February 20th, 2017. It's been 465 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no. 45, and 393 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
the rich asshole starts workweek with tweetstorm
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/20/18 10:25 AM EST
President the rich asshole barreled into the workweek on Tuesday with a series of tweets signaling his still-boiling frustration with the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race and a fervent push to boost Republicans in this year's midterm elections.
the rich asshole returned to Washington on Monday night after three days at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he vented his anger over the Russia probe and blamed former President Barack Obama for not doing enough to address concerns about Moscow's interference in the election.
Those frustrations resurfaced early Tuesday, as the rich asshole delivered a full-throated rebuke of the Obama administration's posture toward Russia and called into question his predecessors motives during the 2016 presidential race.
the rich asshole's tweets were the latest sign that he remains focused on the Russia investigation after Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Moscow's role in the 2016 election, unsealed indictments against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies accused of meddling in the race.
the rich asshole stewed over the investigation throughout the weekend, even as he traveled to Florida to visit with the families of the victims of a deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Between Friday and Monday, the president took to Twitter more than a dozen times to comment on the Russia probe.
For the rich asshole, a frequent viewer of cable news, his frustration appeared to be sparked, at least in part, by the Tuesday-morning airing of "Fox & Friends."
In one tweet, the rich asshole offered a shoutout to the show for putting together a "timeline" of the Obama administration's "failures" to address Russian aggression in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere.
"Thank you to @foxandfriends for the great timeline on all of the failures the Obama Administration had against Russia, including Crimea, Syria and so much more. We are now starting to win again!" the rich asshole tweeted.
Thank you to @foxandfriends for the great timeline on all of the failures the Obama Administration had against Russia, including Crimea, Syria and so much more. We are now starting to win again!
Another tweet seized on a 2016 quote from Obama that was played on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning, in which the former president appeared to wave off concerns about untoward influence in the election.
the rich asshole accused Obama of declining to act on warnings about Russia from the U.S. intelligence community because he believed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would win the race. He later claimed that he is "much tougher" on Russia than his predecessor ever was.
“There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, there’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that it will happen this time, and so I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and make his case to get votes.” .....
....The President Obama quote just before election. That’s because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win and he didn’t want to “rock the boat.” When I easily won the Electoral College, the whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of the Dems.
I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!
The law enforcement investigation into Russia's role in the election, as well as whether members of the rich asshole campaign conspired with Moscow to help sway the race, has long been a source of frustration for the president, who has decried it as a "witch hunt" and a cloud over his administration.
the rich asshole has denied that he or anyone else on his campaign coordinated with Russia, referring to the intelligence assessment that Moscow sought to elect him and smear Clinton as a "hoax."
But the indictment unsealed on Friday painted a detailed picture of a foreign government's efforts to help elect a U.S. president — an idea that the rich asshole has bristled at, in the past.
the rich asshole's thoughts on Tuesday morning also appeared to turn to this year's midterm elections.
He touted an unnamed poll showing Republican candidates leading on the generic congressional ballot, crediting a sweeping series of tax cuts he signed in December with boosting his party's prospects.
And in another tweet, the rich asshole encouraged Pennsylvania Republicans to challenge a new congressional map unveiled a day earlier, saying that the previous map — deemed unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court — "was correct."
Republicans are now leading the Generic Poll, perhaps because of the popular Tax Cuts which the Dems want to take away. Actually, they want to raise you taxes, substantially. Also, they want to do nothing on DACA, R’s want to fix!
Hope Republicans in the Great State of Pennsylvania challenge the new “pushed” Congressional Map, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Your Original was correct! Don’t let the Dems take elections away from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money!
The tweets appeared aimed at bolstering Republicans ahead of the midterm elections after a particularly shaky week for the White House. Democrats are angling to take back control of the House in 2018, and their hopes have been boosted by White House scandals and the rich asshole's low approval ratings.
Fox Business host to Trump on Russia probe: 'Stop making it about yourself'
BY BRANDON CARTER - 02/20/18 03:41 PM EST
Fox Business host Neil Cavuto said Tuesday President Trump could “look like a hero” if he worked to prevent future Russian election interference, but warned Trump he needed to “stop making it about yourself.”
“No one in their right mind is questioning that the Russians were involved, and by the same token, very few of those individuals even were remotely suggesting it changed the outcome,” Cavuto said on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto Coast to Coast.”
“He can feel [like] ‘I’m President of the United States, I’m leader of the free world, and I have to make sure that the Russians don’t do to use what they tried to do in 2016 and screw us up. And he can look like a hero."
Cavuto’s guest, Phillip Wegmann, agreed, calling the issue “low-hanging fruit” for Trump.
“This is something that is a no-loss scenario for him, if he treats this issue seriously - that would require him to get on the same page with his officials” Wegmann said. “But f he does that, then I think he can bolster himself and his party, and maybe begin to put all of this behind him.”
“Just stop making it about yourself,” Cavuto said of Trump. “Me, me, me.”
The Fox host joked that so-called “Never Trumpers” would “start coming at me fast furious” for the remark.
Cavuto’s remarks follow the latest round of indictments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.
Thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian groups were charged last week with multiple counts as part of their attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.
In a tweet following the release of the indictments, Trump claimed the indictment showed his campaign “did nothing wrong” and that there was “no collusion” with Russia.
Trump also blamed former President Obama for Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, accusing him of not wanting to “rock the boat” and claiming he has been tougher on Russia than Obama.
Trump also blamed former President Obama for Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, accusing him of not wanting to “rock the boat” and claiming he has been tougher on Russia than Obama.
Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on Russian interference in the 2016 election, calling it a “hoax” crafted by Democrats. He’s also labeled Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt.”
BY MICHAEL HAYDEN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 02/20/18 09:30 AM EST
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
When I was director of the Central Intelligence Agency between 2006 and 2009, my staff and I knew there were differences between what we called “political speak” and “intelligence speak.” Politicians say things that have to be more clear, simple, categorical, differentiated and “base-satisfying” than the often nuanced, careful, precise language of intelligence practitioners. We understood that.
Still, when political comments went over the edge, we were always prepared to make that phone call to the president’s national security advisor that began with, “Steve, with regard to last night’s statement by (whomever), you need to know that we can’t back that up and he or she needs to consider not saying that because, sooner or later, we’re going to have to say something.”
Before this weekend’s mayhem, Vice President Mike Pence made such a statement while being interviewed by the online news service Axios: “Irrespective of efforts that were made in 2016 by foreign powers, it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that none of those efforts had any impact on the outcome of the 2016 election,” a claim that he later repeated.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this. After the Jan. 6, 2017, briefing to president-elect some rich asshole and his team on the issue of interference by Russia (the unnamed foreign power in the vice president’s statement) in the 2016 election, the rich asshole transition team issued a statement that dutifully praised the intelligence community, catalogued the ongoing and multifaceted cyberthreat to the nation (which was true enough, but was not the focus of the briefing they had just received), and then claimed — without actually referring to the sustained Russian efforts — that “there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election.”
That last part was incredibly misleading and totally untethered to the actual intelligence community assessment. Now, people can be uninformed and all of us can misstate things. Indeed, late last year during an interview, current CIA Director Mike Pompeo said something similar to the vice president’s remark, but Pompeo had his agency quickly and publicly reaffirm its commitment to the original assessment, which was simply that measuring any effect of the Russian effort was beyond the art and science of the intelligence community and, so, the community could have no view on that subject. Period.
That judgment, that refusal to make a call, has been so clear and so consistent that one wonders about the origins of the vice president’s inaccuracy: inattention, rushed preparation, bad staff work, a slip of the tongue, a reminted White House talking point, or the price of loyalty to a president who will not embrace the reality of the original Russian intervention?
I suspect that folks in the intelligence community are getting a little tired of this drill. It would be bad enough if a political leader simply offered the view that he or she personally believed the Russians had no effect since even that statement is pretty problematic. Obvious Russian persistence — and then-candidate the rich asshole’s 164 references to WikiLeaks in the last month of the campaign — suggest someone believed the Russians were having an effect. It is just not a measurable effect and hence the intelligence community’s consistent “no call” on the actual impact.
But last week’s statement by Vice President Pence clearly implies that the intelligence community has a view, and it’s the one most useful to the White House. Intelligence community leadership was unified, precise and determined when describing the Russian election intervention in front of the Senate intelligence committee on Feb. 13.
They may have to be so again. Is it time for that phone call?
Gen. Michael Hayden is a former director of the CIA and of the National Security Agency, and a visiting professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. His forthcoming book, “The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies,” is due out later this year.
