Parkland student holds six minutes of silence for slain classmates
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 03/24/18 02:55 PM EDT
A student survivor of the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting last month held several minutes of silence Saturday at the "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington, D.C., to honor the 17 students and faculty killed in the shooting.
Taking the stage mid-afternoon after several other Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivors spoke, Emma González remained silent for six minutes before explaining it was the approximate time it took for the Parkland gunman to complete his rampage and flee the school.
"Six minutes and about 20 seconds," González said in an emotional speech. "In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered."
"Fight for your lives, before it's someone else's job," she added.
During her speech, assembled students and others protesting gun violence could be heard chanting slogans such as "Never again" while others voiced their support for González.
The march in D.C. and in cities around the world were organized by students calling for gun control and other measures in response to the Parkland shooting.
Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to attend the D.C. rally, while images showed thousands more gathering at similar events across the country.
‘What happened to the wall?’ Very sad Fox News host Jesse Watters whines to Kellyanne Conway
Jesse Watters and Kellyanne Conway/Screenshot
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some rich asshole’s most ardent supporters are not happy about his broken promise to build a wall.
Jesse Watters was downright morose in an interview with Kellyanne Conway. The Fox News host may be in a bad mood because he’s being divorced by the wife he cheated on, but he decided to channel it all into complaints about the wall.
The idea of Mexico paying for the wall, as the rich asshole promised voters in 2016, has of course been thrown out the door. But Watters wanted taxpayers to pay for it as part of a record spending package that will ballon the national debt.
“What happened to the wall funding?” he asked Conway.
“The wall funding has begun,” she said. “It’s not everything the president wanted.”
“Not even close!” he whined.
“Jesse, this is a town that not so long ago was mocking the idea of a wall,” she said.
“Nah,” he said. “A very small step.”
Watters taunted Conway by suggesting that the rich asshole, Wilbur Ross and betsy DeVos chip in to pay for the wall. She did not find it funny.
“They can all pony up some of their own cash to start some of the wall,” he said.
“Oh come on,” she said.
“But, Kellyanne, you have to understand the disappointment after running on building the wall,” he said. “I just don’t think either party really wants it.”
Dem: 'March for Our Lives' rally 'for sure' larger than the rich asshole’s inauguration
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 03/24/18 01:12 PM EDT
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) swiped at President the rich asshole on Saturday while attending the "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington, D.C., calling for action on gun violence.
Asked about estimated attendance at the rally, which was expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people, Van Hollen told The Hill, "I can tell you for sure, it's larger than the the rich asshole inauguration."
While exact turnout figures have yet to be released, organizers obtained a permit for 500,000 people to rally in D.C. around Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. Hundreds of similar marches were planned worldwide.
Unbelievable crowd on Penn Ave as seen from the top of the @Newseum #MarchForOurLives #MarchForOurLivesdc #ParklandStudents
the rich asshole sparked backlash last year after sending then-White House spokesman Sean Spicer to confront members of the media over coverage of his inauguration crowd size after taking office.
Spicer claimed the press misrepresented the number of people at the inauguration after numerous reports indicated that the crowd was much smaller than former President Obama’s 2009 inauguration crowd.
The White House spokesman claimed at the time that the rich asshole's inauguration crowd size was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” garnering pushback from the media.
Spicer said in September that he regretted his fiery exchange with reporters.
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March 24, 2018
'We may get a million people here today.'
Saturday’s March for Our Lives was expected to draw around 500,000 people to the nation’s capital to protest against gun violence and demand stronger gun laws following last month’s massacre in Parkland, Florida.
But according to the earliest estimates, crowd size far exceeded expectations, with about 800,000 people turning out for the event. One veteran D.C. journalist said he’s “never seen crowds” like the one he saw Saturday.
the rich asshole’s inauguration in January 2017 brought an estimated 250,000 people to Washington, D.C. — meaning that the crowd size at Saturday’s student-led event was more than three times that of the inaugural celebration.
The highly anticipated event kicked off at noon near the National Mall. The next three hours featured emotional testimony and powerful calls to action from young survivors of gun violence, including many students who survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“This one is really about guns,” remarked MSNBC host Chris Matthews. “These kids are concerned about safety and guns, and it’s a very pure … demonstration of numbers.”
“We may get a million people here today,” Matthews said. “I’ve never seen crowds pouring out of Union Station like I saw an hour ago.”
Photos and video from the student-led event show a sea of people stretching for blocks along Pennsylvania Ave., just down the street from the White House.
Many participants carried signs with slogans such as “Not One More,” “We Are the Change,” and “Enough.”
Others carried photographs of loved ones who they had lost to the scourge of gun violence that kills more than 30,000 Americans annually.
Unbelievable crowd on Penn Ave as seen from the top of the @Newseum #MarchForOurLives #MarchForOurLivesdc #ParklandStudents
While D.C. drew the largest crowds, activists also packed the streets in cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, and New York.
In total, at least 843 marches took place throughout the U.S. and around the world.
One person who wasn’t in attendance Saturday was the rich asshole. He spent the day hiding at Mar-a-Lago, as students took over the streets of D.C. in numbers that dwarfed the size of the crowd at his inauguration — a metaphor for what’s in store when the teen activists reach voting age.
The most powerful moment of March For Our Lives was when Emma Gonzalez stopped speaking
"In a little over 6 minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us."
Emma González — an 18-year-old student who survived the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — stood silently on stage at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. for six minutes and 20 seconds on Saturday. That was the amount of time it took a gunman to kill 17 people, injure 15 others, and dramatically change her life and the lives of many others.
“Six minutes and about 20 seconds,” González said prior to the “moment” of silence. “In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured and everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered.”
After listing the names of the students and teachers who had been killed and “would never” again do the things they had always done in life, González stood facing the crowd silent, sniffling, emotional, and sometimes with tears running down her face for a prolonged period of time before a timer beeped and she began speaking again.
“Since the time that I came out here,” she said afterward, “it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest.”
“Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job,” she said, closing out her speech.
González was in Washington, D.C. along with her classmates on Saturday to call on lawmakers for stricter gun control. So far, the demonstrations have attracted attention and support of scores of celebrities, politicians, activists, and public figures, including President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Since the shooting in Parkland, the teen survivors have mobilized fellow young people nationwide to use the power of their vote to bring about gun safety laws and to hold accountable lawmakers unwilling to budge on legislation that could hurt businesses affiliated with the National Rifle Association (NRA). In many locations, youth activists and nonprofit leaders also urged those old enough to register to vote in the upcoming midterm elections, if they hadn’t already.
President the rich asshole, who is at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the weekend, has not yet responded to the protests personally.
White House applauds gun violence protesters for 'exercising their First Amendment rights'
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 03/24/18 11:17 AM EDT
The White House on Saturday issued a statement on the "March for Our Lives" protest against gun violence, applauding students for “exercising their First Amendment rights.”
“We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today,” White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement.
Walters underscored efforts President the rich asshole has taken on school safety, including support for bills strengthening the background check system for gun purchases and an anti-school violence act while also moving to ban bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly.
“Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix NICS [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law,” the statement read. “Additionally, on Friday, the Department of Justice issued the rule to ban bump stocks following through on the President’s commitment to ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns."
