WATCH: Kamala Harris accuses DHS chief Kirstjen Nielsen of racism in fiery Senate interrogation
Sen. Kamala Harris (CSPAN)
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Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) sparred with Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over the president’s racist remarks — and the administration official’s apparent support for those views.
Nielson said earlier Tuesday during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the president was simply repeating an observation about hard-working Norwegian immigrants, but Harris said the rich asshole was unfavorably comparing them to African and Haitian immigrants.
“You spoke of them, according to the president, as the people of Norway — well, you know, they work very hard — the inference being the people of the 54 states of Africa and Haiti do not,” Harris said. “That is a fair inference.”
She then blasted Nielson’s claim under oath that she was not aware that Norway was a majority white nation.
“You run the Department of Homeland Security,” Harris continued, “and when you say you don’t know if Norway is predominantly white when asked by a member of the United States Senate, that causes me concern about your ability to understand the scope of your responsibilities and the impact of your words — much less the policies that you promulgate in that very important department.”
Harris asked Nielson why she ignored domestic terrorist attacks by white supremacists in her opening remarks about security threats faced by the U.S. — and she said the omission was deeply troubling.
“You must understand the inference, the reasonable inference, that the American public is drawing from the words you speak much less the words of the president of the United States,” Harris said.
Nielson later complained that Harris had unfairly drawn conclusions based on her testimony.
“If you don’t mind, it’s not a fair inference to say that my comments about Norway were in contrast to any other country,” Nielson said. “What I was describing was the president’s views upon meeting with the prime minister, and what I was quoting was what he was told in meeting with the Norwegian delegation. That’s what he repeated, words that he repeated that I repeated. It was not in contrast. With respect to white supremacy, we expanded our prevention efforts in the Department of Homeland Security to ensure we in fact are going after violence of any kind, any kind is not appropriate and I will not allow it to occur if it’s within our authority to stop.”
Harris made one brief response before ceding the floor.
“Mr. Chairman, I would just ask that the record — so we can all review it — will reflect in the opening statements when discussing challenges to our homeland in terms of security, the white supremacist threat was not mentioned,” Harris said.
Here’s the GOP’s ridiculous explanation for why the rich asshole calling Africa a ‘sh*t house’ is not racist
some rich asshole speaks in New York City on Sept. 3, 2015. (a katz / Shutterstock.com)
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Recently, some Republicans have tried to defend President some rich asshole’s declaration that he wants fewer immigrants from “shithole” countries in Africa by saying the president actually referred to those countries as “shit houses.”
Although critics have charged that this defense is essentially a distinction without a difference, it seems that Republican operatives have come up with a more nuanced context of what it means to live in a “shit house.”
Scott Wong, a senior staff writer at The Hill, talked with some Republicans on Tuesday to get an explanation for why calling African countries “shit houses” is less offensive than calling them “shitholes.”
“Some Rs say ‘shithouse countries’ refers to poor countries with no plumbing,” Wong writes on Twitter. “Places where you have to walk out to the shithouse — and therefore the phrase is NOT racist.”
Wong’s Twitter followers expressed incredulity that the GOP would really try to make this argument — including one who said that it “requires such mental gymnastics that it should be on the cover of Wheaties.”
Why are some Trump allies arguing that POTUS said "shithouse" rather than "shithole"? Some Rs say "shithouse countries" refers to poor countries w/no plumbing -- places where u have to walk out to the shithouse -- and therefore the phrase is NOT racist.
‘Your silence is complicity’: Corey Booker spits fire at DHS secretary for covering up the rich asshole’s racism
Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) grills the rich asshole DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (Screen cap).
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Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) hammered Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday over her failure to recall and rebuke President some rich asshole’s declaration that he didn’t want to accept more immigrants from “shithole” African countries.
While questioning Nielsen about the DHS’s response to white supremacist hate groups, Booker rant down a litany of all the rich asshole’s past racist remarks and shamed her for claiming she couldn’t recall whether the rich asshole had called African countries “shitholes.”
“The commander in chief, in an Oval Office meeting, referring to people from African countries and Haitians with the most vial and vulgar language — that language festers,” Booker said. “When ignorance and bigotry is alive with power, it’s a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity.”
Booker also listed off all the hate crimes committed by white nationalists recently — ranging from Dylann Roof’s 2015 massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston and the white nationalist riots that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, last summer — and questioned the president’s commitment to stopping such crimes.
“Tens of millions of Americans are hurting right now because of what they’re worried about what happened in this White House,” he said. “That is unacceptable.”
Watch the video below.
‘This has turned into a sh*t show’: Lindsey Graham peppers DHS secretary after the rich asshole reneges on immigration
Lindsey Graham (CNN/screen grab)
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Tuesday questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about why President some rich asshole backtracked on a possible deal between Republicans and Democrats to reform the immigration system.
During Nielsen’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham noted that the attempt to make a deal with Democrats on immigration had turned into an “S-show,” echoing the rich asshole’s alleged remarks about African nations being “shitholes.”
“Between 10:00 a.m. and 12 we went from having conversations with Sen. Durbin, which I believe every word,” Graham explained. “And by the time we got there, something had happened. So, Tuesday we had a president that I was proud to golf with, call my friend, who understood immigration had to be bipartisan, you have to have border security with a wall. But he also understood the idea that we had to do it with compassion.”
“Now, I don’t know where that guy went, I want him back,” he said, later adding, “This has turned into a S-show.”
Watch the video below from CNN.
the rich asshole blew off suggestion to meet with Black Caucus over immigration reform: ‘You’ve got to be joking’
President of the United States some rich asshole (Shutterstock)
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According to the deep dive by the Washington Post into some rich asshole’s combative meeting with Congressional leaders over immigration reform, the president abruptly scoffed at the idea of meeting the Congressional Black Caucus to get their input.
Last week, the rich asshole sat down with Democrats and Republicans to hammer out some sort of path to immigration reform and deal with the Dreamers — and then later refused to approve a bipartisan deal to at least resolve the DACA impasse — only to have the meeting disrupted by the rich asshole calling Haiti and African nations “sh*tholes.”
With the Post reporting that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly helped kill the bill, the report notes that attendees were taken aback by the rich asshole’s attitude, particularly when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) suggested the president should sit down for a face-to-face with black members of Congress to allay their concerns.
According to the report, Durbin suggested to the President that he might find more support if he spoke with the CBC in order to get their buy-in.
The report states that the rich asshole was “curt and dismissive” saying he was not going to fashion his immigration policy based upon their demands.
According to sources in the meeting, the rich asshole waved off Durbin by saying, “You’ve got to be joking.”
The report also notes that Kelly sat “stone-faced” as the rich asshole made his “sh*thole” comments.
You can read the whole report here
the rich asshole administration: Three-quarters of international terrorism convicts foreign born
BY RAFAEL BERNAL - 01/16/18 11:40 AM EST
Three out of four individuals convicted on international terrorism charges in the U.S. were foreign born, according to a new report released by the rich asshole administration amid a contentious debate on national security and immigration.
Between Sept. 11, 2001 and Dec. 31, 2016, 549 individuals were convicted on international terrorism charges, of whom 254 were foreign citizens, 148 were naturalized U.S. citizens and 147 were natural born U.S. citizens, according to Department of Justice numbers.
The report highlights seven "illustrative examples" of foreign-born individuals convicted of terrorism. Those individuals were born in India, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan and Yemen; some obtained U.S. citizenship, others legal permanent residency or refugee status.
Administration officials said the examples serve "to highlight the importance of reforming our immigration system to ensure that we are identifying and admitting individuals who are the most likely to assimilate, thrive and succeed in the United States."
The report also says 2,554 people on the terrorist watchlist were intercepted attempting to enter the United States, 2,170 by air, 335 by land and 49 by sea.
The report does not include numbers on how many of the convicts or interceptees were either in the U.S. or attempting to enter the country through the diversity visa or family reunification -- or "chain migration"-- programs.
"We don't as of today have all of those details ready to release, we hope to be able to provide statistical information about the manner of entry of all of these individuals in a future iteration of this report," said another senior administration official. "I can assure you that it is more than just the cherry-picked cases that are represented here in this report who entered through this program."
President the rich asshole demanded in a meeting with lawmakers last week that any agreement to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program -- which the rich asshole rescinded last September -- include provisions to end the diversity visa and reform family reunification.
the rich asshole included Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a proponent of doing away with the diversity "lottery" and chain migration, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the main sponsor of a House bill that includes similar proposals at that White House meeting, called to discuss a bipartisan agreement reached by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.).
The meeting ended without agreement after the president allegedly used disparaging language to describe Haiti and African countries, but the administration has since doubled down on linking immigration to terrorism.
“This report reveals an indisputable sobering reality -- our immigration system has undermined our national security and public safety,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement.
“And the information in this report is only the tip of the iceberg: we currently have terrorism-related investigations against thousands of people in the United States, including hundreds of people who came here as refugees."
The terrorism numbers, however, don't include incidents and convictions of domestic terror, which by most accounts are undertaken mostly by American citizens.
The Justice Department’s counsel for domestic terrorism matters, Thomas Brzozowski, said last week that domestic terrorists are harder to prosecute, as they enjoy greater protections under the Constitution than foreign terrorists, leading to lesser charges.
But Brzozowski added that "the notion that the government takes Islamic extremism more seriously than domestic terrorism is, frankly, not true.”
Administration officials added that the new report does not cover instances of first-generation Americans who've been convicted of terrorism offenses.
"Of course a couple egregious examples of those are the shooter at the Orlando nightclub or the attack in San Bernardino a couple years ago. Those are incidents that were not captured but of course represent a significant threat," said one of the administration officials.
Officials said the departments of Homeland Security and Justice want Congress to end the diversity visa lottery and "chain migration," but denied the report's release was intended to coincide with the ongoing debate on DACA, an Obama-era program that shields immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation.
"Its timing is merely coincidental with the ongoing debate, however we don’t mean to diminish its importance in the issues that it highlights in terms of the outcome of that debate in any kind of policy changes or legislative changes," said an administration official.
