SNL’s the rich asshole admits why he hates Jeff Bezos: ‘He’s way richer than me and he admits to being bald’
Alec Baldwin's the rich asshole on SNL/Screenshot
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Saturday Night Live is back and so is Alec Baldwin’s the rich asshole.
This week’s cold open spoofed the rich asshole’s press conference with leaders of Baltic nations.
“Let’s try to keep it fun, these three came all the way from Hufflepuff,” he tells the assembled journalists.
But then other people get to talk, and the rich asshole’s thoughts begin to drift.
“I wish I was watching Roseanne. I love Roseanne, she’s like a good Rosie O’Donnell,” he thinks.
Asked why he keeps tweeting about Amazon, the rich asshole admits the obvious: “I hate Jeff because he’s way richer than me and he admits to being bald.”
“I don’t care about America,” he says. “This whole four-year presidency is a cash grab.”
‘There are no consequences!’ Screeching Jeanine Pirro blames Republicans for letting Hollywood disrespect the rich asshole
Judge Jeanine started her Saturday night show with a fiery rant/Screenshot
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Judge Jeanine Pirro opened her Saturday night Fox show by railing on Republicans for allowing Hollywood types like Chelsea Handler, Robert De Niro and Johnny Depp disrespect the rich asshole family.
“It’s open season on the first family,” she said. “How did we get so lost?”
Pirro was mad that a president who she identified as graduating at Wharton with good grades was being mocked by Hollywood types who “didn’t get past the 12th grade.”
“How is it that these people are so comfortable, so at ease hanging in effigy the bloody head of our president, laughing about killing him in an elevator, laughing about blowing up the White House, threatening to beat up the president,” she said.
“They do it because they can. They have learned that there are no consequences, that nothing happens to them when they do,” she said.
She then dog-whistled to authoritarianism as a solution.
“There’s only one group to blame? That group is the Republican Party,” she said.
Watch: Al Gore tells Van Jones ‘our democracy was hacked before Vladimir Putin’
All Gore on Van Jones show on CNN/Screenshot
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Al Gore sat down with Van Jones on Saturday night for a wide-ranging interview that touched issues from Russia to Scott Pruitt.
But the questions that got him most excited were campaign financing. Gore sounded a little like an egghead Bernie Sanders—decrying money in politics and rising inequality.
“The Democratic party as a whole got a little big trapped into this money raising-cycle that came with television ads being the coin of the realm,” he said. “I thought the Clinton-Gore administration did a really good job, but I thought by the end of that decade we really needed attention to give power back, to deal with the rising inequality we have been seeing with the globalization of the employment marketplace, downward pressure on wages and the capture of policy by elites that have given so much money to elites.”
At that point, Jones pointed out that Gore sounded like Bernie.
“I think people are sick to death of the dominance by big money of our democracy,” he said. “Our democracy was hacked before Vladimir Putin hacked it—it was hacked by big money, and they have acquired a degree of control over our lives.
Gore said that he thought the internet would help solve the problem, “but then the Russians took it over.”
Watch below.
Update: Deadly fire now out at the rich asshole Tower
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A fire broke out on the 50th floor of the rich asshole Tower in New York this afternoon.
According to reports, one person died and others were injured.
At least five fire trucks were seen responding to the fire on Fifth Avenue.
Update: the rich asshole says the fire is out.
On Twitter, Sarah Kendzior points out that this was the second fire at the second fire at the Tower this year.
the rich asshole is not in New York today. His family quarters are on the top three floors of the building.
Thank you to the amazing men and women of the NYFD who extinguished a fire in a residential apartment at @TrumpTower. The @FDNY and @NYPD are truly some of the most incredible people anywhere!
#FDNY members are on scene of a 3-alarm fire at 721 5th Ave Manhattan. There are currently no injuries reported
‘They don’t have to buy American products’: Watch former US commerce secretary explains why we’ll lose trade war
Gary Locke, a former US ambassador to China and commerce secretary/Screenshot
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In trade wars, they say, everyone loses.
But some lose more than others.
And as the rich asshole administration and China rattle sabres and exchange tariffs, Gary Locke says America is going to lose.
And Locke’s opinion is worth a lot on this topic: Not only was he commerce secretary under President Obama, he was also US ambassador to China, the only Chinese American to ever have the role.
He broke the situation down for MSNBC.
“Obviously China is going to retaliate—China cannot be viewed as backing down or being weak,” he says.
American consumers and workers will find it “especially hard,” he says.
“The reality is that China really is able to get back at American companies,” he says. “They don’t have to buy American products. If they levy taxes on airplanes or soybeans, they can buy airplanes from Air Bus or they can buy soybeans from Brazil. Whereas, with respect to American consumers, so much of what we buy is only made in China.”
He goes on to give specific examples—such as microwaves or shoes.
Watch the full interview below.
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April 7, 2018
the rich asshole is trying to destroy the one institution that can most effectively constrain his abuses of power.
the rich asshole has never been a friend of the First Amendment. From the earliest days of his presidential campaign through the first year of his presidency and into the second, the rich asshole has waged an all-out war on the free press, seeking to destroy the one institution that can most effectively constrain his abuses of power.
But this week, the rich asshole’s assault on the free press reached an alarming new level. With battles raging on multiple fronts, the rich asshole is intentionally undermining the First Amendment in an effort to stifle dissent, evade accountability, and ultimately make it easier for his administration to delegitimize any other institutions that get in his way.
the rich asshole kicked off the week by rushing to defend his personal propaganda arm, Sinclair Broadcasting, after it faced backlash amid revelations that the company was forcing local anchors across the country to read from a script.
In doing so, the rich asshole was keeping up his end of what can only be described as a blatant quid pro quo agreement.
While he was still a candidate, Sinclair struck a deal with the the rich asshole campaign to give him more favorable coverage. And as president, he has paid the media empire back by praising its coverage, denigrating its competitors, and — with the help of his handpicked FCC chairman Ajit Pai — made it easier for Sinclair to expand its viewing audience to reach 72 percent of American households.
As others have noted, the true danger in Sinclair’s coverage is not its reach or its right-wing bias. Rather, the danger is that it conceals its bias by packaging it as local news while not revealing the source. Propaganda is dangerous — but propaganda disguised as news coming out of the mouths of trusted local news anchors is nothing short of Orwellian.
On Tuesday, the rich asshole stood before an international audience at a press conference and told the leaders of three Baltic nations not to call on U.S. reporters, saying that American media outlets are “fake news.”
the rich asshole popularized the term “fake news” as a candidate, and then turned it into a weaponto use against stories he doesn’t like. His use of the term has spread to other government officials, who have followed in his footsteps and now wield the term to get away with their own misdeeds by labeling critical reporting as “fake.”
As the Associated Press reported in March, “President some rich asshole’s campaign to discredit the news media has spread to officials at all levels of government, who are echoing his use of the term ‘fake news’ as a weapon against unflattering stories.”
“It’s become ubiquitous as a signal to a politician’s supporters to ignore legitimate reporting and hard questions, as a smear of the beleaguered and dwindling local press corps, and as a way for conservatives to push back against what they call biased stories,” AP reported, citing several instances in which lawmakers have used the term to dismiss questions and downplay evidence of wrongdoing.
Also this week, Bloomberg Law reported on a chilling plan by the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of more than 290,000 journalists, bloggers, and “media influencers” for the purpose of tracking and monitoring them. According to the report, DHS is “seeking a contractor that can help it monitor traditional news sources as well as social media and identify ‘any and all’ coverage related to the agency or a particular event.”
Ultimately, DHS wants to set up a database of “influencers” that the government can use to browse based on “location, beat, and type of influence.” The database would include “present contact details and any other information that could be relevant, including publications this influencer writes for, and an overview of the previous coverage published by the media influencer.'”
