WATCH: SNL Invokes ‘All In The Family’ In Longing For The Days Before the rich asshole
No one ever accused George W. Bush of being the best president America has ever seen, and goodness knows he has more than his share of mistakes – to be generous. He brought the housing market crashing down and the world economy to the brink of collapse, terribly mishandled the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, leaving bunches of preventable deaths in his wake – and that is just for starters. But Dubya looks like Lincoln compared to what we have now – one some rich asshole. The good folks over at Saturday Night Live seem to agree, and they wasted absolutely no time in bringing that fact to light in a hilarious cold open on their latest broadcast.
With host Will Ferrell reprising his role as George W. Bush and SNL cast member Leslie Jones playing Bush’s Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the duo invoked the “Those Were the Days” theme song from the old hit show “All in the Family” to reminisce about the days when they were in control of the federal government and the idea of a some rich asshole presidency was beyond laughable. They waxed nostalgic over the housing market crash, the days when Osama Bin Laden was alive (of course, President Obama had him killed, so that was only a futuristic dream at the time), and the all around normalcy of a Bush presidency compared to what is going on with the absolute abnormality of the rich asshole.
Now, no one in their right mind wants Bush back in the White House, but we sure as hell would rather have him than the rich asshole any day. Despite his many bumbling mistakes and flaws, there was zero reason to believe that the republic was in peril under Bush, while there is plenty of reason to believe it is under the rich asshole, who is nothing more than an incompetent wannbe tinpot dictator.
Well, we can’t turn back the hands of time, and if we don’t laugh at this stuff, we’ll cry. So, thank you Leslie Jones, Will Ferrell, and Saturday Night Live for giving us a bit of comic relief in such stressful times.
Watch this comedy gold below:
Featured image via video screen capture
Asia under the rich asshole: How the US is losing the region to China
Updated 0145 GMT (0945 HKT) January 28, 2018
(CNN)In just one year, US President some rich asshole has changed the way Asia looks at the United States.
The cornerstones of American power in Asia, Japan, Australia and South Korea, all lost a little faith in their longtime close ally and protector in 2017, according to Gallup polling.
No military assets have been withdrawn, no embassies closed, but the lack of interest expressed by a US administration focused on "America First" has deeply shaken its status in the region.
"Nowadays when we attend international conferences (around Asia), nobody really talks about the United States anymore ... it's a little bit strange," Chisuke Masuo, associate professor at Kyushu University's Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, told CNN.
Uncertainty about America's commitment to the region has prompted local leaders to strengthen ties with each other, to prepare for the day when the US no longer has their backs.
Meanwhile, a number of simmering flashpoints across the region could test the US' commitment to its allies, and Masuo said China is likely to use those points of tension to prove its regional supremacy.
"It's the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in July 2021, and I think (Chinese President) Xi Jinping will love to demonstrate his people that China has become a dominant power in Asia by then," she said.
"The US may want to change its Asia policy after three years, but I'm very worried if that will be possible," Masuo added. "China is restructuring the entire international order in the Asia Pacific."
Southeast Asia: The forgotten flashpoint
Nowhere in Southeast Asia is the power struggle between the United States and China as clear as in the fight for control of the South China Sea.
It's a regional flashpoint which has long threatened to spark a larger armed conflict amid territorial claims from at least five separate countries for a small collection of reefs and submerged islands.
Since the rich asshole was sworn into office, tensions have faded as Washington and Beijing's attention turned north to the Korean Peninsula, Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, told CNN.
"But if history is anything to go by, it means tensions will start to rise again," he said.
China has not stopped expanding its footprint in the South China Sea during the North Korea crisis, continuing to extend its hold over the area through bases for aircraft and radar installations.
Storey said over the next three years there are several lines China could cross which would likely provoke a fierce reaction from the United States and other Southeast Asian nations.
For instance, it could declare an air defense zone over the Spratley Islands, as it did in the East China Sea, or Chinese forces could begin reclamation of Scarborough Shoal.
"(Additionally) so far China has refrained from sending any fighter aircraft to its artificial islands, but given the scale of the facilities they've built on three of these features for aircraft, it's really only a question of time," he said.
"That would warrant a reaction from Southeast Asian countries ... so I think China is playing it cautious for the moment. (But) I mean if they do, what options do those countries have other than to protest?"
Several countries in Southeast Asia have already started moving closer to China as US influence in the region fades, including a startling about-face by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.
But the country to watch as a litmus test of China's growing influence in Southeast Asia is Vietnam, Storey said, which has emerged as a surprising US ally in recent years.
In 2017, Vietnam built a closer defense and security relationship with the US while standing as perhaps the last major opposition to China in the neighboring sea. A US aircraft carrier will be visiting the country in 2018 for the first time since the Vietnam War.
Storey said any moves by Vietnam towards Beijing would be stunning.
"That would be a key indication that China is winning in the region and that Southeast Asian countries were making concessions to China," he said.
East Asia: Cracks in US influence
The vast majority of American power in Asia, both military and diplomatic, is centered on the Korean Peninsula.
In 2017, the North Korean government announced it had developed missiles capable of hitting the mainland United States, sparking a war of words between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President the rich asshole as well as conflicting views inside Washington over how to resolve the crisis.
How the standoff ends could well determine the future of US power in Asia, but John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at Harvard Kennedy School, told CNN the event itself shows the cracks in American influence.
"The current North Korean nuclear crisis is showing the considerable effort that the US has to make to project its power," he said.
It isn't just the impotence of the US to stop North Korea attaining nuclear weapons. Repeated threats of military action which could come at the expense of South Korea have caused concerns among the close US ally, Park said.
"The pillar of the decades-old assurance that the US would defend Seoul as if it were Los Angeles is appearing to shake," he said.
the rich asshole's threats of potential military intervention in North Korea are likely to be tested in coming years as well. Park said further missile testing is likely in 2018, as well as a possible atmospheric nuclear test by the North Koreans.
the rich asshole to UN: 'Rocket Man' on a suicide mission 02:23
Neighboring countries will be watching the US carefully and any rash conflict sparked by Washington will be laid straight at the White House's door. "The credibility of US leadership as a provider of global stability would erode," Park said.
But while international attention is focused on the Korean Peninsula, China could seek to test US influence in Asia through a completely separate flashpoint in East Asia.
In his speech at the 19th Party Congress in October, Xi Jinping did not mince his words when saying the national reunification of Taiwan with the mainland was a vital part of his plan for China.
Mainland Chinese authorities announced in early 2018 they would be opening new air routes over the Taiwan Straits, in an area close to the island itself, without consulting Taipei's government.
"The one thing that has never changed (for Beijing) is the Taiwan position," Xu Guoqi, Kerry Group professor at the University of Hong Kong, told CNN.
