Goddamn, what a busy fucking New Year of 2018 and it's only the second day.
Witness in the rich asshole-Russia probe claims Mueller grand jury ‘looks like a Black Lives Matter rally’
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller said cyber security will be the number one future threat in the country, but for the time being, "counterterrorism and stopping terrorist attacks" is more important. (Photo: Kit Fox/Medill Flickr)
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An unnamed witness who testified in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections tells the New York Post’sRichard Johnson that he fears the rich asshole won’t get a “fair shake” because there no white men serving on the grand jury.
“The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,” the source told Johnson. “Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley.”
The source explained that 11 out of the 20 jurors were black, while adding that two of the jurors were wearing “peace” t-shirts.
The witness also claimed that “there was only one white male in the room, and he was a prosecutor.”
In conclusion, that source believes that this grand jury isn’t a place “where POTUS gets a fair shake.”
Happy 2018! the rich asshole begins the new year with a bizarre Twitter storm
An attack on his own Justice Department, an absurd boast about airplane safety, “Rocket Man,” a response to Fox News — all in a morning’s work for the U.S. president
Tues., Jan. 2, 2018
WASHINGTON—U.S. President some rich asshole attacked his own Justice Department, called for the imprisonment of a political opponent, inaccurately criticized the New York Times, took unearned credit for airplanes not crashing, made a nonsensical claim about the politics of immigration, conducted high-stakes foreign policy while referring to North Korea’s dictator by a derogatory nickname, and responded to a Fox News program he was watching.
All on Twitter. All in three hours.
Happy 2018! In Washington, it looks a lot like 2017.
“I’m going to take a stab and guess that ‘Fewer Crazy Tweets’ was not one of some rich asshole’s New Year’s resolutions for 2018,” tweeted Dan Pfeiffer, former White House communications director to Barack Obama.
On his first day back from vacation, the rich asshole had nothing on his Tuesday schedule other than his daily intelligence briefing and lunch. That left him even more time than usual for his morning ritual: watch Fox, stew about things.
His nine-tweet series, between 7:09 a.m. and 10:16 a.m., grew stranger as it proceeded. The oddest claim came at 9:13: the rich asshole suggested that he was the reason there were no fatal commercial jet crashes in 2017.
“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” he wrote. “Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”
Aviation experts said he had done nothing to make this good news happen. In fact, there were no commercial airline deaths in the U.S. during the last seven years of Obama’s tenure.
The tweet that most alarmed the rich asshole’s critics was yet another attack on his Justice Department. the rich asshole, who is unhappy with the department’s role in the probe into his campaign’s links to Russia, called it the “Deep State Justice Dept” — using a term that suggests he believes there is a secret anti-the rich asshole conspiracy among department employees.
He did so, moreover, while demanding “jail” for Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin — Abedin, according to the right-wing Daily Caller, was found to have forwarded passwords for her government laptop to her personal Yahoo email account — and seeking unspecified action against former FBI director James Comey, who has testified that the rich asshole attempted to thwart the Russia probe.
“Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid(e), Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others,” he wrote.
Wrote former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, whom the rich asshole fired: “Today he slanders career DOJ professionals as ‘deep state,’ calls for prison for a political opponent, and tries to sic (Department of Justice) on a potential witness against him. Beyond abnormal; dangerous.”
POTUS on 12/28: “I have the absolute right to do what I want with the Justice Department.” Today he slanders career DOJ professionals as “deep state,” calls for prison for a political opponent, and tries to sic DOJ on a potential witness against him. Beyond abnormal; dangerous. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
the rich asshole also weighed in on the protests in Iran, jabbing at Obama while denouncing the Iranian government.
“The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their ‘pockets.’ The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!” he wrote.
the rich asshole claimed progress on North Korea, citing the two recent cases in which a soldier fled across the border. As usual, he referred to Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man.” As often, he left his own policy position unclear.
“Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!” he wrote.
The latest tweet in the series was one of the most confusing. Against all evidence, the rich asshole claimed that pro-immigrant activists and Hispanics more generally will get so mad at Democrats, because Democrats have not saved a program protecting “DREAMER” immigrants, that these activists and Hispanics “will start ‘falling in love’ with Republicans and their President!”
But the rich asshole is the one who killed that program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Obama created it. While some activists are unhappy about the tactics Democrats have used in trying to negotiate a solution for DREAMers, they are far angrier at the rich asshole for abandoning it; at DREAMER protests, activists regularly call the rich asshole a “white supremacist.”
the rich asshole sent two more tweets at the end of the day. These ones were potentially consequential: he questioned U.S. aid to the Palestinians, complaining that the U.S. gets “no appreciation or respect” in exchange.
“But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” he wrote.
the rich asshole also declared that he had “taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.” That claim appeared to conflict with the statement he made in December when he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“We are not taking a position of any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem,” he said then.
the rich asshole administration officially repeals Obama-era fracking rules
The rules would have, among other things, required companies to disclose the chemicals used in their operations.
On Friday, the Department of the Interior officially repealed rules created by the Obama administration to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, signaling an end to a contentious process that has drawn legal challenges from the oil and gas industry.
Hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — is a kind of oil and gas extraction that requires companies to inject large volumes of chemical and sand-laced water into rock formations at high pressure, breaking the rocks and exposing oil and gas within. It’s a controversial process that has been found to increase the likelihood of earthquakes around drill and injection sites, and can pose a threat to groundwater. Babies born near fracking sites are also more likely to have significantly low birth weights, which could lead to health problems later in life.
The Obama-era rules, which were finalized in 2015 but never went into effect due to pending litigation, would have required companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking, as well as forced them to cover storage ponds where companies keep fracking fluids. The rules also would have set more stringent standards on the construction of fracking wells and wastewater management.
The Department of the Interior said that repealing the rules would save “up to $9,690 per well or approximately $14 million to $34 million per year” in industry compliance costs while doing away with duplicative federal regulations. Opponents of the rules argued that state and tribal regulations already did enough to protect the environment and public health from any dangers associated with fracking, and that the federal rules simply added more regulatory burden for the oil and gas industry.
“It was clear from the start that the federal rule was redundant with state regulation and politically motivated, as the prior administration could not point to one incident or regulatory gap that justified the rule,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance — one of two industry groups that successfully challenged the rule in 2015 — in a press statement. “Western Energy Alliance appreciates that BLM under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke understands this rule was duplicative and has rescinded it.”
The department also claims that the disclosure of chemicals used by fracking companies is “more prevalent than it was in 2015 and, therefore, there is no continuing need for a Federal chemical disclosure requirement, since companies are already making those disclosures on most operations, either to comply with state law or voluntarily.”
In 2015, the EPA found that fracking companies disclosed just 10 percent of the chemicals used in their operations. Between January 2011 and February 2013, 428 operators in 20 states filed with FracFocus, an industry-backed web portal that allows oil and gas companies to voluntarily register the chemicals used in their operations. According to the Interior Department’s repeal of the Obama-era fracking rules, 25 states now use FracFocus for chemical disclosures.
But proponents of the rules argue that they represented meaningful, common sense updates to a regulatory framework that was created before the advent of fracking some ten years ago.
“Arguing that states have rules that talk about the subject of hydraulic fracturing doesn’t tell you much at all,” Michael Freeman, a staff attorney with EarthJustice, told ThinkProgress. “If you want to look at the value of a rule you have to look at what it is actually doing on a number of issues. The rule eliminates pits to store fracking waste in most cases; most states don’t require that.”
In 2016, after delaying the rules for a year, a Wyoming district court found that the Interior Department does not have the authority to regulate fracking on federal lands. The Interior Department, along with a number of environmental groups, initially appealed the decision, though the department changed its position after the rich asshole took office in 2017. In September, a federal appeals court overturned the 2016 decision — which opens up the possibility for another administration to issue similar regulations at some point in the future.