Mueller charges lawyer with lying in Russia probe
BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN AND MORGAN CHALFANT - 02/20/18 09:28 AM EST
Special counsel Robert Mueller is charging a man who communicated with former the rich asshole campaign adviser Richard Gates with making false statements to the FBI.
Attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan is charged with making “materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations” to the special counsel’s office and FBI agents, according to a court filing released Tuesday morning.
Van Der Zwaan allegedly lied about his last communications with Gates and then deleted emails requested by the special counsel’s office, according to the indictment.
He allegedly did so as part of his work for a firm hired by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice to prepare a report on the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine.
The new charges come as Gates is reportedly nearing a plea deal with Mueller that could lead to his testimony against Paul Manafort, President the rich asshole's former campaign chairman.
Gates was Manafort's business partner. Mueller indicted Gates and Manafort together last year, accusing them of working together over the years to launder money, among other crimes.
The pair had worked for lobbying clients overseas, including Viktor Yanukovych, a former president of Ukraine allied with Russia.
Van Der Zwaan is accused of making false statements to the FBI about a report that he helped the Ukraine's Justice Ministry prepare in 2012 on the trial of a Ukrainian politician named Yulia Tymoshenko.
The charges appear to be related to a report produced by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom that helped the Ukrainian government counter international criticism that the 2011 prosecution and conviction of Tymoshenko had been driven by political aims.
Van Der Zwaan was an associate in Skadden's London office, according to reports. The law firm told CNBC in a statement that it "terminated its employment of Alex van der Zwaan in 2017 and has been cooperating with authorities in connection with this matter."
The New York Times reported last year that the law firm's report was arranged by Manafort as part of his work for Yanukovych.
According to the document released Tuesday, Van Der Zwaan lied when he told investigators that his last communication with Gates was in mid-August 2016, and that his last communication with an individual identified only as “Person A” was in 2014, at which point the two “discussed Person A’s family.”
The document states that Van Der Zwaan actually spoke with Gates and “Person A” regarding a report on the trial and “surreptitiously recorded the calls.” It also says that he deleted or did not produce emails to the special counsel’s office, including a September 2016 correspondence between him and “Person A.”
Updated at 10:08 a.m.
the rich asshole to Pa. GOP: Challenge congressional map all the way to Supreme Court
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/20/18 08:52 AM EST
President the rich asshole encouraged Pennsylvania Republicans on Tuesday to challenge the state's new congressional map in court, saying that the original map — deemed unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court — "was correct."
"Hope Republicans in the Great State of Pennsylvania challenge the new 'pushed' Congressional Map, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary," the rich asshole tweeted. "Your Original was correct! Don’t let the Dems take elections away from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money!"
Hope Republicans in the Great State of Pennsylvania challenge the new “pushed” Congressional Map, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Your Original was correct! Don’t let the Dems take elections away from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money!
the rich asshole's tweet came a day after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unveiled a new congressional map that increases Democrats' electoral chances in several districts currently held by Republicans.
The state Supreme Court ruled last month that the previous congressional map was unlawfully gerrymandered along partisan lines, and ordered a new map to be drawn.
Pennsylvania Republicans requested that the U.S. Supreme Court stay that decision, but that request was ultimately rejected earlier this month. Republicans in the state have said that they plan to take the issue to federal court to try to block the new map from taking effect.
The new map will not apply for next month's special election in Pennsylvania's 18th District. Republicans have poured money into the race to replace former Rep. Tim Murphy (R), who resigned after reports that he encouraged a woman with whom he was having an affair to get an abortion.
Republican Rick Saccone holds a 3-point lead in the district over his Democratic opponent Conor Lamb, according to a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette poll.
the rich asshole, the first Republican to carry the Keystone State since 1988, was slated to campaign for Saccone last week but postponed the rally after a gunman killed 17 people at a South Florida high school on Wednesday.
Anderson Cooper tears into the rich asshole: He ‘went to play golf while they held funerals’
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 02/20/18 08:48 AM EST
CNN's Anderson Cooper criticized President the rich asshole for his decision to play golf just days after a gunman opened fire at a Florida high school, killing 17 people.
Cooper on Monday addressed the rich asshole's flurry of tweets over the weekend, saying he is making everything about himself.
"This morning he tweeted, 'Have a great, but very reflective, President's Day!' " Cooper said on CNN.
"And then he went to play golf while they held funerals for two teenagers nearby."
Cooper said funerals will continue throughout the week for the 17 people who were killed last week when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
the rich asshole over the weekend vented his anger with the Russia investigation, accusing the FBI of missing "all of the many signals" about the alleged Florida gunman because "they are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the rich asshole campaign."
Cooper criticized the rich asshole for his outburst of tweets over the weekend, which touched on a variety of topics, saying he failed to talk about any of the people killed in the massacre.
"For anyone still waiting for the president to pivot, that's a pivot away from the murder of 17 people to himself," Cooper said.
Since the shooting, multiple lawmakers have called for Congress to take action on gun control.
Students who survived the shooting have also become vocal advocates in recent days, demanding that lawmakers act to prevent future tragedies.
On Monday, the rich asshole hit the golf course just three days after visiting people affected by the shooting.
He had avoided golf over the weekend, a decision aides said was out of respect for the people killed.
the rich asshole blames Obama over Russia election meddling
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/20/18 08:08 AM EST
President the rich asshole sought to blame former President Barack Obama over Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, sending a series of tweets on Tuesday morning that said his predecessor didn't do enough to stop Moscow.
the rich asshole said that before the election, Obama thought Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election and didn't want to "rock the boat." After Clinton lost, the president said "the whole game changed."
He also said that he has been tougher on Russia than Obama.
the rich asshole's tweets come days after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian individuals and three groups on charges related to interference with the election. The Mueller indictment offered compelling details of how the Russian operation allegedly sought to hurt Clinton and help the rich asshole in the presidential election.
The indictment provided no evidence that the Russian enterprise colluded with the rich asshole campaign or that Americans contacted by the Russians realized the alleged nature of the plot.
The president has come under criticism for not taking the allegations against Russia more seriously. the rich asshole has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has told him that Moscow did not interfere with the U.S. election.
the rich asshole's first tweet on the issue Tuesday highlighted a quotation from Obama ahead of the election. He then slammed the former president's motives.
“There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, there’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that it will happen this time, and so I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and make his case to get votes.” .....
....The President Obama quote just before election. That’s because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win and he didn’t want to “rock the boat.” When I easily won the Electoral College, the whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of the Dems.
the rich asshole hit Obama on Russia one more time later on Tuesday, tweeting, “I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!”
I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!
the rich asshole's tweets were his latest attack on Obama for what he says was a failure to adequately address concerns about Russian meddling, despite efforts by the U.S. intelligence community to investigate the plot in the months prior to the election.
the rich asshole raised the point in a tweet on Monday, questioning why Obama didn't do more to address the Russian efforts.
"Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election. So why didn’t he do something about Russian meddling?" the rich asshole tweeted.
the rich asshole, who frequently tweets while watching cable news, also gave a shoutout to "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday, thanking them for a "great timeline" on the Obama administration's failures on Russia.
Officials identified over $40M in 'suspicious' transactions to and from Manafort's companies: report
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 02/20/18 07:47 AM EST
Former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort is reportedly under scrutiny after federal law enforcement officials identified more than $40 million in "suspicious transactions" to and from companies he controlled.
The $40 million is higher than the amount included in Manafort's indictment last year on money laundering charges, BuzzFeed News reported.
According to news outlet, the $40 million in suspicious transactions were unearthed in 2014 and 2015 during an FBI effort regarding international kleptocracy.
The issue was then resurrected by special counsel Robert Mueller's team.
Last week, Mueller's team said in a court filing it learned of "additional criminal conduct" claims against Manafort, including "a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies" relating to a mortgage on Manafort's property in Fairfax, Va.
The new criminal accusations came in response to a request from Manafort to reconsider the conditions of his bail. Mueller rejected Manafort's proposed bail package in part over the new criminal conduct claims.
Investigators said they learned of the alleged fraud after the bail deal's terms were set, according to court documents. Manafort was pushing for a new bail package over his indictments for past foreign consulting work.
Lawmaker interest in NAFTA intensifies amid the rich asshole moves
BY VICKI NEEDHAM - 02/20/18 06:00 AM EST
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has never been more popular on Capitol Hill.
The three-nation trade agreement that has long come under fire from both parties is getting a rousing defense amid a push from the rich asshole administration to either renegotiate or scrap the deal altogether.
Business advocates of the 24-year-old deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico say lawmakers have become significantly more interested in the pact recently amid talks to update the deal despite President the rich asshole’s threats to withdraw from the agreement.
Groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with a growing number of lawmakers, are urging the White House to finish updating the deal and resist any urge to withdraw from the agreement.
John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the Chamber, said he was surprised during this week’s NAFTA lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill at how much lawmakers have ratcheted up their engagement in the past few months.
“It has been a sea change since last October,” Murphy said.
Murphy said that the consensus on Capitol Hill is to update the deal and avoid so-called poison pills that could doom the pact.
“They are strongly supportive of modernizing the agreement and lawmakers are pushing back against unconventional approaches that would reduce trade and push production offshore,” Murphy said.
The Chamber had about 150 business representatives who visited a mix of 280 Republican and Democratic House offices.
Last fall, the Chamber warned that several of the U.S. proposals could torpedo the entire deal and they urged the rich asshole administration to “do no harm” as negotiations continue.
The seventh round of NAFTA talks are slated to begin Feb. 25 and run through March 5 in Mexico City.
Christine Bliss, president of the Coalition of Services Industries, said she was pleased with what she heard during her visits to lawmakers’ offices recently.
“Members increasingly seem to understand that NAFTA has a positive impact on jobs and growth in their districts. It’s really resonating,” she said.
Bliss, whose group represents a broad spectrum of businesses from insurance and banking to telecommunications and logistics, said the surge of support and attention to the NAFTA deal is “a very welcome change and noticeable from where we were.”
She said the voices of support are growing louder on the Hill, helping to drown out the rich asshole’s regular calls to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement.
“We’ve been trying to drive the message home and it does seem to be getting through,” she said.
As negotiations continue, business groups insist that threatening to leave the deal is not the best approach for the rich asshole administration to reach a revised agreement.
“It’s not smart negotiating strategy. You don’t want to make that argument trading partners can use against you,” Bliss said.
The services sector, which is about 80 percent of the nation’s economy, totals $88 billion in exports to Mexico and Canada combined.
The U.S. has a $24 billion trade surplus in services with Canada and a $7.5 billion surplus with Mexico. Overall, the U.S. services sector has a $277 billion investment in Canada and Mexico that amounts to 600,000 high-paying services jobs here, Bliss noted.
Meanwhile, the U.S. maintains a $71.1 billion annual trade deficit for goods with Mexico and $17.6 billion deficit with Canada, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Lawmakers have shown a renewed interest in NAFTA in recent months.
Ahead of the rich asshole’s first State of the Union address last month, 36 Senate Republicans wrote a letter urging him to complete negotiations.
Meetings between the rich asshole, lawmakers and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer have also ramped up in recent weeks.
At a White House meeting with Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday, Lighthizer insisted that the administration was making progress on NAFTA.
“There was a lot of anxiety at one point as to whether or not we'd be in a position where we would have to withdraw in order to get a good agreement,” he acknowledged.
The nation’s top trade official built a case for bipartisan support of the agreement instead of leaving the deal. He said he hoped to gain the support of about two dozen Senate Democrats as well as a large number of Democrats in the House.
“I want it to be an agreement that the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats support,” he said.
Lighthizer argued that NAFTA has not served the United States well in all respects.
“It has served some people very well, but other people and overall it has not done a good job,” he said.
“I think we're making real headway. We have a number of issues that we still have to work our way through, but I'm hopeful that we'll be in the position — I think that's most important — to get a good deal, one that you'll find acceptable."
As the rich asshole administration has kept the specter of a withdrawal hovering over the NAFTA talks, lawmakers have turned their focus to arguing that abandoning the deal would hurt economic growth, cut into stock market gains and cost jobs.
In another recent White House meeting, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whose committee oversees trade, said lawmakers had “underscored that preserving NAFTA is vital for the millions of Americans whose jobs depend on trade in North America, and that weakening the agreement would jeopardize American economic growth.”
While Democrats and Republicans might have different ideas on how an updated NAFTA agreement would look, most are supportive of remaining in the deal.
In fact, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), chair of a House Ways and Means Committee trade subcommittee, made the trip to the sixth round of NAFTA talks held recently in Montreal, urging the U.S. to remain at the table.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Democrats would support NAFTA if it is “written in a way that supports workers, as I'm confident it will be.”
“It will be bipartisan if done right. And that's my reputation and that's what I'll continue to fight for,” Brown told the rich asshole, vowing to bring other Democrats on board.
the rich asshole administration’s latest attack on Obamacare would cost taxpayers millions
Federal government to spend up to $168 million more annually to provide less comprehensive health coverage
The rich asshole administration announced a sizable change to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Monday — winding back Obama-era rules on skimpier health insurance. The administration is proposing to expand access to short-term health plans, which is intended to fill temporary gaps in coverage and provide some consumers with cheaper options because the plan’s coverage is limited. This is just the latest move to undermine the ACA, and it’ll cost the federal government anywhere between $96 to $168 million more every year.
“We need to be opening up more affordable alternatives,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Alex Azar told reporters Monday. The plans are only cheaper because they skirt federal consumer protections. Short-term plans are often medically underwritten — meaning, consumers can be denied or charged more for their health condition. The plans do not need to cover the law’s 10 essential benefits, like maternity care, and policyholders can impose lifetime or annual limits, which cap covered benefits. The rich asshole administration would allow people to purchase these plans for up to 12 months rather than the three months under the Obama administration.
Monday’s changes will pull healthier people out of the ACA marketplaces, and increase premiums for those who stay, according to the rich asshole administration. HHS officials anticipate anywhere between 100,000 to 200,000 people would leave ACA-compliant plans for short-term health plans, but many experts believe this is a conservative estimate.
These short-term policies were growing prior to the Obama administration’s efforts in 2016 to limit them. The number of people in short-term plans grew from 144,000 individuals in 2015 to 160,000 in 2016, according to a recent National Association of Insurance Commissioners report. This growing enrollment occurred when everyone was required to have ACA-compliant plans and when they weren’t as pricey, said Avalere Health’s Chris Sloan. Now, short-term plans will become even more attractive with recent changes to the ACA: Republicans in Congress repealed the individual mandate starting in 2019, so people will no longer need to pay a penalty if they decide to purchase short-term health plans. And ACA-compliant plans continue to become increasingly expensive for people who don’t receive federal assistance.
Monday’s changes create an insurance market parallel to the ACA — one for healthy people who make too much to qualify for tax credits, so they exit the ACA marketplaces. Reacting to an increasingly sicker ACA marketplace, insurance companies will then increase premiums. For those who make less than 400 percent of the poverty level, these spikes effectively don’t matter. The federal government will pick up the tab for these people, and this will cost taxpayers $96 to $168 million more every year — a figure based on a conservative estimate of the number of people who will flee.
Premium increases will hurt those who make too much to qualify for premium tax credits and have pre-existing medical conditions that prohibit them from purchasing short-term plans. For these people, the rich asshole’s promise to provide Obamacare relief falls short.
ACA marketplaces will be indicative of where consumers live. States can safeguard their markets by regulating these short-term health plans; some states have already limited the length and renewals of short-term health plans.
Massachusetts has its own state-wide individual mandate in place and presumably short-term health plans don’t comply with the state law. (ThinkProgress reached out to the Massachusetts health department for clarification but did not immediately heard back.) Maryland is also trying to create its own state-wide individual mandate, and short-term health plans do not qualify as having health insurance. “We are working on friendly amendments to make sure that [short-term health plans are] incorporated into the final bill, as that will make it stronger in terms of stabilizing our insurance market and protecting consumers from getting weak plans that don’t meet their needs,” Suzanne Schlattman, of Maryland Health Care for All Coalition, an advocacy group working alongside lawmakers to advance Maryland’s mandate efforts.
the rich asshole falsifies woman’s account of sexual assault, then claims it proves his innocence
"Who would do this in a public space with live security cameras running."
On Tuesday morning, President the rich asshole reacted to a Washington Post feature story about Rachel Crooks — one of the at least 14 women who have accused him of sexual assault — by claiming he’s never even met Crooks.
the rich asshole, who has been recorded bragging about assaulting women, said that he can’t imagine anyone being so reckless as to commit sexual assault in the lobby of the rich asshole Tower in the first place.
....cameras running. Another False Accusation. Why doesn’t @washingtonpost report the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me? One had her home mortgage paid off. Only @FoxNews so reported...doesn’t fit the Mainstream Media narrative.
There’s a big problem with the rich asshole’s denial, however — the president isn’t accurately describing what Crooks accuses him of doing while she worked for an investment firm in the rich asshole Tower called Bayrock in 2006.
Crooks does not accuse the rich asshole of forcing himself upon her in the lobby of the rich asshole Tower. Instead, as the Post story makes clear, Crooks says the rich asshole forcibly kissed her early one morning while the two of them waited for an elevator in a quiet area on the 24th floor of the building outside Bayrock’s office, where the rich asshole sometimes dropped by to discuss his business partnerships with the firm.