The White House issued the statement as hundreds of thousands of young people and gun control activists flooded Washington, D.C., and cities around the world for anti-gun violence demonstrations, calling on lawmakers to take action.
the rich asshole, who is spending the weekend at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, has not personally weighed in on the demonstrations yet.
The survivors of the school shooting in Florida last month organized the "March for Our Lives" to demand that lawmakers act on gun control. The students have been harshly critical of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other GOP lawmakers for accepting donations from the National Rifle Association.
John Bolton plans to fire dozens of White House officials: report
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 03/24/18 07:56 AM EDT
President the rich asshole’s new national security adviser is reportedly planning major staffing changes at the National Security Council.
Sources close to the situation told Foreign Policy that John Bolton is preparing to “clean house” and remove nearly all of the political appointees brought in by his predecessor.
“Bolton can and will clean house,” one former White House official told Foreign Policy.
Another former official said any National Security Council officials appointed under former President Obama “should start packing their shit.”
Bolton is the newest high-level addition to the the rich asshole administration. The president announced late Thursday via tweet that Bolton would be replacing H.R. McMaster, making him the rich asshole’s third national security adviser in just 14 months.
I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9.
The shake-up came just days after the rich asshole also fired his secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, replacing him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
By hiring Bolton, many have speculated that the rich asshole is moving to the right on foreign policy issues. Bolton has been a harsh critic of the Iran nuclear deal, and supported the Iraq War as former President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations. He also penned an op-ed making the case for a strike on North Korea.
The meaning of the Parkland student’s $1.05 price tags
"And to those politicians supported by the NRA, that allow the continued slaughter of our children and our future, I say get your resumes ready."
At today’s March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., students from Parkland, Florida have brought a unique accessory for their fellow student activists to wear during the Saturday demonstrations: a bright orange price tag emblazoned with this amount: $1.05. When Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student-turned-activist David Hogg took the stage this afternoon, he brought one with him to decorate the lectern.
“First off,” said Hogg, “I’m going to start off by putting this price tag right here just to remind you guys just how much Marco Rubio took for every student’s life in Florida: one dollar and five cents.”
The dig at Rubio is intended to suggest that the Republican senator from Florida prioritizes the needs of the National Rifle Association over his own constituents. As Hogg’s sister, Lauren, explained to CNN, “We took the amount of money that Marco Rubio took from the NRA, and we divided it by every single student in the state of Florida. So, this is how much we’re worth to the Florida government. It’s our price tag.”
MSD student @Sarahchadwickk with a $1.05 price tag, which are being passed out at #MarchForOurLives. The price represents the number of students in Florida divided by the amount of money Marco Rubio has taken from the NRA.
The Parkland teenagers have some history with Rubio. In the wake of the February 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High, Rubio was one of many legislators who appeared at a town hall meeting, sponsored by CNN. During the broadcast, Rubio was confronted by Hogg’s classmate, Cameron Kasky, who asked the senator if he would pledge to stop taking money from the NRA. Rubio demurred, saying, “There’s money on both sides of every issue in America…I will always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda.”
Rubio had told the students he supported an age-restrictions on assault rifles but, after the townhall, reversed his position. The NRA opposed the move.
Rubio released a statement Saturday afternoon lecturing students on the political process.
The corrupting influence of that money was foremost on David Hogg’s mind as he addressed the crowd in Washington Saturday afternoon, in a speech that mainly urged the youth gathered in activism in the nation’s capital to take their passion to the ballot box.
“The cold grasp of corruption shackles the District of Columbia,” Hogg said. “The winter is over. Change is here. The sun shines on a new day and the day is ours. First time voters show up eighteen percent of the time in midterm elections. Not anymore.”
Hogg asked the crowd, “Now who here is going to vote in the 2018 election?” The assembled answered with lusty cheers.
Hogg continued:
We’re going to make this a voting issue, we’re going to take this to every election, in every state, and every city. We’re going to make sure our best people get in elections to run not as politicians but as Americans. Because this is not cutting it. When people try to suppress your vote, and people try to stand against you because you’re too young, we say, no more.When politicians say that your voice doesn’t matter because the NRA owns them, we say, no more.When politicians send their thoughts and prayers, with no action, we say, no more.And to those politicians supported by the NRA, that allow the continued slaughter of our children and our future, I say get your resumes ready.
The National Rifle Association has been a considerable force in electoral politics in recent cycles. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the organization “took a historic gamble in 2016, and it paid off in a huge way.” As the CRP’s Mike Spies and Ashley Balcerzak reported:
The gun rights group placed multimillion-dollar bets on some rich asshole and six Republican Senate candidates locked in highly competitive races. It poured $50.2 million, or 96 percent of its total outside spending, into these races, and lost only one — an open seat in Nevada, vacated by the Democratic Minority Leader, Harry Reid. That race cost the NRA roughly $2.5 million.
The NRA’s “investment,” they add, was “more than any other outside group.”
Against such a potent force, Hogg urged his fellow young activists to stay unified: “Now, they will try to separate us, by demographics. They will try to separate us by religion, race, congressional district, and class. They will fail. We will come together. We will get rid of these public servants that only serve the gun lobby. And we will save lives, you are those heroes.”
You can watch the entirety of Hogg’s address, below.
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March 24, 2018
Parkland survivor Alex Wind gave powerful testimony at the March for Our Lives, slamming NRA-backed lawmakers and declaring the students' mission: 'We choose life!'
17-year-old Alex Wind survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. And at the March for Our Lives on Saturday, he drew a bright line between NRA-backed lawmakers and the students who escaped with their lives.
“You have chosen death,” Wind declared. “We choose life!”
Wind is a founding member of the #NeverAgain movement, front and center of student-led activism against gun violence. He started demanding action from the federal government the very day of the shooting at his school.
Now, over one month later, his call has only gotten stronger alongside thousands of other studentsacross the country.
“In the wake of the tragedy on February 14th, we as students, as youths, decided that if adults weren’t going to take action, we would,” Wind declared.
He noted years of intransigence in Washington on gun safety, even as mass shootings have occurred at a horrifying rate.
Wind noted that “people believe the youth of this country are insignificant.” But he pointed out that both history and the present prove that claim flat wrong.
“When Joan of Arc fought back English forces, she was 17 years old,” Wind reminded the crowd. Rather, he declared, teenagers “were the only people that could have made this movement possible.”
And he easily smacked down the absurd notion of arming teachers and school officials.
“If teachers start packing heat, are they gonna arm our pastors, ministers, and rabbis?” Wind asked. “Are they gonna arm the guy scanning tickets at the movie theater? Are they gonna arm the person wearing the Mickey Mouse costume at Disney?”
“This is what the National Rifle Association wants, and we will not stand for it!” he added. And he made it clear that much of the blame rests with the politicians in Congress that are backed by the NRA. While that used to be a more evenly-split group, it has now become starkly partisan.
“In raw numbers, the NRA gave to 115 Democratic House candidates in 1992, to 65 in 2010 and to only four in 2016,” CNN noted.
And for Wind and his fellow student activists, the whole issue comes down to one simple thing: “Life or death.”
