‘All criminal roads led to the rich asshole Tower’: Christopher Steele noticed the rich asshole-Russia corruption long before dossier
Christopher Steele (Telegraph)
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The author of a notorious dossier linking President some rich asshole to Russia had been suspicious about the real estate developer and reality TV star long before the 2016 campaign.
Former British spy Christopher Steele was hired in summer 2016 to examine then-Republican presidential candidate the rich asshole’s ties to Russia, but his previous investigative work had turned up links between the reality TV star and corrupt oligarchs, reported The New Yorker.
Steele came across the rich asshole’s name almost immediately after leaving MI-6 and founding the consulting firm Orbis Business Intelligence nearly a decade ago.
The former intelligence officer’s first client was England’s Football Association, which suspected corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup, and Steele eventually determined the Kremlin bribed FIFA voters so Russia could host the event.
Steele contacted the FBI in 2011 and asked them to investigate global corruption at FIFA, the World Cup’s governing body, and the Justice Department indicted 14 people in 2015 on racketeering, conspiracy and corruption charges in the case.
One of the FIFA officials, Chuck Blazer, became an FBI informant and helped bring down the organization’s longtime president, Sepp Blatter.
Blazer, who died last year at 72, rented an $1,800 a month apartment in the rich asshole Tower, just a few floors down from the building’s namesake.
There’s no indication that the rich asshole was aware of FIFA crimes, but he must have noticed Blazer — who rented an apartment for his cats at the rich asshole Tower and often walked around New York with a macaw on his shoulder.
Steele came across the rich asshole Tower again after the FBI hired him to help investigate international gambling and money-laundering ring operated out of the rich asshole’s residential tower by Russian mobster Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov.
Federal authorities eventually indicted more than 30 co-conspirators for financial crimes, although Tokhtakhounov fled and remains a fugitive.
However, Tokhtakhounov showed up in fall 2013 at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, and sat near his old landlord the rich asshole — who owned the contest at the time.
“It was as if all criminal roads led to the rich asshole Tower,” Steele told friends, according to The New Yorker.
British ex-spy claims Kremlin blocked the rich asshole from naming Mitt Romney as secretary of state: report
some rich asshole and Mitt Romney (Twitter)
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Former MI6 spy Christopher Steele has reportedly told special counsel Robert Mueller that he believes the Russian government directly intervened to block President some rich asshole from appointing Mitt Romney as his secretary of state.
In a New Yorker profile of Steele published Monday, reporter Jane Mayer writes that Steele — who authored the infamous Fusion GPS dossier alleging deep ties between President some rich asshole and the Russian government — wrote a memo in late 2016 claiming that Russia worked to stop then-President elect the rich asshole from making noted Russia hawk Romney his chief diplomat.
“This memo, which did not surface publicly with the others, is shorter than the rest, and is based on one source, described as ‘a senior Russian official,'” writes Mayer. “The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he’d heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had intervened to block the rich asshole’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney.”
As Mayer notes, however, the rich asshole had plenty of reasons to reject Romney as his secretary of state other than his views on Russia, including Romney’s own blistering criticism of the rich asshole during the 2016 presidential campaign. the rich asshole did eventually pass over Romney and instead named former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his top diplomat.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Puts Pressure On NAFTA Talks With More Tariff Threats
Canada and Mexico could be exempt from new tariffs if they renegotiate the trade deal, he hinted.
President some rich asshole continued to call for changes to U.S. trade deals on Monday, saying that he’s open to pulling back on the tariffs he plans to impose on international trade partners if Mexico and Canada come to the table and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
the rich asshole announced his intention to slap a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports on Thursday. He didn’t specify which countries the measures would apply to but White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that no countries would be exempt.
Major U.S. trade partners, including both Canada and Mexico, hit back at the rich asshole and threatened retaliatory measures last week.
the rich asshole has threatened to pull out of NAFTA for two years unless the United States can agree to a renegotiated deal with Canada and Mexico that the rich asshole views as more beneficial to the U.S. NAFTA talks have been underway without much progress for the last six months. The latest round of negotiations was scheduled to take place between ministers from all three countries on Monday.
the rich asshole’s apparent willingness to exempt Canada and Mexico from tariffs, however, would not apply to the U.S.’s other major steel and aluminum trade partners across Europe and Latin America. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her “deep concern” with the rich asshole’s proposal during a phone call Sunday.
POLITICS
the rich asshole’s Voter Fraud Czar, And His Claims About Illegal Voting, Are About To Go On Trial
“This could really be in a lot of ways the case where we really put the evidence of fraud on trial in this country,” said the ACLU’s Dale Ho.
In 2013, Donna Bucci, a woman in her 50′s living in Wichita, Kansas, went to renew her driver’s license. Bucci had been Kansas resident for a few years, and decided to use her trip to the DMV as an opportunity to register to vote while she was there.
Bucci didn’t need to prove she was a citizen to renew her license (Kansas says an expiring license is good enough). But shortly after she registered, she received a phone call and a letter in the mail saying her voter registration was still pending because she hadn’t proved she was a citizen. Bucci, who was born in Maryland, didn’t have a copy of her birth certificate or any of the other documents, like a passport, to prove she was a citizen. She was working a minimum wage job at a correctional facility at the time and couldn’t afford the $20 to get her birth certificate from Maryland. Because she couldn’t prove she was a citizen, Kansas kicked her off the voting rolls.
Earlier in the same year that Bucci registered, Kansas implemented a law requiring people to prove their citizenship when they register to vote. Spearheaded by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), officials said it was necessary to prevent noncitizens from getting on the voting rolls. Kobach put anyone who didn’t prove they were a citizen on a “suspense list” and purged them from the rolls if they couldn’t prove it, including Bucci.
In 2016, Bucci joined five other Kansans to sue Kobach and challenge the law. They say the law is unnecessarily restrictive and violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), a 1993 law that requires states to offer people the opportunity to register at DMVs and other state agencies. The NVRA says when someone registers to vote at the DMV, the state can only ask people for the minimum amount of information necessary to assess whether they’re eligible.
While the Kansas law might not pose a hurdle to anyone with easy access to a passport or other proof of citizenship documents, the plaintiffs say that it targets young people, who may move around a lot, as well as the poor and minorities who don’t have access to proof of citizenship documents or can’t pay to get them. Arizona, Georgia and Alabama have also sought to impose proof of citizenship requirements on new voters.
Trial in the case begins Tuesday in Kansas City. The Kansas law has been on hold since 2016, when a federal judge stepped in to issue a temporary injunction ordering Kobach to register 18,000 people who had tried to register at the DMV but failed to prove their citizenship. At the time of the judge’s ruling, there were over 32,000 people in the state whose registration, like Bucci’s, was in limbo. A federal appeals court upheld the judge’s decision, saying Kansas and Kobach needed to show the current practice of allowing people to swear they were citizens under penalty of perjury wasn’t doing enough to prevent noncitizens from voting.
The case, which will determine whether Kansas can continue to block tens of thousands of people from registering to vote if they can’t prove their citizenship, hinges on the question at the center of the national debate over voting restrictions: Is there enough evidence of noncitizens registering to vote to justify a law that imposes a substantial hurdle to registering?
Kobach has long been one of the loudest voices arguing that widespread voter fraud is a problem, a claim that several studies and investigations have debunked. Kobach, whom President some rich asshole picked to lead a now defunct commission to investigate voter fraud, will now have to prove his claims in a court of law.
Dale Ho, the director of the voting rights project at the ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, said it was “not an accident” that Kobach was at the center of the lawsuit.
