December 28th, 2017 - December 29th, 2017. 409-410 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no.45, and 339-340 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
the rich asshole Is So Obsessed He Even Has Obama’s Name Coded Into His Website (IMAGES)
On Christmas day, some rich asshole announced that he would “be back to work” the following day, but he is golfing for the fourth day in a row. The former reality show star blasted former President Barack Obama for playing golf and now the rich asshole is on track to outpace the number of golf games his predecessor played.
Updated my tracker of Trump’s appearances at Trump properties.
71 rounds of golf including today’s. At this pace, he'll pass Obama’s first-term total by July 24 next year. washingtonpost.com/news/politics/…
That makes what a Washington Post reporter discovered on the rich asshole’s website really weird, but everything about this administration is bizarre AF. The coding contained a reference to Obama and golf: “Unlike Obama, we are working to fix the problem … and not on the golf course.” However, the coding wasn’t done correctly.
The website of Donald Trump, who has spent several days in a row at the golf course, is coded to serve up the following message in the event of an internal server error: action.donaldjtrump.com/inaugural-year…
That snippet of code appears to be on all action.donaldjtrump.com pages, which the footer says is paid for by the RNC?
It's also all over gop.com. As others have noted in this thread, this is weird code and it's not clear it would ever actually display, but who knows.
After the coding was called out, the reference to Obama was deleted.
UPDATE: The golf error message has been removed from the Trump and GOP websites. They also fixed the javascript "=" vs "==" problem. Still not clear when these messages would actually display, since the actual 404 (and presumably 500) page displays a different message
That suggests someone at either RNC or the Trump admin is sensitive enough to Trump's golf problem to make this issue go away quickly once people noticed. You have no idea how much I'd love to see the email exchange that led us here.
The code was fucked up.
The best part about this is that they are using the '=' (assignment) operator which means that bit of code will never get run. If you look a few lines up 'errorCode' will always be '404'
some rich asshole is obsessed with Obama that his name was even in the coding of his website while he played golf again.
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 12/29/17 07:55 PM EST
The Pentagon will begin accepting transgender military recruits on Monday, Jan. 1, after the rich asshole administration decided not to appeal a court order blocking the president's ban.
The Department of Justice announced Friday it would delay challenging the stay on President the rich asshole's transgender ban before the Supreme Court.
“The Department of Defense has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks. So rather than litigate this interim appeal before that occurs, the administration has decided to wait for DOD's study and will continue to defend the President's and Secretary of Defense’s lawful authority in district court in the meantime,” the DOJ said in a statement.
The rich asshole administration had sought to ban transgender recruits. But a judge halted their plans while cases challenging the new policy work their way through the courts.
Developing...
This story was last updated at 8:07 p.m.
‘I’m rubber you’re glue defense’: Katy Tur mocks the rich asshole for accusing Democrats of colluding with Russia
Katy Tur (Screengrab)
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MSNBC’s Katy Tur on Friday summed up some rich asshole’s approach to criticism: “The ‘I’m rubber, you’re glue’ defense.”
“You were on the campaign trail with me, Jonathan [Lemire],” Tur said. “And you remember very well that when some rich asshole would be accused of something, he would turn that accusal around and throw it back at the person accusing him.”
Tur mentioned the rich asshole calling Hillary Clinton “unfit” to be president and a “Russian puppet.”
“I’m being accused of sexual harassment? Look at Bill Clinton,” Tur remember the rich asshole saying. “He does everything he can to turn it around and blame the other person. It’s the, ‘I’m rubber and you’re glue’ defense that he used.”
“He’s doing it here by saying the democrats were colluding [with Russia],” Tur explained.
“It’s a the rich asshole trope to do that,” Lemire replied. “Certainly you hit upon some of the big ones. The moment from the debate when he stood there with the accusers, people who said Bill Clinton had sexually harassed them. That was a jaw-dropping moment that took all of our breaths away the most.”
“That hasn’t changed now that he’s in office,” Lemire added. “This is what he thinks. A little fact check: there aren’t many Democrats who have flat out said he didn’t collude. We see him do this a lot, too. It’s not just mirroring. It’s the idea of asserting his own truth. He feels like he can talk over whatever the reality may be. His belief that his supporters will follow him along that way. He believes he can even sort of change some of that reality by just insisting it over and over and we’re seeing that again here.”
Watch below:’
Turns out this site profiting off of ‘#TheResistance’ is actually run by man who started a pro-the rich asshole PAC
President some rich asshole (left, via Wikimedia Commons) and an anti-the rich asshole resistance protester (right, via Alisdare Hickson/Creative Commons).
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It was only a matter of time before concrete evidence revealed that the rich asshole supporters had managed to profit off of the resistance to his presidency.
Twitter user @z3dster revealed in a viral thread that although the now-deleted @Resistance_Feed account appeared to be of similar ilk to others in the so-called “resistance,” a simple search for the website’s owner reveals a much more insidious web.
Fun story, so there is this account @Resistance_Feed with 33.7K followers pic.twitter.com/6CRSyUoBxL
“Fun story,” the user’s thread began, linking to a screenshot of @Resistance_Feed’s account that had over 33,000 followers by the time they deactivated. Though their website, ResistanceFeed.net (which was still up at time of writing) looked relatively normal, a whois searched revealed the owner’s email is “americafirstera@gmail.com.”
“Americafirstera seems like an odd name choice for a pro Resistance site,” the user rightfully noted. That email, they noted, led them to the website AmericaFirstEra.com — a site whose layout and design are almost identical to Resistance Feed’s, but on the opposite end of the political spectrum.
When searching the whois for America First Era, the user found that the website was registered to someone named Michael Maday — a man who registered a pro-the rich asshole political action committee under the America First Era name with the Federal Elections Commission, and allegedly runs @The_Trump_Train’s Twitter account.
Hey...wait a min... pic.twitter.com/oRit40VAPa
and of course the guy also registered a pro Trump PAC docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg… pic.twitter.com/G2IdHBBWTg
After @z3dster first began the thread linking Resistance Feed to America First Era/Maday, another user tweeted that they’d been direct messaged by @Resistance_Feed asking for a donation.
Fun story, so there is this account @Resistance_Feed with 33.7K followers pic.twitter.com/6CRSyUoBxL
Soon, yet another user revealed that @Resistance_Feed’s donation solicitations typically linked to a PayPal link that sent the proceeds to “Maday Media.”
A freind came across this last night. Who is this anonymous account asking for donations to support the resistance and get Trump impeached? We started looking into it. 1 #warning#ScamAlert #con #SCAM #fraud #fake #scheme#TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/IywQJI02WH
If you click on the link in that tweet (twitter.com/Resistance_Fee…) this is what comes up - a PayPal donation page to Maday Media. 2 #conman#DonTheCon #swindler #scams pic.twitter.com/kG0kweuoZw
@The_Trump_Train has more than 191,000 followers, and as recently as a few hours before press time was also selling the rich asshole merchandise
Mike Flynn may have another secret plea agreement in Mueller probe — here’s why
Ousted national security adviser Mike Flynn (Shutterstock.com)
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President some rich asshole’s legal team is preparing to mount a scorched-earth attack on the credibility and reputation of ousted national security adviser Mike Flynn, said Vanity Fair‘s Chris Smith.