"They always claimed Taiwan was part of China ... so now as China becomes more assertive, more powerful, as the Americans pull back, Beijing might do something that might be a surprise."
Any moves by China against Taiwan would be a test for US influence, as Washington has been a close ally of Taipei for decades.
If American promises to defend the island from Beijing aggression weren't honored, Xu said, the backdown could shatter US influence and alliances in Asia.
South Asia: Military focus shifting
Barely two weeks into 2018, Indian Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said it was time for India to shift its defensive focus to the northern border it shares with China.
"The country is capable of handling China's assertiveness. China is a powerful country, but we are not a weak nation," he said in New Delhi on January 12, according to the Indian Express.
The comments infuriated Beijing, spurring a series of rebukes from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and even editorials in state media publications.
the rich asshole: Relations with India better than ever 07:17
But Bharat Karnad, research professor in national security studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, said the repositioning was necessary and long overdue.
"We are shifting our military focus from Pakistan to China. This is something we should done 30 years ago," he said, adding further tensions on the Chinese/Indian border such as the 2017 standoff at Doklam were inevitable.
According to Rawat, India and several other countries in Asia, including Japan, were already treating the US as a "fading power," who could no longer be relied on for defense purposes.
"It could manifest itself in the future via Asian countries and especially India and Japan cooperating and collaborating further on their security objectives," he said.
Other countries in South Asia have anticipated the new paradigm in a different way, choosing to make definitive moves closer to the government in Beijing.
Pakistan is a close part of China's grand One Belt One Road infrastructure initiative which will be unfolding in Asia over the coming years as Beijing sponsors projects across the region with an aim to recreate the original Silk Road.
Speaking to CNN, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said she didn't believe her country had to pick between the US or China, but added Beijing had been a long-term partner for Pakistan.
"(China is) perhaps the only real strategic partner Pakistan has had, not from today or the last five years, but for the last four decades. With them, we have a complete alignment of interest," she said.
In January, the US confirmed it would be suspending an estimated $1 billion in security assistance to Pakistan over what it sees as a failure by the Pakistani government to adequately clamp down on terror groups within its borders.
Elsewhere, Myanmar's controversial State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi recently visited Beijing again to a warm reception, while the Sri Lanka the government announced it had granted a Chinese company a 99-year lease on a newly constructed port.
Despite India's neighbors Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar working closely with China, Karnad said Delhi had one advantage which would hold Beijing at bay for the near future at least.
"(China) cannot afford to lose the Indian market," he said. "If it upsets India too much, it can shut off the Indian market to Chinese goods, the Chinese economy takes a big hit ... Things are far more difficult for China than many people in the West make out."
Australia: Deft diplomacy required
It's been a rough year for Australia diplomatically, caught in complicated and fractious relationships with both US President some rich asshole and the Chinese government.
In the second half of the year, China and Australia regularly clashed over allegations of interference by Beijing in domestic Australian politics, allegations the Chinese vehemently denied.
In January, Australian International Development Minister Concetta Fierravanta-Wells told local media China's aid in the Pacific was just creating "useless" buildings and "roads to nowhere."
Hugh White, professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University, says Australia is still trapped in the mantra which has defined its diplomatic choices for a decade: "Australia doesn't have to choose between the United States and China."
Even the new Australian foreign policy white paper published at the end of 2017 makes little reference to the possibility of a reduced US role in the Asia region.
"Australia tangibly supports the deep engagement of the United States in the economic and security affairs of the region, which has been and continues to be essential to the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific," the document says.
But White warned that over the next three years, trapped between an increasingly aggressive China and a disinterested White House, Canberra could be caught unprepared for a new Asia.
"Australia doesn't have a policy on this, it just has a series of hopes," he said.
With Australia hugely reliant on the United States for its defense, any breakdown of US influence or presence in the Asia region could leave the island nation militarily adrift, White said.
To complicate matters, Australia looks likely to see a change in government before 2021, with the current government under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull broadly unpopular across polls.
There's no indication as yet whether a new Labor government would change its policy to China or the United States.
Michael Fullilove, executive director of Sydney's Lowy Institute, doesn't agree with White that China is guaranteed to assume the leadership of the Asia region, but added navigating the coming years would take deft diplomacy for Australia.
"What Australia needs to do is hedge ... by seeking to play an active role (diplomatically), by strengthening our connections with other countries. The more we can strengthen our connections with India, Indonesia and Japan, the harder it is for Asia to be dominated by one particular state," he said.
At the same time, Fullilove said Australia needs to work to keep the US engaged in the region while cooperating with China when it is in Canberra's interests to do so.
"That's a very ambitious foreign policy I just sketched out -- the question in a lot of minds is, 'is the volatile Australian political system capable of it? Will it prioritize foreign policy, does it have the wherewithal to carry it off?'" he said.
White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign in June
White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign from his position in June 2017-- but it was not in direct response to President the rich asshole's discussion of firing newly appointed special counsel Robert Mueller. Two sources directly involved in the deliberations tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett that McGahn's threat was not communicated directly to some rich asshole, but adjudicated by senior staff, principally then-chief of staff Reince Priebus and then-chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Garrett reports that while some rich asshole talked about firing Mueller, he never issued a direct "order" to do so in any written form, although he did say he favored it in the presence of senior staff.
Soon after Mueller's appointment, some rich asshole raised three possible conflict of interest areas for the special counsel. The president expressed confusion and anger over these areas as well as the general scope of Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Sources tell Garrett that White House senior staff viewed some rich asshole's talk of firing Mueller skeptically, as he frequently mentioned firing people in his administration, but often quickly forgets about it.
In the Mueller instance, as in other potential firing cases, senior staff acknowledged the president with nods, but did not take action, in hopes some rich asshole would simmer down or forget, sources tell Garrett.
Because of this, discussion of firing Mueller was not acted upon or elevated from the White House to Department of Justice.
McGahn, other White House counsel attorneys, and other senior staff talked some rich asshole to back off the notion of firing Mueller based on the risks involved and the lack of legal basis to oust the special counsel.
Sources tell Garrett that McGahn threatened to resign over an accumulation of stresses and frustrations with the president, rather than leaving for issues related to Mueller's potential firing.
McGahn's primary stress was being a "no" voice for some rich asshole. He served as the the principle lawyerly voice intervening to explain legal limits to some rich asshole about his various intentions or desires. This role put McGahn at uneasy odds with some rich asshole.
McGahn did not threaten to resign to some rich asshole, but communicated this frustration, and others brought to a head by the Mueller situation, to senior staff-- primarily Priebus and Bannon.
In response to McGahn's complaints, more White House Counsel lawyers were brought into interactions with some rich asshole. Legal advice would then be communicated to some rich asshole through Preibus and eventually, through current White House chief of staff John Kelly.