From the Post’s piece:
It was early in the morning, and the office was mostly empty. She walked toward the rich asshole, who she remembers was standing by himself in the small waiting area near the elevators. She held out her hand, intent on introducing herself not as a fan or as a secretary but as a business partner.“some rich asshole, I wanted to say hi, since our companies do a little work together,” she remembered telling him that day, and then, before she understood what was happening, she remembered the rich asshole becoming the second man ever to kiss her.
According to the Post, Crooks says that after she introduced herself to the rich asshole, he “took hold of my hand and held me in place.”
“He started kissing me on one cheek, then the other cheek,” she said. “He was talking to me in between kisses, asking where I was from, or if I wanted to be a model. He wouldn’t let go of my hand, and then he went right in and started kissing me on the lips.”
“It felt like a long kiss,” Crooks added. “The whole thing probably lasted two minutes, maybe less.”
the rich asshole’s suggestion that security footage would exonerate him is especially disingenuous, given that Crooks has publicly asked the rich asshole to release the security footage from the 24th floor on the day she says the rich asshole assaulted her. the rich asshole has ignored her request.
Crooks’ account of the rich asshole forcibly kissing her — an account similar to those of other women who have accused the rich asshole of assault — is also corroborated by emails she sent in the immediate aftermath of the incident. From the Post:
Maybe the proof was the email she had sent to her mother, from the Bayrock office in New York, at 1:27 that afternoon in 2006: “Hey Ma, my day started off rough…had a weird incident with some rich asshole.”Or the email she sent a few hours later to her sister at 3:05 p.m.: “I must just appear to be some dumb girl that he can take advantage of…ugh!”Or the email she sent a few days after that to another relative: “Ah yes, the Donald kiss…very creepy man, let me tell you!”
The White House’s official position is that each of the 19 women who have accused the rich asshole of assault is lying.
While the rich asshole now wonders why anybody would assault a woman in a public place where cameras might be present, the alleged incident with Cooks happened just months after he was caught on tape bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent. On the so-called Access Hollywood tape, which was recorded in the NBC Studios parking lot in September 2005, the rich asshole can be heard saying, “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p***y. You can do anything.”
The recording of the rich asshole making those remarks was published by the Washington Post on October 7, 2016 — days before the New York Times first published Crooks’ account of her alleged assault by the rich asshole.
the rich asshole’s denial of the Crooks allegations comes days after the White House issued an odd non-denial in response to an in-depth New Yorker piece about a consensual affair between the rich asshole and Playboy model Karen McDougal that McDougal says began in June 2006. And the New Yorker’s piece about McDougal — who was reportedly paid $150,000 by a the rich asshole ally to hush up her story — came on the heels of Michael Cohen, the rich asshole’s personal attorney, admitting that he paid $130,000 to adult film star Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels allegedly had an affair with the rich asshole that also began in 2006.
Crooks is currently running for a seat in the state legislature in her native state of Ohio.
Border agents detain immigrant dairy worker leaving the dentist on claim he was ‘very suspicious’
Cordova Herrera is now being held on a $14,000 bail.
Earlier this month, border agents detained Jose Luis Cordova Herrera — a 40-year-old undocumented immigrant dairy worker originally from Mexico — shortly after he came out of the dentist’s office in Vermont, the advocacy group Migrant Justice said.
According to the advocacy group, a coworker drove Cordova Herrera to the dentist in Richford on February 8 for an appointment. When he left the health care facility, the group said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents were in the parking lot waiting for them. The pair drove for eight miles before being pulled over and arrested. Along with Cordova Herrera, his driver — a grandmother and legal permanent resident — was also detained for “four hours, searched, interrogated, threatened, and released,” Migrant Justice said.
Cordova Herrera is now being held at the Strafford County detention center on a $14,000 bail and may be at risk of deportation. The advocacy group also criticized the agency for waiting in the parking lot of a health care facility, reneging on the Department of Homeland Security’s guidance to avoid “sensitive locations” like hospitals, schools, and places of worship so as not to disrupt the daily activities of those areas.
Countering Migrant Justice’s claim, the CBP agency told ThinkProgress that border agents had been conducting routine patrol operations in East Bershire, about four miles south from Richford, and did not go after Cordova Herrera “in the vicinity of any businesses or health care facilities.”
“A vehicle drove by the marked Border Patrol unit and the activities of the occupants were very suspicious,” a CBP spokesperson said. “This behavior, as well as other contributing factors, resulted in the agent conducting a vehicle stop in order to determine the immigration status of the occupants.”
“The male passenger, from Mexico, was determined to be illegally in the United States and was taken into custody,” the CBP spokesperson added. “After processing the case, the subject was turned over to Enforcement Removal Operations.”
Enforcement Removal Operations refers to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency division that handles arrests and deportations. The CBP agency did not give a reason for what was suspicious about this particular encounter with Cordova Herrera and his driver. But Migrant Justice’s Will Lambek told ThinkProgress that it was a “boilerplate excuse” from the agency to “try and hide the true ways in which they operate to terrorize immigrant communities in Vermont and around the country.”
“They made claims about… people acting suspicious in past arrests,” Lambek added, explaining that in a previous arrest, one of the claims that the CBP agency made against someone had been that the individual walked with a backpack, which “gave them reasonable suspicion” that the person had just crossed the border.
As a husband and father of three children, Cordova Herrera came to Vermont to send money back to Mexico to pay for his kids’ school fees, advocates said in a press release. He has been in the country for two years, Lambek said. Cordova Herrera worked on three dairy farms around the state and worked to milk cows and shovel manure to support his family’s medical and daily needs.
Last year, the federal agency deported his brother and nephew. Migrant Justice previously said that a similar arrest took place in 2011 when border agents waited outside the same dentist office for another undocumented immigrant and later pulled him over for “suspicious activity.”
Advocates with Migrant Justice will hold a rally for Cordova Herrera on Tuesday afternoon.
Advocates believe that the detention of undocumented dairy workers like Cordova Herrera has been part of a bigger crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the country following President some rich asshole’s approval of harsher immigration enforcement tactics. Promising to “take the shackles off” federal agents, the rich asshole’s immigration policies to detain any undocumented immigrants regardless of their positive equities have led to the detention of 37,734 undocumented “noncriminal” immigrants by the ICE agency in the 2017 fiscal year.
As a northern border state, Vermont’s immigration enforcement activities generally come from the CBP agency, which has the authority to question people about their immigration status within 100 miles from the border. Cordova Herrera’s detention also shines a light on nationwide dairy industry operations. An estimated 51 percent of the country’s dairy industry is reliant on immigrant labor, according to a 2015 Texas A&M University study. That same report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federation found that losing these workers would cost the U.S. economy more than $32 billion.
Within Vermont, dairy farms are reliant on the labor produced by the 1,000 to 1,500 undocumented dairy workers like Cordova Herrera to shovel manure and milk cows for 60 to 70-hour a week shifts. After the rich asshole became president, agriculture officials in the state were so concerned about a labor shortage because of the prospects of mass deportation that they discussed emergency workforce proposals to replace workers. According to reporting by Associated Press at the time, those plans included training inmates or hiring temporary workers or foreign workers in the country on a seasonal visa program.
some rich asshole Jr. embraces smear campaign against students who survived Parkland massacre
He has reportedly been advising his father on gun policy since the shooting.
some rich asshole Jr. expressed his approval on Tuesday morning for a far-right smear campaign against students who survived last week’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Since the shooting, which killed 17 people at their school, the students have become outspoken advocates for gun control and fierce critics of the NRA.
On his Twitter account, the rich asshole Jr. “liked” a story suggesting one of the surviving students, David Hogg, is “running cover” for the FBI. The tweet endorsed by the rich asshole Jr. is inaccurate. It claims that Hogg’s father “works as an FBI agent at the Miami field office” when in fact Hogg’s father is retired.
The underlying article liked by the rich asshole Jr. is a cesspool of conspiracy theories, concluding that Hogg’s advocacy is an FBI plot “only looking to curb YOUR Constitutional rights and INCREASE their power. We’ve seen similar moves by them many times over. This is just another disgusting example of it.”
the rich asshole Jr. also liked a similar article on TruePundit.com. “The kid who has been running his mouth about how some rich asshole and the GOP are teaming to help murder high school kids by upholding the Second Amendment is the son of an FBI agent,” states the article, which does not have a byline.