Senators unveil bipartisan push to deter future election interference
BY MORGAN CHALFANT - 01/16/18 07:30 AM EST
A pair of senators from each party is introducing legislation meant to deter foreign governments from interfering in future American elections.
The bill represents the latest push on Capitol Hill to address Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and counter potential threats ahead of the 2018 midterms.
Van Hollen said in a statement to The Hill that the bill would send “an unequivocal message to Russia and any other foreign actor who may follow its example: if you attack us, the consequences will be severe.”
Congress imposed additional sanctions on Moscow for its election interference last summer. However, fears have mounted over the potential for future foreign influence efforts, which some lawmakers have sought to address through legislation.
Under the bill introduced Tuesday, it would be up to the rich asshole administration to decide the retaliatory measures for potential election interference by China, Iran and North Korea, and any other nation that the administration singles out as a threat. The administration would be required to report to Congress within 90 days of the bill’s enactment on plans to counter potential election interference from each specific country.
In the event of future interference specifically by Russia, the bill expands on penalties already imposed by the Countering America’s Adversaries Act of 2017. For instance, it mandates that the U.S. government immediately impose sanctions on Russia’s finance, energy and defense sectors. It would also blacklist senior Russian political figures or oligarchs identified under the law, preventing them from entering the United States and blocking their assets.
Actions that would elicit retaliation include a foreign government or agent purchasing political advertisements to influence an election, using social media to spread false information, hacking and releasing or modifying election- or campaign-related information or hindering access to elections infrastructure, such as websites for polling places.
“We cannot be a country where foreign intelligence agencies attempt to influence our political process without consequences,” Rubio said. “This bill will help to ensure the integrity of our electoral process by using key national security tools to dissuade foreign powers from meddling in our elections.”
Under the legislation, the director of national intelligence would be required to report to Congress on any foreign efforts to interfere in an election within one month after each federal election.
Moscow’s 2016 influence campaign involved hacking and orchestrating the release of Democrats’ emails, propagating fake news through social media and probing state voter registration databases and other election-related systems.
In December, a bipartisan cadre of lawmakers introduced legislation aimed at helping states bolster cybersecurity of their voting systems, including authorizing grants for state officials to upgrade outdated voting technology.
Watch Dick Durbin corner a squirming DHS secretary for ‘not remembering’ the rich asshole’s racist ‘sh*thole’ remarks
Senator Dick Durbin during a congressional hearing (Screenshot)
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Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) grilled the U.S. Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday about President some rich asshole’s racist remarks about immigration.
“Things were said at that meeting we have to address,” Durbin said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Durbin has accused the rich asshole describing Haiti and African countries as “sh*tholes” during a White House meeting about immigration policy last week. Nielsen, who was also at the meeting, has said she didn’t hear the rich asshole use that language.
“How did he characterize those countries in Africa?” Durbin asked during the hearing.
“I don’t specifically remember a categorization of countries in Africa,” Nielsen replied. “I think what he was saying is, as far as best I could tell… let’s move away from the countries and let’s look at the individual.”
Durbin also noted that Nielsen had told Fox News she heard the rich asshole use “strong language.”
“What was that language?” he asked.
“Uh, apologies, I don’t remember specific words,” she replied.
Durbin said that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had criticized the rich asshole over his remarks about Africa.
“His ‘strong words’ repeated exactly the words used by the president, which you cannot remember,” Durbin said.
Watch video below:
‘Being from Norway is not a skill’: Dem senator shuts down Homeland Security chief’s lame defense of the rich asshole ‘sh*thole’ remarks
Kirstjen Nielsen
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Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen squirmed under tough questioning by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) about President some rich asshole’s racist remarks about immigration.
Nielson appeared Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the panel’s ranking Democrat asked whether the president had made vulgar insults — identified in reports as “sh*thole” — against African nations and Haiti.
“I did not hear that word,” Nielson said. “The conversation was very impassioned, I don’t dispute that the president was using tough language, others in the room were also using tough language.”
She said the president wanted to move to a merit-based system of immigration, but Leahy pointed out that accounts of the rich asshole’s remarks did not show that to be the case.
“He didn’t say we needed more PhD students or skilled workers, he said he wanted more people from Norway,” Leahy said. “Being from Norway is not a skill, and with the standard of living in Norway better than ours you’re not going to have many people from there.”
The senator asked Nielson what the president had meant, and she said the rich asshole was referring the Norwegian prime minister’s praise the day before for her people’s work ethic.
“Norway is a predominantly white country, isn’t it?” Leahy asked.
“I actually don’t know that, sir, but I imagine that is the case,” Nielson stammered.
Mueller subpoenas Steve Bannon to testify before grand jury as probe moves closer to the rich asshole
Steve Bannon (Photo: Screen capture)
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Former the rich asshole political strategist Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller in a sign that the investigation is moving closer to the president.
The New York Times reports that Bannon was issued a subpoena last week and it is “the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of some rich asshole’s inner circle.”
Other the rich asshole associates have testified either before the grand jury or directly to investigators without needing to be subpoenaed, and the Times writes that “it was not clear why Mr. Mueller treated Mr. Bannon differently than the dozen administration officials who were interviewed in the final months of last year and were never served with a subpoena.”
Bannon last week hired legal counsel to represent him in the Russia probe, as it was reported that he retained the counsel of Bill Burck of the firm Quinn Emanuel.
Bannon is testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, and there has been speculation that he might turn on the president. In Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House,” Bannon said he thought Mueller would nail Jared Kushner and some rich asshole Jr. on money laundering charges — and then use them to get to President the rich asshole.
In the wake of those comments, the rich asshole publicly raged at Bannon and the rich asshole White House urged Breitbart to consider firing the rich asshole’s one-time political ally.
Bannon gives closed-door testimony to House Intel panel
BY KATIE BO WILLIAMS - 01/16/18 10:20 AM EST
Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon on Tuesday morning went behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee to testify in the panel’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election.
Bannon, who joined the rich asshole campaign in August of 2016, is expected to face a grilling on comments he made to Michael Wolff, the author of a controversial new book about the rich asshole White House.
Bannon told Wolff that a June 2016 meeting at the rich asshole Tower between campaign officials and a Russian lawyer believed to have political dirt on Hillary Clinton was “treasonous.”
Further, Bannon added, “the chance that [some rich asshole Jr.] did not walk these jumos up to his father's office on the twenty-sixth floor is zero.”
Lawmakers will press Bannon on what the president knew about that meeting, long a flashpoint in the controversy surrounding the rich asshole campaign’s ties to Russia, as well as any financial crimes that may have been committed.
“Specifically what's the basis for his assertion that the president met with the participants in the rich asshole Tower meeting,” the committee’s top Democrat, Adam Schiff (Calif.), told ABC News's Pierre Thomas. “What [Bannon] knows about the president’s knowledge of that meeting, as well as his concerns over money laundering which has been a persistent concern of ours as well.”
Former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Richard Gates, have both been charged with money laundering as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal investigation into potential campaign collusion with Russia.
There is no public indication that Bannon is under investigation by Mueller.
The committee’s interest in Bannon predates the release of Wolff’s book. He will also likely face questions about his knowledge of any contacts that the rich asshole transition team members may have had with Russian officials, according to Schiff.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince in December detailed to investigators a January meeting he held with a Russian banker in the Seychelles, brokered by the UAE.
Prince, who described his relationship to the rich asshole campaign as minimal and unofficial, acknowledged that Bannon had told him about a separate December 2016 meeting between the rich asshole transition team and UAE officials.
But Prince, whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, said he could not remember whether the conversation with Bannon took place before or after his trip to the Seychelles — an answer that left committee Democrats dissatisfied.
“We know from the Erik Prince testimony … that [Prince] had a meeting with Steve Bannon before he made that trip to the Seychelles traveling halfway around the world to have what he described essentially as a coincidental meeting with a Russian in a bar,” Schiff told ABC News.
“Which just happened to be a head of one of the Russian Investment Banks, so we'd like to know whether Steve Bannon was involved in establishing any kind of a back channel of with the Russians.”
Prince described the arrangement of his meeting with Kirill Dmitriev as informal, telling investigators that the real purpose of his trip was to meet with Emirati officials to discuss terrorism in the area and “conceptual-only stuff” on mineral-related business.
“It was a matter of, ‘Hey, while you’re here, there’s a Russian guy that we’ve done some business with in the past, and it’d be interesting for you to meet him,’” Prince told investigators.
Bannon is not the only the rich asshole campaign associate expected to interview before the committee this week. Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is also expected to appear.
The Bannon interview was scheduled to begin at 9:30 on Tuesday morning.
An incompetent White House struggles to control an unstable president.
Nervous that an impressionable some rich asshole would agree to sign a reasonable, bipartisan deal on immigration — a deal that would have helped avoid a government shutdown — hawkish White House aides last week made sure to blow up the now-famous Oval Office Thursday meeting.
That was the meeting where a clearly riled up the rich asshole said he wanted to stop accepting immigrants from “shithole” — meaning, predominantly black — countries.
According to a new Washington Post report, the contentious sit-down also featured lots of shouting, swearing, and the rich asshole insulting the Congressional Black Caucus, as he made it plain he didn’t care what its members thought about immigration.
What’s so stunning about the meeting is that anti-immigration aides were reportedly panicked that the rich asshole was on the verge of agreeing to a bipartisan deal with a group of three Republican senators and three Democrats, including Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
“Some White House officials, including conservative adviser Stephen Miller, feared that Graham and Durbin would try to trick the rich asshole into signing a bill that was damaging to him and would hurt him with his political base,” the Post reports. “As word trickled out Thursday morning on Capitol Hill that Durbin and Graham were heading over to the White House, legislative affairs director Marc Short began to make calls to lawmakers and shared many of Miller’s concerns.”
What soon unfolded, with the rich asshole surrounded by anti-immigration enforcements and all “fired up,” was a meeting that was “short, tense and often dominated by loud cross-talk and swearing.”