“This could really be in a lot of ways the case where we really put the evidence of fraud on trial in this country,” he said. “You have the nation’s chief purveyor of fraud talking about this. Well now he’s going to have to try and prove it in court, not on Fox News.”
“You have the nation’s chief purveyor of fraud talking about this. Well now he’s going to have to try and prove it in court, not on Fox News.”Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s voting rights project
Kobach has tried hard to get around the NVRA requirements for what officials can ask about when someone tries to register to vote. He unsuccessfully sought to amend the federal voter registration requirements to allow states to ask about proof of citizenship.
The morning after the 2016 election, Kobach wrote to a rich asshole transition official and said he was already working on an amendment to NVRA that would make it acceptable for states to ask people to prove they were citizens when they registered to vote. Later that month, Kobach met with the rich asshole and brought a memo recommending changing NVRA to allow states to ask for proof of citizenship. Shortly after that meeting, the rich asshole tweeted that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for illegal votes and would later go on to say that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the election. The White House has failed to substantiate that claim, but has publicly pointed to Kobach as someone who can.
Kobach has suggested that 127 noncitizens in Kansas registered or attempted to register to vote in the state anytime before 2013, instances which he said diluted a legitimate voter’s ballot. That 127 number represents less than 0.01 percent of the total number of voters in Kansas. But Kobach has said there could be more than 18,000 noncitizens on the rolls. He plans to offer a series of experts during the trial to support the claim.
The ACLU says roughly one in seven voters in Kansas were blocked from voting because of the proof of citizenship law between 2013 and 2016. Because noncitizen attempts to register in the state are so rare, Ho says the Kansas law is like “taking a bazooka to a fly.”
For people who have easy access to a passport or birth certificate, Ho acknowledged it can be difficult to see how a proof of citizenship requirement is unfairly restrictive. But the fact that so many voters were blocked, Ho said, is evidence of just how burdensome the law is.
“If seven people fail to comply with this law, then you’d say, ‘Well come on guys, get your act together,’” he said. “But it’s one out of every seven registrants in the state. That tells you that it’s a problem.”
Kobach has said that one of the reasons proof of citizenship isn’t burdensome is because people have to prove they’re a citizen when they apply to get a license. But in its complaint, the ACLU said there were thousands of people in Kansas who registered when getting their license for the first time, but failed to make it onto the rolls. Kobach, the ACLU says, wasn’t making an effort to match voter registration records with DMV records, and required people to submit proof of citizenship a second time to register to vote. NVRA prohibits states from making that kind of duplicative request, according to the ACLU.
Last year, the Kansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issed a deeply critical analysis of the proof of citizenship law. They noted that there was a correlation between where African-American voters lived and areas where high numbers of people who were on Kobach’s suspense list. The commission compared the fees people have to pay to get documents to a “poll tax” and recommended that the Department of Justice review whether it violated federal law, including the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Kobach, who is running for Kansas governor, is taking the unusual step of representing himself in the case. He has already been sanctioned with a $1,000 fine in the case for misleading the court about the contents of the documents he brought to his November 2016 meeting with the rich asshole.
Kobach, who declined to be interviewed through a spokeswoman, has staunchly defended the proof of citizenship law and has indicated in court documents that he will defend it all the way to the United States Supreme Court (though his term ends in 2019 and he is not seeking reelection).
“The ACLU has declared war on election security laws like ours in Kansas. This war is something that is outrageous,” he said in an interview with Fox News in February. “They’re making ridiculous arguments like it’s an unconstitutional burden for you to reach into your file cabinet at home and find your birth certificate.”
This story has been updated to include a more exact figure for the percentage of noncitizens that Kobach estimated had voted in Kansas prior to 2013.
By LOUIS NELSON
03/05/2018 09:17 AM EST
President some rich asshole questioned Monday morning why the Obama-era Justice Department launched an investigation into his campaign in the midst of the 2016 election, positing that then-President Barack Obama had sought to kneecap the rich asshole campaign and bolster that of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the rich asshole Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November?” the rich asshole wrote on Twitter, leveling allegations that dispute previously reported details. “Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.”
The president has made a habit of lashing out at Obama and of complaining about the ongoing investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and allegations that individuals connected to the rich asshole campaign colluded with those efforts. the rich asshole has regularly labeled those investigations as a “witch hunt.”
the rich asshole’s morning accusations against his predecessor run counter to public reporting that Obama’s Justice Department was in the midst of investigating the Russian connections of the rich asshole campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos as the 2016 campaign was ongoing. The New York Times reported that Russian spies in 2013 tried to recruit Carter Page, though he was not connected to the rich asshole campaign at the time.
And while the rich asshole wrote online Monday that Obama had sought to aid the Clinton campaign with talk of the Kremlin’s meddling efforts, Vice President Joe Biden said in January that the Obama administration was fearful in 2016 that fully discussing the known breadth of Russia’s efforts would be seen as a partisan move. Biden recalled that the White House sought bipartisan help in warning the American people of the Kremlin’s interference campaign but were rebuffed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a charge McConnell’s office has denied.
POLITICS
State Department Has Spent None Of The $120 Million Allocated To Fight Russian Interference
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has cast doubt on his own agency’s ability to combat foreign governments.
The State Department has spent $0 of $120 million allocated by Congress to combat foreign efforts to influence U.S. elections, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
Despite the massive budget, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has done little to thwart a sweeping influence campaign by the Russian government, and an office tasked with countering such efforts has no employees that even speak Russian due to an ongoing hiring freeze.
Tillerson himself has continued to doubt the ability of his department to combat Russia, and just last month said that if Moscow wanted to meddle, it was “going to find ways to do that.”
The report comes as American intelligence officials and lawmakers warn that the Kremlin is, once again, working to influence upcoming elections, using a coordinated campaign of social media trolls and disinformation in an attempt to sway voters.
Congress directed the Pentagon to give $60 million to the State Department in late 2016 to combat such efforts. But the Times reported Tillerson took seven months deciding if he should spend the money, and when the agency finally asked for it, the fiscal year was almost over and the request denied.
Another $60 million became available for the next fiscal year, but both State and the Department of Defense have been at loggerheads over how much money to send over. After media outlets, including the Times and Politico, began asking about the funding, the Pentagon said last Monday it would direct $40 million to the State Department sometime in April.
The U.S. government also has vast resources and spends billions each year on cyberweapons, but those tools do little against trolling campaigns.
Rather, State’s Global Engagement Center would use the funding to develop means to combat social media campaigns to influence voters. The Times notes the office could do so by crafting anti-propaganda projects, or amplifying pro-democracy voices.
President some rich asshole has done little himself to combat Russian meddling. Rather, he’s moved to deny the influence of Moscow in his own election, despite many of the nation’s leading intelligence agencies saying otherwise.
When Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians last month for such interference, the rich asshole tweeted that his campaign “did nothing wrong” and once again emphasized that there was “no collusion!”
Regardless of the president’s opinions, however, intelligence officials warned last month that Russia was using the internet once again to sow discord among American voters.
“We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,” Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate in February. “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.”
This is what an insider trading expert thinks about Carl Icahn’s stock dump
Icahn dumped over $30 million in steel-related stock days before the rich asshole's tariff announcement.
One of the nation’s leading experts in insider trading, James D. Cox, believes that Carl Icahn’s sale of more than 1 million shares of a steel-related stock just days before President the rich asshole announced plans to impose steep tariffs on steel imports was “awfully suspicious” and “unquestionably” warrants a federal investigation.
Cox, a professor at Duke Law, has been teaching and writing about insider trading law for nearly 50 years. He has testified as an expert on the subject before the U.S. House and Senate. Cox literally wrote the book on corporate governance, co-authoring the multi-volume treatise Cox and Hazen on Corporations, which includes a section on insider trading law.
