Ex-Watergate prosecutor pinpoints why the rich asshole ‘can’t take the Fifth Amendment’
Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks wearing a 'dragon energy' pin.
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Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks argued on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” that the President of the United States can not assert the Fifth Amendment — yet some rich asshole may do so anyway.
“He cannot take the Fifth Amendment, that would be political suicide,” Wine-Banks, the former General Counsel for the US Army, argued.
“Michael Cohen can take the Fifth Amendment,” she acknowledged. “But the President of the United States cannot say, ‘I can’t answer questions because they might incriminate me in another matter.’ That just is not politically acceptable.”
“But you know what, Jill, I have heard that and I understand why you say that, but you know, I would have thought not releasing your tax returns was political suicide,” Hayes replied. “There’s lots of things he’s done, if it comes down you either sit down and talk or plead the Fifth, he might plead the Fifth.”
“I agree that he might do it, because I’m predicting what a totally sane person would do,” Wine-Banks answered. “It would be complete chaos in the Congress if the president said, ‘I’m not answering questions because they would incriminate me.'”
Hayes said President the rich asshole agrees, showing a highlight reel of the rich asshole bashing defendants to assert their Fifth Amendment rights.
“You see the mob takes the Fifth,” the rich asshole said in one clip. “If you are innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
Wine-Banks also analyzed the legal jeopardy facing Cohen, which may all come down to New York real estate transactions.
“I would say that in the case of the Cohen taking the Fifth in the civil case, it is inevitable that he has to do that,” she explained. “I would say that it’s not a fear about Stormy Daniels and it’s not even possibly a fear about how many there are — because I would predict that there’s more than the two that we know about for hush money — but that it’s probably related to business transactions that skirt the line.”
“There were probably payments that might be considered bribes, in connection with some of the housing that’s been built in New York and maybe even overseas,” Wine-Banks concluded.
Watch:
Kellyanne Conway smeared the rich asshole ‘to every reporter she could get on the phone’: GOP strategist Rick Wilson
KellyAnne Conway and some rich asshole at the Mercer family's 2016 "Heroes and Villians" costume ball on Long Island.
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some rich asshole’s 2016 campaign manager spent the final days of the election attacking her candidate, Republican strategist Rick Wilson revealed on Wednesday.
Not just the rich asshole, but strategist Steve Bannon and RNC Chair Reince Preibus.
“Kellyanne Conway spent several days before the 2016 election spinning reporters on why the rich asshole was going to lose,” Wilson stated. “On Election Night, she was sh*tting out Bannon, Preibus and the rich asshole personally to every reporter she could get on the phone.”
WATCH: Kellyanne Conway trashes James Comey in bonkers interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and White House advisor Kellyanne Conway.
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Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway lashed out at former FBI Director James Comey during a combative and evasive interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
The interview followed CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s town hall meeting with Comey.
“You saw that he was squirming around answering the tough questions by your colleague Anderson Cooper, maybe he wasn’t expecting that,” Conway suggested. “I believe Comey expected a hero’s welcome from many in the mainstream media.”
Cuomo repeatedly asked Conway why her distractions were relevant, but his requests were dodged.
Watch Part I:
Watch Part II:
One of the rich asshole’s top lobbyists was just caught fundraising for a friend of Syria’s dictator
Handout picture released on April 13, 2014 by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus [AFP]
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A man said to be one of the closest lobbyists in Washington to President some rich asshole has been fundraising for a company linked to a family close to Syria’s authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The Daily Beast on Wednesday reported that the lobbying firm owned by the rich asshole lobbyist Brian Ballard took on Dubai-based trading company ASM International General Trading as a client as reported in last month’s federal filing period. In analyses of open source information, the Beast found that ASM “is affiliated with” a member of the Foz family, a clan of wealthy Syrian businessmen that are reportedly close to Assad.
When reached by the Beast for comment on the allegations, Ballard said that if ASM is indeed tied to the Syrian dictator the president has recently feuded with, he would fire them as clients.
“We’re going to do more due diligence,” the lobbyist told the Beast. “We’re not the CIA, but if it were to turn out that there was any connection at all, we would withdraw from our representation of the Dubai trading company.”
The report noted that Assad-linked businessman Samer Foz and his brother Amer left an online paper trial connecting them to the Dubai company represented by Ballard. The family has been scrutinized for their links to the Syrian leader, and in 2017 they purchased government-seized land in Damascus from Assad’s government.
As the report notes, a Politico profile published earlier this month called the Florida-based Ballard “The Most Powerful Lobbyist in the rich asshole’s Washington” and claimed he is “closer to the president than perhaps any other lobbyist in town.”
Comey details why the rich asshole’s lie about staying over night in Moscow is ‘significant’
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In a CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper, former FBI director James Comey answered questions from students and faculty at William & Mary law school on Wednesday.
He talked about his lasted book, “A Higher Loyalty” that details his experiences working with some rich asshole.
Cooper asked Comey if it was significant that the rich asshole lied about not spending the night in Russia.
Comey revealed to the audience how to easily spot a lie.
“It’s always significant when someone lies, especially about something you didn’t ask about,” Comey said.
Watch the full clip below!
Ronny Jackson says he might withdraw his name as the rich asshole’s VA nominee
Dr. Ronny Jackson, White House photo by Pete Souza.
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Amid claims of excessive drinking, banging on a female colleague’s door, and wrecking a government car, President the rich asshole’s physician, Ronny L. Jackson has grown numb with the nomination process.
According to White House officials, Jackson is considering withdrawing his nomination.
This story is still developing.
‘Did you do any vetting at all?’ CNN’s Burnett hammers White House deputy press secretary over Jackson allegations
CNN anchor Erin Burnett and White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President Raj Shah.
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CNN anchor Erin Burnett had difficulty getting White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah to answer questions about the nomination of Dr. Ronny Jackson to lead the Department of Veteran Affairs.
“We are pushing ahead with this nomination,” Shah claimed. “So you know, these are accusations, we are looking into them.”
“Did you do any vetting at all, beyond saying he passed background checks from the FBI?” Burnett asked.
Shah just repeated his talking points that Dr. Jackson had passed his background check and was liked by former President Barack Obama.
Burnett made a personal observation while introducing a clip from Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).
“You know, it just sort of makes me think when allegations against Matt Lauer came out, or Charlie Rose, I had worked with them and hadn’t experienced it, but everything that was said against them, that came out to be true, it happened,” Burnett explained. “I didn’t know about it, but it still happened.”
“Isn’t it possible that the guys who were, that he was treating, don’t know these things happened but yes, they indeed happened?” she asked.
“Well, with all due respect, Erin, I guess anything is possible,” Shah replied.
“I’m just simply making the point that the President of the United States, whoever that is, wouldn’t have been aware of this behavior at a Secret Service party, wrecking a car, handing out drugs to someone he shouldn’t,” Wallace noted.
Watch:
Judge directs Cohen team and prosecutors to ‘be prepared’ for a special watchdog to handle FBI-seized files
President some rich asshole's longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen (Screen capture)
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A judge overseeing the Michael Cohen trial is considering appointing a special watchdog to review files obtained by the FBI, reports CNBC.
Michael Cohen is currently under criminal investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
On April 9th, the FBI raided his hotel and home office in Manhattan. During the raid the FBI found sensitive materials such as statements and receipts, and even came across a document that details more information about a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood directed Cohen’s team and prosecutors to “be prepared” to discuss a watchdog “should one be appointed.” Wood went on to say that the purpose of the watchdog would ensure that no one violates attorney-client privileges.
The files have not been reviewed because both parties have not agreed on how the files should be handled.
Cohen’s team wants to have a filter team review the material. They wished to have the files reviewed first before sending them to prosecutors. Last week Judge Wood denied their request.
The judge told Cohen that his team has until late Wednesday to decide and come up with the resources for how “to produce such materials to a Special Master.” She also wants them to make a decision on how to handle the “production of non-privileged materials.”
NYC judge strikes down the rich asshole-lover’s ‘petty’ discrimination lawsuit after he claims MAGA is his religion
President some rich asshole wears a "Make America Great Again" hat at a golf tournament held at one of his properties. Image via Saul Loeb/AFP.
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A judge in Manhattan ruled Wednesday that bar owners are legally allowed to kick people out for supporting President some rich asshole because anti-discrimination laws don’t cover political affiliation.
The New York Post reported that 31-year-old Greg Piatek, an accountant from Philadelphia, was kicked out of a West Village bar for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat shortly after the rich asshole’s inauguration in 2017. After being told that “anyone who supports the rich asshole — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here” by staff at The Happiest Hour bar, Piatek sued the establishment and said the incident “offended his sense of being American.”
In court on Wednesday, The Happiest Hour’s lawyer Elizabeth Conway argued that state and city non-discrimination laws only bar business owners from refusing service based on religion — not political affiliation.
“Supporting the rich asshole is not a religion,” the attorney argued. Piatek’s lawyer Paul Liggieri, the Post reported, shot back with a unique counter-argument.
“The purpose of the hat is that he wore it because he was visiting the 9/11 Memorial,” Liggieri told Justice David Cohen, the judge presiding over the case. “He was paying spiritual tribute to the victims of 9/11. The Make American Great Again hat was part of his spiritual belief.”
When Justice Cohen pressed Liggieri on how the bar’s staff was supposed to know Piatek was wearing the hat based on religious rather than political beliefs, the attorney responded that they were only aware of the hat’s existence. When asked about how many people ascribe to said spiritual belief, the lawyer acknowledged that Piatek’s is “a creed of one.”