According to the Daily Beast, the rich asshole Jr. has been in touch with his father “repeatedly” since the massacre. He “has been assuring his dad that the right move was to stay strong on gun rights and draw a hard line on the issue that helped propel him in the 2016 election.” According to sources who spoke with the Daily Beast, the rich asshole Jr. “reminded his father that inching toward gun control would be immediately taken by his conservative base—as well as major donors and motivated activist networks, including the National Rifle Association—as an unforgivable betrayal.”
Although the rich asshole Jr. has promised to focus on running the rich asshole Organization and to stay out of policy matters, he has recently emerged as a high-profile surrogate for the White House, appearing frequently on cable news. He’s currently in India, where he will deliver a foreign policy address at the same event as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sell luxury condos.
the rich asshole Jr. is part of a gradual mainstreaming of attacks on the students that started on far-right websites.
Former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) appeared on CNN this morning and attacked the students as stooges of George Soros. Two of the students appeared on the network shortly afterward, calling Kingston’s attacks “very despicable” and promising his trolling would not slow down their advocacy.
the rich asshole Dating site featured man with child sex conviction
Barrett Riddleberger downplayed the revelation by saying he had "already paid" his debt to society.
A man previously featured on the home page of a dating site geared toward supporters of President the rich asshole has a 1995 child sex conviction on his record, a report by WRAL found this weekend.
Barrett Riddleberger was convicted of indecent liberties with a minor in 1995, after videotaping himself having sex with a 15-year-old when he was 25. The Greensboro News & Record first reported the conviction in 2014. According to Raleigh, North Carolina NBC-affiliate WRAL, Riddleberger has no serious charges on his record since then.
Riddleberger and his wife Jodi, the co-founder of a Tea Party-inspired PAC called Conservatives for Guilford County, were featured on the rich asshole.Dating homepage when it launched earlier in February. The smiling couple, wearing “Make America Great Again” baseball caps, have since been replaced.
When confronted about the child sex conviction over the weekend, Riddleberger told WRAL that he had “already paid [his] debt for something [he] did 25 years ago,” although the Associated Press later reported that he had never served prison time for that conviction.
the rich asshole.dating charges users $24.99 a month to maintain a membership; language previously featured on the site included phrases like “deport liberals from your love life” and “find the America First partner of your dreams,” according to Newsmax. It previously allowed new users to identify themselves as either “happily married” or “unhappily married” when establishing a new profile. Users are only given two options when identifying themselves: “straight man” or “straight woman.”
In a text message to WRAL reporters this weekend, Barrett Riddleberger said the marital status language was a “mistake” and was being corrected “by a programmer.”
the rich asshole.dating’s founder, Sean McGrossier, who was only identified in a press release published by The Daily Caller on February 5, has not addressed the controversy, and efforts to track him down were unsuccessful.
Republicans have spent the better part of the past few months wrestling with allegations of child molestation against various figures, including Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore. Moore has been accused of sexual predation by at least nine women, the youngest of whom was 14 when she claims Moore initiated sexual contact with her. Despite the accusations, the Republican National Committee at the time refused to withdraw its support from Moore’s Senate bid, funneling two contributions totaling $170,000 to the Alabama Republican Party on December 5, days before the special election. Moore eventually lost to now-Sen. Doug Jones (AL), a Democrat.
On Monday, the Providence Journal reported that Rhode Island state Sen. Nicholas Kettle, the senate minority whip, had been charged with extorting sex from a teenaged State House page in 2011. According to a newly unsealed grand jury indictment, Kettle allegedly threatened to injure the page or damage his reputation if he didn’t comply.
the rich asshole himself has been accused of several instances of marital infidelity and sexual predation by multiple women, all charges which he has denied.
A Republican candidate tried to defend his post-Parkland shooting AR-15 giveaway. It didn’t go well.
"Look, we're not giving the gun away person-to-person."
Appearing on CNN on Tuesday morning, Kansas Republican congressional candidate Tyler Tannahill (R) tried to defend his plan to hold an AR-15 giveaway on the heels of yet another deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Florida — a shooting perpetrated by a gunman who legally obtained an AR-15. Tannahill’s defense did not go well.
Although Tannahill has vowed that whoever wins the raffle will have to pass a background check, that won’t do much good if the winner decides to give the gun to someone else. As host Chris Cuomo pointed out, Kansas does not require background checks for person-to-person transfers, meaning there’d be nothing stopping the winner from giving the semi-automatic rifle away to a person who shouldn’t have it.
Cuomo pressed that point, telling Tannahill, “look at your own state — Kansas. You’re gonna give away this weapon, you say, ‘well the person has to meet the federal background checks.’ Irrelevant. In your state, they don’t have checks for person-to-person sales and you know this. So God forbid someone who wins this AR-15 winds up transferring it to somebody else who is mentally unstable and they don’t know, and they go out and use it. How would you feel then?”
Tannahill didn’t answer Cuomo’s question, but instead tried to frame his giveaway as just part of an effort to stimulate a constructive discussion about guns.
“Chris, I’m here to have this discussion. Do we need to look into that? Let’s put it on the table,” he said.
But Cuomo pushed back.
“You want to talk about a solution while you’re also exhibiting the problem,” he said. “If you were going to give away a weapon in a state where you don’t have to have a background check on a person-to-person transfer, how do you know where that weapon is going to wind up? You don’t. Am I wrong?”
Tannahill again tried to dodge.
“Look, we’re not giving the gun away person-to-person,” Tannahill said. “That individual has to go to the gun store and pass all legal background checks.”
Pressed again, Tannahill conceded.
“Look, Chris, you’re just trying to make a point, and your point is that — okay fine, that’s not helping us get to the solution. We need to protect our students, we need to protect our teachers,” he said.
Concerns about person-to-person transfers aside, the Parkland shooting illustrates how even background checks aren’t necessarily enough to stop dangerous people from obtaining AR-15s.
The shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday, Nikolas Cruz, obtained his AR-15 legally in February 2017 after passing an instant background check. He had no criminal record.
Former Congressman joins smear campaign against students who survived Parkland massacre
He made the claims live on CNN.
Former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) has joined a growing far-right smear campaign against the students who survived last week’s massacre in a Parkland, Florida high school.
Since the shooting, which killed 17 people, the students have become outspoken advocates for gun control to prevent future acts of violence.
Kingston attacked the students as mere stooges for “left-wing groups who have an agenda” during an appearance on CNN Tuesday morning. Kingston added he believed George Soros was actually orchestrating the students’ activism.
Kingston’s claims were met with disbelief by Alisyn Camerota. “Jack, I’m sorry. I have to correct you. I was down there. I talked to these kids. These kids were wildly motivated,” Camerota said.
Kingston made similar claims on Twitter, suggesting the survivors were being manipulated by Soros, Antifa, and the DNC.
O really? “Students” are planning a nationwide rally? Not left wing gun control activists using 17yr kids in the wake of a horrible tragedy? #Soros #Resistance #Antifa #DNC usatoday.com/story/news/201…
Kingston’s comments follow multiple articles smearing the students on Gateway Pundit, a the rich asshole-supporting website that has White House press credentials. Gateway Pundit has attacked one of the students, David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, because his father is a retired FBI agent. One article suggests that “Hogg’s father, who does not even work for the FBI, has tasked his son with talking about gun control to take the heat off the agency.”
Why would the child of an FBI agent be used as a pawn for anti-the rich asshole rhetoric and anti-gun legislation? Because the FBI is only looking to curb YOUR Constitutional rights and INCREASE their power. We’ve seen similar moves by them many times over. This is just another disgusting example of it.
A separate article on Gateway Pundit, entitled “Student School Massacre Survivors and CBS Reporter Party Like Rock Stars,” attacks Hogg and other students for smiling in a photograph.
Gateway Pundit’s “reporting” has been picked up by One America News Network, another the rich asshole-supporting outlet that has been credentialed by the White House.
#RT @GrahamLedger: Could it be that this student is running cover for his dad who Works as an FBI agent at the Miami field office Which botched tracking down the Man behind the Valentine day massacre? Just wondering. Just connecting some dots… thegatewaypundit.com/2018/02/expose…
Later in Tuesday’s CNN broadcast, two Parkland survivors, Brendan Azbug and Delany Tarr, responded to the allegations they were being coached.
Azbug called the claims “very despicable” and said Kingston should apologize. Tarr said she would not let the “hating and trolling” get in the way of her activism.
CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect that Kingston is a former Congressman.
The far-right smear campaign against students who survived the Parkland massacre
They are being targeted because they don't want more of their classmates to die.
Students who survived the gun massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have emerged as powerful advocates of gun control and fierce critics of the NRA. Now they are being targeted by a right-wing smear campaign.
David Hogg, a senior at the school, was one of the first to appear on national television and demand action. “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together. Come over your politics and get something done,” Hogg said, looking directly into the camera.