Smith pointed to a Washington Post report that attorney Ty Cobb will use Flynn’s guilty plea to lying to the FBI to attack the retired Army Lt. General, but that this isn’t an admission that Flynn has damning testimony on the president so much as standard legal strategy.
“Imagine that — a defense attorney is going to attack the prosecution’s witness, if Flynn has anything bad to say about the rich asshole,” quipped Washington defense attorney Sol Wisenberg, who was deputy independent counsel in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations of the 1990s. “Wow — the next thing you’re going to tell me is Dewey took Manila. If Flynn has some real dirt on the rich asshole, then, yeah, they’ll have to destroy him.”
Smith went on to argue that federal prosecutors typically strike a plea deal around the highest provable charge against a witness, “and for all of Flynn’s apparent legal exposures, he pleaded guilty to the fairly pedestrian count of lying to the FBI. Maybe that’s the best that Mueller’s got against Flynn.”
The White House leak earlier this week that the rich asshole’s team is preparing to turn the firehoses on Flynn, Smith said, essentially declared open season on Flynn for the rich asshole’s allies.
If the rich asshole is hanging Flynn out to dry, then the rich asshole’s media boosters like Sean Hannity “are free to turn up the attacks on Flynn, to trash him as one more enemy of the president, which in turn embellishes the rich asshole’s outsider image with his hard-core voters.”
It also signals to Flynn that if he is hoping for a presidential pardon, he’d best not testify damningly about the rich asshole, Smith said.
“Mueller, however, seems to have wisely anticipated such a chess move: by crafting a plea deal that basically guarantees Flynn won’t serve any time in jail, the special counsel reduced the temptation to not cooperate and be rewarded by a pardon,” he wrote.
Wisenberg speculated that there may be a second, secret plea deal between Flynn and special counsel Robert Mueller, one that contains evidence of coordination and collusion between the the rich asshole 2016 campaign and Russia. This would explain “the apparent thinness of the public plea deal,” said Smith.
the rich asshole has remained steadfastly supportive of Flynn in his public statements, calling him a good man who has led “a very strong life” and labeling the charges against Flynn “very unfair.”
‘You only regret being caught’: Jake Tapper slams Breitbart after learning they’re writing another ‘hit piece’ on him
CNN's Jake Tapper breaking down the implications of the 2017 general election results.
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CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday responded to a planned “hit piece” the far-right website Breitbart is reportedly planning to write on him.
Wednesday, Breitbart ran a lengthy article calling Tapper a “‘very fake news’ anchor” after he pointed out the publication’s historic support of Paul Ryan’s far-right opponent Paul Nehlen. Breitbart severed ties with Nehlen hours after Tapper tweeted about the candidate’s connection to the site.
Book blaming Jews for anti-Semitism, written by the Neo-Nazi movement’s fave “academic,” being pushed by Breitbart favorite Paul Nehlen. twitter.com/pnehlen/status…
In the piece, the website accused Tapper of peddling “fake news” and argued his description of Nehlen as a Breitbart “favorite” topped off a series of events that have “thrown the network into turmoil.”
Tapper hit back on Twitter, writing, “This is how you know Breitbart isn’t upset that the candidate they openly pushed is now more openly anti-Semitic and racist. Instead of contrition they attack and smear.”
As Tapper reports Friday, Breitbart is apparently trying too escalate this feud with Tapper, a move the CNN host described as “tiresome.”
“I’m told Breitbart is preparing another hit piece full of lies and nonsense presumably because I tweeted this quote of a Breitbart host on Dec 18 promoting and praising white supremacist Nehlen,” Tapper wrote on Twitter.
“The easy PR advice when you’re caught being too cozy with white supremacists/neo-Nazis is to apologize for the bad judgment and to vociferously attack the Nazi,” he continued. “Not to obfuscate and attack those who took issue with it.”
Greg Price
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump appeared to know little, if anything, about international trade deals during an exchange with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in March this year. White House officials reportedly characterized the talk as “humiliating.”
Related: Trump Lost to North Korea's Kim Jong Un in 2017's War of Words, Experts Say
The Republican Trump asked Merkel about creating a new, bilateral trade deal between Germany and the U.S., even though, as a member of the European Union, Germany cannot strike such a deal without the other 27 members of the union, according to The New York Times.
Merkel was afraid to fully correct Trump since White House aides told German officials the four-term chancellor had been condescending to Trump during one of their first phone calls.
Instead, Merkel eased into an explanation that an agreement could be reached in concert with the EU.
“So it could be bilateral?” Trump asked Merkel, who nodded, according to those in the meeting. Trump responded: “That’s great.”
Trump then turned to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and said: “Wilbur, we’ll negotiate a bilateral trade deal with Europe.”
German officials were reportedly relieved that no incident occurred, but White House officials told The Times they saw the exchange as “humiliating.”
Before they sat down, Trump claimed not to have heard photographers’ requests for he and Merkel to shake hands, a terse moment captured on video that later was used as an example of Trump’s attitude towards dealing with Europe altogether.
Three months later at a campaign rally, Merkel was candid about Europeans needing to rely on each other rather than other allies.
“We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands—naturally in friendship with the United States of America, in friendship with Great Britain, as good neighbors with whoever, also with Russia and other countries,” she said.
Merkel added: “But we have to know that we Europeans must fight for our own future and destiny.”
Crying “America First,” Trump’s takes on foreign policy and his administration’s work abroad have received vast criticism throughout his first year in office. He challenged members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to pay their “fair share” of defense spending and routinely exchanged ominous threats of “fire” and war with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un–going to so far as to call the leader “rocket man” at the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump also pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accord meant to combat global warming. Most recently, he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital–much to the dismay of the rest of the Middle East.
Related: Trump Lost to North Korea's Kim Jong Un in 2017's War of Words, Experts Say
The Republican Trump asked Merkel about creating a new, bilateral trade deal between Germany and the U.S., even though, as a member of the European Union, Germany cannot strike such a deal without the other 27 members of the union, according to The New York Times.
Merkel was afraid to fully correct Trump since White House aides told German officials the four-term chancellor had been condescending to Trump during one of their first phone calls.
Instead, Merkel eased into an explanation that an agreement could be reached in concert with the EU.
“So it could be bilateral?” Trump asked Merkel, who nodded, according to those in the meeting. Trump responded: “That’s great.”
Trump then turned to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and said: “Wilbur, we’ll negotiate a bilateral trade deal with Europe.”
German officials were reportedly relieved that no incident occurred, but White House officials told The Times they saw the exchange as “humiliating.”
Before they sat down, Trump claimed not to have heard photographers’ requests for he and Merkel to shake hands, a terse moment captured on video that later was used as an example of Trump’s attitude towards dealing with Europe altogether.
