even some of the staunchest U.S. allies were begrudgingly forced to side with Maduro in condemning Trump's saber rattling. Santos, a big backer of U.S. attempts to isolate Maduro, said an invasion would have zero support in the region. The Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Brazil and Argentina, issued a statement saying "the only acceptable means of promoting democracy are dialogue and diplomacy" and repudiating "any option that implies the use of force." But among Venezuela's beleaguered opposition movement, hostility to the idea of a military intervention has slowly eased. A few weeks after Trump's public comments, Harvard economics professor Ricardo Hausmann, a former Venezuelan planning minister, wrote a syndicated column titled "D Day Venezuela," in which he called for a "coalition of the willing" made up of regional powers and the U.S. to step in and support militarily a government appointed by the opposition-led national assembly. Mark Feierstein, who oversaw Latin America on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, said that strident U.S. action on Venezuela, however commendable, won't loosen Maduro's grip on power if it's not accompanied by pressure from the streets. However, he thinks Venezuelans have largely been demoralized after a crackdown on protests last year triggered dozens of deaths, and the threat of more repression has forced dozens of opposition leaders into exile. "People inside and outside the administration know they can ignore plenty of what Trump says," Feierstein, who is now a senior adviser at the Albright Stonebridge Group, said of Trump's talk of military invasion of Venezuela. "The concern is that it raised expectations among Venezuelans, many of whom are waiting for an external actor to save them." ___ Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report. | |
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| 07-04-18 08:12am - 2363 days | #882 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The Chinese government is rounding up Muslims and throwing them in camps Things are going from bad to potentially far worse in China's western region of Xinjiang. Casey Michel Jul 3, 2018, 5:58 pm In China’s remote western province of Xinjiang, the Chinese government has begun constructing a series of internment camps larger than anything the world currently knows. Meant to house upwards of a million — and potentially more — of the region’s indigenous Muslim minority, known as Uyghurs, the camps, according to one U.S. commission studying the region, present the “largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.” And they’re only just beginning. Technically called “Concentrated Education Transformation Centers” — with one even named, in a manner that would make George Orwell blush, as “the Loving Kindness School” — the camps span Xinjiang, a region known to Uyghurs as East Turkestan. Unsurprisingly, Chinese authorities have revealed little information about the camps: how many people are being detained, what crimes they supposedly committed, and when, if ever, these camps will be dismantled. Uighur (also Uyghur) ethnic minority worshipers take part in Friday noon prayers in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province in China in 2009. CREDIT: AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel China’s new policy tracking Muslims’ phones adds to rise in global Islamophobia The camps started appearing over the past few years, but details are scarce. Reporting on the region is tightly constricted, and Beijing has made a habit of arresting and disappearing the family members of American reporters who have attempted to cover the topic. “We heard at the beginning of this year that more than one million Uyghurs are currently in the camps,” Dolkun Isa, the president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, told ThinkProgress. “But it’s already been six months, and we’ve never heard of anyone being released… [There] may be 1.5 million, maybe 2 million, in the camps. We don’t know.” “The world already promised ‘never again’ — but it’s happening again.” Given that there are approximately 8 million Uyghurs in the region, that would mean over 10 percent — and potentially as many as 25 percent — of Xinjiang’s Uyghurs are currently housed in these camps. These camps have rapidly formed the backbone of China’s broader “assimilation” effort: a set of policies aimed at banning Uyghurs’ religious education, language, and broader culture. Following a 2009 protest-turned-massacre in Xinjiang, China’s deadliest domestic event in decades, Beijing accelerated its policy of forced assimilation — actions ranging from banning the teaching of the Uyghur language to barring certain Islamic names, all while installing one of the most stifling security regimes this side of North Korea. Xinjiang, now under the thumb of party chief Chen Quanguo — who had previously stamped any dissent in Tibet — has become “a police state to rival North Korea, with a formalized racism on the order of South African apartheid,” Rian Thum, an associate history professor at Loyola University, recently wrote. One professor at Australian National University described Xinjiang, an area approximately half the size of India, as the testing ground for China’s looming “neo-totalitarian” model. And Adrien Zenz, a researcher with the European School of Culture and Theology, has estimated that the police density in Xinjiang has now likely surpassed what was seen in late East Germany. “What’s striking about this is that [Chinese authorities] manage to marry the kinds of methods which North Korea uses, which are based on a lot of manpower, a lot of ordinary people on the ground who are ready and willing to inform on you, and a bureaucratic architecture to process all that,” Thum