November 1st, 2017 - November 2nd, 2017. 352-353 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no.45, and 284-285 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
Normally, I would comment on the shit stain of a govt currently run by No45. But there is just SO much crap that he's done in the short time he's been POTUS that I just can't imagine what the hell to say.
Hopefully, this will be preserved for the future so we don't make the same mistakes.
Look, no person or POTUS is perfect, but holy shit, who would have thought that the clusterfuck would be so huge?
the rich asshole praises Yellen while replacing her
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 11/02/17 03:33 PM EDT
President the rich asshole on Thursday praised outgoing Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen during an event announcing her replacement.
the rich asshole veered from his prepared remarks to call Yellen “a wonderful woman who’s done a terrific job” leading the nation’s central bank.
“She is absolutely a spectacular person,” the president said. “For the past four years, she has served with dedication and devotion, and we are thankful for her total commitment to public service.”
The president, however, passed at the chance to nominate Yellen for a second term and instead selected Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell to replace her.
It's the first time the chairman of the Federal Reserve, after serving one four-year term, has not been nominated for a second term.
the rich asshole was a fierce critic of Yellen and the Fed during his 2016 presidential campaign, accusing her of keeping interest rates low to artificially boost the economy.
But as the stock market rallied and economic indicators remained positive after his election, the rich asshole turned into a fan of the Fed chairwoman.
He interviewed her along with other candidates for the job two weeks ago.
Speaking to Fox Business network last week, the rich asshole called Yellen "very impressive" and said, "I like her a lot."
But the president also said he wanted to put his own stamp on the Fed.
"You like to make your own mark which is maybe one of the things she’s got a little bit against her, but I think she is terrific," he said.
the rich asshole Is Literally Sabotaging The Case Against The NYC Terrorist By Not Keeping His Mouth Shut
If some rich asshole keeps tweeting about the NYC terrorist like this he will prevent justice from being served.
Earlier this week, a terrorist killed eight people using a vehicle. Police captured him alive. So now we not only can get information that could be vital, we can try him in a court of law and get justice for the victims and their families.
But justice won’t happen if a fair trial cannot be had.
And that’s why the rich asshole needs to stop tweeting about it right now.
On Wednesday night, the rich asshole seriously damaged the suspect’s ability to get a fair trial by calling for him to receive the death penalty.
the rich asshole opened his big mouth again on Thursday morning, spouting about how he wants to send the suspect to Guantanamo Bay prison. However, such a move is illegal because the suspect holds a green card
Also, there are no such statistics that the rich asshole is referring to. So not only is he making it impossible for the suspect to receive a fair trail, he is demonstrating his complete ignorance of the justice system.
Jeff Sessions: Oh, You Mean THAT Russian Contact. I Remember Now!
The Attorney General of the United States lied under oath, but that seems to be the status quo in the the rich asshole administration. During Sessions’ confirmation hearing in January, he told Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) that he was “not aware” of evidence that anyone affiliated with the the rich asshole campaign communicated with the Russian government during the campaign. But today, his selective memory issues seem to be clearing up. However, the only reason Sessions is admitting there was contact with the the rich asshole administration is because of court documents that were unsealed Monday revealing that some rich asshole’s former campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, floated the idea of setting up a meeting between the former reality show star and Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2016. Papadopoulos claimed he had “connections” that could help arrange the meeting between the rich asshole and Putin.
On top of that, an Instagram picture on the rich asshole’s account shows Sessions attended the meeting in which Papadopoulos made the suggestion.
So, it’s kind of a big deal, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is all up in this administration’s business over the Russia scandal. A source familiar with the matter told NBC that Sessions rejected the meeting.
And apparently, Sessions doesn’t remember if he remembers that. Or something.
Sen. Franken isn’t too happy about the “alarming pattern” in which Sessions “apparently failed to tell the truth, under oath, about the the rich asshole team’s contacts with agents of Russia—a hostile foreign power that interfered in the 2016 election.”
“Once again, developments in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election have brought to light evidence that you failed to tell the truth about your interactions with Russian operatives during the campaign, as well as your awareness of Russian contacts by other members of the the rich asshole campaign team,” Franken wrote in a statement.
“We must get to the bottom of what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again,” Franken wrote. “I am deeply troubled that this newest revelation strongly suggests that the Senate—and the American public—cannot trust your word.”
In June, Sessions said that he had “no knowledge” of any conversations by anyone connected to the the rich asshole campaign about “any type of interference with any campaign” by Russians.
Who knew that a racist elf would lie? Certainly, none of us would have ever guessed.
Sessions now says he was aware of Papadopoulos-Russia contacts — contradicting his sworn testimony: report
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions joins White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions reportedly now admits that he was aware of George Papadopoulos’s efforts to arrange meetings between the rich asshole campaign and Russia — a seemingly direct contradiction of sworn testimony he gave to the Senate.
Sources tell NBC News that Sessions now remembers rejecting a proposal by Papadopoulos to set up a meeting between the rich asshole and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian, appearing on MSNBC Thursday afternoon, explained that this was significant because “he testified under oath that he was aware of no discussions with Russians, at least concerning collusion in the election.”
Dilanian then reported that many in Congress now want Sessions to come back and clarify his testimony — which would mark the third time that Sessions has had to “amend his recollections” of known contacts between the ich asshole campaign and Russian officials.
Sessions originally testified that he had no contacts with any Russian officials during the 2016 election, although he later admitted that he met with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in his capacity as a senator.
CNN reported on Thursday that Sessions was present at a March 2016 meeting in which Papadopoulos said he had been working to arrange a meeting between the rich asshole and Putin, thus raising new questions about his earlier congressional testimony.
In particular, CNN noted that Sessions failed to disclose the meeting “despite a persistent set of questions from Democrats and some Republicans about Russia during multiple hearings on Capitol Hill.”
Watch the video below.
Jeff Sessions under fire after court documents reveal more lies he told Congress
Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a Sept. 5, 2017 press briefing. (Screenshot)
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions is facing renewed scrutiny for making false testimony to Congress regarding his activities during President some rich asshole’s 2016 campaign and White House transition, according to a report from CNN.
Court documents revealed by special counsel Robert Mueller this week show that Sessions was present for a March 2016 meeting at which he vetoed a suggestion that then-candidate some rich asshole meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNN said that Sessions declined to reveal his participation in the meeting “despite a persistent set of questions from Democrats and some Republicans about Russia during multiple hearings on Capitol Hill.”
“The new information,” wrote CNN’s Manu Raju, Evan Perez and Marshall Cohen, “is renewing attention to how forthcoming Sessions has been with Congress.”
On Monday, after Mueller’s office announced the indictments of former the rich asshole 2016 chairman Paul Manafort and his aide Richard Gates, the special counsel revealed former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos attempted on multiple occasions to broker meetings between Kremlin-aligned operatives and officials on the the rich asshole campaign.
A Senate source told CNN that lawmakers on both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees are expecting clarification from Sessions in the form of written amendment to his previous testimony or a fresh round of questioning.
When Sessions was questioned by senators in June, he claimed to have no knowledge of “anyone connected to the the rich asshole campaign” communicating with Russian operatives, nor was he aware of “any type of interference with any campaign or election in the United States.”
The attorney general was forced to recuse himself on any investigations involving Russia and its attempts to meddle in the 2016 election after he was caught perjuring himself with regards to a number of meetings and conversations with Russian officials that he failed to disclose under questioning.
Sessions had meetings with Russian ambassador to the U.S. — and purported spy master and recruiter — Sergei Kislyak that he later lied about under oath.
So, this person who isn't technically employed by the govt is using govt employees as personal slaves but when Michelle O has assistants, the right lose their mind??
Ivanka the rich asshole has an army of White House employees scrambling to address her every need
Nina Burleigh
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Ever wonder how many government employees, employee hours and bits of correspondence it takes to get an hour and a half of Ivanka Trump’s time at a public event?
A new cache of hundreds of emails obtained from the Department of Education (DOE) through the Freedom of Information Act shows that for one brief event at the Air & Space Museum in March, at least 21 employees and at least 150 emails were required to arrange President Donald Trump’s daughter’s presence. The emails were obtained by the nonprofit American Oversight and shared exclusively with Newsweek.
The staff hours, angst and emailing that goes into putting a political “principal” like White House Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump on stage at any event in Washington is always an exercise in theatrical production and people-management skills, what with the squads of coat-brushing, purse-holding, door-opening flunkies fighting for facetime. But in this case, it required the mobilization of at least 21 government employees (some of the emails were fully redacted) to choreograph less than an hour in the schedule of a woman who was not yet an official employee (who happened to be the president’s daughter). And high-ranking DOE staff were happy to oblige.
The emails offer a window into the genesis of a typical federal agency publicity event, this one ostensibly arranged to inform the public about the administration’s interest in STEM for girls. It was attended by mostly African American, local schoolchildren and featured a screening of the hit movie Shadow Figures plus short remarks from Betsy DeVos, Ivanka Trump and a female NASA astronaut, Kathryn (Kay) Hire.
The event was the brainchild of the office of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who Ivanka had run into at a bill signing in the White House on February 28. On March 1, she emailed DeVos (using her private “Ivanka Kushner” email account) to inform her that she wanted their staffs “to continue [to] discuss...opportunities to collaborate on locational/workforce development and k-12 STEM education.”
The next day, DeVos’s chief of staff, Josh Venable, was sending emails around the White House, looking for “Julie in Ivankas’s office.” By that time, Ivanka already had space in the White House, and a staff including Julie Radford, the daughter of a Louisiana Republican, who would eventually be given the title of Ivanka’s White House chief of staff.
DeVos had been searching for a way to connect “with Jared and Ivanka” since as early as February 6, the day on which she was barely confirmed to her post when Vice President Mike Pence, a fellow evangelical, cast the tie-breaking Senate vote, according to another email from an Education Department staffer.