Three months later at a campaign rally, Merkel was candid about Europeans needing to rely on each other rather than other allies.
“We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands—naturally in friendship with the United States of America, in friendship with Great Britain, as good neighbors with whoever, also with Russia and other countries,” she said.
Merkel added: “But we have to know that we Europeans must fight for our own future and destiny.”
Crying “America First,” Trump’s takes on foreign policy and his administration’s work abroad have received vast criticism throughout his first year in office. He challenged members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to pay their “fair share” of defense spending and routinely exchanged ominous threats of “fire” and war with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un–going to so far as to call the leader “rocket man” at the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump also pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accord meant to combat global warming. Most recently, he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital–much to the dismay of the rest of the Middle East.
Hilarious — and depressing — video recounts the rich asshole’s most racist moments of 2017
Felice León of The Root (Screen capture)
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The Root‘s Felice León released the Kraken on President some rich asshole on Tuesday when she published her video of “the rich asshole’s Most Racist Moments of 2017.”
“Water is wet, the sky is blue and some rich asshole is a racist. And in 2017, the rich asshole was on a roll,” León wrote.
In the clip, León takes viewers on a breezy-but-caustic tour of the rich asshole’s most heinously racist missteps in 2017, from his poorly-thought-out Muslim travel ban that wasn’t a ban to calling Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who protest police brutality “SOBs” and urging team owners to fire them.
He also called Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “Pocahontas” and said Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS.”
In summary, it was a banner year for the man who was sued by the federal government for refusing to rent to black tenants and whose father was arrested at a KKK rally in 1929.
Watch the video, embedded below:
Biographer claims the rich asshole’s ‘cartoonishly ridiculous’ Times interview proves he’s scared of Bob Mueller
Daily Beast columnist David Cay Johnston (Photo: Screen capture)
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According to President some rich asshole’s biographer David Cay Johnston, “the Donald” speaks in word salad, “because his mind is salad.” Whether tossed, Caesar or chef, the rich asshole’s “salad brain” overflowed with narcissistic references to himself and his accomplishments during a 30-minute long New York Timesinterview.
“There’s no focusing on any issue and knowing anything in-depth. It thoroughly establishes how Donald makes things up,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t know Jack about taxes. His own account, Jack Mitnick, told me that. I had lunch with Donald. He couldn’t follow the tax advice I was giving him. He just makes stuff up.”
Johnston noted that one interesting detail to come from the interview was that during the campaign, the rich asshole “used what were massively inflated numbers to describe the trade deficit with China, the imbalance.” In this interview, the rich asshole mentions $300 billion annually from intellectual property theft. According to Johnston, the rich asshole is essentially admitting that he made up the number.
In a panel discussion about the interview, that took place on the Mar-a-Lago golf course, Johnston and reporter John Harwood marveled at the multiple references to “me,” “my” and “I” from the president.
“I think this interview is profoundly disturbing,” Harwood said. “If you read it and think about it. The way the president speaks in such grandiose terms about himself suggests a level of delusion. ‘I saved coal.’ ‘I was treated better than anyone in the history of China.’ ‘I did things that Ronald Reagan couldn’t do.’ ‘The news media has to keep me president because the entire media system would fall apart without me.’ This suggests a level of mental functioning which is not particularly acute and when he starts talking about the Russia investigation and he says 16 times ‘there’s been no collusion, absolutely no collusion, everyone agrees there’s no collusion.’ And some point you’re just kind of babbling and this is the president of the United States and it cannot be reassuring to even people who support his policies to hear him speak in this way.”
Harwood noted that the rich asshole doesn’t seem to be aware of what he’s giving away in interviews liked.
“Anyone who speaks about himself in the kind of terms that he does, ‘absolute right to control the Justice Department, ‘I know more than the greatest CPA.’ These are statements that are obviously cartoonishly ridiculous. And the fact that the president would feel free to say them to The New York Times suggests that he is not perceiving his own best interests or the interests of the white house.”
Host Ari Melber recalled the rich asshole’s remark about being smarter than a CPA, saying, “it’s not even a brag I’m that familiar with that people who have ascended to high office or being president would feel the need to go there.”
“Well, Donald lives in this world where he creates his own reality and if he says it that means it’s true,” Johnston said. “And he’s delusional. John is exactly right about this. Donald is delusional. I know — I’m attacked by all sorts of people for saying this but he is. He is delusional and you are seeing his, you know, this manifestation of his belief. Donald, remember, believes and he’s actually said at times he’s superior to the rest of us. That, of course, he should be president. And you’re seeing in this interview ridiculous and John had the right phrase: cartoonish statements about himself.”
Johnston also noted that the interview shows how the rich asshole is scared.
“His comments about [special counsel Bob] Mueller and the implication that if I don’t think he’s fair to me I’ll get rid of Mueller one way or another goes to the heart of power unto himself.”
You don’t get to choose’: GOP strategist hammers the rich asshole for trying to control what Mueller investigates
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller and President some rich asshole (Photos: Screen capture and AFP)
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GOP strategist Susan Del Percio on Friday hit some rich asshole for once again insisting special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has found “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russia government, explaining that the president doesn’t get a say in what happens with the probe.
the rich asshole on Thursday told the New York Times the Russia investigation makes the United States “look very bad,” and that everybody knows there was “no collusion” on the part of his campaign.
“It would do the president well to remember that the investigation into President [Bill] Clinton was about a real estate deal and it ended up in a blue dress,” Del Perico said. “You don’t get to choose where an investigation goes.”
“He may say there was no collusion and there may not be, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be other things come up,” she added. “We’ve already seen four indictments, two guilty pleas—so the president can talk about what he wants. He thinks if he keeps saying it over and over enough, it’s going to be true, but that’s not the case.”
“The White House team is very nervous,” Del Perico noted. “The president gets very uncomfortable every time there’s a story about something Mueller’s looking at and they should proceed very cautiously.”
Watch below, via MSNBC:
the rich asshole urges US Postal Service to charge ‘MUCH MORE’ for Amazon delivery in bonkers tweet
(Photo: A Katz / Shutterstock)
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President some rich asshole posted an unusual rant about the United States Postal Service on Friday — and encouraged it to jack up the prices it charges for Amazon packages it delivers.
“Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer?” the rich asshole asked on Twitter. “Should be charging MUCH MORE!”
the rich asshole’s tweet seems to be in response to a “Fox & Friends” segment about Amazon that aired on Friday morning. The segment, which was about trends to watch in 2018, focused on Amazon’s big bet on augmented reality technology as a way to make shopping even easier.
As outlined by Fox tech reporter Kurt Knutsson, the new technology will let you use augmented reality to virtually place objects you want to buy on Amazon inside images of your house so you can see how they look there.
the rich asshole, however, may have had ulterior motives for encouraging the Post Office to raise prices on packages — namely, it would hurt the bottom line of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, a newspaper that the rich asshole has regularly targeted for criticism by referring to it as the “Amazon Washington Post.”
