January 19th, 2017 - January 19th, 2017. 431-431 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no.45, and 361-361 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
Pro-the rich asshole GOP staffers wrote the ‘secret memo’ Republicans are trying to release: report
Rep. Devin Nunes speaks to a crowd at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Image via CSIS/Creative Commons.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
House Republicans (and Russian bots) spent this week trumpeting a secret memo they say could bring an end to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The document allegedly proves conduct by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigations that rivals Watergate or, as one GOP congressman said Friday, “the KGB.”
But, as the Huffington Post reports, the document itself was written by Republican staffers.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a the rich asshole-backing Republican who has actively tried to discredit Mueller’s investigation, told the Huffington Post the memo “kind of aggregates” intelligence data proving widespread abuses by the DOJ and FBI.
“I believe that the contents of that memo need to be made available to the public immediately, and that that is a critical concern in kind of all of the Mueller, Russia, the rich asshole discourse,” Gaetz said.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who served on some rich asshole’s transition team, has been leading the charge to release the memo to the public. As chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes has launched his own tangential Russia investigation, notably charging Barack Obama’s administration with improperly “unmasking” members of the the rich asshole transition team.
Nunes was accused of making that information public in order to give credence to the rich asshole’s unproven claim that Obama “wiretapped” the rich asshole Tower during the campaign.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House intel committee, accused his colleagues of once again trying to “carry water” for White House.
“Rife with factual inaccuracies and referencing highly classified materials that most of Republican Intelligence Committee members were forced to acknowledge they had never read, this is meant only to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI,” Schiff said. “This may help carry White House water, but it is a deep disservice to our law enforcement professionals.”
Senate fails to pass bill to avoid government shutdown
Mitch McConnell speaks to ABC News (screen grab)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
The Senate on Friday failed to pass a procedural vote that would have averted a government shutdown.
Enough senators rejected the motion, which would have ended debate on the House-passed Continuing Resolution. The Senate needed 60 ayes to bring the bill up for a vote.
The House-passed CR would have kept the government open for 30 days. the rich asshole on Friday voiced his support for the temporary funding bill, writing on Twitter a “four week extension would be best.”
It remains to be seen whether lawmakers will strike a deal to fund the government before Friday’s midnight deadline.
the rich asshole privately fumed about missing ‘my party’ if the government shuts down: report
some rich asshole stands before his luxurious Florida compound, Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent many weekends of his young presidency (AFP Photo/Don EMMERT)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
some rich asshole spent the lead-up to the nearly-guaranteed government shutdown privately fuming about the prospect of missing his year anniversary party at Mar-a-Lago, the Daily Beast reports.
A White House official and another source close to the president told the Daily Beast the rich asshole spent Friday complaining that the Republican-controlled Congress’ inability to strike a deal to keep the federal government funded could make him miss “my party.”
the rich asshole had planned a massive $100,000-per-pair party at his Florida resort to commemorate the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. The White House on Friday said the president’s trip was delayed pending the passage of a spending bill to keep the government funded past midnight Friday.
The Senate on Friday rejected that bill, meaning Saturday will likely mark the president’s one-year inaugural anniversary as well as day one of a government shutdown.
HE’LL TWEET IF HE WANTS TO
the rich asshole Whines: Shutdown Fight Could Make Me Miss ‘My Party’
You would tweet too if it happened to you.
01.19.18 10:25 PM ET
On the eve of a possible government shutdown, President some rich asshole privately vented frustrations that the political impasse could possibly keep him from attending a glitzy inauguration anniversary bash and fundraiser set for Saturday at his Florida getaway Mar-a-Lago.
Two sources close to the president, one a White House official and the other a longtime confidant, told The Daily Beast how excited he was for the event and relayed his growing concern that the potential failure to strike a deal to keep the federal government open could keep him from “my party,” as the president has said.
A different source who spoke to the rich asshole earlier this week previously told The Daily Beast that the president had joked that it would be a “shame” if a government shutdown were to occur on, or overshadow, the first anniversary of his inauguration as president.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to comment on the record for this story.
The White House officially cancelled the rich asshole's trip to Florida that was scheduled for Friday afternoon, and he spent the day attempting to help congressional leaders reach a deal to forestall a shutdown. But there is no word on whether the president might head south after federal appropriations expire at midnight.
Administration officials who briefed reporters on the logistics of the impending shutdown on Friday said the expiration of government funding would not necessarily impede the president's travel plans to Mar-a-Lago or elsewhere. In particular, one official said, the rich asshole will still be free to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, though the White House did not say whether the shutdown would affect the rich asshole's plans to attend the glamorous gathering of globalists.
Updated
House GOPers Say A Secret Memo CouldEnd The rich asshole-Russia Probe. Their Staff Wrote It.
#ReleaseTheMemo is the latest way Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying to undermine the Mueller probe.
WASHINGTON ― House Republicans spent the end of the workweek telling everyone who would listen that the American people must be allowed to see a top-secret four-page document that could bring an end to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 elections.
One thing about that document: Republican staffers wrote it.
The memo Republican staffers compiled reveals information that is “absolutely shocking,” “sickening,” “jaw-dropping” and “worse than Watergate,” GOP members of Congress said Thursday and Friday. The document could send government officials to jail, one congressman said. “Is this happening in America or is this the KGB?” asked another.
Even the most plugged-in news consumer could be forgiven for thinking the classified memo is an executive branch document that exposes wrongdoing within the Justice Department and the FBI. It isn’t.
The document, which alleges abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act during the FBI’s quiet counterintelligence investigation into the rich asshole campaign in the final months of the 2016 election, was actually compiled by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee. That committee voted along partisan lines this week to allow any member of Congress to take a peek at the document themselves. Republican members soon flocked to a secure room to read the memo written by their allies — and then ran to tell the press about it.
Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor, wrote in a blog post on her personal website that the “bombshell” document “could lead to the removal of senior officials in the FBI and Department of Justice” and potentially spell the end of the Mueller probe. Carter’s post was widely shared on Twitter, including by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch and former White House official Sebastian Gorka. Ahead of Carter’s appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Thursday night, Sean Hannity used the story to send a “message” to Mueller.
“Your witch hunt is now over,” Hannity said, addressing the Republican special counsel who was unanimously confirmed as FBI director in 2001 by the U.S. Senate, which a decade later unanimously voted to extend his term past the 10-year limit. “Time to close the doors.”
Overnight, #ReleaseTheMemo ― a hashtag reportedly given an additional boost by Russian-connected bots ― started trending on Twitter. In less than 24 hours, some rich asshole Jr. ― a likely target of the Mueller probe who communicated with Wikileaks before the election and held a meeting at the rich asshole Tower with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton ― sent off more than 30 tweets and retweets about the memo to his nearly 2.5 million followers.
Americans deserve to know the contents of the memo. Democrats & deep state govt officials are doing everything they can to protect those within the government who used their positions of influence to target those they disagree with politically. RELEASE THE MEMO! #ReleaseTheMemo
The broader theory of the case Republicans are pushing is that the FBI inappropriately used information gleaned from a controversial “dossier” on the rich asshole to obtain a FISA warrant to monitor a the rich asshole campaign affiliate. They hope that’s the poison pill that could somehow justify shutting down Mueller’s entire investigation (which of course didn’t begin until after the rich asshole was elected, took office, and fired former FBI director James Comey).
Democrats say the Republican-drafted classified memo is full of omissions and distortions intended to fuel efforts to run cover for President the rich asshole.
“It’s a distorted view of what the FBI has been doing,” one Hill source told HuffPost. “The majority of the committee is only sharing it so that other members of the caucus can also disparage and discredit the FBI.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the document was a “profoundly misleading set of talking points drafted by Republican staff attacking the FBI” and the bureau’s handling of the investigation.
“Rife with factual inaccuracies and referencing highly classified materials that most of Republican Intelligence Committee members were forced to acknowledge they had never read, this is meant only to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI,” Schiff said. “This may help carry White House water, but it is a deep disservice to our law enforcement professionals.”