It’s unlikely that the issue has seen the last of its legal challenges, however. Environmental groups are almost certain to challenge the repeal in court, most likely arguing that the repeal violates the Administrative Procedures Act, which holds that agencies cannot make decisions that are “arbitrary and capricious.”
“What the the rich asshole administration has done here is to abdicate its responsibility to protect public lands from the very real risks posed by modern fracking,” Freeman said. “It’s completely arbitrary. Instead, it simply amounts to a favor for the rich asshole’s friends in the oil and gas industry.”
Freeman said that EarthJustice was planning to legally challenge the administration’s repeal in the coming weeks.
Repealing the rules has been a top priority for the the rich asshole administration’s deregulatory agenda since taking control of the White House last year. In March, the rich asshole specifically named the rules as targets for repeal in his executive order on energy independence (the same executive order that kicked off the official the repeal of the Clean Power Plan). But Freeman notes that repealing the fracking rules will hardly usher in an energy boom on federal lands — according to the Bureau of Land Management’s own assessment, the impact of repealing the rules would be “positive but seldom significant.”
“While there could be a small positive impact on the development of Federal and Indian oil and gas leases, the proposed rule is unlikely to substantially alter the investment decisions of firms and is unlikely to affect the supply, distribution, or use of energy,” the BLM concluded in July.
the rich asshole's responses signal a lack of understanding of Iranian history and domestic politics.
D. PARVAZ JAN 2, 2018, 3:55 PM
A week of protests in across Iran have resulted it at least a dozen deaths and mass arrests, and the administration of President some rich asshole has responded by threatening the country with more sanctions.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News on Tuesday that the United States is considering even more sanctions against Iran if the government tries to stifle the protests. She added that the rich asshole “stands with the Iranian people.”
But sanctions are the wrong approach, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science at Syracuse University. He added that the rich asshole’s response to the protest is seen as “opportunistic” by the Iranian people.
“The fact is, there’s not much the U.S. can do to change the facts on the ground in Iran, so resorting to sanctions and other moves to punish Iran is a convenient tool,” he said.
“Frankly, it’s quite ironic, and I don’t think it’s lost on people that the rich asshole includes Iran among the countries for his travel ban, indeed, it’s the country that is most affected by the travel ban, and then goes and talks about ‘the great Iranian people,’ — come on. These two do not go hand in hand,” added Boroujerdi.
Still, President the rich asshole took to Twitter to condemn the Iranian government, posting multiple messages that seemed to support the protesters and called for regime change in Iran:
What a year it’s been, and we're just getting started. Together, we are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Happy New Year!! pic.twitter.com/qsMNyN1UJG
The protests have sparked renewed interest in regime change not just in the rich asshole, but among U.S. lawmakers and pundits. But when it comes to the fall of the Islamic Republic, Boroujerdi said that “there is a lot of wishful thinking” on behalf of Western commentators and some in the Iranian diaspora.
Boroujerdi said the fact that the protests started in Mashhad, where Ebrahim Raisi, a political rival to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and his father-in-law, Ahmad Alamolhoda, are “kings” seems to indicate that the protests might have been initially orchestrated to “humiliate the Rouhani administration,” but then got out of hand.
In other words, some of the protesters with whom the rich asshole is siding might just be doing the bidding of the Iranian government. Indeed, what’s troubling is that some of the rich asshole’s tweets indicate he might not fully understand what is happening within the country.
“Any hopes for an ‘Iranian Spring’ are very probably premature,” said Malcolm Byrne, Iran expert and deputy director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
“There’s been a long-festering sense of discontent among a lot of Iranians, at least in the capital, about the government — inefficiencies, corruption, and so on. This latest outburst is obviously significant and part of the reason is the fact that it’s taking place in other cities and towns, away from Tehran,” he told ThinkProgress via e-mail.
“When it comes to countries where the West disapproves of the regime, outside observers have a tendency to assume the population must be feeling the same way. But that’s usually more a function of projection than detailed analysis — which is hard to get when access is so limited,” added Byrne.
The lack of historical context has not stopped President the rich asshole from sharing his thoughts. In a tweet on Tuesday, the rich asshole ignored several rounds of protests in previous years, saying that Iranians were “finally acting against” the regime.
After the 2009 presidential election, which deemed Mahmoud Ahamadinejad as the winner, millions of people protested in several cities across Iran. Supporters of opposition candidates questioned the legitimacy of those results and took to the streets, in various waves, for several months. In 2011, anti-government protests took place in February and March, resulting in casualties and arrests. There have been other pockets of isolated protests since then — as recently as May — some calling for political change, others for fiscal reform and transparency.
the rich asshole’s words have ‘zero impact’
Another crucial point that is not reflected in the rich asshole’s comments — and a great number of pundits in U.S. media — is the fact that this latest round of protests is rooted less in the need for radical regime change and more in the economic hardship endured by low- and middle-income Iranians, much of which can be blamed on government corruption and mismanagement.
For instance, the country’s national budget has failed to fully allocate funds for development, which hits virtually every industrial sector. With unemployment holding at somewhere between 11.3 percent (according to U.N. figures) and 12.4 percent (as per the International Monetary Fund), the numbers might actually be higher. That, combined with an inflation rate of almost 10 percent has meant that the poorest households spend up to 43 percent of their income on basic supplies, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, professor of economics at Virginia Tech University said unemployment numbers are higher for the young — at least 25 percent among men between the ages of 20 and 29, and 50 percent for women in the same age range. Rouhani’s latest budget also cuts subsidies — about $90 a month — to many Iranians, while increasing funds to religious institutions. And to top off the fiscal bad news, there’s talk of raising gas prices. Frustrations surrounding social conservatism — for instance, there were over 200 arrests over winter solstice celebrations — only add to the sense of discontent.
The Iranian middle class, including the influential bazaar merchants, is largely avoiding this rounds of protests, Boroujerdi noted. “None of these people who are capable of paralyzing the Iranian economy … have been joining this movement. They’ve been sitting on the fence and trying to see how events transpire there.”
The main source of the concern is potential instability resulting from regime change, which, said Boroujerdi, “sends shivers down the spines of the middle class.”
It’s unclear how the rich asshole thinks new sanctions — or snapping back other sanctions that were lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran — will benefit struggling Iranians. His response stands in stark contrast to that of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, who responded to the 2009 protests by saying that while he was troubled by the government’s violent response to protesters, he had no intention of meddling in the affairs of a sovereign nation.
Obama went on to sign a deal with Iran and other permanent U.N. Security Council members (United Kingdom, France, Russia, China) and Germany in 2015 that offered Iran sanctions relief in favor of scaling back its nuclear program and opening its nuclear energy facilities to regular inspections. President Rouhani, in his first term at the time, had run for office on a platform that promised economic reform and greater social freedoms, but he has since failed to deliver on those promises well into his second term.
the rich asshole has been focused on undoing the deal or trying to renegotiate the nuclear deal — something Iran has said it will not do. He went so far as to refuse to recertify the deal in October, as he is required to do so every 90 days, leaving the door open for Congress to snap-back some of the sanctions lifted under the agreement. U.S. lawmakers did not take action within the time frame afforded to them, but, as Boroujerdi points out, there’s always the next round.
“When it’s time for the administration to once again recertify the nuclear deal [on January 13], if the the rich asshole administration decides to totally negate it [the deal] that is certain going to fuel the nationalistic sentiment in Iran, and that will be a big gift to the regime,” said Boroujerdi.