President the rich asshole says his approval rating, which has been reported as especially low by a number of pollsters, is actually the same as Barack Obama’s at this point in office.
the rich asshole tweeted on Friday morning, “While the Fake News loves to talk about my so-called low approval rating, @foxandfriends just showed that my rating on Dec. 28, 2017, was approximately the same as President Obama on Dec. 28, 2009, which was 47 percent…and this despite massive negative the rich asshole coverage & Russia hoax!”
While the Fake News loves to talk about my so-called low approval rating, @foxandfriends just showed that my rating on Dec. 28, 2017, was approximately the same as President Obama on Dec. 28, 2009, which was 47%...and this despite massive negative Trump coverage & Russia hoax!
some rich asshole kicked off his morning with another Twitter attack, this time going after the
United States Postal Service. Robert Sobel Published on: 29 December 2017
United States Postal Service. Robert Sobel Published on: 29 December 2017
some rich asshole has been known to be reckless when it comes to his use of social media and he doesn't look to be changing his tone anytime soon. In his latest tweet, the president has set his sights on the post office.
the rich asshole on post office
It all started during the early days of his campaign for president. After some rich asshole labeled illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers," the majority of the mainstream media hit back with heavy criticism, which only increased as the election went forward. In an attempt to create his own narrative independent of the press, the rich asshole used social media to push his agenda and routinely bash the media, Democrats, Hollywood critics, and even members of his own #Republican Party.
Since his inauguration last January, the former host of "The Apprentice" has only increased his use of social media, which was evident in his most recent tweet on December 29 when he decided to go after a new target in the form of the United States Post Office.
Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!
Taking to his #Twitter feed on Friday morning, some rich asshole ripped into the United States Post Office. "Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer?" the rich asshole tweeted out, before adding, "Should be charging MUCH MORE!" As expected, the president openly calling for the post office to raise their rates didn't go over well on Twitter.
Twitter backlash
In response to the president's tweet, those who oppose some rich assholewere quick to fire back.
"Before he bashes the Postal Service, he should consider that it is subsidizing rural regions, which are more expensive to serve because people in the country are spread out. It’s like a charity for remote regions," Walter Shaub wrote.
Just as he’s never heard of the Office of Govt Ethics, he’s never heard of the Postal Regulatory Comm’n (a separate agency that sets postal rates) & doesn’t know who runs it. Businesses won’t love higher rates demanded by a guy who’s made no effort to understand the postal system pic.twitter.com/7kvVVVs2Yo
The Post Office charges Amazon and others less because they buy in BULK. It's a business strategy that many companies use. They make more money in the long run by giving Amazon a break. This is passed along to us, the shoppers!
"The Post Office charges Amazon and others less because they buy in BULK. It's a business strategy that many companies use. They make more money in the long run by giving Amazon a break. This is passed along to us, the shoppers!" one Twitter user wrote. "What inspired this bizarre tweet? Out of nowhere you decide to go after USPS?" another tweet read.
Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!
Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!
"Excuse me Mr President did u forget that more poor people depends in mailing things to our love ones like to PR for instance. What a shame!" an additional tweet added. "Government is NOT A BUSINESS. Your motives are readiness and service levels, not profit. The two are literally diametrically opposed," a follow-up tweet stated.
the rich asshole says Amazon should pay 'MUCH MORE' to ship packages as he claims current deal makes web giant – and foe Jeff Bezos – richer while the Postal Service loses money
· President renews ongoing feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
· The billionaire web executive also owns The Washington Post, which the rich asshole sees as perpetually unfair to him
· the rich asshole says Amazon should be paying more to ship its packages to consumers
· The company lost $7.2 billion on shipping in 2016
· But the Postal Service has posted overall losses for 11 straight years
· Citicorp analysis found that the USPS systematically underestimates its shipping infrastructure costs, resulting in the equivalent of a $1.46 discount on every box
some rich asshole opened up a new chapter in his running feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Friday, saying the United States Postal Service should be charging the online shopping giant more for shipping.
'Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer?' the president asked on Twitter.
'Should be charging MUCH MORE!'
the rich asshole's jab at Amazon's bottom line is a continuation of his longstanding battle with Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.
The president's jab at the web giant is an extension of his long feud with Jeff Bezos, the company's CEO – who also owns The Washington Post
The Post, one of the newspapers the rich asshole most loves to hate, has drawn his ire since early in his presidential campaign for generating negative coverage of the Republican.
The USPS has posted losses for 11 straight years, largely on the basis of gigantic legacy pension and health care costs.
And while online shopping has led to growth in its package-delivery business, fewer Americans send letters via first-class mail every year.
Federal regulators moved recently to allow bigger jumps to stamp prices beyond the rate of inflation, which could eventually increase companies' shipping rates.
Amazon, on the other hand, has the markings of an unstoppable juggernaut – and one analysis shows that the Postal Service is giving it a free ride.
An April report from Citigroup found that the fast pace of change in the shipping business has left the USPS struggling to allocate its expenses correctly.
Bureaucrats have fixed the share of infrastructure costs associated with packages at a 5.5 per cent, but package shipments now make up 25 per cent of the USPS's business.
Factoring in the actual expenses associated with delivering more packages than their price model allows for, boxes should cost postal customers $1.46 more than they do, on average – building the equivalent of a government subsidy into the final price.
'It is as if every Amazon box comes with a dollar or two stapled to the packing slip — a gift card from Uncle Sam,' a Wall Street Journal commentator wrote in June.
Amazon acquired Whole Foods Markets in August, pushing its third-quarter revenue to $43.7 billion.
Amazon's stock price has jumped by 23 per cent in the past 90 days.
Yet the company continues to see shipping as a loss-leader, reporting that it lost $7.2 billion shipping packages in 2016.
Customers can receive free two-day shipping on most items by paying for a $99 annual 'Prime' membership. Some of those packages arrive via USPS but many are sent through UPS and FedEx.
Even with the cost of shipping, Amazon posted an overall profit of $2.4 billion in 2016, up from $596 million a year earlier.
the rich asshole says Dems know there is no DACA fix without border wall
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 12/29/17 08:50 AM EST
President the rich asshole on Friday issued a proclamation to Democrats on Twitter, warning Democratic leaders in Congress that he would not accept any legislative solution to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program beneficiaries without first getting the funding he needs for his promised wall on the Mexican border.
In the tweet, the rich asshole said that Democrats "fully understand" he will not sign any law granting legal protections to DACA recipients, often called "Dreamers," without funding for the rich asshole's signature promise to secure and build a wall along the U.S.'s southern border.
"The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc," the rich asshole tweeted. "We must protect our Country at all cost!"
The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc. We must protect our Country at all cost!
the rich asshole's tweet comes after Democrats in Congress faced sharp criticism from immigration activists and progressive groups for not demanding legislative protection for Dreamers in the year-end bill to fund the government. This came they after previously promised to not leave Washington, D.C., for the holidays without a deal.
“We will not leave here without a DACA fix,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said earlier in December.