Is there actually a new bombshell in the report? It’s possible. But the motives and track records of the Republican lawmakers behind the media blitz surrounding the memo suggest there may be less to it than they claim.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who chairs the committee that cooked up the document, has been the public face of the GOP push to undermine the Mueller probe. Last year, Nunes was involved in an embarrassing episode in which he briefed President the rich asshole on information he received from a source he wouldn’t name. It later turned out he’d met that person on White House grounds.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) ― who previously called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign (which would allow the rich asshole to replace him with an official who could shut down the Mueller probe) ― said the memo was “absolutely shocking.” But Meadows thinks the entire Russia probe is manufactured hysteria.
I viewed the classified report from House Intel relating to the FBI, FISA abuses, the infamous Russian dossier, and so-called "Russian collusion." What I saw is absolutely shocking.
This report needs to be released--now. Americans deserve the truth. #ReleaseTheMemo
The American people should be able to read what I did in that briefing room. It's time to #ReleaseTheMemo.video.foxnews.com/v/571481087900…
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who said he was shaking his head when he read the memo and that the “American people deserve the truth,” benefited politically from documents the Russians hacked, and pushed a measure that would kill the Mueller probe.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) ― who has called for reining in the Mueller probe by gutting its financing, and recently went pheasant hunting with some rich asshole Jr. ― said he was sickened by the memo and that it was “worse than Watergate.” He thinks the FBI was part of the #NeverTrump movement and wanted Clinton elected.
I have read the memo. The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate. It was #neverTrump & #alwaysHillary. #releasethememo
If the memo does eventually go public, it won’t end well for Republicans, Susan Hennessey, the executive editor of the legal commentary site Lawfare, argued Friday. “After causing completely unnecessary chaos today, this memo will be released in some redacted [form] in a few weeks and prove to be an utter embarrassment to Nunes personally, the [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] majority, and frankly to US House of Representatives,” Hennessey predicted.
Some conservatives have urged caution, worrying that Republicans are overhyping a secret document. Republicans “should not oversell” the report, conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt wrote. Over at the conservative blog Hot Air, Ed Morrissey said it felt like a “set-up for a let-down.” He argued the memo should be released, but warned conservatives to “not go all-in on it until we have a chance to see it for ourselves. In the meantime, remember that most things that seem too good to be true usually are.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a 35-year-old Republican freshman from Florida who recently flew on Air Force One with the rich asshole and is friends with Roger Stone, is one of the believers. Gaetz has called for Mueller to be fired and said on “Hannity” on Thursday that officials might wind up in jail over what he saw in the memo.
HuffPost ran into Gaetz on Capitol Hill on Thursday evening, just a few hours after the congressman appeared on the Fox Business channel above the chyron “I JUST READ A 4-PAGE MEMO THAT THREATENS DEMOCRACY TO ITS CORE.”
.@mattgaetz: "The allegations contained in this important intelligence document go to the very foundations of our democracy and they require an immediate release to the public in my opinion."
“I believe that the contents of that memo need to be made available to the public immediately, and that that is a critical concern in kind of all of the Mueller, Russia, the rich asshole discourse,” Gaetz told HuffPost of the memo, which he said “kind of aggregates” intelligence data.
In the interview with HuffPost, Gaetz ran into a common problem for Republicans who suggest the FBI was too rough on the rich asshole but went too easy on Clinton during the 2016 campaign: the indisputable fact that the FBI’s actions then harmed Clinton. Comey’s conduct during the Clinton investigation was even the underlying justification the rich asshole administration provided last spring to explain the rich asshole firing Comey. If people in the FBI and the so-called “deep state” were trying to get Clinton elected president, then frankly, they did a terrible job of it.
Surely Gaetz could concede the FBI’s actions ahead of the 2016 election were much more damaging to the Clinton campaign than they were to the rich asshole? “I wouldn’t agree with that characterization,” he replied.
Under Gaetz’s theory, the FBI was hellbent on leaking information to the press to stop the rich asshole from being elected. Gaetz told HuffPost that texts between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page showed they were “talking about a plan to strategically leak information to embarrass the rich asshole.” As HuffPost recently explained, a deeply flawed story by John Solomon of The Hill has left a lot of people with the inaccurate impression that the text messages show the FBI officials were leaking information to hurt the rich asshole. That’s what Gaetz believes.
“That was explicit in their communications to each other,“ Gaetz claimed.
“How so?” HuffPost asked. Here’s how the conversation went from there:
Gaetz: Well, when they talked about the, um, I think it was the Wall Street Journal article, and they were talking about, oh, was it behind a paywall and did it contain the information that ―HuffPost: What Wall Street Journal story was that, that was negative against the rich asshole?Gaetz: Uh, again it’s referenced in their communications back and forth, this was I think in October.HuffPost: Mhmm. But do you know what story it was?Gaetz: Yeah, it was all about the contents of the dossier.HuffPost: The Wall Street Journal story on the 24th was about the contents of the dossier? The dossier wasn’t released until ―Gaetz: No, it might not have been the one of the 24th. It was the communication that was referenced in the Page-Strzok text messages.HuffPost: No, I know the one you’re talking about, you said the Wall Street Journal story. I just think the Wall Street Journal story that they were talking about, if you look at it in context, they were talking about a story that was actually negative about the FBI and to Hillary Clinton. It was the story about the then-Deputy Attorney General McCabe who was basically being accused of ― I think you’ll probably recall this [from] the time ...Gaetz: Mhmm.HuffPost: ... was basically being accused, because his wife had received money, so that was what the story was about.Gaetz: No, yeah, but I think there was other stuff that was included within that ―HuffPost: Like what?Gaetz: Well I don’t have it in front of me.
Gaetz’s theory ― that the FBI provided information for an Oct. 24, 2016, Wall Street Journal story on the rich asshole dossier ― doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, chiefly because no such story exists. The first story to reference the “dossier” was published by Mother Jones on Oct. 31, 2016, a full week after Strzok-Page exchanged texts about a Wall Street Journal article. The Mother Jones story only came out after Comey sent a letter about the Clinton investigation on Oct. 28 that set off a media frenzy Clinton has partially blamed for her loss.
But the secret GOP memo gave Gaetz a convenient pivot point: the suggestion that there’s something, a bombshell, that he can’t reveal publicly. And it totally supports the theory he’s been pushing this whole time.
“I can say that if this memo become available to the public, many of the concerns that have been raised by members of the Judiciary Committee will be highlighted,” Gaetz said.
Later on Friday, all nine Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee issued a statement calling the memo a “misleading set of talking points attacking the FBI.” Since the documents that the GOP-prepared memo cites are highly classified, the Democrats said, they will not be made public and it will become “impossible for the few Members who have seen the documents to explain the flaws and misstatements contained within the talking points” without disclosing sources and methods.
“This is by design,” they said. “Not surprisingly, the GOP campaign to attack the FBI now has been joined by the same forces that made common cause during the rich asshole campaign — Wikileaks, Julian Assange and a multitude of online Russian bots are now involved in promoting this effort. It should be seen for what it so plainly is: yet another desperate and flailing attempt to undermine Special Counsel Mueller and the FBI, regardless of the profound damage it does to our democratic institutions and national security agencies.”
This would be the first real government shutdown under one-party government, ever
It’s historic.
By
It’s true that Jimmy Carter and Democrats in Congress butted heads five separate times in 1977, 1978, and 1979, and couldn’t get their act together to fund the government (Carter was a bad president!). But that was before Carter’s attorney general issued guidance saying that when a funding gap like that exists, government functions must shut down.
Carter’s “shutdowns” didn’t lead to any federal employees being sent home and denied pay. some rich asshole’s will.
Republicans will try to blame the Democratic minority in the Senate for threatening to filibuster a spending bill that doesn’t include relief for DACA recipients — unauthorized immigrants who arrived as children and who had been protected by an Obama administration executive action that the rich asshole has since revoked. And they’ll have a bit of a point if at least 50 Senate Republicans agree with House Republicans about how best to proceed and the only thing preventing action is a Democratic filibuster.
But as my colleague Dylan Scott notes, it’s not clear there’s a Republican majority in the Senate that supports the House approach of refusing to deal with DACA. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) all signaled opposition to, or at least skepticism of, the House funding bill. If they hold fast and Republicans can’t agree among themselves, it’s somewhat perverse to blame Democrats for the ensuing shutdown.