Throughout March, Radford and other White House staffers exchanged numerous emails with staff in DeVos’s office, arranging, canceling and rearranging meeting times, and discussing the various intricacies of Ivanka’s appearance. DeVos’s chief of staff emailed Radford, to “follow up on Ivanka’s conversation with Secretary DeVos outside the Oval”, during which Ivanka had mentioned she’d ”like to participate” in a DOE Women’s History Month event, scheduled for March 28. Radford responded: “Ivanka would love to come by the event and deliver a few brief remarks highlighting her support for STEM efforts and thanking Secretary DeVos for her leadership in this area.”
The emails highlight the careful attention paid to Ivanka’s branding on social media—and SnapChat’s involvement in that endeavor. On March 21, Radford emailed DeVos’s chief of staff that “SnapChat recently expressed interest in having Ivanka snapchat from events that engage with ‘young people’—would your team be open to something like that?”
Ivanka’s unofficial office left nothing to chance: Staff vetted invitations to the event, studied seating and stage charts, requested floor maps and inquired about DeVos’s “social media language” and whether the event would be “open or closed press,” which would determine Ivanka’s arrival and departure times, presumably to control contact.
Ivanka’s unofficial office eventually requested—and got—extra seats for students she wanted to invite, agreed that it was “100% fine to use her name” as long as DeVos’s name was also on the invitation, and set up a meet and greet with students, saying, “that’s always a favorite of Ivanka’s.” The press release ultimately listed the participants and included “Ivanka Trump – White House.”
A last-minute panic ensued during the final days before the event, as Ivanka’s staff was unable to give the DOE organizers a time for her arrival and departure, even as the participants were doing a walkthrough. “[S]o sorry to bug,” wrote DOE staffer Laura Riggs, one of several emails to the White House that tried to get a final time. “Any way we can nail down her arrival/departure today?” Radford replied that they had scheduled Ivanka for 45 minutes (the organizers wanted an hour and a half) but were "working to move things around" to arrive a little earlier to comply with DOE's plan.
On March 28, the spectacle and photo op went off without a hitch. The Washington Post made Ivanka the lead item in its coverage: “At an event at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for local school kids “getting Excited About STEM” on Tuesday morning, Ivanka Trump needed no introduction. Or at least she didn’t get one. The powerful first daughter was announced to the crowd simply by her name, with no title – because she doesn’t really have one, although she has claimed an office in the West Wing.”
A day later, she had a title, assistant to the president. She was then required to file financial reports and comply with ethics and conflict of interest regulations. At that point, she also got a White House email address. Newsweek has been exclusively given access to emails she sent well into July, indicating that she continued to use private email for months after taking the official post.
Part Two of this report will follow.
A new cache of hundreds of emails obtained from the Department of Education (DOE) through the Freedom of Information Act shows that for one brief event at the Air & Space Museum in March, at least 21 employees and at least 150 emails were required to arrange President Donald Trump’s daughter’s presence. The emails were obtained by the nonprofit American Oversight and shared exclusively with Newsweek.
The staff hours, angst and emailing that goes into putting a political “principal” like White House Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump on stage at any event in Washington is always an exercise in theatrical production and people-management skills, what with the squads of coat-brushing, purse-holding, door-opening flunkies fighting for facetime. But in this case, it required the mobilization of at least 21 government employees (some of the emails were fully redacted) to choreograph less than an hour in the schedule of a woman who was not yet an official employee (who happened to be the president’s daughter). And high-ranking DOE staff were happy to oblige.
The emails offer a window into the genesis of a typical federal agency publicity event, this one ostensibly arranged to inform the public about the administration’s interest in STEM for girls. It was attended by mostly African American, local schoolchildren and featured a screening of the hit movie Shadow Figures plus short remarks from Betsy DeVos, Ivanka Trump and a female NASA astronaut, Kathryn (Kay) Hire.
The event was the brainchild of the office of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who Ivanka had run into at a bill signing in the White House on February 28. On March 1, she emailed DeVos (using her private “Ivanka Kushner” email account) to inform her that she wanted their staffs “to continue [to] discuss...opportunities to collaborate on locational/workforce development and k-12 STEM education.”
The next day, DeVos’s chief of staff, Josh Venable, was sending emails around the White House, looking for “Julie in Ivankas’s office.” By that time, Ivanka already had space in the White House, and a staff including Julie Radford, the daughter of a Louisiana Republican, who would eventually be given the title of Ivanka’s White House chief of staff.
DeVos had been searching for a way to connect “with Jared and Ivanka” since as early as February 6, the day on which she was barely confirmed to her post when Vice President Mike Pence, a fellow evangelical, cast the tie-breaking Senate vote, according to another email from an Education Department staffer.
Throughout March, Radford and other White House staffers exchanged numerous emails with staff in DeVos’s office, arranging, canceling and rearranging meeting times, and discussing the various intricacies of Ivanka’s appearance. DeVos’s chief of staff emailed Radford, to “follow up on Ivanka’s conversation with Secretary DeVos outside the Oval”, during which Ivanka had mentioned she’d ”like to participate” in a DOE Women’s History Month event, scheduled for March 28. Radford responded: “Ivanka would love to come by the event and deliver a few brief remarks highlighting her support for STEM efforts and thanking Secretary DeVos for her leadership in this area.”
The emails highlight the careful attention paid to Ivanka’s branding on social media—and SnapChat’s involvement in that endeavor. On March 21, Radford emailed DeVos’s chief of staff that “SnapChat recently expressed interest in having Ivanka snapchat from events that engage with ‘young people’—would your team be open to something like that?”
Ivanka’s unofficial office left nothing to chance: Staff vetted invitations to the event, studied seating and stage charts, requested floor maps and inquired about DeVos’s “social media language” and whether the event would be “open or closed press,” which would determine Ivanka’s arrival and departure times, presumably to control contact.
Ivanka’s unofficial office eventually requested—and got—extra seats for students she wanted to invite, agreed that it was “100% fine to use her name” as long as DeVos’s name was also on the invitation, and set up a meet and greet with students, saying, “that’s always a favorite of Ivanka’s.” The press release ultimately listed the participants and included “Ivanka Trump – White House.”
A last-minute panic ensued during the final days before the event, as Ivanka’s staff was unable to give the DOE organizers a time for her arrival and departure, even as the participants were doing a walkthrough. “[S]o sorry to bug,” wrote DOE staffer Laura Riggs, one of several emails to the White House that tried to get a final time. “Any way we can nail down her arrival/departure today?” Radford replied that they had scheduled Ivanka for 45 minutes (the organizers wanted an hour and a half) but were "working to move things around" to arrive a little earlier to comply with DOE's plan.
On March 28, the spectacle and photo op went off without a hitch. The Washington Post made Ivanka the lead item in its coverage: “At an event at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for local school kids “getting Excited About STEM” on Tuesday morning, Ivanka Trump needed no introduction. Or at least she didn’t get one. The powerful first daughter was announced to the crowd simply by her name, with no title – because she doesn’t really have one, although she has claimed an office in the West Wing.”
A day later, she had a title, assistant to the president. She was then required to file financial reports and comply with ethics and conflict of interest regulations. At that point, she also got a White House email address. Newsweek has been exclusively given access to emails she sent well into July, indicating that she continued to use private email for months after taking the official post.
Part Two of this report will follow.
Why is no one on the right surprised?
the rich asshole ‘voter fraud’ panel goes totally silent — and won’t answer any questions about its activities
some rich asshole and Kris Kobach (Screengrab)
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President some rich asshole’s “voter fraud” panel — which he formed to justify his completely unfounded claim that Hillary Clinton received three million “illegal” votes last November — has gone mysteriously silent.
An editorial for the Kansas City Star notes that the panel, which is being led by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, has only met twice so far, and has had no meetings since September. Additionally, the panel’s website hasn’t provided any updates since August, and it has no future meetings scheduled.
What’s more, the Star writes that panel staff members “did not respond Wednesday to an email asking if the commission would convene again this year.”
The editorial also notes that the Democrats who were initially appointed to the commission have been completely shut out of its activities, and have been publicly complaining that they have no idea what is going on.
This leads the Star’s editors to speculate that Kobach and like-minded allies might still be doing work behind the scenes — and that this may spell trouble for voting rights.
“The commission’s lack of transparency and visible accomplishment could be a smoke-screen designed to protect it from criticism and embarrassment until next year, when it can drop dubious recommendations and unsubstantiated claims just weeks before the mid-term elections,” the editors write.
the rich asshole’s pick for USDA science chief withdraws after being caught up in Mueller’s Russia investigation
Sam Clovis (Screenshot/YouTube)
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Sam Clovis, who had been nominated by President some rich asshole to be the chief scientist for the United States Department of Agriculture, has withdrawn from consideration after being caught up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Clovis, who was a major supporter of the rich asshole and who worked on his 2016 presidential campaign, was nominated to be the USDA’s chief scientist despite the fact that he has no science or academic credentials. As the Washington Post reported on Thursday, Clovis admitted during questions about his qualifications that he had never taken any graduate level courses in natural sciences.
In addition to his lack of qualifications to serve as the USDA’s chief scientist, Clovis also became more controversial this week after getting caught up in the investigation into possible collusion between the the rich asshole campaign and Russian intelligence operatives in 2016.
Specifically, Clovis — who was not named in the indictment but who was later identified as a key figure in subsequent reporting — seems to have encouraged former the rich asshole campaign aide George Papadopoulos to set up meetings between the the rich asshole campaign and Russian officials.
“Make the trip, if it is feasible,” Clovis wrote in response to Papadopoulos’ request to go to an overseas meeting with Russian officials.
In a statement announcing his withdrawal from consideration, Clovis complained that “the political climate has made it impossible for me to receive balanced and fair consideration” for the USDA post.
the rich asshole’s opponents race to the courthouse to thwart him
New York Attorney Gen. Eric Schneiderman (Shutterstock.com)
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When President some rich asshole announced on Oct. 12 he would stop subsidies to health insurers critical to the Obamacare law, the response from Democratic state officials was swift and predictable: a lawsuit by 18 state attorneys general was filed within 24 hours.
The race to the courthouse in response to presidential actions has become a familiar pattern since the rich asshole took office in January, and early rulings in many of the lawsuits have, at least temporarily, hobbled key parts of the president’s agenda.