Left-leaning groups like Credo Mobile and Democracy For America issued statements slamming Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for not securing the provision to protect Dreamers in the spending bill.
“For months, Democratic leaders insisted they would use their leverage in year-end spending bill negotiations to protect Dreamers and reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, but at the end of the day they let us down and refused to even put up a fight," Credo political director Murshed Zaheed said in a statement.
Recipients of DACA, who are immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, received protection from deportation under the law until the program was ended by Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this year.
Presidents tend to have a lot in common. They are married to spouses who work to carry on American values, with whom they live in the same house and with whom they assumedly sleep in the same bed. They raise largely successful children who don't work for them and who they've never mentioned wanting to sleep with. They are hardworking and smart, available at all hours to fight for America. They rarely take time off for leisure save for brief reprieves with literature. And they have a dog - or two.
Much of the same cannot be said of our current president, some rich asshole. In fact, the rich asshole is the first president in more than 100 years to be dogless. This gaping hole in Americanness shouldn't be that shocking given some rich asshole's contrarian, "Drain the swamp!" style.
Several presidents have gone dogless, but the last president to be without a dog was William McKinley, who was commander in chief from 1897-1901. However, according to the Presidential Pet Museum, McKinley did have pets: he had a parrot, two angora kittens, and roosters. Does the rich asshole have any pets? The Presidential Pet Museum believes not.
Also of note before McKinley is Andrew Johnson. He didn't have a dog, was impeached in 1868 and apparently "left flour out at night for a family of white mice playing in his room" amidst the political drama. Pet food for thought.
One fluffy, silver lining is that the rich asshole has reportedly attempted to get a dog in recent months, specifically a goldendoodle named Patton. As the New York Post reported in January, the rich asshole was set to adopt the pup from friend Lois Pope, but Pope kept the dog after forming a connection with it herself. Pope claims the rich asshole listed his constant traveling as a reason why he'd be a poor owner. Hmm.
Further proof that the rich asshole seems to be anticanine? He loves insulting people by saying they failed or choked "like a dog" on Twitter.
.@EWErickson got fired like a dog from RedState
and now he is the one leading opposition against me.
.@GlennBeck got fired like a dog by #Fox. The Blaze is failing and he wanted to have me on his show. I said no - because he is irrelevant.
I hear that sleepy eyes @chucktodd will be fired like a dog from ratings starved Meet The Press? I can't imagine what is taking so long!
We're anxious to know what will become of the rich asshole's presidential pet ownership, but we do know one thing: getting a dog might help solve his failing disapproval ratings. As the Washington Post observes, a presidential dog offers good publicity and bipartisan relatability. They also provide personal benefits like stress reduction and loyalty.
Might not want to let that sleeping dog lie, President the rich asshole.
BY BRANDON CARTER - 12/28/17 10:18 PM EST
President the rich asshole in a new interview denied any collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, adding “even if there was, it’s not a crime.”
Speaking to The New York Times Thursday, the rich asshole praised lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who has argued that the rich asshole’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey was not obstruction of justice because the rich asshole has the right to fire the head of the bureau.
“I watched Alan Dershowitz the other day, he said, No. 1, there is no collusion, No. 2, collusion is not a crime, but even if it was a crime, there was no collusion,” the rich asshole told The Times. “And he said that very strongly. He said there was no collusion. And he has studied this thing very closely. I’ve seen him a number of times.”
“There is no collusion, and even if there was, it’s not a crime,” he continued. “But there’s no collusion.”
the rich asshole also blasted special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the rich asshole’s campaign and Russia, saying it “makes the country look very bad.”
“It puts the country in a very bad position,” the rich asshole said. “So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”
One of President the rich asshole’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow, said earlier this month that it didn’t matter if members of the rich asshole campaign colluded with Russia because “there is no crime of collusion.”
“For something to be a crime, there has to be a statute that you claim is being violated,” he told The New Yorker. “There is not a statute that refers to criminal collusion. There is no crime of collusion.”
Mueller's investigation has the authority to investigate any matters that come up in the course of investigating possible collusion between the rich asshole’s campaign and Russia, including possible obstruction of justice, which would be a crime.
the rich asshole’s rambling New York Times interview happened on the golf course while he was unstaffed
some rich asshole plays golf at the rich asshole National Doral (screen grab)
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A rambling New York Times interview showed Thursday what President some rich asshole really thinks of the Justice Department, that the Russia investigation makes the United States look bad and his need to distance himself from indicted Paul Manafort. But now it’s being revealed how the interview came about in the first place.
While the rich asshole spent his third day on the West Palm Beach golf course at Mar-a-Lago, Washington correspondent Michael Schmidt was wondering around the links himself.
“The unstaffed president of the United States, who likes to talk to reporters, bumped into the incomparable Michael Schmidt at one of his golf courses and did what he is always inclined to do — talk for a half-hour on record. No staff,” tweeted fellow Times reporter Maggie Haberman who once took the rich asshole’s phone calls to tell his side of the story.
The unstaffed president of the United States, who likes to talk to reporters, bumped into the incomparable @nytmike at one of his golf courses and did what he is always inclined to do -‘talk for a half-hour on record. No staff nytimes.com/2017/12/28/us/…
Visitor to Disney Hall of Presidents yells ‘lock him up’ at the rich asshole robot
The talking President some rich asshole robot at Disney's Hall of Presidents.
Nina Godlewski
Posted with permission from International Business Times
The newest presidential addition to Disney's Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom Park stirred up news last week when the first photos of the robot, meant to look like President Donald Trump, were revealed. Now the animatronic Trump is in the spotlight again.
A visitor to the park posted a video of themselves screaming at Trump's lookalike to Twitter on Wednesday evening. The more than two-minute long video shows the presentation of the presidents in the exhibit. The names of America's presents are listed, and then the voiceover says: "And now we come to the present, once again we place our trust in the idea of a president as we have from the beginning."
When a recording of President Trump repeating the oath he gave on inauguration day begins to play in the video, the person who posted it starts yelling "Lock him up!" and continues for nearly a minute. Other people in the exhibit can be heard in the background yelling as well, but it's unclear what they say.
A visitor to the park posted a video of themselves screaming at Trump's lookalike to Twitter on Wednesday evening. The more than two-minute long video shows the presentation of the presidents in the exhibit. The names of America's presents are listed, and then the voiceover says: "And now we come to the present, once again we place our trust in the idea of a president as we have from the beginning."
When a recording of President Trump repeating the oath he gave on inauguration day begins to play in the video, the person who posted it starts yelling "Lock him up!" and continues for nearly a minute. Other people in the exhibit can be heard in the background yelling as well, but it's unclear what they say.
I protested @realDonaldTrump at the #hallofpresidents cuz I'll never get this close in real life probs. #lockhimup
The tweet that accompanies the video says, "I protested @realDonaldTrump at the #hallofpresidents cuz I'll never get this close in real life probs. #lockhimup"
The chant echoes those that were started during the election of "Lock her up!" about Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. The chant was used early on by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and later by Trump's former National Security Advisor, who recently plead guilty to knowingly lying to the FBI, Michael Flynn.
the rich asshole Says Russia Inquiry Makes U.S. ‘Look Very Bad’
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President the rich asshole said Thursday that he believes Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, will treat him fairly, contradicting some members of his party who have waged a weeks long campaign to try to discredit Mr. Mueller and the continuing inquiry.