Hogg is now being targeted by Gateway Pundit, a far-right blog that has press credentials from the rich asshole White House. A post published on Monday by the site’s White House correspondent, Lucian Wintrich, features Hogg’s photo with the word “EXPOSED” stamped in red.
Wintrich says Hogg and other students throw up some “red flags.” The first “red flag” is that Hogg’s father is a retired FBI agent. (Hogg freely admitted this on national television.) The insinuation is that Hogg’s father, who does not even work for the FBI, has tasked his son with talking about gun control to take the heat off the agency.
Wintrich also uses an edited YouTube video of Hogg having some difficulty answering questions for a taped interview as evidence that Hogg is “heavily coached on lines and is merely reciting a script.” There is no evidence, in the video or elsewhere in the article, supporting this claim.
Wintrich then drops all pretenses and fully embraces the conspiracy:
Why would the child of an FBI agent be used as a pawn for anti-the rich asshole rhetoric and anti-gun legislation? Because the FBI is only looking to curb YOUR Constitutional rights and INCREASE their power. We’ve seen similar moves by them many times over. This is just another disgusting example of it.
The Gateway Pundit story is spreading quickly on Facebook and has already been picked up by One American News Network, another right-wing outlet with White House media credentials.
#RT @GrahamLedger: Could it be that this student is running cover for his dad who Works as an FBI agent at the Miami field office Which botched tracking down the Man behind the Valentine day massacre? Just wondering. Just connecting some dots… thegatewaypundit.com/2018/02/expose…
Jim Hoft, the editor of Gateway Pundit, appeared on OANN on Monday to promote the story.
The article is also being promoted by Bradley Blakeman, a member of the George W. Bush administration, lobbyist and frequent television pundit.
This kid is a shill. He bragged about the number of interviews he is doing and is playing to the camera like he... fb.me/7kpJ8AMDG
Gateway Pundit is not limiting its criticism to Hogg. A separate article, authored by Kristinn Taylor, attacks Hogg and fellow students Delaney Tarr, Cameron Kasky and Emma González. The entire article attacks these students for smiling in a photo.
The article is entitled “Student School Massacre Survivors and CBS Reporter Party Like Rock Stars.” But there is no evidence of any partying. Rather, at one point, the group, which was being interviewed for CBS’ morning show, smiled for a photo.
Taylor says this photo shows them “laughing uproariously and posing for the photos like they are partying rock stars.” She also describes the photos as “promo stills for Glee: The High School Massacre.”
The article parrots a popular post on r/The_Donald, a Reddit forum for the rich asshole supporters.
The attacks on Hogg and other students are also extremely widespread on Gab, a social network that caters to white nationalists and other extremists groups.
The question now is whether these attacks, as they often do, spread beyond Gateway Pundit and OANN to more mainstream conservative outlets.
UPDATE: Hogg responds to the smear campaign in comments to BuzzFeed News:
I just think it’s a testament to the sick immaturity and broken state of our government when these people feel the need to pedal conspiracy theories about people that were in a school shooting where 17 people died and it just makes me sick. It’s immature, rude, and inhuman for these people to destroy the people trying to prevent the death of the future of America because they won’t.
the rich asshole urges Republicans to preserve Pennsylvania gerrymandering that was ruled unconstitutional
The president hopes a federal court will restore a congressional map that was struck down by Pennsylvania's top court.
On Tuesday morning, President the rich asshole urged Pennsylvania Republicans to challenge a new map of the state’s congressional districts issued by the state supreme court after justices determined the previous map drawn by Republican lawmakers was unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
“Hope Republicans in the Great State of Pennsylvania challenge the new ‘pushed’ Congressional Map, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary,” the rich asshole tweeted. “Your Original was correct! Don’t let the Dems take elections away from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money!”
It’s ironic that the rich asshole would accuse Pennsylvania’s Democratic lawmakers of trying to rig elections, given that the need for a new map was created by one of the most egregious Republican gerrymanders in the country.
While the president might think the original Republican-drawn map was “correct,” the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected it earlier this month because justices ruled that it “clearly, plainly and palpably” violated the state constitution. The 2011 map gave Republicans firm control of 13 of the state’s 18 congressional districts, despite the fact that Republican candidates receive about half the vote.
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court has replaced Republicans' 2011 gerrymander with a "fairer,""much more competitive" district map. washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…
The state supreme court gave the legislature a February 15 deadline to come up with new, fairer maps. After Gov. Tom Wolf (D) rejected a second Republican attempt at a congressional map that was just as gerrymandered as the first, that deadline passed — leading the court to step in. On Monday, the state supreme court responded with a new map that should make the state more competitive.
Republicans have already signaled they’ll appeal the new map to federal court.
Woman Left ‘Feeling Scared’ After the rich asshole-Loving Ohio Cab Driver ‘Had His Penis Out’ On Dead End Street
Cab driver Jack Bolin of Ohio wants you to “give the rich asshole a chance,” but he managed to scare the bejeezus out of a woman after demanding that she also give his penis a chance, according to a Facebook post warning other women not to call a cab if he might be driving it.
Vanessa Heslop writes as a warning to women who might consider using one of the few taxi companies in the area, BMG Cab Services that Bolin drove her to the end of a dead end street over her objections because he had to “pee.” According to the Facebook post, Bolin got back into the cab after apparently relieving himself and “he literally STILL had his penis out, pants down past his butt.” It just got worse from there:
And when I realized that, I turned my head quickly freaking OUT and before I could even get anything out my mouth, he asked me if I’d “like to see it HARD.” and if I had “dick recently” I said NO, I don’t want to see it, please just get me out this dead end road & just drop me off. And then I called my friend to be on the phone with me cause I was freaked out and couldn’t believe this man just did that.
Heslop says she contacted Bolin’s employer only to be told that he denied it happened and there was nothing he could do. According to a man she identifies as “Brian” at BMG, they simply rent out the cabs and are not responsible for the actions of the drivers. She says that the owner called Jack a “decent dude” and accused her of lying about the situation.
“AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WOMEN ARE SCARED TO EVEN COME FORWARD WHEN THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN TO THEM,” Heslop said, channeling the collective anger of women across the country. “They get told ‘oh, I don’t think he would do something like that” or What I got from Bryan at BMG …’I’ll ask him but if he says he didn’t then I can’t do anything’ LIKE OF COURSE HE WONT TELL YOU HE DID it!” She accompanied her post with a “feeling scared” Facebook “How are you feeling” message.
Bolin, who is married to the heavily-memed-back-in-the-day rampaging mall cop and denies that the Sandy Hook massacre happened, certainly seems like a “decent dude” based on a stroll through his the rich asshole and Breitbart-laden Facebook profile:
And he certainly looks like someone you can trust to know what the truth is:
This is a message Bolin sent someone last year after someone disagreed with his wife over politics:
Heslop says she is meeting with police soon to file a statement and that things “got weirder at the end of the ride” but declined to mention exactly how her trip ended on social media. “I’m just going to write it all in the statement and pray he’s handled accordingly,” she writes.
After Heslop’s post began to spread, another woman spoke out about Mr. Bolin’s actions after a friend sent it to her via private message. She reposted, adding that she is appalled that he is “still working for the company after happening to me and this girl and god knows how many others that haven’t spoke up.”
Addicting Info contacted Carr, and she tells us that her experience was similar, but also uniquely creepy:
A few months back I took a cab home and almost the same thing happened to me as this girl except the guy dropped me off and walked into my home and asked to use the restroom didn’t knock walked in..I was drinking so didn’t think much of it cause I had offered my bathroom in the cab ride because the guy said he had to pee..Anyway I pointed him to my bathroom I was at table eating pizza..He Came out of my bathroom with his pants completely down exposing himself.Police told me since he didnt physically touch me, there’s probably not much they could do.
A third woman says that she and her boyfriend left their bags in Bolin’s cab while they were in the store and later found that her underwear was missing from her bag. Heslop later said in an update that “several” more have contacted her privately to share their experiences with him.
Bolin’s wife posted on social media that Heslop and others who have spoken out are “fantasizing about sex and violence for their own selfish reasons” and that “the speaker sounds more preachy for politics than she sounds distressed.”
“It’s a smear campaign,” Mall Cop says. “Liberal lunacy at its finest.”
We contacted BMG Cab Services, but an employee was unable to confirm whether or not Mr. Bolin has been suspended or fired following the incident. The employee confirms they are aware of it, however. We have also reached out to Mr. Bolin, but have not heard anything back — though we’d probably just get a lecture on “sand n*ggers.”
