Sean Hannity has vast real estate holdings hidden with shell companies including deals funded by HUD: report
Fox News personality Sean Hannity speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference. Photo by Gage Skidmore.
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When Sean Hannity said he was talking to Michael Cohen about real estate, many people rolled their eyes.
But it turns out the Fox News host does have vast real estate holdings, worth at least $90 million, according to reporting in The Guardian.
Hannity has said that he hates investing in the stock market, and instead buys real estate. But no one had reported the scale of investments by the host, who makes about $30 million a year. Hannity’s shell companies have spent at least $90 million buying up at least 870 homes spread over seven states, the Guardian reported.
Among the holdings are mansions and apartment buildings rented to low-income families.
Troublingly given how Hannity talked about the raid on Cohen’s office and homes without disclosing that he was a client, Hannity also has dealings journalist would normally disclose.
He bashed Obama about the foreclosure rate but bought up homes during the crisis, the report says, and he made deals involving the US Department for Housing and Urban Development which he did not disclose when interviewing and praising Ben Carson, who the rich asshole appointed to lead the department.
read the full report here.
CNN's Stelter criticizes the rich asshole for his attack against NYT reporter
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 04/22/18 05:38 PM EDT
CNN’s Brian Stelter called out President the rich asshole on Sunday for a recent tweet criticizing The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman after she published a story about the rich asshole’s relationship with his personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
President the rich asshole tweeted on Saturday that Haberman was a “third rate reporter” and claimed he had nothing to do with her.
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use....
“That tweet is wrong in at least four different ways,” Stelter said about the rich asshole’s Saturday tweet. “He didn’t even spell her name right and he called her a third-rate reporter even though he knows she dominates the White House beat. Heck, she just won a Pulitzer a few days ago.
“Sometimes when covering the president it is difficult to determine what is actually a lie, but this one is crystal clear,” Stelter said.
“Lying is disrespectful,” Stelter continued. “And it’s not just disrespectful to Haberman or to journalists, but to the public.”
Haberman, who also works as a political analyst for CNN, co-wrote an article on Saturday that detailed the negative aspects of the president’s relationship with Cohen and made the case that Cohen might cooperate with federal officials investigating his activities, including those related to the rich asshole.
Stelter pointed out that even though the rich asshole said he doesn't speak or have anything to do with Haberman, they have a picture together at the Oval Office and Haberman “has interviewed the rich asshole on the record more than a dozen times since 2015.”
Reporters from various publications have flocked to Haberman's defense following the president's comments.
first rate. as someone sharp once said, reporters these days are at work, not war twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
I have no insider knowledge at all of this but it would not surprise me at all if he called Maggie right now and asked what she thought of the tweet.
She’s actually known as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist & I have watched you speak with her repeatedly. Her sources are real & if what they are saying is destructive, might I suggest she’s not the one to blame twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
Haberman was part of the team that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election and its connections to the rich asshole team.
some rich asshole once sold urine tests — Watch reporter detail the absurd history of failed the rich asshole products
the rich asshole steaks and a the rich asshole bobblehead/Screenshots
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Although he insists he’s a germaphobe who wants to be as far away from urine as possible, President some rich asshole once sold a urine test.
That’s just one of the many absurd merchandise deals that the rich asshole the mediocre businessman has cut over the years, according to Washington Post reporter David A. Fahrenthold, who took a deep dive into Trumpworld’s cologne, ties, coffee pods and the rich asshole: The Game.
Fahrenthold stopped by MSNBC Sunday night to talk about the rich asshole’s various
“some rich asshole began with suits and ties—people saw him wearing suits and ties on The Apprentice,” Fahrenthold said. “Then he realized he could make money off this so he became what people in the business call a ‘label slapper.’ He put his name on everything”
“There was at one point a some rich asshole urine test that you could send back for some rich asshole brand vitamins,” he said. “He was a bad merchandizer.”
There are a few things still sold under the rich asshole name—details in the video below.
the rich asshole Just Completely Humiliated Himself With Four Simple Words
the rich asshole’s breakdown has possibly reached its peak. How do we know? On Sunday, he continued his meltdown (yes, the one that included numerous badly-spelled and insane tweets), but could only manage four words: “A complete Witch Hunt!”
While we can be thankful that President Stable Genius managed to spelled at a first grade level, this is yet another example of The rich asshole being perhaps the most unstable alleged person to hold office — especially as Robert Mueller closes in.
Naturally, Americans are spending a lot of time laughing at our so-called President:
But hopefully soon to be "A COMPLETED WITCH HUNT!" #Getsomesticks
Hahaha what do they have on you now?
Is that a Nixon quote?
No matter how many times you say it, it won't be any more true.
No it's not. Nobody believes you. You're not rich. You are a total and complete douchebag. Please jump off your building and then we'll have a real parade. Ticktockticktock. Bye bye
You keep calling yourself a Witch. I guess Evangelicals support Witches now. How progressive of them.
Your right, they seem to be catching a lot of "Witches"...
They’re catching a lot of witches, dude. Just saying.
you say the same like nixon and you are as guilty as nixon. bye bye traitor-in-cheif.
This guy is having a public meltdown. We are all so screwed.
We'll spoken from the top of your broom.
Shut. The. Fuck. Up. You. Vapid. FOOL. Can you truly not see how completely pathetic you are? Your intellect is strikingly inferior, making you an international embarrassment & your closed off body language screams that you damn well know it. You SUCK. #Resign
Call it whatever you want. We’re coming after you, and you can’t stop this freight train. You’re a criminal and you will face justice.
the rich asshole is scared. It’s only a matter of time before Robert Mueller and his team of experienced “witch hunters” prove that The rich asshole is, indeed, the “witch” they are hunting.
New Jersey Republicans went broke throwing doomed fundraiser at the rich asshole’s golf club
Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld and the rich asshole National in New Jersey/Screenshots
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The Republican Party in Morris County is broke after losing money in a doomed fundraiser at the rich asshole National Golf Club, reports The New Jersey Globe.
Republicans tried to drum up attendance by teasing the idea that President the rich asshole would show up as a surprise guest. They asked registered attendees for social security numbers , the Globe reports, suggesting a presidential appearance. the rich asshole was golfing at Mar-a-Lago for the President’s Day holiday weekend.
The county party now has just $13,956 in its account headed into the June election, according to a report filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The organization raised $58,335 at their the rich asshole event, but spent $64,000 to host it.
They paid $24,487 to the rich asshole National and also paid Fox News funnyman Greg Gutfeld a $30,000 speaking fee.
This is one of a number of spendy fundraisers, the Globe reports, such as a Yankee Stadium event where they spent $5,700 for two ex-Yankee players to show up.
The site points out that the party has been in some close elections recently. Last year, State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) got 52% of the vote and almost lost to a Democrat.
The party outside New York has been a republican stronghold for centuries—Democrats haven’t elected a county clerk since before the Civil War—but that may change as Republicans there struggle with a lack of funds and various legal problems.
the rich asshole’s supporters are already declaring victory in North Korea negotiations — MSNBC panelists explains the actual stakes
MSNBC panelist Dr. Jung Pak discussed trump and North Korea/Screenshot
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some rich asshole’s allies are already crowing about his strategy with North Korea, which started with insults and has progressed to bi-lateral talks between President some rich asshole and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, for example, has repeatedly predicted that the rich asshole will “win a Nobel Peace Prize” for his negotiations.
you got 2 hours before we re-air, so kill some time watching my monologue on north korea: youtube.com/watch?time_con…
But what if the rich asshole already lost, and the next step is to back down or go to war?
That’s what some Korean watchers see—Kim Jong Un has already won legitimacy by landing a negotiation with the president of the United States, which his father and grandfather nwere never able to pull off.
And now, some think, North Korea will ask for the moon and then walk away from negotiations. And that the rich asshole will get nothing. the rich asshole’s take is that “maybe things will work out, maybe they won’t.”
MSNBC panelists explained how it’s not quite that simple. Since these talks are at such a high level, “we’re pretty much putting everything out on the table.”
Jung Pak of the Brookings Institute said that this is a serious concern.
“When you have a summit between the two leaders, if things don’t go well there’s very little to fall back on,” she said.
Watch the full discussion of the high stakes negotiations below.
‘Michael Cohen would have to be the worst lawyer in the history of the world’: MSNBC panel explodes when discussing Stormy Daniels payoff
MSNBC panelists react to Michael Cohen's story/Screenshot
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Did some rich asshole know that his personal lawyer and “fixer” was writing a check to Stormy Daniels?
MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian hosted a panel that discussed Michael Cohen’s hush-money payoff—which Cohen currently claims he did on his own without the rich asshole’s knowledge.
Republicans are claiming that Cohen was a rogue actor who broke campaign finance laws on his own.
“This could also be something that Michael Cohen did, acting alone,” said Republican specialist Noelle Kikpour.
“This is a president who weighs in on every single thing that goes on in his White House, publicly or privately,” said Vossoughian. “Sometimes he lets the cat out of the bag before the cat’s actually out of the bag, yet you think that he literally did not have a conversation with Michael Cohen over the payoff of a porn star that he allegedly had relations with?”
“In my opinion, Michael Cohen took this into his own hands,” Kikpour said. “Saying, ‘I’m going to handle this and make this go away.'”
Other panelists pointed out that if you don’t run big decisions by the candidate you tend to get fired in disgrace. Elie Mystal was not buying this story.