The net result is that there is very little chance this week any kind of deal will be struck to protect those under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, established under President Barack Obama, which the rich asshole has ordered ended.
DACA protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants, or DREAMers, who were brought to America at a young age by their parents.
The government will shut down at midnight on Friday if Congress does not pass yet another short-term spending bill. Democrats are threatening to block any spending passage if nothing is done about the DREAMers.
Republican senators are now publicly at odds over what was said at the meeting. Caught in the middle is Graham, who had emerged in recent weeks as the rich asshole’s close ally and golfing partner.
Two days prior to the sabotaged meeting, the rich asshole had announced on national television that he was willing to sign whatever deal was brought to him. “I’ll sign it,” he said as the cameras rolled.
It’s the latest example of a White House that remains incompetent and unable to adhere to any kind of agenda with a president who is unstable and unpredictable.
“White House officials had a solid game plan for January: do a long tax-cut victory lap, avoid a government shutdown and swing a DACA deal,” Axios notes. “Instead, the rich asshole became preoccupied with a gossipy book and the treachery of Steve Bannon, made repeated bizarre public statements about his mental health, misrepresented crucial national security legislation, and sent immigration talks down a ‘shithole.'”
Now the rich asshole has to dig out of that hole.
Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, took Sarah Huckabee Sanders to school on crime rates in El Paso.
some rich asshole is desperate for whatever immigration package comes out of Congress to include funding for his border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.
And White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is keen to tell the public why we should listen to the rich asshole, rather than all the experts who say a wall is impractical, an environmental disaster, will result in countless Americans losing jobs and property, and will not actually make us safer.
On Monday evening, Sanders jumped on social media to give an example of the benefits of a border wall.
“Ask El Paso, Texas (now one of America’s safest cities) across the border from Juarez, Mexico (one of the world’s most dangerous) if a wall works,” Sanders tweeted.
But Sanders should have done her homework, because she was soon treated to a lesson from Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a lifelong El Pasoan:
Walls have nothing to do with it. We’ve been ranked 1st, 2nd or 3rd safest city for last 20 years, including before any wall. In addition to great law enforcement, our safety is connected to the fact that we are a city of immigrants. We treat eachother with respect & dignity. twitter.com/presssec/statu…
O’Rourke was not finished.
“El Paso is also home to more than 9,000 Dreamers, young Americans who make us a better, safer, stronger community,” he tweeted. “Let’s focus on keeping them here, contributing to our success… instead of building walls that we don’t need.”
the rich asshole has been criticized for rejecting a bipartisan agreement that would have protected the DREAMers in exchange for many new restrictions on immigration and partial funding for barriers at the border — as O’Rourke indirectly reminded Sanders.
O’Rourke has gained national attention as a rising Democratic Party star, and the presumptive nominee to challenge Ted Cruz for Senate. He has spent the past several months touring the Lone Star State, and helped families in coastal towns rebuild after Hurricane Harvey.
the rich asshole and his allies need to pay attention to the communities that would be affected by his border boondoggle and stop using them as props. O’Rourke is on the front lines of the issue and knows the truth well — and was happy to fill Sanders in.
Scarborough, Brzezinski: the rich asshole 'is like grandpa on The Simpsons'
BY JOE CONCHA - 01/16/18 08:52 AM EST
"Morning Joe" co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski both said President the rich asshole "is like grandpa on The Simpsons" after he insisted that he had not used the phrase "s***hole countries" to describe Haiti and nations in Africa.
The quips came after John Heilimann, a frequent contributor to the MSNBC morning show, said that White House officials had feared that Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) would dupe the president into signing an immigration bill unpopular with his base.
"Well, here's how strong his conviction is on this issue. In that 'Washington Post' piece, one line, 'White House officials, including Stephen Miller, feared Graham and Durbin would try to trick the rich asshole into signing a bill that was damaging to him and would hurt him with his political base," said Heilemann.
"Well, here's how strong his conviction is on this issue. In that 'Washington Post' piece, one line, 'White House officials, including Stephen Miller, feared Graham and Durbin would try to trick the rich asshole into signing a bill that was damaging to him and would hurt him with his political base," said Heilemann.
"He’s like grandpa on 'The Simpsons,'" mocked Scarborough, a former GOP congressman who left the party in 2017.
"He’s grandpa on 'The Simpsons,'" echoed Brzezinski, who got engaged her longtime co-host last May.
"Grandpa on 'The Simpsons' is a lot sharper than this," added Heilemann.
Abraham Jedediah "Abe" Simpson II is the fictional father of Homer Simpson on the long-running Fox show. Grandpa Simpson is often incoherent and rambling in his periodic appearances.
"He’s grandpa on 'The Simpsons,'" echoed Brzezinski, who got engaged her longtime co-host last May.
"Grandpa on 'The Simpsons' is a lot sharper than this," added Heilemann.
Abraham Jedediah "Abe" Simpson II is the fictional father of Homer Simpson on the long-running Fox show. Grandpa Simpson is often incoherent and rambling in his periodic appearances.
The president is ridiculed on a personal level on an almost-daily basis on the MSNBC program, with Scarborough making the Simpson comparison in the past while repeatedly arguing the president has early on-set dementia and should be removed under the 25th Amendment.
"We have a president who, Mika and I believe through knowing him, is not mentally stable. Is less stable a year and a half ago when people on his campaign told me they believe he had early-onset dementia," Scarborough told Katie Couric on her podcast last week.
"We have a president who, Mika and I believe through knowing him, is not mentally stable. Is less stable a year and a half ago when people on his campaign told me they believe he had early-onset dementia," Scarborough told Katie Couric on her podcast last week.
the rich asshole hasn't appeared "Morning Joe" since May 2016 after enjoying a friendly relationship with the hosts through the primary campaign.
‘The president is a child’: MSNBC’s Joe and Mika rip Republicans for ‘sucking up’ to the rich asshole at Mar-A-Lago
Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski urged Democrats to stop negotiating with President some rich asshole, and force Republicans to own their mistakes.
The president headed back to Washington, D.C., from his Florida resort Mar-A-Lago with an immigration deal that’s “probably dead,” according to the rich asshole, and a government shutdown looming unless Republicans can agree on funding.
“Republicans have a majority in the House, and they have a majority in the Senate and they have the president of the United States,” Scarborough said. “So if they can’t keep the government open, it’s their fault.”
His “Morning Joe” co-host called out House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who she called the rich asshole’s “candy crush” later in Tuesday’s episode for reportedly giving the president his favorite Starburst flavors.
“Republicans, you need to be better parents,” Brzezinski said. “The president is a child, and running after him and sucking up to him at Mar-A-Lago is not going to help you. I don’t know if you are interested in going in there and seeing the spiral staircase and the gold and the mirrors on the wall. It’s not worth it, you need to parent him. Don’t show up. Tell him you’re not going to show up until he shapes up.”
Scarborough said Democrats should refuse to negotiate with Republicans unless they offer policies that voters have made clear they want.
“Republicans own Washington, D.C. — you should not give them a single vote in keeping the government running,” he said. “That’s their job, this is their government, this is their Congress, this is their presidency. The American people said they wanted Republicans to run Washington, D.C. — let them run Washington, D.C.”
the rich asshole is blaming Democrats for the apparent failure to reach a deal on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, but Scarborough said the president and Republicans aren’t negotiating in good faith.
“Don’t give them a single vote unless they give you a clean bill on Dreamers,” he said. “If you do, let me say again, you are too weak and too spineless and too stupid cowardly to be given control of Congress in 2018. Listen to the people in the streets, listen to the people that knock on doors, that are going to be making phone calls for you in 2018. Don’t do a deal with this guy. No DACA, no deal.”
BY BRENT BUDOWSKY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 01/16/18 10:45 AM EST 71
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
After Steve Bannon was quoted as saying that treason was committed at a meeting between the rich asshole officials and Russian officials at the rich asshole Tower in New York, the rich asshole moved to crush him with the aggression and cruelty that is a hallmark of the rich asshole presidency.
One can understand the rich asshole’s anger after Bannon’s earthshaking quotes were published in Michael Wolff’s game-changing book, “Fire and Fury." Bannon charged treason, one of the gravest crimes an American can commit, about a meeting including the rich asshole's son, son-in-law and former campaign manager in a building the rich asshole owns.
Viewed on the surface, the rich asshole’s scorched-earth attack against Bannon was successful, with Bannon departing from Breitbart shortly thereafter and the political world acknowledging that the rich asshole has far more power than Bannon in the world they both inhabit.
However, it is dangerously unwise for the president to attack and seek to destroy someone who will soon be testifying under oath before Congress and — more importantly — before Robert Mueller and his special counsel team about what he knows regarding the investigation that is engulfing his presidency. the rich asshole can crush Bannon in many ways, but he cannot control what Bannon will say to Mueller and Congress.
Whatever one thinks of Bannon’s politics, he is a voracious consumer of information and is very wired into the rich asshole circles. Whatever led Bannon to talk of treason, when he first learned about Russian support of the rich asshole he almost certainly made internal inquiries to learn what was going on.
I have never used the word “treason” to describe the rich asshole, his family or associates, but clearly there are grave matters under criminal investigation. There have already been indictments and plea bargains obtained by Mueller. There will probably be more soon.
the rich asshole’s tactic of cruel attacks against political opponents, his questioning of the patriotism of others, his attempts to destroy their livelihood and careers, may well contribute to a Democratic landslide in the midterm elections. But when applied to a witness in a criminal case involving his presidency, these tactics could be enormously self-destructive.
Here’s the big question as Bannon testifies: Under any circumstances, Steve Bannon will tell the truth in response to any questions he is directly asked by investigators. Almost certainly, that was always true. It is noteworthy that Bannon’s name has never been invoked as a potential suspect in the Russia case.
As I recently wrote here, it is possible that Bannon or others have been quietly talking to Mueller for some time, playing a confidential role similar to Deep Throat in the Watergate case.
If Bannon believes that word of that the rich asshole Tower meeting should have been immediately reported to the FBI as he told Wolff, did he know of any acts that compelled him to report them to the FBI, then or now?