“To all the politicans out there: If you take money from the NRA, you have chosen death! … If you do not stand with us by saying ‘We need to pass common sense gun legislation,’ you have chosen death! And none of the millions of people marching in this country today will stop until we see those against us out of office, because we choose life!”
Teenagers should not have the monumental task of fighting Congress and the NRA to save people’s lives on their shoulders.
But the GOP’s callous inertia has passed the buck on protecting citizens to some of the youngest among us. As a result, teens like Alex Wind have taken up the challenge like never before.
Come November, many of those NRA-owned Republicans may pay the price for their spineless dereliction of duty to the nation.
‘They didn’t elect him to be their pastor’ — watch the rich asshole shill Amy Kremer start spinning Stormy Daniels affair
Amy Kremer, a the rich asshole supporter, on CNN/Screenshot
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The Stormy Daniels interview is slated to run on 60 Minutes Sunday night.
A porn star will discuss having unprotected sex with the Republican President of the United States a few months after the birth of his son, Barron.
To hear Republicans tell it, this is not an issue for the party of morality and family values.
On a CNN panel, Republicans defended the president’s apparent ethical lapses. Amy Kremer, founder of Women For the rich asshole, defended the president vociferously.
“I know the left wants this to pull him down and destroy his presidency, but it’s not going to,” she says.
Keith Boykin, a former Bill Clinton aide, pointed to the obvious hypocrisy.
“It certainly destroys the credibility of the rightwing Evangelical Christian-based party that spend decades talking about family values and how moral they were and how holier-than-thou they were, and then they support some rich asshole,” he said. “The hypocrisy is stunning.”
Kremer was nonplussed.
“People did not elect him because he is a preacher,” she said. “They didn’t elect him to be a pastor.”
Watch below.
John Bolton’s take-no-prisoners style may prove problematic in the White House
March 23, 2018
Tracy Wilkinson and Noah Bierman
Tribune Washington Bureau
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
WASHINGTON — John Bolton, President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, has a take-no-prisoners approach that may prove problematic as he tries to manage a White House riven by leaks and defections.
Known for his brash style and bushy mustache, Bolton has been an informal adviser to Trump, a frequent commentator on Fox News and a longtime hawk on Iran, North Korea and other U.S. adversaries.
He is best known for his 16 months service as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — an organization he frequently said shouldn't exist — from mid-2005 until the end of 2006. President George W. Bush named him as a recess appointment because the White House knew Bolton was too toxic to win Senate confirmation.
Some State Department officials accused him being so abrasive at the U.N. that he undermined U.S. policies.
Earlier, serving as Bush's arms-control point man at the State Department, he famously engaged in ideological and personal clashes with subordinates, colleagues and superiors. Even one of his defenders at the time described him as a "knuckle-dragger in a cave."
More recently, Bolton, 69, has advocated hard-line — some would say extreme — positions on foreign policy challenges that have roiled the Trump administration.
He has vigorously opposed the Iran nuclear deal, and no doubt will back Trump's threats to withdraw from the landmark accord. Before it was signed in 2015, he suggested bombing Iran to quash its nuclear ambitions.
He also has called for a military attack on nuclear-armed North Korea. Six months ago, as Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un traded insults and threats, Bolton said the solution was to topple the Pyongyang government and have South Korea take over the North.
In 2003, when Bolton was Bush's undersecretary for arms control, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il — father of the current dictator — sought to ban him from U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program after Bolton criticized Kim publicly while visiting South Korea.
"Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks," said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Bolton now will backstop Trump's agreement to conduct a summit with Kim Jong Un, tentatively planned for May, a high-wire diplomatic act that will test both leaders.
Unlike Trump, Bolton is a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin's military incursion in Ukraine, although it's not clear whether he agrees with Trump's skepticism of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Bolton's defenders include the most conservative members of the Republican establishment. Some welcomed him as national security adviser after H.R. McMaster, whom they saw as more moderate and more inclined to try to block some of Trump's suggestions.
"Obviously, I think Bolton's world view is more muscular" than McMaster's, said Lanhee Chen, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution who was Mitt Romney's chief policy adviser in 2012. "But there clearly are similarities and actually more similarities than people might see at first blush."
Chen said both men favor an engaged America around the world, a contrast to how many conservatives initially viewed Trump's "America First" policy as isolationist.
"Some will try to portray him as being out of the mainstream, particularly detractors of the administration, but I don't actually think that's where Bolton is," he said.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said via Twitter, "A national security adviser must be an honest broker, ensuring the (president) considers all points of view. Second, he is a counselor with his own views. ... The obvious question is whether John Bolton has the temperament and the judgment for the job."
But many veterans in the foreign policy, global democracy and human rights communities were appalled.
Bolton "generally disparages international law," Amnesty International said in a statement.
After the 2016 election, Trump initially considered nominating Bolton as secretary of state but reportedly decided the mustachioed Bolton didn't "look" the part. Trump instead picked Rex Tillerson, the dapper CEO of Exxon Mobil, although he fired Tillerson last week.
A Baltimore native, Bolton was a student organizer for Republican conservative Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964, a race that ended in overwhelming defeat. Bolton later worked for Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., an archconservative who opposed civil rights laws, and in the administrations of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
The Yale-trained lawyer earned points in the GOP by helping fight the recount battle in Florida after the razor- thin presidential election in 2000. The Supreme Court ultimately gave the state, and thus the election, to George W. Bush over Democratic nominee Al Gore.
He has been a consistent flame-thrower, critics and supporters agree. When he left a position at the U.S. Agency for International Development in the late 1980s, colleagues presented him with a special gift: a bronzed hand grenade.
John Bolton advocated ‘immediate regime change’ in Iran when speaking to terrorism-linked Mojahedin group
John Bolton addressing the terrorism-linked group MEK at a conference/Screenshot
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some rich asshole’s scary new national security adviser told a group of Iranian exiles that he favored “immediate regime change,” the Intercept reports.
Bolton, who has close ties to Putin’s Russia, attended a conference of a group called Mujahedeen Khalq, which has been linked to terrorism.
The group, which was removed from the U.S. terrorism list just a few years ago, has invited the former Bush-era diplomat to address the group in Paris. At the rally, Bolton made direct threats to Iran’s government, which will turn 40 next year.
“The outcome of the president’s policy review should be to determine that the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 revolution will not last until its 40th birthday,” he said. “The declared policy of the United States should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran.”
Bolton has gone to the People’s Mujahedin of Iran rally for more than a decade—you can watch video of his 2016 speech below. The group is considered a terrorist organization by many and has killed civilians in Iran and U.S. soldiers.
It’s perhaps also notable that Bolton is a huge supporter of the failed U.S. invasion of Iraq, which he still maintains was not a mistake.
Now, he apparently has his eyes on Iran.
“Before 2019 we here will celebrate in Tehran,” Bolton told the group.
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March 24, 2018
Republicans' intransigence on gun violence is being tested as more big-money donors are joining Al Hoffman Jr. and putting away their checkbooks.
Even in the wake of tragedy upon tragedy, Republicans have governed under the thumb of the NRA. But more funders are joining mega-donor Al Hoffman Jr. to demand action on gun safety. Consequently, the GOP may finally realize the need to make a change.