During an impromptu 30-minute interview with The New York Times at his golf club in West Palm Beach, the president did not demand an end to the Russia investigations swirling around his administration, but insisted 16 times that there has been “no collusion” discovered by the inquiry.
“It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position,” some rich asshole said of the investigation. “So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”
Asked whether he would order the Justice Department to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, some rich asshole appeared to remain focused on the Russia investigation.
“I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,” he said, echoing claims by his supporters that as president he has the power to open or end an investigation. “But for purposes of hopefully thinking I’m going to be treated fairly, I’ve stayed uninvolved with this particular matter.”
He hinted that his patience may soon end, however, signaling his frustration with the reported oil shipments.
“Oil is going into North Korea. That wasn’t my deal!” he exclaimed, raising the possibility of aggressive trade actions against China. “If they don’t help us with North Korea, then I do what I’ve always said I want to do.”
Despite saying that when he visited China in November, President Xi Jinping “treated me better than anybody’s ever been treated in the history of China,” some rich asshole said that “they have to help us much more.”
“We have a nuclear menace out there, which is no good for China,” he said.
some rich asshole gave the interview in the Grill Room at the rich asshole International Golf Club after he ate lunch with his playing partners, including his son Eric and the pro golfer Jim Herman. No aides were present for the interview, and the president sat alone with a New York Times reporter at a large round table as club members chatted and ate lunch nearby. A few times, members and friends — including a longtime supporter, Christopher Ruddy, the president and chief executive of the conservative website and TV company Newsmax — came by to speak with some rich asshole.
Noting that he had given Mr. Herman $50,000 years ago when he worked at the president’s New Jersey golf club and was trying to make the PGA Tour, some rich asshole asked him how much he made playing on the professional circuit.
“It’s like $3 million,” Mr. Herman said.
“Which to him is like making a billion because he doesn’t spend anything,” some rich asshole joked. “Ain’t that a great story?”
In the interview, the president touted the strength of his campaign victories and his accomplishments in office, including passage of a tax overhaul this month. But he also expressed frustration and anger at Democrats, who he said refused to negotiate on legislation.
“Like Joe Manchin,” some rich asshole said, referring to the Democratic senator from West Virginia. He said Mr. Manchin and other Democrats claimed to be centrists but refused to negotiate on health care or taxes.
“He talks. But he doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t do,” some rich asshole said. “‘Hey, let’s get together, let’s do bipartisan.’ I say, ‘Good, let’s go.’ Then you don’t hear from him again.”
Nonetheless, some rich asshole said he still hoped Democrats will work with him on bipartisan legislation in the coming year to overhaul health care, improve the country’s crumbling infrastructure and help young immigrants brought to the country as children.
some rich asshole disputed reports that suggested he does not have a detailed understanding of legislation, saying, “I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. I know the details of health care better than most, better than most.”
Later, he added that he knows more about “the big bills” debated in the Congress “than any president that’s ever been in office.”
The president also spoke at length about the special election this month in Alabama, where Roy S. Moore, the Republican candidate, lost to a Democrat after being accused of sexual misconduct with young girls, including a minor, when he was in his 30s.
some rich asshole said that he supported Mr. Moore’s opponent in the Republican primary race because he knew Mr. Moore would lose in the general election. And he insisted that he endorsed Mr. Moore later only because “I feel that I have to endorse Republicans as the head of the party.”
Mr. Mueller’s investigation appears to be moving ahead despite predictions by some rich asshole’s lawyers this year that it would be over by Thanksgiving. some rich asshole said that he was not bothered by the fact that he does not know when it will be completed because he has nothing to hide.
some rich asshole repeated his assertion that Democrats invented the Russia allegations “as a hoax, as a ruse, as an excuse for losing an election.” He said that “everybody knows” his associates did not collude with the Russians, even as he insisted that the “real stories” are about Democrats who worked with Russians during the 2016 campaign.
“There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair,” some rich asshole said of Mr. Mueller.
In recent weeks, Republican lawmakers have seized on anti-the rich asshole texts sent by an F.B.I. investigator who was removed from Mr. Mueller’s team as evidence of political bias. At a hearing this month, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, said that “the public trust in this whole thing is gone.”
Although some rich asshole said he believes Mr. Mueller will treat him fairly, some rich asshole raised questions about how the special counsel had dealt with the lobbyist Tony Podesta. Mr. Podesta is the brother of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, and Tony Podesta is under investigation for work his firm, the Podesta Group, did on behalf of a client referred to it in 2012 by Paul Manafort, the former the rich asshole campaign chairman.
“Whatever happened to Podesta?” some rich asshole said. “They closed their firm, they left in disgrace, the whole thing, and now you never heard of anything.”
some rich asshole tried to put distance between himself and Mr. Manafort, who was indicted in October. The president said that Mr. Manafort — whom he called “very nice man” and “an honorable person” — had spent more time working for other candidates and presidents than for him.
“Paul only worked for me for a few months,” some rich asshole said. “Paul worked for Ronald Reagan. His firm worked for John McCain, worked for Bob Dole, worked for many Republicans for far longer than he worked for me. And you’re talking about what Paul was many years ago before I ever heard of him. He worked for me for — what was it, three and a half months?”
some rich asshole said it was “too bad” that Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. some rich asshole did not directly answer a question about whether he thought that Eric H. Holder Jr., President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, was more loyal than Mr. Sessions had been.
“I don’t want to get into loyalty, but I will tell you that, I will say this: Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him,” some rich asshole said. He added: “When you look at the things that they did, and Holder protected the president. And I have great respect for that, I’ll be honest.”
some rich asshole said he believes members of the news media will eventually cover him more favorably because they are profiting from the interest in his presidency and thus will want him re-elected.
“Another reason that I’m going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I’m not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes,” some rich asshole said, then invoked one of his preferred insults. “Without me, The New York Times will indeed be not the failing New York Times, but the failed New York Times.”
He added: “So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they’ll be loving me because they’re saying, ‘Please, please, don’t lose some rich asshole.’ O.K.”
After the interview, some rich asshole walked out of the Grill Room, stopping briefly to speak to guests. He then showed off a plaque that listed the club’s golf champions, including several years in which some rich asshole had won its annual tournament. Asked how far he was hitting balls off the tee these days, some rich asshole, who will turn 72 next year, was modest. “Gets shorter every year,” he said.
the rich asshole says he believes Mueller will treat him fairly in Russia probe
Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn looks at President-elect some rich asshole as he talks with the media at Mar-a-Lago estate where the rich asshole attends meetings, in Palm Beach, Florida, December 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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U.S. President some rich asshole said on Thursday he believes Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the rich asshole campaign officials and Russia in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, will treat him fairly.