The mega-question today, as Bannon testifies before the House Intelligence Committee and ultimately before Mueller and his special counsel team, is whether Bannon volunteers information about questions he is not asked.
While Bannon’s treason charge in “Fire and Fury” has received the most attention from the media, he was also quoted by Wolff about money laundering, which appears to be a significant target of the Mueller investigation. Bannon will definitely be asked by Mueller, and possibly Congress, exactly what he knows about money laundering that prompted him to make his comments quoted by Wolff.
While Bannon’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee will receive the most immediate attention from the media, the testimony he will ultimately give to Mueller will be far more important. After questioning Bannon about the matters that are known, investigators will almost certainly ask the usual question: "Is there is anything else we should know about?"
Most likely, because the House Intelligence Committee has been so infected by partisan House Republicans, the rich asshole will know what testimony Bannon offers to that committee, as one or more partisan Republicans on the committee will tip the president off.
However when Mueller and his team ultimately question the rich asshole directly, the president will not know what evidence Bannon did or did not provide to the special counsel team.
This creates potentially grave legal danger to the president, which is why the rich asshole may refuse to be questioned by Mueller and make a full-blown constitutional crisis front page news around the world.
Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.
Iowa voters laugh after GOP senator says the rich asshole is standing up for Norway
BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 01/16/18 09:15 AM EST
Voters in Iowa laughed when Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told them that President the rich asshole was standing up for countries like Norway.
Constituents asked Ernst what she would do to stand up to the rich asshole after his comments referring to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “shithole countries," KETV reported.
“He is standing up for a lot of the countries where we have seen some—” Ernst said before she was interrupted by a voter.
“Name a few, could you name a few?” one person called out.
“You bet. Norway is one of them,” Ernst replied before she was cut off by the room bursting into laughter.
“You know, you laugh but folks, who borders Norway? Russia,” the senator said.
the rich asshole is facing backlash for calling some nations “shithole countries” during a meeting on immigration and suggesting that the U.S. bring in more immigrants from countries like Norway.
He has denied making the comments, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who was present for the meeting, has confirmed the statements to reporters.
GOP Sens. David Perdue (Ga.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.), who were also in the meeting, said the rich asshole did not make the comments after initially saying they didn’t recall if he had made the remarks.
the rich asshole also hosted Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House last week.
Ernst did have one final comment to the network on the rich asshole.
"I wish he would put his phone down," Ernst said.
‘This is like Spinal Tap’: CNN panel ridicules the rich asshole demand for only red and pink Starburst candies
Alysin Camerota, Chris Cuomo -- screengrab
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A CNN panel reacted with smirks and laughter on Tuesday morning over a report that President some rich asshole loves House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) because he makes sure that the rich asshole is supplied with favorite red and strawberry Starburst candies – which are the only ones he will eat.
According to a Washington Post report, McCarthy learned about the rich asshole’s love of Starburst last fall when he was alone with the president in his suite aboard Air Force One, stating, “We’re there, having a little dessert, and he offers me some. Just the red and the pink.”
Noting the rich asshole will eat only the cherry and strawberry candies, the GOP leader tasked one of his staffers with picking through Starburst packs and pulling the pink and red ones out as a gift to the picky president.
CNN co-hosts Chris Cuomo and Alysin Camerota rolled their eyes and laughed at McCarthy’s method of sucking up to the president.
“It’s breakfast time and I wish we had some fruit because I do consider Starbursts a fruit group,” Camerota quipped before making a reference to a Reagan-era controversy. “Ketchup is a vegetable and Starbursts are a fruit. So the president apparently loves the pink and red Starbursts only.”
“He prefers those to Starbursts from Central and South America and Africa,” co-host Cuomo smirked.
“So, congressman Kevin McCarthy went to the trouble of buying a bunch of Starbursts and doing sort of a homemade craft project,” Camerota explained with co-host Cuomo adding, “Don’t forget — your tax dollars at work.”
“He got his staff to buy a bunch of Starbursts,” CNN contributor John Avlon added while laughing. “And some poor dude’s job was to sort through and take out everything except pink and red.”
“So House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and his staff went through and took out all those nasty yellow and orange ones,” Cuomo inserted.
“This is like Spinal Tap’s rider,” Avlon added, recalling the popular cult film, “only green M&M’s.”
“Here’s the part, “Camerota stated, “Congressman McCarthy has figured out the way to the president’s heart: Starbursts. And he sent over a jar with his name, his own name, Kevin McCarthy, on the side so when the president reaches for one he can remember. And guess what? It’s working. He and Kevin McCarthy do seem to have a bromance right now.”
Watch the video below via CNN:
Republicans want the rich asshole to sell tax cuts — but instead he’s rage-tweeting ‘Fox & Friends’: report
Pres. some rich asshole interviewed by Tucker Carlson (Screen capture)
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Republicans believe that President some rich asshole is a master salesman who can help them make the case that their recently passed tax cut bill is beneficial to all Americans.
However, as a new report from Axios makes clear, the rich asshole might have other ideas about what to do with his time.
Instead of going on a barnstorming tour of the country to sell tax cuts to the masses, the rich asshole seems more intent on litigating petty feuds and insulting political foes.
“The White House should be making the best use of their ultimate salesman and tool — some rich asshole and the power of the presidency — to sell its tax cuts, low unemployment and surging market,” writes Axios. “Instead, the rich asshole has Fox on the tube, and Twitter by his trigger finger.”
The trouble started when Michael Wolff’s explosive book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House,” hit bookshelves and quickly sold out. Axios’ sources say the rich asshole is still furious about the book, even though most people inside the White House would like to move on.
the rich asshole also made fresh problems for himself when he called African countries “sh*tholes” — and then had White House officials deny he made those remarks by insisting he only called them “sh*t houses” instead.
“What is the White House about right now?” a source close to the rich asshole asked Axios. “I don’t know.”
‘Why did NBC give him a show?’: Sarah Sanders says starring on ‘The Apprentice’ proves the rich asshole isn’t racist
Sarah Sanders (MSNBC/screen grab)
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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday suggested that the fact that President some rich asshole was on an NBC TV show and donated to Democrats is evidence that he’s not a racist.
While briefly speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Fox News White House correspondent asked Sanders why the president would not “show you’re not a racist [and] cut a deal on DACA [immigration reform].”
Sanders said that calling the rich asshole a racist is an “outrageous claim.”
“And frankly, I think if… the president were [SIC] who [Democrats] said he was, why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV?” Sanders asked. “Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg some rich asshole for money? If they are [SIC] who they want to portray him as, why did they want to be with him for years and years in various activities, whether it was events and fundraisers and other things.”
“I think it’s just and outrageous and ludicrous excuse,” she added. “And they need to get onboard and start actually doing what they were elected to do.”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
During remarks to reporters just now, @PressSec said NBC's relationship with Trump & the fact he donated to Dems is evidence he isn't racist.
"Why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV? Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg Donald Trump for money?"
Just when you thought the lawmakers involved in that “shithole countries” meeting at the White House on Thursday hadn't covered themselves in enough shame, here comes a new development.
The Washington Post reported Monday night that the source of the dispute is less about the thrust of President the rich asshole's “shithole” comment and more about the second syllable of that vulgar word. It turns out that the statement Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) issued that sounded as though it was crafted by a dozen lawyers was written that way for a reason: Cotton and Perdue, according to three White House sources, believe the rich asshole said “shithouse” rather than “shithole.” (The New York Times has a source saying the same thing.)
This is apparently all the difference that they needed to issue their statement, which assured that “we do not recall the president saying these comments specifically.” That last word lingers hugely; it means they get to deny one specific word and feel good about having been technically honest. Never mind that the second syllable of that word doesn't change the meaning of the rich asshole's comments one iota.
And it's hardly the first time we've found Cotton and Perdue contorting themselves to avoid confirming the gist of the rich asshole's comments. Both men appeared on the Sunday talk shows over the weekend and seemed to back off the “we do not recall” part of the statement. It seemed that their memories had been jogged enough to the point where they could now say pretty definitively that the rich asshole hadn't said “shithole countries.”
Here's Cotton on CBS's “Face the Nation”: “I did not hear derogatory comments about ... individuals or persons, no.”
And here's Perdue on ABC's “This Week”: “The gross misrepresentation [of the meeting] 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.”
Cotton's comment seems to rely upon the idea that the rich asshole attacked only countries and not specifically the people who come from them, which ... okay. Perdue's, meanwhile, seems to indicate that not only did he recall what had been said, but that he could now rule out some specific language that had been reported as coming from the rich asshole's mouth. Apparently he means that “shithouse” was used but “shithole” wasn't.
It's clear what game is being played here. Lawmakers who are dealing with a fickle and unpredictable president are doing whatever they can to remain in his good graces so they can guide his immigration position (and possibly become his CIA director). If that means offering misleading-if-technically-defensible statements about what happened Thursday, it seems that's a small price to pay.
But what's as telling about all of this is what's left unsaid: Basically anything specific about that meeting. Cotton and Perdue are describing what they didn't hear in very general terms, and they are assiduously avoiding saying anything specific about what the rich asshole did say. This despite the White House not having denied The Washington Post's report in real time, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) describing the “shithole countries” comment publicly, and those in the meeting privately confirming it to other lawmakers, including Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
But they aren't the only ones who are tellingly avoiding the specifics. So is the Republican who served as Scott's source and has otherwise tacitly confirmed the rich asshole's comments. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) has spoken publicly about the meeting and about rebuking the rich asshole to his face. But Graham has repeatedly declined to confirm the specific language. His statement Friday didn't address the root of the dispute, and he still declined to confirm it over the holiday weekend. As The Post's Josh Dawsey, Robert Costa and Ashley Parker report:
Graham declined to comment on the president’s reported obscenity. He has told others in his circle that commenting would only hurt the chance of a deal and that he wants to keep a relationship with the president.
