Trump silent on Hawaii, retweets Pizzagate theorist
January 14, 2018
Tom Porter
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on “fake news” and shared a message by an alt-right conspiracy theorist in tweets Saturday—but was criticized for his silence over Saturday’s false missile alert in Hawaii.
Trump retweeted a message by Jack Posobiec—an alt-right activist who has spread baseless conspiracy theories about the death of former DNC staffer Seth Rich, and claimed that Hillary Clinton ran a child sex trafficking ring from a DC pizzeria.
The tweet claimed to show Senator Dick Durbin—who has confirmed reports that Trump called develping world nations "shithole" countries in a recent meeting—calling for an end to chain migration, or family migration. In the clip Durbin in fact calls for chain migration to be limited but not ended.
The president also drew criticism for failing to reassure Hawaiians after false ballistic missile alert plunged the island into nearly 40 minutes of panic, before being declared a false alarm.
Trump was on the links at the Trump International Golf Course in Florida after the emergency alert was issued at approximately 1:09 p.m. EST, before leaving for Mar-a-Lago at around 1:38 pm, according to pool reports.
State officials and the U.S. military’s Pacific Command has confirmed there was no actual threat to the state, but Hawaiians waited for nearly 40 minutes for officials to retract the warning.
In his first tweet after the incident—which has been blamed on an official pressing the wrong button—Trump renewed his attack on Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff.
“So much Fake News is being reported. They don’t even try to get it right, or correct it when they are wrong. They promote the Fake Book of a mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information. The Mainstream Media is crazed that WE won the election!” the president wrote.
White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement cited by The Huffington Post that the president had been “briefed on the state of Hawaii’s emergency management exercise.”
“This was purely a state exercise,” she added.
A White House official told CNN that the president was briefed in person by national security adviser H.R. McMaster, deputy national security adviser Ricky Waddell and White House chief of staff John Kelly. Politico reported that the situation did not prompt a reaction from the president's national security team because the alert was false.
At the time of publication, Trump had issued no statement on the incident.
Trump was criticized for continuing his round of golf as Hawaii panicked, and for his silence on the incident.
“For 38 minutes American citizens in Hawaii braced for a ballistic missile strike ... and @realDonaldTrump continued his round of golf in Florida on his 120th taxpayer funded vacation day in less than a year,” tweeted former Pentagon official Morris Davis.
"Trump knew within minutes no missile was hurtling toward Hawaii. He was golfing. They told him. He did not tweet out that info. He kept golfing. People thought they & their families were going to die FOR 38 MINS. Then when the panic was over he tweeted how media is so mean to him," tweeted author Reza Aslan.
‘That’s un-American’: CNN pundit lays waste to the rich asshole surrogate who says the rich asshole must end birthright citizenship
Maria Cardona, Victor Blackwell and Jack Kingston appear on CNN
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CNN contributor Maria Cardona called out the rich asshole surrogate Jack Kingston on Sunday after he suggested that Republicans should threaten to end birthright citizenship if Democrats do not agree to President some rich asshole’s border wall.
During a discussion on CNN about a possible immigration deal between Democrats and Republicans, Kingston argued that President the rich asshole should get tough in negotiations.
“Issues related to immigration such as birthright citizenship, ending chain migration — or birthright citizenship — or requiring E-verify, those are all good bargaining tools,” Kingston opined, ignoring the fact that birthright citizenship is granted in the U.S. Constitution, not U.S. law.
In a segment later in the morning, Cardona slammed Kingston’s suggestion that children born in the United States should not be entitled to citizenship.
“There’s a lot of areas in which you could negotiate,” Kingston opined to Cardona. “E-verify at the workplace, for example, which draws up the job magnet; birthright citizenship, which most countries have moved away from.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Cardona interrupted.
“Don’t interrupt,” Kinston demanded.
“That is un-American,” Cardona shot back, undeterred. “Jack, you brought up something that the president hasn’t even brought up. So, I hope that you’re not becoming more anti-immigrant than the president. You brought up birthright citizenship. Oh, my goodness! That is a complete non-starter. And it’s not even something that the president has brought up.”
“This, to me, shows the American people just how extremist the Republicans are becoming,” she added. “And that is a dangerous position to be in going into 2018.”
Watch the videos below from CNN.
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 01/14/18 09:55 AM EST
Republican Sen. David Perdue (Ga.) on Sunday said President the rich asshole did not use the word “shithole” to refer to African nations, Haiti and El Salvador during a White House meeting with lawmakers.
During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Perdue said the comment attributed to the president in The Washington Post is a “gross misrepresentation.”
“I’m telling you he did not use that word, George. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation. How many times do you want me to say that?” Perdue said after host George Stephanopoulos pressed him for an answer.
Perdue was one of several lawmakers participating in a meeting with the rich asshole last week when the president reportedly referred to immigrants from African nations, El Salvador and Haiti as coming from "shithole countries."
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” the rich asshole reportedly asked.
The White House last week did not deny that the rich asshole made the comment.
But Perdue insisted on Sunday that the language reported by the newspaper was not used during the meeting.
“The gross misrepresentation was that language was used in there that was not used and also that the tone of that meeting was not contributory and not constructive,” the Georgia Republican said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was also present for the meeting, said in a Friday statement that he said his "piece" to the rich asshole over the comments.
"Following comments by the President, I said my piece directly to him yesterday. The President and all those attending the meeting know what I said and how I feel. I've always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals," Graham said.
the rich asshole booster says you have to ‘drill down’ into the rich asshole’s ‘sh*thole’ remarks to understand them
John Thomas and Martin Savidge appear on CNN (screen grab)
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Republican strategist John Thomas argued to CNN over the weekend that President some rich asshole’s alleged “shithole” remarks about African countries made sense if one would take the time to “drill down” on the sentiments.
During a panel discussion about the president’s reportedly racist remarks about Haiti and Africa, CNN host Martin Savidge noted that Republicans had a “sort of selective memory” when it came to racist statements made by the president.
Thomas replied: “I also think if you drill down and you look at that word, s—hole — now, it shouldn’t have ever been used if, in fact, it even was used, which is in question — but the issue is… Would you travel to Africa without your vaccinations or would you rather travel to Norway without vaccinations?”
Watch the video below from CNN.
the rich asshole attacks Wall Street Journal for quoting him accurately on North Korea, as audio confirms
It's just a coincidence that the Journal also reported this week on the rich asshole's pre-election payout to an adult film star.
This weekend, the White House has been lashing out at the Wall Street Journal, quibbling over a quote President some rich asshole made about his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The Journal reported that the rich asshole said, “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea,” while the White House contends that the rich asshole said “I’d probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted out Saturday evening that the Journal’s reporting was “fake news.”
Though the Journal had released its audio the day before, Sanders then released the “official” White House audio at midnight Sunday morning.
On Sunday morning, the rich asshole tweeted his own attacks about the interview, claiming the Journal “stated falsely” that he has a good relationship with Kim Jong Un.
But the Journal stands by its reporting, as well as the transcription provided by an independent transcription service. Neither version of the audio provides any audible or contextual indication that the rich asshole said “I’d” in a line of comments about foreign relationships that were otherwise not conditional. Moreover, the transcript of the interview shows that the Journal’s own reporters clearly heard “I” — not “I’d” — and asked a follow-up question, which the President refused to answer:
RICH ASSHOLE: …I have a great relationship with him, as you know I have a great relationship with Prime Minister Abe of Japan and I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. I have relationships with people, I think you people are surprised.WSJ: Just to be clear, you haven’t spoken to the North Korean leader, I mean when you say a relationship with Korea—RICH ASSHOLE: I don’t want to comment on it—I don’t want to comment, I’m not saying I have or I haven’t. But I just don’t—WSJ: Some people would see your tweets, which are sometimes combative towards Kim Jong Un…RICH ASSHOLE: Sure, you see that a lot with me and then all of a sudden somebody’s my best friend. I could give you 20 examples. You give me 30. I’m a very flexible person.
It’s unclear exactly what this quibbling is designed to accomplish, though it certainly draws more attention — not less — to the possibility that the White House has a relationship with North Korea of a different nature than it has previously indicated.
It may, however, also be a form of retaliation against the Journal for something totally unrelated. The Journal published its story about the rich asshole’s Kim Jong Un comments on Thursday, then on Friday published a report that shortly before the 2016 election, the rich asshole Organization paid an adult film star, Stephanie Clifford (stage name Stormy Daniels), $130,000 to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with the rich asshole. It was only after this report that the White House began criticizing the Journal’s reporting on the relationship with North Korea.
That was a close one.
some rich asshole’s press office came dangerously close to putting the rich asshole in front of reporters during a disastrous weekend, but averted that catastrophe at the last second.
While the rich asshole avoided the press following his despicable racist rant and played golf while Hawaii endured38 minutes of terror, White House reporters were kept away from the rich asshole all weekend.
But after declaring a “lunch lid” following his trip back from the golf course Sunday, meaning that the rich asshole would not be traveling again, White House reporters were abruptly mobilized for a trip back to Mar-a-Lago (pool reports via email from The White House):
Date: January 14, 2018 at 2:48:41 PM EST
Subject: Print Travel Pool #6Despite lid, pool vans abruptly turned around at hotel. Pool vans rolling. Destination TBD.Date: January 14, 2018 at 2:50:29 PM EST
Subject: Print Travel Pool #7 (headed to Mar-a-Lago)Pool advised that we are headed back to Mar-a-Lago. Next movement TBD.