More to the point, everyone in Republican leadership at least purports to believe that DACA recipients deserve relief. the rich asshole has said he wants a “bill of love” that would offer them legal status. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to hold a vote on a DACA bill that has the rich asshole’s endorsement. Flake, Graham, and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) have signed on to a bipartisan deal that pairs a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients (and people who are eligible for it but haven’t applied) with limits on citizenship for their parents and elimination of the “diversity visa” program.
What’s more, if Republicans really had 50 votes in the Senate, and cared deeply enough about keeping the government open, they could always heed the rich asshole’s call and eliminate the filibuster, denying Democrats any ability to obstruct their agenda on issues where Republicans are united.
This isn’t to pin exclusive blame on Republicans for the shutdown. Democrats have clearly decided that a shutdown is a price worth paying for a DACA deal. But what’s genuinely bizarre is that Republicans have decided a shutdown is a price worth paying for not doing a DACA deal, despite insisting they want to do a DACA deal.
This is a sharp difference between the current debate and the 2013 shutdown. The Republican demand then was for President Obama to agree to delay Obamacare, his signature achievement, for at least a year, throwing into question whether it would ever in fact take effect. It was an absurdly huge ask, one that no reasonable person would ever expect Obama to accept.
Democrats’ ask in 2018, that Republicans agree to codify DACA in law, is something Republicans have already said they want to do.
The fact that Republicans won’t agree to it now can’t be explained by treating the party as a unified actor. It’s not. The White House itself isn’t even a unified actor, with immigration hardliners on the staff like Stephen Miller reportedly worried that the rich asshole will be “tricked” into a deal like the bipartisan compromise championed by Graham and Flake; Miller reportedly invited Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), both immigration restrictionists, to a White House meeting with Graham and his Democratic co-sponsor Sen. Dick Durbin to ensure the rich asshole didn’t sign on to the bipartisan deal.
Nor is the Republican caucus in Congress a unified actor. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan try their best to create unity, but tensions between the Graham-Flake wing of the party and the Cotton-Goodlatte wing are becoming more and more obvious and public. A deal that prevents a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, like the Graham-Flake plan, might be sunk by conservatives in the House.
What we’re seeing, more than anything, is a government that is unified in name only. Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, Tom Cotton, Stephen Miller, and some rich asshole are all Republicans. But they are not on the same side, and the rich asshole appears generally baffled and unsure which side he’s on, if any.
A party needs to be in an impressive amount of disarray to control both houses of Congress and the presidency and still fail to fund the government. That’s the situation the Republican Party finds itself in today.
the rich asshole F*cked A Porn Star Without A Condom Because He Has The Best Judgment Ever
When someone has sex with people for a living, it’s probably a smart idea to “wrap it up.” For years now, there has been an ongoing AIDS crisis in the porn industry, but when the rich asshole hooked up with adult film actress that didn’t matter to him one bit.
Stormy Daniels’ 2011 interview with InTouch Magazine revealed a lot of crazy sh*t about some rich asshole: He’s terrified of sharks and wants all of them to die, he believes his hair contains magical properties that make him rich and powerful — oh, and when he cheated on Melania with Daniels he didn’t use a condom:
IT: After you two slept together, did he say anything like “don’t tell anyone,” or anything along those lines?
Stormy: No. He didn’t seem worried about it. He was kind of arrogant. It did occur to me, “That’s a really stupid move on your part.” And it’s not like I went around and told anybody. No one ever really knew.IT: Did you use protection?Stormy: No.IT: Was that a conversation or was it kind of in the moment?Stormy: It was kind of in the moment. And I was really kind of upset about it because I am so, like, careful. The company I work for is condom-only. But I remember for a fact that we didn’t because I’m allergic to latex. And I didn’t go up there with condoms on me. I know that for a fact because 99% of men don’t carry non-latex condoms on them, so I usually always have one in my backpack but I thought I was going to dinner, so I only had a tiny little cocktail purse.
It’s up to an individual whether or not they use a condom, but this is yet another example of the rich asshole exercising terrible judgment. But hey, it’s like Jesus says:
Featured image via MArk Wilson/Getty Images
the rich asshole: Babies Should Not Be Born In The Ninth Month Of Pregnancy, This ‘Has To Change’ (VIDEO)
Remember when Dr. Ronny Jackson announced that some rich asshole doesn’t have cognitive issues because he passed a 10-minute test? Well, we beg to differ after hearing the former reality show star’s speech in the Rose Garden that was streamed live to the March for Life crowd on the National Mall. the rich asshole was pro-choice before running for office, by the way.
After bashing Roe vs. Wade, the rich asshole came out in full opposition to women giving birth in the ninth month of pregnancy.
“Right now in a number of states, the laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the ninth month. It is wrong,” the rich asshole said. “It has to change.”
Watch:
The Internet reacted in disbelief.
What the hell is this? And the heads behind him nodding in agreement. ‘Babies born in the ninth month are an abomination!’
Well hell, I had one AFTER the ninth month...am I in trouble??
I mean, I had a baby in the 7th month. I don't recommend it, but if you're breaking the law by having a full term baby....
That baby lobby is getting out of hand. They want the laws to change to give them the right to stay in the womb for an entire year! We must #resist !!
Thanks for your input, President Crazy Pants. Now, if he’s talking about an abortion procedure during the ninth month, there’s no such thing, so either way, he’s insane and so are the people behind him nodding their heads in agreement.
the rich asshole Makes Unprecedented Move To Break Super Bowl Tradition, America In Shock (DETAILS)
some rich asshole has given America a lot of “firsts”, and most of them have been major embarrassments to the country. He’s become infamous for breaking longstanding traditions with his cowardly erratic behavior, and he’s routinely disappointed every American on an almost daily basis. Now, the rich asshole has made yet another unprecedented move that will shock everyone.
The Super Bowl is drawing near, only about two weeks away now. It’s just been reported that the rich asshole intends on breaking a presidential pre-game tradition that has been going on for years – he’s skipping the interview with the network televising the game.
This custom has been carried on for years, beginning with George W. Bush’s presidency. When Barack Obama became president, the custom became an annual tradition. As NBC is broadcasting the 2018 Super Bowl, Variety reports that the rich asshole isn’t planning on accepting the network’s invitation for an interview before kickoff.
Given the tense relationship between the rich asshole and the NFL, it’s likely that the rich asshole is avoiding this interview because he’s a total coward and he knows he’ll be asked about his attacks on NFL players who have knelt to protest racism during the National Anthem. Previously, the rich asshole has called these football players “sons of bitches” and routinely attacked them on Twitter.
While the majority of Americans who are sick and tired of the rich asshole will rejoice that he won’t be appearing to ruin their Super Bowl celebrations, it’s important to point out that this is yet another example in which the rich asshole tries to hide from his constituents, afraid of being called out for his actions. As NBC has announced that the network will televise players who kneel during The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl, the rich asshole knows he will face criticism if he has the balls to show his orange face. Given the rich asshole’s past behavior, I think there’s more chance that the rich asshole will scurry away to one of his golf courses than participate in America’s Super Bowl tradition.
Featured image via Ralph Freso / Getty Images
Nigel Farage handed WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange ‘a thumb drive’ of data during secret meeting: Fusion GPS founder
Nigel Farage and Julian Assange (Flickr)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and vocal supporter of some rich asshole, held a secret meeting with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London—and handed the WikiLeaks founder “a thumb drive” of data, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson told Congress.
Simpson, whose company compiled the salacious the rich asshole-Russia dossier alleging collusion between the president and officials linked with the Kremlin, said—under oath—that a source told him Farage handed over a cache of data to the WikiLeaks founder. Simpson also suggested the former UKIP leader visited Assange on more than one occasion, despite a spokesman insisting the pair only met once in March 2017.
“I’ve been told and have not confirmed that Nigel Farage had additional trips to the Ecuadoran [sic] Embassy than the one that’s been in the papers and that he provided data to Julian Assange,” Simpson told the House Intelligence Committee, according to a transcript released Thursday.