Days after the mass shooting at a high school in Florida, Hoffman made his stance clear to the party.
“I will not write another check unless they all support a ban on assault weapons,” Hoffman wrote to GOP leaders. “Enough is enough!”
Hoffman isn’t just a donor; he previously served as the National Finance Chairman for the Republican National Committee.
And he warned that he would “email every single donor I know in the Republican Party and try to get them on board.” Two days later, he reiterated that mission. “There’s a movement coming,” Hoffman declared.
And he has made good on that declaration.
Hoffman officially launched his group, Americans for Gun Safety Now, on Saturday. Notably, it was the same day massive crowds turned out for March for Our Lives across the country.
The group has 21 supporters, including Republican congressmen Carlos Curbelo and Brian Mast and former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. The list also includes many other major donors like Hoffman.
These supporters have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates this election cycle. And Hoffman plans to use this influence to lobby party leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The federal government better pass legislation … and get it done now, before November,” Hoffman told TIME Magazine. “If they don’t do this, my guess is that they will lose big in November.”
Because he isn’t letting inertia of some congressional Republicans stop him.
“We’re in deep limbo with a number of congressmen and Senators right now, but we’ve got to kick them in the butt and get it going on this,” Hoffman said. He added that he would “encourage [donors] not to give money to these candidates that will not endorse this plan.”
The massacre in Parkland was the 18th school shooting of the year at the time. And it’s the third-deadliest in modern U.S. history.
Yet even faced with those horrifying statistics, and the pleas of survivors, Republicans have largely remained unmoved.
Children begging for their lives ought to be enough for the GOP to join Americans in abandoning the NRA.
If Republicans are immune to such cries, perhaps rapidly emptying campaign bank accounts will ring loud and clear.
Turns out the the rich asshole campaign’s ‘coffee boy’ had a bigger role than everyone thought
George Papadopoulos is one of many the rich asshole campaign associates the White House has distanced itself from.
A report by the Washington Post on Friday revealed that former the rich asshole campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — once dubbed the campaign’s “coffee boy” — played a much more senior role during the 2016 election than the campaign has acknowledged publicly.
According to a series of emails described to the Post, which were part of the thousands of documents being used to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, Papadopoulos, who served as a foreign policy adviser on the the rich asshole campaign, was contacted in September 2016 by a Russian news agency hoping to conduct an interview with him. When Papadopoulos reached out to senior campaign officials for permission, he was given an enthusiastic go-ahead.
“You should do it,” deputy communications director Bryan Lanza responded in an email that same month. Lanza emphasized “the benefits of a U.S. ‘partnership with Russia,'” according to the Post. “You’re the best. Thank you!” he added.
Several other emails showed that Papadopoulos had also reached out to then-chief campaign executive Steve Bannon in December 2016 about his communications with Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, a pro-Russian nationalist with ties to Moscow, who had met with Putin. According to Papadopoulos, the minister had expressed a desire to sign a government-to-government energy agreement with the United States, giving the country “all rights to all energy fields offshore, strategic foothold in the Mediterranean and Balkans.”
Bannon forwarded the request to former national security adviser for the the rich asshole administration Michael Flynn, who said he would “work this one.” Later that month, Flynn emailed Papadopoulos himself, writing, “We will examine these and determine if this is something we should take on early. Stay in touch and, at some point, we should get together.” He signed the email, “Mike.”
Flynn pleaded guilty in December last year to lying to the FBI about his associations with Russian officials.
As the Post noted, the emails serve to contradict one of the the rich asshole campaign’s main talking points — that Papadopoulos, who had made several attempts to arrange meetings between the campaign and Russian leaders, was simply a low-level aide tasked with menial duties, and that his actions were not reflective of the the rich asshole campaign’s real motives.
Steven Bannon and George Papadopoulos agreed over email that the meeting the young advisor helped set up for Trump with the Egyptian president in Sept. 2016 was a "homerun." washingtonpost.com/politics/you-s…
Papadopoulos is far from the first the rich asshole associate whose role in the campaign has been downplayed over the past year. As President the rich asshole attempts to outmaneuver Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into possible collusion between the campaign and Russia, his claims have become increasingly absurd.
In January last year, then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed that former the rich asshole campaign foreign-policy adviser Carter Page — the subject of several Russia-related investigations, whose name appears in the now-infamous Steele dossier, which includes allegations of collusion against the rich asshole — was only a low-level staffer during the election and had not advised the president on anything.
“Carter Page is an individual whom the president-elect does not know,” Spicer said.
Spicer’s comments directly contradicted the president’s earlier comments in March 2016, when then-candidate the rich asshole singled out Page as one of the few advisers he had chosen to assist him personally on foreign policy issues. the rich asshole also singled out Papadopoulos in that meeting, calling him an “excellent guy.”
the rich asshole has also sought to downplay the role that former campaign manager Paul Manafort played during the 2016 election. Manafort joined the the rich asshole campaign in March 2016 and was promoted to the role of campaign manager in June that year, giving him full control over the campaign’s messaging, budget, and hiring. However, after it was revealed that in March 2017 that the FBI was actively investigating the campaign’s ties to Russia, the White House did a rapid about-face, claiming that Manafort — who had ties to pro-Russian Ukrainian businessmen — had played a minor role during the campaign.
“There has been discussion of Paul Manafort, who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time,” Spicer said during a press briefing that month, answering reporter questions about whether the rich asshole stood by his claims that he was unaware of connections between campaign staffers and Russian individuals.
In that same briefing, Spicer also described Manafort as “a volunteer.”
Manafort and campaign associate Rick Gates were indicted by a federal grand jury last October on charges of money laundering, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, conspiracy against the United States, and lying to the FBI. In February this year, he and Gates were charged with additional counts of tax and bank fraud, in connection with lobbying work the two men allegedly did on behalf of former authoritarian and pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence.
POLITICS
Sen. Marco Rubio Tells Students He Does Not Agree With The March For Our Lives
Rubio made sure the students knew that some Americans view them as a threat to the Second Amendment.
On a day when hundreds of thousands of people marched in support of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivors, one senator took time to tell those students he does not support their cause.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a Saturday statement that there are “many other Americans who do not support a gun ban” because they view it as a threat to the Second Amendment.
While Rubio included in his statement a line about respecting the demonstrators’ right to peaceful protests, he quickly expressed his opposition.
“While I do not agree with all of the solutions they propose, I respect their views and recognize that many Americans support certain gun bans,” the senator said.
Those against gun bans “want to prevent mass shootings” too, Rubio continued, but they “view banning guns as an infringement on the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens that ultimately will not prevent these tragedies.”
Students at the March For Our Lives rallies repeatedly attacked Rubio and his ties to the National Rifle Association on Saturday, even before he released his statement.
At the D.C. rally, Parkland students wore orange price tags listed at $1.05, which is what they said they were worth to the Florida senator. The $1.05 price tag represents the number of students in Florida divided by the amount of money the NRA has donated to Rubio’s campaign, the demonstrators explained.
Rubio has an A+ rating from the gun rights group for supporting NRA-friendly legislation. According to the New York Times, he has received $3.3 million from the group.