“If Michael you take what Michael Cohen says at face value and believe that everything he says as true then we have shown that Michael Cohen is the worst lawyer in the history of the world,” he said. “He would have to be the worst lawyer in the history of the world—and, you know what, you go to jail for that.”
MSNBC guest exposes reasons behind ‘goddess of disruption’ Kellyanne Conway’s CNN lie-fest on Cohen
Kellyanne Conway -- CNN screengrab
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Responding to White House adviser Kellyanne Conway’s abrasive appearance on the CNN ‘s State of the Union on Sunday morning, the host of Slate’s “The Gist” podcast gave the the rich asshole flack’s performance a thumbs-down, saying she pulled her usual “goddess of disruption” act to derail the interview.
Speaking with host David Gura, podcast host Mike Pesca gave a scathing review while pointing out that Conway’s job was to try and persuade the rich asshole attorney Michael Cohen not to turn on the president and spill the beans in an effort to avoid prison.
After sharing choice clips of Conway on CNN, host Gura asked, “Who’s the audience for that? You see the tweets yesterday from President the rich asshole talking about Michael Cohen, whether or not he’ll flip. One can assume here that there may be some hope one Michael Cohen is watching or looking at the Twitter feed.”
“Right,” Pesca agreed. “And they’re using that to to communicate, ‘We love you, we value you and we still hold you in regard.’ And yet, at the same time when she did answer, other White House surrogates answered what does he have to flip about? And the answer is, ‘Well that he’ll lie.'”
“So here, on the one hand, you’re saying ‘This Michael Cohen, this is a guy the president really respects but might lie, he might lie to indict the president to federal prosecutors.’ Those two things don’t go together,” Pesca laughed.
“I do say there is another audience,” he continued. “And you did a great service to your viewers because that that was edited and Kellyanne Conway did her normal goddess of disruption routine where she pulled in Comey and drug addiction. But that audience is the the rich asshole base. They can’t make this investigation go away but they can muddy the waters and she did a bit of muddying the waters that it is a witch hunt. But the main thing is that they are communicating to Michael Cohen, ‘Don’t flip on the president, oh, and by flip we mean lie.’ I don’t think they mean lie. They know that he knows that there’s some substance to what he might tell prosecutors.”
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
the rich asshole ignores gun massacre to whine about Chuck Todd
By
April 22, 2018
the rich asshole's priorities were on sickening display as he watched TV and tweeted the morning after a gunman opened fire in a Tennessee Waffle House.
After a gunman killed four people overnight at a Waffle House, the rich asshole spent his Sunday morning speaking out about other matters.
At 3:30 am Sunday morning, a man opened fire on patrons of a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, killing four people and wounding several others. The suspect is a 29 year-old white male.
Programs such as “Fox & Friends” and NBC’s “Sunday Today” reported the breaking news all morning, as the reported number of people shot in the incident climbed from eight to as many as twelve.
the rich asshole was watching both of those programs Sunday morning, but instead of addressing yet another horrific mass shooting, or even offering “thoughts and prayers” to the people affected, he had other things on his mind.
First, the rich asshole tweeted another call for his political opponent to be investigated, quoting a Fox News report. “GOP Lawmakers asking Sessions to Investigate Comey and Hillary Clinton,” the rich asshole wrote, citing Fox, and added “Good luck with that request!”
“GOP Lawmakers asking Sessions to Investigate Comey and Hillary Clinton.” @FoxNews Good luck with that request!
the rich asshole then added a slam on NBC News journalist Chuck Todd, whom the rich asshole has dubbed “Sleepy Eyes.”
Ordinarily, you would need to assume that a president would have been briefed on an event like this shooting, but in this case, the rich asshole is broadcasting to the world what he was watching, and that he clearly chose to ignore this tragedy.
the rich asshole has been very quick to weigh in on other mass-casualty events when he could exploit them politically, but has tellingly chosen to ignore this mass shooting. the rich asshole’s reaction to the Parkland, Florida mass shooting was to blame the victims of that tragedy for their own deaths.
the rich asshole’s pettiness was exceeded only by his heartlessness in the wake of the tragedy in Tennessee.
‘We’re meeting North Korea in months and we’re talking about porn stars’: MSNBC conservative rips the rich asshole’s priorities
Stormy Daniels (L), Kim Jong-un (R) -- screenshots
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Appearing on MSNBC Sunday afternoon, GOP strategist Susan Del Percio once again lamented President some rich asshole’s destructive Twitter habits which shape the day’s news when there are more important topics that need to be addressed.
Speaking with host Alex Witt, Del Percio was asked about the rich asshole losing the press narrative to Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if it was unavoidable for a president to get out of the way of sex, politics, and money?” Witt asked.
“I was just going to follow up on that,” Del Percio exclaimed. “Isn’t it crazy we’re talking about a potential meeting with North Korea in a couple months, and this is where the president is focused? He’s focused on dossiers, criminals, bad lawyers, Roger Stone, and a former porn star. This is so not where we should not be as a country, and that’s what’s probably the most disturbing about everything.”
“Do you make sense of the way Avenatti is playing the cards right now?” Witt persisted. “Do you get a sense of his end game?”
“Well, I think every day he has an end game, a daily end game and that is to just poke and prod the president, and he’s very good at it,” the GOP consultant replied. “He’s definitely been able to bring this to Twitter, which is some rich asshole’s favorite place to be nasty. And he knows that some rich asshole won’t fight back too hard. So he’s definitely getting under the president’s skin, and that is a really smart press strategy.”
“It’s just unfortunate that President the rich asshole can’t put it aside and focus — especially if he had no relationship as he claims — and focus on putting the country first,” she concluded.
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
Ex-CIA chief warns that Kim Jong Un ‘successfully manipulated’ the rich asshole
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Former CIA Director John McLaughlin raised a disturbing alarm about North Korea's sway over naïve and impressionable the rich asshole.
The possibility of a meeting between the rich asshole and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was already troubling. But as former CIA Director John McLaughlin pointed out, the rich asshole’s egotism and gullibility make it all the more worrisome.
the rich asshole has lobbed childish insults at Kim in the past, months after praising him. And he now continues to coyly hint at a future meeting. But he’s also made it clear how clueless he is about even the basics of diplomacy with such a volatile adversary.
This kind of erratic and pompous posturing seems to be a parallel between the rich asshole and Kim, MSNBC’s Joy Reid noted Sunday morning. But there are crucial differences, as McLaughlin noted.
First, the rich asshole “lives in a Democratic society,” not an authoritarian regime like North Korea. Yet especially in his Twitter tantrums, the rich asshole displays a similar mindset to Kim’s, including taking credit where it may not be due.
North Korea announced Friday evening that it was suspending its nuclear and long-range missile tests. the rich asshole predictably tweeted about the “big progress” being made. Yet as McLaughlin noted, Kim had already ceased testing some time ago; his nuclear program simply no longer requires it.
But further, McLaughlin offered a disturbing scenario of how things may be playing out from North Korea’s side.
“I am quite confident that North Korea has been studying [the rich asshole] very carefully. They understand he likes to claim credit for success. And they’ve already given him one thing that is potentially positive,” he observed.
Kim has given the rich asshole “something that he can crow about.” McLaughlin highlighted that as “successful manipulation of the president.”
the rich asshole’s admiration for violent dictators is infamous, and his willingness to befriend them seems to know no bounds.
That Kim could so easily draw praise from him — even when what he’s offered could be taken away in a moment, as McLaughlin noted — only adds to the instability the rich asshole has introduced on the global stage.
The leader of the United States must be able to communicate with hostile adversaries. But they also must know when those adversaries are using or fooling them. And they should be able to put the world’s safety over their own ego.
All his claims of being a genius aside, the rich asshole doesn’t seem able to make those assessments. And Kim Jong Un likely knows it.
Stormy Daniels attorney ridicules overpaid ‘$10 attorney’ Michael Cohen with charge of ‘extensive’ Hannity dealings
Attorney Michael Avenatti represents Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels.
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Appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources, the attorney for adult actress Stormy Daniels took one of his daily shots at legal nemesis Michael Cohen, mocking him as a “$10 attorney,” and speculating that he has a deeper relationship with Fox News personality Sean Hanni try that has been revealed so far.
Speaking with CNN host Brian Stelter, Michael Avenatti said of President some rich asshole’s personal attorney, “I think that Sean Hannity has described the relationship as one centering on real estate that he paid Michael Cohen $10. By the way I think he overpaid by $9 if that’s true, but he’s described it as a $10 attorney-client relationship.”
“There’s no question that there are documents relating to whatever this representation was,” he continued. “We know that because the context in which Mr. Hannity’s name was disclosed in that courtroom on Monday, and so what I meant by my comment was that I think the relationship’s gonna be far more extensive than Mr. Hannity has led people to believe.”
“I don’t know that there’s anything nefarious that went on between Mr. Hannity and Mr. Cohen, or that there was any NDA-type involvement or anything of that nature. But what I do know is I think it’s going to be far more extensive than people have been led to believe,” he reiterated.
Watch the video below via CNN:
Kellyanne Conway lashes out when asked to answer for the rich asshole’s tweets
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Defending the rich asshole is a thankless job, and Kellyanne Conway seems less and less ready or willing to do it.
Kellyanne Conway threw a tantrum of her own when asked to explain the rich asshole’s latest Twitter tirades. And she wound up making a devastating point against her boss.
the rich asshole posted a series of panicky tweets Saturday morning, fretting about the prospect of his personal attorney “flipping” on him. On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning, host Dana Bash asked Conway to explain the tweets.