Many of the Republican president’s most significant executive actions, in areas from immigration and transgender rights to energy and the environment, have been impeded by court rulings in cases brought by Democratic state and local officials as well as liberal advocacy groups.
“We are more of a check on this administration than Congress,” Democratic New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said of state attorneys general.
Similarly, important executive actions taken by the rich asshole’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama were stymied by lawsuits filed by Republican state attorneys general, including one eventually decided by the Supreme Court that was intended to protect millions of immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.
Since the rich asshole took office, courts have at least temporarily blocked the rich asshole’s plans to:
* ban travelers and immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries * withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement * ban transgender people from serving in the military[L2N1N518M] * delay implementation of a regulation issued by the Obama administration limiting methane emissions * put the brakes on an Interior Department rule requiring energy firms to pay more mineral royalties on federal land * delay compliance with an Obama-era rule aimed at curbing natural gas drilling waste emissions on federal land * and impede a detained illegal immigrant teenager from obtaining an abortion
the rich asshole has claimed some court victories, too, including on Oct. 25 when a federal judge in California refused the request by the state attorneys general to force the government to keep the subsidies to insurers under Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, in place as the litigation proceeds. That decision was more the exception than the rule.
“President the rich asshole remains committed to protecting our national security and to eliminating excessive regulations that, if implemented, would destroy jobs, harm consumers and provide no meaningful benefit,” a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a statement provided to Reuters. “The the rich asshole administration is confident in its legal positions and looks forward to arguing — and winning — before the federal judiciary,” the official added.
CRITICISM OF JUDICIARY
In response to legal setbacks, the rich asshole has lashed out at the judiciary in ways that even his own Supreme Court appointee Neil Gorsuch called disheartening and demoralizing. the rich asshole called U.S. courts “so political,” labeled various rulings and proceedings “ridiculous” and “disgraceful,” and disparaged one jurist who ruled against him as a “so-called judge.”
While presidents often face legal challenges over policy initiatives, the rich asshole’s administration stands out for the number of suits it has encountered so soon after taking power.
the rich asshole has faced far more litigation than Obama had at this stage of his presidency. A review of legal database Westlaw showed that in the rich asshole’s first nine months in office, cities or states filed 24 lawsuits challenging major policy initiatives of the administration. The review showed no similar lawsuits during the same time period of Obama’s presidency.
the rich asshole also faces numerous suits by advocacy groups and others challenging such actions as his termination of an Obama program that protected people brought into the United States illegally as children from deportation and the authority of a presidential commission formed to investigate alleged voter fraud.
the rich asshole has relied heavily on unilateral executive actions to advance his policy objectives. His fellow Republicans who control Congress have been unable to pass any major legislation he has sought.
Executive actions can be challenged in court more quickly than lengthy federal rule-making procedures, said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Obama relied on executive actions during the later years of his presidency after being unable to win congressional approval of key initiatives, and some of those actions drew legal challenges. But early in his presidency, he relied on unilateral actions less often because his fellow Democrats controlled Congress and passed major legislation including the 2010 Obamacare law.
‘SHOOT FROM THE HIP’
Some legal experts say the haste with which the rich asshole drafted some of his policy initiatives may have helped those challenging the actions because the orders were not sufficiently vetted.
“This administration is more willing to shoot from the hip” when compared with the Obama administration, Adler said.
That is how San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, a Democrat, saw the rich asshole’s executive order on sanctuary city funding, which Herrera calculated could jeopardize up to $2 billion in federal funds for his city.
Herrera said he saw the rich asshole’s action as “designed to appeal to a part of the administration’s political base without really having been vetted” by lawyers to ensure it was legally airtight. Herrera won an initial ruling in April blocking the measure, and the case is now pending before an appeals court.
the rich asshole’s actions have appealed to his conservative political base, while the legal challenges have pleased his liberal critics.
Speaking at an event at New York University, Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, calledTrump’s first travel ban, signed in January just a week into his presidency, a “galvanizing moment” for Democratic officials.
While lawsuits challenging the president’s actions have won some important early victories, the litigation onslaught’s ultimate effect on the rich asshole’s agenda is not yet clear.
the rich asshole’s opponents have tended to file suits in jurisdictions where they think they are likely to prevail, and where appeals will be heard in regional federal circuit courts dominated by Democratic-appointed judges.
The final decisions on the cases could be made by the Supreme Court, where the rich asshole’s appointment of Gorsuch restored a 5-4 conservative majority.
The high court is likely to “prove more receptive” to the administration’s arguments on issues like immigration, said George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley.
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco who was appointed by Obama appeared skeptical in a hearing about the challenge by the 18 states to the Affordable Care Act subsidies, illustrating the limits of resistance through litigation.
Alluding to the political aspect of the case, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria asked rhetorically during a hearing: why “have all these attorneys general rushed to court seeking an emergency ruling against President the rich asshole?” Chhabria then ruled in favor of the rich asshole.
Follow the rich asshole’s impact on energy, environment, healthcare, immigration and the economy at The the rich asshole Effect [https://www.reuters.com/trump-effect]
For related graphics, click //tmsnrt.rs/2gLFzsX and //tmsnrt.rs/2gKl5Ro
the rich asshole walks back Gitmo threats for NYC attacker — but doubles down on ‘DEATH PENALTY’
some rich asshole speaks to Fox News (screen grab)
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President some rich asshole on Thursday backed off his threat to send New York terrorist Sayfullo Saipov to Guantanamo Bay, although he reiterated his support for giving the attacker the death penalty.
“Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system,” the president wrote. “There is also something appropriate about keeping him in the home of the horrible crime he committed. Should move fast. DEATH PENALTY!”
Many legal experts have said that the rich asshole’s insistence that Saipov be given the “DEATH PENALTY” may hurt his ability to actually get the death penalty in this case. National security attorney Mark Zaid, for instance, said that the rich asshole’s tweet is “potentially tainting” the jury pool for Saipov’s trial and “could impact alleged perpetrator’s ability to secure [a] fair trial.”
This is called potentially tainting jury pool & could impact alleged perpetrator's ability to secure fair trial. SMH #Unpresidentialtwitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
And former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti went so far as to say that the rich asshole actually “helped the terrorist” with his tweets pushing for Saipov to receive the death penalty.
Trump helped the terrorist with this tweet. Now prosecutors will have to spend time dealing with motions that the jury pool is tainted. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
the rich asshole’s midnight rage tweet shows he’s having ‘complete breakdown’ over Russia probe: MSNBC’s Mika
Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski is growing increasingly worried about President some rich asshole’s mental state as the special counsel probe gathers evidence that his campaign team may have colluded with Russia.
She said the dead giveaway was the rich asshole’s tweet just before midnight calling for the execution of a suspect 24 hours after the New York City truck rampage, which she said fit the “psychological profile of someone up all night freaking out.”
Brzezinski and co-host Joe Scarborough agreed the president’s tweet violated historical norms and imperiled the prosecution, and they were troubled that the rich asshole slurred the U.S. legal system as a “laughingstock.”
“There is a frightening arrogance happening here as we watch the feds close in on this president,” Brzezinski said. “Look at him, listen to him, listen to what he said about the legal system. Listen to what he said about the suspect, whether you are for or against the death penalty. Look at his behavior, look at his tweets before midnight. Something is going on here, and I think it might be a complete breakdown. I really do.”
‘Disgusting and absurd’: Sarah Sanders fumes after black reporter asks her to clarify the rich asshole’s view of slavery
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders fields questions about the administration's position on slavery.
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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was again asked to clarify the administration’s position on slavery at Wednesday’s press briefing.
“What is the definition of ‘compromise’ as it relates to slavery and the Civil War?” April Ryan asked.
“Look, I’m not going to get in and re-litigate the Civil War, just like I told you yesterday, I think I’ve addressed the concerns that a lot of people had,” Sanders replied.
In fact, Sanders did not address the concerns at yesterday’s White House briefing. Sanders exited the briefing room without answering Ryan’s question, “does this administration think slavery was wrong?”
Ryan, a CNN contributor, and reporter for American Urban Radio Networks, persisted in seeking an answer.
“Does this president believe slavery is wrong?” Ryan followed up.
“I think it is disgusting and absurd to suggest that anyone inside of this building would support slavery,” Sanders claimed.
Though that is exactly what many people thought White House Chief of Staff John Kelly did when he told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that there were good people on “both sides” and that the Civil War was caused by an inability to compromise.
“What do you mean there was a lack of compromise?” Stephen Colbert asked during his Tuesday show. “The Civil War happened because of compromise: the Missouri Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise. You’re a general and you don’t know why the Civil War happened?”
The comments from Kelly are just the latest racism scandal to dog some rich asshole, who infamously claimed in August that there were “good people” among the KKK and neo-Nazi’s behind the deadly Charlottesville “Unite the Right” event.
Watch April Ryan inquiring about the White House position on slavery:
Reporters grill Sarah Sanders over the rich asshole’s hypocrisy: ‘Why was he so quick to go political’ after NYC attack?
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Screenshot)
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Reporters at a White House press briefing on Wednesday asked some rich asshole’s top spokeswoman why the president had politicized a terrorist attack in New York City.
Fox News reporter John Roberts asked press secretary Sarah Sanders why the rich asshole was so quick to “go political” in the wake of a terror attack that left 13 people dead.
“In the hours and days after the horrific shooting in Las Vegas, the president repeatedly said now is not the time to talk about policy, now is not the time to talk about politics, that’s for another time. Right now we need to mourn the dead. Yet this morning, the president launched into a political argument with Senator Chuck Schumer on Twitter, literally hours after this incident yesterday. Why was he so quick to go the political route and point fingers at Chuck Schumer?”
But Sanders denied the rich asshole had gone the “political route” by attacking a political foe. She claimed it was something the president had frequently spoken about.
“This isn’t a new position. This wasn’t new for the president to speak about it,” Sanders insisted.
Later in the briefing, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Sanders why the rich asshole was “delving into a policy and political discussion” after the attack. “He and you were clear after the Las Vegas shooting it wasn’t appropriate to talk about policy. So what is the difference now?”