Cohen, when tossing out the case, said Piatek’s unspecified emotional damages were “petty” in nature, and that he did not adequately “state any faith-based principle to which the hat relates,” the Post reported.
AG Jeff Sessions declines to comment on recusal on the rich asshole lawyer Cohen
Jeff Sessions stumps for presumptive Republican presidential nominee some rich asshole at the Republican National Convention in 2016. (Shutterstock)
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday declined to say during a congressional hearing whether he would recuse himself from an investigation involving Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for President some rich asshole, but said he continued to honor his recusal agreement for campaign-related issues.
“I have sought advice on those matters. I have not met with the top ethics person on it, but I can assure you I have not violated my recusal,” he told Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy during a hearing on the U.S. Justice Department budget.
Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, had pressed him about Cohen, whose office and home were raided earlier this month after the FBI received a referral from the special counsel investigating whether members of the rich asshole’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia during the election.
Sessions, a former Republican senator, had agreed to recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation into campaign interference after he worked to help the rich asshole win the election. That agreement has publicly enraged the rich asshole, a fellow Republican.
“I am honoring the recusal in every case and every matter that comes before the Department of Justice,” Sessions said. “It is the policy of the Department of Justice that those who have recused themselves not state the details of it or confirm the investigation or the scope and nature of the investigation.”
Sessions, a former Republican senator, had agreed to recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation into campaign interference after he worked to help the rich asshole win the election. That agreement has publicly enraged the rich asshole, a fellow Republican.
“I am honoring the recusal in every case and every matter that comes before the Department of Justice,” Sessions said. “It is the policy of the Department of Justice that those who have recused themselves not state the details of it or confirm the investigation or the scope and nature of the investigation.”
He said recusals are typically not made public, a point echoed by Justice Department Spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores.
“The attorney general has been clear that his recusal covers ‘any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States’ based on the relevant DOJ regulations. Department officials decline, however, to discuss recusals from specific ongoing investigations because doing so could confirm the existence of ongoing investigations or the scope or nature of those ongoing investigations,” she said in a statement to Reuters.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Sessions had not recused himself from the Cohen case.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Sessions had not recused himself from the Cohen case.
the rich asshole says he will make himself ‘personally available’ to review materials seized by the FBI during Cohen raids
some rich asshole yelling during the 2016 Republican National Convention/Screenshot
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President the rich asshole’s lawyer said that the president will make himself open and available for review of any evidence seized during and FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s office. Judge Wood is overseeing the case Thursday in New York.
The information is still developing. You can watch the clip below, via MSNBC:
the rich asshole VA pick Ronny Jackson ‘wrecked a government vehicle’ while intoxicated : NY Times
Dr. Ronny Jackson, White House photo by Pete Souza.
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The New York Times has just published a report that reveals even more allegations of improper and dangerous behavior by the man President some rich asshole insists be confirmed to head the Veterans Administration.
Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson “got intoxicated and ‘wrecked a government vehicle,’ according to the summary” drafted by the Democratic staff of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Dr. Jackson also “provided ‘a large supply’ of Percocet, a prescription opioid, to a White House military office staff member, throwing his own medical staff ‘into a panic’ when the medical unit could not account for the missing drugs,” the report indicates.
“A nurse on his staff said Dr. Jackson had written himself prescriptions, and when caught, he asked a physician assistant to provide the medication,” the summary also says, according to The Times.
“A nurse on his staff said Dr. Jackson had written himself prescriptions, and when caught, he asked a physician assistant to provide the medication,” the summary also says, according to The Times.
Earlier Wednesday White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that “Because Dr. Jackson has worked within arm’s reach of three presidents, he has received more vetting than most nominees.”
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.
www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/
Michael Cohen to plead the 5th in the Stormy Daniels lawsuit
the rich asshole lawyer Michael Cohen (IowaPolitics.com/Flickr)
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Michael Cohen, President some rich asshole’s long-time personal attorney, is asserting his Fifth Amendment Right against self-incrimination, according to a filing in federal court on Wednesday.
The filing is in a case against Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who allegedly breached a contract when she spoke about having an affair with the rich asshole.
“Based on the advice of counsel, I will assert my 5th Amendment rights in connection with all proceedings in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” Cohen declared, under penalty of perjury.
Read the full declaration below:
Here's Michael Cohen's declaration in support of his request for a stay of the Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump "hush agreement" lawsuit. Background: hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/donald… via @thr
A new study confirms that support for the rich asshole was driven by white fears, not economic anxiety
Those who were skeptical of the dominant media narrative from the start receive fresh confirmation.
Within establishment political and media circles, the mythology surrounding the motives of white working-class voters has been the most popular and enduring explanation for why some rich asshole is in the White House.
It’s a misleading narrative — but it has nevertheless become such an ingrained article of faith that even some progressive leaders have been reluctant to describe as “fake news.”
As the story goes, the rich asshole’s campaign rhetoric primarily appealed to poor, white, and Christian men who saw themselves partially reflected in the image of a politically incorrect straight-talker — a billionaire mogul who’d be a traitor to his class and wage war on elites of all stripes. Happy to look past his personal imperfections, playboy reputation and failed business history, the rich asshole’s white voters clung to the tender hope that he would keep his campaign pledges and improve their economic well-being. Their mantra was the ridiculous “Make America Great Again.”
And it is all wrong and misguided.
So says a new study that contradicts that narrative, instead asserting that the rich asshole voters are much less worried about their financial well-being than they are about losing their dominant status as white people within a demographically diverse and ever-changing nation.
Writing in an academic journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Diana C. Mutz, a University of Pennsylvania political science and communications professor, argues that white, Christian, and male voters — who made up the bulk of the rich asshole’s base — cast their ballot out of deep-seated fear that their social standing in America was slowly eroding and that the rich asshole was the best candidate to arrest this perceived decline.
“The 2016 election was a result of anxiety about dominant groups’ future status rather than a result of being overlooked in the past,” Mutz wrote in her study, which was released Monday and was widely circulated in online and mainstream media reports, such as the New York Times, which reported:
Losing a job or income between 2012 and 2016 did not make a person any more likely to support some rich asshole, Dr. Mutz found. Neither did the mere perception that one’s financial situation had worsened. A person’s opinion on how trade affected personal finances had little bearing on political preferences. Neither did unemployment or the density of manufacturing jobs in one’s area.
Speaking to the New York Times, Mutz offered a counter-explanation: the rich asshole effectively tapped into white fears to frighten voters. “It’s much more of a symbolic threat that people feel,” she said. “It’s not a threat to their own economic well-being; it’s a threat to their group’s dominance in our country over all.”
While many political observers – myself included – have been saying this or some version of it since well before the rich asshole was elected, the “left behind” narrative, as Mutz describes the explanation for the rich asshole’s improbable support, has dominated political and media explanations since his election.
For example, Darrell M. West, director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution, wrote recently that “economic anxiety … has become one of the defining characteristics of contemporary American society….[Americans] rightfully fear for their own well-being as well as that of their children.”
These alarmist narratives tug at the strings of white superiority and prove to be powerfully persuasive, even among well-to-do white Americans, as Mutz noted in her paper:
Racial status threat makes perfect sense occurring immediately after eight years of leadership by America’s first African American president. It is not racism of the kind suggesting that whites view minorities as morally or intellectually inferior, but rather, one that regards minorities as sufficiently powerful to be a threat to the status quo. When members of a dominant group experience a sense of threat to their group’s position, whether it is the status of Americans in the world at large or the status of whites in a multiethnic America, change in people’s sense of their group’s relative position produces insecurity.
Such fear and anxiety about demographic change also explains why the “left behind” fears of white voters continued to have salience even among Democratic Party leaders such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Last year, these Democratic leaders responded to the rich asshole’s victory by doubling down on the effort to make their party more attractive to working-class white voters through the so-called “Better Deal” plan.
I never believed the fable of beleaguered white voters. Indeed, I first said as much in a 2015 Huffington Post article with Kica Matos of the Center for Community Change Action, pointing out the rich asshole’s appeal was rooted in racism:
the rich asshole’s slogan, “Make America Great Again”, does not align at all with his rhetoric or political agenda. His campaign slogan should instead offer, “Make America White Again.” That’s the subtext to his message, appealing to those that pine for a return to the days when discriminatory laws, openly bigoted politics, racial violence, and a culture of hate and cruelty were tolerated when directed at people of color.
Other observers have noticed it as well. Scholars associated with the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic magazine surveyed more than 3,000 people last year and discovered that the rich asshole’s supporters were steadfast in their anxiety about cultural and identity loss. “White working-class voters who say they often feel like a stranger in their own land and who believe the U.S. needs protecting against foreign influence were 3.5 times more likely to favor the rich asshole than those who did not share these concerns.”
Beyond any sense of personal vindication, which I’ll gratefully embrace, these revelations are significant because they help shape the stories we tell ourselves as a nation about how and why our political process functions. If the public fails to accurately assess the underlying motivations for voting behavior, finding common ground in public policies becomes increasingly difficult, if not downright impossible.
Mutz acutely documents that the critical factors of white fear and racial anxiety, at work during the 2016 elections, was and continues to be misidentified. “Political uprisings are often about downtrodden groups rising up to assert their right to better treatment and more equal life conditions relative to high-status groups,” she wrote in the study. “The 2016 election, in contrast, was an effort by members of already dominant groups to assure their continued dominance and by those in an already powerful and wealthy country to assure its continued dominance.”