When Conway was unable to do so, Bash asked, “If the president’s going to tweet something like that, shouldn’t he own it and explain it?”
“He owns it,” Conway insisted. “He owns everything.”
Bash continued to press her on the issue, and Conway quickly lost it, lashing out in response.
“I’m sure CNN will talk about it for the next week,” she sneered. “I’m sure there will be graphics and chyrons and everything else.”
And she only grew more petulant as she went on. “Dana, if the president didn’t tweet, what would CNN talk about?” Conway asked. “I’m very … I’m curious.”
“You know what? We would talk a lot more about the issues that he’s not diverting from,” Bash replied.
the rich asshole’s latest round of attacks and nonsense are made all the more glaring by the circumstances. They came just as Melania the rich asshole joined former presidents and first families at the funeral of former First Lady Barbara Bush. the rich asshole watched the event on television, then continued his Twitter rants.
Even a mass shooting in Tennessee overnight could not intrude into the rich asshole’s Twitter time.
But even if the rich asshole stopped tweeting long enough to test Conway’s hypothetical, the results would be no better for him. Currently, that would mean discussing his bumbling attempt at diplomacy with North Korea.
the rich asshole has proven time and again that he doesn’t need Twitter to have a meltdown. But Conway’s unwillingness to address his social media behavior speaks just as loudly as his ranting tweets.
‘A dopey guy with a TV show’: MSNBC panel busts Fox for why they keep Hannity on the air
Fox News host Sean Hannity. Image via screengrab.
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During an MSNBC panel discussion on Fox News personality Sean Hannity’s disturbingly close relationship with President some rich asshole, the guests on AM Joy questioned why Fox News keeps the compromised host on the air, with one panelist pointing out that Hannity is none too bright.
According to host Joy Reid, the rich asshole doesn’t listen to more sober minds at Fox News like Chris Wallace and Shep Smith because “they’re not on during prime time.”
Pointing out that ethical concerns about Hannity’s defense of the rich asshole despite sharing an a attorney and operating as an outside advisor, Reid asked journalist and Fox News expert Gabriel Sherman why the network puts up him when they used to rein him in.
“Fox News tolerates essentially him being an advocate for the president,” Reid suggested. “He sort of straddles the line because he’s an opinion journalist, but back in 2010 the New York Times warns that he got rebuked for activism. In 2010 he was yanked from a Tea Party rally after they objected to his appearance.”
“As crazy as this may sound, back when Roger Ailes was running Fox, he would occasionally make examples of people,” Sherman explained. “Not because he fundamentally disagreed with their decisions, but he was a smart enough political strategist to know that you needed to have somewhat of the optics if you’re going to have the lower bug in the corner of your screen that says ‘news.’ You’ve got to give something to show that you care about that stuff.”
“Now the current management of Fox, they’re going with whatever rates and putting pro-the rich asshole ranting on the airwaves and Hannity is the biggest ratings of all,” he added. “That’s clearly the issue. They don’t want to rebuke him because he’s basically their prime-time lineup.”
According to the Beat DC’s Tiffany Cross, Hannity’s advice to the rich asshole is a “scary” thing.
“It’s unusual and it’s inappropriate,” she explained. “He [Hannity] has no politics expertise. He perpetuated this ridiculous Obama birther movement. In 2010 he was the biggest critic of Julian Assange — six years later he’s their biggest champion.”
“We’re looking for Fox to come out and punish him, but he makes dollars so they don’t mind that he doesn’t make sense,” she continued. “The scary thing is, I will say this, he has a hotline to the White House. He also has a hotline to 3 million viewers every night. And when you think about the connection between those two things, everything this president does on the domestic and global scale is meant to appease this very small sect of society he considers his base.”
Asked later for her personal opinion on Hannity, Cross dismissed him as “A dopey guy with a TV show.”
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
POLITICS
the rich asshole Celebrates Earth Day By Praising Rollback Of Environmental Protections
The president’s dubious logic on conservation is being called out on Twitter.
President some rich asshole commemorated Earth Day on Sunday by applauding his administration’s efforts to roll back key environmental protections.
the rich asshole stressed the importance of preserving the “life-sustaining gifts” of “our magnificent land and waterways, abundant natural resources, and unique wildlife” in a White House statement released Sunday.
“It is our responsibility to protect them for our own benefit and that of generations to come,” the rich asshole said in the statement, before praising his administration for repealing regulations meant to do just that.
“We know that it is impossible for humans to flourish without clean air, land, and water,” according to the statement. “We also know that a strong, market-driven economy is essential to protecting these resources. For this reason, my Administration is dedicated to removing unnecessary and harmful regulations that restrain economic growth and make it more difficult for local communities to prosper and to choose the best solutions for their environment.”
With climate change skeptic Scott Pruitt as the president’s appointed leader of the Environmental Protection Agency, the rich asshole administration has taken a hatchet to progressive, Obama-era environmental regulations.
Pruitt outlined plans earlier this month to gut landmark fuel standards for vehicles that were designed to reduce carbon emissions, the nation’s top source of greenhouse gas pollution. The rich asshole administration in January proposed a plan to massively expand offshore drilling and opened up millions of acres of previously protected public land to fossil fuel developers.
In June 2017, the rich asshole delivered a major blow to the fight against global warming by announcing the United States will pull out of the Paris climate accord.
Despite what many activists consider to be the administration’s unprecedented assault on environmental protections, the rich asshole called on Americans to “give thanks for the environment we share, protect, and call home.”
“Americans embrace the idea of enjoying nature in a responsible fashion, while preserving the blessings of the land for future generations,” he said in the statement. “My Administration is committed to furthering this rich legacy of conservation.”
Some Twitter users took note of the apparent hypocrisy:
Am I following correctly —eliminating regulations that prevent water contamination will create jobs that contaminate the water and those jobs will protect the water from contamination?
So, Trump’s Earth Day message is, essentially, “damn the Earth; full speed ahead!”
I’m still wondering how removing regulations designed to protect the environment is good for the waterways, natural resources and wildlife. The removal of these regulations is merely a licence for big business to profit from invading and despoiling all of the above.
By
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April 22, 2018
the rich asshole has already made a dangerous diplomatic error on North Korea, and his senior adviser compounded it.
It was bad enough that the rich asshole falsely claimed that North Korea had promised to “denuclearize” ahead of the upcoming summit. But when asked about it later, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short didn’t even know what the word meant.
the rich asshole started off his Sunday morning attacking Chuck Todd for correctly saying thatNorth Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has given up little in exchange for the high-level meeting.
“Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing,” the rich asshole wrote. “Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!”
Todd later interviewed Short, and tried to figure out what the rich asshole was talking about. “Denuclearization. What does that mean to the president, and what do you think that means to the North Koreans?” Todd asked. “Do you think you guys agree on what that word even means?”
“I think from our perspective, it means full denuclearization,” Short said. “No longer having nuclear weapons that can be used in warfare against any of our allies.”
Todd is correct that North Korea has not made anything approaching a pledge to give up nuclear weapons, a fact which Short seemed to concede in his response. But even Short doesn’t know what the term “denuclearization” means in the parlance of nuclear diplomacy.
“Full denuclearization” refers not only to the possession of “nuclear weapons that can be used in warfare against any of our allies,” but also to the means of producing fuel that can be used in nuclear weapons, such as nuclear reactors.
That definition was codified in the 1992 Joint Declaration Of South And North Korea On The Denuclearization Of The Korean Peninsula, which says that both sides “agree not to test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy, or use nuclear weapons; to use nuclear energy solely for peaceful purposes; and not to possess facilities for nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment.”
Kim Jong Un has made neither of those pledges. the rich asshole and his team are going into this historic summit unaware of what they’re asking for, let alone what North Korea is offering.
the rich asshole has given Kim a major political victory just by agreeing to meet with him. But it looks highly unlikely that the United States will get anything in return, beyond more lies from the rich asshole.
WATCH: Kellyanne Conway melts down when CNN’s Bash asks about her husband’s anti-the rich asshole tweets
Kellyanne Conway, Dana Bash -- CNN screenshot
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Following a back-and-forth between the rich asshole adviser Kellyanne Conway and CNN’s Dana Bash about the president’s tweets about Micheal Cohen flipping, the CNN host turned personal and brought up tweets critical of the rich asshole written by Conway’s husband — since deleted.
“What is up with your husband’s tweets?” Bash asked, before reading off a few of them.
“It’s fascinating to me that CNN would go there, but it’s very good for the whole world to have just witnessed that it’s now fair game… how people’s spouses and significant others may differ with them,” Conway shot back. “That should really be fun.”
After Conway attempted to play the woman card, Bash informed the rich asshole adviser that she would have asked the same question if Conway was a man.
“No you wouldn’t,” Conway shot back
Conway then accused Bash of asking a question “meant to harass and embarrass,” and claimed it was possible for spouses have different opinions. She then took another jab at CNN, saying the network just had a “cross the Rubicon moment.”
Watch the video below via CNN:
Sean Hannity linked to shell companies that spent $90M on property: report
BY MORGAN GSTALTER - 04/22/18 07:27 PM EDT
Fox News host Sean Hannity is linked to a group of shell companies that have spent $90 million buying hundreds of homes across the U.S through the help of foreclosures and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Guardian reported Sunday.
More than 870 homes in seven different states have been purchased over the past decade, ranging from large mansions to rentals for low-income families, according to the newspaper.