Graham is being praised in some corners for reportedly standing up to the rich asshole in the meeting and for apparently confirming the “shithole countries” remark privately to Scott. He seems to hope that's good enough. But we still have no public confirmation from a Republican in that meeting that the rich asshole said what Graham seems to agree he said. And to an American public and a GOP base that is inclined to disbelieve the mainstream media and what Democrats say, that means lots of people won't believe the rich asshole actually said it.
And in the end, Graham is really just playing a version of the same game that Cotton and Perdue are. It may help him get the immigration deal he wants, but it won't help the country reconcile this troubling episode involving the president.
some rich asshole Resubmits 21 Judicial Nominations, So Terrible that Even Republican Senate Allowed to Expire
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By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTJAN. 16, 2018
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Stephen K. Bannon arrived to testify before the House Intelligence Committee during a closed-door session on Tuesday. Credit Joshua Roberts/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Stephen K. Bannon, President the rich asshole’s former chief strategist, was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between some rich asshole’s associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of some rich asshole’s inner circle. The special counsel’s office has used subpoenas before to seek information on some rich asshole’s associates and their possible ties to Russia or other foreign governments.
The subpoena could be a negotiating tactic. Mr. Mueller is likely to allow Mr. Bannon to forgo the grand jury appearance if he agrees to instead be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel’s offices in Washington, according to the person, who would not be named discussing the case. But it was not clear why Mr. Mueller treated Mr. Bannon differently than the dozen administration officials who were interviewed in the final months of last year and were never served with a subpoena.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bannon testified behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russia.
Mr. Mueller issued the subpoena after Mr. Bannon was quoted in a new book criticizing some rich asshole, saying that some rich asshole Jr.’s 2016 meeting with Russians was “treasonous” and predicting that the special counsel investigation would ultimately center on money laundering.
After excerpts from the book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House,” were published this month, some rich asshole derided Mr. Bannon publicly and threatened to sue him for defamation. Mr. Bannon was soon ousted as the executive chairman of the hard-right website Breitbart News.
Some legal experts said the subpoena could be a sign that the investigation was intensifying, while others said it may simply have been a negotiating tactic to persuade Mr. Bannon to cooperate with the investigation. The experts also said it could be a signal to Mr. Bannon, who has tried to publicly patch up his falling-out with the president, that despite some rich asshole’s legal threats, Mr. Bannon must be completely forthcoming with investigators.
Prosecutors generally prefer to interview witnesses before a grand jury when they believe they have information that the witnesses do not know or when they think they might catch the witnesses in a lie. It is much easier for a witness to stop the questioning or sidestep questions in an interview than during grand jury testimony, which is transcribed, and witnesses are required to answer every question.
“By forcing someone to testify through a subpoena, you are providing the witness with cover because they can say, ‘I had no choice — I had to go in and testify about everything I knew,’” said Solomon L. Wisenberg, a prosecutor for the independent counsel that investigated Bill Clinton when he was president.
Significant grand jury activity may undermine the case that White House officials have made for months: that they believe the inquiry is coming to an end and are convinced that the president will be cleared. Mr. Mueller has told some rich asshole’s lawyers that he will probably want to question the president before the investigation concludes, but no interview has been scheduled.
Mr. Bannon has limited firsthand knowledge about two key issues within Mr. Mueller’s purview — the president’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, a decision made without Mr. Bannon present, and the drafting of a misleading statement about the subject of the June 2016 meeting with Russians, in which they promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
But even Mr. Bannon’s secondhand knowledge could be used to draw a contrast with statements from people with firsthand knowledge whom Mr. Mueller has already interviewed. And Mr. Bannon was directly involved in a number of other major moments, including the decision-making around the firing of Michael T. Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser, who was dismissed after he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about phone calls with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition.
Mr. Bannon also helped run the transition after Chris Christie, the outgoing governor of New Jersey, was fired as head of that team. And Mr. Bannon was the chief executive of the rich asshole campaign in October 2016 when WikiLeaks began releasing thousands of stolen personal emails from the hacked account of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.
In “Fire and Fury,” Mr. Bannon was quoted by the author, Michael Wolff, as suggesting that some rich asshole Jr.; the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner; and Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman at the time, were “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” for attending the meeting with Russians at the rich asshole Tower. Mr. Bannon said that he believed there was “zero” chance that the younger some rich asshole did not take them to meet his father, who has said he knew nothing about the meeting.
Bannon’s Megaphone at Breitbart Goes Mute
Stephen Bannon, President the rich asshole's former chief strategist, is stepping down from his post as executive chairman at Breitbart News, the right-wing website he used as a mouthpiece.
By CHRIS CIRILLO on Publish DateJanuary 5, 2018. Photo by Lexey Swall for The New York Times. Watch in Times Video »
“The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside the rich asshole Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers,” Mr. Bannon said in the book.
some rich asshole erupted in anger after the excerpts were published, calling Mr. Bannon “Sloppy Steve” on Twitter and saying he had “cried when he got fired and begged for his job.”
“Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone,” some rich asshole wrote. “Too bad!”
Days after the excerpts were published, a statement was issued in Mr. Bannon’s name in which he tried to back away from his assertions in the book. He said that his reference to treason was aimed at Mr. Manafort, not the president’s son. Mr. Bannon did not apologize, however, and though he had approved the statement, an associate sent it to reporters without his knowledge.
The president appeared to ease his anger toward Mr. Bannon at the end of last week. When asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal whether his break with Mr. Bannon was “permanent,” the president replied, “I don’t know what the word ‘permanent’ means.”
People close to Mr. Bannon took the president’s comments as a signal that some rich asshole was aware that his fired strategist would soon be contacted by investigators.
some rich asshole has a history of reaching out to people he has fired, including those under investigation, directly or indirectly, as he did with Mr. Flynn after he was dismissed and before he struck a plea deal with Mr. Mueller’s investigators.
Mr. Bannon has hired William A. Burck of the Washington office of the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan law firm to represent him in the defamation threats from some rich asshole and the congressional inquiries. Mr. Burck also represents several current and former administration officials who have been interviewed as witnesses by Mr. Mueller’s investigators. Among them are the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, and the former White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus.
Matt Apuzzo contributed reporting from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York.
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Get your own umbrella! some rich asshole leaves his rain-soaked family to fend for themselves
Unconcerned US president leaves family to get drenched as they board Air Force One.
- By Roger Baird
For some rich asshole, being the commander-in-chief means that you get sole command of the presidential umbrella.
Photos show the US president bounding up the gangway to board Air Force One in rainy Florida weather with his wife Melania, 47, and youngest son Barron, 11, trooping behind him unprotected from the rain.
the rich asshole, 71, clearly had too much on his mind to think about family welfare at Palm Beach International Airport.
It is unclear whether he offered space under his giant-sized umbrella to his wife or son at any point as they prepared to leave his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.
Another photo shows a fastidious the rich asshole closing his umbrella once inside the aircraft to ensure that at no point would he – or his famous hair – have to bear the full force of the winter weather.
Over the weekend, a holiday to mark Martin Luther King Day on Monday (15 January), protesters massed near his winter White House retreat to protest against the latest presidential controversy over deeply negative comments he was alleged to have made about Haiti and African nations.
A racism row broke out after the president reportedly used the word "shithole" to describe certain developing world countries.
He was said to have used the term during a bipartisan Oval Office meeting on immigration reform last week.
He reportedly said: "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" He argued instead that the US should encourage migrants from countries such as Norway.
He denied using that term although he did admit to "tough" language.
He told reporters yesterday: "I am not a racist. I'm the least racist person you have ever interviewed."
Pastor says the rich asshole’s denials are ‘precisely what racists do’: ‘It takes an asshole to know what a shithole is’
Stephanie Ruhle speaks to Mark Thompson (MSNBC/screen grab)
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Pastor Mark Thompson told MSNBC on Tuesday that evidence is mounting to show that President some rich asshole is a racist.
During a panel discussion on MSNBC, host Stephanie Ruhle noted that the rich asshole had recently declared himself “the least racist person” after he reportedly used “shithole” or a similar term to describe African countries.
“We’ve heard that before,” Thompson explained. “We know that’s not true. Who even talks that way? I’m beginning to think [he is racist].”
“the rich asshole plays those [racial] cards and it may be even to sabotage this whole [immigration] deal,” he added. “Because he’s sending a message to that base, to his base that this is what I really think about the people we’re discussing, working out a deal for, providing DACA for and what have you.”
According to Thompson, the rich asshole’s actions are “precisely what racists do.”
“Not to mention the fact, it takes an A-hole to know what a S-hole is,” the pastor pointed out.
“What is the definition of an S-hole country?” Thompson asked Ruhle. “Does it contain people who are tired or poor or huddled masses yearning to breathe free? Because if that’s what he means, that’s the same thing everyone wants. A better life. That’s what the Statue of Liberty cries out.”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
Dems say they have 50 votes in Senate to overrule net neutrality repeal
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 01/16/18 08:49 AM EST
Senate Democrats have put together 50 votes for a measure meant to block the Federal Communications Commission's December decision to end net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration.
Democrats are just one GOP vote shy of the 51-vote threshold for a Senate resolution of disapproval, which would strike down the FCC's December rules change.
“With full caucus support,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, “it’s clear that Democrats are committed to fighting to keep the internet from becoming the Wild West where ISPs are free to offer premium service to only the wealthiest customers while average consumers are left with far inferior options.”
The Democrats' effort won the support of its first Republican backer, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), last Tuesday.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), also celebrated the bill's 50th co-sponsor in a statement Tuesday.
“There is a tsunami of Congressional and grassroots support to overturn the FCC’s partisan and misguided decision on net neutrality,” Markey said.
"Republicans now have a clear choice — be on the right side of history and stand with the American people who support a free and open internet, or hold hands with the special interests who want to control the internet for their own profit."
The measure, if it passes the Senate, faces a murky future as it would have to pass the GOP-held House and get President the rich asshole's signature to go into effect.
Lawmakers have a window of 60 days from the FCC's December 14 decision to repeal the new regulations under the Congressional Review Act. Ten senators joined the effort to roll back the FCC's decision in just the last week, The Washington Post reports.