With the beginning of Mueller's investigation, McGahn became a figure in the firing of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey. That meant McGahn had to severely limit interactions with some rich asshole, a practice he has adhered to since, sources tell Garrett.
Other advisers and attorneys, including Ty Cobb, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow, have successfully persuaded some rich asshole to back off from Mueller. Discussion of firing the special counsel quickly died down.
Since late December, some rich asshole has allowed Cobb, Dowd, and Sekulow to negotiate on a the rich asshole-Mueller interview.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Not all of Davos gave the rich asshole the ‘rock star welcome’ the US media reported
Frances Langum
Posted with permission from Crooks and Liars
Davos is often portrayed as a billionaires' club, but a great many representatives from organizations also attend to discuss humanitarian actions around the world. Humanitarian agencies need money, so they attended Davos to tell billionaires what to do with their money.
It's clear from the video that at least some of those interviewed came from these kinds of organizations. The first woman walked out on Some rich asshole's speech, because "I do not believe that this Forum is for people who use the kind of language that he uses."
We're talking about 'Creating Unity in a Fractured World,' And his statements over the last month, about Haiti, where I live and work, and many other countries around the world, only deepened those fractures."
This woman was later identified as Sasha Kraemer, a worker in Haiti from the United States.
Other interviewees had low enthusiasm for Some rich asshole, calling his speech "ho-hum" and "the speech of a salesman, not a world leader." "It was a missed opportunity."
One woman noted that the statistics in his speech were not accurate and that his inaccuracies "benefitted him, of course." Her voice broke as she talked about being an African American woman living in America under Donald Some rich asshole.
While some US coverage pointed out how Some rich asshole was booed during his speech, the bar is so low for Donald in the US that Hallie Jackson saw fit to note on the air that Some rich asshole stayed "on script."
And Ali Velshi of all people got caught up in the "rock star welcome" just because people want a cell phone picture of the so-called POTUS.
And thank the heavens we now know Rex Tillerson found a place to sit at dinner.
Update: Sec. Tillerson now has a seat at the table, per a State Dept. official to pooler @VaughnHillyard. twitter.com/HallieJackson/…
h/t Shoq for the video
Piers Morgan ruthlessly mocked after ‘breaking’ news that the rich asshole is not a feminist
Piers Morgan (Screenshot)
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British journalist and TV presenter Piers Morgan on Saturday revealed that President some rich asshole said in a recent interview that he wouldn’t call himself a feminist.
Morgan tweeted out the rich asshole’s quotes from his interview, which will air on Sunday evening. But his decision to tout the news as “breaking” led to a heaping of mockery from social media users.
Imagine thinking this is news. Breaking: Sexual predator who raped his wife, calls women he finds unattractive cows, and said he wants to fuck his daughter is not a feminist. twitter.com/piersmorgan/st…
BREAKING: Water, Wet; Gravity, Works; President, Horrorshow twitter.com/thehill/status…
Would have never expected this. My heart is broken. twitter.com/piersmorgan/st…
holy shit twitter.com/piersmorgan/st…
Piers is becoming the boy who cried breaking news. twitter.com/piersmorgan/st…
This is breaking news in the same way fidget spinners are the hot new accessory for kids twitter.com/piersmorgan/st…
BREAKING NEWS:
Serial sexual harasser and self-admitted assaulter says he is NOT a feminist. Also, water is wet and a bear shits in the woods. twitter.com/piersmorgan/st…
MeAndMyPolarBearBREAKING NEWS: Piers Morgan is a brown-nosing twatwaffle & no one cares about his “breaking news”.
No shit Some rich asshole’s not a feminist. He’s a misogynist who’s been degrading to women his entire life. Obviously.
How is that “breaking”, much less “news”, you mumpsimus cockalorum?
January 26, 2018
The White House released the outlines of its immigration proposal on Thursday, a day after President the rich asshole spoiled the surprise, and Chief of Staff John Kelly and the rich asshole's immigration adviser Stephen Miller briefed members of Congress. Miller told congressional staffers that the proposal — with a path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children plus $25 billion for border security and a host of conservative immigration restrictions — was designed to get 60 votes in the Senate. The initial reaction in Congress wasn't great, and it was worse outside Congress.
On the right, Breitbart News called the rich asshole "Amnesty Don," Heritage Action's Michael Needham said that "any proposal that expands the amnesty-eligible population risks opening Pandora's box" and "should be a nonstarter," and prominent immigration restrictionist Mark Krikorian said the rich asshole "hasn't sold out his voters yet" but this proposal poses "a real potential for disaster." On the left, United We Dream's Greisa Martinez Rosas called the plan "a white supremacist ransom note" and the ACLU demised it as a "hateful, xenophobic immigration proposal that would slash legal immigration to levels not seen since the racial quotas of the 1920s."
"Put simply: It's dead on arrival," says Jonathan Swan at Axios, who spoke with progressive immigration leaders close to top Democrats. The $25 billion for the border wall "trust fund" is at least $15 billion too high, Swan reports, and "the increase of ICE agents, faster deportations, stronger interior enforcement, and the massive cuts to legal immigration" — by 40 to 50 percent, according to liberal immigration analysts — is even worse. They wonder why that's a good trade for an idea, protecting DREAMers, that has overwhelming public support, even among Republicans. Peter Weber
Angry the rich asshole doesn’t understand why he can’t boss around ‘my guys’ in the Justice Dept as Mueller probe closes in: report
some rich asshole speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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President some rich asshole is reportedly frustrated that he doesn’t have more influence over the U.S. Department of Justice as special counsel Robert Mueller continues to probe his administration.
The president wants to release a classified memo written by congressional Republicans that allegedly documents FBI surveillance abuse, according to The Washington Post.
However, that wish conflicts with the desires of the Justice Department, which has said it would be “extraordinarily reckless” for the memo to be released before the department had a chance to review it.
White House chief of staff John Kelly has informed Attorney General Jeff Sessions of the rich asshole’s hope to see the document made public. The Washington Post said the incident “marked another example of the president’s year-long attempts to shape and influence an investigation that is fundamentally outside his control.”
Inside sources also told The Washington Post that the rich asshole has expressed anger and frustration and complained in recent weeks that he doesn’t understand why he cannot order “my guys” at the Justice Department to simply do what he wants. He reportedly referred to the Department of Justice as “the rich asshole’s Justice Department.”
The memo purportedly contains evidence that the FBI and Department of Justice are biased against the rich asshole. But Democrats who have seen it, such as House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), have claimed that the memo is purely a political document designed to undermine the Russia probe.
The GOP finally released a statement on Steve Wynn — and it’s pathetic
It's 12 words long.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that casino mogul Steve Wynn, the Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee, had engaged in serial sexual harassment and assault. The report was based on dozens of interviews in which people described how Wynn engaged in a “decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct” including “pressuring employees to perform sex acts.”