For some of the mortgages, Hannity reportedly obtained funding from HUD under the National Housing Act loan program, which was first guaranteed under President Obama’s administration.
Secretary Ben Carson’s department recently increased Hannity’s original $17.9 million mortgage for purchases in Georgia by an additional $5 million, records obtained by the Guardian show.
Hannity did not disclose his cooperation with HUD when he had Carson on his show last June, the Guardian noted.
During that segment, Hannity praised Carson, telling him, “you’ve done a good job.”
Hannity also railed against the state of public housing and made the false claim that home ownership was at a 51-year-low, the Guardian reported.
“I like the idea of them owning the place,” Hannity said of people who receive housing assistance from Carson’s agency.
“Well, that’s the real ideal,” said Carson.
Spokespeople for HUD and Fox News declined to comment to the Guardian.
However, Hannity’s real estate attorney Christopher Reeve said his client’s property holdings were “highly confidential” and not relevant for the public.
“I doubt you would find it very surprising that most people prefer to keep their legal and personal financial issues private,” Reeve told the newspaper. “Mr Hannity is no different.”
Hannity also never disclosed that he was also a client of President the rich asshole's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, during any of his segments complaining about the FBI investigation into Cohen.
He insisted that Cohen only briefly consulted on real estate matters.
“I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective,” Hannity said.
The shell companies are registered to the offices of Henssler Financial, a wealth management firm. Hannity has had one of the firm’s principals, Bill Lako, appear on his radio show.
Hannity did disclose that he was Henssler’s client and joked that the company took him on as a “charity case.”
The Guardian noted that Carson was not personally involved in any of Hannity’s dealings but does have the power to allow Hannity to convert rental complexes into sellable condos.
The host, however, has criticized former President Obama in the past for the rate of US foreclosures, saying in 2016 there were “millions more Americans suffering under this president.”
Several of Hannity’s properties were bought at a discount after their previous owners defaulted on their mortgages in 2013, the Guardian reported.
Hannity is the hidden owner behind some of these shell companies, a fact his attorney did not dispute in a statement to the newspaper.
Each company uses a variation of the same name mixed with the initials of Hannity’s children.
Properties are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Vermont, the Guardian reported.
Combative Kellyanne Conway refuses to say why the rich asshole tweeted about ‘flipping’ Cohen if the president is innocent
Kellyanne Conway -- screenshot
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In a combative interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to some rich asshole, repeatedly refused to address why the president tweeted that he wasn’t worried about his personal lawyer, Micheal Cohen, “flipping on him” if there nothing to tell.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Conway was her usual manic self, batting away questions she didn’t want to answer and ducking Bash’s repeated entreaties to explain the rich asshole’s tweets.
“Why is the president talking about the notion of Michael Cohen flipping if the president didn’t do anything wrong?” Bash asked.
“Look at everything the president said about Michael Cohen,” Conway attempted. “He is defending someone who he has worked with and known for a dozen plus years who he thinks is being treated unfairly. Two tales: you have Jim Comey going out on a big book tour after saying ‘I don’t leak, I’m not sneaky,’ and doing all of the above.”
“More on that in a moment,” she continued. “And then you have Michael Cohen who the president believes is being treated unfairly at this moment.”
“Let me get back to the original question which is at its core what does the president have to hide that he is worried that Michael Cohen will flip over?” Bash pressed. “What information does he have to give?”
“That wasn’t your original question respectfully,” Conway shot back. “He is saying this is a fine family man. He thinks he is being treated unfairly.”
“My initial question was what does he have to hide if the president didn’t do anything wrong? Are you confident?” Bash persisted. “Just trying to see if you can tell me if the president did unequivocally nothing wrong that he is worried that Michael Cohen will tell the feds about.”
“You’re asking me what do I know is in documents over a dozen or so years<” the White House aide deflected again. “I’m telling you the president’s concerns have been for Michael Cohen and the way he has been treated.”
Watch the video below via CNN:
Korean peace talks pose new challenge for the rich asshole
BY REBECCA KHEEL - 04/22/18 05:54 PM EDT
Negotiations to officially end the 65-year-old Korean War could create unexpected challenges for the the rich asshole administration, which has 28,000 U.S. troops stationed on the peninsula.
South Korea confirmed this week that a peace treaty is on the table for next week’s summit between its president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. President the rich asshole said the negotiations have his “blessing.”
But it’s unclear what concessions Pyongyang would expect from the United States in order to bring the decades-long conflict to a close.
South Korea confirmed this week that a peace treaty is on the table for next week’s summit between its president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. President the rich asshole said the negotiations have his “blessing.”
But it’s unclear what concessions Pyongyang would expect from the United States in order to bring the decades-long conflict to a close.
“We need to be very careful here because words means different things to different people,” said Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center. “Yes, it ends a conflict, and therefore [in North Korea’s view], it also ends the U.S.-South Korea alliance.”
The Korean War ended in a 1953 armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning the two Koreas have technically been locked in a state of war ever since.
The armistice was signed by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, North Korea and China, meaning those parties would likely need to be the ones to sign a peace treaty. Though South Korea was not a signatory of the armistice, practically speaking, it would also need to agree to the terms of a peace treaty.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in made ending the war a top goal during his presidential campaign.
This week, Moon’s national security adviser confirmed that Seoul has been talking with both Washington and Pyongyang about a peace treaty in the lead up to Moon’s summit with Kim, which is scheduled for Friday.
Despite South Korea’s announcement, some in Washington are skeptical the talks will yield a breakthrough.
“You’re going way down the road,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said when asked about a possible peace treaty. “I think the first step is denuclearizing, and that would be huge for Kim Jong Un to give up when he views that as his only mechanism to keep from being regime changed or invaded or something else.”
Asked specifically about U.S. military posture after a peace treaty, Corker reiterated, “Y’all are talking about things that are years down the road.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said North Korea needs to “earn” a peace treaty.
“You need to make sure if you sign a peace treaty with North Korea they’re peaceful,” Graham said. “I suggested this to the president. I said, ‘You should go big. You should look at ending the Korean War. It’s never come to an end. Put it on the table. We’re ready to end the war and have a more normal relationship, and the price of admission is you’ve got to give up your nuclear program.’”
Moon also said this week North Korea has dropped a longstanding demand for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea in exchange for denuclearization.
But that doesn’t mean North Korea won’t be seeking the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of a broader peace treaty, said Cheng of Heritage.
“It becomes a little like balloon animals,” Cheng said. “When you squeeze one end of the balloon, the air goes to other end. North Korea’s not going to bring up troop withdrawal as a condition for denuclearization, but they may make it a condition for other things.”
North Korea could also want a decrease in the number of U.S. troops stationed in Japan. The original legal justification for that deployment was the Korean War, Cheng said.
Other thorny questions Cheng listed include whether to end sanctions on North Korea, provide economic assistance, normalize U.S.-North Korea relations, allow the North to keep its artillery within range of Seoul or require the South to pull its troops back from the border.
“To what extent do you choose to trust a regime that in the past sank a South Korean warship on the high seas, blew up South Korea’s cabinet in Burma, killed two American soldiers,” Cheng said. “You hope a peace treaty will reduce tension, but what do you think North Korea will do after a peace treaty?”
North Korea has long sought a peace treaty as a tool to help normalize relations with the United States and gain international legitimacy, said Robert Gallucci, the chief U.S. negotiator during the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis.
But, he added, it’s more of an “objective” than a “demand,” and it’s never been at the top of the United States’ wish list.
As such, he doesn’t see a peace treaty as a means of extracting concessions from either side.
“They ain’t got us by the throat or any other body part,” he said. “They’re in no position to make demands.”
As to whether U.S. troops would have to withdraw from the peninsula as part of a treaty, Gallucci argued North Korea’s view on that has long been misunderstood. He recalled being told by North Korea’s negotiator on the sidelines of a meeting in 1994 that, “we don’t actually require that the U.S. remove its troops from the South.”
Still, he said he could see North Korea wanting some sort of change in the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, which Pyongyang views as practice runs for regime change.
“It’s not trivial to end the war,” he said. “That would be a good thing. The closest we ever got to that was in 2000 with [secretary of State] Madeline Albright going over there. We’ve never gotten back to that. I think it’s important, but it’s not the kind of thing that one side or the other is likely to pay for, I don’t think.”
‘Is that Texas tough?’: CNN panel mocks Ted Cruz for sucking up to the rich asshole now that he’s in a tough race
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CNN’s “Inside Politics” crew had a hearty laugh on Sunday morning after watching clips of Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) rip into then-candidate some rich asshole as a “pathological liar” and a “bully,” only to turn around and write a glowing profile of the rich asshole for Time Magazine this past week.
Host John King provided clips of a furious Cruz attacking the rich asshole for making fun of his wife’s looks, before calling the rich asshole “a small and petty man.”
“This is the most interesting transformation in American politics,” King suggested before showing the clips.
“That was then and this is now,” King added after the clips, before reading from Time where Cruz wrote of the rich asshole, “President the rich asshole is a flash-bang grenade thrown into Washington by the forgotten men and women of America. The fact that his first year as Commander in Chief disoriented and distressed members of the media and political establishment is not a bug but a feature.”
“Wow,” King added, as the assembled panel laughed and CNN contributor Manu Raju stated, “Well, he’s up for re-election and he needs those the rich asshole supporters in his state and it’s a pretty close race.”