Assange’s WikiLeaks played a pivotal role in the 2016 presidential election, selectively releasing damaging emails from people close to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the DNC in the lead-up to the election. Assange has denied that WikiLeaks was working as an agent of the Russia government, but US intelligence officials are investigating the degree to which the self-described transparency organization worked with the Kremlin.
As the Sun reports, Simpson told House intel members that WikiLeaks is the middle man to a “somewhat unacknowledged relationship” between the rich asshole and the UKIP party.
As the Sun reports, Simpson told House intel members that WikiLeaks is the middle man to a “somewhat unacknowledged relationship” between the rich asshole and the UKIP party.
Morning Joe panel destroys ‘twisted scoundrel’ the rich asshole: ‘Putin has something on him — and it’s bad’
Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough (MSNBC)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Panelists on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” were just as disgusted as anyone by salacious claims by a former porn actress about her sexual relationship with President some rich asshole — but they said it was more than tabloid trash.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the rich asshole’s attorney Michael Cohen set up an LLC to pay $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels shortly before the election, possibly in violation of election law — but multiple news outlets passed on the story before the election.
“Funny, the National Enquirer is not covering this, probably because some rich asshole is friends with them,” said co-host Mika Brzezinski.
Co-host Willie Geist said it was a “serious and real story,” despite the subject, and host Joe Scarborough said it proved claims in the infamous dossier that the rich asshole had been compromised by Russia president Vladimir Putin.
“Vladimir Putin has something that he is holding over some rich asshole’s head, and it is bad,” Scarborough said. “We started asking that question in December of 2015, two years ago, when some rich asshole was defending Vladimir Putin for assassinating journalists. some rich asshole was defending Vladimir Putin for assassinating political leaders in his own country. some rich asshole was defending Vladimir Putin for all the things he did.”
Republican strategist Susan Del Percio said conservative Christians had already compromised their own values to back the rich asshole, after the scandals that had erupted before the election.
“How do you get past the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape?” Del Percio said. “It’s equally as bad, it’s his voice, saying what he did. This man is a scoundrel. His values are twisted.”
Scarborough said multiple the rich asshole campaign associates and Cabinet members had lied about their contacts with Russians, and he said the president was hoping the barrage of scandal would eventually take its toll on Americans.
“So what is some rich asshole hoping? He is not hoping he can just brush aside a story of a porn star,” Scarborough said. “He’s hoping that when the truth comes out about what Vladimir Putin has and has had hanging over his head for decades, possibly, that we will all be too numb to notice. Ten tweets a day, five lies a day, bread and circuses, all of the game show, reality show distractions. Mika, that’s all he’s hoping. He wants to numb the American people, he wants to numb the electorate, he wants to numb everybody — his supporters, which already is numbing a lot of his supporters — to the dirty reality that is — not only his presidency, but his past.”
MSNBC contributor Donnie Deutsch said the scandal had barely been a blip, although it would have commanded wall-to-wall coverage if any other president had been accused of paying off a porn actress to cover up an extramarital affair.
“This would bring down any other president, it would be over,” Deutsch said. “Because this president has set the bar so below mud, that it almost becomes just another day at the office. We can’t let that happen. Let’s think about this again, think about that story. I don’t understand just from a selling newspapers point of view, just from a pure capitalism point of view.”
the rich asshole bragged that he’d ‘give Melania a week’ to regain her model figure after giving birth
President some rich asshole and First Lady Melania the rich asshole.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
In an interview with shock jock Howard Stern that took place seven months before some rich asshole’s alleged affair with adult actress Stormy Daniels, the one-time reality TV star claimed that he’d give his wife Melania a few days to get back to her model-perfect figure after giving birth to their son, Barron.
“You know, Howard, she’s got the kind of a body and makeup where, about one day after the baby, it’s going to be the same as it was before,” the rich asshole told Stern in a December 2005 interview, as noted by The Washington Post Friday.
Stern asked the real estate mogul if he’d really only give his wife a day to bounce back, to which the rich asshole replied “one or two.”
Upon further thought, however, he said “no, I’ll give her a week.”
Though the rich asshole said he’s seen “beautiful women that for the rest of their lives have become [a] horror” after having children, he told Stern that he’d still graciously love Melania when and if she got cellulite.
“I will love her so much,” he said. “You have no idea. I’m a very loyal person. I will love her so much.”
Seven months after the interview, the rich asshole allegedly began a year-long affair with Daniels.
What happens if the government shuts down
BY TIMOTHY CAMA AND LYDIA WHEELER - 01/19/18 05:40 AM EST
Federal agencies are bracing for a government shutdown as Congress fights to reach a short-term spending deal before funding runs out at midnight on Friday.
Government shutdowns are rare, especially when one party controls both chambers of Congress and the White House. The last shutdown was in 2013 and lasted 17 days.
If a shutdown happens, many major federal responsibilities, like sending Social Security checks and operating the military, would continue. Each federal agency has a shutdown plan, written in consultation with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the administration would have some wiggle room in what it does.
In general, government operations and employees deemed “essential,” like those in the military and law enforcement, would continue to report to work. It’s a label that applies to more than half of the 2.1 million or so non-postal federal employees.
Those workers would still get paid, but not until after the shutdown ends.
During the 2013 shutdown, 850,000 individuals were furloughed per day, according to the OMB.
Employees in “non-essential” government functions, meanwhile, would stay home and actually be prohibited from showing up. Congress acted to pay those employees after previous shutdowns, but pay is not guaranteed.
Some government programs, such as Social Security payments, are not subject to the appropriations process. Those would continue, though some functions, like processing new Social Security applications, would shut down.
In 2013, federal permitting and environmental reviews were put on hold, along with the processing of import and export license applications and federal loans for small business, families and rural communities. According to the OMB, the shutdown also delayed almost $4 billion in tax refunds.
Here’s how some federal agencies plan to weather a shutdown:
Health and Human Services
HHS would have to put about half of its 82,000 staff on furlough.
Larger programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and disability insurance would be largely unaffected by a government shutdown, and current beneficiaries would continue to receive their benefits.
But processing new applications for these programs could slow because there would be fewer employees around to do them.
Agencies under HHS, like the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would also take a hit.
The FDA would have to cancel the majority of its food safety, nutrition and cosmetics activities, including routine food safety inspections. The CDC, meanwhile, would be unable to support its annual seasonal flu program during one of the most severe flu outbreaks in recent history and could stop tracking disease outbreaks.
The National Institutes of Health would continue patient care for current cancer patients but would not admit new patients or accept new grant proposals.
National Park Service
The national parks became a lightning rod in the 2013 government shutdown. Parks around the country were closed, and many, including some areas of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., that are managed by the Park Service, were barricaded.
The rich asshole administration may be able to avoid that scenario. The Washington Post reported that administration officials are exploring ways to keep parks open and let visitors come in.
“In the event of a shutdown, national parks and other public lands will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures,” Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement.
“Visitors who come to our nation’s capital will find war memorials and open air parks open to the public. Nationally, many of our national parks, refuges and other public lands will still allow limited access wherever possible.”
Other Interior Department activities would have to shut down. The Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, for example, would not process oil-drilling permits.
Department of Defense
At the Pentagon, military personnel should expect to show up to work during a shutdown, but not expect any pay for the duration.
“No one gets paid. The civilians who report to duty do not get paid. The military who are in theater do not get paid. They earn the rights to the payment, but the payment cannot be made until the shutdown is over,” Defense Department Comptroller David Norquist told reporters last month.
Speaking at the Pentagon on Dec. 7, then ahead of a possible shutdown, Norquist said civilians should also expect to show up for work if their job falls under “excepted activities,” positions related to the protection of life and property.
The fiscal halt also extends to the death benefits received by families of military members killed in the line of duty. Weapons system maintenance and readiness training, meanwhile, would also come to a stop unless it is deemed an “excepted activity.”
State Department
Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said Thursday that officials were developing contingency plans, while Secretary Rex Tillerson's office was reviewing the agency's options.
"We will be prepared for all contingencies, I want to make that clear, including the possibility of a lapse," Nauert said at a press briefing, noting that Tillerson would ultimately have discretion over how the department deals with a shutdown.