But after the press pool had been picked up and driven around for awhile, their return to Mar-a-Lago was just as abruptly cancelled:
Date: January 14, 2018 at 2:56:47 PM EST
Subject: Print Travel Pool #8 (plan change)The wranglers cancelled a planned return to Mar-a-Lago. After brief drive around West Palm Beach, pool vans returned to hotel.
Lid remains in effect.Fuller explication from White House coming shortly.
About an hour later, that explanation came. the rich asshole had apparently invited a handful of his worshippers onto the grounds, and someone thought it would make a good photo op:
Date: January 14, 2018 at 3:57:38 PM EST
Subject: Print Travel Pool #9 (explanation)The White House provided the following explanation for the confusion about the pool’s destination following the president’s return to Mar-a-Lago from the rich asshole International Golf Course:There was a miscommunication in where the pool was supposed be; the President invited bystanders from the motorcade route to Mar-a-Lago to thank them for their continued support. Someone thought it was supposed to be a pool event, but it was meant to be a quick private thank you.
That’s the inconvenient thing about a free press. If you invite them to your propaganda parties, they still get to ask questions, which is usually not a good look for the rich asshole.
A rich asshole adviser tried to spew defamatory lies about the Clintons. Joy Reid was having none of it.
One day after her epic call-out of pro-the rich asshole pastor Mark Burns, MSNBC’s Joy Reid was at it again, shutting down a rich asshole surrogate who came to defend some rich asshole’s racism with defamatory talking points about Hillary Clinton.
On Sunday morning’s “AM Joy,” Diversity Coalition for the rich asshole adviser Stephanie Hamill joined Reid and a panel that included journalists Jennifer Rubin and Anushay Hossain.
Hamill jumped right in with both feet to defend the rich asshole’s racist rant about “shithole countries,” denying the repeatedly verified comments and calling it “the biggest fake news story of the week.” She then raged that people are angrier at the rich asshole than “at the Clintons for getting rich off of poor Haitians,” and launched into a completely false conspiracy theory that implied that the Clinton Foundation had ordered a man’s killing.
Reid was having none of it, asking if Hamill had been furnished talking points prior to the interview, and putting her on notice that this was not a rich asshole propaganda channel where such behavior is welcomed.
“This is not Fox News,” Reid reminded Hamill.
REID: Hold on a second, let me ask you a question, Stephanie. Did you get talking points before you came here, from the RNC or the White House? Because it’s interesting that yesterday, Mark Burns, who was the surrogate that we had on on the the rich asshole side yesterday tried to roll out the same Clinton stuff. Did you get talking points before you came here?HAMILL: Joy, I didn’t get talking points. This is something I’ve covered for many years …REID: Hold on. I don’t know you, Stephanie, we don’t know each other, but let me just explain to you: This is not Fox News. We’re not going to play the game of rolling out crazy conspiracy theories in the answers to my questions.
Reid returned to Hamill later in the segment, but Hamill had to be repeatedly interrupted by the host and other panelists for making false statements about immigration and the rich asshole policies.
Unfortunately, it isn’t just Fox News that gives a platform to the rich asshole’s lies. But while even mainstream outlets allow the rich asshole and his surrogates to spew falsehoods unchallenged, Joy Reid consistently sets an example that other journalists should follow.
Tom Cotton: ‘I didn’t hear’ the rich asshole say racist ‘sh*thole’ slur — but I’m sure Dick Durbin is a liar
Tom Cotton appears on CBS (screen grab)
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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday defended President some rich asshole against accusations that he used a racist slur to describe African countries, and he suggested that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) regularly lies about things said in the Oval Office.
While speaking to Cotton on CBS’ Face the Nation, host John Dickerson pointed out that Durbin had personally heard the rich asshole use the term “shithole” to refer to African nations, and that other senators had also been told about the remarks by people who were in the room.
“I didn’t hear that word,” Cotton insisted. “I certainly didn’t hear what Sen. Durbin has said repeatedly. Sen. Durbin has a history of misrepresenting what happens in White House meetings so, perhaps, we shouldn’t be surprised by that.”
“You didn’t hear the word or it was not said?” Dickerson interrupted. “Because [Sen. Linsey Graham] also told [Sen. Tim Scott], your Republican colleague, that this is what happened. [Sen. Jeff Flake] was in a subsequent meeting where he was told by people in the meeting this happened.”
“You’re saying it did not happen or you just don’t remember?” the CBS host asked.
“I didn’t hear it,” Cotton shrugged. “And I was sitting no further away from some rich asshole than Dick Durbin was. And I know what Dick Durbin has said about the president’s repeated statements is incorrect.”
“So, is the senator lying,” Dickerson pressed.
“Sen. Durbin has misrepresented what happened in White House meetings before,” Cotton opined. “And he was corrected by the Obama administration.”
Cotton went on to complain that the immigration system is broken and “un-American” because it allows families to stay together.
“The president reacted with pretty tough language because we want to move to a system that treats people for who they are,” the Arkansas Republican remarked. “Today, we have a system that rewards ties of blood, ties of kin, ties of clan. That’s one of the most un-American immigration systems that I can imagine.”
Watch the video below from CBS.
the rich asshole’s response to Hawaii missile snafu proves he can’t be trusted with more nukes: New York Times
some rich asshole during CNN debate (Photo: Screen capture via video)
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In a cautionary editorial published after the citizens of Hawaii were thrown into a panic over a mistaken alert announcing missiles were incoming, the New York Times said the President blithe response was a reason to not entrust him with an expanded nuclear arsenal.
Following the frightening announcement in Hawaii on Saturday morning, the president was reportedly advised about what was going on, but chose to continue to play golf instead of, at the very least, attempting to quell the panic by using his heavily followed Twitter account to dispute the warning.
In fact, long after the warning had been debunked, the only statement issued by the White House stated: “The President has been briefed on the state of Hawaii’s emergency management exercise. This was purely a state exercise.”
Three hours after the alert, the president finally tweeted: “So much Fake News is being reported. They don’t even try to get it right, or correct it when they are wrong. They promote the Fake Book of a mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information. The Mainstream Media is crazed that WE won the election!” with no mention of Hawaii.
The Times called the president out for it.
“The authorities quickly announced that the alert was a mistake. But it made tangible the growing fears that after decades of leaders trying to more safely control the world’s nuclear arsenals, President the rich asshole has increased the possibility of those weapons being used,” the editors wrote.
“At a time when many are questioning whether some rich asshole ought to be allowed anywhere near the nuclear ‘button,’ he is moving ahead with plans to develop new nuclear weapons and expanding the circumstances in which they’d be used,” the editorial continued. “Such actions break with years of American nuclear policy. They also make it harder to persuade other nations to curb their nuclear ambitions or forgo them entirely.”
Noting the President is about to “make public a new policy that commits America to an increasing investment in those very weapons,” the Times said the plan to invest in “new low-yield nuclear weapons” is “insane.”
“President Barack Obama made a down payment on a saner policy by narrowing to ‘extreme circumstances’ the conditions under which nuclear weapons would be used and ruling out their use against most non-nuclear countries,” the piece continues. “some rich asshole’s policy also talks about ‘extreme circumstances,’ but it dangerously broadens the definition to include significant non-nuclear strategic attacks,’ which could mean using nuclear weapons to respond to cyber, biological and chemical weapon attacks.”
Turning to the Hawaii panic, the Times urged extreme caution based on what could have happened with a president who has stated that nukes can be answers to conflicts.
“Until some rich asshole, no one could imagine the United States ever using a nuclear weapon again. America’s conventional military is more than strong enough to defend against most threats. But some rich asshole has so shaken this orthodoxy that Congress has begun debating limits on his unilateral authority to launch nuclear weapons,” the editorial states, before concluding, “Expanding the instances when America might use nuclear weapons could also make it easier for other nuclear-armed countries to justify using their own arsenals against adversaries. As the residents of Hawaii can tell you, it’s a risk the world cannot afford.”
You can read the whole piece here.
Thanks to the rich asshole, the GOP leadership has vanishingly little confidence in the party's ability to make it through the 2018 midterms unscathed.
And for many in the Republican Party, under the “leadership” of some rich asshole, Election Day 2018 is not exactly something they are eagerly anticipating.
As the Washington Post reports, the prospect of a blue wave in November has become all too real for the GOP, thanks to a number of retirements and to the rich asshole’s endless toxicity.
Indeed, recent polling confirmed that the midterms were already shaping up to be a disaster for Republicans. Quinnipiac University found that, on a host of issues from immigration to taxes to North Korea, the American people resoundingly rejected the GOP’s stances.
That repudiation, along with the nation’s marked disapproval of the rich asshole, likely contributed to the raft of recent retirements in the party and the difficulty it is having in recruiting new candidates.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempted to get the rich asshole to understand the enormity of their predicament during the recent meeting at Camp David.
As the Post reports, McCarthy “described scenarios to the president ranging from a bloodbath where Republicans lost the House ‘and lost it big,’ in the words of one official, to an outcome in which they keep control while losing some seats.”