“Isn’t ‘Texas Tough’ his campaign theme?” King shot back as the panel laughed again.
Watch the video below via CNN:
the rich asshole attorney Cohen overshadows Mueller probe
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 04/22/18 02:01 PM EDT
President the rich asshole’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, overshadowed much of the conversation surrounding Robert Mueller's investigation on Sunday, as the rich asshole’s legal team reportedly prepares for Cohen to cooperate with federal investigators.
Political analysts note that there is likely incredible pressure on Cohen, who the The New York Times also reported has been the target of the rich asshole's criticism for years.
the rich asshole on Saturday insisted Cohen will remain loyal to him even after the FBI raided the lawyer’s office, home and hotel room earlier this month.
“Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!” the rich asshole added. the rich asshole often refers to Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt." Mueller's investigation encompasses Russia's election interference but has a wide scope to include the rich asshole associates and business matters.
"It's hard to imagine that in his complicated financial history there aren't some places where lines have been crossed," GOP strategist and ABC News contributor Alex Castellanos said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," referring to the president. "Imagine those things locked up in Michael Cohen's vault now on a tasty plate that Robert Mueller serves up to a Democratic House next year. This is serious."
Attorney Alan Dershowitz in a Sunday interview also on “This Week" said he doesn’t know if Cohen will “flip” on the rich asshole, but noted the “enormous abilities” prosecutors have to pressure witnesses.
"I think it's very hard not to flip when they're threatening you with long, long imprisonment. But I don't think we know the answer to that question. I don't know enough about Michael Cohen,” Dershowitz, who is also an opinion contributor to The Hill, said.
It is not clear how key a role Cohen plays in Mueller's investigation. Bloomberg reported that court documents show his business dealings have been the target of a federal criminal probe for months, but the search of his property partly resulted from a referral by Mueller.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting an investigation into Russia's election interference, noted that the Justice Department rather than special counsel Mueller has been handling accusations against Cohen.
“But let me just say that I don’t see him as being a central figure in this,” Collins told NBC’s “Meet the Press" of Cohen.
“The fact that the special counsel referred the allegations against Mr. Cohen back to the Justice Department and was referred to a U.S. attorney suggests to me that it is not intimately connected to the Russia probe," she said.
But the president has continued to connect the two issues. the rich asshole responded to the news of the raid, in part, by criticizing Mueller.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that the rich asshole's "concern has been for Michael Cohen and the way he has been treated."
Conway argued it’s “completely not true” that the rich asshole is only loyal to himself, as was alleged in the Times story.
“He stands up for people in his inner circle and people he knows when he thinks they are being treated unfairly,” Conway told CNN’s “State of the Union" of the president.
“And he's done it again and again," she said. "He shows a great sense of loyalty to people whom he thinks [are] being treated unfairly.”
Ahead of the raids, Cohen was already in the spotlight for his connection to another scandal swirling around the rich asshole. The president’s longtime personal attorney admitted he paid adult-film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said the payment was meant to purchase her silence about an alleged affair with the rich asshole.
The FBI in its raid on Cohen’s office and hotel room earlier this month reportedly seized evidence related to his payment to Daniels. Cohen's own legal team is seeking a delay of a hearing for Daniels's lawsuit regarding the nondisclosure agreement, due to the concurrent FBI investigation into Cohen.
They have also sought to suppress the release of evidence seized in the raid, citing attorney-client privilege, according to CNN, causing some the rich asshole opponents to speculate the evidence is damaging to the president.
Dershowitz, who has repeatedly defended the rich asshole during the course of the special counsel’s probe into Russia's election meddling and any potential ties between the rich asshole campaign staff members and Moscow, said the current legal pressure on Cohen likely indicates “an epic battle for” the rich asshole confidant’s “soul and cooperation.”
the rich asshole Fan In ‘MAGA’ Hat Threw Hispanic Man Onto Subway Tracks
We did it, folks! We found a black man who likes some rich asshole! Unfortunately, he’s just as crazy as the rest of the degenerates who scream “MAGA” all day while hating Hispanic people.
New York City police are searching for a “Make America Great Again” hat-wearing African-American man who attacked a Hispanic man on the Subway and tried to murder him. The New York Daily News reports that the attacker “began yelling derogatory statements about the man’s ethnicity while both were aboard a northbound 4 train on Friday” then stalked him once they disembarked.
The rich asshole fan then punched his victim repeatedly in the head and threw him onto the tracks. Like all the rich asshole cowards, he then ran away.
Fortunately, the victim’s friend was able to help him off the tracks before something even more horrible happened and he was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for a cut to his head.
Unfortunately, this is what we are dealing with in America. the rich asshole fans are filled with hate — even if they happen to belong to a race that other the rich asshole supporters despise. It’s unclear why this man loves some rich asshole, who has earned the love of numerous hate groups, but one thing is for certain: he is every bit as bad as the rest of The rich asshole’s horrible supporters.
NYC police seeking man in ‘MAGA’ hat who assaulted Hispanic subway passenger before shoving him onto tracks
Suspect in NYC subway assault -- screenshot
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New York City Police are seeking a black man seen wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat who allegedly assaulted a subway passenger and then shoved him onto the tracks, reports ABC7 New York.
According to the report, the suspect got in a verbal dispute with another man — described as Hispanic — while onboard a northbound train, with police saying the man “reportedly made multiple derogatory statements about the victim’s ethnicity.”
The suspect reportedly followed the victim when he got off the train and then punched him in the head before pushing the victim onto the tracks track and fleeing.
The victims suffered a laceration to his head. He was taken to an area hospital after being rescued by friends.
Police described the suspect as a large black man with a heavy build, wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, a red shirt with “Make America Great Again” in white letters under blue overalls.
Watch the video below:
Stormy Daniels lawyer claims Hannity, Cohen relationship was ‘extensive’
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/22/18 12:18 PM EDT
Stormy Daniels's attorney said on Sunday that Fox News host Sean Hannity's work with Michael Cohen, President the rich asshole's personal attorney, is likely to be "far more extensive" than the conservative media personality has let on.
"I think that the relationship is going to be far more extensive than Mr. Hannity has led people to believe," the attorney, Michael Avenatti, said on CNN's "Reliable Sources."
"I don’t know that there’s anything nefarious that went on between Mr. Hannity and Mr. Cohen, or that there was any NDA-type involvement or anything of that nature," he added, using an acronym for nondisclosure agreement. "But what I do know is I think it’s going to be far more extensive than people have been led to believe."
Avenatti's comments came nearly a week after it was revealed in a court hearing that Hannity had been a client of Cohen, a longtime confidant and personal attorney for the rich asshole.
The exact nature of Cohen's work for Hannity is unclear, and the Fox News host has denied that he is one of the attorney's clients. Hannity has claimed that he never paid Cohen for legal work and that their discussions focused on real estate.
It was also revealed earlier this month that Cohen is the subject of a federal criminal investigation. His home and office were raided this month by FBI agents, who were seeking, among other things, records related to payments made to Daniels and another woman who have alleged having affairs with the rich asshole years ago.
Daniels, an adult-film actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing to void a nondisclosure agreement brokered by Cohen that prohibits her from speaking publicly about the alleged affair.
the rich asshole Twitter-taunts GOP lawmakers and attacks Jeff Sessions for not going after Comey and Hillary Clinton
President some rich asshole. (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
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President some rich asshole kicked off his Sunday morning Twitter flurry by touting a Fox News report about GOP lawmakers asking the Justice Department to investigate former FBI Director James Comey and the rich asshole’s 2016 presidential campaign rival, Hillary Clinton.
Writing on Twitter, the rich asshole stated, “‘GOP Lawmakers asking Sessions to Investigate Comey and Hillary Clinton.’ @FoxNews Good luck with that request!”
You can see the tweet below:
“GOP Lawmakers asking Sessions to Investigate Comey and Hillary Clinton.” @FoxNews Good luck with that request!
the rich asshole in Earth Day message notes need for ‘market-driven economy’ to protect environment
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/22/18 12:03 PM EDT
President the rich asshole marked Earth Day on Sunday by renewing his vow to undo "unnecessary and harmful regulations," and insisting that a "market-driven economy is essential to protecting" the environment.
"We know that it is impossible for humans to flourish without clean air, land, and water," the rich asshole said in a statement released by the White House. "We also know that a strong, market-driven economy is essential to protecting these resources."
"For this reason, my Administration is dedicated to removing unnecessary and harmful regulations that restrain economic growth and make it more difficult for local communities to prosper and to choose the best solutions for their environment."
Since taking office, the rich asshole has sought to undo federal environmental regulations that he has deemed harmful to U.S. economic growth. Critics, however, have blasted the regulatory reversals as harmful to the environment.
the rich asshole rejected that criticism on Sunday, saying that his administration's focus on economic growth only bolsters environmental protections.
"Already, we are making great economic progress in concert with — not in opposition to — protecting our environment," he said.
Last June, the rich asshole also announced that he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, which sought to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change.
That agreement, the rich asshole argued, put the U.S. at an economic disadvantage while allowing countries like China and India to continue their use of fossil fuels. He has said that he will consider rejoining the agreement if he can work out better terms for the U.S.
In fact, the Paris accord allows each individual country to set its own goals for reducing carbon emissions and does not contain a formal mechanism for enforcing those commitments.