Even if the intent of such a database is not nefarious, the potential for abuse is endless. And given that lawmakers have actually proposed legislation that would force journalists to register and receive a license from the government, it’s reasonable to ask whether this database could lay the foundation for the government to surveil American journalists — and ultimately, to curtail their work.
News of the DHS plan came amid reports that the State Department is considering a proposal that would require all visa applicants to the U.S. turn over their social media information for the previous five years.
All of this followed a weekend during which the rich asshole publicly contemplated using the government to punish news outlets that don’t follow in the footsteps of the rich asshole-friendly outlets like Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting. And the day after the rich asshole made the suggestion, his 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale called for CNN reporter Jim Acosta to be disciplined for asking the rich asshole a question.
This is, quite literally, an attack on a fundamental pillar of our democracy.
But it’s more than that — it’s an assault on our Constitution by a leader who swore to uphold and protect it.
As Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, noted last year, “Freedom of the press, not only sort of a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution but very much something that the United States defended over the years, is now itself under attack from the president.”
One person dead after fire in the rich asshole Tower: report
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/07/18 08:29 PM EDT
One man is dead after a fire broke out at the rich asshole Tower in New York on Saturday.
The New York City Fire Department responded to the blaze on the 50th floor of President the rich asshole's namesake skyscraper shortly after 5:30 p.m. The fire is currently under control, fire officials said.
Fire officials initially reported that one person had been seriously injured, and three firefighters had sustained minor injuries.
But ABC 7 News in New York reported that one person, a man, was killed in the blaze.
Shortly after initial reports of the fire surfaced on Saturday, the rich asshole declared that the fire had been put out, and thanked the fire department for its response.
But after that, fire officials updated the blaze from a three-alarm fire to a four-alarm fire, and noted that they had not yet gotten it under control.
The fire was second at the rich asshole Tower in a matter of months. Firefighters responded to a minor blaze in a cooling tower on the building's roof in January. Two people sustained minor injuries in that fire.
the rich asshole Tower houses both residential apartments and offices.
Roger Stone lied about knowing the date Wikileaks planned to leak stolen Clinton emails — now we just need to know when
Anderson Cooper and Roger Stone/Screenshot
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Roger Stone lied about knowing the date Wikileaks planned to release hacked emails from the DNC.
Now, it’s just a matter of determining when.
On Friday, the king of dirty tricks went on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show and said he did not know what Wikileaks had planned.
“I had no advanced notice of the content source or exact timing of the WikiLeaks disclosures including the allegedly hacked emails,” Stone said. “I never received anything whatsoever from WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, anyone associated with them, or anyone else, including allegedly hacked emails, and passed them onto some rich asshole.”
This stands in sharp contrast with what he tweeted at the time: “Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.”
Now, an interview that pointed out the difference has been revealed. On October 2, 2016, Stone appeared on the the InfoWars’ radio show, an extremist media outlet known for spinning wild conspiracies about pizza shop sex rings and “crisis actors.”
“Now, an intermediary met with him (Assange) in London recently — who is a friend of mine and a friend of his, a believer in freedom,” Stone said on the show. “I am assured that the motherlode is coming Wednesday. It wouldn’t be an October surprise if I told you what it was, but I have reason to believe that it is devastating because people with political judgment who are aware of the subject matter tell me this. So right now, you see a terrible scrambling by the Clintonites to attempt to discredit Assange, to try to soften the blow.”
The emails were not released that Wednesday, October 5, but on that same day, Stone wrote on Twitter, “Libs thinking Assange will stand down are wishful thinking. Payload coming #Lockthemup.”
During the interview, Stone also claimed that he was poisoned by the intelligence community but refused to provide proof.
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April 7, 2018
Even 9/11-era EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman spent far less on security than the rich asshole's appointee, Scott Pruitt.
EPA chief Scott Pruitt is spending millions of taxpayer dollars for his security detail, an amount that outstrips even the person who held the job on 9/11.
And it’s just the latest revelation exposing a massive scandal involving misuse of funds at the department.
A new report indicates that Pruitt has a humongous detail consisting of 19 agents and a fleet of at least 19 vehicles. CNN notes that “with the cost of maintenance, gas, and training for agents, that leaves the dollar amount for his round-the-clock security in the millions.”
The size and scope of the detail is in and of itself unusual. And it’s far larger than that assigned to former administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who served under President George W. Bush.
Whitman held her position during and after the September 11 attacks, but told CNN that she walked to work alone at that time. She only had a security detail during travel.
By contrast, agents have been reassigned from criminal investigations so they can serve on Pruitt’s detail.
Recent reporting revealed that Pruitt also has a sweetheart deal to rent a condo in Washington, D.C., for next to nothing from an energy lobbyist.
Pruitt has also indulged in other luxuries at the EPA, including using tax dollars for a family trip to Disneyland.
Sixty-four House Democrats have called on the rich asshole to fire Pruitt, but the rich asshole and other Republicans are circling the wagons. Indeed, the rich asshole has continued to support his EPA chief and hailed him as “very courageous.”
Pruitt is benefitting from a massive waste of tax dollars, largely focused on personal luxuries. It is the sort of behavior that the rich asshole has indulged in on a daily basis.
It is all well outside the norms of historical behavior for both parties. But it’s right in line with how officials operate under the rich asshole. They learned to abuse America by watching him.
the rich asshole: Pruitt 'doing a great job'
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/07/18 08:41 PM EDT
President the rich asshole expressed confidence in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt on Saturday, appearing to dismiss the controversies swirling around the official.
"While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA," the rich asshole tweeted. "Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!"
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
Pruitt has found himself at the center of multiple controversies in recent weeks.
In particular, he has come under fire after it was revealed that he had rented a room in a condo owned by the wife of a prominent energy lobbyist during his first several months in D.C. That rental cost him $50 a day, and he only paid for nights that he slept there.
He is also under scrutiny for raises authorized for two of his top staffers and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on travel and security. Pruitt has denied any wrongdoing.
The controversies have prompted speculation that the rich asshole could soon move to dismiss Pruitt from the EPA. He ousted Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, who had faced controversies of his own, late last month.
But the rich asshole also said Thursday that he had confidence in Pruitt, telling reporters that the EPA had done a "fantastic job."
‘There really is no end-game’: Top attorney tells the rich asshole and Cohen to give up on Stormy Daniels lawsuit
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (left, via Shutterstock) and the rich asshole's personal lawyer Michael Cohen (right, via screengrab).
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Legendary criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos advised President some rich asshole and attorney Michael Cohen to give up their legal fight against Stormy Daniels.
“Another week and another, stormy development,” CNN anchor Ana Cabrera noted. “The attorney for Stormy Daniels says that their case against President the rich asshole is even stronger now that he has broken his silence and gone on the record about the hush money that she was paid.”
“You have experience working with the celebrities and going up against other celebrities, what to you make of the new development?” Cabrera asked. “We didn’t hear much from the rich asshole, why is that significant from the standpoint, of what he did say?”
“Well, it is very significant and Michael is not prone to exaggeration when he says it is Christmas and Hanukkah all rolled up into one,” Geragos replied. “If you are representing a client and the issue that you want to bring forth is that it is not a valid agreement, and the rich asshole is saying that he knew nothing about the $130,000 payment gives you the ability to go in to do discovery on it, which means that is a deposition, things of that nature, and the testimony and presumably a jury trial as opposed to going straight to arbitration.”
“And the other thing is, that when the rich asshole invites the press to go talk and go ask Michael Cohen or see what he had to say and repeated it twice, that is arguably a waiver of the attorney/client privilege” he noted, “and so it’s a one-two punch that I don’t think that Michael Cohen is happy about.”
Geragos offered the advice he would give.
“If I’m representing Michael Cohen or anybody else at this point, I would probably just dismiss [the case],” he suggested. “I mean, ultimately, at the end of the day, do you want really money out of somebody who doesn’t probably doesn’t have the deep pocket, namely Stormy Daniels?