Apparently, McCarthy was unable to concoct a single scenario in which the party did not lose any races.
And no wonder, considering even a deep red state like Georgia has largely turned against the rich asshole, and a Democratic upset in equally deep red Alabama left the GOP essentially mired in a civil war — something the party might repeat with racist convicted criminal Joe Arpaio jumping into the Senate race in Arizona.
All around the country, seats that had previously been solidly Republican either have or are predicted to flip blue. A top election forecaster recently declared that Democrats’ chances of winning the House majority in 2018 were “very real.”
And thus, so is the fear that many in the Republican Party are feeling as they look at the political landscape around them.
But they have only themselves to blame for it. Perhaps if more of them had been able to locate their spines and their consciences and rebuke the rich asshole’s bigotry, ignorance, crassness, and recklessness, the voters might be more willing to re-elect them.
Instead, Republicans went all in on Trumpism, even knowing the potential damage it could do to the party’s chances. And the American people are ready to make them pay for it.
Jake Tapper: Hawaii missile alert could have led to ‘nuclear war’ if the rich asshole had been watching Fox & Friends
CNN's Jake Tapper -- screenshot
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During a State of the Union interview with Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D) on Saturday’s missile launch alert debacle, CNN host Jake Tapper took a shot at President some rich asshole, saying Americans were relieved he was on the golf course when it happened and not glued to Fox News.
According to Gabbard, “Traumatic understates the experience that the people of Hawaii went through yesterday. Getting that alert that went out to over a million cell phones, all across the state, not to speak of the visitors who were there who got that same alert, saying an incoming missile is headed your way, take shelter, this is not a drill.”
“Hawaii has just started a few months ago, these monthly nuclear attack sirens as a test. You hear this siren, you’ve got 15 minutes to seek shelter,” she explained. “So, when the people of Hawaii got this message yesterday, they’re literally going through this feeling of, I’ve got minutes to find my loved ones and say my last goodbyes. To figure out where could I possibly find shelter that would protect them from a nuclear attack. This was unacceptable that this happened, but it really highlights the stark reality that the people of Hawaii are facing.”
Then the topic of the rich asshole came up after Gabbard added, “The fact that these processes failed so epically, that caused this trauma, that caused this terror all across the state of Hawaii, must be fixed immediately. And those responsible for this happening need to be held accountable in making sure that this cannot, it cannot happen again.”
“I think there are a lot of people out there, and I don’t want to be flip about this, but I think there are a lot of people out there who are happy that this at least didn’t happen while President the rich asshole was watching ‘Fox & Friends,’ and instead it happened when he was out on the golf course and he was informed about this by layers of advisers and such,” Tapper remarked.
“Because we know that historically, misunderstandings and false alarms have almost led to nuclear confrontation, nuclear war,” the CNN host continued. “Are you at all worried about the fact that an accident, a misunderstanding might lead to something like this?”
“There’s no question,” Gabbard replied. “And that really highlights the global consequence of what Hawaii just went through yesterday. This is not just about Hawaii. And that’s why I really hope that people across the country, that leaders here in Washington are paying attention to what people went through and what the consequences of that can be. ”
You can watch the video below via CNN:
Following federal court ruling, the rich asshole administration resumes accepting DACA renewals
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced Saturday that it would accept renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, following San Francisco’s federal court ruling last week that blocked the rich asshole administration’s efforts to end the program.
USCIS said in a statement on its website, “Until further notice, and unless otherwise provided in this guidance, the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017.”
Last September, President some rich asshole announced his intention to phase out the Obama-era program, which has provided temporary deportation relief and work authorization in two-year increments to certain qualified immigrants brought to the country as children. The rich asshole administration allowed one final two-year extension for applicants whose DACA status expires before March 2018.
The task of creating permanent legislation for DACA beneficiaries was then punted to Congress, which may act on a DACA deal through a must-pass spending bill to prevent a government shutdown by January 19. So far, a deal has not been reached. the rich asshole took to Twitter Sunday morning and blamed the Democrats for lack of action, reiterating his claim a government shutdown would hurt the military — which isn’t true.
Since the rich asshole ended the DACA program, an average of 122 people have lost their DACA statuses.
San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge William Alsup temporarily blocked the rich asshole’s move to end the program on Tuesday, but the limited ruling allows the administration to continue to block new applications by eligible immigrants who have never applied for the program before.
As ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser previously reported, while Alsup’s decision deals a blow to the rich asshole administration’s plans to end DACA, it could make things worse for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who rely on the program by centering the case on DACA’s legality.
Even after criticism, the rich asshole kept right on ignoring the million-plus Americans he had a hand in terrorizing, instead tweeting about cable news and the 2016 election.
After nearly a year of provoking North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, some rich asshole completely abandoned terrified Americans who were falsely warned of an incoming missile.
He then carried on with his lazy weekend of Twitter and golf.
The the rich asshole administration’s response to Saturday’s terrifying missile warning was already about as poor as it could get. While the false alarm was reportedly the result of an error during a routine shift change, the rich asshole’s press shop put out a statement falsely claiming the warning came during a “state exercise” (pool report via email from The White House):
Statement from White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters on the Hawaii’s false alarm about an inbound missile attack:“The President has been briefed on the state of Hawaii’s emergency management exercise. This was purely a state exercise.”
the rich asshole himself was golfing during the emergency, and made no statement of his own.
But even after facing criticism for this response, the rich asshole continued his weekend of trivial Twitter ramblings, finding time to obsess about Hillary Clinton, to praise a Fox host for stroking his own massive ego, to slam Democrats over the DACA policy that he himself rescinded, and even found time to tweet about Kim Jong Un.
All without mentioning the nuclear scare that had just occurred.
the rich asshole’s own White House put out an audio recording that shows the rich asshole is lying.
And it is appalling that the terrified residents of Hawaii didn’t come to mind as the rich asshole was busy rambling about completely insignificant things before he got on to other “important business” (pool report via email from The White House):
The president’s motorcade arrived at the rich asshole International Golf Course at 9:26 a.m. Pool is holding at nearby public library.
the rich asshole’s presidency has been a study in lowered expectations, and he has once again succeeded in living down to them.
RACHEL MADDOW DISCOVERS THE RICH ASSHOLE FAKED HIS DOCTOR’S NOTE (VIDEO)
A doctor’s note released alongside the rich asshole’s recent medical exam misspelled the physician’s name.
Following some rich asshole’s much awaited medical exam on Friday, the White House released a statement purportedly written by the doctor who administered the exam. The note said the exam went “exceptionally well” and pronounced the rich asshole to be “in excellent health.”
Sounds good, right?
Just going to take a wild guess that Dr. Jackson didn’t actually write that note the White House put out.
The statement was signed “Dr. Ronnie Jackson,” so unless the White House doctor suddenly forgot how to spell his own name, it would appear that someone else in the White House released the note and put the doctor’s name on it.
It should also be noted that most medical doctors sign their name, followed by their degree (for example, “Ronny Jackson, MD, FAAEM“), rather than using their title (“Dr.”).
It’s unclear why the White House would feel the need to release a fake doctor’s note. It does appear that the rich asshole underwent an actual medical exam — according to Reuters, he spent more than three hours with the doctor — but for some reason, it seems that the White House wasn’t satisfied with the results.
Bill Murray and Bill Armisen on SNL as Steve Bannon and Michael Wolff (Screen capture)
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“Saturday Night Live” legend Bill Murray returned to the show this week to play ousted White House chief strategist Steve Bannon but there was so much to love in this week’s opener, including alum comedian Fred Armisen of “Portlandia” as Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff and Leslie Jones as Oprah Winfrey.
The sketch began with Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat reprising their creepy/sexy sendup of a smoldering — if conflicted — Mika Brzezinski and constantly interrupting Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Armisen as Wolff regaled the pair with tales of “baby races” in the White House in which President some rich asshole gets two babies of different races and makes them compete for a bowl of cheddar goldfish.
Then as Steve Bannon arrived on set in Grim Reaper guise, Murray arrived on the scene to discuss his “web series for crackle” his fashion line of wrinkled barn jackets, “Frumpers” and his next line of “outsider” political candidates, Logan Paul, Martin Shkreli and “Jared” from Subway.
But nothing topped Leslie Jones as a presidentially-curious Oprah Winfrey.
“I thought I smelled lavender and money,” said Brzezinski.
Watch the video, embedded below:
The toxic environment in the White House has led to national drug policy being run in part by a recent college graduate whose only qualification was working on the rich asshole campaign.
It is wholly understandable that no one wants to work for some rich asshole. But it is also potentially putting the nation in grave danger when it means that key positions are filled by people who lack any demonstrable qualifications.
The Washington Post reports that the latest troubling example is at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), where a 24-year-old recent college graduate — whose professional experience includes little more than working on the rich asshole campaign — has been named deputy chief of staff.
Taylor Weyeneth, who just under one year ago was an undergraduate at St. John’s University in New York, quickly rose through the ranks to occupy a job recently held by a lawyer and a longtime government official. And because the ONDCP currently lacks a permanent director, Weyeneth is helping to fill that role alongside acting director Richard Baum.
As the rich asshole administration weakly attempts to address the growing opioid crisis, at least seven appointees to the ONDCP have left the agency, leaving much of the crucial duties that would be filled by a chief of staff and general counsel in the hands of Weyeneth.