told ThinkProgress. “And when you put those two things together, it leaves Uyghurs feeling that their only private place left is the inside of their head.” Concentrating in camps While little has trickled out about these camps — AP reporters writing on the camps were detained a few months ago by local police, accused of “not promot[ing] positive energy” — the few pieces of available information paint a stark, dystopic image. The prisoners are arbitrarily held, with no charge necessary and without any terms of release. The camps themselves are often ramshackle constructs, recently built to house those arrested. And as Thum told ThinkProgress, Chinese authorities are still putting out contracts to build new camps. Isa added that authorities have even begun retrofitting schools to hold incarcerated Uyghurs. The camps appear to be sparse. One account from a Uyghur student who had been studying in the U.S. — and who was imprisoned upon trying to return to Xinjiang — noted that his incarceration featured marching, chanting, and repeated viewing of “re-education” videos. Advertisement “I’m sure you may have had some ideological changes because of your unpleasant experience but remember: Whatever you say or do in North America, your family is still here, and so are we,” a member of a local neighborhood watch committee later told the student, who relayed his experience to Foreign Policy. “One prisoner said that at 6 or 7 A.M. you get up and sit down,” Isa told ThinkProgress. “You can’t move, you can’t run, you can’t talk. You have to sit and self-criticize yourself… At lunch time you have bit of space, but then after lunch you sit, and you self-criticize again. It is psychological torture.” Russia may grab the headlines, but China's campaign of censorship throughout the West is beyond compare. (CREDIT: AP/ANDY WONG) How China leads a campaign of censorship and intimidation throughout the West Fatalities, and worse While China hasn’t released any information internationally about its detention policies, Chinese authorities have had little compunction about imprisoning family members of those living abroad, and those who are critical of Beijing’s dictatorship. Not only have family members of American-based journalists languished in these camps, but Isa’s mother herself was detained over a year ago. And this week, Isa learned that his mother, Ayhan Memet, had died in one of the camps. She was 78 years old. “It is very, very difficult to get any information about what is going on in the camps,” Isa said. “But maybe I’m one of the lucky ones, because I got the news about my mother… So many people, so many Uyghurs who live in exile, they don’t know.” A report from Radio Free Asia last week noted that more than two dozen Uyghurs had already died in the camps. But those numbers come from just one county in Xinjiang. “Every single Uyghur abroad has relatives waiting for a slow death in these camps,” wrote Mehmet Tohti, a Toronto-based Uyghur human rights activist. Thus far, there has been negligible international outcry about the camps — although that may be symptomatic not simply of China’s economic clout, but also of just how little information has been revealed about the camps. Thankfully, though, things are starting to change. In April, U.S. officials threatened to implement sanctions against those responsible for Xinjiang’s security architecture. HBO’s John Oliver also highlighted Uyghurs’ plight in a recent episode of Last Week Tonight. While Washington debates potential sanctions for the swelling human rights disaster in Xinjiang, analysts and researchers have a more linguistic debate to deal with: just what to call these camps now metastasizing through the region. Beijing prefers the anodyne term “re-education camps,” but Thum referred to them as “internment camps,” noting that he’s also considering using the term “forced indoctrination camps” in the future. Noted Xinjiang scholar James Leibold condemned the camps last month as part of “China’s Muslim gulag,” presenting “one of the worst human rights abuses in recent times.” Isa, meanwhile, is fine with calling them something else entirely: “concentration camps,” a term Leibold has also used. But beyond what to call these facilities is the question of what comes next — and when, or if, we’ll know. “Even if it doesn’t get worse, it’s already one of the more frightening human rights abuses on the planet — but there are good reasons to worry about it getting worse,” Thum said. As another China scholar noted, the situation “smells of the pre-genocidal.” “The world already promised ‘never again’ — but it’s happening again,” Isa added. “Tomorrow may be too late. Maybe it’s already started. We just don’t know.” | |
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| 07-04-18 01:48am - 2363 days | #878 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
But don't worry, fans of Donald Trump. If he can pack a few more Neo-Nazi conservatives on the Supreme Court, it won't matter what the Mueller probe finds. Because, not only can Trump pardon himself, but the Supreme Court, with a clear conservative majority, will ratify Trump's innocence of any charges of wrong-doing, and affirm his place as President for Life of the United States of Trumpland. Hail Donald Trump, the Neo-Nazi leader of the Great, White America of millionaires and billionaires. | |