Opposition to the decision to end net neutrality was high in the months leading up to the decision, leading to threatening phone calls and death threats for members including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
“I understand that people are passionate about policy, but the one thing in America that should remain sacred is that families, wives and kids should remain out of it,” Pai said on Fox News in November. “And stop harassing us at our homes.”
Net neutrality advocates have also turned to state governments following the December FCC decision, with some states such as New York filing suit against the rich asshole administration over the rollback of the Obama-era rules.
“Today’s new rule would enable ISPs to charge consumers more to access sites like Facebook and Twitter and give them the leverage to degrade [the] high quality of video streaming until and unless somebody pays them more money. Even worse, today’s vote would enable ISPs to favor certain viewpoints over others,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) argued in a statement on the decision.
“The FCC just gave Big Telecom an early Christmas present, by giving internet service providers yet another way to put corporate profits over consumers,” he added.
Updated at 10:08 a.m.
‘the rich asshole has revealed who he is’: Former Bush speechwriter shreds cowardly GOPers who lie to protect the rich asshole
Sen. Tom Cotton (KATV)
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In a scathing commentary in the Washington Post, a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush tore into Republicans who continue to stay silent as some rich asshole’s administration descends into chaos and questions about his competency arise.
Coming on the heels of the president’s recent comments about Haiti and African nations — calling them “shitholes” — speechwriter Michael Gerson asked his fellow Republicans when enough will be enough.
“Sometimes it is necessary to begin with the obvious. The claim that America needs more Norwegian immigrants and fewer Africans from ‘shithole countries’ is racist. It is not the same as arguing for a higher-skilled immigrant pool. That argument might go something like: ‘We need a higher-skilled immigrant pool.'” Gerson began.
“On this issue, the rich asshole has not earned a single benefit of the doubt. His racial demagoguery in the Central Park Five case . . . his attribution of Kenyan citizenship to Barack Obama . . . his references to Mexican migrants as rapists and murderers . . . his unconstitutional attempt at a Muslim ban . . . his moral equivocation following the deadly protests in Charlottesville . . . his statement, reported by the New York Times, that Nigerians would never ‘go back to their huts’ after seeing America . . . all of these constitute an elaborate pattern of bigotry. the rich asshole makes off-hand racist comments, he promotes racist stereotypes and he incites racism as a political strategy,” he continued.
Admitting that it is still difficult for him to write, “The President of the United States is a racist,” Gerson said it is time to admit: “the rich asshole has revealed who he is. Now we reveal who we are.”
According to the former speechwriter, the time has come for Republican leaders to step forward and show some courage.
“The perfunctory criticisms, self-indicting silences, half-hearted defenses and obvious lies provided by most elected Republicans have been embarrassing and discrediting,” he wrote. “Loyalty to the rich asshole now consists of defending the indefensible. His advocates are becoming desensitized to moral corruption. They are losing the ability to believe in anything, even in their own courage.”
“the rich asshole is at war with the central ideal of the Republic — a vision of strength through inclusion and equality that makes our country special and exceptional,” he continued. “The president is wrong — repeatedly and offensively wrong — on the centerpiece question of our history: Are there gradations in the image of God? The only acceptable, only American answer is ‘no.'”
“This debate will now be decided on countless private battlefields of conscience. We have been called to be part of the long American story, to help determine the nature and promise of our country,” Gerson concluded. “It is both an honor and a burden. We have no idea how this struggle will unfold. But we know how it must end: with a president who raises our sights instead of lowering our standards.”
You can read the whole commentary here.
John Kelly convinced the rich asshole to kill bipartisan DACA deal to save his ‘agenda’: report
FILE PHOTO: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly (L) listens to U.S. President some rich asshole during a meeting with cyber security experts in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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According to a moment-by-moment report of the contentious White House meeting over immigration reform, the Washington Post is reporting that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly had President some rich asshole’s ear and convinced him to scuttle a bipartisan deal on DACA.
While the rich asshole’s comments about Haiti and African nations being “sh*tholes” got all the media attention — with the Post now reporting Kelly didn’t even blink when the rich asshole said it — little has been reported on why the rich asshole killed the deal which has infuriated Republicans and Democrats alike.
The report states that Kelly was briefed on the proposed bipartisan deal before the meeting and spoke with president before he sat down with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
According to the Post, Kelly “talked to the rich asshole to tell him that the proposal would probably not be good for his agenda,” adding that Kelly has provided the rich asshole with major input on immigration following his brief stint as secretary of Homeland Security. The report also states one official claims Kelly has “very strong feelings,” when it comes to immigration.
According to the report, “White House officials say Kelly is determined to secure a deal on dreamers and border security and has told the rich asshole that the southwestern border is worse than it was a few years ago — and that he can be the president to change the status quo.”
Anti-immigrant activist Mark Krikorian, who runs the Center for Immigration Studies, is happy the deal was scuttled, saying, “Once we saw what was going on in the meeting a few days earlier, we were freaked out,” before adding the rich asshole “has hawkish instincts on immigration, but they aren’t well-developed, and he hasn’t ever been through these kind of legislative fights.”
You can read the whole insider report on the meeting
White House: the rich asshole remarks didn't derail shutdown talks
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 01/16/18 09:32 AM EST
The White House on Tuesday pushed back on the notion that President the rich asshole’s “shithole countries” comments derailed negotiations on immigration and spending.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed Democrats for the stalled talks.
“I think they’re using it as an excuse not to help this president get something accomplished, which I think is a sad day for our country,” she told reporters outside the West Wing.
She accused Democrats of being too “willing to throw away the progress in negotiations” on government funding, defense spending and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
the rich asshole set off a firestorm in Washington last week when he reportedly used vulgar and insulting language to describe immigrants from certain countries during an Oval Office meeting.
The president was speaking with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who offered a compromise on DACA, the Obama-era program that protected young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children that the rich asshole rescinded last year.
the rich asshole tweeted Monday that Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) — whom he called "Dicky" — "totally misrepresented" his comments. Durbin was part of the group that met with the rich asshole and later described his comments to the press.
Sanders said claims that the rich asshole is racist are "outrageous, adding if that was the case, then "why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV? Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg some rich asshole for money?"
Sanders said claims that the rich asshole is racist are "outrageous, adding if that was the case, then "why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV? Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg some rich asshole for money?"
She was referring to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The DACA negotiations have been tied to spending talks, which have also hit a snag following the rich asshole’s comments saying certain immigrants were coming from "shithole countries."
Lawmakers must pass a funding bill by Jan. 19 or the government will shut down.
GOP strategist explains why Bannon may betray ‘wounded and crazy’ the rich asshole at today’s hearing
White House chief strategist and former Breitbart.com executive Steve Bannon. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Former White House political strategist Steve Bannon is testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday — and Republican strategist Rick Wilson thinks there’s a good chance he could turn on his former boss.
Writing on Twitter, Wilson explains that Bannon at this point has nothing to lose after being ousted from his job at Breitbart News and having his Sirius XM radio show cancelled.
However, Wilson also believes that Bannon could back stab President some rich asshole and his family for an even more basic reason: He realizes that they’re hurting his agenda.
“Is Bannon’s nationalist populism better served by a constantly wounded, defensive, and crazy the rich asshole than by a clean resolution of things like Russia?” Wilson wonders.
Additionally, Wilson notes that Bannon has a “white-hot hatred” of the rich asshole son-in-law Jared Kushner, which he thinks might lead him to seek revenge “regardless of any other factor.”
In Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the the rich asshole White House,” Bannon said he thought special counsel Robert Mueller would nail Kushner and some rich asshole Jr. on money laundering charges — and then use them to get to President the rich asshole.
In the wake of those comments, the rich asshole publicly raged at Bannon and the the rich asshole White House urged Breitbart to consider firing the rich asshole’s one-time political ally.
Read Wilson’s whole tweet storm below.
3/ is bannon's nationalist populism better served by a constantly wounded, defensive, and crazy Trump than by a clean resolution of things like Russia?
the rich asshole tweets 'Russian Collusion Hoax is dead' as Bannon set to testify
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 01/16/18 09:54 AM EST
President the rich asshole declared Tuesday that allegations that his campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election were "dead" as his former chief strategist was set to testify before a House panel on the matter.
"Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative," the rich asshole tweeted. "The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!"
Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative. The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!
the rich asshole has repeatedly denied the notion that his campaign coordinated with the Russians to influence the 2016 race and has accused Democrats of improper collusion with the FBI.
His latest comments came as former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon was set to testify before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
Bannon, who was once one of the rich asshole's closest advisers, fell out of the president's graces this month after his comments in a controversial tell-all book about the rich asshole White House were revealed.
That book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House" by Michael Wolff, quotes Bannon calling a 2016 meeting between some rich asshole Jr. and a Russian lawyer "treasonous."
Following the publication of the remarks, Bannon was ousted from his job as the executive chair of Breitbart News.
Russian interference in the election and possible collusion between the rich asshole campaign and Moscow is also the subject of a criminal investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. So far, that probe has led to the indictments of two former the rich asshole campaign associates, Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, who are facing charges, including money laundering, tax evasion and failing to register as foreign agents.
Two other former campaign officials, Michael Flynn, the president's first national security adviser, and George Papadopoulos, have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russian representatives.
FBI agents fear GOP lawmakers will expose informants in partisan fight over the rich asshole-Russia probe
President some rich asshole addresses a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28, 2017, as VP Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan applaud. Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Image via AP
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With some Republican lawmakers seemingly at war with the FBI over the rich asshole-Russia probe, some agents increasingly fear the GOP will blow informants’ cover in their crusade to protect President some rich asshole.
Current and former law enforcement officials tell Bloomberg that “the Justice Department’s decision to give congressional Republicans access to documents about FBI investigations risks exposing sensitive sources.”
One FBI agent tells Bloomberg that he’s so worried about lawmakers exposing his sources that he would be reluctant to include sensitive information that could be used to identify informants in future reports. A second agent, meanwhile, says that they’ve had a harder time getting informants to open up recently thanks to the rich asshole’s public attacks on the FBI.