“Are you going to send the U.S. Marshall around, if you do get a judgement, to collect from every strip club in America? I doubt it,” he noted. “So there really is no end-game for money and the only thing you do is expose the president to being under oath and basically committing perjury.”
“For a lot of the same reasons that you don’t want him in front of Robert Mueller, you don’t want him under oath with Michael asking him questions,” Geragos explained. “If I were them, I would dismiss and move on.”
Watch:
What Fresh Hell?: De-Trumpifying the federal government edition
some rich asshole (Michel Temer/Flickr)
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Welcome to another edition of What Fresh Hell?, Raw Story’s roundup of news items that might have become controversies under another regime, but got buried – or were at least under-appreciated – due to the daily firehose of political pratfalls, unhinged tweet storms and threats of nuclear annihilation coming out of the current White House.
In 2003, the Bush administration hurriedly and haphazardly implemented a policy of “de-Baathification” in Iraq. Modeled on the de-Nazification program undertaken by the Allied Powers in Germany after World War II, it proved to be an utter disaster. With piss-poor planning and not much insight into Iraqi society, they unceremoniously fired everyone who had worked for the Sunni-dominated Iraqi government and permanently barred them from future work in the public sector. That included the country’s entire security apparatus, and those heavily armed, highly trained and newly unemployed officers and troops would go on to form the backbone of the Iraqi resistance, and later the leadership of the Islamic State.
Fortunately, our circumstances bear little resemblance to that of post-invasion Iraq. The incompetence and corruption that plagues this regime can be excised from within – no foreign intervention is necessary as long as we can still vote. If and when our long national nightmare comes to an end, a massive program of de-Trumpification will be required to excise the ugly strain of white ethno-nationalism that’s infiltrated the federal government. And we really have to ditch the grifters that the rich asshole’s brought into the government with him.
The Washington Post reported last week that “an obscure White House office responsible for recruiting and vetting thousands of political appointees has suffered from inexperience and a shortage of staff, hobbling the rich asshole administration’s efforts to place qualified people in key posts across government.” And it really shows.
EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s performance hasn’t flown under the radar – it’s been front and center in the past couple of weeks. But it’s worth recapping some of the lowlights of his 15 months in office. We learned last year that a banker who was banned from the financial sector for life lent Pruitt almost $1 million when Pruitt was an Oklahoma state senator earning a salary of under $40k per year – he used $605,000 to buy a house in a gated community – and then that banker landed a cushy job under Pruitt at EPA. We know Pruitt has racked up unprecedented costs for first-class travel, claiming that he has to do so for security reasons. Yet, according to the Associated Press, “on weekend trips home for Sooners football games, when taxpayers weren’t paying for his ticket, the EPA official said Pruitt flew coach.” We know, via Maplight, that “as an Oklahoma politician, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt received $181,000 in political contributions from donors who lobbied the EPA last year.”
Pruitt defied the the rich asshole White House to give “substantial pay raises” to “two of his closest aides,” according to The Atlantic, even as The New York Times reported that “at least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.”
And then there’s the apartment he was “renting” from a couple of DC lobbyists for $50 per night. It turns out that the cut-rate condo “also served as a hub for Republican lawmakers hoping to raise money for their congressional campaigns.” It was reportedly kept vacant and available for Pruitt and his fellow con artists when he wasn’t paying well below market rate for it, but he was nevertheless “slow to pay the rent on his $50-per-night,” according to Politico, “forcing his lobbyist landlord to pester him for payment.” Politico also reported that Pruitt “didn’t leave when his lease ended,” and the lobbyist couple “became so frustrated by their lingering tenant that they eventually pushed him out and changed their locks.”
Conservatives have been fiercely defending Pruitt. They cite the agency’s top ethics official, who said that Pruitt’s sweetheart deal “determined that Pruitt’s rental was within federal ethics regulations regarding gifts, which despite being issued after the fact seemed to clear Pruitt of wrongdoing,” according to CNN, but that very same EPA watchdog now says he didn’t have all the facts when he issued that guidance.
Meanwhile, Pruitt’s tenure has been marked by a notable disdain for science and fact-driven policy, and the appointment of a number of senior officials who have themselves been responsible for various degrees of environmental destruction in their past lives in industries the agency is supposed to regulate.
And here’s the ultimate Scott Pruitt story – one that may encapsulate the rich asshole era better than any other. Hiroko Tabuchi and Lisa Friedman reported this week for The New York Times that a group of executives from the Big Three automakers went to the rich asshole regime and asked them to roll back Obama’s new fuel efficiency standards, but they got much more than they asked for. “Automakers are coming to terms with a startling reality: Be careful what you ask of President the rich asshole, because he could go further than you expect,” report Tabuchi and Friedman.
The E.P.A.’s plan, which is likely to be formally launched in coming days, is widely expected to loosen regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy well beyond what the automakers themselves had sought.In addition, according to a White House official with knowledge of the plans, the the rich asshole administration is expected to formally urge California — which has special authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own air pollution laws — to go along with the rollback, something the state has already said it won’t do. That could spark a legal battle between the federal government and California, potentially dividing the United States into two automobile markets, each with a different rule book governing pollution and gas mileage.“We didn’t ask for that,” said Robert Bienenfeld, assistant vice president in charge of environment and energy strategy at American Honda Motor, in an interview Thursday evening. “The position we outlined was sensible.”
Pruitt is just one grifter among many. And, alarmingly, the guy who would replace him if he gets the boot may be worse, if that’s possible. “The leading contender,” writes Emily Atkin, “is Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, EPA bureaucrat, and aide to the snowball-wielding Senator Jim Inhofe.” She adds that “Wheeler’s confirmation would be great news for the country’s largest coal mining company, [Murray Energy,] which will have secured one of its longtime lobbyists in a position of power over environmental regulation.”
If the much anticipated Blue Wave arrives this fall, and Democrats retake the White House in 2020, there will be no room for “let’s look forward, not back.” The next normal president is going to need to purge these sleazebags before going on a real global apology tour.
Here are a few other outrages you may have missed this week…
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“the rich asshole’s Cabinet chiefs have come under fire for their spending over the past year,” writes Vice’s Gabrielle Bluestone, “but more unusual is the role that the spouses of agency directors have played in both approving controversial expenses or benefitting from them.”
Five Cabinet spouses are now connected to major and controversial expenditures of public funds, including Housing and Urban Development secretary Dr. Ben Carson’s $31,000 table, which he claims was chosen and ordered by his wife; CIA officers doing work on behalf of director Mike Pompeo’s wife, and federal protection for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his wife on their vacation to Turkey and Greece.
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Not to be outdone by Scott Pruitt at EPA, “Mick Mulvaney, President some rich asshole’s appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the bureau,” reports the Associated Press. Recall that Mulvaney requested zero dollars in appropriations for the agency’s ostensible mission of protecting consumers from predatory lending.
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In his brief, stormy tenure at the State Department, Rex Tillerson showed that “small government” can be really, really expensive when it’s overseen by grifters. Tillerson vowed to “redesign” the agency to be leaner and meaner, but Politico reports that, “now that Tillerson has been fired, the vaunted ‘Redesign’ initiative he launched faces an uncertain future, but at least one clear legacy: around $12 million spent just for private consultants who in some cases charged the State Department more than $300 an hour.”
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Under the guidance of Ben Carson, the rich asshole regime “is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses, including Facebook, while sidelining officials who have aggressively pursued civil rights cases,” reports Glenn Thrush for The New York Times.