As mounting evidence reveals, the rich asshole isn’t president because of economic issues on Main Street, though these certainly exist for many. No, let’s be clear: He sits in the Oval Office because his relentless fear-mongering produced a “whitelash” in response to the browning of America. It’s a desperate and despicable effort to retain the nation’s racist hierarchy, which must be accurately understood to resist.
Rudy Giuliani met with special counsel Mueller to discuss ending the Russia probe: report
Special counsel Robert Mueller (left, via Wikimedia Commons) and former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani (right, via screengrab).
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Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and President some rich asshole’s newest lawyer, met yesterday with special counsel Robert Mueller to discuss a face-to-face meeting between the investigator and the president.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that according to three sources briefed on the meeting, Giuliani “conveyed the ongoing resistance of the rich asshole and his advisers to an interview with federal investigators,” but also communicated that they are not closed off to the concept.
The former mayor’s hiring caused waves last week after it was reported that he’d joined the president’s legal team despite not practicing law in decades in hopes of ending Mueller’s probe by the summer.
The Supreme Court heard the Muslim Ban case today. It did not go well.
The Court is not going to save the country from some rich asshole.
The striking thing about Wednesday’s argument in the rich asshole v. Hawaii, the Muslim ban case, is how ordinary it was.
Members of the Court quickly sorted into familiar ideological camps. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch all seemed eager to uphold the ban (Justice Clarence Thomas will almost certainly join them, but he was characteristically silent). The four liberals were largely skeptical of the ban — although Justice Stephen Breyer appeared to feel around for a compromise that could uphold the ban while expanding the use of waivers and exemptions. Justice Anthony Kennedy was somewhere in the middle.
But there was little sense of alarm from the bench as a whole, and no sense of great alarm from Justice Kennedy. Indeed, for much of the oral argument, Kennedy seemed to view some rich asshole’s decision to ban nationals from many Muslim nations from the United States — a decision that the rich asshole reached after campaigning for president on a platform of anti-Muslim animus — with all of the passion he ordinarily brings to cases asking whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a state employee benefits law.
If you’ve been hoping that the courts will provide a check to the rich asshole’s illiberalism, now would be a good time to find another hero.
After Wednesday’s argument, it is far from clear how the Court will rule in this case — although if you had to put money on it, bet on a 5-4 decision upholding the ban — but it is perfectly clear that a majority of the Court isn’t especially alarmed by the rich asshole, his presidency, or the threat he presents to the rule of law.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who argued the case on behalf of the rich asshole, did his best to paint the rich asshole’s Muslim ban as a very ordinary decision, vetted by cabinet officials and handed down as a perfectly normal way of protecting national security. the rich asshole’s decision to ban residents of several majority Muslim nations from entering the United States is no different from “what President Carter did with respect to Iran” or “what President Reagan did with respect to Cuba.”
Of course, neither Carter nor Reagan campaigned on a platform of hostility to Iranian or Cuban nationals. Nor did they openly brag about their plans to use a national security-based pretext to justify a Muslim ban.
Francisco’s efforts to normalize this case quickly ran into headwinds from Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Kagan proposed a hypothetical where a future president campaigns on anti-Semitism, and then instructs his subordinates to find a seemingly legal way to ban Israelis from entering the United States. Kagan specified that this hypothetical centered on “an out-of-the-box kind of president.”
Sotomayor asked the same question in a more pointed way — what if the president said to his cabinet, “I want to keep out Jews; find a way”?
In the most hopeful sign for opponents of the ban, Justice Kennedy also jumped into this round of questioning. After Francisco claimed that the rich asshole’s anti-Muslim campaign statements were not relevant and should not be considered in evaluating this policy, Kennedy asked about a candidate for mayor who makes “vituperative” statements on the campaign trail and then acts upon those statements “on day two” of his time in office. Is the Court really supposed to pretend that those statements don’t speak to this mayor’s intentions?
Yet, while the Court’s liberals largely saw this as a case about animus, its right flank clearly bought the rich asshole’s claim that it is a national security case.
Shortly after Neal Katyal, the former acting solicitor general challenging the ban, took the podium, Chief Justice Roberts asked about a more limited ban. What if intelligence agencies came to the president with credible evidence that 20 Syrian nationals planned a terrorist attack in the United States for tomorrow? Could the rich asshole issue a one day ban on travel from Syria? What if the ban lasted a week? What if they ban began a month from now and then extended for a week?
Roberts’ point was that courts cannot easily draw the line between a ban that is warranted and one that should be forbidden, and the price of erring too far in favor of civil liberties could be catastrophic.
Justice Samuel Alito, meanwhile, played the role of casual authoritarian. After Katyal argued that Congress enacted specific legislation describing what the president may do if he determines that particular foreign nationals present a national security threat — and that this legislation does not permit the Muslim ban — Alito asked what should happen if such a threat cannot be dealt with through measures lawfully authorized by Congress.
In a particularly ominous sign for the ban’s opponents, Kennedy appeared to share Alito’s concern — suggesting that the decision of how the United States should react to a perceived national security threat should not be left up to the judiciary.
At the end of the day, this case is likely to be decided not based on how the justices understand the law, but based on what they think of some rich asshole.
If you think of the rich asshole as a bumbling goon who does not listen carefully to his advisers and who acts largely based on his own id, then the Muslim ban must go. Whatever deference that courts ordinarily owe to presidents in the national security context can’t be applied when that president brags openly about his plans to flout the Constitution and target a particular religious group.
But if you think of the rich asshole as a perfectly ordinary president, trying his best to protect the nation after consulting with knowledgeable advisers, then of course this ban should be upheld. Courts do not have access to the intelligence network that presidents are supposed to rely on, and they second-guess a president who pays genuine heed to good intelligence at the nation’s peril.
Four members of the Court are almost certainly in the former camp, while four others are almost certainly in the later. If you merely read the transcript of this argument, you might get the impression that Kennedy is torn between the two sides — he did, after all, ask tough questions to both advocates.
But the stunning thing about Kennedy’s behavior on the bench was how calm and measured he appeared. He showed none of the rage that animated his questions about a Colorado civil rights commissioner who noted that “freedom of religion” has often been used to justify discrimination. Nor did he display the vitriol that drove his Rush Limbaugh-like rant against public sector unions that allegedly advocate for “massive government.”
At Wednesday’s oral argument, Kennedy looked like an ordinary judge, hearing an ordinary case against an ordinary president. That bodes poorly for this challenge.
One potential wild card is Justice Breyer, who spent much of the argument grilling Francisco about whether the Muslim ban offers especially deserving foreign nationals the opportunity to obtain a waiver permitting them to come to the United States. What of Syrian university professors who wish to attend an academic conference at Berkeley or Harvard? Or students denied visas because of their nation of origin? Or businesses that seek to hire an especially qualified candidate from Somalia? What of a 10-year-old child with cerebral palsy who was reportedly denied a waiver by the rich asshole administration?
Breyer has brokered compromises with Kennedy in the past — most notably in a case where Kennedy cast an unexpected vote not to kill affirmative action in university admissions. It is possible that he will do the same here, offering his vote (and perhaps that of Justice Kagan) to the conservatives in return for more robust exceptions to the Muslim ban, preventing the outcome of this case from being a total victory for the rich asshole administration.
But liberals who hoped that the Court shares the same sense of alarm that they feel about President the rich asshole — not to mention the kind of liberals who write essays referring to the judiciary as “the Last Hope of the Left” — are almost certain to be disappointed.
the rich asshole, Macron ‘bromance’ draws late night laughs in US
French President Emmanuel Macron and US President some rich asshole walk to the Oval Office prior to a meeting at the White House AFP / Ludovic MARIN
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Firm handshakes, warm embraces, kisses, even a bit of grooming: the “bromance” between US President some rich asshole and French leader Emmanuel Macron has provided plenty of material for America’s late night TV comedians.
“the rich asshole and Macron have an interesting relationship,” comedian Jimmy Kimmel said on his talk show on ABC.
“the rich asshole very much needs a friend, because most of his old ones are going to prison,” Kimmel said, in a reference to the US president’s legal woes.
“And some rich asshole, really, he cannot keep his hands off this guy,” Kimmel said before showing television clips of affectionate embraces between the pair.
One exchange which has drawn particular attention took place in the Oval Office, when the rich asshole brushed off what he said was “dandruff” on Macron’s jacket.
“We have to make him perfect,” the rich asshole said. “He is perfect.”
For Kimmel, tongue firmly in cheek, it was a “historic moment.”
“To the best of my knowledge, it was the first time a world leader ever publicly brushed dandruff off another world leader,” Kimmel said.
Several comedians contrasted the supposedly frosty relationship between the rich asshole and his wife, Melania, to his warm friendship with Macron.
“Compared to holding hands with Melania, he and Macron just performed the kama sutra together,” said “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert on CBS. “Which one is he married to again?”
Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central said Macron “seems to have the recipe for handling the rich asshole.”
“You could really feel that Macron was connecting with the rich asshole,” Noah said. “And we all know that the rich asshole is not the sentimental type.
“But clearly Macron made the rich asshole feel a way he’s never ever felt before — human.”
“I know it’s a cliche but that’s a bromance,” Noah said. “That’s more affection than he’s ever shown Melania.”
Noah ended the segment with a mock black-and-white silent movie with a romantic soundtrack showing the rich asshole-Macron interactions which he called “L’affaire des Mains” — “The Affair of the Hands.”
Comedian Seth Meyers showed footage on his “Late Night” show on NBC of the 71-year-old the rich asshole and 40-year-old Macron sharing an interminable handshake — similar to one the pair had shared last year.