Most Americans only come in contact with the State Department when trying to obtain or renew passports. In 2013, however, passport offices, which are funded by fee revenue, remained open.
Internal Revenue Service
A large percentage of the IRS's workforce is expected to stop working during a shutdown, though the upcoming filing season may mean that more employees are still working than otherwise would be the case.
The IRS's document for non-filing season shutdowns states that only about 13 percent of employees would continue working. While the 2018 filing season officially opens on Jan. 29, the document describes the filing season period as Jan. 1 through April 30.
The document notes that "historically, more exempted employees are required during the filing season to ensure activities related to executing the filing season are worked."
IRS activities that continue during the filing season include testing of filing-season programs, processing of paper tax returns and design and printing of tax year forms.
Financial regulation
A government shutdown would halt most of the federal government’s oversight of financial trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would both be forced to furlough thousands of workers responsible for monitoring financial markets. Only SEC and CFTC staffers involved in law enforcement activities or protecting “life or property” would continue working.
All other regulatory and supervisory function of the Wall Street watchdog would pause until Congress funds the government again.
Other financial sector regulators won’t be affected by a shutdown. The Federal Reserve system, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are all independently funded and would continue their oversight of the banking system. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Credit Union Administration are also independently funded and would stay open during the crisis.
Federal Communications Commission
Like other agencies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates telecommunications providers like AT&T and Verizon as well as broadcasters, would roll back its staff to essential employees only, furloughing the vast majority of its 1,492 employees.
The agency says it expects to retain roughly 37 employees during the shutdown to cover essential matters like critical IT issues, protect property and handle emergency communications and functions related to national security.
The FCC would keep an additional 185 employees whose pay does not come from congressional appropriations to keep the agency’s spectrum auction activities up and running.
The agency’s chairman and four commissioners would also continue to work through the shutdown.
In the interim, the agency would cease some operations, including issuing new broadcast licenses and processing equipment certifications for new electronic devices.
Courts
The Supreme Court would not only remain open to visitors but carry on with business as usual in the event of a shutdown.
“In the event of a lapse of appropriations, the Court will continue to conduct its normal operations, and the Court building will be open to the public during its usual hours,” Kathleen Arberg, the court’s public information officer, said in a statement to The Hill.
“The Court will rely on non-appropriated funds, as it has in the past, to maintain operations through the duration of short-term lapses of appropriations.”
Federal district, appeals and bankruptcy courts across the country will also remain open, relying on court fees and appropriations that aren’t tied to a specific year.
“The judiciary is able to sustain paid operations through court fees and no-year appropriations for approximately three weeks, or through Feb. 9,” Charles Hall, a spokesman in the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, said in an email.
Department of Justice
If there is a government shutdown, the 114,647 employees at the Justice Department as of Sept. 8 would drop to 95,102 for the first five calendar days. The rest of the workers would be furloughed, according to the agency’s latest contingency plan.
Because the Justice Department is comprised of about 40 components tasked with a broad array of national security, law enforcement and criminal justice system responsibilities, the agency said that it has a high percentage of activities and employees that can continue working during a lapse in appropriations.
Capitol Hill
The Capitol would become a ghost town during a shutdown, offering a regular reminder to lawmakers of the consequences.
Fewer Capitol police officers would report for duty, while those working would do so without pay. Only "essential" staff would be required to work, making it harder for offices to handle the sudden flood of constituent phone calls.
Most committee activity would be suspended, as would Capitol tours.
Depending on the length of the shutdown, senators would be forced to walk past a frozen clock in a hallway outside the chamber — the staff responsible for winding it would be furloughed, too. In 2013, the clock's hands were stuck at 12:14 for days until the government reopened.
Mueller investigation
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election would continue, since its funding does not come from annual appropriations.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian museums along the National Mall and the National Zoo will remain open through the weekend, the institution said Thursday.
But if the shutdown extends to Monday, all of its public facilities, including the popular web cameras that broadcast animals at the zoo, would have to close. Many of the behind-the-scenes operations, such as feeding animals, have been deemed essential and would continue.
Transportation Security Administration
The Transportation Security Administration will continue operations in the event of a government closure, according to one official, with security functions and air marshals still in place.
Federal Aviation Administration
The government shutdown is not expected to delay flights or have an impact on the airline industry. Air traffic control, which is run by the Federal Aviation Administration, would still operate, while most of the agency's aviation safety inspectors would keep working.
Jessie Hellmann, Ali Breland, Mallory Shelbourne, Melanie Zanona, Ellen Mitchell, Sylvan Lane, Naomi Jagoda and Cristina Marcos contributed.
White House: the rich asshole will not go to Mar-a-Lago amid shutdown
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 01/19/18 08:55 AM EST
President the rich asshole will not attend an event at his resort at Mar-a-Lago Friday night if the government shuts down, according to a White House official.
The president and first lady Melania the rich asshole are scheduled to depart the White House for the rich asshole resort in Florida at 4:10 p.m. on Friday, but a White House official told CNN the president's schedule will be amended if a shutdown looks likely.
The White House official said the rich asshole's schedule Friday is being adjusted so that the president can stay behind in Washington, D.C., until the spending bill has passed the Senate.
“He can’t go until it’s done,” a White House official was quoted as saying.
NEW: The President will NOT go to Florida until a bill to fund the government is passed, a White House spokesperson says.
Lawmakers are pushing to pass a stopgap bill to fund the government before funding runs out on Friday night.
the rich asshole, meanwhile, is planning for an event at Mar-a-Lago Saturday marking the one-year anniversary of his inauguration, Bloomberg reported.
The event will be hosted by Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel and casino mogul Steve Wynn, and will benefit the rich asshole's reelection campaign and the RNC. Tickets start at $100,000 per person.
Updated at 9:17 a.m.
‘The money is what’s important’: Ex-GOP official explains the real scandal in the Stormy Daniels story
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (left, via Shutterstock) and the rich asshole's personal lawyer Michael Cohen (right, via screengrab).
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Former ethics attorney to President George W. Bush Richard Painter said that the salacious details about President some rich asshole’s affair with adult performer Stormy Daniels aren’t the important issue, but rather the money that was paid to keep her silent.
“I don’t think there’s anything sexy about dirty old men in politics,” Painter said, according to Mediaite. “The money is what’s important here, not the sex.”
the rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen established a dummy limited liability company (LLC) in Delaware through which to process the payment to Daniels. Painter wants to know where that money came from.
“Where this money came from, we have yet to find out. We have yet to find out if banking laws were violated,” he said. “There may or may not have been crimes committed here. But the theme throughout is President the rich asshole’s use of money to get what he wants, when he wants it. That is not a theme that’s consistent with our presidency.”
Watch the video, embedded below:
Dem strategist wrecks the rich asshole as businessman: ‘His porn star ex-girlfriend’ is only person who’s gotten a deal
Messina Group CEO Jim Messina on MSNBC (Screen capture)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Democratic strategist Jim Messina maligned President some rich asshole’s much-vaunted deal-making skills on MSNBC Friday by saying the only person who has managed to get a workable deal out of the president is his “porn star ex-girlfriend”Stormy Daniels.
On Friday’s “Deadline: White House” with Nicolle Wallace, Rev. Al Sharpton said that anyone who makes a deal with the rich asshole had better get him to sign before he leaves the room and someone else has a chance to talk to him, because they will change his mind.
“You’ve got to stay there with him,” Sharpton said. “Don’t even let him go to the residence.”
Wallace asked Messina how Democrats are supposed to negotiate with some rich asshole after the failures of the rich asshole’s Obamacare repeal and his unwillingness to allow debate on the Republicans’ tax plan.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Messina said. “At this point, this is a guy who wrote a book called ‘The Art of the Deal,’ now the only person that gets a deal is his porn star ex-girlfriend.”
“It’s true,” said Wallace.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Messina.
Watch the video, embedded below:
the rich asshole’s pick to lead Education Department’s civil rights office is opposed by civil rights advocates
Kenneth Marcus waffled on question about discrimination in schools during a Senate committee hearing.