Last week, ThinkProgress broke the news that Icahn systematically sold off nearly 1 million shares of Manitowoc Company Inc between February 12 and February 22. Manitowoc, a leading manufacturer of cranes and other heavy-duty lifting equipment, is highly-dependent on steel. Just seven days later, the rich asshole disclosed at a White House event that he was planning a 25 percent tariff on steel imports.
Manitowoc stock, along with other steel-dependent companies, plunged. The stock is down nearly 9 percent in the two trading days since the rich asshole’s announcement.
Icahn, a billionaire investor, is a long-time friend of the rich asshole, who repeatedly invoked his name as a trusted adviser on the campaign trail. After the rich asshole took office, Icahn was named as a “special adviser” to the president but was forced to resign his position a few months later, ahead of a New Yorker article that detailed several potential conflicts of interest and alleged that Icahn was using his position and access to protect the value of his investments.
Icahn and the rich asshole are still in touch, though Icahn said last week that they have not had “much” interaction in the last four months.
Cox told ThinkProgress that Icahn could have violated insider trading law if he had a conversation with the rich asshole or someone else at the White House, even if that conversation stopped short of revealing a definite plan or intention to impose steel tariffs.
Icahn would have material information even if the rich asshole never had made up his mind he was going to impose the tariffs. There are cases out there that say, you know, look, if your privileged access gives you information that makes you a better person to judge the likelihood of an uncertain event, then that’s inside trading… So if the rich asshole had some long conversation, or even a short conversation, with Icahn or in Icahn’s presence, talking about what are the upsides and downsides of this, that’s something that most people don’t know about, and Icahn would then be able to have a better insight of the possibility, if not likelihood, that the rich asshole would impose these tariffs.
The White House has not responded to inquires about Icahn’s suspicious trade from ThinkProgress or numerous other outlets that picked up the story. An unnamed White House spokesman, however, talked to NPR and seemed to suggest that, if Icahn and the rich asshole had spoken about tariffs before the public announcement it would not be insider trading.
On Friday, a White House spokesman dismissed the idea that the president would have fed Icahn any insider information, pointing to the fact that the rich asshole has long said both publicly and privately that he wanted to impose tariffs.
Notably, the White House statement does not deny that the rich asshole and Icahn spoke about the tariffs prior to the public announcement. Cox was not impressed with the White House argument.
“It’s been in the atmosphere, but if there was a conversation or a bit of information that made the uncertainty less uncertain,” Cox said, “[W]hat’s important here, is did [Icahn] have privileged information that allowed him to better evaluate the likelihood that the rich asshole would actually do something.”
Cox explained that the legal standard for Icahn’s liability is whether it was “more likely or not [he] traded on material nonpublic information.”
One key factor would be the timing of the sale. The sale came in close proximity to the rich asshole’s announcement on tariffs after a multi-year period of inactivity where Icahn was not actively trading Manitowoc stock.
There was a February 8 earnings call where Manitowoc revealed that it had missed its projections on earnings. But Cox noted that Icahn did not begin selling his stock after the call, instead waiting several additional days. Cox called the delay “an interesting factor.”
A federal investigation into Icahn could be initiated by the SEC or the FBI. Cox said that, in his experience, the known facts “unquestionably” warrant a federal investigation by one of those entities.
One complicating factor is that Icahn was reportedly involved in selecting the rich asshole’s SEC chairman, Jay Clayton. During his confirmation hearing, Clayton acknowledged that he spoke to Icahn after he was nominated to the position even though there were ongoing SEC investigations into Icahn at the time.
At that hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asked Clayton a prescient question: “Mr. Clayton, if Mr. Icahn had inside information about federal regulatory policy effecting Bristol-Myers and he chose to purchase shares in the company based on that information is that potentially a violation of securities laws?”
“The question of the scope of securities laws around insider trading is a very facts and circumstances analysis,” Clayton replied.
Cox called Clayton’s connection to Icahn “an embarrassment” and, at a minimum, “creates a disclosure problem” about the nature of their communications.
the rich asshole renews charges of unfair Obama investigation 'bigger than Watergate'
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 03/05/18 08:46 AM EST
President the rich asshole on Monday accused the Obama administration of conspiring to start an investigation into his campaign to help Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton win the presidency, pronouncing it "bigger than Watergate" in a Monday morning tweet.
The tweet was a continuation of the rich asshole's argument that the FBI under Obama was out to get him.
the rich asshole has repeatedly said his campaign did not collude with Russia, which intelligence officials believe meddled in the election with the goal of helping the rich asshole and hurting Clinton.
“Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the rich asshole Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November?” the rich asshole tweeted.
“Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling,” he continued.
Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.
The tweets come weeks after special counsel Robert Mueller brought new charges against 13 Russian individuals and three Russian groups related to election meddling.
The bureau had already publicly disclosed its investigation into Clinton, who as secretary of State used a private email server over which classified information had been sent.
As part of the FBI investigation, the Justice Department monitored former the rich asshole campaign aide Carter Page. Those surveillance applications became the focal point of a GOP-crafted memo released earlier this year alleging political bias within the FBI.
the rich asshole has previously claimed the Obama administration “did nothing” to stop Russian election interference, particularly after Mueller filed charges against the Russian nationals and organizations for their role in the meddling.
Obama issued sanctions against Russia for the meddling after U.S. intelligence officials said they had found evidence that the country had hacked U.S. groups and leaked emails in an effort to influence the 2016 vote.
Some Democrats have acknowledged the Obama administration could have taken a more forceful stance to oppose Russian meddling. Ex-Obama administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, have said they did not want to take action that would make it appear they favored one candidate over the other.
Democrats have criticized the rich asshole for declining to implement new sanctions against Russia that passed Congress last year by overwhelming, bipartisan margins.
A State Department spokesperson said earlier this year that the legislation allowing for the sanctions was already "serving as a deterrent" and there was no need to penalize Russia further at this time.
Kelly questions what Kushner, Ivanka the rich asshole do all day: report
BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 03/05/18 08:40 AM EST
Chief of staff John Kelly is reportedly frustrated with White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka the rich asshole and has questioned what the couple does during the day, The Associated Press reported Monday.
Sources told the AP that Kelly is angry with the pair, claiming that they are responsible for President the rich asshole changing his mind on policies at the last minute.
He also questions what the couple does all day and is upset by their “freelancing,” according to the AP.
The report comes after Kelly limited Kushner's access to sensitive information following a review of White House staffers' security clearances.
Kushner and Ivanka the rich asshole reportedly viewed Kelly’s work on the clearances as a direct attack on them, according to the AP.
The AP’s report comes after a series of news stories about Kushner in recent days, not limited to reports of his downgraded security clearance.
The New York Times reported last week that President the rich asshole is frustrated with the coverage and is quietly looking for ways to remove Kushner and his daughter from the White House.
And the rich asshole family is reportedly upset with Kelly, blaming him for the negative reports about Kushner.
Kelly said in a statement last month that he has “full confidence” in Kushner to do his job.
"As I told Jared days ago, I have full confidence in his ability to continue performing his duties in his foreign policy portfolio including overseeing our Israeli–Palestinian peace effort and serving as an integral part of our relationship with Mexico," he said. "Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president’s agenda. There is no truth to any suggestion otherwise.”
Sources close to Kushner and Ivanka the rich asshole say the couple does not have plans to leave Washington, according to the AP report.
Election expert says GOP may have already lost House to Democrats: the rich asshole coalition ‘will not turn out’
Paul Ryan and GOP presenting Tax Bill (cnn.com)
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A top election analyst asserted this week that it may be too late for Republicans to retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cowen & Co.’s Washington Research Group managing editor Chris Krueger told Axios’ Mike Allen that there are multitude of signs pointing to a Democratic takeover of the House.