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| 07-04-18 01:44am - 2363 days | #877 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Michael Cohen, once one of Trump's most trusted advisors, is now a question mark. There are rumors Cohen might flip, and cooperate with the Mueller investigation. So Fox news, Trump's news organization mouthpiece, is now questioning Cohen's credibility. No longer seen as taking a bullet for Trump and his family, Cohen is now viewed as a slime-ball who is willing to turn on Trump. But Trump is a great man, and he will still hold out his arms to Cohen in love and friendship, and maybe even with a pardon if Cohen can find the strength to stay true to Trump. Only time will tell, what Michael Cohen reveals. --------------- --------------- Fox News Suddenly Questions Michael Cohen’s ‘Credibility’ He was once a welcome and trusted Trump surrogate for Fox News, but now the network’s hosts are seemingly starting to turn on Michael Cohen after his ABC interview. Matt Wilstein 07.02.18 2:10 PM ET Apparently all Michael Cohen had to do to lose Fox News was sit down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Following an off-camera interview in which Cohen pledged his loyalty not to President Trump but to his family and his country, the hosts of Fox’s Outnumbered came down hard on the full-time fixer and sometime lawyer, openly questioning his “credibility” ahead of his potential cooperation with two separate investigations into the president. Delivering a major understatement, Harris Faulkner noted that Cohen “seems to be creating some daylight” between himself and Trump, for whom he once suggested he would “take a bullet.” Going against the president, Cohen told Stephanopoulos that he doesn’t think Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is a “witch hunt” and said that he trust the intelligence community’s “unanimous conclusions” about Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. “If he knows something that is so important and yet he’s willing to sort of taunt the president by seeming to go against him, what does that say about this person as a witness?” Faulkner wondered aloud. “It gets difficult to kind of even see him as credible at this point. I don’t know what he knows, just based on the way he’s acting.” Later, she added, “The one thing we know about Michael Cohen is that he’ll throw anybody under the bus.” Faulkner pointed to the moment in court when Cohen gave up Fox News’ own Sean Hannity as his mystery “third client.” Beyond simply giving Fox News’ biggest star legal advice, Cohen was a frequent guest on the network for years. Before he hinted that he might flip on the president, he was a welcome and trusted Trump surrogate on Fox. “And if you’re willing to give an interview, if you’re willing to speak out publicly like he’s now done and go against the president,” co-host Abby Huntsman concurred, “I think we should all take that as a signal that he is in a dire situation, grasping for air, wanting any help he can get.” When Juan Williams noted that the one area Cohen refused to discuss was the hush payments to Stormy Daniels, Faulkner added, “That’s why I question his credibility, because what are his motives?” Matt Wilstein @mattwilstein matt.wilstein@thedailybeast.com | |
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| 07-03-18 08:19am - 2364 days | #876 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, spent over $1500 on tactical pants. That sounds like a lot of money. Taxpayer money. However, the details explain a lot: Pruitt spend over $1500 on 40 pairs of pants at about $40 a pair. Which seems more reasonable. What are tactical pants? "These are routine expenditures for our Criminal Investigative Division (CID) and Protective Security Detail (PSD) agents to have proper attire for search warrants, arrests, disaster responses and training." Why Pruit needs 40 pairs of these pants is beyond me. They should last, under normal use by Pruitt, maybe 20 years or more. After all, he would not be wearing them to formal occasions, such as a White House staff meeting. But maybe Pruitt has a second job, to earn extra money, where he volunteers to go out with law enforcement agencies to help enforce Environment Protection Agency rules, which he is rolling back for big business and lowering the standards for public health for ordinary citizens. In other words, big business can now dump harmful chemicals into the environment legally, under the Trump administration, far more than under the Barack Obama administration. | |
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| 07-01-18 08:46am - 2366 days | #875 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump should be nominated for the Nobel Peach Prize. His administration says that North Korea nuclear program can be dismantled in one year. (However, there are reports that not only did North Korea not stop their nuclear program after the talks with Trump, but that the North Koreans have actually strengthened their nuclear program.) But this is a sign of hope. All you have to do is believe the words coming from the Trump administration. Which happens to be famous for their lies, exaggerations, and false promises. That is why Trump should be given the Nobel Peach Prize, instead of the more famous Nobel Peace Prize. Because Trump is such a peach: a slimeball Neo-Nazi who is running the most corrupt Presidency in United States history. ---------- ---------- World White House's Bolton: North Korea nuclear program can be dismantled in year Reuters Reuters 1 hour 9 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday he believed the bulk of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs could be dismantled within a year. Bolton told CBS's "Face the Nation" that Washington has devised a program to dismantle North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a year. "If they have the strategic decision already made to do that and they're cooperative, we can move very quickly," he said. "Physically we would be able to dismantle the overwhelming bulk of their programs within a year." He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will likely discuss that proposal with the North Koreans soon. The Financial Times