“There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair,” the rich asshole told the New York Times in an interview at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Some Republicans in the U.S. Congress have in recent weeks accused Mueller’s team of anti-the rich asshole bias, and have said that public trust in the investigation has eroded. Mueller has charged four the rich asshole associates in his investigation.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said earlier this month that he was not aware of any impropriety by Mueller’s team.
the rich asshole also told the Times he has “been soft” on China on trade and complained about oil shipments to North Korea despite sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. “Oil is going into North Korea. That wasn’t my deal!” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, the rich asshole wrote in a post on Twitter that China has been “caught” allowing oil into North Korea and said such moves would prevent “a friendly solution” to the crisis.
the rich asshole tries to distance himself from Manafort and says he only worked for him ‘for a few months’
Paul Manafort and some rich asshole (RawStory / Composite)
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President some rich asshole appears to be trying to distance himself from his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the subject of ample speculation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
As The New York Times reports, the rich asshole told reporters that Manafort only worked for him for “a few months.”
“He worked for me for — what was it, three and a half months?” the rich asshole told Times reporters Michael S.
“Paul worked for Ronald Reagan. His firm worked for John McCain, worked for Bob Dole, worked for many Republicans for far longer than he worked for me. And you’re talking about what Paul was many years ago before I ever heard of him,” the rich asshole said.
the rich asshole on Mueller’s Russia probe: ‘I have the absolute right to do what I want with the Justice Department’
President of the United States some rich asshole speaks at the general political discussion during the 72th session of the UN Assembly in New York. (Shutterstock)
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In an impromptu interview with The New York Times on Thursday, President some rich asshole said he is in control of the Department of Justice and the future of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia.
“I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,” the rich asshole told reporter Michael Schmidt. “But for purposes of hopefully thinking I’m going to be treated fairly, I’ve stayed uninvolved with this particular matter.”
the rich asshole went on to say Mueller and Congress’ investigations into Russia make “the country look very bad” and puts “the country in a very bad position.”
“The sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country,” the president said.
In a statement that prompted comparisons with speeches given by “authoritarian dictators,” Florida GOP representative Francis Rooney told MSNBC, that he wanted “leaders at the Department of Justice and the FBI to “purge officials [who] are politically biased against some rich asshole.” Watch the exchange below.
According to USA Today, Rooney said that “people need a good, clean government,” and went on to mention FBI agent Peter Strzok who was removed from the Russia investigation by Mueller after the discovery that he had sent text messages “disparaging the rich asshole.”
Rooney reportedly also “raised concern about Justice Department official Bruce Ohr […] demoted for hiding ties to Fusion GPS, the company behind a notorious dossier alleging the rich asshole’s ties to Russia.” Rooney described “these revelations” as “nerve wracking” and told MSNBC host, Hallie Jackson, that he would like to see agency directors do a purge, that would highlight the work of the “great agents and great lawyers,” rather than “these people that are kind of the deep state.”
In the wake of Rooney’s comments, Twitter user and former Florida GOP congressman, Joe Scarborough tweeted, “Been reading biographies of Stalin lately? Stop. Now.” Author Brian Klass, a former campaign strategist and frequent the rich asshole critic wrote that Rooney’s comments reflect an “ongoing, well-strategized attempt to politicize rule of law to create impunity for the leader and his entourage - so Republicans can try to discredit Mueller’s eventual damning report.”
We happen to agree with Joe Scarborough, who Tweeted yesterday:
To read more, see "GOP Congressman says it's time to 'purge' FBI of anti-the rich asshole elements" written by Ledyard King, and published by USA Today on December 26, 2017.
the rich asshole accuses China of selling oil to North Korea
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President some rich asshole. REUTERS/File Photos
John Haltiwanger
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump said China has been "caught red handed" selling oil to North Korea––a violation of United Nations-imposed sanctions against the rogue state.
Related: China Denies Violating North Korea Sanctions as Tillerson Calls on Beijing to Do More
"Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!," Trump tweeted on Thursday.
This comes after a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday that U.S. spy satellites had captured images of Chinese ships selling oil to North Korean ships on the West Sea at least 30 times in the past three months. China has vehemently denied violating the sanctions, however, and claimed on Tuesday it hadn't sold any oil to North Korea in the past two months, offering customs data to bolster its case.
On Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang once again rejected the notion China was violating the sanctions. "The situation you have mentioned absolutely does not exist," Ren said.
Pyongyang's obstinate refusal to back away from its nuclear program has put it at odds with the international community.
North Korea has conducted a slew of long-range missile tests in 2017, most recently in late November. It also carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date in early September. Around the same time, the U.N. approved sanctions barring ship-to-ship trade with North Korea.
Just last Friday, the U.N. unanimously leveled new sanctions against the reclusive nation. The new measures seek to reduce the import of refined petroleum products into North Korea by almost 90 percent, capping it at 500,000 barrels per year. Additionally, the resolution capped the import of crude oil at four million barrels a year. North Korea described the new sanctions as an "act of war."
China is North Korea's top trading partner and main supplier of oil, making its participation in the sanctions vital. The Trump administration has continuously urged Beijing to do more to punish Pyongyang economically as a result of its military activities. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on China to do far more in this regard in an op-ed for The New York Times published on Thursday.
"A central component of our North Korea strategy is persuading China to exert its decisive economic leverage on Pyongyang. China has applied certain import bans and sanctions, but it could and should do more," Tillerson wrote.
Poll: the rich asshole, Obama approval ratings same after year one
Related: China Denies Violating North Korea Sanctions as Tillerson Calls on Beijing to Do More
"Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!," Trump tweeted on Thursday.
Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!
This comes after a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday that U.S. spy satellites had captured images of Chinese ships selling oil to North Korean ships on the West Sea at least 30 times in the past three months. China has vehemently denied violating the sanctions, however, and claimed on Tuesday it hadn't sold any oil to North Korea in the past two months, offering customs data to bolster its case.
On Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang once again rejected the notion China was violating the sanctions. "The situation you have mentioned absolutely does not exist," Ren said.
Pyongyang's obstinate refusal to back away from its nuclear program has put it at odds with the international community.
North Korea has conducted a slew of long-range missile tests in 2017, most recently in late November. It also carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date in early September. Around the same time, the U.N. approved sanctions barring ship-to-ship trade with North Korea.
Just last Friday, the U.N. unanimously leveled new sanctions against the reclusive nation. The new measures seek to reduce the import of refined petroleum products into North Korea by almost 90 percent, capping it at 500,000 barrels per year. Additionally, the resolution capped the import of crude oil at four million barrels a year. North Korea described the new sanctions as an "act of war."
China is North Korea's top trading partner and main supplier of oil, making its participation in the sanctions vital. The Trump administration has continuously urged Beijing to do more to punish Pyongyang economically as a result of its military activities. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on China to do far more in this regard in an op-ed for The New York Times published on Thursday.
"A central component of our North Korea strategy is persuading China to exert its decisive economic leverage on Pyongyang. China has applied certain import bans and sanctions, but it could and should do more," Tillerson wrote.