The Republican senator faced off with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during a CNN Town Hall in February. There, he defended his support of the NRA, telling the students he is influenced by the millions of people within the NRA ― and not the millions of dollars they give him.
“The influence of these groups comes not from money,” Rubio said at the time, speaking to students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. “The influence comes from the millions of people that agree with the agenda, the millions of Americans that support the NRA.”
Armed white men showed up to intimidate kids at #MarchForOurLives rallies — it didn’t work
Counter-protestors at a #MarchForOurLives rally/Screenshot
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Nationwide protests swept America today, as a teenager-led protest against the epidemic of mass shootings.
But as with most protests, there were counter-protests. Gun-lovers in red the rich asshole hats showed up at many of the rallies carrying AR-15s and sidearms, an effort they dubbed “March For Our Guns.”
A search of social media finds images of heavily armed people—including Utahans in a military-style vehicle with a mounted machine gun—showing up to rallies.
And yet none have reported to have been marred by violence and the speakers were not intimidated.
Here are some of the counter-protestors who showed up around the country.
A man in Austin showed up carrying a gun, a Gadsden flag and apparently wearing ear protection so he wouldn’t hear what the people he came to protest had to say.
Another man showed up in Austin with an AR-15.
At the #marchforourlives in Austin and bc TX is an open carry state these assholes decided to carry their AR-15s to let us know we were “using dead children” to take away their guns
In Fort Worth, police surrounded a counter-protestor taunting children using a megaphone.
Fort Worth Police have formed a protective circle around 2 counter protesters using a microphone to disrupt the city’s #MarchForOurLives event which is about to get underway
In Boston, police also surrounded the right-wing counter protestors as they made their way around the rally.
Counter-protesters exit the #MarchForOurLives rally. Throughout the entire rally police officers surrounded them, using their bikes as barriers.
In Phoenix, a man with an AR-15 said that if the teens attack, “I will attack back.”
Counter protestors are out here in Arizona. One man brought an AR-15 and says he plans to be peaceful but said “if they attack I will attack back.” He says those saying gun violence is on the rise is “fake news.” #MarchForOurLives #azfamily
#MarchForOurLives voter registration tables, playground for kids, crowd cheering a hs student speaking pic.twitter.com/1O62xMBoZp
@conbustA little different aura here in PHX.
2A advocates counter protesting - in their AR-15 way. #MarchForOurLivesPHX #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/iONNhfWQHG
In Salt Lake City, the counter-protestors favored sidearms.
Knowing the facts about gun violence can be a first step toward advancing solutions. Here's our guide to the data and research that provides a complete picture of America's gun violence crisis. thetrace.org/features/gun-v…
At a #MarchForOurLives counter-protest in Salt Lake City, some demonstrators were armed: @sltrib sltrib.com/news/2018/03/2… pic.twitter.com/lkQVi92E8Z
Some counter-protestors in Salt Lake City wore masks.
Knowing the facts about gun violence can be a first step toward advancing solutions. Here's our guide to the data and research that provides a complete picture of America's gun violence crisis. thetrace.org/features/gun-v…
At a #MarchForOurLives counter-protest in Salt Lake City, some demonstrators were armed: @sltrib sltrib.com/news/2018/03/2… pic.twitter.com/lkQVi92E8Z
Some in Utah also had military-style vehicles mounted with machine guns.
A counter-protest to the #MarchForOurLives event in Utah, where protesters are calling for armed teachers and speaking against gun control (: AP) buzzfeed.com/buzzfeednews/m…
In Pennsylvania, a man showed up with an assault rifle and his dog—the dog’s head was hung low.
At a #MarchForOurLives march in Greensburg, PA. I wonder who this gentleman is & what his family, friends, colleagues, co-workers & employer would think of this. If it’s an open carry state, he’s well within his rights. But it’s still a good & interesting question dontcha think?
In El Paso a small group of counter-protestors included a girl in a pink hoodie who did not appear to be completely thrilled to have her photograph taken.
Small group of counter protesters from #OCT (Open Carry Texas) here at San Jacinto for the #MarchForOurLives
“Bigoted, disrespectful, unpatriotic”: Activists blast the rich asshole’s transgender military ban
"Transgender members of our military have done more to serve and protect this country than some rich asshole ever will."
Activists and Democratic lawmakers on Saturday slammed a new policy announced by the White House that would ban most transgender people from serving in the military.
In a statement late Friday, the White House attempted to disqualify from military service transgender persons “with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria” including people who “may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery…except under certain limited circumstances.” Those exceptions include current transgender military members who have been “stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex prior to accession,” those who “do not require a change of gender,” and transgender servicemembers who began serving under the Obama administration’s initial policy rolling back the ban on transgender troops.
The new the rich asshole administration policy reverses an earlier blanket ban that was blocked by federal judges, the BBC notes.
In a report to the president last month, the Department of Defense claimed that allowing people with a history of “gender dysphoria” to serve in the military could “undermine readiness” and “impose an unreasonable burden on the military” itself. It further claimed that there were “significant shortcomings” to the Obama administration’s decision to allow transgender people to serve, which was largely based on a widely panned study by the RAND think tank.
Anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 transgender people are currently serving as active-duty and reserve service members.
The decision to ban Americans who might willingly put their lives on the line to protect the country comes as the military struggles to meet its recruiting goals, forcing it to accept recruits with lower qualifications. The Air Force specifically is facing a shortage of 2,000 pilots. More than two-thirds of the 34 million 17-to-24-year-olds would not qualify for the military under its current health, education, and physical standards.
Following Friday’s policy announcement, opponents of the transgender ban and lawmakers promptly condemned the White House’s decision. Among those critics was Danica Roem, the first openly transgender person elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, who tweeted that “[t]ransgender members of our military have done more to serve and protect this country than some rich asshole ever will.”
Transgender members of our military have done more to serve and protect this country than Donald Trump ever will.time.com/5213829/trump-…
The LGBTQ association for actively serving LBGTQ military personnel and veterans also issued a series of scathing tweets condemning the ban.
OutServe-SLDN, American Military Partner Association @LGBTMilPartners, and SPART*A @sparta_pride blast the administration’s continued discrimination against trans servicemembers outserve-sldn.org/news/392506/BR…
Also adding General Mattis's memo from yesterday to this thread, if you'd like to read it. bit.ly/2GmErH2
REMINDER: We'll be arguing against @realDonaldTrump's #TransMilitaryBan in court on Tuesday (3/27) with @OutServeSLDN. We're not going to stop fighting this just because an unconstitutional plan was released to implement an unconstitutional decree (that was made via Twitter).
Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who served in the U.S. Army and lost both her legs while serving in Iraq, issued similarly harsh criticism.
When my Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq, it didn’t matter to me if the troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender or anything else; all that mattered to me was that they were American GIs. twitter.com/ap/status/9773…
If someone is brave enough to be willing to put their life on the line for this country and they are capable of doing the job our military needs—regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation or race—we shouldn’t stop them.