But the Post noted glaring inconsistencies on different versions of Weyeneth’s resumé, such as differing dates of employment at past jobs — including “Director of Production” at a family firm that specialized in processing chia seeds, but was discovered in 2011 to also be processing illegal steroids from China. Weyeneth’s stepfather pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges.
One of Weyeneth’s resumés said he had worked at the firm until 2013, while another said he left in September 2011.
Further, Weyeneth indicated that he held a Master’s Degree in political science, but the Post noted discrepancies in the dates, and was told by an administration official that Weyeneth did not actually hold the degree, but had noted the date “as projections of when he expected to receive it.”
And even his role on the rich asshole campaign seems to have provided little to no relevant experience to the high-level job he now holds at ONDCP.
He handled campaign tasks such as “coordinating voter services, and arranging travel and temporary housing for senior campaign officials. He also worked directly with Rich Dearborn, then director of the rich asshole’s transition team, on ‘special projects,’ according to one of his resumés,” the Post noted.
Unless those “special projects” including drug abuse education or something similar, it is difficult to see how Weyeneth could come across as qualified to hold the deputy chief of staff role in charge of overseeing the nation’s drug control policies and addiction responses.
But of course, in the rich asshole administration, a lack of qualifications and knowledge is practically considered an asset.
the rich asshole seems to prefer people who are embarrassingly ill-equipped to fill the jobs for which they’re nominated and who have fraudulently pumped up their resumés to try to cover up that fact.
Indeed, even among the rich asshole’s cabinet, it’s a point of amusement how incompetent they are.
And of course, all of these people, down to young Weyeneth, have been installed in their ill-fitting roles by a man who embodies the very concept of being the wrong person for the job.
The opioid abuse epidemic is a rapidly expanding crisis, one that threatens millions of lives each year — more than breast cancer, and in 2016, more than the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.
It requires a vehement response, one based on scientific expertise and run by the very best minds the country has to offer.
To the rich asshole, that includes his wife and a recent college graduate who helped book travel arrangements for campaign staffers.
The rich asshole administration's alternate reality meets actual reality, and it doesn't know what to do.
The rich asshole administration’s strategy of delegitimizing the free press hit a snag this weekend when White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to prove that the rich asshole was misquoted, but provided audio showing the opposite.
some rich asshole’s interview with The Wall Street Journal flew a bit under the radar this week, eclipsed by his failed immigration stunt meeting, his racist rant about “shithole countries,” and the news that his lawyer allegedly paid hush money to a porn star.
But Sanders is doing her best to highlight that disturbing interview by initiating a feud with the paper over a slight disagreement in transcription.
On the heels of a nuclear false alarm in Hawaii, Sanders tweeted out a belligerent note regarding a key quote in the WSJ interview.
She alleged that the rich asshole had not said “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” as the paper reported, but rather, “I’d probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un.”
The difference is slight, but Sanders chose to make a mountain out of that molehill — and the Journal responded by providing audio that backed up their reporting:
We have reviewed the audio from our interview with President Trump, as well as the transcript provided by an external service, and stand by what we reported. Here is audio of the portion the White House disputes. on.wsj.com/2r4IW2z
Minutes later, Sanders responded by releasing nearly identical audio, and claiming that it was proof the rich asshole had been misquoted:
The audio does, indeed, support WSJ’s transcription, but a very generous-minded person could conclude that the rich asshole had meant to say “I’d,” or that a more sensitive microphone would have picked up the subtle inflection. Ordinarily, one could argue that Sanders’ version makes more sense contextually.
Indeed, the rich asshole himself left that sort of wiggle room Sunday morning when he tweeted that he had been misquoted, but then added that “they knew exactly what I said and meant.”
The problem is that when pressed on the notion that he has a relationship with Kim Jong Un, the rich asshole elected to leave that question in doubt (emphasis added):
“I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” some rich asshole said in an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal. “I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised.”Asked if he has spoken with Mr. Kim, some rich asshole said: “I don’t want to comment on it. I’m not saying I have or haven’t. I just don’t want to comment.”
the rich asshole’s reckless and erratic escalations with North Korea heightened the panic that Hawaiians felt during the nuclear false alarm that the rich asshole blithely golfed through. And Sanders’ self-initiated feud with the Journal only serves to remind people of the rich asshole’s dangerous incompetence.
It’s also another telling episode from an administration that not only can’t face reality, but expects Americans to accept lies in its place.
But "nobody has more respect for women" than the rich asshole ... right?
Unless that person is some rich asshole, whose repeated claims to have the “greatest respect” for women are laughably and obviously nonsense.
Two of the most recent examples of the emptiness of those protestations come from adult film actresses who have been precluded from publicly discussing their encounters with the rich asshole.
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the rich asshole’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, had arranged for a $130,000 payout to actress Stormy Daniels “as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with some rich asshole.”
And on Saturday, the Daily Beast reported that another actress, Jessica Drake, is under a non-disclosure agreement regarding her own experience with the rich asshole, and specifically her allegations of misconduct against him.
In October 2016, Drake held a press conference during which she noted that, when she met the rich asshole at a celebrity golf championship in 2006, he flirted with her and asked for her phone number. He later invited Drake to his hotel room, and when she arrived with two other women, he asked them probing questions about their work in the adult film industry and their personal relationships.
Drake said that the rich asshole called her later and asked, “What do you want? How much?” She also said that he offered her $10,000 to sleep with him.
But when the Daily Beast inquired with Drake’s publicist in the wake of the WSJ report about Daniels, Drake’s publicist would not allow any communication, noting that the NDA she signed after making her allegations “blankets any and every mention of the rich asshole, so she’s legally unable to comment.”
“She can’t do as much as peep his name publicly,” the publicist added.
Perhaps the rich asshole thinks papering over every woman’s accusations against him with NDAs will make their allegations disappear into the ether — especially since he has notably not made good on his petulant threat to sue all of the them.
the rich asshole may have managed to still wrangle his way into the White House, and he may think that he can bloviate enough to convince people that all of those women are lying and that, despite his long record of brazen lying, he is the only one telling the truth.
But just because women like Drake and Daniels can’t continue to speak out, it doesn’t make their past statements any less damning — especially since they are far from alone in making them.
A doctor's note released alongside the rich asshole's recent medical exam misspelled the physician's name.
Following some rich asshole’s much awaited medical exam on Friday, the White House released a statement purportedly written by the doctor who administered the exam. The note said the exam went “exceptionally well” and pronounced the rich asshole to be “in excellent health.”
Sounds good, right?
There’s just one problem: As Rachel Maddow pointed out Friday night, it appears that the note was not, in fact, written by White House physician Ronny Jackson.
The statement was signed “Dr. Ronnie Jackson,” so unless the White House doctor suddenly forgot how to spell his own name, it would appear that someone else in the White House released the note and put the doctor’s name on it.
It should also be noted that most medical doctors sign their name, followed by their degree (for example, “Ronny Jackson, MD, FAAEM“), rather than using their title (“Dr.”).
It’s unclear why the White House would feel the need to release a fake doctor’s note. It does appear that the rich asshole underwent an actual medical exam — according to Reuters, he spent more than three hours with the doctor — but for some reason, it seems that the White House wasn’t satisfied with the results.
Hawaii false alarm revealed the rich asshole White House has no plan in place for actual attack: report
some rich asshole plays golf at the rich asshole National Doral (screen grab)
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President some rich asshole’s White House was caught completely unprepared for Saturday’s false alarm about a missile attack on Hawaii, said Politico.
The news about the potential attack “sent White House aides scrambling” as they frantically called federal agencies trying to find out what to do and how to respond, raising serious questions about their preparedness for an actual attack — nearly a year into the rich asshole’s presidency.
“President some rich asshole’s Cabinet has yet to test formal plans for how to respond to a domestic missile attack, according to a senior administration official,” wrote Politico’s Eliana Johnson. “John Kelly, while serving as Secretary of Homeland Security through last July, planned to conduct the exercise. But he left his post to become White House chief of staff before it was conducted, and acting secretary Elaine Duke never carried it out.”
Lower-level officials took part in an exercise in December, but as of Saturday no “principal” Cabinet secretaries have trained for this type of emergency.
“The U.S. government hasn’t tested these plans in 30 years,” said the senior administration official to Politico. “All the fresh faces sitting around the table in the situation room have little idea what their roles would be in this scenario. The bottom line is that without a principals level exercise we shouldn’t have any confidence that the Cabinet would know what to do in an attack scenario.”
the rich asshole was at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida when the alert was sounded. The presidential motorcade pulled away from the golf course, said pool reporters, but the White House made no official response for hours.
No military information indicated that a genuine threat existed, the White House insider said, so no military mobilization was undertaken to protect the president.
1.5 Million Americans Thought They Were Going To Die While the rich asshole Continued His Golf Game
For 38 terrifying minutes on Saturday, residents in Hawaii thought that they were all going to perish while some rich asshole continued playing his golf game. Hawaiians were alerted via an emergency warning of an incoming ballistic missile which stated that ‘this is not a drill.’ A second alert came in 38 minutes later saying that it was a false alarm. Screen captures were posted on Twitter.
We are hanging out in a hotel basement. No one has any info beyond the emergency alert—which seems to have been statewide. I’m on Kauai.