A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of Kenneth Marcus for the head of the Office for Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Education, despite opposition from civil rights groups. The Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee voted along party lines. Next, his nomination will go to the full Senate for a vote.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 organizations with civil rights missions wrote a letter to senators opposing the nomination. In the letter, the coalition mentions a moment during his HELP committee hearing in December, when Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) asked Marcus to name a single example of something President the rich asshole said on the issue of women’s rights or civil rights that he disagreed with. He said he couldn’t say.
The coalition wrote:
Whether this exchange reflects Mr. Marcus’ own support for the president’s statements regarding White supremacists and his attacks on marginalized American communities, or Mr. Marcus’ unwillingness to offer a critique even when he disagrees, Mr. Marcus only reinforced his unsuitability to lead the Office for Civil Rights and protect students from discrimination.
The Office for Civil Rights is responsible for protecting students from discrimination. For example, it investigates complaints that schools are unfairly disciplining students with disabilities. Marcus’ record doesn’t inspire confidence in his ability to lead this work, civil rights groups say.
Marcus has argued against considering disparate impact, a practice in which a neutral policy can still adversely affect a protected class, such as students of color and students with disabilities, and has opposed affirmative action and equal opportunity initiatives. Marcus founded the Brandeis Center in 2011, and in 2012, the Brandeis Center filed an amicus brief opposing race conscious admissions in the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case.
During the December hearing, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) asked Marcus what he thought about racial disparities in student discipline, such as black students facing harsh discipline at much higher rates than white students. Marcus answered:
Senator, I believe disparities of that size are grounds for concern, but my experience says that one needs to approach each complaint and compliance review with an open mind and a sense of fairness to find what out what the answers are. I have seen what appeared to be inexcusable disparities that were the result of paperwork errors. They just got the numbers wrong.
Murphy spoke at a Center for American Progress event on student discipline practices on Wednesday and said Marcus’ explanation was unsatisfactory.
“Marcus would not concede that this was actionable by the department. All he said was that it would warrant tough questions,” Murphy said. “There is no satisfactory answer to any tough questions about why black students would be suspended at five times the rate of white students for the exact same behavior. That disparity is prima facie evidence of discrimination. There is no way a school district can explain that away.”
During the hearing, Marcus also said he supports the department’s decision to rescind 2011 guidance on campus sexual assault, a move that has been fiercely opposed by survivors of sexual violence. When he was the staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Marcus reportedly opposed the idea of expanding the commission’s scope to investigate human rights violations against the LGBTQ community.
The ACLU wrote to the commission in 2007 that it was “troubled” by reports that it failed to investigate serious allegations of civil rights abuses, including the allegation that black neighborhoods in Ohio didn’t have enough voting machines in the 2004 election.
At his confirmation hearing, there were signs of opposition from Palestinian rights groups, which say his fight against anti-Semitism on college campuses has conflated criticism of Israel with anti-Semitic statements. Protesters from National Students for Justice in Palestine attended the hearing in opposition to his nomination. Palestine Legal staff attorney Rahul Saksena said in a statement following the advancement of this nomination, “Marcus has pioneered a legal strategy of abusing civil rights laws to chill the speech activities and violate the civil rights of students who advocate for Palestinian rights.”
Democrats and civil rights advocates are already concerned about the Office for Civil Rights. Last November, the Associated Press reported on education department documents that showed the department is considering narrowing the scope of its civil rights work. The Obama administration considered whether issues in individual complaints were connected to systemic problems, but new proposed changes in guidelines ditched the word “systemic.” President the rich asshole’s proposed budget last year also cut 8 percent of OCR staff. Under the rich asshole administration, OCR has dismissed more discrimination cases, Politico reported in August. In the first two months since Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Candice Jackson began her role at OCR, it closed more than 1,500 complaints of discrimination and dismissed 900 complaints.
the rich asshole is planning a $100,000-per-couple anniversary party at Mar-A-Lago a day after the government is slated to shut down
some rich asshole stands before his luxurious Florida compound, Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent many weekends of his young presidency (AFP Photo/Don EMMERT)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
As the prospect of a government shutdown hangs over Washington, some rich asshole will travel to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, where he plans to host a one-year anniversary of his inauguration that costs $100,000 for a pair of tickets.
As Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs reports, the rich asshole wanted to throw a year anniversary of his victory last November, but was instead on trip to Asia.
Trump wanted to throw a party in November at the one-year mark after the election, but was traveling in Asia at that time. twitter.com/jenniferjjacob…
the rich asshole is expected to arrive in Florida on Friday afternoon, just hours before a government shutdown will be triggered if Congress fails to pass a spending bill. Meanwhile, the White House doesn’t even have a full-time director running the agency responsible for coordinating a government shutdown.
Several key coal states lost more jobs than they gained in the rich asshole’s first year
The War On Coal, 2017 edition.
A year into his presidency, President some rich asshole has faltered on one of his most repeated campaign promises: putting coal miners back to work, according to new government data first reported by Reuters.
Despite initiating a slew of regulatory rollbacks allegedly aimed at helping the struggling coal sector regain jobs, the entire sector grew by just 771 jobs during the rich asshole’s first year. Moreover, several key coal-producing states like Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, and Wyoming lost more coal jobs than they gained in the past year, a sign that the rich asshole’s deregulatory agenda will do little to stem the loss of coal jobs created by automation and cheap natural gas.
As a candidate, the rich asshole campaigned heavily on the false idea that environmental regulations created by the Obama administration — mainly the Clean Power Plan, which would have placed the first-ever greenhouse gas emission limits on power plants — were to blame for the steady decline in coal-related jobs in recent years. According to energy experts, the rise of cheap natural gas unleashed by fracking, as well as the rise in automation in coal mines and the falling costs of renewable energy, were the primary contributors to the decline in coal-related jobs. The industry has lost some 30,000 mining jobs between 2008 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Still, despite only modest growth in the coal sector this year — growth that some experts say will likely be short lived, as global market dynamics continue to shift — many in the coal industry remain committed to the idea that the rich asshole administration’s deregulatory agenda has lead to marked improvements. During a November public hearing on the administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, for instance, coal executive Robert Murray claimed that actions taken by the rich asshole had “saved 25,000 coal mining jobs” — a number widely debunked by both government and public interest group data.
Since the rich asshole was elected in November of 2016, 24 coal-fired power plants have announced plans to retire, according to the Sierra Club. And while coal production ticked slightly up in 2017, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is forecasting that production will likely drop some 2 percent in 2018, due to an expected decrease in coal exports.
The truth about the new ‘top secret’ memo Republicans can’t stop talking about
Yes, please, release the memo.
House Republicans and right-wing media outlets are up in arms about a classified memo purportedly detailing misconduct related to the FBI’s investigation of the rich asshole campaign for possible collusion with Russia.
After reviewing it on Thursday, a number of the rich asshole-supporting Republicans flooded the airwaves on Fox News. On Hannity, Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) called for Mueller to be fired, with Gaetz characterizing the special counsel’s investigation as “a lie built on corruption” and akin to “a palace coup.” On Friday morning, Fox & Friends spun the story as “worse than Watergate.”
Meanwhile, the rich asshole supporters like Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), and some rich asshole Jr. called for the memo to be immediately released to the American public.
I viewed the classified report from House Intel relating to the FBI, FISA abuses, the infamous Russian dossier, and so-called "Russian collusion." What I saw is absolutely shocking.
This report needs to be released--now. Americans deserve the truth. #ReleaseTheMemo
The democrats are lucky Republicans are honorable people. If we played the game like they do the memo would be all over CNN and everywhere else by now. Maybe it’s time we stoop to their level? #releasethememo
Just reviewed the HPSCI memo detailing FBI & FISA abuses, and it is very concerning. Every American has a right to see this memo immediately. #ReleaseTheMemo
There are a number of reasons to be extremely skeptical about the memo, however.
House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes has already been involved in discredited efforts to run interference for the rich asshole
According to Lawfare executive editor Susan Hennessey, Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) fingerprints are all over the FISA memo.