“I said it wasn’t appropriate to politicize the conversation, which I don’t think we are,” Sanders replied. “We’re talking about protecting American lives and there are things this president has consistently and repeatedly talked about…”
But Welker noted that the rich asshole specifically attacked a Democratic senator. “So how can you argue that this is not a political argument?”
“Senator Schumer has supported these opposing policies… that is a very basic fact,” Sanders said.
Watch video below:
White House can’t explain how ‘compromise’ could have prevented the Civil War
Sanders offers a shoddy defense of John Kelly's widely-criticized comments.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended chief of staff John Kelly’s widely-criticized comments about the Civil War for the second straight day — specifically, his remark that “the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War,” not the Confederacy’s refusal to abolish slavery.
During Tuesday’s briefing, Sanders was pressed about Kelly’s ahistorical comments. She defended him, saying, “If some individuals had been willing to come to some compromises on different things, it may not have occurred.” Sanders didn’t specify exactly what sort of “things” she thinks could’ve been the subject of a grand compromise that would have averted hostilities.
So on Wednesday, Sanders was asked to clarify. Reporter April Ryan asked, “What is the definition of ‘compromise’ as it relates to slavery and the Civil War?”
Sanders tried to punt the question, but not before she attacked Ryan and made clear she stands by her defense of Kelly.
“Look, I’m not going to get in and relitigate the Civil War, just like I told you yesterday,” Sanders said. “I think I’ve addressed the concerns that a lot of people had and the questions that you had, and I’m not going to relitigate history here…. Why don’t you just ask [your question] in the way that you’re apparently accusing me of being?”
But Sanders hadn’t actually “addressed the concerns that a lot of people had.” In fact, at the end of Tuesday’s briefing, she ignored a question about whether the the rich asshole administration thinks slavery was wrong.
So Ryan tried again.
“Does this administration — does this president believe slavery was wrong?” she asked.
Sanders didn’t directly answer. Instead, she said, “I think it is disgusting and absurd to suggest that anyone inside of this building would support slavery.”
Despite Sanders’ dissembling, it remains unclear what Kelly was talking about when he suggested that the Civil War was partly the Union’s fault due to their unwillingness or inability to “compromise.” Prominent historians, such as Ken Burns, have made clear they’re also unsure what Kelly and Sanders are talking about.
Sanders made a show of indignance in response to Ryan’s questions on Wednesday, but it’s reasonable for people to wonder to what extent the the rich asshole White House sympathizes with the Confederates who fought on behalf of slavery. the rich asshole has repeatedly spoken out on behalf of preserving of Confederate monuments. The president has also defended violent white supremacists using language very similar to what Kelly deployed on behalf of the Confederate cause.
the rich asshole tried to explain his tax plan. It was a disaster.
The president's grasp of the legislative process doesn't rise to the level of Schoolhouse Rock.
Addressing reporters in the White House on Wednesday, President the rich asshole tried to explain how he plans to shepherd his tax cut plan through Congress. As was the case during his failed push to repeal Obamacare, the rich asshole couldn’t do it.
the rich asshole began with a painfully obvious reminder — legislation is a result of a collaborative effort between the two chambers of Congress.
“In the House, I must tell you, they’ve been working really hard, and they’re coming up with a great plan,” the rich asshole said. “And the Senate is coming up with a great plan. And they’re going to be put together and something is going to come out of that that will be, I think, really, really something very special.”
Without mentioning a single specific things he wants to accomplish with tax reform, the rich asshole went on to insist that the end product will be “beautiful” and “special.”
“Again, we’re doing Senate, we’re doing the House, it’s put together, and then we have our beautiful new tax cuts and reform,” the rich asshole said. “And I think it will be very special.”
On one hand, the lack of specificity in the rich asshole’s comments is understandable, given that there still isn’t an actual tax bill to talk about. House Republicans were supposed to release their tax bill on Wednesday, but on Tuesday night, caucus leadership announced that’s being delayed.
House Republicans may be seeing the writing on the wall, as the details that have trickled out indicate most Americans won’t regard the bill as “beautiful” as the rich asshole seems to think it will be. According to ABC, one “key area of compromise” agreed upon by House Republicans and the White House will involve lowering the amount of tax-free contributions workers can put in their 401ks. With the rich asshole’s plan shaping up as a corporate tax cut paid for with borrowing and possibly increasing taxes on some middle-class Americans, new polling indicates a plurality of Americans already regard it as a bad idea.
Not only are people leery of the rich asshole’s plan, but so are key industry groups. Over the weekend, the National Association of Home Builders, which had previously been supportive, announced its opposition, citing concerns the bill will weaken incentives that encourage people to buy homes.
But if history is any indication, there’s a more fundamental reason the rich asshole struggled to say anything substantive about his tax plan.
The president has repeatedly shown himself to be unable to discuss policy in any depth. For instance, asked by a reporter to explain his health care plan last month, the rich asshole responded with a lengthy, incoherent diatribe against insurance companies. Those comments came weeks after the rich asshole did an interview where he revealed profound confusion about how the national debt works.
When he was pushing Obamacare repeal over the summer, the rich asshole did an interview where he indicated he thinks health insurance cost $12 annually. Following a June meeting during which the rich asshole tried to persuade Republican senators to vote in favor of a repeal bill that provided huge tax breaks to the wealthy, one supportive senator told the New York Times that the rich asshole “did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan — and seemed especially confused when a moderate Republican complained that opponents of the bill would cast it as a massive tax break for the wealthy, according to an aide who received a detailed readout of the exchange.”
While the rich asshole offers word salads in support of tax cuts, other administration officials are serving lies. As ThinkProgress detailed last Friday, over a one-month period, administration officials repeated the talking point that the Republican tax plan will benefit middle class Americans 84 times. There’s just one problem — the talking point isn’t true. Analyzing a framework of the plan, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that when the plan is fully implemented, 80 percent of the benefits would go the top 1 percent of earners.
the rich asshole rushed to condemn NYC attack—like he always does when the suspect isn’t white
The president's reactions to tragedies again prove to be different when the suspect is non-white.
President some rich asshole wasted no time responding to the deadly truck incident that claimed the lives of 8 people and injured 11 more in lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.
Just over two hours after the attack took place, the president called the suspect a “very sick and deranged person,” offering no condolences to families of the individuals who died.
Just an hour later, when many key details are still unknown, the president connected the incident to ISIS.
Less than a half hour later, the rich asshole offered his condolences to the victims and their families, but not without describing the incident as a “terrorist attack.”
While New York City law enforcement officials told the New York Times that the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” when exiting the vehicle, there has been no official connection made to any kind of terrorism associated with ISIS or otherwise. The FBI has taken over the case and is actively looking into it as a terrorism investigation.
This kind of swift rush to judgement by the rich asshole isn’t unprecendented, he has a proclivity to immediately respond to incidents with non-white suspects as “terrorist attacks.”
This past September, after an explosion hit the London underground system, the rich asshole quickly blamed the incident on a “loser terrorist” and promoted his travel ban, which at the time targeted refugees and citizens from six Muslim-majority nations.
After a van hit pedestrians in Barcelona, Spain this August, the rich asshole quickly described it as a terror attack as well, before the identity or motive of the suspect was known.
Soon after, he tweeted again — this time reviving an Islamophobic myth about General John Joseph Pershing, claiming Pershing killed Muslims with bullets soaked in pig’s blood in the Philippines.
And after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history claimed the lives of more than 58 people in Las Vegas in early October, the rich asshole tweeted out his “warmest condolences and sympathies.”
The difference being, of course, that at the time current reports indicated that the Las Vegas shooter was a white male named Stephen Paddock.
Many media outlets are following the president’s lead by labeling the incident as a terrorist attack, though it isn’t known yet exactly the NYPD is using as evidence to declare the incident as an “act of terror,” as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) described it. Terrorism experts have commented in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting that America has a skewed perception as to what constitutes “terrorism,” omitting that word when describing white suspects and reserving it for non-white suspects.
Sarah Sanders humiliated on Twitter for defending the rich asshole's reaction to NYC attackVIDEO
After a terror attack took place in New York City, Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended some rich asshole's response.
Less than 24 hours after an Islamic terrorist carried out an attack on the streets of New York City, the White House has scrambled to come to a consensus on a united narrative. After #some rich asshole responded to the news multiple times since the incident took place, #Sarah Huckabee Sandersaddressed the situation [VIDEO]at the White House.
Sanders on NYC attack
During a Halloween day in New York City on Tuesday, Sayfullo Saipov, originally of Uzbekistan, drove his rented Home Depot truck onto a bicycle path in lower Manhattan, striking dozens of innocent people [VIDEO], leaving eight dead in the process. Once stopped, Saipov exited the truck while shouting "Allahu Akbar," a common Islamic phrase used by terrorists, before being shot and taken into custody by law enforcement.
Since then, authorities have confirmed that the shooter was in possession of ISIS-related propaganda, and has been celebrating his actions and attack in his hospital bed. The reaction following the attack came quick and was predictably partisan. some rich asshole took to Twitter to call for "extreme vetting," due to Saipov coming to the United States in 2010 on a "diversity visa lottery program." The president deflected the blame on Democrats for promoting the program, with a special focus on Sen. #Chuck Schumer. As reported by NBC News on November 1, Sarah Huckabee Sanders faced questions from the media during a press briefing at the White House.
While speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended some rich asshole's reaction to the Islamic terrorist attack that took place on Tuesday.
When asked why the president was quick to politicize the attack, Sanders replied, "This isn't a new argument. This isn't a new position." "The president has been talking about extreme vetting and the need for that for the purpose of protecting the citizens of the country since he was a candidate," Sanders said.
Reporter to @PressSec: "How can the president make the case that we are annihilating ISIS when these attacks occur?" cbsn.ws/2A8m8jd
When asked about some rich asshole's Twitter attack on Chuck Schumer of the visa lottery program, Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back despite the president's clear explanation in his tweet. "The president has not blamed Senator Schumer, and doesn't feel that the senator is responsible for the attack," she claimed. Sanders was then asked about the rich asshole's previous comments where he hinted that he would want to send the suspect to Gitmo, to which she answered, "He supports that but wasn't necessarily advocating for it."