The warning was also televised.
Children were placed in storm drains.
Video From Hawaii Shows Children Being Placed Into Storm Drains After False Alert Sent Out About Missile Strike
twitter.com/NaluRivera/sta…
NORAD addressed the issue.
NORAD spokesman Lt. Commander Joe Nawrocki tells me: "There is no missile threat. We're trying to figure out where this came from or how this started. There is absolutely no incoming ballistic missile threat to Hawaii right now."
He adds, "My phone's been blowing up."
The former reality show star was busy playing golf and hasn’t addressed the matter on Twitter.
As 1.5 million American citizens were told a ballistic missile was headed their way and to seek shelter immediately, @realDonaldTrump was somewhere on the back nine of his Florida golf course.
He went ahead and finished out 18.
As a former Obama defense official pointed out, maybe it was a good thing that the rich asshole was playing golf.
We’re not sure if the rich asshole thinks that Hawaii is a “shithole country” or not, but the state has a population of nearly 1.5 million residents, all of whom were in panic mode because he’s been making nuclear war threats while having a d-ck measuring contest with North Korea’s dictator.
“The President has been briefed on the state of Hawaii’s emergency management exercise. This was purely a state exercise,” White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement. But, it was not a state exercise. The fake alert was sent out due to human error.
BY NIALL STANAGE - 01/13/18 06:00 AM EST
President the rich asshole’s use of the word “shithole” to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African nations has once again moved race to the top of the political agenda.
In the wake of the remarks, the president’s critics are ever more willing to explicitly call him racist.
Hillary Clinton, the rich asshole’s Democratic opponent in the 2016 election, castigated his “ignorant, racist views” in a Friday tweet. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) accused the rich asshole of “racist ramblings.”
Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) told MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Thursday evening that the rich asshole “could lead the Ku Klux Klan in America.” Rep. John Lewis(D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, on Friday told Katy Tur, also of MSNBC, that racism “must be in his DNA.”
The criticism also came from the media, albeit mostly in outlets that have fractious relationships with the president.
“The president of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that,” CNN anchor Don Lemon declared at the beginning of his show on Thursday.
When the rich asshole appeared in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Friday morning to sign a proclamation to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he left to the sound of reporter April Ryan asking, “Mr. President, are you a racist?”
the rich asshole’s contentious remarks were made during a White House meeting intended to discuss a way forward on an immigration deal. Senators from both parties were present.
the rich asshole has long denied charges of racism, and his allies also do so vehemently.
“There is not a racist bone in his body,” Pastor Robert Jeffress, an evangelical adviser to the president, told the Christian Broadcasting Network last summer.
During a February 2017 news conference at the White House, the rich asshole — who at the time was facing questions about an upsurge in threats against Jewish organizations — said “Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racism — the least racist person.”
the rich asshole on Friday denied making the “shithole” remark, writing on Twitter, “The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.”
But Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who was not at the meeting, said the basic accuracy of the reporting on what the rich asshole said had been confirmed to him by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was present. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he heard about the remarks before they were publicly reported.
Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) said in a joint statement that they “do not recall the President making these comments specifically.” But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), another attendee, was adamant that the rich asshole had done so.
For Republicans, the political difficulties caused by the controversy are considerable.
In the short term, they complicate the search for a deal on immigration in general, and the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in particular. Democrats will be under pressure from their base to make no concessions to the president.
Beyond that, Republicans are grappling with a political landscape in which their president faces serious charges of racism and is mired in historically low approval ratings.
Some GOP House members who face challenging reelection races, such as Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, were to the fore in criticizing the president for his remarks.
GOP strategists fear the rich asshole is playing havoc with the party’s brand. That brand is now “not just contaminated, it is infected,” said Doug Heye, a former communications director of the Republican National Committee and a frequent the rich asshole critic.
Heye said the rich asshole administration’s propensity to produce a constant stream of controversies leaves GOP lawmakers exposed.
“This administration presents a constant ‘What now?’ problem,” he said. “At multiple times in any given week, a member is going to be asking ‘What now?’ ”
Observers on all sides agree that the controversy will not necessarily lower the rich asshole’s approval ratings any further.
Indeed, the president has spent years firing up a certain cohort of the population with controversial rhetoric.
Before he ever sought office, he traded in the false theory that his predecessor, President Obama, was not born in the United States. In his speech announcing his presidential candidacy in June 2015, he said that Mexico was “not sending their best” as immigrants, and that those who were arriving in the United States included “rapists.”
Last August, after one protester was killed amid clashes over a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Va., the rich asshole claimed there were “very fine people on both sides” — a remark that caused outrage, as it suggested moral equivalence between Nazis and those campaigning against them.
For all the supposed resilience of the rich asshole’s base, there has been some erosion in recent polls. A report in The Atlantic cited cumulative data from SurveyMonkey polls during 2017 to note that his approval rating among whites without a four-year college degree had fallen 10 points below his showing with the same group in 2016 election exit polls.
On Friday, a new poll in Georgia gave the president an approval rating of about 37 percent and a disapproval number of about 59 percent. the rich asshole won the state by approximately 5 points in the 2016 election.
the rich asshole loyalists note that polls have often underestimated his support. But other, more moderate figures insist that the president’s ability to maintain his base is hardly cause for great optimism. The base is a clear minority of voters, they note.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult for Republicans to reach out to people who are not already in the party base. That is especially true for millennials and nonwhites,” lamented Whit Ayres, a GOP strategist who has often advocated for a more inclusive approach.
The fear, among Ayres and others, is that the rich asshole is deepening the party’s problem with every new controversy — and that a steep price will be paid at the polls come November.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on some rich asshole’s presidency.
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 01/13/18 10:36 PM EST
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said on Saturday that it has begun allowing certain young, undocumented immigrants to renew protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The move comes after U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued a preliminary injunction this week blocking President the rich asshole's decision to end the Obama-era program, which granted temporary reprieve from deportation to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, often called "dreamers."
"Due to a federal court order, USCIS has resumed accepting requests to renew a grant of deferred action under DACA," USCIS said in an update posted online Saturday.
"Until further notice, and unless otherwise provided in this guidance, the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017," the update said.
In his order on Tuesday, Alsup said that the rich asshole administration's move to rescind DACA was done without following the proper legal procedures, and that the federal government would have to "maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis" while legal challenges play out in court.
the rich asshole called the order "unfair" at the time, and suggested that it would be reversed by a higher court.
"It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts," the rich asshole tweeted after the order came out.
Alsup's order came in response to a lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and other state attorneys general. Becerra took to Twitter Saturday night after USCIS issued its update to encourage those eligible to reapply for DACA's protections.
Until further notice, if you already applied for #DACA and it was expiring, this is your chance to reapply: uscis.gov/humanitarian/d…
the rich asshole rescinded the program in September, arguing that former President Barack Obama exceeded his constitutional authority in creating the program in the first place. But the rich asshole also urged lawmakers to act swiftly to codify DACA's protections into law.
But members of Congress have struggled to agree on a permanent legal solution for DACA recipients. the rich asshole has insisted that any bill addressing the program must also include funding for border security and construction of his long-promised wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
--Updated at 11:44 p.m.
the rich asshole must apologize, African countries say
January 12, 2018
Robert Valencia
Posted with permission from Newsweek
The African Union and its mission in Washington, D.C. said Friday it was “frankly alarmed” and shared its “shock, dismay and outrage” following President Donald Trump’s remarks on immigration from El Salvador, Haiti and the African continent, a group he called “shithole countries.”
“The African Union strongly believes there is a huge misunderstanding of the African continent and the people by the current administration,” the organization, which comprises 55 member states, said in a statement. “There is a serious need for dialogue between the U.S. administration and the African countries.”
The statement concludes, “The African Union Mission condemns the comments in the strongest terms and demands a retraction of the comment as well as an apology to not only to the Africans but to all of people of African descent around the globe.”
The announcement comes after the Haitian government also reacted with outrage. President Jovenel Moise said: “The Haitian government condemns in the strongest terms these abhorrent and obnoxious remarks which, if proven, reflect a totally erroneous and racist view of the Haitian community and its contribution to the United States.”
Trump’s crude words also spurred condemnation from the U.N. Rupert Colville, a human rights spokesman for the organization, said: “If confirmed, these are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the United States. I’m sorry but there is no other word for this but racist.” Likewise, the Vatican described Trump’s comments as “ particularly harsh and offensive.”
Initially, the White House did not deny Trump’s racially charged comments, but Trump claimed today he did not utter such disparaging words during a recent meeting at the Oval Office. He tweeted, “The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made—a big setback for DACA!”
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!
However, some senators have debunked Trump’s response. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who was present at the meeting, said the reports were accurate and that “shithole was the exact word used once not twice but repeatedly. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, also present at the gathering, said he confronted the president over his racy comments.
the rich asshole thought only black people were on welfare
January 12, 2018
Ryan Sit
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump was apparently unaware that not all—in fact, the vast majority—of welfare beneficiaries are not black as recently as last March, according to a new report.
In the spring of 2017, the newly elected president met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. During that meeting, one of the members mentioned to Trump that welfare reform would be detrimental to her constituents— adding, “Not all of whom are black,” according to NBC.
The president was incredulous. “Really? Then what are they?”