“President the rich asshole welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House at 5:15 pm this evening — and they are still shaking hands,” Meyers said.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson wants to triple rent on poor people
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This is the same Ben Carson who billed taxpayers $31,000 for a new dining set.
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson is set to unveil a plan on Wednesday that will triple the amount low-income households are expected to pay for rent.
Carson’s proposal is also expected to add work requirements for everyone who receives federal housing subsidies, according to the Washington Post. The latest figures show that about 75 percentof those receiving housing assistance are either working or recently worked.
The proposed overhaul, which is the latest move by the the rich asshole administration to crack down on federal assistance for the poor, will affect an estimated 4.5 million American families who rely on housing assistance.
Right now, tenants pay 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, but Carson’s proposal will raise it to 35 percent. That would cause rent payments for low-income families to rise from an amount not exceeding $50 per month to $150 per month, according to the Post.
In addition to tripling rent for poor people and imposing new work requirements on a population that is largely employed, the proposal will also eliminate deductions for medical and childcare costs that help determine rent contribution.
Carson thinks poor people don’t want to earn more money because that would reduce their eligibility for federal assistance — a position he made clear during a hearing last month, when he suggested it was HUD’s job to encourage poor people to not be so poor.
Asked how many people would lose housing under his proposed rent reforms, Carson claimed that tripling the amount poor people are required to pay in rent would not result in any loss of housing.
His rationale? Right now, poor people “don’t want to make any more money,” Carson said, because they don’t want to pay more in rent. Therefore, according to his logic, making them pay more in rent will encourage them to make more money.
Carson’s proposal to increase rent for low-income Americans comes just two weeks after the rich asshole signed an executive order that seeks to reduce poverty by “empowering” individuals to join the workforce.
Also this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a letter to state Medicaid directors, telling them that states could start imposing new work requirements for Medicaid recipients. At least two dozen states are now moving to implement new rules that would allow them to kick people off Medicaid for failing to meet work requirements that are so strict, even people who are working regularly could lose access to Medicaid.
Meanwhile, House Republicans recently included a measure imposing stricter work requirements for people receiving food assistance as part of the 2018 farm bill.
All of these proposals rest on the false assumption that poor people are lazy and don’t want to work, and that government assistance programs reward poverty and reduce the incentive to stop being poor.
Despite years of rigorous research showing that receiving government benefits has “little if any” impact on employment or work hours — and that imposing work requirements is ineffective — Republicans have continued to wage war on poor Americans, often invoking budget concerns to justify draconian cuts to federal assistance programs.
Of course, these budget concerns weren’t an issue when Carson spent $31,000 in taxpayer moneyto buy a dining room set for his office, nor when HUD handed taxpayers the bill for new lounge furniture totaling $165,000.
Budget concerns also didn’t seem to matter to the administration when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spent more than $139,000 on three sets of doors, or when EPA chief Scott Pruitt blew $43,000on a soundproof phone booth, or when other members of the rich asshole’s Cabinet billed taxpayers more than $2 million for lavish flights and private office upgrades — an amount that comes out to about 33 times what the average American family earned in 2016.
Apparently, the only thing that exceeds the the rich asshole administration’s corruption is its cruelty.
Watch Shep Smith’s hilarious reaction after learning the rich asshole is now responding to Kanye West
Shep Smith laughing at the president (Photo: Screen capture)
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While reporting on the increasingly public bromance between President some rich asshole and rapper Kanye West on Wednesday, Fox News’ Shep Smith couldn’t keep from laughing.
“Well, there’s a thing going on,” the host said at the beginning of his segment on the pair’s Twitter accolades. “It’s Kanye West, who didn’t tweet for a long time but now he’s back. There’s an album and he’s running for president in 2024 and he really likes President the rich asshole."
“Kanye West tweeted a lot of things,” Smith recounted. “But one of them is, ‘you don’t have to agree with the rich asshole but the mob can’t not make me not love him.'”
The host seemed particularly enamored with West’s use of the term “dragon energy,” which he dubbed the “phrase of the day."
Continuing his explanation of the tweeted love fest, Smith reminded viewers that the rapper is married to Kim Kardashian West, and that the pair “have children together and things” when noting that West tweeted about his wife calling him to make sure his fans know he doesn’t agree completely with the president.
“My guess is Kris Jenner gave a call,” the host said, referring to Kardashian West’s mother.
“Now POTUS has tweeted,” Smith said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Watch below, via Fox News:
White House reporter: Sarah Sanders is no‘champion of the free press’
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CNN's Jim Acosta shot down Sarah Huckabee Sanders' laughable claims about the rich asshole's support for the press.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to brag about the rich asshole administration’s ostensible record of encouraging press freedom. But CNN’s Jim Acosta wasn’t having it.
At Wednesday’s White House briefing, reporters asked Sanders about a recent Reporters Without Borders study in which the United States dropped to 45th in a world ranking of press freedom. Sanders claimed that her willingness to answer questions “unvetted” was evidence of the rich asshole administration’s devotion to press freedom.
But Acosta challenged Sanders later in the briefing, and afterwards told anchor Brooke Baldwin how ludicrous Sanders’ claims were.
“She feels because she come up to the podium and answers questions, that somehow makes them champions of the free press,” Acosta said. “Just about any city council spokesperson, or mayoral spokesperson or gubernatorial spokesperson does that all over the country. I’m not sure that exactly makes you a champion of the press.”
Acosta pointed out that the rich asshole “hasn’t had a full press conference with the press in over a year, calls people the ‘enemy of the people’ and ‘fake news,’ and threatens The Washington Post.”
As he put it plainly, “That is not champion of the free press.”
the rich asshole’s record of hostility also earned him a spot on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ top press oppressors in January. That prompted Fox News to offer the ridiculous argument that the rich asshole didn’t deserve the ranking because he hasn’t murdered journalists.
Acosta knows only too well how vicious the rich asshole and his administration can be toward the press. Just days before his inauguration, the rich asshole attacked Acosta during a press conference. That hostility continued unabated, and included an unprecedented ejection from the Oval Office, which Acosta described as a “badge of honor.”
the rich asshole has also incited violence against Acosta’s network. He even attacked CNN the day after a man was arrested for a terrorist plot against them.
the rich asshole has also labeled other journalists as “enemies.” Just this week, he snapped at ABC News’ Jon Karl for asking a legitimate question. And the rich asshole’s attacks on reporter April Ryan have been followed by death threats from his supporters.
the rich asshole and his administration show no sign of relenting in their hostility toward the press. And despite the threats, reporters like Acosta show no sign of backing down from doing their jobs.
Last night the New York Times reported Mick Mulvaney, who simultaneously holds two top positions in the rich asshole administration, admitted to a group of bankers that, as a Congressman, he sold access to lobbyists.
“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you,” Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney added he would talk to his constituents whether or not they donated money.
It was a startling admission of pay-to-play from a top official in an administration that famously pledged to “drain the swamp.” Mulvaney serves both as Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the interim head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
In his role at the CFPB, Mulvaney has significant regulatory power over the bankers in the room. His message was that for industry to gain an audience with him, they would need to pony up.
You would not have learned any of this on Fox News.
While Mulvaney’s comments has been covered extensively on MSNBC and CNN, as of 10 a.m. eastern, there was no mention on Fox News. The story also was not mentioned on Fox News’ website.
Fox & Friends, the network’s three-hour morning news program, was able to find time for segments on Melania the rich asshole’s fashion, anti-cop celebrities, a teacher with a “political agenda,” and Fox News’ interns.
Mulvaney merited a couple of brief mentions on Fox News’ sister channel, Fox Business. Those focused on Mulvaney’s spin that he was simply encouraging bankers to “participate” in the process.
In his statement, Mulvaney did not dispute that he would only take meetings with lobbyists who donated money to his campaigns.
GOP Senate candidates in states the richasshole won are getting clobbered
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Even on their home turf, Republicans are getting badly beaten in the race for cash.
One day after Republicans barely hung on to a deeply red House district in Arizona, the GOP is grappling with the fact that its Senate candidates in states that the rich asshole easily won in 2016 now badly trail Democrats in terms of fundraising.
The revelation is the just the latest piece of evidence to suggest Republicans could be facing gale force winds in both chambers this election cycle.
The Democratic fundraising advantage in states like Missouri, Montana, and Indiana is rather stunning.
“The 10 Democratic incumbents running in the November election from states won by President some rich asshole raised a combined $24.4 million in the first three months of the year, while the Republicans with at least $50,000 in their bank accounts in those states — 20 in all competing in eight contested primaries — raised $9.4 million,” Bloomberg reports.
Even worse for Republicans, they’ve already spent way more money on those 10 Senate races than Democrats have. That means Democrats currently boast a massive cash-on-hand advantage seven months before Election Day.
“The 10 Senate Democrats had a combined $78.4 million in their campaign accounts as of March 31, more than two-and-a-half times as much as the combined $28.6 million held by the Republican field of candidate,” according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, contentious GOP primaries in states like Mississippi and West Virginia are draining bank accounts even before Republicans square off against Democrats.
This all represents a rather stunning turn of events for the GOP. Twelve months ago, Republicans looked at the 2018 midterm Senate election map and thought they saw a huge advantage. Democrats have to defend 26 Senate seats in November, many of them in states the rich asshole won easily, while Republicans just have to fend off Democrats in eight states.
But with the rich asshole historically unpopular and a blue wave of Democratic enthusiasm growing, suddenly the Senate appears to be in trouble for Republicans.
Indeed, some strategists are suggesting the GOP essentially give up defending the House and spend its time and resources trying to hang onto the Senate.
But even there, the challenges mount as Democrats have no problem outraising Republicans in states that the rich asshole won by 15 and 20 points.