It appears to be some loose collection of Nunes's individual unfounded allegations related to unmasking, not clearly even endorsed by his fellow Republicans, now being seized on by opportunists looking for a Hail Mary to try to tank the 702 bill before Trump signs it. twitter.com/Brian_Boughton…
Citing a source with knowledge, Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider adds that the so-called “Nunes memo” embodies “a level of irresponsible stupidity that I cannot fathom. Purposefully misconstrues facts and leaves out important details.”
Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, was at the center of a previous ham-handed attempt to run interference for the rich asshole. Last spring, Nunes traveled to the White House to review documents that he said showed that “on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the rich asshole transition.”
Nunes was attempting to validate the rich asshole’s reckless claim that then-President Obama “tapped” his phones. the rich asshole went as far as to accuse former National Security Adviser Susan Rice of criminal acts related to unmasking, claiming the Obama administration’s surveillance practices are “one of the big stories of our time.”
But neither Nunes or the rich asshole ever produced any evidence of wrongdoing, and their accusations were debunked by congressional sources on both sides of the aisle. With their narrative in shambles, the fact Nunes and the White House had clearly colluded in an attempt to manufacture a scandal led Nunes to announce he was “temporarily” stepping aside from the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation.
Republicans are trying to revive a process story that has already been debunked
In recent weeks, Nunes, Jordan, Gaetz, Hannity, and others have been ceaselessly trying to turn the story surrounding the rich asshole campaign’s Russia ties into a process story about the origins and nature of the FBI investigation. These Republicans are eager to cast the decision to investigate the rich asshole as political, and prompted by the Steele dossier, which was partially funded by allies of Hillary Clinton.
But we recently learned that the story of the FBI’s investigation begins with the rich asshole campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos telling an Australian diplomat that Russia was in possession of political dirt about Hillary Clinton. What’s more, the investigation began in July 2016 — four months before the rich asshole won the election.
Though Jordan has spent months promoting his Comey/Clinton conspiracy theory on the uncritical programming of Fox News, his claims have not held up under the slightest bit of scrutiny.
Jordan and Hannity are harping on FBI’s process as a way to distract from the story surrounding the rich asshole campaign’s ties with Russia — the actual thing Mueller is investigating. The new effort to create controversy about the FISA memo represents an extension of that effort.
The memo is not an official work product of the House Intelligence Committee
The FISA memo is not an official work product of the House Intelligence Committee — and it’s not clear how it was proudced. According to a Daily Caller reporter, no Democrats have even seen it.
Not only are the origins of the memo unclear, but the question of which members of Congress endorse its findings remains open.
Republicans are using a lot of adjectives but won’t talk about what the memo actually says
Republicans are doing all they can to spread the idea that the memo contains scandalous findings.
But over the course of numerous interviews on Fox News on Thursday and Friday, not a single Republican who has seen the memo said a single thing about its substance or what exactly they find so troubling about it.
There’s nothing standing in the way of the memo being released for public consumption
As National Review reporter Jim Geraghty pointed out on Twitter, there’s absolutely nothing stopping President the rich asshole from declassifying the memo and releasing it for public review.
If this memo is such a smoking-gun bombshell that incriminates Obama, Comey, Mueller, Fusion GPS, etc. … why do we need a #ReleaseTheMemo Twitter campaign? Why isn’t the president declassifying it himself immediately?
Even if the rich asshole elected not to declassify the memo, Republican leaders in the House could do it without any Democratic support. And yet they haven’t, which makes one wonder if Republicans stand to lose more than they would gain from the memo’s public release.
The memo is being pushed by Republicans who have already proven they’re willing to do anything to protect the rich asshole
A number of Republicans who are leading the effort to make a fuss about the memo, including Gaetz and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), have already called for Mueller to be dismissed.
Others — including Nunes and Jordan — have proven they’ll stop at nothing in their efforts to defend the president.
In short, the Republicans making the most noise about the memo have already demonstrated they are operating with motives besides protecting Americans from unwarranted surveillance. And their effort to muddy the waters is being aided by Russia-linked Twitter accounts.
GOP reps demand release of 'shocking' surveillance memo
A growing number of Republicans are demanding the release of a classified report that they say reveals political bias at the FBI and Department of Justice in the investigation into possible ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russian election meddling
Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) spearheaded the effort this week to allow lawmakers to view a top-secret report compiled by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).
Scores of Republicans have since viewed the document in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility on Capitol Hill. They left expressing shock, saying the special counsel investigation into whether the rich asshole’s campaign officials had improper contacts with Russia is based on politically motivated actions at the highest level of law enforcement.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) called the memo “shocking.”
“I’m here to tell all of a America tonight that I’m shocked to read exactly what has taken place,” Meadows (R-N.C.) said in a speech on the House floor.
“I thought it could never happen in a country that loves freedom and democracy like this country. It is time that we become transparent with all of this, and I’m calling on our leadership to make this available so all Americans can judge for themselves.”
Meadows and his allies asked GOP leaders in the House to declassify the report as part of a short-term spending bill the House passed late Thursday night. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he wanted to follow House rules on the matter and deferred to Nunes and the Intelligence Committee.
Nunes could call for a vote to release the report on his panel. If a majority on the committee agrees to declassify the report, the executive branch would then need to sign-off to make it public, said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), another Freedom Caucus member.
“It is so alarming the American people have to see this,” Jordan said.
Speculation about the memo and what it might say exploded on social media Thursday night under the hashtag #releasethedocuments. Conservative firebrand Sean Hannity kicked off his Thursday night Fox News show with a message directly to special counsel Robert Mueller.
“Your witch hunt is now over,” Hannity said. “Time to close the doors.”
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said the memo contains widespread evidence of “FISA abuse.” Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) said the report “raises serious questions about the upper echelon of the Obama DOJ and Comey FBI as it relates to the so-called collusion investigation.”
In a statement, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, called the report “a profoundly misleading set of talking points drafted by Republican staff attacking the FBI and its handling of the investigation."
"Rife with factual inaccuracies and referencing highly classified materials that most Republican Intelligence Committee members were forced to acknowledge they had never read, this is meant only to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI," Schiff said. "This may help carry White House water, but it is a deep disservice to our law enforcement professionals."
The sprawling Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which governs U.S. spying on foreigners, became politically entangled with the controversy over the federal investigation into President the rich asshole's campaign and Russia in March 2017 when the rich asshole tweeted that former President Obama had ordered surveillance on the rich asshole Tower.
Some Republicans have claimed that the FBI used the so-called Steele dossier as the basis to obtain a politically motivated FISA warrant to spy on the rich asshole during the transition — though former FBI officials say this reflects a misunderstanding of the law.
One former senior official who worked on national security issues noted that, in general, the application for a surveillance warrant involves several layers of authentication of information, suggesting that if any of the information from the dossier were used in an application, it would have been corroborated. Justice Department lawyers often modify orders based on feedback from the court — and they must show probable cause that the target is acting as an agent of a foreign power.
But Republicans are suggesting the classified memo contains airtight evidence that the FBI and Justice Department have conspired to undermine the rich asshole’s presidency.
“The revelations contained in the memo prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have a compelling public interest and must be declassified and released as soon as possible,” the Republican Steering Committee said in a statement.
Lawmakers were tight-lipped about the contents of the memo, as they are barred from unilaterally releasing classified information.
But the lawmakers who have long been claiming that FBI agents and Justice Department officials launched a partisan investigation into the rich asshole said the report vindicated their claims.
Republicans have long believed that an opposition research memo funded in part by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democrats — which former FBI Director James Comey once described as “salacious and unverified” — was used to secure a warrant in a FISA court to spy on the rich asshole and his campaign and transition officials.
They have also drawn attention to private communications between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who privately disparaged the rich asshole and other political figures. Strzok had a lead role in the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified material while secretary of State, and both were on Mueller’s team before getting reassigned.
GOP lawmakers have also raised the alarm over Bruce Ohr, a senior Justice Department official, who appears to have close ties to the opposition research firm that compiled the anti-the rich asshole dossier.
“Some of the very people we have been talking about will be exposed as the key reason that all Americans need to see this memo,” Rep. Matt Gaetz(R-Fla.) said on Hannity’s show.
“It names names. It says who was involved with who, how different actors and characters we heard about interacted with one another, and that is a type of information that we need all Americans to see immediately.”