Statistically speaking, they were probably white.
In fact, whites are the biggest beneficiaries when it comes to government safety-net programs like the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, commonly referred to as welfare.
White people without a college degree ages 18 to 64 are the largest class of adults lifted out of poverty by such programs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The think tank’s 2017 report stated that 6.2 million working-age whites were lifted above the poverty line in 2014 compared to 2.8 million blacks and 2.4 million Hispanics.
When it comes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP—the initiative formerly known as food stamps—the numbers look similar.
Just over 40 percent of SNAP recipients are white. Another 25.7 percent are black, 10.3 percent are Hispanic, 2.1 percent are Asian and 1.2 percent are Native American, according to a 2015 Department of Agriculture report.
Despite Trump’s newly gleaned information, welfare reform remains one of his top goals for 2018. His administration and Congressional Republicans are looking to overhaul federal safety-net programs like SNAP, Medicaid and housing benefits.
News of Trump’s welfare comment arrived as he’s dealing with the backlash of reportedly calling African countries a “shithole” during a bipartisan meeting on immigration Thursday. Trump has denied using such language.
‘Sh*thole’ epithet turned immigration debate into new the rich asshole drama
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
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After talking on the phone with U.S. President Donald the rich asshole on Thursday morning, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin was optimistic that a compromise deal with some Republicans to protect young “Dreamer” immigrants was on the verge of success.
Less than three hours later, Durbin and a Republican colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham, drove away from the White House with the deal in pieces and a controversy over offensive language about to reverberate worldwide.
At their Oval Office meeting, two sources said, the rich asshole questioned the value of taking immigrants from Haiti and African nations, and referred to them as “shithole countries.”
The remarks leaked out, transforming a debate about saving from deportation some 700,000 young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children into another drama about Trump himself.
His comments drew a chorus of condemnation inside the United States and internationally, especially in Africa.
Nearly a year into the rich asshole’s presidency, members of Congress are still struggling to relate to the unorthodox the rich asshole and his spontaneous, often crude remarks.
In a tweet on Friday, the rich asshole denied using the word “shithole,” but Durbin insisted that the president had indeed said it.
SHIFT IN TONE
The tone of discussion had looked very different early on Thursday.
Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, called the White House to tell the rich asshole that a bipartisan group of senators had struck a deal to put Dreamers on a path to citizenship, beef up border security and take other steps to change immigration laws.
Around 10:15 a.m., the rich asshole returned Durbin’s call and was told about the main elements of the deal.
Ben Marter, a spokesman for Durbin, did not provide details of the conversation but said the senator was “encouraged” by the rich asshole’s reaction.
the rich asshole said Durbin and Graham – two seasoned lawmakers – should come to the White House for a meeting at noon. Durbin thought it would just be the senators and the rich asshole in the room.
Instead, the rich asshole had also invited some of Congress’ hard-line opponents of the bipartisan agreement being put together by the six-member working group led by Durbin and Graham.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton and Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte were both there, as was White House aide Stephen Miller, a proponent of severely limiting immigration.
Graham and Durbin laid out the details of their proposed legislation. But instead of winningTrump’s support, as they had expected, the president launched into a broadside against immigration from Haiti and Africa.
At one point, the rich asshole, according to two sources, said: “Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re shithole countries. … We should have more people from Norway.”
Durbin said Graham immediately spoke up against the rich asshole’s comments, and he commended the Republican senator for doing so.
Commenting on the White House meeting, Graham said on Friday that diversity had always been the United States’ strength.
“Following comments by the President, I said my piece directly to him yesterday. The President and all those attending the meeting know what I said and how I feel,” Graham said in a statement.
Once it was clear by mid-afternoon on Thursday that the rich asshole was not going to support the bipartisan deal, the group led by Durbin and Graham issued a terse statement.
“We have been working for four months and have reached an agreement in principle” that addresses the main policies the rich asshole sought, they said. “We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress.”
There was no mention at that time of the language that sources said the rich asshole had used, details of which were soon leaked.
‘It’s a simple question’: CNN’s Blackwell blisters the rich asshole defender refusing to say the rich asshole was wrong to call African nations ‘sh*tholes’
CNN host Victor Blackwell, Paris Dennard -- screenshot
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In a combative early Saturday morning exchange, CNN host Victor Blackwell, clearly frustrated with his guest, came down hard on some rich asshole defender who refused to say the president was wrong to call African nations “sh*tholes.”
Appearing on CNN’s New Day, former White House aide Paris Dennard stated the rich asshole’s words were not ones he would have used, but drew the line at specifically criticizing the president.
“I think the president is understanding now he’s having to deal with issues he’s never had to deal with before,” Dennard said in defense of the rich asshole’s comments about African nations.
“He’s understanding now?” Blackwell shot back. “He should have understood that before he said ‘I’m running for president of the United States.'”
“Listen, no president comes in here knowing every single thing. no president comes in having an understanding of every –,” the rich asshole defender attempted before being cut off.
“What’s the evidence that he understands now?” Blackwell pressed. “Is the evidence that he called African nations sh*thole countries? When you say he’s now understanding — this is a president who’s been on the job for 11 months now. How long do you need to, not be in office, but be alive to know that 54 nations of Africa are not sh*tholes?”
“Well, I’ll challenge you there. We don’t know if there were specific countries named and he responded about specific countries,” Dennard parried.
“Are there specific sh*tholes in Africa? Name them for us,” a frustrated Blackwell asked.
“I’m not here to defend that comment,” Dennard replied. “I would not have used that comment.”
“Paris, I don’t know that this is asking too much to ask you, is it wrong for the president of the United States — put aside your personal affinity for the man, your respect for the office — is it wrong for the president of the United States to call the 54 nations of an entire continent sh*tholes? That’s a simple question,” the CNN host challenged.
“I understand what you’re trying to get me to do, but the notion that the president said that about all 54 nations is not true,” Dennard replied before talking about a few African countries and avoiding Blackwell’s question entirely.
Watch the video below via CNN:
Pro-the rich asshole supporters disrupt speech and attempt to arrest London mayor Khan
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According to Sky News, supporters of President some rich asshole disrupted a speech being made by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and attempted to arrest him.
The group, described as far-right protesters, held up American flags at the event where Khan was expected to speak on gender equality .
According to the report, the event was delayed by several minutes as police ushered the demonstrators, identified as members of the White Pendragons group, out of the building,
During the nonviolent protest, one member announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re here today to make a non-violent, peaceful citizen’s arrest.”
The arrest attempt comes after Khan shot back at the rich asshole’s decision to not visit the country, with Khan tweeting the American president “got the message” that he was “not welcome” in London after the President cancelled his trip.
Following the removal of the protesters, Khan took a jab at the rich asshole, telling his audience: “It is a pleasure to be here even though we were distracted by the actions of what some would call very stable geniuses.”
Round 2: Joy Reid spits fire in ongoing feud with booted pastor who suggested she ‘just move to Haiti’
Joy Reid -- screenshot
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AM Joy host Joy Reid broke from her a planned panel scheduled for her Saturday morning show to address a Twitter video posted moments before from a guest she had earlier kicked off the show for refusing to answer any questions.
Saturday morning, the MSNBC host pulled the plug on Pastor Mark Burns for filibustering and talking over her when she attempted to get him to stay on the topic of President some rich asshole’s racism, finally telling the cleric, “You’ve wasted enough of my time, goodbye,” and cutting his mic.
Slightly 45 minutes later, Pastor Burns posted a video on Twitter from the car MSNBC provided him to take him back to his residence, thanking Reid but also criticizing her for sticking up for the people of Haiti — who the rich asshole believes live in a “sh*thole.”
“She’s always been very kind and I think fair to me,” Burns said in the clip shown on AM Joy. “But I think, obviously in the interview that you just saw if you watch Joy, that she should just move to Haiti since she’s more concerned about Haitian immigrants than black Americans here in poverty.”
“Wow” Reid responded. “Let me address you. sir, I always do try to be kind to the people who are on the show, but we’re not friends. You’re somebody that I am glad that you’re willing to come on and I do try to be fair to you and I’m glad that you can see that.”
“As to the idea that I need to move to Haiti to be concerned about the people there; sir, you are a pastor,” she continued. “And in the Bible — you love to quote the Bible. Let me quote you John. It says: ‘Whoever sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?'”
“I too am the child of immigrants and African-Americans and people who consider ourselves African-Americans, some of us have parents who are immigrants,” she added.
She then provided the good pastor with a fierce lesson in Haitian history including the help Haitians provided in Revolutionary War, among other historical facts, before delivering her closing remarks to him.
“I hope that you will open your heart to the people of this world, to the people of this country and do your duty as a Christian to love your neighbor as yourself,” she stated before sarcastically adding, “But thanks for sharing your views.”
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
‘You’re wasting my time, goodbye’: Watch disgusted Joy Reid cut mic on ranting pastor excusing the rich asshole’s racism
'AM Joy' anchor Joy Reid and televangelist Pastor John Mark Burns
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Prominent some rich asshole surrogate and South Carolina evangelical televangelist Pastor Mark Burns had his microphone cut off MSNBC’s “AM Joy” after continuing to talk over host Joy Reid while refusing to answer her questions.