Kellyanne Conway Melts Down Trying To Explain How Cohen Can ‘Fip’ If the rich asshole Is Innocent
Kellyanne Conway once again made a complete ass of herself on TV — this time attempting to explain how former the rich asshole lawyer Michael Cohen can “flip” on The rich asshole if the rich asshole is completely innocent.
During an appearance on CNN, Dana Bash asked Conway a pretty simple question that many have been asking:
“Why is the president talking about the notion of Michael Cohen flipping if the president didn’t do anything wrong?”
Bash, of course, was referencing the rich asshole’s moronic, badly-spelled tweet rampage assuring everyone that Cohen won’t “flip” on him. Naturally, because she’s Kellyanne Conway, the the rich asshole propagandist struggled to answer this very basic question.
“Look at everything the president said about Michael Cohen,” Conway said. “He is defending someone who he has worked with and known for a dozen plus years who he thinks is being treated unfairly. Two tales: you have Jim Comey going out on a big book tour after saying ‘I don’t leak, I’m not sneaky,’ and doing all of the above.”
“More on that in a moment,” she continued, still not answering the question. “And then you have Michael Cohen who the president believes is being treated unfairly at this moment.”
“Let me get back to the original question which is at its core what does the president have to hide that he is worried that Michael Cohen will flip over?” Bash attempted again. “What information does he have to give?”
“That wasn’t your original question respectfully,” Conway fired back. “He is saying this is a fine family man. He thinks he is being treated unfairly.”
That was the original question, contrary to this imbecile’s claim.
“My initial question was what does he have to hide if the president didn’t do anything wrong? Are you confident?” Bash resplied. “Just trying to see if you can tell me if the president did unequivocally nothing wrong that he is worried that Michael Cohen will tell the feds about.”
“You’re asking me what do I know is in documents over a dozen or so years” Conway said, again failing to answer this simple question. “I’m telling you the president’s concerns have been for Michael Cohen and the way he has been treated.”
It’s pretty clear at this point that the rich asshole has a lot to worry about. Hopefully soon we will be done with him.
Watch the interview below:
POLITICS
Kellyanne Conway Flips Out When Asked About Her Husband’s the rich asshole-Trolling Tweets
The White House counselor doesn’t take kindly to the questioning from CNN’s Dana Bash.
Kellyanne Conway unloaded on CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday after the White House counselor was asked about her husband’s recent tweets appearing to chide President some rich asshole.
Conway tore into Bash for inquiring why her spouse, high-profile attorney George Conway, had recently tweeted “critical” comments about the rich asshole, including challenging the president’s recent claim that attorney-client privilege was “dead.”
Appearing on the cable network’s “State of the Union” program, Conway first responded by calmly noting that her husband also tweets “a lot of things about Corgis and Philadelphia Eagles and sports, too,” But things quickly took a turn.
“It’s fascinating to me that CNN would go there,” Conway said. “But it’s very good for the whole world to just witness that it’s now fair game how people’s spouses and significant others may differ with them. I’m really surprised, but very, in some ways, relieved and gratified to see that. That should really be fun.”
“You just brought him into this,” she scolded Bash. “This ought to be fun moving forward, Dana. We’re now going to talk about other people’s spouses and significant others just because they either work at the White House or CNN? ... CNN just went there.”
Conway accused Bash of trying to “harass and embarrass” her before cryptically commenting on what constitutes a “difference of opinion” between spouses.
“By definition, spouses have a difference of opinion when adultery is happening,” Conway said. “By definition, spouses have a difference of opinion when one is, I don’t know, draining the joint bank account to support things that maybe the other disagrees with. So this is a fascinating ‘cross the Rubicon’ moment.”
The tense exchange went on for nearly five minutes, with Bash noting that the rich asshole attacked former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired last month, because his wife received campaign contributions from groups tied to an ally of Hillary Clinton.
Still, Conway suggested she faces a “different standard” than have past presidential aides and slammed Bash for bringing up her marriage.
“Kellyanne, here was my whole point of this, is that you are a professional working for the president of the United States and your husband is a very well-respected lawyer,” Bash said, “and my point is that we don’t often see ― in fact, I don’t remember the last time we saw ― somebody working for the president in a high-profile position when their spouse is saying critical things about them. That is all.”
Conway dismissed Bash’s statement, claiming other family members of the rich asshole administration officials “certainly don’t support the president privately and publicly.”
She continued to rail against Bash hours later, tweeting that the question regarding her husband was “cheap & irrelevant.”
I’ve long admired fellow Jersey Girl & working mom @DanaBashCNN.
Makes this harder to comprehend.
Amidst convo about North Korean nukes & Comey leaks/ McCabe lies, the “final q” is this?
Under strain, pretends it was meant 2 be “lighthearted” twitter.com/mediaite/statu…
George Conway’s tweets last month chiding his wife’s boss caught the eye of many political and media pundits. On March 23, he retweeted CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins’ tweet accusing the rich asshole of repeatedly undermining his aides.
George Conway, who the rich asshole once considered nominating as solicitor general, has since deleted the tweet, as well as several others that were critical of the rich asshole’s legal issues.
A representative for the White House did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for clarification regarding Conway’s “adultery” and “joint bank account” comments. Nor did George Conway respond immediately to a request for comment.
This story has been updated with Kellyanne Conway’s Twitter post.
How will history textbooks of the future judge the rich asshole era?
President of the United States some rich asshole speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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How will historians of the future judge us? I mean, not too well, assuming there are still historians around in the future who can read and write. But the details are impossible to imagine, given that our current circumstances are absurd. As Salon columnist Heather Digby Parton observed this week, sometimes you have to stop and appreciate the quality of public life in the United States in 2018, which goes beyond improbable deep into preposterous. Stephen Colbert observed during his Thursday night monologue that the problem with the just-concluded prime-time soap “Scandal,” which began several years ago as a dishy, outrageous pastiche of Washington politics in the “Melrose Place” style, was that reality had left it far behind.
This article was originally published at Salon
This article was originally published at Salon
Heather was responding to the fact that the president of the United States had just accused his own Justice Department, under an attorney general, deputy attorney general and New York prosecutor all appointed by him, of conducting a “witch hunt” aimed at undermining his administration. Gosh, remember when Kellyanne Conway bothered to defend the concept of “alternative facts” on TV? Those were the good old days, when there was some notional agreement that facts, at least in the abstract, were things of value. Now there are no longer facts. There is only story.
It’s strange for a journalist to say this, since our craft largely consists of sticking facts together to tell a story, but stories are dangerous. Human beings love stories. We are hopelessly addicted to stories; the dominate every known medium and every form of discourse. They are devices we use to make sense of the world. But whether it’s the creation of the world and the fall of man in the book of Genesis or the tale of the ever-widening Deep State Conspiracy (which now includes the entire Obama and Bush administrations and some of Team the rich asshole as well), stories have a tendency to overflow their banks, wash away their origins and swamp the underlying evidence.
Another column Heather wrote this week affected me deeply because it suggested that James Comey and some rich asshole, who now appear as implacable enemies, suffer from the same character flaw. That would be hubris, the excessive pride or ambition that always dooms the protagonists of Greek tragedy. I’m not sure she’s right about the rich asshole, who appears so profoundly narcissistic that he doesn’t quite perceive other people or the world as real, and can only understand them as reflections of his glory or threats to his greatness. He’s like a malevolent second-tier predator, a crocodile or a hyena, gifted with near-human intelligence.
But Comey is definitely hubristic, and his hubris reflects the powerful grip of a story that may not be true. His fatuous media interviews larded with civics lessons and his probably-ghostwritten memoir, in which he descends nearly to the juvenile level of the president he deplores, betray that he thinks he knows what’s going on. Which is definitely something none of us knows. Comey believes he holds the moral high ground above the rest of us and can write the history of this dire episode while it’s happening. That’s a special variety of hubris that leads one to make dubious decisions (e.g., the Hillary Clinton email investigation) and then to appear vain and ridiculous in the very near future.
Mind you, a lot of us have tried to write the history of the rich asshole era in advance. I have variously proposed in this space that we were seeing a new Age of Revolution, cognate to (if stupider than) earlier ones in the 1840s and again around World War I, and that the the rich asshole-Brexit political moment marked a new twist in the internal conflict within the Western world that the late Jean Baudrillard dubbed “World War IV.” Those may or may not be useful constructs, but with the native caution of the journalistic trade I have presented them only as possible interpretive frames: Here’s one way of looking at things; it surely doesn’t tell us what will happen next.
Comey seems to have embraced a version of future history in which Americans rediscover their civic virtue and, rather than seeking the escape hatch of impeachment — which has never successfully removed a president from office, let us note — go to the polls in 2020 and cast the rich asshole into the outer darkness. What happens after that is necessarily vague, but we are pretty much invited to assume that that will be enough. Order and righteousness and normalcy will be restored.
I guess! Comey’s probably too smart to believe that, which may be one reason he seems so indigested all the time. And his tedious history text of the future is not the only one available. I am here to tell you that I have ventured into the future in my Philip K. Dick time machine and returned with five distinct stories from different alternate universes; I suppose there’s a hypothetically infinite number of others. Based on my pop-science understanding of many-worlds cosmology, we must conclude that they’re not just all possible but in some sense all real. Which one are we likely to end up living in? That story remains unwritten.
some rich asshole was a fluke, a blip, an anomaly, an unexpected interruption in America’s upward trajectory toward fulfilling the promise of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address and all that. Effectively, the rich asshole didn’t happen! Or at least was something that could easily be undone. Joe Biden or Kirsten Gillibrand became president in 2021 — I can’t really read that part — the MAGA hat went into the closet with the piece-of-crap casting rod belonging to a former brother-in-law, and America returned to its normal programming.