Fox News’ Shep Smith tears into the rich asshole over nomination of Dr. Ronny ‘Candy Man’ Jackson
Shep Smith talks about Ronny Jackson/Screenshot
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some rich asshole has nominated the president’s personal doctor, Dr. Ronny Jackson to lead the Veterans Administration.
Both Democrats and Republicans personally like Jackson. But there are allegations that he drank on the job and at least one US Senator has said his popularity stems from the fact that he was known as a “candy man” who happily handed out pills when asked.
Shep Smith tore into the nomination on Wednesday, saying that the president appears to know he made a mistake but is unwilling to admit it.
“The fact is, running a doctor’s office in the White House that has 50 employees and running the second-largest agency in the United States government with 360,000 people, those are two different things.”
If he’s not qualified, he’s not qualified, Smith said—which is a different subject than whether he’s a “candy man” or a day-drunk.
“They seem to be, on some level, possibly conflating them,” he said
Watch below.
Fox attacks reporters for worrying aboutdeath threats from the rich asshole fans
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Fox News set up reporters who've received death threats to be mocked and taunted in support of the rich asshole.
Thanks to the rich asshole’s dishonesty, and his distaste for fact-based journalism, many reporters tasked with covering him have come under attack. Often prompted by the rich asshole’s baseless claims of “fake news,” several of these journalists have even gotten death threats.
To Fox News, who as part of its core mission churns out a nonstop stream of pro-the rich asshole propaganda, the death threats are a development they believe should be mocked.
Even worse, Fox has mangled reporters’ statements about the threats they face, and used them to egg on even more attacks.
In an interview with Variety, CNN’s Jim Acosta spoke to the outlet about how he saw the rich asshole’s media complaints as part of an act, noting, “The problem is is that people around the country don’t know it’s an act. They’re not in on the act, and they take what he says very seriously.”
Acosta then went on to express concern that some of the people hearing the rich asshole’s smears “don’t have all their faculties in some cases, their elevator might not hit all floors.”
Acosta explained, “My concern is is that a journalist is going to be hurt one of these days, somebody’s going to get hurt. And at that point, the White House, the president of the United States, they’re going to have to take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves whether or not they played a role in this, whether they created this toxic environment that resulted in a journalist getting hurt.”
Instead of acting like a normal journalistic institution or at a minimum like decent human beings, Fox pounced on Acosta.
On Fox & Friends, which is the rich asshole’s favorite show and the program that seems to have a direct line to his brain, the hosts laughed off the death threats. Pete Hegseth teed up Acosta’s remarks for pundit Tomi Lahren by lying and saying Acosta simply “talked about voters” and implied his comments were about all the rich asshole voters.
On-screen text claimed — falsely — “Acosta: the rich asshole Voters Don’t Have All Faculties.”
Lahren, who is one of the more outrageous pro-the rich asshole voices in the media, who doesn’t think twice about garbling reality to support him, took the bait.
“I never get tired of the leftist mainstream media insulting the rich asshole voters,” she said, reacting to something that had not happened. She added, “The more they tell us that we’re stupid, the more we’re going to go back and vote for some rich asshole, so thank you for the boost.”
The back-and-forth was a microcosm of the well-worn formula Fox has relied on for over 22 years. Take someone out of context; tell their viewers they said something they never said, usually with the idea that they were attacking Fox’s core viewership in the process; and then repeat.
Acosta was pointing out that the rich asshole’s lies and embrace of violent rhetoric are speaking to people who are already disturbed. Reporter April Ryan has faced death threats from the rich asshole fans, based on aggression of White House staff toward her as well as Fox News complaintsabout her work.
But for Fox, pointing out death threats to journalists based on the rich asshole’s tirades would just be too honest.
Instead, the propaganda network took the story as another opportunity to try and delegitimize those who have practiced real journalism, lie to their audiences about a smear that didn’t happen, and whip up even more of a frenzy against those perceived as the rich asshole’s enemies.
Fox is in the propaganda and smear business, not in the business of reporting, journalism and truth.
Federal judge says DACA protections must remain, the rich asshole’s efforts to rescind program are ‘egregious’
U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates ruled Tuesday that the rich asshole's decision to end DACA was "particularly egregious."
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that an Obama-era program protecting certain young undocumented immigrants from deportation must remain in place, giving the rich asshole administration 90 days to restate its arguments for canceling the program before the order takes effect.
The decision by U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates for the District of Columbia dealt the latest, and biggest, blow to efforts by President some rich asshole to do away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an executive action that granted temporary deportation relief and work authorization in two-year increments to certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children. The ruling would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to accept applications from first-time applicants. Earlier this year, two nationwide injunctions compelled the administration to accept renewal applications from current DACA beneficiaries, but no new applications.
In his ruling, Bates said the administration’s reasoning in rescinding the programlast September was “arbitrary and capricious” because it failed to “adequately explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful.”
Bates added that considering the hundreds of thousands of individuals reliant on DACA, the president’s decision was “particularly egregious.”
“Because DHS failed to even acknowledge how heavily DACA beneficiaries had come to rely on the expectation that they would be able to renew their DACA benefits, its barebones legal interpretation was doubly insufficient and cannot support DACA’s rescission,” Bates wrote.
In a statement, Homeland Security Spokesman Devin O’Malley said, according to CNN, that the agency “acted within its lawful authority in deciding to wind down DACA in an orderly manner … Promoting and enforcing the rule of law is vital to protecting a nation, its borders, and its citizens. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend this position, and looks forward to vindicating its position in further litigation.”
Since its inception in 2012, approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants have signed up for the program. As of March 31, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that more than 9,000 people with expired DACA status had renewal applications still pending.
As ThinkProgress previously reported, even those who have kept their statuses or are renewing their applications are at risk of deportation.
POLITICS
Attorney Arguing For the rich asshole Travel Ban Calls Islam ‘A Great Country’
“This person should be the last one to argue the merits of a #MuslimBan,” one commenter wrote.
Supporters of President some rich asshole’s travel ban are probably hoping Solicitor General Noel Francisco is a better attorney than he is a geographer.
On Wednesday, during his closing arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court, Francisco claimed the rich asshole had adopted a more moderate stance since his campaign by deciding to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority nations rather than all Muslims, as he had proposed previously.
“[the rich asshole] made it crystal clear on September 25th that he had no intention of imposing the Muslim ban,” Francisco argued. “He has made crystal clear that Muslims in this country are great Americans, and there are many, many Muslims countries who love this country, and he has praised Islam as one of the great countries of the world.”
That’s right. Francisco called Islam, the world’s fastest-growing religion, “one of the great countries of the world.” You can hear his verbal blunder below.
Meanwhile, opponents of the ban felt the goof perfectly represented the the rich asshole administration’s tone-deaf approach toward Islam.
Abed Ayoub, a policy director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee who was in the courtroom when Francisco made the comment, said he wasn’t shocked by the hiccup.
“It’s not surprising,” Ayoub told the New York Daily News. “The way this administration, the way this President has spoken about Muslim countries has been very problematic and that goes all the way back to the campaign.”
Also not surprising was the reaction Francisco’s comments inspired on Twitter.
Really ..."Islam is a great country"
How fcking ignorant can you be, this was what Trump Regime sent to argue.... #nomuslimbanever
The attorney arguing on behalf of Trump’s #MuslimBan just closed out his argument by saying “Islam is a great country”.
How do these ignorant people get these jobs?
A GREAT COUNTRY???
Wow...You're at the Supreme Court of the Untied States and you clearly articulate how ignorant, stupid or otherwise you are in just five words..."Islam is a great country."
One wonders if they've all come out from under the rock, or are there still some left? twitter.com/aayoub/status/…
When an attorney *arguing in front of SCOTUS* says Islam, a religion with 1.6+ billion followers across the world, is "a great country," you know there are basic literacy issues and this person should be the last one to argue the merits of a #MuslimBan.
Verbal blunders notwithstanding, it appears that the conservative members of the court signaled they are likely to uphold the ban.
Supreme Court chief schmoozed with the rich asshole just before travel ban hearing
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Chief Justice John Roberts was seen rubbing elbows with the architects of the rich asshole's 'travel ban' just hours before the Supreme Court was set to hear arguments about the ban's legality.
The Supreme Court will hear one of the most anticipated — and contentious — cases of the rich asshole’s presidency on Wednesday, as the administration attempts to defend the legality of the rich asshole’s so-called “travel ban” blocking citizens of several Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
The ban is currently in its third iteration, and it heads to the Supreme Court after a losing streak in the lower courts, with judges from coast to coast ruling that the policy is illegal or unconstitutional.
With such a controversial and consequential case looming, all eyes are on the court — and on the justices who will begin hearing arguments Wednesday morning. That’s why eyebrows were raised Tuesday evening when Chief Justice John Roberts was spotted at the first state dinner of the rich asshole’s presidency.
While it’s not unusual for Supreme Court justices to attend state dinners, it is unusual for state dinners to be held on the eve of such monumental court cases, making Roberts’ decision to attend a questionable one.
As a guest at the dinner, Roberts was rubbing elbows with the architects of the policy that will be argued in court Wednesday — giving the appearance of potential impropriety, particularly if the court comes down with a ruling in favor of the rich asshole administration.
With the rich asshole’s attacks on the judicial branch already eroding public confidence and undermining the integrity and independence of the judiciary, even the appearance of impropriety has the potential to further diminish public trust in the courts and the rulings they hand down.
That’s why the Code of Conduct for United States Judges specifies that judges “must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety” and should not “permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge.”