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It’s not just Housing and Urban Development. Interior Department chief Ryan Zinke, who has repeatedly told agency officials that “diversity isn’t important” and “I don’t care about diversity,” raised eyebrows when he reassigned a huge number of career staffers, a disproportionate share of whom were people of color. “Senior Democrats are demanding that Congress’s investigative arm probe whether Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s mass reassignment of senior career civil servants last summer violated federal anti-discrimination laws,” according to Alice Ollstein at TPM
ICYMI: the Interior Dept. replaced most of their webpage listing "African American Resources" with a giant picture of Zinke in front of the MLK memorial talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/dems-want-p…
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Meanwhile, “The Federal Election Commission is asking a leadership PAC previously affiliated with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to account for more than $600,000 of previously unreported contributions from the first six months of 2017,” according to Politico. “For most of the period in question, the committee, SEAL PAC, was overseen by Vincent DeVito, who is now a top aide to Zinke at the Interior Department, and this is the second time federal regulators have looked into discrepancies during his tenure.”
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Darryl Fears reports for the WaPo that Zinke tabbed Susan Combs, “A fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act,” to serve as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.
Zinke has teamed with lawmakers in the House in a bid to strip the Endangered Species Act of much of its power. Several bills would remove the act’s provisions to save species from extinction regardless of the economic impact, rely on peer-reviewed scientific data and reward conservation organizations that successfully sue to protect animals by paying their court costs.
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Finally, Katie Benner reported this week for The New York Times that Kevin Carwile, who was appointed to run the Justice Department’s death penalty unit despite the fact that “he had never prosecuted or sat through an entire capital punishment case,” was “removed from his post after The New York Times inquired about a series of grievances against him, including complaints that he promoted gender bias and a ‘sexualized environment.’ He fostered a culture of favoritism and sexism, according to court records, internal documents and interviews with more than a half-dozen current and former employees. In one episode, his deputy groped an administrative assistant at a bar in view of their colleagues, according to some who were present. Mr. Carwile asked the witnesses to keep it secret, one said.”
John Kelly threatened to quit after arguing with the rich asshole in Oval Office blow-up last week: report
some rich asshole and John Kelly. (Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley)
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White House Chief of Staff John Kelly “blew up at” President some rich asshole on March 28, Axios reported Saturday.
Reporting based on multiple sources, Axios says “Kelly blew up at the rich asshole in an Oval Office meeting that day, and while walking back to his office muttered he was going to quit.”
A senior administration official described it not as a threat, but “venting frustration.”
Kelly even “packed up some personal belongings” though that may not have been in preparation to leave the building immediately.
Colleagues even got allies to call Kelly in an attempt to talk him down.
“At one point DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen — perhaps the person in the administration he trusts most — came over to talk him off the ledge,” Axios noted.
This is not the first time Kelly has verbally threatened to quit.
Tariff fight could hit GOP in key Senate states
BY BEN KAMISAR AND LISA HAGEN - 04/07/18 06:47 PM EDT
Democrats see President the rich asshole's escalating trade war with China as an opportunity that could help them win several Senate races in states where a trade fight would damage local economies.
States that rely on agriculture could be hit particularly hard by retaliatory tariffs from China. That could give Democrats in states like North Dakota, Montana, Indiana, Missouri and Florida — all of are represented by Senate Democrats up for reelection this year — a new argument to make against the president and his allies in Congress.
China responded with a broad list of U.S. goods that would face $50 billion in tariffs as well — a response that prompted a White House threat to add $100 billion in new tariffs to Chinese goods.
The Chinese tariffs target a smattering of U.S. goods, including soybeans, cotton, corn, pork, chemicals, plastics, cattle, wheat and tobacco.
China is one of the biggest markets for American export goods, and a top recipient of American agricultural products like soybeans, corn, grains and pork, according to the United States Trade Representative.
Soybeans and hogs are major cash crops in states like Minnesota, Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri. Corn is a major crop in Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana. And Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, Montana, Minnesota and Florida all feature large cattle industries.
All of those states will see Senate races in 2018, with several Democratic incumbents on the ballot in states the rich asshole won in 2016. Republicans are warning that the economic impact of tariffs could be felt hardest in key Senate states if the trade war continues.
“The economic pain that people will feel from tariffs will be a good reminder of how important free trade is to the economy,” said Alex Conant, a GOP strategist who’s served as a top aide to Sen. Marco Rubio(R-Fla.).
“The people most at risk are the people in disproportionately red states who voted for the rich asshole,” he said, adding that the “coincidence of the cycle” is that those states are also home to Democratic incumbents targeted by the GOP.
Democrats are on defense in Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Montana, Florida and North Dakota, where Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Bill Nelson(Fla.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) are all running in states won by the rich asshole.
Minnesota Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith are running for reelection too, although their seats are considered more secure for Democrats after Hillary Clinton won Minnesota in 2016. And Nebraska Republican Sen. Deb Fischer is also not seen as in serious danger in her red state.
Many of the top soybean-producing states depend on exports to China. North Dakota, for example, sends two-thirds of its soybean production to China. Tariffs on those imports could raise prices, prompting Chinese buyers to choose soybeans from other markets.
“If you’re a soybean farmer, you’ve got to be nervous about this,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
The Chinese trade war also puts a strain on Montana, a top producer of wheat. From 2016 to 2017, China was the third- largest purchaser of hard red spring wheat. According to the Montana Grain Growers Association, Montana sold seven million metric tons of that crop to China last year.
Trade and business associations in these rural states are sounding the alarm, warning that tariffs imposed by China could hurt key industries and have a negative impact on state economies.
That puts Republicans running for Senate in a tight spot as they grapple with whether to stick with the rich asshole on tariffs or break with the president in favor of their respective states’ industries.
“Owning the rich asshole’s position means owning any potential trade war,” a Democratic strategist working on a top Midwestern Senate race told The Hill
That tension is already apparent in the North Dakota Senate race, where Heitkamp is running against Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer.
Cramer addressed the tariffs in a tweet on Wednesday, calling for a “more measured approach” and criticizing the “impulse” that “created unnecessary turmoil.”
But Democrats pounced on that statement, pointing to the text of an earlier, later deleted tweet, where Cramer took a stronger tone by declaring his “opposition to tariffs that have the potential to harm North Dakota’s [agricultural market].”
Democrats running in competitive House races are starting to put pressure on vulnerable Republicans there, too.
Former Rep. Brad Ashford (D-Neb.), who’s mounting a comeback for his Omaha-based seat, seized on the clash to link his opponent — GOP Rep. Don Bacon — to the rich asshole’s trade war. In a tweet on Wednesday, he called on the agriculture sector to “express your opposition to the rich asshole’s trade wars” by voting against Bacon.
Bacon answered on Friday with a statement that asked the White House to “find a solution to this tariff war with China” that both protects American intellectual property from China — a stated goal of the rich asshole’s tariffs — while also allowing “Nebraska’s export agriculture economy of $6.4 billion to remain competitive and flourish.”
The White House has sought to downplay any political concerns related to the tariffs, pointing to the growing economy.
Top the rich asshole economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters Friday that the administration’s “political success will rise and fall with the economy.”
“The economy is doing rather well now and I expect it to do even better, so I don’t necessarily with all the pundits about how bad the midterms are going to be for the GOP,” he said.
“I’m not a tariff guy, but sometimes you need to use tariffs to bring people to their senses.”
Industry leaders are trying to convince the White House to scale back those tariffs, and Kudlow admitted that it’s “possible” the rich asshole is using the tariff proposal as a negotiating tactic. Those leaders are encouraged by recent exemptions granted from steel tariffs.
But Conant expressed the concerns of many Republicans who worry the market instability and potential adverse effects of the tariffs could muddle the GOP’s economic message in the fall. Before the tariff fight, Republicans had hoped that an economic boom following the GOP tax cuts would help blunt Democratic enthusiasm.
“If trade wars were good for the economy, we’d have them all the time,” he said.
“Democrats want the midterms to be about the rich asshole’s behavior. Republicans want them to be about the economy and economic policies. If the economy goes south, Republicans have nothing to run on.”