Krueger noted that in the six previous midterm elections where the president’s job approval was under 50 percent, the president’s party lost an average of 43 seats. Democrats need to win 24 seats to win the House.
According to Krueger, Democrats are expected to get half of the necessary wins by flipping seven of the Republican seats in California and six in Pennsylvania. He said that Republicans are also vulnerable in suburban areas, where there are nearly two dozen GOP districts that were won by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
But Kruger also suggested that the rich asshole coalition would be a “wild card” in the coming midterms.
“[W]e suspect the unique coalition that supported the president will not turn out for generic House members of that President’s party,” Allen reported. “You do not drain the swamp by reelecting the establishment and the deep state.”
Read the entire report here
the rich asshole: Planned steel, aluminum tariffs will go away if there is a new NAFTA deal
March 5, 2018
VOA News
Posted with permission from Voice of America
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that his planned steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would only be reversed if a "new and fair" trade deal with Canada and Mexico is reached.
The three countries are currently in negotiations regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In addition to mentioning steel and aluminum tariffs, Trump further said that in a new deal Canada "must treat our farmers better" and Mexico has to do more to stop drugs from reaching the United States.
Canada is the largest U.S. trading partner and last year shipped $7.2 billion worth of aluminum and $4.3 billion of steel to the United States.
The tariffs would also hit other U.S. allies — Britain, Germany, South Korea, Turkey and Japan. But China, the world's biggest steel producer, only sends 2 percent of its supply to the U.S. and would be less affected.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that Trump is not planning to exempt any countries from the tariff hike.
Navarro told CNN that final details on Trump's anticipated 25 percent tax on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum should be completed by later in the week or early next week at the latest.
Trump's new tariffs for the key metals have drawn wide condemnation from business-oriented Republican lawmakers in the U.S., as well as Canada and the European Union. But Navarro said the tariffs are needed to "protect our national security and economic security, broadly defined."
He dismissed concerns from Defense Department officials who voiced support for targeted tariff increases aimed at specific countries but not increases on the imported metals from throughout the world.
Navarro called it "a slippery slope" to target only some countries with increased tariffs while exempting others. He said there would be a mechanism to exclude some businesses, on a case-by-case basis, from having to pay higher prices for the imported metals.
Navarro said the message to the world on U.S. trade practices is simple: "We're not going to take it anymore. We don't get good results," Navarro said, adding that U.S. trade overseas is "not fair and reciprocal."
In another news talk show appearance, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told ABC News that Trump has talked with "a number of the world leaders" about his trade tariff plans.
British Prime Minister Theresa May's office said that in a Sunday phone call with Trump she had "raised our deep concern at the president’s forthcoming announcement on steel and aluminum tariffs, noting that multilateral action was the only way to resolve the problem of global overcapacity in all parties’ interests."
U.S. Commerce Secretary Ross said the total value of the impending U.S. tariffs amounts to about $9 billion a year, a fraction of 1 percent of the annual $18.6 trillion U.S. economy, the world's largest.
"So, the notion that it would destroy a lot of jobs, raise prices, disrupt things, is wrong," Ross said.
Ross dismissed European Union threats of imposing retaliatory tariffs on such prominent American products as Harley Davidson motorcycles, bourbon and Levi's jeans as unimportant and a "rounding error."
In response on Saturday, Trump threatened European automakers with a tax on imports if the European Union retaliates against the U.S.
Ross called the possible European levies a "pretty trivial amount of retaliatory tariffs, adding up to some $3 billion of goods. In our size economy, that's a tiny, tiny fraction of 1 percent. So, while it might affect an individual producer for a little while, overall, it's not going to be much more than a rounding error."
Trump weighed in Saturday on his rationale for the tariff hikes with a pair of Twitter comments.
"The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our 'very stupid' trade deals and policies," he said. "Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!
"The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our 'very stupid' trade deals and policies," he said. "Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!
"If the EU wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.," he added. "They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!"
In 2017, the U.S. imported $151 billion more in goods from Europe than it exported to EU countries.
the rich asshole: Tariffs will ‘come off’ if Mexico, Canada sign ‘new & fair’ NAFTA deal
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 03/05/18 07:16 AM EST
President the rich asshole said Monday that tariffs he announced on steel and aluminum imports will "come off" Mexico and Canada if there is “a new & fair” North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“We have large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. NAFTA, which is under renegotiation right now, has been a bad deal for U.S.A.,” the rich asshole wrote on Twitter.
We have large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. NAFTA, which is under renegotiation right now, has been a bad deal for U.S.A. Massive relocation of companies & jobs. Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed. Also, Canada must..
the rich asshole last week announced a plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum, a move that shook both Washington, D.C. and the global markets.
The president, who railed against trade deals like NAFTA during his campaign in 2016, also slammed Canada on Monday for how the country treats “our farmers” and said Mexico allows drugs to continue “pouring into the U.S.”
“Also, Canada must.....treat our farmers much better. Highly restrictive,” the rich asshole said. “Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done. Millions of people addicted and dying.”
...treat our farmers much better. Highly restrictive. Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done. Millions of people addicted and dying.
‘If I want to call you a liar, I’ll do it to your face’: CNN’s Cuomo slaps down the rich asshole defender in angry ‘chaos’ exchange
CNN's Chris Cuomo, Matt Schlapp -- screenshots
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New Day host Chris Cuomo had to shut down a snarling the rich asshole defender on Monday morning who kept trying to twist the CNN hosts words in an effort to avoid answering questions about White House discord during a contentious interview.
Speaking with American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp, host Cuomo brought up reports of “chaos” in the White House causing the conservative gadfly to immediately become defensive.
“Make the case for why there’s no chaos in the White House,” host Cuomo challenged while sharing a list of problems that roiled the rich asshole Administration just last week. “You tell me, why is there no chaos?”
“There’s a lot of activity and energy and announcements coming from the White House,” Schlapp explained. ” I think the news media seems to be focused very much on some kind of chaos amongst the personnel at the white house and of course there are stories there too.”
“I don’t know how you can look at this White House just in all the talent they’ve sweated in one year alone, Matt,” Cuomo lectured. “We’ve never seen anything like this. We’ve never seen the amount of scandals, the amount of turnover, the amount of drama, of all these different levels. How can you deny that reality?”
“I agree with you that, especially, this White House started off that way, but I think under General Kelly, I think things have gotten more orderly,” Schlapp parried.
‘We just had the porter scandal and Kelly’s right in the middle of it saying he didn’t know these things, which is so hard to believe, ” Cuomo pressed.
“I don’t think you should call the general a liar, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” the conservative fired back.
The stunned Cuomo cut Schlapp off, questioning, “Did you hear that word come out of my mouth?”
‘”You used the euphemism, ‘it’s hard to believe what he’s saying,” Schlapp challenged.
“If I want to call you a liar I’ll do it right to your face and they’ll be a smile on mine,” Cuomo challenged. “It’s about the fact that the FBI reports that the White House counsel’s office knew about this. If it happened in another administration you’d have gone nuts.”
Watch the video below via CNN:
the rich asshole Organization ordered golf course markers with the presidential seal — that may be illegal
some rich asshole at at the rich asshole International in New Jersey (Shutterstock)
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President some rich asshole loves putting his name on everything from ties to steaks to water — and, of course, his buildings. But now the rich asshole Organization appears to be borrowing a brand even more powerful than the gilded the rich asshole moniker: the presidential seal.