For 24 hours, the Republican Party said nothing. The silence was particularly remarkable in light of the GOP’s reaction to reports in October that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted numerous women. The same day the first report was publish, the Republican Party demanded the Democratic Party and all Democratic officials return money from Weinstein, who was a major donor to Democrats.
On Saturday afternoon, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel released a statement. Here it is, in its entirety:
Today I accepted Steve Wynn’s resignation as Republican National Committee finance chair.
The statement was released to press but does not appear on the GOP website or Twitter account. It was also not posted to Twitter by McDaniel.
It is notable, mostly, for what it does not include.
The GOP’s statement on Wynn does not mention women
The GOP’s statement about Wynn makes no mention about the extremely serious allegations of sexual abuse contained in the Wall Street Journal article. It doesn’t even make an oblique mention to the importance of women to the Republican Party.
Compare that to the statement by McDaniel, posted on the GOP website and distributed through all its social media channels, on Weinstein:
During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars. If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer.
The allegations against Wynn also stretch decades and his donations to Republicans dwarf Weinstein’s donations to Democrats.
The GOP’s statement does not mention anything about Wynn’s money
Since 2012, Wynn has given $2.5 million to the Republican Governors Association, $411,000 to the National Republican Senate Committee, $248,000 to the Republican National Committee, and $100,000 to the National Republican Campaign Committee.
Wynn also donated $729,217 to the rich asshole’s inauguration. Wynn gave millions more to outside groups supporting the rich asshole and other Republicans.
Just last weekend, Wynn was headlining a fundraiser at Mar-a-lago for the rich asshole. Tickets to the event, which was expected raise millions for the rich asshole, started at $100,000. (“Steve Wynn, I want to thank you,” the rich asshole said in a recorded message played at the event, which he missed due to the government shutdown.)
The GOP demanded Democrats return every cent from Weinstein. A video produced by the GOP chided Democrats to “put your money where your mouth is.”
Thus far Republicans are keeping Wynn’s money — and keeping their mouths shut.
‘A white supremacist ransom note’: the rich asshole’s handling of Dreamers gets trashed in surprising Fox News panel
Jessica Ramirez (Screenshot)
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President some rich asshole’s proposed framework for an immigration deal received a thrashing from two guests Saturday on Fox News.
Jessica Ramirez, the Managing Attorney for Catholic Charities of Newark-Immigration Assistance, said she was hopeful that the rich asshole and Congress would work out a deal to protect Dreamers.
“These are people at this point who have lived most of their lives in this country, that speak more English than their native tongue and for all intents and purposes, they consider themselves Americans, they live the American lifestyle, there are law abiding,” she said.
the rich asshole has said he will support a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. But he also is seeking a massive increase in border security along with a large decrease in legal immigration.
Elizabeth Wydra, the president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, accused the rich asshole of holding the Dreamers “hostage” in his push to cut down legal immigration.
“Yes, he is a businessman and that is what they do,” Ramirez agreed. “They exploit and they use in order to get what they want, and I think it will be problematic but I think people will have to come in the middle to get what they want to get.
“And I think it is a kick in the gut for a Latina such as myself to talk about Mexico and the border when there’s another border in Canada,” Ramirez added.
“I think this wall — I thought Mexico was supposed to pay for it, first of all — but also the idea that we’re going to have a wall on our Southern border is really racist,” Wydra said. “Why are we trying to keep black and brown people out the country while the president says we should welcome more people from Norway?”
The Fox News host noted that the rich asshole has said he hopes Congress will approve immigration legislation by February 5. “Will this happen Elizabeth?”
“I think is really hard to say,” Wydra replied. “There are a lot of Democrats who are saying we might be willing to give you some money for the wall as ransom for taking the Dreamers hostage. But I think the limitation on legal immigration might be a step too far for them. In fact, the Dreamers themselves have come out saying basically it is a white supremacist ransom note.”
Watch video below:
the rich asshole: 'I wouldn't say I'm a feminist'
BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 01/27/18 06:52 PM EST
President the rich asshole said that he wouldn’t call himself a feminist in a new interview with Piers Morgan, Morgan said Saturday.
The British news host tweeted out the rich asshole’s quotes from the interview on Saturday night.
The full interview with Morgan will air on Sunday.
the rich asshole’s comments come amid an international conversation about sexual misconduct and behavior toward women.
The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have been launched into the spotlight as prominent men in entertainment and politics have faced claims of sexual misconduct.
the rich asshole has also been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women. Three of his accusers called for Congress to investigate the claims last year, as did dozens of Democratic female lawmaker.
What Fresh Hell?: The Ugly American Edition
some rich asshole (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)
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Welcome to another edition of What Fresh Hell?, Raw Story’s roundup of news items that might have become controversies under another regime, but got buried – or were at least under-appreciated – due to the daily firehose of political pratfalls, unhinged tweet storms and threats of nuclear annihilation coming out of the current White House.
It was a relatively quiet week at the circus, in part because the rich asshole’s spent a few days in Davos, wooing those elite globalists he always railed about. His act reportedly went over better than it has in other international fora, mostly because the kind of people who attend Davos will tolerate a deranged chaos monkey if he can deliver some sweet tax cuts.
The shiniest object this week may have been news that the rich asshole already tried to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But that story merely confirmed earlier reports, and of course it’s all fake news anyway in the rich asshole’s world.
The Washington Post ran a feature this week that got us thinking. It detailed how many African Americans fear cross-country travel today in a way that’s reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.
Rhonda Colvin writes…
President the rich asshole’s election in November 2016 coincided with a surge in reported hate crimes that month, according to federal data… reports of vocal white supremacists, high-profile fatal police encounters and caught-on-camera public racism are influencing where motorists of color are willing to drive.
These are citizens; immigrants – including authorized immigrants – are literally being terrorized on a daily basis as ICE continues to sweep people up in courthouses and schools and hospitals.
So, perceptions about what’s happening to this country are heavily influenced by one’s physical security. If you’re not a white, straight citizen, the rich asshole and Some rich assholeism is an existential threat. If you’re a member of the majority, and personally secure, the rich asshole is first and foremost deeply, deeply embarrassing. It’s a national disgrace that the Electoral College elevated such a crackpot to the highest office in the land, and it’s humiliating every time he opens his pie hole in public.
*****
Last week, we had a laugh – and Fox News viewers had a scare – over a report from the Department of Homeland Security which purported to show that 73 percent of terrorists convicted in federal courts were foreign-born. The opposite is true – fringe right-wingers commit the lion’s share of terror attacks in the US — but the report simply excluded those who were convicted of domestic terrorism. So it was like saying that foreigners tend to be born in other countries.