“An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society. A judge should maintain and enforce high standards of conduct and should personally observe those standards, so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary may be preserved,” the Code of Conduct states.
“Adherence to this responsibility helps to maintain public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary. Conversely, violation of this Code diminishes public confidence in the judiciary and injures our system of government under law.”
Unlike the lower courts, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court has sided with the rich asshole previously and allowed most of his ban to take effect. While it remains to be seen what will ultimately come of Wednesday’s oral arguments, Roberts’ decision to attend a black-tie affair with the architects of the policy on the eve of its day in court will undoubtedly raise questions about his impartiality — or lack thereof.
Handing Out Pills, Getting Drunk: New Allegations Surface Against the rich asshole’s VA Pick
Dr. Ronny Jackson’s nomination to be the next head of Veterans Affairs is in serious jeopardy.
Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician nominated to be the next head of the Veterans Affairs Department, is facing new allegations about his professional behavior that put his confirmation into jeopardy.
Jackson reportedly became so intoxicated at a Secret Service party that he “wrecked a government vehicle.” On another occasion, he could not be reached when needed because he was passed out drunk in his hotel room.
Jackson also allegedly gave a White House Military Office staffer a “large supply” of Percocet without going through the proper procedures, sending the White House Medical Unit staff into a “panic” because they didn’t know what happened to the prescription opioid pills. Jackson’s nickname was “Candyman” among White House staff, because he would give them prescription medications whenever they wanted without paperwork.
The summary of the serious allegations against Jackson are laid out in a new document released on Wednesday by the office of Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the ranking member on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Democratic staffers conducted interviews with 23 of Jackson’s colleagues and former colleagues. They “have raised serious concerns about Jackson’s temperament and ethics” and “cast doubt” on his ability to lead the VA, the second-largest government agency.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Jackson to The New York Times, which first obtained the summary of the allegations. She said none of the new charges came up in “the four separate background investigations that have taken place.”
“These are new,” she added. “I can only speak to some of the personal accounts that those of us have, as well as the records that we have that are substantiated through a very detailed and thorough background investigation process.”
Jackson also denied that he wrecked a vehicle in passing remarks to reporters Wednesday afternoon.
This is a breaking news story and will continue to be updated.
Supreme Court appears ready to uphold the rich asshole’s travel ban
Justices of the US Supreme Court sit for their official group photo in Washington, DC, on June 1, 2017. Seated (L-R): Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony M. Kennedy, Chief Justice of the US John G. Roberts, Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. Standing (L-R): Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Samuel Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/
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The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared poised to hand President some rich asshole a huge legal victory, signaling on Wednesday it was likely to uphold his contentious travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries.
Conservative justices including Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing vote on the nine-member court, indicated during arguments in the high-profile case their unwillingness to second-guess the rich asshole on the national security justifications offered for the policy.
the rich asshole has said the ban is needed to protect the United States from attacks by Islamic militants.
The challengers, led by the state of Hawaii, have argued the policy was motivated by the rich asshole’s enmity toward Muslims. Lower courts have ruled against each of the three versions put forward by the rich asshole of the travel ban, concluding they violated federal immigration law and the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on the government favoring one religion over another.
But with five conservatives on the nine-member Supreme Court, the rich asshole seemed likely to be on the winning side when the justices issue their ruling by the end of June.
“My only point is that if you look at what was done, it does not look at all like a Muslim ban,” Conservative Justice Samuel Alito said
Some of the four liberal justices expressed sympathy toward Hawaii’s arguments, although it appeared possible at least one might eventually side with the rich asshole.
the rich asshole called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” as a candidate, and the travel ban has been one of the most controversial policies of his presidency.
The current version, announced in September, prohibits entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. No one from those countries has carried out an attack in the United States.
The high court in June and December 2017 allowed two versions of the ban to take effect while court challenges ran their course. The justices had not until Wednesday heard arguments on the merits of the policy.
The challengers said the U.S. Congress historically has rejected nationality bans in immigration laws, and that the rich asshole’s policy has circumvented that judgment.
Roberts questioned whether the president could be restricted from taking “any targeted action” on foreign policy emergencies, such air strikes in Syria, affecting Muslim countries.
“Does that mean he can’t because you would regard that as discrimination against a majority-Muslim country?” Roberts asked.
‘CONTINUING DISCRETION’
Kennedy, who sometimes joins the liberals in major rulings, pushed back on the notion pressed by the challengers that the ban was permanent, noting that the policy includes a requirement for reports every 180 days that could lead to the removal of a targeted country.
Kennedy, who sometimes joins the liberals in major rulings, pushed back on the notion pressed by the challengers that the ban was permanent, noting that the policy includes a requirement for reports every 180 days that could lead to the removal of a targeted country.
“That indicates there will be a reassessment,” Kennedy said, “and the president has continuing discretion.”
the rich asshole’s conservative appointee to the court, Neil Gorsuch, suggested the lawsuits challenging the ban brought by Hawaii and others should not even have been considered by courts.
the rich asshole’s hardline immigration policies have been a key part of his presidency. He also has moved to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children, acted against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, intensified deportation efforts and pursued limits on legal immigration.
the rich asshole administration lawyer Noel Francisco said comments the president made as a candidate should be off-limits from court scrutiny because he had not yet taken office.
Kennedy signaled courts should be able to review candidates’ words, giving the example of a local mayor who makes discriminatory statements and then two days after taking office acts on them.
“You would say that whatever he said in the campaign is irrelevant?” Kennedy asked Francisco.
Liberal Justices Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor pressed Francisco on what kind of campaign trail behavior could be considered by courts. Kagan asked whether a hypothetical “out-of-the-box,” vehemently anti-Semitic candidate would be subject to court review if upon taking office he announced policies targeting Israel.
But Kagan also acknowledged the administration’s concerns about courts judging national security decisions.
Chad was on the list of countries targeted by the rich asshole that was announced in September, but he removed it on April 10. Iraq and Sudan were on earlier versions of the ban.
Venezuela and North Korea also were targeted in the current policy. Those restrictions were not challenged in court.
Travel ban opponents who attended the argument compared a potential ruling upholding the rich asshole’s travel ban with the court’s heavily criticized 1944 decision that endorsed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War Two.
“I hope that as a country we will realize that would be shameful,” National Immigration Law Center Executive Director Marielena Hincapié said.
Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham
POLITICS
WASHINGTON ― Despite grumblings from corners of both parties, the White House is planning to send Congress a package of spending cuts in the coming weeks that could once again imperil the bipartisan appropriations process and lead to yet another spending standoff.
Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has told some lawmakers that President some rich asshole intends to deliver a so-called “rescissions package,” which would claw back some of the money Congress and the president agreed to last month in their $1.3 trillion omnibus legislation.
The suggested cuts wouldn’t greatly affect the overall price tag of the omnibus. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who chairs one of the House Appropriations subcommittees, told reporters on Wednesday that, based on his conversations with Mulvaney, he believed $25 billion would be the “ceiling” for any package. But the move could still undermine bipartisan negotiations on next year’s appropriations bills, as well as hold up agency spending over cuts that most lawmakers don’t believe will ever be enacted.
The top Democrat on Cole’s subcommittee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and her counterpart on the matching Senate subcommittee, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday urging the NLRB, long a target of Republican spending cuts, to not freeze funds out of some expectation that the administration may try to slash its programs.
“We remind you that Congress, not the administration, has the ultimate authority to set funding levels for executive branch agencies,” DeLauro and Murray wrote.
“Any attempt to go back on the deal we made would be an extreme act of bad faith, in addition to being bad for workers and a violation of the law,” they added.
Democrats are worried that the White House’s mere proposal of a rescissions package could drive agencies to put some plans on hold until questions about their budgets are resolved, even though, as DeLauro and Murray point out, agencies aren’t supposed to withhold funds until the president at least sends a formal spending impoundment message to Congress.
But communication from this White House to Congress has been spotty at best.
House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) told reporters Wednesday morning that there’s been “no communication” from the administration on what a rescissions package would look like. He said there’s also been “zero” communication from House leadership.
“We had a caps deal,” Frelinghuysen said Wednesday, referring to the agreement between Republicans and Democrats to set spending limits for two years. “We made a decision ― leadership made a decision ― and obviously there may be aspects in the rescissions package that violates that agreement.”
Frelinghuysen added that presidents have made rescissions proposals in the past, and there could be valid reasons for some of the cuts. But GOP lawmakers acknowledged to HuffPost that such an exercise now could poison the well for appropriators and make it more difficult to move spending bills through the chambers. And the whole process of suggesting cuts could be pointless, as Republican senators already seem cool to any proposal.
“I’m hearing that more than half the Republicans would vote against the rescission package in the Senate,” one GOP lawmaker told HuffPost on Wednesday.
Asked whether a rescissions package could delay spending bills reaching the House floor, Cole said that it was a possibility and that appropriators would have to “stop and take a look” at the proposed cuts.
Cole also said it would be one thing if the package were just taking back so-called unobligated funds ― money that agencies didn’t spend in the past ― and another thing if it were attacking the new spending in the omnibus deal. If it went after new spending, Cole said that would make it “much more difficult to get an agreement next year.”
The whole rescissions idea seems to be more messaging than substance ― a scheme cooked up between House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the rich asshole himself. While McCarthy has enthusiastically backed the notion, other House leaders have been more cagey about their support, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signaled open opposition to the idea.
“You can’t make an agreement one month and say, ‘OK, we really didn’t mean it’” the next, McConnell told Fox News last week.