In recent weeks, the rich asshole Organization has ordered the manufacture of new tee markers for golf courses that are emblazoned with the seal of the President of the United States. Under federal law, the seal’s use is permitted only for official government business. Misuse can be a crime.
Past administrations have policed usage vigilantly. In 2005 the Bush administration ordered the satirical news website The Onion to remove a replica of the seal. Grant M. Dixton, associate White House counsel, wrote in a letter to The Onion that the seal “is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement.”
After listening to the new ProPublica/WNYC podcast “the rich asshole, Inc.,” a listener brought the signs to our attention.
Eagle Sign and Design, a metalworking and sign company with offices in New Albany, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky, said it had received an order to manufacture dozens of round, 12-inch replicas of the presidential seal to be placed next to the tee boxes at the rich asshole golf course holes. Two tee markers are placed on the ground at the start of a hole on golf courses to indicate where golfers should stand to take their first swing.
“We made the design, and the client confirmed the design,” said Joseph E. Bates, who owns Eagle Sign, declining to say who the client was.
An order form for the tee markers reviewed by ProPublica and WNYC says the customer was “the rich asshole International.” The Facebook page for Eagle Sign and Design shows a photo of the markers in an album with the caption “the rich asshole International Golf Course.”
It is unclear how many the rich asshole International golf courses will feature the markers. The rich asshole Organization owns four courses with the “International” name in the U.S. and abroad, with a fifth course in Bali, Indonesia, in the works.
Eagle Sign makes a wide array of tee markers out of bronze and aluminum, and has made other signs for the rich asshole’s courses, according to its website. At some of the rich asshole’s golf courses, tee markers have sported the rich asshole family crest, which he took from the family that originally owned Mar-a-Lago without permission and then altered by adding his own name.
Ethics experts have long been on the lookout for signs that the rich asshole Organization would exploit the office of the presidency for commercial gain. Several said that using the presidential seal on the company’s golf courses would fall into this category.
A law governs the manufacture or use of the seal, its likeness, “or any facsimile thereof” for anything other than official U.S. government business. It can be a criminal offense punishable by up to six months in prison.
The “law is an expression of the idea that the government and government authority should not be used for private purpose,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University specializing in government and legal ethics said. “It would be a misuse of government authority.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment on whether it was aware the seal had been used by entities outside the government. The White House and the rich asshole Organization did not respond to request for comment.
The presidential seal was first sketched out by President Millard Fillmore in 1850 and the current design — which shows a bald eagle with an olive branch in its right talon, a bundle of 13 arrows in the left, and a scroll bearing the words “E pluribus unum” in its beak — was chosen by President Truman and made official in a 1945 executive order.
The seal that adorns the president’s speaking lecterns is handmade by the Institute of Heraldry, a department of the Army located at Fort Belvoir in Virginia that designs and provides guidance related to military and governmental symbols.
Versions of the seal have occasionally been put to personal use by past presidents. George W. Bush and Barack Obama had custom sets of golf balls made with the seal. Ronald and Nancy Reagan had a set of presidential china bearing the seal, and there have even been M&M’s and jelly beans that featured the seal.
In this case, the difference is that a private company is using the seal, said Richard Painter, vice chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government accountability group. Painter also served as an associate White House counsel during the George W. Bush administration.
“If we had heard of a private company using it for commercial purposes, we would have sent them a nasty letter,” he said.
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‘Bigger than Watergate!’ the rich asshole launches furious Twitter rant accusing Obama of election meddling
Pres. some rich asshole gives an angry response during an interview (Screen capture)
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President some rich asshole on Monday unleashed a furious tweet accusing former President Barack Obama of doing too much and too little to stop Russia from helping him get elected president.
“Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the rich asshole Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November?” the rich asshole asked. “Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win.”
Directly after accusing Obama of doing too much to interfere in the election to help Hillary Clinton win, the rich asshole said that Obama didn’t do enough to stop Russia from undermining Clinton’s candidacy.
“Unprecedented,” he wrote. “Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.”
Despite his furious rants, however, the facts contradict the president’s theory that Obama launched an investigation into his campaign to help Hillary Clinton win.
In the first place, the FBI investigation into the rich asshole campaign was not publicly revealed until months after the rich asshole had been elected president. What’s more, former FBI Director James Comey did publicly reveal that his agency was taking a fresh look at Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server just 11 days before the 2016 election — while not mentioning anything about the rich asshole’s campaign being investigated.
Neither the president nor his supporters have ever addressed why Obama would order the FBI to investigate the rich asshole campaign in order to help Clinton win and then order the FBI to keep the investigation a total secret until after Clinton lost.
‘How did they not know, Corey?’ CNN’s Chris Cuomo hammers Lewandowski’s excuses for White House ‘chaos’
Corey Lewandowski gets grilled by CNN's Chris Cuomo (Screen cap).
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Former strategist Corey Lewandowski didn’t fare well against CNN’s Chris Cuomo in a discussion about what White House officials knew about Rob Porter’s history of violence.
President some rich asshole’s former campaign manager dismissed reports that special counsel Robert Mueller is asking everyone on the campaign to preserve documents. According to Lewandowski, it’s just part of the process and they’ve done everything to cooperate. He said that he knows he never had anything to do with Russians and furthermore hit his fellow colleague, saying if they did conspire they should go to jail.
Lewandowski hit the staffers from the White House leaking to the press that it was full of “chaos,” and said that they should quit. He said that he knows he never had anything to do with Russians, but he said anyone who did conspire with the Kremlin should go to jail.
He brushed aside the idea that staffers knew Porter’s security clearance was being held up due to his history of violence.
“How did they not know, Corey?” Cuomo asked. “But think about it, if you were there, you know, you worked on the campaign. You know about accountability at the top. The FBI knew this. You knew they were delivering information to the counsel’s office. It’s not like somebody with traffic tickets.”
Lewandowski admitted that someone had to have known and that it should be revealed when they knew and why they didn’t act.
He predicted that chief of staff John Kelly, Jared Kushner and Ivanka the rich asshole would stay on the White House staff. Further, he doesn’t care about Kushner’s problems with clearance and thinks the senior aide should have access to whatever he needs to establish Middle East peace.
He tried to promote the rich asshole’s recent decision on tariffs as part of the president’s campaign promises, but Cuomo wasn’t having it.
“Right, but how’s he fulfilling the promise with tariffs?” Cuomo asked. “You want to cut new trade deals, go ahead. But a tariff is not a deal. It opens you up to retaliation. We’ve never seen it work in the past. Now he’s going at Canada and Mexico. No one is saying his goal is a bad idea to have more jobs, they’re saying that this method is a good method.”
He named Lewandowski’s book “Let the rich asshole be the rich asshole,” but noted that it seems people only believe that when it’s something good for everyone else.
Watch below:
Mueller subpoenas massive trove of documents from the rich asshole and his campaign: report
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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Investigators have subpoenaed a documents from some rich asshole and his closest campaign advisors, according to a bombshell report which broke Sunday night.
According to a subpoena, which NBC News reports was sent to a witness by special counsel Robert Mueller, he want to see emails, text messages, telephone logs and other documents. The demand goes all the way back to November 1, 2015, just a few months after the rich asshole announced his run.
The names of people targeted in the subpoena include everyone from Steve Bannon and the rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen to Hope Hicks, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.
Mueller reportedly subpoenas one witness's communications with the rich asshole, among others
· Mueller's subpoena asks for emails, texts and handwritten notes linked to the rich asshole and nine other people, Axios says.
· Those targeted include outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks and the rich asshole personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
· Mueller requested for all communications from Nov. 1, 2015 — five months after the rich asshole launched his presidential campaign.