Poll: the rich asshole, Obama approval ratings same after year one
Greg Price
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Barack Obama, have at least one thing in common: identical approval and disapproval ratings in one national poll after their first year in office.
Related: Obama Compared Trump To Hitler, Says Fox News Host
Rasmussen Reports' latest poll showed Thursday Trump had a 46 percent approval rating compared to a 53 percent disapproval figure, which were near the same percentages Obama received at the end of 2009.
Overall, Rasmussen, which has long found much higher approval rating figures for Trump than any other national poll, showed 29 percent strongly approved of Trump's work and 44 percent strongly disapproved.
Conservative blogger and Trump proponent Matt Drudge, of The Drudge Report, first pointed out Trump and Obama’s mirrored ratings as recorded by Rasmussen.
“What about Obama at same exact date first year in presidency?? 46% APPROVE, 53% DISAPPROVE! ” Drudge tweeted Thursday morning.
Related: Obama Compared Trump To Hitler, Says Fox News Host
Rasmussen Reports' latest poll showed Thursday Trump had a 46 percent approval rating compared to a 53 percent disapproval figure, which were near the same percentages Obama received at the end of 2009.
Overall, Rasmussen, which has long found much higher approval rating figures for Trump than any other national poll, showed 29 percent strongly approved of Trump's work and 44 percent strongly disapproved.
Conservative blogger and Trump proponent Matt Drudge, of The Drudge Report, first pointed out Trump and Obama’s mirrored ratings as recorded by Rasmussen.
“What about Obama at same exact date first year in presidency?? 46% APPROVE, 53% DISAPPROVE! ” Drudge tweeted Thursday morning.
Indeed, Obama polled at 46 percent approval and 54 percent disapproval in Rasmussen’s December 31, 2009, results, according to its historical index of the 44th president’s ratings. However, only 24 percent of respondents strongly approved of Obama’s work at the time and 42 percent strongly disapproved.
Like most other presidents in their first year, Obama entered office with a high approval rating nationally. He registered a 67 percent approval, compared to 32 percent disapproval, on his inauguration day, according to Rasmussen.
Similarly, Obama had relatively strong approval numbers across party lines. During his first week in office, he could count upon the approval of 88 percent of Democrats, 41 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of independents, Gallup’s poll from January 21 to 25, 2009 showed.
But as 2009 went on, Obama’s support from Republicans plummeted to 16 percent while among independents it dropped to 47 percent.
Trump has routinely railed against approval numbers put out by mainstream media outlets, but he advertised Politico/Morning Consult’s findings earlier this month. The results showed a 45 percent approval rating, much higher than other polls that had Trump in the low- to mid-30s after many controversies throughout his first year in office.
“MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump tweeted December 8.
However, the Politico/Morning Consult poll also reflected a 51 percent disapproval rating, with 60 percent of respondents viewing Trump as reckless and 54 percent believing him to be sexist.
Currently, Trump’s average approval rating sits at 39.3 percent with 56.2 percent disapproving, according to RealClear Politics’ composite. The average has climbed of late with many polls showing ratings above of 41 percent or higher, like NBC News/Wall Street Journal (41 percent), The Economist/YouGov (43 percent) and the Harvard-Harris poll (41 percent).
the rich asshole Boasts He’s Signed More Laws Than Any President Since Truman. He’s Actually Signed the Fewest.
You know if some rich asshole is pushing some sort of record or achievement or a Time cover, you should probably run the numbers again, you know, just to double-check. On Wednesday, while totally not golfing at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the rich asshole reflected on his first year in office in a way only the rich asshole could. That is, he basically made it up. Ruminating on what he considered his achievements, the rich asshole explained at an event with firefighters in West Palm Beach that he had set a record for the most legislation passed in a year. At least that’s what it appears he was trying to say:
We got a lot of legislation passed … I believe—and you would have to ask those folks who will know the real answer—we have more legislation passed, including the record … was Harry Truman, a long time ago. And we broke that record, so we got a lot done.”
That is, predictably, not the case. In fact, the rich asshole’s version of history is the exact opposite of reality. the rich asshole has signed fewer bills into law than any other president in his first year in office since Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, according to GovTrack.
The sheer number of laws passed, of course, is not a particularly good barometer of a successful presidency, but let’s not forget this is a president who likes to use stacks of paper piled next to him as visual props. NPR categorized the 96 laws signed by the rich asshole:
More than three dozen modify or extend existing law; 16 repeal rules and regulations using a process known as the Congressional Review Act; a dozen commemorate or honor people and organizations by doing things like renaming federal buildings; and seven provide temporary government funding or one-time disaster relief funds.
A single important legislative achievement has the potential to be transformative. the rich asshole recently signed a big piece of legislation in his tax law that will change how Americans live. But that was too nuanced for the rich asshole, so he added a few lines to the old legislative résumé.
Fact check: the rich asshole incorrectly claims he's 'signed more legislation than anybody'
Washington (CNN)President some rich asshole touted his economic and legislative achievements in front of Florida firefighters on Wednesday -- but again stretched his comments too far for the facts.
"You know, one of the things that people don't understand -- we have signed more legislation than anybody -- we broke the record of Harry Truman," the rich asshole told the first responders.
The problem? That's just not true.
the rich asshole has signed 96 bills into law so far in his presidency -- the fewest of any first-term president stretching back to Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to data from the US Congress and from GovTrack.us.
"I believe we have -- and you'll have to ask those folks, but I think they know the real answer -- we have more legislation passed, including -- the record was Harry Truman. That's a long time ago. And we broke that record," the rich asshole continued incorrectly.
It's unclear why the rich asshole singled out Harry Truman's track record ushering legislation through Congress. Though, for the record, Truman signed 126 bills into law in just his first 100 days, and the Truman Presidential Library and Museum estimated in a tweet that he signed between 240 and 250 during his first year in office.
That said, the rich asshole signed more bills in his first 100 days than any president since Truman, according to PolitiFact.
.@TrumanLibrary what was Truman’s # here? twitter.com/tamarakeithnpr…
@tamarakeithNPR We don't have an exact figure handy, but around 240-250. According to Statutes at Large, Congress passed 292 bills in that session. Subtracting from January-April, minus few vetoes, gets to that figure.
the rich asshole has signed 2,233 pages of legislation so far during his tenure -- more than a thousand pages fewer than Barack Obama, but more than several former presidents to this point over the last half century, according to GovTrack.
Of course, looking at the number of bills or pages of legislation signed is not a perfect way of measuring achievement: some bills overhaul entire sections of US law while others rename post offices and other federal buildings.
"We've gotten a lot of the rules and regulations -- and you people suffered from that, to a certain extent, too, in all fairness -- but a lot of the regulations were voided," the rich asshole continued.
the rich asshole's numbers are accurate as of December 28; other presidents' as of December 21 of their first years in office. Truman, Johnson and Ford are excluded from this chart because they did not begin their presidencies with a new Congress, so their terms don't compare apples to apples with other presidencies.
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