Twitter reacts
Within minutes of her press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was met with massive backlash from those who oppose some rich asshole and the current administration.
"The fact that we, as taxpayers, pay (SHS) to stand there and lie to us (badly) every day is so incredibly frustrating," one tweet read.
BOO Paper
"(SHS) just claimed that there's no vetting of the lottery immigration system. And then yells at reporters for pushing back," another tweet stated. "(SHS) has crazy eyes," a Twitter user added.
"(SHS) if you were an immigrant and would have to come into the criteria that you're putting forth you wouldn't be let in," a follow-up post noted. "Why does (SHS) frequently have to say 'look' before she proceeds with her answer," another tweet read. The negative response to Sarah Sanders continued, as the divide between those on the political left and right moved forward.
The stunning difference between the rich asshole's reaction to the Las Vegas shooting and the NYC attack
(CNN)On October 1, a man shot and killed 58 people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas -- the largest mass murder in modern American history.
On October 3, President some rich asshole was asked about the impact of the shooting on current gun laws -- and possible future gun control measures. He said that his administration and Congress would "be talking about gun laws as time goes by." the rich asshole was also asked whether the shooting was an act of domestic terrorism. He declined to answer.
On October 4, in Las Vegas, the rich asshole was again asked about possible legislative action on guns. "We're not going to talk about that today," he responded. "We won't talk about that."
Fast forward 30 days.
On October 31, an Uzbek man drives a rental truck in a bike lane in New York City. He kills eight people and injures a dozen more.
Within hours, the rich asshole tweeted this: "In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!" He followed up with a second tweet last night: "We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!" And a third: "I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!"
On November 1 (aka today), the rich asshole tweets again: "The terrorist came into our country through what is called the 'Diversity Visa Lottery Program,' a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based." He adds in a subsequent tweet: "We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends"
Prior to a meeting with his Cabinet Wednesday around noon -- about 18 hours after the attack -- the rich asshole proposes action be taken on the diversity lottery program -- the means by which the alleged attacker made it into the US.
"I am, today, starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program," the rich asshole said. "I am going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program, diversity lottery, diversity lottery. Sounds nice, it is not nice, it is not good. It hasn't been good and we have been against it."
How about the words the rich asshole uses to describe the men who perpetrated these attacks?
About the Las Vegas shooter, the rich asshole said this: "The wires were crossed pretty badly in his brain. Extremely badly in his brain. And it's a very sad event."
Of the man alleged to have committed the attack in NYC? "This animal who did the attacking."
Notice any difference between the two responses? If you don't, you may want to confirm that your spine is connected to your brain stem and/or your eyes are working properly.
The disparity in the rich asshole's responses is striking -- and telling.
the rich asshole cares deeply about the threat posed by ISIS and international terrorism more broadly. He ran for president explicitly on that message. He promised he would be much smarter and much tougher in the fight against terrorism than President Barack Obama. That fire needed to be met with fire.
He echoed that sentiment on Wednesday. "We need quick justice and we need strong justice," the rich asshole said.
He is far less animated by gun control -- or the debate over the right regulations on guns that happens (and then inevitably disappears) in the wake of these ever-more-frequent mass shootings.
In the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, there appeared to be real momentum behind a ban on bump stocks -- the add-on the shooter used to turn a semi-automatic weapon into something like a fully automatic one.
"We'll be looking into that in the next short period of time," the rich asshole promised on October 5.
But, a legislative-driven ban on bump stocks remains largely stalled in Congress as Republican leaders insist that the better course of action is for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to handle the regulation change.
the rich asshole hasn't said much of anything on bump stocks since October 5.
The broader point here: the rich asshole is more than willing to seize on tragic events when they confirm his previous political and policy beliefs. He will effectively ignore them when they don't.
It's that simple.
(CNN)On October 1, a man shot and killed 58 people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas -- the largest mass murder in modern American history.
Within hours, the rich asshole tweeted this: "In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!" He followed up with a second tweet last night: "We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!" And a third: "I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!"
On November 1 (aka today), the rich asshole tweets again: "The terrorist came into our country through what is called the 'Diversity Visa Lottery Program,' a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based." He adds in a subsequent tweet: "We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends"
Prior to a meeting with his Cabinet Wednesday around noon -- about 18 hours after the attack -- the rich asshole proposes action be taken on the diversity lottery program -- the means by which the alleged attacker made it into the US.
"I am, today, starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program," the rich asshole said. "I am going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program, diversity lottery, diversity lottery. Sounds nice, it is not nice, it is not good. It hasn't been good and we have been against it."
How about the words the rich asshole uses to describe the men who perpetrated these attacks?
About the Las Vegas shooter, the rich asshole said this: "The wires were crossed pretty badly in his brain. Extremely badly in his brain. And it's a very sad event."
Of the man alleged to have committed the attack in NYC? "This animal who did the attacking."
Notice any difference between the two responses? If you don't, you may want to confirm that your spine is connected to your brain stem and/or your eyes are working properly.
The disparity in the rich asshole's responses is striking -- and telling.
the rich asshole cares deeply about the threat posed by ISIS and international terrorism more broadly. He ran for president explicitly on that message. He promised he would be much smarter and much tougher in the fight against terrorism than President Barack Obama. That fire needed to be met with fire.
He echoed that sentiment on Wednesday. "We need quick justice and we need strong justice," the rich asshole said.
He is far less animated by gun control -- or the debate over the right regulations on guns that happens (and then inevitably disappears) in the wake of these ever-more-frequent mass shootings.
In the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, there appeared to be real momentum behind a ban on bump stocks -- the add-on the shooter used to turn a semi-automatic weapon into something like a fully automatic one.
"We'll be looking into that in the next short period of time," the rich asshole promised on October 5.
But, a legislative-driven ban on bump stocks remains largely stalled in Congress as Republican leaders insist that the better course of action is for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to handle the regulation change.
the rich asshole hasn't said much of anything on bump stocks since October 5.
The broader point here: the rich asshole is more than willing to seize on tragic events when they confirm his previous political and policy beliefs. He will effectively ignore them when they don't.
It's that simple.
Chuck Schumer Just NUKED the rich asshole For Blaming Him For Terrorist Attack
some rich asshole just got owned.
On Tuesday, New York City was attacked by a terrorist who killed eight people with a truck.
Police immediately responded and apprehended the driver after shooting him in the abdomen.
Of course, the rich asshole rushed to politicize the attack, and continued doing so on Wednesday morning by blaming Senator Chuck Schumer for the act of terror.
And, yes, the rich asshole was watching Fox & Friends while tweeting.
We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends
"Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems" said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness!@foxandfriends
Let’s keep in mind that this attack happened on the rich asshole’s watch. Prior to yesterday’s attack, no terrorist had used a vehicle to murder American citizens. the rich asshole promised to keep Americans safe and he promised to wipe out ISIS. He failed.
And instead of taking responsibility, the rich asshole decided to blame the top Democrat in the Senate.
But Schumer was quick to respond, and he hammered the rich asshole with his own budget, which Republicans are poised to pass.
As it turns out, the rich asshole eliminated anti-terrorism funding in his budget and refused to put it back even after the NYPD announced that their anti-terror program would be wiped out by the cut.
Schumer wasted no time pointing out the rich asshole’s hypocrisy.
“I have always believed and continue to believe that immigration is good for America. President the rich asshole, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution – anti-terrorism funding – which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget. I’m calling on the President to immediately rescind his proposed cuts to this vital anti-terrorism funding.”
Basically, the rich asshole would be inviting terrorists to attack the United States by cutting anti-terrorism funding. So instead of worrying about our immigration policies, Americans should be angry about the rich asshole’s irresponsible decision to cut funding that helps law enforcement keep us safe.
Featured Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Russians Fooled Dumbass Conservatives With Meme Of Hillary Fistfighting Jesus
If Hillary Clinton got into a fistfight with Jesus, who would you want to win? Before you laugh, consider that some among us are actually stupid enough to respond positively to this sort of question — assuming “positively” means “like a bunch of douchebags.”
When you saw the popular meme floating around prior to the election, you probably assumed it was an over-the-top joke post. But this is the type of this that Russian bots and trolls were actually marketing to our beloved dolts on the Right.
Since conservatives respond to anything with “Jesus” in the name the meme, which was part of a paid advertising campaign from the Russia-created Christian group “Army of Jesus,” was pretty successful with the Stupid Part of America.
I don't know why I am so fascinated by this fake ad that @MarkWarner shared showing Hillary boxing Jesus.
The paid Russian ad, revealed by Democratic Senator Mark Warner, was among several that were showcased during Wednesday’s congressional hearing with social media leaders regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Russian operatives also pushed the idea that Texas should secede from the United States, a fake movement that became popular with very real conservatives as the election season rolled on, organized both pro- and anti-Muslim events at the same time and place, and convinced conservatives that control of the Army should be taken away from the President if that President happens to have a vagina:
Russia ran more than 3,000 political ads on Facebook and Twitter, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to trick the American people.
Much of the advertising was concentrated in key swing states, and at one point Twitter users were bombarded with more fake news than real news.
This is just one of the many attacks on our election from some rich asshole’s friends in Russia. Recently, former the rich asshole advisor George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying about his efforts to expand Russia’s influence in the the rich asshole campaign — and he was almost assuredly just one of many under the Kremlin’s influence. He is currently cooperating with the FBI to expose his co-conspirators.
If one thing’s for certain…
…It’s that Mueller isn’t done by a long shot.
the rich asshole Is Throwing Jared Kushner Under The Bus Over Mueller Indictments
The White House is falling apart following indictments against two former the rich asshole associates and a third who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. “Here’s what Manafort’s indictment tells me: Mueller is going to go over every financial dealing of Jared Kushner and the the rich asshole Organization,” said former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg. “the rich asshole is at 33 percent in Gallup. You can’t go any lower. He’s fucked.”