The spat over FBI documents is being seen within the agency as a vital test for new FBI Director Christopher Wray, who is being pressured by agents to resist handing over information that could compromise agents’ sources.
Additionally, Bloomberg’s sources say agents fear that these documents could be used to purge the FBI of all agents who do not pledge their personal loyalty to the rich asshole.
Ex-US attorney: Size of the rich asshole porn star payouts shows he has something to hide
Adult film performer Jessica Drake says some rich asshole offered $10,000 to have sex with her (Screen capture)
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Appearing with fellow lawyer Ari Melber on MSNBC Monday afternoon, a former U.S. attorney was skeptical that a payout given to an adult film star by President some rich asshole’s personal attorney wasn’t as innocent as the White House would prefer people believe.
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the rich asshole’s longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, paid actress Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name was Stormy Daniels, a sum of $130,000 in October 2016. Following that disclosure The Daily Beast said another star entered into an agreement with the rich asshole’s attorney, and that detailed were shielded by a non-disclosure agreement.
According to ex-federal attorney Joyce Vance, the NDA’s and the amount of money dispensed should raise eyebrows — and those NDA’s may not be ironclad.
“These non-disclosure agreements are a pretty standard way of resolving a sexual harassment lawsuit,” Vance began. “But in this case, it doesn’t look like a lawsuit or threat of a lawsuit but an effort to silence these women in at least one case on the eve of an election. These are contracts, they’re state law documents, so they’re governed by the law of the state in which they’re entered into and that raises interesting questions about what would happen if one of the parties breached them and what sort of law governs.”
“I wonder if, just in big picture, you could put it into perspective for our viewers here, the scale of, ‘this is totally false, I’m going to sue anyone who says it,’ which is what the rich asshole was saying at the time while running against Hillary Clinton and paying someone off,” Melber asked.
“Even though the president has said none of these allegations are true, this is a large type of payout” Vance ventured. “Too large, really, for us to accept the idea that there’s not some truth or not some story here that he wants to have shelved.”
“And, in addition to that, there are, as you pointed out, some others who heard contemporaneously or who were present, who aren’t bound by the non-disclosure agreements, so ultimately, the truth will come out one way or the other,” she added.
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
some rich asshole just promoted a 24-year-old campaign staffer to lead fight against opioids
Taylor Weyeneth and some rich asshole (Linkedin)
January 14, 2018
Lauren Gill
Posted with permission from Newsweek
The Trump administration office in charge of combating the opioid epidemic has been hit so hard by departing staff members that officials elevated a 24-year-old to help get the job done.
A year after finishing college at New York’s St. John’s University, Taylor Weyeneth was promoted to deputy-chief-of-staff at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the office responsible for the government’s billion-dollar anti-drug campaigns and fighting the opioid epidemic, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Before shooting to the top of the ONDCP, Weyeneth acted as a White House liaison and his only prior professional experience was working on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The Post also uncovered that Weyeneth had falsely stated he had a Masters degree in Political Science from Fordham University on three of his résumés. He has yet to complete his degree, according to school officials.
202-224-3121
The White House attributed his sudden rise to a large number of staff turnovers, with at least seven of the administration’s appointees departing, the office’s spokesman, William Eason told The Post. Among them were the general counsel and acting chief-of-staff, some of whose duties were taken over by Weyeneth, according to a memo obtained by The Post.
“ONDCP leadership recognizes that we have lost a few talented staff members and that the organization would benefit from an infusion of new expert staff,” said a January 3 memo from acting director Richard Baum. “The functions of the Chief of Staff will be picked up by me and the Deputy Chief of Staff.”
The White House had hired Weyeneth in March “after seeing his passion and commitment on the issue of opioids and drug addiction,” an official told The Post. Weyeneth was said to have been moved by a relative’s death from a heroin overdose several years ago.
After being contacted by the newspaper, the official said the 24-year-old would return to his role as White House liaison for ONDCP. Weyeneth had allegedly only been performing administrative work and was not involved in any policy decisions, according to the official.
It is unclear when Weyeneth returned to his original posting and his LinkedIn page still reads that he is employed as a deputy chief-of-staff.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
’Ridiculous!’: CNN’s Boykin shouts down GOPer over ‘nonsense’ claim that the rich asshole makes black people’s lives better
Carrie Sheffield, Keith Boykin -- screenshot
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A former aide to President Bill Clinton recited a comprehensive list of President some rich asshole’s history of racism on CNN Monday morning after a conservative commentator claimed the lives of African-Americans were improving under the president’s leadership.
According to conservative Carrie Sheffield, Republicans and the president could do better reaching out to minorities, but overall things have improved for them during the rich asshole administration.
“I would love to see more unifying language coming from the Republican leadership, I’d love to see it coming from the president,” Sheffield explained. “But I do think it is also important to look again at the policies and see how the lives of African-Americans have been improved.”
Coming on the heels of the rich asshole’s comments about “sh*thole” African nations, and with Sheffield making the claim on Martin Luther King Day, Keith Boykin called her comments “ridiculous” and launched in to an attack on the President.
“This nonsense that is going on out here from Carrie, this is ridiculous,” Boykin explained as her turned to the rich asshole’s bogus claims about black unemployment.
“He lied about the African-American unemployment rate!” Boykin strongly asserted. “And then as soon as he got in office, he inherited the declining unemployment numbers and he took credit for what President Obama did. That’s disgusting, it’s abhorrent and the president should apologize to President Obama, not only for the lies about the birth certificate, but about the lies about the African-American community that he continues to spread!”
Addressing Sheffield, the CNN commentator scolded her for making demonstrably untrue statements.
“And you Carrie, to sit here and defend this, when you should know because you’re a smart person who studied the statistics, you should know that the president did nothing, has not lifted a finger to help the African-American community,” Boykin lectured. “I don’t want to hear any nonsense about taking credit for things that President Obama did unless he acknowledges that President Obama had some role in doing that.”
You can watch the video below via CNN:
Data on Canadian immigrants from ‘sh*thole’ countries might surprise the rich asshole
President some rich asshole. (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
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Defenders of some rich asshole say his “shithole countries” remark regarding people from Africa, Haiti and other nations was just the rich asshole being the rich asshole — the president may have used salty language, but it’s really just his way of saying the United States should have a merit-based immigration system like Canada’s.
A generous interpretation of the rich asshole’s comments are that immigrants from certain so-called “shithole” countries — African nations, Haiti and El Salvador — are not typically highly skilled or economically self-reliant, and if admitted would need to depend on the state.
In fact, the rich asshole apologists — and the president himself — might be surprised by what the economic data says about immigrants who come to Canada from the “shithole” countries.
John Fredericks, who was the rich asshole’s campaign chair in Virginia, told CNN that immigrants from those countries “come into the United States and they do nothing to increase the prosperity of the American worker. They lower wages or go on welfare and extend our entitlement system …. Australia and Canada have a merit-based system. You know why they do that? Because they want to bring people into their country who are going to enhance the prosperity of their citizens.”
the rich asshole himself tweeted a similar sentiment.
The conclusion we are expected to make, it seems, is that if the United States was to adopt a purely merit-based system, immigrants would not come from these countries — they would come from countries like Norway, and immigrants from these Norway-like countries would not put pressure on blue-collar U.S. workers because they would be highly skilled and, more importantly, they wouldn’t be a drain on the system because they would be economically self-reliant.
A merit-based system
Canada offers an opportunity to take a look at this hypothesis because our points-based immigration system screens immigrants on merit to a large degree. So when we screen immigrants on merit, who do we let in and how do they do?
The first thing to note is that Canada admits many immigrants from the “shithole” countries.
Data from the 2016 Census shows over the last five years there have been more than twice as many immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean (which includes Haiti and El Salvador) than there were from the U.S. There were also more immigrants from the African continent than from the U.S. and North and Western Europe combined.
Clearly a merit-based system does not mean we only admit people from the “Norways” of the world — and in fact, the census data shows only 230 people immigrated from Norway over the five-year period.
The next question is how do these immigrants fare?
To look more closely at this, I used individual 2011 Canadian census data (detailed 2016 data isn’t yet available) to look at three groups: Canadians whose families have been here for three generations or longer; immigrants from the “Norways” of the world (Northern and Western Europe, including the U.K., Germany, and Scandanavia) and immigrants from the rich asshole’s “shithole” countries (Central America, the Caribbean, Africa).
I looked at the skill levels of the different groups, as measured by their education level, and then at their economic self-sufficiency: Employment, wages and how much they receive in transfers and employment benefits from the government.
Let’s start with skill level.
Forty per cent of Canadians who have been here for three generations or longer have at least some post-secondary education, and 18 per cent have a bachelor’s degree. By comparison, a much larger percentage of immigrants of either type (53 per cent) have some post-secondary, and 27 per cent of immigrants from “Shitholes” have a bachelor’s degree. So by this standard measure of skill, immigrants from “Shitholes” have a slightly higher skill level than do immigrants from “Norways,” and a much higher skill level on average than Canadians who have been here for generations.
What about self-sufficiency?
It is commonly argued that immigrants, particularly from poorer countries, are “expensive” because they receive a disproportionate amount of government transfers and unemployment benefits. The truth is, though Canadians who have been here for generations are more likely to be employed and earn (slightly) more on average than either immigrant group, immigrants from the “Shitholes” are far more likely to be employed than immigrants from the “Norways.”
Fewer transfer payments
Perhaps more interestingly, immigrants from the “Shitholes” receive fewer transfer payments from all levels of government than “Norwegian” immigrants.
Finally, looking at employment insurance benefits alone, Canadians who have been here for generations receive more than either group.
What can we say about these numbers?
Firstly, immigrants from the “Shithole” countries are not typically low skill and in principle, should not be putting pressure on employment or wages of blue-collar workers in Canada. Then why is this such a common perception?