Mueller-charged lawyer Alex Van der Zwaan has a curious link to the Steele dossier — and that’s not all
Alex Van der Zwaan (Skadden)
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A London-based attorney has been charged with lying to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators — and this latest development may be more important than it appears at first glance.
Alex Van der Zwaan, the Russian-speaking son-in-law of a Kremlin-linked oligarch, was charged Friday with lying to investigators about conversations related to his trial preparation work for Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko.
The attorney was accused of lying about his last contact with former the rich asshole campaign associate Rick Gates and another unnamed person, and with destroying emails about the unnamed person in September 2016.
A Tuesday afternoon plea hearing was scheduled for Van der Zwaan.
Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the unnamed “Person A” in this court filing is Paul Manafort — the longtime business associate of Gates, who has also reportedly agreed to plead guilty in the Mueller probe.
Manafort, who served as President some rich asshole’s campaign chairman, has been charged with money laundering and a variety of other crimes in the special counsel investigation, but he had been suspected of financial crimes dating back to 2014.
Van der Zwaan’s LinkedIn page lists him as an associate in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom, where Manafort’s daughter Andrea Manafort Shand previously worked as an attorney.
Court documents show Van der Zwaan said he last spoke with Person A in 2014, when they discussed the unnamed person’s family, but investigators say the attorney recorded a phone call between the pair in September 2016 about legal work for Tymoshenko.
Van der Zwaan was accused of secretly recording that call and destroying a follow-up email that same month.
He was also accused of lying to FBI and special counsel investigators about his last conversation with Gates, in mid-August 2016.
Van der Zwaan’s father-in-law German Khan is a co-founder of Alfa Bank, which fell under FBI investigation for attempting repeatedly to link up to a computer server in the rich asshole Tower during the presidential campaign.
FBI investigators concluded the rich asshole Organization server appeared to be controlled by the marketing firm Cendyn, which was blasting out emails promoting the rich asshole-branded hotel properties.
Khan and Alfa Bank showed up repeatedly in the dossier produced by former British spy Christopher Steele, who misspelled the bank as “Alpha Bank.”
The billionaire Khan, who showed up in a recent list of Russian oligarchs with ties to Vladimir Putin, has sued Steele for libel
‘Fire this ammosexual’: Viewers demand CNN boot Jack Kingston after he calls Parkland students left-wing stooges
Jack Kingston on CNN
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CNN viewers on Tuesday demanded that the network fire conservative contributor Jack Kingston after he suggested that students who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida were being organized by liberal activists.
During an interview on CNN, Kingston asserted that students organizing for gun safety laws were being “hijacked by left-wing groups that have an agenda.”
“I would say to you very plainly that organized groups that are out there like George Soros are always ready to take up the charge, and it’s kind of like instant rally, instant protest and those groups are ready to take it — take it to the streets,” he added.
The remarks outraged CNN viewers, who wondered why Kingston was given a platform to speak on CNN. Some viewers called on the network to terminate the former Republican congressman.
Read some of the tweets below.
Hey @CNN do the world a favor and drop that idiot @JackKingston. I get you want to present both sides, but just like that wingnut @realJeffreyLord he’s got to go. #TheResistance
Hey @CNN we are all tired of the idiotic opinions, non fact statement making by @JackKingston . It's time for the Jeffrey Lord action
Jack Kingston needs to be put in the same category as Jeffrey Lord. Both are gratuitous sycophants with zero moral compass and brain power whatsoever. This, my friends, is what lacking critical thinking skills and embracing stupid conspiracies looks like. #NoLegToStandOn
#JackKingstonIsAPsychopath Why do you give this Donkey airtime @cnn he is the new Jeffrey Lord
Jack Kingston is the present day Jeffrey Lord. Who is Jeffrey Lord? Hopefully we’ll be asking the same thing about @JackKingston next year.
At Jack Kingston. What's Satan giving these days for a soul? Your disgusting. @CNN fire this ammo sexual. #Parkland #MarchForOurLives #ImWithTheKids
Jack Kingston must go! @CNN
Jack Kingston must go! @CNN
CNN’s Chris Cuomo shames GOP candidate for giving away AR-15: ‘A slap in the face’ to shooting victims
CNN's Chris Cuomo interviews Republican congressional candidate Tyler Tannahill (Screen cap).
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CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday shamed Tyler Tannahill, a Republican congressional candidate in Kansas who is giving away an AR-15 rifle as a promotion to support his campaign.
Although Tannahill insisted that the winner of his campaign’s contest would have to pick up their gun through a licensed dealer — and thus undergo proper background check procedures before being allowed to have it — Cuomo nonetheless grilled him on whether it was appropriate for him to give away an AR-15 in the wake of a mass shooting where 17 people died at the hands of a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle.
“God forbid you knew somebody who was in that school and then, right on the heels of it, when you’re trying to get your mind around this madness, there’s a guy giving away the same damn weapon that took your loved one’s life,” Cuomo said to him. “Do you think that’s a constructive step forward… or a slap in the face and somebody just shaming you with what you just had to live through?”
Tannahill ignored Cuomo’s question and said simply that he wanted to have a constructive conversation about ways to prevent future school shootings, including training teachers to use guns to take down shooters.
In fact, Tannahill said that all options should be on the table except for banning the guns themselves.
“Moving forward, the solution isn’t to take away the AR-15,” he said. “The gun isn’t the issue. We have a deeper issue we have to deal with in this society.”
Later in the interview, Cuomo pointed out that school shooter Nikolas Cruz had purchased his gun legally and had passed a background check — and he said that Tannahill’s gun giveaway could similarly arm another future mass shooter by giving him a free weapon.
“God forbid, someone who wins this gun goes out and gives the gun to someone unstable,” he said. “You’re giving away a gun in a state with private transfers.”
Watch the video below.
Mueller charges lawyer for lying about conversations with ex-the rich asshole aide Rick Gates
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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Special Counsel Robert Mueller has charged lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan with making false statement to federal investigators.
According to an charging documents filed in federal court, Van Der Zwaan lied about a conversation he had with former the rich asshole campaign staffer Rick Gates.
Gates is reportedly cooperating with Mueller’s Russia investigation.
In a report last year, The Kyiv Post described Zwaan as “the Russian-speaking son-in-law of Russian oligarch German Khan.”
Khan was included in a State Department list of oligarchs that have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some rich asshole Jr. pushed his asshole dad to keep AR-15s legal while they both watched Parkland teen survivors speaking out on TV, because the money of the NRA is more important than the lives of children
President some rich asshole and some rich asshole, Jr (Twitter)
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President some rich asshole’s son, some rich asshole Jr., urged his dad not to cave in to calls for gun control as both men watched teens who survived the shooting in Parkland, Florida call for action on TV news programs.
The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that the rich asshole Jr. “has been assuring his dad that the right move was to stay strong on gun rights and draw a hard line on the issue that helped propel him in the 2016 election.”
According to the report, the rich asshole Jr. insisted that his dad refuse to revive any version of the assault weapons ban, which would have prevented the sale of the type of gun used at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Daily Beast noted that the discussion came as the rich asshole and his son watched students who survived the shooting call for gun control on TV.
According to three sources with knowledge of their conversations, the president and the rich asshole Jr. repeatedly discussed gun control over the long Presidents’ Day weekend, often as they both closely watched a TV airing footage in real-time of young Parkland students savaging the president for his inaction.When polled on his opinions on the matter, the first son emphatically replied that the president must not waver on his pro-gun stance, whatever the impassioned calls for reform. the rich asshole Jr., according to these sources, reminded his father that inching toward gun control would be immediately taken by his conservative base—as well as major donors and motivated activist networks, including the National Rifle Association—as an unforgivable betrayal.
WATCH: Parkland shooting survivors crush ‘despicable’ the rich asshole supporter who called them George Soros puppets
Parkland, Florida resident Brandon Abzug talks with CNN's Alisyn Camerota (Screen cap).
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A student who survived last week’s horrific shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hammered the rich asshole supporter Jack Kingston for saying that young people promoting stronger gun laws were being manipulated by liberal billionaire George Soros.
In response to former Republican Jack Kingston’s claim that he and his fellow students who are organizing anti-gun rallies were being used as pawns by Soros, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Brandon Abzug didn’t mince words.
“I think it’s very despicable that he would have the audacity to say that,” he said. “Young people across this country and the world should feel they have the power to make things right, and especially in the wake of a tragedy, we show who we truly are. To say that just because we’re young, we can’t make a difference, is not right. He should apologize.”
Fellow Stoneman Douglas shooting survivor Delaney Tarr similarly said that she hears from adults that teenagers pushing for tougher gun laws simply don’t know what they’re talking about — but she said young activists have to brush it aside and concentrate on changing the system.