Pastor Burns has been attempting to use the Bible to rationalize the rich asshole’s “sh*thole” comments, devolving a panel on CNN’s “Out Front with Erin Burnett” on Friday into a shouting match.
Throughout Reid’s interview, Pastor Burns repeatedly refused to answer her questions.
“One more question, I will give you one more chance to answer my question, then we’ll be done here,” Reid warned.
“You’re wasting my time when you talk over me and don’t answer my question,” Reid noted.
“You’re wasting my time,” Pastor Burns replied.
“Then good-bye,” Reid replied, ending the segment. “Let’s bring in our panel.”
This was not Reid’s only contentious interview with Pastor Burns, in August she stumped him about what positive policy actions the rich asshole has taken for the black community.
Watch:
What Fresh Hell?: Sh**hole Countries Edition
some rich asshole (Youtube)
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Welcome to another edition of What Fresh Hell?, Raw Story’s roundup of news items that might have become controversies under another regime, but got buried – or were at least under-appreciated – due to the daily firehose of political pratfalls, unhinged tweet storms and threats of nuclear annihilation coming out of the current White House.
This week, the political press acted as if questions about some rich asshole’s sanity were new, or newly relevant, following his unhinged reaction to Michael Wolff’s new book, Fire and Fury, and the messy public divorce from Steve Bannon that it appears to have precipitated. That scandalette was then capped off with no small amount of shock at the realization that the man who launched his candidacy by ranting about Mexico sending us all their rapists and bad hombres thinks that non-white poorer countries are a bunch of shitholes, and isn’t ashamed to say so in polite company.
It’s hardly news that the people closest to some rich asshole think he’s a dangerous half wit, or that his views on immigration are roughly in-line with those of the median Breitbart commenter. So why did these “revelations” dominate the headlines? Was it because we’ve reached the one-year mark, and it’s no longer possible to believe that the rich asshole might grow into the job? Were the last hold-outs forced to give up the fantasy that he may yet become “presidential,” or be reined in by Ivanka or Chief of Staff John Kelly? Was it the final realization that some rich asshole who sits around in bed surrounded by moldy McDonald’s wrappers tweeting misspelled insults at Hillary Clinton is the brightest, most thoughtful some rich asshole there is? Or was it the recognition that such a man holds the power to destroy the planet several times over?
Whatever the case may be, while we were all distracted by the circus in the White House, the Republic suffered another week of truly awful governance, and here’s some of the fresh Hell you may have missed.
*****
Let’s begin by connecting a couple of dots. For years, Deutsche Bank was the only major bank that would finance the rich asshole’s projects. It also settled a money-laundering case with federal regulators after admitting that it helped Russian oligarchs covertly move $10 billion out of their country between 2011 and 2014. Deutsche Bank also floated Jared Kushner’s real estate company a $285 million loan just one month before Election Day in 2016 that has become the subject of federal investigations.
Did the bank make a good bet on the infamously sleazy real estate developer and his clan? Well, this week, David Sirota reported for The International Business Times that“ the rich asshole administration has waived part of the punishment for five megabanks whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates. One of the rich asshole administration waivers was granted to Deutsche Bank — which is owed at least $130 million by President some rich asshole and his business empire.”
And according to Bloomberg’s Greg Farrell, the rich asshole’s new pick to serve as Manhattan’s interim U.S. attorney, and his new deputy, Robert Khuzami, are both former senior Deutsche Bank officials. Farrell reports that until recently, “Berman worked aggressively to defend the bank’s interests without running up excessive legal bills.” He will replace Preet Bharara, a hard-nosed prosecutor who the rich asshole’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, reportedly warned would “get” some rich asshole if he remained in office.
*****
Speaking of draining the swamp, Lisa Friedman reported for The New York Times this week that “a confidential memo written by the head of the country’s largest coal mining company,” Robert E. Murray of Murray Energy, “a longtime the rich asshole supporter who donated $300,000 to the president’s inauguration, …presented some rich asshole with a wish list of environmental rollbacks just weeks after the inauguration.” And low and behold, “nearly a year later, the White House and federal agencies have completed or are on track to fulfill most of the 14 detailed requests.”
So the next time some hippie claims that the rich asshole’s energy policy must have been written by a wingnut Coal Baron, just look at him or her and say, “yep, and his name is Robert Murray.”
*****
This week, Buzzfeed followed up on previous reports that some rich asshole’s company has sold an exceptionally large number of high-end (in other words, tacky but expensive) properties in all-cash transactions to anonymous shell companies.
Thomas Frank (not the What’s the Matter with Kansas? guy) reported that while such sales are perfectly legal, the Treasury Department’s Treasury’s “financial-crimes unit has, in recent years, launched investigations around the country into all-cash shell-company real-estate purchases amid concerns that some such sales may involve money laundering.” And Treasury’s former financial-crimes chief Jennifer Shasky Calvery told Congress that federal investigations “continue to reveal corrupt politicians, drug traffickers and other criminals using shell companies to purchase luxury real estate with cash.”
Setting aside the potential for bribery, there’s also a domestic Emoluments Clause that bars the president “from receiving money or gifts above and beyond his mandated salary from governments right here at home,” according to Slate’s Joshua Voorhees.
*****
Meanwhile, on the other, less influential end of the political-economy, that Indiana Carrier Plant that some rich asshole used as a prop shortly after being elected issued another round of layoffs this week, sending another round of jobs to its facility in Monterrey, Mexico — that shithole where all the rapists come from, and where workers can be hired for $3 per hour.
Amanda Becker writes for Reuters that, “under pressure from the newly-elected the rich asshole, Carrier and its parent company United Technologies Corp, dropped its plan in late 2016 to close the plant and move 1,400 factory jobs to Mexico. In return, the company received $7 million in state tax breaks to stay in Indiana.” The company did honor its commitment to keep 1,100 jobs in Indiana, but as Renee Elliott, a Carrier worker “who supported the rich asshole in the 2016 election and was among those being laid off on Thursday” told Becker: “he saved jobs, but he didn’t save mine, he didn’t save manufacturing jobs. He saved office personnel.”
*****
Here’s a comforting thought: the president who brags about the size of the (nonexistent) nuclear button on his desk told a gathering of high-ranking national security leaders that “he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.”
That’s one of the revelations from Ashley Feinberg’s story for The Huffington Post about the rich asshole regime’s Nuclear Posture Review, a draft of which breaks with precedent set by past administrations by calling for “new nukes, for no good reason.”
Feinberg notes that the report calls “for the development of new, so-called low-yield nuclear weapons — warheads with a lower explosive force”…
The logic of those pushing for the development of smaller nukes is that our current nuclear weapons are too big and too deadly to ever use; we are effectively self-deterred, and the world knows it. To make sure other countries believe that we’d actually use nuclear force, the thinking goes, we need more low-yield nukes.But official language around nuclear weapons is slippery and euphemistic. “Low yield” suggests a softer sort of weaponry, diet nukes, until you realize that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were technically “low-yield” weapons.the rich asshole’s NPR draft euphemizes the euphemism, referring to low-yield weapons as “supplements” that will “enhance deterrence.” The document claims that Russia is threatening to use these smaller nuclear weapons; the U.S. needs to match and deter the Russians in kind.
*****
File this one under politicizing the bureaucracy: “The Interior Department has adopted a new screening process for the discretionary grants it makes to outside groups, instructing staff to ensure those awards ‘promote the priorities’ of the rich asshole administration,” according to WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin. She writes that the directive “represents the latest attempt by the rich asshole political appointees to put their mark on government spending. Last summer, the Environmental Protection Agency instituted a system requiring that a political appointee in the public affairs office sign off on each grant before it is awarded.”
The next normal president is going to face a Helluva job rooting embedded Trumpism out from these federal agencies.
*****
One silver lining to the rich asshole regime is that his lack of a filter has made it impossible for immigration hardliners to claim that they only care about undocumented immigration. “What part of illegal don’t you understand?” is now a mute argument.
The regime’s latest assault on legal immigrants was highlighted this week by Rewire’s Tina Vasquez, who reported that the Department of Homeland Security may revoke the citizenship of thousands of American citizens who were naturalized despite the fact that the US government couldn’t check their fingerprints against a database of people who had been ordered removed from the country because they hadn’t yet been digitized. Some have been Americans for decades, according to Vasquez.
*****
It turns out that the bipartisan deal to stabilize Obamacare’s markets fell apart last month after “anti-abortion groups appealed directly to Vice President Mike Pence at the 11th hour,” according to a new report by Andrew Desiderio at The Daily Beast.
He writes that “a group of pro-life activists met with Pence to lobby the rich asshole administration against supporting a health-insurance market-stabilization bill on the grounds that it does not contain sufficient language on abortion restriction.” As it stands, the tax bill passed last month will result in 13 million Americans losing health insurance, according to the CBO.
Relatedly, it’s been 106 days since the Republican Congress let funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program expire. Newsweek reports that “some states will run out of money by February 1 if an agreement is not made, according to estimates from Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C., but more conservative estimates from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) suggest several states risk burning through the federal funds by January 19.”
*****
Meanwhile, John Feeley has had enough. The career diplomat and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot has resigned his position as US ambassador to Panama, “telling the State Department he no longer feels able to serve President some rich asshole,” according to The Telegraph.
His resignation letter says, in part, “as a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies. My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come.”