It’s likely due to a different issue, that high-skilled immigrants are unable to get high-skill jobs for other reasons (discrimination in the labour market, an inability of employers to recognize or evaluate credentials, or even language issues) and then do end up competing with lower-skilled Canadian workers.
Secondly, immigrants from the “Shithole” countries are generally no more dependent on the state than other Canadians. Though they earn less than those from the “Norway” countries, they are more likely to be employed and they receive less total government transfer payments.
Many differences
As an economist, it’s important to state that we shouldn’t interpret these relationships between country of origin and economic outcomes as causal — workers from different countries are different for many reasons (demographics like age, as well as occupation, etc).
But that doesn’t at all affect the main point — the rich asshole’s perception of the differences in the average immigrant from countries like Haiti and Norway is at the very least a consequence ignorance, or as many have suggested, racism.
One thing that can’t be rationalized by the raw numbers here: The course of history and the current plight of many of the “shithole” countries is at least partly a consequence of U.S. foreign policies, that the position of relative economic superiority of the U.S. is partly an outcome of these policies, and that this above all might imply a moral obligation on the part of the U.S. when deciding who to let in and from where.
By Arvind Magesan, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Calgary
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Image: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Flickr Creative Commons)
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A Fox News op-ed published this week argued that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the wrong time for NFL players to protest systemic racism by taking a knee during the national anthem.
In his op-ed, writer Jeremy Hunt argues that the media has seized upon the holiday “as yet another opportunity to further sow the division and partisan polarization already plaguing our country.”
Hunt complains:
The New Yorker magazine decided to use Dr. King to touch on the continuing raw nerve that is NFL’s national anthem protests, with its cover depicting Dr. King kneeling alongside Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett, two of the instrumental leaders in the controversy. The cover’s artist, Mark Ulriksen, says the inspiration for it came after he asked himself: “what would King be doing if her were around today?”He goes on to say: “How would you feel if you had to show up at work every day and salute a country that treats black people like second-class citizens? I’m glad that Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett are making it political. I’m sure that if King were around today, he’d be disappointed at the slow pace of progress…”On a day designed for public service and national unity, some in the media insist on making it about politics.
“The sad thing is that the crucial point being missed amid all of this is that it is precisely Dr. King’s teachings that we ought to embrace in order to combat the very forces of division the media seems determined to encourage and enflame,” Hunt writes. “It will take strength not to retaliate when people demonize other Americans just because of their political differences.”
“Regardless of the national anthem debate, we can all at least agree that when Dr. King knelt—he knelt in prayer,” the author concludes. “Let this day serve as a reminder that now—more than ever—we should follow his example and pray that someday America would lay aside bitterness and contempt and, instead, choose unity and understanding.”
AFTER “SHITHOLE”-GATE, THE ALT-RIGHT SADLY LOVES THE RICH ASSHOLE MORE THAN EVER
The president’s slurs sparked widespread cultural outrage—and the right took advantage of it.
On the far right, however, the president’s use of the word “shithole” was largely celebrated as Trumpism in its purest, most puerile form. “some rich asshole’s first instinct that ‘shithole’ would play well with his base was spot on,” Kurt Bardella, a longtime Republican press relations professional and the former spokesman for Breitbart News, told me. “No issue throughout the past two decades has had a more energizing and mobilizing effect on the conservative base and media than immigration.”
Indeed, the digital redoubts of the far-right were buzzing with excitement to see all their favorite adversaries—Democrats, celebrities, CNN anchors—so apoplectic. Responses ranged from from the farfetched and bizarre, like Fox News host Jesse Watters, who noted, “this is how the forgotten men and women in America talk at the bar,” to much, much worse. Some, such as one Infowars editor, rejoiced that the rich asshole had validated their beliefs that such countries were dumps. “the rich asshole is more or less on the same page as us with regards to race and immigration,” an editor at the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer wrote, calling the rich asshole’s comments “encouraging and refreshing.” Gateway Pundit, an ostensible news site more prone to spouting conspiracy theories, gleefully shared images and video of starving Venezuelans in an apparent, and ghastly, effort to prove the president correct. (The president, notably, did not mention Venezuala in his crude remarks.) On MLK Day, the site offered an even more outrageous argument: “Martin Luther King Jr. Would Have Stood With the rich asshole: He Didn’t Want Migrants From The Third World Here Either.”
Breitbart, meanwhile, gleefully published stories about outraged, reliably liberal Hollywood celebrities(singling out Sean Penn at one point), as well as a host of triggered journalists from the “Shithole of Fake News.” Infowars decided to take a cultural angle, writing up unaffiliated news stories and inserting “shithole” in the head for no intelligible reason. (“State Dept. Warns: Avoid Travel to Shithole Countries.”)
They all seemed to share a similar strategy. Given the inarguable ghastliness of the rich asshole’s comments, the far right focused less on the indefensible statement itself than how seriously the left and media were taking the incident, a collective behavior that they attempted to portray as sanctimonious umbrage. “What they’re doing is focusing on the idea that, well, is it rude to say that x impoverished country is a shithole?“ said Will Sommer, a campaign editor at The Hill and the author of the Right Richter newsletter. The public hand-wringing over whether to print the word “shithole” merely fueled the right’s apparent glee. “I can tell you this is all faux rage…It is made up,” Rush Limbaugh seethed to his listeners, in a segment that was temporarily pushed on Breitbart’s front page. “It is for the cameras. It’s for the microphones. It’s for the audience.”
CNN, reliably, got the worst of it. “CNN Has Been Possessed by S**hole-Gate,” the Daily Caller marveled at one point, eventually posting a supercut video of all the times that CNN anchors said “shithole” on live television. And as several G.O.P. senators came forward to insist the president had not made those statements, and the White House itself sought to play them down, the rich asshole’s most ardent supporters happily saw an opening. “‘SHITHOLE’ COMMENTS WERE FAKE FUCKING NEWS YET AGAIN!” a reader on Reddit’s some rich asshole subreddit screamed. “NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT THAT'S TALKING ABOUT RICH ASSHOLE!”
And even if he will never admit it in person, the rich asshole may be aware of this. Shortly after the media erupted over his comments, he reportedly called all of his outside friends and allies, eager to see how the comments were playing out publicly. Fittingly, CNN reported, a White House official described it as a “victory lap”.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect Will Sommer’s proper title and employer.
Jan 15 at 6:28AM
Vice President Mike Pence is being called out for honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday just months after he walked out of an NFL game where players of color protested police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.
Pence, joining a chorus of other politicians, tweeted on Monday morning after visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington D.C. that America should “rededicate ourselves” to King’s causes.
“Today we remember the legacy of MLK Jr. His memorial stands tall, but the real memorial to Dr. King resides in the hearts of all who strive for a more perfect union. To honor him, let’s rededicate ourselves to the cause Dr. King selflessly advanced, that all men are created equal.”
However, Twitter was quick to point out that Pence has a spotty history when it comes to treating people equally.
In October, Pence walked out of an NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts amid President some rich asshole‘s tirades against players kneeling during the national anthem.
The irony of Pence tweeting about King’s “cause” while saying he wouldn’t “dignify” the NFL protest last year was not lost on people–not to mention his record against LGBTQ Americans.
Unless you're gay and then Mike Pence thinks you're less than him. Or you're a nonviolent black athlete who protests. Or a woman alone in a room. Or someone from the poor working class. twitter.com/VP/status/9529…
You angrily walked out of a Colts game because NFL players were protesting for equality. twitter.com/VP/status/9529…
"all men are created equal," unless they're gay, trans, poor, non-binary, female, not Christian, or not white. Get Dr. King's name out of your white supremacist mouth. twitter.com/VP/status/9529…
Remember when he flounced out of a football game because black athletes were using civil disobedience to protest racism? Just like how Dr. King described in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail? Nice try at whitewashing there. twitter.com/VP/status/9529…
Unless you're gay, or black, isn't that right Mike? twitter.com/VP/status/9529…
- LK Jr. His memorial stands tall, but the real memorial to Dr. King resides in the hearts of all who strive for a more perfect union. To honor him, let's rededicate ourselves to the cause Dr. King selflessly advanced, that all men are created equal pic.twitter.com/2gDuZfQmfC
Today we remember the legacy of MLK Jr. His memorial stands tall, but the real memorial to Dr. King resides in the hearts of all who strive for a more perfect union. To honor him, let's rededicate ourselves to the cause Dr. King selflessly advanced, that all men are created equal pic.twitter.com/2gDuZfQmfC
NFL players started kneeling after quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the movement in August 2016, saying he wasn’t “going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
the rich asshole’s Florida resort has been struggling ever since he took office. A disgusting health inspection report certainly won't help.
some rich asshole has been frequently accused of using the presidency to enrich his personal businesses, most chiefly his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
But his efforts have not been going well, and recent health inspections of the resort have done nothing to improve its failing image.
According to the Miami Herald, state inspectors found numerous problems at the resort, where “November inspections of the club’s two main kitchens … yielded a total 15 violations.”
Those violations included “the staff’s failure to track the freshness of potentially hazardous foods, including curry sauce dated Oct. 21 pulled from a freezer and improperly marked, milk stored at 49 degrees instead of the safe temperature of 41 degrees, and cases of hot dogs stored on the ground of the walk-in freezer.”
Most disgusting of all, “just days before the state visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Mar-a-Lago in February 2017, inspectors found sushi fish ready for consumption without the obligatory treatment for parasites.”
The sorry state of Mar-a-Lago comes in spite of the rich asshole doubling the membership fee to $200,000 last year in a naked attempt to profit from his office. He presumably hoped people would pour into his club for the chance to speak with him.
But the rich asshole brand has instead been poisoned. After his horrendous defense of the Charlottesville white nationalists, a string of charities pulled planned events from Mar-a-Lago. the rich asshole’s friends have even desperately resorted to scheduling fake events at the club to ensure his feelings are not hurt.
The story is the same across all of the rich asshole’s properties, with some the rich asshole hotels dropping his name after lost business.
the rich asshole is learning the hard way that he cannot treat the presidency like a part-time job — and that tying his businesses to his political office works both ways.
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