—Vicki Needham and Sylvan Lane contributed.
By
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April 7, 2018
Turns out pro-the rich asshole fanboy Todd Rokita is just a fair-weather fan.
Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) is one of the rich asshole’s biggest fans and staunchest defenders.
The congressman, who is currently in the race to win the Republican nomination for Senate in Indiana’s primary election, has spent the better part of the past year positioning himself as the most Trumpian of pro-the rich asshole lawmakers, even going as far as carrying a cardboard cutout of the rich asshole to his campaign events.
In his campaign for a Senate seat, Rokita has slammed his Republican opponents for not being sufficiently adherent to the MAGA agenda, calling one of them a “Never Trumper” and the other a “RINO.”
But the rich asshole fanboy has a secret: Just two years ago, he wasn’t such a fan of the rich asshole.
In a recently surfaced interview from February 2016, Rokita railed against the rich asshole as he explained why he supported Sen. Marco Rubio’s bid to win the GOP nomination for president. Referring to the rich asshole as “vulgar, if not profane” Rokita said Rubio was the only one with the potential to be “presidential.”
“When you see Marco contrasted with some rich asshole — I mean someone who is vulgar, if not profane,” Rokita said. “At some point you have to be presidential. People expect that and you see that in Marco Rubio.”
The remarks are a sharp contrast from the rhetoric Rokita has used on the campaign trail this year, showing that the rich asshole-loving candidate in the MAGA hat was once solidly opposed to the agenda he now claims to represent.
Rokita, who has tried to frame the GOP primary as a race divided along pro-the rich asshole/anti-the rich asshole lines, now finds himself in the awkward position of having to explain his own anti-the rich asshole past as he criticizes his opponents for the very same thing.
While he may be the rich asshole’s biggest cheerleader now, the pro-the rich asshole fanboy appears to be nothing more than a fair-weather fan.
Republicans are freaking out that the rich asshole’s tariff frenzy will kill them at the polls in 2018 midterms
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky speaking at CPAC 2011 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Republicans are worried that President some rich asshole’s decision to wage a trade war against China may harm GOP efforts in the 2018 midterm elections, Politico reported on Saturday.
Congressional leadership and the White House came to agreement in January that the prevailing 2018 campaign message would focus on jobs, the economy and tax legislation.
That consensus was apparently shattered when the rich asshole threatened China with tariffs, to which the Chinese responded in kind.
Former the rich asshole economics advisor and fellow at The Heritage Foundation, Stephen Moore, worries about a trade war cancelling the administration’s work on tax reform.
“If the tariffs raise prices on American consumers, then that will negate part of the positive impact of the tax cut,” Moore worried. “It’s the government giving the tax cut with the right hand and taking it away with the tariff with the left one.”
Michael Steel, a former top aide to former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), shares Moore’s worries.
“There is definitely a very real concern that the economic impacts on trade could overshadow the tremendous benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Steel acknowledged.
Others won’t identify themselves in voicing concerns about the 2018 midterms.
“The evidence of the tax cut working is getting yanked away,” one tax lobbyist worried. “Conservatives and business groups aren’t sure what to do about it because no one wants to be the target of a rich asshole tweet.”
New White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow denied that a trade war would distract from the rich asshole’s tax cut message.
“I would never let anything overshadow the tax cut,” Kudlow said. “The president’s success will rise and fall with the economy.”
Read the full article
Stormy Daniels’ attorney accuses Michael Cohen of running to the rich asshole and saying ‘you owe me’ after $130,000 payoff
Michael Avenatti is the attorney representing Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name, Stormy Daniels.
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The attorney representing Stormy Daniels taunted embattled attorney Michael Cohen while making bold predictions about President some rich asshole, during a Saturday appearance on MSNBC’s AM Joy.
“Why is it that some rich asshole denying that he knew about the payment, something his team has been saying, why did that change the case?” host Joy Reid asked. “And how did it change the case?”
“Our position has been consistent for the last month or more and that is there is no NDA, there is no agreement and one of the reasons is because some rich asshole did not sign it, he didn’t know about it, according to his claims, which we don’t necessarily believe,” Avenatti argued.
“Up until a few days ago, he showed great restraint and showed discipline and we knew that with never going to last,” he continued. “Lo and behold, he cracked on Thursday and made the statements on Air Force One and as a result, we don’t think there’s any question at this point — there is no agreement, the DNA is thrown out the window.”
By Avenatti’s reasoning, Cohen must have told the rich asshole about the NDA.
“Let’s assume that Michael Cohen, for the sake of argument, that Michael Cohen did this out of his own pocket and never was reimbursed for it,” he suggested.
“At a minimum, he would have told some rich asshole that he had done it. Why would he have done that? He would have wanted the chips with some rich asshole,” Avenatti concluded. “He would have wanted some rich asshole to know, ‘I did you this solid in connection with the campaign and therefore, you owe me a little bit.'”
“The idea that he didn’t get reimbursed and some rich asshole wasn’t made aware of it is absurd,” he continued.
“There’s no question Joy, that at some point in time, some rich asshole knew about this agreement, knew about the negotiation and knew about the payment,” Avenatti predicted. “I believe that it was prior to the election, it was contemporaneous with all of this conduct occurring.”
“If it wasn’t contemporaneous, it was most certainly shortly thereafter,” he continued. “There are significant issues that arise from that, from a campaign finance perspective.”
“some rich asshole’s comments on Air Force One created huge liability for Michael Cohen,” Avenatti concluded. “He threw him under the bus, he put him in the crosshairs, whatever metaphor you want to use, but this got far more complicated on Thursday.”
Reid also asked about a cryptic tweet sent on Saturday morning by Avenatti.
“I’m not at liberty to get into the details quite yet, what I will say is this, we have worked diligently to identify this individual,” he answered. “It was a significant threat, it was a physical threat.”
Watch:
MSNBC guest unloads on NRA’s ‘top dog’ Paul Ryan for holding closed door town hall to avoid Parkland teens
Paul Ryan speaks to Fox News (screen grab)
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Appearing in MSNBCs AM Joy, a Wisconsin political activist ripped into Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Saturday morning for holding a private town hall that did not include his own constituents in order to avoid questions about guns from supporters of the Parkland teens.
According to host Joy Reid, the House Speaker, “did hold a town hall, but it was closed door and not in his district and rather far away from it, in Ft. Worth, Texas.”
“It was not about gun reform but about Paul Ryan’s most favoritest thing: tax cuts for the rich” she added, noting the survivors of the Parkland shooting last month have been pressing voters to attend congressional town hall and push lawmakers to explain their stance on guns.
“Paul Ryan, not holding town halls at home. going all the way to Texas to hold town halls about tax cuts. What does that say to you?” Reid asked Scot Ross, the executive director of One Wisconsin Now.
“It’s been 915 days since Paul Ryan held a town hall here in the state of Wisconsin,” Ross explained.”The reason he’s not holding these is because the environment is hostile for Republicans currently, and politically. Republicans like Ryan think they is bury their head in the sand and wait for it to ride out.”
“The progressives are going to go out and vote and stick it to the bullies at the NRA, while Paul Ryan is the top dog, played dead and rolled over for the NRA,” he added.
“Paul Ryan is known for wanting tax cuts and more tax cuts, he isn’t known for a pro-gun advocate, ” Reid suggested. “He’s thought of as a Koch brothers product. How in bed with the NRA is he?”
“He has raised some of the most money out of any member of Congress in the last session,” Ross stated. “We have seen no piece of legislation, common sense gun safety legislation pass under Paul Ryan’s leadership. We know that here in the state of Wisconsin there’s a number of politicians held hostage to the NRA doing their bidding and Paul Ryan is 100 percent one of them and he’s been at the forefront of blocking all federal sense gun reform legislation.”