This week, Spencer Ackerman reported for The Daily Beast that “the Department of Homeland Security did not perform that analysis. DHS’ analysts did not contribute to the highly controversial report….According to a government source familiar with the episode, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ office took charge of the report’s assemblage of statistics—which some terrorism analysts consider highly misleading—and sent it to DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen for her imprimatur after it was all but finalized.”
We like a little levity around here, but in fact gaming terror statistics to demonize immigrants is pretty dangerous stuff. Turning the highest law enforcement agency in the land into a source of xenophobic propaganda really isn’t funny at all.
*****
Here’s an important story from Politico that may have gotten lost in the shuffle this week. According to Dan Diamond, “a small cadre of politically prominent religious activists inside the Department of Health and Human Services have spent months quietly planning how to weaken federal protections for abortion and transgender care — a strategy that’s taking shape in a series of policy moves that took even their own staff by surprise.”
Diamond writes…
The agency’s devout Christian leaders have set in motion changes with short-term symbolism and long-term significance. One of those moves — a vast outreach initiative to religious groups … — came in October 2017 while the health department reeled from the resignation of former Secretary Tom Price and congressional Republicans struggled to repeal the Affordable Care Act.That outreach initiative began a rulemaking process that could culminate in a rollback of Obama-era protections for transgender patients and allowing health providers more protections to deny procedures like abortion. It worried abortion rights and LGBT advocates, who acknowledge that while abortion laws and other regulations remain mostly intact, the groundwork is steadily being laid to revise them.
Let’s keep an eye on this one.
*****
Now for a couple of stories about politicizing the bureaucracy, which should serve as a blaring warning of emerging authoritarianism.
“The the rich asshole administration is pushing a subtle change to a government form which could have profound implications for future elections and potentially violate the Constitution,” writes Ian Millhiser from Think Progress. The plan is to add a question on the upcoming Census form asking folks about their citizenship status, and the idea is to scare immigrants, many of whom live in households with mixed legal status from participating.
“A change to the census form that discourages these immigrants from filling it out will likely shift political power away from urban centers (where voters tend to prefer Democrats) and toward more rural areas (where voters tend to prefer Republicans,” according to Millhiser.
But the move may be unconstitutional, as the 14th Amendment specifies that the Census will count all persons, other than Native Americans, and “if the Census Bureau adopts a question known to discourage certain populations from filling out their census forms, that will prevent representatives from being allocated based on the ‘whole number of persons in each state’ because the number of people in states with larger undocumented immigrant populations will be systematically undercounted.”
The Census is also underfunded, and the rich asshole’s nominated a new Census chief who’s written in the past that “competitive elections are bad for America.” You know what they say — ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, just cheat.’
*****
Meanwhile, beleaguered staffers at the State Department, which we’ve noted in the past has faced an exodus of career foreign service officers (who have been replaced in some cases by unqualified weirdos), are lawyering up, “charging they are being put in career purgatory because of their previous work on policy priorities associated with President Barack Obama,” according to CNN’s Elise Labott.
As has been reported elsewhere, Labott notes that “morale inside the State Department is at the lowest level in years, largely because of the perceived talent flight and an insular and distrustful approach from Tillerson and his team.”
*****
A staff photographer at the Department of Energy was fired for releasing a photograph of Energy Secretary Rick Perry reviewing an “action plan” put together by coal magnate Robert Murray, the head honcho at Murray Energy. According to Think Progress…
Photographer Simon Edelman said Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray asked Perry for policy changes that would directly benefit his coal company and the executive’s personal financial position. The reason to release the photos “was to show the evidence of corruption that was taking place” …Edelman, who stayed in the room for about 15 minutes, said it was unlike any other meeting he had photographed at DOE, including events attended by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Perry’s predecessor. “This was not an everyday meeting that happens all the time,” he said. “This was different because they knew each other and they knew each other well. Perry gave him that hug. And then Murray got right down to business and gave him the action plan.”
The really sad thing – aside from a whistleblower getting the ax — is that Rick Perry’s not quite bright enough to come up with his own give-away to Big Coal.
*****
You probably caught the story of the 19-year-old the rich asshole fan who was arrested this week for threatening to shoot up CNN for peddling “fake News.” (“I’m smarter than you,” he claimed in one threat transmitted across state lines and duly intercepted by the FBI.)
Getting less notice was an analysis of data from US Press Freedom Tracker by Peter Sterne and Jonathan Peters for The Columbia Journalism Review which found that “the most dangerous place to be a journalist in America is at a protest,” and they attributed this, at least in part, to Some rich assholeism.
With his near-daily denouncements of the press, the president has helped normalize abuses against journalists by ordinary people. Public trust in the press is low, and a growing number of Americans see journalists as part of an elite coastal establishment that doesn’t understand them or share their interests. Those sentiments seem to be combusting at protests.
*****
Meanwhile, according to The Hill, “the United States joined Belgium, the U.K. and Japan this week in opting out of a new standardized test for students to determine whether children can spot and avoid fake news.”
Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along.
*****
What’s this? The House Science Committee wants to investigate a scientist for doing science?
That’s the take-away from a report by Sharon Lerner at The Intercept…
Republicans on the House Science Committee are accusing Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, of lobbying. In letters sent to the Inspector General and acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Reps. Lamar Smith and Andy Biggs wrote that they were “conducting oversight” of Birnbaum’s activity in response to a editorial she wrote in a scientific journal.Birnbaum’s editorial, which the journal PLOS Biology published in December, addressed the gaps in the regulation of toxic chemicals. Though there are more than 85,000 chemicals approved for use in commerce, she noted in the piece, “U.S. policy has not accounted for evidence that chemicals in widespread use can cause cancer and other chronic diseases, damage reproductive systems, and harm developing brains at low levels of exposure once believed to be harmless.”Birnbaum called for more research on the risks posed by chemicals and, in the sentence that the representatives appear to consider lobbying, noted that “closing the gap between evidence and policy will require that engaged citizens — both scientists and non-scientists — work to ensure that our government officials pass health-protective policies based on the best available scientific evidence.”
*****
Candidate the rich asshole did say he was “the most militaristic guy there is,” and he promised to run the country like a business, which means cutting corners and screwing over your workforce whenever possible.
These themes may come together in Afghanistan soon, and with potentially disastrous consequences, according to a report by Thomas Gibbons-Neff at The New York Times. He writes…
They are being heralded as a key part of President the rich asshole’s new strategy to resolve the nearly 17-year war in Afghanistan. But their training has been cut short by months, and units are still short-staffed, as some of the estimated 1,000 additional military advisers prepare to arrive in Afghanistan in time for the spring fighting season, officials said…The advisers’ brigade was supposed to have around a year of training before deploying. Advisers in the new brigade are expected to begin deploying by early spring — roughly eight months after the brigade was created.Additionally, a six-week Army course specifically for combat advisers was slashed to two weeks to more quickly cycle the American soldiers through training.