“It names names. It says who was involved with who, how different actors and characters we heard about interacted with one another, and that is a type of information that we need all Americans to see immediately.”
Katie Bo Williams contributed.
In year of drama and chaos, Mike Pence quietly advances conservative agenda
Republican president Mike Pence speaks to supporters at a rally in Chesterfield, Missouri (Shutterstock)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
In the run-up to President some rich asshole’s decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Vice President Mike Pence, a conservative Christian who had long advocated for the move, did something he does only selectively: speak up.
As intelligence and diplomatic officials warned against the change, Pence made a forceful “closing argument” in favor of it at a White House Situation Room meeting, leading a group that included senior adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, a senior administration official said.
Pence helped persuade the rich asshole to fulfill a campaign promise and upend long-standing U.S. policy by declaring he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, over objections from Arab nations and many Western allies.
In a year marked by chaos and infighting in the rich asshole’s White House, Pence has been one of the most effective administration officials in advancing his own policy goals.
His behind-the-scenes influence – described in interviews with more than two dozen conservative activists, lawmakers and administration officials – adds another dimension to a man often ridiculed for his public obsequiousness to his boss.
As Pence has put his stamp on policy, he has strengthened his ties with conservative activists, donors and lawmakers – alliances that would serve him well should he decide to launch his own presidential bid in the future.
But while he is a darling of conservative Republicans, Pence is often to the right of mainstream America on social issues like gay rights. In 2015, as governor of Indiana, he was forced to revise a state “religious liberty” law he had signed which opponents say allowed discrimination against gays.
Pence, who leaves on Friday for a trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel, has made a mark on domestic policy as vice president. The former congressman staunchly opposes abortion rights and passionately supports de-regulation of business and shrinking the size of government.
While heading up the presidential transition a year ago, he placed several advocates who oppose abortion rights in key positions at the Health and Human Services department.
HHS has made several decisions that have advanced the social conservative agenda, including broadening exemptions for employers who cite religious or moral reasons for refusing to cover birth control.
Pence led the charge for reinstating the so-called Mexico City policy that requires foreign non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. funding to vow to not discuss or perform abortions. The policy expanded under the rich asshole administration to apply to the majority of U.S. global health assistance, which totals more than $8 billion.
For months, Pence has pushed for redirecting aid money from the United Nations to the U.S. Agency for International Development so it can be directed to Christians in the Middle East.
Earlier this month, USAID, citing Pence’s remarks, said it renegotiated the terms of an agreement so that $5 million will go to addressing the needs of “vulnerable religious and ethnic minority communities” in Iraq.
Pence has also been central to the administration’s legislative efforts, including the tax cuts passed last year. Several conservative activists said he helped generate momentum by bringing in conservative groups to get their input and support.
Early last year, when thousands of activists began arriving in the U.S. capital for the annual “March for Life” anti-abortion rights event the rich asshole, then a Washington novice, asked Pence about it. The vice president described its importance in marking the anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
The discussion prompted the rich asshole to send Pence to speak at the march and on Friday the rich asshole himself addressed this year’s event via satellite. He criticized U.S. abortion laws as among the most permissive in the world.
AGREEING TO DISAGREE
In an administration where staff such as Steve Bannon, the president’s former strategist, and Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, have seen their stars rise and fall, Pence’s lasting influence owes to a number of factors, his associates say.
As vice president, he cannot be fired and therefore has less incentive than other aides to engage in building fiefdoms and jockeying for power. Advisers say that is not his style anyway.
“Inside of palace intrigue, there’s often power centers. And I don’t think there’s a Mike Pence power center,” said Marc Short, the rich asshole’s legislative affairs director and a former Pence aide. “He’s here to serve the president’s interests, and so therefore there’s not an alternative agenda that people have to worry about.”
His mild-mannered style has helped him to stay out of the fray. For example, with outsized personalities like Bannon – who was fired in August – Pence avoided tensions by agreeing to disagree when differences arose.
Pence’s deference has endeared him to the rich asshole, who highly values loyalty. The vice president is careful to praise his boss and hew to his positions, even in closed-door meetings when the rich asshole is not present.
Critics of Pence say he effectively validates the rich asshole’s often erratic behavior by quietly accepting the president’s combative instincts.
Pence and others were widely mocked for a Cabinet meeting in which the rich asshole went round the room to hear senior officials lavish praise on him. Pence said at the meeting it was “the greatest privilege of my life” to serve as the rich asshole’s vice president.
Congressional Democrats complain that Pence has not made a serious effort to work with them.
Pence has solidified relationships with outside groups and Republican lawmakers whose help the administration needs in enacting its policy agenda.
“The people that he talks to or interacts with and the way he treats them is (as if) they’re the most important person in the room,” said Republican Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus.
The lawmaker recounted an instance, during an Oval Office meeting, in which Pence gave up his seat and moved to another one so that Meadows could sit next to the rich asshole.
the rich asshole isn’t letting a government shutdown stand in the way of his party at Mar-a-Lago
For $100,000, you, too, can wine and dine alongside President the rich asshole.
The U.S. government is hours away from a shutdown. President some rich asshole’s private resort in Florida, by contrast, is preparing for a celebration.
As of 10 p.m. Thursday night, the rich asshole was scheduled to depart the White House for Mar-a-Lago at 4:30 p.m. Friday. On Friday morning, however, the White House — presumably realizing that a president attending a self-congratulatory gala while as his government floundered was bad optics — announced the rich asshole would leave for Florida on Saturday morning, so that he would be able to sign the stopgap spending bill once it passed the Senate. (A presumptuous assertion, given that the prospect of legislators actually passing anything appears to be grim.)
TRUMP PLANS TO STAY IN DC until Senate passes stopgap spending bill, so he can sign it before leaving for Mar-a-Lago, a White House source tells @margarettalev.
Tentative plan is for Trump to depart TOMORROW MORNING for Florida. (Then he can still make big party Saturday.)
Whatever the case, the rich asshole is making sure the Mar-a-Lago party remains on his agenda.
Supporters looking for access to the president on Saturday evening will have to pay a hefty price: Tickets to the event start at $100,000 per couple and include dinner and a photograph with the rich asshole. An upgraded $250,000 ticket includes both of those things, plus a round-table discussion with the president.
Bloomberg reported this week that Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel and billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn are footing the bill for the event. The proceeds will go back to the RNC and the rich asshole’s reelection campaign fund.
When the rich asshole took office in January 2017, he handed daily operations of his business empire over to his sons, some rich asshole Jr. and Eric, placing his assets into a trust. However, as ProPublica reported in April, the rich asshole is able to pull money from that trust whenever he wants and isn’t required to publicly disclose when he does. The line between the rich asshole organization’s business ventures and the White House is often blurred as well.
Since then, Mar-a-Lago, which the rich asshole has dubbed the “Winter White House,” has seen visits from ceremonial heads of state and high-profile individuals seeking to curry favor with the president. On one occasion in February last year, during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit, the resort was used as what the Washington Post dubbed an “open-air situation room,” where high-level government officials, mingling with club members, sought to formulate a response to a missile fired over Japan by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime.
Mar-a-Lago itself has taken benefited from the rich asshole’s presidency, using his high-profile status to justify raising its private membership fees to $200,000 in 2017 — nearly double what it was a year earlier.
It isn’t just wealthy private citizens who are lining the president’s pockets by shelling out for access to exclusive parties — it’s American taxpayers too. According to documents obtained by CNN, the Secret Service paid Mar-a-Lago tens of thousands of dollars in the span of a few months last year to cover rooms rented to agents, as well space leased for communications equipment or other purposes.
the rich asshole’s financial disclosure forms for 2016-2017 show Mar-a-Lago made $37 million in revenue in the first four months of his presidency.
Saturday’s Mar-a-Lago event comes in the wake of an announcement by the rich asshole Organization that owners of units housed at the company’s new condominium development in India will gain precious access to the first family. According to The New York Times, Indian developers have promised to fly the first 100 property buyers to New York for a sit-down dinner with some rich asshole Jr. The president’s critics have already panned the move as yet another scheme to use the rich asshole’s fame to pad his company’s pockets.
No comments:
Post a Comment