CNBC.com
Special counsel Robert Mueller has issued a subpoena for all communications from one witness regarding President some rich asshole and nine other people, Axios reported Sunday.
The grand jury subpoena — sent to an unnamed witness last month and seen by Axios — asked for emails, texts and handwritten notes linked to those people, according to the report.
Ten people are targeted in the subpoena, including the president and others who have worked with him. Among them are outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks, the rich asshole's personal lawyer Michael Cohen and the president's former strategist Steve Bannon, Axios said.
Mueller requested all communications since Nov. 1, 2015, according to the report. That's five months after the rich asshole announced his presidential campaign.
The special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections has already delivered more than a dozen indictments and collected several guilty pleas.
the rich asshole's lawyer Ty Cobb did not respond to Axios' request for comment, or to an email from CNBC.
WATCH: Devin Nunes and Mark Levin lay out nonsensical theory of Obama leaking to expose Dems spying on the rich asshole
Devin Nunes on Mark Levin's show/Screenshot
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After premiering his new Fox News Channel with a snoozefest featuring a libertarian intellectual, firebrand conservative host Mark Levin threw his followers some red meat on Sunday night.
While the rest of the country was preoccupied with the Oscars, Levin brought on notorious leaker and FBI-hater Rep. Devin Nunes onto his show to spin the story of how Democrats were “spying” on the rich asshole campaign.
“As chairman of the House intelligence committee, did the Obama administration spy on the rich asshole campaign?” Levin asked.
“I think it’s pretty clear. I think average Americans understand that that did happen,” Nunes said. “To what degree, it’s hard to know because the proper investigations haven’t been done, but it started with unmasking, unmaskings of the rich asshole transition officials that I think are still questionable. We don’t know if that’s been investigated or not.”
Together, the men made the case that the rich asshole was the real victim of Russian spying, and not the possible perpetrator of a conspiracy to accept foreign help in influencing the election. They laid out a timeline that, like Nunes famous memo, selectively presented a few facts without any context to give the impression that Obama was spying on people like Carter Page—who the FBI had been watching since 2013.
“Don’t forget that the FBI knew about the dossier because they were working with the FBI to complete the dossier,” Nunes said. “So the FBI has the documents.”
But then Nunes said that the document was created by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which paid for it, and not the FBI, which he had just accused of creating it.
“Also, you just reminded me of something—let’s also not forget that this was not just a product of the FBI that was getting it from Steele, but the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee,” Nunes added.
“This is an Obama administration-wide effort, is it not?” Levin goaded.
At this point, they felt they had Obama red-handed.
“This would be a leak then!” Nunes said.
“This would be a leak!” Levin said.
“This would be an illegal felony leak!” Nunes said.
The contention, it seems, is that Obama illegally leaked information proving his own wrongdoing.
You can watch the conversation below, but fair warning that it may make your head hurt.
‘You’re a spokesmodel not a hit man:’ Dana Loesch roasted for absurd pre-Oscars video
Dana Loesch mid-rant/Screenshot
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Today is a tough day for NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch.
Not only is the unsuccessful actress-turned-NRA-flamethrower home watching the Oscars with the rest of us, she can already feel herself ready to rage at the TV as actors talk about the nation’s avoidable epidemic of gun violence.
Loesch decided to just get out ahead of it, releasing an unhinged screed about “Hollywood phonies” who care about children being killed.
“We’ve had enough of the lies, the sanctimony, the arrogance, the hatred, the pettiness, the fake news,” she says. “So to every lying member of the media, to every Hollywood phony, to the role model athletes who use their free speech to alter and undermine what our flag represents, to the American politics and who would rather let America burn than lose one ounce of their personal power…”
The internet responded with mockery and derision—and with no shortage of references to Loesch’s failed bid to join the “phonies” in Hollywood.
Montell Williams, who served in the armed forces before becoming a successful talk show host, teed off on her: ” I actually bore arms in uniform. Dana poses in cocktail dresses with guns.”
Let’s get one thing clear: I actually bore arms in uniform. Dana poses in cocktail dresses with guns. I’m not interested in a lecture on guns from a damn spokesmodel. twitter.com/nratv/status/9…
So did a user who identified her as “a failed sitcom wanna be actress” and linked to a story about Loesch’s failed “hot Young Mom” sitcom project.
Good lord...you should be up for an Oscar...for “Over The Top Dramatic Apocalyptic Short Film” or “Best Comedy Short” ...either fits! #ExpectUs
Fun Fact: Dana is a failed sitcom wanna be actress.complex.com/pop-culture/20… pic.twitter.com/1DUTa6JJVF
Others pointed out the likelihood that Loesch is watching tonight’s festivities alone.
Not all gun owners appreciated her rantings.
“They use their #MSM to assassinate real news…They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and awards shows to repeat their narrative over and over again...All to make them march. Make them protest. Make them scream racism and sexism and xenophobia” @DLoesch #Oscars90 pic.twitter.com/yODCIfPfA4
Gun owner here. Holy cripes... divide the USA much? THIS is exactly why we have a problem in our country. Its not THEM or US... its YOU!
And many mocked her past gigs.
So you're basically a terrorist recruitment video producer now. Congrats.
Well she does infomercial for selling beet juice. And she speaks just the same. She's a snake oil saleswoman.
Montell brought it all home: “Dana – girlfriend stop with the stupid. And don’t make shadowy threats you can’t back up. You’re a spokesmodel not a hit man.”
Oh - and, Dana - girlfriend stop with the stupid. And don’t make shadowy threats you can’t back up. You’re a spokesmodel not a hit man. twitter.com/nratv/status/9…
‘Huge crowd of 100’: the rich asshole supporters, InfoWars nuts soundly mocked for Austin march
the rich asshole supporters march through Austin/Screenshoot
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Since the 2016 election, the rich asshole supporters have taken to marching through liberal enclaves to “trigger” liberals.
In some cases, this has led to violence. And in Charlottesville, it turned violent after a white supremacist ran over group of peaceful anti-the rich asshole marchers, killing one.
Austin, Texas got its turn today, with about 100 the rich asshole supporters marching through the center of the liberal oasis in deep-red Texas.
Extremist organizations like InfoWars were on hand. But the event ended with just one arrest—and with cops not even knowing which side the arrestee was on.
Here are tweets and video from the streets.
Watch: March For Trump In Austin Texas infowars.com/watch-march-fo… via @realalexjones
Police are dividing the two groups of protestors. pic.twitter.com/85vz1FyD51
Linda Quiroz, 39, said she supports her president and supports building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. She is one of about 100 attending the March 4 Trump now gathered at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/Rr987xJJce
"March for Trump" in Austin,TX brings out a YUGE crowd of 100.
No zeros missing, only 100...oh, one ZERO not there, @realDonaldTrump himself.
#BlueWave2018 the rich asshole drilling plan faces back lash
BY TIMOTHY CAMA - 03/04/18 05:06 PM EST
The oil industry has been put on the defensive in the fight over the rich asshole administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling.
The backlash against Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s decision to consider oil and natural gas drilling nearly everywhere along the nation’s coasts has been fierce and bipartisan.
Drilling opponents have dominated the public conversation since the plan was released in January. Meanwhile, almost all of the Atlantic and Pacific coast governors have come out in opposition to the plan, spurring Zinke to remove Florida’s waters from the proposal just days after it was released.
With energy prices, including for gasoline, remaining fairly low, the industry is facing numerous headwinds as it pushes to open up significant new areas for drilling.
“We recognize the fact that this is a bit more of an uphill fight because the pressure is off,” said Tim Charters, a lobbyist at the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents oil companies and others involved in offshore oil, gas and wind development.