*****
From the ‘it’s all a big grift’ file, we learn from The New York Times that “a pair of groups supporting President the rich asshole say they raised $30 million last year, then spent tens of thousands of those dollars at the the rich asshole International Hotel here and on payments to a few the rich asshole loyalists like the former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and the former Milwaukee County sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.”
We’re guessing that Clarke can buy a lot of bling for that kind of money.
*****
Speaking of embarrassing, let’s finish things off with an odd story from the ‘personnel is policy’ file. A woman named Cathy Stepp is the rich asshole’s pick to head the Midwest Environmental Protection Agency. She previously served as secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources under Scott Walker – whom Charles Pierce has dubbed “the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin.”
For us, the story is Stepp’s “history of rolling back enforcement of antipollution laws, reducing funding for scientific research and scrubbing references to human-caused climate change from government websites during her time in Wisconsin state government.”
But The Chicago Tribune went with a different angle, noting that Stepp “took the unusual step of drafting her daughter, Hannah, 23, to humanize her by introducing her [to] her 200-plus staff.” Hannah broke the ice by recalling…
“She put on a disguise of a fake nose and sunglasses and went to the DMV and followed someone taking the driving portion of the test so that she could learn the route, and then we practiced it,” Hannah continued. “I didn’t fail the second time!”Stepp’s daughter said she took the test when she was 16, about seven years ago, which would place the time of the test to around the time Stepp was appointed to lead the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources by Gov. Scott Walker.Hannah said she did not know where her mother got the false nose but that she “always has it with her.”
Really, the whole regime should be issued big red clown noses when they’re appointed. Or maybe a #MAGA hat serves the same purpose?
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 01/27/18 06:05 PM EST
President the rich asshole broke with top officials at the Justice Department and called for the release of a classified memo purported to list Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses by the U.S. government, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Despite warnings from top officials at the agency, the rich asshole reportedly told Attorney General Jeff Sessions through Chief of Staff John Kelly that he wants to see the memo released, believing that it will shed light on the special counsel investigation.
the rich asshole “is inclined to have that released just because it will shed light,” a senior administration official told the Post.
“Apparently all the rumors are that it will shed light, it will help the investigators come to a conclusion," the official added.
The decision to release the memo rests with the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes. Earlier this week, the Justice Department warned the committee it would be "extremely reckless" to release the memo without first supplying it to the agency for review.
"Indeed, we do not understand why the committee would possibly seek to disclose this information without first consulting the relevant members of the Intelligence Community," associate Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote to the lawmakers on Thursday.
Republicans in Congress who have seen the memo say that the contents are "shocking," and voted this week to allow House members to view the memo in secure locations. The Senate Intelligence Committee, however, has been reportedly blocked from viewing it.
“I’m here to tell all of America tonight that I’m shocked to read exactly what has taken place,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark 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,” he said.
Former chief federal prosecutor: GOP can already feel the noose tightening around the rich asshole’s neck
Former US attorney Michael Moore on CNN (Screenshot)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Former U.S. Attorney Michael Moore said on CNN Saturday that President some rich asshole would likely try to remove special counsel Robert Mueller from his position — even though doing so would be politically disastrous.
“I think that it would be devastating to the president himself and yes, I think he’s going to have to try to fire Bob Mueller because I think Mueller already has the information on him, probably, to move forward with the investigation,” said Moore, who was the chief federal prosecutor for the Middle District of Georgia.
the rich asshole has already unsuccessfully tried to order his White House counsel to fire Mueller, according to The New York Times.
Moore told CNN that Republicans were ramping up their attacks on the FBI and the Mueller investigation because they were “starting to feel the noose tighten around the administration and the people higher up in the administration.”
“He’s probably looking at the money and following the money. There’s a reason that the rich asshole did want to give his tax returns, there’s a reason that Eric the rich asshole said all the money for the golf course was coming from the Russians during the time that no banks were lending money on those things. All that stuff is out there, and my guess is that Bob Mueller already has a pretty good grasp of where he is at.”
Watch video below:
the rich asshole supporter and Fox News host Laura Ingraham tried to intimidate the press for reporting the truth, but she was quickly shut down by MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.
Fox News host and the rich asshole booster Laura Ingraham tried to attack the free press on some rich asshole’s behalf, but she was immediately rebutted by MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.
Ingraham, responding to a series of the rich asshole scandals and his anemic approval rating, complained, “The American media is 90 percent so in the tank for Leftist policies they simply cannot fairly assess @realDonaldSome rich asshole no matter what he does.”
The American media is 90 percent so in the tank for Leftist policies they simply cannot fairly assess @realDonaldSome rich asshole no matter what he does.
It was a line of attack that echoed the rich asshole’s own strategy of blaming the “fake news” for the very real abuses of power and bigotry he has espoused while in the Oval Office.
A minute after Ingraham’s outburst, Wallace — a former GOP strategist — laid out the reality of what is happening in America.
“The right wing media is so 100 percent in the tank for a president who lies, pays porn stars hush money, smears the Intelligence community, the FBI and the judiciary that it can’t fairly assess the debasement of the presidency.”
The right wing media is so 100 percent in the tank for a president who lies, pays porn stars hush money, smears the Intelligence community, the FBI and the judiciary that it can’t fairly assess the debasement of the presidency. twitter.com/ingrahamangle/…
Wallace served in the George W. Bush administration and on Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, but she has been very up front about calling out the rich asshole and his enablers for their over-the-top and anti-democratic rhetoric.
Her tweet is a clear reference to Ingraham’s employer, Fox News, which incubates racism and bigotry, shills for the rich asshole, and was exposed for its role in covering up the story of the rich asshole’s pre-election payoffs to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Ingraham’s attempt to attack the free press is undemocratic and an embrace of authoritarianism. The conservative movement, and especially Fox News, has tried to amplify the rich asshole’s impulses in that regard — but has thankfully failed to convince the vast majority of Americans.
Now, the rich asshole and his apologists like Ingraham have been reduced to complaining about journalists doing their jobs. The administration wants everybody to suck up to them like Fox News does.
It isn’t happening.
UPDATED: Prominent Republicans stay silent on Wynn and the RNC
Where are all the elected officials who urged Democrats to return Harvey Weinstein's money?
UPDATE:
Politico reports Steve Wynn has resigned from his position as finance chair at the RNC.
Nearly 24 hours after the Wall Street Journal first broke the news that Las Vegas casino mogul and Republican National Committee finance chair Steve Wynn has an alleged history of sexually assault, Republicans have remained radio silent.
The RNC itself has yet to release a statement or respond to repeated requests for comment. According to the Washington Post, Wynn has no immediate plans to resign from his post at the RNC.