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
MSNBC’s Joy Reid guest rips ‘kleptocrat’ the rich asshole for ignoring administration officials’ lavish lifestyles
MSNBC anchor Joy Reid and investigative journalist David Cay Johnston.
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Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Cay Johnston analyzed President some rich asshole’s “kleptocracy” on MSNBC’s AM Joy Saturday.
Host Joy Reid asked the reporter about the ethics scandals surrounding Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt.
“This is the emerging the rich asshole kleptocracy and Scott Pruitt is clearly a man who doesn’t have a moral compass,” Johnston argued. “He has a long history of these kinds of improprieties.”
Johnston is the author of the new book It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the the rich asshole Administration is Doing to America.
“Somehow, on the very modest income of an Oklahoma state legislator, he lived a much better lifestyle than you would expect on $34,000 a year,” he explained. “And as attorney general, when his only income was a quarter million year salary, he got a mortgage for $650,000.”
“Scott Pruitt is a man who in any previous administration, even the scandal-plagued Ronald Reagan administration with what, 130 if I recall or so major scandals, would have been fired yesterday,” he suggested.
“But the leader of this kleptocracy is a man himself who has spent his life cheating, swindling, lying, so what’s the problem?” he concluded.
Watch:
‘Orange Flames’: the rich asshole Tower In New York Just Erupted In Flames (VIDEO)
The New York Fire Department is responding to a four-alarm fire on the 50th floor of the rich asshole Tower in Manhattan. Firefighters were dispatched shortly before 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, CBS New York reports. No injuries have been reported yet, the NYFD said. Fox News reports that “video on social media showed orange flames and smoke billowing from the building.”
Watch:
#FDNY members are on scene of a 3-alarm fire at 721 5th Ave Manhattan. There are currently no injuries reported
the rich asshole tweeted that the fire is out, and for some reason mentioned that it’s a ‘well built building’ then thanked the firemen “(and women)” and we’re not sure why he put women in parentheses.
“Fire at the rich asshole Tower is out. Very confined (well built building),” he tweeted. “Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!”
Social media users responded.
It was your pants, wasn’t it ?
ister BumfaceDid Eric trip over a toaster again?
shredder overheated again.Pants on fire???
Fire Out at Shithole!
burning your tax returns ? just asking , cause you sent prayers and thanks
The dumpster fire that is your administration cannot be contained
It was probably your family trying to burn the evidence.
Burning the evidence is a bad idea.
In January, the fire department responded to a minor fire in a cooling tower on the roof of the building. Two people sustained minor injuries in that incident.
FDNY just confirmed that one civilian was being treated for serious injuries.
Image via Fire Department.
the rich asshole lashes out at China on Twitter after they hit back at his tariffs with their own aimed at US
some rich asshole speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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President some rich asshole broke his Twitter silence on Saturday afternoon, attacking China after they responded to his tariffs aimed at them with a few of their own that is quickly escalating into a trade war.
Writing in his customary frantic style, the rich asshole stated, “The United States hasn’t had a Trade Surplus with China in 40 years. They must end unfair trade, take down barriers and charge only Reciprocal Tariffs. The U.S. is losing $500 Billion a year, and has been losing Billions of Dollars for decades. Cannot continue!”
He then attacked Democrats about the border, writing, “We are sealing up our Southern Border. The people of our great country want Safety and Security. The Dems have been a disaster on this very important issue!”
You can see the tweets below:
the rich asshole administration planning to ‘monitor’ journalists and bloggers
DHS spokesman dismisses "tinfoil hat wearing" reporters who question the government's motives.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking to compile a database of journalists, bloggers and social media “influencers” here and overseas, Bloomberg reported.
A request filed on April 3 sought a contractor to gather information on people posting across all platforms — radio, print, digital, and television — in 100 languages. Bids are expected on April 13.
According to Bloomberg, the request came amid “heightened concern” about accuracy in media and the potential for foreigners to influence U.S. elections and government policy through “fake news.”
Several lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking that Qatar-based Al Jazeera register as a foreign agent because its reporting “often directly undermines” U.S. interests in countries such as Syria and Israel.
Late last year, Russia’s RT was forced to register as a foreign agent in the United States and responded by designating several U.S. outlets as foreign agents in Russia.
Although press freedoms declined under the Obama administration, President some rich asshole has had an openly hostile relationship with the media — notably toward those who do not report favorably on his administration.
the rich asshole has called totally accurate reporting by outlets such as CNN and the New York Times “fake news.” The president also has gone after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, over the newspaper’s coverage of his administration.
The government’s plan to monitor journalists has prompted concern among those who report critically on President the rich asshole or share such views on social media.
WTAF? @DHS accepting proposal to become to be the KGB. Must bids meet minimal Stasi or Saddam’s Hussein standards? Or is McCarthy Ok? twitter.com/forbes/status/…
I've gotten threats of violence & death from Trump supporters. Am I to be put on the Department of Homeland Security's list now, too, for having the audacity to criticize @realDonaldTrump in the media and my published work?forbes.com/sites/michelle…#resist #trump #FridayFeeling
Boingboing flagged one of the most disconcerting aspects about the database.
“One of the other points that DHS wants to be able to search is the ‘sentiment’ of a story. Was a writer’s take on events pro-America or not? Did a columnist write an op-ed that looked on President the rich asshole’s latest policy trainwreck unfavorably?”
In response to worries about how such a database would be used, DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton tweeted that it was nothing out of the ordinary:
Despite what some reporters may suggest, this is nothing more than the standard practice of monitoring current events in the media. Any suggestion otherwise is fit for tin foil hat wearing, black helicopter conspiracy theorists. twitter.com/pressfreedom/s…
He had a similar response to fact-checking site Snopes, which asked for clarification on what Houlton meant by “standard practice” — indicating that he feels the press and DHS have the same interests in gathering data. But news organizations do not compile this kind of mass data on their colleagues, focusing on governments.
“You are embarrassing yourself with these questions and wild conspiracy theories. Just like you monitored the media to find this story, DHS does the same,” wrote Houlton, “Enjoy your weekend.”
D. Parvaz previously worked at Al Jazeera.
White House officials don’t want the rich asshole to shake hands with Raul Castro in Peru
April 7, 2018
Franco Ordonez
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
WASHINGTON — If President Donald Trump and Cuban leader Raul Castro get close to each other at next week's Latin America summit, White House aides know what to do: Stop him from having a handshake.
Trump and Castro will attend the gathering in Lima, Peru, but administration staffers do not want Trump to make news, as his predecessor did three years ago.
"There are always bumps between all the leaders at the summit, but my expectation is that we will try to keep President Trump as far away as from leaders that don't share United States values and like-minded perspectives," a senior administration official said.
This will be Trump's first visit to Latin America as president; he will attend the Summit of the Americas next Friday and Saturday, focused "democratic governance fighting corruption." Trump will then travel to Bogota, Colombia, to meet its president, Juan Manuel Santos.
Cuba hasn't confirmed Castro's attendance, but the administration has been told that Cuban told Peru he would be there.
There is already anticipation over whether a meeting will take place with Castro since Trump has sought to reverse the pro-engagement policies of President Barack Obama.
In 2015, a year after announcing plans to improve relations, Obama was caught on camera exchanging greetings and a handshake with Castro at the opening of the Summit of the Americas in Panama.
This year, however, a senior administration official said it's not the right time for Trump and Castro to meet. The White House has been clear that it will not engage with Cuba under current conditions, including a lack of democracy and military control of the economy.
Since becoming president, Trump has singled out Cuba as among the communist governments that have delivered only "anguish and failure" to its people.
Last summer in Miami, Trump said he was keeping a campaign promise to roll back Obama's policy of engagement with Cuba, and reinstated some travel and commercial restrictions.
Trump officials who have studied the Peru summit protocol say there would be some natural separation between the two leaders. The heads of state will be introduced alphabetically in Spanish. They also don't expect Castro — who has announced that he will soon step down from the presidency — to reach out to the United States either.