According to Vanity Fair, the rich asshole is reportedly blaming White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is also his son-in-law, for his role in decisions that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
the rich asshole spoke to President Steve Bannon on Tuesday and blamed Kushner for the firings of Mike Flynn and James Comey, that led to Mueller’s appointment. Furthermore, the rich asshole agreed with Roger Stone recently when the Dirty Trickster told him Kushner was giving him bad political advice. “Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history,” Nunberg said.
“I’m only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in conservative media, and the Senate and Congress,” he continued.
Advisers want the rich asshole to consider ways to neutralize Mueller, from conciliation to a declaration of all-out war, according to Vanity Fair. One Republican said that a good move would be for the rich asshole to get his poll numbers up. the rich asshole’s numbers are lower than any other president’s in the history of modern polling, so that would be a neat trick.
“The establishment has proven time and time again they will fuck the rich asshole over,” a Bannon ally told the paper. SURE, it’s the Deep State globalists who are trying to hurt the rich asshole, when actually, the former reality show star hurts his agenda every time he tweets to lash out at the world.
“the rich asshole can’t afford to fire Mueller politically,” Stone said, but the so-called president has also reportedly complained about Mueller’s investigation being allowed to continue.
Stone wants the rich asshole to call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Uranium One non-scandal, which has been debunked, but it’s just an effort to use Hillary Clinton as a shield.
We’re wondering how First Lady Ivanka the rich asshole feels knowing that her husband is getting blamed for her father’s scandals.
the rich asshole’s lawyers: Smearing sex assault accusers as liars is protected political speech
President some rich asshole (Screenshot)
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President some rich asshole’s legal team has made a novel argument against charges of defamation, said Bloomberg News on Wednesday, claiming the rich asshole’s refutation of charges he harassed and assaulted multiple women as “campaign speech.”
In 2016, more than a dozen women came forward to say they’d been subject to unwanted sexually advances, groping, inappropriate touching and forcible kissing by the rich asshole.
Summer Zervos — a former contestant on the rich asshole’s reality TV game show “The Apprentice” — sued the rich asshole in January on claims that he defamed her when he denied accusations that he groped her on set.
the rich asshole’s lawyers maintain that the remarks were made in the context of the presidential race and fall under First Amendment protections as campaign speech.
“Ms. Zervos cannot hold the president liable for engaging in political speech in the context of a public debate because such speech is clearly protected by the First Amendment,” said the rich asshole’s legal team in a court filing Tuesday. “Political statements in political contexts are non-actionable political opinion.”
The president’s lawyers claim that Zervos v. the rich asshole is a politically-motivated suit brought when Ms. Zervos was unable to secure a position within the nascent the rich asshole administration.
In October, Zervos’ attorney Gloria Allred subpoenaed“all documents concerning any accusations that were made during some rich asshole’s election campaign for president, that he subjected any woman to unwanted sexual touching and/or sexually inappropriate behavior.”
Psychology study finds the rich asshole stands out as a ‘low analytic’ thinker
President some rich asshole (Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Kelley.)
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As political experts remain baffled by some rich asshole’s popularity, scientific studies from the field of psychology continue to shed light on the phenomenon. A new study published in the journal Translational Issues in Psychological Science has shown that some rich asshole stands out amongst other politicians, including fellow presidential candidates and past presidents, as being exceptionally low in analytic thinking. By using intelligent text analysis software to interpret language data from speeches, debates, and written documents, the researchers were able to determine the point where the rich asshole falls on an analytic-narrative continuum.
The analytic-narrative continuum provides a way to objectively measure someone’s thinking style, whether it be analytic, which is characterized by careful deliberation based on logic and reason, or narrative, a style based more on ‘gut’ reactions grounded in intuition and personal experience. While it may seem obvious to some that an analytic thinking style is generally superior to a narrative style— since it’s evidence-driven and statistical rather than anecdotal and emotion-based — there is no doubt that the latter resonates with many people. While the analytically-minded see some rich asshole’s opinions and answers as superficial and uninformed, his supporters view them as straightforward and relatable. As absurd as it sounds, now ignorance can apparently be considered a strength for a presidential candidate, as long as they can present it as being folksy.
The computerized text analyses measured thinking styles by examining grammar. While analytic thinkers tend to use more nouns, articles, and prepositions, narrative thinkers tend to use more pronouns, auxiliary verbs, and adverbs. The results showed that not only was the rich asshole’s analytic score far less than his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton (23.8 vs. 42.8), it was also much lower than his Republican candidate opponents — Ben Carson (39.1), Marco Rubio (48.7), John Kasich (48.9), and Ted Cruz (62.1). Moreover, the rich asshole’s average analytic score was more than 3 standard deviations below that of the average Democrat or Republican from the last five election cycles, making him a clear outlier. While most presidential candidates tend to be analytic thinkers, or show a balance between analytic and intuitive thinking, the rich asshole falls squarely on the intuitive side of the continuum.
Although the rich asshole is clearly a low analytical thinker relative to past presidents, he does fit an overall general trend of presidents becoming progressively less analytical, at least in terms of how they speak, since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Interestingly, most presidents in the 18th and 19th century consistently scored high on analytic thinking. Whether this trend is a good or a bad thing remains to be seen. Perhaps presidents are just becoming better at simplifying complex information into direct, simple language. But the case of President the rich asshole seems to tell a different story. It appears to indicate a thriving movement composed of individuals who are anti-intellectual and anti-science, and who want a president who is the same.
We should be concerned about this decline in analytic thinking among politicians as well as the people’s preference for it. Essentially, among the rich asshole supporters, it’s just not cool to be smart. The consequences of this mentality becoming widespread could be disastrous. The dumbing down of America, both in politics and society, must be opposed by all those who value rational and logical thought. While this effort must occur at all levels, one clear way of resisting is to turn out to voting booths not only in 2020, but in all the local elections that occur until that time.
Bobby Azarian is a science writer with a PhD in neuroscience. His research has been published in journals such as Cognition & Emotion and Human Brain Mapping, and he has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, BBC Future, Scientific American, and others. Follow him on twitter @BobbyAzarian
White House defends Kelly's civil war remarks and calls criticism 'outrageous'
Chief of staff John Kelly defended Confederate monuments and claimed a failure of both sides to compromise led to the American civil war
The White House on Tuesday stood by chief of staff John Kelly’s defense of Confederate monuments and his assertion that a failure to compromise led to the American civil war.
In an interview with Laura Ingraham on Monday night, Kelly suggested that both the Union and the Confederacy acted in “good faith” and “made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand”.
His remarks reignited the debate over Confederate monuments fueled by his boss, some rich asshole, who earlier this year blamed “both sides” in the wake of deadly violence during a white nationalist protest against the removal of a statue of Robert E Lee.
The comments drew immediate backlash, as many observers noted that the matter the north and south couldn’t compromise on was slavery. Southern states began to secede after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Although Lincoln did not favor the abolition of slavery, southerners found his support for limiting the institution to the states and territories where it already existed to be unconscionable.
“Notion that civil war resulted from a lack of compromise is belied by all the compromises made on enslavement from America’s founding,” said Ta-Nehisi Coates, a prominent intellectual and author who has written extensively about race in the United States.
“I mean, like, it’s called the three-fifths compromise for a reason,” he added, referring to provision in article 1, section 2 that provided that for purposes of representation in Congress, slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person. “But it doesn’t stand alone. Missouri Compromise. Kansas-Nebraska Act.”
On Tuesday, the press secretary, Sarah Sanders accused the media of falsely perpetuating a narrative that the White House is “racially charged and divided”.
“Because you don’t like history doesn’t mean you can erase it and pretend it didn’t happen,” she said during the press briefing. “And I think that’s the point that General Kelly was trying to make. To try to create something and push a narrative that simply doesn’t exist is just frankly outrageous and absurd.”
Instead she blamed Democratic-leaning groups such as the organization behind a controversial opposition advertisement in the Virginia gubernatorial race for “stoking political racism”. In the ad, minority children are intimidated by a white man driving in a truck with a Confederate flag and a bumper sticker supporting the Republican in the race.
Sanders also claimed there is “historical documentation” to support Kelly’s claim that an inability to compromise was a cause of the bloodiest conflict in American history.
“There’s a pretty strong consensus from people from the left, the right, the north, and the south that believe that if some of the individuals engaged had been willing to come to some compromises on different things, then it may not have occurred,” she said.
Pressed on Kelly’s comments, she expressed exasperation with reporters: “I’m not going to get up here and relitigate the civil war.”
the rich asshole’s predecessor in the White House, Ulysses S Grant, described the southern cause as “one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse”. Grant was a Union general during the war and rose to command the United States Army.
Kelly’s comments echoed those made by some rich asshole in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August, when a white supremacist drove his car into counter-protesters, leaving one woman dead and several others injured. The president sparked controversy in the days that followed by blaming violence “on both sides”, appearing to put neo-Nazis and white supremacists on equal footing with demonstrators from the left.
White supremacist protesters have sought to use Lee as a symbol of their movement, while government officials across the country have called for dozens of Confederate-linked monuments to be removed from public grounds.
Kelly, a retired general who was named the rich asshole’s chief of staff in August, argued it was “dangerous” to take down historical markers simply because they were being viewed in a different light.
“It shows you … a lack of appreciation of history and what history is,” Kelly said.
By framing the civil war as an issue of states’ rights, Kelly perpetuated a popular claim on the right that downplays the role of slavery as central to the conflict. But while declaring their right to secede from the Federal Union, delegates from Confederate states cited the future of slavery as fundamental to their cause.
Delegates in South Carolina referred to “an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery” in their secession declaration, while Mississippi proclaimed in its own secession declaration that slavery was “the greatest material interest of the world”.
And while there was little doubt that President Abraham Lincoln was morally opposed to slavery, he initially pursued a centrist approach toward slaveholders in the south and their opponents in the north. Lincoln did, however, campaign vigorously against the expansion of slavery into new states and territories.
the rich asshole hits Schumer over immigration program in wake of terror attack
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 11/01/17 07:39 AM EDT
President the rich asshole ripped Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer(D-N.Y.) in an early morning tweet Wednesday for his role in an immigration program that the man suspected of carrying out Tuesday's terrorist attack in New York City entered the country under.