“When Florida’s tourism is getting crushed because gasoline is $4 a gallon, folks want to look at new drilling. When oil has been stable for several years and gasoline is around $2.50, the pressure is off,” he said.
“We’re working to remind everyone that these resources belong to the American people and should be used for the benefit of all of America.”
One person who works in energy industry advocacy said that the rich asshole administration is likely to come out with a final drilling plan that oil and gas interests can be proud of.
But that person also warned the industry risks losing the narrative unless it steadily makes the case to the public for offshore drilling.
“We can always do more,” he said. “Even though you know you’re always going to be outnumbered, you have to make sure that that voice of why this is beneficial gets out there.”
The rich asshole administration’s January drilling proposal would schedule lease sales for offshore drilling rights between 2019 and 2024.
In a move without recent precedent, the administration proposed offshore drilling almost everywhere: the entire Pacific and Atlantic coasts, all of Alaska’s waters except the ecologically sensitive Bristol Bay and the entire Gulf of Mexico coast, which currently hosts the vast majority of the nation’s offshore drilling.
The January announcement was just the first step of many. Officials are taking public comments through next week. They will then potentially narrow the options down, release another proposal, take comments again and then release a final version, which could be narrower still.
It would likely be years before any drilling began.
But the plan nonetheless sparked wide-ranging opposition from lawmakers, governors, coastal towns and businesses, not to mention environmentalists.
Opponents fear that spills like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster could wreak havoc across multiple states, hurting both coastal businesses and the environment.
“Whether it’s environmental devastation that people care about or economic devastation, coastal communities do not want this. And the people and businesses who have the most to lose from the offshore drilling proposal just absolutely do not want it,” said Diane Hoskins, campaigns director for Oceana.
Opponents of the plan have been vocal, pushing towns to pass resolutions, staging protests, writing newspaper letters to the editor and buying advertising.
But the oil industry has also been active, drawing upon military veterans, grass-roots efforts and web advertising to push the drilling expansion.
The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) has been working in coastal states and communities, pushing people to file comments with the Interior Department, attending local meetings and more.
The industry-backed group counts thousands of individual members across the country.
“Our position on this is that this should be a good opportunity to learn more and kind of listen to all the differing perspectives and gathering information,” said David Holt, president of CEA.
“What are the benefits for offshore to these coastal communities and states? What are the opportunities for revenue? What are the opportunities for jobs and infrastructure and all the other things,” he said.
“There are groups out there that are trying to foreclose a discussion for the general public and families and small business and elected leaders to better understand what these opportunities are. That’s what we’re trying to inject in the conversation.”
The American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry’s main lobby in Washington, D.C., has also been active, meeting with decisionmakers and using its existing grass-roots campaigns like Energy Nation and Energy Citizens.
“If we’re going to truly try to embrace American energy security, it’s essential for us to keep as many options on the table as possible, so we can at least find out what kind of resources might be out there. That’s all we’re talking about at this point,” said Erik Milito, the group’s upstream director.
Milito said much of the conversation from API centers on the argument that it’s in the country’s best interest to produce more oil and gas domestically instead of relying on imports.
“It’s really a fundamental question that we face: do we want to produce oil and natural gas here in the U.S. or do we want to move that investment to other parts of the world?”
But industry is also pushing back on environmental objections to offshore drilling, saying its safety record has improved dramatically since the Deepwater Horizon spill.
“Over the past eight years, industry and government have really ramped up safety through equipment, practices and safety systems, as well as regulations,” Milito said.
The biggest setback for oil and its allies was the exemption that Zinke gave to Florida. After a brief meeting with Gov. Rick Scott (R) — a close the rich asshole ally and likely Senate candidate — Zinke said waters near Florida will not be in the plan.
But it’s unclear whether that will completely foreclose drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. That area is the top prospect for drillers, since they have a good sense of the geology and they have infrastructure and equipment nearby.
While the industry was publicly angry about Zinke’s decision, officials say it’s not necessarily a complete loss.
“He could keep portions of the eastern Gulf open and block most of the rest of Florida and maybe that would be acceptable,” an industry source said.
Nor will drilling necessarily be blocked from the entire Pacific or Atlantic coasts. Zinke is obligated to consider governors’ opinions, but they don’t have to be the last word.
“They’re not lost causes,” Milito said. “They have to consider a multitude of factors when it comes to where and when to provide leasing opportunities in the outer continental shelf. The views of the governors are an important factor, but they’re one of many.”
Saturday Night Live on YouTube
President the rich asshole has made no secret of the fact that he despises the way that he's been repeatedly lampooned on TV shows like SNL, and Saturday night's show only added fuel to the fire. Actor Alec Baldwin parodied the rich asshole on SNL again, and as usual, it was not a flattering impression of the Oval Office's current occupant.
Baldwin appeared in SNL's cold open segment, which portrayed a presidential listening session on gun violence similar to several of the meetings that he's had since the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
This one had him flanked by Cecily Strong as Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Beck Bennett as Vice President Mike Pence, and it had a lot of material to cover. Baldwin started by taking aim at the news from over a week ago that the rich asshole had brought a set of notes with him to a listening session he held with the Stoneman Douglas students, which included an instruction to say, "I hear you."
"I want to assure [the students] once again that, I hear you, and I care," Baldwin's the rich asshole said, reading off of a card. "Rent Lego Ninjago movie — sorry, Eric scribbled some notes on there too. But it's clear, something has to change."
"We have to respect the law, believe me, no one loves the Second Amendment and due process more than me," Baldwin's the rich asshole went on. "But maybe, we just take everyone's guns away."
This inflammatory comment echoed a statement that the rich asshole made in real life, about taking the guns first and then going through the courts. Cecily Strong's Feinstein got very excited about this proposal in the SNL sketch, but Bennett's Pence decidedly did not — which, again, echoed the real life reactions to the comment.
"Don't worry, Mike, I met with the NRA, they gave me 30 million good reasons not to change a thing, so, cha-ching, it's all good," the SNL the rich asshole said, before reaching out to put his hand over Pence's. "We're still friends, right? We're still friends, Mike? Look at him, he's so uncomfortable, he hates this. He's worried this is a gateway touch."
Baldwin's the rich asshole then riffed on the real the rich asshole's comments about how he would have run into the school even without a gun. "I'm actually a very fast runner. People don't know that about me," Baldwin said. "If I have to make America's schools safe all by myself, I will," he said later. "Just like how I'm running the White House all by myself, because these people who work for me keep resigning," he said, transitioning into a discussion of communications director Hope Hicks' recent resignation announcement.
“I hate seeing her go, but I love seeing her walk away,” SNL's the rich asshole said about Hicks' resignation. "I mean Jared Kushner's basically the hottest chick left in the place! And he's probably going to jail soon, so he's out."
He then moved into a discussion of "healing this great country of ours," saying that multiple other countries were "beating us" — another comment that reflected real life, this time from the president's comments about trade wars on Twitter. On SNL, he said "I mean they're all beating us. China, Japan, Wakanda — okay, Wakanda is laughing at us, right? They've got flying cars, people in Wakanda."
"I said I was going to run this country like a business," Baldwin's the rich asshole said, summing up the chaotic week of news. "That business is a Waffle House at 2AM."
And as if that wasn't enough, the segment ended with Kate McKinnon's Jeff Sessions making an appearance to assure the rich asshole that he wouldn't resign like anyone else, even though the rich asshole had been insulting him. "I'm like skunk stink on a birddog, sir," McKinnon said as Sessions. "I linger."
some rich asshole caught on tape mocking George W. Bush, calls Iraq invasion ‘single worst decision ever made’ — then praises dictatorship
March 2, 2018
Posted with permission from AFP
President Donald Trump's announcement of plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on steel imports evoke the 2002 precedent when then-president George W. Bush attempted the same protection for domestic industry.