POLITICS
Democrats’ Chances Of Taking Over The House Just Got Better, Per New Forecast
The outlook is rosy despite some rich asshole’s rise in the polls.
Democrats’ shot at taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives just got slightly better, according to a new analysis of polling data conducted by The Cook Political Report.
Cook announced Friday that it had changed its ratings in 13 congressional districts. In all of the new ratings, Democrats are more likely to either flip a Republican seat or hold onto one controlled by Democrats.
None of the changed ratings show Democrats taking a seat that Cook previously predicted would remain in Republican hands. Instead, they are changes regarding the likelihood that Republicans or Democrats will hold a seat.
For example, the polling numbers cruncher changed its rating for Washington’s 5th Congressional District from “Likely Republican” to the more tenuous “Lean Republican.”
It’s notable that Republicans’ hold on that district, which consists of a rural swath of Eastern Washington state, has slipped even modestly. Republicans undoubtedly do not want to have to spend money defending a seat represented by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-highest-ranking Republican in the House.
What’s more, Washington’s 5th is usually reliably Republican. President some rich asshole won in the district by 13 percentage points.
Cook’s ratings changes are especially remarkable because they coincide with a modest increase in the rich asshole’s approval rating. The percentage of Americans who approve of the rich asshole’s performance ticked up from 38 percent at the beginning of January to 40 percent in April, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
And while Democrats maintain a lead of more than 8 percentage points on the generic congressional ballot, it has fallen considerably since late December, when polling showed their edge reaching well into double digits.
The trouble for Republicans is that those are still significant advantages for Democrats. A 40 percent approval rating is quite low for a sitting president less than a year and a half into his tenure.
Add to the mix a historic number of Republican retirements ― 36 so far, according to Cook ― and much higher enthusiasm among Democratic voters, and it is easier to see why Cook continues to view Democrats as “slight favorites for House control.”
Democrats need to flip 23 GOP-held seats to win back the majority. Accounting for the small number of Democrat-held seats where Republicans are competitive, the party must win 27 out of 55 contentious races, according to Cook.
the rich asshole ‘freaked out’ after seeing Fox News personalities turn on him over his border wall failure: report
some rich asshole speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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President some rich asshole was reportedly “freaked out” to see Fox News personalities slam him for signing an Omnibus spending bill that failed to fund the building of his signature border wall, Axios reported Saturday.
“Sources who’ve discussed it with the rich asshole say it freaked him out to see the array of usually friendly faces on Fox News’ opinion shows — Pete Hegseth, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, et al. — ripping into him for signing a bill that spent a ton of money, but gave lots away to liberal priorities and did little for his signature promise to build a wall,” Axios recounted.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, the rich asshole constantly repeated that he would build a wall along America’s southern border — to be paid for by Mexico.
Mexico has shown no interest in paying for the rich asshole’s promised border wall.
“Mexico’s not going to pay for the wall and neither are we,” Fox News personality Jesse Watters complained about the Omnibus spending bill.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway admitted, “It’s not everything the president wanted.”
The issue does not appear to be going away.
“Republican leadership sources were telling us that the court decision to keep DACA alive took away the rich asshole’s deadline and removed the pressure on Congress to act,” Axios noted. “But now some of those sources are nervous, realizing that the rich asshole won’t let the issue fade into the background.”
And all of this may play out within the next six months, prior to the 2018 midterm elections.
“He’s grasping at whatever executive tools are available. But watch for him to force action before the end of September, when the government funding expires,” Axois continued. “A lot could change between now and then. But based on what the rich asshole has been telling confidants, we expect a showdown — and possibly a shutdown — then.”
In March, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported that the rich asshole had become “animated” about the bill over things that were not factually true.
Per two senior administration officials, Trump continued to rail privately about the omnibus bill, and has become convinced of things that aren’t true about it.
Wall Street Journal pummels the rich asshole for ‘punishing America first’ with botched tariff war with China
some rich asshole stands for the national anthem (screen grab)
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The conservative Wall Street Journal lashed out at President some rich asshole on Saturday morning with a blistering editorial, hammering the President for plunging the U.S. into a trade war with China which is hurting American farmers and businessmen.
Under a very pointed headline reading, “Punishing America First,” the editorial board at the Rupert Murdoch-owned WSJ, was unsparing in it’s criticism of the rich asshole’s tariff moves that have plunged the markets into chaos, while the president has offered the cold comfort that Americans will have to suffer a bit as he figures it out.
“some rich asshole and his advisers spent much of Friday telling everyone that the U.S. is not in a trade war with China, but investors weren’t buying it,” The editors wrote. “Equity markets took a major header, falling by more than 2% across the board. Maybe investors are starting to look at the damage some rich asshole may do to the Farm Belt states and to the GOP’s chances of holding Congress.”
“We’ve been warning since some rich asshole first emerged as a candidate that his nationalist economics should be taken seriously,” the piece continued. “This is one policy he seems truly to believe in, he has empowered protectionist advisers, and previous Congresses have given a President wide latitude to act unilaterally. Trade was always the biggest economic risk of the rich asshole Presidency, and now we’re living through his punch-first policy as he tries to stare down Xi Jinping.”
“some rich asshole doesn’t even seem to mind if the tariffs do some economic damage while he’s supposedly fixing the U.S. trade deficit. ‘I’m not saying there won’t be a little pain, but the market has gone up 40%, 42%, so we might lose a little bit of it. But we’re going to have a much stronger country when we’re finished,’ the President told a New York radio show on Friday,” the opinion piece added before following with a sarcastic, “Nice to know it will all turn out for the best.”
Taking up the cause of American farmers who are looking at taking a huge economic hit, the Journal hammered the rich asshole over what his administration proposes to do now that China has retaliated.
“Someone in the White House seems to know the risks because its press shop spent Friday sending out missives telling farmers not to worry. some rich asshole’s $100 billion tariff threat on Thursday included that he had told the secretary of agriculture ‘to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agriculture interests,” the editors wrote. “What’s [Agriculture] Secretary Sonny Perdue going to do—buy up all the soybeans China no longer buys? Order farmers to slaughter their pigs to produce less pork that will also be subject to Chinese tariffs?”
“China’s trade abuses need to be addressed, but some rich asshole’s tariffs first strategy risks punishing America first. He—and we—had better hope Mr. Xi is willing to bargain,” the piece concluded.
You can read the whole thing here, subscription required.
NRA Board Member Ted Nugent: Democrats Need To Be Hunted Down Like ‘Rabid Coyotes’ And Shot (VIDEO)
NRA Board member Ted Nugent said during a radio interview on March 31 that the Parkland shooting survivors had “no soul” and were “liars” then went on to call them “poor, mushy-brained children.” Nugent defended responsible gun owners who he believes are being attacked by those calling for more gun restrictions. But, during a more recent interview on InfoWars’ The Alex Jones Show, Nugent proved that he is not a responsible gun owner by calling for Democrats and others to be shot. Somewhere, Rep. Steve Scalise is giving him the side-eye.
“Don’t ask why. Just know that evil, dishonesty, and scam artists have always been around and that right now they’re liberal, they’re Democrat, they’re RINOs, they’re Hollywood, they’re fake news, they’re media, they’re academia, and they’re half of our government, at least,” Nugent said, according to Media Matters. “So come to that realization. There are rabid coyotes running around. You don’t wait till you see one to go get your gun. Keep your gun handy, and every time you see one, you shoot one.”
Watch:
He sounds really nice. I’m sure he’s fun at parties, too.
After smearing the Parkland survivors, Nugent defended the National Rifle Association.
“The level of ignorance goes beyond stupidity. Again, the National Rifle Association are a bunch of American families who have a voice to stand up for our God-given, constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms,” the 69-year-old washed up rocker said.