Scott Pruitt’s closest GOP ally wants investigations into all his scandals
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Longtime Pruitt supporter Sen. James Inhofe has joined calls to investigate the EPA chief's scandals as Republican support for Pruitt evaporates.
On the eve of testimony before Congress about his widely controversial run as EPA chief, Scott Pruitt seems to have lost support from his longtime Republican mentor, Sen. James Inhofe, from his home state of Oklahoma.
Like Pruitt, Inhofe is a rabid climate change denier who sides with big business over the environment every chance he gets. Besides sharing Pruitt’s home state of Oklahoma, Inhofe has been an influential patron of Pruitt’s over the years. When the rich asshole nominated Pruitt for the EPA job, it was Inhofe who gave him a flattering introductory speech at his Senate confirmation hearing.
Now, in what the New York Times calls a “remarkable turn,” Inhofe insists he supports investigations into the myriad ethical violations Pruitt is accused of. This follows recent reports that the White House signaled to Republicans to pull back their public support for the embattled EPA boss. (the rich asshole himself has mostly gone silent on the topic, going without so much as a tweet for more than two weeks.)
That could be an ominous sign for Pruitt, who is scheduled to appear before two different Congressional committees on Thursday, where he is likely to face tough questions from members of both parties.
In recent weeks, roughly 170 Democrats, as well as a handful of Republicans, have called for Pruitt’s resignation.
If a powerful Republican like Inhofe had come out and unequivocally supported Pruitt and denounced his critics, that would have gone a long way towards providing the EPA boss with political cover. Inhofe, however, did the opposite, and Republicans are likely taking note.
The possible loss of Inhofe’s support means “that Pruitt is in big trouble,” John Feehery, a Republican strategist, told the Times.
This, after the Times recently detailed at length Pruitt’s long history of being a political grifter, lining his pockets for years while on the public payroll as an Oklahoma politician.
It is, of course, astonishing that Pruitt still has a rich asshole administration job. Boasting a lineup of scandals that may dwarf anything any previous EPA chief has ever assembled, Pruitt has emerged as a poster boy for rampant swamp corruption.
Indeed, his “spending and possible ethics violations are the subjects of 10 separate investigations,” according to ABC News. And Pruitt’s only been in office for one year.
If more powerful Republicans like Inhofe raise red flags, Pruitt might not have a job much longer.
Supreme Court Leans Toward Upholding the rich asshole’s Travel Ban
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy indicated an unwillingness to second-guess the justifications offered for the policy.
WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday signaled they are likely to uphold President some rich asshole’s travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries, one of the most contentious policies of his presidency.
Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing vote on the conservative-majority, nine-member court, indicated unwillingness to second-guess the president on the national security justifications offered for the policy.
the rich asshole has said the travel ban - the third version of a policy he first sought to implement a week after taking office in January 2017 - is needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamic militants. The current travel ban, announced in September, prohibits entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The challengers, led by the state of Hawaii, have argued the policy was motivated by the rich asshole’s enmity toward Muslims and that it violates federal immigration law and the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on the government favoring one religion over another.
Liberal justices indicated sympathy toward Hawaii’s arguments.
But conservative Justice Samuel Alito said the text of the rich asshole’s proclamation announcing the ban “does not look at all like a Muslim ban.”
Fellow conservative Roberts questioned whether the president could be restricted from taking action on foreign policy emergencies, such as the civil war in Syria, if he is prevented from targeting specific countries.
Kennedy, a conservative who sometimes joins the liberals in major rulings, pushed back on the notion pressed by the challengers that the ban was permanent, noting that the policy includes a requirement for ongoing reports that could potentially lead to the removal of a targeted country.
In an exchange with Hawaii’s lawyer, Neal Katyal, Kennedy indicated it was not practical for a president to predict that six months after the ban was announced there will be a “safe world.”
the rich asshole’s own conservative appointee to the court, Neil Gorsuch, suggested that the lawsuits challenging the ban brought by Hawaii and others should not have been considered by courts in the first place.
Referring to statements the rich asshole made during his campaign for president such as calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” the rich asshole administration lawyer Noel Francisco said those should be off-limits for courts to scrutinize because he was not the president at the time.
In the first half of the argument, Kennedy did signal that courts should be able to review words from candidates from the campaign trail. Kennedy gave the example of a local mayor who makes discriminatory statements and then two days after taking office acts on them.
“You’re saying that everything he said is irrelevant?” Kennedy asked Francisco.
‘HEART OF HEARTS’
Liberal justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor pressed Francisco on what kind of campaign trail behavior could be considered by courts. Kagan asked whether a hypothetical vehemently anti-Semitic candidate would be subject to court review if upon taking office he announced policies targeting Israel.
Would the president’s national security rationale suffice, she asked, “even if in his heart of hearts he harbored animus?”
The court is due to issue a ruling by the end of June.
Until Wednesday, the court had never heard arguments on the legal merits of the travel ban or any other major the rich asshole immigration policy, including his move to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children.
It previously acted on the Republican president’s requests to undo lower court orders blocking those two policies, siding with the rich asshole on the travel ban and opposing him on the Dreamers.
the rich asshole’s hardline immigration policies have been a key part of his presidency, also including actions taken against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, intensified deportation efforts and limits on legal immigration.
The Supreme Court on Dec. 4 signaled it may lean toward backing the rich asshole when it granted on a 7-2 vote his administration’s request to let the ban go into full effect while legal challenges played out.
Chad was on the list of countries targeted by the rich asshole that was announced in September, but the rich asshole removed it on April 10.
Venezuela and North Korea also were targeted in the travel ban. Those restrictions were not challenged in court.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement on Wednesday cited the president’s “broad discretion and authority to protect the United States from all foreign and domestic threats.”
About 150 people demonstrated against the travel ban outside the courthouse on a rainy morning in the U.S. capital. Seema Sked, 39, stood before the court’s plaza with a homemade sign that read, “Proud American Muslim.”
“The Muslim ban offends freedom of religion, which is a protected right,” said Sked, who immigrated with her parents from Pakistan when she was a toddler and now lives in Virginia. “It hurts me because it is singling out and demeaning Muslims because of their faith.”
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg and Susan Heavey; Editing by Will Dunham)
Congresswoman who gave impassioned speech on inclusive military supports the rich asshole trans discrimination
Arizona Rep. Martha McSally once said the GOP should stand for letting anyone serve in the military.
Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) has long opposed LGBTQ rights and has refused to condemn some rich asshole’s unnecessary and discriminatory attempts to ban transgender Americans from the military. But in a little-noticed speech from before her election to Congress, the current U.S. Senate hopeful denounced her own party — and inadvertently herself — for hypocrisy on the question of who should be able to serve their country.
When McSally mounted her first race for Congress in 2012, she focused extensively on her personal history of breaking down barriers in the U.S. Armed Forces. “Martha E. McSally is a pioneer,” began her official campaign biography. “She is the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, and first to command a fighter squadron in combat in United States history.” Though she lost that special election campaign and a second race that November, she was elected to Congress in the 2014 GOP wave. And now, as as second-term Representative, she is seeking the GOP nomination for Sen. Jeff Flake’s open Senate seat, again campaign campaigning as “the first female fighter pilot.”
In 2013 she headlined a Ronald Reagan Dinner fundraiser for the Narraganset Republican Town Committee in her birth state, Rhode Island. In it, she scolded some conservatives for wanting to limit opportunities for service, noting the barriers women had long faced.
“I will make a little sort of political note here, at great risk to be used against me in a primary some day,” she said, “but I think we do hurt ourselves as conservatives sometimes on some of these issues because we say we’re about freedom and opportunity, but on some issues like this, we say, ‘I don’t think any woman should be able to do this or that.'”
“That’s not consistent. If we are about freedom and we’re about opportunity, then we make sure the standards are set and we make sure anybody, ANYBODY has the opportunity to be able to serve. Our national service is the strongest when we have the most capable people serving,” she said, accidentally making a strong case for why qualified service members should be valued, regardless of gender identity. “I really think we hurt ourselves when, in our stances on things, we are inconsistent and we say we want people to have freedom of opportunity except when it goes against what we personally believe. Then we want to impose that on everybody else. That’s just not consistent.”
“If we’re about freedom and opportunity, by God we’re about freedom and opportunity,” she concluded. “And let freedom ring.”
But while her candid comments in 2013 suggest that her experiences as a trailblazing woman in the Air Force made her supportive of inclusion, her record in office contradicts that. While fellow Arizona Republicans Sens. John McCain and Flake have spoken out against the rich asshole administration’s move to ban trans service members, McSally has said nothing publicly. Her office did not respond to a ThinkProgress inquiry about her position. Last year, she voted for an unsuccessful amendment to allow discrimination against transgender service members’ health coverage. And she has not only embraced the rich asshole (who has a strident anti-LGBTQ record), but included a clip of him calling her his “friend” in her Senate kickoff video. “Like our president, I’m tired of PC politicians and their BS excuses,” she told viewers.
Two House Republicans and Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (the likely Democratic nominee for Flake’s Senate seat) have co-sponsored a bill to do what McSally claimed she was for in 2013. If she were less concerned about what would be used against her in a primary, perhaps the 2018 McSally would listen her 2013 self.
French President Speaks English Better Than This Painfully Stupid GOP Lawmaker
French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech to Congress on Wednesday and pretty much dragged some rich asshole’s ‘America First’ philosophy and nationalism while the country watched. the rich asshole was watching, too. Also watching was a Republican congressman and he responded on Twitter after apparently not paying attention to the riveting speech. After Macron’s speech which garnered standing ovations, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted, “French President is a socialist militarist globalist science-alarmist… the dark future of the American Democratic Party.” Even though he was repeatedly corrected on Twitter, he did not delete another tweet which falsely quoted Macron.