Repeated signalling by the the rich asshole administration that the United States will pull out of the nuclear deal, said Salehi-Isfahani, has worsened the crisis in Iran.
“Sanctions continue at many levels,” he said, explaining that Rouhani is not entirely to blame for Iran’s financial troubles.
So, in what way does agitation by the rich asshole and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley help Iranians grappling with unemployment and inflation?
“None,” said Salehi-Isfahani. “Nobody can help the conservatives better than the rich asshole and Nikki Haley, who appear in in the eyes of Iranians as anti-Iran, not anti-[Iranian] government,” he said, adding, “So, whatever the rich asshole says has zero impact. Iran has fought hard to become an independent country, and that independence is real … I see this as domestic politics for U.S. consumption …the rich asshole is going full-force.”
“Iran is an island of civility in a volatile region … in that sense, it’s best for them [The U.S.] to just not do anything,” he said.
"There is no evidence -- none -- that regulation actually deters investment."
JOE ROMM JAN 2, 2018, 2:18 PM
On Monday, the New York Times published an absurd piece about President some rich asshole’s war on health and environmental regulations, ignoring the terrible human cost of the rich asshole’s effort while claiming it is boosting business investment.
The front-page story is so egregious that one of the paper’s leading columnists, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, eviscerated it in a series of tweets on Tuesday morning.
The original piece claims that U.S. businesses are supposedly investing more in factories and equipment because the rich asshole is rolling back existing regulations and promising to minimize new regulations.
“There is no evidence — none — that regulation actually deters investment,” Krugman tweeted, linking to Monday’s piece.
Krugman, who won the 2008 Nobel prize for his work in international economics, also tweeted out, “Internationally, the US is low-tax and low regulation compared with other advanced economies. We’re also relatively low investment,” along with this chart:
So how is the article able to quote so many business people claiming that regulations have undermined investment then? “There are, however, lots of reasons for businesses to SAY that regs they don’t like deter investment,” explains Krugman, adding, “this is especially true when they want to curry favor with an administration known to abuse its power to reward flattery and punish criticism.”
And while the original 1,900-word article characterizes regulations as bad for business, it fails to cite a single negative impact from efforts to protect Americans from polluted air and water, for instance.
the rich asshole’s own Environmental Protection Agency concluded last fall that its effort to undo Obama’s climate plan could kill some 100,000 Americans over the next few decades — and lead to tens of thousands of more cases of asthma attacks and hospitalizations for children.
Instead of honing in on the very real threat to public health and safety from the rich asshole’s war on regulation, the Times offers euphemisms: “Some businesses will essentially be able to get away with shortcuts that they could not have under a continuation of Obama-era policies.”
And since there is no actual economic evidence supporting the article’s thesis, the Times instead talks about perceptions and, bizarrely, “animal spirits” to support its claim that the rich asshole’s war on regulations will somehow boost investment and jobs.
But in the administration and across the business community, there is a perception that years of increased environmental, financial and other regulatory oversight by the Obama administration dampened investment and job creation — and that some rich asshole’s more hands-off approach has unleashed the “animal spirits” of companies that had hoarded cash after the recession of 2008.
The main problem with this analysis is that job creation has been substantially lower under the rich asshole than under Obama, according to the Times’ own published data.
Just last week in its piece, “2017: The Year in Charts,” the Times had a section headlined “What the rich asshole Hasn’t Helped: American Jobs,” which included this chart:
Finally, in a piece full of absurd claims, the reporters have one more. As an example of how “the administration’s actions will allow companies to engage in activities they might not have been able to otherwise,” the Times says electric utilities “might be able to invest in upgrading power plants that run on fossil fuels, thanks to a promised rollback of Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan to fight climate change.”
This is the exact opposite of reality. Krugman himself points out that “some kinds of regulation actually promote investment. Climate change policy should encourage renewables and conservation spending; Trumpist denial encourages just keeping the old coal plants.”
Precisely. Regulations encourage investment and innovation, something the rich asshole administration is working overtime to thwart. This could cost Americans millions of jobs.
And of course fighting climate change might actually avoid catastrophic impacts that would devastate America with up to 8 feet of sea level rise and 18°F Arctic warming, as the recently-released (and the rich asshole administration-approved) National Climate Assessment explains. But, while the Times has nothing to say about future disasters, it wants you to know that the upside is that for a while at least businesses will feel “animal spirits.”
Ryan Zinke taps almost $40,000 from wildfire preparedness fund to pay for a helicopter trip
Nevada helicopter rides had nothing to do with wildfires.
Over the past year, President some rich asshole and his top officials have made a habit of refusing to admit they make mistakes.
A common refrain from the rich asshole officials is they “have nothing to apologize for,” whether it’s the rich asshole giving an extremely partisan speech at last summer’s Boy Scout jamboree in West Virginia or his administration accusing the British government of working with the Obama administration to illegally surveil the rich asshole Tower in New York City.
In a rare acknowledgement of error, the rich asshole administration’s Department of the Interior admitted it made a mistake by trying to use wildfire preparedness funds to pay for helicopter rides taken by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that had nothing to do with wildfires. The admission came only after a news organization inquired about the account used to pay for the trip.
Zinke’s office initially told Newsweek that the costs of the Interior secretary’s July 30, 2017, helicopter ride in Nevada could be legally covered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Interagency Fire Center, even though Zinke did not visit fire zones that day. After follow-up questions by Newsweek, the Interior Department admitted in late December the helicopter rides, listed as costing $39,295, were charged to the wildfire account “in error” and that the flights would be charged to a more appropriate account.
Ryan Zinke orders helicopter to get him to horseback ride with Mike Pence on time
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group, views the accounting method initially used for Zinke’s helicopter ride as extremely troublesome. “Ryan Zinke’s caused a lot of controversy with his private flights, but none have been as egregious as using wildfire preparedness funding to pay for a trip that had nothing to do with wildfires, while a wildfire ravaged California,” CREW wrote in a tweet Monday.
The use of the fire center account for Zinke’s helicopter rides occurred in the same year that the western United States saw some of the worst wildfires in the nation’s history. During his helicopter ride, the Detwiler wildfire raged in Mariposa County, California, starting on July 16 and ending on August 24. It burned about 82,000 acres and destroyed about 63 homes. In Oregon, the Chetco Bar wildfire started on July 12, burning about 191,000 acres before it was contained in early November. It was the eighth largest wildfire in Oregon history.
In September, the Agriculture Department said that due to fires in the West, Pacific Northwest, and Northern Rockies over the summer, wildland fire suppression costs for the fiscal year had climbed above $2 billion, “making 2017 the most expensive year on record.”
Zinke has come under intense scrutiny for his travel practices, more than any other current the rich asshole cabinet official. The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General launched an investigation into Zinke’s travel in September after the Interior secretary acknowledged he used non-commercial and non-military aircraft on at least three occasions.
Zinke’s Nevada helicopter trip is not the first time his use of helicopters has proved controversial either. Zinke ordered a U.S. Park Police helicopter to take him and his chief of staff to an emergency management exercise in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, on June 21. Zinke also ordered a Park Police helicopter to fly him and another Interior official to and from Yorktown, Virginia, on July 7 in order to be back in Washington in time for a late afternoon horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, according to Politico.
Ryan Zinke's caused a lot of controversy with his private flights, but none have been as egregious as using wildfire preparedness funding to pay for a trip that had nothing to do with wildfires, while a wildfire ravaged California. newsweek.com/ryan-zinke-int…
The helicopter flight to Shepherdstown — a West Virginia town from which many people commute to Washington on a daily basis — cost $8,000. The trip to Yorktown — a three-hour car ride if traffic isn’t backed up on I-95 — cost about $6,250, according to the documents obtained by Politico.