Like Trump, Bush announced tariffs on steel imports just over one year after taking office, on March 5, 2002. They ranged from 8 percent to 30 percent for 10 categories of imported products such as flat rolled steel, machine wire and welded pipe.
Those safeguards were to remain in effect for three years and a day to support the US steel industry, which was struggling to restructure in the face of global competition.
The duties affected about 29 percent of imports by volume. Washington, however, excluded Canada, Mexico, Israel and Jordan, which had free trade agreements in place with the United States.
In his announcement Thursday, Trump said that next week he will impose 25 percent taxes on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, but he did not specify which products would be hit, nor whether any countries would be exempted.
Bush said such safeguard measures are expressly provided for by the rules of the World Trade Organization, that allows temporary restrictions in cases when imports damage domestic industries.
WTO rules do allow for certain trade restrictions based on national security concerns as well, but as subsequent events showed, they are difficult to uphold.
- Retaliation -
The European Union and several other countries immediately filed a dispute complaint with the WTO and published in May 2002 a list of US products that would be hit with retaliatory tariffs of up to 100 percent, including on fruit juice, T-shirts and underpants.
That launched tit-for-tat retaliations between Washington and its partners, each attempting to use the weapons authorized by the international trade rules. The US administration also tried to appease some partners by expanding the list of exemptions.
But the protectionist policy caused a sharp decline in the US dollar, which was exacerbated by the widening budget deficit caused by the tax cuts enacted around the same time, another parallel with the current situation under Trump.
Bush was forced to backtrack less than two years later after losing the case in the WTO brought by the 15 EU countries and seven others (Japan, China, Brazil, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland).
The White House capitulated amid the threat of duties of up to $2.2 billion on US products, including fruits and vegetables, textiles, footwear and motorcycles, some products important to the regions providing key support to Bush's reelection bid.
To explain his flip-flop, Bush had expressed his "strong belief that America's consumers, the American economy is better off with a world that trades freely and a world that trades fairly."
According to some studies, the economic consequences of the dispute cost about 200,000 jobs to the US economy.
Modeled after George W. Bush's 'Pioneer' program, it's one of the most serious steps the rich asshole has taken toward reelection.
03/03/2018 06:53 AM EST
some rich asshole is wrapping up the most chaotic week of his presidency by rolling out a major new donor push — one of his most serious steps yet to prepare for a 2020 reelection campaign.
the rich asshole will appear before big GOP givers at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday for the launch of a fundraising initiative that mimics the famed George W. Bush “Pioneer” program, according to three senior Republicans familiar with the plans. As with Bush, the president will reward donors who’ve bundled thousands of dollars in contributions, giving them an entree to exclusive dinners, political briefings, and future retreats.
Under the plan, which is intended to provide a fundraising infrastructure that was lacking from the rich asshole’s 2016 campaign, donors who raise $25,000 will join the “the rich asshole Train” and those who bundle $45,000 will be part of the “45 Club.” The program, which will jointly benefit the rich asshole’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, will introduce higher class levels for larger dollar amounts in the future. Funds raised will also go toward the party’s 2018 efforts.
The fundraiser, one of several big donor events the rich asshole will host this weekend at Mar-a-Lago, shows how the rich asshole is slowly building a 2020 campaign apparatus even as he endures the most tumultuous stretch of his presidency. While top advisers bolt the White House and a special counsel zeroes in on the president’s ties to Russia, the rich asshole is tapping a new campaign manager, taking steps to fend off would-be primary challengers, and lining up travel to critical 2020 states.
He has told friends privately that he wants to raise a massive amount of money in the months to come. Plans for the bundling program have been in the works for weeks.
"Just because the Democrats and many in the media refuse to get over 2016 doesn't mean President the rich asshole should take his focus off 2020,” said Jason Miller, a former senior the rich asshole campaign aide who remains in touch with the president. “It's important that President the rich asshole continue to lay the groundwork for a strong reelection campaign because he's not going to be able to drain the swamp overnight."
the rich asshole took a major step toward the next election this week when he named Brad Parscale, his 2016 digital director, as his campaign manager. Since 2016, Parscale has taken the lead in overseeing the president’s outside political operation and frequently visited the White House and the rich asshole's getaway residences to offer him electoral advice. The 42-year-old Parscale, who recently moved from San Antonio to South Florida to be closer to the president and his inner circle, has been particularly focused on bolstering the rich asshole’s network of online supporters.
the rich asshole’s financial backers will hear from Parscale this weekend at a Republican National Committee donor retreat at the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. The event is expected to draw a number of big donors, including sugar baron Jose Fanjul, venture capitalist Elliott Broidy, and lobbyist Brian Ballard.
Parscale is particularly close with the rich asshole son-in-law Jared Kushner, and within the administration his appointment was widely perceived as an effort on the part of Kushner, who is under increasing scrutiny over his financial entanglements, to leave his imprint on the developing reelection campaign. Two White House aides and two others close to the president said they interpreted it as an effort to block former the rich asshole campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who feuded with Kushner during the 2016 campaign but who remains close with the president, from getting the top 2020 post.
During a Wednesday morning White House staff meeting, Kushner addressed the hire and outlined Parscale’s background, said one person present.
At a time when his approval rating has plummeted to the low 40s, the rich asshole is taking steps to ward off would-be primary challengers. Last month, his campaign committee printed glossy, 10-page pamphlets outlining the rich asshole’s accomplishments during his first year in office and delivered them to local GOP meetings in Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
The slickly-produced pamphlets, which included topics like “protecting life,” “ending job-killing regulations,” and “making government accountable,” were designed to reach the Republican activists who are most involved in party affairs and likely to participate in the caucuses two years from now.
The pamphlets help keep the rich asshole "in the game, so to speak," until the 2020 campaign begins in earnest, said Karen Fesler, an influential conservative activist in the state. “Pointing out two years ahead of time what the president and his team have accomplished makes sure that caucus voters know that.”
The White House has been monitoring potential Republican challengers, including three outspoken the rich asshole detractors — Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake. Sasse blasted the rich asshole repeatedly the past week over trade and guns. And Flake sparked a flurry of speculation about his political intentions when he announced a March 16 speech in New Hampshire.
To some, the Parscale announcement was designed to send a loud message to would-be Republican opponents.
“He just signaled to the GOP he is running and that should deter primary challenges,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an informal the rich asshole adviser.
the rich asshole is also using his official office to prepare for his next campaign, focusing much of his travel to states that will play an outsize role in determining the outcome of the next presidential election. Since the inauguration, for instance, the rich asshole has visited Pennsylvania a handful of times. He is slated to return to the state next week.
The state is so important to the president’s team that last month they quietly dispatched White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn to Harrisburg to keynote a Pennsylvania GOP dinner.
White House Political Director Bill Stepien is among those overseeing the travel. He keeps about 20 maps appended to the walls of his perch in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Last month, when the rich asshole’s team was looking to stage an event focused on selling the recently-passed tax reform bill, they chose the all-important electoral state of Ohio.
Stepien’s office has also helped place roughly 300 former the rich asshole campaign staffers into jobs throughout the administration. By keeping the staffers reengaged after the 2016 race, administration officials hope they’ll be easily able to transition to a reelection campaign.
In a brief interview, Stepien, himself a former top the rich asshole campaign staffer, said that as the rich asshole's most urgent priority is following through on the promises he made in the last campaign, not the next one.
“It’s clear that by successfully working to pass his agenda there are tremendous results in political value,” he said.
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