Nugent also recently shared a link on Facebook to suggest that Parkland student David Hogg is really an actor and not a victim.
Nugent is smearing the survivors of a tragedy to further the conservative narrative. The NRA continues with its violent rhetoric and keeps Nugent on as a board member, and Dana Loesch as its spokeswoman, then the gun lobby gets upset if it’s called a terrorist organization.
Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Attorney for Stormy Daniels promises ‘major announcement’ exposing ‘the rich asshole thug’ who threatened his client
By J Chang from USA (AEE2009_Jan11_Nikon 850 Uploaded by gohe007) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Writing on Twitter early Saturday morning, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels promised he will expose the “the rich asshole thug” who reportedly threatened his client in 2011 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with President some rich asshole.
“Expect a major announcement in the coming days regarding our efforts to identify the thug who threatened Ms. Clifford in Las Vegas in 2011 to ‘leave the rich asshole alone’ while making reference to her little girl,” Michael Avenatti wrote on Twitter.
In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Daniels revealed that someone had threatened her while she was with her daughter to keep quiet about her dalliance with the rich asshole.
“Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story” the person allegedly said. “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
You can see his tweet below:
Expect a major announcement in the coming days regarding our efforts to identify the thug who threatened Ms. Clifford in Las Vegas in 2011 to “leave Trump alone” while making reference to her little girl. You can run but you can’t hide. #thugsearch #seriousconsequences #basta
Watch CNN host Blackwell slap down Jack Kingston after he claims Pruitt’s $50 a night condo room is ‘standard DC rent’
Jack Kingston, Victor Blackwell -- CNN screenshot
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Saturday morning, CNN host Victor Blackwell put the brakes on former lawmaker Jack Kingston (R-GA) who attempted to dismiss EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt’s extravagant lifestyle since joining President some rich asshole’s administration as par for the course for Washington, D.C. denizens.
Appearing on New Day, Kingston was asked by the CNN host whether Pruitt would survive the string of scandals dogging him.
“I will tell you that I’d be very surprised if 90 percent of the American people looking at the facts of that situation did not think that there was the appearance of outright corruption there and some rich asshole ought to fire him,” Kingston replied.
‘What has happened, this has become political,” Kingston continued before mentioning Pruitt’s sweetheart deal for a $50 a night room in a condo owned by the wife of an oil lobbyist. “Scott Pruitt is pushing back a lot of the EPA overreach as it happened under Barack Obama. Therefore, his critics are coming out of the woodwork saying this guy’s got to go, and they’re not attacking him on policy, they’re attacking, you know, this room was $1,500 a month. That’s about standard rent.”
“No, it isn’t about standard rent in Washington,” an incredulous Blackwell shot back. “Do you know how much a couple of drinks would cost at the bar at the rich asshole Hotel? About the same amount it costs to stay a night in that condo.”
“I have to respectfully disagree, I think that’s standard rent,” the Republican offered.
“No, you’re wrong on that,” Blackwell said while asking his producers to put up a picture of the luxury condo. “It’s a block from Capitol Hill.”
“Listen, I slept in my office floor as a member of Congress for ten years because it is very difficult to find a place,” Kingston attempted. “I can tell you, $1,500 does not sound out of whack with me as respects to the market up there. That’s why the ethics department of EPA agreed with Scott Pruitt that there was not an impropriety there.”
“Jack,” the CNN host lectured. “There are people all over the district now throwing shoes and socks at the television thinking that if you know where there’s a $1,500-a-night condo, or room for a month, post it to your Twitter account — do. that right after.”
You can watch the exchange below, via CNN:
POLITICS
White House Correspondents Dinner Host Taunts Sarah Sanders Over the rich asshole Snub
The event’s host, comedian Michelle Wolf, has ribbed the press secretary over the rich asshole’s impending no-show.
The host of this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner has put a funny positive spin on President some rich asshole’s impending no-show.
“I’m just excited Sarah finally gets to go to prom,” comedian Michelle Wolf joked to The Daily Beast ― in reference to the news that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would represent the rich asshole administration at the head table at the April 28 event.
the rich asshole himself will not attend, for the second year in a row.
The White House Correspondents’ Association hosts the annual shindig traditionally frequented by journalists, celebrities and the president. Margaret Talev, the association’s president, confirmed via a tweeted statement on Friday that the rich asshole is planning to skip this year’s event:
“The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment,” Talev wrote.
the rich asshole has repeatedly attacked the media, and often dubs news outlets that report critically on his administration as “fake news.” In 2011, former President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers both used their speeches to poke fun at then-reality TV personality the rich asshole.
Last year, the rich asshole became the first president not to take part in the dinner since 1981, when then-President Ronald Reagan was recovering at Camp David from an assassination attempt and gave his address by telephone.
Flying coach was good enough for Scott Pruitt — when paying out of his own pocket
The EPA administrator with champagne tastes was also caught in a bold-faced lie on a staffing scandal.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is having a bad week, and it didn’t let up on Saturday.
Pruitt, famous for his profligate taxpayer-funded first-class travel, actually flew coach when the taxpayers weren’t footing the bill, according to an Associated Press report on Saturday.
The rationale Pruitt’s defenders gave for spending thousands of dollars on first-class travel was an increased volume in security threats. When asked about the nature of these threats, EPA told Politico that someone approached Pruitt in an airport yelling “Scott Pruitt, you’re f—ing up the environment.” It remains unclear how flying first class would prevent people from approaching Pruitt in airports with or without expletive-laden environmental critiques. The AP report from Saturday noted that there is no record of anyone being charged with or arrested for threatening the EPA administrator.
Pruitt’s decision to fly coach when the cost of his travel is not covered with public money pokes a giant hole in the argument that he needed to fly first class for his own protection. Anyone threatening harm to the EPA administrator would not be able to distinguish between Pruitt’s personal and business travel. Taxpayers, however, still covered the cost of security detail that accompanied him on personal travel.
Pruitt’s predecessor, Gina McCarthy, flew coach, and was not accompanied by security during her personal trips.
The AP also reported that Pruitt spent millions on a full-time security detail with 20 members, which is three times the size of the part-time detail McCarthy used.
EPA staff who spoke up about Pruitt’s spending or management habits were demoted or reassigned, according to a report by the New York Times on Thursday.
At times, these security efforts pulled officers from investigating actual environmental crimes. Under Pruitt, regular environmental enforcement dropped 44 percent from what past administrations accomplished in the first year. And in February, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General told Congress that it could not keep investigating Pruitt’s scandals because the office had run out of money after years of budget cuts.
The embattled EPA administrator was also caught in a lie this week, heightening the threat to his job security in the rich asshole administration.
On Wednesday, Pruitt told Fox News that he did not know about the use of an obscure loophole that gave two of his top staffers significant pay raises, and did not approve them. “I did not. My staff did. And I found out about that yesterday and I changed it,” he told Fox News’ Ed Henry.
However, as the Washington Post reported Thursday, Pruitt did approve of giving Sarah Greenwalt, his 30-year-old senior counsel, a $56,000 raise and 26-year old scheduling director Millan Hupp a $28,000 raise. The White House had denied the raises weeks before the EPA granted them. Pruitt told Fox News that he had stopped the raises this week.
Travel and staff salaries were not even the most prominent ethics scandal orbiting the top environmental official in the rich asshole administration. Pruitt has faced heavy criticism for a sweetheart deal with an energy-industry-connected lobbyist, who let Pruitt stay in a luxury Capitol Hill apartment for $50 per night.
The embattled EPA chief met with President the rich asshole on Friday, where he reportedly pleaded for his job. He has few allies in the White House, but still has support from far-right and libertarian-leaning Republicans because of his success gutting Obama-era environmental rules and carrying out a very conservative deregulatory agenda. As Reuters reported on Friday, Pruitt met with 25 times more industry representatives than environmental advocates.
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