*****
Finally, Darryl Fears reports for the WaPo that P. Daniel Smith, “a former National Park Service official who improperly helped Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder cut down more than 130 trees to improve a river view at his Potomac, Md., estate, has been chosen by the rich asshole regime “to be one of the agency’s highest-ranking leaders.”
According to Fears, “Smith pressured lower-level officials to approve a deal that disregarded federal environmental laws, harmed the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park and left the agency vulnerable to charges of favoritism.” Only the best people!
‘Fire and Fury’ interview turns into a shouting match after author Wolff accuses host of ‘doing White House’s work’
CNN's Michael Smerconish and bestselling author Michael Wolff.
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The efforts by the White House to discredit author Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury book erupted during a Saturday morning interview with CNN anchor Michael Smerconish.
“It sounds like you’re presenting yourself as an individual who has [the rich asshole’s] best interest at heart, likes him, wants to show a more humanizing side of him and for that reason you should be given access,” Smerconish said. “It becomes relevant, because many of us who read the book, and I read the book, are trying to understand where the White House denies it, well what’s true and what’s not true? And, therefore, your level of veracity in walking in the door becomes significant.”
“And I’m missing — so what are you implying here?” Wolff asked. “That’s exactly what I had in mind to do, it was open your kimono, let me see.”
“I wrote the story that I got, I wrote what I saw and what I heard,” Wolff suggested.
“I think we should point out that someone in the White House is obviously giving you e-mails that I sent, which is perfectly fine, but, you know, the White House has been on a concerted attack on me since this book came out,” Wolff reminded.
“By the way, a totally incompetent attack, which so far has found a few typos and turned this book into the best-selling book in the world,” Wolff argued.
“But you are now doing the job of the White House, just so everybody knows that,” Wolff charged.
“Well, wait a minute, I read the book, I took the time to read the book,” Smerconish claimed. “I have questions as a reader.”
“Someone is giving you e-mails that I wrote. So, therefore, this is — you’re doing the work of the White House to discredit this book,” Wolff concluded.
Watch:
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis (Wikipedia.com)
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Actress Jamie Lee Curtis placed blame for the missile attack false alarm that terrified Hawaii on Saturday squarely at the feet of President some rich asshole.
Mediaite.com said that the “Halloween” and “A Fish Called Wanda” star blistered the rich asshole for letting relations between the U.S. and North Korea reach the point where threats of missile attacks are credible.
“This Hawaii missile scare is on YOU some rich asshole. The real FEAR that mothers & fathers & children felt is on YOU. It is on YOUR ARROGANCE. HUBRIS. NARCISSISM. RAGE. EGO. IMMATURITY and your UNSTABLE IDIOCY. Shame on your hate filled self. YOU DID THIS!” Curtis wrote.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) blamed the mistaken alert on “human error.” Residents in Hawaii spent 38 minutes between when the missile attack was announced and the sounding of an all-clear by authorities.
Former Pentagon official Col. Morris Davis blasts the rich asshole for golfing while Hawaii panicked over false missile alert
Col. Morris Davis - screenshot
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Former Guantanamo Chief Prosecutor Col. Morris Davis took to Twitter Saturday afternoon to criticize President some rich asshole for continuing his golf game as Americans in Hawaii were panicking over a mistaken missile threat.
“For 38 minutes American citizens in Hawaii braced for a ballistic missile strike … and @realDonaldTrump continued his round of golf in Florida on his 120th taxpayer funded vacation day in less than a year,” Morris tweeted, linking to a Fox New report.
In what was called “a hell of a mistake to make,” Civil Defense officials in Hawaii sent out an incorrect warning to the island residents that a ballistic missile was on its way, stating: “Ballistic missile inbound to Hawaii. Seeks shelter immediately. This is not a drill.”
You can see the Morris tweet below:
For 38 minutes American citizens in Hawaii braced for a ballistic missile strike ... and @realDonaldTrump continued his round of golf in Florida on his 120th taxpayer funded vacation day in less than a year. twitter.com/foxnews/status…
‘Texting goodbyes and shielding their baby’: CNN’s Tapper reports on tears in Hawaii after horrific false missile attack report
CNN's Jake Tapper (Screengrab)
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According to CNN’s Jake Tapper, following the mistaken alert sent out to everyone in Hawaii that a missile attack was imminent, he heard from friends in the island chain who were crying and sending their goodbyes to friends.
Early Saturday morning, an official in Hawaii issued an erroneous warning that reached cell phones and interrupted television programming to announce a missile attack — presumably from North Korea.
According to the message that sent in big bold letters reading: “Ballistic missile inbound to Hawaii. Seeks shelter immediately. This is not a drill.”
In his tweet, Tapper relayed, “So sorry for all the people in Hawaii who went through that — we know someone who’s there with her family. Crying in closet texting goodbyes to loved ones, husband shielding their baby. Sounds traumatic. Hang in there, folks.”
Tapper’s comments were seconded by others on Twitter who also shared panicked and sorrowful text messages.
You can see them below:
From the tourist perspective, there were dozens of them gathered in this hotel lobby panicking and holding each other.
My friend in Hawaii got the alert and had to quickly choose between which members of his family he would spend his last moments on Earth with because they were ALL too far apart from each other. He had to make the difficult choice of going immediately to his youngest children.
BY
LUKE DARBY 01-13-2018
But for the rich asshole, it's just a Friday.
On Friday, Wall Street Journal dropped a report that shortly before the 2016 election, some rich asshole's long-time lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid off an adult film star who was planning to speak to go public with claims that she and the rich asshole had an affair years ago. Per the Journal:
A lawyer for President some rich asshole arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with some rich asshole, according to people familiar with the matter.
Michael Cohen, who spent nearly a decade as a top attorney at the rich asshole Organization, arranged payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, in October 2016 after her lawyer negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Cohen, these people said.
Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with some rich asshole took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament on the shore of Lake Tahoe, these people said. some rich asshole married Melania the rich asshole in 2005.
Other news organizations have followed up with stories that seem to corroborate the Journal's reporting, but, honestly, the rich asshole could probably skate by this without bothering to deny any of it. There's been no shortage of botched crises or outright scandals already during his short tenure as president. He's said that he doesn't want non-white immigrants coming to the U.S., insulted a major ally over the physical location of an embassy, and decreed that oil companies can drill off the coast of every state—except, of course, swing state
And those are just this week. But one of the rich asshole's greatest assets is this unending siege of bad ideas, bad policy, and bad news. It's such a wall of noise around him that no one racist gaffe or nakedly greedy decision sticks to him for very long. It keeps his critics from being able to focus on one thread for longer than a news cycle and frees his supporters to brush off any criticism: The left is always calling the rich asshole racist or corrupt or inept, they need to get a new line.
That's not to claim that he's masterminding an endless stream of scandals to keep himself safe. He's just so well-suited to the modern political environment that he could just stumble through this and be totally fine—because he's been stumbling blindly this whole time and remained totally fine.
There are more key positions in the rich asshole's administration sitting open than positions for which there are confirmed appointees.
It’s no secret that some rich asshole has not done much governing during his time in office. Despite his claims to the contrary, the rich asshole has signed fewer bills at this point in his presidency than any U.S. president in at least six decades.
In fact, the number of days he has spent on a golf course is about to surpass the number of bills he has signed into law. But the rich asshole’s desk isn’t the only part of his government that is sitting empty.
Nearly a full year into his presidency, the rich asshole has failed to nominate anyone to fill nearly half of the most important positions in his administration. That’s according to an ongoing analysis by the Washington Post, which is tracking the status of over 600 key positions that need to be filled through executive branch nominations.
As of Saturday, there are more key government positions for which the rich asshole has not nominated anyone than there are confirmed appointments. Out of 626 key positions, 241 have been confirmed, 136 have nominees waiting for confirmation, and 245 are sitting unfilled with no nominee.
Those unfilled positions include “the IRS commissioner, the ambassador to South Korea, the census director, the deputy secretary of commerce — fundamental jobs that involve central issues of governing,” Max Stier, who runs the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, told the Washington Post.
If the rich asshole gets his way, many of these unfilled positions will likely stay vacant.
“I’m generally not going to make a lot of the appointments that would normally be — because you don’t need them,” the rich asshole said in an October 2017 interview with Forbes Magazine. “I mean, you look at some of these agencies, how massive they are, and it’s totally unnecessary. They have hundreds of thousands of people.”
While the White House says the rich asshole “came to Washington to drain the swamp” and “make government more efficient,” leaving these positions vacant threatens to bring essential government services to a screeching halt.
“These are the women and men who protect the country, help us recover from hurricanes, send astronauts into space and make sure we get our Social Security checks on time,” noted Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post.
“The President has left numerous critical policy and management positions unfilled, including those that directly affect our national and economic security, public health, food safety and immigration enforcement,” Stier added.
The vacancies are concentrated in certain government agencies, especially the State Department, where critical assistant secretary and undersecretary positions remain without a nominee. The vacancies have triggered alarm among many national security and military experts, especially in light of the rich asshole’s reckless bluster about North Korea.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was so concerned by the unfilled positions that he recently met with officials in the administration to issue a grave warning, telling them that the rich asshole was “gutting the State Department.”
If the rich asshole really wants to “make America great,” he should start by making sure America’s government doesn’t fall apart.
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