Zinke himself has refused to apologize for his use of private charter flights for government business. In fact, Zinke told reporters in October that criticism of his taxpayer-financed travel “complete and utter bullshit” and driven by politics.
In the rare admission of error, though, an Interior Department spokesperson told Newsweek that Zinke’s $39,295 helicopter ride “was charged to the account in error” and that the BLM would pay for the helicopter from “a more appropriate account.”
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the group Democracy Forward and shared with Newsweek showed that an Interior Department staffer sent an email that said Zinke would probably not be able to get to a Nevada fire line because his schedule wouldn’t allow it. The department still concluded that the BLM would be able to pay for the helicopter out of the national fire office in Boise, Idaho, Newsweek reported.
The Zinke helicopter flights were billed to the National Interagency Fire Center under the category of preparedness. Those funds are earmarked for such uses as worker pay and to purchase equipment, according to Newsweek. The National Interagency Fire Center coordinates federal wildfire fighting resources.
Other questionable travel by the Interior secretary in 2017 included a June event at which Zinke met with members of Las Vegas’s new professional hockey team, the Vegas Golden Knights. The hockey team is owned by one of Zinke’s wealthiest campaign donors. Instead of taking a commercial flight that left a few hours earlier, Zinke took a private chartered flight to Kalispell, Montana, near his home in Whitefish, Montana, that cost taxpayers $12,375.
The stunning abnormality of some rich asshole's war on Justice (and justice)
(CNN)Here is a tweet from the President of the United States Tuesday morning:
"Crooked Hillary Clinton's top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others."
the rich asshole appears to be referring to this story in the conservative Daily Caller that alleges that because a) Abedin forwarded messages with important passwords to her Yahoo account and b) every Yahoo email account was hacked that a+ b = Abedin gave the Russians access to classified government systems.
Which, um, no. Both "A" and "B" above can be facts without making the conclusion of the Daily Caller accurate. Unless evidence emerges that Abedin's account was specifically looked into by the Russians, then we are simply left with two events that happened -- without much relation to one another.
This sort of tangential connection -- held together with gum, rubber bands and the undying belief in the evil of the Clintons and all they touch -- is nothing new for conservative media. From conspiracy theories about Vince Foster's death all the way through conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton's health during the 2016 campaign, these sorts of "reports" have been around for a long time.
What's changed is that we now have a president who not only traffics in this sort of stuff but uses it as his primary source of information. the rich asshole has mainstreamed conspiracy theories that, in every past presidency, have only existed in the fever swamps of the right or left.
Consider what the rich asshole is alleging about not just Abedin but the entire justice system in the tweet above.
"Deep State Justice Dept must finally act," the rich asshole tweets, suggesting that Abedin belongs in jail and former FBI Director James Comey and "others" might too.
The idea of the "deep state" has long been central to the beliefs of people like Breitbart executive Steve Bannon and others in the conservative media. Its basic tenet is that there is a sort of extra-judicial government being run in the shadows of the public-facing government -- a so-called "deep state" that has as its prime objective to maintain the status quo. The "deep state" isn't really partisan, it's more an agreement by the establishment to keep its hold on power for as long as humanly possible.
the rich asshole first embraced the so-called "deep state" in a tweet in late November 2017 after, apparently, watching a segment on Fox News. He tweeted:
"Charles McCullough, the respected fmr Intel Comm Inspector General, said public was misled on Crooked Hillary Emails. 'Emails endangered National Security.' Why aren't our deep State authorities looking at this? Rigged & corrupt?"
Consider what's being alleged here: That the Justice Department is refusing to prosecute criminals -- including the former director of the FBI! -- because the deep state is protecting those people.
That sounds a little off, right? Like, if your uncle spent 15 minutes at Christmas dinner bending your ear with that exact theory, you would ask your mom afterward: "What is the deal with Uncle Harold?"
Now, consider the source: This is the President of the United States we are talking about. The most powerful person in the country -- and maybe the world. The person who chose the man -- Jeff Sessions -- who runs the Justice Department.
Let's be clear about all of this: The President of the United States is saying that the former FBI director, who he fired and who could, as we speak, potentially be playing a central role in the special counsel investigation into Russia's attempted interference in the 2016 presidential election, is being protected by a secret quasi-government that really controls things.
This is far from the first time the rich asshole has raised questions about the independence of the Justice Department via Twitter.
"Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems," the rich asshole tweeted on November 3, 2017. "Many people in our Country are asking what the 'Justice' Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and "acid washed" 33,000 Emails? No justice!," he tweeted last month.
What's even more frightening than the assumptions made in those presidential tweets is that plenty of people are changing their views of the FBI due to the rich asshole's assault on the bureau and its one-time head.
In 2014, Gallup polling showed that 62% of Republicans thought the FBI was doing an "excellent" or "good" job. In new Gallup polling, that number among Republicans has dipped to 49% -- even as Republicans' trust in other government agencies has soared since 2014.
It's almost impossible to accurately describe how abnormal this sort of behavior is from a president. In the past, presidents went out of their way to build up trust in the agencies and departments of the federal government, believing that strength in institutions -- particularly those tasked with law enforcement -- was critically important to a functioning and healthy democracy.
the rich asshole is doing the opposite. He is taking conspiracy theories long relegated to the fringes of even conservative talk radio -- there's a group of people entrenched in the government working to undermine his efforts to empower the average person -- and putting them squarely at the center of our national conversation.
That's not even close to any sort of behavior we have seen from any past president. And we need to not grow habituated to it. Breaking norms of accepted behavior needs to be noted each time it happens. Otherwise, we have no norms. And that's a very dangerous thing.
the rich asshole again at war with 'deep state' Justice Department
Washington (CNN)President some rich asshole leveled his latest criticism of the Justice Department on Tuesday, suggesting the executive department is part of a "deep state" that he believes has sought to undermine him.
The President's criticism is the latest he has lobbed against the department that oversees the top federal law enforcement agencies, following verbal attacks in recent months against key Justice Department officials and the FBI, whose reputation he alleged last month is in "tatters."
the rich asshole's latest barb targeting the Justice Department came in a tweet in which he appeared to suggest Hillary Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin should face jail time for reportedly including confidential government information in nongovernment personal emails.
"She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act?" the rich asshole tweeted, apparently referencing a Daily Caller report.
Some of Abedin's emails released Friday by the State Department were marked "confidential" and were heavily redacted by the State Department. One email Abedin forwarded to her personal email account from her State Department account included passwords for a two-step laptop login process, though that email was not marked classified as the rich asshole claimed.
Asked about the rich asshole's tweet, the Justice Department declined to confirm or deny the existence of an ongoing investigation.
The FBI has previously said that a number of Abedin's documents were backed up on the laptop of her estranged husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, and that some smaller number were manually forwarded. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee last May, the FBI said, "Although we do not know the exact numbers, based on its investigation, the FBI believes it is reasonable to conclude that most of the emails found on Mr. Weiner's laptop computer related to the Clinton investigation occurred as a result of a backup of personal electronic devices, with a small number a result of manual forwarding by Ms. Abedin to Mr. Weiner."
Then-FBI Director James Comey testified last year that "Somehow, her emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information by (Clinton's) assistant, Huma Abedin," he said.
But there was no indication that Abedin "had a sense that what she was doing was in violation of the law," Comey added, and investigators couldn't prove any sort of criminal intent.
While the rich asshole suggested Tuesday that the Justice Department should prosecute Abedin, reviving calls for further investigation of Clinton and her associates' use of private email during her time as secretary of state, the rich asshole last week said in an interview that he has purposefully stayed "uninvolved" with the email investigation.