But just two days after The New York Times first broke their story on Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual assault, the RNC urged Democrats and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to return all donations made by Weinstein, a prominent Democratic supporter.
As finance chairman of the RNC, Wynn’s role is primarily to raise money for the party of President some rich asshole, an old friend and fellow businessman himself accused of sexual assault or harassment by 19 women. Just as the rich asshole has denied the allegations against him, Wynn told the Wall Street Journal, “the idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous.”
One incident detailed in the Journal report alleges Wynn raped a woman whom he had hired to manicure his nails, and that he later paid the woman $7.5 million for her silence. The Wall Street Journal also suggests this wasn’t just a one-off incident; dozens of women, many of them workers at his casinos, came forward with their own stories of forced sexual contact at the hands of Wynn.
Over the years Wynn has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and Republican-affiliated organizations, like the RNC. So will Republicans hold themselves accountable just as they held Democrats? All signs currently point to no.
Some of those who railed the loudest against Democrats for accepting funds from Harvey Weinstein are now silent on Wynn’s contributions to the RNC.
Reports are multiple media outlets — including at ThinkProgress — have been hounding Republicans for a statement on Wynn and his money. Sam Stein, a political editor at the Daily Beast, even reached out to former White House press secretary Sean Spicer for comment. Spicer, who echoed the RNC’s call for Democrats to return any donations from Harvey Weinstein, has yet to respond.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) hasn’t given a response to the Wynn story.
Three more Senate Democrats will donate campaign contributions from Harvey Weinstein to charity washingtonexaminer.com/article/2636735 via @dcexaminer
Neither has Rep. Steve King (R-IA).
Hillary and the Democrats try a 180 maneuver on Harvey Weinstein but...they are stuck with him. #AustinPowers youtu.be/eh_FbtDDP8Y
Or Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO).
America has been watching #Hollywood for decades, but not watching closely enough. Congress should not be subsidizing an industry that turns a blind eye to sexual assault. buck.house.gov/media-center/p…
Nothing from the president’s inner circle either, including Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway and President the rich asshole’s eldest son, some rich asshole Jr.
Waiting on the professional "pro-women" outrage machine...Sexual Harassment Accusations Against Harvey Weinstein nyti.ms/2xVPfVW
Will She/they all Disavow? Embattled Hollywood Producer Harvey Weinstein Raised Big Bucks For Hillary Clinton & Dems thegatewaypundit.com/2017/10/will-d…
The Wynn Resorts board of directors is launching an investigation into the company CEO’s sexual assault allegations. There is, however, a glaring conflict of interest when it comes to the special committee leading the investigation – it is comprised of members from the company’s own board.
Incompetent Child Leaving The rich asshole White House After Lying On His Resume
It is very rare that very young people land senior level jobs in the White House, regardless of which political party is in control of the Executive Branch of the federal government. However, as we all know by now, the usual rules and norms of the government do not apply to some rich asshole’s White House. After all, he hired 32-year-old racist Stephen Miller to be his main immigration policy adviser, and 29-year-old Hope Hicks, who is a former fashion model, to be the White House Communications Director. However, it seems that the rich asshole finally f*cked up in that department, because one of his youngsters, 24-year-old drug policy office adviser Taylor Weyeneth.
It seems that an undergraduate degree, no experience, and basically being a rich asshole sycophant was enough to get Weyeneth hired to a high level post in the Office of National Drug Control Policy. However, it has now come out that Weyeneth essentially lied about his qualifications, according to Buzzfeed News.
The youngster graduated from St. John’s University in the Spring of 2016, and then immediately went to work for the rich asshole on his presidential campaign. Of course, working on a major party presidential campaign is usually preceded by much experience in lower level politics and law, but not for this guy. Weyeneth only had to prove his loyalty to the rich asshole, and that got him green lighted to the top of one of the nation’s most important agencies. It later came out that there were discrepencies and overlapping dates on the guy’s resume – likely meaning he never actually had those credentials. The most serious falsehood seems to be Weyeneth’s claim that he had a master’s degree from New York’s Fordham University. While Fordham did say that he was enrolled and taking classes, he certainly never earned any degree.
One would expect that Team the rich asshole would learn by now – don’t hire people without vetting them first. Then again, this guy is just another in a long line of the rich asshole administration and campaign officials who have proven themselves to be lying liars and in no way fit to be working at the highest levels of our government.
Wake up, America, and elect a Congress that will check this lunacy before it is too late.
Sean Hannity’s Twitter Account Just Disappeared And Conservatives Are Freaking Out
The early hours of Saturday morning were just like Christmas for much of Twitter, but for the rest the events of the morning served as proof that a secret deep state society was out to get Sean Hannity by deactivating his Twitter account to silence him (apparently they forgot about his radio and TV shows, but I digress…).
Sean Hannity posted something weird — “Form Submission 1649” — shortly before his account went poof:
So, was he suspended? Did he deactivate his own account so he could tell his viewers that the Deep State is after him? Who the fuck knows? But conservatives are, predictably, in a frenzy over it:
Sean Hannity Twitter account has been suspended. Still think that the deep state does not exist? I bet it was Schiff who helped get him suspended because he was gonna release something important today! #ShadowBanned #SeanHannity
The Deep State is in panic! Hannity disappears from Twitter after eerie tweet.
youtube.com/watch?v=qkSKj7…
WOW! Sean Hannity’s Twitter account has been deactivated.
The Left is getting VERY scared, folks. We are getting closer and closer to the truth!
In the end, WE WILL PREVAIL!#Releasethememo
THE KING OF TWITTER AND LIBERAL TEARS DISAPPEARS AFTER EXPOSING FBI, DOJ CORRUPTION IN HILLARY INVESTIGATION AND COUP ON TRUMP.#SECRETSOCIETY#ReleaseTheMemo #TicToc
@seanhannity #MAGA
Sean Hannity’s Twitter Page Vanishes — #Hannity
Sean Hannity's Twitter taken down by Deep State after he zeroes in on the smoking gun. #UraniumOne
Form Submission 1649 | #Hannity
Sammy Hains 
This dude actually has a decent collection of right-wing freakouts:
So what the fuck was Hannity posting about?
One of the prevailing theories is related to the Fox host’s reputation for drunk-tweeting in the middle of the night. A federal regulation related to the “approval of domestic liquor bottles of distinctive shape or design” reads:
“A proprietor desiring approval of domestic liquor bottles of distinctive shape or design, including bottles of less than 200 ml capacity, or, to use such distinctive liquor bottles, shall submit Form 1649/ 5100.31 to the Director for approval.”
Whatever he was typing before his account disappeared, Hannity tweeted “Form Submission 1649” three times. Each time it was deleted.
Something weird is definitely going on with Hannity’s account, which showed 0 followers when it disappeared. No matter what, let’s just appreciate the surely brief time in which Twitter became a much better place.