reported that Pompeo was due to visit North Korea this week but Reuters has not been able to confirm his travel plans. North Korea agreed at the summit to "work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," but the joint statement signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S., President Donald Trump gave no details on how or when Pyongyang might surrender its nuclear weapons. Pompeo told reporters the day after the Singapore summit on June 12 that Washington hoped to achieve "major disarmament" by North Korea within Trump's current term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021. Bolton said the United States was going into nuclear negotiations aware of Pyongyang's failure to live up to its promises in the past. "We know exactly what the risks are - them using negotiations to drag out the length of time they have to continue their nuclear, chemical, biological weapons programs and ballistic missiles," he said. "There's not any starry-eyed feeling among the group doing this," he said. "We're well aware of what the North Koreans have done in the past." (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) | |
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| 06-30-18 06:24pm - 2367 days | #872 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Donald Trump isn't even trying to lie convincingly anymore By Adam Rosenberg 5 hours ago We're all tired of "Donald Trump tweeted more BS" stories, but the lie he dropped on Saturday is too much of a doozy to ignore. "I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold," Trump tweeted on Saturday afternoon. For those who need a refresher: The immigration bills Trump refers to were penned by Bob Goodlatte, the Republican representative presiding over Virginia's 6th Congressional District. Both bills were meant to provide a legislative fix for the Trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy. Unfortunately, rather than addressing the singular problem of migrant families being torn apart, the two bills added in an assortment of other immigration-related policies. The first bill, viewed as the one loaded with more of a conservative, hard-line approach to immigration, was defeated on June 21 in a 193-to-231 vote. The second bill, Goodlatte 2, was viewed as more of a compromise. It was still a conservative piece of legislation — Democrats weren't included in the process — but it wasn't as hard-line. Compromise or not, that second bill suffered an even greater defeat after a 121-to-301 vote last week. Here's how all of that ties back to today's tweet. Shortly before that second vote occurred — the day of, in fact — Trump weighed in on his favorite social media platform. His all-caps missive strongly, explicitly encouraged the GOP to "pass" Goodlatte 2 and send it along to the Senate (where it was expected to be defeated anyway due to the slim Republican majority there). Now. I'm no English language expert — granted, it's been the focus of my career for the past 15 years, whatever — but it seems to me that "HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL" actually does count as Trump having "pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill." Right now, today, he's claiming he didn't do the thing. But if you scroll down in his feed to just three days ago, you can plainly see he actually did do the thing. The current President of the United States is an unrepentant liar, and he doesn't even try to hide it anymore. I'm going to repeat myself, and I don't care: On Wednesday, he explicitly and emphatically encouraged Republicans to vote for Goodlatte 2. Now he's claiming that never happened. WTF. This may be small potatoes stuff when you look at the big picture of the travesties being visited upon the American public each day. But holy shit. Two diametrically opposed statements delivered just days apart. There's no amount of spin that can be applied to the earlier tweet to make this new one anything other than a bald-faced lie. As you might expect, folks on social media took notice. The man is a liar. Donald Trump is a liar. He lies. He lies all the time. Today's tweet is a lie. It's not the most offensive lie he's uttered, though in the grand pantheon of memorable Donald Trump lies this particular lie is an insult to every voter in America, regardless of their political affiliation. Say it over and over. Don't forget it, don't stop calling it out when you see it. Trump is not going to change, but the more that voters internalize moments like, the more likely it is that change will come when we all get our say this fall, and then again in 2020. | |
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| 06-30-18 03:53am - 2367 days | #871 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Presidents, like most politicians, try to put a positive spin on events, even when it's not true. But the current Republican administration is the most extreme example of lies, broken promises, corruption, graft, etc. of any federal administration in US history. It almost reminds me of a corrupt Southern state from the 1950s, which fought integration and civil rights for black people. | |