Wait, which was what exactly? This appears to be the official doctrine of the Democratic Party and of many #NeverTrump Republicans, and it’s amazing that anyone pretends to believe it. Actually, it’s more complicated than that, because to be fair this scenario is definitely not impossible in the short term. Under President Boring we could see a temporary restoration of the mixed and contradictory American society of the previous two decades: steady economic growth mixed with worsening economic inequality, a cultural split reminiscent of Czarist Russia and a paralyzed political system that doesn’t work at all. If you work in the tech industry or the financial sector, and never have to come in contact with the large white heartland population that is now even more pissed off than it was before, it’s a sweet deal. For now.
In the years without number that followed 2016, America was made Great Again! That’s how we got our 700-foot border wall made of vibranium! (Which we took from Wakanda after the conquest.) Well, OK, that happened in a video game. It became hard to tell the difference. Generalissimo the rich asshole and his sons Donald Jr., Eric, Ivanko, Barron and Daphne ruled for – well, we don’t know how many years. We stopped counting. Literally, we stopped counting, because all numbers above eight were forbidden by tweet-dictum.Big-screen the rich asshole-branded TVs, absolutely not made in China (except for components and assembly), were given to every “real American” – I mean, “given” at a totally reasonable price that everyone wanted to pay – so everyone could watch the People’s Tribunals (later renamed “Jail Court!”) that put a final stake in the heart of the nefarious Deep State Plot with the humiliation and/or public execution of Andrew McCabe, James Comey, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Jeff Sessions (later exhumed and reappointed as attorney general), Andrew McCabe again, Sally Yates (revealed later to have been the wrong Sally Yates, a Days Inn manager in Elkhart, Indiana), Anderson Cooper, Lady Gaga, every NFL player who had ever worn a do-rag and the entire cast of the 2016 remake of “Ghostbusters.”
That was amusing to write, but the point is that even the most enthusiastic Ann Coulter slave-boy has no optimistic vision of the Trumpified American future that is more coherent or more realistic than that. Say this for Steve Bannon, who is basically a less charismatic replicant of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard: He tried. He’s basically a douchey small-town autodidact who escaped containment and learned to stop talking about the gold standard in polite society, but he did try to craft a positive vision of what he wanted society to look like, even if it was equal parts homoerotic New Deal fantasy and “Mein Kampf.” (I will never get over his promise to “jack up” the “ironworks.” Kinky!)
But the second-wave the rich asshole loyalists in the House Freedom Caucus and on Fox News and elsewhere have completely lost faith in using government power to do anything constructive. They pretty much want a fascist police state, which may be their only hope of holding onto power, but lack the courage to come out and say so. So their only play is to break as many things as possible and roll back regulation and try to prosecute every official of the old regime and blame everything that doesn’t work (which is everything) on a vast, invisible left-wing conspiracy, in hopes of agitating their base into the belief that winning elections isn’t enough and banning them is more like it.
the rich asshole struggles to get new IRS team in place
BY NAOMI JAGODA - 04/22/18 10:00 AM EDT
President the rich asshole has struggled to get his own permanent team in place at the IRS, as the agency works to implement his tax law and deal with technology issues.
The IRS has had an acting commissioner since November, when Obama appointee John Koskinen’s term ended. the rich asshole nominated Beverly Hills tax attorney Chuck Rettig to the position in February, but the Senate Finance Committee only received his paperwork a little over a week ago — indicating it may be some time before Rettig is on the job.
It is not unusual for the IRS to have acting commissioners for stretches of time, nor is it unusual for the confirmation process to take several months. But the stakes are particularly high given the importance of the tax law to the rich asshole’s presidency and the myriad challenges the agency faces.
The tax law that the rich asshole signed in December is the signature legislative accomplishment of his presidency, and Republicans are hoping it will yield dividends for their candidates in November’s midterm elections. But for the tax law to be a political asset, they need the rollout to go as smoothly as possible.
The IRS is responsible for carrying out the new law — both in releasing guidance and in updating its systems and forms ahead of next year’s tax filing season.
Republicans also want to follow their tax code rewrite with an overhaul of the IRS, and it could benefit them to have a Senate-confirmed head of the agency to advise them in that process. A bipartisan bill passed by the House Wednesday calls for the head of the IRS to provide Congress with a report about reorganization by Sept. 30, 2020.
The IRS has also been challenged by technology hiccups and by growing threats from cyber criminals looking to steal taxpayer information.
The IRS suffered a significant setback last week when a hardware issue led to technical difficulties on the tax filing due date. The systems failure led the agency to give taxpayers an extra day to file their returns.
Mark Everson, who served as IRS commissioner from 2003 to 2007, said the IRS systems issues are now likely to get a hard look, and that Rettig should be involved in those discussions because he would be the person to oversee the improvements if confirmed.
“There’s more accountability when you have a Senate-confirmed commissioner,” said Everson, who is now vice chairman of alliant group.
A 1998 law set IRS commissioners’ terms in scheduled, five-year increments. If there is a gap between Senate-confirmed commissioners, the new commissioner fills the remainder of the five-year term when he or she starts.
Koskinen’s term by law was set to expire in November, and he repeatedly encouraged Congress and the administration to have his successor confirmed before his term ended.
“Any organization runs better when it has a leader who’s going to be there permanently,” he told The Hill on Friday.
The rich asshole administration did not nominate Rettig until about three months after Koskinen left. Since November, David Kautter — who is also the rich asshole’s Senate-confirmed assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy — has been serving as acting commissioner.
A White House official said that the administration worked carefully to find the right person to lead the IRS.
“The President’s team took as much time as was necessary to pick the best possible nominee from among many qualified candidates,” the official said. “In the meantime, the President named David Kautter to serve as acting IRS Commissioner as soon as Koskinen left. This process is above all meant to ensure the highest caliber of individuals are named for Presidential appointments, and we call on the Senate to swiftly confirm Mr. Rettig.”
Some see drawbacks to Kautter pulling dual roles at Treasury and the IRS, since his Treasury job is in and of itself important for implementation of the tax law.
“You sort of have one person dividing their time between two jobs,” said Mazur, who had Kautter’s Treasury job during the Obama administration. “And they’re two full-time jobs.”
Mazur added that there needs to be “someone who can advocate for the IRS full time,” noting that the omnibus spending bill Congress passed last month gives the agency additional funding to implement the tax law but cuts its base funding.
In recent years, there have often been acting commissioners for periods of time between Senate-confirmed IRS chiefs.
Koskinen wasn’t confirmed until nearly five months after he was nominated in August 2013. His nomination occurred only several months after a major scandal involving the agency broke over the targeting of political gropus, and an August recess and government shutdown took place in between the time of his nomination and confirmation.
It’s unclear how much longer Rettig’s confirmation process will take. The Finance Committee’s vetting process is bipartisan and involves scrutiny of the nominee’s tax returns and questionnaire.
Administration officials and GOP senators have frequently complained about the backlog of the rich asshole’s nominees, accusing Democrats of obstructing many of them.
Lawmakers and tax experts think it’s important for Rettig to start quickly.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said earlier this month that it’s time for Kautter to get “back to his other full-time day job.”
Finance Committee ranking Democrat Ron Wyden (Ore.), who hasn’t decided yet how he will vote on Rettig’s nomination, told reporters Thursday that the confirmation process should move “as quickly as is responsible.”
He also complained in a statement to The Hill Thursday about the lag in the Finance Committee receiving Rettig’s paperwork.
“Mr. Rettig was nominated over two months ago, but our office only received his complete paperwork last week,” he said. “There is no excuse for this kind of delay, particularly when the acting IRS Commissioner is also serving as the rich asshole’s top political operative for tax policy.”
Besides the IRS commissioner, the rich asshole also has yet to have a Senate-confirmed person start in the agency’s only other job that requires such approval: chief counsel. The chief counsel plays an important role in IRS guidance.
Obama appointee William Wilkins left the IRS when the rich asshole took office. the rich asshole just nominated Michael Desmond, a former tax legislative counsel at Treasury, to the position last month, and the Finance Committee had not received all of his paperwork as of Friday afternoon.
Koskinen praised Kautter, and he added that Rettig and Desmond both have good backgrounds for the jobs to which they’ve been nominated.
“It sounds to me like they’ll be a very good partnership,” he said.
What Fresh Hell?: Utterly shameless Republicans edition
Mitch McConnell speaks to ABC News (screen grab)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
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.
Sometimes, you just have to pause for a moment to appreciate Republicans’ utter shamelessness. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-A Pond in Kentucky), accused Democrats of “historic obstruction” this week, and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Can’t Escape Quickly Enough), had a big sad over the fact that that they’ve turned their obstruction machine against the oh so very well qualified Mike Pompeo, the rich asshole’s pick to replace the Secretary of State that he had fired while the poor bastard was sitting on the pot.
I hope my colleagues will realize that we’re much better off as a nation having Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and will vote 'aye' on the floor. My full remarks today on his nomination: youtu.be/o5tlarcUQrc
Mike Pompeo is a highly qualified nominee. We used to have a tradition here in the Senate of overwhelmingly confirming people to important positions. Unfortunately, we’re in an atmosphere now where that is just not the case. pic.twitter.com/9LRCCffr8z
There are 47 Muslim-majority countries in this world, many of them key allies in unstable parts of the world, and Pompeo, an infamous Islamophobe – as well as an anti-gay climate change denier and all-around crackpot – is by definition unqualified to deal with them with respect.