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 01/27/18 06:55 PM EST
The rich asshole administration and Congress have a matter of weeks to agree to an immigration deal that would protect potentially millions of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation.
President the rich asshole is winding down the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed qualified immigrants to work and go to school. The White House set a March 5 deadline for action by Congress.
Before then, lawmakers face a Feb. 8 deadline to fund the government — not too long after a three-day shutdown triggered by the fight over DACA. The Senate will start its immigration debate immediately after the spending deadline.
Getting to a deal will be anything but easy given contrasting positions of the White House, Democrats and conservative Republicans.
Here are five big hurdles to a deal.
Can there be an agreement on citizenship?
the rich asshole is now backing a path to citizenship for as many as 1.8 million undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers,” a stance that significantly increases the likelihood it will be a part of a deal.
But there’s no guarantee.
the rich asshole’s proposal is paired with spending $25 billion on border security including funding for the wall with Mexico; an end to family immigration policies that allow immigrants to bring parents and adult children to the United States, and the death of the visa lottery program designed to bring in more people from countries that send fewer immigrants to the United States.
Democrats and some Republicans support allowing DACA recipients to become citizens. A bipartisan proposal from Graham and Durbin would give a ten-to-12-year path, the same timeframe outlined by the rich asshole.
A bill proposed last year by GOP Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and James Lankford (Okla.) set up a 15-year waiting period.
But a number of Republicans oppose including a path to citizenship, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said the rich asshole's "amnesty deal negotiates away American Sovereignty.
And the rich asshole could back away if Democrats refuse to meet his other demands.
“What I think people need to realize is he’s willing to do citizenship if, and only if, it becomes accompanied with the border and ending chain migration,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Deciding on the size of the deal
the rich asshole has set out four pillars for the talks: DACA, border security, family migration and the visa lottery program.
But some senators think it might be smarter to work on a smaller deal.
They are floating a scaled back immigration plan that would pair protections for DACA recipients with a border security package. That plan would leave out a path for citizenship, supported by Democrats, and the changes to family-based immigration pushed for by conservatives.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said that including “chain,” or family-based immigration—which allows citizens and legal residents to sponsor their family members—makes the debate “a lot more complicated.”
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection in a state won by the rich asshole, added: “If you start putting in all of these highly charged, toxic, issues it’s just not going to work.”
But conservatives are demanding changes to family-based immigration as part of any deal.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is taking the lead for Republicans on drafting the Senate bill, accused senators of trying to “alter reality.”
“The reality is the president said there had to be four pillars and I think people just need to accept that and deal with it,” he said.
Getting a bill through the House
Getting an immigration bill through the Senate is one thing. Getting one through the House is another.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both saw immigration deals die in the lower chamber, so there is plenty of room to doubt a deal brokered in the Senate will survive in the more conservative House.
Conservative House lawmakers are already putting heavy pressure on their leaders to bring legislation spearheaded by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to the floor.
The Goodlatte bill provides DACA recipients a temporary, three-year legal status that could be renewed indefinitely instead of a path citizenship. It also includes elements of the White House’s wish list, including $30 billion to build a border wall and bolster other security measures.
Senators are torn on how to handle the House.
Some Republicans, including GOP Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Graham, argue if they can get at least 70 supporters on the Senate proposal, it might help win over the lower chamber.
Others are preaching for their colleagues to be realistic.
Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said the Senate needs to be “mindful” of their House counterparts.
Outside groups
the rich asshole's immigration framework is already under fire from both sides, who are casting the proposal as a non-starter.
Breitbart News, a conservative website, labeled the plan "Don's Amnesty Bonanza," while on the left, CREDO Action said it was a "white supremacist’s wish list."
The criticism from progressives is less surprising because the rich asshole's proposal was put together by immigration hardliners on his staff. But paired with early opposition from some on the right, it underscores how difficult it will be to get people on board with the agreement.
Immigration deals in the past have been killed off by outside groups, and there have been some notable moments in this year’s debate where individual lawmakers have moved from their positions.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), for example, turned heads when he said during the three-day government shutdown he could agree to money for the wall in exchange for DACA protections. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democratic leader, also offered a wall for DACA deal to the rich asshole.
Schumer, however, came under heavy criticism from the left over the shutdown, which liberals thought was mishandled. He then said he was rescinding his earlier offer, underlining the influence progressives inside and outside the Capitol will have in the weeks going forward.
President the rich asshole
The question of what the rich asshole really wants on immigration has long been a challenge for Democrats and Republicans alike.
Just before the shutdown, McConnell said he would bring an immigration bill to the floor “as soon as we figure out what he is for,” referring to the rich asshole. Until then, he said the Senate would just be spinning its wheels.
the rich asshole confused lawmakers at the beginning of the month when he invited key lawmakers to a roundtable discussion and talked of wanting to get a deal. the rich asshole even said he’d sign what ever lawmakers brought him, and at one point seemed to be confused over what a “clean” DACA bill might look like.
Days later, the rich asshole shocked Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) with strident talk at another White House meeting, saying he didn’t want the United States to accept more immigrants from “shithole” countries such as Haiti.
The turnabout contributed to the sense on Capitol Hill that the rich asshole’s positions can turn on a dime.
The White House’s rollout of a proposal on Thursday, which is expected to be formalized Monday, is aimed at offering reassurances.
But it’s unlikely to completely assuage doubts in both parties that the president might change his mind again.
Hillary’s Message For ‘Bitches Supporting Bitches’ Just Set The Internet On Fire
Hillary Clinton has hit peak “fuck it,” and it’s perhaps the most beautiful thing we’ve seen lately.
“Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thanks,” Clinton said in a video that was posted by Huffington Post commentator Alex Mohajer on Twitter. “Thanks for your feminism, for your activism, and all I can hope is you keep up the really important, good work.”
Someone off-camera can be heard saying “activist bitches supporting bitches.”
Normally, Clinton would smile and move on. But really, what is anyone going to do? Conservatives have already accused her of running a child sex slave operation our of the basement of a pizza shop that doesn’t have a basement, and “Hillary Clinton said the ‘b-word'” is definitely not going to top that.
“And let me just say, this is directed to the activist bitches supporting bitches. So let’s go,” Clinton said.
…and just like that, the internet was set on fire.
THIS JUST MADE MY ENTIRE DAY. NO. THIS JUST MADE MY ENTIRE WEEK!!
The video was viewed almost a quarter-million times in six hours and was met by the usual onslaught of “lock her up” memes pushed by Russian Twitter-bots.
The Women’s March in 2017 was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. The 2018 encore pulled some impressive numbers.
It’s absolutely time for everyone to support “activist bitches supporting bitches.” It’s not like we can count on the “make me a sandwich party” to do it.
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