"What I've done is, I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department. But for purposes of hopefully thinking I'm going to be treated fairly, I've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter," the rich asshole told The New York Times in an interview last week.
By LOUIS NELSON
01/02/2018 10:45 AM EST
Updated 01/02/2018 11:11 AM EST
President some rich asshole offered a seemingly back-handed message of congratulations to New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, warning the newspaper’s new head on Tuesday to hire reporters “of a much higher standard” and to “treat the president of the United States fairly” or else risk the Times’ reputation.
“The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations! Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, ‘to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved,’” the rich asshole wrote on Twitter in an attack against the newspaper to which he gave an exclusive interview last week.
“Get impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent ‘sources,’ and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you won’t have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL,” he continued, finishing his two-post message with an apparent abbreviation of “good luck.”
The Times announced last month that the 37-year-old Sulzberger would take over as publisher effective at the start of 2018, replacing his father, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. A.G. Sulzberger is the sixth member of his family to serve as publisher of the Times since the family purchased the newspaper in 1896.
the rich asshole has had a complex relationship with the Times throughout his political career, often accusing his hometown newspaper of offering unfair, negative coverage of him while also sitting for interviews with its reporters on multiple occasions, including last week at his private club in Florida.
A.G. Sulzberger, in a note published Monday on the Times’ website, wrote that the newspaper’s mission “feels particularly urgent to me today as I begin my work as publisher.” He said the Times is in the midst of a “period of exciting innovation and growth” but added that the newspaper, and journalism writ large, also faces “a period of profound challenge.”
“Misinformation is rising and trust in the media is declining as technology platforms elevate clickbait, rumor and propaganda over real journalism, and politicians jockey for advantage by inflaming suspicion of the press,” he wrote. “Like our predecessors at The Times, my colleagues and I will not give in to these forces.”
some rich asshole attacked Democrats over immigration reform and made a bold prediction about his future support from the Hispanic community.
Staffers say the rich asshole is very angry, yelling at television sets in ... - washingtonexaminer.com
As 2018 kicks off, the issue of #Immigration Reform remains an unanswered question in Washington. For some rich asshole, he's positioning himself in an attack on the Democrats.
the rich asshole on immigration
When some rich asshole announced that he was running for president, his speech gained the most attention due to his comments about immigration reform. The former host of "The Apprentice" referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers," resulting in instant backlash from the majority of the mainstream media. Over the course of his entire campaign, and since his inauguration last January, the rich asshole has taken a hard-line on how to move forward with immigration reform, including the possibility of mass deportation and the construction of a Mexican-funded border wall.
The Republican Party as a whole has been vocal in their views on immigration, with most pushing to at least tighten border security, eliminate funding for sanctuary cities, and to allow ICE the ability to deport more undocumented Americans than they have in recent years. One aspect of immigration that is being focused on now is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (#Daca) which allows DREAMers to stay in the country. the rich asshole commented on this issue during a tweet on January 2.
Taking to #Twitter on Thursday morning, some rich asshole highlighted the issue of immigration and DACA by predicting that Hispanics would shift their support from the Democratic Party over to the Republican Party. "Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics," the rich asshole tweeted.
Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start “falling in love” with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.
Bipartisan DACA talks set to commence with White House politi.co/2DJgzsc
"DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems," some rich asshole wrote, before adding, "will start 'falling in love' with Republicans and their President!" "We are about RESULTS," he concluded. the rich asshole has made it clear in the past that in order for DACA to be extended and included in his plans for immigration reform, the Democrats would have to concede on ending chain migration and allow for the building of his border wall between the United States and Mexico.
Next up
While immigration is a hot topic, it's unknown if the Republicans and Democrats will be able to find common ground in order to make progress on the issue. Though the commander in chief believes that he will be able to garner support from Hispanics, recent polling shows otherwise as his general approval rating has dropped under 35 percent after his first year in the White House.
the rich asshole hits Dems over DACA: Hispanics will start 'falling in love' with Republicans
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 01-01-2018
President the rich asshole on Tuesday said Democrats aren’t interested in fixing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, arguing advocates for the program will ult.
“Democrats are doing nothing for DACA — just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start ‘falling in love’ with Republicans and their President!” the rich asshole tweeted.
Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start “falling in love” with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.
Congress is poised for a showdown over the future of DACA, an Obama-era program that allows certain immigrants — often called Dreamers — who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay here to work or go to school.
Congressional leaders from both parties are expected to discuss the program during a meeting on Wednesday at the White House.
Democrats insisted they wouldn't leave Washington for a holiday break without a solution in place for DACA, but Congress ultimately agreed to take up the issue in early 2018.
The rich asshole administration announced in September it would end the program, giving Congress six months to come up with a long-term solution.
the rich asshole has previously said that Democrats “fully understand” that a DACA fix will require funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
the rich asshole has received criticism in the past for his comments on immigrants and on Mexicans.
He has in the past suggested a federal judge of Mexican heritage was biased against him and at his campaign launch in 2015 he said that Mexico was sending “rapists” and other criminals into the U.S.
GOP senator takes swipe at the rich asshole with First Amendment message
Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)
Tom Porter
Posted with permission from Newsweek
In an apparent criticism of President Donald Trump’s attacks on the news media, Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska called for a revival of “shared facts” in U.S. politics.
Sasse said in a New Year's Day video posted on Twitter that the American system of government “will not work without shared facts.”
“The only way the republic can work is if we come together and we defend each other’s rights to say things that we differ about,” Sasse said in the video. “We defend each other’s rights to publish journalism and pieces and things that we then want to argue about.”
The news media is one of the most frequent targets of the president’s Twitter diatribes, with Trump describing as “fake” news organizations that publish critical coverage of him and his administration.
The president uses Twitter to attack enemies and garner support, claiming the platform allows him to bypass hostile news networks and speak directly to Americans.
In a February 2017 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., Trump described the press as the “enemy of the American people.”
In the video, Sasse criticizes the president’s remarks without naming him, remarking that it’s “not helpful to call the press the enemy of the American people.”
Sasse describes the rise of new forms of journalism that form “echo chambers” of like-minded people creating a “new kind of tribalism.”
“We need to come together as a people and reteach our kids what the First Amendment is about,” he said.
Former President Barack Obama has also warned of the fracturing impact of social media on political discussion in recent days.
“One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases,” said Obama in the interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today program last week.
Sasse has emerged as one of the GOP's most vociferous defenders of the First Amendment, in October accusing Trump of breaking his oath of office to defend the Constitution after the president threatened to challenge licenses of television networks.
Sasse said in a New Year's Day video posted on Twitter that the American system of government “will not work without shared facts.”
It’s not helpful to call the press the enemy of the American people. Here’s why. #1a
The news media is one of the most frequent targets of the president’s Twitter diatribes, with Trump describing as “fake” news organizations that publish critical coverage of him and his administration.
The president uses Twitter to attack enemies and garner support, claiming the platform allows him to bypass hostile news networks and speak directly to Americans.
In a February 2017 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., Trump described the press as the “enemy of the American people.”
In the video, Sasse criticizes the president’s remarks without naming him, remarking that it’s “not helpful to call the press the enemy of the American people.”
Sasse describes the rise of new forms of journalism that form “echo chambers” of like-minded people creating a “new kind of tribalism.”
“We need to come together as a people and reteach our kids what the First Amendment is about,” he said.
Former President Barack Obama has also warned of the fracturing impact of social media on political discussion in recent days.
“One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases,” said Obama in the interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today program last week.
Sasse has emerged as one of the GOP's most vociferous defenders of the First Amendment, in October accusing Trump of breaking his oath of office to defend the Constitution after the president threatened to challenge licenses of television networks.