The President’s decision to double down on banning transgender military members from serving is bigoted, disrespectful, and unpatriotic. These servicemembers risk their lives for our country - they deserve a Commander in Chief who respects their service. #ProtectTransTroops twitter.com/politico/statu…
Banning transgender men and women from serving in our military is based on nothing more than bigotry. To all of the brave trans troops in uniform today, please know that this President does not speak for a country eternally grateful for your service. #ProtectTransTroops
There are more of us than there are of you, Mr. President. You can try again to ban transgender troops, but we aren’t going away. Your hate is no match for our compassion, determination, and solidarity. #ProtectTransTroops
No one with the strength & bravery to serve in the U.S. military should be turned away because of who they are. This hateful ban is purpose-built to humiliate our brave transgender members of the military who serve with honor & dignity. #ProtectTransTroops
The Pentagon has not said when the new rule is set to take effect, stating only that it will “continue to assess and retain transgender service members.”
Tomi Lahren posts selfie with pistol packed into her yoga pants, gets hilariously roasted
Tomi Lahren poses with a gun in her yoga pants/Screenshot
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Tomi Lahren is having a busy weekend. The rightwing thought leader and notable the rich asshole-worshipper has been melting down about the #MarchForOurLives protests and taunting children who are protesting gun violence on Twitter.
It’s a shame schools don’t teach the U.S. Constitution anymore. Appreciation for our 2A is lost when history is forgotten and ignored in favor of “feelings” 101. #MarchForOurLives
Do you realize millions of your FELLOW AMERICANS are members of the NRA? #marchforourlives
But she also took some time to post a selfie to Insatgram. In the photo, Lahren poses with a gun in her yoga pants.
“Ladies, chances are your assailant is gonna be bigger, stronger and faster and that’s why you have @alexoathletica for your gun, your mace, or even your phone,” she says.
Oddly, Lahren’s packing pants appear to be part of a new athletic wear line aimed at women who like to bring guns with them to yoga.
“Alexo” has the motto “Carry With Confidence” and makes pants that can hold a small pistol and a knife.
The internet responded by roasting Lahren—even gun lovers were aghast at the idea of doing yoga while armed.
@TomiLahren
For somebody who is all about guns, then don't you think this is the improper way to carry a gun?
Please don't do that. Not sure what you are trying to show, prove, advertise but don't do that.
Get training on gun safety.
Yoga pants don't carry guns well.
I like this look because it looks like they're just tucking a gun in their waistband, like some small time crooks thing
the rich asshole’s motorcade drove out of its way to avoid seeing children protest gun violence
the rich asshole gets into the presidential limo in Florida today/Screenshot
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some rich asshole is in Florida to play golf this weekend, which puts him in uncomfortable proximity to the #MarchForOurLives protest scheduled in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
The president went out of his way to avoid the protesting children today, the Palm Beach Post reports, with his motorcade taking a detour.
The 1.5 mile “scenic” route to Mar-a-Lago allowed the rich asshole, his wife and son to avoid the children and an pro-impeachment billboard erected by Democratic fundraiser and activist Claude Taylor.
Came to cheer @realDonaldTrump motorcade, only got to see mainstream media vans after president took different route. #TrumpInPalmBeach
The president is scheduled to stay at Mar-A-Lago and has “no public events” for the rest of the day.
It was unclear whether he would remain at Mar-A-Lago tomorrow to watch the Stormy Daniels interview with his wife Melania
‘Our government has been useless’: Parkland student slams NRA control in emotional #MarchForOurLives speech
Alex Wind, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, speaking at March for Our Lives in Washington, DC.
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A junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School captivated the large crowd at Washington, DC’s March for Our Lives Rally with an emotional plea for gun control.
“In the wake of the tragedy on February 14th, we as students, as youth, decided that if adults weren’t going to take action, we would,” Alex Wind explained.
Wind directly addressed criticism that the students of Parkland are not mature enough to have political goals.
“People believe that the youths have no choice. When Joan of Arc fought back English forces, she was 17 years old. When Mozart wrote his first symphony he was 8 years old,” Wind noted. “To those people that tell us that teenagers can’t do anything, I say that we were the only people that could have made this movement possible.”
And he had harsh words for the gun lobby.
“If teachers start packing heat, are they going to arm our pastors, ministers, and rabbis?” he wondered. “Will they arm the guy selling tickets at the movie theater? This is what the National Rifle Association wants.”
“For too long our government has been useless on this issue,” Wind continued. “Our job as their constituents is to make sure we know what they’re thinking. There are over 250 representatives that have not come out with a public stance on this issue, it is our job to make sure that we call them up and force them out of the shadows of corruption and into the light of justice.”
“Now we need to educate ourselves on which politicians are truly working for the people and which ones we want to vote out,” he explained. “Because at the end of the day, bullets do not discriminate, so why should we?”
“All it comes down to is life or death. To all the politicians out there, if you take money from the NRA, you have chosen death,” Wind argued. “If you have not expressed to your constituencies a public stance on this issue, you have chosen death. If you do not stand with us by saying we need to pass common sense gun legislation, you have chosen death.”
The high school student also put politicians on notice.
“And none of the millions of people marching in this country today will stop until they see those against us out of office,” he promised. “Because we choose life.”
David Hogg demands young voters vote out NRA shills in Washington: ‘You can hear the people in power shaking
Parkland Student David Hogg (Photo: Screen capture)
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In a fiery speech to the Washington, D.C. March For Our Lives, Parkland, Florida, student-turned-activist David Hogg went off on politicians who choose the NRA over Americans.
He put a tag on the microphone that displayed $1.05. It represents how much Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) accepted from the NRA in political contributions, divided by those students killed on Feb. 14.
“The cold grasp of corruption shackles the District of Columbia,” he said with the U.S. Capitol rising behind him. “The sun shines on a new day and the day is hours. For the first time, voters showed up 18 percent of the time in midterm elections. Not anymore.”
He asked the crowd who was going to vote in the 2018 election and the crowd went wild with a call to a different kind of arms.
“If you listen real close, you can hear the people in power shaking,” he said. “They have gotten used to being protective of their position, choosing the safety of inaction. Inaction is no long safe. To that we say, no more! Ninety-six people die every day from guns in our country yet most representatives have no public stance on guns. And to that we say no more! W are going to make this a voting issue. We are going to take this to every election, to every state, and every city. We’re going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run, not as politicians but as Americans. Because, this is not cutting it.”
He noted that there will be people who attempt to suppress their votes and claim they are “too young.” He lead the crowd in saying “No more!”
“When politicians say that your voice doesn’t matter because the NRA owns them, we say no more! When politicians send their thoughts and prayers with no action, we say no more!” he continued. “And to those politicians supported by the nra, that allow the continued slaughter of our children and our future, I say, ‘get your resumes ready.’ Today is the beginning of Spring. And tomorrow is the beginning of democracy. Now is the time to come together not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. Americans of the same flesh and blood that care about one thing and one thing only and that’s the future of this country and the children that are going to lead it.”
He warned that their detractors would attempt to separate people into demographics like religion, race, Congressional districts and even class. But he warned that they would fail.
“We will come together,” he continued. “We will get ready of these public servants that only serve the gun lobby. And we will save lives. You are those heroes. Let’s put the USA over the NRA. This is the start of the spring and the blossoming of our democracy. Let’s take this to our local legislators and let’s take this to midterm elections because without the persistence of voters everywhere getting out to every election, democracy can’t flourish. I say we will not stop until every man, every woman, every child, and every American can live without fear of gun violence.”