“With any movement, there comes this amount of hating and trolling and people saying, ‘You’re just a little kid, you don’t know what you’re talking about,’ or ‘You’re a puppet,'” she said. “Ultimately we have to move past all that. The amount of support we’re getting is so overwhelming compared to everything else.”
Watch the video below.
Watch: CNN’s Alisyn Camerota calls BS on Jack Kingston’s claim that Parkland teens are left-wing pawns
Alisyn Camerota and Jack Kingston (Photo: Screen capture)
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Former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) was brutally smacked down on CNN Tuesday after claiming that the teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were coerced by the left-wing crusade against guns.
In wake of mass shootings, the far-right argues for “thoughts and prayers” and time to “heal” before having the debate over guns. However, survivors of the mass shooting in Florida have prompted a movement from youth fearful for their safety. The only way the right has tried to combat the mobilization is by discrediting those teens.
Such was the case when Fox News fans and Rush Limbaugh went after the teens late last week. Tuesday, CNN’s Alisyn Camerota held Kingston’s feet to the fire for a tweet alleging liberal funder George Soros and anti-fascist protesters are the real organizers behind the movement and using the teens as props.
O really? “Students” are planning a nationwide rally? Not left wing gun control activists using 17yr kids in the wake of a horrible tragedy? #Soros #Resistance #Antifa #DNC usatoday.com/story/news/201…
Kingston argued that grieving teens aren’t capable of this kind of action, but former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) said that the only mobilization is that someone is paying for their gas on the drive from Parkland to Tallahassee.
Camerota told Kingston that she spoke to the teens before they even knew the body count from the shooting and they were already furious and ready to mobilize.
“Jack, I’m sorry, I have to correct you,” Camerota said. “I was down there. I talked to these kids.”
Kingston tried to interrupt the host to disagree, but she wasn’t having it.
“Jack, these kids were wildly motivated,” she continued. “No, Jack, no one had talked to them yet. They hadn’t been indoctrinated by some left-wing group. They were motivated from what they saw and what they endured during that ordeal.”
Kingston tried to claim that he doesn’t doubt their sincerity.
“Yes you do, Jack,” Camerota cut in, shaking her head. “This is silly. They were already doing it. They were on buses going to the state legislature today. They’re 17 years old, they can figure this out.”
Jolly cut in, shaking his head in frustration. “Come on,” he said to Kingston. “Jack, Jack, Jack, who cares who’s paying for the gas for them to get their voice to the legislators?”
Kingston tried to talk over Jolly, but he persisted, saying that the message they’re working to get out has nothing to do with left-wing politics or some confiscation.
“They are suggesting that yes, there can be a constitutional right [to bear arms] but not beyond the reach of reasonable regulation,” Jolly said.
Kingston then tried to claim that gratuitous Hollywood violence and bloodshed has flooded the lives of the teens and that these shootings all go toward mental health of the alleged shooter.
Camerota cut in again to remind Kingston that despite all of the regulations in place, the shooter was still able to legally buy and operate an AR-15 assault rifle.
Kingston took a condescending tone to “challenge” Camerota but she cut in to ask, “Why when it comes to gun violence you want to talk about everything except for guns?”
Kingston said that he was concerned with the facts, but Camerota asked why he seemed to be protecting the AR-15 with his “facts.”
“You had them in Belgium, you had them in France,” Kingston said of the weapon.
All Jolly could do is laugh at the absurdity.
“Oh, come on, Jack,” Camerota clapped back. It devolved into chaos from there.
Camerota later said “these kids didn’t have time to shower, much less be coopted by the DNC.”
Watch the full exchange below:
Russian indictments show Mueller moving much faster than expected — and hackers could fall next
Robert Mueller in the Oval Office on July 20, 2012. (Photo by Pete Souza.)
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The special counsel probe of the rich asshole campaign ties to Russia is moving much faster than expected.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Axios that Robert Mueller’s team of investigators could wrap up much sooner than Ken Starr’s probe of Bill Clinton, which took years.
It’s not clear whether they’ll release their finding ahead of the November midterm elections, but the 37-page indictment issued last week revealed some important clues about the case.
“The main (and ongoing) surprise is the strength and breadth of this investigation,” said CNN contributor Garrett Graff, who wrote a book about Mueller’s tenure as FBI director.
The indictment showed Mueller has reviewed evidence — such as personal communications between Russians identified by investigators — gathered by intelligence agencies, whose sources and methods are reflected in the court document.
“Mueller’s indictment was more conservative than expected,” said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. “He did not charge the foreign interference itself as a crime — the indictment focused on efforts by the Russians to hide their activities from the U.S. government, along with the fraud they engaged in to do so. The indictment also did not allege wrongdoing by the rich asshole’s campaign or his associates, even though it indicates that the Russians supported the rich asshole’s campaign.”
But the indictment buys time for Mueller, who’s under intense political pressure, and leaves open the possibility that the rich asshole and his team face legal jeopardy for conspiracy.
“This careful approach makes it harder for the rich asshole and his allies to attack Mueller’s investigation as a waste of time, a hoax, or a ‘witch hunt,'” Mariotti said. “On its face, this indictment and its announcement was not aimed at the rich asshole and reached a nonpartisan conclusion, which is why the rich asshole initially quoted (deputy attorney general Rod) Rosenstein’s announcement in a tweet. It is now harder for the rich asshole to claim that Rosenstein and Mueller are out of control.”
Russian hacking was not addressed in the latest indictment, but sources told Axios that Mueller would likely reach a conclusion about who stole emails from the DNC and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.
“Now that [Mueller] has decided to indict one set of Russian participants, it seems likely he will indict the Russian participants in the hacking as well,” said Matthew Miller, an MSNBC contributor and former Department of Justice spokesman. “The big question … remains whether there will be any American co-conspirators.”
some rich asshole Jr. likes tweet smearing teen Parkland shooting survivor as an FBI stooge
some rich asshole Jr. gets interviewed by WTAE in Pennsylvania (Screen cap).
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some rich asshole Jr. on Tuesday signaled his approval of a new conspiracy theory that accuses a teenager who survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School of being part of a plot to cover up for the FBI’s failures.
As documented by the “the rich asshole Alert” Twitter bot, the rich asshole Jr. liked a tweet from conservative talk show host Graham Ledger that linked to a Gateway Pundit article attacking Parkland survivor David Hogg, who has been outspoken in his advocacy of stronger gun laws.
Commenting on the article, which attacks Hogg for having a father who is a retired FBI agent, Ledger questioned whether Hogg was being used as a way to take heat off the FBI for failing to follow up on tips it received about school shooter Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 people last week in Parkland, Florida.
“Could it be that this student is running cover for his dad who Works as an FBI agent at the Miami field office Which botched tracking down the Man behind the Valentine day massacre?” Ledger asked. “Just wondering. Just connecting some dots.”
DonaldJTrumpJr liked this tweet: twitter.com/OANN/status/96…
‘Never happened!’ the rich asshole has full-blown ragegasm over woman who accused him of forcibly kissing her
some rich asshole (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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President some rich asshole on Tuesday lashed out at a woman who accused him of forcibly kissing her when they met at the rich asshole Tower last decade.
“A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of the rich asshole Tower 12 years ago,” the president wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning. “Never happened!”
the rich asshole then went on to cast doubt on the notion that he would forcibly kiss a woman at the rich asshole Tower in broad daylight with security cameras taping him.
“Who would do this in a public space with live security cameras running,” he wrote. “Another False Accusation.”
the rich asshole then said that women accusing him of harassment were only out to make money for themselves.
“Why doesn’t @washingtonpost report the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me?” he wrote. “One had her home mortgage paid off. Only @FoxNews so reported…doesn’t fit the Mainstream Media narrative.”
The Washington Post story in question was written about Rachel Crooks, a woman who alleges the rich asshole forcibly kissed her during a 2006 encounter in the rich asshole Tower when she was working at Bayrock Group.
In the past, Crooks has said that her encounter with the rich asshole left her feeling “totally powerless,” and she said it took her years to overcome the trauma she experienced from the rich asshole’s forceful advances. At the time of the alleged encounter, Crooks was only 22 years old, while the rich asshole was 59.
And despite the rich asshole’s denials, he said on the infamous “Access Hollywood” video released in 2016 that he forcibly kissed beautiful women and even grabbed them by their genitals.
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them,” the rich asshole said. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait… And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… grab them by the p*ssy.”
Additionally, the rich asshole’s description of the Post’s story in his tweet is inaccurate, as it states that his encounter with Crooks happened at the Bayrock offices — not in the lobby of the rich asshole Tower, as the president claimed.
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