Social media users mock the rich asshole for taking credit for air-travel safety record
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 01/02/18 09:55 AM EST
Social media users on Tuesday mocked President the rich asshole after he took credit for the safest year on record in commercial aviation.
“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!” the rich asshole tweeted Tuesday.
Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
His comment came in response to a new study that showed 2017 was the safest year on record for commercial aviation. Airlines recorded zero deaths on commercial passenger jets worldwide, according to a report published by the Aviation Safety Network.
Overall, there were 10 fatal commercial passenger and cargo plane crashes that killed 44 people. Those crashes involved small propeller planes and cargo aircraft.
There has not been a fatal passenger airline crash in the U.S. since 2009, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The last deadly commuter plane crash took place in Hawaii in 2013.
the rich asshole in his tweet did not detail what steps he took to improve airline safety.
Social media users were quick to mock the president, questioning what he meant by saying he was "very strict" on commercial aviation and asking what he actually did to improve airline safety. They also called for the rich asshole to be strict in other areas, such as mass shootings.
Taking credit for planes not crashing. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
I wish POTUS would also be more strict on mass shootings since 2017 was the worst year on record aol.com/article/news/2… twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
Taking credit for planes not crashing. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
I wish POTUS would also be more strict on mass shootings since 2017 was the worst year on record aol.com/article/news/2… twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
2017 deemed deadliest year for mass shootings in modern US history
“Very strict on Commercial Aviation.”
What does this even mean? What, if anything, has he done?There hasn’t been a deadly scheduled airline crash in the US since 2009. The 2017 news is a global achievement. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Meanwhile, the @FAANews administrator's five-year term ends this month and Trump hasn't named a replacement. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Wait.
Wait.
Back up.
Is he saying that he IMPOSED government regulation on an industry and it MADE THAT INDUSTRY SAFER?
Because it sounds a lot like that's what he's saying. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
The United States last recorded a fatal airline passenger jet crash in February 2009, but Donald Trump being "very strict" on commercial aviation is the only real reason why flights are so safe today. reuters.com/article/us-avi…twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
“Very strict on Commercial Aviation.”
What does this even mean? What, if anything, has he done?There hasn’t been a deadly scheduled airline crash in the US since 2009. The 2017 news is a global achievement. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
What does this even mean? What, if anything, has he done?There hasn’t been a deadly scheduled airline crash in the US since 2009. The 2017 news is a global achievement. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Meanwhile, the @FAANews administrator's five-year term ends this month and Trump hasn't named a replacement. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Wait.
Wait.
Back up.
Is he saying that he IMPOSED government regulation on an industry and it MADE THAT INDUSTRY SAFER?
Because it sounds a lot like that's what he's saying. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Wait.
Back up.
Is he saying that he IMPOSED government regulation on an industry and it MADE THAT INDUSTRY SAFER?
Because it sounds a lot like that's what he's saying. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
The United States last recorded a fatal airline passenger jet crash in February 2009, but Donald Trump being "very strict" on commercial aviation is the only real reason why flights are so safe today. reuters.com/article/us-avi…twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
2017 safest year on record for commercial passenger air travel: groups
We had no gas explosions in our house this year. Thank you, Mr. President, for your hands-on leadership of FERC. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Unlike Obama, Trump won't let any planes crash. Not even a little bit. He's very strict. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Since flying on airplanes I have been very adamant that I did not want to die in an aviation accident. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record! You're welcome
since donald trump has taken office he has been very strict on Slippery Ice—it was just reported that i have not fallen once this winter, the best on record!
If Trump was a rooster, he'd try to take credit for the sunrise. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
How about the 14 coal miners who were killed in 2017, compared to the 9 killed in 2016 twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
We had no gas explosions in our house this year. Thank you, Mr. President, for your hands-on leadership of FERC. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Unlike Obama, Trump won't let any planes crash. Not even a little bit. He's very strict. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Since flying on airplanes I have been very adamant that I did not want to die in an aviation accident. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record! You're welcome
since donald trump has taken office he has been very strict on Slippery Ice—it was just reported that i have not fallen once this winter, the best on record!
If Trump was a rooster, he'd try to take credit for the sunrise. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
How about the 14 coal miners who were killed in 2017, compared to the 9 killed in 2016 twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
some rich asshole speaking on July 16, 2015 (Michael Vadon/Flickr)
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2017 was the safest year for air travel on record — and President some rich asshole thinks he deserves credit for it.
Responding to news that there were no commercial airline crashes anywhere in the world last year, the rich asshole credited his own policies with preventing people from suffering airline-related deaths.
“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” the president wrote. “Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”
the rich asshole offered no examples of ways he had helped ensure airline safety in 2017, and he gave no specific evidence of his administration being “very strict on Commercial Aviation.”
Additionally, it’s unclear how any the rich asshole policies could have affected airline safety in other countries — and as The Hill reporter Reid Wilson notes, there have been no commercial airline crashes in the United States since 2009.
No crashes in US since 2009. twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/s…
some rich asshole speaking on July 16, 2015 (Michael Vadon/Flickr)
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2017 was the safest year for air travel on record — and President some rich asshole thinks he deserves credit for it.
Responding to news that there were no commercial airline crashes anywhere in the world last year, the rich asshole credited his own policies with preventing people from suffering airline-related deaths.
“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” the president wrote. “Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”
the rich asshole offered no examples of ways he had helped ensure airline safety in 2017, and he gave no specific evidence of his administration being “very strict on Commercial Aviation.”
Additionally, it’s unclear how any the rich asshole policies could have affected airline safety in other countries — and as The Hill reporter Reid Wilson notes, there have been no commercial airline crashes in the United States since 2009.
No crashes in US since 2009. twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/s…
‘the rich asshole University now teaches aviation’: Internet roasts the rich asshole taking credit for airline safety
Donald and Ivanka the rich asshole (Shutterstock).
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President some rich asshole’s bizarre Tuesday morning boast in which he took credit for ensuring global airline safety set off immediate ridicule across the internet.
Responding to news that there were no commercial airline crashes anywhere in the world last year, the rich asshole credited his own policies with preventing people from suffering airline-related deaths.
“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” the president wrote. “Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”
Given that the president offered no evidence that he had enacted any restrictions that could have possibly affected global airline safety — and given that no commercial airlines have crashed in the United States since 2009 — the internet was quick to dismiss the rich asshole’s latest ramblings as yet another example of his delusional bragging.
Check out the top reactions below.
planes no longer crash in the era of the Godking twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
BUCKHANNON, W.V. — The coal mines haven’t quite reopened, but here in this small West Virginia town, voters see real progress a year into Donald Trump’s presidency.
“He’s been very good on commercial aviation,” says Chuck Stub, 54, an out-of-work Trump voter. “Very strict.” twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
Trump: Planes don't crash because of me!
Airlines: Actually it's because we've invested in new technologies to improve perf--
Trump: MEEEE! MEEEEEE!
I’m willing to be a hundred billion Galleons that since taking office, Trump has had more conversations about Nordstrom than commercial aviation. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
You know Trump is a sicko when he takes credit for no aviation deaths instead of crediting pilots, airlines, transportation safety & air traffic control! What an arrogant, self absorbed egomaniacal little twit!
Thank you President Trump for making America safe again! Obama didn't secure the border, didn't care about aviation safety, and banned Christmas!!!! Thank God you are making America great again!!
Trump University now teaches aviation! It truly is the greatest school on any planet in the universe!
I would like to thank Donald Trump for single-handedly making commercial aviation safe.