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| 06-29-18 08:26am - 2368 days | #869 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump's top economic adviser is a liar just like Donald Trump. Kudlow lies with a smile, with a frown, with a straight face. Is that why Trump hired Kudlow? Because it takes a professional liar to recognize another professional liar? -------- -------- Trump’s top economics adviser lies about ‘rapidly’ falling budget deficit There's just one problem. Ryan Koronowski Jun 29, 2018, 9:33 am Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said that the deficit is “coming down rapidly” in a Friday morning appearance on Fox Business. The problem for President Trump’s top economic adviser is that the deficit is actually rising. “As the economy gears up, more people working, better jobs and careers, those revenues come rolling in and the deficit, which was one of the other criticisms, is coming down,” Kudlow told host Maria Bartiromo. “It’s coming down rapidly. Growth solves a lot of problems.” However, the deficit is actually increasing, and is projected to do so well into the future. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected as of April 2018 that the FY 2018 deficit is $804 billion. Fiscal Year 2017’s deficit was $666 billion, increasing from $586 billion in FY 2016. This leads to an even worse projection for the federal debt. The CBO concluded in a report earlier this week: “At 78 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), federal debt held by the public is now at its highest level since shortly after World War II.” Trump has given up on his pledge to balance the budget One of the primary drivers behind the terrible deficit and debt projections is the Republican tax cut bill — the six-month anniversary of it being signed into law was the occasion for Kudlow’s interview on Fox Business — and the only glimmer of hope in the CBO’s analysis is the expiration of the tax cuts in 2026. But the White House and Republicans in Congress insist they won’t let the tax cuts expire. Instead, they’ve promised to extend them. Advertisement Kudlow also dismissed critics who apparently said “we could never get to 3 percent growth,” something that Donald Trump Jr. also argued in a tweet which also claimed “I don’t think Obama ever broke 2 percent.” In 2014, as the Obama administration was pulling the country out of the Great Recession, growth hit as high as 5.2 percent in a quarter. Trump’s new economic adviser is really bad at economics. Here are the receipts. That Kudlow does not present the best economic arguments is not shocking. He recommended buying stocks in September 2008, denied the existence of the housing bubble in 2005, lauded the “Bush Boom” on the eve of the Great Recession, and argued that unemployment benefits make people not want to work (which is not true). He also said the war in Iraq would be a huge boon to the American economy, even though the trillions it added to the deficit (not to mention the tens of thousands of lives it cost) helped to put future administrations, including the one he helps to lead, in a situation where boosting the deficit with tax cuts is even more perilous thanks to trillions more in debt.  2018 ThinkProgress | |
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| 06-29-18 06:42am - 2368 days | #868 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Neo-Nazi Trump is a wuss. He should have obeyed his slime-ball instincts and had the mass protesters gunned down. This would have established his right to rule Trumpland USA with guts and glory. Hail Trump, the Neo-Nazi who wants to establish a rich, white-only Trumpland. Where his family will be free to ignore the laws of decency, and to make obscene profits from contracts with China, and other foreign nations. Trump under investigation for ties to Russia? Trump is proud to call Putin a friend. ---------- ---------- US immigration Almost 600 arrested at Washington protest over Trump immigration policy Demonstrators sat on floor of Senate office building to condemn treatment of migrant families, with more rallies planned Ed Pilkington in New York and agencies @edpilkington Thu 28 Jun 2018 19.38 EDT Last modified on Fri 29 Jun 2018 04.47 EDT Nearly 600 protesters, mostly women, were arrested on Thursday after they staged a non-violent action in the heart of a US Senate office building in Washington against Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy towards immigrants and separation of families at the border. The mass protest was one of several demonstrations that erupted across the country, providing a taste of what are expected to be much larger demonstrations on Saturday called by the Women’s March and the Center for Popular Democracy Action. The rallies are likely to get a further boost as a result of the announcement on Wednesday by Anthony Kennedy that he is retiring from the US supreme court, providing Trump with the chance to make a second ultra-conservative appointment to the nation’s highest court and prompting fears of a rollback of liberal protections. Demonstrators in opposition to the immigration policies of the Trump administration rally at the Hart Senate office building. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters The largest demonstration on Thursday saw the 90ft atrium of the Senate Hart office building overrun by hundreds of women who sat on the floor pumping their fists in the air. Many were draped in foil sheets as a statement on the flimsy bedding given to children and adults as they are held at US border detention facilities. The protesters chanted “abolish Ice” and “we care” – a jab at Melania Trump for wearing a jacket with the words “I really don’t care, do u?” painted on its back as she visited one of the immigrant detention centers in Texas last week. Among those arrested in the senate building were Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic member of Congress representing Seattle. She said in a video posted on social media that she had joined the action to protest “the inhumane and cruel ‘zero tolerance’ policy of Donald Trump and this administration, the separation of families, the caging of children, and the imprisonment of asylum seekers”. We will put our bodies on the line to stop Trump incarcerating children She added that she was proud to have been arrested among hundreds of others who believed that “the US is better and as a member of Congress I refuse to let this president and administration do what they are doing to children in my name”. Senator Elizabeth Warren cheers on demonstrators. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Daily images are still emerging of distraught immigrant children separated from parents and not yet reunited, despite an executive order last week ending the policy of summarily tearing families apart and arresting the adults after anyone is caught crossing the border illegally. In a written statement, the Capitol police said around 575 people were charged with unlawfully demonstrating inside the office building. The police said those arrested were being released after they were processed. Winnie Wong, political adviser for the Women’s March, said the crowd’s fervor would translate into “the energy we will need to see to at the ballot box in November”, when congressional control will be at stake. The actor Susan Sarandon, center, was among the activists protesting at the Hart office building. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP The Democratic senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who was one of the first to draw attention to children being held in detention camps along the border after being separated from their parents, appeared before the crowd. So did the Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Edward Markey of Massachusetts. “These folks are out here fighting for the core principles of our nation, and I applaud them for it,” Merkley said in an interview. Meanwhile, hundreds more people gathered at a rally outside a federal courthouse in Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande valley. And dozens of protesters shut down a government meeting in Michigan in protest against a contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency to house detainees at a local jail. Eight people also were arrested outside an Ice building in Portland, Oregon, that has been closed because of a round-the-clock demonstration. 2018 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | |
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| 06-28-18 08:28pm - 2369 days | #867 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Sean Hannity blames Maxine Waters, Obama, and other slime-ball Democrats for the Capital Gazette murders. Democrats are slime. They are evil. When people shoot innocent people, it's the Democrats who are responsible. Never Republicans. Republicans, like our beloved President Trump, are God-fearing, upstanding young people who love everyone, even slime-ball Democrats who would be better off dead and buried. Love live Donald Trump, Neo-Nazi President-for-life of the United States of Trumpland. And may all Democrats burn in hell, where they belong. ---------- ---------- Sean Hannity Immediately Blames Maxine Waters for ‘Capital Gazette’ Shooting “Really Maxine?” Hannity asked on the radio, mere seconds after learning about a shooting inside an Annapolis newspaper’s offices. Matt Wilstein Matt Wilstein 06.28.18 4:36 PM ET Within seconds of learning Thursday about a shooting inside the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, Fox News host Sean Hannity laid blame at the feet of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters. “It's so sad that there are so many sick, demented, and evil people in this world,” Hannity told his radio listeners, in a clip first reported by Media Matters. “It really is sad. You know, imagine you go to work and this is what you're dealing with today, some crazy person comes in... and I’m not turning this into a gun debate, I know that’s where the media will be in 30 seconds from now. That’s not it.” “You know, as I’ve always said, I mean honestly—I’ve been saying now for days that something horrible was going to happen because of the rhetoric. Really, Maxine?” he asked, referring to Waters. “You want people to create—‘call your friends, get in their faces,’ and Obama said that too. ‘Get in their faces, call them out, call your friends, get protesters, follow them into restaurants and shopping malls,’ and wherever else, she said.” Hannity has been talking for days about widely circulated comments made by Waters encouraging the Democratic base to confront Trump administration officials in public and “tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere.” She did not, as Donald Trump has now falsely stated on multiple occasions, call for anyone to be physically “harmed.” But that did not stop Hannity and his fellow Fox News primetime hosts from railing against the California congresswoman night after night this week, calling her and others on the left “utterly psychotic and unhinged.” At the time of Hannity’s comments, authorities had released no information about the motivations of the Annapolis shooter. | |
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| 06-28-18 07:22pm - 2369 days | #866 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopolous says he is not responsible for the deaths of journalists, after he had called for "vigilante death squads" to kill journalists days before journalists were killed. "My comments were made in private" (although they were sent to journalists in emails). If people are killed, I am sorry. But I'm not responsible." Sounds like he is taking a message from Neo-Nazi Trump, who spews hate messages while saying he loves everyone. Even the people from shit-hole countries. Trump loves everyone, even the slime-ball Democrats he wants to bury. Trump is a lying con-man, yet his devoted followers love him. Just like Nazis still love Hitler, who promised to make Germany great again. Did Trump take a message from Hitler? ------- ------- U.S. Maryland shooting: Milo Yiannopolous responds to Annapolis attack after 'gun journalists down' comments The Independent Clark Mindock,The Independent 