Sayfullo Saipov, who was shot and is in custody after driving a truck through bicyclists and pedestrians in New York, entered the United States in 2010 from Uzbekistan under a program that gives visas to people from countries with few immigrants to the United States.
"The terrorist came into our country through what is called the 'Diversity Visa Lottery Program,' a Charles Schumer beauty. I want merit-based," the president said.
The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit-based.
the rich asshole has embraced a proposal from two GOP senators to curb legal immigration. It would put more emphasis on allowing immigrants to come to the United States based on their job skills, and not on family ties to people already in the country.
The president on Wednesday went on to tweet at "Fox & Friends," a show he is known to frequently watch, saying his administration is fighting for a merit-based process and quoting a guest on the show, Tony Shaffer.
We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends
"Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems" said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness!@foxandfriends
Schumer, who played a role in the program's conception in the 1990s, responded a short time later, accusing the rich asshole of being divisive during a national tragedy. Eight people were killed in the attack in lower Manhattan.
"President the rich asshole, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution — anti-terrorism funding — which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget," Schumer said.
“I’m calling on the President to immediately rescind his proposed cuts to this vital anti-terrorism funding.”
Schumer later on Wednesday delivered a floor speech where he again lambasted the rich asshole over the proposed cuts. The Democratic senator also compared the rich asshole unfavorably to President George W. Bush.
"President the rich asshole where is your leadership? The contrast between President Bush's actions after 9/11 and President the rich asshole's actions this morning could not be starker," Schumer said from the Senate floor.
The fight between the rich asshole and Schumer was the most personal one yet between the two New Yorkers, who have repeatedly tangled since the rich asshole's election.
The battles have not prevented the two from forging deals on spending agreements that prevented government shutdowns, but the latest skirmish could make it tougher to get a deal on immigration by the end of the year.
Democrats have been seeking an agreement that would shield thousands of undocumented workers brought to the United States as children from being deported. Administrative action by President Obama gave these young people the ability to get work permits and to stay in the United States, but the rich asshole is rolling back the program.
Wednesday's feud was centered on immigration, and the rich asshole has repeatedly backed efforts to limit visitors to the United States in the name of security.
The rich asshole effort has won support from conservatives, and various conservative commentators have seized on reports of how Saipov entered the country.
"Fox & Friends" earlier Wednesday morning tweeted a clip from Mark Levin's radio show in which the conservative host attacked the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program and pointed to Schumer's sponsorship.
Schumer's sponsorship of the program also came up during a "Fox & Friends" interview with Sebastian Gorka, a former White House adviser.
This report was updated at 11:27 a.m.
How young the rich asshole aide became key player in Russia probe
BY MORGAN CHALFANT AND JONATHAN EASLEY - 11/01/17 06:00 AM EDT
Ben Carson’s campaign manager, Barry Bennett, was desperate to add to his list of foreign policy advisers in November 2015.
More than 100 people had just been killed in the Paris terrorist attack, and Carson’s campaign was in a tailspin after one of his foreign policy advisers described the candidate as clueless on national security to The New York Times.
As Bennet scanned resumes, one name jumped out to him: George Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos’s resume was thin. He listed his participation in a model United Nations class exercise on his LinkedIn profile.
But Bennett was only looking for a short-term rental — a gun for hire whose name could go on a list of advisers to make it look like they were taking one of Carson’s shortcomings seriously.
“All of the foreign policy establishment, the A-listers were working for Jeb [Bush] or Marco [Rubio],” Bennett said. “So here’s this 28-year-old kid who is not terribly sophisticated, but he solved my problem of needing to put a bunch of names on a list. I’m sure he wrote some things for us, but I don’t know that we used any of it.”
As it turns out, Papadopoulos was exaggerating even the meager experience listed on his resume.
A representative for the Hudson Institute told The Hill that he signed on as an unpaid intern in 2011 and only did research on a contractual basis between 2013 and 2014.
“Mr. Papadopoulos was never a salaried employee of Hudson Institute, and the Institute has had no relationship with him since 2014,” the representative said.
Papadopoulos is now becoming a household name. He pleaded guilty in early October to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russians, according to court documents unsealed on Monday by special counsel Robert Mueller.
The young the rich asshole campaign aide has been described as a “proactive cooperator” by investigators, a sign he’s being used by Mueller’s team to form a case against other aides — including former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was indicted on Monday.
President the rich asshole and the White House have sought to minimize Papadopoulos’s involvement with the campaign, casting him as little more than an errand boy.
“Few people knew the young, low-level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar,” the president tweeted Tuesday morning.
Yet it is clear from his guilty plea that Papadopoulos conversed with a Russia-linked professor who cited “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and that other emails showed him discussing potential meetings with Russian officials with older, more experienced campaign aides.
Papadopoulos first surfaced as part of the rich asshole’s campaign in March 2016.
Bennett says he did not introduce Papadopoulos to the rich asshole campaign. He suspects that Sam Clovis, a policy adviser to the rich asshole campaign, was in a similar position of needing to show that the rich asshole had a list of foreign policy advisers and that Papadopoulos likely played the role of adviser in name only.
“My guess is that the rich asshole pulled out a list that Sam Clovis had typed up and read off the names and that’s how his name popped up,” said Bennett, who advised the rich asshole’s transition team.
Several media outlets have pegged Clovis as the campaign supervisor that Papadopoulos emailed with about his Russian contacts. Clovis allegedly told Papadopoulos he was doing “great work” and encouraged him to set up a meeting with the Russians.
Clovis is now the rich asshole’s nominee to be a science adviser to the Department of Agriculture. He faces a Senate confirmation hearing in November.
NBC News reported Tuesday that Clovis met with Mueller and his team of investigators last week, but the White House is sticking by him, at least for now.
“I’m not aware that any change would be necessary at this point,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday when asked whether Clovis’s nomination might be withdrawn.
Bennett downplayed the idea that Papadopoulos could be the man to bring the rich asshole presidency down.
“Not to be disrespectful to him, but he is a nobody,” he said. “This idea that he was wearing a wire — I don’t think he knew anyone else in the campaign. If he’s the smoking gun then they don’t have anything.”
Papadopoulos was one of five foreign affairs advisers named by the rich asshole during a meeting with The Washington Post’s editorial board, a group that also included Lt. Gen. Keith Kellog, now chief of staff in the rich asshole’s National Security Council, and Carter Page, who has also emerged as a key figure in the Russia probe.
At the time, the rich asshole cheered Papadopoulos as an “excellent guy.” Papadopoulos was also photographed alongside the rich asshole and others at a purported national security meeting in Washington publicized by the campaign last April.
For months, Papadopoulos engaged with a foreign professor and a Russian woman whom he initially believed to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s niece, according to the indictment unsealed Monday, in hopes of brokering a meeting between the campaign and Moscow. The professor also told Papadopoulos in late April 2016 that the Russian government had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”
While investigators say the meeting Papadopoulos sought never materialized, his efforts are likely to be the focus of Mueller’s investigation, and legal experts believe that Papadopoulos may have had several months to gather intelligence for the special counsel before it became public that he had pleaded guilty and possibly become a state witness.
Papadopoulos has largely remained out of the media spotlight until now, meaning individuals in the rich asshole’s orbit wouldn’t necessarily have their guard up around him during the period he was cooperating.
“[This] means that he was out in the world for three months presumably while he was cooperating,” observed Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “We obviously don’t know the scope or the nature of the cooperation, but one suspects it was more than nothing.”
“It’s pretty clear that yesterday was the opening act of what by all accounts is a very well orchestrated production,” Vladeck added.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday doubled down on his criticism of President the rich asshole in the wake of a terrorist attack in New York City.
"President the rich asshole where is your leadership? The contrast between President Bush's actions after 9/11 and President the rich asshole's actions this morning could not be starker," Schumer said from the Senate floor.
Schumer contrasted the rich asshole's tweets with President George W. Bush's response after the 9/11 attacks, noting Bush invited Schumer and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) to the White House.
"In a moment of national tragedy, President Bush understood the meaning of his high office. ... President the rich asshole instead of politicizing and dividing America ... should be bringing us together and focusing on the real solution: anti-terrorism funding," Schumer said.
The White House's proposed budget cut anti-terrorism grant funding. Schumer said on Wednesday that he wants the rich asshole to rescind the proposed cuts.
the rich asshole ripped the Senate's top Democrat in an early morning tweet over an immigration program that allowed the suspect in the attack, Sayfullo Saipov, to enter the United States. Eight people were killed on Tuesday when Saipov plowed a truck into bicyclists and pedestrians in lower Manhattan. Saipov was shot by police and is currently in custody.
The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.
Schumer immediately fired back on Twitter, saying: "I guess it's not too soon to politicize a tragedy."
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) also defended Schumer, noting that their 2013 immigration bill nixed the Diversity Visa Program.
Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Schumer said from the Senate floor that Tuesday's attack resonated personally with him as a New Yorker and that he had taken the bike path twice in the past month.
"My daughter went to the school near the scene ... and she used the bike path I don't know how many times. This is our territory, our home," he said.
the rich asshole suggests repealing ObamaCare mandate in tax bill
BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL - 11/01/17 11:27 AM EDT
President the rich asshole on Wednesday suggested using the GOP tax bill to repeal ObamaCare’s individual mandate.
“Wouldn't it be great to Repeal the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate in ObamaCare and use those savings for further Tax Cuts,” the rich asshole tweeted.
Wouldn't it be great to Repeal the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate in ObamaCare and use those savings for further Tax Cuts.....
....for the Middle Class. The House and Senate should consider ASAP as the process of final approval moves along. Push Biggest Tax Cuts EVER
The idea is being pushed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said this week that he wouldn’t rule out including a mandate repeal.
A Cotton spokeswoman told The Hill that Cotton and the rich asshole spoke by phone about the idea over the weekend and "the President indicated his strong support."
But other top Republicans have rejected the idea, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and John Thune (R-S.D.), who fear adding a mandate repeal would jeopardize tax reform.