Oh, wait, correlation =/= causation. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Major Tulsa newspaper rips the rich asshole’s long-shot NASA nomination for leaving the area completely unrepresented in Congress
Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), the rich asshole's pick to head NASA (Image via Bridenstine/Facebook).
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Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) hasn’t been voting for legislation since he was named as President some rich asshole’s nominee to NASA and his hometown isn’t happy about it.
A Tulsa World editorial blasted Bridenstine Tuesday, claiming that the appointment has essentially left the state’s second-largest city without a member of Congress. To make matters worse, they’re not anticipating a change any time in the near future.
Bridenstine faced scathing questions when he testified before the Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation in November. His appointment barely passed out of the committee, on a party-line vote 14-13.
“Now my position is, I have come to believe that the position of NASA administrator as I have said so many times in front of this committee, obviously should not be one that is partisan,” Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said about the appointment. “It is a position where a failure of leadership can quite literally mean the difference between life and death.”
Nelson said that he felt Bridenstine’s qualifications fall woefully short of what should be required for an administrator to NASA.
Meanwhile, Bridenstine is abstaining from most votes in Congress.
“While Bridenstine has taken care of his other duties as Congressman, including constituent services, if he’s not there to vote on things, it’s as if Tulsans are not part of the process,” the editorial said.
To make matters worse, because Bridenstine wasn’t approved in 2017, the state likely won’t hold a costly special election simply to fill a short-term congressional seat. It means the First District in Oklahoma has gone without representation in Congress for a full term.
Ironically, as a member of the tea party, Bridenstine has caused the district to fall under the old anti-British slogan “no taxation without representation,” a rallying cry prior to the Boston Tea Party.
However, the editorial isn’t blaming Bridenstine for refusing to vote or stepping out of his seat after being appointed. Instead, it’s blaming the U.S. Senate for its increased scrutiny over an anti-science official being appointed to an independent agency of the executive branch that depends on science to function.
“Can we get our federal taxes back? After all, taxation without representation isn’t the American way,” the Tulsa World concluded.
the rich asshole urges Justice Department to ‘jail’ Comey, Clinton aide ‘and others’ after Fox report on emails
President some rich asshole (Screenshot)
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President some rich asshole — who blabbed classified intelligence to top Russian officials — reacted to a Fox News report by calling to jail a Hillary Clinton aide for allegedly emailing sensitive government information.
The conservative network highlighted a story Monday morning from the right-wing Daily Caller website, which reported that Clinton aide Huma Abedin “forwarded sensitive State Department emails, including passwords to government systems, to her personal Yahoo email account.”
That email service provider was later hacked, and The Daily Caller reported that “guarantees” that Abedin and Clinton exposed sensitive government data to a “state-sponsored actor.”
The president urged the Justice Department, which he slurred as a “deep state” conspiracy against his presidency, to prosecute and jail Abedin.
the rich asshole also suggested that former FBI director James Comey, whom he fired in May after failing to receive an assurance of loyalty, should also be prosecuted along with unspecified “others.”
The day after the rich asshole fired Comey, he met in the Oval Office with the Russian foreign minister and U.S. ambassador at the center of the Justice Department’s investigation of the president’s campaign ties to the Kremlin.
the rich asshole told the Russian officials about how ISIS terrorists were working to develop a laptop bomb that could pass undetected through airport security — which he boasted had come from Israeli intelligence officials.
The information was highly classified and had not been shared with close U.S. allies, and experts believe the disclosure put the Israeli spy operation at risk.
Last week, the rich asshole gave a rambling interview to the New York Times, which asked whether he intended to reopen the Justice Department’s investigation of Clinton’s email activity as Secretary of State.
“I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,” the rich asshole told the newspaper.
‘This guy’s insane’: Report reveals South American leaders feared the rich asshole planned to invade Venezuela
some rich asshole visits Capitol Hill (screen grab)
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This past August, President some rich asshole floated the idea of using military force against Venezuela’s government.
This idea didn’t sit well at all with other leaders in the region, and a new report from Politico claims that the leaders of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Panama all told the rich asshole that they opposed invading Venezuela during a meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“[Secretary of State Rex Tillerson] tells me you don’t want me to use the military option in Venezuela,” the rich asshole told the leaders during their meeting, according to Politico.
When the leaders all responded that they were opposed using military force against Venezuela, the rich asshole seemed shocked.
“Is that right?” he asked them. “Are you sure?”
A former U.S. official who was briefed on the meeting tells Politico that the leaders of the countries “just had wide eyes about the entire engagement” and walked away from it fearing the rich asshole’s mental state could spark major wars in South America.
“The word they all used was: ‘This guy is insane,'” the source said.
These South American leaders aren’t alone either, as Politico writes that diplomats from across the world have described the rich asshole’s first year in office as “catastrophic,” “terrifying,” “incompetent” and “dangerous.”
Former ethics chief rips Ivanka for hawking White House clothes on Instagram: ‘Definition of corruption’
Ivanka the rich asshole (Youtube)
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Former government ethics chief Walter Shaub warned the White House and President some rich asshole’s family that they were coming alarmingly close to ethics violations by profiting off of their brand while in working in the executive branch. Still, Ivanka the rich asshole continues to sell clothing she wears to political events.
A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed this week that Ivanka’s social media feed is filled with her own retail clothes. Each time she appears in public at an event, she’s clad in her own sellable clothes. Shortly thereafter, the clothing often sells out.
Shaub told CNN that Ivanka is perfectly free to wear whatever she wants, but “we’re in this situation because she is one of the rare government appointees in the White House who has not divested her financial interests.” According to Shaub, that puts her at a higher burden on her to be more conscious of what she does.
“I don’t think anybody is saying she’s doing anything wrong in this case,” said CNN Money correspondent Cristina Alesci. “What troubles people like Walter and people who protect the ethics of government, really is the fact that she goes up to a line and she doesn’t quite cross the line but just explores the line and where it exists.”
The line, according to Alesci, is where a government official uses his or her position to personally profit. In this case she isn’t directly asking that people buy her products, but instead she’s serving as a kind of “walking billboard.” CNN host Alisyn Camerota noted that Ivanka’s company got in trouble when it tweeted from her account, “Shop Ivanka’s look from the RNC.”
Alesci explained that this kind of marketing she grew up with watching her father utilize. “She knows what she wears will be covered,” she said.
In a statement, the rich asshole said that if she wanted to grow her business and make money that she would have stayed in New York, but Shaub called the statement “laughable.” Camerota noted that Ivanka wouldn’t have had the platform she does unless she went to the White House.
“The reality is that the core principle of the ethics program is that you’re not supposed to misuse your government position for private gain,” he continued. “This is the international definition of corruption. This is the principle that George H.W. Bush founded as the cornerstone of the ethics program.”
Shaub went on to note that Ivanka could have chosen to divest her financial interests.
“But choosing not to do any of those things, she is held to a higher standard,” he said. “She’s one of the top presidential advisers and the daughter of the president in that role, because the Department of Jusice threw away almost half a century of precedent that nepotism is not allowed in the White House.”
He also explained that the trust that the president set up was meaningless. A trust, according to Shaub, is nothing more than a legal instrument conveying ownership temporarily.
“So, it’s still on your behalf,” he said. “All the profits are still coming to you. It’s window dressing, at best.”
Camerota asked if the move was the “Kardashianing of the White House” and Alesci noted that is what has people feeling uneasy about these issues. She went on to say that as long as the rich asshole’s continue to own everything, whether it’s in a trust or not, they’ll open themselves up to such questions.
Shaub said that it’s a similar story to the way in which the rich asshole is making money off of doubling the price of initiation to Mar-a-Lago.