Watch the speech below:
What fresh hell? Multiple puppeteers are pulling the rich asshole’s strings edition
Vladimir Putin shaking hands with some rich asshole - MSNBC screengrab
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Welcome to another edition of What Fresh Hell?, Raw Story’s roundup of news items that might have become controversies under another regime, but got buried – or were at least under-appreciated – due to the daily firehose of political pratfalls, unhinged tweet storms and other sundry embarrassments coming out of the current White House.
This week was… different. We usually keep tabs on minor outrages that didn’t get the attention they deserve because everyone was focused on the reality TV show that is the the rich asshole regime, but this week, the tumult came at us so fast that major stories – stories that might ordinarily have become become high-profile scandals – were shoved off of the front pages by other reports of equal or perhaps even greater import.
The top story this week was the rich asshole’s rapid-fire purge of a number of regime officials who had been described at various points as the “only adults in the room” – National Security Advisor HR McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, economic advisor Gary Cohn and the rich asshole attorney John Dowd. It’s not that these were great people – Tillerson’s been a monumental disaster at State – what’s frightening is that they’re all being replaced with belligerent right-wing sycophants (or “psychophants”) the rich asshole saw on cable TV, and they will encourage the rich asshole’s worst proclivities. It’s not hyperbolic to suggest that with Mike Pompeo heading the CIA and John Bolton steering defense policy in the White House, the likelihood of us getting into a disastrous shooting war as a distraction from the rich asshole’s domestic scandals has increased significantly.
Meanwhile, one could argue that the most significant story this week was a series of reports suggesting that while we were all wondering what the Kremlin may have on the rich asshole to make him so compliant, it appears that the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also bending the regime to their will. It turns out that a seemingly inexplicable reversal on a long-standing US position in the Middle East was likely either an act of revenge against a longstanding ally for refusing to bail out the Kushner family’s deeply indebted real estate company or a result of a flood of money to the rich asshole world coming in from deep-pocketed autocratic leaders in the Persian Gulf.
The short-version: Qatar is a key ally, and home to Al Udeid Air Base, where our Central Command and thousands of US military personnel are headquartered. It’s an important base for our endless campaigns in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last year, a diplomatic clash resulted in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Sunni-led countries to enact a blockade of Qatar, which the US vehemently opposed until the rich asshole suddenly decided that we’ve always been at war with Eastasia, condemned Qatar as a sponsor of terrorism and threw his regime’s support behind the blockade. That left observers scratching their heads.
But then The Washington Post reported that Jared Kushner’s father, Charles, confirmed earlier reports that he had sought funding from the Qataris shortly before the rich asshole’s about face on the blockade. He had anticipated that a deal would be finalized to provide desperately needed financing to his company and was reportedly “crushed” when he learned that the Qataris wouldn’t bail out the Kushner family company. Then, “after the financing effort failed, Jared Kushner took a sharp turn against Qatar diplomatically, supporting a crushing economic blockade against the country,” reported The Intercept.
Then The New York Times revealed that George Nader, a key witness in the Mueller probe, “worked for more than a year to turn a top the rich asshole fundraiser into an instrument of influence at the White House for the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.” Those efforts included funneling tens of millions of dollars in lucrative contracts to said top the rich asshole (and RNC) fundraiser.
In either scenario, the most powerful country in the world turned on a crucially important ally for the regime’s personal enrichment or as an act of revenge for not getting a sweetheart deal. Either way, it spells corruption.
The Intercept also reported that Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi’s de facto ruler, told UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed that he had Jared Kushner “in his pocket.” (What would the MAGA crowd think of their “America first” hero selling out to a bunch of oil-rich Mooslims? It’s probably good for their mental health they don’t believe anything that isn’t reported by Fox.)
The longer version, if you have some time, is really worth exploring in this Rachel Maddow segment. It’s a devastating indictment.
And with that, let’s move on to some smaller indignities you may have missed this week…
******
Speaking of foreign emoluments, Anjali Kamat wrote a must-read exposé for The Investigative Fund and The New Republic about “how the rich asshole’s business partnerships in India are creating conflicts of interest in the White House and corrupting the presidency.”
And Annie Gowan reported for The Washington Post that one of the rich asshole’s business Indian partners cited in Kamat’s piece “has been accused of defrauding its foreign investors of at least $147 million.”
******
Here’s a frightening example of politicizing the bureaucracy: The State Department has a “dissent channel,” where career foreign service officers can register disagreement with department policy. But Alice Ollstein reports for TPM that “two State Department officials involved in an effort to sideline a civil servant suspected of disloyalty to the President” monitor the supposedly protected communications. This “gives them access to the names of U.S. diplomats and other agency employees who openly disagree with administration policy — information that independent watchdogs and members of Congress fear could be used in the effort to marginalize those deemed insufficiently loyal.”
******
Tangentially related, CNN reports that “whistleblowers have come forward to allege a plot to remove the current CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency which controls US-funded media abroad, and push the agency’s journalism toward a viewpoint more favorable with the the rich asshole administration.”
******
Secretary of Why We Need Education Betsy DeVos is in hot water for allegedly withholding key details of a sweeping agency “reform” plan that, according to Erica Green at The New York Times, includes “the consolidation of a number of administrative offices, cutting the number of regional offices in the Office for Civil Rights and acquiring several programs run by the Department of Labor.”
DeVos is also trying to impose what her staff calls an “illegal collective bargaining agreement.” “Union leaders believe the contract gutted all protections that would allow its members to defend themselves in the department’s overhaul,” writes Green.
******
We all know that red states tend to have higher teen pregnancy rates than blue states, and that’s largely due to their opposition to comprehensive sex ed — the idea being that if you don’t teach teens about sex, they certainly won’t figure it out on their own. Hormones? Never heard of them.
Now NBC reports that “the the rich asshole administration’s abrupt cancellation of a federal program to prevent teen pregnancy last year was directed by political appointees over the objections of career experts in the Department of Health and Human Services.”
[Emails obtained by NBC show that] three appointees with strict pro-abstinence beliefs — including Valerie Huber, the then-chief of staff for the department’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health — guided the process to end a program many medical professionals credit with helping to bring the nation’s teen pregnancy rate to an all-time low.
We should note that 42 percent of unwanted pregnancies end in abortion, but whatever.
******
Relatedly, “an official appointed by President some rich asshole said during a closed-door United Nations meeting that the ‘US is a pro-life country,’ despite the fact both the law and public opinion support a woman’s right to access legal and safe abortion.” More at The Independent.
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The Huffington Post found that two the rich asshole political appointees – one a high-ranking official at Housing and Urban Development – joined the regime from Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the center of the Facebook data theft scandal. One is under investigation for “collecting private data from Facebook,” and the other omitted any reference to the company in his official bio. An innocent oversight, no doubt.
******
Tying some prominent headlines together, The New York Times reported that “the political action committee founded by John R. Bolton, President the rich asshole’s incoming national security adviser, was one of the earliest customers of Cambridge Analytica, which it hired specifically to develop psychological profiles of voters with data harvested from tens of millions of Facebook profiles.”