“Look, I want to see that individual mandate repealed,” Brady said during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday. “I just haven’t seen, no one has seen, 50 votes in the Senate to do it.”
Thune said mandate repeal is “not currently a part of our deliberations.”
But he added that some members have expressed interest in the idea and said he was "somewhat" interested in it because of the revenue implications.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) on Tuesday also dismissed the idea of adding a repeal of the mandate to tax reform.
“If there was a way to do it, I’d be open to it, but I’m not going to pitch it because I want to focus on taxes in the tax reduction plan,” Rounds told reporters.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that repealing the mandate would save the government $416 billion over a decade.
The mandate requires people, with some exceptions, to pay a fine to the IRS if they do not have health insurance.
Experts have said repealing the mandate would result in massive premium spikes and a major increase in the number of uninsured people.
It could also send ObamaCare exchanges into a “death spiral” as it would discourage healthy younger individuals to sign up for insurance.
Roger Stone’s political plot to oust Robert Mueller is already falling apart
Roger Stone (Photo: Screen capture)
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Earlier this week, Republican “dirty tricks” operative Roger Stone attempted to chum the waters around Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President some rich asshole, but critics say the plan is transparently political and ultimately doomed to fail.
Vanity Fair’s Abigail Tracy said that Stone’s attempt to leverage the so-called Uranium One scandal into a plot to discredit and remove Mueller from the investigation is a non-starter.
Stone — a longtime ally and confidant of the rich asshole — ran to conservative website The Daily Caller on Monday after Mueller announced the indictments of former the rich asshole 2016 chairman Paul Manafort and his aide Richard Gates and revealed that former campaign aide George Papadopoulos had entered a guilty plea and is cooperating with the probe.
“Mueller can’t be a special prosecutor when he himself is under investigation,” Stone told The Daily Caller.
He was referring to the ginned-up Uranium One scandal — a phony right-wing smear of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton — and insisting that Mueller didn’t do proper diligence on a business deal between Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom and Canadian mining firm Uranium One.
But, Tracy noted, legal experts say Stone’s strategy is flawed and may already be backfiring on him and the other Republicans trying to kneecap the Mueller investigation and calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the former FBI director.
“You need a special counsel in situations where high-ranking people in the current White House are implicated in a criminal investigation, including potentially the president,” said former ethics czar to the Pres. George W. Bush Richard Painter. “That is why we appointed a special counsel in the Russia investigation and indeed we didn’t end up getting one until President the rich asshole fired the director of the F.B.I.”
If the rich asshole administration genuinely wanted to investigate the Uranium One deal, a special prosecutor wouldn’t be necessary, said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.
“I don’t understand why you would need a special counsel when no one is really concerned that Jeff Sessions and anyone else appointed by the rich asshole is going to be anything other than diligent,” Mariotti explained.
According to attorney Ira Matetsky, there’s no crime here, just more politics.
“The fact that someone might think that it was a mistake to approve the Uranium deal or that it was a bad deal or that the deal was not going to ‘Make America Great Again’ is not evidence of a crime. That is a policy disagreement,” said Matetsky to Vanity Fair. “There would need to be a credible reason to believe . . . that a crime was committed and that a crime was committed by someone who the D.O.J. was prosecuting.”
Furthermore, Matetsky said, Stone has already overplayed his hand by revealing that his motivations aren’t actually in the interest of justice, but in the form of political payback.
“If you want to make a suggestion that something is going to make a legal conflict of interest, the last thing you want to do is go out and announce that you are making the suggestion for blatantly political reasons,” Matetsky explained. “He has reduced the chances that this could go anywhere by almost advertising that it will have a blatantly result-oriented motive.”
So these people think no45 is going to help them bring coal back?
Awaiting the rich asshole's coal comeback, miners reject retraining
When Mike Sylvester entered a career training center earlier this year in southwestern Pennsylvania, he found more than one hundred federally funded courses covering everything from computer programming to nursing.
He settled instead on something familiar: a coal mining course.
"I think there is a coal comeback,” said the 33-year-old son of a miner.
Despite broad consensus about coal's bleak future, a years-long effort to diversify the economy of this hard-hit region away from mining is stumbling, with Obama-era jobs retraining classes undersubscribed and future programs at risk under President some rich asshole’s proposed 2018 budget.
the rich asshole has promised to revive coal by rolling back environmental regulations and moved to repeal Obama-era curbs on carbon emissions from power plants.
"I have a lot of faith in President the rich asshole," Sylvester said.
But hundreds of coal-fired plants have closed in recent years, and cheap natural gas continues to erode domestic demand. The Appalachian region has lost about 33,500 mining jobs since 2011, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Although there have been small gains in coal output and hiring this year, driven by foreign demand, production levels remain near lows hit in 1978.
A White House official did not respond to requests for comment on coal policy and retraining for coal workers.
What many experts call false hopes for a coal resurgence have mired economic development efforts here in a catch-22: Coal miners are resisting retraining without ready jobs from new industries, but new companies are unlikely to move here without a trained workforce. The stalled diversification push leaves some of the nation's poorest areas with no clear path to prosperity.
Federal retraining programs have fared better, with some approaching full participation, in the parts of Appalachia where mining has been crushed in a way that leaves little hope for a comeback, according to county officials and recruiters. They include West Virginia and Kentucky, where coal resources have been depleted.
But in southern Pennsylvania, where the industry still has ample reserves and is showing flickers of life, federal jobs retraining programs see sign-up rates below 20 percent, the officials and recruiters said. In southern Virginia's coal country, participation rates run about 50 percent, they said.
"Part of our problem is we still have coal," said Robbie Matesic, executive director of Greene County’s economic development department.
Out-of-work miners cite many reasons beyond faith in the rich asshole policy for their reluctance to train for new industries, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen former and prospective coal workers, career counselors and local economic development officials. They say mining pays well; other industries are unfamiliar, and there’s no income during training and no guarantee of a job afterward.
In Pennsylvania, Corsa Coal opened a mine in Somerset in June which will create about 70 jobs – one of the first mines to open here in years. And Consol Energy recently expanded its Bailey mine complex in Greene County.
But Consol also announced in January that it plans to sell its coal holdings to focus on natural gas. And it has commissioned a recruitment agency, GMS Mines and Repair, to find contract laborers for its coal expansion who will be paid about $13 an hour - half the hourly wage of a starting unionized coal worker. The program Sylvester signed up for was set up by GMS.
The new hiring in Pennsylvania is related mainly to an uptick in foreign demand for metallurgical coal, used in producing steel, rather than domestic demand for thermal coal from power plants, the industry's main business. Some market analysts describe the foreign demand as a temporary blip driven by production problems in the coal hub of Australia.
Officials for U.S. coal companies operating in the region, including Consol and Corsa, declined requests for comment.
“The coal industry has stabilized, but it’s not going to come back,” said Blair Zimmerman, a 40-year veteran of the mines who is now the commissioner for Greene County, one of Pennsylvania’s oldest coal regions. “We need to look at the future.”
EMPTY SEATS
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor has received about $2 million since 2015 from the federal POWER program, an initiative of former President Barack Obama to help retrain workers in coal-dependent areas. But the state is having trouble putting even that modest amount of money to good use.
In Greene and Washington counties, 120 people have signed up for jobs retraining outside the mines, far short of the target of 700, said Ami Gatts, director of the Washington-Greene County Job Training Agency. In Westmoreland and Fayette counties, participation in federal job retraining programs has been about 15 percent of capacity, officials said.
"I can't even get them to show up for free food I set up in the office," said Dave Serock, an ex-miner who recruits in Fayette County for Southwest Training Services.
Programs administered by the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal and state partnership to strengthen the region’s economy, have had similar struggles. One $1.4 million ARC project to teach laid-off miners in Greene County and in West Virginia computer coding has signed up only 20 people for 95 slots. Not a single worker has enrolled in another program launched this summer to prepare ex-miners to work in the natural gas sector, officials said.
Greene County Commissioner Zimmerman said he’d like to see a big company like Amazon or Toyota come to southwestern Pennsylvania to build a distribution or manufacturing plant that could employ thousands.
But he knows first the region needs a ready workforce.
Amazon spokeswoman Ashley Robinson said the company the company typically works with local organizations to evaluate whether locations have an appropriate workforce and has no current plans for distribution operations in Western Pennsylvania. Toyota spokesman Edward Lewis said the company considers local workforce training an "important consideration" when deciding where to locate facilities.
SIGNS OF LIFE
For Sean Moodie and his brother Steve spent the last two years working in the natural gas industry, but see coal as a good bet in the current political climate.
“I am optimistic that you can make a good career out of coal for the next 50 years,” said Sean Moodie.
Coal jobs are preferable to those in natural gas, they said, because the mines are close to home, while pipeline work requires travel. Like Sylvester, the Moodie brothers are taking mining courses offered by Consol’s recruiter, GMS.
Bob Levo, who runs a GMS training program, offered a measure of realism: The point of the training is to provide low-cost and potentially short-term labor to a struggling industry, he said.
"That’s a major part of the reason that coal mines have been able to survive," he said. "They rely on us to provide labor at lower cost."
Clemmy Allen, 63, a veteran miner and head of the United Mineworkers of America's Career Centers, said miners are taking a big risk in holding out for a coal recovery.
He’s placing his hopes for the region's future on retraining. UMWA’s 64-acre campus in Prosperity, Pennsylvania - which once trained coal miners - will use nearly $3 million in federal and state grants to retrofit classrooms to teach cybersecurity, truck driving and mechanical engineering.
![Workers attach a natural gas line to a machine to set it in place for a gas line in Waynesburg]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"73","h":"51","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAuj3O5.img?h=508&w=728&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"44","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAuj3O5.img?h=436&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"44","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAuj3O5.img?h=436&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"}})
© REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk Workers attach a natural gas line to a machine to set it in place for a gas line in Waynesburg
"Unlike when I worked in the mines," he said, "if you get laid off now, you are pretty much laid off."
Follow the rich asshole’s impact on energy, environment, healthcare, immigration and the economy at The the rich asshole Effect - https://www.reuters.com/trump-effect
(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot)
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