A Twitter user called the GOP lawmaker out.
None of this is true, using fear rhetoric is not the answer.
Then, he falsely quoted Macron.
"I will advocate for militarism in front of the Congress," Macron said.
That is fake news. Macron said during an interview on Fox News Sunday, “I will advocate for multilateralism.” Well, both words start with an M so he was close!
The word was Multilateralism..... boy this is awkward
Massie was corrected over and over again, but the tweet remains active.
Multilateralism not milataralism. Dumbshit
He said " multilateralism" you wig-wearing nitwit
He said 'multilateralism' you dumb fuckhead!
And give it up with 'globalist' we all know what that is the new code word for, ryhmes with 'bluish.'
Here is reason #1,099,099 to vote for Patti Piatt:twitter.com/RawStory/statu…
Multilateralism, NOT militarism. #ListenBetter
He said MULTILATERAL, you illiterate goon.
Aren't you guys tired of being WRONG constantly?
Hahaha, "socialist"?...he literally worked for an investment bank..
BTW we know when you say "globalist" you mean Jewish...just say it, you know you want to .
All Massie had to do was have a glimpse at Macron’s Twitter timeline.
The United States were among the inventors of multilateralism. You are the ones now who have to stand up and reinvent it.twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron…
Reading is HARD.
Emmanuel Macron Takes Aim At the rich asshole On Climate Change In Congressional Address
Some people care more about job growth than the survival of future generations, he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron extolled the Franco-American relationship on multiple fronts but issued a stern warning about the need to address climate change during his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
Speaking entirely in English, Macron laid out the numerous ways ― human rights, trade, terrorism ― in which both the U.S. and France must strengthen multilateral ties in order to confront what he called a “new world order” marked by violence and conflict.
His most forceful comments came in the form of a veiled rebuke against President some rich asshole on climate policy. Macron has emerged as a leader in the fight to protect the legitimacy of the Paris climate agreement after the rich asshole announced that the U.S. would withdraw last June. Minutes after the rich asshole’s announcement, Macron tweeted a slogan riffing off of the rich asshole’s own campaign rallying cry: “Make our planet great again.”
On Wednesday, he demanded again that the U.S. do its part to provide future generations with “a planet that is still habitable in 25 years.” Some people, he continued, feel that securing jobs and restoring industry are more urgent concerns, yet he insisted that the long-term goal of creating a low-carbon economy is primordial.
“What is the meaning of our life, really, if we work and live destroying the planet, sacrificing the future of our children?” he asked as the room erupted, mostly among Democratic members of Congress, in applause.
He’s confident, he added, that the U.S. and France can work out their disagreements on the matter because “on the long term we will have to face the same realities.”
Travis Nichols, media director for Greenpeace USA, applauded Macron’s address.
“some rich asshole should never have rejected the Paris Climate Accord in the first place, and he should by all means reverse course immediately,” Nichols said on Wednesday. “the rich asshole must listen to not only President Macron, but the majority of people in this country who want the United States to stay in the Paris Agreement. As climate-fueled disasters around the world continue to worsen, even the rich asshole should now see that the Paris terms are immensely favorable when compared to climate inaction, denial, and isolation. Destruction wrought from climate change is only going to get worse, and the rest of the world already knows it.”
Macron’s time in Washington, D.C., this week marks the first official state visit of the rich asshole administration. Macron and the rich asshole have quickly developed an affability that the U.S. leader hasn’t displayed toward other key allies. A series of praiseworthy comments ― the rich asshole at one point called Macron “perfect” ― plus a variety of hugs and handshakes during public events on Tuesday pointed to the warmth between the two.
Yet a handful of thorny international issues are on the table as the two leaders meet, most notably the Iran nuclear deal and Western involvement in the ongoing civil war in Syria.
Many view Macron as the only person with a shot at getting the rich asshole to change his mind about pulling out of the Iran nuclear agreement. the rich asshole has long railed against the deal signed during the Obama administration. He yet again called the agreement “insane” and “ridiculous” on Tuesday but did signal a willingness to negotiate a new deal.
the rich asshole set a deadline of May 12 to determine the fate of the current Iran deal. In classic the rich asshole fashion, he has so far not indicated what he plans to do.
“Nobody knows what I’m going to do on the 12th, although Mr. President, you have a pretty good idea,” the rich asshole said on Tuesday, addressing Macron. “We’ll see also if I do what some people expect, whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations.”
Macron said Wednesday that France doesn’t plan to leave the agreement but is happy to work with the rich asshole in crafting a new, more comprehensive deal that addresses some of the issues that both countries feel were left out of the current deal.
As for Syria, Macron is thought to be playing an integral role in influencing the rich asshole’s decisions. He said in a recent interview that he was the one to convince the rich asshole not to pull troops out of the beleaguered country.
“We’ll be coming home but we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint,” the rich asshole said Tuesday of his decision to leave troops in Syria.
Macron also took credit for persuading the president to carry out joint strikes with France and the U.K. on Syrian military targets following a deadly chemical attack on civilians earlier this month.
“This action was one of the best evidence of strong multilateralism,” Macron said Wednesday, promising to continue working together towards humanitarian solutions to the crisis.
GOP had to spend $1 million to barely hold a deep red seat in Arizona
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Republicans desperately dumped a ton of money into the Arizona race, and the seat still swung 32 points toward Democrats.
The special election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District is over, and the Republican candidate, former state Sen. Debbie Lesko, just managed to pull off a win over Democrat Hiral Tipirneni.
But it was a victory that came at a steep cost.
This district, vacated last year after Rep. Trent Franks resigned over a sexual harassment scandal, should never have been competitive. Situated in the northwest suburbs of Phoenix, and including the Sun City retirement community, the district’s residents are overwhelmingly old, white, and Republican — a solid the rich asshole demographic.
In 2016, the rich asshole carried the district by 21 points, and Franks himself carried it by 37 points. Democrats haven’t even bothered fielding a candidate there since 2012.
But on Tuesday, Lesko only won the district by 5 points — a whopping 32 point swing toward Democrats. In fact, out of 142 precincts in the district, Republicans underperformed their 2016 margin in 140 of them.
That was not for lack of Republican effort. the rich asshole endorsed Lesko and made robocalls on her behalf. House Speaker Paul Ryan held a fundraiser for her in D.C last week.
And the party spent a lot of money to hold on to the seat: over $1 million, $900,000 of which came from the RNC and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Unlike in Pennsylvania’s 18th District, Republican fundraising was strong, but they still underperformed by the same amount.
Even more ominously for the GOP, they underperformed even though turnout was about the same as in the general election in 2014.
In many recent Democratic victories, Republican voters simply stayed home — which might have given the GOP hope that the Democratic advantage would fizzle out when regularly scheduled elections begin and everyone votes as normal. But Tuesday, Republicans overwhelmingly showed up, and the Democratic advantage was still there.
And to cap it all, Democrats did not even need to run a moderate message to make this deep red district so close. Tipirneni, an emergency room physician, ran an unapologetically progressive campaign, championing health care expansion and opposing the GOP tax scam. It is yet another sign that these two issues are going to be major drivers of Democratic votes throughout the entire nation.
None of this was lost on Republicans. Party strategist Chuck Coughlin bluntly called the result “not good,” while Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake said the outcome is a “warning shot” at his party. Even Lesko herself had said she hoped “to win by double digits,” something she utterly failed to do.
“Regardless of the exact outcome,” tweeted the New York Times’ Nate Cohn, “this is just another terrible special election result for Republicans. Zero excuse, given the permanent absentee list. And you’re feeling great if you’re, say, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Arizona.”
And indeed, a recent poll shows the Democratic candidate, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, is beating all three Republican hopefuls.
“There just aren’t any excuses,” Cohn continued. “The Republican wasn’t Roy Moore. The Democrat wasn’t Conor Lamb. The turnout wasn’t low. The district doesn’t have, say, a latent Democratic tradition. It oddly has the effect of making all the prior excuses seem less relevant, too.”
Republicans won this battle. But the numbers make very clear that they are losing the war.
the rich asshole Administration Lawyer Says The rich asshole Thinks Islam Is ‘A Great Country’
In 2013, the world joined together in mockery of “Australian Sarah Palin” Stephanie Bannister when the One Nation (basically the equivalent of the Tea Party) candidate suggested that Jews worship Jesus, called the Quran “haram” (“forbidden” in Arabic), and — the most famous of her idiotic babblings — said that she doesn’t “oppose Islam as a country.”
Bannister’s incredibly stupid series of close-proximity gaffes was certainly memorable. It even ended her career. Now, a the rich asshole administration lawyer has managed to match that level of idiocy while defending The rich asshole’s Muslim ban. While making a legal argument to the Supreme Court. Yes, seriously.
In his closing arguments before the Supreme Court United States Solicitor General Noel Francisco assured the court that while the rich asshole has suggested a total and complete ban of Muslims entering the U.S., he has since dialed things back to wanting to ban travelers from certain Muslim-majority nations he hates. He also channeled his inner “Bannister”:
“He made it crystal clear on September 25th that he had no intention of imposing the Muslim ban,” Francisco argued. “He has made crystal clear that Muslims in this country are great Americans, and there are many, many Muslims countries who love this country, and he has praised Islam as one of the great countries of the world.”
Don’t worry — we’re sure that this jackass will get to keep his job. Listen to it below (it starts at 1:06:25).
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