And Lee Fang reports for The Intercept that our incoming head of the NSC “has a long association with a group infamous for its role in publishing ‘fake news’ and spreading hate about Muslims.”
[John] Bolton wears many hats… one role that has received relatively little scrutiny is his work as chair of the Gatestone Institute, a nonprofit that focuses largely on publishing original commentary and news related to the supposed threat that Islam poses to Western society. He has served in that role since 2013. (Bolton did not respond to an email seeking comment.)A steady drum beat of vitriol is visible on the Gatestone website on almost any given day.
******
The least surprising news last week was the House Intelligence Committee releasing its final report on Kremlingate. Its conclusion could be accurately summarized as NO PUPPET! YOU’RE THE PUPPET!
But NBC reported this week that a study by the Center for American Progress’s Moscow Project found that “the House committee charged with investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election obtained either no or incomplete information about 81 percent of the known contacts between the rich asshole officials and Russians, or groups and individuals with strong Russia ties like Wikileaks.”
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Finally, following up on a couple of stories we’ve discussed in the past, Politico reportedthat “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his wife took a security detail on their vacation to Greece and Turkey last year;… one watchdog group said could be a ‘questionable’ use of taxpayer resources.” And according to The Daily Beast, Re. Claudia Tenney, a Republican from New York, explained to a radio show host why Ben Carson shouldn’t bee held responsible for ordering that $31,000 dining set: “Somebody in the Deep State, it was not one of his people apparently, ordered a table, like a conference room table or whatever it was for a room…And that’s what the cost was.”
Poor Ben Carson – just another victim of the perfidious Derp State.
Florida student screams his warning to the rich asshole: ‘Mr. President — I’m watching you. So help me I will vote you out!’
Lansing Academy student whose school is just miles from MSD in Parkland, Florida (Photo: Screen capture)
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Just miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is Lansing Academy, where one Parkland, Florida, student attends classes. While marching in his hometown, he said that he’s been waiting to see change on this issue.
“It’s about time we see change,” the student explained. “To be honest, as a kid, not just a kid — a person of the area, but as a kid with autism, we believe that people with special needs should also stand. And with the people with the Friendship Initiative with the people in the community I think we could make that happen.”
He then turned for a special message to President some rich asshole.
“Mr. President, if you’re watching, I’m watching you,” he warned. “You better, darn know, I will make sure you sign that bill into law and that you will change this. So help me, I will vote you out!”
Watch his comments below:
the rich asshole claims he celebrates protesting students — but still refuses to support the laws they demand
some rich asshole plays golf at the rich asshole National Doral (screen grab)
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There are no public events scheduled on the White House calendar for President some rich asshole Saturday. However, the White House press pool arrived at the golf club earlier this morning and are holding nearby in a parking lot.
While it’s unclear if the rich asshole is spending the day golfing, it’s expected he will be. Deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters released a statement from the rich asshole claiming he celebrates the students marching. Yet, when given the opportunity to advocate laws that would stop school shootings, all the rich asshole could do is propose teachers have guns.
“We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today,” the statement read. “Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix NICS and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law. Additionally, on Friday, the Department of Justice issued the rule to ban bump stocks following through on the President’s commitment to ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.”
the rich asshole is not expected to appear at any of the rallies or protests Saturday.
WATCH: Here’s how one town got rid of a racist billionaire the rich asshole ally
Carl Paladino (Wikimedia Commons)
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It’s an age-old question: how do you fight a bully? Or perhaps yet more timely, how do you topple a bullying racist billionaire politician?
The new Field of Vision documentary Adversary zooms in on a town doing its best to answer this question. Buffalo is home to Carl Paladino, who amassed his enormous fortune by putting up buildings all over town and across western New York state. Formerly a Democrat who gave generously to the party, by the mid-aughts, Paladino became a Republican and an active voice in the Tea Party movement. The real estate developer self-funded a run for New York governor in 2010, with longtime Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone serving as adviser and with anti-Obamaism as his primary platform. The New York Times wrote an almost poignant paean to Paladino’s “combative style,” highlighting his “outsize, impulsive and even outrageous behavior.”
“Buffalo media trip over themselves to get access to Paladino,” wrote Western New York political site WNYmedia at the time, apparently underestimating the scope of Paladino’s free ad potential, “because practically everything he says has the potential of being hugely controversial.”
In the midst of his gubernatorial bid, that same outlet leaked emails from Paladino that included pornography, bestiality, racist Obama jokes, and at least once, the N word. Despite, or perhaps because of those revelations, the candidate defeated all GOP takers in the primary and rose to the top of the Republican ticket.
If this story sounds uncannily like that of another septuagenarian plumbing the political depths, that’s because Paladino and the rich asshole are two of a kind. (The former would go on to co-chair the latter’s campaign in New York.) But in the general election, Paladino lost to the widely unliked establishment Democrat.
Three years after that loss, Paladino ran for and won a seat on Buffalo’s school board. He also became a prolific property developer of charter schools in the area. Adversary offers a look at the inevitable conflict that arises when Paladino, a man prone to belligerent racist outbursts, takes a spot on a board filled with a significant number of women of color in a district that’s 80 percent black and brown students.
Director Scott Cummings’ documentary is featured in its entirety below:
Rights groups slam the rich asshole’s ban on transgender military service
Posted with permission from Al Jazeera
Human rights groups have slammed a White House order that bans most transgender individuals from serving in the US military."There is simply no way to spin it, the Trump-Pence Administration is going all in on its discriminatory, unconstitutional and despicable ban on transgender troops," Chad Griffin, the Human Rights Council president, said in a statement on Friday.A memo, released late on Friday, laid out the new policy, which formalises a pledge first made by US President Donald Trump on Twitter to implement a ban.
"The policies set forth by the Secretary of Defense state that transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria -- individuals who the policies state may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery -- are disqualified from military service except under certain limited circumstances," Trump said in the memo.
Despite objections from from rights groups, as well as top military personnel and politicians on boths sides of the aisle, Trump ordered the policy, claiming it was "developed through extensive study by senior uniformed and civilian leaders, including combat veterans".
'Transphobia masquerading as policy'
A similar ban, which reversed a policy shift started under his predecessor, President Barack Obama, has previously been blocked by federal judges in four separate cases, and is currently being challenged in court."Barring further court action, the administration cannot implement this ban," HRC said in a statement.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has won a case against the ban, said on Twitter the "policy effectively coerces transgender people who wish to serve into choosing between their humanity and their country, and makes it clear that transgender service members are not welcome".
It added: "What the White House released tonight is transphobia masquerading as policy, for the sole purpose of carrying out President Trump's reckless and unconstitutional ban. It undermines the ability of trans service members to serve openly and military readiness as a whole." Matt Thorn of OutServe-SLDN, a group dedicated to LGBTQ equality in the military, said in a statement that "this policy is a thinly-veiled and feeble attempt by the Trump-Pence administration to justify the unnecessary discrimination of qualified patriots in order to advance their own personal agendas and in defiance of the administration's top military leadership".
He added that the plan is "riddled with blatant animus, bigotry, and ignorance but conveniently void of any foundational bases or facts".
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