Pompeo has also had no trouble with the media and his colleagues falsely claiming that he was a war veteran for the past couple of decades. That includes 51 Republicans who mentioned his nonexistent combat history in a letter urging their colleagues to confirm him. If he were a Democrat, his nomination would have been withdrawn a nanosecond after this lie was exposed. “Stolen valor” and all that.
But that’s really the least of it. It’s the sheer chutzpah of accusing Democrats of engaging in “historic obstruction,” when Republicans blocked more of Obama’s nominees (86) in his first term alone than Congress had rejected under all 43 of the country’s previous presidents combined (82). And then blatantly stole a Supreme Court seat that would have given the high court its first liberal/moderate majority since 1971.
And then, having blocked an unprecedented number of Obama’s judicial nominees, McConnell is now scrambling to pack the courts with Trumpers. “Mitch McConnell is making a last dash to stock the judiciary with conservatives this year as a hedge against the chance that Republicans lose the Senate in November,” Politico reported this week. Their capacity for hypocrisy is really kind of impressive when you think about it.
Even more aggravating is the fact that Obama tended to choose well-qualified moderates, but the rich asshole has a well-established established penchant for doing the opposite of whatever his predecessor did.
******
We got a sense of how qualified the rich asshole’s judicial nominees tend to be this week, when Judge James Ho offered his first judicial opinion for vitally important Fifth District Court of Appeals – actually the first in his life. Ian Millhiser wrote this week at Think Progress that newly minted judges usually “don’t use their very first opinion to burn down the distinction between law and political myth-making.” But the rich asshole, as we know, hires only the biggest goofballs best people, so Ho stepped “away from legal argument entirely to launch into a political rant against big government — complete with a gratuitous swipe at Obamacare.”
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Sixteen Dems voted to confirm Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Julie Turkewitz reported for The New York Times this week that Zinke “has torn up Obama-era rules related to oil, gas and mineral extraction and overseen the largest reduction of federal land protection in the nation’s history.” He’s selling off the public trust everywhere but… his home state of Montana. In Montana, “Mr. Zinke has struck a different note.”
In the past year, Mr. Zinke has halted the sale of oil and gas leases near Yellowstone National Park, opposed gold mining in that area, and urged the president to protect one national monument, Montana’s Upper Missouri River Breaks, while creating another, the Badger-Two Medicine, just miles from his childhood home.
******
Four Dems voted to confirm Ajit Pai, the rich asshole’s pick to head the FCC. Pai, as you know, immediately moved to kill net neutrality, and now we get this fresh Hell…
A broadband adviser selected by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to run a federal advisory committee was arrested last week on claims she tricked investors into pouring money into a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme, according to The Wall Street Journal.
******
Cheetolini’s Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer flew through the confirmation process on an 82-14 vote with plenty of support from the Democratic Party of Unprecedented Obstruction. And if this headline from The New York Post doesn’t sum up the rich asshole era perfectly, I don’t know what would: “the rich asshole’s trade rep spends $1M on new furniture, blames Obama.”
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Let’s turn now to a few items that illustrate how the GOP is conducting “the people’s business.”
On Wednesday, Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) and every Republican present in the Senate voted “to eliminate a 2013 consumer protection measure intended to combat discrimination in auto lending,” according to Politico’s Zachary Warmbrodt.
It gets worse. In a separate article, Warmbrodt explained that this move was just the first in “a new front in [the GOP’s] push to roll back regulations across the government, using a maneuver that could enable them to strike down decisions by federal agencies that reach back decades.”
The Congressional Review Act empowers Congress to kill new regulations, but “while Republicans in the rich asshole era have already taken advantage of the 1996 law to remove more than a dozen recently issued rules, this would be the first time that Congress will have used it to kill a regulatory policy that is several years old.”
This, too, is part of their mad dash to break as much as they can while they still control all three branches of government.
******
Relatedly, Alexia Fernández Campbell reported for Vox that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren’s signature achievement until it was taken over by the regime in a sort of palace coup, “is taking it easy on payday lenders accused of preying on low-income workers.”
We knew this generally, but here are the deets:
In the agency’s first report to Congress since Mick Mulvaney took the helm in November, the CFPB said it is dropping sanctions against NDG Financial Corp, a group of 21 businesses that the agency, under President Obama, had accused of running “a cross-border online payday lending scheme” in Canada and the United States.“The scheme primarily involved making loans to U.S. consumers in violation of state usury laws and then using unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices to collect on the loans and profit from the revenues,” the CFPB lawyers argued in the complaint filed in the Southern District of New York in 2015.
******
You know how conservatives used to say they cared about too much power being concentrated in the executive branch? The fine print always specified that they only meant it when the executive branch is run by a Democrat.
Anyway, The Los Angeles Times reported this week that,” without mentioning [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller,” the regime is pushing to “bolster” the rich asshole ’s power to fire government officials.
The Supreme Court is set to hear a seemingly minor case later this month on the status of administrative judges at the Securities and Exchange Commission, an issue that normally might only draw the interest of those accused of stock fraud. But the dispute turns on the president’s power to hire and fire officials throughout the government. And it comes just as the White House is saying President the rich asshole believes he has the power to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
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Jared Kushner failed to solve the Middle East conflict, but at least…
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Meanwhile, from the Draining the Swamp file, Anita Kumar reported for McClatchy that “some rich asshole’s U.S. businesses have received at least $15.1 million in revenue from political groups and federal agencies since 2015,” much of it from his campaign. “The money went to the rich asshole’s airplanes, hotels, golf courses, even a bottled water company during the presidential campaign and the first 15 months of his presidency, according to a compilation of known records of the spending by Public Citizen obtained by McClatchy.”
This party, put on at @realdonatrump's hotel by a foreign govt, is on June 12.
One day before that, a federal judge will hear arguments in a lawsuit alleging @realDonaldTrump is violating the constitution....b/c his hotel takes payments from foreign govts. twitter.com/Fahrenthold/st…
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Finally, we’d like to say that we’re better than this – that this horror doesn’t reflect our values. We’d love to say that, but history would slap us upside the head if we did.
According to The New York Times, “members of Congress have been demanding answers about how many [undocumented] families are being separated as they are processed at stations along the southwest border, in part because the rich asshole administration has in the past said it was considering taking children from their parents as a way to deter migrants from coming here.”
Officials have repeatedly declined to provide data on how many families have been separated, but suggested that the number was relatively low.But new data reviewed by The New York Times shows that more than 700 children have been taken from adults claiming to be their parents since October, including more than 100 children under the age of 4.
Sorry to leave you on such a depressing note.
the rich asshole administration health announcement is latest blow to transgender Americans
The administration announced this weekend it will role back anti-discrimination health care protections.
The rich asshole administration’s campaign to make life more difficult for transgender Americans entered a new phase this weekend. On Saturday, according to the New York Times, the administration announced that it would gut an anti-discrimination statute when it comes to health care access for transgender patients.
The rule, passed under the Obama administration in 2016, had prevented health care providers receiving federal financial assistance — including those receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments — from discriminating based on “gender identity.” A recent ruling out of Texas, however, found that segments of the rule were unlawful, opening the door for the Department of Health and Human Services to rewrite the rule.
The new rule, per the Times, has been submitted to the White House, which is currently “reviewing the proposed rule on ‘nondiscrimination in health programs’.” While the details of the new rule remain unclear, the rich asshole administration will likely allow health insurers to prevent coverage of treatments that help a person transition to another gender.
The new rule could have potentially devastating effects on America’s transgender community. As POLITICO reported last month, over 30 percent of transgender Americans “lack regular access to a medical provider, even as their community suffers from high rates of depression, exposure to violence and HIV infection.” Now, health care providers and insurers will make it easier to prevent gender reassignment surgeries — and potentially other procedures as well — for transgender Americans.
The announcement presents the the rich asshole administration’s latest salvo against rights for transgender Americans. Not only has the Education Department repealed Obama-era guidelines for transgender students, but President some rich asshole has made barring transgender Americans from serving in the military — a diktat that is still passing through the court system — one of the key planks of his first two years in office.
Conway lashes out at CNN for question about husband's tweets
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/22/18 09:49 AM EDT
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday defended her husband's criticism of President the rich asshole on Twitter and chided CNN for asking about his tweets.
Conway insisted on CNN's "State of the Union" that her husband "writes a lot of things that are also supportive" of the rich asshole, before lashing out at the network over the question.
"It's fascinating to me that CNN would go there, but it's very good for the whole world to have just witnessed ... that it's now fair game how people's spouses and significant others may differ with them," Conway told CNN's Dana Bash.
"I'm really surprised, but very, in some ways, relieved and gratified to see that," she added.
Bash defended the question, saying she would have still asked Conway the question if she were a man.
"No you wouldn't," Conway replied.
"It has nothing to do with my spouse," she continued. "You just brought him into this, so this ought to be fun moving forward."
When Bash explained that she intended for the question to be lighthearted and inoffensive, Conway accused the host of trying to "harass and embarrass" her.
"There’s been a different standard for me than there has been for other people," Conway said.
Conway's husband, conservative attorney George Conway, deleted a handful of tweets from his account last month that were critical of the rich asshole, including one in which he jokingly claimed that "people are banging on the doors to be his communications director."
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