“None of these things are happening in a vacuum,” he said. “What we’re seeing across the board is an effort to monetize the presidency. No, it’s not OK. He shouldn’t have kept those assets in the first place. And the only reason people are paying higher membership fees or higher fees for the New Year’s Eve party, or above-market rates to stay in his hotel in Washington, is they want to purchase access to the president. And access to the president shouldn’t be for sale to the wealthy people who can pay the price.”
Pakistan summons US ambassador over the rich asshole tweet
President some rich asshole (Screenshot)
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Pakistan has summoned the US ambassador in a rare public rebuke after some rich asshole threatened to cut aid to Islamabad over its “lies” about militancy.
David Hale was asked to attend the foreign ministry on Monday night, after Islamabad responded angrily to the US President’s allegations that it provided safe havens for militants — the latest dispute to rock their alliance.
A US embassy spokesman confirmed Tuesday Hale met officials but had no comment on what was said.
There was no immediate response from foreign ministry officials. But Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi convened a National Security Council meeting later Tuesday attended by the powerful military chief and other senior military and government officials, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
the rich asshole used his first tweet of 2018 to tear into Islamabad.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” he said.
“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”
Pakistan hit back swiftly, saying it had done much for the United States, helping it to “decimate” Al-Qaeda, while getting only “invective & mistrust” in return. The angry comments came from its foreign and defence ministers.
the rich asshole’s tweet offered no further details. He first hinted at cutting aid to Pakistan in an August speech charting his Afghan policy, and administration officials including Vice President Mike Pence have also intimated cuts in recent months.
Observers said that without further information the tweet could just be more hot air between the allies, whose often fractious relationship has taken a nosedive under the rich asshole.
“the rich asshole is in the habit of issuing hardline statements which only spoil the atmosphere and violate diplomatic niceties,” analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, adding that Pakistan should seek more information.
“It will only add to the acrimony that has crept into the bilateral relationship after the rich asshole’s arrival in the White House,” another analyst, Imtiaz Gul, told AFP.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Washington forged a strategic alliance with Islamabad to help in its fight against militancy.
But Washington and Kabul have long accused Islamabad of supporting militant groups including the Taliban, believed to have links to Pakistan’s shadowy military establishment which aims to use them in Afghanistan as a regional bulwark against arch-nemesis India.
Islamabad has repeatedly denied the accusations, lambasting the US for ignoring the thousands who have been killed on Pakistani soil and the billions spent fighting extremists.
On Tuesday China, which has stepped up a multi-billion dollar economic investment in Pakistan, spoke out in its defence, with a foreign ministry spokesman praising its “outstanding contribution to the global cause of counter-terrorism”.
– ‘Harsh’ response –
the rich asshole’s August speech, in which he accused Islamabad of harbouring “agents of chaos”, triggered a series of high-level diplomatic meetings in the US and Pakistan.
The rich asshole administration also told Congress in August it was weighing whether to withhold $255 million in earmarked aid to Islamabad over its failure to crack down more effectively on terror groups.
But Islamabad has given few signs of concessions.
Of foremost concern in the US is Islamabad’s attitude toward the powerful Haqqani network, whose leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is the deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban.
The group is accused of some of the most lethal attacks on US forces in Afghanistan, and was dubbed by America’s former top military officer Mike Mullen as a “veritable arm” of Pakistani intelligence.
For many years it found safe haven in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous northwestern tribal areas.
However the Pakistani military launched an operation there in 2014, and now insists it has eradicated all safe havens in the country.
For Pakistan, analyst Gul noted, the assumption is that arch-rival and fellow nuclear power India is fuelling the rich asshole’s hostility towards Islamabad.
India has long vied with Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan, building dams, roads and a new parliament in the troubled country, offering millions in aid and training security forces.
the rich asshole and other administration officials have called on India to become more involved in Afghanistan — an idea that is anathema to Pakistan, which fears encirclement.
“Now Pakistan’s first attempt will be to neutralize India’s narrative of Pakistan,” Gul said.
GOP congressman warns Justice Department faces crackdown over Clinton probe: ‘Our patience is wearing thin’
Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fox News)
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A Florida Republican who’s helping President some rich asshole undermine the special counsel probe told Fox News that lawmakers are planning more intense scrutiny of the FBI.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has described special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as a “coup d’état” against the rich asshole, and he co-sponsored a non-binding resolution in November calling for the former FBI director to resign from the probe over alleged bias.
The president tweeted Monday morning that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, former FBI director James Comey and unspecified “others” be prosecuted and jailed for their handling or investigation of the former Secretary of State’s emails — and Gaetz agreed Comey’s actions warranted further investigation.
“When you have an exoneration statement drafted before the very meat of the investigation is conducted, it certainly raises questions as to the integrity in that investigation,” Gaetz told Fox News, which also promoted a right-wing website report about Abedin that seemingly prompted the rich asshole’s tweet.
“You have to wonder if the FBI no longer trusted the Department of Justice as a consequence of the tarmac meeting between (then-Attorney General) Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton,” Gaetz continued. “Why would the FBI allow the Department of Justice to then control access to people and access to evidence that they would need in this particular case?”
The congressman also took aim at deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, whom Republicans have slurred as a partisan operative against the president.
“There (are) a number of inconsistencies that I certainly saw from the testimony that Andrew McCabe has given over time to the Congress, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Andrew McCabe announced his retirement from the FBI just days after providing sworn testimony to the Judiciary Committee,” Gaetz said. “So in 2018, expect more depositions, more sworn testimony and a real expectation from the Congress that the Department of Justice and FBI will comply with the subpoenas that we have sent them. Our patience is wearing thin.”
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‘He’s in deep trouble’: Iowa Republicans flipping on the rich asshole one year after helping him win the White House
President the rich asshole pouts when asked about his remarks to a Gold Star family (Screen cap).
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Should President some rich asshole decide to run for reelection in 2020, he may not be able to count on Iowa’s six Electoral votes to keep him in office as voters there are turning on him after a controversial first year.
According to the Washington Post, the rich asshole’s poll numbers in the bellwether Midwestern state have collapsed, with the president only garnering a meager 35 percent approval rating and Republicans overall, a tick lower, at 34 percent approval.
Despite former President Barack Obama winning the state, Iowans turned on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, handing her only 41.7 percent of the vote — but Democrats are seeing the tide turn in the second half on 2017.
On Aug. 8, the Democratic Party held a House seat in a special election in an Iowa district where the rich asshole had won by 21.3 points. In December they fielded a candidate in a special state Senate race who lost by nine points in a district where the party didn’t even run a candidate in 2010 or 2014 because it is considered so deeply Republican.
According to Janet Petersen, leader of Iowa’s Senate Democrats, the rich asshole’s unpopularity is affecting Iowa Republicans across the board and his prospects in Iowa, should he run again, are dimming rapidly.
“If the rich asshole were to run again, he’d be in deep trouble,” Petersen explained. “A dog bites you the first time, it’s not your fault. The second time it bites you, it’s your own damn fault.”
One issue that is dogging the rich asshole is his promise to gut NAFTA which could have a devastating impact on Iowa farmers who depend on the commodities market.
Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who replaced former Governor Terry Branstead after he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to China, has been forced to lobby the White House to slow down on NAFTA out of fears it would hurt the state’s economy..
“Whenever we talk about pulling out, commodity prices are affected immediately, and that will be one of the first casualties that we’ll see,” Reynolds said at a Dec. 19 news conference. “So we’re going to hold them accountable.”
According to a Democrat who is running for governor, his party will make the recent GOP tax cut for the rich a central part of their message in 2018.
“They’re going to see who the winners and losers are in this, and they’re going to identify the corporations and wealthy people who came out way ahead of their families,” state Senator Nate Boulton told the Post
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