1 hour 43 minutes ago Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopolous has responded to claims linking comments he gave to reporters days ago and the shooting at a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. Yiannopolous criticised liberal journalists in a Facebook post, who he said would try to “score political points against” him by noting that he had called for “vigilante death squads” to kill journalists days before the incident. “You’re about to see a raft of news stories claiming that I am responsible for inspiring the deaths of journalists,” he wrote. “The bodies are barely cold and left-wing journalists are already exploiting these deaths to score political points against me. It’s disgusting. I regret nothing I said, though of course like any normal person I am saddened to hear of needless death”. He continued: “The truth, as always, is the opposite of what the media tells you. I sent a troll about ‘vigilante death squads’ as a *private* response to a few hostile journalists who were asking me for comment, basically as a way of saying, ‘f*** off’”. Yiannopolous is referring to reports originally published on the Daily Beast website and the New York Observer — and later picked up by several blogs — in which he is quoted saying he would like to see journalists murdered. Others noted that he has previously sent anti-semitic and violent messages to members of the media. “I can’t wait fort he vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight,” he texted the reporter at the Observer, who said he received the message when he reached out for comment on a story from Yiannopolous. A least five people have been killed and many more were injured when a gunman opened fire at the joint offices for The Capital and the Maryland Gazette newspapers in Annapolis on Thu It was not immediately clear why the gunman had targeted that particular office building — which houses other businesses as well — and investigators said they expected to be working into the night, and potentially beyond then. Yiannopolous, hours after that shooting, published his Facebook post, and sought to put the blame for the publication of his comments on the journalists. He repeatedly insisted that the comments made to those reporters were intended to be private, even though he knew that he was speaking to reporters who were seeking public comment from the controversial conservative activist. | |
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| 06-27-18 08:59am - 2370 days | #865 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: The Trump white house has minimized civil rights protections in the federal government, cutting back funding for anti-discrimination. At the same time, Trump's white house has authorized increased spending on personal protections for its staff members In other words: the public poor are wastrels who do not deserve any protections from the government. But Trump's cronies and personal servants are getting secret service protection, at taxpayer expense, because of what reason? That their jobs expose them to the public? Supposedly, federal employees are public servants. Except, Trump believes that he is the master Nazi, who can transform America into his vision of greatness: graft, corruption, and lies. Note: the Supreme Court, in a win for conservatives, ruled it's OK for a restaurant to refuse service to a gay couple, on moral grounds. But Trump wants to demolish a restaurant that refused service to Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, on moral grounds that she is a liar and tool for Trump's attacks on LGBT rights. So, Trump can stomp on people, but if they fight back, he wants them destroyed. Can anyone say: Bully Trump? Neo-Nazi Trump. Corrupt Trump? --------- --------- White House spokeswoman Sanders to get Secret Service protection Reuters Reuters 34 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will get Secret Service protection after she was asked to leave a restaurant in southern Virginia in protest of President Donald Trump's policies, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The source did not provide details. The Secret Service and the White House both declined to confirm the matter. NBC News, which first reported that Sanders would get protection, said security would be provided at her home on a temporary basis, citing a law enforcement official. Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, on Friday because she worked for Trump. The owner later confirmed the reasoning to media, and the incident drew praise and condemnation online for the restaurant. The incident prompted Twitter attacks from the president on Monday. Trump lashed out at Democratic U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, who told a crowd in California on Sunday that the Red Hen’s actions should be a model for resisting the president’s administration. Tensions have risen over the Republican president’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that initially led to migrant children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said the protection was related to other threats Sanders has received. "Well, it’s not so much related to the Red Hen as it is to other threats and you got to remember, she has three small children and there have been some nasty things," Mike Huckabee said in an interview with Fox Business Network. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Gregorio and Bernadette Baum) | |
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| 06-27-18 08:29am - 2370 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I've seen a few Maryjane Auryn videos that were really hot. She seems to play a submissive role who gets off being dominated. Cute girl, with very nice body. | |
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